He nodded earnestly, remembering how her advice had helped with their budding relationship.
“We should catch up with the others.” He said.
“In a minute.”
He didn’t bother hiding his puzzled expression as she undid the top button of her uniform and removed an ornate necklace with a blue stone nestled in it, or when she pulled up the hem of one leg of her pants to reveal a silver anklet with a yellow-green stone likewise mounted in it.
They were a match for Kala and Jezebel’s eyes.
“My girls were hanging on to these for me while Jan and I were hunting your cat. Go ahead, give them a fondle.”
“Huh?”
Once again she rolled her eyes.
“Even with Sadie helping you’re still a bonehead. If you hadn’t touched Jan’s heartstone in the bathhouse me, her and Erica would probably all be dead right now. So I figure just in case you know?”
He finally clued in and awkwardly touched both of the stones, doing his best to fight down the wave of unfamiliar emotions that came from them as he did.
“You wanna fuck me yet?” Miranda asked with a smirk.
“No!”
“Huh, I must be losing my touch with the ladies.”
He groaned.
“I thought Jan was the one who did the teasing.”
“She’s rubbing off on me, something you’ll never get to do, now let’s get going.”
She turned from his stunned expression with a smirk and the pair quickly caught up with the others.
Shortly thereafter they all arrived at Paul’s and found Sadie and Xalanth waiting.
“Good morning my friends.” Sadie said with a warm smile.
“Lady Essig. Xalanth.” Miranda nodded; “You two heading out now?”
Xalanth shook her head, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Not as yet, we wait on Goodman Fletcher who is tending to his flock. I would have words with him.”
Nameless’s eyes widened, he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not…
They spent several minutes in the drive making small talk and saying their goodbyes while Xalanth waited for Paul’s return. Eventually the old man and his Cockatrices emerged from his barley field. The man stopped whistling at the sight of the eclectic group.
“Well this is a sight! Aegis, good to see you! Shoulder healed up?”
“Yeah, Minotaur milk and Dryad magic, pretty potent mix...”
Miranda’s voice trailed off as Xalanth huffed out some smoke and approached Paul and his girls. The huddled Cockatrices squawked in fear, which drew her attention.
Her powerful green eyes turned and took in the sight of them.
“Flighty daughters of snake and stone, you need not fear my wrath, you are as innocent as when your kind first emerged from the aether.” Her penetrating gaze shifted to Paul as she addressed him; “Goodman Fletcher, my lady has told me that you have loved and sheltered these girls for many years, protecting them from a harsh world while gaining nothing in return. This deed makes you a worthy man, as does the aid you have provided to the young Empath and his bond-mates.”
Paul waited with a puzzled expression at the sudden praise. Xalanth looked back at Sadie who smiled at her and nodded before the Dragon continued.
“But it is the hospitality and friendship that you have shown my world-weary lady that has earned you my gratitude. Though her powers remain diminished, her spirit is much restored, as she has shown me repeatedly since yesterday.” Sadie’s smile widened, her cheeks pink at the Dragon’s wry words; “I believe your company had no small hand in her recovery, and so I have a gift for you.”
Her eyes closed and she drew herself up before him, her wings unfurled and her armoured breasts swelled as she pulled in a deep breath.
Paul looked more than a little nervous… until she breathed fire on him.
Then he looked utterly terrified.
Her breath was a warm cascade of gentle orange flames that swept his wispy hair back. His eyes all but bugged out of his head as her fire continued to flow over him for two very long minutes.
His poor Cockatrices looked ready to fight a dragon to save him but fortunately the flames ended before they had mustered the nerve.
When the power around him finally dissipated, Paul stood rigid for several seconds before he managed to choke out a question.
“Wha- what did you just do to me?”
Xalanth offered a rare smile.
“You will discover soon enough, I think. I bid you farewell... Drakkan-freend.”
With that she took Sadie in her arms and without delay took to the sky with a mighty leap.
“Are you alright?” Milly asked him once the dust had settled from Xalanth’s abrupt takeoff.
Paul looked stunned, and his Cockatrices swarmed around him protectively. It took him a few minutes to shake away his stupor.
His eyes still wide, he turned to the concerned Minotaur.
“I-I’m fine. I’m fine?” His tone was unsure as he began a self check.
“A Dragon just gave him a gift and called him friend. Let’s give him a minute.” Miranda murmured.
They stuck around for five minutes or so, waiting until Paul had regained his composure. At last he all but shooed them out of his driveway.
“I tell you I’m fine! You got a lot of walking ahead of you, and it’s rude to keep the Amazons waiting, now git!”
As they hurried down his drive he watched them leave with a slight frown, then he looked to his hands for a long moment, still wondering at Xalanth’s mysterious parting gift.
Chapter 3:
Behind the Warleader
The companions walked briskly through Kettering, and sure enough Miranda was right about them creating a spectacle. The various townsfolk openly gawked at the nine of them as they purposefully trod out of town, the eclectic group obviously carrying enough supplies for a long journey.
Nameless would have been self conscious but he found that his concern for Nina and Volka drove all the attention from his mind.
Just as promised they met up with Yana Brael and her tac-team outside of town and the Amazons formed around them while they set out on their quest.
They would journey first to Wayfelt, then take the long road east until they descended into the lowlands and the wilds beyond.
As they left his home behind it quickly became apparent that Nameless had a reputation amongst the warrior women. And despite his own worries he found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny he received from them.
One in particular sidled up to him as he walked and launched into conversation.
“Well met Valkyrja! I am Kar, third behind the warleader.”
Though like all of the other Amazons she was quite tall, Kar was built differently than Yana and Kala, less muscular and more lithe, a stalking panther rather than a charging lioness. Her long dark-blonde hair was kept in a loose ponytail flowing down her back.
She carried the typical Amazonian spear but also wore a brace of throwing knives on her wrist. Her sparkling blue eyes held a joyful warmth that the numerous scars on her honey coloured skin did nothing to diminish.
It was that warmth that Nameless picked up on, finding her to be less intimidating than the others and so he was able to remember his manners… mostly.
“Er, hello. I-I’m Nameless.”
“Indeed you are! Make no mistake, your name, or lack thereof, will soon be known to all those who stand against the darkness!”
“Um... thanks?”
“Ha! Modesty is not a virtue my people are used to! Truly, you behave as if you are not Valkyrja at all!”
“What does that word even mean?” Erica huffed from Milly’s right, none too happy with the attractive woman’s nearness to her master.
“It means that you have bonded with a great man, and this makes you great as well, little sister.” Kar said affectionately.
Erica didn’t know how to respond to that.
“You are pretty great kitty.” Milly said with a big smile for the often insecure Katje.
“I do believe it refers to someone who has been blessed by the Valkyrie.” Ophelia called from above them.
Her fluttering wings carrying her in lazy loops around the group, though Yana had quickly requested that she not go far when she first took flight.
Kar nodded up at the flying woman.
“Indeed! You brought the Gigas out of her darkness, and she nearly took my head off with that hammer of hers so getting as close as you did speaks of great courage.”
“Or stupidity.” Nina said with a snort.
She trailed along behind them, her mood somewhat improved at the memory of him saving her.
Kar chuckled at the giant’s words.
“Still, your man brought a girl out of total regression. Such a feat has not been accomplished since the time of the Valkyrie. And after this achievement you set out on a quest into the wilds to rescue yet another lost girl?” She shook her head, impressed; “You can understand, I think, why myself and the other unbonded amongst my war-sisters have taken an interest in your husband!”
Nameless had turned tomato red; he was thoroughly unaccustomed to such flattering words, and from a total stranger no less.
“Th-thanks?”
Kar abruptly sidled up to him, one firm breast pressed against the top of his shoulder as her hand trailed down his spine while they walked.
“Valkyrja, you have many women to satisfy, what is one more? I assure you, I am a very skilled lover…” She whispered down at him, her voice husky as her hand drifted ever lower.
Reading the woman’s intentions, Milly firmly grabbed her hand to remove it before she reached his ass. The Amazon resisted, but her strength wasn’t a match for the protective Minotaur.
Kar looked at her arm and gave a low whistle, impressed.
“Well done youngling! You are strong, yet you have so few scars?”
“I don’t like hurting people, unless they mess with my mate.” Her chin jutted out pugnaciously as she spoke.
She drew him close to her side, he would have been embarrassed by her protective stance, but he was too flustered by the woman’s forwardness and so he leaned into her embrace.
“Mmm, a gentle nature, and clearly he appreciates it… I shall have to work on that, we warriors are so rarely gentle!”
Nina frowned, their failure the other night still fresh in her mind.
“S-so how long have you been with the Aegis?”
The woman seemed quite happy to walk alongside them, and Nameless felt it would be rude to ignore her so he did his best to make small talk despite her handsy approach to breaking the ice.
“Since the warleader was tamed by Aegis Booker.”
“Tamed? Really?”
These girls struck him as anything but tame.
“Indeed.” Her tone was light; “It is a thrilling tale if you wish to hear it?”
Nameless nodded, curious. She tilted her head in thought, deciding where to begin.
“It was many years ago, Juni, the Undine on her back, had bonded with him a few years prior, making his promotion to operative official. He was in the wilds far to the north, chasing down a man wanted for murder. Unfortunately for the scum he ran into us instead! We made short work of him, but then this dashing stranger burst out of the bushes, an Undine’s water surrounding him, prepared to do battle with the man we had freshly dispatched.”
She was getting into her story now, so were Nameless and the others for that matter.
“Seeing that he was of the Aegis, the warleader sought to challenge him, to test his mettle and see if he would make a worthy mate.” She shook her head in awe; “I will never forget that fight for as long as I live! She moved like lightening, and yet this human matched her blow for blow! They fought for nearly ten full minutes, neither gaining an advantage over the other. He was human though and his endurance waned, and so her victory seemed assured. Until he did the unthinkable…”
She trailed off dramatically, pleased to note that her audience was so rapt with attention.
“What did he do?” Milly breathed out.
Many of the other Amazons were also listening now as Kar finished her tale.
“He let her hit him in order to get through her guard.”
“That’s it?” Erica was skeptical.
“‘Is that it?’ she says!” Kar chuckled; “The blow did cost him an eye!”
“What!?”
Nameless jaw dropped and Kar laughed at their appalled expressions as did more than one of the Amazons around them.
“Anything less and he would have lost! He allowed her to crush his eye so that he could maneuver himself to deliver a final throw, taking the warleader to the ground. She is one of the strongest fighters amongst our people and it was one of very few times in her life that she has been laid low, and by a human no less!”
She laughed again.
The others laughed as well, albeit a bit nervously. All of them thinking the same thing: Amazon courtship was brutal.
“The rest is history!’ She continued with a dismissive wave of one hand; “She surrendered her stone to him almost immediately after regaining her feet and bandaging his eye, and soon enough she joined with Juni as his wife. That left the rest of us with a choice: fight it out to determine the new warleader and continue to live as we had, or follow her and her new husband to the Aegis.”
“Wow.” Erica breathed.
“Indeed, she is a great leader and so it was no choice at all, though truly I think more than one of us had their eyes set on Aegis Booker as well! So impressed were we with him.” She tilted her head and her expression turned thoughtful; “Except young Kala, though I imagine it would be too strange to couple with the same man as your sister.”
“Wait, so Kala really is Yana’s sister?” Erica asked.
“Yes, though she is many years younger, and is as yet un-blooded. That is something we all know she is eager to change, so it is good that she married such a shrewd woman as Aegis Holt, keeps her out of trouble.”
“Except when she tries to murder our master for no reason.” Milly muttered while shaking her head slightly.
Kar’s eyebrow rose incredulously.
“Well now! It would seem I am not the only one with a story to tell! And I would also like to hear how you all bonded to your husband. I’ll admit I am a sucker for a good love story!”
It took a while but Nameless and the others soon told Kar of their initial meetings, with each other and with Miranda and her bond-mates.
She was a good audience, gasping at all the right moments, and laughing when appropriate.
In fact, she laughed so hard she had tears streaming out of the corners of her eyes when they recounted how Jezebel and Kala had ambushed him, having mistaken him for a rapist.
“Because you are so tiny! Ha!” She gasped in a breath and smacked her thigh repeatedly.
Nina laughed nearly as hard, as she hadn’t heard the story either. Though the other girls didn’t find it as funny, and more than a few dirty looks were shot at the back of Kala’s head where she walked beside Miranda and her bond-sisters.
They travelled in silence for a while after that, until Erica broke it again.
“Hey, I’m curious, the other Undine who was with Miranda, um Nadia? Nalia? She walked with us on the way home from Wayfelt. So how come Juni rides in that big jug thing?”
The mirth left Kar’s face as her look turned grave and she heaved a sigh before she spoke.
“A few years ago, a smuggler set a warehouse we were raiding ablaze, brave Juni stayed behind to try to contain the fire, but she ran out of water and was badly burned.” She shook her head, her tone mournful; “She is afraid to leave the water at all now, save to join her husband and wife in bed.”
“That’s awful.” Milly said with a sniffle.
Kar nodded solemnly before continuing.
“I have never seen my warleader angri
er than she was that day, so rest assured the woman who set that fire met a bitter end on the point of her spear. After that she pledged to always carry enough water for her sister-wife to never have to fear fire again. And that is no mere jug either! A Gnome formed that gourd out of her clay and Xalanth herself fired it, so it is well nigh indestructible.”
She had a slight grin then as her look turned wistful.
“Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted to see Dragon-fire.”
So intrigued were they by her story that none of them thought to mention they had seen it that morning…
They walked on, thoughtful expressions on their faces as they considered the back of Yana, who walked alongside Miranda, deep in their own conversation. Juni was partly emerged from her water, leaning over Yana’s shoulder to join in the conversation, her blue skinned back exposed to them.
“It must be very heavy…” Ophelia observed.
Kar shrugged.
“Indeed, but she does not see it as a burden. And beyond doubt, I have witnessed her strength grow from carrying it all this time and I suspect she could match even you Milly. There are none amongst our number who could best her in combat now. And woe-betide any foe who angers her to the point that she actually sets that gourd down!”
As they walked Nameless found himself relaxing around the friendly woman. It certainly helped that she quit trying to grab his ass, and even though she expressed more than a passing interest in bonding with him, she was being fairly polite about it.
Nameless was pleased to note that after a few miles Milly seemed to be accustomed to her shoes, happily clopping along the packed dirt of the road. This meant he had plenty of time to worry about his own feet which, after several hours, were stiff and sore.
Fortunately they made camp in the late afternoon a few miles east of Wayfelt, and he quickly realized that he was the reason, the rest of the party fully capable of traveling for several more hours if need be.
“It’s your first day on the road kid. I remember you said this Volka chick wasn’t in any imminent danger so let’s not overdue it.” Miranda told him as she and Kala worked to set up their tent.
Legacy of the Valkyrie Page 5
