by Gerard Bond
“You really are the life of the party aren't you Wolfy?”
He panted more and didn't answer, sitting on the ground. Two more horsemen rode up and took station around Raven. Finally Wollfen managed to stop panting enough to speak a little,
“So what brings you here?” Raven smiled again,
“I know I know, you were just tidying up and didn't really need any help right?”
“Actually, truth be known, I'm quite grateful Raven, thanks for the hand.”
“So where is your horse?” Wollfen jerked his thumb over his shoulder,
“It's about a mile in that direction, dead.”
“I will send these two to get the saddle. They will manage to find it, they are good trackers. Any landmarks?” Wollfen turned to the two horsemen,
“You will find a dry creek bed along aways, travel for about three hundred yards once you find it and then you will see my horse about halfway up the hill on the left, you won't miss it.” The men nodded and without any further questions trotted off.
Wollfen stood up having caught his breath and made his way over to the lifeless orc with his sword still buried in it, he was able to prise it loose from the creatures dead clasp without too much trouble. He walked back to Raven who extended her hand. Wollfen took it and pulled himself up behind Raven as she leaned back helping him up, she was a strong woman. She couldn't help but comment,
“Damn you stink, when’s the last time you had a bath?”
He grunted but wouldn't reply as she kicked the horse into motion and they rode back towards the encampment.
Chapter Two
A Change
Raven pulled up in camp with Wollfen holding on behind, the two other scouts also reined in their horses and she spoke to them,
“Drop Wollfen's saddle and stuff at my tent thanks.” The two nodded and bade their farewell moving off.
Wollfen grumbled from behind trying to get down. Raven gave him a pinch for his troubles and commented,
“Hey can't you wait till I get down? I can help you.” He agreed,
“Yes you are right I am having a lot of trouble with this ankle.”
He looked down at it while Raven slipped off the saddle, it was badly swollen and tingling. It didn’t look good at all. Raven stood holding her hand up to him.
“Come on you big baby, momma's got you home .”
He glared a bit as he took her hand and gingerly moved himself off the horse. She couldn’t help but giggle as he winced and made noises.
“I knew you needed a girl in your life, someone to take care of you.” He sighed at the comment and again Raven giggled,
“You know I'm just trying to give you the shits don’t you?”
“I know hon, I am just in a lot of pain.” Raven was still grinning.
“Yes the best time to take the piss out of you, oh hey, you called me hon!”
He stood on one leg looking down at his ankle still, could it be fractured?
“Are you gonna stand there giving me a hard time or are you going to help me?” He commented with a little exasperation.
“Yeah, yeah I am gonna help you grumble bum, don't get your knickers in a knot.” Raven slipped her shoulder under his right arm and took his weight, “Now don't go bitching about how I walk okay?”
“Thanks hon, I really do appreciate you helping me, I am just a bad patient is all.” Raven giggled even more,
“Yup, don't I know it? Oh and you called me hon again.” She said smiling.
They managed to get inside the guest tent that had been set aside for him and she lay him down on the cot. He went to try and take his boots off but Raven wouldn’t have it.
“Lay back and relax you will hurt yourself more trying to do it. I will take care of it all okay?”
He nodded in response and finally allowed himself to be taken care of. He pulled the pillow further under his head so he could watch. She slowly pulled at the boot with the swollen ankle ignoring Wollfen's protests and shushed him. It was in a bad way she saw and eventually managed to get the boot off. Then she gingerly pulled at the sock slowly sliding it off exposing the injury. The skin had turned purple and she lightly touched it, Wollfen jumped a little with a cry. She looked up at him with a serious look on her face,
“It doesn’t look good I’m afraid.”
“It's serious?” Wollfen asked with a worried look.
She fixed him with a steady expression before going on,
“I doubt you will make it through the night.” She laughed out loud as he gave her the finger. Raven got back up waving her hand in front of her face, “You really do stink though, before we do anything about your ankle you need to have a bath, I will be back in a minute.”
She turned and left the tent on some errand and Wollfen closed his eyes trying to block out the pain. A few minutes later two women carrying a wooden tub came in with Raven following, they planted the tub and left again. She moved over to him and started pulling on the other boot to get it off, then pulled off his other sock. As she started lifting his shirt off the girls returned with large jugs of water which they emptied into the tub and left again. Finally Raven had Wollfen's trousers unbuttoned and had them halfway down his legs when the girls came in once more with the jugs of water, one of them commented on his crown jewels before leaving. Raven grinned at him as he turned a bit red.
“Aw are we a bit shy?” He grunted at her and she carefully slipped the pants leg off over his injury. Now he was fully naked laying on the bed when one of the girls came in with a hot jug of water, she smiled while checking him out and poured the water into the tub.
“Can I be of any more help?” She asked, Raven shook her head,
“No that’s fine I can handle it from here.” The girl smiled and waved as she left.
“Come on Wolfy lets get you into the tub.” She reached under his arm as he lifted himself up and they managed to get him into the warm water without too much trouble. The water stung his swollen ankle but he knew the heat would have to help. Raven grabbed a bar of soap and started rubbing him down. He half closed his eyes at the pleasure of it, it had been a long time since he had felt the touch of a woman.
“It's been a couple of years since I saw you naked, you still look good my darling.” He smiled a little but didn’t respond. “You feel good too.”
He started getting a hard on and Raven seeing, gave it a soapy slow stroking. He couldn’t help but moan just a little but then a thought occurred to him,
“Hon? When I left camp you were going to have a talk to Elith, is all that sorted?”
She nodded in reply,
“Yeah, it didn’t go too well there were a few harsh words spoken but she hasn’t made trouble. She will accept it eventually, if I'm lucky we will manage to stay friends.”
“I guess that’s good, I am sorry though she is hurt.” Raven shrugged her shoulders in response.
“I haven’t been happy for awhile, if I hadn’t done it now the talk would have happened later anyway so I don’t have any regrets.”
He nodded quietly and left it alone, nothing more needed to be said. She finally stopped stroking his hard rod and went back to cleaning the rest of him. Before long she had him out of the tub and back on the cot. Raven bandaged his ankle and slid a pillow under to elevate it. She sat beside his waist, lightly caressing over his bare belly looking down at him, she looked deep into his eyes without saying a word.
“What are you thinking?” She smiled a little before responding,
“I was thinking about the last time we made love under the stars a couple of years ago, do you remember? We were on a blanket and kissing deeply when a rain storm rolled in, we didn’t notice until the wind picked up and light rain started falling. Even then we didn’t stop, the rain got heavy and lightning cracked overhead lighting us up. The cold rain soaked us as we made hot passionate love, it was an amazing moment, I still think of it from time to time.” Wollfen smiled at the memory.
“Yes I haven’t forgotten,
it still comes back to me too.” She leaned down and they traded a soft passionate kiss that lingered. She pulled away and whispered,
“Wait.”
Standing up she moved over to the tent flaps and tied them shut. Raven then started to strip off slowly as he watched, his rod standing to attention. She sauntered over looking up and down his naked body before straddling him. She leaned down kissing him deeper and it wasn’t long before some rather loud moans were emanating from the tent.
Later that evening Raven awoke beside the still sleeping Wollfen and she slowly eased herself out of the cot and dressed. She left the tent and went off to grab some food for the both of them and while she was collecting it Ironside coughed and made his presence known. She turned and smiled at him,
“Hello my Lord, I hope you are doing well?”
“Yes thanks, I was wondering how Wollfen is?”
“Oh his ankle isn’t good but he will heal fully and he is in good spirits.” Ironside smiled widely.
“Ha! We all know, I doubt anyone in the encampment didn’t hear!” She smiled now too, it wasn’t embarrassing to these people, they lived in tents all their lives and hearing people having sex was perfectly normal to them. Raven changed the subject though as she thought of something,
“You know Wollfen said something curious about the attack when we were riding back from the patrol,” Ironside motioned for her to go on, “ He said it was eight orcs that tracked him and then ambushed him, he also said they all worked together to take him down.”
He looked on surprised,
“That's unusual isn’t it? There have been orcs spotted in numbers lately but a larger number cooperating to take out a target? That’s a first. You know when Wollfen is up and about he and I need to have a talk, let him know will you?” She nodded,
“Sure no problem.”
Ironside walked off to do his own thing as Raven returned to the tent with a bowl of food. Entering the tent she saw Wollfen was still fast asleep. She looked over his naked form, she never tired of it. As she carefully sat by his waist he stirred and looked up at her a smile coming across his face,
“Hey you, I was just dreaming of us by a lake.”
Raven smiled back and offered him some baked potato while replying,
“I hope there weren’t any orcs in your dream.” She winked.
He shook his head as he took the offered potato,
“Nope, just you, me and a sunny day alone relaxing by the water.” He took a bite of the potato and made a noise of appreciation.
They sat quietly together eating the simple fare of cooked venison and baked vegetables. It filled their bellies and felt good. Raven stripped off again grabbing a blanket before laying beside him for the night. They snuggled down to keep warm and drifted off to sleep in each others arms.
The following morning Raven woke to find Wollfen looking at her and she smiled giving him a kiss,
“Morning snuggle pup did you sleep well?” He smiled,
“Oh yeah, best sleep I had in ages, you are definitely a wonderful tonic.” She giggled a bit,
“Mm, it's good to hear, I slept well too and I hope we get to do this every night.” Wollfen rolled his eyes,
“You are going to turn me into a homemaker huh?” She made a pfft sound at that.
“Bullshit, that would bore the heck out of me,” She remembered the message from Ironside all of a sudden, “Hey Ironside wants to talk to you about the incident, I think he has something to say. Do you think you are up for a walk over to his tent?”
“I'm not sure, lets have a look at my ankle, it isn’t hurting anymore.”
Raven sat up carefully pushing the blanket down and off Wollfen's feet looking at the bandaged ankle. The bandages were hanging loose and she tsk tsked thinking they had come undone. When she removed the bandage though the ankle swelling was gone with only purple skin showing for where the injury was.
“Holy crap! You ankle is almost fully healed!” She looked back up at Wollfen in astonishment, “How can that be?”
He looked up at her from studying it,
“You must have a magical touch hon, all that bathing and tender loving care you gave me.” She rolled her eyes and gave him a playful pinch on his thigh,
“Come on, lets get you up and put some weight on it, I want to see how good you are.”
She got up off the cot and he turned himself sideways swinging his legs over the edge, she held her hand out for him which he took and got up gingerly. Then he slowly shifted his weight onto the ankle and it held.
“It feels good, I don’t feel any weakness or pain at all.” She shook her head,
“You must be some fast healer eh?” He agreed, “Alright let's get some clothes on and go see Ironside.” They got dressed and walked out of the tent into the morning air looking around, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the sun was still coming through the trees.
“It's going to be a nice day eh?” Raven agreed, she put her arm through Wollfen's and made off.
They found Ironside at a bench and table outside of his grand tent eating some leftovers from the night before, they made their greetings and sat down beside him.
“So man, what would you like to discuss about the orcs?”
Ironside swallowed before speaking,
“You were telling Raven that the orcs worked together when they attacked you?” Wollfen nodded in reply, “Normally I wouldn’t take no heed to such a story but I have started hearing similar reports all along the eastern borders from the other clans. The other leaders and I were discussing it the day after the festivities and we feel there is much to be concerned about.”
Wollfen gave it some thought but couldn’t see it being a major issue beyond changing the numbers of people when they traveled.
“What makes you think it is a big deal?”
Ironside sat and thought a bit before replying, he realized that he would have to fill Wollfen in on the full ramifications for all the clans.
“Okay, let me explain, as you know the Nightclans are all independent groups that look after themselves and have complete freedom to move around the mountains of the east here. We are a nomadic people without any home base, no towns with walls, no real defenses against marauders or orcs other than a strong arm and sharp blade. Well you get my drift.
Coupled with that we have always taken great pride in the warrior code we live by. We fight not only as a way of life but also for survival too. Up to now the clans have never been able to grow too large or spread beyond the mountains because of this. There is an equilibrium within the confines of our world here, the mountains and all that is on it. That includes the orcs. Now that the orcs are becoming more aggressive and are working together the losses in numbers of men out there has started to increase, it isn’t noticeable yet to the casual eye but if you look at it, it speaks of a dangerous situation arising.”
Wollfen mulled this information a bit but still wasn’t getting it,
“I am not sure I am following, what is it you are driving at? Surely a change in tactics is all that is needed to compensate for this change?” Ironside shook his head,
“No no, it's not about tactics or a change in methodology or anything, let me try to explain a bit better.” Again he paused, thinking before going on, “As you know the women in any clan outnumber the men by many because as soon as the boys grow old enough to wield a sword with confidence they are deemed men and become Rangers patrolling the outskirts of the encampments and also do guard duty too. This of course means the men are at the front line whenever there is a clash between marauders or orcs and they are the first to fall in any fight. Our numbers are kept in check by this and by normal mortality amongst the rest. Older women become rangers too once they can no longer bear children and so there is no one 'spare' so to speak. Everyone is important to the health and well being of the clan, no one is expendable.” Wollfen understood this and agreed so far with what he was hearing. He bade Ironside go on,
“Okay as you
also know to keep the numbers up of the clans the men have to keep as many of the young women pregnant as possible, without that the clans would shrink and die, there simply is no other way. Originally it was out of choice, we chose this life in the mountains. But now we are outcasts in the eyes of the people to the west and can no longer move into those lands if we decided to leave the mountains. We can't move further east into the larger mountain range for there is even greater numbers of orcs there than there are here. We live the life as we do because we have no other choice. Personally I wouldn’t have it any other way but there is a change coming and I fear for the future of the Nightclans.”
Ironside stopped again, he reached over and took a swig from a mug on the table. Wollfen looked to Raven and wondered if what he was hearing had played a part in Ravens decision about her future? Ironside spoke once more,
“Here is the cold hard truth, we can't change the way we send out individual patrols or sentries to watch out for orcs because we don’t have the extra numbers, there are no more people to spare. Everyone right now fills an important role. Do you see what I am driving at?”
It was finally starting to dawn on Wollfen what he meant and he nodded at the question,
“What you mean also is this, because there is no one extra to go out with those individuals when patrolling it means they face greater danger because the orcs are organizing into groups and hunting more effectively.”
“Exactly and because there is greater danger it also follows that our losses in fights when defending the clan will go up. We can't afford to lose more people than we already are. If we do then the clans will shrink over time and will finally die out.”
