Zoria ran a hand through his hair, angling his face down toward her naked breasts. She was intentionally passive, letting Hal use her as he wanted. She had a coy, pleasured smile on her face, as though him taking her body, even as forcefully as he was, entailed a victory for her.
Hal held one of her soft thighs in one hand. He cradled her head, his fingers running over one of her pointed ears. Zoria gasped, and he took it as a sign to continue, slowly running his thumb and forefinger up the soft edge.
He thrust faster, trying to shift Zoria to keep her soft, naked body on the tunic and off the dirty ground. She was kissing his neck, her teeth gently gliding across the erogenous zone there. Hal cupped one of her breasts, moving faster and faster, until he reached his limit and surged past it.
The intensity of his orgasm mirrored the intensity of the past few days. Hal shivered as he found his release, holding Zoria tight against him. Her fingers continued working through his hair, gentle and consoling.
“Feel better?” she whispered.
Hal grinned at her. “Much,” he said.
CHAPTER 31
Hal and Zoria dressed and spent a while longer collecting firewood before heading back. Laurel was busy sorting through a pile of dirty vegetables. She looked at them for a second or two as they arrived at the camp.
“You two took a while,” said Laurel.
“Did we?” Hal shrugged, smiling a little at her. It was petty, but he was still frustrated with her decision to allow Cadrian to join the party, even if it had been the right call to make.
“Did you scavenge those?” asked Zoria, kneeling down to help.
“They’re from the farm here,” said Laurel. “Some of the soil was scorched, probably by one of the attacking dragons, but the vegetables underneath were still okay. I just need some way of cooking them.”
She shot another look at Hal.
“Just give me a minute,” he said. “I need to check in with Jessa and confirm our traveling direction.”
He moved the firewood over to a better spot, and then sat down, pulling out the memory crystal. It was still perfectly smooth and clean, and it felt strange in his hand, almost prickly. He took a deep breath, letting his awareness spread out into the crystal, as he had before.
The transition was no less jarring than it had been back in Tessianna’s war camp. Hal felt like his awareness was suddenly inverted, pulled inward toward a point, instead of being pointed outward. Appropriately, his body was twisted into a sprawl when he landed in Jessa’s realm, and he spent the first few seconds trying to stand up with as much dignity as he could manage.
“Halrin,” said Jessa. She was smiling and watching him closely, as though his appearance was unexpected, but pleasant to her. She still wore the shiny white silk robe that she’d had on during their last encounter, and Hal couldn’t help but wonder if she was still naked underneath it.
Focus. You’re here for a reason.
“Jessa,” said Hal. “Sorry to arrive unannounced, though I’m not really sure how to announce myself, here. We’ve decided to journey to the crystal anchor. To try to undo your mistake. Will you help us?”
She was pensive, absorbing his words and considering them carefully. It made Hal stop to remember the weight of the situation. How many slaves had died to feed the lift crystals of the Upper Realm? It could have been that more had died in the time since Hal had had the secret revealed to him, a thought that made any delay on his part seem very dire.
“Of course,” said Jessa. “I’ve been waiting so long for someone to commit to this task.”
She walked over to him, her purple eyes locking onto his. Her face was framed by her shiny, dark hair, and her ears curved to the side and back almost like pretty little wings sprouted from her head.
She kissed him, and Hal did not hesitate to kiss her back. He felt his arousal surging, primed by the essence thick on the air of her sanctum, but it didn’t seem appropriate for him to touch her further. This was a kiss of appreciation and fellowship, not a sexual thing. Though, knowing that wasn’t enough to keep him from getting excited.
“I will show you where the crystal anchor is,” said Jessa. “I must warn you; this is from my memory. It’s been a very long time, and geographical details may have changed in the interim.”
“That’s fine,” said Hal. “I think I’ll be able to manage.”
She smiled at him, and then took his hand into hers. In an instant, the sanctum was gone, and Hal let out a reflexive shout of surprise. They were in the air, hundreds, if not a thousand feet above the ground below, and there was no dragon underneath them. They were falling.
Or rather, they were flying. It took Hal a few seconds to get a sense of what was going on, and he only managed to because of how attuned he was to magic and the usage of essence. He was experiencing one of Jessa’s memories, one in which she used a diamond spell to create a current of wind to push her through the air.
“You figured this out?” asked Hal, in disbelief. “How to fly?”
She only smiled at him. Hal looked down at the ground again and felt his stomach somersault. He forced himself to focus. It was a bright, sunny day in her memory, and he could make out the landmarks below.
They were headed across a large lake, too large to be any other than Lake Krestia. Hal used the position of the sun to gauge that they were headed north. They were traveling at an incredible speed, so fast that he suspected it was due to Jessa speeding up her memory, rather than showing it to him as it had happened. He’d seen a couple of maps of Krestia’s Cradle, but didn’t recognize any of the settlements he saw as they passed back onto land.
They continued further north, across fields, valleys, and fertile farmland. They curved to pass by a massive mountain. Hal was pretty sure it was White Mountain, which along with the nearby town of Whitewatch, was the northern boundary for the province.
Except here, in Jessa’s memory, there was no snow. The land was still fertile. They traveled further north, and he felt a distinct sense of passing into another region, another province. The architecture, what little he could make out from so high above, was different. The towns were denser, seeds of future cities. He recognized the hexagonal mounds that he’d seen in the Upper Realm, the hives that so many of their people lived in.
Jessa pushed further north, still. Hal knew that where they currently were, in modern day Krestia’s Cradle, was deep into the northlands, a frozen, uninhabitable region that most didn’t even consider to be part of the realm.
They slowed after another minute, coming to a stop at the sight of an excavation in progress. Earth and rock was slowly being removed by groups of elves, some of them using crystals with an effect similar to the earth magic of topaz gemstones.
“How far are we from Krestia’s Cradle?” asked Hal.
“Days of travel, from the northmost border,” said Jessa. “Perhaps more than a week. It will be a challenging journey for you, Halrin. But you must make it.”
Hal nodded. The scene faded, and he stood back in the sanctum alongside Jessa.
“Well, at least I won’t be alone for it,” he said. He was relatively sure that it would have been an impossible trek for him to take on alone, more due to the numbing boredom he expected of traveling through the snowfields, rather than for practical reasons.
“You have others with you?” asked Jessa.
“I do,” said Hal.
Her smile grew broader. “Would you… tell them of me? Of the things you’ve seen here, and the memories I’ve shared with you?”
Hal quirked an eyebrow, but nodded slowly.
She’s all alone in here. It must be torture, sometimes.
“I’ll tell them,” said Hal. “If they have questions, I’ll come back so you can answer them, if you want.”
“I would like that very much,” said Jessa.
She kissed him again, and this time, Hal wasn’t sure what the intention behind it was. He let his hand glide across her hair, which was too soft and silky f
or the physical realm. She pulled back after a few seconds and gave a small nod. Hal closed his eyes, pushed his awareness back into the outside world, and left her sanctum.
He shuddered slightly as he came back to his body. Laurel and Zoria were still cleaning off the vegetables. No more than a minute or two had passed in the outside world while he’d been absent. Was there any way he could use that to his advantage?
“We’re headed north,” said Hal. The two women perked up at that.
“North?” asked Zoria.
“Far to the north,” said Hal. “Past Whitewatch.”
“There are still records in the eklid libraries in the Upper Realm that speak of us having lived there, long ago,” said Zoria. “Most of it has been reinterpreted, as my people aren’t fond of the idea of having once been surfacers.”
“Well, that’s the truth of it,” said Hal. “We’re going to have to figure out how to make this trek without freezing to death.”
“We’ll need warm clothing, then.” Cadrian strode back into the camp, carrying an odd, dirty bundle over one shoulder. “This tent should do, though we may need to add a layer of animal furs to the outside of it.”
Hal didn’t look at her, but the others did, reacting to her words and arrival.
“Where did you get a tent?” asked Laurel.
“There are a number of supply caches scattered across the surface for the Empress’s discreet servants,” said Cadrian. “This one was near enough for me to find it and dig it up. It’s not a big tent, designed for two, maybe three people. Four will be a bit of a squeeze, but that’s actually an advantage in the cold.”
She didn’t smile, but there was something vaguely suggestive in her tone of voice.
“Anything else of use in your supplies?” asked Zoria.
“Healing salves, cooking equipment, a few coins,” said Cadrian. “Not much. This will be a difficult journey, and we’ll need to discuss how we make use of every resource we have.”
Hal focused his attention away from the conversation, stacking the wood into place for their fire. Cadrian’s cache had contained a multipurpose cooking pot, and she used a couple of sticks to make a spit to hang it over. Hal tried to politely abide her presence as he used a small flash of ruby magic to start their campfire.
“There’s a small stream a little to the east of here,” said Cadrian. “It might be a good idea for you to go wash up, Halrin. I’ll take Zoria and Laurel after dinner.”
Hal gave her a curt nod, not trusting himself to respond politely if he opened his mouth.
It’s going to be a long journey. I’m going to have to find a way to interact with her civilly.
CHAPTER 32
He left the fire to Cadrian and headed to find the stream. There was more blood on his clothing than he’d realized, and the damage caused by the flames from entering Ruby Ascension was enough that he doubted his shirt or trousers would last much longer. They would have to stop in a town eventually, and he made a note to buy new clothes when they did.
Hal scrubbed himself clean and then headed back. Laurel had set up the pot over the fire and was slowly stirring the vegetables into boiling water with a large metal ladle. The smell was nice, if a bit lacking for the usual salt and seasonings.
Cadrian was in the process of assembling the tent, which was triangular in shape and made of thick leather. True to what she’d said, it looked as though it would be comfortable for two people, a bit of a squeeze for three, and extremely close contact if they pushed for four.
He took a seat at the fire, taking advantage of its heat against his still wet body. Zoria sat down next to him, and Cadrian made her way over after a few minutes.
“We don’t have any bowls,” said Laurel. “I wasn’t really thinking when I decided to make soup.”
“That’s okay,” said Hal. “We can just share the pot. It will take longer to eat, but it’s not like we’re pressed for time.”
The others nodded from where they sat around the fire. The sun was starting to set, and the burned-out farmhouse cast long shadows across their camp.
“Who feels like they’re hungriest, out of our group?” asked Laurel.
Zoria and Cadrian looked in Hal’s direction, but he shook his head. Zoria shrugged.
“I guess I’ll eat first,” she said. Laurel gestured for her to switch places from her, and she proceeded to take a ladleful of soup out of the pot while it was still over the fire.
It’s not eating at the Maxim’s table, but it will do.
“Jessa wanted me to tell the rest of you about her,” said Hal, remembering the ancient eklid woman’s request.
Laurel frowned at him slightly. “Jessa… is a person? I thought the crystal only held her memories.”
“It holds her, as far as I can tell,” said Hal. “Her memories, but also her personality. Each time I enter the crystal, or her sanctum, as she calls it, it’s as though I’m really within it, talking with her.”
“What’s she like?” asked Zoria.
Hal smiled a little at the question. “She’s smart. Passionate. Strong, though that’s no surprise, given that she was once a Heart Holder.”
He paused, thinking for a second what other words would describe her well. All three of the women around the fire were giving him weird looks.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re just… unbelievable,” said Laurel.
“I cannot say I am overly surprised,” said Cadrian. “He is the Heart Holder, after all.”
“What are you talking about?” he said. “What did I say?”
Zoria chuckled at his expense. “We can read between the lines, master. Did you bed her this time, or was it back in the war camp, when you first used the memory crystal?”
“I…” Hal felt his face heating up, though he wasn’t sure what he had to be embarrassed about. “You’re missing the point.”
“And you’re not even denying it,” said Laurel. “You are quite something, Halrin.”
She was smiling a little, and it was clear enough that there were no hurt feelings around the fire. Hal scowled a little, suddenly feeling ready to take his turn with the soup.
“What I was getting at is she wanted me to tell you about her,” he said. “About her life. About who she was, and how she lived.”
He went on to recount the memories Jessa had shared with him while he was in her crystal. The others listened, asking questions when appropriate. Hal only stopped to take his turn with the soup.
“It’s amazing,” said Zoria, as he finished. “To think that she’s been preserved from her original time for so long.”
“Amazing, or horrifying,” said Laurel. “I hope she has a way to sleep through the down time, when she needs to.”
“She does,” said Hal.
The women shot him another look, as though they suspected he might be making a joke. Hal ladled out another portion of stew. It was bland, but it had potatoes and carrots in it, and there was enough for each of them to fill their stomachs.
“This is going to be a long journey,” said Laurel, with a sigh. “I’m going to have to get used to not having wine on hand for after dinner.”
“That was always a luxury,” said Hal.
“True enough,” she said. “We’ll need to save our gold for more important things. Speaking of which… I didn’t have time to grab my coin purse on our way out of the castle.”
She looked from Hal, to Cadrian. Hal frowned a little. He only had a few coins left. He’d spent most of the money he’d had in his wallet on booze the night Cadrian had brought him to Tessianna’s war camp.
And Zoria won’t have any money, either. At least not of a kind that’s worth anything on the surface.
“I have a small amount of coin,” said Cadrian. “If it comes to it, we can spend a day or two in Tarne or Whitewatch, working for what we need. It won’t be glamorous, but neither will the journey.”
Hal nodded. He finished his turn at the soup and returned to his spot around the f
ire. The rest of the group finished eating fairly quickly, and Laurel covered the pot and what was left, leaving it next to the dimming fire.
“We’ll need to have someone on watch,” said Hal. “It’s too dangerous for us to sleep unguarded. We can each take a turn at it.”
It was a reasonable suggestion that served two purposes. It kept them safe, and it also kept them from having to sleep four to a tent, which would mean almost sleeping on top of one another. That seemed like a bad idea, especially for Halrin, as the sole man in the group.
“Indeed,” said Cadrian. “I’ll take first watch.”
She didn’t wait for anyone else to offer feedback, heading across the grass to the far side of the farm. Hal watched her for a moment. She unsheathed her sword and set about moving through a slow, duelist’s warmup, one that he remembered well from their time training together.
It gave him an odd feeling, annoying him while also triggering a longing that he hadn’t realized was there. He forced himself to look away. The other two were already in the tent, and he headed over to join them.
He took his boots off outside the flap, and then ducked into the dark interior. It was warmer inside than he’d expected it to be, but also pitch black. He made a mental note to add a lantern to their list of supplies to buy.
Crouching down, he tried to feel for an empty spot on the wide pallet they would all be sharing. He touched bare skin, and then something that felt a lot like a naked breast.
“Halrin!” rebuked Laurel.
“I can’t see,” he said. “And I didn’t realize that you’d be… uh… sleeping naked.”
“I’m using my tunic as a blanket,” said Laurel.
He didn’t say anything about how pointless that seemed to him, instead moving a foot or two to the other side, and feeling around there. His hands found someone else, also very naked. Zoria let out a soft sound similar to a purr.
“You can sleep next to me, master,” she whispered. “I can warm you up if you get cold.”
Laurel cleared her throat loudly from where she was sleeping. Hal made the torturous, though perhaps wise decision to leave his own clothes on. He spread out across the thin stretch of open space in the center of the pallet and tried to find his way to sleep. It didn’t take nearly as long as he’d been expecting it to.
Eternal Palace (Sexcraft Chronicles Book 4) Page 17
