The Academy Volume One
Page 23
She shivered and grinned, delighted with her private moment of naughtiness.
A smile stole over the wrinkled little face of the gnome. “Ah, the hours we spent together, the memories. Why, that very same lake below the waterfall Briar described was one of our favorite places ta go skinny-dipping. And the things we did there, hour after hour, naked and slippery…” Leeky Shortz actually blushed.
Briar did too, so she lay back and stretched, hoping to hide her erotic reaction to Leeky’s story. Naked and slippery was just how she wanted to be right this moment with Uthiel. She could picture it, could feel the cool silky water caress her needy―
“We planned ta marry as soon as the battle was decided,” Leeky said. Apparently the gnome wasn’t done with his story, and Briar was too intrigued with the tale to miss any of it.
She sat up and watched patiently as he carefully removed the pink gloves and returned them to his pocket, then refilled the three tankards at the table. Instead of drinking, however, he stared at the table, lost in his memories.
“She even had a dress made especially for the occasion…but, as fate would have it, that never came ta be.”
Briar’s smile faded and her heart sank. Not wanting to hear that there was no happily ever after, after all.
“The last few days of the battle were brutal and long. Many men fell, some so close ta me I heard their last breaths.” Briar heard his gulping swallow from across the stateroom. “The back-stabbing, hiney-hole-poking barbarians had just breached the outer wall when it happened.”
Briar gasped, “When what happened?”
Leeky sighed, and a single tear slowly made its way down his cheek. “What the bare backside of a bent over troll trollop trying ta pick up a discarded copper in the middle of Main Street do ya think happened? A loud explosion tore off and lifted the whole top story of the tavern…it landed on the ground in front of the building.”
Briar held her breath, not sure she wanted to hear what came next, yet hanging on each word Leeky spoke.
“I ran as fast as I could, but I was ta late. There, among the rubble, lay my Lady Kattra, with her tankard still clutched tightly in her hand. Her sweet lips quivered as the twinkle of her lovely blue eyes began to fade. She beckoned me close, as if ta whisper her love for me one last time.
“When I leaned in, she bit me and said, ‘You dirty bastard, why didn’t you tell me your men stored explosives in the back room, before I went traipsing through there with a lit candle?’ Died right in my arms, she did.”
Tears stung Briar’s eyes, and reality came rushing back. So, she’d been right. There really hadn’t been a happily ever after for Leeky Shortz and Kattra.
Would there be one for her and Uthiel? Would she get to him in time? The Dragon Heart Opal pulsed even slower, even weaker against her breast as if in response to her questions. She clutched it closely and prayed.
Leeky Shortz burst into sobs, and Midan placed his beefy arms around the gnome. Tears coursed unheeded down both men’s cheeks. Even Sarco wasn’t immune to the gnome’s plight and quickly swiped away a few of his own.
From the cot across the room, Briar watched and listened. Unshed tears clouded her sight. She wanted to get up and comfort Leeky, but her aching heart, pounding head, and turbulent stomach prevented it. Instead, she waited, hoping he would recover enough and finish his story. She tried not to think about Uthiel, but worry and fear intruded and twisted her stomach into tight knots.
Leeky composed himself after a few minutes. “I never did find the wedding dress she’d made, though I searched and searched. All I have left of hers is this dress I found in our room.” He pointed to Miss Kitty.
Though obviously very old, and singed and tattered in a few places, the dress was still in fairly good shape. The pale, cream-colored material looked no thicker than a hair. Sheer and flowing, the style was beautiful and elegant. When new, it would’ve been stunning.
Grateful the gnome had at least one thing of Kattra’s to remember her by, Briar settled back down in the bed. Her head hurt, probably from all the unshed tears.
Leeky affectionately patted his doll on her knee. “Miss Kitty here has helped me through the worst of it. My men felt so bad for me, they all pitched in and bought her. A godsend, that’s what she’s been. Wouldn’t have made it this long without her, and her multi-functional orifices.”
Briar sniffed. Was this to be her fate? When all was said and done, would her friends buy her a plastic man to take the place of the real one she couldn’t heal, couldn’t save? She shuddered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The sound of the Leeky’s voice faded as the boat’s rocking and the warmth of the snug blanket lulled Briar into slumber.
The serenity of sleep didn’t last long, however.
In mere moments, mist formed, and Briar stood in a courtyard, staring straight up at a large statue of a guard.
She whirled around. This wasn’t the Castle Kuropkat of her previous dreams. This Castle Kuropkat was whole and bustled with soldiers of all kinds, none of whom were familiar to her.
She looked at the top of the tower. There flew the blue and gold flag―not tattered, but shiny, crisp, and snapping in the wind. The ground shook, and Briar felt the reverberations of a battle not far away.
Briar instinctively knew she was dreaming and even toyed with trying to wake herself up. Yet curiosity overcame common sense, so she searched among the soldiers for one particular familiar face.
Was he here, her Uthiel?
Her hand automatically went to the stone nestled close to her heart. She panicked. The Dragon Heart Opal was so cold, and barely pulsing.
Hurry. Hurry. I have to find him.
The castle’s tower rose before her and drew her attention. For no explicable reason, Briar entered the arched opening and started up the steep steps. Mesmerized, she somehow knew to pass the second floor and continue climbing to the third.
There, she crept down a long narrow hallway to an open doorway. Peeking inside, Briar gasped.
In the middle of the floor lay the silent, motionless body of Uthiel.
Something was wrong, very wrong.
He was there…and yet he wasn’t. She could see through him. He was like smoke, or a memory, or perhaps a future yet to be.
She darted into the room and knelt before the apparition, wanting nothing more than to assure herself he still breathed.
Her hand met air, but the stone next to her heart resumed its pulsing―slow, and warm, and steady. Once more she could breath.
The distinct sound of someone rummaging nearby startled her. Briar looked up and gasped.
Leeky Shortz. Oh, not the same version of the little gnome Briar was accustomed to seeing, but it was Leeky Shortz, just the same.
He wasn’t old, or mostly bald, or even wrinkled. This rogue gnome had a full head of wavy, chestnut-brown hair, and chubby, youthful cheeks. The hint of a pink potbelly peeked out from under the hem of his shirt. Briar grinned.
Leeky whipped around, as if he’d suddenly heard someone or something. The gnome stood, but ignored Uthiel on the floor, only a couple of feet away. He hadn’t noticed her, either. A moment later, Leeky shocked Briar by walking right through Uthiel’s body.
She opened her mouth to tell Leeky she’d found Uthiel and needed help, but no sound came out. Like Uthiel, was she here…but not really here? Or was Leeky the one who was more displaced in time and space? What was real and what wasn’t?
A woman entered the room.
“You sneaky little pimple on the backside of a poxed ogre. What are you doing in our room in the middle of the day? Looking for the money again, aren’t you? You won’t find it.”
Briar clamped both her hands over her mouth to keep quiet, and considered herself the most horrible of voyeurs.
Neither Leeky nor the woman noticed anything amiss.
“What the berry-laced barf splattered on the short and curlies of a barbarian backstabber is wrong with ya today, lass? Don’t
be telling me it’s ya monthly again. That would be three times in the last six weeks. Ya’d bleed ta death at that rate. For once in ya life, Kattra, be reasonable. I need a few platt ta tide me over. The boys have a side game going and I want in. Now be a good lass and show me where ya hid my gold.”
The woman picked up a vase from a nearby table and hurled it at Leeky’s head. The gnome ducked, and glass shattered and skittered across the floor. “That money is for our wedding, you sorry excuse for the afterbirth of a diseased, spotted toad. I’ll show you who’s gonna be bleeding.”
Briar glanced at Uthiel, hoping he knew she was near, even if he existed in a realm very different from this one.
Leeky’s grin broadened. The crafty devil slipped out his pink, fuzzy gloves and quickly put them on. Briar recognized them in an instant but had a feeling she might not want to watch much more of this interlude between Leeky and his lady.
“Playful I see, lass. Well, come ta Papa then.” He crooked his finger and crunched his nose. “Who’s your daddy?” He giggled as he stalked toward Kattra.
The high-elf smirked and flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder. Her crisply pointed ears twitched, her red, pouty lips puckered as she readied for a kiss. Her startling blue eyes gleamed brighter as she raked her gaze down Leeky’s short frame…and zeroed in on the large protrusion growing in his crotch.
Oh Lord Draka, I don’t want to see this. Briar told herself to look away, but, as usual, following instructions—even her own—was not her strong suit.
He chuckled. “Have a little gnome in ya? Want one?” He smacked her hard on the ass.
Lady Kattra giggled.
“Ya know what they say, don’t ya? ‘Once ya go gnome, you’ll never again roam.’” Leeky grabbed and squeezed her pussy through the thin fabric of her dress. “Or, ‘A gnome in ya bush is worth two in ya hand.’ Or how about, ‘Ta gnome or not ta gnome, that is the question’?”
Lady Kattra shook her head and swatted Leeky away. “No matter how charming you are, Leeky Shortz, you aren’t getting any money out of me.”
“Ya don’t appreciate my reciting poetry ta ya?” He reached for her bodice and yanked, exposing her breasts. “We both know ya got a soft spot for poetry.” He tweaked both nipples. “‘There’s no place like gnome. There’s no place like gnome.’ Oh, and remember, ‘A gnome a day keeps the healer away.’”
Leeky grabbed her right leg and humped her thigh, his face at knee level.
Lady Kattra snorted. “I’ll show ya where to put your gnome.” She lifted her skirt above her waist, exposing her pantyless pussy.
Briar grinned. At least she could now attest to Leeky having told the truth about Kattra being a true blonde.
Leeky licked his lips. “I do so love a feisty woman.”
Briar watched in fascination as the gnome reached up and ran his fingers through Kattra’s pubic curls. Her own pussy contracted in response, wishing desperately the unconscious Uthiel could do the same to her.
Lady Kattra dropped to her knees and slipped her skirt over the head of the gnome, completely obscuring him from sight. The muffled umms, aahs, and giggles coming from the couple warmed Briar’s cheeks. Tingles scampered down her spine. The junction between her thighs throbbed, and her breath quickened.
“Commander Shortz, I was sent to find you, sir.” A young, blushing soldier stood awkwardly in the doorway, averting his gaze. If Briar hadn’t been so frustrated with his untimely arrival, she would’ve felt sorry for him.
“You’re needed on the front right away, sir. So sorry to interrupt, sir.” He darted a glance at Briar before staring at the floor again.
So…the guard could see her? Then why couldn’t Leeky or Kattra? And if the young guard could see her, did he think her a horrid voyeur? Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, although her pussy still hummed with excitement.
Leeky Shortz flipped the skirt up and off his head, smacked his wet lips together, and licked them clean. “What the peed-outta-penis of a sleeping, drunk ogre in the doorway of a tavern do ya make of that? Guess playtime is gonna have ta wait ‘til later, love.”
Kattra shrugged, “I know, I know. Duty first, you dastardly, dirty little gnome. But when you’re done, come back and finish what you started.” She bent low and kissed the gnome on the top of his head, then followed Leeky and the young soldier out of the room.
Briar lay beside Uthiel, her hands shaking, her breathing coming in quick gasps. She wanted desperately to touch him, but it was like touching air. Groaning, she ignored her body’s arousal and her heart’s need for Uthiel, and simply drank in the sight of her beloved.
A whisper escaped his lips. Briar scooted even closer to hear his words―spoken no louder than a breath and yet further away than time itself.
“Briar…I need you.”
She wanted to hold him, yet knew she couldn’t. This wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. This was but a dream.
Briar wanted to sob her frustration and loss, but what good would it do?
On the other hand, she’d just learned something helpful: her heart told her she would find the man she loved in this very room in this very tower of the real Castle Kuropkat.
The question was, would she find him in time?
“Hang on, Uthiel,” she pleaded. “I’m on my way. I’m almost there.”
From outside the window of the high tower room, Carnelian’s voice filled the chamber.
“Our destinies are intertwined, Healer. Yours, mine, and the paladin’s. Hurry, half-elf, half-human female. Hurry, before it’s too late for any of us.”
Carnelian was right. There was no time to waste. She must wake up, she must get to Uthiel.
Desperately, Briar pinched herself hard.
“Wake up, you must wake up now. Uthiel needs you,” she pleaded with herself.
It wasn’t working. She was still stuck in the dream, with no way out.
Lifting her head, Briar scanned the room for something, anything, anyone to help her awaken.
Nothing.
A few feet away, the massive, unyielding presence of a bare stone wall mocked her, reminding her she was imprisoned in this dream.
Briar stared at a stone at eye-level, near the base of the wall and in an alcove of sorts. Unlike the other stones, this one’s mortar was missing. If it had sharp enough edges, perhaps she could pull it out and use it to awaken herself. Pinching certainly hadn’t worked.
She scooted across the floor and grasped the edge of the brick with her fingers. It wiggled easily, so she pulled it all the way out.
There was an empty space behind it, and something wooden was hidden there.
A box.
Just as her fingers seized the edge of it, a hand startled her as it shook her shoulder.
“Wake up, Briar.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Uthiel awoke, shivering uncontrollably against the cold stone floor beneath his feverish body. Though pain racked his shoulder where the dragon had gotten lucky and dug its venomous claw deep into a muscle, his spirits soared.
He’d been the one to draw first blood.
He had surprised the sleeping dragon and caught it off guard. His sword found a sweet, soft spot under a wing, high up between two scales. Though the red monster had managed to slink out of reach after mauling his shoulder, with any luck the dragon was in worse shape than Uthiel.
Concentrating on his surroundings, his mind cleared long enough to orient himself in time and place.
The tower. He was in the tower.
But how had he gotten up all those flights of stairs and into this room? After the brief, intense fight with the dragon, Uthiel didn’t remember a thing until he had first awoken a few turns of the hourglass ago. Had he somehow climbed those stairs? He must’ve.
Uthiel shivered again, but this time with foreboding. The dragon was close by; he could feel its presence. Probably just waiting for its chance to attack him through the small window.
But what was it waiting for?
He licked his dry, cracked lips with a tongue in no better shape. Water…I must have water.
Bracing his upper body on his good arm, he tried to sit up. The action took more effort than he had energy for, however, and a wave of dizziness and nausea threatened to steal away his last vestige of reality.
After several long, slow, deep breaths, Uthiel attempted once more to reach his water flagon. The part of his mind still functioning knew he would die without it.
This time, he didn’t bother sitting up, but merely rolled and stretched out his good arm, ignoring the intense burning in the opposite shoulder. With shaky hands, he lifted the container, which was more than half-empty, to his parched lips and drank deeply but briefly.
One more day, perhaps two, if he rationed it very strictly, and then the water would be gone. Would that be long enough? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been here.
One thing he did know, however, was that Briar was on a quest to find him.
But was that good or bad? Should he be angry with her for putting herself in danger, or simply be grateful she’d heard his fever-induced pleas?
Clutching the smooth Dragon Heart Opal, Uthiel closed his eyes and rested, forcing himself to relax and slow his heartbeat. He wasn’t willing to give in to the poison coursing through his veins. If he slowed his heartbeat and the spread of the venom, he might survive.
The monster will not triumph this time.
His thoughts returned to Briar. Yes, she was on her way here, and he knew it to the very core of his being. It surprised him that the bond between them had already grown so strong.
His Briar, his love, his healer was definitely getting closer. With every passing day, the stone pulsed stronger and faster. It radiated more warmth.
He must get his strength back. He would need it to protect her when she arrived. He had already lost one woman he loved to the dragon, and he would not lose another.