by Noah Layton
I looked off into the depths of the forest too. Time was passing, and the day was being eaten up by the afternoon hours.
‘Anyway,’ he suddenly continued. ‘Were you gentlemen looking to offload anything? I’m getting out of here, and so is everybody else. This place will be dead in an hour.’
Quietly we unloaded our crop shipment in return for a reasonable price, until we reached-
‘Moonseed?’ The bull-headed man said. ‘That’s not for me.’
‘I thought you bought everything.’
‘Well, you thought wrong, friend. I have no interest in that poison.’
‘Is it against the law of the land?’ I said, turning to Alorion. ‘Are we going to have to deal this stuff in the backstreets? Because then I’m really going to feel like a drug dealer.’
Alorion was about to respond but Bullhead cut in.
‘There is no law in this land,’ he said. ‘Just a quiet agreement amongst the many that we won’t start cutting each other’s heads off. Look around you. Most people who traded here are old enough to remember the war. They’ll do anything to avoid something like that happening again.
‘I’m exactly the same. Moonseed might not make you violent but it fogs your mind. I have seen what it does to people, and I have no interest in it. Leave me to the life essence of this world, and you keep that stuff to yourself.’
There was no way that I was going to coerce him into buying it, so as we headed back up the road to our land, the moonseed remained in the cart.
But that was the least of my worries.
‘This is deathly serious,’ I said. ‘People don’t just up and leave like that for no reason, especially so many of them. Whatever this thing is that’s attacking people, it’s caused enough of a stir to have everybody abandon ship.’
‘We should keep to ourselves back at the land for the near future,’ Alorion suggested. ‘We have food and water and shelter, and any crops that we farm can go into storage. Otherwise we should not remove ourselves beyond our borders.’
‘I thought that our defences would do a good job of keeping anything out, but we’ve only got a small section completed, and even if I did have the other 90% completed, I seriously doubt that it would keep this thing out, whatever it is. This perimeter fence is a start, but it’s really only a marker, a deterrent. In the future we’ll need guard towers, obstructions, and anything else that the Defence Totem can offer.’
There was a sudden rustling in the forest to our left. We halted in our tracks and looked.
A flock of blue-feathered birds burst from the trees and rushed past just a few feet over our heads, disappearing into the trees on our right.
‘Let’s get back to the land,’ I said. ‘Quickly.’
Chapter Fifteen
Evening was approaching when we arrived back. The sky would be awash with stars in a few hours.
After parking the cart and letting Domino back into the pasture I checked that everybody was accounted for. Almost all were – everybody apart from Santana.
I found Jeremiah by the perimeter fence, still cutting through trees. He had piled enough trunks for us to complete a considerable amount of the fence.
‘Damn, Jeremiah, you’re making me look bad.’
‘Not the intention, Master Jack, but it is good to work up a sweat again.’
‘Have you seen Santana anywhere?’
‘She should be over in the field. If not she will be in the forest with Myranthia. She has always known to return from the forest before dark. Do you wish for me to find her?’
‘No, don’t worry about it. I’ll go look for her.’
‘Is something wrong?’
‘No, no… And don’t worry about the logs, you’ve done a great job. You can finish up for today.’
Even if the monster was still in the surrounding area, it would be miles away in the opposite direction of where Santana was. Even so, I had to get her back to the land so that everybody was accounted for.
Maybe I could have gone looking for her on foot, but if we had to make a quick getaway she was a much better rider than me, and Myranthia was too small to carry both of us.
I couldn’t tell Jeremiah a thing about it. If he found out that there was some gigantic monster on the loose that was out for blood he would probably have a breakdown, even if he had exorcised a lot of his energy cutting through trees all day.
I had little doubt that, given the right conditions, my neck would replace one of those trunks now that I had seen what he could do.
I didn’t care how much of a pacifist he claimed to be; I knew how violent people could be given the right circumstances. I had seen people turn from innocents to animals in the blink of an eye, especially when their lives or the lives of their loved ones were threatened.
He had hinted at it himself.
Domino was a little reluctant to move through the trees, but after a little prompting and calming he headed on at a steady trotting pace, arcing around trunks and pushing on through the undergrowth.
‘Santana?’ I called loudly. ‘Are you there?’
By my count I had travelled around a hundred yards past the treeline when I heard a moan through the trees.
I slowed my horse and searched around in the dying light.
‘Santana?’
Up ahead I heard the quiet neighing of another horse. It had to be Myranthia.
I hitched Domino to a nearby tree and hurried ahead, retrieving my sword on the way.
Finally I found Myranthia hitched to a tree thirty yards past where I had stopped, but her owner was nowhere to be seen.
Another gasp sounded out through the trees ahead.
I continued on, the sounds growing louder, before finding a small clearing and seeing Santana within it.
‘Yes… Yes…’
I had spent days trying to convince myself that she was just the well-meaning, beautiful farmer’s daughter. I had tried to avoid her words and instead focus upon her gentle nature.
In the small clearing Santana was stretched out on a blanket on the ground. She was on her back, her dress pulled down, exposing her perky breasts which she grabbed gently in her hands.
The bottom of her dress was hitched up around her waist and her underwear was on the ground nearby. Her eyes were closed and her legs were bare and open, and her fingers between them as she pleasured herself against gasps from her open mouth.
I was stood just a few yards away, and she had no idea that I was watching her.
Get out of here. Just turn around and get on your horse and go back to camp.
‘Oh, gods… Master…’
Wait, what the fuck?
Santana’s eyes began to flicker. For a fraction of a moment she caught sight of me, and another fraction later she registered my presence.
‘Oh, gods!’ She moaned, pulling her hand away and sitting up.
‘Sorry!’ I said quickly, looking away and holding a hand up. ‘I didn’t know you were out here… I mean, I did know, but I didn’t know what you were doing…’
‘I was just… Just…’
‘You don’t need to explain yourself to me. I’ll just go…’
‘You’re going?’
‘No offence, but if Jeremiah catches me out here with you… Like this… He’ll cut my throat.’
I moved to go, ready to forget this had ever happened.
‘What my father does not know will not hurt him.’
I halted and turned.
‘What?’
‘I have only ever been with one man before… I was supposed to be wed to him, but he was a weak man who had trouble pleasuring me... I have hardly even left my family’s pasture… Then you arrive, a strong man with his own tribe, ready to rescue me. You are the kind of man that I have fantasised about. Surely you heard me, did you not?’
I had heard exactly what she had said. Master.
‘I did, but…’
‘Do you not want me, master? Do I not excite you?’
‘You wouldn’t believe how
much you excite me,’ I replied. ‘But this is wrong.’
‘Does that not make it all the more special?’
She had been reserved the whole time I had known her, but as I watched Santana pull her arm away from covering her perky breasts, watched her pull her dress back up to expose herself unashamedly to me, I felt my breath catch in my throat.
‘I have never been with a real man before… Would you not at least like to taste me?’
God fucking help me…
I could have turned and walked away. I could have sprinted off. Domino would have a real fight on his hands trying to catch up with me. But there was no way that that was going to happen.
Santana read from her holy book every day, but this time it was me who was the one dropping helplessly to my knees before her as she touched herself lightly with one hand and propped her body up with the other, her tight figure presented before me.
Forgiveness would come later, if I ever received it. Pleasure came first.
I lowered myself to the ground and raised my mouth between her legs. Santana laid back and threw her dress down over me, confining me with her.
There was nowhere else I wanted to be.
With the sensation of my warm breath between her legs, Santana was already panting sharply. I ran my tongue to the bottom of her pink wetness, running myself up to her clit and playing with her gently.
She went silent for a moment as her body tensed, before she unleashed a sharp, wild scream of pleasure.
If her first time had been that disappointing, I was going to treat her like she wanted to be treated, do everything I could to pleasure her as she deserved it. She had been wanting to do this properly for so long and now that it was here there was no way that I was going to make it any less than perfect.
Within minutes she had a hand pressed against the back of my head, desperate to draw me deeper into her. I kissed at her passionately in between tonguing her clit with a firm, gentle press until she finally climaxed against me.
Her body shook lightly as I pulled myself away. She spared no time in returning her own hand between herself in my absence. All I could do was shake my head in bafflement.
‘My own touch has served me well on many occasions prior,’ she whispered, her eyes already fluttering again. ‘Let me say that I prefer your touch much more, master. Would you… Give me more?’
I was too worked up to even think about turning her down. My cock was rock hard inside of my pants, and pulling away my clothes until finally I had reached my underwear was unbelievably freeing, especially out here in the forest.
Santana eyed my hardness behind my boxer shorts with intense interest as she continued to tease herself. When I finally pulled myself from them her eyes went wide.
‘I had a feeling that you would be big… But not that big.’ She bit her lip and pushed her fingers against herself, just as she had done when I’d first stumbled on her. ‘Would you take me, Master Jack? I would like my first real occasion with a man to be special…’
‘I thought you said you’d been with a man before? The man you were supposed to marry?’
‘As I said, the first real occasion. He could not please me as well as you already have…’
‘What does your holy book say about all this?’
‘The teachings of the Agrarian gods tell me to seek out that which is good, and this is definitely good…’
I couldn’t argue with that, could I?
I lowered myself to the ground, kneeling between her legs and pressing my own fingers to her as she removed hers. She was dripping with wet anticipation, but from going down on her I could already tell how tight she was.
‘Be gentle with me, master,’ she said, propping herself up on her arms and looking down between her legs just as I took my cock in my hand and guided it down her.
She let out a stifled laugh as her mouth fell open, looking excitedly down at herself.
‘Now…’
My heart was racing frantically. Santana may have been shaking but so was I.
I guided myself into her, pushing inside of her body. She let out a long, high moan in response, unable to stop herself from watching me enter her.
By the time I stopped she had fallen onto her back, taking almost every inch of me. I lowered myself over her body as she wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and looked intensely into my eyes.
‘Go slowly, master…’
‘I have to. You’re so tight that you could finish me in a second if I’m not careful.’
We kissed passionately as I felt her soft, gentle lips for the first time and slowly moved my hips back before pushing into her again. I could feel every part of her against my shaft, her body intent on taking me.
‘Faster, master… Faster…’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Faster.’
I propped myself up on my fists, working into her harder than before. It wasn’t just the feeling, but the sight of her taking my hard cock that drove my insane.
Santana sank her hands into the blanket beneath us, balling her hands onto fists as she took me relentlessly, and I gave it to her just as she wanted.
This woman was something else.
I pulled her towards me by her hips and wrapped my arms around her back as she rode me, taking control of the situation. Our bodies were wrapped up together in a haze of passion. Eventually I realised that she wasn’t even throwing herself up and down on me – she was grinding against me, taking almost all of my length.
I didn’t even have to move.
Clenching my eyes shut to try and control myself a little longer, I found the motion pointless. There was no way that I could stop it. She was way too much for me; the tightness of her soaked pussy gripping at my shaft in ecstatic desire, the feeling of her soft hands against my neck, the sensation of her slender, firm body pressed up against me…
Our bodies pushed together, we kissed hard in a haze of heat as I came hard inside of her. My mouth slid down her neck as I kissed and moaned against her skin, our bodies sticky with the sweat brought on by the forest.
‘That was incredible, master,’ she moaned, running her hands into my hair and looking into my eyes. ‘Is it always like that?’
‘There’s no way I could ever keep myself from being like that with you… You’re unbelievable.’
‘Thank you, master,’ she smiled.
After remaining in each other’s arms for a little while longer, we dressed and headed back to the land. By the time we arrived night had almost completely fallen, and things were quiet.
‘I think it’s probably a good idea that we keep this a secret,’ I said to Santana as we guided our horses across the field. ‘Just for the time being.’
‘Of course, master. Are you… Are you afraid to be seen with me?’
‘What? No, not at all. I’d be proud to be seen with you. It’s just… Your father might kill me if he found out about us. No, wait, he would definitely kill me.’
‘I am a grown woman, Master Jack. I can make my own decisions. It is my own body to do with what I wish.’
‘I know that, but your dad is really protective over you. Not to mention the religious side of things.’
‘It is open to interpretation…’
‘Sure, but all things considered… I think we should just wait for the right time to tell him.’
‘If you say so, master. But I do not think that he will react as strongly as you believe he will.’
‘We’ll see,’ I said. With darkness encroaching I wanted to kiss her, to feel her soft lips against mine again, and maybe I would have if it hadn’t been for-
‘Santana! Where have you been?’
The silhouette of Jeremiah came hurrying through the grass towards us.
‘Don’t worry about it, Jeremiah,’ I said. ‘She was just… Exploring, in the forest.’
‘I am sorry, father,’ Santana added. ‘I lost track of time.’
‘Well, as long as you are safe. I’ve prepared some dinne
r for us. Would you like to join us, Master Jack?’
Even in the darkness I could see the glimmer of Santana’s eyes against the moonlight flick towards me. The smallest of mischievous smiles rose at the edge of her mouth.
Shit.
‘That’s kind of you to offer,’ I replied. ‘But I should really turn in for the night. It’s been a long day.’
‘Very well. Goodnight.’
He nodded to me and set off back towards the house.
‘Goodnight, master,’ Santana said, that last word escaping her in an almost orgasmic whimper. Without another word or look she set off to the house, disappearing into the night.
I ran my hands roughly over my face and through my hair.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid…’ I muttered to myself. There was a clarity that came after sex that brought the reality of the world crashing back to you. But desire is a weird thing; it overrides that aftershock, even when you know it’s coming because you’ve experienced it a hundred times before.
And when it came to a woman like Santana, there was no way that my instincts could be avoided. She had been reserved when out in the open up until now, but after our time together in the forest something had awoken in her. She was perfectly comfortable teasing the idea of me getting in trouble with Jeremiah.
She had been incredible, and I wouldn’t have had a second thought at the idea of making her my third wife.
Despite it being a culture shock, I was still totally open to the idea of calling them that. With marriage their came a commitment to one woman forever, but in this world I could be with as many as I desired, as long as I treated them with the fairness and kindness that would be expected in any marriage, and that which they deserved.
I just wondered how Jeremiah would feel at the prospect of me marrying his daughter as well.
Santana had been right, she was an adult, but after seeing the guy swing an axe the way he had done I was more than a little sceptical about whether he would stick to his ideals of pacificism.
I headed back to the base of the tree and looked out over my land. A small light flickered inside Tormus and Eri’s house. Alorion was nowhere to be seen, and the girls had likely turned in for the night.
I thought back to the trading post and our unfinished defences. The creature that had attacked the traders was out there somewhere, and the perimeter fence was nowhere near completion. Even when it was finished, I had no idea what good it would really do against some legendary forest creature that could rip apart whole trading caravans.
