by Aaron Crash
“Let’s just do today, and today I’m very much alive.” I had to smile at Dryx’s proclamations of my death. “Can I get some water?”
Rhee wiped tears off her face. “I have water to clean you, but wine, wine is what you need.”
I didn’t argue with her. She gave me a tube, and I drank some. It quenched my thirst, and I liked the sweet. I didn’t have a full belly, though, and it went right to my head. I knew what I needed, and I knew Rhee would be just fine with a little lovin’.
“Rhee, baby,” I said. “Kiss me like you mean it.”
“I’ll kiss you like you own me because you do.” Her desperate lips were on mine, her mouth hot and wet. Her breathing changed as she got more excited. She was nearly gasping.
She got her vest and shirt off, revealing big creamy tits, so big on her slender frame. Her nipples were pink and slightly puffy—the perfect nipples, though I have to say, I’ve never met a nipple I didn’t like.
She slipped down her pants. Her boots were already off, revealing her cute toes, slightly pink, like the best parts of her. “I was going to do this to you, Axel, to help you, but I wasn’t sure if you were too weak.”
“Pretty sure I’ll never be too weak for sex.” And then I was given a view of her pink lips surrounded by her golden pubic hair.
I must’ve had a dazed look on my face. Or she was noticing the bulge in my pants.
Rhee booped my nose, sniffing her tears away. “I was so scared. The hours since the fight have felt like a lifetime, an elven lifetime. But we don’t need to talk.”
No, we didn’t need to talk. It wasn’t like I was physically hurt. I’d escaped without a scratch thanks to my dragon scales. My atma, though, felt cracked, and that was troubling. I’d know in a minute if the damage was dire.
I was on my mattress, rough sheets stuffed with straw. My blankets and pillows were scattered. I found myself on my back. Rhee, facing forward, straddled my face. I never much liked math, but I loved a sixty-nine. She had full lips on her yoni, and I adored her musk. She slid my pants down and wasn’t gentle with my rod. She grabbed it, sucked on it, and drooled on it, until even my balls were drenched. Moaning with lust, she adjusted herself to make sure I sucked on her button.
When she was close to coming, she ground herself harder on my face. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t care. Rhee coming was one of the seven wonders of the world. This sea elf was insatiable once she started her orgasms. One would never be enough for her, and the more she had, the nastier she got.
“Yes, I feel it, I feel you with my atma,” Rhee purred. “I’ll never get tired of this. Are you feeling better, Axel? Please, tell me you’re feeling better.” Then she changed her mind. “No, I know what will make you feel better.” Then she couldn’t talk because she was too busy taking me deep into her mouth and into the back of her throat.
She came off me, choking a little, then stroked me hard and fast. It was clear what she wanted. And who was I to withhold anything from her?
We’d been with each other a lot, daily, if not hourly, and so she knew all the signs of my impending orgasm. She sucked my cock into her little mouth, and it was soft and hot and wanton. With both her hand and her mouth at play, and her sex in my face, I gave myself over to the feeling. I found myself clutching her hair, feeling the braids and the beads tangled in her blonde locks. And then the bliss hit me, the indescribable feeling that made every part of me tingle. Her mouth was on me. My room was dark with twilight, but it became bright as my skin glowed. I felt the shakti swirling through my atma. Yes, that energy was helping me. I was smart enough to know I’d gotten lucky that I hadn’t burned out my soul with my wall maneuver. The Calcifax staff wasn’t going to stop me from crippling myself. And I might still have issues.
It felt like when I’d pulled muscles before, playing football with my friends. When I’d gotten injured, there was part of me that wanted to believe it was nothing. Another part of me knew it might be serious. I did have a family of sorcerers to heal me, but that didn’t help me that day at the game. I’d been out for hours.
All those thoughts went through me as I came down from my orgasm.
Then? I had another issue to deal with.
Rhee gasped. “Angelina. She’s back. She came in through the window.”
I couldn’t see because Rhee was taking up my field of vision.
The elf laughed. “I think she likes watching us. Do you like watching us, Angelina? Do you like watching me?” From the husky tone of the elf’s voice, it was a rhetorical question.
“She’s nodding,” Rhee said.
Why wasn’t Dryx talking? And why wasn’t she correcting Rhee on her true name?
Again, I couldn’t see. And Rhee didn’t want me talking. She had leaned back so I could work my tongue inside her. She liked that. Rhee liked most everything.
“She’s walking over to me. She’s going to kiss me. By the seven angels, she’s going to kiss me. That look in her eye. She’s turned on. She wants to join us.” Rhee could hardly talk.
I couldn’t very well tell Rhee I’d already had sex with the angel girl. This was happening fast, and I was surprised. Dryx had talked about something called the Quickening. Was that sex for the winged woman’s race?
Back on Earth, it referred to the flutter a mother felt when her baby first moved. It couldn’t mean that for the winged woman, could it?
Rhee kept up on current events. “She’s taking off her tunic. Her wings are out. I see her tits, and she has white pubic hair. I’m going to touch it.” A beat later. “She’s wet. I can get a finger in her.” And then Rhee came again. Her sex engine had started, and it was going to take some time to get it turned off again.
That was okay with me, as I was hard again. I felt the winged woman adjust herself, and she slid down on me. Her fragrant wings spread out, and we were thrown into darkness. The wings blocked the light from the balcony window.
I was glad Dryx had come back. I had so many questions for her, and I didn’t want her to think I’d died during that fight. Also, I had to thank her for saving my life.
That would all happen after she drew another orgasm out of me.
“She’s fucking you, Axel. This woman is fucking you, and I’m watching.” Rhee worked her hips up and down, brushing her clit against my tongue, and she fell against the woman. I couldn’t see that, but I could feel it. The winged woman’s clutching tunnel held me as I thrust up into her, again and again, thrusting up and up and up. Rhee moved forward enough so I could see the winged woman’s face. Her eyes were closed, her pale skin was so creamy, and her feathers were so white. She wasn’t doing this out of any necessity. She wanted this.
Rhee was sucking on Dryx’s nipples. Mouth open, eyes closed, the angel girl relaxed into her orgasm, wings closing a bit, her shoulders back. The look of pleasure and comfort on her face was sexy. She cradled Rhee’s blonde hair to her breast. It was clear she liked the attention.
Her eyes flickered open, shining like jewels. She looked into my eyes and nodded. I grabbed her hips and thrust up into her. She was wet and slippery but still tight. It felt perfect. I gave myself over to the perfection. Again, I was given more shakti. My second orgasm with the winged woman felt better than the first. It left me shaking and laughing as Rhee got off me and lay down on the bed. She clung to me, sighing happily.
Dryx stood and grabbed her dress. The insides of her thighs gleamed.
She turned, giving us a view of her tits and her wings. “The other uglies are having some sort of festival to celebrate our victory. I won’t be satisfied until every last one of those sea people is dead and rotting under the waves. Especially the bearded one. The black beard. Him.”
She went out onto the balcony and flew off in a flash of white wings. This was becoming the new normal. It also made me wonder any number of things. Maybe the Kankar had boxed her up to keep her from showing up, breaking their hearts, and flying off.
Rhee raised an eyebrow. “Well, that was strange. Did
she talk?”
“She talked,” I said. “Let’s find Figg, and I want to check on Geeze. If he’s hurt, I’m going to find Ibbithy and Illbro and put them on Friday night’s Knights of Columbus fish fry menu. It’s going to be like a Catholic church during Lent.”
Rhee kissed my nose. “You’ve never been sexier. I don’t know what you just said, but I like the part about killing fin lickers.”
“We might not need to,” I said. “We need to come up with a plan.”
“Ooh, plans are sexy,” Rhee purred.
“We’ll see.” I had far more questions than answers, but everything pointed to Illbro Brinnib lying his fishy ass off. And I was pretty sure he was the one that had boxed up Dryx.
For that? He needed to die.
Chapter Seven
I’D REINFORCED THE roof of the brothel to accommodate my size, so I could land there. Then I could shift and climb down a ladder to my balcony. I was on the roof, as a dragon, when Rhee climbed up. She’d stuffed my clothes into her leather satchel. I wanted to get over to Geeze’s perch, since that was where Figg had taken the old guy. Flying there would be faster than walking.
With my keen senses, I could smell the grease over in the marketplace and heard the rhythmic pounding of drums. The sun was setting—the clouds were a red splash against the azure heavens. It reminded me of sunsets in Wyoming. Home. Or at least that was where I’d grown up. Did I still live there? I had the sense of visiting there, but no, I didn’t live on the Infinity Ranch anymore.
More memories came to me. I’d grown up with a religious woman—I’d been to K.O.C. fish fries in Cheyenne at the Church of the Holy Trinity. I struggled to remember a name but couldn’t. She’d been a serious woman who fought with Filipino fighting sticks, and she’d taught me that martial art. She wasn’t alone. Another one of my moms taught me to wield a sword. Still another mother taught me to shoot guns. No, I had at least three women teaching me how to shoot. Two were twins, and they smelled like bubble gum, and you couldn’t ask for crazier aunts. I liked Texas BBQ because of them.
I shook away that itch of a memory. Now was not the time for such reverie. We had things to deal with: merfolk drama, mysteries, lies, attacks, and a winged woman who was talking again. From what she said, she didn’t think too much of humans. She called them uglies. However cruel, for some in Foulwater, it was accurate.
Rhee scrambled into my claw, and I flew away from the house and across the town, winging over some of the buildings I’d helped repair with the stone staff. I was proudest of the school, Tiajati College, only it was now college, high school, and elementary school. Back at its height, the school had drawn students from up and down the Dawn Coast. Some were drawn here to study magic, and yes, Geeze had taught there, along with a bunch of other sorcerers.
Foulwater had been an amazing place at one point, but when things turned, they turned hard, and the school shut down and fell into disrepair. It was looking better now. I’d repaired some walls, and I’d crafted a few openings for windows, though we didn’t have the glass just yet. We were going to use money from the Kankar treasure. Uncle Dog had blown a good chunk on his pleasure barge.
The town did have enough money to hire a teacher from the Praachi Archipelago. She was a young, dark-haired, and dark-skinned woman named Sita Amaranth. She was nice enough but not the most chipper woman I’d ever met. That might be because of the peg leg. I figured I’d learn about Sita’s missing leg eventually, but I was waiting for the right time to ask about it. It was a douche move to ask when you first met someone. “Hey, I’m Axel. How did you lose your leg, ya big gimp?” It wouldn’t play well.
I didn’t know my mom’s name, but I knew she’d made sure I had a few manners. Not many, mind you. She was a rough woman... from what little I could remember.
The party in the market was in full swing. I wanted to get there, but first things first, I needed to see about Geeze. Lights twinkled from the windows of his tower, which rose out of the water.
Out farther on the New Pier, I saw Victorio Varuna and some of his workers hauling kraken parts to the feast. I was hoping Mumi would have butter because I liked my lobster dipped in butter.
I dropped Rhee onto Geeze’s balcony. I then did a loop, thinking I might change into my Homo Draconis form and land on the patio. My flying still wasn’t very good. It took some things longer to come back than others. I didn’t want to get fancy. There was a good chance I’d miss and wind up hitting his little dock or his boat. His tower was completely surrounded by water, and he used Uma magic to fly up to his perch.
I took the safe route. I shifted into my partial form, reduced my speed, turned human, and went into the water feet first. Then I climbed up the side of his tower.
At the top, Rhee was waiting with a towel and my clothes. I dried and changed. When I heard Geeze, my heart leapt in my chest. The old guy was still alive.
I ducked into his room. It was circular, full of bookshelves, candles, and various things from his eleven hundred years of life. Scrolls lay tucked away here and there. One table looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory. He called it his Alchemist’s Rack, and then winked at me, saying he could brew up any number of terrible things. I asked about vodka and vermouth. The confused look on his face didn’t leave me with much hope.
His bed hung by ropes to the rough-hewn logs in the ceiling. It swung near a little platform that held more of his things, including a curved sword, which he said was the finest blade in the world. And made by orcs. I figured orcs would be less katana and more overgrown steak knife, but that wasn’t the case on Caranja.
As for the man himself, he sat in a chair by his window and a cold fireplace. He looked clean, and a blanket covered his lap to keep out the twilight chill. A few candles were lit around his room, flickering with a mystical fire.
Figg was there in her tunic. She knelt next to the old elf. In her hand was a bowl of jimps, fresh from the grease. She must’ve hit the victory party before coming here. A tankard of bilk was there as well. Jimps and bilk, pinch me, I’m dreaming.
Rhee paced and fiddled with things. It was clear she wasn’t exactly thrilled to be in Geeze’s perch and not drinking at the party. For being over a hundred and seventy years old, she didn’t have much tact. I think that was more from her being a sea elf than being relatively young. Myrrans lived for a thousand years. She still had four-fifths of her life left.
Geeze had tired eyes. “Well, Axel, have you come to check up on me? You know, when I die, someone will have to take over the more carnal needs of the rajani. By the Tree of Life, Uncle Dog can’t serve them.”
Figg sputtered, getting herself ready for a full rage fest.
The old elf lifted a gnarled right hand. “Now, Finniwigg, don’t get your ire up. We thought Doggig had changed after joining us to fight at the walls. But no, no, it’s Heehee’s influence on him. A bad mother is a difficult burden to bear.”
Right then, I knew I’d grown up loved. Not sure who my mother was, but she’d loved me. All fifteen of my mothers loved me. I was pretty sure I was getting the number right.
“Uncle Dog needs a beating. And I should give him one.” Figg wasn’t about to be calmed down with a little grandfatherly wisdom.
I jumped in. “There’s diamonds under the silt bed in the harbor.” That got Figg’s attention. I figured I might as well keep going and gently tapped my staff on the floor. “I could feel them down there. Kinda surprised me. In other news, Dryx is talking, but she thinks humans are ugly. I think she is disgusted by me as well, though we keep having sex. So that’s a thing. Let’s see? I almost destroyed my atma bringing up the wall. Oh, and the merfolk know about the diamonds as well, so not only are they evil, they are greedy. Lastly? Ibbithy thinks we stole treasure from Illbro Brinnib, but old Squidbeard must know we didn’t. SquidBEARD. Not SquidWARD. Just to be clear.”
Rhee burst out in a guffaw. “Wait, so that treasure hoard came from the Brinnib family?”
“You know of them?�
�� I asked.
Geeze was watching. Figg couldn’t get her mouth closed.
The pirate elf nodded. “Aye, I know the Brinnib family. They control the waters to the south of here, from the Praachi Archipelago to Clearwater Bay and all the way to South City, really. They’re powerful. The BuBano family have been fighting them for territory for years. I knew some of those fin lickers looked familiar.”
“Well, Ibbithy and Squidbeard are best friends now. They wanted revenge for us stealing away the Vanka Jalana, and Illbro wanted his treasure back. Maybe we should give them Uncle Dog.”
I was kidding, but Figg took it to heart. “You know we should. Then he can try and buy his way out with his fucking barge.”
Geeze made shushing motions with his hand. He wiggled his stump. “Easy, Figg. Now that we know we are sitting on diamonds, we can mine the diamonds.”
“So you’re saying it’s about time that we mine the diamonds?” I asked. No one got the joke. I wasn’t surprised.
“Past time,” Geeze said. “This could open up a whole new industry. I am very pleased.”
Figg rose and went to me. She took my face in her hands, drew my head down, and pressed her forehead against me. “You, Axel Drokharis, pushed yourself too far today. If you had shattered your atma, you could have died. You need concentration ink.”
We’d talked about this before, and that meant a trip to the city of Trident on the Praachi Archipelago, or to Sweetleaf, the capital of the Nectar Grasslands.
Rhee sighed and came over. She took both of us in her arms. “How are we going to do that when we have those fin lickers at our doorstep? They’re going to attack again.”
Geeze put his hand to his head. “Not for one week. I have seen into the Flow. Ibbithy and Illbro will come back, and in greater numbers. They are going to seek the aid of another family. I see another war on our doorstep again. This time, it’s to the east, and we might be able to fall back to the Old City wall, but then we’d be giving up the New Pier. I’m not sure Mumi, Ginger, Barggby, or Victorio will give up their business. The boats too would be hit hard.”
