by Aaron Crash
Ymir swept the melted ice from his arms. He walked, a bit wary of the showerheads, to retrieve his towel and soap. He moved out into the sea alley to dry and put on his school robes, part fabric, part leather.
Meanwhile, Gatha tried the spout again, the one nearest to the exit. She turned the knob and simple water came pouring out.
Ymir left her, returned to his room, dressed, and came out to see her waiting for him.
“Who would want to kill you?” she asked.
“A man is only as good as his enemies. We can discuss this with Lillee, and Jenny will be along soon enough.” Or so he hoped.
Chapter Eleven
YMIR AND GATHA WALKED up the stairs, braving the rain, until they were inside the citadel. They hung their cloaks on hooks at the entrance of the Librarium. They walked up to the second floor and sat at the table with Lillee.
The Princept, of course, wasn’t in her mezzanine office. However, new lights appeared in the Imperial Palace, in the Reception Room there. Below, in the Throne Auditorium, the Ohlyrran musicians were giving the scholars music.
Ymir and his friends wouldn’t be enjoying the festival like before. They had work to do. Gatha didn’t sit. She stood, arms crossed. Lillee leaned over and kissed Ymir’s cheek. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
That girl, always so intuitive.
He was about to answer when Jenny came up the stairs behind them, stomping angrily. She gripped a mug of kaif in white knuckles. Scholars weren’t supposed to have food or drink in the Coruscation Shelves. When she saw Gatha, the swamp woman drank the rest of the kaif in one big gulp. She then gave the she-orc librarian a fake smile. “Why, Gatha, what a pleasant surprise.”
The she-orc frowned. “I’m simply here to put The Keez Forta Index back. I’d appreciate it if you hurried. And if you try to break into the Scrollery, I will stop you.”
Jenny nodded. “Good to know. Good to know. Sure you won’t sit?”
Gatha shook her head.
Ymir noticed the she-orc’s eyes were on Jenny’s breasts, lingering there for a second before she caught herself.
The librarian glanced away and motioned to Ymir. “He has something to tell you.”
The thought of Gatha’s attention to Jenny’s chest was very interesting. He let the lust go and got to more serious matters. “Someone tried to kill me in the sea alley shower.” He told them what happened.
Lillee leapt to her feet and hugged Ymir to her chest. She didn’t say a word, she just held him, and Ymir smelled her light perfume and her body. Both were fragrant and comforting. Lillee sat down.
Jenny gave his hand a squeeze, and then she gripped her ceramic mug. She looked like she needed the kaif. When she sipped from the cup, her hand shook. Her vivid blue eyes seemed dimmed by the darkness shadowing her face. “It could be Darisbeau, trying to get revenge. Or it could be someone who wants to stop us from going into business. Maybe it was a prank.” She couldn’t say more, not with Gatha there.
The she-orc felt it and scowled. “It wasn’t a prank. I’m sorry someone is trying to kill your clansman. However, that is not my concern. I’m here for the book.”
Ymir wanted to tease the she-orc librarian. She’d had such worry in her voice when she called to him. The concern afterwards had also been unmistakable. “Let’s finish this first task so Gatha can leave. Can we trust you to keep what you see secret?”
“I give you my word of honor,” the she-orc said. “I want to leave. So do it in front of me. If you don’t, I’ll simply take my own rubbing.”
Ymir opened the index to the page with the scratched-out word. He then brushed the coal over the blank parchment resting on the book.
Once done, the indentation from the lost words were clear: The Veil Tear Ring. The Scrolls of Octovato. See also the Akkir Akkor.
Gatha leaned over. Ymir got a glimpse of her green breasts, swinging free from any binding. Her nipples were wide and soft, a darker green color than her smooth skin.
She didn’t want him looking, so Ymir pried his eyes away.
Gatha, though, was close to him, her body warm. “Like I thought. That’s in the Scrollery. I’m not familiar with the Veil Tear Ring, nor do I recognize those words, Akkir Akkor. That is Homme from the vempor’s family tongue. I do know those scrolls. You’d need permission to get them, from a Studia Dux or from the Princept.” She tossed aside the rubbing, scooped up the book, and then held it to her side.
Ymir glanced at Jenny. She gave him a bleary look. The swamp girl needed sleep.
Then the clansman sat back. “Gatha, perhaps we could make some sort of deal. You have access, correct?”
“I’m a librarian, and a trusted one.” She frowned. Her eyes were on Ymir so they wouldn’t drift back to Jenny’s breasts. It seemed this she-orc liked women, or at least their breasts. She snarled at him. “Do you know why I’m trusted? It’s because I’m trustworthy. I will not risk my job for you. You have no idea what I’ve done to get it.” She turned and stalked off.
Jenny grinned. “You think it’s true about those she-orcs having tusks around their oheesy?”
“No,” Ymir returned. “I’ve seen her oheesy. It has lips and a pearl like any others I’ve seen. As for the smell? That is to be determined.” He didn’t think Gatha only liked women, not given the heat between him and her. Time would tell, however.
Lillee touched her essess to make sure it was in place.
Jenny laughed. “Such a barbarian. Following your nose around, sniffing women like a dog.”
“Gatha called me a dog. She’s not wrong, and neither are you.” He frowned. “At least I have a new artifact to research. The Veil Tear Ring. The veil—what could that be, and why must we shred it? What veil blinds us? I don’t know about akkor, but could akkir be a reference to the Akkiric Rings? I would think so.”
“I would think so as well,” Lillee said softly. Again, she adjusted the essess.
Jenny saw it. “Are you all right, Lil?”
The elf girl blushed. “Gatha. She’s beautiful and wild. Talking about her sex and smells, I can’t help but think about her in that way. I’m able to concentrate, but I know if I took off my cuff, it would feel so good to fantasize about her. But, yes, I’m all right.”
“Just conflicted.” Jenny smiled.
“Always,” Lillee sighed.
She scooted up and hooked an arm around Ymir’s thick arm. “And I’m worried about Ymir.”
“I’m worried about it all too, and all of us.” Jenny’s hand shook as she lifted the cup to her lips. “Nelly and I read the fucking sand letter. It took all of five minutes. Auntie Jia wrote three boring paragraphs about home. They’re testing me, to see if I break.”
“You will,” Ymir said, “if you don’t tell us about your nightmares.”
Jenny smiled like a specter. “I don’t remember them.”
“You lie.”
“I do. And well,” Jenny agreed. “Let’s focus on the tasks at hand so we can make an appearance at the party downstairs. Then we’ll need to get that essess off our horny elf and play a little tonight, but not in the sea alley showers. That would be too strange now. We should go to your rooms, though, and not my place. Too risky tonight because I know Nellybelle is onto us. She knows, but she doesn’t have proof, so she’ll wait and set traps for me. Still, we can have fun down there, and we can all fantasize about Gatha. She’d be a she-devil in the sack.”
Ymir liked the idea of Gatha joining them, though that seemed unlikely. He nudged Jenny back to the topic at hand. “I’ll find out more about the Veil Tear Ring. And we can all ponder how to get into the Scrollery.”
Jenny tapped her mug with a fingernail. “Professor Leel is the Studia Dux of Flow, and she doesn’t much like any of us. Gharam Ssornap, from Sunfire, doesn’t either, thanks to what we did to him. Brodor Bootblack, from Form, is probably our best bet, but he’s a surly one.”
“And if I went to Della, she’d get suspicious right away.” Ymir thought Jenny was ri
ght. “Maybe if Brodor and I went drinking, I could get him to sign something. That would be hard now since Brodor and Gharam are so close.”
“Something will come along,” Jenny said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“We’ll have to do it soon,” Ymir replied. “The Veil Tear Ring was in The Keez Forta Index, under divination magic. If we can find it or craft it, that might help us figure out who tried to kill me tonight. And there are the inevitable assassins coming after Jenny. This would help us in any number of ways.”
Ymir frowned. “But that is not the work of this night. Tell us, Jenny, about the xoca beans.”
Lillee moved her chair to rest her head against Ymir’s shoulder. “Can we really discuss this other business with your life in danger?”
Ymir shrugged. “We can’t do anything about the Veil Tear Ring tonight. We can talk about the business, and with more time, I can study more. No, we’ll work on both until all is made clear.” He motioned for the Josentown princess to continue.
Jenny pushed a strand of midnight-black hair behind her ear. “So, in our class, we have Mimilynn Banette.”
Ymir nodded. “From the Scatter Islands. Go on.”
“Her family provides Old Ironbound with kaif. There are plantations in the Scatter Islands, but a lot comes from Reytah. And that’s where the xoca beans come from. Here’s the thing. The Undergem Guild has been trying to make a deal with the Wingkin about the xoca beans, a trade agreement that everyone can agree upon. Ha, an ‘agreement that everyone can agree upon.’ Sorry. Tired.” Jenny sipped more of her kaif. “Prices are still high. That explains why xocalati hasn’t been so widely distributed. And don’t it make you wonder how Nan and Ziziva are in business?”
Ymir cut through Jenny’s many words to get to the point. He could see where it was headed. “Mimilynn knows smugglers. She can get us xoca beans. We’ll have to pay, and it might not be legal, but we can get them.”
Jenny touched Ymir’s nose. “And that’s my big, brainy barbarian. As far as what’s legal? Money can bend laws. Enough money can break ’em. We take our shecks to the StormLight next Friday night, and we can meet with a few rough people Mimi knows. Then we’ll get our crows in the same closet, get our xoca beans, and we can get down to business.”
“Crows in the same closet?” Lillie asked, a quizzical smile on her face.
Jenny giggled. Her lack of sleep was making her silly. “It’s an old swamp saying. Don’t pay me no mind.”
“What do you need for your love spell?” Ymir asked.
The Josentown princess waved away the question. “That’s easy. Sandalwood. Some swamp moss. A red ribbon. Some spit. You’ll provide that, I think. Most of our customers are going to be women. That’ll help them along, all right. This won’t be a true Lover’s Knot, just a little bit of spice for our customers.”
Tongues of ice licked up Ymir’s spine. His stomach twisted. Again, this fucking magic felt loathsome. Yet, he’d have been dead if he hadn’t cast the Flow armatus spell.
He felt the irony. They’d been worried about someone coming after Jenny. They hadn’t considered he could be the next target. Could it be assassins from Josentown? Or was it the mysterious organization that Siteev had served? Once they had the Veil Tear Ring, he hoped to find out.
Jenny stood up. “I better get to the party downstairs. I promised Prissybelle I’d dance with her. And Nelly will be asking for me.”
Anger swept through Ymir. “They all need to be beaten if not killed. And what of Darisbeau Cujan getting close to Nelly? Do we know anything about that?”
Jenny smirked. “Oh, Daris says he misses home and that those feuds aren’t his. Nelly says we should be nice, and that we can kill him later if we need to. Some of the other girls are considering Roger the Viscount for my sister, which isn’t a bad idea. I’d go for Odd Corry though for stupid, cruel Arribelle. They can be stupid and cruel together.” She walked off, boots clacking. She turned. “You two don’t have to go to the party. I can just meet you back in Lillee’s room. We should go there. I can cast some magic to make sure it’s safe.”
Lillee’s eyes were closed. She was clearly upset. “I wanted to go to the festival. I wanted to dance.”
“Good. I like to watch you dance.” Jenny laughed. She seemed recklessly uncaring. “I sent out some sand letters of my own, checking in with some girls still loyal to me in Josentown. We’ll figure this out, Ymir. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
“You’re the pretty one,” he growled. “And though you’re trying to hide it, you’re the worried one as well”
“Ain’t gotta worry when there’s wine.” The swamp woman clacked away across the floor and down the steps.
Ymir thought of his predicament. A hidden enemy was threatening him and his women. His first instinct was to take his battle ax in his hands and hew through the Swamp Coast women until someone told him what they needed to know.
He went and held Lillee close. She clung to him as they stood there. It wasn’t sexual for the elf, no, she had her cuff on. This was about closeness and feeling protected.
Ymir would protect both of his princesses.
Ymir didn’t feel like dancing. He did feel like drinking, though, and Lillee deserved a little fun, so he took the elf girl to the festival in the Throne Auditorium.
Ymir stood with a tankard of the heavy beer in his grip. He watched Lillee dance in a line with others, including the she-orcs he worked with, Kacky and Gluck. Those women, one fat, the other ax-shaft thin, were often foul and generally mean, but they’d always been nice to the Sullied elf.
He could see Lillee lose herself in the music and movement, while Jenny danced in a line with her catty collection of evil she-wolves. Daris and his cronies found other partners. Daris made it a point not to look at Nelly. That only meant the two were as close as ever.
That shouldn’t be. The Cujans and the Josens had been feuding for centuries.
Again, Ymir bristled at the duplicity of these southerners and the many, many games they played. All that wealth and luxury had poisoned their souls.
Ymir was surprised to see Toriah Welldeep there. She was dancing with Professor Bootblack, Ymir’s poetry teacher Ibeliah, and Mr. Ironcoat, her husband. There were a few other dwarves there, scholars from various classes, including the thick man who was in Ymir’s class. The clansman hadn’t met him yet.
Tori’s face shone with sweat, and she was enjoying herself. Yet, every so often, she’d stop to rest, and that troubled look would come into her eye.
She forced herself to be happy, which was admirable. But Ymir couldn’t help but think she wasn’t happy, not at all. And he wondered why.
Lillee finally danced herself into a sweat, then drank a bit too much wine to cool off. She went to Ymir and pulled him from the Throne Auditorium. Walking through the Librarium, she shoved her essess into his hand. “Hold that. I’m tired of it. You know, most Ohlyrra forget they have horny holes at all. Maybe that’s better, but I can’t forget about my pussy. I want to feel the tingles in my clit. I want to get fucked.”
“Good thing I’m here.” He laughed and hooked the spiraled jewelry to his belt. Normally, Lillee didn’t like to curse. With her cuff off, though, the filth flowed as easy as breath.
They threw on their cloaks and started off toward their sea cells.
Lillee, though, couldn’t wait. She pulled him into a dark alley, off the Sea Stair, and had him take her from behind. She dropped her cloak and clothes and stood there naked in the cold, in the rain, her long, slender body pale in the wet night.
Ymir kept most of his clothes on, his cloak back, his uht pulled from the opening of his leather pants. All the buttons were undone, freeing his crotch. The cold air felt good on his cock, out in the open, for anyone to see. And then it was buried deep inside Lillee’s body, hot, wet, open for him. She had thick lips on her sex, though her hole was tight. He liked how full her mound was. He liked her gasps. And then he liked how she grunted every time he s
macked into the back of her.
She raised a leg onto a crate, and he stepped closer. He gently pinched one of her rubbery nipples, then gave her his fingers to suck.
She rubbed her ohi. Ymir knew from experience the more insistent her motion, the closer she was to coming. He stopped to let her come, and she made soft weeping noises. She threw a look over her shoulder, her face lit by the warm glow of a light above them. Her platinum hair was plastered to her face. Yet she always looked so sexy and beautiful. “I’m getting cold. Let’s get to my cell. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. Besides, I’ll have to save some for Jennybelle.” Ymir tucked himself back into his pants. He left the cowl of his cloak down. He was wet already, and warm from the exercise. “You seemed to enjoy yourself. Were you thinking of Gatha?”
The elf girl nodded. “A little. It was more like I wanted someone to watch us fuck.”
“Does that someone have a name?” Ymir asked.
“Tori.” Lillee put her hand to her mouth, turning shy. “And Gatha.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” Ymir soothed. “Both are beautiful.”
Lillee nodded. “I’ve been thinking more about Tori than Gatha. Tori has such lovely breasts. And I think about her ass—she has such a big ass. I’d love to bury my face in it.” She shivered. “Telling you all this has my little oheesy so hot again. We might need to find another street to fuck on.”
They managed to get down to the sea alley. Once there, Lillee stripped. First her cloak came off, then her cape, and then the tunic. In just her sandals, she strutted down their corridor. Anyone could’ve come out and seen her. She didn’t care. Without her essess, Lillee really did lose all her inhibitions.
She bent over as she undid her sandals. She knew what she was doing. Her ass cheeks opened, giving him a view of her thick lips and platinum fur.
Lillee straightened and strutted, completely naked now.
She stopped at her door. She stopped his heart. Turning, naked and dripping with rain, her big eyes told him everything he needed to know. He could guess her every desire.
