Credit to Lyssabyss (author of Barbarian Bound), ReckingBall (author of The Seeker), and of course, GoT for inspiration. First story, so go easy on me. Depending on reception/my free time to write, there will be more installments.
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Ava gasped with relief as she splashed the cool spring water on her face. She had been wandering the forest for days, desperately trying to put as much distance as she could between her and Caern.
As a girl, she practically lived in the woods surrounding her isolated hamlet, picking wildflowers and foraging for herbs and mushrooms that she had memorized from the yellowed pages of the healer's tome that once belonged to her mother.
Ava delighted in these youthful expeditions, although her father would chastise her when she ventured too far from their unassuming cottage, returning well after the sun dipped below the horizon. He warned of the dangers that lay beyond their small farming community. Defiantly, she brushed his warnings off as an overly protective regard toward his only child. After all, it had been just the two of them at the manse for most of her life.
After stealing a quick look over either shoulder, Ava cupped her hands in the spring and eagerly gulped the fresh water, soothing her cracked throat. She lost track of how long it had been since she had anything to drink.
In this brief respite, her mind transported her back to those idyllic days in Caern, sharing a pot of tea with her father, begging him to regale her with another story of her mother until the teapot was long since emptied and the porcelain cold.
Then, her memory flashed—awaking to scorching heat in the wee hours of the morning, cries in the distance, the sound of hoofbeats and bellowing jeers approaching, the suffocating feeling of black smoke filling her lungs.
Her hazel eyes began to well up, but she snapped back to reality before a tear could roll down her flushed cheeks, swashing water on her face in an effort to tether herself to her current predicament. She would need to be sharp if she was to continue to evade those ghouls.
She appraised her current state, scanning her freckled arms, which were caked with dirt, and lifted the hem of her frock to reveal prominent welts on her legs that had formed from escaping through the brush. After surveying the creek bed and listening attentively for any indication of approaching marauders, Ava wagered that she could safely wash. "I'll have to make quick work of it," she thought to herself.
She lifted her skirt over her hips, peeling the garment away from her breast. Ava lamented at the insufficiency of the clothing, just a thin, sage garment with a hemline that rested partway between her knees and ankles. There was so little time to escape, she grabbed what she could before she fled, which wasn't much.
Ava knelt in the shallow water and scrubbed the fabric, dark brown water washing away in the shallow current. Satisfied with her work, she laid her gown on a rocky scramble to dry in the midday sun. In doing so, she spotted a small pool nearby where the creek was a fair bit deeper and the water slow-moving.
She hesitated for a moment, listening again to the sound of the forest. Hearing nothing but the melodic hum of birds and insects, she proceeded to make her way to the beckoning azure pool. Wincing at the chill it brought to her body, she dipped one foot into the water.
Gripping the round stones at the edge of the pool, she gently lowered herself into the frigid water, releasing a girlish yelp once she was submerged up to her rosy nipples, which now stood painfully to attention. She scoured herself until nearly every inch her pale skin was bright pink, albeit clean.
Bracing herself against the icy chill of the water, she tilted her head back and wet the auburn locks that had been matted to the nape of her neck. To her surprise, she felt electrified and refreshed yet relaxed. She let her legs bob up to the surface of the pool, the water buoying her small body.
Releasing her muscles, her eyes fluttered close as she tried for a moment to forget the horrors of the past few days. The sun moved out from behind a cloud, warming her porcelain skin and a corner of her supple lips curled upwards at this fortunate turn of events.
--
Thorn let out a gruff exhale as Gren powerfully galloped through the thick forest.
How could his brothers have been so doltish? Why raid some insignificant farming village when they had more important matters at hand?
Thorn did his best to put it behind him. They had taken the detour, and he had time to kill while his clan reveled in sacking the town. They would pack up camp and be back on their trek once they'd had their fill. His brothers often mocked him for not partaking in their brutish games, but their mockery never lasted long, as he could handily win a fight against any of them, reminding them of his position.
The familiar sound of rushing water in the distance caused Thorn to pull back on Gren's reins, slowing him to a trot. He groggily dismounted and began to tie Gren to the branch of a pine tree, exhausted from the long journey. At least he had a reprieve from those buffoons, he thought to himself.
Walking up to the ridge, Thorn inhaled deeply as he took in the beauty of the forest, his broad, muscled chest rising. He scanned the bluish green of the firs and the crisp, pale blue of the creek carving its way through the land. His eye followed the flow of the water downstream when something unusual caught his eye, something brownish red in the distance. An animal of some kind, he presumed.
He unsheathed his hunting knife from where it hung on his belt, cradling the grooved handle as if it were an extension of his own body, and stalked forward.
As he crept through the forest, careful to make no noise and remain hidden behind the tree line, the creature came into sharper focus. His brow wrinkled, revealing his curious surprise, when he realized it was not an animal at all but a woman. Or at least, it appeared to be.
She was floating in a pool of water, her small body completely bare. His cock stiffened somewhat at the realization. He slinked furtively ahead through the trees with expert soundlessness until he found a vantage point from the ridge above where he could have a closer look at this lustrous creature.
Had he not widely traveled the land, he may have mistaken the woman for a forest nymph, her porcelain skin gleaming as she floated in the water, tinged pink from the frigidity. Reddish strands of hair were suspended in the water, swirling around her delicate face. Her plump, strawberry lips contrasted starkly against her milky skin. Beauty marks freckled her entire body. Her modest bosom pierced the surface of the water in a most pleasing fashion. She looked positively ethereal.
Thorn wondered what it would feel like to reach out and touch her rosy nipples, which were undeniably erect as she lay in the freezing water. His eye followed the curve of her breast down to her belly button, filled with water as her hips bobbed just above the surface. He imagined drinking the icy spring water from her belly button before moving his mouth to her shapely breasts. His cock now strained against his trousers, revealing its rather significant form.
When he noticed that her eyes were closed and her ears submerged below the surface of the water, he began to grin devilishly. He was a lion at the watering hole, ready to take his next unsuspecting meal. He took his time to admire his prey in her vulnerable state.
As the midday sun reflected off of the water, he admired the long, dark lashes that lay gently on her pleasing face as her eyes remained closed. She may have been the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, and he had laid more than just his eyes on scores of women. He thought he saw her lashes briefly flutter open before closing again, spurring him to cautiously advance towards her.
With his razor sharp hunting knife still in hand, Thorn breached the tree line and began to make his way down the rocky creek bed, the midday sun now illuminating his deeply bronzed skin, his chest bare. It almost looked like flecks of gold were reflecting off of his dark skin.
Confidently, he stood above his little nymph and took her in, in her completely bared and relaxed state, laying helplessly before him. From this distance, he could see that her soft lips were forming a gentle smile. She was a perfectly ripe fruit and she was his to pluck from the vine. He brushed a dark curl back into the tied knot atop his head, licked his full lips hungrily, and took one step forward.
—
The warmth of the full sun above and the chill of the icy water provided a blissful distraction from the trials she faced in days past, transporting her lithe body far away from her hellish reality. It wasn't until Ava felt the sun disappear from overhead that she realized that she didn't know if it had been seconds or minutes that she had indulged in this state of repose.
Her disquietude worsened as she rotated her body upwards, now standing in the frigid water as rivulets of water traced her exposed breasts, twin streams dribbling down her nipples. Ava's dulled senses returned slowly as she registered the dark figure before her. The bright sun behind his towering frame cast a shadow over her. All she could make out was an imposing silhouette as her eyes readjusted to the light. The foreboding image caused her stomach to drop and her hazel eyes to widen in fear.
Thorn chuckled, the deep timbre of his voice echoing in the valley. "Have a nice bath, lovely?" he teased menacingly. Ava stood frozen below him, her lips parted slightly as she registered the direness of her situation. Entranced, Thorn knelt at the edge of the pool and brought his thumb to her parted lips, grazing them and gently pulling her bottom lip towards him. Ava took in the masculine face that stared back at her, less than an arm's length away.
His angular jaw stood out from beneath a short, black beard. A single curl framed his face, the rest of his inky black hair tied into a knot at the crown of his skull. His lips were nearly as plump as hers, though they were now twisted into a chilling smirk. His piercing green eyes met her gaping stare as he thumbed her lips, threatening to devour her whole with his gaze alone. She cast her eyes down to the thumb caressing her fleshy bottom lip, and at once, instinct took over and she ferociously bit the invading digit with all the force she could muster.
Thorn bellowed in pain, his deep howl causing a flock of birds to flee his presence. He recoiled his now bleeding hand and swung it quickly back to Ava's cheek, striking her forcefully and leaving a streak of dark red fluid on her pale skin. She yelped, more in fear than in pain, and backed away from the monster before her, attempting to make her escape.
As Ava rested her palms on the smooth rocks at the edge of the pool, about to lift herself out of the water, Thorn stalked towards her, towering above her. This time, careful not to bring himself too close to the feisty nymph, perhaps challenging her, he warned, "Do you really think you can outrun me?"
