Thanks for reading my story, and I hope you enjoy it! As always, comments are welcome.
Thank you, RNebular, for editing!
Guinevere A. Hart
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"I know what'll get you off," Ru said.
Eva's assistant shook his unkempt bangs from his eyes and flashed her a wicked grin. In the few years they'd worked together, occasional casual sex relieved their tensions. The trouble was that no matter what they tried, Eva could never have an orgasm. However, Ru always had an idea or two, and Eva did enjoy trying.
"Oh no," she laughed with him and squirmed back a bit on the cot. She wondered what sort of kink Ru had in mind this time.
He came back to her with one of her artifacts in hand. It was a small statue, carved from marble and highly polished. It was one of the first pieces she'd excavated on her own, and she'd kept it with her ever since. The idol was a simple representation of the Winged Man, also known as the Tenkaru. It was a humanoid figure with folded, bat-like wings. She believed the object had been used for some sort of magical fertility ritual, for the erect penis that proudly stood out was ridiculously proportioned. Its organ was as big as the rest of its body.
Ru pressed her thighs further apart and playfully waggled the idol between her knees. "I know you want him, Eva. The Winged Man and his monster prick are coming to your rescue."
Eva laughed and shook her head. Ru was her friend long before he was her assistant. He had a quirky sense of humor that kept her own more serious nature in balance. She'd never told him of her erotic dreams of the fabled Winged Man, but she wouldn't be surprised if he'd guessed.
"Well, shut up and rescue me already." She closed her eyes and enjoyed the massage, as Ru worked the smooth head of the marble phallus circling her clitoris.
Even before she'd begun her expedition in the Whispering Caverns, Eva dreamt of the Tenkaru. At that moment, her mind easily fell into dreaming, and it was the great Winged Man stroking her most intimate parts. She pictured his luminous skin, shining brighter than the lantern light. Fine horns curled back from his temples forming a sort of delicate crown about his head. His hair, long and white, framed a strong and handsome face, and it flowed over his broad shoulders and down nearly to his hips. His wings stretched out behind him, and his glowing presence consumed her vision.
In her reality, Ru seated the idol's erection within her, pressing its face against her stiffened nub. He stayed quiet, letting her live in her fantasy while he vigorously stroked her with the statue. Eva arched her back and clutched at her own breasts, pinching and pulling at her nipples. In her mind, the Winged Man took rapid thrusts, squeezing her ample flesh in his fingers. She heard him moan and growl her name. In her dreams, he often called her Nevvari, a name she'd grown accustomed to in that otherworldly state.
The Tenkaru lowered his body over hers. Though his wings closed around them, she was engulfed in his light, filled with his body's heat. Her heart raced, and she could feel her own heat and pressure building. She was close, closer than she'd ever been in her life. If she could have just a few more minutes...
Then a voice from outside the tent shattered her dreams and her opportunity. "Miss Cleverleigh? Miss Cleverleigh, you've a guest. He's from Regulum, Miss."
"Shit," Ru whispered. Then he called to the person waiting outside. "Just a minute!"
Her sexual relationship with Ru was definitely inappropriate. If their behavior was found out by their superiors, Ru would receive a strong reprimand and might spend a night in jail. Eva, though, would be imprisoned as a whore. Worse, if caught using the ancient idol in such a manner, they might even brand her a witch and have her executed.
Ru shoved the idol under the cot, while Eva grabbed her clothes and leapt behind the privacy screen where she quickly dressed. Ru pulled on his pants, threw his shirt over his head, and hurriedly wiped his face on his sleeve and finger-combed his hair. With a sharp-eyed glance at the room to see that nothing looked amiss, he pulled the tent flap back and addressed the man outside.
Eva winced as Ru's tone was a bit rough, but she couldn't blame him for that. "Who the hell is it coming out all this way, and at this time of the evening? Miss Cleverleigh needs her rest. This can wait until morning, damn it!"
"No, Mr. Ashley, I'm afraid it can't. The man from Regulum is Advocatus Ellsworth. He says he's got papers from the Synod. They're shutting down the expedition, sir." There was a small amount of panic in the laborer's voice, because the man knew he was about to be unemployed.
Ru's tone was kinder then as he spoke to the man. "All right, Miss Cleverleigh will handle this. Don't worry. She's dealt with the Advocatum before, and I'm sure she can work something out."
Behind the screen, Eva glared at her reflection in the mirror, and she swore under her breath. "Son of a bitch."
She was in a rage as she finished pulling herself together. Ru knew her moods and stayed clear of her path as she swore and stomped around. He tried to placate her, "It's a mistake or something, Eva. Just some stupid bureaucratic bullshit. It's fine."
It wasn't fine, though. She just knew that this expedition would yield definitive proof that the Tenkaru was more than just a legend. Now that she was close to realizing everything she'd studied and worked so hard for, a handful of zealots wanted to shut her down. It didn't help that those zealots ruled the known civilized world.
Advocatus Ellsworth paced the floor in the conference tent as he waited for her. Immediately upon her entry, he shoved his papers at her. She ignored his handover and raised a shaking finger at him. She was on the attack as she snapped, "This is a legitimate scientific expedition! You have no right to be here, so just go back to Regulum, and mind your own damn business!"
Beady eyes narrowed in a pudgy face, and a condescending smile curled his thick lips. "Miss Cleverleigh, I've got all the paperwork right here. The synod expressly forbids any further exploration of the Whispering Caverns. You are to cease and desist all inquiry into this 'Winged Man' heresy. You must pack up and clear out within the next day."
Eva hated the Synod. She hated their Advocatum, their Inquisitors, and even the false gods they forced upon a populace that seemed blissfully obtuse. She wanted to put a fist right in the middle of Ellsworth's smug face, but that wouldn't help anything.
He tried to give her his documents again, but Eva folded her arms across her chest, still refusing to take them. She was also hiding the fact that his mere presence made her so furious her hands shook. "Heresy? How do you consider the exploration of an ancient people's mythology, a heretical act? And if the synod is so terrified of actual fact-finding, why do they even support a museum of cultural sciences?"
"Miss Cleverleigh," his holier-than-thou tone was intolerable. "Ideas which do not coincide with present day doctrine can only serve to confuse and upset people. Besides, my dear, you are a young lady of nearly twenty-five. It's unseemly for a female to gallivant from one country to the next, digging through best forgotten ruins. Surely you know, the Synod advices that all goodly women of twenty-five marry eligible men. It is your duty to bear productive offspring for the greater good of our society, and it's time you accepted that duty."
Stunned, Eva stared at him in silence. Anything she said at that point was only going to make things worse than they were. She felt choked on her own rage, and she wanted to fight, but she kept still. She forced herself to breathe, waiting for the calm she needed to speak.
Ellsworth shook his head at her and his jowls shook with it. Gazing upon her as if she were a tot with her hand in the cookies, he simply waved a dismissal at everything she had worked her whole life for. "All this silly splunking..." His mispronunciation of the word only further rankled. "It isn't for ladies. The synod strongly suggests that you set this childish nonsense aside and settle into a life more befitting your gender. You must grow up, marry, and start a family, Miss Cleverleigh."
Eva drew in a deep breath, checking her thoughts before she did something stupid. She would not give him the satisfaction of a response to his Synod's suggestion. Instead, she took one more cleansing breath, then calmly stated, "It's 'spelunking', you gods bothering moron."
His chest puffed out, and his jowls shook again as his mouth worked like that of a landed fish. She snatched the papers from his outstretched hand and pretended to read them. She knew what the document said, and it didn't matter for she'd already made up her mind to do whatever she pleased.
She gave Ellsworth a tight smile and said, "Looks like this is all in order. If the Synod says I'm done, then I guess I'm done. They won't hear from me again after tonight."
His eyes narrowed once again behind the thin glass of his spectacles. He suspected her duplicity, but she didn't care. Eva rolled the document and tucked it under her arm as she continued, "If you'll excuse me, my assistant and I have a great deal of packing to do."
Though he was still suspicious, she was sure he wanted to be done with her as much as she with him. "So, you'll be out then?" he asked this with a dubious expression. "Before end of day tomorrow?"
She offered her most endearing smile, "Oh, Advocatus Ellsworth, don't you worry. I'll be gone before you know it."
Eva left Ellsworth and went back to her tent. There, Ru waited anxiously for her. She passed the document into his hands before crossing to the privacy screen to change her clothes. She had a lot of work to do, and skirts would only get in her way. Ru rifled the papers, reading through them quickly as Eva shucked her skirts and pulled on a pair of his trousers.
As she dressed, Ru sighed. "Well, that's it then, isn't it? It's over. We've no choice now."
For Eva, it was most certainly not over. Ru was quiet for a moment, and she turned to the mirror to retie her hair into a knot. She licked her thumb and wiped a smudge of dirt from the end of her nose and another from her forehead. She wasn't sure why she bothered, for as soon as the camp settled in for the night, she was going right back to her caves.
Ru came nearer the screen and spoke softly to her. "Look, Eva, I'm sorry. I know how disappointed you are. But this doesn't have to be all bad. I-I've been doing some thinking, and I've wanted to speak with you about this for some time now..."
