Madeline Belltower, Paladin of the Order of the Blazing Sun, Slayer of the Great Purple Drake of the Lost Mountain and Leader of the Guild of the Storm Birds, was six-foot and four-inches tall, and jacked with enough muscles to lift two oxen by herself. And at that moment, she was cleaning the dishes while wearing a cute pink apron and nothing else.
Hazel came up behind her, putting her hands on top of the blond paladin's shoulders. "Do you want me to dry the dishes, my little dewdrop?" she asked in a loving voice, before gently placing her chin on top of Madeline's head.
Hazel, short for Kar'hazelak Ruk-Tr'hal, was one of the few people in Madeline's life that made her feel small. Hazel stood at almost eight foot tall and was half again as wide as the paladin. Even for an orc, Hazel was above average in size. She had a large mane of hair the color of shiny obsidian, dark green skin and large pointy tusks jutting out from between her thick juicy lips.
Madeline turned to give a peck to said big, beautiful lips. While they kissed, two large green hands grabbed her toned butt. With her manticore-skin loincloth, Hazel was wearing even less clothes than Madeline. Once they were done kissing, Madeline couldn't help herself from rubbing her face all over the massive heavy green breasts in front of her.
She inhaled deeply; Her nose pressed against the skin of her girlfriend. Hazel's scent was... powerful. Smelling her always made Madeline horny, and she was slipping her hands under the loincloth when a loud, piercing cry came from outside their home.
"What was that?" shouted the paladin, rushing to get to the kitchen knives. She wasn't a fan of fighting without her armor and her longsword, but both were stored in the bedroom dresser.
Without a second of hesitation, Hazel stepped outside. A barbarian didn't need armor or weapons. Seeing her fearless partner walking out, Madeline followed her, holding a sharp knife in each hand.
The scene outside left her more confused than anything. A monstrous giant bat stood on their mailbox, growling affectionately while Hazel scratched its neck.
"Calm down, my sweet honeycomb, you do not need the knives."
"What is that?"
"This is a messenger bat. The symbol painted on its wing shows that it is trained by my tribe," she explained while taking off the scroll tied to the beast's leg.
The creature licked its wings while Hazel unrolled the sheet of parchment. Her face dropped into a hard scowl after reading the written message.
"What does it say?"
"It is an invitation. My brother is getting married."
"That's good for him. When do we have to leave the house?"
Hazel met her eyes with a concerned look.
"Oh, unless the invitation is only for you?"
"No, I'm allowed to bring my mate." The word mate made butterflies flutter in Madeline's stomach.
"Do you
want
me to come?"
"I would love it if you accompanied me, obviously, I swear. But... I think it would be best if I went alone... My people can be a bit peculiar with strangers."
"Hazel, I love you so, so much. I do not care if you grew up in a castle or in a midden heap, that will never change how I feel about you."
Hazel gave her a shy smile in response. "I know, and I love you too, but I still think it would be best for you if you didn't come."
-----
"Best for you if you didn't come," grumbled Madeline to herself.
A day after Hazel had gone out, Madeline had decided to screw her girlfriend's warning and follow her. She rode Light, her swift white gelding, towards the Ceremonial Grounds where Hazel had been called.
Hazel's tribe was nomadic, she had explained once. They built camps for special occasions, such as weddings or the funerals.
After a week of travel, Madeline was getting close to her objective. But she was surprised by the amount of people that she saw on the road to their destination.
Ogres, onis, orcs, trolls and goblins travelled by foot, by cart, or on the backs of mounts as varied and uncanny as their riders. Most weren't hostile to her, albeit a few glared at her strangely. She knew she was getting close when she reached a thick pine forest.
On the last day before she reached her destination, she was surrounded by a pack of goblin women riding on wolves. They talked to her, but she understood nothing. She recognized a few orcish words.
The paladin cursed herself for not having taken the time to learn her girlfriend's tongue. And it wasn't like Hazel hadn't offered to teach her; From the very beginning of their relationship, a little over a year ago, Hazel had consistently asked her if she wanted to learn the language. Madeline had always pushed the subject towards a future conversation.
She had also felt somewhat uneasy by the way some of the goblins looked at here. Were they angry that a human was intruding on lands where her kind had no right to be? Were they offended by her Sun-emblazoned armor? Their voice sounded heated. Then again, other languages had very different tones to her ears. Elves speaking their tongue always sounded like they were singing a sweet lullaby, even when they were furious. Dwarven speakers could sound bored and monotone while delivering a profound declaration of love. Maybe that was just how goblins always sounded?
"I'm sorry, I do not understand," she finally blurted out. She had her hand on her sword hilt. Against eight (or nine? Or ten? They moved around her like snakes so that it was hard to know their exact number) opponents of their size, she would easily prevail, but she preferred to avoid a fight. The wolves looked fierce, and she didn't want to risk Light's life. That, and also the fact that Hazel wouldn't be happy with her if she started killing people on her tribe's land.
"Oh, you only speak human tongue then?" Asked a thick gaudy goblin girl with purple hair. She made her mount step forward to get closer to the paladin. "We offering you to stay in camp with us."
Madeline looked at the goblin distrustfully. Maybe she was wrong to feel so nervous if they were simply offering her a place around their fire.
"I eat pussy good," the goblin said, her eyes still locked onto Madeline's.
The blonde made a double-take upon hearing the implied request. Looking back at the others of the group, she slowly realized that she had misjudged them. They weren't glaring at her with contempt. They were leering, with lust. One of the goblins was even rubbing her crotch slowly, right in front of everyone.
"Thank you for the offer, but I will keep riding."
"You sure, big lady? I mark you, I protect you, no one else bother big lady."
Madeline wasn't sure what she had meant by marking, but she didn't want to stay long enough to know.
The Sun set when she was about half-a-day away from her destination. She found a secluded spot by the side of the main trail, but Madeline could hear people walking and riding on the road while she made camp. A lot of Hazel's kin seemed to prefer travelling by night.
While she was making a fire, three figures emerged from the trees. She felt a tinge of relief when she noticed that one of the figures was a short elven woman.
"Hi! We saw your fire and wondered if we could join your camp!" the bubbly elf said. She was accompanied by two orcs, a man and woman.
Madeline waved them over, glad to have some company that wasn't the pack of lustful goblins.
However, when the elf came close enough to shake her hand, Madeline's noise wrinkled. That had to be the stinkiest elf she had ever met. "Hi! I am Alisandra, you can call me Lisa!"
