This work of fiction is part of a series; if you did not already read the preceding chapters, please do that before starting this one. My world may not necessarily conform to your preconceived notions; don't hold that against me; the joy is in the journey. As I have mentioned before, this is a story with a little sex - not the other way around.
~~~
I woke up and felt a woman's body - toned and fit but soft and supple - within my arms. I breathed in, careful not to wake her - taking in the smell of her. Mirra's scent was earthy - but with just a hint of a sweet fragrance that matched the taste of the girl-mead that I'd licked from her womanhood the night before.
I thought back to how my life had changed - from just a few weeks ago. I'd been nearly despondent about failing to be accepted to the ranks of the fiefdom's guards. My father had been disappointed; my brothers had guffawed and snickered. Immediately, I'd gone to the stable master for a job - hoping to be able to move out of the family home to avoid the ridicule that I knew I'd face. The hostler had told me that a traveling merchant was hiring a road guard.
I had fought against two competitors for the job and had won Emmit's little contest. When I ran home to relay the news to my mother, she had given me a coin purse (with two copper pennies) and a sewing kit. I had added those gifts to the pack that held my two patched shirts and change of pants. I climbed onto the trader's wagon and left the city of my birth behind with almost no regrets.
As I had traveled with my new employer, I learned some of his secrets, a few of his quirks, and how to defend myself, him, his wagon, and his mule (Grizzle). I also learned that he was more than just a trader - he was a rune master. We journeyed to his home (and workshop) where he'd begun training me like I was an apprentice - rather than just a guard.
Along the way, I had angered (and fought) a blonde half-gnome lightning mage. Lolla followed us and - after exhausting herself while trying to injure me - we became tentative friends. As we learned more about each other, I discovered that the world was far more kind to me than it was to most women.
Lolla admitted that she was tired of fighting for her mere existence, and we worked out a deal where she traded doing chores in exchange for food and a safe place to stay. Once Emmit discovered that the blonde half-pint could make the special pottery that he used for storing critters that he collected for his crafting purposes, she had earned a permanent place on the team.
On our journey to collect more crafting materials (and do a little trading along the way), we had found Mirra - a starving archer - and had taken her under our wing. At the brothel where we stopped for the night, Lolla discovered that Mirra's body had been horribly disfigured by someone in her past. Herra, the madam of the place, called for a talented healer and we stayed an extra night to give the redheaded archer time to recover from the trauma that her body endured to be restored.
The naughty exhibitionist mage had advised the archer that - when she became comfortable enough with her newly-restored body to want to try intimacy - that she should start with oral - to give her time to acclimate.
Several days later, Mirra was ready to try. I had teased her - trying to build her excitement - but she was so horny that she became aggressive and ended up just fucking my face with her cunt. Her girl-mead had enflamed my lusts. Mirra had used her mouth on me - to reciprocate - and then rubbed her tender pink folds up and down my length - with my penis trapped between our bodies - until my seed had erupted. We were a mess - but we both enjoyed ourselves - and she was still working to erase some emotional scars (now that the physical ones were gone). She had licked me clean and given me sultry looks that drove me crazy.
Somewhere along the way, I had told her that I loved her and wanted to make her my wife. She'd asked about my relationship with Lolla but I had informed her that the feisty blonde took her pleasure when (and where) she wanted - with little regard for the inhibitions, desires, or safety of the rest of us - which is why we call her 'Tempest'.
~~~
"Good morning, Derik," Mirra purred.
"Good morning, Beautiful," I replied.
I had called her that before she was healed and she had cried. Now, it had a slightly different effect. Mirra wiggled around and then her arms went around my neck and her supple lips pressed against mine.
There was a tap at the door - followed by an announcement from Lolla (who had spent the night in Emmit's room) that we were getting ready to leave.
Mirra demanded one more kiss (and hug) and then we got dressed and headed downstairs. Since neither the trader nor the mage were in the common room, we left the inn to head to the stables.
The redhead got her horse ready, Lolla readied Grizzle, and I worked with the mount who had - at first - had the worst attitude.
"What should I call you?" I asked the beast, as I got him saddled.
Grizzle brayed at me - as if offering a suggestion and then laughing at his own joke.
"Before, I probably would have called you 'Spite'," I told the mount.
"I think I'm calling this one 'Serenity'," Mirra said, leaning over the wall between the stalls to add to my conversation with the horse I was saddling.
Her horse was very calm and well-mannered. I nodded to her that I thought it was a good name.
Spite caught my finger in his lips and applied a little pressure.
"Do you like the name 'Spite' - or are you telling me to pick something else?" I asked.
He stamped his left hoof once.
"The first?" I inquired.
He shook his head up and down, baring his toothy grin at me.
"Alright, then, Spite," I said. "We need to be on the lookout for apples or carrots - because I believe we're out of treats."
He butted me with his head and I tousled the little tuft of hair between his ears. I moved a few items from my backpack to his saddlebags and then stowed the pack in the wagon.
Emmit arrived with some cheese and tarts from the kitchen and we saddled up and headed out.
We were just leaving the market area when I spotted a woman setting up her fruit stand. I quickly bought the first bushel-basket of apples that she could produce and then ferried them over to add to the load of cargo in the wagon. I grabbed one out, split it into thirds, and gave our steeds their breakfast. Grizzle and the horses approved.
We rode south (across the river) and then east for almost a full day - finding no villages along the path. When we stopped for lunch, I split another apple between the trio. We got to a town with an inn just as dusk was falling.
We stabled the mounts and the wagon and Emmit started showing me the runes that he employed to hide the cargo from prospective thieves. We ate dinner in the common room together and then Emmit and Lolla took one room - while Mirra and I took the other.
I warned Mirra that I might need to hurry out to the stables in the middle of the night. We used our mouths to give each other pleasure. I was becoming addicted to the taste of her honey-mead. As we kissed, afterwards, I tasted my seed on her tongue a little. I thought the flavor was off-putting but she said she thought it was perfect. She had definitely drained my balls - as Lolla called them - with vigor - so I wasn't about to complain. After a bit of cuddling, I dressed and slept on top of the coverlet while the archer held me in her arms.
~~~
I woke, in the morning, unhappy that I hadn't been disturbed - and wasted a chance to sleep skin-to-skin with Mirra - but knowing that if I hadn't slept in my clothes, I would have been called out of the room to run off thieves.
At daybreak, we road east until we arrived at a small village by the river. Here, in the shallows of the waterway, we harvested blossoms from slumber lilies and placed them between layers of parchment (inside of a wooden crate) to dry.
Once that was done, we rode back to the town we had stayed in and then headed south - passing through only one small hamlet before we arrived at another town large enough to offer lodging. Emmit returned from the inn with chits for all of us to stay in the stables - the animals and the wagon down below - and the rest of us in the loft. Since Lolla and Emmit didn't get up to anything amorous, Mirra and I contented ourselves with kisses and cuddles.
Sometime after midnight, I felt my stomach churn and grabbed my staff to deal with the newest round of thieves. I was not feeling charitable and shouldered the two men towards Spite and Grizzle. The mule merely bashed the would-be thief against the wall of the stall. Spite's rear hoof lashed out and opened the brow on the other one - blinding the man with a flow of blood that refused to stop. I collected their weapons, pants, and belts and left them to see themselves out.
As I stepped to the ladder - to head back to the loft - I saw a man (bigger than the other two) standing by the foot door. I gave a sigh, dropped everything onto the ground, and stood - holding my staff.
He didn't draw a weapon, he just stood there. I gave him time to decide how he wanted to proceed.
"So, you just rob my deputies and send them off, in need of a healer?" he asked.
"Deputies?" I asked. "You suggesting that you're some sort of lawman?"
"We were looking for contraband," he said.
"Tell him to come back in the morning, with at least two people to vouch for him - one of them being the innkeeper - and we'll submit to their search," Emmit yelled from above.
The supposed lawman looked up and his eyes widened. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw that Mirra had an arrow ready for the man.
"Don't lose any of my men's things," the man snarled.
"Those items are no longer yours," Emmit replied. "Your men may have harmed my mounts and I'll need to sell those things to pay the healer. If you hadn't been sneaking around like thieves in the dark and, instead, had announced yourselves like real lawmen, you wouldn't get your asses handed two you by temperamental beasts."
The man gave a huff but eased back out of the doorway, into the darkness.
"I'll just sleep down here," I called up to the loft.
"I doubt they'll try anything else tonight," Emmit replied. "Come cuddle with Mirra until she stops shaking."
I grabbed the items I'd collected from the two men, scrambled up the ladder to the loft, tossed the stuff to the floor, and embraced Mirra as she wrapped herself around me.
