Sir Ranger

"You are most welcome here, Sir Ranger." The Madame smiled broadly as she stepped from the stairs, bowing her head low. Her double chin bunched up around her neck.

"A blessing on the house that welcomes a weary traveler," Dreg bowed his head, the practiced words of his profession slipping through his lips, like a coyote through dense, dry underbrush.

"Such politeness," the Madame giggled, causing her face to shake like a bowl of pudding. "My girls will be pleased."

"It is not for their pleasure that I am here, Madame," Dreg said and grinned his most predatory grin. "Although, I might be convinced to give as well as I receive. That is, if the girl is worth such effort." He looked the fat lady in the eyes. "And money."

"My, my," the Madame smiled and licked her lips. "How quickly the politeness falls away when the talk turns to pleasure. I am sure I can find a girl that is to your liking."

"There is no need, Madame," Dreg placed a hand on the leather pouch that held his coin. "I know who I want to taste tonight. I have heard whispers that you have a girl here who is capable of extraordinary things." He paused. "I am willing to pay handsomely to experience extraordinary things."

"Sir Ranger," the Madame said, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. "All my girls are well skilled in the arts of love."

"I don't want love," Dreg took a step forward. "I want a night with the wildling."

"I am sorry," the Madame's eyes shifted left to right. Dreg imagined a cornered hare. She was smart enough to make no denials, which caused Dreg to give her a measure of respect. "She is only for special…"

Dreg moved his hand from his coin pouch to his sword hilt. Respect only went so far.

"Sir Ranger, please."

"A night is not so much to ask, I think," Dreg said and took another step closer.

"She belongs to the Governor."

"Most things in this province do, Madame," he pressed close against her and drew his sword slightly. The metal hissed as it slipped from its sheathe. "Just one night and you shall not see me again."

The Madame shivered and gave a small, defeated nod. She turned and guided Dreg up the stairs and into an impossibly long hallway; countless doors lined it on each side. The feel of magic hung in the air and pressed against their skins. "May I inquire who the whispers came from, Sir Ranger? The ones that betrayed our girl, I mean.'

"The whispers came to me in a dream, Madame," Dreg grinned. "Isn't that the way of these things?"

"Of course," the Madame sighed and came to a stop before a plain oak door, exactly identical to every other door in the hallway. "I take a grave risk here, Sir Ranger. I must ask a large fee."

"For your troubles, Madame," Dreg pulled the coin pouch from his belt and handed it to her. "Present and future."

The Madame bowed and unlocked the door. "Enjoy your stay, Sir Ranger."

"I think I shall, thank you," Dreg smirked and stepped through the doorway, instantly finding himself in a forest clearing. The trees stood close upon one another, inches apart, forming a cage of thick trunks. The clearing was lit with daylight, though it had been evening when Dreg arrived at the brothel.

She sat on a large bed in the center of the clearing, her bare feet dangling over the edge, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes closed. She wore a simple, sleeveless, silken dress, the hem reaching her knees. The dress suited the lithe curves of her toned body. Her long black hair was in a pony tail and hung over her right shoulder. She did not look when Dreg cleared his throat.

"You could at least look at me, Codi," Dreg said in a low voice, trying his best to keep all emotion from his voice. The last thing he wanted was to let his emotions get the better of him. He would cry like a child. "After everything I went through to find you."

Codi looked up at his first word, her eyes lit with hope. She stared at his face. Did she recognize him? He recognized her. He remembered every feature and soft curve of her body. He remembered the feel of her, his pretty little wildling.

"Dreg?" She slid from the bed. A tear crawled from her right eye, burrowing into the corner of her lip. "Dreg?"

"I'm here, Codi."

"This is a dream," she said and sat back down. Her shoulders fell into a slump. She did not take his eyes off of him.

Dreg went to her and sat on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Dreg," she sobbed his name, holding him fiercely, as if she were afraid he would fade and she would wake alone in her bed. "You've come."

"Forgive my tardiness," Dreg kissed the tears from her cheeks. She had been taken from him a year before, stolen from him as she wandered the woods alone. She loved to wander. She loved the freedom found in a slight spring breeze, the infinite possibilities encompassed in a deer's frolicking leap. She loved the feel of the sun on her skin, the feel of the wind through her hair.

She kissed him through her sobs, placing little sweet touches all along his cheeks and neck. Her hands caressed his back, pulling up the back of his jacket.

"Codi," he said, his eyes half closed. Her hands slipped into the seat of his pants.

Codi pulled her hands up to his hair, mussing it as she slid her tongue against his lips.

"We have to go," his words came out in a whisper.

"I need you," she said, the streaks left by her tears shining in the light. "I need to feel you again."

He let her pull him onto his back and helped her undo the lacings of his pants. Her hands moved quickly, almost as quickly as the blood to his swelling cock. By the time she got the last lace untied he was fully erect. She gasped and giggled, patting at the swollen lump of fabric that confined his dick.

"Codi," Dreg said her name as if it were a sacred spell, meant to be uttered only in worship.

Codi smiled at him and freed him completely, holding his pulsing shaft tight in a hand. She smiled and eased herself into a reclining position on his right side, her bare legs past his head. From his vantage point, Dreg could see that she wore no underclothes. The first stroke came tentatively. The second came with more assurance. Dreg looked at her through sleepy eyes.

"Should I use my mouth?" Codi's eyes sparkled brightly, all trouble gone from them now that Dreg was with her.

"Use whatever you want," he said through clenched teeth as her hand pulled at his cock. She held it in a tight grip. "I'm past caring. Just do it. I haven't used it since I lost you."

Codi looked surprised, and her stroking lost its rhythm. "Not even with your own hand?"

"No," Dreg said, meeting her gaze. "Not even my own hand. I owed you that for letting them take you."

"Dreg, they made me…" she started to say, and her eyes moistened.

Dreg stopped her with a touch. He placed a gentle kiss on one of her legs. Of course they made her. They would be mad not to. The feel of her. The smell of her. Her taste. They made her do things with men that were not Dreg. He would make them pay.

"Quickly," he said. "We must be quick."

Codi wiped her eyes with her free hand and let a small smile grace her lips. She turned back to his still rigid cock and stroked it gently. "Dreg, thank you for waiting." She brightened and leaned over his groin, her long ponytail hanging low and tickling the pubic hair at the base of his penis. A small kiss at the tip of his head caused him to shudder. The feel of those lips on his cock was a thing remembered only in his dreams.

"What are we going to do?" she asked casually, giving him a sly smile, as she spit some saliva onto his member, spreading it around the shaft. The pace of her stroking increased, taking advantage of the added lubrication. "I mean after we're done here."

"I'm going to steal you back," he groaned as pleasure mounted in him. He began to pump his groin in rhythm with her strokes, humping her hand.

Codi giggled lightly and pressed her lips against the tip of his shaft again, parting them slightly, though she did not take him into her mouth. She teased him with the tip of her tongue, holding the base of his penis with one hand while stroking his balls with the fingertips of the other. Little shocks of pleasure ran up and down Dreg's spine.

"I'm going to cum," he said fitfully, in a deep breathy voice. "It's been too long."

She smiled and took him into her warm mouth, running her tongue along the veins that stood up on its surface. Dreg leaned his head up to look at her. She went up and down on him, her cheeks hollowed, forming a moist sheathe inside her mouth. Her long ponytail brushed the skin of his abdomen.

"Oh fuck," he groaned. He held the bed tight with his hands and turned to look up her legs. She had lifted one up, supporting it on the sole of her foot, while keeping the other straight on the bed, in order to give him the best possible view, and perhaps, as an invitation. He could see how wet she was. The view proved to be too much.

Codi moaned as she felt his body tighten, stroked at his balls quickly, and lifted them up against his cock, ready to milk him for everything he was worth. She slid her tongue under his shaft, licking its underside.

Dreg let out a shuddering grunt and sat up slightly as the tenseness in him reached its limit and released in a massive spasm. He threw his head back as is cock throbbed and jerked in her mouth, sending jets of his seed onto her throat. She pulled her head back so that only the tip of his dick was held between her lips and sucked on him greedily, taking everything he had to offer. He could hear loud, wet gasps as she swallowed.

"Codi," he said with a deep breath, propping himself up on his elbows. Her bright smile intoxicated him, filled him with warmth that only multiplied the pleasure that washed through his body from his orgasm. Strands of crow-black hair hung in front of her eyes, over her flushed cheeks.

"Now we can go," she said and crawled over to him, resting her head against his chest. She looked at him after a moment, brushing her fingers over the stubble of his cheeks. "After you regain your strength." She giggled and lifted a leg, brushing his spent cock with her knee.

A soft laugh escaped from Dreg, who laughed only rarely. He kissed the crown of her head and sat up, fumbling as he pulled his pants back up. How easy it would be to just stay with her for the night, to spend the day making love under the thick canopy of trees. The thought lingered in the back of his mind as he adjusted his scabbard. Images of her cunt came to him, wet with an eagerness to feel him. Dreg shook his head. There would be time for that later. He threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"We must move quick," he heard the bed creak as she sat up behind him. Presently, he felt her hands on his shoulders. She pressed against his back and he could feel the softness of her breasts against the back of his jacket. A quick glance around the clearing told him his next question was unnecessary, but he asked it anyway. "Is there anything you want to bring?"

"Just you," she said and kissed the back of his neck. She whispered. "Just you."

Dreg rose and turned, held a hand out to her, and helped her to her feet. Her bare feet, he thought. That would slow them down in the woods.

"Don't worry," she said and wiggled her toes, having followed his gaze and read his mind. "Jackrabbits don't wear shoes."

"No," he said with a smile. His wildling. "I suppose they don't. Come, we must go."

Dreg checked the door and found it locked, which he had expected. The Madame would not want him to leave before she had a chance to summon some of the Governor's men. He turned and smiled at Codi. "They want to keep their treasure it seems."

"I'm yours," she said, in a matter of fact tone. "Not theirs."

Dreg knelt before the doorknob and took a small vial of liquid from a pouch of his jacket. He poured the purplish, sticky fluid over the knob and surrounding wood, wrinkling his nose at the sour smell.

"What is that you're using?" Codi asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Made by an alchemist friend of mine," Dreg said, slathering the fluid evenly over the knob with a small piece of cloth. "He calls it wyvern spit. Stand back, Codi, and close your eyes."

Dreg struck a match and held it up to the glistening door. A bright flash lit the insides of his eyelids, which he had shut tightly, and there was a slight hiss. When he opened his eyes again, he found that any part of the door the liquid had touched had vanished, leaving only a faint scent of burnt wood and hot metal in the air. He kicked the door open, grabbed Codi's hand, and stepped into the hall. The ruined door slid shut behind them.

"Oh," Codi said, startled. The hallway had gone dark as midnight, the only light being what shone from the clearing through the hole burned into the door behind them. The beam of light lit a circle on Codi's thigh until she moved, then light lit up a door on the opposite side of the hall.

"Damn," Dreg swore. He turned his head left and right reflexively, though he saw nothing. The darkness wasn't meant to hold them, after all, Dreg knew which way the exit was. The darkness was meant to confuse him just enough for…

"Dreg," Codi latched onto him, squeezing him painfully. "Do you hear that?"

"No," he answered, his sword hand straying to grasp his weapon. Codi, like all wildlings, had hearing that could trump even that of a Ranger. He whispered: "Where is it coming from."

She turned him until he was facing away from the exit. Whatever it was she heard, it was meant to come upon them while they had their backs turned.

"Codi," he whispered. "Start walking the opposite way. Walk heavily."

"Be careful," she said and gave him a last squeeze before she obeyed and started toward the exit, stamping her bare feet hard on the floor.

Dreg pulled his sword from its sheathe as quietly as he could and stood at arms length from the beam of light that cut the blackness before him in half. He heard a faint scrabble as something approached, making a sound like a cat makes on a wooden floor when its nails need cutting, only louder and heavier. He gripped the hilt tight and lowered the sword, ready for a thrust. He could still hear Codi stomping away.

The clatter of claws became louder and louder, until it seemed to fill Dreg's mind. A rotten smell assaulted his nostrils. Then, a huge, stinking, hairy arm broke the beam of light. He didn't let himself think of what he, now, knew came at him. He let out a loud breath and stabbed hard, judging on where the things abdomen was from the glimpse of its arm.

A roar of pain shook the hallway and Dreg jumped backwards, wrenching his sword out savagely, as something huge, hairy, and smelly swung past him. He could feel the breath of wind that came from the near hit. It would have torn his head from his shoulders. He stumbled backward as another roar shook the hallway and the sound of heavy claws on the floor sounded as the thing came at him in a rush. His thrust had missed the thing's spine. Dreg held his sword in front of him and tightened the muscles of his arms. Outrunning the thing was out of the question.

The sword jarred as the thing impaled itself in its charge. Bile rose in Dreg's throat as the stinking thing pushed against him. He fell backwards, the sword hilt tight in his hands, seeking to disembowel his enemy, and barely missed a bone-crushing hug the thing tried to put him in. He hit the floor hard, twisted the sword, and gave a hard kick with his heavy boots in the general place the creature's genitals should be. A final gurgling roar rang out, slowly fading to a whimper, and the sword jerked from his hands. The sound of scrabbling went in the other direction.

Dreg found his breath coming in huge gasps as he got to his feet, walking backwards down the hall toward the exit. He pulled a dagger from his boot, a pitiful weapon if the thing made another charge. He turned and ran.

"Dreg," Codi called out as he approached, so that he did not crash into her. He slowed and held his hands out in front of him. After a few steps, they pressed against her soft breasts. "What was it?"

"A manbear," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the exit.

"Oh," she cried out in a small voice.

They found the hallway's exit to be unlocked. Dreg threw open the door, the dimly lit stairwell visible before him. They hurried down the stairs, Dreg taking them in long strides, two at a time. Codi took them with quick, graceful steps. The two stopped at the bottom.

"Sir Ranger," the Madame stood at the door leading out of the brothel, a heavy crossbow in her trembling hands. "They will kill me if I let you leave."

"Please," Codi started, hiding behind him, a hint of a sob in the word. "Just let us go."

"They will kill me," the Madame said again, lifting the crossbow to aim at Dreg's heart. Her finger was on the release. "You did not pay me enough, Sir Ranger."

"I did not have enough for someone as valuable as her," Dreg said and held his hands up, the dagger still in his right. "She is worth guarding with a monster. Madame, lower your weapon."

"Don't," Codi said, wrapping her arms around Dreg, her palms on his chest. "Please, don't shoot him."

"Codi," Dreg said. "It'll be okay."

"Don't be foolish," the Madame said. Her arms trembled noticeably. The crossbow was too heavy for her.

"Madame, don't make me do this," Dreg said. "Lower your weapon."

The Madame gave a nervous laugh.

"Listen," Codi said. "Please, don't shoot him."

Sweat dripped from the Madame's meaty brow, and her fingers sought a better hold on the crossbow. Dreg took the opportunity, snapping his wrist forward. The dagger sailed through the air and impaled itself between the fat woman's ample breasts. She cried out and hit the bolt release, sending the quarrel wide to Dreg's left, and sank to her knees, blood spreading on the front of her blouse.

"Oh," Codi cried out softly. Dreg felt pride in the fact that his wildling did not scream. The Madame flopped forward onto her stomach and lay still, the crossbow clattering from her hands.

"Come, Codi," Dreg said, stepping over the woman's body. "We must move quickly."

"Oh," Codi repeated as she stepped over the Madame's corpse, careful not to place her feet in the spreading pool of blood. "Oh."

Dreg forced himself to relax as they left the brothel's gated property. He sauntered like a drunk. A drunken man stumbling out of a brothel would be a common enough site. The streets were sparsely populated, but it was best not to take chances. "Pretend you are my whore, Codi."

"That's what I am," she said with a shy smile and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. She swayed seductively as she walked. She rose up on her toes and whispered into his ear. "Always."