The Druid and the Igniad
Chapter 8
The siege was lifted, and the remaining camps of the Witch Queen's forces were routed or killed. Gern marshaled the coalition of tribes to pursue their retreating enemies, and they transversed the land to Lu's mountain. They passed a couple of burnt villages on their way, and vengeful farmers emerged out of the hills and forests to join the march against Evalyn and her ravaging armies.
Arkis was their guide to find the best roads, and at the end of the day's march they arrived at his cottage in the foothills. They could have pressed on and begun to climb into the mountain range that was crowned by Lu's volcano, but Gern cautioned that they should not arrive exhausted into a battle. They made camp, and posted sentries to alert them if enemies were sighted.
Arkis insisted that Gern and Lu use his cottage as their own personal sleeping quarters. They graciously accepted, and Arkis camped with the other warriors. In the privacy of the cottage, Lu started a fire in the hearth, and extinguished her skirt of flames. It was a familiar place, a place of sanctuary.
Gern helped Lu take off her armor, then removed his heavy war kilt and lay next to her on the bear fur in front of the hearth. Lu relaxed into her empathic link with him as she stared into the flames. They lay there together for a long length of time, sharing the peace of their own company.
"Lu," Gern said in the quiet, "if you find yourself under a spell, I know a prayer that will break most any enchantment. But beware, for using it will also undo all the enchantments and protections you put upon your crystals, and leave you vulnerable. Use it wisely."
"Hopefully, I won't need it," she replied. "How do I cast it?"
"It ends with 'and forever shall be', got it?"
Lu nodded.
"With Gaia's might," Gern recited, then paused, waiting for Lu. She repeated the words after him. "I surrender all, to love and light. With all my worth, all chains be broken. By the power of three, my mind is my own...and then the final verse."
"Thank you, dear love." She kissed his hand.
Gern's gaze was drawn from the fire to the way the light danced across Lu's obsidian skin. From his position behind her, her rear obscured any sight of her pelvic crystal protector, and his memories of what awaited underneath it stirred.
Lu was lost in thought. Her mind drifted to how she had almost failed to save Opal's life. She did not want to dwell on what could have been, so she was drawn to memories of her time with Opal instead, and the magical bond they shared since her help with Awen's birth. She remembered that first night, when the allure of their connection drove them to explore each other's sensuous depths.
Then she felt Gern's erection growing against the valley of her rear, and she blushed, wondering if she had accidentally aroused Gern though their link because she had been thinking of Opal. She knew Gern found Opal wonderfully attractive, and she hoped he would be willing to explore sharing more with her and Lu together.
Gern smiled as she slinked her rear against him slightly. He leaned over, pressing against her, and kissed her deeply. His cock hardened within moments, and he shifted down, breaking their kiss. One arm was free to caress the curvature of her body, and his hard length slid against her smooth thighs, humping the seam between them gently. Lu kept her legs together, until his hand glided down to find her glistened mons in the firelight.
His long finger slipped into her, and she lifted her leg up to allow him access. She bit her lip and gave a gentle moan, then hooked her leg over his buttock. His fingers slid over her folds, coaxing her cream to anoint his fingertips. He maneuvered against her, and his hard shaft joined the sliding motions of his fingers as he smeared her arousal against the top of his length.
Lu had been thinking terrible thoughts all day, heavy with fear and anger, and she just wanted to make it all go away. She wanted to share what might be her last night with Gern in bliss. She closed her eyes and waited for what she hungered for him to do. Gern sensed her patience, and rewarded it by slipping the head of his shaft into the dark, slick portal of her pussy.
He let out a low groan of want, and pushed his full length into her. The joining was exquisite, and he felt the full strength of their empathic connection in thier flesh. He felt her insides singing in pleasure. He pressed his pubic bone against the crack of her rear, bottoming out in her from behind. She breathed a sigh of relief as the feeling flooded her consciousness. Their connection was so seamless that she felt like they were truly conjoined beings, and she felt the divine in their wholeness. Kissing her neck, he slowly, sensuously, slid in and out, keeping his hand at her crotch to massage the top of her cleft.
She reached down as well, and moved her hand over his, then past it, and stroked the underside of his shaft as it pumped in and out of her. Gern moved his leg between her parted thighs, rolling his hips and rotating his cock within her.
Gern changed his tempo, slowing down or speeding up according to his whim, the resting position giving him leisure to pace himself. They were both tired from the hurried journey as well as from the fighting before that, but they felt a wellspring of love feed the flower of lust in their bodies, and Gern pushed himself into her until he felt a tingling pressure beneath the base of his shaft. He slowed, groaning as if to say to himself "not yet", and pulled halfway out.
"No," Lu protested, and writhed her rear against him. She knew she could weave a spell to harness some of their orgasm's magic, but she was past caring. She wanted this to be for them. She was close, and her oily juices shimmered with dancing light from the hearth on Gern's half-rooted cock and around her stretched nether lips. She rubbed the sides of his shaft between her two fingers, then grasped his jewels and squeezed them tenderly.
"Yaeza," Lu whispered under her breath.
Gern felt an urgent pressure rise in his core by her magic bidding, and he knew he couldn't stop it. He thrust back into Lu, and crashed into her several times, jolting her against the bedding. She pressed her cheek against the bear fur and sang a burning note as the shockwave of her orgasm hit her. She knew she could have burned the whole cottage down in an instant, so she stared into the fire and channeled all her uncontrollable energy into it, causing it to combust with a roaring intensity that sent a stream of yellow flames out the top of the chimney and soaring into the sky. There was a rush of wind that broke the latches on the shuttered windows, and air was sucked in from outside to feed the inferno that reminded the old volcanic stones of the hearth what it was like to glow with power.
Gern felt himself call out, but his voice was eclipsed by the roar of the fire, and he burst inside her, his whole body jolting from the unbridled pumping of his seed. He trembled his fingertips against her peeking pestle as she continued to fondle the pouch of his ejaculating essence. He held her tight against him as they rode the waves together for as long as they could. At last, the rush of sensation was over, and they relaxed into one another on the warm furs. Embraced like an acorn in its cup, they let sleep take them.
That night, Lu was visited by Labolas in a dream. She knew she was dreaming, but it felt real enough to let her know that it was more than a dream. She was standing in the sheltered courtyard of the castle that now stood at the edge of her lava pool. She had never seen the castle before, but somehow she knew that she was seeing things as they truly were. Labolas stood as a bronze-skinned man with folded wings beside the altar, naked as ever, centered within a glowing magic circle drawn on the floor. A line connected his circle with a glowing circle that Lu stood in, and she recognized the symbols and offerings, and saw how her soul had been summoned to him in the astral realm.
"The time draws near," Labolas spoke in his low, meticulous voice.
