The Festival
After a long travel the group had finally reached Um-Barrad.
This was the first dwarven city Zalen had ever visited and it certainly looked quite different from the previous cities he had come through. Every building looked like it had already been there for centuries, both in good and in bad.
The city was apparently also the biggest center of Dumanna worship and the place that held an annual festival for her honor.
The streets definitely confirmed that. Most dwarves passing by were wearing quite revealing clothing and most of it was quite colorful, especially by dwarven standards.
Few people seemed to mind the newcomers though. Zalen and the women drew a few curious looks and some more flirty ones but most dwarves just ignored their presence altogether.
The group had finally reached a small plaza.
In the middle of it stood two dwarf priestesses, both wearing robes that were nearly see-through. They were carrying baskets and handing out little pots to the scantily dressed crowd.
"Scented lube," Sumi whispered to Zalen.
One of the pair had finally noticed the group and turned towards them with a radiant smile.
"Welcome to the Festival of Pleasure! We don't often see humans here. Are you here to watch or to participate?"
"Today and tomorrow there's all kinds of erotic events during the day. And after sunset there will be a whole lot of spontaneous passion everywhere!"
Zalen took a deep breath before raising his voice:
"Actually we are here to challenge the Church of Love and Pleasure to a competition!"
"What? Who..."
"We are here in behalf of the goddess Vivariel, The Veiled Rose, finally freed from her centuries long captivity."
"What kind of a competition?"
"That is something you get to decide. You choose the event and the rules and everyone at the festival will be the audience."
"And the prize would be - what?"
"If we win, you won't stand in the way if someone wants to convert to follow Vivariel. If you win, we will publicly pronounce Dumanna's superiority."
The two priestesses looked at each other. "Umm.."
"Deal!"
The voice had come from a third dwarf now gliding towards them. She had quite the curves and an even more revealing dress than the other priestesses.
"And welcome on my behalf as well. I'm Umaru, the high priestess of Dumanna."
Zalen tried to keep his eyes on hers despite the enticing display below. "Oh, feel free to look," she laughed. "They're there for the glory of Dumanna after all!"
"And quite spectacular," Zalen added, earning a smile from the high priestess.
"I had heard that Vivariel had been freed but I didn't expect to see her followers here this soon. And I certainly didn't expect to see a man."
"The Veils now welcome anyone who believes in mutual pleasure. I am one of Vivariel's Heart Veils, the other one has travelled west on a similar journey."
Umaru nodded. "Very well then. In three bells we will have the competition you requested at the plaza to the north. You will compete for Vivariel's glory and I will do the same for Dumanna. There will be three events. Is that acceptable for you?"
"Perfectly."
"We will see you at the plaza then."
As the three priestesses hurried away to make the necessary preparations he suddenly felt a familiar presence in his mind.
"You and Dumanna certainly share the same taste in women," Vivariel's voice murmured in his mind, sounding highly amused.
"I like curves,' Zalen admitted in his mind. "So is there anything I should know before this competition begins? I haven't exactly had much experience with dwarves so far."
"I have to stay away during the actual contest but I can at least give you a few hints now.
First of all: their skin is not as sensitive as humans have. So if you use your tongue you need to be a lot more forceful with it.
Second: If they have an orgasm they will always need a small break. Continuing after that would be painful for the dwarf. But she will let you know when she's recovered, often very enthusiastically.
Third: even if they have short legs, their pussies are still normal size. They're actually stretchier down there than humans! So you don't have to worry about being too big for them. They're also -" Vivariel suddenly giggled inside his mind. "Actually I'll let you find that part out yourself!"
For the next two bells there was quite a bit of activity in the city. There were dwarves running around telling everyone about the big competition that was going to take place, priestesses carrying stuff to and from the plaza, festival-goers chatting animatedly whether to participate or not. Whatever the actual events were, they were looking for plenty of volunteers for them.
Zalen's group had already reserved good seats and were just waiting for the contest to begin leaving Zalen to wait by the stage. As the time of the contest was getting closer Umaru showed up as well to the cheers of the audience.
There was quite a bit of excitement in the air.
"It's now time for the first event, a sexual contest between two goddesses of sex!"
The announcer's voice brought cheers from the audience as he turned towards Zalen. He was speaking in Northern Dwarf that Zalen mostly understood, even if his pronunciation would have been somewhere between bad and horrible.
There was another announcer who now repeated the same in Southern Dwarf but even though a lot of the words were the same Zalen couldn't understand any of it.
"On this side, competing for the newly released goddess, the Rose of Desire, the Veiled Rose, Vivariel, is Zalen, the mage from beyond the seas!"
Another wave of cheers from the crowd. Few of them probably expected him to win, but they'd definitely be curious to see a human on the stage and that was more than enough at this point.
"And on this side is Dumanna's very own Priestess of Pleasure, Umaru."
This time the cheers and hoots were a lot louder, especially with the priestess taking a few suggestive poses for the crowd.
"And here are is our group of eager volunteers!"
There were a lot more cheers and a few whistles from the audience as the announcer paused to point at the dwarves walking to the stage. The women had lined up on Zalen's side, the men on Umaru's side.
"Each contestant is only allowed to use their hands and mouths. Every time you reach the motherload, you raise your hand. When the sand in the hourglass ends, we count how many points the contestants received. Are the contestants ready?"
"Ready."
"Ready," Zalen replied in Common, knowing most dwarves also spoke that language.
"Go!"
Zalen ran to kneel in front of the first lady dwarf who was wearing only a rope mesh skirt and a cute smile. She quickly spread her thighs.
"Wow, it's beautiful," Zalen mumbled before diving in with his tongue. Keeping Vivariel's advice in mind he began lapping at her with a firm tongue.
