The Warrior

Author's Note: Greetings, lovely readers. Given how long it's taken me to actually write this chapter, and all the delays in between, I've had to reacquaint myself with the characters, and if my rendition of them is less than you remembered, my apologies. Sometimes in this chapter, I'm a bit rusty with them. But I'm going to keep working on this storyline until its end, and thank you for all of your comments and patience in the meantime!

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CHAPTER 5: The Prisoner

Allorah felt something tickling slowly along her side. She wriggled, still mostly asleep, and the tickling trailed down over her hip and along her leg. Sleepily opening her eyes a fraction, she looked for the source of the sensation and found a long-fingered hand poised over her bare skin. Her eyes opened fully and she smiled, rolling onto her back to gaze up at Varyn in sleepy amusement.

"Good morning, my Priestess." He greeted her.

"Mm." Allorah brought her arms over her head and stretched her torso languidly, her feet twisting in the covers. "Warrior Varyn," she yawned. Her smile widened as she realized how this exchange echoed the one only two days past. How much had changed since then.

"You are in a fair mood," he noted.

"A night of good rest oft has such an effect." She replied, and his mouth curved slyly.

"Do I sense a veiled rebuke?"

Allorah raised her eyebrows in question. "A rebuke?"

Leaning over her, his smile grew as he brushed his lips over the corner of her jaw, making her shiver. "For disrupting your sleep these nights past." He answered. She could feel as well as hear his amusement in the heated breath on her skin.

"Mm," she said again, "Well, now that you remind me... Yes, yes it is."

"And yet, I never heard you complain, " he pointed out smugly.

Allorah rolled her eyes. "You have a selective memory, it would seem."

She realized, after saying it, that it could be interpreted harshly, but he didn't seem troubled. Instead, he grinned and leaned down again to kiss her deeply. His tongue found its way easily between her lips and coaxed hers to a slow, twining dance that made her body fill with delightful tingles and the sweeping heat that seemed to be ignited only by him. She felt his hand return to her skin, this time sliding slowly up her body to oh-so-lightly trace around the curve of her breast. By the time he drew his mouth from hers, her heart beat rapidly in her ears, and she felt a wetness between her legs.

"You don't seem to be complaining

now.

" He nipped gently at her lower lip.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You cheat."

His grin widened as his fingers found her nipple. Allorah sucked in a breath when he pinched it lightly. "Or," he countered, "I simply play by rules unfamiliar to you."

She scoffed at his mischievous reply, but had to fight to keep a smile from her features. Different rules, hmm? Well, if was going to be like that, she would play his way. Bringing one of her arms down, she let it trail softly over the skin of his shoulder, cool from the morning air that blew in through her window. Before he could move again and spoil her plans, she quickly drew her fingertips across his collar bone, down the front of his chest and over the hard, lean muscles of his belly until she felt them brush against thick white hair. As her small hand wrapped around the long hardness she felt at the center, she let her smile emerge.

"Is this in your rules, then?" She teased and gripped the firm flesh gently.

Varyn made a short sound deep in his throat, his eyelids lowering a fraction. "Most certainly," he replied in a low purr.

"Hm," Allorah mused, puzzling over her next step. Impulsively, she pushed against his shoulder with her other hand, sitting up as he rolled onto his side, an eyebrow raised in question. In answer, she laid her palm against his chest and pushed. "Down," she ordered, and laid him on his back.

His viridian eyes followed her in curious amusement as she moved to kneel over him, her knees on either side of his thigh. She was highly aware of the heated wetness at the juncture of her legs when it pressed against his skin, and of the pleasant sensation that came from sliding her hips back and forth. But her attention was really on the proud column of flesh that she still held in her hand.

His cock jutted erect and thick from his hips, textured with veins prominent enough to be noticeable, but not so large as to distract from the smooth shape of it. She traced one thumb lightly over a particularly large vein, then drew her loosely curled fingers up along the shaft. A smile curved her mouth at the pleasantly silken quality of his skin, firm and warm under her experimental touch.

Varyn sighed in satisfaction as she continued the motion, bringing his hands up to lace behind his head while he watched her. She took particular enjoyment in exploring the difference between the shaft and the head of his member, running her circled fingers repeatedly over the sensitive ridge and tightening her grip on the hot flesh every now and again. From the way his breathing had turned strictly controlled and even, and the low rumble in his chest, she gathered he was enjoying it as well.

On sudden impulse, Allorah bent down and placed a light kiss on the head of his cock. His heated skin felt lovely against her lips and she heard his breath catch in his throat. Looking up at him through her eyelashes, she allowed herself a small smile. "Oh, you like this, do you?"

He gave an affirmative grunt and brought one of his hands down to rest on the back of her head, urging her down. But Allorah sat back up again, brushing his hand away and shaking her head. "No." She said.

For a moment, something akin to frustration flashed across his face before he schooled them to neutrality again. "No?" He asked calmly.

Allorah smiled a sly smile and tightened her grip on his shaft again. Despite his efforts to appear to the contrary, she had him where she wanted him. "We play by my rules now." She playfully picked up his wrist and made a motion to toss it back towards his head; he got the idea and obediently laced his fingers together once more, curious amusement resuming its place on his features.

"Good." She nodded.

And with that she bent once more, this time to run her tongue along the swollen head. She noted with satisfaction how his muscles tightened beneath her, and with interest how the flesh yielded slightly under her tongue; this skin of the head appeared to have slightly more give than that of the shaft. She paused a moment to assess the taste of him: a concentrated, musky version of what the skin on rest of his body tasted like. She quite liked it and returned to her attentions with renewed enthusiasm.

Moving her hand to rest on his hip, she slid the flat of her tongue from bathing the head, down to explore the veins along his shaft that she had felt earlier. They gave the surface a pleasing variation, and she found she liked using them as a means to trace up and down and along his length.

It seemed a natural progression from there that she should try taking him into her mouth. As her lips closed around his shaft right below the ridge, she heard him let out a quiet sigh of pleasure. Were her mouth not otherwise occupied, she would have smiled at the reaction. As it was, she experimented with sucking him in and out of her mouth, using varying degrees of pressure, and running her tongue along the smooth surface and particularly along the slit at the top.

Initially, she was very careful to keep her teeth from scraping him, but after she accidentally let them drag over his skin, eliciting a short groan from him, she tried applying it more often, though always gently. Between that and pressing the silky flesh gently against the roof of her mouth, she could feel his heartbeat speed up noticeably under her hand which she had again wrapped around the base of his cock to better hold him in place.

Though he dutifully kept his hands behind his head, after a few minutes of this, his hips raised slightly, pushing more of him into her mouth. Allorah's eyes widened, but she did not pull back, and instead worked her tongue and her lips around this new section, wetting it with her saliva before drawing back up slowly. She admired how it shone slick in the clear morning light before sliding her mouth down once more, this time even further than before, emboldened by her success so far.

Slowly, she gained a rhythm to her motions, pulling her mouth up along his shaft then sliding back down again, a little further each time. She played with sucking him in hard as she went down, then relaxing and wriggling her tongue around on the underside of his cock as she moved her head back up again. From the glances she occasionally cast up at him, she could see his muscles tight with restraint; he fought hard to keep within the boundaries of her new rules. Allorah found this pleasing.

Finally, she took as much into her mouth as she was able, using her hand to massage the inches that were left. She held there a moment, sucking firmly, before resuming her pace. Each time she sank down she felt the tip of his member brush the back of her throat, but after gagging once, she was careful to draw back up again before it happened again.

"Allorah," she heard him murmur and looked up inquisitively, though she kept the head of him in her mouth and rolled her tongue around on it as he took two slow, controlled breaths. His voice remained calm and even. "Unless you wish me to spend in your mouth, you'd best stop."

She blinked at him in surprise; as skilled as he was at keeping himself outwardly composed, she hadn't realized how close she'd brought him. Still, with some reluctance, she released her hold on him and sat up, carefully wiping the corners of her lips as she regarded him.

"Perhaps some other time," she finally replied thoughtfully. "For now, I have a different idea..."

Allorah found herself smiling again as she slid up his thigh, leaving a wet, warm trail along his skin. She didn't object when Varyn brought his hands down from behind his fair head and gripped her shoulders, pulling her up to kiss her fiercely. He seemed ready to roll her onto her back and ravish her right then, but she forestalled him by placing her small palm on his chest to hold him gently in place. That same quickly-smothered frustration darkened his features before she swung her leg to straddle his torso. As she wriggled her backside against his hardness he at last smiled in that self-satisfied way of his and she kissed him again on his smug mouth.

His tongue found its way between her lips again while one of his hands flattened on the small of her back. The other reached down to guide his cock to the entrance of her thoroughly wetted pussy. When he slipped into her willing flesh, they both let out a grateful sigh.

As his hands slid along her ivory skin to rest on her hips, she sank down a little further, savoring each inch of him as it was enveloped inside her. Allorah splayed her fingers on his chest again for better balance and kept her descent to an almost agonizing slowness. She was panting with desire and Varyn's long fingers bit into the soft flesh of her hips by the time she finally dropped the rest of the way down, sheathing the last few inches inside her hot hole all at once.

Without any real thought, she began a slow rocking motion on him. His cock slid in and out easily, and she realized to her great delight that if she ground her hips down when he was all the way inside her, his pelvis stimulated her clit wonderfully. Her heartbeat quickened at the discovery and she soon found herself riding him more vigorously.

Varyn pace increased as well, the force of his thrusts becoming more aggressive as he spared one hand from its steel grasp on her hip to twist in her hair and pull her to his hungry mouth. She let out a throaty moan when their lips met; the increased pressure on her clit and the variation in the angle drove her to new heights of sensitivity.

He broke the kiss abruptly, using his grip on her ebon curls to draw her head back gently but firmly and expose the graceful line of her neck to him. Allorah's breath came in shallow pants at both the vulnerability and the eroticism of the pose; it occurred to her vaguely that somehow the rules seemed to have changed hands again without her knowing it. Then a strong roll of his hips wiped everything but the pleasure from her mind and she was only aware of his hard cock throbbing inside her and the hot, wet kisses he was placing along the bottom of her jaw. His lips, and then soft nips of his teeth trailed down her skin to a smooth shoulder and her breath stuttered as his other hand rose to squeeze one of her breasts.

When his mouth moved to join his long fingers in teasing and caressing the rosy nipple, Allorah shifted her own grip to his broad shoulders. Her nails pricked his skin at each lap of the skilled tongue on her flesh. Occupied as he was, however, it was she that started rocking her hips against him again, forceful with growing need.

It didn't take him long to match her urgency. Though she whimpered in protest when his lips left her nipples shining with his saliva to instead plunder her mouth once more, she was soon distracted beyond caring with the combination of his darting tongue and his thrusting cock.

"Allorah," he broke the kiss only just enough to pant against her mouth, "I won't last much longer."

"Wait for me," she gasped back. "I'm close... I'm close."

His face hardened with control, but he waited and she ground and writhed and bounced herself on his hard shaft until she felt her body filling with that incredible pressure that would herald her ultimate release. Her limbs tautened further and she felt her breaths come ragged and hot. Sweat dampened her hair and added further slickness between their bodies, despite the chill of the air. She was hardly conscious of her fingers digging into his shoulders as she raced to her peak, only of his cock in her tightening pussy, his burning skin against hers and her glorious, terrible need to release the glowing tension that ran through her.

Then, suddenly, she was there. Once, twice, and three times she jerked her hips against his pelvis and she felt herself cumming. A thin cry escaped her throat as her body clenched and unclenched with the energy rushing through her form, her pussy muscles rippling along his dick. Varyn took it as a signal to let go himself, and with a grunt and quick, forceful jerks, he shot his seed deep inside her wet cavern.

As she looked down at him, Allorah felt her arms trembling, and carefully relaxed her fingers from their grip on his shoulders. He gazed back at her, his eyes that strange golden-green, satisfaction in every line of his face. She couldn't help but to smile back at him, and leaned down to lay her head on his chest and rest her trembling limbs.

Closing her eyes, she felt his fingertips trailing delicately over her spine. Her smile widened at the reminder of how he had woken her not an hour ago, and she let the rest of her body relax into him, relishing the low thumping of his heart under her ear.

She was half-way to falling asleep again, when he stirred. Allorah nestled into him drowsily, making a small sound of protest in her throat. The deep rumble of his laugh echoing against her ear startled her into full wakefulness and he said, "We've dallied long enough, my Priestess. It is time to begin the day."

Allorah wanted to grumble at him that both their days had most certainly already begun —he'd seen to that— but instead she sighed and nodded. Gently, he helped lift her to sitting where she reluctantly eased herself off of his cock and climbed off his lap.

For a fleeting moment as she felt his warmth leave her, Allorah wished she weren't a Priestess. As just a woman, she could tarry with Varyn all morning, and even into the afternoon without the constant pressure of not only being a public figure, but of fulfilling such tasks as only a priestess could manage. Without the looming guilt if she failed to accomplish something to expectation.

Catching herself, Allorah roughly smothered the thought. Such rationale was foolish and only brought sorrow. She was what she was, and she was grateful to serve her people in any way possible, pressure or no. Besides, if she had never been trained as she was, she would never have been able to meet Varyn at all.

Still, it was easy when alone with him to forget the rest of the world and all its attendant troubles.

She allowed herself one more wistful glance at him before she stood and went briskly about the process of preparing for the day. She dressed again in soft undergarments, a simple grey skirt and a white, full-sleeved shirt that came down to her knees and with slits along the sides at the lower part so as to keep the movement of her legs free. She tied another sash, this time of a faded purple, around her slim waist then braided her black hair out of her face. Her functional boots completed the uniform.

In the meantime, Varyn had slipped into his own things: the trousers that were still just a hair too short, a new shirt that was large enough to accommodate his broad shoulders and a belt made of sturdy, braided hide. Though someone was in the process of making him a pair of boots that would fit, they were not yet finished, so they had improvised a pair of sandals for him out of bits of wood and leather. Not particularly fierce, but better than going barefoot, in her estimation.

As they made their way out into the main room, she resolved to query again about finding him a more permanent set of clothing, but that was low on her list of priorities. First came food.

Before Varyn, her usual practice had been to brew only a morning tea in the small home allotted to the island's Priestesses before breaking her fast properly within one of the communal kitchens amidst the treetop village. Even so, she and Dannonae kept a small store of foodstuffs close at hand within a cabinet or two, the thick walls of the living tree keeping them well-insulated from the the heat of even the sunnier days. It was with some of these stores that Allorah now began to assemble a simple breakfast of bread, berries, and cheese from the small goats of the island. She brought out the last of the dried meat as well for Varyn's consumption and set two steaming mugs of tea on the table.

They ate in calm silence, content merely to share one another's company. Underneath the table, Allorah could feel Varyn's shin pressing gently against her own leg, a wordless comfort.

As she wrapped her hands around the warm mug of fragrant, invigorating tea, she went over the mental list of tasks she needed to do that day, the most immediate such as caring for the wounded at the top, and the less pressing ones further down. She still needed to meet with the Weavers about a new collection of cloth for bandages, for they were beginning to run low in the infirmary. Then there was the matter of the Solstice Ceremony that had been almost entirely neglected in the face of the more immediate war efforts, and another meeting with the Elders which as a full Priestess Dannonae had insisted she begin attending, and...

"You should eat more." Varyn's bass voice remarked gently from her side. She turned to look at him, smoothing the small frown she had unconsciously adopted with her thoughts.

"Oh? And why is that?"

He smiled faintly. "Because you will wear yourself to uselessness if you do not."

"I suppose you're right," she acceded. "But I find it hard to muster an appetite these days."

"Mm." He leaned back in his chair, regarding her thoughtfully. "Humans can be very fragile."

Her like-minded thoughts of all the delicate lives that waited for her in the hospital were distracted by the finger he ran idly along the line of her jaw. Pleasant tingles followed in the wake of his fingertip. "Then again," he said, grinning, "You can also be quite ferocious. Such as this morning."