"Are they going to be okay?" The old woman asked as they laid the two goddesses down on a pair of rough-looking couches.
"They should be fine after a bit of ti, though they will be quite thirsty when they wake up. They just got a little overheated on our way here. Do you have any towels we could wet and place on their foreheads?" John asked, kneeling beside Eris to check her pulse. Unlike Aqua, she had barely stirred since their wild ride, and he was starting to get concerned.
"Of course. Co, give a hand, lass. These old bones have a hard ti working the crank on the well these days." She said, taking Darkness with her. John looked over at Aqua for a mont, then focused back on the petite body in front of him.
They are goddesses, aren't they? Why are they so... fragile?
Her pulse was fine, her breathing was steady. Other than being a little warm, it was almost like she was just asleep.
On a hunch, he leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "If you are faking it, stop it, else I'm going to heal you in front of Aqua and Darkness."
"I... wouldn't mind learning what such a thing feels like, but please, not in front of Aqua. She is a bit rough in many ways, but she is too much of a prude when it cos to that sort of thing. I think I'll be okay, but I do feel ill. My avatar is tough, but it isn't invulnerable. Just let rest for a bit, please." She murmured, barely audible. "Today was the most fun I had in a long ti. Thank you."
"You're welco. Rest up." He replied. Smiling, he patted her shoulder and left her be.
They were in the village elder's ho, a fairly quaint house near the edge of the village. She actually lived here with her son and his family, but they were busy out working so nearby fields right now. She was apparently the village's healer and midwife among her other titles, though she did things the old-fashioned way with only the minimal use of priestly skills. Her son was actually the point of contact for the request, so even if the won were healthy, they would have to wait for a bit for him to return.
Once they had returned, she told him that she would watch over them for a bit, so John and Darkness left the house and began to explore the village. There wasn't much here, not that he was expecting anything extravagant. Just a general store, a small inn that was also a pub, and an open-air blacksmith whose proprietor was beating out so scythe blades.
"I like coming to places like this." Darkness said as they walked past the blacksmith, her eyes appraising the man's work.
"I do too. It is a nice, quiet place that doesn't seem terribly rushed." He replied. Tapping from the blacksmith aside, it was a rather serene scene. The villagers they could see were walking around at an idle pace, stopping to chat with neighbours, or watching their young children play in the streets. Compared to sowhere like a modern city, where sirens would echo almost constantly over the drone of vehicles driving around, it was practically silent.
"It's not just that. I get to see how my people actually live, not just the ones who live in a city or in our mansion. These are the people who feed everyone else, and it's good to know how they are living when it's not so dog and pony show being put on when their lord cos through on a scheduled annual visit."
She seed much more sophisticated right now, like she was the actual ruler of these lands and not a teenager with an unfortunate condition. It made him happy that she was thinking about the welfare of her citizens. "They seem happy for the most part, so things must be going fairly well for them. It's good that you care for your people like that."
"Which makes want to deal with these wolves imdiately. I would hate it if they started attacking people. Speaking of the wolves, I was thinking. Sothing must have driven them out of the mountains; they wouldn't have left their ho without a reason. We don't have much wild ga here in the lowlands; the hunters manage the local animal populations to keep their numbers down, so without a food source, there are fewer larger predators. The wolves would have no reason to co here, though now that they know about our livestock, I'm afraid we will need to cull the pack completely."
"Yes. It is a bit strange. I don't have much experience hunting giant wolves, but if they act like the wolves I know, they should normally stay in their territory and away from people. Do you think this is sothing caused by the Devil King?"
"It could be. That is usually the easy answer for anything that seems weird or out of place, but it isn't necessarily the truth. We might never know why they are actually down here, but always blaming it all on the Devil King keeps you from looking for the real answers. Sadly, no matter what the truth is, the solution will probably be the sa."
"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this problem."
"It's sothing my father taught to do. Since I am of the age that I will marry and take over rulership from him, he made sure I knew how to run both the household and the fiefdom; to know when to wait and make inford decisions, and when to act with incomplete information. This will be the latter." She said, then paused and looked up at him. "Sorry, I think I got a little too intense there. I just want to make sure my people are safe, and I am willing to sacrifice myself to do so."
"No need to apologize. Protecting innocents is one of the callings of a Paladin. A Crusader seems to be similar, so if that is your goal, you are doing just fine."
"Do you know much about being a Paladin? I thought you were an adventurer?"
"Darling, I think it's ti we had that talk about . I think you will be in for a hell of a surprise." He said.
John led her out of the village and into a nearby forest, walking a good ten minutes through the trees before he was satisfied that they wouldn't be overheard. Taking a seat against an Oak tree, he gestured for her to join him, then filled her in on his journey. She interrupted him from ti to ti with questions, enraptured when he described worlds that were straight-up science fiction to him, but overall listened to his story attentively.
"You have a ship that can fly around distant stars with a bedroom full of devices ant to restrain people and things to tease and torture them with pleasure and pain?"
He sighed. "Sohow I knew that would be the part you gravitated to. Yes, I do... and if I sohow get the chance, I will bring you there."
"What is it like, flying amongst the stars?"
"Well, stars themselves are quite dangerous, but the planets and asteroids look quite beautiful seen from above. I have a smaller ship I could take you to see it here, but right now I have sixty-so people trapped inside of it." He said, pulling out the Pelican figure. "Until I find sowhere safe for them, I can't expand it like my Battlech."
"You don't think it's safe here?" She replied, touching the Pelican figure with a finger.
"You do have a Devil King running around. I have it on good authority that there is an unspoken truce right now, but that could change at the drop of a hat. These people have gone through enough, and I would hate to have rescued them from one dangerous situation, only to put them into another." That was probably going to happen no matter what, but if he could mitigate the danger a bit, he would.
"I'll ask Eris the next ti I pray to her. She might have an answer for your problem."
"I wouldn't worry about that too much. I plan on talking to her soon enough."
"Right, you did say you t her in person. What was she like?"
"Well, the first ti was rather brief, but I thought she was rather kind, polite, and very demure. The second ti... well, let's just say she seems to have a few different sides to her." He replied, not wanting to blow Chris's cover.
"I must admit I'm feeling a bit jealous of you. I hope I can et her soday."
"I'm sure you will. You seem to be taking this all rather well."
"When I prayed to Eris this morning, she spoke to . She told that you were a special person and that I should follow my heart. It turns out she was right, you are pretty special; I just hope I can prove myself worthy of you."
"You have nothing to prove to . Just keep working to improve yourself, for yourself, and you will do well."
"I will, thank you. Can I... have a sample of your rewards now?"
He looked to the right, seeing her face for the first ti since they sat down. She was leaning towards him, cheeks flushed, panting slightly again. Her azure eyes looked excited at the thought of him doing sothing to her. "You know, it's not a reward if you ask for it."
"I'm sorry- Urk!" Her eyes seed to drop as she started to apologize, but he reached up and grabbed her neck and squeezed it roughly.
"Rember, you don't get to decide when I give you a reward, I do. That is what we agreed to. However, you did well in the village earlier, so I will let it pass. This ti." He said, squeezing her slightly tighter as he spoke, then pushed her up against the tree roughly and kissed her. He slid his other hand under her chest plate and squeezed one of her breasts, though her under armour prevented him from grasping it directly and pinching her nipple.
He plunged his tongue between her plump lips, forcing his way into her mouth. She had no idea what he was doing, so he explored her mouth with his tongue, then wrestled with hers into submission. She eagerly accepted his advances, her mind racing with the possibilities that could happen to her under the ministrations of this brute of a man who had her in his grip.
After about a minute, he released his grip on her neck, then broke the kiss off. She leaned on him, panting contentedly from their first real kiss. Before she could say anything, he stuck his thumb back in her mouth. "Suck it."
She obliged, obediently following his direction, a serene look on her face while she was sucking his digit. "Good girl, you follow directions well. Now, let's finish up here and head back to town. We do have a quest to do. Heal!" He said, then cast his healing magic directly on her tongue.
"MMMMHHHPPPHHH!!!" She moaned as his healing magic hit her, her eyes rolling up in the back of her head as she collapsed into his arms from the overstimulation. He caught her and lowered her the rest of the way to the ground gently, adjusting her so she was resting across his lap.
He brushed so loose strands of her hair back behind her ears as he gazed down at her as she was recovering. "You're such a beautiful young woman, Darkness. You sure you want to be with an old battleaxe like ?" He murmured, not really expecting a response.
"More than ever. Compared to the court dandies that my father has tried to set up with, you have more masculinity in your thumb than they do in their whole bodies. They would never be able to handle soone with my... issue." She replied, opening her eyes. All traces of her masochism had left her body for the mont, leaving her looking content. "I always thought I wanted a weak-willed trash of a human being to treat as I deserved. I have never been so happy to be proven wrong before."
They chatted quietly for a few more minutes before they got up and made their way back to the village. She leaned on his arm until they got to the edge of the woods, then let it go and resud her cool, unflappable crusader persona. John wasn't fooled; the small smile on her face and the twinkle in her eyes told him she was really happy right now.
This is crazy, I barely know her, but I think I could be happy with soone like her in my life. Am I drawn to the crazy ones? First Rumi and now her; they are two different types of crazy, but it feels almost the sa. I just want to take care of them both, support them, and see how far they can go. Now that I think about it, most of the won I am involved with have their own special brand of insanity. I guess... I guess I do have a type. Not submissive or dominant, but with determination and drive, with just a touch of crazy to keep things interesting.
He shook his head, breaking himself out of his self-reflection. They were approaching the village elder's house, and there was a small crowd of people outside of it. In the center of the group was a pair of young won seated in front of the house, one wearing red-and-black wizard robes, a wide-brimd, pointy hat, a magical staff, a red-and-black cape, and an eyepatch. The other was dressed similarly, though she had pink highlights instead, and had a silver wand and a short sword at her waist. They looked fairly worse for wear, both covered in scratches, abrasions, and what looked like blue sli. Aqua was up and tending to their wounds, Eris standing behind her, listening to the story the one with a hat was telling her.
"What happened here?" John asked when they got through the circle of villagers.
Chris looked up at him and gestured to the two girls. "A problem. A big problem."
He looked down at the two girls, and the one with the eye patch t his gaze. She just said one word, but made it sound like a death sentence. "Goblins."
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