Bowstring and Steel: Ep. 01

She moaned into our kiss and I moaned back at the pleasure of feeling her lips and body pressed against mine. She stepped into the water of the natural spring and pulled me in with her. I went willingly, and we washed each other clean. She traced the scars on my chest with her fingers as I kissed her neck and down to her breasts. Her breasts were full and firm, and her nipples were hard in spite of the warm summer air and the warmth of the water we were in.

We had no more words to express our feelings, so our bodies spoke for us what our voices could not. I took her left nipple between my lips and sucked gently as I licked it. She moaned louder and her head went back with her eyes closed in pure ecstasy. She sighed with pleasure as I moved to her other breast, repeating what I had done and eliciting even more moans and gasps of joy. I moved my hands down her back and cupped her ass cheeks in each hand. I then slid my hands under the water to stroke her smooth thighs. Her hands grasped the back of my head, holding my mouth to her breast as I suckled her.

I reached down in between us with my right hand and slipped a finger in between her pussylips, causing another sweet moan and gasp of pleasure from her open mouth. I slowly pushed it into her, feeling her slippery wetness that I knew wasn't the water from the spring. She was, like all Paladins, completely hairless below her neck. They believed that to be pure in the service of Harsk, they must keep their bodies completely shaven, including their nether regions. I had never been with a woman who shaved her pussy before, but I had a feeling that I would not regret this, or the rest of our lives together.

She then gave voice to her desire. "Make love to me, Jon. Please take me and make me yours."

I didn't speak my answer. I just picked her up with her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as I supported her thighs with my arms and walked us back to the dry bank of soft grass at the edge of the spring. I laid her down and looked into her sky blue eyes. I ran my hand through her close cropped brunette hair. I said nothing, but smiled at her and kissed her as she spread her thighs, inviting me into her most sacred of places. I was harder than steel and more than ready.

For five long years we had been kept apart by war and duty, though we had fought side by side. We had grown close over our years together, confiding fears and dreams. Talking of what our lives would have been like after the war. Today was the culmination of those years of wants and needs. It was the consummation of our love for each other that we had so long denied. I entered her slowly, my cock head parting her petals and slipping inside her.

I thrust into her tight wetness slowly. I reached her maidenhead and she just smiled and nodded once. She was prepared for the pain, but also the pleasure that would follow. I nodded back and thrust deep and hard. She winced, but didn't cry out. I held myself inside her and watched her face turn from a grimace into a smile as she opened her eyes again. I smiled back and kissed her as I moved in and out, thrusting slowly and moving my hips back and forth.

Her moans filled my mouth and ears as our tongues caressed each other and danced slowly together. She was so tight and hot, and the more we moved together, the wetter she became. She thrust up against me as I thrust into her, and we gasped as our kiss broke. She moaned loudly and her virgin pussy clasped me inside her as she came. Her moans and convulsions exploding out from her center and into me. I felt the buildup coming and my balls tightened as I swelled inside her. I tried to pull out, but she locked her ankles around my waist and pulled me deep as I unloaded my cum into her. We had fought hard together, and now we came just as hard in unison. I cried out wordlessly as our union was fulfilled, and she gasped with wordless joy. Her moans filled my ears again as we came down from the peak.

"Are you ok, Hanelor?" I asked as I stroked her face and looked into her eyes. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I'm fine, Jon. You did not hurt me after the initial shock of my maidenhead breaking. You more than made up for that with how you made love to me." She grinned warmly and kissed me lovingly.

I returned her kiss with equal ardor, then broke it gently to look into her eyes again. "Hanelor, what do you want to do after the ceremony and celebration?"

"More of this, if that's ok with you?" She raised one eyebrow and grinned at me.

"It's more than ok with me, Hanelor." I laughed as I rolled off of her and pulled her against my side. She molded her body to mine as we dried off in the warm early summer air. Then my eyes shot open as my thoughts returned. "Hanelor! I came in you!"

"Don't worry, my love. All female Paladins must drink the Chuvis Elixir every month, just like the other female soldiers. Imperial Decree." She laughed.

I hadn't thought of that. "That makes sense, actually. You never know what those monsters would do to you if they captured you."

The Chuvis Elixir was named for the Physician who had invented it. When women drank it, they were rendered infertile for an entire moon cycle, and wouldn't menstruate. Imperial Decree made it so that all female soldiers and sailors in the Imperial Army and Navy would drink it once a month in order to avoid pregnancy. That included the Paladins and Rangers who made up the Imperial Special Forces. It could also be bought from any town apothecary in the Empire.

I thought about it some more. Would it be so bad to be a father to Hanelor's child? Our son or daughter would be one quarter Elvish, so might be accepted more than I was when growing up. I'd had a few good friends who didn't care that I was Half-Elven, and more than a few women who had been attracted to my 'exotic' nature, even if only for a night or two. But now there was a beautiful woman who said she loved me, and was laying next to me on the bank of this spring. I looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Hanelor, do you want children someday?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes, my love, with you. I want to do all we talked about before, though."

"So do I, shirila." I slipped back into High Elvish without realizing it at first. It only happened when I was completely relaxed. My mother had taught me Elvish before I learned Avathian.

"What is 'shirila'? It sounds beautiful, and I'm guessing Elvish?" Hanelor smiled and her eyes twinkled.

"It is, Hanelor. My mother taught me Elvish growing up, and it was all I spoke until I was ten years old and she finally allowed me to learn Imperial Avathian from my father. It literally means 'sacred heart'." I explained.

The Elven children in our treetop village of Elaranan had mostly been cruel to me because of my black hair which clearly marked me as a halfbreed. A few hadn't cared, and only saw a friend.

One of those had been Selora, whom I had courted for a year before her parents made us separate. Her father, the High Prince of the Village, would be damned before he would 'let her be soiled by that mongrel'. Little did he know that his daughter and I had given our virginity to each other during our 19th year. Her long white-blonde hair had fallen around us both that day in the upper reaches of the Hearth Tree, and we had made love long into the afternoon. I imagined she was probably Sealed in Union by now, and most probably had children with her new Lifemate. She had been my first shirila. I had loved her, but lost her to her family's bigotry. I had told Hanelor of her during one of our drinking nights after a battle a few years ago. I still remembered the conversation we'd had.

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I passed Hanelor the tankard of beer, and she drank a gulp before handing it back. "So, Jon. Any wife waiting at home?" She asked.

"No. I had a lady until a few years ago before I joined up. Her father disapproved of my Human heritage." I shrugged.

"I'm sorry, Jon. I can't understand how people could be so racist, and judge someone on their skin or ears or hair and not on who they are." Hanelor had set her hand on mine on the table, and the physical contact with her bare hand had shocked and aroused me. I had pulled back automatically.

"I.. I'm sorry, Hanelor. You startled me." I replaced my hand on top of hers, and felt how soft the back of her hand was compared to the callouses I had felt on her palm. She was a warrior like me. We had shared our canteens with each other through battle after battle. We had shed our blood in the same mud.

"You shy from the touch of others. Why?" She asked with real concern.

"I was just caught offguard. It's nothing." I reassured her with a smile as I willed the erection in my pants down.

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"What are you thinking of, my love?" Hanelor asked.

"The conversation we had after The Battle of Broken Vale." I replied and smiled. "Neither one of us had enough for a tankard of Beer, so we both pitched in what we had and shared it."

She laughed as the sun slipped past the noon mark. "Do you think they've missed us yet?" She asked with a contented sigh.

"Probably." I shrugged. The war was won. "Should we go back?"

"In a little while. I want to spend a few more moments with the man I love." She kissed me passionately, and I returned her kiss just as ardently.

"Well, aren't you two a sight." The voice of my Commanding Officer said from above us. I looked up at her and smiled at her upside down face from where she was standing behind my head.

"Hey there, Denna. This is exactly what it looks like, and as soon as we get back, go ahead and bring me up on charges, hooah?" I grinned up at her.

Denna just laughed. "Like I would be able to after the stunt you both pulled with killing Vel'shorek! Drive on, Ranger, but get dressed and be back at camp ASAP. We're about to break camp for the march back to the Capital. You have ten minutes." She turned and left.

"That answers that question." Hanelor laughed. "I can't believe you weren't embarrassed!"

"Why would I be? Rangers bathe together all the time. We've seen each other naked before. I prefer my current view, though." I kissed her and we stood to retrieve our clothes and armor.

Once we were dressed in full armor and with weapons belts and harnesses buckled, we walked back to camp hand in hand.

We unclasped our hands as we neared the site and got our gear squared away for the march back. Once our tents were broken down and strapped to our rucksacks, and those rucks then thrown into our supply wagon in celebration of our victory, we marched back hand in hand for the four hour march.

Denna caught up to us. "Denna, I know we've had our differences, but I know you loved Halas. He was a good Ranger." I said.

"Thank you, Jon. I know I haven't been the easiest Commanding Officer to work for." She smiled at us. "I assume you will be resigning your commission with the Paladins, Hanelor?"

"Yes I will, Denna. I've had to fight alongside this man for over five years, and I will be damned already, but I would be double damned if I didn't resign to be with him." Hanelor smiled at our friend.

"What will you both do?" She asked.

"Travel, most likely. Mixed race couples are very frowned upon here in Arethor." I told her. "My parents were proof of that. I was barely tolerated in my mother's village among the Elves."

"It's true. If only we could make the entire Empire see how we Rangers do things." Denna chuckled. Hanelor and I laughed.

"So true, Denna." Hanelor agreed. "Paladins, Rangers, and Battlemages are the only forces in the Imperial Army that aren't still segregated, and all are treated equally."

"I could probably pass for Human if I grew my hair out and let me beard grow in some more." I shrugged. "The longer hair would cover my ears."

"Not by much, Jon. Even though you're only Half-Elven, the only ways I can tell that you aren't full Elf are your hair color and your facial stubble." Denna said and laughed again. Denna is tough. She grieved for Halas quickly, and would find a new lover soon. "But then again, there are no Humans or Elves here. We're just Rangers. Hooah?"

"Hooah, Denna." I replied and we shared a grin of victory.

We marched into the Capital of Arethias Castle. The walled city was large, and we formed up in our units for the rest of the march through town. We were still dressed in our combat worn armor and carrying our bows at the ready after unsheathing and extending them. We carried them in our left hands as we marched. When we reached the Palace itself, which looked more like a Fortress than anything else, we marched through its gates as well and to our new temporary quarters. We were now quartered in individual rooms with spacious interiors, soft beds, which I hadn't seen in years, and food waiting for us with Beer.

"The Gods are good to us, Hanelor." I grabbed two tankards and tapped the Keg they had left in my room. I poured one for Hanelor and one for me. We sat and got comfortable in the chairs. Our rucks were right next to each other and we would be called when the awards ceremony and victory celebration in the morning. She had stripped down to just her tunic and trousers, and started polishing her armor between swigs of beer.

"Yes they are. I think we should be plastered by the time the celebrations start. That way we'll have a head start on them!" Hanelor laughed, and I clanked mugs with her.

"I agree. Here's to drinking all through the night!" I raised my tankard, and she clanked it with hers. We drank.

I grabbed my weapons and started cleaning them. I varnished my bow and restrung it before cleaning and polishing my daggers. These weapons would remain mine, even after I left the Rangers. I then got my Dress Black Uniform from my rucksack and laid it out for in the morning. My boots would need polishing too, but I took another gulp of beer first.

"The Gods created Beer so that Rangers would have a way to relax after a battle." I grinned, more than a little buzzed.

"And Paladins, too!" Hanelor agreed. "Shit! The Empress is going to present us our medals in the morning, isn't she?"

"Probably. Why?" I asked.

"I hate her. She gave in when father sent me to the Monastery when I was eight. He never liked me for some odd reason. Probably the fact that I was born without a cock. But whatever. She went along with it. Fuck her. She might be my mother, but she's not my fucking family!" Hanelor finally stopped her tirade and pouted.

I'm not sure what startled me more. That she was a dirty mouthed drunk when she was angry, or that she was the daughter of the Empress.

"Princess?" I asked, mouth open.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry, Jon. I never told you that." She stopped polishing her breastplate and looked at me with imploring eyes. "Jalin knows, and that's about it."

I sheathed my left dagger and set it aside once it was clean and polished. "Hanelor, slow down on the Beer." I said. "If you leave the Paladins, won't your mother care?"

"Why should she? Even after father died, she didn't even bother to send word. I found out the same way everyone else did!" Hanelor was furious, and I couldn't blame her.

"When we stand side by side in the morning, hung over and ready to kill anyone who looks at us funny, we should both glare through her like she isn't even there." I suggested. Yes, I was a bit drunk, myself.

Hanelor laughed at that. "Yes! Or maybe refuse to salute!" We laughed even harder.

"Or tell her to go fuck herself?" I suggested again, and Hanelor nearly fell off of her chair. She did drop her breastplate with a clang.

"Or maybe I'll stick out my tongue at her and you can moon her!" Hanelor managed between fits of laughter. I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face.

We heard the knock at the same time. "Come in, we're drunk!" We said in unison and laughed again as we clanked tankards and drank as the door opened. We looked as an older version of Hanelor came in dressed in her gleaming golden armor.

"Oh, look. It's the bitch herself!" Hanelor stood and smirked with her arms folded. "Why don't we just skip the awards shit in the morning, mother. Just let us get the fuck out of here and we can resign quietly."

"Hanelorina, stop it! Mother or not, I am still your Empress." I raised my eyebrows at that. Her voice was the same velvet covered steel as Hanelor's.

"What the fuck did you expect, mother? After the last twenty years and not a fucking word from you, even when the REASON I was sent to the Monastery in the first place died! What do you want from me? Respect that I don't feel? Fuck you!" Hanelor shouted with real rage behind her eyes as the tears of pain and anger fell down her cheeks.

Empress Raelina looked at me. I shook my head. "No, ma'am. Don't look at me. I'm on her side on this. That was a shady bullshit move on yours and the Emperor's part back when she was just a little girl. It was fucked up, and I'm not going to apologize for my language. I don't even give a fuck if you execute me before even pinning my medal on."

She looked back at Hanelor, who had collapsed back into her chair and was crying softly into her hands. I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder, and she covered it with her own. She squeezed my hand in thanks.

"I'm sorry, Hanelorina," she said to her daughter. "Please forgive me."

That set Hanelor off again. "NO, MOTHER! I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU! YOU AND THAT SHITSTAIN EXCUSE FOR A FATHER STOLE MY CHILDHOOD FROM ME! I NEVER HAD A CHANCE AT A NORMAL LIFE THANKS TO YOU! I'm leaving now. I don't care about your fucking medals or propriety." She wound down as she ended her righteous tirade.

"Stand down, shirila. Please. At least hear her out?" I asked as gently as possible as I moved in front of her and held her close. "Please, for me?"

"Fine, but only for you, Jon." She answered.

I pulled back and moved to her side. I nodded to the Empress.

"Hanelorina, please sit down and let me explain some things?" She asked and gestured to the chairs. There were four of them, but we had only been occupying the ones with a clear view of the door. where our backs wouldn't be turned to it.

Hanelor and I both retook our seats as the Empress sat in the third chair. She turned to her guard. "Leave us."

The guard bowed and left, closing the door behind him. Empress Raelina la Cionan turned back to us. "Hanelorina, please forgive me for what I did back then. I let your father take you away from me and send you to become a warrior. It was not what I wanted, but I was afraid of what he might have done if I had refused."

Hanelor was suddenly attentive, and showed no more trace of anger for her mother. "What were you afraid of, mother?"

"I was afraid that he would harm you, Hannie. He wanted another son, but when you came along, he saw you as a slap in the face." Raelina told us.

I had to interject. "So, why would he feel that way? You have two sons already. Why would Hanelor be a threat to him?"

"Because a prophecy foretold that a woman would rule the Empire after his death. He assumed that to mean Hannie, but in reality it meant me." She clarified.

"Mother, you haven't called me Hannie since I was five." Hanelor said, tears in her eyes.

"I know, Hannie. I'm so sorry for what happened. I was afraid for your life, and your father thought that he would be safe if you became a Paladin, who would be in no position to rule the Empire. It was my idea to send you for your own safety." Raelina looked at Hanelor with eyes begging for forgiveness. "At least with Harsk's Paladins, you had more of a chance than you did with your father biding his time until I wouldn't be able to protect you."

Hanelor bowed her head and closed her eyes. She took a deep shuddering breath. She looked her mother in the eyes. "I understand, mother. I forgive you. Please forgive my earlier outburst?"