Pleasure and Pain

The ranger perched on a large rock for the night's watch, a granite wall at his back and scrub, rock and heat spread out before him. The sun had sunk below the horizon an hour or more ago, he'd lost track of time in this desert, and left an eerie glimmer of light through the seemingly dead branches of the brush that littered this strange landscape. The moon cresting the horizon just opposite where the sun had been gave a surreal spirit to the whole scene. The man thought he might hear the whispers of those long dead if he listened to the descending darkness. A wry smile crossed his lips, an experiment, he thought to himself letting his dark eyes drift to the form lying under a tree a few paces from him.

He noticed the dance of shadows across the pale and sweat beaded skin of her bare shoulders, neck and face, strands of her dark hair falling in a veil along her cheeks. Her cloak was haphazardly wrapped around the curves of her body. She looked more entangled than covered but that only made her more enticing. The ranger let his vision blur just past her and cleared his mind. Letting his thoughts drift idly by without acknowledgment he listened to the empty silence that lingered in the heated desert air. Carefully he began to pick his way across the ether to the woman still sleeping near him. He brushed a lock of her hair from her face, tracing her cheekbone with his finger to her temple, then down across her long, narrow ear finally resting on her neck just behind her jaw. He listened to the rhythmic beating of her heart through his fingers, trying to tune himself to the song of her life-force.

His heart began to race as he saw images flash in his mind. Her fierce eyes looked into his, her soft lips moving to form words that he could almost make out, almost. Her hands small, but strong, pressed hard against his chest and her body near enough to raise the hair on his neck but he did not feel threatened. The ranger pushed deeper, seeking to hear the words that she would say to him in this other plane, words he did not believe she would say to him while awake. In his mind, he reached out to touch her face, to offer comfort for the anguish he could see in her eyes, refuge for the thoughts she might want to share with him. He could hear her voice a whisper now, only, and then the anguish turned to rage, the hands at first pressed into his chest now pushed hard and the Ranger rocked back on his perch, nearly falling from the rock as he came back to himself.

He glanced down at the girl. She still slept albeit restlessly, her hair still veiling her pale skin. Then the man on the rock realized it had worked, he'd made it past her defenses. He was beginning to master this new found talent she had awakened in him. Now if only he could master the feelings that she'd awakened as well. He thought back over the last moon cycle since they'd met. They were an unlikely pairing neither needed the other to survive and yet perhaps they needed each other to live. He'd seen her fight and the results.

He'd been set upon by a harpy just over a fortnight ago and had held his own against the undead flying creature for some time. But the silver winged, screaming beast would not be deterred and the ranger was tiring fast. His fortune turned when an arrow whistled past his head and caught the harpy in her shoulder, bringing her down in a rage to fight on foot against the man and this new cloaked ally. The mysterious warrior raised a rowan staff and swung it with both hands catching the harpy in her ribs, and pulled the staff back for a wicked jab to the chest, deflecting a blow by the harpy in the process. The ranger had backed off a step to catch his breath and was amazed by the rage and precision with which this new warrior fought. A final blow was struck to the harpy's head and she fell hard to the stone ground.

The cloaked warrior, the same in stature to the ranger, turned to him. The voice was deep, quiet, and laced with distrust, "You should leave now for Carrion Birds linger here and won't be long for the feast." The ranger watched as the cloak billowed out from behind this warrior stalking away from him, his mind in a whirl. Was that a woman's voice under the cowl? He couldn't be sure, but the sandals laced up over baggy breeches couldn't be mistaken. She was several paces in front of him before he realized he hadn't even moved. He jogged to catch up with her.

"Wait! What is your name please?" He asked forgetting to thank her for the rescue.

"Irrelevant," she replied in the same dark voice. She regretted the loss of her arrow as he came within a few feet of her. She sensed his magic and pulled her cloak more tightly about her in defense. "Look, she was gravid. You can not be merciful with them when they're gravid. Now you know I doubt you need me around." She quickened her pace.

The ranger was not to be put off, and stepped up his own pace to match hers. He asked no more questions though, grateful enough for the presence of another human in this wasteland. That had been how they'd met, and the weeks passed in an uneasy trust. Each sensed new things about themselves through the presence of the other. The ranger noticed an ability to pick up the woman's thoughts, to finish her rare sentences. The woman noticed sensation evoked within her while in the ranger's company. She became troubled by her disease when they separated, even for short periods of time. Both welcomed the chance to truly sleep instead of being on guard all the time. And so it went for 20 days.

Today was the 21^st, and the Ranger tired of the silent truce. He pushed her. He'd been watching her, noting the toss of her hair when she was nervous, her tears in the darkest hours of the night, the ripple of the muscles in her soft white arms as she released her arrows and the strength of her long, strong legs as she swung her staff. Her wide hips balanced her shoulders and the ranger found himself wondering if she'd ever tasted a man.

He had, on more than one occasion over the last several days, traced her neck with his fingers, wrapping gently his hands around her supple breasts, rubbing each nipple with his thumbs until they were hard. He'd touched the silky skin of her neck with his lips, tasting her pulse as it quickened. Of course all of this had been within the confines of his mind. Yet each time he'd made that journey in his mind he'd catch that same nervous toss of her hair and one time when she was not near, he'd heard her catch her breath.

She was not beautiful, but she was not ugly either. She was strong, graceful, and intelligent. He found her quiet and her deep distrust intrigued him. He felt her equal, no greater than her and no less than her. She walked with a proud stride and a strong gait and he matched it. He found that he enjoyed even her sulking silence, but more than that, once during the last 20 days she had smiled. Laughed actually, and he wondered how long it had been since she'd done that. For one moment she seemed to have forgotten the pain that had driven her to this solitude. That moment had elated the ranger and he felt forever connected to this pale, cloaked creature.

That day, the 21^st in their association, he stopped her. The heat cast waves over the still air and rippled the horizon. They had been walking through the heat and the sun was at their backs now. She turned to see why they had stopped, drawing her cloak around her and tossing her hair back yet again. The action was not lost on the Ranger and he heard that silent gasp again. He looked at her firmly, trying to see into her mind.

"Don't!" she warned dangerously.

"Tell me why I can do this with you, when I've never been able to do it before." He pushed.

"I don't know why," she waved off the question and turned back to their path. The ranger would not be moved.

Tell me why! He pushed into her mind. She pushed back, turning on the ranger with her staff leveled and ready. The grey cloak fell from her shoulder and her loose tunic dipped low on her chest revealing her ample breasts. The red sash around her waist grabbed his eye from her chest and he imagined the soft flesh that was beneath it.

You don't know what you are doing! You're a fool! She pushed into his mind. "You don't know what it is you are seeking. It is not this!" A light breeze brushed her tunic against her breast and the Ranger could see her nipples hardening in the standoff. He sensed the tightening of her abdomen as she began to anticipate sensations she'd not had in an age.

She felt him in her mind and pulled back, turning and stalking off. He raced to catch up to her. "There is something between us! Do you deny it?" She did not stop.

Do you deny it? He pushed. She stopped for a moment with her back to him and he imagined his fingers running down her bare back, wrapping around her hips. He pushed himself up against her in his mind, feeling his own stomach tighten, his pulse raced. His breeches became suddenly too tight. "Do you?" he whispered.

"I deny nothing!" she quipped back in that dangerous whisper she'd used the first day that they'd met.

"You deny everything! You trust no one! You allow no feeling and yet there is so much within you. I hear it, I feel it, and I see it everyday I am near you! You still deny it." He whispered as he walked slowly up behind her, stopping just short of pressing his body against hers. The desert air felt strangely cool in contrast to the heat between the two. She could sense his anticipation as readily as he could sense hers. He reached with his hands to touch her hair, a hand on either side of her head. Fingers floated down to her shoulders and much as he wanted to touch her, he suddenly feared inflicting damage. His hands were hot and desire ravaged his body.

"I won't hurt you," he whispered against her neck, standing the hairs on end. He pressed his lips against her neck, slowly turning her around to face him and working his way across her chest. He found her pulse and pulled on it with his teeth running his tongue along its length. He followed it down to her breast, slowly and ran his tongue over her hardened nipple. His fingers traced down her neck and chest in tandem on the other side. She caught her breath and he felt a tear fall on his hand. He stopped and looked into her anguished eyes. She looked as if someone had taken her life from her and she had yet to feel the cold death she knew to be immanent. Did she want to speak? He wouldn't let her. Not now. He kissed her, softly at first and then harder. Suddenly her passion awoke. She kissed him back.

Her small hands found the opening of his tunic and, for a moment pressed hard against him, then tore the fabric down the front, baring his chest. She pulled at the buckle that held his sword belt as they kissed even more deeply. The ranger wrapped one hand around her neck as the other pulled the red sash away from her waist, letting her breeches fall to her ankles. The soft wool of her cloak brushed against the bare skin of her round ass. The ranger's belt fell away and she dropped to her knees, pulling his breeches down with her. She looked up at the ranger with a glimmer in her eyes and then wet her lips as she took him into her mouth. Careful not to let him touch any part of her mouth until he was wholly in, she closed upon him running her tongue over the length of his shaft, exploring each bulging vein and wrinkle of skin. She pulled back on him and then went back down on him hard, sucking his scrotum into her mouth as well. She let her fingers, feather light, run up and down his legs as she gently took him in and out of her mouth.

The ranger felt at once as if he were going to explode and lose consciousness. He'd not felt anything quite like this before, then suddenly he felt his scrotum in her mouth and her hand wrapped around his swollen penis, her thumb wet and rolling over the tip. She was alternately sucking and rolling them around in her mouth. He reached down and ran his fingers through her chestnut hair, pulling lengths of it up trying to maintain his balance. Finally, when he wasn't sure he could stand much more, he pulled her back from him, laying her down on her cloak. Gently he took her sandals off and pulled her breeches from her ankles. Her legs were smooth and glistened in the evening light. He ran his tongue up one leg and down the other, pausing at each hip. Her abdomen quivered as she anticipated each touch. Gently he returned over each leg until he had them spread quite apart. He pulled at each of her lips gently suckling her clit. He could hear the same gasps he'd heard in his mind over the past days. Running his tongue against the bones that encased her vaginal canal he slid his tongue deeply into her and heard her groan. He came back up and ran his teeth gently over her clit pulling at it and then sucking it and then pulling at it again. He walked his fingers up her abdomen massaging her belly on his way up to her now hard breasts. He rolled her nipples between his fingers as he continued pulling on her clit with his teeth. He could hear her cries in his mind; there was no thought, just a melding of spirits as they sensed each others' pains and pleasures. He pulled himself up on top of her sliding his swollen erect penis gently inside her and at once they gasped together. He came down and pulled on her nipple with his teeth, then sucked it in and ran his tongue over it. He pulled on it, sucking gently and then persistently on it. He ran his tongue over her breast and back up to her neck, gently kissing her up to her chin then to her lips again.

Suddenly they were in an enraged passion, he was beating down hard on her as she pulsed herself up against him, each kissing the other hard. The ranger grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, sucking on the vein he'd found earlier as they slammed against each other. She wrapped her lithe strong legs around him and pulled him up and into her hard as she arched her back up. He sensed the release a moment before it happened, hearing her sigh in his mind, he too released against her throbbing walls. They were transfixed in a pose of ecstasy for a long moment as the full moon crested the horizon and cast Her rays down on the couple.

Finally she relaxed and collapsed against the hard stone. The ranger gently withdrew from her as she took a long deep breath and rolled over to one side. He pulled her cloak up over her and left her be, replacing his own clothing as best he could. One question had been answered, yet another one unanswered. He surveyed the landscape of where they'd stopped. He faced a granite wall with a large stone in front of it. She lay underneath a withering scrub tree and there was nothing but scrub and flat stone to the horizon.

The ranger sat on his rock, satisfied with his recollection of the day, and with the outcome of his experiment. He would continue to pry gently into her mind, until he one day, could uncover the source of her grief. Then he would find a way to relieve her pain.