A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 29: Heatherheath

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future. All characters that engage in sexual or suggestive situations are mentally and sexually mature: the human equivalent of 18 for their race.

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Episode 29: Heatherheath

As the day traveling with the refugees wore on, Caleldir cast several more looks at the two Drow who were still in one of the wagons, huddled together after what must have been a very emotional sexual experience. It was then that he noticed that Bard seemed willing to allow him to approach the cart, and so assumed that the two Drow did, in fact, require his presence for something. So, he rode alongside them (for he had picked up a horse sometime during the day. As had Althaia, for that matter) and began speaking in a low voice, just loud enough for the elves' more sensitive ears to pick up. "So... is everything alright?" He asked slightly lamely, but with concern.

Ashyr's eyes fluttered open when she felt the happy tail of her companion beat against her back. A slightly confused look crossed her face. She'd actually told Bard to keep everyone away. Why was he- oh it was Caleldir. Apparently neither ranger nor animal companion could be anything but happy to see the guy. She reached out to ruffle the animal's ears with an amused half-frown. "It's alright as it could be, I suppose." Ashyr murmured back with a tired smile. "Got way more... emotional than I anticipated. I'll spare you the details, but Selene had a very bad time as punishment for letting us go. Turns out she can be self-sacrificing when she wants to be." The older drow's smile turned rueful as she ran her hand through the still-sleeping woman's hair. "Combine that with a bad time before you met her and, well, we get this insane mess."

Eyes flicking down towards the sleeping Selene, Caleldir's expression softened even more. "I did not expect that. I do not know how to thank her..." His eyes began to, very literally, glow with that cold blue light of undeath. He licked his lips. "Actually, I do. The usurpers must be made to pay." The glow subsided. "But I would rather not leave Selene to do that. Death I can stomach, but torture, no matter their crimes, not so much."

Ashyr also licked her lips upon seeing the temporary ferocity the glow in Caleldir's eyes gave him. But she shook herself of the thoughts that sprang to her head. It was easy enough to do; the drow still felt the strange exhaustion one often felt after emotionally trying experiences. She gripped Selene's sleeping form just a little bit tighter. It was enough to wake the younger drow. Her crimson eyes blinked with the bleary, confused look of one who shut their eyes for a seeming moment then opened them to world whose sun had moved considerably. Selene's gaze focused first at Ashyr, who grinned down at her. Then she caught the sight of Caleldir riding beside them. Her face grew almost suspiciously neutral. She shifted out of her cousin's grasp and hopped off the cart to walk slightly apart from the rest of the group. The ranger got Bard's attention, then tilted her head towards Selene. The wolf jumped off of the cart as well and resumed his guard duty, this time walking near the younger drow.

"The City of Heatherheath is in sight!" Althaia called from the front of the group. Caleldir turned his attention that way. He relaxed. In front of them, framed against the setting sun, was a city of tall, sandstone walls covered in flowering ivy. Combining strength and elegance, it was one of the most beautiful cities he had ever seen.

The towers along the walls and the secure castle fortress within it flew several flags, as Caleldir pointed out. "Observe," He began, only pausing in distraction for a moment when Ashyr got off the wagon and slipped into the saddle behind him. "Not a bad way to travel, though we could get you your own horse." He listened to Ashyr's noncommittal grunt. She didn't seem to have anything further to say on that matter. "Anyway, The Heather Sprig on a Field of Red signifies Heatherheath itself, while the Silver Lion on a Field of Black is the emblem of the Kingdom of Clachleom." He mused for a moment, before deciding to run on with his exposition anyway. "Clachleom is rugged land of deep lakes and high stony hills surrounding fertile valleys. Its inhabitants are known as being clannish and quarrelsome, but the Kingdom itself never declares war. Instead, it produces a steady stream of mercenaries to fight in other people's conflicts. You have probably met a few of them already if you have been at all hanging around mercenaries. Most of the commoners are humans, most of the nobility are light elven, the royals are human, and there is a smattering of the less barbarous types of giants and a heavy sprinkling of civilized fae rounding out the rest of the population. Despite this, the people of Clachleom view themselves as having way more in common with each other than with foreigners, and do not consider themselves as different races. No, they extend that distinction to foreigners. They are the Clachlim. All others are Thiochen. But do not think they are hostile to foreigners; they are natural merchants and hagglers, and will accept anyone who is generous with coin. They dislike any outsiders as miserly as themselves though." He paused, pursing his lips. "Not that I have extensive experience here since waking up from the monastery. I came through this area rather quickly. Most of my information is of the ancient variety, but the Clachleomi do not seem to have changed much. Well, except for favoring more revealing clothing now."

"Well it's a good thing we have coin from the decimation of that camp." Ashyr responded. She didn't know about Althaia, but she was pretty sure that the rest of the party was completely broke before then. "How long will it take to get to your old home from here?" She asked after a moment.

Closing his eyes, Caleldir concentrated on the subtle tugging of the curse that drew him homeward. After a few minutes, he opened them again. "It has been about five days since we began the journey. In that time, we have averaged about twenty miles a day. Which is pretty good, actually, considering the terrain and all the delays he have had. We are now 356 miles from the entrance to the monastery. Since we will be able to make much better time over the just over 200 miles across Clachleom, due to roads and inns and horses, I estimate about twelve more days, not counting today. Four in Clachleom, if we press the horses, the other eight through the very rough terrain beyond. We will have to sell the horses before we enter the Forest. That is where the journey gets really interesting. Rest up well these next five nights, because the Fels of Slumber is a terrifically dangerous place."

The group entered the town without any issues; the captain of the guards was a Paladin herself - a red-haired warrioress who may have been half giant by her height but was far too beautiful to be of any common giantish stock - and, once she saw Althaia, her suspicions dried up. She gave everyone a smile except Selene, who she prickled at but did not stop. She whispered what sounded like a warning to Althaia, and let the group through. The refugees gave another round of thanks towards the heroes (the drow bore it very awkwardly) and scattered away to either find relatives or to head to the castle and/or the temple to petition for their destroyed villages. Althaia sent them away with the cartloads of ore, both because it was enough money for them to rebuild everything they had lost, and more, and because the little party could not carry a few thousand pounds of copper.

There was some slight awkwardness as a few of the more amorous young women expressed their desires to 'show how grateful they were' to Caleldir, with much giggling and blushing, but with a blush far greater than any of theirs Caleldir politely declined. One of them, a particularly beautiful young lady by the name of Cieraela, who carried herself with far more confidence than the others, wondered whether the group was looking for more members. Althaia seemed about to agree that they were when Caleldir said that Cieraela should sleep on it, and really consider whether she was cut out for the probably short and violent life of an adventurer.

And with that, the group was finally alone. Probably. "So..." Caleldir said, looking very exhausted. "We should probably find an inn."

Selene and Ashyr visibly relaxed. They still seemed a little bit more tired than they should have been after all the napping they did during the second half of the day. The younger stuck close to the older, almost always having some sort of physical contact with her, whether it was just their shoulders pressed together, or her arm resting on the crook of Ashyr's elbow. Whatever happened that morning had apparently reestablished the closeness they used to share - perhaps going beyond that into something deeper.

"Yes. An inn would be fabulous." Ashyr agreed.

"You think we can get special treatment for rescuing those idiot humans?" Selene wondered aloud. Images of luxurious food, massaging hands across her body, and a warm bath danced through her weary mind.

"Unless one of the people that we rescued was an innkeeper's daughter or something, I doubt it." Caleldir replied to Selene. "But we are pretty rich now, and money can get you some pretty good treatment around here. We picked up enough coin in that camp to outright buy an inn, if we wanted to."

"Which we do not." Althaia said smoothly. "But I wonder about that girl, Cieraela. Perhaps she would know something about this town. It was quite cruel of you to send her away like that, cousin."

Caleldir sighed. "We have Selene, a powerful mage with a sadistic killing streak, Ashyr, an experienced and canny ranger, you, an invulnerable nymphen paladin, and me, an utterly unkillable king of ghosts and child of demigods. A human girl with a knife would just get herself killed. Perhaps by a bolt of lightning while helping rescue me from an angry city government." Ashyr's face fell at this remark, but she said nothing.

Althaia pouted. "She has the most important trait for a female adventurer though."

A look of confusion crossed over Caleldir's face. "Err... do I even want to know?"

The nymph smirked. For a moment, she resembled Ashyr. "She is really hot." With that, she flounced away after the departing human.

With a sigh, Caleldir turned back to the two Drow. "Well, should we ask around for directions to a good inn? I almost regret sending all our rescue-ees away without inquiring after lodgings."

"I'm sure we can find someone who'll tell us the way." Ashyr responded as she watched the way Althaia's hips moved as she walked. As for the human girl, Ashyr didn't care one way or the other. "Just find a guard. I've noticed that they can be very helpful. Or at least I assume so. I've seen them help other people. Most take one look at my skin and decide I'm no good." She grinned at herself and shrugged. "Which is fair."

Selene also watched the nymph and human walk away, a thoughtful look on her face. "You know, we could use a servant. Cook our meals. Massage our feet. She was going to be a slave anyway." Her motivations weren't at all sexual, unlike the nymph's.

Ashyr rolled her eyes at her cousin. The younger drow was a noble at heart, even after she'd been kicked out of her rich home. This was clearly the longest time Selene had gone without being waited on by one of her slaves.

The object of Caleldir disapproval changed from Althaia to Selene. "I am sure that if you want to hire some girl to be your maid, this is the place to do it. The Clachleomi are very mercenary, after all. You can find people willing to go into practically any danger for enough money. And we have a lot of money. If you do not want to use your own, talk Althaia into financing your maid. I bet that would be an easy sell." Still, he shook his head.

"Come on." Ashyr interjected. "Let's wander around until we find a patrol. Or a bunch of drunk and noisy people. Both will lead to an inn, I think. Either way, you'll be our best bet for getting a non-hostile answer, Cal. Lead the way." The drow looked to him expectantly, apparently perfectly fine with letting him be in charge of things despite his maleness. After all, it was his realm that they were in (and they couldn't be bothered with such a menial thing as talking to surface dwellers they didn't know.)

"Find a guard: yes. That is a good idea." Caleldir said. "Interestingly, male Clachleomi tend to have too much wanderlust to be city guards. Those of them with military inclinations tend to go fight in other people's wars, so the local rulers tend to see their women as more reliable for guard duty." He said as he put on his charismatic best and started an inquiry after an inn. Oddly enough though, he ignored the female guards and asked the first male guard he could find, despite the vast majority of the guards being women. The group was directed to the Golden Loch, an upscale, moderately expensive, comfortable four story inn with an attached bathhouse and massage parlor that was known for its quality food. Like most of the city, it was built solidly and elegantly of red sandstone and covered in flowering ivy. It was clean and well kept, especially considering that it may have been here back before Caleldir's hometown was cursed. "This seems like a good place." Caleldir noted. "So... what quality room should we get, and how many of them?"

Both drow looked at each other. They seemed to have a quick conversation in the moment without words, hand signals, nor magic. Selene didn't want to part from Ashyr in her emotional state, and Ashyr didn't like the idea of sleeping away from Caleldir. That much could be gathered from a simple look between two people who knew each other for a century.

Ashyr twisted her mouth to the side in thought. "Depends on if Althaia is going to come back... which I guess depends on how well she does with the human female." Ashyr said aloud. "Or maybe it doesn't." She seemed to come to a decision then. "One room, highest quality. Unless your expensive inns are very different from our own, there should be some sort of bed for slav- uh, servants attached to the room in case one of us doesn't want to sleep with the others."

Although Ashyr did not consider how it would look for one man to book a room with three or more women, Caleldir did. He blanched a little. "One? Only one? Er..." He looked between the two drow, realizing what sort of decision process the two of them were going through. "Our inns typically do not have attached servant's quarters. Servants just sleep in the common room. But large rooms should have multiple beds, so perhaps we can get away with only one." He sighed. "Well, now that that is decided, let's actually enter the Inn."

So, they did. The inside lived up to the promise of the outside: very old, but elegant and perfectly maintained. There was a large crowd of patrons both of the traveling variety and local favorites. They all appeared to be either prosperous merchants or minor nobles, so they talked and drank in far more subdued voices and less uproarious laughter than did the patrons of lower class establishments. One of the patrons - a tall, very slender, exceptionally handsome man with copper brown hair and piercing green eyes - gave the three newcomers a pointed look, his face expressionless, but eyes searching. Ashyr gave him a grin and a wink. The tall man responded to Ashyr's flirtation with a hollow smile. He looked... serpentine, as if he was coiled and waiting to strike. But only for a moment. Then, his expression turned to an ordinary genial grin and he waggled his eyebrows at her. After that he went back to reading a ragged journal, but when Ashyr turned away his eyes darted up to looking at the two drow. He paid no attention to Caleldir. On the far side of the common room, several musicians played rollicking dance music on fiddles, drums, a harp, and pipes. The place smelled strongly of mutton, fresh bread, and old wine.

An elderly man with the massive heavyset body and arms of a man lacking in neither food nor power, his hair grey-brown but his trimmed beard still reddish, smiled broadly when he saw the three travelers. He clapped his hands together. "Oh! My daughter told me that you would be coming here soon! I have to thank you for saving her! You saved me a lot of coin trying to hire a rescue party." It was hard to tell whether he was happier that his daughter was back or that he did not have to spend money getting her back. "Everything..." he thought for a moment. "Half-off." He looked as if it almost pained him to say it. Then, he looked happier again.

"Father, Althaia already paid." Came a lilting voice from behind him. It was Cieraela, who appeared demurely next to him. She gave the three a smile. "Stop trying to fleece my rescuers." The girl had changed from her rags into a slightly revealing dress befitting a rich commoner's daughter. Her red hair no longer hung loosely, but was nicely braided up. She vaguely resembled Carlotta, if Carlotta had been much taller, with fairer skin, sharper features, and green eyes.

The old man looked embarrassed. "But the Faerie Lady only bought one room."

Cieraela clucked her tongue. "These four are... inseparable." She giggled.

"Yes. Inseparable." Ashyr confirmed. "What was the phrase in common? Ah, yes. You might say we're attached at the hip." Ashyr said with a broad, naughty grin. She couldn't help herself. The older drow almost laughed aloud when she heard the younger snort behind her. At least she wasn't the only one to find that phrase amusing.

Caleldir struggled to keep his blush down. "I have no idea who these women are." He deadpanned to the innkeeper. "They seem to be following me everywhere. Please call the guards."

The innkeeper looked scandalized for a moment, then he cracked a smile. "I see how it is, sir." A greedy glint intensified in his green eyes. "Perhaps I can offer you alternate accommodations..."

"Or I can!" Cieraela added with a hungry look. Her father did not seem to notice.

Caleldir shuddered. "No thank you." It was hard to tell which of the two he was replying to. "Just make sure that the room that we rent has at least two beds."

Ashyr laughed; she couldn't help but be amused. In what looked like a completely natural shift, she moved slightly to the side to keep the strange (but still very handsome) man in the corner of her eye but acted as if she were totally engrossed in the conversation between the innkeeper family and her party. She caught Selene's eye and signed something with one hand that was blocked from the copper-headed man's view. A slow smile spread across the younger drow's face, a reaction affected to be born of Caleldir's words.

Meanwhile, the Innkeeper looked scandalized. "But... I wanted to sell more rooms." Apparently, the thing that Caleldir feared was lost on him. The old miser just wanted to make more money. He quickly recovered though. "You all will still want your own meals though, of course." He looked pleased again. "These four have saved my daughter!" He announced to the room. "Best of everything for the guests of honor! At half-price no less!" A gasp went up from the native-born crowd at the generosity of this. The foreigners rolled their eyes.