A Paladin's War Ch. 04

After sipping at his wine - by far the best he'd ever tasted - Smythe set his goblet down carefully on the bearskin rug beneath him before answering. "My last instructions from Aran were to remain in the north of the Emerin, near to the Sorral Plain until further notice. I have a small force nearby, and the Dwarves have drengr on the way to assist us, though the bulk of their army marches to Vesovar, I believe." On Smythe's left, Solovir nodded thoughtfully.

"Why Vesovar?" Elessir asked. "That is a place for Humans, I understand. Are the Dwarves intending to war with the Humans?"

"They will resupply there, according to Elaina," Smythe answered. "From Vesovar, they will turn west and meet us on the plain."

"How many drengr?" Andil enquired, taking a sip from his goblet. The delicate crystal looked small in his large hands.

"A hundred thousand, I'm told," Smythe said. On his other side, Tarien's expression grew uneasy. "Including those coming here."

"I would not have thought there could be so many of them," Solovir murmured quietly. He stared into his wine as if it were a window to the Dwarven army. "But they always were prolific breeders. It could be possible."

Elessir eyed Smythe. "Elaina was sure about this number?" When Smythe nodded, she glanced at Andil. "That is enough to wash over us like a moontide, my love, even if we had the trees on our side." Andil nodded grimly, and Tarien shifted uneasily before draining his cup. Solovir appeared unperturbed, but he hadn't taken his eyes off his wine.

Smythe tried to alleviate their concerns. "Elaina says that Burin has agreed to help against the Heralds, and help only. On my honour, she would not lie, nor is she prone to mistakes."

"I would think not," Andil agreed. "Yet I am troubled; long have we fought the Dwarves, and the best that could be said about our relations now is that it is an uneasy peace. We do not bother them, nor they us. It has worked, thus far."

"With so many Elves and Dwarves in one place," Elessir continued, "the slightest provocation could be the spark that ignites a blaze impossible to quench with anything but blood."

"I could only wish," Tarien added, "that I had known of the Dwarves' strength before bringing the legions here."

Smythe eyed the man. "Are you saying you would not have come? Surely you knew we would be fighting alongside the Dwarves sooner or later. It is inevitable." Again, Solovir nodded.

"We would still have come," Tarien replied. "Though we would have prepared ourselves for treachery. The Dwarves are cunning, and should not be trusted." He cast a regretful glance at Smythe. "I apologise, friend, I know you have your hopes set on overcoming the Heralds with our help, but our success - our participation - will depend on the Dwarves' integrity."

Smythe grunted. The Elves were now making him cast doubts on this entire undertaking. He hadn't considered what might happen if the Dwarves and Elves chose not to get along. Perhaps it was time he met with Elaina in amathani again. She had not been there, the past two nights, but he would try again tonight. "Burin's sister, Glinda, is held by our enemy, the son of Morgeth. He loves her and wants her back more than anything. This is what will keep him pointed in the right direction. If he sees the Elves as allies in his pursuit, he is unlikely to rebel."

Smythe didn't know how to say it any clearer than that. Around him, the others all nodded slowly. "My suggestion - my very strong suggestion - is that when Burin arrives, we convince him that it is in his best interests to remain passive toward the Eryn'elda." Again, they all nodded, though somewhat doubtfully. Smythe now knew why they hadn't offered to share in his vala; they did not want to be swayed by his influence. "Who knows?" Smythe added. "This may be the beginning of a new era of peace." There were no nods, this time.

I bloody hope you're right about Burin, Elaina. We're all likely dead if you aren't. Silence settled over the circle for a time, broken only by the melody of the harp, which made him think of wind playing gently across a calm lake, ruffling the still waters. He swirled the wine in his goblet, waiting for someone else to speak; he'd said his piece, now it was time to see what came of it. He'd always been better at making swords and axes and hammers than dealing with people, and without being able to use his vala, the task of talking the Elves around felt a little beyond him. Perhaps the Paladins of old were comfortable around lords and ladies and kings and queens, but Smythe had spent most of his life as far away from all that as possible.

"What do you say, Solovir?" Elessir asked of the Alda'rendi. "What have you seen in the alda?"

Solovir looked up from his wine for the first time since sitting down, his white eyes again staring at something far away. "This forest has seen enough," he said to Elessir. "The trees here - the land itself - wishes for an end to the turmoil. The Paladin-" he nodded at Smythe, "is welcome, and the one called Elaina is fondly remembered also. As is my purpose, I stand by the land, and the land stands by the arohim, at least in this place."

Smythe felt tension in his muscles melting away as Andil, Elessir and Tarien all seemed to accept Solovir's position. The tension returned, though, when a lithe Elf girl entered the tent - Smythe recognised her as one of the ones that had been with Tarien earlier - and whispered in the Captain's ear. Smythe heard her easily enough; Dwarves had been sighted a few miles east. They would be at the Chapel by nightfall if they kept their course. Tarien nodded quickly and dismissed the girl before relaying the information so everyone could hear. It was not the full hundred thousand - they would be a week or more away, yet - but the smaller force that Burin had sent to aid the Chapel.

Surprisingly, Tarien appeared relieved. When Smythe asked him why, he answered, "Their force is smaller than ours, and they would not dare attack us among the trees, especially in smaller numbers. Historically, we have bloodied them too many times for them not to remember this. We do not enter their mountains, and they do not enter our forests. It has always been the way."

"Except that the way has now changed," Andil corrected, fixing Tarien with a level look. "The Dwarves are walking the forests once again, where for centuries they have feared to tread. You are a good captain, Tarien, but take a care the fire in your heart does not set you ablaze."

Tarien looked abashed, and offered a humble apology to Andil, but the Lord of Ildernass brushed it aside. "You have done no wrong, Tarien, but in my years, I have seen too many good Elves needlessly throw their lives away. Take a care, and you will do well."

"I suppose," Smythe began slowly. "That I should be on my way to meet the Dwarves. I will arrange a meeting tomorrow in the same clearing as we met today, Tarien, if that is suitable?"

"That would be wise," Elessir said before Tarien could respond. "Ask them to bring only ten drengr, and we will do the same."

"As you wish, my Lady," Smythe agreed, bowing his head slightly. He hoped the Dwarves didn't suspect a trap. He would have to be careful how he suggested the idea. "I will set the meeting for midday tomorrow."

"Are Induin and Liaren with your people at this Chapel?" Andil asked suddenly. "It has been some time since I've seen them, and I understand they are meldin to the Anarion, this Aran Sunblade."

Smythe thought quickly. How much did Andil know? If he didn't know about the twins being with child, how would he react when he found out? Smythe felt dangerously under-informed about Eryn'elda beliefs and propriety at times. He made a mental note to sit down with Induin and Liaren later and learn as much as he could about their people. In fact, he was kicking himself now for not having done it sooner.

"They are," Solovir said quietly. "And they are well, last I saw them, which was only yesterday." After a moment, he added, "a remarkable thing, this melda. I have always been curious about it." Smythe noted the fact Solovir did not mention the babies, and also offered an opportunity for a slight change in the direction of the conversation.

"Yes," Elessir agreed as she fixed those brilliant eyes on Smythe. "I have always found the arohim fascinating. I have never made love with one, however."

Smythe almost choked on a mouthful of wine. Not at the statement itself, but at the casualness in which she'd made it, as if saying she'd never worn a hat. Tarien and Solovir appeared nonplussed by their Lady speaking so, and Andil merely glanced at his wife briefly before holding out his goblet for a refill. I've been living in Herald regions so long, he reminded himself, that I'm still not used to the ways of other people.

"Perhaps," the Elf lord said as a pretty thing in a diaphanous white robe poured his wine, "our guest will indulge you, my love." Smythe could not think of anything he wanted more, but he knew that if he took Elessir to bed, he would keep her there for hours - many hours - and time was short. Shorter by the day, it seemed.

"As much as I would relish that honour," he began politely, "I fear that any time with my Lady would not be time enough." Did her breasts have to be so... resplendent? The pale flesh bulged around those small golden leaves with each breath she took, tempting his eyes away from that heavenly face. "But as soon as time allows, I will most readily accept your gracious offer." There, that was flowery enough for any courtroom, and should navigate any offense that might be caused by him refusing. Regret ran strong in him, though, as he ran his eyes over her vine-wrapped form.

"I do not believe I have ever been refused," she began softly, taking a sip of her wine. Smythe's heart fell; he had insulted her! "So considerately, Henley eruchen. My offer stands until there is sufficient time for you to show me what it is like to couple with one of your kind."

Smythe grinned and bowed his head. "You are very gracious, my Lady."

"My wife is being polite," Andil interjected. "She has not been refused so considerately before, because she has not been refused before. You may have captured her interest in an entirely new way, my young Paladin friend."

Indeed, when Smythe looked at Elessir again, there was a smouldering intensity in those emerald eyes that hadn't been there before.

A few pleasantries were exchanged after this, and the meeting was ended shortly after, though not before Elessir invited him to share his vala with her. He did so, and found her to be everything Elaina had mentioned and more. She was... deep, like the ocean, and as powerful. When she enveloped him in a hug, he felt the desire coursing in her, and he could not resist finding the strings of pleasurable sensation in her body and lightly plucking them, just like the harp over there. She sighed into his ear and clutched him tightly before he broke the embrace. "Until next time, my Lady," he said as he brushed her cheek with a kiss. She smelled of roses, and something else he could not place, heady and powerful.

Andil was similar to his wife in depth and heart, and Smythe found he liked the man. Hopefully they could become friends. With one last regretful glance at Elessir, Smythe turned and left the marquee alone; Solovir had opted to stay with his people, for now. If his people they actually were; the Alda'rendi seemed somehow different, separate from the Eryn'elda. Smythe often thought that the more time he spent around Solovir, the less he actually knew about the fellow.

Once back on Thunder, he rode back to the Chapel deep in thought, hardly noticing the soft rain that began to fall soon after he began the short journey. About halfway back, he pulled Thunder up short, making the stallion whicker in irritation and frisk a few steps. Standing beneath the sprawling branches of an old oak, Vayani watched him, her bright green eyes vivid in her dark face. Around her bare feet, fresh, lush grass had sprouted around the winding roots of the oak, dotted by small blossoms of pink and blue and yellow.

"It is time," she told him in that husky yet sighing voice as she walked toward him, her hips swaying alluringly to an inaudible rhythm, those prodigious breasts on the off beat. "You will give me your seed, arohim."

Smythe cleared his throat as much for the bold statement as for the way his body reacted to her beauty. Not much for romance, this one. He dismounted smoothly and met her halfway. Trailing from where she now stood back to the oak was a wide swathe of grasses and flowers. "Forgive me, Vayani," he began as politely as he knew how. "But I am on important business. Can we perhaps postpone this?" Her expression of determined curiosity did not changed as Smythe felt something wrap around his feet and wind up his legs. Eyes widening, he instinctively tried to pull free, but vines had grown up from the ground and ensnared him tightly. Drawing on his vala, he tried again, but Vayani held him fast.

She stepped in close to him, until her face was inches away. "You will find this pleasant, I think. Do not struggle." Smythe grunted and tried reaching for Lightbringer's hilt, but the vines had already taken his arms and stiffened, leaving him standing with them held out to the sides.

Smythe wanted to laugh hysterically. She's going to bloody rape me! "Alright!" He yelled, admitting to himself there was no way out of this. "I'll do it. Please let me loose." He'd never felt so vulnerable in his life!

Vayani was running her eyes over his body and appeared not to hear him. She cocked her head slightly, and the vines once again came to life and began to remove his clothing while somehow not allowing him any room to move. Mortified, he could do nothing except stand there like a statue as his cloak, tunic and shirt came away. "You are a very fine creature, arohim," she murmured as she ran a hand over his chest. "I think I will enjoy this, too."

His breeches and underclothes went next, and the creeping vines even managed to pull his boots off, lifting him clear of the ground to do it, then lowering him again. His bare feet touched the soft grass now filling the area, a thick carpet of vibrant greens and brilliant blossoms of every colour imaginable. The vines around Vayani's lush body retreated then, revealing what little of her had been covered. Dark, thick nipples capped her breasts, and her sex was a smooth and bare as his own.

Reaching out, she took his cock in her hand. Her touch was gentle, pleasant, but he suppressed the pleasurable sensations out of nothing more than stubbornness. He was attracted to her - remarkably so - but he did not like the idea of being forced into it. Some men liked being dominated in the bedroom, but Smythe was not one of them. Well, sometimes in fun, but he'd never met a woman that could actually restrain him against his will!

"Do you not find this form agreeable?" Vayani asked him softly as she looked down at the limp member in her hand. "I can alter it, if you wish." Smythe watched in amazement as she transformed before his eyes, growing taller and even more lush, if that were possible. Her skin changed from dark to creamy pale, her hair from green to golden, her eyes to a slightly darker shade of green. There was now a perfect imitation of Elessir standing before him, holding his cock and squeezing softly.

Smythe had learned the very deepest and most complete self-control in his training as a Paladin, but this strained even his limits. "No?" Vayani said after finding no response. "Perhaps this will suit." She changed again, growing shorter, golden hair lifting to her shoulders and lightening in shade. Her curves thinned slightly, though not by much, and the points of her ears retreated. Elaina looked up at him with a wicked smile, and Smythe's self control wavered.

"You want to make love to an arohim?" Smythe growled down at her. "Release me and I'll show what a fully trained Paladin can do!" To show her he was serious, he allowed himself to harden in her hand. Her lips curved in approval, though her eyes - Elaina's eyes - never left his.

"I accept," she replied. The vines immediately unwound themselves and disappeared back into ground, leaving him blissfully unencumbered. Now that he was free, Vayani seemed suddenly vulnerable in comparison to earlier.

"Take your other form," he ordered her, shocking himself. He was half expecting her to strike him down where he stood, but she merely nodded and changed back to the dark goddess. Well the battle has begun, he said to himself as they gazed at one another. Her hand had not left his cock. Time to start swinging the sword. He kissed her, hard and deep, cupping her face in his hands as he plied her lips apart with his tongue. Using his vala, he searched her for the channels of pleasure than ran through all people, and found that she - or this body she occupied - had the same, though somewhat different to anything he'd felt before.

She cried out as his lips moved to her neck, her grip tightening on his shaft. Suddenly he was flying backwards to land softly on a thick bed of soft grass. Vayani was atop him in an instant, pinning him down with incredible strength. The aloof, distant light in her eyes had changed to a searing hot gaze that threatened to burn him up where he lay. Her sex was hot and moist where her body had trapped his length against his belly, and she slid herself along him as she watched his face.

"You have... excited me, Paladin," she breathed as she undulated. His hands moved to her hips and gripped them firmly. He showed her his own strength, something he could not do with ordinary women, but he was sure he could not hurt Vayani even if he tried. She cooed in approval at his touch, and again when she lifted her hips until his tip was poised at the slick entrance to her body. "You will provide me with a child," she told him in a smoky voice as she lowered herself slowly, taking him in inch by glorious inch until she was firmly seated against his hips, her hands planted on his chest.

Smythe groaned, his eyes popping at the sheer pleasure. His vala relayed a storm of sensation that swirled through and around him, more than he could ever comprehend. Most people were like a single page of a book - one look and you could tell most everything - but Vayani was like an entire library, far too much to absorb in one lifetime. Even the lifetime of an arohim. In the back of his consciousness lay an uncomfortable thought: Did he want his first child to be to Vayani? What sort of creature would be born of this union? Would he even know the child, or would Vayani spirit it away forever?

The questions slipped away from him as his pleasure mounted. Few times had he been swept away by such bliss - Amina had done it, as had his master when teaching him - and now Vayani was carrying him along like a twig on a raging river. He latched onto the small part of him that was still aware and held on for all he was worth. If she wants a bloody child, fine! I'll give her one, may I be damned for it! Aros would not have guided him to Vayani without reason, for that he was sure.

With a roar, he sat up and flipped the Titan over, pressing her into the grass with his body. His hips surged forward with all his power, and his vala raged like a summer tempest thrashing the Forgotten Coast. Dimly, he was aware of Vayani crying out, shaking the trees with her voice as she reached the peak of her pleasure, her arms and legs wrapped around him, threatening to shatter his bones with her strength. His vision went black as he erupted inside her molten depths, every climax he'd ever had compounding into one enormous crescendo that exploded from him volcanically. At the last second, he relaxed the small stopper within his aura that prevented unwanted children - a skill all Paladins learned as soon as they were able - and allowed his unfettered seed into her body.