Azerothian Dream Ch. 07

"By Thorin's beard!" Dugan exclaimed loudly when he spotted Cyduna, "Now that is one big wolf!"

She was big, especially to a dwarf. Cyduna's head was easily as high as my shoulder, and I was pretty tall for a human. If I were to judge her weight, well, I'd say she was closer to three hundred pounds than two.

"Yes she is, Dugan, yes she is," I answered and then decided to introduce them to Cyduna before they took it into their heads to raise those rifles of theirs and try to kill my wolf, "Her name is Cyduna, and she is very intelligent. If it were not for her I don't think we would have survived the troggs."

"Troggs!" One of the two female guards said in surprise.

"We haven't had troggs in these parts in years," Bosko retorted as he waved his free hand dismissing my report for exaggeration or fiction designed to garner a larger reward.

"It's true," Pinkerpie said loudly in my defense, then pulled out a long string of ears and tossed it to Bosko, "I thought you might not believe us. Seeing as you thought Hruthgar and Mandalay would be safe out in the wilds overnight. Here, we took trophies just in case."

"By me own beard!" Dugan hissed when the string of ears landed in Bosko's hand, "Me apologies for doubtin' ye word! The truth o' it can't be denied. I will take these to the Captain o' the Watch and see about issuin' the reward. Thank ye for killing the troggs for us, otherwise I'm sure there would've been more in the way o' tragedy. I will also see about ye Letter o' Introduction as well. When I have 'em I will bring 'em to the Thunderbrew."

"What'cha goin' to do about that giant wolf and the littler ones with ye?" The other female guard asked.

"Well, first, we're going to take Mandalay and her father's body to Shaelah," I answered, "And then I will kennel Cyduna and her pups with the Stable Master."

"Our condolences, Mandalay, on the loss o' ye da," Dugan said with a nod that Bosko and the two female guards mimicked with mumbled condolences.

"Thank ye," Mandalay replied as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

Leaving the Dugan and the rest of the guard behind, Mandalay led us to her home. I was going to knock, but Mandalay hurried up to the door ahead of us and opened it and invited us in. Pulling the lashings that held Hurnskov's body on Cyduna, I carefully let him down.

"Thank you for all of your hard work Cyduna," I said warmly as I ran my hand through her fur.

"You're welcome, master," She replied then added, "I will keep Fennic and Ealura here on the porch."

Nodding, I carried Hurnskov into his house. It was a small but warm home. It was very noticeable that Shaelah had spent many hours making her home comfortable and welcoming. There were the telltale signs of a man in the house. Boots, cloak, and hats. A large carved bone pipe sitting on the mantle over the fireplace. A cushioned chair where Hurnskov would have sat to smoke his pipe. Books on the mantle as well and more on a bookshelf near a rocking chair. Wood was stacked on the mantle and still more small pieces good for whittling in a small box beside Hurnskov's chair, and a knife shoved down into the wood. A rifle stood in a corner and hanging from a peg nearby was a bag of shot, a case of paper, and another bag of gunpowder. Beside the gun was an axe and a spear.

Mixed in with all of it were lace doilies and bone carvings. Some were animals while others seemed to be small figurines of family members. The windows were trimmed in heavy woolen draperies to stop the cold, but inside Shaelah had spent many days of not weeks carefully making lace curtains to soften the harsh rock and log decor. Stairs led further down to a kitchen and dining room and then there was a hallway leading deeper to a pantry, storage room, a common bathing room with a large wood casket serving the bathing tub, the bed rooms, and lastly a small water closet with a hand crank to pump the sewage out to a public sewage line.

As it turned out Shaelah was already awake. She hadn't slept all night. She looked tired. Bone weary from lack of sleep and worry, and her heavy woolen dress and blouse were wrinkled. Still, she quickly had a pitcher of water warming up to a boil for coffee or tea. She was laughing and crying all at the same time while constantly hugging her daughter. When I walked in and she saw the large bundle in my arms she went from laughing to bawling as she rushed over and pressed her face into Hurnskov's cloak. She sobbed heavily as her hands tightened and loosened on his cloak for several seconds as Hurnskov's body began to sag as his weight over came my strength.

Pulling away from her husband, Shaelah looked up at me pitifully when my arms started to shake, and realizing the predicament, turned as she she beckoned, "Here! Here! Come this way! To our bedchamber!"

Still crying and sniffling before wiping at the tears on her face she led me down the hallway, opened the door. Once we were in her bedchamber she moved to the side and instructed, "Put 'em on the bed."

I laid Hurnskov on his bed and arranged him so that it looked as if he were only sleeping, and then I left. Shaelah followed me out of the room and back to the common room. She offered us tea and coffee, then made breakfast as well. A humble meal of something called grits, eggs, bacon, bread rolls, and sliced potato chips.

Shaelah smiled and kept hugging her daughter over and over again, but as the meal ended there was a marked sadness to her eyes and her smile faltered more and more.

"What will you do, now that your husband is dead," I asked only to have Pinkerpie hiss and punch me in the ribs.

New tears lined Shaelah's lashes. Her lips compressed as her overly plump mouth twisted in grief. She wiped vigorously at her cheeks, but the tears wouldn't stop. Finally, she inhaled and then exhaled before answering, "I... I don't know. Dun Morogh is a hard place to live in the best o' times. Now, without a husband, we will have to leave, I think. Or, I will have to accept whatever offers I'm given for work, or for a husband. This land isn't very forgivin' to widows."

I nodded, my expression sad. Reaching over the table I placed my hand on hers and offered, "We will be leaving tomorrow, headed for Amberstill Ranch. In the meantime, if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know."

"I will, thank ye," She replied as she moved her hands so that she could squeeze mine in thankfulness, "I will bring me letter o' recommendation to the Inn this afternoon."

"Thank you," I offered, to which she returned a weak smile.

We took our leave soon after and went back to the Inn. I gave the stable master strict instructions on what Cyduna and her cubs expected for dinner, as transmitted to me from Cyduna herself. The wide-eyed girl nodded the whole time saying that Cyduna and her pups would get exactly the same feed all the other meat eating animals got.

"Can I eat her if she doesn't bring what I've asked very politely for," Cyduna transmitted in a wry mental tone.

"No," I answered out loud for the stable girl's benefit, "Don't eat her if she doesn't bring you what you've requested for dinner. I'm sure someone would miss her, and then we'd have a new set of problems to deal with."

The stable hand face paled as I replied to Cyduna, which made her auburn hair seem a little more fiery. Her big brown eyes were scared though, and she licked her plump lips before asking, "She... won't eat me will she?"

"She's blessed by Elune," I answered, "She's more intelligent than any animal you have met before, and she knows what she wants for dinner. She may not communicate with you, but don't deceive yourself, she understands everything you say and do. Keep that in mind as you care for her tonight."

The stable girl nodded, I nodded, and then Pinkerpie and I left to return to our room beneath the Thunderbrew Distillery. We entered to find Brina bathing in the wine barrel bathtub, and I was treated to a sight.

Brina's dark coppery skin glistened in the candle light. Her long straight black hair shimmered as she rung it out the water, and her emerald eyes were wide open in surprise. Her breasts were larger than Birdette's though smaller than what I saw of Shaelah's. They seemed too buoyant, overly full and tremendously jiggly for being so large. Not that I wasn't familiar. Birdette's were much the same, firm and yet cushiony, very full with a sag that brought the bottoms of her breasts a half handspan below her sternum. With her pregnant again I wondered if they had already grown larger in my absence.

"Well, it's a little late for fun," Brina purred as she pulled a plug that would drain the water out of the wine barrel bath and then climbed out.

Standing there proud and naked in front of us, I found myself blushing like it was my first time seeing a woman naked. Not knowing what to look at, her face, her breasts, the subtle curves of her belly, her broad hips, or the thick thatch of glistening black pubes decorating her sex, it turned about face and said in a rush, "My apologies! I was unaware you remained in our room when Pinkerpie came to find me!"

Pinkerpie giggled. Brina chuckled, by the sound of it she was coming towards me. Suddenly soft breasts were pressing against my arm and my side and Brina purred, "If I didn't have to get ready to go to work, I'd make ye forget ye were ever with any other woman but me. Ye'd beg me to marry ye, but I don't."

With that she pulled away. Pinkerpie chuckled as she shook her head, but then helped Brina dress and braid her hair for the day. They kissed. I knew the kissed because they were loud about it, and then finally, Brina left.

After she was gone I plugged the hole the the wine barrel bathtub and ran hot water. Pinkerpie joined me. I washed her and in return she washed me. Some parts more aggressively than others until she was sliding me inside her and almost purring as she pleasured the both of us until she orgasmed and I climaxed, and then we went to bed and slept most of the day away.