Banished Pt. 16

"We aren't responsible for this, are we?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"No; I think they're just generally hunting these woods," I explained, and she let out a sigh.

"I haven't seen Samantha since-" she began, and I nodded.

"She's with Evie; I can probably lead you down to her if you wanna check on her," I said, and she nodded.

"You were on your way up, though, weren't you?"

I nodded.

"I'll need to finish up with this first; you can come along, actually, if you want," I offered, and she quickly nodded.

"Okay," she pipped, and as I led the way, she followed me up the staircase.

"This is so surreal," she said. "I feel like if I'm in a high-rise apartment building... to think, we're actually inside a tree. How long do you think it took them to do this?"

"It's more of a technology thing than a construction one," I explained, and she shook her head disbelievingly.

"This world is so crazy," she said, and I chuckled, as she probably didn't even know the half of it.

As we got to the tenth floor, I breathed a sigh of relief as Bianca and Lucia were indeed waiting on the stairwell, and as I looked out of the window from the hallway, I saw some branches extending out from the tree which would make for a good test run.

"This is Bianca and Lucia," I said, introducing Sheila to the two, and she gave them a timid wave.

"I'm Sheila," she said, but the two girls seemed more distracted by the branches outside than with Sheila, and I shot her an apologetic glance, as I moved to join them.

"Well then, let's get started," I said, gesturing to Bianca, but as she looked down, outside the window, she gulped, swallowing uncomfortably.

"That's a long way down, huh?" she said.

Lucia however, quickly climbed out the window, and as she got to a branch, she scurried hurriedly across the thing, leaping to another branch and gliding across the thing with ease.

"Lucia can do it! Byaka sucks!" Lucia called teasingly, taunting Bianca, and the girl quickly furrowed her brow, cursing under her breath as she climbed out, and made her way across the branch.

She seemed to stumble at first, but as she moved around a bit, her confidence quickly grew, until the two were chasing each other, and leaping across the fairly wide girthed branches with ease.

"Do you think you can fight up here? And chase monsters?" I called, and Bianca crouched down, then gave me a thumbs up.

"Easy-peasy! You might as well just send the runt home now, because I'm all you'll ever- Ah!"

"Oh my god!" Sheila exclaimed, as Bianca suddenly fell back onto her rear, and as she grasped for the branch with her hands to steady herself, I darted out the window frame.

"Bianca!"

She was a few branches away from me, and something seemed to be pulling her while she held onto the branch for dear life.

What the fuck is that? I thought, then I spotted it; the eerie glow of eyes, clustered together, and glowing a faint green in the shadow of a branch up ahead.

I gulped as I quickly moved toward her.

"Nate! It's pulling me!" she cried out.

"Hold on," I called, but as I tried to hurry to her side, Lucia quickly burst across the branches ahead, her dagger drawn, and as she sliced at something, Bianca was able to climb up.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Spider monsters," I called, and she suppressed a shudder.

But as Lucia continued to dart forward, Bianca took off after her, and I quickly pursued the two.

I was astounded to find, however, that both girls seemed to be much more comfortable than I was at moving across the narrower branches, as I had to seriously check my speed in order to keep my footing.

"There!" Lucia called out, and as I looked up, I saw Bianca leaping to a branch ahead of her.

"I see him," Bianca called, but a flutter along my neck drew my eye, and as I looked to the left, I spotted another cluster of eyes, and my chest began to tighten as more and more clusters came into view.

"Fuck me," I muttered.

There had to be at least twelve of them.

As one of them leapt to the branch ahead, pursuing Lucia and Bianca, I quickly darted across, and cut the thing down, then turned just as another leapt straight at me, and I sliced him in half as well.

Two more creatures quickly leapt onto my branch, and as they began to charge at me from either side, I quickly considered leaping to a branch ahead of me that was a bit lower down, but before I could move, the spider to my right made a shrieking sound, then fell off of the branch, and Lucia shot me a grin, dagger in hand as she emerged from behind it.

"Well done," I called out, as I turned and dispatched of the other spider.

The remaining spiders seemed to be making their way ahead, and after a loud shrieking sound came from somewhere in the distance, Lucia and I quickly began to make our way in that direction.

We got there just as Bianca was pulling her dagger from a downed spider, this one much bigger than the others that we'd just dispatched, and as we moved closer to her, I noted that the others were quickly fleeing.

"Yeah, you better run!" Bianca called out.

As the spider she'd just killed fell to the forest floor below us, however, I heard another shrieking sound, and I looked down just as two smaller spiders emerged from some bushes, then began to drag the felled herald-spider away.

"What are they doing?" Bianca asked, and I swallowed uncomfortably.

"Probably taking his core back to their master to make another monster," I said, and Bianca frowned.

"That's cheating!" she yelled down at the spiders, and I chuckled at her.

"Look at you though; you just killed a herald," I said, patting her on the head, and she grinned.

"Lucia did good too!" Lucia said, folding her arms angrily at me, and I quickly stooped down to ruffle her hair as well, but as I almost lost my balance, Bianca quickly steadied me.

"Let's get back to the tree," I suggested, and the two girls quickly moved off, leading the way back.

"That was crazy," Sheila breathed, as soon as we got back to the window.

"We're kind of an elite squad," Bianca boasted, but while most of the others might have snorted derisively at that, Sheila was studying Bianca with sparkly eyed interest.

"You're so pretty, too. I can't believe you can fight like that," she said, and Bianca blushed.

"Nathan... is Lucia pretty too?" Lucia asked, and I chuckled, as I scooped her up.

"Prettiest girl in the world," I said, and Sheila quickly moved to study the girl.

"And you kick some serious ass," she said, pinching Lucia's cheeks to her delight. "I can't believe a kid like her can fight like that too. I'm completely out of my depth here," she continued, shaking her head, and I rested a hand on her shoulder.

"All of us start out like that. But all of you can get just as strong as we are, and in hardly any time at all," I said, and she smiled.

I led the group back down the stairs, and as soon as we were outside, I glanced around, until I spotted one of Cameron's companions.

"Hey, you're uh-"

"Frida," the girl answered, bowing slightly.

"Can you take her to where Evie and Samantha are?" I asked, gesturing to Sheila, and the girl quickly nodded.

"At once, Frei-Nathan," the girl answered, and Sheila shot me a little smile, as she headed off, studying the girl with some interest.

Casey was quickly making her way over to us.

"Was that you up there? What the hell was that?" she asked.

"I'll answer that in a sec; Bianca, take Lucia to the front lines, and have her watch the treetops for movement. Where's Raul?" I asked, turning to Casey, and she pointed him out on the front lines.

I quickly made my way over.

"Please don't tell me I have to go up there and fight those things," he said, and I chuckled at him.

"Afraid of spiders? Or heights?" I asked, and he sighed.

"Both."

"Well, you're in luck. Follow me," I said, as I led him out past the grove's northern boundary to where the spiders had fallen to the ground.

I picked out the cores while he watched my back, and I did a quick sweep of the area, collecting the cores, then moving back to the grove's perimeter.

"I still don't get why we bother collecting those. Those smaller beasts are worth next to nothing," he said, as Casey moved to join us.

"I was about to ask that myself," she said, and I chuckled.

"Apparently, the monstrosity which spawns them feeds on the cores, then uses them to spawn more feeders. I spotted the spiders dragging away a herald just now, so I figure it'd be best if we cut off his supply as much as possible," I explained, and Casey rubbed her chin.

"So, if we don't find a way to protect the other groves, we'll be really screwed, huh?" she said, and I nodded.

"Hey; don't forget that I'm bound by duty to protect my people," I said, and she eyed me.

"I'm not sure how genuine that was, but we'll need to take out the one whose spawning these things sooner rather than later. This can spiral out of control fast."

Alva waved Raul over, and as he moved over to join her, Casey looked after him.

"What's that about?" she asked, and I chuckled a little.

"Alva's got her sights on a God-mate," I said suggestively, and she shook her head.

"He's a murderer," Casey said, and I shrugged.

"Alva knows what he's done; I mean, she was even around when he attacked Bianca, remember?"

"Still... what if she doesn't understand-?"

"I don't think you're giving her enough credit," I said. "I mean, look at her."

Raul seemed to be shifting uncomfortably, but as Alva rested a hand on his cheek comfortingly, he nodded, and she turned and began to walk away.

"Where's she headed?" I asked, as Raul came back.

"To Palancar. To sort out having the Kobalt from the other clusters take up sanctuary there."

I nodded, letting out a tired yawn as I did.

"Jeez. I really need to get some sleep," I said, and Casey focused on me for a second, then furrowed her brow.

"Nate; you're almost spent. You'll need a full night's rest to recover this much," she began, and I shook my head.

"I'll have to make do with a few hours' worth," I countered, and she bit her lip nervously.

She seemed about to say something, until Cameron waved her over, and she slipped off.

"I'll be napping right over there," I said to Raul. "Keep an eye on Lucia for me? She's got one hell of an eye," I added, and he nodded, turning around to locate the kid, as I slipped off to my bedding.

I plopped down, ready to sleep away almost instantly, but Cameron quickly cut me off.

"Nate," she called, waving me over to where she and Casey were, and I rose from my spot with a groan.

"I'll be over here-" Casey began, but Cameron grabbed the girl just as she tried to steal away.

"Oh no you don't," Cameron chastised her, a huge grin on her face. "Casey here, has a suggestion."

She made the declaration quite proudly, but Casey seemed to be casting panicked glances about.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling slightly confused by what was happening.

"Go on; tell him," Cameron said, prodding Casey, who began to rub her arm uncomfortably.

"Uh... your core is pretty close to depletion, and uh- when you deplete it completely, it spurs your body into a kind of accelerated regeneration mode. It'll be faster than sleeping," she explained, and as I listened, I continued to study her, as the suggestion hardly seemed to be something that would make her so uncomfortable.

"Okay..." I answered, a little uncertainly, and Cameron prodded Casey again.

"Uh... I kind of also noticed that, when you uh- experience intimacy, it also spurs your core into a sort of temporary spurt of accelerated regeneration," she continued, and I eyed her.

"Experience intimacy?" I asked, a bit uncertainly, and Casey began to blush.

"She's trying to say that after you cum, your core regenerates faster, but that's not all," Cameron said, prodding Casey again, who was now beet red.

"Jesus, Cameron; I really fucking hate you sometimes," Casey muttered. "Look, when you came from the uh- blowjobs, the regenerative effect wasn't as pronounced as when you did it... while having sex," Casey finished, spitting the words out as if she were ripping off a band aid, and I smirked a little, shaking my head at her.

"Are you trying to tell me to have sex with someone because I'll regenerate faster?" I asked, and Cameron quickly nodded, smiling proudly at Casey, and I studied her carefully. "But won't it be dangerous if I'm unconscious and something happens?" I asked, and Casey sighed.

"It's a risk, but... having you at full capacity for the rest of the night is what's best for our overall chances; and you can probably regenerate fully in about two hours this way," she said, and I shook my head at her disbelievingly.

This was Casey; and not only was she suggesting that I have sex with someone, but also something that was risky but better for our overall chances.

Who was this girl?

Before I even knew I was doing it, I moved in and planted a big smacking kiss on her lips, and her eyes went wide with surprise.

"I think I'm falling in love all over again," I teased, and she shoved me.

"Jackass," she muttered, and Cameron shot me a teasing look.

"I'm gonna go make some arrangements," Cameron said, and as she left us alone, Casey looked away awkwardly.

"We decided it might be best if you, uh, use one of the companion-servants... a few of them need to get a start on having kids, and they're more adamant than I'd realized about it being you. Particularly Cameron's servants," she explained, and I chuckled.

"If you reconsidered your stance on kids, it could be you," I suggested, and she shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm... giving it some thought, okay? But I'm not ready yet," she said, and I nodded.

"Take all the time you need. And if you need me to get Cameron to ease up on teasing you, let me know," I said, and she shook her head.

"I can fight my own battles. Besides; maybe Cameron is right about more things that I realized," she admitted, and as our eyes met, Casey bit her lip, and quickly looked away.

Cameron gestured to her, and she nodded.

"Come on; let's go up to your room," she said, and I nodded as she led me to the grove tree where our rooms were.

We moved quickly up the stairs and to my room, and as we stepped inside, she pulled the door shut, and guided me to the bed.

"I haven't slept in this bed yet, have I?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No; and trust me, I've been keeping track."

I smirked at her a little.

"Why did you really keep sleeping here?" I asked, and she sighed.

"I... had this foolish dream that you'd come up and see me lying here, then come over and join me," she confessed, and I chuckled a little.

"You know, you could have just asked."

She shook her head.

"Believe me, Cameron reminds me almost daily now," she said. "It wasn't until she told me that I was giving Nolan competition in the 'having feelings but not talking about it and acting out passive aggressively' category that I realized how dumb I was being."

I chuckled at her.

"To be fair, both of you have been wrestling with feelings for someone that causes a bit of cognitive dissonance, so it's more understandable than you think."

"Cognitive what?"

"Dissonance. Feeling something that conflicts with your core values, resulting in psychological stress and in some cases a crisis of identity."

She shook her head.

"They teach you that at business school?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"My dad held the belief that a person should have a strong background in at least two fields of study outside of their primary chosen field; one he chose for us-"

"Which was?"

"Philosophy. The other, we were allowed to choose, and I picked psychology. For obvious reasons," I added, and Casey smiled a little as she caught what I was getting at.

"The psychology of psychopathy," she said, and I smiled at her.

"I see a hint of a smile," I said, and she frowned, as she crouched down and began to take off my boots, one by one.

"Do your feet hurt?" she asked, and I nodded.

"We must have run over two hundred miles," I said, letting out a tired sigh.

Casey began to rub my feet gently, but as I felt myself nod off a little, she quickly prodded me awake.

"You can't sleep away yet," she warned, and I sighed.

"Fine; come keep me awake then," I said, as I leaned down to kiss her, and after initially placing a hand protectively against my chest, she eventually kissed me back, climbing up and onto my lap as we began to kiss, but the kiss had barely gotten started when the door burst open, and Bianca stormed into the room.

"Worry no more, Nathan! For I am here!" she declared, her hands on her hips as she struck a superhero pose.

"Why are you here?" I asked, as Casey quickly moved off and shifted awkwardly a few feet away from me.

"Cameron said you desperately needed my awesome blowjob skills," she said, and I tilted my head at her.

"But you're not allowed to do that," I reminded her.

"Well, I'm overruling you," Cameron said, as she stepped into the room, followed by a shy looking Alina. "You can stay," she added, as Casey made to leave, and Casey watched me for a moment, then shook her head.

"I'm not ready for this... not yet," she said, and Cameron nodded as the girl left, closing the door behind her.

Bianca was grinning at me wickedly, until Cameron snapped her to attention.

"Tick-tock," Cameron said, tapping her wrist where a watch would be, and Bianca quickly moved to kneel in front of me, and began to remove my belt plate.

"Always rushing me every fucking time," she said.

"If you complain, I could always send for Molly," Cameron chided, and Bianca quickly shook her head.

"What is this?" I asked, and Cameron smiled at me teasingly.

"She's getting you ready," Cameron said, winking at me, as she turned and began to quickly strip Alina of her clothes.

As I studied the girl, however, I was surprised to find that her eyes betrayed more of an excited look, than a fearful one.

Cameron moved me onto my back, and instructed the girl to sit by my side, and the two watched with interest as Bianca moved onto the bed between my legs, and after fishing out my cock, she quickly took me into her mouth.

I let out a soft moan, though I was a bit slow to stirring, as my exhaustion kept me in check.

But as Bianca sucked on me, wrapping her tongue around my head, I looked down at her with a renewed sense of appreciation.

"Was that what Molly taught you?" I asked, and she popped me out of her mouth, and grinned.

"Awesome~. Isn't it? Lucky you!" she began, until Cameron tutted at her.

"We're on a tight schedule here," she said, and Bianca grumbled again, as she continued sucking on me.

Cameron climbed onto the bed, moving to Alina's side, and she began to caress the girl's sides, as the two watched Bianca.

I shifted my gaze however to Alina, whom at Cameron's urging had moved her hand to her sex, and was rubbing herself, and letting out soft moans.

Alina was a pretty girl; much like the princess, she had a slender body that showcased a sleek skeletal frame that begged to be touched, and her tiny breasts were capped by small nipples that were that trademark olive green.

Bianca followed my gaze, then ran her teeth along my length, drawing a sharp yelp from me, and prompting me to focus on her again, to her satisfaction.

But as she began to intensify her sucking, Cameron brought the display to a halt.

"Let's see it," she said, and Bianca popped me out of her mouth to reveal my stiffened length, and Cameron nodded appreciatively. "That'll do."

Bianca made a soft whinnying sound, but as she moved to get up, Cameron stopped her.

"I think you could learn something from this," she said, as she helped Alina onto me, positioning herself just behind the girl, and as she nodded to my side, Bianca moved over, and almost instinctively curled up into the nook of my arm.