Bard's Tale 04 - Holly Wood

When Reison silently paused on his way to bed, she smiled briefly at him. He blew her a kiss before leaving, and Tia recited more devotions from memory.

Once she was done, she thanked the goddess for listening. Her mind settled, she got ready for bed. The Whisper Wind family had love, faith, strong wills, and a good hearts. Their future together had endless possibilities.

* * * * *

Part 2 -- The Whisper Wind Family Goes Adventuring

Getting up early, they bathed, dressed, gathered their packs, and in the case of Reison and Mindal, slung their instruments onto their shoulders.

Downstairs in the commons by half-past the sixth bell, they ate a good breakfast and bought a set of sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Next, they hired a cab to take them to the ferry, back to the village of Athenia.

The plan was to hug the river upstream, following its path westward and then northwest as it meandered toward the capital.

The north bank was much easier to travel, but offered fewer chances for adventures. After five days of travel through the forest, they would be beyond the wood Elven boundaries, and more likely to have encounters with wilder and more dangerous creatures.

The villagers of Athenia were surprised to see Tia and the others, but greeted them warmly. As the four strode past cottages and people working at crafts or repairing fishing nets, they beamed with happiness. The day was partly sunny with white fluffy clouds and light gusts of wind. By ten bells, they left the village behind and crossed into the forest's boundary.

Pushing through the underbrush, Reison and Mindal led, followed by Tia, with Tahna bringing up the rear.

After two hours march, they paused to eat their beef and cheese sandwiches.

They were finally on their way to the capital at last, going toward the city they would call home for the foreseeable future. The four adventurers said little, their sudden grins saying more than mere words. With the quick meal completed, they resumed traveling.

Less than an hour later, the forest floor suddenly seemed to scuttle and shuffle. Reison and Mindal drew their swords. Tia and Tahna, too, prepared for trouble.

A dozen giant centipedes erupted from the undergrowth, biting hungrily at those in front. Swarming around for a chance to strike, the giant insects chittered and clacked as their multitudinous legs propelled them along the ground.

"You going to help them?" Tia asked Tahna as she stepped next to her sister.

"No. He needs the experience."

"All right. Stand closer and I'll put up an anti-vermin barrier."

While Tia's spell completed, the young half-elf and the bard dodged and jumped about, stabbing with their blades and stomping with their boots.

Reison hit twice, killing one with each blow, but his third swing missed. Mindal, swinging her flaming sword, quickly dispatched seven of them, their bodies curling up as the eldritch flames cooked their bodies. Stepping back, she made sure he wasn't attacked from behind, but watched as he fought the remaining oversized insects.

On his second round of attacks, Reison killed the remaining three giant centipedes. Surprised they were gone, he looked about, making sure the danger was over. Then he saw all dead ones near Mindal and shook his head.

"I guess they aren't as much of a threat to you, are they?" he said, giving the bard a sheepish grin.

"They have a nasty bite," Mindal said, smiling back as she sheathed her flaming blade into its magical scabbard. "To people not used to fighting, like many of the villagers in Athenia, giant centipedes can be menacing, even dangerous. You did well."

"They don't have any treasure, do they?"

"Not usually." Then, giving her sisters a smirk, she declared, "I claim victory sex."

The young half-elf looked surprised. "The what?"

The bard grinned, moving up to him, running her hand over his chest. "You fought and won the battle, my brave husband. Victory in battle means you get to have your way with your woman. Since I spoke up first, that's me."

"Mindal--" Tahna began, but was interrupted by her younger sister.

Mindal defiantly pointed her finger at her older sisters. "I fought by his side. You didn't help, so you do not get a chance to participate."

Reison looked to Tia, who shrugged. "If he's agreeable, I suppose we can take a break. Just don't take too long because we are not stopping here for the day."

Mindal whooped and, grinning madly, grabbed his arm. "Hurry up and clean your sword! I need you to sheathe your other weapon inside me."

Moving off about ten meters, Mindal let him go. Slipping off her backpack, and pushing down her pants to her knees, she leaned over, bracing her hands onto a tree. Happily wriggling her butt, she looked back over her shoulder at him. "Are you going to put it in me? Do you need me to suck your cock first?" Reaching back with both hands, she pulled on her rear cheeks and exposing her rear cleft. Reaching in further, she grabbed more flesh, pulling until her labia parted, showing him her pink tunnel. "See that? A nice, loving home for your big, beautiful cock."

Surprised and vastly amused by the novelty and Mindal's antics, Reison found no difficulty with becoming erect. Opening his trousers, he moved up behind her, pushing down his pants enough to free his cock. With his hand on her hip, she put both hands to bracing herself against the tree trunk. Held her breath when she felt his tip brush along her lower lips.

"You aren't all that wet," he observed, slowly working himself into her soft folds.

"Put in and go slow," she said with a lusty sigh. "Trust me, I'll get wet soon enough."

The bard was right. Within a few strokes, he was moving easily within her slick groove. When he tried to reach around to thrum her clit, she said, "Don't worry about that. Just do me, Reison. Come on, my victorious warrior! You've crushed your enemies. Claim your woman! Cream me!"

He stopped, snickering.

"Too much?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Being as I literally crushed them under my boots? What do you think?"

"How about if I tell you I love you, and that at this moment, I really, really, really need your cock?"

"Better." Reison resumed stroking, pushing for depth, his groin meeting her rear.

"Ohhh, yes. Just like that." She arched her back, changing the angle of his thrusting, allowing him to reach deeper. "How about if I tell you I need your seed inside me? As deep as you can reach inside me."

"That's pretty hot," he affirmed. Putting both hands on her hips, he pumped harder into her depths.

"Oh, that's good," she huffed. "I'm married to a hot guy . . . and we're having awesome outdoor sex. Ooh. Harder, please. Yes, that's it. Harder!"

Both lost themselves in the moment, all their attention focused on his hard cock moving with her tight, slick sheath. Bit by bit, both of them felt their pleasure intensify.

Feeling his balls start to tighten, he asked her, "So you love my cock, do you?"

"Oh, yes! I love your cock! You feel so good!"

Slap, slap, slap!

"You like doing it outside?"

"Oh, gods, yes! I love your cock. My pussy loves your cock even more. Anytime you want, I'm your go-to girl, Reison. Just don't stop, please!"

Slap, slap, slap!

His hips slamming into her rear and his shaft spearing deep into her heated, tight walls, Reison grunted as he sawed within her cavity. "Has nothing to do . . . with the fact your sisters . . . can hear you getting fucked?"

He knew!

Her pussy exploded and Mindal screamed. Her inner sheath clenched along his rapidly thrusting bar of flesh. Over and over he delved deep, probing her innermost private place while waves of bliss rippled outward from her core. Mindal shuddered as her body gave itself over to ecstasy.

Then he shoved hard into her, one hand gripping her shoulder firmly. She felt his cock expand. Even knowing what to expect never compared with the visceral reality of that first hot, sticky splash of his seed coating the entrance to her womb. The bard yelled again, trembling as his entire length pulsed and filled her. Mindal's dripping, convulsing pussy squeezed him, urging him to relinquish every precious drop. Reison worked his cock from side to side, liberally dousing her inner sanctum with his essence.

Both panting heavily, they remained joined as the pulsations of pleasure faded. Still inside, he pulled her up against his chest and ran his mouth along her sensitive neck.

Mindal shivered. "Do you think I'm horrible?"

"I think you should be nicer to your sisters, Mindal. It's not supposed to be a competition."

She sighed. "I know."

When she felt him slip out, she squatted for several seconds to allowing the larger globs of semen to ooze out and spatter onto the ground. Seeing him watch her, she blushed. "It's either this or soak my panties and trousers."

He watched as she scooped up a line of goo hanging from her sodden pussy and licked it off her fingers. Pulling out a handkerchief, she held it against her well-used lower lips as she hiked up her panties and trousers.

Seeing he was only now reaching for his pants, she grinned at him, dropping to her knees before him. "Need some clean up, Handsome Husband?"

Before he answered, Mindal inhaled his flaccid cock and set her tongue to cleaning him of their mixed juices. Twice around his member her oral digit swept, then slurped around his crown.

"You didn't have to do that," he told her.

"I know that. I adore you, Reison. This gives you pleasure, and I love doing things that make you feel good."

"I love you, too, Songbird. Come on. Let's get back to your sisters."

Tahna looked bothered when they returned.

"Everything okay?" Reison asked her.

The monk looked at him meaningfully. "Can . . . can I have some time with you tonight?"

He smiled. "Of course, Beautiful."

Tia cleared her throat. "Now that that's settled, shall we proceed? It's less than three hundred kilometers to the capital, but at this rate, we'll run out of rations long before we get there."

Blushing furiously, Reison nodded. "You're right, Tia."

Mindal took his hand and they set off again.

Tahna scowled.

"Walk beside me," Tia said quietly, switching from the High Elven they normally used around him to speaking Ba'lorian.

The monk did as she was asked.

"I know you love him and want him, Tahna. And I'm happy for you. How long you've known Mindal?"

"Like the old joke says," Tahna muttered. "All her life."

"We are her big sisters. We share a husband. Emphasis on share. Our task as his wives is to cooperate to keep him and our sisters happy, and to build our home together. Emphasis on cooperate and togetherness. Extra emphasis on happy sisters and happy husband."

"Point made, Tia," the monk acknowledged.

Slightly louder, Tia added, "I hope my other little sister takes that to heart, too. It's been a long time since I've had to take anyone to the woodshed. But I will do so if needed."

Startled, Reison looked at Mindal with worry. Very quietly he asked, "Did she . . . actually beat you when you were kids?"

Mindal shook her head. "Way, way worse. She gave us sermons. And that was years before she joined the church." The bard shivered at the memory.

It was a struggle, but Reison successfully suppressed his laughter. Then he caught Mindal shaking her head.

"It's no joke," she hissed, then glanced back at her sisters. "Sitting on rough-cut logs you can put splinters in your butt, and that is not fun. Not the asking for help or even digging them out. Having Tia haul you to the woodshed and making you sit while she chews you out. She can go on for a long, long time. The last time it happened, I was twenty-seven. I sorta kinda accidentally forgot Mom's birthday. I was supposed to sing for her. It's what I usually give her, and I was planning on using some of the new magic I'd learned to embellish the songs with illusionary images. That day, though, things just got away from me. By the time I remembered, I had not only stood up Tia, who was providing the transportation home, but I missed the party, too. By the time I got there, Mom and Dad had left together with no set time to return, so I couldn't apologize. The only thing Tia said was, 'Mom was heartbroken you weren't here, Mindal, but she wanted to be sure her baby girl got a piece of her birthday cake.' It was awful."

"The cake?"

"The cake was to die for. Moist, sweet. A culinary delight. Mom can barely cook meat or eggs without burning them. No. Tia and Mother Charmain made the cake. They also made pies and cookies. My sister put down a huge platter of treats in front of me and walked away. By the time I finished the first cookie, I was complete mess, bawling my eyes out."

Reison nodded in understanding. "Guilt. The gift that keeps giving."

"Well said, brother! Well said! You've had some experience with that?"

"Mindal, the Irish invented pining and melancholy. Elves have long memories and have honed guilt to levels undreamt of by humans. My heart bleeds for you."

Mindal snorted in laughter at his alliteration. "By all the gods, I love you, Reison Whisper Wind."

The four travelers continued picking their way through the undergrowth.

The rest of the day, they saw and heard plenty of birds moving in the trees above. Chattering and singing. Sometimes birds dove down and picked at the ground for bugs or seeds. Squirrels and chipmunks sometimes fighting with each other or squawking at blue jays. Fat robins and blackbirds. Flowers, too, rose from the forest floor, exuberant with lush foliage.

There were no further encounters that day.

As light from the third sun faded and shadows began to fill the forest, they found a suitable spot and made camp. Tia made hot broth and tea for dinner while the other three cleared the area and pitched the tent. They settled down and, with freshen cantrips to help the bread, they ate the last of the sandwiches from the inn for dinner.

"So. Our first night out together in the wilderness," he said. "So how does this work?"

The three women nodded, Mindal and Tia smiling as they chewed. As the other three sat, Tahna leaned against a tree, keeping a lookout for danger.

"We sleep together in the same tent," Tia said.

"And hopefully have a lot of sex," the bard added. "Can't forget that."

Blushing, he said, "No. I mean we should have a watch set, right? So we aren't killed in our sleep? Four watches then?"

All three women laughed.

Incredulous, Mindal shook her head. "Silly man. How are we going to get any cuddle time if you're outside on watch?"

The priestess had an amused look. "We'll switch off, Reison, so that each of us gets time to sleep next to you."

"How is that fair?" he asked. "I'm an equal member of the party, right? It's not right that you three should stand a watch and I sleep all night."

"Who says you're going to get any sleep?" Mindal grinned even wider at him.

Tia cleared her throat. "I think for Reison's health, we limit the sex time in the tent to bedtime. If he's so inclined and situation permits, maybe in the morning, too. But only if we make a decent amount of travel during the day. However, there will be no waking him up during the night."

Mindal made a disappointed noise. "But midnight sex is fun, too."

"I agree," Tia said. "But not when we are traveling in the wilderness, Mindal. If he's up all night making love to each of us, he's not going to be in shape to travel, much less fight. If he reaches for you first, that's one thing. But don't initiate, Mindal. You, too, Tahna. And that's final.

"To answer your complaint about fairness, Reison," the priestess continued, "Yes, you are correct. Letting you take a watch would be fair. But we each want time just being close to you. Bonding time if you will. One alternative is that you and one of us share a watch, and the other two sleep. Just having two watches, though, means we all get less sleep at night. And whoever is on watch with you will be tempted to have sex. I suggest we do our usual schedule of three watches. Mindal, since you like to sleep in, you have first watch. Tahna has the midnight block, and I'll relieve her at four bells. Tahna, you and I will switch off so that you and I can get six straight hours every other night."

The monk nodded. "Sounds good."

Reison scowled. "I don't get a say in this? All three of you are pregnant. I'm supposed to protect you."

"It's only been a few days, my husband," Tia replied. "It's not like pregnancy immediately makes us helpless. We are quite capable of a great many things. Babies are a gradual thing. We won't even begin to show until months after we've reached the capital. Hopefully, morning sickness won't be too much of an issue. Mom said she barely had an upset stomach through any of her pregnancies, and my twin was the same, so I can reasonably expect to have little issues in that area. If I'm lucky, it will bypass me altogether. It'll be weeks yet before Tahna or Mindal have any problems, if they ever do."

Mindal stood up in alarm. "Morning sickness? Now I'm remembering all the things our mothers told us. Swelling, aching breasts. Increasing back pain for months. Aching feet. Peeing every few hours. Awakened in the night because the baby is kicking and moving around. Hours of hard, sweaty labor, ending with a huge baby head ripping apart my pussy and it comes out in blood and gore. Leaking breasts. Feeding the baby. Oh, my god. Dirty diapers!" Hands on hips, the bard glared at Reison. "Oh, my god. What was I thinking? What did I let you do to me?"

Tia laughed. Then she noticed Tahna mulling over Mindal's words. "Because, Little Sister, you love him and love what he does to you with his beautiful cock. If he offered to make love with you right this second, you'd do him. Admit it, Mindal."

Reison looked up his wife with concern.

Dropping her shoulders in defeat, Mindal nodded. "I confess. It's true. You only have to ask me, Reison, and I will gladly spread my legs for the chance of feeling you moving so wonderfully inside my body. Promise you will still love me, even when I'm fat and ugly like a beached whale?"

"I have no idea what a whale looks like," he answered. "A man who taunts or ridicules a woman carrying a baby is no gentleman. For a man to do that to the woman who carries his own child? He's a black-hearted scoundrel. You are my wives. I promised to love each of you always, including making love to you as often as I can. I will rub feet and backs when you ask me to, and help as you need it. Please don't assume I will know what to do and when. I will depend on you to tell me how to ease any discomfort."

"That will help," Tia said. "It will also be greatly appreciated."

"I did learn a little at your temple about taking care of babies, though I'm sure I have a lot more to learn. Mindal, you are my wife. You can never be ugly to me. I will love and take care of you, now and when you are old and grey-haired. That's not just my duty, it's my privilege."

Sitting back down, the bard took his hand into hers. "Okay. Since the deed is done, you can sweep me off my feet and have your way with me again."

"Mindal," Tia said. "You and Reison already made love today."

"But that was victory sex. That's a freebie! It shouldn't count as my turn! Come on, Husband. Give me your support."

Tia shook her head. "Don't be selfish, Mindal. Reison, please take Tahna to bed and love her. She needs some time with you, too."

Tia saw the surprise on Tahna's face and smiled at her, nodding.

"All right," Reison agreed. "I'm curious, though. Am I supposed to follow a set rotation?"

"A fair question. Let me think on that," the priestess answered. "Having a schedule might seem impersonal. You and Mindal have already had extra time together so she could become pregnant. While you are busy with Tahna, Mindal and I will talk, and sometime tomorrow, I'll chat with Tahna. We will work it out between us, Reison. If you have an idea or a preference, let me know. And if there's ever a time when you are too tired or just want to cuddle, tell us. We are good at cuddling and won't perish if we have to go without."