Bilal and the Mountain Queen

I played a couple of other Aluynan songs, and struggled to tell one of my stories in their language. Even my failure was a success, and the men roared with laughter and slapped me on the back as I tripped over the foreign words. I had a slice of the roasting pig with some olives and couscous. I was able to get a cup of goat's milk after some negotiation. Some of the men also offered to share their nargileh with me and I felt my head swimming with hashish. I only understood a word here and there, but being under the hashish's spell, I laughed with them all the same. The innkeeper grinned, revealing missing teeth, and offered me a room. I gladly took it, though I was saddened that I couldn't tell my tale.

The room had a small bed with a straw mattress, and there was a crude wooden table with a candle. Having traveled all night and with a full belly for the first time in weeks, I fell right to sleep.

I dreamed of the battle. I was there with my spear and shield, bracing against the cavalry charge. The horses' hooves beat the ground, and bits of dirt flew up like ash in a bonfire. I was knocked over, and narrowly avoided the horseman's heavy, swinging sword. The horseman dismounted, and his shadow blocked out the sun. And there she was, face hard with blonde braids hanging down. The warrior, my pursuer. She sat on top of me and was so heavy I couldn't breathe.

I struggled against her, and the fog of my dream began to part. I awoke and saw with horror that it was truly her! She straddled me, and I could feel the slick skin of her thighs and the wetness and hair of her jade gate. She wore the same cloak as before, but I could glimpse her shining skin underneath. I opened my mouth to protest, but her massive hand, fast as lightning, clamped down in my mouth. It was bare this time, and I caught a glimpse of her skin, rippling with muscles, in the moonlight. "Be calm, Bilal, son of Balam. I mean you no harm!" There was that voice. It was undoubtably female, but hissed like a snake.

I thrashed my arms, and beat against her hard thighs. My ram was rock hard as it always was when I awoke, and I could feel her maneuvering her jade gate over it. I screamed, but her strong hand blocked it. There was something strange about her hand. Her nails were long and impossibly sharp. My flailing arms caught her cloak, and tore it to the side.

I don't know what I expected to see. In my imagination she was the same White Islands warrior woman that I had milked my ram to before. I had wondered if she was an Alyunan woman or from Ghostface's lands. Truly, even if she had been a man, it would have been less shocking than the creature I saw before me.

She was a tower of muscle, that much I had been correct about. Her abdominals rippled, and her arms were thicker than anyone's I had ever seen, man or woman. Something was off about her skin. It was certainly not the marble of the woman warrior I had imagined nor was it the olive tones of my people. It wasn't even the mahogany of the people of the southern lands. I couldn't tell in the moonlight, but it was none of those. Her hips were thick and just as strong as the rest of her. I imagined the boot on my chest and realized that she could have easily crushed me like a bug. Between her legs her hair was thick and the darkest black I had ever seen. Her breasts would have been large on an ordinary woman, but they were small for one her size, and shook enticingly as she struggled with me. Her nipples were pointed and black as coal.

Even with all the oddities of her body, nothing could have prepared me for her face. Strangely, I had been right about her hair, and dozens of small black braids hung from her head. Her face was wide, with a heavy nose and those large yellow eyes I had seen earlier. From her thick lips jutted two upturned tusks, like a wild hog's. It was impossible. At that moment I realized that no man had lay with a creature such as this, and I felt my blood pump hot. Tales of explorers leapt into my mind. Brave men exploring virgin lands and meeting strange native women. Lust and fear fought a pitched battle in my heart, and I froze.

"I am Karsha, and as you can see I am not one of you." She still held the hand over my mouth. My eyes were wide with the emotional battle inside me. I felt her hips squirm again, and my ram rubbed the wet outside of her jade gate. "If I uncover your mouth, do you promise not to scream?" I nodded and she gingerly took her hand from my mouth.

"You're a...a," I didn't even know what she was.

"Yes I am an ork." She gyrated her hips one last time and my ram slipped inside her. She gasped in pleasure. In my heart's battle, the lust was pushing back fear and the hardness of my ram was held up by it. "Your people pushed us from the surface five thousand years ago. This encounter pleases me." She pumped her hips, and I gasped in pleasure as she did. But this time, lust had routed fear's troops, and the carnal cavalry was chasing down the fleeing cowards. Her jade gate was warm and wet, just like all the other women I had been with. I wanted this exotic giantess before me.

Her hands pressed into my chest, and along with her leaden force on my hips, I felt like she would crush me. Somehow, the thought of this set my loins on fire. She swiped her hands down my chest, scratching it hard enough to draw blood. She licked the blood from her fingers. I reached up, rubbing her thighs and hard belly. She rode me vigorously, and something between a growl and a purr emanated from her throat. I longed to touch her breasts, but she was sitting straight up and she was so big I could only brush the very bottom. They shook and shuddered with her movement. She threw her head back, and the roar that she desired to make was stifled to a growl.

Her jade gate was bigger than I was used to, but it tightened around my ram, and her juices left my lower half soaked. "Heavens, Karsha. I'm going to have my rain!" Her thrusting quickened, and I felt my ram buck and fill her with my rain. She let out another growl, and shuddered with her own pleasure.

Karsha's chest heaved, her breasts shiny with sweat in the moonlight. She leaned down, and licked her tongue up the side of my face. Her mouth had a primal smell, like earth and herbs. My heart raced, and I felt my fading lust spiked with fear again. "You have satisfied me, Bilal, son of Balam. Your seed is inside me."

"Who are you? And how did you get here?" I don't know what else I could have asked her. I had vaguely heard of orks, but thought they were a myth from thousands of years ago. They were a great story, but they were the dreams of men who had smoked too much opium. The legend was just as she had said. In earth's ancient days, before the Faith, even before the ancient empires, orks and humans had lived side by side. They fought constantly, and eventually the forces of humans had driven them off. Of course I never thought I would meet one, let alone fill her with my rain.

"I have told you. I am Karsha. My kingdom is under the mountain, and my queen has sent me on a quest to find a worthy man." She saw my confused expression, "A queen rules my people, always. Among humans, men dominate the women. Your empire is ruled by a man, as are most human kingdoms. Among orks, women rule over men. Women choose men, and we are the warriors, leaders, and merchants. Men are fit for little more than serving us."

She rolled off of me and I felt the cold night air on my wet lap. There was barely room for both of us on the bed, and I had to shrink into her like a small spoon fitting into a larger one. Her sweat dripped on me, and I smelled the stony smell of her skin. Her legs and arms held me, and as she spoke she whispered in my ear. "I choose you, Bilal, son of Balam."

I felt the fear rising in me. I had wanted her, and I still did, though having my rain had drained my desire. I wanted to lay with her again, and imagined her massive arse in front of me, gripped in my hands as my ram slid in and out of her. And like that, my ram awakened again. "You chose me?"

"Yes, you are a suitable mate."

"Didn't you see what happened right before you found me?"

"Yes, you ran from a hopeless battle."

"Do your people value valor? Shouldn't you find one of the survivors that held fast?" I did want to lay with her, but her words frightened me. The way she talked, it seemed that she wanted me for herself, and if ork women behaved like human men...

She sighed, "This is a problem of my people. If your army had been made up of orks, they would have held fast and all died. Your people have an expression, 'discretion is the better part of valor.' My queen wants our people to live, and the orkish courage easily becomes foolhardiness."

I thought I understood, but couldn't quite believe my ears, "So you chose me because I was a coward?"

"That is not all. I also chose you for your musical talent and slender form. We orks struggle to produce art, music, and poetry, yet humans are buried in it." I felt her claw run down my chest, and my nipples hardened. My ram hardened some more.

"And you fell in love?"

"Do not mistake me Bilal, son of Balam. I cannot fall in love with you. But you have been judged worthy." She wrapped her arms around me, and I could not decide if it felt like an embrace or a cage. "You are mine now. Meet me at the north gate tomorrow morning and you will come with me back to my kingdom. Do not be afraid, you will not be harmed if you obey." She stood, and I turned in bed to get a better look at her. She was as tall as I remembered, and her body still rippled with muscle. Her thighs were thick and her dark nipples were still erect. I was sad I did not get the chance to touch them, with my hands or my tongue.

She walked across the room, and I saw her back and arse. Her arse was just as big as I expected, and the only part of her body, other than her breasts, where I could see any fat. Seeing that, I desperately wanted to grab her arse and fuck her from behind. The floor creaked as she walked across it. "Karsha, I have family and friends here. I can't go with you."

"I have chosen you. Meet me at the north gate. It will be easiest that way." She pulled on her scale mail armor and wolfskin cloak. Soon she was just as covered as when I had seen her that first time. "The journey to my home is not far, and you are worthy." With that, she took a gem on the end of a chain out of her pocket. She whispered something to it in her language and her movement became completely silent. She moved cat-like to the window and jumped out. I didn't hear her land.

---

When I left the inn the next day, I looked over my shoulder all day. Karsha was sure to stand out. I don't know how I didn't see her in the inn. I had saved up a decent amount of copper, and I was confident that I could book passage on one of the riverboats down to a port city. I wouldn't have enough to get on a real ship, but once I was in a real port earning money in one of the port taverns money would be a trivial thing.

I made it down to the river quay and spoke to one of the captains there. He spoke Kashaki well and he told me the ship was departing tonight. I had just enough money to book passage. In the meantime I would have to keep myself busy. Not to mention I would have to look out for Karsha. I hadn't seen her, but I had never seen her either of the times she had pounced on me.

I had only been awake for a couple of hours, so maybe Karsha was not quite looking for me yet. Perhaps I could earn some money before heading out tonight. But I would find a different tavern. There was one in the north quarter of the city and I found it that was considerably more shabby than the one I had spent the night in. No matter where the tavern is, you will find the same dark, noisome, smoky rooms.

In the upscale tavern there had been a roasting pig, friendly people, and plenty of money. I did not find the same here. When I entered, I felt eyes on me. While in the other inn, people had looked and then gone about their business. But here the people glared. Alyuna had been part of the empire for a hundred years, but there were still people who resented us.

The bartender squinted at me when I approached him. He didn't answer when I choked out a request for porridge and goat milk in bad Alyunan. There was a voice behind me. A gruff man told me that they didn't appreciate killers like me here. Also, I could shove something up my arse. I turned to face him. He was a large, bald man with missing and yellow teeth. His face looked like he smelled a fart. "Friend, I don't want fight." I said, "I buy you drink." But the bartender wasn't having it, and when I turned back around, I found the bald man's fist flying at my face.

I was sent sprawling on the floor. I'm sure you will not be surprised to find that I am a lover, not a fighter. Though I was dazed, I scrambled across the floor toward the exit. But there was another, meaner looking man there who kicked at my face. I just barely rolled out of the way, and was able to struggle to my feet. I looked around desperately, and spied a back exit. As I ran for the door, another patron grabbed at me, but I evaded his grasp and bursted through the door.

Behind was an alley. One end was blocked off, and the other end opened to the street at the front of the tavern. As soon as I saw this, the alley exit was darkened by the bald man and another man with long, greasy black hair. A short, wiry man bursted through the back door. I slowly backed away from them toward the dead end of the alley.

I spied another large man come into the alley behind the bald man. How did this many men want to beat me? The four men closed on me and I braced myself. Had I escaped from Ghostface just to be killed by these idiot thugs?

I looked at the big man in the back coming my way. He wore a cloak and I couldn't see his face. I realized what was going on just a second before the big man lept into action. It wasn't a man at all, or even a human! Karsha swung a titanic leg into the big bald man's side, and I heard a distinct crunch. He fell to the ground, wheezing and clutching his side. The black haired man turned, and quick as lightning, Karsha swung a powerful hand, crushing his nose. The man was unconscious before he hit the ground. The short man was clearly the most intelligent here, as he fled back into the tavern.

It would be dishonest to say that I wasn't also afraid. Karsha rapidly approached me, the only sound was her clinking mail and the bald man's gasps. "Bilal, son of Balam, what are you doing? I told you to come to the north gate. I will not tolerate disobedience from you!"

"Karsha, thank God you're here!" It wouldn't hurt to get on her good side. As she came closer, I could see her holding a length of rope. "Wait, no Karsha! I need to get home. The guards will see you!" But it was no use. Quick as a flash, she had hogtied me, and put me inside a burlap sack. "Damn you, let me go!" I protested and squirmed like a worm on a fishhook.

"I tell you this one time, Bilal, son of Balam. I am on a quest from my queen. I will kill to do my queen's will, and the city guards cannot stop me. You have no chance to escape here. I do not wish to hurt you, but it is your seed I want, not your wellbeing. Now be silent and still."

I felt the newly familiar battle of fear and lust in my heart. She was really going to take me. I had been sure my wits were enough to evade her, but here I was tied up in a sack. I had dodged the thugs just to be nabbed by my giantess.

---

She was right. There was no way I could have stopped her. The city guards didn't even seem to notice her, but I heard her mutter to the trinket she kept and then she moved in the mystic silence I had witnessed the night before. I felt her throw me on the back of a horse and it galloped away. I tried to yell and protest, but when I moved my mouth, nothing came out. It must have been her cursed magic.

We rode for several hours. I couldn't see any more than light and dark through the fabric of the sack. Eventually the spell wore off, and I could hear the hoofbeats of the horse. "Karsha please! Let's talk this out."

"I have told you already Bilal, son of Balam. I am acting on my queen's word. There is nothing you can say to stop me. You tried to disobey me once, and you failed."

"Can we at least stop for a rest," I thought for a moment, "You know that humans are fragile, right? I could be badly hurt if you keep me back here. I know your queen wants me, but I'm no good to her if I'm hurt, right?"

She was silent for a moment. "I cannot completely untie you, but I can try to make you more comfortable." The horse stopped, and I felt her deftly lift me off the back. She pulled the sack off me. "If you try to escape, I can easily catch you. Orks are much stronger than humans, and I am even fast and strong among my kind. Do not try or you will anger me!." She cut my bonds, but then tied more itchy rope around my neck. She tied it to her own leg. It felt good to be able to stand up, and I saw she had stowed her armor. She was wearing the same cloak, but had on a simple tunic and trousers. The hood still easily covered her face, but she had also stowed her helmet.

"Thank you, Karsha. Thank you."

"Get on the horse. You will be silent until we camp tonight. I am in no mood for your complaining." She seemed conflicted. I could tell she felt for me. It was quite uncomfortable being on the back of the horse, even though the army had hardened me. But she was annoyed. I could tell she had not expected me to be this much trouble.

I got on her horse, and put my arms around her middle. The rope around my neck itched something fierce, but it was better than being in the sack. We rode in silence, and I felt her flexing muscles under her tunic. I'm not sure what she expected, or what I did. I was just desperate to get out of those ropes.

I did feel good being right next to her body like that and I remembered our passion last night. Perhaps when we stopped to camp... I felt my ram stiffen, and I needed something to distract her, and me from it. "So Karsha, what are ork men like? You said I was different."

She huffed. I could tell she wanted to tell me to be silent, but I was plying my charms. I guess they worked on ork women as well as human ones. "They are small, almost as small as humans. And they are not clever. I have told you that you are different. I have not known an ork man who has played music as you have, or recited poetry. I have not read human poetry, but the queen has told me of her love of it."

"Are ork men the same as human men in bed?" I asked.

"What do you mean, Bilal, son of Balam?"

"I mean," I searched for the words, "as lovers? Do they make love the same way."

I felt her stiffen at the question. Perhaps I had found a chink in her armor. She was silent for several seconds. "Do not annoy me with your questions, human. Be silent." And so I was until we made camp.

We were not quite in the foothills when we made camp. I gathered wood with Karsha and she easily built a fire. It was a cold night, and I was happy for the warmth. She had some venison as before and we ate well that night. Karsha was sullen and taciturn most of the night, though I tried and failed to make conversation. She mumbled to herself in her own language.

As the fire began to die, we set up our sleeping bags. I remembered the feel of her muscles as we rode and I remembered her jade gate clenching around my ram. I looked over at her, she was lying on her side, her back turned. "It will be cold tonight," I said.

"Indeed," she said, but did not turn to face me. I got up and walked over to her sleeping bag. I placed my hand on her thick shoulder. Her hand shot up and closed around my wrist. She turned to face me, but did nothing else. Our eyes locked, and I got a good look at her face for the first time. I had seen her yellow eyes and tusks. By this time, I felt used to them and was even starting to find them endearing. I have always had a love of the strange and unusual. Her skin was gray like stone, and smooth. In truth she did not look that different from a human woman. Her jaw was a bit heavy and her face very wide, but I had seen plenty of women like that. Her hair was stark black, straight, and shining. It was actually quite beautiful. Her face had no sign of age and she could be my same age. I had no way of knowing with orks.