Bridge Ch. 04

As the Maire finished speaking, Algo hurried past them and into the private dining room while a flurry of curses echoed from within. A crash boomed through the restaurant as a dining platter clattered to the floor.

"Distinguished indeed," said Aerlin. "No, I think it's too late for me to help any more tonight. It sounds like Prince Garin is most displeased with the service."

Altena's mask of composure slipped, and for a moment she looked harried and desperate. "Please Aerlin. Bridge depends on this. Work your magic on Garin like you did on Urien."

"It doesn't work like that," said Aerlin. "A companion's only as good as their company, and there is some company I simply cannot abide. I fear Prince Garin may be one such. You're on your own."

She pulled her sleeve free of the Marie's grasp and began walking away. Altena called after her.

"Wait, Aerlin! I have you on retainer! Where are you going?"

"To find someone more deserving of my company," she said over her shoulder.

~

Aerlin was on her way to getting hammered. One advantage of keeping rooms above a tavern was that she didn't have to go far to tie one on, and it was only a quick stumble upstairs at the end of the night. The Six Cups wasn't the nicest dram shop in Bridge, but it wasn't the worst either. The lights were low, the music was pleasant, and the bartender, a stocky man with a bushy mustache named Art, knew better than to ask questions when a patron looked morose. Aerlin was certainly that.

Maybe Altena was right. Maybe she should have gone back, tried to work things out with Garin. Maybe she was nothing but a whore for the rich and powerful. She downed the last gulp of her ale and motioned for Art to pour up another.

She was drinking the cheap stuff tonight. The barkeep brought her another mug of watery yellow ale, her fourth or fifth. She looked down into the murky liquid and thought about what Garin had said about the settlements in New Langeliaia, and how the Heggish army was brutally "cleansing" them. She'd thought about going straight to Urien and demanding to know how much of the story was true, but she was so furious at him, Garin, and Altena that she wasn't sure she could keep it together.

She quaffed her drink, draining half the mug in one go. She felt used, like Altena had sent her into the lion's den without a warning. The Maire had said that Bridge depended on this. What had she meant? What was really going on here? Two princes in Bridge at the same time, east and west clashing in her backyard. Well, it's Altena's problem now, thought Aerlin. Only thing to do now is get good and shitfaced. Of course, Altena would probably want the retainer back, which meant Aerlin had to spend through it as fast as possible.

"Do they cut you off after six cups, or is it merely a poetic expression?"

Aerlin looked to her left and was startled to find a man sitting next to her. He was a fire elemental by the look of him, tall and red-haired with sharply arched eyebrows. His hair was an unruly mess, spiky and pointing every which way like tongues of flame. The fireman was dressed in a charcoal coat and trousers with a bright orange shirt underneath, colors she knew the fire elementals favored.

"What?" she asked, still processing what the stranger had said.

"I've been counting, and you've had five cups so far. Not that I'm judging. I'm only wondering if, when you get to six, the tavern keeper will cut you off?"

"Only one way to find out," said Aerlin.

The fireman laughed brightly and slapped his knee. "Yes, quite. I'm Akar, by the way, of Mount Orn."

"Aerlin Eventide. Look, Akar, no offense, but I'm having a bit of a rough night and I'm not much feeling up to company."

Akar nodded somberly. "Of course, naturally. Only let me make one suggestion before I leave you in peace. If you are, indeed, limited to six cups, don't let your last be more of that piss-water ale. Allow me to buy you something stronger, something to put fire in your belly."

Aerlin shrugged. Why not? She wanted to get wrecked, after all. "What do you recommend, fireman?" she asked.

"Barkeep!" said Akar. "Have you any blazeport?"

"Blazeport," muttered Art, shaking his head. "Might have. No one's ordered it in a long time."

The bartender had to rummage around the cabinets for a minute before he found what Akar had requested. At last he brought them a crimson bottle, fat and round at the bottom and thin at the top. The glass was stamped with the symbol of a smoking volcano.

"Ahhh," said Akar appreciatively. "Now that's a drink. Two, if you please."

Art poured two low glasses of a dark, smoky spirit. Aerlin sniffed it and recoiled immediately. It was incredibly strong, with a hint of cinnamon and a dozen other spices besides.

"Spiced wine made from grapes grown in volcanic soil, mixed with strong Ornish brandy," said Akar.

Aerlin lifted her glass. "Well, I'll try anything once."

"Not like that!" said Akar. The fireman had raised his already-arched eyebrows in a scandalized expression. He took her glass from her and held his own in his other hand. "You need to heat it first," explained Akar. "Otherwise it's awful."

She watched, enthralled, as his hair and eyes glowed red in the dim light of the tavern. Bubbles began to rise in their glasses as he suffused the blazeport with his natural elemental magic. When he handed Aerlin her drink back, the glass was pleasantly warm to the touch. Akar raised his glass and clinked it against Aerlin's.

"To forgetting our troubles," he toasted. "All in one, now."

Aerlin knocked back the drink. It was devilishly strong, but the heat smoothed it out and enhanced the spiced flavor. The drink nearly scalded her gullet on the way down, and it settled in her belly like hot coals.

"Oh my," she said, feeling the warmth spreading to suffuse her body. "I think I like that."

Akar grinned, very pleased with himself. "I thought you might. At old Mount Orn, we know how to make a drink."

"So you do," agreed Aerlin. "You're all right, Akar. You know, we don't get many fire elementals around here."

"Most of my kin are loathe to leave the fires of our volcano home in the west," said Akar. "I am more, shall we say, worldly than most of my folk." He glanced at Aerlin's staff, propped against the bar beside her. "Are you a wizard, Madame Eventide?"

Aerlin shrugged. "I graduated from the Academy at Maridel ten years ago. But now? I guess I'm just a misfit who wandered onto Bridge like everyone else. And you can call me Aerlin, by the way."

"I've always been fascinated by human magic," said Akar. He stroked his chin musingly. "We elementals are born with our magic. It's a part of us, as natural as rain or sunshine. But humans impose their Will on the natural world, bending it to their own ends. Somewhat fitting, no?"

Aerlin nodded. "At the Academy they teach us that a wizard draws from their Well of Soul and concentrates their Will to effect material changes in the physical world."

She focused her Will on the bottle of blazeport the barkeep had left on the counter. Concentrating on the liquid inside, Aerlin Willed it to rise out of the bottle and float in a thin stream to her glass. Akar whistled appreciatively, even though some of the spirit splashed onto the counter.

"It's easier if you aren't drunk, of course," said Aerlin, by way of excusing her somewhat sloppy performance. "Moving physical matter is something any novice can do, though. The hardest stuff requires minute changes to complex systems. For example, projecting a field that can adjust certain receptors in the brains of living organisms to make them feel a certain way."

She Willed a charm field into existence around her, a bit more potent than she'd really meant to, and Akar's jaw dropped. The barkeep and several other patrons looked her way intently, and she smiled seductively at the welcome attention. Perhaps she didn't want to be alone tonight, after all.

"Masterful work," breathed Akar. "I can see you've practiced that."

"Oh yes," said Aerlin. "That particular spell is one I am quite fond of."

Akar was looking at her with a smoldering glare, the glow from before returning to his hair, eyes.

She was looking back at him.

~

They practically tumbled through the door into her room. Akar kissed her neck distractingly as she fumbled to get the door closed again, his lips deliciously hot on her skin. She wondered if every part of him was this hot.

They were in the foyer of their offices, a combination of sitting room, reception area, and study. There were doors to either side leading to her and Sineo's bedrooms. Sineo wasn't home, so Aerlin had the fireman all to herself.

"Convenient," he breathed between kisses. "Living above a bar, I mean."

The room was wobbling a bit and there was music floating in the open window from street buskers outside. Aerlin was inspired to dance, moving with the way the floor was swaying under her. She twirled her hips and pressed herself against her staff, crushing it between her breasts while she slid sensually against it. Akar looked into her eyes, his lust barely controlled. She could tell he was ready to ignite. Aerlin dragged herself along her staff, licking it suggestively.

Tossing the staff to the side, Aerlin danced faster as the music from outside picked up. She rubbed her hands along her hips and thighs, sliding the hem of her dress a bit higher to show her legs. Her skin was glistening with sweat as she twisted and writhed. Then as a finale, Aerlin thrust her hands above her head and Willed her dress to fly off with a snap, leaving her instantly nude, her pink skin flushed, brown nipples painfully erect.

Akar let out a growl and literally burst into flame. Aerlin gasped as his clothes burned away and floated into an ashen heap at the ground around him. Beneath his clothes, Akar was leanly muscled. His hair and eyes were bright crimson, including the tuft of fiery hair above his cock, with throbbed visibly with need.

She didn't have to tell Akar to come and get her. The fire elemental rushed forward and picked Aerlin up by the hips. He drove her back into her desk, knocking her ass into the wood and sending books and papers flying. They kissed passionately, the heat from his tongue and lips pouring into her mouth. His rod felt like a hot poker when it brushed her thighs.

"Have you been with a fire elemental before?" asked Akar.

"No," said Aerlin. "Will you set me ablaze, Akar?"

"Oh yes," he said. "And you'll love every minute of it."

He lifted her onto the desk and set settled back spreading her legs for him. He nestled his rod against her nether lips and found them drenched. Her wetness steamed off her skin when Akar prodded her with his burning tool. The head slipped past her lips and she groaned. His heat was deliciously scalding inside her, like a bath that's just a bit too hot when you first get in. He gave her only a moment to get used to the feeling before pushing forward again, this time easily sliding to the hilt in her drenched pussy. The tip of his cock prodded hotly against her cervix and she gave a little squeal.

"Oh my god," groaned Aerlin. "My cunt is on fire."

Akar responded wordlessly, giving an animalistic cry as he started fucking her against the desk, making the wooden legs jump and slide with each heavy thrust. Aerlin grinded her hips back against him, grabbing hold of his firm ass to pull him forward on each stroke. He kissed her all over, leaving blazing kisses on her flushed tits. Her pussy was overloaded with sensation as his rod sent waves of heat through her pleasure zones.

She felt an enormous orgasm coming and put her hands on his chest to try and slow him down, fearful of peaking too soon, but she'd worked Akar into a frenzy and he wouldn't be slowed. He gave two more powerful strokes and sent her tumbling over the edge. Aerlin squealed and gripped him tightly as she shuddered uncontrollably, her pussy quivering wildly around his cock. She felt her strength draining away and slid backwards onto her desk, arms splayed around her, breasts heaving with each panting breath.

Akar wasn't done, and his cock still throbbed hotly inside her, furiously needing release. She met his eyes and nodded for him to continue. The fireman grabbed hold of her thighs, lifting slightly and pulling her hips forward to give himself the perfect angle of access. Then he started fucking her with deep, slow thrusts, bottoming out each time. Her eyes rolled back in her head with bliss as she felt herself rising to another incredible peak.

Aerlin could sense Akar's crisis approaching from the way his cock twitched inside her. He abandoned his even stroking and began fucking her with rough, uneven thrusts.

"I'm going to come," panted Akar.

"Yes," moaned Aerlin. "Give it to me."

"Fuck!" shouted Akar as the first blast of his boiling cum splashed into her. It was like magma burning in her womb, and she shrieked with pleasure, coming again instantly. Each spurt he gave her was hotter than the last, like a volcano erupting.

"It's so hot," cried Aerlin, shuddering uncontrollably. She pressed a hand to her stomach and could feel the warmth of the fireman's seed through her skin. He gave her one more scalding blast before collapsing atop her, kissing her cheek weakly as he recovered. Aerlin wriggled and writhed beneath him, feeling small aftershocks as the blazing cum stimulated her insides, making her pussy quiver nonstop around him.

"Oh god," moaned Akar. "You feel divine. I might be able to go again."

"It's that fiery seed you put in me," said Aerlin. "I... ah... can't seem to stop coming."

She felt the fireman twitch inside her, his cock not softening in the slightest.

"I believe your pussy might be magic, Madame Eventide," said Akar.

"It's your cock that's magic," said Aerlin.

He started thrusting again, his burning tool churning her insides and making the steaming cum he'd given her slosh inside her. Soon he'd worked himself up to another furious rhythm.

"Come in my mouth this time," urged Aerlin. "I want to see if it tastes as good as blazeport.

Akar shuddered, and she could sense he was getting close. He signalled he was on the edge, and Aerlin pushed him off, diving between his legs to capture his cock with her mouth. She found the presence of mind to Will the muscles in her throat to relax as she swallowed him to the base, sighing at how good his fiery manhood felt lodged in her throat. He grabbed her head for support and yelled as he started pumping his semen directly into her stomach. Aerlin's eyes went wide at the feeling of burning hot cum pooling in her belly. It felt like two boiling orbs of liquid heat inside her, one in her womb, the other in her tummy, both throbbing and sending waves of heat through her body. When he'd finished his cock finally went soft. Aerlin lay back against the pillows and sighed with contentment, still quivering with little climaxes.

Akar settled in beside her, kissing her neck affectionately as the both basked in the afterglow, his warm body feeling snug and cozy against her back.

"You burned your clothes," mumbled Aerlin absently.

"Your fault," whispered Akar. "Got me so horny I lost control. Don't suppose you can lend me something to wear?"

"You can borrow some of Sineo's clothes," she said.

"Sineo?" asked Akar.

"Don't be jealous," said Aerlin. "He's my business partner."

"What business are you in?" asked Akar.

She wasn't even sure she knew the answer. "Let's talk about that tomorrow," said Aerlin.

But she needn't have said anything. The fire elemental had already fallen asleep, his hot, even breath feeling nice against her neck. Aerlin snuggled herself back into him, forgetting Altena and the princes and just enjoying this moment. Soon she was asleep as well.