My Good Deed

Then Lally mounted her. She did different things to Iktria than she had with me. She put her arms and legs over Iktria's and pinned her, pressed their bodies together and tickled her here and there. Lally kept that poor, blindfolded girl guessing.

Now Iktria was all warmed up. Any moment now, Lally would turn up the heat and demolished Iktria just as she had with me.

But she didn't. Just when Lally would've moved on from the foreplay and ravished Iktria, she eased up. She held back. No fingering, no bucking and no tonguing. Instead, she just curled up with Iktria and held her.

Lally was being more intimate with that weak little peasant girl than she had been with me!

I got to my feet. I walked over to them to do something. I didn't know what, but I had to break this up. It was just too much to watch.

But when I stood over them, Lally's eyes were shut, and that face—dang! If she'd looked regal before, now she was like the love goddess herself. And she was happy. Not the kind of happy that came from the wine pot, but really happy.

I cooled off. Lally's life wasn't easy, I knew that much. She spent half of it on this cramped old ship, and she probably went months without having someone to wrap her legs around. Suddenly, I didn't begrudge her this one.

Her eyes eased open, and she looked up at me, curious, blissful.

I petted her gently. Her smile spread a little wider, and she eased back to sleep.

I got dressed, feeling sheepish. The gods, I supposed, had just taught me a lesson in humility, which is not an easy thing to teach Vessa the Valorous. I still stole Lally's pants on my way out, of course. It would be a strange day when I went someplace without stealing something. I left and gave the two some privacy.

Lally didn't keep Iktria all night. Iktria emerged a couple of hours later, looking somehow warmer and softer than she had before.

"You have a good time?" I asked her, without spite.

She looked at her feet. "That... wasn't bad," she said guardedly. "It was nice. After... once..." she took a deep breath. "I enjoyed that. But I am done being a whore. Please don't make me do that again."

"Not without your consent, huh? Well, I slip like that so-"

"No," she said. "Not ever."

She walked away.

* * *

On the southern shore, saying goodbye to Lally was not as hard as I had thought it would be. She had well and truly let me go, and it dawned on me that I'd done the same for her. I'd thought getting over her would make me sad. Instead, I just felt lighter, like something heavy had come off my shoulders. It's funny, the things loss can make a woman feel.

It certainly helped that I had Iktria to distract me. She was standing up straighter now, and when I looked at her, she shot me a mean look. She was getting tired of my tricks, and she wanted to scare me off of trying another one. But goddess forgive me, that angry face just made her cuter.

We walked into the jungle, going along the narrow porter's path that would, eventually, take us someplace we could start fresh. Of course, it also meant we'd part ways. My time was running out, and I still hadn't decided whether I wanted to let Iktria go free, or if I'd rather make her a slave.

What? I already said I'm not charitable. Besides, I could already think of one mistress who would be very, very happy to buy her.

When the jungle got thick enough, I put that line of thought aside and gave Iktria the low-down. "This here's amazon territory," I told her.

"Amazon!" She must have heard all the rumors, because she looked almost ready to turn around.

"Don't you worry," I told her. "Haven't I always got a plan?"

"Yes, but-"

"Amazons never attack without a warning. When you see them, just tell them you've come for passage, and you won't take 'no' for an answer. I'll sneak around behind them and whip out a few magic tricks from this wizard's pack I got back at the mercenary camp. With any luck, they'll think we're gods."

Iktria took a deep breath. "Vessa, I've had enough of this. I'm not doing this anymore."

She was talking tough, but I knew it was just skin deep. "You got any bright ideas for getting past the amazons?"

She was silent.

"On the other side of this jungle is the Gold Kingdom. There, you can make a life, and no one'll find you unless you want to be found. But if you haven't noticed, there's nothing around here except jungle and rocky shore, so we have to get past these amazons, one way or another. Just get out in front, and we'll both get through safe. On my honor."

For some ungodly reason, those last three words actually seemed to calm her.

"Walk a good ways ahead of me," I told her. "I need to be able to sneak around when you see them."

Iktria did as she was told, and the sun was just starting to get low when I saw her stop and listen. She had done that a couple of times already, but this time I heard something too. I made myself scarce.

Iktria stood frozen as women came out of the brush: tall, burly, dark, dressed in beads and bones and carrying spears and axes. There were almost ten of them, but you wouldn't know it by listening, because they barely disturbed the leaves as they stepped over them. I was quickly realizing how hard that was, trying to pick my own way through the brush without making any noise. The goddess of fortune had my back for now. None of the amazons turned her head.

A leader stepped out in front of the other amazons. Right away, I got the sense she was a mother, because she moved in a way that was slow and patient the way mothers always are. She was also carrying a hoplite's shield, which I'll admit is less common, but amazons are strange like that.

The mother amazon spoke a greeting in the glades dialect. At least, I assume it was a greeting. I couldn't make hide nor tail of it, and Iktria didn't do any better.

I pulled open the wizard's pack and started putting together the things I would need to make Iktria look like a goddess. I decided I'd make her a love goddess, see what the amazons thought of that. It was one last trick I'd play on poor, sexy little Iktria.

The mother amazon tried to speak again, and this time she guessed the right language: "What brings a lone woman down the seabird's road?"

At first, Iktria was helpless with shock. I didn't fault her. The shortest of those amazons must have been six feet tall, at least. Iktria's eyebrows came up to level with the leader's collarbone.

The amazons waited for an answer. One of them tapped her spear on the ground, the first sign of impatience I'd seen from any of them. But it wouldn't be the last if I didn't hurry.

Finally, Iktria spoke up. "I would like... to trade my safe passage in exchange for the woman hiding in ambush behind you and to your right."

Ladies, I ain't ashamed to admit it: I damn near wet myself.

One of the amazons, a braided-haired beauty with copper bracelets, started poking around in my direction, and I knew she was bound to find me sooner or later. I ran.

The chase didn't last long. These legs of mine are as fleet as a fox's, but the amazon got me. She knew the terrain.

Who am I kidding—she'd have caught me anywhere. It was no contest.

She didn't even tie me up. After she wrestled me down, she just flung me over her shoulder like a sack of lentils, my face on her back, her firm grip on my rear, my feet dangling in front of her stomach. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, mind you, but I wasn't interested in seeing where this was going, so I reached for my sword. No such luck. My hands were pinned fast, and when she noticed what I was trying, she unbuckled my scabbard and took it away.

When the amazon hauled me back, Iktria wouldn't look at me. In fact, she wouldn't look at anything except the ground between her toes.

"You did well to do that," said the lead amazon. She put a powerful finger under Iktria's chin and oh-so-gently lifted her to look into her eyes. "For this, we give you more than safe passage. We give you honor due to a friend!"

That set the tone for the rest of the evening.

The amazons' village was a lot like other barbarian camps I've seen, but not quite the same. It was cleaner. It was better decorated, with bright woven rugs, charms of bones and spiderwebs of gems and metals, but all the decorations had the same squares-within-squares pattern for some reason. The huts were all on different levels and separate from each other, which probably symbolized something, but damned if I could be bothered to tell what. I was more concerned with whether the amazons were planning to cut me up and eat me, shoot me for sport, or just let me off with a scolding.

The stocks were a clue. They pushed me onto my face, locked my ankles in stocks, then pulled back my hands and locked my wrists into the same set of stocks. My body folded, and my rear stuck up in the air for all the gods and mortals to see. The braided-haired beauty, the one who'd nabbed me, came by and petted my head for a spell, the same way you'd stroke a cat behind the ears. Just when I was sensing a connection, she reached back and fondled me. She squeezed my left butt cheek, kneaded it, pulled it, pushed it back. I still had my pants on, but somehow that didn't make it any better.

When she was done, she brought her face down next to mine. "You know what we do to you, pretty half-girl?"

"I'm puttin' it together," I said. "Something along the lines of dinner and a show?"

"You are the songbird."

"I'll just take that as a complement."

"You should. Every warrior plies your body tonight. The one who makes you moan loudest, she keeps you. Your hair, a trophy. Your body, hers. You work for her. You lie on your back for her." She stuck her fingers in my mouth. Of course I wanted to bite her, just as a point of pride, but I ain't stupid. I let her have her way. "I will win you, pretty half-girl. Make you my cushion." She pulled out of my mouth and thrust her hips, just to make sure her point got across. "You sing much then. Goodbye for now."

The competition's going to start any minute now. I'd say I'm afraid, but since they stripped me down and spread my legs, you can see the wet spot on the wood beneath me, and you can see the drops drip, drip, dripping from my pussy. There's no sense in denying it—I'm all hot and spicy, thinking of what's to come. Normally, being dominated by women won't do that to me, but these amazons are more than normal women. I see Iktria talking with some of the smaller amazons. It looks like she'll be spectating. Seems she'll be an honorary amazon tonight.

When she looks at me, I see her frown at me, then turn away and look ashamed of herself. Evidently, I underestimated her; she has a backbone after all. With initiative like that, she'll never be anyone's slave. Not for very long, anyway.

I don't begrudge her what she's done. I'll get out of this fix soon enough, and I'll make it the rest of the way to the Gold Kingdom, where I'll get back to my old tricks.

As for Iktria... well, whether I meant to or not, I reckon I've taught her a valuable lesson in standing up for herself. And for that, she owes me a debt of gratitude.