Nigglings

They must have heard, and they must have looked, but I stepped back into the room and back away from certain discovery. My cock, almost pacified before, was throbbing painfully again and I could resist no longer. Unthinkingly, I followed the moaning and banging towards the kitchen. Lust maddened, I rubbed my dick with each step.

Jes' sudden, orgiastic howl made me jump. In the kitchens the couple groaned, and then I heard Miranda's shout: "Clothes."

I cannot tell you why I hurried as I did. Was it embarrassment – my unwillingness to lewdly linger all alone? Had I hoped to catch the lovers in their embrace? Maybe the Nigglings were on my mind? Or maybe I did not think at all and ran up the stairs driven by instinct? Or controlled by the strange magics of these forsaken forests?

Planned or not, I did see the creatures. Blue-furred flashes scurried down the walls and from the shadows. One was carrying my boot up to the rafters. Another looked at me, wide-eyed and curious like a Garnean washcat. A crashing sound rang out from behind the women's door, and the creature in front of me began to jump and screech. It pointed at my nakedness and seemed to mock me. Another bang, I looked away for a moment and they were gone.

I did not knock. Yet Jes did bid me to enter. My guard sat, broad-legged, on the edge of the bed, naked and smiling her catlike smile. Dew glistened on her lips and between her legs. Clothes had appeared all over the room.

"Boss."

"Jes."

Hidden behind her and cloaked under her blanket was Miranda. Sweat matted the golden hair and beet red coloured the top of her temples. I apologized and retreated, followed by Jes' laughter.

She caught up to me, still laughing, in the corridor. "Could've gone worse, eh?"

Rendered speechless, I accepted the bundle of clothes she thrust into my arms.

By unspoken agreement we hurried back to the common dorm. A soon as I closed the door behind us, I could hear the heavy steps of the nobles. Without thinking, I pressed my body against the hardwood slats. They, of course, did not try to enter. I sheepishly turned towards my bed.

Jes had lit the single candle. Its yellow flame mingled nicely with the silver and orange which crept through the gaps in the shutters.

Clothes still piled in my arms, I fell down on the straw mattress and closed my eyes.

"Tired?"

"Mhm," I mumbled, but I did reopen my heavy lids.

Jes again sat square-legged on her bed, and was sorting through her clothes and gear. She smiled when our eyes met. With a groan, I moved myself upright and checked boots and jacket. I murmured a prayer to Pallatina when I found my coins untouched.

"I don't think they'd care about money."

"Mhm." I dropped my shoes to the floor and threw the rest of my clothes in the direction of the side table.

"You're not hungry?" She stood, and placed hers, neatly folded, into the simple chest.

"You?"

"Not really."

"I suppose you have eaten..."

"That was below you." But she did smile.

"We could leave early tomorrow. Get a proper breakfast then. And it has been an – an interesting day."

She nodded, stretched and yawned.

"Jes?" I was already half asleep, but one persistent thought kept me awake.

"Boss?"

"Why did you say that it wouldn't work?"

She grunted.

"Back downstairs, you know, when the innkeep suggested..."

"'Cause it probably wouldn't have worked."

"No, I get that – but why not tell... Should I not have told him?"

"'S' fine."

"It's just – it would be more than that, right? It's who you are and not – not some question of mechanics."

She laughed. Loud and bitter. "First: They'd absolutely love an unwilling woman, sacrificing herself for them – that is old ritual, something they likely haven't tasted since we started building houses. Or so I'd hope."

"Oh."

"Also – just so we're clear – I have done much worse for much lesser reasons."

I had fallen silent.

"Secondly," she exhaled, "and since you asked directly: It's not just girls. I like boys just fine, but I figured you knowing might cause issues. And so I", she paused again, "so I may have slightly misled you."

"I gather you have made bad experiences?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

"But. But! Hold up..." Thoughts and words tumbled, and step by step I caught up with her telltale smirk. "Then why wouldn't it work? The innkeep said there is power in...," I stopped myself. "To personal?"

"'S fine. And I said probably. Maybe there was enough tension for a proper release. But if I was an ancient spirit, I'd be bored by our story."

"Story?"

"If that. You know: We like each other, lust after each other, and then we fuck."

"I..."

"See – boring." She shrugged. "Then again, maybe moving the end to the middle and letting us deal with the awkwardness would've been just the thing."

"What?"

"I am going to fuck you after our contract is done. Did you think I was teasing you for fun?"

"Yes?"

She laughed. "True. But I also want you."

I stood, grabbed a pillow, and screamed muffled curses into the grimy void.

"Boss? What are you doing?"

"I don't know", I admitted. I was naked in the middle of the room, pants in one hand and straw pillow in the other, but unable to do anything. "I think I need to go clear my head. Or something. Get dressed, maybe."

"Or we could fuck." She swaggered close. Dangerously so.

"But our trip won't be done for..."

"Shut up." She kissed me.

Her lips tasted like wintersweet. Like the sun on the day of our first meeting. I kissed her. From boonberry lips and intermingled tongues I drew her love, but she, gently, pushed me away.

"No kissing." The red on her cheeks looked irresistible in the candle-yellowed twilight. She was looking down to the floor even as her hands explored along my arms and down my chest. She said something I could not make out. Then louder: "No kissing."

"Shame." For once, I felt bold and certain. "I have quite the skilled tongue."

"I should punch you." There was fire in her eyes. I dared to smirk. She instead grabbed my cock.

"Not on the lips", she had scared away heavily-armed brigands with that very voice. "We are not married and not in love and I don't want u – want you getting ideas."

I groaned. "Fine."

"Good. Now show me what that tongue of yours can do."

As she pulled me towards my bed I kissed her neck; she moaned as I travelled down her body and as we fell down on the mattress. I lingered in the valley between her breasts, but she seized my hand and forced it downwards.

My probing fingertips found her, hot and yielding and sopping wet. She moaned with each touch and bucked against me. "Better than..." she whispered and pushed my head down.

There were subtle rises. Crisscrossing needlework, and scars, and goosebumps. Each increment, each lick made her shudder. And she rewarded every inch of conquered skin with gentle caresses. The kinks in my hair. My temple and my ears. Her fingers on my tongue.

Stubbly hair and fresh salt. I may have imagined the conewood. Wet, hot need – overflowing. Her moans were ragged, and I licked with greed. I found her pearl and she lost control. Writhing, screaming and scratching, she suffered my cruel mercy.

"So close!" But I lingered; kept her chained to the edge.

"Fuck this." She broke free and threw me down. Supine, with her hands pressing down on my shoulders and with her grinding us ever closer to relief, I moaned – no screamed. Above me, she was smiling. Her opened, ruby lips were oh so close. A shudder. Sweat on her brow, need in her eyes and her flicking, licking, rolling tongue.

She moved closer, then. Our lips almost touched. I tasted Helgelandian pitch and saw her – saw our longing. She threw back her head; quick and wild.

"Jes, I..."

"Mhmmmm – yes! YES!"

Her skin was flame when she captured my hands with necessary roughness. She made me feel the heavyness of her tits and the weight of her being. A shudder overtook her. I turned her around; gripped her legs and pumped into her slackening body. Grunting like a beast, I claimed her.

She pleaded. She commanded. She mumbled and she screamed. "Faster." "Slower." "Cum for me." And she spat out untranslatable insults.

I was close when she grabbed my head. Her caresses were rough and her smile hungry.

"Better than expected." Her other hand was on my ass, my thigh and on her own pussy. No longer could I resist; I yielded to satisfaction.

"Th – anks." She was still panting.

"Wel– come." As was I.

She embraced me and pulled me down. I remember her warm breath. I remember her warm body and her breasts pressed against my back, but come morning I awoke alone.

Down in the taproom, I found her plate empty and her seat deserted. The grinning innkeep told me she had paid already, and gone outside. Noticing my wild eyes, he clarified: "She's waiting outside."

He managed to serve some acceptable eggs and water-down ale without cracking more than five extremely crude jokes. "May all your nights be short, Master Mehym," he said when he cleared away the plates.

"May you one day rival your wife in smarts."

We shook hands.

Jes had never ever offered to help with the wagon or cared for Burr, my wirry. This morning, however, she awaited me on the box, reins in hand.

"Good morning."

"Morning." She cracked the whip and the animal began to move.

Grabbing hold of a handle, I scrambled to her side. "So," I gasped for air, "about last night."

"Yes?" She moved her head towards mine.

"I just wanted to say I enjoyed it, and I," I paused. Our lips were touching, almost, and she was smiling.

"Where are we going?" asked a voice from behind us.

"Fucking Chains!" Jes twitched away.

Rustling, then Miranda's head appeared from inside the canvas roof. My – Jes and I looked at each other.

"Far away."

"And fast."