Taking Flight

It was before dawn, but Niox was already stirring. The warriors' natural rhythm pulling her out of her peaceful repose. Even so, she found herself hesitating to get up. She lay there instead, drinking in the curve of Vira's parted lips and enjoying the feeling of the other woman's naked body against her own.

The giant four-point hammock the two women shared ensured the they were always comfortably close while asleep, but it certainly also made getting up a trial. Trapped by the comfy, the redheaded fighter found herself reminiscing.

So much of her life had become protecting the slumbering cleric currently nestled in the crook of her arm. In fact, Vira was her sole focus at this point. Her unending devotion to the priestess of Buvhan was the least she could offer after having her life pulled back from the abyss by the brilliant healer. That Vira had looked on this expression of loyalty as Niox proposing still surprised her.

She rolled over and her lover's face slid down to press into her naked back. An arm snaked under hers as Vira snuggled closer, the cleric's large bust squishing against her shoulder blades as fingertips played over her abs. The feeling of the other woman's breath flowing over her skin had her heating up and she sighed with resignation. She knew the day was going to be hard and that she should go for a run to get ready, but also knew Vira was going to make getting up a challenge.

As she moved to swing her legs out of the hammock, Vira's arm wrapped around her shoulder and behind her neck. A leg snaked over her hips. "S'not time to get up yet. Stay in bed, Ni."

"I should not have taught you that hold, my lady."

"It's the only way to keep you in bed sometimes."

"You know I always get up at this time."

"Yeah and I hate it," Vira kissed her neck, then began to nibble. "You got up early every day we were off to work out. Make it up to me and stay here for a little bit."

Niox stifled a moan and pulled away as best she could, though she did not really try. "No, I must go warm up. I am on the sortie today, as are you, and need to be ready if we face combat."

"Oh, if that is the case, we should both warm up together." Vira leveraged herself up onto her lover's stomach, taking the blanket with her. Her short, dark hair fell in curtains around her face, highlighting her sun-kissed skin tone. Her naked breasts swung back and forth between her arms as the hammock stabilized. "I can think of no better way than this."

Biting her lip, Niox dragged her fingers up her lover's well muscled arms and shoulders. The cleric sighed and closed her eyes as she relaxed into the caress. Niox cupped her jaw and got lost in the cleric's mossy green eyes as she opened them. "You're right, I could go for this as a warm up."

"I'm sure." Vira giggled as she leaned down to nibble at Niox's neck, her crotch already starting to rock. Her hips slid backwards as the warrior pulled her into a fierce kiss. Lips were bitten. Tongues caressed one another. Their gasps mingled into a soft harmony. Some awkward shifting got their legs past each other and sexes together. Both moaned at the contact of warm skin and soft hair.

Niox grinned as Vira lifted her leg over her shoulder. "Look at you, the little emerald is taking charge."

"What can I say?" She began to grind against the warrior. "I've learned from the best."

Tongue pressed into lip, Niox tried to lie back and enjoy the attention. Fingers dug into her leg as each ground harder into the other. In hastening circles, they slid past each other, edging closer to climax. Sensing that the cleric was close to the peak, and unable to continue relaxing, Niox thrust up to skip across the orbit. She ran her clit up between labia to flick Vira's own. The smaller woman gasped and gripped the warrior's leg tight as a shuddering spasm rolled down her body.

"No matter how many time we do this, that is never not going to feel amazing." Vira said between gasps as she traced a circle on the inside of Niox's thigh.

"Oh no, you started this, Emerald mine, and you aren't just going to get away with a little contact. You take responsibility and warm me up properly."

"Yes, Captain," she said with a grin. "Of course, Captain."

She tried again to just let things happen, to let the sensations wash over her. Vira started by nuzzling her heel. With small nibbles, the cleric moved her attentions down Niox's leg. She could not hold back her moans as Vira's lips lingered on the her curve of calf and the back of her knee. Loving hands caressed her scars from brawls long since won. Eager fingers dug into her thick muscular thighs. Her ass was gripped firmly as kisses were planted all over her stomach. She arched into the attention, fingers pushing down on her lover's neck as the kisses moved agonizingly slowly towards her sex.

It all stopped suddenly. She glanced down. Vira's face was above her sex. The cleric grinned and bit her lip before kissing her button.

The feeling as her partner's lips brushed her button caused the warrior to buck up. Vira seemed to anticipate that, slipping her tongue between her lover's walls and holding her hips up to her face. Dragging the muscle up, she cupped clit and gently pressed her teeth down. Moving slowly, she rubbed against hood and then dragged back along the short length. She pinched the end and pulled back before starting the whole affair over again a little bit faster.

Niox found her fingers tangled in her lover's dark hair as she began to feel her own climax rising. "Oh Em, that's...mmm."

Vira did not respond to the warrior's exclamation outside of sliding tongue around either side of her clit.

There was a knock on the cross piece of their tent.

"In a...in a minute! AH!" Niox pulled Vira against her as orgasm made her buck. One such thrust was a little too high and the hammock unhooked on one corner, dropping both women on the floor of their tent.

-*-

With the blanket tied around her significant bust, Vira answered the door. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

The soldier looked past her at first, as if he expected someone taller. He blushed and jumped, no doubt because Niox had gotten to her feet. In his haste to avert his eyes, he looked right into her deep cleavage. Blushing even more, he turned to look at the sun rising on the horizon. "Madam Virasviel, command wants to patrol early today and anticipates resistance. You and the Captain are part of the vanguard. She is in command. Orders are suit up and be ready to move in one hour."

"Understood, we shall assemble at the North Checkpoint.."

When Vira turned to convey what had been said, Niox had already pulled tights out of her trunk and was slipping into them. The stretchy material clung to the warrior's well-toned butt as she bent to adjust the cuffs. Vira bit her lip in spite of herself. To say their relationship was purely physical would be doing it a disservice, but touching and appreciating the other's body was admittedly a growing part of their bond and Vira was still very much in the mood after being interrupted.

Dropping the door to their tent closed, she crossed the space to embrace her lover within the blanket.

"My lady, we need to get ready."

With a sigh she stood back and began to gather her own gear. "I just wanted to let you know I'm here for you, Ni. Also, again, stop calling me that. We're equals."

"I know, Em, it is hard habit to break."

The warrior, with her crimson hair and foul mouth, had been a huge force in Vira's life. Niox and her squad had been assigned to protect her when she joined the battalion five years ago as part of her pilgrimage. A pilgrimage long since over.

Thinking about it as she pulled a tunic over her head, Vira realized with a start that the only reason she had remained on the front lines was to be with Niox. She could have returned to the relative safety of the temple. Yet, she continued to fight alongside her. She knew just when her other half was injured or in trouble. She could respond to those threats. Knowing that gave her a peace of mind she would not have back in the capital.

Beyond that, just the thought of being separated from Niox now, after all this time, was almost painful. Even if she wanted to return to the temple, it would make Niox choose between her duty and her devotion. Forcing that would be cruel and betrayal on par with a knife in the back.

"Do you think we'll encounter heavy opposition?"

Niox pulled a strap tight on her scaled greave. "I expect it. The Hillxian and their allies are itching to push us back before we can retake Greldyne. They know our alliance with Jethloth is confirmed so our southern flank is no longer at risk."

Their initial deployment had been against the southern Elves and Vira found herself reminiscing. She had never seen a woman so muscular before, nor one so battle hardened. Vira blushed as she recalled all the nights she fell asleep thinking of the fighter's body, wishing they were laying together.

Despite her fantasies, Niox had been very intimidating in those first few months. Her silent confidence was inspiring as the whispered voice of Buvhan. Her command on the battlefield was masterful. The way she fought with her tower shield and spear was an art form.

And yet, Niox never left her behind either. Never belittled her as she trained with the squad. As Vira grew in skill and faith, she began to execute battle plans around the cleric's spells, demonstrating respect in a way no words could convey.

It was that respect that saw them safely through so many battles. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the unit had survived the siege of Agathar. They had been in the vanguard of the assault on Fulduin. They was integral to routing the Pain Cult of Hilluk that had taken Datharin.

Close as they were however, they were just comrades then. A divine weapon protected by twelve bodies encased in steel bolstered by faith. She had never once told Niox her feelings.

"Ni, do you think the Grevarian Sect will take the field?" Vira asked as she clipped the hardened leather vest into place. "I am not certain I will be able to stop them if they do."

"They were seen to the two hundred miles North two weeks ago, even they have limits to their travel speed." Niox clamped the buckles on her breastplate closed, the metal devices clanging loudly one by one, like the strike of a hammer on an anvil. "Though I wish they were here to pay them back for Greldyne."

The fall of Greldyne had been eight months ago. Once the eastern most city of the Republic, it was taken by Hillxian forces in the night. As aid rushed to the city, Niox, Vira, and the others were separated from the main force by arcane fog.

Per orders, the unit had hidden her as they scouted for an escape route. Huddled in a cave, she could only cower as, one by one, their lives flickered out in her mind. When she felt Niox go down, she found herself running to the guttering flame. Her hammer had never moved faster, her light had never burned brighter, but her valiant rescue took its toll. The accursed fog had been draining away her power since it rolled in. By time she could safely try to heal Niox, there was nothing left.

She could feel Niox's life in her hands as her pulse faded and rain poured down over them. She could not hear Buvhan through the magical haze. Without power, the words of her art would not form. She was doomed to watch the woman she loved die in her arms. That their first embrace was such a macabre situation tore at her.

A soldier to the end, Niox looked up at her not with fear, but with grim determination. Even as she bled out, the fighter had faith her cleric would live on.

'Escape,' she had said. 'The main force is just over that ridge and I can die with honor knowing I got you out safely.'

Tears mingling with rain, a power blossomed in her. A kiss on the fighter's chest miraculously healed her, pulling her back from the brink and leaving behind a shimmering burn.

Before she could confess her feelings, Niox pledged, on the bodies of the fallen, that her life belonged to the cleric then, that she would follow her to the ends of the earth. To Vira, it was a proposal, one that she was glad to accept as she let her emotions flow out as well.

Ever since then, the pair had been inseparable. In briefings their hands found each other. As Niox trained through her recovery, Vira was never far away as she communed with Buvhan, if she was not herself training. At first, they had been sneered at. Called terrible names. Command did everything they could to keep them from returning to active duty.

Eventually it was impossible to justify keeping the duo was back. They were fighting fit by all accounts. They were like a force of nature in their first battle. With spell and steel working in tandem, not even masters of the arcane arts or a numbers advantage could stand against them. It became increasingly hard to argue with the fact that the Hammer of Buvhan and Spear of Malduin were a unbreakable combo.

Now, they were the ones sent on missions with the greatest risk.

Vira pulled on her heavy gloves, the leather creaking as she flexed her hands to once more compress the padding that protected her hands from the impact of her chosen weapon. "I believe you, Ni. I will make sure nothing like that will ever happen again, so long as I draw breath."

At arms, the duo kissed once more before heading out to join the patrol.

-*-

"Raise shields!" Niox felt the ambush before it happened. They had ended up in the canyon some ways back and it was only the stutter of loose stones over the past hour that gave her any hint that the enemy was near. Dropping to a crouch, she dug her shield into the soft earth and prepared for the worst.

Seconds after had she sunk her shield into the ground and ducked behind it, the sound of arrows hitting studded wood echoed through the troop as the first wave crashed over them. She hooked the soldier at her left shoulder and pulled him behind the man-sized defensive armament just as an arrow blossomed out of his shoulder and he dropped to his back.

The sounds of divine magic filled the choke point as Vira finished casting her spell. An emerald light flickered and then coalesced, deflecting the next attack and giving the troop a chance to form up. With Niox's tower as the spine, shields maneuvered to create a shell of wood, leather, and metal around the cleric and their own archers.

The mystical shield shattered like glass as the third volley began to to crash against it. Vira went to her knees from the shock, but leveraged herself back up with help from her sledge and began to chant another prayer. Arrows were slipping through the cracks. Men and women were going down all around.

Niox was stuck a glancing blow in the leg, but she grit her teeth and remained in position. It was her shoulders that were keeping the bulk of the protection in place, if she crumbled then most of the troop would likely be slaughtered. The thought set off flashbacks of her squad being wiped out. The feeling of blades piercing her body and the feeling of her life bleeding away had the warrior shuddering.

As if she could sense her distress, Vira's voice raised in cadence as she held her palms up to the sky. There was a chime, a sound like a small gong being struck. When she opened her eyes, they blazed green with power in way they had not before. The cleric stalked out the hasty fortification alone, her hammer held low on her left. As arrows rained towards her, an outstretched palm deflected them. A quick squatting jump sent her flying to the top of the canyon. The sound of hammer crunching armor was audible even twenty feet below.

There was not a fifth volley.

Several tense moments passed before Vira reappeared at the cliff's edge. She signaled that the coast was clear and called down that the canyon rose to the plain a short distance ahead. Niox got the survivors, surprisingly more than three-fourths of the force, on their feet and herded them towards safety.

Waiting on the plain was not just Vira, but the goddess Buvhan herself. The half-snake deity appeared sized the same as her cleric. Her tail coiled into a heap that put them at equal heights. Despite that, something about her presence was massive, as if she towered over everything. On top of hearing Vira defeat at least seven enemies on her own, it underscored just how small the warrior was.

Her blue-black hair formed a swooping crown held in place by a number of lacquered sticks and shimmering pins. Conversely, her body was simply adorned. A strip of cloth was tied over her modest chest and a simple sash, adorned with coins, draped around her hips to create a visible divide between her human and snake halves. Her scales shimmered with each movement, their edges catching the midday light like hundreds of little diamonds.

As the Goddess of Horizons, Buvhan embodied many things, foremost being the promise the war would end. Her optimistic influence gave lift to the idea that eventually her mad sibling Hilluk and his allies would be defeated and peace would return to a land torn apart for three generations. Right at the moment, she only embodied the possibility that Vira would go somewhere Niox could not follow.

Watching the inhumanly beautiful woman talk to Vira with such familiarly was like another arrow strike as it confirmed a fear that had always hovered at the edge of her mind. That they would never really be together. Regardless of how close the two of them were physically, even emotionally, no amount of devotion or loyalty could bridge the fact that the pair lived in different worlds. Niox was sure now that Buvhan resided in Vira's heart and soul in a way no mortal ever could.

As if confirming that feeling, the goddess kissed Vira. First on the forehead then pulling her into a passionate embrace. Coils began to wrap around the cleric as the snake goddess began to chant. In a moment Vira had vanished within the iridescent grasp. Green light shone from within the grasp of her tail, growing brighter until the warrior had to look away.

When she looked back, Buvhan was gone and Vira was changed. Even discounting the glowing green wings, the cleric was a sight to behold. She was easily two feet taller than before and bigger everywhere from head to toe. Her black locks had lengthened and now faded to brilliant green. Her eyes flashed with emerald light as she opened them. Two rings of emerald light danced around her upper arm.

Vira raised her left arm in invitation. Niox took it, her hand small in the cleric's grasp. Looking up felt weird. Normally taller than anyone else, the fighter was at a loss on how to deal with being able to rest her head against another person's shoulder. Met with the scent leather mingled with the lilac that Vira filled her trunk with with, she relaxed into the embrace.

The cleric's body was warmer than usual and Niox felt herself drifting off. As she slipped into sleep, she was hit by images of the gods standing around, arguing. The dream faded into battle and the ferocity of generations being at war washed over her. In that moment, as she tumbled in memories that felt like dark, churning waters. In that darkness, she could feel something moving. Something sinister.

There was a flash of teeth and she screamed. Forcing herself away from Vira, her eyes wide, the warrior fled. She collapsed to her knees behind a boulder and retched in way she had not since her first kill. A warm hand came to rest on her shoulder, but the sinister feeling returned and she slapped Vira's hand away.

"Attend to the wounded," she said, looking out over the field instead of at Vira. "Then we move. We need to report back that the enemy lines are already half a days march from camp."

Without waiting for a response she stalked off, calling a half dozen soldiers to her to make sure another ambush was not lying in wait. She could feel glowing eyes watching her, but refused to look at what her beloved had become. The cleric was something more than human now, something dark and tainted by this war of gods and Niox would have no part of it.