Tender Mercies

The cloud passed over and the waning moon shone down around them again. Clearly irritated again, Aquinar said, "Please, help me find some darker shadows."

Kelnozz took Aquinar's hand and led him deeper under a copse of trees that let none of the direct moonlight in. Aquinar leaned against a tree and breathed deeply to regain his composure.

"Washing up on the shore, I had nothing but what you see on me now. Recovering my health was easy, as I was still in Celos' good graces at that point. So then I set out to discover what it was that Celos had destined me for. What I found was not what I was expecting."

Taking a break to drink some water from a skin at his side, he wiped the sweat from his face before continuing. "There is an ancient ruined castle at the mouth of this valley. It lies to the west, and is the only way out of here save for scaling the peaks of the mountains. In my arrogance, I approached it, certain anything within could not stand up to my prowess.

Approaching the ruined gate, Aquinar surveyed the ruined battlements and escarpments of the castle. Once mighty and easily defended, now it could be taken by an army of children. Surely no match for him alone. He strode through the gate, wondering what brand of evil, if any, could dwell within.

As soon as he set foot within he could feel the evil surround him. Shaking it off and erecting a mental defense against the invasive foulness of the castle, he drew his sword and moved within the courtyard. Around his very eyes the castle shifted and blurred. When it cleared, he saw himself standing inside a very finely maintained and cared for fortress.

Knowing it to be false, he pushed himself onward through the bailey and towards the inner keep. A scream of terror pierced the air. Running now, Aquinar did not see the shapes detach from the shadows behind him and follow him into the manor house. He ran as if a man possessed, forgetting the illusion of the castle and instead focusing on the sound of a woman in need.

Bursting through a great set of double doors he found the source of the scream. Already dead was a small child, dogs tearing at her corpse. Likewise a man hung from a rope tied to a tall pillar about his wrists. He had been disemboweled, the last life in his eyes fading as he looked at Aquinar pleadingly. More wolves lapped up the blood at his feet and feasted upon his entrails.

A girl whimpered. Looking to her, Aquinar saw a beautiful young woman that had been stripped naked and tied to a table. She was murmuring, "Daddy," over and over as she stared at her father's remains.

Looking about the room, Aquinar saw a man sitting in a throne on a small dais. He stared back at Aquinar, grinning. Aquinar could sense the evil emanating from the man. Other then the feasting wolves, several people were arranged about the room. Men and woman in varying states of dress

Knowing himself outnumbered, in spite of his devotion, Aquinar acted before the unholy inhabitants could. Working quickly, he severed the ties on the girls wrists and legs. Kicking a wolf away that came at him, he picked the girl up and retreated towards the door he had entered through. Seeing several armed guards waiting down that hallway he set the girl down.

"Stay behind me!" Aquinar said before charging into the midst of the soldiers. Terrified to the point of madness, the woman numbly followed him.

Fighting furiously, Aquinar laid about him with skill worthy of the champion of Celos. His divine might flowing through the blade, each time a hit was scored on one of the evil minions it shrieked in pain and the wound hissed with the power of divine retribution.

Aquinar slew the last of the guards in short order. Looking about he saw reinforcements rushing from the throne room. Grabbing the hand of the frightened woman, he ran from the manor into the courtyard. In the bailey of the keep they stopped running, breathing heavily. The girl whimpered in fear again. Standing just inside of the gates was the lord of the castle.

"I know not what evil magic you have used, but stand clear of us or by the mite of Celos I shall strike you down!" Aquinar called out to him.

The man grinned again, a flaming sword appearing out of nothingness in his hand. "Come, champion of good, and let us see who is the stronger!" It said, it's voice clear and strong.

"Wait here," Aquinar told the girl, letting go her hand. He gripped his holy symbol in his now free hand and approached the man. "Celos shall see to it that I defeat you, fiend!"

Battle was joined. For a long moment the two sparred with each other, coming close to one another but never landing a blow. Aquinar backed off, breathing heavily, and noticed his opponent was unfazed by their exertions.

"Were is your God now?" It asked him, grinning widely. Nordan saw the sharpened points of his canines and knew that he faced a being that was not human.

"He is with me, foul one, and he shall see to it that I strike you down!" Aquinar answered, launching a fresh flurry of attacks.

A scream pierced through his battle haze. Glancing back, Aquinar saw the wolves circling around the girl. Diverted, one of the attacks his enemy launched breached his defenses and slipped in the crease of his armor at his left elbow, biting painfully into him. Grimacing in pain he returned his attention to the fight and fought on.

The girl kicked out at a wolf when it snapped at her, making it yelp in pain and jump back. She barely avoided another one that lunged at her from behind.

"What will you do, holy man? Save the girl or destroy me?" the man asked, stepping back and tossing his sword to the ground.

Glancing at the girl, he saw her on her feet still, but the wolves still gathered round her. Further back a crowd of people waited, watching the battle. Judging her safe a moment more, he turned back to his adversary.

"I shall destroy you!" Aquinar growled, lunging forward and plunging his sword deeply into the man's chest.

"And now where is your God?" The man said, laughing. His laughter grew more and more sinister, then he dissolved into mist and disappeared.

Shaken by what had taken place. Aquinar turned again when he heard another scream. Seeing the wolves lunging at her, he ran to her aid. Slicing the head off of one and kicking another away, he picked the girl up from where she'd collapsed on the ground and ran out the front of the keep. The remaining wolves and people chased him to the front gate, but once he was beyond it they stopped and howled angrily.

Aquinar carried the girl far from the evil castle before setting her down on a bed of pine needles. Taking some water he washed her wounds and roused her from her faint. She groaned painfully when she awoke. Nordan looked at her body, trying hard to ignore her womanly areas. Several bites on her legs and arms bled freely, as did some tears on her midsection.

"Why didn't you save me?" She asked quietly.

"You are safe, milady, I've slain the lord of the castle and we've escaped!" Aquinar said, trying to staunch the flow of blood from the more dangerous wounds on her.

"I so tired... am I, am I dying?" She asked slowly, her voice thick.

"No, you'll live, I will heal you," Aquinar said, struggling to channel the power that he wielded as a paladin into healing the young woman.

When nothing happened, Aquinar let out a strangled gasp. He tried again and again, demanding Celos to aid him. The girl passed out again from the loss of blood, and finally Aquinar was left with no choice. Stripping off his armor, he shredded his tunic with his dagger and tied the makeshift bandages around her.

He laid close to her that night, keeping her warm with his own body heat and trying to comfort her with a human touch. Throughout the night he was plagued with alternating worry and anger as to why Celos had abandoned him and refused his demands to heal the girl.

When she awoke before dawn the next day he was still holding her tightly and trying to figure out why he could not help her. She turned to face him, smiling still half asleep and nuzzling into him. Her hand crept down to his crotch, cupping his manhood in her hand. Snapping out of his reverie, Aquinar was about to tell her to stop when he realized she wasn't aware of what she was doing.

Nearing 30 years of age and of chastity, Aquinar inwardly groaned as he felt himself growing erect. Her hand cupped his erection better and gave it a faint squeeze every time his heart beat.

"I beg you, torment me no longer!" Aquinar gasped finally, unable to control himself. "I have taken a vow of chastity!"

The woman looked up at him and smiled. "You saved me, I want to show my appreciation to you," She pouted.

"A simple 'thank you' will suffice," He said, torn by his bodies desire and his vow.

"Thank you," She said, smiling again. "I'm so cold and so lonely, can't you please just hold me and comfort me?"

Aquinar struggled to find an excuse not to do so, but his chivalric vows prevented him from doing so as she had moved her hand off of his aching manhood. He nodded to her and she smiled. Turning about, she pressed her back into his chest and her butt into his groin to spoon with him.

Aquinar cursed his vow of chastity, for any sane man would be taking advantage of her at this point. He sighed and realized that was what made him so much better then any other man. That got him lost in thoughts of why Celos had abandoned him again the night before. So lost in thought was he that he didn't realize the steady pressure that the woman had been putting on his groin, very slowly and gradually grinding her ass into his cock.

By the time Aquinar realized what was happening, he was so far gone that he knew he had to get up and leave the girl for a few moments or he would be lost. He couldn't make himself get up though, sealing his fate. When the girls leg lifted ever so slightly and her hand slipped between her legs to fondle him through his breeches, his last resistance was shattered.

"After all these years of service, I deserve a reward!" He said, reaching around and fondling the girls breasts.

She moaned in his hands, pushing her ass back at him harder. Together they scrambled to lower his breeches, allowing his manhood to spring free. Wasting no time, Aquinar plunged himself into her soaked depths. He let out a long and deep moan at the feeling of having his cock buried inside of her. She pushed against him, forcing him in deeper, and Aquinar's 30 years of pent up sexual frustrations burst at that point. He grunted and unleashed a torrent of his seed inside of her.

She moaned at the feeling of being filled by the paladins hot cum. She tried thrusting her hips back at him more and more, making Aquinar slam his own against her. Staying hard after filling her, he let himself go and rode her for all he could. The position was awkward though, and the girl rolled over on her hands and knees. Anxious to be back within her, Aquinar knelt behind her quickly and got his first look at her quim. Engorged with blood, he could make out her clit just barely hanging through her spread lips. His cum ran down the inside of her thighs and marked the opening to her sex. Guiding his cock, he sank quickly into her depths again.

They fucked feverishly for several minutes, until Aquinar began to lose himself again. He closed his eyes and bucked against her with all he had. Unseen and unheard in front of him, the girl had began to growl deep in her throat like an animal. Grunting, Aquinar felt his balls tighten up again and another torrent of his cum burst free from him and flowed deeply inside of her clutching pussy. He fell forward, his arms landing beside her head as their hips continued to thrust against one another.

Aquinar knew the girl was climaxing as well, for the sound she was making as well as the way she convulsed around his cock. Then he felt a sharp pain in his arm. It caused the last few surges of his orgasm to explode violently, then he shuddered and collapsed on top of her. After a few second he regained his composure and pulled himself free of her, groaning in horror at what he had done.

His horror grew when he looked on the girl and saw that she had changed. A fine silver down covered her skin. She turned to look back at him and he saw that her face had begun to take on the shape and cast of a wolf. Numb, he looked at his arm and saw where she had bitten him deeply enough to draw blood. He stumbled backwards to his gear and drew his sword and pointed it at her.

"What's wrong, my champion?" She said, her voice sounding strange and guttural with the change she was undergoing. "This is what you let happen to me!"

"No! I... I had to slay the evil one, that's what I'm supposed to do!" He called out, confused. "Celos relies upon me to slay all that is evil! Including things such as you, vile trickster!"

Gaining certainty, Aquinar advanced on the she-wolf and raised his sword to deliver a killing stroke. She looked at him sadly for a moment, then ran off into the woods. Aquinar watched her flee from him, knowing he couldn't match her speed. He sat down after a moment, stunned by what had happened. His sword fell from nerveless fingers and he hung his head in his hands and began to weep.

"The change took me the next full moon," Aquinar finished, his voice flat. "Now every full moon I am forced to change and hunt like a wolf. On the nights surrounding the full moon, I can fight off the change, but it is hard and it took many years to learn how to control it."

He paused a moment thoughtfully before saying, "I've not aged a day either, to return to civilization and watch those around me grow old and die? Bah, better I find death alone myself."

Kelnozz listened to his story, withholding any judgment on him. "In the 20 years since then have you ever seen her again?"

Aquinar shook his head. "Nay, lad, I have not. Nor have I been able to regain Celos' blessing, though I strove so hard to do so in the beginning."

"I'm not one to offer advice on the Gods," Kelnozz said with a chuckle. "I've little use for them myself."

Sighing unhappily Aquinar said, "Aye, it seems I'm the same way these days."

"What say you get some payback then? I need to get out of here and it appears that castle is the only way to do it."

Aquinar looked at Kelnozz for a good long time before nodding his head and saying finally, "Though I think it death to do so, I am tired of living like this, I must reach an end of it, one way or another!"

"Then at first light, we march on the castle!" Kelnozz said.

Aquinar nodded, lost in thought. They returned to Kelnozz's fire and rested the few hours they had left before dawn came.

The afternoon sun shown down on the abandoned castle. Great holes in the walls and the rotted gates. They stepped in through the main gate and looked at the empty bailey. Kelnozz looked to Aquinar for guidance.

Shrugging, Aquinar said, "This is how I came before, but this time it looks the same still. Let us advance."

The two moved through the bailey and entered the main courtyard of the castle. An iron portcullis, rusty and pitted with age, squeaked loudly as it fell behind them, in the inner bailey gate. They turned to look at it, then turned back to face the hoard of things emerging from the ruined buildings.

An army of skeletons began to assemble itself around them. Advancing mindlessly, the undead were upon them before they had a chance to properly understand their situation. Kelnozz slashed at the horde of undead time and again, easily dispatching the mindless animations. Celos, after a few moments of uncertainty, also got into the battle, driving back anything that came at him.

"Follow me!" Celos cried out after several minutes had passed and their foes continued against them. Both warriors were wounded with small scratches in several places, but nothing slowed their movements save the growing concern of fatigue.

Forging a path through the skeletal horde, they made it to the manor house and slipped through the doorway. While no door remained to close, the skeletons did not pursue them inside, but instead began to return to the buildings they had emerged from.

"You okay?" Aquinar asked, breathing heavily. Kelnozz nodded after checking his minor scrapes and cuts.

Spending another moment catching their breath, they moved down the hallway, with Aquinar leading the way. Kelnozz kept checking behind them for pursuit, giving him little chance to react when the floor opened beneath Aquinar. Kelnozz managed to leap to the side and avoid the trap door in the floor, but Aquinar fell through.

Lunging to the pit in the floor, Kelnozz beat his fist on it angrily as it closed up. Examining the floor carefully, he could find no sign of the trap door. Even going so far as to walk over it, he could not find it. Scowling angrily, he looked about, trying to find a way to go down and find Aquinar. Seeing nothing readily, he moved down the hall cautiously.

Following the directions Aquinar had given him from his 20 year past visit, Kelnozz came to the doors to the throne room of the castle. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he swung his arm around a few times to make sure his healing side wound wouldn't interfere. Then he pushed open the doors and boldly walked in.

"Hello lover."

Aquinar picked himself up from the floor. He looked up and saw the chute he had slid down, then looked about until he saw the woman that had spoken. It was none other then the same girl he had failed to rescue twenty years past, looking exactly the same.

"What... why are you here?" He stammered, his mouth suddenly dry.

Pouting seductively, she walked towards him and said, "after you turned me away, where else could I go? Lord Thexx took me in and forgave me for trying to leave. He's been wonderful to me since then, even promising me that you'd return one day and that I could have you."

Aquinar forced his eyes off her nude body as she slinked towards him hungrily. He glanced about the room and saw a door on the far end of it, behind her. He looked back at her as she stopped in front of him and dropped to her hands and knees.

"What's wrong, don't you want me?" She pouted, arching her back so that her ass stuck in the air.

Aquinar was paralyzed. He felt stirrings within him that he'd only felt once before. A great pressure was building within him, he shook his head in denial, trying to clear his mind. The woman moved closer, brushing against his leg with her face. Then she turned away from him, letting him see her glistening and ready sex. She moaned and stuck herself even higher in the air.

"Come my hero, I'm ready for you, take me like you did before!" She was nearly panting she was so turned on.

The scent of her aroused pussy reached him, letting the beast within know that she was in heat. He growled deep in his throat, fighting with himself. His codpiece grew tight about him as his body began to betray him. Lurching to his feet, he stumbled behind her and sank to his knees, reaching for the straps on his armor.

Shoving his weapon belt aside, he glanced at his sword and saw the holy symbol carved into the hilt. It gave him pause and a moment of strength. Sensing his hesitation, the woman thrust back at him, rubbing herself against his armored crotch. Aquinar stared down at her, his senses enflamed with need.

"My Lord Celos, I have failed you time and again, but I beg of you to give me strength," he pleaded.

"Take me now, I need you!" She hissed at him, looking back over her shoulder at him.

Aquinar fought through the spell that her body had worked on him and gripped the hilt of his sword. A brief moment of hesitation in which he felt on the verge of madness followed. Then with a strangled gasp he drew his sword and plunged it deeply into the back of the seductress, pinning her to the floor.