Tender Mercies

Kelnozz found that he could actually grind his teeth in frustration now, though further movement seemed impossible. Lesbiche sank to her knees in front of him then, still fondling him. "Normally I prefer the love of a woman," she explained to him, "but tonight I'm in the mood for some dark meat."

Kelnozz may have been unable to move, but he could still feel. And what he felt was her mouth descending upon him. He groaned quietly and fought within himself to deny her any satisfaction. Fighting against her skills and talents proved even more difficult then fighting the spell that held him, however, and soon he found himself growing in her mouth. She looked up at him and smiled wickedly, redoubling her efforts.

However, the distraction served to distract Kelnozz from the spell imprisoning him. He realized all of a sudden that he was rapidly gaining more control of his movements. Moving carefully so as to not alert them, he had most of the control of his arms back, and even limited mobility of his legs. His rage turning cold, he waited a few more precious seconds for the spell to wear off.

Lesbiche was having more of an affect upon him then he realized as well. Knowing how close he was, she continued her assault upon him with her mouth. She raised her dagger high above her head in a two handed grip with the intent of thrusting it into Kelnozz's chest when he exploded in her.

A distraction caused Lesbiche to stop momentarily. Kelnozz quietly breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn't fully able to move yet but he had been very close to losing his heart. A full ten soldiers led in a bound Pompey and Nordan. Nordan was naked, captured in his sleep, while Pompey had slept in his armor and expected trouble. Both were without weapons, however.

"You should listened to me!" Pompey hissed to Nordan, upon seeing the scene before them.

"Welcome," Lesbiche said huskily. "I can't remember ever having so many to sacrifice to Bavorish, he will surely look upon me with favor. As well the people of Yolarch will lend me their support in getting over my son being murdered by three assassins claiming to be my friends."

Pompey fought against his bonds, murder clearly in his eyes. Nordan stood there, seemingly calm, but by his increased breathing and the look in his eyes, it was obvious murder was indeed on his mind, but not the type Lesbiche had spoken of.

"Bitch, I'll not rest until this town is razed and you have felt the tender mercies of a barbarian horde!" Nordan spat out finally.

"That would indeed make a grand sacrifice, but I think not, my tribal friend. No, instead I'll finish your dark elven friend here then your other companion. He is short, but I've heard men from Trillindad are well gifted. Finally, seeing how they faired, it will be your turn, I can already see that you will not disappoint me," she smiled as she looked straight at his revealed manhood. "I don't think you'll have quite the long spear your elf friend has, but it certainly looks to be a wide enough ram to tear down my gates."

With that in mind, she turned her attentions back to Kelnozz's still hard member. Kelnozz groaned as his torture was begun anew. This time, however, he was free of the spell and ready to move. Waiting for her to descend upon him, he dropped one sword and reached behind her head. He yanked her head into his crotch, forcing himself into her throat unexpectedly. Lesbiche's eyes flew open as she began to gag on him. He held her there for a moment, then pushed her away roughly.

Leaping up, Kelnozz left his breeches on the ground. Coming out of the distraction, one of the new guards rushed him. He rolled away as the guard swung his short sword at him, and came up with his dropped longsword in hand, allowing him to fight two handed again. Before the guard even turned around, Kelnozz had hamstrung him and turned to rush towards his friends.

Nordan gritted his teeth and roared as he flexed his muscles. The ropes securing his arms frayed and then burst under his great strength, allowing him to grab the guard nearest him and break his neck. He picked the guard up and threw him into another one coming towards him, giving him enough time to untie to rope around his feet.

Pompey continued to tear at his ropes, but was unable to do anything with them. He did, however, manage to use his plumed helm to advantage as he smashed it into the guard holding onto him. The guard stumbled back, momentarily senseless. Pompey took steps as long as the ropes would allow him and moved to Nordan's side.

Kelnozz heard some chanting and instinctively knew what was next. He dropped a sword again and pulled a dagger from his belt. Turning, he threw it, unsure of his target due to his haste. The dagger bit true, however, hitting Therius in the hand and interrupting his spell casting. Kelnozz grabbed up his longsword while using the other one to deflect a spear thrust at him from a guard. He used the reacquired longsword to run the guard through, then he was back on his feet and running towards the secret door.

Seeing Kelnozz meant to escape, Nordan grabbed Pompey and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Pompey's grunt told him he was fine, so Nordan ran to Kelnozz and ducked into the passage.

Kelnozz led them to the passage he suspected led out of the city, leaving a still retching Lesbiche behind with her guards. The tunnel did indeed lead out of the city, ending at a very large rock. Nordan finally put Pompey down and moved to the rock. Kelnozz cut Pompey's ropes and the warrior cursed under his breath as blood returned to his limbs. He glared at Nordan throughout.

Grunting in exertion, the stone finally rolled away from the cave opening enough for the three of them to slip through single file. Outside Nordan again put his shoulder to it and slowly sealed the secret tunnel off.

"You could have helped," He said, looking at his companions.

"I wanted to see if you could do it," Kelnozz said, already looking about and getting his bearings. "We're East of the city."

"Let's head east then," Nordan said, moving forward.

Pompey and Kelnozz looked to one another then, as one, shrugged and followed him. "Why east?" Pompey asked.

"I mean to make good on my threat," Nordan said. "My tribe hunts this land and lives nearby."

"Ha! That's why you came to us with no breeches!" Helmut said around a mouthful of venison. "And why you were naked without even a weapon!" This to Nordan. "A good story, I see why you wish this place ruined. Ah, to be young again."

"I will send runners to the other clans out in the morn. Eat, drink, and wench now, for tomorrow we may die!" Helmut said, echoing the barbarians code of life. "We will plunder this city in less then one moon."

Nordan drained his horn of ale and slammed the table in appreciation. "This will be a good fight, uncle!"

Pompey looked around and noticed Kelnozz had gotten up and moved off. He slipped away from the table and wandered off a bit looking for him. He found him sitting on a log at the edge of the barbarians camp site, staring into the clear night sky.

"Problems my friend?" Pompey asked, sitting beside him.

"No, I just wished for some respite from the feasting."

"Do you think we stand a chance?" Pompey asked after a moment of shared silence.

Kelnozz chuckled and turned to look at the shorter man. "I don't really know, but it will be a lot of fun."

Pompey watched Kelnozz get up and walk back to the party, wondering why he stuck around his friends with their warped sense of what they considered fun.

"I'd say we took them rather by surprise!" Pompey called out to Nordan as they ran through the streets of Yolarch towards the palace.

Nordan grunted agreement, looking about as they charged a group of guards defending the palace. Helmut ran beside him, a feral grin on his face as he relived his youth. A few other barbarians ran with them as well, screaming their battle cries as the battle was joined.

A small group of barbarians, including the three companions, had come forth at dawn and acted as common travelers intent upon entering the city. At the gate the 8 of them drew weapons and struck down the guards. For nearly 15 minutes they fought a vicious battle to hold the gatehouse, but it was a battle that they won. They lost 3 barbarians in that fight, but the rest of the horde hiding outside the range of the guards night vision had gained the gate before they were driven back.

With the gate captured, it took some time to secure a foothold in the city. Once that was theirs though, Yolarch was theirs for the taking. They raced through it, fighting pockets of soldiers throughout, but meeting little organized resistance. The palace was where the true fight would be, and both defender and attacker alike raced for it.

"What happened to the elf?" Nordan asked, hitting a defenders shield so hard with his hammer that both shield and the mans arm were broken.

"I don't know," Pompey said, leaving his spear imbedded in a defenders chest and pulling out his gladius. "He said something about meeting up with us at the palace."

Nordan grunted again and continued to pound away at the defenders. Their group was the first to reach the palace, before many of the city watch had even reached it. A few more minutes of fighting and a brief hole opened around them.

"Get inside, lad!" Helmut shouted, blocking a sword with his axe. "We'll hold them off, you two get in there and end this!"

Nordan looked about for a moment, hesitating. Pompey had no such qualms, however, and after grabbing his spear and ripping it free from the corpse that sheathed it, he grabbed Nordan's arm and tugged him toward the open doors of the palace. Nordan stumbled at first but quickly caught up, having been committed to a course of action.

They raced through the halls towards the Queens audience chamber, passing many terrified servants and scribes along the way. Finally they stood before the double doors of the audience chamber. It was barred shut. Growling, Nordan tried kicking it open, to no avail. He backed up and charged it, shoulder lowered. Pompey grimaced as there was a loud cracking noise when Nordan connected with it. The doors shuddered and seemed about to give, but in the end it was they that held and Nordan that picked himself off the floor.

"There must be another way in!" Pompey said, looking about frantically.

"Use this," Nordan said, pulling a stone statue of a beautiful girl across the floor.

Pompey nodded and together the picked up the heavy statue. Taking a practice swing first, they soon had the makeshift ram ready and it crashed into the doors, thudding loudly against them but causing no additional damage. They swung it again and again, but after 10 swings the doors had only warped a small amount more and Pompey was forced to drop the heavy ram.

"C'mon lads, we can take this down!" Helmut said, running up beside them.

Pompey and Nordan glanced at him, seeing the blood running from a gash on his forehead and another on his cheek. He sported some similar wounds on the rest of his body, but nothing was deep enough to be dangerous.

Nordan nodded and threw his shoulder into the door again. Helmut attacked the other door the same way and over their heavy breathing and straining the large bar prohibiting entry could be heard to be cracking. Pompey dropped his spear and jumped between the two barbarians, throwing his shoulder into it as well. While nowhere near as strong as the others, he was a long time soldier and had developed more then the average amount of muscle over the years.

With all three of them straining at it, the doors soon gave in, pushing in with a last groan of twisted wood. Pompey grabbed up his spear and thrust it into the neck of the first guard to rush them, allowing Helmut and Nordan to clear the doors enough for them all to advance and ready their weapons.

Pompey found himself set upon by a group of 3 soldiers, and Helmut was stopped from helping him by 4 others. Nordan charged Lesbiche, who sat upon her throne on a dais at the other end of the audience hall. On his way there one of her advisors made some hand motions towards Nordan and he gritted his teeth expecting a magical spell to hit home. When nothing happened he relaxed a bit.

Just then silky strands of magical spider webbing floated down about him, sticking to him and trapping him in their midst. Nordan howled in rage and tore at the webbing, finding it separated fairly easily under his strength, but he had a lot of it to get through still.

Therius stood nearby Lesbiche as well, and he once again began to invoke his spell of paralysis. Helmut had disabled one of his opponents and killed two already, so he was his first target. Triggering the spell, Therius was shocked to see Helmut completely unaffected by it. He figured it out when he saw a ring on the barbarians finger glowing briefly as it absorbed the magical powers of the spell.

Uncertain of what else it might absorb, he redirected his next spell towards Pompey. Pompey had just finished slaying two of his own opponents, and the third charged towards him with his sword raised. Pompey was raising his spear to block the sword when the spell hit him and froze him in place. The guard had been ready to avoid the block and skewer Pompey with his longsword. However, with Pompey frozen, the guard merely ended up crashing into the head of the spear prematurely.

Had Pompey been able to, he would have fallen to the floor laughing at the circumstances; himself held immobile while the guard stood transfixed upon the point of his spear, coughing up blood and dying rapidly. His hidden amusement turned to alarm when he saw the wizard upon the dais begin another spell towards Nordan.

Nordan had made it nearly halfway through the 20 feet of magical webbing when the spiraling ball of flame came floating rapidly towards him. Having fought wizards before, he knew he was in trouble and he turned and dove back the way he had came. The ball of fire hit the ground right in front of where he had been and exploded. Nordan felt himself thrown further from the blast, landing painfully on the ground. As well much of his body hair had been singed, but overall he was not hurt to badly. All of the webbing had been vaporized by the spell.

Helmet and Nordan advanced side by side, having nothing but a good 40 feet of open space between them and the dais. Lesbiche rose from her throne, letting her robe part in front to reveal her nakedness beneath. Her pet wizard beside her stepped closer and readied another spell. Therius was on her other side, and he called upon the dark powers of his God, preparing a spell that would surely suck the life from the barbarians.

"I applaud you on getting this close, but now you will die," Lesbiche said, apparently unfazed by the destruction done to her city. "Before you die, you will pay a thousand times for the interruptions you have caused me. You will beg for death long before I give it to you!"

"Therius, immobilize them!" She snapped.

She turned when her command was not immediately carried out. She saw Therius' mouth opening and shutting a few times before he finally said, "I... I can't..."

Snarling she hissed at him, "Why not?!"

"Because he's dead," Kelnozz said, stepping out of the shadows behind him and pushing the evil priest so that he lost his balance and fell to the floor. A dagger protruded from his back, sunk into the hilt.

"You!" Lesbiche hissed, seeing Kelnozz pulling one of his long swords out.

"You expected Prince Ragnar, perhaps?" The dark elf asked, smiling sarcastically.

"Did you come back to let me finish what I started?" She asked, still certain of her victory.

Kelnozz reached behind his back and untied the thong to a warhammer he had liberated from Lesbiche's armory from his weapon belt. It came free in his hand and he tossed it high in the air towards Nordan. "No, I came to see you destroyed once and for all!" He said, drawing his other sword finally.

Seeing the hammer coming towards him, Nordan took aim at the wizard, who had begun another spell, and threw. His aim was as true, and his hammer crashed into the wizards forearm and then side, knocking him to the ground and taking the breath from his lungs. Nordan then caught the hammer that Kelnozz had tossed to him from the sky before it reached the ground.

Lesbiche incanted her own spell and a glowing spectral mace appeared in her hand. She caught Kelnozz unaware with this and swung at him, nearly connecting. He figured the mace had some evil ability to it, so he determined he would do whatever was necessary to stay out of it's reach.

With Therius dead, Pompey suddenly found himself free to move again. He pulled his spear free from the dead guard and ran towards the dais, trying to get there in time. Nordan and Helmut moved closer as well, intent upon reaching it, but not wanting to interfere with Kelnozz's battle.

Kelnozz easily dodged away from the evil priestess' mace, and in return he used the flat of his blades on her, stinging and slapping whenever an opportunity presented itself. The rage and embarrassment of such treatment showed itself in her erratic attacks. Before long she lunged at him, overbalancing herself. Kelnozz spun around behind her and, with a laugh, delivered a solid kick to her backside. Lesbiche was launched off the dais and on to the floor in front of Nordan and Helmut.

The barbarians quickly secured her, making certain that she was bound and gagged so she could cast no more spells. Trussed up as she was, they tore off her robe and openly admired her naked form.

"You'll not get away so easily!"

They all spun to the mage's words, seeing him back on his feet and already beginning a new spell. With none of them close enough to stop him, they realized they were doomed. Fate intervened in the form of Pompey's thrown spear. It took the mage in the belly, doubling him over and relieving him of any bladder control problems.

"About time you helped out!" Kelnozz said, hopping down from the dais and grinning towards Pompey.

The elder warrior shook his head but couldn't help but grin back at the dark elf. They clasped hands and turned back to Lesbiche. "What shall we do with her?" Pompey asked.

Nordan and Helmut were already removing their breeches. "I'm going to keep my promise," Nordan said, maneuvering her into a position more to his liking.

Pompey shook his head and turned away. "You don't want to help punish her for her crimes?" Kelnozz asked, stepping beside him.

"No, it's not my way. I prefer my women willing," He said.

"Aye, me as well, what say we go and find some willing women once this silly ruckus is over?"

Pompey looked at the elf to see if he was serious. Seeing he was, he shook his head again and said, "You're crazy, Kelnozz!"

"I may be crazy," Kelnozz said, "but you're the one that keeps following me!"

Pompey stopped short as the elf's words hit him. Then he started laughing and hurried to catch up to his friend.

Chapter 2

The evening sun shone down warmly on the backs of the grazing herd of deer. Of the six deer, the buck in charge of his does caught an unfamiliar scent and looked up nervously. From his other side a reassuring hand lightly touched upon its coat, stroking it soothingly. At first startled, the buck did not instantly bolt. It regarded the tall black skinned elf that had managed to sneak into the midst of the herd and catch them unaware. Still uncertain, the deer again caught the strange scent, this time stronger and closer. It detected danger in the scent, causing it's ears to prick up and it to move nervously.

Kelnozz tried again to soothe the dear, but it was too nervous now. It grunted a warning to it's does and they all turned to run. The does ran away, but the buck took three steps before it's flight ended in a crash to the ground. The dark elven warrior sighed and slid his blade back into its scabbard. He walked over to the body of the slain deer and noticed the beautiful 8 point rack the severed head still boasted.