The Bearded Rose

The half-dwarrow named Grail was sitting alone in relative silence in the common room of the Inn of the Five Stones in the halfling village of Boggy Bottom, contemplating how the perfection of a full tankard of ale was, at best, a transitory thing, when a woman's voice distracted him from his musings.

"Hey Grail - are you busy? I need your help with something!"

Grail smiled as he looked up; he had recognized the voice as belonging to his companion Teldrine Crossblades, a warrior woman of Blackmoor. She was one of the companions Grail had accompanied to Boggy Bottom, just north of the Dragon Hills.

They had been hired by a certain merchant named Balthazar, a dwarrow arcane master who operated from Blackmoor. Although his merchant caravans went all throughout the Duchy of Blackmoor and beyond, Balthazar was originally from the Grand Empire to the south by way of the Regent of the Mines, and had a fondness for the halflings of Boggy Bottom, who had been established as an agricultural community to provide food to the miners and workers of the dwarrow enclave decades ago. As a merchant, Balthazar had agents in every village, and when word had reached him of a sharp rise in attacks by skeletons, zombies, and ghouls, he had sought the assistance of the Blackmoorian Temple of Aselon, Lord of Light, to assemble a team to root out the necromantic evil in the area. The Temple of Aselon had agreed, and had assigned Brother Valen Lightbringer to investigate, and Grail, a newly-minted paladin sworn to the service of Aselon, as Valen's bodyguard.

Balthasar's team had included others - Balthasar's apprentice, a student of the arcane named Serinda, a half-orc of shady talent and disposition, an elvin archer from Maus whose name Grail could almost pronounce, and the warrior woman Teldrine. They had traveled together to Boggy Bottom, and set off into the Dragon Hills. A band of ambushing Kobolds, attacking skeletons, and moldering zombies later, they found the crypt of the necromancer, a halfling cursed after his death as a wight.

Brother Valen had invoked Aselon's Light, and banished the darkness of the crypt, but the battle had been fierce. Grail and the others had fought the undead defending the necromancer while Teldrine and Brother Valen had attacked the necromancer himself. They had triumphed, but not before the wight had struck both Brother Valen and Teldrine, draining a portion of their life essence, bolstering his own power. Grail had used his own modest healing abilities granted him by Aselon, and the group had returned to Boggy Bottom for some much-needed recuperation.

Grail drained the last of his ale from his tankard, and stood. "I stand ready, Teldrine. What can I do to help you?"

"Can we discuss it in a more private place?" she asked. Her voice betrayed a certain nervousness.

"Lead on, milady - I am at your service," Grail responded with a polite bow.

Teldrine nodded, and led him up the stairs to where they all had engaged sleeping rooms. Both of them clanked as they ascended; Grail rarely went anywhere without wearing his boiled leather cuirass studded with bronze scales, and Teldrine likewise was rarely without her set of splint armor. Both their professions were violent, although Grail's was of a more defensive nature, but both of them were aware that threats rarely gave enough warning for them to don their armor and weapons. Checking to make sure the sleeping room was clear of her sleeping companion (she and Serinda shared sleeping quarters, being the only two women, and rooms at the inn being limited in availability), she ushered him in and shut the door, throwing the bolt so that they would be afforded a small measure of privacy.

"Thank you for coming, Grail," Teldrine began, leaning back against the door. Grail stood by the two beds, his back to the sole window.

"I am happy to help, Teldrine..." Grail began, but Teldriira interrupted him.

"Call me Teldri, Grail. I am not generally formal with people who I fight alongside." Teldrine smiled, and brushed her long, raven-colored hair back from her face and over her shoulders. Grail nodded, waiting for her to explain.

"I was hoping that you might look at the spot where that foul creature touched me," she began, starting to unbuckle her armor. "Since the crypt, I have felt... tired and listless."

She set her armor - first the pauldrons, then the hauberk of steel and leather, on her bed. "I am hoping that you might see if perhaps you might have missed some of the darkness when you healed me before... I don't know how such things work, but perhaps because you touched me through the armor, a pocket of darkness remained?" She stripped off her padded cotton gambeson, leaving her clad in only a linen undergarment.

"I am not as experienced as some in Aselon's service, so I suppose anything is possible," Grail said, trying to ignore the fact that a tall, well-muscled woman was clad in only in a shift, which clung... interestingly... to her body. Teldrine was pretty (even if she didn't have a beard), for a human, with strong features and lovely brown eyes.

"Show me where it hurts?" Grail asked. Teldrine took his hand in hers, opening it so that his fingers were splayed, and moved it to her left breast. She closed her eyes.

"Here..." she said, her voice low and husky. She held his palm against her body, and slowly moved it in a circle, pressing her body against his hand. "...and here." Grail could feel her erect nipple though the material, and tried to focus. Grail moved his lips in silent prayer, asking Aselon to grant him access to the power of His healing Light. A small white nimbus surrounded the hand upon her breast, and he could feel the Light pass from his hand into her body. She moaned with pleasure.

"I could use some more... here... she said, opening her eyes, an impish smile forming on her lips. She shifted his palm once more across her left breast before transferring it to her right. Once more Grail prayed, although not to Aselon. He was leery of making assumptions; he didn't see how such a woman - pretty, talented, and decidedly lethal - could want Grail as a bed partner.

Granted, Grail was in fine shape. Taller than a dwarf, yet shorter than most humans, he stood at the perfect height to appreciate the not-quite-hidden charms of his Amazonian companion, who was herself near six feet in height. His martial exercises kept is well-muscled form in tune, and his forearms and wrists were thick from his hours of axe practice. His body was covered with the scars of the hazard of his profession, including one from a goblin blade that had barely missed removing an eye, and had instead laid open his cheek from brow to jawline.

"May the blessing of Aselon be upon you..." he mumbled. leaning forwards, not quite sure as to whether or not do take any further action.

Teldrine saw him hesitate, and released his hand, wrapping both of her hands around his head and slowly pulling him forward. "Does not Aselon's blessings usually come with a kiss?" she said with a giggle as she bought his face forward to her breasts.

Grail was not the sharpest axe in the woodpile, but even he could take that hint. He kissed her breast through the linen material, softly caressing her with hands and lips. He was encouraged by the catch of her breath and her soft moans. Gently, and then with her delight evident, more firmly, he bit the skin around her nipples, rubbing and pinching the one not engaged by his mouth.

Her expressions of pleasure became louder as he played progressively harder with her nipples and breasts, until he was afraid of biting any harder. He was vaguely aware that she had released his head and was slowly gathering her shift to her hands, raising the hem of the flimsy garment until it reached her hips, exposing her thighs and the dark junction of hair between.

Grinning, Grail sank to his knees, and smiled as Teldri spread her knees a little wider to ease his access.

"More blessings?" she teased.

"More blessings" he confirmed, kissing the top of her pubic mound.

Grail thought perhaps he was over-dressed, what with him still wearing his armor and all, but he was unwilling to stop what he was doing for fear that Teldri might come to her senses. He kissed his way down to her bearded rose, and kissed his way to her labia. His hands sought her ass, and he began to kiss and lightly probe his way through her pubic hairs, questing to find the source of that enticing scent that meant her arousal. he took his time, teasing with his tongue, sucking her labia into his mouth, running his tongue over her delicate flesh. She tasted of sweat and honey, the scent and the taste exciting him greatly. As he explored, he could feel her shiver in response to some things and not to others, and so he focused on the things he was doing that got the best response.

Teldri both relaxed and felt a certain tension grow within her. She had been hoping to convince Grail to... take an interest in her. She could not abide crudeness nor stupidity, something that ordinary males in her line of work possessed in abundance. She was often accused of being cold and heartless by those who expressed a carnal interest in her; it was safer than encouraging unwanted attention. She had been impressed by Grail, even though he was somewhat short for an ideal lover; on the road he had been only slightly taciturn and reserved, which was downright cheerful for those of dwarven blood. He was considerate and diligent, and seemed to possess an inner core of gentleness and kindness rare in those practiced in the ways of warfare. She had watched as he had gone among the halflings of Boggy Bottom before they had ranged into the Dragon Hills, healing some of the injured civilians. She didn't care about his scars, or his mixed blood. When he had, without being asked, healed her from the touch of the wight, she had thought perhaps it might be interesting to have him touch her in a different context.

And Teldri had been proved correct - his touch was almost infuriatingly gentle, but he was learning swiftly, and had not hesitated to put his mouth on her intimate places, something that was whispered as only the province of women who loved other women, and frowned upon my 'real men'. Teldri had never had a female lover, but had always been curious how it might feel. Now she knew, and she exulted in both the knowledge and the pleasure it brought her.

Grail savored her taste as his tongue found her clit, and began to swirl and spiral around it, pressing gently, and using the softer underside of his tongue as well. He briefly put one of his fingers in his mouth to wet it, and continued his lingual assault while stroking softly between the petals of her flower. The ministrations of his finger prompted Teldri to open her legs even wider, and she moved with the touch, urging him to go deeper. His finger paused at the entrance to her satin-soft flesh, and he thanked Aselon that he habitually kept his fingernails short and smooth, with no jagged edges to his nails. When his finger entered her she almost convulsed welcoming the intruder, and her tense urgency grew greater and greater under the combination of his digital and lingual assault. Relentless, he pushed her over the edge, relishing in the subtle change of her taste was she climaxed. Teldri bit down on her hand to keep from screaming her orgasm, telling the whole inn (or at least those who were listening) what they had been up to.

Exhausted, she moved and fell back on the other bed. Grail joined her a moment later, kissing her cheek and neck before she guided his kisses to her lips. They kissed and cuddled for a moment, and Teldri wondered how quickly she could have him out of his own armor to continue before a sharp rap on the door interrupted them.

"Hey Teldri - you in there?" came the voice of Serinda, Teldi's roommate.

"Yeah, just a moment..." Teldri answered. "Grail is healing me!"

While Teldri let forth a hushed giggle, Grail took the hand she had bitten between his. A short burst of Light energy erased the red teeth marks, and lent some semblence of truth to her statement.

"Can't let you go out wounded, now can I?" Grail murmurred in her ear, kissing it gently and nibbling on the lobe.

"You Lightbringers are all the same, such sticklers for truth" Teldri teased. She opened the door and Serinda entered. "Time to go. Get your stuff and get down to the stables - Brother Valen wants to go back to the crypt and make sure we got everything." Grail nodded - leaving behind any undead creatures could have fatal consequences for someone. Nodding to Teldri and Selindra, he commented "I'll see you downstairs."

Teldri gathered her things, and Selinda remarked. "Are you sure he was healing you and not 'healing' you? It smells like sex in here!"

"With his armor on?" Teldri asked with a straight face. "Or do you suppose dwarves never take their armor off, even for that?" The two of them laughed, finished gathering their things, and went downstairs.