The Bowyer's Tale

He floundered while I chattered about what a long trip it was to get here and how excited I was to see the great temple.

Arsalin just had to be wrong. Maybe the steward was lying; it sounded like he hated the snowreader. But I just had to take another step and see if the ice would crack this time, you know?

So I gave it a try. For starters, I talked quiet so he'd have to lean close and never looked away.

Normally I'd have mostly asked him about himself, but that was no good since I didn't want him saying he was the snowreader. I skipped to talking about home, bowmaking, and battles. Honestly, there's still not much to tell about those and there was less then. Mostly we just shot arrows into brush and heard the pirates scream. And now I mainly tell my men to shoot fast at the enemy. You'd have to be a shitty archer to even get a chance to do anything worth talking about. But I made it sound better.

So yeah, I had his attention, but seven was coming. I had to pick up the pace.

I leaned back with my arms on the back of the pew and looked at the violet sky while I talked. In that too-small shirt, that meant he could see my abs. And he didn't look away! No, he checked me out!

I mean, holy shit. The pond was cracking. Most girls back home were sneakier than him- if they were even interested. For every wench I bedded there were plenty who already had a man, didn't want one, or just didn't want me in particular.

The benches were uncomfortable, so it was easy to shift till I had my right arm behind his head. He didn't get up or anything. Hell, I don't think he'd really figured me out yet.

I hadn't really figured me out yet either. He wasn't hot at all, but somehow the idea of fucking him was starting to be. It was so wrong- but it was even wronger for him, which sorta made it feel ok.

So yeah, once I was done shifting us, I shifted the talk a bit. Still about home, but not stuff I'd say in front of a priest. Not like I talk with you guys of course, just a few lines about how hot a girl was or hints that I'd fucked a bunch. Adding an edge to the chatter.

It was weirdly nice how he hung on every word. This was going too well.

Ow! I slid my hand on the pew's back and suddenly it hurt like hell. I'd cut it open grabbing the statue!

He saw me wince and I was sure I'd missed my chance, but then I had a crazy idea.

I leaped up and let him see my hand. It was a shallow cut, so I hadn't even felt it with my heart pounding earlier, but it was pretty bloody. "Damn! Thought that was healed over!"

"Are you hurt?" He had kinda a squeaky voice and he jumped up to try to have a look.

"A cut from one of those pirates," I tried to sound like it really hurt, "Never healed right. Might've been poisoned." The more bullshit I slathered on, the more he bought it. I let him grab my hand and gasped, "Could you bind it for me? It's bleeding again!"

He looked around wildly, but I ripped off my cloak and tore it to scraps for him. I held my cut hand down low and he just knelt to bandage it without thinking.

Holy shit again. I was half-naked --with no smallclothes even- and the godsdamned snowreader was on his knees in front of me. I mean, I'd been naked with other guys to swim and such, but this was totally different.

I could've just let him finish and then gone on my way. But no, I had to see how far I could push this. And, honestly, I was feeling good about how easy it had all been. It's like... most men can get a woman to fuck them, but how many are hot enough that they could have guys too if they wanted?

When he'd nearly finished, I shifted my hand to be right in front of my crotch. I was looking away, but I felt him freeze. I thought about Arsalin and how sexy it was when she was the one down there. He must've seen me getting hard. But he didn't stand up.

Finally I looked down and our eyes met. I was sure that was it. He was gonna splutter and stand up and run away.

But he didn't. He fidgeted, but I put my hands on his shoulders and that settled him down. He licked his lips nervously and watched the bulge in my white pants while I finished tying the bandage myself. From there it just seemed natural to slide my breeches off. Remembering Arsalin, I did it slow so he had time to realize he was choosing to stay there.

With a bounce, my cock was free and inches from his face. His eyes went wide watching it while I pulled off the tight shirt and tied all my clothes out of the way around my arms.

He was leaning toward me.

Karan shifted uncomfortably, but the tanner signed him to let Sarasa tell his story.

He'd had his chance and passed it up. Now I had my last one. The hallway was empty; I could run out and put my clothes back on and go. But I didn't. I'd never have believed I'd do this the day before. Well what can I say? I could say it was the wine or being horny from Arsalin not finishing me in the baths or her promised reward or not wanting to break my promise or how forbidden it was. Or I could say I thought about how I was always asking girls back home to try new stuff and sometimes they really liked it. Or maybe I just wanted to see if the church really was a sham. I guess it was all that stuff, but I took that last step and slid my cock between his open lips. And the ice shattered like I'd sorta known it would.

The snowreader skipped right to sucking eagerly with a cross-eyed look of total focus. It would've been fucking hot if he was a girl. And he was a lot better than any of them back home. I felt his tongue all over even while he kept bobbing up and down. My cock was in heaven, though the rest of me was still kinda skeeved out.

It just looked wrong to see chest hair and no tits on someone blowing me. But Arsalin was right. If I looked up, I could almost picture it was Valiasa there, though he wasn't slobbering or slurping the way she would. I relaxed and just focused on how good it felt. And tried not to worry about someone walking in on us. Up above, the stars were coming out in the darkening sky.

I realized I had my hands in his hair and he seemed to like it. Arsalin'd said he wanted to be pushed around, so I got firmer and firmer till I was pulling him up and down my cock. Judging by his happy gurgles, he liked that even more. So did I actually. It felt right to be back to taking charge.

I was just getting into it when I heard the bell ringing faintly. Shit! I had a feeling it'd be hard to keep him busy till eight if he heard. Without really thinking, I clamped my hands over his ears. Maybe he'd think I was just changing my grip.

That's when I heard voices. Shit, shit, shit! I'd lost track of the chimes; he might hear if I took my hands off him. And where the hell could I go? I was naked and they were coming from the way out.

Was that seven rings? No more time, but I had an idea. So I haul him up and hiss, "Someone's coming!"

He spooked and tried to bolt, but I hustled him toward the wall as the huge door opened. Like I thought, there was enough space to squeeze in behind some of the big statues. I pushed him in one and we crowded out of sight.

Well he was out of sight. I couldn't quite fit all the way back too, so they'd see me by its bronze leg if they looked right at me. I... uh... prayed they wouldn't.

I could hear them coming closer. Two men talking loud. One said something like, "Oh I do hope he didn't fall asleep again." You know, talking kinda prissy.

When the snowreader moved, I realized they meant the snowreader. I held him still while the priests went by. Snowcatchers I think. One glanced my way, but it was brighter out there, so he didn't see me. The snowreader finally realized he couldn't just come stumbling out with them there and stopped struggling.

The other priest had a deeper voice. "Excellency? Excellency, are you in here? It's seven."

That's when I got a really wicked idea. Watching the two of them, I pulled the snowreader back onto my cock. He made a little startled sputter but he didn't try to get away or anything.

This shit was fucking nuts. I mean I was in the great temple, squeezed up against a statue of Avsava, making the snowreader himself suck me with two of his priests right there looking for him.

It was crazier when he sped up and tried to squeeze me into his tight throat. He put a hand on me to try to stroke when he was pulling back, but his fingers felt wrong and I smacked them away.

I didn't like his bristly chin on my balls either, but it was worth it for the feeling of being in his hot mouth to the hilt.

The priests turned to go. "Good, he must have already left."

He went faster as the door shut. I looked down at him. "Well, snowreader," I could almost see him realize I knew, "Is anyone else gonna come in here?"

He tried to pull back to answer but I held him down. The rougher I was, the more he seemed to like it. He got the idea and shook his head. Felt great.

"No one else?"

He nodded, so I pulled him back to the altar area and he kept going. He tried to reach a hand into his robes, but I knocked it away. I did not want to watch him jerking off. And I was worried he might want to leave after he came. I wasn't even really close myself and he seemed to be getting frustrated.

I couldn't believe what I was saying, but I pulled him deeper till he was licking my balls and growled, "Nod if you want this cock in your ass, snowreader."

He nodded hard and scrambled up when I let go. "Oil!" He squeaked, "I'll get some oil!"

He was rummaging in a little cupboard past the altars before I remembered the bottle Arsalin gave me. I admit I shivered a little when I realized he was coming back with the holy oil for lighting the altar fires. It was a whole new kind of sacrilege somehow.

"So I- I mean I can't believe I did this," Sarasa broke off with a wince.

Karan looked relieved; the charcoal burner and the fisherman were as inscrutable as ever.

The tanner, oddly serious, responded first. "If it's not important, you don't have to share it. But the decisive battle with the blackguard is coming. We could all be dead tomorrow or the day after."

Karan hesitantly added, "I didn't want to tell anyone. But I'm glad I did. I'm not afraid to die if I have to now that someone knows about my life."

"Yeah, but that was just boring shit. Sorry. I just mean it's different. You didn't do anything wrong. I helped a man break an oath, blasphemed, and well... was kinda an asshole. And shit."

"No surprise there," the tanner muttered.

The charcoal burner said something in Zhendrian and the tanner translated. "I think it's a western proverb. 'Stains on the conscience wash out with words, not water.' Or something like that."

Karan resigned himself. "If you telling us will help you, tell us. We won't judge."

"Or interrupt and tell you to stop rambling. Like you did to Karan." the tanner added.

Sarasa glared at him, but returned to the story after a long pause and another sip.

I... well, I took the bottle and pushed him to the ground. I'd like to blame the wine, but ... uh... I told him to ... kneel before me and kiss my feet. The worst part was he actually did it.

Well... I put a foot on his shoulder to tell him to stay down and then walked around to pull up his robe and rip off his white drawers. His wasn't hot like a girl's butt, really. Hairy and flabby and wrinkled. The wrongness was what made it hot, not him.

I unstoppered the bottle and dribbled the spicy-scented oil on both of us. He started sliding back against me till he was lined up right.

I tried to push in just a bit and he yelped then gasped, "More!" I thought he was cracked wanting more if it hurt, but then he said, "More oil!" Arsalin was right; I should've used twice as much.

I poured some on his hand and tried again when he was done putting it on. I figured if I treated it like a girl's first time, it wouldn't hurt him. Though usually I'd have started a girl off by licking her senseless. Anyway, he was a lot slipperier and I went slower and that made all the difference.

He made these squeaky groans when I slid in. I stopped since I thought I'd hurt him, but he kept pushing back. I told him to shut up and he stuffed a hand in his mouth. Gods, he just did whatever I said.

I was focused on not hurting the guy, so it wasn't till I'd bottomed out with a couple of inches to go that I felt how hot and tight he was. And it was just a bit different than being in a girl's pussy.

Wasn't sure if I was supposed to thrust the same way, but I started slowly and went faster when it felt good. By the time I was up to speed, I was close to coming. It was a weak showing for me, but he'd reached a hand down to stroke himself and he was groaning like I was doing great. Kept calling me Asdan and begging me to fill his ass. Now that was a turn-on. Not being able to finish inside a girl unless we'd been to market and bought some lordlace root always felt incomplete.

I grabbed his hips and pounded him hard as I came. It wasn't till my first spurt that I realized I still had half an hour till eight. Damn, too late. He was jerking himself faster, but like hell I was gonna get this far and then spoil things halfway through. I pinned him down with my head right by his ear and told him, "I'm not Asdan. If you want me to fuck this ass again, you don't come till I say to."

He must've been close since he almost didn't stop, but he told me he was sorry. Crazy.

And I was crazier. I never even really gave orders to the men in my contingent, but there I was lording it over the snowreader himself. "Tell me how much you love my cock!"

And he went along with it like it was normal. Like he wanted it even. "More than anything!"

Sarasa frowned and stopped, but the tanner -- and the ale- encouraged him on.

I was starting to go soft, but I had him pinned and kept growling in his ear. "More than the gods?"

"Yes," he blubbered, suddenly crying, "More than them. I'm a wretch! A filthy little wretch!"

I mean... what do you even say to that? I couldn't just fucking say it was alright. He was the high priest of my father's gods and he'd just said he'd rather break his oaths than uphold the faith. It should've been disgusting. I'd have punched anyone who said he was like that the day before. They'd have lost fucking teeth.

But I'd seduced him. As part of a scheme I didn't understand for a woman I'd just met who screwed serving girls while my king watched. And there were statues in the temple that blocked out the sky! The heart of Davasan -right on the sacred mountain- was rotten like an old stump. Was the whole kingdom? Was the whole world? Was everything I thought I knew wrong?

I needed air. "Lead me outside. Crawl." Gods, we both got hot when I made him do shit like that.

There was a door out where I'd felt a draft before, sorta hidden since the passage to it was behind the wall. It wasn't hidden hidden, just you could only see it from one angle. Ugh, it's simple but I can't explain it right.

Anyway, a cold, mountain wind was blowing in. He looked through and then led me out to this big stone terrace. It had been swept clean, but there was snow on the ground past the railing.

The second half of Mount Tandrásas stood against the stars and I could see the lights of another stone building nestled behind one of its crags. Maybe the shrine where the snowcatchers worked before the snowreader carried the bowl down here to make his pronouncements. Someday I'm going up there.

I cooled off fast and we went back in. I kinda wanted to shut the door so we'd have a warning if a priest came down the mountain, but the snowreader didn't seem to think that'd happen and the breeze would be nice when we got started again.

He saw I was about ready and I'll bet he'd have been jerking himself again if he didn't need his hands to crawl. I told him to bend over the altar and he scrambled up and waited.

That time I started faster. He just squealed he wanted it harder and harder till I doubt he could've held himself up if he wasn't facedown on that alabaster block. I'd come so many times earlier that I could just keep going and going easy.

I told him to say all kinds of shit, but honestly I don't remember it now. I wasn't really thinking, just trying to pound him till that clock rang eight. But I know I put the silver divination bowl on the ground and had him lick the snowmelt out of it while I fucked him. That was when I knew I was just done with this shit. With everything. I mean, that was the bowl. That was the same bowl they used to tell all of us back home when the gods said to harvest and everything. And he was lapping it like a hound.

Sarasa punched his other hand.

Everything they told us was just fucking bullshit. That wasn't my temple, he wasn't my snowreader, those statues of theirs weren't my gods, and fuck it, I was getting out of there. Out of the whole country. Not that day, but I had to see what the world was really like. Arsalin had been around; she knew. I hadn't believed her when she said the snowreader was like this. But she showed me how things really were.

Well I was finally getting close when I heard the bell ringing between his squeals and the clatters of the bowl on the floor. I didn't want to spend another minute with the little shit. "Now's your chance, priest," I snarled. He'd been stroking himself now that he wasn't pinned on the altar. "Hear that bell? I'm finished when it is."

He froze just a second, maybe realizing what the bell meant, then sped up as I came inside him again. I just grabbed his ass and shot my load as deep as I could. It felt like saying "Fuck you" to him and all the other priests and the castle and everything all at once- sorta like why Arsalin said the steward fucked him I guess. And it felt good to be done with him and just knock him down and leave.

Crazy fucker must've loved that too since he came hard all over the floor. He begged me to come back, but I never saw him again and good fucking riddance.

I hardly remember getting out of there, but I think I ran. I threw my clothes back on in the first storeroom off the hall. I really needed to wash up. Luckily, there weren't many people in the corridors and I hid around corners from most of those till I finally found my way back to the baths.

I was in luck again; the servants hadn't actually come back to drain the pool and the room was empty. All the clothes and soaps and stuff were still there. Good thing too; I'd never felt filthier.

All of that just melted away once I was in the warm water. The air still had that flowery smell that Arsalin's hair did. After I'd soaked a bit, I checked through the bottles for the one that smelled like that and tried it out.

"I was feeling better, but still really tired," Sarasa yawned just thinking about it.

I must've asked someone the way back to my room. And brought all the clothes and shit along since I woke up in some of the spare ones.

It was dark and something was wrong. The sheets were over my head for one thing. Sleeping in a real bed for the first time was fucking weird. I got free of them just in time to see Arsalin shedding her robe and setting down a candle.

She said something like, "Shush itsh me." Then she fell on the creaking bed as I got up and asked what she was doing there. I was way too tired to think. Or see in the dark. I tripped over the chair on the way to find my own candles.

Arsalin giggled. "Promish t'keep. You didit! Never shaw the priesht." She lay back. "He never shaw? The... king never shaw. Not me. Never shaw me?"

I felt like three weeks of hard marching with no rest at the end and she wasn't making any sense. Really I only figured out what she said later. "The king never saw you?" I stumbled back to her.