The Egg of Immorality Ch. 02

Jennaca scouts ahead and finds an adventure of her own.

To start at the beginning of The Egg of Immorality, find chapter 1 here. To start the Thirst for Power series fresh, please look for Enchanted. Thank you for reading and please look up my profile page if you have any questions, concerns, or wish to reach out to me.

Jennaca pulled the laces on her leather halter-style vest tight and tied them off. She sucked in a big breath to test the tightness and then let it out. Her large breasts were contained and that meant she was ready for the day. She glanced at John and caught his eye. "I'll scout ahead?"

He shook his head. "Not yet," he said.

Jennaca tilted her head. "Why not?"

"Come here first," he said and beckoned her with his finger.

Jennaca raised an eyebrow and walked over to him. "You don't need to use your finger if you want me to come for you."

Artesia took a break from enchanting the carriage to groan and shake her head.

John laughed. "Our little huntress has grown up, Artesia."

Artesia snorted.

Jennaca beamed at him. "What can I do for you, My Lord?"

"This," John said and leaned forward. Her face tilted up to meet his and he kissed her. She cooed and pressed against him. He backed away after she slipped her tongue between her lips to taste him. "There, now you can scout ahead."

Arika smacked her lips and spoke up, "Would you like me to help scout?"

Jennaca shot John a look. He stifled his smile before responding. "This is Jennaca's specialty. Between her and Sasha, I'm sure they'll do a fine job."

Arika bowed her head. "Yes, Master. I'm at your service for anything you need."

Jennaca picked up where they'd left off before John's newest servant interrupted them. She beamed at him. "I don't know how I was forgetting the goodbye kiss!"

John chuckled and swatted her on the butt when she turned away.

She let her hips sway with each step as she walked, knowing he was watching her. She bit her lip and wished she had a little more time to feel more than just his hand on her butt. She settled for his reassuring presence deep inside her belly. The connection they shared because of the contract they'd accidently signed when he'd first fucked her.

Well, it was more like when she'd first fucked him. He was trying to be gentle and caring, which was ironic considering he served a powerful demon whose specialty was lust and passion. John was something else though. Something better than any other man she'd ever had the chance to be interested in. Better, even, than the heroes she'd grown up having as idols. Men such as King Alto and Sir Carson. Garrick, Warden of the North, or Lord Namitus, the King's right hand man. A more noble and just group of men were not to be found in all of Kroth... but John, there was something special about him.

She fought the urge to giggle as she considered how much it helped that he had a magic dick. He was huge, another gift of his infernal Mistress, but with his magic he could make it fit almost anywhere.

A flash or orange and black in the corner of her eye preceded her furry companion bumping into her hip.

"Sasha!" Jennaca cried out. "Good hunting last night?"

A low rumble in the plains tiger's chest was her answer. Sasha licked her chops as well, baring her massive fangs in the process.

Jennaca grinned and ruffled the tiger's fur between her ears. "We're scouting this morning. Looking for a lake with an island! I saw some water fowl yesterday that I bet will lead us there."

Sasha loped ahead of her as they moved through the forest. She found game paths to take through the undergrowth where she could and when she couldn't, she made her own. Her thick fur saved her from brambles and thorns.

They stayed within the forest for the next hour -- long enough that Jennaca began to wonder. She climbed up a tree, slipping from one limb to the next like she was born to them. She cleared the smaller trees around and managed to cling to two branches and move out from the trunk enough to see clear blue skies and a line of ducks flying in formation to the west.

"Ha!" Jennaca gloated. She shimmied back down the tree and looked around, frowning when Sasha wasn't there.

She scouted the ground and found the great cat's footprints in the soft ground. A few moments of study confirmed for her that Sasha had gone west. She hadn't just wandered off though, she was hunting. The length of her stride and the way her pads and claws sank into the ground told the skilled tracker all she needed to know.

"Save some for me," Jennaca whispered before checking to make sure her weapons were ready for use.

Less than a quarter hour later the forest had thinned and the undergrowth was becoming thicker. She still followed the tiger's trail through the brush and ignored the rasping of leaves against her bare legs and hips. The bushes grew softer after she managed her way through a bramble of wild blueberries.

Jennaca searched the clear ground ahead of her. Some small hills curved the landscape and occasional trees and clumps of bushes sprouted on them. In general the grass was short, growing no higher than her waist and often only half that. She moved forward and let her fingers drift through the tall fronds. She plucked one and looked at it, her brow furrowing as she quickly recognized the family of the plant.

"Wheat?" she asked. "How did this get here?"

No one answered her.

Still pondering the abundance of the crop, especially growing in an area that resembled a field as much as she resembled a troll. She moved forward, bending low to stay concealed by the wheat and also making sure she could pick out Sasha's trail.

She met up with the great cat under a wild apple tree. Ants crawled on the bark and across the ground beneath it. Soil made acidic from past years fallen crop made it difficult for the wheat to grow, leaving them with some room while she crouched beside the tiger. She put her arm over the tiger and felt a rumble in Sasha's chest.

Jennaca opened her mouth when she heard the first yip on the wind. She clamped her mouth shut and turned her head. Another yip and a bark followed. She turned back and stared to the northwest, where the sounds came from. "Wild dogs?"

Sasha bared her fangs.

"All right, let's check it out," Jennaca said. She started out first and led the way down the side of the hill and then back up onto the next hill. Each step brought them closer and made the barking and yipping easier to hear, if not easier to understand.

Jennaca slipped her bow off her shoulders and pulled the knot loose that kept her arrows from slipping around in her quiver. They proceeded again with her having nocked one to have it at the ready.

They crested the next hill and saw the source of the noises ahead of them in a shallow valley that led to the north between hills that grew taller and taller. It wasn't dogs they saw but men that looked like dogs, if dogs could walk on two legs and tower above a human.

Jennaca gasped and crouched low. "Gnolls!" she hissed.

Sasha hunkered down beside her.

"I count twenty two," Jennaca said. "That's a lot. If John and the girls stumble on them, it won't go well."

Sasha looked at her.

"I know, John can handle himself and so can the rest of them... but that's a lot of gnolls! I'd hate for anyone to get hurt," she explained to the great cat.

Jennaca fell silent and watched them. They were moving and heading south. Directly to where she'd have gone if she'd been heading straight west. She looked to Sasha while the tiger studied the party of gnolls.

"All right, we distract them. Sure, they're big, but that means they won't be as fast as we are, right? We'll go down and get them to chase us and lead them off away from Lord John."

Sasha's tail swatted the wheat behind her.

"If something happens, you let John know, okay?"

Sasha's ears laid back on her head.

"Good. Let's go show those dogs why cats make better pets!"

Sasha's answering rumble made Jennaca grin as she rose to her feet. She slipped down the hill to her right, flanking the gnoll hunting party and moving so she was behind them. Sasha followed her but stayed low in the wheat, making her all but impossible to see from more than a few feet away.

Jennaca reached a point on the hillside where she still had a good shot at the gnolls. The path they were taking was starting to round the hill on her left and would soon have them out of sight. She drew her bow back, took a quick aim and timed her breath before loosing the arrow.

A second and then a third arrow were in the air by the time the first one struck a gnoll in the arm. He yipped and turned, catching the second arrow in his side and the third in his hip. The gnolls reacted quickly, but it took them a moment to figure out where the arrows were coming from. Three gnolls had been pinned by the time they organized and began to give chase.

Jennaca grinned and stowed her bow over her shoulder. She turned and ran, heading back up the valley to the north. She couldn't help but grinning. It had been days since they'd had a challenge, and that had been a band of goblins that tried to ambush them while they camped in a cave. Hardly worth the effort of drawing her swords.

This looked promising. The gnolls gave chase and then cried out when Sasha let them pass and then launched her attack. The tiger laid open a gnoll's leg and knocked it down, but the commotion caused two more to turn and force her back. She darted back and had to run from the humanoids that went after her.

Jennaca felt the wind in her face and felt the strength of her body in her thighs as she ran. The ground rose as she ran and became rockier. Her feet were sure and she darted behind rocks and put distance between herself and the gnolls. A few more minutes and she'd move to the side, doubling back and around them so she could make sure she made it back.

She glanced over her shoulder, preparing to make her escape, and stumbled for the first time. The gnolls weren't falling behind, like she'd expected. They were keeping up with her. More than keeping up, the long-legged monsters were getting closer!

She let out a surprised huff of breath and refocused. If they were going to give her a chase, so be it. She'd show them! She bent forward and put her focus into running harder. Sasha would have to fend for herself, but she was more than able to do that. She'd hoped to perhaps strike them from a distance with a bow a few times and then run and do it again, but that wasn't going to happen.

In the end, she supposed it didn't matter. They were still chasing her and that was what mattered. She just had to keep them away from John and the others. She could handle herself and so could John. Artesia too, she supposed. The others though... they were a skilled and talented lot but the sisters were still learning the differences between a real fight and an arena match.

Arika...well, Jennaca wasn't sure about her in the least. She was bound to John and, she supposed, a sister of sorts to her now, but she still didn't trust her. She wasn't human... or anything remotely close to human, after all. There was no telling what priorities a woman sired unnaturally from a dragon would have. Even if she was easily the most beautiful woman any of them had seen. When she looked like a woman, that is.

Jenna pushed the thoughts away. She had an uncomfortably large group of gnolls chasing her and there was no telling what they'd do to her if they caught her! She'd seen gnolls before, when Queen Grishna visited Altonia from her city of Noraven, but she only knew a little about them. Grishna's gnolls were disciplined and fierce. Others, she'd read, were vicious and sadistic. Voracious too... would they tear her limb from limb and eat her alive like animals?

She almost felt ashamed at the thought. They weren't animals, they were people. A strange and violent race of people, but people nonetheless. Then again, people were often more cruel and dangerous than the wildest of animals.

Jennaca put some extra effort into her legs, eager to make sure she didn't find out firsthand just what they had planned for her.