The Exile's Path Ch. 06

Chapter 06 - A Darkening Road

Fiona looked at Tula and Reld solemnly. The trio were seated at the dwarven smith's table, the remnants of lunch between them. Aside from the table, the frame of her bed and a single ironbound chest, the small woman's home was empty; the three friends had spent the morning loading chests and crates full of the dwarf's possessions into the sturdy covered wagon she had parked behind the smithy, now hitched to a pair of stocky dwarven hill ponies.

"So here it is, friends," began the blacksmith. "I've been straight with the two of you so far - I'm a smith, originally from Tach Mandun - but there's a bit more to me than you might think." Fiona paused to sip from the metal tumbler before her before continuing. "Back home, my family are what you might call 'historians'. We try to preserve dwarven lore and learnin' for future generations of dwarves and, where some of that knowledge has been lost, we try to recover it."

"I came to Bal's Post about three years ago," the smith explained, "but I never really intended on settlin' down here as the harbour blacksmith. It was just a role I could fulfill while I tried to chase down a lead I'd been pursuin'. You see, a long time ago, when the elves first came from across the sea to found the old Empire, the dwarven holds fought to resist their invasion. The cities we now call the Free Cities fought too, but they were the first to fall and one by one the dwarven clans were isolated and forced to surrender - all but one."

Tula nodded - but for the last fact about one dwarven hall holding out, the story was a familiar one; the dwarves' fierce resistance, despite their eventual surrender, secured them a semi-autonomous existence within the borders of the empire. They had to pay tribute, but were permitted, within limits, to govern themselves. The deal was somewhat similar to that which had been struck with many of the northern clans - the barbarian, tauric, harpy and greenskin clans were too wide ranging in the northern wilderness and lacked unified leadership to be much more than a minor hindrance to the empire's existence. Thus, most had come to like accords with the Empire's envoys to avoid the carnage of a punitive legionary expedition.

"In the south, though, the human kingdoms - Dirne and Tennebrin - didn't try to resist the Empire," continued Fiona. "They saw what happened in the north and, when the Empire turned south, they struck deals immediately. That was a problem for that lone dwarven stronghold. It wasn't located in the Shield Wall mountains like Tach Keelig, or in the Shrouded Mountains like Mandun, Canneroch or Voluch. No, it was dug into the mountains between the Darksea and the Sand Dance, close to where Longreach is now - that's mostly why it was able to hold out so long."

Fiona paused to take a deep drink from the tumbler of whisky she had before her and continued. "With the two remainin' human kingdoms allying with the Empire, the dwarves took drastic measures - they sealed the gate to their deepfast. But they couldn't simply lock the door and throw away the key; they had taken in refugees from the northern holds, refugees that carried with them numerous artifacts and technologies my people knew could not fall into the hands of the Empire. Knowin' that, should they not survive their self-imposed exile, other dwarves would need a way to get back into the city, they sent an expedition to Tach Mandun with a single key."

"The silver cube," said Tula.

"Yep. But the expedition never reached Mandun. Somewhere along the route it was betrayed or ambushed and the key was lost. A few years ago, a family contact came to my clan and said they knew where this key was - here, in the possession of the Ducal family," Fiona paused and locked eyes with Tula.

"You plan on stealing it," said the orc.

"It's not stealin' if it was yours to begin with," retorted Fiona. "Anyway, my folk sent emissaries and envoys, hoping to buy back the key fair an' square, but the Duke wasn't having any of it. He and his kin know that the cube is a key, they just don't know where the door is. And the dwarves don't plan on tellin' them."

"So how are we going to nick it, then?" said Reld, leaning forward and whispering loudly like a player in a pantomime, as if there could be agents of the duke surrounding the smith's house already. The lad's stomach fluttered with excitement - the idea of a heist, from the duke's castle, no less, was exhilarating.

"Well, that's where you come in," said the dwarf, pushing back her chair and standing up. "I need someone who can pass as a guard."

"Explain," said Tula, watching her small friend walk over to the footlocker she had left near the back door.

Fiona knelt in front of the sturdy chest and unlatched it. "I've not been sittin' on my hands, girlie," said the smith while she rummaged through the container. "I did a bit of scoutin' over the years - found a likely entrance through a sewer that drains into the moat. It doesn't smell like roses, but it'll get us into the cellars. I also managed to acquire this," she added, pulling a tabard with the orange livery of the castle out of the chest. "Hopefully, with a guard escortin' me, I can get to her ladyship's quarters and retrieve the key. I just hope nobody asks too many questions as to why a guard is leading a dwarf through the castle."

"Whores," stated the orc. Fiona ceased her rummaging and turned to look at her friend.

"What now?"

"We can present ourselves as whores - that should explain our presence adequately," explained Tula. "I still have the dress Victoria gave me - do you have anything to use as a disguise?"

"Hmmm," Fiona pondered a moment before delving back into the footlocker. The dwarf's excavation revealed a number of fascinating items; a strange, black breastplate, clearly made to match Fiona's measurements, a black leather harness from which hung a hatchet and a long dagger, both also constructed from the same black material as the breastplate, rope, a grey cloak, a few leather pouches and cases and finally a long, oilcloth bundle.

"What's all this?" said Reld, walking over and kneeling beside his friend. "I've never seen armour like that!"

"Durium," said Tula, joining the pair. "Dwarven steel." The old warrior's voice, usually stoic, carried a note of awe.

"Yep," said Fiona, grinning. "As hard as steel, but half the weight. Depending on how you forge it, comes out black as an abandoned mine. Go on lad, 'ave a look," she added, nudging the cuirass towards the lad.

While Reld picked up the wondrous piece of armour, Tula examined the hatchet and dagger. All three items were fashioned from the same black steel. All three were masterfully crafted and marked with a small sigil of clan Mandun.

"It's amazing," cooed Reld, putting the armour down reverently and looking over at the small axe and long dagger that Tula was examining.

"These weapons are a masterpiece," commented the orc.

"Aw, thanks," replied Fiona, her voice displaying a mix of pride and embarrassment. "Made it all myself. Let me show you my pride and joy, though," added the dwarf, stooping to unwrap the long bundle.

The device the smith produced was comprised of a long steel tube, fastened to a dark wooden crossbow stock, with a trigger mechanism located near the hand grip. Unlike a crossbow, however, it lacked a bow. Instead, two wheels were attached to either side of the barrel mouth and a thin, black metal cord was wound around both, stretching over the tube entrance. Another mechanism connected a lever to the right side of the barrel and there was a third wheel located below the barrel, just in front of the trigger mechanism.

"It looks kind of like a crossbow," said Reld, examining the curious device.

"It is," said Fiona, picking up the strange weapon like a mother lifting her child, "but thanks to a durium spring, string and cams, we could do away with the lath that you see on human crossbows."

"Uh, what?" said Reld.

"Bows like this don't have arms because we know how to work metal better than you ignorant surfacers," laughed the dwarf. "The tube means we can shoot a wider variety of ammunition, too. Not just quarrels. And there's no whopping great bow arms to get in the way in a tunnel or mine." The grinning smith patted Reld on the head patronisingly.

"Thanks," replied Reld, dripping sarcasm. "You let me know when you learn how to tack a sail, or where the livewell is on a boat and then you can call me ignorant."

While Reld and Fiona bantered and teased each other, Tula had picked up the leather webbing with the dagger and the axe hanging from it and was examining it with a thoughtful expression. The webbing had leather straps that fastened around each thigh, the waist, over the shoulders and across the chest, with more straps linking everything together down the sides. After pulling the weapons off it, she thrust it towards Fiona.

"Here," said the orc, handing the equipment belt to the confused dwarf. "Wear this."

"Really?" objected Fiona. "It's not all that sexy."

"It will be if it is all you are wearing," said Tula, grinning mischievously, "although we may need a male opinion," she added, looking over at Reld.

"Huh, I think I see where you're goin' with this," chuckled Fiona, stripping off her clothes until she was clad only in the black leather thong and bra she favored as underwear.

A few buckles later and the small tanned woman was strapped into the webbing. Reld, for reasons he couldn't fathom, found himself thinking that the short woman needed a riding crop to complete the ensemble, but instead simply nodded approvingly. The straps seemed to amplify Fiona's curves in all the right ways, squeezing things together and displaying certain parts of her physique in a manner that caused his cock to throb happily in his shorts.

"Uh, I'd say that works fabulously," grinned Reld.

"I can see that," laughed Fiona, giving a knowing glance at the lad's bulging crotch before rotating slowly so he could fully appreciate her ensemble. "Go on, boy, strip off and show me just how much you approve!"

Reld laughed at the small woman's bossy tone, which, strangely, seemed to suit her current attire. Eyes still travelling over the dwarf's toned body, he hurriedly began pulling off his clothes. While he got naked, Tula sauntered over to the table and leaned against it. The greenskin slowly disrobed as well, watching Reld's clumsy attempt to shuck his his own clothes and free his inflating cock as quickly as possibly.

For her part, Fiona didn't bother removing her strappy outfit, nor her black leather bra and thong, and simply got down on the floor on her hands and knees. She pulled her thong to one side, offering herself to the eager lad.

"Alright, mount up!" grinned the small, muscled woman.

With an excited grunt, Reld kneeled behind Fiona's ass and used a hand to rub his stiffening phallus against the moist lips of the woman's cunny. Fiona let out a satisfied sigh.

"Can't help but get a little antsy before a job, you know?" said the dwarf, looking sideways and up at Tula, who had finished peeling her own clothes off. "And we do have a few hours to kill before dark."

"I know what you mean," agreed the orc, grinning as she watched Reld mount their dwarven friend and idly rubbing her own cunt. "I am the same way before a fight. It is a good thing we have the boy here to make use of."

"Can you guys stop talking about me like I'm some sort of toy?" grunted Reld, halting the massage he was giving Fiona's quim with the bloated head of his dick.

Fiona giggled. "Don't be silly, lad. You love it."

Tula met Reld's harried expression with a knowing smile. "Why have you stopped, boy?" said the orc, reaching to tease one of her dark green nipples. "Get moving. You have a job to do."

"You two are impossible!" sighed Reld. Despite his objections, however, the youth knew the two older women were right in their assessment. There was something incredibly arousing about the way the pair so casually used him to sate their carnal desires. His sigh turned into a groan of delight as he pushed his hips forward and sunk his turgid length into the dwarf's sopping twat.

With one thumb hooked under the crotch of Fiona's thong, pulling it to one side, and his fingers gripping the smith's firm buttocks, Reld eased his cock into the warm, tight depths of Fiona's fuck-hole. Before him, the small woman lowered herself until her elbows were resting on the floor and laid her head on her arms.

"Mmmhmmm," breathed the dwarf, feeling Reld's balls come to rest against her clit. "Nice and slow to start, just like that. But no stopping until you've made me cum at least once!" she commanded.

"Yes ma'am," Reld acquiesced, slowly sliding his phallus backwards, out of Fiona's divine hole. The woman's cunny gripped his tumescent breeding-pole exquisitely as he withdrew, as if protesting his retreat. Biting his lip in pleasure, he pushed back into her and watched his veiny shaft, slick with Fiona's juices, slide back into the welcoming embrace of her quim.

Reld looked up, tearing his eyes away from the sight of his cock being swallowed up by Fiona's delectable cunny, only for his gaze to fall on his green-skinned mistress, leaning against the table in front of him. A droplet of milk had escaped her pierced left nipple and was now trickling down the heavy curve of her ripe, full breast. Tula's fingers were hard at work - the orc was finger-fucking herself with one hand and massaging her erect clitty with the other. There was a strange possessive, hungry look on her face, but, somehow, the orc looked imperious, almost regal, despite the obscene masturbation she was engaged in.

The orc met Reld's gaze and nodded slightly, the corner of her mouth turning upwards in a small, approving smile. As he rhythmically pounded Fiona's quim, the tall, green-skinned woman walked towards him, stepping over their dwarven friend, and presented her moist cunt to the hard working lad. Tula's large clit was fully erect, protruding from its hood and engorged with arousal. Reld needed no instruction - he leaned forward, seeking the swollen pleasure-button with his mouth until his nose pressed against the orc's mons and his lips wrapped around his objective.

Tula grunted approvingly when Reld latched onto her clitty and began flicking his tongue over the erect nub. The boy was a novice, but an eager one, and his oral ministrations caused her cunt juice to flow until it oozed past her labia in a thick, translucent strand that dangled obscenely from her pussy-lips.

The sounds of Reld's slurping mingled with the rhythmic slap of his pelvis smacking against Fiona's butt to create a lurid beat, over which could be heard a mixture of moans and grunts of delight as the trio fucked. His time spent in Tula's various holes had trained him well; his stamina was prodigious, his technique well-practiced, and he thoroughly worked over the fit dwarf's cunny just as he had been taught by his orcish mistress. While he worked, he focused on the juicy cunt mashed to his lips, using the distraction to take his mind off the delightful squeezes that Fiona's quim delivered to his pistoning shaft as she rode out her pleasure.

Although he did not cease pumping his girthy tool into Fiona's spasming pussy, eventually Reld did have to pull his lips away from Tula's cunt. He had nursed a few, small orgasms out of the tall, green woman - her butt had stiffened under his hand and he had felt her quiver and heard her groan in delight - but his jaw ached and he needed to give it a rest. He looked up at his greenskin lover, grinning, his lips and chin slick with the slimy discharge of her pussy while his hips continued their steady thrusting into Fiona's sloppy cunt. Tula ran her hand through his hair in approval.

"I have not heard from our friend in some time," remarked the orc with a smile, looking down at her protege. "How are you faring, Fiona?"

She didn't really need to ask - Fiona's mewling orgasms were plainly audible, if inarticulate, status updates.

"Fuckin' boyo's fuckin' pounded my cunt silly," panted the dwarf. Sweat beaded on her tanned skin, making her glisten in the evening light cutting in through the windows. "Go on lad, get off me and give Tula a stuffin'."

"Yes ma'am, just let me finish up here," murmured Reld, his thrusts slowing but becoming more controlled and deliberate and the hand he had pressing Tula's crotch to his face dropping back down to join his other in firmly gripping the dwarf's pert buttcheeks. "Can't leave -uh- a job half -ungh!- done!"

Fiona's eyes suddenly shot open as she felt hot jets of viscous fluid spurt forcefully into her well-used cock-hole. "Oh shit, kid," she grunted in pleasant surprise, "I thought you were bankin' that for Tula!"

Tula was no longer standing over the rutting pair, having moved aside to recline on her side next to them, her head propped up on her arm. "He is a good boy," explained the orc, a proud smile on her lips. "He will be able to seed me as well."

"That's fuckin' handy, that is," groaned Fiona, languishing in the sublime sensation of her cunt getting properly filled, her eyes almost rolling back in delight. "There's nothin' quite like feelin' a hot load surgin' into you, eh?"

Behind her, Reld gave a final few, small thrusts, his balls swinging as he finished up in Fiona's quim. A sloppy dollop of his cum squeezed out between his flexing cock and the dwarf's pussy-lips, chased soon after by a significantly heavier torrent as the lad slid his breeding-pole from the orifice that had treated it so well. Fiona rolled onto her side, her cunny dripping cream, and watched as Reld calmly moved over to where Tula was now lying on her back, legs spread.

Without any fuss, the lad positioned himself above the greenskin, his shaft still rigid and coated in an obscene mixture of his cum and Fiona's excretions. Holding himself up with one arm, Reld used his other to guide his swollen girth into Tula's inviting hole. Once his glans was comfortably seated in the entrance to his mate's twat, Reld moved his arm up to mirror the other - just below Tula's armpits - and lowered his body against hers. The amazonian orc then wrapped her arms around the lad's shoulders and upper back while her legs folded over his buttocks, pressing her lush curves against his youthful muscles. So joined, the two began to mate.

Fiona got to her feet as Tula and Reld began to fuck. She could feel some of the boy's healthy deposit sliding a slimy trail down the inside of her thigh, but simply smirked cheekily and shifted her thong back into place. Beside her, her comrades were copulating passionately; it was not the simple satiating of carnal needs that Fiona and Reld's prior rutting was - no, Reld and Tula were like a well oiled machine, the human lad moving atop the orc woman, thrusting into her with smooth motions that were in sync with the undulating movements of her hips as she raised them to each of his pushes.

The youth had his lips fastened to the orc's pierced left nipple, sucking on the aroused nubbin with his eyes closed. Tula, too, had her eyes shut and one hand on the back of Reld's head, pushing him against her impressive, round tit. The pair were locked together in a tableau of intense sexuality. Fiona could see a glistening mix of their combined juices seeping from where their genitals were joined. Not quite able to tear her attention from the scene, the dwarf sat down on a nearby chair, her legs spread, and absently scooped up some of Reld's oozing deposit before licking her fingers clean.

On the floor in front of her, Tula and Reld were rutting with passionate, animalistic intensity. The boy's thrusts into the orc's cunt were short and urgent, the skin of their groins never separating as Reld mashed his pelvis against Tula's mons. Fiona toyed with her own cum-drenched cunny as she watched her friends breed, teasing her seed-slick cunt-lips and slimy clit with one hand while the other kept her thong pulled to one side. The frenzied fornication she was observing, the heavy scent of sex in the air and the sensation of Reld's sloppy ejaculate seeping from her freshly fucked twat set the dwarf's juices flowing once more and she managed to achieve climax just as Tula and Reld reached their own peak.