The Fae Hunter Ch. 01B

I found his trail outside of town two days later. I crouched down and examined the trail he had left. He wasn't trying to hide where he was going. One horse that he was riding and two other people walking along side the horse. They were slight, smaller feet...so probably women. They were carrying heavy packs. The horse was a trained war horse with expensive and deadly steel shoes. But it was moving at the sedate pace of the women. I would catch up with them before the end of the day.

Gregory Hastenbond had approached me nearly a month ago. Hastenbond was ostensibly the head constable of Rhineville. He also ran the general store and had until a few years ago been the local bounty hunter. I traveled into town from my secluded cottage as needed and took odd jobs when finances got low. Two years back, when he was still doing bounty hunting, he had hired me to help rout out some bandits. Things had turned ugly, but we had survived. Hastenbond ended up minus a hand, but still had his head. It was a trade he was very grateful for. We had been friends ever since.

"Mikal," he boomed as he approached the cottage. "Mikal, are you home?" He stopped at the edge of the small herbal garden that I had planted this year...without much success. It was a patch of dirt with little growing in it, not even weeds. I stepped out of my front door, striding toward him. Catching sight of me, he broke into a huge grin. "My friend," he said, giving me a hug as soon as I got near enough to him. He was a big man, both in height and girth. He enveloped my more average size. "It is good to see you."

"And you," I said. "What brings you out here?"

"A job," he said, stepping back and grinning at me. He itched his full beard with the spike that was at the end of his left arm. "A good one too."

"Come in," I said. "Have a pint with me. My last batch came out quite good." I was experimenting with brewing my own beer. It was coming along slowly.

"Um," he said, gulping. "I think not." He shuddered. I knew he was thinking of the batch I had made a few months before. It had been...bitter. I had poured most of it in the herb garden. Which was probably why the area was now a dead zone.

"Your loss," I shrugged. I waved him into my home. It wasn't much. One large room that was kitchen, dining, and sleeping area all in one. But it was mine. A small back door led back outside where a small vegetable garden was whimpering and an out house stood far enough away to keep the smell from invading the cottage. We each sat in a chair and I pulled the beer I had been tasting towards me. I raised the bottle up and looked at Hastenbond. He shook his head with another shudder. He grinned at my obvious irritation. "So, what's this job that sent you scurrying all the way to my home?" I asked.

"Hunt and retrieve," Hastenbond said. "Right up your alley." He grinned at me. "The bounty is five hundred gold. Dead or alive."
"Five hundred?" I said. That would be enough to buy a small house in town. It would be enough to... "That's too good to be true," I said. "What's the catch?"

"No one can find the man," Hastenbond laughed. "The bond is coming from the capital. Here," he leaned over and handed me a pamphlet. It was a standard bounty. Hand drawn picture of a man with a goatee and short cropped hair. Hard eyes and a cruel smile gave life to the drawing. He didn't look pleasant. Traveling north. Probably on a horse. Dead or alive. He was a thief and the bounty was contingent on the glass orb he had stolen returned unharmed. He was known as Niles of the Blue.

"Hmmm," I said, sitting back. "A mage. What is the realm of Blue again? I don't know if I've heard of them."

"Mind control," Hastenbond sheepishly admitted. "It won't be easy. But five hundred gold!"

"Mm. Hmm." I hummed to myself as I thought about it. "Do the Blue have a keep anywhere?"

"So, you're going to do it?" Hastenbond asked eagerly.

"Yeah," I said, looking at him curiously. "Probably. Why so invested in my taking on this job?"

"No reason," He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. Something didn't feel right. "The Blues have a keep about hundred miles north of here." He handed me a map. "If he hasn't already been here, he will be soon." He paused and looked uncertain. "Assuming he is going home." I looked down at the map that showed the roads going from the capital to the Blues' Keep. Rhineville was smack down in the middle between the two. On the largest, most used road. I looked back up from the map and raised an eyebrow. "It came with the bounty pamphlet." Hastenbond said with another shrug. This one more natural.

"Thanks for giving me the heads up," I said.

"Of course," Hastenbond said. "You saved my life. I know you are looking to settle down. This is what you need to make that happen. I couldn't not get this to you." He stood up. "I better get back. Who knows what will happen in Rhineville without me." He laughed. I walked with him to the edge of my failed herb garden and waved goodbye as he briskly started back to town. I gazed after him. It was only a five mile trek, but normally he would stay for a bite of food. Or a drink that I hadn't made myself. Something niggled at the back of my mind. But then I started thinking about the five hundred gold. And all it would buy. I closed up my little cottage and packed for my hunt.

An hour later I was following Hastenbond's trail back to town. His path continued onto the Haste's General Store. I diverged toward Aidel's Threads. I entered the clothing shop just as the sun was setting. Fabrics were piled up on one end of the store. There was another section for threads, buttons, needles, and other sewing implements. The largest part of the shop was the work area. Large enough for two or three people to be creating garments next to each other. This evening it was only Cynthia. When I had entered the shop, the door had hit a small bell that rang shrilly. Cynthia looked up at the sound and her face lit up when she saw me.

"Mikal," she squealed happily, leaping up and running into my arms. I am not a big man, but Cynthia was quite a bit smaller. She was just over five feet tall with a petite, slim build. I easily picked her up and held her up so that our lips could connect. She wrapped her legs around my waist, grinding our pelvis's together. As we kissed her tongue sneaked out and fed itself into my mouth and she rubbed herself against my quickly hardening cock. I put her down. She reached around me, grabbing my ass and pulling me against me so that she was pressed fully against me. "I didn't expect you tonight," she said, moving side to side to keep me hard. She looked up at me with her mischievous green eyes. Her dark brown hair flowed back, reaching just past her shoulders. To me, she had always seemed beautiful and bewitching. From the moment I met her, I had wanted her. I...I didn't let myself finish that thought. Pushed it away from me.

"I have good news," I said. I grabbed her hair with my left hand, holding it tight and pulling it back. Her face arched back, her neck open to me. She started breathing heavily with excitement. I grabbed her throat with my right hand, completely encircling her neck, and leaned down to kiss her with bruising strength. She whimpered against my mouth.

"I need to finish up here," she said breathlessly. "Give me five minutes."

"I'll give you ten," I said. "But I expect you naked and in your room immediately after." I released her and walked over to the doorway that led upstairs to her room. I looked over my shoulder to find her staring after me. "Get to work," I growled. "I want you." We grinned at each other.

While I waited for her, I was amazed yet again that she was not only willing to play my game of domination and submission but seemed to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. She was the first lover I had shared these fantasies with. And she had been happy to play. I was careful not go to far. I got undressed and sat in the chair by the bed. She was there in less than ten minutes. I heard her strip off her clothes outside the bedroom so that she would enter the room completely nude. I grinned. She was following my orders -- like a good girl. Cynthia opened the door and slipped in. Her small breasts tight to her body. Her pussy, I could already smell. She was excited and heated. Wanting me as much as I wanted her. She dropped her clothes next to the door and fell to her hands and knees. She crawled to me, waving her beautiful ass from side to side. I growled my excitement as I opened my legs wide so that she could crawl in between them.

"May I suck on you," she asked looking up at me. My cock hung above her face, starting to push up in hardness, but not completely there yet. It was exhilarating and stimulating beyond any other sexual experience I had ever had. To have this woman be so submissive.

"Lick my balls," I demanded. She moaned as her tongue lapped at me. Already half hard, I very quickly became rock hard. I grabbed her hair forcefully with one hand and reached for her face with my other. I forced her mouth open with my hand and fed her my cock. She was unable to take me fully into mouth and throat, but I wasn't going to complain. Having any part of my cock in her was good enough for me. I switched my grip so that I had a hand on either side of her head and pushed her up and down on me, completely controlling the pace. I got about half of my cock into her mouth before she started gagging and coughing. I pulled her head back enough so that she could breathe and then started fucking her mouth. Pushing about a third of my cock into her. I found a rhythm that I knew would bring me to orgasm. "Play with yourself," I commanded. Cynthia immediately and obediently brought her hand down to her pussy. She moaned around my cock as she pleasured herself. I stood up and pulled out of her mouth.

"Yes," she cried. She had both hands at her pussy now. The fingers of one hand pushed deep inside of her and the other rapidly flicked against her clit. I rubbed the full length of my cock as I watched her. And then without giving her any warning I came on her. My first pulse hit her forehead, dripping down into her left eye. My next shot caught her nose. I moved the head of my cock so that I could feed her my cum -- pulsing the rest of my load into her hungry mouth. She grabbed my shaft with both hands as she suckled on the head. I sat back down.

"Amazing," I said, looking down at her. She rested her head against my upper thigh and grinned at me as best she could with my cock still in her mouth, her face coated with my cum. I disengaged from her mouth. "I have a job," I said. She grabbed a cloth that was laying nearby and cleaned herself up.

"Another one," she frowned. "How long will you be gone this time?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But this one is big baby. After this, we can settle down." The words came out but inwardly I cringed. Did I really want to settle down.

"How big?" she didn't sound convinced. Was it my tone? Did I give myself away?

"Five hundred gold."

She looked up at me in astonishment. "Five hundred?" she whispered. I nodded. "Really?" I nodded again. "When do you leave?" She asked. I laughed.

"In the morning," I said. I picked her up and threw her on the bed. "We have some fucking to do first."