The Kingdom Pt. 02

I watch, enraptured, as Micaelah assesses, as far as I know, her first taste of pussy, not counting when she licked her own juices off my cock. Then another droplet falls, landing on her upper lip. This too she licks off, savoring it, before wholeheartedly attacking the main course.

It's hard to believe the first time Micaelah had sex with anyone was with me just a week ago. My cock surges to attention at the thought of it. I can't help but stoop down and kiss her, our tongues dancing together, sharing the tangy sweetness of Corinne's lust.

Micaelah smiles at me as I stand up and push the head of my cock between her lips and Corinne's labia. Both sets of lips kiss my shaft as it slides through them. When I pull back far enough, Micaelah uses her lips and tongue to guide the head to the entrance of Corinne's opening. Slick with Corinne's juices, I push it inside her. As my erection disappears inch by inch, I can feel Micaelah's tongue teasing the underside of my shaft.

"Mmmmmm!" Corinne cries out, her pussy finally filled with a nice hard cock, although I'm sure she planned on it being attached to the man she loves. As I slam it into her at a fairly moderate pace though, she doesn't seem too concerned that it's mine. "Fuck me... Fuck me Quillion... Fuck me..." she urges.

So I do.

Caught up in the excitement, Micaelah encourages Kendric as well, "Ooooh yeah!... Ooooh yeah!... Ooooh yeah!"

Inspired, he pounds her relentlessly.

As their combined verbal tirade continues, their volume increases, until eventually they reach orgasm, simultaneously.

A short time later, Kendric and I do as well.

I pull out of Corinne and push the head of my cock into Micaelah's mouth, stroking fast. Her lips close around it, sucking firmly in anticipation. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kendric push his into Corinne's mouth. She grabs his shaft and pumps until he grunts, emptying his jizz onto her tongue.

"Ahhhh!" I cry out, filling Micaelah's mouth with my seed. She swallows, then begins sucking again. I fill her mouth a second time. She swallows it all as I watch in fascination, amazed she hasn't gagged yet. So I push my cock in further, unloading a third time, directly into her throat. Unfazed, she swallows and sucks simultaneously.

Lisbeth kneels down next to me. Apparently having witnessed this feat as well, she says, "Wow Micaelah! That was amazing!"

I pull my semi-erect member out of Micaelah's mouth. She smiles at us and asks, "Really? Did I do okay?"

"You did fantastic," I tell her.

"You are truly fantastic Micaelah," Lisbeth tells her, smiling, then leans down to kiss her. When she backs up, Micaelah says, "I missed some." Lisbeth follows her gaze to my cock where a thick drop of cum hangs from the tip. Just before it loses its struggle against gravity, Lisbeth rescues it with her tongue.

§ 5 ~ Peregrination

The journey to the Temple begins an hour later. After we pack enough food and water, along with a few other meager supplies, we retrace our steps north, paralleling the road until crossing the stream we followed to reach this town. Corinne and Jolie manage to find a few dozen arrows before we leave. Lisbeth and Jolie both were able to find a serviceable leather vest that fit them.

Led by Kendric and Corinne, we traverse the countryside, through open prairies, large groves of mostly deciduous trees, up and down hills, following gulleys and ravines, in a generally northeast direction.

Around midday, we pause for a brief rest and a light lunch in a clearing, then continue our journey. We're able to make good time. A couple hours later, Kendric announces that we've reached the border between Beryl Duchy and Jasper Duchy. The sound of quick-flowing water can be heard through the trees.

After he takes a few moments to get his bearings, he leads us along a path not much more than a game trail heading eastward for perhaps a quarter of a mile, to another, more defined path, then turns north again. We follow this maybe twenty yards, and that's where we're stopped dead in our tracks.

"Damn!" Kendric says in exasperation. "The bridge is out!"

As I come closer to the rest of the group, I see before us a steep gorge roughly a hundred feet across. A hundred feet below, water rushes on its way east towards the sea. Looking across the chasm, I can see the wood and rope bridge spanning it is secured at only one of its four anchor points on the other side. The other three ropes appear to have been severed by a falling tree. The only rope intact being one of the hand railings, with the supporting ropes for the foot boards hanging in tatters below it. Most of the foot boards are completely gone.

"Where's the next, nearest crossing?" Teritha asks him. "Is there another bridge reasonably close?"

Kendric thinks about it briefly before answering. " No. I don't think so. The East Road or the beach where it spills into Diamond Bay are the only other places to cross. Take your pick. Each is about twenty miles away," he answers dejectedly.

"We don't have that kind of time," she says grimly.

"Is there a place we can swim across that's closer?" Corinne suggests hopefully.

Kendric shakes his head. "The current is too strong. We'd most likely drown before we made it even halfway."

As I listen to their discussion, I survey the situation and make a decision.

"The remaining rope looks sturdy," I announce. "We'll have to climb across." Everyone looks at me. "I'll go first."

Teritha looks proud. Kendric look skeptical. Corinne and Lisbeth look at me like I'm insane. Micaelah looks nervous. Jolie looks at me and says, "I'll climb across too. Maybe we can pull the others across using some type of harness."

I nod to her, feeling less nervous now than I did before my brave (or foolish) suggestion. She nods back with a look of determination.

Kendric looks at her shrewdly. "That may just work. We could use some of the rope and maybe a plank from the bridge as a seat. We can work on that while you two cross."

"I guess we don't really have much choice," Teritha admits ruefully. "Thank you both for your bravery."

We both remove the supply packs we're carrying. I also remove my hauberk, but keep my dagger harness and my pouch on. Meanwhile, Kendric and Teritha manage to pull up the other handrail rope to use as tow ropes for the harness. Then they separate the length into two smaller ropes.

"I'll go first," I tell Jolie. "If it holds my weight, then we know it will hold yours." She nods.

Micaelah suddenly throws her arms around me and hugs me tightly, ignoring my dagger harness, her cheek pressing into my shoulder.

"Be careful Quill," she instructs me in a trembling voice.

I give her a good squeeze then tilt her head up to look at me. "I will. I'll see you on the other side soon, okay?" I assure her, smiling.

"Okay," she replies teary-eyed, grabbing my face and kissing me quick on the lips. She then turns and walks over to stand next to Lisbeth. Lisbeth puts her arm around Micaelah and says something to her I can't hear. Micaelah nods but doesn't look any more reassured than she did before.

"Be careful lad," Kendric tells me, handing me the end of the first tow rope to tie around my waist. "Hold on tight. That rope might be slippery. Take your time and don't look down."

As I finish tying off the tow rope, I nod, then turn away, walking to the edge of the gorge. Ignoring the sheer, vertical cliff face on the other side and the rushing water below, I grab the climbing rope and give it a hard tug. It feels firmly secured, so I move closer, gripping it with my gloved hands, then swing underneath as I wrap my knees around it, suspending myself upside down. Slowly, I shimmy my way across, using my hands to pull myself a couple feet at a time.

The others shout encouragement to me as I inch my way past the few remaining ropes supporting the footboards. Eventually, I'm over the gorge with nothing below me except rushing water, the noise drowning out the clarity of their words. Time seems frozen as I focus on the rope and the endless blue sky beyond it. Beginning to feel disoriented, I close my eyes and continue by touch alone.

Hand over hand, slide. Hand over hand, slide. Hand over hand, slide. My thoughts numb as I continue my repetitive motions. Hand over hand, slide. Hand over hand, slide. Hand over hand, slide.

My thoughts drift back to a time during my childhood where I eluded a gang of street toughs by climbing across the river underneath the bridge. It was either that or receive a beating along with the loss of what few coins I had saved up. I heard the boys shouting to one another as they searched for me in vain.

Bump! My progress stops abruptly. "Ouch!" I exclaim as I open my eyes and arch my neck to figure out what I banged my head into. It appears I've run into a post. Turning my head to the side, I look below me and discover solid ground.

Allowing my legs to drop, I pull myself to my feet and look back across the gorge. Everyone is looking at me and... cheering? I raise my hand to wave back, then turn and untie the rope from my waist. After tying it securely to the post on this side, I turn to see Jolie begin to make her way across. It appears she has a small loop of rope tied around her torso which loops over the one she's climbing across. That's clever. If she slips, the loop should hold her long enough to re-establish her grip instead of falling into the rapids below.

After ten to fifteen minutes, she too makes it to this side of the gorge.

"I made it," she declares proudly, untying the safety loop from her torso. "But my hands are a little raw."

"You did great," I say, hugging her. "I'd give you my gloves, but they'd be huge on you. How about I do most of the pulling and you can keep the tow rope from getting tangled?"

"Deal!" she tells me thankfully.

Looking across the chasm, we can see Teritha being set up in the harness. Our tow rope has been cut away from the post on that side and secured to the harness. Testing it with her weight, Teritha sits in it for a few seconds then makes a few adjustments. Finally situated, she waves at us to pull her over.

I pull for all I'm worth. Surprisingly, there's less resistance than I thought there would be and she shoots out over the gorge five or ten feet, swinging wildly and holding on for dear life.

"Sorry!" I yell, although I doubt she can hear me. When the harness settles, I begin to pull, hand over hand, at a slow, steady pace. With only a few initial snags on some dangling ropes, Teritha arrives on our side a little over ten minutes later.

"Well that was an adventure," she states matter-of-factly, climbing out of the harness. "That worked better than I thought it was going to."

As soon as she's clear, I signal Kendric to pull the harness back across to his side.

Micaelah rides over next. Pulling her was a breeze thanks to her being so small, and she's practically beaming when she reaches us.

"That was so much fun!" she declares excitedly, sliding easily out of the harness and hugging each of us. "I was afraid at first, but after watching Teritha do it, I knew I could too! It was so invigorating just hanging over all that rushing water!"

Then it's Lisbeth's turn. While she weighs almost identical to Teritha, it takes much longer to pull her over. Micaelah told us she was really nervous about it and wanted to move slower. So I pull steadily, but slower. When she's still about thirty feet away, I can see her eyes are shut tight and she has a death grip on the harness.

Eventually she makes it over though with no complications.

"You can open your eyes now Lisbeth," I say gently as I kneel down in front of her. Her eyes pop open. She grabs me as though she's drowning and I'm a life preserver. As I hold her, she nearly squeezes the life out of me.

"It's okay. You're safe."

"That was positively awful," she declares, letting go of me and scrambling to get out of the harness as quickly as possible. "Next time I think I'll walk the twenty miles around." She huddles next to Teritha and Micaelah, the latter of which she looks at in annoyance as Micaelah describes how much she enjoyed her trip across.

After Kendric pulls the harness back, it becomes apparent that something is wrong. Kendric and Corinne seem to be having a discussion. He's holding out the harness and gesturing calmly.

"I think Corinne is even more afraid of heights than I am," Lisbeth explains. "I told her I too was afraid but wasn't going to let my fear get the best of me. So I bravely got in the harness despite my terror. Apparently I wasn't convincing enough."

Still watching the other side, I see Corinne slump to the ground. Kendric talks to her a few more seconds, then turns to load a few things into the harness that didn't make it over with anyone, such as my hauberk and Jolie's bow, as well as our packs.

At his signal, I pull them across. This load is the easiest and fastest yet. We quickly unload our gear then signal Kendric it's ready to be pulled back. I set my hauberk aside and look over to see how things are going with Corinne.

Apparently she's not ready yet, because as soon as Kendric pulls the harness back to his side, he loads it up with the rest of our gear. I pull that over too, then signal him again after we remove everything.

This time when I look over, Corinne seems to have come to some decision. As soon as the harness clears the far side of the gorge, she hugs Kendric then gets into the harness quickly, as if she wants to get this over with before she loses her courage.

Grabbing the tow rope, I ready myself, watching. Kendric gives the signal and I immediately begin to pull Corinne across the gorge, not too fast but not too slow. I keep it moving at a perpetual pace to keep the rocking to a minimum. She moves steadily over the water. I notice she's holding tightly to the harness with both hands as she gradually gets closer to our side of the chasm.

Thirty or so feet away, the tow rope I'm pulling on comes loose from the harness, causing me to fall backwards onto the ground. As I regain my feet, everyone begins crying out in alarm. The sudden change of force apparently caused the harness to swing wildly and Corinne is now hanging by the harness with both hands, perilously dangling over the tumultuous river below. And she's screaming in panic.

I react immediately, assessing how far she is from Kendric's side and from our side, and determine that he'll never make it in time. Without hesitation, I climb out onto the rope as smoothly as possible, shimmying towards Corinne much faster than I did coming across initially.

"Hold on Corinne!" I yell, unable to see her but clearly hearing her pleas for help. "I'll be there in a few moments! Just stay calm!"

Pausing to look in her direction, upside down, to see how much further I have to go, I see she's still holding strong but her shouts have become sobs of fear.

"You're okay!" I tell her, less than five feet to go. "I'm almost there!"

"Hurry Quill! I don't know how much longer I can hold on!" she wails.

"You're stronger than you think!" I say. "We'll get you to the other side soon!"

Finally I'm next to the harness. I hook both knees around the rope and work my hands down the harness ropes until I'm hanging upside down.

"I'm here Corinne. You're going to be fine. I need you to hook your elbows around the harness ropes before your hands lose their grip, okay? I'm going to grab one of your wrists and pull you up. You'll need to let go with that hand, just for a second, then loop your arm through and grab the rope lower. Do you understand?"

"I understand, but I'm scared," she cries.

"I know you're scared, but you can do this," I assure her in the most soothing voice I can conjure. I grip her wrist lightly. "We'll go when I reach 'three'. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright. When I say 'two', I'll tighten my grip on your wrist. These are the gloves you made for me. That means they grip so well it's not even possible for me to let you fall Corinne. When I say 'three', you're going to let go. Are you ready?"

She nods. "I'm ready," she croaks.

"Okay, here we go. One. Two. Three."

She follows my lead and it works perfectly. With her left arm now through the harness and gripping the rope again, she looks somewhat relieved, a spark of hope that she'll make it through this.

"You did fantastic Corinne," I tell her. "Now we're going to do the other hand. When we're done, I'm going to pull you the rest of the way across. Okay?"

"Okay," she says, sounding hopeful. "Let's do this."

"Okay, here we go. One. Two. Three." I lift her right hand up and guide it through the harness. She grips the rope tightly, her weight now on her arms and not just her hands.

"Good job," I say. "Are you ready for me to start pulling you across? Do you have a firm grip?"

"I'm more than ready Quill," she tells me with a nervous laugh. "I trust you Quill. Thank you for not letting go of me."

"I wouldn't dream of letting you go. Kendric would skin me alive," I muse. She laughs a little more confidently.

"Alright, here we go," I announce, shifting my legs a foot or two towards our goal, then using my hands to pull the harness along the rope.

"How are you doing?" I ask, mostly to keep her talking to distract her. I shift then slide the harness along the rope another couple feet.

"My arms hurt, but I'm okay," she answers. "How are you doing Quill?"

"My head feels weird being upside down so long, but the view is incredible!" I proclaim sarcastically, shifting my legs the next couple feet.

She laughs at my quip. Then, as I begin to slide the harness along the rope, the loop of rope supporting the harness breaks. My left shoulder is nearly dislocated as all of Corinne's weight yanks to a stop by my hand on the harness, while my legs are jerked from the rope above. Corinne screams. I strain to keep hold of the harness with one hand and the rope above me with the other, but I can tell it's only a matter of moments before my fingers give out.

"Quill! Please, please don't let go," she begs me, crying. I look down and meet her gaze.

Time slows down.

I hear the others shouting from far away. I hear the rush of water below and the pounding of my heartbeat as I struggle to tighten my grip. I hear Kendric's cry of anguish as I feel the tow rope attached on his side suddenly cut away. "That's clever," I think to myself. "Kendric knows if I drop her and the rope is still tied to his side, she'll swing that way and smash right into the face of the cliff."

"Please Quillion," Corinne whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear. I don't deserve the look of trust on her face.

My hand slips.

Time stands still.

§ 6 ~ Desperation

One thought lodged itself firmly in my mind before we fell. No matter what, I can't let go.

We hit the water hard. The air bursts from my lungs. As my body is tumbled by the current, I become even more disoriented, searching desperately for daylight and air.

I finally break the surface, coughing up water, but still clinging to the harness. I catch a brief glimpse back and see the other end of the tow rope as it disappears into the river. Then I turn to see Corinne in front of me, also clinging to the harness. Her eyes are wild as she looks to me for rescue. It takes all my effort to keep my head, and hers, above the water. Even so, I swallow far more water than I need to quench any thirst I may have felt.

I hear rapids and see white-caps ahead. Beyond that, the river gives way to a waterfall. If we go over that, that will more than likely be the end of our journey. Frantically I search for a way out of this maelstrom.

There! Directly ahead, closer to the side of the canyon is a fallen tree branch. I paddle and kick as hard as I can to get closer, dragging Corinne with me. I reach out to catch the branch... and miss as the current shifts me away at the last second.