TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 09

"Kuto, hurry back to the farm and get one of the vials out of the emergency potions," instructed Perra as she stepped up to Elta. "I'm touching," she warned the woman before running a finger along the angry red welts on her back.

Daxas stepped up beside her. "Who has been doing this to you?" she growled but only received a sob in response.

"They're self-inflicted, Dax," the wolf looked down at Perra in astonishment, "These wounds match the pattern of the lash she was going to use on me earlier. The markings are what it looks like if someone were to hit themselves with it from over their shoulder."

"Humans are so strange," she said shaking her head. She then turned around, telling the girls that Perra had things under control and they could go back to swimming before joining them in the pool.

Perra wasn't sure if Dax deciding to leave them alone together was intentional or just a show of confidence in the younger woman. Either way, she was grateful. "Why are you doing this, Elta?" she asked softly.

Tears were still running down the cleric's face, but her expression turned to one of anger. "Because I'm weak," she said.

"You haven't come across as very weak since you came to Telsin. Care to explain?"

"You won't let this go, will you," snapped the cleric as she looked over her shoulder.

"Nope. I trapped you in that oath, now you're my responsibility."

"If I'm such a burden, you could always release me."

Perra shook her head, "Not an option, at least until I know that you won't be a threat to me, my family, and my town. You need to remember that I don't enjoy this and that I'm doing it for protection and not because I want to. Regardless of that, you are not to cause yourself anymore harm."

"I'll be the town whore within a week," mumbled the cleric.

"What?" the farmgirl asked hardly believing what she heard. Despite looking like they were only swimming, Dax and a couple of the dog girls were listening in. Turning towards the humans, they looked surprised for a moment before resuming what they were doing.

Elta put her arms up and leaned against the wall, her hands curling into fists again. "I ran away, turned my back on my family and my whole town chasing after that man. Only to find out I was just a place to put his cock while he traveled. His woman back in the capital wasn't even upset. She even thanked me for taking care of him before telling me, in no uncertain terms, I was neither wanted or needed. Since he was a cleric I had learned a good deal about the church, it was the only thing in the capitol I knew anything about. Before I could start looking like a beggar, I went to the cathedral. His name got them listening enough to take me on as an initiate. I don't regret being introduced to the church, but it showed me how weak I am when it comes to men.

"I quickly discovered there were many temptations within the city. I succumbed to a few of them before dedicating myself to the church.

"It hasn't gotten any better since I came home. The tanner's boy in particular, the one that Kal saved, has been relentless in trying to get me to accept you and your wizard. Every time he speaks to me it leaves me weak in the knees." Elta's breathing quickened as she thought about the young man before shaking her head to clear away the unwanted desire welling up within her. "The pain keeps me focused, it's my penance for being unable to control my lust. Take that away and the men of this town will pass me around like a copper piece ."

"Fuck him."

The cleric looked over her shoulder, "I doubt the boy has done enough to warrant such ire from you, Perra. He defends you and Kal quite vehemently."

"I wasn't speaking ill of the boy. In fact, I think you have quite good taste. He's certainly handsome enough without all the stupidity toward women of his father. That was actually a suggestion for you; go see your mother, get some gondas weed and fuck him. If you are lucky it will turn into a regular thing and you might even get a husband out of it. If not, you get a handy outlet to take care of your body's needs, so your lusts don't get the better of you."

Elta turned around and glared at Perra, "Is that an order?"

She shook her head, "Absolutely not, I won't sit here and dictate who you sleep with or who you love. I just want you to stop hurting yourself. You fell prey to the man who took you away from here, perhaps you could try being the predator for a while." Perra smiled, "I have to admit a sense of pride and accomplishment the times I drive Kal to distraction so he can think of nothing but making love to me."

The cleric sneered at the farmgirl, "Is that how you determine your worth? By how quickly you can get a man inside you?" Elta stood up a bit straighter with indignance as the farmgirl started laughing.

A soft voice came from the pool, "Sometimes I wish he was quicker to get inside me."

Both human women turned in time to see the other dog girls chuckling at the column of bubbles from where the speaker dove under in embarrassment.

"None of Kal's women are the brainless concubines you may believe us to be. Ikuno is a skilled mage. Aradelle took on an undead wolf sent by a necromancer. Bea has eyes that can see far beyond a human's and can produce silk stronger than steel. Gerda is teaching Kal geomancy. I'm his voice on the council and take care of his affairs while he's away. Do you believe that any of us define ourselves by our ability to bounce on a cock?"

"I noticed you didn't include the women here and the harpy," she pointed out instead of answering.

Perra accepted the dodge since she knew the woman didn't have an acceptable answer. "Dax and her pack aren't Kal's women," she glanced over at the wolf, "yet. Kuto has never been with him"

The cleric opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud flapping of wings outside. The harpy they were speaking of entered the bathhouse holding a small vial in her mouth. Bird feet weren't the greatest for grasping small smooth objects.

Perra took the vial from her and touched it to her pendant, making the bauble go dark as the vial glowed bright blue.

"Drink," she commanded, pulling the stopper and handing it to Elta. "Kal learned that scars weren't a loss of skin but that the new skin is different from the old. He figured out how to make the smooth skin from scars look like it had before. Technically you will still have the scars on your back, but you will only be able to tell by running your hand over them."

The cleric downed the healing potion and handed it back. "I could have healed myself."

"Yet you didn't. As I said, you're my responsibility, I'll make sure you are taken care of to the best of my ability, whether you like it or not. Now come join us in the water, please. It's time for you to learn a bit of truth. Bring the box along so you can tell if we are deceiving you," said Perra as she made her way back to the pool.

------

Kal and Sandy's first stop ended up being in a musty cave with air barely good enough for Kal to breathe. She released him from the harness as he fitted his mask and powered up the runes while giving her a questioning look.

"Having you in front isn't comfortable," she said running her hand over her baby bump. She had been pregnant much longer than Dax and her pack, but the canines looked to be much further along. In a way they were, golem pregnancies lasted for nearly two years.

Kal took the opportunity of their stop to empty his bladder. He had just gotten himself situated when Sandy tugged his pants back down. He explained that he wasn't interested in having rock and stone surrounding his dick as they traveled.

"It won't," said Sandy as she turned away from him and beckoned over her shoulder. She had grown the harness out of her back making her look like some kind of human/stone spider. The golem bent slightly at the waist and reached back to spread the cheeks of her bottom.

"Couldn't this wait?" Kal asked, his voice muffled by the mask.

Completely missing the exasperated look on his face thanks to the mask she shook her ass at him. "Gerda said you like taking a woman back here. She may be scared but I've played around some and found I like how it feels. If you want me that way just wet yourself inside me first."

Stifling a sigh, Kal stroked himself to half-hard before pushing into her waiting sex. "I think I'm good here," he said, nudging the mask to the side.

Sandy nodded and straightened up. Feeling him almost slip out she bent back over. "Back way, please."

It was hard to say no to a woman who wanted you deep in her ass. He stroked into her pussy a couple of times, coating himself with the golem's strangely slippery juices. Pulling out, he pressed the head of his cock against the tight ring of her anus. The mage gently pushed his way through the tight ring of muscle as the golem groaned in obvious pleasure. Taking small strokes, he slid all the way inside until his thighs rested against her bottom.

As he was about to start moving inside the rock girl she stood up straight in front of him, the harness growing and completing itself around his back. The stone belt that had gone around his waist widened. It quickly covered his exposed buttocks where they were joined, then contracted slightly so he was pressed firmly into her ass.

Kal had just moved the mask aside to ask what she was doing when she threw a lusty smile over her shoulder at him and dropped them back into the stone.

As they continued north and the golem began to rhythmically squeeze his prick, he decided that there were much worse ways to travel.

------

Elta sat on the edge of the pool with her knees drawn up to her chest, naked and shivering. Not because of the temperature as it was nice and warm in the bathhouse, and not out of fear as she had acclimated to her situation over the last few hours. She shivered from shock after the revelations the farmgirl and wolf had exposed her to. Their stories supported by the small wooden box lying next to her.

She kept glancing down at the box. The words on the lid flickered a yellow-green color as the spell tried to determine if the phrase was a lie. Despite her fervent wish that something had gone wrong, the flickering only she could see was a sign she had cast the spell correctly. Granted, it wouldn't tell her if their tales had been lies when told to the women. But a feeling in her gut told her that, even if some of the details were off, most of their story was true.

A wizard had created the monster girls and wiped the largest city of the time off the map in retribution for an attack on his smaller, growing city. Then Lantaris and the church stepped in to claim supremacy and erased the other two cities from history. The knowledge shook her to her core, and for the life of her, she didn't know what to do with it.