Heartgem Homestead Page 6

  He shouted for Laurel a few times, but his voice didn’t carry further than a few feet through the frenzied storm. Following the path through the sand was the only option Hal had, and he had to admit, he was curious about what he’d find at the end.

  Hal walked for hours on end. His feet began to blister as sand snuck into his boots and chafed against his skin. His entire mouth went painfully dry, and eventually, so did his eyes. He was beginning to wonder if that path was just a freak anomaly that led to nowhere except empty desert when he finally spotted something in the distance.

  Several ruined structures lay ahead of him, worn with age and half buried by the sand. It was the remains of a city, or at least a large outpost. The buildings, what was left of them, were constructed in an odd, curving architecture style. The doorways were lower in height than he was tall, as if they’d been designed for a race of smaller people.

  Hal glanced around nervously as he walked into what he assumed had once been a thriving market square. A ruined fountain lay at the center of it. Hal took a few steps toward it, feeling a strange, intangible pull. A noise came from behind him. He looked over his shoulder, saw nothing there, and turned to look back at the fountain.

  It was no longer ruined, but as majestic as the day it had first been built. Water pumped up from a geyser in the center, rising to twice Hal’s own height. He took a slow step toward it, expecting the image to reveal itself to be a mirage at any second.

  “This city was once beautiful.”

  A velvety feminine voice came from the other side of the fountain. Hal watched in disbelief as a tall, voluptuous woman walked into view. Her hair was fair and fell loose across her shoulders and breasts. Her skin was lightly tanned, and bits of sand stuck to her otherwise nude form, covering up one of her pink nipples, and flecking her thighs.

  Hal stared at her in disbelief, his eyes drinking in the sight of her generous naked breasts, trim waist, and the perfect curves of her hips and buttocks. She was walking toward him slowly, smiling and obviously enjoying his attention. He met her eyes for a moment and stared into irises that were a rainbow of different colors.

  “The desert has worn this place down into a shadow of its former self,” said the woman. “This city was a place of celebration and joy. Of love, family, and tradition. Of strong emotions, and thus, immense power.”

  Am I hallucinating? Where did this woman come from?

  “This fountain was all the only part of it I could save, though it took me much consideration to decide upon it,” said the woman. “The eklids, elves, as you call them now, performed a ritual here. Would you like to know more of it?”

  She confidently strode in closer to Hal, coming within a few feet. He couldn’t stop looking at her, and as she came within the reach of his arms, Hal felt an aura of pure eroticism wash over him. He’d never felt such strong sexual desire in his entire life. The woman, or rather, the being, standing in front of him was more deserving of his masculine attention than even the comeliest maiden back in Cardvale. He slowly nodded in answer to her question.

  “The eklids of Nar Caleth, the city you now stand in, would undergo a ritual on their twentieth day of birth, when they finally left adolescence. Each virgin daughter and son would strip off their clothes and climb naked into the city’s central fountain.”

  Her voice had a musical quality to it that made each of her words feel like an individual attempt at seduction. Hal had to steady his breathing to keep from panting. He was hard, but also mentally aroused and felt no shame in acknowledging his throbbing bulge now in full view of the woman’s eyes.

  “The young eklids would have a choice for the ritual,” said the woman. “Either the uncoupled women or men, depending on their inclination, would enter the fountain one by one and join with them.”

  The desert woman began to circle around Hal, reaching out with one arm and occasionally running a finger across his shoulders, or letting her breath tickle his neck. More than anything, Hal wanted to grab her and throw her down to the sand, to mount her, there and then. But he didn’t, or rather, he couldn’t. She had him in her power.

  “The young eklids would take the uncoupled, one after another, offering their bodies for raw, passionate, unobstructed usage,” said the woman. “The ritual would continue until each eklid learned to express their sexual power. To dominate with pleasure, in the place of power or intelligence. For the eklids, it was as much of a weapon as any sword or gem.”

  The desert woman stepped back around to Hal’s front. She moved in close enough to press her naked breasts against his chest. Her hand ran down the front of Hal’s shirt, slipping under it and across his stomach, and then down and over the bulge in his pants. He let out a gasp, floored by the sensation.

  “What is your name?” asked the woman.

  “Halrin,” he said, almost as soon as she’d asked the question.

  “Halrin,” the woman repeated. “Do you know what I am?”

  Hal hesitated, and then shook his head.

  Do I want to know? Does it even matter?

  The woman pulled away from him, and a disappointment that went beyond words flooded into him. She turned around and slowly walked back toward the fountain, stepping over the lip and into the water.

  “Will you join me?” asked the woman. “Will you climb into this fountain, and join me?”

  CHAPTER 11

  Hal was already moving, his legs pulling him toward her was though he was being drawn by some invisible force. He reached the fountain and lifted his leg to climb into it. The woman let out a laugh that sounded like the chiming of a bell.

  “No, Halrin,” she said. “You must discard your clothes, first.”

  He began to undress. She watched him, and her gaze turned the simple act of stripping off his shirt into an erotic display, like the theater dancers he’d heard of in the central provinces that his father and many of the other voicemen disdained. The pause in their interaction gave Hal a moment to think, a moment to consider if he was about to make a mistake that would get him killed.

  “Halrin,” cooed the woman. She’d begun washing herself, gently wiping away spots from sand, revealing what little of her naked body there still was left to reveal.

  Hal pulled off his pants and climbed into the fountain. He moved toward the woman slowly, his arousal aimed at her like an arrow ready to fly forth from a bow. As he came close to her, that same aura of eroticism washed over him, and he suddenly felt like a little boy who’d walked in on a naked older woman.

  He wasn’t completely inexperienced. A band of traveling minstrels and acrobats had stayed a week at his family’s estate a few years earlier, and Hal had lost his virginity to a very spirited and agile young woman a few years older than him. But though Hal was no virgin, under the gaze of this woman and her strange sexual power, he felt shy, nervous, and woefully self-aware.

  “As with many things, this can be learned,” said the woman. She reached a finger out, letting it slide down Hal’s bare chest, stomach, and then along the length of his cock, all the way to the tip. He groaned with anticipation, still unable to do more than look at her, the pleasure as sharp as a freshly forged blade.

  Her hand closed around his shaft, and the woman looked as though she was holding back a smile. She slowly stroked, up and down, her movements teasing him and keeping him on the edge. Hal wanted to close his eyes and give into the sensation, but it felt as though that would have been admitting defeat.

  Is this how the elves felt in this fountain, during their ritual?

  The woman moved in closer, pulling Hal into an embrace. She shifted his cock so it was pinned upward between their bodies and kissed him deeply, slowly undulating against him. The kiss partially released Hal from the grips of her spell, and he let his hands run down her back and over her butt.

  “You will find your power eventually, Halrin,” whispered the woman. “But for now, you shall witness mine.”

  She kissed him harshly, her fingers pulling at his hair, and
moved him across the fountain. She pushed him back onto the upper section of it, where the shallow water overflowed down into the deeper bottom bowl, and then straddled him.

  The sight of her naked breasts hanging over him, her legs spread, her crotch hovering inches above his awaiting shaft, was the most erotic thing Hal had ever borne witness to. Slowly, the woman lowered herself down, sheathing herself onto him. Her expression remained the same, but a small, almost weary sigh did escape her lips.

  Hal nearly passed out from the intensity of the contact, even though she’d barely allowed an inch of him inside of her. It was everything he’d ever wanted, and more. Could he stay there with her, forever? Could he stretch the encounter out into an eternity, savor that sensation for the rest of his life? It was pleasure beyond what he was ready for. He realized that it was enough to ruin him, and still wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything.

  “Oh!” he shouted. He let his hands slide up the side of her body, and then across to cup her breasts. “You’re… incredible.”

  The woman laughed. She leaned forward, expertly hovering above him, as though she was afraid of what it might do to him if he went in too deep, too fast.

  “And so are you, young Halrin,” she whispered. “Just for keeping enough of a mind to voice your thoughts while inside of me.”

  She kissed him, and Hal kissed back, his lips eager, bordering on desperate. She lifted up and then dropped back down, letting herself go lower than she had before. Hal’s toes curled. His eyes bulged. Muscles he hadn’t realized he’d had tensed up. He let out a wordless, passionate shout of pure ecstasy.

  The woman ran one of her hands over Hal’s face, her fingers tracing the contours of his cheekbones and jaw. She rocked back and forth, the motion fluid and perfect. It felt like it was both a demonstration and a test for him, and Hal wasn’t sure what he had to do in order to pass.

  Fighting through a cloud of lust and primal need, Hal managed to grip her waist with his hands. His heart pounded in his chest as he gave her the slightest pull, sliding himself a little deeper inside of her.

  The woman, for once, gave a reaction. Her lips pursed, and her brow furrowed. Hal was nearly too dizzy from his own pleasure to notice, but she seemed to approve of his mild boldness. He reached a hand up and felt one of her nipples, almost managing to stay lucid in the fog of pleasure for long enough to give it a teasing squeeze.

  “Amazing…” she whispered. Then, like a sparring partner who’d finally decided to get serious, she began undulating against him with deliberate, passionate motions. Hal’s breath was shaky as pleasure stabbed into his body all over.

  The woman allowed him deeper into her, and she began to bounce, her breasts lagging an instant behind her body in their own lewd movements. It was almost too much for him. He thought he was going to pass out. The woman cupped his cheek with her hand, forcing him to hold her gaze and stay in the moment.

  “You will learn.” The woman rode him faster, her lane squeezing his shaft in a tight, uncompromising grip. “You must learn.”

  Hal nodded, the sound of her body slapping rhythmically against his sounding out like a simple, accelerating drum beat. He felt pleasure welling up inside his chest, stomach, and cock, until there was no more room for it.

  He cried out as he found his release, the intensity of it making his entire body shake. The woman stopped moving the instant he came, lowering herself all the way down, composed and eager to have his seed within her.

  Hal floated on a cloud of soft pleasure. He was proud of himself, though he didn’t really know why. He didn’t understand what the passionate encounter meant, or how it had happened. The woman was watching him, her mouth turned up into a small, approving smile.

  “You have a powerful weapon here.” She tapped a finger on his chest. Hal realized that he still had his necklace on and glanced down at it.

  “The gemstone?” he asked.

  The woman let out a quiet laugh.

  “Your heart,” she whispered.

  Hal nodded and leaned his head back. His closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.

  CHAPTER 12

  “Hal! Halrin! Please, wake up! I’m so sorry!”

  Hal groaned and blinked his eyes open. His head felt sluggish, similar to how he might feel after taking a midday nap, and he supposed that was exactly what he’d done. Laurel was on her knees, leaning over him, her face contorted with worry.

  The woman… I was in the fountain with her.

  Hal sat up straight, reaching down to cover himself as he realized he’d never dressed himself after the intimate encounter. Strangely, he was already dressed, and even his pistol belt hung around his waist exactly how he would have normally worn it.

  “Laurel…” he said, groggily. “You found me.”

  Laurel pulled him into a tight hug, breathing a sigh of relief as she did.

  “I was so worried!” She took a shaky breath. “You just… fell off. Toothy wouldn’t listen to me. He was too terrified by the sandstorm. When I went back, you weren’t on the road. If your tracks hadn’t still been visible, I never would have found you. Why in Mystra’s name did you wander off so far? And into these ruins, of all places?”

  “I… didn’t really have a choice,” said Hal. “There was this woman. She was, uh, naked, and…”

  He trailed off, realizing how ridiculous he sounded. He noticed how Laurel reacted to the mention of the woman.

  “The Desert Lady,” she said, unamused. “You’re telling me that you encountered a mythical succubus in the middle of a sandstorm?”

  “Uh…” Hal shrugged. “She didn’t give me her name.”

  Laurel sighed and shook her head.

  “Is this a joke?” she asked. “Or do you take me for a fool?”

  “No!” Hal considered what else he could say to convince her, realizing that the other parts of his story, the flowing fountain which was now as ruined as the rest of the old city, were just as unbelievable. “I mean… I don’t know. Maybe I just dreamed it?”

  It was no dream. I know it wasn’t.

  Laurel still seemed irritated with him, but she nodded and accepted his explanation.

  “Come on,” she said. “We’ll have to ride hard to make it to Lorne before nightfall. I’d hoped that we’d be able to make the trip to town and back to my homestead in a single day, but there’s no way we’d make it in time, now.”

  “Is there a place we can stay in town?” asked Hal.

  Laurel nodded.

  “A small inn,” she said. “I know the owner.”

  Hal and Laurel rode in silence. Toothy had a bit of trouble with the loose sand off the road, his hooves sinking and shifting against the ground, and they didn’t make the best time.

  Lorne slowly came into distance on the horizon, and Hal understood what Laurel had meant when she’d called it a small town. Even that seemed like an exaggeration, by Hal’s estimate. There were barely more than a dozen buildings, all of them constructed from yellow sandbrick.

  The town’s centerpiece was an old well that had clearly seen better days. A few older women were busy drawing buckets from it, pouring water over a large basin filled with dirty clothing in need of wash.

  Cacti similar to the ones Hal had seen on Laurel’s farm were planted in almost every backyard and along the streets, except these grew to massive sizes. They were as big as trees, and their spines were soft and silky, rather than the usual sharp spikes cacti used for defense.

  A small, yellow haired cat walked up to Hal and Laurel as they demounted and made their way into town. It walked circles through their legs, nuzzling up against Laurel’s calf and drawing Hal’s attention back to the tight pants she had on. Even with the skirt over them, it was distracting, though he knew he’d just have to get used to it.

  Laurel found a stall for Toothy in the town’s stables, which housed one other horse and two animals with yellow fur and short snouts that also looked rideable, though Hal couldn’t identify what they
actually were. She brushed her hands off on her backside as she walked over to Hal, nodding to the building across from them.

  “This way,” she said.

  The sign out front read “The Merry Lorne Inn”. Hal let Laurel lead him through the inn’s front door, the wood scraping against the frame as it opened. There was a cloth curtain hanging immediately on the other side of it, and he guessed that it was to keep sand from sneaking in through the cracks during sandstorms.

  The inn’s barroom wasn’t too different from what Hal was used to back in the Collected Provinces, though it was on the small side. There were six tables in total, along with the main bar, behind which a man leaned against the wall, lightly dozing. In the corner of the room, there was a stage larger than Hal would have expected for such a small town.

  Traveling minstrels and bards are probably the only entertainment these folks ever get.

  “Meridon,” said Laurel, walking toward the bar. “Asleep on the job? Again?”

  The man made a noise and started forward, rubbing his eyes. His hair was black and grey, with an obvious bald spot in the center. He had a generous stomach, but Hal noticed a scar on his neck that suggested that he hadn’t always led the life of a sedentary barkeeper.

  “Lady Laurel!” roared Meridon. “By the Matron! It’s good to see your face! Koda said she saw the dragon drop low over your homestead. We’ve been worried half sick, we have.”

  “I’m okay,” said Laurel. “A few fires on the roof, but nothing I couldn’t handle. And I thought you and Koda had a falling out?”

  Meridon chuckled.

  “It only lasted until she remembered her fondness for blackberry brandy,” he said. “It didn’t take us long to kiss and make up. But er, don’t tell her I said that. She’s a very private woman, you know.”

  “Oh, I know as well as anyone,” said Laurel. She only then seemed to remember that Hal was there, glancing back over her shoulder at him. “Meridon, this is my friend Halrin. He’s a traveler who… happened upon my homestead the other night. Hal, this is Meridon, the owner of Lorne’s only inn and a master of selling watered down ale.”