“
Vaughn you can accompany the girls back to our private quarters if you like.”
Vaughn was actually curious about the town.
“
I think I will stay out this evening and have a look around. I find this place terribly interesting.”
“
Very well, I will go catch Keera and see what the story is. I will be back in a little while girls, see you then.”
With a smile Dark was off to go back up the hill. Keera was obviously slipping back into her old ways and with so many men present, Dark guessed the temptation was proving too great.
It didn’t take long to find her, she was instructing three men and was in a jovial mood, the men too were enjoying her company.
“
Keera, can we speak?”
They all turned and looked at her.
“
Another wild woman from the bar Keera?” smiled a man.
Dark gave the man a hard look and addressed him.
“
Hardly.”
The tone was hard and uncompromising. They all pulled up quickly, they realized this woman was not like Keera.
“
Um you men practice what I was showing you. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Keera led Dark off into the trees. Pulling up, Keera turned, half expecting what came next.
“
Well I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am a bit disappointed. What are you doing Keera?”
Keera looked at her, not really in the mood for explaining herself.
“
This place is boring and sometimes it's just plain hard work. I need to let my hair down sometimes is all.”
Dark looked on. She wasn’t buying it.
“
Every night? Justin and you were so close only two weeks ago, what is going on?”
Keera let out a deep sigh,
“
He is such a boy, I just get so frustrated with him and well, he doesn’t drink much either.”
Dark was losing her patience,
“
And you shouldn’t be drinking so much either! Tell me Keera, have you bedded any of these men?”
Keera stared back now with a jaded eye.
“
All of them actually, oh and damn they are good.”
Dark lashed out angrily at her. She slapped Keera’s face and in an instant Keera had her dagger out and at Dark’s neck. Dark didn’t flinch. She stared back with a hard steely gaze. Keera then spoke in a low and menacing tone.
“
This is MY life and I will live it as I see fit. You are not my bloody mother so just piss off!”
Dark was just as menacing.
“
Take that dagger from my throat or you shall regret ever unsheathing it.”
Keera pulled back,
“
I can see there is no point in continuing this discussion. I am going to be gone for a week. I will be picking up from where we are leaving off then.”
Dark left Keera to her own devices. She was so angry, so frustrated with what was going on; ‘Patience my love, temperance.’ Wollfen’s words popped up in her head, he was always advising that shit. Right now she just wanted to grab Keera and give her a good smack in the chops to wake her up.
It was fully night by the time Dark got back to the quarters. She was so pissed off she wasn’t aware that Night and Loranda were sitting in the room. She began pacing back and forth, her boots beating a steady rhythm on the floorboards. Night and Loranda looked on and kept quiet. They could see Dark was working off a deep anger and they knew better than to interrupt.
It hadn’t gone well at all Night thought to herself. She saw the anger abate to a low level and then she felt it safe to speak up. Clearing her throat Dark started at the noise and stopped.
“
I have a hot bath waiting for you.”
Dark looked at her and replied slowly,
“
I’m sorry, Keera is pissing me off no end.”
“
Shitting you to tears appears a more apt description.” Night commented.
Dark smiled and nodded.
“
Yes, so, you poured a bath for me?”
Night got up looking at Loranda who nodded at her. She took hold of Dark’s hand and led her into the next room. It had a large wooden tub in the middle of it and there was a wisp of steam coming off the surface of the water.
“
Now get undressed and hop in my dear.”
Dark did as she was instructed, stripping naked and sliding in. Night went over to the fire burning with a large pot hanging over it and took it over to the tub, she poured in a bit of hot water to warm the bath up some more.
“
That’s enough thanks.”
Dark lay slowly back and relaxed. Night came over and sat on a stool beside the tub and looked at Dark lying there. Dark was aware of Night’s eyes looking over her but she didn’t mind. She was appreciating Dark’s form. For a woman ten years her senior she was in good shape. Grabbing a sponge Dark began to rub her arms down, trying to relax.
“
So tell me about Keera.”
Dark was still simmering on that subject.
“
Oh she is reverting to the bitch we knew a year ago, sleeping about and drinking heavily, you remember how she was.”
“
Yes, that seems such a long time ago.”
“
Mm, it’s like now that Wolf is away she is turning back into what she was.”
“
That I think is exactly what is happening and to tell the truth, I’m not sure what we can do about it. I don’t know why it is so.”
Dark leaned forward hugging her knees for Night to do her back.
“
Well we will have the week to think about it. Hopefully something will come out of it eh?” Night nodded.
“
I have a nightslip for you to wear when you are ready.”
“
Thank you,” acknowledged Dark, “I need you and Loranda’s support more than ever. If Keera can't be relied on it's not going to be good.”
Night understood perfectly what she meant, the next year was going to be hard on Dark the most.
“
Yes, the next year without Wollfen will test us all.”
After the bath Dark sat and ate quietly with the other two. They didn’t need to talk to understand what each was feeling, their bond was based on mutual experiences and feelings.
“
Time for bed.”
The three of them made their way to the bedroom. On entering Dark saw that two large beds were pushed together, looking to the other two they smiled and Loranda gave an explanation,
“
We thought you would like it if we slept in the same bed for company.” Dark nodded.
“
Yes, I haven’t had Wollfen beside me in almost a month.”
They all slid under the sheets with Dark to one side and they drifted off to sleep. Dark was the last to drop off. She lay awake for a while, thoughts of Wollfen crowding her mind.
Wollfen was also lying awake that night. He had spent the day conversing with Madeira, sharing his thoughts on humanity and its ways in different parts of the world he had traveled. For Madeira it was an eye opener, the trip to the kingdom was her first and was looking at it from a conqueror’s perspective, sizing up the enemy against her own men. But now she was seeing other things too, the way people related to each other and how they carried themselves on a day to day basis. The more she learned the more she realized that the basics of each society were the same. All wished peace and safety, even if they each went a different way about it.
Some thoughts troubled her. Hers was a harsh environment and she had started to question the necessity of that harshness especially in the different communities she had come to recognize. Nothing was as absolute as she had learned in Isogorr. Wollfen had taught her that simply having more of anything even if it was a good thing wasn’t necessarily better. There was such a thing as having enough. She thought about that a lot. She had seen it in the opulence of the halls of the Castle in Port Cholandra, total excess beyond any reason. There was validity to things Wollfen was showing her.
For Wollfen it was a little thing, he was working away at her, nibbling at the edges of her beliefs, bringing her around slowly at a pace that allowed Madeira to make her own mind up. It was good because then it came from within herself and not shoved down her throat by Wollfen. This subject was an easy one to talk to her about. Since the sorc clique lived a rather spartan life anyway, she could relate to what he was saying. The bigger test would come later when he started talking to her of concepts totally alien to her--mercy and compassion, belief in the equality of all peoples. They would be big ideas and they could wait.
The wind outside was strong tonight and there was rain too. It wasn’t long before there was lightning as well. Thunder crashed overhead and the ship began rolling on the seas as the waves grew. Madeira came into his cot and snuggled up against him under the blanket. He didn’t really believe she was afraid.
She had been more affectionate since the night of the mental wave he had sent out. While she was a little more physical with him now, she never went far at all. She had her ingrained teachings holding her back and also she didn’t know what else to do. At times like this Wollfen would become hard and sometimes her thigh would press against his manhood. He knew she was aware of it, but he didn’t say anything and neither did she. Sometimes he thought the next five months were going to be very, very difficult indeed. He slid a hand into her hair and caressed her scalp. She snuggled in a bit more.
Wollfen had made a cold decision awhile ago to get this woman to bond with him for his end purposes, get her to come around to suit his goals. But now, she would lay here from time to time pressed up against him and he couldn’t help but feel something for her. Sometimes it was sorrow, she had never felt the affectionate touch of another person before and even now what little she got was so much more than she had ever experienced. He wondered how whole generations could live out their lives in Isogorr never touching another human being with tenderness. It made him sad to know that whole lives were being corrupted to the point that their souls were permanently scarred even into the afterlife.
He looked down at her, smooth white skin, black hair shining in the flashes of lightning. He caressed down her arm, touching her skin and giving her shivers, running fingertips lightly up and down again. Madeira opened her eyes and looked at him, raised her lips to his cheek and gave him a light kiss. He had never kissed her back, she wouldn’t know what it was like to trade a kiss on the lips. He leaned down to her lips, placing his against hers. He kissed now, lightly sliding his against hers, then pressing a little more firmly, lingered a little. Then he sucked her upper lip a bit into his mouth. He lightly ran his tongue across it, feeling it move and respond to his touch. She opened her mouth a little and their tongues touched, tentatively at first then reaching forward more and more. Their exploring tongues and lips ending up sliding over each others in a dance of pleasure. Madeira’s hand slid up and down Wollfen’s bare chest feeling him. She was gyrating against his hip now, losing herself in the passion of this embrace. She had never felt like this before and she was lost in the sensations of discovery.
Wollfen’s hand cupped her breast and squeezed, then her nipple too and it was exquisite. She couldn’t fathom the pleasure flowing through her body. It was something like that night she was pinned against the wall but this was much more primal. Reaching down she grabbed his hard rod and squeezed. Wollfen let out a moan of pleasure and responded in kind. His hand felt down between her legs and found her wetness. She couldn’t believe how good it felt, his fingers exploring and touching, she moaned out loud.
And then, without thinking warning bells went off in her head, NO! She half fell half jumped out of his cot and quickly retreated to her side of the cabin, covering herself she curled up in a ball with her back to him. What had she almost done? Oh no, she had almost lost everything. Her head was spinning. She was still in the grips of pleasure, her groin a center of delicious aching heat. Skin tingling and lightheaded, she was feeling every part of her body like never before.
Wollfen on the other hand was lying back in his cot, half glad and half frustrated she had moved off. Getting up now, he threw his robe on and moved outside into the driving rain. It soaked him within seconds and he was grateful. The cold brought him back to earth. Eyes closed and head tilted to the heavens. He felt the rain on his face and took satisfaction in it, a different sort of pleasure but satisfying. He felt a hand clasp his upper arm.
Looking around it was Madeira standing beside him just as soaked. She needed it too. Madeira looked up at his face as he looked out over the blackness of the ocean. There was nothing to see but she could see he was deep in thought. Face set in a stern manner and lips pressed together tightly. Obviously he too was considering how he must have come so close to losing the power himself, she thought.
Wollfen was actually thinking more of how he almost lost his own self-respect. He had allowed his passion to rise beyond what he should have, allowed his feelings of desire and compassion too, to take hold. He promised himself he would not do that again. After about ten minutes in the rain they returned to their cabin and did not talk. Both of them left things unspoken and each retired for the night to their cots.