The Elfmaid's Curse (The Elfmaid Trilogy Book 1) (26 page)

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            A hand on her shoulder brought Danica suddenly awake. In the pre-dawn light, she found a  very ugly man leering at her. She was shivering uncontrollably, her blanket bunched up around her neck and shoulders and leaving the rest of her body out in the frigid desert night air. When she tried to speak she found her mouth full of powdery sand.

            "You coming with us, Danica?" Faiser asked, with a hint of a chuckle at her obvious hangover.

            "Tuunar take the lot of you, Faiser," she croaked out and lay back as her head began to throb in earnest.

            Trying not to be too obvious, Danica eased a hand down to her waist. Her full purse was still tied there. At least her drinking companions of the previous night hadn't gotten her drunk to rob her. Even so, she prayed a curse on all their heads as she lay in misery. Then she added another curse on Talar's head, since it had to be his fault this soft female body of Danica's couldn't hold its ale.

            "Come along, Danica," Faiser said. He pulled her into a sitting position and pressed a cup to her lips. "Drink this. It'll clear your swollen head up in no time."

            Danica drank deeply of the cool liquid. It felt so good sliding over her parched tongue and down her throat, until someone lit it afire.

            "Glorious Gods!" she cried, pushing Faiser away and bolting to her feet. Fanning at her burning mouth, tongue hanging out, "What have you done to me? You sadistic bastard!"

            Not waiting for a reply, she hurried over to the horse trough and plunged her face down deep inside the cold water. Sucking in huge mouthfuls of water, she tried in vain to ease the terrible burning. The water seemed to only make it burn hotter. Finally after several minutes the burning started to ease. With a sigh of relief she sat on the edge of the trough and glared all the laughing people around her.

            Chuckling, Faiser said, "It's my old pappa's hangover remedy. Works good, too."

            "It's worse than a hangover."

            "Nonsense. Look at you," he said. "See how alert you are now?"

            Danica just snorted.

            Staggering over to her horse, Danica then started saddling the chestnut mare. As she went, she double-checked to ensure nothing had been stolen and there wasn't anything she’d forgotten. She always forgot something, and usually discovered the oversight at just the wrong time. Her unused sleeping roll was still rolled on the back of her saddle, along with her saddlebags full of two weeks' worth of jerky, trail biscuits, and dried fruit. Also inside the bulging saddlebags were two changes of clothes, a heavy cloak for the cold desert nights, and space for the blanket she still clutched around herself. After she finished saddling the mare, she reluctantly folded up her blanket and stuffed it back in it place.

            As she slipped the sand-colored burnoose over her head, she noticed Faiser still watching her intently. Still leering. Somehow she seemed to remember him looking at her the same way last night in the ale garden, and she enjoyed it. She chose to ignore him, for now, thankful she didn't wake up in bed with him. However, if he kept it up for much longer, she'd give him reason to keep his eyes to himself. The baseborn Jarlander probably thought she was one of the thousands of hot-blooded women warriors so damned eager to hop into the first bed offered. She was already dreading his future offer to "share" a bedroll. For the warmth.

           
I'll have to be more careful this time
, she thought.
Last time I received such an offer, I turned Captain Fulgar into my blood enemy. Look what that did for me.

            From last night she knew him to be the son of a common bravo in Brajar. At fifteen he had joined the Brajaran Army for a standard two year hitch. Not caring for the rigid discipline of the Royal Army, he had joined up with a mercenary company when his time was up. For the last twenty-nine years he had been fighting in war after war all across the Jarlands, Tyrians, and Desert Kingdoms. Word was, Brajar was preparing for war, again. There was a mercenary troop of dragoons in Tamera he hoped to join up with for the trip back to the Jarlands, and Brajaran service once again.

            "You have everything you're taking?" he said.

            "Yes, why?" she asked, not liking the crooked smile he was gracing her with.

            "Just asking. Let's go join the others."

            The rest of their little troupe was assembling at the far eastern edge of the shanty town. She frowned at their appearance. Riders were just milling about with no semblance of order. Seeing them so, she briefly wondered if they would be able to fight together as a cohesive unit if attacked by desert nomads.

            In the dim light about half looked to be Amazons, the rest a mixed bag of mostly Tyrians and Jarlanders. Only one man seemed to be from the steppe nomads, and three were whispered to be Hau warriors escaping captivity. There was no reward offered for escaped captives, so no one in their group would turn them in. Besides, their knowledge of the desert would be helpful. Though Danica didn't expect those men to stay with them long. Once safely away from the city, they would most likely ride off into the desert and return home.

Chapter 13

            Danica glanced up at the clear blue desert sky, not a cloud in sight. Letting her head roll forward, she weakly tugged the burnoose's hood forward to further cover her face from the pitiless sun. Her horse's head hung low; the mare's steps deliberate and slow. Danica was trailing far behind the others.

            Rubbing her dry tongue against the roof of her mouth, she tried to muster the spittle needed to expel the sand and dust accumulating there. Then for the hundredth time, began a silent tirade about how stupid she was for not bringing a water bladder. All the other horses were loaded with large water bladders. When she offered to buy some earlier from her traveling companions, she received only fierce looks. The horses could only carry enough water for themselves and their masters, not fools like Danica and her mount.

            Checking the condition of her horse, she groaned. The mare was in even worst shape after carrying her all day. She needed to dismount and walk, to save the mare's draining strength, but her companions had little sympathy for their plight and would leave them far behind. The others were eager to reach their first campsite, and the oasis it might hold. The Hau warriors had told them of it, just before they departed three hours back. It was late in the summer from what they said, and Danica held little confidence there would be water available. Most oases on the desert were fed by the annual spring melt high in the Tyr Mountains. Some few were fed steadily year round by aquifers, themselves fed by melting glaciers high in the Tyr Mountains.

            Cursing her callous companions, Danica slipped off the mare and began walking beside her. Softly murmuring words of encouragement while stroking her neck and nuzzle, she kept the spent chestnut mare going. She wished she had someone to whisper encouragement to her as she shuffled across the rocky terrain, shimmering with heat.

            She looked up to find no sign of the others. With a shudder, as much from fear of abandonment as dehydration, she lowered her head and trudged on. If they had abandoned her, then she would start traveling at night and sitting out the days under shade. Until she reached the Sea of Dunes.

            She almost wished a band of fierce Taag or Hau warriors would ambush her. They would give her water. They would save her precious mare, recognizing the magnificence of the proud beast. Chuckling, she knew that they would first save the horse before even considering what to do with her. A fine horse would do more for their tribe and clan than some pathetic half-dead slave.

            A clatter of hooves startled her out of her sun-fostered fantasies. Were the Gods finally answering one of her prayers, the wrong prayer of course, and sending some nomads over to capture her? She looked up to see Faiser reining in before her. He now wore a loose white burnoose and grey wide-brimmed steppe hat protecting his head.

            "Please, water," she begged, all pride long gone.

            He snorted. Danica lowered her head and trudged on.

            "We warned you it was everyone for themselves," he said. "If I shared my water, then I'd endanger myself and my horse. We could both die out on this godsforsaken desert."

            "For my horse?" she said. Then bitterly, "When I die you would then have two horses."

            "It's not your horse I want," he said.

            Danica leaned her weary head against the mare’s flank.. She tried to swallow, but couldn't. Her mouth and throat were too dry, and her tongue felt swollen. Her heart was starting to beat faster. Part of her would do anything to live, another would rather die than submit to his base desires. Then there was her horse, an innocent.

            "Please..."

            "You know what I want," Faiser said. "You know the price for my water."

            She looked up into his hard dark eyes, seeing no sympathy, no warmth. His leer sickened her almost as much as what she was about to do. What she knew she had to do.

            Faiser's water bladder stuck out from under his round shield hanging off the left rear of his saddle, protected from most of the sun's heat. He had another just like it hanging off the other side. Danica couldn't help but look at it longingly, bitterly. He was the only one with two water bladders, and she knew it was for a good reason.

            While she’d been saddling her horse back in Samulla, she'd seen Faiser's horse already saddled and waiting. Only the horse's right flank was visible to her, and it didn't have a water bladder hanging off it. The other bladder was kept under the shield, to protect it from the sun's heating effects and any stray arrows an ambush might send its way. It was how all mercenaries and caravan guards carried water in the desert. She hadn't noticed the other bladder until they were some four hours out of Samulla and her canteen was empty, then his earlier question of "You have everything you're taking?" struck her like a hammer in the chest. He had noticed her oversight and made plans to exploit it later.

            As he sat victoriously above her, she thought,
My most humiliating defeat yet. Now the ugly bastard has me completely under his power.

            Her mare whinnied pitifully and staggered sideways. Danica seized its bridle and girth to help steady her, fighting guilty tears as she murmured soothing words to her shivering horse. When the horse seemed steady again, she turned back to Faiser and sighed deeply.

            "I'll do it," she said on a whisper and pulled off her burnoose.

            With a cry of triumph, Faiser slid from his saddle. He wasted no time in sweeping her up in his arms and starting to kiss her dry lips and fevered neck. Danica endured his touch a few moments, then wiggled free and hurried to his water bladder. His low laugh echoed in her ears as she began guzzling the warm water.

            Danica noticed Faiser watching her, and knew he was seeing his carefully laid plans coming to fruition. Dying of thirst, a grateful woman would do anything for life giving water. He would take everything her body had to offer, and then some. And she would be grateful for his
mercy
and help.

            When next she stopped for breath, he pushed her against his horse and started kissing her now wet lips. She didn't resist, but didn't return his kisses either. Kissing his way down her neck, he began unbuttoning her shirt as her body reacted to what was about to happen. Quickly pulling her shirt open and pushing it over her shoulders, he buried his face in her bosom.

            His bearded face rubbed painfully against the soft flesh of her breasts. He nibbled and licked her nipples, caressing and squeezing them with both hands. She gasped and held her breath when he sucked took one into his mouth, sucking on it very hard. The most amazing ripples filled her body, leaving her gasping and clutching at him.

            His hands dropped to the lacings of her breeches, deftly untying them. Faiser held her gaze as he slowly pushed them down around her thighs. She sucked in a sharp breath when his thick, callused fingers pushed in between her folds, plunging in deep.

            "Lyss!" she cried. Faiser cupped her face with one hand, while plowing her sex with the other, and then he kissed her. Kissed her long and deep, his tongue darting in to toy and tease. "Mmmm."

            Despite herself, Danica's tongue met his. Her body was feeling the relief of all that water she'd just drank. She was feeling good, safe. Faiser's hand, despite him being a butt ugly man and repulsive on so many levels, had talent. He had her sex aching and tingling, her juices flowing. Her body knew what to do, and seemed eager to get started.

            "More water," Danica gasped, twisting her body so she could greedily suck in more precious water while he satiated his lusts on her body. Suddenly tensing, "My horse."

            Snatching his high-crowned steppe hat off his head, she filled it with water. His hands continued taking their pleasure, until Danica twisted out of his grasp. After she pulled her breeches up, she hurried over to the mare and offered her the water in her face. The chestnut mare inhaled the water, so Danica refilled the hat and gave her more.

            "Watch it," Faiser snapped. "You two are spilling more than you’re drinking."

            He angrily sealed the bladder and took back his soaked hat. Danica greedily eyed the drops of water hanging off its wide brim.

            "Please, just one more drink," she begged.

            "First you pay for it," he demanded.

            Danica nodded and let her shirt slip to the ground. As she pushed her breeches down to her boot top, Faiser eagerly stripped off his burnoose.

            "From now on, you bed with me," he said. He pushed Danica to her knees, and untied his trousers. Danica's eyes widened as the sight of his manhood, and her mouth watered knowing what he wanted her to do next. "And I will see to it you and your horse are kept watered."