Uleni's Gamble (20 page)

Sara tilted her head for a second, then said, “No one in range, I think we are okay.”

They spent the morning making plans. It would take a week, but they decided to go back under cover, rather than quickly over the road. The mages in Uleni communicated and moved too quickly for that to be an option. They even brought up the idea again of simply attacking when Justin woke, but they decided there was little chance of getting anyone better to run the country. Uleni was one enemy they would have to suffer.

None of them thought Uleni would push the issue if they escaped back into Abelaweth, they were simply too weak right now to go to war. Sally sighed, they were a bunch of ungrateful bastards is what they were.

*

Sara was worried. She hadn’t told anyone, but she couldn’t feel any emotions from Justin. None at all. It was like he wasn’t even there. She refused to give up hope, she had never felt nothing from a living body before now, but that didn’t mean his soul was gone, did it? How could it be?

They were finally done, all they had to do was escape this cursed kingdom and they could settle down in their tavern and enjoy life, raise their children. That was all she wanted for her whole family. A normal life well earned by service to the goddess.

Was that too much to ask?

*

Trina was shaken. She still didn’t thinks he was especially deserving of Sara, but after yesterday’s experience she was sure the goddess loved her despite what she was in the past. She could tell Sara was bothered by Justin’s condition even if she wouldn’t talk about it, and she hoped he would recover.

They had all been through so much, it seemed unfair if they lost him now in the end. But if there was one thing Trina knew, life wasn’t fair…

*

Cytherea smiled as she felt the presence behind her.

“Do you plan on keeping him daughter?”

She turned and looked at him curiously, “You know I do not. I am simply waiting for his body to recover enough. Though it is tempting, he did give himself to me, why should I not keep his soul with me? I could use good company.”

It was his turn to be curious, “Are you teasing me daughter?”

Her lips twitched, “Me father? Maybe a little, though I do get lonely.”

He replied, “Yes, you wait for one worthy of you, but why do you not spend time in the world with the mortals you love?”

She frowned, “Are you teasing me now? You know I cannot, not without influencing them as I had done in the past. You yourself have forbidden it.”

He slowly disappeared as he said, “Daughter, I simply said you can’t go as yourself without impacting their free will… think about that for a while.”

*

Justin groaned, his body felt abused, and he had a splitting headache and couldn’t think straight. It took all his concentration to get his talent going, and he started to feel better almost immediately as the healing took hold of his body.

He cracked his eyes open and saw Nora lying next to him. He was in the tent and wondered how the hell he’d gotten there; last thing he could remember was drowning in both love and pain. He was curious to ask what had been going on, and how long he was out, but Nora looked so peaceful and adorable asleep he didn’t want to disturb her.

He looked around as his head started to clear, and everyone was asleep, so he closed his eyes, yawned and fell towards sleep himself. Being unconscious was exhausting…

When he woke up the next day he found himself drowning in kisses from his beautiful mates. He must have been worse off than he thought. Eventually he got someone to explain their situation, which wasn’t good. They fed him and he had to insist he was perfectly fine many times before they relented. His power had healed him after all, he didn’t need to be coddled.

He agreed with their plans to head south without using magic, and it was close to noon by the time they started out. They made slow but steady progress as they made their way through the woods. He wasn’t quite as bad a woodsman as he was when he showed up on this world, but he was thankful they had Katrina to take the lead. She seemed to be able to instinctively find game trails heading in the right direction without any problems.

When they stopped and set up camp, had dinner and relaxed by the fire, he realized he must have been very close to death. They had been treating him like glass all day, and now no one had dragged him off. He laughed, grabbed Nora’s hand and pulled her to the privacy blanket. Apparently he would have to prove he was very much better.

Nora resisted at first, looking worried, but when she gave in and kissed him it was a deep desperate kiss. As if she was afraid he would disappear on her.

He said softly, “I’m here love, I’m safe with you. I’m sorry if I scared you,” as he caressed her hair and neck.

Nora kissed him, her wandering hands making short work of their clothing. She didn’t say anything, but the look in her eyes told him exactly how scared she was that she almost lost him. She pulled him down as she laid back onto the bedding. They kissed hungrily as he explored her petite supple body. When he checked, he found her ready but teased her core to orgasm with his fingertips, putting off his own pleasure for the moment.

He loved the scent of her skin as he kissed and licked her neck and shoulders. Her breath was short and fast, sweet sounds of pleasure exhaled from her lips as he brought his mate to bliss. His fingers were soaked with her sweet nectar, and he tasted them as he knelt between her legs.

He lined up and slowly impaled her in one firm forward thrust while staring deeply into her eyes. He could see the tears in her eyes as the emotions of the moment overwhelmed them both. He sighed in pleasure when he was fully buried, filling her, and he could feel her body clamp around him as she got used to his welcomed invasion.

There was so much love, passion and emotion in her eyes, and every touch, that he wondered if he would ever be worthy of it. He started to pump his hardened flesh in and out of her tight supple body, her wet heat pure pleasure. Their bodies came together in a physical manifestation of the deep love they held. It was all just too much for him to hold out when she screamed his name in pleasure and her center locked tightly around his manhood he felt his body preparing to explode in pleasure.

He rocked in and out a few more times, burying himself hard in her heaven as he released his seed deep within her willing body. They cuddled and kissed for a while, no words spoken as their eyes shared everything they needed to hear. A short time later it was time to start again…

The next few days passed as they made progress toward the border. They were sure Luis had groups hunting them, but they didn’t run into any. On the fourth day, they did run into someone, but certainly no one that they had been expecting. They all froze and looked around when they heard the crack of a stick breaking. An animal wouldn’t have done that.

He looked to Sara and to his surprise, she called out, “It’s okay, we won’t hurt you. Come out.”

A young girl, no older than six came out with a guilty look on her face.

Sara said, “Who are you? How did you get here?”

That was something he was curious about too, they were far from any kind of civilization.

The girl made a face, “Kelly, I’m not allowed to be out here.”

Sara asked, “Where are your parents?”

Kelly pointed the way and started walking. They all looked at each other then started following. After about a ten minute walk, one moment they saw nothing but forest, the next step they could see a village. He heard a loud noise, maybe an alarm? He watched Kelly run to a couple of women in the village, who looked up at them and frowned.

Sally whispered, “They are both mages, as is Kelly. There are a lot of them here.”

A number of women, and men, ran from the buildings, none of them looked friendly. He sighed, of course they didn’t.

He cleared his throat as no one had attacked yet, “Hi, we’re just passing through.”

A woman said, “And we live here in secret, it is our lives if the location gets out.”

Nora almost growled, “I suppose you won’t take our word that we won’t tell anyone? We are from Abelaweth. For that matter, you would all be welcome there if you don’t want to hide in the middle of a forest anymore.”

He heard whispered conversations of varying opinions. Some were tired of hiding and wanted to look into Nora’s offer, some wanted to let them go. The worst being they were spies and should be dealt with. He wasn’t about to let that last happen. These people were some of the ones he had been trying to figure out how to save. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be on the wrong side of things as well.

Still, they didn’t seem bad, just scared. Which kind of surprised him, there were a lot of witches here, more than enough to fight if they had to. He wondered how this village had come to be.

He asked, “There are a lot of you here, why are you hiding? You can come with us, Abelaweth will be safe for you.”

A man shook his head and said, “We need to remain here, to rescue pregnant mothers that will bear a witch.”

He guessed they must have some system in place, he rather doubted they would fill him in on it though. He almost suggested they fight, take over Uleni. But these people were clearly not warriors, they were just people who wanted to live in peace, who happened to be witches.

“We’ll leave you be now, but remember our offer.”

A few looked nervous at the idea, but no one stopped them from leaving. He took that as a good sign but they didn’t truly relax until they had a few miles lead from the village.

Almost another full week passed as they slowly made their way to the border. The twisting trails and terrain slowing them down more than they expected. There were a couple of close calls at the border, but they made it through without violence and headed to the capitol to let the king know what was going on. Whatever peace had been made wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

Only the reduced military of Uleni stayed their hand, he wondered how long that would hold true, and what would happen then. He promised the king he would be there to help, should Uleni invade again. It didn’t feel like enough, but it was all he could do.

None of them talked about the hidden village they had found, spies were common, and though they would probably be safe even from a search, it would be better to keep their existence a secret.

They spent a few days at the castle, but ultimately left to go home. The tavern was undisturbed and it took them a day to get it back to the point they would be able to open. Even better, the beer they had brewed had aged enough to serve.

As the days turned into weeks, they truly made it their home and business picked up. First just passing merchants, then others came from the city.

They all celebrated when Sara was confirmed pregnant. He had five children coming, and plenty of work to do. The nursery he had thought so damn large when he first saw it, now looked impossibly small. He didn’t imagine for one second they wouldn’t have more after the initial group of five.

Besides work for the tavern, he was sought out for healing almost daily, and at least once a week went into the city for the day. Usually Nicole joined him for the trip and spent the day at the palace as he healed anyone who needed it, often not charging for his trouble. The king supported this, by not charging him for the office space.

It wasn’t easy, and would get harder when the children came, but he’d never been happier.

Epilogue

…Five years later.

She was a stunning young woman, just twenty two, and quite tall for a Cytherean woman at five foot ten inches. She had long curly golden blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body with curves in all the right places. She had started out a few years ago selling spices and herbs from Egeria in northern Abelaweth thanks to the peace brought by King Anton.

But today was the day she opened up her own shop. She chose the village a few miles outside the capitol city. It was a new village, sprung up around the tavern that used to stand alone. She knew her business would do well there as she had always sold out her large cart when passing through, and even had buyers lined up in the city.

Of course, there were other reasons for her to set up here. The Flame of Cytherea worked at that tavern, as did his five mates. He also had a large number of children, twelve last time she had come through. He had been the reason behind the relatively quick growth of the village, and she was more than willing to jump on that bandwagon. She had a very personal interest in his life.

She got her stock organized and shelved, then crossed the street and entered the tavern for lunch. She chose a table in the corner so she could see the whole room. She loved to people watch; it was endlessly fascinating to her. Although, she wasn’t here to just watch, she was here to be a part of it all.

Sara smiled at her from across the room carrying a plate of food and a beer her way.

“Hi Reah, it’s nice to see you again, we are running low on those spices.”

Reah returned the smile and said, “Even better, I’m the one opening a shop across the street. No waiting for me and my rickety cart any longer.”

Sara snickered. “You’ll have to watch for our children, no doubt they’ll be bugging you for those stories you tell every time you come through.”

She shrugged, “I have a lot of stories, I won’t be running out anytime soon.”

Sara said regretfully, “I need to get back, Katrina is a slave driver. We’ll catch up later?”

She nodded happily and said, “I’ll be here.”

There was truly no other place in the universe she would rather be…

*

Hoped you enjoyed it! This story is done…

I figured I’d leave it up to your imagination on what, if anything, happens between Reah and Justin, because, I’m just mean that way. :)