LUST & ADVENTURE III

by Misty Vixen

Catch up on the Lust & Adventure series!

LUST & ADVENTURE

LUST & ADVENTURE II

DISCLAIMER

If this is your first time reading Lust & Adventure, you

can safely ignore this disclaimer.

If you’re a fan and you read Lust & Adventure in its original incarnation, i.e. a collection of episodic short stories, then you might be wondering

what’s different between that version and this one. I want to be clear.

Basically nothing.

This novel covers Episodes XIII through XVIII of the original series, as well as the bonus short stories from Collection VIII, and The Complete Third Season.

I hope this helps you decide whether or not

it’s worth purchasing!

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

OTHER TITLES

ABOUT ME

CHAPTER I

They were going south.

Alan felt good, for the most part, as he and Layla approached the coastal town of Blue Bay. He’d only ever heard of it. He’d always wanted to visit a coastal settlement, and there were a string of them along the south. If he remembered correctly, Blue Bay was the largest. As they approached the village, he found his mind wandering over the previous weeks’ events.

There had been a lot of them.

After the chaos and near-death experience up in the Frost Mountains, they’d returned to Bryne and he’d had some very nice goodbye sex with Topaz and Claire, and then he and Layla had decided that they wanted to travel to the island nation of Tomontica, since winter was coming to the land. Alan had to admit, he’d often fantasized about avoiding winter. It could be particularly brutal and harsh where he grew up.

So they’d made their way down along the Redwood Forest for the past several days, moving at a relatively leisurely pace. He’d managed to have two flat out fucking awesome sexual encounters during the trip, which was still always a surprise to him. They’d been happened upon by a forest elemental, and she had been...very beautiful.

And also curious about sex with a human and a felis.

And he and Layla had been all too willing to oblige her curiosity.

After that, Layla had taken him to meet a friend of hers, a mature, redheaded sex goddess living in the woods. She was a witch that protected the forest. And she had been very pregnant when they’d met, and wow, Alan didn’t know that he had such a thing for pregnant women until he’d made love to this insanely beautiful, pregnant woman.

That had been just a few days ago, and it was still fresh in his mind.

“We’re almost there,” Layla murmured, breaking the silence that had fallen between them for the past hour or so.

Alan glanced over at her. His traveling companion, lover and...girlfriend? He still didn’t know. She was a vision of beauty beside him: tall, fit, with a beautiful yellow-orange pattern of fur that covered her body. Her tail swished behind her slowly. He’d always had a thing for the cat-like felis and being with Layla had only confirmed and strengthened the attraction: felis women fucked like crazed succubi.

But something was wrong, just recently.

He didn’t even realize it at first, but now that he was looking for it, something was definitely there. The problem was it was so subtle that he didn’t really know how to handle it or what to do about it, if anything at all. The fact that their relationship was so...uncertain might not be the right word, but it felt about right most of the time, only made the situation more complicated. It seemed to him that Layla was...disconnecting.

She’d been vaguely distant lately, just over the past two days, but in little ways, almost unintentional ways.

As they walked on, Alan wondered if he was just being paranoid. Maybe she was getting bored with him? Or maybe she was just in a bad mood? Maybe she was just like this when winter hit? He knew people who changed in small, subtle ways over long periods of time when bad weather was upon them. They got more distant, their temper a bit shorter, the mood often down, their motivation low. He experienced some of that himself.

It made enough sense: winter sucked.

But maybe it was nothing. Probably it was nothing. Alan didn’t want to make her think he was getting too invested, too emotional, too clingy, because that seemed like it would only exacerbate the problem.

As they headed into town, he tried to push it all away. For now, the two of them were going to get onto a boat and go to Tomontica and have an adventure there, whatever that might entail. And, hopefully, have sex with some Tomontican women.

Because holy Gods were they beautiful.

They made their way through the port town, passing by dozens of people, moving in front of inns, blacksmiths, and a variety of other businesses. The smell of fish and the salty sea air was powerful and potent. The pair of them made their way through the crowds. They’d decided that they were going to go straight to the docks first, because there was a good chance that they’d have to wait to find passage to the island.

The sooner they signed up, the less they’d have to wait.

As they walked, Alan took Layla’s hand. She glanced over briefly at him, then smiled, and squeezed. He squeezed back. It felt good, a genuine interaction between them, and put his mind at ease. They walked until they reached the dockyards and began moving among them, past the ships, asking whoever was around where to book passage for Tomontica. After a little over twenty minutes, they finally found what they were looking for.

A cargo ship was heading for the southern isles, and they were taking on passengers.

“But we don’t shove off for two days,” the man, who wore a black bandanna tied over his head and sported several gold teeth and facial scars, explained as he oversaw the unloading of dozens of wooden crates. “Be here the morning of the day after tomorrow, have fifty gold ready and we’ll take you onboard.”

“We’ll be here,” Layla replied.

They left the dockyards after that and began moving back into the commercial district. They’d depleted their supplies, making their way through the Redwood Forest, and hadn’t had much chance to purchase new items.

“Have you ever been to Tomontica?” Alan asked as they hunted for an alchemist’s shop. They’d managed to find some rare flowers and plants in the forest on their way down.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve always wanted to go but...well, I guess the real reason is that I’m lazy. I just never went to the trouble of actually doing it. Plus, I was often having too much fun up here, running about with the girls and having adventures,” she replied. “But I’ve read a few books on it. One of my favorite books takes place on Tomontica. It’s called Waterline and it’s about a romance between a young Tomontican man and an ocean nymph...they’re supposed to be, well, not common, but more common down there. Oh, I hope we meet one!”

“That’d be pretty interesting. I’ve never even heard of an ocean nymph,” Alan replied.

“They’re supposed to very beautiful and adept at magic. And they’re supposed to be fantastic in bed...although I’m not sure if they’d do it in bed. I’ve heard they can walk on land as easily as swim in the sea, but which would they prefer?”

“You sound like you’re already making plans,” Alan said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t even try to tell me you wouldn’t fuck the shit out of a hot ocean nymph if you had the chance,” she replied.

“Hey, I didn’t say that. I totally would.”

“Good, so you’ll help me fuck an ocean nymph if we can talk one into sex.”

“I most certainly will.”

They tracked down the alchemist’s shop and managed to get a decent price for the flowers and plants they’d gathered. From there, they went and purchased some more arrows for the two of them, and got their blades sharpened and polished. Finally, as afternoon began to head towards evening, and they could see storm clouds not all that far away, occasionally touched by lightning, the pair of them stood at the edge of the market, their shopping done.

“So now what?” Alan asked. “I’m pretty hungry, maybe we could eat,” he suggested.

“Maybe...although I had a thought,” Layla replied.

“Oh yeah?”

“How would you feel about splitting up for the night? I kinda want to...I guess have a singles night?” she replied.

“Singles night?” he asked.

“Yeah, like, we both go out and find someone to fuck, then meet up again in the morning. How do you feel about that?” she asked.

“I’m okay with that,” he replied, although he felt a little off-put by it. But again, this was something they did every now and then, and hey, it would probably be fun. Provided that he could actually get laid.

“Awesome!” She gave him a kiss. “How about we meet at that food stall tomorrow around noon and swap stories?” she suggested.

He located the stall she was indicating, which was in the process of closing down, and nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Have fun, Layla.”

“You, too.”

He watched her go and felt a bit of worry settle over him. One of the things he always ended up being afraid of in situations like this was the fact that he’d spend the night alone, because he was an unattractive human guy in his early twenties, while his lover was getting fucked by some guy because she had it easy, because she was a super fucking hot felis in her early thirties. He noticed that women never really had to try to get laid, probably because there was always basically a consistent supply of guys willing and wanting to fuck them.

“Well, here goes,” he muttered to himself as he set off towards the nearest inn. He supposed, worst case scenario, he could always hire a prostitute.

There was nothing wrong with that.

He walked into an inn that called itself the Blue Bay Inn, which he guess worked, and found the place fairly alive with activity. He scanned the crowd, wondering, for a moment, how he had gotten here. Even the fact that he was hitting an inn, looking for a woman to fuck, to have a one-night stand with, would have been unthinkable six months ago. Despite the fact that he actually lived in an inn at the time.

As his gaze caught on a really, really hot redhead elf sitting at the bar, and she looked back at him, and something just sparked between them, he decided that, at least for now, he was just going to stop fucking worrying about the little stuff (or even the potentially big stuff), and just enjoy this night. Because it was probably going to be awesome.

There were two guys hitting on the redhead, and from the way she looked at him, past them, with an almost animal intensity, he could see that she’d checked out of whatever conversation they’d been trying to make with her.

She twitched her head, indicating that he should come over. He did, making his way through the crowd. When they noticed that she wasn’t paying attention to them anymore, the two guys glanced over, following her gaze, and frowned. One of them looked like a sailor and another looked like he might work as a blacksmith.

“Buy a girl a drink?” she asked, and fuck did she have a hot, rough voice.

“Sure,” he replied, stepping up to her.

“I just bought you a drink,” the sailor said.

“I’m not too keen on ale,” she replied, then looked over at the blacksmith. “Nor am I too keen on wine, either. Both of you, go away. You had your shot.”

They looked at each other, then at her, then at Alan again. A mixture of anger and bewilderment sat on their faces. The blacksmith left but the sailor lingered.

“Seriously, you’re turning me down for him?” he asked.

“Yes,” the redhead replied simply.

“Why?” The bewilderment grew. “I mean...look at him.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Alan replied.

“That’s exactly why,” the redhead said. “You’re rude and assume too much. Now go away, before I make you go away.”

He opened his mouth, perhaps to say that he’d like to see that, but the redheaded elf raised one finger. The tip of it burst into a blue-white flame. She held it close to the man’s face and he cried out as half his left eyebrow was burned off.

“You bitch!” he snapped.

“I warned you,” she replied easily. “Now piss off.”

He made a step towards her and she casually backhanded him. It sent him sprawling into a table and a few more sailors shouted as their drinks and meals were spilled. Alan watched all this with a strange detachment, almost amused. It didn’t seem real. The man got to his feet, now no longer bewildered but just angry.

Alan was honestly interested to see what the elf would do next.

She’d turned back to the bar when she’d backhanded him, but now she turned around in a flash and he saw a dagger in her hand. It laid against the man’s neck. He froze, feeling that cold steel against his raw flesh.

A small trickle of blood ran away from the blade.

“How stupid are you? How many times do I have to tell you?” she asked. She didn’t sound angry, more just annoyed. “Next time, there won’t be a warning.”

This time, two other sailors, maybe the guy’s friends, came up behind him and started leading him away. He didn’t go easily, but finally he went, and the elf replaced the dagger and looked at him again.

“Sorry about the interruption, still feel like buying me a drink?” she asked brightly.

“Um...yeah,” he said, finding himself grinning like an idiot as he took the seat next to her. “My name is Alan.”

“Ruby,” she replied easily.

“Uh...what do you want to drink?” he asked.

“Honey mead,” she replied. “I love the stuff.”

He nodded and put in the order for honey mead from the amused looking bartender. Studying her, he thought that she might be a pirate, or a sailor of some kind. She thin, and tall for an elf. She had several gold and silver earrings in her long, pointed pale ears, and she wore a vest over a thin traveling shirt and baggy pants with lots of pockets. To complete her outfit, she had big, polished boots that looked like they were very durable.

“So, what brings you around here, Alan?” she asked as he drink came.

“Just traveling, heading to Tomontica for the winter,” he replied.

She nodded. “I can appreciate that. Winter’s a bitch around here.”

“What about you?”

“I provide protection on the high seas. Taking a little vacation here for about a week or so. Tonight’s my last night,” she replied. She hesitated, then glanced around. “You with anyone?” she asked.

“Not tonight,” he replied. It was technically true, and he didn’t think she’d care if he was actually hooked up with Layla, since they were both ‘single’ for the night. She seemed to study him for a moment, maybe gauging his answer.

Then she shrugged. “Good. Me neither.” She’d been drinking her mead as they’d talked, but now she suddenly finished it all off and set the glass mug down. Then she turned and fixed him with a firm stare. She had vividly blue eyes. “Okay, I’m tired of waiting. You wanna go back to my room?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied immediately.

She smirked. “Good. Come on.”

Ruby got up easily off the bar stool and he joined her. They made their way through the crowd, towards the back of the building. He noticed a few people looking at him and her. This was going a lot better than he had hoped it would. There were times, and this was one of them, where he wondered if there wasn’t a God, or Goddess, that was looking out for him. He supposed, since it was in reference to getting laid, it would be Bliss, the Goddess of Love and Sex. He followed Ruby down into the basement, to her room.

She unlocked the door, got in and moved aside. As soon as he was in, she closed and locked the door, then grabbed him and kissed him. He kissed her back, immediately reaching back and around, grabbing her ass.

She had a really nice ass under those baggy pants.

Ruby broke the kiss briefly. “You’re cool with this right? I just want to be fuck friends for the night, nothing long-term,” she asked.

“Perfectly fine with me,” he replied.

“Okay, good,” she said, and then she kept kissing him. He could taste the honey mead on her lips, on her tongue, as she slipped it into his mouth, seeking his own. He moved his tongue forward and they met, twining together. She moaned at the contact. He managed to get a hand down the back of her pants, wanting very badly to grope her bare ass. He found that she wasn’t wearing any panties and took firm hold of her awesomely fit, firm ass.

She broke away again. “Do you eat pussy?” she asked.

“Yes, definitely,” he replied.

“Okay, great. Would you be willing to go down on me? Cause I haven’t gotten a good pussy-eating in like three weeks and I want it so bad. I’ll totally make it worth your while,” she said, smiling at him.

“I can do that,” he replied.

“Good! Come on, let’s get in the bathtub. I’ve been aching to get naked all day long.”

As she said this, she quickly began to shed her clothing. Alan joined her. His cock was rigid, throbbing and aching, as well. It wanted to be inside of her desperately. He studied her as she became nude. She had an awesome trim, toned body. She was actually really tall for an elf, maybe five seven or five eight. He found that interesting, and also fucking sexy. Her breasts were about medium sized, firm and absolutely beautiful.

They moved over to the sunken bathtub built into the floor as soon as they were naked. The water looked terribly inviting: crystal clear and steaming. Alan let out a deep sigh of relief as he submerged himself. It had been several days since he’d had anything like a bath. For several minutes, he simply relaxed there.

Sometimes, he thought that getting into a hot bath after a long period of not being able to was just as good as the sex.

Then he ended up having sex and remember that he was wrong. The sex was definitely better, like way better.

After the moment passed, he opened his eyes again and saw the beautiful redheaded pirate woman sitting across from him. Was Ruby a pirate? He wasn’t sure, but she struck him as one, and well...he’d always wanted to fuck a hot pirate chick. Her being a tall, redheaded elf that knew how to handle herself was just a bonus.

A big bonus.

She saw him staring at her and smiled at him. Under the water, he felt her foot brush his leg. “Wash up,” she said. “I won’t wait too long.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and she laughed.

He found a bar of soap and a washrag, then lathered it up and went to work. Moving as fast as he could, Alan washed himself down with the soapy rag, unable to keep his eyes off of Ruby’s awesome, pale tits. They were wet and beautiful and had a sprinkling of freckles across them that, for some reason, really enhanced their sexiness. And her small, perfect pink nipples...he really wanted to suck on those breasts.

After a few moments, he was finally clean, and he beckoned her over. She came to him, sitting on his lap.

“You’re hard already,” she said. “You must really like me.”

“I really do,” he replied.

“Good. I like you, too.”

She began kissing him then, pressing her lips against his own. Once more, he could taste the honey. And her own natural taste was intoxicating and lusty. He reached down and groped her ass with one hand while laying the other across one of her breasts, gently squeezing and groping and massaging her tight, wet body.

She slipped her tongue skillfully into his mouth, twisting and twining it with his own. Ruby had her eyes closed and she seemed to be losing herself in the make-out session. After a little bit, he stopped kissing her, then began kissing down her neck, across her collarbone and to her breasts. She leaned back, letting him at it.

Alan licked across her wonderful, pale breasts, paying special attention to her nipples and getting several small gasps and moans of pleasure from her. He really liked it when woman did that. It was like they couldn’t help themselves, like the sounds were being forced from them because they were overwhelmed by the pleasure.

“Fuck, will you eat me now? I’m so fucking horny,” she moaned.

“Yes,” he replied.

She got up off of him and out of the tub, sitting on its edge, her legs still in the water. He leaned in between her pale, athletic thighs, and began to orally pleasure her. As his tongue made contact with her small clit, she let out a cry of pleasure. He began to lick it, slowly and firmly at first, then a bit more rapidly.

He wondered how he must look, his face buried in her crotch, gripping her thighs, both of them wet and naked.

“Yes, right there! Right there!” she screamed.

He was almost surprised by the spray of sex juices as they escaped her pussy and got all over his neck and jaw and chest. He continued licking throughout her orgasm, causing her to really start screaming as the pleasure utterly overtook her. He could feel her body trembling against him as she came with utter abandon, giving herself completely to the climax. She must really miss being eaten out if this was her reaction.

Alan pulled back as she finished, staring up at her and cleaning himself off as she recovered from the intense orgasm. When she had herself more under control, she slipped back into the water and laid against him.

“Oh my Gods,” she gasped, reaching down under the water and beginning to massage his cock. “That was just fucking amazing.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he replied.

She grinned suddenly at him. “Want to come in my mouth?” she asked. “I’ll swallow for you. And I don’t do that for hardly anyone, just so you know. I only swallow for guys that I really, really like. And I really like you, Alan.”

“I’d be glad to come in your mouth,” he replied.

She laughed and kissed him. “I figured you would. Get up.”

He took her place, sitting on the side of the tub, his feet and most of his lower legs still in the water. He watched as she took his previous position, her face in front of his dick. She lowered herself a bit more and rested his cock on her face, between her eyes, and stared up at him, grinning. She laughed and then she grabbed his cock, kissed the head and put it in her mouth. He groaned her name as a wave of pleasure hit him.

“Fuck, that’s good,” he whispered as she started rapidly bobbing her head. Her short red hair was wet and dark and plastered to her head, making her look even more ridiculously sexy. And the way her head bobbed, the look on her face, those lips of hers, making hot, wet tracks up and down his rigid shaft…

Fuck, she was so hot.

He put his hand on the back of her head and pushed down a bit, and she let him. Soon his cock was hitting the back of her throat and she didn’t stop. He kept going, kept enjoying the heated sexual pleasure, letting himself be lost in it. Before long, she was making him come. The excitement of getting head from this sexy redhead, this brand new elf woman, was too much for him, and he didn’t even want to last long with her working his cock like this.

He cried out, starting to shoot his load into her mouth.

Ruby just kept sucking, working the shaft gently with her fingers. He moaned loud and long, feeling his seed leave his body in hard contractions. She sucked all of it out, taking his whole load. The orgasm filled him with hot pink pleasure. He moaned her name several times as she sucked him totally dry and, as promised, when it was over and she took his cock out of her mouth, she swallowed his load. She looked up at him, grinning.

“How was that?” she asked.

“Fucking amazing,” he replied, slipping back into the water.

“Thank you. I’ve worked hard on my dick-sucking skills.” She moved to the edge of the water and reached over, grabbing her backpack. Pulling it to her, she opened it up and began rooting around in it. He had a fantastic view of her ass and pussy. He was going to be inside of that pussy soon. The thought sent dark excitement fluttering through him and he started to get hard again. She came back with a bottle of honey mead, tore the cork out with her teeth, spat it away and then took a deep drink of it, draining nearly a quarter of the bottle.

“No offense,” she said. “But I don’t like the taste.”

“None taken, I appreciate what you did for me,” he replied.

“Good! Too many guys just expect that,” she said, rolling her eyes. She took another drink, then offered him the bottle.

“No thanks, I don’t really drink,” he replied.

“Fair enough,” she said, and took a third drink, then set it aside, stretched and popped her neck, then came closer to him, a sultry grin on her face. “Now, I believe that I was promised some dick, and you were promised some pussy,” she said, her voice low and sexy. “How about we fulfill those promises?” she suggested.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and again she laughed.

“You really are interesting,” she murmured as she settled into his lap, facing him. She rubbed the lips of her pussy against his stiffening cock. Grinning, she whispered, “Get inside me right now.” He happily obliged her.

Grabbing her hips, he moved her around until her elf pussy was lined up with his human cock, then he pulled her down. She cried out.

“Fuck, that’s what I like about humans, you’ve got perfect-sized dicks more often than not,” she moaned as she slid down his rigid length.

Holy fuck she was tight, and she was insanely hot and wet inside.

“Oh, yes! Fuck me, Alan!” she screamed as she started bouncing on his cock. Water sloshed and spilled over the side but neither of them cared. They were too enamored with each other and the incredibly hot sex they were having. She cried out as he hit a sensitive spot and he moaned as the pure, raw bliss of being inside of her filled him, spreading out like a powerful warmth from his core. He reached back and grabbed her tight, fit ass as she kept riding him.

After a moment or two, Ruby cut loose with a loud, joyous laugh. “I love sex so much!” she cried, then laughed happily again. Her laughter devolved into loud moans of pleasure. “Oh fuck, I’m going to come again,” she gasped. “Here, hold still.”

She settled into his lap, gripping him tightly as she stared intently into his eyes, and began to stir his cock around inside of her, gyrating her hips rapidly in small circles. She moaned even louder, then leaned in and kissed him deeply.

Within about half a minute, she started to come once more.

Alan groaned again, blown away by the pleasure of her tight elf pussy getting even hotter and wetter, then beginning to almost massage his cock with the contractions. She kept squirming around, increasing the pleasure even more, and forced him to start coming. He’d intended to ask if her if she was okay with taking his load inside of her, but it was kind of a moot point now, because he was coming and there was no stopping it.

“Oh, Ruby!” he cried, squeezing her in a hug and holding her to him as he blew his load inside of her. Both of them moaned and came and writhed against each other, lost in their own worlds of pleasure, until their orgasms had spent themselves, leaving them among the smoldering remains of sedate, happy post-orgasm bliss. She went limp against him and he laid back against the edge of the tub, feeling incapacitated by the sex.

Slowly, she got up off of him. His softening cock slipped out of her and she sat down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. Both of them were calming down, their bodies nearly overloaded from the hot sex in the hot water.

“Wow,” he said.

“Yep,” she replied happily, almost proudly. “I can fuck pretty good, can’t I?”

“Yes, you really, really can,” he said with emphasis and feeling. “That was incredible.”

She made a happy, contented sound and continued laying against him. They cuddled there in the water for a few more moments, then decided it was time to get out. They did so, toweled off and then put out all but one of the candles.

“Are you okay if I spend the night here?” he asked.

“Yes, of course,” she replied, and there was something different in her voice now. Her cocky, cavalier certainty seemed to be, not gone, but in the background now. Her voice was calmer and quieter, and he had an idea that not many people got to see this side of her, and wondered, if that was true, why he was.

They moved into the bed, curling up against each other nude beneath the blankets. For a little while, neither said anything.

Then, Alan asked, “Why did you have sex with me?”

“What?” she asked, sounding a little startled, and he thought she might have been drifting off to sleep.

“Why did you have sex with me, Ruby? I don’t seem like the most obvious choice.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked. “Cause you aren’t a sailor? I don’t really care.”

“No, I mean, I’m not...that attractive,” he replied.

“Really? I think you’re really cute. And obviously I made the right choice, cause holy fuck can you eat pussy. I think it’s mainly that...you looked nice. When I first saw you, you just looked...nice. Sweet. You looked like if I told you to leave me alone, you’d apologize and leave me alone. Or if I took you to bed, you’d work hard to get me off, cause you care about getting your partner off. And that’s kind of rare. There’s a lot of lazy guys out there.”

“That makes sense,” he murmured. He was getting really tired now. “Well, thanks for fucking me,” he said finally.

She laughed. “Thank you as well. Now go to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

…

They made love twice more in the night, then again in the bathtub in the morning to wake up. He enjoyed breakfast with Ruby, and then walked her down to the docks, as she had to go. Her boat was leaving. He kissed her goodbye, wished her luck and watched her walk out of his life. From there, he walked through town, wondering what to do with his time until noon came around. As he took a seat on a bench in front of the ocean and simply watched ships come and go, people walking around, it struck him, really struck him, how different his life was.

Here he was, in a coastal city, sitting at the ocean’s edge, after having just had a one-night stand with a hot elf pirate woman. That had all really happened to him. And he was preparing to get on a boat with his felis lover, so that they could go and explore Tomontica for the fun of it. It didn’t seem real. It was the kind of thing he’d dreamed of in his youth, the kind of thing he’d read books about or heard stories about.

And now he was living it.

He came out of the kind of stupor as reality moved in on him. It occurred to him that he didn’t have a whole lot of money left. In fact, checking his coin bag, he saw that he had a little under fifty gold on him. Not a whole lot. He considered it for a moment, then decided that he needed to hit up the local bounty board. That was a good, if dangerous, way to make some quick coin. He got up and moved through town, considering the situation. He didn’t know how expensive Tomontica would be, but it made sense to have a store of coin before getting there. He walked until he’d reached the board and began studying it.

There were a bunch of normal, boring jobs here and there. Some guard work, some hauling of trash, some cleaning, some repair work. Then he found the more dangerous stuff. There were creatures in the forest that were causing problems for local hunters and loggers. Perfect. As usual, it was giant spiders that were causing the problem. He shuddered briefly as he thought back to his previous encounters with the freaky things. He didn’t look forward to fighting them again, but, well, he’d dealt with a lot by now.

That thought also surprised him.

Was he actually braver?

If he was considering going into the forest, alone, to fight giant spiders for money, then he must be. Although maybe he wouldn’t have to go alone. Judging by the position of the sun, he wouldn’t have to wait all that long. He made his way back through town to the stall that they’d agreed to meet at earlier. He found another bench that provided a decent view of the area and sat down, watching the stall and waiting.

While he did, he noticed someone was looking at him. A hot someone. She looked old enough to be his mom, but damn was she fucking sexy. She was a thin, wiry woman, her hair brunette hair done up in a long braid. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off several tattoos on her arms and shorts that were actually pants torn off at the knee, as well as big boots. She had a bow and quiver across her back.

She was staring right at him, and she had a small smile on her face. Suddenly, when she noticed him looking back, she set off towards him.

“Hello,” she said as she drew close enough. “Mind if I join you?”

“No,” he replied.

“Thanks.” She sat down beside him. “My name is Marion. I saw you eying the board earlier. You look like you might be planning to go out hunting monsters in the woods.”

“I am,” he replied. “And I’m Alan.”

“Well, Alan, would you mind some company? I was planning on heading into the woods and hunting some spiders as well.”

“I wouldn’t mind your company,” he replied, wondering exactly where this was going. He thought she might be hitting on him, it was something in the way she was saying her words and the way she was looking at him, but she might not be. Either way, she definitely seemed interesting and probably good company.

“Good. I have some things that need tending to. Shall we meet in about two hours at the city’s north gate?” she suggested.

“I’ll be there,” he replied.

“See you then.”

She got up and left. Not long after that, Layla showed up. She came over and sat next to him, looking happy.

“Hey, you,” she said, greeting him with a kiss. “How’d last night go?”

“I fucked a redheaded pirate elf,” he replied.

“Wow, that sounds awesome. I assume she was good? Pirates really know how to fuck.”

“She was quite amazing. What about you?”

“I shacked up with two different guys. The first one was another felis, kind of a lame fuck, he was a little too drunk, but we had fun. The other guy was a human and although he had to kind of hide me, we got back to his place and fucked all night. He wasn’t a bad guy, but this is a bad town. You know how it is, no inter-mingling and all that,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, that sucks, but I’m glad you had fun,” he replied.

“Me too. Shall we eat? I’m starving.”

He nodded and they both got up and moved over to the stall. They ended up buying skewered meat and bottles of chilled water, and walked down to a fairly quiet section of beach front where they walked, talked, and ate.

“Looking forward to Tomontica?” she asked.

“Yeah, although I’m kind of nervous. I’ve never really been on a boat like this before. The most I’ve managed with a boat was a little rowboat for fishing with my dad,” he replied.

“It’ll be okay. Tell you what, I’ll fuck you to keep your mind busy,” she said.

He laughed. “I think that should keep me distracted...any plans for today?”

“I was thinking about heading to the local archery range and putting some guardsmen to shame,” she replied with a smirk. “What about you?”

“Well, I want to head into the forest and kill some spiders. Collect some bounties. I’m running low on coin. I ran into another adventuress who wanted to go with me,” he replied.

A look of worry flickered across Layla’s face, but it was gone so fast he wasn’t even sure he’d seen it to begin with. “You gonna try to sleep with her?” she asked, though she sounded like she was a little strained.

“If she shows interest,” he replied. What was bothering her? It couldn’t be that he was hooking up with another adventuress, she wouldn’t care about that. Was it that he was doing something dangerous? Maybe.

Again, he tried to make himself stop worrying. He was just being paranoid, he had to be. This was probably nothing.

“Well I hope you have fun, babe. Do you wanna just meet up at the docks tomorrow morning?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Okay, see you later, Alan.” She gave him a kiss and a hug.

“See you later, Layla,” he replied, and watched her head off.

After a moment, he began to make his way towards the north gate.

…

Marion was indeed waiting for him at the north gate. He was again struck by how damned hot she was. He guessed that she was somewhere in her late thirties or maybe early forties. He thought that she had aged like fine wine. Plus, he wasn’t sure why, but her tattoos made her even sexier. He realized, as they headed into the woods, that he actually really liked women with tattoos. Ahead of them, the local forest loomed.

They chatted as they headed into the woods, their bows at ready. He got to know more about Marion as they walked. She was a local, had grown up in Blue Bay, though she left it whenever wanderlust struck her to go on an adventure. That usually happened once a year, though how long she was gone tended to vary widely. She would leave anywhere from a few weeks to six months. She had no significant other, no children, no brothers or sisters and her parents had died in a fire at a relatively young age.

She told him that she had a number of close friends, but the relationships she maintained with them were the kind where you could not see them for months or even years at a time, and then when you did, it was like no time had passed at all. It was also the kind of friendship where you might get a message one day out of the blue, asking for help. And no small help either, but the kind of help where you had to run off, no matter what you were doing or what time it was, and help them do something really stupid and dangerous.

But she was happy.

He told her what he could about his own life, and though he’d only just started his own adventuring, she seemed almost envious of him.

“I don’t get it,” he said, after they’d put down five of the huge brown spiders that plagued the local forest.

“What?” she replied.

“You seemed...wistful, when I was talking about how I was just starting out.”

“I guess I kind of am,” she said, then fell silent, considering her words. “Being a grizzled vet who’s seen decades of adventuring and killing and looting has its perks, to be sure. I’m pretty lethal, and it’s pretty hard to kill me, and not much scares me. Plus, I can talk pretty much whoever I want into having sex with me, and that’s nice. And I never want for coin. I can do shit like this easily and cities will pay big. Plus, it feels good, even now, to do a good thing. To protect people. And yet...I’m more than a little jaded, and living a life of excess kind of...dulls a lot. It’s hard to feel that thrill, that exhilaration I used to back in the day, when I was your age.”

“That makes sense,” he replied.

“Yeah. But, then again, I really like being me, and who I am now, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not after all the hard work I put in.” She shrugged. “Come on, there’s a lot more of the bastards around, I can sense it. Let’s clean house.”

They spent most of the day moving through the forest, killing spiders. They even found a couple of Minotaurs wandering around, which also had bounties on their heads, and killed them as well. They collected fangs from the spiders and horns from the Minotaurs. By the time they were finished, the sun was heading for the horizon, and by his count, between the spiders, the Minotaurs, and the single Troll they’d found and killed, he’d earned just over a thousand gold. Not fucking bad for a single days’ work out in the woods.

They walked through the city to the guards’ office, cashed in their fangs and horns, and then went and grabbed a bite to eat at one of the stalls before they closed. Like before with Layla, he and Marion walked along the beach and ate beef and chicken on skewers.

“So, I’ve got a question,” Marion said after a silence had fallen over them.

“Shoot,” he replied.

“You mentioned you’ve got a partner. Layla. Are you like...together?” she asked.

“Well...technically. Why?”

“Are you in an open relationship?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, good. That makes this way easier. Wanna have sex?”

He looked over at her. She looked back at him with a casual ease and just a small smile. “Yeah, that’d be fantastic.”

“Good. I figured. Now, I want to take it a step further, want to have a threesome?”

“That depends. Who with?” he asked. They’d stopped walking now and were a good distance down the beach, alone.

“That hour after we first met, I went to talk with a friend of mine. She’s my best friend, we grew up here together in Blue Bay. She...is not adventurous. But she wants to enjoy certain aspects of my lifestyle, and having a hot threesome would be doing just that. I told her about you and that there was a good chance I could talk you into a threesome. And honestly, she could really use it. She’s going through a divorce right now.”

“Oh...wow, that sucks,” Alan murmured.

Marion nodded. “Yes, it does. The man she fell in love with twenty years ago...doesn’t exist anymore. People change, or, in some cases, become even more entrenched in their bad habits. Her husband was cheating on her. Can’t imagine why, she’s really hot. But they’re splitting up. I’ve been helping her get through it and she’s convinced that she’s unattractive. She said she wants to sleep around like she always wanted to in her youth but never really got a chance to, but thinks that it’s too late to entice young men into her bed. Not to mention all the societal difficulties that entails, since everyone can’t mind their own fucking business. So I figured, since you’re clearly into older women, you wouldn’t mind fucking a couple of hot mature ladies, and doing a nice thing and maybe restoring some confidence on the side.”

“That all sounds great to me,” Alan said.

Marion’s smile returned. “Good! Okay, do you remember that clearing that I showed you not far from the edge of the forest?” she asked.

He nodded slowly. She had made a point of showing him a nice little clearing. He thought it would be a good place to camp in, and he’d even mentioned it to her, and his camp-in-a-bag. She’d seemed interested in it then. Suddenly, that made sense.

“I do,” he replied.

“Perfect. Go and wait there for me and her. We’ll be along as soon as we can. Honestly, this is the easiest way to do this. She’s paranoid about people finding out, and I don’t blame her. Gods fucking forbid that a woman enjoys herself...does this all sound good?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes. I’ll be waiting. And horny,” he replied.

She laughed. “You’re a cutie,” she said, then she gave him a lingering kiss on the lips, reached back and squeezed his ass, then started walking away. He watched her go, wondering how he kept finding women like this.

Then he started heading for the forest again.

…

Alan set up his camp-in-a-bag in the clearing that Marion had indicated. There was even a little hot spring nearby. He thought it both interesting and strangely convenient how many hot springs they seemed to be able to find, sprinkled across the land. They were just so nice. He looked forward to soaking in it with the two mature ladies, and fucking the shit out of both of them. The thought already had him hard.

Two mature women wanted to have sex with him.

That was just...out of this world. Impossible, yet it was happening. He cleaned up the interior of the tent to the best of his ability, trying to fill the time and keep himself busy, because he was practically jittery with excitement, (and apprehension, these were mature women after all, and one of them had probably fucked more people in a few months than he had in his entire life), and he just wanted to kill the time.

They arrived after about half an hour.

“Hello, Alan,” Marion said as they walked into the clearing. He’d been sitting out front, sharpening his short sword with a whet stone, waiting for them. “This is my good friend Sophia,” she said.

“Wow, you were not exaggerating,” Alan replied as he got up, slipping his sword back into its sheath and setting it aside. “You are beautiful, Sophia.”

The woman beside her smiled awkwardly and blushed deeply. And wow, she was beautiful. She was about as tall as Marion was, who was about as tall as he was, though she was more filled out. Where Marion had a trim, athletic, wiry body of hard muscle, Sophia was curvy. She was pale where Marion was tan. She had vibrant red hair.

“Hello, Alan,” she said. “You’re too kind.”

“No, he’s not bullshitting you, Sophia,” Marion replied as she walked into the clearing and began taking her clothes off. “We’ve agreed to fuck him, and when a guy is this turned on, he’s kind of stupefied into telling the truth. Do you think she’s attractive enough to garner the attention of young men, Alan?” she asked.

“Yes. Very much yes,” he replied.

“Told you,” Marion said. “Now get naked and let’s get in this hot spring. I could use a soak and a wash after all that. And so could you, I imagine, Alan.”

He was nodding and getting his boots off.

“Don’t be shy, Sophia,” Marion said when she noticed her friend’s hesitation. Marion took off her bra and tossed it aside, freeing high, firm breasts.

Sophia was still blushing fiercely, but she took off her shirt. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and loose-fitting pants. As she took off her shirt, and then, after a bit of hesitation, her bra, she seemed to get a bit more relaxed. She had a bit of padding on her, but Alan didn’t care. She was fucking beautiful, and fuck, her breasts were large.

She saw him looking at her. “It’s...it’s been awhile, since I’ve been naked in front of anyone but my husband,” she said.

“I understand,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to judge. We’re all here to just...enjoy each other,” he added.

She nodded. “Thanks,” she said, then pulled her pants down. “It’s been a rough couple of months.”

“I bet. Come on, let’s get into the hot spring and I’ll eat you out,” he said.

Her eyes lit up at that. “Oh my Gods, it’s been ages since I’ve enjoyed that.”

“I promise to do a good job,” he said.

“Hurry up!” Marion called.

She was already naked and in the hot spring. The two of them finished getting nude and hurried over, then slipped down into the water. The trio spent a little bit washing up, then they started getting very friendly.

Alan felt a familiar exhilaration race through him as he moved up against both of the women and took turns making out with them and groping them. Sophia had awesome, huge tits and a fat ass that he groped and massaged as they swapped spit and twined tongues. Marion had a tight, fit body. He noticed that Sophia kissed more gently and sensuously, while Marion kissed rougher and harder, practically shoving her tongue down his throat.

After a bit of making out, Sophia got up onto the edge of the hot spring and spread her legs. As Alan approached, staring at her thick, pale thighs and her smooth pussy, Marion joined him. “How about we take turns eating her out?” she suggested.

“Marion...really?” Sophia asked, looking at once both nervous and excited.

“Yes,” Marion replied. “We’ve never gone all the way, Sophia. I’ve always wanted to. I think we should...unless you object.”

Sophia chewed on her lower lip. “No...I don’t object,” she murmured.

“Good then.”

Alan went first. He began licking her clit slowly and gently, causing her to moan loudly. Soon, he had her panting and begging for more, her breath coming quickly as she gasped in pleasure. He ate her out for a solid minute before he felt Marion’s hand on his shoulder and he sat back, letting her at it. He watched intently as the thin, mature adventuress got in between her best friend’s thighs and began to seriously eat her pussy out.

“Oh, Marion!” she cried. “Oh, Gods, I’ve never been eaten out by a woman...” she moaned. “Oh, fuck, it’s so good! Yes! Marion, yes!” she screamed, and then she was coming. Marion kept eating her out through the orgasm, pleasuring her all the way through. When she was finished, Marion washed herself off and Sophia slipped back into the water.

“I’m horny,” Marion said. “Can we fuck now?”

“Yes,” Alan replied.

“Good. Come on, Sophia, we’ll take turns riding his dick.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Sophia murmured, sounding a bit dazed from her orgasm.

Alan found a good place to sit and felt more dark, lusty excitement burst through him as Marion, grinning almost dangerously, straddled him and slipped his cock into her pussy. They both moaned as she started bouncing on his cock, riding it rapidly. She was incredibly hot and wet inside, and she was really tight from how fit and thin she was.

“Oh fuck yes,” he moaned. “Fuck, Marion, your pussy is amazing.”

“Your dick isn’t half-bad either,” she replied, then cried out. “Gods, I love fucking young cock,” she moaned.

Behind her, Alan could see Sophia, watching in deep fascination. He knew how she felt. The only sex she’d been having for years and years was with one person, and it was probably sedate and mild sex at that. To be thrown into a threesome with her best friend must be quite a shock. He remembered how he’d reacted when Layla and Rachel and Morgan had basically jumped him, all of them wanting turns at riding and taking his dick.

“Okay,” Marion said after a few moments of fucking him. “Your turn, I don’t want to hog him all to myself.” She got off of him, his cock slipping out of her wonderful pussy, and then she moved aside, looking at her best friend.

Sophia seemed nervous but resolute. She came forward, staring Alan in the eye, as if determined to do this, and straddled him.

“Sorry if I’m out of practice,” she said quietly as she reached down between them and gripped his cock. “Oh, you’re bigger than my husband,” she murmured, then paused. “Well, ex-husband. Let’s see if I remember how to do this...”

“Don’t worry, Sophia, it’ll come naturally to you,” Marion replied.

Both of them moaned quietly as she got his cock into her.

“Oh-oh wow,” she whispered, raising herself and then carefully lowering herself. “Yeah, definitely bigger than my ex-husband,” she murmured.

“You like it, you little slut?” Marion asked, grinning.

“Don’t call me that!” Sophia whispered harshly, then moaned as she lowered herself again.

“It’s not a bad thing, being a slut is great. It feels wonderful and you make a lot of friends. You just gotta make sure you do it right, like we’re doing now, and only fucking the right people,” Marion replied.

Sophia stared down at Alan as she got him all the way inside of her. She was very, very tight. She leaned in and kissed him deeply as she began bouncing on his cock. Pleasure ignited in him and he reached back around and grabbed her thick ass. She broke the kiss, crying out as he hit a sensitive spot inside of her pussy, then continued moaning.

“Fuck, it’s so good. I forgot how good it feels,” she moaned.

“You are a fantastic fuck, Sophia,” Alan murmured, he licked across her breasts, causing her to moan. “And you are so beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she groaned, then cried out as he thrust up into her. “Will you come inside me? I want to know what that feels like again. I remembered loving it.”

“With pleasure,” he replied.

She started riding him faster, both of them moaning together, building towards the climax, towards the ultimate pleasure.

When he came, it was almost at the same time she did. Both of them cried out in intense sexual gratification as they began to orgasm. Alan moaned as he felt his cock kicking hard inside of her, spraying down her insides with his seed. Pleasure blossomed within him and was only intensified as he felt her pussy clenching and spasming around him, could feel the increased heat and wetness, felt her curvy, mature body writhing against his own.

When they were finished, she was left gasping for breath against him. A moment of silence passed. Then Marion cleared her throat.

“So, I’m not done with the both of you,” she said, “not by a long shot.”

Alan glanced over at her, then looked back at Sophia.

It was going to be a long, and good, night.

CHAPTER II

“Hey, Alan...wake up. You’re going to want to see this.”

Alan opened his eyes. He stared up at the wooden ceiling of their cramped cabin aboard the ship and could see the reflections of the sun off the water outside their single window. Rolling over, he saw Layla beside him, and he could feel the other woman at his back, still asleep. May was her name. She was a human merchant heading for Tomontica as well. He glanced briefly back at her. She was very attractive, in a rough and tumble kind of way. She had a lot of scars and a fetish for felis girls, and wow could she fuck.

They’d had an amazing threesome last night.

“What?” he asked, moving closer to Layla. It was amazing the three of them could fit in the bed, let alone do sexy things in it.

But they’d made it work.

“Look,” she said, and moved out of the way. He took her place at the window and looked. She had a point: he wanted to see this.

“Wow,” he murmured.

They were passing by an island and it was beautiful. He could see several boats of varying sizes anchored in the island’s bay and a scattering of buildings along the shore and further back, and the tropical jungle area beyond that seemed to take up most of the island. There was a mountain rising in the distance as well.

“Is that where we’re headed?” he asked.

“No, that’s one of the smaller islands. We’re headed for the main island. It’s dead ahead of us right now. We should be hitting dock pretty soon,” Layla replied.

“Guess that means I’ve got to get up then.”

They both glanced over. May was shifting, rubbing her eyes, pushing some of her long black hair out of her face. She smiled at them.

“Thanks for last night, it was a lot of fun,” she said.

“Right back at you,” Layla replied.

May leaned in and gave them each a kiss, then pulled the blankets back, got up and began to get dressed.

“We need to get up, too,” Layla said, standing as well. Alan joined them, swaying slightly as he felt the boat shift and rock all around him. They’d been traveling for almost two days straight at this point and he hadn’t gotten used to the effect. Honestly, he thought it was going to mess with him for some time to come, and he wondered how anyone got used to it. He and Layla moved over to the washbasin and he heated the water with a modified fire spell. May declined the offer as she finished dressing and grabbed her backpack.

“Goodbye,” she said.

They both gave their farewells, and then she was out the door and out of their lives. As he washed, Alan couldn’t help but feel that strange unreality he often felt whenever he had a one-night stand with a complete stranger.

“So what should we do first?” Alan asked.

“Breakfast,” Layla replied. “But after that, we should look for a job. Something...challenging. I’m feeling antsy after being pent up aboard the boat.”

“Sounds good,” Alan replied.

As they finished washing and began to get dressed, he thought about the trip. It hadn’t been as worrying as he’d feared it would be. They hadn’t run into any bad weather, and he’d had a few sexual encounters that had been quite fun. The first day, they’d stopped at a small island to trade with some of the locals and he and Layla had gone exploring. They’d ended up having a very...unique sexual encounter on the island.

Then, when the first night fell, he found himself in the company of a slender, vibrant beryl woman around his age who had never made love with a human before. They’d bumped into each other while he’d been walking around the ship and had hit it off very quickly. She’d been fun and flirtatious, telling him stories of how she was a treasure seeker, and she was hoping to find something new and exciting on the island.

When night fell, she’d invited him back to her cabin for some fun, and after updating Layla on the situation, who was off looking for some fun all her own, he’d joined her, and done his best to give the beryl beauty as good a time as he could, given that it was her first time with a human. The second day had largely been about laying around in the sun and enjoying the weather, which grew warmer and warmer the farther south they traveled. And then they’d met the merchant, May, and she’d been quick to try and get them in bed.

Not that either him or Layla needed much persuading.

“You know, Layla, I’m still having some problems...reconciling certain aspects of my new life,” he said as they began packing their belongings.

“What aspects?” she asked.

“I can’t help but feel like...I’m missing something, when I’m sleeping with these new women. I mean, the amount of sexual partners I’ve had over the past two months is...it seems incredible. And it’s great, and I’m enjoying it, but…”

“But?”

“I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Oh! You mean like, just in general?” she asked. He nodded. “Don’t worry, I know what you mean. I had that problem, too. It’s a side effect of growing up in the society that we grew up in. Everyone wants to treat sex like it’s this shameful, barely tolerated thing, and even then only inside of marriage. Even if you don’t believe it, even if you never believed it and you thought it was crap, you can’t help but soak in some of the more unfortunate aspects of the society around you. So that guilt or worry you’re feeling, you can safely ignore it. I mean, let’s take a moment and think about this logically,” she said.

“Okay.”

“You can, with one hundred percent effectiveness, make yourself infertile, should you so choose. Which means no accidental pregnancies. You can also protect yourself against most forms of sicknesses contracted through sex, and those you can’t are curable. So there’s no harm there. The only real downside is that you’re doing something intimate with people you hardly know, so there’s the paranoia of them using your vulnerable state against you somehow. But you’re smart, Alan, you’re sharp. You can usually tell about people. If someone sets off warning flags, then you aren’t so sex-obsessed that you’ll say ‘fuck it’ and fuck them anyway. You aren’t desperate, so you won’t make stupid decisions. And that’s...that’s it, really.”

“That’s all of it,” he murmured, considering everything she’d said. “I guess you’re right. And so long as I don’t do anything fucked up, I don’t try to force anything or take advantage of anyone, as long as there’s consent involved each time, then...there really isn’t anything to feel bad about,” he murmured, putting the pieces together for himself. He thought about it for a bit longer. He supposed there were some situations in which he’d feel awful, like if he helped a woman cheat on her significant other.

He’d feel like crap about that, and didn’t think he could do it willingly.

But that was different. The fear he felt, the anxiety and vague guilt, was all sort of in the background, this omnipresent dark cloud that hung around him. He had no rational reason to feel bad about having this many sexual partners.

“So I won’t feel bad about it,” he said finally.

Layla smiled. “Good. Keep at it. You’ll get there eventually. It takes some time to undo the damage that our society did, but if you keep going, you’ll be fine. Now, come on, let’s get some fish for breakfast, I’m starving.”

After double-checking that they had everything they’d brought with them, they left the cabin. Moving down a short corridor, they stepped out onto the deck. It was bright and comfortably warm outside and all around them he could see islands, some very small, some huge. The biggest of all, which had to be at least a dozen miles across, maybe more, was dead ahead of them, and they were headed for a bay with a few other ships.

“This is amazing,” Layla said as they walked along the deck.

“It really is,” Alan agreed quietly, taking it all in. There was something just...awe-inspiring and epic about the sight. They kept moving until they found their way into another part of the ship and got to the food hall where some of the other passengers had gathered. They found a meal of some steak and eggs and hashbrowns with milk, took a seat and dug in. After everything that had happened last night, Alan was starving.

The crew pulled into port not long after they’d finished breakfast, and they got the passengers off the boat as quickly as they could be rid of them, as they had a lot of stuff to do. Alan and Layla walked down the gangplank together and hit the large town that was built around the curve of the bay. They moved through the crowds of people, making their way past the dockyards and into the city itself, and Alan felt awestruck.

There were so many people.

And not just one kind, but many. He saw just as many felis and beryl as he did humans and elves. The place seemed like a cultural melting pot. And he could just feel the positive energy of the place. He didn’t know how else to describe it. In other ports he’d seen, everyone seemed terse and solitary, keeping to themselves and warily eying others. But here everyone was chatting happily and openly with each other. Merchants were showing their wares, adventurers were telling tales or showing off their weapons or unique items or scars.

Everyone seemed...happy.

He thought that maybe the weather had something to do with it. It was admittedly pretty humid, but there was a fairly consistent cool breeze blowing in off the ocean, and there was just the right amount of cloud cover. But more than that, he knew it must be the culture. Everyone was just more...relaxed here, he could just sense it. And he learned how true it was as they moved through the streets, looking for the town message board.

Several different people smiled at him, greeted him warmly, totally at random. He thought that this would be a really good place for Layla, since it seemed to match her personality more. They moved past all sorts of restaurants and shops and stalls, inns and blacksmiths and magic shops. Several people were performing on the street with magical abilities, either juggling fireballs or casting illusions or creating music.

Alan felt his moods lifting significantly just walking through the town.

They found the message board without too much trouble. It was fairly large and covered with all sorts of jobs. They sorted through the usual clutter of small-time jobs not for adventurers but for people just looking to make some gold with oddjobs, and found a few different jobs that were more interesting. Someone was mounting an expedition to another one of the islands to search for treasure, but that seemed a bit too involved. Someone else was asking for protection for when they headed into the forest to gather plants, but that didn’t seem interesting enough. Then the local ruler was offering bounties on monsters.

There were a lot of monsters that were plaguing the island.

“Here,” Layla said suddenly. Alan glanced over at the paper she was looking at and stepped over to her. He read it over. It seemed that a local mine had been overrun by giant spiders and they needed someone to clear it out.

“Sounds good,” Alan said. “And dangerous.”

“You mean fun,” Layla replied. “Should we do it?”

“Yeah, especially considering they’re paying fifty gold per fang. That could be a serious haul,” he said.

“Good! Let’s go.”

They set off.

…

As they made their way out of the beachfront settlement, Alan was surprised to see just how intense the jungle was. It grew practically right up to the edge of the settlement and it was thick. There was dense green foliage everywhere, and among it were bright sprays of blues and yellows and reds. Strange and exotic flowers grew everywhere. He had an idea that this place was kind of like a paradise for alchemists.

“There’s the path,” Layla said, pointing to the right. They set off. They’d made their way out of the marketplace, past a heavily industrialized area where a dozen blacksmith shops were making all kinds of products. From there, they’d moved through an area heavy with housing and inns and what Layla explained were shared housing complexes. Basically, she’d explained, it was like an inn, but you lived there for an extended period of time with a random collection of other people who wanted to live there. And it was cheap since there were so many people living and working there. Alan wasn’t sure he’d heard of something like that.

But it sounded awesome.

They found a fairly well-worn path that extended into the jungle, but even as they began moving along it, passing a few armed men and women and some merchants along the way as they proceeded, Alan noted that the canopy overhead was very thick, throwing the whole area into a kind of gloom. And the trees to either side of the path were numerous and large, dense with foliage and plant life. The ground among the trees was practically lost to the underbrush. He wondered if they were going to have to go into this jungle.

Well, more than likely, given the nature of their lives.

As they walked towards the mine, he was happy to note that Layla seemed in a much better mood, and as a result, seemed friendly and closer to him. She frequently brushed up against him with her tail or held his hand or kissed him on the cheek. She seemed ecstatic and her good mood was infectious.

“Having fun so far?” she asked as they found a side path that would lead them to the mine.

“So far, so good,” he replied.

“Glad you agreed to come?”

“Yeah, definitely. This is...this feels like an adventure. I mean, the stuff we did before, that was an adventure, to be sure, but this feels like...the kind of adventure people write about in books,” Alan replied.

“It does,” she agreed. “I know what you mean. Also, fuck I want sleep with as many Tomontican natives as possible. They are so hot, men and women.”

“I’d definitely like to sleep with several of the women,” he replied. “You were mentioning earlier that they’re a lot more open and liberal about sex, right?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Open relationships are actually the norm down here.”

“That’s so cool.”

“I know, right!? I’ve been meaning to visit this place for so long. I’m glad I finally came, and that you’re here with me.”

He took her hand. “I’m glad for that, too.”

They kept walking until they reached the mine. The path wound through the jungle, and although several times the foliage trembled and they heard strange, unfamiliar sounds deeper in, they didn’t run into any trouble.

When they got to the mine entrance, which was little more than a descending tunnel disappearing into the side of a hill with several wooden crates and lots of pick-axes and other digging implements scattered around entrance, they saw two people. A Tomontican woman, who, even from a distance Alan could tell was strikingly attractive, and also an adventurer, given that she was wearing armor, had a sword on her hip and a bow and quiver on her back, was talking with a bald, grizzled-looking middle-aged man.

Probably the owner or foreman of the mine.

They both glanced over as they noticed the two latest arrivals.

“Hello, there!” the woman called. “You here for the job, too?”

“Yes,” Layla replied. They walked up to join them. “That a problem?”

“Not at all,” she replied. “I wasn’t exactly looking forward to doing this on my own. Fighting giant spiders in a dark, enclosed space isn’t my idea of a party.”

“Same,” Layla replied.

As introductions were made, Alan learned that her name was Carmen. She had the most beautiful mocha skin and short black hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her green eyes flashed with excitement while they talked about how they were going to enter the mine and deal with the spiders. The foreman just seemed relieved.

“Well, the offer for fifty coins a fang stands,” he said as they finished up. “So a hundred coin a spider. I want those bastards dead.”

“How did they get in?” Layla asked.

“My workers broke through a wall into a cavern infested with the beasts two days ago. They flooded into the mines, dozens of them. We killed a lot but there were just too many of them. I ordered an evacuation...they killed twenty of my workers. My friends. I started out offering up fifty coin a spider and some adventurers came up and went in there, but they fled when they saw how dangerous it was, so I upped the bounty...you three look like you can handle yourselves,” he said, though he seemed uncertain when he glanced at Alan.

Well, he couldn’t blame the man. Although Alan had lost his pale pallor and put on some muscle ever since traveling with Layla, (he could see actual, real definition in his chest now), he still looked pretty scrawny compared to the average adventurer.

“We can handle it,” Layla replied.

Carmen nodded impatiently, seemingly excited to get on with it.

“Well...good luck. Here’s a mine of the map,” he replied, handing them a rolled up parchment. He went and began to set to work organizing the crates and the trio gathered around the parchment, studying the layout of the mines.

It seemed fairly simple, although it’d be a lot of work. The main entrance tunnel led into a central cavern where another five offshoot tunnels each led to their own caverns. All they had to do was clear them out one by one. The far left tunnel’s end was marked with a red X. That must be where the spiders had initially come through.

What fun this was going to be.

They worked out a pretty basic plan of attack: sweep and clear, stick together. As they put away the map and headed into the mine, Alan activated a simple light spell. They started walking down the rough rock passageway, passing dead torches and wooden support struts. The tunnel seemed to go on for a ways.

“So how did you two get mixed up in this? You don’t seem like locals,” Carmen asked.

“We just came down from the north,” Layla replied. “We had a hard month and decided, since winter was coming in, that it was time to go somewhere nice for once instead of hanging around and weathering the cold.”

“Well you certainly chose the right place. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my breath on the air down here,” Carmen replied.

“As for how we came here specifically, well, we wanted some coin and some adventure. And to help people if at all possible,” Alan said.

“How about you?” Layla asked.

Carmen shrugged. “I’m a local. I grew up on one of the smaller islands and when I came of age, I moved here. I got training from my dad, who was a city guard, when I was growing up, and got started as an alchemist’s bodyguard when I moved here,” she replied. “And I’m here in the mines for basically the same reason you are.”

Up ahead, something skittered. It was an awful sound already, but in the close confines of the cave, it was even worse. Alan readied his bow and arrow. He’d been trying to get better at it recently and he thought he was a pretty decent and quick shot. They came at last to the end of the tunnel and into the primary cavern. It was too big for his light spell and most of the torches were out. The edges and ceiling were lost to the shadows.

Increasing the light spell threefold, Alan revealed the cavern’s secrets.

There was a lot of spilled blood and abandoned tools. He saw knocked over wooden crates and raw ore everywhere, dropped in the midst of being taken out of the mine when the spiders had attacked. And speaking of spiders, he saw four large, green bodies, flipped over onto their backs, legs curled inwards in death.

There were no human bodies though.

He had a good idea of where they would have ended up and shuddered at the thought of it. Not a particularly pleasant way to go.

“Let’s get this over with,” Carmen said, and set off towards the right most tunnel. Alan and Layla followed her.

They worked their way slowly down the tunnel. As they went, Alan began lighting torches wherever he could find them. He couldn’t sustain this light spell indefinitely, especially if they were going to be fighting and he might need to call on his magical abilities. There was another skittering sound, echoing out to them from the dim gloom ahead. It was louder this time, and it seemed to be multiplied.

Echoes or more than one of them?

He supposed they’d know soon enough. The tunnel came to an end, terminating in a smaller cavern. There was webbing now, strung up across the ceiling, though he could see no forms or shapes among it, so that was good, at least. Alan moved a little farther into the cavern, letting his light spell illuminate the shadows.

He saw the light reflect off of something over in the far right corner of the cavern. Turning his bow and arrow to it, he let out a sharp cry of surprise and fear and revulsion is a giant green spider scuttled into view.

He loosed the arrow.

It sailed through the air in a split second and buried itself in the spider’s face. The thing began shrieking in an awful high-pitched voice, thrashing about violently for a few seconds before dying. That alerted the others.

From the shadows, four more of the giant beasts came. Alan, Layla, and Carmen went on the offensive. Alan fired another arrow, missed, and fired again. This time he put one of them down. Layla was doing the same, using her bow and arrow to kill the beasts. Carmen dashed forward, a short sword in hand, and drove the tip of the blade hilt deep into the body of one of the spiders, which died instantly.

They wiped the four spiders out quickly and efficiently. One they’d cleared the cavern out and were sure they were dead, the trio moved back down the tunnel into the main area and then went down the next tunnel.

Slowly and systematically, they cleared out the cave system, moving carefully down the tunnels and putting down close to two dozen spiders one after another. Carmen was an accomplished warrior. She moved with a lethal grace, dancing among the giant spiders, easily avoiding their attacks and making quick work of them with her short sword that glowed with a slight red hue. Alan figured it had to be treated with magic of some kind.

They worked their way through the remainder of the caverns and tunnels, deciding that they would come back through after they’d cleared it all out and collect the fangs. After close to forty five minutes, they were making their way down the final tunnel, headed towards the cavern that had broken through into the spider’s nest. Alan was nervous. He’d been gathering magic while using his own blade to kill the spiders.

He was planning on hitting some spiders with a fire spell.

They carried torches now, as he had to summon all the magic he could. None of them spoke as they progressed down the tunnel. It felt like a bad place. It smelled of blood and death, and something even fouler beneath it. Probably the spiders themselves. It was a sharp, pungent odor that Alan hated and couldn’t wait to be free of.

They came at last to the final cavern. It was a bloody ruin and webs practically covered it. There were definitely shapes in these webs, still bundles that had once been the miners. Some part of Alan hoped that they weren’t still alive, because he couldn’t imagine they’d be living very much longer. Spiders always implanted those they captured with their eggs, so that their young had something to eat when they were born.

Yeah, he was definitely torching this place.

“There,” Layla said quietly.

The lusty adventurousness had dimmed in the face of the senseless death and slaughter of the miners. No one here deserved this. She was indicating a large hole in the far wall where a deeper darkness lay.

Cautiously, the trio approached it.

Alan walked slowly up to the hole, holding his torch out, trying to see what lay beyond. He couldn’t hear anything.

His light revealed a new area.

It was...moving.

He squinted in confusion, trying to figure out what in the name of the Gods he was seeing. The whole place seemed to be shifting and writhing and-

“Oh Gods! Babies!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

There were baby spiders. Thousands of them.

“GET BACK!” he roared, and then aimed both his hands at the opening, palms flat and out, and released perhaps the biggest fireball he had ever created in his life. It wasn’t so much a ball of fire as it was a wall of flames.

A chorus of shrieks sounded at roughly the same time as everything in the cavern beyond was incinerated in a bare instant. The whole cavern was lit in a hellish orange-red glow and a powerful, hot wind blew back at them, carrying the scent of the dead, crisped creatures and corpses. Both Layla and Carmen cried out in shocked surprise and fell back several steps. As the flames died to smoldering embers, Alan slowly, shakily lowered his hands.

He turned around to face the other two. His head was swimming crazily now and he felt so weak that it took an effort merely to draw breath.

“I got them,” he said.

Then he passed out.

…

When he came to, it no longer was dark, nor did it smell of burning death.

He was lying on his back, staring up at Layla’s beautiful, worried face against a background of blue sky and white clouds.

“Hi,” he said.

“Oh, Gods, Alan. You scared the shit out of me,” she said. “What were you thinking? What happened?”

“I...panicked and overreacted,” he replied awkwardly. He still felt weak and tired, but not so much as he had before. “How long was I out?”

“An hour,” Layla replied.

Well that was good, at least. He would have gotten through the worst of the side effects of using too much magic.

“So, did everything go well?” he asked.

Layla was nodding.

“Yeah, although you fucking owe me. I carried your heavy ass through the caves for most of that hour while we collected fangs. Which we lost out on a lot of them when you torched whatever was in that cavern. Of course, there were who knew how many baby spiders in there, and it wasn’t like we could kill them all. I guess it was the only way to deal with them. Anyway, Carmen’s talking with the foreman now and we’re getting it all sorted out. With everything going on, we each earned about eight hundred coin.”

“Wow,” Alan murmured. “Awesome.”

“Yep. Carmen and I were talking. We’re going to have a night on the town to celebrate a job well done. And...” She glanced over briefly. Alan followed her gaze. She’d laid him out on a patch of grass in the flattened area outside the mine. He could see Carmen talking with the foreman, who was counting up fangs and looking tremendously relieved. “I think she wants us,” Layla said finally. “Both of us.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. I definitely want her. She is so fucking hot. What about you?”

“Oh Gods, yes. I want to pound the fuck out of her,” he replied.

Layla snorted. “Good. We can double-team her tonight if one of us gets brave enough to hit on the other. Now, you feel up to walking?” she asked.

“Yeah...well, maybe. I need to stand up first,” he replied.

Slowly, he got to his feet, Layla helping him as he went. When he was standing, he moved cautiously around. He was still tired and a bit dizzy, but he thought he would be okay. He and Layla moved over and joined the other two. He sat down on a crate while the foreman finished counting out the fangs.

“Thank you so much,” he said as he finished up, then handed them each a bag of gold. “This was extremely helpful.”

“We’re happy we could help,” Layla replied.

They accepted the gold and, when he felt strong enough to, Alan stood up and joined the two women as they started walking back to town.

“So, did Layla mention that I’m interested in a night on the town?” Carmen asked.

“Yes. I’m very interested myself,” Alan replied.

She flashed him a beautiful smile. “Good. There’s a lot of fun things to do in this town. Well, on this whole island, honestly. How about I be your tour guide for the time being? I don’t really have anything else pertinent to do,” she suggested.

“That sounds great,” Layla replied.

“Perfect. Come on. I know a great place to get some food. I’m fucking starving after all that.” She led them back into the jungle, towards town.

…

Carmen was right, there was a lot going on in the town.

She took them first to a place that sat basically right on the beach, overlooking the bay where they had initially docked. It was almost all outdoors and they served a wide variety of fish there. They put in their order and took a seat at a table along the outermost section of the patio. They got to know each other while they waited.

“So you two are together then?” Carmen asked.

They glanced at each other. “Yes, to a certain degree,” Layla replied. “We sleep together and do most things together. But we also adopt a view similar to Tomonticans in that we have an open relationship and have a healthy enjoyment of sleeping with other people, either alone or together,” she added.

“That’s good to hear. I’ve spoken with a fair amount of northerners and honestly that’s a very rare philosophy. I think maybe one in twenty is even open to the idea of an open relationship...let alone an interspecies one. I have to admit, you two are pretty interesting. I can tell you’re pretty comfortable with each other. There’s no...worry about people seeing you together. And, I mean, that’s how it should be, and you won’t have to worry about that down here. But I can’t imagine it was very easy living up north...sorry if it sounds like I’m really ragging on your country...” Carmen replied.

Alan shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You’re right. It was annoying. We got a lot of weird stares and people muttering about us. We got used to it. And we surrounded ourselves with like-minded individuals. Plus, we hung out with elves a lot. And they’re fairly liberal too. Well...they’re more open about sex, at least, and they don’t exactly freak out over interracial couples. Though they aren’t entirely into it themselves,” he replied.

“It’s very refreshing to be down here and among people who aren’t super repressed and conservative,” Layla said. “So tell us more about yourself. You said you got your start as an alchemist’s bodyguard.”

“Oh yes, that was quite fun. And interesting. I was with her for two years. She would go into the woods to collect samples and, although she could handle herself in combat, it pays to have someone watching your back. Plus, well...I found she had an ulterior motive for hiring me. She was about fifteen years older than me, and apparently very enamored with me. After about a month, we started having sex. I’d never really been with a woman before then. I mean, I’d fooled around with some girlfriends back on my home island, I had an idea that I was, theoretically at least, bisexual. But I’d never quite worked up the bravery to go all the way.

“Well, thanks to her I found out that I’m very into women. We carried on our affair through those two years, and it was very satisfying. We had a lot of lovers we shared. Eventually I got the itch for exploration and adventure, and she told me that I should go and have fun. She said that she would be here and wouldn’t mind a visit from time to time. So that’s what I did. I signed up with a traveling merchant and my world just...opened up. In lots of ways, but especially sexually. I was his bodyguard for several months before the wanderlust took me again and I started visiting all the other islands. There are eighteen islands in Tomontica. This one is the largest, and the smallest is perhaps half a mile across,” she explained.

“I spent the next eight years exploring all of them, having adventures and affairs on every one of them. I went from protection to being a mercenary and fighting the monsters back from the settlements, then from there I became just a wandering adventuress and a bit of a treasure-seeker. And eventually I got homesick and went back to my original island. Spent six months there reconnecting with my family and friends. Had sex with a few of those friends that I’d always intended to but never got around to. Then I got wanderlust again, though not quite as powerful as before, and ended up here. I’ve been getting into trouble all over the island ever since.”

“Wow, that’s...a lot of adventuring,” Alan said.

She nodded. “Yep. Eventually I think I’d like to get to other lands. I kind of want to hit up the Emerald Wild. I hear stories about it all the time and it sounds dangerous.”

“Oh, it is,” Layla replied. “But also very...exciting.”

“I see. And that’s just the beginning. There’s the land of the far elves, the frozen north, all the other continents and lands and peoples to explore…but that’s all in the future.”

They finished eating after that and then she promptly got up and started leading them off to the next thing. They explored the city for a few hours after that, talking among themselves and swapping stories about adventures and sexual exploits. She took them to see a variety of things, from an art gallery with magic-infused paintings that glowed and shimmered, to one long road that was packed with all sorts of people doing performance art and magic shows and singing and playing music and telling stories.

From there, they ultimately took a long walk up to the highest point in the land. Just as they got to the top, the sun was beginning to set.

“How much farther?” Alan asked.

“Getting tired?” Carmen replied.

“Hey, I knocked myself out killing those spiders today. I’m still recovering.”

“Fair enough. Yes. We’re almost there. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

They kept walking along the path that curved around the mountain they were climbing. Though it wasn’t quite a mountain, more of a huge hill covered with trees. Alan was looking forward to getting somewhere and soaking for a long time in a tub. Suddenly, they had come to the top. There was a relatively flat piece of land a couple of dozen feet wide and he could tell by a few fire-pits and some remnants of campsites that people came up here a lot. And he completely understood why a lot of people would want to come up here.

“Wow,” he said.

“Yep. Told you it was worth the view,” Carmen replied.

They had a view of the entire island, and not just that, but more islands around them. The sun, which was in the process of setting now, cast everything in a golden-red light that made it seem unreal and ethereally beautiful. He could see the settlements, there were maybe a dozen of them spread out across the island, the largest being the one built around the bay. He could see the sullen yellow twinkling of campfires and torches where the canopy wasn’t too thick. Then there was the ocean, serene and mellow, the waves coming in slowly. There were about twenty or so ships of varying sizes coming and go.

“This is amazing,” Layla murmured.

“We’ll sit up here and enjoy it for a bit, then we’ll head back to town,” Carmen said.

Alan nodded. He could get behind that.

He sat down and enjoyed the view.

…

A little after sunset, they made their way back down the hillside and to the main settlement. By the time they actually had reached the city limits, Alan was exhausted. He was ready for a soak, hopefully some sex, then some sleep.

“So, I guess this is the best time to ask. Would the two of you be interested in a threesome? I’ve got a decent home I’m renting and it’s just me for the time being,” Carmen asked.

“That sounds fantastic,” Alan replied.

Layla nodded. “Yes, I’d like that a lot.”

Carmen smiled. “Good. Come on, it isn’t too far from here.”

They walked through the city and, as they did, Alan found himself reevaluating Carmen. He’d been sneaking glances at her all day, because she was really fucking attractive, and not wearing a great deal of clothing, (she’d stopped to take off her armor after they’d left the mines), but it wasn’t the same as really studying her.

She was wearing a short, loose skirt with the sides cut open to allow a lot of movement, and she had some fantastic thighs, thick and athletic. Consequently, what he could see of her ass appeared to be pretty curvy as well. She was wearing a shirt now that was really half a shirt. It showed off her stomach and was low cut, so it also showcased her large breasts. She had a really impressive amount of cleavage and had been pretty much showing it off their whole trip. She seemed to enjoy the effect it had on people.

And now he was going to have sex with her, and with Layla.

He was very much looking forward to the experience.

It turned out that Carmen was being modest: her place was quite nice. On the outside, it did look simple, just a single-story, wooden house with a small front yard that had a little palm tree and a small garden in it. Inside, though, everything was very fresh and clean and organized. They moved through her living room, where she had a love-seat and two high-backed chairs situated in front of a fireplace. Almost one entire wall was taken up by books. They moved past a kitchen and a bathroom, and came to her bedroom.

“Wow,” Alan murmured as they stepped into the room. It was basically taken up by a huge bed, a dresser and a sunken tub.

“I ended up paying to have this put in,” Carmen said, indicating the tub. “Cause I really need a good soak after a long, hard day.”

“I know the feeling,” Layla replied. “Shall we soak?” she asked as she took off her small top, freeing her furry breasts.

“Yes,” Carmen said, looking at her chest as she grinned. “You are so pretty, Layla,” she said. “I love your fur patterning.”

“Thank you,” Layla replied, smiling at the compliment. She took off her skirt and then her panties, now fully naked.

“What about you, Alan? I’ve been wondering what you look like naked all day,” she said, turning to look at him.

He began taking off his clothes, wondering why she was interested in that. But hey, if she was, then he wasn’t complaining. He was at least getting better about not feeling super awkward about getting naked in front of hot women. Though he doubted it would ever completely disappear. After he got out of his clothing, he stood before her.

“Nice,” she said. “You seem like you’re going to be an enthusiastic lover.”

“He is,” Layla replied.

“Good, I really like those. My turn, I guess.”

Alan and Layla watched with extreme interest as Carmen began getting undressed. He thought it strange, suddenly, that no matter how many naked women he had seen or been inside of, he never really stopped being excited and interested when he found himself in the presence of a new woman that was interested in sleeping with him.

It was a truly fantastic aspect of sex, he thought.

She undid the two buttons that had held together her tiny shirt, and as she did, her breasts practically exploded out.

“Oh, Gods, that’s better,” she muttered as she shrugged out of the shirt. Fuck, her tits were huge, and really fucking hot. They were perky and nicely rounded. And, oh wow. She turned around as she pulled down her skirt, revealing her thick, well-rounded, nicely-padded ass. And she had these awesome, curvy hips. Turning back around, he saw that she, like most adventuresses he encountered, maintained a bald vagina.

“So, this is me,” she said, spreading out her arms and doing a little spin. “What do you two think?”

“You are fucking hot,” Layla replied.

“Seconded,” Alan replied. “I mean, fuck you are so beautiful, so fucking sexy, Carmen.”

She smirked. “Well, glad to hear it. Now let’s get in the tub and get this show started,” she replied.

He couldn’t argue with that. The three of them moved across the bedroom to her spacious tub. She slipped in first, then Layla, and Alan got in last. He groaned as he sunk into the water. It felt simply amazing.

“I needed this,” he whispered as he got under the water up to his neck. He laid his head against the padded rim of the tub and closed his eyes.

“Don’t drift off yet,” Carmen said. “I still want to ride your cock.”

“Me too,” Layla said.

“Grab some soap and wash up,” Carmen commanded.

He opened his eyes and looked around. The wall next to the tub sported a wraparound shelf, which held a variety of things: bottles of liquefied soap and shampoo, brushes and combs, washrags and sponges, and lots of other items. He grabbed a bar of soap and a washrag and set to work cleaning himself off. Besides wanting to be presentable to the women who were agreeing to have sex with him, he just generally liked being clean, it made him feel all around better, not just physically, but mentally as well.

He felt a kind of unpleasant buzz of bad mood hanging around him whenever he was covered in dirt and filth and the next place to wash was hours away. He saw the other two women washing up and hurried to finished. Carmen’s tits were just too tempting, now wet and soapy. When he was done, he put the soap and washcloth back. He’d hardly been able to finish doing so, as when he turned back, he saw Carmen advancing on him.

She had that grin that he noticed a lot of women he ended up being attracted to had: it was almost feral, a kind of predatory grin, like she was going to devour him. He supposed, in a way, that’s what was happening. He thought that the women he liked took a kind of primal pleasure in subduing him and basically making him beholden to them, because that’s what was basically happening. Although he could be dominate during sex, that was really more of an act than anything else. He tended to let his partner run things during more traditional sex.

Carmen settled onto his lap, mounting him, and kissed him deeply. He reached back and around, immediately grabbing her thick, well-maintained ass. She was in really good shape. He started groping her big ass while she kissed him passionately, shoving her tongue into his mouth and almost violently twining it with his own. She stopped after about a minute, straightening up but continuing to straddle him, pretty much putting her huge, mocha-colored breasts in his face. He let go of her ass, reached up and laid his hands across them.

They might be the greatest breasts he’d ever seen and touched.

Okay, that wasn’t true, Morgan’s had been better, but she was a half-giantess, and that wasn’t really fair to compare the two. Layla was to his left now and Carmen began kissing his felis companion with the same intensity as she had him. After groping her perfect tits for awhile and watching the two women kiss passionately, he grabbed her ass again, then leaned down and started licking across one of her dark nipples.

She let out a startled moan of pleasure. He kept going, licking first one, then the other, then taking one of them into his mouth and sucking on it. Alan switched back and forth between them for a few moments, giving each attention, and soon he began to feel her hips gyrating slowly back and forth, grinding into his lap.

He was as hard as tempered steel now.

Suddenly, she stopped kissing Layla. “Do you mind if I fuck your boytoy’s dick now?” she asked.

“Not at all, but I want a turn soon,” Layla replied.

“Fair deal.”

Carmen turned her attention to him then. She had that feral grin again. Without saying a word, she pushed herself up with her legs and his cock raised with her. Once she had its head in position, at the entrance to her pussy, she began lowering herself again. She took it in in one smooth motion. He groaned loudly as the raw bliss of her bare pussy against his cock overwhelmed him. Inside, she was tight and perfect and so wet.

“Right now, you’re all mine,” she whispered, grabbing his shoulders, resting on her knees and beginning to ride him.

He had to agree with her.

Pleasure and pure sexual satisfaction blossomed within him as she rapidly rode his dick, which felt harder than usual. It was pounding madly with desire in response to her fantastic Tomontican pussy. And Carmen seemed to be enjoying herself too. She was moaning loudly, with total abandon, leaning back and using him to steady her. Her huge, bare breasts were bouncing freely as she satisfied herself on his dick.

And apparently she was easy to satisfy, too.

Within about a minute she was coming. She let out a startled, almost strangled cry of absolute release, then began crying out with a renewed passion, giving voice to the full-body orgasm that was starting to rip through her. Although the pleasure spiked to almost unbearable levels as her orgasming vagina grew hotter and wetter, and she was riding his dick furiously now as she got herself off, Alan somehow managed not to come.

When it was over, she got off of him and sat back, her arms spread out along the padded rim of the tub, a look of deep satisfaction on her face.

“Now that was a good fuck,” she whispered.

Layla was already taking her turn. As she mounted him and slipped him into herself, she looked down at him with an intense gaze. She began to kiss him, deeply and passionately, closing her eyes as she bounced on his cock, fucking him intensely. The pleasure mounted and he knew that this time, he wouldn’t be able to assert as much self control. He was definitely going to come inside of her. He felt a powerful kind of passion coming off of Layla as she fucked him and kissed him. Something felt kind of off about the sex session.

But she seemed to really be enjoying it.

She stopped kissing him and moaned loudly. “Come in me!” she cried. “Come in my pussy, honey!” she moaned.

“Oh, Layla!” he cried, and then he was coming.

When his orgasm hit, it was like a tidal wave. It picked him up and threw him. He felt blown away by the blast of pure passionate pleasure that engulfed him as his cock began to violently spurt its seed into her, filling her up. He lost himself in that world of pleasure for a little while, feeling nothing but his orgasm, and when he came back, he fell back against the side of the tub and stared up at Layla, who was smiling down at him.

“That was a good one, wasn’t it?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah,” he replied weakly. He was more tired than ever now, but somehow he knew they weren’t finished. Not yet.

She got off of him and he slid easily out of her.

“That was really hot,” Carmen said. “You two up for another round? I’ll go down on you, if you want,” she added, looking at Layla.

“Yes, please,” Layla replied immediately. “I’ve heard rumors that Tomontican women really know how to eat pussy.”

Carmen grinned slyly. “They’re all true. I’ll prove it.”

Yeah, they definitely weren’t done yet. The three of them washed up quickly once more, then got out, toweled off and made for Carmen’s big bed. It was very comfortable he realized as he climbed onto it. He was definitely going to enjoy sleeping here. And making love here. Carmen took over as they got onto her bed.

“Lay here, Layla,” she said, “and I’ll show you what I can do.”

“Yes ma’am,” Layla replied. She laid down on her back in the middle of the bed, resting comfortably against a big group of pillows, then spread her legs wide. Carmen got onto her hands and knees, looking down at Layla’s crotch. She glanced back over her shoulder at Alan, who was staring intently at her big ass.

“If you want,” she said, “you can fuck me up the ass. I’ve got lube in the headboard.”

“I definitely want that,” he replied, already going for headboard. He found the lube and quickly got back into position, getting on his knees and staring down at her huge, well-maintained ass as he squeezed some lube into his hand and quickly rubbed his cock down. It might be the greatest ass he’d ever seen as well.

Carmen was just fucking fantastically beautiful.

He got up against her, fitting his slicked-up cock against her tight opening, and began to work his way inside. She was so tight. He groaned as he got his cock’s head into her ass, then began slowly inching his way into her. As he did this, she lowered her head and began to eat Layla out. She cried out as the pleasure began to wash through her.

“Oh, Carmen!” she moaned.

That only turned Alan on even more. Before long, he’d worked his way completely up her ass, his cock utterly buried in it. Looking down as he started fucking her in the ass, he knew that, without a doubt, this was definitely the hottest ass he’d ever seen. Carmen was moaning loudly, the sound muffled by Layla’s crotch, and from the sounds that Layla was making, he could tell that she was close to coming.

He was close, too.

He also knew that he had to soon, or he was just going to straight-up pass out. The day was catching up with him and he felt weighed down by his lethargy. He kept going, thrusting his hips back and forth, pounding her fat, fit ass, grabbing her broad hips and pulling her to him as he thrust forward, pushing himself pretty far into her. She was moaning loudly now and suddenly Layla let out a cry of pure pleasure.

She was coming.

That made Alan trigger. He groaned, hunching forward, feeling himself being whisked away to that world of blind pleasure. His cock began to spew its seed out furiously as he orgasmed up Carmen’s beautiful, thick ass. He kept pounding her up the ass as he orgasmed, just coming and coming and coming. Anal always made him have powerful orgasms. He filled her up, and when he was finished, still feeling awash in that sea of rapturous pleasure, he pulled out of her and fell backwards onto her comfortable bed.

Not much later, he was fast asleep.

CHAPTER III

Alan awoke from a dream of naked women and intense erotic pleasure. He opened his eyes, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling of smooth wood, and tried to remember where he was. But it was like thinking through a haze, a fog of pure, unfiltered, raw lust and desire. He was so fucking horny. Insanely horny. He wanted sex so badly that it hurt. He felt warmth to either side of him. Looking around, he realized that he was lying in a large bed with a naked, beautiful woman on both sides of him.

It came back to him, some of it.

He at least knew where he was: Carmen’s rented house, in her large, luxurious bed. Alan rolled onto his left side and found Carmen facing away from him. He scooted up against her, his dick a bar of throbbing, tempered steel between his legs, aching for use. He reached around and took one of her large, perfect breasts in his hand and groped it as he tried to maneuver his cock into her. She shifted against him.

“What’s...oh, someone’s horny,” Carmen murmured.

“Yes, can I-can we-”

“Yes, Alan,” she replied. She shifted in just the right way and his cock became aligned with her tight opening.

Both of them moaned as he pushed his way into her. She was so wet. She must be just as horny as he was. He worked his way into her, grinding up against her enormous ass, and groped her breasts probably more roughly than he should have, but she didn’t seem to mind. She moaned as he started sliding rapidly in and out of her.

“Oh, fuck, Alan,” she whispered. “Yes...fuck me...Gods, I’m so fucking horny in the morning. It’s awful when I don’t have anyone around...”

“I know exactly how you feel,” he replied.

He continued pounding her, going harder and faster as his lust overtook him. Suddenly, he reached down and got his hand between her pressed together thighs. Finding her clit, he began to rub it, causing her to cry out.

“Oh, yes! That feels so good!” she moaned.

He kept going and fucking her, pounding her like crazy, filling up her pussy with his steel-hard cock over and over again. He rubbed her clit vigorously and within half a minute she was coming. She moaned loudly, holding part of the pillow over her face and screaming into it as the orgasm took her. He could feel it. It was a full-body climax. She was trembling and jerking occasionally as the rush of pleasure shot through her.

Her vagina was clenching madly around his dick, massaging it as feminine sex juices escaped her pussy, only making the sex feel that much better for him. When it was over, he abruptly pushed her over onto her stomach and got on top of her back, managing to do it without falling out. Propping himself up on his knees slightly and reaching beneath her, then bringing his hands up around her shoulders and gripping them tightly, he really started going to town on her. She let out a startled scream of pleasure.

“Oh, fuck, Alan!” she moaned into the pillow, her face buried in it. The sound of their skin rapidly slapping together filled the room. “Holy fuck! You are fucking me like crazy!” she screamed, and that just make him go harder.

Before long, he was coming furiously into her. His cock kicked and jerked violently and he let out a hoarse shout of raw bliss as the first burst of pleasure spread through him, radiating out from his dick. He felt it twitching and spasming inside of the tight confines of her perfect, wet pussy as he emptied his seed into her. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but when he finished, he fell against her, gasping for breath, sweaty and lightheaded.

And he was still horny.

He glanced over at Layla when she cleared her throat.

“I’m horny, too,” she said, and raised the blankets, revealing that perfect, orange-red furred body of hers. He took her all in at a glance, her high, firm breasts, her smooth athletic thighs and her beautiful face with her cat ears and slit pupils.

Alan pulled out of Carmen, still hard, and caused her to moan in surprise. Then he scooted over and pushed Layla down onto her back.

“Wow, you are horny,” she said.

“Yep,” he replied as he got her legs open.

“Fuck me,” Layla said, her voice almost a growl.

Alan responded by sliding his cock into her. Layla moaned loudly in pleasure, her voice carrying quite well in the bedroom. As soon as he was comfortably inside of her, he began to pound the fuck out of her too.

“Oh, fuck, this is so good, honey!” she moaned.

“Oh, Layla,” he groaned in response, kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her, then she spread her legs wider, brought them up and wrapped them around him as well. Within half a minute, she was enjoying her own orgasm. She broke their deep, impassioned kiss and half-moaned, half-cried in pure rapturous release as she began to come. The pleasure was just too much for Alan and it overwhelmed him into having a second orgasm, which was almost as powerful as the first one.

He groaned as his dick began jetting its seed out into another vagina and loved it, loved every fucking second of it.

When they were finished coming, he pulled out of her and then rolled onto his back. Both of them were breathing heavily now, and he was sweatier than ever. He was also very thirsty from the experience. He stared up at the ceiling and desperately wanted a drink and a bath. After a few moments, when the room stopped spinning, he got up off the bed and looked around the room. He saw that Carmen had a covered watch pitcher over on her dresser, with a few glasses around it. When he picked it up, he felt that it was cold.

It must have had a chilling spell on it.

Magic was so nice.

He poured himself a glass, drank deeply, then poured the two women glasses and brought them the water, which they accepted gratefully and drained almost in one go. With that done, he padded over to the tub and slipped down into the clear, steaming waters. Alan groaned in pleasure as he settled himself into place.

“This tub is amazing,” he said.

“That’s probably the main reason I chose this house,” Carmen replied as she and Layla moved over to join him in the waters.

For a few moments, the three of them simply sat there and soaked, waking up. Judging by the sunlight coming in through the windows, Alan thought it might be close to noon. He’d slept for a really long time, but...well, after yesterday, he honestly needed it. He was feeling good though: refreshed, re-energized, ready to take on whatever the day had to throw at him. As he grabbed a bar of soap and began washing up, he looked at the other two.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” he asked.

“Breakfast, first and foremost,” Layla replied. She glanced at the window. “Well, I guess it’ll have to be breakfast and lunch, but I’m hungry enough to be okay with that.”

“If you can help, I can cook us up something nice. I’ve got a lot of food,” Carmen said.

“I’d be glad to help,” Alan replied.

“What about after food?” Layla asked.

“Well...you know, I’ve been meaning to check out this old ruin deeper inland. It’s supposed to be haunted or something and that’s kept a fair amount of people away, plus it’s in kind of a dangerous location, so it’s pretty untouched. Or so I’d imagine,” Carmen replied. “I’ve been tossing around the idea of finding some other people to join me, and, well...since I’ve had sex with both of you and fought with both of you, I feel like the pair of you are pretty capable. So if you’d like, we can head out there,” she suggested.

“Sounds like fun to me,” Layla said, glancing at Alan.

He nodded. “Yeah, sounds like a good time. I’m down,” he replied.

“Perfect! Okay, let’s finish up here, get some food and then hit the marketplace. We should really shore up our defenses, the jungle is serious business, especially since we’re going to be going as deep into it as we are.”

They finished washing up, got out and dried off, then pulled some fresh clothing on. From there, the trio moved into the kitchen and spent a little while frying up beef and a lot of different kinds of fish that Alan had never tried before. Carmen added a fair amount of seasoning and herbs to it. Once they’d fried it all up, they sat around her table and drank a blend of fruit juice with the meal as they ate. Alan felt pretty good, all things considered.

He felt like he thought he should: relaxed, happy, at ease. This was how he was supposed to be feeling, given that this was technically a vacation.

After they finished the meal, they followed Carmen back out into the warm, golden sunshine and the cool ocean breeze, and made for the marketplace. They spend an hour moving among the shops and stalls. Carmen received a lot of greetings from random passersby and she seemed to know every shopkeeper they ran into.

They stocked up on arrows, not just regular arrows, but several magically and poison-treated arrows, (plus the inoculation against said poisons, just in case there was an accident), had their blades cleaned and sharpened, and their armor repaired. Alan had taken to wearing chainmail, though Layla still opted to go without any kind of armor. She said that she preferred dexterity over armor, and so far it hadn’t really failed her.

After picking up a handful more items that might be helpful out in the jungle, they left the marketplace and walked until they reached the city limit. Standing at the threshold of the west gate, they stared into the forbidding, green maw of the jungle. There was a path leading into it, but it seemed wild and overgrown and untamed.

“Shall we?” Carmen asked.

“Let’s do it,” Layla replied.

They began walking.

…

They progressed fairly steadily for about an hour or so, as the path was decently clear of obstacles. As they walked, Carmen talked about the area.

“This part of the island is pretty dangerous,” she said. “I’m not entirely sure why, but basically everywhere west of the main city is kind of like your Emerald Wild. There’s only a few small settlements in the clearer parts of the jungle, and there’s certainly a lot of coin to be made out here, but most people steer clear of it.”

“And no one has any theories why it’s just more dangerous?” Alan asked.

“Oh there’s some. Some people think it might be a curse on the land, maybe from an old, powerful necromancer that was once said to reside here, or from an angry God or Goddess. That one is a particular favorite. I think it might be just the nature of nature,” she replied, shrugging. “Some places are just more dangerous.”

Alan found himself pondering over the situation as they kept going, staring almost continually into the surrounding foliage. He wondered what could be lurking in the deep green depths. He had to admit, this place seemed a lot more vibrant and alive than the forests and plains he and Layla had made their way through back up north. Although honestly he kind of preferred those places. He liked being able to actually see the surrounding landscape.

Up ahead, something shifted and let out a low growl.

Carmen froze, causing him and Layla to do the same. She drew her bow and notched an arrow. Slowly, she took aim, moving the notched arrowhead carefully across the surrounding foliage. She ended up aiming ahead and to their right. Alan and Layla remained frozen, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Suddenly, there was a fury of movement and something burst forth from the plants. At the same time, Carmen let go and her arrow, its silver head gleaming in the sunlight, flew straight and true, and hit the thing right between the eyes. It howled and fell, hitting the ground and skidding a few feet, flopping and twitching violently until suddenly it became still. Alan found himself staring at a long, lean green-and-brown creature. It was vaguely cat-like, covered in thin fur. Razor sharp talons sprouted from its huge paws and its head seemed to be half mouth, which was stuffed full of nasty, lethal-looking teeth.

“What is that?” Layla murmured.

“Drek,” she replied. “Nasty creature, fast as fuck. I gave it a chance to leave, and it didn’t take the chance.” She walked up to the thing, yanked her arrow from its head, inspected the silver (now blood red) head and apparently found it wanting, as she tossed it into the surrounding plant life. “Just one of the many things hanging around here.”

She kept walking, and they followed her.

Their journey continued along for another half an hour before they were forced to leave the relative safety of the path. Where it forked and curved off to the left and right, Carmen stopped and consulted a map from her pack. She studied it silently for a few moments, then nodded to herself, rolled it back up and returned it.

“Okay, this is where it gets difficult,” she said, drawing her sword.

She was right, it got difficult.

Alan and Layla drew their own blades and helped her begin cutting through the dense mass of vegetation, slashing away at vines and branches and other, larger forms of plant life. Their progress slowed considerably and they kept it up for another solid hour before they ran into trouble. Alan had fallen into a pattern, his sword arm falling and raising. He was pushing himself hard and it was then that he knew he had definitely boosted his endurance a great deal since starting out. He’d have been dead on the ground within hardly ten minutes into this chopping fest. And as nice as that was...it was still pretty exhausting.

He stopped suddenly when Carmen called out a warning. They were in a small kind of clearing, surrounded by trees and foliage. The three of them froze and listened. He could hear all sorts of birds calling to each other and, deep in or farther off, the crash of larger beasts as they made their way through the jungle. But he could hear nothing else. They continued waiting for another minute or so before he saw it.

“Snake!” he cried.

It was overhead, and it was huge, and perfectly silent.

He raised his hand and fired off a bolt of frost (he didn’t use fireballs in heavily wooded places for obvious reasons,) and missed the snake, though it was enough to knock it partway off the branch it had been resting on. The thing had to be twenty feet long, perhaps even longer. It was green with tan streaks along its body. Still clinging to the branch about ten feet above, it began to lower itself rapidly, hissing at them and opening its huge mouth to reveal a pair of three-inch long fangs dripping with poison.

“Kill it!” Alan heard himself yell.

Carmen was frozen, standing directly beneath it, staring up at it, her sword in hand. Alan was trying to gather up more magic, but he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to do it in time. Layla was trying to line up a shot with her bow. Before either of them could do anything, Carmen suddenly leaped straight up and swung her blade around in a tight arc. The sharpened metal cut immediately and cleanly through the snake’s body, decapitating it.

“Holy shit,” Alan said.

“Nice!” Layla said as she lowered her bow.

“Thank you,” Carmen replied. “Shall we continue?”

And just like that they pressed on.

The three of them kept cutting their way through the jungle for about another hour before finally they decided it was time to break for lunch, which was really dinner. They found a relatively clear clearing and sat down, breaking out some of their food and drink from their packs and eating quickly while keeping watch around them. Conversation was light, as they were mainly getting their breath and strength back.

It seemed to have grown darker as they’d progressed and Alan knew it was nowhere near late enough to be nighttime, so he’d been passing it off as the canopy growing thicker. But when he heard a distant rumble of thunder, he knew that it was storm clouds overhead, darkening the skies. Well, great. He liked rain, but not under these conditions.

Carmen let them rest for twenty minutes, then suggested they get back to it, as they were almost there and she’d like to get there before the rain settled in. Which was fair enough. And she was right. They only had to cut through another fifteen minutes worth of jungle before finally they stepped beyond the treeline and into a gigantic clearing. A very large structure of wood and stone resided within it.

“Whoa...what is this place?” Alan murmured as he studied it.

“I believe it used to be a military fort, and later it became a trading outpost, that was back when there were more people around here, about twenty years ago. That’s about the time it started getting more dangerous. Three villages got flat out destroyed during that first year, when things got bad, and a lot of people were killed. It was briefly a research outpost after that. Some wizards were trying to find out what was happening, but that didn’t last long,” she explained.

“It’s certainly an impressive structure,” Layla murmured.

She was right. It did resemble the military forts he’d seen in his homeland, though the style was definitely different. The exterior was reinforced heavily and the front entrance was a covered area surrounded by large pillars. The three of them moved across the clearing. It had become very quiet now, and only seemed to get more so as they neared the structure. Alan was getting a bad feeling, a familiar one.

“I think this place might be cursed,” Alan murmured.

“It definitely has a light curse to it,” Carmen replied. “Although it could be something else...if enough undead hang around a place, it could generate the same effect. Either way, it’s not going to stop us, is it?”

“No,” Layla replied.

“Definitely not,” Alan said.

He’d dealt with worse before. Honestly, he’d dealt with worse since coming to this island. Zombies and walking skeletons were creepy, to be sure, but nowhere near as creepy as a living carpet of baby giant spiders.

He hated those things.

They walked into the covered area and then in through the main entrance. The first room in the structure was a large hall similar to others he’d seen. It was a fairly sizable room with stone stairways leading up along either side. The walls to the left and right were lined with mannequins that had once held armor and wooden racks meant for all manner of weaponry. There were still some swords and suits of armor around.

“Looks like this place hasn’t been picked totally clean,” Carmen murmured.

A moan echoed out to them from deeper in the structure.

“Definitely zombies,” Layla said, notching an arrow.

“Let’s clean this place out,” Carmen replied.

They moved into the room, then over to one of the stairways. Layla suggested they start at the top and work their way down, which made enough sense. They moved up the stairs until they hit the top floor, which happened to be the third story. This area seemed to belong to higher ranking officials. They found half a dozen lavish bedrooms, a private dining hall, armory, and training area. It was, for the most part, empty.

Of hostiles, at least.

They found four animate skeletons wandering around and a pair of zombies joining them, and put them down easily enough. Alan took out the skeletons with simple firebolts that knocked their bony, bleached skulls off and took them down. Once they were beheaded, the rest of their bones collapsed into a messy pile. They put down the zombies with arrows through their eyes. Moving down to the second story yielded more. There were a trio of barracks-style rooms, and it looked like one of them had suffered from a fire at some point in the past.

The three of them worked quickly and efficiently through these rooms, then through a larger dining hall and three training areas. There were about a dozen zombies and skeletons here, and they went down just as easily as the rest.

The first floor proved to be a little more difficult. They cleared close to thirty of the undead wretches as they moved through all manner of rooms. They spent awhile searching for an entrance to some kind of basement area, but it turned out that the building didn’t have one. By the time they declared the fort clear of the undead menace, it was very dark outside and raining steadily. The trio took a short break, gathering at the entrance and watching the rainfall.

“So, I was thinking, before we start searching this place for valuables...anyone up for a sex break?” Carmen asked.

“Yes,” Alan replied. Being around the undead had made him nervous and anxious, and having sex would really help take his mind off of it and help him transition into being more clear-headed now that the undead were gone.

“What were you thinking?” Layla asked as Carmen guided them upstairs.

“I thought we’d let Alan decide the position,” she replied.

“I’m okay with that,” Layla said, glancing at him with a sly smirk on her face.

He thought about it as they made their way all the way up to the third floor, and then into one of the officer’s quarters. Although the bed wasn’t in the cleanest or most pristine condition, it would certainly get the job done.

The trio began taking their clothes off.

“Well?” Carmen asked.

“I’ve got an idea,” he replied.

Once they were naked, he had Carmen sit down on the edge of the bed, then lay back and bring her legs up. She did so, spreading them a little and hugging them to her. Then he had Layla climb on top of her and hold Carmen’s legs in place with her own.

“Now kiss while I fuck you,” Alan said.

The result of this wonderful position was that both of their vaginas were exposed and right next to each other: Carmen’s on bottom, Layla’s on top. Layla’s tail twitched and swayed as she began to passionately make out with Carmen.

He could tell that they were both really horny and very wet, and he was already stiff as a rock as he stepped up against them. Settling one hand on Layla’s fit, furred ass, he used his other to guide his cock into her pussy. She cried out, her voice muffled by the kiss, as he penetrated her and began working his way into her amazing, tight, hot felis pussy. And he was right, she was really wet. He loved how wet she got when they fucked.

Grabbing her hips, Alan began to slide smoothly and rapidly in and out of his lover’s pussy. He felt her clenching her muscles around his cock, almost squeezing it, making the sex that much better. Pleasure washed through him as he fucked her, satisfying them both. He kept it up for about thirty seconds before he pulled out, aimed down and slipped into Carmen’s fantastic vagina. This time, she cried out in pleasure.

“Oh, fuck, give it to me, Alan!” Carmen yelled.

He pounded the fuck out of her amazing Tomontican pussy, letting the hot bliss roll through him. But he did notice that it was tinged with an element of nervous excitement. They were fucking in an abandoned fort in the middle of the wilds where they had just killed a bunch of undead. There could be anything else around. They might have missed something or possibly even something could wander in from the jungle.

And that was dangerous and, for some reason, exciting.

Exhilarating, even.

Hot sexual gratification sizzled into him as he made love to the two women, thrusting madly into them, making the bed creak and shake as he switched back and forth. He tried to give each of them an equal amount of attention and as he was doing this, it struck him as insane that this was a thing that he was really doing.

He was fucking two women at once.

He could also feel the differences between them. It was strange, and subtle, and not at all bad. He noticed that Layla’s vagina had a kind of different texture to it, it was also tighter, and she seemed to have more control over her vaginal muscles, which she frequently made very nice use of. It seemed insane that these two women were agreeing to this, impossible almost, and he wondered if he would ever lose that feeling.

“Keep going!” Layla moaned. “I’m going to come!”

Wanting desperately to make her orgasm, to pleasure her, Alan kept going, fucking her rapidly, sliding smoothly in and out of her pussy, stimulating her and pushing her further and further until finally she tumbled over the edge and into a powerful climax. She moaned and writhed against Carmen and him as she came and her vagina trembled violently, muscles clenching and releasing as she grew hotter and wetter.

He kept fucking her orgasming vagina, trying to hold onto his own climax, until it was over and she fell against Carmen, breathing heavily. He quickly pulled out of her and slipped his cock back into Carmen, pounding the fit, Tomontican warrior woman and trying to bring her to climax as well, because he really wanted to come inside of her pussy. Nothing in the whole world, at least as far as he knew, felt quite as satisfying or as good as having an orgasm inside of woman’s pussy, coming into her with absolutely nothing between the two of them.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Carmen began moaning, a kind of panting moan, each fresh one going up an octave. And then she was shouting. “Yesyesyesyes! Ohfuckyesitfeelssogood!” she babbled almost incoherently as she began to come powerfully.

This time, he didn’t even wait. As soon as she had achieved climax, Alan let go and within seconds he was emptying his cock into her. He groaned loudly as he felt it contract and spasm, shooting his seed in thick, powerful spurts into her perfect pussy. He thrust wildly into her, going deep and hard, pounding the fuck out of her as he came. Both of them moaned and cried out in raw rapture as they came against each other.

When it was over and Alan came down from the absolute high of sex, he carefully pulled out of her and sat down beside the two women, who were still lying against each other, naked and beautiful and sticky with sex juices now.

“I love fucking so much,” Carmen whispered. “I mean, seriously, I think it’s probably the best thing there is. It just feels so good.”

“It does, in a way nothing else does,” Alan agreed. “Which makes me so glad that I got into the adventurer’s lifestyle, because I was not having hardly any sex before I met Layla.”

“Really?” Carmen asked. “Why?”

Layla began to get up off of her and, from her pack, Layla produced a bottle of water and a washrag. Alan heated it gently and they poured the water into the rag, then took turns cleaning themselves off.

“Well, I wasn’t considered very attractive in my own culture,” he replied. “Plus, to be honest, I was way too nervous. I don’t know if you’ve picked up on it yet, but I’m actually very bad at propositioning women for sex.”

“But it’s so easy,” Carmen said. “You just, you know, ask. And they say yes or they say no, or they say maybe. If they say yes, you fuck. If not, you say ‘okay’ and leave them alone. If they say maybe, then that means they want to get to know you better, and you determine whether or not you want to invest the time in getting to know them.” She shrugged. “Easy.”

“Not so easy up north,” Alan replied. “You can’t just...ask.”

“What? Why? How else do you do it?” Carmen replied, looking deeply confused.

“You have to...see, this is the problem, I’m not even sure. You have to like, dance around the issue. I mean, I guess you’re supposed to ask a girl out on a date, and then you have to kind of try and figure out, without asking directly, whether or not she wants to have sex, or if she wants to wait for a few more days or a few weeks...or even until marriage.”

“WHAT!?” Carmen cried, staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he replied, startled.

“Wait until marriage? Wait to have sex until marriage?! But that’s so irresponsible! I mean, most people down here don’t even bother with marriage, and it would be unthinkable to A), wait that long, because you shouldn’t rush into marriage, you should be dating for years, and live together, before you get married, and B), you should know if you’re sexually compatible with your partner. A healthy sex life, and a knowledgeable one, is very crucial to a happy, long relationship and/or marriage. Who in their right minds would wait that long?! What is wrong with your culture?!” she cried, practically ranting at this point.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “You make a lot of good points,” he murmured.

“And how are you supposed to know if your partner wants to have sex if you don’t ask? I just...I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all. We’re very up front down here. If we aren’t interested in sex, we say so. If we’re just interested in friendship, we say so. And if someone is interested in someone for sex, but not for a sexless friendship, then they say so, and there’s no hard feelings.” She shook her head and began pulling her clothes on.

“Your culture is fucking ridiculous,” she muttered. Then she hesitated. “I’m sorry, that was really rude, but...”

“No, I get it,” Alan replied. “I’m right there with you, actually.”

She heaved a sigh. “I can see why you had so much trouble getting laid. Gods, I’d have trouble getting laid under those circumstances. I don’t have time for fucking games and subtle social niceties and bullshit.”

“Well, that’s why adventurers are so great up there,” Layla said. “Because most adventurers tend to operate like Tomonticans do. We’re very sexually liberated, we tend to be respectful of each other, we have no problem with shacking up for one night or six weeks, or splitting. Sure there’s some assholes and sometimes there’s hurt feelings, but that’s life.”

Carmen was nodding. “That’s the way it works,” she said. Alan and Layla were getting dressed too now that they were happily fucked. “I just...Gods, that’s insane. It sounds like such a pain in the ass, I mean, why should it be so hard to get laid? Sex feels good, and most people love it, so why make it hard?”

“I think it has to do with our values or something,” Alan replied.

“Values? You obviously don’t value too much if you’re that backwards. Gods, waiting for marriage...ugh, again, sorry, I’m not trying to insult you.”

“Don’t worry, I get it,” he replied.

Once they were dressed, they began making their way through the fort, much slower this time. They took the time to search every drawer and underneath furniture and in all the little nooks and crannies where someone might conceivable hide something valuable. The top floor ended up yielding the most in the way of valuables.

Those commanders and high-ranking officers hid a fair amount away. They found small bags of gold coins, they found some fancy rings, a few gold and silver necklaces, and some precious gems. Those were worth a lot.

Most of the armor and weapons were too old, rusty, or crappy to be worth salvaging and bringing back to the settlement. In one of the rooms, they found a lockbox. Carmen took it and said that she’d do her best to crack it open. She brought it down with her to the main hall and set to work. Alan and Layla did a sweep of the second floor, and then finally they got down to the ground floor. The pair talked while they searched.

“So what do you make of Carmen?” Layla asked when they were out of earshot.

“Well, she’s damned impressive. She’s smart, strong, fast, and seriously fucking hot. And she can fuck,” he replied.

Layla laughed. “I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking that maybe we should consider hooking up with her a little more long-term while we’re down here, make our duo into a trio for a month or two, if she’s down for it. What do you think?”

“I think that’d be awesome.”

Layla laughed again. “You’re just saying that cause you want to keep fucking her.”

“And you don’t?” he asked.

She grinned sheepishly. “Well, you’ve got me there. But hey, sex is a...an okay motivation, I guess. I mean, I think so, at least.”

“Come on, let’s wrap this up. I want to see what’s in that lockbox...and then I honestly want to have sex again.”

Layla laughed. “Me too. I guess we’re insatiable.”

They finished their search of the area, finding little more than a paltry pair of bags of gold. Adding them to their mix, they returned to the main area, where Carmen was still sitting on the floor with the lockbox, a collection of small tools spread out around her. She was staring intently at the box, her face set in utter concentration as she worked the lock with a long, thin piece of metal. It suddenly occurred to Alan that she might be a thief.

Well...there were worse things, he supposed.

“Got it!” she said suddenly as the lockbox clicked.

They crowded around as she opened it up. Inside was...a scroll of paper. Frowning, Carmen carefully retrieved it and opened it up.

“It’s a map,” she murmured, studying it. “A map of this island. It looks old, maybe a couple of decades.”

“What’s that?” Alan asked, indicating a red X that had been marked on the far west end of the island.

“I dunno, hold on...” She flipped it over. “There’s writing here. It says...that the X indicates the location of an...artifact of some kind. A rare artifact ‘from the ocean’. There isn’t much detail. It’s pretty far out there. I’m not sure anyone has gone this far inland for years now.” She glanced up at them. “What do you think?” she asked.

“You mean, should we go after it?” Alan asked.

“Yeah.”

“It sounds like an adventure, and that’s kind of my thing,” Layla replied. “So I’m in.”

“I guess I am too,” Alan said.

Carmen grinned. “Good.” She rolled the scroll back up and carefully placed it in her pack, then double-checked the lockbox, to see that they hadn’t missed anything. When it came up truly empty, she gathered up her tools, replaced them in a roll of leather and stood up. “How about we make camp and fuck to celebrate?” she suggested.

“Sounds fine by me,” Alan replied.

“Ooh! I just remembered, I have this fucking awesome sex toy that you have got to try, Carmen. I’ll show it to you. You’re going to fall in love with it,” Layla said, shrugging out of her pack and crouching down.

“I’m already very intrigued,” Carmen replied.

“We should double penetrate you,” Alan suggested.

“You just want to fuck me up the ass,” Layla said.

“Well...duh. But I also want to see Carmen fuck you,” he replied.

“Fair enough. I want to see that, too. Can you get the camp set up, babe?”

“Yeah.”

He grabbed their camp-in-a-bag and moved towards the entrance. “Should we set it up outside, or maybe in that covered area just beyond the entrance?” he asked.

“Covered area, it’s raining pretty hard and it’s just going to keep up,” Carmen replied.

“Okay.” He prepared to throw it down, then frowned, squinting into the rain. “Uh...there’s someone out there,” he said.

“What?” both women replied at once.

Before he could do anything, what appeared to be a ball of water flew out of the rain and nailed him in the chest. He gasped as pain blossomed within him and he was thrown backwards several feet. He cried out, landing on his ass and then slamming onto his back. He heard Carmen and Layla shouting in response as he tried to get his breath back. He heard the distinctive sound of magical spells being fired off.

Someone was attacking them.

But something had been odd about the person he’d seen. It had been unclear and uncertain, seen through the haze of the rainfall, but something had definitely been abnormal. Alan struggled to his feet, his lungs slowly filling again. He was going to have a huge bruise and he was grateful that he hadn’t cracked any of his ribs.

As he got to his feet, he saw that Layla and Carmen had rushed into the rainfall. Layla was aiming and firing with her bow and Carmen was going at the strange figure with her blade. Alan ran forward to join Layla, preparing some magic to join the fray. Now that he was closer, he could see that this was no human, nor an elf, felis, or beryl. It was a woman, and she was shaped like a human, but she looked...blue.

As Carmen drew close enough, she hit her with one of those balls of water and sent her flying backwards. Layla landed an arrow in one of her thighs and the woman cried out. Alan frowned, something was wrong here.

“Wait!” he called, running out into the rain.

“Alan!” Layla called.

“Stop! Stop attacking!” He didn’t know why, but he felt very strongly that something was wrong here, that violence might not be necessary in this. As he drew closer to the strange blue woman, she threw another ball of water at him and he hit it with a fireball, turning it into a cloud of steam that dissipated between them.

“Stop attacking! What do you want!?” he asked.

Carmen was still recovering and she looked pissed, but when she saw what Alan was trying to do, she held herself back.

“Who are you people? Why are you here?” the blue woman asked sharply as she ripped the arrow out of her thigh and healed herself with a spell.

“We’re just adventurers, no one’s been here in awhile, we came to explore,” Alan replied. “Why are you attacking us? Who are you?”

The woman stared at the three of them, her gaze drifting between them, clearly trying to judge them, and finally she sighed.

“My name is Erana. I hail from the ocean,” she said slowly. “And I’ve come seeking an artifact that was stolen from my people years ago.” She hesitated a bit further, then finally stood down from her attack stance and lowered her hands. “I’m sorry I attacked you. I...I thought you were thieves, or dangerous. My people have not traditionally had the best encounters with land dwellers. So...I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s fine,” Alan said. “Come inside. Maybe we can help you.”

She hesitated more, looking again at Carmen, then at Layla, and nodded. “Okay.”

He and Carmen walked with her out of the rain and into the covered area. The four of them gathered awkwardly in the main entrance to the fort. Alan, Layla, and Carmen stood a little away from Erana.

“So...” Alan said. “To be clear, you said you were here to find an artifact that was stolen from your people...and you attacked us because you thought we were dangerous thieves. Right?” Erana nodded slowly. “Okay, so we just had a misunderstanding, and we’re all cool now, right?” he asked, looking between the three women.

Layla nodded, though she seemed a little apprehensive. Carmen looked pissed, but she just nodded tightly. Erana nodded slowly.

“Okay. Why don’t you tell us about this artifact?” he asked.

Erana sighed. “It was stolen from my people about twenty years ago. I’m not entirely sure how or why or who did it, but it is missing, and it is powerful. I finally found some evidence that pointed to this location, saying it might have a map of where the artifact is.”

“I’ve got a question,” Layla said. “If this artifact was stolen so long ago, why hasn’t anyone come to get it? Why are you here now?”

Erana shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not...the most pleasant reason.”

“Out with it,” Carmen said.

“The artifact, it has several magical properties, but one of them is that if it’s kept out of the ocean for too long, it lays a curse on the land, wherever it is. And it only gets worse as time goes on. I only recently found this out and, as for why now, why me? I...” She hesitated, then sighed. “I asked some of my people about this, about why nothing had been done about it, and they told me that there was no particular need for the artifact in our society, and that the land dwellers up here were going to get what they deserved for stealing it in the first place.”

“So because some jerk-off stole this thing twenty years ago, we all have to suffer?” Carmen asked.

“That’s why I’m here!” Erana snapped, then seemed to compose herself. “I came to set it straight, to make it right. Because this is wrong, people shouldn’t suffer for something they didn’t do. So that’s why I’m here,” she repeated.

Alan nodded and looked at Layla. “We’re going to help her, right?” he asked.

Layla considered it. “Yes,” she said finally. “I mean, we were going to go to this place anyway, and you heard her. It’s only going to get worse if we don’t get rid of this artifact.”

“What if she’s lying?” Carmen asked. “I mean, we met her when she was trying to kill us.”

“I don’t think she’s lying,” Alan said. She did seem trustworthy, and given the nature of the situation, he was willing to take a chance.

Carmen heaved a sigh. “Fine, she can come.” She turned to Layla. “But this sex toy better be awesome because I’m pissed right now.” She glanced at Erana. “And I’m not going to forgo sex just because someone new is around.”

Erana didn’t seem to know what to make of that. Finally, she just said, “I, um, I won’t...get in the way,” she said.

“Good. Alan, tent?” Carmen asked.

He nodded and finished activating the camp-in-a-bag. Once he did that, he gathered up some magic and let a healing spell wash over his body. The pain in his chest and back had come back, but now it faded. Once he was done, he moved over to Carmen.

“Here,” he said, “hold still.”

“Thanks,” she murmured as he healed her with a spell as well.

From there, the four of them awkwardly got into the process of winding down for the night. Alan showed Erana the map, despite some protests from Carmen, who just seemed pissed that Erana had gotten the best of her. He’d been so distracted by everything that had happened that it didn’t occur to Alan until about twenty minutes later that Erana was an ocean nymph. Now that they were in out of the rain, he took a moment to study her.

She was, as Layla had said about ocean nymphs, extremely beautiful.

She was slender and her skin was very smooth and dark blue in color. She had long hair that was also blue, a few shades lighter than her skin. Her eyes were also blue, but they were deep and they seemed to sparkle with magic. She wore simple strips of cloth across her chest and hips, covering what seemed to be as little as possible. He noticed webbing between her fingers and toes, and also that she was quite tall, probably around six feet.

“Layla? The toy?” Carmen asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Layla replied. Her hand came out of her pack with the fake dick that had been given to her by the dryads.

“Oh, I’ve seen those before,” Carmen said.

Layla shook her head, smiling. “No, this one lets you feel the pleasure. It’s magically infused by dryads.”

Carmen’s eyes lit up. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really. I want you to try it on me. You’ll love it.”

“This sounds awesome,” she said, walking towards her. Both women went into the tent and Alan followed them. Erana lingered and he glanced back at her.

“Sorry if this is...weird.”

“No, it’s not that weird,” Erana replied. “Public and casual sex is actually fairly common in my culture. I’ve just never...I’ve never seen or interacted, sexually, with a land dweller before. Would it be okay if I watched?” she asked.

“Yes, definitely,” he replied.

“Good. Thank you.”

They walked into the tent and found the two women already naked. The anxiety and fear and tension of the day began to melt away as he watched them get into the bed and begin to make out. He sat down next to Erana and couldn’t help but wonder if he’d get a chance to make love with her. She looked like she’d be fantastic in bed.

“Okay, let’s see what this thing can do...”

He returned his attention to Carmen and saw that she was on her back, legs in the air, (he had a very nice view of her pussy), and she was pulling the fake dick on. Once she got it on, she got on top of Layla, who spread her legs, then glanced back over her shoulder at Alan. “Do you, uh, want in on this?” she asked.

“I do, but I was actually hoping you would fuck Layla until you came, then you could switch and we could DP you, cause I really, really want to fuck you in the ass,” he replied.

She smirked. “Okay, then. I like being DPed.” She turned her attention back to Layla and slipped the cock into her. Alan watched intently as she pushed the fake dick deeper into his lover’s vagina and both of them moaned.

Carmen gasped as she started fucking her. “Oh my...this is amazing! Oh, it feels so good, Layla!” she moaned.

“Mmm...told you,” Layla replied, smiling up at her, laying there while she got fucked by the fake dick. Both women moaned and writhed against each other as they made love. Carmen became almost frantic as she pounded Layla’s pussy, moaning in desperate, intense sexual gratification. Layla wrapped her legs around the beautiful woman and kissed her passionately. Alan could hear Erana breathing heavily beside him and he was pretty aroused himself.

He didn’t have to wait too long to fuck, because within a few minutes Carmen was crying out and orgasming. He could see her pussy juices escaping around the harness of the fake dick and she twitched and spasmed as she climaxed. Layla held her close throughout the orgasm, and when she was done, Carmen pulled out of her.

“Okay, your turn,” she said.

“Come on, babe, let’s fuck her brains out,” Layla said, accepting the fake dick.

Alan quickly got up, got naked and found the lube. Carmen laid on her side, apparently exhausted from the day and from her orgasm, happy to let them use her like a sex toy. He got up against her back while Layla got against her front, and both of them worked their way into her body. All three of them groaned in pleasure as the sex began.

Carmen’s fat, perfect ass was very tight.

Once he’d worked his way slowly up it, he began to enjoy it immensely, sliding smoothly in and out of her. He could hear Layla moaning loudly as she fucked Carmen’s pussy, which was no doubt very hot and slick from her orgasm. He reached around and grabbed one of Carmen’s large, perfect breasts, squeezing and groping it as he pounded her from behind. She moaned, both of her holes getting fucked at the same time.

“Oh, Gods, yes...” she groaned loudly. “I fucking love this.”

“Me too,” Layla groaned. “I haven’t had a chance to use this for awhile...oh wow, I’m making use of it a lot more.”

That made Alan pretty happy. He loved seeing her fuck other women, and get fucked by other women, with that thing. It was insanely hot. He continued grunting and moaning against Carmen’s back, groping her huge tits as fucked her up the ass. He was going to pop soon, he could feel it, he was going to come up her ass and the knowledge of it only seemed to spur it on faster. And judging from the noises Layla was making, she was close to orgasming, too. Which would make sense, given how much she’d already been fucked.

In the end, it was a close call.

They both start coming at about the same time. Alan cried out in powerful pleasure as his orgasm began to rip through him, filling him up absolutely as he came. His dick shot out thick, powerful spurts of his seed up Carmen’s padded, well-maintained ass and he could hear her moaning as his hips jerked forward with each fresh contraction, pounding her hard. Layla was giving voice to her own inner pleasure as she came as well.

He lost himself, for awhile there, in the bliss.

When he came back, he gently pulled out of Carmen and laid there for a moment, getting his breath back. Coming down from sex was always an intense, and then relaxing, thing. It was kind of weird to go from pretty much a full-body workout to just laying there. When he felt stable enough, he got up, moved over to the washbasin and began to wash himself down. He glanced over at Erana, who was still staring at the two women on the bed intently.

“You enjoy the show?” he asked.

She looked over at him, seemingly startled. “Oh...yes. A great deal.”

“Good! Now, as for sleeping arrangements, I think we might be able to fit me, Layla, and Carmen on the bed, which means you’ll have to sleep on the floor next to us. But we have enough spare pillows and blankets to make it comfortable.”

“I appreciate that,” Erana replied.

He was looking forward to getting to know her tomorrow, but for now, he was just too tired. The day had really worn him out. He took the time to get the bedding set up on the floor, then fell into his bed. He’d been right: it was a tight fit, but they managed to squeeze the three of them onto the bed, and before he knew it, he was asleep.

CHAPTER IV

The next morning began with sunshine.

Alan opened his eyes and found himself staring at the roof of his tent. Golden sunshine streamed in, and his first thought was that he was hungry. He realized that he hadn’t really eaten anything after that simple stop they’d made in the jungle before reaching the structure. He’d been too tired after the sex to even consider grabbing something to eat. Consequently, he was starving. Also, he was wedged in between two naked women.

Shifting carefully, trying very hard not to wake them up, he sat up slowly. When Layla groaned and Carmen shifted, he gave up and pulled back the blankets, getting up. He saw that the makeshift bed he’d created for Erana on the floor was empty, and he suddenly wondered if she’d gone on without them. Moving awkwardly to avoid accidentally stepping on one of the women, he got off the bed and moved to the front of the tent.

Opening it up, he saw her sitting in the covered area, staring out at the jungle. Well, she seemed happy and peaceful, so he moved back into the tent and over to the washbasin. Carmen stayed in bed, grumpily pulling the blanket back over herself, but Layla was getting up now. She moved over to join him at the basin and they washed up.

“How you doing?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” she replied, and he suddenly felt that same thing he’d felt earlier: something was wrong. It was in the way she said it, in her body language.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, deciding to actually pursue it this time, if only a little bit.

Layla glanced over at him, seemingly startled that he’d apparently picked up on in. “I’m just...yesterday was a bit much,” she replied finally.

“Okay...you want me to do anything for you? I could rub your back.”

She hesitated further, then shook her head slightly. “No, thanks though, babe. I think getting some food will help. And now things are kind of serious, you know? Now we’re on like a real quest, potentially saving people. Possibly this whole island.”

“Yeah, funny how that seems to happen a lot,” he murmured. It sounded good, and he thought that maybe it was some of the truth, perhaps even most of it. But he couldn’t shake the sensation that she was hiding something.

But what? What could it possibly be?

If it were some other relationship, he’d be concerned that she was cheating on him, or that she thought he was cheating on her. But that literally couldn’t happen now, not with the way the relationship was set up. So what was it? He didn’t even have a little idea of what it could be, so, with reluctance, he set the thoughts aside and finished washing up, then got dressed. He stretched and yawned, and didn’t exactly look forward to the long trek ahead.

“Why don’t you get breakfast started? I’ll see if I can get Carmen up,” Layla suggested.

“Okay,” he replied. “Meat and vegetable stew sound good?”

“Sounds great.”

He headed out of the tent and when he got the fire started and set a pot of water to boil over it, Erana took notice and stood up.

“Good morning,” she said as she approached him.

“Good morning, Erana. How are you doing?” he replied.

“I’m...at peace,” she said after a moment’s consideration. “I had a trying journey to get here, and after the unfortunate misunderstanding last night, and then the...sexual exhilaration after, it felt good to sleep. When I woke up, the sun was just about to rise, and I’ve never seen a sunrise. I climbed to the top of the structure and watched it. Then I came down here and just enjoyed the sunshine on my skin. It’s so warm and wonderful.”

“It’s pretty great,” Alan replied. “So, I’m curious...how do you function up here? I don’t really know hardly anything about ocean nymphs.”

“I’m honestly surprised you know that I am one. But I am sustained by magic. Our species is very adept at magic. We know it from birth. We can draw heavily on it. That’s how I am able to breathe and walk and, well, honestly, enjoy all of this. I’ve never been on land before now. I did study up on it, though.”

“I thought you said you’d had experiences with land-dwellers before,” he said.

“Oh, I have, just not on land. In my youth, I would see the boats floating on the water and sometimes I would investigate. I’ve always wanted to go to an island, but before now, I didn’t have a compelling enough reason to break away from my life and do so. I have to say, I’m very glad I met you. You were very...reasonable, and understanding, yesterday. For which, again, I’m sorry for attacking you,” she replied.

“It’s fine, Erana. It happens...would you be interested in some breakfast? I’m going to make some meat and vegetable stew.”

“I’d very much like to try it.”

“Perfect. It’ll be a little while.”

He spent the next half an hour cutting up the beef, chicken, and vegetables and throwing them into the stew, then some potatoes for good measure, and grabbed himself a bottle of chilled strawberry juice, and another for Erana when she said she’d always wanted to try it. Just a bit before the meal was ready, Carmen and Layla emerged from the tent, dressed and ready for the day. They all sat together and ate as soon as the food was ready.

“This is fantastic,” Erana said enthusiastically as she ate. “I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of land cuisine, but this tastes really great. I’m very much looking forward to having more while I’m here.”

“I’ll see if I can find some different stuff,” Alan replied. “Rabbit is pretty good.” He looked around at them all. “So, what’s the plan for today? Carmen, you know this area best. Can we make it to the site in a day?”

Carmen shook her head. “No, it’s too far to walk in one day, not with all this jungle. And it’s only going to get more dangerous the deeper we go. There’s a settlement about three miles away from here. From what I can figure, our destination is five miles away. We can make it there, and then spend the night, so that we can go into the final stretch refreshed. And we’re really going to need it, given I have no idea what we’ll be facing,” she explained.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Layla said.

They continued eating.

…

They finished breakfast and got underway within another half an hour, while the day was still young. The four them moved out and away from the structure, heading west. They settled into a routine, two of them would take the lead and chop through the foliage and vegetation for half an hour, then the other two would take over so the original two could rest. Layla and Carmen opted to go first, so Alan hung back with Erana.

He got to know her as the day wore on.

“You said you had a tough time getting here,” he said. They were walking about fifteen feet back from the other two, side by side. She seemed shy, but also open to conversation, judging by her body language.

“Yes,” she replied immediately. “The swim up here was quite exhausting. I spent almost all of the day before yesterday just getting up out of the ocean, and then I slept for a little while, and then got up onto the island. I tried to stay out of sight. I was honestly hoping I could do this without running into any land-dwellers...uh, no offense. I just wanted this to be kind of a quick in-and-out sort of deal, you know?”

“I can understand that,” he replied.

“The first hour or so wasn’t too bad. I moved along the beach until I had reached roughly a parallel location with the site itself, at least as far as I could tell based on the map I have. Then I started to head into the foliage. That’s where it got difficult. Besides having issues with mobility, I kept running into creatures. At first I tried to avoid them, but eventually that was becoming too tiresome and time consuming, so I started killing them. Well, injuring them where I could, because it isn’t necessarily their fault that they’re so bloodthirsty. But they’re just so dangerous. I mean, I’m a fairly capable warrior, I know a lot of defensive and offensive magic, but being here is kind of leaving me out of my element.”

“I think you’ve done remarkably well given all those factors,” he replied. “Even with your abilities, I probably would have given up by now.”

She laughed softly. “Well, thanks...I have to admit, I’m glad I met you. Layla seems nice, and Carmen...seems like she would be nice if I hadn’t kicked her ass. But you’re very sweet, and understanding, and open. I admit that I didn’t think there would be anyone like you up here. Honestly, this whole thing is kind of turning some of my ideals sideways. After hearing what some of my so-called ‘wise’ and ‘level-headed’ elders had to say about land-dwellers and this island, it’s made me question their apparent wisdom, or empathy. And now I meet someone like you...well, suffice to say, it’s been very interesting.”

“It sounds like it.”

Soon, it was their turn, and the pair of them stopped talking for the time being. Erana, it turned out, had the unique ability to create a blade, a very sharp one, entirely out of water. The stories were definitely true, Alan thought as they began chopping their way through the jungle: ocean nymphs were very powerful and skilled at magic. They kept up in this fashion for close to two hours before they ran into trouble.

Alan and Erana were just finishing up their turn when they suddenly stumbled into a clearing. Alan was preparing to enjoy the momentary reprieve from the constant work, but that’s when he suddenly noticed a dozen human figures stepping into the clearing with them. They all had weapons of some kind.

“Give us your coin,” one of them growled. They all wore camouflaged cloaks and masks that hid most of their faces. The one who had spoken glanced briefly at Erana. “And her, we’re going to want her, as well.”

“Fuck that,” Erana replied suddenly, and raised both her hands. She released a burst of what looked like mist that became a solid wave of hazy steam that slammed into the group. They all cried out, stumbling away, blinded and in pain, even despite their masks. Behind him, he heard Layla and Carmen attacking. He looked back and saw that there were more bandits behind them, but it seemed as if the pair of warrior women were handling them just fine.

“Kill them,” Alan said, and grabbed his bow and arrow. Erana raised her hand and pointed with one long blue finger. Out of it, a bolt of what looked like shaped, hardened water fired. It went straight through the leader’s chest like it was nothing. Holy shit, she really knew some truly stunning magic. Alan raised his bow, notched an arrow and fired, putting it through the neck of another one. The quartet made quick work of the thieves, taking them down one by one until there were none left standing. Alan looked around at it all.

“That went pretty smoothly for being ambushed,” he murmured.

“Assholes,” Carmen muttered. “I’ve got no patience or respect for thieves. Strip them of coin and anything else of value and leave them, the jungle will take them.”

Alan figured that was fair enough and the quartet moved silently among the dead. They managed to find not much in the way of coin or gems. Apparently, they weren’t very good thieves. And as they finished up, a new sound came to them.

Something let out a deep growl.

“What’s that?” Erana murmured.

“Crap,” Carmen said, raising her bloodied blade. “It sounds like a troll. They’re pretty brutal. Get ready.”

Alan raised his own bow and notched an arrow tipped with poison. The jungle around them was beginning to shake and tremble. Were there more than one of them? Suddenly, a huge green thing burst out of the treeline. It stumbled into the clearing, looking around with maddened red eyes, and saw the four of them.

Alan loosed his arrow.

It hit the thing in the chest. The beast reached up, ripped the arrow out, threw it aside and roared. Then started coming for them. It took a swing at Erana, who easily dodged out of its way and sliced at it with her water sword. The blade cut a bloody line down its right arm. The thing roared and swung again, striking Layla and sending her stumbling away. Alan began firing off arrows as quickly as he could as Carmen went to meet the thing with her blade.

The four of them moved around the clearing, trying to stay clear of the crazed jungle troll, hitting it where they could. After a few minutes, it had several slashes across its body and arrows sticking out of it. Alan had taken a good hit and so had Carmen. Layla had gotten back up but was moving slowly, favoring her left side.

Carmen ended it suddenly when the thing ran for her and she gracefully dodged out of the way, then spun around and drove the tip of her blade into the back of its neck. The thing let out a furious roar and then collapsed as she ripped the blade out.

“Damned thing,” she muttered, breathing heavily.

Now that it was dead, Alan moved over to Layla.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah...think I might’ve cracked a rib,” she replied, wincing in pain.

“Here, I’ll take care of, honey,” he said, and laid his hands gently on her. A soft, warm white light spread across her torso, spreading out from his hands, and when it faded, she straightened up and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

“Thank you,” she said. “That’s a lot better. Now, are you okay?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, for the most part. I took a pretty hard hit, but nothing’s broken or strained as far as I can tell. I just need a minute to gather some more magic.”

Layla frowned uncomfortably. “You should have healed yourself first.”

“I...was worried about you,” he replied. “I want you to be okay.”

“Well...thanks,” she murmured. “Come on, let’s check on the others.”

She began walking away and he followed after her. They found the others in decent condition. “Damn, that was a mean bastard,” Carmen said, kicking the corpse of the troll. “Gods, let’s get out of here before more of the bastards show up.”

Now there was a nasty thought.

They quickly finished searching the corpses, then set off west again.

…

It was past noon by the time they finally managed to reach the settlement.

The going was slower than ever, since the foliage seemed to grow even denser, and they were attacked by another two trolls, a pack of dreks, and finally another collection of giant spiders, just to keep things interesting and horrifying.

“Hold!”

They stopped before the main gate, which was tall and imposing and flanked by a pair of guard towers. In fact, there was an entire wall a good fifteen feet high that extended away from them in either direction.

Alan saw two guards in each of the towers, pointing notched arrows down at them.

“State your business,” one of them said.

“We’re here to trade and stay the night at an inn,” Carmen called up.

They seemed to consider this response among themselves for a moment. Finally, they responded. “Fine, but if you cause any problems, we’re feeding you to the jungle.”

“Deal,” Carmen replied.

That got a few laughs from them and they opened up the gate. As they headed inside, Alan was surprised to see that the village was larger than he’d initially thought. Given the level of danger in this area, he’d figured that there might be as many as fifty people around. But this was a place that was home to at least a few hundred.

As they made their way in from the outskirts of town, they began passing its local denizens, and presumably anyone who was passing through. They all looked pretty tough and hard-bitten, which made enough sense, given how dangerous the local area was. The four of them kept walking until they came to what seemed to be the commercial core of the town. There were a great deal of stalls selling a lot of different kinds of weapons and armor.

“So...I’ll be honest, after all that, I kind of want to go sleep with a prostitute,” Layla said. “What do you guys think? Meet back here at sundown?” she asked.

“I’m down for that,” Carmen replied, looking eager to get into the settlement.

Alan glanced at Erana. “Uh...sure, okay,” he replied. He thought it seemed a little odd, but Layla really seemed to want to do it, and he had no compelling reason to say no, not that he thought it’d be a good idea if he did.

“Okay, bye babe,” she said, and gave him a quick kiss, then was gone. Carmen didn’t linger either. They both disappeared into the crowd.

A lot of people were either glancing or staring at Erana. He didn’t particularly feel like leaving her alone.

“I don’t really think I’d do well looking for a prostitute here,” she murmured. “I don’t even have any currency...”

“How about we go get a room for the four of us for the night? Maybe we can relax there, just you and me,” Alan suggested.

“Are you sure?” she replied.

“Yeah. Come on.” He held out his hand, because he’d gotten used to doing that, and she smiled at him and took it.

They walked down the cobblestone pathway, not having to look very far to find an inn. Because of all the coin he’d ended up with after the bounty hunting and monster slaying he’d done both back up north and here on the island, he led Erana to the largest inn in sight. They walked inside, passing through a decently crowded entryway. It seemed like everyone was finishing up lunch, preparing to head back to whatever responsibilities they had. They approached the man behind the bar and got his attention.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, glancing briefly at Erana.

“What’s your biggest room?” Alan asked.

“Basement,” the man replied. “Whole basement is a room. Very nice. Got two big beds, a little eating area, a big sunken tub. Of course it’s expensive. A hundred coin a night.”

“We’ll take it,” Alan said, fishing out the proper amount of gold and setting it down on the counter. The man took it, counted it and nodded to him, making it disappear behind the counter. His hand came back up with a pair of keys.

“You need anything, you let me know,” he said.

“Got it,” Alan replied.

He led Erana through the crowd, to the door at the back of the room that led to a stairwell. They unlocked it, got inside, and closed and locked it again, cutting off the noise of the inn. The pair made their way down the stairs and unlocked the second door. Stepping inside, Alan looked around the room, impressed.

“Wow,” he murmured.

“This seems quite nice,” Erana said.

“It definitely is.”

The far wall was taken up by a pair of large beds, with small tables on either side of them. There was indeed a small kitchen area off to the left, as well as a table with four chairs around it. Along the right wall were a pair of dressers and a large chest on the floor, as well as a desk and a full-length mirror.

In one corner, a large sunken tub sat, waiting, the water crystal clear and steaming.

“Thank you for this, I really appreciate it,” Erana said as he locked the second door behind them and walked further into the room.

“I’m happy to help,” Alan replied as he took off his pack and kicked off his boots. He honestly didn’t feel like going anywhere else. The past few days had been hard, and tomorrow, and the next several days, were going to be just as hard, if not more so.

“No, I mean, it’s really appreciated. I...was more nervous than I let on earlier, coming to this land. And I honestly didn’t expect to run into anyone, let alone someone as nice as you are. It’s been very pleasant. And...I had a question.”

“I probably have an answer,” he replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking at her. She stood in the middle of the room, looking beautiful, elegant and apprehensive. She shifted nervously, then finally looked at him.

“You’ve proven to be quite...open, sexually speaking. Quite liberal about it. I was curious if you might be interested in...making love with me? I’ve always had a, um, a curiosity about what it would be like to fornicate with a land-dweller. But, I mean, um, I don’t want you to think that that’s the only reason I’m propositioning you. I do find you attractive, and you do arouse me. So, um, I mean, would you? Be interested?”

Alan tried hard not to smile. He suddenly realized how awkward Erana was, and he sympathized greatly with that.

He knew what it was like.

“Yes,” he replied simply. “I’d be thrilled to have sex with you, Erana. Ecstatic, honestly. Because you are beautiful.”

She smiled shyly at that. “You really think so?”

“Gods, yes. You are stunningly attractive, Erana.”

“Well, thank you.” She hesitated. “Um, how do we, uh...how do you want to start? I mean, I’ve only ever done it underwater...”

“Take off your clothes,” he replied. “We can do it in water, first. Then on the bed later. I don’t know about you, but I need to wash up first.”

She nodded. “I do, too. Okay, I’d like to make love in the water.”

“It’s a lot of fun.”

Alan began undressing, and he saw that, like Layla, it was very easy for Erana to go from clothed to naked in just a few seconds. She pulled off the simple scraps of cloth she had on, and very soon stood completely naked before him.

She was indeed very, very beautiful.

Her tall, lithe body was trim and athletic. He could see her muscles, small but well-defined, beneath her smooth blue skin. He imagined swimming all the time would cause you to be in fantastic shape. Her breasts were high and firm, about the same size as Layla’s. Her hips were nicely curved, her vagina a smooth lighter blue slit between her narrow thighs. As he finished getting undressed, taking off his boxers, he walked over to her and extended his hand. She took it and smiled at him, then let him lead her to the tub.

It was strange, being the one in charge of the sexual experience.

It was nice, though.

They got into the water together and took a moment to wash themselves off. Once that was finished, (it was over fast, at least on Alan’s part, because he was very turned on by the idea of making love with her,) they came together near the middle of the tub, which was deep enough to actually stand in, the water coming up to their necks.

“I’m a little nervous,” she said quietly, her face inches from his now. Her eyes were the strangest shape and shade of blue, giving her an alien but ethereal appearance.

“I am too,” he replied.

He decided to take the initiative, since that’s what she seemed to want. Leaning in slowly, he touched his lips to hers. He was prepared to back off if she seemed like she wasn’t able to go through with it, but she responded in kind, and he settled his hands on her hips beneath the water. They deepened the kiss and she closed her eyes. After a moment, she tilted her head and deepened the kiss further, coming closer to him, closing the small bit of distance left between their naked bodies. She pressed herself up against him.

She was warm and soft.

Erana wrapped her arms around him and he did the same to her, hugging her to him. Slowly, he parted their mouths and slipped his tongue into her mouth. He felt her own tongue hesitantly come forward and touch his own, and wondered if tongue kissing was a thing they did down in the ocean. But she seemed to accept it and be decent at it. They twined their tongues together and he enjoyed the sensation of her tongue.

It was longer and more narrow than he was used to.

She was breathing more heavily now and slowly rubbing herself against him. He had a steel, throbbing erection already and he reached around and down, grabbing her taut, nicely-padded ass. He squeezed and groped it.

After a little while, he broke the kiss.

“Would you like me to pleasure you with my tongue?” he asked.

“Oh my...yes, I’d love that,” she replied, grinning at him. Some of her shyness had melted away, replaced by more confident lust. It was nice to see.

He had her sit up on the side of the tub and, as he had done so many times before, especially recently, he slipped his head in between her trim thighs and began tonguing her clit. It was small and a pale light blue color.

She gasped as he made contact with it, then moaned loudly as he started to gently massage it. Alan wanted very much to please her, partially because he respected her, partially because he wanted to give her a good impression since it was her first time with a land-dweller, and with him, but mainly because he liked her and he enjoyed getting women off, since they seemed to enjoy it so much. He continued licking her clit, slowly going faster and pressing down harder, and using more of his tongue, and loved the sounds she was making.

“Oh, Alan, yes!” she cried, panting and moaning in desperate, intense pleasure.

She brought her legs up and wrapped them around his head, pulling him deeper into her crotch, moaning loudly.

He continued licking her, using his lower lip to stimulate her even more, and then slipped a finger into her pussy. He found the opening to be very tight, and very wet. He shivered slightly in anticipation of getting to place his cock inside of her.

“Oh, I’m-I’m coming!” she cried.

He continued pleasuring her, licking and fingering her as she began to orgasm. He felt her hot sex juices spray across his neck and chest and wrist and forearm, and she was crying out passionately, her whole long, slender body jerking and twitching in raw pleasure. When it was over and she had finished coming, she carefully spread her legs again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sinking back into the water. “I didn’t mean to trap you there like that. It just...it felt so good...”

“It’s okay, Erana. I didn’t mind,” he replied, splashing some water onto himself, cleaning himself of her feminine juices. “I trust you enjoyed that.”

“Immensely,” she said, her eyes wide. “I wasn’t sure a land-dweller could do such a good job. You are...very skilled at that. Layla must love you.”

“Well, I hope so,” he replied.

“You don’t know if she does or not?” Erana asked, looking at him with more focus now.

“Our relationship is...a little complicated,” he replied after a moment. “But let’s not focus on that now, shall we? Right now, this is about us.”

“You’re right,” she said, then she got up against him again, smiling, and her smile spoke of even more sexual confidence. “So, I’m friends with a few mermaids, and a water elemental, who do make a habit of fucking land-dwellers. And one thing they all tell me is that if I get the chance, I should really suck some dick. I should suck it dry, because your seed tastes fantastic. I personally want to discover if this is true or not.”

“I’d be more than happy to let you find out,” Alan replied.

She laughed. “I figured you would.”

He didn’t have to get on the tub’s edge this time, because Erana could go underwater indefinitely if she wanted to. She had him sit down so that his head was just above the waterline, then she smiled at him coyly as she sank beneath the surface. Alan watched her move, getting down until her face was in front of his cock.

She opened her mouth and her tongue snaked out, then dragged across his head. He groaned and twitched.

“Fuck yes...” he whispered as she gripped his dick firmly and began licking it, dragging her tongue all over its head.

She kept that up for a little while, then she slipped it smoothly into her mouth and started sucking him off.

He discovered, right then, that Erana could really suck dick.

He groaned loudly, settling back more comfortably, his arms spread out to either side of him, resting on the padded exterior of the sunken tub, and thoroughly enjoyed the underwater blowjob he was getting from the beautiful ocean nymph.

Erana continued working his dick, bobbing her head rapidly up and down, letting her tongue flick over its head periodically. The pleasure hit him like a drug, a hot pink bliss that spread slowly throughout his body, radiating out from his core, occasionally making him twitch as a spark of pure bliss jolted through him.

After a few minutes, she stopped bobbing her head and instead focused entirely on the head of his cock, massaging it with her tongue and lips. He groaned loudly and convulsed in pleasure as she began doing this to him. Within half a minute, he felt the first pulse of unfiltered sexual rapture as his orgasm exploded into being.

“Oh, Erana!” he cried as he began to come into her mouth.

She took his cock a bit deeper in and began sucking powerfully. He moaned in intense, desperate pleasure as his seed shot forth from his cock in hard contractions, bursting out of the tip in thick sprays and coating the inside of her mouth. She seemed to be almost desperate now, as she was working his shaft with one hand, jacking him off, and massaging his balls gently with the other. She seemed to want to drain him utterly dry.

The effect of this was that he was completely lost in a paradise of sexual release and gratification. It was nothing but rapturous, blinding bliss.

She kept sucking even after he had nothing left to give and there were only dry heaves of his cock kicking in her mouth, then for a little bit after that. And then she was taking his dick out of her mouth and resurfacing.

“My friends were right,” she said, grinning broadly. “That tasted so good...”

“I’m very, very glad,” he replied. “I will be very happy to give you more. You are like a savant at sucking dick.”

She seemed pleased with the praise. After gargling and spitting, she settled herself next to him and he wrapped an arm around her slender waist. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him affectionately.

“You seem a lot more comfortable now,” he said.

“I am,” she murmured. “You’re very...intimate. And I trust you. It’s hard for me to trust, especially a land-dweller, but I trust you. And...I want you inside of me.” She reached down and began gently massaging his cock.

“I’m grateful,” he replied. “I very much want to be inside of you.”

“How do you want it?” she asked. He was already stiffening up again. He supposed being around a fucking ocean nymph would do that.

“Will you ride me?” he asked. “And then, when we make love again, in the bed, if you’d like, that is, I can be on top.”

“I’d like that very much,” she replied, and deftly straddled him, sitting in his lap, facing him. She looked like an ethereal blue goddess of sex and love. Reaching down, she gripped his cock, which was hard enough for what they had in mind, and she slipped it into her. Once he had penetrated her a little bit, she began to slowly lower herself down its rigid length. Both of them gasped and then moaned in pleasure as they began to make love.

She lowered herself a little bit, then raised up, then lowered herself a bit more, carefully taking him inside of her an inch at a time. He could see why: she was really fucking tight. Erana chewed on her lower lip as she did this, staring intently into his eyes with her strange, exotic blue ones. She rested her forehead against his and lowered herself all the way, taking the full length of his cock completely inside of her.

“I must admit,” she whispered, “it’s been a long time since I’ve made love.”

“It has?” he replied.

She nodded. “Yes, about half of one of your years, I believe.”

“Why? You’re clearly beautiful and you said that your species is very sexually liberal.”

“They are, and I don’t really know how beautiful I am down there. I feel rather plain, honestly. But that’s not the reason. I’ve become obsessed with history and I’ve done nothing but research...I’ll tell you later,” she said, and then rose up and slid down the length of his cock again. Pleasure burned along it as her bare pussy clenched tightly around it. She was so hot and wet inside, and so, so fucking tight.

Erana began to ride him a little more freely.

“Oh yes,” she whispered, leaning back a bit, exposing her breasts to him. “I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed this. It feels so fucking good...or maybe it’s because it’s with a land-dweller. I don’t know, I don’t care, I love this.”

“I love it, too,” he replied.

Alan reached back and grabbed her tight ass again, then leaned in and began licking her light blue nipples. She gasped and then moaned louder as he started to suck on one of them. She began fucking his dick faster, bouncing up and down more furiously, and before long he stopped sucking on her wonderful, firm tits and laid back, letting her pleasure herself with his cock. The water sloshed as she panted and cried out, really fucking his dick, shoving it hard up inside of herself and absolutely filling him with pleasure.

They started coming at almost the same time.

As he felt a hot release of sex juices and her muscles begin to clench around his cock, he also felt the first powerful shockwave of his own release as he began to come inside of her pussy. He was in love with that feeling: coming into an orgasming vagina. There was nothing quite like it. Both of them began moaning loudly and he could feel her stirring his rigid, convulsing cock around inside of her clenching nymph pussy.

Both of them were lost in their own worlds of pure bliss.

He felt her sex juices being released into the water around his cock, and could feel himself twitching and jerking violently as he released his seed into her, filling her, pumping her pussy full of it as if he could somehow impregnate her. They both kept going until they were spent, and she laid against him.

They sat there together in the tub, hugging fiercely, wet and naked, getting their breaths back as they rode the high of the orgasm.

Erana sighed happily. “That was...”

“Nice,” Alan replied. “Very nice.”

“Yes. Mmm...would you like to go to the bed now? I would. I haven’t had a chance to lay in a real bed since I’ve come to this island and I hear they’re supposed to be very nice.”

“They are,” Alan said as they got up. “But I imagine they can’t compare to floating in water all the time.”

“I suppose that’s a good point.”

They dried off and crossed the room, climbing into one of the two queen sized beds. They got beneath the blankets and laid together in the middle of the bed.

“What do you think of me?” Erana asked.

“What? I...thought I’d made that pretty clear,” he replied.

She laughed. “I mean, what do you think of me? I know you think I’m attractive.”

“Oh. Well, I think, based on our short time together, that you are brave, resourceful, intelligent, and very kind.”

“Thank you,” she murmured softly. “I appreciate that. And I can tell that you aren’t just saying those things to say them.”

“How can you tell?” he asked.

“Well...we’ve already fucked,” she replied, and he laughed. “And you are...sincere. I can just read it in your eyes, your body language, your tone of voice. You’d be amazed at how much of that is consistent across the various species.”

“It does seem that way,” Alan replied. He reached down and settled his hand across one hip, then began to run it slowly up and down her soft, hot skin. “Do you feel like going again?” he asked quietly, staring into her eyes.

They seemed to spark with excitement.

“Yes,” she replied immediately.

He began to kiss her once more, excited and aroused. Their hands wandered over each other’s bodies. She felt almost unnaturally smooth and soft, her skin silken and wonderful, and she was very adept at kissing. As they made out, groping each other, he gently got her onto her back and had her spread her legs open, then settled down in between them, getting atop her. She stared up at him, looking so very beautiful and exotic, a small smile on her lips.

“Make love to me,” she whispered.

He reached down between them and guided himself into her. Once he was in, he laid down fully against her and wrapped her tightly in a hug, then kissed her deeply as he penetrated her. She moaned into the kiss, hugging him back, holding him fiercely to her and pressing against him with her hips, pushing him deeper into her tight, wet perfection. He slid smoothly in and out of her, both of them moaning loudly in pleasure.

She wrapped her legs around him, holding onto him tightly, and he could feel how intimate this was. Lovemaking was normally intimate, but there were certainly different kinds of it. This seemed like more than just sex for pleasure, it was the kind of sex he’d had with Topaz, and with a few other women he’d met so far, and he had to admit...he liked it better than the frantic fucking. It just felt...deeper, more sensual, more satisfying.

He felt really connected with Erana just then.

They continued making love, pressing against each other, kissing and moaning in desperate, impassioned pleasure, until they both had come. They grinded against each other as their orgasms overtook their bodies. Once again, Alan could feel himself depositing his seed into her, the pleasure of the climax washing through him. When it was over, she released him and he laid there on top of her, still inside of her.

“That was very nice too,” she whispered.

He nodded, getting his breath back. “Yes, it was...what do you want to do now?” he asked.

“I want to be lazy,” she replied. “At least for a few hours. We still have a lot of time, don’t we? The others won’t be back until later tonight, I assumed.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right. When Layla goes out like this, I’m lucky if she comes back at all during the same day, let alone early. Usually we meet back up in the morning. I imagine Carmen will be the same way. So we’ve got probably about six or even seven hours. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I was hoping we could get a nice big meal here at the inn, and get to know each other a bit better. I admit, I have questions about land-dwellers and this strange land you...dwell in. If you wouldn’t mind my asking.”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“As for after that, I wouldn’t mind going for a walk. I realize this isn’t the most...pleasant location to do so, but it feels kind of like an eye in the hurricane that is this island, this jungle. Perhaps we could find something for me to buy, a token of my trip up here...although, I don’t have any currency, or anything to trade...”

“I’ll buy you something, Erana,” Alan said.

“Are you sure? I didn’t mean for that to seem like I was trying to lead you into saying that, it really did just occur to me as I was saying it...”

He laughed and kissed her. “I know. It’s fine. I don’t mind buying you something.”

“Okay. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Now, how about we bathe, then I’ll put in an order for some food to be brought down to us, and we can relax for an hour or two?”

“That sounds wonderful,” she replied.

He kissed her again, because he really liked doing it, then he carefully pulled out of her and the pair of them made for the tub.

…

He ended up ordering them quite a large meal after they’d washed and relaxed a bit. He’d dried off, dressed, and had headed upstairs, letting Erana lay naked in the bed, luxuriating. She seemed very taken with it, and he didn’t blame her, it was a very soft, comfortable bed. He went up and, after hearing what they had, ordered probably more food than they needed cooked up and bought down to them. For once, he wanted to live something like a life of luxury, even if that meant laying in a comfortable bed with a beautiful ocean nymph and eating a lot of food. For him, that was close enough after all that had happened.

Alan got them rabbit, some duck, a stew that had vegetables, potatoes, beef, and chicken in it, a bottle of strawberry juice and one of grape juice, bread, and, because he was really getting a taste for it, a couple of different kinds of fish, heavily seasoned. He really, really liked the fish and, more importantly, the seasoning down here in Tomontica.

It was amazing.

When he put the order in, he went back down and lounged in the bed with Erana for half an hour, chatting lightly, the two of them really just enjoying each others’ company. When the food came, he opened the door and let the two employees bring it in and set it all out on the dining table. There was just enough room. After thanking them, he closed the door and the pair of them sat down to eat the huge meal he’d purchased.

She started by asking a lot of questions about the world at large, then about the land that he had originally hailed from, then more specifically about him. She seemed fascinated as he told her about how he’d hooked up with Layla, Rachel, and Morgan, their hunt for the artifact, their travels across the land and their eventual sexual exploits. Then later he told her about his time in the Redwood Forest, his time with Topaz, (he missed her, suddenly and powerfully, when he began talking about her), and then their emergency trek up north.

She seemed particularly intrigued when she learned about his sexual exploits with a serpentine, a harpy, and a forest elemental. And the mermaid. When they’d been heading down on the boat initially, they’d stopped during the first day at a small island. Layla and him had slipped away, looking for a quiet place to fuck.

Instead, they’d found a big breasted, redheaded mermaid horny for land-dwellers.

“Wait,” she said, stopping him when he got to that part of the story. “A mermaid? Around here? Did she have red hair?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“What was her name?”

“Miri.”

“Oh wow! That’s my friend, the mermaid I mentioned earlier! That’s incredible. I bet she was very good at sex,” she said, grinning.

“Oh she was. And amazing at sucking dick. And eating pussy, too, apparently. Layla seemed to really enjoy her tongue.”

“Her tongue is wonderful. We’ve been having sex for years now,” Erana replied happily. “Well, I’m glad you met her. If there’s time, when this is all over, there’s someone else I want you to meet,” she said.

“Oh? Who?”

“It’ll be a surprise. Surprises are better,” she answered.

“Fair point.”

They finished eating after that and then relaxed for a bit longer. Once they felt like their food had settled, the pair of them finished dressing and headed back out of the inn. Once they got outside, they saw that there was still a fair amount of daylight left. They began walking through the settlement, at first making their way along the wall, as there was a bit of distance between the wall and the edge of village, and it was peaceful, and quiet, (except for the occasional monstrous sound coming from the jungle beyond the wall).

“What about you, Erana? What is your life like?” he asked while they walked.

“Boring, I’m afraid,” she replied.

“I don’t think I’ll think so. Tell me about it.”

“Very well. I’m a scholar. I study history. I’ve always been fascinated with history. Our people have a great deal of it. We weren’t always cloistered in the ocean. There was a time when we freely traded with and walked among your people.”

“What happened?” Alan asked.

“About a thousand years ago, there was a war. I’ve been unable to find the exact reason for the war, but it seems centered around the assassination of a human noble. Our people were blamed, though whether or not we did it, or if it was one of our people who was acting alone, has been lost to history, as far as I know. But we went to war. It was long and bitter, lasting almost two years, and finally my people left, pulling out completely.”

“Why did it take so long?” he asked. “Why not just...leave? I mean, it’s not like we can follow, right?”

“That’s mostly true, but by this point, we’d been mingling with land-dwellers for so long, decades by then, that we had a few settlements on the surface. And there were several who had traveled quite deep inland. We wanted to make sure we got all of our people out, no one left behind if at all possible. And, on top of that, we are quite a proud people. So...we fought the land-dwellers to a stalemate, and then signed a treaty: we wouldn’t come up, they wouldn’t go down.”

“I’ve never even heard of this,” he said. “This is interesting. I wonder if anyone here even knows of the treaty, or that this happened at all.”

“I’m not sure. I do know that based on some of the documents I’ve found, there have been excisions to the surface. After about six hundred years, we began tentatively doing business with the far elves, and now enjoy a fairly steady relationship with them. I do know that a new treaty was signed about four hundred years ago with this land. We could come up and they could go down, not that many of them even could.”

“Can anyone go down there?” he asked.

“Oh yes, it’s very possible. Provided you are strong in and adept at magic. In the same way I can sustain myself up here, a powerful mage could sustain themselves underwater.”

“Interesting...”

“Yes. Though we haven’t had any visitors in my particular city for quite some time. Not since I was born, anyway. But, back to what I was originally saying: my life. I live alone and tend to spend most of my time either researching or traveling for research. There are a fair amount of archives around, and no one seems particularly interested. Well, not no one, but few. History fascinates me, and I come from, well, not a wealthy family, exactly, but well off enough that I can afford to go gallivanting around, poking my nose into the past’s business. Sometimes I track things down for people in exchange for pay. And that’s basically my life.”

“It sounds really interesting,” he said.

“Not as interesting as yours. You get to travel around with beautiful women who have sex with you and fight monsters and evil people. And you’ve saved your land, and will be helping in saving this island. It’s fantastical and exciting.”

“Well, it is,” he replied. “It’s also very dangerous. We almost died up in those mountains. And a few other times. But the sex is very nice,” he said, then fell silent as he thought about Layla again and her strange behavior. He tried to shake the thoughts off. He didn’t want to think about that, he was having a good time.

“Should we go to the market now? I can find you something.”

“I’d like that,” she replied.

They left the edge of the settlement and walked further in, back towards their starting point and the inn where they were standing at. By the time they got back, it was past dinnertime and although the sun wasn’t setting yet, it was obvious that it was at least beginning to consider it. They moved among the stalls, looking at a variety of things, many different objects and trinkets and weaponry and jewelry. She finally settled on a piece of jewelry.

“But I want you to choose it,” she said.

“Me?” he asked. “How do I know if I’m choosing the right thing?” he asked.

“You’ll figure it out,” she replied, smiling at him. “Pick something for me. I’ll give you a reward later...”

“That’s all the incentive I need,” he murmured in reply, stepping up to a stall that had a lot of different pieces of jewelry for sale.

He saw rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, lots of different items.

As he was scanning the collection, trying to figure out how he was going to discern what he was going to choose for her, something caught his eye. It was a gem, no, a crystal that had a deep green glow to it, and it hung from a simple silver necklace.

“That one,” he said, “does it do anything?”

“Purely for show, no special abilities,” the woman in the stall replied, setting it down between them.

“How much?”

“Seventy five gold.”

“Deal.”

He handed her the bag of coins and, once she counted them out, she gave him the necklace. He turned, seeing that Erana was looking away, perhaps to be surprised, and he tapped her gently on the shoulder.

She turned to face him and looked down at the necklace.

“Oh my goodness,” she whispered, accepting it. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he replied.

She put it on and cupped the gem in her hand. “I love it. Green is my favorite color.” She let it down gently so that it nestled between her breasts. “Thank you.” She leaned in and gave him a lingering kiss. “I’m kind of hungry again. Want to eat some dinner out in the open this time?” she suggested.

“That sounds great,” he replied.

They held hands and began hunting for a restaurant.

Whatever was happening between him and Layla, whatever had happened, or would happen tomorrow or the days after, Alan at least knew one thing.

Right now, he was happy.

And he intended to enjoy it.

CHAPTER V

“You’re okay with this?” Alan asked.

“Yes, I am. I don’t often get to make love with an audience,” Erana replied cheerfully.

Layla and Carmen had returned an hour after sundown, tired and happy, and not long after they’d been shown their room for the night, they’d asked for a show of him and Erana having sex. So here they were, naked, in bed, preparing to do just that.

They came together and he pressed his lips against hers. He loved the way she tasted. It reminded him vaguely of the mermaid he’d made love with. He laid a hand across one of her breasts, feeling that strange excitement that came from the fact that he had an audience. It was weird, because it was something that he would never even have considered doing before he met Layla and the others, but now he really enjoyed it.

Although he had an idea that it was because it was women that watched him.

They continued kissing, their tongues twining together. He could feel that Erana was excited too, he could sense it in the way she pressed herself against him and how heavily she was breathing. He imagined that she didn’t have all that many opportunities for something like this given the lifestyle she led. Or considering that she hardly ever came up to the surface. She was also becoming a little more confident.

She pushed him gently onto his back.

“Can I be on top?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied, “that’d be great.”

She grinned and straddled him, kissing him for awhile longer as he groped her tight ass. She kept kissing him until she reached down between them, bringing herself up a little bit and gripping his cock. Staring at him, smiling seductively, she gripped his cock and slipped it into her. She cried out as she pushed herself down its length, then began fucking herself with it. Leaning forward, she rested her hands flat against his chest as she bounced on his cock.

“Wow, you look fucking great riding dick, Erana,” Layla said.

“Thank you-ah! Yes! Right there!” she moaned as he thrust up into her. He grabbed her hips and began pushing up forcefully with his own hips, staring at her beautiful, firm tits as they bounced. “Oh yes, fuck me, Alan!” she cried.

He groaned in bliss as he buried his cock up into her perfect, bare nymph pussy over and over again. After a few minutes, he wanted to switch positions.

“You mind if we switch?” he asked.

“No, I don’t mind,” she replied.

She got off of him and he got up, off the bed, and stood at its end. He figured that this would provide a really good view for the others and it would also look pretty hot for him and feel pretty good for both of them.

Erana saw what he wanted and came to the end of the bed, sitting down before him and then laying back, her pussy right there at the edge of the bed, at just the perfect height, right before him. He slid back into her tight perfection, feeling all that hot, wet pleasure envelope his dick as he buried himself within her.

“Oh, yes!” she cried as he started fucking her. Then she screamed again, louder, when he rested his hand on her and began rubbing her clit with his thumb. “Oh fuck! Oh yes! Keep going! Oh that feels so fucking good!” she shrieked.

He kept doing it to her until he made her come and she cried out again, an impassioned scream of absolute pleasure, as she orgasmed. Alan gripped her hips firmly and really started driving into her, fucking her climaxing vagina, feeling that amazing sensation of her muscles clenching and spasming violently, a hot gush of feminine sex juices spraying from her and getting onto him. And it felt so good that he started coming too.

“Oh, Erana!” he cried as he began spurting his seed into her.

His dick contracted, kicking forcefully in her tight pussy, filling her up with his seed. Hot bliss shot through his whole body, hitting him like waves on a beach, filling him like warm, pink light. His hips kept thrusting, jerking forward of their own volition, until he was dry-heaving, his cock having nothing left to give, drained dry, and then he was finished. They were both finished. Carefully, he pulled out of her.

“Good show?” he asked, looking at the other two.

“Fantastic,” Layla replied.

He sat down next to Erana, who was still laying there, smiling at nothing in particular, her eyes closed peacefully.

“We should get some sleep,” Carmen said after a moment. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day,” she added.

Alan frowned. He’d had his fun. Time to get serious again. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He got up and headed for the bath.

Tomorrow was definitely going to be a long day.

…

After the bath, (Erana and Layla joined him, though Carmen went straight to bed), the three of them decided to share the other bed, since Layla didn’t want to be away from Alan and it didn’t seem like a good idea for Erana to share a bed with Carmen, since she still seemed a little sore about their initial encounter.

Like most of the days over the past several weeks, (or was it months, at this point?), Alan was tired enough to fall asleep right away. He woke up twice in the night, once Layla was riding his cock, and the second time, Erana wanted sex. He’d fucked both of them until they each had come and then had fallen back asleep immediately.

When morning came, he woke up feeling refreshed and only a little sore.

After bathing, drying, and dressing, they had a decent breakfast upstairs. The morning was still fairly young. There was light conversation as they ate. Alan found that his thoughts kept turning to the artifact, and the jungle ahead of them. The past few days had been pretty rough. There’d been a few close calls, and they had been close, closer than they should have been probably, because he was so exhausted from cutting his way through the jungle.

And that was only going to get worse, the deeper in they went.

He was going to have to be very focused this time around, keep his magic and his wits about him, or he really could end up dead this time. But...that was difficult, with how distracted he was becoming. He glanced over at Layla. She’d been quiet ever since he and Erana had put on the show and it had been time for bed.

And she hadn’t really said much to him since then.

After breakfast, he decided that he was going to try and actually talk to her about it. He found the perfect time for it when they decided to visit the marketplace one more time and stock up on supplies for the journey.

Carmen went her own way, and Erana picked up enough to give them a bit of privacy. When they were walking away from a stall after picking up some arrows, he stopped.

“Layla...”

She stopped, too, and he could tell she was very nervous. She turned to face him. “Yeah?” she asked, sounding at once both apprehensive and resigned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. She hesitated. “I know something’s wrong. If it’s something I did, I mean-”

“No,” she said quietly. “It’s nothing...you haven’t done anything wrong, Alan. You’ve been wonderful.” She chewed on her lip nervously for a moment, not quite meeting his eyes. “Listen, I’m sorry I’ve been acting...erratic. I’m just, I’m dealing with some problems. A problem, I guess. Would you...trust me? I promise I’ll talk to you about it when we’ve put up with all this crap and we’re back somewhere safe...please.”

He looked at her, studying her, and found that he did believe her. He trusted that she was telling the truth.

Alan nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said.

She seemed relieved. She hugged him. “Thank you. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult, I’m just…”

“You’re dealing with something. It’s okay. Just...try not to let it get in the way of what we have to do. And I’ll try not to, either.”

“That is something I’ll happily agree on,” she said. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it done.”

He nodded, feeling a lot better, though still he was concerned. What problem was she having? If it was nothing he did...then what was it? What did she know that he didn’t? Well, it was going to have to wait.

They rejoined Erana and continued moving through the market. Once they had finished buying whatever they could think of, they tracked down Carmen and then made for the eastern gate, heading out of the town.

…

Alan stared into the green abyss.

He was nervous about going back into that jungle. Even standing there, just beyond the east gate, he could hear several creatures crashing about, roaring and shrieking. Whatever they’d gone through over the past few days, this was going to be worse. He could just tell. Alan looked at the others. Carmen’s face was set and a bit grim. Layla looked determined. Erana seemed concerned, but also determined.

“Well, are we gonna do this?” Carmen asked.

“Yeah...no sense in putting it off,” Alan replied reluctantly.

And with that, they set off.

At first, it wasn’t so bad. Alan made sure to gather as much magic to him as he could, but it was difficult, dividing his focus between that and paying attention to his surroundings and chopping at the dense vegetation that surrounded them. He had gotten better at passively gathering magic to him, but it was still difficult.

For the first hour, they remained alone.

He and Erana went first, chopping through the plants, focusing entirely on their work and their environment. When their half hour was up, Carmen and Layla took over, and he and Erana fell back about ten feet behind them. While they walked, he tried to strike up a bit of conversation, because the jungle around him was beginning to get to him.

“What’s it like, underwater?” he asked. “What’s your civilization like?”

“There’s a lot of coral,” she replied. “That’s largely what we build our structures out of. Honestly, it’s not all that different from the settlement I saw back there. I mean, I guess we build different entryways and exits, because it’s as easy to swim up and down as it is side to side. We have a capital city, Azure, where the vast majority of us live. There are some colonies spread out across the ocean floor,” she explained.

“Interesting,” he murmured.

“And there’s a lot of magical use infused in our society. We use it to grow our crops and enhance our food and reinforce our structures and defend ourselves. There’s just as many dangerous monsters under the ocean than above it...honestly, probably more so.”

“Probably. The ocean kind of freaks me out,” Alan replied.

She smiled and brushed against his arm. “But I’m from the ocean,” she said.

He couldn’t help but grin and touched the back of her hand, a simple gesture, but it felt good, and she seemed to like it. “That’s true,” he replied. “You’re pretty fantastic.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

They kept trudging along through the intensely green jungle.

The problems didn’t start until another half an hour had passed and it was their turn. They returned to the front, getting to work, hacking away, and suddenly, Erana stopped. Alan stopped too, wondering what was wrong.

He was about to ask when he heard a loud hiss from somewhere off to his right. Swallowing in fear, gathering his magic, he turned to face whatever it was as it began coming towards them. Could it be another snake? He hated snakes. But this thing seemed somehow bigger, and more powerful. It was crashing through the underbrush. He continued building his magic, preparing for the worst, and then it happened.

A huge lizard, easily ten feet long, entered the area they were in and bashed him with its huge head, sending him flying. The thing let out a roar and took a chomp at Erana, who let out a startled shout and, on reflex, raised her hand and fired off a water bolt. It was a lucky shot: it hit the thing right in one of its big black eyes and penetrated its brain. It let out a brief shriek and then smashed to the jungle floor, thrashing briefly for a bit before becoming still in death. Layla hurried over to Alan, who was still on the ground.

“Are you okay?” she asked, helping him up.

“Yeah, just a bit dazed...” he replied.

“Well get on your feet, we’ve got more incoming!” Carmen called.

Alan shot up. “More what?!”

“I don’t know!”

The whole area around them seemed to be shaking now, the leaves trembling and the branches vibrating. Alan picked a direction and gathered his magic, preparing a powerful frost spell. The more of them he could stop in their tracks, the better. They were getting closer. The four of them waited in terse silence, weapons at ready. Running wasn’t an option, not in here. Whatever creatures that chased them would be more mobile than they would. The four of them didn’t have any hope of outrunning anything in this jungle.

An enormous green and brown spider burst forth from the way ahead and Alan let out a disgusted yell as he released a solid wave of frost. It hit the giant spider, stopping it in its tracks, and it also slowed the other three that were coming out behind it. White, misty frost covered the leaves and tree trunks. It would cause damage, but not a lot, and it was way better than setting a fire. The other three spiders were slowed, but not stopped.

They kept coming.

Alan grabbed for his bow, notched an arrow and loosed it. It hit one of the spiders dead on, killing it. He repeated the process twice, killing the other two, then turned to see if he could help out any of the others. They seemed to be handling their own, though. Carmen was moving among the horrors with her blade, carving them up with a lot more zeal than she’d been going at the plants with lately.

He didn’t blame her.

He ended up killing another two spiders, one that was creeping in unseen from above, he put it down with an arrow through its ugly face, and another that almost got the jump on Carmen, since she was so distracted by killing all the other awful things. He killed it with two quick shots. It wasn’t long before they’d slaughtered the last giant spider. All four of them stopped, breathing heavily, looking around, ready for more.

But there was nothing.

“Let’s keep going,” Carmen said quietly.

They resumed chopping and moving forward.

There’d been just two miles between them and their destination when they’d left the final settlement on this portion of the island. Under normal circumstances, they could have been there pretty quickly. But the going was painfully slow, slower than ever now. It took them close to two hours just to make half a mile.

Layla consulted her compass every fifteen minutes or so, to make sure they were still on track. Alan was left alone with his thoughts as they continued, swapping out every half an hour. He thought about how he had ended up here, doing this. It seemed insane to him that around two months ago, he had been living in the basement of an inn in a town that he rarely left, making potions and doing the occasional chore, relatively happy and content with his life. Except that that wasn’t entire true. Now that he was out here, he saw the truth.

He’d been content, perhaps, but not happy.

Looking back on the past several years, he realized that he’d actually grown quite unhappy. He tried to trace it, as he hacked away at the jungle on this new island he’d come to, tried to find out where the unhappiness had begun. He supposed, in his own way, he’d always been unhappy. But then again, weren’t most people? Didn’t most people tend to aspire to being content and secure in their lives? Not all people, he knew there were some who were just born happy, and it seemed like almost nothing could get them down.

But he hadn’t been miserable until he was about seventeen or so. He supposed that’s because the world made sense: he lived with his parents, they taught him magic and language and mathematics and a cocktail of survival skills, ranging from hunting to making sure he wasn’t getting ripped off to building a fire.

Looking back on that, he now realized that they had been secretly preparing him for this life, hoping that he would choose it.

When he was seventeen, it was like something had changed. Some subtle mechanism deep in his subconscious had shifted, and he’d gone from a simple adolescent, worrying about little more than next week, perhaps next month at most, to worrying about his life at large.

He’d spent two years attempting to rectify this sudden concern, prepping, pulling away from his social life, what little of it there was, in an attempt to start his life. His real life. He’d taken on extra responsibilities, increased his training, and ultimately that had resulted in him moving into the inn, getting his own place, his own job, his own responsibilities. And, for a little while, that had been enough, and it had lulled him into a kind of sense of comfort that he’d gotten on with his life, that he was okay for now.

And maybe he would have been.

Until Layla came along, and changed everything forever.

Ultimately, he thought it was a good thing. It was dangerous, sure. It was painful, yeah. And exhausting, and cold, and wet, and sometimes miserable. But he didn’t worry anymore. He no longer had that nagging fear in the back of his mind that he wasn’t going anywhere with his life, he wasn’t doing anything worthwhile.

He felt like he was doing something that mattered.

Plus, well, he was getting a lot of sex. And that tended to help solve a lot of his mental problems. Not all of them, but it really helped.

Which was kind of stupid.

In a way, he thought it was stupid how it made people feel worthwhile that they were having sex with someone, and the more people they had sex with, the important they felt. Why was that? It wasn’t true, or if it was, it was only true because of the power of truth that people gave it. There was no objective extra worth tied a person’s amount of sexual partners. None at all. And yet everyone acted like more was good and less was bad.

None was worst of all.

Unless you were a woman.

Then it was literally the opposite. Which was even stupider. It didn’t matter, and why did anyone care? What difference did it make to them? He guessed it was just that people wanted a metric against which to judge themselves in comparison to other people, so they could feel superior or have something to aspire to. And when they felt superior, they could hold that over other people, and if it was something that the other people actually valued, then the superiority was that much more potent, and thus was the inferiority.

He knew what it felt like.

When you lived in a small town like he’d grown up in, people tended to know a lot about each other, and there were a few people who had enjoyed reminding him that he was too pathetic to get women to agree to sleep with him.

Wow. It was kind of amazing what ended up running through your head when you were chopping your way through a lethal jungle on a distant island. Alan stopped thinking about all that for now. He was happy now. Okay, well, not happy in the immediate sense, he was actually tired, sweaty, cranky and afraid, but in the broader sense, he knew he was doing something that mattered. Plus, he was in good company.

And that was more than enough for him.

“Do you hear that?” Erana asked.

He stopped. They’d made it almost an entire mile at this point. Halfway there. “No, I don’t hear anything. What is it?” he asked apprehensively.

“Water,” she said, listening. “Running water. A river.”

“Why did you stop?” Carmen asked as she and Layla caught up.

“There’s a river up ahead,” Alan replied.

“I don’t hear anything,” Carmen said.

“I do...very faintly,” Layla murmured.

“Come on,” Erana said, excited.

They kept going, cutting and pushing their way through the foliage. As they drew closer, Alan did begin to hear the water. He guessed Erana would be more keyed to that sound, given that she was from the water, and Layla did have heightened senses. After a few minutes, they broke through the treeline and found themselves standing at the edge of a rushing river. Alan stared up into the sky. It was going gray again, and just then he heard thunder in the distance. Despite how much he liked the rain, something felt...ominous, about this weather.

He shook off the uncomfortable feelings and looked up and down the length of the river. Well, this sucked.

“There’s no way across,” Alan murmured.

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Carmen said. “Shit, we’ll have to cut a tree down. Any way to magically do that?” she asked, looking at him and Erana. “Cause I don’t really want to throw away an hour chopping a damned tree down.”

“I can do it, I think,” Erana said. “Let’s find a good one.”

They moved a little farther down the edge of the river, eventually finding a good tree to chop down. Once they located one, Erana went about the process of chopping it down. With her water-based magic, she managed to get it felled in only a few minutes. With a huge cracking noise and crash, it fell across the river.

It was just long enough.

“That doesn’t look very stable,” Layla murmured.

“Then we’ll have to do this fast,” Carmen replied. She walked up to it, kicking it hard. It shifted, but only a little, and seemed stable. From there, she stepped up onto it and ran gracefully across it. “Come on!” she called.

Erana went next. She moved a little less certainly, as grace above water probably wasn’t her strong suit, but she made it across without a problem.

Layla looked nervously at Alan. “Maybe you should go next,” she said.

“I’ll be fine,” he replied. “I’ll be right behind you.”

She nodded reluctantly and made her way across the fallen tree. She moved with her own natural grace and made it quickly across. Now all three of them stood on the other side, staring back at him. Alan made himself step up to and then onto the tree. He just had to do this. They’d done it just fine. He had to just walk across a fallen tree. Just like twelve feet. He began putting one foot in front of the other.

Take it slow.

When he was halfway across, the tree shifted, suddenly and violently. He shouted in surprised fear and almost fell off.

“Alan, hurry!” Layla called.

He managed to take two more steps before the whole thing fell down into the river. He screamed again, this time in utter panic, and made a jump for the far edge, but it wasn’t even close. Alan plunged into the water.

Panic hit him as hard as the frigid, raging water of the river did.

He thought he heard someone call his name, and he might have heard a splash, but he couldn’t be sure. Struggling to figure out which was up, he surged towards the surface. The river was an absolute power, it had utter hold over his body. There was nothing to grab onto, nothing to stop himself, and he kept getting sucked under.

He kept trying to think of some spell, some way to get himself out of this, but his thoughts kept getting ripped apart by the chaos of the water and it was all he could do to keep from drowning. What was he going to do?! How was he going to get out of this!? Wouldn’t it be hilarious, in an awful way, for him to survive all that crap, all the death and destruction, for him to just die because he drowned in a stupid river?

Suddenly, he felt a hand grab him.

All motion ceased. It was like he’d been grabbed by a rock. He was pulled first to the surface, where he gasped and choked and spat water, coughing raggedly, then he was pulled across the water with an unrelenting force. Glancing around, squinting to see through all the water in his eyes, his gaze fell upon the uncertain blue figure of Erana.

She had jumped in to save him.

“Could use a rope!” she called up.

He realized they were near the edge of the river now.

“Hold on, Alan,” she said quietly. “You’ll be fine.”

He tried to say something, to thank her, but coughed up a stream of water instead. A rope descended and she grabbed it firmly. “Okay, pull!” she called up. Slowly, they were lifted from the raging waters. A little bit later, strong hands gripped them and pulled them up onto land and away from the edge.

“Alan, Gods, are you okay?” Layla asked, clearly shaken by the incident. He was lying on his back now after hacking up a good amount of water.

“Fine,” he managed weakly. He felt like crap and he was all cold and wet now.

“That was close,” Erana murmured, sitting down next to him.

“Thank you, Erana,” Layla whispered. “You saved his life.”

“Thank you,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand.

She smiled and squeezed it back. “I couldn’t let you die,” she said.

“I appreciate it.”

“Maybe we should take a break...just for a little while,” Layla said uncertainly, glancing at Carmen, who was keeping watch.

“I could really use one,” he said.

Carmen sighed. “Fine, just for a little while.”

They found a sturdy branch sticking out into the little clearing they were in and Alan stripped naked, hesitantly, then hung his clothes up. He also emptied his backpack, checking over everything, tossing away most of his food, since it was ruined and useless, as well as a paperback novel he’d been carrying around with him.

He was sad to see it go.

But he could always buy another one. Well, probably.

When everything was laid out, Alan put a carefully controlled flame spell over it. There weren’t even any flames involved, more heated air. He’d been working on it for a few weeks now, because he was impatient when it came to waiting for his clothes to dry and after a few failed attempts (and burned clothes), he’d finally gotten it down. He washed the warm air over his belongings and then over his clothing.

“We should eat,” Layla said. “Probably won’t be another chance to before this whole damned thing is over.”

“Yeah,” Carmen said, shrugging out of her pack and getting some food out. Once they were finished drying, Alan pulled his clothing back on and then replaced his belongings in the backpack. When he was finished, he ended up eating some bread, meat, and fruits, washing it down with a bottle of water.

The four of them ate quickly and voraciously, as they were starving from all of their exhausting exercise in the jungle. Alan could tell that Layla had definitely been shaken and unsettled by the experience, probably more than he had. He wondered what that meant. She was sitting close to him, brushing him with her tail every minute or so. He liked the closeness and the affection, but not where it was coming from exactly.

She seemed so worked up and tense.

When he was finished eating, he took her hand and held it. She squeezed and he squeezed back. He ended up using a healing spell to take care of all the cuts and bruises he’d gotten during his fall, and today from all the chopping, then did the same for the other three. Not only did it heal, but it restored a bit of stamina, making them less fatigued and weary. It wasn’t much, but it, combined with the rest and the meal, went a surprisingly long way towards making him feel better. He still didn’t like the way the gray skies made him nervous.

Thunder was rumbling more steadily now and occasionally lightning sparked the skies. He hoped they could at least get to the site before the rain began.

“Come on,” Carmen said about fifteen minutes after they’d finished eating. She stood up. “I think that’s long enough. We need to keep going.”

“Yeah,” Layla agreed reluctantly. “I guess we do. Just have to keep pushing.”

“That’s how things get done,” Carmen said.

They finished up, packing their things back up and making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. When that was over, they headed back into the jungle again. Alan found himself thinking strange things again as they resumed their journey, covering the final mile as quickly and efficiently as they could, which was to say not very.

He was twenty two years old now. In four months, he would be twenty tree. If he lived. He thought about the things he had accomplished so far in his life and reflected how just an hour ago, he was thinking that he no longer feared that he hadn’t or wasn’t doing anything important, anything worthwhile, anything that mattered.

He wasn’t sure how bad it would have gotten, it might or might not have resulted in the death or subjugation of everyone on his home continent, but when he had helped put a stop that dig, that attempt in the mountains to resurrect the being of power, of evil, ancient power, he at least knew that he had stopped a lot of innocents from dying.

Although it was less significant, when he’d helped Rachel track down that artifact, he’d helped lay her grandfather, a good man, to rest, and had cleared a ruin of a powerful, dangerous curse. It had been a good thing, that much he could be certain about. And this was undoubtedly a good thing. If all was as it seemed, and he had no reason to believe otherwise, then he was helping this entire island, possibly the entire nation.

How far would the curse spread?

So he could safely say that he was doing good things.

But now, suddenly, he was wondering if that was enough. How many more good things could he do? All that he had done, he’d done in about two months. That was such a short amount of time, and he was only now beginning to comprehend just how much travel, how much experience, how many adventures, you could actually cram into two months. So if he died here and now, how many months, years, decades worth of good deeds, adventures, and life-saving would he miss out on? It was more than a little scary.

A nearby roar caused Alan to stop daydreaming again.

So, instead, he focused.

Surprisingly, they managed to avoid another attack, which only made Alan even more nervous. It took them a solid hour and a half, but finally, suddenly, they broke through the treeline and into an enormous clearing.

“Whoa,” Alan whispered.

A huge stone temple awaited them.

It was easily fifty or sixty feet high with sloping walls leaning inwards. He saw several dark openings that led out onto wooden platforms lashed to the side up its length. It seemed strange that the clearing surrounding the temple was so clear. Almost no plants grew within a one hundred foot radius of the temple, almost as if the jungle itself was drawing back from the structure in disgust...or fear. But maybe that was just paranoid thinking.

What wasn’t paranoid thinking, however, were the bodies.

Just in his line of sight, he spied about twenty or thirty bodies, corpses spread out along the mud and the thin plant life. Some of them were skeletal, others seemed decently fresh. He saw several Tomonticans, a few elves, a beryl, there was a good mix of warriors here. They had all died, and from the looks of them, in many different ways. Although it looked like a lot of them had been smashed by something huge and brutish.

“So how are we going to handle this?” Erana asked.

“Well, I figure we take it slow, cross the wasteland, get into the temple and then see what we can see from the inside,” Carmen replied, ever practical.

It made enough sense to Alan, and the others apparently, because there were no dissenting opinions or competing ideas. He supposed they didn’t exactly have a great deal of options here. Some of it had to do with time...he felt like they didn’t belong here, like, the longer they were here, the more it felt like the land, the air itself, was aware of them, and didn’t want them there. It wanted to expel them, violently, if necessary.

The curse.

He could feel its raw power, radiating out from the epicenter of the temple. As they began crossing the distance, Alan found himself wondering how this thing came to rest here. Who had stolen it? Why had they brought it here? Or had they? Had they, in turn, been robbed? Had there been some kind of unique situation? There would have had to have been, since it was so rare that ocean nymphs came up onto the surface, and even rarer still that they would bring with them some kind of powerful artifact.

So what had led to all this?

He supposed he would never know.

It had been lost to time, and he would have to content himself with that.

They had made it about halfway across the distance when, suddenly, they heard a crash coming from the far right side of the clearing. All four of them froze, turned and looked. They raised and readied their varied weapons as something huge pushed its way through the trees, forcing two of them over in the process.

“Holy shit,” Alan whispered.

It was roughly the same color as the jungle. It basically looked like an enormous lizard that walked upright. It had very long limbs, and each arm ended in razor sharp, giant clawed fingers. Its head was huge, the size of a room or a shack, and it opened its immense mouth, showing off rows of massive, jagged teeth, and roared.

“What is that?!” Alan cried.

“I...I don’t know!” Carmen replied, for the first time since they’d met each other sounding uncertain and perhaps a bit frightened. “I’ve never seen something like that before! Oh shit, here it comes! Split up!”

They all ran in different directions as the creature began lumbering towards them, its footsteps like thunder. Alan turned away from it and began sprinting as fast as he could, gathering magic as quickly as he could. He began to panic almost as bad as he had when he’d fallen in the river, but he forced himself to calm down. Panic wouldn’t help anyone here, least of all him. The thing roared again and the ground quaked beneath it.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw with total terror that it was coming for him. It had chosen him out of the four of them.

Fantastic.

Layla was firing her bow over and over again, hitting it almost every time, but it was so big that it was hardly doing anything. Erana was firing off water bolts to much the same effect. At least he could see blood. Carmen was actually running towards the thing with her blade. Well, maybe she could get a lucky blow in.

For now, Alan had to think of something to get the creature off of his trail or he was going to end up bloody paste.

The huge lizard beast was moving on him fast and he didn’t have time to gather any more magic. Putting it all into one huge, powerful bolt of pure flame, he shot it up at the creature’s face. Unfortunately, it missed hitting dead on, but it managed to scorch a searing, blackening path across its snout and cheek, and the sheer heat from it made the creature roar furiously and rear back, stopping it in its tracks as it skidded to a halt.

He took the opportunity to run his ass off and begin gathering up as much magic as possible. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw that Carmen had gotten to it and began to stab its foot. Well, she was nothing if not tenacious. The monster roared again and lashed out blindly. For the most part, it missed her, but enough of it hit her that it picked her up and sent her flying about twenty feet. She hit the ground and rolled.

Alan grabbed his bow and notched an arrow, aiming for the thing’s face. If he could just hit it in the eye…

The huge green beast continued stumbling around, trying to gets its bearings as they hammered away at it, just trying to put it down as quickly as possible. They hadn’t come all this way for an overgrown lizard to kill them. He landed an arrow in its snout, and another went into its mouth as it roared, a third glanced off its tough skin. Damn! He wasn’t getting through. The monster suddenly seemed to gain its senses again.

It turned and began making for Layla.

Alan shouted in fear and surprise as it practically leaped forward and grabbed her. She screamed. Alan raced forward but Carmen beat him there. She was sprinting as fast as she could towards the creature. As soon as she got up to it, she sliced through the back of its leg. This time, there was a reaction, a big one.

The monster roared furiously and it was like she’d broken its leg. It stumbled, tried to stand, couldn’t and hit the ground hard. At some point it had dropped Layla. Alan barely managed to get out of the way before it crashed into him and smashed him. The whole ground shook so hard from the impact that he was sent stumbling and nearly fell over. He had the idea to run up and kill it, now that he could get a good shot at its eye, but Carmen beat him to it. She ran around the huge thing as it thrashed and bellowed its anger, got to its face and then drove her blade into one of its big, black eyes as hard and as deep as she could.

The thing let out an ear-splitting shriek, thrashed violently for a few seconds longer, then went completely slack.

Alan wished he could enjoy the victory, but he couldn’t find Layla.

“Layla!” he called. “Layla, where are you!?”

“Over here...”

He followed the sound of her voice and hurried back the way they’d initially come. He found her lying on her back, grimacing in pain, a few feet short of the treeline. He ran until he was beside her and crouched down.

“Oh, Layla...” he whispered.

She had a number of long, freely bleeding gashes across her body and one eye was swollen shut. She coughed and some blood came out.

“Think I broke some ribs,” she gasped.

“Hold still, shh, hold still,” he whispered, and gently laid his hands on her. He put all the magic he’d gathered in the short time since the last discharge into her body. She cried out and he knew that her ribs were quickly knitting themselves.

“Erana!” he called. “Get over here!”

He kept trying to bring in as much magic as he could, but the re-knitting of the bones was going to take time and he didn’t know if he could sustain the spell that much. Damn, he’d gone into this like an idiot. It was dangerous to suddenly stop the spell in the middle of it if it was repairing something as important as a bone or an organ, but he’d panicked and he couldn’t stand to see her in pain like this. Stupid, stupid.

“I’m here,” Erana said.

“My pack, open it. Get the glowing blue bottle out now,” he said quickly.

He felt her open his pack and rummage around in it. He was nearly out of magic. He was expending it faster than he could gather it and her ribs still weren’t fixed yet. Damn, that thing had really hit her hard.

“Got it!”

“Get the cork out, feed it to Layla right now,” he said quickly.

Erana did just that, placing the bottle up to her lips. Layla grimaced and then began drinking the glowing blue liquid. Just in time, too. His magic was exhausted and his body was exhausted. He needed more time to draw in more magic. He sat back, gasping for breath, and watched her, studied her, as she drank the healing potion. He made sure she drank the whole thing as quickly as possible. One potion should be enough.

He began trying to gather more magic despite his exhaustion, just in case. And he also had a few more potions in his pack, too. So did Layla and hopefully Carmen. But by the time she’d finished drinking, she seemed a lot better. She was breathing more steadily and no longer grimacing in pain. He took a moment to study her. All that was left were some scrapes and scratches, and he dealt with them a few minutes later.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“A lot better...thank you, honey,” she replied softly. “So glad I hired you.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I bet.” He looked at Carmen and Erana. “How are you two? Do you need healing?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Erana said.

“I could use some, think I sprained my ankle,” Carmen said.

Alan nodded, stood and moved over to her. Once he’d gathered enough magic for another spell, he healed her up.

“Thanks,” she murmured, tentatively putting weight on her foot.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, staring at the monster. “Gods, that thing is enormous,” he whispered.

“It’s definitely a beast. Biggest thing I ever killed,” Carmen said, grinning suddenly.

They ended up resting for a few more minutes and then, once they felt up to it, the four of them headed slowly into the temple.

…

Inside, it was dark and cold.

Alan took an immediate dislike to the place. The entrance led them to a simple stone tunnel. They walked down it, eventually coming to a room that had several more tunnels leading away from it. Alan could feel the heavy weight of the place, of tons of stone overhead and all around them. It made him more than a little uncomfortable.

“Well...where do we start?” Layla murmured. She was absently rubbing her ribs.

“Guess we do this tunnel by tunnel,” Carmen replied. “Maybe we should split up, save some time?” she suggested.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alan murmured. “After all we’ve been through...I get the feeling it’s only going to get worse.”

“I guess you’re right. Well, let’s start with that one over there and see what it leads to. We’ll do a standard sweep and search,” Carmen said, and set off.

They followed her down the first tunnel, and the minutes disappeared into the chilly gloom. They all lit torches, finding them attached to the wall. Alan couldn’t risk maintaining a light spell, as nice as it would be. He could feel evil lurking in the temple, somewhere, in the shadows. They followed the first tunnel to its end, where it terminated in a cave-in and had nothing of value for them. Heading back, they moved down the second one.

There were a few rooms off to the sides of this one, with beds and dressers and desks in them. He imagined that this was where the priests lived. Or whoever had lived here. Everything was covered in dust and it looked like nothing had been disturbed for quite awhile. They’d have to search these rooms on the way back out, in case there was anything valuable, although Alan felt a little more reluctant to do so in this place.

It almost felt like a violation.

This tunnel also ended in disappointment, terminating in a large room that looked like it might have once been a dining hall. When they made their way back into the main room again, Alan heard something, a strange clicking, followed by a slithering sound. It froze his blood. He called for the others to stop.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered.

They waited, listening, but the sound didn’t come again.

“What was it?” Layla asked. “What did it sound like?”

“It sounded like...a bug,” he replied quietly. “A big bug.”

“Great,” Carmen muttered. “Fucking love bugs. Let’s keep going. The sooner we can find this thing, find some treasure and get out of here, the better.”

He couldn’t agree more. There were four more tunnels, and then there were the other stories. Which really sucked. The third tunnel looked like it was for storage, the fourth and fifth tunnels also led to living areas. In the sixth, they found a stairwell that led up. The farther they went along, the more he heard the sounds.

And soon they were loud and consistent enough that everyone could hear them.

They went up to the second story and found no tunnels, just rooms. They checked out a training area, a pair of what looked like prayer rooms, what might have been a meeting room, and an armory where stands of armor and racks of weapons resided. Another good place to hit, although he wasn’t totally sure how they’d get it all back.

They began actually seeing things in the shadows when they left the second story and came up to the third level. There was just one more beyond it, the very top, where probably what they were looking for was residing.

Almost as soon as they came into the main room of the third story, which was smaller than the second story, which had been smaller than the first, the sounds stopped all at once. The four of them stood together in the middle of the room, weapons at ready, wondering what could possibly be waiting for them in the shadows.

Then, after nearly a minute of silence, the attack came.

From seemingly every direction, bugs came. Big, angular dark green bugs with snapping mandibles that dripped some dark substance that sizzled when it hit the ground. They also had twitching antennas that seriously creeped him out. They were the size of small horses. Alan let out a solid wall of fire that he’d been saving up this entire time. The good news was that it killed at least a third of the things, turning them into burning crisps, the bad news was that he’d totally expended all his magic for now.

Turning, Alan ripped his sword out and brought it up barely in time as one of the big things leaped for him. The monster impaled itself on his blade and shrieked, twitching madly as it died. When it was dead, Alan ripped his blade out and went to work helping the others, who were a force of nature all their own, ripping and chopping and killing their way through the living tide of insect death. He didn’t know how long it went on, or why these things were here. Maybe they were called by the curse, or the artifact.

He cut and chopped and hacked and stabbed. Dark blood flew, insect limbs and heads were severed and piled up on the floor. There were dead bodies everywhere. He and the others took several different cuts and scrapes as they murdered and killed. Alan’s muscles began to burn and he gathered as much magic as he possible could, because there were more of them coming into the room and they were going to have to deal with this somehow. He refused to go through everything, the jungle, the river, the huge lizard monster outside, and be this damned close to their goal just to be killed by a bunch of overgrown bugs.

When he had gathered enough magic, he released a second burst of fire. It wasn’t as powerful as the first one, but it was enough to turn a dozen of the things to ash, injure another half dozen and give the rest a moment of pause. The women used this opportunity to carve a path straight through them and finally, after what might have been as long as fifteen minutes of continual combat, the last bug fell and they were alone.

“Holy shit,” Alan gasped, trying to get his breath back.

“Yeah,” Layla muttered. “Hate bugs.”

“Come on, I want to get out of here, let’s just get the damned artifact,” Carmen said, flicking blood off her sword.

Alan couldn’t agree more.

They did a quick, cursory search of the third floor, discovering that they had indeed killed all the bugs, and then moved on to the fourth floor.

That was where they found the artifact.

There was just a single room in the fourth floor, and in the middle of it was a glass-covered pedestal. The artifact, which was a fist-sized gem that glowed a deep, shining blue the color of the ocean on a clear day, was beneath the glass.

“That’s it,” Erana whispered. She walked up to the glass, carefully removed the lid, set it on the floor and gently picked up the artifact.

“That’s it?” Carmen asked, coming closer.

“Yes, I’m positive. This is it. It’s my people’s magic, I can feel it.”

“Can I see it?” Carmen asked.

“Why?” Erana replied, looking over at her.

“Because I helped kill our way across this miserable island to get here and I think I deserve to at least hold the damned thing before you take it away,” she said.

Erana frowned, then slowly handed it over. Alan just wanted to get out of here. They’d finished, finally. It was done-

Carmen suddenly reached into her pocket, raised her hand up and threw something to the floor as hard as she could.

A brilliant burst of light blinded Alan and he cried out. He stumbled around, bumping into Erana and Layla.

When his vision came back, he saw that Carmen was gone.

She’d run away from them, holding the artifact.

CHAPTER VI

Alan had no idea what was happening or why, but as his senses came back to him, he at least had a clear goal.

If only because Erana gave him one.

“Get her back!” she screamed, stumbling to her feet. “She has the artifact! Get her back here! Stop her!”

Obviously Carmen had her own ideas and they involved fucking them all over. He knew Erana was right, they had to at least stop her and figure out what the fuck she thought she was doing, though he couldn’t imagine it was anything good. Alan glanced over as they sprinted out of the room. Judging from the look on Layla’s face, she had her own reasons for going after Carmen.

She looked pissed as fuck.

Layla didn’t like someone getting the drop on her, or betraying her. It probably pissed her off a lot more that they’d had a lot of sex together just recently. Well, hopefully she didn’t do anything stupid. Alan wanted to know what Carmen thought she was doing. But they were going to have to catch her first.

The three of them made their way quickly down the structure, or as quickly as they could, still shaking off the effects of whatever magical trinket Carmen had used to blind them. Layla was in the lead, the fastest of the three of them, and she pounded down the old stone steps. Somewhere ahead of them, he could hear Carmen making her getaway. As they raced through the structure, Alan couldn’t stop wondering why she had done it. Why she had stolen the artifact. Had this been her plan from the beginning?

It couldn’t, right? Because they hadn’t even known what was here until Erana had shown up. It had been blind chance. So what then? Well, they’d find out soon enough. She couldn’t hope to outrun all three of them. Maybe if it was just him, or even just him and Erana, but not Layla. A human couldn’t outrun a felis, not if the felis was in fantastic shape and as agile and dexterous as Layla was. They kept going until they hit the ground floor, sprinted through the main hall and burst out into the gray light of day.

It was raining now.

Carmen was about halfway across the huge open space between the structure and the edge of the jungle. Layla was gaining on her and had her bow out. Without breaking stride, she notched an arrow and fired. He heard Carmen shout in pain as the arrow sliced into her right bicep. She spun around suddenly and launched a fireball. It missed Layla, but was right on course for Alan. He shouted in surprise and dove out of the way.

Behind him, he heard Erana scream.

Looking back at her, he felt a cold bolt of fear stab into him as he saw her fall. The fireball had hit her dead on and at the very least she was unconscious. No time for that now. He turned back, preparing a spell. They needed to take Carmen out now. It was obvious that she was going to hurt them, to kill them if necessary. Layla notched another arrow and let fly almost the same time Carmen threw something at her.

Layla’s arrow sunk into Carmen’s right thigh at the same time the knife Carmen had thrown hit Layla in the stomach, sinking in up to the hilt. Both women cried out in furious pain. Carmen stumbled, fell to the ground, tried to get up, screamed and stumbled again. She ripped the arrow out of her leg and tried to heal herself, but Alan had his own arrow ready. Trying to focus, to shut out the fact that both of his friends were badly injured, knowing that he had to take out this threat now or he risked all their deaths, he aimed.

And fired.

The shot was good. It hit her in the right shoulder and she screamed, this time going flat on her back. “You bastard!” she shrieked.

“Finish her off!” Layla said.

“I need to heal you-” he began.

“Alan, go! Kill her!” she screamed. “I’ve got a healing potion!” She was shrugging out of her pack, grimacing furiously as she moved.

Alan listened to her and hurried forward, notching another arrow. He’d killed people before, but those had been dangerous, insane cultists, thieves, murderers. Not someone he’d spent days adventuring with, laughing with, making love with.

He moved slowly closer, covering her. There was still some part of him that didn’t want to kill her. He wanted to know why, why was she doing this? Alan came up on her. She still wasn’t moving. Was she dead already? Maybe Layla had hit her with a poison arrow, or maybe he had. He’d really just grabbed the first one he could…

As he got within a few feet of her, Carmen suddenly jerked up and threw a light spell into his eyes. He screamed in surprise, stumbling away, and heard her scramble to her feet. Okay, now he was pissed off too. Alan sprinted forward as he tried to clear his eyes, using a quick healing spell, and managed to tackle her to the ground.

“Get away you son of a bitch!” she screamed. He’d grabbed her and was trying hard to hold on, but fuck she was strong and tenacious.

“Why the fuck are you doing this!?” Alan yelled back at her.

“Don’t worry about it, Alan! Now let...me...go!” She bucked hard, twisted and kicked him in the chest. He yelled in pain and lost his grip on her. As she got up and tried running again, he hit her as hard as he could with a force spell, nothing but compressed air sent out like a solid wave. Carmen was sent sprawling forward several feet and he saw something shiny fly from her grasp. The artifact. She screamed in fury.

As Alan grabbed for her again, Layla suddenly ran past him, kicked Carmen in the head, then snatched up the artifact and backed away.

“You bitch!” Carmen snarled and then suddenly she rolled away from Layla, towards Alan, bashed him in the nose with her head and got behind him. While he was trying to deal with the blinding pain, (his godsdamned nose felt broken!), he was roughly yanked to his feet. Carmen had him in her grasp now and suddenly he felt cold steel against his neck. He stopped moving, groaning weakly in pain. She had a knife to his neck.

“Give me the artifact,” Carmen growled.

“Let him go,” Layla snapped. She had her an arrow notched, pointed at the two of them. But something was wrong. She didn’t look as...resolved as she normally did.

“Carmen, why are you doing this?” Alan groaned. “If we don’t get that artifact back to the ocean this whole island-”

“Fuck the island,” she replied. “I don’t give a shit about this island, the people on it or the three of you. Do you have any idea how much that fucking thing will go for!? I could buy a fucking kingdom for that! And you morons want to just take it away! Now, Layla, be a dear and give me the fucking artifact, or I’ll slit his fucking throat.”

“You do that, I kill you,” Layla growled.

“Yeah, but he’ll be dead. Can you live with that?”

Alan felt cold all over, staring hard at Layla, who was staring right back at him. Her mask of concentration, of detachment, slipped. What was she going to do? What was he going to do? There had to be some way out of this-

Carmen screamed suddenly and he was thrown forward, him going with her. He felt a sting of pain across his neck, but it wasn’t the life-ending wound that she’d been threatening. He heard running footfalls, more than one set of them, and suddenly he felt strong hands on his back, gently turning him over. He found himself staring up at Layla and Erana.

“Oh, shit, Alan,” Layla whispered. “You scared the shit out of me. I thought she’d slit your throat.” She looked up at Erana angrily, but the anger passed within a few seconds. “You took a serious risk.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, looking at Layla, then down at Alan, and he could read the guilt in her features. “I...I had to take the risk.”

“It’s okay,” Alan said, then winced. Talking made his neck wound hurt. He raised his hand to his neck and sent a quick wave of healing magic across the wound. It wasn’t enough to seal it, but it did stop the bleeding and ease the pain. He just needed a few more minutes to gather magic and give himself a proper healing spell. “Erana, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just got knocked silly by that blast...but I know healing magic. I’m fine, Alan. Here, let me heal you.” She laid her hands across his chest and he felt waves of warmth spreading out through him.

Being healed by her wasn’t entirely unlike an orgasm.

When she was finished, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks,” he murmured, slowly sitting up.

“Is she dead?” he asked.

Sneering suddenly, Layla stood up, notched an arrow, spun around and fired it directly into Carmen’s head. “She is now,” she snapped.

“Gods,” Alan muttered.

“That bitch,” Layla growled. “She fucked us over.”

“She’s dead, we’re okay, and we have the artifact. That’s what matters,” Erana said. She looked up, held out her hand. “Can I have it, Layla?”

There was a brief moment of tension coming from Erana, but Layla passed it off almost without thinking about it, staring furiously as Carmen. “Here,” she said absently. Then she stomped over and kicked her body. “Fucking bitch.”

“We should...we should get going, it isn’t safe here,” Alan said after a moment. The rain continued to fall all around them.

“I need to get to the ocean,” Erana said. They looked over at her. “I’m sorry, I wish I could accompany you back...but I have to get this to my people.” She sighed. “Listen, um, that city we stayed the night in. Would you be willing to wait for me there? I honestly feel like this deserves a real celebration. And I don’t want this to be the last time we see each other.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” Layla replied quietly. “We’ll wait for you there, Erana.”

But something was wrong. He could tell that something was wrong with Layla, and not just because they’d almost died.

“Thank you,” Erana replied.

She gave Alan a kiss, then gave one to Layla, then, after lingering for a moment, turned and began walking away. She paused and looked back over her shoulder. “I’ll be back. I promise,” she said. “This isn’t goodbye.”

“We’ll be waiting, Erana, in the same inn we stayed in before,” Alan replied.

She nodded and resumed walking away. When she was gone, Alan turned to face Layla, who was still staring at Carmen.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“I’m...not sure,” she replied without looking at him. She straightened up suddenly. “But you’re right, we can’t stay here. Come on, let’s get back to the settlement and...figure out what to do next,” she said.

She turned and began walking back the way they had come, then paused, looked back at Carmen and frowned. Walking back, she crouched and patted her down, taking a number of things off her body: a pair of throwing knives, a dagger, several magical trinkets and rings, a bag of gold, and whatever else was valuable from her pack.

“We’re just leaving her here?” Alan asked as she resumed walking away.

“It’s better than she deserves,” Layla replied without looking back.

Well, she had a point. Carmen had turned out to be a terrible person. As he followed Layla into the jungle, he didn’t look back.

…

It rained the whole way back.

He and Layla talked very little on the way back. He thought that it was mainly because they needed to focus on staying alive, and scouting out their environment, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous, especially after everything that had happened. But he also knew that Layla was deeply upset about something, and he thought it might have to do with what she’d said earlier, when he’d confronted her directly about her problem.

Well, he’d find out now, at least.

And then the waiting would be over, whatever the outcome.

Surprisingly, they hardly ran into anything on their way back through the jungle. Just a few giant spiders that were easily dispatched. Alan wondered if the fact that Erana had finally taken away the artifact had anything to do with it. While they walked, he suddenly had an attack of paranoia, wondering if perhaps Erana might not do something to continue the slow decay of the island, speed it up even. But...he didn’t think so. Even after Carmen’s betrayal and all they’d been through, he didn’t think so.

He still trusted her. He hoped his trust wasn’t misplaced.

It felt like ages, walking through the rain and the plants, but finally, they reached the very gate they’d left earlier that day. Had it really only been hours since they’d gotten up and started making their way to the temple? It seemed like days ago...weeks, even. The two of them remained silent as they kept walking, and the feeling of subdued apprehension only grew more intense the closer they got to the inn. Alan looked around, trying to distract himself, but the settlement seemed to be in a down phase. Hardly anyone was out.

The rain seemed to mute and saturate everything.

They arrived at the inn and Layla seemed content to let Alan handle the renting of the room. He decided that after that, he needed some more luxury in his life, so he tried to rent the basement room again and found that it was still available. He put down the one hundred coin and left special instructions with the innkeeper to give Erana a room key and point her their way when she showed up. He wondered how long that would be.

The two of them accepted their own key and walked downstairs. Almost as soon as they were behind a closed, locked door, Alan turned to face Layla. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He wanted, needed to know what was going on.

“Layla-” he began, and she suddenly turned and looked him dead in the eye.

“Alan, I think it would be best if we broke up.”

He stood there, staring at her in stunned silence. In the back of his head, deep in his heart, he’d been afraid of this almost since the beginning. Given the nature of their relationship, and the nature of reality, it had always been a possibility.

But…

“Why?” he replied finally.

She sighed, seeming to deflate, and suddenly walked over to the bed. She sat down heavily, massaging her head. She looked exhausted. “Because I...care too much about you,” she said, not quite looking at him.

“That makes a lot of sense,” he replied.

She sighed again. “It’s a problem, Alan. It’s...this relationship is taking my edge off. I should have seen Carmen coming. I really should have. I knew there was something wrong the whole way, but I just couldn’t figure it out...because I was too happy with you, with us, with our relationship. I was distracted. I had been worrying that I was distracted and Carmen just...proved it. Our happiness is making me a worse adventuress, Alan.”

He looked back at her, and suddenly felt a sharp stab of cold fear. Because he knew, suddenly, that she was right, that she had a point, and there would be nothing he could do to talk her out of this. And at that exact same moment, he realized that he desperately wanted her to stay around. He needed her to stay with him.

“Layla, please-” he began.

She shook her head sharply, suddenly resolved. “No, Alan,” she said. “I’m sorry, but...I almost gave her the artifact. Do you understand what that means? I almost condemned this entire island to death. Do you realize the magnitude of that? And yeah, hey, we made it out this time, but what about next time? What about the next time someone threatens me or you? You know it’s going to happen, maybe not this month, or this year, but sometime. You know it will. And what happens if it’s more dangerous? If the stakes are higher? What then? Would you really risk killing hundreds, or thousands, because you can’t give me up?”

She was right, it was becoming clearer all the time, and he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to react. Because he was going to lose her. She was going to walk out of his life and he...he didn’t want to miss her.

“Layla, please...” he whispered.

Her resolved cracked slightly, her features trembling. “Alan, I’m so sorry,” she replied. She got up and stepped closer to him. She wrapped him in a hug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and he hugged her back, tightly, as if he could make her stay. But he already knew what the outcome of this was going to be, how it was going to end.

She was going to walk away from him.

“Layla, I don’t know if I can handle this,” he said, and he realized he was perilously close to crying. After everything that had happened...and now this.

“I know,” she said. “It’s going to hurt, Alan. It’s going to hurt like nothing else. But it has to be done. You have to see that I’m right.”

“I do,” he moaned. “You’re right. I just...”

“I know. You don’t want to. I don’t want to. But it has to be done. And the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can start healing...” She hesitated. “But, Alan, I’m willing to make love one more time. To say goodbye.”

He felt torn.

Part of him wanted the warmth and comfort of her body, her closeness, how good it would be to be inside of her again…

But it would hurt, maybe even worse, because it was saying goodbye. It was their last act together.

At the end of it, though, the bottom line was that he knew this was going to end, and he wanted to end it on good terms.

“Okay,” he whispered.

They stopped hugging and stared at each other, standing there in the middle of the room. Layla leaned in and kissed him. It was slow, hesitant at first, and some part of him thought it interesting how now they were hesitant, but when they’d first fucked, it had been done with a lot more abandon. He pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss, and she slowly slipped her tongue into his mouth. Alan tried as hard as he could to put aside his thoughts, his emotions, his fear, his doubts, and just...enjoy this moment in time.

If there was one thing that traveling with Layla and her friends had taught him, it was that living in the moment was a good idea. Not all the time, but pain and suffering were a certainty in life, and you had to take whatever happiness you could find, when you could find it, and balance being responsible against that.

And right now, he just wanted to feel good.

Because he felt that there was a lot of suffering ahead.

So he kissed Layla, and took off her clothes, as she took off his. They moved to the bed and continued kissing, and he ran his hands across her body, trying to touch her and feel her as much as he could, to remember it later. The soft warmth of her fur. The twitch of her tail across his skin. Her lips and her tongue. The taste of her. The smell of her. The sounds she made when they were having sex. Her voice.

Soon, she was on her back, her legs open, staring up at him.

He looked back at her and, for perhaps the last time in his life, entered her. Layla let out a small gasp as he pushed his way into her. She was very wet and warm inside. She moaned as he began making love to her.

“Oh, Alan...” she whispered.

He groaned and laid against her, holding her close to him, just focusing on what was happening right here, right now. He felt her against him, and let it be all he was at that moment. Inside of her, against her, holding hold.

Alan lost track of the time as they made love on the bed in the basement of this inn they’d taken refuge in against the world. She moaned and writhed beneath him, crying out in pleasure. He didn’t want it to be over, but to let it linger felt somehow wrong, so he didn’t try to stop or speed up, he just let the sex happen at its natural pace.

When they came, they came together.

And in that moment, he truly was lost, utterly lost in the orgasm, in the connection he had with her. There was nothing but the pleasure and her body and being inside of her and the sounds of her voice as she moaned in bliss, the release of her own sex juices and the clenching of her muscles around the rigid length of his cock.

When it was over, it felt far too quick.

He laid there on top of her, still inside of her, his softening cock feeling very good within her. Neither of them spoke or moved for several minutes. Finally, Layla was the first to speak, because she was the stronger of the two of them, by far.

“It’s time, Alan,” she said quietly.

“Just a few more minutes,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

She ran her hands along his back slowly, soothingly. “We’re always going to want just a few more minutes, Alan.”

“...I know,” he murmured, and then, with great effort, he pulled out of her and rolled over onto his back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, sitting up. She looked at him, then looked around the room, then hesitated. She sighed. “We can at least take a bath together.”

Again, as they got up and headed for the bathtub, Alan felt that conflicting emotion: he wanted her to stay, wanted to extend this...but he also wanted it to be over with. So they slipped into the water and washed up. Neither of them spoke for most of it, because there didn’t seem to be anything to say...or perhaps there was too much to say, and saying it might only make the hurt worse. So they just remained silent.

When they finished, they got out, dried off and dressed. Layla gathered her things. Once she had her backpack on, she turned to face Alan.

“Listen...” she said, and looked at her, wondering what she had to say besides ‘bye’. “From here, I’m walking back to the city we originally arrived in and taking the first boat back to the mainland. I have a few things to do there and then I’m going to across the ocean, to the land of the far elves. I just...wanted to let you know, so we don’t...bump into each other. I think that would be for the best,” she said.

He nodded. Ever practical. “I...understand,” he murmured.

She crossed the room suddenly and wrapped him in a hug. “Alan, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this to happen, but it must.”

“I know,” he said quietly, hugging her back fiercely.

They stood like that for awhile, and then finally she let go and stepped back.

“Goodbye, Alan.”

“Goodbye, Layla.”

And that was when she walked out of the room, and out of his life.

Alan locked the door, walked over to the bed, crawled beneath the blankets and then, for the first time in a long time, cried himself to sleep.

…

Alan awoke some strange, uncertain time later to the sound of a door being unlocked. For a few seconds, he had no idea what was going on. He was called up from the depths of slumber, from confused images of a jungle and monsters and a temple. When he rubbed his eyes and sat up, however, he looked around the room and remembered everything. His gaze fell on Erana, who was coming across the room, looking at him, smiling at him.

Her smile faltered when she saw his no doubt miserable expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Where’s Layla?”

“She...she’s gone,” he replied quietly. “She broke up with me. She’s leaving the island.”

“What!? Why?!” Erana replied, quickly coming across the room and sitting on the bed with him. “What happened? Is it...does it have something to do with our quest? With me?”

“No...I mean, not with you. With Carmen,” he replied.

She reached out and took his hand. Her skin was warm and soft and smooth. “Tell me what happened, Alan,” she said.

And he told her, about everything. Not just the events on the island, but how they met and Layla’s philosophies and how she chose to handle their relationship. In the end, it hadn’t really saved either of them. Well, it hadn’t saved the relationship or allowed it to continue. It was too much. Erana sat there and listened to him, holding his hand.

When it was over, she said, “I’m so sorry, Alan.”

“Me too,” he replied. He shifted uncomfortably. He was thinking a lot more clearly now that he’d cried his ass off and had a long sleep, (what time even was it?), and that clarity brought unhappy thoughts. One of them he felt he had to deal with right now, before he went any further or decided what to do next.

“Erana...you don’t have any obligation to stay,” he said. “I mean, we just met hardly a few days ago and-”

“Alan,” she said, cutting him off. “You’re a friend. You dropped everything to help me recover an artifact when you didn’t even know me and put your life on the line more than once to help me and stop the curse from spreading. That means...a lot. I can’t promise to stay with you for very long, and I can’t...I can’t fix your problems. But I can help. And I want to help. I’m not sure what I can do, but I think you should be with someone who cares about you, and I care. So I’ll stay. I can spare three days, okay?”

“Okay,” he murmured.

For a little bit, he simply sat there, staring at her, trying to sort his thoughts out. But they were a jumbled mess and he just didn’t want to think, didn’t want to deal with his emotions. Not yet. So he focused on the more immediate problems.

“I’m starving,” he said, and he was. “What time is it?”

“I’m not sure, but the sun is going down, if that helps,” she replied.

“Wow...I was asleep for awhile.”

“Tell me what you want, I’ll go put in an order and have it brought down here.”

“I can take care of it myself,” he replied, but she insisted, and he didn’t argue any further, because just then, he didn’t feel like leaving this room. He wasn’t sure he felt capable of talking to even a single person that wasn’t Erana. So he told her what he wanted: steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, fish, beef, some kind of spicy soup, and three bottles of juice: strawberry, grape, and mango. Then he gave her gold and thanked her.

And then he laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and waited.

…

The next three days seemed to pass slowly.

That first night, Alan ate a huge meal with Erana, and they got to know each other better. He spent awhile telling her about his life before the adventures began, not that there was a lot to cover, honestly, and she told him about her life as a scholar. After they had eaten and rested for a bit, letting their food settle, they made love in the dark, beneath the blankets, and it was very good. Erana was a very intimate lover.

Despite having slept a third of the day away already, Alan fell asleep just two hours after Erana showed up. He woke up a few times in the night and had sex with his new ocean nymph friend, finding her very amenable to middle-of-the-night sex. Coming in her felt incredible, and the way she held him, the way she kissed him and the sounds she made, it was almost as if they had been lovers for years instead of days.

It made him feel...good.

It was a simple notion, a broad word to describe his feelings, but it was all that came to mind. He just felt good. He wasn’t fixed, he hadn’t even begun to mourn yet, but for right now, good was enough, and he wanted to keep that going.

The next day, they slept in late, then woke, bathed and ate a large, long breakfast. From there, he took Erana to the marketplace and they spent several hours selling off whatever he’d managed to gather from their journey. Gems, magical items, a few weapons. Layla had left behind some of Carmen’s things. He felt weird, selling them off, and he also felt a stab of fear when he thought about Carmen. Because Layla was right.

The fact that the woman had slipped by their defenses…

It was bad news.

While they were at the marketplace, he kept looking at Erana when she was distracted by something, and he was becoming very horny. He wasn’t sure if it was something about the situation he was in or maybe just an old urge coming up, but he suddenly very much wanted to have rough, perhaps even violent, sex with Erana.

Like with Topaz and Claire.

So after they wrapped up selling off all the things he wanted to sell off, (which was most of it, he preferred to travel as light as possible,) he took her back to the inn as quickly as he could. He could tell she was picking up on his lust.

It seemed to excite her.

As soon as they got back to the room, he looked at her, wondering how she would react to this. “Erana...you said you wanted to help me, do nice things for me,” he said.

She nodded. “I do...you’re going to ask for something kinky, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“What is it? I’ll probably be open to it.”

“It’s basically...really rough sex. I mean, it’s like...we’d have sex, but I’d be screaming at you, and hitting you...would you be okay with that?”

Her eyes lit up. “I’ve heard about this...it isn’t really something that happens in my culture, but I’ve...heard stories about it, up on land. I was going to ask you about it, but I didn’t know how you’d react. I’d very much like to try this,” she said.

“Okay. If it’s too much, just tell me, all right?”

“I’ll tell you,” she promised. “But I’m pretty tough, I can take it.”

“You definitely are,” he agreed.

He walked up to her and kissed her, hard and rough on the mouth, then pulled back. “Take your clothes off,” he said, tugging at the cloth covering her breasts.

“Wait,” she said. “I...I changed my mind.”

“Too late for that,” he said, and pulled the cloth off, revealing her beautiful breasts.

“No, don’t,” she said, trying to push him away.

So, apparently, Erana had a fantasy of her own. Well, he was quite happy to indulge her and help her live it out.

He slapped her hard across the face and then shoved her onto the bed. While she was trying to recover from that, he grabbed the cloth around her hips and yanked it down, across the length of her legs and then off of her, tossing it aside, revealing her smooth blue pussy and her slim, athletic thighs. He was going to enjoy this.

“Don’t! Leave me alone!” she cried, trying to get away from him.

He practically leaped on top of her, getting a grip on her shoulders and shoving her down onto the bed. “Don’t be difficult,” he replied, and began kissing her again, groping her roughly. She tried to shove him off, crying out, and he sat up, frustrated, and slapped her again. She cried out and cringed away from him.

“Don’t fucking be difficult, or I’ll really hurt you,” he growled, gripping her neck suddenly. He tightened his grasp momentarily, then let go. “You understand?”

“Y-yes,” she whispered.

“Good girl.”

He got up off of her, grabbed her legs and dragged her over to the edge of the bed, so he could fuck her standing up. She laid there, her eyes closed, her arms across her chest, her legs squeezed firmly shut.

“Spread your legs,” he said.

“No,” she moaned.

“Spread your fucking legs!”

She shook her head and he forced his hands in between her thighs, forced her legs open a bit, then switched his grip to her knees and forced them open even farther. Once they were open enough, he grabbed her by the hips and yanked her forward, so that her pussy was right at the edge of the bed. She couldn’t closer her legs any more.

“Please, stop...” she whispered.

“Shut up,” he replied, and put his cock up to her pussy. His instincts were dead on: this is exactly what he needed, and from the way she was reacting, exactly what Erana was looking for. “And take this,” he said, and forced his cock into her. She cried out. He grabbed her hips and started pounding the fuck out of her, slamming their hips together, forcing his cock as deep into her as hard as could. Her tits bounced nicely as he did this.

“No! Please! It hurts!” she moaned.

“Shut the fuck up, you fucking nymph slut,” he growled, then slapped her twice across the face. When she opened her mouth to say something else, he suddenly grabbed her slim blue neck and began squeezing. It was really more for effect than anything else, and he didn’t know how much she’d get out of it, given that she could breath through her gills, but from the way she was reacting, she seemed to be getting off on it.

He kept choking her until suddenly she let out a strangled cry and began to come. Oh wow, she was such a fucking squirter. Every time she came he remembered that. A hot spray of female nymph sex juices escaped her pussy and hit him. The juices were warm, hot actually, and the way her muscles clenched and twitched and massaged his cock was absolute pleasure. It made him start coming and he groaned loudly in ecstasy as he started letting off inside of her, spraying her insides down in much the same way she had sprayed him.

He filled her pussy with his seed, wave after wave of pure bliss flowing through him as he orgasmed.

When they were finished, he pulled out of her and sat down next to her.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, breathing heavily, laying there with a happy smile on her face, her eyes closed. “No, that was great. I loved that so much.”

“Was the choking doing anything for you? I mean, I know you breathe through your gills, so I didn’t know...”

“It did, actually,” she replied, sitting up and opening her eyes. “When I’m on land, I actually don’t use my gills. I breathe about the same way you do, thanks to the magic. So yes, that did something for me. I didn’t know if it would terrify me or get me off, and it did kind of terrify me, and that got me off fucking hard,” she said.

“Thanks for that,” he replied after a bit.

“You’re welcome, and thank you. That was wonderful.”

They laid back on the bed together and enjoyed each other’s company and the soft warmth that settled in after a good orgasm.

…

They spent the rest of the day swimming in the ocean.

The rain had let up and the sun had come out, so it was warm enough to be pleasant. Erana was, naturally, very adept at swimming, and seemed particularly happy in the water. They swam and rested and swam again, and when night began to fall, Erana began getting very friendly. He realized that they’d swum to a somewhat secluded spot. She began to kiss him, suddenly, and pressed herself against him, her body warm and smooth and soft.

Before he knew it, she had gotten his cock out, massaging it, and then slipped it up inside of her. He groaned in pleasure. The water was just deep enough that they could stand with their heads above water. She wrapped her legs nimbly around him and he grabbed her hips. She stared into his eyes as she she rode his cock.

They kissed and made love until they both had come, then swam back to shore and let themselves dry as they walked back to the inn. When they got back, they made love again and he fell asleep quickly, exhausted from all the swimming and sex.

He had a dream of Layla, and when he woke up the next morning, he realized that it was no dream, but a nightmare, because he’d been happy with her. So happy. And she was gone now. As soon as he realized that, he made almost frantic love to Erana, not wanting to think any further. He knew that this was to be their last full day together.

It seemed to go too quickly.

After breakfast, they walked among the marketplace. Alan had an idea that he was going to be leaving this village soon, and he’d have to make it through the jungle, alone. He had a vague notion that he intended to get back on a boat and head north. Not to follow Layla, he was beginning to accept that she was gone, really gone, but because it was...familiar. And there were people he wanted to see, to visit. Familiar faces.

But he didn’t want to think about that, not yet.

Alan observed that he didn’t want to be doing that much thinking.

After the marketplace, they’d had lunch, then took a walk along the beach, holding hands, walking in silence more often than not. After everything he’d done and been through lately, there was a deep satisfaction in doing something so simple as taking a walk with a beautiful woman. When that was over, they had dinner back in their room and before long, they were asleep again. Alan worried that he was sleeping too much, but he thought he had some sleep to catch up on. That third night, thankfully, there were no nightmares.

…

“Are you sure I shouldn’t stay another day?” Erana asked.

They were walking through the jungle, which had calmed down considerably. He could still hear sounds in the distance, but they didn’t seem to get any closer. After a bath and breakfast, he’d offered to walk her to the ocean.

“I’m sure, Erana,” he replied. As much as he wanted her to stay, he knew she had responsibilities. “You have to get home. I’ve kept you long enough.”

“If you’re sure,” she said, but he could tell that she was at least a little relieved. Yes, she wanted to go home, and he didn’t blame her.

They kept walking until they came to the shoreline. They emerged from the trees and plants onto a beautiful, golden beach. The waves lapped lazily at the shore. It had a calm, mild, sedate feeling to it. Today was a good, peaceful day.

They stood together at the edge, where ocean met land.

“I want to do something for you,” Erana said. “One more thing.”

“I wouldn’t reject it, whatever it is,” Alan replied.

She smiled. “How would you like to make love with a water nymph?” she asked.

“A water nymph? I’m sure I’d be interested, but, aren’t you a water nymph?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m an ocean nymph. Water nymphs are...well, they’re closer to water elementals that nymphs, honestly. It’s a bit of a misnomer. They’re made of water. But trust me, sex with them as a human is very possible.”

“Well...okay. Yeah. I’d be interested in that,” he replied.

She nodded. “Good. Stay here. I need about an hour. I’ll be back with her if she’s interested, and I’m pretty sure she will be.”

“I’ll be here,” Alan said.

She gave him a kiss, then turned and walked into the ocean, disappearing within a few seconds. He sat down and stared at the ocean. Minutes began to pass. While he waited, it occurred to Alan that this was the first time he’d been alone with himself and his thoughts since Layla had left him, and that had been a brief, miserable time.

He tried thinking of Layla, but that hurt too much. It was like gently probing a wound and finding that it hurt deeply, too much to even thinking about investigating further, so he left it alone. Instead, he thought of his homeland, and who he wanted to see. There was his parents, obviously. But...he still had Rachel’s list, her list of places she would be visiting during her tenure as a Sister of Death. It was supposed to be good for six months.

And then, of course, there was Morgan.

He suddenly wanted to see her again. He’d really liked her and missed her. He missed both of them.

But, perhaps most of all, he wanted to see Topaz. And Claire.

He particularly missed Topaz, and he couldn’t help but think about what she had told him before they’d parted company. How, if Layla hadn’t gotten to him first, she might have been interested. And now Layla was gone…

Alan looked up as he noticed some commotion somewhere nearby, out in the ocean. He saw two figures emerging from the water. One of them was Erana, the other was a strangely transparent person. The more she came up out of the water, the clearer an image he had of her. She seemed to be a curvaceous woman made of…

Water.

The water nymph. Or water elemental.

They approached him, coming onto the beach, and came to stand before him.

“Alan, this is my friend, River,” Erana said.

“A pleasure to meet you,” he said and stuck out his hand, if only because it was such a common thing to do.

But River didn’t hesitate. “And you, Alan,” she said, taking his hand and shaking it. He thought she would feel strange, incorporeal somehow, and had been a little afraid that he’d just go right through her, but that wasn’t the case at all. She did feel strange, soft and watery, but warm too, but she was as real and solid as he was.

“Erana here tells me you want to fuck me,” she said.

Alan felt his eyebrows shoot up. “Uh...yeah,” he replied awkwardly, looking at her.

“Oh my-what is wrong with you, River!?” Erana snapped.

River shrugged. “I don’t have much of a filter,” she replied. “So how about we fuck? I thought it’d be awesome to do it right on the shoreline, where the water comes in, what do you think?” she asked.

“That sounds great,” he replied, still trying to get a handle on this.

“Good! Come on.”

She turned and walked back to the shore. Alan found his eyes drawn down, to her thick ass. It always struck him as a little weird how...humanoid, some of the ‘monster’ women looked. It was really nice though, because damn was River hot. She had pleasantly padded thighs and broad hips. And her breasts...it had been hard not to stare. They were fairly large, almost as big as Carmen’s had been. That thought made him frown, and he began to follow her, shedding his own clothing. Erana followed after the two of them.

“You gonna watch?” he asked.

“Fuck yes, I’m going to watch,” Erana replied. “I love watching.”

“I like it when you watch,” he said.

Once he was naked, he joined River in the surf. The waves were very mild, just enough to provide a bit of invigoration as he laid down in it. Almost as soon as he was down, River climbed on top of him, pushing him onto his back. Okay, she was a...forceful type. That was fine. She began kissing him passionately.

She tasted like...crystal clear springwater, and like the ocean, but not in a bad way, not too salty. She tasted good and clean and fresh. He settled his hands on her big ass as she straddled him and made out with him. She was warm and soft and smooth, unnaturally so, and she felt amazing. Erana sat down in the surf beside them, watching intently.

Apparently, River wasn’t much for foreplay.

After just a few minutes of making out and groping, she reached down, grabbed his cock and slipped it right into her.

He supposed that to say she was wet would be redundant.

But she was hot inside, very hot. She began sliding smoothly up and down him, riding his cock like a sex demon.

“Oh fuck,” he moaned. “That’s...oh wow.”

“Good, huh?” River replied. She sat up suddenly and continued bouncing on his dick, pushing herself up and down with her powerful, thick thighs. Her huge, translucent breasts hung above him and he reached up and grasped them almost without thinking about it, groping at them, squeezing and massaging them.

It was only now that he was able to get a good look at her. He thought that strange, but the women he was hanging out with nowadays seemed to be interested in quick sex. Which was absolutely fine by him.

Her hair was probably her most unique feature. It was like...a waterfall. It looked like a hairstyle he was somewhat familiar with, but the ‘hair’ was made out of continually flowing water. It was beautiful and fascinating. Her facial features were surprisingly easy to make out, given that he could almost see through her, but she, like Erana, had a strange, ethereal beauty to her. She was smiling down at him.

Speaking of her being almost see-through…

He looked down and blinked in surprise. He could actually see his own cock inside of her, going up into her over and over again as she fucked herself on his dick. Now that was fucking weird, and strangely erotic.

“You okay?” River asked.

“Yeah, just...this is a little weird,” he replied. “I mean, not bad weird.”

“Of course it’s weird,” she said, stopping bouncing, instead opting to grind on him, gyrating her hips, stirring his cock around inside of her.

“Can we switch? I kinda wanna be on top,” Alan said after a moment.

“Then grab me, flip me over and take me on my back,” she replied.

Well, okay then.

Alan grabbed her, pulled her down, hugged her and a huge, perfect tits to his chest, then rolled over, towards Erana, who let out a small, excited, surprised sound. Once River was on her back, she spread her legs wide and he hugged her tightly to him, pounding into her, causing her to cry out. He slammed her pussy hard, pushing very deep into her perfect nymph pussy. It felt so...weird, but it also felt so fucking good.

Having sex with her was unlike having sex with any other woman he’d been with. Erana was close, but still, making love with a being made entirely out of water was an experience above or perhaps beyond fucking an ocean nymph or a mermaid. Not that he didn’t appreciate those two experiences.

“I’m going to come,” he moaned.

“We can sync up our orgasms,” she said. “I can come at will...push yourself up. I’ve fucked several land dwelling men before and they all seem to really like watch themselves fill me with their seed.”

It did sound strangely appealing.

“Okay,” he whispered, pushing himself up, looking down the length of her body, lingering briefly on her breasts, then down at himself, inside of her. It was unreal. The pleasure was mounting, building, getting more intense, and then he was coming inside of her. At the same time he triggered and he watched the first burst of his seed spray out from the tip of his cock, diffusing slowly into her, he heard her cry out.

She was coming, too.

She really could orgasm at will. That was crazy.

As she came, he continued to watch his dick kick hard inside of her, watch his clearish-white seed come out of him and disappear into her watery body. It was one of the strangest things he’d ever seen.

When it was over, he carefully pulled out of her and sat down heavily next to her, trying to get his breath back.

“Whoa,” he said.

“Sex with me does typically produce that reaction,” River said. She took a deep breath and let it out happily, propping herself up and resting on the heels of her palms, staring out over the ocean beside him. Erana sat at his other side.

“Do you feel better?” she asked.

“Yeah. For now,” he replied.

River looked over at him. “Erana told me a little about what happened to you. You want my advice?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, looking up at her.

“Take happiness where you can find it. Grieve and move on. Keep moving. Cut away the dead weight and just keep going forward.”

He looked up at her and she looked back down at him.

“That makes sense,” he said.

“Good. I hope you find your happiness, Alan, and hold onto it. And when you lose it again, I hope it takes you less time to rediscover it.”

“Thank you,” he murmured.

She leaned down and gave him a lingering kiss, then stood up. “I’m afraid I have to leave. I have a lot to do today.”

“I understand. Thank you for having sex with me,” Alan replied, sitting up.

“Happy to,” she said, smiling. “See you around, Erana.”

“See you, River.”

She dove into the ocean and was gone. He looked over at Erana. “I’m afraid I have to leave as well,” she said.

“I understand. Thank you for your kindness, and for spending time with me.”

“You’re so welcome, Alan. And thank you for the same,” she replied, hugging him suddenly. “You could have treated me different, but you didn’t. You’re kind, and brave, and smart. And dedicated. You’re a good person, Alan. Please...go find your happiness, whatever it might be. I’d feel awful, thinking about you being miserable.”

“Well, I’m going to be miserable at least for a little bit,” he replied, hugging her back. “But I promise, I won’t linger. I’ll try to find my happiness.”

“Good,” she said. “You deserve it.”

“So you do. Go be happy yourself, Erana. You’re a fantastic person.”

“Thank you,” she murmured in his ear.

They continued hugging for a few seconds more, and then released each other and stood. She gave him one last, lingering kiss, then turned and dove into the ocean as River had. And then she was gone, and he was alone.

After another few minutes, Alan began walking back to the settlement.

CHAPTER VII

He was heading north.

Well, northwest, really, but mostly just north at the moment. Because there was one place that he very much wanted to visit. When he’d left Tomontica, after all that had happened, Alan had taken a good, long look over his possessions, to see what he had left to work with as he walked away from this old chapter in his life and started towards a new one. After selling a lot of his stuff off, and with how much he’d consumed, used, or lost during his journey so far, he didn’t have a whole lot left: some clothes, his short sword, his bow, quiver, and some arrows, a few healing potions, the camp-in-a-bag, and, finally, Rachel’s list.

When they’d parted over a month ago, she’d given each of them a list of the cities she would be visiting and when, as part of her rotation as a Sister of Death. He thought that the paper would have been destroyed when he’d fallen in the river, but she’d sealed it magically against water and other natural wear and tear that came from frequent travel. It was strange, looking back over that, because it felt like at least a year or so since he had parted ways with Rachel. And yet it hadn’t really been all that long.

The city that she was supposed to be in, for just a few more days according to the schedule, was a small town to the north of the southern shore called Serenity Falls. It sounded like a nice place. He’d been walking for most of the day, as the boat had arrived early in the morning and he’d been itching to just go forward. Partially because he really wanted to see Rachel, but also because he simply wanted to keep busy, keep moving.

As he got closer to the settlement and began to get an idea of its size and location, he could tell why they’d decided to call it ‘Falls’. It was in the shadow of a large rise of land, a rock shelf that had several waterfalls falling from over it, feeding into a river they forked, heading off southeast and southwest, towards the ocean. The settlement itself, probably home to a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty, people was nestled on a tract of land between these rivers. The front of the settlement, nearest to him, seemed to make up the bulk of the commercial and industrial areas: inns, blacksmiths, stores, the marketplace, restaurants.

Beyond it, he could see homes and several fields where crops grew.

It seemed like a very nice place, and it also made him tremendously glad to be home. As many problems as his homeland had, there were parts of it that he really loved. The natural beauty of the land was definitely high up there.

Alan kept walking.

He’d been miserable the past few days, although on the way back he’d managed to hook up with a beautiful elf who hated traveling by sea and really needed a distraction. So that had been nice. But he was grieving. Honestly, it was kind of freaking him out. He’d never been in love before, and he was certain that he had been in love, actually in love, with Layla. Losing her was like...losing a limb. He felt maimed.

He felt lost and in pain.

But...he also felt better than he had back on the islands. Not by much, hardly by any, it felt like sometimes, but others he felt...like he was healing. But it was too early to even think about that. And thinking was all he’d been doing today, and he just wanted to stop thinking. Or at least stop thinking about Layla.

He needed a break.

Alan kept walking until he reached the main gate and didn’t have any trouble getting through. The guards barely asked him what he even planned on doing in the settlement. He walked slowly down the cobblestone paths, between buildings. It was just beginning to be evening, the shadows becoming long. The sun would set in another couple of hours. People were finishing up the days’ work and heading home.

Alan realized he had no idea where Rachel might be.

He was beginning to think that he should ask someone where a necromancer might be, although Rachel wasn’t technically a full necromancer, but almost no one would make the distinction. As he was thinking this, he felt a tap on his shoulder, turned around and found himself staring down at Rachel, (he’d forgotten that she was a little over half a foot shorter than him). She was grinning fiercely and he grinned back at her.

“Rachel!” he said, surprised.

“Alan!” she replied, and hugged him fiercely. He hugged her back, thinking about how interesting it was that she was so...emotional, and open. Although they’d gotten to know each other very intimately, she’d always been very...reserved, and awkward, and shy. But here she was, out in the open, bubbly and vibrant.

“I’ve missed you a lot,” she said as she stepped back. “And I’m starving, I was just going to get some food. You wanna join me?”

“Yes, definitely. I’m pretty hungry myself,” he replied. She took his hand, lacing their fingers together, and began walking down the pathway they were standing in.

“Where’s Layla?” she asked. “Did you two part ways?”

“It’s...a long story,” he replied.

She looked up at him. “That doesn’t sound happy.”

“It’s not...I’ll tell you about it over dinner.”

She nodded, looking pensive. They found a place to eat, getting skewered beef and chicken, and sat down on a nearby bench. Over the next half an hour or so, he caught her up on everything that had happened after they’d parted ways. She was amazed and he didn’t blame her, it did sound somewhat fantastic, almost made-up, but it had all happened. He finished with the events on the island, with Carmen, and Layla leaving him.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That...that just sucks.” She laughed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how else to put it.”

“No, you’re right. It sucks.”

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m handling it. What about you? What have you been up to?” he asked.

“Honestly? Nothing much. I’ve been kind of on...probation, you might say, after my stunt. Our stunt. Really, I’ve just been trying to keep my head down, do my work and be good. And it’s been going well. It’s been boring, but fun. And I’ve made some friends here, in town! We’ve been-” she hesitated, leaned in, “well, you know, playing.”

“Oh, that sounds really nice.”

She nodded. “Yes, it is. It’s so nice. And, well, actually, how would...” She hesitated again, then leaned in very close, her lips almost brushing his ear, and whispered, “how would you like to have a foursome with me and two other hot, horny Sisters of Death?”

He could already feel his cock beginning to harden. “I would fucking love that.”

She grinned and leaned back, then stood up. Fuck, she looked so good in that black leather and lace getup, showing off a great amount of pale cleavage, her strawberry-blonde hair pulled into a simple ponytail.

“That inn there,” she said, nodding to their left, “go there. Rent the basement room. It’s really expensive, so no one ever rents it. You can afford that, right?” He nodded. “Good. Rent it. Stay there. I’ll come with my friends and then...well, you’ll come with my friends. Well, in them on and on them, I imagine.”

“I’m very much looking forward to it.”

“I know. Me too.” She leaned in and gave him a lingering kiss with a bit of tongue as he stood up. “I’ve missed you so much. I’m going to show you exactly how much.”

“I’ll show you, too,” he replied.

He watched her go, staring at her huge ass as she walked away, which was showcased nicely in her getup. Fuck, she was so hot. He’d forgotten how hot she was. Pale, with that sexy hair, and all those damned curves.

And he was apparently going to get to fuck her and two other sexy pale women. He seriously had a thing for Sisters of Death, he didn’t know why. He quickly headed over to the inn and rented the basement room. It was fifty credits, not as expensive as he thought it’d be, but things were cheaper on the mainland, and he gladly paid, accepted the room key and headed downstairs. It wasn’t quite as big or fancy as the previous basement room he’d been in, but the bed, which was pretty damned big, was enough for him.

He only had to wait about twenty minutes before there was a knock at the door. He was just beginning to get undressed, as it occurred to him that he needed a bath. He’d been walking in the hot sun all day.

“It’s open!” he called, standing in his boxers now.

Rachel came in, followed by two seriously fucking hot women. “Ladies, this is my friend, Alan,” she said.

“Jackpot,” one of them, a tall brunette, said. She had a kind of hungry smile on her face. She was looking him up and down.

“And he’s already pretty much naked,” the other one, a woman with honey blonde hair, who was a few inches taller than Rachel and leaning towards the thin side, said.

“Alan, these are my friends, Kira and Honey.”

Kira was the tall brunette, Honey was the taller, thin blonde.

“I’m very pleased to meet you,” he said.

Kira looked down at his boxers, and he realized he had a serious hard on. “I can tell,” she said, smirking. “Don’t worry, we’re equally glad to see you. This town is a fucking dry well when it comes to guys down to fuck. Like, I haven’t had dick in two months,” she said as she began getting undressed quickly.

Rachel and Honey joined her.

“Same,” Honey said. The three of them were undoing their intricate leather and lace outfits. A sight he was always happy to see.

“Not much better for me. We’ve been fucking each other,” Rachel said. “Not that it hasn’t been great, but...”

“But nothing quite compares to a hard fucking dicking,” Kira said.

“I’ll be more than happy to provide the dick,” Alan said, taking off his boxers. Again, he was surprised by how un-self-conscious he was nowadays. He was still nervous, but not enough to keep him from getting naked in front of these women he’d met a minute ago.

“Nice,” Kira said, looking at his dick. “You were right, Rachel. It’s got that perfect size to it. Big enough to feel awesome, not so big that it’s gonna hurt...you look like you were heading for that tub. You wanna fuck around in it?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Good, me too.”

The three of them finished getting naked. He studied each of them quickly as they all got into the tub. Thankfully, it was a fairly big tub. Rachel looked as good as ever: five and a half feet of pale curves. Her tits were still fucking huge and beautiful. Kira was almost as tall as he was, and seemed thin, but when she got naked, he saw that she had a pretty decent rack on her and some really nice thick, athletic thighs and curvy hips. Honey was definitely skinny, very petite, and hot. She had high, firm, small breasts with perfect pink nipples and slim thighs. Kira seemed to be maybe a few years older than Rachel, who was almost thirty, if he remembered right, and Honey seemed to be around his age.

The four of them managed to squeeze into the tub together, soaking for a few moments in the hot, crystal clear water.

It wasn’t long before things got started.

Rachel sat on his lap, straddling him, and began kissing him passionately. She seemed very eager and slipped her tongue smoothly into his mouth as he reached behind her and groped that amazing, thick, firm ass of hers. She moaned softly as she made out with him, and he could feel the other two crowding in on either side of him. Before he knew it, Kira was gently grabbing his chin and pulling him away from Rachel.

“Learn to share, dear,” she said.

“Ugh, fine,” Rachel replied, leaning back but still staying on his lap. He reached up and began groping her huge tits while he made out with Kira. She was a deft kisser, seeming to have more skill than enthusiasm, which was very nice in its own way. She kissed him softly, gently, seeming to savor it, enjoy it, occasionally slipping her tongue in. After a moment, she leaned back and gave him over to Honey, who started out cautiously as she kissed him, then seemed to become braver and bolder, and was soon making out with him.

“It’s been...the only time I had sex with a boy was about five years ago,” she said after a bit, as if knowing that he sensed her trepidation. “He was the only one, and we had to keep it secret,” she said. “I’ve just been with girls after him. So I’m-uh, a little nervous.”

“It’s fine,” he replied. “Go as slow as you want.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, and resumed kissing him, leaning in a little more and using her tongue more after a bit.

He kept making out with and groping the three wet, naked, beautiful women for another five minutes or so, and then he decided it was time for the next part, which was going to require a lot of work and effort from him, but he was more than ready to commit to the labor. He gently pushed Rachel off of him.

“Okay girls,” he said, “I want all three of you sitting up on the sides of the tub. I’m going to eat all of you out until you come.”

“Holy shit, seriously?” Kira asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“He’s super good at it,” Rachel said.

“Fucking awesome,” Kira replied, getting up.

The three of them quickly got up and out of the tub, leaving their legs in the water. Alan got to work. He did Rachel first, getting in between her thick, pale thighs, gently spreading the lips of her vagina and starting to massage her clit with the tip of his tongue. She gasped and the moaned loudly in pleasure, leaning back, giving him full access to her. He remembered what he’d learned from the other ladies he’d been with, slowly, gradually, carefully building the pressure and speed, licking faster and harder, using more of his tongue as the seconds went by. Rachel was crying out in passionate pleasure by then.

Within about two minutes, he had her coming. A hot spray of feminine sex juices escaped her pussy as she screamed in pleasure and got all over his jaw and neck and chest and shoulders. She trembled and shook and cried out as the orgasm tore through her. He kept going until the climax had run its course and then got back into the water.

“That sounded, and looked, amazing,” Kira said.

“And really fucking hot,” Honey murmured.

“It was,” Rachel replied as she gasped for breath. “Fuck that was good.”

“Your turn,” he said, moving over to Kira.

She spread her legs for him, revealing her taut, smooth pussy. “I’m ready.”

He leaned in and basically did just as good a job on her as he had on Rachel, and made her have a screaming orgasm within about a minute.

“Oh, Gods, did I need that,” she gasped when she was finished. “Holy shit, you are so good at that, Alan...oh wow. I need a minute.”

“Glad to hear it. Your turn,” he said, turning to Honey.

She smiled at him, seeming a little less shy now, and opened her legs. His jaw and his tongue were sore at this point, but he was determined to do just as good a job on her. And he did. She held out for almost three minutes, but she seemed to deeply enjoy herself the whole way there, and when she came, it was a fucking full-body orgasm. She was practically trembling like she was having a seizure as she shrieked with absolute abandon, orgasming fucking hard. Alan sat back a bit, watching a miniature fountain of sex juices spray out of her pussy.

Fuck, that was some orgasm.

When it was over, she leaned back against the wall behind her, breathing heavily, gasping for breath practically.

“Oh wow...oh my...oh wow...” she whispered.

“That good?” Alan asked.

“That good,” she confirmed. “Oh fuck, that was...” she trailed off.

“Girls, I think we should reward Alan,” Rachel said.

“Alan, have you ever had three girls licking your cock at once?” Kira asked.

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

“Well, you’re about to. Sit on the edge.”

He did as they got back into the water. The three of them crowded around his cock and leaned in, their tongues out. This didn’t seem real. But holy shit did it feel real, and it felt fucking incredible as all three of them began dragging their tongues across his cock, licking it everywhere, every inch of it, occasionally pausing to kiss each other on the lips. Pleasure sparked like magic all through him, radiating out from his cock, as they just licked and licked and licked. After a bit, Rachel took it into her mouth and started sucking, slowly bobbing her head up and down, her big, red lips dragging along the length of his cock.

She was staring up at him, right in his eyes, as she sucked his dick.

He loved that, for some reason.

She kept it up for a good half minute, then passed it off to Kira, who did exactly the same thing. Fuck, the hot wetness of their mouths, the way they sucked, how fucking hot they looked when they did it, it was overwhelming. Kira sucked him off for a bit before giving him over to Honey, who was obviously a bit more inexperienced, but fuck did she also look good sucking dick. And she seemed to get into it, opting to close her eyes, seeming to focus as she pleasured him. Kira knelt down and began tonguing his balls.

That felt weird, but also good.

“Gonna come soon,” he warned them, he didn’t know where they wanted his load.

“Give it here,” Rachel said.

Honey passed his cock back over to her and she began licking the head rapidly. Kira and Honey ended up joining in, and before he knew it he was blowing his load. Right as his dick started kicking in her firm grasp, Rachel pulled back and started jacking him off rapidly. She opened up her mouth and let him shoot his load right into it, onto her tongue. But each time he released a fresh burst of his seed, she would move his cock.

The result of this was that he came in her mouth, then on her lips and her cheek, then he shot a huge load onto Kira’s face, getting across her nose, forehead and lips, then he sprayed two more gobs onto Honey’s face, and some of it got into her mouth, then Rachel brought it back to herself, put it in her mouth and resumed sucking as he finished coming.

“Oh, fuck!” he cried as she did that, a far more intense than usual burst of pleasure hitting him as he finished his orgasm.

She sucked his dick dry, swallowed, kept sucking and then gently released it when he had finished up.

“There...I believe that was a satisfactory way of saying thank you?” Kira asked as the three of them began washing up and rinsing their mouths out.

“Holy. Fuck. Yes.” He was leaning back against the wall, in much the same way Honey had, getting his breath back.

“Good, now can we fuck? Cause that orgasm got me fucking primed for dick,” Kira complained as she got up and grabbed a towel.

“Absolutely,” he replied.

The four of them got out, dried off and hurried over to the bed.

Like with the pussy-eating session, only even more so this time, the next part passed by almost in a frantic, frenzied blur.

He started out on top of Rachel, sliding into that perfect, familiar pussy and getting started fucking her right away. She stared up at him, moaning loudly as he pounded her, pushing against him with her thighs and hips, forcing him deeper into her. Raw, pure bliss sizzled through him as he fucked that amazing pussy of hers. He managed to fuck her for about forty five seconds before Kira demanded some attention.

So he pulled out of Rachel, pushed Kira onto her back, got between her spread open legs and gave her a similar treatment, fucking her pussy like crazy. She screamed in pleasure as he began fucking her and fuck, did she feel good. He didn’t know if it was because she was older or brand new or a Sister of Death or what, but her pussy felt fantastic.

“Oh, yes, Alan! Fuck me! Fuck me like a slut!” she screamed at him, and he obliged her, slamming into her pussy, pushing deep and hard into her. She was so wet. He fucked her for about a minute until Rachel said that it was Honey’s turn.

“Can I be on top?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “Most certainly.”

He laid down and she climbed on top of him, more emboldened than ever. She grabbed his cock, slick with the pussy juices of two other women by now, and pushed it into her, then lowered herself slowly, taking him in a bit at a time.

“Holy fuck, you are tight,” he groaned.

“Told you, it’s been awhile,” she moaned in reply.

It took a bit longer, but soon she’d taken his entire length into her. Once she was comfortable with it, she began bouncing on his cock. He grabbed her slim hips and stared at her hot, small breasts, jiggling nicely as she rode him, fucking herself on his dick, pleasuring herself. And she was apparently easy to please, because within half a minute she had made herself come. As she was orgasming, he couldn’t help but do the same, thrusting up into her, making her rise up and scream in surprised pleasure, and he began to fill her tight pussy with his seed. He cried out as his second load blasted out of him, pumping into her.

When they were finished, she got off of him, panting, exhausted, spent, but he was still rock hard and ready to go.

He was almost insanely horny.

He got back to Kira, who insisted he come inside of her next, and pushed her onto her back again, getting back inside of her.

“Yes! Yes! Fuck me!” she screamed, wrapping her legs around him. “Fucking fuck me!” she demanded.

With her talking like that, and with how fucking into it she was, he started coming a third time, filling her pussy up as well. He felt his body lock up as he orgasmed, and was released from it as his climax slowly fell off.

“My turn...you still up for it?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, still hard,” he replied. “You three have me horny as fuck…though I’ll be honest, I want to fuck you in the ass.”

“Do it,” she said, getting onto her hands and knees.

He got behind her and found that his cock was slicked up enough with natural lubricant that he worked his way into her huge, pale ass without a problem, causing her to cry out.

“This is so hot,” Kira whispered, staring intently at the two of them.

Once he was inside of her all the way, her on her hands and knees, him on his knees, he started pounding her up the ass, pleasure burning through him, the sound of their skin slapping together filling the room.

He didn’t honestly know if he had a fourth orgasm in him, he was beginning to get exhausted and knew that, one way or the other, he was going to be done soon, but looking down at that fat pale ass of hers, looking at Honey and Kira, beautiful, naked, and sweaty, the way they were watching them fuck, listening to Rachel moan in pure ecstasy, and most of all, how fucking good fucking her up the ass felt, pushed him into his final orgasm.

“Fuck!” he screamed as he started coming. His dick twitched and spasmed as it shot whatever was left of his seed into her tight, big ass. He kept coming, pleasure washing through him, fingertips digging into her hips, until he truly had nothing left to give. Alan carefully pulled out of her when his orgasm had spent itself and fell back, almost passing out.

“That was impressive,” Kira said. “I mean, wow. It’s been awhile since I’ve met a guy that could actually handle three girls like that.”

“Thanks,” he replied weakly. “I think...I need sleep.”

“We all do,” Kira said. “Unfortunately, Honey and I have to leave. We’ve got to leave tomorrow and if we don’t go home to the sanctuary, we’ll get yelled at.”

“Yeah...” Honey agreed sadly. “You’re right.”

“It was fun,” Kira said. She gave him a kiss, then got up and moved back over to the tub. Honey sat next to him.

“Thank you for that,” she said. “It was...it was really nice, to be with you, after so long, you know?”

He nodded. “I understand. You’re welcome. And thank you, for trusting me with this. I appreciate the opportunity.”

“You’re welcome, Alan. I hope to see you again.” She kissed him, then stood up, then groaned. “Aw fuck, my pussy’s gonna be sore...totally worth it though,” she said, laughing, then she moved over to join Kira.

Soon, the two of them had washed, dressed, and left. He and Rachel were alone, cuddling in the middle of the bed, naked and sweaty.

“What about you? Will you stay around?” he asked.

“Yes. I have to leave the day after tomorrow, but I can stay here tonight. And...maybe you could walk me to my next city? I have to go north, it’s about a half-days’ walk.”

“I’d love to, Rachel,” he replied.

She smiled and hugged him close, and he hugged her back. And, for that moment at least, he felt good. And that was enough for now.

…

He had walked Rachel to a small town to the north. They’d made love five times in between his foursome and parting ways with her. Their time together had been wonderful, but as he kissed her goodbye and left the town, heading towards his own home village, he felt an uncomfortable chill of loneliness and pain settle back over him. It had been waiting, in the darker recesses of his mind, kept at bay by Rachel’s comforting company and familiar warmth. But here he was alone, walking through the wilderness.

Alone and vulnerable.

But Alan did not fight it any longer, he let it come, let the pain wash over him. And when he did, when he ceased fighting, mentally flinching in anticipation of the pain that was to come, he discovered that wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. It wasn’t as bad as it was even a week ago, when he was back on the island.

He was healing.

Given what he’d learned talking with people over the course of his life on such subjects as your first painful breakup, he figured that he was going to have a permanent emotional scar. It would hurt a great deal for awhile, and then...eventually, it wouldn’t hurt. Provided he healed properly. He hoped he was doing a good job handling it, but he didn’t really know. This could be denial, maybe. Although it didn’t feel like denial.

He at least had a solid destination in mind: Morgan’s house.

He remembered where it was, although he wasn’t sure if she was going to be home. From what he remembered, Morgan said that she tended to rotate her life. She’d had an adventure or two, heading out into the world for however long it took her to satisfy her wanderlust, and then she’d come home for anywhere between two and six months, or however long it took before her wanderlust flared back up once more.

So there was a fairly decent chance that she was still there.

He was looking forward to seeing her...and to having sex with her, if he was being perfectly honest. He really missed fucking that nine-foot woman. There was something just...amazing, about fucking a half-giantess that was a full three feet taller than he was. Three feet didn’t seem all that much of a difference, but when he was faced with it in real life, it was. It was a huge difference. She absolutely towered over him.

And he loved making love to her.

She was erotic and exciting in a way no other sexual partner was.

The journey took most of the rest of the day, and by the time he was plunging into the woods where Morgan lived, twilight was falling. He was looking forward to a soak and sex. He hoped she was still interested in him, but she’d been pretty...straightforward the last time they’d seen each other. She told him to drop by anytime, and she’d be happy to fuck him and relax with him. So he supposed it wasn’t an unreasonable hope.

Alan finally came to a halt at the edge of a large clearing.

Her house was still there, still very large, and lit. She was home. He walked down custom-made cobblestone pathway, in between a pair of gardens that were lush with life...though he knew that wouldn’t last. With winter coming, all the plants would die soon. As it was, there was a chill on the air, and rain seemed to be following him. The skies had been gray all day and thunder had rumbled distantly for hours now.

Alan walked up to the door and knocked on it.

He heard heavy footfalls and then the door opened up, and then he was looking up into Morgan’s beautiful, tanned, smiling face.

“Alan!” she cried, her features lighting up. She leaned down, wrapped him in a hug and picked him up, crushing him against her massive breasts and then kissing him. “Oh, I missed you so much! How are you?”

“Uh...it’s complicated,” he replied, grunting slightly.

“Oh! Sorry,” she said, letting him down and then stepping back. He came inside and she closed the door behind him. “I get...excited sometimes.”

“I understand. Excitement is a nice reception,” he replied, and abruptly realized that they were not alone.

There was a dryad sitting at her table.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hello,” she replied quietly, smiling shyly at him, not quite meeting his eyes.

“Alan, this is my good friend Clover. She’s a dryad from the Emerald Wild. Clover, this is my friend Alan, we traveled together for a time,” Morgan said.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Alan said.

“And you,” Clover replied.

“She’s shy and awkward because she wants you to fuck her,” Morgan said.

“Morgan!” Clover cried, looking up sharply.

“Oh come on, we were just talking about cute human boys we fucked, and I was just talking about Alan. And you said he sounded very nice, and you wouldn’t mind taking his cock for a ride, I think those were your exact words...”

“You are unbelievable!”

“Let’s...maybe calm down,” Alan said, shrugging out of his pack. “Um...I could use a soak,” he said, “if I recall correctly, there’s a hot spring out back. Maybe we could go to it?” he suggested, looking between the two women.

“That sounds great,” Morgan said. “I’ve been working around the house and in the yard all day, meaning to do just that. Clover?” she asked, looking at her dryad friend. If dryads could blush, he imagined she’d be doing so fiercely right now.

Clover sighed heavily. “Yes, I’d like that.” She stood up.

“Then we’re in agreement! Come on,” Morgan said, walking to her back door as she grabbed the simple shirt she was wearing and pulling it up and off, then tossing it aside. She didn’t seem to be wearing a bra, he realized as he looked at her broad back. He and Clover joined her as they headed outside into the chilled air. Her backyard was beautiful, even more so than the front had been. It was still a sight to behold.

A natural hot spring about fifteen feet behind her house had been converted into a natural hot tub, the rock carved and smoothed, and lit with a few dozen magically burning candles, each one home to a trembling blue flame. Flowers surrounded the path and the spring, and a large tree provided shade over it. The three of them hurried down the path, stripping naked as they went, well, Clover was already naked, (and holy shit she was fucking hot), and as soon as they were nude, the three of them slipped into the steaming, crystal clear water.

He let out a loud, long groan of satisfaction as he got into the water. He submerged his whole head briefly, then came back up and pushed his hair back, squeezing water from it. Once the three of them were in, Alan tried to defuse the situation, though he was seriously horny now because he had not one but two awesomely hot, wet, naked women in front of him. And fucking gods-damn was Morgan’s rack fucking huge and perfect.

“Um, Clover, if it will make you feel better, uh...I’d be open to trying out sex with you. I mean, no pressure, it’s okay if you don’t want to, but I just thought I’d extend that offer,” he said, looking at the dryad.

She was very pretty in an almost alien kind of way. Her skin was light brown, the color of a tree trunk, and her ‘hair’ was a collection of leaves, done up in a kind of short hairstyle. Her eyes were vibrant and vivid and green, the color of fertile fields in full bloom. And she was shapely, very curvy, with a full pair of hips and large, beautiful breasts. Most interesting of all was the fact that she had two branches, almost like antlers, growing out of her head. She was as beautiful and wondrous as the other dryads he’d mated with.

“I...appreciate that,” she said, seeming to calm down. “I’m...not very good at being social, especially not among other species. Especially when it comes to...intimate things.”

“That’s what we’re working on, Clover,” Morgan said. “She ended up getting, well, I guess reassigned is the right word, from the Emerald Wild. Her superior felt that she would be happier here, in my neck of the woods.”

“Are you?” he asked.

“So far,” Clover replied. “But I’m still settling in.”

“And riding a human dick will go a long way towards helping you unwind,” Morgan said. “Go on, you can have first crack at him.”

“I...thank you,” Clover said, looking between him and Morgan, then finally settling her gaze on him. He looked back at her. She hesitated for a bit, then she came across the water to him and sat down in his lap, carefully straddling him.

She looked at him, and up close, he thought she was more beautiful. She seemed very hesitant. Alan settled his hands on her broad hips. “Clover, we can go at whatever pace you want. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate that,” she said, smiling. “I’ve had a few...unhappy experiences. Not many. One of my own kind, only the second one I’d been with, kind of...pushed me into sex before I was ready. And a human adventurer I approached did as well. I mean, I wanted to have sex, just...not too fast, you know?” She laughed suddenly. “Of course, we met five minutes ago and already I’m straddling you and we’re both naked, but...do you get what I mean? Even the pace of the encounter itself can be make or break...”

“I understand, Clover,” he replied.

“Thank you for that.”

She leaned in after a bit longer and kissed him. It was a light kiss, but a pleasant one, and then she deepened the kiss. She tasted like springwater and honeysuckle. Alan gently moved his hands around, grabbing her thick, nicely padded ass, and she settled in a little more, getting closer to him. She tilted her head and continued kissing him, making out with him now, moaning softly into the kiss. He could feel her large, wet, firm breasts pressing against his chest, could feel his erection growing, throbbing in anticipation.

He wanted inside of her.

But he was content to let her set the pace.

Before long, she slipped her tongue into his mouth and sought his own. When she found it, she twined them together, twisting and dancing, and her wonderful taste flooded his mouth. He hugged her closer to him and she let him, holding him now.

Suddenly, she pulled back from the kiss. “Okay, I want to have sex now,” she said. “Is it-can I ride you?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes, I’d love that.”

“Good. Me too.”

She pushed herself up, reached down between them and grabbed his cock, then, once it was in place, she lowered herself, slowly, carefully, onto it. And then he was going inside of her, slipping slowly in.

She was so hot and wet.

“Oh my...oh yes, that’s so good!” she moaned loudly as she began pushing herself lower and lower, taking his whole rigid length into her. “Oh, I had forgotten...it’s so wonderful, feels so good inside of me...” she whispered.

Alan settled in and reached up, grabbing her big, dryad breasts as they made love, letting her ride him, feeling her satisfying herself with his cock. And he was being very satisfied by her pussy. It was fantastically tight, and he’d forgotten that dryads had a different texture to them, inside, a different feel, and it was wonderful.

And she was apparently very wound up, because it wasn’t long before she was suddenly grinding on him, furiously stirring his cock around inside of her, and he realized that she was trying to make herself come. Women tended to do that when they were riding his dick and wanted to orgasm, and it usually worked.

“Oh...I’m going...oh yes! Right there!” she cried, and then she was coming, and her pussy became so hot and so wet, and the muscles began to clench violently, massaging his cock, and she continued to stir him around inside of her, all of it combining to create a perfect storm of pleasure for him and then he was coming, too.

He cried out, grabbing her thick ass and holding her to him, thrusting up into her, as the first of his seed left him in one, hard contraction. Pleasure bloomed inside of him, like a wave of warm, pink light, lapping through his entire body, filling him as he filled her, spurting thick sprays of his human seed into her wonderful, bare dryad pussy.

When it was over, both of them collapsed against each other. Clover was resting her forehead against his, staring into his eyes, smiling sedately as she tried to get her breath back. “That was exactly what I needed, I feel so much more relaxed now,” she murmured.

“Same,” he replied, then kissed her. She kissed him back, hugging him to her.

“Hey now, it’s my turn,” Morgan said.

“Oh, yes, you’re right,” Clover said, pulling back and then getting off of him. His still mostly hard cock fell out of her as she shifted away. Morgan was giving him the eye, that sultry, seductive stare.

“Come here,” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, grinning back at her and crossing the distance between them. She pulled him close to her and as they began to kiss passionately, he laid a hand across one of her huge breasts.

“Fuck, these are so big,” he said as they broke the first kiss, coming up for air. He looked down at her tits, playing with them now, groping each. “I mean, just...wow.”

“You boys do seem very enamored with them,” Morgan replied. “Mmm...okay, no more fooling around. Fuck me. Now,” she said.

“Okay.”

They got into position. She ended up facing him, most of her body underwater, letting herself float, resting on the heels of her palms. There was enough room that he could stand in between her tremendous thighs, right up against her pussy. Her breasts broke the surface of the water, only invigorating him even more.

Without hesitation, Alan stuffed his now fully hard again cock into her vagina. She was so tight. That was one of the big benefits of the shape-shafting magic she used, shrinking her vagina so that pretty much anyone of any dick size could fuck her. A necessity, given her nine-foot stature. She moaned loudly as he pushed into her.

“That’s it...” she whispered. “Gods, I love fucking,” she moaned as he started sliding his cock in and out of her, going hard, because he could, because she was so much bigger than him. Her size really seemed to be emphasized as he fucked her like that, hands on her broad hips, his reach just big enough to let him do so.

Sex with her felt just as amazing as he remembered. Maybe even more so.

And he stared up the length of her enormous tanned body, her taut, fit stomach, her huge, well-muscled thighs, her enormous breasts and her beautiful face that was twisting in pleasure, her mouth and her lips, opening as she cried out in ecstasy. He wanted to make her come, wanted to give her an amazing orgasm.

So he reached down between them, laying his thumb against her clit, and began to rub it, making small circles.

“Oh my!” she cried. “Oh yes! Right there, Alan! Fuck that feels so good!” she screamed, and he kept at it until suddenly she was coming, and he felt a powerful release of her feminine sex juices as she orgasmed, felt the way her muscles clenched and tightened and released and massaged, saw the way her whole body shook with the power of the climax, and just like before, with Clover, her orgasm triggered his.

He moaned as a second climax hit him, and he began thrusting into her madly, spraying the rest of his seed into her half-giantess pussy. Alan let himself go entirely, let himself be lost in the orgasm, lost in the wave after wave of pleasure that washed through him, radiating out from his core, from his cock that was twitching violently inside the tight confines of that amazingly hot, wet pussy. He emptied every last drop of his seed into her, and then pulled out carefully. Moving slowly, he sat down and laid his head back, closing his eyes.

“I definitely missed you,” Morgan said, breathing heavily. “Oh wow.”

“Missed you, too,” he replied, feeling the orgasm ebb away, leaving him in that pleasant afterglow of sex. “And I’m very glad I got to know you, Clover.”

“Me too,” she said, coming over and laying against him, apparently much more snuggly now that they’d actually had sex. He wrapped an arm around her.

“Can I convince you to stay awhile?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah. I’ve got a story to tell you. An unhappy one,” he replied.

“Oh...I’m sorry. Although, I’ll be honest, I kinda figured something was up when you showed up here alone.”

“I’ll get to it, but for now...I’m happy.”

“That’s what matters, in this moment,” Morgan said.

He nodded and hugged Clover more tightly to him.

…

It had been three weeks.

That was probably longer than he needed. Okay, it was certainly longer than he needed to actually make the trek to where he was going. But he needed it, for his own sanity’s sake. After going back to the settlement, he’d rested up, then made the trek back to the primarily city on the island along with a group of merchants heading that way, because he didn’t want to go alone. He ended up befriending one of the other travelers, a tough, middle-aged beryl woman who was serving as bodyguard for the merchants, and once they’d reached the main city, she’d propositioned him bluntly for sex, and he’d agreed.

It had been fantastic.

He spent the night with her, then the following day, and one more night, too. They made love eight times and at one point had a threesome with a Tomontican native. From there, he’d taken a cargo ship back to the north, and had shacked up with a nervous elf scholar, a beautiful pale brunette who was returning from a trip on one of the smaller islands. She’d been down there to search for an artifact. She was nervous because she hated traveling by boat. So she was more than happy to fuck several times to keep her mind off of it.

When he got to the mainland, he discovered that, according to the list Rachel had left, she was in a city that was actually on the way to where he was going. So he got walking and when he got there, he’d found her, and she was thrilled to see him. They’d spent a few days together, catching up, and she ended up managing to get him involved in a foursome with two of other other beautiful Sister of Death friends.

That had been something.

He’d walked her north after that, as she was due to move on to the next city, and from there they’d split. He kept moving north and west, and found himself in the company over Morgan for two nights. The half-giantess was also thrilled to see him and thrilled to fuck him. The whole process seemed simple on the surface, but something was happening inside of him. He was thinking on those long, lonely walks. Thinking about everything. Not just his recently broken relationship, but his life, his past, his future, his decisions.

He moved from Morgan’s house in the woods to his hometown. He’d spent four days with his parents, catching up with them, briefly enjoying living in their home again as someone with no responsibilities, at least for the moment, beyond simple chores. He’d revisited several of his old haunts, and when he left, pressing on, he’d learned something very important: he no longer wished to go home, he no longer held any desire to resume his old life. Being home felt...small. Insignificant. He wanted to be on the road, adventuring.

Little by little, day by day, he felt better.

He grieved. He mourned. He let himself hurt.

And he healed.

By the time he got to where he was going, he felt pretty good.

At the end of his journey, of this journey, uncertain of how it would turn out, he walked along a dirt path to a farmhouse he’d been to earlier. He walked up onto the front porch and knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened up.

“Alan!”

“Hello, Topaz,” he said, and felt very good when she immediately hugged and kissed him, then suddenly dragged him inside.

“Whatever you have to say, can it wait? Please? My parents won’t be home for about an hour and I want to fuck you so bad,” she said.

“It can wait,” he replied.

And they went back to her bedroom and had two rounds of passionate, furious sex where they both came hard.

She ended up having multiple orgasms.

When it was over, they laid there in bed together, sweating and breathing hard, relaxing on top of the blankets. When she asked him to tell her what was up, he told her the whole tale, everything that had happened after they’d parted company.

“I’m sorry,” she said after he’d finished. “That really sucks.”

He nodded. “It does. I’m mostly better now. It’s been several weeks. And seeing everyone helped me. But...I came here for a reason. I mean, I wanted to see you, you and Claire, I missed both of you, but, I had another reason...”

Topaz just smiled. “I know, Alan,” she said, and ran a hand affectionately along his arm. “I know. I told you, earlier, that if Layla hadn’t snagged you, I would have, because you are a real catch, a rare find...my feelings haven’t changed. I still want you, Alan. I want to date you, travel with you, adventure with you...and, given some time, I think I might even fall in love with you.”

He looked at her.

“That doesn’t scare you, does it?” she asked.

“No...no, not at all. I was...I was thinking the same thing, actually. I was thinking that I might be beginning to fall in love with you, Topaz,” he replied quietly.

She smiled and hugged him tightly to her. “That makes me so happy.”

He hugged her back and they were silent for a little bit.

“So what do we do first?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Topaz just smiled. “There’s a whole world out there to explore, Alan. An entire planet, whole other continents and civilizations...and I want to experience it with you.”

“That sounds amazing,” he said.

“Good. First, we’ll sleep. Then, tomorrow, or maybe the day after, we’ll leave Bryne and we’ll begin our adventure.”

Hello, Misty Vixen here!

If you’ve made it this far, then thank

you so very much for finishing my book!

I’m here to ask you if you wouldn’t mind

leaving a review for my story. I would

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OTHER TITLES

THE MISTY VIXEN STARTER PACK

Get ready to experience over 100,000 words of hot, filthy fucking. This starter pack features four original novellas, each from one of my primary erotica universes, and a whole lot of human-on-inhuman sex.

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SCI-FI EROTICA SHARED UNIVERSE

HELLCATS

Ryan is a socially awkward, young technician who takes a leap of faith and joins up with a mercenary crew called the Hellcats. What he finds is a squad of alien or otherwise inhuman women who are looking for a boytoy to live on their ship with them and fuck them hard. Ryan fits the bill perfectly.

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ALIEN HAREM

James is a failing author who is friends with Aria, a beautiful alien woman who is also a failing author. She happens to live with three other attractive alien women who are creative types of varying degrees of success. Everything changes when they invite James to live with them and help them shoot human-on-alien porn to help pay the rent.

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VALKYRIES

When Veronica, a badass, seven foot, mercenary babe, and Saf, a tough, unique, and beautiful alien happen to run into Jared, a down-and-out technician and former merc who decided to try the civilian life after almost getting killed, it feels a little like fate. They want to start their own merc squad, and Jared wants back into the mercenary lifestyle. As they team up and start building a crew of badass and hot alien beauties, Jared is happy to find that they’re all quite interested in sleeping with him.

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DESIRE

Derek is a technician fresh out of college. Unsure of what to do with his life, he feels adrift as he stares down the barrel of adulthood. But all that changes when he gets the opportunity of a lifetime: he is invited to come live and work on Desire, a city-sized space station that caters to every sexual fetish imaginable.

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FANTASY EROTICA SHARED UNIVERSE

DEMONESS

When John Greenfield heads into the forest outside of his home village, pissed off and hungover, the last thing he expects to find is an injured and unconscious demoness. When he rescues her, it starts him on a path he no longer thought possible, and into a romance he didn’t think could exist.

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WOMEN OF THE WILD

Seth is a frustrated young man who lives in a magical world of beautiful landscapes, abandoned ruins, ferocious monsters, and untold adventures to be had. He’s been stuck in his boring, tiny village for his entire life. But that’s all about to change. When he finally works up the courage to tell his parents that he’s leaving and saves up enough to buy himself some survival gear, he strikes out on his own, into the wilderness. Although he expected to find many things on this adventure, he had no idea that he would be getting to know the inhuman monster women that populate the wild on such an intimate level.

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WANDERLUST

Owyn Fisher has just come of age and decides to leave his small village and start adventuring out into the world at large. But instead of danger or riches, he finds that his greatest adventure is all the beautiful monster women he encounters that wish to experience the taboo thrill of sex with a human.

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PARANORMAL EROTICA SHARED UNIVERSE

PARANORMAL PASSIONS

Jason is a regular, twenty-something human who feels adrift. After trying to radically alter his life, all that really changes is that he now lives next door to an incredibly hot redheaded vampire. When they hook up, she leads him into a world of hot sex with inhuman women.

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PARASEXUAL

Alex considers himself a failure. After losing his job, losing his roommate, and coming close to losing his mind all in the same day, he goes to hang out with his best friend, who happens to be a particularly attractive werewolf woman. In an attempt to help him out and also to alleviate her own growing wanderlust (and regular lust), she has sex with him and then decides to take him on a road trip to Thorne: a giant coastal city that is home to a huge concentration of paranormals. And on the way, she begins hooking back up with several of her old girlfriends, who are apparently interested in hopping in bed with her and Alex.

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POST APOCALYPTIC EROTICA SHARED UNIVERSE

SEX & SURVIVAL

Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where a virus, once meant to be a scientific revolution, has ravaged the planet and turned most of the population into inhuman creatures. Some have become mindless zombies, others have morphed into new species. Some can fly. Some can breathe underwater. Some exhibit animal characteristics. Enter Mike Walker, a survivor and adventurer. In this brave new world, Mike often finds himself in the company (and beds) of beautiful, inhuman women.

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HAVEN

David is a young, terrified adventurer who is trying to survive in the wake of a new version of the virus that turns inhumans into extremely dangerous zombies. After the collapse of the colony he was staying in, he and his only friend, Evelyn, a beautiful, tough, eight-foot goliath, flee to an isolated location, and inadvertently become a beacon of hope by providing a safe haven for other survivors.

Coming 2019

ABOUT ME

Hello, I’m the author! There isn’t too much to me personally. I live somewhere in the United States and I like to write stories about people having sex and people having adventures!

So what makes me special? What sets me apart from most of the other thousands of erotica authors out there?

Well, a few things that I can think of.

I write about younger, often more innocent twenty-something guys. I’m honestly sick of all the billionaires and NAVY Seals and cowboys and firefighters. Most of all, I’m fucking sick and tired of all these BS ‘Alpha Male’ types. I don’t really want to bring down anyone who is writing or reading that, but I thought it was high time we started hearing about guys who are more realistic and down-to-earth.

Another big focus of mine is human guy on inhuman lady sex. There are certainly tons of stories about hot chicks getting laid by werewolves and dinosaurs and even Bigfoot! But there’s not enough out there, in my opinion, about regular guys fucking hot alien or monster or otherwise inhuman ladies. I love writing about human guys getting laid by mermaids and dryads and sexy aliens and genetically engineered female super soldiers and robots.

Finally, I like emphasizing sexual encounters, casual and longer engagements, that focus on consent, communication, trust, and respect. I like both parties involved getting what they want out of the sex. (Or I should say all parties, given how many people are fucking at once!)

If you want access to extra content, to get news about my progress on upcoming stories, or pictures of hot naked monster girls, then here’s some places you can check out.

This is my WEBSITE, (www.mistyvixen.com). Here, you can find free short stories that are related to my works or stand on their own, a monthly newsletter, alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked, and more!

This is my TWITTER, (www.twitter.com/Misty_Vixen). I’ll post updates and pictures of hot naked alien, monster, or otherwise inhuman ladies I find on the internet. Also, I respond to pretty much everyone, so feel free to say something!

This is my PATREON, (www.patreon.com/MistyVixen). There, you can get early access to the first chapters of my in-progress works, and early access to alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked! They will be released to my website after one month.

Finally, if you want to talk to me directly, you can send me an e-mail at my address:

mistyvixen@outlook.com

And that’s it! Once again, thank you very much for reading my work. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

-Misty

LUST & ADVENTURE III. Copyright © by Misty Vixen. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entire coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.