Nightclans (7 page)

Raven grunted and moved over to her saddle bags digging in them a little to pull her boots out. She did as Wollfen had and then when done they moved out of the room.

Downstairs they sat in the dining area and Rolfe came over to take their orders,

“So we have roast beef tonight and ribs too, we also have vegetables prepared in a manner you wish, baked or mashed.” Raven spoke up first,

“I will have the roast beef thanks and a mix of baked vegetables, I’m tired of venison, it's been a long time since I have had beef.” Rolfe wrote down the order and looked to Wollfen.

“I'll have a rack of beef ribs and mashed potato on the side plus can I have the carrots baked and glazed in honey? Then I think some boiled peas too to go with it, oh and a couple of whole baked onions too.” Rolfe grunted,

“You always had a big appetite didn’t you?”

Wollfen gave him a thumbs up as the barman retreated back to the kitchens.

They sat there idly chatting looking around the room. Raven studied the other people as they waited, some of the garb they wore was curious to her, not all of it was brown, green or black like she was used to. She took particular note of a man wearing red slacks that had stripes up the outer sides in gold, his shirt was the purest white she had ever seen and he also had on a wide brimmed hat with a large feather sticking out towards the rear, to her it looked a bit comical and she couldn’t help but comment to Wollfen,

“Who is the peacock over there in all that finery?” He couldn’t help but chuckle, if she thought he was in finery then the trip to Gevalia would blow her mind.

“That is a local administrator, a low level government official and believe me, if you think that’s finery, you wait until we get to Gevalia and see the women of the court there.”

The food arrived and was placed before them on the table, Raven was licking her lips at the fare, the smells were delicious. She grabbed a whole potato and started taking bites, Wollfen looked on and realized very quickly he would have to educate her in some table etiquette as they ate. He made a sound with his throat and lifted up a knife and fork then mouthed the word 'watch”. He proceeded to cut some of his onion up and then took a small portion with the fork placing it his mouth. Raven watched on and remembered the talk from early in the day about how they would have to eat with utensils when at a table.

Some people were watching on curious having seen her eat with her hands. She looked around embarrassed all of a sudden and grabbed the knife and fork, she proceeded to attack a potato that fell apart. Stabbing a larger piece she finally managed to get it to her mouth and eat, smiling and looking around as she did. A couple of the onlookers shook their heads as they all went back to their own thing. She looked to Wollfen for approval and he gave a little smile, that made her feel better. Wollfen proceeded to pull apart the ribs with his fingers and start eating, she called foul,

“Hey that’s not fair, how come I got to use these things and you don’t?”

“Oh you are stuck with it I’m sorry, I got the right food to be eaten with fingers, at least the ribs anyway, all the rest I'll have to use knife and fork too.”

She cut her steak up as best she could then proceeded to watch him as he scooped up mashed potato and ate too, she reach across and stabbed some of his carrot tasting it, not bad, not bad at all.

When they had finished the two of them moved over to the bar and Wollfen ordered a couple of beers. As they were sitting and drinking the Peacock leaned across to Raven,

“So what town are you from milady?” Raven looked at him a bit funny,

“I am not of any town, I am Ravenwing of the clan Horungar.”

The room went mostly silent then and many of the people turned and stared, the peacock looked her up and down  with a sneer,

“Pah, I can't believe they let a Nightclan lowlife in here.” Raven went to say something and felt Wollfen's hand on her arm squeezing as he spoke up before her,

“We have not insulted you in any way and have conducted ourselves civilly while here, there is no need to be rude.” The peacock wasn’t impressed,

“We don’t need no inbred whores in our town!”

No one could have believed a man could move so fast but Wollfen was up and slamming the peacock square in the face sending him flying into a table of four men, the look of shock was priceless before the pain kicked in for him and he wailed holding his bloody broken nose. The four men launched themselves at Wollfen who stood his ground trading punches as Raven looked on. He looked around at her while struggling,

“A little help?”

She chuckled before responding,

“You told me I had to restrain myself and not get into any fights.”

He gave her a look and she relented, taking her mug she bashed it over the head of the nearest assailant who fell away. Then she gave a kick to the groin of the next man making him double up, it was two on two now and the four of them sized each other up. Raven couldn’t help but make a smart ass comment,

“It's about time we got some entertainment in this place.”

The first man lunged at Raven and she moved fast giving him a quick punch to the face then dodging his incoming swing in reply. As she did she threw a couple of quick punches to his midriff and spun around to behind him raising her arm and driving her elbow into the back of his head. The man crashed forward onto a chair knocking himself senseless. Raven stood there smiling and looking down at her vanquished opponent then turned to see Wollfen putting the last man down with a roundhouse punch to the head.

Rolfe stood there with a baton in his hand and looked about at the four men, the peacock had run off early on and was no where to be seen. He smiled at Wollfen,

“It's never dull when you show up is it my friend?” Wollfen shook his head,

“I am sorry Rolfe, I didn’t mean to bust your place up.”

“As long as it is paid for, I know these men and they will pay their fair share, a piece of silver will do your share.”

He caught the coin as Wollfen threw it to him and pocketed it. Then he turned to Raven,

“You carry yourself quite well Ravenwing, I would tip my hat to you if I had one.”

“Call me Raven Rolfe, I think we are friends enough now.”

He tilted his head a little towards her then pointed to his servants and motioned for them to clean up. A soldier of the local constabulary showed up and Rolfe had a talk to him, it was only a formality though, as long as nothing was stolen and no one was seriously injured or killed they didn’t get involved.

Wollfen and Raven retired to a booth and sat down with two mugs of fresh beer. Sipping her beer Raven couldn’t help but comment,

“Thank you for showing me a good time out tonight, you shouldn’t have.” After taking a gulp he replied,

“I know I told you we were to be on the best behavior but when he called you  those names I saw red and reacted without thought.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek and gave his crotch a bit of a rub, then whispered into his ear,

“Nightclan life is rubbing off on you.”

They each finished two mugs of ale before retiring for the night, two days of riding and a bar fight thrown in saw them fall asleep almost immediately.

It was a couple of hours later Wollfen awoke to find Raven sliding her naked body up and down his own as she looked at him closely, once she saw he was awake she kissed him deeply and passionately biting his lips. He went hard very quickly and she didn’t waste any time pushing down on him feeling his rod slide deep into her already wet pussy. Gyrating firmly she groaned in pleasure as she took him, using him for her own hot pleasure. Leaning up to his face she slid her bare breasts over his hot mouth urging him on,

“Suck them , yes that’s it lick them hard, damn I want to feel it, now bite them, no bite them harder.” Finally she let out a little cry as he bit harder than he thought was good but she was relishing it. She grabbed his hands gripping them on her own ass, making him squeeze hard. Raven moaned in pleasure as she pumped down harder onto his throbbing organ, grinding against him. She was in control and taking what she wanted, lifting up she slid down his chest and bit each of his nipples making him cry out,

“Ouch! Hey that hurts!” She only gave him a saucy smile in return.

Getting off she motioned for him to move behind her as she got on all fours on the edge of the bed. He was hot now too and holding his own organ slapped her pussy with it making her jump a little, she grabbed it and slid it home. Wollfen gripped her hips and starting stroking her deep with long thrusts and she started moaning loud,

“Spank my ass Wolf, I wanna feel it,” He slapped one cheek then the other, “Oh c'mon, you can do better,” she cried hoarsely, this was a side of her he hadn’t seen before. He lifted his hand back giving her a hard smack and she cried out this time,

“Ohhh, yeah more, do it again, make my ass red!” He gave her a few more good hits on the ass and she was moaning and gyrating wildly,

“Come on baby I’m getting close, pump me harder, fuck me!”

He grabbed her hips and pumped hard, slapping against the back of her thighs feeling his own peak coming, his moans added to hers as he thrust deep into her hot wetness. Finally she let out a wild wail and hearing that it pushed him over the edge making him cry out as his rod pulsed, cumming deep inside her. Shooting hard with his own heat Wollfen finally fell over  pushing her onto the bed. She giggled as he collapsed, his whole body sweaty and shivering with the sensations. As he lay back looking up Raven turned over licking at his chest tasting the saltiness. Her guttural half moan half laugh gave testament to her own satisfaction as they both cuddled and kissed, hearts racing together.

Finally Raven looked up at him with a tired smile and slightly closed eyes,

“Holy shit, that was something.”

He could only grunt in reply, that had to be the wildest sex he had since who knows when. He looked at her with a questioning look,

“You need to tell me what got you going, I think I'd like that again.” She giggled at his comment,

“Oh darling Wolfy, you have no idea how much you turned me on when you punched that guy in the face to defend me do you?” Wollfen couldn’t help but bark out a short laugh,

“Ohh, I see, I should have known a bit of physical rough housing would get you going, after all you are a wild woman of the Nightclans aren’t you?” She grinned impishly and bit him again,

“Ow! Damn you, you can be a little shit can't you?” He got only giggles in reply. It wasn’t long before they both were in a deep sleep.

The next day Wollfen was leading Raven around on a tour of the town letting her take in the different sights. It was all very interesting to her and she was surprised to see how some people could specialize in certain jobs and manage to make a living.

“So you have people who just make clothes? And then others who just bake bread and rolls?” He nodded,

“Yes most any job in places like this are specialized to one or two skills, no person can do them all.” She found that amazing, in the Nightclans you were expected to be able to handle a bunch of different skills and help each other out.

They continued on for awhile and Raven had to ask,

“So why are you showing me all this?” He smiled and explained,“I could tell the others of your tribe what I think they would want to hear when it comes to what would be interesting or what would need explaining, but I am not Nightclan, you are. For you, you see it all through Nightclan eyes and so you would be able to answer many questions better than me.” She nodded in understanding, that made good sense to her, “Plus you can tell me what you like and don’t like, if you want to move here into the Kingdom we have to find out where you would be comfortable living.” Raven giggled and he looked at her questioningly,

“In your pants.” Was all she said smiling. He chuckled in reply.

They walked around for a bit longer and while she loved taking in the sights it occurred to Raven this was not the place for her, nice place to visit , but no, she couldn’t live here.

They eventually returned to the tavern and found Rolfe doing his thing cleaning mugs at the bar. It was time they moved on to Gevalia and they packed their saddle bags in preparation. Back downstairs the two of them said their goodbyes before going to the stable next door to collect their horses.

“Thanks for putting up with us Rolfe you have been a good host.” Rolfe gave a nod and smiled at Raven,

“Always welcome and if you can find any more Nightclan girls to bring back for me Wollfen don’t hesitate. I have enjoyed the excitement.” Wollfen gave him a wink as he walked out the door,

“Careful what you ask for Rolfe, you just may get it.” That left Rolfe with a curious look on his face as they disappeared.

They had spent another three days on the road traveling to Gevalia and Raven had taken in the sights along the way of farmlands interspersed with grazing lands all cordoned off by fences. Much of the land was open plains cleared of the forests centuries before, it was a very different sight to the wooded valleys she was used to. The people here lived a very quiet life she realized as they traveled, she had seen many of them toiling in the fields or tending to the cattle, none of them had been armed and there were no sentries either. It really brought home to her the very different lifestyle.

It was mid morning and they were approaching a crest, the roads became wider and traffic had increased too, many wagons and carriages passed them.  Finally as they reached the crest the panorama was revealed and Raven gasped at the sight, off in the distance and below them lay the lowlands of the west, she could see a vast city with white walls encompassing all. Her eyes focused on the inner castle complex with spires seemingly reaching up towards the sky, she knew the castles existed and heard stories of what they looked like but hadn't ever laid eyes on one before. To her it was the most wondrous thing she had seen yet. The two of them paused, Wollfen was quite content to wait and let Raven take in all she was seeing. She kept making comments and pointing certain things out.

“Look I can see huge flags flying from the tip of um, what are those things called?”

He smiled at her amazement for things he took for granted, it was good seeing her so absorbed and interested,

“They are called spires hon, many of the ones you see at the center of the castle  are occupied by members of the nobility.” She kept staring,

“They actually live in there high up inside?” He nodded but noticed she wasn’t looking at him,

“Yes they do, most of the nobility of the land live in castles similar to this, for them it is normal.” He moved closer to her to point some things out, “Do you see the walls surrounding the city?” She nodded looking on, “The entire wall structure is solid rock all the way round, it has no joins and was not shaped by tools or hands.”

She looked to him only half believing what she was hearing,

“How is that possible?”

“Many of the large cities of the Kingdom are the same, even Kassandrea the largest city of all has walls that go for miles. They were all formed over a thousand years ago by great magic wielders that had so much power they could melt and shape solid rock.”

Raven shook her head once more, it made her realize how little she knew of the world. She had lived over forty years in one place never traveling never seeing anything more than the same mountains and fellow Nightclans. To her Wollfen had been some exotic being when she first met him years ago, a stranger nothing like the Nightclans. She felt a little intimidated by it all, she didn’t like feeling insecure.

“Are there many magic users down there?” Wollfen shook his head,

“No the great magics and skills of those days have died off over the centuries, while there is still some magical energy around no one practices the arts any longer. It's a whole lot of work and nowadays the results just aren’t worth it anymore. Those few that still have  the talent very rarely exercise the skill.”

Raven was soaking up all this new information, these last few days had been a real eye opener and while it was a bit scary she still wanted to know more.

“Do you know anyone capable of wielding any sort of magic?”

Her face was open and innocent looking at him, it touched him seeing her like this, she was usually the hard implacable warrior patrolling the woods always focused on potential dangers. Seeing her wide eyed like a child over the last few days made him realize there was a softer side to her.

“Well hon? Do you?” He snapped back from his thoughts,

“Sorry I got carried away looking at you.” She smiled at the compliment, “I do know one yes,” He paused, “Me.”

“You?” He nodded, “What can you do?” he chuckled,

“Not a lot by those standards,” He commented pointing down to the city walls, “But I can mind touch another person skilled in magics and can see their beacon in my mind's eye too when they are far away.” Raven was a bit confused,

“What does mind touch mean and what's a beacon?”

“It's simple really, mind touching means to be able to communicate with another person using only your thoughts in your mind and when they talk back in the same way, you hear their voice in your head. As for beacons, everyone of magic ability has an internal light that emanates colors in a certain pattern. If you open you mind to them and close your eyes you can see that light inside your head, it also means you can get an idea too of where they are.”

“That’s amazing, can you do it now? Can you show me?” He grunted,

“I don’t know what I could do to show it to you, I haven’t bothered in a number of years . There are so few with the talent.”

Go on, give it a try, let me know if someone is around.”

He looked at her not sure what any of this would prove but he gave it a go anyway,

“Alright, I’ll have a look round and see if there’s anybody.”

He closed his eyes and focused on seeing any beacons, to his surprise there was a familiar one he hadn’t seen in many years, Wollfen opened his eyes once more and looked at Raven,

“Well I'll be damned.”

“What is it?”

“It's an old friend from many years ago, wait I'll see if I can contact him.”

He shut his eyes once more, Raven looking on, he called out mentally to that person,

'Hark old friend, do you hear me?'

The response was immediate and clear in his head,

'Wollfen! How are you?' He focused some more sending out his thoughts,

'I am good old friend, I am on the outskirts of Gevalia to the east.'

'I see you, wait there I will be along shortly.' Wollfen looked around but there was no one in sight, he turned to Raven,

“It is Aldorn an old friend of mine from many years past, he said he shall be here shortly.” Raven was astonished,

“Seriously? You managed to talk to someone and they are  coming?” He nodded and smiled at her,

“Oh yes and you are in for another surprise too when he gets here and no I’m not going to tell you what it is.”

Raven gave him a playful slap on the thigh and looked around, what was going to be so surprising?

After about ten minutes Wollfen finally gave Raven a hint,

“He is approaching, if you look behind us the way we came he shall appear in about twenty seconds.”

Raven looked over her shoulder and waited watching intently, sure enough a lone figure on horseback appeared and approached them, she was taken by his appearance immediately. The man was very tall and had long flowing white hair, pale skin too. The closer he got the more that was revealed, she could see he had very fine features and was very young, but wait, were those pointed ears? All of a sudden it dawned on her what she was seeing, he was an elf! He nodded to Wollfen as he pulled up, Wollfen nodded in return and spoke,

“Let me introduce you, this is Ravenwing of the Nightclan Horungar, Raven, this is Aldorn an elf of the northern enchanted lands presided over by King Elyssur.”

The elf nodded his head to Raven who smiled a little as she kept staring, looking him up and down. His clothing was green and brown, the cut of it all sharp and crisp, it was as if he had just walked out of a tailorsmith shop. There was an elaborate ornate bow on his back and even the quill was exquisite in its design. She caught herself, realizing she was staring,

“I am sorry Aldorn but I have never met an elf before, you sure are some kind of sexy aren’t you?”

Wollfen laughed out loud and Aldorn lifted an eyebrow. Wollfen felt he needed to explain,

“It's okay Aldorn, she is Nightclan they are not known for their subtlety.” The elf bowed his head once more to Raven,

“I thank you for the compliment.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. Raven smiled back with a big grin. Wollfen spoke up once more,

“So what brings you to Kingdom lands Aldorn? Elves don’t travel here at all?” The elf looked to Wollfen,

“I came to see you actually, I have been following your beacon since I left the enchanted lands four weeks ago, you do move about a bit don’t you? I have had to change from south west to south east back to south west again in a week of travel.”

“I'm sorry Aldorn I had no idea, I would have stayed planted in one place for you if I had.” Aldorn nodded slightly as was the elven way,

“Think nothing of it, it caused no trouble.”

“So tell me my old friend, what news?” The elf looked at Raven,

“I don’t wish to offend my lady but the news I have for Wollfen is for his ears only.”

Raven was curious as to what was going on. What did Wollfen get involved in? And Wollfen called him old friend? The elf looked like he was in his teens. So many questions, so much she had seen the last few days.

“That’s okay I don’t mind as long as I am not taken for granted.”

The elf nodded once more and looked to Wollfen who motioned towards the woods, they walked their horses away from Raven who looked on. They spent a good ten minutes in there before both of them returned,Wollfen had a troubled look on his face but didn’t say anything, she hoped he would reveal something to her in time.

Aldorn approached Raven and gave the slightest smile,

“It has been a pleasure meeting you Ravenwing of the Horungar, may your travels be safe and without incident.”

Raven nodded giving her thanks too and watched as the elf left the way he came. She turned to Wollfen giving him a questioning look. He responded after a few seconds of staring at her,

“I’m sorry hon, I was lost in thought, Aldorn will not enter the city but he will be around if need be. I am sure we will see him again when we return to the Nightclan encampment.” Raven looked on seeing he was still troubled,

“Can you mention anything at all of what's bothering you?” He looked up at her and nodded,

“I can tell you that there are things to happen in the next few weeks that will change many things. We aren’t sure what they are right now and I am wondering if it has something to do with the orcs, but I have been told it isn’t, I have to keep an eye out and keep an open mind.” Well that was just plain confusing as far as Raven was concerned.

“Is it something bad?” He nodded,

“Yeah, seems like anything that happens in this world is usually bad at first.” Raven gave him a jab in the ribs then to try and lighten the mood,

“Wollfen the great philosopher huh?” She giggled.

“Pfft, hardly.”

They moved off down the road towards Gevalia, they would soon be seeing the wonders of this huge city.

A little while later they were moving through the streets of the city with Raven ooing and aahing at practically every turn, there was so much to see here. It was starting to make her head hurt and she was grateful when they finally pulled up in front of an inn. They went inside with their saddle bags their horses taken care of by another young boy, this time though Wollfen didn’t know the barman,

“Good afternoon my dear man, do you have a room for some weary travelers?”

The man looked them both up and down and reached under his counter then held up a key,

“It's a piece of silver for the first night then two coppers per night after that, supper is served in the evenings about an hour after dark.” Wollfen reached into his pocket and pulled out some coins, counting off one piece of silver and two coppers,

“I expect us to be here at least two nights maybe more, I will pay more if we do stay longer.” The man grunted and handed over the key pointing up the stairs,

“First door on the right.” Then he turned away to his own chores.

They walked upstairs and let themselves in, Raven dumping her saddlebags in the middle of the floor and Wollfen moving them aside again just as he had in Westre-snow. Raven looked on as she cast off those damned boots, she hated them. Wollfen followed suit and lay beside her, they were both very tired.

“He was a friendly fellow wasn’t he?” Raven remarked.

“That's pretty normal for a big city, no one gets too friendly in a place like this, the bigger the city, the gruffer the people I have found.”

They didn’t nap this time, Raven kept asking Wollfen questions about the city and his magical abilities not to mention elves and how he knew them.

“Your head is in a spin isn’t it my dear?” She nodded, it seemed every day she was learning something new about not only the Kingdom but Wollfen too.

The evening proved uneventful, no fights and a simple but hearty meal, they retired early for the night and very quickly fell asleep. They would wake late the next morning too.

Later the following morning they were on their horses again slowly moving towards the center of the city and the castle proper, Raven was curious to know if they would get to go inside and up those parapets?

“Will we be able to go up top and have a look around?” Wollfen shook his head,

“I don’t think so, I may know the Lord Cazzara but I seriously doubt he would allow me to walk around his castle.” Raven screwed up her face, well that sucked.