The Lotus Ascension (23 page)

Merieke pointed toward Nathen.
“What happened there? Were you bitten?”

Nathen laughed.
“No,
sister.
I just got a bit ripped up by the sandstorm.”

Merieke’s eyes widened. “You were
actually in it?”

“
Yes,” Soren answered.

Merieke kissed Soren’s hand. “Thank
you for taking care of my brother. How can I ever repay you?”

Soren winked at her. “I’m sure
you’ll think of something.”

Merieke smiled up at him. “I’ve got
a few ideas.”

Nathen shook his head and hopped
down. “You know, there’s a tent right over there.”

Tempting as the jest was, Soren had
no time to fuck Merieke. He could think of nothing save Sillara.

Orien emerged from his tent, and
his ready smile evaporated. “No Sillara.” It was not a question. “What now?”

Soren appreciated his captain’s direct
way of speaking. “Well, sir, I think someone’s got to go back to Arinport and
tell my parents what’s happened. They’ll get balloons and camels and such and
come meet us here. Then we can mount a proper rescue.”

Orien nodded and crossed his arms
over his broad, bare chest. “Good idea. Who goes?” Obviously he knew Soren
would want to stay in case there was any word.

Merieke popped between them. “I’ll
go.”

“
By
yourself
?”
her big brother asked.

Merieke squared her shoulders. “I
can take care of myself, Orien, as well as any man. Woe
betide
anyone who waylays me.” She brandished a dagger, and Soren wondered where she
had been hiding it.
Sneaky like her mother.
“I’ll cut
a bandit’s balls off and feed them to him.”

Orien stepped back in mock
surprise. “All right, sister. If Soren agrees, you may go. This is his
mission.”

Merieke turned her burning gaze on
Soren. If he denied her, she would never forgive him.

“
Take two slaves with
you,” Soren said, “and I’m content.”

Merieke smiled, stood up on her
tiptoes, and kissed Soren’s lips. “I’ll be back with the wind, my love.” She
skipped off to see to her preparations, and all the men watched her go.

Soren wolfed down a plate of bread,
fruit, and olives, guzzled some water, and then started packing his saddle
bags. Orien walked over to him.

“
And where are you
going?”

Soren did not look up. He would not
be swayed from his course, which is just what he sensed Orien was going to do.
“I’ll load up a camel and head back out. I can’t rest until I find her.”

“
Not a good
idea,
and you know it.”

“
I don’t know it! How
should I know it? You’d do no less if Merieke were missing.” Though Soren
guessed Orien did not feel for Merieke the way he felt for Sillara. Could any
brother feel the way he felt? Could any man? “I can get farther on a camel.”

“
It’s too dangerous.”
Orien’s voice was still calm and steady.
“And pointless.
We should conserve our water until your father arrives with help.”

Soren ignored Orien and kept
packing. It would take Merieke several days just to get back to Arinport, and
then they would have to arrange balloons and whatnot. There was no time to
lose. Soren felt his captain’s large hand come to rest on his shoulder, and he
spun around, ready for a fight. “I’m going.”

Orien’s soft brown eyes hardened, a
look Soren had seen many times at sea—the look of an indomitable captain with
an iron will.
“You'll stay right where you are, sailor.
How can your
camel
chase an Ausir balloon? You say Sillara is not dead?
Well, how would she feel if you died trying to save her from her non-death?”

Soren thought of the sandwurms. If
he were alone on a camel, he would hardly be able to defend himself. Orien
spoke sense, but Soren just did not want to hear it. How could he sit idly by
while Sillara was missing? Every day that passed was a day alone in the desert
with Konas, a fair-skinned Ausir who not only knew nothing of Sunjaa desert
ways but would burn to a crisp under the unrelenting sun. And what about the
cold nights, when Konas would snuggle up behind her for warmth and then take
advantage of her and make defeat of her virginity?

Soren growled.

“
I know you’re
impatient.” Orien’s face appeared before Soren’s eyes as the daydream
dissolved. “But once Kamen gets here, we’ll have a proper search party to go
out and find her.”

In the meantime, Konas’s hands
would have free rein of
Sillara’s
body. Soren punched
his saddle bag and stormed off.

The next two days passed in agony.
Merieke departed early in the morning, and by midday, Soren was sick with fear.
Something was wrong again, though Soren could get no more than a general sense
of Sillara’s condition. She was weak, and the fear of death hung over her. But
it was more than that. It was as if Soren could sense Sillara’s sensing Soren’s
sensing of her own fear. The confusion nauseated Soren, and he vomited several
times throughout the course of the first day. On the second day, he did not
rise from his pallet. A pleasure slave came and sat by his side as ordered, but
she did not know what to do, not being trained in the nursing of a sick
patient. A fever tore at Soren’s brain, and the only thing besides Sillara’s
imminent death he knew was the lifting of his head and the cool water that
passed between his dry lips into his mouth and dribbled down his scorching
skin. Misery and fear mounted as the fever spiked, and Soren called out for
Sillara many times.

And then, just when Sillara knew
her death was come, all became calm. She was out of danger, and Soren, his head
clearing, was able to rise from his bed. The pretty little painted pleasure
slave sat on her knees and smiled up at him.

“
It is good to see you
well, sir.” No doubt she attributed his recovery to her healing skills. “If it
please
you, my lord, I will bathe you.”

Soren, still in a haze, nodded. She
pushed him down gently onto the bed and removed his skirt. His skin soaked up
the coolness of the sponge, and he lay back and moaned in satisfaction. Sillara
was safe, and Soren could think and feel again. The slave worked her soap and
sponge across Soren’s chest, down his abdomen, and over his thighs. She wrung
out the sponge and rinsed him, and then she went to work on his cock.

His penis lay against his thigh,
but at the slave’s touch, it sprang to life. The girl glanced up at Soren’s
through her thick, black eyelashes and smiled. She stroked the cock from its
base to its tip, soaping it up with white bubbles. She cupped his balls and
lathered them, as well. Soren sucked his breath. After two days of misery and
worry, this felt like heaven. The slave took her time, and when his soapy cock
was fully erect, she stood and removed her gown. She knelt back down and placed
his cock between her tits. She slid up and down, and Soren gently fucked her
cleavage. She took the head of his cock and twirled it around her nipples, and
Soren groaned.

“
Rinse me,” he commanded.

The girl obeyed, and once he was
clean, he stood. The girl read his movements perfectly and shifted her position
to kneel on the pallet before him. Soren slipped his cock into her mouth, and
she played along its length with her tongue, pressing even the hard tip down
her throat. Soren leaned his head back, grabbed her by the hair, and held her
lips against his balls. The girl caressed his thighs while she took him as
deeply as she could.

Soren released her, and she took a
deep breath before jacking him off while sucking on the tip. Sillara was out of
danger, and Kamen would come soon with balloons. Soren would be reunited with
his sister.

Soren lay back and commanded the
slave climb on. She did so gladly, planting one knee on one side of his legs,
and the other leg was raised up so that Soren could watch his cock disappear
inside her. She was clean shaven like all slaves, so he had a clear view. She
lowered herself slowly, and after the tip passed her pussy lips, she turned her
gaze on him. Her eyelids were heavy with desire, her mouth formed into a silent
moan. As she swallowed him with her pussy, she leaned forward and kissed his
throat. Her skin was warm, her scent ginger and roses.

The slave placed her hands flat
against Soren’s chest and rode him, moving her hips forward and back so that
Soren’s cock slipped almost all the way out but not quite. She did what all his
lovers eventually did: she traced the wide wings of the falcon inked across his
chest. She reversed direction and drove him back to her deepest spot. Her mouth
formed a thin line as she bit on the inside of her lips. Soren slapped her ass,
which made her gyrate more. She tweaked his nipples and smiled down at him.
Though she had no other function than to fuck and be fucked, she seemed to be
enjoying Soren immensely. Soren's suspicions were soon confirmed when, having
arched herself forward and worked his cock up and down inside her,
she
slammed her pelvis down onto him, leaned forward, and
whined. She grabbed Soren by the horns as she shuddered in her orgasm.

Soren met her lips with his and
slipped his tongue into her mouth. In his experience, women loved a passionate
kiss just as their climax was receding, and though this woman was nothing more
than a pleasure slave, she was still a woman—and Soren was an attentive lover,
happy to give even this slave as much if not more pleasure than she was giving
him.

The girl wrapped her arms around
Soren's head and returned his kisses with equal fervor, and as her perky little
tits rubbed against his chest, Soren reached up and caressed them, punctuating
his strokes with a pinching of her nipples. This got her going again. She broke
their kiss and bucked against him, coming even harder the second time. Soren's
inner thighs were wet with her cum, and his own climax burned up his shaft. He
grabbed her by the hips and slammed up into her, and with only a few more
thrusts, her pussy, which flexed in its tightness against his cock, brought the
cum rushing out of him. He filled her like a fountain, and as his cock spurted
inside her, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her mouth. She came
again, adding her own pleasure to his.

The girl did not—as pleasure slaves
normally do—pull off her lover, for she seemed to be in no hurry to empty herself
of Soren. Instead she snuggled down on his chest.

“
I wish my master would
sell me to you,” she whispered. “I would serve you as long as you desired me.”

Soren smiled to himself and stroked
her hair. His cock still twitched inside her. He had that effect on women.
“I'll see what I can do.” He knew it was just words and that he would probably
forget to talk to Konas about her. He was just so happy, so content that
Sillara was no longer in danger. He knew he would see his sister soon.

From then the days passed in
impatience, for Soren longed to be doing something toward the rescue of
Sillara. In the meantime, he fucked that same slave as a consummate and
attentive lover, and Soren sensed love growing in her. He gave her what he
could—what she could handle—and no more, for he did not feel for her the way
she was beginning to feel for him. So it was with many women whom Soren had
encountered over the years, like the married woman at the orgy whose husband
had watched him fuck with wild abandon. She had written to him, but he had not
returned her letters nor shared her protestations of love.

One morning, when Soren thought
Merieke would never return, he spied black dots against the late afternoon sun.
They had come at last. Sillara would be saved at last. Kamen came with Ajalira,
for she being Ausir directed her own balloon. Soren was surprised to see other
Ausir, men he did not know, piloting their own balloons. He later learned that
Kamen had commandeered them, paying them handsomely, of course, but really giving
them no choice to decline. Darien also came, for he knew the desert better than
anyone present.

The camp, which had been quiet for
several days, was transformed into a hub of activity. Search parties were
organized, but daylight was fading fast. The search would have to begin with
the next dawn.

“
We'll find her.” Merieke
hugged Soren from behind. Her hands rubbed across his smooth, bare chest.

Soren reached up and held her hands
against his chest. “I know.” He was certain of it. He did not need the hope she
was trying to impart to him. “Thank you for this.” He felt Merieke rest her
head against his back and sigh.

Soren turned around and took her in
his arms. “You have done so much for the Itenu children. You gave Sillara her
first orgasm. You quite surprised me with that vibrating egg—a singular
pleasure, I must say.” He gave her a peck on her lips, and she smiled. “And you
braved the desert alone to bring back help. You are a good woman, Merieke.”

Merieke wrapped her arms around
Soren's waist and kissed his nipple. “I did it for a proper reward.”

“
I'll reward you
properly.” Soren took her by the hand and led her to his tent. The balloons
could not fly tonight. He had time to fuck Merieke until she could not stand.