The Return (10 page)

I lay there feigning sleep later in the night, when I heard the slight grating sound of wood on stone, as the window opened. It took all of my self-control not to smile or open my eyes.

The thief slipped into the room to look at my pile of gear against the far wall. My move was a swift as it was calculated. I sprung from the bed in one fluid move, and landed between the thief and the window. The thief spun into a crouch and dropped low. She tried to strike me in the place which all men dread. I spun and slapped my hand downward to block the strike. The fight was on, as we spun and kicked, blocked and parried against each other.

A few seconds into the fight, Laina retrieved her weapons, as Taina, Likka and Beth burst into the room. “Keep out of it,” I commanded to Likka, and she stepped between us and the others.

The thief and I weaved and dodged, struck and defended. The fight was a mortal combat, and the thief was playing for keeps.

Five minutes into the fight, the thief surprised me as she caught one of my blocks, stepped in, and kissed me with a force and passion that I so well remembered. She broke the kiss and whispered, “Oh Gods, Rhys! It is so good to dance with you again!”

“My dancing tigress, I have missed your love,” I laughed out. At the mention of the name both Likka and Taina started laughing.

The thief stepped back, and pulled her hood back to reveal a beautiful white face, with a light dusting of tiger striped fur around the edges. Her features had almost feline highlights, including slit eyes. Her nose was dainty and small, but somehow gave the impression of being flatter than normal. I stepped back in and swept her into my arms as she laughed and giggled. “Is it time, Rhys? Do I finally get my vengeance for our failure?”

“You have not failed, my dancing tigress. She lives, and we go to rescue her, as soon as we all are gathered.”

“But she has been turned to stone.”

“Mieko, have you ever known me to give up, as long as there is hope?”

“Once, Rhys, and that once cost us dearly.”

Her words stung, but I had to see the truth in them. “This time, we fight till the end, for good or bad.”

“We were all ready to die for you.”

“That is why I walked away. You did not need to die for me. I am insignificant. If you die, it must be for you and the cause, not for me. This time, I will break the Mage Kings, and free the people from their rule. No more children will die because they have my name. Will you fight with me, Life Ward Mieko?”

“We will dance like no one has ever danced before, Rhys.”

Laina stepped forward and looked at us, “What is a life Ward?”

As I held Mieko in my arms I spoke. “A long time ago, we were in a war to stop the Mages. They had killed all of the rightful rulers of the kingdoms and their families, to assume power. There were twenty people who fought side by side with my wife and me against them. These people, through thick and thin, stood by our side. On the eve of the battle that found my failing, they came, and wanted to pledge a vow of life to me. I refused. I told them I was not worthy of the fealty they wanted to show me. I instead told them to make a vow of protection for my wife, that they would become her body guards, even from me, should the need should arise. They became Morgana’s Life Ward. They are sworn to protect her until they die.”

“And we failed”, Taina whispered behind Laina.

I reached out and cupped her face. “You did not fail, and I will prove it to you, when we get to the Arch Mage’s Tower. Keep heart, and know I will not walk away this time. I will never walk away again.”

As I spoke, Mieko was slipping out of her cloak. She was as I remembered -- a lithe, tight body, with golden hued cat eyes set into an almost feline face. Her front was covered in a short velveteen blaze white hair, while her back, sides, and tail were tiger striped. The black color of her fur was not as bright as one would expect on a real tiger. It was more faded and subtle. Her hands and feet had sharp retractable claws on the end of long thin fingers. The hair on her head was brighter than the rest of her markings. Her body, other than the light fur, was as human as any woman, with large but not oversized breasts and a flat muscular stomach. Her race is called the Phelony, and they as a race are into an unarmed combat style called Kieso. She, as was her normal mode, had nothing but a few pieces of jewelry on under her robe.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, realizing I was still quite naked and Mieko casually swayed over to me and sat in my lap and started nuzzling my ear. “Gods, how I have missed you Rhys.”

“We will be here a few more days. I have some things to investigate before we leave. Mieko, you are welcome to stay here with us until we all leave.” Without thinking about it, I began to scratch Mieko’s back, just above the point where her tail joined her spine. She stiffened and started purring, as she arched her back into my hand.

“Rhys, if you don’t quit that, you are going to have to kick the prudish ones out of the room. You know what that does to me.” She mumbled into my ear.

I pulled my hand back. “I am sorry, Mieko, it is a bad habit. Tonight, I promised Laina my attention, and I am hers until she finishes with me.”

“Who is Laina? Maybe I could bribe her with a little TLC.”

“Where are my manners? Mieko, you know Taina and Likka of course. This is Laina, daughter of Taina. And last, but not least, this is Beth, my apprentice.”

“Oh! So you have an apprentice now, Mr. High-and-Mighty-Warmage?” As Mieko spoke, Taina spun and opened the door at a slight creaking sound from outside. A hooded figure fell into the room. As the figure tried to scramble to its feet, Likka pounced on its back to sit on it.

Mieko started laughing. “Tia, I told you to wait for me in the alley.” A Phelony face looked up at us from her robes and meowed pitifully. “They won’t hurt you, these are old friends.” Likka got down off the poor frightened girl, and she climbed to her feet. Beneath her hood she had a beautiful feline face with Siamese markings.

Mieko got up and walked to her. “This is Taina, Laina, Beth, Likka, and…”

“I am Warmage Rhys David Cain.” I stood and bowed formally. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance.

“This is my lover and friend Tia. She is a bit excitable, but a good companion.”

Tia looked at Mieko. “I have disappointed you again, miss, but I was so afraid you had been caught.”

“But I was caught Tia -- caught by a man that has had me in chains before, and even visited his vile body onto mine in the most lusty and lascivious ways,” Mieko said while holding a perfectly straight face. “If you hadn’t burst in here, and stopped him, he might by now have had me tied to that bed, rendering tortures upon my body, using that evil tongue of his.”

“Really, miss?”

“Really,” She said, and then couldn’t hold her face straight any longer. “And, now that you’re here, maybe we can talk him into the tongue torture on both of us.” She giggled out hysterically.

“Miss, you are having fun at me again.”

“Yes, my lovely little thing, I am poking fun at you. Do you trust me?”

“Always, miss.”

“Take off your clothes.”

“Miss, there are others about, and one of them is a man.”

“I am naked, so is Rhys. He has seen it all before.”

“But, miss, I have not been naked in front of a man since I was a kittling.”

“You said you trust me.”

“Yes, miss, but…”

“The only butt I want to see is yours.”

I was beginning to wonder what Mieko was up to, when Tia finally gave in. She dropped her robe to display a dazzling body, covered in those same Siamese markings, with one white star in between her perky young breasts.

“Now come over here and sit in Rhys’ lap.”

Tia’s bright blue eyes got as big around as dinner plates. “But, miss, he is a man! I couldn’t do that. What would me mum say?”

Mieko began to pout. “You said you trusted me.”

I had to break in at this point. “Mieko, you know how I feel about making someone do something.”

“I will not force her into anything, Rhys. Please trust me a little further.”

“It’s alright, Tia. I won’t hurt you.”

She came over passively, and I patted my lap as she sat there. Mieko began asking us what our journey had been like, and without thinking, I absently reached up and scratched Tia the same way I had Mieko. The effect was as amazing, as it was startling. Tia arched her back into my hand, let out a yowling sound like a cat in heat, and then proceeded to have a very wet orgasm in my lap. She soaked me and the bedclothes, all the way to the mattress below me.

I yanked my hand back, cursing myself for being a fool, when Tia just leaned into me and started purring. Mieko got up, walked over to me, and kissed me long a deep. “Thank you for being you, my love.”

“You and I need to talk. What was that all about?”

She motioned for me to join her outside, so I gently sat Tia on the bed, and kissed her on the forehead. When we reached the hallway a little ways away from the room, Mieko turned to me and spoke quietly. “I am sorry, Rhys, but when I saw you I saw my chance to help her. She has been through hell. When she was younger, her father raped her, and told her it was her fault for being naked in front of him.

Then he sold her to a man as a slave, and that man would beat her constantly for the slightest infraction of his rules. He knew enough not to leave scars, because they would decrease her value. And he never used her sexually. Perhaps, if he had, she might have been different. She ended up with several owners, each as bad, or worse, than the first. She has never known any kind of pleasure from a man. I found her in the slave pens, and bought her to free her.

She would not leave, she begged me to let her stay and be my maid. Later we became lovers, and she is my delight. But I would give anything to give her a normal sex drive with men as well. You, with one absent scratch that you do so well, have just managed to reverse ten years of hell for that girl. She has now felt pleasure at the hand of a man.”

“I doubt, seriously, I have undone all of the bad, but if you had told me before you set that up…”

“You would not have let it happen. Rhys, I know you well enough to know you have changed. You have always been a passionate man, but your convictions are even more solid. Now, enough of this sour topic.” Mieko stepped forward and wrapped her delicate fingers around my limp staff. “What have you been feeding my favorite snake?”

“Blondes, Brunettes, Redheads.”

“Maybe it needs a little tiger to feed it properly then.”

At that point we heard a giggle behind me. We both looked to see one of the bargirls standing in the shadows, with her hand over her mouth. The realization that we were both naked in the hallway, with Mieko’s hand wrapped around my manhood, suddenly hit me hard enough to make me turn a deep shade of red. Mieko waved to the girl and smiled. “You can feed the snake later. Right now, he has other food to devour.”

The girl turned bright red and scampered off down the hallway towards the servants stairs.

“Now, where were we, Rhys?”

“I was about to tell you that tonight was promised to Laina. I am hers alone, and tomorrow night is promised to Beth. It is the first time with me for both.”

“See? That is what I mean when I say that you have changed. You never would have considered turning me down for anyone but Morgana. So I will have to wait two nights to feed the snake?”

We walked back into the room to see Tia curled up fast asleep on the bed. Laina came up to me and kissed me “Rhys, they need you, if for nothing else to sleep next to you. I will go back to Mom’s room for the night.”

“Please stay here, since there is room for us all to sleep on that bed. And I didn’t get much of a chance to hold you in your sleep.” I lay down in the middle of the bed. In her sleep, Tia snuggled up next to me, and started a contented little purr deep in her throat. Mieko climbed in behind her, and snuggled in. Then Laina climbed in on the other side of me and snuggled in. Likka walked over to the bed, stood up as a woman, and climbed in behind Laina.

I could feel Mieko’s surprise by the way she tensed up. “Even after all these years, you manage to keep a secret from me.” She chuckled and laid her head back down.

Beth and Taina finally just shrugged, and climbed into the very crowded bed.

I awoke in the cold morning light, just as the sun peeked over the horizon. I had woken up to the most pleasurable sensation of four hands wrapped around my staff as the girls all tried to stir up trouble, and were doing a fine job at it.

Tia looked me in the eyes, and in a tiny voice that sounded almost pitiful, said, “Sir, could you make me feel like you did last night? It is morning now, and Laina said we could share you before she gives you up.”

“On one condition, little Tia.”

“What would that be, sir?”

“That you stop calling me ‘sir’, and call me Rhys.”

“I am a servant, sir, it would be unseemly for me to call you by your name.”

“You are not my servant, and even though she lets you act as a servant, Mieko does not think of you as one, either. I can see her love for you in her eyes.”

“I will try, Rhys.”

“I can’t ask more than that. Now, would you like me to do the same thing as last night, or would you like me to do something a little different, but just as pleasant?”

“Nothing could feel as good as what you did last night.”

All the girls started giggling. “Wanna bet?”, Laina asked, with a devilish grin on her face.

I leaned into Tia and began to kiss her gently on the neck and upper chest. Her eyes opened a little wider in a fear response. From behind her Mieko said, “Relax baby, he won’t hurt you. He is the most gentle and caring man I have ever met.”

I continued to kiss and lick her neck, shoulders, and upper chest, until I felt her relax and start to purr deep in her chest. I slipped downward and began to kiss the top of her breasts. Again she tensed slightly, but not as much as before. As I continued waiting for her to relax, I pushed my magic out and disabled her pain nerves. She needed to only feel pleasure this first time. She needed to feel a man could love her and not hurt her.