Chapter 6: By the Horns

The next noteworthy chamber they came across was another of the empty palaces, the strangely hollow rooms eventually leading them to a larger hall that was lined with more of the ornate pillars that seemed to have been so popular with the labyrinth’s creators. It was lit by burning braziers that hung from the ceiling on chains, a large pedestal in the center of the room playing host to a bonfire that smoldered inside a huge bronze bowl.

“We should rest here for the night,” Asteria said, walking closer to examine the burning bowl. “It will be warmer than the tunnels.”

“Is it already night?” Leandros asked, turning on the spot as he examined their surroundings. “How can you even tell without sunlight?”

“Instinct, I suppose,” she replied as she shrugged off her satchel. She pulled out her furs and lay them on the tiled floor beside the stone pedestal, patting them flat. “I have lived here almost my whole life, and I have adapted to the conditions.”

“I suppose I am rather tired,” Leandros conceded as he set his belongings down beside hers to form a little camp. He took off his armor gingerly, wincing as it made his wounds ache. Asteria noticed that he was having trouble, stepping closer to help lift his cuirass over his head.

They soon settled in to share some of the dried rabbit meat, as there was no wood for a fire, and neither one of them was especially keen to climb the pedestal. The bowl radiated warmth, however, the hot metal doing an even better job than a campfire would have. It was a stark contrast to the cold tunnels.

“Come,” Asteria said, patting her furs. “The floor is cold, and you have no cloak.”

She was right, so he took a seat beside her, ripping off a piece of dried rabbit with his teeth.

“Never knowing when someone might emerge from the shadows and try to murder you is nerve-wracking, but knowing that a fight is coming is almost as bad,” Asteria sighed as she stared at the mosaic patterns on the floor. “How do you deal with it – knowing that a battle is imminent? How do you sleep knowing that you might die tomorrow?”

“You try not to think about it,” he replied over a mouthful of meat.

“How can you be so aloof?” she added, snorting in frustration. “Aren’t you afraid to die?”

“I am, but it doesn’t mean that I have to dwell on it.” He shuffled a little closer to her, drawing nearer to the warmth of the bowl behind them. “In the campaigns that I fought in, everyone would try to distract themselves the night before a battle. They talked, they made merry, they did whatever they had to do to keep their minds off what was about to happen.”

“I fear that I do not have much to talk about,” she grumbled, leaning back against the smooth stone of the pedestal. “It may surprise you to learn this, but my life was not very exciting until people started trying to kill me,” she added sarcastically. “I explored, I mapped, I ate, I slept.”

“You are remarkably sane for someone in your position,” Leandros chuckled. “Olysseus was down here for two months, and I suspect that it may have driven him mad. Then again, perhaps he was that way before he came in,” he added as he took a draw from his waterskin.

“Can we talk about something ... personal?” she asked hesitantly.

“Of course,” Leandros replied, furrowing his brow as he corked the container and set it down beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you think of me?” she asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. She was being remarkably meek for someone who had almost beaten him to death in a duel.

“I think you’re strong,” he replied, crossing his arms as he glanced up at her. “I think you’re an accomplished fighter – you beat me. I think that you show a lot of kindness for someone who has been treated so poorly.”

“Thank you,” she continued, her ears flicking in a way that came off as bashful to him. “But, I meant more ... the way that I look.”

“I don’t think you’re a terrifying monster, if that’s what you mean,” he insisted. “We’ve been over this before. Remember the statues?”

“I’m not good at this,” she sighed, grinding her teeth in frustration. “How could I be with no practice? You were watching me when I bathed in the pond – I wanted you to see me,” she added hurriedly as he began to apologize. “Last night, when we lay together beneath the furs, I thought that being close to me might entice you. There was a moment there when ... when I felt like we connected, but it passed...”

She rose to her feet suddenly, shaking her head in annoyance as she began to pace in front of him, her tangle of long hair bobbing with the motion. Her heavy hooves clopped against the tiles, the sound echoing loudly through the hollow hall.

“I’m just a big, clumsy beast,” she growled. “Corinna said that she had to seduce her husband. Something about ... wiles, making someone want you, I don’t remember.” She halted abruptly, then spun on the spot to face him. She seemed angry, and he might have been intimidated if he hadn’t known that her anger was directed solely at herself. “So, I’m just going to do what I always do and be blunt. Do you not find me attractive? If so, tell me, and we shall speak no more of it.”

“Asteria,” he began, struggling to find the right words. “You’ve been living down here for your entire adult life – you haven’t so much as spoken to a man since you were a child. I didn’t know if you were trying to seduce me or whether you simply had no concern for modesty or personal space. After all, why would you? Who was here to teach you such boundaries? I thought that maybe you were just curious about me, and I didn’t want to infer attraction where there might be none. After all, I’m quite literally the first man you’ve ever met who wasn’t trying to stab you.”

“Then ... you do like me?” she asked as her eyes widened. “I wasn’t doing it all wrong?”

“Of course I like you,” he added, gesturing to her as though it should be the most obvious thing in the world. “I just didn’t want to take advantage of your naivety. We’ve only known each other for a few days.”

“Bold of you to think that you could take advantage of me,” she said in that low, resonating tone. She took a step towards him, her cloven hoof shaking the stone floor. She loomed over him, planting her feet to either side of him, then crouched to bring herself down into range. Her ten-foot frame bent double, her bovine nose coming to hover an inch or two above his head, her snorting breath blowing his curls. Her presence was overwhelming, her toned muscles rippling beneath her dark fur as she reached down to lift his chin, forcing him to look her in the eyes. All of her uncertainty had melted away now, and she was as confident as when she had first strode out from beneath the monopteros to meet his challenge on the grass. “Do you think that you could force me to do anything against my will? If you are to do anything to me – with me – it is because I allow it. It is because I want it.”

“What exactly do you want?” he asked, his heart beating faster and faster as he processed what she was saying. Not since the fear that had stricken him during their first encounter in the tunnel had he felt so out of his depth, but that quickening pulse was not born of fear this time.

She answered him by leaning closer, the large, puffy lips that he had caught himself admiring parting subtly as they neared. They shone in the firelight, her dark skin reflecting its glow. Asteria was so much larger than he was, her head monolithic in comparison to his own, her skull alone probably weighing as much as his torso. He saw flashes of her sharp canines, her horns sweeping up and away from him, her dreadlocks and braids surrounding him as they framed her elongated face. He got a closer look at the colorful string that she used as decoration now, looping and knotting around her snout and across her flat forehead, hanging off her horns.

Leandros felt her cup his head in her large hand, holding him in place, the other gripping the edge of the stone pedestal behind him to help support her weight. Those pillowy lips met his, Asteria pulling him into a kiss. They were smooth and warm, soft enough that he practically sank into them, so hopelessly mismatched that he stood little chance of reciprocating. He reached up to run a hand across the thin, silky fur of her cheek, turning his head as he struggled to lock lips with her. Her pace was gentle, exploratory, her scent reminiscent of the flower petals that she had put in his water the day she had attempted to bathe him. Her clumsiness was endearing, resulting perhaps from both inexperience and their sheer difference in physiology.

Something warm and wet probed his mouth, Leandros realizing that it was her tongue. Just its barest tip was already of comparable size to his own, the powerful, muscular organ pushing a little deeper as it began to explore him. He did his best to meet it, but it only grew larger as she slid more of its slick, muscular length past her lips. It was impossibly strong, coiling and stroking with alarming dexterity, sapping a little more of his strength each time it lapped at his palate or bulged his inner cheeks. Her embrace was just as overwhelming as her presence, and not for the first time, he found himself surrendering to Asteria’s will.

When she sensed that it was becoming too much, she pulled back, her tongue lagging behind her as it withdrew. It was long and wide like that of a cow, glistening with her saliva as it coiled back between her shining lips. She gazed down at him with those doe eyes, nostrils flaring as she breathed heavily, the rapid rise and fall of her chest making the bronze plates that covered it glint in the firelight.

“I have never kissed anyone before,” she sighed, her long lashes fluttering at the very thought. “Did I do it right?”

“No,” he replied, fighting through his daze. “Keep practicing.”

She smiled, then drew in for another kiss, practically lifting him off the furs as she pulled him close. Her embrace was less tentative this time, her confidence growing, that long tongue invading his mouth with renewed vigor. He was so conscious of its heat, glistening inches of her organ pushing so deep that she could taste the back of his throat, his tongue sliding against hers impotently. She licked the lining of his cheek, a shudder of unexpected pleasure passing through him, little spots of light dancing before his vision as he began to run out of breath. She slid her tongue along the roof of his mouth on her way out, a thick strand of their shared saliva joining their lips as she rose away from him. He wasn’t sure whether she was blushing under all that fur, but her eyes were lidding with desire, her agile tongue darting out to wet her cushiony lips.

They paused there for a moment, only the sound of their labored breathing breaking the silence, then she began to hurriedly strip off her scant clothes. Asteria gripped the mass of straps and twine that held up her chest piece, lifting it up and over her head, the breasts that Leandros had felt pressing against his back the night before dropping into view as she removed their support. On Asteria’s massive frame, they were modest, just large enough to fill her hands comfortably. For someone of his stature, however, they were large enough that he found himself able to do little other than stare at them slack-jawed.

Two flawless, pert breasts that would have filled a man’s helmet twice over spilled free, bouncing gently as she struggled to get the garment past the long tangle of her hair. Despite their immense weight, they were firm and shapely, yet another feature that could easily have been sculpted by the careful chisel of a master artisan. Her shiny, black fur transitioned to a pair of pink nipples, her flesh quivering as she tossed her chest piece aside with a loud clatter.

He was waiting for her as she returned, her stature putting her chest at head height to him in this position, his hands reaching out. Resisting the powerful urge to just delve them into her hanging breasts, he placed his palm against her belly, feeling the muscles beneath flex and tense as he gradually slid lower. His comparisons to statues were becoming even more apt – she was so firm that it was almost like smooth stone felt through a thin layer of fur, like pebbles at the bottom of a river that had been worn down by the flow of the water. She was alive, though – her warm body shifting and reacting to his touch. Her fur was slightly damp, possibly from sweat or the humidity in the tunnels, making his hand glide across her sculpted midriff. His fingers dipped into the channels that they carved into her flat belly, trailing down to her navel, Asteria’s eyes following his hand.

“Perhaps you weren’t just flattering me,” she sighed.

Her labored breathing faltered as he reached for her breasts, trying to cup them but quickly finding that they were far too large. When he tried to lift them, they just sagged over his hands, flesh as soft as freshly-churned butter spilling between his fingers. There was so much supple fat that he had to delve deep to find the firmer tissue that gave them their sumptuous shape, a shiver passing through her massive body as he buried his digits up to the knuckle. She leaned forward, bringing her chest a little closer, both hands resting on the lip of the pedestal behind him to help support her weight in her crouched posture.

Her eyes rolled back as he kneaded, rolling her silk-soft flesh between his fingers, taking cruel handfuls that made her legs quiver. She had never been touched in this way before – she had never felt the warmth of a man, and she had likely never had covetous eyes on her naked form. He delighted in every appreciative flinch, drinking in the way that her massive, chiseled body jerked and her wide hips rolled instinctively. Her lashes fluttered, Asteria biting her lower lip, chewing on it lasciviously as he took his fill of her inhumanly perfect bosom. Even with two hands, he could scarcely cup one of them.

She let out a sharp gasp as he caught one of her firm, erect nipples between his fingers, giving it a gentle squeeze. It was almost as large as his pinky, swollen with desire, her long spine arching when he so much as brushed it. He lifted himself a little closer, guiding one of her breasts towards his mouth with both hands, her wobbling flesh slipping from his grasp. He caught it between his lips, drawing it into his mouth, starting to circle it with his tongue. Asteria exhaled a warm breath into his hair as she doubled over, her low, husky moan making his heart leap. She leaned her forearm on the pedestal, bringing herself closer to ensure that he could reach her in a silent demand for more.

Leandros mouthed and sucked, massaging her yielding fat all the while, admiring the way that it sprang back to that immaculate teardrop shape whenever he relented. He realized that he was using more strength than he usually would have – enough to bruise a mortal woman – but Asteria only pushed out her chest in encouragement.

A low, trembling growl escaped her as he pinched her nipple between his lip and his teeth, lashing it with his tongue, its size giving him so much surface area to work with. Another shudder wracked her, and he felt one of her hands reach behind his head, pressing him into her breast with an almost desperate fervor. Like pushing his face into a feather pillow, her soft flesh spilled around his head, fur that rivaled the finest silk gliding against his warm cheeks. She quickly realized that he couldn’t breathe, releasing him, Leandros letting her swollen bud slide out of his mouth.

“S-sorry,” she stammered.

“Don’t apologize,” he chuckled, reaching for the other breast. She pursed her lips in anticipation as he lifted it from below, bringing it to his mouth in his cupped hands as though he was drinking water from a stream. Gods, even in his strong arms, its weight was palpable. He lapped and nursed indulgently, running his fingers through her inviting fur, almost as slick and as smooth as wet skin. He could feel his member straining against his clothes now, as though begging to be released.

After a little more of his teasing, Asteria pulled out of his reach, her shaking hands coming down to his shirt. She wasted no time tearing it off him, ripping it open to expose the bronzed skin of his torso and the bandages that trailed across his chest, her eyes blazing with lust. Her trembling was not out of fear or uncertainty, but excitement.

He expected her to touch him – to run her hands across his muscular frame – but she lowered her head instead. The hanging braids of her hair tickled his ribs as her thick lips planted a kiss on his belly, that impossibly long bovine tongue slithering past them to press flat against his stomach. She slowly dragged it up, leaving a trail of warm saliva from his navel to his neck, tasting the salt on his skin. She snorted hot air into his nape, her lips brushing his ear as she whispered to him.

“I have wanted to do that ever since you took off your shirt beneath the monopteros. I don’t know what compels me, but the sight of you makes my thoughts ... hazy.”

She kissed him again, that meaty tongue wetting his red cheek for a moment before she located his mouth, filling him with warmth as it slipped inside. He drew on it this time, pursing his lips around it, their embrace growing more wanton each time. The thick, slimy organ coiled inside his mouth, swirling around his tongue like a snake constricting its prey. He had never been kissed like this before – a mortal had only an inch or two compared to Asteria’s nine or ten. It was a completely different sensation, overwhelming him, his heart fluttering as he melted into her arms. Like his brain was sitting on a potter’s wheel, each lap and stroke sent his head spinning, the gentle moans and sighs of desire that accompanied her ravenous attentions making his member swell.

As inexperienced as she was, there was nothing virginal about Asteria. She knew what she wanted, and she had the confidence to seek it out, even if her methods were as yet unrefined. There was something wonderful about that, like the beauty of an uncut gemstone, raw and natural.

She pulled back, their lips parting with a wet smack that seemed impossibly loud in the silence of the hall, her head seeming to fly away from him as she rose up. They were both breathing heavily, the excitement in the air palpable, covetous eyes wandering across heaving bodies. He was still lying beneath her on the pelts as Asteria crouched over him, her hands leaning on the edge of the pedestal behind him, his gaze wandering down her sculpted core to the tattered loincloth that hung between her powerful thighs.

Leandros lifted himself to a sitting position, grimacing as he felt a stab of pain in his arm, but he was far too busy to pay it any mind now. Asteria was crouched low enough that her waist was almost level with his head, and he reached out to grip her loincloth in his hand, guiding her closer. She shuffled a little nearer, her head hanging as she peered down at him, seeming confused.

“What are you...”

“Just trust me,” he said, leaning closer to plant a kiss on her belly. Her iron muscles tensed beneath his lips, Asteria sucking in her stomach reflexively as he tickled her. The texture of her fur was so smooth that it was barely perceptible, the taste of salt pricking his tongue as he began to roam, tracing the contours of her abs with its tip. He moved lower, hearing Asteria’s breathing hasten as he neared her belt line, mouthing gently as he went. The impulse to taste her was overpowering, as though the only way that he could express his desire and his admiration for her was through covering her with kisses.

A beautiful shiver rolled through her body as he ran one of his hands up her inner thigh, gliding on her exquisite fur, moving from her knee to her loincloth. She was so touchable – her coat impossibly slick and smooth, almost like wet skin. He could see the way that her firm muscles created dimples when they flexed, yet there was a layer of soft fat that was just deep enough that he could feel it bulge between his fingers when he grabbed it in earnest. He brought his lips to the sensitive area, crawling them up her leg, his tongue escaping to tease her.

Her thighs were as large as his torso, so girthy that his hands would scarcely meet if he were to wrap his arms around them. Everything about her scale and mass was overwhelming, yet she was so receptive, rock-hard muscles powerful enough to crush a man’s head twitching and quivering at the slightest glance of his fingers. Unable to resist, he rubbed his cheek against her thigh, hearing a lustful growl from somewhere high above him.

Only now did he reach out and lift her loincloth, slowly unwrapping the strip of fabric like he was opening a gift, his heart pumping a little faster with each layer that he removed. Finally, he saw a glimpse of black fur beneath it, the garment falling away to expose her loins. They were larger than those of a normal woman, scaled up to match her exaggerated stature, her puffy lips already shining with her arousal. The black fur gave way to a neat sliver of glistening pink that immediately drew his eye, a solitary strand of her excitement drooping from her rosy folds, his mouth watering at the very sight of it. He reached out, Asteria shivering as he parted those cushiony lips with two fingers, gently spreading her open to reveal her vulva. It reminded him of a blooming rose, her delicate petals slick and ready for him, seeming to sparkle as they reflected the wavering firelight. She wasn’t quite nude, he realized. There were still a couple of leather belts wrapped tightly around her hips, the decorative string that she loved to adorn herself with hanging around her waist, some bronze chain links still attached to it.

Unable to hold back any longer, he dragged a solitary finger between her labia, feeling his skin slide effortlessly against her damp flesh, her feverish heat surprising him. The tip of his digit brushed something swollen and firm, Asteria loosing another bestial snort. She doubled over again, one of her cloven hooves slamming against the stone floor as she steadied herself.

There was no need to ask whether she was ready for him – she was dripping, a glob of her juices sliding down her thigh. His intent was obvious enough, and she gripped the sculpted edge of the pedestal tightly, bringing her hips closer to his face. Rather than sate her urges immediately, he decided to toy with her a little more, watching her legs shake as he left a sucking kiss on her inner thigh. He was so close to her loins that he could feel the heat that they radiated on his flushed cheeks, but he skirted their limits, licking and pecking as he went.

“D-do you always use your mouth like this?” she stammered, her husky voice dripping with lust to the point that she almost sounded drunk on it.

“Not always,” he replied, pausing for a moment to glance up at her. “Something about you just makes me feel like ... I can’t help myself.”

When her tension had grown to the point that her legs looked ready to give out, he relented, shuffling a little closer to her on the furs. Her loins were large enough that he could reach out and cup them in both hands, her lips just as soft and as pillowy as her breasts, a fresh bead of her anticipation leaking from her opening at his merest touch. Spreading her wide with his thumbs, he pushed his face between her trembling thighs, her burning flesh greeting his tongue.

“Gods,” Asteria grunted, leaning over the pedestal behind him. “You don’t have to-”

She let out a groan that shook his bones as he began to lap slowly, her honeyed juices leaking down his chin in fat, dangling strands. He explored her folds with his tongue, their texture reminding him of pleated silk, his nose brushing her swollen clitoris as he roamed higher. She almost fell over when he dragged the flat of his organ across its shiny surface, pursing his lips around it, drawing it out from beneath its hood of skin. It was as large as the tip of his finger, pulsing against his tongue in time with the rapid beating of her heart.

He could feel her resisting the urge to grind her loins against his face in search of more stimulation as he sucked and licked, swirling his tongue around her needy protrusion. Her hips were wider than the span of his shoulders – she could probably have knocked him back to the floor with an overly enthusiastic thrust. As he returned to her vulva, he lay one hand against her thigh, feeling his fingers sink into her delicate fat. Beneath it, taut muscle rose to greet him, the juxtaposition between the two contrasting textures only encouraging him. The other rose to her loins, Leandros tracing a circle around her entrance with his fingertip, watching it twitch in response.

Lubricated by her slippery fluids, he gently eased it inside her, butterflies swarming in his belly as he felt her muscles bear down on him through the barrier of her butter-soft flesh. They constricted around his finger in a powerful throb, rippling along his digit, his head swimming at the prospect of taking things further. He reminded himself to be patient, starting to push deeper, trying to ignore the needy ache in his rigid member.

Her spine arched as he moved his finger inside her, her powerful grip making it a challenge, even in spite of the copious fluids that coated her narrow walls. He hadn’t expected her to feel like this, judging by her immense size. She was no less toned and developed down here, tight enough that it was actually a little intimidating. Asteria pushed down on his hand suddenly, trying to force him deeper, strings of her juices leaking into his palm.

“Corinna told me that it would feel good,” she moaned, another tremor wracking her. “She didn’t tell me that it would be like this...”

“Am I going too fast for you?” Leandros asked, pausing his mouthing for a moment to glance up at her.

“No,” she muttered, reaching a hand down to push his face back between her legs. “I want more.”

He was all too happy to oblige, resuming his doting licking, painting her warm vulva with his tongue. She was intoxicating, the scent of flower petals accompanied by something more carnal filling his lungs with each breath, driving every thought other than pleasing her from his mind. He slipped another finger inside her, feeling her tight insides stretch around it, her muscular reaches fighting against him all the while. There was such suction when he tried to pull back, her loins clinging to him like a second skin, almost as though her body couldn’t bear the thought of being left empty again.

Asteria began to lose herself in the pleasure, rolling her hips, Leandros gripping her thigh in an attempt to prevent himself from being pushed away. He felt her place her hand behind his head once more, keeping him close, practically fucking his face with the extra leverage.

After a few moments, he patted her thigh, and she relented. She allowed him to pull away, his lips still joined to hers by a sagging web of her fluids, her chest heaving as she gazed down at him with unfocused eyes.

“Sorry,” she said, pausing to swallow. “Am I being too rough? This is still new to me.”

“Don’t apologize,” he chuckled, wiping some of the fluid from his mouth with the back of his hand. “I like it.”

“You do?” she asked, her dangling hair swaying as she tilted her head curiously.

“I’ve never been with anyone who could overpower me before,” he replied, shuffling back a little so that he could lean against the cool stone of the pedestal for a moment. “When you have the blood of a God flowing through your veins – even as little as mine – a mortal cannot hope to match your strength. What can a woman do but lie there and take whatever you give her? Making love has always been ... frustrating for me,” he added with a frown. “It’s an exercise in restraint. But, with you,” he continued as he glanced up at her appreciatively. “I could scarcely hurt you if I tried.”

“I could hurt you,” she replied. “I have hurt you...”

“I trust you,” he added, Asteria blinking her eyes at him. “Please, don’t feel like you have to hold back and treat me like I’m made of glass. I know what that feels like. I may be the only man you’ll ever meet who can handle you.”

Her confused expression morphed into a smile, and she brought herself lower, dropping to her knees on the furs. She straddled him, a droplet of her excitement falling to his belly, her furry hands cradling his face as she drew in for another kiss. It was even more wanton than the last, Leandros giving himself over to her completely, offering no resistance as her bovine tongue filled his mouth. She broke away, gazing down at him with an almost predatory look in her brown eyes.

“You have such confidence,” she crooned, beginning to crawl lower. She planted a wet kiss on his neck, then his chest, gradually descending towards his belt. “Are you not afraid that it might be misplaced? You have a tendency to overestimate yourself, I’ve found...”

“I’m looking forward to finding out.”

She began to slide off his skirt, careful to avoid the bandaged wound on his thigh, tossing the garment aside to join her chest piece on the tiled floor beside the furs. Eyeing the bulge beneath his loincloth, she began to unwrap it, his member soon bouncing free of its confines. She watched it throb and twitch, biting her lip, her eyes lingering on it.