Chapter 24

“Let’s see if they’re still serving dinner in the Librarian’s dining room,” Danel said as he opened the door.

“DANEL! Where the hell have you been!” Second cried out as she stood at her table.

“What do you mean? You saw me at breakfast?”

“Two days ago, you fool. Where did you go?”

Danel looked at Janner and Janner looked back at Danel. Danel popped his thumb and pointed at his bodyguard. “Ask my bodyguard. He’s been with me the entire time and by the gods, I swear we left this morning and returned this evening.”

“It’s true, Librarian,” Janner said with steel in his voice. “We left this morning at Librarian Danel’s request, and we entered several rooms down below. We were conscious of the time and returned to what we thought was suppertime on the same day.”

Head cleared his throat, as he had come in behind Danel and Janner. “How then, do you explain the lapse of two days?”

Janner pointed at Danel, who continued their report, “One of the rooms proved to be unique, an infinite library that once one entered the first room, continued unending in several directions. The atmosphere of the room was infused with a mesmerism that draws one into the mystery of the room. Janner had to drag me out. Because it is an expression of infinity, we may have lost days in there although I would protest, we were in that room less than an hour.”

“A portal to infinity?”

“A trap for the unwanted adventurers is my guess,” Janner said. “It’s meant for those smart enough to find it, but not self-aware enough to escape.”

“What’s in the books?” someone called out.

“Pages and pages of randomness as if it was an infinite song of chaos which was in itself a god’s understanding of order. The balance of randomness and symmetry are an order beyond human comprehension,” Danel said before dismissing his statement with a sharp wave of his arm. “This infinite library is an aside. We found the correct route downward. You’re welcome to come with me and I will gladly show you.”

“Well,” Head began and then stopped himself.

“I need to eat. I ingested artifact water and it hurt my belly,” Danel said, as he moved towards a table. He grabbed a plate and heaped it high from every platter and serving bowl. Without another word, he sat and shoveled food down his gullet. When his jaw grew tired of chewing, he eased back from his plate. “What?”

“Since you have shared bits and pieces of your adventure with the whole of Order of Librarians, no one will rest easy until we have the full story,” Head said. “Come sit on this tall stool where everyone can see you. Since there is no reason any more to keep this geas a secret from the rest of the Librarians, give us the full report of your adventure.”

“Where’s Janner?”

“Reporting to his captain, I would suspect,” Head said. “Please, sit and tell your tale.”

For the next hour, Danel told his tale. When he skimped on the details, he was called to task. When he fell into an unrelated tangent, he was chastised and brought back to the plot. He was peppered with questions until he was no longer sure if up was truly up and down was down.

He looked at his fellow Cords, staring each one in the face. “Now you know the whole of the tale, I must return to the Palnaid village center tomorrow when the artifact awakens. Who is willing to come with me?”

No one volunteered. The room was silent, not even the shuffling of feet under the table.

“If anyone changes their mind, I’ll be here for an early breakfast and then I will be on my way,” Danel declared. He grabbed two sweetened buns and fled the room. In his apartment, he stripped off his clothes and tromped off to his bathing room. Sitting on his stool, he slowly pressed the suds into his skin starting with his limbs and finishing with his backside. Dumping the bucket over his head, he visualized his anger washing down the drain with the water. He filled the bucket again and washed the rest of the soap off.

When he emerged from the bathing room with a towel wrapped around his waist, he glimpsed someone in his front room. “Hello?” he called out.

Ka’an stepped into his bedroom. Shyly she said, “Hi. I was worried.”

“I was worried too,” Danel said. “I was in good hands though. He wasn’t pretty to look at, but he was good at taking care of me.”

“I’m off duty,” she said. “You?”

“Yes, I am and I’m clean too,” he said, giving her a wink.

“Me, too. What a coincidence.”

They fell naked into the bed, the bed with a bit of bounce that made falling into it a bit of the fun.

“You’re skinny,” Danel said, running his hands up and down her back, feeling the bumps of her spine and her back ribs.

“True, and you’re hairy,” she said, pinching the hair on his arms.

“Keeps me warm when the cold winds blow across the steppes,” he said, nuzzling her neck and listening to her coo. “I need a woman of great strength to keep me warm on those cold, cold nights.”

“Even with these small breasts,” she said, leaning back to display herself.

“I see breasts and even better, they’re attached to you.” He attacked them gently, licking in circles without touching the nubs. When she began to wiggle, he used his dry lips to pinch her points with the softness of full lips and a softened, cropped beard. She pushed him lower.

Kissing down her stomach, her legs opened underneath him. He knew what she wanted from him. As he slowly kissed downward, he began massaging her legs, feeling her quads tense and then relax as he kneaded her muscles. She was squirming again as he reached the top of her mons with lips.

She was impatient and he was too. He gently kissed down the length of her lower lips, blowing air between the slightly parted lips. Her arousal filled his nostrils. When he delicately parted her lips with her tongue, she moaned for him to “get on with it.” He rammed his tongue into the wetness of her inner lips.

She thrust her hips at him. He obliged by inserting a finger into her, taking time to move it back and forth. When she thrust again, he added a second finger. He slowly circled her button, having learned that the direct attack short circuited her buildup of pleasure. As her hips moved faster, he finally fastened onto her nub and began lightly flicking it. She grabbed his hair, trying to force him to stroke harder. When she began moaning aloud again, he sucked it all it all in. She cried out as her entire body shook once, then once again. Her muscles went rigid and then her body melted back into the sheets.

“Take me,” she whispered with a wicked smile on her face. “Take your pleasure. Don’t worry about me; use me as you need, lover.”

He rose up on his knees and found her hips. Pinning her in place, he slid his cock into her, finding the wet and heat that he needed. Her hands gripped his biceps as he began to stroke. Slowly at first, getting his bearings and adjusting for her comfort, he sped up. Nothing fancy and no notion of restraint, he rapidly thrust into her with the power she had shown him before she relinquished her dominance. His need was rising and the clinching in his groin became undeniable. He gave a great shout as he exploded deep in the well. She grabbed his butt with both hands, forcing him fully inside her as the weaker ejaculations diminished and then subsided.