Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke to the sounds of low, hard whispers.

“Who do we tell? Flowing Mane or the lady?” a man asked.

“I don’t relish telling Flowing Mane, but I’m certainly not waking a lady,” said a woman’s voice.

I stretched, becoming aware of the urgent demand of my bladder. Saying I needed to make water did not begin to capture the situation. I gritted my teeth against the unwelcome invader clawing at my abdomen. To hold a lover in this situation, secure in the knowledge that at any moment, either of us might succumb to our need and begin to pee a lake between us would be such sweet agony. To tease and play in such a state would be a delight, although I doubt I’d last any time. However, I wanted to face Mane with a full bladder, as I fully intended to rearrange the web, marking him as mine as I took on the weaving for myself. I hoped I could make it, embracing slut in my self-inflicted torture. If so, I hoped that I could face the kind of vulnerability inherent in combining the kind of grave meeting we faced with such a blatant display of my animal needs. I hoped he would be able to meet me both as Oak Leaf, pledged to see Passion Mill through this situation and Ashley, slut to her bladder, at the same time. I had no hope of disguising my urgency.

Perhaps helping the whisperers out could distract me. For that matter, perhaps they knew why the dormitory smelled somewhat of dung.

I stood. “No need to wake this lady at least.” I didn’t think there were any other ladies at Passion Mill.

“My lady. What do we do?” the man’s voice asked. There was little light in the room at this point. I could make out two people standing near a pallet.

“First, start by explaining the problem. I just woke.”

“My lady, if you’d come look.”

I approached and the man handed me a light. As I looked down at the young man’s corpse on the pallet, the source of shit became all too obvious. His limbs were wrinkled and his face wasted. Definitely shadow rot. My stomach clenched.

“Might you know who he was?”

“Tulips Running Wild from Passion Mill, my lady.”

My heart began to pound. “was he, by any chance, working on the boundary yesterday?”

The two speakers nodded. The woman began to speak, but I could not follow her over my heart pounding and the ringing in my ears. How could someone who worked with the defense manager building the boundary die of shadow rot? “Say again,” I said.

“He’s not the only one,” the woman said. She pointed to another pallet. “River Against Wheel from Passion Mill as well.” I bent to examine the indicated woman; also shadow rot.

“Have you looked at other dormitories, or is that just this room? For that matter, is everyone else well?”

“We woke shortly before you and haven’t made it out of the dormitory. Those are the only two that smell dead.”

I decided to make a more careful investigation, but discovered that Tulips and Wheel seemed to be the only casualties in this room. Still, on Oak Leaf’s watch, there were two people who shouldn’t be dead in this room alone.

I checked the time. The sun should be coming up shortly. I decided to go find Matthew and then brief Flowing Mane. I asked for directions to the miller’s room as I dressed.

I entered the miller’s room. Two figures, one Matthew’s size, were intertwined on the bed. A man lay on a pallet awkwardly placed near a wall. I stepped around him and grasped what did turn out to be Matthew’s shoulder. “It’s Ashley.”

He groaned and stretched. “What time is it?”

“Almost dawn. There’s a situation.”

He said, “Hay, I shall turn on the light.”

The woman said, “Yes, my lord.”

I stepped aside so he could get up. He turned on the light. The man on the pallet winced and rolled over, arm covering his eyes. I shuffled uncomfortably; I hoped I could make it through the meeting without wetting myself.

“What has happened?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. You need to get to the strong box before we find Mane?”

“Yes. But first I need to make water.”

I grimaced and shuffled. Matthew said, “There’s a water pot behind you; can you switch places?” Fuck, there wasn’t really anywhere to stand besides next to him; this room wasn’t designed for an extra pallet. I exchanged places with him, continuing to shuffle uncomfortably.

“What’s wrong,” he asked. He paused, and an evil grin lit his face. “O, you too, and you can’t because you’re doing web magic this morning. So, I’m going to sit here as my warm urine splashes into this pot.” He began. “Smell. This is relaxing. Oh, come on. Play with my cock while I pee. Feel the warm pee running across your hand.”

“You fuckless tease!” I was surprised he was playing with me this way in front of the miller and his mate. However, slut and lover do come first.

He laughed. “My lady denies my cock, and yet I the fuckless tease?”

I snarled. At this rate I’d be making a puddle on the floor.

“To watch my lady at her formal best, conversing with Mane, dancing and shifting to her body’s need.” He grinned wickedly. “Oh, Ashley, how will he react when you lose it and he sees a dark pee spot spread across your gown? How will you react when you can tell he’s scenting the musk of your urine?”

I sucked air, biting my lip hard to distract myself.

He finished. “Ah, that’s better.

“The thing is you can probably pull it off. Perhaps you’ll turn beet-red and wish you died of embarrassment, but you’ll actually hold the conversation together and expect him to do the same.”

Matthew went to put on his pants and shirt. He did not fully dress because he’d be adjusting his clothes for his holsters in a few minutes. We went to our van with no additional teasing; I briefed him on the deaths along the way.

“Do you have any idea how that is possible?” he asked.

“No, at least not assuming Earth Freshly Turned accurately described the boundary work. I wish I could ask for advice, but both Lord Oak Leaf and his lady will be with Rocky Point.”

“Yes, interrupting that would make no one happy. Do you know anyone else?”

“No one at Oak Leaf who won’t be fully engaged.” I paused to think. “Yes actually, I think the defense manager at the Cow and Crown would help.”

“Good, because I certainly have nothing to offer.”

I changed the topic. “Was that the miller on the floor? He seemed a little out of place.”

“Out of place, I’ll say. His mate made a show of ignoring him, teasing, and delighting in playing with the lord that had captured her. She was really into it. It’s also clear she adores him and can’t believe her luck in finding someone who will let her indulge that way.”

He chewed his lip. “I had planned to speak with him and make sure he was well this morning. I think so, but I want to make sure things did not progress beyond his comfort.”

At the van, Matthew grabbed his guns and holsters. He finished dressing in the lobby and we went to find Flowing Mane. It was not yet time for our meeting, but the deaths should be reported urgently.

We found his room. I’d never met Flowing Mane before; when traveling to Passion Mill I’d always stayed at the near-by Cow and Crown. My dealings were with others in the community. Presumably, though, one of the two men in his bed was Flowing Mane. They were jacking each other, fully engaged with themselves. I waited and watched.

Both men were joyous lovers, grimacing in pleasure, breathing heavily, muscles straining as their passion built. Eventually, they reached Ecstasy, cum spurting across chests and in one case into a beard. Mane’s screams gave him away: the deep resonance of that voice I’d so loved over the phone present in his orgasmic cries.

I gave the two a couple of minutes before speaking. “Flowing Mane from Pine Hills?”

Mane nodded. “Yes?”

I introduced myself. “Although you are to meet with me some minutes distance, there is important news from dormitory two.”

“Go on.”

“Do you want the report here or in your office?”

Mane stood and grabbed a wash cloth to begin cleaning the mess out of his beard and chest hair. He had a bit of a belly, something I’d normally enjoy in a lover. His frown lines and the tension in his shoulders and back turned what could have been a cuddly, warm soul into a creature of stress and burden.

“We can talk as I prepare. Once I’m ready, we can walk to my office,” he said.

“Tulips Running Wild and River Against Wheel both died of shadow rot.”

Mane blanched and sat on his bed. He breathed deeply, squared his shoulders, and stood, face hard and closed.

“Tulips was part of the boundary work, was he not?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Did you see him offer? I’m trying to figure out how someone who helped build the boundary ends up shadow eaten.”

“Yes my lady; he handled much of the second quarter.”

By this point, Flowing Mane had dressed, kissed his lover and we prepared to leave. I found focusing a challenge; I felt I might burst.

“Who has been his lover recently? Who from the boundary crew did he take as lover?”

“I’m not sure who he had taken in the last couple of days. I don’t know that he fucked anyone on the boundary crew.”

I thought Matthew was going to choke but he got himself under control. “An interesting choice. How did you bind that section of the boundary into the web?”

“We had about 30% overlap in the boundary. Also, he presumably connects through the dormitory two room boundary and presumably fucking someone later.” What an interesting answer. First, Mane didn’t point out that the boundary was pre-existing and presumably everyone had some sort of connection to it; I certainly wanted the boundary to be strong even if we assumed that it was built from scratch last night, but I wouldn’t have guessed Mane would approach things that way. Secondly, as I understood web magic, Mane’s approach could work in theory, but like failing to anchor your line, it’s simply not done to have only one source of connection. I’ve never heard of a boundary team that doesn’t form a connected graph of passion. You want the boundary connected to those who offer, those lovers interconnected, and through their later work connected to all the passion in the bounding. Typically you have the additional level of explicitly weaving them directly into the web, although I knew that Mane was not doing that.

By this point we’d reached Flowing Mane’s office. Lord Matthew stood against the wall; he had clear line-of-sight to both of us.

Mane offered me a chair. I declined; sitting still was impossible.

“Are you well my lady?”

“Yes. Your lady is simply full of her bladder’s need.”

“If you want to make a boundary offering, I’ll wait.”

“Your offer is taken with respect, but I shall hold this. I ask for your understanding. I assure you that I can focus on our discussion.” He let the issue drop without an explanation. He could guess why I might hold my pee as easily as anyone familiar with building a web.

“My lady. I’m going to need to respond to the deaths. Is there anything you require before that?”

“Yes. Passion Mill has contracted Oak Leaf to resolve this situation. Clearly things are worsening despite a focused effort on your part.”

“I did everything you asked.”

“That appears to be the case. However, to meet its obligations, Oak Leaf needs direct access to your web. For the duration of the emergency, I shall take charge of the passion Mill web.” Fuck, I was not going to be able to hold it in. Talking rather than gritting my teeth and panting was hard; I was going to lose control and wet myself.