Chapter 23

Edited by: Old Fart

“Hold your breath,” said Ikuno, leaning over as she held the ink behind Kal’s back with the telekinesis cantrip.

Kal did as she asked, trying hard to hold down his excitement as Ikuno placed the last and probably most important of his runic tattoos, the healing rune. Cure Poison and Cure Disease were already on his shoulder blades and now the healing rune was going to go right in between. Ikuno had recommended placing it on his back because when attacked the first instinct is to face your foe. Having it here reduced any chance of the rune getting damaged in combat.

The spell Ikuno was using to set the ink into his skin was accompanied by an icy tingling that made Kal grit his teeth. Thankfully, the sensation faded quickly.

“All done,” she proclaimed standing up straight again. “I’d say that we should test it out, but you aren’t injured at the moment and I have every faith in your improved runes after seeing you use them for so long.”

Kal smiled at the compliment and looked over his shoulder, “I wish I could see them.”

“Start working on some of the low-level illusions and you will probably be able to. Let me see if I can come up with something,” said Ikuno. She concentrated for a moment and made a circular motion with her hand in front of her. The air shimmered for a few moments then started to become slightly reflective. Kal examined the runes on his back as best he could with the fuzzy image.

“Thank you,” he said, “I couldn’t make out much, but I appreciate the attempt.”

Ikuno shrugged as the spell dissipated, “It’s easier to make colors in the air than to make something reflective. I do have a polished piece of silver you could use as a mirror but it’s in my bag,” she offered. Kal thought about it for a moment and decided that it wasn’t worth putting up with Dai again. When he shook his head there was an unmistakable look of relief on the oni’s face.

Movement over by the entrance to Ikuno’s home caught their attention as Gerda emerged from the stone wall. Her sad expression told them that she didn’t have good news.

“What’s wrong Gerda?” asked Kal.

“Sandy is gone,” she replied, “It doesn’t look like she even stayed the night.”

Kal and Ikuno walked over and wrapped the golem in a hug to console her. “I shouldn’t have yelled at her before we left,” Gerda continued, relaxing into their embrace, “and I shouldn’t have left her alone last night. She was so excited. She never stopped talking about having a daughter all the way here. I didn’t think she would be so scared of humans that she wouldn’t even show her face.”

Ikuno had her arms wrapped around Gerda and Kal, she gave them a small squeeze and stepped back. “She has good reason to be wary and I can understand her being extremely cautious. However, I’m with Kal, that’s no way to bring a child into this world.” She looked over at Kal, “I must say though, I’m curious why you got as upset as you did last night.”

“Honestly, it surprised me as well,” answered Kal. “I think that it goes back to accepting that I wouldn’t be the kind of father I wanted to be. Even with Sandy, Bas, and Marble, I knew that we wouldn’t be doing this out of love, but I still assumed that we would still spend some quality time together and enjoy the experience. Being treated like a faceless donor made the whole situation feel ... mechanical, as though anyone could have filled that role. I think that was what pissed me off the most, she made me feel like I didn’t matter. If I don’t get to be a true father and dote upon my children, then I at least want to know that they were conceived in a good way. I can’t imagine if I had gone through with things last night and would live out the rest of my life knowing I had a daughter out there with my only memory being a woman’s ass sticking out of a wall.”

Gerda looked thoughtful at his words, “Maybe I should try to find her and explain what you just said. She only has a little bit of time before her cycle ends and it will be almost a year before she will be ready again.”

Kal shrugged, “I really don’t care at the moment since I’m still annoyed with her right now. However, I won’t stop you if you decide to go after her.”

“I was wondering, how did you end up yelling at her last night?” asked Ikuno.

The golem’s expression saddened. “When I asked her what she was doing Sandy made it sound like Kal was just some bandit. I told her that I had been with him many times and not once had he done anything to hurt me. She snapped back at me saying that he was only keeping me around to have sex with.”

Ikuno burst into laughter at the absurdity of the accusation while Kal just looked confused, “Did you not mention that I have other women?”

Gerda looked over at Kal while steadfastly ignoring the laughing oni, “No, I didn’t know how she would react to having to share you with non-golems.”

“If you go after Sandy, no more secrets. Let her know the whole story about who and what I am as well as my situation,” said Kal “If you don’t, then make sure Bas knows the same whenever you go get her.” Gerda nodded in understanding.

Kal stopped for a moment and looked off in the direction of his farm, “I think that meant that I’m welcome back home.”

“Ria already has all of your stuff stored away, except your shirt, cloak, and staff,” said Ikuno as she and the golem followed Kal over to his belongings. When he was ready to go she leaned down and gave him a searing kiss goodbye, “I’ve left a little jar of lube with Ria, don’t be afraid to use it. Remember, human women are a lot more sensitive back there, you can’t just dive in and fuck the hell out Perra’s ass like you can with me. It may take some time to make sure you don’t hurt her but if you do it right she’ll love you more for it.”

Kal nodded even though this was probably the fifth time a similar conversation had happened between him and Ikuno since he told the oni of Perra’s offer. He couldn’t blame her for being so concerned, with the girl’s only experience being the unpleasantness with Sir Michael, this was a big step. Kal was determined to make it as enjoyable for the girl as possible and hopefully erase the last of those bad memories.

He did have to suppress a smile at how the oni’s attitude towards Perra had changed since the girl’s birthday. ‘Motherly’ certainly wouldn’t be a good way to describe it, more like a protective, horny older sister who didn’t mind sharing her man with the younger girl. Kal’s guess was that because Perra was now considered an adult, Ikuno could relax and play the part of older, wiser woman since she no longer had any direct responsibility over the girl.

Kal turned to Gerda and gave the golem a passionate goodbye kiss. “Last night was wonderful and I’m very happy that you decided to come with me instead of staying with Sandy. I’d like to do that with you a bit more often. I appreciate that you aren’t as demanding as the others, but I don’t want to get to the point where I feel like I’m neglecting you either.”

The golem blushed at the thought of the previous night. Once she and Kal had cooled off from the encounter with Sandy, Ikuno had all but tackled them both into bed. Kal had mentioned early on to the oni that he wanted to focus on the golem girl that night. Ikuno had been quite accommodating, helping to get Gerda warmed up with some heavy petting then stepping back while Kal and the golem made love, for a while at least. As she was laying on her back with Kal slowly stroking in and out of her while sucking on one of her nipples, Gerda felt another much larger mouth on her other breast. From that point on Ikuno seemed determined to give the golem’s body as much pleasure as possible while Kal was taking care of her sex. She had even allowed the oni to tease her backdoor as she rode Kal, sending her quickly into a shuddering orgasm and one step closer to letting Kal take her that way.

Kal had pulled out a small stone shelf next to Ikuno’s bed for Gerda to put her hand on as she slept. The golem was far better about being away from stone for short periods but still needed its comforting presence to sleep. With her hand on the shelf Kal had curled up behind her, his cock slipping easily between her cheeks since it was still a bit wet from being inside Ikuno moments before.

Once he had filled her up for the second time, and Gerda was nearly insensate from being double teamed, Kal had asked Ikuno to cast a spell on him. He’d then bent her over the bed and slipped inside the oni, pounding her hard and fast to a couple of leg shaking climaxes while the golem looked on. Gerda had blushed fiercely when she realized that Ikuno was staring at her sex with obvious hunger. She hadn’t noticed she was sitting on the bed with her legs slightly open while Kal’s seed dripped on the bedcovers below.

A thought came to her that made the golem look quickly over at Kal. He nodded back at her with a smile. Shifting her hips forward she brought her human hand down below her pussy. Using her internal muscles, she squeezed out a dollop of cum onto her fingers and presented it to the oni. Gerda was stunned at Ikuno’s reaction, nearly as soon as Kal’s seed touched her tongue the oni sucked the rest of the golem’s fingers into her mouth and screamed around them as her body shook from her second orgasm.

Afterward, Kal gave Ikuno a goodnight kiss and curled up behind Gerda on the bed. The golem looked over, expecting to feel the oni joining them on the bed, and saw Ikuno with a large metal club which she was securing to her hand with a strip of cloth. Laying her head back down she heard the oni sigh heavily before putting out the torches. Moments later, the same sigh was echoed by her bedmate.

Sometime during the night, she woke up to Kal moving.

“Fuck this,” he’d muttered, pulling on the vambrace with his strength rune. Ikuno was just starting to wake from the small light he had summoned. Gerda watched as he walked over to where the oni was sleeping. “I’ll take my chances,” he said then picked up the large blue woman out of the stone chair and deposited her onto the bed. Kal directed her to lay with the club across the top of the bed as he strengthened the stone shelf he’d made for Gerda to also support the end of the weapon. With the oni situated, Kal crawled back into bed and pressed himself in between the two women. After taking a moment to lift one of the golems cheeks and tuck his prick between them again, he draped an arm over her and quickly began nodding off.

The last thing the golem had heard before falling asleep herself was Ikuno kissing the top of Kal’s head and whispering, “I love you.”

Now, as Kal stepped into the tunnel to go back to his farm, Gerda continued to blush. Not from their activities last night but because she wanted to tell Kal she loved him the way Ikuno did but couldn’t overcome her embarrassment. She was just about to go after him when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Gerda looked up at the oni with a mixture of frustration and relief.

“Wait,” said Ikuno, “I’m pretty sure I know what you were about to do. When you say it he will want to spend some time with you alone. For Perra’s sake and for his, wait just a little while longer. If I know him he’ll turn around and come right back if you say it now.”

Gerda nodded and watched Kal’s light in the tunnel fade as he made his way home.

It was just before midday when he arrived back at his farm. Stopping just before the forest edge he looked over the property.

Something felt different.

Kal had been away from home for extended periods of time before as he grew up and each time there had been this sense of relief or perhaps it was a sense of being back where he belonged as he first laid eyes on the farmhouse.

Today, he didn’t feel that.

It made him uncomfortable, like he was betraying some part of his nature. This had been his home his entire life, he had even been born here. Even so, it didn’t feel like it was “his” anymore.

A small part of him wanted to blame Perra for the change but he quickly dismissed the idea. Certainly, the woman had stepped up to make sure that things were taken care of during the times he was gone but she had never acted with any sense of ownership over the property. He could argue that her wanting to hire some helpers could be construed as an act of ownership, however, their connection still worked largely on feelings and beneath what had sounded like the order of an annoyed woman was the hope that he would approve of her request.

No, Kal knew that it was him that had changed. Over just a few days he had climbed a mountain and found an ancient nesting site for a legendary bird, traveled to the depths of the earth and swum in a lake of molten rock, and even fought for his life a couple of times. Along the way he had been witness to a marriage; recognized as a Master within his town; befriended a harpy, a salamander, a bag of holding, and a group of metal eating crabs. Above all of those, he had flown. Well ... not really, it had just been gliding, but the sense of freedom had been exhilarating. Days later the memory still made his breath quicken.

All of those experiences had undoubtedly altered him in some way but under careful consideration, it likely wasn’t any of those things that had changed how he looked at the farmhouse. Most likely, it was the three magical runes that were now on his back. When he thought of someone calling him a wizard, the title felt like it fit in a way that it hadn’t the day before. In a similar manner it had been getting harder and harder to think of himself as a farmer, today he felt more like a magic-user who occasionally works on a farm. Kal smiled as his internal identity as a farmer, which he had held onto so tightly and with great pride for years, fumed at the idea that he now thought of himself as a mage.

Kal looked up and saw Perra standing in the doorway of the barn staring at him, more specifically staring in his direction since he knew she wouldn’t be able to see him beneath the shadow of the forest canopy. He was surprised that this bit of inner turmoil had been strong enough for her to sense it.

Kal adjusted his pack and stepped out of the forest heading towards the girl. Perhaps Ikuno has been more correct than he had given her credit for. Perhaps the time for him to strike out on his own was coming far faster than he had anticipated.

After helping his mother out into the living room, Kal spent the rest of the afternoon regaling her and Perra with his tales of events from the last few days. His mother’s occasional scolding ranged from corrupting Rone into taking on a second wife to “there are some things a mother doesn’t need to hear about,” when he told them of how the gargoyle flew him high into the air and dropped him.

Both of the women had an enjoyable conversation with Ria once he had introduced her. Kal’s mother had been slightly put off by the sprite’s nudity. He mentioned something to her about being dressed for the occasion, a moment later a loose top just barely large enough to cover her breasts and a short skirt appeared on the avatar’s small body. They were equally impressed with Ria’s ability to store things as they were with her personality when he demonstrated by having her store his staff then retrieve it right away.

Kal had just sat back down from getting himself a mug of ale from the small keg they kept in the kitchen when Perra asked Ria.

“Have you ever been filled up before?” she asked then immediately blushed since how it sounded was much different than what she meant. Kal’s mother shot the girl a disapproving glance and Kal choked a bit as he tried to take a sip of ale.

“No,” replied Ria, “Not to say that my former master didn’t try, but he was hardly up to the task.”

Kal just managed to turn his head and keep from spitting the brew all over his mother after the sprite’s comment. He then spent the next couple of minutes cleaning warm ale from the front of his shirt and trying to get the smell out of his nose. “You did that on purpose,” he said to Ria with a half-hearted accusing glare. The bag’s avatar was laughing too hard to respond.

Perra came back with a couple more towels for Kal to clean up with “I think I’m going to like her,” she said nodding towards the giggling image of a sprite.

Kal removed his shirt and pushed some magic into the small rune on a leather tag that quickly cleaned it. He took the opportunity to show them the three rune’s he now had across his back, explaining to his mother for the first time that the ink for these wouldn’t burn and had been the purpose of the journey he had been on for the last few days. When he mentioned that one of them was Cure Disease his mother looked up at Kal’s face.

“You didn’t waste some of that precious ink you worked so hard for that just because of what happened to me, did you?”

Kal smiled, “Partly, if I ever run across someone in a similar situation to ours then I plan on using this to help them. No one should have to choose between the life of a loved one and slavery. However, it’s more than just that, this allows me a degree of protection from liken ... lycan ... from being turned into a werewolf,” he said in a rush, annoyed that he couldn’t remember how to say the blasted word.

“That’s a disease?” asked Perra, then shared a confused glance with Kal’s mother.

He nodded, “A magical one but it’s still considered a disease, as is vampirism,” Kal allowed himself a mental pat on the back for not stumbling over that word as well. “From what I learned, it’s both a disease and a powerful curse. With this, if I were bitten I could heal myself of the disease portion, which would kill me in the next few days then bring me back as an undead. After that, I would just need to get the curse removed to get rid of the bloodlust and burning in the sun.

“As you can see, it has other purposes besides sentimental ones.”

His mother frowned, “I still don’t like the idea of you preparing to go deal with things like vampires and werewolves,” a small shudder ran through her, “I still can’t imagine what kind of hell the werewolf that took your father put other families through once it left the area.”

“No...” Kal whispered his eyes wide. Perra and his mother both gave him questioning looks as he slowly shook his head. “There’s no way I could have forgotten that, I rehearsed it over and over. I thought you would be so happy...”

“What is it Kal?” asked Perra, concerned by the shocked look on his face.

“Something I should have told mother a long time ago, I still can’t believe I could have forgotten something so important.” He knelt down in front of his mother’s chair, “The werewolf that killed father is dead. It turned north then east as the menfolk in the village suspected but it never left the area.” Knowing how his mother usually reacted to mentioning Ikuno, he had glossed over her importance in his journey, there was no way of getting out of bringing her up now. “The werewolf ran into Ikuno’s home, there was a fierce battle between them, but she won in the end. She chopped it up and disposed of the body in a way that it couldn’t ever regenerate and hurt anyone else. Without even knowing, Ikuno avenged Father, Gran, and Gramps.”

Kal’s mother sat there for a moment with a stunned look on her face. A few seconds later tears began to run down her cheeks then she leaned forward wrapping her arms around Kal as she began to cry in earnest.

Perra quietly moved around the back of Kal’s mother and gestured agitatedly while mouthing, ‘How the hell do you forget something like that!’

‘I don’t know!’ he responded as his mother continued crying into his shoulder.

Perra threw her hands up in exasperation before deciding to leave Kal and his mother alone and go work on supper.

Kal came into his and Perra’s room after helping his mother to bed. She had been weak to the point where she couldn’t walk, even with Kal’s assistance, and he had ended up carrying her into his old bedroom.

“Is it just me, or did she get worse over the course of the day?” he asked Perra.

The younger woman sighed as she crawled under the covers, “Something similar happened a while back on one of the nights you were gone. I think it was after your encounter with the gargoyles if I’m not mistaken. She came to check on me and fell hitting her head. I came out and helped her up into her chair and we sat there and talked for a while, mostly about you, until the bleeding stopped. When I took her back to bed I nearly had to carry her, much like you did when you went and got her today. It wouldn’t have been so noticeable except that she had mostly gotten herself into the chair only a few minutes earlier.”

“As awful as this sounds maybe this is why I ‘forgot’ to tell her about what happened to the werewolf. It seems like certain things make her suddenly worse.” He looked at the wall separating their rooms, strain apparent on his face. “Now I’m wishing I hadn’t told her,” he said remembering how moments ago his mother had been struggling just to keep her head raised and not let it loll as she was carried to bed.

“I’m sorry, Kal, I wish there was more I could do, but I really don’t understand what’s going on with her,” said Perra, with sadness and concern for her lover in her eyes.

Kal gave her a weak smile, “Don’t feel bad Perra, no one does. Except for Ikuno perhaps, but she’s so tight-lipped about anything to do with my mother I can’t help but wonder what the connection between them is.” Kal quickly undressed and joined Perra in bed but not before she gave him an appreciative whistle for his clean-shaven groin. “I know you had something special planned for tonight, I hope you don’t mind but I’m not really feeling up for it.”

“It’s fine,” she said pressing her back up against his chest and suddenly missing the feeling of his chest hair, “To be honest I may have been a bit quick to make that offer. Fingers and tongue seem to be okay but when I think about you taking me that way, I mean really imagining that you are about to enter me, my whole body locks up and I have to fight down the fear of it hurting.” She gave him an apologetic look over her shoulder, “Give me a bit more time.”

Kal wrapped his arms around her, “Take all of the time you need, I’m in no hurry.”

“Hmph, I’d imagine not with women like Ikuno who bend over and spread their cheeks wide while begging to be taken that way.”

A very vivid image popped into Kal’s head. Despite his insistence that he wasn’t really in the mood, his body reacted anyway.

“That’s what I was hoping for,” said Perra feeling him harden. She lifted a leg and reached down placing him at the entrance of her sex. With a groan, she slid down on him as far as she could manage from this angle before lowering her leg again. With a contented sigh, she adjusted herself so she was comfortable. “I love you, Kal, goodnight.”

Kal chuckled and draped an arm over the woman in front of him cupping one of her breasts. Flexing his cock, he got a pleasing squeak from the girl before he kissed her on the back of the head. “Goodnight, Perra, I love you too.”

A couple of days later Gerda contacted him, her excitement apparent through their bond. Sandy had come back!

After his and Sandy’s first encounter Kal wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as the Gerda. It was with more than a little regret that he bid his mother and Perra farewell and headed to Ikuno’s where the golem girl was waiting to take her to her sister. On his way there he conversed as best he could with Gerda through their bond to make sure he wasn’t wasting his time. She assured him that she had explained everything as best she could to the younger golem and that there shouldn’t be any issues.

He was mildly disappointed when he and Gerda arrived in her cavern to find it empty. Gerda, on the other hand, had a big smile on her face and began making a ‘come here’ motion at the wall. A couple of seconds later Sandy walked out, with a motion from Gerda the pebbles covering her breasts and groin melted away and her rocky body parts shrunk to more human proportions.

She looked to be about the same age as Perra but Kal knew that was misleading and that she would actually be just over two-hundred years old. Besides being noticeably younger than Gerda, her body was set up much the same way as far as her parts that were made of rock, one arm, both legs below the knees and the top left quarter of her head were all tan colored sandstone. As she slowly moved toward Kal and Gerda he noticed they weren’t truly tan. Striations in her rocky parts that ran from white, to red, to deep brown in a seemingly random pattern gave the impression of a tan color from afar. Also, like her older sister she had a large ruby for her left eye.

Kal stood quietly holding out his hand to the girl as she cautiously approached. With a look that flickered between fear and determination, she stopped right in front of them.

“I am sorry,” she said quietly, “when Lime explained things to me I realized you were right, that was no way to make my first daughter.” Kal was very appreciative of the earpiece, Gerda’s voice bordered on melodic when compared to the younger golem’s.

Kal smiled as he continued to hold out his hand. Sandy finally reached out and put her human hand in his. The young wizard pulled her in and tilted her head up with his other hand. The young golem gasped as he bent down and started placing small kisses along her jawline on his way to her neck. Forgetting for a moment that there wasn’t really an ear on that side with lobes for nibbling on, Kal instead moved his mouth to hers and kissed her hard as he held her body tight to his.

“Now let’s do this in a way that will make you smile every time you look down and see your belly growing,” he said. The young golem just nodded and stared back at him, amazed that this human had barely touched her, and she could already feel the fluids from her sex running down her thigh.

Sandy left the next day, unbonded and without Kal learning her real name. Granted, he hadn’t actually asked and from the way she constantly referred to Gerda as Lime he had a feeling that this was a custom among the golem girls. Gerda had been ecstatic after Sandy left, hugging him and telling him profusely how much she appreciated what he had done. Out of nowhere she suddenly blurted out “I love you” then reeled back in horror and promptly sank into the stone out of embarrassment. Kal sat on one of the chairs by the table waiting for her to come back, misjudging her perseverance and drifting off to sleep before she returned. True to Ikuno’s prediction, once she woke him up he insisted on spending some alone time with just her in the cave. Gerda was delighted.

Kal got a whoop of excitement from Ikuno as he and Perra were in Telsin looking for possible helpers out at the farm. They, unfortunately, had to turn away their first applicant. News traveled through town fast and when it reached the tanner’s, the boy Kal had lifted the tree off of had dropped everything to meet Kal and offer up his services. Perra was the one who noticed the Master Tanner had followed the boy and was watching from the edge of town. His scowling face as the boy spoke to Kal and Perra convinced them to turn the boy down for the sake of keeping the peace, especially with a member of the council.

Shortly after the young man had left Kal felt the oni’s burst of elation, from what he could tell she finally managed to cast the spell that would protect her from being attacked from the astral plane. More specifically it anchored her here in the real world and preventing her from being dragged off to where she could be assaulted.

As he was explaining this to Perra a couple of travelers looking for some easy coin came striding out of the inn and demanded jobs. A good number of the patrons had spilled out onto the front porch in anticipation of a fight.

Kal yelled over at those watching, “Can anyone over there speak for these two as being good workers!” There was much shrugging and shaking of heads coming from the onlookers. “I’m sorry,” said Kal, “If no one of any reputation in this town will vouch for you then I won’t be hiring you to take care of my property.”

“No one in this town of mudpuppies has any reputation,” spat one of the men as he pulled out a knife and waved it at Kal, “and I’ll be damned if I’ll let some farmer make me look like a fool just because none of that gaggle of idiots back there will speak for me.”

Perra sighed heavily and began walking off towards the stables, about half-way there she made a sharp turn that took her to the front steps of the inn. Meanwhile, Kal ignored the men for a moment and called out to the inn’s patrons again, “He called me a farmer! Did no one mention to these two what I am?”

“Nay!” Kahrin yelled back a moment before Perra walked up the steps and gave her a hug. “They heard ye were payin’ fer some help at yer farm and high-tailed it out the door!”

The two men were obviously getting agitated by Kal’s flippant attitude. The man without the knife looked back and saw the smiling faces and almost jovial atmosphere of those in front of the inn. When he faced Kal again it was clear the man was feeling very uncomfortable.