Chapter 32

“That’s a beautiful stone,” said the gem merchant as he let the loupe drop from his eye and placed a large red garnet on the soft fabric in front of him. “I can give you fifty gold for it.”

Kal blinked a few times. “Did you say fifty? Because I thought you said fifty, which would be a foolish offer for a gem worth closer to five hundred.”

“People want rubies, not garnets. I have no market for these.”

“The stone is unusually large and nearly flawless. If only because of its rarity, you will find a buyer. Give me four hundred for it.”

“I might, but finding buyers will take time, and stones sitting in my shop aren’t making me money. Two hundred gold.”

“The Azum lords and ladies like the color red. I’ve seen it all over in their castles. Three hundred fifty.”

“But not necessarily in their jewelry. Three hundred.”

“It matches the red they like better than most rubies. Three hundred fifty.”

The gem merchant regarded Kal for a long moment before nodding. “Three hundred fifty it is,” he said picking up the garnet with another soft cloth and wrapping it up before walking into the back of his store. Kal and Kashka spent the next few minutes listening to the sound of coins clinking against one another before he returned with a leather coinpurse.

“Use the table over there if you want to count it,” he said, presenting the pouch to them.

Kal took the purse and poured its contents on the indicated table before summoning Ria. “Store these, please, and give me a count when you are done.”

Out on Soma’s streets, Kashka rolled her eyes at the mage. “You really got so zealous you gave all of your gold to Roka?”

“Yes,” he replied sheepishly. “I know. I should have at least held a little back, but I wanted to make sure they had enough to get by while training their new sailors.”

“What did you need this money for anyway?” Ria asked from his shoulder.

“That,” he said, pointing at a stable on their way out of the city.

“You’re getting a horse?” asked Ria. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Being ported across the desert, then sailing for the past few weeks has spoiled me. I’m not in the mood to walk.”

“You’re being lazy,” said the sprite.

“I am not!” he huffed, trying to act indignant.

Kashka giggled. “He just doesn’t want to be sore after walking all day like he was after the fight with Darrow’s men. It’s what you get for spending most of the voyage in bed while some of us worked for our passage.”

“Hey now, I did work for my passage.”

“Yes, you did,” the cat conceded as they approached the stable, “and The Scarlet Bitch’s entire crew appreciates everything you did for them.”

The scene inside the stable caught all three of them off guard. A small group of Azum men stood in front of an oversized stall near the back of the building where a stallion was busy mating with a ... centaur?

As Kal and Kashka stood by the door in stunned silence, the stallion finished his business and dismounted the centaur. A second later, a man hidden by the stall’s wall stood up, holding a large tube in one hand and a linen pouch in the other. He held the bag up triumphantly to the applause of the watching men. The centaur asked him something, but they were too far away for Kal’s translation spell. The man scowled and passed the pouch off to one of the onlookers before setting the tube down and reluctantly reaching under the horse-woman’s tail. The centaur’s eyes widened, and her human back arched a little, but the wall hid what was happening. Once finished, he joined the other men in paying the centaur a hefty amount of money, then exited the stable, chatting excitedly about the pouch’s contents.

Once the men had left, the centaur called out in Common, “One moment, and I’ll be right with you!” to Kal and Kashka as she led the stallion back to his stall.

Returning to the larger stall, she picked up the tube and a flat piece of leather with two wide and very dull wooden spikes attached to it. Kashka was the first to realize its purpose and sent Kal a picture of her bent over with the leather covering her sex and bottom with the plugs inserted into each. The centaur wrestled the plugs from the piece of leather and dropped them in a wash basin at the back of the stable.

Waving Kal and Kashka forward, she said, “It’s important I get all this cleaned right away. How can I help you?”

“Do you mind me asking what all that was about?” Kal asked, joining the woman as she scrubbed the tube and plugs, then dried them thoroughly with clean towels.

“Some of their mares came into season, and they wanted my stallion to sire their foals,” the centaur explained.

“Why not just take the stallion to the mares? That’s what the people in my town did.”

“Because I’d have to close the stable and go to their farms or ranches. If I do that, then I charge by the mare. Here I charge by the bag you saw them carrying out.”

“That was filled with the horse’s seed?”

The centaur nodded. “That’s what this is for,” she said, tapping the leather tube. “Once he slips inside, he doesn’t care if he’s inside a mare or not.”

“And those?” Kashka asked, pointing at the plugs.

“Those are to make sure he doesn’t end up in me. Despite the lower half of my body being a horse’s, we aren’t really made to take something that big. We can, but it won’t feel good.” The look on her face gave the impression she had first-hand experience with the discomfort she described.

“Then why take the chance?”

“Because it’s easier this way. I just need to get a little aroused, and he,” she pointed at the stallion, “stops caring that I’m not a real horse. Although I will use a mare instead if I have one in estrus.” She finished toweling off the last of her apparatus and turned to them. “This has been quite the conversation, and I haven’t yet introduced myself. I’m the stablemaster, and while I do have a name, everyone around here calls me Horse.”

“They call you Horse?” Kal asked.

Kashka tapped his shoulder. “I think your translation spell isn’t seeing the word she used as a name. She said Ume, not horse.”

“Some Azum call my kind ume-onna, or horse-woman, instead of centaurs. Since I’m the only one around, the locals started calling me Ume, and it stuck. But enough about me, how can I help you?”

Ume sold them a nondescript but well-trained horse named Shiro, then talked with Kal about the differences between the western style saddle he was used to and the Azum version. Ume watched and offered advice as he put the saddle on and ensured the tack was properly in place and secured. She tried to sell Kal some saddlebags, but the mage pointed at Ria. Once outside, Kal mounted Shiro, then Kashka leapt up to the saddle and held her tail off to the side as she sat in front of him.

The centaur did a final check of all the straps before giving a nod of approval. “Thank you for dropping by. Not just because you bought Shiro, but it was nice to talk with a man who treats me like a person and not just a monster girl,” she said before sending them off with a wave.

At the city’s edge, Kal turned the horse to look back. The road led from where they stood all the way to the docks. They could see The Scarlet Bitch moored at the pier, probably waiting to be loaded with new cargo. The Dauntless had anchored outside the port where it would be out of the way as it trained new recruits. Further out to sea, The Gazelle headed north under full sails.

Kal hugged Kashka tight as the cat stared at The Scarlet Bitch.

“I didn’t think it would be this bad,” she said, shuddering from a restrained sob.

He kissed the top of her head as he nudged the horse down the road leading away from the city. “It’s not like you and Ratt will never see each other again. Once Ikuno is with us, we’ll return to Soma and catch a ship to Silvermoon. I don’t mind waiting a week or two for The Scarlet Bitch to show up.”

“It’s not just that. I feel like I’m betraying you by loving her so much.”

“Attention is divisible. Love is not. Remember that. Besides, it’s not like you’re the first of my women to fall in love. Perra and Kuto love each other very much.”

“I think you’ve said that before. But Perra and Kuto don’t want to leave you to run off and be with the other one either.”

“You’re forgetting I can see into your head. I know you want to be with her, but you aren’t willing to give up on me completely.”

“I still love you.”

“And I love you too, so if you decide to go back to Ratt once Azrin is dead, I won’t stand in your way.”

“I don’t know if I like that. I enjoy being your woman.”

“You don’t need to stop. I’ll be back this way regularly to check up on the holdings I inherited from Darrow, and Emru apparently wasn’t the only one wanting me to father their child.”

Kashka giggled. “Set up a shop in Silvermoon. ‘Kal’s wizardry and monster-girl breeding service.’”

Kal kissed her neck, earning a small moan from the cat. “Will you be my first customer?”

She let him kiss his way up her neck and lightly bite her ear before breathing, “Absolutely.”

Kashka was irritated.

Kal’s kissing earlier lit a fire in her that wasn’t going away. She was still upset about leaving Ratt, and this constant, low-level arousal was completely at odds with those feelings. Kashka didn’t want to be aroused, but her thoughts kept flashing back to last night’s passionate goodbye with Ratt or fantasizing about Kal sliding his cock into her and slowly fucking her as they rode.

The mage seemed to pick up on her guilty confusion and kept his hands on the reins instead of her body where she wanted them. Unfortunately, every time one of the fantasies or memories surfaced, they were strong enough to bleed across the bond and make him harden in his trousers. Numerous times she caught herself unconsciously rubbing her ass against his dick.

While enduring her unintentional teasing, Kal kept drawing her attention to the beautiful Azumbahan countryside and comparing it to his home and other places he had traveled. The stories helped drag her attention away from the emptiness in her sex but only ever offered a temporary reprieve.

By the time they stopped for the midday meal, both human and cat were on the verge of ripping each other’s clothes off.

Kal started the tent unfolding as Kashka tied the horse’s lead to a low branch so he could nibble the surrounding grass. Thanks to the bond, Kal was ready when Kashka bounded through the tent’s opening and pounced on the mage. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and mashed her lips to his while grinding her sex against the bulge in his pants.

“Ria, store mine and Kashka’s clothes,” Kal gasped between kisses.

As soon as the fabric disappeared, Kashka lined up his cock with her dripping entrance and sank down on him, moaning a sigh of relief. Equally consumed by lust, Kal grabbed the cat’s hips and began slamming into her pussy at a breakneck pace. Kashka tasted blood and realized she had bit Kal’s shoulder while growling deep in her throat. Holding him tighter, she dropped her hips to meet his thrusts until their bodies came together so hard her mound stung from the impacts. This wasn’t making love. It was pure, animalistic fucking, and it was exactly what Kashka needed right now.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Cum in me! Cum in me! Cum in me!” she howled as she felt Kal’s climax approaching.

Kal grunted and drove his cock deep into her pussy before coating the entrance to her womb with his seed. Kashka’s mind exploded in ecstasy, only to have a second orgasm triggered by Kal’s cum barrel into the first. The cat’s body jerked and spasmed for a few seconds before the world went black.

Kal healed the bites on his shoulder while carrying Kashka into the bedroom still impaled on his cock. For whatever reason, he only went partially soft and was enjoying the little squeezes of the unconscious woman’s sex as her climax ran its course without her. He laid her on the bed and sat back on his knees with her legs draped over his thighs, then slowly slid in and out of her while waiting for her to wake up.

Kashka awoke with a moan as Kal’s cock filled her, then stopped.

She cautiously opened one eye when he didn’t move for a few seconds. “Is your shoulder okay?”

“I’m fine. Any idea what brought that on?”

“I blame the horse.”

“Ume?”

“No, the one outside. My crotch is pressed against the saddle and constantly shifts back and forth as he walks. Once you got me going earlier, it seemed like I couldn’t calm down again.”

“Are you good now?”

“I think so, but it has been a while since we made love, and you feel good inside me.”

“Would you like another round or some food?”

Kashka’s belly rolled as she ground her sex against him. “How about a big supper? I’ll hunt tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kal replied as he began moving again.

Kal noted that Kashka’s arousal stayed at a low simmer for the rest of the day but never went away entirely. At the very least, he was thankful her fantasies weren’t so intense they continued to bleed over into his head.

As the sun set behind the trees, they appeared to have traveled beyond most of Soma’s surrounding farmland. Towering over them on either side of the road were lush forests broken by scattered patches of bamboo growing nearly as tall as the trees. As the light faded, they pulled off the road and found a spot just inside the forest edge to make camp. Kashka got to her feet on the saddle before jumping to the ground and speeding off into the woods, looking for prey.

Kal tossed out the tent to unfold, then cast darkvision on himself and scraped out a clearing for a campfire. As the twilight faded into night, Kashka returned with two birds that looked strikingly like pheasants but with green plumage instead of the brown he knew back home.

Shiro noisily chomped at the lush grass as Kashka plucked and cleaned the birds by the campfire’s light, and Kal built up the campfire for cooking. The mage retrieved a metal spit from Ria he had not used in nearly a year and placed it over the fire. Once the birds were roasting, Kal leaned back against a nearby tree and held out an arm to Kashka in invitation. They snuggled and chatted as Kal used a telekinesis cantrip on the spit’s wooden handle to keep the birds spinning.

While they talked, he noticed Kashka’s arousal climbing once again. After their vigorous rendezvous earlier, he was surprised she was in the mood again so quickly. Admittedly he wasn’t much better. The memory of fucking the cat senseless was still fresh in his mind and made the blood rush to his cock every time he thought about it. The difference was he welcomed the stiffness in his pants while Kashka still felt confused because she didn’t want to be aroused, but her body had other plans.

Food took their mind off sex for a little while as they nibbled on herb-stuffed, roasted pheasant. When supper was over, Ria stored the spit while Kal and Kashka snuggled beneath the tree. Their conversation wound down and they sat in comfortable silence, watching the fire until Kashka got up and held out her hand.

“Come, it’s time for bed,” she said.

Kal raised an eyebrow at the sudden surge of desire from the cat, but took her hand and let her help him get to his feet. As they went inside, the mage drew a rune in the air that extinguished the campfire.

Kashka stepped into their bedroom and turned around, stopping him right inside the door. “Ria, undress us, please.”

Their clothes vanished into motes of light which raced for the leather bag Kal caught as his belt disappeared. After looking around for a moment for someplace to set it, he tossed the bag onto the bed.

“Ria, could we get some of Cyrene’s lube?” the cat asked, holding out one hand while lightly brushing her finger down his chest with the other. A mote flew out and landed in her palm, turning into a potion bottle containing bluish liquid.

“You did a wonderful thing for Emru,” she said. “Even if she doesn’t take, she will never forget the man who overcame his distaste of her type to try giving her a daughter. I think you deserve a reward.” Pouring a dollop of the lubricant on her fingers, Kashka turned and bent over in front of him. Raising her tail high, she applied the slick liquid to her rear. Kal’s cock jumped as she slid a finger inside her pucker and began working it in and out, purring from the pleasant feelings. “I told Ratt about your idea of letting you have my ass for giving Emru a daughter. She had faith you would come through and has been helping me prepare. Plus, she loves playing with my butt.” Kashka accompanied her explanation with memories of her rodent lover working two and eventually three fingers in the cat’s bottom while her tongue teased Kashka’s clit.

Kal smiled. “You’ve been hiding things from me.”

Kashka slipped a second finger in next to the first. “If you knew what we were doing, do you think you could have waited until now?”

“Probably not,” said Kal, stepping up behind her. He grasped her wrist to hold it in place as he brushed his cock across her wetness and lined up with her entrance. The mage coaxed her to keep fingering her rear as he gradually slid into the silky heat of her pussy.

Kashka moaned, and her legs shook from the pleasure of being filled in the front and stretched in the back. Wanting more, she slipped a third digit into her bottom. As the additional finger sunk in and stretched her even further, the cat had no doubt she would come the moment Kal moved.

The mage sensed how close she was and gently pulled her hand away from her rear, getting a loud moan of disappointment from Kashka. Still buried in her sex, Kal carefully bent over her back and placed his hands behind her knees. He carefully made sure he didn’t slip free as he picked her up while standing up straight and spreading her legs wide in front of him.

“We should move this to the bed,” he said, slowly walking forward.

“No. Like this. Do it like this,” she mewled, leaning back to kiss his neck and chin.

Kal nodded and lifted her slightly until he slipped free. The cat reached between her legs and pointed the head of his cock at her rear entrance.

“What about Ria?” Kashka asked, stifling a moan as Kal’s prick nudged the sensitive skin of her pucker.

“Hm?”

“She might get mad if she’s not here for this.”

“Good point,” he said before calling, “Ria.”

The sprite appeared on the bed above her bag and immediately flitted over to them.

“Oh my,” the avatar whispered, staring at where Kal was about to slip inside Kashka’s bottom and licking her lips. Ria then flew up to their faces and kissed them both on the cheek. “Thanks for thinking of me. If you two are still at it later, then call me. Have fun!” she said before fading away.

Kal and Kashka both stared in shock at where the sprite disappeared.

“Can bags of holding get sick? I’d check her for a fever if she were human,” said Kal.

“She gave us this moment to be ours alone, be thankful,” said Kashka, wiggling her bottom to draw his attention back to his cock.

“You’re right, and I am,” he said, lowering her slightly and making her gasp as he pushed against the tight ring of muscle. They kissed as her slickened pucker slowly gave way to the head of his cock, making Kashka moan into his mouth as she stretched to take him. Kashka’s body jerked as the head slipped the rest of the way in.

Kal’s eyes popped open from the unexpected feelings coming over their bond. Kashka was on the very edge of climax, not because of the pleasure coming from her bottom, but from finally giving him her last virginity. The slightest touch on her sex would likely set her off, but his hands were busy holding her up, and Kal had a better idea anyway. Breaking the kiss, he leaned back and lowered her slightly while shifting his hips so he didn’t go deeper. Kal then held her in place and slowly thrust upward, sliding the rest of the way into the cat’s rear.

Feeling his hips press against her ass, the base of his cock against her rosebud, and the fullness in her bottom was enough to push her over the edge. Kashka let out a high-pitched yowl as the orgasm that started in her head dragged her body along for the ride.

Kal noted that her climax did little to quell her desire and even seemed to make it stronger. Standing up a little straighter, he shifted into a more comfortable position that didn’t let him get as deep but allowed him a better angle for his hips. Kashka’s orgasm finally released her, and she put her arms over her head and behind his neck in preparation for what was coming.

The mage started slowly sliding in and out of her ass as the cat mewled and whined in appreciation. He wanted to make her first time memorable and gradually increased his speed so she could enjoy it. It took some time, but eventually, he was driving his cock up into Kashka’s tight rear as fast as their position allowed and started feeling the first signs of his own orgasm.

Kashka kept one arm around his neck but brought the other down and slipped two fingers inside her sex. “Please, Kal,” she begged, urging him on. “Fill me up. Don’t let me ever forget who fucked my ass first and did it best,” she said, squeezing him with her bottom.

The mage couldn’t hold out any longer and dropped her onto his prick, burying it as deep as he could as a torrent of seed flooded her bowels. Seconds later, Kashka yowled again as her fingers brought her to her second climax alongside the one triggered by his cum.

As they both recovered and caught their breath, Kal gingerly brought Kashka’s legs together and bent over to set her down as his softening cock slipped free of her rear. He grunted and jerked his hips back as she squeezed painfully on the head of his prick to keep his seed inside her.

The cat turned and pulled him down into a kiss. “That was perfect for my first time. Thank you.”

“Good enough for a second time?”

“No,” she said quickly and in a tone that didn’t leave room for debate. “I can already tell I’m going to be sore.”

“And I’m guessing you don’t want me to heal you.”

“Nope. I agree with Gerda after you took her virginity. It’s a good soreness, and just healing it away feels wrong.”

“Then, care to join me for a shower before bed? That position made me work up a sweat.”

Kashka sniffed and wrinkled her nose, then looked down at the juices from her sex dripping down her inner thigh. “I could use a shower, and it will let the room air out a little. It smells like a cat in heat in here.”

The following morning, Kal carefully extricated himself from Kashka’s sleeping form and threw on some pants before stepping out of the tent. The mage rekindled the campfire again, an easy task with a bit of magic. Much as he loved the ease of cooking over the shelter’s magical fire, there was something about food cooked over wood it couldn’t quite replicate.

Once the campfire danced and popped to his satisfaction, he checked on Shiro. The horse snorted and shook its mane as he moved the lead to a new patch of dew-covered grass. Kal left the horse happily munching as he stepped away from the camp and found a bush in need of watering.

“Hello there!” called a voice from deeper in the forest. Kal glanced over his shoulder to see two women waving at him. The first floated a few hand-widths off the ground and was dressed in white Azum ceremonial garb with red trim. Her short top barely covered her small breasts and showed off her midriff, which appeared to be transparent and housed an energetic flame. Beneath the transparent belly, she wore a matching skirt with a split down one side that fell to her ankles.

Beside her, a light green slime-girl leaned on the rim of a tub with her arms crossed beneath her breasts, pressing them together and putting them on display for any who wanted to look. The tub she sat in appeared big enough to comfortably fit four people.

He might have missed the floating woman, and the slime would have been easy because of her color. But no matter how early in the morning it was, there was no way he could have missed something as big as the tub while rebuilding the fire and tending to the horse.

Since they weren’t dangerously close, Kal held up a hand for them to wait a moment as he finished watering the bush. He smiled as one of the women groaned quietly in disappointment when he tucked his cock back into his trousers. He took a couple of steps toward them, putting himself between the strangers and the camp.

“How can I help you ladies?” he asked.

“We would like to offer you a bath to clean away the dust and weariness of your travels,” said the floating woman.

He raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“We three are not looking for husbands. We only offer a unique, refreshing bath and only request you let us pleasure you in return,” she explained as the slime girl straightened, then grew a pair of oversized breasts and bounced them enticingly with her hands.

“Request?”

“We understand that some men already have wives and may not be interested in that part, but we still offer the bath.”

The mage looked around, “You said there are three—” Kal’s eyes widened and cock hardened as an intense wave of desire from Kashka washed over him. Beneath the lust came a thread of pain that grew stronger by the second.

Kal yanked his pants off and ran toward the tent. Something was wrong. Kashka’s mind was all but gone, replaced by a feral creature needing to mate and willing to shred anything getting in her way.

The cat-girl burst out of the tent. Kashka’s face had elongated and looked more cat-like than he had ever seen, and a soft coat of fur had sprouted over her entire body. She reminded Kal of Daxas when the wolf cowed the rest of the dog-girls in the kennel to form her pack.

Kashka saw Kal and lunged at him. The mage caught her in his arms and held her to his chest as the other hand tried desperately to line his cock up with her sex. Kal was certain he’d have bruises from Kashka’s heels digging into his back and her mindless thrusts as she slammed her hips against him. His prick found her opening and she dropped her full weight down on him, bending his cock painfully before he could get his hand out of the way.

The cat clawed his back as she lifted up to slam her pussy back down on his prick, but a sheet of green slime flowed in between them. Within seconds Kashka was encased, and the green slime-girl began dislodging the claws from Kal’s back and legs from around his waist. The furious feline bit and ripped at her gelatinous prison, but the goo held her firmly in place

“We are so sorry!” said the floating woman, who was now pulling a small litter behind her with his pants lying inside. “Not all monster girls are like this! We promise! We’ll take her somewhere you will be safe.”

“No,” Kal panted, “she’s my woman. But something is wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” said the slime as she covered the yowling cat-girl’s mouth. “She’s just in heat, but I’ve never seen a neko’s heat this bad before.”

“She’s in pain,” said Kal, “and it’s getting worse. Carry her inside the tent. Help me take care of her until this passes, and I’ll reward you however I can.”

The floating woman and the slime shared a look before nodding.

“Inside and to the left, the tent is magic,” he said, then gripped his cock as pain shot through it. Pushing magic into his healing rune did nothing but draw attention to the deep scratches on his back.

A green tendril stretched out, knocking his hand away before wrapping around his prick. “I was born in a healing spring,” said the slime as the tendril withdrew, leaving his cock encased in green goop. “I’m not as fast as a healing spell, but it’ll be fixed up in a minute.” She said before entering the tent followed by the floating girl dragging the litter.

Kal took a moment to catch his breath before following them while trying to ignore the wetness that was likely blood running down his back. The dogs-girls had been aggressive while in heat, but nothing like Kashka.

The floating woman looked around in amazement at the inside of the tent as the slime disappeared with the litter into Kal and Kashka’s bedroom with the snarling, struggling cat-girl trapped inside her mass. He was mildly curious about the litter as he followed them.

The mage entered the room as the slime held Kashka against two crossed wooden planks, with a third sticking out the back to prop it up. Leather straps emerged from the wood to secure Kashka’s wrists and ankles as the slime restrained her. His pants lay near Kashka’s feet, and the litter was nowhere to be seen. The mage guessed that the litter, the cross, and possibly the tub outside were all this one shape-changing magic item.

“Take this back,” said Kal, pointing at his prick as the slime-girl flowed off of Kashka’s restrained body. “It’s good enough for now.” Once the slime had removed the goo on his cock, Kal squatted down and slipped it into the snarling cat-girl. Her fur started receding and face shifted back to normal as she immediately calmed. Through the bond, Kal felt the pain in her belly fade as he began slowly stroking in and out.