Chapter 37

“Fuggin assholes, they could’ve at least let me keep my horse,” said the drunken man, slamming his mug down and sloshing its contents across the table. The man looked haggard and beaten down. Clothes in pristine condition a week ago were stained with dirt and muck from traveling, mostly on foot. “I raised him and trained him from a foal. He was the best warhorse in the stables, and they took him from me. Fuggin bastards. How? HOW?! How the fuck did they find out about the assassin? They wouldn’t let me kill the little bitch with my own blade, and I couldn’t just let the fucker live. What the fuck else was I supposed to do? Let that blue whore’s pet dick run around doing whatever the fuck he wants?” The man slammed the mug down again. A few of the tavern’s patrons shifted their chairs away from his table as the bartender and servers watched nervously. The drunk exuded an aura of danger that frightened those in the small village.

A feminine hand rested on his forearm. “Poor Galen, discarded by his Goddess, his Church, and The Order with a single word,” said the woman.

“And it was Balthus, of all people, who pointed his finger at me, who accused me of removing a mage,” Galen spat the word, “from the land of the living, or at least trying to. I bet this wouldn’t have happened if that dumbfuck assassin had succeeded. ‘We think that the blue bitch’s pet human might be the man in some of the clergy’s recent dreams,’” he muttered in a sing-song, mocking tone. “Like fuggin hell, the goddess would never pick a fuggin mage to do her will. Not that it matters to me anymore. No Church. No goddess. No Order.” Galen drained his mug and set it down without slamming it this time. He looked over at the woman next to him. “Weren’t you a guy?”

The woman giggled. “Our friend left a while ago to check on the other person traveling with us. He’s probably balls deep in her cunt by now,” she said, leaning forward and running her tongue over her lips.

Galen took in the woman beside him. She was very pretty but not stunning, with brown hair that had a slight red tint and mischievious, deep brown eyes. Her black and red robe was well-kept, and its neckline plunged between her breasts, showing off ample skin. The former knight felt his cock begin to rise but ignored it. “When I was a knight, I’d have a bar wench or even a couple local women begging to join me in bed. Now they won’t open their legs without coin.”

“Would you like to go back to that?” asked the woman. “More importantly, would you like to make those who took that life from you pay for their mistake? You see, I was once a part of the Lantaran Church, and my husband was a respected cleric in Mevaria.

“My husband died not long ago, and when I asked The Church and The Order to find and punish his killers, they told me it wasn’t worth their time.

“It showed me how little The Church and Goddess cared about us. My husband and I dedicated our lives to them, and when we needed closure and vengeance, it meant nothing to them. You understand how that feels. You needed revenge on the blue woman and her mage, and The Church denied you. Then, when you acted on your need for vengeance, they threw you away.”

Galen blinked. His mind felt foggy, but that was probably from the ale. Remembering the mug in his hand, he tipped it up only to find it empty.

The woman raised a hand, summoning the waitress with another drink for the former knight. “The Goddess abandoned you,” she continued in a soft voice. “Threw you away because she couldn’t understand your need for revenge. She couldn’t understand the need to settle a matter of honor and pride with blood. But there is a goddess who can and does. There is a goddess who can appreciate your skill with a blade more than that whore of a deity ever could. There is a goddess who can return you to your rightful glory with people cheering your name and women fawning over you,” her hand slipped from his arm and came to rest on his cock where it pressed against the front of his pants. “What’s more, she knows you. She has seen your deeds. She wants you... ‘Sir’ Galen,” her tongue ran over her lips again, “and she’s not the only one.”

The knight sobered slightly at the idea a goddess wanted him specifically. The woman’s hand caressing his cock caught his attention, and he looked at her again. As the waitress placed a fresh mug of ale on the table and scampered away, he glanced down at her hand. “You said you just lost your husband?”

Anger twisted her smile as she roughly squeezed and stroked him through the fabric. “After my husband’s death, news of his indiscretions with the neighbor women began to surface. I still mourn him, but see no reason to deny myself the company of a fine man for the sake of his memory. Finish your drink while I show you,” she said

The woman slid beneath the table as Galen raised the mug to his lips. Within seconds she had his belt undone along with the fasteners on his pants. The former knight set the mug down and groaned as her lips slipped over the head of his cock.

He opened an eye at the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor and saw the tavern owner approaching them. Faster than anyone could blink, Galen flicked his dagger out of its sheath and stabbed it into the tabletop. “If you are coming over here to stop her, drunk or not, I’ll fucking kill you.”

The barkeep stopped and took a moment to assess the risk of this man following up on his threat, then turned around and walked back to the bar.

“Wise choice,” Galen mumbled, then looked down at the woman worshiping his prick. “I can believe you were once one of The Church’s sluts. If nothing else, that was one good thing to come out of Lantaris.” The woman responded with an appreciative hum.

For the next few minutes, the tavern was filled with sucking and slurping noises that drowned out the hushed whispers of the tavern’s patrons.

Galen emptied his mug and set it down. The blowjob had been nice, but he could tell she wanted him to enjoy the feeling more than get him off. The woman slipped out from under the table and held out a hand. “Let’s continue this up in my room.”

The knight looked down at his exposed cock, then around the room at the patrons giving him dirty looks. “Fuck-em,” he growled. He slipped his dagger back into its sheath and stood up, displaying his saliva-covered prick proudly for all to see.

The woman grabbed his cock and pulled him towards her room, stroking him the entire way. Galen stumbled along obediently. One hand held up his pants and shorts while the other gripped the woman’s elbow for support. Those last couple of mugs had started to take effect, making walking more difficult than normal.

The noise level of the tavern returned to normal as soon as the door to the woman’s room clicked shut behind them.

This was one of the better rooms at the inn, with two beds to one side, a fireplace on the back wall, and a couch opposite the beds. On the sofa sat a large man with his arms across the back and head tilted back, snoring. Like Galen, his belt and pants were undone, but his cock lay flaccid against his stomach. The sound of the door shutting roused the man, and he looked groggily toward them, grinning when he saw the woman with Galen’s cock in hand.

A woman lay curled up on the couch beside him. Galen immediately recognized the torn and dirty acolyte robes of his former goddess. Her expression made it clear she was not happy to see him.

“Convinced him, did you, Maeli?” the man chuckled.

“Not yet, Nattun. He just needs a little push. One Tayla will provide,” said Maeli waving the other woman over. With a resigned sigh, Tayla slid off the sofa and walked across the room to stand before the former knight. “Kneel,” Maeli ordered, then pulled Galen forward and stuffed his cock in the woman’s mouth.

“Despite what this may seem like, Tayla is not a prisoner,” Maeli explained, stroking the woman’s hair as she began sucking and bobbing on his prick. “She can leave at any time but has decided to stay by my side no matter what.

“Look at her, Galen,” she said in a fierce whisper while slowly circling him and Tayla. “Look at this woman, barely able to cast spells yet loved by The Goddess more than you and I. You wanted to avenge your shattered pride as a Knight of the Order, and I wanted to avenge my husband’s death. Both of us were cast aside for wanting justice and closure.

“Use her, Galen. Your goddess abandoned you. You are hurt and angry. Release your fury ... and your wrath ... upon her body as you would the goddess who threw you away.”

Galen grabbed dual handfuls of Tayla’s light brown hair and shoved his cock further into her mouth, then pushed through into her throat. He held her head in place and fucked her throat with short strokes. Tayla’s face turned red, and a few seconds later, she began beating on Galen’s thighs as she struggled for breath.

Maeli grasped his wrists and pulled. The former knight snarled at her but released Tayla’s head. The woman reared back and sucked in lungfuls of air as spit rolled down her chin and onto her robes.

“Hurt her, but don’t break her,” said Maeli. Her tone left no doubt there would be severe consequences if Tayla came to permanent harm.

“Believe it or not, the bitch gets wetter when you rough her up a little,” said Nattun. “She’s a gem among the rest of The Goddess’s whores. Don’t fuck it up for us.” The large man had his half-hard cock in hand and slowly stoked it as he enjoyed the show. “Up for a ride Maeli?” he asked, waving his prick in her direction

The woman gave him an apologetic smile. “Once he’s done with Tayla, I will be with him for the rest of the night.”

Galen watched the acolyte gasp and spit for a few seconds, then, to his amazement, she sucked him into her mouth and started bobbing on his cock again. The knight put his hand on the back of her head and continued roughly fucking her throat, this time giving her occasional chances to catch a few breaths before driving his cock back into her mouth.

Maeli knelt beside her and slipped a hand beneath the woman’s robes. The explosion of breath around Galen’s cock indicated the woman had found Tayla’s clit.

“Tayla and I have been friends for years,” she said. “We became initiates at the same time and attended all the same classes. We became acolytes together, shared housing, food, and even a few men. Yet the entire time, I had no clue she got off on being treated like this.” Maeli pulled her hand away, then slapped the woman’s pussy, making her jerk her head back and shriek without releasing Galen’s prick. “Such a good little slut for her goddess.”

The glare Tayla shot at Maeli told a slightly different story, but Galen hardly cared as he shoved his cock into the acolyte’s throat and emptied himself into her stomach. When he released the woman, she spent the next minute coughing and catching her breath again.

The former knight’s cock dripped with the woman’s spittle as it drooped. Maeli reached beneath his deflating prick and cupped his balls before leaning in and kissing them. Warmth flooded his cock and scrotum, making his cock swell and his balls fill with seed again.

“With all your anger and hurt, I’m sure that wasn’t enough. Tayla, strip and bend over for our knight.”

Tayla wiped her mouth and shot another glare at her friend before letting out another resigned sigh and standing up. She pulled her robes over her head and bent over in front of Galen, sighing yet again.

“Why don’t you beg for his cock Tayla,” Maeli giggled.

“Fuck you, Maeli. Just because you treat me like a cocksleeve doesn’t mean I’m your fucking slave,” she snarled back.

As Maeli stood up, she whipped her hand toward the woman’s ass. The following crack echoed in the small room and made Tayla squeal though she didn’t move or try to protect her bottom from another swat. Maeli smirked at Galen and said, “Just don’t break her,” before walking over and joining Nattun on the couch.

Tayla’s defiance tripped something in Galen’s head. If she was supposed to be a stand-in for the goddess who threw him away, he didn’t want her to like it as he fucked her. Tayla being a pain slut defeated the purpose of taking out his anger on her. But how she snapped at Maeli told him she was not enjoying this, even though her body was.

The former knight grabbed her bottom and spread her cheeks apart, exposing her tight-looking rosebud and spreading her pussy so the lips separated, and he could see her dripping entrance winking at him. Galen barely lined up and lurched forward, burying his cock to the hilt in a single thrust and drawing out a grunt of discomfort from the woman.

Maeli’s hand slipped beneath her robes and into her undergarments as she watched Galen viciously pound Tayla from behind.

“I could help you with that,” said Nattun, “or we could help each other.”

Maeli glanced over at the big man. He had been training with The Order of the Lion’s Shield for several years when his younger brother was caught stealing. Nattun tried his best to save his brother from losing his hands, but Lantaran laws are absolute, and no amount of begging by him, his parents, or his siblings was enough to stay his brother’s punishment.

Instead of getting medical attention after the sword came down, Nattun’s brother panicked and ran. The crowd that gathered to watch the punishments prevented his family from reaching his brother, and they found him in an alley a few minutes later. The young man had just enough time to apologize to them before he passed away.

Nattun left The Order and Lantaris. In his eyes, The Order, The Church, and The Goddess they served were not saviors and protectors, but tyrants, ruling with an iron fist and incapable of showing compassion.

Maeli was drawn to his anger and hatred like a moth to a flame. She found him at an inn still in Lantaran lands and, using Tayla in a similar manner, convinced him to join her cause and pledge himself to her new goddess.

Nattun had merely been a soldier for The Order. She hoped that with some training from Galen, he would eventually blossom into a respectable knight for their new goddess. She also had no plans to sleep with him again. His cock was a nice size and fit nicely inside her, but she was a cleric and above taking care of the needs of a soldier. That’s what Tayla was for, and if her friend ever left, Maeli had a stash of money collected by her goddess’s other followers to purchase a slave for the needs of her male recruits.

“Perhaps another time,” she said with a faint smile.

“I’m never fucking you again, am I?”

“Probably not.”

“At least you’re honest,” he said, turning his attention back to Tayla and Galen as he stroked his prick faster.

It took another hour, and Maeli casting the rejuvenation spell numerous times, before Galen finally pushed Tayla away from him. The woman collapsed to the floor, panting as Galen sat back and caught his breath. Tayla’s ass and breasts bore bright red handprints, as did the left side of her face. Only one red mark was on her face since Maeli voiced her displeasure after seeing the hard slap split the woman’s lip. Tayla, however, seemed unbothered by the abuse.

Nattun jerked off until he was about to come, then got up and shoved his cock in Tayla’s unoccupied mouth to empty his balls a second time before retiring to one of the beds for the night.

Maeli kept herself on the edge of orgasm as Galen unleashed his emotions upon her friend. But now that he was done with Tayla, it was her turn.

“Your love for your goddess faded away when she abandoned you,” said Maeli, letting her robe fall from her shoulders to pool beside the undergarments she discarded earlier. “Now you’ve released all of your anger. You are a clean slate,” she said, pulling Galen to his feet, “Are you willing to accept a new goddess? One who understands, accepts, and condones your desire for revenge against those who wronged you. Do you pledge yourself to the Goddess Dovuure and promise to aid her desire to see the Lantaran Church fall?” As she spoke, Maeli lifted a leg which Galen caught and held in place as she placed his cock at the entrance of her pussy.

“The Goddess of Wrath?” Galen asked. A dangerous smile crept onto his face as he considered the possibilities. “I accept.”

Maeli pressed her lips to his as she sank down on his cock.

Tayla whimpered as she felt the divine energy in the room coalesce within her friend. It started in the pit of Maeli’s stomach and traveled upwards. When it reached Maeli’s throat, Tayla could see the wisps of red and black energy passing through her skin, only to loop back in.

Galen thrust wildly into the woman as she slammed her pussy down onto his cock with equal abandon. After the acolyte’s passive disinterest, he needed a woman who actually wanted to fuck him. His hips stopped as Maeli’s tongue pushed something into his mouth that lit up his tastebuds. Whatever it was continued past her tongue to the back of his throat, where he had no choice but to swallow.

Power flowed through him as the thing he swallowed spread out from his chest, permeating his body. But this wasn’t like when the clerics of his former goddess healed him. This power popped and sizzled through his nerves, lighting them up as they had his tongue and amplifying every taste, touch, smell, and sensation.

The feeling faded but never entirely went away. It sat just beneath the surface of his being, waiting to be called upon.

“Fuck me, Sir Galen,” Maeli growled. “Fill me with the seed of Dovuure’s first paladin.”

Grabbing her hips, Galen drove his cock deep inside the woman and did just that.

“First paladin, huh?” Tayla asked, lying back on the couch and looking over at Galen sleeping in the second bed. The red marks on her body were gone thanks to a quick healing spell she cast as Maeli and Galen tried to fuck each other through the mattress, and maybe through the wooden floor below. Her body rocked rhythmically on the sofa as Maeli fucked her with the cleric’s magical pseudo-cock.

“Dovuure is a young Goddess. She has not had the thousands of years other deities have to find a champion.”

“So you stole one from our goddess.”

“Your goddess. Not mine,” Maeli snapped. Her eyes narrowed, “Why are you still here?”

She looked up at the cleric. “This again? I already told you. I’m here for you.”

Maeli slammed the fake cock home. “So you’ve said. But why?”

“Because I love you, Maeli,” Tayla replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I have for years. The night we got drunk on wine, and I slept with Braedun, I wasn’t looking to steal your husband away. I was hoping there was a place for me in your lives, and maybe we could become a triad. I wanted to be more than just a spectator to your happiness. I wanted to be a part of it. But when I approached your husband after that night, he wasn’t interested.” The woman’s mouth twisted in a sardonic grin. “Now I understand that he fucked me for the notch on his belt and already had his eye on other conquests.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you put up with all this,” said Maeli as she stroked the pseudo-cock in and out of her friend again.

“I just told you I love you, and this is all the reaction I get?”

“Yes, because it makes sense. And because I love you too. If I had this spell years ago,” she said, thrusting hard into Tayla’s pussy, “Braedun and I would have never happened. But it doesn’t explain why you have put up with me passing you around to men and putting up with what you went through tonight.”

Tayla’s eyes softened. “Maeli, you’ve fallen. You got lost in your despair and fell into the arms of a goddess who says she can give you the power and revenge you want. I think it’s a farce and that she will discard you the moment you lose an iota of usefulness. When that happens, I will be there to pick you up. But I can’t do that if I’m back in Mevaria. So, until you come to your senses, I’ll stay by your side, even if it means getting passed around to your new recruits.”

“You may be my cocksleeve for a long time.”

Tayla shrugged. “As long as I’m yours, it’s fine.” She reached down and began playing with her clit. “Fuck me harder, Maeli. I still haven’t come yet, and this strange magical cock you can grow is the only one I’ve wanted inside me all day.”

Kal lay on his side in the large bed with Ikuno’s back pressed against his chest. The oni moaned and panted while twisting the bedclothes in her fists as Kal stroked his cock in and out of her bottom.

“You feel sooo good in my ass,” she panted, pressing into his cock to get him even deeper. Kal grunted in agreement before speeding up until his hips smacked loudly against her bottom as he pistoned in and out of her rear. Squeezing her tight to his chest, he thrust into her depths and held himself there as he painted the inside of her rear. Moments later, Ikuno moaned through her own orgasm and lay there panting as her rectum tried to squeeze every drop out of Kal’s prick.

“Nooo,” Ikuno whined as Kal slipped from her bottom and rolled onto his back. “I wanted you to stay in there,” she said, lazily reaching behind her.

“Kashka and Senza have been waiting for a while to come in without interrupting us. Our lute player went back to his house an hour ago. And we need to start getting ready for the feast in Sayaka. You know I would love to stay buried in that beautiful ass of yours, but we have obligations.”

Ikuno sighed. “I guess,” she pouted before rolling onto her stomach. “Chihiro?”

“Yes, Great Ikuno,” the woman answered, shaking herself out of her daze after watching the oni and her human lover do things she had barely imagined. When Kal and Ikuno were preoccupied earlier, Chihiro went to the pile of rocks coming through the floor on the other side of the room and stoked the fire inside. After placing three larger stones in the flame, she set upon them a metal pot filled with water from the nearby stream to warm. Now she ladled out some of the steaming water into a partly filled wooden bucket with washcloths draped over the side.

Chihiro returned with the warm water when the temperature was to her liking. Ikuno moaned with appreciation as the woman placed a warm washcloth directly over her pucker before moving over to Kal and using the other washcloth to thoroughly clean his cock and balls.

“We should do this when we get back home,” said Ikuno, watching the human woman gingerly clean her lover’s prick. “Pick one of the girls and let her have a day to be pampered by all the rest of us.”

“I’m sure Dax and her pack would like to get in on that,” Kal chuckled.

“Is she related to the Daxas Ria mentioned?” Ikuno asked, then looked toward the door as Kashka and Senza entered.

“One and the same,” said Kal. Chihiro froze as the two monster girls entered, her face turning red with embarrassment. “Keep going. They don’t care,” he told the woman. “Now that I think about it, I believe Senza will share these duties with you.”

“I don’t mind taking over,” said the pangolin. Senza pursed her lips, and her long tongue dropped out from between them, reaching nearly to her waist.

“But...” Chihiro’s voice dropped to a whisper as she pointed at his cock with the washcloth, “he was in her butt.”

“That’s not a problem,” said Ikuno. “The lubricant Kal used is from the queen of all slimes and will dissolve any dirtiness it encounters. His dick is probably cleaner now than before he fucked me.”

“Then why am I cleaning him?” she asked. Looking at the washcloth, she only found the slime lubricant with a few quickly fading streaks of Kal’s seed

“Because it’s still covered in slime, and you wanted to touch his cock some more,” she giggled. “By the way, Kal, I don’t know if she told you this, but Cyrene felt it every time you used that lubricant. She didn’t warn me the first time, so I’m guessing she didn’t say anything to you.”

Kal shared a look with Kashka. Both of them were going through all the times they had used the gel, with many of them being recent as the cat explored their newest way of making love. “No, this is the first I’ve heard of it.” His brow furrowed. “I was experimenting with using some of her slime as a base for a new ink. I hope I didn’t hurt her.”

“If she didn’t tell you she could feel what happened to her slime, then the fault is hers if you did.”

“But how could her slime survive this long? It’s been months since I left the tower, and I’m certain she said it would only survive a few days away from her.”

Ikuno pointed at the leather bag lying above their heads on the bed. “Ria is why. You got the bottle out, got what we needed, and immediately stored it again. If you’ve done that every time, then it’s unlikely that bottle has been away from her for three full days. I think it was three. The last time I saw Cyrene was before I met Azrin, roughly ... two-hundred-fifty years ago? Maybe three hundred?”

“I think we can forgive you for being hazy on dates after two centuries. But she was going to make a copy of herself to help Veld and Graff build their new home, and I feel like she said her clone had three days. Sadly, I don’t have the excuse of saying that happened hundreds of years ago for my fuzzy memory.”

“You still need to tell me about Veld and Graff and what happened when you got to Prentas’s tower. I don’t like being locked out of your head.”

“No more than I like keeping you out. Let’s get ready. I’ll start filling you in at the feast.”

Sayaka put out a lavish spread at their meeting hall to honor their patron spirit. Like with the winner’s feast, they arranged the table in front of the meeting hall’s doors so Ikuno could look over the town while they ate. There were ten place settings for the five champions, so they added another in the center for Ikuno. However, since she dismissed three of the champions, and they had all left Sayaka during the day, six of the eleven seats sat empty. The oni mostly rectified the problem by inviting Ichiro, Yua, Asahi, and Yamori to join them, then nearly dragged Chihiro to her proper place as one of her attendants. This left two places unused but looked significantly better than a half-empty table.

Unlike the winner’s feast, this meal was for the entire town. Long tables with bench seats were set up in front of the meeting hall. To either side of the area sat two cooking stations. One offered noodles and a hearty soup, while the other served rice with meat and vegetables covered in a thick, brown sauce. Many people already sat at the tables and chatted casually, but as more people arrived, lines began forming in front of the food stations.

Ikuno looked beautiful in the colorful kimono brought by the caretaker’s wife. Like the dress of the noblewomen in Kuji, the robe was made of silk and painted with excruciating detail. The kimono’s rich blue would have looked odd with her usual cobalt skin but perfectly complimented her current lighter blue tone. Branches of a tree he had seen repeatedly in the royal gardens at Kuji were covered in pale pink flowers and extended from her right ankle up to her left shoulder. A brightly colored black and yellow bird sat on one of the branches crossing her thigh.

“Chihiro, Senza, do you have anyone you would like to join us?” Ikuno asked. Chihiro’s eyes widened in a moment of fear before she shook her head vigorously. Senza cast a longing look at Ichiro, who joined her for the winner’s feast, before also shaking her head.

Since they still had a few minutes before the official start of the meal. Kal took the opportunity to get Yamori’s attention. “I thought you were leaving and taking Asahi with you, but I saw his tent next to Ichiro’s,” he asked as everyone took their seats and got comfortable.

“I was, but I knew that Asahi and Ichiro were thinking of staying in Sayaka for a while longer to see how things went with you and Ikuno, so I sent a message back to my mate that I would also be staying. That was yesterday, which is why Asahi’s announcement earlier surprised me so much. She isn’t expecting me back for another week, which gives me five days here, then another two of travel since we will be returning by horse,” she said with a smile at Asahi.

“You expect me to let you ride my horse?” the middle brother asked in mock indignation.

“Watch out, brother. Next, she’ll be wanting to share your bed.”

Asahi looked aghast as he reeled back dramatically from the gecko, “First my horse and now my chastity?!” Most of the table had to suppress chuckles from the younger brother claiming to be ‘chaste.’

Yamori was one of those but quickly replaced her laugh with a hungry grin before leaning into Asahi and saying, “Yessss.”

Asahi blinked a few times, then grinned. “At least you’re honest,” he said before straightening in his seat and giving her a peck on the lips. Most of the table had a good chuckle at the couple’s antics, but Ikuno wasn’t laughing. Instead, she frowned out at the gathering crowd.

“Something wrong?” Senza asked the oni.

Ikuno flashed a smile at the pangolin, then another at Yamori and Asahi to let them know her frown wasn’t because of their flirting. “It’s nothing anyone here has done, but I’ll need to make an announcement before the meal starts,” she replied tersely.