Chapter 2

Jori quizzed me as we rode, asking about my hunting experience and making sure I knew how to stalk game--and men. I assured him that, not only could I stalk game, but had brought my hunting clothing. I had clothing dyed in various colors to provide camouflage in different terrains. I even had black for hunting at night and white for hunting in the snow. The clothing had also been waterproofed in case of rain or snow.

He asked about our clan’s history, and I told him the tale of them leaving Narcilia and ending up here.

While none of our clan members had entered the service of a noble since we left Narcilia, the tradition of training everyone in our clan to fight, even the women, continued to this day.

Jori admitted that, despite Warro’s assurances, he has a hard time believing that anyone could be accurate with a bow at three hundred paces. I assured him that I was, and men in the clan were usually accurate at four hundred paces, but not until they reached their adult height. I could hit the chest of a target four times out of five at three hundred fifty paces and was deadly accurate at three hundred paces.

The long ride gave me time to think, and I was soon sorry that I did. While I wasn’t afraid of dying, I wondered what Karela would do. I knew that she would need to marry again, and instantly hated every man I could think of that she might marry, even though I understood that I’d be dead if that were to happen. Even knowing that I had a jealous streak when it came to Karela, something I had learned when I was eight, it took nearly half a mark to get my jealousy under control.

The spring equinox had been three weeks ago, so there were now nearly eleven marks between sunrise and sunset. Even though we got a late start, the extra daylight allowed us half a day’s travel and it was nearly dark when we stopped for the night. Even before caring for our horses, though, Jori wanted me to demonstrate my ability with the bow. He pointed out a lone tree just over three hundred paces from us. I explained that I intended to hit the ground one span in front of the tree so it would be easier to recover both my arrow and the arrowhead.

After successfully demonstrating my skill with a bow, I went looking for Ashia, finding her where the rest of our group had set up camp. I helped to unsaddle the horses and packhorses, taking them to a nearby stream for water before hobbling them inside a rope corral I set up. There I brushed them, giving each a chunk of the molasses and mixed grain I brought for them. Ashia started a fire to cook our supper and got water from the stream for cooking, as well as for drinking and bathing.

She was surprised at how much of everything I had and how organized the contents of the large panniers were, each one brimming with more supplies than she had ever seen. Having traveled across the continent, our clan had learned to pack a lot of stuff in an organized manner. Food and supplies had been distributed evenly between each of my packhorses so losing one horse wouldn’t leave me without food or a critical item.

The panniers were packed with a veritable pharmacy of herbs, including enough women’s herb to keep several women from getting pregnant for a year. I guess Karela, my wife, had been serious about me bringing back as many female slaves as I could. Not all would become my wives or concubines. She would probably choose one and the rest would become clan property until they earned their freedom or decided to become wives of clan families, which was usually the preferred choice.

Supper tonight was stew made with the vegetables and meat we had purchased in the marketplace earlier today. Even though I’d given her money to buy fresh food for us, she surprised me with bread she bought in one of the towns we passed through.

Seeing our column of troops riding through town, several merchants had lined the route hawking their wares. They knew that the people following the troops would make the purchases while the troops continued moving. Many of the squires and servants had made a quick stop to buy bread and other goods, not even dismounting as they conducted their transactions.

I invited Jori to eat with us since he didn’t have anyone with him. He set up his tent across the fire from mine.

Ashia’s eyebrows rose when I handed her one of my knives so she could cut the bread. “This blade looks like the blades of swords several nobles in Donnak recently purchased, the same nobles that were abusing me. I heard them discussing the blades while I was cooking their dinner,” she commented when she saw the irregular, wavy lines all over the blade.

“Their swords were probably swords made by our clan. They are strong enough to damage or cleave swords made of bronze, iron, or poor-quality steel. They barely need to be sharpened,” I explained as I pulled my longsword from its Orangewood scabbard. I carried my scabbard on my left hip. That way, I could draw and slice at the same time. The grip of the sword was Orangewood, although the crossguard was a piece of the special steel. The crossguard had been slipped over the sword’s tang right before the handle was attached.

This was my tenth sword. Twice each year, those of us training as warriors were measured and given a sword appropriate for our size and strength. The old swords were stored until one of the clan’s younger boys grew into it. The blade of my current longsword was nine hands long.

The second, shorter sword, was in a scabbard on my right hip. It was only six hands long. I was trained to fight with either or both. Using both gave me a distinct advantage over an opponent with a single sword. While meeting an opponent’s sword with my longsword, I could draw and slash with the short sword, or vice versa.

Much of my sword training for the last four years involved fighting two opponents at the same time using both swords. I wasn’t great at it but understood the basics, and the ability might save my life someday. Dad kept telling me that I was trying to think about what I was doing with the two blades and that I needed to trust my training and instincts and just let my movements flow, the same way I did in hand-to-hand Dragon Claw fighting.

If I had any warning before having to fight two swordsmen at once, however, I’d try to use one of my throwing knives to reduce the odds. I had a knife in a sheath strapped to the outside of each forearm, a third knife in a belt sheath in front of me, and another in a belt sheath behind each hip.

While we were finishing dinner, Sergeant Baekor came by. “You’ve got the first watch. Take Koyle with you,” he told Jori.

“He’s as good with his bow as Warro said he was,” Jori assured him.

Ashia was surprised when I gave her one of the spare knives. “Just in case someone tries to take advantage of you when I’m not here. Just be careful that it’s not me returning in a couple marks,” I said, grinning.

“Hmmmmm,” she replied with a smirk. I’d given her the knife because I didn’t think she was upset about having sex with me. She’d been teasing me since I started unloading the horses, even accidentally brushing against me twice.

Our watch was uneventful aside from Jori having me try to sneak up on him. I was successful on all three attempts, even the time he moved from where I had expected him to be. After watch duty, I entered my tent, stripped, and washed off with the wet cloth and bowl of water Ashia had set out for me.

“I thought you might be avoiding me because I had a knife, now,” she whispered with a quiet giggle.

I was surprised to find Ashia naked and waiting for me. As I moved up her body, she spread her legs invitingly and gasped in surprise when she felt my tongue between her legs.

“Ooooohhhhh, yessssss,” she sighed happily as I got my first taste of her sex. She was already wet and well lubricated. “Your wife has trained you well,” she sighed.

Rather than explain that our clan has four women who train our clan’s single young men in the art of pleasuring a woman, I continued my lingual and digital assault.

Any unmarried woman wishing to be one of the teachers talked to the Patriarch’s primary wife. All young women in our clan learn the theory of how to pleasure a man beginning with the onset of puberty. Once they’ve reached their fourteenth birthday, they may choose to begin their practical training under the guidance of their mother. They usually choose their father or a married brother as their first. After that, they are free to experiment with any married man, at any time, up to a maximum of three men, so long as the man’s wife agrees. They may not have sex with a single male of any age, or with more than three married men.

A current teacher provides extra training for the women who ask to become teachers. If there aren’t four clan women willing to be trainers, female slaves are polled to find one willing to become a trainer.

Young men begin their training on their fourteenth birthday. They learn not only how to pleasure their future wives and other partners, but the importance of making sure their women enjoy themselves. Single men may have sex with any of the four teachers and are encouraged to learn from each of them before marriage. A single man may not have sex with any woman other than one of the four teachers.

When the clan left Narcilia, there were only three hundred clan members. Today, we number more than two thousand, although half are younger than I am. Anyone born before the trek, as well as all but a those born during the last few years of the trek, are married with children of their own. Father was born twelve years before the clan left.

Most clan men have at least two women if they’ve been married for long, usually two wives or a wife and a concubine. Those holding some of the most important positions in the clan are allowed to have three. Many of the women were originally slaves purchased with the intent of increasing the number of women of child-bearing age in the clan, and eventually the number of children. That was another reason Karela told me to bring back as many slaves as I could, that, and she’d been instructed by the Patriarch’s wives to tell me. Once every married man in the clan has a second wife or a concubine, if they wanted them, the master craftsmen and clan warriors would be allowed a third. The Patriarch and the Seamii would be allowed a fourth. The Seamii (plural: Seami is singular) are the clan’s elite warriors.

Achieving the prestigious honor of being called a clan warrior meant you had excelled at and passed all the rigorous physical and mental conditioning and training, and had completed the military-related courses with high marks. You could only become a Seami after successful military service during a war. To become a Seami, a clan warrior had to be recognized for both their bravery and exceptional deeds during battle and had to consistently exhibit leadership skills in battle as decided by the Clan Patriarch.

Our clan had six Seamii when they left Narcilia thirty-five years ago, quite a feat considering that the average in Narcilia at the time was one Seami for every three clans. Since leaving, eighty-seven men have earned the title of clan warrior, but none the honor of being named a Seami. I was surprised that none of them went to fight in Donnak so they had a chance to earn the title, but they already had established lives with families and children.

I was even more surprised when the Clan Patriarch showed up at my house a week ago. “Koyle, your teachers assure me that you are ready and our best choice to send. You have been selected to represent Clan Teopaqa, to enlist with the troops going to Donnak to fight. We’ve lived here for twelve years and have a reputation as fair and honest traders, as well as good farmers and superior weaponsmiths. It’s time to let the rest of the country know that we are outstanding warriors, too.”

With that, he shook my hand, and then turned and left. I was speechless, but Karela wasn’t. She was excited, and it took me more than a mark that evening to satisfy her.

Currently, there are only three Seamii in the clan, and all are more than a decade older than my father. In fact, all six Seamii taught my father to be a clan warrior and the three remaining Seamii have been among my primary instructors.

A mark of honor for the Seamii is the clan tattoo, which is the clan insignia of a shield. A red line runs diagonally across the shield, symbolizing shed blood. The upper half of the shield is light blue, symbolizing the sky. The lower half is green, symbolizing the earth. Standing in the center is a yellow dragon, the yellow symbolizing the sun, and the dragon a symbol of a dangerous, ferocious warrior. Our clan’s name, Teopaqa, means People of the Dragon.

I regretted for a moment that I wasn’t yet old enough and physically developed enough to shoot a bow four hundred paces accurately; otherwise, I might have been able to become an official clan warrior before they sent me to help fight against Kahjohng. Regardless, I would make sure my service brought honor to the clan, as well as highlighting our tradition of turning out excellent warriors.

While my tongue continued to tease the sensitive spots of Ashia’s sex, my fingers continued to probe inside her, teasing the two internal spots that excite a woman. Ashia pulled the blanket over her face and bit it as she screamed when she climaxed. I crawled up her body as she lay gasping. When she was coherent again, she grabbed my cock and pulled me forward.

“Inside me, now,” she hissed insistently, a request I gladly obliged.

I used every trick I’d been taught to extend our coupling, enjoying her body during our first time together. Her body was soft and slender, yet muscular from hard work. I could feel her strength when she wrapped her legs around me. She climaxed again when I came, filling her with my cum.

“Mmmmm,” she sighed afterwards as I toyed with one of her small breasts, “I could learn to enjoy this.”

“Good, because I definitely enjoyed it,” I replied.

“Again?” she giggled because I was still playing with her breasts.

“I’d love to, but I’ve already missed two marks of sleep because of guard duty.”

I was surprised when she sucked me clean. “Just in case you change your mind,” she teased, and then cuddled against my side with one leg draped across my leg and her head resting on my shoulder, the same way my wife sleeps.

Used to waking up early so I could hunt, I was awake before the rest of camp. I used the time to take Ashia up on her offer of a second time.

“Now I’m going to squish all day while I’m riding,” she laughed afterwards.

I dressed and started saddling the horses while she cleaned up and dressed. The smile on her face told me she might end up as a second wife, provided that she got along with Karela. I hoped she did because I liked her feisty attitude as much as I enjoyed her body. Her small breasts were quite a contrast to Karela’s much larger ones.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female slave nearly so happy after spending her first night with a new master,” Jori teased me.

“Our clan teaches the men to always see to the woman’s pleasure before his own, even with the female slaves. Most of our female slaves eventually choose to become the wife or concubine of a clan member,” I explained.

“Excellent advice,” he replied. “My father taught me that a home where the wife is happy is a home where the husband is happy.”

The ride to Abataka, the Donnakian capital, took four days and I turned sixteen two days before we arrived. We were greeted enthusiastically by the small garrison of troops at each of the manor houses we passed. Once we reached the capital, their King greeted us personally and thanked us for coming to help. While they had managed to slow the advance of the Kahjohngi army, the vanguard had still nearly reached the valley. A late spring snow that had temporarily closed the upper part of the pass would finish melting in a day or two, allowing the rest of the Kahjohngi troops to join the ones who had already made it through. After resting and watering our horses for half a mark, we pushed west towards the mountain pass.

We rode until well after dark when we were met and challenged by Donnakian sentries. One of them led us into their main camp where we set up for the night. They told us the Kahjohngi troops were less than five thoups up the road. The Donnakian troops here manned the sturdy stone fortifications across the pass. These battlements were about five thoups above where the pass opened into the valley. The rock wall was five paces thick at the base and twelve paces high, stretching clear across the pass.

“Sir, if I might make a suggestion,” I requested of the Donnakian commanding officer when he met with us. His rank insignia told me that he was a captain. He looked at me and squinted in the semi-darkness around the fire.

“I know you. Your clan made the crossbows we’ve used to slow the Kahjohngi advance,” he said excitedly as he reached for my arm and clasped it in friendship. “I was one of the troops who came to buy the crossbows. Not only does your clan make excellent weapons,” he said, motioning to his sword, “but their hospitality is outstanding, loaning us horses to carry back more crossbows than we would have been able to bring back otherwise and sending us home with more than we had money for. Speak your mind, friend.”

“It’s probably too early for their scouts to be out yet, but you should move the campfires away from camp and have far fewer fires. They will think the troops are farther away and that there are fewer troops here waiting for them. I could guess how many troops you have here just by counting campfires. Each campfire usually represents ten troops.”

“I didn’t think of that,” he gasped, and quickly had two nearby junior officers start telling men to put out the fires. They were instructed to build half as many decoy fires a thoup farther southeast on the side of one of the hills so they would be visible from farther away.

“Sir, I request permission to scout the Kahjohngi defenses and camp tonight,” I requested of Lieutenant Fosser, who had joined us.

The Lieutenant looked questioningly at Jori. “He’ll be fine. I tested him the first night while we were on guard duty. He managed to sneak up on me each of the three times that I had him try. Before him, nobody had even managed to sneak up on me even once,” he assured the Lieutenant.

“Go,” Fosser said, motioning in the general direction of the Kahjohngi troops.

“Take one of my men who knows the way,” the Donnakian Captain insisted.

“Do you have a man who is an experienced hunter and knows how to stalk game?” I asked.

“Find Acabo and tell him to dress for hunting Kahjohngis,” the officer told yet another junior officer while smirking.

I hurried back to my tent and put on my chain mail. Glued inside the chain mail was a three-finger thick layer of the spongy sapwood from an Orangewood tree. The sapwood would absorb much of the impact from an arrow or weapon strike. I pulled on my black clothing, covering the chain mail lest it reflect light from a fire or the moon. Then I pulled the black knit cap over my face and head. Only my eyes and mouth showed, and I rubbed ashes into the skin of my face to darken those areas even more. Once my weapons were attached, I slung two oversized quivers of arrows over my shoulder. Picking up my bow, I hurried back.

Acabo and I started laughing at each other as soon as we met. Both of us were dressed in black and had darkened our faces. He showed me several hand signs he used to communicate silently and then led the way.

Halfway to the Kahjohngi camp, we heard men coming towards us and slipped behind two wide trees, waiting for the Kahjohngis to reach us. Acabo grinned at me and I nodded, making him grin even wider. Moments later, all six Kahjohngi scouts were dead. The four I killed were sans heads. Acabo’s two had their throats slit.

After giving me a thumbs-up and pausing to let me clean the blood from my swords, he led off towards the Kahjohngi camp again. With most of the night ahead of us, we moved cautiously and silently. I stopped him when we were about two hundred paces from a sentry we spotted up in a tree. He tried to stop me when I drew my bow. I signed two hundred paces, then pointed at myself and signed three hundred paces. I could see that he didn’t believe me, but I went ahead and made the shot as he prepared to flee.

The sentry was sitting, straddling a branch. The branch and the arrow through his head kept him in the tree so his body didn’t make noise by crashing to the ground. Acabo was staring at me, mouth agape when I looked back at him. He pointed out two more sentries in trees and I killed both before we resumed our stealthy approach to the enemy camp.

We stopped twenty paces from the perimeter of their camp. Leaning close, I whispered, “Officer’s tents?”

Once again grinning, he pointed out four tents that were markedly larger than the other tents. I was surprised that they didn’t have sentries around the perimeter of their camp, just the ones farther out that we had already eliminated, and I was determined to make them regret it. I motioned for him to follow me and began creeping into their camp.

One man exited his tent and died with his dick in his hand and one of my arrows in his head while he watered a tree. We started closest to the near side of their camp. It was dangerous, but I boldly entered the first officer’s tent we came to. In the cramped quarters, I used my short sword on him while covering his mouth with my other hand.

The next two tents were nearly identical. When I entered the fourth tent, the officer stabbed me in the chest with his knife, the stab deflected by my chain mail. I don’t know what had alerted him, but I covered his mouth and sliced his throat while he wondered why I was still standing. “Wife or slave?” I whispered to the terrified woman lying naked next to where his body fell, her huge eyes staring up at me.

“Slave,” she whimpered quietly.

“Put on pants, shirt, and shoes, nothing else,” I ordered. She hurried to comply.

“He has a female slave,” I whispered through the wall of the tent to Acabo. He scratched the tent once to acknowledge that he heard me.

“Don’t you want their payroll?” the girl whispered when I motioned for her to exit the tent.

“Fuck,” I hissed quietly when I opened the pannier and saw at least fifty pounds of silver coins. “Here, carry these,” I told her, handing her my bow and quivers. I hefted the pannier and followed her out of the tent.

“Change of plan; we steal horses and ride back. This is their payroll,” I whispered to Acabo. Since we’d already killed the sentries closest to the horses, it was a simple matter to steal them. Tomorrow, the Kahjohngi soldiers would have to carry their own supplies. We slipped a halter and bridle on two horses and halters on the rest, securing the pannier on one horse. Leading the horses, we walked them slowly away from their camp.

We’d gone half a thoup when we heard a shout of alarm from the camp. At that point, Acabo and I each climbed up on a horse and started riding. The girl didn’t know how to ride a horse, so she rode double behind me, hanging on for dear life. I led the horse with the pannier, heading for the road through the pass. I was following Acabo as he led the other horses tied off in a string behind him. We couldn’t exactly gallop since we didn’t have a saddle, but we were moving faster than anyone who might be chasing us on foot.

Acabo knew where the Donnakian sentries were and shouted out greetings that included the day’s password to let them know we were friendly. It took a while for them to clear the gate enough to allow us to lead the horses through. I finally breathed a sigh of relief once we were behind their defensive barricade.

Then we reported to their Captain. “We killed six scouts trying to sneak up on our camp, then three sentries and the four officers we could identify. We took all their packhorses, and he grabbed their payroll,” Acabo reported, motioning towards me.

I set the pannier on the ground in front of the officer. “That belongs to the two of you, as well as the horses and the ... guest,” he chuckled and shooed us away.

I followed Acabo to his tent and we each chose fifteen horses. When I tried to give him half the silver, he refused. He grabbed four fistfuls of silver coins and told me to keep the rest. “It was your crazy idea to sneak into their camp, and you’re the one who entered each tent,” he explained.

Ashia greeted me excitedly when I returned alive, while also checking out the other woman with me. “This is Doreta. You two get acquainted. I need sleep,” I said as I stripped and crawled into the bedroll, too tired to even wash. I was awakened sometime during the night when the two women bookended me, each resting a bare leg on top of mine and pressing her damp pussy against my thigh while they used my shoulders for pillows. I rose to the occasion, but was exhausted enough that I went back to sleep instead, despite the two of them kissing each other right above my face.

They wouldn’t be put off again at dawn. I was amazed at how bossy slaves could be as Ashia mounted me. I rolled her over and gave her what she wanted, a climax and a pussy full of cum so she’d be squishy again all day. I was surprised when Doreta insisted on a turn, too.

“The officer didn’t hurt you?” I asked her.

“Only when he used me ... back there,” she whispered. I’m sure she was blushing, but it was too dark in the tent to see. She sucked me clean of Ashia’s and my cum, making me hard enough to enter her so I could make her squishy, too.

Both women were giggling as they cleaned up and dressed while I exited the tent. “Where’d those come from?” Jori asked, jerking his thumb towards the new horses in our makeshift corral.

“We stole them from the Kahjohngis, along with their payroll and a slave girl belonging to one of the now-dead officers.”

“Didn’t take you long to break her in,” he chuckled as two grinning women exited the tent.

“They didn’t give me much choice, not that I’m complaining.” I hadn’t really gotten a good look at the girl last night, but she was stunningly beautiful and looked to be fourteen or fifteen.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” she said as she came over and kissed me.

“I’d hardly call it a rescue, just a change of ownership,” I replied.

“It’s definitely a rescue after what Ashia told me about you last night,” she chuckled. This time, I did see her cute blush.

Sergeant Baekor summoned Jori and me to a meeting right after breakfast. Lieutenant Fosser shook my hand as soon as I saluted. “You made quite a name for yourself last night. They want you and Acabo to lead their crossbow troops tonight in a surprise attack against the Kahjohngi camp and have asked us to man the fortification here in their absence.”

“Alright,” I agreed. Both Lieutenant Fosser and the man I learned was Captain Karbo, who was in charge of the Donnakian troops, grinned.

Acabo, Jori, and I met with the Donnakian troops and spent several marks planning and organizing. There were five hundred men here with crossbows. Their remaining two hundred crossbow archers were guarding the capital. I learned that they had sent men four days ago to buy another thousand crossbows from our clan and expected them back within three more days. After the meeting, I got some more sleep since we’d be busy tonight.

That night, we set out with the crossbow archers. I led three hundred men following the same route we’d taken last night, along the south side of the hill, which roughly paralleled the road on the north side of the hill. There was a narrow valley between this hill and the next one to the south. The narrow valley and the hill’s steep slope were hardly conducive for a major assault, but we continued advancing. Beyond the next hill to the south were nearly impassable chasms and cliffs.

Acabo led his two hundred men along the north side of the hill where he could watch the road. We both agreed that there were still fifteen hundred Kahjohngi troops based on the number of tents we saw last night, as well as from his previous scouting.

The plan was for my team to start an attack against the Kahjohngi camp, drawing them out to face the threat. Acabo would attack from the rear once the Kahjohngi troops had taken defensive positions. Of course, our clan’s military tactics instructor warned us that battles never, ever, go the way you expect them to go and you have to plan your strategy accordingly. I separated my men into three equal groups. I led one group along the southern slope of the hillside north of the narrow valley. Jori led one group along the north side of the hill to our south, and one of the Donnakian sergeants led the remainder of the men through the narrow valley between the two hills.

I heard Kahjohngi troops advancing towards us well before I saw them, although they weren’t talking and were much quieter than last night’s scouts had been. Not wanting to give away our position, I shot an arrow into the ground in front of the sergeant leading the men through the valley, startling him. When he looked our way, I signed for them to take cover. I sent one of my men to warn Jori and one to warn Acabo in case the Kahjohngi troops had also split up. My group continued to advance quietly through the trees on the slope about a hundred feet above the Kahjohngi troops while still watching to make sure there weren’t Kahjohngi troops on the hillside above or in front of us.