Chapter 6

Despite my assurances, Sekka was still surprised when I headed, alone, for an empty bedroom after dinner, allowing the three women to sleep alone and unmolested. At least that had been my plan. The bedroom door opened just as I was dozing off and Sekka entered.

“Chaola insists on being with you tonight,” she said resignedly.

“Are you okay with that?” I asked.

“I have mixed feelings about it. She is obviously interested, and you haven’t forced any of us to do anything. Since your clan teaches young women about sex anyway, she might as well start learning now,” she sighed.

“Come with me, my bed is larger and will be more comfortable for the two of you,” she said.

“Oh, my,” she gasped when I slid out from beneath the covers, completely nude. “I ... wasn’t aware they got that large,” she admitted shyly.

“Nobody ever commented about it being larger than usual,” I replied as she led me to her room, two doors away. In the dim light of a single candle, I saw Chaola in the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she saw me naked. She squeaked in surprise when I pulled her covers off so her naked body was also visible.

“Relax, I’m not going to do anything except make you feel good unless you insist that I take this further. If you change your mind and don’t ask me, we’ll sleep together tonight, and you’ll still be a virgin when you wake up in the morning.”

“Here,” I said taking her hand and guiding it to my erection. “You seem fascinated by it so touch it and look at it.”

“The skin is so soft,” she whispered almost reverently as she ran her fingertips along the length.

“So is your skin,” I replied, tracing one finger up the inside of her thigh as she stared at my hand, not sure what I was doing.

“Nnnnnggggghhhhh,” she groaned when the fingertip ran softly through her feminine furrow, exclaiming again when it traced a circle around her clit.

“Did that feel good?” I asked.

“What did you do?” she gasped, still panting slightly.

“I merely touched some of the places that make you feel good. There are many more that I’d like to touch with my fingers, as well as my lips and tongue. I can make you feel much better that what you just felt.”

“Really?” she asked excitedly.

“The women who teach us about sex first show us how to pleasure the woman we’re with. I already knew who I wanted as my wife and wanted to make sure I could always give her pleasure, so I was an enthusiastic pupil.”

She made no protest when I had her sit up but looked at me quizzically when I had her turn so her back was to me.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned when I began kissing the back of her neck. Her breath hissed between clenched teeth when I reached the side of her neck, and then her earlobe.

When my lips began on the left side of her neck, I cupped her breasts in my hands and then began running my fingertips across the sensitive skin. Each time I neared her nipples she unconsciously pressed her breasts against my hands to increase the pressure.

“Aaaaahhhhh!” she cried out when I gently rolled her nipples between my thumb and finger while continuing to kiss and even nip at the sensitive skin on her neck. Her body tightened and spasmed for a moment.

“Oh, my,” she sighed.

“It gets even better,” I promised.

“I don’t think it can get better,” she replied dreamily.

I laid her down on the bed and crawled above her, keeping her legs trapped between mine as I leaned down and worshipped her small, but gorgeous, breasts with my lips and tongue. She began thrusting her hips up at me when I sucked and chewed gently on one nipple and gently pinched and rolled the other.

This time, her climax was almost quiet as she gasped and tensed beneath me.

“You are playing my body like our teacher plays the lyre,” she gasped.

“And your musical cries of ecstasy and the other sounds of passion you make are even more beautiful than the music of the lyre,” I said quietly as I gently used a knee to spread her legs.

“Don’t worry, you haven’t told me to go farther yet, so I only intend to do something to make you feel even better,” I tried to reassure her when she looked at me apprehensively.

“What?” she gasped as my tongue ran up the inside of her thigh, continuing to the apex of her legs. After gathering the feminine nectar it found there, I began circling her clit.

“Ooooohhhhh, keep doing that,” she begged, so I continued to tease her clit, finally capturing it between my lips and flicking my tongue across it as fast as I could. While my tongue assaulted her clit, my fingertips were busy teasing the sensitive spots between her clit and her pussy. Chaola had my hair in a death grip keeping my face right where she wanted it. When she climaxed, her entire body arched off the bed and she gurgled as if someone was strangling her. Then she went limp beneath me, unmoving except for panting as if she’d just sprinted fifty paces.

I noticed that Sekka was standing right next to us watching intently. Her hand was barely a span from my face and I caught the distinct fragrance of aroused female emanating from her fingers. Taking her hand, I pulled it to my face and inhaled her fragrance deeply, and then sucked one of her fingers into my mouth.

“I hope you will let my tongue play where your fingers just did,” I told her as I continued to hold her hand. Despite her attempts to take her hand back, I held on to it until I’d cleaned her lubrication from her fingers.

“Kneel so you can help me,” I told Sekka, watching as she obediently dropped to her knees. I still had her hand and placed it on the head of my cock.

“Hold onto that,” I told her as I shifted and let the length of my cock slide through Chaola’s well-lubricated gap, making sure to rub against her clit each time.

“What are you doing?” Chaola gasped.

“Still making you feel good, I hope,” I replied.

“It feels good, but I want something else and I’m not sure what I want,” she panted as I continued rocking. I stopped and aimed my cock, slotting the head at the opening of Chaola’s virgin sex. Using Sekka’s hand, I rubbed the head up and down across the opening.

“Yes, right there,” she pleaded.

“Give me your hand,” I told Chaola, moving her hand to where we were almost joined. “Feel that?” I asked, moving her fingertip to her opening. Then I moved her hand to my cock and began rubbing the head across the opening again.

“Just like that,” she gasped, pressing the head harder against her opening.

“If you press any harder, it will go inside you,” I warned.

“Then put it inside me; make me a woman,” she insisted. I pulled Sekka’s hand back and wrapped her fingers around the base of the shaft. “Guide it in,” I told Chaola, helping her guide the head to her sex. She cried out when I pressed forward, sundering her membrane.

“That hurt,” she said accusingly.

“As I’m sure you knew it would. I stopped immediately to wait for the pain to go away. When it stops hurting, try moving a little to see how it feels.”

“Chaola,” Sekka said soothingly, “consider yourself lucky to have such a considerate man for your first. Your father was my first and didn’t stop until he spilled his seed inside me. I cried the entire time.”

“I expected it, but it still hurt,” Chaola replied. I noticed that she was cautiously moving her hips.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“Yes, it still stings a little, but I can’t seem to hold still.”

“Then let me move a little bit. Tell me to stop if it hurts, or to move more if it feels good,” I instructed. I pressed forward slowly, receiving no complaint as I did.

“He’s all the way inside you,” Sekka told her a short time later. Sekka’s hand was now wedged between us and she leaned over and kissed me. “Hopefully you’ll be able to take me, too,” she said seductively.

“I’ll say it’s deep inside me,” Chaola giggled. “I think it’s clear up to here,” she said, motioning well above her navel.

I fell asleep much later, bracketed by two women, both full of my cum.

My troops and I headed east shortly after sunrise. Before we left, I could see that the enthusiastic reports from Chaola and Sekka had calmed the women who were considering heading for a new, unknown life. The manor’s wagons were almost overloaded with valuables from the manor house. They also carried the possessions of the daughters, the Countess, and the other women who were going to Teopaqa Island.

The Countess and two daughters headed west just before midday. Joining them were seven young women who had been required to work in the manor house and repeatedly forced to submit to the Earl and his son. Nine more single young women from the village just beyond the manor walls joined them.

I had let the three women choose a few items that they especially wanted to keep. Those items, along with their beds, included a note to keep them for me.

The hunter who led us here was likewise encouraged by the women’s report and agreed to continue as our guide. For ten more days, we raided towns and manors, usually sneaking in at night. I lost count of the number of widows and young women we sent to Kal-naa to begin the sea voyage to Bellcaava, but it was more than two hundred. The Clan planned to have someone available to meet the ships in Bellcaava starting ten days after we left.

Even before we left, they rented a large warehouse to store anything we sent back. The person meeting the ships would deal with any captured troops we sent, as well as the single women and confiscated goods.

Slaves and single women would be accompanied to Teopaqa Island at least once a week if we had enough to warrant a trip. Any goods not claimed by the troops with me would be sold in Bellcaava or shipped elsewhere to sell, probably Kaljata, the closest seaport at the mouth of the Joaget River. They might even be sent farther upriver to Abataka.

If any of the men with me wanted something we sent back, such as weapons or armor, they included a note with it and the person from our clan would save it for them. Everything we sent back would be appraised and the total value would be split between the thousand troops and me, after the King got his cut. Originally, I didn’t think we’d earn much since our share was to be split a thousand and one ways. Now, however, with a captured pirate ship, as well as what we discovered in the Kal-naa barracks and at the first manor house, each man would end up with at least two years’ pay.

I learned later that the captain of our ship, as well as the troops that I left in Kal-naa, liked the technique we used to capture the pirate ship. The troops that remained in the port were ready when another pirate ship docked to sell their goods and slaves, as well as a ship they had seized. Our troops captured that pirate ship and the merchant ship, adding two more prizes to what had suddenly become an eight-ship fleet.

Only eleven of the crew aboard the merchant ship had survived the pirate attack. When given the choice of working for us or finding another ship to sail aboard, they decided to continue aboard the merchant ship as part of our crew. After adding Kahjohngi flags to the ships to protect them from pirates, they filled three ships with the goods and the women who had already been sent to the port, as well as the captured enemy troops and pirates. All three ships sailed together for Bellcaava.

Several shackled pirates were used to help sail the ships. The pirates had been given the option:

cooperate and live to become slaves, or don’t cooperate and see how well you can swim while shackled. They had been split between the three ships. The crew was told to change to the Congraian flag and add our clan banner as they approached Kaljata. In Bellcaava, one of the warehouses should have our clan banner flying over it. Someone from our clan should meet them the day they arrived.

Midmorning on the eleventh day, we were loading wagons with spoils and single women from yet another harbor town when one of our scouts galloped in. I had positioned the scouts nearly a full day’s ride ahead of us, with more scouts watching the road every mark’s ride behind them. When a scout saw a column of two thousand Kahjohngi cavalry headed north, he rode to the next scout in line, changed horses, and rushed to us with the warning.

The next scout repeated the process when he spotted the Kahjohngi cavalry nearing his position, and so on.

I’d been expecting the troops that were now headed our way for the last three days and was surprised that they took so long to get here. I activated another relay of messengers to warn the troops we left in in Kal-naa and we began setting up our defenses.

By now, I had eight hundred of the thousand troops with me and felt that our crossbows gave us enough of an advantage to warrant an attack on the two thousand strong cavalry. The men were enthusiastic in their agreement. We finished sending everything north to Kal-naa by midafternoon.

This port was another one the pirates used. We had captured the local Earl yesterday, along with just as much loot as we got from the first manor we raided. There was also a smaller amount captured from the town’s garrison this morning, although there weren’t any pirate ships in port. The Earl and the local garrison were sent north to Kal-naa in chains.

By nightfall, the Kahjohngi troops had set up camp about six thoups from the town. Aside from Kal-naa, none of the towns or manors we raided had seen more than a hundred of our troops. I always left the remainder hidden outside of each manor and town to guard against surprise attacks. I hoped the Kahjohngi King and the troops he sent thought they were facing a small, rogue contingent of Sinian troops, or several small scattered groups raiding the north part of the country.

After dark, we headed for the Kahjohngi camp. We had already intercepted six scouts tonight. They were trying to reach the town to find out how many troops we had. We had purposely pitched tents and built fires north of town to make it look like we only had a hundred men bivouacked there.

I split my men into four groups. One group would sneak around the camp to take a position half a thoup south of their camp. Half of those men would assume positions on each side of the road, acting as a blocking force and intercepting any messengers headed south or any Kahjohngi troops that tried to flee. Once the attack was underway, they would close on the Kahjohngi troops from the rear.

The remaining three groups formed an arc north of the camp. I led forty of those men towards the west side of the Kahjohngi camp. Over the last ten days, these forty men had proven their ability to move stealthily in the dark.

The Kahjohngi troops had posted far more sentries tonight than they had in Donnak. We watched their camp for two marks, noting the location of the sentries when they changed. There were too many sentries for us to sneak in and do a lot of damage, so I settled for the next best thing. We moved in as close as we dared and began picking off the sentries. This alerted other sentries who shouted out a warning. As we picked off sentries, we cautiously moved closer to their camp until we were only fifty paces from the first row of tents.

As men poured out of the Kahjohngi tents, we targeted them, wounding some and killing others. I aimed for the two officers I saw and hit both men, even though one was three hundred-fifty paces away on the far side of the camp. I had twenty of the men fall back fifty paces as we covered their retreat, leapfrogging back a hundred paces ourselves while the first group covered our retreat. We continued our escape while still picking off any troops we could until we reached our position in the defensive arc.

The Kahjohngi troops formed into ranks and came at us, although they had to fight afoot. The ground was wooded and brush-covered and the terrain uneven enough that horses would have difficulty, especially in the dark. The battle was our archers against their swordsmen who were at a disadvantage since they were used to fighting from horseback. Their troops hadn’t had time to put on armor once the alarm had been sounded so as they charged us, our archers continued to thin their ranks.

Their back ranks stumbling over their own dead and wounded slowed the advance. By the time they reached us, I estimated that they were down to a 3:2 advantage. This momentary advantage disappeared when half of our men raised pikes that had been hidden on the ground, skewering the charging front rank of unarmored Kahjohngi troops. That slowed the advance enough that our remaining archers lowered the odds even more.

“Haka!” I shouted, calling for our men to draw their swords now. With both swords in hand, I ran forward to meet the disorganized enemy. All across the line of battle I heard the ring of metal on metal as weapons clashed in the night’s darkness, singing their songs of battle and death. I continued forward, swords slashing as I paid attention to my surroundings and let my training and instincts guide my swords and feet.

Once I broke through their line, I spun to attack from the rear and found many of my men right there with me. They had followed behind me, widening the gap I opened. As the hole in the Kahjohngi line grew, more of our men poured through and the attack against the rear of the Kahjohngi troops spread, especially once the men from the south side of the Kahjohngi camp joined us.

And then it was quiet; the ring of angry weapons stilled, replaced by the cries and moans of wounded troops, louder than our own panting and the pounding of our hearts. Torches appeared quickly, and we began checking the men. Nineteen of our men died and forty-two were injured. I spent the rest of the night tending to our wounded troops, stitching up serious wounds, applying ointments and salves, and dispensing herbs to prevent sepsis. I gave several men a dose of opium poppy sap to help with the pain. Six of our wounded got a double dose of the opium since I knew they wouldn’t live long enough to become addicted. I wanted their last hours to be as comfortable as possible.

When the blocking troops joined us after going through the Kahjohngi camp, they had made sure that the severely injured Kahjohngi troops from our surprise attack on the camp didn’t suffer any longer, as well as capturing more than fifty Kahjohngis who had tried to flee.

By the time the sun rose, our dead numbered twenty-six, and I was confident that the rest would survive. The Kahjohngi survivors numbered three hundred forty-three, most wounded. I spent the first part of the morning dealing with our wounded and then theirs. It gave me something to do to keep me busy so I didn’t dwell about the fate of our men who died last night. I hadn’t expected to win the battle unscathed, but these were the first deaths among troops I had fought with, and I was the one who had led them into battle.

Karela’s father was my military studies teacher and one of his admonitions repeated often in my mind throughout the day. “The mantle of leadership is far heavier than it would first appear to be.”

By the end of the day, our cleanup was complete. The Kahjohngi camp had been struck; their supplies were repacked, ready to load onto horses tomorrow. Our dead were buried just north of the town. Our scouts were again stationed to provide warning if more Kahjohngi troops approached. My arrows and the bolts used by the men had been collected, cleaned, and redistributed.

In the morning, while everyone else prepared to leave for Kal-naa, I checked on the wounded. Ten of the Kahjohngi troops required further attention since their wounds were showing signs of sepsis. Many of the wounded made the trip back to Kal-naa on a travois. After the death of twenty-six of our number, I was surprised that our troops were in such a good mood, even singing as we rode. I guess they were grateful to still be alive and to win the battle with so few losses.

We reached Kal-naa late in the afternoon three days later. Two days before our arrival, the troops there had captured yet another pirate ship arriving with a captured merchant ship. The first two merchant ships we had taken from pirates had just returned yesterday with new crews. They made good time since the ships had been nearly empty when they sailed from Bellcaava. Two full days after our return to Kal-naa, our remaining ships sailed for home. We had to leave nearly eight hundred captured horses behind. I paid the town to take care of them until ships returned to pick them up. Hopefully, they’d still be there and the Kahjohngi army wouldn’t confiscate them.

The last of our scouts rode in shortly before our departure. They reported a column of five thousand infantry approaching. Most of them looked to be conscripted peasants armed with pikes or homemade bows.

Most of our ships flew Kahjohngi flags for the return voyage. The merchant ship I was on carried only our troops, including the wounded so I could monitor their injuries. On the way home, we hung back and flew a Congraian flag, hoping to attract another pirate ship but none had appeared by the time we neared the Kahjohngi capital of Kasanji.

Thinking that we might be able to capture a Kahjohngi merchant ship, we switched to a Kahjohngi flag and tacked towards the city’s port. We were surprised to find it completely empty save for a lone merchant ship. We watched from offshore as a plush carriage pulled up on the docks next to the ship. Dozens of people had to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled by the carriage’s horses. Everyone seemed to be clamoring to secure passage aboard the ship.

“Does anyone else think that’s the Kahjohngi King trying to escape the city, along with wealthy merchants?” I asked, getting excited shouts in return. We maintained our position by tacking back and forth, not that we could have entered the harbor with the wind blowing directly offshore. The docked ship finally pulled slowly away from the docks. Sailors aboard the approaching ship scampered across the deck and up into the rigging as they set one sail after another. Even with the brisk offshore wind it took them more than half a mark to get near us, and they were still lumbering extremely slowly as they approached.

Our captain set a course to intercept the ship and had the Congraian flag raised again. As soon as he did, the other ship tried to veer away. We were tacking away from them when the Congraian flag was raised.

“Hold on and prepare to come about!” our captain shouted as he anticipated the other ship’s change of direction in their attempt to avoid us. He cut short the leg of our tack, coming about to parallel their course. Ropes and wood creaked and groaned, protesting the sharp turn the ship made. I had to hang onto the gunwales as the deck of the ship banked far more sharply than I’d experienced before.