Chapter 35

From the Video Blog of Ariel, the First Immortal Whore

“Pa said I should take you to meet Kayla Goddessborn. Would you like to do that now?” Mila asks.

I look to the princess. She nods. “We would,” I say. “Landon, do you want to accompany us?”

“Great Lady, the princess has asked me to talk to the men and help them understand she offers herself to all of them. Unless you need me there, I shall leave you in Mila’s hands.”

“I am sure that will be fine. Her hands are quite capable.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Landon says. “Mila, don’t cause too much trouble.” He grins at his sister. She flashes a smile back.

Landon leaves in one direction. The princess, Mila and I go in search of Kayla.

“I got a question,” Mila says. “Am I like to have a goddess baby this Beltane?” She shakes her head. “Sorry, pa said I should do better than that. Am I likely to have a goddess baby?”

“Why does your father care so much how you talk?” the princess asks.

“Some of Pa’s people get taken for big and stupid. And there’s no doubt about the big, so he decided to head off the stupid and learn as much as he could. He made Landon, Emmy and me do the same.”

“But then the other kids laughed at us. We were putting ourselves above them just because we’re headman’s daughters. Ma said that if we were more like them it would be easier. And it is.

“But it’s hard. Like how am I supposed to act arguing with ma in front of Your Highness?”

I walk faster to catch up with Mila and rest my hand on her shoulder. “Act however feels natural. Whores get used to a lot of different ways of talking. In the city, people mostly just talk how they are comfortable and everyone else is fine.”

“Thank you, Great Lady,” she says.

“We’re almost at the seed barn where Kayla and the women’ll be gathered. I’d still like to know, if ya’d tell me.”

I think back to the feel I got for her as I connected to cast Cure Disease while she fisted me. I shake my head. “I can’t see it. Your cycle is off for seed planted in you tonight to find an egg.”

She looks down. “I suspected; my cycle is regular. But would you ... I heard tale a Whore could fix a woman’s cycle; could you do that?”

The princess shakes her head. “I think that’s beyond trainees, Mila. Our teachers probably could, but they are not here.”

Aubrielle has apparently forgotten how high ranked my Whorecraft is. “I think I might be able to,” I say. “It’ll be most of my mana and a bit easier with a woman close to ripe to work with as a template. But do you really want this? Being a mother is a lot of work and a huge commitment.”

Mila walks along for a few steps. “Yeah. I’m ready ... well as ready as anyone can be who has never done it. And I want to serve my village too.”

“Ariel can use me as a template,” Aubrielle says. “I am as ripe as can be.”

“Oh wow! The princess is going to give our village a goddess baby! What could be bigger than that?” I suspect that unless Aubrielle tells her not to spread the news, everyone will know within an hour.

We arrive at the seed barn. There are a number of younger women busily working. Some are preparing garlands; others are working with fabric. ~They are preparing spaces for us tonight.~

The Great Lady shows me a picture. Around the fire there are tents, filled with pillows and blankets, draped in garlands and frilly fabrics. ~Nice to feel, soft, beautiful.~

“Kayla,” Mila bellows, “come an give respect to the Great Lady.”

“Aye, right there!” I don’t see who shouts.

But a woman in her forties bustles over and genuflects before me.

“Rise.” The Lady and I feel self conscious with her obeisance, but the Lady wants to honor it as a heartfelt offering.

Kayla’s bright smile is at home on her face. “Thank ya for coming by an checking in. Everything’s like to be under control, even though it don’t look it yet. Will I get a chance to meet the priestess?”

“No, she was killed in an ambush. It’s just the princess and I.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Your Highness, for not paying respects sooner. It’s right fine to meet ya too, an the honor you do the Great Lady an our village is mighty big.”

“Thank you Goody Kayla. Berg’s Keep stands behind our pledge.”

“Sure, sure. Well, with no priestess, I reckon we better take us a little walk. Is Mila already like to know what’s happened?”

“With her father, and how smart she is,” I say, “I can’t see keeping much from her.”

“Right so,” Kayla says. “Then she might should come along too. Listen here though lass, this is serious business. You come along and listen, but that’s a big trust.”

“Aye, Goody.”

Kayla has us walk out into a field away from the other women. We walk past a group building this evening’s fire and walk until we’re alone. “I’m guessing that without a priestess you’re like to be confused about what all’s going on. An I reckon a princess’s stubborn enough not to tell anyone she’s out of her depth.”

“It’s not just that,” Aubrielle says. “The village’s confidence is key, especially when we need to make a big enough offering to balance Askarya of the Moon’s displeasure. Sometimes appearing to be in control is important for itself.”

“Hmm,” Kayla says. She takes a moment to consider. “That’s like to be true enough. An people get it in their heads you need telling what’s going on, an everyone’s going to have their own way ya got to do it. Yeah, no good that way. At least I know my place behind the Great Lady, an I’ll get behind any decision ya make.”

Kayla begins to describe how the evening will work. Part of the way through her explanation she explains what Emmy was talking about. “Some’ll choose to just dance. They’ll be dressed, or if sky clad, with a garland in their hair. They run the energy around the circle all the night, but don’t plan to take lovers. It’s common for a woman to dance her first Beltane, an no shame in dancing later. Some years I just dance.

“Then on the girls side, there are women who want to get a taste of the Great Lady’s lust, but who aren’t ready to throw themselves in her passion. They wear little skirts; I’ll show ya, but it’s not like to be something ya’d miss.”

“And what do they do,” I ask?

“Traditionally, they help the men spill their seed in the field, or across a basket of seeds that will be planted. So they get to touch and feel, an give pleasure, but they set the pace. An of course it’s good fertility magic just like the other. We needs crops as well as babes.

“It’s not uncommon for a young woman to find she gets comfortable an for as much seed to end up on her chest as on the ground.

“But ya have a role to play in this.”

“What?”

“Sometimes a woman’ll wish she could take off the small skirt. She finds a man that she fancies more than she expected. Or sometimes someone who is dancing finds they are in the mood. For a girl in the small skirt or a dancer who has never worshiped fully at Beltane, they need your permission to do more than they set out to do. Every year someone asks. I’ve only seen the Great Lady say yes once.”

“How does it work for young men who aren’t sure how far they want to go?”

“Dancers work the same. Most times if a man wants to go slow, he just tells anyone interested in him that. A woman can do that too, but enough girls just come into woman want to take it slow we have the skirts. A man can tie a yellow ribbon around the wrist to make a statement if he’s like to be particularly worried someone’ll go too fast.”

We continue to discuss how the rite will work until the princess and I have a good understanding.

~Are you sure she’s not a priestess?~ I ask the Great Lady. ~`She seems to know a lot about serving you.~`

The Lady is smug in my head. ~Ah, well, people serve in their own ways. Do you think the villagers would be as easy with her if she were a priestess?~

On the way back to the barn, Mila startles me. “Kayla, how like to give the goddess a baby are ya this year?”

“I’m not dancing if that’s what ya mean. Even Autumn’s old enough to have fun this year, so I’ll enjoy myself.”

“It’s been a couple years since ya danced one through.”

“Aye, well, there’s that too.”

“But I ain’t talkin about dancing or no. Are ya gonna be ripe for the seed planted in your temple?”

“Ah, that’s a might personal. Since ya already asked, if I’m counting right, I’m like to be good an close to ripe this year.”

“I’m not. But the Great Lady said she’s a good enough Whore that she could fix up my cycle, but it’ be a might easier with a girl close in her cycles to work from. Her Highness volunteered, but I was thinking that ya have never had an opportunity to lie with your goddess.”

“I see. Well, that’s like to be as good a reason as any for asking a personal question like ya done. But I think ya ought not turn down a princess when she offers. An I’m guessing the Great Lady’s worked with the princess often enough that’d be easier.” The lust and disappointment rolling off Kayla is palpable. Mila nailed her desire.

“Look in my eyes and tell me you do not desire me,” I say, “and I will ask the princess to help. The princess won’t be snubbed when my client desires another. And I’d think I’d be best to know who I can work magic with.”

“Ya know I can’t look ya in the eye and say that. Mila, I’m going to owe ya for this. Ya cannot know what this means.”

We come back to the barn. We decide to do the work right there. Kayla gives a little speech reminding the women that tonight is about embracing pleasure without shame. And then we get down to our own pleasure and magic. Kayla is on top where I can lick and suck at her. Mila suggested she could be between my legs, and I could run the magic right out of Kayla, down through my body and into her. And if I wanted a little goddess baby of my own, that would have been a perfect plan. Instead, Mila is at my side, with my fingers deep inside her.

It works, both as an offering of intense pleasure to the Lady, and as a magical working for Mila.

Soon enough Kayla gets up to continue preparation for this evening. Mila and I spend an extra few minutes cuddled together enjoying our glow.

Kayla calls us all into a group to discuss the men. Near the beginning, most of the men will be on display. The women will enter the ritual space, pick a lover, and offer themselves to their lover.

A few people will make other arrangements: people somewhere in between man and woman, people who have worked out arrangements ahead of time, or people who don’t like something quite so open.

We are discussing partners to make sure no one is left out. “I’ll pick Braxton,” Autumn says.

Kayla licks her lips. “Mmm, good choice. He’s nice and hot enough. I look forward to fucking him too.”

“Mom! You can’t! You are my mother!”

“You’re welcome to welcome him and make first offer. But this is the goddess’s night. Whether he will have me is between the two of us.”

I chuckle in my head. ~I see where Autumn got that.~

~Her mother has been thinking about this a long time.~

Autumn looks at me, and looks down doubtless remembering what she told Mila earlier. “Yes, Kayla, you’re right of course.”

“I know being a woman is new. And some of this is hard,” Kayla says. “You will do fine.”

The princess and I will work to make sure no one is left out for long. There are a few more men than women, but we will be sure that everyone who wants to find pleasure can.

After the group breaks up and people go back to preparing the space, a young woman approaches me. “Great Lady, Mila said you were like to help me out, I ask nicely.”

“She did, did she? I suppose that’s true.”

“I’m frightened. Bryce an I have only been together a few months. I’m a mite worried he’s gonna leave me for someone he finds tonight.”

“You could talk to him. He gets to choose, but if he cares for you, he might just dance tonight. You could let him know that would make you happy and leave the choice to him.”

“Thank ya so much!”

“Wait though. You could do that, but if you are brave enough there’s another option.”

“Yeah?”

“Be there when he finds his lovers. Encourage him; turn finding his pleasure into something you do together. He will enjoy himself and know that you’re the one who loves and trusts him enough to help him do that.”

“Ah, yeah, that’d be brave all right.”

“Well you can talk it over, and at least he’ll know you care enough about what the two of you have to want to keep it.”

She nods. There is an awkward moment and then I realize she is waiting to be dismissed. So I do.

We are back at the headman’s house. It’s been a busy afternoon. After working with Kayla and the women, I spent some time with Landon and the younger men. Mostly I answered questions and gave them advice.

I also helped Landon convince people that the princess is not beyond their reach. She has come a long way: that princess sitting next to me in the circle at the first class could not have offered herself to the village commoners. Today, Aubrielle has gained the strength to serve the goddess and her people.

Jane asks for a private moment of my time. We step outside. “This time’s not like to be easy for me, or any mother worried about their daughter. An normally the priestess helps manage things. But this year, we just got us a couple of whores.”

“I don’t understand at all.”

“Aye, and that’s right fair. I guess I don’t right know why I’m talking to ya. It’s not like ya can change who ya are. I guess I’m asking ya to have a care for our kids somehow. They gotta live with what they do tonight.

“Ya come through here an get everyone all excited about their lust. An ya teach them to throw themselves at it all open without a care. An for your one night that’s fine.

“But what about the next morning? Mayhap that’s fine too. But some day with their hearts and their legs open, they’re gonna get hurt. Some day they’ll put themselves out there, an the man will just take advantage. An their won’t be a giggling group of excited girls to go back to an make it better.

“An then there’s the ones who get pregnant. Sure the village helps out. But bearing a child for the goddess is no easy thing. I guess it’s fortunate my girls won’t be facing that this year. Emmy will give you joy in the small skirt. An Mila talks of bearing you a fine baby, but her moon blood should be any day now.”

~Oh, oops, ~ I say to the Lady. She is rueful too.

“About that,” I say, “Mila asked me to adjust her cycle.”

“Oh, Great Lady no!”

“You cannot use contraceptive magic tonight of course. But Mila and the rest of the women who worship tonight can reflect on whether this is an offering they are ready for. If they aren’t ready to be mothers they can find a Whore to cast Remove Pregnancy later.”

“An where’s someone gonna find a Whore around here?”

“I could come back and help with that. Not the Great Lady, but me, Ariel, a whore and immortal adventurer. Perhaps we can turn this into a rite of passage for your daughters and avoid pushing them harder than they can bear.”

She scrunches up her face. It looks like she is trying to find a way to be angry. But as the seconds pass, she relaxes. “I’ll take ya up on that. Ya know, I mind a lot less if ya are gonna work to clean up the mess later.”

“I hope there won’t be a mess.”

“Aye, and that’d be mighty fine if it works out that way.”

Quest

Clean up the Lady’s Mess Quest: You have promised Jane Headwife that you will take care of her daughters (and presumably to a lesser extent the entire village) if they run into trouble after they worship the Lady.

Come back periodically and check in on the village, at least until newly expecting mothers have their children and are establishing themselves as parents.

Reward: Experience and the possibility of opening a quest line that may strengthen your position with several political and divine factions.

That’s quest speak for “This village is more important than you think it is,” if I ever heard it. I guess the princess and her family might be one of the factions. But I can’t even begin to imagine what else will happen here.

The drums have been pounding for minutes. I’m waiting in a tent beside the fire. Kayla says I’ll know when it is my time to come out. The Lady has no doubt she speaks true. But I’m growing anxious.

I can tell they have lit the fire. The drums quiet. A single drum remains, its heartbeat loud against the wind rustling through the trees.

Landon’s voice fills the silence. “Great Lady, I call to you.

“Great Lady, Berg’s Keep and Staggard’s Green call to you. Each act of openness, each step of preparation is a call.

“Now, come, join me—join us—and share pleasure and abundance.”

Somehow he is in my arms, and I stand by the fire in front of everyone. He makes quick work of my clothing. He is already sky clad for all to see.

“She is here!” He steps aside so all the assembled villagers can see me. “Will you join with me and give us your blessing?”

“I will.”

He guides me near the drums and we lay on the grass and make love to their pounding rhythm. The princess must have coached him. He is not shy. He takes me with confidence.

After, I ask, “When did you plan this? I guess I figured we’d end up together at some point, but I had no idea we would open the ritual.”

“It was the princess and Kayla. Kayla found us after you talked to the men. She wanted to discuss how to bind the Great Lady into the pledge the princess and I made.”

While we were fucking, the women came in and picked from the men. Now, things are in full swing with couples laying on the grass or in the tents and dancers circling the fire.

“I think there are some girls—or I guess I should say young women—who are looking for you.”

“I am sure there are. I’ll go see if Autumn is free and start with her.”

“Please pick up the princess on your way. Becket would be displeased if we leave her alone.”

He nods and departs.

I circle the fire. The smell of lust and excitement is strong; I’m going to be dripping all night. But I also smell a sour note of disappointment. And I realize it is coming from Mila.

I find her crouched next to Alex, the farmer who witnessed Landon and the princess.

I squat next to them. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not gonna force myself on her,” Alex says.

The Lady and I are confused. We can easily smell that she wants him.

“I’m right scared,” she says. “But I want him, ain’t no doubt of that.”

“We can smell that,” I say. “I believe you.”

“She’s shivering like to panic,” he says. “Ain’t right to press things like that.”

“I’m like to mess it up an I’m scared of that. I ain’t done this before none. I mean there was Thomas an I off in the bushes, but that was just a little thing.”

“Alex, can you trust me that she wants you? She’s just a nervous little rabbit right now.”

“Aye, Lady.”

“So, what I’d like to do is ask you to lie back and let me help guide her for a few minutes.”

“I’ll try,” he says.

“Okay, Mila, take a deep breath. Here’s Alex. You can’t screw this up. Even if you stay frightened and don’t do anything, that’s fine.

“Now, reach out and touch him. Feel how strong he is. Isn’t he beautiful?”

“Aye.” She smiles and strokes her hand along his arm.

“Do you want him to touch you?”

She nods.

“Then take his hand and show him where you want to be touched. Mind, where you want to be touched, not where you think he might want to touch you.”

As he strokes her face, she smiles. And in a few minutes, they are tangled in each other’s arms kissing. Alex can see that she wants him, and he’s taking things slow enough that he’s not going to scare her off.

I suggest that Mila might be more comfortable in a tent so fewer people are looking at her. Alex guides her toward the nearest tent and I continue to circle the fire.

Autumn motions me over as I pass.

“Did Landon find you?” I ask.

“Spotted me at least. But Braxton an I were right busy at the time.”

“Looks like you might still be a bit busy.” He is under her. She has her breasts between her hands, and his cock pillowed between them. She is slowly moving back and forth.

“I’ve just about got him good and wound up. Would ya find ma an if she’s not busy, tell her I’m ready to give Braxton to her?”

Oh, so that’s how it is. I wink at Autumn and go in search of her mother.

As it happens, Kayla is in her husband’s arms after their first joining of the evening. She is mostly recovered and so I say, “Autumn asked me to find you. She has someone ready for you.”

Her eyebrows raise. “Aye, is that how it’s going to be?”

“There was a smug look on her face for sure,” I say.

Kayla grins. “Let’s go see what she’s done.”

When we get back, Braxton is very worked up. Even when Autumn runs a finger gently along his chest, he shivers.

“All yours, ma,” Autumn says. “Didn’t want ya to need to work at exciting him none, after I was done.”

“Oh, my, I can see I’m gonna have a right fine time with him.” She grins at her daughter.

Autumn gets up. After she leaves, Kayla plants little kisses on Braxton’s chest and neck.

I follow Autumn. “Would ya watch Landon an me? That’d be like to make it ever so much more naughty, a goddess watchin.”

I agree. And for the second time today, I’m frigging myself as someone fucks Landon. This time is better: I’m playing with his goo mixed with my own juices, my nose filled with the smells of lust and worship.

Autumn puts on a good show, and Landon lives up to his part.

I’m fairly turned on after. I’m wondering where I can find a lover of my own when the girl nervous about her boyfriend approaches me. She has a man with her. I don’t know if it is Bryce or someone else.

“Thank ya so much Great Lady! I done what ya said. Bryce here thinks the world of ya for getting us to talk. An if ya’d have him, I’d be mighty happy to share him with ya.”

At this point I’d jump about anyone. Jumping one of these well-muscled farmer lads with his girlfriend watching? In a heartbeat!

He’s a little surprised by my ferocity. I slow down a bit and we find our pace. Once he gets into it though, he’s happy to be a bit rough, and our lust builds as we scratch at each other. Soon enough I have him under me and I’m bouncing to the rhythm of the drums. Fuck, I need this!

He lasts through my first climax. But he’s with me coming and clawing at my back a minute later.

The three of us lie cuddled after. “When she told me ya suggested she share me,” he says, “I was like to think I was hearing things.

“But I wasn’t like to make that up. For one thing, I wasn’t hers to share, least not then. But to have her encouraging girls to fuck me! Now that’s something.”

“An when I did it,” she says, “Bryce was so happy. An it was hot him an Morgan.”

Bryce’s grin lights up his face. “Oh, yeah! So hot We’re like to take Morgan home with us.”

I smile at them. “So you are less afraid now?”

“Aye! This is gonna be the best Beltane ever!”

And with worship like that, the Lady is ready for another round. And with my Seduction and Making Out skills, Bryce is soon ready to join.

It’s coming up on midnight. I am high on lust and excitement. I’m dripping from the lovers I’ve had. Mind you not as much as the princess: she is taking the whole village to heart. And Mila! That minx has become as much of a slut as she hoped to be once she got a little comfortable.

Emmy is enjoying herself too. Each new body is a wonder to explore. Everyone has been doing a good job of respecting her limits and helping her feel good about exploring her budding sexuality without pushing more.

I’m dancing around the fire, invigorated by the second wave of drummers that just sat to their instruments. I have Smell of Sex on full, riding little waves of pleasure from my own scent and the milieu of scents around me.

With a chill, I realize there is one scent that doesn’t belong. An angry, hurt gnoll. A gnoll I smelled just one day earlier, as he ran from the slaughter of our camp.

It is easy to drop into stealth as I step past the drummers to find where I left my pack. Grabbing a casting dagger is but a moment’s work. I also take the few seconds to allow the interface to give me gloves and the upper half of my leather armor.

I sneak out the back and work to get behind the gnoll, while remaining downwind of him. Hopefully he is focused on the people around the fire and he will not see me.

Ariel: <Don’t look, but I’m sneaking up behind the gnoll who got away from us last night. He showed up and I smelled him dancing around the fire.>

Aubrielle: <Understood.>

I sneak up behind him. I’m in a perfect position for a Back Stab. And the Lady won’t let me do it. ~It may come to killing him, but let’s see if there is another option.~

So I let her guide me. “Freeze. I have a knife to your back. If you move, you die.” Well, at least she’s not starting off on too soft of a foot.

I smell his fear. “What were you hoping to accomplish tonight?” I say.

“Revenge for my friends.”

“And how?”

“Kill that rich lady. Make the humans suffer. Like they make us.”

“Do you recognize this rite?”

“Yes.”

“Your people worship the Great Lady too. You would turn my night of pleasure into a night of blood?”

“Yes! Just like they destroy our villages. Just like they stifle us.”

“Do you know what the village headman said when he heard of the ambush you and your friends made on our party? He said the humans would rise up and destroy all the gnolls between here and Hillthrone.

“And if you kill the ‘rich lady’ tonight, no force in the world will stop the humans from doing exactly that.

“You have a choice. You can try to get your revenge and be the death of all gnolls in this part of the continent.”

And I finally see where the Lady is going as her words continue to fill me. He is looking with anger, but also longing. He came tracking us somehow, angry and hurt from the death of his friends. And he came up on a Beltane rite he knows from home. “Or you can put down your weapons and join us in the Beltane rite. You can show humans that gnolls and humans have things in common.”

“They would never accept me.”

“I am the Great Lady. You are welcome at my rite if I say you are. You would need to promise on your word that you would offer no violence in this village. If you join, I shall do all in my power to see that the pleasure you find strikes a chord of harmony in the discord between gnoll and human.”

“You were traveling here when we found you?” he asks.

“Yes.”

His growl is menacing. “We were to ambush a party rewarding this village for attacking our people. Disrupt a planning meeting perhaps.”

His growl intensifies. “The woman in the robes? A priestess?”

I nod. “Her name was Holly Quint.”

“Your priestess.”

He lets out a long howl. The drums stop. Everyone is searching for the source of the sound. “The man in Berg’s Keep said nothing of the Great Lady or Beltane. Lies! My friends died for lies!” He howls again.

“Give me safety to get away,” he says, “and I accept your offer.”

“You will be safe tonight and will be able to leave tomorrow, yes.”

“Then I seek your worship tonight if any will have me.”

“If nothing else, you can dance.”

Ariel: <Tell the drummers to start up again; I’ve got everything under control here. Although it’s gotten a little complicated. But I don’t want to cause a scare.>

At least not any more than is already going to happen when we walk in.

Aubrielle shouts, “The Great Lady has everything under control. There is nothing to be afraid of. Let the night continue.” And the princess has made enough of an impression that they believe her. The drums start and the dancing resumes.

Ariel: <So, can you send Landon over to help undress a gnoll? I’ve invited him to join my rite. But I still would rather have a weapon handy until he is fully disarmed.>

Aubrielle: <This is the Great Lady’s command?>

Ariel: <It is.>

Aubrielle: <By my pledge I obey. When this is over, the explanation had better be good.>

I guide Landon to me. And soon there is a naked gnoll before us.

Landon wants to make sure the gnoll is alone. He swears that he is. The Lady believes him; the rest of us have little choice.

“The rich lady you wanted to kill is the princess second in line for Berg’s Keep,” I say. “She is their pledge to the Great Lady in this rite. Let us go meet her and see if she will welcome you on behalf of Berg’s Keep.”