Chapter 16: Cleaning House

It was ten days after we announced the formation of our band, and the selection of my personal guards. It had taken us seven days of thorough interviews, mock battles and drills to select the officers and leaders. In the end, we divided the women into four bands, each band consisting of five squads of ten, each squad with a squad-leader, and each band led by a Lieutenant. I chose to act as chieftain. The days had been full.

The last seven nights had been equally full for me. My personal guard in the end consisted of twenty women. Twenty women that had shared my bed. Actually, twenty-one had shared my bed.

It was the fourth night of interviews, and the third hour after the new day. Her name was Zithia. She was one of the few women that had been officers in any of the bands, and the only one that had shown interest in personal service. She came into my bedchamber dressed in a red silk blouse and leather trousers, her short sword hanging at her hip. She had long, lustrous black locks, and very pale skin. Her blouse was tailored to be quite tight, and her nipples thrust out from the material in challenge.

She unbuckled her belt and laid the sword alongside the bed as every other applicant had. Then she stripped before I could offer to assist. I looked her over, and was shocked to find her pubes as naked as a newborn child. I was even more shocked when she lay back on the bed, spread her legs wide and proceeded to masturbate herself to orgasm. When she'd recovered, she turned over and knelt in the middle of the bed, and then in a voice of command, she told me, "Come fuck me, you bastard. Fuck me in the ass. Let me see if you're any good."

I'd never taken a woman in this manner. I know I'd implied differently about the women of Dianisia, but the truth was they had made love like every other woman I'd met. But Zithia's words and the idea made me swiftly erect, and I stripped off my robe. I crawled up on the bed behind her. She reached behind and spread the cheeks of her bottom apart, exposing the puckered hole to my inspection. I played with it for a moment before putting the tip of my finger inside her. She sighed softly, but I found her dry and tight. I knew if I took her as she demanded now, it would be painful, even if not for her, then for me.

So, I began to stroke her pussy, coating my fingers with her post-orgasmic juices. I rubbed these against her asshole, then slid my fingers inside her again. I did this half dozen times, making her passage slippery and causing her to moan with anticipation. Then I slid my cock into her pussy, and gave her a dozen hard deep strokes, making her squeal in outrage until I pulled my well lubricated cock out and set the tip against her ass.

I slowly pressed the tip of my cock into her, stopping when the head was lodged inside.

"Fuck my ass, you bastard! Drive that branch up there and stuff me!" As she was speaking, she was pressing against me, trying to push me deeper.

I reached around her and gripped her breasts in both my hands. I prefer to make love gently. Zithia obviously didn't. I grabbed her breasts and dug my fingers into them, and used them for leverage as I drove myself completely inside her. She howled, a sound not of pain or rage, but of animal joy. The sensation on my cock was indescribable.

She held herself upright with one hand and reached between her legs with the other. I could actually hear her fingers thrusting into her pussy. Then she pushed back, and drove me onto my back. In this position, she used her legs to piston herself on the staff buried in her bottom, and used both of her hands on her pussy and clit.

When I knew she was near, her screams and groans filling my ears and her hands frantically stroking and thrusting, I pulled her backwards and down. When her ass pressed against my pubes and her back pressed to my chest, I pressed my lips to her throat and slid my fangs into her flesh.

As she felt my strike, her ass clamped on my cock as I poured my seed into her, and I could almost feel her driving her fingers into her slit as she screamed out in complete bliss.

She slowly crawled off me, and knelt on the bed beside me. I had never seen a woman look the way she did. I could see the juices dripping from her slit, and my seed running down the back of her leg. She bent over and kissed me hard on the lips. It was the only kiss we shared. "God of Hell, you are a good fuck. I'm almost sorry it has to end this way."

Then she reached for her sword and drove it into my throat. I gagged as the blade sliced through flesh and blood vessels. It was only my unnatural speed that saved me, as the blade missed my spinal cord. But I could feel existence ebbing away. Then I struck out at her, knocking the blade from her grip and across the room. Then I wrapped my arms around her, pinning her against me. She struggled to escape, but I knew instinctually I had one chance to survive.

I pulled her down and tore her throat apart. At first, I had trouble swallowing, the sword having slashed my esophagus, but the blood that ran down the ruined passage mended it, and soon I was drinking deeply.

She struggled madly against me, but her blood strengthened me even as its loss weakened her. And then the blood became sweeter, richer, more powerful. It was like the finest wine, or the rarest whiskey. I'd never tasted anything like it. It was addictive, and I knew that forever more, I would have to fear that addiction. And in my mind, I realized it was heartblood, and I'd killed a lover for the first time.

I finally laid her body back on the bed, and moved to the basin to wash my self. The wound in my throat still gaped slightly, but I could see it shrinking as I watched. But the blood had run down my chest and pretty well covered my right side. I moved instead to the bath, and was stepping in when the door opened, and Nalita slipped inside, shutting the door behind her.

She looked at the body lying on the bed, then moved to me. She said not a word, but lifted my head and inspected the wound. "You were fortunate. If she'd chopped instead of thrusting, you'd likely be gone." Then she stripped and helped me into the tub with her. She washed the blood from my torso as she waited for the slash to finish healing. "Did she give you some reason for the attack?"

"No. She sort of apologized, in a way, before she struck. She said I was a good fuck, and was almost sorry it had to end this way. Then she stabbed me."

Apparently satisfied she could wash my throat painlessly, Nalita cleaned the rest of the gore from my skin. "So, she planned to kill you, probably from the moment we announced we were employing all of the women. Or do you think she was sent with that intent to begin with?"

"I don't think it matters, truthfully. Obviously at least one chieftain suspects our intent. Not that it changes anything. My only regret is the possibility the chieftains will abandon their soldiers and flee before we strike."

I looked back at the body on the bed. "Have you ever done that, besides granting the Gift? Have you ever killed your kine?"

"Yes, though I try not to. The temptation to free the Beast is too great when we take heartblood. It's a horrible addiction, love, and one painfully difficult to control."

"What shall I do with her? I can't let anyone find her this way, and I don't want Kiro to see what I am capable of." We got out of the pink tinged water and dried each other.

"Wrap her in the bedclothes, and put her in the wardrobe for now. I'll have Angeline take care of it while everyone is in the tent. And if anyone asks, which is unlikely, we'll tell them she decided to return to her band."

As it happened, no one did ask.

Now it was six nights later, and the bands that I had collectively christened the "Warriors of the Green" were waiting, in full regalia, for their first actions. I stood before them, the selected warriors that would become known as My Garden arrayed around me.

"Tonight, we begin taking back the honor that your former warlords deprived you of. Your instructions are simple. We will enter the camp of the Shinta Savagers tonight and kill every warrior, and anyone who raises a weapon against us. Those who were former members of the Savagers, I want the chieftain and his senior officers alive, if at all possible. Any non-combatant that surrenders will be bound until the battle is over, then freed after at least two former Savagers confirms them to be bona fide."

We moved out shortly after this. The trek to the camp of the Savagers wasn't far; they had turned out to be a lazy bunch, with little interest in any kind of effort. It turned out they were stupidly trusting, as well. A simple flirtation with the guards lured them to a silent death. In fact, it was a silent slaughter until someone missed a stroke and the victim's death cry rang out. Even then, it wasn't much of a battle. My Garden stood in loose formation around me, but few of the enemy wandered near, and those that did were cut down swiftly.

In less than two hours, the slaughter was done. The warlord and his two lieutenants knelt before me, and the half dozen of my force who were injured were being cared for.

I hopped easily off the boulder I had observed from and approached the first lieutenant. I pulled him easily to his feet, then off them. "Behold, Warriors of the Green! Behold the fate of those who betray thy trust, and abuse their duty to you!"