Chapter 5

Mindblind winced when one of the boards underfoot made a loud creak as he stepped out onto the porch of the inn. He slipped his sword from its sheath, his eyes and ears alert. The town was silent, save for the taproom of the inn, and even that had quieted when he and Raven had stood up to leave their table. He saw nobody moving about as he walked along the front of the building, heading toward where he had seen the Draxnian through the window.

He had no idea where Raven was. When he went for his sword in his room, she'd said that she'd meet him outside. Thief or no, he trusted her. Even if he couldn't see her, he had no doubt that she was nearby. Nevertheless, his heart raced as he neared the corner. Beyond it was the window, and potential danger. There were really only two possible courses of action. He could either move around the corner quickly, hoping for surprise, or move farther away from the building in hopes of seeing what he was up against. Lamenting the last second decision not to grab his shield, he chose the former.

"Creeping in the night, eh? I expected as much, juabrudo."

The Draxnian faced him with a bared blade, his stance steady and confident. While Mindblind had no idea what the last word the man had uttered meant, he could tell from the inflection that it was an insult.

The man appeared to be waiting for him to make the first move, so Mindblind kept his sword at the ready and answered the insult instead. "I was drinking in the night until you showed up, Bub."

The Draxnian's eyes narrowed. "Do you fear to face a man who is awake and armed? A monster and a coward, then?"

He understood that insult, and anger boiled up inside of him. The long years of learning to control his emotions won out - but just barely. "Big words comin' from a man who kills whores."

Three things happened in a split second. Confusion flashed in the Draxnian's eyes, Raven dropped with cat-like grace from the roof above, and the Draxnian reacted with surprising speed to Raven's sudden entrance.

"Not quick enough," Raven warned as she pressed her dagger to the man's throat. "Drop it, or I'll draw a line across your throat from ear to ear."

The Draxnian's features tightened. "You will kill me anyway, assassins. I will die with my sword in my hand."

Raven pressed the blade against his neck a little harder, just short of drawing blood. "Last chance."

"The hell you talking about? You're the damn assassin," Mindblind growled.

The Draxnian scoffed, his eyes boring into Mindblind's and his body tensing.

Raven loosed a combination of a snort and a chuckle. "You're an idiot. You'll be dead before you can move a muscle."

Having had a moment to think, the Draxnian's words came into focus in Mindblind's head. "We didn't kill the men in the tents."

The man spat out, "Liar."

"And I'm betting that you didn't have nothing to do with attacking the Cat."

"What are you on about?" Raven asked.

"Think we're about to do those murdering assholes work for them," Mindblind answered, and let his guard drop. "You knew somebody that got killed in those tents out that way, didn't you?"

"My brother."

"Like I said, we didn't kill 'em. Killed the fuckers that did, though."

"Liar," the Draxnian said again, though he sounded far less convinced this time.

Raven understood where her traveling companion was leading and suggested, "Maybe we're better off safe than sorry."

"Think we can handle him, if it comes to that."

Raven said, "This is stupid," and then pulled away the knife from the man's throat while snapping back into a defensive crouch at the same time.

"Like I said, we ain't no murderers. Your brother had blood on his hands when he died, though. Even if he didn't do the killing."

The Draxnian maintained a posture of confused wariness.

"If he was in one of those tents, then he broke into a whorehouse to kidnap whores with that lot. Might be that we would have killed him, if someone hadn't beaten us to it, but we didn't."

"The women inside?"

"The whores," Raven answered from behind him.

The Draxnian lowered his weapon. "So you seek those who have done this thing?"

"Actually, we're just trying to get home without getting killed," Mindblind answered.

Raven blew out a dismissive hiss from between her teeth. "I still think this reeks. He's a damn Draxnian. Probably just playing innocent so he can kill us in our sleep later."

"Don't think so," Mindblind disagreed.

Raven sighed. "You're going to owe me for this one. I've been saving it ever since I pinched it, and I don't think it's worth wasting on him." She dug into the pouch that contained her thief's tools, and withdrew an odd amulet suspended on a chain. She brought it close to her lips and whispered something, causing the amulet to emit an amber glow.

Holding the chain in front of her, Raven said, "As soon as I see red, you're a dead man. What are you doing here?"

"I seek the men who murdered my brother."

The charm in Raven's hand flashed green for a moment. "Who's your brother?"

"His name was Amado. He was murdered in his sleep by assassins, not far from this town."

Again, a flash of green. Raven didn't look happy about it. "Do you have any plans to kill us, or lead anyone to us who plans to?"

"No. I believe this man's words," the Draxnian replied, pointing toward Mindblind.

Raven looked over at Mindblind as well when the amulet flashed green and said, "Fine, you were right. May as well prove that he's not stupid for trusting you." She walked over and asked him, "Did we kill his brother?"

"Nope. Killed the sons-of-bitches that did, though."

An evil smile spread across Raven's face. "May as well get something out of this little trinket. What's your real name?"

It wasn't as if he was trying to hide it, so Mindblind answered, "Cerebus. What's yours?"

Raven let go of the amulet chain, and the magical device dissolved into motes of light. "Oops."

Mindblind let out a snort and shook his head. He nodded toward the Draxnian and asked, "What's your name, Bub?"

"Indigo."

"May as well come in and have a beer with us. We'll tell you what we know, and you can tell us what you know."

Indigo sheathed his sword and said, "I accept. How may I call you?"

"Mindblind."

"Raven."

Indigo's eyebrows popped up in a gesture of amused puzzlement, but he shrugged it off. "So be it, my friends. Shall we?"

"The more the merrier," Raven said sarcastically as she swept past the two men back toward the door of the inn.

Mindblind chuckled and followed her inside.

The sounds of crickets and prostitutes hard at work joined in a curious serenade as Mindblind stood next to the wagon behind the inn. While comparing information hadn't really offered any clues about the assassins or who hired them, something that happened afterward had.

Yani had apparently taken rings off the fingers of each assassin while she was stripping useful clothing from them, and had chosen to wear one of them. While she was doing her best to entice Indigo into her bed, he'd noticed the ring and recognized it.

The insignia belonged to a renegade group of Draxnian assassins that had fled the country after botching a job for someone in the government. The killers all had a price on their head in Draxnia, but they'd managed to stay hidden in Egoria, and even returned to their trade. Once he named the group as the Order of the Nightblade, Raven revealed that she knew of them by reputation.

"You're not thinking about going after them, are you?"

He turned around to see Raven closing the back door of the inn and answered, "Nah. Not that stupid."

She pointed back over her shoulder toward the inn. "Apparently, he is. Damn idiot is going to get himself killed, and he actually seems excited about it."

"Figure most people would have said the same thing about us a few days back."

She walked up next to him and said, "One thing to go after slavers in the middle of nowhere. Whole different story to go after killers in their nest."

"Probably never find them, anyway. They must be good at hiding if Draxnia hasn't tracked them down and hung them."

"At least we'll only lose a third of a night's sleep each night."

Mindblind chuckled. With his only lead to the assassins back in Lakenshire, Indigo had asked to accompany them, offering his sword to the defense of the wagon along the way. "So, not pissed about dragging along somebody else now?"

She backhanded his shoulder and said, "Don't rub it in."

"He still in there making the girls pant?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Probably just one - or maybe two. He vanished off into a room a little while ago. You'd think that whores would be immune to falling for that act."

"They're bored. They've ran through most of the spare coin and anything useful that a man can barter."

A sliver of light expanded into a rectangle, alerting them that someone had opened the door. They both turned to see Kayleen, and she asked, "He's wondering if you want any more beer? He's about to close up for the night."

Raven glanced at Mindblind, who shrugged and nodded his head. "May as well have one more."

Much of the edge usually present in Raven's voice vanished as she said, "Tell him to tap two more and leave them on the bar. You going to bed?"

Color rose in Kayleen's cheeks as she nodded her answer.

"We'll be along in a bit."

Though curious about the interaction between Raven and Kayleen, Mindblind decided to let it go. He stretched and said, "I'm gonna go have that beer."

"Right behind you," Raven responded.

After the beer and a quick wash, Mindblind headed for bed, chuckling from the discovery that the prostitutes had purchased several mattresses to give them places to sleep with less crowding in the common room that evening. He nodded off rather quickly, despite Kayleen and Raven whispering in the bed across the room, and some rather suggestive movements that he'd seen going on beneath the sheets.

He had no idea how long he'd been asleep when he awoke with a start, feeling the weight of a body atop him.

Raven kissed him hard, and as soon as the initial shock of awakening wore off, he realized that he could taste pussy on her lips.

She moaned as she pulled away from his lips, and then leaned down next to his ear to whisper, "You like?"

"Yeah," he answered, and pulled her nude body down against him.

A nip on his ear, just hard enough to sting, caused him to relax his grip a little.

Raven slipped down off him and spun on her knees so that her tight ass was facing him. Stretching one leg over his body, she lowered her sex to his mouth.

Mindblind slipped his tongue through the dark nest of curls, which were well dampened by her juices, into the bittersweet treat beyond. He groaned as he felt her slide down his light pants and push his knees apart to wrap her lips around his cock.

Raven gyrated her hips, grinding her pussy into his face. The stiff hairs grated against his skin, but the taste of her and the feeling of her hot mouth on his cock well overshadowed the discomfort.

As with their first heated coupling, she took charge. He simply kept his tongue moving, and she moved to guide it where she wanted it. In no time, his face was smeared with her juices from the tip of his nose to his chin. Her knees pressed the pillow up against his ears, but he could still faintly hear the sound of her moaning. He could feel it far more acutely as the sound vibrated through his cock in her mouth.

She said something, but he couldn't make out the words. He was too lost in the taste and scent of her to worry about it, and continued to devour her. Her lips slid over his swollen shaft at a quick pace, taking about half of him in on each stroke. The motion of her hips grew slightly erratic as she soared toward climax on his tongue.

Though he didn't feel the bed shift, he certainly felt Kayleen's tongue when she slipped into the bed to lap his hairless orbs.

Mindblind grunted into Raven's folds from the unexpected addition. Almost immediately, he felt the first tingles of an eruption building in the tip of his cock. A powerful jerk of Raven's hips moved one knee enough to free his ear, allowing him to hear Kayleen panting and moaning in excitement as she lapped his balls.

A moment later, cool air washed over his saliva-coated member when Raven released him to let out a long, broken growl of pleasure. He was only left unattended long enough for Kayleen's tongue to slide up his length and take him in her mouth.

With orgasm rushing in to claim Raven, Mindblind was able to pull her into position to suck her clit between his lips and hold her there. Her muscles tensed, while the pitch of her moans increased and intermingled with squeals.

Mindblind breathed hard through his nose as he kept his lips locked on Raven's swollen bud. The itch in his cock had intensified, and he was having difficulty keeping his attention on the task at hand - or rather at mouth. With a surge of willpower, he wiggled his head back and forth while flicking her clit with his tongue. Raven gave a great lurch atop him, and then screamed in release.

Though he tried to keep up the pressure as Raven came, Kayleen had pushed him to the point of no return. After only a few more strokes of her mouth, he threw back his head with a deep, inarticulate scream, and erupted in her mouth.

His seed pumped from him in hard spurts, making him lurch against Raven, who remained hovering over him in the throes of orgasm. Kayleen's lips had pulled back to just the tip of his pulsing organ, draining him of every drop he had to offer.

The sweet suckling of the blonde's lips soon grew too much for him to handle, and a jerk of his hips caused his cock to pop free of her mouth. Raven let out a sexy moan, shuddered once more, and then knee-walked toward the other woman.

The lethargy of climax wasn't nearly enough to overcome the sight. Kayleen had risen up to her knees, and had a dribble of cum running from her lip down her chin. A spatter also decorated one of her heavy breasts. Raven leaned in and lapped up the milky trail on the blonde's face, and then kissed her hard.

As soon as the two women's lips parted, the raven-haired thief turned her attention to the remaining bit of cream, and then lingered to suckle Kayleen's stiff nipple. The blonde's eyes closed, and she whimpered.

Raven dipped two fingers into her sex as she moved in for another kiss. When she sat back this time, she offered her glistening fingers to the blonde.

Kayleen gasped, and her lips worked through a pair of soundless words. Then she closed her eyes and licked Raven's fingers.

"Mmm hmm. Do I taste good?"

"Yes," Kayleen responded in a rush, almost before Raven could finish, and then sucked the offered digits.

Raven sat down, and then reclined back. "Scoot," she quietly instructed Mindblind, and he moved closer to the edge of the bed. The thief lay down and parted her legs wide.

After only a moment's hesitation, Kayleen dropped forward onto her hands and moved between Raven's bent knees.