Chapter 8

Nick continued his Tales. "We spent a decade journeying ever east, my priestess's and I, spreading the words of ancient gods, both Isis and Hades and their odd mating, in ceremonies both magical and sensuous that promised the relentless and fecund cycle of death and rebirth, promising greater fecundity via our ceremonies. We may have encountered beliefs that countered ours, but the sensuality of our ceremonies and the seductiveness of our ladies tended to make those antagonistic beliefs forgotten. Added to that, like the great flood we seemed to have created in Egypt, minions and Ruth's skills at interpreting the signs of coming weather like the best modern meteorologist assured our welcoming.

"We left Kala with her tribe in India, a prize of future luck and sensual beauty, a wife and queen to a king willing to raise my bastard son as a prince. And we did the same for Hakana in the future Kingdom of Siam, a concubine to the king whose bastard girl-child would become a powerful presence amongst her people. Both of those beauties I left behind with their people produced generations of powerful minions, seeds for future angels."

"And were they replaced, these companions?" asked Lindy. "Were they exchanged for others?"

Snake smiled at her. "Yes, I had to place my seed in remarkable women, didn't I? I tended to diversify races in my wake. Ruth or Ruth's descendants and I instructed the villagers where I and the lovely women with different skin and hair and eyes conceived and they remained behind, almost always with a willing husband, that acceptance of this diversity would bring about good things, both in natural and spiritual ways, for their future."

"How?" I asked.

"The usual formula," Snake smiled. "With Hilda's knowledge of Germanic beliefs and Callista's knowledge of the Greeks, these strangers of strange races became benevolent presences bringing prosperity and fecundity to the tribes. They became the gods' gifts to these tribes. We made sure they were sent to be among these people by benevolent gods rather than the mischievous and troublemaking gods which would make them untrustworthy."

"Sainted visitors rather than feared witches," I guessed.

"Exactly," Nick grinned. "Sometimes we proved our worth within a community in which we newly arrived, oddities to be sure, very soon after our arrival. Of course there were bumps in the road, resistant priests or royal advisors with their own agendas like the priest in Egypt seeking defilement of my Egyptian cutie. Often, we used that very resistance as way in to acceptance. For instance:"

Nick and Ruth and Hilda sit eating in the large hall of the castle in a small kingdom in the center of what would become Germany centuries later watching a tall greasy man whisper to his king with both of them looking at Nick and his odd entourage.

"You said he nearly killed you, and his cruelty extended beyond physical pain into disgusting humiliation," Nick reminds Hilda. "And just his odor revolted you."

"As it does the king," Ruth notices. "See how he keeps as much distance as possible from the man and cringes at the close proximity of the asshole's breath."

A beautiful young man, like his liege not yet twenty, in fact the same age as the young king, with blond hair and pale and delicate skin, in fact delicate in all ways making him a curiosity amongst the necessarily rugged men of this rough kingdom, leans across Ruth to talk quietly and be heard by Nick and Hilda. "My master manifests his corrupt and traitorous ideas and ambitions in a corrupt and traitorous body that transforms every morsel and breath he intakes into poisonous excretions and exhalations."

Nick and his ladies chuckle, with Ruth shaking her head. "Unlike you, sweet Siegfried," she tells him, "perfuming the air with beautiful words. In fact the opposite process since his stench has been the air of your prison cell since childhood and you have managed to somehow purify it and return it to good."

Siegfried disagrees. "My thoughts of revenge, of lancing that boil of a master and letting the corruption pour out, are neither good, nor pure. And ... I have other thoughts since your arrival in my life that may not be quite so violent, but definitely lack purity."

Hilda grins and brushes back the nearly white blond hair that encroaches on his lovely face. "Karen wants you, too," she whispers.

The paleness of his face causes his blush to be quite obvious. He swallows his embarrassment and continues, "But that cringe on my liege's face has more to do with information I shared with him earlier. Information you so wonderfully assisted me in gathering, giving me the spine I so sorely lacked these past two years. He tries to hide his disgust at his traitorous advisor, but cannot hide his emotions as well as I can."

"You have already had an audience with him?" asks Nick in admiration.

Siegfried nods. "I know his habits, and knew he seeks solitude in the royal bath after a vigorous morning hunt and especially when meeting visiting dignitaries at supper. So I hid there until his arrival. After his surprise, he greeted me with a naked hug. It had been too long since we had privacy together since his elevation to king upon his father's murder had required his person to be relentlessly guarded. Too long since he had access to my mind and my body. Yes, we'd been lovers ever since such pleasures dawn in children's thoughts. He treated me as he would his father's concubines, taking the holes there to be taken while bringing me only his hand to pleasure me, his lips only meant for my lips. But unlike my master and whomever he chose in his place to violate me, Prince Eric enjoyed giving me pleasure along with his own.

"Anyway, he noticed a lack of scars on my thighs and buttocks, scars you erased so miraculously, scars that had enraged him years before and, through his father the king, had ended their cause by my master under threat of getting the same treatment and my master no longer drew blood when he abused me. And he noticed no bruise that, though sometimes faded, always existed. This discovery aided his acceptance of the truth of my master's treachery and murder of Eric's father."

"Good," Nick smiles.

"What a relief," Hilda sighs.

The four laugh.

"And I surprised him again," Siegfried continues, "when I told him I had met my love and it turned out to be female. I described her in great detail and told him she had a twin sister, and that brought his climax since he had been fucking me during my description. I then had him describe the experience of being inside a woman's depths while he frigged me to my own climax."

"Then he definitely will disregard your master's advice," Hilda chuckles.

"Better than that," he smiles as the large door of the hall opens and a powerfully muscled older soldier enters with a writhing sack in his arms. He immediately nods to his left and soldiers move from their seats to surround two corpulent men. Pulling the sack off, the soldiers' captain reveals a naked body of a petite woman whose loosening, sagging skin shows signs of entering middle age. A mask removed from her face reveals harsh angles and harsher attitude. "Goren!" she yells while the captain of the guard standing over her raises a bloody sword. Knives appear in the soldiers' hands as well as in the king's. They swiftly dispatch three men through near decapitating strokes.

"Remove them," young King Eric orders, and soldiers and servants respond. "Toss them in the woods for the beasts to devour just deep enough away to avoid their stench here. Dump the traitorous whore on my table, Captain."

"She's scrawny for a meal, Lord," the captain jokes, dropping his load onto the table on her back, her tied up hands smashed by her buttocks.

"What do you recommend, advisor?" King Eric smiles down on his friend Siegfried.

"Me, my liege?" Siegfried responds shyly.

"Someone once told me a king is only as clever as his cleverest advisor and thus choosing the cleverest in the realm makes for the most important choice of his rule. Who said that?"

"I did, my liege," Siegfried blushes and bows his head.

"And my choice is easy, benefited by the cleverest being my best friend, and most trusted. What to do with this traitorous cur, hmm?"

"I have gotten my revenge by your hand, my king, though a bit swift in application for the great suffering my ex-master brought me. You on the other hand can linger on the treacherous group who planned your succession through the murder of your father and mother, Nilla being the last of them alive."

"Rage blinds my decision making capacity, dear friend," King Eric grimly smiles. "This whore of a whore, this killer of my parents nearly wormed her way into my marriage bed. No, I need your brilliant and level head to choose for me her punishment."

After a moment of thought, Siegfried decides, "Banishment would enable her poisonous seduction, though her sagging dugs make her less capable of success than her youthful figure had done in marrying and delivering a treacherous brood and then killing poor King Rolf in her careful plans to rule this realm, but somehow she would find some foolish neighboring ruler to follow her bidding in usurping your land. Her head and her womb had been her means of treachery. Perhaps her head and her womb shall be her punishment."

"How so?" asks the king.

"Give her to Big Kip to slate his great lust. His kind heart has crippled the needs of his mighty lance which only his poor wife seemed to bear before their son and his large head destroyed her at his birth and her poor sister could not accommodate nor can any maiden of our realm. Let him ravage Nilla at your command and impregnate her and see if she can withstand the birth. Imprison her in his hut with only his simple, childlike thoughts to be available for conversation. And make her fair game to any soldier seeing her unescorted or wandering at night to do to her as they will before bringing her back to Kip."

"So it shall be," the King pronounces. Laughter fills the great room. When it quiets, the King continues, "And let it be known that any friend of Siegfried is a friend of mine and all shall accept Priest Nick and his Priestesses as guests of my realm. Though a strange lot, they are no longer strangers."

"Thank you, my lord, I think," Nick bows and grins. More laughter ensues.

As the king and his advisor, along with a small clutch of the king's guard surrounding them, walk with Ruth, Hilda and Nick to Nick's encampment, the burgundy coated clouds becoming violet against ever more indigo sky, the king finally hears the details of his friend's surprising enchantment.

"I hid not far from where they have set up camp," Siegfried tells his friend, "recovering from a particularly violent caning and rape by my dead master and his dead accomplices. A copse of trees overlooking the great falls often brought me peace and contemplation as I recovered from my wounds. I always felt well hidden there so that the roar of the falls that would prevent me from hearing any dangerous approach would not be of consequence. And to tell you the truth, nothing any villainous creatures might do to me could be any worse than what everyday life had become, including death. For the first time since finding this peaceful sanctuary I became discovered, but by anything but a villainous creature. In fact by a goddess.

"ʻHello, ' I barely heard from behind me, a deep and sensuous feminine voice that despite its quietness startled me. 'Are you alright?' the voice said. I turned towards it and saw a vision of perfect beauty that seemed to shimmer in the shadow and light the trees created, a mottled, shifting pattern that illuminated the beauty of her face and the perfection of her voluptuous body revealing every curve.

"ʻAre you the goddess that leads me to the underworld?' I asked this golden haired and golden skinned creature.

"A half smile bent her sensuous lips but didn't change her look of concern. She knelt behind me and I felt her hand and something warm in it being gently applied to my bruised hips. 'In a way, ' she told me. 'I am descendent of a god of the underworld and the goddess of replenishment from two different realms to the south. But in truth, I am but a priestess for them and as human as you. Lean forward. May I remove your loincloth? Who did this to you?'

"I did as she commanded without embarrassment for some reason. Whatever she applied seemed to soothe instantaneously and to be soothed lower was most welcome. Even her fingers entering my abused hole only brought me excitement and not shame. 'My master and his friends, ' I told her.

"ʻWhat monstrous master could abuse a young apprentice so cruelly?' she roared into my ear, and even her angry grumble sounded sexy, and warm breath tickling my ear and her hand clutching my manhood and rubbing with perfect pressure caused me to spill my seed unexpectedly and with unexpected intensity of pleasure. Helping me reattach my loincloth and draping my robe over my shoulder after she lifted me onto my feet with unexpected strength, she took my hand in hers, a most lovely miniature embrace, and led me to Nick's encampment, just beginning to be built."

As his narrative ends, a gorgeous blonde nymph appears out of the shadow of trees and runs into his arms nearly bowling him over. Her body, barely covered in leather that clings to her voluptuous form, presses to his as he holds her at her firm round buttocks, her strong arms wrap around his neck helping support her weight as they kiss. When lips separate, she gleefully says, "I hear celebration is in order."

He kisses her again and lets her slip onto her feet. "Yes, thanks to you and your clan."

The beauty giggles, noticing the King ogling her.

"This is Karen, my king," Siegfried introduces them.

"A pleasure," Karen giggles, bowing and kissing his cheek boldly.

King Eric finally gathers his wits. "You must be daughter to Hilda, a younger version of perfection."

"How sweet," Karen giggles.

"Very," says Hilda.

"Come," says Karen, taking the king's hand and pulling him into a walk. "You must meet my sister."

"Is she as exquisite as you?" he asks her.

"She is me, only bolder," she replies.

"My daughters are identical twins," Hilda explains.

The king swallows and his robe begins rising in the middle. Karen notices and winks at him and giggles. "She's looking forward to meeting you, too," she says.

Moments later they enter the encampment, a large clearing ringed by tents made of skins with a large gap at one side to allow the prevailing winds to blow the smoke away from the large round fire pit without smoking out anyone.

A deeply tanned Egyptian beauty of indeterminate age, showing youthful vigor and a calm maturity, her long lithe waist and elegant neck contrasting with full breasts and ass to give her an air of godlike regality, embraces and kisses Nick.

After introducing Ishtris to the king, Nick orders her, "Show the king's guard how well you protect our little encampment, sweetheart. I'm sure they'll be most surprised by the mix of genders and they will enjoy talking shop with your band of warriors." The last he says with a wink.

"Of course, Nick," she grins. "Follow me," she tells the guards. "Don't worry; your king is safe here."

The king looks to Siegfried and gets a nod. "Trust them," he tells the guards who nod and follow the Egyptian beauty, their eyes focusing on her shifting buttocks.

Multiple ethnicities fill the clearing, their ages between late teens and early thirties. Most are female with a sprinkling of males. They attend to domestic duties such as preparing food and stitching clothing. They number a little more than a dozen.

Nick leads King Eric and Siegfried to the largest tent with Karen holding Siegfried's hand. Within it, a half dozen children aged between infant and mid teen and with a diversity of ethnicities as vast as the adults outside the tent sit cross-legged, enthralled by a younger version of Ruth teaching them the language of King Eric's realm. Near her sits a doppelganger of Karen looking up from a scroll with a grin that turns lusty.

Standing and not adjusting her skimpy leather outfit so that her taut, ample bottom is nearly completely revealed, Karen's twin slowly and sensuously sashays towards the young king. Both sets of eyes bounce from connection to glances south, appreciating the view.

"You must be Eric," she purrs. "Siegfried failed to capture your brutish handsomeness when he described you. My name is Carol. I am to be your queen." Illustrating the inevitability of her bold statement, she embraces and kisses him, her thighs opening to allow direct pressure of groin against groin. Grinning broadly at his enraptured face, she says, "Ina, please join us after you've done with your lessons," and grabs the king's hand and pulls him out of the tent.