A Dream of Empire Ch. 012

"Let's get moving," he smirked, tugging on her hand as he continued to lead her up the path.

-=-=-

In the end, Alanna was a simple girl. If she weren't magically-inclined, she would have even had quite the normal life. She enjoyed chatting with her friends, for example, and gossiping about the latest fashion trends of the nobility. She enjoyed music, poetry, fine wines, and the playful babbling of her babe. In fact, there weren't many things Alanna hated; she was somewhat of a religious woman, as was common, and believed all men and women on Mundus played their role in the gods' great play, even the bad ones. She disliked insects, of course, but knew they fed the fishes and birds. She disliked the great snowstorms of her childhood, but understood that the cold only existed to balance out the warm.

Yet, because of today, she now hated mountains. And the trees, too, if she were being truthful. She huffed and huffed, willing her sore, beaten legs onward, as they climbed up an endless slope for hours on end. Her teary gaze was fixed groundward when she bumped into a stationary Talos, who was looking off to the west.

Camp? he asked her, nodding to his left. There was no trail that way, and nothing out of the ordinary which caught her gaze. The question did give Alanna a feeling of deja vu, though, as if she'd gone through this with him in the past, and figured he knew of something that she didn't. Her legs would appreciate some level ground, anyway.

"Sure," she exhaled.

Talos stepped off the trail without turning about, guided by a cold sunshine permeating through thick white clouds. Alanna followed in his footsteps.

"There's an abandoned watchtower just up this way," Talos justified as he stepped through a puddle of mud. "Early human era. Sits beside a lake, and a fine patch of seer's root if I'm remembering right."

"Seer's root?" she asked, stepping around the puddle.

"It's what the Oracle uses for her visions. On top of magics, I assume," he explained. "Used it in the past myself, but only for fun."

"Hm," Alanna nodded. "Is it safe?"

"Ain't painful," he shrugged.

Alanna, exhausted from the day, hiked between the pine trees, just behind her lover's footsteps, for another half an hour. The trees eventually fell away, allowing the sorceress to finally get a gauge of their surroundings. A clearing stood before them, with the smoothed mountain peaks on their right. On the left side of the clearing, atop a steep cliff-face, stood a blackened and rounded stone tower. The abandoned structure held a gaping hole half way up it's spire, facing towards Velara, where they had just come from. The sun was still an hour or two away from setting over the forest to their left.

And just as Talos had promised, a small, rushing stream flowed through the clearing. The 'lake' he had mentioned was no more than a temporary widening of that icy stream, though she supposed she could forgive him for the confusion. It was still a pleasant sight, especially after a trek so painful.

She glanced towards her man, who was scanning the clearing. His eyes lit up when he spotted a small patch of deep-green plants near the stream, and took her hand in his once more before making his way there. Alanna skipped along with his hastened pace, her eyes darting around the accidentally-romantic location they had stumbled upon. Well, perhaps not that accidental.

She removed herself from her lover's grasp when they reached the stream. Alanna bent down, cupping a handful of water and splashed it over her face. It was ice cold, but stil an appreciated sensation.

"Yep. That's the stuff," she heard Talos say, himself bent over and inspecting the forest-green plants growing beside the river. Alanna splashed herself once more before making her way over to him. He uprooted one of the plants.

"Do you... eat it?" Alanna asked inquisitively, placing a hand on his shoulder. Talos shook his head.

"You smoke it."

"Oh." Alanna had never smoked anything in her life. "What's it feel like?"

Talos smirked, pulling off one of the plant's flowers and taking a sniff of it. "Not like much at first. Eventually, though, it feels like your body is slowly being ripped apart bit by bit, like you're not exactly whole, and you're sinking into the ground because of it."

Alanna gulped. "I thought you said it wasn't painful?"

He turned his smirking gaze towards her, just after pulling off another flower and pocketing it. "It isn't. It's a peaceful and pleasant tear."

"Uh huh," she replied with arms crossed.

"Gonna try it with me?" he asked with a smile, raising his brows.

"Are you... going to let me say no?"

"No," he smirked.

Alanna returned it. "You're a terrible scourge on my innocence, love."

Talos lifted himself from his crouch, shrugging, then started walking towards the ruined tower atop the cliff-face. He gave Alanna a playful smack on her ass as he passed her, forcing her to yelp.

"What innocence?" he accused playfully.

"The innocence I carried before meeting you," she bubbly replied, following in the footsteps of her man.

-=-=-

The pair settled into the ruined tower as the sun lowered over the horizon. It had a simple and spartan interior; a stone floor at ground level, with a spiraling staircase along the inside walls which led skyward. The next floor was half-way up the tower, and the staircase was collapsed past that, preventing further ascension. There, on the second floor, was a massive, ruinous window of collapsed stone which overlooked the forests they had just walked through. It was a perfect vantage point to take watch of the day's fall. After making a small fire on the second floor, Alanna and Talos sat at the edge of the gaping hole in the tower as they watched the sunset, holding each other tightly.

If one were a fly on the wall, they wouldn't hear a sound from either soul for half an hour. The fly would only see their loving embrace as they watched out over the purple sky, their fleeting kisses, their grins of love and lust. A fly wouldn't know the pair were telepathic, of course, and that they were sharing all of their thoughts and worries wordlessly.

Talos eventually opened his pack, to retrieve a small, wooden pipe he had carved during a different lifetime. It had been painted blue eons ago, but had since been chipped to reveal its natural dark brown. He pulled the flowers apart that he picked near the stream, and packed it into the pipe. Talos grinned at his lover, wordlessly asking if she had a flame.

"Too lazy to fetch a twig?" she teased, snapping her fingers to conjure a small orange flame on her thumb. She brought it to the flowers in Talos' pipe as he inhaled; he calmly exhaled the mysterious green smoke the combustion had produced a moment later. Alanna heard him clear his throat, but Talos was otherwise nonchalant as he handed the pipe to her.

"Do as I did," he said, answering an unasked question. Alanna brought the pipe to her lips, inhaling as the remainder of the flowers within were turned to ash. She coughed violently to expel the smoke, rather than the calm exhalation that she had expected. Any embarrassment she might have felt washed away in Talos' arm as he half-hugged her, while offering her a waterskin with his free hand. Alanna quickly took it.

"It burns the throat," she coughed out after a swig of water. "How long until it... rips me apart?"

He shrugged. "Five minutes or twenty. I forget. Though, I have an idea of what we could do to pass the time."

"Oh really? You would see me speared, on the cusp of the root's effects?" Alanna smiled.

"I would see you speared eternally, if such a thing were possible."

She giggled. "And I would welcome it with open thighs. But, not until you lay out the bedroll."

And lay out the bedroll he did, with a spring in his step that any man would have if they were moments away from fucking a girl as beautiful and voluptuous as Alanna. The past week in Tatiana's tower had, more or less, removed the pair from the act of lovemaking. They had figured at first that they would get to fuck when Tatiana left her tower; an event which, they soon found out, was a distinct rarity.

Alanna was already unbuttoning her jacket and shirt when Talos finished spreading out their shared furred roll. Her curvaceous silhouette, struck by their small fire, produced obscene and lustful scenery on the inner walls of the tower as she undressed. She smiled when it caught Talos' attention, just when her fingers were slipped into her pants to pull them down.

"Couldn't wait for me?" Talos asked, already removing his own jacket. Alanna replied with a lustful grin, slipping two fingers into her sodden panties as she made her way towards the furs. She pleasured herself for the entirety of Talos' own undressing, a quick matter of only half a minute, all while settling herself on her back between the furs.

"I would see you joined with me as soon as possible," she moaned, smiling up at her man while she held the roll open for him. Talos removed his underpants to reveal Alanna's throbbing prize, then settled in atop her. Alanna wrapped the furs around him tightly, to ensure warmth in the cold of night.

"I love you, Alanna," he murmured as swordtip met sheathe under the furs.

"And I love you. But I beg of you, don't go easy on me because of it," the sorceress sluttily replied.

Talos acquiesced, driving needily into Alanna's sopping cunt. She sighed with relief, and moaned with ecstacy as he thrust into her, feeling the walls of her pussy contracting around its thick and lengthy invader.

"Fuuuck... how I missed you," she sighed, feeling her love's cock pulsing from two points of view simultaneously. She wrapped her hands under his arms, pulling him closer to slowly take him to the hilt. She felt every piece of her womanhood filled, as it should be, as it must be, with his hard and throbbing cock. Talos' curved shaft provided her many different yet fulfilling sensations as it continued its welcomed advance into her, causing her to groan in pleasure when its crown finally rubbed against her cervix. She felt his nuts slap against her ass, and knew they were finally joined as they should be.

"Stay like this," she begged with a whisper, gripping him tightly with a moan. "For... for a little while. Gods I missed you."

"And I you," Talos replied, kissing her wetly on the lips. Then on the cheek. Then down her neck, until he could descend no further, then made the return trip to Alanna's mouth.

"Why don't you just claim Tatiana, my love? We wouldn't have to go so long without one another if you did," Alanna cooed, wiggling her hips against him under the furs.

"Alanna."

"Mmh," she giggled and groaned as Talos intentionally jammed his cockhead against her cervix. "What?" Alanna asked. "You know as well as I do that the past year has seen my jealously burst to flame."

"So you say."

"So I do," she moaned, her lover now thrusting in and out of her slowly, "And I would... uhn... gladly see her become your loyal whore. Just like how I know you - eep!" Alanna was forced to yelp when Talos roughly thrust into her. "Like how I know you want," she continued undeterred, holding a lustful grin.

"I would not have you speak of it," Talos commanded of Alanna from above, glinting green eyes drilling into her, as his cock finally rammed into her needy cunt at full rate. She wrapped her legs around his under the furs.

"As you desire, love," she answered submissively, merely a game she played as she was taken to the core. The root's effects were already seeping through her body, masked by the natural glow of lust, and the pair's unnatural mental binding. She could feel every pulsing vein of her lover's cock, her cock, as it was pressed into her. She felt completely loved as every tiny piece of her flushed with sensitivity. But she did not desire love at the moment.

"Oh, oh, oh! Talos! Fuck!" Alanna cried as she was ravaged. "You fuck me like a lover, yet I demanded no quarter this night!"

Talos rolled his head, groaning, as he retreated from her flooded pussy. A cold hand around Alanna's neck found her wish fulfilled.

"You will flip, then, and present yourself to me," Talos demanded of a grinning, nodding sorceress.

"Yeah, yeah, I will," she whimpered in joy, rolling onto her hands and knees before him. She felt the warming furs lifted from her body as Talos got to his own knees behind her. Alanna pushed a trembling hand between her thighs, and spread her pussy lips with two fingers so he could inspect her.

"Is this how you want me?" she cooed over her shoulder, getting her voluptuous, jiggling ass spanked in reply. Talos pressed down on her back a second later, signaling she was not nearly degraded enough. Alanna pressed her face into the furs, and lifted her ass high towards her lover. "Take me, take me, take me," she babbled and begged, now fully feeling the root's effects as her hips shook in anticipation.

Another smack of her ass. "Uhn!" she yelped sluttily for him, wiggling her butt in show. Both cheeks were soon grabbed by rough hands, squeezing and groping her. Alanna decided to play the part of disobedient wench, to get the fucking she desired.

"I will take her, Talos," she sultrily moaned, "I will take Tatiana, and turn her into my whore."

She felt Talos' rough hands shifting to her waist, gripping her tightly as his cock roughly slammed into her pussy from behind. "Yes, yes! I, will, do it!" she declared through his hammering thrusts. Her hands balled into fists as she was pushed into the furs of their bedroll from behind, feeling the sensations of bonding with the throbbing cock in her cunt once more.

Her hips thrust back to meet his on every strike, a lethargic and clouded attempt to assist her attacker in her own ravagings. The most Alanna could command of her voice at this point was that of random sighs and moans, and felt as if nothing was amiss as she was pounded into the stone.

She had forgotten what had got her lover into such a frenzy after five minutes of rough fucking, and only desired to be filled as he pounded her through an orgasm. She could feel his hands clench her waist, could feel his nuts, her nuts, tense as he neared his own climax, and only sought one thing.

"Cum in me, cum in me! Cum!" she begged helplessly over the slick noises of sex.

"Will you still take her?" Talos asked through stunted breath, pressing down on her back.

"Huh?! Wha-wha... who would... fuck! Cum in me!" she cried, clenching her pussy around his shaft. She soon felt their cock twitch deep within her, spurting strands of hot seed which flooded her to the core. Alanna could feel every inch of her inside heat up with the seed's arrival, as if she could feel every vein of her womanhood alight all at once. She panted for breath in that same position for a minute, until she felt Talos' cock slip from her. An unwanted sensation of emptiness instantly overcame her.

She tilted her head back to lay eyes on her lover, grinning as he slowly slipped from her leaking gash. She spun on her knees, then laid down on her back once more. Alanna started to laugh when Talos did.

"You're feeling it too?" he asked her, laying on top of her once again and draping the furs over their shoulders. She nodded through her giggles.

"Can you go again?" Alanna asked ravenously, gazing into his eyes. "I cannot feel my fingers to cast the, um... the spell," she giggled, forgetting her Elvish. He grunted in the affirmative.

She felt Talos stirring under the furs, and soon felt a slick, hardening cock slip into her flooded pussy once more. She tilted her head back and sighed in pleasure as he took her again for another half-hour, until another jolting orgasm prompted her to lay atop him for their third round.

She would work him slowly while she was on top, savoring every little twitch of his member as their bodies became one in that isolated tower atop a cliff. All good things come to an end, however, even the drug-fueled fucking Alanna found herself enjoying so fully. She would eventually seek idleness as her lust was fucked out of her, and collapsed on top of her lover.

Alanna soon felt her eyes fluttering shut after her third or thirtieth orgasm, and only now remembered a previous worry. "Should one of us keep watch tonight?"

Talos shrugged underneath her. "Nah. The only threat to us here would be wood elves, and they'd find us long before we found them." The sorceress whimpered, getting her hair stroked by her lover in response. "I'm only joking," he admitted softly. "They wouldn't range this far west. Get your rest, honey."

Alanna snuggled in to him closer. His words didn't assuage her fears, but the man's proximity surely did. She kissed him on the cheek before finally shutting her eyes, resting her own cheek on his shoulder.

"Talos..." she whispered, "if I were the one who disappeared, would you search for me with the same vigor you give Cass?"

"I would tear down the realms of man to see you safe, Alanna," he answered softly, stroking her hair.

She smiled, satisfied with his words, and kissed her love once more. "Goodnight, Talos."

-=-=-

"I... regret... agreeing to this," Alanna huffed to her man the following day, trudging up a never-ending mountain obscured by morning fog. Her legs were absurdly sore from previous exertions, and she was incapable of fully healing them through spell.

"It's good for you to be removed from comforts," Talos replied over his shoulder, keeping a slow pace so Alanna wouldn't fall behind. His voice didn't betray any sort of discontent from the climb.

"I'm sweaty... even though it's cold," she breathlessly complained. "And my... legs... are jelly. Horrid... jelly."

"We're almost to the top," he calmly reassured her. Alanna didn't have the heart to enter him to tell if he spoke true. "Besides, imagine how simply you will climb the next mountain."

"There's a next mountain?!"

Talos chuckled. "No, not today. I only speak of hypothetical mountains in your future."

"Fuck... your hypotheses, Talos. I would... see level ground... for the remainder of my days," Alanna declared through her exhalations.

"Sounds boring," Talos replied dismissively, only stoking the girl's fire.

"Nooo... it sounds com-for-ta... hey. Who're they?" Alanna sheepishly asked, nodding up the path.

Talos gave them a once-over. Two men, one young and one older, stood beside the dirt road next to a donkey and cart. They were looking off to the north; not in either direction of travel.

"I don't know. They're not bandits, if that's what you're worried of," Talos reassured her. "Merchants, looks like."

"Merchants? Up here?" she replied incredulously.

"Sure. This road's the simplest way to get to Selphyse, and contrary to what you may think, Selphysians like to eat and drink just as we do."

"Ha-ha," Alanna snarked.

The two travelers eventually noticed Alanna and Talos, and turned their way as they neared. Alanna read the worried thoughts on their minds, and the troubled visages on their faces.

"Hail! Uphill, or down?" Talos greeted them. He noticed their cart was filled with assorted jugs, most with pictures of purple grapes on them to signify their contents to the illiterate.

"Err... up," the older man answered, thrusting a thumb over his shoulder. Talos nodded, and stepped beside him. He looked off in the direction that had so enamored the travelers a minute ago. He found nothing but pine trees, pine trees, and... well, just pine trees in that direction.