Lust in the Ranks

The group of warriors cloistered together around the crackling fire, talking amiably amongst themselves. Raze, the companies commander, sat quietly listening to Darri's tale of mistaken identity, wearing a sombre expression upon his angular face. He silently marvelled at her strength. She had survived numerous brutal contests, and conquered time and again...

"One would have thought to check the sex of the baby..." She muttered dryly.

The men around her sniggered and chuckled over her dry tone. It was not like Darri to be sentimental or emotional. She was delicately featured with large slanting forest coloured eyes- flecked with gold or silver, depending on her changeable mood.

"And all because you had been placed within the wrong blanket as a babe?" Raze asked wondrously enthralled in the tale.

Darri looked up from her sack of wine, and fixed him with her glowing eyes, "A 'great' thinker in our midst."

Sapphire ice narrowed upon Darri's eyes. He was not fazed by her feral nature - actually he marvelled, how it contrasted so with how exquisite she could appear, until one actually spoke to her. She was everything a warrior would look for in a woman. Until that is, they felt the full force of that foul tongue of hers.

"My twin would have been sitting before you now." She said absently, suddenly far away in thought.

Seth raised thick blonde brows, along with his hand and called a toast. "I would wager much though, that this brother of yours would not have held the torch higher than you... Little sister..." His praise coupled with the rumble of agreement, humbled Darri for a moment. She was careful to hide it, but her stomach pattered like a butterfly.

A small nod, and a warm smile that was for Seth alone was her only break of emotion. "True" She spoke up boldly, "I have also, bigger ball sacks than each of you around this fire!" Masculine guffaws erupted from their corner. None though, she noted smugly contested her boast.

"This brother of yours, I wonder. If you were raised a man." Michael piped up cockily, and then paused briefly for the laughter to die down again He grinned against her severe glare. "Is your brother now the woman you should have been?" Michaels' laughter was the loudest, and then it was drowned out by a fierce sounding cry of rage. Darri launched herself across several bodies in a frenzied attack. Michael was suddenly startled and he fell backwards, scrambling his feet in a desperate attempt at escape. His eyes bugged when he caught the glint of the unsheathed blade in her hand.

Raze and Brand had shared a look, and known the second Michael had started talking that it would end in bloodshed if Darri was not intercepted in time...

"You're a bloody fool!" Seth roared above the din of laughter. Raze and Brand both equally dark and built, hauled Darri to her feet, and held her back whilst she swore, and spat with clawing rage at the bemused Michael.

"You have to venture out into the darkness at some point you rotten smelling carcass! You'll die with the shit smearing your arse, and that infinitesimal dick of yours in your mouth!" she shouted, her eye's huge and wild.

Seth had heard enough. He yanked her from Razes grasp, and wrestled her away toward the wine tent. The laughter would do nothing for her temper he knew...

"You're going to choke on it!" Was the last thing she hurled over her shoulder, and then Raze and Brand set their furious eyes onto Michael...

Seth tried to console his angry friend. "Do not be troubled Dar, Brand and Raze will teach that stupid ass adequate respect for the dead..."

His words settled in to her mind, and she ceased her struggles. The old weight had returned, but she was hopeful that with enough wine, and perhaps a disposable male, she could nullify the pain until morning at least...

Razes' murderous expression bore Michael back down on to his behind. "She is one of us. And her temper makes her one of the most ruthless warriors." The warning hung in the air.

"Mores the point, she is one us. Michael, haven't you the sense that was beaten into you? What possibly possessed you to defile the memory of her only kin?" Brand was mystified and angry. Michael's normal stupidity paled in comparison to this sorry episode.

"She is very near a fourth class warrior. She is due more respect. Respect that she will have from you! You understand!" Raze lifted his clenched fist when Michael didn't automatically ascent. Together Raze and Brand left Michael by himself.

"Let the fool think on it. " Michael watched them sauntering away.

"Darri may very well have her revenge, but she will not wound him mortally." Raze laughed as he said it, because from the worried look they'd left upon Michaels face, it wasn't the threat of a beating from Raze that terrified him. Darri had a well deserved reputation.

***

As the wine took effect so the earlier rage dissipated. It however took on the unfortunate and wholly inappropriate emotion of lust, for the most infuriating person Darri had ever known. She loathed him with such a passion, she would gladly run a blade through his neck, and then the thought of his straining neck lead to how he might taste. Darri drank more deeply, gulping down the bitter liquor.

Suddenly a giggling slip of a girl dashed past, caught by Seth's eye. The girl grinned and rushed away. 'That was the other thing,' she thought morbidly to herself. The type of women Seth, Brand and Raze chose to bed sickened her. The quality of women certainly left room for improvement.

Seth caught her disapproving glare, and laughed. He knew her too well...

Raze chose that moment to join them and Darri felt her earlier temper igniting. Brand moved to sit beside Seth, whilst annoyingly Raze bumped her to move along.

"Haven't you someone else to annoy?" She snarled snidely at him.

"You're the most beautiful girl in this town Dar, why would he sit anywhere else?" Brand was lucky to dodge the fist, when she reached for him but Raze caught her by the back of her belt and yanked her down again.

She wanted to, but decided not to punch him instead. His muscular thigh bumped hers again, and she growled at him, sliding away...

"My, we are in an obscene mood tonight aren't we?" Darri didn't like Brands tone, and she let him know it with a kick of her foot. The same pretty blonde who had rushed past their table before, approached the group with two more sacks of wine. Darri gritted her teeth against the impending babble of prattle.

"Girls are pathetic." She muttered under her breath.

Raze heard her but as usual, didn't rise to the bait. He could easily tell her she could learn something from them whilst giving her a reproachful look, but the fact was Darri was who she was. He may not have liked it, but he respected the attitude. He knew that without it she would not have lived.

"Rose you are a vision. A beauty without the thorns..." Seth's tone appreciative, she beamed brightly at him as she poured. Her pretty eyes flicked out to catch Razes' eyes. Darri noted he didn't seem bothered, but she couldn't help when her eyes turned frosty.

"A most pretty flower! Ready to be plucked, by whom so ever!" She hailed with false merriment. Rose thinking it a compliment, acknowledged the other woman for the first time. She was galled to note that although dressed like a man, and drinking like one, she was despite every vice quite lovely. If you didn't take into account her cold eyes...

"My names Rose, what's yours?"

Darri didn't answer, but instead she closed her eyes, tipped her head back and gulped down her wine. She spluttered, when a warm hand snuck under her tunic, and pinched her gently.

"I'm, mm, I'm Darri..." She tried to wriggle free from Razes' roaming fingers, but was denied. She fumed but did not know what to do. Raze wouldn't meet her eye.

"Darri's very unusual, does it mean anything?" The girl had recovered well from Darri's blunt rudeness, but the following question would lead to problems, they all knew...

"It was my brothers' name. He passed away when I was little, and so I shortened it from 'Darrin' to 'Darri'." Her manner was polite, so much so that Darri had not only shocked her friends and Commander, but also herself.

"How very sad..." There was no feigned pity in the girls' eyes, only the acknowledgement of loss. Darri was forced to regard Rose with a grudging respect. She even pushed herself, by trying to smile, but failed as it looked more like a snarl to the other woman.

The hand under her clothing began gentle making gentle strokes at the base of her spine. Seth watched Darri close her eyes and shudder like she was in pain. He frowned. Rose hovered at the table for as long as she could. Desperately trying to get Razes attention, but he paid the pretty girls obvious flirtations no heed.

"She wants your shaft, that one." Brand murmured helpfully for him, after the girl had reluctantly moved away.

"Not my type." He replied cryptically.

Darri finally lost patience, and snapped. "That's because she's not got a penis! Right Raze?" The hand on her skin froze, and was then yanked away. And before he could collect his thoughts propperly, Seth chimed in with,

"Again with the penis talk Dar, what's wrong? Needing one?" Seth decoded the agonised look, and it suddenly dawned on him like an apple on the head. 'The constant baiting, the look of filth she threw at the girl Rose. Darri is hot for Raze!' When the realisation seized him, he threw his head back and bellowed his laughter maniacally. Darri didn't have a clue how to deal with her feelings, so she'd acted out instead. Her recent - or not so recent but escalated - insubordination towards Raze finally made sense!

Darri recovered quickly, "Maybe, but I certainly won't find one sitting at this table." The quip was well timed and it made all of them laugh. Situation defused, but it didn't make Darri feel any better.

"So Dar, tell us then. Which one of these fine 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class warriors get your juices flowing?" Brand was goading her, but she smirked, and decided to play his game.

"Hmm..." making a show of looking around, "maybe, Qartoc. He's tall and well built. His face is agreeable, and he's not the most venomous company I've ever shared. He doesn't talk too much either. Like you two do. Puts me off you see, all those pointless hours spent yapping when they could putting their tongues to better use..." Darri trailed off, fighting the urge to cackle. Their looks had changed from amusement to disapproval. The expression upon Razes face verged on thunder.

Darri idly supposed it was because he'd challenged him over several judgements, but had bowed out of open combat. There would have been no chance he could have matched Raze. Raze was the far, superior warrior.

"Perhaps if you considered a true warrior, your appetites would be better sated, and you'd be better company yourself." The comment was unlike Raze and the words made all fall silent for a moment. Digesting what Raze had said, and possibly why he'd said it at all.

Seth and Brand exchanged looks and then split their sides The expression upon Darri's face revealed more than she'd have liked. Raze though, was too angry and jealous to take notice.

"Out, of the three of us, who would you choose?" Darri met Seth, and Brand directly when she spoke. Heat welled up inside her, and she turned briefly for a moment to recapture her self control. Brand coughed clearing his throat, and she turned her attention back to all of them.

"I would bed Michael given the choice. I'd bind him to that tree and whip him, until his balls bled, and then I'd bugger him with the hilt of my blade..." Seth smirked and Raze cheered enough to clap the table with his fist and give a short bark.

"I hope I am the one to tell him of that particular fancy."

Seth and Brand watched Darri and Raze laughing with one and other. They knew well what now went silently through Darri. Raze quickly cast them both and a scowl, and the matter was to be forgotten.

The four of them drank, flask after flask of wine. Seth and Brand played a devious game of sending one, and then the other for more each time they had finished a skin. Darri was over confident with her measures, and began to slur after several hours. She swayed into Raze, who steadied her without comment, time and again.

"Rose come and join us!" Darri called over to the pretty girl, cloaked and ready to make the journey home. "I wish to apologise for my earlier behaviour. It's not my fault, I have to be a bitch with friends like these. They are forever taking the piss out of me!"

Rose had heard her words, but was unsure of the warrior. She was grinning from ear to ear, and clutching the blue eyed warrior she herself had been casting glances at for months now.

"I really should be getting home..." Rose was reluctant to leave, wanting so badly to not lose this rare opportunity to talk to her crush...

Razes tongue loosened by the alcohol, he added to encourage the maid, "Darri doesn't often apologise or offer a seat to anyone...You are honoured, and would be most welcome." Darri beamed at Raze for his help, and he glowed inside for making her smile at him. Wearily he knew that come morning, he would not be thanked or smiled at but he took what he could and pulled Darri closer to him to make room for the girl beside Darri.

Brand levelled his eyes upon the serving girl as she sat awkwardly beside Darri... Both he and Seth had their eye on company for later that night.

"Tell us, beautiful Rose. Where is your husband?" Rose knew well the reason behind these warriors' words, and she also knew well that if she let it, she would end up sharing both of these men's beds in the coming nights. She did not want a tumble with a soldier who held no value in her person. She had daydreamed that a man like Raze, who did not give false prettiness to loosen girls clothes, that if she had caught his attention, she could hold it.

Darri had been paying attention to the boys' words, and felt regret for the girl. Raze had little use for maids. He took only pleasure girls to his bed, or Ladies of birth with money. For once Darri didn't like the way both Seth and Brand were leering at her. She was too good for their simple lusts.

"You know I have no husband..."

"I, we do not believe no warrior has made advances for your hand?" Seth slurred the seriousness from his intent.

Darri interjected before Seth could make the girl anymore uncomfortable. "I am in no doubt that they have, and many more will again. It is however not something this lovely girl is going to fall for, after the first time."

"What?" Seth suddenly gawped.

"There is little sincerity to be found amongst the men of this place, or class. Leave her alone you two. She is not going to bed with either, or both of you!" Darri grumbled, surprised by herself as much as everyone around her.

Rose was mortified and afraid. She had not only been humiliated, but defended by this excuse for a woman. Raze would not now hold her eye...Defeated and near tears, she suddenly stood and gathered up her shawl.

Brand and Seth both jumped and were about to speak, but instead one of them stumbled and the other got pulled down. They scrambled on the floor, and Darri searched the girls' reddened cheeks for an answer to what she had done wrong. Reluctantly Darri stood, and stepped unsteadily away from her anchor Raze.

"I think Raze should escort you home..." Said Darri softly, and then sat down again heavily. She could be slow to understanding, but she was not a fool. The girl wanted only the attentions of Raze, and she had no right or intention of acting upon her own lust fuelled desires. Once the alcohol departed her system, Darri reassured herself, that the empty feeling in her stomach would be gone.

Raze stood slowly, his eyes' fixed on the down cast expression upon Darri's face.

"Make sure she gets home safely, unbothered by any of these other bastards. I would escort you myself, but I am in less of a fit state than those two fools under the table..." As she spoke she lifted an empty flask of wine, and tipped the last few drops onto the table.

Rose did not say another word as Raze lead her away, and then Darri sighed heavily to herself. Resigned she lurched to see over the table, and found Seth and Brand as they struggled to gain their footing. Their combined stupor cheered Darri enough to laughter.

Raze turned back when he heard the unsual sound of her care free amusement. He understood the looks the girl Rose had been giving him. He would just have to make it very clear to her if she continued to push the issue. He was no gentle warrior, ready to take a wife. He did not lie with women. He fucked them, and returned to his horse and his men in the morning.

Darri however he mused to himself... What would their relationship be if they shared a bed? Darri was his equal, and like him. He had not sought out the knowledge he possessed about Darri and her choice of bed partner. She had never lane with a warrior. She wouldn't risk the possibility of seeing them again.

***

"I am not the kind of man you think I am Rose."

"You are one of the only warriors I have ever met who has shown every girl, no matter her station, job or birth the same courtesy and respect. My brothers, and his friends and so many others...I do not want a gentleman. I want a man. A clever, handsome, kind warrior, who will not talk down to me, but be as he is and allow me to be as I am..."

"You are right in one thing of my character. I do treat all women the same. I mount them, and pleasure them if I am able. Then in the morning, I dress, eat breakfast if it is offered and then I walk away." He looked seriously at her before finishing... "We both know that is not what you want. I also doubt, these brothers' of yours would be happy for me to bed you..."

"Do not patronise me, Raze. You know nothing of my life, or my brothers. They at least leave me to my own affairs and do not conjecture of how I may feel."

"What is it then that you feel?"

"I feel that you are different..."

"That is the problem Rose. You care about me, and I do not care about you..."

"I don't care, but I could have...The loss is entirely yours."

Raze let her go. He wanted to give her everything she seemed to wish for. He would no doubt, not have to deal with her lingering glances and flirtations if he just fucked her and left without another word. They would both be satisfied...

"Well?" A female voice challenged him, and a moment later a flicker illuminated the arch of a door way, and the silhouette of a comely body. He walked forward slowly; his dark eye's catching the light. "If I am to not merit your company past this eve, then the least you can do is, do me the same courtesy you would give any woman." She smiled saucily up at him, her delicate fingers, trailing seductively down her cleavage, to reveal ample breasts, and hardened dusky nipples.

Rose knew where his affections lay, even if he was too stupid to realise it. She would have the satisfaction of having him inside her this night, and she would know it when he didn't return. Raze saw the look in her eyes' and felt a stab of savage lust in his trousers. He knew women's games and cunning better than most, and the look that now replaced her earlier innocence repelled him.

"If you had wanted simply to be pleasured, my brother would have done well enough for you both..."

She couldn't hide the sudden look of calculation on her face, but she masked it almost as quickly as she had given it away. "Both of them were far too drunk to have been any use to me..." Rose congratulated herself on her quick thinking.

"Then why did you react so, when Darri spoke up in your defence against their mutual questioning of you on the whereabouts of your husband?"