Chapter 7

When Calain went upstairs to the old knight captain’s bedchamber, Zelda was there alone, sitting in an armchair beside the fire. She looked sad. Her head was bowed as she gazed into the flames, her long golden hair falling in a curtain over one shoulder and down the side of her face. She was sitting very still and appeared so lost in thought, she didn’t hear Calain moving through the room until the red knight was almost upon her.

Zelda started and looked up and smiled to see it was Calain. But the smile was sad and forced, and she looked forlornly at the fire again.

“What is the matter, my lady?” Calain asked, gently scooping Zelda into her arms.

Zelda clung to Calain as the knight settled in the armchair, pulling the sorceress down on her lap. Zelda rested her head against Calain, her golden hair brushing Calain’s chin.

Zelda sighed. “You don’t know how lucky you are,” she said heavily, “to have friends who love you so dearly. Cassandra, Gweneth, and Selene would all die for you, while I . . . I have always been alone. Wick hates me, and is she wrong to? I suspect she did not steal Selene – Selene went to her willingly, as we had earlier supposed – and you are keeping it from me to protect me.”

Calain looked down at Zelda guiltily. “Tis true that Selene went willingly to Wick, the fool. I believe it is as we thought. But Wick did try to keep her there. Of that she is guilty.”

Calain frowned, stroking Zelda’s hair to comfort her. “Then why do you not try reconciling with Wick?”

“Because even if she forgave me – and she hath no reason to—I know I would be a terrible friend!” Zelda admitted helplessly. “I am too self-centered, always focused on my own survival. . . I would just treat her awfully all over again. We both know it.”

Calain kept stroking Zelda’s hair to comfort her. “Zelda,” she said gently, “you have always been focused on survival because your life has been so difficult. You had to survive your uncle and Perth. And you did tell me how you felt isolated at Vira’Toss because the other women did fear your attraction. When you are safe and well again, you will no longer need to obsess over your survival so, and then you shall have friends. I shall see to it.”

Zelda smiled, looking up at Calain in the doting way she had come to love. “My knight is so sweet,” said the sorceress warmly. “I wish it were as simple as that. We still need a home. We cannot linger here! Queen Cilia knows we were hiding here before. She sent her letter here to me.”

“And I suppose you do not wish to return to Ellormest and continue our quest for Edhen,” said Calain hopefully.

Zelda laughed softly. “Why do you hate Arryn so? She saved your life! She saved mine!”

“But she also made love to you,” Calain said darkly. “It is a trespass I cannot forgive.”

Zelda sighed. “Calain! I made love to her! She did not attempt anything with me. It was I who started it. I did it to bring you to me, if you recall.”

“And because you wanted to, I suspect,” said Calain at once. “I can feel how your heart doth beat faster when Arryn is near. You like her.”

“Is that so terrible? She’s my friend.” Zelda blinked as she realized. She smiled. “Arryn is my friend.”

Calain smiled as well, her heart warming to hear the happy little note in Zelda’s voice. She stroked Zelda’s hair again and kissed her head. “Well . . . I suppose if having Arryn for a friend doth make thee so happy, then I cannot object.”

Zelda smiled up at Calain and kissed her on the cheek, which made Calain very happy.

“So where shall we go?” Calain said after a content pause. “We traveled all those weeks to Edhen only to wind up back where we started.”

“A lot of humans,” said Calain. “So no more elves would try to kill us – or it wouldn’t happen as often, at least. Honione grew out of the first human settlement. Knight Octava took us on a trip there when we were nearly graduates, to fight the monsters for practice and to test our bravery and skill.”

“Oh, aye,” said Calain with a laugh. “And ‘twas good practice. Minotaurs, fauns, centaurs, ogres, and bridge trolls—”

Calain laughed again. “We would live in the city, my lady, not the Aelwith Wilds. I only wonder if Queen Cilia’s wrath has cooled or if she will send more Rose Guard knights to slay us. If she truly believes we are working for Hidden Dragon, it is likely she shall.”

Zelda didn’t seem happy about that, and Calain looked down at her apologetically. It was because she had slain the queen that they were in this mess – still in this mess months after it had happened! Calain kept promising to help Zelda find a place to settle down and open a shop, some place where she could be safe and happy and stop running, but she had failed to deliver that promise again and again.

And if Calain was honest with herself, a large part of the reason she despised Yrsa and Melvalda and Arryn was the fact that they could provide Zelda with a life Calain could not. All three women had offered Zelda comfort and security: Yrsa would have taken care of Zelda the rest of her days, Melvalda would have kept Zelda safe at Ravenhold, and even Arryn would have allowed Zelda to live inside Edhen – assuming she was the Dragon of Edhen, as they all suspected.

But what did Calain have to give? Just months ago, Calain had complained that Zelda was a peasant with no last name, but Calain was a peasant as well. She had no home, no riches, no castle, no secret hidden forest . . . She had nothing except her sword arm and her love for Zelda, and both had failed the sorceress more than once.

Overwhelmed with shame and misery, Calain suddenly held Zelda tight and buried her face in her hair. Perplexed, Zelda reached up and touched Calain’s face. “What is the matter, my knight?” Zelda whispered.

“I don’t deserve you,” Calain said heavily. She lifted her face and stared with wet eyes into the flames. “Selene ran away thinking she had no place here, but I am truly the unworthy one.”

“That is not so!” Zelda said at once. She shook her head, dabbing at Calain’s sudden tears with the wing of her long sleeve. “Calain, my love, do not weep. We shall figure things out . . . together.” She smiled into Calain’s eyes, and Calain had to admit she felt better. Looking into Zelda’s pretty blue eyes always had that effect.

“All right,” said Calain hoarsely. “So we shall go to Honione and try to make a life for ourselves. And this time, I shall make life good for thee, Zelda, not difficult and full of strife.”

Zelda smiled and shook her head. “Silly woman,” she said in exasperation. “You have made my life a wonderful adventure! I have Aereth, I have traveled to other dimensions, I have seen half the realms!” She kissed Calain’s lips, and they smiled at each other.

Zelda closed her eyes and happily nuzzled her head again under Calain’s chin, and Calain held her tightly in her strong arms, and they sat beside the fire in content silence for a time, just listening to it crackle softly and feeling its warmth on their skin.

“Shall you Bind the others as you did Selene?” Calain asked eventually. She thought Zelda seemed amused that Calain had made peace with it.

“Yes, of course,” said Zelda. “I want you all tied to me, so if we’re ever separated again, we can find each other. I can feel Selene’s heart right now. It’s beating very slow and calm. But then . . . Her heart is always so. Like a steady drumbeat.”

Zelda blushed a little. “Yours is always strong and a little loud,” she said fondly. She smiled. “And a little wild.”

Calain grinned. “I shall be curious to know what Gweneth’s heart feels like. And Cassandra’s. Where are they anyway?”

“Gweneth went to water the horses,” said Zelda. “And Cassandra insists on patrolling the battlements. She’s convinced the Rose Guard is going to show up any minute, and I am afeared she is right. We should pack up and move as soon as Selene is well.”

“I spoke with her before coming here,” Calain said with a shrug. “She seems her old self, but I left her tied to the chair . . . just in case.”

Zelda looked at Calain reprovingly but she also seemed amused. “Good,” she said. “Then we should set out soon. One more night here, and then we leave for Honione in the morning.”

“Hmm. One more night?” said Calain, her eyes on Zelda’s cleavage as she peered over her shoulder.

Zelda smirked over her shoulder at Calain. “Yes, my love. One more night here, within warm walls, in a large, soft bed. Let us make good use of it.” She touched Calain’s chin with her slender fingertips and kissed her on the lips. Calain felt her heart skip a happy beat.

SELENE REALIZED THAT by Binding her, Zelda was starting to make decisions, to give instructions and commands. She was coming more comfortably into her role as their sorceress. Perhaps their recent mad adventures had given her confidence. She certainly had more knowledge about the world now.

Suddenly tired of sitting bound to the chair, Selene tensed her muscles, and they flexed as the ropes tore and fell away. She sat still again as the ropes piled the stone floor, listening intently for the sound of running boots. When no one came, she rose and left the solar, leaving the empty chair and the tattered ropes behind.

Out in the hall, the fortress was silent. Someone had lit the torches lining the stone corridor, and their orange flames glowed bright in the evening gloom.

Selene went from room to room, checking for the others. She went to the kitchen first but no one was there and the oven was cold, dark, and devoid of fire. She checked the old armory, thinking Gweneth would be there, as it was one of her haunts, but it was empty as well, full of nothing but weapon and armor stands and open trunks.

Finally, Selene went to the old barracks where the knights had slept during their last stay at Wolf Fortress. No one was sleeping there now, but there were traveling satchels strewn across the beds. When Selene recognized one as belonging to Gweneth, a sudden idea came to her.

She moved into the room and opened Gweneth’s satchel and there it was: Gweneth’s leather phallus and harness were nestled inside, tangled in bandages and wine-stained linen. Selene was taking the pleasure toy from the satchel when the sound of soft sobbing made her pause. It was Zelda, sobbing in ecstasy. Selene smiled at the leather phallus in her hand.

CALAIN LAY ON THE FOUR-poster in naught but her smallclothes and watched with one bulging arm behind her head as Zelda crawled on all fours to her. She had just fingered Zelda to a climax, making her sob and moan as she wiggled against Calain’s fingers. The sorceress had paused to wash herself in the nearby basin, and now she was crawling to Calain again.

Calain reclined on her back, her eyes narrowed, her lips smiling as she watched Zelda crawling to her. Zelda’s great breasts were swinging and trembling as they hung down, and her shapely thighs flexed as she came. She crawled up Calain’s body and leaned down and kissed her, her eyes soft.

As they were kissing, Calain heard movement at the door and looked past Zelda to see Selene standing there. To Calain’s surprise, Selene was wearing Gweneth’s leather phallus and harness . . . and her dark eyes were narrowed with lust. Calain knew what things looked like from Selene’s perspective: Zelda kneeling with her backside in the air, the fat lips of her sex poking between her thighs. Selene’s eyes met Calain’s and Calain’s green eyes smiled. Selene smiled back.

Calain kept kissing Zelda, pretending she hadn’t noticed Selene, so that Zelda was taken by surprise when Selene climbed up on the bed and – in seconds – had plunged the rigid leather phallus through the heat and moisture of her sex. Zelda gasped and her lashes fluttered as she was filled to the base. She glanced back and her cheeks flamed to see Selene behind her, looking at her with glittering hunger.

Selene knocked Zelda’s knees wide apart with her own, then she leaned down over Zelda, so that the sorceress was sandwiched between them, and she began to thrust, hunching her back to get in deep, her panting mouth Zelda’s ear. Zelda’s eyes hooded and her sweet lips parted in a gasp as Selene rode her. Calain was beside herself, for Zelda’s great breasts were jiggling against her with each thrust, she could see Zelda’s backside jiggling as well, and watching as Zelda’s thighs trembling to hold her up was maddening.

Green eyes hard with lust, Calain gripped the back of Zelda’s neck and kissed her roughly. Zelda shivered and moaned against Calain’s strong lips, for Selene was fingering her clitoris as she rode her. Selene’s other hand fumbled for one of Zelda’s heavy breasts, and she massaged it in a hard hand as she hunched her back and grunted again to get inside. This time she plunged the phallus so deep, Zelda’s sex split wider and strained to clench it, and the sorceress screamed softly.

Calain groped Zelda’s other heavy breast, thrusting her hungry tongue in Zelda’s mouth. Zelda’s tongue was just as hungry, sliding almost commandingly against hers, forcing its way deeper and harder – just as the leather phallus plunged deeper and harder through the dripping lips of her sex.

Rocking helplessly on her knees, Zelda’s body trembled. Calain could feel her heartbeat accelerating and knew what was happening: Zelda was about to climax.

Sure enough, the sorceress tore her lips from Calain’s and choked out a shrill cry as her body shuddered, large breasts shivering against Calain’s chest. Selene stopped thrusting and carefully the slid the phallus out. Weak and content, Zelda sank down on top of Calain, who closed her arms around her.

Selene removed the leather harness and dropped on her back beside Calain, panting from her efforts, and watching Zelda with soft eyes. Zelda was lying on Calain’s chest and her eyes were closed as she panted. She was smiling. Selene reached over and stroked her long golden hair, and she wiggled contently beneath Selene’s touch.

With sudden possessiveness, Selene hooked a strong hand on Zelda’s narrow waist and pulled her from Calain and onto her own chest. Zelda’s lashes fluttered in surprise, but she nuzzled her body against Selene and closed her eyes contently. Selene closed her arms around Zelda and stared at the ceiling, still panting to catch her breath.

Calain laughed softly. About two months ago, if Selene had taken Zelda from her arms, Calain would have punched Selene in the face and they would have been brawling. Now it seemed like a natural thing to do, passing Zelda from chest to chest, taking turns holding her and making love to her.

As Zelda was lying on Selene’s chest, Calain crawled up behind and spread Zelda’s thighs, so that she was half-kneeling and her backside was in the air. Zelda gasped when Calain plunged her face in her sex. The sorceress was moist and hot, and the fat lips squirmed against Calain’s face, the golden pubic hair tickling her. Zelda wiggled at the intensity and moaned, but she could not have squirmed away. Selene was still holding her tightly, and Calain was gripping her thighs to keep her still. And so she lay trapped between the two knights as Calain’s sucked upon the lips of her sex and licked her throbbing clitoris, until she was panting and pink-cheeked.

“Her clit is so fat,” Calain muttered, sucking the clitoris in her lips yet again, so that Zelda cried out.

“I wish I could see what thou were doing,” said Selene breathlessly. She sounded beside herself with arousal, and Calain could understand why: Zelda’s great breasts were crushed against her, and the sorceress was moaning and gasping in the maddening way that always drove Calain wild.

Calain heard someone enter the room behind her but did not stop, her face moving against Zelda’s sex, which was so helplessly displayed to her.

“What the devil have you two done to Zelda?” said Gweneth’s voice with a laugh. The swish of a wineskin.

Zelda colored up, slightly embarrassed that Gweneth – the one most likely to tease her later – had walked in to find her trapped between Selene and Calain as Calain went down on her from behind. She looked as if she was being held captive. . . She looked luscious, Calain thought: her massive breasts crushed against Selene, her narrow back and its deep line, her plump backside in the air . . .

Another swish of the wineskin as Gweneth took another drink. Then the mattress shifted as Gweneth crawled across. She drew near to Calain, and when Calain shifted aside, Gweneth slid her tongue between the fat lips of Zelda’s sex, while Calain continued sucking on her clitoris and frowning with delight as she did. The intensity of this made Zelda gasp and squirm all the more, but now Calain and Gweneth combined were gripping her thighs, and she could hardly move.

Calain loved the little mole on the back of Zelda’s right thigh. She licked it, saw Zelda tremble, and licked it again, trailing wet kisses up Zelda’s thigh to her soft backside, which she kissed and spanked softly, pausing to watch as it jiggled from the soft blows.

Zelda twisted and moaned against the pleasure. “Oh gods . . .” she whispered, frowning in ecstasy when Calain and Gweneth switched: Calain plunged her tongue in Zelda’s sex while Gweneth sucked her clitoris.

Selene, as if she could stand watching no longer, gripped the back of Zelda’s neck and kissed her hard on the mouth, muffling her cries. Zelda kissed Selene back, moaning against her lips, as behind her, Calain and Gweneth continued sucking and licking.

More movement at the door told Calain that Cassandra had finally come. She laughed to herself: why did it always seem as if Cassandra were last? Calain looked up and sure enough, Cassandra was standing there, watching them with longing. She had leaned in the doorway and folded her arms, as if she had no intention of joining.

Gweneth looked over her shoulder and licked Zelda’s moisture from her lips. “Come here, Cassie,” she said. She smirked. “Zelda likes it best when it’s all four of us banging her!”

“We should change positions,” said Calain. So saying, she lifted Zelda by the waist easily and muttered, “Spread your legs, fair Zelda.” Zelda was gripping Calain’s arms and blushed prettily but obeyed: she spread her thighs, revealing her pink sex and its fat lips, and Calain lowered her onto Selene’s face.

“It is because I love thee that I give thee this honor,” Calain said playfully to Selene, and Zelda blushed, giving Calain’s arm a playful slap. But Zelda didn’t have much time to be angry: Selene was soon licking between her thighs and she was staring in shock into the distance, her eyes wide and her lips apart.

Gweneth moved in at once and grabbed one of Zelda’s heavy breasts in her fist. She watched with serious satisfaction as the nipple jutted out hard, and then she was sucking on it as Zelda’s head fell back from the pleasure.

Calain sucked on the other heavy breast, rolling her tongue against the hard little nipple. Her kisses trailed hot up Zelda’s neck to her mouth, and she thrust her tongue in Zelda’s mouth in a hard kiss. A thrill of delight went through her when she felt Zelda’s heart race from the sudden kiss.

Cassandra crawled across the bed, and then she was lying nearly on top of Selene as she closed her mouth on Zelda’s clitoris and sucked it, even as Selene slid her tongue between the swollen lips of Zelda’s sex. Zelda’s thighs trembled from the combined pleasure of both their mouths.

The four knights closed around Zelda, sucking her, groping her, and kissing her, until she had trembled between them and climaxed yet again, her head falling back in a helpless cry. This time she looked so exhausted that they let her sleep, all of them lying on their backs in the bed, watching the fire and lost in their thoughts.

Calain held Zelda to her chest again and stroked the sorceress’ hair as she dreamt. She stared at the fire and her chest was filled with a wonderful content. There she was, surrounded by her friends, with her true love sleeping in her arms, the most beautiful woman in Vallinwir. She didn’t know what she had done that the gods would bless her so, but she was glad.

“So now you just take my things without asking? Are we that familiar? Are we lovers?” said Gweneth into the silence. She was speaking to Selene, who looked around at her in surprise. “My cock!” Gweneth snapped. “If I’d been wearing it and fucking Zelda’s pussy, you probably would have taken it still.”

Selene smiled at the ceiling. “Consider it payment for all the aggravation thou hast cost me.”

Gweneth laughed quietly. “Fair enough.” She glanced at Calain. “So where shall we go after this? You know we cannot stay in Wolf Fortress. Everyone and their mother doth know we have lingered here.”

“And there are too many . . . dark memories,” said Selene somberly, and everyone knew she meant Aereth, who had been tricked by Queen Anindel within these very walls.

Calain felt another sting of guilt, knowing she had not been there, that Aereth had been taken because Zelda had been out rescuing Calain.

“Cassie wanted to go to Honione,” said Calain. “I told Zelda, and she agrees.”

Gweneth lifted her brows. “Are the three of you mad, then? Honione is dangerous!”

“Gwen!” protested Calain with a laugh. “We wouldn’t be living in the Wilds! We would take Zelda to a city—”

“As if cities were safe,” dismissed Gweneth. She looked at Cassandra. “Why Honione?” she demanded. “Did you have a vision? You wouldn’t suggest the place unless there were a reason.”

Cassandra was slow to answer. She was lying near the edge of the bed furthest from Calain and it was difficult to see her around Gweneth, who was now sitting up on her elbow.

The atmosphere changed almost instantly. The knights lost their smiles and the drowsy content left them to be replaced by tense fear. Selene also sat up, and now she and Gweneth both were staring at Cassandra, who lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

Anytime Cassandra had a vision, danger was near at hand. She never had visions about pleasant things, and if she did, she did not share those visions with the others. Calain lay there, holding Zelda in her arms and feeling the dread welling up inside her. Cassandra’s last vision had been of Queen Ellanara and her death at the hands of Calain, an event which had changed their lives drastically.

Cassandra sat up, and now Calain could see her. Her pale blonde hair was loose and falling down one side of her face. She drew her knees up and hugged them, and she almost looked like a child as she said slowly, “A messenger raven shall come, summoning us to Honione. If we don’t go, the Rose Guard will find us here . . . and slay us. They are sending a small army this time. I believe Calain’s destruction of the Gold Keep did rattle them.”

“What was the point frightening you?” said Cassandra, looking calmly into Gweneth’s eyes. “If we go to Honione, they will not find us and it will not matter. And if they do find us, why not spend our last day happy together,” her eyes went to Zelda’s sleeping face and softened, “whilst making love to sweet Zelda?”

“The Rose Guard shant come alone,” Cassandra answered. “Cilia shall send her court mage, a very powerful sorceress, whose elven light could break the enchantments placed upon Ellondhold —”

“Lythara,” sneered Calain. When everyone looked at her, she added, “She is the one who did banish Zelda and I to Menosea. But wait . . .” She gently laid Zelda aside and sat up, looking past the others at Cassandra. “Why were we summoned to Honione? We don’t know anyone there!”

“I have a sister there,” said Gweneth thoughtfully. “Though I can’t imagine what Ase would want with me. She and I were never very close.”

“I suppose we shall see when the letter comes,” said Cassandra. “The vision did not tell me what was in the letter, only that it caused us to venture forth to Honione.”

As if Cassandra’s words had summoned it, a raven appeared in the window with a flutter of its wings. A scroll of parchment was tied to its leg. The knights exchanged grim glances, then Selene slid to the edge of the bed, walked to the window, and took the parchment from the raven. The bird screeched and took off again as she unscrolled it and silently read. She went still.

“Come on, Selene,” complained Gweneth, rising from the bed and joining Selene. “What the devil does it say already?” She read the letter over Selene’s shoulder, and she, too, froze.

Heart pounding, Calain rose from the bed, took the letter from Selene, and read the following,

My dearest daughter,

When I learned you were imprisoned in the Gold Keep in Eriallon, I did journey there from Honione to beg the queen for mercy. Half through the journey, however, I learned that you had escaped and were alive still, that you had been seen leaving your father’s farm near Alleren.

I am almost afraid to hope thou lives still, but my terror hath made me realize how time is precious and how I must seek to make amends before it is too late. You deserve to know why I did leave you, for I am most certain your father hath not told thee, afeared as he is that you shall stop loving him.

I am living east of City Erhyrst, in a cottage due north of the Solden Stones. But if your anger is too great, my child, and you do not wish to come, I shall understand. Too long has it taken me to reach out to you, my daughter, who did deserve so much more from me. You deserved the world.

Your loving mother,

Lowri

Calain’s hand was shaking when she finished reading the letter. She resisted the urge to crumple it, resisted the tears that rose. Selene touched a comforting hand to Calain’s shoulder, but Calain jerked away with gritted teeth, turned, and walked to the door. As she left the room, she heard Zelda sit up and say sleepily, “What is happening?”