Chapter 19.1 Rest and Relaxation
The village chief quirked a lone eyebrow at the hunters.
When the exhausted party finally managed to reach the sealed gates to the mine and give the proper signal to those on the other side to open the great doors, they quickly learned from the surprised miners that it had been nearly two full days since they first descended into its depths. The sight of the warm sunlight glowing ever brighter from the distant horizon nearly brought all five of them to tears. The miners standing guard by the heavy doors could only watch awkwardly while the party slowly composed themselves and asked how things were in their absence.
Once the party was finally caught up on everything that happened while they were away, the hunters shuffled their way back to the village proper in order to give a proper report. They were all physically and emotionally drained. ‘Dead tired’ was a completely inadequate descriptor for the sheer numbing exhaustion that had seeped all the way to their bones from everything that happened down in the darkness. They decided that once the chief had been briefed, they would retire for the rest of the day and pick things back up in the morning.
“I suppose I should welcome you all back.” The chief said after the surprise of seeing the five young people shamble into his office like a pack of undead. “I hope things were not too difficult.”
Tyr held up a large sack and plopped it down on a small part of the chief’s desk that was free of clutter. The contents inside thudded loudly against the sturdy wood. The old orc once more raised a brow at their antics, but decided to simply play along. Opening the top of the sack and peering inside, he hissed and visibly recoiled as if bitten by a snake once he uncovered what was inside.
“A cave troll?! You lot actually encountered one of these in the mines?!” He shouted while looking at the severed head of the apparent troll they brutalized together. The lumpy skull was frozen inside a thick block of magical ice for ease of transport and to prevent various fluids from seeping where they were not wanted.
“Thankfully not inside the mine itself. But we did encounter him in the caves your miners managed to stumble upon.” Rick added dryly.
The chief looked at the group with a new, more appreciative light. “And the caves are sealed up again? We won’t have to worry about monsters like this pouring out anymore?” HIs voice had steadily rose in pitch with each word uttered, gaining a slightly desperate, pleading edge near the end.
“The initial breach is sealed.” Sade confirmed. “But we discovered that the whole area runs next to and above many of the natural tunnels and caverns. I would recommend that the whole section of the mines near the breach be sealed off to reduce the likelihood of opening a new hole in the system.”
The old man sunk into his chair and groaned into his wrinkled hands. “Those new tunnels held such promise… Months of work and profit, gone! All of it, reduced to ash simply due to bad luck!” He shook his head ruefully before letting out one last great sigh. “You are right though. The risk of getting wiped out in another monster hoard is just too great.”
He looked down at the monster’s severed head once more, almost transfixed by its gruesome visage. “That is the single largest troll skull I have ever seen. I can’t imagine how harrowing the fight must have been.”
Rick coughed a bit. “Yes… Well, we are more than a little tired. We’ll give a full report on everything we encountered in the mines and what to look out for after we’ve gotten some sleep. This work for you?”
“Wha-? Oh, yes, yes of course. Take all the time you need to recover.” The chief said after tearing his eyes away from the grisly trophy. Rick idly wondered how he would react to their other trophy from the apparent cave troll they brought back.
Tyr nearly laughed herself silly after he and Sade broke their hug after being reunited and Rick noticed that he was holding severed troll genitals in his hand the whole time. His dark skinned lover thankfully found it almost as amusing as the elf and gladly preserved the appendage in ice as well. Tyr was almost giddy at the prospect of taking the thing home and hanging it on the wall next to all the other various monster bits and pieces they’ve collected so far.
Back to their room, the five of them grabbed a clean change of clothes and immediately hit the communal baths shared by the villagers. Rick, being the only man in the group, was left by himself with the other male patrons in the bath house. He didn’t mind too much. The hot water soothed his sore muscles as he lounged in the large bathing pool. It felt like he was scrubbing away all the pain and anguish alongside all the accumulated sweat and grime from his time below the earth.
The emotional highs and lows from their adventure, all of it just felt so soul crushing. Rick eagerly tried to cleanse the confusing mix of emotions with each scrub along his skin. Eventually he just dunked his head under the scalding water and just held his breath until his mind could finally calm down. Thankfully his head gave in before his lungs did, and he splashed back up with a jubilant inhale of sweet oxygen.
“Feeling better lad?”
Rick wiped the water away from his eyes and turned to the man who spoke. A burly orcish man was lounging right beside where he stood and eyeing him with a concerned gaze.
“I believe so.” Rick answered honestly.
The large man nodded sagely. “That’s good. You walked in here looking like a soldier who just returned from a brutal campaign.”
Rick considered the man’s words for a few moments. Could what he felt be something like shellshock? He merely shrugged. “Maybe. My friends and I just got back from clearing the mine. Things got… hairy for a bit down there.”
He felt a large hand slap him on the back. Another bear of a man with a shiny bald head grinned at him through a thick tangle of a beard. “But you and the rest all came back whole ‘and hearty, yeah?” He said while eyeing Rick up and down as if looking for any obvious wounds.
“Y-yeah…” Rick confirmed. As if those words themselves were magical, the tension in his back loosened ever so slightly. “Yeah, we did all make it out in one piece.”
“That’s good to hear lad.” The first man said with a gentle smile. “We appreciate the service you and your fellow hunters provided.”
The bearded man let out a boisterous laugh and clapped Rick on the shoulders one more time with considerable force. “Ain't that the truth! You and your friends really helped us out. It would be a shame if something happened to those who did so much for us simple folk.”
“Thanks.” RIck chuckled and stood up fully to leave the tub.
Both men gasped in shock.
“What in the blazes?!” The boisterous one exclaimed.
Rick looked down and inwardly winced. Somehow his relaxed state had allowed a modicum of his true length to become more apparent. He had acquired both the traits needed to keep his size more manageable, but it seemed that sometimes the beast within refused to be contained. Even at a quarter chub, he was still longer flaccid than most men were in total.
“This may be a bit rude, but do you perhaps have some elf blood in you?” The orc asked, doing his best not to snicker at his openly gaping companion.
“Nope.” Rick said simply with a smirk. He got out of the pool and started to dry, then dressed himself. “But my child certainly does.” He added with a wink right before he turned to leave the baths.
The two men were stunned for a moment, looking at each other then back to Rick. They then erupted in raucous cheers. Rick shook his head in amusement as their calls of encouragement followed him through the door.
“That’s the spirit lad!”
“Go and give the lucky gal a great time!”
His good mood persisted as he made his way back to their shared room. He felt like a new man, scoured clean from all the trauma and hardships he had recently endured. They had all survived what could have been a travesty relatively intact. Perhaps that fact was only just sinking into his thick skull.
Rick collapsed onto one of the beds. It seemed that the girls were taking a bit longer to clean up. That was perfectly fine, they could take as long as they needed. If anyone deserved a moment of warm relaxation after what they just went through, it was the four of them.
His eyelids grew heavy. While the bath woke him up slightly, the feeling of his freshly cleaned and cooling skin while he lay on the exquisite softness of the bed was causing his exhaustion to swiftly return with a vengeance. He couldn’t help but let go, and drift in the realm between sleep and wakefulness.
He was roused from that strange limbo by the sound of a door opening. He looked over and saw the four girls walking inside, each of them looking quite refreshed and considerably more relaxed than before.
“Welcome back. Enjoy yourselves?” He asked while groggily sitting back up.
Tyr gave a wide, toothy grin. “Ya bet yer arse we did.”
The girls all exchanged looks and Sade rolled her eyes. “The bath was indeed wonderful. Although getting fondled a bit by strangers was a new experience.”
Rick sat up straighter. “You got groped?!”
Sade raised up her hand to forestall his worry. “Nothing quite so egregious. It is all a long story, but the important part is that it was consensual.”
“They even asked permission twice before juggling around those fun bags.” Lilie snickered.
“Thank goodness!” Rick sighed. “These townsfolk seemed quite nice, if the two burly men ogling my dick were any indication.”
“You serious? Are your cajones just as impressive too?” Daniela joked.
Rick merely shrugged. “They seemed to think so, or at least that I had a bit of– wait, why are you stripping?”
While he was in the middle of talking, Sade had begun to undo the buttons along the front of her loose shirt. Beside her, Tyr was also casually removing her garments as well. The other two thankfully didn’t start taking off their clothes as well, but neither did the other womens’ actions seem to surprise them either.
Sade’s breasts were released from their cloth confines, jiggling softly due to their immense weight but hardly sagging at all in their impossible perkiness. Rick could feel his mouth water and his blood begin to flow southward with just a glimpse. He never got tired of looking at those dusky peaks. With each orb nearly the size of her head now resting over a flat and well muscled stomach, he couldn’t blame those village women from wanting to touch them.
“You girls weren’t kidding. He really does look like a starving lobo ready to feast.”
Rick snapped out of his lustful daze at Daniela’s words. “Wait, you didn’t answer my question.” He said while desperately trying to look each woman in the eyes without drifting too far south.
“Something we should have done for a long time.” Sade replied ominously, she paused in her removal of her outfit to give Rick a pointed stare. “Clothes. Off. I need you inside me.” She paused for a moment in thought. “At your full size as well.”
Rick, of course, did as she asked. His dick was already straining to escape its confines and plow into her heavenly tightness until she was no longer able to stand. The moment his pants came free, he allowed the beast between his legs to grow into its truly monstrous proportions.
“Mierda… “ Daniela squeaked at the sight of his twitching enormity. Rick made to cover himself but Sade, now fully nude, held up her hand to stop him before stalking forward.
Rick gulped as those great hips swayed from side to side with each purposeful step she took. Even after the time they all got carried away, she had never stopped making herself grow. Oh she, like him, had slowed herself down considerably, but never outright stopping in her desire to become bigger for even a moment.
The bed creaked as her weight settled atop it, dangling her glistening entrance right above his swollen crown.
“Um… should we not take some medicine first?” He asked. Rick turned to stare at Tyr’s belly, not yet showing the burgeoning life below those chiseled abdominals. It was still a perfect reminder of the consequences of him forgetting to use protection.
“Not needed.” Sade whispered before impaling herself fully in one smooth motion. Her whole body shuddered around his length, her insides clutching around him like a soft, heavy blanket. He instinctively knew without needing to check his status that he had just gained a unit of coital energy right then.
Sade slowly came back from her orgasmic high. She placed her slender fingers upon his muscular chest and started to pump herself up and down his girthy shaft. It was Rick’s turn to hiss in pleasure as her tunnel coiled and squeezed him in all the ways he loved best as her pace slowly picked up.
“Whatever happens, happens.” She cooed softly. At his questioning expression, Sade sighed and elaborated further. “When I fell, when I was almost forcefully torn out of everyone’s lives forever, I lamented all the things I never shared with you.” She cupped his face and gave him a tearful smile, still slamming herself up and down his cock.
“I love you, Rick. Almost from the moment we met, I have grown to love the quiet, caring, and brilliant man who dropped into my life when I thought all was lost. You have encouraged me to live out my dreams, to seize a future worth living with my own two hands. You allowed me to be happy.”
Sade bent down and kissed him. It wasn’t a slow, gentle peck on the lips, but a full mouthed embrace. Her tongue reached inside and coiled around his own, desperate, needy. Rick reached up and brought her whole body close until she was pressed flush up against him, the sides of her enormous knockers spilling out from where they pressed together like chocolate pudding.
With his lover otherwise pinned, it was up to Rick to pick up the slack. He lifted his hips up with his legs, and started pounding the dark skinned beauty like a jackhammer.
Sade broke away from their kiss to suck in a deep breath. “Oh yes! YES! I love this! I love the way you fill me up. I love you so fucking much! I need it… I need you to fill me until I burst!”
Her words finally sent Rick catapulting over the edge. The pressure inside him finally unleashed and he howled in ecstasy, the woman he loved falling right along with him into a chasm of bliss.
“Sade!”
“Rick!”
His dick convulsed, and a tidal wave of his seed thundered out of his shaft to flood her needy insides. His orgasm lasted what seemed like forever. Each twitch of his imposing manhood sent another huge rope of white stuff into her deepest depths. It felt like he had just unloaded a whole pint of jizz into the stunning mage when his release finally subsided.
He held onto her, unwilling to let this beautiful moment end. Rick felt Sade’s hand gently tap him on the head. “I am here, I will not leave your side ever again.”
At those words, Rick could feel his entire body go lax and flop down on the soft bed. Sade sat back up, still impaled on his rigidity, and turned to the rest of their audience. “Is the ward set up?”
Daniela snapped back to attention. “Whoops! Just give me a sec!” She said before zipping around and placing those familiar metal disks around the room.
“Annnnnnnd… Done!”
The air thrummed with the activation of the magical devices. Sade beckoned the others to come closer. She wiggled a bit in apparent nervousness at what was going to happen next. Rick found this odd, considering the show they had just put on, but he was curious enough to let this all play out.
She sucked in a deep breath. “Sade Nala Fulani” She stated simply. “That is the full name I would have if my family was still counted among the nobility.”
Rick was stunned. Sade was of a noble house? In hindsight, that sorta made sense, but it opened up the door to so many more questions.
As if sensing that he was about to speak, Sade placed a finger to his lips. “Not yet my love.” Her eyes grew hard as she looked at each other person in the room right in the eyes. “That name can never leave this room. House Fulani is dead, and must remain that way. So to you and everyone else, I am simply Sade. Understood?”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
“Thank you.” She said with a sigh. “Secret knowledge like that is dangerous, but I feel that keeping important information about myself from all of you is wrong. I am tired of keeping secrets, especially from those I love.” Her smile turned wry. “And speaking of love… I suppose it is about time I discuss my vocation with all of you.”
Another deep breath, another slow exhale.
“I am an intimancer.”
The room once more became quiet. But the silence wasn’t one of shock and surprise, but more the kind of quiet when people just don’t know what to say.
“Huh… I guess that explains a few things.” Rick said in an attempt to break the ice.
“Wait, what?! ‘That explains a few things’. Just that?” Sade said with incredulity.
“Well, I sorta figured that already.” Tyr said with a shrug. “Kinda hard ta think otherwise when sex between the two ‘a us still gives coital energy.”
“Plus you already told me.” Daniela stated simply. Lilie merely grinned smugly.
“I’m not sure why you thought you should hide it, but I’m still glad you decided to finally tell us.” Rick chuckled and cupped her cheek softly. “Care to tell us why?”
Sade’s dusky cheeks flushed a shade darker. She let out a mumble that was so soft, Rick questioned if he heard anything at all.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“I said I was ashamed of it!” Sade whined. “I could have been a magus! But I chose intimacy instead. The whole thing is just embarrassing.”
Rick was confused. “What’s a magus?”
This time the whole room became quiet. Not in the awkward moment sort of way, but in shock at the words that just came out of his mouth.
“Wait, you seriously don’t fucking know what a magus is?” Lilie asked. The rest of the girls all stared at him with the same look of shock and puzzlement, even Tyr.
Rick groaned. It was just his luck to ask the one question everyone in the world knew as common knowledge except him. Still, now was the perfect time to rip the bandage off if there ever was one.
“No, I don’t. But I guess it all ties to the secret I’ve been keeping from you all too.”
He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the storm of questions that were about to follow, and exhaled.
“I’m from another world.”