Sailing Ether Tides

Book 2: Dirt Diver’s Dance

Only The Lonely Ch: 5

From the high, windswept, barren passes, to the rich bottomlands of Foresthome took barely three hours, with no breaks and no brakes. They blasted town the wide, well graded and smooth roads that were count Liam’s pride; slowing only enough to let Audrey stay with the group.

She was faster than any mortal horse and could run over any terrain, even bridging or leaping significant gaps… But for flat out speed, nothing without wings beat the kids on a downhill run on open road.

Any prospective ambushers would have no warning and little, if any chance to act against the fast flying, nearly silent party.

One could as well ambush an arrow in flight…

Which is how the team encountered their first goblin band, skulking across the road, as evening fell. Wilf was in the lead, with Rio behind. The rest followed ten yards back, moving in a loose group. At the first sign of the creatures, Rio waggled his rear tire twice, signaling trouble to Amy in the vanguard.

Her soft, piping whistle alerted the rest to draw steel or couch lances, which was answered by a quiet clatter of arms all around the fast moving team.

The two in front cranked harder, picking up speed for a bombing run, their lances tucked behind themselves, trailing after the riders.

Hunched forward and flying fast, they cut in on their unsuspecting prey with silent ferocity. Rather than skewering one and riding on, the boys bashed through the crowd, their long, broad lance heads flying behind them, slashing the fallen and falling gobs. The boys skidded and wheeled, swapping sides and pedaled hard, smashing back through and plying their lances this time.

Wilf spitted the leader, wearing a dog skull helmet, staking him to the dusty road, right through his heart and left him propped there, swaying on the pole of his lance.

Rio took one in the eye, which was grisly, but left his lance free to plunge into a bonus gob, nailing him to the tree he was scampering up.

#

The two big lads slammed into the rear of the gobbo ‘formation’, scattering them across the wide road and verge. While they wheeled and ran back through their handiwork, the rest of the team rode down the scattered creeps; delivering them to whatever afterlife the shithead cannibals liked.

Amy’s sabre followed a few seconds after Wilf and Rio’s second attack, flashing in the late afternoon sun. The bright blue dynamo rode through them like a magical grain harvester, she took arms and heads with equal ease, leaving blood wherever she passed.

Poor Ivy got a lucky, or unlucky spear through her spokes and found herself pitched head first into a six-pack of the rapacious little ghouls.

Their dark, piggy eyes lit up when a pretty human girl landed in their naked laps… until she started hitting them.

Short, apple cheeked and blonde, Ivy seemed a cute, slightly pudgy woman of mature beauty with an almost childlike softness to her; until it was close combat training time… the woman was a monster.

Compact, muscular and agile, with tireless endurance, far beyond normal human limits, Ivy was more than a match for most armed men, barehanded. Her Contract with the god of Beasts gave her the physical might to provide the much needed admonishment the goblins needed at that moment.

Long before her massive husband could dismount and stomp over to crush the creeps into goo, she had them whimpering and broken, in a heap on the road.

“Gods, Ives… you didn’t kill any of them?” Tallum asked softly, as they surveyed the wreckage.

“Taking gobs alive is extra challenging, cause they’re so fragile, stupid and horny.” She sang merrily. “You gotta dislocate their limbs and give’em a twist…” She demonstrated on an imaginary shithead, with a smile on her sweet, angelic face, those startlingly blue eyes alive with mirth.

“If you break too many bones, the little shits just die on you.”

#

Audrey cleaned up the mess from the road in a few minutes, even licking the surface clean with a long mat of roots that she dragged over the bloodstains. It reminded Ivy of her big mutt, scooting his butt on the rug; only, she was removing the noisome streaks, rather than laying them down.

“Otho loves chili dog night…” Tallum muttered fondly, reading her mind once again, as they watched the count’s familiar literally mop up.

Before long, they were riding again; with the five goblin survivors entangled in Audrey’s vines. They rode on through the deepening twilight, past secure farmsteads with thick stone walls and watchers on the roofs; communal strongholds scattered around for just such threats.

They eventually neared the lakefront, with a familiar, tall column of steam rising in the distance. Liam glanced down at his familiar and her entangled prisoners and frowned. “I’d like to take these three off your hands, Ivy.”

“Wait…” She grumbled, peering closely at the not even slightly guilty looking snapdragon. “I was pretty sure I had six…”

“I don’t recall…” Liam said abstractedly, as he eyeballed his familiar. “Anyway, I’ll pay a bronze mark for these two.”

“That’s a pretty good price for a single goblin…” Tallum agreed, as another of her prisoners vanished into a flower maw.

“All right… But pay up before your stupid shrub eats them all.” She grumbled sourly at the count.

#

When they finally stumbled home, it was near eighth bell and full dark… Audrey carried Liam the rest of the way home, accompanied by a patrol of six armed and armored apprentice Adventurers who happened to be passing by on a regular route.

The private baths were marked private, for that double private goodness; so the exploration team splashed down in the public pool with a number of friends, relations, neighbors and horses.

Tallum was scootched down low, letting Ivy massage his scalp as a reward for being so brave on their Adventure. “I’ll give you the rest of your prize in our rooms… TickleMonkey.” She whispered in the big man’s ear.

“Not in the public baths…” He whispered desperately. “People will see!”

“We’ve all seen it, Tallum. It’s not tough to spot.” Dannyl jeered, topping his off color jest with a salacious wink. “If anybody’s missed out, now’s your chance.”

The giant turned bright red and stood up to exit the pool, in a display of righteous indignation. Poor fellow… Dannyl was waiting for just that.

“There it is ladies and gentlemen, the leviathan of the baths, the one man log jam…!”

His jeers cut off abruptly, when Wilf and Rio both stood up, each one holding one of Dannyl’s feet, plunging him headfirst into the pool, where he remained.

“We’ll drown him a little bit longer…” Rio said with a suave smile and a carefree bob of his head to the pair. “Good night, uncle; good night, auntie.”

“Night night.” Wilf agreed calmly, while his slight, red haired uncle thrashed and struggled under the surface.

#

Lindsey woke up with her big, goofy horse sprawled on top of her, still exhausted from the day before and emotionally battered by their first real battle…

That was when it all landed on her again… With a little less crushing weight and slightly more perspective.

She stirred, jostling the huge, warm animal while wondering how they wound up in this strange bed.

“Let me up you big galoot, I need to take a crap.” She grumbled at her horse. She nudged him a few times with her bare toe, wedging her instep between his haunches to motivate him.

“Move or I’ll tickle your butthole with my big toe!” She complained when he remained immobile. When she made good on her threat and jammed her toe between his hams, his butt felt weirdly not furry…

‘I’m in the stable… where I’ve been for a few hours…I’m bored.’ Flash answered, as Barry slowly rolled over and flung an arm on top of her, with a loud, rumbling snore.

Slowly it came back to her, Shai helping her get Barry into a room on the boat, since someone was already passed out in his room, and every other bed in the house…

Sitting up late on the side of his bed and slowly leaning over onto his warm, sleepy form, as exhaustion took her. It had seemed so innocuous at the time, she was tired and he was so warm and so… cuddly.

He was thankfully, still unconscious; it was a few hours after full darkness and they were alone on the boat, so far as she knew. His big warm hand was resting high on her chest, his long, strong, calloused fingers cupping her shoulder gently; that wouldn’t do… not at all.

She fidgeted, scooched and wriggled slowly and carefully, until that big, warm hand was cupping her left breast… Over the blanket, of course, but that was a marvelous brine to pickle the boy in.

And it felt… wonderful, just as the warmth radiating from his body felt more comforting than even Flash’s safe, cozy bulk.

She wriggled a little closer with a happy sigh, and maybe her hand slipped inside his shirt and rested on his big, broad chest, slowly tracing the muscles hidden under his soft, velvety skin. No one was awake to notice…

“I thought you needed to poop, boss?” Flash asked sweetly, the obnoxious little jerk.

‘Yes, yes I do. And no, I won’t find Garry’s shoes. That’s final.’ She muted their connection so she could concentrate on extricating herself from her suddenly less cozy position, for a newly remembered and pressingly urgent mission.

#

Barry woke, deep in the night; on one of the familiar beds on Moonrise. He squirmed around, feeling something was off, or missing. Unable to pin down the nagging issue, he shucked the annoying pajamas his mom must have put him in while he was out cold. She really needed to grasp the idea of boundaries…

He rolled back over onto a very warm and comfy spot and slipped back into sleep, feeling just a little sad, for some reason, like he’d just forgotten the most wonderful dream… It felt like a pretty sexy dream too…. With a warm smile of anticipation, he chased the pale, pert, green lace clad backside of his dreams into the distance behind his weary eyelids.

#

Much relieved and more comfortable, and with a freshly washed left foot, Lindsey slipped back under the covers with her warm, cozy boy; only to find he had rolled over.

Her sneaky smile of wicked pleasure went unremarked in the dimly moonlit cabin, she could manage this. The light from the porthole was just enough to help her reach out and tickle her sleeping giant’s ear.

Once, twice… on the third try, he snuffled and rolled back over, right on top of the poor girl, crushing her beneath his naked bulk and prodding her hip with…

‘Naked?’ She asked herself, slowly and carefully; before that huge arm came back, landing on her boob with almost supernatural precision, considering he was completely out cold. And he was nude… Again, and pressed up against her, again.

Even her interposing blanket had taken a powder… caught beneath Barry’s enormous bulk, it might as well be on the moon.

As she slowly realized her position, she also realized that wasn’t afraid, or concerned, or worried… just embarrassed; she was tired and her boy was very warm, soft and cuddly. Well, mostly soft; there was one trouble spot.

#

Barry woke as the sun’s first rays touched the lake and reflections off the water began to sparkle on the ceiling above the bed.

He felt more relaxed, more comfy and tranquil than he could ever remember feeling before… Which probably had a lot to do with the slim, warm girl cuddled so close to him, her sweet face resting on his shoulder, drooling freely.

That had never happened before.

He lay there, savoring a perfect moment of simple pleasure; a beautiful girl sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Her arms were flung around him and one leg draped over his body, her slender knee resting on…

She began to stir, before he could do anything about the very natural and completely outside his control situation down there; it had already been well on its way, before he even woke.

“Lindsey… Lin…” He whispered, as her big gray eyes fluttered open and met his gaze. “I… uh, need to check the bandage on my leg…” He mumbled weakly; poor Bary was having trouble getting brain, body and mind to work together.

#

Those sleepy gray eyes shot wide open, as the reality of her situation slowly dawned on her. She was wearing her new, perfectly sensible pajamas, courtesy of Barry’s mom… that was good.

She was pressed close to the boy; so close it was difficult to say who was touching whom, or where… at first. That was also very, very good. Too good, judging by the situation under her left knee.

She scrambled away in desperate horror, blushing bright red all the way to her hairline. In her haste, the blankets came with her, leaving him lying there in the morning sunshine, looking deliciously shy, embarrassed and just way too sexy.

They stood there in a timeless moment, like insects trapped in amber, until the breakfast bell rang at the inn on the lakeside. The sharp, insistent clang broke the moment, as they both began to giggle together foolishly.

#

“I can’t believe you left them on the boat together…” Gary murmured into his coffee, while his wife smugly buttered a warm slab of fresh baked bread.

“They both be of age, an hae Contracted… an both hae free will.” She grumbled at her prudish man. “Barry be a fine lad, he will nae take any liberties unasked.”

Her confident smile broke Gary’s resistance, as she leaned against him on the bench they shared.

“She will nae be asking, ere I miss my guess… Tis just a mite o’ snuggly fun, an none will come tae any harm.” She cooed and hummed a soft little melody as she wriggled closer.

“I do well remember the lad I did meet in papa Harlan’s forge that day… Barry be much as thee; shy, retiring, an too reserved by far.” She purred in his ear.

“This is what I get for marrying a woman in the panty cult.” He sighed mournfully, until she grabbed his ear and gave it a sassy twist that made him yelp just, a little, just as he’d hoped.

They scooted apart just a little… a very little and stopped jackassing around as the common room began to fill with hungry family, Adventurers and guests.

#

Barry and Lindsey walked up from Moonrise, side by side and close enough that their hands brushed occasionally, looking deeply awkward and embarrassed, but also very pleased.

He wore his usual common workmans’ clothes, neat and clean but otherwise deeply unremarkable; in any craft hall in the region he would blend right in with the crowd.

Lindsey also wore his clothes, swimming about in his dark brown shirt, pants and jacket like a child playing dress-up in daddy’s clothes. She still had her pajamas on as well, since she was having trouble staying inside the giant boy’s laundry.

The pair stepped into the common room looking sheepish and embarrassed to their very bones, which delighted the company no end, of course.

They faltered under so many eyes and stupid grins, caught in a dangerously embarrassing and deeply humiliating situation. With twinned gasps of dismay, Amy and Maya swooped down on Lindsey and spirited her away from the boy and dragged her upstairs, leaving Barry alone to face the idiots.

“You guys all suck.” He announced clearly, while flopping down at the four triplet’s table in the corner by the fireplace, after he filched an extra seat from a nearby table.

He opened the window and whistled, bringing Flash’s big, goofy face into the scene, snuffling and sniffing for breakfast.

Larry and Perry landed a moment later, with Harry close on their heels. The four boys and the horse tuned out and ignored the rest of the room, stifling the grownups stupid comments and wisecracks before they could really begin.

“So…?” Perry asked with a smirk that was only obnoxious.

“Get stuffed, bro.” Barry grunted.

“Right answer.” Harry said with a grin.

“Yup.” Quiet and taciturn Larry agreed.

“I like her… A lot.” Barry mumbled after a few long moments. “And she smells really nice.”

“She’s tough, too.” Larry grunted. “Approved.”

Harry smirked at Perry and cocked an eyebrow at the last holdout.

“Yeah, she’s cool… Approved.” He finally admitted. “Cause her horse is cool.” He muttered with a smile.

#

“I don’t have any clothes of my own, only the uniforms and robes of Healer’s cult…” Lindsey gasped out a little sob of surprise, shocked at how little that sudden reversal of fortune bothered her; especially now that Flash was getting another of those ear rubs from Barry’s warm, strong fingers.

“I don’t even have my own… underthings.”

“Oh, darling…” Amy cooed with a slightly predatory smile on her pink, dusky lips. “We know. Things have been in motion for a few days now. Let’s get you taken care of.”

Amy opened her absurd closet and started rummaging around in the acres and acres of fabric, all neatly hung and folded and almost all in one shade or another of blue. Whether the pale, dusty azure of winter skies, or the deepest midnight hues, Amy had something beautiful.

Unfortunately, she was also very much shorter than the long, lanky girl dressed in a huge boy’s clothes. The dark, smiling admiral pushed a small mountain of her things aside and hauled a wicker hamper out into the room.

“First, undies.” Amy announced gleefully, as Maya’s strong hands began stripping Lindsey, again. The grinning, dark cherub who sometimes pretended to be Lindsey’s friend, produced an assortment of very sensible underthings that smiling, giggling Maya ‘helped’ her into. No matter how much the taller girl insisted she could manage without assistance.

Her panties and bra were still lacy and embellished, with cute bows and darling little pink rosebuds embroidered on the pale green silk, adding structure and coverage where the design needed them, without being overtly showy… And they were so comfy; cupping her bottom and breasts gently, securely and very beautifully.

Lindsey took a turn in Amy’s little wall mirror and gasped at the beautiful girl standing there, nearly naked, but so fetchingly almost clothed.

“These fit so well, as if made just for me…” She whispered softly.

“Yup, we started this on day one, sweetie. You weren’t thinking straight and that’s where good friends come in.” Amy replied smugly.

“You bought these… for me? I couldn’t…” Lindsey murmured, while not even pretending to resist the two girls’ continuing efforts.

“Gods no, we have so many crafts in the family, I just asked my mom and she got right on it.” The Admiral’s smile was honest and sweet, just like the silly, wretched girl herself.

“Mistress Ward is a consummate hostess.” Maya agreed.

“She sewed these things… For… me?” The tall girl stammered, even more distressed at the thought of her busy, hard working hostess staying up late, hunched over an embroidery hoop for her.

“Hmm?” Amy mumbled, halfway into her big basket, her bottom waving in the air as she burrowed in the clothing. “Nope, my dad sews, mom’s a smith… best around. Papa made all this stuff for you. He won’t take it back or listen to your protests, so shut up and just be happy.” She popped up from her huge basket and grinned at her new sister. “That’s all he wants from, or for any of us.”

A selection of lacy things that were not sensible at all still remained in the basket, hinting at further sexy hijinx to come. The tall, gray eyed lass looked at those naughty, intimate things, so wicked, cute, sexy and demure and so perfectly fitted to her every curve and plane…

She turned even more interesting colors, as she considered what that meant.

“Barry’s dad… measured me while I was sleeping?” She asked very softly. “Is that what happened?”

Maya and Amy giggled and laughed together for a terribly long time, smirking and whispering until poor Lindsey thought she might burst. At last Amy got all her giggles out and could speak. “Nahh, he’s just relly, really good at making… things, all kinds of things.” She grinned again. “Next new girl we’re gonna work that measurement angle, that could be fun.”

Lindsey found herself nodding along… ‘Yes, breaking the next ‘new girl’ would work out very well indeed.’ She thought to herself.

“Wait, why do you think there’s gonna be another new girl?”

“Open your eyes, Lin.You aren’t the only girl in town who knows what’s up. Once the weird factor wears off, those boys are date bait.” Maya said with a grin. “Our job is to help them find the right ones, and get rid of the trash.”

“Let’s get back to ‘work’.” Amy jeered at her blushing victim, as the infringement on her person and boundaries began again. “You have a breakfast date, with your clothes on. More advanced tactics come later.”

“Excellent idea, put a pin in that…” Maya sighed happily. “I think, the summer dress, Ames.”

“Hmm, good call, Maya, we’ll try that last… First, we get to play dress-up dolly, with our new toy!”

Amy advanced on the poor girl, with a pile of clothes draped over her arm and a wicked grin on her cruel, evil face.

“Breakfast is waiting…” Becky announced from the door, smiling at the three half dressed girls giggling in a tight knot among the scattered clothing.

“…and you will want more on than just your cute new undies for that… Though Barry might disagree; if he got a vote.” With a light of wicked glee in her own eyes, the high priestess slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. “Let’s play, dolly.”

Lindsey squeaked with fright and tried to flee, only to be swiftly recaptured in the tiny room, by the horrid Maya, whose hands were everywhere, all the time.

The assault only lasted a few minutes, a few long, terrible, hilarious, giggly, embarrassing minutes of simple, girlish fun. They swatted and pity patted at each other, stuffed each other into and out of outfits, whether they fit or not; and otherwise, generally made silly fools of themselves.

In the end, Lindsey found herself in a long, soft and breezy linen sundress that hugged where it should, draped just where it ought… and most importantly, snugged up in places that might distract a boy’s wandering eye.

She felt almost unclothed in the light and drifting sleeveless dress of pale green, which gradually darkened to a deep, dark forest shade at her ankles.

The sensation was exciting, thrilling and a little embarrassing, as she went downstairs behind her three co-conspirators and smiled at the boys in general, rather than at Barry, as she had been instructed.

‘Hmph… You can’t ride in that.’ Flash grumbled, with his face in a huge bin of salad greens and fruit tree leaves topped with toasted coconut granola.

‘We should go riding after breakfast…’

“Your horse is an idiot… like most men.” Amy whispered in her ear as they approached the boy’s table. “You’re on your own darling.” Amy and Maya peeled off to join the Ragamuffins, abandoning their former friend just as she came in range of her target.

“Wait, you can understand Flash, too? I thought…” She whispered to the empty air where those awful girls had just been.

“Good morning, miss Lindsey.” Harry chirped with a smile, as he kicked Barry in the ankle under the table.

“Uhh… wow… you look nice…” Barry stammered, while changing colors nicely. “Though, uhhh… you always look nice… er… I mean…”

Salvation arrived in the form of a pan of hot fluffy biscuits and a pitcher of wallowbear sausage gravy, flanked by a bowl of scrambled eggs and a mound of hot flapjacks. Gary grinned down at the kids, seeming no worse for his own misadventure of the day before.

He put a big platter of peeled and sliced fruits from the garden and orchard down on their table and withdrew without a word.

Lindsey gaped at the mountain of food and looked around the common room in concern. “Did we sit down at the buffet table? How did your dad carry all this? Does he have a foodservice gift?”

Her questions fell silent and went unanswered as the boys attacked the massive heap of food like a pack of starving dogs. The gigantic brutes ate off of serving platters, rather than plates, wielding their cutlery like manure forks to heap huge amounts of everything in reach, down their gaping maws… It was terrifying and a little fascinating to watch.

She was still staring in wide eyed startlement when Harry landed a human sized plate in front of her with an apologetic smile. “We’re pretty hungry after yesterday… Lin.” He murmured quietly.

“But we’re always hungry, really. Lucky for you, your boy Barry’s pretty handy in the kitchen.”

Lindsey tried to glare and grumble at his presumption, but the youngest Ward boy just smiled confidently and nodded along. “...yes, terribly rude and ignorant of me to assume anything of the sort…” He agreed with a smile.

“So, we’d like you to join our Adventure party; Flash is already a member...” He finished, without preamble, taking all of the wind out of her sails, just like that.

“Wait… I’m an acolyte of Hea… Oh…” She sputtered to a stop and sat back on her chair, as the last few hectic days and nights washed over her again, in that busy, bustling room full of rowdy, chattering Adventurers and warriors.

She watched her hosts, dancing together and smiling as they served their guests and family; as if having at least twenty hungry guests and a full house of kids was perfectly ordinary.

More than that, she saw what happened when their eyes met or they touched, even if only brushing against each other. They were in perfect time together, swaying and spinning through the room as if they were all alone and simply dancing.

They were having a deeply tender and intimate moment right there, seeing little beyond each other.

Lindsey’s heart lurched comfortably in her breast at the thought of living a very different life than she’d ever previously imagined. A life like the one she saw dancing before her eyes, in a crowded, cozy room filled with love and life.

“Yes, I’m in!” She gasped, every inch of her, confused, excited and eager to see what would happen next; in her own life, and between the two mysterious people dancing around the inn lost in each other...

It was a little difficult to reconcile her disperate impressions of Shai; the hard eyed trader and craftswoman, the open handed and open hearted hostess, the terrifying, fierce warrior with that fearsome flaming sword...

And the beautiful, tender, graceful, dancing, hill tribe girl, swaying with a boy she liked for the pure joy of it.

Lindsey felt like she better understood why the countess prized this woman’s friendship, though they were so very different in every way.

She sighed in a silent prayer of thanks to all the divines that Barry was so unlike his father in so many ways. That guy was weird.

#