Slave Girl: Chapter 72 (Patreon)

Hot jizz dribbles from my lips when I slip off of my Lady’s heavy cock.  I swallow.  I lick my cummy lips and swallow again, savoring her special flavor.  Then I look up at my Lady breathlessly and smile.  “Thank you.”

“Hahhhh.”  She relaxes back.  “You are very welcome my boy.”  Still with a grip on my hair she carefully pulls me up toward her face.  “Kiss me.”  I kiss her cheek.  “Good boy.”  I sneak a second kiss in and she gives me a little sidelong smirk.  “Brat.”

“He he he.”

She lets go of me as she lets out a long breath.  “Are you up for moving around a little?”  Her fatigued tone signals our shift back into reality.  I take a moment to come back into a more sober mindset before answering.

“Yeah.”  I finally say as I test my ribs.  “I’ll manage.”

“Could we get rid of that thing.”  She nods toward the stinking corpse of the harpy.

I kiss her one last time.  “We can try.”

She helps me to my feet and then I help her to hers.  Leaning on each other for support we make our way toward the feathered heap that lays so close.  I take one wing and she takes others and we start to drag it toward the entrance.  Its feathers left a greasy grime on every they touched, our hands being no different.  Just touching the thing turned my stomach.  Being a flying creature it proves to be much lighter than it appeared though it is still a load for the pair of us in our condition.  We drag it to the lip of the cliff and with a concerted push send the dead beast to plummet to the rocks below.  Standing on the ledge we come together to look out over the vast moonlit mountain landscape that stretched out before us.  My arm is around her shoulders, hers around my waist with her head resting against my chest.

While rugged and breathtakingly beautiful I could not wait to see the fields and orchards of good agrarian land again.  I felt too far from Ceres out here.  We stand together, naked against the cool wind.  All that needed to be said tonight had been said.  All that we were physically capable of doing had been done.  We were spent, completely spent, yet we steal these few minutes to share this moment.

“I’m cold.”  Rosa whispers with a shiver, wrapping her arms around me and holding tight to me for warmth.  “And I am so tired.”

“Me too.”

Finding a meager puddle we rinse our hands as best we could, there wasn’t near enough to wash the rest of us to say nothing of having a drink.  We make our way back into the deep dark interior of the cave.  It was so dark I could not Rosa’s horned head though I could feel it against my chest.  Feeling about we find a place at random and, using the clothes we could find as some sort of partial blanket, we lay down together.  Rosa clings to my arms, holding them tight to her body needing to feel the security of my embrace after the horrific events of the day.  Spooning her from behind I nearly engulf her with my much larger form and hold her close.  We kiss, we confess our love one last time, then we lay our heads down for a hard won rest.

Slumber consumes me swiftly and deeply.  As I blink my heavy eyes open and see morning light streaming into the cave I have fleeting fuzzy memories of a dream where I stood in a vast field of golden wheat.  As dreams do, my waking senses burn off the memories like a morning fog.  It takes a few moments to remember where I am but the gross smells that linger at the back of my throat quickly bring me up to speed.

“Ohhhh.”  I groan as the efforts of yesterday become the aches of today.  I try to swallow but find my mouth bone dry.

I turn to my left to see Rosa still sleeping soundly.  As always I am struck, like a pilum through the heart, by her exotic beauty.  It shone through the sweat and grime and gore.  Though she had been my constant companion for nearly two weeks she had only grown more lovely to my eyes.  I grin as I see a remnant of my lip print on her smooth perfect cheek.  Very tenderly, so as not to wake her, I kiss that same spot.  I arrange my blood stained tunic over her shoulders to keep her as warm as possible.  As I move she curls up into a little ball and unconsciously pulls my shirt tighter around her.

I sit just looking at my love for a time.  I knew how sensitive she was to the cold.  I wished I could build her a fire.  Even more I wish we had something to drink.  Our waterskin, along with everything else but my dagger, I dumped in my chase after the harpy.  Shaking my head I recall how I heard my trusty pack burst open behind me.  All of our stuff would have spent the rest of the day and the night laying exposed.  Damn.  Looking back down to Rosa I remind myself of what is truly important.  We were both alive, that was all that mattered in the end.

During the night my belt and dressing had come loose from my ribs.  I look down to see an angry pink scar about a half a foot below my arm pit where the monster’s sharp talon had gotten me.  With my thumb I prod it softly to find it sore but mended.  That wound would have surely killed me if not for Rosa’s magic.  It was a…miracle.  There was not other word for it.  She had her father’s gift for the arcane, there could be no doubt about that anymore.  I was only alive because of Rosa, and she was only alive because of me.  I nod to myself.  That just felt right.  We defeated the monster together, we save each other, it felt as if there was nothing in this world the pair of us could not conquer as long as we were at each other’s sides.

Feeling as old as Drusilla I will myself to my feet.  The cave mouth faced to the West so the rising sun did not shine into it directly but the bright sky of morning was enough to illuminate the long straight cavern.  The floor near the entrance is covered in dried blood, both the harpy’s and my own.  Feathers, rocks, sticks and splintered bones were the majority of the cave’s contents.  Near where I had fallen I see my father’s dagger along with a familiar glint of silver.  The bracelet.  I walk across and first pick up the weapon.  I bring it to my chest and hold it near my heart.  

Closing my eyes I take a deep breath and reach out with my spirit.  “I…I think understand now.”  I whisper.  “I found someone Dad.  I love her.  I love her like you loved Mom.”  Opening my eyes again I look down to the blood caked weapon.  “I miss you and…I love you Dad.”  I sigh and bring the pommel to my lips.  “You might not approve of everything I do but…I’ll do you proud.  Just you wait and see.  I’ll make you proud.”  

I look about and find the bracelet again and pick it up off of the ground.  I look through it to see what would be normal with a mundane bracelet.  The portal was gone, magical lettering along the interior is dark, and it just felt…inert in a way it hadn’t been before.  The magic had long since been used up.

“Shit.”  I mutter.

I look deeper into the cave knowing the other half of the bracelet I held had to be back there somewhere.  Moving carefully and quietly through the bones and detritus I scan the floor.  Seeing the shine of silver under a shattered rib I reach down to find not a bracelet but a silver dinarius.

“What the?”  I turn the coin in my hand a moment before looking about the lair again.  Soon I see another glimmering among the bones, and then another!  Following the trail from coin to coin my gaze finally comes to rest on a torn leather sack wedged into a crack at the back base of the cave.  Moving closer I see more silver inside of it.  Looking about I see more things.  A broken bow, a rusted knife blade, a grime caked belt buckle, and other things.  It seemed Rosa was not the first of its prey the harpy had brought back here.

Getting down on my knees I start to rummage around and gather the items together.  I clear a spot to pile them, my main focus on the dinarii but anything of interest ends up on the pile.  The majority of what I discover is broken and ruined beyond all value or use.  I do find the other part of the Janus faced bracelet near Rosa’s torn capelet and place the two halves beside the rest.  Despite my best efforts my activity must have made too much noise as it isn’t long before I hear those three wonderful words.   “Good morning Master.”

“Good morning Rosa.”  I say, looking over at her.

She sits up and smacks her dry lips.  “Ugh, I taste it.  What a wretched smell.  I wish we had water.”  Blinking her big eyes she looks over to me.  “What are you doing?”

“Treasure!”  I smile.  “Look at all of this stuff.”  Directing with my eyes I draw attention down to the small mound of items I had collected.  “Money, a gem, a hairpin, a belt buckle, a bottle full of pepper still sealed, a pair of dice, a metal pen, two rings, a jeweled broach, I think it’s gold!  I’m not done searching either.”  I hold up a filthy and frayed hooded green cloak.  “There’s even some clothes.”  My voice darkens as I run my hand across a black splotch on the garment.  “Though most of it is…soiled.”  

“Those poor souls.”

“Yeah.”  Looking about the scattered and shattered bones I say.  “There’s no way to even give them a burial.  I pray their souls found the other side.”

She shudders.  “I would have been among them had you not come.”

“That wasn’t our fate.”  I say.  “I hope they don’t mind us taking this stuff.”

“I doubt the dead care of such things.”

“Yeah.  Some of this stuff is pretty old.  None of these coins are later than Vespasian’s reign, most are older.  I wonder if the harpy found an older abandoned lair or something.”  Saving the best for last I hold up a rectangular wooden item I had found in the leather sack that contained the silver.  “Look at this.”

Pulling my tunic tight around her Rosa turns to face me and squints.  “A box?”

“I thought so too.”  I shake my head as I trace the symbol carved into the front of it, that of two pillars with an elaborate circular design between them.  “It only looks like it.  There are leaves of parchment inside all bound together on one side.  The exterior is a part of it, like a cover to protect the pages within.  I think it’s a codex.”

“A book?”  She says.  “Wow!  What is written in it?”

“Not sure.  I just found it.”  I say as I place the item back down.  Picking up the two rings of the bracelet I show them to her.

“Oh no!”  She whispers.  “I forgot…the magic?”

“It seems dead to me but I can’t tell.”

Rosa gets to her feet and shivers.  I hide a grin as I catch a peek of her usually impressive penis all shriveled up from the cold.  Adorable.  Tightening the tunic around her she approaches me and kneels at my side.  She takes the two halves and studies the slender rings of silver. “They don’t seem damaged at all.”  Placing the two faces close together there is a moment of concentration before she lets out a breath and shakes her head.  The two parts remain separated.  “I can’t.  Maybe later…I don’t know Master.”  Looking over the gathered loot her demeanor brightens a little.  “Well…this will certainly help us.”

“It sure will.”  I put an arm around her and pull her into a hug.  “Come on, let’s find the rest and get out of this cursed place.”

She nods her horned head and scrunches her nose.  “Sounds good to me!”

Chapter 73