Chaos god 3, p.14
Chaos God 3, page 14
part #3 of Chaos God Series
A messenger squirrel?
“Pina is a direct descendant of Ratatoskr, do you think she would be so foolish?” The disgusted tone of Gaelyra’s voice made it clear she found the idea insulting.
I made a mental note to ask Elora or Wyn who the fuck Ratatoskr was, and why a squirrel could be so important.
“Pina is as swift-footed and duty-bound as her predecessor,” Gaelyra continued. “And she returned with her last message still strapped to her. No, there is more going on here. I fear something has changed significantly, but I know not what it may be.”
“What can I do, my lady?” Berk actually got down on his bony knees before the white-haired elf, and then he pressed his palms together like he was praying. “Tell me what I may do. Please, let me be useful.”
“Oh, get up,” Gaelyra said in a voice thick with irritation. “You can do nothing for me on the floor.”
“Yes, my lady.” The scrawny man scrambled back to his feet, and both of his old knees popped in the process.
“Bring me the last two ledgers,” the old elf demanded. “Search through the last several moon cycles of accounts, make note of anything that seems out of place.”
“Yes, my lady!” Berk hurried to comply with her orders, and he scanned the ledgers beside me until he pulled two leather-bound books off the shelf. The bald man flipped slowly through the pages and occasionally jotted something down on a piece of scrap paper.
Gaelyra pushed herself up from her seat and left the room without another word to her frantic servant.
I lingered for a while, but I didn’t learn anything more as Berk worked furiously over the ledgers. I didn’t know what Gaelyra was expecting to find, all I knew was she wouldn’t learn the truth about the Demon Lord or Ryfon within those pages.
Neither would she learn of her own fate, which I was well decided about by this point. She had to go, just like Ryfon and the Demon Lord. The three of them had been a plague in this region of the world for too long, and I was determined to rid the people of this disease.
I still had no idea how Gaelyra had managed to keep such a stranglehold on the villagers, though. From what I’d seen, there was no reason they shouldn’t have revolted against her by now. Freesia’s attitude toward the white-haired leader was exactly what I would expect, and her father seemed to hate her just as much, even if he did seem a bit resigned to the situation. Everybody else I’d seen just looked lost in the everyday tasks of surviving. A few of them had started to look clear-eyed for a few seconds before that state of confusion returned with a vengeance.
It was like a sickness that was thick in the air of the entire village, but I had no idea how to fight a thing like that.
I decided it was time to leave this place, and I realized I was going to have to find another way out of the building as I glanced over to the closed window. There had to be another open window, cracked door, or chimney stack somewhere that I could escape through.
I launched my little bug body into the air and took a quick spin around the room, but the office was closed up. I flew through the door where Gaelyra had disappeared a short time before, and I found myself in a kitchen very similar to Freesia’s. The biggest difference was the well-stocked shelves, the large pile of firewood beside her stove, and a closed door that led outside.
The white-haired elf was nowhere to be found, but the stove had a hot fire burning in it, so the chimney wasn’t an option. I buzzed over to the wooden ladder that led upstairs and hoped for an open window. Otherwise, I was going to have to just hang around until Gaelyra or her manservant opened the door.
The second floor of the village leader’s office was a simple but well-furnished bedroom. There was a disheveled twin-sized bed in the corner, and a second small writing desk opposite of it, but what really caught my attention was the wide-open window across from me.
I darted right over and out into the open air of the village square with a mental sigh of relief. I didn’t know where Gaelyra had disappeared to, but it didn’t really matter at the moment. All I wanted to do was get back home and return to my human form.
I was impressed at how long I’d remained in my shifted form, but I was starting to feel a dull ache in my limbs, and I wondered if this was what phantom limb pain felt like. I could feel the exhausted ache in my toes even though I didn’t really have toes at the moment, and my extra set of beetle legs were starting to feel a bit numb. Nevertheless, it was awesome that I’d been able to spend so many hours in a shifted form without too much trouble otherwise.
This made me even more grateful for the hard circumstances of my younger years, and all the physical training I had from my prize fighting days. I was sure being in good physical shape before I even came to this planet had played a strong role in my stamina.
When I reached the spot where the cultivated fields met with the edge of the forest, I landed again and took a few deep breaths. I allowed my body to shift back into my human form for a few minutes to rest and stretch my limbs, and I felt like I’d just finished an all-day triathlon. I knew I was going to sleep well tonight, just from the sheer exertion of the day. I moved my arms over my head and took a moment to stretch out my hamstrings and quads before I leaned hard into another shift. I returned to my hawk form with nearly as much ease as usual despite the tiredness I felt, and I took off toward home.
It was a pleasant surprise to find the wind had turned in the exact direction I needed so I could glide most of the way back to Castle Levi, and I coasted easily and quickly on the rapid breeze. The assistance of the wind cut off a good portion of my flight time, and I made it back in less time than I’d expected.
Once the open balcony of Elora’s and my room came into view, I soared directly for the marble banister and landed easily on the cool stone.
I took several deep breaths as my body began to shift back to my natural human state, and I sucked in my breath at the tightness in my muscles.
“Levi, you’re home,” Elora murmured happily, and she walked over from the bed to wrap her arms around me. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” I said as I hugged her back. “How was your day?”
“No, no, come sit,” Elora insisted as she took my hand and led me to the bed. “I’ll tell you all about my day while you eat. Ingrid prepared a plate for us.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that, I’m really hungry,” I chuckled. I sat down on the bed beside the loaded silver tray and picked up a slab of grilled fish. It was flaky, tender, and delicious. “Where’s Shalanna?”
My black-haired warrior opened the door as if on cue, and she walked in with Frida close at her side.
“I’m here,” Shalanna replied. “I saw you fly up a few moments ago, and I wanted to see you and hear about your day before I went to sleep for the night.”
“Good, I’m glad I can share what I learned with both of you at the same time.” I smiled at my ladies, and I had a sudden thought. “You know, you can move into this room with us if you want, Shalanna.”
Elora smiled and nodded enthusiastically at the idea, but Shalanna blushed for a moment before responding.
“I would like that very much,” the black-haired warrior admitted. “Are you certain there is enough room for me?”
“Uh…” I chuckled and looked around the huge bedchamber that was still empty enough that our voices echoed slightly around us. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure there is.”
“We could even bring your bed in here and put it beside this one, so we have all the space we could possibly need,” Elora suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed, and I looked at my pregnant lover. “What do you think? I want you closer so we can take better care of you.”
“I love the idea,” Shalanna assured me.
“Good, we can arrange it all tomorrow,” I said.
“Will you tell us what you found now, please?” Elora begged. “I am so curious about this village.”
“I found out a lot,” I said. “They have a healer, her name is Freesia, and I’m pretty sure she’s a half-elf.”
“Oh, a healer, how wonderful,” Shalanna sighed.
“Half-elf, you say?” Elora asked.
“Yes, she has ears that are a lot like Goren’s,” I explained. “Her father is an elf, and lives in the village, too. He’s apparently the horse master. He said there was a mare about to give birth to her foal.”
“Oh, that’s so exciting.” Elora grinned.
“What else?” Shalanna asked.
“These people are suffering from malnutrition,” I said, and I frowned as I recalled the too-thin state of the boy, Sten. “They’re not getting enough food to sustain themselves in a healthy state, and the effects are showing.”
“Oh, no,” Shalanna breathed in a worried tone, and one of her hands moved to rest on her still-flat stomach.
“Were they still in that odd state of confusion you described?” Elora asked.
“The other people were, but Freesia and her father seemed… very aware of the situation and how horrible of a job Gaelyra was doing at leading the village,” I said. “He said they could just leave the village and go elsewhere, but that was very clearly not something the healer was willing to do. I got the feeling she’s determined to stay and help the people as best she can, and as a healer, there’s a lot she can do to help.”
“She sounds like a good person,” Elora said.
“Yeah, I think she is.” I nodded. “That’s not even the most shocking detail I learned today, though.”
“It’s not?” Shalanna breathed.
“Gaelyra said she’d made a deal with the Demon Lord,” I said, and I paused to take another few bites of my dinner. “She was whining about what would happen to her if the Demon Lord had decided the deal wasn’t benefiting him any longer.”
“We knew about the deal already, or at least we’d surmised as much.” Elora nodded.
“Not just that, though…” I continued. “Ryfon was part of the deal as well.”
“What?” Shalanna yelled with total shock.
“That snake,” Elora hissed between clenched teeth, and disgust burned in her amber-red eyes.
“The deal was that Gaelyra would provide the Demon Lord with foodstuffs, vegetables, livestock, that sort of thing,” I continued, “and Ryfon would provide the human sacrifices.”
“What did they receive in this deal?” Elora asked, and her lips curled back like the words tasted bitter on her tongue.
“Gaelyra retained control over the village,” I said. “Ryfon got the sand dunes, and they both received protection from the hordes of demons in the surrounding regions, so at least that part of what Ryfon claimed appears to have been true.”
“Wait, wait.” Elora shook her head with confusion. “Do you mean to tell me Ryfon wanted the sand dunes? But why?”
“That’s what I wondered, too,” I agreed. “I don’t know why he would’ve wanted them, honestly. My only idea was maybe he was hoping to find something left over from whatever had been in the region before Ragnarok.”
“That is very strange,” Elora mumbled.
“Oh!” I gasped. “I forgot, I wanted to ask you about something. Gaelyra said she and Ryfon used a squirrel to pass messages back and forth, and she said the squirrel was a direct descendant of Rat-a-tat-something. Do you have any idea what she was talking about?”
“Ratatoskr,” Elora gasped. “I had no idea he had any descendants at all. Ratatoskr once carried messages up and down Yggdrasil.”
“Yggdrasil was the tree of life?” I asked to make sure my Asgardian knowledge was right.
“Yes, Yggdrasil connects all the nine realms together,” Elora explained.
“Huh,” I breathed because I simply didn’t know what else to say in response to a fucking squirrel running up and down a tree that connected a bunch of different planets in the middle of space.
I choked down a burst of laughter as I pictured just how big a squirrel he might have been, or how fast he must have been in order to complete these deliveries. That was a really logical interpretation of the whole thing, though, and I had to remember there was likely some kind of magic going on to make it all happen.
“It saddens my heart to think of such a sentient creature being trapped by Gaelyra and Ryfon.” Elora frowned.
“Perhaps we can free this squirrel as well as the rest of the village,” Shalanna said through a yawn.
“I do hope so.” Elora frowned and then looked at our black-haired companion with concern in her eyes. “You look exhausted.”
“I am really tired,” Shalanna agreed as she turned to me. “Was there anything else important you learned today?”
“Not really, I think that about sums it up.” I shook my head. “You should go get some sleep, and we can bring your bed and all your stuff in here tomorrow.”
“I look forward to it,” Shalanna murmured before she leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Elora said.
“Sweet dreams, my love,” I said. Then I looked at Frida, whose beady black eyes flashed between Shalanna and me with indecision, and I chuckled. “Go ahead.”
Frida nuzzled her big smooth head against me once and then darted after Shalanna just in time to barge through the door before my black-haired lover closed it behind her. Shalanna’s amused giggle bubbled through the closed door, and I smiled as I turned to Elora.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Honestly?” Elora sighed heavily. “I am rather unsurprised to learn of how deep Ryfon’s disgraceful ways ran. He was a hideous person.”
“Yeah, he was,” I agreed. “And I only knew him for a few days.”
“This world is a better place without him in it,” Elora declared.
I nodded in tired agreement, flopped backward on the bed, and extended my arms up over my head with a low groan of aching muscles.
“Are you alright, love?” Elora asked, and her tone shifted instantly from irritation to loving concern.
“Yeah, I’m just pretty tired from being shifted all day,” I said. “My muscles feel like I hauled a hundred pounds from here to the swamps and back a dozen times.”
“Goodness… Well, let me help you with that,” Elora murmured. “Take off your clothes and roll over onto your stomach.”
“Okay.” I grinned and removed my clothes before I settled comfortably on the bed with my arms spread wide.
I felt Elora climb off the bed and move the empty tray to the floor. I heard the rustling of her clothes joining mine on the floor, and then she straddled me and sat down on my ass. Elora smoothed her cool hands up the length of my sore back, and her soothing touches sent shivers and goosebumps all over my naked body.
“Hang on a second.” I swallowed hard and adjusted my hips so my growing erection was more comfortable. Then I settled back down and relaxed into the healing touch of my lover’s talented hands.
Elora dug her hands expertly into the muscles of my back and carefully worked out the tension from about four hours of flight. My elven lover meticulously worked out every little knot of tension from my back and shoulders, and then she moved on to my triceps and forearms.
“Ooooh,” I moaned softly at the painful pleasure of the deep tissue massage. “That hurts so good.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Elora said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “It is lucky for you that part of my Valkyrie training was deep tissue massage that promotes the healing of overworked muscles.”
“Uuuuhhh, yeeeessss,” I sighed with intense pleasure as my body relaxed, and my dick grew hard beneath me. “This feels absolutely incredible, and it’s exactly what I needed. Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure to take care of you, Levi,” Elora whispered into my ear, and another shiver raced down my spine.
Elora moved down to my legs and worked all the aches and pains out of my hamstrings and calves with as much tender loving care as she had my back. I thought she was done after that, but she massaged the arches of my feet, too, until I was a puddle of exhausted relaxation.
“Oh, baby,” I sighed with overwhelming relief. “That was so amazing, thank you.”
“Did you think I was finished?” Elora purred in my ear as she knelt beside me. “Roll over.”
“Eeerrmmm,” I moaned, and slowly rolled onto my back. My shaft stood proud and tall so Elora could see just how much her touch had affected me. “What now?”
“Now, I shall massage the rest of you,” Elora cooed as she began to knead the aches out of my biceps and pecs. “And then I shall ride you like the stallion you are.”
“Fuck,” I whispered low in my throat, and my cock twitched with excitement. My eyes raked down her sexy body, and if I hadn’t been so thoroughly relaxed, I would’ve found it difficult to keep from reaching out and touching her.
“Just relax and let me take care of you.” Elora gave me a devilish smirk, and then she proceeded to work out all the tension from my upper body.
My elven lover moved carefully down my torso as she avoided even coming close to touching my dick, and it was the most delicious torture I’d ever experienced in my life. Finally, after Elora had rubbed all the knots out of my quads, along my shins, and around my ankles, she crawled up the length of my body and straddled my hips.
Elora placed her hands flat on my chest and lifted her ass into the air as she hovered over my eager dick. I started to reach down to position the tip of my shaft at her hot entrance, but she stopped me with a single commanding look. Then my silver-haired lover tilted her hips, caught my head, and sank so slowly down onto my cock that I almost lost my mind.
“Ooooooohhh,” Elora moaned as she impaled herself on my cock, and as soon as her tight tunnel was filled with me, she ground herself down on my pelvis.
“You’re so fucking hot,” I moaned, and I reached up slowly to cup the weight of her tits in my hands.
Then Elora leaned forward, pulled her heat away from my shaft, and sank down once again. All I could do was enjoy the sensations of Elora using me for her own pleasure while trying not to drown in my own. My elven lover started to bounce slowly on my cock, and every time she sank down, she circled her hips around.
