Vivas, p.16
Guardian: Havard Chronicles, Book One: A Gamelit / Prison Planet / Harem Adventure, page 16
In fact, I only realized it was truly gone when it began to sink into the ground at my feet.
My spear.
Chapter 21
Dropping the axe, I scrambled onto the snake’s back and sprinted toward its head. Yanking the spear out, I dove clear only seconds before it was sucked into the ground with the body. Left in its place were several gore-covered bodies, each deformed beyond recognition, whatever acids that coated the snake’s insides having done a number on the captives it had eaten.
That was too fucking close.
But we’d done it.
It had taken five of us, but we’d killed the monstrous serpent. It hadn’t come without cost, though, I remembered, looking to where Domal lay, his breathing still labored as he fought against the pain that currently wracked his body.
Kalia was already moving over to his position. Kneeling at his side, I watched as she uncorked a vial and poured a silvery liquid between his lips. A moment passed, and then Domal shook his head, his eyes downcast, grimacing as he tried to move.
Kalia opened her palm, and another vial appeared. Repeating the uncorking process, she poured another vial of liquid down the dwarf’s throat, worry etched on her face until a weak smile appeared on Domal’s face.
Gingerly sitting up, the dwarf twisted slowly from side to side before nodding, rising to his feet, and bowing toward Kalia.
It had taken two minor healing potions to fix his broken back. The dwarves hadn’t carried any themselves, but Kalia hadn’t thought twice about assisting. Without their help, would we have even managed to defeat the snake?
“Here, lad,” Branik rumbled from my side, and I rose to my feet and turned to see Layla at his side, a vial in her open hand. “It be the mana potion. Yer lass’ll need it more than us.”
I nodded and took the offered vial. “Thanks, Branik, Layla.”
Domal was now up on his feet, and the pair approached our position. The thin dwarf still walked a little gingerly, but I assumed that was just down to the memory of his recent injury.
As they reached us, Kalia’s eyes widened as she looked beyond our position. “Oh, wow.”
I turned, the realization dawning on me that we’d completely forgotten about the likely loot.
Ten enlarged golden coins shimmered on the hillside where the snake’s corpse had previously lain.
“Two each,” I mumbled, watching as Branik jogged over to collect them. “Nice.”
Branik returned with a huge grin on his face. “This’ll make that damn market more int’restin’.”
I grinned and gestured toward the ice elf when the dwarf offered my share of the gold. “Kalia looks after the gold.”
Branik just shrugged and pressed his palm against Kalia’s, moving the funds across.
I looked up the hill, at the section we still had to climb. Two hours at most.
“Shall we?” I asked, looking around the party and then gesturing toward the summit. With the worst hopefully out of the way, it should be a relatively easy stroll now to complete the island.
I wasn’t sure if it was down to our success against the large snake, but those snakes we did spy over the following couple of hours stayed well clear of our group, choosing to head off toward other prisoners who were climbing as we did.
There was no sign of the devrum, but a few figures ascended within view, including the dark-skinned humanoid and the walking fungoid. As I watched them climb, not keen on getting close enough to converse, the dark-skinned figure lifted a hand in thanks.
We’d cleared the beast that was terrorizing the hillside, killing multiple inmates. It made sense that other prisoners might appreciate the kill.
I reciprocated the motion and then turned back to the others. We had barely fifty feet left to climb.
The glow on the summit was apparent before we even reached it, the soft purple shimmer of a portal intertwining with the sun’s rays.
As one, we moved to the portal, keen to be away from this place.
“How do we meet up again?” Kalia asked.
“Ah…” Realization dawned. We’d be heading our separate ways shortly.
“The market?” Domal suggested.
“Good a place as any,” I replied. “Otherwise, I’m sure we’ll find you on the next island.”
“But if we don’t, lad”—Branik reached out and shook my hand—“’tas been a pleasure.”
I smiled. “It has indeed.” I then shook Domal and Layla’s hands, too, as Kalia followed behind me. We’d been lucky to find other prisoners who we could trust to fight at our side.
Kalia and I stood side by side to watch the dwarven siblings exit through the portal before I took Kalia’s hand, and we exited together. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if Kalia exited first without me. The system would likely leave me stuck here alone.
As it was, the purple glow increased in intensity, and I closed my eyes against the glare. Pressure welled behind me, and then, as my body was forced forward at what felt like breakneck speed, I clenched my hand tighter around Kalia’s.
***
“Hmm…”
I opened my eyes to see Kalia straddling me, a wide grin on her perfectly oval face.
Pressing her cool lips against mine briefly, she sighed before rolling off me and standing beside the bed.
“I wish they’d stop transferring us onto a clean bed in our blood-soaked clothes,” she complained, gesturing toward where I lay, though the smile never left her face.
“I preferred the naked arrival, too,” I admitted, winking and laughing as I sat up.
“I’m going to grab a shower.” Kalia grabbed a linen cloth and headed toward the wooden partition at the end of the bed.
I watched her go, admiring the way her ass moved in those tight green pants.
As I stared, my eyes glued to her body, she turned back to me. “Well, are you coming or not?”
Holy shit. I absolutely fucking was.
I jumped off the bed and yanked my shirt up over my head. Kalia’s eyes widened as her gaze roamed over me, and it was all I could do not to run across the room to her.
As soon as I stood before her, she pulled me into a deep kiss, her cool hands brushing across my back before she dragged me closer.
Her lips parted, and our tongues clashed, twisting together as we explored each other’s mouths, the chilled sensation unique, mesmerizing. My fingers grasped the bottom of her shirt, and I stepped back, pulling the shirt up and over her head, her light-blue breasts immediately catching my eye and refusing to release their hold.
“First, we get clean,” Kalia whispered in my ear, “and then we get dirty…”
Kalia bit her lip, grabbed my hand, and pulled me around the divider and into the shower.
Running my hand through Kalia’s hair, I pulled her closer, allowing us both to give in to our desires. Her smell filled my head. I slid my hand down the cool skin of her back, relishing the feel of her athletic body, before sliding her pants to the floor and cupping her perfect ass for the second time.
That first time didn’t count…
She made a small moan-like sound, and a groan escaped me. Perfect didn’t cut it. Her ass was heavenly.
“Sure you want to do this?” I whispered as I kissed across her collar bone, her eyes fluttering closed.
“I can’t wait any longer, Noah,” she replied. “It’s all I’ve wanted to do since I first saw you.”
I grinned. It hadn’t just been me that had felt the instant attraction.
Kalia pulled away and smiled, before grabbing my waistband and easing my pants to the floor, leaving us both naked and hungry for more.
I ran my hands over her perfect tits, emitting a growl of pleasure, before kicking the pants back out into the room beyond.
Kalia reached for my hand and dragged me underneath the shower. She leaned her breasts against my lower chest, pressing her cool skin against mine, while I fumbled behind us to start the water cascading down.
The elf’s heart pounded against my chest, and I gasped at the cool chill radiating from her sex. My own arousal hardened against her inner thigh, and a smile teased at the corner of her mouth.
Our hands explored each other as the water warmed. Spinning us around, I allowed the water to run down her face, her white-blonde hair falling just across her ice-blue eyes. I lifted a hand and brushed the strands aside as I looked into those eyes and kissed her again, hungrily.
Her hands pulled me closer as I reached out and grabbed the soap from the shelf at our side. Soaping my hands, I eased them lower, teased at her breast, running my fingers around her areola and across her nipple, eliciting a soft moan in response as small, soapy bubbles formed on her light-blue skin.
Pressing her hands against my chest, she pushed me gently back, running her own hands across her soapy skin. I repeated grabbing the soap, cleaning away all the signs of recent battle from my body, my gaze never leaving the elf’s piercing eyes as she ran her hands over her body.
Holy fuck, she’s so beautiful…
Kalia smiled and ran her tongue across her lips as she took hold of my cock and slowly caressed back and forth, guiding me closer to her slit. My tip pressed urgently against her mound, and I moved to pull her toward me, my fingers caressing her ass with need, but she pulled away, shaking her head.
“Not yet, Noah,” she moaned, a grin spreading across her face.
I bit back my frustration and grinned in return.
Kalia giggled and turned us again, my back now up against the hut wall as she lowered herself to her knees. A big grin split her face as she looked up at me, her eyes hooded, her mouth open with hunger.
Slipping my hands into her hair, I pulled her head forward, her moans of pleasure making my knees almost buckle.
Kalia’s tongue flicked out, running softly across the tip of my cock, the sensation making me groan in delirium as she ran it down the side of my shaft and then back up. Enclosing the head between her soft lips, I pulled her head toward me, closer, wetting the entire length of my cock with her slick saliva.
The elf refused to break eye contact as I thrust back and forth past her lips until I threw my head back, barely able to control myself. Her cool fingers cupped my balls, teasing me closer to the edge as her mouth refused to release its hold over me.
I pulled her closer until my tip pushed against the back of her throat, and she gagged softly but didn’t pull back, instead only pulling me deeper. She gulped down more and more of me, spit now running from the side of her mouth as she gagged repeatedly on my length.
“I’m cumming…” I warned, moving to pull back, but she shook her head, grabbing my ass and keep me firmly between her lips. I groaned, pumped again, and spurted my load down her throat, hot, thick ribbons of cum pulsing out, Kalia’s eyes rolling back in bliss as she swallowed it all down.
Rising to her feet, she ran a single finger across her lower lip, wiping away the last of my cum before sucking her finger and grinning.
“So hot…” she moaned.
“And we’re not done yet,” I added, taking her hand and leading the elf to the bed.
Chapter 22
“We’ve got a problem,” I murmured, running my hand through Kalia’s white-blonde hair that lay loose across her back, then twirling strands around my fingers where they covered the pointy tips of her ears.
The ice elf hummed and lifted her head from my chest. “And what’s that?”
I gestured around the hut. “There’s only one door.”
Kalia’s face fell as realization dawned on her. “Ah, fuck it. All that gold, and now we’ve got nowhere to spend it.”
“And limited supplies,” I added. Now, we couldn’t add to the few minor potions we had left. “What have we actually got?” I asked as Kalia sat up, doing nothing to cover her naked chest.
The ice elf’s eyes glazed over for a moment, and I waited while she checked through her inventory, my gaze drawn to her lithe figure.
“Potion-wise, we’ve got a single minor healing, three minor mana, and that minor charisma.”
OK. So, that wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it had taken two minor healing vials just to get Domal back on his feet, so another injury like that, and we’d be in serious trouble.
“Would have been nice to know we wouldn’t have access to the market on every island going forward,” I grumbled, fed up with the lack of information we were getting. We hadn’t even been visited by the red-horned woman since arriving in this new hut.
Despite the seriousness of our predicament, a grin threatened to spread across my face. If she’d turned up before, with Kalia on all fours, screaming out my name as I pounded into her, she’d have been confused beyond belief if she couldn’t see me.
I pondered whether the system would ever acknowledge my presence here.
I’d managed to keep it secret from the dwarves, despite the fact that they would have likely understood, but it was hard to make sure any loot I collected went to Kalia without drawing suspicion. I made a decision that when we met up again, I’d explain it to the siblings. They deserved to know.
While I’d been distracted, Kalia had gotten dressed, putting on some fresh prison clothes. “Nothing we can do, Noah. So, let’s sort out some food before calling it a night.”
I threw back the covers, grabbed a set of pants that Kalia had tossed onto the bed, and slipped them on.
The ice elf was already searching through the kitchen unit for supplies. As with the last island, this latest hut was a little bigger, and there was a little more by the way of furniture and comfort. It was like each time they tried to tempt you a little more to stay within its confines.
Still, we had no wish to remain here beyond this single night.
As Kalia straightened up, I slipped my hands around her waist, eased her hair to the side, and kissed the back of her neck.
A gentle laugh greeted me. “Hey, you. None of that. My legs are already weak. I need sustenance.” She turned in my arms, pressing her lips against mine and then wriggling free to collect a tray of bread, meat, and cheese that she’d just put together.
“Fine.” I pouted, the corners of my mouth twitching as I suppressed a grin. Grabbing a couple of plates, I then headed over to join her at the table. There was no sign that the system knew of my presence yet, but this hut had two stools, at least. Presumably an oversight.
“You think this will be that smog-covered island?” Kalia asked between mouthfuls.
She was referring to the next island in the archipelago that we’d spied from the ridgeline of the last zone. The one covered in a dark, imposing cloud.
I placed down the meat I held in my hand and tilted my head. “I would guess so, yeah. I mean, the island on the beach side of the last island definitely appeared to be the firewolf one we’d just cleared, so it stands to reason that we have to do the archipelago in order.” I looked over her ice-blue skin, memories of running my hands over her body immediately forcing their way in. “You think you’ll continue to be okay if it’s even hotter?”
Kalia shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s the reason I wanted more mana potions from the market. I can cast a spell that will regulate my temperature if it becomes unmanageable for me, but what if we need the potion later?”
“There won’t be a later if you aren’t okay,” I replied.
I found the heat hard enough, and I was used to it. I really couldn’t imagine how someone used to much lower temperatures back home coped. Still, I knew she’d grown her tolerance over the three years she’d been on the run, and that was probably what saved her now.
“Fine,” Kalia agreed, nudging food around her plate. “But only if I can’t cope without it.”
That was likely the best I was going to get. “We’ll start early, then. Hopefully, before the heat gets too much. Maybe then we can find shade in the hottest part of the day.”
“If there is any,” the ice elf replied. “Could have done with a map again.”
That was true. Not being able to visit the market here was proving an issue. Kalia still didn’t have a suitable weapon either. If it went on much longer, we’d have to try and fashion a bow and arrows out of materials to hand, but I couldn’t see us making anything substantial. I certainly wouldn’t know where to start.
I pushed myself up from the table, determined not to feel too despondent, and headed over to the kitchen unit. A quick search found a couple of bottles of what appeared to be ale, so I pulled the stoppers free, placed one down in front of Kalia, and then dropped back down onto my stool.
Despite being kept in a cupboard, the ale was cold, and I sighed as it ran down my throat.
“Are we drinking away our problems?” Kalia asked, laughing as I grinned back at her. “Because that’s an idea I could get behind.”
With only two bottles, that was never an option. Still, I shrugged. “I think that was the fat dwarf’s plan. Who’s to say it doesn’t work.”
“If we see him alive again, I’ll agree.”
I laughed and placed my bottle on the table. That was a good point. A thought then barged into my mind. “What about Branik and the others? We can’t meet them at the market if there’s no access, and if we’re starting early, there’s a chance that we’ll be gone before they’re ready.”
Kalia shrugged and turned her hands palms up. “We’ll have to just play it by ear. If it’s safe to wait near the huts, we can give them some time. Perhaps while we look for the chest?”
Yeah, we didn’t want to go rushing off again and miss it.
“Sure,” I agreed. “I’m sure they’ll find us again at some point anyway.” They’d proven to be trustworthy, but my priority was still the beautiful elf at my side.
“Still alive then, Kalia de Jaata?”
I rolled my eyes and turned on my stool. Kalia spun, too, looking over to our bed to see a familiar, stunning yet clearly dangerous woman sitting cross-legged on top of the sheets, staring back at her.
If she knew what we’d just been up to on that bed, I wasn’t sure she’d look quite so happy to sit there.
“I am,” Kalia replied, tilting her head. It was the first time she’d seen the woman since I told her she’d watched over her as she slept. “And yet I still don’t know your name.”
