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The Feri War
Chapter 17
When I came out of the search vision, I was in the wagon. I learned that I've been out for more than two hours, which was a record for me. Wren served me breakfast and I ate while I relayed what I witnessed to Rhett. He was quiet yet I could feel the excitement he was trying to suppress. I was happy to bring him some good news at last.
After that, I spend most of my time with Maya chitchatting about trivial matters. Now and then Silas would entertain us with a joke but otherwise our journey was uneventful.
At one point the wagon stopped and Wren, Connor and Malik entered.
'It's time to change,' Malik said, 'Helding is but a few miles off. There could be people on the road, from then on so we have to stay true to our disguises.'
We all changed into priest robes. With Ferard and Russell acting as if they were on their honeymoon, dressing and touching each other at every opportunity, the rest of us were quick about it.
Well, not all of us. I had the most fun watching Fiori struggling to fix her robe. Not that she didn't know how to dress, more like she was stubbornly refusing to admit that her weapon didn't fit with the new assemble. 'Fiori, if you can't part with that sword, then you'll have to hide in the wagon when we enter the city.' Eric said chuckling.
She scowled. 'Fiori doesn't hide.' She unsheathed her sword and kissed the blade. 'I promise never to part from you my lovelies. Mama loves you so much.'
We all laughed, although, her words were puzzling.
'Lovelies. I see only one blade,' Silas said.
'Two,' she said separating the two to form two distinct swords. 'Finny and Bucky.' Finny was slightly thinner than Bucky and they were a perfect fit when she put them back together again.
'I thought swords were given lady names?' Silas said.
'True, but I find that notion ridiculous. They're my swords so I can name them whatever I like.'
After that spectacle, Fiori did give up the sword. But she refused to part with her daggers. Since they were unnoticeable underneath her robes, Eric let her keep them.
'I can't sleep without them,' she told Maya. 'They comfort me at night.' The latter sniggered in amusement. And then Fiori pulled one out and handed it to Maya. 'Here, every girl should have one underneath her pillow. You never know. In the future, you might need it to castrate a lucky pervert.'
Silas glanced at Connor and laughed. I joined in as well, especially at how Connor gulped and swallowed air.
Jovial banter between Silas, Connor and Fiori kept us entertained before Malik shushed them because two riders on horseback were approaching us from behind. They trotted right past us. They stared but continued at a much faster pace towards the city.
As Helding came into view, we began to see more people on the road. And as we get nearer, it felt like Covenfield all over again. Except for this time, the misery was on a much larger scale.
I sat next to Malik at the reins of the wagon. Wren was on the other side of him. So I had the perfect view of the sea of makeshift shelters spread before the walled city. People, they were in their thousands. Most were huddled over the campfires in front of their dwellings while others scurry about doing various sorts of activities; from carrying woods, fetching water to gambling and arguing. A lot of children were unattended. And while some were playing a few barely had the energy to move from malnutrition.
The appalling sight broke my heart. This was cruelty at its worst. I began to question our cause. Were we doing the right thing?
"Stop that!" Wren said in my head. The connection between has been getting stronger and our mind seemed to link instantly. "It's not your fault they're like this. They are just victims of circumstances."
"Yeah."
Wren sighed. "Did you start this war? Did you make Helledon release werewolves on these people? Are you in charge of the witches internal affairs?" When I didn't respond he added, "then don't blame yourself for something you didn't do. On the contrary, you should be doing the opposite. Use this as motivation to keep fighting for them."
He was right of course. I should be doing my best to improve their conditions by resolving this war once and for all. I wasn't going to tell Wren that. Already he has a head larger than usual.
He broke into laughter when I thought that. Are we truly linked?
It painfully took us forty or so minutes to reach the city gate. We weren't the only ones trying to get in, not that all of us couldn't, more like the security was tight. The guards were searching every wagon, cart and basket for what I didn't know. Could it be weapons? I realised that we had weapons stashed in ours.
"Should we be worried?" I projected to Eric.
"Don't be. But keep an eye out. Scan them if you must."
'Come forth,' a guard called to us. 'We need to know what you've got in that wagon? But first, start with where you're from and what business brought you to Helding?' He said once we stopped where he wanted us to stop.
Is he dumb? We were priests. Everybody knows priests were benevolent.
'We are priests from Soren. We are here to deliver provisions to the local parish,' Malik said.
'Local parish you say. You must be lying because we weren't informed of this.'
'I assure you, I'm telling you the truth.'
With a gesture of the hand, the other guards surrounded our wagon.
'Search them,' the lead guard said. We were calm but vigilant.
'Enough!' Another voice shouted, 'stand down Captain.'
All guards turned to the man who spoke and fell on one knee. So did the Captain of the guards. 'Commander...' He rumbled on telling the Commander about the situation here.
'You weren't aware but I was. Brother Dirk here delivered the message to me personally.'
From behind the Commander, a young acolyte in a blueish robe stepped into view. The two newcomers were opposites of each other. The Commander was about fifteen years older than Dirk's twenty. If I wasn't in their heads, I'd say Dirk was maybe seventeen. The acolyte had short curly dark hair and a darker complexion than the older warrior. The bulky Commander dwarfed the toneless acolyte in every aspect; from build to charisma. Regardless of their differences, these two shared a history. A history that drove the boy- man to seek refuge behind the cloth and the big-man to dig himself further into his career. Someone truly didn't want them together in that way it seems.
I wondered who but I wasn't in their heads long enough to find out. I intended to though.
'Right this way gentlemen,' The Commander said, 'I'll escort you to the temple.'
'Thank you,' Malik said at the same time as Brother Dirk said no.
The Commander laughed. 'No, bother at all Brother Dirk. I was heading that way anyway. I have to see someone for something.' He seemed to be sputtering the last sentence. He wanted to spend more time with the little guy.
I sniggered. And all my companions stared at me alarmed. The adults did so more intensely. "No need to panic. Just that this guy has some funny thoughts," I projected for the group.
The Commander was true to his words. He dropped us at the temple and then he was off.
Brother Dirk brought us to the stables where we unbridled the horses. We then took our personal belongings and followed the young acolyte into a building adjacent to the temple.
He brought us to an office where a priest sat behind a small table buried under a pile of parchments.
'Excuse me father, the guests have arrived.'
'Good. Let them in and close the door behind you when you leave.'
The older man raised his head and stared at our little group. Except for Silas, Maya and Me, the other seven were huge and bulky under their robes, no wonder we had a hard time at the gate. His eyes lingered on mine before I felt someone poking at my mental shield. He was a telepath and he thought he was being subtle. I raised a brow at him and he grinned sheepishly. He wasn't able to scan me but the others didn't stand a chance. He was that powerful.
"Now that you know who we are, will it be a problem for you?" I projected. My voice in his head spooked him.
Busted! I inwardly chuckled.
"I'm sorry to pry, your Majesty. It was just curiosity, I assure you," he sheepishly replied.
I loved how people can't hide what they want to say in telepathic conversations. Not that they can't, it's just harder to fake it.
"You mean checking whether you'll be harbouring trouble makers. Just so you know, we will be trouble if trouble finds us. Do you understand what I mean?"
Huh! I can't believe I was threatening a priest.
Again, he sheepishly grinned. "I get the message, your Majesty. Know that your secret is safe with me."
"I know. And let's keep it that way," I said.
My companions glared at him. None of them said anything but they knew we were communicating.
'Yes.'
We spoke with the high priest for a half-hour, with him mostly catching us up on the situation here. He didn't ask us for any details in saying what he knows was enough. He promises to help in any possible way he could, except that we must avoid the priest's communal space to avoid suspicion. As he put it, "there are snakes even amongst the Great Feri's flock."
While he spoke, I connected everyone so that they can glimpse at his thoughts for themselves. They should also be able to decide whether we should trust the man or not.
We were all housed in the same dormitory. Priests do not have privacy it seems. Even the high priest shares sleeping quarters with others, we've been told. It's a good thing they were all spadis, they won't lust after each other.
After bed assignments, we converged around Eric.
'What's the plan?' Fiori asked as she settled on a bed with her sword in her lap.
'It's late afternoon so not much we can do but scout the city. I suggest we spread out and get a hang of the situation here. Focus on the security, the entrances and the officials,' Eric said but was interrupted by Malik.
'Don't ask anything about Charlie. For now, just learn the ins and outs and the working of the place.'
Everyone nodded.
'Rye, you and Wren stay here and keep an eye on the priests, especially the high priest. We don't know if we could trust him yet.'
We all dispersed with the others ditching their disguises since they weren't needed anymore.
Wren and I headed back to the stable. We groomed the horses and feed them. While we stand back and watched them, Wren wrapped his arms around me and started nudging my ear and neck. I felt the bulge forming under his robe and smiled.
'Horny?!'
'Hmm. Aren't you?' He teased before sucking at my earlobe. He rubbed his hands over my body to get me into the mood. He didn't have to. The moment he touched me I was already in the mood.
I turned in his arms and hooked mine behind his head pulled him down for a kiss. His lips were warmed and moist. I moaned as I sucked them off his face. He responded with little moans.
He tried to pull me up in his arms but it was impossible to wrap my legs around his waist because of the robe. We laughed as he fumbled to get my robe off. And before he succeeded, I stopped him.
He gazed at me with questions. We weren't in the privacy of our quarters. This is a monastery, priests could be walking in at any moment, and they will know instantly that we were imposters.
He agreed even if I never opened my mouth. He then grabbed my hand and pulled me to a far corner of the stable where they stacked hays. He leaned me against a wooden crate nearby and pulled up my robe uncovering my pants. He pushed them down low enough to expose my glutes. Impatiently, which made me giggle, he parted them and start eating my ass vigorously.
My giggle turned to a slight moan as I tremble in pleasure. Too soon he abandoned the task to lube up and shoving himself deep inside me. I cried in both pleasure and discomfort. He gave me a few seconds to get used to him before thrusting again. His impatience amused me that my laugh came out broken like a babbling child bouncing on the knee.
Like a possessed beast he drove into me hard and swift. The idea of being discovered was his driving force to finish as soon as he could. I had no qualm with that idea. Besides, quickies are so much more exciting. I had no time to dwell on it as I hissed and moaned. I reached down for my throbbing cock. Two strokes and I came undone. A moaning sigh escaped me as I rocked back and forth from Wren's thrashing. It took him more or less a full minute to reach climax. He abruptly stopped and lodged himself as far in as he could and spewed.
Chuckling, we hastily pulled up our clothes. Then we were back in each other's arms kissing. We just started kissing when I sensed a presence.
"We're not alone," I said to Wren using telepathy. He discreetly sniffing the air.
"I don't smell anyone."
I sent out a mental feel. Even before I touched his thoughts, I knew who it was.
"Brother Dirk," I said, "and you can't catch his scent because he's wearing an invisibility crystal."
"Where is he?" He said while buckling up his pants underneath his robe.
"Above us in the loft."
"What is he thinking? Can you tell?"
"Huh! He's contemplating on blackmailing us. Should I stop him? Oh! he just dematerialized."
Wren smiled and made a show of kissing me one last time before we re-joined the horses. "No. Let's wait and see. Let him make the first move. Besides he doesn't know who we are yet and that you can read his thoughts."
I was sceptical at that, although I went along with it.
Water!
'Did you just said something?' I asked Wren.
He glanced at me, shaking his head. 'No.'
Just then I got another visual representation of water in my head. It surprised me. It came from a horse. She was thirsty and thinking of water and my telepathy picked it up.
I laughed at that.
'What?' Wren said.
'The horse just spoke to me... well, not in words but she is thinking of water. She's thirsty.'
Wren laughed and went to fetch some water in a barrel by the stable door. The horse dove right in when presented to her. She drank half of it in one go.
'I guess she was thirsty," Wren said patting her neck.
It shouldn't surprise me that animals have thoughts too. Patting her velvety muzzle, I touched her core and flooded her with happy feelings. I didn't account for the euphoric sensation I was still feeling from the sex I just had.
She whinnied and tossed her head happily. Oops! I released my hold on her instantly. I've just accelerated her heat cycle.
Wren chuckled. He was sharing my thoughts again. The bond link was real.
"The acolyte just materialized at the door,' Wren said with a frown.
I turned to see Dirk sauntering in. Cocky! That was never a good sign.
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End of chapter 17