Lust and Legends - Chapter 1 - Part 1

Chapter 1 - Part 1

Given how busy a high road tended to be, Kira was a little surprised to have had it more or less to herself as she - or rather her horse - had plodded away the miles. The weather, she suspected, might have had more than a little to do with it. People tended not to like travelling through seemingly unending grey drizzle, the sort that did its flat-out best to soak you all the way to the bone marrow, after all.

On the plus side, it had meant that when she'd finally reached the wayside inn she'd been hoping to get to today, there'd been next to nobody else there to compete for the attention of the staff. It hadn't even taken bribing the scruffy-looking youngster working the stables to get her horse tucked into a decent stall...

Now, though, the fiendling woman was off the road, warmed up by a thoroughly hot bath, and settling her red-skinned butt in for an evening of being bored out of her skull. Less travellers also meant less folks to have any sort of interaction with, unfortunately... And it wasn't like she was anywhere near a decent-sized town or village she could amuse herself by scouting for small, easily 'lost' items that might fall into her possession, either.

Why, she thought sourly to herself as grey eyes scanned the inn's almost empty common room, could that pig-brained man not pick somewhere vaguely civilised to meet up? Is it too much to ask, or have all those blows to the head finally had an effect?

Brushing a stray strand of dark hair away from her face, tucking it behind one of her delicate little horns, she poured some of the cheap wine she'd bought herself out of its jug and into the cup that had come with it. The first sip told her she'd gotten exactly what she'd paid for, but it wasn't actively poisonous, at least, and after the day of riding she'd had, that was quite enough.

Or maybe he's still pissed at me for that whole incident with the necromancer.

Probably not. She'd only been trying to be helpful, after all, and it wasn't like she'd known the woman's interest in Julius' body had been... well, not the usual kind. And she'd apologised, too. In fact, she'd even gone so far as to have the zombie goo properly laundered out of his clothes.

The tip of her tail twitched as her lips did the same, the memory of how her usual partner had looked after the dust had settled provoking the typical spark of amusement. The fact she was busy taking a mouthful of wine kept her from chuckling out loud, but the thought was there...

Reaching into one of the deep pockets on her thigh, Kira pulled out the deck of cards she typically kept on her, figuring that if there was only her and the innkeeper here, she was probably going to be relying on herself for entertainment. She'd barely gotten the things out of their wrapping, though, when the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs from the building's upper floor reached her ears.

A moment or two later, the source of the noise came into view, and Kira found herself smiling faintly for a whole different reason.

Maybe this evening has potential after all...

The woman that was heading for the bar was human, blond hair up in bunches... and that was about all Kira was paying attention given that she was more than a little distracted by the way the travelling robes the new arrival was wearing did little to mask just how... inviting her figure was. Compared to Kira's own, more athletic, build, what had just walked in looked like it had just stepped out of a teenager's fevered imagination.

Making sure she showed nothing but the proper amount of polite disinterest, Kira shuffled her cards as she quite shamelessly listened in - and her estimate of how fun tonight might get took a very sudden nose-dive the instant the innkeeper addressed her as 'Sister'.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. "A friggin' priestess. Yaaaay..."

A discovery that led directly to Kira draining her cup and immediately refilling the thing simply to distract herself from a flicker of irritable disappointment.

"Hi!"

The bright, chirpy greeting came from far closer than Kira might have expected, and she looked up sharply to meet a sunny smile set in a blue-eyed face that she could only describe as 'cute'. Somehow managing to avoid scowling, she instead mustered up a nod and a polite smile of her own.

"Mind if I join you? There's not really anyone else to talk to, and I don't feel tried enough to just go to bed."

The words all seemed to come out in a single cheerfully earnest stream that left Kira unable to really summon up the suggestion that the priestess take herself, and her religiosity, and go dive in a sewer. Which was actually pretty impressive, given the fiendling's usual record with representatives of organised faith...

Instead, not quite sure what else to do, she waved a hand at the chair across the table and watched as the other young woman set what looked like a mug of fruit juice - fresh fruit juice - down on the table's surface and lowered herself gracefully into the chair.

"I'm Bambi," she said one she was settled, offering a hand across the table. "Bambi Pureheart."

The only thing Kira could think of in response to that was 'of course you are'. Somehow, it seemed utterly impossible for the bubbly blond sat opposite her to have anything but such a bright and sunny name. Thoughts of excusing herself and heading straight to bed, or alternatively just running screaming into the night, flitted through her mind, but there was no real reason to give such notions serious thought.

Yet.

"Kira," she replied, giving the offered hand a quick shake before going back to shuffling her cards.

"Ooh, nice name. What do you do?"

Answering questions like that was pretty much a reflex by now for Kira, so instead of the more accurate reply of 'looter of dead guys, lifter of shiny things, and mercenary trouble-stabber', she went with a more socially acceptable response.

"Freelance scout."

Bambi looked impressed, an impression confirmed a moment later when she opened her mouth. "Sounds adventurous."

Kira shrugged, but in truth it was a pretty accurate description. She and Brendan had made a fairly good living going out and doing things most normal folks would gladly pay others to do, and there'd even been a couple of good scores - as well as very close calls - from following up rumours of goodies lurking in abandoned ruins and the like.

Unfortunately, there'd been none of that sort of thing recently. Not since their last group of fellow trouble seekers had broken up. Not without reason, of course. One had decided to settle down and start a family, the other had been offered a solid job teaching impressionable young students of the arcane... and Kira and Brendan had simply not been able to cover all the bases that needed it on their own.

As she sipped at her juice, Bambi looked thoughtful. A rather uncharitable idea that maybe something as simple as having a drink was a major intellectual exercise wafted through Kira's head, but she ignored it.

"I'd like to be able to help with something like that," the priestess said softly after a few moments.

"Oh?"

There was a genuine, if faintly reluctant, note of interest in Kira's reply. Regardless, it was enough to get more out of the other woman, and it was an enthusiastic sounding something, too.

"Almera teaches us that there is little point sitting and waiting for those in need to come to you. Far better to seek them out, and give aid and comfort wherever a need is found."

One of Kira's eyebrows went up at the mention of which particular deity the priestess apparently served. Almera was goddess of art, song, dance, and such... not, all in all, the sort of being who's servants went out into the world and stomped evil and darkness into itty-bitty pieces before taking their stuff.

Instead of saying so, Kira instead decided to steer the conversation - and there was no escaping the realisation the Bambi was settling in for the duration - toward something a little less theological. Holding up her cards, she looked a silent question at the other woman, who seemed to consider for a second or two before shrugging.

It took a moment for Kira to refocus away from the effect that had on the priestess' chest, but was actually rather gratified to see the purse that was set on the table. There as no real need to discuss just what they were going to play, since Caravan was pretty much the standard choice, and she was happy to let her opponent set the stakes. As it turned out, the coin Bambi pushed into the middle of the table was bigger than she might have expected, and there was a second or two of doubt as to whether she could actually afford to match that sort of bet if this went on too long.

She could always cheat, of course, but whilst she was good at it, there were some lines she refused to cross - and potentially annoying someone who had a god for backup was usually one of them.

After the first hand, her concerns settled down some given that she'd won it, and the pair soon settled into a comfortable silence as they played. Or they did until Kira found herself wondering just what would make a servant of such a generally easy-going deity to actively want to go find trouble. Another hand passed, and she was a little surprised to find she was trailing a bit, before she finally asked.

"So... You actually got much experience out in the world? I mean, wanting to help is all well and good, but it ain't exactly the cloister out here."

"Oh, I know," Bambi nodded. "I got a lot of teaching, though. It all started with the basic lessons and learning the ways of the gods, of course, but we soon moved on into..."

Apparently, Kira had managed to release the floodgates, and Bambi contentedly chattered about what she'd learned and how life had been, and any number of other details that the fiendling found herself simply tuning out. She nodded in the right places, or what seemed to be, but she very quickly stopped actually listening. Bambi didn't seem to mind, though, and time actually seemed to pass quite quickly as they carried on playing.

At least until Kira found herself rather forcibly dragged back into paying attention by a heavy loss that nearly wiped her out - and what Bambi came out with as she scooped her winnings over to her side of the table.

"...And then there was the whole final initiation thing. That was fun, but I admit I was a bit nervous about taking five boys at the same time."

Unfortunately for Kira, that was the precise moment that she had just taken a mouthful of wine. As a result, when she realised what had just been said, there was simply no way she could avoid a choking cough as what she totally lost track of how to swallow.

When she finally got her breath back, with a few helpful pats on the back from Bambi, who'd reached across the table to deliver them, she stared at the priestess in what could only be called utter shock.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Didn't I say? The sept I was trained in focuses more on one of the lesser know areas Almera watches over."

"Whatever, go back to the five guys at once part."

With a happy nod, Bambi confirmed that she really had heard right.

"Yup. It's a very through test of coordination and endurance, not to mention your ability to focus on others. You need to make sure that everyone involved gets the fullest experience from it all. It was great fun, although..." She paused, glancing around in what struck Kira as a rather belated check to see if there was anyone listening in . "I'll confess I was a bit sore when we were done. Not to mention sticky."

Kira could imagine. In fact, whether she wanted it to or not, her brain was trying very hard indeed to conjure up as clear an image as possible of what the priestess must have looked like, and even though the male part of the deal was of less interest to her, the mental image of a cum-glazed Bambi, fresh from being as thoroughly fucked as it was possible for a single woman to be, was... distracting, to say the least.

Oh Gods, she thought a touch desperately to herself. Please get that image out of my head, or I am never going to sleep tonight.

"Um..." Bambi said, a bit hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Kira shot back. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, it's just that you look a little flushed. I mean, it's not that easy to tell with your kind, but I'm pretty sure you are. And... Oh. Oh dear."

"What?" Kira asked, wondering just why the other woman looked so uncertain all of a sudden.

"I, um. I think... I think I forgot one of my lessons."

With a carefully steady hand, Kira reached for her drink again, letting the look on her face invite some sort of explanation.

"Well," Bambi said eventually, sounding - and looking - more than a little embarrassed. "Those of us that study the more intimate aspect of the divine arts are always warned not to talk too openly about them to, well, the uninitiated. It can lead to discomfort, not to mention other, more unfortunate, reactions."

"Okay..." Kira answered slowly. "I can see that, I guess."

"I really cannot apologise enough. I forgot one of the most basic lessons, and-"

Abruptly, Bambi surged to her feet, head bowed and blushing violently. Kira tried very hard not to think of how well that flush matched the mental image her mind insisted on refining, but without as much success as she might have liked.

"Hey, relax. I'll admit you surprised me, but it's nothing a cold dunk won't cure."

She offered the priestess a - hopefully - reassuring smile, and kept the thought running through her head firmly to herself.

Not to mention the old fall-back of fingering myself to the point I pass out, if Plan A doesn't work.

Sadly, the attempt to calm the other woman failed, and she shook her head firmly.

"No. I must apologise again, and pray."

At which point, she turned and headed for the stairs, leaving what was left of her drink, and - more importantly, perhaps - her money behind. With a weary sigh, Kira looked at the coins on the table and, not for the first time, regretted having at least a modicum of morality. Since there was no way she was going to get the priestess to come back without physically dragging her, the next best thing she could do would be to... No, that wouldn't work wither, as the innkeeper had disappeared off somewhere. Which meant she wasn't going to be able to foist returning the coins to their owner onto him.

"I really hate not being an utter bitch sometimes..."

Continued in Chapter 1 - Part 2

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