Swords, Sorcery, and Sex in the World of Greyhawk - Chapter 5 - Part 9

Chapter 5: Doggy Style - Part 9

When Ashley arrived, her roommate was napping, tired from her late night. She tried to be quiet, but as she settled on her cot she realized that Erica had woken and was watching her silently though lidded eyes. Feeling awkward about fighting the night before, Ashley tried to make conversation, telling Erica about what happened to Maria. Equally glad to put the fight behind them - though for different reasons - Erica seemed interested, even showing sympathy for Maria's position.

By the time Cheven arrived to take Erica out for the evening, Erica was in full control of her emotions, and she kept her irritation carefully hidden. In her mind, she pictured a little box, with an iron padlock. She folded the anger up, placed it in the box, locked the box, and put the key on an imaginary string hanging between her breasts. It would be safe there, like a banked fire, ready to pull out when she needed it. Until then, she would enjoy her time with Cheven and learn everything she could from him about how to score in this place. Looking like a pair of lovebirds arm in arm, they returned to Backdoor Sally's for another night of cards.

"Hey, mind if I see those?" Between hands of Hazard she asked for the deck. The men laughed, but her fingers danced as she shuffled the cards. She'd practiced for hours while waiting for Cheven, and it showed. Rolling the deck in her hand, she glanced surreptitiously at the bottom card.

"Now then. Bojan. Pick a card, any card. But don't let me see it." She offered him the deck.

The others looked on, curiously. Still laughing at her, he took one and looked at it.

"Got it? Now put it back on top of the deck." When he did, she reached in her pocket for a gleaming silver coin. She fingered the embossed bust for a moment, eyeing him. "I bet you this coin against one of yours that I can guess your card."

"Ho!" Ardin said. "Listen to the lass. Thinks she's a card shark, she does."

"Nah, I don't want your silver." Bojan said.

"Scared?" Cheven mocked him. He didn't know what she was up to, but if she won he'd get seventy percent, and if she lost, well, it was her money.

"Of her? No. Put your coin away, girl." Bojan said with a leer, drawing out a coin of his own. "If you guess it you get this. If you don't, you show us your tits." He pointed to where her breasts threatened to escape from the loosely tied blouse. The other men laughed.

"Now there's a bet I want to see." Ardin said.

Erica paused, taken aback. "Here?" She said, suddenly unsure of herself.

"Right here, for all to see." The miners at adjacent tables had overheard, and were turning to look. Bojan noticed, and added. "And stand up first." He leaned back, smirking.

It was time to put up or shut up, Erica though. She could feel her nipples hardening, realizing a growing crowd was watching. They'd get quite a show if she fumbled. Fuck that, she decided. She hadn't practiced all day to back out now. And if she lost, well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd flashed her tits at a party.

She cut the deck, once, then twice, at a different height. Flipping over the top card, she furrowed her brow, then announced, "No, that's not it, is it." She went through the deck that way, rejecting each one, until she came to the six of swords.

"No, that's...it can't be this one..." She said, drawing out the suspense. Bojan looked surprised at her hesitation. Erica laughed inside; if he was that easy to read she didn't even need the trick.

"but...the cards don't lie, do they." She said with a smile, slapping it down on the discard pile. Bojan looked incredulous, as his friends burst out laughing at his misfortune.

"Figures that Cheven's whore would know a trick like that." He said, bitterly sliding his silver piece across the table.

Flush with victory, Erica led the insult slide. She leaned over the table. "Why don't you slide it in here." She said in her huskiest voice, palming her tits and pushing them together to form a narrow valley between them.

The gambler grinned ruefully, picking up his coin. While the men around them hooted he held it over her cleavage, pausing ostentatiously to line it up, then pressed it between her tits.

The metal was cold against her breasts, but it didn't put out the fire that was burning there. "Maybe next time you'll win. Hell, maybe next time I'll let you win," She said, arching her eyebrows and leaning back.

Cheven looked at her appraisingly. He'd been with enough whores that it didn't bother him to see Erica exposing herself to the other men. The more she did it, the less attention they'd pay to their cards, he figured. And that meant more money for him. Pussy was easy, money was hard.

"Riiight. Who's ready for another round." He said, sweeping the deck off the table while the others were still looking at Erica.

---

CONTENT TO BE ADDED: ASHLEY IS INTRODUCED TO THE WIZARD HARINU

"Master Harinu, Have you ever heard of a wizard named Malrion?" Ashley ventured.

"That fuck? A talentless worm that crawled up Evard the Black's asshole until even a mercenary like Evard shat him out." He replied without looking up.

"Really?" Ashley was taken aback by the vehement reply.

"Word is, the piece of shit-" Harinu stopped talking. His head swiveled to face Ashley, eyebrows creeping together like mating caterpillars. "Why?" His eyes narrowed.

"I, um..." Ashley groped for a response. She could feel power gathering in the small room, and it made the hair on her neck stand up. Harinu's hands lay perfectly still, but she had little doubt that he could incinerate her with the smallest gesture. Ashley grew nervous, unsure why suddenly turned on her. "Um. What exactly did Father Tian tell you about me?" She asked tentatively.

"Not enough. The pompous weasel." He glared, as if to blame her for the priest's silence.

"Um. I think Malrion brought us to this world. Well, not exactly. I mean..."

"If you can't be exact, stay the fuck away from magic. I don't give a damn if you kill yourself trying, but no one deserves to die for your incompetence." He interrupted.

Ashley's mouth opened, then closed as she forced herself to bite down on a smart-ass retort. She couldn't afford to antagonize him.

"He told you we are from a different world, right?" She began.

"Obviously."

"A wizard from this world kidnapped us, but Malrion...hijacked him and made us appear in his cloud castle."

"How do you know that the wizard was from this world?" The mage asked.

Ashley stopped, confused. She'd never thought about the possibility that he wasn't. "He...um...he and Malrion knew each other, and...and Casmir..."

"Casmir?"

"The priest that brought us in to town."

"The one you came in with that first time, with that other girl, the one with big tits?"

"Yeah." Ashley said, ignoring the reference to Maria. "He said that the wizard was from the Scarlet Brotherhood."

"Was he?"

"From the Scarlet Brotherhood?"

"Do you always ask the obvious?"

"I...I haven't the faintest idea." Ashley admitted, rattled by his interrogation. She didn't like being the slower end of a conversation.

"So you don't actually know jack shit about the person who brought you to this world."

"Malrion killed him as soon as we appeared." She protested.

"Figures." He paused, taking in her pale skin. "So are you an agent for the Brotherhood? You look like it."

"No. Well, I don't think so."

"That's reassuring." He mocked.

"So..." She left the word hanging.

"If this miner priest of yours is right, why would the Scarlet Brotherhood bring you to this world? And why would Malrion interfere?"

"I thought maybe you..."

"You thought I'd solve your problems? You want me to wipe your ass, too?" He growled.

"I thought..."

"Try thinking more next time and stop asking dumb questions."

---

"Erica." Ashley waited to see if her roommate had passed out yet.

"Hm?" She grunted, apparently still awake.

"Have you learned anything about why we're here?"

"Arrgh. Do we have to talk about this now?" Erica groaned.

"Don't you think we should?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. In the morning, alright? Hell, make that afternoon." Truth be told, Erica had forgotten about it entirely. For her, college had been a string of parties to hold court for her admirers. In comparison, the months at the dig face had been soul-grindingly boring, with only the occasional sing-along to liven it up. She'd even gotten sick of fingering herself, and that was saying a lot. Backdoor Sally's was the first fun she'd had since they came to this hell-hole, and doing Cheven was like the cherry on a sundae. Hm...speaking of sundaes, maybe they could find some whipped cream tomorrow, and-

"Promise?" Ashley interrupted visions of chocolate covered cock.

"Alright, alright. Promise. Now let me sleep!" Erica pulled her covers over her head. Promising herself a tasty treat on the morrow, she scooped Cheven's cum from her slit with a finger and put it in her mouth, pretending it tasted like marshmallow creme. With a smile, she drifted into a land of pleasant dreams.

---

The next afternoon Cheven found Ashley and Erica sitting in the sanctuary comparing notes and trying to add up what they knew about Malrion.

"And you think this wizard has something to do with you being here?" Cheven asked.

"Well, wizard Harinu seemed to think so?"

"He said so?"

"Um...not exactly, but he made it pretty obvious that he thought Malrion was connected somehow." Ashley explained, not sure how much to tell Cheven.

"But why do you want to know about him?" He asked.

Erica got the sense that he was far more interested in the answer than he acted. Curious, she thought.

"I mean...maybe he can get us home." Ashley said.

"And if he wants to kill you instead? Like your friend?" Cheven asked.

"Do you know anything about him?" Erica asked.

"No more than anyone else, I guess. He's a wizard. Some say he lives in a cloud castle out over the Oljatt Sea and spies on the Spindrift Isles for the Empire. Some people say he found a connection to the Plane of Water and got possessed by a Marid that ate his soul. Others say he's working for Evard the Black. The only things people agree on is that he was connected to a tidal wave that hit the Hestmark coast a long time ago, not long after I was born."

"Is he part of the Scarlet Brotherhood?" Ashley asked.

"The Scarlet Brotherhood?!" Cheven seemed surprised by the question, Erica thought. "I don't think so."

"How do you know?" Ashley asked.

"I...um...I've never heard any connection." Cheven managed.

"If we wanted to find out more about Malrion, where should we ask?" Ashley inquired.

"You might try Joran, the rumormonger. He keeps a stall in the outer ring of the auction pit." He answered quickly.

"Rumormonger?" Ashley asked.

"Makes sense." Erica replied, more attuned to the value of intelligence in negotiation. "Maybe we can go tomorrow, Ashley."

"Oh, okay." Ashley agreed, knowing that asking Erica to put off a night of drinking and fucking would be pointless. She leaned against a pillar and stared at the stylized mountains hanging above the temple altar.

Ignoring her, Erica rose and took Cheven's hand. "Before we hit the tables, I need to stop in at the Silver Lode." She said as they walked off.

"They won't be serving now."

"That's fine. I just need to drop by the kitchen."

"Hm? Why?" Cheven asked.

"Oh, you'll see..."

Continued in Chapter 5: Doggy Style - Part 10

---