Court of the Shifter 4 Chapter 4

“How far are we going to go each day?” Luxe asked from behind me, and she adjusted her seat in the saddle as she shot me a curious look.

“As far as we can,” I said with a one shoulder shrug.

“We always make good time with Eli in the lead,” Willow said in a cheerful voice. “Don’t be afraid to push us hard, I can keep up.”

“We aren’t in any real hurry,” I pointed out. “It’s better to create a stable pace than to sprint until we are worn out.”

The gravel crunched beneath my feet, and trees lined the road on either side. There were birds swooping over our heads as they flitted from branch to branch, and they squawked out a variety of sounds to communicate our arrival in their territory. The sounds of the horses’ teeth on their bits was almost as loud as the sound of their hooves on the road, and I could smell the leather of their saddles alongside the aroma of the woods. Earthy scents filled the air, and my senses caught every single one of them.

I realized I had shifted just my nose into canine form out of instinct, but I made a mental note to be more aware of my own body.

The road we had taken from Ordrya left the capital from the Feline Zone, and it curved in a northeast direction along the river. We’d traveled a few miles when the sound of rushing water began to overpower everything else, and I consulted the map for any indication of what lay ahead.

According to the parchment full of squiggles of various colors, the river joined with a lake not too far from our current location, but that was as much detail as I could glean. I sighed as I rolled it back up and returned it to its protective shell, but I gestured for the women to gather around me.

“I think there’s a waterfall or some rapids up ahead,” I said. “I don’t think we can cross the river near this section.”

“What should we do?” Luxe asked.

“I think we should skirt around the lake to find a better place to cross,” I said. “The horses won’t be able to cross the river on the southern side of the lake.”

“That will be a lot of extra miles to the east,” Calantha pointed out.

“There’s not a lot of other choices,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, there’s indications of roads to the north leading west on the map.”

“There are towns outside of Ordrya to the north,” Willow said. “I remember hearing reports of a town beside the lake.”

“The maps of Shyfeterran are highly outdated,” I chuckled. “Maybe we can do something to remedy that on this quest. We can add our own notes to the map your father gave me, and he can have his map makers or historians draw up an updated version.”

“I’m sure the librarians at the palace would love that,” my wife agreed, and her emerald green eyes twinkled with delight. “It’s a way to bring knowledge of the outside world back to the people.”

“It’s not so scary in the wilderness,” I said. “Haunted mansions aside.”

“Speaking of Greystone Manor,” Calantha said. “What are the chances of us encountering something similar?”

“There is no telling what lays ahead of us in the wilderness,” Willow said. “The records aren’t updated regularly anymore, so all the information about the various monsters roaming the land is from a generation ago.”

“I’m sure we can handle whatever comes our way,” I said with a confident puff of my chest.

We continued traveling along the gravel road, and the sounds of the forest surrounded our voices. It wasn’t long before we came across the waterfalls, and the three-tiered cascade of water plummeted from a cliff rising above our heads. The path we were following veered to the right into the shadows of the trees, and I eyed the far side of the river longingly. Skirting the lake was still our best option, though, so I turned and quickly caught up to the three women.

The road circled around in a wide arch before it eventually rejoined the water’s edge, but this time the blue stretched as far as the eye could see. A shadow of purple mountains dotted the cloudy horizon to the northwest, so the lake had to end close to them, but it was obscured by the fog. We would have to circle around the body of water before we crossed the river on the other side, but with any luck, there would be a bridge at some point.

We followed the edge of the lake for several hours, and the sounds of the forest shifted as the crepuscular animals came out to hunt through the dusk. Rustling in the bushes replaced the bird calls, and the noises had me swinging my head from side to side, but it sounded like they were coming from every direction.

A random racoon-like creature crossed the road ahead of us, and it hurried into the brush the instant it noticed us. I didn’t even get a good look at it before it disappeared into the shadows, but it had seemed harmless enough.

Besides, we still weren’t very far from the capital city, and there were regular trading wagons coming down this road from the northern towns. If there was anything harmful in these woods, it would have been hunted down already.

“It’s getting dark,” Luxe said shortly after the creature darted across our path. “Maybe we should stop for the night.”

I suddenly noticed the gleam of fire in the distance, and I pointed to the lights triumphantly.

“Look,” I said. “Where there’s light, there’s people.”

“You want to keep going until we reach the lights?” Luxe asked.

“Is that so bad?” Cal countered in a sarcastic voice. “You’re even on horseback.”

“I was thinking about the two princesses in the group,” Luxe shot back.

“We keep going,” I said, and I gestured for them to follow me before I took off down the road without another word.

The lights grew brighter as we got closer to them, and I could make out the sound of people in the distance. A cough here, the clink of metal against metal, and animals complaining, and I realized it was a town. We could barely see the outline of the buildings through the trees, but then the road circled around the forest and onto the central street through town.

“I didn’t even know there was a town by the lake,” Luxe said with an awed shake of her head. “I wish I had been able to travel before. What other secrets are people keeping about the wilderness?”

“I’ll help you discover them all.” I smirked. “But for now, we need to play nice and get a room for the night.”

“I can play nice,” Luxe promised with a wink.

“Are we all sharing a room?” Cal asked, and her crimson eyes flicked from me to Luxe. “It would be cheaper.”

“Umm…” Luxe avoided eye contact as her face reddened.

“We’ll get two,” I chuckled. “It’s not a big deal. We’ll be camping a lot the rest of the way, so we might as well enjoy one last night in a real bed.”

The buildings were built from rough hewn timber, and the smell of cedar filled the air. The ground was covered in pine needles, and the pathways were swept clean. A few people walked around, and I realized they were shifters like I’d never seen before. There was a duck man, a badger woman, and a hedgehog child.

This world never ceased to surprise me.

I walked all the way through the small town more than once before I could figure out which buildings were businesses and which ones were homes, but I eventually located what appeared to be an inn or tavern of some kind. I entered the establishment with my head held high, and I looked around at what seemed to be a common room.

There were armchairs and benches with cushions situated around a fireplace that almost took up an entire wall, and several seats were occupied by a variety of what I could only call forest folk. The most dangerous shifter I could see was a fox man, and beyond not trusting him to help me cross a river, I couldn’t picture him doing anything too aggressive.

I rang the bell sitting on the front counter, and I listened to the conversations around me as I waited for the innkeeper to appear.

“That’s not him,” someone argued in a low voice. “He isn’t even wearing a crown. I hear princes wear crowns.”

“I’m sure it’s him,” another voice insisted. “He smells different, can’t you tell?”

I caught a couple of groundhog-like men staring at me, and I avoided their gaze. It looked like they had recognized me, but that wasn’t a good sign. I turned and left the inn without waiting to speak to the owner, and I ushered the girls outside ahead of me.

“We have to find somewhere else,” I said, and I cast a glance behind me to make sure we weren’t followed. “Somewhere less busy. I don’t want us to be recognized outside of the city yet.”

“I’m probably not as well known as you three,” Luxe said. “I can rent rooms somewhere else, but where else is there?”

“We’ll find something,” Cal said. “But I think you’re right. I’m the only vampire who has even been to Shyfeterran in a generation, so one whiff of my scent, and my cover is gone.”

“She’s right,” Willow said, and she nodded in Luxe’s direction. “You’re our best bet for remaining undetected.”

We continued to wander the streets of the small town with Calantha keeping close to me to try and mask her scent, and then I found another business with lights on in the windows. Some scratchings on the wall indicated the name of the inn, but I couldn’t make out what it said. I sent Luxe in with a reasonable amount of gold for two rooms, and I waited with Calantha and Willow in the street until she returned.

It wasn’t long before the polar bear woman returned with two keys and instructions on how to stable the horses. There was a small shed behind the business accessed through the alleyway, and a small boy hopped up from a log stool to take the reins from us.

We gathered what we would need for the night, and we entered the inn through the back door. The hallway from the back was dimly lit, and there were multiple rooms on either side, but none of them matched the number written on a piece of ribbon attached to our keys.

At the end of the hallway was a common room, and a stairwell sat to the left across the room from the counter. We hurried up the stairs so as not to see any of the other guests, and the upstairs corridor was deserted. We quickly found our room numbers, but I gestured for Luxe to come into the room with me and the other two women.

“I have an idea,” I said.

Luxe nodded, threw her stuff in the room across the hallway from ours, and followed me into the room I was sharing with Willow and Calantha. The three women sat on the full sized bed, and I faced them with my hands on my hips.

“The people of this town are well outside of the Ordrya drama,” I said. “There’s a good chance that some news has spread this far, but I can’t be sure yet. I want to figure out what the gossip around here is before we leave tomorrow. Maybe there are whispers about the Night Folk that will help us in our quest.”

“But you were already almost recognized,” Willow said.

“And they’ll smell my vampireness immediately,” Cal pointed out.

“Willow and I can do it,” Luxe said in a decisive tone. “We can even make up some story about why we are traveling through this town.”

“You can say you are guarding the princess or something,” I said, “but it might not be a good idea for Willow’s identity to be known, either.”

“I can pass for a commoner,” Willow said as she lifted her chin. “I just need to change my clothes and dress the part.”

“So, you’re two girls on a journey together?” I shook my head. “That could be asking for trouble.”

“We don’t have to even tell them much about ourselves,” Willow said. “I can get people to talk about themselves easily enough. I doubt they would even ask me anything.”

“It’s safe to have a plan just in case,” I said. “If I weren’t so easily recognized, I would go with you.”

“We can keep each other safe,” Luxe said. “We helped you defeat that giant monster, remember? I think we can handle a few townspeople.”

“I know you can.” I smirked. “Just come back in one piece.”

The two girls gave me hugs and kisses on the cheek before they left the room, and Calantha and I were left alone. The vampiress stretched out on the bed with a sigh, and she shot me a seductive smile.

“Oh, really?” I chuckled knowingly as she gave me a pointed look. “How do you suggest we fill our time together?”

“I want you to fuck me,” Cal stated in a matter of fact tone. “As many times as you can before the others get back.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise at her blunt demeanor, but at least I knew exactly what she wanted from me. It would be an easy service to provide, and I wondered briefly how many times I could make her orgasm before the other two women returned from their rumor hunt.

Calantha swung her legs over the bed and spread her knees as she leaned forward, and she beckoned me slowly with one finger as she licked her lips. The fiery heat between us warmed my entire body in a wave, and I could feel sweat dapple on my forehead already.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a husky voice, and I crossed the room to her at a slow pace as I taunted her with a charming smile, but she began to reach for the binds of my clothing as soon as I was within her arm’s reach.

I curled my finger under her chin, and I lifted her face to mine. Then I stared into her crimson eyes, and a spark erupted between us. We were surrounded by magical flames until she blinked, and the fire dispelled as quickly as it appeared.

“Fuck, you’re hot.” I smirked before I claimed her lips with my own.

Calantha moaned into my mouth, and I felt my cock instantly respond. I cradled her head with both of my hands as she continued to undo the fastenings of my pants, and I explored the cavern of her mouth with my tongue. Hers met mine in a swirling sweet vortex of pleasure, and I couldn’t help releasing my own moan.

My pants fell to my ankles, and I took a second to kick off my boots and the loose pants. My cock already stood at full mast, and the crimson eyed beauty licked her lips as her gaze climbed up my body. Then Calantha rose from the bed just long enough to pull my shirt over my head, and I lifted my arms to allow the fabric to slide off my torso. The air began to steam from the heat radiating from us, so I wasn’t cold at all.

“You’ve gained muscle since you first arrived in this land,” the vampiress noted as she ran her long nails down my chest at a tantalizingly slow pace.

“Living in this world is a workout all on its own,” I said with a sideways smile. “But the added strength of my shifter abilities doesn’t hurt either.”

“Can’t you just take a compliment and say thank you?” Calantha arched one delicate eyebrow, but a smile twisted the corners of her luscious lips.

“Thanks,” I chuckled, and I raked a self conscious hand through my hair, but then I looked pointedly at the fully clothed vampiress. “What about you? Are you getting naked?”

“Not yet,” Cal purred, and a mischievous grin slid across her face. “I want to taste you first.”

“Oh, yeah?” I couldn’t help wiggling my cock a little, and the vampiress licked her lips eagerly. “Go for it.”

Calantha leaned forward and took my cock in both of her hands, and she looked up at me as she parted her lips every so slightly. Her crimson eyes burned with desire as she rubbed her lips against my pulsing tip. The vampiress exhaled, and her warm breath sent shivers up my shaft and into my spine.

Then Cal swirled her tongue around my tip before she promptly took my entire length into her mouth in one smooth motion. She opened her mouth wide, and she looked up into my eyes as her nose reached my abdomen.

“Fuck,” I groaned as she finally came up for air. My cock was slick with the heavy saliva from the back of her throat, and she quickly stroked the slipperiness up and down my shaft.

My hips leaned forward of their own accord, and the tip of my cock pressed against her lips. Calantha rolled her tongue across the head of my dick again, and then she began to bob her head up and down along my shaft.

I buried my fingers in her brunette hair, and I guided her rhythm with my hands and hips. Every few strokes, I went deeper until I couldn’t fit any more of my length inside her, and I held it there until I felt her stiffen in my grasp. Her back arched as she pulled off me, and she looked up at me with watery eyes.

“I liked that,” she purred as she licked her lips.

“I want to see you,” I growled, and I began to reach for the buttons and laces holding her corset and dress onto her body.

Underneath the outfit Calantha wore was a lacy black ensemble, and the lace of the panties allowed me to see the neatly trimmed shadow of pubic hair. I tossed her clothes to the side of the bed, and I pushed her with a gentle but firm touch until she laid back against the bedspread.

The vampiress had milky white skin that almost glowed in the dim lighting, and the stark contrast of the dark black fabric still covering her intimate parts was highly arousing.

“Turn around,” I instructed, and Calantha shot me a questioning glance before she did as I said. I helped scoot her into the position I wanted, and a moment later she lay with her head tilted backward over the edge of the bed.

Then I gripped my cock tightly as I angled it toward her mouth, and the vampiress obediently opened wide. I slid inside her throat with a groan of pleasure, and I rocked my hips back and forth as Calantha took my full length.

I reached forward and played with her breasts with both hands as I fucked her face, and her hips bucked upward as her whole body shivered. I gave her a moment to catch her breath, and thick strands of saliva dangled between my tip and her lips.

“That’s fun.” Calantha grinned up at me as her fingers explored her own body. She pinched her nipples as she bit her bottom lip, and her crimson eyes stared up at me with insatiable desire.

“You want more?” I chuckled.

Calantha nodded eagerly before she put her head back into the correct position, and she rubbed both hands up and down my shaft as she guided my tip into her mouth. I entered her seemingly bottomless throat once more, and I growled as I restrained the animalistic urge to hammer her in the face.

The vampiress spread her legs, and she began to rub one finger against the outside of her lacy black panties. I stared in rapt fascination as she slid the sheer fabric to the side so she could graze her pointer finger against her crevice. Her other hand pulled and twisted on her nipples, and I licked my lips as I enjoyed the show.

“I’m going to bust,” I groaned as I struggled to hold back the powerful orgasm building in my loins.

“Do it,” Cal encouraged before she took me into her mouth once more.

I exploded deep inside her throat, and my hips twitched as each spasm shook my entire body. Then I reached forward and rubbed my fingers against her clit, and Calantha moaned around my girth as her hips pushed toward the sensation. I continued to stroke and caress her slippery wet slit until she began to spasm as well, and the orgasm continued to build until I thought it would never end.

We separated with a loud gasp, and I had to support my weight on the bed as I suddenly felt limp of limb. Calantha scooted out from underneath the shadow of my body, and she wiped the stray cum from the corners of her lips before licking her fingers clean.

“Ready to go again?” the sexy vampiress asked as she flicked her hair over her shoulders and flashed me a wide smile.

The very thought of being inside her again made my cock stand at full strength once more, and her crimson eyes lowered to my throbbing member with a pleased expression.

“Come here now.” I grabbed her by the legs and spun her around until her ass was almost hanging off the bed, and Calantha giggled as her hair splayed out across the bedspread. Then I pulled off her lacy black panties at a tantalizingly slow pace, and I brushed my lips across the pale skin on her legs in its wake.

“Fuck me hard?” Calantha requested as she stared up at me with lust filled crimson eyes.

“I’ll fuck you any way you want me to,” I said, and I pressed just the tip of my dick against the inner lips of her pussy. I rubbed it up and down until I felt wetness, and I held back the urge to slam my cock deeply inside her.

Calantha’s bright pink pussy glistened with love juices already, and she whimpered as I teased her with the head of my dick.

“Fuck me, please?” Calantha spread her legs, and she held up her thighs with her long-nailed fingers. The pleading expression on her face stirred something in me, and I slid my entire length inside her tight little pussy.

“Like that?” I asked as I thrust in and out at an increasingly faster pace.

“Yesss,” Cal purred as she tossed her head backward.

The muscles in her throat bobbed up and down as I slammed my cock in and out of her, but when she lifted her head to look at me, the expression of pleasure in her crimson eyes would have sent me over the edge if I hadn’t already cum.

Calantha pointed her toes at the ceiling as she held up her legs with her hands, and I shoved her lacy black bra upward until her nipples popped out. The pink buds were already hard, and her areolas were covered in little bumps.

I leaned between her legs as I continued to pump in and out of her, but then I wrapped one hand around her pale, skinny neck and flicked my tongue across her nipples at the same time.

The vampiress gasped, and I could feel her swallow hard against my palm, but her body began to shake beneath me, so I could tell she liked it. I continued to lick and suck on her perky nipples as I felt her pussy tighten around my girth, and I dug in as deep as I could go as I took the rosy bud between my teeth.

“Oh, yes!” Calantha gasped out as her spine arched off the bed, and her eyes rolled back into her head. Her legs began to twitch and shake, so I leaned back and held onto them as I continued to thrust in and out of her as fast as I could.

My lover’s orgasm built in intensity with each thrust, and I placed a hand on each of her inner thighs to keep her legs widely spread. Her lower lips tightened around my girth, and her wet tunnel gripped my cock like a well oiled fist.

“Fuck, you feel good,” I growled as I pounded in and out of her. The sound of my balls slapping against her ass filled the air, and she let out a little gasp with each thrust that sounded like music to my ears.

I could feel another load preparing to disembark my rocket, and I took a steadying breath to regain my self control.

“Here, flip over,” I instructed, and I helped Calantha roll onto all fours.

Once I’d positioned myself on the bed behind her, I pressed the tip of my cock past her lower lips, and Calantha groaned with pleasure as I filled her entirely. Without losing the rhythm of my thrusts, I grabbed her hands, and I put them on each of her plump cheeks. The vampiress quickly picked up my meaning, and she spread her ass open for me.

I pounded her as hard as I could, and Calantha pressed her hips backward to meet me each time. The slapping of skin grew louder, and sweat began to drip down my forehead and my chest. My lover’s brunette hair lay in a tangle of sweat and spit, and she flashed me the sexiest expression over her shoulder.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she whimpered. “Just like that. Your tip is pressing against my womb.”

“Fuck, yeah,” I growled. I gritted my teeth and flexed my muscles as I hammered into her harder and harder, and I could feel her knees beginning to wobble. “Take it all.”

Calantha’s knees gave out, and her face was buried in the bedspread, but I could still hear her groans of pleasure as I continued to fuck her. I repositioned my legs to either side of her, and I moved her hands from her ass cheeks to the small of her back. I grabbed both of her wrists in one of my hands, and I squeezed her ass cheek with the other, but her tight pussy wrapped around my girth like a chinese finger trap.

“I want it all,” Cal gasped out as she lifted her head from the blankets, but the movement only enhanced the curve of her back and the roundness of her ass against my crotch.

“Like this?” I asked as I buried my cock as far as it would go and wiggled my hips in a circular motion. I could feel the texture of her cervix against my tip, and her tight little pussy spasmed around my length as another orgasm washed over her like a wave.

“Mmhmm,” Cal murmured once the shaking in her body subsided. “Just like that.”

“How about like this?” I asked, and I pulled almost all the way out of her before I slammed my entire slippery length deep inside her well of pleasure.

Calantha let out a choked gasp as I hit the limit of her entrance, so I repeated the motion. Right on cue, the vampiress cried out in bliss, and I continued to repeat the movement until it felt like I was playing an instrument with my dick.

“Oh… yes… hard,” Cal grunted out between heavy thrusts.

I got another idea, though, so I released her arms and reached around to her chest. Then I lifted her weight in my arms until she was basically sitting in my lap, but with my dick inside her. Calantha took my hands, and she guided one to her throat and the other to her clit, so I knew exactly what she wanted.

“I want you to put a baby inside me,” Cal murmured in a seductive voice as she rocked back and forth on my dick. The tantalizing swish of her hips against my crotch fueled my desire, and I tilted her head to the side so I could kiss her neck and shoulders.

“You want a baby?” I asked.

“Please?” she whispered. “It’s the only way to fulfill the prophecy.”

The prophecy was the last thing on my mind just then, but the vampiress had a point. The Ulvant was supposed to mate, which meant bringing more children into the world, and I couldn’t do that without impregnating the woman I was destined to be with.

I tightened my grip on her throat as I hooked her clit beneath the pad of my pointer finger, and I used the leverage on her neck to grind her against me. My cock thrust deep inside her, and the vampiress let out a gurgled sound as she practically melted in my arms.

I wasn’t done with her just yet, though, so I began to synchronize the rhythm of my finger and my cock. I increased the pace bit by bit until the vampiress was moaning on time to the beat again, and then I went crazy on her node of pleasure.

“Ahhh,” Calantha groaned as she began to convulse with the power of her climax. She leaned back against me, and I held her up by the throat as her entire body went slack in my arms.

It was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen.

I could feel my need building to a powerful level, and I knew I couldn’t hold back much longer, but if my beautiful lover wanted a baby, who was I to deny her?

I pushed her forward, and my slick cock plopped out of her with a wet noise, but it only took me a moment to roll her over onto her back and slide inside her again. We both sighed in unison as we became one once more, and Calantha locked her ankles together behind my back.

“Will you give me your seed, Eli?” The sexy vampiress bit her bottom lip as she gazed up at me with crimson eyes full of love and desire, and I felt my heart thud against my ribcage at just the sight of her.

“I will give you anything you want,” I promised, and I wrapped her tightly in my arms as I thrust my hips back and forth.

Calantha wrapped her arms around my neck, and we were as close as two people could possibly get, but I felt the urge to hold her even closer. I licked, bit, and sucked on her neck as I felt her swallowing, and I could smell the combination of our love juices, sweat, and the special scent I associated with the vampiress alone.

Then I felt my balls tingle, and Calantha bucked her hips against me as she moaned my name.

Another jolt of my seed sprayed out of me, and my hips twitched erratically as I coated her insides with the white essence. I just kept coming and coming until every muscle in my body went slack, and Calantha shuddered through one last orgasm around me.

I didn’t want to squish the petite vampiress, so I rolled off her with a contented sigh, and my cum-soaked cock plopped out of her like a sucker passing taut lips.

When I looked over at my incredible lover, the sexy brunette was gently pressing every loose drop of my seed between her pussy lips. Her crimson eyes caught mine, and her lips twitched into a teasing smile.

“I can’t let any of it go to waste, now can I?” she asked before she licked her fingers clean in the most seductive way possible.

“You’re amazing,” I breathed. “I can’t wait till we can do that again. I think I like trying to make babies.”

Calantha scooted across the bed until she was snuggled into the crook of my arm, and I squeezed one arm around her as I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. I was still catching my breath, and the high temperature of the room was almost unbearable, but it slowly subsided as we both regained our composure.

Then Luxe and Willow suddenly entered the room, and the two women paused just inside the threshold as they blinked at us in surprise. Calantha and I were spread across the bed completely naked with her fingers in her creamy pussy, so it was obvious what we had just done. The polar bear woman’s face turned so dark red her freckles vanished, but Willow’s emerald eyes just sparkled with delight.

“Couldn’t wait for us, huh?” my wife teased me.

“You were busy, and we had to find some way to occupy ourselves.” I shrugged. “I’ll make sure to give you some extra attention later.”

“I’m only joking,” Willow assured me, and she turned to gauge Luxe’s reaction. “This one, on the other hand, seems to be malfunctioning.”

The bear shifter blinked a few times before she refocused her gaze on Willow, but the blush on her cheeks never faded.

“S-Sorry if we interrupted,” Luxe muttered. “I can go back to my room now if you want…”

“We are finished,” Cal giggled, and the vampiress lifted herself out of the bed with fluid grace. It only took her a moment to pull her dress on and fasten her corset, and then she tossed me my clothes as well.

“At least you had fun while we were gone,” Willow said, and she sat herself down on one of the chairs by the small table before she casually changed the subject. “I’m afraid we didn’t get much information to work with. Everyone is under the assumption that Prince Elijah is in Ordrya, so our departure isn’t general knowledge yet.”

“That’s good,” I said as I pulled my shirt over my head. “Let’s try to keep it that way.”

“A lot of good things were said about Lord Sylvester,” Luxe volunteered with a little shake of head as though she could reset the scene she was seeing. “From the perspective the people have of him, it would be hard to believe he was the one behind a nefarious, treasonous plot.”

“I’m sure King Frejit is working on fixing that situation as we speak,” I said. “We should try to get a good night’s sleep now, I want us on the road by dawn.”

Luxe nodded, and she cast one last glance at my crotch before she turned and darted out of the room. Willow and Calantha exchanged a knowing look as they giggled quietly, but then the shifter princess and the vampire princess curled up beside me in bed.

We left early the next morning, and we didn’t even see anyone in the stables as we gathered our horses and belongings together. The four of us headed down the road alongside the lake for hours, but we eventually found a suitable crossing location across the river that fed into the lake.

After we crossed the river, the road angled toward the northwest. I wondered how long it would go on before we’d have to leave the path behind, and I made marks on the map to indicate where the road went.

The landscape opened up on either side of us, and without the water of the rivers and lakes, less and less greenery grew along the road. We could see for miles ahead of us, and it seemed like we were truly in the middle of nowhere. The purple shadow of mountains and foothills darkened the horizon, and each day, the silhouettes grew more and more substantial.

A few days after we left the inn and small town beside the lake, we decided to camp in a circle of trees growing in the foothills to the north of the road. A small stream fed by mountain runoff trickled through the undergrowth, and we were able to let the horses drink their fill.

I used my elemental magic to start a fire and light a few torches, and then we began the familiar process of setting up our camp for the night. I unstrapped the gear and packs from the horses, groomed them, and gave them some food, but then I went to relieve my bladder a little ways away from the circle of firelight.

The trees cast long dark shadows across the ground, and a breeze tickled the hairs on the nape of my neck, but I suddenly had the uncanny sensation of being watched. I glanced from side to side in search of any indication of danger, and then I noticed movement in the undergrowth to my left.

The wilderness was full of unknown dangers, but I felt I could face any challenges the wild landscape could throw at me.

Then a monster the likes of which I couldn’t have even imagined while on a psychedelic trip emerged from the bushes.

Oh, fuck.