A night to remember

I woke to the rap of knuckles against a door.

“Five more minutes,” Ami growled. She was sprawled across my chest, her head resting against me and her bare breasts warm against my skin. Valentia was curled into the crook of my arm, one leg tangled with mine.

“Master Blackmantle asked me to wake you, m’lady,” came the suspiciously familiar voice of the well-dressed dwarf from yesterday. “‘Tis half an hour before dawn.”

Ami groaned and pushed herself upright. Her eyes met mine. Confusion gave way to embarrassment as her face turned bright red. Her gaze roamed over our naked, sticky bodies and Valentia still sleeping beside us. She scooted down my torso, trying to get away or cover up.

She squeaked and froze, suddenly shocked as the tip of my morning wood slipped inside her.

I groaned at the sensation of her wrapping around me. My muscles tensed unconsciously, working myself a little deeper into her depths.

Her hips jerked on reflex, causing me to slide fully into her heavenly pussy. She tried to slide back and off me, but that just pressed my glans against the entrance to her womb. It was her turn to let out a groan.

“You know, we’re never going to get out of here if you keep that up,” Valentia said with a smirk on her lips as her bright green eyes fluttered open.

Ami's face somehow became even redder. “I need a bath.” She wrinkled her nose at both of us. “Ye do as well. Come on.”

She led us through the adjoining door into a bath similar to the one I'd used yesterday. A roughly five-by-five-foot pool was sunk into the floor, reaching about three feet deep.

For Ami, the water came up to her shoulders.

For me, it stopped just short of my manhood.

We bathed as quickly as possible. Or at least, we tried to. Keeping our hands off one another proved considerably more difficult.

Another knock on the door finally interrupted us.

“We're comin'!” Ami shouted.

“I'm not yet,” Valentia purred, “but I'd like to be.”

Ami blushed furiously and climbed out of the water. She quickly brushed and braided her hair before slipping on a clean shirt and kilt.

Valentia pulled her dress back on, though she struggled with the laces. Ami helped her while I pulled yesterday's shirt over my head and wrapped the tartan around my waist, then around my shoulders.

It looked nothing like the kilt had yesterday. In fact, it looked more like I'd wrapped a dozen bedsheets around myself before jumping out of a bedroom window to escape an angry husband.

When we were finally decent, Ami opened the door.

The well-dressed dwarf from yesterday stood outside.

“Good morning, Laurent. Is breakfast ready?”

He nodded. “Yes, m’lady. Your armor has also been prepared, as have new clothes for your… companions.” His eyes lingered on the bundle of cloth I was wearing.

Thankfully, he said nothing. He simply turned and led us down the hall, down a flight of stairs, and into a small dining room.

Scrambled eggs, sausages, fresh bread, fruit, and savory pies crowded the table. There was enough food for a dozen people, despite there being only three of us.

We ate quickly as it was becoming increasingly obvious that Etienne was losing patience.

From there, we were taken to separate rooms.

I was led into a dressing room where I was given a new shirt and pants. The shirt was another white, flowy affair. The pants were green and black tartan. New boots were surprisingly comfortable, and I was given a warm cloak. My sword, bow, and knife were returned to me.

When I emerged, Ami and Valentia were already waiting.

Ami was once again dressed in her leather armor, her short sword hanging at her hip.

Valentia wore a pretty green-and-blue dress that looked just a little too short for her. She didn't seem to mind.

From there, we were taken down several more flights of stairs, where we met Etienne and six dwarves dressed in plate armor.

We took the large bronze elevator back to the surface and then passed through the gates.

Seven strong horses waited outside.

The six armored dwarves mounted first.

Ami mounted the seventh.

Etienne approached her. “Keep yer head, lass,” he told her. “Trust yer instincts. An' remember - ye donna have ta prove anythin' ta anyone.” He paused. “Come home when ye can. Not 'cause ye've been ordered to.” His expression softened just slightly. “'Cause ye want to.”

Valentia was helped onto the back of one of the armored dwarves' horses.

Then Etienne turned toward me. He put one mailed hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Hard. His pale blue eyes were cold and serious.

He was a full two feet shorter than me, but I had absolutely no illusions that this man couldn’t kill me without breaking a sweat. “Keep 'er safe,” he said quietly.

I nodded.

“If she donna make it home…” He paused. “Ain't no magic gonna protect ye.”

Then he grabbed me. The next thing I knew, I was being lifted like I weighed nothing and nearly thrown onto the horse behind Ami. I barely managed to find my balance.

Ami turned around and smirked. “First time?”

“Huh? What? No, last night we just-”

Ami's face turned bright red. “...I meant on horseback.”

My brain finally caught up. “Oh.” I chuckled. “Right. Yeah. I've never ridden before.”

Etienne remained behind. His duties kept him at the Hold.

Then we were off.

The morning was crisp and cold. The smells of pine and spruce mingled with the scent of Ami's hair as I clung to her waist. Above us, the sky was a brilliant azure, the only clouds big, white, and fluffy enough to look painted against the blue.

The horses were fast. It wasn't long before we'd left the mountains behind and entered the broadleaf forests I was more accustomed to.

The King's Road on the Empire's side of the wall had been unnervingly straight, cutting through the forest like someone had drawn a line across the landscape.

On the kingdom's side, it wound lazily between the trees.

I should have been enjoying the ride. Rubbing up against Ami should have been more than pleasant. Instead, Ami’s armor chaffed and I was discovering that horseback riding involved muscles I apparently didn't have.

By the time we stopped for lunch, my legs felt like Jello. Painful Jello.

I slid off the horse and nearly collapsed when my feet touched the ground.

Ami caught me before I hit the dirt and helped me over to a tree. “Sit.” She left me leaning against the tree while she went to tend to her horse.

As we ate, I looked over at Valentia. “What do you know about cooperative magic?”

Her sparkling green eyes met mine. “Not a whole lot. I've done it once, with my mum.”

She thought for a moment. “Basically, you share the burden of a spell. Everyone involved can help supply Mana, and each contributes some Will toward controlling the magic. That way, weaker wizards can cast spells stronger than they'd normally be able to.”

“Sounds useful.”

“It can be.” She hesitated. “A lot of times it gets a bad reputation, though. People who don't know better will gather a group to summon a demon or devil, hoping they can control it to get what they want.” She grimaced. “Usually doesn't work out too well for the people involved.”

“Can any spell be cast cooperatively?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. The one Mum and I cast was a healing spell. It was way too complex for me to cast on my own, but she never said whether all spells could be done that way.”

I nodded, then checked my notifications.

Then I checked my character sheet.

I still had two Attribute points to allocate, along with two Talents to buy.

I dumped both points into Reasoning, bringing it to seventeen.

I'd reached Novice in Sex, which unlocked several new Talents.

Deep Intimacy

Prerequisite: Sex 5

You have moved beyond physical intimacy and learned to understand the subtle language of another person's body and emotions.

Effect:

• +20% effectiveness to Sex and Foreplay.
• +15% effectiveness when responding to a willing partner's physical or emotional cues.
• You can more easily recognize discomfort, hesitation, excitement, or changes in emotional state during intimacy.
• Physical and emotional intimacy with a willing partner strengthens existing Resonance effects by 10%.
• You recover from the physical exertion of intimacy 10% faster.

Harmonic Intimacy

Prerequisite: Sex 5, Intimate Resonance, Sensual Resonance

Intimacy is no longer merely something you experience. It has become a language your magic understands.

Effect:

• +15% magical synchronization with a willing intimate partner.
• Cooperative spells cast with a resonant partner gain an additional +10% effectiveness.
• You can instinctively sense when a resonant partner's magical state changes significantly.
• When casting a spell specifically to protect, heal, or assist a resonant partner, you gain +10% spell effectiveness.
• Resonance between you and a willing partner persists for 6 hours longer after physical intimacy ends.

Intimate Focus

Prerequisite: Sex 5, Resonant Casting, Intimate Resonance

You have learned to use the magical connection created by intimacy as an anchor for your spells.

Effect:

• Casting time reduced by 15% when casting within close proximity to a resonant partner.
• +10% concentration when maintaining a spell while a resonant partner is nearby.
• Cooperative spells involving a resonant partner require 10% less Mana.
• If a resonant partner is directly assisting with a spell, the spell is 10% less likely to be disrupted.
• Successfully completing a cooperative spell strengthens the current Resonance for its remaining duration.

Shared Pulse

Prerequisite: Empathy 5, Sex 5, Sensual Resonance

You have become unusually sensitive to the people with whom you share genuine intimacy.

Effect:

• Gain +20% effectiveness when responding to the physical, emotional, or magical cues of a resonant partner.
• You can sense significant changes in a bonded partner's emotional state at close range.
• While touching a resonant partner, you can distinguish their general emotional state from your own.
• Once per hour, you may consciously focus on a resonant partner to determine whether they are calm, distressed, frightened, or in immediate danger.
• When you and a resonant partner are together, both of you gain +10% resistance to fear and confusion.

Of those, Harmonic Intimacy seemed like a great Talent. Especially if Ami, Valentia, and I were going to keep going with this thing we had. The added spell effectiveness when protecting them seemed like something that could come in handy.

Likewise, Intimate Focus offering increased casting speed when near one of them gave me another reason to keep investing in Resonant Casting.

Shared Pulse was probably the most immediately useful, though. It gave me a way to check on Valentia or Ami from a distance. Granted, it was a conscious effort at this point. And it didn't tell me where they were. But maybe another Talent further up the tree would.

After dealing with Henri, though, I was starting to think I should invest more heavily in the Will Talents. This was twice now that I'd been subjected to some kind of magical influence.

I'd been lucky enough to resist both times. But I wasn't confident in my ability to resist someone of the Thegn's or Etienne's level.

Then again, I was level eight. There probably wasn't much I could do against someone of their caliber anyway.

Unbreakable Will was probably the MVP in that situation, though Iron Will and Mental Fortitude were both good runners-up.

I looked at the choices again. Then at Ami and Valentia.

I chose Iron Will and Shared Pulse.

My fear that Valentia or Ami might be in danger and I'd have no way of knowing wasn't a risk I was willing to take. I just hoped the next level would give me something that could help me track them - and protect them - a little better.