Enough to go Around

Another shrill chirp from a bat lets us know we were still okay. Though I was left sexually frustrated the submissive side of me had been well and truly fed by Cassie’s dominant love making. As I let out a long breath I could feel the fear and stress of the day melt away. Holding to me, out of intimacy but also to conserve heat, Cassie lets out a similar breath. Almost absently she plays with my balls and still mostly hard cock as she rests her head on my arm. She wasn’t teasing or arousing or meaning to bring me to climax, she was simply playing with my anatomy because she knew she could. It felt good.

Petting her supple dark brown hair I stare into the heavens and wonder what gods were staring back. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Cassie says, pressing tighter to my side.

“I don’t think I could this without you.”

“Or me.”

“You…really don’t regret coming?” I say. “Your home is only a few days behind us. Nobody is hunting you.”

“You…asshole.” She lightly punches my side. “If you keep treating me like I’m some secondary hanger-on to this family…!”

“Gods, sorry. You’re right.” I say. “You’re as much of what we are as I am. I’m just worried about you.”

“Don’t be.” She lifts herself and drapes across me, resting her side and the nook of her armpit over my chest as she looks down onto my face. She rests her cheek into her fist and continues to study my face. “When I met you and Rosa, when you welcomed me into your ways of seeing the world, I felt like I’d been reborn. And now, only now, do I feel like I’m finally taking my first toddling steps.” She looks up to the stars and then around to the dark shrubs and grass that made up our walls for this night. “Will I miss my family? My valley? Grumentum? Eventually perhaps. But right now all I can think about is how I have never felt more…alive!”

“Or in danger.”

“That is a part of it.” She says, her eyes aglow with an inner fire. It was the same fire I saw in my Lady whenever she protected me or comforted me. Each of them had a facet of their spirit that shone most bright. Though the facets were different the glow was the same. “I don’t welcome the danger but neither do I shirk from it. It is real but I am not helpless farm lass hiding under the table. Out here things are happening. Out here I am a part of it all. Danger. Adventure. The unknown.” She pinches my bottom lip. “And great sex.”

I chuckle. “No argument here.”

“Quin. Before I met you my life’s path was set in stone. I’d have to play the good daughter, the good wife, the good mother, the pious farmer. Not that any of those things are bad. But when they are **** upon you…”

“They become shackles.”

“Just like the ones we are running to keep off our daughter’s wrists.” She says, looking back down on me. “With you I am free. I am your partner. I am a fighter and an archer and a protector and an adventurer. I bow to my Lady, I take from my boy, I walk with my head high knowing what I do matters.” She kisses me. “I can appreciate another beautiful woman as the incredible sexual being that she is and I can stand tall over a beautiful man without shame. I don’t know how this will all end but I do know that going back is no longer an option.”

I run a hand down her smooth arm. “You should sleep. I want to be moving at first light. I’ll the take first watch.”

“But not all the watches. You need rest too, hero.”

“Of course.”

Cassie smiles and kisses me again. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

Together we sit up. As Cassie gets back into her dress I pull up my breeches and straighten my tunic. Hand in hand we walk back to where Rosa and Colly lay sleeping. I pull Cassie into me for one last kiss then let her go to sleep with the others. I wear my father’s sword belt as a baldric again and go to sit upon the nearby mound. As I shift the blade so it didn’t stab into the earth I make a mental note to find myself a proper scabbard in which to sheath it. Right now there was just an empty steel bridge through which I could hang the weapon. Walking around with a naked blade as sharp as this was going to get someone hurt. It was a miracle neither Colly nor I didn’t end up sliced during that rescue. I settle in and make myself comfortable as my eyes, ears and nose take in every detail of our surroundings. Having high ground or low ground probably made no difference to that creature on our trail but there were more dangers than just magical hounds that moved under Nox’s dark blanket.

I sit alone reflecting on the day and the conversation I’d just had with Cassie. She was right about that liberated feeling of being out and among it all. I think of my life on that farm just a couple hours behind us. I think of myself as the too big, too shy, too frightened boy who was as much ox as man as I went about my labor without questions or complaints. I think about that blushing virgin I was always retreating to the safety of my mother’s skirt every time pretty lass batted her eyes my way. I could have lived a life there, a good life at that, but it wouldn’t have been THIS life. Though I regretted having to move on so swiftly from my family home, especially from my mother, the brief visit had been enough to let me know that I no longer belonged there. My eyes drift to where my chosen family lay huddled under the protection of my watch. Things out here were scary, the responsibilities weighty, the consequences to my decisions monumental, but they were real in a way things just weren’t back there. And, like Cassie said, out here I was a part of it all. We were finding our way toward our own place in this world and something about that just felt right.

Just then a rustle in the bushes brings me to my feet. My great sword is halfway drawn when from out of a thicket trots Danae as calm as could be. She stops to look up at me, her foxy eyes flashing green in the moonlight.

I let out breath and let the blade slide back into place. “Took the long way around, huh?” I say under my breath, noting the fox’s fur was as dry as the grass around it. “Glad you’re safe…little sister.”

Danae tilts here head, her pointed ears straight up, then turns and prowls to join Rosa and the others to get some rest before our big day to follow. I settle back down atop the mound and return to my silent vigil. For a moment, just a moment, I consider sitting up for the whole night…until I thought of the pain in my balls as Cassie kicked them when she found out I’d denied her her turn at watch. And after what we’d just done my balls were aching enough! Being a chivalrous, self-sacrificing hero was one thing but trying to guide and protect my family tomorrow on no sleep and with smashed testes was downright foolhardy. There was more than enough heroism and sacrifice to go around.

I grin and make a note of the position of Luna then choose a spot in the sky where I would rouse Cassie for her turn as lookout.