Lies and blowjobs are the keys.

“Wait!” Venus ran up to the gate. “Wait! Don’t close it yet!”

The two guards turned at her voice. They immediately grabbed their spears, but seeing a lone woman, hesitated. “Here now,” one called. He was a young man, but of sturdy build. His shoulders filled well his leather jerkin studded with metal, his eyes squinting in the torchlight to see her. “What’s going on?”

“I’m so sorry,” Venus said, stumbling to a halt before them. She breathed heavily, breasts heaving beneath her crude garb and grabbign the immediate attention fo both men. “I...I was out picking mushrooms and lost track of the day. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to stay out so late.”

“Mushrooms?” the second guard said.

“Please don’t lock me out!” she said. “You wree only just closing the gate. And I’ve heard all those rumours and I couldn’t bear the thought of being taken by an orc!”

“Pretty young thing like you?” the second guard said, eyes running appreciatively down her body. “I’d say so too.”

"Lay off," the first guard said. He walked forward, offering her a hand. “Here. No one’s going to lock you out. Come on. I’ll take you back inside.”

Ignoring the hand, Venus threw herself against him, wrapping her arm tightly about his neck and pressing her body against his heavy frame. How easy it would be to snap his neck she thought. “Oh thank you!” she sighed, inhaling deeply so her breast swelled against his chest, soft and pliable. “Thank you so much. I swear I didn't mean it.”

“Er...yes. Yes, of course. Here. Come on inside.”

“Lucky shit,” the second guard muttered, resuming lighting the torches as Venus and his companion moved through the partly open gate.

Passing through, Venus’s eyes quickly took in the gatehouse. It was like most of the town, made mainly of a heavy timbered wood. The gatehouse extended from the wall, curving over it in an overhang. She glimpsed the dark shape of a murderhole through which a man could both see and attack anything at the gate with little fear of reprisal. More torches burned in brackets in the immediate vicinity of the gate, but the walls seemed largely bare of other guards. The gate itself opened into a small square from which branched a number of dirt streets, the main one appearing to wind along the hill towards what she assumed was the mayor or lord’s home.

“Oh thank you,” Venus said. “You’re so kind. I was afraid I was going to be trapped out there all night!”

The guard waved a hand dismissively. “We’d have opened the gate.”

“But I must repay you!”

“Oh there’s…” He trailed off as he felt Venus’s fingers touch his belt, gliding low to the bulge which quickly formed there. “M-miss?”

“Please,” Venus said. Her palm pressed against his bulge, feeling it stir. The guard breathed in sharply between his teeth. “Let me repay you.”

“I…”

Venus gently propelled him into the shadow of an alley. Before he could protest further her hands had made quick work of his belt, shucking down his pants to reveal his cock at half mast. She smiled slightly. So small compared to the flared girth of a minotaur or the corkscrew shape of an orc. So plain. But hardly insufficient. Her warm breath ghosted over the mushroom head, her hands running down it, causing the guard’s cock to stiffen and swell yet further, throbbing with need.

“I’m not so-oh!”

He choked as Venus moved forward, taking the whole of his length. Her nose pressed against his pubic hair. Her cheeks hollowed as she bobbed her head, sliding her pouty lips up and down his turgid length.

The guard groaned and grabbed her head. His fingers fisted her hair and he began to thrust into her mouth. Venus took him easily, enjoying the unique taste of his cock. Unlike the musky, wild masculinity of her two master’s, his had an almost sweet flavour. Her tongue coiled about his length as she took him as deep as he could go, but hardly her own limit.

His breath had begun to grow ragged. His grip in her hair grew tighter under her expert ministrations as she coaxed him to the edge. He gave a sudden moan, thrust fiercely forward once more, and came.

Venus gulped, swallowing every drop of his seed. She let his quickly softening cock slid from her lips. His hands lost their grip on her and fell to his sides. The guard sighed heavily.

“Oh. Oh wow.”

“You and your brethren earned it,” Venus giggled. “Keeping us so safe from those orcs.”

The guard chuckled. He reached up, removing his metal helm to reveal a mass of curly brown hair. “Well if that’s what it’s for miss, don’t fret. Most of the town doubts there’s an orc within fifty miles of Blackstone.”

“You do?” Venus said. She detected no lie in his tone. So the orcs had managed to keep themselves more or less hidden then. Her estimation of Karuuk rose yet more. “But all those rumours…”

“The Lord Mayor.” He shrugged. “He sees anything as a menace. Odds are those distant farmhouses were torched by centaurs. We warned the poor fools not to build so far from town.”

“Wise,” Venus said. She curtsied a little where she crouched. “I’d like to thank you again though, kind...”

“Merrik." He flicked a brown curl from his brow and chuckeld self-depreciatively. "But I doubt I could manage more of your thanks at the moment.” He laughed gustily. “You certainly know how to show appreciation.”

“Merrik.” Venus steadied her pounding heart. Here came the true risk. She fluttered her lashes, eyes grown smoky. “And I would like to show your companion as well. Tell me. Does he work tomorrow?”

“Erin? Sure. He guards the gate tomorrow night. Poor bastard. Just be him and the ten along the walls for the night. So I’d say they’d surely appreciate your time. I myself will have to be lighting the lamps over town now. But there is one thing I’d like to know.”

“What?”

“What you were really doing out there?”

Venus froze, stiffening where she crouched. She glanced up and saw a gleam of intelligence in the young guard’s eyes. She mentally cursed herself but only surprised innocence showed on her face.

“Merrik? I don’t…”

“Picking mushrooms this late at night?” He chuckled and pulled up his pants. The belt clinked as he did it up. “And ranging so far, but not having any in your basket? I’m no fool, miss. I’d like a more honest answer, if I may.”

Venus bit her lower lip anxiously. She glanced up at him and his heavy frame. She might be able to kill him before his friends came, but he was suspicious now, and large enough that he’d likely get at least some shout of alarm out if she tried. She supposed it would be safer to lie again, but with what? What! Her mind scrambled for an answer.