Of Smoke and Ash

"We worked together fer a while, is hard to keep track a'days when ye expect each one t'be yer last."

Felix squeezed her hand as she spoke, not once looking away from her as she recounted her tale. Another hiccup slipped away, she noticed his nose wrinkle and twitch and felt a strong pain pierce through. It brought an unwanted wave washing through her soul, she lost control when suddenly her nose grew runny and her vision became obscured through tears.

"I wasn't always dis way, damn it. I was meant t'be better den dis. I just... ye know I hated the taste of rum?" She asked.

Felix smiled back, biting his tongue and holding his courage. It hurt to see her like this, but she was giving him what he asked for. This wasn't the stone cold hard attitude of Nyitzcha, this was a peak under her shell.

"I hated it, absolutely abhored it. It was disgusting, it was vile, but dey called it home. I wanted dat, I wanted... the feelin' o'belonging."

---

"Try it, it's good!" Bur Zik insisted, pushing the mug toward the young dwarf. Many other soldiers were cheering her one, pressuring her to swallow it in one go. Nyitzcha felt herself overwhelmed, a smile on her face as she looked around. So many people smiling back filled the room with a sense of camaraderie and joy. "Ah, wat da heck!" She shrugged, holding the mug with both hands and pressing the edge to her lips. With a deep breath, she pulled her head back and felt the cool gold liquid wash down her gullet, passing seamlessly in large gulps. She could hear them now, crying her name and singing silly songs with awful voices that were off tune. Slamming the now empty mug down, Nyitzcha became a coughing fit, hacking and clearing her throat. An arm patted her back and pressed her to his side, laughing alongside the others as she looked up. Bur Zik smiled back, nudging her.

"You did it, short stuff. You're one of us now."

"One of you..." She beamed, flinching at the aftertaste left in her tongue. "Bleh, did dis shite have to taste so foul?"

With a casual shrug, he lifted his own mug and polished off his own drink, smacking his lips. "It used to, After a while you get used to the taste.

"Don't help that we 'ave more a'dis stuff over water." She grumbled.

"Blame the East for cutting off the river with their little beaver dam." He chuckled, rubbing his chest. Someone came by and whispered into his ear before leaving. "Hm, Colonel is asking for us."

"Now? S'pose ay can't say I'm busy?"

"It's war, short stuff. We're either here or MIA." He snorted, sliding his mug over the table and pushing himself to his feet. Nyitzcha followed shortly, hopping off the barrel she sat on and hurrying behind.

In a minute they found themselves standing in position, listening to their superior as he pointed over a map displayed for them.

"Before sunlight, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" They nodded.

The Colonel narrowed his eyes on the young dwarf half his size. "Corporal Sprengja, you understand how important it is for you to succeed? We have a lot at risk here, placing our faith to a bomb specialist. Should you fail, it could cost the opportunity to turn the tide. We are losing, Corporal. Should you fail in your misson, the war will be lost. Do not fail your people, dwarf."

Nyitzcha felt her lip twitch as she held her breath, nodding in confirmation. "Piece o'cake, sir!"

"Dismissed."

---

"That's a lot of pressure to add, I doubt it helped much." Felix shook his head, interrupting her story briefly.

Nyitzcha snorted. "It did give me arse a good kick, sweaty palms an' all."

"Still, I wouldn't do well like that. I don't perform well under pressure."

Nyitzcha felt herself grow cold, slipping her hand across his chest and enjoying the warmth radiating from his skin. Her gentle fingers stroaked over the numerous scars sliced and stained over his body, showing their age from the discoloration they shared.

"Am sorry lad." She held still as his larger hand held hers and squeezed gently, his smile coming back.

"Don't be. Please, continue. I want to hear where this goes."

She froze, her mind feeling empty as butterflies fluttered gracefully in her stomach. Biting her tongue, she snapped from her trance and cleared her throat, making a loud noise as she did. "Ay, erhm... ay. We were... ah fuck it. We been deployed 'ere and there, it don't matter de tasks."

"You're skipping the fun parts."

"Oh bite me, ye need to be restin' soon anyway!" She snickered, breathing a sigh of relief.

"How did you fall for him?"

"Eh?"

"Well you didn't marry him to satisfy a debt, did you?" Felix snickered back, adoring the annoyed look on her face as she began to pout.

"Nuuu, we fell! Fell 'ard, in fact. Ay, we fell an' we kept fallin' too!"

"Sounds like a hard landing."

She sighed, fumbling with her ponytails before nodding back. "Ay, it was a hard crash. Is hard, when ye spend so many missions with dis lad, ye start to develop a trust in 'im. Is subtle, but ye save his life once, he save yer life back, ye start flirtin' an' with death always at yer door, ye can't afford to be shy. Why let an opportunity go today when ye may be gone tomorrow?"

---

Nyitzcha bit her tongue as sweat pooled down her face, dripping endlessly down as she raised her hands over. She was laying on her back, carefully pressing the putty around one of her bombs against the bottom surface of a wooden dock until it stuck. Once she felt certain it wouldn't slip, she could finally breath before fishing around her little bag for one last thing. Between her two fingers was a black chalk, she pressed it over the bomb and marked the symbol Bur Zik had shared with her. She froze as she heard the squeek of a door pushing open as a few pairs of boots entered the room, sending dust over her face. She covered her mouth and nose, rubbing her eyes as the soldiers above her searched around the bunker for something before pulling out a deck of cards. Satisfied, they quickly left the room allowing the dwarf to scoot and crawl out from underneath the building one inch at a time. There was a tunnel dug under the buildings she had followed, leading into the chimney of the rendezvous house furthest from the dam. Once she crawled through the chimney she shook and brushed away the mud stains on her backside, grumbling as she fiddled with her hair and picked away any dry dirt residue. "Ay, Zik! Got de goodies nice an' set. Gunna need t'ask fer a slimmer helmet, piece o'shite won't let me fit under. Also gunna be requestin' fer goggles, damn dirt got in me eyes!"

She kicked her helmet aside before tying up her pouch and shaking her hair free, letting it flow behind her like an orange cape ending just above her knees.

"What I tell ya, piece o'cake! Dat Colonel gun'be kissing me wee arse fer doin' a job well done, I say-" She turned the corner of the room to find Zik on his knees with a blade against his neck. Two soldiers stood by them, one aiming a flintlock pistol at the dwarf.

Zik glanced up and sheepishly smiled. "You took your time, short stuff. Kept us waiting."

Nyitzcha lifted her arms and walked inside, the room carried a bed on one side with a round table and two chairs where the soldiers made themselves comfortable in, with one window staring out into the dam and a painting over the front exit. Both soldiers stood up and motioned for her to kneel next to him, which she did so without argument. She was beginning to feel light-headed from such a drastic change of pace in her system, the adrenaline and fear had spiked to overwhelming levels.

"Are we dead?" She whispered to her comrade.

"Depends. Did you use the chalk?" Zik asked. Suddenly he fell forward as one of the soldiers struck him in the back of the head with the butt of his gun.

"You two be quiet! I don't want a word from either of ya. Now, care to tell us if you have any other moles digging under?"

Nyitzcha grunted, shaking her head along with Zik. He shot her a glance, raising his brow and winking. Her puzzled look made him smile as with a sign of his hand the dam suddenly erupted and burst into pieces without warning. The soldiers nearly fell in panic, glancing out the window as several barracks followed one explosion after the other. The soldier with the pistol in hand spun around in time for a chair to crash into his face. His ally swung his blade and found his head crashing through the glass, knocking him unconscious. Both elf and dwarf hurried out the lodge and into the forest as gunfire could be heard. The battle cry of their comrades echoed through the night, the stars lost under the thick blanket of smoke and ash.

"You told me de place was empty fer de night!" Nyitzcha growled, leaping over fallen longs and mudpits.

Bur Zik shook his head, panting beside her. "Must have been a change of plans, I don't know."

"Gods, we nearly died!"

"I know, exciting ain't it?"

Nyitzcha dug her feet into dirt, stopping at once with a look of bewilderment. "What!?"

"It was insane, we nearly died! You were praying, I know you did. Here here, feel your heart right now. Feel mine! Feel it racing like mad?" Bur Zik was nearly shaking, Nyitzcha's eyes grew as she noticed blood on his forearm.

"Zik, ye hurt."

"Huh? Just a scratch from our little tussle, nothing important."

"No Zik, is deep." She glanced down, noticing the soft red drips accompanying their tracks. "Ye cut deep, we need to patch ye up."

"You're wasting time, we should be taking arms and joining the fight."

"Zik."

"Maybe if we hurry, we'll catch a few-"

"Zik!" Nyitzcha pushed him back, retrieving a roll of gauze and wrapping it around his arm. "Shut yer trap an' quit acting crazy."

Her hands were trembling as well, she couldn't help it. The feeling, the rush, the adrenaline. It made her feel so alive, he held her hand and smiled back at her as their eyes met. She ignored him, securing the patch on his arm and feeling relief when he stopped bleeding.

"We should... we should be headin' back now." She muttered, swinging her pack around her shoulder.

Bur Zik sighed, seemingly disappointed before shaking his head.

"Right, you're right."

As he brushed himself off, he shared a knowing look at her before leading the way. She found herself a sweating mess, her uniform was drenched apparently. They continued walking for a short period, pausing only to be certain they were heading the right way. She caught up when he leaned against a crooked tree, beside him was an open view which led to the trenches they called home. He was serious now, maintaining eye contact with her as she let her pack slip off her shoulders.

"We fuckin' died."

He nodded. "Sure did."

Nothing.

They shared glances, sweat dripping from his brow, her chest rising as her lungs struggled to catch a break. Zik moved in, pouncing forward with his strong arms hovering over her resting against the tree she was leaning on. Sucking in her breath, she looked up into his eyes, trapped in a hypnotic trance as his hand slid down her chest and squeezed her breast.

In a moment, Nyitzcha found her arms around him as his wandered around her body, their lips grazing along as she stripped his uniform off and kisses his chest. His hands fumbled and cupped her ass, squeezing hard enough for her to moan. Zik fell on top of her, her legs kicking away her uniform and her hands sliding down his abs until they felt the bulge in his pants. He licked his lips and sucked on her neck, her hands playing with his pants before pushing them down and stroking his cock through her moans. She needed him now, it was out of their control. They stared at death and walked away, and as she felt his tip push through her soaked maidenhood and enter inside her, she hugged him tight and pushed back to meet his embrace.

Death had found them and they lived to tell the tale. Enjoying life to its simplest desires, fucking each other hard to put their adrenaline to good use.

"G-Gimme it." She gasped, humping and wiggling her hips as his cock firmly planted itself in and out, filling her with satisfaction and want. Her hands slid across his sweating back, cupping his ass as his strong arms loomed over her. Once and twice they would pause and lock lips, at one point she stopped and turned around, lifting her ass for him to take her from behind.

"F-Fuck, getting close." He groaned, squeezing her tits and pressing her against the tree she hugged as her ass rippled with each thrust. She wasn't sure now if she ever opened her eyes since the moment they began to mate. No, this wasn't mating, not close. It was primal, raw, instinctive. She felt alive once more, pushing back to meet him every bit of the way.

He groaned and pulled out, stroking himself as shot after shot of his essence shot forth across her back, some landing on the edge of her orange hair. Nyitzcha hugged the tree and panted, slipping forward as her wobbly legs lost their strength. Zik followed, landing on his back and catching his breathe as well.

A moment later, both dwarf and elf had cleaned up and slid into the trench, entering the bunker and saluting the Colonel. She couldn't recall what he said to them both, her presence was there but her mind was busy elsewhere. What had just happened, they silently agreed not to make mention of it. She couldn't tell what the Colonel said, only his parting words entered as she returned.

"And take a bath, you two reek of sweat." He ordered, walking off. Both of them saluted before splitting up to their own private quarters. They won the battle as she would realize later tomorrow, but something new began between her and her partner. Something told her things would not be the same from then on.