The River Wolves

Clouds rolled in during the morning. It was the fifth day of the journey upriver, roughly half way depending on the winds according to Ashe, the tall blonde woman who seemed to spend most of her time repairing or maintaining the sails.

“There is going to be some rain later for certain,” she said. She had an accent thicker than most of the other crew, and Noah felt her phrasing was a bit stiffer. He suspected she was from a more remote location with less use of the common tongue, but she was one of the crew he spoke to the least so he wasn’t going to ask her outright.

“This may be a very silly question, but do you sail through rain like normal? I mean, it must be less pleasant, but is it dangerous?” he asked.

The woman stopped and looked at him closely. She was almost his height, a few years older than he was, and quite attractive. She gave a rare, crooked smile and replied, “Yes, we sail in the rain. But if the wind gets bad, or it storms, we normally slow down to avoid trouble or anchor if it looks like it will pass. No one enjoys being soaked on deck, but we have gear to keep the rain mostly off us.”

As she spoke, Noah saw some movement over her shoulder and he quickly pointed, “Oh there!”

Ashe spun around to see a pair of dark grey fins moving downstream. “River wolves,” she said as the pair approached. The Nawyet was in the middle of the river, and the small hunting whales were well off the port side, a hundred paces away. The steward hurried to the rail to watch them and Ashe followed, smiling. “They are likely hunting the largemouth rainbow fish in the shallows, you can see how they move slowly, one surfacing at a time.”

“This is amazing,” the man enthused, “it’s so interesting to-” he broke off and started to point again, but Ashe had already seen it. A wake developed 30 paces away from the boat as a creature that had been swimming upstream curved towards the whales. Nothing broke the surface but the two river wolves instantly reacted, one breaching the water in what seemed like nothing less than panic as it flipped around to face whatever was approaching it, and Noah could see it did in fact look like a smaller, stubbier, version of an orca whale.

The second river wolf smacked its tail on the surface, then began a frantic undulation as it swam off at tremendous speed, hugging the shore so closely half of its body was visible.

The other predator gave one powerful stroke and was now heading towards the boat, and, more importantly, whatever was heading its way.

“What is going on?” Noah sounded equally excited and confused, as the river wolf that didn’t flee submerged more. The other wake also disappeared as if diving deeper.

Ashe shook her head, “I have no idea,” in the moment of quiet that followed, and she turned to see at least a few other crew also calling out in wonder and pointing.

A sudden fountain of water erupted off the port side. Ashe couldn’t see what caused it, exactly, but as the water burst forth it turned bright red, and a great bloody chunk of the river wolf actually flew several feet above the river.

Noah yelled something in a language she didn’t understand, but Ashe could tell it was an expression of shock. She could identify a dorsal fin, seemingly ripped off and tossed in the **** of whatever happened, and then the ruined body of the whale briefly floated above the surface, rolling over in the bloody water.

Now Hannah was at the rail with them, and Ashe looked at her with a questioning look. The older first mate shook her head, “Had to be a great seal, they can and do kill the river wolves at times but I’ve never seen it happen before. Must have been the king or queen of the river to tear one apart so easily!”

The steward could barely turn away, “I said I wanted to see a river wolf or a great seal and I sure have! Is the seal not going to eat it though?”

“Perhaps it will wait, but it might just have been a territorial attack,” the first mate replied with a shrug. The Nawyet continued on, although the steward tried to keep watch of the area as best he could for a while. The seal never appeared.

Noah was in his quarters after the evening meal. It had indeed rained, though not too hard, and it had trailed off after an hour. Noah had enjoyed wearing the rain gear but felt rather like a kid playing in puddles while the crew actually worked so he had retreated to his cabin.

Yura, the last of the boat’s maidens, knocked promptly on time. Noah welcomed her in, and she sat on the chair by the desk as Noah studied her. She hadn’t avoided him, but she hadn’t spoken to him more than a time or two either. She looked like the other Ice Islander crewmates, if perhaps a few inches taller than Hitty and Ipellie, but was not from the Kuniq nation but one of its neighbors.

She was sitting stiffly, so Noah gave her his most welcoming smile and asked, “How are you Yura?”

“I am… fine,” she said, surprised by the question. She looked at Noah as if somehow perturbed he was there, then shrugged. With what sounded like a annoyed sigh, she started undoing the buttons on her shirt, then pulled the garment off to show her small breasts and muscled upper body.

Without thinking, Noah removed his top as well, even as he frowned. Yura stood and pulled her pants down, showing her naked sex without any apparent modesty. Also, without any apparent interest, which was a growing problem for the steward.

“Do you, uh, want to do this?” Noah asked. He pulled off his pants as Yura sat on the bed next to him. She glanced at his naked body, then looked away.

“I do,” she said while not meeting his gaze, “can you just… make it hard? I’ll make myself wet.” Her hand went between her legs and she began to move it, but still looked away.

Noah shook his head, “I’m not sure if I feel comfortable about this. If you don’t want to have sex with me that is certainly ok.”

Yura looked at him again, her expression cloudy, “I will do my duty!”

“That’s fine,” Noah was getting annoyed and let some of that leak into his voice, “but I don’t really want to do my ‘duty’ if that means having sex with a woman who isn’t interested.”

She took a ragged breath, her mouth set in a narrow line. Noah sat back and waited, his flaccid cock its own kind of statement.

She looked down at him, her eyes softening. She stopped rubbing at her pussy, seemed to relax, then said, “You are correct, of course, I am upset by things but you are not the reason. And, truly, I would like to make love to a man like you. Normally.”

She sighed and looked away, and without thinking Noah sat closer to her. He reached out a hand and place it on her shoulder, which felt oddly more intimate than the fact they were both naked. “As a steward I was told part of my job, an important part, was to listen to the crew. If you want to talk, we can talk. I can get dressed again if that helps.”

“No,” Yura said, then she gave a short laugh, “I do actually like seeing your body. It is quite nice to gaze upon, and I can see why Kireama and Ipellie spoke so well of you. Although I do feel foolish that I leave your cock soft while the girls said you were a bar of iron for them!”

With a self-deprecating chuckle, Noah said, “It is entirely due to confusion on my part, I will get hard very quickly looking at you like this, you are quite beautiful!”

Yura looked again at his cock, and sure enough it had twitched awake. She smiled again, but the expression slowly fell. Without looking up, she softly said, “I find you attractive, and I would enjoy it I am sure, but I need a baby. If I can get with child, then perhaps our village will stop demanding so much of Yutu.”

Sometimes the only thing to say is nothing, so Noah waited. He let go of the woman’s shoulder but leaned against her slightly, so that she could feel him be there when she was ready.

“Yutu does not fancy women,” Yura said, looking up at Noah sharply as if she expected him to disapprove. But he simply nodded, and she relaxed, “We are from a smaller village. A dying village. Our father was lost when we were young, on a whaler that sank in a winter squall. Yutu is one of the few men left. The village - our mother, her sisters - they all demand he breed. They know he does not find women sexually attractive and they respect that to a point but also they do not care. His duty is clear, they want him to spread his seed. And he does, sometimes, though he does not enjoy it and neither do the women I’m sure. But he hasn’t made any of them pregnant, so the demands grow. The headwoman wants him to stay in the village until he gets some of the widows with child, but he doesn’t want that! He enjoys being a sailor!”

She broke off abruptly, and Noah took her hand, which was balled into a fist, into his. She drew a deep breath again, “So I thought maybe I could help. I have been counting my days from my last moon blood, and this would be a promising time to get pregnant. I should be happy for the chance. Instead, I think of Yutu and how he seemed so pleased for me to get what I want, but I get to have a man and he never finds any. Once he found a boy in port who liked kissing him, but there are so few men left, and to find one for him seems impossible.”

As she spoke, she began to rub her leg against Noah’s, probably without realizing at first. She looked at his cock and then said, “Can I?” At his nod, she let go of his hand and touched him.

As he began to grow, Noah said, “So you feel guilty you get to have something your brother can’t - what you desire in your heart.”

“Aye,” she said, even as her hand began to move his stiffening dick around, “I suppose I do. Because even ignoring the baby and Yutu I want… I want you to fuck me.” She looked up at stared into his eyes, “I want to fuck you badly. Is that selfish of me?”

Sitting side by side as they were, Noah wrapped his right arm around her and felt her small breast as he shook his head. “It speaks well of you that you care for your brother so much, but I can’t imagine he thinks you are selfish, at all. You said he was happy for you.”

She shivered and leaned into him, her hand gripping harder on his stiffening cock. She was deep in thought, but she was also reacting to his gentle touches. They sat like that for a few minutes, then Noah, shifted and gestured for the woman to lay down.

“Do you want me to use my mouth? I enjoy doing it,” he said softly.

She gave an honest grin and spread her legs, “I do indeed! But we needn’t wait too long, I am only half a maiden.” Noah approached her sex, shaved bare like all her folk seemed to be with a smile. He kissed the skin of her thigh, then traced some kisses to her center. She was aroused, but Noah patiently worked his tongue and then lips into her folds until she began to drip more nectar into his mouth. He suspected she meant she had lost her maidenhead already, but for her first time with a man he still wanted her to be as ready as possible.

He spent more time with his mouth on her, then shifted to her breasts while using his hand. Soon, Yura gave a long sigh and then nodded at him, pulling his arm upwards. He got into position, resting his hard cockhead against her wet slit. She looked down at him, then into his eyes, and he pressed in.

She made no sound but shivered, then grabbed him with arms and legs as he fully penetrated her. Noah began a slow, easy movement but Yura whispered, “Faster,” and he complied.

As focused on her as he was, his own orgasm took a while to build, but he could tell her enjoyment was rising. She ran her legs up and down his sides, then kissed his cheek suddenly. He moved his mouth closer to hers and she grabbed his head, pulling him in so she could kiss him hard.

Noah began briskly thrusting, her tight passage feeling wonderful. Yura began to make quiet grunting sounds, her eyes closed. Noah felt she was close to her peak, as he was, so he took a chance and rested his head beside hers, his mouth right beside her ear as he whispered, “A steward is here for the crew, if Yutu is interested I have lain with men before and enjoyed it, maybe you should ask your brother to come talk to me?”

With a gasp Yura’s fingernails dug into his back, clearly surprised. As her pussy began to clench on his cock, Noah smiled to himself and felt his own orgasm let go deep inside her.

They lay with each other, Yura half resting her body on his, idly playing with the bit of hair Noah had on his chest. “Did you mean that?”

He didn’t play coy, but said, “I did. If your brother asks, I would listen. I’m not as experienced with men but depending on what he wants, and if he finds me attractive-”

Yura snorted loudly, which he found endearing. She turned to him, “Trust me, he does. The crew may complain though, not that you sleep with a man, but that you waste your seed one night when time with you is precious and there are eager wombs. As it is the women talk about how many nights we have until you reach the Empty City, though all of us hope you don't actually stay there! I am not sure, I’ll have to talk with Yutu about it, and maybe I'll ask Hyvin for her advice, she is the best at gauging the mood of the crew and her opinion is often accepted by all.

"But, Noah, regardless... thank you.”

Noah closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment, but her words did rattle in his mind. The Empty City was a mirage on the horizon: after so long searching part of him refused to believe he might only be days away from his goal in case it was another dead end. He was confident he could do what he had to in the City when it came time. But still, getting to know the crew had him wondering about what he really wanted, had him wondering how much he would give up for knowledge. And who knew what tomorrow would bring?