3 comments/ 11103 views/ 25 favorites Childhood Demons Ch. 01 By: TaLtos6 I was reading a story I wrote a few years ago and my eye got snagged on the legionnaires that were in it. The Légion étrangère has a long and colorful - and often tragic history - since there have been more than a few instances where those hard men fought down to the very last one. In that story, it was 1963. But it gave me an idea for something set in 1924, so away I went. I'm putting up a few chapters tonight, knowing that it'll take a few days for them to be up and I've got a trip out of town coming up to where I won't have access. By the time I get back, I'll put up the rest. In the meantime, meet young A'ishah and her friend with the dour countenance. 0_o ************** Late afternoon, Algeria, 1925. She watched from hiding, hoping that the lot of them wouldn't take as long as they usually did to wash their hair and bathe a little. They always took too long anyway in her opinion. The only ones who ought to be here on any given day were the servants and their daughters, there to do the drudgery of some light washing, but instead, they sat and combed out the long hair of the better ones while talking about nothing as though it was important news. But it was warm in the sunshine here, even though it was wintertime and if there was no breeze, it could feel hotter than Hell sometimes, so a few of the whores came along for a splash in the ocean - since the guards had to be here anyway. But those women lived rather easier lives and they were more prone to feel a little carefree as they splashed and laughed. Almost every one of them had some friends among the workers and it went both ways. The other women in the area never went there if the whores were there, not wanting to be mistaken for one of them, though it wasn't hard to tell. Those women were always covered while the brothel girls - especially the servants - quite often weren't. To her, hiding among the rougher rocks where no one in their right mind would ever go with their soft and easily-cut feet, this whole parade just went on too long while she had to wait for them to get tired of it and ask to be taken back to the brothel. It was probably good for business, she thought - a slow-moving parade of barely clothed beauties walking and chattering with their friends among the servants - who wore even less, since they had nothing to hide. It was another thing that she just couldn't understand - the concept of beauty among these ones. To her, many of the workers were better looking than the harlots. But then, she sighed to herself, who was she to know? At least all of them belonged here, unlike her. She wasn't one of them, the bathers on the pebbly strand in Algeria, not far from the Kasbah in Algiers. She wasn't Arabic at all; not Algerian, Tunisian, or Moroccan. Not Egyptian, Mauritanian, Libyan, Tuareg or Berber. She sighed, knowing that she'd give a lot only to be able to catch sight of someone just a little like her other than her siblings. She wasn't human. Where she'd been born, there had been a great upheaval, one of several cave-ins over the grottoes where she'd lived as a child. The ceiling came down, killing so many, burying hundreds alive in the blink of an eye. Other than her siblings, she never saw any of her family again, not that it was more than a bother to her, though she and her siblings did miss their father. She'd been twelve then and her mother had already begun to cast jealous eyes her way, going from loving to where all of her kind ended up with respect to their own daughters - murderous if their offspring couldn't take the hints by the time that they were about eighteen, if not sooner. Everyone knew that some orc fathers would prefer much younger females even if ... She'd been topside on the other side of the ridge with her younger brother and her little sisters when it had happened, human miners digging too deeply because their bosses were after every scrap of what they mined for. It had taken them several months to find others who were homeless due to similar circumstances. They'd fallen in with a pack and just followed as hidden stragglers, learning to fend for themselves even better than they'd been taught, since then they could put all of the lessons to use. They'd been noticed in time anyway, but by then it hadn't mattered much, because by then, she could easily defend the rest and they were all beginning to come into their own as well. She'd been eighteen by that time and her particular combination of genes gave her some of her mother's beauty - for what they were - as well as a lot of her father's speed, agility, strength and power. She wasn't quite his height, stopping at six feet by the time that she'd stopped growing, but though she was six inches shorter than her father had been, she was six feet of shapely, feminine, bone-crushing force - if she didn't have one of her blades handy to simplify things. All of her charms were in a slightly oversized package as far as most human girls go, but she had all of the attractions. Hers were just ... more solid, that was all. She had ridges of hard muscle where the most statuesque human girl might only have hints of that on her and she weighed well over two hundred pounds. Though to be fair, you'd have to wonder where she hid all of that - until you saw her rip out a tree - roots and all - to throw it out of her way. Around here, where she'd been with her brother and sisters ever since they'd lost sight of the last of the others three years ago and sailed over, she was like a giantess that nobody knew about. Well, there was one person. Like the others who came and liked to laugh and frolic at the shore sometimes A'ishah lived at the brothel. They were all bound to it, though to different degrees and in different ways. The moneymakers were the whores, the dancing girls, and the musicians and they were treated fairly well there. Below them were the servants - the serving girls who took a turn at the many jobs which always needed doing. But their lives were also better than tolerable most of the time at the brothel. A'ishah lived there too, but her existence wasn't all that charmed. She looked pretty, though she had barely anything for a chest, but that wasn't the thing - the reason why all of the others her age looked down on her or made fun. One good look at the roughness of the skin on her hands as well as the callouses would tell you everything. A'ishah was bound to the brothel in a different way. She was a slave who lived there with her mother - also a slave. And in her place, it wasn't all lighthearted songs and laughter, not for A'ishah and the others like her. She performed her tasks as though she was transparent, because that was what she wished that she was. She knew the floor plan like the back of her hand and if she was unlucky enough to be making her way down one of the corridors upstairs where the clients were entertained, she'd always try to duck into a doorway which she knew had another exit if there were men coming the other way. If there wasn't one of those doors nearby, then she had to continue on and put up with the gropes and the lewd comments with a smile on as though she enjoyed them or even liked the men as well. It was better than trying to duck into a room with no other way out, because the owners would beat her afterward, annoyed that they hadn't known in time to charge for her - if someone actually wanted to fuck her. They might not have known why the men had wanted her, but then the place did cater to some ... men from other places and there was no telling what they might find attractive in a girl. That particular brothel was the one - the one where the legionnaires all went whenever they were in town and on leave. The doors were open to them in the hopes that the place might come under a little of their protection if it was ever needed, and until it was, the place had more than enough muscle around to keep them safe as they drank and sang their unintelligible songs and whored. But that didn't mean that they were loved. To most people - Algerian people, that is - they were loathed since they were the Foreign Legion which at that time was the military face of the French government which oppressed them all, other than the French settlers. While A'ishah wasn't one of the performers or the pampered women who were the main draw, her services could be bought on occasion. The beauties who commanded a high price for their services all looked down on her and a lot of the other servants made fun of her and her life wasn't pleasant. They all laughed at her, but she did have one man who loved her to a degree. He didn't mind that she was a slave-girl there. Her skin was so dark, but he understood why. The place had a large enclosed courtyard with a fountain as well as a garden in it and it was one of her jobs to keep it swept and clean. Since she'd become what she was, A'ishah had worn any sort of clothing only rarely. What for? She didn't have much to her name and unless it was a cold day, there was no point to wearing out what little that she had. It wasn't like they bought her anything very often, since she wasn't one of the ones whose occupation paid for anything. And if you're the one who has to stand in the sun and sweep for up to a day at a time, why dirty anything with the dust of it, other than your skin? Her hair had been so long once, but lately, she just kept it short in a long boyish cut since it didn't hang on her neck then. Her hair tended to grow in long ringlets, but she found it more practical to keep it short. One look would tell you that she was a girl, but with her little breasts, she looked a lot younger and her appearance came in a little handy at times, since some of the others tended not to tease her as much. A'ishah was a little shapely and she was pretty, but to that one man - a Spaniard who was a sergeant in the Legion - she was the most lovely woman on Earth. He came for her whenever he could and he paid for her time - time which she'd have given him for nothing because she cared for him, but the place did have an owner, after all. The change in her life came about by accident one night, but A'ishah was the only one who knew a thing about the large cloaked girl who hid herself so well that no one knew of her. Not wanting to hear any of the taunts and jests of the others, A'ishah came alone to the shore by a different path with her washing and she waited until they were gone before she stepped out and began scrubbing her clothing and some of her mother's as well. But it could be a hazardous way to do it if you were the only girl out there on the strand on the other side of the small spit of rocky shore without a man in sight to protect you. A'ishah didn't need a man for that once they'd met. Her large friend could cause all sorts of mishaps to befall any man or men who entertained thoughts of using her. Boulders would come from nowhere seemingly to flatten a fool who came within a hundred feet and a handful of pebbles thrown by a powerful but unseen arm could do about as much damage as a silent shotgun blast. There had even been strange and mysterious drownings, and not just a few. So after a time, A'ishah found that she could wash her clothes in peace. They hadn't met at the beach. They'd met because the large girl had the beginnings of a crush. She'd seen him one time when she was out hunting for food, running mostly naked from one place of concealment to the next in the early evening outside of town. She'd heard a commotion and hid herself as was her way. She knew nothing of the struggle for independence then, though she did hear of it later. While staying in the area, she'd heard and learned a lot of the various tongues that the humans used and she'd even learned a little French, enough to get by day to day. But that evening, she'd looked out at the troops coming back into town and she'd seen one man. He was human, but she didn't care by then. Besides, she was convinced that even if she still saw plenty of her kind of males around, that one man would still draw her eye. Other than her own father, she'd very seldom seen males who were taller than her and even if they were, she'd found them ugly to look at. But not that one. He was tall and muscular, for one thing. His skin was so light that she knew that it must have been burned badly the first time that he'd been out in the sun for a time. People with skin that color had no business being out where he made his living. She liked his face - even though he wasn't what she was so he didn't have tusks on his lower jaw the way that she did - which she also liked about him for some inexplicable reason. His hair was like gold and though she'd seen a few like that, she'd never seen one like him. The comparison to the precious metal almost didn't fit him at all, but if you kept it in mind, you'd be able to tell yourself that it was the shade of white gold and she liked that idea best. His eyes had troubled her at first. Seen from a distance, they looked like two blue beacons whenever he'd looked a little in her direction. It wasn't until much later - weeks, really - that she'd been able to get close enough to know that they shone like the sea in a shallow bay. As the main body of troops had moved by her, she'd waited, having forgotten all about the meal that she'd been after. She couldn't help herself and followed at a discreet distance, stopping only once to grab her dark cloak. Even after they'd gone inside of their fort, she'd hung around, seeking ways to get inside, but before that happened, she'd seen the gates open again a few hours later as a few loud groups of the soldiers walked out to head into town, each group being escorted by two or three of their companions who were armed in case anyone thought to make something of it. She still stole along behind them all, trying hard to see if the one that she'd seen was in one of the bunches. They were right inside the town by the time that she saw him and she was a little disconcerted as she watched him head off with his group to one of the brothels. She knew what those places were and it wasn't a shock to her. What bothered her more than anything was the possibility of them all having their throats cut. Not even having a real reason to - since she didn't know him at all, she still stayed out in the street hidden in the darkest of shadows as she waited. She'd seen that he was quiet and didn't hoot or yell like many of them did. He just went along. Hours later, she saw several of the men leaving, some of them reeling a little, and more than a few trying to sing the sun up. She was so intent on trying to make sure that she didn't miss seeing the tallest one, that she almost stepped on the feet of of A'ishah, who'd come out to toss out the contents of a chamber pot, since nobody there wanted any of that French by-product left behind, and of course, it was an erroneous notion for only a few of the men were French by birth. A'ishah almost screamed, but she found a hand over her mouth and a rough feminine voice growling quietly in her ear in Arabic that it had been an accident and that she meant no harm. Much later the next day, when A'ishah had gone to do her washing, they met again and in the full light of the afternoon sun, A'ishah saw the face that would have caused her to scream for Allah's mercy if she'd gotten a good look the night before. She tried not to stare as she did her washing naked while her strange companion stood nearby, out of sight of the beach behind some rocks as she bathed. But they'd had time to talk a little eventually and there was even a little fun in it when they'd tried to exchange names. The slave girl grew to like the odd-looking one in spite of herself. "Ayeesha?" the larger one said experimentally and A'ishah nodded, "It means 'prosperous'." She looked down, "But as my name, it is nothing more than a joke. I am not from here. I am a Bedouin and I come from the south a long way. My people are wanderers. My father fell into the trap of a house such as the one where I must live. He drank and spent too long there and couldn't pay his debts after his losses when he gambled with the other men. They killed him and took my mother and me away and now, my mother is sick and neither of us can ever go back. We ended up here. I don't like to come here with the rest. I have washing to do while they play like children. And because I am one of the lowest, they laugh at me for my luck and my little bosoms and most of all over my name - because I am so prosperous, they say." She sighed, "I grow to slowly hate my name." "No." It was just one word, spoken in the low half-growl that the larger girl often used when she was trying to be serious or quiet. A'ishah looked over and up, not understanding as she saw that strong face. "No?" "No," the other one repeated. "Your language is not mine. I only know some of it because I learn these things easily. So I do not know what it is to mean. I only know the sound of it, and I like it for only that. As the name of a pretty girl as you are, it is a good name, as lovely as you for just the sound." A'ishah smiled then and thanked her new companion, "What name are you known by?" The other girl had to think about it, not out of not knowing it anymore or anything like that, but she thought about how long it had been since she'd heard it much. Her siblings most often called her 'sister'. "I am Yasmikha," she'd said. "'Yasmina' is the closest name to that here," A'ishah smiled, "A very good name, a pretty name. It must be the same. Here, it means a flower that smells sweet." Yasmikha shook her head with a slight scowl, "No." "No again?" A'ishah asked and the she-orc nodded, "No. It is the girl name of Yasmahk. It means 'one who can tear an arm from a foe and eat it before them'. Not the same." "Not the same," A'ishah agreed. "But I think Yasmina fits you better. You are lovely in your way." The she-orc could have fallen over at that. Indeed, she almost did, trying not to roar in laughter. "Then I think I would be happy to be called that name by you," she'd chuckled when she had a little breath back, "since it makes me smile because of you." "I like the marks on your face - those tattoos," A'ishah remarked with a smile, "I have wanted some, but they will not pay to have any put on me and I cannot pay for them myself - but I do like yours. Is there a meaning?" She meant the way that Yasmikha's eyelids and eyesockets wore dark ink and the heavily-stylized patterns which ran down her forehead. The she-orc shrugged, "Not especially. I had them done when I was fifteen to make me look more fearsome, since then, I wasn't as ... big as I am now. It was an exchange; the ink to pay for my killing one man and two males of my kind who had given the artist some trouble." As the young Bedouin absorbed it, Yasmikha smiled as she looked at her. She reached out with one hand, "I do not see what is the matter with your tits as you told of it." She extended one finger to touch a nipple and she wiggled it around in small circles, "I like them." A'ishah laughed in ticklish response and she drew back, covering the nipple as she sought to make the feeling pass. "You do? Why?" Yasmikha chuckled as she nodded, "Yes. It is a matter of what fits. They fit you well and add to your beauty to me. You wouldn't like large ones anyway. They would make you look as absurd as those tittering idiots who come here. And also, it is work to have to carry things like that around, trust me." A'ishah nodded, for what Yasmikha had were large, her nipples being probably bigger than A'ishah guessed that she'd be able to open her mouth. Wet as they were and in the shore breeze, Yasmikha's hard nipples were a sight, standing out like that. Childhood Demons Ch. 01 "Are the babies ... of your kind ... do they all have mouths so large that you need mountains like that to feed them?" Yasmikha chuckled, "Most of them yes, though I have never birthed any." "I couldn't even move if mine were like that," the Bedouin said, "Are they hard, or ..." She didn't know why, but she made a smiling lunge then and she reached out to touch Yasmikha's breasts. The she-orc laughed and tried to dodge away and it ended up in a playful struggle for a few laughing moments. Afterwards, A'ishah surprised herself again and she still asked to try just for a moment and Yasmikha nodded. So for maybe a minute or two, they stood still as A'ishah leaned a bit with both of her hands holding one of Yasmikha's breasts while she sucked a little just to see. She was astounded at how hard and firm they were and she liked holding on like that. The next minute, she reached for the other one, seeing as Yasmikha seemed to like it as she stood with her eyes closed, so A'ishah toyed with the other nipple at the same time while she suckled a little longer. When they pulled apart, Yasmikha put her arm around A'ishah's shoulders while the smaller girl slid her arm around her waist when Yasmikha offered to help with the washing. "Did you learn what you sought to know?" she asked. A'ishah nodded in an uncertain way, "I think so. I liked doing it very much as soon as I began for some reason and when I saw that you liked it, I just went on. When you do have little ones, they will grow up strong, I think." "That may happen one day, though it would not be wanted so much," Yasmikha said as they began the laundry together, "I have only my brother and my sisters for me sometimes." A'ishah was shocked, "Your - your brother? You - you have sisters as well?" Yasmikha nodded, not looking ashamed at all, "Think a little, my friend. We have little choice. To the ones here, I am too large and I frighten many - as I did you last night - only to see me. My brother is the only male like me. There are times when we all have a need and ... well, there is no one else who would want us, my brother and I. So we do what we must, though not often. I have two sisters also. I am the oldest of us all by a little. We haven't seen any others like us in some years. Who in the world might care if we do what we can to please each other?" "I think that I understand it now," A'ishah said. She looked up then, "Still, it is a pity." Yasmikha nodded, "We get so lonely sometimes." "That is worse, for I know the way that it feels," the Bedouin smiled up a little mischievously, "but it was not what I meant. You said not often, Yasmina. THERE is the pity to my mind." Yasmikha stared a little, though her lips curled into a small smile after a moment, "Alright, perhaps it is a little more than that. I only wanted to say -" "A lot would be a far better thing for me to hear," A'ishah said with a little grin. "Take some pity on me who has no one, beautiful girl. To look at you, I'd much rather hear it that way. Why to me, it would be a crime to hear -" "It happens all the fucking time," Yasmikha laughed, "Would you feel better lying in your bed to think of it like that, A'ishah?" "Yes," the Bedouin smiled a little, "much better to know that someone enjoys that body. But can there not be anyone else for you? Anyone at all that you might like besides your brother and your sisters?" Yasmikha thought for a second before she nodded, "Other than your kind hopefulness, there is a man that I like - I think. He is one of the soldiers. I was there to see him when we ... bumped into each other last night. Well, I was there to try to look at him because I think that I like him. But that doesn't mean -" "Which one?" A'ishah asked a little excitedly, "I think that I must know the man that you like. I have seen them come sometimes, for a few nights a month, anyway." Yasmikha nodded, "He is a big one, very light hair and blue -" "I know of him," A'ishah smiled a little triumphantly, "He comes only because the others do. He never chooses a girl. He only sits and drinks quietly." "A little strange for a French soldier," Yasmikha remarked, "for a soldier of any kind really." "They are not French," A'ishah said, "Most of them are not, anyway. The few French ones who are ordinary soldiers are criminals from France. The rest of the French ones are officers. Most of the men are from other lands. I learned of it from the man who comes and asks for me sometimes. He is a Spaniard. From him, I learned that the one that you saw yesterday is not French either. Juan calls him the Northman." Yasmikha smiled, "I know that kind. If I am right, his land is not far from where I came from. To him and his people, my kind are a legend lost in time. It is not true, but we do not show ourselves to them very much. They used to call us Jötunn, or the Jotnar in their old stories. I wonder what he is doing here." "Easy enough to know, for most of them," A'ishah nodded, "They come to a place in France to join for many reasons. Some are wanted men elsewhere, Juan told me. He is one something like that. Some join to forget something or someone in their past. Some come because they have nothing else or no one. Some are criminals and a life here so far away is better than a rope around their necks or the big knife they call guillotine. They join in France and are sent here. They are forgotten men and no one back where they came from will weep when they die. Your friend, he -" "He is not my friend," Yasmikha said, "I only saw him yesterday and I followed because he looked good to me. I do not know him at all. What reason has he to want to be here?" "He does not want to be here," A'ishah said quietly, "Juan told me that he was in a fight in a tavern in a place called Brest. He told Juan that he didn't start it, being only a sailor who wanted a night off the freight ship that he was on. I don't know the rest really well, because I only asked a little, but from what Juan said, sometimes the French judges give criminals a choice among several, though most often they just sentence them. They can go to the French prisons - but they are full, so they can be sent to the French prison colonies on the other side of the world to die there. Or if the judge thinks the man might be too strong and could be trouble for the jailors, he is given the choice to join the Légion étrangère- the legion of foreigners to fight for France. If the man agrees, he is taken and delivered to their offices and he joins. They are used to keep the power here in French hands. Some take that choice and run when they get here. But where is there to go? The people here hate them and would cut their throats for nothing. And to run out into the desert ... men who do not know how to live there ... not many last more than a week before they are found either dead or begging to be taken back. And if those ones are taken back, the rest might kill them because they had to leave to go out and hunt for them. Juan told me that they are punished then, and that they can only be taken back once." Yasmikha nodded as they worked, trying to digest what she'd learned. "So he would run?" she asked. A'ishah shook her head, "No. He is smarter than that. He would leave if he saw a chance maybe, but not if he had to run with his own comrades hunting him down. Juan said that he wants to go home before he dies. But very few men live that life and leave it. Most are killed sooner or later. How did you come to be here?" she asked, "I've never seen anyone like you." Yasmikha shrugged, "This is the direction that the rest walked. There were many of us once. We do not like the sunlight, but the bigger and stronger of us can walk in it. Where I am from, we live in the darkness, mostly underground. I was young when I took up with that bunch and they led me -" "Here?" the shorter girl asked, "That must have been a long walk." "Well it was anyway," Yasmikha said, "But I didn't walk right around this sea here. My brother and I stole a boat and this is where we stopped, out of the smelly oil that it needs to run. I keep it hidden in a little cove. The water inside is calm, but the rocks outside and the waves make it foolish to try to go in there even with a little boat if you row. I go out at night with a jug," she smiled, "and no one sees me. I go from boat to boat, usually one a night and I steal a jug of fuel. Now, I have the tanks full and several drums as well. Soon I can leave to go north once again. I can abide the heat, but it is not to my liking all of the time. I love mountain passes and hillsides the most. The air might be cold sometimes, but it is freedom to my heart. Sometimes I go to the east a little. There are mountains and it is a good place to hunt." A'ishah nodded, "That is where some of the Legion regiment will go in a week or two. There is a little trouble there now; the people try to rise up sometimes - as they might here once again soon. There is restlessness in the air that I can almost feel. It all makes me nervous. Juan told me that there has been a large uprising far to the west, in Morocco. The people there fight the Spaniards, trying to throw them out. The French are there in small numbers too. They sent some legionnaires there to build a line of little forts; more than sixty of them, but the people attacked and took most back. So many more legionnaires were sent. The big one that you like was to remain here, for he is as good as several of the others. It is known that some men are Spanish, so those ones are not sent and remain here. Juan is one of those. But now there are less of them all here and it has been noticed, so there are little uprisings everywhere as the people see their chance." "Do you love this ... Juan?" the orc asked. The Bedouin shrugged, "I - I like him very much, but I do not love him, no. He treats me very well whenever he comes for me and he pays well for a little loving with a low one like me. He gave me extra one time, but it was taken from me after and I was beaten over it. Now I beg him not to give me anything. I like it when he comes because he makes me feel a little special and it is nice to have someone to hold on to in the dark. He talks to me and tells me of what is happening outside of the brothel walls." As they gathered up the washing, finished now, Yasmikha looked over and had a thought, "A'ishah, what are you in that place - when you are not a washerwoman?" The smaller girl looked up, "Just a slave. I am nothing and have nothing. I do the work that no one wishes to do. My mother will die soon I am sure, and already, I must do more work than ever to take her place." "No." There was that word again and A'ishah tilted her head, "Again no?" Yasmikha nodded, "You are not nothing. You are my friend, the first I have had or wanted in a long while. You make me smile and laugh as though I have no cares and I find that I love to hear you talk of anything." She set the largest bundle of wet laundry down and picked A'ishah up until she was looking up into her shocked face, "It is a good thing to keep someone like me laughing." She leaned a bit and nuzzled A'ishah's little tits, one after the other, opening her mouth to suck a little as well, just out of fun and because she knew that it would cause the other girl to giggle and laugh. A'ishah looked down, her cares forgotten for the moment as she saw that mouth open and felt so good as she watched Yasmikha's long, warm tongue move a whole breast around easily, chuckling as she did it. She admired the tattoos on Yasmikha and she found that she was a little intrigued by the widow's peak at the front of her long black hair. It felt wonderful to A'ishah and she wrapped her legs around the she-orc's ribs as she held her head to her breast, "Oh, a little longer please, Yasmina. I like this so much." As they stepped onto the beach in the gathering dusk a little later, Yasmikha took both loads of the heavy and wet laundry, "So if you are a slave, then to them, you are a piece of what they own?" A'ishah nodded, "Yes. Not any more than that." She stared a little then, "Why does that make you smile?" "It is nothing," Yasmikha said, a small grin remaining on her face, "If you are only that to them, then they might be persuaded to part with you - for the right amount, of course. Would you like that? To be free of them?" A'ishah nodded, though there was little hope in her face, "My mother ..." Yasmikha nodded and they fell silent as they went for as far as Yasmikha though it prudent to go together. She waited while her friend took one bundle inside of the gates and then came back for the other one. "Thank you," she said quietly, "For your help and ... for you liking me." "The liking needs no thanks," the orc smiled, and the rest - " she shrugged, "It needed doing, so I helped." A'ishah reached up and Yasmikha helped so that the shorter girl was on her toes and they exchanged a few kisses, friendly ones which were done a little quickly. "I will come back in a few days," A'ishah said, "More laundry." Yasmikha nodded and watched as her friend walked away. She felt a little sad for A'ishah. She didn't have much in her own life, but she had what she needed to get by. She found that she didn't like the thought of a girl like A'ishah, who was not strong and hadn't been raised to be self-reliant, having to live at the beck and call of others. Where she stood was hidden in shadows and she watched as the gates closed before she turned away and walked back to the shore, wondering if there was a way that she could help. They saw each other at least once a week for a time, when A'ishah came to do her washing and it grew to be a firm friendship, though the slave never said a word to anyone about her large friend. - One time that A'ishah came to do the washing, Yasmikha saw that there was not so much to wash and she asked about it when she greeted her friend. A'ishah hadn't even noticed the presence of someone else there in among the dark rocks. She began to weep quietly and said that her mother had died the day before. "But I am given no time to even cry," she said with a sniffle, "Once, I couldn't go on and ... " She turned and let her cloak slip from her shoulders and Yasmikha gasped to look at the five lines left on A'ishah's slender back by the lash. The only reasons that she didn't feel her fury rising within herself was out of the sadness that she felt for her diminutive friend and her observation that the strokes had been given lightly by what she could see. A'ishah was startled then to see the other person, obviously a male and a few inches taller than Yasmikha. As well, that one was broad-chested and very fierce-looking. His eyes were so much like his sister's, and they fairly glowed with sudden rage. A'ishah wanted to run, but she saw Yasmikha hold out her arm to restrain the other one as she spoke a few words to him that the Bedouin couldn't understand and he settled down, though barely. "This is the worst kind of meeting, "Yasmikha said, shaking her head, "I wanted you to meet Håkan and our sisters when we met the last time. He is my brother and to his way of seeing things, someone must now die for what was done to you." A'ishah looked up into his face for a moment. He was younger than Yasmikha, A'ishah thought, though perhaps not by much. His hair was longer than his sister's and she could see that his tusks were a little longer as well. He wore the same widow's peak over his brow and she imagined that he might look even a little boyish at times, though it was hard to tell. At the moment however, he just looked murderous. "Why?" A'ishah asked him and the look faded instantly. After a moment of what looked to be an internal struggle, he looked at Yasmikha. "He ..." Yasmikha sighed, "Håkan admires you," she said with a sad little smile due to the circumstances, "Even before the night when I almost stepped on you, Håkan saw you and later he spoke to me of a girl that he liked to see whenever he could. He just said nothing of it to me until after you and I met. At the same time. I was trying to tell him of the one that I'd met and liked so much. It was almost an argument between us because we were both speaking at once. It took us a little time to see that we were speaking of the same person. At first the others, that is to say our two sisters, were about to moan to us to shut up, thinking that we were arguing over something small and unimportant as we do sometimes. But when they heard everything, they became interested and since that time, you have never walked the streets after dark and been truly alone, no matter where it is that you are sent. If any of them see you go out of the gate near dark, they follow, at least one, because they wish that you come to no harm when you are sent out unattended while I am out stealing more fuel. They watch over you mostly, though Håkan and Koåhn have both killed a man each to keep you safe because they saw that you were being followed. You take the same way back whenever you go somewhere and it is a bad thing to do. That night, two men were waiting for you to do that very thing. You'd have walked straight into them." A'ishah thought back to one particular errand the night after she'd met Yasmikha that she'd had to undertake all alone to pass a message to someone a few streets away. She'd been sure that someone was following her and she'd been pretty tense and frightened. Once she'd passed the message, hoping that the one in the doorway wouldn't pull her inside, she saw a look of shock and fear cross that face as he'd looked past her and then the door closed and she was alone. She remembered turning around to go back and seeing no one, but as she retraced her steps, she almost tripped over a body on the ground in the alleyway. She only looked once, but it was plain that his throat had been cut so savagely that most of what she saw was a yawning opening. "That - that was ... you?" she asked in a shocked whisper. He said a few words to his sister and she nodded, "There were two. Håkan was with Koåhn that night. They saw the men and followed them as they stalked you. You only saw one." Håkan spoke again and Yasmikha said, "The other one saw it and ran. He died without a face when my sister caught him." He spoke again and Yasmikha nodded before turning to A'ishah, "This is not time to be doing the washing. Go with Håkan. He will not hurt you. I do not think that he even could. He wants to give you something to eat and though he has trouble with speaking your language, he does understand much of it and he wishes very much to hear you tell of your mother if you would. I will do the clothes washing for you." A'ishah was nervous and she was so upset over her mother's passing, but she trusted Yasmikha and went where Håkan led her. In a little while, they sat together in the cabin of a launch, not more than thirty-five feet long as it bobbed gently at it's moorings. Even though she was somewhat upset and still in her grief, she found herself looking around and as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the cabin which was lit by only one small lantern turned low, she stared for a moment. There was a girl there, very thin by comparison to Yasmikha and Håkan. She imagined that next to them, she would look willowy. Even sitting as she was, she was obviously taller than A'ishah, and on her, the breasts that she saw were small - being not all that much larger than her own. She sat in what to A'ishah was very little light as she looked into a mirror and shaved the sides of her head with a dagger, leaving the top and the back quite long. When she finished the long, slow stroke with the blade on the one side, she turned a little and handed the dagger to another person. Noticing that one for the first time, A'ishah was a little startled, for she was nearer to the size of the others, though perhaps not quite as lean in her musculature, as hard as it was for her in that light to determine anything much. That one said nothing for the moment, being careful in how she handed back a second blade so that she could re-sharpen the first. Childhood Demons Ch. 01 "I am Zhaeri," the first one smiled in a small way, and when it had passed, her face returned to something not quite as friendly-looking, though A'ishah could see that it was just her natural expression in concentration as she worked looking into the mirror, "It is good to finally meet you. I have seen you out in the streets after dark once or twice and I followed so that you came to no harm. I cannot think but that that the one or ones who sent you need to feel my foot against their dull backsides for that." She smiled again, "But you are here now and we can talk. Now maybe our brother and sister will shut up about you. Give me a little time to finish here and we can meet you properly. And please don't be put off," she smiled again, "We know how we must look to your kind." A'ishah shook her head, "No, you are wrong Zhaeri. When I first saw Yasmina it was a big shock because I had never seen anyone who looks as you all do, but I have come to like what I see - though if I can ask without seeming rude, why are your eyes red? And I see that your ears ..." "We all have these ears of ours, "Zhaeri smiled, "I am the only one of us who does not hide them under a lot of hair. Show her, Koåhn." A'ishah had a little more trouble seeing the other female well in the darkness, but she saw it when she held up her long hair to show her a pointed ear. Her eyes were the same as Zhaeri's. "Except for Koåhn here," Zhaeri said, "We all come from the same mother and father. Koåhn comes from our father growing tired to hearing our mother's jealous accusations that he was fucking another female - so he did. He liked her a lot and she liked him, so they kept on when they could for a time, since Father found that he liked it with his girlfriend quite a bit more since, for one thing he said, she was always happy to have him. He said to Yasmikha that it made a welcome change. Koåhn's mother was a kind that is ... a little different. That is where her fur comes from, also her little horns and tail. Her mother was not any sort of goblinkind. She was a demon. Some few of them there were where we lived. For one reason or another, they were trapped there, some with their wings torn off. Those ones could never go back. The ones without wings were another kind, only different, and didn't go back out of a want to remain. Koåhn's mother was one of those. She stayed because she'd found a good male in our father and all of us females seek to feel a good hard prick in us. In that way, we are all the same, no?" A'ishah looked a little harder, "She has horns? Where? I cannot see well enough here." "That is because they are small, as I said." Zhaeri held up her thumb and forefinger, "Only like this and she hides them in her hair. Just have a care, for though they are small, they are sharp. My mother killed her mother when Koåhn was small, so we took her in. Father asked us to watch out for her so that Mother didn't kill her too. She and I are the same age and I am the most like my mother, so I kept my new sister with me always, for as small as I was, I knew the danger even then. Whenever my mother tried something, I felt it and turned it back to her instead and she gave up after a time." She shrugged a little then, "Though it must be said that her hair was never the same after the last time." She shrugged, "Our eyes are like most of our kind. Only Håkan and Yasmikha's are a little different. They are like our father was and I am more like Mother was. I have her shape, a little more like yours and I have her ability - and his. My tusks," she smiled, "of us all, Koåhn and I have tusks more like a male's, though they are much smaller than most male's are. I have the longest in our family. I only wish that they were a little more ... even in length." You had to stare to even see the difference to A'ishah's eyes, since it was miniscule. All the same, she liked what she saw. Yasmikha might be able to hide the way that her's peeked out, but there was no way that Zhaeri could. The slightly longer of the two stood almost an inch above her lower lip, and if she was feeling better, A'ishah might have wanted to kiss her once at least, because she'd always loved to feel Yasmikha's little tusks when they'd kissed each other goodbye. "I like your teeth," A'ishah said, trying to be polite and it was truthful, even for how she felt, "I even see what you mean, but Zhaeri, there is only the smallest difference between them that I can see - and now I wish for earrings like yours." Zhaeri smiled, knowing it was meant, but her expression changed then and she tilted her head, "Please, sit and let Håkan bring you something to eat. I see that you have cares of your own and I talk too much sometimes. Please forgive me. Our brother waits to hear of your mother - and I ... I am sorry for your loss." She bowed her head slightly for a moment and went back to her shaving while A'ishah wondered how Zhaeri could know those things. After the last stroke with the blade, Zhaeri took down the mirror and with it propped against a pillow and switching blades once more for a sharper one, she began to shave her pubes as she leaned against Koåhn. A'ishah sat where Håkan indicated and he brought her a surprising variety of small things to eat, from clams to kelp and bits of goat meat, and he joined her when she indicated that he ought to eat as well. Zhaeri spoke quietly to Koåhn over her shoulder and when A'ishah looked up, she saw Koåhn looking back at her with a concerned expression for a moment. It took A'ishah a little while to feel comfortable speaking to him out of her feeling a little strange to be sitting near to someone as large and strong as Håkan appeared to be, but his face showed his earnestness and he encouraged her whenever she stopped talking. The more that she spoke, the stronger her feeling of grief came to her and she found that now it wouldn't stay down and only rose up in her more, no matter what she might have wanted. When everything ... when all of it became too much for her and she began to weep, Håkan sighed quietly and carefully reached out to lift her very gently. She was shocked, but before she could really react, she found herself sitting on his thigh with one knee on either side of it. He put one of his massive arms around her and pulled her gently until she leaned her head against his shoulder and just wept as everything came out of her. He said nothing, only making soft and sympathetic sounds to her as he stroked her shoulder and back softly. Koåhn touched Zhaeri's shoulder and Zhaeri looked back and nodded. Koåhn got up then and crept closer as did Zhaeri. In spite of the strangeness of it all, A'ishah began to feel a great deal of comfort and she started to cry then, really cry for everything; the death of her fool father, and what she'd had to live through with her mother, the shame and indignity and the absolute loss of choice and freedom. Most of all, she cried for her mother and then she realized that one day, she'd die too and nobody would even know or care. It all spilled out of her and she couldn't stop crying or trying to tell of it in broken, mournful and sad sobs. Håkan heard it all and when she slowed down, trying to steady her breathing, she heard him sniffle once. As she lifted her head, she saw the lines of her tears on him where they'd run down on his arm and chest and when she looked over, there were the lines of his own tears down his cheeks. It seemed impossible to her. She was sitting astride the leg of a mountain of strength, so large in comparison to her. He held her and even now, he was stroking her back so gently with his large hand. And he'd been weeping silently. She became aware of the others and looked around to find them close to her and all of them had wet lines on their faces, having heard and felt what had come out. They shifted a little and A'ishah found herself in the middle of them all as they touched her and leaned their heads against hers. She felt a stirring against her knee and she glanced down to see that Håkan was hard - and very large to her mind. Before she could even process a thought, she felt his finger under her chin, lifting upward very gently. She looked into his sad gray eyes, so unlike her own, and she saw him shake his head and shrug, so she knew that it was only the closeness that had caused the male reaction in his body. "Our brother cannot help that," Zhaeri whispered, "No matter what his heart feels, a male's body always has it's own hopes." Håkan struggled for a moment, trying to find the word and at last he looked at her a little searchingly as he strained to ask her something, whispering it in his deep voice. "Better?" He held up his hand indicating a small gap between his thumb and forefinger with a hopeful expression. A'ishah nodded slowly, holding up her own hand with perhaps a somewhat larger gap and he smiled a little weakly to see it and he nodded. "He is so strong and yet ..." A'ishah whispered, "I see that he is very shy." "Yes," Zhaeri nodded, "as are we all with you, though Håkan and Koåhn show it most, I think. Yasmikha and I are the quickest to learn other tongues, but Koåhn and Håkan do understand what you say. They want you to like them, but they do not know how to say it and they do not wish to seem foolish if they try to say it in your speech." A'ishah looked at him again before she turned her head to look at Koåhn, who reached to take A'ishah's hand from her brother's shoulder to place it in the middle of her own furry chest. After that, she placed her palm against the center of A'ishah's chest, nodding as she did. Zhaeri reached in from the other side and did the same. "We feel you," she said in a low whisper, "A'ishah, you are not like us, but you are not alone. You are among friends here with us. It might feel strange, but all of us have seen you and now, when you have the need to be comforted, we are here and happy if we can ease your troubles in some small way." A'ishah's tears began again for maybe a different reason, but she nodded and tried to make herself understood as she told them all that none of them needed to feel foolish. They sat that way for a time until A'ishah looked at Håkan for a moment and reached for him to put her arms around his thick and muscled neck, her hands slipping under his surprisingly soft hair and she hugged him tightly until she heard his deep sigh. She knew then and she found that she didn't mind at all. He smelled clean and a little salty from the waves and he was so warm that she couldn't help it as she pressed her face against his throat and held on like that for a long time. When she drew back, she looked at the others and then she was against Zhaeri and Koåhn with her face buried in the short, soft fur of Koåhn's neck, just where it grew thicker as it joined with her mane toward the back. She opened her eyes after a little time and she saw Zhaeri there looking back at her from where she rested her head on Koåhn's shoulder, only an inch away. Zhaeri reached and held her hand against A'ishah's cheek, "We would have wanted a happier time to meet you, "she smiled wetly, "but I think that this might be better for the way that all of our hearts are bared to each other. Yasmikha spoke truly of you. We all feel it, but I think that I am the only one who can see what shines from you so clearly to my eyes. We are strange to you, but you like us and we cannot help but like you. I cannot tell you when it might happen, but little friend; we will try to help you somehow very soon." A'ishah didn't really understand, though she knew the way that they made her feel and in their way, it was nothing subtle. To her, what she felt in her breast was raw warmth from them, like suddenly finding oneself standing before a blazing fire. The only difference to her was that she didn't want to draw back out of fear of being singed. She somehow knew that it was just not possible. She knew only that if what she felt was their comfort to her, then she wanted to stand in that fire and be warmed. Zhaeri read her thoughts easily, "We are not always gentle in how we do things. To us, we do - or we do not - it is simple. We seldom dislike something to a small degree, just as we do not like something else by the same amount. We do or we don't. In that way, our kind is more like ..." She thought a moment to try to find something to help A'ishah understand, "We are like one of nature's forces. Like them, we are hard to stop and it is nothing that we can help." Later, as A'ishah pulled her cloak back over her shoulders out on the beach, she wondered why the stiffness and the sting were gone from her back and she tried to look back. "Håkan took it," Yasmikha smiled, "We can do a little when there is need." A'ishah walked back with her new group of friends - more than she'd ever had in her life. They walked with her, sticking to the darkened alleyways until they drew close to the brothel. When it was time to go, she didn't hesitate. She kissed them all right on the lips for a long moment, one after another, meaning every bit of it, "I am so lucky to have such friends." They kissed her goodbye in return and watched as she struggled up to the gate and it opened for her. As they walked back down to the beach, Yasmikha looked over with a little smile, "What do you think?" Håkan sighed and glanced at the lash lines there on his palm, "I think A'ishah needs a much better life." Koåhn struggled in silence for a moment and then just said it in their language, "I have never felt something like that before. Before I even knew it, I was ... I was in love with that poor, beautiful girl." Zhaeri nodded, "I am the same sister, and I had no say in it at all. She is just like that somehow. I think that if she had no cares, her personality might allow her to be a little like a child again. - you see how she has little fear of us, only a sort of honest fascination in her way." Yasmikha nodded with a quiet grunt, "So then, it sounds to me as though you'd want her, you two." As Zhaeri and Koåhn nodded easily, she looked at Håkan, "Do not be too quick to agree brother, I would say that you fascinate poor A'ishah no less than any of us seem to, but if it comes to be, you must always be careful, for she is much smaller." He nodded with a look of concern, "I would never want to hurt that one, knowing that it could happen in error so easily. Perhaps if I was slow and as gentle as possible, then ..." "Always a caring heart," Yasmikha smiled over, "No wonder that I had to fight to keep you alive so often before you came into your own strength. It was not what I meant. Imagine her with child from you. At best, she would be torn terribly and at worst ..." "Do not say it," Håkan growled softly, "I would want her even if I could only look at her and kiss her. How can we get her free of her yoke?" Zhaeri looked up and across for a moment, "As much as I hate to admit anything sometimes, I must admit that you were right, Yasmikha. There must be something that we can do." Yasmikha nodded, "I only need a little time to think - and while I plan, you must all hope that her choice ends in our favor. I have known her only for a little while, but she is a friend that I do not want to lose." With that, they walked on silently, for nothing more needed to be said. Childhood Demons Ch. 02 While A'ishah doesn't know it, her friends plan to spring her. Also, she gets to know more of the ones that she's coming to love so much. Especially the younger ones, the mystic Zhaeri and painfully shy Koåhn. 0_o ****************** The guard noticed someone in the darkness on the other side of the gate and looked to see if he knew them. "Bring your master, "one of the large ones growled in a low voice, "We wish to do business with him to mutual benefit." The guard shrugged, "Then come back at a more civilized time of day if that is your wish." A large hand slipped in through the openings in the wrought iron and took hold of his robe and another one reached around his head to pull him against the bars so hard that his neck cracked and he saw stars. "Listen hard," the voice said, "for the list gets longer the more stupid that you show yourself to be. Make no sound or you will die before it is out of you. Open the gate." He hesitated and felt his own blood running from his broken nose from the second time that he'd been pulled against the bars. What was unsettling to him was that he'd been prepared and resisted that time - and it changed nothing. "Open the gate. I will not say it again," the voice said. "With a thought, I can summon one who will force you to open this gate even after you are dead." He opened his eyes and looked and when he saw the gaze that was returned to him from the one whose eyes he could make out, he began to shake and couldn't open the gate quickly enough. "Go and bring your master," the voice said, "Tell him to come alone, for the sum that we bring him this night will surely interest him. Understand? Alone." It took a few minutes after the guard ran inside, but slowly, a group of beefy men stepped out into the dimly lit yard. They arrayed themselves in a line facing the two strangers and waited until one older man stepped forward. "What do you want?" They were much taller than he was, but the shorter of the two strangers stepped forward while the other one looked off to his left, hearing the sounds of laughter from the owner's harem. "You possess a Bedouin slave whose name is A'ishah. Please have her brought here. I wish to buy her. I will pay well." The man smiled as he shook his head, "Friend, you have been given some bad information, I think. There is no such person here." Yasmikha wore the hood of the cloak over her head and under that, she wore a double veil. She stepped up and looked down at the man as she removed the sheer veil over her eyes. He stared up into the width of her vertical irises. "I know that you lie," she whispered dryly - sounding like dead leaves in the wind, "I know that you ate a bowl of figs this afternoon and had a meal of fūl afterwards as your evening meal. I know that you had a shit before your bath just now. I know that the girl grieves for her dead mother and I know that she was whipped - five strokes. Shall I now show you what else that I know?" She didn't wait for a reply. She pointed to one man, her voice like a breeze through a crypt, "It was this one who swung the lash." As they stared at her, the larger of them moved his hand in the air from a dozen feet away. The man gasped once and fell onto his face. There were five lines down his back and each one was wide and gaping, meat missing from his flesh from every one. He began to writhe in agony for a moment and then he was still. The large hooded one said nothing and returned to looking toward the harem window. Really, he hadn't done a thing but move his hand. Outside of the gate, Zhaeri stood sweating from the mental effort as Koåhn held her up. Yasmikha looked at the old man, "Now whoremaster, do you recall anything about where A'ishah might be in your large establishment here? I think that you would not like it if I must go inside to look for myself. It would be ... a little bad for your business. Or must I slay every man here before I turn my thoughts to you once more? Why not just name your price for the girl so that I may pay it and leave with my new slave?" Wh-what do you want with her?" he asked, "She is nothing." "That is my affair," Yasmikha said, "There are more of us and we like to keep to ourselves. We find that the property around here fares much better when we do. Send someone for her, and now please, before I think to summon more with my thoughts. Ah!" she chuckled like dead leaves once again, "Too late. Your foolishness has attracted two more of my kind. And one thing, see to it that A'ishah is not hurt or treated with even a little force as she is brought, for if it happens, I will know of it in an instant and the very next instant after that, you will begin to die as I remove your worthless skin so that I can hang it over the gate." The man stared past her and saw two other wraith-like shapes gliding toward him in the darkness. He turned and barked out an order and they stood waiting as one man ran in through the doorway. "I m-must apologize, he said, "I had forgotten. The one that you want is grieving - as you said. Her mother died -" "Her mother died four days ago now," Yasmikha said coldly as she reached out slowly to grab his robe and lift him so that he was almost on his toes, "Think before you speak, old fool. If I know that she was whipped, don't you think that I know what it was for and when it happened? You stand on eggshells over my hunger." There was a flare of light and he looked to see the other cloaked shape from the side as he lit what looked to be the end of his own index finger to get a thick, Turkish-style cigarette going. He waved his hand and the flame was gone and he puffed a little to get the end hot. He reached into his cloak and drew out a stick of dynamite, holding the end of the fuze a little near to the smouldering end of the cigarette. "If you lie to me only once more," Yasmikha hissed like the wind through an old graveyard, "he will light that and throw it in through the open window there and you will be the one who grieves. I know who is on the other side of that - your wives and your youngest children. Now, while we are waiting, name a price for the one that I seek." He stammered and stuttered and did everything but pass wind before he came up with a number that he was sure that she wouldn't accept. He didn't know why the girl was wanted, but he sought to maximize whatever he could get for her. "She represents an unpaid gambling debt to you, some years old and to your mind, it can never be paid because you keep it that way. What you named just now is more than seven times the amount owed to you and her father paid you more than half. I will pay you half of what you ask on top and you will be happy, no?" He nodded, "Th-th-at would b-be f-f-air." "More than fair," she hissed, "it's an exorbitant sum, but I will pay it. In return, your loved ones are safe this night and you will forget her name and her face if it is your wish that they remain that way. Are we agreed?" He nodded, "Let me see the money." She shook her head, "I am still waiting to see the girl." One of the others held out a hand in the direction of the other men who stood on shaking legs. After a moment, the hand was closed and yanked away. The men around them all crumpled to the ground and the old one looked around in shock and fear. "We will not wait much longer," the one who had caused it hissed in warning. "Are they all d-dead?" he asked. "What do you think?" she asked in return. "Would you like to see me bring them back? I do not think it would amuse you as much as me." A'ishah walked out then in her cloak and sandals and she looked fearful. The man who had been sent for her was pulled to the side by the fourth one of them and after the dull flash of moving metal, he fell without his head. A'ishah glanced at the old man for a moment and he motioned with his chin, "That one will be your new mistress - once she pays me." Yasmikha reached into her cloak and drew out a sack to hold out to the man at almost arm's length. "That is a bag of sand," he said, "That much gold is far too heavy to hold like that. You try to cheat me." She shook her head, "Idiot, do you not think that I am stronger than you? Here. Take it!" He reached out and as soon as his fingers closed around it, Yasmikha let go. The sack dropped straight down next to the old man's foot, with a clinking, heavy-sounding thud and he looked to see the amount of gold that lay scattered in a small ring around the open end of the sack. "More than you asked," she said, "I did say that I would pay well. A good night to you. I hope that I do not need to tell you what will happen to anyone who tries to follow us. My advice is that you forget that you ever had this slave." With that, she took A'ishah's hand and led her away. The man stared as he realized that they were gone before they'd even gotten to the open gate. He knelt down and reached into the sack, feeling relieved at the shapes of the coins that he felt inside. He pushed his hand in deeply and he felt nothing but solid gold coins. But he had a problem, since he couldn't lift the sack. He called in through the doorway and a pair of men came out, staring at the bodies there on the ground. "Help me," the man said, "Take this to my chamber with me. Then, come back out and remove these bodies." They nodded and a little while later, the old man was in his bed, pleased at the exchange. There was more than the half that the stranger had promised. He'd taken every piece out and counted it carefully before he'd turned to go to sleep. Unseen by him or anyone, the two men who had helped with the gold were on the floor of their rooms, choking on their own tongues. --------- "What has just happened?" A'ishah asked, looking from one to the other at them all as they walked in the darkness. "How did you do that - whatever it was?" "Were you not there? I bought you from your keeper," Yasmikha smiled as she put her arm around her friend's shoulders. The Bedouin girl struggled a little with it for a moment, "So, am I now free - or am I your slave now?" Håkan chuckled as he looked down for a moment, shaking his head. Yasmikha shook her head as well. "I think that you have been a slave too long to even know it when you are free again. You are no slave to me, A'ishah. You are my friend - just as you were before. But to Håkan and the others here... ah well ... that might be a different story." She smiled a little coyly, "Perhaps I have bought my family a present, though it is not anyone's birthday. Is it?" she asked to make sure and no one nodded. "Oh well," she smiled, "then pretend, if you need a reason, A'ishah." She sighed, "Though we have always been free in the sharing of our toys, it must be said." A'ishah looked over, wondering what that might be like. She couldn't imagine that it would be even a little unpleasant - as long as no one rolled over onto her. Still, she asked Koåhn if she was their slave and Koåhn laughed a little, though she did shake her head. All that she said was, "No, A'ishah." "You can be our slave if it is your wish to be," Yasmikha grinned a little hopefully, "but if so, then I hope that it might be a game between us all and no more than that. What we all would like is for you to forget that time." "I know what you mean, Yasmina," A'ishah said quietly, "It was half my life and my mother is dead. But I am free now and I feel almost carefree because of my friends." She smiled to show them all that she was trying to shake off everything, "So I would do anything that I could for you - all of you for what you have done. There must be something." Yasmikha looked down, her face filled with the mirth that she felt, "Well if you wish to be a real slave, then the only thing that I can think of is for you to give us all gentle massages. We sometimes get cramps here and there - especially Håkan and I, we are more muscle-bound than Zhaeri and Koåhn." A'ishah chuckled a little herself then, the feeling of freedom coming to her at last. She thought a little of what Yasmikha had said and she found that she even liked the idea a little. "For my freedom," she smiled up from one to the other of them, "I'd be happy to do a lot of rubbing, I think." -------- The old man was asleep within minutes, and after a little more than twenty minutes, he began to snore softly. Twenty minutes after that, in the darkened chamber, a scorpion emerged from the otherwise empty sack and it began to crawl toward the edge of the table. Finding no way down, it dropped to the floor and began to walk toward the bed. There would be much wailing in the morning and a little wonder besides. The only men who'd gotten a look at the strangers or even knew that they were there at all were as dead as the old man would soon be. And in the morning, there would be the dead husk of a scorpion to be seen and there would be no gold at all. There would be only the empty sack and some piles of sand on the table. ------ A'ishah had a little trouble as they led her through the rocks so that she could get onto the boat again. It wasn't that the path had grown any more difficult, she found, it was that she couldn't see as well as they could in the dark. Finally, Koåhn stopped and picked her up in her arms. She was just as careful then, even more so and A'ishah found that she enjoyed the ride. Even so, she noticed something as Koåhn went to carry her inside. "What ...? Where did everything go? I saw the little cove not a moment ago, now -" "Zhaeri," she smiled. "I hide us," Zhaeri nodded, "You cannot see the cove, and no one can see us in it. They see only the cove and nothing more." In the close confines of the little cabin, they hung up their cloaks and sat as they ate and drank a little, telling A'ishah about the things that she didn't know from before she'd gotten to the doorway. "I was so frightened," she said, "I didn't know a thing about it - any of it." "We thought that it would go better if you knew nothing," Yasmikha smiled, "and the look of fear on your face was perfect, though it is something that we never want to see there again. We did not want the old bastard to think that you knew us. Zhaeri knew of everything which was hidden and she told me before of the things that I would need to say to that fool." Zhaeri nodded, "He is dead now from a most mysterious cause - since this is so far from the desert. I had some time to think about the things that went through his mind before you were brought, "she smiled. "When Yasmikha asked him for a price to buy you, he thought first of every bit that he got for you from your Spaniard boyfriend as well as the others who paid for you sometimes." Yasmikha held out her hand, "Here, A'ishah. The only gold that he saw tonight was his own. Zhaeri only made it look as though it was ours. When I dropped the sack, I caused some to stick to me and he didn't see it, for his eyes were on the bag which fell. This is a little more than you earned for him," she said as she emptied her hand into A'ishah's cupped hands - which were driven down a little from the sudden weight, "Sad to me that it is less than you deserve to my eyes." A'ishah's eyes looked ready to leave her head, "This much? Yasmina, this is ... I could buy - " "Clothes," Håkan suggested quietly and A'ishah smiled with a nod as she sighed, "I can have clothes. I've had the same rags for years." She counted it out carefully and then sat back, "This is more than my father owed by more than half." Håkan nodded as he pointed to her, "Cheated." Yasmikha smiled, "I have more. My hands are sticky when I go to the market and play the large, silent hooded one. I make the shopkeepers nervous and they do not watch the exchange so closely with me. If they suspect, they say nothing, being glad to see me go. You will need clothes, because we would like you to come with us when we go. You will need more than that, but we can help, A'ishah. We do not know for certain, but as we see things, there is nothing for you here and no family to return to - even if you knew where to go. Please come with us instead." A'ishah looked up as she sat with the gold in her hands, "I would go anywhere with you. I wanted to before, but I always had to return to the brotheI. Just now, I was afraid that you wouldn't ask me and I didn't dare to ask. I am too small and weak to keep this much safely. Someone would just take it away from me sooner or later and ... and I want to stay with you all. I was a girl when last I had friends." She shook off the feeling and tried to be a little light-hearted as she made a point of looking at the beds, "Surely by now, someone must need something rubbed, and I'm the girl for that." They laughed, but A'ishah saw that Zhaeri was not laughing much, so she asked, "I don't know anything of how you could have done what you all did, but Zhaeri, I think that you played a very large part. What is wrong?" Zhaeri looked a little pained for a moment, though she shook her head, "It is nothing, or at least, it is not much." "Zhaeri is like our parents were," Yasmikha said, "She can feel the earth and the sky more than I can. I can do that, but I only feel what they say to me. Zhaeri has it much stronger. She can talk back to them, in her mind. She can do many things that way." "Yes," Zhaeri said with a slight grimace, "but to make a force in one way, that is easy. This night, I had to do many little things at once while listening to the minds of fools. It makes my head hurt sometimes. I will be better soon." A'ishah moved and felt the muscles on Håkan's neck quickly in an experimental way. They were larger than she was and they were different in some ways. She thanked him and quickly stepped over to Koåhn to do the same thing, though Koåhn flinched a little and smiled in curiosity. Then she sat before Zhaeri and reached for the same place and her eyes widened, "Zhaeri," she said in shock, "you are as hard as stone here and even your brother's neck is not this stiff." She sat herself in Zhaeri's lap as she reached out for the muscles, "You need me first, I think. Put your hands on my sides or my hips and think to ease those muscles. I will do the rest." As she began, Zhaeri groaned deeply and hung her head a little, careful so that A'ishah still had the room. "This ..." she sighed, "you are truly skilled. Ahhhoooohhh, Ahhuuuhh, A'ishah." She lifted her head and looked into the Bedouin's eyes, "Such a little thing you are to us, and yet ... A'ishah, whatever little that you must weigh, your worth is many times that in gold for how you do this." A'ishah lowered her head to look into Zhaeri's eyes and she smiled, "A pleasure to help you. Let me lean a little now so that I can reach my fingertips right to the back of your lovely neck." She hugged Zhaeri gently - well, that was the effect as she reached and she found Zhaeri leaning forward against her, feeling so slack from the way that A'ishah's fingertips pressed in gently as they seemed to walk on the tightly-wound muscles which were causing the majority of the pain. "Oohhhahhh," Zhaeri moaned, "When you are done - if I can even sit up, I will kiss you for this, my friend." A'ishah looked at Zhaeri's face and she saw Koåhn looking back over Zhaeri's shoulder. She was nodding. A'ishah decided not to wait and she opened her mouth and leaned in to kiss Zhaeri softly. Zhaeri raised her hands and pulled A'ishah a little closer and as she began to kiss back, they both moaned for a moment while Koåhn sighed and smiled. When Zhaeri drew back, she found A'ishah giving up only reluctantly, reaching out suddenly to hold the orc's head still so that she could suck one of her tusks very gently for a moment before she sat back. Childhood Demons Ch. 02 Zhaeri blinked in a little wonder before she began to smile, "You know how to kiss another girl very well. My thanks for what you did." A'ishah looked a little shy as she smiled, "My thanks for allowing my kiss." A few minutes later, A'ishah was in one for the beds between two of them and she looked over at Håkan, liking his face and having a little trouble thinking that anyone wouldn't like it. He seemed to be thinking as he looked toward the low ceiling. "A'ishah," he smiled upwards as he paused, "Prosper-ous A'ishah." She stared at him for a moment longer and then she was on him, hugging him as she writhed in his arms and kissed him in joy. She teased his mouth open with her tongue and she loved the way that it felt to have his tusks against her once she got him started. It was a little while before she noticed the nice way that his hand ran over her bottom, and right after that, she knew that it wasn't one of Håkan's hands. "Little friend," Yasmikha whispered from beside her, "We want you to have clothes for when you need them, but we ... Would you mind it if for those times when you don't need them ... could we have you like this? We all love to look at you." A'ishah turned her head for a moment and then she looked from one to the other and then over to where Zhaeri sat with Koåhn watching, "You really like me like this?" They all nodded and A'ishah laughed quietly, "I have never really had any admirers but my Spaniard - and I am not cold here, so ... then how can I say no? I can't even say how good this feels to me. I have lived so long with nothing on and now, it feels so good to me to be like this with you. " She sat up then and looked at them all, "Where to begin? Such a hard task I have before me. Who is to be first?" "Håkan likes to watch us girls most often," Zhaeri smiled, "and Koåhn and I like to love together most often. Aside from that, we do what we like." Koåhn nodded as she pointed across with a grin, "Yasmikha ... first, Yasmikha." The large female shook her head, "Do you even know what to do with a girl?" A'ishah nodded right back, full of sauce, "I knew how to make you sigh so sweetly for me the other week when I suckled, didn't I? Not all of the few who asked for me were men. Ask your sister if I know enough." Zhaeri held up her hands, "It is so. Such a little thing that she did and she stole my breath from me in an instant." She chuckled, "I would have wanted to have seen that - Yasmikha sighing sweetly. Surely it was a rare thing." A'ishah smiled, "It's true! And anyway, there was not that much to do when our long days were finally done, my mother and me. We would take the little food that we were given and bring it to our small room to share between us. Then we would bathe and coming back, we would sit together and talk as we brushed our hair. She told me that perhaps I might be able to rise from being only a slave if I learned how to please others well. For many nights - if we were not both weary to our bones, she taught me, telling me everything that she knew of loving with anyone and when she had no more to tell me ..." She stopped then and even Koåhn was gesturing, trying to get her to go on. A'ishah was pleased just to be there with them, so she smiled a little shyly and said, "My very first lover - the one who meant the most to me - the one that I gave all of myself to, even after loving with my Spaniard, was my mother." There was a silence then as Yasmikha got up to turn the kerosene lantern up a little more, and before she knew it, A'ishah sat in the middle of them all as Zhaeri came to her last and sat behind her, hugging her and leaning over her shoulder to kiss her softly for a moment. "Oh please, A'ishah," she smiled after the kiss, "Please tell us of it, if you would." A'ishah looked at them all; Yasmikha gazing at her fondly with her arm around her brother, who nodded. Zhaeri held her and began to caress one of her breasts gently and even Koåhn sitting a little across from her, struggling to say something. A'ishah had to grin. She couldn't help it. "I'll tell it," she smiled, "but in exchange, I wish to say that it is too much to ask of me the way that I see things. You are all beautiful and I find that I want you so much - every one - but I would like to ask if I might be allowed to lie with only one or two each night that you might want me. I cannot even think of how I might have you all happy before the dawn and even if I could, I'd need to sleep then myself." They all nodded. "So is that all that you want?" Yasmikha smiled, "All of your long list of demands?" A'ishah shook her head, "There is one other thing, only one. I ask to be allowed to see Koåhn's little tail - and to do that properly, then I also ask that she be my first this night." Koåhn gasped in happy surprise, and she nodded vigorously. "Not so fast," Zhaeri said quietly as she caused A'ishah to flinch from kissing the side of her neck, "I agree that all of us in one night might be a little too much in the asking, but I am Koåhn's lover most often and I ask to have you as well, us three in a bed. Is it too much then?" A'ishah giggled and flinched again, since Zhaeri went back to leaving kisses on her neck. "I can only try in my poor way, if it is your wish." "Then it is done," Zhaeri said with a pleased smile as she lifted A'ishah to place her on her lap again, but facing outwards. She licked her fingers and reached to pet the storyteller softly. A'ishah moaned without meaning to and she leaned back, reaching to caress the shaved side of Zhaeri's head, "I cannot tell it if you do that very much." Zhaeri nodded and began again even more softly. So A'ishah began then, telling the tale with as much love for her mother as she could put into her words. She spoke of their sadness and their loss, and how her mother insisted that they be allowed to sleep together, since at the time, A'ishah had still been a girl. She told of how nothing happened until her eighteenth birthday and how she'd even forgotten that it had come, but that her mother knew it as all mothers know of these things. She spoke of listening as they held each other in the darkness while her mother spoke of loving and how it was to be done the best. "It lasted for much longer than I thought it would," she admitted, "but after a time - many nights - I grew to see that my mother had run out of her own experiences and was beginning to tell me some tales which had never happened - at least not to her. I said nothing of it because I wondered what it meant that she did this. And she told such good stories from the girl's side of it and how it felt to be fucked well. Finally, I waited one night for her to finish and then I eased down a little bit and began to give her my caresses there on her breasts. My mother liked it, though she told me that I shouldn't do it and I told her that I wanted to, for all that she'd done for me and for the way that I felt about her. I lifted my head and stretched to kiss her, but not as a daughter anymore - well, not as a child anymore, certainly. After I was able to tease her tongue into playing with mine for a time, I settled down and began to suckle at the breasts which had fed me when I was so small. She tried to push me away, but I could tell that her will was failing and I told her how much I loved her and that I wished to practice what it was that she'd taught me. She had no argument for it, so I began again." She looked at Yasmikha for a moment, seeing the way that she leaned back with her legs spread to give Håkan better access to her sex with his hand. "That was how I learned how to suckle in ways that an infant could never manage and I would do that for any of you," she said, her eyes boring into Koåhn's as well, "Only ask, and I will do my very best." She returned to her story then, "After a little time, I moved in such a way as to find how I could rub my sex against my mother's hip and with some care, I slipped first one and then two of my fingers into my own mother. I found what I'd been hopeful to find. My mother was very wet for me," She smiled a little proudly as she pointed to her own heart, "For me. My mother was full of want for me, her daughter. I cannot say how I felt to have been able to do it. I fucked her very carefully, trying to remember all of what I'd learned. In the end, though she was pleased, I found that I didn't know enough to be able to tell myself that I had done my very best for her. So the next night, she held me and taught me how while we used our fingers on each other. It was a very slow lesson, but it is one of my favorites to remember her by. You should maybe know something here," she said very quietly, "I do not mean to say that she was very fast with her lessons at all. Now when I look back, she had to have fought with her doubts against her own desires over all of the time that led us up to when we began. My poor mother was not unattractive in any way. She was only a little old to be placed into the stable when there were so many younger, more profitable girls there. My mother was beautiful. When our misfortune happened to us, I was only nine and we didn't begin with each other until I was eighteen and old enough to know of everything. And even then, it took months to even begin together. I was the only one for my mother's desires which she'd fought down for so many years. By the time that we became lovers, she and I had slept together in that same bed for nearly as long as she'd had a husband, while he lived. One evening not long after, she surprised me as we were working. She said that she had two secrets for me and that I could never tell either of them." She looked around at the others, "She is gone now and far from feeling any shame anymore. I'm sure that she would be proud to know that I have friends again and that I will put her lessons to the best use to please them all in a little time. That is true as well. I swear it." A'ishah held up her hands, "Well what was I to do? We had little enough to relieve the dreary ... um, drudgery of the work, the way that we lived. I had to agree, for I knew that if I did not, I would not know of the secrets and I knew that it was not much, ... but it was something. So I agreed. She scolded me that I hadn't been counting my days and that all women should, 'It does not matter when you first begin to bleed as a woman,' she said, 'but it does later. You are past that fence, A'ishah. I have been counting your days for you. Tomorrow, you must sweep the back of the yard - around the corner near to where the animals are kept, for it needs sweeping.' Well I looked at my mother as though she was losing her mind. I hated to sweep there. I only did it when I thought that leaving it longer might mean that I would be punished. Still, she told me that I must go and do it during the hottest part of the day. I couldn't believe it. She said that she had arranged something for me there the next day. She told me to make sure to sweep close to the little door in the house where the chickens were kept. 'Sweep carefully near that little door and be sure not to raise too much dust when you do,' she told me, 'and then, knock on the wall softly twice. If you hear nothing but the hens, then sweep up and leave. But if you hear three knocks, just as softly - twice, then once - then turn from the wall and look around. If you see no one, then get to your knees and pretend to sweep up the pile. If you hear the little door sliding open, A'ishah, then push your bare bottom back that way. There will be a man inside, and he will make you into a woman.' I thought then that my poor mother was truly mad, but she only smiled and nodded. I asked who this man was and she said only that she would never tell me and that I did not need to know. Well I was almost on the floor over that. 'Why would I not need to know?' I asked her and she shushed me and pulled me close. When I had quieted down, she only smiled and said that the one was a slave just as we were and for us not to know each other was the best thing. I spent the whole night thinking of all the male slaves that I knew were there." She looked at them with a smile as she turned her head to receive some of Zhaeri's appreciative kisses for a few moments. "I thought only the masters of these slaves were cruel," Yasmikha grumbled, "But see? Their meanness is passed to their workers as well. She stops as though it is nothing and only smiles." A'ishah chuckled as she leaned back in Zhaeri's arms, "Before I go on," she smiled with her eyes closed dreamily while her hips bucked very slowly from Zhaeri's caresses, "I will want a kiss." Their mouths fell open. "But I have been kissing you anywhere that I could reach for all of this time," Zhaeri protested. "Yes, and I love how you hold me as if I hang in one of your spells," A'ishah sighed. "I have been kissed by you so that I ache to give myself to you. I have been kissed by mighty Håkan only a few times and it was enough to make me wet for him in an instant. And I have been kissed by wondrous Yasmina some days ago - far too long ago, now that I hold that sweet thought. But I have not been kissed by beautiful, mysterious Koåhn even yet and I grow worried that she does not care for me." For the second time that evening, Koåhn gasped in surprise. When she looked, A'ishah was writhing slowly in Zhaeri's grasp, her eyes closed for the moment as he squeezed her own breast. When she opened her eyes, she looked sad. "Don't you like me, Koåhn?" Koåhn was there within the span of a heartbeat and she took A'ishah in her arms, allowing for the way that the girl bucked so slowly. She looked down into those soft brown eyes and she was lost. She leaned down and kissed A'ishah as softly as she could and then opened her mouth to take as much of the girl's neck into her mouth as she could while her tongue licked that soft skin. "Higher," A'ishah moaned, "Move higher on your knees for me. I want ... I want to ..." she reached out and down with her hand and slid her palm and fingertips over Koåhn's thick, furry thatch, "Oh, Koåhn ... you cannot know how good it feels to me to only touch you." When A'ishah opened her eyes next, she found herself looking into the moist red eyes that she liked most of all as Koåhn regarded her for a moment. Koåhn took A'ishah's head in her hands gently and she leaned in to kiss her until the Bedouin almost hung limp in Zhaeri's grasp. When the furred one pulled back, A'ishah smiled at her very happily, "I knew that all of you could kiss me so well. I needed only the last to be sure. I don't care which bed that I sleep in tonight. I am finally happy for the first time in so long. Thank you lovely one. I have truly ached to know your kiss." "A lovely and touching moment," Yasmikha nodded, "but you won't have many more if you go on teasing us." She held up her hands in a placating gesture as the others snarled at her to be still. Even so, she laughed at the end, enjoying it as much as they did. "Well I had to say something," she growled in barely hidden delight, "She keeps me wet only to hear her voice. To see her in your arms like that, Zhaeri - the way that she hangs and moans to us - I am growing an ache of my own." "Please ..." Koåhn sighed into A'ishah's ear, "please tell?" A'ishah nodded, though she was still smiling, "Before I go on, I wish to make a pledge if the others will abide it. I can be happy with only having a word at a time from Koåhn and Håkan. But I want so much to know more of their thoughts. So if someone would teach me, I want to learn your way of speaking, and I would teach the quiet pair my own, if they would learn." Koåhn nodded instantly, though Håkan still looked shy and uncertain and needed to have his life threatened by the others until he agreed. So A'ishah leaned back against Zhaeri once more and moved the orc-girl's hand to place it back where it had been, toying slowly with her slit. "You play me like an instrument," she sighed once more, "I could beg for you to do this to me all night." "You spin a good spell of your own, but be careful now," Zhaeri whispered, "Of us all, Koåhn has even more to feel unwanted over. Her mother's kind was not well-liked back home and they were driven to live far from the rest, though they followed out of their want to be liked even a little. Even we can feel enough stupid pride to look down on some others and it was just as wrong when it happened to Koåhn as it was when it happened to you. When we were still small, the hard words of others caused her to cry as though she'd been beaten. We were all wanderers then, but even so, there were males and females who'd had their fun with their sharp tongues, laughing at my sister until she fell in a heap and hugged her knees as she cried from their cruel words. There were others who wept those nights. I'd hear the wails of mothers for their stupid sons and foul-mouthed daughters - all dead, burned alive or thrown into deep pits or worse, made into shambling creatures, every bit as mindless as their hearts had been cold to a little one. I had to hold onto my Koåhn for a few days and nights to make her feel a little better again, but those nights when others wailed ... those were the nights that I smiled. I have killed my own kind from when I was six years old. You cannot know what we are to each other, us two. Now, I see that her heart is full of hope - as is my own, for reasons that you cannot know yet, sweet A'ishah. I ask only one thing before I give my heart in the same way that she will offer hers to you. Do not ever make her cry. She has had so many reasons to weep. She is not stupid or slow. She has a very bright mind and it goes with her shining heart, but ... I think that you know how it can hurt to be treated badly for nothing that you have done to anyone. I think that one such as you might understand that, so I ask it of you now. I ask you to treat her well, as I do, and for that, I would give you my heart as well, since you seem to want it so much. I will teach you what we are to each other - and what we can be also." A'ishah shook her head slowly as she held it back against Zhaeri's neck. She kissed the underside of Zhaeri's jaw once, "I will need some time to learn of you all, Zhaeri. If it ever happens, then I cannot think that it could be anything other than a misunderstanding. Why do you think that I want to learn your speech? Tell her for me that it is something that I would never want, and more than anything, I wish to know of her thoughts from her own mouth. I cannot offer much, but you all are not unwanted. I look up to you - every one - and it is not only a matter of height. You all did something for me - who was so poor that I could never hope for what was done. I will never forget it and Zhaeri, it is not only your heart and hers who holds hope. I would love you all anyway. But the two youngest girls ... my own age ... you make my heart sing. If I was not telling my silly story, I would beg you to do what you do in the way that you began it. I do not know if I can be made to cry out from my heart anymore, but if there is anyone who might do it, it is you both." "Then I have my answer," Zhaeri whispered, "You shall be one of three. Take anyone that you want, but remember this; you will be one of three and we will keep you safe and warm, Koåhn and I. I have been troubled since we met you. To me, you seemed to be looking for a place among us. I tell you that you have it now. What it means, sweet one, I will teach you in a little time and in quiet moments. For now, I see that Koåhn wishes to accept you, so then must I also - and I do." Childhood Demons Ch. 02 She kissed A'ishah softly, full on the lips and then she smiled, "Now finish your tale before I turn you over and paddle your bottom like a bad little girl." A'ishah nodded, though she was as full of wonder at Zhaeri's words as she was happy to have heard them. She looked at the rest and nodded. "I went out there the next day and as it grew hot, I kept working, since the place really needed it by then and I was glad to be there for only that. I would have been beaten if one of the masters had seen it the way that it was until then. My own fault. While I worked, choking on the dust that I raised myself, I heard the big door of the chicken house open and close. I cursed myself then because I'd meant to keep a better watch on it and I'd missed my chance to see who it was. I let the dust settle and then I swept very slowly and carefully near that little door. Then it opened and ... well my heart was in my throat. There I was, on the edge of becoming a woman and I didn't know the man or what he wanted." She smiled," Well I know what he must have wanted. I only wondered why he would have wanted me." She laughed, "Stupid, I know. I hurried over to the wall and knocked. Almost no time later, I heard the three knocks in return, just as my mother had said. So I stepped nearer and turned away. I saw no one when I turned around and so I got down on my shaking knees and waited. I felt a pair of hands touch my hips, trying to pull me back a little more, so I moved that way and ..." She laughed, "I was prepared for a stab of pain for a moment - and it happened that way too. But I grew to like that stab quite a lot the next few moments and he held my hips and fucked me very well. I'd been afraid that it wouldn't last long enough for me, but I was wrong - so wrong. He fucked me on and on, stroking my skin and slapping my ass sometimes in just the right way for a young girl like I was. I hung my head for a little while and then I thought that I'd better keep watch at least a little, just in case. Oh heavens, how that one plowed me on and on. I had to hold my arm in my mouth to keep still. I shook in his grasp over and over and I wanted to yell out how good that it felt to me to finally be fucked - and so well, my very first time. I knew it when he filled me, for he pulled back on my hips so hard and he froze in place, pumping me only a little for a time. I shuddered again only for that - only for the thought that I had a man inside of me and he was filling my little place. I wanted to ask him his name. I wanted to tell him that I was his from that moment." She chuckled, "I wanted to tell him that I loved him." She smiled very softly, "At eighteen, a girl should already be smart enough to know better about so many things. But I was no one, just a slave that nobody cared about and for that time, I was made to feel so good. I hadn't had all of the little times with boys when a girl learns that romantic stories do not ever come true. But for me, that one day as I knelt in the hot sun, those romantic thoughts which had never had a chance to be turned to ash as they perhaps should have been much earlier had a chance to rise in me. So I felt all of those foolish things. A'ishah sighed then, shaking her head a little, "I found out who it had been after a time. It never happened again with that one. He was a large man - a slave just as I was. Where I would have wanted to see his face so that I could admire the handsomeness that I was sure just had to be there, I found that it was not. He was rather plain and ugly, the truth be told. All that he had was a good, strong, hard prick. He was fairly simple too. They used him to service men and women clients - people I would guess who wouldn't care what he looked like or how he acted. He was caught one afternoon fucking one of the wives of the old man who owned it all, that place." She shrugged, "After that, he was only a large, simple-minded, ugly man, with no wondrous prick anymore. When I told my mother that I'd learned who it had been who'd fucked me to my joy so much, she told me that I'd been stupid not to listen to her. 'As long as you didn't know,' she told me, 'then he could have been any man, someone kind, someone noble, a lord, or ... even the Kaliph himself. You should have listened to me. Your heart would still be thanking me for arranging it.' And I knew then that she'd been right." A'ishah smiled then, "But on that day, I'd been made a woman at last and as I got to my feet and saw my raw knees, I was smiling - for surely I'd been fucked by a very fine man, no? I swept up my earlier pile of sweepings and trotted off to get rid of them, for then I had the problem of his seed leaking out of me. I had to run holding my hand over myself - as naked as ever, but a woman now. The timing of it couldn't have been better, for it was a very hot day and no one was out but me. I was covered in the dust sticking to my own sweat and I wanted to pee and it was so hard not to grin like an idiot as I ran to our room where it was a little cool. I was chilled instantly and I shivered. My mother had a pan of water there and a cloth to clean me, but I saw her take a long look at my hard little nipples and then she smiled, remembering that she'd promised me two secrets that day. She washed the dust from me and made me lie down on our bed and she covered me with a blanket. I was such a fool, wanting to tell of it and how it felt and everything - how blue the sky had looked to me afterwards and how even the back part of the yard with it's chickens and goats looked good to me, now that I was seeing it all as though in color for the first time. My beautiful mother only smiled at me and told me to stop talking so much and so quickly. She took off her robe then and she came to the bed with the softest smile for me. Then she lifted the covers from my lower half and admired the seed of a man leaking out of her daughter. She looked at it for a moment and then she looked at me and told me that she loved me. Then she leaned down and began to clean my wet and bloody hole again with the cloth. The seed, she took with her tongue and I was in kept in joy and bliss for the rest of the afternoon." She fell silent then, resting in Zhaeri's arms for a moment, thinking again of what she'd been told. The first one to speak was Yasmikha, who smiled widely and clapped her hands in a quiet way. "Oh please, A'ishah, please tell me that you have more of these little tales in you. You have four friends who would listen to anything that you tell, in that nice way that you have. That was wonderful." The others were quick to agree and A'ishah nodded, saying that she knew a few and that if she ran out, she was sure that she could make something up to entertain them. But she was a little on fire by that point, from the way that Zhaeri had stirred her up so gently for all of that time. She looked around, hoping that one of them would say that they wanted her first, but no one did, which she found both curious and somewhat disappointing. "You are not thinking properly," Yasmikha smiled, knowing A'ishah's thoughts, "Remember that Zhaeri and I are ... not without our abilities. We can talk; she and I sometimes, and we never make a sound when we do it like that. She has told me of what was said between you. You are one of three now. She has held you for all of this time, but there is one yet who would welcome you if she was given a chance." A'ishah's gaze snapped over to Koåhn, who'd somehow moved away during the storytelling and now sat looking both hopeful and bashful on the other side of the cabin. A'ishah was off the bed in a flash, running to where the fur-covered one sat and she almost crashed into her and rode her down with a laugh. They became a ball of limbs and laughter in the next instant as A'ishah hung on and kissed and tickled and caressed and nipped until Koåhn, who was almost twice the Bedouin's weight, lay helpless. A'ishah crawled up onto her and crept forward to gaze down into those red eyes for a long moment before they smiled at each other and she sank down to wiggle slowly against that soft fur. "Don't ever be shy with me, you beauty," she sighed as she kissed Koåhn softly, "I feel joy only to be here against you like this." She watched as her own fingers slid through the fur on Koåhn's chest for a moment, "Look at you," she chuckled, "I have heard a little of how things were for you all after your home was lost. And even still, I find that I am so jealous of Zhaeri, for she had you for a sister when you both needed each other so. Such sweet things you must have been together." She could hear the smile in Yasmikha's voice from across the room as she said, "See? There is your heart. It rings like a bell to me. You are right far more than you might imagine. Whenever I looked to find those two, it always did my heart good to see them, just little ones as they were then, always walking and holding hands." "Ahh," A'ishah smiled down, "I know it. I can feel it. Look at me, I am so small to you all, but I could be so happy just to be allowed to curl up like a kitten and sleep right here." She kissed Koåhn again very softly, "I do not know what it means, one of three, but I like it." She lowered her head and she moved back, loving how it felt to let her legs slip off on either side of that hard, fur-covered belly, and then she opened her mouth, not even looking as she began to nuzzle like a newborn until her lips found a nipple. She moved her hands then to hold that breast, still running her fingers through the soft fur as she began to suckle. She didn't see it, but Koåhn's eyes slid closed as she reached to touch and caress A'ishah wherever she could while she moaned and cooed very softly to her. Zhaeri joined them then, taking the other nipple as well as her cue by suckling as softly as A'ishah must be doing it for a moment. "Move down, A'ishah," she whispered, I will keep our girl here entertained. There are things that I know that you wish to learn about my sister and if I allow it, she will be too shy to enjoy it." A'ishah opened her eyes and nodded, stretching over to kiss Zhaeri's cheek for a moment before she moved back and down the incline a little more. Of the four of them, Håkan and Yasmikha were the darkest naturally. If they were not feeling very charitable toward themselves, they'd say that they were a lovely color - for a dull shade of mud. It hadn't come up yet, or A'ishah would have given them an argument over it. Next came Zhaeri, who was the same tone, though somewhat lighter. Koåhn was ... well, she was Koåhn. Her skin, if you looked into her fur for it, was much lighter, and her fur tended toward almost white over her chest and her upper belly. Her hair was a dark shade of brown and it appeared long, but that was only what was attached to her head. But it didn't end at the back of her head. It went on and on, growing out of her back near the line over her spine as a long and quite attached mane which ended as a single thin dark line which ran to her hips. But A'ishah hadn't seen that yet. The fur over the rest of her was a neutral brownish color, almost perfect as camouflage in anything but snow in daylight. It covered the rest of her and A'ishah was so taken with it. Under the whitish, fur-covered swells of her breasts, larger than Zhaeri's but not all that much, the fur was darker until it came near the middle where it was white. Just at about the midpoint between her navel and her breasts, a thin dark line began over the centerline of her body, just barely visible from a slight distance, since up close, one would never see it at all. That line ran down, slowly growing both wider and darker, skipping over her navel before really growing as a dark stripe down her belly to become the deep, dark brown thatch which covered her mound. Even there, it was the same short fur only thicker, not the wiry pubic hair which all female orcs tend to grow. When A'ishah got there, she saw that Koåhn's legs were somewhat spread and she looked and stared a little - all while trying not to, of course. It was beautiful to her as all of Koåhn was to her eyes. The girl was softness and innate grace mixed in a perfect blend of uncertainty, shyness, and even wildness - and it went without saying that if pressed or driven in the right way, the girl could be fearless and savage. But there was something wrong with the picture somehow. For a short time, A'ishah was stumped, not getting what it was. At last, she put it down to the relative dimness in the cabin, but she knew even then that as an explanation, it didn't cover it at all. And then, all at once, A'ishah knew. She reached out and touched the fur that she saw very softly for a moment. "Koåhn, you wonderful girl, please don't be shy with me. You're hiding down here and there's no need, my love." She kept touching and she was even sure of it the longer that it went on. Koåhn's tail. Koåhn was feeling shy over this last bit of her geography and she was holding her tail, which was very much like a bit of a long goat's tail, over her furry femininity very tightly, like a dog who was in fear. A'ishah eased herself down and began to kiss and press her face in against the tail and she mewled soft little noises as she went, pressing and nuzzling for a long while, until at last, she felt the tension in the tail ease off very slowly so that the tail gradually dipped down to lie flat against the bed. "Thank you for your trust in me," A'ishah whispered, "Now, I want to show you how wrong you have been about me." A'ishah renewed her soft nuzzling and mewling, leaving constant light kisses everywhere that she went and after a little while, she put a little melody to it, remembering a song that her mother had sung to her when she must have been an infant when she nursed. A'ishah couldn't remember it that far back, of course, but she could remember it very well from a little later on when her mother had sung it softly on those nights when A'ishah had been a little girl who'd awoken out of a bad dream and been frightened. She hummed the melody softly and cooed quietly and she kept it up as she felt the tension ease from those wild loins and to her, it felt like a reward. So when she finally began to lick and suck out those sweet lips, she still hummed, though she had to fight off her smile by that time. Koåhn's hips had begun to buck very gently, not all that much and it wasn't hard to follow them along as they did. The juice which came to her was sweet and tangy at the same time and A'ishah couldn't get enough of it, though as hungry for it as she was by that point, she knew that this was not the time for it, so she kept things soft and very loving. She knew that she had no tusks and somehow, she knew that these girls - when they were feeling it, would be doing this with a fair degree of loudness as well. So A'ishah didn't do that at all. She was very quiet, letting only the occasional soft, wet sounds escape. She reached and held on to Koåhn's hips, sliding her thumbs over the soft fur and reaching up to pet that wonderful furry belly as she lapped and licked in absolute bliss for this amazing girl. Koåhn was moaning then, moaning and sighing as her hips and legs moved of their own will. A'ishah hung on and kept at it, softly all the while and sometimes, she went back to her little lullaby. She was still humming it when she finally turned her attention to the nub which was rubbing her nose by that point. A'ishah wanted to cry out in delight at what she'd found, but she was mindful of the overall tone of the experience that she was trying to provide so she didn't. If she sucked that thing in and held it while pressing inward with her lips ... Koåhn's clitoris was a little over three inches long. A'ishah turned her loving to that part and it moved Koåhn to bucking, still gently but the ... excursions were longer, up and down, until the wild girl under A'ishah's mouth began to shudder and shake, her moaning rising in pitch until she sounded desperate and A'ishah felt Koåhn's hand on her head, pressing her down, needing her so much for a moment before she eased up, not wanting to hurt A'ishah. But A'ishah took that large hand and held it against her head, her smaller fingers slipping between Koåhn's larger ones and finally trilling her tongue to finish Koåhn, who arched her back up from the bed with Zhaeri still on her as she did. She hung there for a long moment and then she dropped back down with a long groan and some weak, restless writhing for a moment. "What did you do to her?" Zhaeri asked in a little amazement, " ... And may I please have some of it as well?" A'ishah didn't have time to answer as Koåhn lifted her head, her voice sounding small and very needy as she tried to pull and coax and beg A'ishah to lie on her next to Zhaeri. When she had them both where she wanted them, Koåhn kissed them passionately and tenderly at the same time, alternating somehow in a way that startled both of the others. She held A'ishah's head and licked her face - openly licking and not caring at all before she did the same to Zhaeri. When she'd settled down a little, she sighed with a smile and thanked them both pointedly in their language. "What did she say?" A'ishah asked and Zhaeri laughed softly, "What do you imagine that she might have said? That came from deep inside of her, where there is no room for thought to seek for translation. Koåhn says it very seldom A'ishah, but this night, her shy heart has opened to you. Try to guess." "Well," A'ishah whispered, "she liked it?" Zhaeri nodded, "And?" "And she ... she likes me?" But Zhaeri shook her head then, "No. That was obvious. I said that her heart has opened. Her cries were in passion, of course, so you must temper it a little, but Koåhn spoke of her love for her new sister - as we will call you." A'ishah smiled then, looking at them both for a moment and feeling like a part of something which she didn't truly understand yet, but that didn't matter to her. She liked it. "One of three, right?" They nodded and both of them hugged her for a moment. "You are now our sister," Zhaeri smiled. "It means that we three will be close because of our hearts and how they will be bound. We will share many things together. Yasmikha wishes to seek for the man that she spoke of to you. I have found him in my thoughts from the words that she said were spoken between you. Koåhn and I will help her to find him. From what I know already, when she finds him, he will be in some danger. What it is, I do not yet know. But I know that she wants him. If it comes to pass and he lives - and wants her - then she will be one of two. We together will always each be one of three, even though really, we will each be one of four." A'ishah didn't understand much of it at all and her expression said as much. Koåhn struggled then to help. "Us three," she smiled, "Always love - always help - always." A'ishah got that and she nodded, wanting that as well. But the rest ... "Us three," Koåhn said again, "Always need. Help each other. Help work. Help food. Help with ... Håkan." She looked over at Zhaeri, clearly out of road, "Zhaeri, what word? I need her word." She spoke in their tongue for a moment and Zhaeri nodded, lowering her head to whisper it even more quietly to Koåhn, who grinned then and nodded. She looked at A'ishah, "Yasmikha want man. Want be one of two, yes?" A'ishah got it and nodded, "She wants that one to be her man. What about the rest?" Koåhn grinned, "We - we three, wives Håkan." A'ishah's mouth fell open at that, "But ... but ... I like him, but I can't ... He's much too large. I have ... seen many men," she said, almost stammering a little, "but what he has is larger by far." Childhood Demons Ch. 02 "Perhaps," Zhaeri smiled, "and perhaps all that is needed is the will to have what he as in you. But this is not the time to try by the feeling of fear that I see in you." Koåhn shook her head, not satisfied with things yet. She pulled A'ishah close and rolled her toward Zhaeri so that the human felt just a little crushed between them. At that point, Koåhn began to caress A'ishah's face, leaning in to leave little kisses while she thought of the words that she wanted to use. "Wives are to ... please the male, yes? You are small, he knows it. He ... he loves A'ishah. You do ..." She looked past A'ishah to Zhaeri, who had gone back to kissing A'ishah wherever she could. "Zhaeri? More words." Zhaeri lifted her head, "Håkan won't do that to you, not until you ask him for it. Think a little and do what you can for him. What she means is that he already loves you. We all do." She moved to lean on her elbow, whispering into A'ishah's ear so that she shivered and reached back to touch Zhaeri's thigh to let her know that she liked this. "One of three means that you are one of his three wives. but really, it means that you belong to us, Koåhn and me. We belong to you. We belong to each other, us three. That way, there are three of us who will always take care of the other two in it. Håkan knows that and he wants us to be that way. It makes all of our lives easier, since none of us is as big and strong as the older ones are. He's so big and ..." she grinned a little, "well, he'd worry himself to death if you sneezed twice in a row. This way, he knows that we'll take care of each other first." "But what about ... fucking?" A'ishah asked a little nervously. Koåhn shook her head, "When you ... want him. Then." Zhaeri nodded, "We'll make him happy. Do whatever you can think of. A'ishah, we are alone here. There are no hordes of our kind all over this place. Even if there were, Håkan would stand out, because he's a good male. You wouldn't want to know the rest, believe me. We're a little happy because of it in a strange way. If there were lots of us around, all three of his sisters would spend our days having to pull all of the hopefuls off him, just so that he might eat his dinner in peace with us. So stop worrying and kiss me a little more." "Well," Yasmikha said as she sat up and turned around so that she straddled her brother, "Small as a word finds very little on me to fit, so I will please Håkan now. This night will be the last for a time. We leave on the morning tide." "Where we go?" Koåhn asked, tilting her head, "Not back north? Not now?" "Nooo," Yasmikha groaned as she slid down that big hard thing of her brother's to impale herself. She held still for a moment before she began to work her hips, "We go east. There is a man there who I wish to come to know and who is to say? A'ishah's Spaniard is there as well. We might save him for her if she finds that she wants a smaller prick for herself. I cannot tell yet. I know only that they will fight in a few days' time. I do not even know the man I seek yet, but I want the chance to learn of him, so we must go while he still has time." A'ishah felt herself being rolled off Koåhn very gently and before she knew it, she was being moved around with smiling instructions from Zhaeri. "Stand," she said as she got down and leaned back some distance from the edge of the bed. "Now bend over, little sister. No no, do not try to get onto the bed to come to me. Only bring your sweet mouth to my naked hole here. See? It runs for you as it has since I held you. Come and taste what I have for you now. Koåhn will find her own happiness with you." A'ishah didn't understand, but she was willing, and so she leaned down more, holding herself up a little with her hands to get the right height. As he opened her mouth and began, she felt the heat of Koåhn's tongue as it slid into her and she moved up onto her toes in response, wondering just how long that tongue was. Zhaeri reached to hold A'ishah's head gently and she slid down a little more as her hips began to move and weave in response to what A'ishah was doing to her. A'ishah found herself torn, wanting to do well for Zhaeri and yet her concentration was being severely buffeted from behind. It went on until Zhaeri cried out the first time, blessing A'ishah by the names of gods which she'd never heard in her life up to that point. As the orgasm faded with Zhaeri still clutching A'ishah's head, A'ishah began to feel something else back there, slipping around a little uncertainly for a short time before A'ishah knew that her opening had been found. She felt large and furry hands take her by the hips and she knew then what it was, by the relatively shallow strokes from what she thought just had to be an uncomfortable way for Koåhn to be standing, with her knees a little bent to get the angle. So she arched her back downward slowly, not wanting to break the beautiful connection. Koåhn was fucking her with that clitoris of hers, and it felt so good just from the knowing of it as she felt her ass being pressed against so slowly time and again. The thing inside of her didn't reach all that far, but it felt wonderful, the kind of little prick that she knew that she could never refuse, not after knowing what it was and the easy way that she'd been taken. The thrusts told her a lot as well and she reveled in it, risking a happy look backward a time or two. "I am falling in love," A'ishah announced very quietly to Zhaeri's wet sex. Koåhn moaned for how good it felt to her and for Zhaeri's part, she only smiled as she reached to hold A'ishah's head again. "Then you are the last and the most needed," the thin orc-girl sighed, "We have felt this way about you from the first." A'ishah gasped as she felt what was inside of her grow. After a few moments, she found that she was really being fucked properly. She loved to feel and hear the soft slapping against her bottom. She looked at Zhaeri in confusion, wanting to ask, but all that came out of her was a tortured little mewling. "H - how - w ...?" The world spun around her and A'ishah fell for a split-second to find herself on her back, lying on Koåhn - who was holding her tightly as she fucked and fucked, like a frenzied thing, half curled around her down there to keep the angle. A'ishah's world jiggled and bounced, but it was incredible to her. She watched Zhaeri's face smile down at her, "Well, I'd say that you've really done it, little sister. You should see Koåhn's face. She's so happy to have found someone just your size to fuck." Zhaeri smiled even wider as she reached out to touch one of A'ishah's nipples, "Did you forget when I told you that she's part-demon?" Childhood Demons Ch. 03 The things we do... I remember standing next to a woman as we looked at an autographed photo of a country singer. I admitted that I liked some of his stuff and she astounded me by saying "I'd crawl through a mile of broken glass to get to that boy." I got the feeling, but the statement sort of rattled me, since if I had to, I guess that I'd crawl through a mile of broken glass to get to a medical kit, personally. Because I'm sure that my lust for whomever it was at the outset would have cooled just a tad by that time, just sayin'. Still, with that in mind, consider that Yasmikha has that kind of drive. I'm sure that for her, it might only take like 5 minutes or so anyway. But God help the object of her desire if the attraction wasn't mutual. For the second half of this chapter, well... try to imagine what it might be like to be reunited with friends who would do anything for you if they found you in a tight spot. Yeah, Anything. 0_o ****** Yasmikha stopped for a moment as she walked up the incline carefully, feeling a little for her footing in the early evening gloom. The snow could hide all sorts of surprises on a night with as little moon as this one promised to show. She didn't mind particularly, since she could see well in the darkness. The issue was what might lie under the cold white blanket which hid her feet at present. She was tracking, hunting as she often had to, but it was seldom a good thing to press your game if they'd become a little aware of your presence behind them at this early stage. She wasn't in a hurry and she wasn't driven by hunger; she just liked to hunt here for a couple of reasons. There were a lot fewer people here and she liked the climate. As well, the terrain reminded her in some ways of home. Right now she was enjoying it all and was in no hurry to return to the coast. She already had one kill waiting to be carried down the steep passes to the flatter and warmer land beyond. She chose a large boulder to hide herself behind and to lean against as she looked down to watch the little drama down below for a time. She didn't know all that much of the combatants and she didn't particularly care to learn of every one of their reasons - though she would in a little time. All that she knew for certain was that the more numerous side was comprised of locals - Kabyles and a few Berbers. The other side was a much smaller force and she'd been around enough to know Europeans when she saw them - even here. And since out here, there likely wasn't a large blonde Caucasian behind every rock, the fact that she was seeing Europeans at all meant that she was likely fairly close to the real quarry to her. She didn't much care who won in their slow struggle, though if she had known what fuelled the hatred in the hearts of the ones who lived around here, she might have been swayed. Throwing off an oppressor had always counted for something in her book. She was really only after one man, knowing that he might well be in need of a little help. But what settled the way that she sided in the end came down to one of them, a large man who looked as though he belonged here even less than the others. Yasmikha sighed. She'd found him. She was a little entertained as she leaned and watched saw the way that the locals all tried to slip forward undetected. But it didn't often work because of that man, most often. He seldom used the rifle which was issued to the troops on his side. His prize for being as large and strong as he was - was to be the one who used the belt-fed machine gun. Which meant that most of the time, he had to carry the thing. But he didn't use it in the normal way, not here anyway. It was set on it's low stand, but he didn't use it to spray down the landscape. He used it more like a rifle, shooting only one shot at a time or two at most. From that, she knew that he was running low on ammunition as were they all. And yet, whenever she watched him and followed along the line of his aim, she saw that he hit almost every time. She didn't know this place particularly well, other than to know that it had been a village once and was now a few dilapidated and pock-marked buildings to hole up in. It was snowing lightly and growing darker, but as she watched, she found that the large one appealed to her even more somehow and after a little time, she was filled with wonder and curiosity. By watching the actions of any of the others of either side, it was easy to see who was afraid. There were now no more than ten of the soldiers and of that number, she could see the tremor in the rifle barrels from where she stood. Unless something changed down there, the ending was a foregone conclusion. Still that one man and another near him took their time to aim and when they fired, most often it was telling, leaving another dead or dying man lying in the snow, his corpse half-hidden behind some cover. She watched the other soldier who stayed near to the large blonde gunner. He looked nothing like that one. He had dark hair and slightly darker skin, seen easily against the snowy backdrop. He shot like he meant it as well and most of all, he looked angry at the others and like his large companion, he never wasted a round. Her quarry forgotten for the moment, she watched some more until there were no more than five of the soldiers left alive. That was when she unslung her own long gun and as one tribesman fired at the soldiers, she saw it and he became her next target. She seldom missed also, but for perhaps a different reason. To miss was usually more than a reason to curse quietly to her. A wasted shot in her case was an expense which no foreign government stepped up to replace. Somewhat surprisingly, it was quite a while before anyone began to look around, having put it together that there was someone else out here that evening. She stopped shooting then and drew back into the shadows for a time. After a little while, she slung her rifle over her shoulder and began to walk back down. At a place that looked good as a hiding spot, she laid her long gun down and went on with other weapons. The shooting match died almost completely away as she strode silently onto the flatter ground, stealing from stone to stone. It was too dark for men to really try to shoot each other, though she didn't suffer from that failing. In the ruins, a young trooper stood up and stepped back a little from the fire that he'd laid, holding out his hands, just wanting a little warmth. But the darker soldier not far away began to curse him quietly for being an idiot. His words were wasted, since the young soldier didn't care and thought that he was well-enough concealed to be able to enjoy a few moments of something that felt a little like home to him. He was on his back a few moments later, coughing up blood in between desperate gasps from the damage done by the ragged volley of shots fired at him. With no one to tend it in it's infancy, the little fire almost died soon after as well. It sputtered and blew down in the fitful breeze, coming close to being blown out many times, and yet still it hung on somehow, beckoning anyone to come for a little warmth in exchange for something else to burn. It's light wasn't much, but it did cast enough of a glow into the air to make seeing nearby things just a little easier. But no man came near it. One look at the young man's body was enough. The four who were left set up the best defensive position that they could, and things settled back down to a stalemate in the dark. It was over an hour before anything at all happened. The soldiers were taking turns on watch through the night trying, most of them, to get a little sleep. Most of them didn't want to fall asleep at all, but after a day and a half of fighting and slowly losing ground, they were beyond weary and soon slept deeply, trusting in their sentry not to give in to the same thing. So for a time - a long while - there was nothing but the wind and the light snow which was blown by it in that little valley, high up in the Djurdjura Mountains late that night. The Finn was awakened by the gentle nudge of the Spaniard's boot in the darkness and he looked up. He expected to see the motion of the man's chin in a sideward direction, silently telling him that it was his turn to go on watch. As he stood up a little slowly, his companion dipped down and began to whisper in rough French, "They're not doing anything but keeping us trapped," he hissed softly, "They know they only have to keep us here until more come in the morning." The big blonde nodded and pulled his cloak around himself in preparation to step out on watch. "One thing," the Spaniard said, "There's something else out there tonight. I'll be fucked if I know what it is Northman, but it's hunting." The statement caused the Finn to glance around, but the Spaniard pulled him close and whispered, "Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be hunting us, thank the virgin Mother. I think it might be a lion. All I've seen is the outline of a lion's head for only a moment now and then. Then it's gone again. But I've heard it out there, killing them." "A lion," the northerner said in a doubting whisper, "Why here? Lions have to have more sense than that. Are you sure of what you saw?" "Hell no, I'm not sure," the man whispered, "All I'm telling you is what I thought that I saw. And it's not any of us out there crying out for our mothers for a moment before it's still again. Just be watchful and try to stay a little warm." The big man chuckled softly, "This is a little warm to me, Juan. I was born to this. I'm not like the rest of you babies, crying because you can't feel your fingertips. I hate the heat like you all hate this, but I never say a word then. This is a fine night to me. I just wish that this was home. I'd at least have a fucking beard then. It's not a cold night where I'm from until at least an hour and a half after your beard freezes up. When you have to walk backward as you piss, that's when you know it's cold." The Spaniard grinned at the image, "Just don't let it come for me while I get a little sleep, uh? And try not to shit your pants when you hear the next one of them scream when what's out there comes for them." The blonde nodded, "Get some sleep, you half-crazy fuck. I'll keep an eye on you." He picked up the dead kid's rifle and after going through the pack next to the body as well as the pockets to take the ammunition, he stepped over near his machine gun. Pulling his hood over his head, he slipped into the shadow of a pillar; the remains of a gate long ago as he settled down to wait. Maybe a quarter of an hour passed, before he heard it. Somewhere close out in front of him, maybe thirty, forty yards, he heard a sound. It was soft and lasted only half an instant and then it was followed by another sound. The second sound was something like meat being hit in a way to his mind. There was no cry or sound of alarm. What he heard next caused him to really listen hard. It was a sigh - like the last outward breath of someone out there. Most of all, it had been the first sound that held his ear as he listened. He knew what it was; it just took him a little while to search his memory until it clicked. It was the sound of a large blade singing through the air before it hit something. He looked off in the direction that it had come from and as hard as he looked, he saw nothing. But almost a minute later, not far off to the side of where he'd been looking, he saw a shape rising up a bit, something just a little darker against the snow out there. Damned if the Spaniard wasn't right. He saw - or at least he thought that he saw, the shape of what looked like the head of a lion for just an instant. But... that sound. It bothered him a little and it seemed incongruous to what his eyes tried to tell him. There was a scream that time, high and thin and full of fear. It ended in a short prayer which was cut off at the end of the first sentence. None of it had bothered him but one sound - coming somewhere in there just before the scream. For maybe a quarter of a second... He heard that blade sing. What lion could use a sword? Fifteen minutes later, off in another direction, there was a cry and a rifle shot, followed by the sounds of something being hit over and over several times. Then nothing once more. The last time, he heard someone alright. He heard a man's voice begging and then crying out as those striking sounds began again. The voice stopped speaking and began to sob as whoever it was cried out in agony. He counted more than four strikes before there was silence for a moment. And then he heard more of the strikes against meat, perhaps five more and then there was silence. He glanced back and saw that the others still slept and he gave a thought to waking them. Looking back outward once more, the Finn began to see something out there. It grew in both size and consistency and he realized that it was coming his way. He just didn't know what it was. Then he saw that shape to the head once again, but there was something wrong even still. No lion in the world grows that tall. No lion on Earth walks on two legs. And no lion or any other kind of large cat can manage to form low words out there in the darkness. The voice that he heard was low and quiet with a bit of a growl to it and he wondered then, because it sounded almost female in a way. It wasn't loud, though the way that it carried to him indicated that it was meant for him to hear, and it spoke French, only a little better than he did himself. "I bring gifts. Point the rifle away. I mean no harm to you." As he was digesting it, the figure moved a little and something sailed through the air to land and roll crookedly up to near where he stood in the shadows and there were two of them. Human heads. "The rest are gone," the voice said flatly, "Those I did not kill, those four ran. They will bring others when it gets light." "Who are you?" the man asked quietly, "and thank you." He wasn't aware of it, but his voice, even carrying that accent and the question delivered without a hint of fear, went a long way to keeping him alive. "I have come here, clearing my own path because I... I wanted to ask you the same thing," the voice said, "I think that the answers for us both will come if we step a little closer. Keep your rifle ready if you think you might need it, but I will do nothing unless you look to be ready to shoot." He pointed the gun away and down, easing his grip as he stepped forward. The figure stepped toward him as well and they stopped about two short paces from each other. Neither one said a word; they only looked, trying not to stare too much. It was the head of a lion that she wore, but there was no skull inside of it anymore and the eye sockets held a pair of yellow-colored stones. That empty head served her as the hood of a long, dark fur cloak. And there was something more, he saw after a second. His view of her face was a little obstructed and he reached out very slowly to touch the edge of... a rough, but efficient helm underneath. He must have looked puzzled because she smiled a little and told him that wearing a pot on her head on a night like this would give anyone a headache from the cold, even though she didn't mind the night air much. He looked into her eyes and saw that they were like the overcast of a rainy day - a light gray with vertical irises. Her nose was a little wide, but not much and her lips were full and... He saw the two small tusks on her lower jaw, just visible as they peeked out at him. Up until then, she'd been standing, looking to him as though she held her hand on one hip - and she wasn't wearing much under the cloak. What he saw was a brown, heavily-muscled, heavenly body only covered a little in pieces of fur over her well-shaped breasts and around her hips. It was then that he saw the broad-bladed axe in her right hand, dripping a little blood even now. He drew his hand back just as slowly and he saw the cloak fall forward on the one side and it was then that he saw that she'd been holding the butt of a firearm of some kind, ready to draw it if necessary. But she didn't. She hadn't needed to. She set the head of the axe in the snow next to her and leaned it against her leg as she pulled off a bloodied gauntlet and her long fingers reached out and up a little to touch his mustache. "I like it but... Where is the rest?" she asked. He gave her a small, somewhat sheepish smile then, "They won't let me grow it. Only the sappers in the regiment may grow beards." "You are not French," she said as a statement and he nodded, "No. Not many of us are. Only some and the officers. You are not French either," he pointed out and she smiled for him again. "No. I have seen Frenchmen with light hair, but never hair like yours. To me, you must come from the north, far away. Do you know what I am?" He nodded a little, "Someone I never thought that I would ever see. You are... Jötunn?" She chuckled, "Maybe I am, and maybe I am only a little like the ones with that name." "Close enough," he smiled. "You also," she smiled back, "I have never seen one of the Jötunn either, but you are big enough. Where are you from? Do I hear Finnish in your voice?" "In a way," he smiled, "so you are near enough again." He smiled a little ruefully, "Here I have to speak French. What are you doing in this place?" She changed instantly to Finnish and they both grinned at being able to speak with less trouble in finding words. "Again," she nodded, "I wonder the same thing of you. I come from mountains - under them - as is the way of my kind. But we lived in an age-old place. Men came to mine and we hid from them, not wanting trouble. Now I think that we should have killed them in the beginning, for what they did weakened the walls of our home and it all fell in one day. I was twelve, walking outside with my little brother and sisters when it happened. Everyone inside was crushed in a moment and we took to wandering with a few others. My brother was only eight then and I protected him." "Why were you out without your parents?" he asked. "An errand?" There was a pause while she considered the differences in their cultures for a moment. At last she shrugged, "I wasn't a stick thing anymore. By then, I'd begun to... develop. My kind, no matter how much males might care for their females... they can often... admire their daughters a little too much. That did not happen in my family. My father taught me much, seeing that I would be big one day. He even taught me his magic and he never touched me in the wrong way. But our women..." She looked a little sad, "Most mothers love their daughters dearly from birth. But as the girls develop, they know that there are some males who... well, it is natural for mothers to grow slowly jealous of their daughters and think that they see something which is not there. It was not there in my family either, but my mother grew to slowly dislike me. This is sad, but for us, it is natural too, for the females wish to keep their males and not lose them to their own daughters, so girls are driven out not long before they reach their eighteenth year. My mother had already begun to pick fights with me over little things. My brother spoke for me, wanting to defend me, but she hit him and I took him and our sisters to go for a walk outside then." He looked as though he understood in a way, though it was a strange thing to him, "You took him out before she could hit him again?" She shook her head, "No. I took him away before I killed her. I was already stronger than my mother." She looked at him, trying to come up with ways for him to maybe understand. "We were a little different, my family. My father was large and very strong, and I take many things from him in that way. My mother was half-human and she was neither of those things. My father loved her very much, but she had more doubts than she would have had if she was not... what she was. Childhood Demons Ch. 03 What will you do in the morning?" He snorted a little quietly, "First I must live through this night. I cannot say. There are only four of us left, and we are a long way from being anywhere that is safe. It was a good walk to come up here from the coast. I cannot begin to think of how we will get back down with a horde of men after us every step of the way. And we have very little ammunition." She looked at him, "Do you wish to go back to your outpost? I have the feeling that you do not like these Frenchmen very much, other than the others that you fight with - who are not French as you said to me. I have a boat down at the coast. I was told that many of the ones here only fight since it is better than dying right away. If you are one like that, then you may wish to consider a different road now. What if I told you that I wish to leave this land and go to the northern coast and from there, father north - somewhere in the mountains?" He thought about it and he nodded at last, "I would want for the three with me to have the same chance, if it is possible." She smiled back and opened her cloak for a moment so that she could tie it a little tighter around her neck, "If it is what they wish. But they will still have to fight their way down - with my help, of course. Then it remains to be seen if they would want to travel with such... strange shipmates to their eyes. The question in my mind is... would you? I think yes. He nodded, "I would anyway I think, Jötunn girl. To have the chance to be free once more and far from here..." he looked across at her and smiled, "I think that I would swim across the Mediterranean - if I had you to hold onto." She thought it was a humorous thought and so she nodded as she stepped closer, "Stay here. I will try to hunt the ones who have gone to get more. They are frightened of the dark, for they cannot see well in it. It might not be a long hunt. I will return to you and we will see how hard we must fight to get down You and I both carry too much muscle to float well. I think that some practice might be required in swimming together before we put things to the test." "Where would we practice?" he asked with an intrigued smile. Yasmikha's head went back as she laughed softy, "Somewhere safe to begin, I think. We wouldn't want to drown from our floundering at the outset, so it must be a place without water - just to start. I had my bed in mind for such a purpose." The Finn could swim well, but he decided not to let on. He only grinned and nodded, "Then I cannot wait to begin to learn at your hand." He didn't know if it was meant as a parting shot or anything of that nature, but he felt it as her hand caressed his backside for a moment. "I am a little different," she said, "I have the sight and with it or not, in all of my life, I have never seen a man like you are. You are a human, this I can feel from you, no matter what my eyes tell me, though they are in agreement." Her long fingers patted him back there once and then she drew her hand away to turn and walk off, "But I have never met one who has a tail like yours. I wonder,... how you keep that secret living as you do. Soldiers or warriors have little to hide from their fellows. So there is also some power in you to be able to hide it. I am very interested." He was alone again the next instant and he looked back to where the rest slept, wondering at her words and about if the others would want to leave by sailing away. He drifted back to check on them and set down the rifle. After a moment, for some reason, he elected to pick up the squad weapon to have it a little handy and he walked out into the road for a moment. He didn't have an answer for much of what was in his mind, so he just let it drop there, since right then, he had something else rising within him. There was nothing to be seen out there; only the flakes of snow blown about by the fitful mountain breeze. Not wanting for the level to go too high, he stepped over to one of the ruined buildings and set his weapon down to take care of the most immediate matter. He looked around in the deepening gloom, glad of the hour and the way that it could hide things that needed to be hidden - such as him needing to piss right then. This idea to come here to 'teach the herders a lesson' had been the purest folly from the outset, but then he was merely a trooper. Who would listen to a condemned criminal sent here to serve out his sentence instead of greasing the guillotine with his blood? A pity that the locals weren't cowed at the sight of the legionnaires marching in. He snorted softly to himself. How stupid were the French officers anyway? Did they really think that these people hadn't heard, didn't know just how thinly the Legion was spread in Algeria right now, what with so many men shipped westward to help the Spanish with their little 'problem' in keeping the Rif tribes under their heel in Morocco? Here, just as in many localities, the Berbers and all of the other assorted groups had done the only thing possible. They'd set aside their squabbles with each other and were working together to throw off their own yokes. So coming here - in the teeth of a cold winter's early onslaught - seemed especially stupid to one trooper. Probably the only one who actually liked the weather up here in the mountains. By perhaps the purest foul luck and happenstance, Kari had walked off the tramp steamer that he crewed on, dying for a night off the old barge on that one night long ago. He'd only wanted a quiet drink alone in a place where the floor didn't creak under him just because it was moving. He'd been a sailor for a good while, but even to him, surviving that last Atlantic storm deserved a drink just to put the memories of those two hellish days and nights to bed. But the net effect was that there were two men dead at his feet that night - two snot-nosed toughs from the back alleys of Brest. They'd tried to call him out for a fight, all the while wanting only to single him out in the street where no one would help the big Finn and they'd split whatever proceeds that his corpse held in it's pockets. He wasn't concerned over their fates, since they'd done everything possible to ignore what was plain to most any man with eyes and a brain. The trouble with two dead turds on the ground was that they were French turds, and that little fact opened the sluice gates for the world of shit that landed on him for it. Kari had taken the only choice offered him, to travel to Paris under guard and join the Legion to serve his sentence out in Algeria or wherever the Legion took him. The way that things looked to him this night, he might be at the end of his long road at last and would soon see his darling Thrud once again on the other side. The fighting, once it had begun was just a long, slow battle of attrition. Mathematically, it was simple. Throw enough zealous men against the limited number of legionnaires and you were bound to come out on top - sooner or later and given enough time and bullets. In spite of it all and the rather bleak and hopeless way that things looked to him at the moment, Kari hoped that his adversaries didn't mind too much if he went out fighting and took as many of the bastards with him as he could. He wondered for a moment as he stood pissing against the wall of a building set into the hillside under the mountaintop. He smiled a little after a moment. They didn't know it and it likely wouldn't have meant a thing to the ones out there in the dark trying to kill him, if the big girl had missed any, but in his heart, he was on their side. He figured that he had about as much reason to hate the French as they did. But he was loyal to his comrades. The French government could go down in flames for all he cared, but there was a bond between men who fought side by side or back to back, if necessary. He bent to pick up the heavy machine gun, careful to lift and cradle the ammunition belt as he did. It wasn't meant to be portable once in action, but it was his weapon and his responsibility out here. If he kept it out of the shit, then there was a better chance that it wouldn't fail him when he needed it. And if Kari needed that heavy piece of machinery, then his comrades needed them both even more. Kari Fornjót was something of a rarity even here, in a regiment of men from many places and many lands. He met the occasional Swede or Norseman in the Legion, but even to them, he was someone who proved difficult to laugh and joke with, or to bond to as a comrade. He didn't care, particularly. If the world to turned to shit again, he'd still defend the lot of them. He was six-six, heavily-muscled, white-blonde and under the right circumstances, he could be murderous. Some thought him stupid, but if they came to know him, they'd walk away with the thought that he was really just a large, quietly-thoughtful man. Those whose notions regarding his intelligence persisted would see his slow, slightly shy smile as he began to laugh along at whatever joke had been played on him. But then his good-natured slap on the back might take weeks to feel better all the same - if it ever really did. There was more to Kari than any of them knew. He looked as though nothing affected him, but that was only the front that he maintained. He was actually a little shy. He actually did have feelings, and he actually did have a tail - which some other aspects about him kept hidden so that no one would ever know of it or even suspect that he was different. It had been an unforeseen part of a bargain made long ago when he was just a boy, but all the same, it was there. He actually still mourned the loss of his wife, taken from him by the full weight of the avalanche which crushed her and their home in the shadow of the only mountain large enough for it around for miles. He carried that pain locked within his heart in a state of stasis, like it was only last week and not seven years ago. His mother had taught him the old ways and he knew many arcane things. To the uneducated - or the overly-educated, he seemed like an anachronism for the things that he mumbled at odd moments when they were in action. He seemed sometimes to be able to almost bend space and time a little; giving the impression that he'd merely sidestepped away from something which was had been bound to kill him only a moment before. To the right person - who took the time to actually get to know him so that he might trust them a little, he might smile and nod that it was what seemed to have happened. He never spoke of it and he could indeed manage many things - but he couldn't pull a mountain off his Thrud. Something else which Kari had learned at his mother's knee was that space and time were continuums much like say, the confluence of a pair of usually quiet rivers right where one was at any time. If you were gifted, properly taught, and sensitive enough, you could feel them all around you at any moment in time. And if you were all of those things, then you could also feel it when something in those continuums shifted, for like any fluid mediums, shifts such as that produced ripples both above and below. That was why Kari froze in place at that particular instant and stared at the closed door to what might have been a rough sort of blacksmith shop in the ruins of what might once have been a little village situated in the long hollow of a mountain pass where they were holed up, killing the tribesmen who were either too full of fervor or desire to kill legionnaires that night to mind the danger to themselves then. He looked at the thin line of darkness under that door for a long moment. After a little while, he saw the darkness fade and then become a barely-lit and slightly flickering line in the snow before it. And after a little while longer spent with his senses bent in that direction, he heard the first of the screams. There was nothing to be heard outside where he stood, not a real sound there in the darkness, other than the cold wind and the soft sighs of the snowflakes there against his cheek. But that didn't change what they were. They were the sounds of a female from one of the many... other sides, being dragged against her will over to this one. There was only one real cry, and that was when she appeared on this plane from wherever she'd been until now. Even that ended in quiet sobs which were still muffled out on the other side of the door in the snow. Kari looked back in the direction of his few, still-breathing comrades. They were all asleep, overtaken with the debt that running and fighting for one's life could place on a man after two days of it, once he had a few minutes to relax and really rest for a time. None of them stirred. He looked at the door in front of him once again. Another man, had he heard what Kari had, might have come to doubt that he'd actually heard anything at all. But Kari didn't. When the real screams started - the ones which were originating completely on this side - he knew that he'd been right. He just didn't know yet what this was. There were more screams - this time in agony - followed by deep sobs and at first, unintelligible speech. Kari knew that sound, though he couldn't understand it clearly by more than feel for a long moment before something clicked in him and then he understood everything. It wasn't easy because that form of speech had no relation here, not even a dialect spoken anywhere on this world. He'd heard it before, again at his mother's knee, before he'd come to know it a little well. She couldn't speak it either at first. But the ones that they'd seen together through the portal 'mirror' that she'd erected out of nothingness in the darkness had spoken it as they'd looked back certainly had. So he knew what he'd likely find on the other side of that door once he opened it. In spite of himself, he spent a moment remembering. In his mind's eye, he recalled the small young pair there among them, a small girl and an even smaller boy, a brother and sister as he came to learn later. The mirror couldn't be passed through by a hand, for example, yet it could pass other things. He and those little demons had spent many minutes with their hands flat against the membrane there between two worlds each time that the portal had been created and maintained by two mothers for a time. And each time, for periods which had lasted from seconds to over an hour now and then, three children had held their hands up so that their palms could touch through the thin boundary. Kari's father was a fisherman - and a reindeer herder both. It meant a lot of nights where Kari's mother was alone, doing her best to raise her son by herself until her man could find someone to buy the rights to his share of the herd. She raised the portal one night in order to show her young son that other places existed beside and beyond theirs. In doing that, she'd come over time to make a friend in one of the ones on the other side - a mother just like her, the mother of the young pair of demon-children. For his part, Kari could remember the feel of those clawed hands against his own across that boundary, where things couldn't - or weren't supposed to be able to travel through. Yet he remembered staring into those eyes and learning to exchange feelings and even thoughts as foreign as they were to his own at the time. He looked at the door again. The worn and tired old door was locked, but that only slowed Kari for a moment. When he bashed it in with his shoulder and stepped through, his own personal reality seemed to shift and bend. The place was lit by a fire in a hearth and Kari wondered where the smoke went, since he'd smelled nothing of it outside and they'd been here for over a day now. There were oil lamps burning here and there and there were many crude tallow candles set all around. There was indeed a female trapped and bound by iron chains within a circle and the nature of that circle kept her in a great deal of pain. But that didn't account for half of what he felt from her. Her skin was a very dark gray and she had clawed feet and hands. At the moment, she was in a pile, curled up in agony and grief on the floor. There was a second one there - a small male - flying over everything and looking both enraged and frustrated as he crashed into things in the limited space that he had for it as he tried to get into a position where he could defend the one on the floor from what assailed her. She was sobbing, shorn of her wings and left with bloody, torn, short stumps there on her back. Her tormentor was a man, a human man who brandished a strange old sword and held it a little high as he tried to grasp her tail so that he could hack it off as well. She screamed and tried to pull her doomed tail away and the pair struggled for a moment until Kari told the man to stop in Arabic. At the sound of his voice, many things happened. The man yelled one incantation after another as he hurried to stand inside of a second circle, still waving the sword in a threatening manner at Kari now. Kari for his part, knew what was being attempted and he did his best to mutter the things that he knew of to combat the binding that he began to feel on him. He had to hope that whoever this person was, he would have no idea of the... flavor of what a Skolt shaman might use in his defense. He muttered bindings of his own and the sword fell from the man's icy numbed fingers as he stood covered in thick hoar frost, held completely in the fetter of Kari's binding. With a look around - especially in the direction of the other one of them, who hovered and stared back at him, he set the machine gun down. Out of all of his comrades, there was no one who could pick it up and hold it for long, never mind use it without it being on it's pintle tripod. Only Kari could. When Kari looked at the female, he found her looking back and then things turned to long moments of horror to Kari as he saw the luminous green eyes which until then had seemed to be almost capable of lighting the room by themselves turn to soft brown ones and an instant later, he was looking at Thrud herself as she pleaded and beseeched him - by name - to help and free her. Even still, he stepped nearer to her, trying not to let this illusion overtake him. She spoke of her joy at seeing him again in his own language perfectly as she stood bound by chains fastened in different directions all around her and begged him to free her, saying that she was so weak and hungry that she could hardly stand. He shook his head firmly. "I know what you are," he said. "So please, if you want my help, then stop this and let me see you just as you are. What you do now hurts me too much and I know that it is false. I want to help you - if you will let me live once I do so that I might do what I can for you." At first, she continued, but he kept shaking his head. "You waste what little time that I might have. I cannot hold that one forever," he said, indicating the motionless man with his chin, "He is dismayed and frightened, so he fights me even now." Nothing seemed to work for a time, until he slowly moved his hand forward to place it in the middle of her chest between the breasts which were killing him to feel against his skin again. She looked at him and finally saw the pain that she was causing and shifted back. When she did, her speech became rougher and much less polished, "Please... help... me. On this side... here... I am so hungry." They both knew that it was only the chains on her that prevented her from attacking him out of need and hunger. "Give that one to me," she rumbled, discarding Thrud's voice as she did. What she was left with was more of a yearning growl. Childhood Demons Ch. 03 "I cannot be held like this forever," she moaned, "I will break free in time - if I am given enough. Give him to me, and I will spare you, Kari." The statement had been intended for only Kari, but hearing it almost caused the other one to crash to the floor in stunned shock. As it was, he managed to settle down onto his clawed feet a little unsteadily and he stared openly. "You will only spare me for a time," he nodded, "I did say that I know what you are. But I will do my best and have to hope that you can overcome your need." He looked at one of her chains, fastened to the wall, "Stop pulling. You will pull the whole place down on us and I can't help if I am dead. You will both be stuck here and alone." She looked down at his hand against her breast for a moment and when she looked up, he saw her confusion and her tears as well as her many sharp teeth. She had an inkling and it kept her in disbelief, so she asked what she thought that she needed to know, since... since it couldn't be what she'd... who she thought... "Why? Why do you help me? You say you know what I am. Why would you want...?" Kari shrugged, "Every living thing deserves a chance at a life. You are meat eaters when you are on this side of the curtain. I know this. There are birds here no different than you. There are fish here who do as you do. Many, many land creatures also. The only difference to me is that you can speak to me. Yet you are no less than they are and you are both far more lovely. You might not see it, but I don't belong here any more than you. I am far from my home and have no way or reason to go back now." "I cannot go back," she said in several voices, her pain coming to him in ways that he could feel, "He has imprisoned me and taken my wings. Winged ones will not suffer a damaged one near to them. But for you he would have taken my tail and weakened me even more." "Why?" he asked, "Was there a purpose that he told you?" She nodded, "He sent for another, but I was pushed into his grasp by her. My brother saw it and rushed through to help me. That one," she pointed, "he seeks to control me by force. I am... I am to be sent out to kill men like you. If I go back as I am - with no wings anymore, I would be killed as soon as I am seen by others." He nodded, understanding a little, "I would like to try to help there also. But first... hold still and try to trust me." She nodded, but Kari saw the way that she felt her hunger as yet another pain, and a growing one, so he knew that he had only a little time. He bent quickly, holding onto her shackles as he could and trying to work both a binding on one person and a release on another at the same time and he failed at it. He turned from her and he strode right into the other circle to grasp the man by his throat, forcing the terrified fool forward. He looked at the chains and saw that they were old, corroded and weak, but he still didn't know if he could manage things. The only thing that he could see in his favor was that what held her was not by the strength of the chains and the shackles. It was that they were made out of iron and they held her by their nature and hers - though only for a time. He also knew that they were another source of pain to her by that same nature. So he drew the man forward against his will, knowing that the demon would do her best to reach him. Maintaining his hold, he searched the man, looking for talismans and anything which might be used as a ward against her. "Around his neck!" she hissed, "And one around each limb. I cannot abide his touch so long as they are on him. I have little strength against him too." Kari drew his knife and had the thongs off in seconds. "You want to use an imprisoned creature to do your will?" He asked in Arabic, "You need to test the quality of your plan." He smiled coldly, "Look a little closer." He held the man in his fetter forward and left him standing there as he moved to the wall and found a bar to use as a lever. Looking over, he pointed to the other one and told him to come and pull on the chain evenly and in a moment, he had first one of her leg restraints pulled out of the stonework and then the other. With that small increase in her freedom, the demon found that by moving a little, she could grab her tormentor and pull him to her. He stood shrieking as she began to devour his face. He thrashed and flailed, but she snapped his arms easily, tearing one of them clean off. Well, not cleanly. That arm lay on the floor and the long tendons which had until then operated his fingers hung like cables from his ruined and empty shoulder socket. When Kari had the last of her chains worked loose from the masonry, he began to work at the hinges of the shackle closures with his mind. Before he had the first one open, he looked back at the male, who stood near him, almost quivering for several reasons. Those eyes in that dark skin were striking to Kari, but the way that they squeezed shut as the man screamed told him of something more urgent. They felt it when a human screamed in agony and it drove them. "Go to your sister and ask if she will share. I can't get her free if I have to fight you." Before he looked back at the task of opening the shackles, Kari saw the thin male ask and she nodded. Before he died the man who had thought to summon a demon to serve him found himself being devoured alive by two flesh-eaters. The man was almost dead a minute later and the demonic pair sank to the floor to eat what they needed. Kari came nearer carefully, telling her that he would not take her meal from her and asking her to allow him to remove her shackles for her. She said nothing since she was gorging. She only nodded to let him see that she was listening to him. By the time that the last of the shackles fell from her, she was feeling much better for the moment. She didn't turn around out of a little respect for Kari, who knew what she was doing all the while. He just didn't want to watch and she knew it. In the case of the other one, he was not so fortunate, having to watch at least a little as the male knelt covered in gore and looking back thoughtfully as he gnawed. "Where did I fail?" she asked quietly. "I have been brought here before and I never failed to convince a human then, other than one perhaps, and he needed no convincing." "A subtlety, perhaps," Kari replied as he examined the ruined wings on the floor and then the stumps on her back. When he looked at her from behind now, she didn't look anything like Thrud in her build. She was taller than Thrud had been and she was much thinner. He stepped over and began to remove the markings on the floor to obliterate at least a wide part of the circle which had caused much of her agony. He knew that he'd succeeded when he heard her sigh of relief. The male stopped eating and moved to hug her, glad that something was better. When he opened his eyes, he was looking at the one who had saved his sister. His voice carried some sound of quiet wonder to it as he whispered, "Kar-i?" Kari looked over and nodded, since there was no point in denying anything from this sort of demon. One glance from them and there were no secrets to withhold. "You couldn't know of it," Kari said to the female, "but my dead wife and I were from different groups. There were differences in the way that we spoke. I am Skolt and she was Inari. The two groups live not far apart and even so, there are little things in the ways that we both speak. The illusion which you showed to me spoke Skoltish as I never heard my wife speak it. Also, I think that I would never be able to forget the way that she smelled, for each woman's scent is different." "I am sorry," she said, still not turning around, "I see it now. I was not trying to insult you. I was... desperate then." "I knew that as well, "Kari replied, "and it needs no apology. That was why I mentioned it, so that I could begin without... the distraction. You have a gift to know the speech of a person in an instant, yet I think it fails a little at other times. Just something that I notice, nothing more." He saw her nod her horned head, a little taken with the way that she looked. "A different thing to us to know the way to... attract a human closer than it is to speak only for talk. I know the speech all at once, but most of what I do lies in the acting. To speak... properly takes some... thought." She didn't have the classical horns to her. Her larger ones were a little rearward-facing and they curled back and down to end not far from her pointed ears. In the front, she wore a smaller pair, much like what one might see on a young goat. He'd seen her kind before, a few times even, but he found that there was something about her which seemed familiar in a way, where all of the others hadn't. She looked something like one... that he'd known as a child. "You may not believe me," he said, "but I do like the way that you look naturally, both of you." She turned her head to look back over her shoulder with her green eyes gleaming once more, "You joke with me." That was one thing right there, he thought. He'd only seen yellow eyes on all of the rest. Theirs were green. Kari shook his head, "No, I was being sincere. I am faced with a problem here," he said, "I have the choice before me to either clean and bind the stumps of your wings or to try to bind them back onto you. If I do one, you would probably heal but not have them any longer. If I do the other, you would not be free to move much until we saw that they were mended together again and healing." She shook her head sadly, "Then let me make it... simpler for you. They are lost to me now. I have seen others like this before they were killed. They cannot heal, so... in order to go on living, I must remain here. Feed often. There are many of us who like nothing better. I am not one of them. I can do it, but this is not how I wish... to live." She held her face in her hands and began to weep and since their kind possessed multi-layered vocal chords, the sound of it was all the more heart-rending for the way that it sounded like a choir crying softly in unison Kari disagreed as he slowly moved around to face her a little better. "That was there, though I know that your kind only has that hunger on this side. Here, I think that all of the same rules do not apply, necessarily. Or at least - that is what I have learned." He said the rest of the thought quietly, "that is my hope." He carefully cut a small piece of each wing near to where the damage had been done and he poured a little of his water bottle's contents over them before holding them against the ends of the stumps as he wrapped them in some battle dressings that he carried in his trouser pockets. "The fact that you - or any one of your kind is even here alive shows me that the laws are immutable only in the place where each of us belongs," he said as he worked, "And they are different sets of laws. By any physical law which binds me, you should not be able to breathe or walk or talk at all in this place. You should not even exist here. Yet you are here and you do those things. Let us see if I am right." He tore off a section of his shirt and carefully bound the pieces against the stumps over the wrappings. "If I fail, we will know it in only a little time and then it is still not the end. Please, if I can ask it of you, tell me something honestly. You both know my name," he said. "Is that only a part of the powers that you wreak to entice your meals to you? That you can play the part of a lost love and even know the hapless one's name? Or is it... something else?" "I have this ability," she said quietly, "though I did not need it for you. I have seen you before, long ago. I was only not sure for a time. I knew your name as soon as I saw you, Kari Fornjót. I just could not help but try to get you to help me by believing that I was the one that I saw in there in your heart. The way that you held to your intent to help, even though I did not stop in my desperation told me as surely as anything that it was you. What man would want to help one of us?" She turned her head away fully as she began to mutter to herself. The words weren't meant for him to hear, but Kari heard them anyway and after a moment, he remembered why. "What do you mean, 'after all of this time'?" he asked. He watched as she pulled some of the more unsoiled of the dead man's garments to her and tore off a piece large enough to wipe her gore-covered face. She handed it to the other one and he wiped his own face with it carefully. Her voice was distant and soft when she replied. "We knew you once. We were all small, us more so than you." He stepped forward then, coming around to put his hands onto her shoulders. He gently moved her to turn away from the half-devoured ruin there in front of her. She looked up and into his pale blue eyes as her mouth opened a little and she stared because she had no choice. "Ahnyazh?" he whispered, "Ahnyazh, is... it you?" He snapped his head around, "Felldis?" The male almost burst into tears as he nodded and drew a little closer, sniffling. She nodded and allowed him to gently pull her arm a little, turning it over to look for and then see the lines of some old scars on her wrist, long healed and forgotten by anyone but her - and him. They were little more than thin ridges of skin, but he knew them. She turned her other hand to take his arm and she turned it over to see the same pale old scars on him. As they both looked, Felldis slid his arm into view and Kari saw the lines there too. Kari looked up into their eyes then, peering for a moment and then he had the answer to something which had troubled him earlier. "Not green," he sighed and they shook their heads. Kari saw it clearly from this close up. Her pupils were black and larger than what was normal for humans in this light. But that wasn't what he was looking at now. Outside of those pupils, he saw the yellow that was supposed to be present in all of her kind, since no natural variation was possible to them genetically unless it came from someplace or someone else. He also saw a second ring, for her kind possessed double irises and the outer one in her case - was pale blue as were her brother's. The net effect from a distance was that their eyes looked green. "The yellow is what we were born with," she whispered, "the blue I... we got from you. You have... a tail now?" Kari nodded, feeling strangely at ease to make the admission to perhaps the only ones who could understand. "Then know that we cannot do to you what we did to this one," she said, "Why would we want to?" The male nodded, "We cannot eat others... like... us." When he'd been a boy, Kari looked as though he'd grow large like his father, yet he tended to be sickly and his growth suffered for it. His mother knew that his weakness would probably send her son to an early grave, for life where his people lived spared only those which were hale enough to laugh at most ailments. Between them, over many nights, the two completely dissimilar women spoke of it in their way, once they found that they could and after that, one time when Kari lay ill, held in the throes of another high fever which kept him not very far from death's door... The two females, each so different from the other, worked together to weaken the boundary enough so that two beings could pass through - the smallest ones. For seven nights and eight days, Kari drifted near to dying as the wind screamed outside of the door and the snow flew hard enough to feel like a lash against any unprotected skin. He lay in bed burning up with fever and just barely able to only sit up to sip the broth that his mother held to his lips. He knew little of it at the time, other than some small glimpses as he faded in and out, but he had not been alone there in the bed. The young demons were with him, holding him when he needed holding, supplying the heat to a degree that his own body never could to kill off the viruses within him so that his already overtaxed system didn't need to, and lying beside him while they drew his sickness from him for three nights. They stopped only when he slept deeply and rested. At those times, they crawled out of the bed on weakened legs and Kari's mother wrapped their small, sweat-soaked bodies in warm blankets before she sat the little ones down near the portal where their mother waited to heal them. When they felt better, Kari's mother offered them fresh, slightly cooked meat carved in hunks right off the bone, telling herself that she'd find a way to explain the loss of an extra head of livestock to her husband somehow when he returned. Once Kari had turned the corner, still so terribly weak and frail, those little demons had still lain there in his bed as Ahnyazh tried to teach him a little of the things that she barely knew herself of her own tongue and how to protect himself against things for which men have no natural defense - things that came from her side of the fence now and then. Mostly, the knowledge was passed by their thoughts. As they did that, Kari's mother had boiled her thin skinning knives and with them, she'd opened up small cuts on them all, one each, though in her son's case she opened two. The demons placed their open cuts against his and held them there for a time before they drew their arms back and all of the cuts were bandaged. Then for a time, there were three sick young ones, burning with a different sort of fever. The demons recovered first, not long after being handed back through the portal. Then both of the mothers had bent their hopes and wills upon the sick boy. When he'd sat up, feeling better for the first time in so long and complaining that he was hungry, both of them wept and as Kari's mother set about feeding her son so that he could finally grow strong for what had been done, both of the females nodded, feeling pleased over their bargain as the little demons looked at Kari through the membrane. Her question tore him out of his uncertain memories. "What do you remember of us?" Kari focused on her eyes and nodded as his eyes stung him, warning of his own tears approaching, "I owe you my life, for you saved mine when I was so sick. It has been so long. I thought you were dead." She nodded, trying hard to find a smile that would stay a little and not be distorted by the emotion that she felt, "The debt is repaid, Kari. You saved mine this night. Whether now or some other night, I would have died sooner or later, doing as I could to kill the one who pulled me here." They all stood up together, still holding on in light touches, almost as though they didn't believe. Finally they just held on to each other, stopping to draw back now and then to look again. "We watched when we could," she said in their demonic speech, "though it was not often enough for us. Most times, we just stood alone where the portal would have been if it were opened. We were never so happy as when we could see you." "I also," he nodded, "At least we could talk to each other then, before we were parted." Kari had gone to go to school because his father had found a way to be home much more and by then, his mother had grown to resent his presence even more than she'd resented his absence for years. No option had been given him. When he came home during the summer recess, he found that his childhood home had turned into two armed camps. Kari had his head filled with the teachings of his professors later on and gradually - since he never saw the demons again and didn't dare to mention it to his mother for fear that his tyrannical father might overhear, he was able to set them aside in his mind for a time. But he never forgot them. Childhood Demons Ch. 03 His tail had begun to make it's appearance by then. But also by that time, he knew how to hide it. It had been rather easy, using an easily-maintained conjuration. It didn't happen until much later, but his wife had been the only one who'd known of the appendage. Though she'd been frightened out of her wits by the discovery, she'd soon come to love that about Kari, once she'd learned of what it could do for her. Not long before he'd graduated, things began to go from an unpleasant foreboding that he had to the point where he knew somehow that something was very wrong. He'd been waiting for his parents to come to escort him home that last time, after seeing him graduate. But they hadn't come. He had barely enough money to get himself and his single suitcase back home. He never forgot the long walk home from the train station. It was well over twenty miles of worry. As he left the double ruts which represented the road out that far from town, he saw at once that something was very wrong. There were no animals to be seen. He didn't see one until he got almost there. Then he saw them. They were all dead. Walking into the weather-beaten old house, the first thing which assailed him was the smell and the blood - especially the blood. It was everywhere - on the floors, the walls, sprayed high up on the ceiling. There were corpses there in that house, and not all of them were easy to identify, they were that badly torn apart. Kari had run out of the house and though he'd had nothing to eat that day, he threw up anyway. Eventually, the authorities established that Kari hadn't done it. Unfortunately, they never did establish who in fact had performed the slaughter. They hadn't even established the identity of more than four of the eight deceased. The rest were never identified at all and there were no missing persons reported within two hundred miles other than the ones in the house. But Kari had seen enough to make a few guesses. The priest was among them, along with another man. So his parents and those two were known. The rest of the bodies were not thought to be human and Kari knew that they weren't. Other than one, he just didn't know exactly who the last three were. What was tragically important to him as he struggled, walking away from the place that he'd been born, was that his mother and her female demon friend were dead. His father was dead as well, along with the other two. Who the other three which he recognized as demonic had been, he didn't know. He'd just assumed that something terrible had happened and that his friends had died in it as well, for they'd have been large enough to have been among the bodies if there had been enough left of them for him to make a guess. He looked into her eyes and she shook her head, having read his thoughts. "We were there at first, but our mother forced us away. Your father went to the village and came back with the priest and another man. He'd found out that our mothers were friends. It went badly enough when he learned what my mother was, but while you were gone to school those years, our mothers became closer than friends and your father was not the only jealous one. I was outside, but I knew what was happening. My mother's male came with others and when the priest arrived, that began it. They all attacked each other and when it was still in there, there was no one to tell us to stay away, so we went in. We found our mothers dead together, in the corner where my mother had tried to protect yours. The priest was barely alive and the other man as well. My mother's male was also alive." She looked at Kari, "Forgive us if what we did was wrong to your eyes, but we killed them all after that, finishing what their stupidity and hatred had begun. Then we ate and we left after sealing the portal so that it could never be found." She shrugged, "After that, we stayed on this side for a long time, living as forest beasts. When I had to, I called myself Anja and went on, not knowing where you were. Finally, we found a doorway back and I slipped inside to live with our own kind for a time. It wasn't much better for us. Tonight, I saw a rough portal opening and as several of us stood watching to see who was on the other side, I was pushed at the right moment and pulled through. I never thought that I would see you again. Where did you go?" He shrugged, "I came home from school alone because my parents didn't come for me. I walked from the station to the house and I saw... everything." He looked at her for a moment, "I thought... I thought that - " She put her arms around him and held on, pulling his head to her shoulder, "No. we must have been far away by then. We were searching for you, but we didn't know where to - " She sniffled, "I changed so that I could ask after you, but I think now that you hadn't come back yet. We looked for... a long time." "I went to Karelia for a time," he said, "then I came back, but I never went home again. I met... Thrud and... But then our home was crushed by snow from the mountain while I was out hunting. When I came back and saw it, I knew that I must be cursed somehow. I left to become a sailor on a steamer - a ship." He shook his head, "There is much more to my tale of misery, Ahnyazh. At the end of it, I am here and likely facing my death this night or tomorrow morning at the hands of a few of that one's friends. We have been fought down to only four. The others are outside, asleep across the way. I should go back and watch over them. At least, I should go and see that they are alright and not frozen." "Wait!" Felldis hissed looking as though he was about to weep, "Please don't... Not leave us. Not go." Kari looked over and saw the thin body of the male, so alike to his sister and just as lovely as she was. For almost all of his life, there had been a pair of beings who'd haunted his thoughts, and he thought of them often, wondering if they were still alive, and where they might be. He saw them on the backs of his eyelids as he closed his eyes more often than not when he tried to sleep. Even when he'd been so in love with Thrud, deliriously happy for the time that they shared, they'd been there in his mind, seeming to only peek out in his thoughts, as though they didn't wish to intrude. Whenever he masturbated, on those rare occasions when he had the privacy for it, it was always those two beings who he'd imagined himself with. In those fantasies, he was with the only people who were excited to have a human man - with a tail, because they knew the rest. Kari shook his head and reached out to touch Felldis' cheek, "I won't lose you again. We didn't even begin. This can't end between us all now, not after seeing you both again. But this is a bad place that I'm in now." The demon tilted his head, all emotion gone save the one that was left, "Who is the foe? Tell us!" Ahnyazh placed her arms over both of their shoulders, "Our mothers chose each other because of us. It was their gifts to each other's children that we know each other - even across the veil. I have lived my life with the knowledge that there are two males for me. The one who was missing has come to do for me what no other of his kind would knowingly do. I have no wings anymore, but only tell me who I must kill. We would do anything for you." Kari suddenly felt more confidence that he ever had after marching all of the way here against his better judgement but having no say in it. For the first time, he felt fairly certain that he wouldn't die up here. He might have never shown it to anyone, but to him, it was no small thing. He smiled and kissed them both for a moment. "Other than the few men out there asleep, I have found a strange ally this night not long before I came here. She is large, dark also, but brown-skinned and wearing a lionskin cloak. Come with me, if you wish, only do not harm that one or the three sleeping men dressed as I am out there. Any others... do what you will." The pulled apart and turned to go. Childhood Demons Ch. 04 So, back to the ruined village on the mountain where things get a little ... well, the snow has a hard time staying clean at all, for one thing. But before that, we'll look in on the motor launch down at the coast, since you can't expect a male and three females to sit there looking at each other with halos on, can you? No you can't, if I have to tell you. 0_o ***** A little bay, not far from the village of Colla, Algeria A'ishah stepped out into the main part of the lower part of the cabin down there below the deck. She'd had to use the head and also, she'd found the large pan of heated water that she'd been told of, so she'd quickly bathed as well. Now, she looked around a little apprehensively. The cabin was dark and she could see no one and nothing. Clutching the towel to herself, she stepped out cautiously, more than a little nervous over the idea of tripping over something and most of all, she was nervous since she couldn't see any of her friends. Suddenly, she was seized and lifted up a little and she screamed. She still couldn't see anything, but she knew that she was being whirled around and then she felt herself being lifted higher a little roughly and she screamed again. As she struggled to keep what little orientation she had left in the darkness, she heard a match being struck and across the cabin, a small flame flared to life. The cabin seemed to move again as did the flame and then A'ishah shrieked and cried out to find that something had her by the ankle as well and it was pulling on her leg. The Bedouin girl screamed again and again as the cabin was lit slowly by the lantern as it began to burn well and was adjusted. For just an instant, she saw the females, grinning and leering at her. Then she hung upside down, screaming for all that she as worth. The suddenness and the severe change in her position, coupled with the force of her cries caused a change inside of her which the strangeness of her upside down position didn't help and in the middle of all of the heavy breathing around her and as she struggled and fought helplessly, a small sound escaped from the bottom of her - which was the top at that point. There was sudden silence for a moment and it happened again. Even upside-down, A'ishah's eyes widened. Then the moment was over and they all laughed, A'ishah laughing the loudest. Håkan rolled his eyes, though he was chuckling as he eased A'ishah down onto the bed. "I couldn't help it! "she laughed and it turned into a squealing laugh after a second, "I'm sorry," she gasped, trying to get her words out, "I tried really ... hard that time, I swear it." "Throw her over the side," Zhaeri laughed, "Any girl can make a better actress." "Can we try again?" A'ishah asked, "I'll do better, Håkan. Just give me another chance. I didn't know that I'd do that." She began to laugh all over again. "It was an accident!" "Always laughing," Koåhn giggled as she pointed, "A'ishah likes too much." Håkan was smiling though he shook his head slowly, "Not much matches left." "She wriggles like an eel," Zhaeri grinned, "do it anyway." The male nodded and he grabbed A'ishah' ankle once more and then she was upside down again. "W-what are you going to do ... to me?" He didn't answer, other than leer at her. He only lifted her higher and she grew a little fearful, since this wasn't as the game was to go. But Håkan didn't care and he lifted her high enough so that the sole of her foot brushed the ceiling. She felt his hand against the small of her back as he pulled her closer to him. His arms slowly wrapped around her and A'ishah eased her legs down slowly on either side of the male's head, all the nervousness and uncertainty gone from her as his tongue told her how he really felt as he carried her folded in half over him to step to the bed and lay her down as he knelt on it. She was just reaching for his thick shaft when she saw it recede into the distance a little bit before she could get it and there was a hand against her mound. "You are not wet enough to play with him," Zhaeri pronounced as Koåhn pulled A'ishah even more. A'ishah struggled for a moment and then Koåhn quickly lowered herself over the Bedouin's face. A'ishah struggled and fought, but it was no use and so she began to lick the wild one's labia, reaching up to hold her hips and pull her down a little more. A'ishah had come to love the way that they were larger than her. She liked it whenever they pulled her around because really, they were being very gentle. And something that she really loved was to press her face into these sweet, dark places and suck hungrily. She felt Koåhn caressing her body softly while Zhaeri pulled her legs apart and began to do the same thing to A'ishah. The only difference was that she was being more ... general about it and licked and drooled over everything from asshole to tea kettle and from one thigh to the other down there on A'ishah - who wondered at it a little. After a time where Koåhn had her pleasure for a while, and A'ishah had taken hers twice, they moved and A'ishah hung in their grasp, one each holding her up by the wrists to carry her the short distance to where Håkan lay waiting for her. She was placed carefully so that she sat on his large and very hard masculinity and the bottom of it pressed against her to make her moan. A'ishah's eyes were wide by that point and Zhaeri whispered to her roughly. "Lean on him, my little love. Put your hands on his chest and rub yourself along him. Listen to us, and you will come to know one way to please him, other than only looking at you so fondly." As they coached her, A'ishah began, doing her best to heed what they told her to do and before long, she and Håkan were smiling at each other as she worked her hips to glide back and forth while Koåhn looked on from where she had her head against her brother. A'ishah watched as her long tongue darted out to tease one or the other of them. This was a little sad to her because she'd have wanted to lie enveloped in his arms as he fucked her bet she doubted if anything like that would ever happen. He felt amazing to her any time that he hugged her, but he dared not even sleep with her for fear of hurting her. She still wanted him to fuck her and she still knew that he wouldn't - because he couldn't - for several reasons and all of them came down to his size and hers. But this way, she could at least pretend to be his third and smallest wife. This way, she could share something with him and it was enough because it would have to be. Besides, she liked it. After her bucking orgasms ... after his quiet bellow and the way that she watched so much of his seed fly out of him into Koåhn's waiting mouth. Zhaeri lifted A'ishah, gasping and sweating, to carry her gently and lie her down in the other bed. A'ishah looked up as Zhaeri eased herself down and she smiled, "You want me again?" Zhaeri smiled down in reply, but she shook her head, "No. I want none of your brothel teachings now - though I have become such a willing learner. Now, I want only to hold the one who has taken all of our hearts." She wrapped herself around A'ishah so that they were face to face, "I want to look at you," she smiled as her hand lifted A'ishah's leg. She stopped abruptly at that moment and A'ishah looked at Zhaeri's eyes, open as they were and yet seeing nothing - at least, nothing that was near to her for a long moment. A'ishah grew concerned and was about to cry out in alarm, but then Zhaeri came back to herself and smiled even more. "I am sorry, my love. I didn't mean to frighten you. I only felt something." "What was it?" A'ishah asked, her words coming out in a little moan the next instant as she felt Zhaeri's fingers begin to work their magic on her sex. "Kiss me for a little while," the she-orc whispered, "and I'll tell you a little tale for once." Two things that A'ishah loved about Zhaeri - aside from being in love with her and Koåhn, was the way that her fingers did what magical things that they did to her, and how she loved to kiss Zhaeri slowly and suck on her tusks as much as she wanted. After a time, Zhaeri drew back and came at A'ishah from a different angle, so that she could lick the ear that she wanted to whisper into. "Yasmikha, ..." she sighed, "Yasmikha has met the man. I have seen him through her eyes as they spoke." "Big, blonde,?" A'ishah asked, licking Zhaeri's cheek where she could. She felt Zhaeri's cheek move as she nodded once, "And beautiful - just as you both said. He is tall and a little mysterious as I saw him." She smiled and A'ishah felt it, so she did, wondering what had caused it. "He is fearless," Zhaeri sighed slowly as she let her fingers tell their own tale inside of A'ishah very slowly, promising the slow and long-lasting bliss that A'ishah loved so much from her alone, "Fearless he is and very, very strong. A little shy as well, for he has never seen one like my sister before and from her, I can read her wondering thoughts and feel how much she likes him and - " "And what?" A'ishah moaned in a little voice, already feeling like a little leaf slipping downstream in a stream for how good it felt to her. Zhaeri didn't answer for a moment, but then she looked into A'ishah's eyes, "More joy for all of us, I think. Yasmikha's soldier friend has a ... he has a tail." --------- Djuradjura Mountains There was a soft sound from the doorway as someone walked up in the snow and then they heard a deep gasp. When they looked, the large female was standing in the doorway looking back in surprise. She paused for a moment, seeing the others. "There are many coming up the other pass," she said, "Very unusual for them to move in numbers at night. You must be wanted badly by them. Who -?" "Childhood friends," Kari smiled as he walked to pick up his weapon, "I think it is a lucky man who can find the demons of his youth still alive and well after so long. This is Ahnyazh and Felldis. I ... you never mentioned your name before." "Yasmikha," she said cautiously as she looked at the others, "I didn't say it since you did not give your name." "Kari," he smiled as he stepped over, "Or will I now have to fight my way north alone?" "No," she shrugged, though after a second, she began to smile, "Bring your demon friends along. I would hope that they can fight. If we stand here for much longer, we will need whatever they can do." Ahnyazh passed Yasmikha a little closely and gave her an appraising look, "Very ... nice," she nodded with a little smile which the she-orc saw was genuine. Felldis found that he had a little trouble holding the female's gaze and she slid her hand over his backside as he passed. "I need to learn where you find such friends, Kari," she chuckled, "I admire your taste." "We saved him when he was very sick," Felldis offered. "He was promised to us," Ahnyazh nodded, "in exchange." Kari looked back and she motioned for him to lead them, "It is nothing anymore," she said in their speech, "Just something to toss at another female. I like her. Have you known her long?" He shook his head, "We met only this evening. And it is not nothing. I have never forgotten how we were given to each other, you were both promised to me by your mother as mine promised me to you. If we live through what comes, I think that we ought to all collect on the rest of our debts, if you still want to." "Old friend," she smiled and he watched as it turned into a grin, "I ached only to hold you when we were small since it was all that we knew to do. Now you tempt me with a new ache." She chuckled, "Felldis always told me that you would tempt us only to see you if we ever met again. To think that I never believed him. ... I think now that you were right after all. Please take your wrappings from my wings. I feel that they wish to return and I wish to do what I must to keep you alive and with us. Twenty years and yet you remember us. That is worth more to me than anything. The least that I can do is to believe in the male who was promised to us and want my wings returned to me so that I can help him again." When Kari looked at her back, he saw that his dressings were being pushed aside from within, and there were sprouts there peeking out and already growing. He was amazed, even though he had a fair feeling that he'd been correct all along. He looked back at Felldis for a moment and he saw a slavering leer on that face, now that Ahnyazh was getting better again. "Please come back to me unharmed," Kari said in a demonic whisper meant for only them as he worked, "I have lived thinking that you died in that house. To find you among the living and here with me ... I ... I still love you." Ahnyazh seized him and held on tightly as she waved her brother over, "Felldis, mark this night. Our Kari is returned to us." The three shared a kiss a Yasmikha watched and then they stepped out into the night. Outside the ruined door, Kari pulled off the last of the dressings and dropped them in the snow. Ahnyazh shook her head and bent forward a little as she frowned with some effort while she began to grunt softly with every strained breath. As Kari stared, her wings returned to her, growing before his very gaze until she spread them fully less than a minute later and leaned her head backward with a soft roar for how very good that it felt to her. When she looked across to him, her eyes were brimming and she quickly brushed the tears away with her fingers, "I will always listen to you for this. I have kept my life and my wings because of you. Luck?" She laughed, "Lucky are the ones who find their male alive and well and still believing in them after so long. Before one hair on your head is harmed, we will cover the hills with blood if we must. Come, Brother," she smiled over, "there is killing which needs doing. After everything that we have shared as children, I think it is long past time for us to breed with him." Felldis nodded with a suddenly happy laugh, "I want. ... I want both!" Yasmikha stared in wonder until Ahnyazh looked over with a pleased smile, "Which direction, lovely one? Show us the way to where we are to begin and ... how many do we speak of here?" Yasmikha pointed, "That way, perhaps a hundred and more. Some horses too. I would spare those, were I you. Not everyone here can fly and the snows down below on the other side are deep." The pair of demons took off then, leaving the echoes of their wild laughter behind them. "What now? Kari asked, "There is not much more that I can get my comrades to do in their defense that we have not already done." "We take their weapons," Yashmikha shrugged, "We will put the bullets to better use, I think. I doubt that their first thoughts when they awake will have any sense to them if they see me or the ones who fly. After that, I think that we ought to go and see if your friends need any help. We can always wake these three if we are losing and are chased back up here." He nodded and they walked softly over to where the men slept, taking their guns. "Why do you smile so?" Kari asked as they began to walk in the other direction just as the faint sounds of gunfire came to them through the falling snow. Yasmikha chuckled, "Your girlfriend there, she called me lovely. I need more friends like her. Will they be alright until we get there? I would hate for them to be harmed. And what was that business about her wings?" Kari made a face as he shouldered the heavy machine gun as well as the rifles, "The wings were taken from her by a man, a mage or something like that who was hiding in that building. I think that he told the others that he would bring them a weapon in Ahnyazh by forcing her to kill us for their cause. I don't mind their cause; I would just prefer not to die for being on the other side of it. I even admire what they are attempting. From what I saw, he'd prepared well, so that when she was drawn through, she was in a circle which bound her. He had iron chains on her before she knew what was happening. They can be bound that way as well, but only for a time. Still, it hurts them. While she was like that, he cut her wings off crudely, being no swordsman. He was about to cut her tail off when I walked in. Felldis forced his way through, but wasn't able to do much beyond harassing the idiot. If he'd come through in the same place, he'd have been trapped too by the circle, but with no chains to bind him ... Felldis might have been able to free Ahnyazh. I got there in the middle of it all." He looked over, "They can be bound - even imprisoned - but one who does that must live with the knowledge that they will repay the debt, somehow, someday, but with certainty. And they can travel in their pursuit of vengeance - even to the other side of human death, since it is not the same to them. But for them to even be here is a little like breaking some laws of existence. I was of the mind that her wings might come back and I was right, I guess. I just didn't know that with a little proof, her will could do the rest. I doubt now that there are any broken wings lying on the floor in that place. And your cares are at least a little groundless. Her kind is very hard to harm at all, once they are here. It is very hard to kill them unless they are weakened. I knew them when we were children and they did save my life, along with the strength and efforts of our mothers." "And are you promised to them, as was said?" Yasmikha asked. Kari nodded, "It was the bargain struck between two mothers then. I was very sick and they came through to help me until I was better. I got a little of their blood as they got mine, so by the time that I was fully grown, I was much stronger. The exchange caused them to have blue in their yellow eyes. Also, since we have never had the chance to fully explore it, we do not know how much they became akin to what I am and how close that I was brought to being what they are. I do know that it obviously wasn't a complete exchange or I'd have died. Their blood is poison to humans in anything but trace amounts." He sighed, "At least I've never felt the need to eat human flesh, so I'm a little thankful. She nodded with a little smile, "I think that I know now how a human man can have a tail." He nodded, "I can hide it from others, but not ones like you who have the true sight. More than anything, I now want to join with them, out of long memories and desires which grew in us over time." She reached over and touched his hair near the front of his head, "You didn't mention these little things." Kari shrugged, "I often forget them unless I'm trying to comb my hair." Yasmikha smiled, "They're very small of course, but I like them. Seen in the right way, they give you a certain character, I think." He looked over with a soft smile, "I don't think that any of this should dissuade you if you might still have an interest, Yasmikha. All that has changed is that for the first time in so long, I am back among the only others of my particular kind, for they were changed as well by it. They are demons and I am not, but to us, we are the same." "Oh, I'm not dissuaded," she chuckled, "I seem to keep finding more things to like about you." It brought a wide smile to Kari's face, "You just ought to allow the three of us a little time. We have been lost to each other for so long and to find them means that we need to be together to learn what we have or do not. You like Felldis too, yes?" Yasmikha groaned quietly, "From my first look and it is strange to me. I have never liked ones that size before, but there is something to him - to them both, actually. It makes me want them in the strangest way. I think that I'd need to be a little careful not to break his back - but ohh Kari, how I want that male. Childhood Demons Ch. 04 I see what he has plainly, as bare as they both are. I'd have never given a thought to something that ... modest. And yet, I want what I saw so much." "Have you ever had a demon before?" Kari asked a little innocently. "Not a male, no," she admitted, "Not even a full female. Why?" "Nothing," he smiled. It made him chuckle and after a moment, they were both laughing as they walked on in the darkness. --------- The main fight was really not anything which might fit the word. Mostly, the demons were blocking the way back down, killing anyone who thought to try to get past them to escape back down, since it was what they seemed to want to do at the first look they got. Ahnyazh and Felldis made their approach known with their blood-chilling cries and laughter and before the men knew it, death had taken wings around them all. The demons did nothing once the ones in their hands were dead besides throw them off the ridge and look for the next. Faced with groups, they just waved in certain motions and the men were in agony for a moment before they exploded. By the time that the leaders decided to go ahead and not back, they'd lost over half of their number. But they couldn't move forward either. The men milled about, fearful of things that they couldn't see in the dark and more than a few were killed by nothing more than the nervous gunfire of their frightened companions. The way forward was blocked by Kari and Yasmikha in a very narrow draw, and there was no other way around them. Four men on horseback decided to charge through in desperation, but the draw was too narrow and they lost speed from the jostling, since none of them wanted to be the last one through. The jostling got worse as the demons came from the rear without a sound and tore the last two men out of their saddles. The riderless horses forged ahead in terror and forced their way past the remaining riders. The third man fell from his mount when he'd been shot off it by Kari. The last one rode on, falling off slowly from the shotgun blast that Yasmikha fired from beside him, less than five feet away after he'd tried unsuccessfully to ride her down. Kari and Yasmikha began to walk forward to the entrance of the draw and from there, Kari handed Yasmikha one of the rifles and they caused more attrition by shooting men from there. After that, it was just walking through the killing zone, dispatching any who were still alive. "Leave me to this woman's work," Yasmikha said, "See if you can find us at least five and maybe six good horses. And let one of them be a large one, if you please. I am not a little thing." "No," Kari agreed with a grin, "It's one of the many things that I am coming to admire about you, Yasmikha." She glared at him - in spite of his feigned angelic expression as she tried to determine if there had been an insult in it. She found none and then she threw her head back and laughed in spite of herself. "And what was that I heard about breeding?" she called as she turned back. His chuckle echoed down the draw to her, "We met when Ahnyazh and I were six, Felldis was five. We couldn't take our eyes off each other. We were children together, but we only got to actually be together to play a very few times and the rest, we had to content ourselves with looking through to the other plane at each other. What do you think you would want with the ones who were promised to you long ago?" Yasmikha shook her head so that he could see it, "Just tell me, Kari. Does that mean that you'll fuck them or not?" "Until none of us can stand up," he called back. Yasmkha laughed to herself. She couldn't believe how she felt, liking him so much after such a short time and in such a shitty place. "Does that mean that I can have some too?" she called back and she listened as he laughed. "Yes," he shouted, "but not for the first hour. Ask them nicely if you can join in after that. They like you." ------- "Jesus and all of the saints in Heaven protect us," one of the men exclaimed, "You want us to ... go with these demons and this ... whatever sort of bitch that she is?" Kari nodded, "If they wanted to kill you Armando, they'd have done it last night. But they didn't, did they? No, they were off down the mountain with me, fighting to keep you alive while you were dreaming of big-titted tavern wenches. They kept more than a hundred off your stupid face and you didn't even know. Go for a walk down the draw if you don't believe me. See the yards of red snow for yourself. There's a meadow at the bottom just before it gets steep, and it's got more than sixty corpses all over it. I think the rest went over the edge." He stepped back then, clearly annoyed now. He'd expected some trouble convincing them, but he would have liked a little more logic in what they said. "Look, we're all that's left, us four, and we're three hundred miles and more from Algiers - and that's not even counting the miles just to get off this ball-breaking mountain. Even if you could get down alone, you wouldn't make it very far. A few worn-out legionnaires in a land where we're hated? What chance do you think we have? And this one here kept us all alive even before the others came. She was the lion that Juan saw in the darkness out there, killing the ones who kept us hemmed in up here, so watch your stupid mouth." The Spaniard leaned forward, glancing nervously at his saviors, "We've known each other for a long time, Northman. You say that this girl has a boat? What kind of boat? How big? What drives it, the wind?" "Eleven and a half meters," Yasmikha said as she ran a stone over the edge of her axe blade, "Diesel engine. I have more than enough fuel to get us to Sardinia, Corsica, Italy, France, even Spain." "And you'd take us for nothing?" he asked and she nodded, "I offered to take Kari and these demons. He said that he wanted you three to have the same chance. I agreed. There are four others on that boat now as they wait for me, my brother and two sisters among them." She stopped speaking to look over at the other two men, seeing that they weren't even paying attention. She ran her palm past their eyes, because they were staring at the naked demons, who in turn were looking out at the two wild goat carcasses that Yasmikha had dressed out and hung over the back of the two horses who'd carry them down. The men were not listening. "I can't help them if they're not even listening to me," she said, "They only stare." Kari spoke to his friends and they changed their appearance in an instant to resemble a pair of clothed middle-aged people, much like anyone and completely unremarkable. The two men jumped up crossing themselves and said that they wouldn't go. "Fine," Kari sighed, "What of you, Juan? Will you come? I've been told that A'ishah waits there for you." The Spaniard looked up, "A'ishah? You mean the young whore? What do I care about her? She was just a fuck that I paid for a few times." Yasmikha leaned forward, her tusks in plain view as she thrust out her jaw, "You have one chance left, Spaniard. A'ishah is my friend. She likes you. She would want for you to get off this mountain to safety. You need me to get you to her and then go north. I am not going back to Algiers. You can even go your way once we get to the plains below if you don't wish to see her. Is there anything that I have said that you do not understand?" He shook his head, "I understand. I do not want to go anywhere with her. I have three men to think of." Yasmikha crossed her arms as she looked at him, "Stay here then and think of men until you are all dead." Kari shook his head, "Two men is all that you have, Jaun. I'm leaving. All that I ask is that - if you do get back to Algiers, is that you tell them I was killed. But why won't you come with me? These two are as good as dead to refuse. Don't join them, Juan." Juan sat back and looked through his pockets for his cigarettes. Finding them, he drew one out and lit it with a match. "Northman, what do you know of these ones? How do you know that they won't kill you for whatever reason they might have? To drink your blood maybe, I can't say. They are demons. How do you know them?" Kari shrugged, "I can't say how they came to be here so that you would understand, but last night, there was a man who had been hiding in that building there since before we got here. He pulled this one out of where she was. He wanted to use her to kill us. This kind eats flesh of one kind or another. But I know them, Juan. By purest chance, these two, I grew up with them. I've known them since we were children." The Spaniard nodded, "And in what hell pit was that? You're finally really crazy. I'm not going with you." As they walked away, Juan ran out after them. "Don't go, Northman. Those three will kill you." Kari kept walking, "Who's crazy now? They didn't even know each other before last night. Goodbye, Juan, and good luck." "Where are our guns?" Juan shouted. "In the house behind you," Kari said, "You just have to break down the door. I want a chance to get away before you start shooting the last three bullets and seal your fates." "Why so few rounds left?" Juan shouted. Kari shrugged, "Our sea captain here used a few as did I to keep you safe. Sorry, but that was how it went." Juan fell silent. He didn't think that they had even a chance with so few shots left. He heard a sigh and when he turned, he almost fell to his knees. "Please come with us, Juan? We could be together again with no one to pay as I love you." He stared, his mouth open at the sight of A'ishah standing naked in the snow, "Please come. I'm so cold here. I need you to keep me warm. Please?" Juan knew for certain that this was not the girl that he knew, and yet ... "A'ishah," he whispered, "You can't be here ... not like that. You'll catch your death." He walked over to where she stood and took her into his arms. "I've got to go now," he said, "I've got to get you off this mountain or you'll freeze to death." When he blinked, he found himself in the arms of one of the demons, the male, who smiled softly. "So she is more to you than just a fuck," Yasmikha grinned, "Why not let your heart guide your actions? It's a lot more honest than your brain, Juan." He shook his head, trying not to lose his bladder on the spot, "No. This foul fiend will drink my blood." He tried to pull away, but the demon took him by the face so that he couldn't look anywhere else. "I can drink blood, but it is not what I want. I crave meat most of all. But I want to try to live on what you eat to see if I can. Come with us. We promise not to harm you." "But you're ... not A'ishah," Juan stammered. The demon shook his head, "No. I only used what I saw in you for that. Come with us, and you can see the one that you want. As much as I would like it, I'm sure that she would be happier than me to hold you while you fuck her again and again." Felldis smiled a little shyly, "What I would like ... just for me ... is that you teach me how you eat. I would try to learn to like it and if I could, then I would want you to teach me how to cook it for myself. If A'ishah agrees to share you, then I would be happy to make love with you, the way that you wish for, but have never tried with more than two others in your life. Those times live on in your mind. I want to see myself in there as well. Could we? Or must I turn into one of the boys from when you were all eighteen? That summer on the farm? Remember those times in the sun of the orchard? Those nights where the three of you fucked each other senseless in the barn?" Juan started to pull hard to get away, shaking his head in horror. "Those nights where you fucked each other after all of you had fucked the farmer's daughter? You remember pretty Esma, don't you? She was the one that you killed together because she was going to -" "NO!" the Spaniard screamed, trying desperately to yank himself free from the grasp which held him so securely. He found himself on his back where he'd landed, lying on the frozen, snow-covered ground alone. He saw the demon step forward into his field of view, looking down at him, "Or is that getting a little too close to why you are here in the first place? They still want you for that murder there, don't they, Juan?" Felldis was beautiful, but his expression changed then, "Don't you dare to call me a foul fiend. I am neither one. You can put your holy words into your curses all that you want. It changes nothing. It buys you nothing. If I were you, carrying what sins that you do on my soul, I'd get myself to a church and spend the rest of my life in there, seeking atonement for the crimes that you've committed." He nudged the human's face with the claws on his feet, "I'd have spoken all the rest of the things that you've done, but you're not worth my breath." Yasmikha and Kari got onto their horses and turned away to ride off. The demons looked back and then took off, to land astride the horses behind the others. They were two hundred yards down the slope, picking their way by the time that the men stood at the top and began shooting. "I am losing faith with you and how you choose your friends," Yasmikha said, "I like your childhood ones, make no mistake in my meaning. I just have no use for the ones who have guns." Ahnyazh said, "They are not shooting at us. The other two have shot Juan." Kari nodded, "Well there's brilliance for you. No matter what he's done, he was their only hope to get off this mountain alive." There was a ricochet off a nearby boulder and they flinched for a moment. "NOW they are shooting at us, Ahnyzh said. Kari looked at her and nodded sadly. She spread her wings and seeing it, Felldis did the same and a moment later, they were climbing as they flew of out of sight around the mountainside. Yasmikha and Kari rode on. The demons were back a little later, looking well-fed and bloody as they stood rubbing snow on their faces and chests to get clean. After that, they landed on the horses again. Yasmikha turned her head and looked at them, though she had trouble seeing Ahnyazh there behind her, "There is a girl on the boat. Her name is A'ishah." "The one that was spoken of," Felldis said and she nodded, "Do not tell her what happened. She said that she did not love the Spaniard, but I think that she probably had some feeling for him at least. If she asks, do not tell her what was said or anything. Above all, do not say what he said of her. Tell her that you saw no one like that." They nodded and the group rode on in silence for a time. Yasmikha looked across and saw Felldis sitting behind Kari with his eyes closed and a little smile on his face. "Tell me friend," she said quietly, "I know of how our large companion was saved. But I don't understand what I'm looking at over there. Your brother looks to be in love - or do I see things wrongly here?" Ahnyazh looked across for a moment as she held onto Yasmikha from behind, not being too sure about sitting on moving livestock. "You are right. We have loved each other for a long time, all of us. But we never had the chance to be together, other than a few times when we played as any children do. Our mother told us that he was for us. She said that we would be a little changed after what we did to keep his life inside him. For a week, we were against him almost always. Humans cannot stand heat like that by themselves. If they have a fever high enough, their minds can be damaged, and they go into spasms where their bodies try to bend themselves in two backwards. But as we held him between us, his mind came to stay with ours. I remember having Kari and my brother inside of my head, and for a time, I was in Felldis' mind too. We stayed like that for a long time. So after that, we have always wanted to be together, but we couldn't because we had to go back to our side, where he couldn't follow. The others of us would have smelled his human blood and he'd have been taken in minutes. All that we had was the ability to touch our hands together against the border between us. We could only come to visit him for short periods. All of us knew that one day, when we were older, we would have each other to love and breed with. Felldis and I have always only done so much because the third one of us was missing." Yasmikha thought about it, "So Kari likes males as well?" She felt Ahnyazh shrug, "Others? I cannot say. But I know that he craves Felldis as Felldis aches for him, just as he craves me and always has from when we were little. If it had gone the way that it was supposed to, we'd all have been happy. Now, we need to learn of each other again, and this time it will be harder, for we are all of age and breeding together comes into it. We must have changed to each other at least a little. But to answer you, yes. We are three who love each other. I will bear their spawn when it is time. I can tell that you like him." Yasmikha chuckled, "Do I hide it that well? I first saw him, and only in a few glimpses maybe a fortnight ago, many miles from here. From that, and meeting A'ishah, I learned that he would come here. So I came, wanting to meet him. I knew nothing of his attachments with you and your brother. Yes I like him. I can't recall ever knowing a human man that I liked much at all, so I am surprised at myself. Tell me something else; is what you have between you all that there can be? He told me not to be dissuaded after you left to begin the fight." "No," Ahnyazh replied, wanting to find a way to perhaps be a little evasive until she had time to feel what Kari felt. When it came to her mind, Yasmikha felt Ahnyazh nod to herself against her back, "He likes you. I can feel it. Felldis as well. I like you too, Yasmikha. I have never seen one of your kind, though I know of them. Why do you ask? Do you wish to bear his spawn too?" Yasmikha's eyes widened to hear that, "I uh ... Not just yet," she said, "I might be a little slower to make up my mind about that." "Ahh," Ahnyazh said, wanting to tease a little, "So you saw him and had to know more, yes?" "Yes," the she-orc nodded, "He is very good to look at - quite obviously - especially to a girl as ... " "Beautiful?" Ahnyazh suggested. The orc was flustered at that, "No - I mean, yes - I mean ... that wasn't what I meant. What I meant to say is that girls like me, the -" "The lovely kind, yes, go on," Ahnyazh prompted. "No! That wasn't what I was going to say," Yasmikha said, a little frustrated, "Why do you keep trying to put words into my mouth?" "I spoke no falsehoods," the demon stated, sounding a little reserved and chastised, "You are those things. Do you not own a mirror? Tell me when you have a moment. I would be happy to show you exactly the way that you look. I am what some call a shapeshifter - a deceiver. But that is only what I use to secure myself a meal sometimes. I could show you what others see in you, especially Kari, for I can see into his heart very clearly. I think you would be surprised at what he carries there for you." Yasmikha was surprised already. Actually, she was a little astounded. "Really?" "Oh yes," the demon replied airily, "He has hopes where you are concerned. Is it alright for me to say that to you? He has never found a woman of just the right ... size, who is so lovely to his eyes. A man like him can have hopes like that. Every woman that he has ever known was too small to him, save only one. I should say it better. He likes small females very much. He only feels that he would need to treat them like the most delicate things, out of fear to harm them, the way that some humans enjoy having delicate treasures. But you and I both know that a male of his size also wants to breed with a female who can take what he gives ... if the mood is on him. Childhood Demons Ch. 04 You are one like that - easily the most beautiful girl his size that he has ever seen. But," she sighed in a melancholy tone, "You do not want to breed with him. A little sad, if you ask me." Yasmikha tried to look back over her shoulder, but Ahnyazh was a little shorter, which made it tough to do, and she saw the look coming, so she turned her head the other way. "Oh, I want to breed with him quite a lot," the she-orc said, "I just don't want to ... spawn - as you call it - right away." "I know!" Ahnyazh laughed, hugging Yasmikha as she abandoned her game, "I have been having fun with you. Besides, you were taking too long to say it." "We only met last night," Yasmikha growled a little, groaning deeply as well at the flood of sudden warmth against her back from Ahnyazh, "him and I, and then you two as well. I didn't want to just come out and admit something like that so quickly." "Why not?" Ahnyazh asked, "Your kind is known to be very direct. I have met only you Yasmikha, but that is what I have heard. There is the difference between our kinds. You either like something or you don't. We are the same." Yasmikha shook her head, "Then where's the difference? I cannot see it." She heard the giggle from behind her and began to smile because the demon was so infectious when she was feeling good. "My kind often just does what comes to us." Yasmikha tried to get a handle on it and well before she did, she felt Ahnyazh's very warm hands on her breasts under the cloak and she sighed, since it felt so good. "I did tell you that I like you," she heard from behind her. The orc was stumped, wondering how Ahnyazh had been able to reach around her in the first place and how she could get her hands under the cloak to do what she was doing - so well. But for all of that, she wasn't about to complain. Those hands felt wonderful to her. "He had a woman once," the demon said from behind in a voice that seemed to be coming from right next to Yasmikha's ear, "I learned this from looking at his heart. It happened some years ago. He loved her very much, but there was a snowslide down the mountain above the house where they lived. She was killed. She was the only human who has ever known that he has a tail. She was frightened at first, but then she saw a few of the ... uses that she might have for a thing like that. After that lesson, she loved him even more." "Was she beautiful?" the orc asked. "Only pretty," Ahnyazh replied, "but he loved her dearly. There is still some pain that he carries too clearly for so many years. I have a hope that you can help - with Felldis and I. These other ones that you spoke of, do you think that he might ..." "I don't know," Yasmikha answered, "There is my sister Zhaeri, almost as tall as me, but thinner, and quite wild in her way. My other sister is ... well, she's our half-sister. Quiet and shy, but underneath, she is even wilder. She is half-demon, the mountain kind, so she has fur. And there is A'ishah, but she is human and small. Those three are in a kind of happy love between them, which I love to see and watch. All of them are mates to my brother. Kari might find someone there, if I am not enough for him." She did turn back that time, "Why do you laugh?" Ahnyazh took a little time to wind down and catch her breath, "You have made me so curious that I cannot wait to meet them all. I was laughing at what you said. How could you not be enough? That is like standing in the sun and wanting more light to see by." She hugged Yasmikha and sighed, which Yasmikha found a little unsettling considering where she also felt those hands. "You will be enough," Ahnyzh sighed against Yasmikha's back, "You may trust me." "And what was that about a tail," the orc asked after a long moment, "What sort of uses?" She heard more giggling from behind her for a moment. "Think," the soft voice came from next to her ear again, though she plainly felt Ahnyazh's chin against her back, not moving, "I may as well say it to you, Yasmikha. Kari likes you, my brother and I like you, is it good so far?" Yasmikha shivered a little as she felt those hands softly kneading her nipples to erection. Just as she was getting used to it, she felt them begin to stroke and pull so gently. "Yes," she sighed. "All of us have tails," the voice crooned, "Even if only one of us fucks with you at a time, you will surely feel what our tails can do to please you in ... other ways. If you give me a chance, you will find out how well a demon-girl can fuck a lovely she-orc better than any human man. And I mean ... fuck." Yasmikha moaned softly at the thought, "But ... but Kari is -" "No he is not," the voice sighed, "He has been changing since he was a boy. The demons whose blood was given to him - Felldis' and mine - we are a sort which can change, as you have seen. What he sees in himself is the man that he would have been if he'd lived through his sickness without help or never had it at all. That is not what he is anymore. He does not yet know all that he is - all that he has. At the very least," the voice moaned, "We will have to teach him to fly." Yasmikha moaned in answer, as she pictured it. "His horns will be beautiful and he will be even larger than he is now. What his skin will be like, I cannot say yet, but I know that if you see him as you lie before him when he comes to take you ... Yasmikha, you will beg to spawn with him. Spawn, not only breed." There was a soft chuckle to that voice then, "Think of it, wanting to be the other female who gives them both young. Felldis will make such lovely little ones." The hands at her breasts were working absolute magic on her and she suddenly felt yet another hand as it began to trace in little, barely tickling lines down her belly under her cloak, headed for her sex. Yasmikha knew it, just as she knew that if it got anywhere even close, she'd lift her legs to allow it. She wondered where the demon would sit then. "And he will also have a thicker, longer..." She chuckled softly, "... firmer tail to use. Think of that. Think of how he could hold you up and take you in two places. You can see that he is very strong, even now. And if we all go at the same time ..." "Stop," Yasmikha groaned, "If you keep that talk up, I'll ride us right over the edge." Childhood Demons Ch. 05 ***In this, more of the strange group come together ... or maybe I put that in a bad way. They join up. Ok, forget about that. There is mention made of a tribe of people in this and they're still around at over 2 million, though I think that they've probably given up the way that some of them did the things that they did by now for sure. But this is set in 1924, so at least some of it went on by then still, I'd guess. It's just different now, though I'd imagine that they're still dancing to keep the old ways alive, just like anyone would. 0_o **** ---------------------- Algeria, the coastal plains heading into the foothills of the mountains. It had taken them from before the dawn to now just to get from the coast to some distance up the rocky slopes leading up into the mountains using the same horses that they'd bought for the trip in when they'd accompanied Yasmikha part way on her journey. They knew to come, since Zhaeri had heard her large sister's silent call across the miles. This time, A'ishah came along, feeling a little absurd. She wore clothing now and she was glad to have the clothes, but they felt more than a little strange on her since in her life to this point, she'd never owned or worn pants and boots. So she felt a little out of place there, perched nervously on the horse which Zhaeri rode quite comfortably. What made the trip for A'ishah was that she got to sit in front of Zhaeri, under the extra insulation of the cloak and held securely between her arms as she guided the mare. They were leading another horse and the Bedouin could have ridden that one – if it weren't for the fact that she'd never been on a horse in her life before. Besides, this way, it made for interesting conversation. The ground rose slowly at first and the cloak hadn't been needed all that much before – other than to hide what Zhaeri was from the view of others at the outset. As they rode on, the time of year and the gain in altitude were making themselves more than a little known and A'ishah could only imagine what it must be like where Yasmikha had gone. Algeria can be hot during the summer, hotter than anything, even near to the northern coast. What it must be like far to the south was a thought which kept shaming A'ishah a little, since she knew that her people were from there as she'd been as a child. Now, she was a transplant. To a lot of people, foreigners mostly, the land was a place that was usually imagined to be flat and hot, but it wasn't always, depending on where one might be. The truth was that while a good portion was somewhat flat, there were mountain ranges down to the south. And long before one ever got near them, one had to cross what was more like a barrier consisting of several mountain ranges. Somewhere among them were the Djurdjura Mountains, though they weren't going any farther than the foothills to meet up with Yasmikha. Right now though, A'ishah was glad to be under that cloak, kept warm by the heat of one of the two that she loved most out of all of the four of her friends. She was frank in her thoughts to herself, because she knew that she loved them all dearly, even after such a comparatively short time. She loved to lie with any of them. She adored both Yasmikha and powerful Håkan. She could easily spend a day just with them, trading caresses and being held between them. She had desires then which couldn't be helped, for they'd never come to fruition, just out of their size differences. She loved so much to suck and toy with Yasmikha's breasts and nipples. She couldn't keep her hands away, if the truth be known, and she liked to press her face right into that large and warm womanhood where those powerful thighs met. But it was always one or the other and never both. She couldn't do more than suck and stretch to get her fingers just a little near the entrance of her large friend when she did that and she so wanted to do that then. Being a bright and wickedly imaginative girl, she'd come up with something that all of them liked to watch when she was with Yasmikha. It took a little doing and you had to get the big girl's nipples hard in the right way first, but she loved to sit carefully on them, doing her best to get one inside of her as far as she could before having to move to use the other one in a similar manner. It went on until they all tired of it and the switching was most often due to the nipple that she happened to be trying to ride growing a little soft from A'ishah's own warmth. What kept it going was that if she could get one in her far enough, she could try to clamp on it, not that she really could, but Yasmikha liked to feel her try and that kept her nipples hard for a little while longer if A'ishah did it just right. But it was so much fun to do and it always ended with A'ishah out of breath and needing to frig herself to finish as the others cheered her for doing it. She wasn't shy at all by that point and lay with them all watching as she frigged and played wantonly. They made a point of it never to touch her then, not wanting to break the lovely spell that the smaller girl cast. A'ishah could stare at Håkan for hours until he laughed at seeing her do it, never understanding why she did. She loved to lie on him and soak up the warmth when she could, feeling those impossibly large pectoral muscles, kneading them – even slapping them gently before she sucked in delight on the nipples of a male, never even having had the thought of it before, never mind the desire to. She liked to lie in the opposite direction to his body, doing her very best to use her too-small mouth on his hot and turgid shaft, once she'd gotten it interested, of course, and that was never a difficult thing for her to do, since Håkan had such feelings for her. While she struggled to please him, sometimes spitting or drooling on what he had so that she could slide her hands over and along it while she did her best to use her mouth on something that she never could to the degree that he deserved. Håkan took a long time to come when they were together and doing that, so A'ishah had lots of time to enjoy the way that he loved her in return. He always began by folding himself a little in a bed that wasn't near wide enough for him to do that in. He'd noticed that whenever A'ishah masturbated, she often gave her sex gentle little slaps if she thought that no one was paying much attention. So what he did for her was slap her there, though in order to be gentle enough, he only used two fingers, never his palm and never very hard. She loved it, feeling that as she ran her fingers over her nub in little circular motions and it always brought her off quickly, though by now, she knew that it was just the start. He'd stretch a little and lick her to her joy for as long as he could stand the discomfort of the position. After that, he'd ease back a little for his own comfort and lick A'ishah's little asshole so that she moaned and squirmed almost constantly. She couldn't get away if she wanted to those times and when he felt that she was making progress with her mouth, he'd place his palm on her belly, fingers pointed toward her head and he'd keep licking as he pressed into her slowly with his thumb and fucked her so easily, just drawing it in and out by bending it. A'ishah's transformation would be complete by that point. His attentions would never fail to turn her into a lustful thing who could do little other than moan out his name and how she loved him so. He'd keep her almost glassy-eyed this way until her efforts caused him to spurt into her open mouth and all over her face, since she loved to draw it back for a second just for that before going back hungrily. She couldn't possibly get it all – what came out of a male like him, hot and sticky and tasting so good to her. She never told any of them, but she liked to enjoy thinking through little stories in her mind. Often it was her and the large pair or herself and either of them, as though the other one wasn't with them. When she was with Håkan, she saw herself as a girl who'd been found / rescued / stolen by the beast that he was. In those little stories, she saw herself as being frightened to death at first, only to be tamed by his true nature to become his little pet – one who loved him more than anything as they traveled together sharing adventures. These were the common elements to her little stories. She considered that in the light of day, they were slightly juvenile things to daydream about. But she didn't do that then, not very often, anyway. Those were the things that she brought to life in her mind as she relaxed in someone's embrace to drift off to sleep for the night, usually at least partially covered in sticky female juices or some bits of Håkan's semen that had gone unnoticed by any of them. She never had those little daydreams about the other two, Zhaeri and Koåhn. She didn't have them because she didn't need to – she lived her daydreams with that pair. Every day or night was an adventure. She was small to them too, but at least she was a lot closer to being a size that fit for them when they loved together. She'd let them lie on her carefully to fuck against her, though what the three of them all liked better was when A'ishah lay between their wide open legs and fucked on them. Even much later, in the darkest hours of the night, when everyone was asleep, neither of her larger sisters would turn her away if she found herself in a position where she could copulate slowly for a while when no one could see them do it under the covers. Nothing felt so good to her then when they held her little haunches to help pull her against them. With those two, A'ishah always did her best to please them and she never failed at it. She was astounded that they'd been first lovers between them for years and hadn't thought of more things to do with one another. The night that she'd gotten them together as she taught them about tribbing had been like a major sporting event in an arena with Håkan and Yasmikha sitting and staring with their jaws in their laps while Koåhn and Zhaeri lay on the floor with their legs scissored and fucking together. A'ishah was cast into the role of almost a referee as she flitted back and forth, offering tips and advice or just pressing her face down there to kiss them and add a little moisture. Zhaeri had come first and there'd almost been cheering in with the applause before each one had insisted on a turn with their little sister. A'ishah had gone with Koåhn last because she'd been thinking about it the whole day and working her ideas out in her head. She wanted to improve the wild one's chances at pleasure, since she had a thick bushy bit of fur which couldn't be trimmed. So when she'd gotten on the floor with the furry one, she reveled in the feeling of working her little cunny into the crotch of the "fur-covered love beast", as she'd whispered it to Koåhn beforehand. Other than jamming herself in between those legs, A'ishah was bent on finding out what she'd thought might work and she couldn't wait. "Come here and watch, Zhaeri," she'd said, "I have an idea." With that, it had started out just as it had when Zhaeri had been doing it, but there was the issue of Koåhn's clitoris, since it tended to get lost a little far from the action and A'ishah had noticed that. Of more concern to her was that it couldn't take the pressure either, so her mind had gone into overdrive to think of a way that Koåhn could get even more out of this. She asked Koåhn to go more gently and after caressing the amazing furred legs which held her, A'ishah had rolled back a little and spit on her hands as best she could, "Spit on it, Zhaeri," she'd instructed, "Get her little banana good and wet for me." A'ishah began then, bucking her hips while trying not to crush that clitoris. It took some adjustment to find the best place, but once she did, she spit on her hands once again and began to pull that little beauty against her mound, high up on it and she began to caress it as best she could for Koåhn. The girl reacted instantly and it was quite a ride, since Koåhn now felt the full benefit to her in a way that worked for her and she went to town with A'ishah doing her best to hold them together. She'd come twice and it had been good, but Koåhn had turned into a wild thing in it and none of them even knew how many times she'd bucked herself to her joy. It ended with both of them on their backs out of breath and grinning. And just as soon as Koåhn was past it and receptive again, Zhaeri was on the same wild ride. Yasmikha asked to try and Koåhn nodded, but something unexpected happened that time. Yasmikha was larger than any of them and somehow, Koåhn's clitoris had gone inside. They stopped suddenly, looking at each other in surprise. Then they began to move ever so carefully and they went a long time, slowly and gently as they moaned and hissed in bliss. Zhaeri had wanted to go again, but Koåhn was feeling a little raw then, so A'ishah slipped into place against Zhaeri and they enjoyed each other again. The next night, it had been time for another lesson and it ended with Yasmikha and Koåhn on their hands and knees while Zhaeri followed A'ishah's lead and slowly fucked her sister with her fist. A'ishah did the same for Koåhn and when they were done, the girls who'd been fucked eased their tired bodies down happily and were asleep within minutes. So they missed most of the final act. Zhaeri took A'ishah and laid her down to lick her until she was absolutely soaked from her tailbone to her navel, thighs and all. Håkan lay down then and pulled A'ishah over while Zhaeri held her legs apart for her brother until he was between A'ishah's thighs. He began to hump against her that way and at the height of it, A'ishah was very happy because the male had found a way that they could do it in a way that pleased them both very much at last. He clutched her tightly and slid that thing back and forth while Zhaeri moved up to pull A'ishah's mouth against her sex and they were all happy as the others slept. Even when it was slow between them, A'ishah had only to spit on her hand and rub Håkan softly to listen to him sigh and moan in response. She matched the pace in what she was doing for Zhaeri and when they were done, she was a complete mess, happy almost to tears at feeling so loved and used and vital to them. They rode in silence for a long while and eventually, Zhaeri nudged A'ishah gently. "You have been so still for such a long time, sister. Have I said or done anything wrong? I know that you do not sleep from the way that you sit. For most of our journey, we have talked of anything or you have told me your little tales and I have listened to every word, knowing that Koåhn will be jealous that I can have you against me for so long telling me your stories. Yet you are so still now." "It's nothing," A'ishah said quietly, "I was only thinking to myself at how lucky that I am. I am in the midst of four who would do anything for me and it came to me that I can honestly tell myself that if I had but one of you and not four, only one, I could be happy. But I do not have only one. Zhaeri, I have four and more than that, I have found my place in the middle." She laughed a little, "I am lucky enough to share in a love between three of us girls. Zhaeri, most people might only hope for a chance to earn the love of only one other person. I have two others for my heart – as if the way that the big ones love me isn't enough." She sighed, "And I lie in the middle and we all please each other. Such a wondrous thing." She felt Zhaeri nod over and behind her. "We have always been this way between us," the she-orc said, "We saw the way that it is more natural for our kind to argue and fight. We sat together one night as we all wandered. We'd eaten our evening meal and I'd stolen some ale for us all that afternoon, so we sat as though we'd all eaten the greatest of feasts and we were happy to be with each other. Koåhn suddenly remarked that out of all of the families that we knew among us as a band of wayfarers, we were the only one which had remained together in spite of everything. Of some families, there were only single ones left, or at most two. Our kind is prone to argue – as even you have seen. Yet we knew from the beginning that we were the only ones who could be counted on for each other. It just seemed natural to us. Not long before we lost track of everyone else, we decided that we were enough for each other. We could go on together. We would anyway, so why not begin to mate with each other, since we loved each other so? To have you in with us makes it all even sweeter. None of us can understand it even yet, but not one of us has even become a little annoyed with you over anything yet. You fit with us and you keep us all well-loved and very pleased." She put one arm around A'ishah and hugged her a little, "Koåhn and I share the most with you." She looked at the road ahead and where it was taking them for a moment. "Would you like to hear of what I have learned since we left this morning? There is a little more to tell now that I have had such a long silence." A'ishah nodded, "Yes. Tell me anything, Zhaeri. I love to listen to you anytime." She heard the surprised tone from behind her, "Really?" "Oh yes, "the human declared, "I love to listen to you both for different reasons," she said, "For her part, Koåhn speaks to me of more earthy things, what I should be smelling on the wind or how I should see the way that the leaves flutter in the breeze and try to see the things that she just knows when she sees things like that. Even when we are loving together, she is more ... " She looked up at Zhaeri for a moment, "I want to say animal-like, but that is so far wrong. Our sister is very ... lusty in her way. You are as well, but it is not the same to me." Zhaeri chuckled, "Now if there was ever a thing that I'd ache to hear from your lips, sweet one, this must be it. Tell me of it if you can." A'ishah shrugged, "I can try, but at best, I will be describing feelings, so it will be hard to do well. When I lie with Koåhn and she caresses me, it is almost never done with a fingertip – unless the way that we are lying makes it so. She prefers to use her palm as well as her fingers. She seldom traces over my shoulder or breast with just a finger. She takes that part of me in almost a grip – as soft as she does it and even then, it is a moving one most often. You, on the other hand, use your fingertips much more and in some surprisingly subtle ways when you caress me. Sometimes, I could swear that it is the softest sort of breeze which brushes my skin and leaves such a pleasant and sweet tingle to let me know how I am loved by you. You both love to try to keep me surrounded by your larger bodies – which I adore – but even there it is in different ways. And when you do things to love me, I often wonder if I will be left with a working mind at the end of it when it is time to sleep. Most often, Koåhn takes me – purely, simply, open-heartedly and wildly as is her way – and that is what she does to me. I love it when she forces me down with my face against the bed as she fucks me with her jewel, holding me and just plowing me into the bed. She does it all like a girl loving another girl even so, for she is so strong and yet thoughtful of my comfort and pleasure. But there is no doubt that I am being taken. You do the loving of me in a far different way, and even so, I know that I am yours for that time and no other's. You hold me as you did that first night and you play my body until I sing for you as sweetly as I can, for it is only what I ought to be doing then. Imagine if I cried out and grunted as I do when Koåhn has me for her pleasure. It would sound silly then, no?" Childhood Demons Ch. 05 Zhaeri hadn't ever thought of it this way before, but she could see it, knowing that A'ishah was right. Her way was all subtlety and even the occasional bits of sleight of hand when she worked her spells on A'ishah. She still loved the way that she could hold the girl hanging from her as she held her from behind and toyed with her charms while A'ishah hung trapped in her arms, bucking slowly and yet crying out at the end almost as softly as a baby. So soft, that sound, and yet it said so much. So gentle, the way that it came out of her little lover as she felt that little backside touch up against her from the slow writhing motions that she made. Either way, it was the same. No matter which of them had A'ishah, it always ended with her helpless and shuddering, mewling out her love so plaintively up to a point. Right there, her noises diverged, depending on which of them was having her as she'd said. With her, it was so soft that you had to almost listen for it. With Koåhn, it was dramatic for the way that you could see A'ishah with her head thrown forward or back and her mouth wide open, lips drawn back, teeth in plain view, screaming with all that she had in her love. So different – and yet it always said the same thing. No matter how it was done or by whom, it always ended with A'ishah completely spent, shaking and weeping with emotion. You only had to see it once, no matter who was taking her and you wanted to weep in joy with her. Håkan could crush boulders if there was any weakness in the rock, yet as much as he loved to watch A'ishah being loved, he'd usually be sitting with warm tears running just to see it. "In many ways, you have become our little darling," Zhaeri murmured, leaning her head down to rub her chin against A'ishah's head, "No matter what we do to you when we make love to you, it is not either of us who most often holds you gently afterward. Have you noticed this? It is most always the other pair who take you into their arms then while you get your strength back. We let them, Koåhn and I, because it is plain to see that they need it then, just as you do." She looked ahead again into the distance, "But that - as warm and wet as it makes me only to hear – is not what I meant earlier. I have been talking with Yasmikha again and a good thing that it happened too. There are two surprises coming with her and the blonde one. I am sure that I'll hear all that I need to hear soon enough, but that one does not come alone with my sister. There are a pair of ... others along on that trip down the mountain." She wouldn't say much more to A'ishah, not knowing if what she'd been told had been correct, but she did say that there would be likely three more to them and not only one. She'd been making for a place in the higher foothills that she'd caught a glimpse of the other day. There were already plenty of slopes around them and given that it was warm near the flatter land at the bottom and cold up above, there was a fair bit of mixing of the air and it yielded two things – or sets of circumstances where they were. There were pockets of fog where there was already patches of snow on the ground, and there were places where the wind blew and the fog couldn't gather. One took your visibility away and the other could take your breath with it's icy cold air. Zhaeri wanted neither one particularly. She was looking for a spot which she'd gotten only a glimpse of, a place where horses might be sheltered for a night and also ... in that place – at the back of it – she'd sensed a flare of warmth from the earth, where the heat came not far from the surface. She knew that it would be a little warm there and it might offer a place for a weary group of travelers to spend a night before moving on to the coast in the morning. Her attention was drawn to a thin figure out there up ahead a little way, what looked to be a large boy – or a smallish young man naked in the snow but for a pair of crude boots made of fur wrapped over his feet and tied with bits of hemp rope. He had a sort of bracelet on each wrist and one ankle was shackled, the chain stretching off out of sight. He jumped up and down to try to get their attention and though he had little between his legs with which to draw a female's eyes, what was there was small and tight against him in the cold so that it hardly moved at all from his jumping and it drew A'ishah's attention anyway for the pitiful way that it jiggled as he danced. A'ishah stared, "Look at that poor boy. Who would do that to anyone out here? Ride over there, Zhaeri. We have to try to free him." The she-orc wasn't looking at him anymore as she shook her head. A'ishah looked up, feeling the motion and she wondered what had possessed her. She seemed to be looking everywhere but at the boy. "Please – ride to him," Aishah pleaded, "He is freezing alive and just wearing that metal on him must make it all the colder. We must help him. Ride over there – " Seeing that Zhaeri had other ideas, A'ishah was trying to squirm her way into getting one leg over the neck of the horse so that she could jump down. But she felt herself being held fast by Zhaeri, who still didn't look at the boy, though she leaned her head down just a little. "You will stay here," she hissed sharply in a way that brooked no argument. "This is a trap – and he is the bait." She reined back the horse and as they stopped, Zhaeri became aware of a motion off to the side among some boulders. There was a sharp cracking sound from beside them as a boulder began to move as though a giant hand was trying to pull it free from the earth's grasp and after a moment, the boulder flew away from them with a buzzing whoosh to crash against a man who had just stood up to level a rifle at them. He disappeared from sight, crushed by the boulder which flew on, showing the wet reddish spot on one side of it as it tumbled through the air. A second man jumped up from a rise of ground almost next to them and he was pointing a rifle as well. Zhaeri weaved her right arm like she was hanging onto a chain with a great weight attached to it with the effort plain on her face as she heaved that weight around. The man looked to the side and prepared to jump away as the boulder now came hurtling back in his direction. The speeding rock – easily a yard across - hit the embankment low and skipped off upward and then man grinned as he stood up and raised his rifle quickly. But it ended as the boulder came straight down to land on him and stop. There was silence for a moment then as the sounds which the boulder had made echoed from the hills in front of them and died away. The naked boy standing in the snow made no sound, his mouth hanging open. "Zh-Zhaeri?" A'ishah whispered. But Zhaeri sat holding her head with one hand, looking down at nothing. A'ishah looked at the poor cold boy out there and she began to try again, "Zhae-" "Hush!" the she-orc hissed at her and the Bedouin fell silent. "Let me have a moment to feel ..." Zhaeri whispered, "His mind out there ... he wants to tell us ... warn us ... but he dares not speak." After another moment, she looked up and to the left. There was a puff of smoke and then they heard the crack of a bullet passing very close by, followed by the boom of the shot. Zhaeri growled something low in her throat and threw her right hand forward in an overhand motion in that direction. The sky, overcast evenly all day over them now held distinct and dark clouds scudding closer rapidly, hovering under the overcast and out of them three bright flashes came hurtling, snarling as they went, crackling, surging as they joined ... to bang down and strike the shooter. They carried on, snapping into several forks, which rippled across the small, bowl-shaped depression to strike two others before the bolt finally found it's way into the earth, leaving snow flying up wherever it found it's way down. A'ishah winced at the brightness of the flash and the noise, but she saw it at the first man fell in several pieces. The others were lying motionless in the disturbed snow. All of them were smoking slightly and the hills rang with the crack of the thunder. Zhaeri urged the horse forward and as they came on slowly, the boy tried to run away in the opposite direction, clearly in terror of them. When he'd reached the end of his tether, A'ishah slid down and walked to him with a blanket. Zhaeri got down and walked off to the side where she took the chain in her hands and pulled it as though she was trying to get it to part. It didn't part, not right away, though the single link that she focused on gave up after it glowed hotly for a moment. She hung on to the chain and pressed it into the snow beside the broken link to cool it before she let it go. A'ishah was astounded when the boy ran off as fast as he could, trying to get as much distance between himself and them as possible. "Let him go," Zhaeri said, "I think that he has nowhere to go and so he will come back after a time. We are not here to save naked young men – though I see that the idea pleases you," she smiled. "We must get to that dark line there in the rocks up ahead. I think there is room there to get the horses inside and then I will need to try to find my sister. Your bare boyfriend there will have to fend for himself until his brain tells him that his little bottom is about to freeze." "What if he keeps on and gets lost?" A'ishah asked. "He won't," the orc smiled, "There are those of my kind – females, you understand – who hold to the belief that males of all kinds are stupid. It has not been my own experience unless they were of our own kind, though my brother is brighter than any ten of those ones. The few human men that I have seen, most of them are not – most of the time, at least. That one will only follow after a time. It is the only choice that he really has. Now go and take the rifles from those dead ones if you can. Leave any that look broken or in poor shape. And if you think that you have the stomach for it, my love, search them as you can for bullets as well." They got back on the horse and rode forward and in a little while, A'ishah saw that it was as Zhaeri had said, there was a place in between a pair of large standing stones. From the front, it only looked like a dark line, but if you walked between them, the rest opened to your view and you were in a cave which was covered above for most of it's depth, and at the back, it was much warmer. They got the horses settled as best they could after the struggle to get them inside in the first place and A'ishah tried to get a fire lit, seeing that the place had been a temporary home to many at one time or another. There was lots of dried wood lying around in rough piles. She was talking to herself as she worked, for Zhaeri had left her, going on foot to look for a likely path upward, hopefully the same one that her sister had walked upward on. It took a little time, since the place was a bit damp and that had carried over to the wood, so A'ishah had to work at it, moving things around a little and waiting until eventually, she had it right and the little blaze began well. She warmed herself for a little while and muttered her own opinion over the intelligence - or lack thereof – displayed by naked young men in snowfields, since her thoughts kept returning to one thing. The little bastard had run off with her blanket. She looked around and by the light of the fire, she saw the source of the gentle gurgling that had come to her ears in the quiet – she just hadn't had the light to see with before. There was a steaming pool there. She looked up and saw that there was steam sliding along the ceiling over to a wide fissure where it went upwards, still inside the mountain. She smiled then, thinking that it was nice. She didn't need the humidity, but she did like the warmth. In a little while, she found that their assailants must have used this place. She found bundles of clothing and a few bags of coins and some jewellery. That was when she heard the smallest gasp from a dark corner and when she looked, she saw a smallish figure, not much different in size to her move a little, trying to draw back into the darkness even more, but having run out with the cavern wall being already there. A'ishah grew concerned, having neither anything to use as a weapon or Zhaeri to protect her. She picked up one of the rifles and ran to the little fire and drew out a stick which blazed brightly at the end. Armed with that, she stepped farther into the darkness near the back and held the burning stick high. There was a girl there, chained and she began to weep and beg not to be harmed. It took a little trial and error, but A'ishah found that she could converse with her, once she'd gotten her a little calmed. Listening to her, A'ishah looked where she'd been told and came up with a set of old metal keys, very simple in design, but she found that one of them fit the shackles on the girl. When she'd freed the prisoner, she learned a little and they exchanged names. Zahra, as the one was called, promised eternal gratitude if she was not to be A'ishah's prisoner. She stared then as A'ishah laughed and told her that she was lower than Zahra appeared to be, having been a slave, so she didn't want to hear about anything of the sort where that sort of thing was concerned. She led Zahra to the warm water and told her to bathe so that she might feel better and A'ishah would see what sort of clothes she could find lying around. Zahra nodded, still looking as though she was in disbelief at being freed and they talked. During that time, A'ishah learned much. Eventually, she drifted toward the opening and looked out. As she did, she saw him again, dipping down to hide behind a rise in the snow some yards out. This time, A'ishah didn't do a thing. She just stood there, leaning against one of the pillars with her arms crossed as she watched. He popped up again and seeing her looking at him, he dropped down out of sight once more. But his face showed again an instant later, a little nearer this time. A'ishah stared at him a little, still wondering about him and how his misfortune had happened. She could tell herself many things about him stealing her blanket. She knew that it wasn't really anything like that. She'd been a little scared herself at what Zhaeri had done. Who wouldn't be? She lived with the girl and it had been a shock to see all of that. As he came nearer, clearly still worried, though he must have seen Zhaeri walk off, he tried to speak to A'ishah and a couple of things became a little clear to her. There wasn't a lot of depth to his voice, but she liked to hear it, as nervous as he clearly was, and ... he was beautiful – very beautiful for a male, with a straight nose and thin, obviously carefully-plucked eyebrows over almond-shaped eyes and a very pleasant-looking, rather feminine mouth in a male face and oddly enough, it all suited him. He didn't look so ... effeminate as he perhaps appeared otherworldly, in much the same way as his sister did without the influence of clothing to sway the observer's thoughts. They both had absurdly long hair, dark brown, so dark that it appeared black and it did to A'ishah, but that was here. In the glare of noonday sunlight, the brown could be seen. As it was here, it looked black and what could be seen at the front of his head was long enough to get in the way sometimes – long enough to be pushed behind an ear. But the rest ... it was in a long thick braid at the back of his head and it hung down so that it brushed his bottom when he walked. Here was another difference between the siblings, for Zahra's hair was just as long, but she braided it into three at the back, though the braids were thinner in diameter. It didn't matter in any case. When they walked, their hips moved in motions evocative of two-legged panthers; not quick and yet not slow ... but they drew the eye then, their hair gliding across their golden buttocks. One might call the effect distracting to watch. It all depended upon the observer and his or her state of mind. Some might call it a little maddening. Eventually, just as Zhaeri had said, his need for a little warmth overcame whatever else he had going on inside of him and he came closer, still trying to talk to her, trying to see into the cave around her and looking very worried about something. Finally, A'ishah just told him to calm himself. "I have found Zahra, so stop worrying over your sister and come inside." He looked relieved, though still nervous. "What is your name?" she asked, "Just give me one that I might have something to call you by." "Kasim," he mumbled, but she smiled, "I am A'ishah and you are frozen. Come." A'ishah held out her hand and taking his in it, she pulled him inside with him dragging the chain still there on his ankle and stood him before the fire. He looked so apprehensive then, wanting to feel the heat, but being a little shy at the same time. She walked off and came back with the keys and one of them fit to open the shackle with – the last one, of course. "Oh, open the blanket, at least," A'ishah chuckled, "I have already seen all of your charms, so there is no point to hiding now. Surely I deserve a little thrill for what I have done for you." He looked like he wanted to – but ... Zahra ran up to him and hugged him, so concerned at how cold he was. A'ishah stepped up to him and took the blanket from him slowly, talking to him all the while and telling him as best she could that he'd get warmer more quickly without it in here. Then, as she pretended to look for something in her pack, she looked back and saw that he stood trying to get warm and that it would take a little while even still. She walked back toward him and when he noticed it, he tried to hide himself with the blanket again and she let him because she was shocked. Before he'd noticed her coming back, she'd seen what she was certain was dried semen on his backside. He'd covered that part of himself well enough, but she stepped around in front of him and reached down before he'd realized what she was trying to do. He almost jumped back at her touch, but she had her hand on his shoulder as she reached in and felt the tip of his penis for a moment. Her thumb slipped just inside of his foreskin and when she drew it back, she looked at what was on her thumb and another part of his mystery fell away and left her feeling a little sorry for him again. A'ishah had lived in a brothel. She knew that males – even though they might not have enjoyed what was done to them, often ejaculated from it anyway. From his face, he looked shamed that she knew, so she wanted him to know that it caused her to feel for him, but she found no way to say it easily, so she said nothing about that part of it. The next little while was spent with her telling him that she'd once been the same and if he'd allow it, she'd do what she could to help him. That took an even longer time, but eventually, the pair stood naked together in the warm water as she bathed him, surprising him for the way that she drew his foreskin back to wash him even there. Zahra stood nearby, talking to Kasim and telling him to allow A'ishah to help. At that, he finally began to talk more and try harder to make himself understood. She heard a lot of their story and they got to hear hers. She told them of the nature of the strange girl that Kasim had seen her with and they stepped out of the hot pool together, much more comfortable with each other and all of them a little pleased that A'ishah had washed and clean off the traces of how he'd been used before she and Zhaeri had gotten there. She had him standing with his feet apart as she'd found something to use. Childhood Demons Ch. 05 "Hold still for me, and I will try to soothe you back here. I see that you have been used a little hard lately." He nodded rather sadly and he flinched at first, but the cream that she put there did finally make him feel better, and she was very good in how she applied it so that he sighed in spite of himself. A significant portion of the gold lying around was his he claimed, and from what he'd told her, she understood and agreed that it likely was. From her questions, she learned that they were twins. They looked alike to a degree but that was as far as it went and in any event, they were very lovely to A'ishah's eyes, once they were clean. They were twenty and had been on their way back to a village not far from where they were from and that they'd gotten lost a couple of weeks before. The ones who had captured them had used him, both for their pleasure as well as to bait the trap for any travellers out here. They hadn't done much to Zahra, thinking that she could be sold to a brothel for a good amount. As A'ishah heard more of it, she set about seeing what sort of meal she could put together for when Zhaeri returned, hopefully with Yasmikha at least. Kasim began to gather up what gold that he could find that he thought was his own. When she noticed it, A'ishah told him to gather up what he thought was his sister's as well, and Zahra began to weep then. When she understood why, A'ishah told them to gather up all of it if they wanted and she explained things as best she could as she worked. "I don't know what can be done for you both; I find that I am at least a little hopeful. When the others return, there may be five of them and at least three will be large. Do your best not to look too frightened and above all, do NOT try to run away and please – let me do the talking for you, at least at first. If all that I think there are come, then two, I know well. There could be a large man with light hair also. I know a little of him and I do not think that he would want to harm you. The others, I know nothing of, but I cannot think that you would be harmed. I see some of your difficulty and I will do as I can to help – and it needs no more than a little thanks, that is all." She looked at some of the jewellery lying around, "That is yours as well?" Seeing Kasim's nod, A'ishah smiled, "then please bring some of it over and come to me. I think - now that I know more - that I want to see some of it on your fine bodies, if for no other reason that to hopefully see you feeling a little better." She chose some out of what she saw and she adorned them both by placing jewelled collars on them because she knew enough of their kind to know that it was the way that things were done by them and she searched until shoe found the gold chains which were to go around their narrow waists. A'ishah grinned to see that they were indeed feeling much better for it and she held still as they insisted while they adorned her body in the same manner. "You are not one of us," Zahra smiled as she fastened a small collar around A'ishah's neck and adjusted the way that the heavy pendant lay over the Bedouin's small breasts, "But I see enough of you now to know that you would wants this. Many women - if they had the means to own something like this, might love to wear it, but only their men - if they had one worth it - might ever see it. It is not our way. We live most often without things to hide our bodies, after a point in the evening, most times. We live wearing things such as this, just as you knew of it and to us, you are alike to ourselves." A'ishah was touched. She only wanted a mirror, more than anything right then. But the pair told her that she looked very good this way. ----------------------------- Zhaeri searched a little, and it was not long before she felt Yasmikha's thoughts telling her that they'd seen her, so she stood near some rocks to get out of the wind and looked up the slope. The way was difficult to see, with clouds of fog rolling through most often, so she just waited. After a time, she heard some horses and then she could make out a little conversation and she felt some relief. When she saw them all, she stood and stared for a moment before she pulled her wits about her and stepped out to greet them. After what had to be one of the strangest meetings for at least a few of them, Zhaeri spoke of what had happened on the way and where she'd left A'ishah. ---------------------- A'ishah saw them coming, just a group of indistinct figures on ghostly-looking horses in the rolling fog as the light of the day began to fade. She had time only to look back and call to the ones inside that the ones that she waited for were almost there. When she turned back, Zhaeri was right there, picking her up to hold her and hug her so that A'ishah's feet dangled in the air. "I know now that I can never be far from you, A'ishah," she sighed with her eyes closed and a smile on her lips, "Poor Koåhn must be in agony, if she feels anything like the way that I do to be away from you." A'ishah kissed Zhaeri and then hurriedly whispered what had passed in the time that Zhaeri was gone. After only one look at the two by the fire, she nodded and turned to go back out. "Tell them plainly with as little fuss as you can that there are two ... demons among us." "Demons?" A'ishah repeated, "How is that worth no fuss at all?" Zhaeri began to chuckle, "I'm sure that by now, you can take anything at all in your stride, my love. I will tell the rest not to frighten our new guests." She was still smiling as she pointed, "I left you wearing clothes. I come back and you are as we love to see you most - and you even wear such finery!" She grinned a little in spite of herself as she rolled her eyes, "You always tell us that you have lived a completely unremarkable life – and none of us understand it at all when we hear that." ------------------------- "It is warm in here," Zahra remarked with a look toward Kasim. He nodded, "I have lost the chill from outside. Now I begin to sweat." "Well take the blankets off then," A'ishah smiled, "and if you do that, then I will as well. But I think we should keep them near us all the same. Zhaeri has told me that there will be four others coming back with her. Her sister is one and that lovely girl is large and strong, much more so than Zhaeri. As well, there will be a large soldier with her and he brings two who she says are friends from his youth. I am to say that they are a sort of demon – a male and a female – who wish to live here." The statement caused the pair to become nervous and agitated. "There are many kinds of demons, I have heard," Zhara said, "What sort are these ones?" A'ishah shrugged, "I cannot say. I've never seen even one like that. What these are, I was not told, but I know Zhaeri and she would not want me in danger. I trust her and so must you, I must guess." "You travel with strange companions," Kasim said, "That one ..." Zahra wanted to hear what had happened and Kasim spoke of it while they began to cook what they could. Zahra listened closely and at the end, she looked across to A'ishah. "So you came here with a demon? Why did she not kill you? Isn't that what they do?" A'ishah shook her head, "Zhaeri is no demon and I love her. I cannot think that there is much to fear, or she would have told me." They heard the horses at the entrance not long after and they all looked. As the riders came in one at a time, a little fog swirled in around each one for a moment. It added to the effect, but as soon as they were off the horses and on the ground, Zhaeri pulled the newcomers into a huddle. "There are men coming," she said, "They are some miles distant as yet and they march, most of them. Some few are on horseback and there are other horses drawing wagons." "How many, Zhaeri?" Yasmikha asked and they all paused to look at Zhaeri, who stood in thought for a few moments. "One hundred and eight," Zhaeri said when she looked up. "I can do a little to hide us, but I don't want to give up this nice warm cave if they come this far." "They will go up the same path that we came down," Kari remarked, "I think they'd go to reinforce my unit, not knowing that there are none alive up there. The wagons carry food, clothing and ammunition. If they think to go up that path dragging the wagons, they're in for a hard lesson." He sighed, "I'm afraid that at some point, not far up, the men will become the pack animals, carrying the supplies on their backs. Horses can't go up that way pulling wagons." Kari looked out into the fog, "They should be taking the lower road up. It's some distance farther to go, but the trip up is at least possible. I guess it depends on the brightness of the officers." He looked back, "Or, they know that they'd be ambushed on that road and take this way instead." There was no reply. When he looked, he saw Zhaeri standing in a strange posture, as though her head hurt or something of that nature. He was about to step over to ask when Yasmikha stopped him. "My sister bends her thoughts on the conditions outside. She will be alright, only give her a moment." As though in answer to her, they heard the sudden rush of the wind outside and when they looked out, they saw that the wind was coming straight down the mountain and blowing away from them across the snowfields out there, picking up snow as it went and visibility was nil out beyond more than twenty feet. "I ... want to hide us and ..." She took a laboured breath, "And I want to remove our tracks. Most of all, I wish to force them to make camp where they are. I am sorry, Yasmikha." Kari looked and Yasmikha stood in a similar posture, though holding her ears as well. When she felt the hands of the demons and Kari on her shoulders, she grimaced a little, "I feel the stones and the air as Zhaeri does. I feel the torment that she makes. I can stand it and she tries to help. It hurts me to say it sister," Yasmikha said, "but I have seen those ones. Whether it is out of the thickness of their officers' skulls or from their own stubbornness, those are hard men and it will take a lot to make them stop." Zhaeri stood with her head bent and beads of sweat standing out on her face. "Then let it be a test of will – or stupidity," she smiled, though with some effort, "I have more to draw on yet." There was a dull flash from outside which was followed almost at once by rattling thunder from not too far off. The wind went from blowing solidly and strongly to where it began to moan and whistle. "If they still come in a little time," she said, "then do not stand near these stones and above all do not go outside, for you will never be found when my winds begin to scream." They made their cautious introductions a minute or so later. Yasmkiha smiled and nodded when she met the other humans. "I have the best luck, I think now. We have been here for a time, yet until I met A'ishah, I never saw much in the way of beauty. I guess I didn't know how to look or something." She laughed, "It must be so, to judge by these ones. Do you know A'ishah well?" Kasim shook his head, "We have only met this day, but we talked as we waited." He gazed at her as she took off her cloak and furs, "I've never seen ..." A'ishah told him what she knew, so as not to make anyone feel out of place. She didn't want that now as she kept stealing glances at the pair of demons who stood nearby a little nervously. Kari said a little of his past and who the demons were to him and then Zhaeri and the pair of humans looked as the demons stepped forward. "I like the way that you look," Zahra said, a little shyly, "but why are you not wearing anything? You came in out of the cold that way and I ... I only wonder." "We are not cold," Ahnyazh said with a smile, "We do not need clothes except to deceive humans and then," she smiled a little wider, "we cause them to appear as we need. But like anything that we do then, it is illusion and not real. We can look like anyone – even you if you like, but I think that it would frighten you and it is not what we want. I can look like your mother if I wish, or even like ..." She spun with a little laugh and pointed, "like the one that this one holds in his heart. Do you wish to see how close that I can come?" Zahra nodded, but Kasim shook his head – his eyes wide. So Ahnyazh dropped her teasing demeanour, stepping closer to Kasim as she dropped her voice, "Then I will not show it. I would want to make a friend in you both, so that cannot happen if you feel shame." She touched his shoulder,"A joke is not a pleasant thing if it shames anyone." The rest of the introductions made, they all tried to help with the meal or getting the horses settled. Felldis turned his head and began to sniff. "I smell something from where Kari lived, some food for horses, I think." Kari was right there and after a little searching they found some hay and grass that must have been pulled not long before the men left to set their trap out on the road and the horses were eating not long after that. Zhaeri dropped the winds long enough for Kari to bring in armloads of snow which he placed in a few pots that he found and placed in the fire to melt so that the horses had at least some water. They tended to the horses and Yasmikha worked at butchering one of her two goats, setting one aside after re-stuffing the body cavity with snow. The other one, she cut up and began to try to make them all a meal from to add to what the others had done. Of necessity, there was going to be a lot of meat to their evening meal. One by one, they all came slowly to the fire, some holding up their hands in careful gestures so that the pair who sat huddled together under some blankets might see that they meant no harm. It was a good gesture, but Zahra and Kasim said that they didn't feel a lot of fear, now that they were all getting used to each other. Mostly they said, it wasn't that they were trying to hide much and only wanted the warmth on their backs. All of them tried not to stare, as difficult as that proved to be since, though the humans looked to be sitting just on the border of feeling a little shy and a bit nervous and they were lovely in their uncertain way. A'ishah spoke for them as she helped Yasmikha get the meal on metal spines and soon there were chunks of meat dripping fat into the fire as they cooked over it. Kari pulled his iron pot out of a sack and had it melting snow over the blaze as well but this time, it was for the ones around the fire, going out to bring more as what was inside melted and left room for it. They were all careful not to move quickly anywhere near the couple. When at last, what was in the pot began to steam and bubble a little, he threw in some tea leaves and the place smelled better only from that gentle aroma. Soon, they were all sitting and sipping something hot and sweet while A'ishah did her best to explain on behalf of the two on the other side of the firepit. "They are Ouled Nails," she said and then repeated it slowly – "Oo-led Nyhals as it is said, a kind of Berber people from the other side of these mountains. Nhailis are a little like my own people in that many of them are herders and they try to grow crops as well, though they do move around to a degree. Most of the men do not travel far, staying with their animals and their families. The women are the same, doing the things that any woman does for her family. But for some of them, that is only after they return. Not all of them, but the girls of some families are dancers, learning it from their mothers and their aunts from the time that they are small. This is what has been done among them for ... well, no one knows how long. They are taught to dance and to sing and to be the perfect entertainers in many ways. As they grow a little older, they are taught in the matters of loving also. When they are about twelve, they go with older female relations to other villages and towns and there they take up their calling as dancers in the cafes and places of that nature. Where I am from, there is a part of the city known as the Ouled Nail section where many live and work. In many places, women wear the veil, but Ouled Nail women do not, most of them, and there is a reason, for they wish to show their beauty to interest clients. They are there, most of them, to earn themselves their dowries and they save every coin that they can for that purpose. Many of them when they are older, do more than dance for the right clients and they hoard that gold even more. It can happen that they find themselves with child and they keep them and raise them as they were raised. But there is a goal in mind from the very first, and they never forget what they have come to do. When they feel that they have enough some years later, they travel back to their home villages and there, they live better lives and find their own men – though now, they think of love and marriage and raising their own families. Where they once would dance and sing and take anyone that they liked to bed – always for a fee, of course – once back home, they leave all of that behind to keep only one man happy, their husbands. Back home once again, they are the perfect wives and mothers, just as was always done by their people." She spoke a word or two and both of the ones held out their hands for a moment. "See the bracelets that they wear," A'ishah smiled, "Pretty, in a heavy way with a goodly amount of gold there as well. But ornamental beauty is only one part of it. Look at the bumps and edges to what sticks out from them. They are weapons, used to keep men with probing hands away. No man can take hold of their wrists in a tight grasp and not bleed for the thought and they are taught well how to use those things to best advantage. Dancers and courtesans they might be, but they are not without their means, all the same." A'ishah smiled at the pair and told them not to be frightened and she asked something of them that only the demons understood clearly. All of the others gasped to look at the smoldering glances which came their way from those eyes across the fire. What they saw was the promise of unbridled passion – in the right way and there was a subtle unspoken challenge there at the same time. "It is not meant, but you see that it is an offer – which carries a price, of course," she chuckled in a tone of some admiration. "There is a thing said of them," she smiled, "a little proverb which is really a warning. Even I have heard of it, from my mother when she pointed a pair of them out to me when they came to work for a short time as guests at the brothel where I lived. It is said that the man who sleeps with an Ouled Nail will first lose his heart, then his soul, afterwards his wealth, and finally his life. Our guests here do not mean what you see in their faces, for they do it since I asked them to show it so that you might see a little of what they can do." Her smile faded then and she shrugged a little, "That is how it is supposed to go for them. But that is not what happened to these two. For one thing, only one of them is a girl. They are twins, a brother and a sister. Their father died when they were small. Still, their mother sought to teach and train her daughter for what was to become her way of life for a time. The boy has always felt some shame, for he never grew as most boys do, always being a little behind in his growth and never growing really strong either. Their animals were taken over by the men of their mother's family for them and no one wanted to teach the boy much of anything. So he learned to do more ... womanly things at his mother's hand. When it was time, the girl Zahra left to travel with relations so that she could begin to make her way in the world as is their custom. After a time, their mother finally did find another man – but that man did not want her son. He had sons of his own and things went very badly for this one for a time. Childhood Demons Ch. 05 After a lot of thought, his mother realized that the boy had been present most times when she'd taught her daughter of dancing and all the rest, so she began again to see what she might help her son become in the same way. It is not really done by them much, but he learned and then went off to earn his own way so that she could settle in as a wife once more. But things – though they went well at first, didn't turn out that way for them both. Zahra earned much money, but she left to go home after two attempts on her life for her gold. She was waylaid on the road and lost it all. Since that time, she has been reduced to working as a whore only. Their finery is expensive and she lost that as well. She cannot ever return home now, for she would be seen as a fallen woman and she would only cause her mother shame, never mind how she would feel. Knowing nothing of it at all, Kasim, the boy earned his own fortune, for he is just as skilled in the dance and the music, and there are always men who want another man for their pleasure. He was on his way home, though he did not plan to ever go back to his village. Instead, he hoped to live in one not far away, hoping that he might find one girl there who might have him. By his own admission to me, he has never had the chance to lie with a woman, so he knows that he might be asking much and his thinking was that his wealth might help the girl forget what he is and had to do to earn it. As it happened, Zahra was waylaid a second time by the men that Zhaeri killed today. They planned to sell her to the first brothel which might pay them well for her. By coincidence, they also caught Kasim, who'd chosen the wrong time of year to try to cross over these mountains to get to the ones where he comes from. They were not as kind to him, I have learned. After Zhaeri left to find you all, I built this fire and by it's light, I found Zahra cowering in a dark corner. Through her, I learned that the naked one in the snow was her brother. Zhaeri was right when she told me that he would return, being cold and by then, I'd met Zahra. I helped them bathe and together, we cleaned this cavern for when you all came." There was a long silence then and Yasmikha finally chuckled and clapped her hands, "You have done it yet again, my friend. You spoke of it all, meaning to tell what was needed, and even still, your skill at telling things has stood you in good stead." She smiled widely and bowed to the pair, "Welcome then, Zahra and Kasim." Ahnyazh looked at Zahra for a moment and then she had the melody of one of the human's favourite songs in her mind. She began by clapping her hands to the staccato rhythm and she began to hum. In a little while – as Zahra stared at her, Ahnyazh added the rest of her several sets of vocal chords to it and it became a full song, though Ahnyazh did not sing the words. She was busy managing all of the rest. Zahra began to join in the clapping and when Kasim and A'ishah did as well, Zahra stood up and stepped out toward the fire to begin to dance, the jewels on the finery that she wore gleaming against her skin. Kasim couldn't remain sitting either and he got up also. That left A'ishah sitting and she shrugged to herself and rose to join in. She didn't have the training in that sort of dance, but she'd seen something like it enough times and she could follow along well enough and soon it was the three of them dancing around the fire. She followed Zahra, mimicking the movements and watching her body, becoming entranced by the girl's sensuous hip movements and the way that her long ponytails seemed to tease her eyes. Felldis tried then and he danced with A'ishah, the two of them slowly beginning to trade little caresses as the tempo gradually began to speed up. It began from Yasmikha calling out to her not to waste a fine chance like that. Zhaeri was calling out much the same thing. The orcs had been speaking telepathically since they could, not knowing whether demons had this ability or not. Out of the four orc siblings and who knew how many of their kind who still lived, they were the only ones they knew of who could. Yasmikha asked for her sister's opinion of Kari and Zhaeri spoke of the two new humans and how she kept thinking that she wanted the male demon and the human male. "What would you give to watch them together, Yasmikha?" There had been no sound as the thought was passed. Only Zhaeri looking over to where her older sister lay naked in the arms of the man she'd decided that she wanted for herself and was now claiming - or would very soon if she had a say. Her head was hanging backward in response to what Kari's mouth was doing to her breast, but at the questioning thought from Zhaeri, she lifted her head and looked back with an intrigued expression. "I have learned that Felldis has wants in that way, sister. But I know nothing of this new male, the human beauty. I know only that I wish to see his head fall back and his mouth open as I pull on his hair a little and push my tit in. I cannot say much, other than I long to see what he does when I push one of my fingers inside of him. I think that it might be a little ... entertaining to see how he likes that." "That is why you have me," Zhaeri smiled back across the flames in the firepit, "I know that he has never had a male do it to him the way that he'd have liked, but he does like it all the same. Me, I'd want them both. At once. I won't let that happen because of the others back at the boat - not until we decide things." She smiled a little wider at a thought. "I would want to keep these ones all with us if we only could and make a place for ourselves - just as you and I always spoke of." She thought a little more as she watched the dancers for a moment. "A place in mountains somewhere - warm below and cold above. Look at these ones Yasmikha. They all need a home, as do we, no? There are so many bloodlines here in this cave right now - and all of them are known to be able to breed with one another, us as well. Can you see it?" Ahnyazh decided that she'd watched long enough and she stepped into the circle, dancing every bit as lasciviously as the rest and maybe a little bit more so. The she-orcs admired her as she danced, but they missed the glances that she threw them for the barest instants as she passed. Yasmikha's eyes almost glowed in delight. "We have enough to make a village! We could make our own kind together - some blending of us and humans and two different sorts of demons if we count our wild sister!" Zhaeri nodded slowly, "And with luck and more humans wandering through it - as humans always do - we would have a place once more and whatever all of our young are later, they wouldn't have to hide in a human world as we must." Yasmikha nodded with a pleased look. "And all that it would take is a little fucking which would no doubt happen anyway," Zhaeri smiled. "A lot of fucking," Yasmikha replied in her mind as she tightened her grip on Kari's shaft so that he groaned while she stroked him slowly. "A lot of fucking, Zhaeri," Yasmikha repeated, "Otherwise, what is the point? And it is a lot of work if we agree to take them along. We have to feed them somehow and travelling as a larger group overland, once we get there ... I'd want an awful lot of fucking to even undertake such a thing." Zhaeri laughed, her eyes following the dancers until she looked across the fire into Yasmikha's eyes for a moment. "As you wish," she replied, "A lot of fucking for us all. I already want the new humans. Watching their hips makes me feel a little mad in my desire - a little anyway and my want of Kasim is not the least of it. I think that you will now have TWO males?" "Perhaps," the larger one nodded just slightly, "Everything remains to be seen as yet. I'd like to, and I find that I really want Ahnyazh. I'd share them with you, you know. As always." "As always," Zhaeri agreed, "We might soon see our way to finally ending our wandering. But I also want for our other hearts to be pleased. Our brother and sister must want this as well and I will not see either one left out or hurt." "Agreed," Yasmikha nodded, "Much hangs on A'ishah, though she does not know it. We need to push her into the arms of the other humans and then we add the others. What I'd give to see us all in a warm pit together." The eyes of both she-orcs widened as they realized something together at that instant. They looked at the two demons, who suddenly began to throw themselves far deeper into the dance. Their movements became even more sensuous and needful as they moved, running their clawed hands over their own bodies. Whenever they were near enough to each other, their tails found their way between the flanks of the other one for a few moments as they moved and whenever it happened, they passed such wanton looks back and forth. But that wasn't what had surprised the orcs. It was what they heard in their minds coming from the demons. "We can help," Ahnyazh offered in a groaning moan which came to them, though there had been no sound. She still sang the multi-faceted voices of the melody, the two distinct harmonies and in a high, wavering lead now and then. "Let us help you," Felldis sighed in the same way. "For a place like that - what we heard you speak of, and for a way to eat the same things as the rest ..." "We would do much for you," Ahnyazh added, "Let us begin here this night. Kari needs to learn of himself and we now want to meet the others. Breeding with us leaves you with our gifts - whether they come to you from my brother's sex or my own - even from our tails, it comes, if we are wanted in the right way. You gain strength and life in this world, though you cannot ever go into our own, for there you would be even weaker for it in the same way. We see that we are wanted," she smiled, "We have heard and we know it also from the others. I want you both and all the rest. Let us help. Much will come to you ..." Her head rolled back a little as she looked up toward the ceiling for a moment and she laughed in a little joy. She looked at them once again and spoke in a little voice, full of her pleased and hopeful offering. "You might even gain little horns - just as your sister has, though we have not met her yet - and we now ache to meet her and the large male that we have seen in your minds." "What is the other side of it?" Zhaeri asked, "the side of the balance which lies hidden?" "Only a few things," Felldis replied as he danced and clapped to keep the beat, "We spawn faster than humans or you. That brings a concern. We must find a way to eat the same things before we truly spawn with any of you. If we do not, then our young will have only the same as we have had on this side - and that is to hunt humans to feed upon. It is not what we want, Ahnyazh and me. We wish to stay and so that must change before we make others. Teach us this one thing well, and you have made strong friends in us for only that. Once she has a little one in her belly, my sister will give her milk long before the birth. Only a small taste of it will cause any of you to heed the cold less. It may not be much to you, but to the humans, it can help keep them alive in a hard place for them." "I would give it gladly," Ahnyazh moaned, still clapping and dancing as she sang, "But it is as Felldis has said. We must know the way that we can feed ourselves and live as you do - as the humans do, or all that we will make will be terrors to the rest of this world. For that," she groaned as she ran her hands over her breasts, "I ache to feed you even now, Yasmikha. I try not to tempt, but you must know that I yearn to fuck with you." Each of them stopped for a moment; Ahnyazh in front of Yasmikha and Felldis before Zhaeri, dancing in place and thrusting their hips as their tails slipped out from between their legs to move forward, coming to rest against the lips of the orc females. The demonic voices in the orcs' minds were subtle, but clearly heard. "Are we agreed?" It came from them both. With a long look at each other across the firepit and then into the eyes of the demons before them, Yasmikha and Zhaeri each took hold of the tail which slid along their lips and they opened their mouths to suck for a long moment. To anyone else there, it was just a gesture. But to the ones in that moment, it signalled an accord. The tails were released a moment later and the demons danced on while the orcs sat in surprised and pleased wonder as the dance continued for a time. They already felt a little of what began to flow in their veins. The dance went on and on, but there was an end coming. Even Ahnyazh couldn't manage to sing out the song in several parts at the same time – and clap – and dance wildly all at once. Felldis was in the same sort of paroxysm and the orc wondered why they hadn't already broken something for how they threw their bodies around that way. It ended as the demons were pulled from the circle as they each came around the fire by Kari and Yasmikha to land in their arms. Zhaeri was waiting for the other three and she caught them as they landed in a heap, all of them laughing. But it only lasted for as long as it took the laughter to fade and then they looked at each other, she and A'ishah. When they looked at the others, all that they saw were the same smoldering looks that they'd seen from the pair earlier. A'ishah needed only one good look before her own version of it was on her face. Zhaeri was in a great mood and she grinned, "I hope that I can afford the price – if you all have the desire to back up what I see now." "There is no price," Zahra smiled softly, "You and A'ishah have saved our lives and we like you. My brother has never known the touch of a woman - and I lack the same lessons - but both of us wish to learn this from you." She put her arms around A'ishah's neck and she leaned in to share a soft kiss with one of her saviours, "You are the same as we are. Teach me what you know. I have learned only a little of it but I see what you share with Zhaeri. I want that so much." With A'ishah's help, they had Zhaeri's clothes off in seconds.