Nexus, page 23
My stomach rumbled and he smiled in triumph. “Want food now,” I said, wondering how I could kill this thing without him rupturing anything else inside me.
“I don’t have any food with me,” he said peevishly.
“Hungry!” I roared and he flinched backwards. I swung my club while he was distracted, but his fear was fake. He ducked under it, then tackled me to the ground, proving he was far stronger than I’d expected. Pressing himself against my gut as he held my hands against the ground, the mouth on his torso began to chew.
I screamed in pain when the metal teeth sheared through my thick skin and reached blubber. Blood sprayed both of us and I thrashed to try to knock him off. Laughing in delight, the overlord lowered his head to my chest and bit into my gigantic boob.
“Get him off me!” I shrieked.
Ruen was there in a flash, standing on my meaty thigh as he tried to pull the overlord off me. Aurora jumped onto my chest and pecked the metal creature on the head. Her beak bounced off his skull without affecting him.
Already weak from using so much energy to run here, blood loss would steal what strength I had left. Soon, he would chew through my fat to something vital and then my life would end.
Aurora went for the overlord’s eyes, beak darting at the glowing orbs. He brushed her away with a sweep of his hand, letting go of my arm in the process. I got my hand under his chin and pushed upwards just as I saw something huge and gray looming over us. Realizing the giant had woken from his short coma, I threw the demon under the bus. “The overlord stole the spell fragment!” I shouted.
The giant roared loudly enough to stun us all as the noise reverberated around the cave. He reached down and picked the overlord up. Holding onto his body with one hand, he pulled my enemy’s head off as easily as plucking the petals from a flower.
We stared up in astonishment as the overlord’s legs kicked for a few seconds before going still. The magic I sensed leaking from the metal corpse was stronger this time. The guardian tossed the body and head aside and they landed with loud clangs. He glowered down at us when he realized I’d lied and that his foe didn’t have the fragment at all.
Aurora did the only thing that could save us and raced over to peck him on the toe again. This time, I didn’t have the strength to roll aside when the giant climaxed a few seconds later. Ruen leapt clear, but I became coated from head to toe in semen once again. I’d barely had time to put my hands over my face so I didn’t drown in it.
Ruen went into helpless peals of laughter at the sight of me dripping in jizz again. Badly wounded and bleeding heavily from being gnawed on, I weakly struggled to my feet. The vampire was leaning against the wall, unable to stand up properly as bloody tears rolled down his face.
Picking him up, I squashed his face between my boobs, rubbing the giant’s goo all over him until he was coated in it. “Now you know what it feels like,” I said vindictively and dropped him to the ground. He gaped up at me, then we were both laughing hysterically.
Chapter Fifty-One
AURORA WAS TOO WORN out from using her magic on so many beings to protest about getting sticky when I picked her up. Ruen grabbed our gear, then we scurried to the exit as quickly as we could.
“What’s going to happen now that the overlord is dead?” I asked, speaking in a whisper just in case some guards were stationed nearby. I couldn’t feel any, but I was rattled and in pain and found it hard to concentrate. The vampire had eradicated every soldier that had been in the cave.
“I have no idea,” Ruen replied. “I suppose someone else will have to step up and lead this realm.” We reached the exit and he paused to examine me. I was hunched over, with my wounded boob and gut throbbing in agony. “How badly are you injured?”
“The overlord didn’t chew his way through to my organs, but it freaking hurts. The bleeding seems to have stopped, though. I think the gunk is actually helping to seal the wounds.”
“Ogres are tough and I guess they heal quickly,” he figured. “The semen will cover our scents, which might confuse the trackers long enough for us to escape.”
“We should use a different way to get back to the gate,” I suggested. Aurora shook her head, then gestured towards the direction we’d come from. “We have to go through the crevice and the city?” I surmised. She nodded, talons grasping for purchase on my slippery shoulder.
“Come on,” Ruen said, still keyed up from the battle. “Let’s get as far away from here as we can before dawn arrives.”
Skirting around the compound, we headed to the cleft between the cliffs. It was easier for me to slide through the crevice this time, thanks to the sticky coating. I did my best not to scrape the areas where I’d been bitten, but it wasn’t easy.
It wouldn’t be long before someone would be sent to investigate the cave when the overlord didn’t return to the city. My wounds felt slightly better, but I was in no shape to continue walking once the sun began to rise. Ruen found a shallow cave a short distance from the road. He entered first and I had to crawl in after him. He died once the sun came up and I lay down beside him to shield him from the rays.
Aurora stationed herself in front of me to keep watch. The last thing I felt before sleep dragged me under was her brushing her wing over my cheek soothingly.
Hunger woke me up late in the afternoon. Aurora’s head was tucked beneath her wing and she was fast asleep. My bulk protected Ruen from the sun, but he would be exposed once I left the cave. I stuffed him into the sack, checking to make sure the scroll was still there. It was and it was still glowing with faint light. Magic had kept it intact for thousands of years, protecting it from dirt, damp and anything else that would have destroyed normal paper.
The giant’s emissions had dried and hardened. It was tempting to scrape it off, but Ruen’s suggestion that it might hide our trail stayed with me. Leaving it in place, I cautiously stretched when I emerged from the cave. My wounds were healing, but they still hurt like a bitch.
I couldn’t sense any guards nearby, so I went hunting for food. I threw rocks at a flock of hideous birds with leathery wings and mangy fur to knock them from a tree. I’d grown used to eating animals raw, so I tossed them into my maw whole. It might freak Aurora out if she saw me eating her distant kin, so I didn’t carry any of them back to the cave with me.
Even after eating a dozen birds and a couple of piglike beasts, I was still ravenous. Healing took a lot out of me, it seemed. I couldn’t find anything else to eat, so I trudged back to the cave shortly before nightfall.
Aurora was awake and was pacing anxiously when I arrived. She gave a glad cry and raced over to meet me. “I’m okay,” I said, tiredly scooping her up. “Did anything happen while I was gone?” She shook her head and snuggled against my chest, ignoring the caked-on goop that covered me.
The sack rustled, then Ruen cautiously stuck his head out. He snickered when he saw the dubious coat of armor I’d acquired. “I wish I had a camera to record this sight,” he said.
“You’re coated in it, too,” I reminded him.
His upper lip lifted to show his fangs. “I forgot,” he said ruefully. “How are you feeling?”
His concern was surprising, since I didn’t think he actually cared about me. Then again, he needed me to get him back to the gate safe and sound. “I feel a bit better,” I replied. “I did some hunting while you were sleeping, but I need more food.”
“Maybe you can steal some from the food stalls when we pass through the city,” he joked.
“Good idea,” I agreed, taking his suggestion seriously. “I don’t have the energy to run, so let’s get moving.”
“I need to feed,” he said, sidling around me to exit the shallow cave. “I’ll catch up to you.”
Sighing in resignation, I grabbed our gear while he went in search of a meal. Aurora didn’t argue about being stuffed in my sack. She probably felt safer being out of sight. I started trudging along the road and sensed Ruen coming a few minutes later. He’d found something to eat and was content once more. He also gave me a few bird carcasses to snack on.
It took us a few hours to reach the outskirts of the city. My sidekick walked beside me, easily keeping up with my slow pace. “Get in the sack,” I ordered, coming to a stop when we were close to the city.
Ruen grumbled beneath his breath, but he knew better than to argue with an irritated ogre. Now that we’d accomplished our task, I just wanted to go home. I planned to take a shower, eat a huge meal, sleep for a week, then spend the following week gaming. I deserved a break after my efforts and I was going to take it.
Once the vampire was hidden in my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and continued my journey.
A guard spotted me as I approached the entrance to the city and instantly panicked. “The ogre is back!” he shouted and screams rang out. I was too tired to increase my pace as I entered the city.
Soldiers came running, carrying spears and shields. “What do we do?” one of the lackeys asked, nearly gibbering in fear.
“Get the Captain!” someone else decided.
A guard took off running, while the rest of them followed me at a distance. He returned with the same guy who’d called the shots the last time. “Has it attacked anyone?” the captain asked, buckling his shield on his arm in determination.
“Not yet, sir.”
“Do you want us to kill it?”
“Maybe if we all rush it together, we might be able to take it down.”
I cut a look at the idiot who’d suggested that and bared my tusks at him. He blanched and melted to the back of the growing crowd.
“What do you want?” the captain asked, enunciating his words loudly and clearly, as if I was hard of hearing as well as stupid.
“Food,” I replied wearily. “Hungry.”
“What the hell happened to it?” someone muttered. “Why is it coated in that yellow stuff?”
“Ogre orgy,” I lied.
“Ew,” he said, screwing up his nose. I still hadn’t gotten used to seeing their heads in their chests and almost burst into snickers.
“Maybe if we give it food, it’ll go away,” the captain mused.
“It looks tired and wounded,” a lacky said speculatively. “I think we should kill it while it’s weak.”
Snarling in anger at his threat, I darted forward and picked him up. Knocking his spear away, I shoved him into my mouth until only his feet were showing.
“Don’t eat him!” the captain shouted, holding his unarmed hand up peacefully before I could bite down on his subordinate. “Let him go and we’ll give you all the food you want!”
I’d only been pretending to eat the minion, but my threat had worked better than I’d hoped. Screaming and thrashing, the soldier squirmed in my mouth. He began crying in terror, so I decided he’d had enough and spat him out. Covered in ogre spit, he bowled into some of his buddies, knocking them all down.
“Food! Now!” I demanded belligerently.
“Follow me,” the captain said. “Keep your distance from it,” he ordered his troops. “Don’t threaten it. We’ll let it take what it wants and maybe we’ll all make it out of this alive.” He courageously led the way along the main road with his lackeys following twenty feet behind me.
Chapter Fifty-Two
RUEN’S MUFFLED SNICKERS came from inside the sack. Aurora’s feathers rustled as she shifted position, then his giggles became more muted. She must have put her wing over his mouth. I plodded along, stomach growling loudly enough to draw curious people to their doorways as I passed their houses. Some screamed and ran. Others gaped in wonder and fear at our procession.
The captain led me to the food stalls that had been repaired after my short rampage. The owners of the stalls fled the moment they saw me. I had a long walk back to the gate and needed to replenish my energy. This would be an easy way to stock up on supplies.
“Take anything you want,” the captain said, gesturing at the plethora of food. “Just don’t eat anyone and we’ll let you leave peacefully.”
An empty wicker basket that stood about four feet high was standing next to one of the stalls. Picking it up by the handle, I started filling it with bread, vegetables, fruit, dried meat and all sorts of edible goods.
“Is it going to leave any food for us?” one of the soldiers muttered petulantly, then hunched his shoulders protectively when I glowered at him. “Take it!” he blurted. “Take it all!”
“Moron,” I muttered beneath my breath, which sent Ruen into a fresh fit of giggles. My sack was still damp from the ooze he secreted. Not even his coating of jizz could halt the flow.
Once the basket was full, I flipped the lid shut and heaved it over my shoulder next to the sack. I needed one hand free, just in case I had to club someone to death.
“Are you done?” the captain asked in a slightly acerbic tone. “Will you leave now?”
“Yep,” I replied. “Thanks,” I added, to his amazement.
Confused that an ogre could be polite, he and his men escorted me through the city, then watched me trudge away with my spoils.
As soon as we were out of sight around a bend, I put the basket down and let my friends out of the sack. Ruen opened the basket to peer inside. “There’s enough food in here to last you for a month,” he exclaimed. Aurora held her wing up imploringly, so he picked her up so she could take a look. Her head darted down to grab a bread roll and she began to munch on it contentedly.
“I’m going to need to eat as much as I can if we want to make it back to the gate quickly,” I reminded him. “Unless you want to walk all the way back.”
That would take at least ten days at my current pace and he shook his head. “I suggest we avoid the road and cut through the wilderness again. Once the army discovers their overlord is dead, they’ll be enraged and they might want revenge.”
“You carry the sacks,” I ordered. “I’ll carry the basket and eat while we’re walking.”
He obediently picked up our belongings and tucked the bird beneath his arm. The fact that he didn’t argue with me meant he was anxious to leave. I picked up my pace as he led the way down the road. We needed to get clear of the cliffs before we could lose ourselves in the wilderness.
Stuffing handfuls of food into my mouth, I chewed and swallowed methodically without tasting any of it. My stomach slowly became full and the healing process sped up. After three nights of constantly feeding and plodding along, I’d devoured most of the food. My gut and boob had healed and I was back to my original size.
“I can’t believe you ate all of that food so quickly,” Ruen said in disgusted amazement when he woke up.
“Says the leech who keeps drinking so much blood that he sloshes with it,” I retorted.
A dreamy look came over him at the fond memory of slaughtering his meals. “I’ll never forget this mission. Not for as long as I live.”
“Neither will I,” I said with a grimace. My memories would be far less pleasant than his.
Ruen went off to hunt and I quickly devoured the dregs of food in the bottom of the basket. Aurora took a bread roll when I held it out to her. “It’s the last one,” I warned her. She didn’t need to eat much and could make it last for a few days if she needed to. Nodding, she allowed me to place her on my shoulder. She gripped my skin with her feet and tucked the roll beneath her injured wing.
I took off at a jog, meeting up with the vampire as he returned. I already had all of our gear, so he didn’t need to backtrack. “Can I get a ride?” he asked, holding his thumb out like a hitchhiker.
My response was to grab his arm and swing him up onto my back on my way past. Chortling in glee when I began to sprint, he clung to me with one arm around my neck and his bony knees digging into the flab on my back.
It took four nights to return to the area where the gate was located. I made sure to give the ogres a wide berth this time. Aurora could sense the gate and all the others that were scattered around the realm. We’d found her close to the one we’d used to get here, so she knew exactly where we wanted to go. Going through another portal could take us to another country for all I knew.
“We should slow down and approach the gate slowly,” Ruen suggested when we reached the foothills of the mountain. “The overlord might have sent more soldiers to guard it after learning about our arrival.”
“Good idea,” I said, then shucked him off. I was panting hard from my long sprint and needed to eat again. I’d become an expert at snatching up prey and eating on the run. Ruen had drained the blood from most of my food. Aurora had eaten grass seeds and insects after she’d finished her roll.
We kept our senses on full alert as we scaled the small mountain. The barracks was empty, but we could smell fresh scents. “Several guards were here recently,” Ruen figured. “They were heading for the gate.”
“Should we kill them if we catch up to them?” I asked.
His eyes gleamed with glee at that prospect. “Only if we have to,” he said, unaware of the longing in his tone.
It was still early and dawn was hours away, so we got moving. Neither of us could sense, smell or hear anyone on the trail. We saved time by using the path rather than forcing our way through the trees and shrubs.
We had a clear view of the valley below when we reached the summit of the mountain. Two groups of soldiers were heading towards each other, but were still some distance away from meeting. Their flaming torches gave away their positions.
“They’ll stop to talk for a while,” Ruen predicted. “If we hurry, we might be able to skirt around them and make it back to the gate before they even know we’re here.”
“You mean we aren’t going to slaughter them all so you can tear their eyelids off and suck their orbs from their lidless sockets?” I said sardonically.
“Not this time,” he said primly, pretending he hadn’t gone on a disturbing monologue about all the ways he wanted to maim and kill our adversaries.
