Chaos God 5, page 14
part #5 of Chaos God Series
“Fuck,” I gasped.
I let my words fade away and focused on thrusting my cock in and out of Freesia’s sweet heat until she started to tremble beneath me. There was no point in holding onto my self-control any longer, so I let the fiery sensations of her moans, the scrape of her nails, and the flush of her skin consume me.
Fire burned along my nerves as the pleasure mounted, and Elora sighed contentedly beside us as I made sweet love to my red-haired beauty.
“Oh, godsss,” Freesia moaned, and the waves of her climax started to ripple around my cock. “Yeeeeees.”
The quivering ecstasy tore through Freesia and cascaded into me until I was flung over the edge into my own release. Lightning flashed behind my eyes, zinged down my spine, and exploded at the base of my spine as I pumped every last drop of my seed into her hungry pussy. The muscles in my back clenched, and I filled Freesia with my dick as we tumbled through the crashing waves together.
“Uuuuhhhh,” my red-haired lover moaned and shuddered as a second rush of pleasure ripped through her. “I looove yooou.”
“I love you, too,” I gasped as an aftershock of my own rushed along my nerves.
Then I rolled carefully to the side as I slid my shaft out of Freesia’s dripping pussy, and I wrapped one arm around each of my ladies. Elora and Freesia both curled into my chest and draped their legs over mine as they sighed with pleasure.
“I will not be able to fight sleep for long,” Elora said through a wide yawn. “I am exhausted.”
“Yes,” Freesia agreed in a tired voice. “Between the physical exertion and the passionate release, I feel like a puddle of limbs.”
“Good,” I breathed. “I’m glad I can do that for you. The good orgasms, I mean.”
My ladies giggled tiredly against my chest, and a few moments later they’d both slipped into a deep and restful sleep. I waited a while until I was certain their slumber was deep and peaceful, and then I carefully untangled myself from their embrace to rekindle the fire.
Waking up to cold embers in the morning sounded like a horrendous way to start the day, so I stoked the flames with a good few logs to keep it going for the rest of the night. Once I was certain we wouldn’t die of hypothermia in the night, I picked up a spare fur-lined blanket from the shelves and crawled back onto the low bed. The blanket was plenty big enough for the three of us, and my ladies curled back against me without waking up.
Once I felt confident that we’d be comfortable throughout the cold night, I closed my eyes and sighed with the same exhaustion my ladies had spoken of. The hike to this village had been long, and I was very grateful for the comfortable bed to sleep on tonight.
The quiet, restful blanket of a dreamless sleep held me in its embrace all night long, and I woke feeling refreshed in the morning. The first thing I noticed as I eased out of sleep was the cold air on my face, and the warmth of my ladies’ bodies against me.
“Mmmm,” Elora hummed as she started to stir beside me.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I murmured, and I kissed the top of her shining silver hair.
“Good morning,” Freesia sighed, and she stretched her arms up over her head until her joints popped. “Oooooh, that felt good.”
“It sounded good,” I chuckled. “How did you two sleep?”
“Very well,” Freesia said with a smile, and her green eyes were bright with renewed energy.
We lingered for a few minutes huddled together in the warm cocoon we’d made, but the sounds of the villagers beginning their days drew us out of the bed.
“Should we stoke the fire before we go outside?” Freesia wondered.
“No.” I shook my head as I pulled on my several layers of clothing. “I think it would be a waste of wood right now since we don’t know what the day holds for us just yet. We might be heading back to the castle before dark.”
“Good point,” Freesia sighed.
“I hope we will not be,” Elora murmured as she got dressed. “It would bring me sadness if we were dismissed from the village before understanding what is happening here or being able to provide our help.”
“Well, we should get to it, then,” I suggested. “Sounds like the people are starting to wake up and go about their days.”
We layered on our clothes, and both of my ladies even added an extra layer of the furs that Nae told us about in the houses. Elora strapped her wings on top of her clothes, and they bristled as if they were stretching after a good sleep. Then we went outside and found that Ayen and our other companions were also just coming out to start the day.
The air was a bit less biting than it had been when we’d arrived the night before, and I was pleased to see more of the dark elves going about their chores in the middle of the town.
Now that it was full daylight, I could see a few more of the blood altars around the square. The one I’d seen last night was by far the largest, but I counted three more right off the bat. The one nearest me was covered in the small off-white bones of little animals, and I recognized the distinctive shape of chicken feet wrapped to the stone pillars with a thin length of twine.
The people milled around like they were busy, but their red and dark-colored eyes kept flicking over to stare at me. The second I made eye contact with them, they averted their gaze and found something else to focus on.
“We seem to be making quite a stir in this village,” Elora murmured quietly as she walked beside me.
“Can you blame them?” Ayen smirked. “With specimens such as ourselves to see?”
“Yeah, that’s it,” I chuckled at my friend. “We’re probably the first outsiders they’ve had here in a really long time. This village is pretty isolated, and the icy winds and mountain ranges make it kind of difficult to just stumble upon.”
“Ah, good, you are awake,” Nae’s voice echoed through the village square as she strolled toward us. “I wondered if you may have gained a bit of sense and fled in the early morning hours.”
“Fled?” My face screwed up with confusion at the Valkyrie’s suggestion. “What makes you think that?”
“I was only joking,” Nae assured me. “You have no reason to flee until I share the details of our troubles with you.”
“We would be very curious to hear them… ma’am,” Ayen’s tone became slightly more respectful as he spoke, and he added the last word almost like an afterthought.
“There is no need for such formalities,” the scarred Valkyrie assured us. “You may simply call me Nae.”
“Ayen’s right, though,” I spoke up. “We’re very curious to hear what’s causing you and your people trouble here. Should we… go somewhere else to discuss the matter?”
“There is no need.” Nae shook her head, and the longer side of her gray hair bounced with the motion. “Everybody here knows of the ice that threatens us.”
Lyrie walked up then, and I couldn’t help but notice the way her black eyes scanned up and down my body before she looked at Elora and Freesia on either side of me. She wore a gray-flecked white fur around her shoulders, and her stark-white hair was loose around her face this morning. It fell in jagged and uneven layers like she’d pulled it all straight up and chopped it with a sword, but it somehow worked in her favor. The sharp angles brought out the pretty almond shape of her black eyes and the strong edge of her high cheekbones.
“Allow me to tell you how I came to this place,” Nae offered.
“I must admit,” Elora murmured. “I am very curious about how a battalion leader found herself in this place.”
“It is not what you might have expected.” Nae smirked and arched an eyebrow as she gestured vaguely toward the blood altar nearby. “Is it?”
“No,” Elora admitted in an almost bashful tone. “I apologize, but I was always under the impression that dark elves were…”
Elora struggled for a moment, and she couldn’t seem to come up with the right word.
“Barbaric?” Lyrie suggested helpfully and without shame. “Scary? Evil?”
Elora grimaced at the dark elf’s open expression and shrugged her shoulders in confirmation. “Yes?”
“The world was once filled with prejudices against many different peoples,” Nae said in a calm tone like it was just a fact of life. “I once believed as you do, but during my time here, I have come to know the dark elves for who they are.”
“How did you wind up here, Nae?” I asked to get the conversation back on track.
“I was traveling through the mountains,” Nae answered. “I’d been injured in the very first attacks of Ragnarok, and I was too weak to fly. Every one of my sisters had been killed in the battle. I barely escaped with my life. I snuck into the mountains in the hopes of evading my pursuers, and then I stumbled upon this village.”
“Not every one of your sisters,” Freesia murmured as she smiled at Elora.
“I suppose that is true.” Nae smiled at my silver-haired lover. “I hid in the trees for several days as I rested and nursed my injured shoulder, and during that time I was able to see the dark elves’ fears and worries in such a horrendous time. I was able to see beyond the appearances the world presented of them, and I saw they were no different than I.”
“Nae was discovered hiding in the upper branches by one of our elders,” Lyrie added.
“And I was caught in a very precarious position,” Nae continued with a smile. “Thankfully there were loud voices in the village who desired to make alliances wherever possible due to the state of the world at the time.”
“Where are the village elders now?” I asked, and I scanned the crowd for any elves who seemed older than the scarred Valkyrie.
“They passed long ago,” Lyrie said sadly. Then she touched the center of her forehead, the tip of her chin, and gestured up toward the sky in a respectful way. “May they rest with the gods.”
“May they rest with the gods,” the prayer-like words were repeated in somber tones by the dark elves around us.
“I have done what was in my power to keep this village safe ever since,” Nae explained. “And things were going well until a few moons past.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“The cold came.” Lyrie frowned.
“The frost killed our crops,” Nae added. “And it drove most of the animals from the forests north and south of the village.”
“I did see many squirrels among the trees on our journey here,” Ayen pointed out. “And fresh moose tracks in the snow.”
“Yes, I am sure you did,” Nae sighed. “But squirrels alone cannot feed the entire village, and the moose are sacred animals to these people. They would sooner die of starvation than hunt the moose in the forest.”
“And it may come to that if we don’t do something,” Lyrie said in a nervous voice.
“What I do not understand,” an older male elf with rich mahogany skin said. “Is what has changed in the last few moons. Why has this cold come so suddenly and with so much force?”
“I think I might have an idea,” I said, and I glanced at my companions.
Elora and Freesia both seemed to know exactly what I was thinking, and they gave me the tiniest nods of confirmation.
“The lands to the south and east were enormous fields of active volcanoes and flowing lava until about four moons ago,” I explained.
“What do you mean?” Nae asked. “They are no longer lava and volcanoes?”
“No.” I shook my head. “You see… I kind of found the Vanir Njord and rescued him from the depths of Helheim itself. As a show of gratitude for my actions, he used the last of his life force to quench the lava fields, and they’ve since turned to solid black rock. They’re cool enough now to walk upon, which is how we got here from my castle.”
“My gods,” Nae gasped, and even her metallic wings seemed to perk up with surprise.
“I don’t think I can do much to stop the cold.” I frowned. “But we have plenty of good growing space…”
“It is not the cold alone that threatens our survival here,” Nae said as she held up a hand to stop me. “And if you were indeed able to save a god from Helheim… perhaps you are up to the challenge we face.”
I just shrugged and nodded because I didn’t feel like I had to say again how much I wanted to help. If the older Valkyrie didn’t think I could help them after hearing about Njord, then I didn’t know how to convince her.
“We should show him.” Kine startled me with his sudden appearance, and the look on his dark blue-gray face made me think he would be rather pleased if I ran away in fear after that. “If he still desires to help us after he has seen our altars.”
“Kine, you presume too much.” Nae practically rolled her eyes at the male archer. “Levi and his people saw your altar last night, and they are still here.”
“What?” I asked with a touch of innocent confusion in my voice, and I pointed directly at the head-chopping block and pool of blood. “You mean these?”
“Yes, these,” Kine almost growled at me. “We will not give up our traditions, nor will we be shamed for the way our power comes to us. Blood and body sacrifice have kept my people alive for millennia.”
“Dude, chill out,” I grumbled under my breath, but I covered the words with a harsh clearing of my throat. “It doesn’t look like you’re actively chopping the heads off of your own people. In fact, based on the altar over there and your dwindling of resources, I’d guess you use mostly demons and small animals. I’ve killed tens of thousands of demons myself, and my people and I hunt and butcher animals every day to stay alive. Granted, we tend to use them as food and to make clothing and tools, but it looks like you’re basically doing the same thing.”
I glanced around at all the dark elves gathered around us for confirmation, and the slight shrugs of their shoulders and the placid looks on their faces told me my assumptions were right.
“I’m not here to take away your traditions,” I said as I looked right at Kine’s disgruntled face. “I see no reason to interfere with your rituals.”
“Which is wise,” Kine grumbled through gritted teeth. “You will be astounded by the power our blood magic allows us to wield.”
The unwelcoming, almost hostile, male elf sneered openly at me and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Calm down, Kine,” Nae urged. “We have no reason to quarrel with these people.”
The Valkyrie waved her hand as if she could soothe the dark elf with a gesture. Kine scoffed and took one step back, but he didn’t stop glaring at me.
“Follow me, please.” The scarred light elf looked at me as she waved at Lyrie and another male elf with heather-gray hair and skin the color of the Black Plains. “We shall discuss this further and see what you think.”
I nodded at my companions, and we all followed Nae over to the large communal fire pit in the middle of the village. There were a series of short, flat stones in concentric circles around it like seats in a three-sixty amphitheater. Nae, Lyrie, and the black-skinned male sat down, so I followed their lead and gestured for my companions to have a seat.
As we settled around the fire, I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that these people had magic. They were the first magic users I’d met besides myself and Sylmarie. I didn’t really include Gaelyra because her only source of magic had been the amulet I’d broken to free the villagers from her control.
The tiniest spark of hope ignited in my chest at the thought of learning more about my magic and how it worked from the dark elves. But I shoved it down because, while I wouldn’t hold their blood magic against the dark elves, I knew there was no way I would do that kind of magic. And it was possible they wouldn’t know a damn thing more about my shifting magic than I did.
“Do we get to hear what you have not told us now?” Ayen asked, and though his tone was polite, there was impatience in his midnight-blue eyes.
“You mentioned a chasm in the surface of the world,” Nae murmured. “There is a chasm of ice and snow just north of our village.”
“Yes, I’ve seen it,” I said as I thought back to the much darker chasm Elora and I had seen on our first flight in the area.
“The frigid weather comes from its depths,” Nae explained. “And I fear there is more than just ice below.”
“The chasm I dealt with before was filled with demons,” I explained. “Hundreds of thousands of demons.”
“Levi saved my village from them,” Freesia added with a loving smile.
“That is very impressive,” Nae murmured. “But I do not believe it is demons within our chasm.”
I started to ask what else could be down there, but I got my answer when the wind shifted.
A brisk chill blasted through the village, and on it was the horrific rotting stench of the undead Draugr.
“Draugr!” I shouted as I shot to my feet.
Chapter 11
“Draugar!” Elora gasped as she covered her nose and mouth with her hand. Then she groaned, and her whole face drained of any color as the nauseating stench wafted through the village.
“Everyone!” Nae called in a clear and calm voice. “High alert! Prepare to defend this place!”
Several of the villagers screamed and started to race inside the nearest buildings. The sudden panic all around me sent a spike of terror through me on behalf of my red-haired healer, and Freesia was my first priority. I turned around until she was locked in my sights, and I sighed with the tiniest bit of relief as I saw she was just as fine as she had been a few seconds before. It was just enough to get my brain working properly again, and I pointed toward the nearest house.
“Freesia!” I hissed. “Get inside with the others. Now!”
My half-elf lover didn’t hesitate, and she bolted to the nearest house where I was glad to see the mother and young child from yesterday ushering her inside. The red-eyed mother gave me a compassionate look and a strong nod before she closed the door between us, and I knew she’d keep my half-elf as safe as her own child.
After that, I was able to focus completely on the threat that was approaching our positions like a fog that smelled of rotting fish.
