493 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
493 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
Narnya 2, 0320
|
|
|
|
The date was Nenime' 11, and that meant I had a promise to keep.
|
|
Not the kind of promise I'd begrudge, but certainly a responsibility
|
|
I didn't particularly enjoy having just because I don't like
|
|
responsibility.
|
|
|
|
But I awoke early and checked the weather to make sure that at
|
|
least the morning promised to be warm and sunny, which it thankfully
|
|
would. I smiled and, trying desperately not to awaken P'nyssa,
|
|
stuffed the gear I'd want for the day into a waterproof bag. I made
|
|
my way to the roof and leapt down the controlled-G slide to the
|
|
lagoon sands, then out to the beach. Off shore about
|
|
half-a-kilometer away was the Succubus, my sailboat. I looked
|
|
through the glasses at her to make sure that there wasn't anything
|
|
visibly wrong with her from here, threw the bag around my shoulders
|
|
and dove into the calm ocean. The swim was hardly difficult; the bag
|
|
was mostly buoyant and I'm in reasonably good shape. I reached her
|
|
and swam between the center and starboard hulls to the back where
|
|
the ladder was dropped. As I swam I checked for barnacles and rot
|
|
(okay, they're technically not barnacles, since all Pendorian life is
|
|
diverged from Terran development in the trancellular era; they still
|
|
smell bad and screw up the dynamics of boat hulls), and there didn't
|
|
seem to be much of either. I clambered up the ladder and onto the
|
|
rear deck, hauling the bag up after I had decent footing.
|
|
|
|
The Succubus seemed to be in working order, and the water and
|
|
food stocks were still more than sufficient for the short outing I
|
|
was about to take her on. I unwrapped the protective canvas from the
|
|
sail and checked the lines. That's when I realized I had
|
|
forgotten... Oh, hell, I thought. I ran forward and pulled up the
|
|
forward storage compartment. Damn! I had forgotten to bring the new
|
|
jib in; all I had were these two jibs from previous vessels, one of
|
|
which was too damned large for this boat, and the other was far far
|
|
too small. I swore again. The last time I'd tried to use these
|
|
things the weather had been so accursed as to make my life hell; take
|
|
one up, change, change, change. I shrugged and decided to live with
|
|
the smaller one. So I wouldn't move nearly as fast as I had hoped
|
|
to. Until I got that Kilm jib in place I was out of luck.
|
|
|
|
I hauled up on the main sail, put the keel in place and lowered
|
|
the rudder. Without the jib I slowly maneuvered her to spinward and
|
|
to port, trying to avoid the larger reefs surrounding Monastery Isle.
|
|
|
|
After putting to open sea, I hauled out my maps and the inertial
|
|
compass (what do expect on a ringworld? A sextant? Like Hell!) and
|
|
plotted a course for Shipping SDisk S111. There was naught to do but
|
|
wait. I tested the wind, decided on the larger jib, and was mildly
|
|
pleased to note that it seemed to be sufficient for the job. I ate
|
|
nuts and fruit and drank lots of water and sat under the rudderwell's
|
|
canopy.
|
|
|
|
Handling a ten-meter trimaran is a breeze, so long as that's all
|
|
you've got for wind. Blessedly, there wasn't any weather pattern
|
|
threatening either here or at my destination that would make my life
|
|
difficult, and well before dark I arrived at my destination, as far
|
|
as I could tell. I set the rudder to full tilt, latched it down and
|
|
dropped sails. I waited.
|
|
|
|
And waited. Night came. Shipping SDisks are cranky things, and
|
|
I could wait here for a while, or I could drift out of range. They
|
|
can also be subtle. If it weren't for the fact that the lights
|
|
changed and the horizon suddenly went down instead of up, I may not
|
|
have noticed the change at all.
|
|
|
|
But it is hard to miss the horizon, and the stars, and the lack
|
|
of neighboring daylight regions blazing away in the million-of-klick
|
|
distance. When I finally looked up and saw these things, I jumped to
|
|
my feet, determined my position (Shipping SDisk P009) and set sail.
|
|
On Pandora, directions are more familiar; I was headed about forty
|
|
degrees off magnetic north. After a few hours of gauging my
|
|
headspeed and distance from the SDisk, I spotted my target, a small
|
|
hump of an island off in the dark distance, with a single lantern
|
|
indicating my eventual landing spot.
|
|
|
|
I dropped anchor and slowly went about closing up the Succubus.
|
|
This simple daytrip had been short and pleasant, and she had safely
|
|
brought me to this different shore, and she would bear me home again,
|
|
if I cared for her. I remembered a phrase I had heard a long time
|
|
ago- "In Space, like the Sea, your second mistake is the one that
|
|
kills you."
|
|
|
|
I once again stripped down to my shorts and packed my clothes
|
|
into the bag. I wandered over her deck one last time to make sure
|
|
everything was perfect, then jumped over the side.
|
|
|
|
The moment I hit the warm ocean water I knew something was up;
|
|
there was a definite tug on the bag, and as I clung to it the tug got
|
|
stronger, so I gave it up; it vanished into the waves. I began to
|
|
swim towards shore and the waves bore me swiftly. When I clambered
|
|
out of the simple surf onto the shore I was not surprised to find my
|
|
yellow bag waiting for me. I retrieved it and walked up to the
|
|
lantern I'd spotted earlier. There was a little yellow note attached
|
|
to the tree underneath with a thumbtack. It read in Centaur, her
|
|
language of choice, "Ken, if you find this note I'm still out getting
|
|
dinner. Make yourself at home. You know the way. O."
|
|
|
|
I smiled, and made my way along the path towards the rather
|
|
impressive marble structure that was my hostess's home. I found the
|
|
doors unlocked and the lanterns lit. The foyer was large and despite
|
|
the heat it seemed cold, mostly because of the exposed white marble.
|
|
The inner rooms were better prepared, with tapestries of classic (and
|
|
not so classic) scenes from her past. I lay down on a cushioned
|
|
bench and waited, helping myself to some of the wine in the meantime.
|
|
|
|
She wasn't long in arriving. She walked in from the back,
|
|
dressed in a flowing purple toga and having perfectly arranged little
|
|
flowers in her almost floor-length flowing blonde hair. She smiled
|
|
when she saw me, walked a little bit quicker and settled onto the
|
|
couch, leaning into me and kissing me, just like she had last time.
|
|
"You came," she said.
|
|
|
|
"Would I miss this?" I asked. "Once in a blue moon you invite
|
|
me in to dinner, and I'm going to bow out?"
|
|
|
|
"You have," she said accusatorily.
|
|
|
|
"Only when it was something you knew I couldn't avoid, Oenone.
|
|
And if I let half the people in my life take up two days out of the
|
|
year every year I'd never have time for the other half."
|
|
|
|
She smiled.
|
|
|
|
"You know," I said, "you could be more sociable."
|
|
|
|
"No." Her face darkened.
|
|
|
|
"Why not? What are you afraid of? Look, I know what
|
|
happened..."
|
|
|
|
"You do not know what happened! You do not know what he said,
|
|
or how he left, or how long I sat waiting for him to return while he
|
|
was off protecting his goddamned city all because of that bitch!"
|
|
She seized my wine goblet and threw it across the room.
|
|
|
|
"You haven't forgotten, have you?"
|
|
|
|
"How could I forget? For you, Ken, and for everyone, that's
|
|
myth, it's unimportant, it happened six thousand years ago! For me,
|
|
I was there, it was only a few hundred years, and I was dying when
|
|
you came for me, and do you know how surprising that is? Do you?
|
|
How many people are there who can time travel, Ken?"
|
|
|
|
"Enough," I said. Too many, I thought. Too bad I'm not one of
|
|
them anymore.
|
|
|
|
"Then why, out of all of them, did you come and save me? I'm a
|
|
one liner in an obscure poem!"
|
|
|
|
"I felt saddened for you. That's no way to treat a goddess."
|
|
|
|
"Nymph, Ken. The correct word is nymph."
|
|
|
|
"I'll agree to that. Can't toast to it, though, you threw my
|
|
glass away."
|
|
|
|
"You've been hitting the wine a little early."
|
|
|
|
"Guilty, as charged," I said. She turned to the winestain she'd
|
|
made on the far wall and with a simple wiping gesture made it go
|
|
away. Then two more glasses came dancing out of the kitchen of their
|
|
own volition, filled with wine that just would not spill. I could do
|
|
that, too, with AI, biocybe, and gravitics; the fact that Oenone did
|
|
it with something far older and more profound than science still made
|
|
my mouth dry.
|
|
|
|
I cured the dryness by sipping wine. "Do we eat, or do I simply
|
|
ravish you here?" I asked.
|
|
|
|
"Men," she said. "Thinking either with their stomachs or their
|
|
phalluses."
|
|
|
|
"Or both."
|
|
|
|
"Or both," she agreed. "But you're right. I did have dinner
|
|
prepared." She rose and walked back into the kitchen, emerging a few
|
|
minutes later with cold stone crabs and shrimp and a soup that was
|
|
simply the finest meal I'd had in some time.
|
|
|
|
It took time to crack shells and dig out the meats, so I asked
|
|
her, "Be calm, sweetheart, and just tell me why you don't come out
|
|
that often."
|
|
|
|
She sighed and said, "Because I can't. Because I can't trust
|
|
people like I need to to go out. I can't... I can't forget."
|
|
|
|
"You trust me," I said.
|
|
|
|
"But you're different. You're like me. Call it science instead
|
|
of magic, but you're as much a godling as I am, Shardik. Together we
|
|
built the Great Hall, you and me and Rhys and Raine and Timor. You I
|
|
can understand, and like I said, I trust you because you care enough.
|
|
The proof is in the day, but that kind of proof isn't as forthcoming
|
|
from others."
|
|
|
|
"But with the SDisk network and the science of the day you need
|
|
never be alone."
|
|
|
|
"I don't want to be hurt."
|
|
|
|
"Being hurt is part of being human."
|
|
|
|
"I am not human!" she said in a shout that shook the walls and
|
|
darkened the lanterns, a shout that threatened to storm the island
|
|
and wreck the Succubus. Just as quickly the storm passed.
|
|
|
|
"No, you're right. Nor is the majority of Pendor. By
|
|
population alone the felines take that. But, you are alive."
|
|
|
|
"Yes, I am alive. In fact, I was the first living thing to walk
|
|
on the surface of Pendor without benefit of life support, before you
|
|
had put the water in, even. That was not easy, you know."
|
|
|
|
"I can imagine. Look, Oenone, you choose not to... fade... the
|
|
way you were about to. You chose to go into statis until year one,
|
|
to begin living your life again when life again walked the lands and
|
|
people painted song and wrote pretty pictures. Do you know that
|
|
there are people out there who've named their children after you?"
|
|
|
|
"There are?" She seemed honestly impressed.
|
|
|
|
"Yep. In fact, I'm willing to bet some of them are even human.
|
|
You could walk around and nobody would know who you were. You just
|
|
need never claim to be 'the Oenone.' Besides, there are quite a
|
|
number of 'Kens' and 'Pauls' and 'Carrolls' on Pendor, too, and
|
|
nobody asks if they're really the Shardiks." It was happening again.
|
|
I could feel the simple pull towards her, the desire to bed this
|
|
woman, this goddess in the ancient sense that Terrans could feel in
|
|
their bones as she walked by. I knew exactly who the two people she
|
|
likes to collectively refer to as "That Bitch and Her Bastard" were,
|
|
and personally, they got the short end of the stick.
|
|
|
|
"Oenone?" I said, quietly.
|
|
|
|
"Hmm?" she said, looking up brightly.
|
|
|
|
"I love you."
|
|
|
|
"I know, and you can't help it, either." She giggled. "But I'm
|
|
glad it's you, Ken."
|
|
|
|
"Me too," I said, leaning over to kiss her. She leaned over the
|
|
table and kissed me back, her lips soft and warm on mine and then she
|
|
opened her mouth and her tongue flowed into mine, hot and wonderful.
|
|
|
|
We rose from the table and she escorted me back to the stairs
|
|
which led down to her bedroom. The ocean lapped at the third step
|
|
from the top, but I had long ago gotten used to her bedroom being
|
|
completely underwater. She led me down, and as I went under I
|
|
expelled all the air in my lungs and inhaled deeply; what met my
|
|
lungs wasn't water, but it wasn't quite air, either. She smiled as
|
|
she always did at my expression.
|
|
|
|
I looked around, noting that the water felt warm and
|
|
comfortable; I wouldn't get cold in this. There were no Drexlells
|
|
keeping me alive; this was magick, pure and simple, and it was
|
|
something I barely understood, but it was entirely hers to play with,
|
|
even if Neptune himself was an ancient memory long forgotten and gone
|
|
away. I felt slightly heavy, and settled to the floor of her
|
|
bedroom. Her incredible hair floated free in the seawater, as did
|
|
mine. I kept brushing it back. She laughed.
|
|
|
|
"Well," I said defensively, "I haven't got anything to keep it
|
|
under control with."
|
|
|
|
"Try this," she said, and with a small gesture it fell back into
|
|
place about my shoulders. "Better?"
|
|
|
|
"Much." I kicked towards her and coasted until we met. I
|
|
wrapped my arms around her and felt her body heat flow meet mine. We
|
|
kissed again, and as we did her hands undid what minimal clothing I
|
|
was wearing.
|
|
|
|
As they strayed over my groin, her fingers brushed against my
|
|
cock, and she ran her sharp fingernails up along the length of it;
|
|
that sent sharp shocks through my spine, and I closed my eyes in
|
|
pleasure. I heard her giggle again.
|
|
|
|
I found the knot in her toga and undid it. I parted from her
|
|
and floated free, trying to unwrap her from it; she laughed that
|
|
oh-so-feminine laugh and helped me. I was still slightly tipsy.
|
|
Underneath it she was magnificent; to most people, she was a touch
|
|
overweight, a touch too soft in the middle, but my personal
|
|
preferences run that way, toward the more 'classical' woman. I
|
|
reached down and ran my hand over the soft skin of her belly,
|
|
floating back towards her and pulling her towards me. We settled
|
|
back down onto the bed. I thought that it was a lot like making love
|
|
in zero-g, the air was just a little thicker, a little more viscous.
|
|
|
|
Her hands wrapped around me as mine did her, straying down
|
|
towards her ass and stroking the soft skin there. She giggled as my
|
|
fingers sought between her cheeks. She pushed away and floated down
|
|
towards my cock, taking it into her mouth and closing down on it in
|
|
one gulp. In the buoyant water I maneuvered around and tried to
|
|
reach her pussy, but she wouldn't let me. Instead, she held me in
|
|
place and sucked rapturously on my cock, her head bobbing up and
|
|
down, her hair following free in the sea. I smiled as her insistent
|
|
sucking brought me closer and closer to orgasm. I reached down; I
|
|
wanted to do something, but her hands brushed mine away. I lay there
|
|
passively as she sucked my cock for all it worth, and when I came I
|
|
screamed out her name in ecstasy.
|
|
|
|
She looked up at me, smiling, a small droplet of my come at the
|
|
corner of her mouth breaking free and floating up towards the
|
|
surface. That made me laugh. "Still good?" she asked.
|
|
|
|
"Still the best. Come here."
|
|
|
|
"No," she said. "Lie there, and I'll be right back." She rose
|
|
from the bed and floated up towards the dry dining room we'd been in
|
|
earlier, returning after a few minutes with refilled wine glasses.
|
|
"Drink this," she said.
|
|
|
|
"What is it? A love potion?"
|
|
|
|
"Something stronger."
|
|
|
|
I looked at her with this dubious half-smile, than downed the
|
|
wine. She did the same. As I did, I felt revitalized, strengthened.
|
|
"What was that?"
|
|
|
|
"Well, there was some magic in it, just a little. However, the
|
|
main ingredient is phenylethylamine."
|
|
|
|
"Wow. Quite a kick to it. I feel much better now."
|
|
|
|
"Good. I was hoping you would."
|
|
|
|
"Any reason you need me at full capacity, O?" I asked.
|
|
|
|
"You'll see." She slid towards me on the bed and kissed me
|
|
deeply, our tongues meeting again. I noticed that I couldn't smell
|
|
anything, but that was okay; the fullness of Oenone filled my senses.
|
|
I let my hands stray between her thighs and stroked the thick patch
|
|
of pubic hair she had, my fingers stroking between her pubic lips. A
|
|
small moan escaped her through our kissing, and I smiled through as
|
|
well. She backed off a little and I looked into her demigod eyes.
|
|
"Fuck me," she said.
|
|
|
|
"How do you want it?" Whatever she had given me was not just
|
|
some amphetamine. But it did have that arrogance that goes with it.
|
|
I felt empowered.
|
|
|
|
"From the rear, Ken. Like this." She knelt on the bed and
|
|
leaned over full, her head lying on the pillow. She grabbed handfuls
|
|
of the bedsheets to keep from moving in the increased buoyancy. I
|
|
came up behind her, between her parted legs, my erection in hand. I
|
|
paused for a moment to run my hands on her ample, beautifully smooth
|
|
ass, and then I positioned my cock at the entrance to her cunny.
|
|
With one hand on my cock and one on the small of her back, I slid
|
|
into her. Her tight cunt wrapped around my cock and I could feel,
|
|
really feel, her outer lips tightening further around the base of my
|
|
cock.
|
|
|
|
I grabbed her hips and began to stroke her cunt, slowly. As I
|
|
did, I heard her muttering something in another language, one I
|
|
didn't know; it wasn't Centaur or Quen, and as she did this other,
|
|
equally empowering feeling settled over me. I was fucking her like a
|
|
piston, feeling her tight cunt surround me, hold me. The water
|
|
surrounding us began to flow, at first slow and smooth, like a gentle
|
|
underwater stream, then with more force, and as it did it felt like
|
|
it was streaming under my ass and between my legs. I smiled as I
|
|
realized that Oenone had summoned a stream of water to play over her
|
|
clit as I fucked her.
|
|
|
|
"Harder," she whispered. I glady obeyed, holding her hips a
|
|
little tighter and stroking in and out, in and out, pummeling her and
|
|
watching her buttocks ripple in slow motion with each impact. It was
|
|
one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. I could see my cock
|
|
passing between her lips, the small blonds wisps of hair floating
|
|
free and wrapping around my dick as it retreated from her.
|
|
|
|
The water and my cock were doing their work and she came,
|
|
groaning lightly into the cloth of her bed. "Don't stop," she
|
|
ordered, and the order came down like a geas, and I redoubled my
|
|
efforts, fucking her all the more. The flow of water around us was
|
|
becoming a torrent, like the Divergent Stream from the Tsern Bands
|
|
that sometimes warms the Castle. She came again, and twice more, and
|
|
still my orgasm seemed to come only a little closer, cresting and
|
|
falling, pleasant and frustrating.
|
|
|
|
"Stop," she said.
|
|
|
|
"What?" I asked. I did not want to stop.
|
|
|
|
"You've worn me out, worn my cunt out." She turned her head a
|
|
little further but did not rise from her position. She smiled a
|
|
leering smile and said "Take me... take me 'Greek.'"
|
|
|
|
I returned the smile, then slid out of her pussy and
|
|
repositioned my cock at her anus. I pushed against the resistant
|
|
ring and it gave way, letting me in easily. I wondered if that was
|
|
natural, or was she no stranger to anal sex? It didn't matter to me
|
|
one bit as I plunged deep into the heated depths of her butt, feeling
|
|
the smoother passageways of her rectum seize me tight as I stroked
|
|
and fucked her.
|
|
|
|
It went on forever, and her orgasms came and as they came they
|
|
grew in magnitude. Each one was a victory for me, and I could feel,
|
|
finally, in the very base of my penis, that intense, almost painful
|
|
coil of power that was my orgasm. But it didn't reach out like it
|
|
normally does. As I looked down and saw my cock sawing in and out of
|
|
her puckered asshole incessantly, that coil grew, tightening as it
|
|
found it's way up into my chest. It grew as I came closer and closer
|
|
to the point of no return, and when I came, the whole liquid world
|
|
exploded in a white, blinding, majestic light. It was incredible,
|
|
and I swore, as I felt, vaguely in the background, my cock shooting
|
|
into her deep and wonderful ass, that I would ne'er forget this
|
|
night...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dawn. "Morning, sleepyhead," I heard Oenone's sweet voice above
|
|
me, and I awoke with a start.
|
|
|
|
"Did I?"
|
|
|
|
"Pass out and sleep through the night? Yes." She smiled.
|
|
|
|
"I'm sorry," I said earnestly. "I didn't mean to..."
|
|
|
|
"I know, I know. It's okay," she said, trying to be soothing.
|
|
|
|
"But that's so rude!" I protested. "I mean..."
|
|
|
|
"Ken," she interrupted. "It's okay. I felt it, too. I'm just
|
|
more used to it," she said, looking wistful. "Not, mind you, that
|
|
that makes it any less powerful."
|
|
|
|
"Well, I'm glad for that. It was intense. That light..."
|
|
|
|
"Beautiful, yes?"
|
|
|
|
"Yes." I leaned forward and kissed her. She replied back with
|
|
a soft and friendly passion. "Thank you."
|
|
|
|
"Thank you," she said. "It's very rare I find someone I'll let
|
|
do that to me."
|
|
|
|
"Which part?"
|
|
|
|
"The magic. Oh, the stamina potion and the water flow and the
|
|
anal sex, those are all things I'm very familiar with. It's the
|
|
final spell, that one connective moment, that's so rare."
|
|
|
|
"What was it?"
|
|
|
|
She smiled. "Maybe someday I'll tell you." She stood up.
|
|
"Look, we need to get you breakfast. You said you had to be home by
|
|
tomorrow's dawn, and the SDisks are unreliable, so we should get
|
|
started."
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Come and visit?" I asked as we stood at the shoreline.
|
|
|
|
She looked out over the ocean for a moment and finally said, "I
|
|
will."
|
|
|
|
"No promises?" I said.
|
|
|
|
She laughed. "No promises. But I will. Are there more
|
|
children than last time?"
|
|
|
|
"Maybe not more, but different children, different parents. I
|
|
guess you notice it less than we do. We're immortal, but we're not
|
|
used to it yet; you've been doing it for a lot longer."
|
|
|
|
She nodded. "I detest long goodbyes."
|
|
|
|
"I do too. So long, sweetheart."
|
|
|
|
"Goodbye, Ken. I'll direct the streams to take you to the
|
|
SDisk."
|
|
|
|
"I can find it, O. Thanks again. I love you."
|
|
|
|
"I love you too."
|
|
|
|
"Goodbye." I dove into the water. She helped me to the boat,
|
|
but from there on she let me navigate on my own, for which I was
|
|
grateful.
|
|
|
|
Normally, when I sail alone, I talk to myself to keep myself
|
|
company. Not this time. This time I was very quiet. This time was
|
|
very different.
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
"Oenone"
|
|
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al.
|
|
are copyright (c) 1989-1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribute freely
|
|
via electronic media. This copyright permits individual users to
|
|
make single hardcopies for their own use. The Journal Entries may
|
|
not be sold or otherwise distributed for profit.
|