Neverwiter Nights - Adventures of a Tainted Hero

Chapter 2 – Peninsula Rewards


“Two hundred…”


“I’ll give you a hundred and fifty gold pieces… No more than that.”


“Do you have any idea how many prisoners I had to kill to get these damned swords?”


“From the amount of things you’re selling me, a lot… A hundred and seventy five, and I’m cheating myself…”


Siegfried of Neverwood rubbed his shaved chin. He had sold most of the items he had acquired during the his quest for the Intellect Devourer, a dog-like creature that escaped the Academy close to a week before. Now that the monster’s brain was secured inside a leather pouch attached to his belt, the hefty reward Aribeth promised him looked certain. He could spare losing a few gold pieces.


“Alright, alright…” He took note of the value on a plain scroll next to him “This is the last thing I’ve got to sell…”


“What is it?” The salesman didn’t seem impressed. Siegfried set a glass tube, containing some sort of green fluid, on the table. “No thank you, I prefer not to drink on weekdays…”


“Look, I found this thing on Lady Tanglebrook’s study… It’s definitely worth something…”


“It is…” Both men turned around. Before them, a lovely woman, in her early twenties, stood dressed in a skimpy leather outfit. “For me at least…”


“Sharwyn, my dear… I let you stay in my establishment to search for an employer, not to meddle on my commercial dealings…”


“I know… I just…” She seemed nervous. Siegfried leaned back on his chair and watched the girl’s concerned look. “I really need that elixir…”


“Is there a place we can talk?” Siegfried smirked. He knew he the man next to him wouldn’t pay him a lot of money for the vial, so he might as well listen to the girl’s offer. From the looks of it, she was desperate to acquire it “Then you can tell me why the hell do you want this ‘elixir’ that much…”


“Yes, my chambers are on the other end of the room…”


“I’ll meet you there, then… Now…” He turned back to face the owner of the Trade of Blades, holding out a paper scroll in his hands “Let’s see how much you owe me…”


--*--


“So you need it to save your mother’s life?”

The young woman stared at him while sitting in her bed, her dark hair covering the right side of her face. Siegfried had left both his weapons and the devourer’s head on a cabinet next to the door, and now faced the beautiful bard, Sharwyn, with a mix of amusement and irritation.


“It’s the only potion that can save her…”


“And you want me to just… give it to you?”


“I’m not a fool…” She seemed upset “The life of my mother is a grace that should be repaid… I’m willing to offer my services as a henchman, if you will have me…”


“And if I won’t?” He took a step closer to the bed, his arms across his chest “I’ve always worked better on my own… Siegfried of Neverwood has no need of a bard by his side…”


“Siegfried of Neverwood?” She was almost shocked at the recognition “Of course… The only survivor of the Academy incident a week ago… Please, let me join your quest…”


“First you ask me to give you a vial of medicine, then you expect me to let you follow me around everywhere on the kindness of my soul?”


“You don’t understand… All my life, I’ve searched for fame… I longed for my name to be written in the history books, to be song by bards across the frozen north…”


“And?”


“And you’re my chance to accomplish that goal! Writing songs about your feats, your perils… I can be renowned!” Her thoughts seemed to have diverted from the life of her mother “I will do whatever it takes, Siegfried of Neverwood, to chronicle your life… Let me be help you in your quests and be famous in the process…”


“So far you’ve done nothing but plea… You want me to give you the elixir? You want to travel with me? Then you better bloody convince me that this is a good idea!”


“How?”


“How the hell should I know? You know your own qualities better than anyone…” He stopped. She was looking at him like she was appraising an object “Are you alright?”


“Perfectly…” She got up, closing in on the distance between them “I know just how to convince you of my value…”


She laid her hand carefully across his armored abdomen. Her legs seemed to mingle with his and her hot breath touched the bare skin near his neck. He placed a hand on her back, inviting her to close in on his body. Her light brown eyes met his emerald gaze, and time seemed to slow down. Just before their lips met, a few words escaped her lips “We’ll be famous… I’ll prove my worth…”


He frowned and pushed her onto the bed “You’re proving to be a whore, nothing more than that, and I can get one of those any time I want, at the Moonstone Mask…” He spat on the floor “And when the tale of Siegfried of Neverwood is told, a whore cannot be by his side…”


He turned around to leave, but the young woman held his wrist “I’m not prostituting myself…” She got up from the bed, turning him around so he could face her “I do not offer sex, I offer companionship…”


After noticing the confusion on his face, the bard continued “You’re not a bad looking man, and you know it… You can have a lady at your bed whenever you want to… I’m offering to be next to you in the woods at an Orc raid, at a dungeon crawling with zombies… I’ll be by your side whenever you want me to be…”


“Why are you doing this?” Their gazes once again met “You’re a beautiful woman… You can do perfectly well all by yourself…”


She once again approached him, resting her weight against his chest “Because I failed in love… Because I failed in family… I failed financially; I failed on etiquette school… Whenever I went I found nothing but failure… You’re my chance to change that. Whatever Lady Aribeth has ordered you to do, odds are perils will follow… And that’s where heroes are forged…”


No words got in the way as their lips met. After a few moments, Sharwyn slightly opened her mouth, an invitation Siegfried was more than willing to accept. Their tongues danced together, filling the room with a moist, sensual sound. No more than a minute afterwards, Siegfried’s armor laid on the floor, and Sharwyn’s leather outfit didn’t take long to follow. He stared at her naked form, taking time to admire her perfect body. Her skin was slightly tanned, in contrast with his pale one, and its softness felt awkward on the man’s rough hands. Siegfried moved to sit behind her, cupping her breasts with his hands. Her breathing was hard, and her back arched ever so slightly at each kiss the man laid on her bare shoulders. It was unlike anything the ranger had ever felt. It felt more than good… It felt right. But why?


He surprised himself with his own tenderness as he turned her around to face him. She sat on his lap, her legs across his back, and as her hand reached bellow his abdomen and he laid back on the bed, the ranger had yet another surprise in the sound that escaped his lips: A fragile moan. Many times women had touched his penis, and just as many times they did more than that. But every hint of pleasure, every feeling that ever left the man’s mouth, was more of a barbarian’s grunt than a content moan. He tried to focus his mind. He couldn’t care less; there was a woman in front of him. A beautiful woman, and she was naked… Yet he could not force himself to just jump on her and ravish her… Once again: Why?


‘Because you got to know her’ was the answer he got from his own mind. Every woman he had sex with, they all were virtual unknowns. Even Chandra, with whom he slept with regularly, had never talked to him concerning anything but himself or sex. But then comes Sharwyn… Her mother treated her like crap, a nobleman old enough to be her grandfather wanted to sleep with her, she was broke and staying at the trade of blades until an adventurer could hire her… He wanted Sharwyn, not Sharwyn’s body.


He held her hand in place, surprising her with his sudden movement. He grabbed her by the waist and led her slender figure closer to his face. She understood his move, turning around so that she could face the lower half of his body. Sharwyn bended over him, her breast pressed against his abdomen, and a low moan escaped her lips. The bard’s eyes rolled upwards as Siegfried used his tongue to taste ever so slightly her nether folds. His strong hands grabbed her ass cheeks, pulling her whole waist towards him. Her warmth, her smell, her moans… Siegfried felt the barbarian inside him coming back.


The ranger grunted as he felt the head of his dick being enveloped by Sharwyn’s small mouth. Her tongue played with his member, the sounds of coming out of her mouth serving as an even bigger excitement to the already aroused man. Her right hand stroked the entire length of his dick, while her left hand caressed his balls.


With a grunt, Siegfried picked her up from the bed and led her to the nearest wall, her back resting against the stone surface and her hips inches above his throbbing member.


“Please…” She whispered. Her weakness aroused him beyond imaginable. At that moment, he wouldn’t turn his eyes away from her, even if the entire staff of the Moonstone Mask entered the room. “Carefully…”


He kissed her, his breathing matching hers. Siegfried slowly lowered the woman’s waist, the slippery sounds coming from her nether regions denouncing the pleasure the young bard felt. His member penetrated her pussy slowly, painfully, he would have believed if he wasn’t sure the young woman wasn’t a virgin anymore… Inch by inch, her warmth enveloped his body. Her big breasts brushed against his chest as her body moved constantly up and down, and her mouth opened as if to moan, but no sound was uttered. Sharwyn’s arms hugged her lover, her fingernails drawing blood from the ranger’s back, as her forehead rested against his shoulder.


Siegfried placed his arms behind her back, supporting her weight, and carried her back to the simple bed. He carefully rested her head on the feather pillows, his dick never leaving her womb. He placed her legs above his shoulders and, for a few seconds, didn’t move. He stared at her fragile, sweaty body and closed his eyes. His hips began to move rhythmically, forward and backwards, and the girl’s moans began to match the ranger’s own pleased grunts.


The two lovers continued, complementing thrusts with kisses and tender caresses. Almost an hour passed, before both felt their climax approaching. Sharwyn shut her eyes, almost painfully, and tears fell from its corners. Siegfried also shut his eyes, and a shudder weakened his arms. A yell left the bards mouth, soon matched by an almost angry shout from the young man on top of her. The ranger’s warm semen filled Sharwyn’s womb, the girl twisted and turned beneath his weight, seemingly not knowing where to hold on for support. They both let out an exhausted sigh, and Siegfried’s heavy body collapsed next to the woman.


For a few minutes neither of them moved, they just laid there, on their backs, dreamingly staring at the wooden ceiling. Neither of them knew how much time it passed, but eventually it was the bard that began to move again. She grabbed the bed sheets from underneath them, covering both their bodies with the slim linen fabric. Sharwyn laid against the man’s body, her right arm tenderly resting above his naked abdomen.


“So…” She asked, weakly “Do you accept my proposal?”


“You can have the elixir…” He smirked “But you’re still going to have to prove your worth to follow me around on my adventures…”


She sat up, resting her weight on her elbows. She smiled. “And how am I supposed to do that?”


“I’m sure you’ll figure that out while we’re traveling…”


She lied back down, resting her head on his chest. After a few minutes of silence, the bard spoke up “What is that thing?”


Siegfried’s gaze met where she was staring, the cabinet by the door. “The leather bag?”


“Yes… What’s in it, and why is there blood on it?”


“That, my dear…” He said, shutting his eye and relaxing against the softness of the pillow “… is the brain of an Intellect Devourer, a Waterdhavian creature, and the cause of the Peninsula uprising…”


“Did you get the reward from Sedos Sebille?”


“Nope…” He sighed. He was almost asleep “Not yet, at least…”


“Why not?”


“For now, I think I have quite a reward in my hands…”


He rested his arm on her slender waist, beneath the bed sheet. She smiled, noticing he was already asleep. She closed her eyes, and soon began to sleep peacefully. The duo would wake up at morning’s first rays, but for now they both shared the dreams of the innocent.


--*--


(Author’s comment: So a chapter a bit longer and a bit better – at least on my opinion. Less of rough sex, more of cuddly stuff. Don’t worry, the hero is still tainted, and that taint might just ‘contaminate’ Sharwyn. Are you thinking the three-way sodomizing of an innocent dryad? I am! See you guys next time)