Chapter 2

         Chapter 2          The          Bowman          Chapter 2

         

Chapter 2

         

Version 2

          The house looked like an elaborate old fashioned log cabin that hasn't seen a person for years. They drove up, finally, and parked in front of what was the rustic looking front porch. It had a rocking chair and a swinging bench. The front door slid into the side of the wall with a wave of his arm over the mailbox. He led her down some stairs in a hall that became more modern as they walked into the living room. The ceiling had to be twenty-five feet high with a huge chandelier hanging off to one side made out of animal horns and antlers. The fireplace was big enough to walk into without ducking. His kitchen was lit well by windows and had some serious counter space, no doubt for chopping up his dinner, some manner of beast or another. She thought she saw a giant spider leg just outside the window on the deck.

          He handed her a beer as he moved to one of his log chairs at the other end of the room. She took the beer and sat on the couch with one leg folded under her. She looked at her beer as if she had never seen one before. This drove his curiosity about her even farther. She took a little sip and held it away from her while a funny look of interest landed across her face then took a bigger one deciding that it was okay. He just giggled and shook his head just a bit.

          "Can I offer you a change of clothes and a shower? We can wash your armor later. Go ahead, shower, and maybe get some rest. I'm sure you didn't sleep as well as you would have liked last night, it is safe here, besides, we have some work to do soon." He told her. His mood had calmed quite a bit since before the ride to the house. They sat and talked for a while as they finished their beers; mostly speculation about this . . . shadow-dragon thing. He gave her a quick tour of the house and the outer deck. She saw that one side of his house looked so much different from the other; one side was modern and the other rustic. She decided that she liked it; it showed two sides of the man she was quickly getting to know. They walked over to a pile of legs and he showed her that, indeed, it was a Kanter spider's leg on the deck, in fact, there were several. He had gone through his latest adventure out here many years ago. He explained how these creatures take many years to decompose and how some of their ligaments can be used as strong bowstrings and the legs can be transformed into actual bows. He works with them during the winter months. It's far easier to work with spider corpses when they are cold, so he waits until winter to create them. They also have a unique quality in that they are all different colors, almost pearlescent, and none of them seeming to be the same, much like rosewood. They moved back into the living room after enjoying the view for a few moments, she felt she was getting closer to him already. When they had finished talking and their beers finished, he pointed out where the shower was in the loft. The loft had three doors on the balcony. Two bedrooms and a bathroom with an old fashioned water shower.

          Looking over all his lore and his books after he awoke from his nap, he reluctantly decided that he had to call an old friend. An old friend he didn't want to call, even as a last resort, but he had no other option. He didn't want to call her at any time, let alone during the time of the rift, but this was just too baffling and too important to let go. She knew more about mythical and magical creatures better than anyone alive. She was also one of the greatest creature hunters he knew, besides himself, of course. So he called. She would be there within a day's time.

          Siobahn came down the spiral staircase sometime later in the women's clothes he had in the house, he laid them out for her while she slept in the comfortable bed . . . in the nude. Of course, he couldn't help but gaze upon her extraordinarily fit body and thought about what he wanted to do with her. He smiled at the thought of it.

          "You look . . . well-rested. Those clothes fit nicely might I add,"

          "Thank you, but it is yours, is there something I should know about you?" She said playfully.

          He explained to her that they were his wife's and that he figured if ever he had a woman here that she may need them for some reason, looking back, that was a good call. "Well, have a seat, you must be hungry."

          She sat at the dining room table that looked as if he could've made it himself.

          "I made that myself." He stated as if reading her thoughts. "The table, I mean."

          "You did it again Arman. Stop reading my mind! I was just thinking it looks handcrafted, and that it's of exceptional quality. You seem to be a man of many talents."

          "Thank you," He replied coming over to the table with two plates of what looked like scrambled eggs and bread with some fruit on the side. "Now it is best you don't ask where these eggs came from." She tasted them and immediately smiled.

          "Kanter eggs!" She said enthusiastically, after taking a generous taste. "My favorite, you even cooked them with pepper, just the way I like them, but this bread." She said after sampling that. She began to chuckle. "I would stick to the eggs if I were you."

          "I have a guest coming over later today, probably tonight," Embarrassingly changing the subject. "She's a spell caster and has experience in these matters; none of my books cover this Shadow-dragon thing." He informed her. Her eye's now hold a certain amount of fear. "Now, what about you dear, why are you on this path you're on now? And what about a man? Or can't I ask?"

          "No, no, it's okay." She was happy to take the subject away from magic for now. "I try not to participate in the time of the Rift. I'm not ready to conceive yet, and it's not because I'm infertile. I have been married two times already in my five-hundred and nine years of life and my first husband died right as the time of the rift hit."

          "So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your husbands'? You didn't kill them both, did you?" He teased, immediately realizing that it could be a sour spot.

          "Max was killed trying to protect me during the very first day of my First Rift, I was able to hide out for the rest of it and I wasn't mature enough to go through the Rift yet anyway. I was only twenty-nine. My second husband, well, he fell out of a tree from seventy-five feet in the air. He was acting like an idiot. Of course, I was devastated, so I gave up on the whole man/kid thing.

          The two had a lot in common and talked until dinner when Sandrial walked through the door unexpectedly.

          "Nice place Arman, you never had this kind of good taste when I was fucking you!" She said taking note of the other woman in the room.

          "Well, I've had a good run." He quipped back. "That was quick; I thought I wouldn't see you until later tonight."

          "I was intrigued by your description, I have never run into anything like this, so I grabbed some books and came over as soon as I could. "She grabbed a beer from the fridge, helping herself, leaning over the center island. She looked back at him with an almost glimmer in her eye . . . almost. Her long black hair almost covered her eyes as she looked up and cleared her throat, looking over at Siobahn. "Who's the new girl?" She stands back and takes a slow swallow of her beer. "She's pretty." She remarks almost pretentiously.

          "This is Siobahn, she was chasing the thing when I found it." He told her. She stood up and bowed her head at Sandrial. Sandrial didn't even flinch offering no response in return. "Siobahn, this is Sandrial, one of my exes and the best person I know to handle this kind of situation."

          "Nice to meet you Sandrial," Siobahn said smoothly and with respect.

          "Mmhmm." Was her only response.

          "Ok, we got a twenty-foot shadow-dragon; conventional weapons have no effect on it." He explains, trying to loosen up the tension. "We also think that it was conjured by some kind of shadow wizard." He stated.

          "I don't think it was conjured, more like summoned. Let me go get my laptop." She left quickly and returned shortly with a bag and several books under her arms and, of course, her laptop. She laid them on the halved logs he had crafted as countertops and began tapping vehemently on her laptop.

          She opened up a book and began studying it as they watched her flipping through the pages circling things and then crossing things out making notes all the while. She had a pencil in her mouth, a pen behind her ear, and a marker in her hand. She seemed to be ignoring the other two in the room; so he grabbed two of her books. He set them down on the dinner table where they were sitting. Arman handed a book to Siobahn to look through. Sandrial just looked at him with discord. They both started looking through the pages; Arman noticed that Siobahn was only looking at the pictures.

          "Can you read?" he leaned over to Siobahn whispering in her ear as to keep Sandrial from hearing him. She shook her head with a saddened and embarrassed look on her face. She just looked into Arman's eyes. Then she saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Sandrial was looking over at them with disgust. She could see the tension forming in Arman's face. She wanted to soothe that tension, and she knew various techniques to do so; all of them, pleasurable.

          The whole time Arman and Sandrial were studying their books, Arman would check up on her. She really felt like a third wheel. She noticed the sexual tension between the two in front of her, but also noted that it wasn't a wanted sexual tension, in fact, it seemed they despised each other but still had some carnal lust for each other that's what was causing the tension. Siobahn would often look up from the books to see anxious faces on either of them.

          "A Morticus! Maybe." Sandrial said, at last, breaking the insanely long silence. "It could possibly be a Morticus." Dropping the pencil from her mouth. "It says here the Morticus is made by a summoning wizard and that the wizard can summon many types of planar entities. This one I believe to be a Phase Demon. It can phase in and out of our dimension, that's how it hunts. It phases into our dimension and becomes solid; it eats and then phases out. The book goes on to say that a phase demon has the ability to change its form into something that its enemy is afraid of. You said it was in the shape of a dragon, right? I would suppose you're afraid of dragons then?"

          "Well, yeah! I don't like dragons as much as the next guy. So I guess yeah, they do scare me, enough to call on my ex-lover during the time of the rift." He looks Sandrial over while thinking of the past that the two had shared. "And yeah, that's exactly what happened, It phased in to hunt then after I slashed it in the troat it just vanished. And by the way, you do look well."

          "So do you." She looks at him briefly. "But that's the rift talking." Looking away quickly. "Don't you go getting any ideas about the three of us either . . . like you usually do." Sandrial said without even returning his stare.

          "Oh, you are a wild one." Siobahn teased. He just shot her a warning look, telling her exactly how he felt about that idea. That was something Sandrial had said goading him into starting a fight or to find out more about Siobahn. It didn't make any sense to make things tenser than they already were.

          "Cool your jets, I was just teasing, elf," Siobahn said sarcastically, the look slowly faded from his face. Both women kind of giggled a bit after a second or two, but watched each other very closely.

          The rift makes members of the same sex more aggressive towards each other. The men love watching women fight for them; just as a woman loves the feeling she gets when two men fight over her.

          "You two aren't going to-?" He was interrupted.

          "Don't flatter yourself, Arman, she can have you!" Sandrial said rather tactlessly. "I didn't come here to procreate. I do hope that was NOT your intention!" Speaking harshly. "He's all yours honey, besides, we have a Morticus to stop. We don't really have time for this 'Rift' game, now do we?" She sat down with her beer and watched as his face turned sour. Something an ex truly loves to see.

          His face didn't turn sour because she had denied him, though, that did wound him a bit. No, it was simply the fact that she thinks he brought her here just for sex. He was also a little thrown by how cold she just showed herself to be. They didn't exactly part on the best of terms, but this was frigid and caustic beyond the norm. For her at least.

          "Let's figure this out so we can all get some peace of mind, enough of this drabble." He said just as cold and frigid as Sandrial had been. The evil bantering between the two didn't go unnoticed by Siobahn. She found it stimulating and promising and grinned just a bit. She had promised herself that she wouldn't give in to the Rift, 'but sometimes it's okay to fantasize,' she thought. It wouldn't kill her, hopefully, knowing that sex could be deadly in the time of the Rift, 'No risk no reward.'

          "It says here that the only way to stop the Morticus is to kill the summoner or cast it back into the dimension from which it came from. That will take a bit of doing, since it's incorporeal here, in our dimension. We will have to trap it in a ring of fire and cast a spell that can only be spelled by a cleric. Do you know any?" Sandrial asked. "Since it's a phase demon we have to wait until it phases into our dimension to cast the spell. This is going to be tricky, and not at all easy."

          "You're the only spell caster I know and that's one of the reasons I had to call on you," Arman stated.

          Siobahn looks nervously around the room and begins to look rather meekly at Arman as if she wanted to say something. Arman looks at her more directly.

          "You look as if you have something you would like to say. It's okay, nobody here will judge you."

          "Speak for yourself," Sandrial says under her breath as she takes another gulp of her beer, finishing it. But Siobahn heard her anyway. Arman shoots her a death stare.

          "Fine, whatever is said stays between the three of us," Sandrial says to try to alleviate Siobahn's worries.

          Siobahn still looked a little ashamed, but still looking to Arman for some kind of sign.

          "Remember how those branches from the trees came together to try to block the creature in the woods when we were chasing it?" She asked Arman folding her hands between her knees and rocking back and forth. He nods. "That was me."

          "You're a spell caster?" Sandrial spat out in surprise.

          "Not exactly," Siobahn says.

          "Then what is it that you do?" Sandrial almost interrupts.

          "Well, I can make it rain around me, I can heal small cuts and make bruises go away real fast. Oh yeah! I can make little sparks from my fingertips. I'm not sure what that is, but I know it's not normal." She chuckled under her breath nervously. "But I don't have to do any rituals or say any special words like the shaman in my home village. I just think about it and it happens."

          "It sounds like you're a Druid. You may be a second level one at that. Those sparks from your fingers are close to a second-level ability that lets you create fire." Sandrial was starting to sound a little more civil towards Siobahn. "And that healing of small wounds sounds like exactly what we need . . . A cleric." Sandrial say's as a matter-of-factly as she could. "But you still don't need to recite any words to heal bones?" Sandrial looks at her and she just shakes her head. "That will have to do for now. We need a special kind of oil to make the ring of fire. It comes from the Azgroot tree. Something we can probably find around here. I have the other ingredients for the spell in my truck or we can find it in the woods around here."

          "There's a grove of them about thirty miles from here." He points in the general direction of the tallest tower to the east. "It's about a day's hike if we make good time. There is a campsite I use just east of the grove, we can camp and pick it up from there in the morning."

          "Well, then we better get moving". Sandrial states.

          "I'll need my armor." Siobahn requests.

          "Good, it should all be clean by now." As he starts to go retrieve her armor he stops and turns to look directly and intentionally right at Siobahn, leans in close to her, and whispers, "I like to see you wearing it." She blushes as he walks away to the other room, but then he stops and turns around. Before they head out, he wonders how this Rift will be different from the others now that Siobahn and Sandrial are both here, and beginning to get along a sly smile crosses his lips.

          "We should probably wait until tomorrow morning before we get started, that way we can get to the campsite at night instead of having to find another one along the way." He suggests. Then he disappears to retrieve Siobahn's armor.

          He sets her armor on the end table next to his couch in the living room. He set a fire in the enormous fireplace as it began to get darker outside and the moons were beginning to rise. He hardly ever really used his fireplace, hell; he had never entertained for that matter. He enjoyed this. Throughout the night while they were making plans for the next day, he would catch Siobahn looking at him longingly. He could also feel his desires beginning to intensify. Apparently, Sandrial also noticed the two, because occasionally she would look over and scoff at them. He started to think she might be jealous. Feeling the sexual tension grow; he started to think that maybe it was time to get over his wife's death and enjoy himself for a change. If this didn't work between him and Siobahn, he would probably never see her again anyway. If it did work out, who knows what could happen. The rift was finally pulling on him but he couldn't think about that right now and he should be fine, after all, he did build his house inside the ravine so that it would lessen the effects. He needed to control himself and show the discipline he learned all those years ago. He turned his thoughts back to the threat that was facing them and to the conversation surrounding him now.

          She was having similar thoughts about him as she remembered her previous husbands, she felt that this man, this elf, had shown her nothing but respect, and she knew he wanted her as well. This very well could be a fun night.

          "So how did you happen to start hunting this beast?" Arman asked Siobahn disrupting her thoughts.

          "wha-oh. Uh. It passed through my village in East Cethridge. I was hunting for our dinner when I found a good target, A Lithgor. Have you ever eaten Lithgor?" She asked him.

          "I'm not even sure what that is." He said with a light chuckle. Sandrial just looked at the both of them and rolled her eyes. Siobahn noticed her reaction and not wanting to be rude and exclude her from the conversation; she looked towards her and bid her response.

          "I had it once. It tasted like elk meat with a sweet, almost, berry-like flavor to it. It was pretty good." She still looked mildly uncomfortable.

          "Another round?" he asked them both, as he got up to go to the kitchen, intending to bring them all drinks anyway. Sandrial needed to start relaxing. He wasn't thrilled that she was here but grateful that she was. He wanted them all to get along, especially since they all had to work together for the next couple of days at least. They both nodded anyway, and he grabbed three beers.

          "Anyway," Siobahn said taking the beer. "The lithgor was eaten by this thing as I attempted the kill. The lithgor just got ripped apart by nothing, by this . . . this phase demon. Well, it became a menace and started hunting all of our food. I tried attacking it several times and found that material weapons didn't work on it, but it can eat things, so I didn't understand that. I became obsessed with finding a way to kill it. We had a shaman in our village that put some kind of banishing spell on it, and it fled. I have been tracking it ever since." She finished.

          "How did you continue to track it when it vanished?" Sandrial asked as if she didn't believe a word of it.

          "I have no idea; I was just able to sense the thing," Siobahn told them.

          "How long have you been tracking this thing?" He asked.

          "I'm not sure, four months maybe."

          "That's a long time how far away is your village?" Sandrial asked her.

          "I'm not sure. I don't even know where I am."

          "you're in Eldon right now." He told her.

          "I know I'm from the kingdom of Farceword."

          "That's halfway across the continent! It has to be two-hundred miles away!" Sandrial says almost spitting out her beer. "How did you manage to come two-hundred miles, no wonder you're in such good shape."

          "Why thank you," Siobahn said.

          "Don't expect more of that kid." She said back. "Back to the clerical thing here, I would like you to try a clerical spell before we head out tomorrow. I want to see if it's something you would be able to do. What can you do?"

          "Right now I can do simple things like making us all blend into our surroundings like camouflage. I can make water, ya know, all the stuff I told you before."

          "That's new. I haven't heard of that ability. But then, I don't know many Druid or clerical spells. It sounds pretty useful though. I do have some things on my laptop that might help. "Let's try something simple that we can all see. I'll look up a light spell. Light up the room for us." Sandrial challenges.

          As Arman turned down the lights a bit she and Sandrial worked with each other to get her to memorize the spell. After she was finished she touched the coffee table and spoke the words to the spell, a spark erupted and then vanished.

          "It looks as though you can do clerical magic as well," Sandrial said with a condescending smile. "You just need some practice is all."

          Siobahn looked over at Arman with a smile. She was excited to be learning clerical magic. She liked learning new magic spells and now she's a cleric as well as a druid. She was overjoyed, and it showed in her giddy little smile.

          Arman sat back down looking happy for the girl, he knew she was pleased now; and he is glad the two women are actually getting along, at least for now. He watched as she recited the words aloud again, this time a little louder and with a bit more force. The table began glowing dimly then faded after several seconds.

          She felt her confidence grow with every successful try. She realized that the brightness had nothing to do with how forceful or loudly she said the spell; it was all dependent on how confident she was when she cast the spell. This would probably hold true for every spell in the clerical sect; so she tried the spell while whispering the words. It seemed to work just fine because she lit up the table once more

          Arman took Sandrial to the kitchen as she practiced. She resisted at first but followed reluctantly.

          "What do you think?" He asked her.

          "She's cute but don't you think she's a little naive for you, and how old is this girl anyway?" She asked. "Even for you. I know you haven't seen any action since me, Arman. Our relationship ended badly but you can do much better than that naive little girl, and that's just what she is Arman. She knows little about our world, For God's sake, she can't even read."

          He looked at her with almost sheer disgust.

          "Do you think I would judge a woman based on whether or not she can read, no, I can see that she has a heart of gold. She cares about the forest and nature, that is why she is in there practicing a new craft that heals. On top of all that she's a druid. I couldn't ask for a better mate, other than my late wife. She's the best thing that's happened to me since we were good." He waved his hand towards Siobahn. "Besides, I have the right to choose whichever mate I choose, and you no longer have any say!" He said in practically a whisper defending her. He had no idea he was defending her until just then. "And if this thing that we have to kill is found to be alive, she will fight to save it. You can't say the same."

          "I wouldn't hesitate to put an end to this thing as it has no respect for life." Sandrial told him.

          "And that's the difference between you and her, she would try to teach it."

          "And she would die trying to do so, this is a summoned creature, summoned only to kill. It was summoned for nefarious purposes. It was summoned to kill Arman."

          "I do think she wants to kill it though. The look on her face when we were talking about putting an end to the creature tells me that she wants to banish the creature from this plane of existence. Not to kill it."

          "That's the problem, Arman, if what you told me is correct about this creature, summoned or not, It needs to be put down for good."

          Arman knew that she was right and had no more ammunition to argue with her.

          "This is all besides the point, I was not even talking about that, to begin with, I was asking about what you thought of her abilities."

          "Oh."

          "You have gotten me all worked up and now I realize that I like her more than I thought I did." He told her. "She is an honorable woman and acts like a wood elf, I'm happy to know her."

          "Well, if that's the case I still find her to be naive and inexperienced. She can't really believe she can handle this monstrosity can she?"

          "I don't know, but I don't really want her trying either."

          Arman watched her practice for about half an hour while they talked before he noticed her becoming fast fatigued. He grabbed another couple of beers and handed one to her making her stop and rest for a bit. She smiled at him and graciously took the beer while Sandrial sat down to look through her laptop.

          "I didn't realize how much energy it took from me to practice like this," Siobahn said.

          "It uses your essence to cast spells; apparently, you have quite a strong essence," Arman said looking up at her. "I have also noticed that the more comfortable you became with the spell the brighter the light became."

          "Yeah, I think I just had more self-confidence. That seemed to make it easier too."

          "Here it is, I found it," Sandrial said. "This is going to be a tough one. It says here that the ring of Azgroot oil fire will make him phase into this world and become corporeal."

          "Great! We can just kill it then." Arman said hopefully.

          "No it may be corporeal but I don't think it has any organs to damage, remember it's a phase demon. And you know this Arman. Think." Stares at him like a child. "Anyway. It says the fire will also trap him inside the circle. The spellcaster needs to be inside the circle to cast this spell."

          "So the cleric needs to be inside the ring of fire with the demon while it's in its corporeal form?" Arman sounded alarmed.

          "yes and the spell takes about ten seconds to cast. It may not seem long but when your in the circle with something that's trying to eat you it could be the rest of your life. I don't think your little girlfriend here has the experience or the ability to pull this off."

          "I think you're right. It's just too dangerous Siobahn. I don't want to see you eaten by this creature. You know how to kill it now, that's what you were after." Siobahn was sitting there with a grim look on her face shaking her head. "It's too dangerous." He said again almost to himself because the look on her face told him that she wasn't even paying attention to him anymore.

          "Look Siobahn, I can see that you two care about each other; you've formed a bond with each other and it's kinda...well, sickening if you ask me, but I still think we can seek out an experienced cleric. They may also be able to make sure that the creature gets banished for sure. I may not be his best friend, but if you two have a bond, I can't in good conscience condone you sacrificing yourself to kill this beast. And it may not even work, what then Siobahn? You die for nothing?" Sandrial reasons.

          "It makes no difference. The spell is a hard one to find, it's a seldom-used spell. I can almost guarantee that no other cleric in our lifetime has ever used this spell. Is this spell intended for a phase demon? Or, some other kind of phase creature?" Siobahn asked looking directly at Sandrial.

          "Well, it does say that it is to be used on a phase creature." She responded.

          "It's not the same thing; demons are much more powerful than mere creatures and this one seems pretty powerful to me. We could just be sending a good, respectable cleric to his death." Siobahn told her.

          "That's exactly why I don't want you to do it!" Arman interjected.

          "I discovered it, and it didn't kill your brother!" She yelled, tears falling down her reddened cheeks. "I'm just going to have to practice casting cleric spells while we travel tomorrow. For now, this conversation is over." She said with a snap of her neck, looking right into Arman's eyes. "Let's just sit here and get to know one another."

          "You never said that it killed your brother," Arman said quietly looking lovingly into her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

          Even Sandrial looked distraught when she heard that. She didn't say a word, just sat there in thought. She decided that she was going to call some of her friends to find a cleric. She wanted to make absolutely sure that this creature went back to its own realm; maybe she could find out more information about this type of spell . . . and this creature. She also wanted to find an experienced cleric, a high-level one that might have a better shot at pulling this off.

          Siobahn just looked at Arman with sad eyes and went back to practicing some clerical spells.

          "Could you show me another spell so I could try it?"

          "Here's a blacken spell it should turn it completely dark in here, black as night." She showed her the spell and she began practicing it. She said some words and indeed the room was as dark as could be.

          They heard a squeak of joy. They couldn't even see past their own noses. She then dispelled it so they could all see the triumphant grin on her face.

          "I didn't think I could even cast it let alone on the first try." She looked exhausted.

          Arman also knew that using magic can take a lot out of a person which is why he got up and went to the kitchen. He brought back a bunch of jerky, bread, (store-bought this time), and some cheeses.

          "Eat Siobahn," Arman commanded. "Spellcasting can make you hungry, and sometimes you don't even know it, as I found out with Sandrial." Sandrial just sat back nodding in agreement. "I will pack plenty of this stuff for our trip to the grove and back. It's packed with plenty of protein."

          Arman sat down next to her and put his arm around her. Sandrial was finally loose enough to start talking about herself a little bit. They talked into the night growing closer to each other and yet they all knew that this could be the last time they really have together. During their conversations, Sandrial would randomly pick up her phone and text one of her friends.

          "Okay, I got a cleric coming down here, should be here by the day after tomorrow. I told him what we were doing so he'll be here after we get back." Sandrial excitedly remarked. "He's worked with his mentor and came across a phase creature before, but the summoner was right there and they had to kill the summoner because they couldn't figure out how to kill the phase creature until right before they were able to kill the summoner."

          "So he knows how to kill the thing?" Siobahn gleefully squeaked.

          "Yes and he's on his way out here to help us, so you don't have to die to achieve your goal Siobahn." Sandrial continues. "He's actually written a paper on the thing because he had never even heard of it before his master told him about it. It was that paper that I found the spell on."





          Later that night while Arman slept on the bedroom couch, Siobahn crept up to the couch and knelt beside it. She gently caressed Arman's face to wake him softly. She gently leaned in and brushed her soft lips on his. Her next kiss was a little rougher as he kissed back. Their tongues teased each other softly. Her hand slid gently up his nightshirt feeling the taut muscles underneath. His hand immediately reached to grab the hand under his shirt involuntarily pulling it away; he was still a little apprehensive and startled. It had been so long since he had had any real physical contact with a woman. Immediately she went down and kissed him softly. A split second later her lips left his to wet his neck with her tongue followed by her soft kisses. He let out a gasp of air letting her know that it pleased him. Sliding his lips back to hers; he began caressing her back. It was her turn to gasp as she wrapped her slender fingers around his member, squeezing lightly.

          She suddenly let go and took his shirt off, then he did so with hers as their lips clasped together as if in a vise. His hands began gently wandering against her soft skin. She threw her head back and moaned softly as his tongue started playfully dancing around her nipples; his other hand cupping her breast and squeezing tightly. She let him play with her as her hands were now feeling his chiseled chest much to her delight. It was then that she decided to lean forward and kiss him causing him to release her breast. Licking his lips tenderly she then began to run her tongue down his chest watching his face as it showed how pleased he was. She continued down to his navel and beyond. She pulled his pants down and got on her knees. She giggled a bit as he twitched with desire; she loved hearing him gasp; it had truly been a long time, and then she did something she had never thought she would ever do again. His back arched showing her that she still knew how to please a man. It had been so long since she had even wanted to be with another man that she almost forgot how to do this, her memory came back swiftly. She knew he couldn't take much more of her playful mouth so she ran her hand up to his chest where his hand met hers to gently pull her up. She began to straddle him when he interrupted her.

          "Not yet." He whispered. "Your turn." He stood up holding her tightly and then dropped her softly on her back. She found that his soft couch cradled her body nicely. He then knelt down between her legs and started kissing and nibbling on her inner thighs. It tickled her and she let out a playful little squeak. She gasped and threw her head back in pure reaction to the once-forgotten pleasure of someone else's tongue on her. All of these new and wonderful feelings began to overwhelm her as her breathing started becoming fast and erratic. He had to stop to let her catch up.

          "Is this too intense for you?" He asked her in a hushed tone.

          "Just let me catch my breath." She said struggling to breathe still. "It's just been so long since anyone has touched me like you." She said after a moment.

          "You started it." He playfully teased.

          Seeing that her breathing had started to return to normal he kissed her softly and licked gently the folds around her sex. She was so wet, he knew she was enjoying herself just by that alone. So he persisted. Probing the inside and tasting her sweet juices. He felt her smoothness with his tongue he felt her hands on his head. She was guiding him to her spot. When he flicked it with his tongue she let out a small yelp. 'Yep, that's it! Right where I remember leaving it.' He thought to himself and started gently taunting it with his tongue. He kept checking on her breathing to make sure she could handle this. Her breathing was fast but it was rhythmic and steady so he kept going, flicking it faster and even running his tongue up and down her wetness. She began to moan louder and she was moving her hips in unison with his licking. With her head back and her back arched she began to shake uncontrollably. Her moans were now even louder, Probably enough to disturb poor Sandrial, but he no longer cared, his girl was writhing in pure pleasure he wasn't even about to stop. He held her hips in place and kept going. He could feel her muscles squeezing and releasing; it felt so natural once again. Her hips froze in the air and her breathing stopped for an instant, then her hips began bucking wildly and she began screaming. He kept up what he was doing so as not to ruin it for her. She slammed her hips down into the soft couch and reached out to him and pulled him up and towards her.

          "I want you inside me . . . NOW!" She commanded breathing heavily with eyes that carried insane passion.

          He reached out and grabbed her, positioning her to the edge of the couch. Still breathing hard he pushed into her hot wetness. They both moaned out a sigh of need as he slid inside her, neither of them having felt the sensations in what seemed like forever; It almost felt completely new to them both. Luckily his body remembered how to hold out until he was ready, but he could still feel his strong member about to explode and he hoped that the muscles were still strong enough after all this time.

          Her hips began bucking hard, harder than last time. Her cries got louder and louder as he felt her muscles squeeze and release his member as she came hard. He pumped her more slowly now as he wanted it to last as long as possible for her.

          "Come inside me, Come inside me now Arman!" She squeaked as best she could.

          That was all his body needed to hear as she reached up to grab her hips to pull her into him. He let out a loud grunt as he gave into the feeling while still feeling her cumming around him. He could hear the wetness as he pushed into her while he was draining all of his seed into her. All his toned muscles contracted at once as he finished releasing himself into her; tensions that he didn't even know he had physically escaping him at the same time. The squeezing that once came from her had ceased and she lay there giggling softly with her hands trying to cover her red face.

          He collapsed forward and she wrapped her arms around his warm sweaty body. He buried his face in the crook of her neck. He smelled her sweet sweat as he fought to catch his breath. He thought about the fact that he could have died, but thankful that he didn't. He rolled over on his side as he spooned her, both of them breathing hard now on that comfortable couch.

          "That was amazing Arman," Siobahn said as she snuggled tighter into his hold.

          "You're telling me." He said with a chuckle. "I haven't felt like that since I was a young man."

          "You're sure acting like a young man tonight." She giggled back softly as she slid into his embrace even more.



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