A few days after Pane and King Leifae's conversation, a strange man took his first steps in Pormanstown. He found his way to the mansion, hiding underneath his cloak. Everyone can see protruding from his sides was his weapon of choice two double bladed hatchets, polished and sharpened. He eventually gathers around the large group of men in the main hall of the mansion.
Standing in the crowd you could tell that all of the men were from different parts of Europe. Many accents filled the rooms as testosterone flourished loudly in laughter and in fights. There must have been more than forty men present.
Pane takes the stage, "Shut your face, my good fellowmen." Everyone cheered him on before the voices died down into a quiet. "We are here on a mission to retrieve Lady Sereen, the future Queen of Newland. You will be split into four groups, the group of your own chossing. Group one will be mine, Pane of Sauro House. Second group will be Czechvi of Scandon House. Third group will be Kharrl of Khan House. The fourth and last group will be Jerelliyus of House Boix. Jerelliyus removes his hood and walks up to join Pane and the other two men on the stage. His blue hair is long and slightly braided with dreadlocks and his body is toned, masculine man, full of muscles and attitude. He stood at six feet tall and his blue hair matched his blue eyes as if the ocean lived within him.
Jerelliyus thought to himself, "Lady Sereen. I wonder what kind of beauty she possessed to have such a hold on Leifae Arkson that he would go to so much length to find her." He then waited for the three men to give their introductions and speech. The better your intro the more people will follow you.
Finally, it was Jerelliyus's turn to give his speech, "What inspirations they bore us with blabbering. I'm not here to compete with one another because I already know that I will win the prize money. Everyone knows this new King is loaded and if we aim to find what it is he seeks, then we will all be happily rewarded. Now, I know you're here for the money," Jerelliyus starts pointing to individuals in the crowd, "I know you are, so are you, you and you! We didn't have proper education like some of these folks up here, but we survived without it, as THRALLS! Let's go out there and kill some savages and save our future Queen, shall we?" Everyone screamed and roared in agreement, cheering Jerelliyus on and on. "I am Jerelliyus of Boix House, representing thralls of the lowest of scum. Follow me for fun and for the win!"
"YEA!"
"YAY!"
"Jerelliyus! Jerelliyus! Jerelliyus!"
The crowd is cheering Jerelliyus on and on.
*
Jerelliyus's magical words along with ability to connect with his audience, gave him the win as he received the most favorite votes by gaining the most followers. It barely took a day in preparation before disembarkment as they all headed west into the big lakes in their boats insearch of Lady Sereen.
Six big boats with supplies, food, weapons, followers, builders and healers sailed course due west.
"Once we've reached the furthest west, we will then head north to northwest, following the river. I will take no more than six days to our destination. We will then bank there and set up camp at shore. Builders will start right away. Beware of the dangers that lurk in the woods. I've heard there are giant beast-like wolves." Pane announced to his crew.
The wind was on their side that week, because it didn't take long at all before they reached their destination with two days left to spare. They started to work right away and before they knew it, little wooden huts were already built all around with people claiming them as their new home, to keep them safe from creatures of the night.
*
Bjork grabs a hold of me and I cannot move. I wiggle my way out of my clothing and I scream. "Ahhh!"
"Shhh, it's only a dream." Giken's voice soothes me in a whisper. I open my eyes to look at him. I looked at his luscious lips and beguiling face until, finally, I released my breath in a long and slow exhale.
"It's only a dream." I reminded myself. "Only a dream." I closed my eyes and tucked my head under his chin as he cuddled my naked body. He is warm and comfortable. My only wish is that his feelings would reciprocate mine. But we both know he has only agreed to this engagement of partnership because it was deemed to be our fate.
I gave him a polite smile as I look back up at his eyes.
We are, in a sense, wedded. I have lost my chastity to this handsome man. I can feel him pressing against me and could tell he is getting hard on again. It's already daylight and outside I hear the ruckus of the morning as people run around attending to their daily duties.
Giken outstretched his arms around me, grabbing my buttocks and pushing his fully erect manhood against my pubic area.
"No, I'm sore." I said to Giken.
He gave me a kiss on my forehand, "Don't worry, that's not my intention. This kind of thing happens every morning. It doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means."
"It doesn't mean that you want to… you know… again?"
"Well, it does, but it also happens every morning regardless of wanting it or not." he tried to explain.
"So you don't want it right now?"
"I do, but… nevermind. It's hard to explain to you."
We get up and I start dressing myself. A big blotch of blood stained a dark brown onto the white sheet below and I am suddenly reminded of our steamy night last night.
"Gikendaaso? Sereen? It's me, Mooji. I have a very important matter to speak to the both of you. May I enter?" Mooji shouted from outside.
"Yes you may enter." Giken called out as he finished tying up his pants under his waistband.
"Must have been one hell of a night." Mooji said as she walked in, eyeing the sheet. "Well, I've come to talk to you about the invocation that we hosted last night. It went well, but based on our findings, an alpha has already been chosen. Unfortunately, Sereen's name came up. It's not certain since we didn't have a wise-one to translate the ancient ways. No one really knows what it is that we must do, but in my opinion Sereen may be faced with the option to choose the Alpha one day." Mooji turned her attention to me, "Sereen, tribe heads all agreed that since you are now one part of the Ma'iingan, we will hold a ceremony for you. It is a ritual to open up the senses, you may even be bestowed a gift. Everyone is different, that is why I heal and Giken doesn't. We need to place you in our balance."
Mooji hands me a bowl of black substances and herbs. "It's for you to dab down there. It will heal so you won't be so sore." she said and then switched her attention to Giken.
"The blood moon rose high last night. It beamed down onto your hut, only your hut. Everyone is whispering that you may be the next alpha. Watch your back, for there are some who would hate that idea of you leading us." Mooji whispered to Giken and quickly left right after she yelled out to Giken, "It was her first night, you should have been more gentle. That's just too much blood!"
For the first time ever, I saw Giken blush. It was subtle, but in a way alarming. Does he like her? Am I getting in between something that was there? I instantly felt sick to my stomach. He was being forced to engage me in partnership because of destiny, but what if he doesn't love me or never grows to love me? What if he loves her?
"Are you alright?" Giken asked me, snapping me back from my thoughts.
"Oh, yes. I'm fine." I lied, "Just shook by the stains that's all."
"Well, the consummation is inverted but not fully completed. Everyone must celebrate the new tribe member."
"Is that me? The new tribe member?"
"Yes, you are the newest addition to the Ma'iingan."
"Does that make me a Ma'iingan?"
"No, not by blood, but by acceptance." I try to understand what Giken is saying, but it's too hard to try to break down their culture and traditions to make sense. I feel conflicted that I may have been brought into the "marriage" without the other Ma'iingan's acceptance. My stomach feels a little knotty and I take a hard swallow so that I don't vomit.
"You don't look well. Maybe you drank and smoked too much yesterday?" Giken reminded me and that was all it took. I handed him the bowl and started regurgitating.
I puked out all the content from my stomach, along with some very bitter yellowish green bile. The bitter acid burned my throat. I heave and heave until there is nothing left to throw up. Giken puts the bowl down on a table nearby and grabs rags for me to wipe off the red, puffy and sweaty face of mine.
"Mooji!" Giken ran out of the hut to request for assistance. "Mooji, rhubarb tea now."
"Rhubarb tea?" I muttered.
"It is to help you after a night of drinking."
I wiped away my sweat, all the residue of vomit off my face, and blew my nose. I would like rhubarb cake right now with a couple of biscuits and a hot cup of breakfast tea. I drool at the thought of cake. Just then, the rich sweet taste in my thoughts turned sour, my saliva started to pool like water in my mouth, and I vomited again.
"Ugh, I need to lay back down." I said as Mooji made her way in with a bowl of hot water. Inside the hot water was NOT a stick of rhubarb but a stiff, dry and straw-like centipede partially protruding off the side of the bowl. I stare at it in horror, watching it slowly softening as it hydrates.
"Drink it all up. It will help." Mooji said.
"Where's the rhubarb?" I asked her with a terrified look on my face.
"No rhubarb. We pretend it's rhubarb when we drink, so that it goes down smoother."
"What?" I screamed. "I… I… I don't know if I can." I whimpered.
Giken takes the bowl from Mooji and shoos her out. Once she was gone, Giken had me sit on the ground, leaning my back against the middle beam that held the hut up. His eyes never leave mine and I start to feel flushed from his intense gaze. He takes a sip to show me it's safe to drink and then hands me the bowl.
I tried to take a sip, but as soon as the bowl touched my lip, the centipede sunk downward and touched my lips. I freaked out and flinched my head to the side.
I shake my head, no.
Then he gave me the most tantalizing smile right before he took a big mouthful and leaned his face into mine. I couldn't back up even if I wanted to, since the beam acted like a wall behind me. I watched him as he slowly shifted his face into mine.
He puts his mouth on mine and instinctively, my mouth opens. Slowly, the warm content from his mouth filled my mouth and it tasted sweet, with a dash of honey and gulpful of Giken.
I drank every drop he put in my mouth, until there was nothing left but his tongue teasing my bottom lip.
"More?" Giken asked.
"Yes, please." I replied like a desperate cat in heat.
He continued to feed me the drink in this manner and I have no idea why I needed him to do so. Like we've both forgotten how to feel disgusted by our lust to taste each other. Sensation exploded all around my skin and I felt a little tickling in between my legs as I started to get wet down there.
"Mmm," I let out a moan and he knew I wanted him. He slides his fingers up my arms towards my chest. "Giken," I said his name as he caressed my breast, moving his lips from my lips to my shoulders. "I'm sore." I reminded him.
"Shh." he stops and reaches over for the bowl of herbs.
He spread my legs apart exposing the hurt in my private area.
"Giken, what are you doing?" I asked in a whisper.
"Shh, I am helping." He grins and moves his hands to touch my sacred place.