Valkyrie of Desire

23. Severed Strands

Chickens hate poultry poetry

—Huey "Hummer" Gagatoad

Travel via a conditioned griffin is smooth as sailing a placid lake, at least when the skies are clear, as it has been for the past few days. Hildr checks her saddle straps and leans over her beast's fur and feathered side. Her long hair dances about her cheeks and shoulders as untamed as flame.

Lotus Hollow's fast-moving creek has flowed into a wide and winding river, and the rough forested lands that surrounded the town have given way to rolling green hills. Herds of sheep scatter as their shadow passes, and a gangly shepherd boy shakes his walking stick up at them.

"I'm impressed." Hildr hugs Apple's round back. "Peggy didn't even flinch at that easy prey."

The old shaman grunts and rolls his neck, making it crackle. "Last night, I re-cast her into submission while ya bathed in the river."

"Progress." Hildr tickles under his arms until he squirms.

"I'm no better with my conditioning magic."

She chuckles and adjusts her underwear. "I mean, you didn't peep on me. Did my nakedness cross your mind?"

"Like snow on my balls." He clears his throat. "Beautiful as ya are with that hair and figure, I'm too traumatized to fantasize. We are husband and wife only for your baby's protection. Expect me to follow up on your whore suggestion."

Their griffin flaps hard and tilts up, gaining some altitude as a cool wind buffets them.

Hildr shivers and brushes her fingers across her flat belly. "I should start showing soon, shouldn't I?"

Apple chortles and pats her thigh. "Are ya worried ya going to be fat as me or as pretty?"

She digs her arms into the warmth under his robes. "With the right clothes, I can hide ... him for months."

"Why? People like pregnant lasses."

Hildr coughs and spits off the griffin's side. The glob stretches as it spins down to disappear into the sea of grass below.

She says, "My mother had a ledger made of leather, thick and heavy. On the first page in smeared ink was a tally. She was a prized courtesan. This was told to me by many, including a few of her old customers."

"Top tier, I'm sure."

"Until her belly showed, and her breasts sagged. I could never match the fortune I cost. I didn't have her knack. She was a natural advocate and had nobles by the dozen bound to her until I ruined everything. The prime of her career—lost, because of having me. It is a wonder I wasn't aborted."

Apple shakes his head. "She scapegoated ya. Probably saw wrinkles and suckered a noble into—um." He coughs. "Bah, do not compare yourself to her. Ya graduated from an actual academy, and ya used that degree to serve Lute well."

Their adventuring band did owe many favorable dealings to her seductive skills.

Hildr says, "Lady Darla had me echoing my mother with advocacy work that manipulates the fantasy of sex. How do you think people will treat my flirtation, now that I carry the burden of consequences? Maybe I should start a brothel and really become my mom."

He chuckles. "Ya know, for someone so ... experienced, ya are quite ignorant about what men want."

Her eyes flare. From this height, he would have time to regret before death.

Apple shifts and Peggy shudders, beating her wings harder. He wiggles his fingers, collecting green light with sparkles of red. It is not a lot of mystic power. Nothing like what Agastache could draw on with the backing of her sanctuary, but it is a well-balanced, clean casting. With a huff, the shaman pushes the glow down towards the griffin. The beast squawks, and Apple hums something in Celestial.