"What did he mean? I'm supposed to be here to improve the kingdom's infrastructure, that's all..." I whisper anxiously while following Ruby downstairs almost out of breath, the Assassin is walking too fast trying to get away from the guards that are watching the door. "Damn it, we need elevators, definitely."
"I don't know what you're talking about and don't know what he meant..."she answers harshly.
"But..."
"Enough!" The beautiful woman stops abruptly and turns around to stare at me, she looks furious but I don't know why. "You don't need to know the reasons why everything happens around you, for fuck's sake, why can't you just obey without question things like good dark elves do? The King is right: your curiosity is going to kill you and I'll die next because I'd failed to complete my mission of keeping you alive. Why do you make things more complicated to me? Why can't you just follow the rules, behave properly, bow respectfully and stop snooping around?"
"I'm sorry, Dread Lady..." I whisper before swallowing hard and Ruby growls angrily, she really looks frustrated for a second but, suddenly, she puts her arm around my torso and hugs me tight against her body.
"I don't like this situation, babe, it shouldn't be like this... The Queen was supposed to give us orders and we'd follow them, you'd work with blacksmiths, ship builders, soldiers and architects but we weren't supposed to get involved directly with power struggles between our monarchs, the High Priestess and the Head of the God of War's Brides, my father and his viper wife, with human slaves' revolts... It'll be difficult to protect your life if the members of the King's Council see you as a threat that attends meetings and visits the private chambers... And your questions, your curiosity, make things worse..."
"You want me to be more discreet... But Ruby, if I have to improve things I need to know and learn..." I complain while she sighs and shakes her head, letting me go and stepping back.
"I know, Iselen, it's just that I wasn't expecting to find so many problems and tension around us so soon, I hoped we could have a quiet winter so you could adjust to this land. Come on, let's go back to our rooms, I'm hungry..."
I follow her walking fast with my head low, lost in my thought and oblivious to my surroundings, it doesn't matter anyway because this fortress is massive and I couldn't go anywhere without getting lost. I tried to remember different rooms and corridors during the first days but I gave up soon and focused on learning how to move around the Captain of the Black Guard's tower that's my home now. I feel tired physically and mentally suddenly and I wish I could take a nap but I must start working immediately designing Seraphon's nest, I don't want the King to get impatient.
"What the...?"
"Stay there!" A fraction of a second is everything the Assassin needed to shove me violently against a wall, protecting my body between a column and a statue before taking her knives. We're in a narrow and dark corridor and she doesn't have much room of manoeuvre but her arms move fast killing our enemies mercilessly, a group of hooded men that have appeared out of the blue, while she stands between them and my body. Witch fire torches are barely able to light up this space and I can't see most of details but sparks fly from Ruby's blades sometimes when she blocks the knife of an attacker: I think they've tried to catch her off guard but the Assassin is too good at her job and two hooded men run away finally while three lie dead at her feet. Everything has happened so fast...
"Ruby..." The beautiful dark elf breathes heavily while checking that we're alone in this corridor again and the guys on the floor are definitely dead. "Ruby..." I repeat out of breath and she turns around to look at me with a furrowed brow. "This..." I whisper pointing at my thigh.
"Shit! Calm down, babe, it's just a dart..." The Assassin takes a look at both ends of the corridor before kneeling down in front of me to check my wound. I don't understand how this has happened, I felt nothing at first while she was fighting till I looked down and realized that my pants were stained with blood because something was deeply buried in my leg.
"It hurts..." I whisper gritting my teeth, trying not to scream: the truth is that, now that I know it's there, it hurts even more.
"Of course, Iselen, what were you expecting? You're wounded but don't worry, it's not a poisonous dart, otherwise you'd be dead already. Let's go to our bedroom, I'll remove it and clean the wound..." The Assassin gets up gesturing at the corridor impatiently and I stare at her in disbelief, sweat runs down my forehead even if it's cold here and there're tracks of tears on my cheeks. And yet, I don't dare to disobey her and try to move one step but her arms have to catch me when I almost fall on the floor.
"It hurts..." I repeat out of breath and my bodyguard sighs, frustrated.
"Damned humans," she growls before sheathing her knife and putting her arm around my waist. "Come on, lean on me and walk, the sooner we arrive to our rooms, the sooner I can remove the dart..." I clench my jaw trying to hold back my moans, even with my mind clouded over by pain I know it's not wise to cry out loud and give away our location and, besides, I don't want to disappoint Ruby... She thinks I'm a pathetic and weak creature, like all the elves in this kingdom, but I'm not: I've gone through hard times and survived and I'll gone through this one too, I'll succeed even if I'd love to drop my body on the floor and cry calling my mom right now. "Don't fight against it, baby, embrace the pain..."
"I don't know how to do that," I growl angrily feeling a painful burn that travels from my thigh to my brain, I think the dart is going deeper in my muscle every time I move and I don't know if I'll be able to stand it.
"Focus on the rage that will push you to keep moving on, on your pride... focus on whatever but not on your weakness, it hurts because you're wounded and that's normal, deal with it. Breathe, focus on my voice, come on... One more step, it hurts... and this is how it should be... Breathe, one more step..." I obey the Assassin because there's nothing else I can do, closing my eyes and letting her guide me, gritting my teeth every time I lean my foot on the floor and I feel some kind of terrible electric current that goes from my muscle to my head even if she's supporting most of my weight. "One more step, you can do it..." Minutes tick by, son long they feel like hours, but I focus on her voice, her perfume and on keeping walking till it becomes an a automatic movement and, even if it still hurts like a bitch, I believe I could keep standing on my feet for kilometres. "We're here, babe, lie down on the bed..."
"Fuck!" I growl while tears run down my cheeks again and I gasp trying to bring fresh air to my lungs.
"You've done well... to be a human." Ruby chuckles while grabbing her bag of medicines, so beautiful that seems not real and so cruel at the same time. Damn it...
"I fail to see the fucking humour, it still hurts a lot..." I complain angrily and the assassin nods while sitting on the mattress next to me, she takes my boot off and tears my pants.
"And it's going to hurt even more... Here, bite this leather strap and try not to cry like a kitty, take a deep breath and get ready." I sink my teeth deeply into the leather when a sharp pain runs up my spine for a second although I manage to stay quiet before collapsing on the mattress, breathing heavily and bathed in sweat. "Well done, baby, I removed it... you're such a good girl..." Ruby chuckles again when she applies the antiseptic ointment and hears me cursing quietly, although after bearing such an intense pain a minute ago, this burnt doesn't bother me.
"I hope dark elves rot in hell..."I growl furious, relaxing on the bed finally.
"You wouldn't like that, Iselen, because you'd come there with me. We're together in this, do you remember? Now I'm going to bandage your thigh and give you a bit of hushalta, I have no idea if it works on humans but I don't think it'll poison you, it'll be a smaller dose than a dark elf would take because I don't want nightmares driving you crazy but we need you to recover from this as soon as possible. We can't afford showing weakness..."
"Who do you think is responsible for this?" I ask exhausted using a wet towel to wipe sweat and tears away from my face while she pours the medicine in a glass.
"Who knows? Sryne, Helien, my mother, a member of the Council, my father maybe... They didn't try to kill you, in fact, I think they were trying to kidnap you, maybe they intended to lock you up in a dungeon and torture you to learn your secrets... Drink..." I obey, grimacing when feeling the sour taste on my tongue. "Whoever they were, they don't know you at all, they don't know how stubborn you can be and that you'd rather die than helping them with their plans." Ruby's soft tattooed fingers brush a lock of hair away from my forehead gently and she smiles. "You've done well, Iselen, I'm proud of you." I nod and smile too, closing my eyes.
*****
"It's snowing again..." I whisper bored. Who would've thought I'd miss walking around Baalberith? I can barely see anything through the window, grey light and white snowflakes falling, the Assassin's room is supposed to have breathtaking views but we can't enjoy them most of the year because of the bad weather. It's been a week since the attack and my thigh is almost healed, mainly because we haven't left these rooms and I was able to rest for long time, but also thanks to that medicine that causes horrible nightmares. I hope I won't take it ever again, I don't remember what I dreamt but woke up exhausted in Ruby's arms while she tried to stop me from twisting and opening my wound again.
The beautiful elven woman was looking right into my face and seemed confused and mesmerized at the same time but she didn't want to tell me what the problem was and just poured a glass of water for me and ordered some food to the kitchen. She still looks at me like that sometimes, with intensity, like I'm some kind of mystery she needs to solve... I wonder what I screamed during my nightmares that has affected her in such an odd way but she refuses to talk about it. She's been training, sharpening her knives and answering my questions while I read reports and drew blueprints. She's out today on an errand for the Queen and ordered me to stay in our rooms but I don't have any other place to go anyways, it's too cold far away from our fireplace. I flop down on the couch taking one of my notebooks and sigh but, suddenly, a deafening noise makes me jump scared and stand up.
"What the actual...?"
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Ruby runs into the room, she's still wearing her hood over her head and I can't see her face but it's pretty obvious something bad is happening. "The horns! We need to get ready."
"What horns, what are you talking about?" But the Assassin doesn't answer and runs to the bathroom while that horrible noise echoes through the entire city again, I look around puzzled not knowing what to do but, luckily, the pretty elf comes back running a few minutes later wearing her pants and shirt and with her bangs wet after washing up her face. She drops her boots close to the fireplace and drags the couch closer to the witch fire that's burning brighter than usual.
"Gale alert! It happens once or twice every year, when the north wind collides with the south one and an unstable cold air pool forms over Baalberith..." Ruby explains while taking the blankets from the bed and puts them on the couch before opening a trunk looking for more. "Suddenly, all that ice cold wind falls over the kingdom and temperature plummets dramatically for a few hours... Everybody is looking for a warm shelter right now, even the giant lizards. You better go to the bathroom, you won't want to leave this blanket nest later no matter how much you want to go for a pee... Hurry up and leave your boots near the fireplace. Iselen!"
I obey even if I don't quite understand what's happening yet... How is it possible for the weather to change suddenly freezing an entire country in a few hours? When I come back, I realize that Ruby has turned the couch into a shapeless mass made of blankets, lot of layers of thick fur and wool, and she's making some room for us in the middle. I drop my boots next to hers and get closer to the window, mesmerized by the sound of the wind hitting against the glass, despite my feet covered with wool shocks are getting cold. Suddenly, ice crystals appear on our balcony and on the window, from bottom to top, creating beautiful star-shaped patterns. It seems magical... Baalberith is now enchanted kingdom...
"Iselen, come here." Ruby orders with a harsh tone of voice but I can't aver my eyes, fascinated by the beauty of the blue ice that keeps spreading further and it's covering the stones of our bedroom floor close to the balcony. A shiver runs down my spine and I step back while the ice follows me, my fascination turns into fear... "Iselen!" I turn around and obey finally, escaping from being frozen to death, and jumping inside the blankets nest that the Assassin has built for us. It's dark inside and I can't see anything while trying to make myself comfortable on the fluffy pillows, feeling the weight of the fur and wool layers on top of us while my teeth chatter.
"Fuck, oh my God... It's cold..." I whisper curling up, trying to make myself small and keep the little heat I still feel in my body despite the fire, blankets and Ruby's body stuck to mine.
"Calm down, baby, it'll be over soon... Come here..." The Assassin moves till almost lying on my torso and tangling her legs with mines, trying to provide some heat, the blankets creak on top of her back and shoulders and I understand they're covered with ice too. I can't stop shivering, I've never felt something like this, even my fingers hurt. "Everything will be all right, it'll be over soon, at least the hardest part..."
"Ruby..." I hold onto her desperately and my girl lets me put my hands on her chest skin to keep them warm while minutes tick by slowly. I still can't see anything and I fear I'll run out of air inside this soft cave but I'm not ready to stick my nose out to breathe. Suddenly, my body relaxes when feeling some heat, I think our bodies and breaths have managed to warm up this nest and, in addition to this, I can't hear the blankets creak which means the outer layers aren't freezing anymore.
"You see? It's over, honey, now we'll wait for a couple of hours till the temperature reaches acceptable levels again but the hardest part is over."
"I'm still cold," I complain shaking under her torso although it's true I feel a little better than some minutes ago.
"Really? Because I think you're really hot..." Her lips muffle my cry when she buries her cold fingers in my body, sneaking under my pants, sending a shiver down my spine when they brush over my clit before looking for my opening.
"Ruby, no..."
"Oh come on, what do you think we're going to do for the next two hours in this dark and warm nest? What do you think everybody else is doing in Baalberith?"
"But... oh my God..." I move my head and my lips look blindly for hers again, her tongue swirls around mine filthily while her fingers, warmed up finally and coated in my juices, start to rub my apex slowly. I can't see anything but that makes sensations more intense, her heady perfume fills my mind and her nimble fingers manage to reach deeper inside me, I can't help twisting slightly under her weight while my hands find their way under her shirt to be able to touch her soft skin. "Fuck, Ruby..."
"Aham..." She whispers sliding the tip of her nose down my neck till nibbling at my collarbone. Her hand keeps moving on my core sending sparks of pleasure through my veins despite I'm still wearing my pants and blankets feel heavy over us.
"You're so good at this..."
"I have centuries of experience, babe." The Assassin's free hand has managed to sneak under my thick sweater somehow and she's pinching my nipples while leaning her forehead on the pillow, her lips graze my neck skin and her hot breath fans my flesh. I dig my own fingers into her ribs when she finds a particularly sensitive spot and my hips buck against her body. "Are you still cold?"
"No..." I moan like a kitty not caring if she's making fun of me judging by her mocking tone of voice. "Assassin... do you know what a strapon is?" Ruby's fingers never stop but she raises her head slightly and, despite the darkness around us, I can feel she's confused. "I could design one for you, girls use it in my world to be able to... it's a sexual toy that... Oh fuck..." The beautiful elven woman chuckles when she shoves two fingers in my opening and starts pumping, her thumb rubs my clit at the same time keeping a perfect pace that makes me shudder and moan.
"I understand, you want me to fuck you the way a man would do..." Her lips slip along my cheek till she finds my ear, nibbling at it before whispering again. "Reaching deeper with every thrust, faster and faster, till you can't stand it anymore and melt against my body... Do you really think sorceresses haven't invented something like that to have fun in the Temple? It's pretty popular among the God of War's Brides too... But I thought my tongue and fingers were enough for you, babe, why didn't you tell me you wanted more?"
"It's enough... whatever you do, it drives me crazy... Ruby, please..." My pussy walls clench painfully around her fingers but the Assassin refuses to increase the pace and chuckles, licking my earlobe. Suddenly, the heat under this ton of blankets is unbearable even if the world is freezing outside.
"Usually, I ignore humans' pleas but I love hearing you begging for mercy..." Her lips meld with mines in a filthy kiss while tension builds up in my body till getting unbearable too. "I'll give you what you want, baby, we'll play with that toy and I will hear you crying and begging for hours... I can't wait." My body releases suddenly convulsing under the Assassin, the orgasm ripples through my muscles so hard that's almost painful but Ruby refuses to stop despite my cries, muffled by the blankets, she keeps moving her hand almost violently while I writhe and beg again and again... But the cruel elven woman laughs amused, thrusting her fingers deeper. "It's still too cold outside, babe, I think we can have fun for a while here..."