Vol.1 Ch.1 – Dreams and Miracles (Revised)

Chapter 1: Dreams and Miracles

I suppose some might find it strange that I considered a tavern and inn my home, so allow me to explain. The housing situation in the capital was more than a little troubled, as the shanty towns wrapped around the outer wall could attest. And so, for someone like me, who spent a lot of time on quests, having my own home was pointless. Keeping stocks of firewood and keeping a stocked larder just wasn't practical, either. So, instead of making the housing situation in the capital even worse by keeping my own home out of sheer frivolity, I rented a room at the inn full time. The room was well cared for, I could get meals whenever I needed them and the innkeeper knew that the room would never sit empty, so I even paid less for it per night than a regular guest would.

The room was cozy, with a large bed and a small kitchenette that I sometimes used and where I could have prepared something for Alisha and me to eat. However, we had just slain a Dark Lord and so I decided that we had earned ourselves a good meal, so we settled into the tavern on the ground floor and ordered something up. Alisha seemed unsure of what to get so when I ordered the house special and a mug of wine she decided to order the same.

No sooner had the barmaid left that Alisha started with the interrogation. I had expected that, though she did surprise me with the leading question: “So, why are you doing this? Helping Chosen Ones, I mean? You don't seem to like them very much but you still make a living helping them." She wasn't going to ask about the way I talked to the goddess or about my living situation?

“If I said I was just doing it because it pays well, would you stop bugging me?" I asked.

“No, because that's clearly not the whole truth," she said.

“And if I said I didn't like the idea of Dark Lords winning?" I asked.

“Getting closer," she said, smiling. “But still not the whole truth."

“Alright, fine," I said, exasperated. “I'll tell you if you tell me about you. What deity do you pray to?"

She considered, then nodded. “Alright, fine. I am a disciple of Brigid of the Tuatha Dé Danann."

That gave me pause. “I thought elves worship the Aesir?"

She shook her head, the motion making her ears flop back and forth. “The Light Elves worship the Aesir. My clan, however, are... I guess humans tend to call us Wood Elves as we mostly live in sacred forests. In reality, we are kin of the Fae, created as servants of the Tuatha. Or at least that's what we're told. We might all have the same ancestors."

I nodded. “Thank you for clarifying. So, Brigid. Aspect of the hearth or aspect of the forge?"

“Aspect of the hearth. My own magic has enough offensive potential."

At this point I should probably clarify. The cleric class is fairly complex as it is. Clerics were minor mages, with magic of their own, but not particularly powerful magic of their own when compared to wizards. The connection they shared with their patron deity also granted them access to miracles, boons they could call down a certain number of times each day. As they got stronger, not only did their innate magic improve but also the number and power of miracles they could perform. Eventually they would become strong enough that their deity would allow them to cast minor miracles on their own authority, without it using up any of their allowance. Once they could use at least two miracles on their own they were called Minor Saints. As they then grew they became Saints and finally Great Saints. Once they reached Saint status they could create their own miracles and once they became Great Saints, other clerics could actually call on them for miracles once they had exhausted their allotted amount for the day. Most deities also had different aspects depending on what, precisely, the cleric wanted of them. For Brigid, a goddess of the hearth and the forge, her first aspect granted healing and nurturing abilities while her second aspect granted powerful fire miracles. Alisha had just told me that she had gone for the nurturing aspect because her innate magic was lacking in that.

“How many?"

“Four a day. If I work hard, I will soon be allowed to use Heal on my own. Your turn."

I sighed. I didn't think I'd ever told anyone the full story, so why was I willing to tell this girl I'd only met a few days ago?

“Ten years ago, when I was fifteen, the Dark Lord Absalom razed my hometown to the ground. The only reason I survived was because my mother and I were out selling our wares when it happened. I swore revenge on the Dark Lord and started training each day. It was slow going. I was begging the gods for help but nobody answered. So I kept training and amassing power of my own. I kept at it for a year until I finally felt I was ready to take him on. But then, on my way to his castle a Chosen One breezed past me on a unicorn. I ran after him and found out he was after the same Dark Lord as I was. He'd been sent to slay the Dark Lord two weeks ago and the gods had showered him with artifacts and miracles and a legendary mount. His armor was so shiny it hurt to look at. So I followed him until he reached the Dark Lord."

“I don't think this story has a happy ending," she commented.

“Of course not,” I said with a snort. “The Dark Lord tore him apart. The Chosen One had been given a dozen shiny gifts but he had no practice with them. Everything had just been handed to him because the gods decreed him to be a Hero. They fought for quite a while and then Absalom stabbed him through the heart and he dropped, instantly dead." I gave a toneless chuckle.

“And then?" she asked.

“Then I stepped up and fought him. He was still exhausted from his fight with the Chosen One and I actually knew what I was doing, unlike the Chosen One. Or at least I thought I did. By the end, he still had me on my back, ready to kill me, but I stuck my broken sword into his gut and twisted until he dropped."

“You were able to hurt him?" Alisha asked, surprised.

“Yeah," I said. “That ability the Dark Lord today had, where only the Chosen One could pierce his skin? That's actually kind of rare. Common enough to be annoying, but certainly not universal."

“I see," she said.

I took a drink before continuing: “That's when I realized how sick this whole system is. A god creates a Dark Lord who terrorizes the lands and then eventually another god sends out one clueless idiot showered with gifts to stop that Dark Lord. They use people to fight their little proxy wars and the pawns think it makes them better than everyone else." I paused. “Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent like that."

She shrugged it off. “I'm starting to see where you're coming from," she told me. “What happened next?"

“After that I dragged the Chosen One's body over to the Dark Lord's body, pulled the Dark Lord's leggings down, and pushed the two into each other so that the Chosen One's slack lips were wrapped around the Dark Lord's huge barbed cock." She blushed at that. “And after that I neatly arranged all of the Chosen One's divine artifacts in a pile and pissed all over them."

She jumped up from her chair, slamming her hands down on the table. “That's blasphemy!" she yelled, then saw that every eye in the tavern was on her and sat back down again, red-faced and thoroughly embarrassed.

I didn't react to her outburst and replied calmly: “Correct. And that's also when Athena showed up to bitch at me for the first time. The goddess I'd prayed to for years, whose aid I had begged for for months, had finally graced me with her presence, not to congratulate me but to scold me for my blasphemy. And so I decided to stick it to her and the other gods by doing their worthless Chosen Ones' job for them."

“So that's why she hates you? What about the other gods?”

I snorted. “They call me the Godsforsaken. Gods either try to pretend I don't exist or come to tell me how much they hate me. Ironically this means that I've met more gods than some of the most devout worshipers in the kingdom. Meeting them I found few of them to be stellar company. I have no problem with the Tuatha Dé Danann, though. Well, except for Bres but I probably don't have to tell you that."

She nodded. Bres was a huge bastard, no other way to put it. He was Brigid's husband, though not out of love but for political reasons, their marriage a means to prevent a war with his kin, the Fomorians, a race that was unambiguously evil. Not quite as evil as goblins, but evil enough.

“Anyway, other than him I've never had any trouble with the Tuatha. If they pick a Chosen One they usually pick a warrior and they don't bury them in gifts. The Aesir aren't that fair but still better than the Olympians. Though Brigid might still not be happy with you for working with me."

“She won't care so long as you don't insult her personally," the elf said. “She does respect great warriors, after all."

Just at that moment the barmaid came with our orders, basilisk shank with alraune herb butter and seasonal vegetables, and we dug in. Truth be told, I was glad to learn that Alisha had no issue with eating meat, unlike some of the stories I'd heard about elves along the way. Trust me, adventuring with someone who refused to eat meat was a pain since monster meat was the easiest way to feed yourself on an adventure.

The food was, as always, fantastic. The vegetables had just a bit of bite to them without being raw and basilisk meat tasted like a weird hybrid of beef and chicken, tender like the latter but flavorful like the former. Alraune shed leaves the way dogs shed hair so they were easy to harvest and in addition to a lot of medicinal benefits, these leaves also had a pleasant flavor, like wild garlic but with floral notes. The sound Alisha made after the first bite of the meat had me thinking up all kinds of other ways I could get her to make such sounds again.

**

“So tell me a bit more about your miracles," I asked once we were no longer digging into the food like starving wolves.

“You know how miracles work?"

“Of course, but I've never worked with a priestess of Brigid before."

“Alright," she said. “So you know I can cast Homeward. I generally like to keep one miracle unused each day so I can cast that in emergencies."

I nodded in appreciation. “Very smart."

“Thank you. The other miracles I have access to are Heal, Nourish and Enhance."

Heal was exactly what you'd expect, a powerful single-target healing spell and Enhance would strengthen the target's skills and abilities, letting them fight above their weight class for a while. Nourish, though?

“What does Nourish do?"

“If you cast Nourish on someone, it gives them all the sustenance they need for the day, except for water," she said. “If you can cast Nourish and have access to a source of water, you don't need to worry about rations."

My eyes bulged. “That is insanely powerful. You could travel without needing to take food along and getting lost wouldn't be a problem so long as you have water available."

“Sort of," she hedged. “If I were to cast Nourish on both of us every day, that would reduce me to only two miracles a day, one of which I would want to hold back for an emergency Homeward. That would leave me with a single available Heal every twenty-four hours. Not ideal. I agree it can be useful in certain situations though."

“I think you are vastly underselling yourself."

Her mouth opened to answer and then closed as she blushed.

**

“So tell me, Mister Mercenary—"

“You can call me Felix if you want to."

She grinned. “Anyway Mister Mercenary, where is this home of yours? I notice we are in a tavern."

“I have an arrangement with the innkeeper. I rent one of the rooms full time. He knows that room will never sit empty, so I have to pay less per day. I'm going to find him and rent a second room for you."

She cocked her head. “Why? I have no problem sharing your room."

I looked her square in the eyes. “There is only one bed and I'm not enough of a gentleman to roll out my sleeping bag and leave the bed to you."

She smiled. “I'm not that big, we can share the bed."

“You are awfully quick to trust, Miss Priestess," I told her and she shrugged.

“I only trust people who deserve it."

**

So as it turned out, falling asleep next to a defenseless elven beauty was harder than I had anticipated. I was lying flat on my back, staring at the ceiling while Alisha was sleeping on her side, her head resting on my bicep, her face just inches away from mine. Her breath made my hair tickle my cheek and the warmth of her body was impossible to ignore. Not only that, she'd left me with a lot to think about. I had never realized just how big of a boon having a cleric along could be. Even if I were taking her along for just Heal and Homeward, she would be worth all the extra expenses and worries and that was before I'd even seen how strong her offensive magic was. Plus, female Chosen Ones might be more willing to accept my help if I had a cute elven girl along with me to convince them I wasn't a danger to their virtue. On the other hand, her presence and scent were driving me wild. She smelled like pine and holly and honey and it was beyond distracting. Part of me wanted to roll over and kiss those beautiful lips but the rest of me wouldn't. She was so certain she could trust me, it was as if she were daring me to prove her wrong. So instead of turning to her I just pulled the blanket a bit higher. Eventually, the sound of her breathing lulled me to sleep.

**

The stars shone brightly and the two moons were almost aligned. Beneath the starry sky two figures sat facing each other, a chess board between them. The figure in black cackled and placed a piece down on the board. In front of it, a line of pawns shimmered into existence. Then the figure in black asked the figure in white:

“What will you do about this, I wonder?" The voice was masculine and slightly unhinged.

The figure in white stroked its chin and pressed its lips together. What little could be gleaned of its hand and face under the robe looked feminine. Then the figure produced a piece of her own and then replied, in a decidedly feminine voice: “You are put in check, I'm afraid."

A second later, two more pieces shimmered into existence behind the piece the figure in white had placed. The figure in black took another look at the pieces and started cackling again.

**

The next morning I woke up with a soft weight on me. For a moment I thought I'd bunched up the blanket while asleep but then I noticed that the soft weight was warm and smelled of flowers. And that it snored ever-so-slightly.

The situation came back to me in an instant. There was an elf sleeping in my bed. Not just in my bed but draped over me, one hand resting on my chest, her small chest pressed into my side and her breath hot against my cheek. Worst of all, she had wrapped her legs around one of mine, her crotch pressed into my thigh. It was soft and warm and even through the fabric of her nightgown I could feel that it was faintly damp.

I should have been annoyed at her taking up so much space but I found myself not caring about that, her presence driving me damn near feral. She was so soft, so warm and so pretty. Gods above, how long had it been since I'd last lain with a woman? Months. Not since the gorgeous brunette back in Calice. And she had been a woman of the night, love for rent. How long had it been since I'd last woken up beside a beautiful woman?

Thoughts of Maggie Farmer came unbidden to the forefront of my mind. She'd been terrified of losing me, of me not coming back to her after an adventure.

But this wasn't Maggie. This was Alisha. Annoying, impertinent, brave, opinionated, and absolutely stunning Alisha.

…

But come to think of it, I myself had been called annoying and impertinent plenty of times, mostly by gods. I supposed it was true what they said: Life always finds a way to prove you a hypocrite.

As I thought that I realized that I'd subconsciously started stroking Alisha's fluffy light brown hair and as I did my hand froze in place.

Shit.

I hadn't meant to do that. But something about this gorgeous woman just made me drop my guard.

“Why'd you stop?” she muttered, sounding half asleep.

“I-I...” I retorted expertly.

She opened her eyes, eyes so green they seemed to glow like emeralds held into the light, and just regarded me. After a moment a smile touched her lips, one filled with mirth and mischief.

She shifted on top of me, pressing her small, supple breasts into my chest. Gods above. She felt so good against me.

I kept my hands on my sides, terrified of latching onto her and going too far. Unfortunately Alisha took that as the go-ahead, that she could be bolder and I wouldn't stop her. And so she crawled on top of me a little more, pressing her thigh firmly against my by now rock-hard cock.

A look of shock touched her face, as if she'd only just realized that she'd been playing with fire.

The look was there and gone again in a flash and suddenly she was back to the mischievous smirk. Apparently she had realized that she was playing with fire and had then decided that she wouldn't terribly mind getting burned.

She reached for my crotch, the bold gesture at odds with the way her hand was trembling. Apparently the little elf was being bold with a man for the first time in her life.

When her trembling hand reached my crotch and wrapped around my cock she asked:

“What's this, I wonder?” It would have made for a sultry comment if her voice hadn't been trembling so much.

Her behavior stirred conflicting desires within me. Her obvious innocence drew me to her, made me want her in a way I had never wanted a woman before, but the way she was trying to act like a suave seductress despite that obvious innocence made me want to bully her a little, to show her that playing with fire was risky.

And so, instead of freezing up and stammering an apology I met her gaze and asked: “Are you sure that's a game you want to play?” And even to my own ears my voice sounded like sandpaper.

She froze like a bunny rabbit caught in the gaze of a cockatrice but then her gaze sharpened. “You think I'm just a little girl without a clue, don't you?”

“Aren't you?” I challenged.

“Just because I'm a virgin doesn't mean I don't know how this works,” she all but growled at me.

I smirked at her admission, not only at knowing that I had made her mad enough to admit it but also for the sheer satisfaction of knowing that the limp-dick Chosen One hadn't had her.

She blushed but then took a deep breath, steeling herself, and reached into my underpants. I sucked in a breath as her incredibly soft hand wrapped around my length and her eyes widened as she realized just how big I was.

“You're... hard...” she squeaked, her earlier defiance forgotten as she realized just how crazy she'd driven me.

“All because of you,” I rasped out.

She blinked as she processed the information, then said: “You're hard... for me...” Her earlier defiance was gone as she realized that I was attracted to her, that I wasn't seeing her as just a clueless little girl.

I didn't say anything, not sure what to say. Needling her any more would have been cruel but I was too intrigued to see where this would lead to stop her.

And with no input from me she scooted down, between my legs, and hooked her fingers into the waistband of my underpants, then pulled. My cock sprang out to bob in front of her, standing tall and proud. She damn near went cross-eyed as she stared at it. She swallowed audibly, then grabbed it by the root, pulling back the foreskin as she did.

My tip was already covered in precum, glistening in the morning light, and she subconsciously licked her lips as she saw it.

“I didn't know they could get this big...” she whispered, mesmerized. She swallowed audibly, then asked: “May I?”

What happened to the little temptress who reached into my pants without a second thought?, I thought but instead I said: “If you want to.”

She froze for a moment and I thought that I had broken the spell, that she hadn't actually wanted this, but then she gave me a soft smile. Evidently the knowledge that I was leaving the choice up to her relaxed her. And so, with her confidence restored, she pointed my cock at her mouth and then slowly, carefully, licked the tip.

It felt obscenely good, her tongue soft and wet and warm, and I only just stopped myself from bucking my hips. After lapping up the precum she swallowed it down and evidently she liked the taste because she went back in for more, swirling her tongue around my tip until it was glistening only with her saliva. And then she took the entire tip in her mouth. She started suckling as she swirled her tongue and it felt amazing. She clearly didn't really know what she was doing but even her clueless fumbling felt amazing, her eagerness making up for her lack of skill. I gently grabbed hold of the hand she was holding my cock with, paused for a moment so as not to startle her, and then indicated a pumping motion.

Alisha got the message and began pumping my cock as she licked and sucked the tip and soon she grew bolder, trying to take me deeper. She didn't make it very far, pulling back after just a few inches, but even just those few inches felt amazing.

I let out a groan at how good her ministrations felt and in response she began bobbing her head up and down on my cock.

“You're a natural at this,” I moaned, reaching out to stroke her hair. It took all my restraint not to tangle my fingers into her hair and guide her head up and down but I managed, just gently stroking her hair. She moaned softly at the touch and the vibrations all over my dick threatened to drive me insane.

And then I noticed something that drove me even wilder. Alisha looked gorgeous between my thighs, her beautiful face distorted with my huge cock stuffed into her mouth. Her fluffy hair was sticking to her sweaty skin and her eyes were lidded, barely open. And her hand, the one that wasn't pumping my cock, was inside her nightgown, playing with her small, supple breasts, kneading them and pinching her nipples. That drove me wild.

Alisha was not servicing me. She wasn't simply doing something to give me pleasure. I had given her the choice on whether to stop or keep going and she had decided to keep going. And now she was playing with her sweet little tits, her eyes lidded in pleasure, as she stuffed her face with my cock. She was enjoying this, enjoying what she was doing to me, enjoying the way I so obviously desired her, and that knowledge made me come undone.

“Such a gorgeous little cocksucker,” I muttered and in response she let out a squeak and the hand that had been playing with her breasts shot into her undergarment.

She rubbed herself furiously, her palm no doubt circling her little clit, producing filthy squelching sounds that let me know just how much she enjoyed being called that. And the knowledge that she was loving it, in turn, made me even more desperate to cum.

She clearly sensed it, bobbing up and down on me even deeper as she continued to abuse herself. It was too much for me to handle.

“Last chance to stop,” I rasped out and in response the little minx took me half an inch deeper still and stayed there.

And so I came into the gorgeous elf's mouth. I came and came and came, and she swallowed it all as fast as I could give it to her, filling her belly with my sticky white cum as her body seized in a self-inflicted orgasm. Even when I had nothing more to give she didn't relent. Instead she suckled on the tip with a look of pure bliss on her face and only when she had sucked the last remnants out did she let go of my cock.

“Gods above,” I breathed.

“Yeah...” she gasped.

I reached under her armpits and hauled her up until we were face to face. I held her gaze and reached for the hand she had used to work an orgasm out of her little pussy and then licked her juices off it, never breaking eye contact with her. Her juices tasted sweet, like fresh fruit. She gulped as she watched me.

When her hand was clean and we both had the other's flavor in our mouths I pulled her into a kiss. I had only meant it to be a soft kiss, a gentle kiss to show her how much I appreciated what she'd just done for me, but the moment our lips met we went mad, mashing our lips together and moaning into the kiss.

When we broke the kiss we both took huge, gulping breaths and I finally asked the question that had been on my mind this entire time: “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” she asked.

“Why did you do it? Please don't tell me you thought I was expecting this of you.”

She gave me a little smirk. “No, I wanted this. I've wanted you.” She paused. “Did you like it?”

I smiled. “It was amazing. You were amazing.” She blushed. “But if you do that again, expect me to return the favor.”

Her grin was positively feral as she said: “Good.”

And then she leaned back in to kiss me again.