#Lore24 – Entry #313 – Fantasy Month IV #8 – A Village and a Fort, a Commander and a Shadow

From the journal of Angeliqua “Goldeneyes” Cartacustos

I was expecting to be dressed once more into the hobbling dress the following morning, but instead I was allowed back into the riding dress; Lady Armenia said that we would be leaving the Imperial border once we were into the mountains, and even she wouldn’t take a chance on leaving me defenseless through potentially hostile terrain.  In fact, she even returned my scimitar and bookish bulwark, even had me make sure that my new “armor” wasn’t a hindrance after breakfast.  Aside from some rather unwelcome pressure and pinching between my legs for what must be quite obvious reasons now, I was quite capable of going through my practice routines.

Of course, that didn’t stop her from continuing my “training” along the way.  She was assured we would have ample warning in case of an attack, for her drakonae scouts were unrivaled guardians, so she told me.  Travel was slow once we had entered the mountains, the road recently shored up to some extent, but still rough and windy.  So, it was practicing some things that did not involve improving my ability to take large phallic objects into my throat, including more worship of her feet and more endless edging in my case, while practicing various new positions in which I found myself restrained.  I was rather impressed by the number of anchor points hidden away behind the panel work of the carriage, and the variety of restraints Lady Armenia had packed for the journey.

Further oral practice with the dildo would wait until we made camp that evening, in the privacy of her tent.  I was quite a horny mess by then, and would remain so for the foreseeable future, as she seemed to have no intention of allowing me to remove my chastity gear, nor the plug in my rear, the enchantments upon the items seeing to it that my bodily functions were taken care of.  She had promised a surprise if I performed my oral exercise satisfactorily the first night, and indeed, after some time with my lips and tongue working the dildo as she held it between her legs, I experienced a most intense ejaculation of salty, white fluid from the device, nearly choking me and then spraying upon my face.  The flavor was most familiar, being the same mixture that was produced by the feeder gag, though never before had I experienced it in such volume nor in such an embarrassing manner.

I daresay the journey through the mountains was rather mundane compared to the first couple of nights, but with good reason.  We were indeed attacked in the mountains no less than three times, once by a rather large group of bandits who appeared quite desperate, and then again by two separate orc tribes.  In each case, our injuries were relatively minor, and I did not become engaged in the combat, as I was officially on guard duty for the Lady Armenia.  Though having seen the soldiers and drakonae in action, I daresay I would have made a poor final line of defense, not that a priestess such as herself couldn’t defend herself. 

After the long journey through the mountains, we descended into something of a large valley basin, and I could see the fort that was our destination from some distance away, standing high upon a rocky plateau, overlooking a village.  These were the Dawnsummit Redoubt and Vindinium, respectively, the Baydwell River running along out of the mountains near the village.  As we came to the village, I could see that it had recently been enhanced with a stout wooden palisade, complete with a quartet of small, recently built watch towers.  We followed the road through the village, the people there seeming to look upon us favorably as we passed.

Beyond the village, it was a short trip to the road leading up to the overlooking ridge and the redoubt, a series of spiked wooden barricades having been constructed to slow any advancing force, with an additional stone gatehouse currently under construction closer to the top of the plateau.  The roadway led right to the fort’s walls and gatehouse, both of which having been recently repaired to Imperial Legion standards and were even now being further reinforced by a mix of dwarven and drakonae craftsmen.  I counted what seemed a rather small amount of soldiers on patrol and guard about the fort and village, though, a curious detail.  I thought perhaps they had gathered inside the walls of the fort for some reason, but as the carriage passed through into the courtyard and grounds, I saw only a fraction of what I had expected. 

In short order, our large group had come to a stop and Lady Armenia and I left the carriage.  The commander of the soldiers sent to guard her was already barking orders to some of his men to see about reinforcing the current garrison troops, and a notable pair approached us from the direction of the commander’s quarters.  The garrison commander seemed familiar to me, walking with a pronounced limp and making use of a crutch, his left leg obviously having received a wound that had not properly healed.  He was an older human, dark hair graying from his temples, wearing a neatly trimmed beard with his hair cut short, still seeming to be in rather good shape overall aside from the leg.  He wore one of the Legion’s broadswords at his side, garbed in the tunic of a general.  He introduced himself as Lexaundre Asselin, and I certainly remembered the name then, for that name held only slightly less infamy than that of Res’Taringal for which the notable rebellion had been named.  He and his house had spoken in support of the Res’Taringals but had notably not committed any significant resources to the ill-fated operation, which is likely why he was alive now, and almost certainly why he had been sent into the Wildlands with such a small force with orders to tame it.

The second person to join us kept her distance, remaining back about ten feet from us, seemingly not interested in our discussions, though I doubted she was ignoring us.  It was a kerryn, golden hair loose about her shoulders, with red-tinged fur upon her ears and tail, brilliant blue-green eyes that faintly glowed, marking her clearly as a Stellae Illustris, even if the armor and cloak, bearing the red, black, and gold colors of the Emperor, and her collar stamped with the insignia of the order, had not marked her as such.  She was armed with a longer, narrower bladed sword than that of Asselin, which she kept one hand upon, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.  This was Aishi, as Asselin told us, his second shadow.  She offered us a smile then, playful, no, predatory, though she refused to bow as would other kerryn.  I had heard the Stella Illustris were quite proud of their positions, and would only bow to the Emperor himself, perhaps a handful of others, and seeing this behavior, perhaps that was indeed true.  She certainly came off as quite smug, the more I regarded her. 

Once our introductions were complete, Commander Asselin gave us the tour of Dawnsummit Redoubt, highlighting the impressive work they’d managed to complete so far in restoring the fort to its long-lost glory days, some centuries ago, and with such a small force.  Aishi remained behind us, but within a few strides should danger come, though I suspected her reason for being there was rather obvious, to ensure that Asselin did nothing to step out of line, to make sure that his support of the Emperor was genuine.  As I watched her out of the corner of my eye, I got the sense that she was quite dangerous, very much a great hunting cat stalking fresh pray as she tried to get a sense of what Lady Armenia and I were about.

Then we retired to the commander’s offices, where he showed us a map of the large region he had been tasked with civilizing, spread over the top of a table, the map itself a copy of one much older judging by the style of the drawings and relative newness of the parchment, lacking much in the way of details about the region besides major landmarks.  There were new additions however, drawn directly upon the map, showing several significant discoveries made by the adventurers who had come into the area seeking wealth and glory, including a few ruins and ancient ritual sites, lairs and territories of various hostile tribes of orcs, kobolds, gnolls, and even lizardmen in the area, and of course, the ruins that had recently been discovered marking what was thought to be an ancient temple of some sort, bearing draconic iconography.  With permission, I began making notes and copying the map for myself.

The adventurers had been gone for several days now but were expected to return within the week to resupply from their further attempts to secure the area around the ruins, and upon their return, we would have proper introductions, for I would be working closely with them going forward.  In the meantime, Dawnsummit and Vindinium were open to us.  There would be a feast later that night in honor of Lady Armenia, and she would retire to the quarters that had been prepared for her (and I, for now).  I would remain here, making my notes and studying the notes left by the adventurers, as well as the handful of artifacts they had recovered from the site.  I felt the eyes of Aishi lingering upon me for a few moments more as the others left, and I sensed that I would be having my own encounter with her before long.  There was something about her that made me nervous.