Chapter Five

 

Neriad moved like a gymnast made of water. Her thighs spread and her palms skidded along Liam’s chest and before he knew it, her mouth and his were locked together, while her silky smooth thighs pressed to either side of his hips. The tickling feeling of her loincloth against his belly was a delicious undercurrent to the feel of her tongue plunging into his mouth and taking charge. If Liam had been fresh come to Purgatory, he might have had no idea what to do.

But Liam had spent years being ridden and riding Megara. And knowing that she was there, in the corner, fingering herself silly, was enough to snap him out of his daze and go on the offensive. His palm cupped one of Neriad’s sea-blue cheeks, while his other went to her wrist and jerked her closer to him. Her breasts mashed against his chest, and he could feel the hard tips of her nipples through her sleek black top.

Neriad didn’t give up control – she simply kissed him harder. Her tongue met his and tried to force him into submitting. But his tongue pressed back and his hand slid from cheek to shoulder to breast to breast-band. He worked fingers between skin and leather and tugged as hard as he could. This freed Neriad’s full breast, and soon his fingers were dimpling her skin as he cupped and squeezed. That was enough to push Neriad back. She gasped as she flung her head back, her hair scattering along her shoulders.

“Jesus Christ, dude,” Jere said, watching with eyes wide as saucers. “You two sure you’re just fuckin’?”

Neriad glared at her harem slave. “Quiet!”

Jere lifted his hands up and laid back against his cushion, showing due defference. But Liam did notice that he still hadn’t uncrossed his legs. Tayne was being just as subtly unsubtle, with her arm crossed over the golden bikini that trapped her dark black breasts. Liam had no more time to wonder about what was being hidden – Neriad was back on the attack. Her mouth and his crashed together while her fingers found and tugged at his thong’s straps. The only thing that kept Liam’s garment from exploding off him was that his hands weren’t exactly idle. He had fully worked Neriad’s breast band off, and was working both her breasts, squeezing her tits and pinching her nipples.

The advantage of being with a demigoddess – no matter what title they claimed for themselves?

They were tough.

Which meant you could get rough. Liam twisted and saw a look of unfocused bliss fill Neriad’s eyes. He grinned slightly, then took advantage of her slackness. His mouth kissed her blue neck and he buried his face against her, nibbling and biting. With a human woman – hell, with a valkyire woman – this might have been pushing things too far. The amount of pressure was enough to cause pain. And Liam wasn’t quite ballsy enough to risk trying BDSM on a demigoddess before getting a safe word.

But the crooning gasps that escaped from Neriad proved that he hadn’t misjudged. Then Neriad made it undeniable when she grabbed onto Liam’s head and shoved him onto his back. As he sprawled against the cushions, she looked down at him, panting heavily.

“You don’t treat me like blown glass,” she said, her voice a breathy, wondering purr.

“You’re a demigoddess...” Liam licked his lips, then went back to the attack before she could respond. He slid himself down and then leaned upwards. This meant that his belly pressed to her thighs and his mouth was fastened right around one of her perfect nipples. He sucked and then tugged his head back, taking advantage of her strength and toughness to really go to town on her. Supporting his posture with one hand, he reached down with the other and found the hot slickness of her sex.

His fingers slipped along her pussy-lips, gliding along as if she was frictionless. His thumb found her clit and he drew slow circles around her, not quite touching the small nub. He teased her sex with a finger, then pulled back with a wet slurp noise, his finger actually feeling the pressure of her sex as she tried to keep him in. While he teased her sex, his mouth sucked on her nipple hard – contrasting the two sensations.

Neriad whimpered. Softly. Desperately. She tried to buck her hips against Liam’s palm. She tried to push herself against him. She ended up almost suffocating him by mashing her breasts against his face. Liam focused only on teasing her – his fingers glided and pressed, then drew back. Thrust, then paused, then thrust again. His thumb managed to perpetually edge against her clitty. The end result?

One.

Desperately.

Thirsty.

Demigoddess.

Liam knew that there were risks in teasing someone with superhuman strength and magical powers.

He hadn’t realized it would be quite as dramatic as it was. One moment, he was teasing her sex, the next, he felt something wrap around his wrist and drag his hand above his head. A moment later, that something became hard and cold. He looked up and blinked at the thick band of ice that had pinned his arm above his head. Neriad’s eyes flashed and she lashed out with her hand – making a twitching gesture with her fingers. The carpet underneath Liam rolled and a tendril of water bust from between the strands, flowing around his other wrist, then freezing solid as well, pinning him in place.

Liam’s eyes flicked from the first bit of water that had frozen his wrist above his head to Neriad, to her glistening thighs. There was significantly less glisten there now that his wrist was pinned over his head. He looked back at the ‘water’ again. Then back to Neriad’s eyes.

She smirked, ever so slightly, seeing his expression.

“Well, that’s new,” Liam said, managing to sound rather matter of fact about things. Then his loincloth slapped against the far wall of the harem – nearly hitting the face of one of the goblins who Neriad kept – and his member thrust into the air. A collective gasp came from the various people who had previously managed to pretend that they hadn’t been watching.

Neriad wasted no time in being shocked.

Instead, she flung one thigh wide, levered herself over Liam, then let her pussy-juices flow from her sex. Her arousal moved under her control, reaching down to angle Liam’s  member, then hold him in place as she readied herself. Then, with a husky groan, she lowered herself down. His member thrust deep into her, filling her tight, tight sex to the very brim. Neriad’s face was a picture of pure bliss, her eyes screwed tight shut, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. The only thing that wasn’t utterly blissful was her fingernails, which were digging into Liam’s chest.

“Oh gods yes!” she gasped.

Liam clenched his fists, his arms feeling utterly locked down. He tried to arch his back or thrust his hips, but Neriad was having none of it. She had taken control, and she wasn’t about to give it back. She immediately began to lift her thighs, then drop them down, her ass cheeks clapping together in unison with the wet slap of her thighs against Liam’s thighs. Her palms skimmed to his shoulders, then to the cushions to either side of his head. Her hair hung around her head, providing a private little curtain. The only thing Liam could see was the narrow line of yellow light that escaped from her slitted eyes and the faint reflection of that light on her tongue as she licked her plush lips.

Neriad threw her head back a few thrusts later, her full throat-ed moan of pleasure ringing off the walls as her sex clenched on him like a silken fist. Liam closed his eyes tight and focused on every bit of bureaucratic nonsense that he had had to deal with since becoming the Free Lord of Babylon. That barely kept himself under control – and left him clear headed enough to hear Neriad as she barked out: “You there! Fuck my ass.”

“Aye aye, ma’am...” Jere’s voice was husky and when Liam opened his eyes, he could see the other Earther standing. Whatever hesitation he might have had was melted away by that tone of voice and by the wild heat that was filling the harem chambers. Liam craned his head bac, watching as Jere slipped his loincloth off. Jere’s member thrust into the air – average in everything but eagerness and hardness. Jere looked as horny as Neriad felt, and Liam turned his head to look at Tanye.

The black woman was chewing on her lower lip, her knees quivering despite the fact she was sitting. As Jere stepped around to slap his palms onto Neriad’s rump, his mouth pressing to the back of her neck, nuzzling against her...Tanye’s hand crept closer and closer to the golden fabric of her loincloth. Her dark fingers made quite a contrast as they skimmed along silk, tracing lines that lead inexorably towards her cunny. Liam’s tongue licked his lips and he arched his back as pleasure forced a moan from his mouth. The feeling of Jere’s member sliding into Neriad’s rump was...intense. The sensation of another man’s cock, pressing against his with only a thin seperation, the fact that it set off a tightening and squeezing from Neriad…

He bit down on Neriad’s shoulder as she was pressed against his chest by Jere’s palms. Jere nibbled on her ear, his hips starting to drive into her. Each thrust pushed her against Liam’s  member, and Liam felt her sex greedily suck on his member. She wanted every single fucking droplet of his cum. Liam was running out of ways to delay his orgasm. He desperately wanted to get his hands free, to grab onto Neriad, to fondle her, to caress her.

Instead, his fingertips were graced by the feeling of silk. He jerked his head back, even as Neriad’s hair teased his chin and jaw.

Tanye had crawled forward, her breath coming in desperate little pants. Her frizzy hair bounded as she lifted her loincloth upwards, revealing the hot cunt that waited between her thighs. She had a wild mane of pubic hair, something so rare on Purgatory that seeing it set Liam’s mouth watering. And to think, before he had gone to Purgatory, he’d never been that fond of pubic hair. But seeing the thatch growing above Tanye was enough to trigger every single one of his ‘god yes’ instincts. Tanye sat – not on his face, more’s the pity. But her sex did press to his sex and Liam wasted no time in sliding his fingers into her sex. His thumb glided along the curls of her pubic hair, feeling her softness and loving every single inch of her. His fingers found her G-spot almost instantly and the expression on her face was a mixture of guilt, shame, and utter joy.

“Holy shit, white boy...” she whispered, starting to rock her hips in time with Neriad’s moans and Liam’s fingering. “Oh fuck yes. Yes! Right there. Rub my clitty. Ah! Fuck!” She ducked her head forward, her eyes closing as her breasts jiggled. They remained contained by her bra, which only made Liam more desperately thirsty. Focusing on the sex he was fingering and the pussy he was fucking was nearly more  than he could handle. But Neriad made it easier by simply removing the choice from the matter as she rode him faster and faster and faster. The sound of hips slapping and moaning and gasping and crooning filled the harem room.

The only thing that shocked Liam was that the fucking room wasn’t melting.

Tanye threw her head back and screamed out a single loud: “Fhu-uuuuuuck!”

Neriad was less profane, but no less explosive. Her juices splashed along Liam’s belly as her sex gushed around his dick. But then those juices flowed back, coiling around Liam’s cock and balls and squeezing and teasing him in the same motion. That, combined with the feeling of Tanye’s sex on his fingers, with the scent of orgasm in his nose, with the sensation of Neriad’s tight, tight cunny...it was enough to send Liam over the edge, no matter how hard he was trying.

His balls clenched and his back arched and Liam moaned into Tanye’s mouth. Her lips and his were mismatched – she was looking at his neck and her and hers. But the  moment was too intense for anything but a kiss to settle it.

Like a tide, the seconds slipped away and Liam felt himself draining of everything save for the warm buzz and feeling of pure happiness that came from a really intense orgasm. Tanye jerked back, gasping, her eyes wide as she looked down at him. She started to stammer – but before Liam could try to make sense of what she was saying, Neriad spread her palms against Liam’s chest, planted her face against his shoulders, and let herself put all her weight on him.

“That was most acceptable,” she mumbled, her voice dazed. “I shall keep you.”

Liam chuckled.

He stopped with the first snore.

Three snores split the air before he whispered. “Uh...guys? Can anyone get these ice manacles off me?”

Jere, who had sprawled onto his back behind the formerly double-stuffed goddess, waved his arm weakly. Tanye seemed to have vanished. Liam looked around, trying to get a feel of the room past the blue demigoddess sprawled on his body like the world’s heaviest, most curvaceous blanket. Then, salvation. There was Meg, leaning over Neriad’s shoulders.

“Meg, can you break the restraints?”

A single heart beat passed.

“Meg?”

Meg’s eyes glinted. Her grin was wide and predatory.

“Uh, Meg...I...” Liam blinked slowly as her shift went sailing away. “Oh boy.”

 

***

 

The merciless sun beat down on the Endless Mine and the paladins still hadn’t returned from their quiet departure in the hours before the ‘dawn.’ Bella still had a hard time thinking of dawn in Purgatory as anything but a cruel slap in the face. It robbed her of her favorite time of day, when the slow shading from reds to oranges to brilliant blues painted the world in color. It robbed her of a few extra hours of sleep. Nothing like sprawling in bed in the pre-dawn grayness, then opening your eyes a few hours later to bright light shining through the window. It was like getting one over on your alarm clock.

None of that in Purgatory! Just one second, darkness. The next, wham, up and at em, get your rump in gear.

She wondered what effect that had had on human brains. Did Purgatory suffer from chronic sleep loss?

That might have explained some things.

But the worst thing about the sudden dawn was that Bella had to figure out what to do about the new situation between her and Xapanos. The time they had shared had been…

Foolish. Dumb. Short sighted. Dangerous. Idiotic. A betrayal in everything that he cared about. Utterly unforgivable.

...fucking hot. Bella squirmed as she probed that thought with the same gingerness that she’d have spared for a tooth with a cavity. Was it a little bit hotter now that she knew that he had a wife? How fucked up was that? Bella put her hands over her face and tried to get her thoughts under control.

“You! Work!”

The bellow came from one of the larger guards that Paladin Chastity had put on her. While the guard lacked Chastity’s superhuman magical powers, steel plate armor and longsword, he did make up for that lack with being at least ten times more overbearing. Bella drew her hands away from her face and scowled at the guard.

“I am working,” she said. “I’m thinking, aren’t I?”

The guard spat on the ground and patted his war-club threateningly. Bella decided that discretion was the better part of valor. She hurried over towards where Xapanos was studying a chunk of steel taken from the mines. It had once been a human’s arm. She could see the studiously blank expression on his face, but even after a short time together, she had learned to spot the subtle signs of utter disgust that he couldn’t quite hide. It was in the slight slant of his ear-tips, and way he clenched his jaw…

God, he is beautiful… Bella thought. Her mind started to slowly recount the feeling of her lips gliding along his midnight black skin. The feeling of his long, thick cock spearing her, pinning her. The feeling of…

She shook her head as she realized Xapanos was looking at her.

“Xapanos,” Bella said.

“Scholar Cole,” Xapanos said.

Bella rubbed the back of her neck. “Do you...” She paused. “Do you want to talk about, uh...uh...” She started to panic, seeing the coldness in his eyes as he looked at her. “About the research. Have you figured out some way of, um, warding people from the transformation?”

Xapanos sighed slowly. “No.” He clenched his hands. “Bella, I...” He looked down. “I am a scholar. I live to tell the truth. Lies about the Predator drone is one thing. But how am I going to go home and tell my wife that I cheated on her?”

Bella’s stomach knotted. She wanted to reach out and squeeze his shoulder. Instead, she looked at the Predator drone that they had set up on the table, more as a way to distract herself. Fooling the guards into thinking the drone was some scientific apparatus wasn’t exactly difficult. All they had to do was stand around it, occasionally touch parts, sometimes say nonsense words, and the guards seemed to think that it was working. She had worried that its lack of movement or sound effects would give the game away…

Whirr.

Xapanos lifted his head. “What was that?”

Bella gaped.

The camera slung underneath the broad nose of the drone had slowly rotated in a three hundred and sixty degree arc. A few whirring clicks followed and she saw the flaps on the wings shifting up and down, up and down. They settled a moment later. The whole drone remained perfectly still. But Bella couldn’t think of it just as an ungainly, ugly threat that represented everything Ares might do if given the chance. It was alive. It was awake.

“Bella?” Xapanos said, walking over to her.

Bella turned to look at him – and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a guard regarding them with clear suspicion. A sudden flare of fear shot through her. She grabbed onto Xapanos’ wrists and tugged him close for a kiss. His eyes widened and he almost seemed about to draw back...but like a magnet picking up speed as it rushed towards its twin, he leaned into the kiss. His tongue plunged into her mouth and his dark hands cupped and squeezed her ass. Bella shuddered in guilty pleasure. Her stomach was knotting and she felt faintly sick...but...but…

God it felt so good to be bad sometimes.

She broke the kiss first, gasping quietly. Xapanos’ hardness bumped against her belly through his loincloth. His voice was ragged. “Bella,” he growled. It sounded like a threat and a plea, all rolled into one.

“Xapanos, we need privacy.” She breathed. “I’m giving them an excuse for it.”

Xapanos turned. It was the work of a few moments to drag leather sheeting off the roof of the tent. With each leather wall that dropped over them, the heat in the room grew a notch more intense. Bella felt as if she had been slathered in oil. She wasn’t sure what made her more thirsty – Xapanos’ muscular body or the fact that she really needed a drink of water. But once the little tent was entirely dark and private and far too hot, air conditioning spell or no air conditioning spell, Bella picked up the mage light they used to work into the night and activated it.

Xapanos panted as he looked at her.

The urge to grab her clothes and tear them off was remarkably intense. Bella dug her palm against the crystal’s sharpened top, the pain focusing her. “The drone is awake.”

“It is?” Xapanos looked at the drone.

“That means that someone out there is communicating with it.” Bella licked her lips as she looked at the drone. “That means that the rest of the team is out there.”

 

***

 

“Is a single fucking person on my team that won’t end up being a fucking sex maniac by the time this mission is done?” Simone grumbled.

“Nope!” Meg sang cheerfully as she leaned against Liam’s back. Neriad sat on the other side of Tanye, who was dressed in her army duds again. They suited her far better than the gold bikini. The expression on her face was the calm and collected expression worn by pilots across the centuries of flight, no matter how dire the situation. She had one hand on the joystick and the other hand on the keyboard of the mobile drone operating station that had been part of the gear that Neriad had plucked from them when she had dragooned them into the harem.

“What are they doing?” Tethis whispered.

“Getting ready to fuck from the wood that weird elf is sporting,” Liv said, casually.

“No, they’re getting privacy,” Liam said. “Do we get sound on this thing?”

“This one isn’t loaded with directional microphones,” Tanye said, her voice crisp. “We’ll get footage. And heat vision. Also, according to the diagnostic report, they don’t have the hellfires loaded.”

“Oh happy day,” Liam said.

“Hellfire? I like the sound of that,” Neriad murmured, rubbing her palms together. “I’d like to bring some down on Ares.” She paused. “Are you sure Zeus isn’t behind it all?”

For what felt like the tenth time this morning, everyone from Babylon said at the same instant: “Yes!”

Neriad sighed. “I suppose it is a bit complicated for him. Any plan beyond turning into a swan is a bit beyond him.” She tossed her head.

The guards that were posted at the front doors of the planning chambers both shifted from foot to foot nervously. One of them glanced upwards, despite the fact they were at the bottom of a lake. But while they did so, Tayne grunted. “Doc’s got a pen and paper on hand.” She paused. “Well, close enough for hand grenades.”

Doctor Belladonna Cole held up a tablet of smoothed stone and had scrawled out: Being forced to study mine. Have privacy. Use flaps – morse.

“Fucking morse code, wonderful,” Tanye muttered.

“Stow it,” Simone said. “Ask her to tell us the disposition of their forces. We need to know if they’re detecting this signal.”

Tanye nodded. She started to twitch the controller.

 

***

 

“D...i...s...p...o...” Bella muttered, notching the letters down on the tablet as the flaps whirred up and down, clicking and clattering. When she got back to Earth, if she got back to Earth, she was going to find the long suffering man who had taught the whole team how to communicate using Morse code and give them a fucking thank you hummer. Well. Okay. Maybe a thank you kiss. Bella flushed as she realized that she hadn’t been entirely joking.

He had been cute.

The last bit of the last word came through and she put her palm to her face.

“The paladins left before dawn,” she muttered as she scrawled. Then she lifted her head at the sound of gravel crunching underfoot. “Shit!”

 

***

 

“The...fuck...are they doing?” Simone whispered.

“Fuckin’,” Liv said, casually.

“Liam’s bigger,” Meg said, nodding. “But I wouldn’t throw him out of bed.” She paused. “Fucking sloppy technique, do you see that? She’s practically chewing on him.”

Liam coughed. He felt like he should maybe turn his eyes away, considering how flustered the elf looked at his sudden blowjob. His member thrust out into the mage-light, glistening on the high definition camera built onto the Predator. It was normally built to pick up targets from a few miles up, the fact it could lovingly render nine inches of hard elf-cock was not entirely surprising. It was surreal as fuck to watch a renowned geologist start to bob her head on an elven cock using said camera, though.

“Yeah. I feel bad for you Earthers,” Liv said, shaking her head.

Then the tent flap opened and a burly looking guard glared into the room. Seeing the blowjob and the look of offended irritation on Bella’s face as she drew her mouth back, her hand squeezing the base of the elf’s black dick, a string of spittle connecting her lip to his member for a few seconds before the strand snapped with the distance…

The guard just grinned. Nodded. Then ducked back. The tent was once more private.

The elf quickly tucked his cock away. Even with skin too black to show a blush, Liam could almost feel the heat of his embarrassment radiating through the camera. Bella was considerably more overt and Liam didn’t need to be an expert lip reader to see the ‘sorry’ on her lips.

Dr. Cole held up her tablet a moment later.

“They left before dawn,” Liam said, quietly.

“They might have triangulated this position,” Simone said, frowning. She turned to Neriad. “Have your lookouts reported anything unusual?”

Neriad closed her eyes. She lifted her head as she focused, drawing her magic into herself. Whatever she did didn’t take long – her eyes opened. “The lookouts on the south bank aren’t responding. Something’s wrong.”

“They’re not about to attack us,” Tethis said, shaking her head. “Neriad controls water with her mind. And there are only a few Paladins. Even with steel and blessings, they can’t take a whole castle by theirselves.”

Simone, though, was thinking. And thinking hard. She grabbed onto the top of the drone rigger’s kit and slammed it shut. Tayne only barely had enough time to yank her fingers back. Tanye looked offended for a few seconds before Simone snarled: “Everyone! Out! Now!” She looked at Neriad. “Ice the water above the castle! The south bank is over our heads.”

Neriad looked up. Her eyes widened.

She thrust her palm upwards.

Liam couldn’t see through ice. But he could hear the resounding slosh of water as ice expanded, crystals forming and crackling. And he could hear the dull, resounding roar of the explosion. The ceiling shuddered, then cracked, then split as ice gave under the concussive shock wave that escaped from whatever defenses Neriad had thrown up. Water poured down and smashed into Liam’s face and chest. He went sprawling backwards onto the ground, coughing and spluttering as the water pushed him along the floor, down the stairs, and fetched him up against the wall. He slammed his artificial foot against the icy floor, trying to get some grip, and felt his ankle jar as the straps caught him and the ankle of the foot managed to find purchase.

The reprieve was temporary.

The rest of the ceiling gave way and water smashed into him like hammer blows. His head smashed against the floor and he felt water rushing into his lungs. He struggled, grasping in the darkness. His lungs felt as if they were being crushed in bands of iron.

A hand closed around his fake foot.

Leather straps slipped off him.

Liam floated in darkness.

The hand grabbed again. This time, it caught his ankle and yanked him forward. He shot through a wall of water and landed on the floor. Coughing and hacking, he managed to roll onto his front. Blood dripped from his hair and he felt a warmth rushing through his body. His lungs clenched harder than he had ever felt in his life and he vomited up the rest of the water.

When he could breathe again, he looked upwards.

Neriad stood, her hands lifted above her head, her body trembling as she clenched her jaw, her eyes half closed as she held off the weight of an entire lake. Clustered around her were a few members of the harem, Tayne, Simone, Tethis, Liv, Meg, and one of the lizardmen guards. The guard was looking around wildly, his sword half drawn. “Where’s Barker?” Simone shouted. She was sitting on her ass, her leg looking as if it wasn’t quite bending the right way. Despite that, her voice remained focused.

“I don’t know, sir,” Tayne said, pushing herself to her feet. “What did they fucking drop on us, a depth charge?”

“A godkiller,” Neriad snarled.

The water dome surrounding them buzzed. Ripples sprang into existence and interfaced with such intensity that the whole surface seemed to be a single mass of spikes. The rippling faded away and Neriad fell to one knee, gasping loudly. “A second one!” She groaned. Then, gasping. “N-No!”

Liam didn’t want to think about her followers who were outside of the protective sphere. The explosive power of gunpowder, augmented by Purgatorian crystal, was enough to kill a god. Apparently, the Monodeists had also managed to waterproof it enough to set it off under the water. That spelled a whole new constellation of dangers for the Babylonian navy – what good was a million coin battleship if a five hundred coin keg of gunpowder and crystal could send it sky high?

What good was worrying about that when the Paladins seemed to have snuck up their asses with-

The water dome buzzed again.

“How many of those fucking things did they bring?” Meg growled.

Neriad’s fingers were curled into claws and her nose was bleeding. She closed her eyes, then stood up. Her body trembled as she lifted her arms and roared.

“No more!” She shoved her hand upwards. The water above her shot upwards in a pillar, creating a growing space above their heads. Then it started to slip backwards, pressing back against Neriad as her arms shook and her muscles strain. “Enough! I am Neriad! Goddess of the seas! And I refuse to be killed by some damned newfangled piece of common, cheap...INDUSTRY!” She threw one arm upwards in a curving punch. If that punch had been thrown in a boxing match, Neriad would have been sprawled on her ass with the counter stroke.

But the arm was merely part of it.

The true attack was the water.

Liam had been impressed with the dome. Even more impressed with the pillar moved overhead.

But this was something else entirely. The water over their head roared upwards and threw itself against the south bank of the lake. The air above their heads showed clear to the sky of Purgatory. Distant land looked down through a tunnel of swirling whitecaps, while the water that Neriad had launched from the bottom of the lake rushed along the beach and into the marsh. Trees shuddered, branches crackled and snapped like machine gun fire, and cries of alarm came from the other look-out stations.

Neriad clenched her fist, then brought her arm down with a snarl and a bellow: “DIE!”

The water surrounding them froze with a crackling, tinkling noise. Meg wasted no time at all. She sprang upwards and shot towards the sky. Her wings beat and she looked around – then shouted back.

“You got em!”

Neriad smiled. Her eyes closed.

Liam stumbled forward awkwardly on one leg and caught her before she collapsed to the ground. He tried to lower her down but ended up merely being her cushion as the two of them sprawled together. Tethis knelt down and put her palms to either side of her head. “She’s fine, just tired,” she said. “Wow. Her, uh, what did you call it?”

“Node?” Liam asked. “Her god node.” He paused. “Can you get my foot?”

“Yeah. It’s at least fifty percent bigger than Liv’s.” Tethis said, before smiling and strapping his foot back on.

Liv looked cross. Then she turned to the wall and ran towards it. She leaped upwards, put her feet against the ice, back flipped, hit the far side of the frozen tunnel, then leaped forward. She sailed over the lip with a good two feet of clear air, then landed and skidded out of sight. Liam stood, made sure his foot was settled, then looked at Tanye and Simone. Simone had managed to sit up, but was still cradling her leg gingerly.

“I’m sorry about Jere,” he said.

Tanye looked defiant. “You don’t know...”

Simone, though, just shook her head. “Go see if our waterbender left anyone alive to question.”

A gunshot filled the air.

“I think the answer is yes,” Liam said.

“Vanderbilt!” Simone called.

Liam looked back. She had gotten her hand into one of the backpacks that held the rest of the gear Neriad had borrowed from the two Earthers. She under handed him the sleek, black shape of a 9mm pistol. Liam caught it with his left hand, took out the flintlock pistol he had strapped to his hip, then replaced the 9mm with it. Thus armed, he walked to the side of the ice wall. He was starting to wonder about how he’d get up when a rope tumbled down. Looking up, he saw two crewmen from the Liberty looking down at him. Liam grinned.

When he got onto the top of the lake, he saw that considerably more of it was frozen than he had expected. The Liberty was half surrounded by ice, with crew already getting to work pushing at the ice to try and slide themselves back to the water properly. The marsh to the south of the grotto looked as if Earth winter had arrived in force. Russian winter. Ice grew around the trees and frosted along leave that looked too shocked to realize they were dead. But the paladin’s former location was as obvious as day. It was where the explosions were coming from.

There were four of them standing on the ice. Their armor looked a bit dinged and battered, and each was wreathed in a golden flame, but other than that they seemed unharmed. One was armed with two flintlock pistols. Another had a longsword that she was holding in two hands – using the same style that Liam had used back when he had had a longsword. It felt almost insulting to see that. The other two were both armed with shields – smaller than the massive aspis of a hoplite, but not quite the triangular kite shield of a European knight. Liam could practically hear a thousand medievalist screaming in pain at the term ‘European knight’ but he didn’t care.

What mattered far more was Liv and Meg. Meg had ducked her cute ass behind a tree and was twirling a sling. Thanks to their size and ease of concealment, Meg was almost never truly unarmed. While she lacked bullets, she had clearly found something that worked well enough, as she leaned around the corner of the tree and let fly. Even a normal stone propelled by her strength was enough to dent the shield it impacted against. The paladin rocked backwards, and his friend with the guns popped around the corner. He fired.

Two chunks of wood the size of Liam’s fist exploded from the tree.

“Fall back!” the paladin with the longsword shouted. “Fall back!”

The four paladins began to step backwards along the ice. Liam knelt down and lifted his pistol. He sighted and pulled the trigger. The gun bucked against his arms and he saw a spark exploding from the shoulder of one of the swords and boards paladins. He stumbled and pitched against a tree. As he fell, the three paladins turned and started to sprint away. They moved at a mile eating pace, their legs sending them up and down in curving arcs as they bounded between trees like gazelles.

Meg lowered her arm, her wings mantling.

“Should I go after em?” She asked.

“No, no,” Liam said. “They’re going almost as fast as you and they have guns.” He looked back at the ice. The water was starting to slowly return, the ice melting inch by inch as Neriad’s control laxed and natural thermodynamics took over once more. Liam’s jaw tightened and he thought furiously.

“You’ve got that look,” Meg said, grinning slowly. “You have a plan, don’t you?”

Liam smiled. “I didn’t until about five seconds ago. Come on. Lets get the survivors to the Liberty.”

 

***

 

“What happened?” Xapanos asked, looking at the still drone.

“I don’t know.” Bella slowly sat down on the stool next to the door. She hung her head forward, her eyes closing as she did so. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. She had felt hope there, for a few moments. But seeing the stillness of the drone after the last mysterious spasm of parts filled her with a creeping dread. Xapanos’ hand slowly settled on her shoulder, squeezing slightly.

“Let us get to work. Okay?” he asked. “We should try and discover more about the mine. Once the communication starts up again, we should have something to tell them. Right?”

Bella leaned into the palm, her head turning. She mashed her face against his belly, taking comfort in the physicality of contact. Her nose flared and she breathed in his scent, remembering the panicked desperation that had pushed her mouth around his dick. She could still taste him on her lips. The urge to slowly draw her tongue along his chest was nearly overpowering. Instead, she drew back, forcing herself to stand.

“Lets,” she said.

The next hour of work was done in quiet. But it was a quiet that grew less and less awkward as time passed. She examined the metal through the makeshift microscope that she had managed to knock together with Xapanos’ help, while Xapanos murmured quiet spells as he ran his palms over another chunk of metal. She was growing increasingly certain that it was some kind of nanotechnological effect that was transmuting flesh to steel.

But despite the fact they worked together well, her mind kept catching on his closeness.

How much of this is just because we’re pent up together? She thought, leaning back and letting the faint breeze that the air conditioning spell created blow along her chest. She tugged her shift forward slightly, to let the air sweep along her sweaty breasts. The feeling of cool air along her nipples sent tingles through her body – her toes curled. Her mind drifted to the mental image of Xapanos closing his lips around one of her breasts.

Okay. It’s definitely cause we’re pent up, she thought. No internet, no twitter, no books. Nothing to think about but his fucking six pack.

The Predator whirred.

Bella gasped, then looked back over her shoulder to make sure the guards weren’t looking. None of them were. Seeing Xapanos expression, she licked her lips and nodded. He moved and started to yank down the covers again. Before the last wall was dropped, she saw two guards glancing their way and one of them laughing. He made a jerking motion around his loincloth and Bella’s cheeks flushed.

Once they were private again, Bella and Xapanos watched the flaps whirr and click. Once they were done, Xapanos asked: “What were they asking for?”

“Oh, nothing much, just a summery,” Bella said. “Did you find what I asked you to look for?”

Xapanos rubbed the back of his neck. “I believe so.” He grinned, slightly. “So, it is the nonorobots?”

“Nano,” Bella said, faintly distracted. She started to scrawl away at her tablet. Flipping it up, she showed it to the drone.

 

***

 

Neriad’s eyes fluttered open as Liam sat next to the bed. His hands were clasped together as he waited, and he lifted his head, letting out a sigh of relief. Tethis had said that she would be fine, but had then followed it up by saying that the goddess would need a few hours of rest. Liam had waited the whole rest period on pins and needles.

“My people?” Neriad whispered.

Liam smiled, ever so slightly. He took her hand and squeezed. “More of them survived than we thought. The godkiller blasts were mostly absorbed by your ice field, then by your water-bubble. A few did die. Including Jere...” He paused, seeing the expression of pain flit across her face. Liam himself tried to feel a sliver of that pain. But he hadn’t known Jeremiah Barker for more than a single evening.

“The bastards who attacked us?” Neriad asked.

“You got one,” Liam said. “And you’re about to get the rest.”

Neriad sat up. The sheets of her bed skidded along her breasts and pooled on her lap as she almost bumped her head into the wall with the eagerness of her movement. That seemed to bring her to some awareness – she looked around the wooden room that she was in with a curious ‘hurm.’ Liam smiled.

“You’re on the Liberty. We’re sailing up river. We got a message on the Blinking Stars. The Monodeist fleet ran into the Babyloian fleet and was forced to retreat. We have, for the next few days, an open shot along this river. That means we can land an army near the Endless Mine. And artillery.” He leaned forward. “But it’s still going to be an all-mighty slog to get in.”

Neriad nodded. “I’ll lead the charge myself!”

“Not quite,” Liam said. “See...I wasn’t going to send the army until we found a way past their defenses.” He grinned. “We found one.” He took her hands, squeezing. “You can turn water to ice. Can you retain temperature while altering its phase? For example, cold steam?”

Neriad frowned, slowly. “Well...cold steam is impossible as far as I know. But I’m a goddess.” She lifted her chin. “Impossibility is my job.”

Liam’s grin grew predatory. “The Endless Mine turns people into steel via very tiny automatons, like the work of Daedalus, but on a scale so small that it cannot be seen. Literally millions of them, working in tandem, can alter us. But very small things are more easily impacted by changes in temperature. Underground, the temperature is very stable. But if you freeze the air around us, we’ll be miserable.” He thrust his thumb at his chest. “And the automatons will be unable to move.”

Neriad slowly started to smile. Her hands slipped along her blankets, and then she tossed them aside as she swung her legs around. Her knees almost bumped against Liam’s. Her eyes flashed with eagerness.

“And we can emerge into the very balls of their fort?” she whispered.

“And we can fuck them. Hard.” Liam leaned forward, his nose almost bumping hers in the darkness of the cabin.

Neriad panted softly.

Liam licked his lips.

“Are you kind of turned on too?” Neriad whispered.

“Mostly by you.”

Neriad grabbed onto the back of his hair and jerked him forward. Their mouths met, and once more, their tongues went to war. But it didn’t last nearly as long. Neriad drew back, panting heavily, then placed her finger against Liam’s chest. Her eyes closed and she leaned her head forward. “I owe you much, Liam. Without you, the paladins would have found me eventually. They’d have dropped their godkillers on me, and without Tethis, I’d be...” She trailed off. “And I’d never get my revenge.”

Liam shrugged. “If we hadn’t come, we’d have never sent the radio signal and...”

She tossed her head. “I know when I’m in a corner, Lord Vanderbilt.” Her lips quirked in a sad, sad smile. “And I know when I owe someone.”

Liam blinked, then gasped as Neriad slowly slid to her knees. Her palms went to his kilt. Before Liam could speak, she had undone the belt, pushed his kilt apart, then lifted his cock. Her nose pressed to his member and she breathed him slowly in. Her mouth opened and she kissed the base of his dick. Liam’s eyes closed and he cooed. “You don’t have to do anything like this, Neriad.”

Neriad ignored him. Instead, she kissed up from the base of his cock to the very tip, sliding her tongue slowly along the edge of his foreskin. Her eyes closed and she tilted her head forward, sucking the head of his cock between her lips. Her tongue swirled around and around his cock as her hand started to pump his cock. Her knuckles grazed against his belly and her wrist bumped against his balls as she worked his cock, bobbing her head up and down. Lines of spittle slipped past her lips, adding a sloppy edge to her blowjob that made it feel all the more deliciously decadent.

Liam grabbed onto the walls of the small chamber, his body tightening as the stool he sat on creaked quietly. For a few moments, the only noise in the cabin was the creak of the wood, the rustle of distant sails, the thump of crew walking by on the deck outside, and the almost inaudible slurp slurp slurp of Neriad’s lips as she struggled to fit more and more of Liam’s immense cock into her mouth. She drew back, gasping quietly, his cock glistening as if freshly oiled in the dim light of the cabin. Her hand continued to slip up and down his cock.

“By the river Styx and the Titans, your cock is a fucking beast,” she whispered. “Are you part minotaur?”

“I fucked one once,” Liam spoke through gritted teeth.

“I thought you slew it!” Neriad’s hand tightened in shock.

“Long story!” Liam hissed, nearly cumming right then and there.

Neriad snorted, then ducked her head forward. She started to plant feathery kisses along the underside of his cock, her hand squeezing his tip as she nuzzled and licked and even gently nip at him. In the same way that Liam had used enough force on her, she used enough force on him. Gentle. Very gentle. And that was more than enough to set Liam’s balls to boiling. He opened his mouth to cry out, but Neriad simply drew back, tilted his cock forward, and pumped him.

The stool creaked and Liam’s artificial foot skidded along the deck, while his fleshy one slipped against the wall. The orgasm he felt all the more perfect for the fact it was selfish – he focused on his own pleasure and felt it doubling as his seed sprayed out in a smooth arc. Neriad closed her eyes, moaning as cum splashed her face, painting blue skin with white smears. Cum splashed her breasts and she began to rub his seed into her skin, her ears lifting in pleasure as she moaned louder, opening her mouth, catching another spurt.

Liam sprawled against the wall, panting heavily as Neriad licked her lips. Her hands moved and the cum moved as well, flowing up along her skin, creeping along her jaw, then sliding into her mouth.

Liam blinked a few times as she finished cleaning herself off, licking her lips.

“That’s just...fucking weird...” he whispered, sounding dazed.

“You’re just jealous,” Neriad said, sounding huffy.

From the deck, Liam could hear the sounds of an anchor splashing into the water.

They had arrived.