After the revelation of secrets, Rapina and Thane gave Rames a lesson in sailing, one that ended with backing the ship into Thane's secret cavern and securing her within. After that, Thane sat his new apprentices in his great hall and told them what he expected.
"Now, your apprenticeships will be working apprenticeships. Please forgive me if I am forced to amend your duties from time to time, for I have never had apprentices before; thus you will be teaching me even as I am teaching you. Rapina, your duties will be fairly well defined. You are to make three meals a day, keep my abode clean, do the laundry and tend the gardens. Considering the many rooms and so on, this will be no easy chore. I will provide you with as many skeletal helpers as you require, but you must learn to instruct and supervise them so as to maximize the time you have available to learn magic. The church has instructed me not to instruct you beyond the basics of necromacy, Rapina, so you will assist me in potion-making and such non-necromantic chores. In my necromantic lab work, Rames will assist me.
Guardian Rames, you will take over my sporadic burial duties in order to make spending money. These priestly duties will take precedence over any other tasks I assign you. You will supervise the addition of rooms to the abode. I will also be requiring you to clear land, plant orchards and generally put polish on parts of this wild little isle. You also will be provided with undead helpers. At such time as the church sees fit, you will be given killing assignments as well.
"As is my habit, we will sleep during the morning hours and remain awake all night when our undead helpers are most active. I will give you some standard magical instruction just after we break our fast weekday mornings. After that, I will comment on your duties for the day. Each of you will no doubt develop interests in certain areas of magic. I will give you access to my fairly extensive library. If you are able to read while you supervise your helpers, then all the better for you. The cleverer you are with your undead servants, the more time you shall have to learn. As long as the chores I give you get done, I do not care how creative you are in accomplishing them. If you have ideas that might make your tasks even more efficient but require more helpers or additional magic, I will entertain your ideas. If I find they have merit, we will implement them. Have you any questions?" Thane asked.
"Guradian Thane, do you have any weapons skills?" Rames asked. "One difficulty I've had while in the order is priests tend not to know much sword play, and without constant practice, a warrior's skills atrophy."
Thane considered Ramey's question, "What weapons do you know, Guardian?"
"I'm proficient in most of the blades, from dagger to two-handed sword. There's a certain artistry in sword play. I'm familiar with some others, hand axe, battle axe, a few pole-arms and the longbow."
"I am good with throwing daggers, and I am skilled with the staff, a modest but effective weapon. Do you know its use?" Thane asked.
"I've seen it used, but it never really appealed to me," Rames said.
"Too bloodless for you, eh?" Thane chuckled.
Rames blushed.
"What about the rapier, how are you with that?" Thane asked.
Ramey smiled. "The rapier is a fine weapon and I have had the pleasure to know a few officers and one Mortician who were real artists with it. I often carried it as a priest as it is a good weapon for the city where heavy armors are not as likely to be encountered and speed is of the essence."
"Good then, I'd like your opinion on a blade." Thane left and returned with a rapier that he handed to Rames.
Rames unsheathed the blade; the look on his face was nearly orgiastic. He studied it carefully in every detail. "This blade was made at the Montfort Forge, a new weapons house already gaining an excellent reputation. Their blades are all forged from a unique steel said to be of extraterrestrial origin. Corrosion does not touch them and they retain a fine edge when sharpened. I had no idea you were a master of the rapier.
Thane chuckled. "I am not. That is Rapina's blade."
Rames looked at Rapina, now more warmly dressed due to the chill of Thane's abode. "Where did you come by such a blade?"
"I won it by coming in first place in the hand-to-hand combat contest at the end of basic training with the pirate recruits."
"I might have sold the blade, but now that Rapina is a full apprentice, I believe I will return all of her possessions except those that belonged to reverend Evangeline, and those that link her to her childhood. Those I shall dispose of and forget about. No sense keeping evidence that might link her with a deed that the Avengenes are too blind to see was the justice of Mortaebius. I will provide both of you with appropriate mage-lights so that you can see to do your nightly duties. Perhaps she would be willing to be your sparring partner, Guardian Rames," Thane said.
"That would be nice," Rames said. "Rapina, you were first place, among how many recruits?"
"Thirty-two, and I was the only girl," Rapina said.
"Would you like to continue with your weapons training? I could sure use someone to work out with." Rames asked.
"Sure, I'd be glad too," Rapina said. "I worked hard to learn weapons skills, no sense in having them fade away. Rapina glanced at Thane, "Besides, with only the three of us, Thane may have assignments where someone with a brain in her skull needs to help you."
Thane chuckled. "Already you have a good grasp of how I think, Rapina. You'll do well in my service, very well indeed."
The next week didn't go quite as Rapina expected. Thane gave orders, but they were rather vague and general. He expected his apprentices to, "grapple with the details and distinguish themselves." He spared only an hour or two in the mornings to teach his apprentices. He assigned a fair amount of reading and some magical exercises. Otherwise, he appeared for some meals, but just as often he had Rapina serve him food in his den. Beyond that, he spent all his time deep in study. Rapina suspected Thane was studying the mysterious books left by Mortancer Greel. By the end of the week, she was sure of it. Thane went off on skeletal horseback to the mausoleum caverns at sunset with Rames. An hour later he descended the stairs from the cliff-top gardens above the abode as Rapina and a number of skeletons swept the stairs.
Rapina did a double-take as Thane descended. "Hey, how'd you get up there?" She asked.
Thane grinned devilishly, "Wizardry, my dear. Did I not tell you the order would reward me for bringing the pirates to justice?"
Rapina stared open-mouthed.
"After a few nights of practice, I shall want you to accompany me," Thane said.
Rapina nodded dumbly as Thane returned to his study, still glowing with success.
A few nights later, Thane made good on his promise. He took Rapina and Rames with him to the burrial mounds near the mausoleum caverns. While Rames stood back with the horses, Thane explained what he was going to do.
"Recently I was able to procure a few new spells that will be of benefit to make us more mobile. This one is the safest, and thus perhaps the best of them. With it, I can travel from one graveyard to any other graveyard that I have been to. The spell takes longer than the teleportation done by wizards in storybooks, and it can only be done at night in a cemetery, but with its safety and greater carrying capacity, I believe it is nearly ideal. I have done it several times, and I believe I am now ready to try taking a passenger. Rapina come along."
Rapina walked to Thane's side, both scared and excited.
"You must whisper a prayer to Mortaebius repeatedly while I cast the spell, otherwise say nothing. Stay by my side as I move. Begin now."
As Rapina started muttering a prayer from the book Thane had left in her bedroom under her breath, the necromancer began to drone incantations and move his hands in arcane patterns. Rapina kept one eye on Rames and one on Thane. After several minutes of droning her prayer, Rapina began to relax a little, but then arcane mists began rising around Thane and her. Soon she could not see Rames and the sounds of the isle became muffled and then disappeared entirely. Her whispered prayer and the mystic dronings of Thane became her whole sensory world, she could not see or feel her feet, and she could only see Thane's upper body. Thane began to walk and she followed. He walked in an odd pattern and after a time offered a short prayer of thanksgiving to Mortaebius. After that the mists slowly wafted away. The moonlight revealed the cliff-top gardens above the abode and the several plaques marking the graves of previous priests of Mortaebius who now rested within holes in the granite of the cliffs. Somehow Thane had transported them across the isle and up onto the cliff-tops.
"Rapina, are you well?" Thane asked.
"Yes guardian Thane, but I can't believe what you just did." Rapina marveled.
Thane looked into Rapina's emerald eyes as his hands caressed her sides from her hips to just under her arms, "Wizardry, Rapina, is as alluring as any woman."
Rapina stood there, her mouth open, still in awe over what Thane had been able to accomplish.
Thane smiled. "Now that I know I can travel, the bookstores, merchants and artisans of the city of Rosehaven are once again at my disposal. With luck, I will be able to enlist the aid of my fellow priests to expand my limited exposure to other city graveyards. In time, I may be able to find one so far away that you can accompany me and enjoy a city with no fear from the law. If I have my way, I will range far, for one never knows when the law might unjustly turn on one as it has in your case, my dear. Should Clairmont ever turn on me, I must be sure there are other places I can go."
That night, Thane again disappeared into his chambers and resumed his almost inhuman study-schedule. Rapina barely saw him except in the mornings and when she served meals.
At first, keeping up with her reading and her duties had been extremely taxing. With a few pointers from Thane and Rames and a great deal of her own creativity, Rapina started to become quite proficient at ordering skeletons around. She often had to break complex tasks into many smaller tasks, but Rapina soon grasped the concept and kept notes on what orders worked and what orders were too complex to give the skeletons all at one time. She was even successful at getting them to do some of the weeding of the garden as well as the hoeing. This was fortunate since Thane had ordered her to quadruple the amount of ground under cultivation.
Rapina discovered that the double-animated skeletons could follow longer, more complex orders, thus she asked Thane to double-animate as many of her skeletons as possible. Surprisingly, the necromancer complied, although he did the same for an equal number of Rames' skeletons. Apparently, the necromancer wished to upgrade all of his skeletons, but as a favor to his apprentices, he started on theirs first.
As she became more and more proficient with the skeletons and developed a comprehensive schedule of meals, cleaning and laundry, Rapina had more and more time to do her assigned magical readings. As she became more sure of the efficacy of her orders, she was often able to read while supervising her skeletal servitors. She began devouring every book that had anything remotely to do with sex magic. She needed to know as much about what was possible as she could. She put Rames off as far as weapons practice for the first two weeks. After that, she scheduled a time they would get together on the cliff-tops above the abode or in one of the large storage rooms on the lower level that Rames had converted into a gym. As it turned out, their first scheduled practice was in the afternoon, the afternoon after Thane made an announcement at breakfast. It had been about a week since Thane had perfected his graveyard mists spell.
"The order has granted me some additional priestly training, and I will be taking advantage of that over the next two weeks. Guardian Rames, it will be your job to care for the isle while I am gone. Rapina, you are to mind Rames as you would me while I am away, do you understand?"
"Yes Guardian," Rapina said.
"Good. I have quite a lot of reading I want you both to do while I am away. You are to discuss it over breakfast and write down any questions. When I return, I will go over it with you both.
---
That night when Thane shoed Rapina and Rames into their rooms, Rapina was ready with the listening tube from the lab, but was disappointed when Mortancer Greel did not come down into the abode. Evidently, Thane had taken his bags up to the cliff-top gardens and they had left from there.
After a while, Rames came and let her out of her room.
Rames grinned, "Well, the old man's gone, shall we invite the neighbors over for a party?"
"Pff, oh I wish. The only neighbors we have are Kent and his ghouls, not the kind of *things* I'd want to have a party with."
Rames nodded, "I never thought I'd be saying this, but even the army beat this place for social life. Now that's pretty bad. I'll tell you what, while Thane is gone, I'm going to change our schedule a little. We'll get up at the same time, but two hours after breakfast, about the time our lesson would usually end, we are going to have weapons practice. Tomorrow, I'll fetch some berries before breakfast, and I want you to bake something sweet during the time we'd normally have our lesson. After weapons practice I'll break out a bottle of wine I brought from Turnmoor and We'll have a little party, real little, but it's the best we're likely to see around here." Rames smiled.
"Okay, It'll be a nice change, and I'm pretty sure I can catch up on any time we loose now that I'm finally getting the hang of ordering the skeletons around." Rapina smiled.
True to his word, a couple hours after breakfast Rames appeared with some practice swords he had made and Rapina accompanied him first to the gym for a little work-out and then up to the cliffs for some sword practice. Rapina shed her sir-coat. The air was much warmer outdoors, although Rapina realized that in a couple of months the tables would turn as summer ended and autumn began to turn ugly.
"Okay, lets do some sparring. I need to get an idea of how good you are. I'm going to start out easy then I'll get a little rougher until I have a good idea of what a grade "A" pirate trainee can do."
While he was using only basic skills, Rapina did well against Rames, and he complemented her each time she did something well, and frowned or shook his head each time she made an error. Rapina got the idea that the man had worked with recruits in his unit. As the chaplain, she could see how he might have taken some of the new recruits, young men such as Kent had been, under his wing and tried to make soldiers of them. After a while he became quite challenging. Eventually Rapina had to fall back on techniques she had learned for fighting an overwhelming foe. When Rames finally signaled to take a break, sweat bathed both him and Rapina.
Rames sat on a projection of granite that served as a bench and groaned. Rapina flopped down next to him. "You're good," Rames said. "You even know a few moves I've never seen. The Avengenes set a high standard for their basic training, and you're as good a swordsman as I've seen come out of that training program, and you've got twice the damn endurance of any of 'em. Ramey chuckled and wiped the sweat from his brow. It's a cinch Red Jack ain't famous for no reason," Rames smiled. "How'd you build up that kind of stamina?"
"Rapina smiled sheepishly. "Well, basic was really hard on me. The arms master wanted to wash me out because I was a woman. I had to either keep up with the horrors of strength and endurance he sent at me or die trying. Since then I've been doing my fencing exercises when I got up in my room. I didn't want to get out of shape. I wasn't sure how Thane was going to treat me."
"Yeah, it looks like that's worked out okay for you, anyway. How about some wine and whatever it was you baked this morning?" Rames asked.
"It's a couple of blackberry pies," Rapina said. "What else could I possibly make when you brought me all those delicious blackberries?"
Rames smiled as the two of them walked down the stairs back into the abode. "I'm sure glad I found that patch of berries. Seeing as how I've got a bunch of skeletons bringing in silt from the lake-bottom and preparing an area Northeast of here for a vinyard, I've gotten to know this little isle pretty well. Thane doesn't want to hack down his forest. He says he wants to keep the wood growing as winter fuel, so I'm converting some rougher terrain. It should be fine though, the soil from the lake bottom is very rich, and Thane has magics to deal with stone that pokes its head up in the wrong places. When he heard I knew how to make wine, he decided to set me loose building a vinyard. He shrunk the size of the orchard he was going to have me do farther towards the center of the isle where trees grow well.
As the two of them reached the great hall, Rapina sniffed the air, "You need a bath". Rapina sniffed again. "We both need a bath."
"But what about our party? The wine, the pie?"
Rapina wrinkled her nose. "How can we enjoy ourselves if we're itchy with old smelly sweat."
"But the pie, won't it be cold by the time we both get a bath?" Rames asked.
"I wrapped it up in towels right out of the oven, but you do have a point, unless..." Rapina trailed off.
"What?" Rames asked.
"Thane's bath cauldron is huge, we could have our party in the tub," Rapina said.
"Really?" Rames asked.
"While the cat's away..." Rapina smirked.
Rames grinned like a sea dog. "I'll fire up the stove in the lab and put the water on."
"Okay, I'll go get the pies and some dishes and silver," Rapina said.
Rapina had one of the skeletons fetch towels, while she got a change of clothes to heap on the skeleton's stack. She then went and got the pie and some humble, relatively unbreakable dishes suitable for the lab.
By the time Rapina arrived with the food, Rames skeletons had returned with water from the lake and were heating it up in a couple of large kettles in the lab. A couple of other skeletons were pouring lake-temperature water into the cauldron.
While they were waiting for the skeletons, Rapina dished up the pie while Rames opened the wine.
"Tin cups?" Rames asked skeptically.
Rapina shrugged, "Thane would be mad if we slipped in the tub and broke one of his crystal wine goblets."
"Not very romantic, but I see your point. He'd likely make me buy him a new set since you have no income."
Rapina nodded, "And since I have no income he would find some extra drudgery to make me do until I worked it off. Sometimes I think he is entirely too serious about life."
Rames chuckled, "True but he gets the job done."
"Very efficiently," Rapina said imitating Thane.
Rames laughed, "Okay, so he's a little stuffy, he's a priest, after all."
Rapina nodded, "A very learned one at that, but if you can't complain about your headmaster's mannerisms, what's the use of finally being a student."
Rames pumped the bellows beneath the forge where he had the two kettles of water heating. The fire already looked angry-hot.
Rames smiled. "I suppose you have a point there, but would you rather not be in school?"
"I've dreamed of learning magic since I was a little girl, though I hardly thought I'd be learning it under a necromancer. Eeeuuuw!" Rapina grinned. "I guess a girl has to take training where she can get it though. Actually, I'm grateful that Thane decided to keep me as an apprentice. I respect him, for his cunning, but he's just the type who would have looked down his nose and made me a kitchen drudge. Then I really would have had nothing to look forward to but seven years of drudgery followed by an execution for killing Evangeline. I think I would have attempted to kill Thane being that he had no use for me other than house work. I would have succeeded too. He'd be dead, and then his skeletons would have cut me to ribbons sparing me from being hanged. Actually, I much prefer this arrangement."
"You're a tough young woman," Rames observed.
Rapina sighed, "I've lost a lot in the innocence department starting with the day Evangeline put me in his dungeon and going on from there through pirates to necromancers." Rapina licked purple blackberry juice off her fingers. Mmm, these berries are great. Could you get the skeletons to pick them without smishing them?
Rames grinned, "I tried, but they don't have good vision for plants. They have trouble differentiating the berry from the cane. Also, pulling the berries off without smashing them was a little beyond them. I picked these myself, though I had the skeletons blaze some of the trails through the overgrown patch of berries."
"Mmmm, well, you did good. I could get used to eating like this. Thane said I had some filling out to do."
Rames ordered the skeletons to dump the now boiling water into the cauldron. I don't know how much filling out you've got to do. I thought you looked pretty good on the boat. I'll have to take another look," Rames grinned.
Rapina blushed. "That sail cloth outfit doesn't leave a lot to the imagination."
"Nonsense, it covers all your best parts, well sort of," Rames chuckled as he checked the water temperature in the large caldron and nodded with satisfaction.
Well, now that the water's ready, me and my best parts are headed for the tub. Rapina pulled her sweaty sword-practice shirt over her head and tossed it into the whicker laundry hamper kept in the lab not far from the tub. Her drawstring pants followed.
Rames clawed at his clothes, but he was really too preoccupied watching Rapina to undress very rapidly.
Rapina unwrapped the cloth strip she used to bind her breasts during weapons practice, rolled it up and tossed it into the hamper, her full breasts jiggling with the movement.
"Ooo," Rames said, grinning saltily. "Back in my soldier days I saw a few ladies who really wished they were built like you."
Rapina smiled as she took off her panties and tossed them into the hamper. "Well, I used to think the lust spirit was doing a great thing when it tried to convince me to take it into my mind by making me bloom into a prettier flower than I probably would have."
Rapina vaulted over the edge of the tub and settled down. "Ahhh, now that I've been with Thane a while, I realize that the spirit was just planning ahead. It was going to possess my mind and take me over, then my body would have been its body and It wanted to be as attractive as possible, the better to attract a hoard of men to its boudoir."
"Do you ever worry that it will make a comeback?"
"No, it was more than half dead when I went into the stone after it. I was desperate and after its power, and it wanted my mind, but I didn't open to it in the way it wanted; because of the circumstances I took it by storm. I'm a very stubborn girl. Since it was really already dead, I don't think it knew what hit it." Rapina grinned. "Actually, it took a great deal out of me to merge with it. Auntie said what was left of its personality blended into mine. I think I had less ability to be cold and calculating before. The lust spirit gave me the ability, and then Evangeline, Red Jack and Thane have been enthusiastically giving me lessons ever since, whether I liked it or not. I still don't much like it though."
"You've had to grow up quick, like a young soldier," Rames observed.
Rapina nodded, her breasts bobbing just beneath the water. "How old were you when you went to war?"
"I was right about your age, not even sixteen yet. My dad was good for nothing. He was a good business man, but a lousy father. He hurt mother sometimes, and sometimes he hurt us kids too. It seemed like the older I got the worse he beat me. I was the eldest, and my sister was next. He took it easier on her, but I knew my brothers would have it bad when their time came, so I ran, I lied about my age and I joined Avengene's army. By the time I really was sixteen and could have joined, I was out of basic and on the border patrol trying to keep myself from being killed by orcs. I survived for a few months out there and when the rest of my unit and I came back from the border, they sent me to officer training school because, by then, they had figured out that I was from a gentleman's family and I could read."
"I graduated and spent a couple of years as a lieutenant. I found that killing and death fascinated me, and I spent a lot of time at the local temple of Mortaebius because deaths were so regular in my unit. Eventually I got permission to spend a year training as a chaplain. By the time I got back in, the church of the vindicator was already busy even in the most obscure corners of Avengene's lands. It took another five years before it got so bad I had to leave. I was twenty-six then, and still a lieutenant. If I'd been a priest of the vindicator, I'd have been a captain by then, but they wouldn't promote me. It worked out okay though. They sent my unit of misfits and I on a lot of bloody assignments thinking we wouldn't come back. Oftentimes only a few of us did."
Rapina frowned and had a drink of wine. "What happened after you got out?"
"More school, this time training as a priest of Mortaebius. I got a much closer look at death, but I still preferred killing to embalming. While in seminary, I had heard rumors about the Order Of The Shroud and requested the most dangerous assignment I could think of. I think by then I was already being watched by the order, and when they saw I could really fight, I was invited to join. There were certain groups of men the church of the vindicator had put together to eradicate other churches south of Avengene. Me, my fellow priests and the living dead of Mortabius scared the socks off 'em, and shut 'em down," Rames grinned triumphantly. Well, at least for the time being. Chances are they'll regroup and make a comeback. The church of the vindicator is full of zealots."
"Want more pie," Rapina asked?
"Sure, I'll have another slice," Rames said.
Rapina stood, bent over the edge of the cauldron and began slicing another couple of pieces of pie. Rames' lust hit her like a delicious wave. "Gods I hate celibacy," Rapina thought to herself as parts of her body flushed.
Rames began eating pie. "So what was training under Red Jack like?"
"Basic was a nightmare, but I told you about that. I learned archery, shortsword and shield, and an officer taught me rapier and main gauche. We also learned to sail, and those of us who could read learned to navigate. It was useful training, and I got to liking some of the pirates, but I realize it was silly to think they wouldn't get caught someday. They had such a big reputation, it was only a matter of time," Rapina frowned and took another bite of pie.
"How'd the men treat you?" Rames asked.
"Captain Red Jack kept the men from hurting me, but they were a pretty course lot. I spent most of my time with the young recruits, but they were pretty course too," Rapina smirked. They were less scary though, and Red Jack was something like Thane in a way. He was very intelligent, and killing people just didn't bother him that much. I think a lot of the veterans enjoyed killing, just like you. They just didn't have the sense to join the army. It wasn't a lot different, really. Maybe they made more money, but they were outlaws so they couldn't do much with it other than drink it and wear it as jewelry.
Rames nodded. "That's the trouble with killing on the wrong side of the law, it's a lot riskier. When we used to kill orcs we were big heroes, but death is the same whether it's an orc or a man." Rames put down his plate as he finished his second slice of pie. "I guess we better get cleaned up."
Rapina nodded, wolfed the last portion of her pie and raced for the soap just as Rames got up to get it. Rapina giggled. "I got it, but I'll let you have it first if you wash my back afterwards."
"You've got yourself a deal," Rames said.
Rapina handed Rames the soap, slid back down into the tub and watched the warrior soap himself down.
Rames held his breath and put his head under while rubbing the soap out of his hair and off his face and neck, then he came back up. "Your turn," Rames said taking up the soap.
"Okay, let me do my hair first, then you can do my back," Rapina said.
After Rapina did her hair, Rames began to soap up her back. "There, you're back is fine."
Want to do my legs too? Rapina put her foot on the edge of the tub next to Rames.
Rames looked up Rapina's long shapely leg. "I can't refuse that."
After the second leg, Rapina could feel the lust practically pouring off her companion.
"Want to do my front too," Rapina smirked.
"You are bad," Rames smiled.
"So spank me," Rapina winked.
Rames smiled and began soaping up Rapina's chest, making sure to do her underarms. "Damn what a body."
Rapina blushed.
After Rames had finished her breasts and belly, he did her butt, and then he did her abdomen and finished between her legs. By the time he finished, he was almost shaking with lust, and Rapina _was_ shaking with lust.
Rames took Rapina in his arms and kissed her deeply. "I'd love to take you right now, but I don't know how Thane would react if he found out."
Rapina touched her chin with her fingers, "Thane is a cunning man, I'll bet he expects you to sleep with me in the next two weeks. He's counting on it."
"Expects me to?" Rames looked confused.
Rapina smiled, "Sure, he doesn't know whether I am a queen or a pawn, and that interferes with his chess game, so he's moved his knight into my square to make the determination. It bothers him not to know all the pieces on his board. Furthermore, he is not sure if I'm the black queen or the white queen. He will know that by whether or not I take his knight out of play or leave him in."
"So I'm the Guinea pig?" Rames asked.
"You're the suicide squad, and I see your weapon is all ready." Rapina softly caressed Rames' shaft with her fingers, tugging at his lust with her power. I assure you, I am the white queen, and Thane will keep us both celibate for as long as it takes to find that out."
"Damn it, you two think alike. You're like a couple of generals and I feel like a private."
"Nice private," Rapina giggled.
"Bad girl!" Rames growled as he grabbed Rapina's shoulder, turned her around and slapped her high, exquisitely rounded butt.
Ou! Rapina screetched between giggles.
Rames slapped Rapina's quivering cheeks red and then grasped her hips and turned her around again. You're not even afraid of me. I'm a killer, you know."
Rapina grinned. "Thane told you I was essential personnel. That implies you're not to hurt me, and he specifically told you not to kill me. You're a soldier. A good soldier doesn't go against the direct orders of his superiors, and if he does, I'm sure the Order swiftly takes care of him."
Rames smiled and shook his head, "I give up." He pulled Rapina's shapely hips to him, grabbed her exquisite rump and lifted her onto his manhood.
Rapina threw her arms around Rames' neck and moaned with pleasure as he plunged into her. She could feel his lust start radiating into her and she nearly came on the spot. She needed him so much.
Rames felt Rapina grasp and release his shaft as he pistoned in and out of her. He had never been with a woman who felt so alive inside. She was so wet and she felt so good; there was no question that she wanted him.
After only a few minutes Rames' powerful thrusting threw Rapina over the edge, and she came powerfully. For an instant in her ecstasy, her mind touched Rames' and although she did not try to leave any conscious impression there, her own lust could not help but make itself known.
Before her orgasm had truly ended she felt Rames' lust build to its peak and explode within her. For a moment as the power surged into her, she lost control.
Rames eyes bulged as a tremendous orgasm rocked his athletic frame. He roared with intense pleasure as lights exploded behind the lids of his closed eyes. He felt as if he would pump forever, flooding Rapina with a fountain of seed.
Rapina realized what was happening, the celibacy - she was so hungry that she lacked the fine control she had been able to exercise with the pirates. As quickly as she could, she got hold of herself.
Somewhere in his mind Rames knew that what was happening was beyond what was natural. A man did not climax for over a minute, but he was Locked in the throws of ecstasy, all he could feel was the intense pleasure of lust. When at last his orgasm subsided he was trembling with a combination of lust and fatigue.
Rapina slipped off Rames and helped steady him. His erection throbbed, showing no signs of going soft.
Rames sat down, dazed yet nearly drowning in the afterglow of pleasure, yet still wanting more, more!
Rapina immersed herself in the bath water, rubbing the sweat from her body. Before she lost her resolve she jumped out of the tub and began briskly toweling herself off.
"What are you doing? I want you," Rames nearly hollered.
Tomorrow Calvin Rames, tomorrow. "Celibacy!" Rapina snapped. I'm so sorry, Cal, I've never had a problem controlling myself, but the celibacy, I - my control slipped and I took more out of you than I meant to. You're going to be bushed tomorrow. Rapina looked back at Rames and saw he was already beginning to stand, his erection still throbbing hard. The expression on his face was lust. She grabbed her clothes and ran out of the room.
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This ends Wizardry, Chapter 22 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in, Chapter 23, A Queen Revealed.