“For added speed I can get my troops to push barge poles into the seabed as they move, propelling them forward,” I said.
“As long as you can get the materials out of the harbor, my boys and I can put this contraption together,” Percy said. “We’ve had a good rest from our skirmish the other night, and even though we’re still hurtin’ some, we’re ready to work, and I’ll set sail as soon as you want me to.”
“As soon as the underwater sleds are ready, we’ll set sail.”
I shot my spirit into the kraken, which was lurking in the depths of the harbor. I experienced the gentle tug of the undersea currents as if they were caressing my own flesh, and sensed the presence of all sorts of aquatic lifeforms, near and far. With my enormous kraken eyes, sensitive to even the weakest light, I could see with exceptional clarity through the murky gloom of the harbor water. The seabed was littered with hundreds of wrecks, some of them old and encrusted with barnacles, but most new, charred and black from the saboteurs’ fires that had sunk them. I glided through the water to the nearest wreck and tore it apart as easily as if it had been made of wet parchment. I ripped out the anchor chain and pulled out the cargo, searching for anything made of metal that could be turned into an underwater sled. There was a large amount of copper jewelry, which would be perfect for my needs. Now that the kraken knew what to do, I pulled my spirit out of it and let it get on with the task on its own. I took Percy and his crew around to all the local blacksmiths, who I paid handsomely to work the metal and chains that would be salvaged. They were all confident that the work would be complete in around two days.
Now that that was taken care of, I went off to seek out the rest of my party. Rami-Xayon and Yumo-Rezu were overjoyed; Tong-Tong’s tavern hadn’t been damaged in the fires, and she was okay, if a little shaken up. Everyone else was also there, drinking ale. While enjoying a drink, I told them about my plan to get my army across the ocean, and everyone approved. I was in the mood to keep drinking, as were the rest of my party, except Ji-Ko and his monks, who excused themselves after just one drink. I also noticed that Layna seemed to be a little restless. I sensed that she wanted to get out of the tavern, and I figured I may as well get some fresh air and find out what was bothering her.
She and I left the others to their ale and headed out into the streets of Gongxiong.
“You seem to be a little on edge,” I said.
“It’s the scent,” she replied, smiling eerily. “Can’t you smell it?”
“All I smell is ash and smoke, and the salty whiff of the ocean.”
“My Arachne sense of smell is finetuned to pick up other things, Vance. If you could smell the air the way I’m able to, you’d notice a delectable scent wafting around. It’s like well-done bacon, but sweeter…”
I realized that what she was describing was the smell of the burnt corpses of the people who had died in the fires.
“I can sense a great amount of death here, and many people died in the fires,” I said.
“I know it would be wrong for me to devour their charred flesh,” Layna said, sighing wistfully. “But I cannot deny the intensity of hunger that this scent has awoken in me.” Then her eyes roved slowly over my body, and fiery desire crackled in them like freshly stoked coals. “Of course, there are other ways to satiate the hunger that is gnawing so relentlessly at my insides…”
I knew exactly what she wanted, and I was happy to provide it. I’d been without it for a while too, and a great hunger was churning in my guts too, although it didn’t have anything to do with the presence of charred corpses around us.
“I’m sure the inn we stayed at when we first arrived has plenty of rooms,” I said.
“I’m sure it does,” Layna said, licking her lips slowly in anticipation. “Let’s go.”
We got ourselves a room at the inn, and the moment I closed the door behind us Layna was all over me. She and I had both been waiting for this moment since we’d first met. Our lips locked, and our tongues danced with the pressure-cooked intensity of pent-up desire. She gripped my head and caressed my face with her human hands while we kissed, while her spider arms gripped my back and pulled my body closer to hers in a passionate embrace.
After a few fiery moments we broke off our ravenous kiss, both panting, and the magma of a ferocious desire gushed through our veins. I tore my assassin’s gear off with eager haste, and Layna pulled a cord on her shimmering crimson dress. The dress slipped off her body and fell to the floor, and she stood naked before me. The sight of her nude form got hot blood gushing into my prick, which got hard in seconds with a frenetic throbbing.
Her angular facial features looked even more strikingly beautiful than ever in the candlelight of the room, with her long dark hair tumbling around her shoulders like black rain. It wasn’t her gorgeous face I was staring at most, though. Her breasts were nigh on perfect; large and high, round and pert, with pale pink upward-facing nipples that were stiff with arousal. Below them was a smooth belly, and her broad hips gave way to a large, impossibly firm round ass at the rear and long, shapely legs below. At the meeting of her thighs was a tiny triangle of neatly trimmed hair, pointing me toward her heavenly
