“You have a good grasp of strategy for one so young,” Ganyir said.
Tahlis chuckled. “Clearly ‘Ethan’ is just a foreign word for Swordslinger and master tactician. Definitely not knifeslinger though; look at the mess you made of chopping these vegetables! If our enemies were carrots, we would all be doomed.”
He picked up a slice of vegetable between his chopsticks and marched it between our bowls, making growling noises.
“The Carrot Cult is coming for you!” he declared to laughter from around the table. “Behold the rising of the Eggplant Empire!”
While Kegohr and Drek led an argument over which vegetables would win in a fight, I finished off my meal. There was no need to involve everyone in the planning tonight. A night off from war would be good for all of them.
When the meal was over and the dishes done, I returned to the cell where I’d slept two nights before. I placed my weapons in the corner, cast off my clothes, collapsed exhausted into the small bed, and pulled the sheets up over me.
Soon, I was lost in dreams. I found myself standing on a sun-drenched balcony looking out over a perfect blue sea beyond the desert. I was wearing loose silk pants, and the sunlight warmed my bare chest. I took a deep breath and smiled contentedly.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” said the low, murmuring voice of Yono, the spirit of the Depthless Dream Trident.
I turned and saw her standing in the doorway. It was the first time she had shown her physical form to me. She was breathtaking, a perfect pale-skinned figure clad only in a white and blue silk shift that was split down to the navel at her front and up to her hips at the sides. Long, black hair ran down her shoulders almost to her waist. She looked at me with deep, liquid aquamarine eyes and licked her coral lips.
She walked slowly toward me, hips swaying. The silk was so thin that I could make out the silhouette of her legs, the curve of her breasts, and the dark disks of her nipples.
“I’ve enjoyed feeling your hands around me,” she said in a voice that made me stiffen in excitement. “I wanted to feel that again.”
She reached behind her neck and untied the back of her shift. It fell to the floor, revealing her naked glory, glowing in the warmth of the sunlight. Then, she put a hand behind my head and drew me into a kiss.
My skin flushed, and my heart raced at the touch of her, at the feel of our tongues darting around each other and our bodies pressed together. I ran my hands down her sides and up her back, and she moaned in delight.
Yono’s hands wove around my chest, down my back, and pulled me in close. Slender fingers unfastened my pants before letting them drop to the floor. She took hold of me, gently but firmly, and I gasped at the pleasure of her touch.
“You wrap your hands around the shaft of my weapon every day,” she said. “It seemed only fair to return the favor.”
Her hand slid up and down, setting my nerves tingling. I brought my own hands around, cupped her breasts, and then slid on down across her smooth belly and to the wetness between her legs. We kissed, deeply and passionately, our bodies stirring as our spirits soared.
Yono turned and sat herself on the edge of the balcony, her perfect ass resting on the marble rail. She drew me near, and I put my arms around her, steadying her above the precipitous drop, gazing at the beauty of this sexy sea spirit against the background of the ocean that was her own. She wrapped her legs around mine and pulled me close. We both gasped, and she shuddered in excitement as I slid inside her.
We moved against each other, slow and steady at first, like waves rolling up a beach on a summer day. As our pleasure grew, I kissed her on the lips, on the neck, and down across her breasts. She leaned back, her hair flying out in the breeze, her back arching, as her body joined with mine. The sunlight shone across her curves.
She drew me in tighter, harder. I took the pertness of her ass in my hands and pulled her against me. Our pace quickened, rising like the sea in a storm. Our waves of pleasure mounted, and her cries of wild delight soared across the sea as we crashed into each other again and again and again until I could barely hold my excitement in anymore.
Yono, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with delight, wrapped her arms around me and pulled herself close. Her skin slid across mine and her breasts pressed against my chest as she clasped me close, kissing my shoulders and neck even as she gasped for breath.
At last, the touch of her beauty overcame me. I gave one last, glorious shudder, and lost myself in pleasure.
Chapter Fifteen
We gathered in the temple’s main chapel. The ancient gods of the Gonki Valley looked down upon us from their pedestals with cold, impassive eyes. I felt as though I was being judged for my part in what had
