Otherwhere 2: Chapter 8 Alliance

Thanks for your patience. Hope you enjoy this installment

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Later that afternoon, the group returned to the town hall. It was set up for a banquet with a head table and four chairs and communal tables with benches. Lugh and Lir were seated at the center of the head table, other elves and humans were arrayed throughout the hall.

Lugh stood as they entered, saying, “Welcome honored guests. Today you showed prowess with arms as well as healing. We honor your strength. Come sit beside us, Rory and Colin.”

Lugh gestured for Rory to sit at his right and for Colin to sit at Lir’s left. Colin quirked an eyebrow at Rory but they smiled at Lugh and stood behind their seats. When Lugh sat they did as well. Dee and Astra were guided to well placed seats among the higher ranking elves, the only humans there. The rest of the humans sat in lower status.

“Eat and drink, enjoy!” Lugh announced and servers started to bring platters of food and wine to the diners.

“You fought like a’ elf, Col’n,” Lir said to him, resting her hand on his arm.

“Thank you,” Colin said modestly. “He was a good opponent. I’m glad he’s going to be OK.”

“He’s one of our best,” Lir said. “Someday he’ll challenge my man for th’ Leadership.”

“I see,” said Colin. “So maybe you’re not entirely thrilled I didn’t kill him.”

Lir laughed, in a rather bloodthirsty way, “It may have been easier if you did, but he’s a good fighter and th’ band needs him for now so mebee this is best. You fight good, I wonder what else you do good, eh?” she said with a leer.

Colin coughed and took a drink of his wine.

“You’ve shown us that you’re a worthy group to have as friends or allies,” Lugh said to Rory, toasting her. “What are you looking for from us?”

“Information. Maybe assistance,” Rory replied carefully.

“What kind of information?” Lugh asked.

“Well to start, you’re not townsfolk, yet you’ve settled here. Why?”

“You don’t waste time,” he smiled. “I like that. Why? We had a disagreement with our old Leader.”

“I thought the way to settle that was to challenge him?” Rory asked. “Winner becomes new leader.”

“That is The Way, yes, but he had already broken The Way and were I to challenge him I would have had no chance of winning.”

“How had he broken you Way,” she asked.

Lugh looked at the table for a moment and then at her, “He had made cause with The Others and had obtained one of their weapons. He traded a girl to them for it. Not a woman, a girl who had only just begun her bleeding,” Lugh said with a disgusted tone.

Rory frowned, “I thought no one got older in Otherwhere or were able to have children?”

“No human gets older or has become with child,” he corrected. “We’re elves. We age, albeit very slowly and we can have children, though it’s very rare. All the more important to protect the few we have. Her parents tried to stop him. He used the weapon to kill them.”

“What kind of weapon is it?” Rory asked.

“It’s a sword that glows with light. It can cut through steel and maybe anything else. He’s never without it. So you see, challenging him would have been futile. I planned on ambushing him, attacking him with arrows from a distance, but he found out somehow and his followers attacked us first. It was either run or die. If you run, you can fight another day, if you die, you die. We ran. We were harassed by The Others. We lost most of our herds. We finally got far enough away that they stopped harassing us. We lost 11 of the band in the flight, including Lir’s brother Vart.”

“Why not seek out the draco?” Rory asked.

“Like I said before, Vertunia, we will be subjects of no being. We know the draco take women too. One is no better than the other.”

“What does Vertunia mean?” Rory asked.

Lugh smiled, “It’s a kind of grain that is the color of your hair at harvest.”

Rory smiled slightly, “Do you like vertunia?”

“Very much,” Lugh smiled more broadly.

Rory cleared her throat and brought the conversation back on track. “The draco don’t take women. The women of the settlement voluntarily go to the draco. The draco take some of their life-energy but do it in a way that isn’t at all harmful to the giver, quite the opposite. In exchange the draco have taught us how to harness life-energy, freely given life-energy, and use it to heal and do other things. Forcibly taking life energy is abhorrent to them and to us. Finally, we are NOT ruled by the draco. We have our own leaders. We are allies and friends of the draco. Some of us live among them, some of them live among us. We learn of and from each other.”

Lugh looked thoughtful. “You said that you had been a captive of The Others?”

“Yes,” Rory replied, stone faced.

“Why didn’t they kill you?” Lugh asked, his face hardening. “Did you make a deal with them?”

“Far from,” Rory replied.

“Then why?” Lugh repeated.

“They kidnapped me and my two friends,” she gestured at Dee and Astra, deep in conversation with several elves, “They stole us for our Life-Energy. They’re experimenting with ways of harvesting it from an unwilling subject without killing them. They kept us for almost a week before Colin and a draco named Rock tracked us down and rescued us.”

“Your man took on the Others and won?” Lugh asked, impressed.

“He did, but he had help. Our friend, Rock and he, together as allies and partners, defeated four others and their weapons and got us out of there and back home.”

Lugh took a drink of wine, as much because he was thirsty as to compose his thoughts.

“What did the others do to you?” he asked.

“They raped us, pure and simple,” Rory said.

Lugh grimaced. “But I didn’t think they had cocks?”

“They used their machines on Dee and Astra and they used a…a creature they created on me.” Rory said, shuddering slightly.

Lugh looked angry. “Are you OK now? That must not have been easy to deal with.”

“It wasn’t, but we can use life-energy to heal the mind as well as the body. My friend and teacher, Leela, over time and with a lot of work healed us. I’ll be honest, I’m not the same woman I was before I was captured and never will be, but I’m ‘ok’. I’m healthy, I’m sane and I still enjoy sex in spite of what happened to me. I would happily exterminate the entire species if I could, but I know that’s wrong and I’m working on it.”

“It doan’ sound so wrong to me,” Lugh growled, his accent becoming thicker.

“No, it’s wrong. It’s thinking like them. You can’t condemn a group for the actions of the individual, but you CAN hold the individual responsible.”

Lugh sat thoughtfully for a few moments. Lir and Colin chatted about swordplay at the other end of the table, with Lir making increasingly less subtle hints that she would like to engage in swordplay of another kind with him. Colin looked distinctly uncomfortable, not because he didn’t want to but because he was trying to stay on his best behavior and not do anything to disrupt Rory’s negotiations with Lugh.

“I think you people would be worthy allies,” Lugh finally said, looking at her.

Rory was about to respond when she saw Astra gesturing to her, frantically from her table.

“Thank you,” Rory said, touching his arm. “I’ve had a lot of wine and need the privy, I’ll be right back.”

She stood up, caught Colin’s eye and gestured for him to stay there. As she walked to the back of the hall, Astra stood and followed her.

Once outside, Rory asked her, “OK, what is it?”

“Are we about to make a deal with the elves?” Astra asked.

“Yes, he’s proposed an alliance,” she replied.

“OK, I reached out to Forrest to find out more about elven customs,” Astra said.

“Forrest, huh?” Rory said smiling. You two are getting close.”

“ANYWAY,” Astra said, changing the subject. “You need to know that elves seal agreements like that by exchanging wives.”

“OH!” Rory said, surprised. “OK that explains a few things but, what, does that mean he’s going to have to fuck Colin?” She giggled, “I’m sure Colin would take one for the team if he had to, but I know he doesn’t swing that way.”

Astra giggle too, “No. While the elves don’t have any hang-ups about that stuff, the fucking is symbolic of joining with the land or some such. For the ritual it’s male/female. While female leaders are rare among the elves, they’re not unheard of so when one leader is female and the other male, the two leaders fuck and their consorts fuck as well. Ah, publicly.”

“I see,” Rory said. “So not only do I have to fuck Lugh to seal an alliance, I’ve got to do it in front of everyone.” Rory sighed. “Well, at least he’s kinda cute and it’s not like Colin and I have been exactly monogamous since we’ve gotten here.”

“There’s more,” Astra went on. “The whole thing is symbolic - so you can’t let him get on top of you. If he does, he’s saying he’s the dominant partner. Likewise you can’t let him take the lead, like undress you or something.”

“Jesus these people are weird,” Rory rolled her eyes. “What else?”

“He needs to cum in you and, if you don’t cum, fake it.”

“Full porn-star then. What else?” She asked.

“Colin will need to fuck Lir. The positions are less important with them, but he needs to cum inside her.”

“Yeah, I doubt that’s gonna be a problem,” Rory snorted. “Lir’s done everything except pull his cock out to tell him she wants to fuck all dinner long. I can tell he’s interested. Is that it?”

“Basically. The party usually turns into an orgy after but at that point you’re free to leave or to stay and do what you want. The symbolism starts when he proposes the alliance and ends when you both cum.”

“OK, go inside and give Colin the high sign to come out here and I’ll brief him.”

Astra went in and a few minute later Colin came out.

“What’s up? Is everything OK?” He asked her.

Rory briefly summarized what Astra had told him.

“Jesus Christ, it’s a good thing I’m not the jealous type,” Colin said, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah mister, like you’ve hated Lir throwing herself at you all evening, ‘Oh Colin, I bet you sword is as big as you sword, eh?’” Rory mimicked the elf woman.

Colin laughed, “OK, OK, yeah she’s hot. Not my usual type but she’s hot. I’m a guy, I’ll have no problem holding up my end. Are YOU OK with this?”

“Yeah I’m fine. Who knows, if he’s good I might enjoy it for real.”

Colin went back in and Rory followed a moment later. She went back to the had table and sat down.

“Is everything all right?” Lugh asked.

“Yes, fine. Astra was explaining your customs to me.”

“I thought that might be the case,” he said. “Is there a problem?”

“No there’s no problem at all,” Rory replied.

“And do you still offer alliance?” He asked.

“I do,” she said simply.

Lugh stood and addressed the room, “Friends! You all saw today that Colin of the Settlement Humans is a worthy fighter!”

The elves and more than a few humans in the crowd shouted acclaim. Colin’s opponent in the fight had entered the hall and stood.

“Colin of the humans is a worthy foe! He bested me in fair combat!” He bowed to Colin.

His friends cheered.

Lugh gestured for quiet, “You also saw the skill and power of their Leader, Rory, in healing Keer!”

Keer held up his right hand, showing it was fully healed. Again the crowd cheered.

“Rory of the Settlement, I, Lugh, Leader of the Band of the Vark, propose an alliance of mutual support and friendship. Your enemies will become our enemies and your friends will be welcome at our hearth. What say you?”

Rory stood. “Elves and humans of the Band of the Vark, The Humans and draco of The Settlement accept your offer of friendship and alliance. As leader of this embassy, I formally accept your proposal.”

Before Lugh had a chance to do anything, Rory unlaced her bodice and pulled it and then her shirt over her head, shaking her hair out. She then unhooked her skirt and let it fall to the floor.

“See?” Lir said, loudly, smirking but in a friendly way. “I tol’ you all her hair was that color. Ver’ nice, eh?”

Lugh grinned and quickly shucked off his shirt and pants.

“If you want to lay on the table, we can do it there?” He offered.

“No, that’s fine, You can lay there and I’ll climb on top of you,” Rory smiled back. “I promise you’ll enjoy it. I’m good on top.”

“I’m sure you are and I look forward to trying that out, another time,” Lugh said. “I see your assistant was thorough in her briefing. Against the wall?”

“If I get splinters, I’ll expect recompense,” Rory teased.

“I’ll pull each and every one out personally,” He smiled. “With my teeth.”

He came at her and, mindful of what Astra had said, she moved towards him. He ran his hands over her body.

“You’re slimmer than I’m used to,” He murmured in her ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m skinny, but you won’t break me,” she said, running her own hands down his back, squeezing his ass. “God you’ve got a great ass,” she said.

Lir stood and faced Colin, pulling her leather dress up over her head. She had nothing beneath it.

“You like what you see human?” Lir asked.

Colin stood and pulled his tunic over his head than removed his own pants. His cock jutted out.

“I thin’ you do like what you see,” Lir smiled. “I like what I see too. Come here.”

Lugh reached between Rory’s legs and she opened them for his hand. He looked down.

“My woman is fascinated with your bush,” he whispered to Rory. “It’s all she could talk about after meeting you in the baths. Do you like women too?”

Rory was breathing heavily. She wasn’t going to have to fake enjoying this. Lugh was seriously turning her on.

“Yes,” she said. “It depends on the woman but I do.” She glanced at Lir who was sitting on the edge of the table, kissing and getting fingered by Colin. “Yes, I like your woman.” She looked back at Lugh, “What about you Leader, do you like my bush?”

In response he grabbed a handful of her pubic hair, squeezing and she gasped, “Yes I like your bush.”

Rory grabbed a handful of his own and tugged hard. He threw back his head and laughed.

“You play this game well, Rory of The Settlement.”

He lifted her as if she weighed nothing and she wrapped her legs around his hips and lowered herself onto his cock as he thrust forward.

“Unggggh,” she groaned and closed her eyes. He bent down and kissed her neck, nuzzling her in just the right spot and she closed her eyes, forgetting about the room, the audience and her love, Colin, thrusting into a bent over Lir who was moaning loudly, muttering in elvish, their bodies making wet slapping sounds as they came together. She knew she was not going to have to fake her orgasm.