A crude spear, hurled with much strength but very little skill, hit one of the mercenaries in the upper thigh, forcing him backwards. He gave a small grunt of pain, slumping against the tree to his side.
As the goblin hefted a second shoddy polearm, ready to throw, a bolt slammed through his wrist, eliciting a screech from the creature’s ugly, gaping maw. A heartbeat later, a dagger punctured his thin throat. The disgusting, green skinned monster gave a gurgle, blood dribbling between its rotten fangs, down its jaw and joining the blood seeping from its neck wound. It died a few seconds after the knife was drawn out.
Kaiteen’s attention was already elsewhere, quickly reloading her crossbow with nimble, skilled fingers and drawing the string back taut. The goblin shaman at the cave’s entrance was already waving its crudely carved staff, blood from its palm wetting the wood of the magical totem. Dust started to swirl around its warty, hairy feet as the spell begun, the creatures deep-red eyes fixed on Kaiteen.
Luckily for her, the company’s own caster hit it full in the face with a regular, good old fireball. It went down, hard, and didn’t get back up, the spell broken.
A nearby screech to the left made her turn her head, giving her the chance to see the last of the goblin’s attack party fall to a mercenary’s short-sword.
Pointing her dagger, Kaiteen shouted in the direction of the cave. “Anyone who isn’t wounded, forward! Wyn, tend to Castil!”
The party’s caster quickly hurried up, ripping the leather clothing from Castil’s leg using a small, sharp dagger.
“This is going to hurt like…well, a lot.” The mage finished lamely, unaccustomed to swearing.
Castil nodded, beads of sweat starting to appear on his face.
Wyn carefully, but forcefully yanked the spear free, putting it to the side. He finally noticed the discolouration of the blood on the weapon’s tip.
“They’re using Limberry poison. Kaiteen, quickly tell the others to report to me within the hour. Castil, keep a lookout for more goblins.”
The two soldiers nodded, Kaiteen quickly leaving. Wyn focused on the task at hand, concentrating. His hands pressed against Castil’s leg, glowing, growing hot. Magic couldn’t directly heal, but it could rapidly accelerate the bodies’ natural regeneration process, by incredible amounts.
Magic worked in three ways in this world, each with varying strength. The strongest was blood payment. It was the oldest kind of magic, and very draining on the mind and body. Used enough, it can cut years off a man’s life.
The next strongest was emotional magic, which can only be used when a magic’s users emotions run high. Trying to stir up your own emotions to take advantage of this magic always fails, only working when genuine emotions run through the caster. Happiness, distress, anger, all work.
The weakest, but most available is concentration.
Generally, only people adept at concentrating become casters. The price for blood payment is too high, and emotional magic is never constantly available.
Much like physical exertion can wear upon and tire the body, magic tires the mind. Overuse can leave a caster unable to think, leaving them in a state that makes them as useful as an unconscious person. Perhaps less, as a worn out mage just collapses, eyes staring at nothing until mental clarity is eventually regained. This often takes hours. Seeing a powerful mage act like a newborn baby as they regain thought can be both hilarious and worrying to any onlookers. Blood payment, and overuse of magic in general can lead to permanent mental damage. Slipping into “Unthought” can happen a lot without any damage, but pushing oneself beyond one’s limit is incredibly dangerous, and feared by casters.
After a few minutes, the wound was as good as gone. Wyn wordlessly handed a needle and thread to his patient, who nodded thanks, sat down and made impromptu repairs on his torn leather pants.
Soon, the rest of the small mercenary company filed out, led by Kaiteen.
One by one, Wyn accelerated their natural human regeneration even if they had no visible scratches or cuts. The only other wound worth mentioning was a shallow cut on the back of Degwin, the scout’s hand.
“Kaiteen.” The mage said, frowning. “Why must we slaughter their women and young, too?”
“You know the answer as well as I do. They’d do the same to us. Only worse.” She replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. Obviously she hated the practice has much as he. Maybe more. “At least we make it swift. We don’t rape their women and girls.”
“Most of them are better looking than my wife.” Degwin, often the joker, commented to general laughter. He was great at diffusing awkwardness.
Kaiteen hit him on the back of the head anyway, getting a sheepish grin in return.
Even Wyn smiled. She was right, of course. But did that make it necessary? Feeling quite out of it, almost drunk, he stood. Staggering a little. Kaiteen lifted his left arm, putting it over her shoulder, supporting him. Wyn couldn’t help but notice how nice her chestnut hair felt against his hand.
How did she keep it so…so…?
His mind couldn’t grasp the words needed, so he concentrated on walking back to the town.
“Alright, I’ll get this lump back. See the rest of you at the inn, drinks will probably be free so enjoy it while it lasts!”
Wyn mumbled a small song to himself, one from his childhood, that rose up in his mind.
Kaiteen couldn’t make hide nor hair of the words, apart from the occasional slang word for a woman’s various assets.
She grinned.

Soon enough, they were the only ones left in the inn’s front. It was a good hour or so after moonheight, even the innkeeper had locked the front door and retired to bed, leaving the candles on for the pair to blow out.
Kaiteen had offered to pay for any drinks they’d pour for themselves, but the keeper politely refused. His family had been attacked by the goblins when out at the nearby coast, and his wife and daughter were about to be raped and murdered in front of his eyes when the company came upon them. The town had little to give except food and some coin, but Kaiteen decided to find the creatures’ burrow and exterminate them. No-one in the band disagreed. Goblins were vile creatures, without mercy, humans were merely a sport to them.
After Wyn had recovered a bit, Kaiteen offered him a drink, which he accepted and happily drank.
He was already intoxicated halfway though, and his ramblings were quite entertaining.
“The s-spot on….on ‘is nose. Stood out. Stood out like warts on a whore’s arse.”
Grinning, Kaiteen took a sip of her ale. It was only the forth she had drunk over the last 5 hours. She couldn’t hold her drink as good as regular drinkers, but she wasn’t a lightweight either. Her mind buzzed pleasantly, it was great to let go now and then.
“You have very. Very nice thingies. Tits. Shapely.” Wyn commented, giving her chest a good glance. She had taken off her leather chest guard, which had a bronze pauldron on the shoulder. Her breasts, slightly hidden right now by the ale mug she had to her lips, looked quite appealing under her cotton shirt. The cold air, which had started to creep in after the keeper put out the fire in the hearth, was making her nipples visible against the shirt.
She spat out her drink, coughing on some ale before busting out in laughter, the drink sloshing and falling out from the mug, splashing onto the wooden planked floor.
This was the last thing she’d expect from Wyn!
“Hey! Don’t laugh, I mean it!” The mage said, a little hurt.
Kaiteen kept laughing, short of breath when she finally stopped. Putting her drink on the table, she held her stomach, rubbing it to relieve a little of the pain of the sudden, hard laughter. “I really didn’t expect that.”
Wyn misunderstood what she meant. “No-one’s ever told you before?”
She punched his arm, playfully. “I meant from you! I’ve only known you a few days, but you’re the last person I’d expect to hear a compliment from. About my breasts, that is. You’re a gentleman. I might have to reconsider thinking of you like that now.”
Frowning, Wyn picked up his mug as if to drink, but placed it back down. His mind felt more clear now, but he still couldn’t grasp the situation right. “So I shouldn’t say you have a great rack?”
Kaiteen burst out into laughter again, wiping a tear from her eye as it receded. “Never mind. Thank you. You’re really direct aren’t you? I need to get you drunk more often, I think.”
Wyn took a large swig of his drink, lost in thought. After a few more mouthfuls, his mind became a little more addled, but his speech remained alright, making him sure he was still thinking clearly.
Pointing at her chest, he fumbled with the right thing to say.
She just smiled, chin resting on her hands, elbows on the table. “What’ll you say about my melons now, I wonder?” Kaiteen joked. She looked down, finally noticing her visible nipples poking against the fabric. The woman quickly covered them with her arm, blushing.
“Aw.” Wyn sighed, looking back up at her face. “Beautiful.” He said to himself, admiring her long, slightly curly brown hair, and dark eyes. Her lips were small, and her nose looked a little pointy. She looked like she was barely an adult, an appearance that often won her compliments, as well as battles with surprised opponents. Her skin was tanned just slightly, too.
Blushing further, Kaiteen silently cursed herself. She got compliments all the time, why did now feel different? He was even drunk! Meeting his gaze, she studied his face. He had pale skin, common among mages. His eyes were green and intent, and those eyes mixed with the small amount of freckles on his upper cheeks suggested he had Alkayan origins. He looked as young as Kaiteen did, but she was betting he was at least 25.
“I wonder how your butt looks. You wear slightly baggy pants so its hard t-“Her laughter interrupted him, making him frown once more.
His face brightened as he noticed the nice way her held bosom shook inside that shirt.
Kaiteen caught him staring and punched his arm again, in the same spot, a little hard.
“Ow.” Wyn yelped. “I’m sorry.” And he made an effort to look away, but glanced at him sideways.
It was pitifully obvious for Kaiteen to tell what he was doing. Maybe a different approach would help. She moved her arm out of the way.
“Tell me when you’re done looking, and then we can make civilized conversation.”
Wyn rested his chin on one hand, staring blissfully, without a care in the world. He began to think about what he’d do to those breasts if her had the chance. First he’d stand behind her, caressing them through her clothing. Then he’d lift up that pesky top, enjoying the sight of her naked chest, before moving upon it with hands and mouth.
Unfortunately for Wyn, he was saying his thoughts out loud, and received a punch on his arm. In the exact same place. Again. “Ouch! Since when can you read minds?”
Kaiteen, her cheeks very red, rolled her eyes and covered her chest back up with her arm. It was then she felt his socked foot, rub against her own under the table. She bit her lip in frustration, unable to make herself move her leg back. Truth be told, she got a bit turned on listening to his mumblings.
When did I become so easy? She pondered, pulse starting to race.
“Since you already know what I’m thinking…” Wyn started, hopeful.
“You’re drunk.”
Wyn sighed, part of his addled mind understanding. “I know. But you’re attractive.”
The woman chewed her lip, coming to a decision. “A handjob. Then you can go to bed satisfied and we’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
Not waiting for a reply, she ducked under the wooden table, crawling towards his chair. Kaiteen undid Wyn’s belt, wordlessly undoing the button, and reaching in to pull out his cock. It was already stiff, just from glancing at her covered cleavage. The thought made her further embarrassed, and she only soiled the front of her underwear further as her slender fingers jerked the length of his shaft. Her pace sped as time wore on, her wrist beginning to ache. She cursed Wyn for having so much stamina, and eventually had to switch hands, taking it in her left as her right rested. She wasn’t god with her left, but from the sound of the short moan coming from above the table, some small light strokes after hard jerking felt quite nice.
Biting her lip, Kaiteen used her right again, her wrist eventually tiring once more.
“Fucking hell.” She mumbled, rolling her eyes and taking the tip of his swollen, swelling dick into her mouth. Her hand pulled his foreskin back, allowing Kaiteen to swirl her tongue around the sensitive bit around the underside of the tip. The combined constant jerking coupled with the hot, wet sensation of her mouth finally caused Wyn to blow his load, a low, long groan coming from his lips as he did.
His cum shot into her mouth with force, overloading it, forcing her to let it pour out from her mouth. She tried to swallow what she could, always preferring to savour the salty taste of sperm rather than waste it, but this man came like a horse!
That thought brought up the memory of her as a young girl jerking off a horse, which was incredibly embarrassing to think about. When the flow finally stopped, Kaiteen lifted her head, hitting it on the underside of the table. Crawling backwards, she got onto her feet and wiped her mouth, looking off to the side.
From here she could see his still stiff dick. Holy hells, what did it take to tire this mage? The rumours always said casters were lousy in bed!
“Blow out the candles, long day tomorrow.” The crimson-cheeked woman said, quickly rushing upstairs to her bed.

The next day was filled with awkwardness as they walked from the village back to home. Wyn did his best to avoid talking to Kaiteen, apart from when unavoidable.
Finally, he moved to her, starting to say something when she began giving out orders.
“Okay, we’ll be setting up about five minutes walk off into that forest. Degwin and Jinti, Scout around for food. Gorgas, you’ll come with me and help find a nice spot. We’ll build a big fire, so the rest can see where we are. The rest of you, dismantle the wagon, bring the horse and come find us. If you see any animals, let the hunting team know when they return.
Wyn set about unhitching the two horses from the wagon, giving the grey mare and the bay gelding a small rub down before leading them into the forest.