Chapter Text
Boot heels clicked on the stone floor as Sahren meandered the dim halls, her leather armor creaking in the chill air as she strode. The memories of recent battles to defend the keep tugged at her as she tried to forget them. The ache of bruises and tired muscles pulsed as she moved to lend a physical reminder of the hardships both ahead and behind her.
Fire light flickered across the coarse, grey rock walls. After that first week, it had been ordered that the keep be lit through the night to discourage any more hidden blades in the night, and she couldn't help but notice the stewards seemed to have grown lax. That or the oil was being rationed, and half the wall sconces could no longer afford to be filled.
The Western, Dragonborn Empire of Kildirith had declared war on Bolletania, and this remote settlement was their first stop. The only real way to invade with any sizable force, thanks to the Kingdom's natural defenses.
Drosgennar was really a holy site. A temple tucked deep within the Fingers of Tavros, a mountain range with towering, sheer and impassable peaks. An old, yet impressive keep blocked it off from the pass, protecting the temple and some small amount of farmland where the monks and priests who lived here made their lives. But they couldn't feed all these soldiers forever.
Her watch had ended... what had to be an hour ago. She touched her head and wondered where she was going for maybe the third time. Nowhere. The siege had been going on a month now, and sleep had been elusive since. Even now she could hear her father lecturing how a soldier needs to find sleep whenever they are able. If only...
Sahren's breath caught and her hand reflexively snapped to the hilt of her sword as her scattered thoughts and awareness coalesced to focus back to the halls around her. It had been a soft, rasping noise. Her weary mind was still sharp enough to pick up the unsheathing of a weapon. She crouched in a ready position, and began to stalk to the room ahead. Her boots came down toe first and rolled onto her heels with each step. Swift, but light footed and deliberate, as she had been taught to stalk game through a forest long ago and far away. Her senses strained to pick up something new as she recognized the entryway to the library. A soft crackle of a dying fire, a sliver of light spilling from the rough, heavy wooden door that hung slightly ajar. Shoulder to the wall, she leaned forward, peeking through the crack into the room as she heard the sound again... and immediately chastised herself, cursing in her head.
The sound of rubbing parchment. The turning of a page in a book sounded again. She relaxed, remembering to exhale finally as she wondered how she could have mistaken it for the sound of leather and steel. Inside, she saw a large shadowed figure in grey wool, seated in one of the large reading chairs and backlit by the glowing coals in the hearth. Judging by the charred remains of the logs on the fire, it had been burning for a long while now.
It was a rather small room. This far from any real city, books were hard to come by. The followers of Tavros that had run the day to day comings and goings of the temple had done well filling the handful of shelves that lined the back wall. It was cleaner than most studies or libraries she'd seen in her time, and credited that partially to the diligence of the Brothers and Sisters of Tavros in caring for their treasures. She also credited the stuffy selection. A collection of religious texts and old historical tomes, as the monks had little use for tales of fancy and fiction, kept most visitors away from their precious books. Often they were copied down and rewritten by the same hands that cared for them over generations.
Gloved fingertips to the door, she pushed it open and stepped inside. The heavy, splintered wooden door groaned faintly as hinges squeaked under it's weight, announcing her presence. The uneven hinge of the door caused it to lazily fall right back where it had been, not quite fully closed. The figure in the chair looked up from a book that seemed too small for his hands, despite being one of the Sacred Texts of Tavros. She recognized the iconography and scrollwork on the old, worn text. It was often known for being long winded and rambling, to the impious.
Pushing the door closed behind her, Sahren stepped forward and watched as Kogan grunted in surprise, putting down his tome reverently, with both hands, as he looked up at the intruder to his studies. She found the uncertainty in his brow almost humorous. Before the fighting started, Kogan's quiet and reclusive demeanor would have had him fade into the scenery of the monastary. Well, if he were not the only one of his kind here. The half orc with olive skin seeming an oddity among the clergy. Always sweeping and cleaning, when he wasn't cutting wood or hauling water. Any of their more physical tasks, really. Square jawed and almost handsome, but for the scarring on the right side of his face. The remnant of a disease that had plagued him as a child when he was first found and taken in as an orphan by the Temple. So she had heard. At his work, he had always kept his head down and went about his business with silent diligence. She remembered the hesitation she felt when the ranking officers first put a sword in the boy's hands. Declaring that anyone his size should be ashamed to hide from the battle, monk or not. And she remembered her shock.
Yeah, he was shy at first. Until the bodies of people they knew started to fall. She remembered the awe of seeing him slice a rider in two, and almost knock the horse over completely. His foe's armor crumpling like a tin cup under a heavy boot. Those same officers smirked when they made sure to get him a bigger, sturdier sword after that first one shattered and almost took his eye. But they weren't on the ramparts repelling ladders right now, or riding out to burn the assaulting siege towers before they can be brought to the walls. She'd grown to know him, a brother of battles in the fighting while they watched each others' backs. But late at night here, alone in the library, he seemed unsure again. And something about that seemed to remind her how to relax and forget. Just for a moment.
Kogan set the book down, closing it. He had read it so many times, he'd find his place again easily, rather than risk damage to it by marking or folding a page. He hadn't expected anyone to come this deep below the keep so late. Least of all his captain, the Lady Sahren Valinost. He sat, watching her unbuckle her cloak and hide spaulder, tossing it to the chair. Her shining dark hair spilled to her shoulders as she removed her helm with a relieved sigh. Captivated, he unconsciously ran his hand over his bald head, front to back, feeling the faint stubble that returned from when it had been last shaved by the other monks.
"Er... Captain Valinost, I..."
"Cut the formalities. We're off duty. What are you still doing up? Soldiers should be getting whatever rest they can find."
"It's been hard, Capt... Uh, Sahren. And I've not been a soldier for long and.... wait, why are you still up?" He asked as he glanced at how far the wood on the fire had burned down, and then eyed the growing pile of leather armor forming chair of carved wood beside him. "shouldn't your guard shift have ended almost two whole hours ago?"
Her slow smile stopped and became a faint grimace, when she realized it must be even later than she thought. The next day would come soon, and... no. That sort of thinking is what led her to wandering tonight. She looked down at the man in his rough-spun wool robe as she tossed her second vambrace onto the heap. She had seen the way he looked at her, before the fighting had started. Even with that obviously infatuated expression on his face right now, she had trouble seeing him as the servant boy she saw back then. Maybe she was more tired than she thought, and the constant, pressing danger wore her out more than she knew. Maybe she was more lonely than she thought, often laying in her room alone, staring up at the ceiling at night when she came back each time from the bursts of fierce battles and agonizingly dull hours of watch duty. Maybe Kogan should have been noticed by her sooner, and her idle thoughts became ideas... and intentions.
"Well. If I'd gone right to my quarters, I'd not have found you here to send back to your own, eh? You just gonna sit there slack jawed, or you gonna offer me a place to sit?"
She stifled a laugh when his eyebrows shot almost half way up his forehead. She watched his hand begin to gesture to the other chair, and couldn't suppress the grin when he paused, looking at her piled armor with his hand extended. He started to stand, about to offer his seat, but she had gotten her sword belt off just in time. She gripped her blade in it's scabbard, the buckle giving a jingle as it swung, and pushed the length of it at him. The rounded end drove into the the gap between his shoulder and his collarbone, stuffing him back down into the chair to the loud, sharp scraping of the heavy wood on cold stone floor, and a second grunt from the half-breed.
"You think I'm so rude as to make you vacate your seat? Phah!"
Sliding an arm around his thick neck, she stepped beside his chair and sat down hard on his lap, causing him to grunt a third time. Shifting her weight, she swung her leg over both of his, straddling him. With a push on his knees with both hands, she slid closer towards him and sat up, leaning back into his chest as his hands hung in the open air to his sides in shock. With a consternated look over her shoulder and a moderately sharp elbow in his ribs, she spoke.
"You sit too straight. Show a Lady some courtesy and slouch back so I can relax, yeah?"
In his shock, Kogan moved to obey, slouching back in his chair a little. He felt her lean, muscled thighs squeeze his own, as she moved to sprawl across his body with her back against him. He felt like she moved a bit more than necessary as she wiggled, pressing alarmingly close to him.
"What... what are you doing?!" Kogan stammered, stiffly gripping the arms of the chair, as her hips swayed in his lap, and her shoulders brushed across his chest.
"Why, I'm getting comfortable. What's it look like?" She turned to glance up at him over her shoulder, her no-nonsense composure slipping, and grinned when she asked, "You got a problem, soldier?"
"Well..."
"What?"
Sahren's arm snaked upwards, reaching back around his neck and stretching her body across his hard muscles, tensed from his uncertainty at her advances. She continued to gyrate her hips over top of his, pressing further into his lap until.. yes... there he was. Just press a little more and...
Her grin fled when she looked up at him. Staring back hard with an intensity she hadn't expected, and she started to wonder if maybe this was not such a great plan.
"Are you toying with me, my lady?!" He demanded. Tone flat but full of heat.
"No! Well... yes. I am. But I'm not trying to trick you, if that's what you mean.." she sputtered, voice somehow sounding a little smaller than before.
As her words settled in, his anger faded, and a jumble of knotted emotions made Kogan's head swim. So... unexpected. The scent of her hair that he was now drowning in didn't help. Cold air and smoke from a woodfire, with the hint of whatever flowery soaps she'd washed it with. He thought of how her body was harder and heavier than he expected. She wasn't as soft as he might have thought, and the weight of her sitting there felt good. She was a fighter after all. But she was also a beautiful woman. His heart was racing and his nostrils flared with the effort of controlling his breathing. He felt her relax again in his lap, as she sensed his mood changing.
"Can we do this?" he asked, out of breath as his hands moved to hold her hips.
"That depends. What do you plan to do, soldier?" she asked, biting her bottom lip as her grin crept back onto her face. His big hands on her body felt even better than she anticipated. His grip was warm and firm, and more time had passed than she would have liked since a man made her feel like this, or touched her like this. At least one that she didn't need to break his nose to ensure he got the message. And there was no mistaking it. He wanted her, and her efforts were repaid as she felt him getting hard, pressing back at her.
Kogan didn't answer with words. He grabbed her hip tight in one hand, and placed his other to her belly, over her soft linen tunic. His big callused hand brushed up her firm body, still stretched out over his, until he found the softness of her breast. Hardly enough to fill his hand, he cupped and squeezed. Savoring the feel of her as he stretched his neck to bite down cautiously by her throat, growling a deep, low rumble that she could feel vibrate from deep in his chest. One of his jumbled emotions rushed in front of all the others and he recognized it for what it was. A deep, primal need and desire that burned through him until he wondered if steam would rise off his skin in the winter air.
Sahren's back arched, and she groaned, "Yes... yes we can do that." She pulled her shirt above her waist, and started fumbling with one hand at the laces holding her breeches on. Kogan's hot breath on the nape of her neck excited her, as did his hands. Breathing hard, chest heaving, she surprised herself how she gave a small cry when his fingers found her nipple. Touching and playing with it as he squeezed her with his palm. He slid down from her hip and reached to feel underneath her ass down where it met her thigh, and he squeezed again as she gasped. Pleasantly surprised with how aggressive he was.
Kogan felt like his heart would burst from his chest. Blood pounded in his ears and pumped wildly through his veins. He felt her hand slip behind her back and touch his thigh. Reaching until she found his cock, fingers sliding leisurely along the length of him, through his clothing. He growled again at her touch, his strong hands grabbing tighter and teeth clenching down until Sahren grunted in pain and he let go. Worried for only a moment, until he heard her low, throaty chuckle and noticed her short nails digging into the back of his neck. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin... this, whatever it was, by getting too carried away.
The Captain let go of his neck and pulled her tunic over her head, leaving it hanging off the back of the chair that held her armor with a toss and a flick of her arm. She cried out briefly, before clamping her jaw shut as both of his hands seemed to pounce on her again before she could even put her arms down again, grabbing at her tits and pulling her back against his chest. Her shoulders pressed into the fabric of his tunic, but she preferred the feel of the man himself, where her neck and cheek brushed against his chest and collar that the loose fitting garment left exposed. Pushing down on both his thighs, she used the leverage to grind her ass on his erection more insistently than before, closing her eyes and focusing on all the physical sensations. She felt him long and hard against her tailbone and at the small of her back. He wasn't too big for her, but it was enough for her to feel a little nervous, and more than a little excited for what would come next. She craned her head to kiss and lick the big orc's throat, reaching to grab his hands and push them down onto her thighs. Between her kisses, she gasped at him, "My laces... help me with them."
Kogan let her hands guide him there, and he started working to help get her pants off. His thick fingers fumbling. It was so hard to focus on his immediate task with her sexy, athletic body pressing against him just so. It felt surreal. Did she know how he had felt about her? The silent admiration and tempered longing he resigned himself to ignore as they had lived in what felt like separate worlds. He loved her long shapely legs, and confident stride. Her rare smile that lit up her face and her long, luxurious hair that seemed to shine when it wasn't pulled back while on duty. He'd known her jade-green eyes were beautiful too, but he had never seen them so close as when she opened them again, favoring him with a new mischievous smile that he hadn't seen before. Somehow, he liked this one even more.
"And why are you still dressed?"
He struggled with untying as she kept writhing in his lap, grinding against him, and almost snapped one of the strings in his hands. He inhaled sharply as he realized he finally got them loose, then hooked a thumb in each side of her breeches to start pushing them down over her hips. His arms pressed tight around her as she lifts her legs and he continues to push them past her knees. This time, her clothing fell to the floor.
Kogan was stunned when he realized she was sitting completely naked in his lap. He looked down at her. Soft, smooth, pale skin, but for the bruises. He noticed she had just as many as he did, these days. Splotches of yellow, blue and black that took nothing from he beauty. He admired her slender neck and modest breasts, pushed out as she arched her back against him, nipples hardened. He already longed to play with them again. His eyes roamed down the delicious curves of her body, as he wondered if the fresh mark on her hip had been from when he grabbed her earlier. His eyes drank in the shape of her thighs and the small patch of hair between them as she spread them apart to better fit around his legs again. Every detail his eyes drank in stoked the fire that his desires set inside him. His attention snapped back to her face when she cleared her throat, but he still struggled not to let his growing need sear his thoughts away when he saw her desire clear on her face and the husky tone she used made his head spin.
"So... like what you see, big guy?" Sahren had watched him as he looked at her body. She swore she could almost feel his hungry eyes on her like a physical touch, otherwise she might have had a complaint that he'd ceased fondling her while he stopped to ogle. She could feel his lust surrounding her, and it fed her own. The feeling of being wanted and needed so badly by this man was intoxicating, and making her so very wet.
He wondered if she could see the flush in his face once he realized he'd just been sitting there and staring. His reply came out as a growl, as he remembered to breath again.
"Yes... I like it a lot. Sahren-"
"Your shirt." she stated, as she reached behind her back with both hands to start tugging on the laces to his pants.
He pulled his shirt up and off, letting it fall to the floor behind them. Just as fast, she had loosened his breeches and was trying to push them down. Kogan hesitated just a moment, before lifting his hips to slide them down, pushing back against her to do so. Her skin, warm against his own, made him groan in eagerness as he was all too aware of how he was pressing along her lower back again.
As she settled against him, he wasted no time putting his hands back on her. Rough hands playing with her chest and sliding over her belly. Rubbing at her thighs and squeezing her shoulders. She rubbed back against his broad, hairy chest and threw her arm around his neck again, before reaching down behind her. Finding his manhood with her palm and lazily wrapping her fingers around it one at a time, she grinned and savored the deep rumbling moan she felt emanating from him as he started to nibble at the nape of her neck.
Kogan kept touching this alluring woman that he was still amazed to find sitting in his lap. The weight of her as she leaned back against him, pressing his cock between them, felt good. But it only enflamed the hunger growing inside him. The scent of her filled him and the tantalizing noises she made as he touched her... The soft smoothness of her skin and the firmness of her strong muscles beneath... It was all almost too much for him to take.
Sahren felt her body heating up in anticipation and her clit started to ache. And she was so wet... She hadn't realized just how badly she wanted this. One of his hands started to slip down her belly, fingers first. Sliding closer and closer. Her breath caught as she felt him brush over the soft fur between her legs, and she let it go in a long, shuddering sigh as Kogan touched her. His fingers pressing against her gathering wetness, sliding around her vulva and rubbing over her swollen clit. She turned her head towards, him, burying her face in his throat and stifling her desperate cries against it. She silently willed him to push harder and penetrate her, and it didn't take long before she felt the pressure of his finger slipping inside. She felt his rumble softly vibrating wherever she was pressed against him, as she got her wish.
Kogan hadn't expected her to be so wet. He hadn't expected any of this, if he was being even slightly honest with himself. The way her pussy felt to him. Soft, warm, and so very slick. The tightness in his chest grew as he played and rubbed, before slipping his digit inside her. She was so tight but his finger still entered her easily, and her muffled groans that she pushed at him with her mouth against his throat forged his lust into a painful ache that would now demanded to be sated.
Sahren wanted more. Still holding him with one hand, she felt him throbbing eagerly against her back. She put a hand on his thigh to raise herself, trying to lift her leg and pull him around in front of her. Even still a soft whimper slipped from her as Kogan's hands moved to help. With another growl from deep within, his hands slid under both her thighs, grabbing her just beneath her ass and lifting her up. Holding onto him for balance, she pulled his thick, hard cock forward and between her legs, and laid it along her pussy. She resumed her grip on the back of his neck, easier now that they were pressed cheek to cheek, and used her free hand to hold him there between her legs. She finally got a good look at it, as she pressed her hand along the underside of it and laid it firmly along her pussy. She rocked her hips, sliding her body up and down along it's length, watching as it's thick head nudged at her clit while she worked to get him slick and wet so she could take him inside her. She was so turned on that it didn't take long, and before she knew it his whole shaft looked shiny and slippery. She liked how warm and hard it felt in her hand, and she found herself wondering how he was going to feel.
"I want you," he rasped in a deep voice, all but whispering in her ear and sending shivers down her spine.
She felt his chest heaving with the effort of urges barely held in check, as she lifted her hips, guiding his tip to her opening and pressing tenderly onto it. Not quite enough to push it in.
Her cheek was pressed to his now, her head tilted back and she purred back into ear, "Then take me."
His grip on her tightened again, and she cautiously pushed back on him with a hand on his hard belly.
"Hey! Take it slow, big guy." she warned. "It's been a while."
She finds him moving to kiss her and she leans into it. Their tongues met in a playful dance as he slowly lowered her down with his hands, moaning into each others mouths as he penetrates her. The pressure was intense, and almost painful. Like his grip on her, just beneath her ass. And she loved it. The rest of the world faded away as that sweet, intimate pressure filled her.
Kogan took her slow. His arms squeezed against her, cradling her body and shifting her weight to make it easier for himself. Words escaped him as he felt her tight, silky soft pussy slipping around him. Thought was blasted away by the rush of sensation that flooded him. He moaned and panted as she enveloped the head of his cock. And he did again when he lifted her back up, pulling back just a bit before easing her back down a little further this time. Easing himself inside her. He couldn't believe how hot and wet she felt, as her body slid half way down his shaft and her mouth slid away from his. Her pleasured moans reverberated along the side of his neck pleasantly, as he pulls back again, then eases her down one final time. Her lips left his neck and she moaned loudly as she settled back into his lap again, his hands letting go.
Oh, the pressure... of feeling so nice and full... Sahren cautioned herself not to be quite so loud as that last one. It might carry through the empty halls at this hour. She clenched her teeth and moaned through closed lips as she started rocking back and forth. Bucking her hips, pushing and tugging on Kogan's big cock inside her as his hands found her body again. Her fingers bit into the back of his neck as he fondled her breast, cupping her and pinching her nipple while playfully tugging on it. He squeezed her inner thigh with his other hand, and slid down her leg to touch behind her knee. Then his fingertips were brushing back up her leg to press down and feel along her belly and pelvis, fingers splayed as if they're trying to touch as much of her as possible.
Sahren sprawled back against his chest, angling her hips just right, until she feels the head of his cock dragging back and forth right where she wanted it. Pushing her closer and closer with each of his small thrusts. She reached down and started rubbing at her clit with two fingers as he rocked beneath her, his shaft slowly sliding in and out of her. The chill air is all but forgotten as sweat beads on her forehead, and warmth surges through her body. Especially as his hand continued to wander across her naked skin.
Kogan's hands seemed to move with minds of their own. Racing and feeling. Touching and grabbing. Exploring her, and only stopping to play when the tantalizing woman in his lap expressed her pleasure in moans or gasps. His hand found hers, working on her clit, and he slid beneath it. He was pleased when she took to it right away, holding him and using his fingers to rub herself instead. Tilting down to kiss behind her ear, he made low, pleased rumbling noises for her, as he reveled in the feel of her slick, swollen clit and they way her fit so snugly inside of her. He could feel a building pressure in his loins as they continued grinding their bodies together. A reflexive tightening of muscles he couldn't stop. Nor did he really want to. His breathing becoming more and more ragged as he felt himself getting harder still, making her warm, tight grip on him even more difficult to ignore...
Building and building. The tension, pressure and pleasure kept building inside her as Kogan continued to thrust. Her pussy was stretched tight by the angle he was penetrating her and the shape of him felt so good inside her. The thick ridge along the head of his cock dragging back and forth inside her caused her toes to curl. Sahren could feel her orgasm coming, and couldn't stop the tight groans and sharp cries she made. Not completely. And then she felt him... She felt his climax as he held her tight and pushed as deep into her as he could. Throbbing and flexing hard inside her and spilling his cum all over the back of her pussy... And it pushed her over the edge. She felt his hands grab her desperately, squeezing just a little too hard again, leaving another small bruise on her hip and feeling like a vice on her shoulder as a deep, strained groan forced it's way out of his tense body.
"Mmph... Sahren..."
Pleasure took her, and she could feel her body react. Cumming with him as they both lost control. Her body tightened as pleasure seemed to overflow from her. Her muscles contracting, pussy taut around him, His hand reached to hold her cheek, tilting her chin up with his palm to kiss her full on the mouth again. As they started to come down, they pulled back. Gasping for air as their breath mingled between them.
She could feel the exhaustion seeping back into her body, slumping back against him with a satisfying ache as he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face down into her neck, still breathing hard. His cock still throbbing gently inside her.
They sat there like that for a while, but for the occasional muscle spasm, letting their pulses come back under control and allowing their thoughts to come back to them as the world shifted back into focus.
"Why?" He gasped when he was no longer gulping for breath. "What...?"
"Are you disappointed?" she asked, as she smiled sweetly at him and touched his cheek. his stubble rough under her touch.
"Of course not! I... I am just surprised, I guess. Why now? Why here?"
The Lady Sahren stood, pulling away from him and reaching for her clothes.
"I'm not sure. I think the world has been a confusing place lately. And maybe I thought you needed that as much as I did," she said with a shrug as she finished tying her breeches back on and pulled her shirt off the back of the chair and dug her wineskin out, popping the cork and taking a long swig.
"So was that it? Just a passing fancy that I should forget?" he asked, frustration leaking into his voice.
"Drink," she commanded, thrusting the skin out at him with one hand. She watched as took he it and drank a single mouthful, snatching it when handed back to her. She finished buckling her sword belt back on, observing as he stood and tugged his breeches back up, but made no move for his shirt, examining her in return. Expecting an answer. She stepped up to him, glancing at his broad shoulders, and with a hand on his chest, stood on her toes to kiss his jaw line softly.
"No," she said after a moments pause to meet his eyes. "This doesn't have to be the end. But it's late. And tomorrow could be another long, hard day. Let's take a bit to think about it on our own. I'll talk to you about it some night soon, if we can." She affectionately clapped him on the cheek, and strolled from the room, feeling as though she would no longer have any problem getting to sleep tonight. She was determined not to look back, but she swore she could feel his eyes following her hips all the way to the door.
"Goodnight, Kogan."