[SO-Zeltiva] Of Shadows, Snakes, and Secrets

by **Edreina** on November 27th, 2013, 6:16 am

Petching Myrian always seemed to move faster than she thought him able. Originally, she had meant to move them deeper into the maze of goods, but her womanly wiles appeared to be a bit stronger than she had planned for. But, nary a complaint was heard as the woman quickly found her slim wrists manacled by hands as rough as leather and strong as steel.

Any urge to continue the game was engulfed and forgotten by the kiss as she felt herself being consumed by the warm, strong lips of her warrior love. Pale lids fluttered once before succumbing to the might of the kiss and falling closed over eyes that previously taunted him so. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips, drawing fresh breath into their frenzied kiss, as she felt her feet lift from the swaying deck. Though he may have been watching his carefully, she could not guarantee the same. Without thinking she found her seemingly ineffectual teeth latching onto his lower lip or grazing his tongue as it invaded her mouth and retreated after a rigorous spar with her own.

A fire crowned head tilted back in ecstasy, only to knock against the crate that was stacked upon a slightly larger crate with her. It was, after all, a very narrow ledge. She shied instinctively away from the sharp pain and dull throbbing that would ensue, forcing her back to his lips with a vengeance. Instinct seized hold of Edreina as strongly as the Balicani's soul, parting her legs so that their matching anatomy could strive closer together.

With him mentioning it, Edreina belatedly realized how little she liked his own clothing. The kiss broke and Razkar would likely see the flash of teeth in the wan light, followed by a low, lilting chuckle that ended with a hungering growl. That sound was likely as close to sounding like a Myrian as Edreina would ever get. "Please... allow me to do the honors..." By force, if necessary, the plotting woman would extricate herself from her lover's embrace and pad with swaying hips back to the beam of Leth-light that marked their entrance into a hold that would soon make either of them laugh like naughty children any time someone was seen drinking from a water barrel.

"I thought I should leave my clothes in the light... You know... so I can find them later." One's tone of voice often said more than the words themselves and, in this case, if her libidinous intent would quickly become apparent as she started to undress.

It did not take a harlot like Matthew to know what a man would enjoy seeing in the heat of the moment.

Glittering eyes were obscured by cascading waves of molten red as she looked to the floorboards and, with fingers made dextrous through years of practice, untied the knot that held in place the linen about her chest. Normally, tension would do its job and the wrap would unwind quickly of its own accord but, with a well placed hand, Edreina kept that from happening. "I don't want for it to get tangled," she said ever so softly, looking back up at her lover. Maddeningly slowly, she started to wrap the linen about itself, rolling and rolling it about her body. Slowly, they began to swell as tension was released and finally, only a single revolution remained.

A quick shake of the head brought her hair over each shoulder in haphazard waves so that, as the linen finally gave and snapped towards her hand, each pert peak was shadowed from the light of Leth. It was nearly Winter and, if Razkar chose to look closely enough, he would see faint traces of gooseflesh racing across his woman's freckled skin.

There was no pause in the young woman's exhibition of her form and figure; she truly did work at maintaining the ruse that it was all done in innocence. As if any woman could truly be innocent by knowing and exploiting her lover's weakness for that very element. The laces on her pants were undone by one hand as the other rose to brush a few wayward locks behind her ear, exposing slivers of pale golden skin. Slim thumbs hooked into the waistband of her pants and, having left them a bit tighter than normally she would have, Edreina was forced to wiggle her way out of them. Lit so narrowly from above, new shadows were cast over the Svefra, highlighting key anatomical features including, but far from limited to, the gentle, sloping definition of her hard-won midsection.

Assuming Razkar had made it this far without seizing hold of his lover and having his lusty way with her, he would be beckoned over with a crooking finger and, in a silvery laugh, reminded that it was his turn to undress. If he complied, Edreina would find a suitable perch upon one of the nearby barrels and settle in for a show of her own. No matter how many times she was exposed to his gloriously muscled form, it would still be met with a bitten lip and gentle intake of breath.

(c) Wanda Endust

by **Razkar** on November 28th, 2013, 5:58 am

He really had to stop himself from falling to his knees as if in worship, but a combination of hard-raised piety and sheer male stubbornness prevented it. So he settled for leaning back on the narrow ledge, hands gripping the edge of it... harder... and harder... with every discarded garment.

Ah, petch it. She was worthy of worship, and be damned any priest and quivering penitent who disagreed.

Razkar's mouth went from lush at the taste of her to an arid desert of hunger as her casual, sensual disrobing continued. With every stitch that whispered softly to the ground, his fingers grew that little bit more numb. But such... trickery... was at work. For when he saw her body move and catch the pale light just correctly, he would assume it was all an act, a trick as passionless and loveless as a harlot's smile.

But he looked in her eyes and saw a dancing, smirking amusement. Innocence, true, but not in any way sexual. No, not just that... sexual implied just the organs you had stick on or out of you. What Edreina did for him was sensual. It aroused his soul as much as... other things.

The Myrian's growl prowled around the interior of the hold like it was searching for a victim, but his flesh did not sway nor lunge. He knew it was torturing himself, but it would make it so, so much more satisfying. Only when she crooked her finger with a wry smirk on her lips, smattering of orange hair obscuring one eye but not those full, wicked lips, did he nudge himself upright and saunter forwards.

Grinning.

Shadowy form gave way to stark relief under Leth's cold and unblinking caress. Inks and dyes long gouged into Razkar's skin suddenly shone. Tigers and runes and warriors and bones and skulls and between them, over them, under them, a patchwork of scar tissue like a map of Sunberth.

As always when his body was exposed naked and bereft of lie to her, Razkar felt an eel of fear, thinking she would flinch at his body, a testament a lifetime at war. As always, they were proved unfounded... and that only spurred him on.

Naked from the waist up, Razkar started with his breeches, undoing them and letting the leather fabric jostle rather than rustle down to the boards before stepping out of them. There was little suggestion of a dance in his actions; more the slow, patient unwrapping of something worthy of attention.

Which, if Razkar had to be honest with himself, he damn-well thought it was. He was proud of the shape he'd kept his body in. Even by Myrian standards he was in peak condition, and despite nearly six seasons away from the jungles that bred either The Best or The Entree, he'd kept it that way.

Cords of taut, lean muscle were packed onto hard bones. All traces of fat had long-vanished from his torso, and while he did not have the bulge and swell of the professional weightlifter, his body was more carved than built upon. A wolf, rather than a bear; everything about him aimed at quick, violent, efficient action.

The loincloth, the last bastion, fell next. He undid the strap on one side and let it fall onto his messy breeches without so much as a sound. Razkar didn't try to hide the gleam of pleasure and the feral smirk on his face when she saw him revealed and... at attention. The male oft-compared himself to other males, and would have called any man who scoffed and said he never did a liar. But, as far as he'd been able to tell, he'd never got any complaints from Edreina.

But proud as he was, conceited as he may have been in his own limited, disciplined way... Razkar knew he was very much the "Brute" to her "Beauty". The other sellswords thought he didn't hear that; they were wrong.

Know all that, and know the Myrian still smiled without disquiet nor doubt besmirching his features. She was here. She chose to be here. She looked at him with adoration and respect and wonder and appreciation and Goddess, who the hell was he to demand more than that?

"My sea lily..." he whispered lowly, member twitching anew at the sight of her biting her lip in a fashion that looked demure but whose essence was quite the opposite, and closed the gap between them in three long, slow strides, close enough for him to see the pimply flesh of her goosebumps... then run his hands gently over those patches. "How lucky I am..."

by **Edreina** on November 28th, 2013, 8:44 am

Anyone could agree that the male form was not as innately sexual as a woman's. The god that crafted man used a harsh chisel; he who sculpted woman made each slope and curve with their open palm.

As much as Edreina naturally found herself keen on the willowy muscle of a man who spent more time beneath the waves than in the open air, Razkar somehow managed to snag her eye at each and every turn. Being among her own kin had affirmed that. There was still a lithe grace about him, but it contained a silent power and efficiency of motion she appreciated. He was in no way compelled to frighten others off with mountains of muscle -as if the tattoos, piercings, and scars did not do a decent job. His body was the apex of proof that strength was not the end all be all of success.

When finally the loincloth fell, leaving him bare to the world and to her eyes, she could not help the gentle intake of breath that whispered through her lips. Now mind you that he was in no way likely to be confused with a horse as she had oft heard men brag, but there was a definite substance to his anatomy. The harsh jungles of Falyndar bred an entirely unique breed of man... Maybe it's in the water. A blush settled over her cheeks as she shifted slightly, growing more and more aroused as he stood there, drinking in her form as much as she was his. There were times when, yes, she compared him to others she had been with and, every single one of those times, he managed to surpass it all.

In this particular situation, she repressed the urge to call him her "walking shyke stain" as was her tendency whenever he came up with something sweet and romantic to say. Odd as it may have been, Razkar was better at coming up with sweet names to call her than she was at figuring out some cute name for the Myrian; "cute" seemed to avoid him like plague. The repressed urge was quickly forgotten as her skin's topography shifted violently, changing from subtle gooseflesh to full on chill bumps at his gentle touch.

Her lower lip, now sore from being bitten, slipped from between her teeth as she grinned at him. From the barrel she rose and closed the distance between them. Slim, straight fingers made stripes as they slid between darker, rougher ones. "We're both so very lucky..." Her lips fell lightly upon the corner of his jaw. "To have found each other..." A trail of fire followed her lips down his neck to his collar bone. "To know one another..." The fire spread to his shoulder, this time instigated by the tip of her nose as she basked in the scent of him. "To have saved one another..." The breathy whisper was murmured against the hollow at the base of his throat as she tucked herself beneath his chin for an instant.

For a tick, the sexual energy pervading the hold slipped down to something more innocent as Edreina embraced her lover, arms encircling his torso as her head turned, placing her ear against his heart and, for only a moment, covering the harsh black inscriptions that marred him. When it came down to it, there was more than desire coursing through her veins when Razkar came to mind. Long as it took her to say it and as rarely as it still left her lips, she loved him with all of her strength. It was a blind and dangerous love that frequently danced upon the edge of disaster, but it was as true and as pure as any could be.

And that was what sometimes terrified the Svefra. Her people did not take mates for life; they were as mercurial in their love affairs as the rest of their lives. The red haired lass was young by any race's standards, but she knew enough of the world to differentiate love and lust, between wanting and needing. It had taken her painfully long to admit it, but she loved Razkar, she needed him. He was the excitement and worldliness she had always longed for just as she was the peace and optimism he needed. Through him, she was made aware of the ugliness of their world; through her, he learned to see the best in situations and people, to see their potential. Life often flitted by for Edreina, leaving her on foreign shores or open seas without a second thought. As much as she craved adventure, she desired an anchor that would bring her comfort through consistency. Razkar was the Svefra's anchor. And that was what terrified her; one person should not be so integral to the life of another that life without them seems to be without worth as well. It was dangerous, fickle, and terrifying at times.

So much had changed since she left the Anchorage Flotilla, the floating city in the midst of Laviku's Sea. Edreina was not the same person she had been and often that nagged at her. A small, guilty part of her shied away whenever someone used her podname, especially these Svefra.

A short, quiet sigh left her lips when she realized that she had been quiet for some time now, leaving the hold silent save for the lapping of waves and their synced breathing. Her chin found purchase upon his chest as she peered up at him, only vaguely aware of perfectly their nude forms fit together. "I am so sorry, my love... I lost myself in my head." The wildfire in her eyes had been muted by a slow, passionate ember. No matter how her lapse may have affected him, desire was still evident in her mien. "Razkar I... I want for you to make love to me." Immediately a delicate blush colored her cheekbones; such words seemed so silly when spoken aloud.

Away she slid until only their hands remained connected. In her smile there was a genuine shyness, in her eyes a true innocence. Almost cautiously, she took a step back, attempting to lead him behind some of the cargo, to offer their intimacy some privacy. If he chose to follow, she would stop once she found somewhere with enough room for them to lay or a ledge large enough for them to move with minimal effort.

To him she would return, running her fingers up his arms until they reached his shoulders and she was close once again. Their lips would meet softly at first, no more than a brushing of breath as her arms slid about his neck. Blue eyes would be obscured by lashed lids once again as she rose to her feet and planted her mouth upon his in earnest, then. Whatever passions wished to boil forth, they would have to wait. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to be one with the man that held her heart and soul in his battered hands.

(c) Wanda Endust

by **Razkar** on November 30th, 2013, 2:23 am

Pale arms enfolded his broad torso, cool and slinky as they circumvented the leathery skin, and at her sigh, Razkar felt the most curious... stall. The raging, panting passion of just ticks before was replaced by something... far deeper. Young as he was, flawed as he was, even Razkar knew there was something worthy in it. Something deeper than lust in the way the Suvan was deeper than a puddle.

It was the same flame, he realized as he held her. But instead of yellow and orange and huge and dancing over all corners of the darkness, this one burned blue and white, fierce, steady... unwavering.

Love. It endured. It was not easy nor convenient and it could kill a man as easily as poison or sharp steel... but if there was ever anything worth dying for... and living for.

He did not speak. He didn't want words to break the moment, much as his hardness strained and growled for release as it was pressed against her. Savage he may have been, but he was not ruled solely by his balls and pride. Razkar held her in the darkness of the hold, and remembered just how lucky he was... and how doomed.

She is your weakness. You've known that ever since Ekvan put a knife to her throat. You would rather die than allow the same to happen to her. All your enemies need do is take her from you.

But there was more to it than that, swimming in the staring eyes of the Myrian, unseen by Edreina's own. Even when he had loved Aya, he had never given himself to a female in such a way. His life was enmeshed firmly in hers, and vice versa. Could he imagine journeying to Sunberth without her, dangerous hive of scum and criminality though it was? No... no, he could not. What if she was taken? What if she left? Could he deal with it? Live with it?

All those thoughts buzzed and cawed around his mind like circling vultures and he but held her closer, careful to have the fear ripped from his eyes by the time she looked and proffered her apologies, followed by-

"Razkar I... I want for you to make love to me."

A line from some insipid play or romantic tale or your parents endless monologues about how they met, hmm? Yes, and Razkar may have thought much the same... but in that tick, it was right and he could find no fault with the words. Fucking was one thing, and a wonderful thing, but some nights...

He didn't even need to nod; it was simply understood. She backed up and his feet followed her like a bidden pup. Just the sight of her expectant innocence was a tonic for his member, now ready and waiting without the aching pain of a dog ready to rut.

That was not what Edreina wanted; so Razkar would not give it.

The Svefra found a ledge and without waiting for her Razkar planted his hands on her shapely hips - yet another pair of curves she possessed he took much joy from - and hitched her up to a sitting position on the edge of the large crate. The kiss she gave him... salt and passion and adoration... all mingled together and slowing down Tanroa's inexorable march, just for them.

His eyes closed and both of them moved by feel alone. His tongue and lips tangled with hers and his hands shifted to her bare arse, sending a fresh quiver through him... just in time for him to meet her at her core...

There was a gasp in the darkness, but it did not speak of monsters nor demons. A sigh followed it, deeper, masculine, satisfied with the world to come and the rocking wooden world plowing on around him.

by **Edreina** on November 30th, 2013, 9:55 am

The joining of Myrian and Svefra was far gentler than any could have judged by outward appearances, when it began. Their breathy gasps and sighs melted into the most primal of sound, betraying their hunger for one another. Motions so restrained and controlled quickly broke free of any mental bounds and, before long, their bodies were crashing together again and again, like the waves of an angry sea, unsated by any motions of tide. However long it had been since they last joined was far too long in the past for their hungry mouths and aching bodies. It could have been years, seasons, or only bells as far as they were concerned. Their souls craved the completeness that comes with being a single physical entity, the meshing that comes with breathing the air of another's shuddering exhale.

Black hair tangled and was ignited by red flaming strands as the topography of two continents merged with an earth shattering force. The rivers of ink covering the dusk-colored male's body escaped entrapment through the single waterfall of ink that adorned his honey-skinned lover. Sharpened teeth found themselves to be without a bite as it was Edreina who grew fierce in their coupling, biting and clawing at her male and growling as he claimed her.

Despite being in a position that obviously lacked advantage, she moved against him as frequently as he strove against her. A war of unbridled and esoteric passion raged in the hold of the Calypso as each fought to topple the other into pure bliss before the other. Razkar was the one to succeed, but, as Edreina arched and tensed as she plunged into a world of light and sound felt only by her body, Razkar stumbled at a sight so pure and intrinsic that he himself was lost and together they toppled to the heaving deck, a sweaty mess of mismatched limbs and blissful smiles.

-------

Only the gods knew how long passed before the Svefra and Myrian lovers were entirely capable of conversation but, as she lay tucked beneath his arm, back against his side, Edreina noticed something new on his shoulder. Well, new to her. Somehow, in all of her exploration, the smallest and least detailed of the Myrian's tattoos had escaped her notice. "Razkar," she murmured, fingertips tracing the little shape, "What does this little black "S" on your shoulder mean?" It was hardly the most glowing post-coital conversation starter, but she was blearily curious and found herself with an insatiable need to know. Lightly, she tapped it, just in case he was too tired or too out of focus to tell immediately what she meant.

(c) Wanda Endust

by **Razkar** on December 1st, 2013, 6:17 pm

It was not the turgid war of flesh against flesh that he remembered, at least on in detail. The sight of her straining and gasping under him, around him, over him... yes, that truly was a sight to be locked away in his memory. Even his release like a geyser tapped in the center of his chest that shattered him like no skirmish or duel ever had... they were an odd if exhilarating prelude to what followed.

That... absence. Blissful and peaceful and... it seemed empty, but it was not. It was devoid of strife and conflict. He floated on the surface of it and then sank under, but did not drown.

The scent of her surrounded him like a blanket; the feel of her skin, sweat-soaked and clinging to him. All of it was so intoxicating h barely noticed the hard floor they lay on.

Perhaps it was because he lost track of where he was... even whom he was. Was it night? Day? They were on a boat, he was sure of that. And he was...?

Blank. Gloriously, deliciously blank. Just this empty vessel he possessed and the warm, purring figure at his side... and the rest of the world could go hang.

Then she had to go and bloody ruin it.

Her sleepy, innocent question pierced through the fuzzy armor of his euphoria like a narrow arrow through plate armor. Razkar had enough time to blink and some part of his mind threw up walls, rang the bells for reinforcement, martialed existing thoughts and tried to tell the mouth not to answer bef-

"Oh, that? A girl I met in Syliras. Her name was Shiress."

... oh, fuck...

Razkar was treated to a tick or two of cold, silent realization that, yes, he had just said that and she had heard him. Red hair rustled softly but purposefully as she turned up, reared up like a cobra about to strike, blue eyes like the gentle tide now reminding him why sailors and captains and pirates across the world prayed with fearful reverence to the god that could crush the largest vessel like an ant under a boot.

"We, ah..." Don't hesitate! She'll think you're concocting lies! "We met, in the Stormhold. She was, ah, being assailed by some... thug. I helped her, and we... had a day together-" Damnit, boy! "-n-not like... that! We, ah... we explored! Like you and Matthew did!"

by **Edreina** on December 1st, 2013, 7:44 pm

Well... if ever there were a way to end something lovely, you've done it now, she groaned internally, sitting up to face her lover. Her legs were crossed beneath her and her hands in her lap as she looked down at him, blue eyes shadowed by her hair but thoughtful. It was almost amusing to see her male flustered beside her, flailing beneath the weight of each word that left his mouth.

But, she was very careful to keep him from knowing this. Her eyes remained narrowed and her stance rigid as she hovered over him, hands wringing themselves in her lap. "So there is... another woman... One so meaningful that you've seen it fit to have something of hers marked forever on your body?" She sighed dejectedly, looking to the side. "Am I the only one that has not earned a place upon your canvas?" For a tick, she let the accusation hang in the air.

The visage she had attempted to create died as her shoulders began to quake with barely contained mirth. "Ok ok ok! I was just kidding." She moved quickly despite her sore body, straddling him with her hands on his chest so that she could rub her nose against his. "These are women that meant something to you and should be remembered. I'm with you every day." She winked, lightning fast, and kissed him solidly. "You'll have a hard time forgetting me." With that, she stood and stretched, long, lithe body bending and tugging at itself until the exertion had been worked from her limbs. "Now. Unless you're ready to go again," blue eyes glittered with mischief, "We'd better get back and get some sleep, yes?"

(c) Wanda Endust

by **Razkar** on December 1st, 2013, 9:58 pm

"Am I the only one that has not earned a place upon your canvas?"

Her words lashed him like a rainstorm in a bare field, without any place to run for cover. Razkar's mouth worked uselessly, esperately, but no words or defense came forth. Then her eyes left his and he tried to reach for her, but... couldn't make the distance. Did not want to provoke her anger and desolation with his clumsy, stupid words.

"Reina, I... I didn't mean to hu-"

"Ok ok ok! I was just kidding."

"Oh, you are petching dead!"

But before his arms could jerk to her sides and find those ribs he so loved to tickle when she provoked him, her warm, soft body was pressed against him and he just groused, grumbled and muttering into the pillow of her hair.

"Bloody tricky female..."

She got back and instead of snapping out some harsh response to her last comment - as if he could ever forget one such as her - Razkar just... enjoyed the show. In his case, "the show" being the sight of that gloriously naked and lithe body twisting every which-way as Edreina worked the stiffness out of her. The Myrian grinned and got back to his feet, both of them hunting around in the darkened hold for their strewn clothing.

"We'd better get back and get some sleep, yes?"

Razkar gave a grunt of agreement, then nuzzled her face softly and shimmied into his breeches. "Question is... can we be... quiet... back to our... there!... bunk?" A wicked gleam of a smile in the darkness. "And how can we be sure we didn't wake up the whole petching boat, hmm? You are somewhat... vocal, in your esctasy..."

++++++++++

"Peshwuzad...?!"

Karmite's blissful and well-earned slumber was shattered by the creaking whispering barrage of noise that lasted but a moment. Bleary eyes fluttered open and his mind latched back into control of his body, sure it had seen... figures... shadows chittering softly to each other in the direction of-

The two still and silent sellswords that had been sailing on his vessel for days now. The Myrian and the Svefra, now laying in their single, broad bunk, facing each other, blankets pulled up...

"Wusamatta'?"

The sailor shook his head and the cobwebs that seemed to be clouding it, then yawned wide and exhausted as a cat. Ebaori just glared at him, the bastard who'd woke him up and was now peering over at two passengers he did not want to tangle with.

"Nuh... Nothin'..."

"Gebacktsleep," the Benshira grumbled, too in-between sleep and waking to seperate his words, "Longuntmorra..."

They listened as the speakers shifted and silenced and their silent re-entry went undetected. Razkar had assumed the sailors would be exhausted enough for them to sneak but that damned creaking board had sounded like a Tskanna's snort in the darkness, so they'd just jumped for it... and made it, apparently.

Black pools gleaming suddenly in the gloom, one of them arced by a tendril of Lethlight, Razkar grinned and winked at his lover.

"Sleep time, my love..."

by **Eclipse** on January 30th, 2014, 5:46 am

Edreina

Skills :

Lores :

Notes :

~~~

Razkar

Skills :

Lores :

Notes :

If you have any questions about the grade, please don't hesitate to PM me!