CHAPTER TWO:

“Ah-HEM”

The bounty hunter known as Ronin slowly turned his attention from the naked, half-elf courtesan straddling his lap with whom he’d been making out with to the affluent looking older couple, the woman being the one who’d cleared her throat demanding his attention. He arched his eyebrow as he gave them a sideways glance, his gaze darting up and down their bodies from what he could see above the table. They were wearing hoods and capes that looked like they’d mugged a peasant for but it didn’t hide the glint of gold and jeweled necklaces or highborn, aristocratic collars underneath. Even the hint of their silvery hair under the hoods screamed ‘I’m Rich.’ People who knew him knew better than to interrupt him during the evening hours. People who really knew him never bothered him when he had a lovely lady like this courtesan in his company.

People who were desperate or had a death wish disregarded his privacy.

“Are you… Ronin?” the woman asked in a ‘let me speak to your lord’ manner.

“Depends on who’s asking,” Ronin remarked. Right now, he was wishing that he’d taken the elf up on her offer to retire to her bed but no, he wanted a front row seat to watch King Randal’s kingdom go up in smoke… literally.

The uptight woman crossed her arms and huffed. “Do I look like I am in the mood for jokes? I am in the middle of a crisis here!”

“Now I have a better question: do I look like I care?” Ronin countered. He lifted his hand and made a shooing motion. “Go away. I’m busy,” he said as he turned back to his date for the evening.

“Please, sir, if you are indeed Ronin,” the man now interjected, making Ronin sigh and look back at them. He at least looked more reasonable than the woman was. “I’m Lord Tobyn Colet. This is my wife, Lady Yvette,” he said making the hasty introductions. “We need your help.”

“I’m not in the charity business,” Ronin remarked, wishing they’d go away. “And I am anything but cheap.”

“Ex-cuse me!” Lady Yvette huffed in a tone that made her sound like she wanted to talk to someone’s Lord at an octave reserved for calling dogs, making Ronin wince. “We’re having a crisis here and all you can do is make googly eyes to that… that floozy in your lap!” she said, gesturing wildly out the door and then at the courtesan, who gasped and looked insulted… rightfully so.

As the courtesan huffed and tried to slide from his lap but Ronin just held on to her and smiled at her reassuringly. He then gave Lady Yvette a disparaging look. “Are you sure your name isn’t Karen? Because you sound like one. Your little ‘crisis’ out there is none of my concern. Kings come and go all the time. There’s only one thing that remains the same around here, and that… is me. Now either get to the fucking point, and quick, or leave me the fuck alone.”

“Our daughter, Lady Alexa, went out with King Randal’s army,” Tobyn interjected, silencing any retort that his wife might have.

“Sucks to be her,” Ronin harrumphed. Now he gestured out the windows as the arm of King Sephant’s joint orc-human army was in the middle of counter attacking the central citadel of King Randal just as King Randal’s army did the day before according to Ronin’s sources. The only reason that the pub was even open is because Ronin was in there and he’d reassured the owner and his staff that either side of the war would be stupid to ransack the place with him in it. So far, the theory held true as a majority of the town’s citizens were packed in here tonight while the rest of the town burned. Even a few orcs along with their bulky, menacing human brute counterparts came in, took one look at Ronin, apologized, and hastily left. “I don’t think that anyone from that army came back.”

“Indeed,” Tobyn nodded. “Which is why we want to hire you to go to King Sephant’s court, find out what happened to her, and bring her back if you can.”

“He should do it for free,” Yvette huffed with crossed arms. “Serving the nobility is it’s own reward.”

“Yvette, please,” Tobyn begged his wife.

“Are you sure that your daughter just didn’t defect to King Sephant’s court like a lot of other nobles have done?” Ronin asked, eying Yvette. “Because if I had a bitch like you for a mother, I’d run away too.”

Now it was Yvette’s turn to be taken aback from the insult. Before she could counter, Tobyn rested his hand onto hers and motioned for her, begging for her was more like it, to be quiet. He then turned back to Ronin. “We will pay whatever you want. Just… please… find her and see if you can bring her home.”

Ronin regarded them and for a brief moment he saw a flash of pleading and resignation in Yvette’s eyes before hardening over and glaring at him. Tobyn just looked beside himself. Ronin rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. My standard rates apply. I’ll follow her trail and find her… for better or for worse.” He gave them a pointed look. “Just know that you might not like what I find. In my experiences, my clients rarely like what has happened to their beloved family members that go missing like this.”

Tobyn pulled out a large sack of gold and tossed it across the table to Ronin. It jingled when it landed in front of the bounty hunter. “Do what you must. Bring her back if you can.”

xxxxx

Alexa had a sinking feeling when she was brought to Lord Sephant’s court along with nine other women, all of whom she recognized. Something was going on, she could feel it in her gut. This feeling was amplified when she was taken from her cell, fed, and given water all without being molested or fucked. The two men who came and got her were not the two that she’d, ironically, gotten used to after the second time it happened. She had no idea what time it was or even what day it was. She had no concept of time inside of this mountain prison. After she was fed, watered, and allowed to relieve and clean herself, she was taken out of the cell and put in line in the corridor where she was bound and gagged just like the other girls. Then they were attached together by their collars and taken by back corridors and hallways to the royal hall where she’d been first captured so that they couldn’t look outside to see anything.

She glared up at the stone throne where Lord Sephant, she refused to call him King even in her mind, sat watching them be brought in. Even as the guards kicked the back of her knees to drive her to kneel on the floor, grunting softly in the process, she still looked defiantly up at him. Sephant smiled triumphantly down at them. “Ah, the infamous Paladines of King Randal,” he said with a cruel tone in his voice. “While I have no problems with women taking up arms to defend their homes and their kingdoms, what I do have a problem with is when they raise up arms against me. As such, you all are hereby found guilty of treason against your liege and will be properly punished. You will, however, be given the opportunity to show your loyalty to me,” he said, gesturing to the cushions that Alexa now saw had been laid out on either side of his throne. She had no reservations about what he meant by that as the guards had clued her in.

Sephant stood up and fixed an even glare to each and every one of them. “Of course, I can see that there are others who will still defy me and reject this generous offer. Those will be dealt with at once.” His gaze settled back down onto Alexa and he snapped his fingers. Alexa was hauled to her feet immediately and force marched forward. Sephant smiled evilly at her, reaching up to caress her cheek with the back of his hand. “Lady Alexa, I see the hatred for me in your eyes. I know that your parents are the most vocal of my opponents so you will be the one that I make an example out of.”

As he spoke, his goons were untying her and removing the gag from her mouth. She looked back at them, confused, as one of them then pressed a sword into her hand before retreating back to the line of her fellow lady knights. Then she looked at Sephant, who was going back to his throne. “Brave man to put a sword in my hand, you bastard usurper!” she said as she raised it to strike him dead.

Only the blow never landed as four demons, each standing well over seven or eight feet tall with skin as red as lava and black markings all over their bodies, emerged from portals behind the throne. Each one of them were naked and each one of them smiled at her as they brought their own swords up to easily parry the strike intended for Sephant. Alexa managed to roll backwards and spring back up into a fighting stance before one of them got a riposte off her way. They charged her, two of them flanking behind her and two of them holding position to box her in. Alexa’s heart pounded with fear and adrenaline as her head swiveled every which way trying to keep an eye on all four of them who now had her surrounded. Fighting orcs and even other humans was one thing. Demons took the fight to a whole other level.

She caught a flash of movement from her left and she darted out of the way and blindly parried and slashed. A demon screaming in pain as he flew by her told her that she scored a hit. She didn’t have time to check on if she’d killed him or not as another one came in. Fighting for her life she parried and slashed at that one as well, then the third one, then the first one. As she tried to hold off three of them at once, she noticed that one was hanging back, studying her. Alexa put that one from her mind as she ducked another blow, came up, and drove her sword into the demon’s chest. It howled in pain and then fell back onto the stone floor, not getting back up. It’s buddy then took the opportunity to attack and Alexa blindly slashed at him. That one screamed, clutching its now wounded eyes as its demonic black blood splattered against a nearby pillar.

Alexa danced around the pillars as much as she could before the third demon who was attacking her managed to knock her sword from her hands when he buried a fist into her gut and knocked her to the ground. It went clattering across the floor to the feet of the fourth, waiting demon. She rolled to her stomach and scrambled across the floor to grab at it, but the last demon was waiting for her. He calmly backhanded her, the powerful blow whipping her head to the side and ringing her bells. She tasted copper in her mouth and realized that her lip had been split. In a daze, she tried to get her bearings and to keep moving but the demon was on top of her, slamming his hand down over her neck to pin her to the ground. His mouth was twisted into an evil smile as he kicked her legs wide apart and knelt between them.

“I’m going to have fun fucking my spawn into your belly,” the demon grinned down at her as he ground his hips against hers, sending an involuntary shudder of pleasure running up through her body as his hard cock slid across her moistening slit.

Alexa looked up at him defiantly and spat a glob of blood up at him. It ineffectually flew past his head, easily missing him. “Do your worst!” she challenged him even if his huge hand was clamped around her neck and could squeeze the life out of her in a moment. “They’ve been feeding us silphium water so I can’t get pregnant, you monster!”

The demon threw his head back and laughed. Then he jammed his cock right up into her, making her arch her back and screamed as she was speared by his manhood that felt like a fiery hot iron rod had just been shoved up in between her legs. “Stupid woman,” he sneered as he started driving his hips into her hard and fast, making her scream with every thrust. “Do you really think that your silly human herbs will have ANY effect in stopping MY seed?” He roared with laughter even as he mercilessly fucked her.

She wasn’t sure if it was a few strokes later or a few hundred strokes later as she was unable to focus on anything other than his huge member pounding in and out of her that assaulted her body with a strange mixture of both pain and pleasure. He grunted like an animal while he fucked her and she screamed every time his hot cock speared into her. But soon enough he blew his load into her body and Alexa’s body was forced to climax right along with him. His large, veiny cock pulsated and throbbed against her clit, stimulating it, as rope after rope of his fiery hot cum spurted inside of her that felt like hot lava was poured inside of her, splashing her intimate inner walls and filling up her womb. Alexa screamed as she orgasmed until her voice was raw, her body spasming and jerking as if she were on a bucking horse. Her eyes crossed and her vision went black as the intensity of the ecstasy inflicted upon her became too great to bear. She lost all ability to think coherently for herself as everything faded to black around her as her belly continued to be pumped full of the demon’s seed.

The last thing she remembered hearing was Sephant cackling madly as he asked her fellow Paladines who was next.

THE END OF CHAPTER TWO