Chương 7

Florella of Greenwood Eight Years Ago"Look, there they are," Teg, her mother's familiar, muttered in a voice of great suspicion from a perch atop her head. A foot-tall fairy clad in a dress of woven grass and spider silk, a pair of butterfly wings flapping agitatedly behind her. Florella made an affirmative huff, looking at the scene with eyes narrowed and ears angled to hear as well as possible. In the distance, under a shaded clearing, the form of her baby brother talking with some animation to a smiling maiden.

He was speaking with a tone of dry and agitated wit, gesturing at nothing in particular every few lines and provoking giggles from his companion.

"She knows exactly what she's doing," Teg declared.

"I recognize that one, a no-good layabout old enough to know better than to latch onto someone two centuries her younger." Rosalina, their eldest sister, had been called to fulfill the martial duties of house Greenwood. Amaryllis, their youngest sister, was busy with her apprenticeship at the capital. Mother needed to maintain the image of Lady of the House. It therefore fell to her, the middle sister, to watch over their darling baby brother.

When Teg had flown up to her with news of some strange woman approaching dear Rasil, Florella had dropped everything and ran to his defense. Dear Rasil, only twelve years old, was much too young to know the dangers of the world. The maiden next to him was only slightly taller on account of her layabout nature, with telltale signs of maturity in her waifish frame.

"-And he said it was more comfortable but I think he just wanted to look like a girl." Rasil rolled a hand, leaning back against the trunk of a strong young tree. His deficiencies with the game of words and wit was on full display, without a hint of obfuscation in his tone.

"Which I don't get at all, why would you want to look like a girl if you aren't one?"

"Ahah- perhaps he wished to look pretty?" the layabout replied, an implication of knowing in her voice.

"He looked like a prostitute." Florella muffled her gasp as her baby brother said those words. Who had taught him about such things so early?! Was it her?!

"You didn't tell him this, surely?!" the layabout asked with laughter bubbling up in her voice, raising her hands to cover a scandalously amused expression and flutter of ears.

"I did, then he asked what a prostitute was," Rasil replied with a dry, flat tone.

"He's twenty-two." There was the implication that this other boy should know what such a perverse thing was at such a young age, and indicative of such deep rot in her brother's psyche. When had this hussy found the time to corrupt him while they weren't looking?! Florella needed to put a stop to this! Florella pulled herself up from her crouch behind a shallow wall and began to walk, going widely around and letting her heels click along the cobbled path, something she had a great deal of practice in.

Her brother's ears twitched immediately back to her, his poor sensitive ears detecting her at once, but the layabout was not so perceptive.

"You're so funny, Rasil!" the layabout giggled.

"Knock off the flattery, will ya?" Her baby brother replied with an annoyed and slightly abashed tone.

"I'm just making observations here." Her charms were working on him! This was bad!

"Darling brother!" Florella called out happily, pretending to be ignorant of the layabout talking to him and the current situation. She slid from the cobbled path and along the fine grassy hill, coming to a stop on her toes after sliding down the hill and past the tree they leaned against. Owing to her good diet and occasional bout of martial training, she towered over the both of them at nearly five and a half feet.

The layabout pulled back slightly, a smile on her face but eyes filling with tension at her arrival. Her baby brother gave her a slightly annoyed glance, probably because she was a bit too loud in arrival, and greeted her in a dry and polite tone.

"Florella. Did you need something?" The word 'need' was emphasized in his tone, implying strongly that he didn't want to be bothered if this was mere whim on her part. He was so cute when he was being grumpy!

"Yep! I need a taste-tester for my latest treats!" she declared, reaching down and hoisting her brother up. He started thrashing at once, like a disgruntled cat, but she had at least ten inches and a hundred and fifty years on him, so his struggles were futile.

"Go get someone else! Let go of me!" he hissed and struggled ineffectually as she turned around and began to walk away, sending a dangerous look towards the layabout in the process. The layabout swallowed nervously as Florella glared venom at her.

"Nope- I'm making the perfect treats for my baby brother, so I need his tongue to taste them!" None of her venom came through in her voice, so he failed to realize the antipathy she was directing at the hussy who was targeting him.

"Do you like chocolates or fruits more?"

"I don't like sweets! Let me go!" Now that was a plain lie. She had seen how he ate lemon poppy seed loaves. They had to stock extra just for his appetite regarding them. Fruity then, and well sugared. She'd start with that baseline and change things up every decade or so until she had something perfect for his appetite. — Hoofcross the Bridgetown Mallorn the elf Fortunately, the tavern didn't burst into immediate violence or threats upon his entry, and lodgings for the night had been secured.

A few chats were had with the local dark elves, to be polite, then it was directly off to a secure bedroom for rest until daylight. The largest of the free bedrooms, because 'Madam' was taking the opportunity to charge the still-unconscious Rayne as much as she could for the visit. And so, they had a lovely little bedroom with two beds. The snoring Rayne was set out on the floor, on a sleeping mat, the mumbling Dura had taken one of the beds for herself, and Mallorn took the other.

Not that he intended to actually fall asleep tonight. Actually going to sleep when in a tavern full of dark elves? That was just asking to get robbed and probably killed in the middle of the night. He would deserve it, at that point. No, instead he was going to lean back against the pillow, eyes closed, relaxed and wary as he kept watch for the night.

A night without rest was something he could manage easily enough, and if they set out bright and early the next day he could take naps whenever they needed to stop and let Dura's short legs rest. Besides, that tea had been full of honey and caffeine and now he was finding it hard to sit still. Armor stripped from his form, bare feet gently tapping the air to a nameless rhythm, and hands crossed behind his neck, Mallorn lounged and listened to the sounds of the town at night.

The door into the room had been barricaded with one of the dressers, and it was just about as safe as it could be for the moment. His ears twitched, and his eyes cracked open at the sound of tiny clicks at the windowsill. The lock on the window that overlooked the exterior street was being fiddled with by someone on the outside. Eventually, there was a slightly louder click, in time with one loud snort from the slumbering Rayne.

The window slid open silently, before a delicate hand reached into the room and up to the curtain that covered the window, pulling it to the side before withdrawing. The scent of walnut wafted into the room. Then a leather-clad foot, and another foot, then a pair of lithe legs and an exposed abdomen half-covered in black leather and white silks. Caramel skin, shortly cropped black hair, and yellow eyes that gleamed in the dim light.

The dark elf that had paid for his drink slipped into the room, gently closing the window behind her. Mallorn could think of three reasons that she was here, one was to rob him, one was to kill him, and the third was to seduce him. Either that, or any of the above for one of his companions instead. It was quite rare for someone to slip into someone else's room in the middle of the night like a burglar if they weren't up to something nefarious, and she certainly fit the stereotype.

She turned around after closing the window, smiling mischievously. The smile dropped into a much more cautious expression as she came face-to-face with the tip of his sword. She quickly raised her hands, leaning back and staring cross-eyed at the tip, before her eyes slowly trailed up to meet his own in the darkness of the room. Gleaming yellow met burning green. Mallorn broke the stare to give her a long and focused visual inspection.

Her boots stopped at knee-height, and could easily conceal a long thin blade within. Her bottoms were more similar to ye old booty shorts than anything else, essentially a rectangle of leather than connected in the center and little more. This gave way to a completely exposed abdomen, then something akin to a particularly robust bra with a scarf and hood completing the look. The hands were covered in bizarre single-finger elbow-length gloves, leaving the upper arms exposed.

There were straps on all of the limbs ready for a blade to be strapped upon, but all were empty. She had come less armed than standard. His eyes returned to hers. Her expression was practically preening under his gaze. He looked deliberately towards the window, then towards her, and raised a brow. It was a gesture he had never been able to pull off in his past life, but the expression came naturally to the Elven face. It was something he was quite happy with. She smiled innocently, slowly moving her fingers.

One finger came down to point at herself, before curling into a circle with index and thumb. The other finger came down to point at him, then wiggled slightly. She brought the fingers together, and made an explicit gesture with the two of them. She waggled her brows as she mimed thrusting, biting her lower lip as she did. So she had come to seduce him.

On one hand, he knew that sleeping with a dark elf was dangerous, because it might be a distraction, might be an assassination attempt, might be a poison-body situation, or any number of other bad things women could do to men who drop their guard. The reasonable thing to do was to force her out of the room with a stern warning and a glare, because that was the safest option. On the other hand, could he really call himself a man if he passed by the opportunity for sex with a dark elf?

Everything considered, she was an attractive woman in booty shorts currently making an explicit gesture at him, silently, in the middle of the night, at swordpoint. She might be evil, she might be crazy, and this might be a trap… … But a man's dick will lead him places that his sword will not. He glanced over at the sleeping forms of his companions, then back at the elf and tilted his head, raising the other eyebrow.

She stopped making the explicit gesture to bring a finger down to her lips, a clear 'shush' gesture. Then she smirked and licked the digit in a provocative manner. Welp, that settled it. He was compromised. He let out an exhale through his nose, pulling the sword back and jerking his head towards his bed. He still had to keep an ear on the others, to make sure that they weren't murdered in the night, but his eyes were free to drink in the sight of dark, lean flesh and flirty yellow eyes.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. She was much like the snake leading Man to temptation. With an apple. The apple being her tight little butt. But who was Eve in this situation? It couldn't be him, because he was the man. This metaphor wasn't working. She slunk past him in the dark of the room, eventually coming up to his bed and prowling up upon it like a large cat, keeping her rear up and swaying in his direction as she turned around to smirk at him.

He silently set his sword aside, then slid up to the bed himself, kneeling on the sheets behind her and latching onto her hip and wrist with a near-silent huff. She jumped a bit in surprise, as he pulled her back and up against his chest. His groin pressed into her rear, and he let hot breaths wash over the back of her neck. It had been more than twenty years since he'd had sex, and more than half of those had consisted of him being a child again.

It was effectively impossible to find enough time to himself to rub one out, especially with how sharp the senses of elves were. The sound would carry much farther, the smell would linger longer, and the expectation of privacy was nearly nonexistent with how many servants were about the estate. Needless to say, he was exceptionally eager to finally get some sweet relief.

"Eager, cream and sugar?" she whispered, faintly enough that only his ears could possibly hear, and only from this distance. Her breaths were slightly hitched, and she wiggled her rear back against him.

"Shut up," he whispered back, tightening his grip on her hip. Her breathing jumped the moment he had squeezed, fingertips next to her bellybutton and thumb next to her spine. With a half-remembered motion, he began a slow and firm kneading of the area.

"What's your name?" he demanded, taking the other hand and bringing it around to grab her other wrist, both now captured in a single grip. He had to ensure that she couldn't get up to anything with them.

"L-lucia…" she whispered between muffled squeaks. She let out a little wiggle as he kissed the back of her neck. Little chance of that being her real name.

"A beautiful name, Lu~cia," he whispered back, provoking another twitch and wiggle. Her hips had begun a near-constant sway and shuddering, trying both to get away from and lean deeper into his fingers kneading her hip.

"It suits you." He planted another kiss on her neck, this time latching on and sucking upon tender flesh with the ambition of leaving bruises.

"F-fweh-flatter-er…" She was doing her best to conceal tiny, pleasured noises. Which was in one way good, and in many other ways unsatisfying.

"Y-you're awfully good at this…" she accused with a twitching of her ears, instinctively trying to pull away even as her lower half pressed harder back against him.

"I'm a natural, then. This is my first time." He teased, laying his chin against her neck and shoulder, moving his hand from the grip on her hip up to start caressing her lower abdomen, just above the groin. A strong, firm hand kneading into yielding flesh, and the other keeping her wrists bound and above her head.

"L-luah- liar~" she whined, leaning her head back against his own shoulder, ears wiggling against his shoulder and neck.

"N-not fair~ I-I'm suh-supposed to be teasing you, cuh-cream and suhgar." Instead of responding, he pulled back and gently nibbled on one of her ears.

"G-!" His hand shot down to cover her mouth, a full body shudder rippling through her as he mercilessly continued his ministrations. She reeked of sweat and walnut. Eventually, the shuddering died down to its previous levels again, and she struggled to breath through his grip over her mouth.

"Quiet, dark elf. No need to wake the others up with your slutty little moans," he murmured through a nibbled eartip. He pulled the hand back, down to her chin, and gently pressed a finger against her lips. Obediently, she allowed access, quietly sucking on the digit and staring half-lidded into the dark of the room.

"Puh… pwease…" she whispered through a mouthful of his index finger.

"P-puht it in…" He removed his gentle teeth from her ear and whispered.

"Since you asked so nicely~" He pulled his hands away from her body, letting her slacken back against him, breathing unsteady and body twitching. Beneath her rear, he was painfully erect. Her every shudder, twitch, and wiggle was a delightful new torture inflicted upon his member, pressed as it was against her. It was important to focus on attack, rather than defense, because otherwise he'd be crumbling right now. He hooked his thumbs around the hem of her tiny pants.

Instead of bothering with some overly complicated system of buttons and laces or whatever was keeping them up, he instead just forcibly pushed them lower to expose her shapely and soaked flesh beneath.

"Muh- myuh-" she breathed, before leaning back and kissing his cheek.

"Duh-do it in my rear."

"Dry?" he huffed, capturing her lips for a moment before pulling back. He reached down, unfastening the strings that kept his loose trousers together and unsheathing himself between her legs. He had enough time to recover as to not burst the moment her flooding lips met blade.

"I'll wet myself with your front first."

"B-bwuh… bokay…" She almost protested, before huffing and agreeing, reaching her arms back to tangle in his hair and grab at his thigh. Slowly, gently, he angled himself at her entrance. Then, with a soft but firm push, he gradually sheathed himself within her. Inch after inch disappeared into her, making her writhe and suppress her voice, before coming to a hilt at last. He had to hold his breath, a fine sheen of sweat on his brow and eyes closed in focus. A little moan of effort was strangled in his throat.

Then, just as slow as he entered her, he pulled away, inch after inch, until his now thoroughly-wetted member slipped away from her to expose itself again. He reached down to grab her thighs, pulling her up into the air, giving him space to work with. Knowing his intent, she raised her loins and reached down with her hand, wielding him with a firm but gentle hand, and angling him at her back end. He took the moment to take another deep inhale, before holding his breath once more and pressing against her rear.

"Eheh~ I found your weakness~" she whispered, leaning her head back to look into his eyes. He glared down, reaching forwards to latch onto one of her ears again. She gave another full body shudder, and he began the process of impaling her on his length. Her legs began to shudder in his grip, as he pushed forwards unstoppably, bottoming out himself in her bottom. Tight and hot and smelling like walnut. He let go of her ear and latched onto her neck, toothsome in his grip as he came to a hilt inside her.

"Cream and Sugah likes my dirty hole, eheh~" she mumbled, sweaty and smug against his chest.

"How wicked~""You're beautiful," he whispered, redoubling his attack. He needed to buy time to recover. She froze up, pressed firmly against him in their vertical spooning.

"Lovely, sweet girl. I want to spend a hundred years like this, and a hundred more in every other way with you. Your body is divine, your scent drives me mad. Every inch is beautiful. I want to experience all of it."

"W-wahwha~ T-that's not fwair~" she mumbled, trying to bury her face in his neck, despite the angle.

"S-stop saying that~" she whined. His hands explored her body as he whispered.

"J-just fuh-fuck me already~""As you wish," he whispered back. He pulled himself halfway from her rear, then plunged forwards again. She writhed and flexed and whimpered against him, lower grip somehow fully yielding and impossibly tight simultaneously. Always allowing him to press forwards but fighting every attempt to withdraw. A battle of tides that he was already losing ground to. In, out, in, out, hot flesh and delicate hands trailing against his.

Fair, calloused palms digging into caramel, smooth thighs as elf plunged into dark elf time and time again. Almost silent in motion and whisper, but heady and intoxicating in scent, the room filled with oak, honey, and walnut. Simultaneously, they muffled their shared moans with a battle of tongues, as he spilled himself inside of her. White seed filling dark and infertile soil. Then, slowly, he withdrew, falling back against the bedding and breathing unsteady.

She fell back with him, hot sighs against his neck and legs tangled with his. She huffed, reaching with her shaky feet to kick up the covers of the bedding, then dragging them up by hand until it covered them both. No amount of honeyed tea could keep Mallorn awake thereafter, and indeed it was honeyed tea that sent him to slumber. The next day he was awoken with lips around his member and a head of dark hair over his groin, well before either of the other two in the room were roused to wakefulness.

Needless to say, he filled her a second time and strongly considered a third before Rayne began to stir and grumble. —"Did either of you smell smoke when we awoke?" Dura asked with a furrowed brow.

"Woodsmoke, that is."

"Nah," Rayne responded, loading up his traveling gear upon his horse once more, in the early daylight.

"I can't smell a thing, my nose doesn't work."

"I did, yes." Mallorn nodded in reply, glad that his wooden mask kept any expression from showing on his face.

"Do you think the building might not be ventilating properly?" Dura wondered with a concerned expression.

"If the smoke from the central fire is leaking out and building up in one of the rooms, that might cause cave sickness."

"Hm." Mallorn considered that for a moment.

"Would you like to go warn Madam about this then? I'm sure we can find her inside."

"Ah… Nah, I think I'm quite done with elves for the day," Dura grumbled, before pausing and sending a glance towards him.

"Uh… Present company not included, of course…"

"Of course, of course." Mallorn huffed with laughter, hoisting his own bag from the floor and slinging it over one shoulder.

"Worry not, I fully understand your sentiment. Elves are bothersome on the best of days."

"Are you sure that you're an elf?" Rayne asked with a grin.

"An elf, and not a dwarf with an attitude like that?"

"Is that why you left the safe little forest, cream and sugar?" A familiar voice called out from above. He twitched his ears over to see his midnight visitor, lounging atop a nearby roof and smugly looking down at them. Mallorn huffed.

"Dark elf. Come to bother us again?" he greeted in turn.

"Mayhaps!" she cried out happily, rolling off the roof and landing on the street, stumbling once before recovering into a straight stand. She took a moment to steady herself, before slinking up to press against his side.

"You were rude to me last night, but a girl doesn't give up so easily."

"He barely exchanged two words with you!" Dura exclaimed. Briefly, Mallorn panicked, then she continued.

"Buying him tea does not give license to keep harassing him!" Ah, that part of the night, yes.

"I exchanged many more words with him, in fact!" Lucia shook her head, before pulling back and wiggling a finger.

"Much like ivy, I'm clinging to you for the time being. I'll help you along the way, but you're not getting rid of me like I'm any other elf, Mal~lorn."

"It's natural for everyone else to dislike an elf, but why do you dislike elves, elf?" Rayne asked, finished loading up the horse and leading it forwards towards the cobbled road. Mallorn rolled his eyes and followed, ignoring the dark elf hanging off his arm and the seething glare from the dwarf.

"The same as anyone else, I think," Mallorn replied with a shake of his head.

"Irritating, weak things that brag about how much better they are in pointless things, and how many extra centuries they've lived compared to others."

"Ah, that's right, elves live a long time, huh?" Dura mumbled in thought.

"How about you, Mallorn? How old are you?"

"Twenty," he replied simply.

"Twenty centuries… That's uhh…" Dura furrowed her brows in thought. He reached down to ruffle her hair with a teasing grin.

"You misunderstand. I'm not twenty centuries. I'm twenty years. I'll be twenty one at the start of summer." Lucia became dead weight, hanging off his arm. Dura furrowed her brows, before declaring.

"I-I'm older than you! I'm four years older than you!"

"Only twenty?" Rayne asked with furrowed brows of his own.

"Aren't you only adults at a hundred?"

"We grow as fast as men until twenty, then stay that way for life. One-hundred is ceremonial," Mallorn explained as they walked along. Rayne nodded in understanding, curiosity satisfied. The dark elf unlatched, stopping in the middle of the road. They kept walking, ignoring her horrified look at his back and then at her hands. Distantly behind him, Mallorn heard a faint.

"... oh no…" Then rapid footsteps as Lucia raced to catch up, mumbling under her breath the entire time.

"You're twenty!" she cried out, aghast.

"W-what are you doing outside of the forest!?" she wailed, almost latching onto his arm again before glancing at her hands and giving a horrified lurch back. Her hands fumbled about, searching for something to do as she rapidly cycled through emotions.

"T-this- this is- oh Amarami- oh no-""I told you, didn't I?" Mallorn huffed.

"I got tired of elves." She clearly didn't know what expression to make, even as Dura gave a resounding 'whoop!' in reply. And in this manner, the four crossed the central bridge of Hoofcross, and eventually exited the other side of town.