The Thorian Sagas. 2. Insurrection.

“The women are close to the city!”

Liam sat up in bed, suddenly waking up to what was happening as he spoke those words, realizing that Boril had moved things along in his own way. His friend had somehow helped the women overcome those other obstacles that the storm had placed in their way and they were only an hour or less from the city.

He’d have a word with Boril after this, except Boril already knew what he was thinking.

‘That was sneaky of you, my friend. Is that how you repay me for getting you into the city to be waited upon as you were that frosty night, not so long ago, and to be so well looked after?’

Boril fired back at him. ‘We needed to get this thing done sooner than you planned, Liam. The trader is coming today from Golden. He will be here in a few hours.’

Boril had changed a few things, and now intended that the women would enter the city and occupy it. Not that it mattered. One plan was as good as another. The end would be the same anyway, but Liam had his own views on what that ending would be, and how it would be achieved.

Monique stirred beside him. She was looking up at him, comforted by the knowledge that she was in love with this man, just as he was with her, and that she was already bearing his child. His eyes were open this time.

She took him to task. “So, you are now awake, are you, Liam, after misleading us as you did? I sometimes suspected as much. Tell me, if you dare; were you ever as unconscious as you and the Kelts had us believe?”

They had been found out!

Liam grinned down at her, a look of embarrassment on his face for deceiving her as he had; for deceiving them all, and he touched her head affectionately as she turned her head into his hand and kissed it.

“No. I freely confess it.”

She giggled. “I think I shall have to forgive you after what we did.”

“Thank you. I was hoping you might say that.” He sighed. “We were never unconscious, no matter what you struggled to do with us, getting us into the city with the help of the Kelts.

“We wanted to help you, of course, but we couldn’t. It was a plan that we came up with at the last minute. We had to be very inventive about some things; having you feed us, massage us, exercise us. And then… oh my… there was the shaving, and the bathing.

"So many things that were ripe for getting out of hand between us. And they did, as I’m sure you noticed. I, certainly did notice it, and I thank you for having courage enough for that.”

She nodded. She had noticed his shocking difficulties for herself as they’d moved forward, telling all of them where their thoughts and feelings lay. They all had. She knew that he was that way again, even now. He still couldn’t help himself, but it was not something she could easily speak about. She would soon be able to acknowledge that wondrous item.

“I don’t think any of us were able to control our responses with the temptations you constantly threw in our way as you sat over us and… disrobed even, and then bathed with us. We could say nothing.”

He hadn’t needed to say anything. It had been very obvious how he’d felt.

“Everything else between us was inevitable after that.”

He kissed her. “Then, when the Kelt women left us alone for a while, for you to continue what they had begun… that was when the… really interesting things happened I am glad to say. It was bound to happen sooner or later after I’d laid claim to you as I did when I held your ankle. We couldn’t have you escaping us for the safety of the city. It was the same for your friends too, when they exchanged necklaces with us. That exchange has special significance for us in our society. It brings us closer together.”

She had sensed that. There had been a feeling of excitement at that moment, knowing that all of their lives were at a point of change.

They’d needed to change, after what Bradshaw had done to damage their relationship and their position in the city, never mind the embarrassment of it all.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too much when I… when we….” He struggled to find the words, knowing that she understood him, and that he was still that way again... ready.

It was her turn to blush now. She fought away that embarrassment and pulled him down to lie with her as she moved to sit over him again as before; kissing him, leaning into him, letting her breasts hang into his face so that he could kiss and play with them with his mouth and tongue. Words were not necessary.

She eventually was able to find the words. “It was… awakening. However, I soon learned to relax.” She moved lower upon him, sensing, then feeling, that familiar item nudging at her insistently, once more.

He gave in, as she wanted him to do. He was helpless to refuse.

They had time before those other women reached the city walls. He adjusted his position beneath her; feeling how they cooperated well together; him moving slowly up into her... her moving down onto him and over him again, as they both intended.

He was becoming breathless already. He would never be able to get enough of this woman. Or she, of him.

To think that something similar was also happening in each of the other nine rooms…as though choreographed by some greater fate... but that thought soon fled her mind with what was already happening within her body again.

They had both been ready for a repeat of that, so it did not take them long.

She relaxed upon his chest once more as they laughed and recovered their breath, kissing each other, caressing, touching. He would not be able to leave her for a while.

“Are all Thorians and Kelts so devi… mischievous, as you are?”

He caught her quick recovery in her use of words.

He nodded. “Devious too, as you will soon discover if you didn’t know it already. Yes, we are.”

“Did you and the Kelts plan all of this? Getting us sent out of the city to go after that last tribute?”

“No. That was just a fortuitous event that we decided to take advantage of. We are happy to take advantage of unexpected circumstances like that… like this one too… but I’m glad it happened the way it did. We got to meet in person in a very strange and personal way, rather than just mentally. It was mostly Boril’s idea, but now he’s changing things again.

“He has a habit of doing that and catching one off guard. No matter, we can work around what he is doing. We are very forgiving with each other that way. Our goals are the same, so all roads lead to the same place.

“When we saw you leave the city, we hatched this other plan. And look where it led.” He leaned up and kissed her.

“We had to find some way of getting into the city without drawing too much attention to our presence, to wait for this… ‘insurrection’ to get here, and we enlisted your help to do so, though without letting you know.”

He adjusted their position with each other, to remain exactly where he was as he rotated their position.

“Those other women were taking such a long time to get here from the coast, and none of us wanted to spend longer in the wasteland than we needed to. It gets cold out there of an evening, and the city was so close.

“I think…” he leaned down and kissed her… “I think... I hope... we more than made up for that minor deception.”

She would forgive him. And look what had happened as a result of that. All of their lives had been changed. Their vows had been shattered, their lives disrupted and changed. Good!

“You more than made up for it, Liam.”

He laughed gently. “I know we did. We, definitely did.” He rested his hand on her belly. “And a girl too, no less. What better blessing could a man have.”

Monique rested her hand over his.

“The Sand Serpents you warned me of, were you; weren’t they? You were preparing even then, for this.”

“We were. For our plans to go forward and to deal with this coming insurrection that we have followed for the last few years, as it developed, we had to get into the city to await their arrival. How else could we enlist your help, and get here without it being known to everyone in the city? There would have been a general panic. Boril helped too.”

He paused for a moment as he communicated with Boril and the other Kelts, as well as with his comrades. Monique was now privy to that exchange, where she had been blocked from it before.

He climbed out of their bed and helped her, taking her into his arms as they both stood there, naked. They were confident and comfortable with each other like this.

She felt him running out of her. Damn!

He knew what was happening to her.

“What would I not give for another few days of this. No matter, we will make up for it, moving forward.

“The women will be here in another hour or so. We have a part to play in this, and so do you. We should bathe, my love, and get dressed to be ready for them.

" You and your fellow warriors need to get to the main gate and take over from those who are there now, while we go out from that other door to the desert.

“They will not be expecting us so soon. Your councillor Bradshaw fled the scene, terrified by our presence at this crucial time. She is somewhere deep in the city, not sure how this will work out for her.”

“No one will be hurt by this, will they, Liam?”

“No one will be harmed, my love. No one. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t shake them up just a bit.

“Their orders from Councillor Bradshaw before she'd fled, were to open the gates and let the intruders in, to put paid to the treaty, but we need to change that order.”

He told her of this new plan.

“When you get to the gate, send the old Guards to their homes or tie them up if they won’t go. Keep the invaders out. They are not expecting that, and it will confuse them. “Demand to know their purpose, even though you know it already, and we will take it from there… if Boril co-operates.”