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The Elemental Portals

Book I – Terra

Chapter XI – Partings

On the day they were to leave Dougs-ur-Mark the companions gathered at the Douglas Trading Warehouse on the edge of town. Most of the villagers came to see them off.

The jailer was there to hand the captured assassin over to Paul Collieman.

“Are you sure that you want to take this one with you?” He asked.

“Yes. Don’t worry, Gael and I can handle him.”

The jailer pushed Chris Cinereo forward. The grey fox was dressed in the same clothes that he had been captured in, after having them thoroughly searched. He was a lot thinner than when he was when he was incarcerated so they hung on him. The leg irons and wrist restraints had been tightened as far as they could to keep from slipping off.

“If you want to keep those restraints you’ll have to pay for replacements.” The jailer told Paul.

“No problem. We have better hardware for him.” Paul held out handcuffs and ankle chains made out of shiny off-world steel. The jailer shrugged and removed Chris’s restraints one at a time as Paul replaced them in turn with the latest in Earth’s security technology.

After locking the last ankle restraint Paul stood to find the assassin casually holding the unlocked handcuffs out to him.

Paul gave him a sour look. “Where did you hide the pick?”

Chris held up one digit and Paul could see that the fake claw had been removed to reveal a thin iron lock pick. He reached to break it off and as he did Chris dropped the handcuffs.

“Opps.” The grey fox bent to retrieve them and straightened up with both the handcuffs and ankle cuffs in his hands. He laughed at the expression on the collie’s face. “I could use a weapon too. It would help in protecting the young Squire.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Okay, I’ll just make do with these for now.” The fox flicked his wrists and his two knives appeared in his hands. Another flick and they were gone.”

Paul almost choked on his surprise. “How did you get those?”

“The junior jailer thought they looked good stuck in his belt, but his belly is so big he didn’t notice when I switched them for a couple of cucumbers this morning.”

“How many more weapons do you have?”

Chris just smiled, but he stopped when the sharp end of Gael’s blade entered his peripheral vision.

“One of us will always be behind you.” The blacksmith reminded him.

“Noted.”

Paul moved over to the porch where the remained of the Douglas Trading Staff were assembled. He handed Clarence the keys to the building.

“You and the rest have equal shares in the building and whatever stock remains.” He told the Corgi. “Liquidate or continue trading as you see fit. I’ll not be back this way again.”

Of to the side Jimmy was saying goodbye to the vixen mother and sisters he hardly had gotten to know. Vickie and Mickie were devastated.

“Hush, girls. Don’t cry. Jimmy will come back to see us after he settles his business on Earth.” Aurora told them. She moved closer to her human son. “You will come back, won’t you, Jimmy?”

“I will.”

She reached up and took his face between her hands as a tear rolled down her cheek. His beard was thickening with the absence of a razor. “You look more like your father every day.”

“That’s because he’s becoming a man.” Paul said as he and the others joined them. “And a man needs a man’s name. You should stop calling him by a boys name, Aurora.”

“Forgive him, he’s a traditionalist. In my mind you’ll always be Jimmy, the boy growing up away from me, only seen through your father’s stories. But take your ancestor’s name now as you set out, the one your father bequeathed you. You’ll need a strong name to see you through, James.”

“Thank you ... mother.”

Aurora was crying as much as the twins now, and even James had wet cheeks, which he tried to cover up by pretending to scratch an itch.

Annie saw the move for what it was but decided to help with his subterfuge. “Ooh, they say that itchy parts can be an omen. Like an itchy nose means that visitors are coming. What’s itchy Jimm- ... James?”

“My, uh, ear.”

She smiled broadly. “Itchy ear, naught to fear. A good omen for our trip.”

“Did you just make that up?”

“Of course not. It’s and old ... Celtic saying.”

The assassin spoke up from behind her. “In my former guild they say, ‘Itchy ear, death is near’.”

“Nobody asked you.” Paul said, wondering if a few metres of chain wrapped tight might slow the grey fox down. “Besides, death is always near for assassins.”

“You were in the army.” Annie recalled. “They must have had a few superstitions like that.”

Paul shrugged. “We used to say, ‘Itchy ear, watch your rear’ because you might have unconsciously heard something threatening, like a killer sneaking up on you.”

Everyone in the group turned to stare at the former assassin.

“Hey! I took an oath.”

“Gael?” Annie prompted.

The big horse swished his tail nervously. “My, uh, army unit said ‘Itchy ear, the way is clear’ because if here was an ambush the flies would be drawn away from us to bite the easy targets hiding in the grass, but otherwise they would gather about our heads.”

“Well that’s a lot like mine.” Annie said as she looked around, but she noticed that Aurora was frowning. “You don’t agree?”

“It’s probably nothing, jus something we used to say when we were kits.”

“Let’s have it.”

“Itchy ear, someone’s queer.”

Everyone in the group looked at everyone else, and then all eyes settled on the unknown factor again, the grey fox.

“Hey! I’m straight ... ish.”

“Oh no.” Aurora rushed to assure him. “It means someone is not as they seem.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say, just before they beat the crap out of you just because you looked at one penis.”

“Say, Junafir!” James interrupted. “Do you have one?”

“A penis?”

“No, a saying about itchy ears.”

“Hum ... Itchy ear, have a beer?”

“You made that up.” Annie accused.

“No, honestly. It’s what my mom said when her ears started to twitch, ‘Time for a beer’.”

“They have beer here?” James asked.

“On Terra, sure, just not in this particular village. But the next town over has an Inn with a tavern. It’s about a two-hour walk.”

James calculated; Terran hours were slightly longer than Earth hours. “Jeez, you’d be sober again by the time you got home.”

“You can buy jugs to bring home. My mom used to buy as many as ...”

“Alright.” Paul said cutting her off. “It’s time we were leaving. It’s a long way to New Lanark.”

“Can we stay at a few Inns on the way?” James asked.

Paul looked at the crowd of locals that had gathered to see them off. “Of course we can.” He said loud enough to be overheard. Then he added under his breath, “Just for tonight, to establish that we headed north. After that we veer off and circle back south, keeping well clear of any towns or villages and sleeping under the stars.”

“Right, sorry.”

“And stop apologizing all the time.”

“Sure, sorry.”

“Canadians.” Paul sighed, wondering if it were not too late to rejoin the army. “Let’s go.”

They took it easy the first day, aiming for a town on the road to New Lanark to establish it as their destination in case anyone was watching and reporting their movements. There was not another sizeable town for three-days journey north of there and that would give them plenty of time to change course before anyone realized they had done so.

They stayed at the Inn, a sizeable one that had a number of other travelers at this time of year. Paul allowed James and Junafir to drink their fill and enjoy the night as long as they kept to the story that they were traveling north to see relatives of his. Their revelries would make their presence more memorable. He and Gael only pretended to drink as they kept watch over the youngsters. Annie had a couple of tankards, not enough to impair her judgement or movement, and the assassin abstained, carefully watching each patron and server for signs of ill intent.

The Innkeeper only had three rooms available. James and Junafir took one and made wild, drunken love for over an hour before passing out in each other’s arms. Annie and Gael shared a room, where they made slow, quiet, passionate love for over two hours before falling into an exhausted sleep while still intertwined. Paul and the grey fox shared the last room, where, after making Chris surrender his knives, the collie trussed the former assassin up like a turkey with a cord hung with bells before propping the fox up in one corner. He watched him for over three hours before falling into a fitful sleep. It was difficult to say if Chris sleep or nearly meditated through the night. Either way he was the only one who woke up well rested in the morning.

The next day they headed north again, towards the other Douglas clan portal, but once they were out of sight and sure that they had not been followed they turned west and travelled for half a day in that direction before turning south.

“This route will avoid all the villages and most of the farms around them.” Paul told them. “But just to be sure we’ll push on through the night and sleep in the forest during the day until we are well clear of Dougs-ur-Mark. Once we’re two days south of there we can start travelling by day again. It’ll be faster.”

It would take them roughly thirty days to reach Cognitionis; more if the weather turned bad. That was more than twice as long as it would have taken to reach New Lanark.

“If Rory has thugs or mercenaries on the likely route they might begin to be suspicious after six or seven days with no sign of us,” Paul told them, “but their first assumption will be that we suspected an ambush and left the road to circle around. If we don’t show up in New Lanark by the fifteenth or sixteenth day they will know that we are headed somewhere else, but they will not know where. If they guessed they will be too far away to intercept us before we reach Cognitionis. Even if they travel straight there by coach we’ll have at least seven days to find another way back to Earth.”

“What if they have a miniature portal like the one Rory gave Wart?” Chris asked.

“Those things are exceedingly rare, and I doubt that even Rory would have more than one pair.” Paul answered, but the thought troubled him. “I should have destroyed the one we captured before leaving Dougs-ur-Mark.” He mused as they settled down for their first sleep in the wild. “Just in case Rory sent someone to fetch it.”

“Don’t worry about that.” James said, pulling the clamshell case containing the tiny portal from inside his shirt.

“What? Why did you bring that thing along?”

“Well, I couldn’t leave it with Aurora. What if Vickie or Mickie found it? Besides, I thought we might be able to figure out a way to use it against him.”

Paul shook his head but had to admit that James had a point. “Just don’t open it until we figure out what to do with it.”

But James could not resist the temptation.

It was like the portal was calling to him, and starting on the fourth night, whenever it was his turn to stand watch, he would open the case containing the miniature portal. He tried to be careful though. He never looked straight into it, in case Rory was waiting on the other end with a gun again. He used a small mirror he had brought for grooming instead. And he didn’t speak into it … not at first.

On the tenth night he saw a familiar pale blue eyeball staring back through the portal at him. James held his breath, afraid to make a sound, but it was too late. The eyeball drew back to first reveal the face of his uncle and then the room behind him. The chamber had stone walls and was lit by many candles.

“Ah, Jimmy my boy. I’ve been expecting you.”

James brought the portal closer to his face, being careful to keep it pointed away from him.

“my name is James, James Douglas, and when I find you …”

“Find me?” Rory laughed. “I’m not the one that’s hiding … Jimmy. In fact, you are welcome to come to Dainis and visit me anytime.”

“No just yet, thank you. I have other business to settle first.”

“If you are referring to that pathetic little company your father has been running into the ground you can save your energy. I’ve already taken ownership of what is left of it.”

“I doubt that. Without the papers my father left me here on Terra no one can take over until he is declared legally dead.”

“Papers? Prove it! Show them to me.”

James faked a quiet laugh. “Oh no. I may not be as sly as you Uncle Rory but I’m not stupid enough to let you see what’s in them. You’d have your lawyers working to counter them in no time. Now I must excuse myself. Bye.”

James was sweating by the time he closed the portal and rehung it around his neck. He was satisfied though that he had rattled his uncle and not revealed anything that may help the evil fox.

* * * * * * * *

Rory had seen more than James guessed. He had seen the stars in the sky and the trees that blocked some of them. Every night thereafter he would keep close to his end of the portal, waiting for his nephew to succumb to temptation again. And when he did Rory would show him just how seductive a fox could be.

Meanwhile he called for the human girl with the spiderweb scar. He had been working his way through the Kama Sutra with her and tonight was 'congress of a crow', known more crudely as the ‘69’ position. Rory had never seen crows doing anything like that on Terra or Earth but he supposed it might have originated on the world of Shambhala, which was inhabited by intelligent birds with legendary sexual appetites and had portals connecting it to the region of earth where the Kama Sutra originated. Regardless, he was looking forward to licking her bald little pussy while she sucked his cock.

Even thinking about having her smooth skin so close to his sharp teeth was making him hard. He imagined how she would taste before and after her juices begam to flow. If he did it correctly he was sure to make her cum, as she often did with her fingers when he demanded it. He also wanted to try something Mister Ross had told him about – rimming – so he had asked that his indispensable assistant make sure she was extra clean tonight.

He breathed deeply, making an effort to calm down before she arrived. It would not do to cum too early. That would be bad for both of them, him because he would be embarrassed and her because he would take it out on her. He had warned Nahal about that and she was very, very careful not to add to her disfigurement.

She was very good at her trade, he had to admit. It was too bad that the assassin Sevade was training her to kill him. Oh, well. She had a lot to learn yet and Rory was already halfway through the ancient Indian tome. Once he was done with it he would be done with her because Mister Ross, that font of human knowledge, had also informed Rory about a group of humans that preferred to have sex while dressed as animals.

“Weave a couple of fake zippers into your fur, get a few drinks in them, tell them you had cosmetic surgery on your penis and you’ll have them eating out of your hand.” Mister Ross had assured him.

“That’s not what I want them eating but I get your point. Thank you, Mister Ross.”

Just another few days, he thought. Enough time to finish the Kama Sutra and tease more information out of my inexperienced nephew.

* * * * * * * *

Paul continued to lead his small company south. Each night after eating they would let the fire die down, tie up the assassin and then take turns standing watch.

“You don’t have to do this.” Chris told them every night, to no avail.

Each morning found the assassin still tied up and the companions slightly grumpy from their broken sleep. Gael would stoke the embers back to life and they would have a hot breakfast before continuing south. They would walk for two hours, rest for half of another and walk for two or more again before breaking for lunch. In the afternoon they would repeat the process before settling down in a hollow or clearing surrounded by thick woods where their fire would not be seen. After supper they continued their weapons training, with the exception of Chris, who was tasked to cleanup while they sparred. When it became too dark to see anything outside of the area illuminated by the small fire they would tie up the assassin and settle in for the night.

About every fourth day Paul or Gael would leave the group and head for the nearest town to buy supplies and listen for news of strangers in the area. There never was such news, so it seemed that their subterfuge had been successful.

It grew warmer as they progressed south, and the trees changed from ragged leafed temperate oaks and maples to broad, smooth tropical foliage. The troop dressed to match the warmer weather, the males in light shirts and cargo pants and the females in loose blouses and shorts. Nights in camp were even more casual, with Junafir and Paul often going naked. James and Annie were used to seeing the tigress without clothes, but they were a bit put off at first by the collie’s openness. They soon got used to it. By then everyone else except the assassin was going topless. Neither Annie nor James felt comfortable enough to go fully nude, and Gael needed to keep tight pants on to prevent injuries to his low hanging private parts while walking around in the woods.

Chris wore his assassin’s cloak no matter how warm it got, and never seemed to sweat. The rest of them did though, and on the sixteenth day Annie reached under her blouse and wiped some of it off her chest.

“Jesus Junafir.” She said. “I wish you Terrans had invented bras. The only one I had was destroyed in the explosion.”

“Terran females don’t need that kind of thing.” Junafir replied, sticking her substantial chest further out.

“As I recall your mother could have used one.” Gael said, then cried out as Paul poked him hard in the ribs. “Hey, what’s up with you?”

Paul gave him a sour look and moved ahead of the rest. Gael stayed back with Annie. He did not mind that Annie did not have a bra and didn’t think that she needed one. Walking up to ten kilometres a day with a heavy pack had put muscles on her legs, shoulders and chest, muscles that Gael appreciated. He hip bumped her a they walked along, smiling shyly as he did. She bumped him back, hard enough to almost knock him off his hooves.

“We’re not going to see them for a few hours.” James said, leaning in to Junafir and putting his arm around her waist.

“As long as neither of them has first watch.” She replied. “Speaking of which, you’re relieving me at midnight, right?”

“Yes indeed. Don’t forget to wake me.”

She winked up at him. “Oh, I’ll make sure you’re up.”

James smiled. He and Junafir had been volunteering to take watch after one another so that they could get together when they changed over. It was the only chance they had since the assassin refused to sleep anywhere but at James’s side.

Annie and Gael did indeed disappear for a couple of hours after supper in order to ‘search for firewood’ and returned tired but with not much wood to show for it. Suspecting that that might be so, James and Junafir had gone in the opposite direction and collected enough to last the night.

By then it was time for Junafir to start her shift on watch. Chris submitted to surrendering his knives to Paul, who put them under his bedding, before being tied up with the bell-laden rope again. He curled up under his cloak beside the wide bedroll that James and Junafir shared. The assassin was the only one that was spared the burden of standing watch because Paul did not trust him to be free while he and Gael were sleeping, nor did he trust the other three to be able to handle the assassin, even unarmed.

James removed his underwear underneath the blanket and fell asleep right away, aided by the exhaustion of a full day’s hike and the innocence of youth that kept him from worrying too much about their fate. Yet when he felt a touch at his shoulder he was instantly awake and ready to spring into action, thanks to the heightened awareness that the martial training brought. He relaxed though when he saw Junafir’s silhouette by starlight.

“It’s almost midnight.” She whispered before leaning in for a long slow kiss.

“Almost?” He said as he rolled out from under the light blanket. “So my shift hasn’t started yet. Whatever should I do to pass the time until it does?”

Junafir giggled. “Something will come up.”

“Something already has.”

James took her hand and led her to a grassy hollow on the far side of the fire pit. From there they were hidden from their sleeping companions, yet he could see the whole camp just by raising his head. They would make love quietly with their weapons at hand and half his concentration on the sounds of the forest. Should anything in their pattern change they would stop, look, listen and investigate any potential threats before continuing. As yet they had only been interrupted once, by a grouse that had stayed out too late and strayed to far searching for food.

This night was like many others, quiet, with no bird song, only the occasional insect’s chirp or frog’s croak. There was a slight rustling in the undergrowth which they assumed to be the lizards that were becoming more numerous the farther south they went. Relaxed but alert, they slipped naturally into each other’s arms as lips met and tongues probed in the dark.

He let his hand drift down to her groin and found that she was already wet and receptive. He slid two fingers inside her and drove them in and out while he twirled his thumb on her clit. She found his cock in the dark and even though it was already erect she stoked it to make it harder, rubbing her thumb on the tip to spread the sweet, clear fluid that was leaking out in anticipation.

Knowing that they should not abandon their watch for too long, James rolled on top of her then and raised his hips high enough for her to guide the head of his cock to her slit. She rubbed the tip against her, mixing their fluids and spreading them around the bulbous head as he eased it forward. At first there was some resistance, but after a quick adjustment it popped right in and James was able to push forward a bit more before the dry part of his shaft started to bind.

Junafir raised her legs and locked her ankles on the small of his back. By tensing them she let him know how deep he could go on the next thrust, and the ones that followed. Slowly, a thumb’s width at a time, his cock sank deeper inside her, forcing her labia inside on the thrust and pulling them back out on the withdrawal. By the time the tip of his prick was pressing against the entrance to her womb and his balls were resting on the strip of skin separating her anus from her vagina his cock was as slick as the greased poles one had to climb at the country fairs to win a pig.

He started off with long, slow strokes, pulling back until just the head remained inside her before dropping his hips to slide back in balls deep. By shifting his weight forward he could make his shaft grind against her clit as his cock went almost straight up and down into her. By rolling her hips she could make her clit rock from one side of his shaft to the other, finding every bugling vein and bump along the way.

Her breathing quickened as he increased the pace. He had not brought a condom but they had established that it should be safe enough without one for the next few days at least. After that they would have to either use the dwindling supply of earth condoms, buy some of the Terran ones that were made from fish bladders or find safer ways of making love. James was all for experimenting and Junafir was willing to try anything at least once so it looked like the fish bladder option was on hold for the time being.

James glanced up quickly Junafir began to mumble obscenities in his ear; a sure sign that she was getting ready to cum. All looked well so he ducked his head and began to thrust as hard as he could, slamming his hips into hers and crushing her clit between them as his balls bounced against her ass. Junafir used her powerful legs to pull him in even harder, grinding her hips to get the most out of the fleeting contact on her clit when they came together.

He grit his teeth and tried to imagine what Paul Collieman would say if he caught them fucking on duty. It distracted him enough so that she came first, muffling her cry by sealing her mouth on his as her hips spasmed and writhed under him. The heat of her cum and the way her twat seemed to suck at his cock greedily made him follow shortly after. He came in bursts that matched the timing of his thrusts, which he kept up despite the almost overwhelming jolts coursing through his cock and balls.

They lay together in the warm night air until their breathing had returned to normal.

“I should get back and take the watch.” He whispered.

“And I should rinse off with some of the water from my gourd.”

“Do you have enough? Mine is almost full if you need it.”

“I have plenty, and I can refill it before we start tomorrow. You go ahead. I’ll start by using some of the dry grass to get the worst of it off my fur down there.” She thrust a hand between them. “Ick. Your earth women are lucky to have bare skin.”

James recalled the aisles of skin products he had to navigate to find the condoms near the back of the Drug Store. “Not as lucky as you would think.”

He used a handful of dry grass to wipe his own parts before grabbing his sword and getting up to return to where the rest were sleeping. His erection had subsided, and he was sure that no one could see him naked by the slight glow from the dampened fire. He just had to get to his bedroll and find his clothes before any of the others had the urge for a midnight pee and ….

Something was wrong. He could sense it before he could actually make out any of the figures asleep around the fire. There was Paul by himself, Gael and Annie entwined under their blanket, the assassin sitting up beside Junafir and his bedroll and …. And another prone figure that did not belong.

James forgot about being naked as he flicked the sheath off his blade and took up a fighting stance.

The voice of the assassin came out from under his hooded cloak. “He’s dead already.”

The sound of his voice woke the others. Paul and Gael immediately jumped up with their weapons in their hands as their heads swivelled back and forth, seeking the threat.

“Let’s have some light on the subject.” Chris said, thrusting a torch prepared before nightfall into the embers. He raised it high as it blazed into life.

“Hey!” James said, startled. “You’re free!”

It was true. The rope adorned with tiny bells was in a pile at the grey fox’s feet.

“Oh, I could have gotten out anytime.” Chris said casually. “I just didn’t until I needed to. Speaking of which.”

He stepped back and pointed to the body at his feet. It was a rat, with a long bald tail, sharp protruding teeth and a pointed snout. It was dressed much in the same manner as Chis was, but its cloak was old and worn and patched in several places. It clutched a wicked looking dagger in one hand and had two more protruding from it’s back. The ones piercing him were Chris’s.

Seeing the familiar knives Paul kicked over his bedroll to confirm that there were indeed the ones he had been sleeping on for the past sixteen nights and swore when it turned out they were. Gael took that as his cue to move in closer to the assassin, just in case Chris tried to go for those knives.

Chis saw the movement. “If I wanted to kill you I could have done it any night prior to this, but I took an oath.” He indicated a line of crushed grass leading up to the body. “This rat snuck into camp while James and the tigress were … occupied. He appears to be a lone thief and was making for the collie, who he must have followed from town after seeing the weight of his purse. A quick slash across the throat and away with the money before anyone notices would be the most likely plan.”

James stepped forward between Gael and the grey fox. “Why didn’t you let him kill Paul before intervening? It’s not like you owe him anything.”

“Because I swore to protect you by doing anything necessary to keep you from harm. As much as I’d like to see the dog with a rusty blade in his guts your survival depends on him staying alive.” Chris looked around at the rest. “On all of you staying alive.”

Paul moved into the light and looked hard into the assassin’s eyes as he pointed down at the corpse. “Were you trying to buy our trust by doing this?”

Chris did not blink. “Trustworthiness cannot be bought; it can only be demonstrated.”

Gael lowered his sword and cleared his throat. “That’s a good answer. What do you say Paul?”

The collie held the grey fox’s stare for fifty heartbeats before answering. “Get a good sleep tonight, fox. You’ll have the first watch tomorrow night. And you,” he said turning to James, “we’ll talk tomorrow about your dereliction of duty.”

With a huff Paul turned and began fixing his bedding. Annie gave James a pitying look but Gael shook his head and turned her away. Even Junafir, who had come up behind him during the confrontation looked scared for him, but he shook off her hand and motioned for her to return to bed as he took up the watch, his face burning and glowing a shade of red that was not caused by the flame of the torch.

Junafir settled into the bedding as Chris stepped over to the body and pulled his knives from it.

“Give me a hand with this, will you?” He asked as he cleaned the blades on the intruder’s cloak.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Grab a foot and we’ll drag him over the other side of the rise where you two were … were earlier. We can bury him tomorrow before we go.”

“Why not just leave him to rot?”

“The crows will find him in the morning and they might attract local farmers.”

“Ah!” James grabbed a foot and helped to drag the body of the rat away from the camp. He was developing some respect for the grey fox and starting to think that he could learn a thing or two from the ex-assassin; like how to escape a well-tied rope or how sit still for hours on end without growing tired. He tried to start a friendly conversation.

“It must have been hard, siting there every night, not moving, not making a sound.”

Chris shrugged as they dropped the rat on the far side of the rise. “Sitting still and quiet all night is easy; we train for that in the Assassin’s Guild. Listening to you and the tigress trade terrible inuendoes before sneaking off to fuck, now that was hard. I almost choked on vomit several times.”

Chris turned his back and strode back to camp to indicate that the conversation was over, reminding James that the fox was not his willing servant, nor his friend. He followed quietly, sitting on the edge of the hill he and Junafir had made love behind as the assassin made up a proper bedroll and curled up to sleep like the rest.

When the only sound he heard for half his shift was the soft snoring from around the fire James pulled out the case with the miniature portal and held it to his ear as he opened it. He heard his uncle’s voice almost immediately, but he did not answer it. He just listened for a while before closing the case and putting it back inside his shirt again.

* * * * * * * *

Rory Douglas had been engaged in another Kama Sutra session with the smooth-skinned Nahal when he heard a bell chime. It was the bell he had rigged to the new case he had a Dainis Cabinetmaker construct for his end of the miniature portal he was forced to share with his nephew. One of the features was a bell that would ring when the air pressure inside the case changed, indicating that someone had opened the other end of the connection.

He had been enjoying the rather strenuous but rewarding position known to most people as the standing sixty-nine, but which his copy of the ancient Sanskrit tome referred to as “The Mina”, after the Hindu zodiac sign portrayed by a pair of fish arranged head to tail, the equivalent of Pisces in Western Astrology. In that position the male stood with his arms around the waist of the inverted female, who also held on to the male in a similar manner. While in this position they each performed oral sex on the other.

Rory found that he quite liked licking Nahal’s bald little pussy, almost as much as he like her sucking his cock, but talking with his nephew was more important so as soon as the bell went off he flung her from him and jumped over to the stand where the case was kept. Fortunately for Nahal he had been facing the bed when he did so, but she was certain that he would have thrown her even if he had been standing in front of an open window.

“You are dismissed.” Rory said over his shoulder. Before she could even sit up Mister Ross appeared from nowhere to lead her from the room.

The fox had been calling her to his room three and four times a day since he discovered the ancient book of love. Of course, he had ignored the chapters about relationships and mutual pleasure to focus on the sex positions. Lately he had been concentrating on the positions that involved oral sex, demanding that she climax when he used his tongue on her and that she swallow his load when making her use her mouth on him.

After a childhood spent in the brothels of Afghanistan it was just business as usual for Nahal. She could detach herself from the acts she was forced to commit enough to let her body react as it would, and the fox did indeed have a cleaver tongue, but that did not abate her hatred for him. Each time he pushed her head down on his cock she wondered if she bit down hard enough whether he would bleed to death before the tall, bald servant came to his aid.

Mister Ross’s almost magical appearance today answered that question; there was no hope in killing him with simple methods. She would have to continue training with the equally abhorrent Sevade until she was sure that she could kill the fox quickly and quietly with her bare hands.

Up in his chambers Rory sat in front of the new case. It had a mirror fitted into the lid that came to a forty-five-degree angle when it was opened so that he could look through the portal with no fear of getting poked in the eye by a sharp stick.

When he saw nothing but trees and stars but could hear soft breathing coming though the portal, he knew that James was on the other end again. He was beginning to learn his nephew’s moods from the way he communicated. When he was excited, James talked fast and with little thought. On those nights Rory mainly listened, and thereby learned that there were at least six in the group. When he was tired and bored James spoke, but in monosyllables, and Rory had to work harder to gat any information. Tonight, James’s silence told him that the boy had screwed up again, so Rory did not try to engage him in conversation. Instead, he spoke in a soft, confident tone about how futile their quest to reclaim Arthur Douglas’s portion of the Clan business was. The way the boy’s breath hitched when he made his points told him he was getting through.

But was it enough? Rory thought when he finally closed the case. Maybe not, best to get some insurance.

By now Rory knew that they were travelling, and not to New Lanark. The home base of the Douglas Clan fortunes was far north of Dougs-ur-Mark where the trees tended to pine and spruce. From the first night James had used the portal Rory could see that they had camped in a deciduous forest, which had given way to more tropical species as they went. That and the position of the stars in the Terran sky above them told Rory that they were headed south, straight south.

Rory rang for Mister Ross and asked him to bring the assassin to him. Mister Ross returned with the confused fox a few minutes later.

This was the first time that the fox he had given the life pledge to had summoned him in the middle of the night. In fact, it was the first time that Sevade had been summoned to Rory’s quarters since the day he was forced to make the pledge.

“You wanted to see me, my Liege?”

“Yes. Your original target and a few others are headed south from Dougs-ur-Mark. Where do you think they could be headed?”

Sevade thought hard. Giving Douglas the wrong answer was often said to be painful. They could not be headed for Norumbega or Dainis as they would have arrived in either by now. There were a number of cities farther south that had portals connecting to earth, but only one where one could find out where, and which era, they connected to.

“They could be headed for Cognitionis.” The scarred fox said slowly. “There is said to be a Wander’s Hall there where the boy can find a route that will take them back to Earth, perhaps even in time to stop you from destroying the portal and killing his father.”

“I doubt that, the portals somehow manage to avoid creating any time paradoxes, but I’m not willing to bet my fortune on it. I have no one close enough to Cognitionis to intercept them, but a couple of assassins travelling fast and light might be able to catch up with them before they can leave the city.”

Sevade was puzzled. “A couple of assassins?” As far as he knew Douglas had no other assassins on call.

Rory smiled in a way that even gave the seasoned assassin chills. “You and your apprentice, Nahal. Oh, close your mouth. You didn’t think that I would know everything that went on in my best cell? I know that you’ve been training her and I know how far the training has advanced. She is making good progress; another half season and I would have had to get rid of her but instead she can go with you and continue her training. If you’re successful you two can come back, but she’ll never be alone with me again.”

Rory sighed. “It’s too bad. She had such smooth skin, and it was fun not having to hide my true nature, but Mister Ross has given me an alternative. Well,” he said slapping the arms of the throne-like chair, “that is neither here nor there. Return to your cell, Sevade, where you will find all you two need for your journey. You leave within the hour.”

Paul Collieman © Collifan

Gael Tholkes © MarcusXLight

Junafir Pawstone © Frostlupus

Chris Cinereo © Kyroo Echos

Sevade © Frostlupus