Chapter 11: More Complications

I looked at Asha, stunned, mouth agape as she grinned at me.

I mumbled something, I’m sure it was profound; it was a question, of a sort, at any rate. Asha grinned wider.

“You saved my life,” she spoke the words in an almost accusatory tone.

Erica stopped mid-dance and stared at her sister, a giant grin spreading over her perfect elven face.

“OH YOU’RE RIGHT!!!” she squealed, giggling, and rushed to her sister’s side. “We can serve him together!”

I knew she meant that innocently, at least when she said it, but my face still turned a deep shade of red at yet another example of my mind being far dirtier than my ethics, which the girls thought was hilarious and I didn’t get anything serious out of them for the rest of the day. Every time I would look in their direction; they would eye me like a piece of meat and giggle profusely. I decided it would be best just to ignore the excitable pair and concentrate on monitoring Laura’s condition.

But the girls had other ideas.

By lunchtime they were taking turns ‘dropping things’ to tease me by bending over and exploding in giggles when I tried not to look. By mid-afternoon, the girls were practicing giving each other back massages with various exaggerated moans and I found out it was to see who could make me blush the brightest.

By dinner time, I was a wreck and my cock was so hard you could split rocks with it, but thankfully the girls had settled down a little and we ate peacefully in the cool air. Laura still hadn’t stirred. At least her blood pressure and pulse had normalised.

As I sat on a log by the fire, our conversation moved back to the morning they had been taken.

“You know we didn’t try to run away, Master, don’t you?” Erica questioned me, almost begging me to believe her. She was kneeling in front of me, leaning in to look me directly in the eyes and her face was so close I could see the beautiful little flecks of colour in her irises.

I nodded and smiled at her. “I never doubted you.” But she didn’t look convinced. Then, overwhelmed by affection for the beautiful girl and still incredibly turned on by their relentless teasing, I kissed her chastely on the lips. “I know. I trust you.”

I grinned at her obvious astonishment. It was the first time I had initiated any form of intimacy that couldn’t be passed off as a platonic gesture. I’d resisted their teasing and her insinuations all day... this was a declaration. And, before I knew it, she was on my lap and forcing her tongue into my mouth. She had hot tears of joy rolling down her face and they mixed with our saliva for a salty kiss.

Erica was holding my face in her hands, pulling me forward into her kiss when I felt another pair of hands began to rub my chest. Asha had come up from behind and was kissing the back and sides of my neck as she wrapped her arms around me to rub my chest. She explored my defined muscles with her fingertips with deliberate patience, starting at my pectorals and tracing every muscle slowly down my chest.

I turned my head and Asha’s tongue invaded my mouth eagerly. She tasted like peaches and sunlight, don’t ask me how, and she was whimpering moans of pleasure as she rubbed her body against mine from behind. I was a little taken aback. What had started as a small kiss, a small token of affection, had immediately devolved into a hot and heavy three-way make out session. These girls must have been only barely holding themselves together.

It would’ve been so easy to let it spiral into pure carnal indulgence—and by Bambinae, I wanted it. Despite all my notions of restraint and duty, I wanted them. Didn’t I deserve that? Wasn’t this the reward for being noble, for risking everything? Wasn’t this the natural progression? Erica was moaning with barely intelligible words begging me to take her. My brain desperately tried to justify giving into the two of them then and there, but they were the thoughts of the teenage body that my forty-year-old brain was trapped in. I wasn’t that boy.

I tasted Erica’s lips one last time, savouring her soft warmth—then gently pulled her tight to my chest, resting her head on my shoulder. I hugged her closely and drew Asha in as well so the two of them nestled close beside me, and I wrapped my arms around them both. The trauma was real; the response was natural. It was the natural progression, but it wasn’t the right one. Not yet. I was not the teenage boy I seemed. And whilst I could think of nothing better than stripping these two lithe, elven goddesses bare and indulging every erotic thought, it was not the responsible action of the older man I was. My conscience and libido were at war—louder and messier than they'd been in twenty years.

Erica was clearly confused, her caresses searching and hands drifting lower down my chest with trembling urgency; clearly still in the throes of heightened, desperate passion and it was killing me not to give in, but I needed to stay strong. For her, for me, for her sister.

I returned her affection with tender love, not passionate, but warm. She wanted more, almost manically trying to give herself to me. I wanted to indulge, I was enjoying being close and sharing this with her. I kissed Asha too, but as the three of us enjoyed the gradually calming affection, I finally brought myself to speak.

Asha cut me off. She must have intuitively known what I was going to do. “You’re right, Master. I’m sorry, we were moving too fast. Can you forgive me?”

Erica was still confused, her hand was rubbing down my chest, lower and lower, but she paused at her sister’s words.

“What do you mean… what are you sorry for?” Her eyes were panicked with assumed rejection, and I could see what this affection meant to her: it was her security.

I looked kindly at the two girls and gently kissed Erica on the lips. “I’m not turning you away,” I murmured gently. “But this isn’t the moment. Not like this. Let’s just breathe for a while…”

Erica was frowning; I could tell she was both sexually and emotionally frustrated and, in addition, she was terrified, and I couldn’t blame her.

Asha got up and embraced her sister, holding her as the tears broke and the two of them sobbed as the trauma washed over them. I sighed a breath of relief.

This.

This was normal.

This is what they needed.

Not some orgy of trauma-based sexual perversion. They needed to grieve.

I pulled the two of them into a hug and whispered my assurances to them. We sat there, unmoving as the girls sobbed and then eventually became quiet. The minutes stretched out and I held them for what must have been an hour. At some point we lay down in our bed rolls and pulled the blankets tight around us as the evening set in. Eventually, the sobbing subsided, and we embraced each other; each of us feeling the need to be held and secure. Erica buried her head into my chest, trying to get as close as possible, to feel a connection or something. Asha was hugging me from the other side, but in her case she was stroking my back and playing with my hair. With the girls safe, and Laura more or less healed, my own trauma from the battle with Deriostos and the Iron Shield came crashing back to me and hit me like a freight train. Asha must have sensed it long before I did, because even as I shuddered in the recollection of that morning’s events, the blonde elf was caressing my hair and whispering soft words into my ear. We sat like this, without conversation for a long time as the sun fully set and the firelight was the only illumination on their beautiful faces.

Asha, again, was the first to speak. “Master, thankyou for stopping us. But I want you to know I am sincere. I am yours to serve you.” She placed a soft kiss on me tenderly, and I feared she was trying to start again, but then she lay her head down on the bed roll and left it at that for the moment. I did notice her hand trailing to the inside of her thigh however, as she lay on the bed roll, clinging to me.

Erica nodded. “I… I thought you wanted me?” she whispered, voice cracking. “I thought—if you took me—I’d really belong to you. I need you to want me.”

I understood her sentiment. It was the last that resonated with me the most. After everything she’d been through, she was looking for security and she’d latched onto me. It had started as duty, now she was scared. I brushed my lips across her head. Then her cheeks and then slowly and sensually caressed her lips with mine. “I want you too much.” I assured her. “I want you for the wrong reasons. Our bodies want each other, but our minds are confused and tired. I wasn’t thinking straight before. And if, after this crisis is over, you still want this, we should make it special.

Erica looked defiant, then slumped as she considered the whole situation. “I guess so. But you are my master and you saved my life, twice. I want to show you… I… I… want to…”

I pressed my lips to her head again and caressed her face tenderly. “I know. But we can take our time.”

Asha gently brushed the back of my neck with her teeth from behind and I felt a wonderful shiver down my spine. Her hands trembled as they moved over my stomach.

She hesitated, looking up at me with eyes glassy with tears and desire. “I’m not sure if this is right,” she whispered. “But I want it. I want you to feel good. Please… I just want to do something right tonight.”

“I want to serve you, Master.” She whispered. “You’re right, we shouldn’t rush. But I need this too. Can I serve you this way?”

Erica looked at me hopefully and continued her affections with renewed pleading. “Please let her. I want us to feel close to you.”

Asha spoke warmly into my ear. “You don’t want to take advantage of us. We understand that. But you need this too. We all do. Erica needs you, you need us and I… I think I need to feel needed. Please let me.” Her hand was gently moving down my stomach.

I wanted it so badly. I needed it so badly. But I wasn’t going to let them do anything they could regret.

“Let’s take it slow.” I breathed, every word of that short sentence was an atrocity to my youthful body full of hormones. I kissed Asha tenderly on the lips as her hands rubbed my chest and back. Erica brought my hand to her breasts and she pushed herself into my palms. I turned from Asha to lock my lips with Erica as the three of us snuggled under the blankets. I paused, my heart racing. “I’m not strong enough to resist you two.” I admitted to them.

Asha pulled my shirt off and ran her hands up and down my back, massaging my muscles and working her fingers into my shoulders. “We won’t push you, Master…” at this I noticed her shoot a pointed glance towards her sister, “… but let us serve you with a massage?”

I thought about it… turned to her and nodded.

Erica pulled my head back around and pushed her lips into mine. Her pace was frantic and her kisses desperate. I felt Asha remove her top and start rubbing her breasts into my back. I was going to argue that this was not an example of ‘slow’, but Erica was keeping my lips engaged. The girls rubbed themselves on me, our bodies entangled. I rubbed Erica’s back, and she removed her shirt and pulled my hands back to her breasts. They were gorgeous. Beautiful soft orbs that were perfect for her petite frame. She moaned into my mouth as I caressed them, and her nails dragged in light scratches down my chest.

I could feel Asha’s equally firm breasts were sliding up and down my back and her hard nipples dragging erotically across my skin. Her lips were grazing the back of my neck and her tongue flicked out to send shudders of pleasure down my body.

The two of them kissed and massaged me as I moaned. I was in heaven. Erica pulled me down to lie on my stomach and the twins began working on my back in earnest. I felt their fingers work my muscles and then a beautiful sensation of one of them using their hair to caress my back.

“Just relax, Master. Let us serve you.” Purred Asha. “You saved us. Let us help you release your burdens.”

The massage lasted an hour at least and whilst it was intensely erotic, the girls were true to their word and didn’t push for more. But at the end, when I turned around, I noticed that they were completely naked as they lay down beside me.

“We need to be close to you.” Erica whispered as she lay next to me. She pushed her leg over mine and I could feel her moist lips press up against my hip. Asha snuggled similarly into my other side and she bit my ear tenderly.

“Let us be close to you, Master.”

I nodded. “I need to be close to you too.”

Erica looked up at me lovingly with tears in her eyes and we shared one final breathless kiss. “Thank you, Master.”

With Asha still nuzzling my neck and Erica curled against my chest, we drifted into sleep—tangled, warm, and finally still.

I woke up early with the first light and looked across where my two angelic elves lay on either side of me. They were so beautiful and I almost pinched myself to see if I was in a dream.

Then the guilt of the previous night hit.

It had been erotic. It had been passionate. It had been wrong.

I had told myself that I wouldn’t take advantage of them. I told myself I wouldn’t give in. But they pressed the issue, and I had almost folded like a piece of paper. As it was, I was afraid that the twins would regret what they had done. We hadn’t even shared an orgasm, but they were only 19 and both virgins. This was undoubtedly a massive step for them.

They were so beautiful. But that wasn’t why I wanted them. I wanted to feel close to something alive. I wanted to feel real. Needed. Not some rotting man in a young body with ghosts under his skin. I lay between them and couldn’t help but feel a sense of joy in the closeness. I didn’t feel alone. For the first time since I lost my wife, I felt a connection to someone. Two someones.

Asha was right about one thing at least; I needed them at least as much as they needed me.

The girls needed the connection last night. I knew that much. We all did. We were lost in this mad world of violence and trauma together. Last night was necessary. Or at least that’s what I told myself. At least I'd restrained myself to a point, I'm pretty sure I could have turned last night into any manner of debauchery and the girls would have let me.

Still, a therapist would have counselled patience and mental recovery before intimacy. I should have been the mature adult and shut down all the kissing and fondling before it came to the two of them rubbing their naked bodies all over me. But even now, in the cold light of day, I couldn’t think of a way I could have shut down their affection without hurting them terribly.

Not after that first kiss. Damn that kiss. I shouldn’t have done that. It all spiralled out of control from there. This wasn’t what I’d planned. It wasn’t what I should have done. But God help me, I needed to feel something. And they needed me to need them.

Erica murmured contentedly in her sleep and Asha had a pleasant smile partially covered by her dishevelled hair. I sighed. If they woke up regretting last night I would never forgive myself. But as it stood right then, I somehow didn’t think that was going to be the case. I didn’t know what this was that we had, but I knew I couldn’t bear to hurt either one of these amazing women.

Thank you Bambinae. I thought, then took a moment to say a short morning prayer to the Goddess. It felt almost blasphemous to pray to a different deity than the Christian God. Almost, but not quite. I prayed to Bambinae in the same way I would pray to God on earth. First a prayer of adoration, then a prayer of admission of sin, then a prayer for forgiveness, a prayer for others (mainly Laura and the girls at this point) and then finally a prayer for myself. Regardless of the deity, there was a certain humility I liked about that structure, and I hoped Bambinae would too.

At the end of my prayer I felt like I wasn’t done, and so I continued to my first God. The one I’d been told by Bambinae was real and had a place reserved for me. So I prayed and thanked God too for my continued existence and the happiness I’d found. And when I was done, I felt a wave of acceptance wash over me. I’m not sure whether this was ‘God’ or not… but it felt good.

But what followed next was unmistakable; a surge of power and I felt the presence of Bambinae’s magic within my body as strong as I had the day of the battle. The only other time I had felt her power was when I was healing Laura, and that had only been a trickle; this was batteries recharged and ready for use.

I slowly extracted myself from the girls, who muttered a little, but continued sleeping. They were both still completely naked after our intimacy and so I rugged them up in an extra fur skin, resisting the urge to peek at their gorgeous bodies, before looking around our camp. The fire had burned to coals so I added some small pieces of wood and coaxed it back to a small crackle suitable for boiling water.

Then my eyes fell on Laura—still as death, but breathing. Waiting. Whatever gods were listening; they had work to do. And so did I.

The bruising behind her ear had yellowed where, before my healing, it was purple. She had soiled herself several times yesterday and the girls had insisted they change her and that I stay away. Whenever necessary, the girls stopped their teasing of me and treated Laura to some of the most focused and particular care I had ever seen. It’s a shame that Laura wasn’t awake to be aware of it. I didn’t have a problem with being kept out of it, urgent care I could do, but that kind of nursing I wasn’t used to, trained in or had any interest in. If I was alone, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but Laura would probably be more comfortable when she woke up knowing it had been the girls and that I had stayed out of it.

Erica and Asha had been troopers. They had boiled the soiled clothes with water from a nearby brook and hung them to dry. On my instruction, they made sure to clean Laura up with warm water to lower her risk of a urinary tract infection; literally the last thing she needed on her plate after everything she’d been through. And so it was that, while Laura had initially kept herself alive, and I had healed some of her worst injuries, it was the twins that had kept her healthy long enough for her to get better.

Laura was still clean now; she hadn’t soiled herself since early afternoon yesterday and I wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t taken anything, fluids or solids for several days now and I doubted there was anything left to pass. So, I knelt beside her and looked at her in a small amount of concern as she breathed slowly in and out. I thought about my power and how I could best use it to heal her the rest of the way, and the answer came to me in a sort of divine revelation. It was my voice in my head, but the thoughts were not my own.

You have healed the worst of her wounds. Curing her coma is now a matter of command. Tell her to get up. Use the authority of the healing mother.

I didn’t really understand, but I gave it a shot. Focusing on Bambinae’s power, which felt like a muscle that I could flex, I commanded Laura and to my surprise I chose to imitate my ‘teacher voice.’

“Laura. Get up please. Get up now.”

The power flowed into her much faster than it had before and it didn’t leave me tired or dizzy like last time either.

Her eyes shot open, more out of compulsion than actual consciousness and she sat up like a being possessed. But then the life came into her eyes and I could see her actually wake and start to take in her surroundings. I put my hand to her shoulder and supported her as she looked around panicked.

“Mathew? Where am I?” she groaned.

I chuckled. “I have abso-fucking-lutely no idea. But you’re safe. And you’re healthy…ish. And you’re awake for the first time in, I think, three days. So, congratulations, it looks like you’re going to live.”

She seemed to frown at that. “No... that’s,” she felt above her ear where she had been hit and winced a little. “It’s sore… but…” her eyes widened. “No crepitus. No swelling!” She looked at me in confusion. “I should be dead. I had…”

“You had a temporal bone fracture which had probably caused an intracranial aneurysm as well as a host of other minor side-effects. You were most certainly in trouble. You bought yourself some time with your homemade blood thinners and vasodilators, really impressive work by the way, but it was never going to be enough.”

Laura looked at me astonished, like I was from another planet. Which, to her credit, I was. Not that she knew that of course.

“So how did I survive?” she asked quietly.

“That’s a long story…” I chuckled. “…which I’ll tell you… when I’ve done a full set of observations and a central nervous system survey.

“Wait… how did you know what my injuries were? How do you know medicine? Who are you?”

“That’s an even longer story… which I’ll tell you… but first you need to let me help you.”

Laura nodded, but cautiously. She knew something was different, she could tell something had changed. Well, of course she would be suspicious, she’d seen me go Super Sayan on her colleagues and punch holes in supposedly anti-magic armour. Regardless, she allowed me to check her face for equal sensation and check her limbs for equal strength. I got her to press her hands against mine and stick out her tongue. After I determined she had no defects in her sensation or motor functions I was pretty satisfied that she was fully healed, if not yet completely rested.

“That was thorough.” Laura admitted, impressed. “You’re clearly trained in medicine.”

“Yeah, but not to your extent.” I argued. “I am only trained in emergency medicine. Definitive and diagnostic care is a completely different matter and I have no surgery skills. I’m actually a music teacher.”

Laura raised her eyebrows in disbelief and folded her arms. “I’m not an idiot. What you’ve done… what I saw you do… you’re a wild mage who has trained their powers in secret. You’re a rogue sorcerer or zealot monk or you traded with some dark being for eldritch powers or… or something!”

I put my hand up kindly to settle her down and smiled. “Remember that story I said I’d tell you? Maybe it’s best I got started…”