Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

They found a spot to camp for a few days well back from the watering hole. They’d still have easy enough access to water via one of the streams that ran nearby, but wouldn’t risk anything coming to drink at the little lake investigating their camp.

While they’d been traveling, it hadn’t felt worth it to bother with tents previously. Between needing to move quickly while chasing the Crooked, and having good weather afterwards, they’d just slept under the stars. But since they’d be camped here for a few days while they harvested and prepared the bison they killed, the comfort would be worth it.

Sienna showed Calandra and Koda how to set up their tents. There were far more pegs, ropes, and poles being used than Koda was used to, but he had a starting point to work with. Much of what Calandra knew had been learned by observing others and the limited training she’d been given for work outside the city when the guard had to camp, so she hadn’t had much chance to put it to use.

While the three of them set up the larger tent that Kris had given them, the other four all set up smaller personal tents to one side of the clearing they’d selected and then set about preparing the rest of the site for a several day stay.

The site that they’d picked had been chosen because it was relatively flat and surrounded on all sides by trees and undergrowth to give it more cover from the casual observer. A clear path to the river for water was marked out. While Todd and Hans set up a station by the water to use to clean kills out and wash the meat, Netta and Hannah got a good sized firepit outlined and started collecting wood.

“I know Arthene is impressive as hell, but I’m also surprised that you just let her head off on her own like that,” Calandra said as she smoothed the blankets of their bedrolls out in the tent one last time. She’d not explained it when she volunteered to lay out the bedding, but Koda had a feeling that his dwarven lover had other plans to tempt him considering she kept her head down and bottom in the air, wiggling it teasingly as she worked.

“If Arthene had a problem, she has a way to contact Koda. Besides, I’m not sure I want to meet the creature that can tangle with Arthene and make her call for back-up.” Sienna watched the dwarf work with amusement, having already finished tying in the last of the guylines to support the tent, enjoying the show as much as he was.

“Fair, but still it is better to not go alone. Especially with us far from support and the towns. There are tribes that wander the plains and live in remote villages along these mountains. The city folk view them as savages, but I’ve met a few that come into town to trade,” Calandra sat up on her knees and surveyed her work once before nodding and smoothing her braids back out of the way.

“People say the same thing about beastfolk in general, though,” Sienna sighed and Calandra grunted in acknowledgement, clearly agreeing with her summary.

“People are dumb,” Koda added on, getting smirks from both of his girls. “Would be interesting to meet one of those wild tribes. Did any of them come up into Silverstone to trade?”

“Not really,” Sienna sighed. “For us, it was a chance encounter while out, like with that one that Netta talked about. They like to keep to their lands and the wilderness, so we just let each other be.”

Koda hooked an arm around Sienna’s hips and pulled her into his side. Her tail began to whip back and forth, slapping against the back of his thighs happily at the affectionate contact.

“We will need to keep our eyes open then. We are far enough from the mountains and the road that we are definitely near if not on their lands now. It’s important to be respectful of that.”

Sienna nodded in agreement with Koda’s words, her ears tucking back as she leaned into him comfortably.

“I doubt they’ll have an issue,” Calandra said confidently. “The handful that I talked to always disdained the idea of the baron owning the land. As long as we keep with the stud’s idea of being respectful and not making a mess, we should be fine.”

“Stud, am I?” Koda let his voice drop into a low growl that made Calandra stiffen and he could see her nipples harden even through her shirt and breast band at the command in his voice. Sienna shivered against him and her tail began to beat faster on his legs. “Maybe I’ll have to put that to the test here soon.”

Koda’s teasing got heated looks from both of his women, even though they’d already had a conversation about being more stable before trying for children. All of them seemed excited by the idea, but they also weren’t in a rush at the moment.

Before the temptation to shove both his mates into the tent and test out their bedding overcame him, Koda blew out a sigh and gave himself a slight shake. That noise and gesture told them that the teasing was over and both girls sagged, Calandra pouting and Sienna giving a quiet whine.

“You both know if we got up to anything without Arthene, she’d pitch a royal fit when she got back and smelled it on us,” Koda reminded them and both nodded.

“Gonna pin that big-titted bear down for you one of these days. Ride her face while you ride her ass…” Calandra grumbled, making Sienna snort in amusement while her tail continued its happy whirlwind, not phased in the slightest by their aborted lovemaking.

“You are welcome to try. I’d love to see that, Cal. Because I get the sneaking suspicion she’d bundle you up and then hand you over to me as a sex toy,” Koda shot back.

Calandra just grinned up at him, her olive eyes amused.

“You say that like it's a bad thing!”

“Come on you two,” Sienna huffed, finally peeling herself off of Koda. “If you aren’t going to break in the bedding with us, Koda. Then we should help the others finish setting up the camp. The girls are almost done lining the firepit with stones, and you can never have enough firewood laid in.”

“Fair enough,” Koda agreed, reaching down to pull Calandra back to her feet.

The dwarf squealed in surprise when Koda’s tug did more than just lift her to her feet. It lifted her into the air where Koda caught her with an arm around her thighs and hand on her ass, pressing her to him.

“Love you, Cal,” Koda murmured while pulling the dwarven woman to him. This pose had them face to face for once and mashed her tits high into his chest.

Leaning down, Koda pressed a kiss to the top of each of those curved mounds before kissing the base of Calandra’s throat.

The smartass remark that Calandra had been holding to throw back at him died in her chest as she moaned and ground her hips into him before grabbing Koda’s ears and pulling him in deeper.

Smirking into the kiss, he turned and followed the giggling Sienna to the firepit with his prize in his arms.

<><><>

Collecting firewood was a simple task. Given his vastly increased strength, Koda was able to lift heavy piles of the stuff without a problem. The real challenge came in with how to just hang on to it all.

Using a trick he learned from another camper back on Earth, Koda stripped off his belt and tucked his pouches and knife into the top of his boots for now. He then wrapped the leather belt around the bundles of wood and then cinched it tight to hold the branches together while he hefted larger logs onto his shoulders.

The girls moved with him, collecting deadwood and fallen branches and ferrying them back to the clearing. They found several trees that had been downed in a storm or just fell from age. Sienna worked to snap the limbs off and prepare them while Calandra used a smaller hatchet to split the trunks down. Koda would then haul the trimmed logs back to the camp where Hans and Todd worked to cut them into sections that would fit in their firepit.

Netta and Hannah went out to scout the surrounding area, looking for anything that might come in handy and returning with news that they’d found several patches of berries as well, a point that Netta made sure to rub in Hans’ face.

“Any idea when Arthene is going to be getting back?” Todd asked once they had the camp set and were taking a break.

It was getting on towards the late afternoon and the sun was beginning to drift towards the horizon. Without the looming mountains to cut the sun off early—they’d left those to the west and could still see the peaks despite days of travel—they had some time left in the day.

“When she gets the one she wants,” Koda answered with a shrug. “I checked on her a bit ago using the connection we have. She’s hungry and excited, so she must be getting close. I imagine we’ll hear the beasties if something sets them off.”

“Fair. I normally wouldn’t want to camp so close to a herd of that size, because one stampede would kill us all, champion or not, but the lake is between us and them. I doubt they’ll charge the lake for any reason,” Todd said while he studied the distant forms of the massive animals as they milled about in a large group.

Koda turned to follow his gaze and studied the massive, fuzzy backs of the herd of bison as they grazed in larger and larger circles from where they’d rested the previous day. The animals looked like great, lumbering boulders covered in fur. Koda was just glad that the wind wasn’t blowing in their direction at the moment, as he could only imagine such large creatures must create a titanic amount of poop.

While he watched, one of the large animals on the edge of the herd wandered further from the group and there was a flash of movement before it was snatched up and dragged into the deep grass, only having time for one short bleat of surprise.

The herd reacted, rippling away from the location where the massive, thousand pound plus animal had been just ripped from sight. All of the adult bison in the area immediately turned to present their thick heads and stubby horns in the direction of the threat, while the calves and yearlings all crowded behind their parents in surprise.

“I think that was Arthene taking her pick,” Koda chuckled, interrupting a conversation between Calandra and Todd regarding teaching these four warriors the basics of what the former guardswomen knew.

“Oh? I missed it?” Todd turned to look towards the herd with narrow eyes, his fox ears flicking and tail twitching in annoyance. “Something definitely has their backs up… I wonder if the herd will move off or settle down. Where is she?”

Koda pointed out the location, easy to note due to a large rock that protruded nearby. But there was no sign of Arthene or her prey, despite the sheer size of the animal.

“You sure you aren’t seeing things, Aegisclaw?” Hans teased and Koda shot him a frown.

“Something just snatched one of the bison up. Like yanked it off its feet and into the grass before ending it in a single blow. If you know of a predator out here besides Arthene that can do that, then you better tell us.”

Hans blanched at that idea before turning to stare back at the group of moving herd animals as they continued to back away from where their fellow had vanished.

The bison didn’t stampede, but it took the herd a good twenty minutes to calm back down again. In that time, Koda got the rope and harness set up under Todd’s direction while Netta and Sienna worked to help Hans and Calandra create smoking racks for the meat. Hannah got the fire going in the meantime while they waited, ensuring there would be a good bed of coals for drying the meat over without cooking it too fast on one side, and the other for cooking their meals.

Todd was the one to spot Arthene this time, as the incarnate spirit finally abandoned stealth and stood up with her kill over her shoulders.

The sight of anyone, Arthene included, carrying a creature the size of a bison slung over their shoulders was intimidating as hell. The big woman walked carefully, clearly having to delicately balance the immense weight of the animal even as blood leaked from the wound in its throat, dripping off to one side, though Arthene had a smear of the red substance across her face.

As soon as it was brought to his attention, Koda raced out across the intervening grassland to help her, allowing Arthene to pick up speed while they walked. Sienna’s spear was slung across Arthene’s back, the bear woman had used the two chunky braids they’d put her thick mane into as impromptu ties to carry the weapon.

“I saw what you did,” Koda grunted as he hefted the animal in his arms. Being this close to it, Koda could confirm that bison stank. He just hoped the hide would lose that smell when it was done being treated.

“Oh? What did I do, my mate?” Arthene chuckled from the other side of the animal.

“You peeled this thing right out of the herd without them noticing and took it down like you were grabbing an unwatched cookie off of a plate,” Koda laughed. The complement got Arthene’s rounded ears wiggling on top of her head, and Koda bet that her stubby tail was kicking happily too.

“I wanted to make sure to get a fat one for us to enjoy, but not scare off the herd. These animals have plenty of meat on them. It will take days to fully render one properly.” Arthene spoke in an excited tone that confused Koda, but she went on to explain before he had to ask. “I figure that we can cut off a few large hunks for everyone to get their fill, shave off a batch of meat for drying and then anything left over I can finish off.”

Koda stared at his lover in surprise, and Arthene shot him a wicked grin, her yellow eyes sparkling in amusement as her mouth opened wide. Before his eyes, her teeth lengthened and sharpened until her mouth was a forest of canines inches long. Arthene wiggled her ears at him again before sticking her tongue out. With a snap, all of her teeth returned to normal once more.

“I have a big appetite when I want to, and something like this would have been barely half a meal for me in my animal form, my mate. So don’t worry about waste, okay?”

“Noted,” Koda muttered, blinking in surprise as his brain fought to switch gears for him. “You… uh… do you always have to eat that much? Not that I’ll love you any less, it’s just gonna do a number on our budget for food in town is all.”

Arthene laughed from deep in her gut, the noise bringing a smile back to Koda’s lips and added a spring to his step with just how joyful it was. She never dropped her burden as she laughed, and it took her a good half minute to get herself under control once more.

“No, my mate. Not at all,” Arthene said in between giggles as her laughter tapered off. “While I can eat like that and it helps me build my strength, I do not need to in order to survive. I’m happy to feed my bear form when I have the chance, but it’s not something that you need to worry about.”

“Got it,” Koda said thoughtfully. “I just want to make sure that I provide for you as best as I can, Arthene. You and the others.”

“You do wonderfully so far,” Arthene gave him another grin before her eyebrows began to wiggle in amusement. “There are other ways to feed that hunger though… your latest ‘little’ conquest keeps stealing my morning snack, which is important to a healthy body.”

“Cal does what she does on her own accord. I trust you ladies to work out any problems you have or bring them to me if you need help. Besides, you can always tap that faucet before bed if you want. Cal did have a point that you tend to prefer to sleep in longer in the mornings.”

“Before bed hmm? That might not be a bad idea,” Arthene’s grin turned salacious, but Koda just rolled his eyes.