Bone Lord 3 Page 11

  After a few minutes, she stopped and opened her eyes.

  “We are done,” she said, “and purified. Now, we are ready to talk. Come, we must return to my hut. We will talk, and then, I will perform the sacred ceremony.”

  If the sacred ceremony was anything like this, I was now looking forward to it. I suddenly felt lucky I could spend time with this woman rather than feast with the fighters and smelly barbarians.

  Friya stepped out of the pool, giving me an excellent view of her round ass before she slipped her cloak over her shoulders and covered up. I stepped out of the pool, my cock swollen from the sight of her but not yet fully hard. She looked at it hanging heavily between my legs, and the unmistakable gleam of lust entered her eyes as her lips parted slightly.

  “The ceremony will be most pleasant for both of us, I think.” Like a vicious cycle, the hungry look in her eyes sent more blood rushing to my groin, which had her involuntarily gasping and widening her eyes even more. “Come, follow me,” she finally said.

  Well, this ceremony certainly seemed like it would be something I’d like to perform. With a grin, I followed Friya through the cold and back into the cabin. In the center of the room lay the skin and fur of a huge white bear, serving as a rug. Friya indicated that I should sit on it. She kept her cloak on when she took a seat on the bearskin across from me.

  “I have dreamed for a long time of this moment,” she said. “And I have been preparing for your coming. Look, over there, proof that I have come to know your face well in my dreams.”

  She pointed at one of the shelves, and I was startled to see a carved wooden effigy of myself. It was surprisingly lifelike, and there was no way she could have gotten those details right without having seen me before. She must have actually seen me in her dreams, despite never having met me.

  “What’s that for?” I asked, suddenly suspicious. I mean, it was kind of strange going into a stranger’s house and seeing they had a lifelike wooden effigy of you. The memory of finding Isu out in the forest in the moonlight with her wooden effigy of me flashed through my mind.

  “I carve many effigies of powerful figures I see in my dreams,” she answered. “They give me a reminder of my purpose.”

  “Which is?”

  “To fight and defeat the great evil that is rising. An evil that only the God of Death can combat. Long ago, this very same evil stalked the land, and all of Prand was in danger of being swallowed up by it. But two heroes rose up, and together, they defeated this enemy of all living things.”

  “Uger and Kemji. A thousand years ago.”

  “Yes, Vance. And you are of Uger’s blood. And someone who is close to you is of Kemji’s blood too.”

  Now that was a surprise.

  “Who?” I asked, though I was quite sure of the answer, given the fact that I knew only one person from Yeng.

  “The one in your party whose body now houses the spirit of the Goddess of Wind,” Friya answered. “But her blood is much diluted from that of her esteemed ancestor. Yours, however, is pure.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “It has come to me in dreams, since I was a small child.” Friya smiled mysteriously. “In our tribe, the calling to be a Wise Woman is felt from a very early age, and it cannot be denied. I have been preparing all my life for who I am and what I am. And I have known, since I was a girl, that you would be coming and that meeting you would forever change my destiny and the destiny of my people.”

  “Drok told me you had a powerful weapon for me, a weapon that would help me defeat the Blood God and his Demogorgon. What is it?”

  “The piece that I have is, unfortunately, only one half of the weapon. In the time of my great-grandmother, who was also a Wise Woman, she began to have dreams that a hero like Uger would be needed again. Even in those times, she could feel that the evil of the Blood God—who had been defeated but not killed—was stirring again. She sent the most powerful warrior of our tribe on a quest to find the weapon that had been lost. He returned to us, many years later, on the verge of death. He had found only part of the weapon. He brought it back with him, but the other half of it remained lost. Without the other half, it cannot be used.”

  Talk about beating around the bush. I just needed to know exactly what this weapon was and how I could use it against the Blood God and the Demogorgon.

  “Okay, well thanks for the uh, interesting back story, but what the fuck is this weapon? A sword, a battle-axe, a spear? Some sort of bow or crossbow?”

  “No. It is something that will allow you to control a much larger and more powerful weapon than anything you could imagine right now.”

  Again, vague answers. Half of a weapon that would allow me to control another weapon? It sounded like a bunch of riddles that, when solved, would only lead to more questions. I wondered, sourly, if Friya knew Isu. It certainly seemed like they had the potential to be really good friends.

  “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

  “Ask your questions. If I know the answers, I will give them freely to you.”

  Isu had told me what Blood Demons were and how they were made but not how to fight them. I’d been able to handle one on my own, only just, but if two came for me, I wasn’t sure what I would do. Maybe Friya could help.

  “What sort of magic do I need to fight Blood Demons effectively? And, the same question goes for any of the Blood God’s creatures.”

  “Magic is connected to elements, elements that are the building blocks of all things in our world. To answer your question, we must look at the essence of the Blood God—at what gives him his power.”

  “Blood sacrifices. The blood of virgins sacrificed in his name. I know that all sorts of sacrifices give gods power—like prayers, the most basic sacrifice, a sacrifice of the devotee’s time.”

  “Yes. So, the Blood God’s power comes primarily from the sacrifice of blood. What is the enemy of blood? Think of things that are opposite to it in nature. There is Cold magic, which freezes it, and Water magic, which dilutes it, and Death magic, which rots it. With mastery of these powers, you will be able to defeat the Blood God and the Demogorgon.”

  “But I’m a Death God, not a god of Water or Cold.”

  “That does not mean you cannot use weapons imbued with those powers.”

  That was true. I’d used my wrist crossbow, imbued with Tree magic, quite effectively on a number of occasions.

  “So, where do I find weapons imbued with the powers of Cold and Water?”

  “I cannot help you with powers of Water, I’m afraid,” Friya said, “but I can help you with powers of Cold.”

  She stood up, walked over to one of her shelves, and retrieved an ornate wooden box. She opened it and knelt down next to me to display what was inside. It was a white gem of some sort, tinged very lightly with blue, and cold steam was rising from it.

  “This,” she said, “is a froststone blessed by the God of Ice. If you have a socketed weapon or a socketed piece of armor, I can work with the blacksmith of Hothgrum to fit this froststone into your weapon or armor and imbue it with Cold magic.”

  “I have a suit of plate armor with sockets. I brought it with me.”

  Friya smiled.“Excellent. After the ceremony I must perform with you, I shall take your armor to the blacksmith, and he and I will imbue it with Cold magic.”

  “Then let’s get on with the ceremony.”

  “Indeed. It is of great importance, as important as gaining the powers of Cold and Water.” A glimmer of sudden hunger sparkled in her ice-blue eyes. “One that will link my power to yours. I will be giving you the ability to see things in your dreams as I do—”

  “But you’ll be getting something out of it too,” I said. “Come on, I wasn’t born yesterday. I know that nobody gives something as valuable as magical power away without expecting something in return.”

  “Of course.” Her smile broadened as her eyes roved down my naked body and settled on my cock. “In return, I will
swallow the seed of a living god, which will enhance my own powers greatly.”

  “The seed of a god, huh?” I couldn’t help but grin. “I think I like where you’re going with this ceremony thing.”

  “Lie down on your back on the bearskin,” she instructed. “There is no reason to delay any longer.”

  I lay down on the white fur. “No, I don’t think there is.”

  Desire blazing in her eyes like the roaring flames in the hearth, Friya cast her cloak off and stood gloriously nude before me. She walked over, her huge breasts bouncing and jiggling with every step. Blood rushed to my cock as she squatted down next to me, giving me a mouth-wateringly clear view of her sex. Her pale pink lips glistened with the wetness of her own arousal.

  “Lie still,” she said. “Do not move.”

  I chuckled. “If you say so.”

  While the rest of me was lying prone, my cock certainly wasn’t. Soon, the big fella was standing as tall and proud as he ever did.

  Friya took a small bottle of some sort of oil from a nearby table, poured a small amount in her hands, and knelt down next to my shoulder. With her huge breasts hanging close to my face, I dipped my head forward to get a mouthful of nipple, but she gently pushed my head back.

  “No, Vance,” she said. “For the ceremony, I need you to lie absolutely still. This is how it must be done.”

  “All right,” I answered, disappointed but intrigued at the same time.

  She started rubbing my body down with the fragrant-smelling oil, starting with my shoulder muscles, then moving on to my chest. Her breasts were draped over me, and her stiff nipple pressed into my cheek, agonizingly close to my mouth. As tempting as it was to simply turn my head and fondle it with my tongue, I resisted. This was, after all, supposed to be some sort of sacred ceremony, so I figured I’d best respect that.

  “Your muscles are hard and strong,” Friya purred as she massaged me, “like the muscles of our own warriors. You are a ferocious warrior, are you not?”

  “As fierce as they come.” I grunted as she massaged my chest.

  Friya started tracing her fingertips teasingly over my stomach, and a rush of hot blood surged into my prick, stiffening it even further. Friya stared at it, her eyes wide with hunger and surprise at the size of it.

  “I never imagined that the penis of a southerner could dwarf those of the biggest men of Hothgrum,” she murmured, her eyes locked on it as her hands drifted toward its base. “I am going to enjoy this ceremony very, very much.”

  Friya slipped her oiled-up hands around my shaft and slowly glided up the whole thing, marveling all the while at its size and hardness. She did it extremely slowly the first time, letting me feel the pressure over my entire length. Once she had oiled my prick, she started stroking it, moving her hands up and down with delectable slowness while murmuring out a chant in her barbarian language. Whatever oil she was using was adding a pleasant tingle and warmth to the experience.

  This was a ceremony I had no trouble getting into.

  Soon she started moving her hands with increased pressure and vigor. Her strokes were still light but also strong and quick enough to send tingles rushing through me. This Wise Woman knew how to use her hands, all right. Her big tits and juicy pussy, which was dripping so much, I could actually hear her wetness hit the bear fur, were achingly close. All I wanted to do was bury my face in them, but I reminded myself that I was partaking in a sacred ritual. As tempting as it was to take charge here and show Friya how much of a man I really was, I managed to restrain myself.

  Friya was still murmuring her chants in her native tongue, but they were interspersed with involuntary gasps of arousal and pleasure. It seemed that she too was having a bit of a tough time restraining herself. As she handled my cock, she started gyrating her hips, as if she was already riding it. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to reach out and slip a finger or two into her tight slit.

  It seemed I wouldn’t have to wait too long to get a sense of just how heavenly that pussy felt though.

  “I must proceed with the next part of the ceremony,” Friya gasped, her pale face flushed red with the intensity of her arousal. “Stay still now…”

  Friya gracefully turned around, straddled me, gripped my cock to direct it into her, and then slowly started lowering herself onto it. The moment the head of my prick squeezed its way into her tight sex, a jolt of energy rushed through me. Perhaps something magical really was going on with this ceremony.

  As she slid lower and lower, Friya gasped out exclamations of what had to be sheer bliss. Finally, with a gasp and a slackening of her entire taut body, I was all the way inside her. She then started riding me slowly, and I couldn’t believe the immensity of the restraint I was exercising in not reaching up and grabbing those huge tits as they bounced with every gyration of her hips. She started riding me vigorously, rubbing herself with one hand and crying out in her barbarian language as waves of ecstasy coursed through her veins.

  I stretched her out from the inside, her walls cushioning me and filling my cock with heat. Friya started moaning and tossing her beautiful mane of white-blond hair around, riding my cock at an almost frenetic pace and rubbing herself just as eagerly. I could see that she was about to climax and grinned, laughing with joy at the glorious sight of this gorgeous tattooed woman driving herself wild on my rod.

  Friya threw her head back and cried out, arching her back as far as it would go as an orgasm tore through her. A surge of magical power ripped through my body, filling me with a new sensation of strength and potency. In addition to being an epic fuck, this was giving me new powers as a god. This alone made the entire long trek to get here totally worth it.

  Friya slowed down and stopped riding me for a few moments, doing her best to catch her breath while losing herself in the ecstasy of the orgasm. When it had passed, she started again, riding me with even more furious ferocity, bouncing so hard up and down on my cock that I was scared she might hurt herself.

  Another gushing orgasm tore through her, and when she threw her head back and screamed, another surge of power flowed into me.

  This happened two more times, but by then, I couldn’t hold back any longer.

  My whole body started to tremble as the pressure of my orgasm built to a crescendo.

  “The seed of a god!” she cried.

  I was about to hop off her, but she clamped her hands over my ass and forced me even deeper. My vision peppered, and my whole body spasmed as my cock exploded. At the same time, her sex pulsed and trembled as my seed filled her.

  With delicate hands, she removed my cock and licked it clean.

  “Thank you,” she gasped, flushed all over, glistening with sweat and breathing hard. “Thank you Vance, God of Death, thank you. I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. Now, finally, I have tasted the seed of a living god.”

  “I hope you northerners have silphium or some other plant. We can’t have little death gods running around.”

  She smiled at me knowingly. “We do.”

  “I don’t know what you gave me every time you came,” I said, “but damn, I sure as hell wouldn’t mind doing this ceremony again.”

  She laughed and lay down next to me, inviting me to drape my arm over her body. Finally, I was allowed to touch her. She kissed my chest, then my neck, before we kissed deeply.

  “We don’t have to do the ceremony again,” she whispered into my ear. “Next time, we can just fuck. Any way you want to…”

  The way she talked, the way she tasted, and the way she felt had me ready for another round within seconds of her suggestion.

  “Well then,” I said, reaching down and sliding two fingers into her wetness, “what are we waiting for?”

  Chapter Twelve

  After Friya and I finished our third ceremony, I figured I’d best get back to the others. We got dressed, and Friya took the froststone with her when we left her cabin so that she and the blacksmith could imbue my armor with Cold magic. She sa
id that for maximum effectiveness, the imbuing would need to be done under the light of a full moon, at the stroke of midnight. Fortunately for me, tonight happened to be a full moon.

  As Friya and I headed to the longhouse, Hothgrum’s Great Hall, she told me of her people’s various customs and a bit of their history. The Northern Barbarians, particularly of her tribe, were a lot more complex and interesting of a people than I’d previously imagined.

  While they had worshiped many gods in the past, the primary god of the people of Hothgrum had always been the God of Ice. However, with the coming of the Lord of Light and the purge that resulted in the deaths or disappearances of so many of the Old Gods, the God of Ice had been one of the many who had simply disappeared. A few of his relics—such as this froststone—still existed, and still held power, but Friya, and a good few generations of Wise Women before her, had long since given up any hopes that the God of Ice might one day return.

  In addition to the general sense that some evil had been growing with alarming speed in this part of the world, Friya had a rather specific theory about this evil, but she wanted to ask Isu about it before she said more.

  I’d warned her about how thorny Isu could be, given Friya’s beauty and Isu’s jealousy, but the Wise Woman insisted. After all, weren’t we all fighting for the same cause? she reasoned. Surely we wouldn’t let petty jealousy and individual rivalries get in the way of the greater good?

  In response to this, I had simply chuckled and shook my head.

  “You don’t know very much about the former Goddess of Death, do you?” I had said.

  The feast was well underway in the Great Hall. It was an impressive structure built entirely of wood and featuring stylized carvings of various animals of this part of the world. Shields, spears, and battle-axes were mounted on the walls, all broken, dented, or at least displaying a long battle history. Friya told me they were displayed here to commemorate the valor of Hothgrum’s fallen heroes. There were also the heads and furs of many wild beasts native to the region. Hegmun and his warriors, my party, and some upper-echelon Hothgrumians were seated.