Far above the leaves in the thick canopy hid the fact that the sky above was turning to evening. Beneath my naked back, the soft covering of the forest floor was still warm. I could feel the pleasure of the trees warming the ground for my benefit.
Sprawled out over the soft covering of the forest floor and over me too, was the naked figure of Morag. Her muscular body was impressive, considering I learnt she was in her fifties. She had none of the plumpness that Sara had. Nor did she have any of the muscular leanness that Sirona had. And there was no way I could compare her to Orla. Whereas when I treated Orla roughly, I hurt her, and I could feel the acceptance of the hurt in the loving way she looked at me.
But, Morag, when I treated her rough she laughed and demanded more.
If we were in any other place, I would worry about the room or bed. In fact, I felt that sometimes we had even, somehow, had damaged the bark of the trees as we rutted and fucked like mad.
And despite her age, she gave as good as she got.
The eager grin she had on her face summed it up for me. No longer was I looking at a doating grandmother farmer; instead I was looking at a young bride, eager on her marriage bed.
‘Cannae say I ever thought I would meet someone stronger than me,’ she said, rubbing her hand across the multitude of scars on my firm, muscular torso and the many bruises our rough animalistic sex had caused. ‘Aye, we tussed, for sure, but we no had our sparring match.’
‘Aye,’ I said, only half aware I slipped into her accent somehow.
‘So, lover boy, will your wife be upset over this?’ She rubbed her hand further down my body and gripped my hardening cock.
‘Don’t think so.’ I said, thinking about the message Nolicia gave me.
‘Aye, she be a good one. Waited there every day for you, aye, even when it rained.’
There was a warmth in my heart, and I smiled when I heard that. ‘I am blessed we’re married.’
‘I thought I was insatiable, but…’ She gave my hard cock a rub. ‘I cannae deal with this anymore. Today! Today I mean.’
‘Aye, it’ll be nice to spend more time together, Morag.’
‘You know, I left that name behind when I fled the island. I took the name Willelma, stealing the name of a random woman sailor aboard.’
‘You will always be my beautiful Morag,’ I said, kissing her gently and tasting a mix of ourselves on her lips.
‘You really are a kind fool,’ Willelma said. Her pale freckled cheeks flushed with a beautiful blush. I could tell she had changed persona as her accent had faded. ‘I can see why Tan-bei fell in love with you.’
She stroked my cheek and stood up. I watched her put on her black uniform, once again changing who she was: this time to Castor. Before she put her funeral shroud mask on, I stood up and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around me.
‘Remember, I love you.’ I said, resting my forehead on hers.
‘You give your love away too easily.’ She muttered, partly to herself. Her freckled cheeks were still rosy.
‘Maybe so, but I do love you.’
‘How I wish I could make you the fourth.’ She smiled at me with a bittersweet smile.
‘Yeah, I know. But I want nothing to do with those within the walls. Castor’s Defiance and the Lundein Pool Guardians were the two decent ones left. Now it is only Castor’s Defiance.’
‘I’m afraid to say, we’ve dirtied our hands out in Three Bridge.’
‘I know. You’ve been much calmer and even keeled about it.’
‘I think you’re letting your personal emotions get in the way of the truth.’
‘Maybe.’ I said, kissing her deeply once more.
‘You are an evil man, aren’t you?’ She said, looking deeply into my eyes with her troubled ones. ‘I was doing my best not to fall in love again. It’s been almost fifty years since I fell in love the last time. And now in the twilight of my life you’ve reawoken those feelings in me.’ She gave me a kiss and then hopped down out of my arms. ‘Maybe it was already too late.’
She knelt down and threw my clothes at me. I caught them.
As she watched, I got dressed in my ruined tunic—with its multiple bloodstained cuts—and hose.
‘Can I be selfish?’ she asked.
I looked at her, my brow wrinkled in confusion.
‘I want to invite you into Castor’s Defiance—’ She waved her hands in a bit of panic, looking a bit like a teenage maiden for a bit, ‘J-just so that we have a reason to see each other again.’
A small smile rose on my lips. With a slight nod, I gave her permission. ‘Only with the others.’
‘You really are a kindhearted soul,’ she said sighing, ‘that’s dangerous both within and without the walls. Come, we must depart. I need to give my report on you.’
By the time we left the forest, crossing over the tree bridge, the sun was no longer visible in the sky. The forest cast long evening shadow over the lands of M ægen Scōl. Within the old brick building of Brook Dorm, multiple lights shone out from various windows and the two open doors. From the largest door, furthest away from The Brook, out rushed Tan-bei, her copper-fawn skin dark in the evening dimness. Out from the other door walked an impressively tall yet slender man. The top of his head reached my face. He was wearing a loose fitting black and dark blue outfit. His multicoloured mask covered his lower face, leaving beady eyes staring out from a shaved brown head.
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When Tan-bei saw the man come towards us, she stopped and looked at him warily.
‘Castor, I demand for you to submit to Carrack for scanning.’
‘Oh, that is what your aim is.’ Castor said in a low, dangerous voice. Yet still she had a slight smile on her lips. ‘Of all the recruits I brought in, my biggest mistake was you . ’
‘Me, a mistake!’ He said, almost laughing. ‘ I ’m the one who is keeping Castor ’s Defiance honest. Think about it, you’re too weak-hearted to do what they want about the menace that is Three Bridge.
‘We need to be firm with them. Show them they are nothing compared to us who live within Lundein. That they should be happy they get to live on whatever scraps we give them. And that they should do whatever we say whenever we say.
‘And yet you stand next to him , ‘ he spat out. ‘He is fomenting trouble by being a symbol to those in Three Bridge. Of everyone he should know better being trained in a venerable place such as this about just how much better Lundein is better than Three Bridge. ’
I moved forward, towards the fool who was slighting Miss Morag and myself. ‘A hero looks for and helps the forlorn and needy.’
‘What absolute trash. This is not one of the sagas that uncivilised barbarians and common trash worship. No, a hero is someone who helps those who pay for protection. I know that. That was the first lesson I learnt within these hallowed dorms.
‘You’re lucky that Castor took pity on you, otherwise your body would’ve been left out there for the worms to devour.’ He seemed so proud of that I could tell by the way his beady eyes beamed with hero worship as he gazed at Castor. ‘She was a solider, don’t you know? I’ve seen her kill idiots who didn’t know their place.’
It was Castor now who broke into a laugh. She came and stood next to me and put a hand on my upper arm. ‘You’re wrong there. If I was to fight Berwyn, it would be me who would be worm food. Yes, I was a solider, and I’ve killed before. Compared to him, I am but an innocent fawn facing a dire wolf—Berwyn is a killer—we’ve faced off before.
‘Remember the leave of absence I was forced to accept four years ago?’
‘Yes, the army called you back to deal with trouble on Crossroads Island. You have never talked about this before. Why start now?’
‘Why? Because it was nasty. All but one settlement on the island had been abandoned. The only reason I went was because I was softhearted. One of my former subordinates reached out to me asking for me, as I was the only one who could deal with the situation. To further prod things along, he managed to get a letter from the royal family. So I went, believing it was my duty to put down the armed insurrection that had all but driven us off the island.’
‘But you put it down, didn’t you? When you came back two years ago, you said the situation had been solved.’
‘The situation was solved because the problem disappeared.’
The fanatic light within the tall man ’s eyes wavered.
‘What do you mean, the problem disappeared, you defeated them? You had to.’
‘I went on numerous patrols. Only once did I see the fabled beast who brought ruin to the island. Some of the younger and the more eager soldiers who were nominally under my command charged off against my orders. All three of them were strong mægen, well trained, eager to kill, and had good equipment.
‘As I watched, along with the other member of the team I was in, I saw the beast easily take a cut from an axe. That same day I saw that person use the same axe cut through rock. Yet other than cutting through the shoulder muscle, the attack was ineffectual. In moments, a bloody brawl had erupted. Moments later, the beast looked at me. The blood lust in the eyes of that beast was scary.
‘Berwyn, do you mind, please? Can you take off your tunic?’
I took it off.
‘There,’ Castor reached up high to touch my shoulder, where a particularly nasty scar occasionally gave me a slight bit of trouble. ‘That is where the cut from that axe went in.
‘The trouble disappeared from the Island because Berwyn came here to study. When I saw that beast eye me, I knew that even in my prime, I would never have been able to win. The only reason I’m standing here now is because that beast let me go.’
Those beady eyes gazed upon my impressively muscular, scarred, and bruised torso.
‘He is stronger now than he was then. That wild beast has gone. In its place is a trained warrior who can use violence as a tool when needed. As Castor talking to a potential Castor candidate, remember this, never cross Berwyn. If you do, you might live to regret it.
‘And part of not crossing Berwyn,’ Castor said, walking up next to the tall lanky masked man, ‘is not sharing his secrets. That is what I told you about on the island. Okay?’
The man nodded. He looked at me with a strange look. Part of it was respect, another part was fear, another part was loathing, there was also acceptance in there.
‘It is likely he’ll be joining us for a while, to further his training. Get to know him. He really is a soft-hearted fool. A bit like me.’ Castor chuckled, and I heard the lanky man’s snorting chuckle. ‘Anyway, we need to be off. I need to give a report to Doctor Lee and the other Livery Company Masters. The forest is safe. Though Berwyn has some connection to it, it’s more than likely that his uncle was the culprit behind the planting of the forest.’
Castor and her fellow Livery Company hero left us alone. I put on my tunic and held my hand out to Tan-bei. Wordlessly, hand-in-hand, we left the grounds of M ægen Scōl and headed towards Sara’s tavern.
It was a lovely night out, just warm enough to feel nice, without being oppressively hot. The dark streets were familiar too. In my large paw of a hand, Tan-bei ’s slender hand was a soft and gentle presence. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I last walked them. The prostitute who had blessed me and Sara was being led off by a young man down a dark alley.
Finally, we came to the oddly shaped tavern that Sara ran. The door was slightly open, letting out a stream of light, and the sounds of drunken revelry and laughter. There must ’ve been a singer in tonight as off-tune and ill-timed drunken singing suddenly started.
I opened the door.
‘That’ll be halfpenny tonig— Fuck—’ The bouncer at the door said before bolting out the door.
I didn ’t pay him any attention because Sara was sitting on the bar, arms and legs surrounding a random man, gleefully laughing with him. That was before they started kissing.