Part Eight

On my eighteenth birthday, I quietly snuck out of bed and dressed without waking Zeera. I made my way downstairs to the booth where Durdrin, Brudaer, Caelnel, and Rylzt were sitting.

“I didn’t think we’d be seeing you this morning,” Durdrin said.

“Why?” I asked, looking around the table.

“It’s your birthday, son. Take the day off. Zeera too,” he said. It was unlike him to care for anyone’s birthday, even his own.

“Why?” I asked again.

Durdrin sighed and dropped his head into his hand. “Go spend the day with Zeera, son. You’re not going to like tomorrow’s mission,” he said solemnly.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?” I asked suspiciously.

Durdrin looked at me directly and dropped his hand to the table. “You’re being sent away tomorrow. Now go enjoy your day; it’s more than most get,” he said flatly.

I frowned and sighed before turning and walking back up to our room. I quietly opened the door and locked it behind me. Inside, I kicked off my boots and tossed my hat and cloak onto the chair before crawling back into bed with Zeera.

“You’re back?” she said sleepily as I wrapped my arm around her and gently kissed her shoulder. I nodded, and when she noticed I wasn’t wearing my normal crooked grin, she turned to face me.

Her face showed concern, so I answered before she could ask. “It’s my birthday. I’m eighteen today,” I said, forcing a weak smile.

“Oh?” she asked curiously, sensing I was holding something back. “Masdrin, what is it?” she asked, her voice sounding even more concerned.

I looked into her beautiful deep green eyes and frowned. “I’m being sent away tomorrow. I wasn’t told where or for how long,” I said, not really happy with the idea. She frowned, and I collapsed on my back beside her with a sigh.

A few moments passed silently before either of us did anything. Since I was busy stewing about being sent away, Zeera was the first to make a move. She rolled over and rested her head on my chest, wrapping her arm around me.

“What should we do today?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Zeera looked at me playfully and slid on top of me before sitting up. “Well… since it’s your birthday… and you’re leaving me tomorrow…” she purred seductively, a tone I’d only rarely heard from her. Drow women spoke like that all the time; in fact, Mother used to use the same tone.

Hearing it from Zeera was different, though. Normally, she talked like the rest of us. We called it Shadow Cant as a joke, but it was a mix of Dark Elf and High Drow. In our organization, who you were before joining didn’t matter. In The Barra D’aron, Dark Elf and Drow were on the same level. Rising through the ranks was earned and not given, most of the time. I was an exception; there was a fair amount of nepotism in my meteoric rise to power.

As she sat naked on top of me, Zeera slowly leaned forward and kissed my lips. As she sat back up, she began to unbutton my shirt. I placed my hands on her hips as she swayed them back and forth. When she finished with my shirt, she opened it wide, exposing my chest.

I hadn’t caught on to where she was going, but as she traced her finger down the center of my chest, down my stomach, to my belt, I quickly figured it out. A few months prior, Zeera had given me my first lesson on how to take pleasure in pleasuring my woman.

When we finished, I found myself laid back in our bed with Zeera lying on top of me. “That was a wonderful birthday gift,” I said as a wide crooked grin spread across my face. My heart was racing as she kissed my neck and chest. My left hand still firmly grasped her rear end, while my right hand held the back of her thigh, keeping her pressed against me.

She had grown into a beautiful, petite woman, and I was nearly full-grown. I stood about half a foot taller than her and was easily thirty pounds heavier. “You ready for another go, handsome?” she said before kissing me again. I laughed and nodded. “Uh… okay!” was the only reply my mind could come up with, so I went with it.

The day seemed to race by, and by supper time, I found myself again on my back with Zeera on top of me. “I’m going to miss staring into those beautiful eyes,” I confessed as I absentmindedly ran my fingers up and down her side.

“Hopefully, you won’t miss them for too long…” she said softly. “Because I too will miss that handsome face of yours, your powerful arms holding me and making me feel safe,” she added as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and another around her hips. The sex was great, but holding her was still my favorite thing of all. The warmth of her body against mine and the feeling of my lips pressed against hers were all I desired.

“Should we go downstairs and see how everyone’s day went?” she asked as she looked up at me.

I shrugged noncommittally, not really caring if I saw them this evening. They were coming with me, and I’d see my father in the morning. “We can if you like… but I’d rather stay up here with you…” came my reply.

“Oh, come on! We’ll have a couple of drinks and get some food, recharge for tonight,” she pleaded, batting her long eyelashes at me.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her. “What’s tonight?” I asked, a fair question for an inexperienced, asexual Drow.

Zeera stared at me blankly for a moment before I caught on. I smirked as I realized what she meant and nodded. “Sounds like a fine idea,” I said before squeezing her tight in my arms and passionately kissing her again.

Zeera moved off of me, and I did up my pants and belt before sitting up and buttoning my shirt, leaving the top two buttons open. I stood up, slipping my feet into my boots as I did so, and looked down at myself to see the front of my pants covered in... passion. It was easily solved with a few casts of prestidigitation, courtesy of the magical gold button on the left side of my collar. I brushed my clothes with my hands and smirked as they were magically cleaned and looked brand new again.

Zeera rummaged through her closet to find something to wear and settled on fishnet stockings, a short skirt, and a purple satin blouse.

We made our way down to the common area and found our favorite booth occupied by a group of merchants from Sherentalos who were here to be escorted back to their home after making a few lucrative trade deals with some traders here in Felynafay.

I looked around the room and failed to spot anyone I recognized, except the barkeep. With Zeera’s hand firmly in mine, I guided us to the bar where we found two stools to sit on. After parking ourselves on the stools, we ordered our usual drinks—some mid-range wine—and some food. I ordered a plate of candied cave crickets, an expensive delicacy, and Zeera chose fresh fish with a mushroom salad.

As I was crunching away on my crickets and Zeera was eating her fish, we heard a commotion break out behind us. I turned just in time to see one Barra D’aron soldier toss another halfway across the room. I turned fully on my stool and leaned back against the bar to watch the show.

“Shouldn’t you stop them, Officer Masdrin?” Zeera asked as the man who was tossed charged back at the other man. I shrugged my shoulders. “Naa, they need to blow off some steam,” I said. “As long as neither draws a weapon, they’ll be fine. Don’t worry; I won’t let it go too far,” I said as the tossed man tackled the man he charged at.

The two men rolled around on the ground for a few moments before one got behind the other. The man on the ground howled as his arm was twisted roughly behind his back. “Yield!” he cried, and the winner of the pissing match promptly released his arm and patted him on the back. The loser turned around, shook hands with the winner, and then both returned to their seats, comrades once again.

Turning back around to face my crickets, Zeera looked at me and smiled. “What?” I asked as I picked up one of my candied crickets and tossed it into my mouth.

She smirked wide at me. “I was hoping you’d go over and tune them both up, show them a real man,” she said, trying to coax me into a fight. She liked to see me flex my muscle and flaunt my authority.

I grinned my crooked grin at her and shrugged. “I can’t go smacking Barra D’aron soldiers around to impress my girl. It’s bad for morale,” I said before gulping down a large mouthful of my wine. I shoved a handful of my crickets into my mouth and crunched them with a content smile. Zeera smiled as she ate a thin slice of raw fish, her favorite thing to order. We enjoyed our food and drink, and when our booth opened up, Zeera and I quickly moved over and sat in it.

She sat on my lap, as she always did when we were in our booth. The table was often crowded with intimidating “alpha” males like Rylzt, Caelnel, Brudaer, Vielyn, and Durdrin. Because of her history with Chey, she was easily intimidated by them. By now, she knew them, but it still made her feel better to sit on my lap, and I certainly enjoyed holding her. She didn’t have the same confidence that older Drow females had because she had been in Barra D’aron since she was ten years old.

Felynafay was an underground metropolis and a female-dominated matriarchy, but the Barra D’aron were different. It was ruled by and predominantly made up of men. They were often outcasts from fallen houses and others forgotten by society at large.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Females were generally fanatical when fighting for their house and would fight to the death, although some were occasionally recruited. They were recruited for the same reason as anyone else: because they were an asset. There were plenty of female officers and, historically, Shadow Six, one of our most elite teams, was led by the most powerful female officer.

Your gender, whether you were a dark elf, High Drow, or a mix of other races, didn’t matter. What you brought to the organization was what was important. Each member was an asset in their own right. Zeera was an absolute whiz with numbers, so Durdrin made her an accountant, and she quickly proved to be great at the job.

We sat comfortably in our booth, and as I was about to wonder aloud where Caelnel, Brudaer, and Rylzt were, we were joined by the three merchants who had sat here earlier.

Three strange men sitting uninvited in our booth caused Zeera to shrink in my arms. I could feel her cowering as she buried her face in my chest. She didn’t like feeling trapped since we were sitting in the corner and two of them decided to park themselves beside us.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” I asked, my tone showing I wasn’t thrilled about them being there. I picked up my wine and took a mouthful of the dark liquid.

The one sitting across from us leered at me and Zeera while the one next to me spoke and the one next to him chuckled. “Durdrin says we can help ourselves to whatever’s at the inn,” the one next to us said casually.

“That right?” I replied equally casually. The one across from me smiled lewdly at Zeera, and I smirked back at him. “Look, boys, I can see where you’re going with this… let me tell you, it’s not gonna happen,” I said as I tightened my grip around her waist.

“You soldiers are all the same, sure you can fight in formation or with your friends around, but what are you going to do when it’s just you against us three?” the one across from me said.

“We have you cornered, little rat...” the one furthest from me said confidently.

I nodded my head as I silently communicated with Durdrin. “You sent them after my woman?” I asked him through our magical communication implant. Though Durdrin would hear me, those around me could not.

They would not hear his response either. “No, I sent them to die. If they provoke an officer and get themselves killed, then the Barra D’aron can seize whatever assets they have on them, and no one will bat an eye. They have a lot on them right now. Wait until they provoke it and then kill all three of them,” he replied.

Almost on cue, I felt Zeera tense up and quietly cry, “Don’t touch me…” though her voice was barely more than a whimper.

I summoned a cube of impenetrable darkness that covered just our booth. Unlike these inferior dark elves, my Drow darkvision allowed me to see through my own darkness ability. I summoned my blades to my hands and immediately put them to work. All three died at nearly the same time. I threw Deathsbite at the man across from me, embedding it deep in his chest. As I leaned to my right, I held Nightfall in a reverse grip and brought the wicked blade across the throats of both men sitting on my side of the bench, opening them both wide.

They were merchants, not warriors, and I didn’t even give them time to try to put up a fight. I summoned Deathsbite back to my hand and then, using prestidigitation, cleaned my hands and both my blades. I returned my blades to their sheaths and then dispelled the darkness. “Anyone else wanna take a crack at us?” I shouted angrily as I shoved the two dead men out of the booth.

Zeera slowly opened her eyes, and then they went wide as she saw the three dead dark elves strewn about the table. “Whoa…” she said quietly. “When it got dark, it felt like they had grabbed you and pulled you… but you killed them all so fast…” she said as she looked at the damage.

“I am a Drow warrior; they are dark elf peasants. They didn’t stand a chance against me,” I said arrogantly, angrily. Zeera looked up at me and slid over and out of the booth, doing her best to avoid the blood, and I was right behind her.

As we moved towards the door that led upstairs to the rooms, I heard a voice shout out, “Who’s gonna clean that up?” I turned back to see the barkeep looking at me angrily.

I rolled my eyes, shrugged my shoulders, and turned to face him. "Durdrin set this whole thing up, so he can deal with the mess," I snapped. I was furious; I just found out that my woman was being used as bait, and I wasn't having it. I turned back to the door and grabbed Zeera by the wrist, pulling her up the stairs to our room. I pushed her through the door and followed close behind. She was shaking, her eyes fixed on me as I paced angrily back and forth.

Zeera had never seen me as angry as I was now, and little did I know I was the reason she was standing there shaking. Between the anger and adrenaline, I was having a hard time calming down, and Zeera had a fear of angry men. “Masdrin… please stop…” she whispered quietly. I stopped pacing and turned to face her, and only then, when I looked into her eyes, did I realize that I was the source of her anxiety.

I closed my eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and when I opened them again, I held my arms out. “I’m sorry…” I said quietly, waving her towards me. Hesitantly, she approached me. When she got within my reach, I grabbed her, pulled her close, and wrapped my arms around her. At that point, she could feel me trembling with anger, she could feel my erratic breathing. She didn’t understand why I was so angry about what had happened. She didn’t know Durdrin had used her as bait, but I did.

“Why are you so upset? You’ve killed people before, why is this different?” she asked as I squeezed her tight.

“They tried to take you from me. MY Zeera,” I growled. “Of all my things, you’re my favorite,” I said, a little less growly.

She squeezed me tight, and I heard her reply, “You’re my favorite of all my things!” Drow and dark elves had no concept of love, at least not like the surface races knew. This was the closest thing to “I love you” that exists in our language.

We stood there in our room holding each other for a long moment before a knock came at my door. “Son? You in there?” I heard a voice ask on the other side.

I was just beginning to calm down when I heard my father’s voice, and my heart rate immediately skyrocketed again. “I’ll kill him…” I whispered wickedly before I turned for the door.

“Oh no…” Zeera whispered, fearing I’d get myself killed. I felt her grab my arm and try to pull me back, I heard her calling my name, but I wasn’t listening. I shook her off my arm as I pulled the door open to see Durdrin standing there with a big grin.

His bright white smile was greeted by a powerful left cross that connected squarely. As he staggered back, I grabbed him by the collar. I felt his hand strike my wrist, but I wasn’t a child anymore, and lately, I was in better shape than Durdrin and even just a little bigger than him. He wasn’t just going to pick me up and break my jaw again; I’d taken harder blows from some of the victims of Shadow Nine. He punched me in the ribs, and I winced slightly as I pulled him close and grabbed him with my left hand as well to shake him violently. “You ever use my woman as bait again and I’ll kill you!” I growled through gritted teeth.

“Okay! Okay okay okay!” Durdrin exclaimed when I finished shaking him. “I’ll admit it wasn’t my best idea, but I knew you’d easily kill them. I even had One standing by in case you didn’t come down with her!” Durdrin cried as I wound my left arm up to give him another shot in the head. He knew I wore the Iron Hand ring and knew I could activate it at any moment. He didn’t want to fall victim to that ring, so he reached out in a feeble attempt to grab my fist and cried out, “Wait!” before I could bring it across his head again.

He slowly reached into the portable hole he had stuck onto the front of his shirt and pulled out a large, heavy sack that clattered with the sound of coins as he dropped it on the ground at our feet. “That’s your share of the trader’s belongings, already monetized for you!” he said quickly.

“Never again!” I warned sternly.

Durdrin quickly nodded his head again. “Never again!” he agreed. I let go of him, and he cautiously backed up two steps to keep himself out of my reach.

I knelt down and opened the sack to find it was filled with coins and jewels. I picked up a rather large emerald that was a deep green and cut with more facets than I could count. I inspected it before dropping it in my shirt pocket. It would make a perfect gift for Zeera.

I looked up at Durdrin, who was smiling smugly at me. “I have something special for you, as a way to make it up to you and Zeera for this little ordeal…” he said as he held his hand out towards me. He turned his hand over to reveal a ring of black and silver metal intertwined in a sine wave pattern.

He dropped it into my hand, and I slid it onto the pinky finger of my right hand as he leaned forward. “This ring is called ‘A Drow’s Delight,’ and you’ll want to activate it when you’re, uh… in bed… with Zeera,” he said with a smirk. I nodded my head and grinned as he leaned closer and whispered, “It’s helped me earn a reputation that allows me to bed many women at the same time,” with a sly grin. I chuckled, having witnessed Durdrin passed out drunk with two women many times.

Just then, the door opened, and Zeera peeked out through the crack. “Masdrin?” she asked.

I waved her out to join us. “Durdrin is just dropping off our payment for our part in what happened downstairs,” I said as I stood up. I put my right arm around her waist and held her tight.

Durdrin looked at us and smiled wide. “Well, you kids have fun. I’m gonna leave before he tries to hit me again,” Durdrin said as he backed up a few more steps. He gave us a nod before turning to the stairs and heading down them.

“See you in the morning!” I called behind him as he began down the stairs. He waved back at us and continued on his way.

“Did you really hit him?” Zeera asked.

I smirked at her as I nodded my head. “Yes, then I gave him a really good shake. Hopefully, I shook some sense into him,” I replied.

“You feel better now?” she asked.

I nodded my head. “Much better,” I said happily. Once the downstairs incident had ended, Zeera wasn’t bothered anymore. She felt safe with me and was also unaware that Durdrin had used her as bait to lure three merchants to their deaths.

I leaned down and picked up the sack he left at my feet and found it to be heavier than it looked. I carried it into the room, and Zeera followed close behind me.

Once inside, Zeera locked the door, and I carried the sack to a clear area in the middle of the room near the foot of our bed and dumped it out. I looked on in awe at the fifty pounds of gold and jewels sitting on the floor, and Zeera walked over and looked at me curiously. “The day I met you, you ordered ten times this much. Why are you so impressed with this?” she asked.

I looked at her and smiled. “Because that is company coin. This is our coin, to spend as we see fit.”

Zeera nodded in understanding. “What will we do with it all?” she asked as her eyes began to pick out jewels and higher valued coins.

“First, we need to sort it and figure out what’s here,” I said as I sat down in a cross-legged position in front of the pile and looked it over.

As I started to move the different types of coins into their own piles and the gems and jewels into another pile, Zeera sat down next to me. “Here, let me show you how we do this in the vault,” she said with a smile.

Zeera leaned forward and pulled a red case from under the foot of the bed. She pulled it onto her lap and flipped it open. Inside, I could see eight rings, a set of fine scales, and weights held firmly in place inside the velvet-lined padded box. Zeera slid the rings onto her fingers and then slid the box over to me. “You know how to use the scales?” she asked. I nodded my head and pulled the scales out of the box, lining the weights up in front of them.

Zeera smiled wide as she turned back towards the pile of treasure. She held her hands above the pile and wiggled her fingers, and to my surprise, the pile started to move. She waved her hands around, activating each ring individually to pull the different coins and gems into separate piles. When she finished, the coins were all neatly piled according to what metal they were made of, and next to them was a pile of gemstones and jewels.

We weighed everything, knowing that the gems were two thousand and sixty-eight carats to a pound, while the different coins were fifty to a pound. There was a total of fifteen pounds of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, and that pile alone was worth more than the remaining thirty-five pounds of coins.

“Zeera, what will we do with all this?” I asked. We had a safe installed in the stone wall of our room at the inn, so storing the loot wasn’t an issue, but if we converted all those stones to currency, we’d have more gold than I could think of what to do with.

“No more cheap wine, that’s for sure…” she said, and I smirked wide and nodded. “If he gave us this much, how much did he keep for himself?” I wondered aloud.

Zeera smirked. “They were contraband traders, smuggling goods from the surface mostly. Durdrin pulled four bags just like this out of the vault yesterday morning, just before these traders arrived. If he had you kill those three, then he probably had their escorts and the other two traders killed as well,” she explained. I looked at her, suddenly remembering her role as the company accountant.

Zeera explained that the traders were selling dangerous narcotics from the surface, something the ruling council had expressly forbidden Durdrin from dealing with. He was, in fact, hired to keep the dangerous substances out of Felynafay, and these traders had been insistent on setting up a branch here. That was all she knew, though.

What she didn’t know was that Durdrin had a plan. He invited them into the compound under the guise of buying their entire stock, and after finishing the deal, he sent the three traders who were looking for some “fun” my way, while Six, Nine, and Thirteen took care of the escort.

With that, the Barra D’aron was in possession of a large amount of contraband that it couldn’t move in Felynafay, but we could move it in Sherentalos, where it had been heading anyway. The bag of loot he gave me and Zeera was a drop in the bucket considering he had saved three more just like it, as well as come into possession of all the contraband. “Silly bastard may have just started a covert war with the trader’s guild in Sherentalos,” I said as I smiled and shook my head.

From my pocket, I produced the large emerald and held it up before my eyes, inspecting it in the dim light. It was flawless and nearly the size of a child’s fist. It was the largest of all the jewels we were given in the bag.

“Zeera…” I said quietly, and she turned her head from the pile of treasure to me. As I gazed into her deep green eyes, I smiled and held out the emerald for her. “I picked this out for you,” I said softly.

Zeera’s eyes went wide, and she let out a soft “Oohh!” as she reached out and took it from my hand.

“It’s beautiful, Masdrin!” she said cheerfully as she smiled up at me.

“I know! That’s why I want you to have it,” I said as I reached up and held her soft face in my hand. I leaned down and kissed her as I wrapped my arms around her. This was truly my favorite of all my things—just holding her, kissing her, knowing she wanted to be right where she was, with me. We now had our own money, and after whatever mission I was sent away on tomorrow was over, we’d have each other again too.

We put the coins and jewels in separate fabric sacks and stored them all in the safe before heading to bed, where we’d both learn why my new ring was called “A Drow’s Delight.” The ring amplified the pleasurable sensations for the wearer and anyone they were touching by numerous magnitudes. We also learned that the ring held three charges, and, as a result, we didn’t get much sleep that night.