System Break

I swear steam was emanating from her. "What the hell was that?" she seethed.

My mouth twisted in an awkward smile. "Improvisation. You see this idea was swirling in my head and when I threw that poor bastards severed head amongst them it inspired me."

She paced in a semi-circle in front of me. "Why plan if you do not follow the plan?"

I grinned and glanced behind where Flek and Skanvord were standing. "Any warrior worth their salt knows a plan doesn't survive the first engagement."

She fumed. "It is not how we expected this to go."

"Oh, you mean when you expected me to implicate the forest-folk and create us a target for revenge?"

She glared at me. "That is not how it is."

I bared my teeth and closed the distance between us. "Then explain to me how it is," I said quietly.

She shuffled nervously. "We only want them to know we stand together."

I danced back from her and around Flek. I raised an eyebrow, "Then why not say so openly."

"Because you would refuse," Flek said.

"Why do you judge what I would do. Am I predictable?"

Reyas chuckled. "He's got you there Flek."

Skanvord frowned and shifted uneasily.

I scowled at them like they were children. "Who is the leader amongst you, I cannot tell."

The older one, Skanvord said, "We're from different clans and Reyas is the highest ranking, but she is a woman. None of us has authority over the others."

I laughed at their stupidity and my own. "Why did I not fix this sooner. You must have a chain of command otherwise you're doomed." I pointed to Flek. "The plan changed when you opened your stupid mouth. I would have agreed to sharing the blame, but what I won't abide - is untrustworthy allies."

I waved my hand in dismissal. "Ailen, we go."

Reyas moved quickly and grabbed my elbow. "Wait." She said sheepishly. "You must see the shaman."

"Why? It's not my shaman."

She looked at the others and then back to me. "It'll be me who is blamed if you do not." She pursed her lips and her breasts brushed my elbow as she turned.

I smiled at her. "Oh, now you bring out the big guns."

A confused look crossed her face.

"I know what you're doing." My eyes bore into hers and then I smiled broadly. "But okay, since you asked so nicely."

"I will take you," she said and looked at Skanvord and Flek. "Alone." They began to protest immediately. Ailen and I took a walk while they argued over who would escort us to the shaman.

He looked at them. "Complicated."

"Still think they're programs?"

"Maybe AI," he said. "Definitely not scripted."

I stretched with my spear behind my shoulder blades twisting side to side. My muscles rippled and there was very little fat on my body. The green streaks looked like war paint over my brown skin.

"I think I'm getting browner," I said.

Ailen looked at me. "Only a little. You've always been a timber brown."

"Really?" I said. The change was so subtle I hadn't noticed. I reached down and put on the poncho; it would be cold again in the mountains.

Reyas approached us with two glum faces behind her. "It is decided. I will take you to the shaman alone and repair your trust."

I leaned towards her. "And you feel safe with me alone?" I was taller than her, standing uphill and I looked down into her eyes.

She met my gaze and fiddled with one of her axes. "I am not defenceless."

I looked at her cleavage which was in a prime location under my chin. "No, you're well endowered."

Her axe head touched my stomach. "You will respect me."

I met her gaze. "Sure. I'll respect the hell out of you before and after we have sex."

She shook her head. "What makes you think I want to have relations with you?"

I touched her face gently. "The colour of your cheek."

Her axed pushed harder but my stomach may as well have been made of steel. The nervousness of her companions was palpable. I wasn't sure if they were embarrassed or on the brink of bursting out with laughter.

I removed my hand. "Come my pretty, lead the way to your shaman."

She huffed, picked up her pack and began to run. When we were the closest to the forest Ailen left us to head back directly. The pair of mountain men stayed with us for a time and we separated when we entered the mountains.

She cracked a flint stone against a small steel slab and started the fire. "We will be there tomorrow, but he may make you wait to see him. Be prepared for that."

The furs were comfortable, and I lay down facing the fire taking in its heat. We were in the high mountains and I'd been freezing. I kept going with a thin stream of qi body all day and I was exhausted.

She threw a fur over my waist. "Keep it covered I don't want to look at it."

I pouted. "I'm warming up. It's been freezing all day." I patted the fur down over my inadequate covering. I would really have to do something about it if I entered a city because I was literally walking around with my junk on display for anyone who looked beneath the fig leaf.

Reyas removed her armour and furs down to what passed for leather underwear. She faced the fire on the opposite side soaking its warmth into her skin. She pulled a large fur over her and placed her axe between us.

"Don't get any ideas," she said.

"All the ideas are already in my head. And when I see a beautiful woman like you, they come on their own accord."

One side of her lip raised and curled. "Why are you so infuriating. No one speaks to me this way. No one."

I propped my head up on my elbow and looked her up and down. Drinking in her fine curves. She was fit, strong, but also curved like a woman who ate fatty meat. Her eyes smouldered at me as I enjoyed her body with mine.

"Maybe they should. You wouldn't be so insecure."

She pulled the furs over and down. Covering herself. An adorable protest escaped her lips.

Her gaze looked away from mine and was downcast. "Women in the mountains are treated differently to the women from your forest."

"I can see. I can hear and I understand," I said softly.

Invigorated her eyes lifted and glared at me. "If you are so wise, why do you speak to me so?"

I laughed. "Because I enjoy it. You're beautiful and I want you."

She huffed. "Even if I wanted you. You are not one of us and I will be married to someone of my father's choosing."

"I don't want to marry you. I just want to enjoy humping you and making you scream in ecstasy."

She choked. "You cannot say these things to me!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the daughter of the clan and you're a savage."

"Maybe you want to be savaged."

She glared at me and I was silent. Her smouldering eyes softened as the minutes passed. The flames liked and she breathed heavily as she wrestled with her own mind. "I find you somewhat attractive. Your confidence and the way you fight. Nothing bothers nor scares you. But what I want does not matter. Only the clan matters."

I rolled over showing my back to the fire and said, "Okay."

She pouted and observed my back. It was like a well-defined and proportioned sculpture. The muscles and tendons curved down to my firm buttocks and lithe legs. She lay in silence for a long time studying me.

Her eyes flared and she said, "Why don't you argue with me and tell me what I want matters? That we can be together and damned with what everyone thinks?"

I snored.