8. Clem
Chapter 8
Clem
I f Hadi could make daggers appear out of thin air rather than his spider’s web, he would.
He leveled a piercing, venomous glare at Atlan’s pale back as he shared a lingering hug with Sun under the growing twilight. The sun quickly lowering while they were lost in their conversation. The tension between the rest of us was palpable, to put it lightly. There were too many strange people and nocs to keep the story straight.
I fluttered about, worried our king would attempt to cut off Atlan’s head, but Atlan’s nocs circled him protectively. If Hadi got any ideas, there would be another, much deadlier and bloodier brawl, and Sun would have none of it.
Atlan’s nocs … What a strange thing to witness, but the proof was plain.
We stood around, Jia and the taller human, Krish, having already turned to pack supplies and sharpen tools for Sun’s journey, splitting them so they had some on the way back to Black Lantern. But us nocs? We were left to circle our humans like hungry predators, as they were lost in their own world, conversing in rushed whispers.
I teased my lower lip with my teeth and couldn’t help but laugh as Hadi’s attention was ripped away from his new mortal enemy by a screech of glee. The child crawler was attempting to crawl up one of his legs.
The strange noc-child, Thiên, squealed with joy every time Hadi attempted to shake him off until our king gave up, visibly bewildered as the boy crawled up to his back and lifted his six arms high in the sky towards his brethren as if to say, “Look, I have conquered a great mountain!”
Shizumi smiled sweetly at the boy, approaching Hadi without a shred of fear, “Now, now, naughty boy. Enough of that. The King of Nocs is not a toy you can play with or on,” he cautioned.
He used his proper title. However, it was evident to everyone how the rat noc truly felt, referring to Hadi mockingly.
Shizumi leaped into the air with surprising quickness, plucking the crawler off our king’s back. He landed near the panthera, Zihan, and twirled Thiên by two of his arms on the ground, spinning and spinning, those three now lost in their own little universe as well. They were carefree, as if a lowly rat touching Hadi wasn’t a big deal.
Hadi’s simmering anger boiled over, the total lack of subservience to him infuriating.
Shizumi ignored him, tossing the child to the panthera to look after as he joined Jia and Krish in their preparations. Thiên happily nestled in the panthera’s spotted white fur, rambling about how smooth the king’s butt was.
“What the hell is this?” Kiar hissed softly beside me; the absurd scenes unfolding before us distracted him from Atlan and Sun.
Bracken was quiet, pensive, which was an unusual emotion for him. Neither of us answered Kiar. How could we? We had no idea what was going on either. Nocs who disrespected Hadi were simply not a thing before he was deposed. But this went further; it was as if Hadi was insignificant to them all, like dirt under their sharp nails.
And a child noc? It was inconceivable only hours ago. But it was undeniable as the five-year-old babbled to his older brother, motioning with all six arms simultaneously.
Maybe the world was healing, just as Tsuki had wanted from us. Noc and humans together. The only way forward. Yet, it was all so strange.
“Enough!” Hadi shouted as Sun pulled Atlan down to kiss his cheek.
Kiar’s chest flared, his jealousy tinging the air with something like acid, and Sun grimaced, snapping back, “What is it?”
Hadi’s lips flopped like a fish under Sun’s withering gaze, his lips finally twisting in a snarl as he gritted out, “We need to move. If this general can help us, we need not waste more time with farewells. And they have a mission to carry out as well. Remember, we are wanted men. We should not stay here uncovered for long.”
Sun couldn’t argue with that, though it was clear he didn’t want to let Atlan or Jia go. He didn’t seem to want to leave them again at all. But then, Atlan did the hard work for Sun, cupping his former master’s cheek, his smile radiant and overflowing with affection.
Friendship. Admiration. And yes, something like love shone in the warrior’s steady gaze. It was all visible, pure, sweet emotion as he whispered to him.
“Be well, Sun. Go now. We believe in you. And we will do all that we can so you can remove Gaulu’s rot from the throne. This war ends now.”
Sun nodded, clasping Atlan’s scarred triceps a little too harshly, as Jia and Krish approached, a hand on each of Sun’s shoulders. The humans were all united.
“He’s right… Sun,” Jia hesitated to say it. Sun’s command to call him Sun, not master, not by his army rank, was causing conflict deep in her soul. “We have to go. We’ve already lost sunlight, and it’s dangerous to move at night, even with nocs among us. We must set up camp, dig in, and fortify our defenses, then set out at first light in opposite directions. They will head south and I west to save Master Tao, and then we’ll join the war effort north. I will die beside you if I must during our final stand.”
Sun gritted his teeth, biting back tears as Krish offered him a satchel weighed down with weapons and foodstuff, “We will not fail you. We will not fail Naran.”
They all emphasized you and Sun’s name, so there was not a shadow of a doubt about who they served and who they placed all their hope in now.
I shrank into myself and felt Bracken, Kiar, and, yes, even Hadi do the same. It was a special moment, a moment reserved for Sun and his human companions with no room for us in the equation. There had not been a moment since we were tethered that Sun felt separate from us, heart, body, and soul.
This feeling, this moment… It was lonely to be forgotten, even for a moment, as Sun said his farewells to his dearest friends, his heart on his sleeve, overflowing with the certainty that it would not be their last goodbye. He’d make sure of it, I knew.
I glanced at Hadi as the humans broke apart, and Sun crossed the invisible threshold separating Atlan and his allies from us. Even though other nocs’ emotions didn’t show on their skin like mine did, Hadi’s heart was clear to read, too.
He was horribly jealous, more so than Kiar and especially Bracken, and no matter what aide Sun’s companion had given us, he wanted nothing more to do with them. If Sun wouldn’t stab him in his aching heart for doing so, Hadi would probably dispose of the other nocs, and especially Atlan, brutally to sate his frustration.
But he couldn’t, no, wouldn’t. Hadi had changed, just as we had, willing to swallow his pride and play nice with those beneath him for Sun’s sake. For his affection, as Sun reached up and took Hadi’s hand.
“You’re right. I don’t want to go, but we mustn’t waste any more time.”
Sun didn’t turn around as he marched off in the other direction, joined first by Hadi, who coaxed and hoisted him onto his back, then Kiar, and finally Bracken. But I did, turning to see the departing backs of the humans and nocs, shocked to catch the gaze of the one noc who never crossed over to greet us, who had watched the whole awkward exchange silently.
Nguyen, the nightwing.
I expected him to be watching the others, those closer to his level, but he was watching me . I hadn’t noticed; I was too wrapped up in our groups silent and not-so-silent exchanges. Nguyen smirked and slowly moved his lips as he noticed me becoming aware of him.
But no sound came out. He mouthed the words to me and then turned sharply on his clawed feet, joining the rest in the opposite direction.
I trembled in fear, shocked as Bracken’s claw tapped my cheek, leaping away from his grasping hand. I stared up at him, and he looked down at me curiously, grunting, “We must go. Are you tired? I can carry you too, Clem.”
“No, no,” I shook my head and quickly slipped my hand into his. We walked away quietly, but I couldn’t shake those words from my head. Coming from a total stranger, I had no idea why they were so devastating. Or, more importantly, how he knew.
Tsuki’s pathetic emissary; it’s a shame our fates are tethered to you.
I hung my head in shame because how could I deny what I was, or the magnitude of the purpose thrust upon me, an insignificant, lowly mothian?
That night, when we made camp, the atmosphere was almost hostile. Almost because Sun was utterly oblivious to our shared dark and puzzled mood. He floated with the wispy clouds in the night sky, determination in his gaze as he sharpened blood onyx blades and arrows given to him by his retreating companions, chewing on berries and venison as we sat around the crackling fire in tense silence.
It was as if we were ghosts again, invisible, as Sun immersed himself in strategic planning and weapon smithing while we stewed. I sat closest to him, Kiar wrapped around us both, reaching for Sun occasionally as if to drag our warrior into his lap. But Kiar’s hand would always flutter back to his side, biting on his bottom lip.
Hadi sat beside Kiar the best he could, his body crushing bushes and bending a sapling to the point I was sure it would snap. Bracken stretched out in front of us all, his expression still largely unreadable but still in a lousy mood reflecting ours.
I lifted my eyebrows at Sun, who yanked out a gourd, popped the cap, sniffed its contents, and grinned. The strong scent of berries filled the air, but the fermented kind.
I sighed.
“Drinking again?” Hadi asked, grumbling and shifting, his backside not used to roughing it in the wild, I was sure. And we had been for over a month now. Our king was usually pillowed in silk and the bones of his deceased enemies, not frostbitten, and exposed to the elements.
Compared to Sun’s neglect, I didn’t think the cold bothered him at all, to be honest. I could feel the way he was drifting from us, Sun’s mind and soul pulling away from the tether as Hadi desperately tried to weave his way around our knotted bonds and control them.
“Give me a break, Hadi,” Sun said between hearty gulps of the wine. “I just found my friends alive when I assumed them dead and I was given a shred of hope in this futile mission to slay the emperor by pleading with General Hideyoshi for help. Let me have my moment.”
Sun hiccupped as he took another long swig, surprising me as he had shown us, he could hold his liquor. How potent was the concoction the strangers had whipped up?
“Let me revel in the joy of this moment before we march back into war.”
Hadi had no retort for that, and we were again plunged into a deafening silence as Sun hummed and drank himself into a stupor. And he could without a worry in the world because even drunk, he was deadly. More deadly and vital than a worthless, pathetic mothian like me, tether or no tether. My mood went off a cliff at that sobering thought, and it had already been in a pit.
Why had Tsuki chosen me? Was my role truly just to form the tether and act as a perpetual dead weight to my bonded during this war?
“What are you thinking about, Clem?” Sun asked, slurring a bit as he shoved me with his shoulder. “The atmosphere is shitty enough. Usually, you offer me a smile when they’re in one of their unfathomable moods.”
Ah, so he could tell we felt terrible, at least.
“Thinking about how much I want to kiss you right now,” I said, a half-truth.
Sun was shining and lovely and relaxed, and I wanted to share a kiss to relieve myself of my self-pity. Bracken snorted, and Kiar’s tail tightened on my hip, shoving me closer to Sun, who laughed earnestly. Hadi, in turn, seemed pleased as a smirk overtook his sour expression.
I realized they thought my initiating would open Sun to sex, to his favorite distraction, and our tired and true method of making up. And they weren’t wrong as Sun grinned and grabbed the back of my head, kissing me sloppily, the gourd falling empty to the forest floor.
His lips tasted entirely of the crude wine, and his scent was just as sweet as my new master forced his tongue into my mouth. Then, a rogue, forbidden thought entered my mind as I seized his shoulders and kissed Sun instead of allowing him to devour me as he always did.
I suppressed a giggle of glee as he acquiesced, a slight confused sound replaced by a moan of pleasure as I reached up to toy with one of Sun’s exposed nipples, robe slipping downward. Sun allowed me to, but it felt so good and right to possess him for once that I lost myself in the kiss, climbing into his lap, gripping his head with my upper arms, roaming his chest, and squeezing his hip with the other. Kiar’s tail tightened around my waist, and I squeaked as suddenly I was yanked back by the fur of my collar.
I panted, eyes wide as I stared into the fire lit in Kiar’s blue and red eyes.
Gulping, I tried to turn to Master Bracken for help, wondering if I had somehow made him mad too, but Kiar’s grip gentled, and he stroked my cheek with the back of his hand before clutching my chin.
“Suck,” he hissed.
Before I could react, he forced my face downward, dragging Sun into his lap. He squeezed us tight, so I straddled Sun fully, whose back was pressed to Kiar’s chest. I sucked on Sun’s neck as Kiar instructed and teased his nipples. Kiar hissed lower this time, filled with lust, as he grabbed Sun’s rugged jaw and forced his face upward so that they could kiss while my lips drifted down.
Kiar’s clawed fingers strummed through my hair, urging me to be lewder, to suck harder. He was enjoying this. And I had to admit, his fingers felt good combing through my fur so gently, not an ounce of his usual irritation with me in his touch.
Kiar never touched me when we mated, not like this. Not on purpose, anyway. Bumping together while we all rutted didn’t count. But the initial shock wore off soon enough. He did so because he could take from Sun and direct me to please.
That felt natural enough. It’s what always happened when we mated in the end. So why was I so thrown off by being forced to relinquish Sun’s delicious lips? It was like I was adding yet another master to my roster, and Sun’s words echoed from my memories.
You cannot serve two masters? Then what about me, who now seems to serve four?
“Now, this is what I like to see,” Bracken said, voice gravelly, cutting into my mounting despair.
I wiggled enough that Kiar loosened his tail. Turning, I found the tip of Bracken’s huge, hard, purple cock poking through his furs near my head. I caught myself flashing green before returning to neutrality, embarrassed as if this wasn’t always the order of things.
Granted, Kiar was a little touchier than he usually was with me, holding me now by my shoulders as he ravished Sun’s lips, urging me to continue my teasing of Sun’s exposed neck and nipples. But this was more or less the order of things.
So why… why was I so disturbed?
I was ravished by Sun or Bracken, or both of them at the same time, and that started a chain reaction that ended in mutual bliss. But I felt strange as I was forced to the sidelines, waiting to pleasure Sun or Bracken as usual. I would be pampered after they found their release, but…
Oh! I wanted to be alone with Sun. I realized this immediately as he was taken from me fully.
Kiar unfurled himself just enough so that Bracken could snatch me up. The naga looked at me with hooded, confused eyes as he finally released Sun’s kiss-swollen lips, wondering why I stopped, no doubt. I never stopped when it came to my sole task–bringing pleasure to my masters.
I pushed away from Bracken, who didn’t care too much as he dove for Sun instead. He was so sure I’d come around like I always did.
I was left in the cold, my cock unfurled but my erection wilting, watching as Sun surrendered to Kiar’s touch, shielded by Bracken’s wings, under Hadi’s shadow, who was reaching for his angry erection with a twisted smirk. And this scene sparked something far darker and uglier in me than any emotion I’d felt in my life.
Possessiveness.
I felt possessive and wanted Sun all to myself. I shook away that insane thought, but it clawed at me and sank into my flesh until I was heavier than stone. I hadn’t felt like this even in the prison when I was the only one of his tethered court awake. I hadn’t felt like this need so deeply, so much so I was flashing red! As if I had the right to be angry.
Foolishness!
“I… I need some fresh air,” I offered, needing to be alone with my thoughts, pulled towards the darkness of the treeline and the shaft of moonlight, not a stone’s throw away penetrating the thick canopy of trees overhead. “You all continue.”
My voice was small and weak as if they’d care in the throes of passion if I crawled an earshot away.
But Bracken and Kiar immediately stopped, pausing their coxing of Sun, whose eyes were fuzzy and body pliant like puddy in their arms.
They commanded me as one.
“No, it’s dangerous,” they said, and there was no room for discussion.
I recoiled, scolded, before bristling with anger, shocking myself once more. They were right. It was dangerous, and I was practically defenseless even in my right mind, even a hair’s breadth away. It wasn’t wise, but damn it, I just wanted to be alone for a moment! Was that too much to ask?
“I will go get some air,” I said, a little louder but far too meekly to be taken seriously.
I panted with frustration as Hadi crouched down as low as he could and dragged Sun upward, joining in kissing him now. “I will call for you all to protect me if there’s trouble.”
Bracken snorted, and Kiar’s frown deepened. I started to crawl backward and then stood, wanting to hold onto a shred of dignity, standing my ground on something so silly. My original master growled as part of my wings disappeared through the brush.
Hadi released Sun, who slid like a wave to the ground. On hands and knees, Sun leaned forward to suck on the head of Bracken’s cock, coaxing it further from its furry sheath, as he grumbled, “...Fine. Don’t stray far.”
Then, gripping a fistful of Sun’s head as his hips pumped back and forth lightly hr glanced at Kiar.
“What is wrong with him?” I heard him whisper to him.
I flinched at that but ignored it, as I always did when his words weren’t meant for me, even when I could clearly hear them. Kiar shook his head, transfixed with kneading Sun’s supple ass as Sun ground against the naga’s emerging cocks.
Hadi’s gaze never left Sun’s face, though the tiniest twitch of his fingers in my direction indicated he was dismissing me. An acknowledgment but that of flicking off a gnat getting in the way.
I screwed my eyes shut and walked away from the heat of their embrace.