Hatching a Heroine Chapter 2
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Hatching A Heroine - Chapter 4 free porn video
Written by Emilie Ember
Edited by Talia Elliott Belser
The two mile walk was a miserable experience for David. His legs were
longer than they used to be, so he kept stubbing his toe, or slamming
his foot into the ground. His center of gravity was off, so he stumbled
whenever the forest trail had a bump or dip. His clothes were now an ill
fit: the top came uncomfortably close to tearing whenever he moved his
arms about, and his formerly baggy sweatpants, which couldn't even reach
his ankles now, were in constant danger of slipping off his widened
hips.
Mercifully his shoes still fit, which meant that he at least might not
get blisters from this nightmare of a trip.
"Relax. We're almost there." Lonna smiled as she spoke. With the
moonlight reflected in her golden eyes, and that smile on her face, she
looked quite beautiful. Enough that David, blushing, looked away.
He only knew two people in this entire world. He couldn't afford to
drive one of them away by flirting with her; he'd die if he was left on
his own. Besides, he was fairly certain that Lonna wasn't interested in
him.
It was the heroine she admired; David was just the fool who'd shown up
in her place.
It was only when his foot clipped the back of Lonna's and his thigh
bumped against her back that he realized his guide had stilled.
Talith, who'd been keeping a watch behind them, made a noise like
grinding rock. David had already heard this enough to recognize it as
the Laspi's sigh.
"He's like a newborn clayling," Talith muttered, loud enough for
everyone present to hear. "He doesn't even know how to stop on command,
and you want him to take on the queen?"
"Sorry for not knowing how to move a body I got an hour ago," David
grumbled back, his voice as low as his new vocal cords allowed. "Maybe
if you all weren't in such a hurry to get back to the city, I could have
practiced walking."
Lonna put a finger to her lips, gesturing for the two of them to be
silent, and then waved Talith forward; the large clay man made his way
around David to get a better view.
"...Shit," Lonna murmured. "Didn't realize we were so close."
"How close are we?" David stood on tiptoes to try and get a better view,
but Talith was too large an obstacle to see around.
"Too close, considering how loud you were," Lonna whispered, gesturing
for David to crouch down, as she pulled the branches aside.
They were on top of a hill. The city, of tall buildings sprawling across
the land, started about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. Farmland
stretched out behind it, covering a wide expanse of territory, and
stretching right up to the back end of the wall itself. Despite it being
late at night, David could see a few people walking about fields of
maize, beans, barley and emmer wheat. The rest were probably sleeping,
within the squat farmhouses that dotted the landscape.
As for the city wall itself, it towered even higher than the buildings,
so high up as to be eye level with them on the hill. The wall was
constructed of heavy stones, was spotted with crenelations, and had
archers peeking down from atop it. It had exactly one opening, so far as
David could see: a solid iron gate, illuminated by lanterns and guarded
by two men.
"Think they heard us?" Talith whispered, his voice lower and quieter
than David knew it could go.
Lonna shook her head, though. "You weren't that loud. Besides, they're
not going to get in our way today, of all days."
"And why not?" Talith asked. The red flickers of light that filled his
eye sockets were unchanging, but his gravelly voice sounded dubious to
David's ears.
Lonna hesitated. "...Because it's my birthday," she said.
She calmly stepped out from the treeline and began to walk down the
hill, in full sight of the guards at the gate.
There was a loud thud as Talith slapped his three fingered hand against
his forehead with great force. Shaking his head, the clay man pushed his
wide knuckles against the ground, and swung his lower body forward.
David, suddenly alone, hesitated at the forest's edge. If he wanted to
find his own way, and his own way home, this was, probably, his last
chance. If he turned and fled, he might make it some small distance
before Lonna realized he was gone.
He'd probably get lost and the forest and die soon after, though.
"W-Wait for me!" he called, running down the hill, straight past Talith,
not stopping until he was side by side with Lonna.
Right in front of the guards.
"Who's this?" muttered the one on the right, while the one on the left
cautiously lowered his spear, aiming the tip toward David's neck.
Although the guard didn't move to kill, David still stepped back, heart
pounding. It was the first time that anyone had ever pointed a weapon at
him.
Lonna calmly stepped in front of the guard.
Although she was so short that the one with the spear could have simply
raised his shoulder to skewer David, the guard immediately lowered his
weapon.
"He's with me," Lonna declared, looking back at David. "Goes by-"
"Melissa," the heroine interrupted, smiling brightly as the guard's eyes
narrowed. "My name is Melissa."
The guard frowned, faintly, looking first at Lonna, and then at the
newcomer."Melissa," for his part, starred right back, trying to memorize
what sort of uniforms guards wore in this world,
The answer appeared to be "not much." He was wearing a maille shirt, and
pauldrons emblazoned with what looked to be a red sun, on a black field.
Or, as she would have been told to call it in class: sable, a sun
guiles. Melissa could only assume that it was the (supposedly) wicked
queen's symbol - on earth, a golden sun on black would make more sense
and wouldn't break the rule of tincture; whoever bore this coat of arms
had enough power enough to break the rules
in this ominous way.
The guard's companion was dressed in much the same way - right down to
the same sized chain shirt, which left his midriff covered only by a
coarse brown fabric. The parts of his clothes that weren't armor must
have been the soldier's responsibility: while both guards were wearing
brown trousers, the one who had been speaking so far had thin, tan ones
compared to the other's tough, dark pants.
The guard on the right, who'd been speaking so far, had short-cropped
brown hair and hard green eyes. The one on the left who was too tall and
lanky for his gear had dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and an adolescent
face - complete with acne. He couldn't have been older than 18, and that
was doubtful.
Considering the other one looked to be in his early thirties, Melissa
supposed they were partnered as mentor and student.
There was only one thing Melissa couldn't figure out: the look of fear
that filled both guards' eyes whenever they looked at Lonna.
"A-Alright," muttered the guard on the right, apparently having gotten
his fill of staring at Melissa. " So his name's Melissa..."
"Um... Her.... Her name is Melissa," Melissa corrected, rubbing the back
of her neck. "Lonna had a ...Slip of the tongue?"
She smiled, trying to appear as natural as possible. The whole reason
she'd given a fake name was to try and blend in, so Melissa figured that
using feminine pronouns would make her less conspicuous.
So why was the guard narrowing his eyes?
"Lonna?" the guard asked, raising an eyebrow, and turned his gaze to the
redhead. "I thought your name was Rigara."
"Does it matter?" Lonna asked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
"You're going to let me through no matter what my name is, aren't you?
Because you know that if you don't-"
"She'll light your pants on fire," Talith interrupted, slamming his
lower body into position behind Melissa and Lonna. He'd taken his time
coming down, but the effect of a huge clay creature on the guards was...
Not very noticeable, honestly; they were still just trembling at the
sight of Lonna.
Melissa turned to look at the small sorceress. "Tell me you haven't
actually lit anyone's pants on fire? Please?" she whispered.
Lonna averted her eyes. "I didn't know the guy was keeping oily rags in
his pants... And I healed him afterwards, didn't I?"
"The captain of the city guard has strict orders not to allow her
arrest," Talith explained, his voice pitched low enough that it would
seem a whisper. The words were loud enough that the guards couldn't help
but hear, though. "Heard around town that someone higher up in the food
chain wants to recruit her. Personally."
"Those rumors can go fuck themselves." Lonna's voice was an actual
whisper. But Melissa's ears picked it up, all the same.
By the time she'd shifted her focus to the little redhead, however,
Lonna had already taken a step away from her companions - and toward the
guards.
"Now. Are you going to open the gates? Because I'm telling you right
now - I won't have Breath to waste on healing you."
The guard's faces turned ashen at that.
"O-Open the gate for the Lady!" stuttered the lanky one. The older one
on the right was sullenly silent as the gate started to crank open,
sliding upward until there was enough room for even Talith to walk under
it without stooping.
Experiencing the city for the first time, with no walls between her and
the streets, Melissa's first thought was not directly about the people,
or the buildings.
"It stinks," she thought out loud, wrinkling her nose.
So far, she had been treated to the smell of woods, and open fields,
untouched by industry. Clear, wonderful, natural scents. But now she was
confronted by the sheer stench of people - without a sewer system -
cramped in close quarters and surrounded by a wall.
A sheer wave of nausea overwhelmed her, and she couldn't help reaching
up to pinch at her nose.
"Come on," Lonna muttered, pulling the hood of her green cloak over her
head, hunching herself over, and walking in. It was obvious, to anyone
looking, that she wanted to be neither bothered nor recognized.
Talith, who couldn't hide this way, began to walk upright on two feet
for the first time since Melissa had met him. Although he had no visible
nose, and possibly no sense of smell, it was obvious that something
about the city made him uncomfortable.
Melissa could relate. She didn't want to step into a stench so strong it
seemed nearly a solid barrier. But with Lonna and Talith already inside,
the gate was closing and Melissa had no choice but to lower her head and
duck within, scrambling to enter before the entrance closed.
"Glad to see you made it," muttered Talith. His face was set into a
scowl, however, as he looked about the city.
"Welcome to Ife," Lonna proclaimed, striding forward now that Melissa
had joined them. "It used to be the greatest city on the continent.
Before Sorissa."
"How can one person cause this kind of decay?" Melissa asked, taking it
in. Though the stench made her eyes water, the brunette reasoned that it
was normal for a walled city with gutters instead of a proper sewage
system. The mouldering and pockmarked buildings, on the other hand,
spoke of something more sinister.
The city was squalid. The buildings did seem a little more solidly
built, as they moved toward the wealthier center of town - but only the
architecture improved. No matter how far they traveled inward, nothing
was cleaner, and there wasn't a single sign of wealth or prosperity. The
shops Melissa saw had dingy signs, with smudged symbols she couldn't
make out and faded pictures with peeling, washed-out paint. Melissa's
would suppose that at least some of them had to be open during daylight
hours - but all of them had the windows boarded up.
Even more upsetting were the people - or the lack of them. It might have
only been because of the lateness of the hour, but Melissa saw near no
one on the streets, and these wore clothes saturated with sweat and dirt
and reek and hasty patchwork. They kept their heads bowed, and moved
straight toward their destinations.
Melissa, Lonna, and Talith walked through street after street, but
Melissa saw nothing but poverty.
Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a large house, built of
unpainted red stone. It had a red door - and no roof.
"The second floor was shattered when the last owner apparently pissed
off a magi," Lonna told Melissa. "But it hasn't collapsed yet, and
everyone here knows I've claimed this as my territory, so no one should
bother us during the night."
Lonna then pulled two slender pieces of metal out of her cloak, no
longer than her pinky and no wider than it's fingernail. She inserted
the metal into the lock mechanism, and began to fiddle.
"You're..." Melissa could scarcely believe it. "...Picking the lock?
Don't you have a key?"
"I told you, I claimed this place after the last person and most of the
second floor exploded. And the key with them, probably!"
The lock clicked open as Lonna spoke, so she gave the doorknob a test
turn before nodding and pulling it open.
"Come on in, heroine. Talith, you okay with keeping a full watch?"
Talith crossed his arms. "Fine. But tomorrow evening, the heroine's
taking her share of the watch." He turned to face the outside world.
From the conversation, Melissa could only hope that the clay creature
didn't need sleep - because it was clear that he wasn't going to get
any.
Melissa needed sleep, though - God, she needed sleep. She was only
human, after all, and it was late before she was summoned. Between the
drama after, and the hike after that, and the final danger at the city
threshold, she was exhausted.
"Come on, 'Melissa," Lonna called, from deep inside the house, her voice
desiccating when it touched Melissa's new name. "You can take the bed
tonight."
"The bed?" she called back. "What about you? You were out of breath, you
should-"
"The heroine needs her strength." Lonna decreed from deeper in the
house.
Walking in, Melissa found himself in front of a bare-boned bed frame.
There was no mattress or box-spring, but several thick looking blankets
had been piled on top of a single wooden slat.
"Sleep," Lonna imperiously demanded, unaware of how disappointed Melissa
was with the bed.
Melissa nodded all the same, yawning, and climbed into the bed. The wood
was hard beneath her knees, even through the blankets, but since the
night was comfortably warm, she decided to lay on top of the heavy wool
and linen, using them as cushions.
"What's with the Melissa thing, anyway?" asked Lonna. "And the she
pronouns? You trying to disguise yourself as a girl?"
"...Thought it would draw less attention..." Melissa cracked her mouth
harder with this yawn, stretching her arms above her head before she
curled up in as small a ball she could make of herself. "...Besides..."
she added, drifting away into sleep. "It felt... Better. Being called
that. In this form..."
Cracking her eyes open, Melissa's last thought before losing
consciousness was Why does she look so confused? I just want to be seen
as a girl, for a little bit...
Perhaps if she'd stayed awake a bit longer, she would have analyzed that
thought - but in that moment, sleep swallowed her up.
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