Champion

Chapter 41

That's the problem with marrying such a beauty. You can only pull yourself from inside her long enough for the next child to pop out," the cook laughed. "But you do own one of the best taverns in all of Exitibus. You can afford to feed all those mouths."

"That is true," he replied laughing. And Cassius, owner of the Traders' Rest Tavern and secret Shadow Lord of Exitibus, walked through the kitchens into the main seating area, greeting his customers warmly.

***

David and the women arrived within view of Exitibus without incident. If you believe that waking every morning pressed to the succulent body of one of two gorgeous women was not an incident. He believed it was. He had been unable to figure out a way of extricating himself from the mess. It would be a lot easier if he could just convince Sapphire to discuss their feelings, and commit to him. But she wouldn't, and he had lost the will to fight Laurena's attentions. She was just so damn hot! He constantly reassured himself that he had no desire for her beyond the carnal; but he had finally broken down the previous day and decided he would 'grudge f**k' the ever loving s**t out of her if he got the chance.

Laurena was pleased with the progress she had made. She had been worried about Sapphire growing increasingly closer to David, but as the days of travel grew and nothing more developed she saw her opportunity. Every evening she slept as close to the Champion as she could; and whenever possible she made sure to press her body against him. She could see how her actions were wearing his resistance down, and she hoped to persuade him to attend an Erosian worship service in Exitibus. She would need to convince the local priest or priestess to allow her to bless only David during the service. It would be the first time she had only one partner for worship since her first, but she knew it would have to be that way if she was to have any chance of being with him.

Sapphire was truly conflicted. She had finally realized that she wanted a relationship with David, but she had no experience with relationships. She had never lain with a man before, and she was clueless how to proceed. Worse, every time David had tried to discuss the possibility with her, she got nervous and changed the subject. She was worried she would be terrible in bed, and with the more experienced Laurena trying so hard to gain the Champion's affections it would be easy for him to discard her if she couldn't perform well enough. She would have given up the cause as lost if he hadn't continued to show her so much attention. She knew he cared for her, but she needed to do something soon. While she was first in David's mind right now, that position slipped further and further each time she avoided his desire for a commitment from her. She was also having nightmares again, ever since killing Lucius. They had been constant after her father's death, but had come less frequently since.

The night her father died, the men that attacked them were initially content to just rob them. Then they had gotten a good look at her beauty and decided to r**e her as well. She fought back when they came for her, using her magic to throw three of them into nearby trees, but there were just too many. Her father had attacked one of them to defend her, and that was why they had both been beaten; her to the cusp of death, and her father all the way. She had never spoken to anyone about why they attacked them, because her guilt wouldn't allow it. If she had just given them what they wanted her father wouldn't have died that night. The nightmares started the night after she woke up from the attack, and most of the time they were one of the same two. In the first one she was crying and being held down by four men while the fifth tried to r**e her, and the other three beat her father beside her. In the other she was the one beating her father, screaming at him for being a weakling. She loved her father, and would have accepted the first nightmare every night of her life if it meant she never had to have the second. But she knew he was dead because of her, and that nightmare was her punishment.

Thus all three were buried in their own thoughts as they rode into the city that day. So it came as a great surprise to them when a man wearing the livery of the Temple of Eros over a set of leather armor stopped them at the entrance to the town. Laurena and Sapphire noted the Mark of Servitude on his neck, while David was oblivious.

"All visitors in Exitibus need to register with the sheriff's representative before they can enter the city," the man told them politely but firmly.

Sapphire was surprised at this announcement. She had been traveling these roads for many winters, and she had never seen or heard of such a thing before. She told the man such.

"The senior priest of the temple was murdered two months ago. The junior priest requested aid from members of the town in maintaining order, and created the office of the sheriff to do that on the clergy's behalf. Registration only takes a few minutes, and it is as much for your safety as it is for the safety of everyone in the town," he explained with benign indifference.

His words received different responses from the three. Sapphire exclaimed "a murder?" Laurena exclaimed "the priest was killed?" and David asked "how good's the beer here?"

Both women, and even the guard, stared at him in shock at his comment.

David looked back into their stunned faces. "What?" he asked.

***Exitibus ***

231500MAR13 DW

Exitibus, Erosius

The trio was escorted to the sheriff's office by another guard, and went through the registration process for visitors. It was fairly simple; they gave their names, occupations, purpose for visiting, and listed any weapons they carried to the sheriff's representative. Sapphire and Laurena gave David a confused look when he reported only carrying his knives as weapons, but they held their tongues. When Sapphire explained their reason for visiting was to travel to Calavius for trade, Laurena moved to argue, but David subtly grasped her elbow and stepped on her foot. She was annoyed with the both of them after that, but kept her peace. The representative offered to give them directions, but Sapphire thanked him and assured him that she was well acquainted with the city.

After they left the office Laurena demanded an explanation for their deception.

"My weapons don't exist in this world," David whispered to her quietly. "I have no idea what he would have done with that information. For all I know he has the authority to confiscate them, which would be dangerous for us and for him."

Rounding on Sapphire, Laurena demanded of the woman, "Well what about you?"

"Assuming he even believed that David is the next Champion of Eros," the Dracian explained, "do you really think that man would accept that a Champion traveled with nothing but a few knives?"

"I do not like these deceptions," Laurena complained.

"I don't like the idea of a town killing their priest," David replied, deadpan.

Laurena had no response for that, so she dropped the matter and insisted that they travel directly to the temple. Neither Sapphire nor David had any complaints with this plan. Traveling through the city David was surprised at the economic disparity he saw. There were a few nice homes scattered amongst many in disrepair. Mentioning this to Sapphire she tried to explain it to him.

"Exitibus is a crossroads city, which means most of the day-to-day population is reliant on traders and travelers for their income. In the last few decades the amount of travel through the city has increased greatly with the completion of the Calavius road, but many of the people who moved to the city to find wealth found stiff competition instead. Those that couldn't compete, but had the skill to be successful elsewhere returned to their home towns, and left their houses to others. The aging homes you see are owned by those with scant magic. They have little skill to do anything else so they scrape by here, but don't have enough magic to care for their own homes. In a smaller town, friends and neighbors would help with these issues, but here most of the buildings fall into disrepair because there is no shared history or strong sense of community. My father told me it was because the old priest in charge of the temple was a poor leader of the faithful."

Laurena wanted to argue with the woman about that, but the neglected conditions of the buildings they rode past held her comments. She had never seen such poverty before. She knew that guiding the faithful and caring for the community was the responsibility of the clergy. The conditions in this city clearly showed a distinct lack of both.

They arrived at the temple a short time later. David noticed that it was much grander than the one in Wolfsvale. This building was nearly four times the size of Astinus' temple, and was made from stone rather than wood. He also noted that the stained glass windows where much larger and more intricately worked. They tied their horses to a hitching post alongside the building, and entered, after Laurena insisted they cast cleansing spells on themselves.

The interior of the temple had a similar lay-out to the one in Wolfsvale, only it was also proportionally larger. When they entered they saw a young priestess standing near the back of the room, speaking to a man dressed in fine clothes. He was tall for the region at five feet eight inches, with long dark brown hair parted on the left and swept over to nearly cover the right side of his face. He wore navy blue breeches with a silver trouser braid along each leg, a high collared white tunic, white cravat, and royal blue jacket with silver piping. David also noticed he had a sword belted at his waist. The priestess wore white robes similar to Laurena's, but she didn't fill them out nearly as well. She was attractive; standing at five feet four inches tall, with long brown hair in a single braid, a cute heart shaped face, medium sized hips, and B-cup breasts.

The man looked at them warily, but the priestess turned to give them a polite smile. Her intended greeting died on her lips once she saw Laurena.

"Laurena," she exclaimed in shock and joy, hurrying to the young acolyte.

"Phoebe," Laurena responded with equal shock, moving to embrace the young priestess.

The two met half-way, and hugged in the middle of the room. After a long moment they separated and began talking at the same time. "What are you doing here?" asked Phoebe, "I did not realize you were in Exitibus," said Laurena.