The man who had succeeded in maintaining self-control all along was floored by the sudden rush of desire pulsating through him. He wanted her. Oh, how he wished to go through with this moment. But the logical half of him yelled to keep the desire at bay. Going through with what they both wanted in this moment wasn’t what he set out to do. Oswald bit down on his cheek, shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out an item shaped like a bird.
“Of course you. I want you.”
With that final word, he killed the switch. He gently pushed away the wide-eyed girl and was relieved to be away from the sweet, tantalizing scent of her.
Suddenly freed of his touch, she questioned him with all the confusion she felt. “What the heck is that?’
Oswald looked over his shoulder with a wicked smirk, instantly transforming from a man indulging in lust to a shrewd witch.
✦ ✦ ✦
“NIGHT dutyyy ain’t eassyyy, either! Dammit! Hiccup!”
Under the moonlight, the silhouette of a tottering man swayed. A resident of Brownie Village, he shouldered the baton handed to him in front of the guardhouse—aka the storage shed used as a makeshift guardhouse—and took a swig of the flask he secretly brought from home.
“Ain’t fair! Where does she get off bein’ all bossy? Who do she t’ink bringsss ’ome the bread! Baaaaaah!” The man watched the last drop hit his tongue and kicked the sand.
Today just wasn’t his day. He had come home from a good night out drinking with his pals only to be nagged by his angry wife into grudgingly doing chores—granted, her anger was entirely his fault—and when he came back exhausted from tending to their klehna fields with a killer hangover, she was all over him again. Then when he decided to just sleep off the day, he remembered he was on watchmen’s night duty today. Grumbling curses under his breath, he slogged his way through his rounds with zero motivation.
“Stinkin’ night duty. I missed out on sweet Nichika’s concert, too!”
The word in town was that the holy maiden who had come to stay with them since the other day was actually on a journey to save the world! Only yesterday the guard had decided to go see one of the concerts she was putting on to raise funds for her perilous venture. He had gotten so drunk he’d forgotten all about it.
“Won’t ya save me toooooooo, Holy Maideeeeen?”
His drunken babbling faded into the night sky. He then spotted the lone building at the foot of the hill. The stone prison set on the outskirts of the peaceful village was rarely used, but the torchlights indicated they had someone locked up for once. Remembering that the prison was a part of his patrol route, the man staggered downhill.
“RAWR!” he roared for the heck of it. “You prisoners behavin’ yerselves?!” He approached the stone building swinging the baton. And then he heard it—a stifled moan. “Ooh?”
The moaning came from a young woman whose seductive sighs could be heard intermittently outside the prison. He was about to pull out the bolt when he heard extra heavy breathing and even louder moans of “Aah! Aaaahnn! Not there!”
The man gulped, his hand freezing on the bolt. Oh yeah, they said something ’bout having locked up a young man and woman traveling together… Smiling to himself, the man circled around to the back of the prison.
“Heh, heh, heh. Ain’t it nice to be young.”
He tried to peep inside, but a rag had been hung over the window inside, blocking his view. But the cries and panting were growing more frenetic, turning him on.
Here I thought I’d be stuck on a boring ol’ patrol duty, but this is pretty stimulating. The ol’ lady back ’ome has been ’olding out on me, too.
The man crouched in the bushes with his back to the window and began noisily removing his belt.