Action Pack Chapter 3: From Tent to Bank Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. contained within this story all belong to paetrasslave and may not be used in other media without express permission. Why anyone would want to, she's not sure. Also, this story is incredibly sexual in nature with many preferences and depictions on display that will probably offend many readers, including. Anyone under 18 or possessed of an easily offended mindset should leave now. For anyone else, that's probably all the reason you need to stay. --------- Cathallis fidgeted and faced away from her sisters. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Cath," Jein offered. She couldn't see it, but Cathallis's cheeks turned pink at the mention of that pet name. "Do you want me to take off my clothes, Jein?" "...yes." "And do you want to make love to me once I have?" "...yes!" Cathallis's fingers trembled as she loosened the laces on the front of her inviting red bodice, almost the same hue as she'd colored her soft lips that morning. She shimmed out of the enticing garment and then slowly, teasingly pulled her blouse open to reveal a bra of lacy black silk, the color of her hair, supporting the chest equaling her twin's. She then pushed her thumbs into the waist of her pants and shook her hips slowly and seductively until they slipped off her slender legs, revealing lacy black V-cut panties covering what was left of her modesty. The crimson tinge to her cheeks as she clutched her wrists behind her back make the effect complete. With one practiced sway of her shoulders Jasami sent her own dress sliding down her body. Her childish underthings with the colorful hearts from that morning totally belied the experienced partner wearing them. Jein had her doubts as Jasami pulled her pants off then licked along her inner thigh, but as Cathallis laced those long fingers together with Jein's and started to bombard Jein's lips with kisses, those doubts quickly collapsed. "Are all girls like this with their sisters?" Jein managed to gasp out between kisses. Cathallis's grip weakened and she leaned back wit a look of disappointment. "You don't like this?" she asked with watery eyes. "Of course I do! It's just...I don't think sisters did this kind of thing with each other where I grew up." "You're not there anymore," Jasami pointedly reminded her, then pulled Jein's blouse wide and buried her face in her older sister's magenta-clad breasts. "She's got a point," Cathallis affirmed. Then affirmed it again with another hard kiss. Jein sighed, then chuckled and licked lightly along Cathallis's lips while she cuddled Jasami closer to her torso. Night was settling in over the hilly landscape. The forbidding forest and the tunnels beneath it they'd left behind was just barely visible in the distance. That is, just barely visible if they weren't inside the spare tent Sereda's friends had lent the sisters for the night. Sereda had promised to sneak by later. At least, that's what Jein had thought when Sereda surreptitiously grabbed her ass and winked up at her. Jein wondered if Sereda would be upset because they didn't wait for her before they started, but her sisters pressed their amorous attack and the rush of arousal made her forget anything else. If indeed she was coming. Jasami wrapped her arms and legs around Jein's middle and dug her face deeper into Jein's cleavage while Cathallis leaned over Jasami, sandwiching the youngest between them and getting a pleased moan out of her as she was driven deeper into Jein's cleavage, and initiated another round of enthusiastic kissing with Jein. Jasami's young breasts rolled against Jein, and Jein could feel her younger sibling's wet arousal starting to drip through both of their panties. Cathallis's tongue danced with Jein's in the short gap between their lips. Jein could just feel her juices starting to flow when she saw someone outside the tent flap. It wasn't a short stocky woman in black who slipped in, however. "Who's there?" Jein asked. Cathallis pulled her cloak around the three of them, hiding everything below the neck. "A friend of Sereda's," the intruder said softly and slipped inside. It was the willowy elf woman who'd discovered Jein and Sereda in their passionate embrace back in the caves. Three-inch long pointed ears poked out from underneath her wavy locks. "Pardon me," the intruding woman said softly. "But are you three really the Devyre sisters?" "You want to tell me why you're asking before I answer that?" Jein responded. "I've been away a while." As the sisters' guest settled down on the ground, Jasami reluctantly peeled herself off Jein's front and took a seat to the side but did nothing to indicate she felt anything wrong with a stranger seeing her in her underwear. Jein looked over her shoulder at her Cathallis, but held in a gasp when Cathallis cuddled closer and pushed her chest in firmly. Just as she was processing that, she felt Cathallis's dainty hands slip inside her bra and start fondling her breasts. "My name is Ilindora," she explained. "I'm an elf from the Triksachel Forest. I joined that party to gather some treasure, and now that I've got all I can carry I'm leaving to head home. But...there are other problems in the forest from what I heard on the way back here." "What...eep...kind of trouble is that?" Jein gasped out. Ilindora gave them a strange look, but continued. "People are talking of elves fleeing the forest, because of strange white creatures that kill anyone they catch after dark, when they come out. Worse, some of the elves that go missing in the night appear again later, with the same pale faces and seeking the blood of the rest of us." Cathallis let out a yip of fright and sank her hands deep into Jein's breasts for reassurance. "Vampires, huh?" Jein squeaked from the sudden sensation. Ilindora nodded. "I've heard of your family, they're supposed to be great warriors. I was hoping that you'd be willing to accompany me home, look into those stories, and if necessary put an end to these vampires. I'm afraid I can't offer you much in the way of money as repayment, but we could get you to Zenith much faster than on foot." Jein and Cathallis exchanged a look. Jein was eager to get her sisters someplace relatively safe, like the home of whoever was in charge of Akton. Walking the rest of the way, unarmed and unsure of any special powers they might have, was a prospect she didn't mind avoiding if she could. But walking right into an area that was the hunting ground of a bunch of vampires...wasn't that the opposite of what she was trying to achieve? To keep her incestuous relations out of danger? Besides, she really didn't know how good she was at this whole "combat" thing yet, and was hesitant to find out against a group of blood-crazed vampires. "Do you have some kind of permanent settlement there?" Jein asked. "Do the vampires ever attack it?" Ilindora shook her head. "I don't know. These are all tales I've heard while I was away. I can't speak for their accuracy." "Getting to Zenith is the important thing," Cathallis said quietly. "Keeping my sisters safe is pretty important too," Jein replied. Cathallis somehow managed to cuddle a little closer upon hearing that. "But getting to Zenith is probably the best way to do that. All right, if you can get my sisters to Zenith faster I'll come with you and see what I can do about helping you." "Hmph!" Cathallis grumbled. "What?" "Don't say that like you're leaving us," Cathallis said grumpily. "Of course I'm not leaving you. But I'm not risking you either." Cathallis's limpid eyes lidded for a second and with a moan she pulled Jein into a kiss. Jasami crawled inside the cloak and pressed her cheek against Jein's belly. "Um, I'll see you girls in the morning..." Ilindora said and started toward the flap. "You don't have to leave," Jein replied. Ilindora hesitated for just a second, but then she had slipped out into the gathering darkness. "Damn, must be losing my touch..." Cathallis pressed her hands deeper into Jein's breasts and all strength seemed to flow out of her body. "We'll make you feel all better, won't we Jasami?" she whispered. A warm tongue dipping into Jein's navel was the answer. A small but nimble hand slipped down the front of her panties next. Jein crumpled back helplessly into her sisters' loving embrace. Cathallis's cloak parted as she laid Jein out on the floor of the tent with Jasami sitting poised between Jein's legs. Still weak from their double-sided attack on her, she could offer no resistance as Jasami rolled her panties down and Cathallis popped the clasp on her bra and slipped it off Jein's arms. Something warm landed on Jein's face. Just as she sat up and picked a pair of heart-covered panties off her face, Jasami slipped between Jein's legs, laid down on her side and wrapped her legs around Jein's. Jasami then pulled her bar up and pressed her modest bust against Jein's leg and eased her sex down to meet Jein's. Jasami slowly rubbed her sex up the curve of Jein's inner thigh. She moaned lustily and then rubbed her sex back down and up the other side. As she ran her sex back another time the motion was rewarded with a nasty squelch when she brushed against Jein's nether lips. Jasami moaned even louder, pressed her chest harder against Jein's leg and took Jein's big toe into her mouth to suck hard on the digit. Jein bit her lip to hold in a loud moan of her own, not wanting to seem like a complete amateur at this. Out of instinct she arched her back and clenched her eyes shut at the erotic ministrations provided by her little sister, then opened her eyes to see another wide open, dripping cunt descending on her face. "Hey...!" Jein gasped in surprise before Cathallis sat down on her face. "I did you last time, now it's your turn to do me," Cathallis said, then leaned down to get a good grip on her twin's breasts. Jein squealed helplessly into Cathallis's cunt, in the process kissing at the lips before accepting the position and lapping her tongue back and forth inside Cathallis. Cathallis moaned out long and loud, and Jein almost stopped tending to her sister to tell her to keep it down before the others came over to see what the noise was. Her cheeks flushed at the thought, and she wondered just how one could be comfortable with having a three-way with their sisters yet not with the idea of an audience. A twist of Jein's nipples rescued her from her distraction and she squealed up into Cathallis's valley herself, her hands sinking into Cathallis's soft ass. Jein rolled the buns in her hands as she sucked on the edges of Cathallis's sex. Cathallis moaned out and returned the favor by squeezing clenching her soft thighs around Jein's head and squeezing Jein's warm breasts so hard Jein almost collapsed from the wave of erotic pleasure that swept over her. What sounded like a muffled grunt reached Jein's ears even with her head sandwiched between Cathallis's thighs. She felt Jasami's tongue travel over her toe more fiercely, but that ferocity was nothing compared to how hard Jasami ground her cunt against the slope of Jein's thighs. Jein gripped Cathallis's butt harder as her sex met Jasami's. Then, everything seemed to happen at once. Jasami pushed her sex hard down on Jein's and a hot, wet warmth splattered across Jein's pelvis. Jein gasped as she felt her own eruption cover her younger sister, and as her body tensed at the release her tongue shot up inside Cathallis's pussy and punched that fleshy nub. She was rewarded when Cathallis screamed, seized her breasts in both hands and then covered Jein's face with aromatic spunk. And then the gathering night was quiet again. -------- After a while, Cathallis and Jasami tired and actually let Jein drift off to sleep. Even then, as the strange images engulfed her, Jein was sure she was having a dream. Probably one of those ones where the daring hero gets a glimpse of things to come. That is, in spite of what she saw not being much like those prophetic dreams she'd read about. The first thing she was aware of was a shifting mass of black shapes through which she could see tiny slivers of daylight filtering down. The odd thing was, the shifting mass looked to be made up of undulating human bodies. She could make out the curve of a girl's side there, a sleek foot there, and a pleasantly-endowed front there... The next thing she was aware of were the countless hands pulling and clawing at her clothes, then a few seconds later pulling and clawing at her underwear for the briefest of seconds it took to shred those away from her body. Then those hands went to work stroking and gripping her bare skin. Several piled onto her breasts. More stroked along her sloping belly and one probing finger found its way into her navel and tugged teasingly upward on it. Jein shivered as she was sure she even felt a tongue drag its way up her anal crevice. A pair of full, warm lips pressed against her snatch and the tip of a wet tongue teased against the slit. Fingers rubbed against the soles of her feet and under her arms and she squealed helplessly at the ticklish yet erotic sensations. Then another sensation, one that felt somehow out of place among the wave of erotic pleasure engulfing her from all sides. A soft kiss pressed against her lips, and then she felt strong arms close around her torso. They felt so familiar, but she couldn't place where or when or with who she'd last felt that... She managed to pull away from the admiring hands and wrap her arms around the strangely familiar feminine form, earning a moan of gratitude that was nearly lost amid a chorus of disappointed ones. Jein could feel that this girl, whoever she was, was bigger than Jein herself. Bigger as in taller and bigger as in more muscular. She could feel taut muscles rippling as the bigger girl cuddled closer. And tighter. And not any less, but in a different way she found herself unable to describe, Jein felt...welcome by the presence of this girl. Much as she had that first night when she'd made love to her sisters. And as she had just before falling asleep for this dream, but who was counting? "I'll see you soon, Jein," the girl whispered huskily into Jein's ear, but just before she could place where she'd heard that before, she could feel the dream breaking. "Wait!" Jein called out, even though her waking mind knew it was pointless. A second later Jein was looking up at the roof of her borrowed tent, covered by a warm blanket and another one underneath it made up of Cathallis and Jasami. She could faintly make out daylight through the material. Slowly, delicately, Jein snuck a hand into the gap between their bodies and hers. Then Jein lightly squeezed one of Jasami's breasts and tugged gently on Cathallis's belly button with her middle finger. Jasami groaned and arched her back in her sleep, while Cathallis sank her face deeper into Jein's breast. "Someday," Jasami mumbled, "she'll be my wife." Jein smiled a little and honked Jasami's breast again. "Who will, Jasami?" she whispered. "My big sister," Jasami mumbled, then her eyes parted just a bit to meet Jein's. They lay there looking into one another's eyes for a long minute, then Jasami buried her face in Jein's other breast and pressed her wet crotch against Jein's thigh. After a minute Cathallis looked up at Jein with bleary eyes, then reached out to stroke Jein's cheeks with warm, soft palms. "Good morning," the black-haired twin said with a limp smile. "Have any dreams?" Jein asked. Cathallis nodded. "I dreamed about this beautiful girl...hair so white I could almost see through it, yellow eyes brighter than any flower you ever saw." "Oh knock it off," Jein said, but didn't try to hide her grin. "Then we went to this field full of flowers, she took off my clothes and we made love until neither of us could move anymore," Cathallis giggled and licked at Jein's bare nipple as if it was the most natural thing in the world. But in this world, who was to say it wasn't? "I think I have an idea what Jasami was dreaming about," Jein chortled and squeezed her younger sister's breast a third time. Jasami sucked hard on Jein's other nipple and Jein's eyelids sank at the erotic assault her sisters were putting her under. "We really should get up," Jein gasped. "I did promise Ilindora I'd help her out." "She'll be there in another few minutes," Cathallis smiled, then crawled up and planted a kiss on Jein's lips she realized she wasn't at all hesitant to return. "Come on, girls. I'm still sticky from last night," Jein said and despite their best efforts she crawled out from between her sisters and out the back of the tent. The sounds of a babbling brook had lulled her to sleep after the loving, as it were, and the thought of a bath was quite appealing after two nights in a row getting sweaty and sticky. Even if she had to admit she loved every minute of it. She wasn't the first one to have the idea of a morning rinse, she noticed. Peeling off the last of her clothes as Jein came up was Sereda. The dwarf looked up at her for a long minute and smiled. "You look even better naked in daylight," Sereda grinned. Jein slapped her on the ass, provoking an adorable squeal from the dwarf. "Something wrong, Sereda?" someone asked, and Jein looked over to realize she hadn't seen another bather standing behind the boughs of a willow tree. A whisper-thin female figure, just as naked as the two of them, turned to look and gasped. Her red-brown hair flew into the air for a second as she jumped back and ducked behind the trunk of the willow. "Ilindora, what are you doing?" Sereda asked. "It's Jein. The girl who so nicely agreed to help you look into your little problem." "I know! It's just..." Ilindora started to say, her cheeks obviously burning apple-red even in the shade of the willow. She retreated behind it and the other two could hear Ilindora muttering to herself. "Come on out!" Sereda called. "She hasn't got anything the two of us don't have! I can verify it!" "You two've done this before, then?" Jein asked. "Sure! The women in our party bathe together all the time. In fact, that's kind of why I didn't make it over to your tent last night. I was, um, catching up on some spiritual exercises with a friend..." "It's all right, I was kept pretty well entertained," Jein said. "I bet you were," Sereda smirked, then looked over Jein's shoulder at something. Jein turned to see herself, and there was Ilindora emerging from behind the tree wearing the green jerkin she'd had on the night before. Her entire face from her neck to the tips of her ears was blazing red now. She stared at Jein's naked form for a moment, then nipped away without making a sound. "What's with her? You say she's seen a naked woman before," Jein said and watched Ilindora's back as she fled toward the camp. "She's certainly seen mine," Sereda answered. "But she's never...well, I don't know what she does with somebody she likes. Whenever me and the Sister would bathe with her she'd stick around but she'd stay way the hell over from us. And she'd always go all red like that and pretend she wasn't listening when the Sister would invite Ilindora to join in one of the...*ahem* dedications to her goddess." "Like the kind you were doing last night? What kind of goddess is this?" "Amoril. Goddess of love." "Any love?" Jein inquired. Sereda goosed Jein and smiled up at her. "You better believe it, sweetie." Jein gasped then tackled Sereda into the grass. Sereda gasped too then grinned and squealed as Jein followed up by burying her face in Sereda's cleavage. Jein's hands slid down her partner's naked sides then slipped beneath Sereda's ass to cup the cheeks in either hand, then squeeze them possessively. Sereda moaned and Jein tightened her grip as her tongue went to work between Sereda's breasts. It whipped up the side of one breast, then the other, leaving glistening trails in its wake. All of a sudden Sereda grabbed Jein, pinning her arms to her sides and rolled over to leave Jein the one lying on her back in the grass. "I like it better on top," she said with a dazzling grin. "Had a lot of chances to find out, huh?" Jein asked coyly. Sereda frowned and tweaked Jein's left nipple hard. "Don't make it sound like I'm not glad I ran into you down there or something, okay? Like I would've boned anybody I met." Jein's face fell, and she reached up to stroke Sereda's cheeks. "I'm sorry...I really am new to all this..." Sereda's smile returned a little and she sank her stubby fingers into Jein's chest, eliciting a deep, carrying moan from her. "Then let's do something about that, huh tall honey?" Sereda moaned. Slowly the dwarf brushed her pussy up Jein's belly, then back down to her waist. Jein jerked her middle to the side and squeaked from the feeling, prompting Sereda's grin to reappear on her full lips. Jein tried to reach out for Sereda's face with both hands again, but Sereda quickly grabbed Jein's wrists and held them across each other above the prone girl. Before Jein could protest, Sereda pushed her wet sex up Jein's belly once more, stopping just as her thighs met Jein's breasts. Sereda grunted and her eyelids sank a little as she dragged her hips back down to Jein's waist and the erotic sensations started to overtake her small body. Again, the dwarf dragged her glistening nether lips up the length of Jein's belly, then back down again. This time she was a bit unsteady, and leaned back to find Jein raised her legs up to support her back. "Come on, Sereda," Jein panted with glistening eyes. "Let's do it pussy to pussy, I want to get and give..." "Ooooh-kay Jein..." Sereda gasped and leaned back, splaying her short legs and letting her crotch slide down until it met Jein's with a lewd smacking noise to mark the contact. Jein sat up and moved Sereda into a more upright sitting position to allow their fronts to meet, then splayed her legs wide to give Sereda the room to touch keep the contact between their sexes. Both gasped out in pleasure as their nibbles rubbed together, and Jein bent forward even further to silence Sereda with an enflamed kiss. Two stubby arms wrapped around Jein's head to deepen the dance of their lips. Jein rolled her hips upward to meet Sereda's and their sexes slapped together with a noisy squelch. Sereda moaned into Jein's mouth and her dwarven tongue slipped between Jein's lips to dance over Jein's teeth. Jein rolled her hips again, and another squelch filled the air. Sereda rolled hers back to meet Jein's third thrust and it was Jein who moaned into her mouth this time. As their sexes slurped together again Sereda leaned back from the kiss and lowered her head and nuzzled her cheek along Jein's breasts and let out a pleasured sigh that quickly turned into a squeak as yet another pair of pelvic thrusts met. Sereda changed tactics then. She shook her hips and her pussy dragged sideways over Jein's own gaping love-hole and inner thighs. Jein gasped and held Sereda tighter, and after a few strokes more across her groin it was all too much. Jein cried out as her climax came and she sprayed Sereda with her love. Sereda grinned and after a minute her face contorted as she sprayed Jein with her own. They fell onto their sides and lay panting in the grass for a few minutes. "That was better than last time," Sereda smiled and pawed lightly at Jein's right breast. "What can I say?" Jein smiled lightly. "How about `let's go again'?" Sereda suggested before she kissed Jein's left nipple. "I would kind of like to wash my hair someday...and your buddies are probably gonna want to get going sometime pretty soon." "Soap your hair, then?" Sereda offered. --------- A while later Cathallis and Jasami made their way to the stream and began a cleaning ritual between themselves just as Jein and Sereda were finishing up theirs. Sereda slipped off and Jein was about to retreat to the tent to wait for her sisters to get back when someone approached the stream. It was the woman in the blue robes Jein remembered from the day before. She held a staff, and in the morning light Jein saw for the first time that the top was decorated by two human-shaped figures of indeterminate gender in an amorous embrace. "Pardon me," she said in a commanding voice, "but Sereda has told me...certain items of interest concerning the three of you." "What items? And would you mind not staring so hard, unless you're going to ask me back to your tent?" Jein asked. "You flatter me," the woman said, her expression not wavering in the slightest. "However, I think you may be destined for greater things concerning my group. I represent the Temple of Amoril, patron of love and compassion. And from what I've seen and heard about you, miss, you have the makings of an exemplary member of our order. If you're indeed so giving with your affections even your siblings have known you intimately." "We have," Jasami grinned. "Tell the whole damn universe why don't you?" Jein muttered. Jasami grinned even wider. "Okay! Hey--" she started, but Cathallis clapped a hand over the youngest girl's mouth, the other around her waist. She narrowed her eyes and made muffled sounds of protest, trying to squirm out of Cathallis's grasp. Jein sighed, then folded her arms over her breasts so at least she wasn't presenting as much of a show. "So you're saying I'm a good candidate for your little religion because I sleep with my sisters, huh? Thanks for the glowing recommendation." "It is not a criticism, my child. Rather, it marks you as one possessed of a remarkably open mind and few reservations on her affections. Yet you are not some naïve girl who doesn't know a threat when she sees one either, from what I can tell. These are all valued characteristics among those who spread Amoril's word." "That's...one way to put it, I guess. Look, no offense?" Jein said, not entirely sure of her motivations herself. "Right now I'm trying to get my sisters someplace with as few monsters as possible. They say someplace called Zenith. After that I'm not really sure. But that's my number one priority now." "All I ask is you think it over, my child. Pay a visit to the temple when you get to Zenith." Then the priestess turned and made her way back toward camp. When she was about twenty feet away she turned and called back. "Loyalty and responsibility are desirable qualities in our members too." Then she walked away again and didn't look back. "She's got a, grr, point, urgh! You know," Cathallis grunted as she tried to hold onto their squirming sibling, who was uttering what sounded like muffled obscenities through the hand over her mouth. "Let her go now, Cath," Jein sighed. "I'll take her." As soon as Cathallis released Jasami the youngest sister bolted over to Jein and pressed herself against Jein's side. Without thinking about it Jein slipped her hands around Jasami, and cupped her ass. Jasami shot a glare over her shoulder at Cathallis then buried her face in Jein's breasts. "She has a point, you know," Cathallis said again. "What point?" Jein asked and reflexively kissed Jasami's forehead. "Well, you know. You don't know us that well, and in spite of that you're already acting like a pretty good big sister. You're looking out for us and making sure we both get your attention. Remember down in the tunnels when you scolded Jasami for hogging your chest? And I heard you screaming our names when we got cut off in that little hidey-hole your dwarf friend showed us." "That's just how heroes are supposed to act...," Jein said feebly. "Mmmm, big soft heroes," Jasami moaned into Jein's front. Jein sighed in mock exasperation. "Could you enjoy it a little less, Jasami?" "No!! I love you!" "And you're indulging our little sister way too much," Cathallis added with a coy smile. "Maybe it's because you two make it so easy," Jein mumbled. Cathallis giggled and threw her arms around Jein and pressed herself against her twin, sandwiching Jasami between them. Jein squirmed and moaned into the kiss to feel so much naked skin pushed against hers with such force right after a bath. Cathallis and Jasami's eager hands wandered up and down her back, kneading and stroking the skin while Cathallis ran an index finger straight down Jein's spine. Jein gasped into the kiss with her twin and almost dropped Jasami. Finally Cathallis leaned back and sighed happily. "I love you, Jein. I know we'll be safe with you around." "If all this lovin' doesn't kill me first," Jein smiled gently. *** After a while the sisters did finish bathing and, over Jasami's protests, dressed for a woodland trek instead of another private session between the three of them. Jein and Cathallis put on their outfits from the day before, and Jasami actually chose a practical outfit similar to theirs, including a close-fitting bodice over the blouse. "You're checking me out again," Jasami grinned, and Jein realized she was indeed staring at how Jasami filled out those breeches in the back as the younger girl picked out a cloak. "It's your fault," Jein retorted. "You're too pretty." Jasami squeaked then ran over and hugged Jein, smooshing her young breasts against her sister. As Jein and Cathallis pulled down the tent Sereda, Ilindora and the rest of their party approached. The Viking grunted and gathered it up and effortlessly slipped it into his pack. "Well guys, it was fun," Sereda said. "Look me up next time you hear about a dragon with a big hoard." "Carry the word of the goddess everywhere you go," the woman in the blue robes said. "You know it," Sereda said, blew Jein a kiss and started walking away from the campsite. The others muttered goodbyes of their own and split up as well. As they went their separate ways Ilindora blushed lightly and then gestured for the sisters to follow her. They walked through green hills and between small clusters of trees for several hours, mostly in silence, until breaking for a quick meal of fruit and an oddly refreshing bread Ilindora supplied the others. After their meal they kept hiking late into the afternoon, and Jein had to admit to herself she was surprised that neither of her sisters, who didn't seem all that used to this kind of activity, never complained about the long hike Ilindora was putting them through. She was perhaps just as surprised that it wasn't wearing on her. Back home, she hadn't exactly been an athletic specimen. Here, her feet were just starting to feel sore as the sun started to sink over the treetops of the forest that stretched out of sight in both directions before them. "We should probably camp here and go in tomorrow morning," Ilindora suggested. "You mean, go in when the place isn't crawling with vampires," Jein nodded. "Probably a good idea." Ilindora had Jein help her build a small campfire in a thick copse of trees off the trail where the fire was unlikely to be seen. Soon the fire was lit, casting eerie shadows against the trunks of the ancient trees surrounding the small clearing. The branches of the threes were thick, and it took Jein a second of looking to notice it wasn't just the thickness making the confines of the clearing so dark. The sun was down. "I'll take the first watch," Ilindora said. "I don't need as much sleep as a human." "Maybe I better help," Jein offered. "We're not a hundred percent sure what we're looking--" Jein stopped as she heard a rustling from beyond the trees. Jasami and Cathallis huddled closer to their sister. Ilindora's hand flew to the slender sword that hung at her waist. "Hear that?" a hollow voice cackled. "They're not sure what they're looking for." "Maybe we should show them," laughed another. Then two thin shapes jumped out of the trees. With a whistle Ilindora drew her sword and dashed between the intruders and the sisters. Jein picked up a hefty branch they'd been intending for the fire. The intruders chuckled contemptuously. As they closed in, Jein just hoped she could count on her siblings not to scream.