The mayor’s office is in a two-story wooden building in the center square of town along with all the other public buildings like the sheriff’s office, plus another bathhouse, the adventurer’s guild, and the best inn in town according to Captain Gray.

Wendy, Caedi, and I look longingly at the inn. We’ve been up since yesterday morning, fighting, and walking. We’re tired, but without our pay from the mayor we might not be able to afford a room anyway, let alone a meal, so we follow the good captain without complaint.

She leads us into the building saying, “The public works of the settlement are all handled here. Zoning, sanitation, safety. The mayor heads a council of other prominent members of the community.”

The receptionist is an elderly halfling woman who looks a little lost behind her huge desk built for big folk.

“Hi, Lilly,” says Gray. “Mr. Thalazar in?” She hooks a thumb at the door that has a plate on it reading, ‘Mayor.’

“Good to see you, Gray,” says Lilly with a smile. “I’m glad you made it back to us in one piece. Did Mr. Frent arrive okay?”

Gray nods once. “He did,” she says. “Thanks to these folks here. Lilly, I’d like you to meet Mark and Wendy Wheeler and Caedi Gree. Without them Frent and I would be in some kobold’s lair having our bones gnawed on.”

“Kobolds?” says Lilly.

“Yep. A bunch of them. Too many really and well supplied.”

The two women are silent for a moment.

“Oh!” says Lilly. “Yes, he’s in. Sheriff Cronk is in there with him.”

“Excellent,” says Gray and then she knocks on the door.

“Come in!” The voice is big and deep.

Gray opens the door and we follow her inside.

Odilund Thalazar is not as big as his voice. He’s human, in his mid-forties, and stands about five foot eight. His torso looks like it belongs to a bigger man, broad shouldered and deep chested. He’s built like a barrel. He’s got his hair tied up behind his head and the brown ponytail hangs halfway down his back. His beard’s a shade more red than brown and is trimmed close to his chin. He’s standing with the sheriff by his window which looks out into the square. He’s smiling and the expression doesn’t seem forced.

Sherrif Cronk of Smallwood is bigger by almost a foot. He’s slimmer, grimmer, and greenish. His nose is upturned and his canines are on the opposite side of where I’m used to seeing them, poking into his upper lip. His hair is a darker shade of brown than the mayor's, cut short and parted on the side. He wears a thick gambeson of forest green. A longsword hangs in a businesslike scabbard on his hip beside a long dagger.

Thalazar booms, “Captain Gray!” He sounds very pleased. “Tell me that you’re here to report that Mr. Frent has made it to Fort Reach and that everybody’s okay!”

Gray smiles. “He has and most of us are okay, sir. We had to leave five behind to rest up. Including Thurston, the healer. They were nearly killed when kobold bandits set upon us outside of Bull’s Tavern.”

She turns and indicates us. “These three saved us, Caedi there healed Thurston and Madirgar, and escorted us here.” She clears her throat. “I was hoping to persuade them to hire them on, sir. As guards.”

The mayor turns to us, his smile broadening. “Well, that is good news. Thank you, friends.” He bends and offers Wendy his hand. “I’m Odilund Thalazar, mayor. This is Sheriff Cronk. We owe you a debt!”

Wendy shakes his hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Wendy. This is Mark. That’s Caedi.”

Thalazar shakes with all of us.

There’s a tap on the window. There’s a rough-looking fellow outside wearing a gambeson the same color as the sheriff.

Cronk says, “Excuse me,” and opens the window to lean out and speak to who I can only assume is one of his deputies.

Gray says, “I told them they’d get paid for escorting us here. Standard rate.”

“Of course,” says the mayor. “And you’ll be wanting your pay too for you and your men.” He goes to the wall where there’s a small safe. He opens it and tosses Gray a coin purse. He throws another one at Wendy, who catches it. “When Thurston and Madirgar get back, send them to me and I’ll give them theirs.”

The sheriff closes the window. “What’s this I hear about Twist and Elias Pinswickle?”

“I was going to tell you about that,” says Gray. “Elias was about to get killed by Twist when he, Tim Bickle, and another man thought they caught Twist cheating at Noodle.”

“Noodle?” I blurt.

“It’s also called Roundabout. The game they were playing at the saloon,” says Gray. She turns back to the sheriff. “I stepped in with these three. Mark figured out who was cheating and how.”

“Actually, that was Wendy,” I say.

“Yeah?” says Gray.

Wendy shrugs. “Elias looked wrong. I pointed it out to Mark who figured out the rest.”

The sheriff says, “So, who died?”

Gray snorts and says, “Nobody, sir. Mark here calmed everybody down. I told Elias to get out of town and not come back for a year or you’ll drown him in a dirty puddle in the middle of the road.”

“Will you stop telling people that?” says Sheriff Cronk. “It was one time.”

“You can see why I want them on the job,” says Gray.

“No,” says the mayor.

“No?”

“You’re right, they’d make excellent caravan guards,” says Thalazar. “But our excellent sheriff was just in here asking for more deputies.” He sits behind his desk. He points at me. “Nice spear,” he says. “But I think that was Thurston’s, right?”

I nod. “He gave it to me,” I say. “I’ll be happy to give it—.”

“That’s not what I mean,” says the mayor. “You’ve no other weapons about you that I can see. Neither does your… wife?”

I nod.

“Monks?”

I nod.

“And the human lady there is a healer?”

“Yes, sir,” says Caedi in her quiet voice.

“Two gnomes and a healer that can kick ass and deescalate fucking Tim Bickle and you want them as caravan guards?” says the mayor with a laugh. “No, they’re deputies if they want the job and Cronk here says it’s alright.”

Cronk gives a nod, looking at us.

I look at Wendy who shrugs. I look at Caedi. She looks worried. Her white robes look a bit out of place in the rustic town. I guess it’s because I’m so used to seeing her only in the idyllic confines of Hypa’s temple hospital. That and after the fighting and travelling both the robes and the woman herself need a scrubbing.

“What do you think, Caedi?” I ask.

She swallows and scuffs a foot. “Well,” she says. “What are the terms?”

 

 

We walk out of there sheriff’s deputies.

Captain Gray helped us negotiate terms even though the mayor gave no sign of trying to stiff us. Wendy and I have no idea what a good salary is for someone in Fort Reach. Turns out that ten gold a month is pretty damn good. From what I can tell, Wendy and I are solidly middle class now with our combined salaries. Caedi told us that such a rate is unheard of back in the Four Kingdoms, but frontier towns are different, with a higher and more expensive standard of living. It's all the danger, you see.

I want to go straight to the inn and sleep until our shift begins tomorrow morning but Caedi insists as ‘our medical professional’ that we head to the baths first.

I’m relieved to discover that they have three separate facilities, one for men, one for women, and one for both. I’m as eager to see naked women as the next guy but I’m a bit shy so I go into the one for men, which is empty. I wash quickly and head over to the inn.

The sheriff offered us a bunk in the barracks and we may still take him up on it, but for now, I want a room alone with my new wife in comfort after the night we had. Caedi decided she wanted a room as well, so I make the arrangements, getting our lovely healer the room next to ours, then head over to the small restaurant and dining area they have taking up most of their western wing.

It’s not long before Wendy and Caedi enter and look around for me. I wave and we spend an hour talking and eating in the common room.

Wendy keeps playing with my leg under the table. They have a few here for mixed company. By that I mean big and small folk. They’re booths that are normal on one side, with a ramp and an elevated seat on the other for us. When I retaliate and go for Wendy’s leg, I’m reminded that she’s sworn off pants. And underwear.

Not long after that, my wife and I are upstairs in a queen-sized bed I paid extra for, given that we’re gnomes.

Wendy crawls up on the bed ahead of me, looking over her shoulder, arching her back. She wiggles her ass and her tunic falls away up around her waist.

I’m biased, I know, but Wendy has a beautiful pussy. Her clitoris is prominent but not humongous. Easy to find or suck into my mouth and squeeze between my lips. Her labia are barely there at first, but flare out almost like butterfly wings as the pink deepens its color and slickens with her arousal. I think she tastes like strawberries and sugar cookies.

I give her a few long licks and then say, “Are you like this because you’re channeling Erota or because you saw Caedi and Captain Gray in the baths?”

“Yes!” she says.

I laugh and take her clit into my mouth to roll on my tongue.

“I’m putting her on my list,” says Wendy.

“Which one? Caedi or Gray?”

“Yes!” Wendy pants. Then she says imperiously, “Bring me your cock, boy. I want to beat myself about the head and ears with it.”

I laugh and wiggle around and slide under her face, thinking she’s kidding.

She grabs me by the base and slaps her face with it once, twice, three times, and giggles. “I was never a size queen, Mark, but damn.” She puts the tip into her mouth and sucks hard, stroking me with both hands.

I rub my face in her pussy and I’m about to slide a couple of fingers into her when Wendy brings it down onto me instead. She’s grinding on my face until I’m dripping with her juices. I reach up and dig my fingers into her ass cheeks to help her grind a little harder. Either she’s going to cum soon or break my nose.

Wendy twists her hands around my cock in opposite directions as she sucks the tip in and out of her mouth, making sure to catch the underside of my glans each time. It’s wonderful.

My wife starts to buck her hips and lose her rhythm and I’m not far behind her.

She squirts on my face and into my mouth and I drink her down, laughing.

I erupt in her mouth right afterwards and she moans, the vibrations of it are delicious.

I’m barely done before she pats my thigh. My softening cock rests on her cheek. “Erota,” she says. “Now.”

I concentrate for a moment, shove my chi down into my nether regions and bingo, no refractory period.

Wendy groans. “I love being monks,” she says and kisses my cock, then gives it a long, lingering lick while looking at me.

“I love you,” I say.

“We are going to wreck this poor bed,” says Wendy.

“Actually, it’s a nice bed,” I say. “Paid extra.”

“Poor as in ‘unfortunate’ for its life is measured now in hours.”

“Hours?”

“You’re going to fuck me until we pass out. You’re going to cum on my face and then on my chest and then my belly and I’m going to cum at least twice as many times as you do because that’s only fair.”

“Yes, dear.”

The bed survives despite our efforts. I’m not sure our neighbors are happy with us but nobody knocks to complain.

We fall asleep in each others’ arms, happy, sticky, exhausted, and content.

 

 

So, it’s a surprise when we wake up soon after in Ms. Armstrong’s office. She’s standing there beside her desk, clenched fists on hips, glaring at us. Human us. “Just where the hell have you two been?”

Wendy wipes her mouth and, finding nothing there, looks over at me.

I shrug. “Just now? Or…?”