Medusa: Fate's Game Ch. 02

Darian rolled his eyes. "Right right. Well, cya." With that, her companion put his helmet onto the top of one of the bags, picked it up, and started to walk off without a look back.

Medusa frowned after him, but before doing the same, she turned, and gave Pinna a tight hug.

"Thank you," she said, again.

"By the gods girl, you'll be back soon I'm sure," the satyr said, but she patted Medusa on the back all the same. "We can wait here for weeks if need be."

"You're the first woman I've talked with in a century, and as much as I love talking with Darian, it's not the same as talking with another woman." She'd even learned to control her S's with all the practice. No more unwanted hisses.

"Then I hope we can gossip more when you come back."

Medusa nodded, shook off the anxiety with another deep breathe, picked up the last bag, and slithered off. She made sure to turn around as she did though, and wave again. And again. And then again, for good measure, before the two satyrs disappeared behind the twist and turns of the rolling hills.

"Did you really hate them that much?" Medusa said, slithering along beside Darian, her long, thick snake body following behind them almost thirty feet.

"No."

"You seemed to. You're usually a warm person, but any time Pinna or Gallea were near, you turned cold."

He nodded. So he noticed it too, at least.

"I... yeah, I'm sorry. I know I said I'd be nice, but I couldn't trust them."

"They seemed like perfectly nice people — satyrs, to me."

"They did. People usually do." He adjusted the strap of the sack on his shoulder, and looked up to her while they walked. "It's a mask though, it's not them. Just like the Fates, people are masks, and the person underneath is not someone you know, or often, would want to know."

"D... do you think that way about me?"

"No," he said, and he smiled at her, that warm smile that he'd been hiding since the arrival of Charon's ship. "Why do you think I like you so much?"

Damn it. Every time she tried to get angry with Darian, he said something that wisped away her frustration and replaced it with joy. She could already feel her snake hair dancing on her head with delight.

"Is that why you denied King Proetus's wife?"

"Ah, so Pinna told you about that?"

"Yes. We gossiped about you and Gallea quite a bit." Medusa giggled a little at some stories Pinna had said that stuck with her. "She didn't tell me much about you though, except about the queen, and what lead to your quest to defeat the Chimera."

"I should thank her for respecting my privacy then," he said with a nod. "But, yes, partially. She was a queen and she was a manipulator, like they all are in royalty. She said a lot of things, but really she just wanted to control me."

Control Darian? Why?

"... you said partially?"

"Yeah. I also didn't bed her cause I know better than to stick my dick where it doesn't belong."

Medusa snorted on a laugh, and put a hand up to her face to cover her lips and nose in dismay. But Darian snickered at her horribly unfeminine display, and reached out to touch her hip with his spear-wielding hand.

"So, excited?" he said, and he motioned to the open land before them with the spear. "To the West is Sparta, but thankfully we're heading South West. We should be able to avoid most traffic. Hunters roam these lands though; we'll need to be careful."

The idea of someone finding her was a scary one, but Darian was there to help her if needed. And, though she knew she shouldn't, a small part of her entertained the thought of meeting a human who didn't want her dead.

"I am excited, and terrified." She looked down at her hands, and frowned at how her fingertips still shook with the rush of it all. "You said South West. What's that way?"

"I fought the Chimera in Lycia, but in the battle, he mentioned his home in Laconia, South of Sparta. If he survived his battle with me, I'm sure he managed to find a way across the sea to get back here."

"He mentioned his home?"

"Sort of randomly? He's a... he's weird. Speaks like 'I am from the land of blah, and I will blah' sort of stuff."

She giggled again. "You like to laugh in the face of danger."

"Laugh? No. But it never hurt to crack a smile."

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Night time. The clouds of Charon's ship were gone, the moon and stars were out, and the breeze was cool but pleasant.

"We're going to ssssleep... outside? On the grass?" she said.

"Yeap."

"But, what about animals?"

Darian shrugged. "Even if animals were a threat, they'd only be a threat to humans. They'll avoid you, you're much deadlier."

That made her smile, but it faded when Darian started unrolling his bedroll, and threw it out onto the grass near a large tree. They were so exposed! On her island, she was closed off from everything else, but out here in the Peloponnese open land, the unknown hills and unknown trees were hiding eyes, starring at her.

"Come on," he said, "you'll get used to it. Here, coil up near me and I'll keep you safe." He said 'safe' with a big, teasing grin on his face. He took off his breastplate and set it down by the tree, before laying down on his bedroll.

She frowned at him, but did exactly exactly as he said. She coiled around his sleeping spot, and laid her human half across her snake body right next to above him. From there, she could look down at him, and reach down to stroke his hair some more.

"Do you plan to comfort me until I sleep?" he said, and nudged his head upward into her touch.

"This is for me! It's relaxing." She stuck her long tongue out at him.

"Come on, put your bedroll right here next to me. I know it's meant for a human, but you can still put that bit of you on it and lay next to me?"

She nodded, that was true. And in fact, she reached over to her bag and did just that. She unattached the bedroll, laid it down on the grass beside Darian, and adjusted her snake half so she could lay her torso down onto the blanket. On her side, she was facing Darian, and she could reach out and touch him with her hands while she got comfortable.

He took her hand in his and held it to his chest. He was still wearing his white tunic, and she fidgeted with the fabric in her fingers.

"Better?" he said.

"Yes." She slithered her human half a little closer until they were almost touching, and leaned in to nudge her forehead against his. It was a joy to see her snake hair nuzzle into his jaw and neck, and for Darian to nuzzle her hair right back. It calmed her.

"People don't travel the roads by night, and there aren't any roads for miles. We're safe." He nudged his nose into hers, and gave her upper lip a small tug with his lips. "Still sea sick?"

"No." She patted her bare stomach with a hand. "I'll need to eat something in a few days though." Pinna's small meals would not satisfy the hunger of her gorgon body.

"I'm sure we'll find something." He let go of her hand, reached over, and caressed her arm. He didn't say anything though, he just smiled and looked at her.

"We're really doing it," she said. "Do you think you can convince Athena to undo the curse?"

He shook his head. "No... no but I can try."

She sighed, but it faded into a gentle thing when Darian slipped his hand past her arm to find her back. So close, he was basically hugging her, and his fingertips drifted up and down her back between her shoulder blades. She melted into him, pushed herself closer, and hooked her free arm around his waist.

He was so gentle with her, so loving and tender. Always with her, and never anyone else. This Darian, a kind and warm man, was her secret.

"I feel like a child," she said, "clinging to you wherever you go."

"Oh? I thought I was the child, whiny and loud, getting into fights with the other kids. And the only person who can make me grow up and play nice is my mother."

She giggled and gave him a quick kiss. "I am not your mother."

"Definitely not my mother." He pulled her tighter to him, squeezed her, and kissed her. A real kiss, a deep one that stopped her breathing, made her close her eyes, and pull on his body as much as he pulled on hers.

His hand drifted to her breasts, but stopped just shy of them.

"What's wrong?" she said.

"Nothing, just—"

"You can be the one to sssstart. You don't have to wait for me every time."

Darian had been so patient with her. Every time they had sex, she had been the one to initiate. And she could understand Darian's hesitation. Even now he still treated her like a fragile vase, but it wasn't fair to him.

"If you want sex," she said, "then ask." She pulled away a little, just enough to put a few inches between them so they could move freely. "Maybe not ask, that's not romantic, but... touch me. Touch me here." She took his hand and guided it to her hip. "Or... here." She slid his hand up her stomach. "Or... here, whenever you like." She guided his hand under the wrap that held her breasts, and placed her nipple within his palm.

"Whenever I like?" he said.

She blinked at him. He looked surprised, as if her offering was absurd.

"It's not fair that it's always me. And I feel like a whore, hounding you for sex every night."

"Trust me, I'm not complaining. I just... you know."

"I know, I know. But... but now you can... touch me... whenever you want."

She tried to sound kind about it, like she was giving him a gift, but her words were starting to come out a little deeper, a little softer, and her breathing was only getting faster. It was a completely selfish request, she knew, and with how her snake hair was flicking its tongues at Darian's lips, he no doubt knew it too.

"You sure you want to give a man that right?" He kissed one of her snake hair's heads, making her bite her lips to silence her swooning.

"I do."

Darian smiled, that damn perfect smile, and pulled her close.

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Hope you readers don't mind while I do some world building and plot setup. :3