Ilyana stepped off of the bus and held a hand out to her wife, Heather to help her down the steps.  They both thanked the driver, which was another of Lilly’s slaves, who nodded her head in reply, closed the door and drove to her next destination.  The two were dressed casually.  Ilyana wore a high collared, blue waistcoat that only fastened around her waist and whose hem went just past her knees over a black bodysuit and black low heeled ankle boots.  Heather wore a casual black and red, below the knee length dress and sandals.   The couple took a deep breath and looked at their surroundings and looked to the front of the inn which was their destination for the evening.

 

“Aaaah….”, Heather sighed while stretching her arms over her head, “It feels good to get out of the tower.  I think it’s been months since I last left the grounds.” She said.

“Heh, I can see if you can tag along the next time I go out with the team if you’d like,”  Ilyana said with a small smile.

“Ha!  I don’t have the skills or the fortitude for combat, so I’ll pass.  Thank you very much!”  Heather replied.

“Hey, don’t say I never offered,”  Ilyana replied with a smirk.

“Hell, I’m enough of a nervous wreck when you are out on a mission, I don’t even know how I’d cope being on one myself...”  Heather said wryly while draping her right arm over her wife’s shoulder and leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Aw.  I appreciate the concern.  The girls and I do a good job watching each other’s back.” She replied, putting her left arm around the taller woman’s waist.

“Enough talk of combat!  We came here to relax and to see if the Rambling Inn still served that yummy Trout dish, they had last time we were here!”  Heather playfully admonished Ilyana and with her under her arm the two strode towards the door of the large inn.

Heather took her free arm and swung the door open as the two walked in.  It looked the same as before, an all wooden main room with posts spaced about the large room that held up the ceiling.  Round tables, both large and small filled the room.  Even though the village of Westbreak was only of medium size it was on a trade route that went past Thundering Oak.  The inn and the other businesses in town were almost always near capacity as a result of all the caravans and their entourages.  Tonight was no exception.  It took a couple of minutes, but the couple threaded their way through the sea of people and found a small table near the corner of the bar that was empty. 

 

Heather disentangled herself from Ilyana’s grasp and offered her a chair that was against the wall, which Ilyana smiled and accepted, sitting down gracefully.  Heather had just taken her own seat when a horned, Minotaur waitress, slightly out of breath shuffled through the crowd to the table, “Evening, ladies!  What might I help you with tonight?” She asked with a cheerful smile, her ample bosom straining against the bodice or her uniform and her cow like ears on the top of her otherwise human looking head turned towards them.

Heather replied, “Hi!  Do you still serve the blackened trout?”

“Of course!  It’s one of our most popular dishes!”  The waitress answered.

“Fantastic, let’s get two orders of the Trout and a bottle of red wine please,”  Heather said.

“Sure!  Right away!”  The waitress replied and hurried to the bar to put in their order.

Heather looked down at her chest wistfully and frowned, “I bet she gets lots of tips.” She sighed at Ilyana.

“Heh, I bet.  She’s built for them though.  You’d look ridiculous with a chest that size. Besides I like yours just the way it is.”  Ilyana replied.

Heather gave Ilyana an arched look, “Oh?  You think flattery with get you somewhere with me tonight?  If so, you’re right.” She finished with a laugh.

The two chatted while waiting for their wine when the door to the inn burst open and slammed hard against the wall.  The inn got quiet as most people turned to see what the commotion was.  Five large men, mostly northerners, from their appearance swaggered in.

The tallest of the group bellowed, “BEER!!!  FOOD!!!  And LOTS of it!!!” as they commandeered a table from the people that were already seated at it.

“Ugh…  Drunk Caravan guards…”  Heather groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah…  Good thing Mistress has assigned some of her girls on joint watch of the town tonight.  The normal guards might be hard pressed to handle them.  That one bellowing at the top of his lungs is easily seven foot tall.”  Ilyana replied, sizing up the rowdy group.

A few minutes later the waitress dropped off the bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, “Your order shouldn’t take long ladies.” She said and hurried to the next table.

Heather grabbed the bottle before Ilyana could and poured each of them a glass.  The two sipped on the wine while talking and then Heather noticed a scowl form on Ilyana’s face.  Heather turned her head and saw the loudmouthed giant from a few minutes ago walking straight towards her.

She felt a heavy hand rest upon her left shoulder as the northerner leaned over, breath stinking of ale say, “Hey sweet cheeks!  You wanna get a room and have some fun?”

“Ew…  No, and please remove your hand.”  Heather said in disgust.  In the corner of her eye she saw Ilyana’s expression had further darkened.

“HA!  Hard to get then eh?  Come on!  What woman wouldn’t want to be with Bjorn the Fierce!” He loudly exclaimed, flexing his muscles.

One of his companions came up to him and said, “Bjorn, come on our food will be here soon.”  Casting a wary side eye at the visibly angry Ilyana.

Bjorn shrugged his companion’s arm off him and pressed on, “I want you in my bed tonight!  Let’s go!”  He said as he grabbed her by the arm and jerked her to her feet.

“OW!  Stop it!”  <SLAP!!!> Heather demanded as she slapped the man as hard as she could across the cheek.

Shocked, Bjorn let her arm go and brought his hand up to wipe away the trickle of blood that was running from the corner of his mouth, “YOU BITCH!!”  He screamed and cocked his right arm back, hand balled into a fist.

“AAAAH!!!” Heather screamed and crossed her arms over her head to shield herself from his blow!

Instead, Heather saw a streak of blue and black dart in front of her!

“WHA…!!!” <WHACK!!!> “OW!!!!!” Heather looked up and saw Ilyana had grabbed the man’s arm, spun him around to face the other direction and had his arm in a very painful chicken wing behind his back and had just bounced his face against the nearest pillar!

“WHAT THE!!!”  Bjorn shouted and spun around as soon as Ilyana let his arm go, swinging a haymaker at Ilyana’s head.  She easily ducked under the swing and delivered a tooth jarring uppercut to his jaw, snapping his head back and causing him to stumble backward away from her.

“Get behind the bar!!!”  Ilyana shouted to Heather.

Heather wasted no time in complying.  When she rounded the corner, she crouched down under the level of the bar and saw their waitress was also there.

“Oh miss!  Are you all right???  I saw what that brute tried to do!”  The girl asked, with tears of fright in her eyes.

Heather put a hand on her shoulder, “Yes, I’m OK.”

“Oh, but what about that elf maiden you are with?  They are going to hurt her!”  The waitress said, near panic.

“Heh, She’s good at…” Her reassurance was interrupted suddenly.

“YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT!!!!”  A booming voice shouted.  <BAM!!!!  CRASH!!!!>

The waitress looked at Heather with an astonished expression.  That loud voice hadn’t come from Bjorn.  The shout has come from Ilyana.

Heather smiled, “Like I was saying before my wife interrupted me.  She’s good in a fight…”

“Oh.  Oh, my…”  The waitress breathed.  They huddled below the bar for a couple of seconds before standing up enough to peek over the edge of the bar.

Most of the patrons had scurried out the door, wanting to avoid the fight, while a handful of people had got up and moved to the edges of the room to watch.  Heather saw a few people making bets on the outcome of the fight… 

The action stopped for a brief moment.  Ilyana was surrounded now by the five caravan guards, who were all sizing her up, DAMN IT!!!  I’m not going to be humiliated by some dainty elf!!!  GET HER!!!”, Bjorn shouted, charging in at Ilyana.

The waitress turned and gave Heather a concerned look, “Miss, are you sure she’s OK?  It’s five vs one.”

“EEEEEEKK!!!!!!!”  A high-pitched scream came from the fight.  The two looked back out and saw Bjorn toppling over, hands clasping his family jewels, screaming a such a high-pitched note that a soprano singer would have trouble hitting.

 The two women looked at each other again and Heather smirked, shrugging her shoulders, “See?”

The astonished waitress just turned to continue watching the fight.

Screams and curses punctuated with the sounds of punches and kicks connecting with their targets filled the room.

“Ah!  Duck!”  Heather shouted and the two ducked their heads back under the bar as one of the caravan guards that Ilyana had just thrown over her shoulder crashed into the front of the bar.  Both girls winced at the force of the impact.

“How is she able to do that??”  The waitress whispered.

“Hold on.”  Heather replied then looked back over the bar again, “Ilyana, dear!!

“OOf!  Yes, honey??”  Ilyana replied as she connected a side kick to an opponent sending him sprawling away from her.

“Could you be a dear and NOT send the brutes near us please?”

“Oops!!!  Sure thing, I’m sorry!  OW!!”  Ilyana replied as she reeled from a punch that connected with her jaw.

“Please be careful!”  Heather shouted as she winced at the hit she saw her wife take!

“Will do!!”  <CRACK!!!> was the reply as Ilyana’s fist connected the side of another opponent’s head.

Heather motioned for the waitress to look over the bar, “to answer your question, she’s a mana user.  Her specialty is healing and defensive spells.”  She answered the woman’s question.

“How… How is that helping her in the fight though?”  was the confused question back.

“Look carefully as just as she’s connecting with a strike or dodging.”

<BAM!!> <CRACK> OOF!!!!  YEOUCH!!!  “Someone grab a hold of her damn it!!!!” One of the men shouted.

 “Uh, I think a see a flash of green from her eyes and hands?”  The waitress answered.

“Her feet too when she kicks.  You normally can’t see it but she’s REALLY mad right now.  She’s using her mana to enhance her strength and agility when we see that glow.”  Heather explained.

“OH!  Wow!.”

“She’s still taking hits though…  I hope the watch arrives soon.”  Heather said with a worried look as she watched Ilyana vault over the hunched over person she just elbowed in the solar plexus and kick another opponent while in midair.

The waitress was about to ask something else, but she finally noticed the collar Heather was wearing.  She turned to look at Ilyana and saw her collar too, “<GASP> You both belong to Chancellor Lilly don’t you! She exclaimed.

“We do,”  Heather confirmed, intently watching the fight.

“Oh, my!  Those caravan guards are REALLY going to regret what they’ve done tonight!”  The waitress exclaimed.

“Heh, Yeah.  Our Mistress doesn’t take too kindly to people that hurt members of her harem.”  Heather replied with a tight grin.

“YOU!   Open the door!  NOW!”  Ilyana shouted at one of the bystanders.  The person only hesitated for a moment before scampering to comply with the command.

One by one as they attacked her, Ilyana forced the group out the door into the waiting arms of the city watch which were just now coming up to the building.

Ilyana flipped the last of her combatants through the open door and watched with satisfaction as he tumbled across the narrow porch and down the Inn’s front steps.  Breathing heavily, she noticed that the patrol that showed up was one of the joint patrols.  Two of the group were members of the town’s watch and the other two were members of Lilly’s harem.   She recognized the one that shouted out to her.

“Ilyana??!!  What in the hell are you doing here?” the Centauress asked.

 “Oh, hey Daeila!”  Ilyana greeted her teammate, “Heather and I were trying to enjoy a night out and some dinner when that tall one laying to your right tried to hit on Heather, then tried to hit her when she refused his advances.” Ilyana explained, her gaze dark again.

Bjorn was in the act of slowly crawling way when Daeila slammed the butt of her Guandao hard on the ground in front of his face, causing him to freeze in place.  Daeila forced him on his feet and lifted him up in the air with her free hand, “Oh, you’ll regret that little man.”  She growled at him.

Ilyana chuckled at Daeila calling the seven-foot-tall man ‘little’.

“Ilyana!!!”  A shout came from inside.  Heather rushed out to Ilyana’s side and gave her a hug.  She backed up to arm’s length and saw blood trickling from her nose and a shiner developing over her left eye, “Oh honey!!  Does it hurt?”  she asked as she gently prodded at the shiner.

“Ow!  Only when you poke at it!  Hold on, I’ll heal myself.”  Ilyana said.  She closed her eyes and murmured a spell.  The shiner faded away and her nose stopped bleeding.   She stood up straight as her wounds healed, “Aahhh…  That feels better,” Ilyana sighed.

Daeila handed the now manacled Bjorn off to another member of the watch, “Why did you need to heal at all?  Are you not wearing the belt that stores your plate mail?” she asked.

“I…  Yeah, I am.  I forgot about it in the heat of the moment I guess,”  Ilyana replied off handedly.

“ILYANA.  VAKALYN!”  Heather said through clenched teeth, “You had the armor with you the whole time and let me worry about the whole fight instead of using it?!”  She asked with a glare.

“HA!” Daeila laughed and Ilyana gave her a withering stare.  She turned back to Heather, “I’m sorry, honey I…”  Ilyana started but was interrupted.

“Oh no!  Don’t ‘Honey’ me right now!”  Heather grabbed Ilyana by the arm and started dragging her inside, “I am going to clean you up and we are going to enjoy the meal we came here for and then tonight I’ll come up with a suitable punishment for you making me worry so!” Ilyana looked back at the widely smiling Centauress and gave her a smile and shrug as the door closed behind them.

 

“I think Ilyana did that on purpose…”  Daeila said quietly with a smile and chuckled.

“What was that ma’am?”  One of the city guards that was on patrol with her asked politely.

“Hmm?  Oh, nothing.  Let’s get these idiots into your jail and I’ll reach out to Dame Renna to see what our Mistress will want to be done with them.

Patrons slowly started heading back into the inn chatting about the fight as the night settled back down to its normal routine.

As to what ‘punishment’ Heather decided on for Ilyana?  That is a tale for another day!

 

End.