Chapter 10: Chosen, Chapter 11: Hoist the Sword with Pride in the Heart

Aidan

The Realms

Unknown date (day 2)

Early evening

Mistvale Highlands, en route to Ceallach Macht

Eventually, Brighid's mood seemed to lift, and Aidan felt comfortable enough to impose on her again. "I appreciate the gift of this sword and armor, but as you are probably aware, I do not have the faintest idea of how to use them. The breastplate and greaves are rubbing me raw in some unfortunate places, and I keep feeling like I am going to trip over my own weapon trying to walk with this thing at my hip. You undoubtedly appear to be a capable warrior; would you be willing or able to teach me, at least to the point where I'm not risking hurting myself more than my enemy?"

Brighid looked over at him, cast a critical glance at the way he moved in his armor and held his sword, and snorted a laugh. "You are right, you really do not know what you are doing. I do not know that I have ever seen a male as inept with his weapon as you." She smirked at him, and Aidan blinked at the double entendre.

He couldn’t let it pass without mention, though, and fired back with, "Well, I can hardly imagine someone better than you to teach a young man how to use his blade, so what do you say?"

The redheaded centaur laughed at his rejoinder and smiled back at him. "Thank you, I needed that. Yes, I can try to teach you the basics. I am not the best suited to be your teacher, but we make do with what is available. I apologize, I should have thought of this myself, but I have been ... distracted. Regardless, when we stop for the evening in an hour or so, I will do my best to at least show you how to handle your sword. That is a lesson every male should learn." Again she smirked at him, but Aidan shook his head and let her have the last word this time.

A little more than an hour later, Brighid called a halt before a small cave near a split in the stream they had been following all day. The sun was still overhead, but it was swiftly approaching the mountains to the west. Aidan guessed they only had an hour of full daylight left. Once they set their packs down inside the cave, Brighid turned to him and said, "Alright, Aidan. Show me how you think you are supposed to hold that weapon of yours."

He gathered himself and gave his best approximation of a warrior's pose. He held the sword in two hands, generally pointed in front of him, while he stood with one foot ahead of him and one behind. Brighid walked up to him, circled behind him slowly, then placed one finger on his shoulder and pushed. Aidan staggered to the side, struggling to keep his balance.

"Wrong," Brighid said drily. "You could not possibly hurt anyone like that. I do not think you could even manage to harm yourself except by falling over. Here," she said, putting her hands on his hips and directing him to move, "turn sideways. Leave your front foot like you had it, but turn your back foot to the side. Yes, like that." Her hands moved up to his shoulders, "Stand perpendicular to your target and hold your sword down by your hips with the tip pointed at your enemy’s head. This way, you are both more stable," She put her hand at the back of his neck and pushed; this time Aidan had no trouble remaining upright, "and also presenting less of a target to your enemy. You are narrower in profile than you are head-on. That also means that you have to do less work to deflect or dodge an attack."

Then he felt an impact against his knee and staggered sideways a step before collapsing to the ground. "You are still standing too stiffly, however. Get up, hurry up now, Birgitte's daylight is fading."

Aidan grumbled to himself but climbed back to his feet, picked up the sword from where he dropped it, and resumed his stance. Brighid used the butt end of her glaive to tap at the backs of his knees. "Bend your knees slightly. Standing upright like that makes you too stiff and ruins your balance. Having your knees bent gives you flexibility. Combat is all about being flexible; even a sword needs to be able to bend, or it will break the first time it hits armor. Alright, that looks just barely acceptable."

Brighid moved to stand in front of him several feet away. "Now, attack me. Aim for my chest, but I assure you, you will not hit me. Go slowly and stop when I tell you, you are going to fuck this up, and it will be easier if I can show you exactly where and how."

Aidan leaned forward slowly and thrust the tip of the sword towards Brighid's midsection. She stopped him almost immediately. "Stop! What in the world do you think you are doing? You are going to fall over like that. You have to step into the attack, both to keep your balance and to provide power to the strike. You also would never be able to reach me without stepping forward. I thought that would be obvious, but clearly, I overestimated my student." Aidan flushed at the criticism, but reset his stance and repeated the thrust, this time stepping out with his forward leg as he attacked.

Again, Brighid stopped him. "Well, at least you are listening, even if you are not thinking. Look behind you at your back leg. See how straight it is? You are overextended. Unless you are intending to lunge -- which is not something you should be doing at your Skill level -- you need to step with both feet. It does not have to be a big step, you can just slide your foot forward as you advance, but always remember that you have to stay balanced and flexible. If you ever wobble like you did during that step, then you are doing something wrong."

Her instruction continued in that same vein until the sky began to turn orange and red. "Alright, that is enough for tonight. You are no longer completely hopeless, just nearly so." Indeed, Aidan had received a prompt informing him that he now had level 1 in Swords. Brighid continued, "Go ahead down that side branch of the stream. It leads to a little pond in a wooded valley; clean yourself up and polish your blade."

Aidan was too tired and sweaty to object or offer it to her first, so he dragged himself down the path Brighid indicated until he found a pool of water about chest-deep enclosed by trees on three sides. He stripped off his armor and clothes, leaving them and his sword in a heap on the shore, then waded into the water. It was chilly but felt good on his aching muscles. After a few minutes spent pouring water over his head and shoulders and scrubbing away at the accumulated sweat with his hands, he heard rustling in the bushes behind him.

Aidan whirled towards the sound, tense and ready to lunge for his weapon, and nearly lost his balance as Brighid stepped into view. Her hair was unbound from the braid she had worn it in for the trip so far, and she was totally, gloriously naked. There was no Power in all the Realms which could keep Aidan from staring open-mouthed at her bare breasts. They were even more massive than he first thought, and they bounced alluringly with each of her steps. They did sag some, but only to the very least degree that might be expected of breasts that size. Her areolas were a dusky red and surprisingly small given the bounteous expanse of flesh they crowned.

Just before he whirled around to face away from Brighid, Aidan noticed that her areolas had begun to crinkle, and her nipples were growing erect. He started to babble an apology, but she cut him off.

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"What are you doing? I swear humans are the strangest race in the Realms. If you are that embarrassed about that dagger between your legs, it is too late for that. You were giving me a show while you were taking in the show, so to speak. Turn back around and help me wash my coat. It is chilly out, and Sunsteel is resistant to heat, but wearing two layers of armor over fur is going to make anyone sweat, and centaurs are not built to scrub our own backs."

Aidan hesitantly turned back around but kept his gaze modestly averted from the warrior woman's chest as she waded into the water. "Oh, for Braihan's sake," Brighid said in exasperation, "you can look at me. I will not kill you for noticing the giant sacks of fat attached to the front of my body. What is it with males and teats? I admit that these," she lifted her breasts in her hands and bounced them to make them wobble, "are larger than average, and that seems to do something to men's brains, but get over it. I knew you were here when I came down to bathe; I came because you were here."

Aidan couldn't tear his eyes from the magnificent vision just a couple of feet in front of him. Brighid made a frustrated sound deep in her throat, grabbed Aidan's arms, and brought his hands up to her breasts. Her skin was scorching hot under his hands, and he could feel her hard nipples digging into his palms. He reflexively squeezed her breasts, then realized what he was doing. He tried to pull away, but Brighid was holding his hands against her skin. He took a step back, and she followed him; he could feel more than see her eyes glaring at him. "Come on, get a good feel, get it all out of your system. You are useless to me like this, and I need a scrub down, so if this is what it takes, so be it."

Aidan felt trapped and overpowered and extremely uncomfortable with the situation. Brighid's hands gripped his wrists tightly enough to be painful, and while she was beyond beautiful, this was way past his comfort zone. "Please, Brighid," he pleaded, "let me go. I apologize for staring, but this isn't right."

All at once, she let him go and took a step back herself. She turned her head away from him and acknowledged, "You are right. I am sorry." Her arms raised to cover herself, and she turned fully to the side, even going so far as to twist her torso so that he could no longer see her breasts even in profile. "I do not know what came over me. Will you ..." she asked tentatively, "will you still help me bathe?" It was as if all the confidence had fled her.

Aidan steadied himself, mentally and physically, breathed in a deep breath, then let it out and said, "Of course, I would be honored." He stepped up to her, and she shyly handed him a long-handled brush with a curved head, still facing away from him. He dipped the brush into the water, then brought it up to her back and began to scrub. "I apologize again for staring. You caught me by surprise, and where I come from, nudity is not socially acceptable except between close friends or lovers. Add that to your beauty, and I was stunned for a moment."

"You really think..." Brighid asked softly, then broke off her question and faded into silence for several heartbeats before saying more forcefully, "You do not need to apologize to me. You did nothing wrong, that falls entirely to me. I did not stop to think that maybe your culture and mine are different and would treat bathing as an intimate activity. Centaurs bathe collectively -- like I said, we cannot precisely scrub our own backs. I was just treating you like any other centaur, even though I know you are more lost than I can imagine. Forcing myself on you like that ... that was ill-done, and I beg your forgiveness. Even among my people, that would be considered quite rude at best."

Aidan laughed softly and patted Brighid on the shoulder. "Well, I can't say I have ever had a woman force me to grope her before. If you hadn't been holding my wrists so tightly, I would have enjoyed the experience much more. Much more," he emphasized with another laugh. Brighid giggle-snorted, and the tension seemed to flow out of her again. She reached up and, very gently, held his hand to her shoulder with hers, then squeezed his hand lightly and let go.

"Well, do not expect a repeat performance!" She laughed. "I can wash those on my own. You only need to attend to my fur," she finished with a faux-haughty tone of voice.

"Yes, milady, as you say, milady," Aidan replied, as obsequiously as he could, drawing another laugh from Brighid. He smiled at the sound and mentally resolved to make her laugh more; she seemed to be under a lot of stress, and he enjoyed the merry sound of her laughter. Returning his focus to his task, Aidan set to scrubbing her down to the very best of his ability.

He worked the brush from her lower back -- which he knew she hadn't asked him to but figured she would likely appreciate -- down along her spine to her equine half. From there, he scrubbed her flanks before splashing water over her and making a second pass before moving a little further down her body and repeating the process. Brighid gave him occasional directions, telling him to scrub a little harder or pay special attention to a specific spot. Before long, she was wriggling and sighing happily.

Aidan quickly fell into a rhythm, and his mind and eyes began to wander while his hands did their own thing. The sun was only barely visible, and there wasn't much light left to see with, but he kept catching tantalizing glimpses of Brighid's breasts as she washed her hair and torso. He watched them bounce and jiggle in and out of his sight for several minutes before he felt her tail slap his wrist.

"While I appreciate your efforts in making sure every inch of me is clean, even the parts I did not ask for your help with," she said with a gentle laugh, "and while you are scrubbing my rump most pleasantly, if you go any further back, I shall not be accountable for what happens." Aidan realized with a start that his scrubbing was about to round the curve of Brighid's rear end and towards more sensitive areas, and he nearly fumbled the brush into the water in his haste to stop.

She turned her torso to look at him, and with the deepening shadows, he could not make out her expression. After a second, she laughed softly again and turned back. "I did not say to stop, I just warned you that going any further might have consequences you did not intend. If you wish to proceed less dangerously, how about you come around and scrub my other side, then work on my legs and belly? They do not get as sweaty, but I confess that you are a deft hand with that brush, and I will take any chance to be pampered."

Aidan obediently repositioned to her right flank and started over from the top before asking, "And if I pamper you so, might you be willing to answer more questions for me on the morrow?"

"We shall see," she responded breezily, "but it certainly will not hurt your case." Aidan laughed softly and gave in. He planned to do as she asked anyway, after all. Several minutes passed in companionable silence as he worked his way gradually down her body. When Aidan was once again scrubbing her rump, the movement of her tail drew his attention. He hadn't been watching where he was washing before, but now he saw how her tail swished back and forth in time with his motions. From his position at her size, Aidan couldn't see what her tail might be revealing, but the swishing grew more vigorous as he moved further back on her rump. As he started scrubbing the furthest extent of her body, he noticed her tail lifting higher and her right rear leg tensing and relaxing under his ministrations.

He realized he had gotten too distracted again when Brighid let out a low, nearly inaudible moan and stepped away from him. "That is good enough, Aidan." She sounded a little short of breath. "Thank you, truly. I appreciate your help, especially knowing that it is more meaningful in your culture than in mine. If you do end up becoming part of the tribe, I might have to spread the word of your skilled hands to the other mares; your touch felt wonderful." She walked up to him and leaned down slightly to give him a hug, pressing her large breasts -- and hard nipples -- firmly against his chest. He brought his arms up around her and hugged her back. She held the embrace just a moment longer than Aidan expected and pressed her abdomen forward against what Aidan blushingly realized was his raging erection, then stepped back.

"Now, speaking of touching," Brighid continued, her voice low and throaty, "I think I told you to polish your sword, and it looks like you have yet to take that task to hand, so I will leave you to it. And Aidan?" He looked up at her smiling face. "I am going out into the brush to take care of a little business of my own. If you hear me screaming, do not come running. Understand?" Her smile turned devilish, and she turned to trot out of the pool and into the darkness.

Aidan stared after her as she left, not quite willing to accept what she just implied she would be doing. When he heard her voice starting to cry out into the night, however, he did indeed take matters into his own hands and polished his sword quite vigorously. By the time Brighid's cries reached a loud and violent crescendo, two new prompts had appeared in Aidan's HUD.

Mentally and physically exhausted by events, Aidan gathered his gear and clothes, made his way back to the cave, curled up into a ball, and fell asleep.

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