The White Sheep

Chapter 5 of

Knights Palatine of Ausona

TL;DR for new readers

: Bianca has implausibly safe/clean/enjoyable sex with monsters, futas, and occasionally regular humanoids because reasons.

Content warnings

: centaur/human, puns

⁂⁂⁂

Cool spring winds caressed Bianca's face as she emerged from sleep. It was still dark out, the surrounding plains illuminated only by a waxing crescent moon. The barest slivers of glowing red embers could be seen peeping out from between the ashes near her feet.

She was on her side, huddled back to back with Rossana under the blankets for warmth. According to the ranger, her people used enclosed, insulated tents, but the centaurs favored simple lean-to's that did nothing to hold in the heat.

Kaskyrbai Shahza and his half-brother Arystan towered over them, snoring heavily. The centaurs were sleeping on their feet with their arms folded and heads bowed. She heard another, subtler sound underneath their sawing, an occasional quiet schlik from behind her.

Bianca's grogginess cleared and she listened carefully. This was the first night since she'd met her that Rossana hadn't passed out in a drunken stupor. There it was, distinct, not just another one of her erotic dreams carrying over onto waking consciousness. Good to know Rossana was a sexual being. The ranger's beautiful, curvy ass had been tormenting her ever since they left Traietto, bouncing up and down in the saddle day in and day out.

The sexual enchantments she'd received from Zdenka hadn't helped matters at all. Having an exquisitely sensitized perineum had turned out to be quite the liability in the saddle, unless the constant edging was intended. Even the festivities with Kaskyrbai that morning hadn't dampened the fire that had been building now for days.

The schliks had stopped, Bianca suddenly noticed. She stirred and faked a few fitful turns before falling into a deep, steady breathing pattern. For a long time afterward, there was just the snoring and the sound of her own breathing. But at length, she heard her bedmate pick up where she'd left off. So fucking hot.

⁂

Bianca sat across the sheep-dung fire from Rossana, drinking sour ewe's milk from a wooden bowl. The Shiraka girl was tending the fire, roasting up some goat for a late lunch. The centaurs were off instructing their goblin servants on what to do during their absence.

They'd spent the morning helping Kaskyrbai sacrifice sixteen goats, which he'd stubbornly insisted had to be done today. It must have been very important since she counted only nine goats still living amid the sea of bleating sheep. So blessed Asa had conducted away their offering of skin, bone, and offal in a pillar of smoke, and they found themselves with an overabundance of goat meat to go with all the curds and whey.

"Enjoy the show last night?" Rossana asked without lifting her eyes. Bianca choked and got some fermented milk up her nose. She took a sip to hide her face behind her bowl.

"Not sure what you're talking about," she mumbled. The silken-haired girl continued prodding the fire with an impassive face.

"It's fine," she said. After a few more prods, she gave Bianca a significant sideways glance. "I saw how you handled things yesterday."

"Mm," she replied noncommittally, stretching out an already suspiciously-long draught. Rossana laughed a little, the first time Bianca had seen her smile while sober.

"It was kind of hot."

"Yeah?" Bianca lowered her bowl, unmasking the pink blush on her cheeks.

"In a weird way."

They sat together in silence for a while. Bianca stole a few glances at her lovely, honey-colored face. Her expression was unreadable, her dark eyes focused on the fire.

"I could use an assistant at the assemble," Bianca said at last. A half-smile played on the ranger's delicate pink lips.

"I'll think about it."

⁂

Perhaps trusting Kaskyrbai's goblin woman had been a mistake.

Five days had passed since Shala had wheedled her way into accompanying them from Kaskyrbai's winter camp. Bianca sat in a large pavilion she'd had erected outside Traietto, supporting the weight of her chin on her palm and contemplating the disjointed-looking clockwork device in front of her. It was haphazardly covered with blankets, but through the gaps she could make out a needlessly complex system of gears, pulleys, and cranks suspended on a thick metal pole.

"Was all of whatever this is really necessary?"

"Oh yes," the goblin said, adjusting her lenses. Even on her feet, she didn't reach the seated paladin's chin. "Quite necessary."

"I did it last time without any special equipment."

"Oh? I heard there were positioning issues."

"Uh-huh." Bianca felt sure that was velvet she could see on some of the horizontal surfaces, or at least a passable imitation. "How much did all of this cost?"

"I had most of it lying around."

"Did you, though?"

"Oh hush, don't trouble yourself with the petty details. You can owe me a favor. Or, you know," she said, eyeing Bianca's figure, "find some other way to compensate me."

"Mm-hmm."

Bianca had a great deal riding on the success of the assembly, professionally. And with some of the arrangements she'd made in Traietto over the past few days, also financially.

"And may I ask what's going on over there?" she asked, tilting her head toward Rossana.

The lovely Shiraka woman was on her knees, stroking Arystan's mottled shaft with one hand as she struggled to swallow his formidable pink cockhead. Her other hand rand under the lower hem of her tunic, where it appeared to be hard at work.

"Dress rehearsal."

With a loud, wet gluck, Rossana took the dun centaur's swollen glans into her tiny mouth.

"She's a wonderful asset. Lots of heart."

"I can see that."

The ranger was doing an impressive job of suppressing her gag reflex as she sucked and jerked him off. Even so, she was only achieving a depth of maybe four inches. Not surprising, considering the relative dimensions involved. She must have been doing a good job though. His hind legs were already twitching.

"You didn't use any, you know..." Bianca swirled the fingertips of her free hand in the air, leaving behind a slowly-fading tracery of brilliant silver light, "on her did you?"

"Oh no, I'm entirely mundane. I just help people bring buried things to the surface."

Arystan had started ejaculating at some point, and viscous ropes of cum were spraying in pulses from Rossana's mouth as she inevitably fell behind on swallowing. When she reached her limit she popped his corona out and let him finish on her face and wide-open mouth.

"Sometimes things aren't buried very deep."

Crisscrossed strands of semen bridged Rossana's eyelashes, nose, lips, and chin, and her blue kaftan and tunic were half-coated with sticky webs. Her free hand was still clearly going to town on her clit as she milked his slowly softening dick.

"I didn't think about that," Shala sighed. "She's going to need a bath and a new outfit."

Bianca wordlessly went to get some fresh air while the goblin dealt with the crisis. Outside of the steppes, the followers of the good religion had long ago ceased conducting animal sacrifices. But she semi-seriously considered asking Kaskyrbai to off another goat on her behalf to help things run smoothly.

Traietto glittered in the twilight across the fertile plain, a lustrous pearl on the Ausonian Sea. The local prioress was an old girlfriend and mentor, and It had taken only a few pleasant sessions to persuade her to divert some commandery resources her way. Hence the presence of the priory's servants and grooms. The former were helping the sutlers' guild set up trestle tables for the assembly tomorrow, while the latter were receiving the White Sheep officers as they arrived.

The captains of the left wing and the van along with their retainers were already cleaned and refreshed. Their goblets were filled with black wine, and Kaskyrbai had received them before the newly-constructed dais and the unlit bonfire. They required only that the grooms finish with the grand captain and things could get started.

Bianca's anxieties as she took the dais soon proved unfounded, as the officers were deep into their cups by the time Ayukhan Agha made it through the gauntlet. Formal introductions by name, patronymic, rank, and clan padded out the opening portion nicely. And even the grand captain, white and weathered with age, seemed impressed when with appropriate invocations she called down Asa's fire from heaven and set the bonfire alight.

By now most everyone was pleasantly tipsy and in a receptive mood for any speech whatever that didn't delay the food too much. With the fire blazing behind her, illuminating the reddish fringes of her hair from behind like a halo, she looked like a heavenly yazata in her own right. She reminded them of their former brave and loyal service in the wars of the late grand duke, to general approbation and stamping of feet. She described the dangers posed by the half-orc marauders, the consequences of failure, and the many rewards of success. She expressed confidence in their ability to excel the barbarians in arts of war, and exhorted them to live up to their well-earned reputation and earn glory and booty for themselves.

Most of the officers were eating it up, though Ayukhan's craggy face remained impassive. She had just a little more to say, but at this point a pair of the more impetuous and intoxicated sub-captains insisted on lifting her off her feet and carrying her into the pavilion. Kaskyrbai followed close enough to catch her if they stumbled, which against all odds they did not.

The tables in the pavilion were placed in a semicircle with Shala's contraption at the focus. The grand duke's seat stood empty at the center, with a slightly lower chair to the left, notionally for the grand mistress of the order. Kaskyrbai helped his comrades set Bianca down in the grand mistress' seat and took his place to her left. Ayukhan stepped up onto a low platform next to the ruler's chair, which brought his head to the same level as Bianca's. The other officers arranged themselves on either side in descending order of rank.

Unlike the plain tables outside, these were already set with fine cloth, wooden trenchers, and salt. Sutlers' guild servants distributed such exotic (to centaurs) delicacies as bread, beef, and pork, while the order's servants kept the beer and black wine flowing. A small host of Ayukhan's goblins kept the tables well supplied with cheese, stewed mutton, and curdled milk.

The centaurs provided their own entertainment, with some of the low-ranking but musically inclined producing stringed instruments and reed flutes. It was too dark tonight for archery or races, but the lamps shed enough light for wrestling. Arystan and a beardless blue roan had taken off their kaftans and were just preparing for an impromptu match. Bianca noted the tell-tale raised, crisscrossed scars on the roan's back.

"Zholbarys?"

Kaskyrbai nodded. She could see what Sarlo's wife had seen in him. He was the only one present with his beard shaved in the Ausonian civilian style, his wavy black hair was fashionably cut and clearly well cared for, and his face was if anything even prettier than Kaskyrbai's.

"Almost ready?" Shala's honeyed voice broke her reverie. The goblin had snuck onto the grand duke's seat, where by the grace of the gods her short stature and dark hair prevented her from standing out too conspicuously.

"Would you...?!" Bianca pulled her off the duke's seat and into her own lap. Shala gave the paladin's unarmored thighs an appreciative squeeze.

"Time's not right for that yet, beautiful." She slipped to the ground and was gone.

At length the course wound down. The human servants and the goblins poured a final round of drinks and left the pavilion. They were followed by the lower-ranking centaurs, including Arystan and Zholbarys, whose objections at being ousted were placated only with the promise of more beer.

Bianca bound the remaining centaurs by oaths of secrecy to Mithra of the Covenants and set out the order's proposals for the handful who were sober enough to follow along. Four hundred centaurs were to be quartered near the capital as soon as practicable. Every willing soul among the remainder was to summer with his flocks nearby, in the valleys of the Lepini instead of the usual haunts in the Ercinici.

"Will that not leave the eastern marches exposed to the Black Sheep?" asked a young, handsome mahogany bay to Ayukhan's right. The speaker was Kyranbai of the left, Kaskyrbai quietly reminded her.

"The marcher lords can defend their own territory for a season while we have more pressing concerns elsewhere," she replied with a steady gaze. "Perhaps it will remind them why your company was chartered. Lord Sarlo in particular could well relearn why his grandfather sought the shelter of the grand duke's suzerainty in the first place." Kyranbai smirked and raised an appreciative goblet to that.

"Our charter requires only that we defend the eastern marches, reverend Lady" the grand captain interjected in a measured tone. His gravelly voice was well matched to his weatherbeaten face. "What sort of compensation were you proposing?"

Bianca began to speak but was interrupted by a hush falling over the room. Rossana was approaching the group, blindfolded and barefoot. She wore a fresh burgundy kaftan over a knee-length white tunic that did little to conceal the delightful curve of her figure. Shala was at her side, holding her hand and guiding her steps, and Zholbarys and Arystan were in her train.

Even blind, unarmed, and unarmored as she was, Rossana's entrance provoked alarm. The silence was broken only by scattered, suspicious whispers. Ayukhan's face was hard set, and his hand had risen out of habit to search for his absent bow. Bianca looked to Kaskyrbai and gestured with her eyes, and he took her hint.

He approached Rossana at a confident trot and offered his hand as he greeted her under his breath. She took his hand with grace and a warm smile. In a moment the tension receded and even the grand captain relaxed, though his eyes remained fixed on her as he engaged Kyranbai in inaudible conversation.

Shala led the ranger to stand in front of her device facing the audience. The goblin whipped off the covering blanket with a flourish, revealing a spindly, disjointed mass of steel and wood with the occasional splash of red velvet that, more than anything, resembled a horse-sized spider golem.

"Ohhh no," Bianca said to herself at the sight of it, covering her mouth with her hand. The goblin climbed nimbly up the machine to stand on a small padded platform facing the circle.

"Gentlemen!" Shala looked demonic with her lenses shining reddish-yellow in the lamplight. Her voice carried surprisingly well for her size. "I've served my beloved Prince Kaskyrbai for many years, and others of your kind before him. And I understand the pangs of your exile, perhaps better than you do yourselves."

This last provoked general laughter. Shala motioned for silence and, like a bossy little child indulged by her elders, obtained it.

"The smell. The summers. The swamps. The sugared sheep piss they call wine." Pretty weak material, but the spectators were friendly and intoxicated.

"The lack of suitable entertainment for fine young stallions such as yourselves. Why, I have it on good authority that until recently Zholbarys here is the only one of you that's gotten laid since he's been here. At least by a species that can be mentioned in polite company." This won a smattering of laughter mixed with expressions of vexation.

"Gentlemen! On behalf of the Knights of the Palace..." Bianca successfully resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands.

"I'd like to give a demonstration of the delights that our most honored sovereign bestows upon those in his favor." The goblin was liable to get Bianca hanged implicating the grand duke like that.

"Could I have a volunteer?" It was hard to believe things she could be serious, and even those who understood where this appeared to be heading hesitated.

"You there." She turned and pointed to Altarys, who regarded her with folded arms, an amused half-smile, and a penis already dropped from its sheath. He pawed the ground and approached with a prancing gait, his cock stiffening and elongating with each springing step. He bent down at the waist when he reached her, squeezing her shoulder and whispering something in her ear before positioning himself between her and the machine.

"Signorina?"

At the goblin's voice, Rossana turned and lowered herself to her knees, provoking a clockwise rush of officers jostling for a view. Ayukhan was frowning and had a hand half-raised as if to shut this down, but not one person other than Bianca was paying him any mind at the moment.

The ranger already had Altarys' fat cock in her hands by the time Bianca looked back, just in time to watch her plant a first kiss on his pink-speckled cockhead. Scattered pawing and stamping from the audience greeted this display of affection, egging her on. With kisses and adoring licks, she worshipped his swollen glans as she stroked his hard shaft.

She repeated her performance from rehearsal flawlessly, engulfing his head with her lips to appreciative whoops and stomping. This time she kept her hands away from herself for the performance's sake, jerking with one hand and twisting with the other while she swallowed him down as far as she could manage.

Within minutes her skilled efforts were rewarded with clear signs of her partner's fast-approaching orgasm, as well as ever-mounting expressions of excitement and approval from the watching centaurs. Every cock in the tent was now hard, Ayukhan's alone excepted. The captain of the center watched silently, betraying no emotion even as his subordinate came in her mouth.

Rossana had learned her lesson about trying to keep ahead of the semen flooding forcefully into her mouth. She pulled off after the second swallow and let him finish all over her face. Each ejaculation released fresh ropes of thick, hot cum that filled her mouth, clung to her face and tongue, and hung from her lips and jaw. By the time he was done, she was fairly coated from brows to collarbones, with stray ropes strung out on her hair and her kaftan and dripping between her heavy breasts.

"Let's hear it for the lovely young lady!" Shala commanded from her perch, bringing the audience with minimal encouragement to full applause. Arystan looked down affectionately at her smiling face, covered in his seed, and gave her shoulder another squeeze before retreating with his cock withdrawing into its sheath.

"Isn't she great, gentlemen?" Whistles and stamps indicated that she was indeed. Shala produced a clean rag from the folds of her robe and handed it to Rossana to clean some of the mess off her face.

"Mister Zholbarys?" The blue roan presented himself before her. "We all know your reputation. Why don't we give our friend a chance to demonstrate what he's learned in human lands?"

Shala guided the blindfolded woman with Zholbarys' help, getting her to step up onto some velvet-padded portions of the machine and lower herself once again to her knees. The goblin, flitting from crank to crank, made some adjustments and then coaxed her down onto her elbow, her shapely, if unfortunately still clothed, ass in the air.

"Lady Bianca?" She started with mild alarm at hearing her name called out unexpectedly. "If I could request some assistance?" The goblin was resting one hand on the Shiraka's ass, the other on the small of her back.

Bianca had just wanted Rossana to, like, fluff a couple of centaurs and help with the aim for her own display. She wasn't sure she wanted to get too involved in what was about to happen, but as if in a dream she found herself out of her high chair headed toward the spectacle. Too late to back out gracefully now.