191 Red Dawn (1/2)
”And then?” General Llewellyn asked. ”How did you shake off the pursuit?”
I pointed a finger at the map spread out on the expedition table. My finger hovered over a spot I'd designated as Rally Point Echo.
”The Millennium Hawks were lying in wait here to harass the enemies and allow our escape,” I answered.
”Impressive that they didn't need their commander with them,” Llewellyn noted. ”I assume Sheridan hadn't disembarked your desert gliders until they'd reached the safety of our front lines?”
”You assume correctly, General,” I said smiling. ”His number two managed fine.”
I picked up the ceramic teacup before me and lifted it to my lips, but I took the time to smell the tea which I was told was the proper way to do it.
”This isn't elf-tea,” I noted.
”No, it's not,” Llewellyn answered as she took a sip of tea herself. ”It's Pine Needle Chai made from the leaves on my own hair…”
I glanced at Llewellyn's chin-length hair and noticed that the strands looked similar to pine leaves. ”You're an oreiades dryad, right? A nymph of the mountains…”
”You're well-read,” she said, smiling. ”Knowing thy enemy is the first step to victory?”
I shook my head. ”I don't think you're my enemy, General…”
She raised a dark green eyebrow at me. ”Truly? Don't your loyalties lie with the Council?”
”Of which, Great General Garm is part of,” I answered.
I guessed she was trying to see if I would slip up and admit to being against Garm, but I wasn't about to do that when face to face with his number two.
We enjoyed our tea for a while longer before she spoke again, ”You're an interesting human, Dean Dapper… tell me, have you bedded a fairy yet?”
I nearly spilled my tea over the map on the table.
”E-excuse me?” I asked in confusion.
”I asked if you've bedded a fairy yet?” she smirked.
Llewellyn leaned forward, and I could swear that her chest seemed to double in size.
”Um, I'm sixteen, ma'am,” I reasoned.
”I've mated with younger,” she answered flatly.
Holy sh**, I thought. Was this tall, voluptuous dryad propositioning me for sex?!
If my cheeks could go any redder they would have. In fact, my face was so hot I gulped down the rest of the tea to try and calm myself down.
”As you know, we nymphs like to enjoy ourselves… and I have a taste for intellectual men,” she said in an unabashed tone.
I don't think I'd ever been speechless in my life until this moment.
Llewellyn laughed a long and hearty laugh. Then she crossed her arms and sat back on her chair looking even more like a temptress than before.
”Let me know if the boy decides he wants to become a man,” she smirked. ”Teasing aside, you've done well, One-thousand-man Commander.”
She tossed a small purse across the table toward me.
I pulled open the purse strings and looked inside and noticed the interior was vastly bigger than the bag would have hold normally. Inside this bag of holding — because it was obviously a bag of holding — were three big casks of with the logo for the Nymphorae which was one of the most expensive ales in the Fayne.
”Your plan worked rather well and we've managed to secure the central region of the battlefield which includes the oases in the north and south,” Llewellyn explained. ”Now, Lord Rah will have no choice but to fight a defensive battle, taking away the advantage of his larger numbers.”
Finally finding my voice again, I asked, ”Does the Great General have a plan for tomorrow's battle?”
”He always has a plan,” Llewellyn tapped her finger over her lips. ”However, I'm curious to know if you do?”
”What did you think of my gliders?” I asked.
”Inspired work,” she answered quickly.
”We can use them to get behind the enemy again and harass their flank,” I explained.
”They'll be wary now that you've already pulled off something similar,” she said, standing up afterward. ”Come back to me when you've thought of something more concrete or decide to join me in my bed.”