“Dear gods above and below, that was exhausting!” Rubbing my temple lightly to ease the gentle pounding behind my eyes, I squinted weakly while heading down the road, as the setting sun was glaring into my eyes from the left. “I never thought I’d get away from mother,” I groaned softly, to Red.

“I thought she was sweet,” Red laughed merrily, wrapping her left arm around my waist, and snuggling close as we traveled down the road. “At least she had more to say than just, ‘Uggh’.”

“Father wasn’t that bad,” I defended, loyally. “I’ll admit, he’s a reticent man of few words, but he doesn’t grunt like a caveman.” At least, not too often, I secretly thought to myself.

Laughing merrily, Red just squeezed me softly in response. Even though I’d gotten one hell of a lecture from my parents, it was still nice to see how well they both got along with her.

Pushing ourselves to make as much time as possible, we didn’t stop walking until the first moon had already started rising, and the light of day was a barely lingering memory.

“I’ll grab the firewood,” Red offered, as we decided to stop at a wide spot in the road. I was still a little fretful over the bandits, but we were a day and a half’s walk away through the forest, and another half’s day walk down the road past that. Since I’d freed the girls from them about a week ago, the chances of them just happening to cross our path now was small enough I wasn’t overly worried. “Optimistically cautious”, is how I’d call it.

“Move it back a little further from the road,” I advised, while unpacking the half shovel from my backpack. “I’ll scruff up a quick hole back near the bushes over here for a latrine. Those vines are wisteria, not ivy,” I informed Red, pointing back at the ones I was speaking about. “You don’t have to be afraid to make use of them in the dark,” I assured her.

“Oh,” Red laughed merrily when she realized what I was talking about. “That’s a relief,” she sniggered lightly. “After all, using ivy seems like it be a rash decision in this case.”

“Well,” I smirked back at her as I was digging, “I have heard some people are itching to try it once.”

“Well, you can scratch that idea off my ‘to do’ list”, Red giggled, dropping a pile of loose limbs off where I’d pointed earlier.

“You might need a little Calamine lotion if you do that,” I shot back at her, enjoying our little pun exchange. It was nice to see she had a sense of humor similar to mine, and sharp enough wits to instantly join in the fun.

“Cow of yours lotion?” Stopping her work on breaking the limbs into manageable lengths for firewood, Red stared at me with a puzzled look on her face.

“Calamine,” I repeated, blushing slightly. “You know, nevermind... It’s not important, and I’m going to go make a quick loop around the area to make certain we’re safe and to see if I can shoot some fresh game for supper.”

Dropping the shovel, I quickly turned and strode off into the woods. Damn my first life!! Here I was, ruining everything by being a “moody moonie” again, talking about a brand name that maybe only existed in another world.

Red had the campfire blazing merrily by the time I returned to camp, and the smell of meat and potatoes roasting was strong on the air. “It seems safe enough,” I reported in, “but I didn’t have a chance to get any game for us.”

“Well, we don’t need it anyway,” Red told me, wrinkling her face up into a questionable scrawl, as she patted the ground beside her. “We’ve packed plenty to do us for the next week or so.”

“I know.” Shrugging my shoulders slightly, I sat down beside her and turned one of the meat and potato skewers leaned across the campfire. “I guess it’s just a man thing – or maybe a hunter thing – to want to impress a beautiful girl by showing off my provider skills,” I lied. There wasn’t any way that I was going to tell her I was embarrassed by my own stupid “dream talking”.

“And talking about ‘beautiful girls’,” I asked, changing the subject, “don’t yours hurt being smushed in that tight?” I pointed a finger at her tight tunic so she’d be certain to know what I was talking about. Nothing like mentioning a woman’s breasts to her, to instantly change a subject, in my two lifetimes of experience.

“They’re a little snug,” Red admitted, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “It’s nothing I can’t easily deal with though,” she assured me, before laughing lightly and then wiggling and pulling the tunic up over her head. Tossing it down on the ground beside her, she chuckled and then leaned back on the grass with both arms resting under her head.

“See?” Looking up and over at me, she smirked slightly. “Now the girls aren’t smushed. Problem easily solved.”

“Yeah… well…” Staring over at her, I couldn’t help but lick my lips. “Solving their problem might just cause me a problem,” I muttered dryly, feeling the heat of youthful warmth pumping throughout my body.

“Well that’s not really a problem either, Mi’Lord,” Red assured me, as she lifted her hips and slid off her skirt. Spreading her knees, she rested her arms back under her head, closed her eyes and waited.

I didn’t make her wait long.

We burnt the damn food.

I felt so bad about it, I had to roll back over and take comfort from Red’s luscious body to deal with it.

The damn food was still burnt.

I felt so bad about Red going hungry, I had to roll back over and comfort her luscious body to help her deal with it.

The next morning, when I woke up, intertwined with Red’s body, the damn food was no longer burnt. Like it campfire it had been cooked on, it’d long since burnt completely to ash.

Rubbing my hands through Red’s long hair, I gently leaned over and kissed her passionately. Reaching up and wrapping her arms around my neck, Red energetically returned the kiss, before finally wishing me, “Good morning, Mi’Lord.”

“It certainly is,” I agreed, sitting up so I could enjoy the view of her whole body. Wearing nothing but thigh high boots and long gloves, with her long red hair splayed out all around her, Red was a vision of beauty great enough to move any man’s heart this morning.

Arcing her back like a cat, Red yawned lightly and stretched for such a long time, I thought I might pass out from holding my breath as I watched her. “Does Mi’Lord want to go one more time?” Giggling merrily as she watched my reaction, Red placed both arms back under her head, then bent and sprawled her legs open wide.

Forcing myself to look away, I stood up and slowly shook my head from side to side. “I couldn’t right now, even if I wanted too,” I admitted honestly. “I’m completely spent right now.”

Laughing freely, Red just stretched and nodded, before getting up and quickly sliding her skirt and tunic back on. “Well, I’m always available for Mi’Lord,” she promised, while digging through her pack for some bread and cheese.

Following her lead, we were quickly packed back up and continued to follow the map towards Widow’s Crypt.