Gordon smiled and laid back under the stars, cupping his hands behind his head. He gave a muffled little sound of contentment and glanced sideways as Carrot came into the clearing. He grinned as the doe's eyes went wide.
  What she saw was this: There was Gordon, laying on his back with his hands tucked behind his head. Tristian was laying face down on his stomach between the buck's legs, his tounge rapidly working over Gordon's thick erect cock before the shade elf drew the swollen glans into his mouth and began bobbing his head gently up and down.
  Carrot ugh'ed and sat on a stump nearby, watching for a moment before she asked, "Don't you think Mistresses would be upset if they found you doing this?"
  Gordon smirked and reaches down with his right hand to stroke his fingers through Tristian's hair.
"No," she said. "Mistresses have given all of us pets permission to play when we want."
  Tristian giggled in response and then mmphed, stopping the motion of his head. Carrot looked at him confused a moment, and then oh'ed quietly to herself. The two must have been at it for some time. Tristian sat up, making swallowing motions with his throat and stroking Gordon's cock until it went flaccid in his hand. Carrot smirked as well.
  "Give as good as you get, Gordon. It's not fair for you to cum and Lord Tristian doesn't."
At this, the shade elf grinned. "He did me first. It's his fault."
Gordon snickered, and then sat bolt upright, his hears coming erect. Carrot started to ask what was wrong, but he silenced her with a motion of his hand. He wordlessly reached over and unclipped Tristian's lightsaber from his belt and stood.
  The other two understood without having to be told. The battle-hardened veteran had heard or seen something that put him on high alert. Instantly Tristian and Carrot merged into the shadows to retreat quietly back to their mistresses' tent. They were experts at this, Carrot's natural fur coloring causing her to vanish almost at once, while Tristian's natural stealth allowed him to pass over dry leaves without a whisper of sound.
  Gordon glanced left and right, tuning his sensitive ears to every nuance of sound. He had heard something, certainly...a furtive movement. Possibly an animal hoping to sneak by unnoticed, but maybe...
  He spun, lightsaber igniting in his hand as he swung it out and down in a wide arc. There was a squeal, a sizzling sound, and the upper part of a stoat's body tumbled to the ground.
  "UP," Gordon roared. "Bandits!"

                                  ***

  Trace was awake like a shot, instinctively reaching into the threads of entropy and locking onto the biggest source even as she reached for her clothes. In her minds eye she saw what was happening in the clearing nearby, six nastly looking stoat brigands descending in force on Gordon, whom had just cut one in half with Tristian's lightsaber.
  She rose, feeling more than seeing Nicole drift up beside her. Both rushed from the tent to see Tristian standing a silent guard, a pair of elven daggers in his hands. Carrot was on top of the carrage with what appeared to be some kind of Gatling weapon ready to open up on any unfriendlies that dared try to approach.
  Trace exchanged glances with Nicole and headed off into the clearing.
  When they got there, they arrived just in time to see a stoat lunge savagely at Gordon with a pike. The buck pivoted on his heel and met the pike's charge , lifting his left arm to let the weapon pass under it. At the same time, the lightsaber flashed out and emerged through the attacker's back with a viscious hiss of burned flesh.
  Trace glanced sideways and noticed they had been observed, a stoat with an axe was rushing toward Nicole, whom had her attention focused on a stoat trying to creep up behind Gordon. Trace lifted her hands and reached into the primal stream of entropy, causing it to loop and whirl against the rushing stoat's frontside. The stoat was flung into the air and back, crashing into a tree with a snap of bones. He slid unconscious to the wet moss floor.
  The remaining three abruptly broke and fled. Trace kneeled by the one Gordon had skewered, searching for any form of identification or clues to his identity. She didn't trust this situation at all. Stoat brigands hardly ever came this far out of the Vale for fear of the Wizards. Odd that these six would, and happen upon a camp situated well off the road.
  Trace was certain they had been sent.
Nicole smiled faintly at Gordon as the buck disengaged the lightsaber and kneeled.
"I trust my Mistresses are unharmed?" Gordon asked.
Nicole giggled, softly. "Fancy that. The man comes directly from orgasm to a fight, and isn't even breathing hard. We're fine, Gordon. You've done well, thank you. Odd that sotat bandits would come this far down."
  "I'm not sure it's odd at all," Trace said, standing as Tristian and carrot came into the clearing.
The phoenix's tone was serious.
  "I think 'It' sent them."

                                 ***
  They pulled up camp and moved out at dawn the next morning. Trace sat up front again, her arms looped around Nicole's waist. She looked into the bunnymouse's face and found that, as per ususal, the beautiful visage was completely devoid of expression.
"What are you thinking, Nicole?"
Nicole smiled faintly. "I'm thinking that whatever it is that's in that tower, it knows everything about us. Those brigands were a test."
Trace pursed her lips, thinking. She felt the same way. The intelligence tracking them, marking them, certainly had known much more about them than they did of it.
Nicole seemed to sense her thoughts.
"Yes," she said, "It already knows exactly what we're capable of."
Next to them, Gordon frowned slightly. He didn't like this one bit.