The Seduction

Mantis interlaced his fingers behind his head and leaned back into them, eyes closed. “Seduction is not a skill,” he said amusedly. “It is art AND skill. More like cooking. One person does most of the work but if done right, everyone involved enjoys it . . . like painting or singing. It is physical, mental, spiritual! . . . all that stuff.”

Mankar sat opposite the smaller man, listening intently.

Mantis paused and leaned forward thoughtfully, an index finger curled over his lips. “No, that’s not right. Maybe it is more like smithing . . . a . . . synthesis of raw material, alchemical skill, desire and artistry to produce something beautiful.” He smiled conspiratorially. “Yeah, I’m liking this metaphor better. So many places to take the imagery: smoldering fires, red-hot pokers, pumping bellows, hammers, tongs . . . Heaving, sweaty bodies, taut sinews . . . “

He shook his head. “Where was I? Anyway, there’s no one ‘right way’ to seduce a woman. Every situation’s different, every person’s different. Preparation’s important, improvisation even more so. You should use your . . . “ He gestured with his hands, grasping for the word. “Your . . . relevant talents to their fullest. Take Tree Under Water. Without any preparation and frankly, regrettable looks, he could literally seduce an inanimate object.” There was respect in the shaman’s voice. “That takes skill.”

“Huh. He was betrayed by that Lankhar Mhy priestess in the end, though.”

“Yeah,” Mantis said dismissively. “But, that’s because he only seduced her body. He hadn’t not won her heart. I got the feeling he didn’t want to.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I sincerely hope to reach his lofty level but I don’t think he really understood the limits of it. He controlled her body but the moment he stopped seducing. . . When he released her, she turned on him. No, it would have been best if he had had his way with her and let her go from the beginning.”

The big man sighed and shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like it would be any good, then. I love Aud! And she me, I think.”

“Wait!”

“Eh?”

“You’re missing the point. Body and heart are two different things. They can be complementary. Often they are complementary, but Tree made the mistake of never even trying to win Pinat’s heart. If you want to both win Aud and keep her, your efforts need to be two-pronged… I can teach you how to seduce just about anyone, but the rest will be up to you.”

He turned to the warchief, “Look, for what it’s worth, Aud likes you already.” Mantis chuckled. “You should have seen her, when she thought you were about to marry the Apple Queen.” He stood up hands on his hips and stamped his foot in mock imperiousness, “Mantis!! Fix this!!”

“Anyway, she likes you, you like her. In a sense, you’ve already won her; you just need to keep her.”

“Ah! That makes sense. Capturing a town is different from ruling it, after all.”

“Yeah . . . okay. Let’s go with that if it works for you. I’ve been preparing a draft of a future magnum opus. You should look at it!” He handed Mankar a bundle of loose papers.

Mankar was surprised as he rarely saw the shaman reading, much less writing anything. The handwriting was terrible (though Mankar’s was only slightly better) but the ideas were laid out clearly, sometimes with crude pictures to clarify the descriptions. Each section was numbered for reference and obviously a lot of thought had gone into it.

“This is just the crudest first scribblings, mind you. One day it will be a multi-volume tome saga! I dare say the song’s fame will spread to the entire literate world and beyond! Can you imagine it? No Uleria temple would be without a set! Kings and empresses -- especially the empresses! -- will have their finest bards sing it and keep it in treasured books bound in the finest jewel-encrusted leather and illustrated by the great artists of the ages!” He seemed about to break into cackling maniacal laughter but brought himself under control. “Well, yes, a task for later. After research. Much, MUCH research. I’m thinking 3 volumes: The first being ‘How a man can seduce a woman.’ Then, ‘How a man can keep a woman.’ The third one will be how woman can seduce a man. I’ll need a collaborator for that one. . . . Are you listening?”

“Huh. Yes.” Mankar looked over the items and he alternately puzzled, aroused and embarrassed as he read over the entries… especially when he tried to imagine himself and Aud trying to accomplish them! “Are you sure all these actually work? Some of them seem painful or actually impossible.”

He nodded sagely. “I assure you that everything there has been tested in the field at least once and most reviewed by ‘experts’. Some won’t be suitable for you, of course. Considering the, ummm, size difference between you two. Technique 12, section b, and all of techniques 15, 22 and 45 are out of the question. Still, you aren’t without options!” He jotted down a memo for positions to attempt if he ever encountered a halfling who was willing to experiment. “I’d consider all of 1 through 11, 19 and most especially 23 as quite suitable for beginners with stamina.”

He flipped to 23 and it took him a few seconds to puzzle through the stick figures but he finally got it and his eyebrows rose. “Surely this…”

“Trust me.”

“But!”

“Trust me.”

“Anyway . . , all this is cutting to the chase too early for you guys. Definitely Volume Two material. As I said before, she likes you. You like her. You’ve known each other all your lives, but you need to get to the point where you can both admit that it’s more than that. A seduction like this involves preparation. Bring her things she likes, set up a situation where you can display your good qualities, pay attention to her feelings and so on. That will be its own series of books as well.” He shook his head. “People copulate with no more thought than rutting animals! Art reduced to, to, to…”

“Crude stick figures?” He worked to keep any trace of mockery out of his voice.

“Exactly!”

“My thanks, Mantis.” Mankar reassembled the papers, preserving their order, before returning them. He had a sudden thought. “Speaking of art. If you try to convince my sister to illustrate your book, I will break five of your legs.”

Mantis said slowly, “Five seems… high.”

“My girlfriend is a very skilled healer.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!”

“Gifting is important, as you have managed to figure out. But there’s a wide variety of possible inducements.” Mantis had scribbled some categories of gifts in the dirt with a stick but the words were borderline illegible so Mankar depended more on memory than actually reading.

“It should reflect your relationship and, perhaps, the direction you wish to take things.”

“Oh, what do you mean?”

“For example, an Ilurian priestess might be amused if you gave her a colorfully decorated phallus, our lovely healer would probably be offended.” He continued to scratch in the dust as he spoke. “That’s really more of a third date gift, at any rate.”

“Ah. That’s important, yes.”

“Aud is a practical person, so something she would find useful might work better than something overtly romantic. Plus it lays the groundwork in the future more romantic gifts. It should show a deep knowledge of the recipient. What does Aud like or need that she doesn’t have?”

“I think I have the perfect thing, but I’ll need your help.”

Aud had told Mankar that fresh water was essential to a healer as she needed it to practice her arts most effectively. With the river nearby getting water was not a problem, but having clean water immediately could decide life or death. While Aud was visiting the herds he and Mantis constructed a stone cistern with a bronze cover. With Mantis’s spirits and Mankar’s metalworking skills, they constructed it in a trice. The shaman nodded with satisfaction. “This is good work! You know, I think we could modify this basic idea for bathing…” He went back to his hut while muttering to himself.

When the healer came back, her eyes widened upon seeing the new structure. “Mankar… what is this?”

“Ha ha! A place to keep fresh water! Runoff from your house and rain will keep it full and I can always top it off from the river during the dry seasons. A purification spell every so often will keep the water clean so that you don’t have to run around when you need water.”

The healer looked it wonderingly. The bottom of the cistern was just below waist level and there was a bronze spigot sticking out of it. The tank was large enough that even if not refilled, she could use it for over a week without a problem. She puzzled over the spigot handle for a second and then turned it. Water gushed out and she quickly shut it again. “This is so convenient, thank you!”

He grinned like a (very) big kid who was proud of his actions. “Anything for you! Your time is too valuable to waste hauling water when people need care. And your apprentice is a bit undersized to carry much, I think.”

His humor was infectious and laughed lightly. After a moment of consideration, she decided that his efforts deserved a reward and motioned for him to lean over. Making sure there wasn’t a crowd watching, she gave him a quick but tender kiss on the lips. “Thank you, love.”

He seemed well satisfied with the kiss and carefully hugged her back.

In subsequent conversations, Mantis expounded on the ‘preparation’ stage for the seduction. Some of it seemed very nebulous and indirect to the warrior, but the shaman assured him it would heighten the impact in the end. “Anticipation,” he said, “is as important as any other stage… even more so than some! The only she should be breathless with anticipation is when she’s breathless for, errr, other reasons.”

“How do I do that?”

“Set up a day that you two spend together some time in the future. A bit less than a week is good. Everyone is busy so that won’t seem unnatural. Then set up situations where she thinks about you often. Not just thinks about you, though, she must long for you, even miss you. Never waste a single moment. When you are together, give her pleasure; when you are apart, give her…” he let his voice trail off meaningfully.

“Anticipation?”

“Exactly!”

Mankar pondered this advice and thought about what he normally did for Aud. Anything that involved lifting and muscles, obviously, but not much else he was forced to admit. Sure, if a pack of broos or a vampire attacked, he’d be in the front of the defense but that doesn’t happen very often! It was then he remembered a recent chore… perfect!

“Hmmm… we have plenty of spare bronze now, so a few rivets won’t matter. Ryala can help with the bonding and maybe some of that hardwood that was too curved to be useful.” He talked to the local farmers and wiseards about what he needed and got much advice and help.

It took him two full days to gather what he needed and to craft the rest.

Aud returned from a long day of healing both humans and animals. There had been a persistent cough that had affected the normally unflappable oxen that took some time to eradicate. Her duties hardly ever came at a regular pace. She had times where nothing happened for weeks whereas other times she couldn’t take two breaths consecutively without a new task interfering. Today was much longer than most and all she wanted to do was to relax and maybe spend some idle time with Mankar. She blushed when she thought about what might come of that. Running a village kept them both busy but his duties never seemed to have a real downtime other than what he forcibly grasped. However, after the sun went down, the amount of productive work that could be accomplished nearly vanished so they usually had an hour or so to socialize before the need for sleep claimed them.

When they were lucky, that is.

Today, the darkened dwelling told her that Mankar was too busy to come or had already gone to sleep in his own hut. As they were not married yet, they did not share a residence but she found herself surprisingly used to his presence around. He left a big void when he wasn’t there in more ways than one! It was more than just the chores he would do; there was a discernable lifting of burdens when he was around. As if he was truly a sheltering mountain like his name.

Surprisingly, she found a note waiting for her. Though literate, Mankar preferred sending messages in person and, in such a small stead, that was typically no problem. It started, “Dearest Aud,” She felt a warming in her heart just from the first line. He said “Dearest!” He hadn’t even said that in person! She continued with effort.

“Dearest Aud,
The hunters reported beast-signs to the east. I’m going to travel with them to subjugate whatever we find and we should be back before Windsday. Please leave that evening free.
Thinking of you always,
Mankar”

The girl was deeply touched by the letter. Though the penmanship left a lot to be desired, she could sense the sincerity in his words. She briefly wondered why he was so much more eloquent on paper and deduced it was because he had longer to think about it and perhaps he was too embarrassed to say some things out loud. If that was the case, she would have to encourage him to write more often!

The next few lines worried her, though she knew those fears were (mostly) groundless. Mankar had boasted that barring something that could destroy him instantly, body and soul, he could escape from any situation because he literally had the protection of the Gods. Though she believed him, she still fretted.

But why had he asked her to be free on Windsday night? She searched her memory to see if anything had been planned or some event was occurring but she couldn’t recall anything.

Could this be… a date?

The night guard thought he heard teenage squeals of girlish delight but they stopped soon enough so he didn’t feel the need to investigate since those sounds were not uncommon from the healer’s residence.

The next morning, she saw that her pitcher of water was empty and went outside to her cistern in back of her hut. Today, however, there was a difference she hadn’t seen in the darkness of the previous night. A small garden had been constructed so that the planters would surround the stone tank. Sheltered from direct rain, they would still receive moisture from the environment or could be easily watered from the tap as they were lower down and would even catch any spills rather than having them go to waste.

A variety of herbs had already been placed there and she recognized most of them: Lavender and catmint, basil and geranium, and planted directly in the ground was a ring of lemon verbena. Other than the part where one would stand to get water (or refill it), the whole area was like a tiny private garden.

As the week went on, the plants began to bloom. She realized that each had been chosen not just for utility but each was also a flowering herb and they made for a bright spot in her life every day. Each time she filled up a pitcher of water, she would brush against the verbena and a delightful odor would rise from them and linger on her clothes for an hour afterward. She found herself lost in thought during these times as she thought of her absent lover. Usually she ended up blushing and then hurrying with her tasks at hand!

Two days before Mankar’s return, Ryala stopped by Aud’s house with a largish jug. “Hey! Where should I put this?”

The healer cocked her head to one side. “I’m not sure, what is it?”

“Some of Mankar’s new apfelwein. He asked me to bring it by because he had to rush off with the hunters. I \*wanted\* to go with them, but nooooooo, someone has to stay behind and defend the village. I said we have a mystic shield for that and why have a shield if it isn’t going to do its job, right? So I’m stuck here beating up… ummm, training people while HE gets to go off and shoot at monsters. Is that fair, I ask you? No, no it is NOT.”

Aud barely managed to cut off the stream-of-consciousness rant. “Thank you! You can just put it on the big shelf there. I’ll clear off a spot for it. Did he say why he wanted that here?”

She scratched her head. “I’m sure he told me. Something about wanting to share it with you in a few days? He’s pretty proud of this batch, I think.” She licked her lips. “The last fourteen batches were pretty good, though. I’ve been helping!”

Aud guessed precisely how the warrioress had been ‘helping’. “Oh. Oh! Well, thank you again. I appreciate it.” She glanced at the largish jug. Even on the low shelf, it took up a lot of room and her eye was drawn to the red ribbon he had tied around its neck to indicate which batch the wine had come from.

Suddenly more cheerful, she danced a bit as she went about her chores, feeling very light on her feet.

Ryala met Mantis a few yards away. “Okay, that’s done.” She looked at the shaman. “Hey Vilnus. Why didn’t he just give it to her himself? Wouldn’t that be better?”

He said, “According to my theories, it’s much more effective to…”

The warrioress found her consciousness zoning out after the first sentence or two and she quickly broke off the discussion. She laughed softly to herself and thought, “Romance? Romance is easy.” She decided to find a couple of hearty like-minded men for a long night of ‘romance’!

The day before Mankar’s return, Aud found herself with little to do so she spent the time on chores that were long-neglected that were waiting for a day like today. Her various reagents and preserved plants were inspected and those that had gone bad or lost efficacy were discarded. The house/temple was cleaned, almost scrubbed to a fine state. She found that working around the large jug of wine made her happy rather than annoying her as would normally be the case.

“Missssstressssss,” her apprentice whined. “Why does everything have to be cleaned NOW?”

“Cleanliness is very important, Mouse! Disease spirits love filth and can hide in the tiniest piece of garbage.”

The youngster looked at her suspiciously, “Are you sure you aren’t doing this for HIM?” From previous biting remarks, Aud knew exactly who ‘HIM’ was.

“Don’t be foolish, child. This is part of being a healer.”

She grumbled under her breath. “Right. Sure. Just like moaning and thrashing under some oversized brute is part of being a healer.” The apprentice had already been told by Mankar to find someplace else to be on Windsday and he brooked no argument. She was less than pleased about this!

Fortunately for the apprentice, Aud didn’t hear the complaints over her happy humming.

Mankar stood over the dead Auroch; his breath billowed with steam in the early-morning light. It had been a tough fight… the beast’s hide could turn even a bolt from his arbalest and its bones were hard as wrought iron! When standing, it was a foot taller at the shoulder than even the warrior’s impressive height. But even its strength was insufficient when Mankar had stubbornly mounted it and, while gripping onto its neckhair with one hand, had repeatedly bludgeoned its skull with his enchanted mace.

He looked over and saw that the incidental injuries acquired by the other hunters were being taken care of properly. The leader of them came over and said, “After butchering, if we hurry, we can be home by the morrow.”

The young man remembered something Mantis had said about proper timing and shook his head, “No, don’t rush. We’ll take our time and be back on schedule.” He grinned at the man, “A fine wine shouldn’t be hurried don’t you think?”

“Errr, I guess not chief.” He seemed confused, though unwilling to ask for clarification. Nor did Mankar provide any.

All Windsday, Aud was more distracted than ever, only finding relief when someone needed something from her. She proactively inspected every person in and around the village to make sure everyone was in top form. She herself didn’t realize that the reason for her actions was that she didn’t want any unpleasant surprises interrupting her evening.

Even Mouse, no fan of Mankar’s, was hoping for his swift return. The unending stream of cleaning, minor chores, and outright make-work was driving her to distraction! It was with great relief when she was able to call out, “Hey, here HE comes!”

She was quite correct… he was striding into the village, leading the hunters proudly. They were all burdened with much auroch meat, neatly butchered and wrapped in special cloths for this very purpose. Unlike most hunts, Mankar had taken time to clean off the dust, sweat and blood of their hunt… even going so far as to use some of the soap they had acquired! (A suggestion from Mantis.) He didn’t use much as the overly-floral scent wasn’t to his liking but enough to temper his masculine scent somewhat while cleaning his hide.

It was getting close to dusk and he came from the east so that the ruddy light of the sun shone fully on his face, highlighting his attractive features and not-coincidentally showcasing his musculature (another suggestion from Mantis). He grinned when he saw his lover waiting for him and quickened his steps.

“Ho, Aud, we’re back!”

“I can \*see\* that, you! How could I not?”

He chuckled, “Well, I’m known for being subtle and easily overlooked.”

She was about to retort but then just said, “Welcome home, love.”

Mankar pulled her into an embrace (that lifted her three feet off the ground) and kissed her gently. “It’s good to be home. Shall we share some of that wine I made?”

Mouse interjected, “I suddenly remembered that I have something very important to do far from here.” She scampered off with being reminded.

The couple vanished quickly enough that one might suspect magic was involved!

Mantis was stalking around the stead that evening as certain spirits were more active at night and this was a particularly propitious time to investigate them. Luck, though, was not with him and he was preparing to return to his hut to meditate for the night.

As he passed by the Aud and Mankar’s hut, the heard a peculiarly rhythmic sound, punctuated by high-pitched feminine squeals of pleasure.

He chuckled and murmured, “Number 23… it never fails.”