The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

A fitful sleep on their horses did not help Neral Jaye’s mood.

It was reaching the point where Neral was wondering if Kress and her group might actually beat them to the rendezvous after all. To attempt to draw as little attention as possible to their movement, they progressed at a snail’s pace, hugging the sheer rock the entire way to lessen their risk of being seen by the creatures here. That was by no means a foolproof strategy, or even necessarily sound, but it was the best of a bad situation.

Neral’s mind lingered on the ones departed as she faced the long, gray road of sand before her. Deres, while perhaps trite and stock in his words of encouragement had a point: if anyone could make it, it would be Kress. But what if she didn’t? And, even if she did, how many would she lose?

How many would I lose? That’s what it boiled down to. They were all there on her word that it mattered. It was always the case that she was responsible for them, but, on the fields of home it was different. The enemy was tangible and understood there by them, and they had homes and families within reach to drive the forward. They had to find their own reasons here. From the family helped, no matter in how small the manner, to seeing what potentially might befall their home and preventing it, to simply the ones with them, she’d hoped they’d found theirs.

And that was another source of worry: she had her reasons with her, two of them anyway. She was right in wanting to go to end a problem before she had to face it once it was insurmountable, but her two were going regardless, so she would follow as well, but did she have to drag others along? Did she have to have knocked on Kress’s door?

That the cause was just had to be reason enough for now.

But the witch broken into pieces would be better.

She snapped herself from her internal monologue for the simple fact that if a commander wallowed in such long enough it bled into everything else like slow poison. She turned, giving her two a deliberate smile. There was some peace in having them there despite the risk to them and that she’d have to witness it, but it was an eye in the storm that was now. He grinned with that same scheming little grin and she tilted her head and flirted with those liquid blue eyes.

They had been chatting quietly for the past hour about nothing in particular because the more active surf allowed for it. With luck they would be off this beach in a few hours and somewhere more suitable to await Kress and the others.

Dion had taken her place as Neral’s second and rode at her side. “How did the mages come to be in the wastes?”

“Everyone knows the story, Captain,” Kestral told her. “You read the stories same as everyone else. Their technologies and their magics made them think they could do anything. They tried to impose their will and it took all we had, but we drove them back.”

“I’ve heard that version of things,” Maylin replied coolly.

Dion ignored the tone of both of them.“So have I. I was just curious as to what your side was.”

Maylin quite liked the open-mindedness found behind those dark eyes. “Well..”

“I’ll be damned,” Dion whispered, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. “General? Do tell me you see what I see, so that I know I’m not delusional.”

Far ahead of them, as the waves crashed they all spied four riders and their mounts. Even from the distance between them they recognized the dark fabrics with gold trim beneath the gleaming armor that signified the military of Erette.

Neral could not hide her smile. Kress had found a way through. She found a way through and had made their way to rejoin them. She held out so much hope that it would happen and the Goddess provided for once, though she could not help but notice two missing officers even though she couldn’t quite tell who they were yet. “Good to see you, Major. She said it twice before she was heard over the waves.

“Good to be seen General,” Kress said with good cheer. “It was a night out of the depths, but we found a gully that cut through the worst of the woods and we were able to follow it out, so we decided to swing by and pick you up.”

“That was most thoughtful of you, Major.”

There was a smile in her voice.“Yes, sir.”

Neral waited, watching them approach as she now did a head count. “Pel and Hennis?”

“I’m sorry, sir, they just didn’t make it out.”

Something sat at the pit of Neral’s stomach at the words. It was the nonchalance of it. It had all the gravity of a pout over a cloudy day when one expected sunshine. It wasn’t the response of someone who lost the lives of two people they were responsible for. The Kress she knew would have been solemn and somber. It would have weighed on Kress the same way that riding on as they drove into the woods weighed on her.

While Anna and Kestral called out to exchange pleasantries with Misha and Zynn Neral stiffened as the distance slowly closed. It was more than just that now. There was a swagger in the way she rode. Her body swayed in an almost carefree manner. It was simply, on so many levels, wrong. Daring to glance away she saw that Bryana and Deres were mirroring her concern, though she wasn’t certain if it was because they felt something, sensed something amiss when compared to the few times they met her, or they just sensed her feelings. Maylin was on guard because they were.

“Something is very wrong,” Neral said to Dion, barely moving her lips.

Those close-set brown eyes narrowed slightly. “Glad that’s not just me, too.”

Again barely moving her lips. “Weapons close.”

Anna went silent as if a switch had been thrown, hands slipping to her daggers, feeling the cold metal at her hands. Elan drew her bow, an arrow and put them in front of her knowing she could draw and kill in a matter of heartbeats. Abren drew her sword, spinning it in her hand once in a display of skill as Delles subtly moved her horse closer to her commanders to take a blow for them if need be. Dalen kept her eyes above, looking for signs of man or beast but the angle of the rock face and the height of the grass made spotting difficult.

Neral barked, “Hold your position, Major.”

The group kept coming as Kress responded. “Is there a problem, sir?”

Hennis moved slowly through the tall grass, moving each limb slowly and smoothly so as not to rustle the grass overmuch as she crept to the precipice, her armor shed down to her linen and it as well as every bit of exposed flesh caked in mud so that she did not throw sound or give those below anything to see. She would move, then pause, waiting for a hint of detection. When enough time passed, she moved again, slowly forward until she could see the groups approaching one another. She was more focused on her task than she had ever been on any in her life. She must be a machine. She must be blank. If not, the mages might sense her and her intent. The level of focus was peaceful in a way and a gift from Her. She knew her purpose now as all with her did. They writhed until near dawn with the creatures and one another until her muscles ached and her tongue was numb.

Once they were given new purpose however, the fatigue vanished as though it had never been. The hardest part was peeling herself from them all, even if it was so she could obey. Even the word was delicious. The service had trained her in only its barest meaning, but Pel had shown her the path. Pel had given them to Her and Hennis was grateful to have been remade whatever happened next.

After moving back slightly, she rose slowly to her knees to give her bow arm full range of motion. Withdrawing an arrow from her quiver soundlessly, she mounted it and leveled the stave, using the white noise of the surf and the sound of the carrion birds to further blank her mind and slowly added tension to the bow string, using the line of the arrow to aim even as she judged the wind and the rest of her environment.

Then Hennis waited.

“I think we both know the answer to that, Major. Stop your advance immediately, that’s an order.”

She raised her hand as she came to a stop and those with her did the same. “What’s the matter, sir?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know full well. The Devine Kress I knew would not just shrug off the deaths of two of her officers.”

“Did you think this was just an exercise, Neral? Did you think no one would see their end in this? Death comes for soldiers. It comes for all of us eventually, but there is joy to be had if you embrace it before the end. We found something more. That some resisted that is a damn shame, but it’s not for everyone.”

She looked at Kress questioningly with a tilt of her head and a twitch of her brow. “What is it that you think you’ve found?”

“Slavery is freedom,” she answered with a coy smile. “All I have to do is obey Her and all other possibilities are open to me. I don’t have to hide anymore. For instance, do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to fuck you?”

Kress eyes expressed her enjoyment at seeing Neral Jaye even slightly flustered. And her other soldiers equally shocked. “From almost the first moment I met you. Tall and proud...naive and beautiful. I wanted to pull you from your bunk, pull you into mine, pin you to it, and make you forget men.”

She seemed almost sad in a way. “So many missed opportunities. So many beautiful women. So many women that I could have led to my bed with an order alone. They would have been too intimidated to resist me.” The ideas playing in her head teased her and she caressed each lasciviously. “Some would have obeyed with shame, knowing they wouldn’t have been believed had they told. Some would have obeyed.”

“And some,” she began with a sultry purr that sounded like she was already in the middle of sex, “would have obeyed with shame, but loving that shame...dreading and craving the order to report to me; wanting to flee, but their cunts so wet at knowing the order would come.” The women behind her obviously relished it, too.

“That would have been me,” Makleen said from her right, choosing that moment to brush Kress’ hand. “I would have bitten the pillow rubbing myself in my bunk...the self-loathing making me cum so hard at the thought of what we had done...what you made me do, and how you would use me next.”

She looked as though it was she who was ashamed of the old her. “But you were out of the question for me, General. All of it was out of the question for me because of my stupid sense of independence, duty, and the misguided sense of honor that went with it. Then I see in your eyes that you might have opened your eyes to the joys of women,” she pushed her jaw in the direction of Bryana who was staring daggers into her, “but she claimed you.”

Dion looked at Neral and her eyes were wide, failing to comprehend their insanity. Neral kept her tone measured and her words firm. “Whatever the witch has done, you can fight this, Devine. You are stronger than this. Please.” Neral fought the despair in her heart at remembering Maylin’s words: they were dead already.

“I don’t want to fight this, Neral. I have fought it all of my life and I am sick of it, aren’t you? Duty and honor and giving of yourself to a people who do not begin to understand your sacrifice? Are you not sick of giving yourself in service to a Court that spits on what you do the moment you leave the room? Service is for our families and the dregs, not for them and theirs.”

“Part of you must yearn to be free, Neral.” She met the eyes of each of them. “All of you must yearn to be free. She can give you that. The only thing that will concern you is obedience to Her. Beyond that, you will be free to be who you are without shame.”

“Come with me, Neral. Come to the woods and I will show you the path to Her, and then we will all writhe together as we were meant to, in Her service.”

Neral didn’t have to consider it. “If there is still any of Devine Kress that is uncorrupted by that thing in the mountains, you must know what my answer to you is.”

She sighed. “Of course I do. I thought I owed you the chance given all we have endured together, though, in truth, I absolutely knew you would refuse me, so this has all really just been a distraction for you all anyway.” She deliberately lowered her head in a bow.

Neral’s eyes displayed their shock for an instant and in that instant she realized herself a fool. She should have seen and known, but had allowed Kress to cloud her judgment.

She began to reach for her sword when the wind whistled, letting her hear the arrow shot less than a second before she felt the pinch of steel as it pressed through the skin of her neck on the right side and again as it passed through her left. It was a curious sensation to feel the warmth of the blood as it rushed forth, not entirely unpleasant in the face of the damp air on her skin a moment before. She struggled to bring in air, but the mere attempt made her cough blood out in a fine spray as her vision began to falter, grabbing at her throat. Fall away from them, she thought, believing that, if someone tried to catch her they might leave themselves open.

Using me as a shield works, too. She pushed herself backwards and rolled off of Stenna, where she waited and expected to die even as she gasped and struggled for breath.

Deres howled in rage as she fell. “Neral!” Rage fed him as he pulled the energy around him through his body, twisting it to his will as he scanned for the source of the shot. Spotting the barest hint of movement, his mind and will sent a wall of force to it, lifting Hennis a dozen feet into the air. Pulling his arm back, she arched forward with a scream that ended abruptly when her body struck the rocks.

Once she was silent he jumped from his horse to reach Neral, heedless of the clashing of swords that erupted around him. Zynn tried to swing right and move to flank but Abren leaped from her horse with a scream, sending both of them into the sand. Bryana dismounted smoothly, her face a mask of anger. She wanted Kress and nothing else was acceptable. She felt that wild rush of power and she reminded herself of how small her enemies were. In a way she felt not all that different than before she was remade, but this time there was something more to fight for than gold or avenge other than a bruised ego.

“Move to your left, Bryana,” Elan said in a tone louder than they had ever heard from her. Without responding, she took half a step to the left. A second later an arrow whizzed by as Delles attempted to strike Makleen, who deflected it with her shield, having heard the warning, but her shift left her left side open with a widened gap between arm and shoulder where Elan’s arrow struck, sending her reeling.

Dion was hunched over Neral, trying to render what aid she could as Deres approached and Kestral stood to defend them as Kress brought her sword down upon them. The two blades touched before Bryana’s magic threw her from her horse and to the ground with a gasp and a thud. Kress rolled up quickly to face her, sword at the ready, the same look of wild devotion in her eyes that Bryana had seen before.

Bryana met it with her own rage before orange fire erupted from her fingers and weaved unevenly through the air to strike Kress in the center of the chest and engulfing her so quickly that there was scarcely time for her to scream before the roar of energy drowned her voice out. Maylin’s icy blue eyes held their own rage that burned as brightly as the heat that was immolating Kress at that very moment. She loosed her magic around Makleen, Zynn, and Misha in turn, rending them from the inside in a wave of healing magic turned inside out, leaving each where they crumpled.

It was all over in a matter of seconds.

Neral looked up to see Deres looking down at her. He couldn’t hide his concern from her though he used humor to try. “You couldn’t duck? Need another scar for me to kiss so badly, do you?”

She ached to speak. She ached for a single minute to speak even as her vision began to narrow at the edges and the cold gripped her. Is everyone else all right? Did they pay for my foolishness? I’m so sorry, Husband. I’m so sorry, Bryana. I love you so much. I have been so happy with you in my life. It has filled emptiness in me that I didn’t know existed until we had come together. It gave her peace that, if her life were to end on this beach, that her two would have one another.

Maylin was on her other side, looking at it intently, her hand before her, fingers moving. Neral could feel the telltale tingle of it at work. “How do you want to do this?”

She watched how he changed from the charmer to the serious healer.“You hold things together while I tend to the arrow, then we weave together.”

Maylin nodded before giving her a warm smile. “Do not worry, Daughter. You will still have to carry me on that ridiculous beast of yours.”

It was then that Brynn’s face appeared over hers, Brynn’s hands on either side of her cheeks caressing softly. “Hello, my love.” Neral could see the worry in her eyes and she placed her hand over Bryana’s, which got her an admonishing glance. “There you go again with trying to be noble and comfort me while you’re a mess.” The put-upon tone melted to make way for a loving one as her fingertips began to mark patterns on Neral’s cheeks and temples. “We are here and you will be fine. I would never lie to you about that, but this will take time. You have to sleep now, General.”

She looked to Deres who gave her the same look of reassurance and she managed a small nod.

Bryana drew her patterns. “Deep...dreamless...restful...sleep.”

Neral slept.

After Dion was certain that the general was out of danger she began to make plans. Practicality demanded that she not linger, but her obligation to her fallen comrades demanded that she perform her last duty to them. She had never before had to raise her sword to one of her own before and she begged the Goddess that she never had to do so again. It had taken a toll on all her fellows leaving them bitter and some even unwilling to look at the broken bodies strewn along the beach.

She looked at Maylin as Deres and Bryana hovered over the general. “Can you wake her if you have to?”

Maylin glanced over. “If need be. But the longer she stays in the sleep, the better for her. Her body is doing nothing at the moment but making her heart beat and healing her body. I would be hesitant to do it before several hours have passed Maylin felt better letting the wind caress her face. She took no joy in killing as she had, but there was no shame either. It had to be done.

“So lashing her to her mount or another so that we can move will not harm her?”

Maylin shook her head.

She forced herself to look at the casualties before her. It was cold comfort to be able to say that no more of their own had died. To her, they were all still hers even though this place and the witch who controlled them ruined them. The only real comfort to her was the fact that she knew them well enough to know that the people that they were would have preferred their end as it came.

When she met Maylin’s eyes again the question came, “I assume you have something in your mage book that will let you move earth? I will not leave them here like this and to have you...assist that way means we can make camp before nightfall on safer ground.”

Space was limited in Adar so the custom was for bodies to be turned to ash. That would have been quicker still, but she nodded. “As you wish. I...regret what was necessary here, Captain.”

Her tone was somber and her voice far away. “We all do.”

The burial proceeded smoothly, though all were on the lookout for something else to appear. Placed together, also as they would have wanted, especially in this place so far from home. Dion read from words she had prepared as the site was readied, not because she feared not knowing what to say, but because she wanted the general to know exactly what she had said, and to be able to keep it if that’s what she wished.

With the words spoken and a marker carved into the rock by Deres, they shooed all but one of the horses that became another pack animal for the gear salvaged from the others before making sure the general was secure with Stenna and moving along the beach to get beyond it and to hopefully safer ground. They traveled the beach, Neral lashed to Deres with he and Bryana on either side of Stenna with the rest in a loose formation behind in the event anything decided to meet them. Nothing did though they did have to skirt to avoid the witch’s caravans of slaves.

Emerging from their path between the water and rock they saw the forest well behind them and gently rolling hills ahead before the valley and the jagged mountains beyond that looked as though they were daring others to approach so they could be shredded. Dion looked upon it with some trepidation. It had already cost them much and she was unsure how much more it would claim. There was something abhorrent in all of it. She was wiling to meet anything one-on-one with a sword, but this mind-warping and twisting of bodies was something else. She pointed to her right. “I like that hill a little higher than the ones around it near the valley entrance. We camp there.”

“We could make some more time.” Delles, said, anxious at the moment to not have to sit still.

Dion shook her head firmly. “Not until the general has recovered or circumstance demands.” Truth be told, Dion did not want the last leg of this journey to be hers to take unless there was no choice.

Wards were set and camp was made before dusk, now far enough away from the beach to take some of the damp and chill from the air. Still, Bryana and Deres made sure that Neral was bundled and warm near the fire. Deres’ blue eyes looked down at her, still with some concern, but he was far more relaxed about things now. He looked at the scars of both wounds on her neck. “Scars are small but nice. I expect she will approve.” He kissed each reverently.

Bryana didn’t even want to utter the words. “She nearly died. A few more moments and she would have.”

“But she didn’t, Bryana.”

“Someone should have seen something.” She fought back the self-loathing. “I should have seen something...sensed something.”

“Hennis must have been masked by a half-mage...or been able to put herself in a place to quiet her mind so that there was little or nothing to sense. How hard is it once you’ve been ruined by that woman?”

“I should have known,” she insisted. “I’ve been Drexa. I’ve...made pawns like them. I should have seen it.” She caressed Neral’s cheek. “And she almost paid for it.”

“I missed it, too, you know.” His tone carried some bitterness. “Magic isn’t infinite and we’re not gods. Don’t you think I’m thinking the same things?”

“Except that you’re not…. You don’t owe her what I owe her.”

Not so long ago in the grand scheme Bryana had lived her life as part of one of several secret mage guilds in the five kingdoms. They traded the expertise in the forbidden arts for gold or other profit and Neral had in fact been Bryana’s target. After she had been captured before the plot could come to fruition and she had been changed by Deres’ application of of magic to be certain that the plot was fully exposed she had been remade. As the wronged party, Bryana owed Neral a debt. That debt paid had turned to love, but Bryana had never stopped thinking of herself as Neral’s protector. To have failed so spectacularly, in her mind, was unforgivable.

“It happened, love. She will not blame you, so do not blame yourself.”

She looked down at Neral’s sleeping form. Easier said than done.

Dion had come at that moment, bending to her knees at the general’s side. She’d wanted to be there when they woke her. Deres knelt down next to her on her left and touched points on her temples and near the center of her forehead and waited.

Moments passed and Neral’s brows raised as though she were trying use them to pull her eyelids open. Once they did, her hand reflexively went to her throat and she tried to lift herself.

Deres and Brynn soothed her. “Lie back.”

“You still need to rest,” she said firmly.

Neral struggled to find voice, but all there was was pain. She winced.

Brynn caressed. “Don’t try to talk. Your voice will return as well, but the softer tissues take longer to mend properly. You will be barking orders again very soon.”

She relented as Deres put a cup near her lips. “Drink this. It will help speed that process.”

She gave him a look that needed no voice to be understood.

“This one actually tastes good. I promise.” He put it to her lips and she drank. It was cool and sweet, somewhat thick, and made her tongue and throat tingle as it slid down. He helped her to a sitting position and she signed to Dion in a gestural dialect used commonly in the military. “Kress? The rest?”

Dion shook her head. “Stopped on the beach, sir. Resting there as well. As you may have guessed,“she said, pointing to the side of her own neck, “Hennis shot you.”

Her eyes closed and she hung her head. She led them to it. She led them all to it. She was unsure how she would find the strength to face their families. “Pel?”

“Unknown, sir. Dead or turned, she’s probably in the woods we left behind. I...do not recommend we seek her out either way, lest what befell them does us.” It was hard on both to make the suggestion but it was better to sacrifice one than to risk all and the mission with it.

“Where are we?”

“The hills beyond the forest nearest the valley. We have good sight lines in all directions, wards are in place, and watches set.”

Neral nodded before Dion took her arm. “I’m very glad you’re on the mend, my friend. You are lucky to have two mages so...close.”

Neral returned the grasp before signing. “I know.”

Dion dismissed herself and Deres brought Neral close, finally letting go of the anxiety he had held in check since the beach. “I told you you would be all right.”

She hugged back for all she was worth. Truth be told, she never expected to have a moment like that again. She had expected to simply never wake. She shed her rank and discipline and all else for a moment and just let herself be a woman in her husband’s powerful arms.

His voice was a whisper.“I love you.”

She patted his back before pulling away enough to kiss him tenderly, her hands running through his hair before turning equal attention to the other piece of her heart. Bryana was indeed weeping. Neral wiped them away. “I love you, too,” she signed.

“I should have known, Neral. I should have protected you from her.” At that moment she meant Drexa as much as Hennis.

Neral shook her head vigorously. “You cannot follow me into every battle. You cannot protect me in everything. That’s not your job. I know what you believe, but it’s not so. It has never been so. All I want is to live my life with you in it.”

Bryana rested her chin on Neral’s shoulder and hugged her tightly, eyes closed simply letting herself feel.

“Neral, drink this,” Deres told her, handing her a cup. “It will help replenish the blood you’ve lost. He touched her hand before she began to bring it to her lips. “This one tastes as you’d expect.”

His smile did not quite amuse her. It definitely did not when she determined how right he was.

Less than two hours laying there felt like two years even though she had spent it talking with her soldiers. She still felt tired, but she needed to move. Using a tree to brace herself, she rose, still in her linens, and stayed with the tree until she felt steady on her legs. Delles and Bryana seemed to appear from nowhere to attempt to help her, but she waved them off gently but firmly.

The world steadied and her legs found what she believed would be the strength to move her without sending her to the dirt before she signed for Deres.

Bryana pointed down a small path. “He’s looking for flowers for something.”

Her expression soured even as she tested her steps towards him, suspecting he was making another potion for her. Her first steps were awkward and, with each one, she made sure she was within arms reach of something to brace her, she made her way to the blue light of the cube. She knew it was science. It was in the same realm as how oil lit her home. But, it was also still magic to her. It was beyond her.

When she got close enough to see, the cube rested on a rock, projecting an image of Drexa forward and above script beneath and what looked to Neral like two snakes coiled and spinning together with points highlighted that had script attached to them as well.

He seemed to be looking at each leaf, blade of grass, and flower that he could see.

“Deres.” The single word felt like blades cutting across her throat.

He turned at once and moved quickly to support her. “You shouldn’t be up and you shouldn’t be talking yet.”

She was steady enough and, unsure if she could get back up so she resisted him placing her on the ground, though she did opt to sign. “I was tired of laying there. What are you doing?”

He looked around even as he answered. “Looking for something that will help against the witch should it be one of you that gets closer to her over one of us.” He smiled over seeing a small four-leafed plant half hiding beside the rocks. “You’re willing to help, aren’t you?”

She forced the word out. “How?”

He put his knife into the ground to take it from the ground while maintaining its roots. “I need to find living things that are willing to come together and become something different than they have ever been.”

She wanted to know how he could tell that these somethings were willing to be something else and what they might become, but she decided it was enough that he thought it could be done, and, if it would help, then fine. Her eyes were drawn to that floating face. It looked evil, with it’s sharp lines and brows. Or maybe it was beautiful and she saw it as evil for knowing the damage caused by the woman.

“I have found Pel!”

Abren’s voice cut through the air with shock. Neral turned and tried to rush down the path. The second hurried step sent her toward the ground until a strong arm wrapped her tightly. “I told you you shouldn’t be walking yet.”

She pointed down the path and he supported her as they made their way back to camp to see the woman all but ruined; hair wild, face and body caked in blood, her linen torn and dirty, eyes a study in desperation. She stood half- supported by Abren and Delles.

She focused on the general, her wide eyes becoming only slightly less so in relief. She reached out to clasp the general’s arm before Maylin interceded, looking at an into her. Pel shivered and withstood the gaze as best she could.

“Mother?”

She continued to look before shaking her head quickly. “Nothing.” She sounded utterly unconvinced. Even so, she stepped aside. Pel grasped Neral’s forearm in greeting. “Goddess. Thank the Goddess.” Her eyes darted to each as if examining them herself. “You’re normal? You’re all normal. Of course you are. You must be. You’re not...fucking mindlessly. General, it was terrible. Kress, Hennis...everyone. They changed. They changed before my eyes.”

“We know,” Dion told her simply, seeing no reason to elaborate in her condition. “What happened?”

She looked around the ground as she sorted words. “In the woods. We made it past the things and into the woods. But there was something there; something in the woods, something in the trees. It got on us that first night and...everyone’s thoughts turned to sex.”

At first it was just silly camp talk. You know the kind, General. But it became more and more crass and I saw Kress...attack Hennis...tearing her clothes from her. Everyone stared and it was so hard to turn away. It was sick, but it was...hot. Everyone started losing control. Before I knew it everyone was...fucking, all duty forgotten. I was going to join them. I wanted to.

“Why didn’t you?”

She focused on Bryana’s words and ignoring the cold stare, composing herself as if to simply report and only partially succeeding. Seeing Kress just...violate Hennis and the way Hennis just turned more and more mindless scared me. Zynn and I were resisting. She tried to crawl away. I ran. They chased me, I think. I made it to my horse and we just ran.”

Shame welled in her eyes. “Zynn. I left Zynn. Goddess, I left Zynn. I am so sorry. I...dishonored us both.” She looked at Neral again. Thickets and animals and I ran and...I still wanted to go back. Once I got out of the woods things seemed clearer. I hid where I could. I knew you might come this way. I looked for the highest hills farthest from the beach. I looked day and night until….” She collapsed before finishing.

Bryana and Maylin tended to her wounds, put some food in her belly and gave her something to help her sleep. Her fellow soldiers were happy to have her back though no one discussed it at length because no one was all that interested in the last hours of Kress and the rest before they met them on the beach, for the more prurient aspects as well as for the implications for the rest of them. To think that a soldier could fall so easily was disconcerting at best.

As activity wound down, Deres planned to work with his mother through the night, heading off to do so after giving Neral another round of the same potions as before and bidding them goodnight.

Neral was hesitant about again being put into the healing sleep, but Bryana would not dance that dance with her, her blue eyes staring down into Neral’s brown. “Would you rather be fit and able to speak tomorrow or in days? Since we do not have days, quiet your arguing eyes.”

Neral managed to do so before the touches and murmurings came, bringing the dreamless sleep with it.

It was best to slip out in the dead of night. What explanation Bryana chose to give she’d left in her bedroll. It was difficult to find a place to stop writing. She could have gone on about them and the life they’d built seemingly forever. Indeed, it was for the life they’d built that she was doing what had to be done. With Neral asleep and Maylin and Deres deep in their own work it was easy to slip from camp.

As she used her magic to speed herself into the valley, her best veils concealing her presence, her mind went back to the nights before she was changed. It went back to each of the nights that she’d stalked Neral; the nights where she’d crept into her room to weave her magic to corrupt Neral into committing unspeakable acts. Each time, she’d worn away a bit more resistance until that night when she was on the cusp of ruining the general’s soul.

As much as she loved them, they didn’t understand. Neral had worked hard to forget the worst of things and the evil that drove a woman like Drexa simply wasn’t in Deres. He didn’t realize what they faced as she did. A turn and a twist of the mind with a touch of lust added and almost anything was possible. People turned and twisted into shells of their former selves and set loose upon their own people to maim and destroy.

It hurt enough to see Neral’s pain at having her comrades slain around her. It hurt to see her push back the loss and despair that came with that and the knowledge that it was done by her fellows and that it was all necessary. It hurt to see Deres helpless to aid her in that, and Bryana felt the same impotence.

Seeing Neral’s neck torn by an arrow triggered a rage like she’d never felt. Seeing her fall, perhaps dead before she hit the ground was a sight that would never leave the mage’s mind, but that wasn’t the same as seeing her a corrupted thing, empty of all but a lust that would never be satisfied and an ache to obey. Bryana didn’t know which was worse, so she had to do something to help prevent both, even if she didn’t know what that was as she set out.

As she traveled though she formulated something of a plan. At the very least, as she approached, she could see what they faced and perhaps soften the path for their approach. If the witch came she did not know what would happen, but she had to act.

She’d traveled hours into the valley attempting to keep away from eyes in the night as much as possible, which was easier than expected, beasts being beasts and half-mages barely knowing what to do with the power they could touch. With so much in the way of primitive around her, she sensed the more almost at once. It was like needles pricking her skin and a caress at the base of her brain.

“Come out, interesting one,” the feminine voice sang, seeming to frolic with the air. “It will take time to find you, but find you I shall.”

Bryana’s blue eyes narrowed. She didn’t doubt the Magister’s power and the veils used her magic reserves that she might need to manage her escape in other ways. Perhaps if I can at least hurt her, that might make it easier for the rest. She let herself drift into the open field to see what there was to see with her magic-enhanced eyes that cut through the darkness.

What was to be seen was a tall, proud creature in a golden and silver trimmed half-cup corset that left her breasts and bare cleft exposed to the chill though it didn’t seem to bother her. Matching boots went to her mid thigh, covering chalk white skin and all of it seemed to set off eyes that were black pools that seemed to have their own currents flowing if one looked closely enough.

Finally, Bryana allowed herself to be seen which pleased the creature. “Most impressive veils. I have not seen ones so effective amongst the meat. Did an Adaran teach you?””

Bryana started to circle her slowly, but the creature did not seem to care. “You are not Drexa.”

“I am, actually,” she said with a grin from her full, black lips. “I am as much her as I need to be to meet with you.” She gave herself a caress with both hands. “I speak with her mind and her power, though the meat itself is actually named Calla.”

She followed Bryana, turning as she circled. “Feel free to burn her down if you wish as there are more to use, though I would take it as a small favor if you did not, as this one is something of a personal favorite.”

“I would be a fool to face you directly until we’ve gotten properly acquainted. I’m certain I could best you, but, who knows what might happen, so it’s best that there be some distance between us...at least for now.”

Drexa began to casually circle her as well. “You are an interesting one. I have been able to glimpse a bit of that for some time now, but now that you are so close you are interesting indeed.” She laughed at the absurdity of what she sensed on the surface. “You don’t even know what you were going to do here by yourself, did you? Were you hoping to lay waste to everything I’d built? Just you?”

“I believed that whatever damage I could cause would only help those that opposed you.”

“You mean the others with you?” She enjoyed seeing the other stiffen I know of them, Bryana. I know more than you think. I know you used to be powerful once...before you were changed.”

“Come out from behind your puppet and I’ll show you how weak I am. I may lose, but you will remember the fight until your last breath.”

Drexa clapped her hands. “That’s the spirit. Those are the words of a predator. Perhaps the changing didn’t pull all you teeth. I can see it, you know. I can see hints of what you were. Don’t you miss it?” Drexa carefully weaved a spell within in the modulations of her own voice. It was a fine art that took decades to master

“She is dead,” Bryana said. “She is dead because what I was was too much like you to be allowed to continue in the world.”

“No, she’s not. They told you that. They want you to think that. You remember all the things you’ve done with disgust. It’s almost reflex, isn’t it? Don’t you remember the power, too?”

Bryana recoiled internally.“To hurt and destroy? In my own way I’ve probably ruined as many lives as you have.”

Drexa was gleeful. “Isn’t it wonderful? The word is full of predators and prey. That’s all there is. That you could use them is a testament to your will and your power. Now they’ve turned you into a sweet little pet.”

The anger swelled in Bryana and in a flash, orange fire lashed from her fingers. Drexa raised her palm and absorbed the blast. She shrugged. “Sorry. I really do like this one.”

“I thought there were always more.”

That twisted smile appeared again.“There are always more. You know that. That’s why you’re here. You don’t want your masters to become that more for me so you come to stop me...or at least try.”

“They aren’t my masters,” she spat. “I care for them and they for me.”

Drexa moved inward slightly to close the circle. “They do not care for you. They care for what they turned you into because it’s docile and sweet to them, like a baby animal.”

How could they care for me? Really. After all I have done.

“They would never want the predator. They would never want what they buried.” More of her opened to Drexa and she relished digging through the layers as she closed the loop again. “You deserve someone who can respect the predator that is there waiting. “Are you a good pet? Do you suck and finger and fuck when they want you? You just hand Deres your ankles and relish as he sates himself...using you to masturbate while it is...such joy for you.” She spit out the last as though it were poison on her tongue.

And she drew closer still.

“You lick the once-prey. You splay Neral wide and suckle the prey’s nectar like you need it to breathe. Her mews are bliss to you and that’s why you call it love.”

Each image and more played before her mind’s eye. She had loved them. She thought they loved her, but the voice spoke truth to her mind.

“Tell me the truth, Bryana Lia, once-predator; once so fearsome that she had to be tamed by some of the greatest magics in all of Adar, tell me how you are truly different from the meat that stands before you?”

Her confused mind struggled for an answer.

“You are meat. You are prey. But you weren’t always,” she teased. “You can be the predator again. You can have power again.”

“She is dead.” The words were hollow and carried a fear that they weren’t true with the way the heat in her belly started to seep through to her limbs and down her belly to nestle between her legs.

“They don’t love you,” she began sweetly, “they fear you. I can love you because I want what you were, not what you have become. I want you, not the neutered version of you. We could accomplish wonderful things.”

She almost felt as though she were caught again in a magic snare. She knew she could move, yet she didn’t. She was startled by the touch of one of the green women that thrived in the forest, this one short, but supremely muscled, her yellow eyes cutting through the night on their own. She lifted her arm to cast, but she had all the strength of a feather standing against the wind.

Drexa pushed it down and shook her head, “No, dear. There’s no need for that now.”

The green creature unfastened Bryana’s cloak and laid it on the grass before returning to unbutton her gown, fabric, blue and thick to help withstand the elements. Drexa smiled as she helped pull it to Bryana’s waist. “I love your runes, my dear. We in Adar don’t often wear them, and, even if we do, they are almost always only defensive markings. Yes, certain ones can help enhance one’s power, but they can also be conduits for others to use. See?”

She touched fingers to to the black body or the serpent at her belly and Bryana whined plaintively.

“Feel your power. Remember Neral helpless against you. Remember all that meat everywhere you went helpless against you.”

She moaned, remembering Neral squealing in her sleep, Bryana in control. She remembered toying with the idea of keeping her and now none of it repulsed her. So perfect. Their positions...the heat...it was all so perfect. “I remember.”

“I know you do. Remember all the others you used and corrupted to your own purpose because they were too weak.”

“I remember.”

“Remember not being meat.”

Power rushed through her from Drexa’s touch. “I remember. I am not meat. I am not prey.”

“No, you are not. Never again. You make your own choices now. Choose power.”

She leaned into Calla’s body for support as the gown was shed and slip torn away with the long, yellow nail that matched the forest thing’s eyes before it lead Bryana to lay upon her cloak in nothing but her knee-high boots. She lay in heat, teasing and twisting her right nipple in the dark while her other hand pulled her pussy lips for the sensation between bouts of dipping two fingers into her hole and drawing juice out to grease her clit and coat her tongue;

She lay in heat as she watched the green woman lower herself to suckle from Drexa’s dark nipple, taking the viscous fluid and mixing it with her own before lowering herself further to lick and nibble while Drexa, using Calla’s body, looked at the fresh meat. Powerful meat, meat with some skill, but she was still a primitive to be used.

And she was looking forward to the using as she enjoyed her other pet coating her thigh. Drexa nudged her away, her right thigh now dripping and glistening in the moonlight. Drexa took a step forward and took to her knees as her other creature used that muscle to pin Bryana’s wrists to the earth.

Bryana struggled to no avail, wanting to return to fingering herself relentlessly even as Drexa forced her thighs apart to press her greasy thigh to Bryana’s excited cunt.

“Let me go,” she snarled. “I have power.”

“Silence!”

Bryana froze.

Drexa’s voice turned seductive once again, her hand soothing her by rubbing her belly in rhythm. “You do. But there will be no fighting. Only one can control. “Who freed you from your slavery?”

She grudgingly admitted. “You did.”

She drew her thigh upward and Bryana grunted. “Who is more powerful?”

Bryana ground her clit against the thigh under her own power and mewled. “You are.”

Drexa pawed the breasts before her, leaving trails on the supple skin as Bryana hissed. “Tame yourself,” Drexa snapped. “I command it.”

Her first grindings were tentative but she knew she must obey. Thinking that added to her wetness and her heat as she locked her boots around Drexa’s leg and pumped her hips with whorish abandon as she drove herself. “You are more powerful. I must tame myself. I must obey. I must tame myself and I must fucking obey.”

Drexa smiled, watching those firm breasts bounce as the primitive slaved herself. The screams sounded as though they would carry for miles as her head thrashed wildly to and fro.

When Bryana came back to the now she was still restrained with an erect nipple an inch from her mouth so that it was now her world. “Feed from me, then be led naked to my presence.”

Bryana latched and fed.