The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The party of four left before dawn. Arik wanted to be gone before the owner rose, just to have been as unobtrusive as possible given the circumstances, though it occurred to him that he may have already been awake and just waited for them to be gone for the same reasons he essentially left them the house when they arrived. He was careful to take only what was agreed to and, even so, he left four gold coins on the kitchen as an added show of gratitude.

Strannix couldn’t have cared less beyond the ongoing vexation of watching what he had expected to be the fortune he took with him under the control of others, but he had made his own uneasy peace with it. Nax and Sylanna conveyed his disdain for their own reasons, which he read easily and, despite his good night’s sleep, tired him. “He’s my client, it comes from my share. You’re just so very greedy.”

Nax noted the humor, “I’m not greedy. I just want to be sure your generosity isn’t actually my generosity,” he clarified as he took his supplies to his horse.

“Like I said, greedy.”

“Let’s just get on with this, children.”

Nax called out to her, “Of course you’re not afraid of losing your money.”

“Of course I’m not. Because others are afraid of me. Once people are afraid of you, they assume others will be, too, and they’ll pay a premium for that, whether you have to make the people they want you to deal with afraid or not. So you can be as spineless as you want in your actual job, you just have to make sure your testicles have descended when you speak to those who want to hire you.”

Arik was at something of a loss. “’Descended testicles’, but we are the children?”

“Can we all just get on with this,” Strannix snapped. He would be happy once he was away from here, but would be satisfied enough to just be on the way to away from here.

She was happy to be quiet, but happier now just to annoy someone she didn’t like more than she already disliked most. She huffed, “Well that’s just rude.”

Nax agreed. He enjoyed her sense of humor once she got going, she just didn’t do it enough, in his opinion. “Isn’t he though?” Strannix glared at him, but he was experiencing one of those rare moments for him where he felt like he didn’t have to care. “What does that look mean, that you’re not going to pay me? I already have your money. Relax.”

Strannix allowed himself to calm with the traveling, as the chatter dropped and, as he saw it, so did the cavalier attitude. They might have spoken here and there, but it was almost never all of them at once. One of the trio would be quiet, clearly in concentration, keeping watch in whatever way the mages did. They did seem to work well together and, watching them work, he had to admit to the smallest part of himself that perhaps they were correct and he had acted impetuously. He had to have patience in this.

He couldn’t have amassed his wealth and power over his life without it, and he’d had that in most circumstances, but that was always tested when someone stole directly from him, whether it be a rival, or some poor souls trying to steal from one of his couriers, to someone skimming a gold here and there from the barrels of spirits he shipped. They dared him to respond. They called him a weak fool by doing it and they dared him to respond.

It was enough that Dina had left, but he would have found her in short order. But the witch snatched her away. She took the closest possession to him and just walked away, and he may have acted precipitously in response. She was smarter about her initial response than he had been, striking hard against what gave him his power and reach to begin with. But she had underestimated him. His reach extended far beyond her grasp. And he had slipped away even before his plan was executed. She didn’t have him and she wouldn’t.

He would be far more careful this time. He would build his revenge as he built his businesses: piece by piece and well-planned step by step. He had made his point in that moment of rage and spent enough of it to allow his mind to rule over his heart now. It would take years. He would have to avoid her eyes and ears, which might add years more, but it could be done, and, honestly, part of him thrilled at it. In some ways it would be like battling himself. Rarely had he come across anyone at or near his level. Animals were to be guarded against and not to be underestimated, but most of his adversaries were that.

She had proven herself to be a peer, so destroying her would be all the sweeter in the end. He would take from her everything that mattered to her. Slowly, his guard fell as he grew confidence in his bodyguards to actually guard him and began thinking about exactly how to build again. They did not stop to eat, simply taking in some soft bread and dried meat as they went. Strannix was fine with that, too. His future was at hand and he wanted to reach it as quickly as he could.

He didn’t even mind camping as the sun set, even though he generally avoided it when possible. The night was clear and he could see each one of a million points of light. The fire was roaring because if there was one thing a mage could be depended upon to do was make fire, and, while it was still cold, the wind had stilled, so to be wrapped in a bed roll was reasonably comfortable. He didn’t mind the chatter there either because it told him they were awake and doing what they had been paid richly to do. Their voices allowed him to sleep.

“You can stand first watch again.”

“Seriously? I stood first watch last night.”

“And you can do it again, it’ll toughen you up.”

He almost asked the man if he wanted to see how tough he was before he decided that was just a little too juvenile. “I did it first last night, I’m not doing it first again. There’s no reason other than you want to prove you’re running things.”

“But perhaps he’s just tormenting you for fun,” Sylanna offered. “I’ll take first watch.”

Arik laughed as he rolled over and prepared to rest. He wouldn’t actually sleep because, even if he wasn’t on watch, he was still on a guarding and escort job. He slipped into a light, dozing sleep and let the night unfold as it would.

Nax watched Sylanna for a time. She sat on her knees, cloaks wrapped tightly around her against the chill. Her eyes were closed and when he focused he could see the lines of force she sent forth in every direction like tripwires. He liked looking at her. He could focus on the magic around her that masked her if he chose, but he never did. He liked looking at her as she chose to be seen by the masses. She was on the opposite side of the fire as he and the play of light gave her an otherworldly appearance, as though she were wrapped in power.

She was one of those that he thought a mage should be. She was comfortable with herself. It was there in the way she spoke and moved. Even in those ways she exuded skill and that wasn’t even considering what he felt watching her weave her magic. Watching her create the pollen was like a master class in what a mage could do in the world. It took all his concentration and focus to see her bend and shape the world to her will for even a moment, but she could work seemingly effortlessly and without distraction.

He lost track of himself and time as he watched her energy and her beauty as it was accented by the fire light until the heat of embarrassment flooded his cheeks as he realized he had been staring at her and that she had responded by grinning at him, her eyes reflecting the flames, and if he looked deeply enough he could see a play of color within that suggested something of the unearthly color beneath her magic. He didn’t look away, preferring to follow that flutter of color. He followed it when it moved slowly, and chased it when it darted.

The light settled into a rhythm and his mind slowly began to settle, too. He was certain that if he looked harder he could see what was beneath and her eyes almost seemed to reward him for doing so. Three flashes of the firelight in her eyes just before a hint of green that seemed to create its own light and held him.

Three flickers, then a flash.

Three flickers, then a flash.

He counted the seconds until it happened again.

Three flickers, then a flash.

Three seconds.

Three flickers, then a flash.

Three seconds.

The time between the light in her eyes lengthened so slowly he barely noticed it until his chest rose and fell to three flickers, then a flash.

His lungs filled to their limit, then there would be three flickers, then a flash.

Then, by the next set of three flickers, then a flash, he was ready to fill his lungs once again.

Nax’s life had been distilled down to this simple rhythm of breath and light.

It was no great magic to carry her whispers to his ear. “I have noticed you looking at me. You look at me every time we meet. You wish to know me.”

Breath and light.

“To learn from me.”

Breath and light.

“To be my friend.”

Breath and light.

“To fuck me.”

Breath and light.

“Breath and light is the path to your dreams. Your breath propels you on the path, and the light is within your reach only so long as you stay on the path. Each breath brings you closer to the light.”

“In, and closer to the light. Out, and closer to the light. In. Out.”

“Your breath brings you closer to my light. Your breath brings you closer to me.”

“In. Closer. Out. Closer. My light is still there. My light awaits you.”

She rose slowly while he stared straight ahead, eyes unblinking, breath holding the pattern with clockwork precision. “My light awaits you.”

“In.”

She settled back upon her knees behind him. Now able to bring her lips to his ear, he trembled involuntarily as the words now came with her warm breath that cut through the cold. “Out.”

He was so young and so impressionable. Even his bravado was largely unpracticed and closer to the puffing of a teenager than an adult trying for a moment to save face or cover weakness. Any other time, she would have relished his slack expression and vacant stare for its own sake as a testament to her power, but now it was only a testament to that of the masters that owned her. She knew now she was safe in making that known. “I had no light until They gave it to me. They gave me light, life, and a soul.”

“In.”

“Out.”

Given his more limited involvement, his punishment was decided to be more merciful than hers or Arik’s. He would be taken because he must, but he wouldn’t suffer unless he resisted. Sylanna was glad he didn’t seem to have much interest in resistance or the ability to execute it. They didn’t want him made to suffer unnecessarily, so neither did she.

“In.”

“Out.”

Her slender fingers went up the back of his head and pressed themselves and her palm to his skull. “My light surrounds you now. You see it and that is all you see.”

“In.”

“Out.”

“My light hungers for you. It needs you. It needs to consume you. You need it to consume you. You need to help it consume you.”

Sylanna’s other hand slid beneath the blanket and to his pants, loosening his belt. “It needs to consume you. You need it to consume you. You need to help it consume you.”

She pulled the front of his pants free, nestling the fabric under his heavy balls. “My light needs to consume you. You need it to consume you. You need to help it consume you.”

“In.”

“Out.”

Under the most brief ministrations of her hand his cock went from limp to iron as he continued to stare slack-jawed into the fire.

“My light needs to consume you. You need it to consume you. You need to help it consume you.”

“Back.”

“And forth.”

“Let it consume you. Help it consume you.”

“Back.”

“And forth.”

His higher brain was consumed by light, and even his animal mind was dozing lazily, focused now on the pleasure on his cock, noting the shift in feeling as it heard words. Most of the words were too heavy to be allowed to lay on that part of his mind. This part was for simple thoughts and simple needs.

“Back”

“And forth.”

His animal mind didn’t even see the words, seeing them instead as bits of instinct connected by familiar and pleasurable sensation. Back and forth was for fucking. His cock felt good. He must be fucking. That part of his mind, lazy and simple bit that it was wasn’t too lazy to do one of the most simple things it could when that thing was a good thing like eating, drinking, or fucking.

The animal Nax fucked, back and forth into that strong hand with the firm but gentle grip. The animal Nax could not say that it was happening that way or would have understood it, but as his hips pulled back, that tingling pleasure fed the tingling at the back of his skull and the pressure that was there seemed to penetrate deeper into his skull. Animal Nax was still sleepy, but not quite as lazy. Fuck and feel good.

Animal Nax fucked hard while the man was limp, save the frantic sawing of his hips. The man’s eyes were vacant, and his mouth wide open, still breathing to the rhythm he had been taught.

Animal Nax kept fucking as the fingers sank into the man’s skull. Animal Nax heard words, but they were all to complicated to grasp now.

Animal Nax came as those fingers sank into his brain, its cock bucking so hard that what it was fucking gripped tighter as though it feared that the animal would break free.

The animal did not wish to break free.

The animal only wished to keep fucking. What was being done to the man didn’t matter.

“Five minutes,” Bryana told those with her as they hovered on horseback just outside the small port town that was Volis. It wasn’t nearly falling apart like some of the smallest ones north that were in their death spiral because they were no longer able to keep up with the needs of larger ships in greater numbers, nor was it one of the bustling cities unto themselves that the larger ports were. But they were all much the same: ships, docks, and people scrambling there with people in town trying to get their goods, or themselves, where they needed to be. Volis was an ideal place for mages in these parts. It was large enough to get lost in, and large enough for one to find a mage fairly readily, if they needed one.

Neral looked on. It was going to be a long five minutes. All she wanted was to get to him and take a pound of his flesh; more of there was enough left after everyone else had theirs. And not just for Khylen, though that would be reason enough for her to kill him. It was for all the families of the southern quarter, most of whom had little to begin with, and had less now because of the arrogance of this creature. She remembered their pain as they bore their wounds, some simply laying in the street with nothing to do but hope help reached them in time. She remembered the wracking sobs of the loved ones around those who had run out of time to hope and the eyes of those that looked to her and she saw ‘why?’ in their eyes.

She saw the resignation in the eyes of those fishing through the aftermath to find out what they had to rebuild with. And it wasn’t within some outlying village, it was in the heart of Erette. Someone had stabbed Erette in the heart and then tried to slither away onto a boat as dusk approached. She wore her sword, but no marks of her rank or station, though the queen was aware of where she was and what would happen, and gave it her blessing. He would be brought back for trial and hang anyway, and him dying far away, and without one would save the nobles potential public embarrassment. Even having associated with the man was now toxic, even if the hands of any particular noble were, if not perfectly clean, not nearly as dirty as they could have been.

And Evaline made her own feelings on the matter clear when, in private, she took Neral’s hands in hers and told her, “Anyone that would harm my family deserves to die. Someone harmed my family, so what must be done will be done. Go do it with my blessing as your queen and your friend.” In spite of all those truths she carried with her, she was here first as a mother seeking retribution. “Not a minute more.”

“I take it you still insist on coming with me as well, Denna.”

“I do, Mistress,” Vale said.

“That’s the way to speak to her, young lady,” Deres said. “Tell her exactly how it’s going to be and stick to it until she yields.”

Bryana turned and gave him a glare that would have withered a lesser man, “You give my subordinates advice that you lack the will to follow yourself?”

He sighed. “Just because I personally have given up on the approach doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see if someone else can make it work.”

“Mistress, I realize that you still want to protect me from certain,” she groped for a way to continue without wounding, “harsh realities, but I know what we are here for. I know what the end of this is. And I wish to see it through.”

“I simply do not wish...”

“For me to see you exact vengeance because it would put before me the person that you were in a way I have never seen before? I still would not be seeing that, Mistress. From all you have trusted me to know, your cruelty was sometimes for its own sake. I don’t pretend to understand how someone can behave that way. I know that I couldn’t.”

“But this isn’t cruelty for its own sake, this is a punishment earned.” Her eyes grew distant as her mind traveled and her voice reflected what she endured. “I was on that floor afraid to open my eyes, concentrating on not making a sound when even shallow breaths felt like they were piercing my chest because I was afraid if they heard me the people he sent would kill the guild’s client and would finish the job and end me, too. I remember her face so swollen and bloodied that it looked like just so much bloated meat, already knowing that I didn’t look any better myself. He sent the men that did that. He is responsible.”

“I could cause a man harm that harmed me. I could make a man like Strannix suffer.” Her voice became hard and sorrowful. “And, at the risk of you looking poorly upon me for the admission, I want to make him suffer for it.”

“If I needed another reason to go with you, it is simply that the prey is not to be trusted to not have more tricks to play, and those within might have their own agendas. I will not allow my guild mistress to face either possibility alone.”

Bryana looked into the eyes of young Vale. She is already better than I ever was and is probably already better than I ever will be. “Thank you.”

The younger woman saw the depth of sincerity in the other’s eyes in those words and she dipped her head in order to look away. “You are welcome, Mistress.”

Now was the time to act.

“Because the captain isn’t ready to go, so you have to wait. And he won’t have you wait on the dock getting in his way, so you have to wait somewhere else. And here is at least as good a place as anywhere else.”

“Agreed,” Nax chimed. “The alcohol isn’t particularly watered down, it’s warm, and,” he looked around at the barmaids who were hearty, but not fat in the wrong places, “the view is good.”

“Must you?”

He looked to an exasperated Sylanna. “I must.” He took a long drink and swept the room with his gaze once again. “Besides, I’m just looking. Would you have me cut my eyes out?”

“Enough,” Arik said before Sylanna could answer, having some idea of what the answer would be.

Strannix wanted to be free of them and free of this place and being on the boat now marking time would have at least given him some sense of accomplishment. He could tell himself that he’d made it. But instead he was still in Erette listening to these people go back and forth. The only things that had made it tolerable was the knowledge that they were marking time just as he was, they simply had the virtue of being able to do so with peers. That and they had gotten him to where he needed to be, and he was at least able to fill his belly in this place knowing it would be some time before he would have a good meal.

Until they walked him back to the ship, he would be forced to mark time with each of these people close to him, surrounding him in the adjoining tables in a triangle of protection. He would be forced to sit here without peers.

Then the door opened and in stepped a peer. She commanded the room as she took two slow steps inward with a smaller woman behind her. All there took note of her presence, even if it was only for a moment. Some stared. Some looked in fear or in awe. Some looked quickly and then looked away to resume whatever it was they were doing in the hopes that they wouldn’t catch her notice as she had caught theirs.

Mages congregated in this place often and there was no shortage of them here. Indeed, it was not unlike the place where this journey started for Strannix. Those in this place that were not knew enough to know that anyone a mage didn’t want to deal with was someone that they certainly did not, with some finding their nicked and gnarled, painted black tables incredibly interesting.

Bryana maintained her deliberately casual gait, even as she kept her senses aware, ready for anything that might come. She didn’t have to wonder how Vale was feeling, asshe could feel the tension ripple from the woman, but she knew Vale would not act rashly. The guild mistress gauged the mages that surrounded Strannix before she sat down across the table from him while Vale stood to her right with the immovability of a rooted tree.

He had dreamed of this moment for quite some time. While it had not unfolded in the way he had envisioned, he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity that presented. “Where’s my wife?”

“You were very difficult to find, Etan. May I call you Etan? It is a bit of an intimacy, I admit, but you insinuated yourself in my life in a very intimate way, so we seem close somehow.”

“Of course, Bryana,” he said with a dark grin. “I have been wanting to make your personal acquaintance for quite some time and this seems like a lovely opportunity for us to spend time together.” His voice flattened. “Now, Bryana, where’s my wife?”

“I have a question first, if you don’t mind. How did you think I would respond? You could not have believed that I would simply tell you.”

“I knew you wouldn’t. That’s why I found something that you value. Often in business, in order to make the best deal, you have to find something the other side values and leverage that to get what you want.”

It genuinely puzzled her. “After that? Let’s assume you get what you want, then...what? Do you think I do not come and kill you? I would burn through everyone and everything between us to kill you. Do you think you can attack a child that calls the queen ‘Auntie Evaline’ and nothing would come of it? You attack that child in an affront to the two women in this kingdom who control the army and think you can just go on about your day? That would not happen. It seems that you haven’t thought much past your own immediate needs.”

He smiled knowingly, “Oh, but I did, my dear. You would have given me what I wanted. And, once you had, I would know that you you would be someone with a sense of practicality that I can work with.”

Vale wanted him dead then and there and it was all over her face.

“So I essentially live as a slave in fear that you will come for people I love. That would give you a direct line into the guilds as well, but I’m sure that’s just a happy coincidence.”

“It is.” He agreed, appearing thoughtful. “And I still could.”

She matched the coldness she heard. “No, you can’t. If you could, I believe you would have before now. You wouldn’t have gone on the run as you have. You have far fewer resources as we sit here today, and there will be fewer still tomorrow. Then there’s the simple fact that I am prepared now. We are prepared. Your best chance came and went.”

“Also, I think anyone that might act on your behalf is waiting to see what becomes of you.”

“I’d certainly wait to see what I was risking before I stuck my neck out,” Vale offered casually.

Sylanna eyed her and spoke to Bryana without looking at her, “The dog you brought in with you speaks? Tell me, does it sit and do tricks, too?”

“Enough of that, Sylanna,” he chided. “Bryana and I are having a pleasant conversation.” He shifted his focus back to guild mistress. “I apologize for the behavior of my contractors.”

“Don’t mention it. Good help is always difficult to come by.”

“Quite true. You and I are very much alike, Bryana. We are intelligent. We are powerful in our own rights.” He let the next words fall in such a way that the menace would fall softly. “And, for people in our position, there is never truly a shortage of resources.”

“I know. And that’s why I’m here. That’s why I had to find you, because we are much alike. You would not stop, so I had to find you in order to resolve this situation in the only way it can be.”

He understood that as well as she, “Now where is my wife?”

“She is happy, Etan. Your wife is happy. When she and Hanah left they were as in love as I have seen any two people be. Your wife was thrilled at the prospect of being away from you and she openly sobbed when I told her that I would make it so while she was still recovering from the nearly dead state you left her in. She burst into tears. She clutched my hand and praised me as an angel from the Goddess. Never in my life have I heard praise like that directed at me, and all I had to do was promise to take her to a place where she could live her life free of you.”

“I know where she is. I know she is happy and living her life, but you will live the rest of yours never knowing where. That’s all that matters. That’s what brought us here. You cannot handle her away from you, and beyond your control. You cannot handle her happy in spite of your best efforts. That’s what brought us here and that’s why what has to happen will happen.”

He was resigned to it. “What has to happen will. I just don’t think it’s going to come out the way you believe.” His voice rose to be heard over the murmured conversations. “Anyone that chooses to assist in my protection will be well rewarded.”

The room was silent and even the barmaids had stopped working and found other places to be. It wasn’t the first time trouble had brewed here. Vale’s eyes scanned carefully and Bryana pulled a silver amulet from her cloak and extended her arm overhead, letting all see. She spoke in a tone that demanded attention of all, her eyes issuing challenge to anyone that might dare. “I am here for one purpose. Look upon this symbol of the conclave and know that that purpose is one blessed by all the guilds.”

When the silence continued and no one moved, she tossed the silver, six-pointed star, with each point flaring in its own starburst between them. “None of the guild mages here will help you, not when their masters and mistresses have pronounced you dead.”

“The freelancers and outlaws here will not help you because they are already on the outs with the guilds, but that’s different from being sought out by them for interfering with us. And I suspect some will not help you just because they want to see if a guild mistress dies today.”

Strannix leaned forward, “They might, don’t you think? I have three skilled mages sworn to protect me. You? All I see is you and a whelp.” Glancing at her, Strannix gave Vale a dismissive, “No offense.”

“Don’t concern yourself. It’s impossible for you to offend me more than you already have.”

Sylanna was indifferent. “I never had much use for the guilds either way, so I don’t much care if they’re after me directly or not.” She did thrill at one aspect and it showed. “Besides, killing a guild mistress would substantially up my fee by itself.”

Nax had been spending his third of the chest since he saw it and he didn’t want to lose it. He didn’t want to be hurt or die, of course, but that came with the territory. “I’ve been paid already, so it’s done.”

Arik looked a bit world-weary in that moment, seeing within himself another regret to add to pile. “He’s right. A contract is a contract. No offense, Mistress Lia.”

She sincerely understood. “None taken. It’s a matter of principle, no matter what others think of a mage.”

She rose and the people that surrounded them scattered, finding the corners, fusing themselves to the wall, or making for the door. The barmaids chose the latter and the bartender remained. He was old and grizzled enough to not care beyond liking a good show. If he died accidentally here, he’d lived plenty and it promised to be more spectacular an end than dying in his sleep a grizzled old bartender.

The three rose with her as she stepped away to gain room to maneuver, Vale following, preparing herself for what would come, and preparing herself to defend her mistress in the event any of the audience chose to do more than watch.

The three stood before the two. Bryana could see Strannix in a place behind Arik, looking upon the event with excitement. He was already positioning himself a couple of steps closer to one of the side doors in the event that the tide of battle was not favoring him. “Standing behind others, still, I see.”

“That is all right. We all have to be who we are. I stand here today because I am the person that I am. I’m here because, for so many reasons, your wrongs cannot be allowed to stand, and you cannot be allowed escape. I’m here in this way because others will do as you have done unless the price to be paid chills their blood.”

“Oddly, I am reminded now of one of a guild’s lesser known charges: to acquire and protect, not only our history, but the history of the world. One of the first things my first master taught me were the old languages. These are languages that are older than the world. Some even say that they are older than any world and the bits and pieces that we have were left to us by the Goddess to teach us humility; that were are nothing but stitches in Her infinite tapestry.”

“They are taught because we even use some of the ways the tongues roll to them in casting and because of history. My first master used that to impart the message that has more value to me with every passing day. He taught me that I should know myself, so I demand those before me do the same.”

She projected the tiniest bursts of magic forth. “Gnothi seauton.”

As though they were pushed to their knees by the Goddess herself, the three knelt at once, eyes locked on the floor, mind and heart open to her commands, to her needs, and to her whims. She was all. They did not move and scarcely breathed. When they fell, several gasped believing it was the beginning of some grand display of magic...of some combination of powers so epic that the two women would simply disappear. Others murmured to one another wondering what was happening. As nothing continued to happen, snickering could be heard and, as the seconds ticked, the sounds of derision grew.

Strannix was one of those that had anticipated a grand spectacle, and when none came his face flushed with anger. “What are you doing?”

He rushed around the table and slapped his hands onto Arik’s shoulders and tried to pull him upward to no avail. “Get on with it.” He slapped Sylanna in the back of the head and she didn’t flinch. “What are you doing!? What’s happened to you?”

“They are awaiting my wishes.”

He faced her, seeing himself in her eyes that he had not seen before. He saw the frigid cold. He saw the ruthlessness. He saw who he had heard about and why he’d heard those things in frightened whispers. He saw why people feared her. He began to feel that fear himself. “What have you done?”

“They were responsible for what was done to my family. They have paid for what they have done and will do so for every day of their lives by living in service. That they were all you have in this moment is all the better to me, for I find it somewhat poetic to leave you with literally nothing before I end you. It’s certainly just considering what you threatened to take from me.”

The door opened and, for an instant, Strannix’ heart lifted, believing that perhaps one of the people who fled returned with help, but that hope ended upon seeing Neral Jaye with her rabble spouse. They stood on either side of the door, waiting patiently. “Five minutes,” Neral said.

“Time flies,” Bryana said, infusing herself with the energy around her, turning it to her ends as she slowly approached him, him taking half a step back without realizing it, brushing against Sylanna who was still as a statue. “Do you not realize what you tried to take from me? I spoke to that girl for hours at a time. I read her stories. I sang to her. And I did all of those things while she was still in her mother’s belly.”

“I was one of the first in the world to hold her. She is not mine, but there is no difference to me, and there is no difference to her. She calls me mother, and I am her mother, too. This is to avenge her and to protect her.” Her next words were somber and weighted down by her past. “I expect that she will understand why I’ve done what I’ve done should she ever learn of it, as well as the why of what I am about to do. What I hope she understands the why of without despising me, is that I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

He forced air through his throat, the words coming with a quiet rasp. “So what happens now, Bryana? Do you turn me into them?”

More quickly than he could have imagined, her features twisted into a snarl as her hand clamped down on his throat, the shock of it causing him to attempt a sharp intake of breath, but all he managed was a little air and a gurgling wheeze as she lifted him from the floor with no effort. Slamming his body to the floor, the wood beneath him buckled and what air had been in his lungs fled. His wide eyes locked on hers.

“No. They have uses alive. You? You are an example, and you serve that better dead. Healing magic can be turned to rend flesh more easily than heal it. I am going to hurt you, Etan. I am going to cause you so much pain that you will pray for death before I’ve even really gotten started. Then you will be healed. We will take turns hurting you in any way we wish, then we will undo it. Your screams will be the sounds this town falls asleep to tonight.”

“Finally, when we are bored with the sounds you make and your tears of anguish, you will die. Then your body will be staked out before the ocean, your unseeing eyes staring out at the freedom that was once so close...before the birds pluck out those juicy bits.”

“You will be left to rot as a testament to what happens to those that threaten me and mine, and to those that would think to bring pain and suffering to countless innocents for their own ends. You will be left to rot to show all those that look upon your carcass that your power and your money and your reach amounted to nothing compared to ours. The people here tonight will tell the story of your death to their grandchildren as a cautionary tale.”

“Let us begin.”

When his left arm began to tingle, he lifted it to his sight just in time to see his forearm and fingers begin to snap and twist in inhuman directions, the snapping sounds like claws at his ears.

As his screams flooded the room and the people looked on in terror and morbid curiosity, the three mages continued to kneel, heedless to any sound but the next command.