The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

A War Dawning

Author’s note: There will be some hack and slash peppered here and throughout the rest of the story. I’m skimping on the gore factor simply because it’s not what most people are coming to the story, but it’s still relevant to the story so it warrants inclusion.

Chapter Five

The word had reached Mareth in the middle of the night with his page shaking him gently with the message, “Lystra says it will be ready soon.” He didn’t know what the message meant, but it didn’t matter. It was only his job to deliver it.

The king bolted from bed, the need for sleep gone, and commanded the page to tell his entourage to ge ready to ride. Dressing quickly, he was riding out to the site almost as rapidly as his horse would carry him. In fact, he had dressed lightly for fear that it might slow him down. He hadn’t strayed far from the site almost since it was discovered, and certainly not since discovering the truth of it and that there was a chance that he could make it work. Now, if Lystra was to be believed, the moment was close at hand.

He spent the ride contemplating the feeling of the world at his feet. Once Erette fell the rest would follow and he would lay the groundwork for a dynasty that would last a thousand years. He was riding such a high he thought he might never have to sleep again.

He dismounted almost before his horse came to a stop in front of the molded, concealed stone and metal that led deep underground. One guard hustled to get ahead of him, barely managing to get through the door before him while the other followed him. Stairs led to ladders and on again until he reached the control room to see Lystra at the control panel with Drax behind her and off to the side with a smile where she ushered him forward.

The guards stayed outside and his words came in as much of a rush as his body. “It works? It’s ready to test?” Part of him didn’t even want to do that. Part of him wanted to bathe his enemies in righteous fire at a moment’s notice, but he was no fool. He didn’t want to scorch the world unless he had to and he certainly didn’t want to risk harming himself. Besides, a test had the virtue of maybe bringing the kingdoms to heel by itself.

If not, examples were good things to make.

“It works,” Lystra said, her exuberance nearly matching her father’s. She tapped several more of the switches that were marked, and they responded to contact, but they seemed to be inside the translucent material. With a few hand gestures she could change what she was looking at and what she controlled.

He shook his head. Remarkable.

“It’s responding well. There are a few more tests to run to be certain that it can and will target properly and that it can be linked to you somewhere other than here.” There was pride and relief in her voice and she looked up at her father’s happy expression and she thrilled at being the cause of it. It is capable of responding to simulations fed into it, and then we can judge whether or not all the pieces of it are working in concert as designed.”

She keyed in more commands and most of the text that scrolled was electric blue with several yellow columns of numbers and words. “Then we have to make certain that it will respond to being controlled remotely as you wish rather than solely from here. But...I think we are almost there.”

“Test in a few days?” He hoped he didn’t sound too much like an anxious child.

She opened her mouth and the silence from it as she weighed her words had him on edge. “Barring some sudden problem from nowhere, I would say yes.”

The joy that burst from him was real. He picked her up from her chair and did his best to squeeze the life from her. Kissing her cheek he held his arms straight, hands squeezing her shoulders. His eyes were all warmth and his voice all praise. “I knew you could do it. Even when you doubted you, I did not truly. I knew you would perservere and conquer My daughter is brilliant. Because of you our people have a chance to end the conflict once and for all.”

She wiped tears quickly from her eyes. It seemed like she had been working to that end all of her life. “That’s all I ever wanted, Father.”

He hugged her again and she let tears flow while he spoke soothingly to her. Glancing at Drax before closing his eyes to imagine what would come he told her his truth. “I love you, girl. With your help, a new, peaceful world will dawn for all of us.”

“Forever.”

* * *

Nelina Jaye stood and watched. It taught her as much as doing, and sometimes more. Her mother had made her first lessons in Court dynamics just having her watch the looks, and listen to the words whispered, and note who danced with whom or who stopped dancing with whom, and then ask “Why?” She forced Nelina to use her wits and knit the pieces together herself to get the picture. Maia would fill in the blanks when she was right, or lead her to what right was when she was wrong. Her mother gave her the tools to make her own judgments and then let her do it.

She took those same tools to the service where they served her well. Neral understood it and her other superiors nearest Neral’s level appreciated that she only asked questions when something was truly unclear and was otherwise content to stay out of the way and observe. That’s what she was doing now, but she admitted that it was more difficult now than usual. She wanted to chase them down and fight them and bring them to justice. Whether that meant an Erette prison or them hanging by their necks as an example to others, so be it. Bandits rolling in to steal the toil of others rather than working for it turned her stomach.

The possibility that this was a preamble to war made a bit more sense to her. It was still vile, of course, but it was more understandable somehow. It was soldiers doing their duty, even if misguided and fundamentally wrong. She could respect that sliver of it at least and for that alone, she thought it was so. What was bothering her more at the moment was the fact that they had stopped moving. The company was now in striking distance of the same villages that the bandits were hitting.

The people broken by those bandit raids had been coming before them in a steady stream for days now. The wounded and burned out met them on the main roads with the horses and animals they could save and their bodies carrying the evidence of the atrocities committed against them. The fact that they would bear those wounds long after the healers in the company tended to them was in their eyes.

Also in those eyes she saw hope and gratitude at the sight of General Jaye and a full company of the best the kingdom had to offer and that filled her with pride. She wanted to live up to what they thought she would be. She helped where she could lesser wounds but often just by being a listening ear. Many simply needed to hear someone tell them that it was going to be all right. She watched Neral down with them, helping where she could on the road and helping look through the villages for other survivors. She was above no one and deferred to those under her with more expertise than she in rescue or healing.

Patrols of these reaches met them too and reported directly to General Jaye, who listened intently to their stories along with Colonel Ynesa Dion, a soldier’s soldier with close set, oval with eyes and fair skin. She seemed to defy age, her hair, deep black, fell past her neck. Nelina knew the Colonel had risen after a similar call to arms some years ago had taken the life of Devine Kress. Neral still spoke well of Kress and her voice never lost a hint of emptiness and deep sadness when she was the topic, as though it were all recent and raw. That Kress gave her life to get the rest of the group where they needed to be was all she would say and details weren’t any of Nelina’s business so she never pressed.

The border garrisons had been run ragged and spread thin and it showed on the weary faces as their leaders gathered at the clearing under a sky as gray as the collective mood. Neral knelt on one knee as she studied the map on the grass looking for patterns. Dion traced her finger along the river and noting where the pins had been placed. “They’re not doubling back anymore.”

“It didn’t take long for the people or us to figure out they were doubling back to see what damage they could do,” Major Ott responded. “So we did the same as best we could to keep people out of harm’s way.”

“Which stretches you thinner and lets others strike,” Dion said in understanding.

“It feels like there’s an army against us.”

Neral’s eyes danced the map as she spoke. “Less that that I’m sure, Major. You believe they are bandits?”

Ott continued, his voice an angry tired. “It seems to be so, but they are far more organized than usual. Perhaps they found someone with some more serious military skill. The ones we’ve taken out look like bandits. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be carrying identifying bits.”

It made her feel slightly better in that they didn’t seem to be part of some more grand move. “They probably won’t go much further south than the Deshen because it envelopes them within us. We can bring more force to bear than they probably have, so that helps us.”

“They’ve left the western settlements largely untouched, General” Nelina noted. “That will change. They’re running out of targets otherwise.”

“It is at least possible that they’ll retreat rather than confront.”

“Possible.” Neral didn’t believe it though and she told Nelina so in so many words. “But to toy with the border as they have suggests that they want to measure our response.”

“Which will be?”

Neral’s eyes lifted enough to look to Ott “The two most recently hit villages; take a full third back to them. See how many refugees are willing to return with you. Let them see you, and let them see you with the refugees.”

Nelina tried to glean how Neral’s mind was working. “You are using... them as bait?”

Neral ignored it. “Stay with them and let whatever scouts see that, too. “I’ll take what men of yours I need to augment mine. Concentrate what you have left near here. Use your patrols to try to push them west.”

Ott caught on, “But loop back to suggest we are now a wall.”

“Which will either hold because they do not want confrontation or they will push west,” Dion filled in for Nelina’s benefit.

Neral placed her finger on the map. “Osten. It’s small and back a bit from the border. There are others closer but there are excellent craftsmen there so it’s a tempting hit. Give us time to get there before you build your wall, Major. Otherwise, don’t break the pattern of action already in place.”

He put his arm to his chest, fist to his heart to salute, “Yes, Sir.”

She looked to Dion, firm now that the decisions had been made. “I want to move as soon as we’ve given all the aid we can here. Make sure everyone has eaten and slept because they are going to be pushed. Let them know.”

“Sir.”

Dion left as Neral took pins from the map, folded it and headed off for the road to the field where Stenna had been grazing. Nelina walked with her to her right, her green eyes concerned, but her demeanor suggesting that she didn’t quite know how to bring it up. She respected her aunt more than she could say, and she didn’t want to give voice to her thought, but then realized that she was useless if she didn’t offer counsel, even if she was smart enough to know how small she was in the grand scheme, and how much her opinion really mattered. “May I ask a question, General?”

He looked at that cherubic face, “You may.”

The very question made her uneasy, but she felt she needed to ask. Even so, her question took the form of a statement she wanted to be affirmed.“You wouldn’t use the refugees now as bait.”

She shook her head. “They’ve been through enough.”

“What about the people of Osten?”

“I have a plan for that.”

Nelina puzzled, but moved on to what was really on her mind. “What if...they don’t do as you expect? What if they bypass Osten? What if they hit other villages first?”

“We will stay in Osten until we know they will avoid it or they strike.”

“So if they attack elsewhere...”

Her jaw tightened as she contended with the bitterness. “If the survivors make it to Osten we’ll help them. Otherwise...we stay in Osten.”

She saw the images in her mind that the stories the refugees told her their stories. She saw them being repeated in any one of half a dozen villages before Osten and her anger flared as she struggled to maintain herself. “Perhaps a token guard peppered throughout...”

Neral’s teaching tone had a firm edge now. “Every soldier I take will be needed at Osten. Token guards will just diminish what we can bring to bear in the end.”

Nelina could not believe her ears, “We can’t just let those people die and do nothing. We have a duty...”

Neral turned to her, angry now so that the brown of her eyes appeared black, “Nelina Jaye, I have known my duty since before you drew your first breath, and I do not need you to tell me what it is. We have a duty to save as many lives as we can. People have already died. I have already failed them. What I can do now is save as many as I can, and that means stopping these creatures as quickly as possible.”

“This seems to me the best way. It’s certainly better than trying to chase them all over creation without knowing where they will strike. If I do as you suggest, I leave a few men in a town to be overwhelmed and die along with the others. If I do as I think best, I risk them dying, in addition to whomever else in Osten and the towns along the way if they don’t pick the most ripe target over the closest. But their odds are better with us whole than apart.”

“People are very likely to die and have died and that is my fault, girl.” She took a step closer , her full height helping her anger bear down upon the other. “I do not need a child soldier to bark at me about my duty. I owe explanations to Court and my queen, not to you. Clear?”

She backed away almost imperceptibly as a visible sign of her own inner turmoil over the situation and embarrassment that she just questioned Neral’s honor and ability in one fell swoop. “Yes, Sir.”

“Do whatever it is you need to do, then eat, then sleep. We have a long, hard ride ahead.”

“General, I wish to...”

“Dismissed.”

She stopped in mid-sentence at the tone. She saluted smartly and took three steps away in a march before assuming a regular gait, feeling pummeled almost beyond words.

* * *

It was another good day in a string of them for Dirkal as he scratched his rough beard, meandering down the grassy side road, which in this case, was simply a well-trodden path off from the main roads. He had a dozen of his best with him and hundreds behind. A lot of them weren’t exactly the best even when sober, but they knew how to hold a weapon and do what they were told, which was enough. He’d led them to victory and to riches, so they held their weapons and did what they were told. He admitted that that was fun, but it was almost more so to run the largest military on the planet like an animal on a leash. It was bad for them and good for him that they were pretty much all the same because he’d lived it. They were full of mid-level functionaries with either stalled careers or no ambition to start with. If they had any greatness they were already in the inner circles.

The ones on the border marked time, staring out their windows until they could retire. Put them in the field and they obeyed too, but they weren’t the ones who won battles. Only now were they closing ranks in the east, leaving the west open now when he was essentially finished with it. There were a few nice places to strike back that way and maybe he’d swing back once he stretched them out again, but there was fresh territory to hit before Erette sent reinforcements. As soon as he saw them, he’d vanish behind the borders for a few weeks or months until Erette relaxed again.

But the territory ahead excited. There would be new strikes, new loot, and new...rewards. He was scouting them even now and would maybe choose in a few days after the soldiers against him ran out of adrenalin. His mind went happily back to the looting. The men did love those rewards at least as much as the pillaging, even though they were far more fleeting. Even Dirkal liked them fine; a good raping was a nice way to burn off the energy of the day not to mention teach the women around here a lesson. Erette gives its bitches far too much power. They deserved to know who was really in control. The day was gray as most were these days and light snow had been turning to slush with a few warmer days, but, for Dirkal, the sun was shining.

“Dirk, come see this.”

He heard the excited edge to Kaen’s voice so he nudged his horse ahead and through the trees to come up alongside. He didn’t have to ask what; he saw it: three women on the main road riding sweet as you please, probably gibbering all the way because that’s what women did when you got two or more of them together. Their dresses looked store bought, fairly new and, most importantly, expensive. And they had nice posture on the horse, shoulders back, relaxed body, yet tall in the saddle.

That suggested breeding as much as the fine horses they rode and Dirkal contemplated the possibilities, all of them pleasant. There were craftsmen of some repute around here and maybe they decided on a little ‘adventure’ rather than just have their house mistresses make arrangements. They were safe within their homeland after all, that wasn’t uncommon. Neither was occasionally ransoming such women. It was profitable depending on the House, and it was a nice opportunity to show the stuck up noble bitches who was really in charge. He smiled wide and wicked as he watched them ride off into the distance, “Go get the others.”

Kaen nodded nodded and began turning his horse away when he felt Dirkal’s meaty hand on his forearm. When he looked back, he met those deep set dark eyes and heard, “All of them.”

Kaen deflated. That meant riding back a bit and that meant missing the fun. Dirkal read his mind and tried to soothe him. “You can have first pick in town. Well...second,” he admitted.

That mollified him well if the look on his face was any indication and he rode on. Dirkal called to the half dozen that made up his scouting party, “Boys? I see a party. Let’s go see if we can get an invitation.”

The whoops and hollers that came in response spurred him on with the hoof beats of their horses not far behind.

* * *

The road was familiar now, as all the roads around Osten were. Nelina could map out every wagon track, hoof print, and rock on the roads to the point where she could navigate it blindfolded if need be. It was often that way for her on patrols, but, in this case, she hoped and expected that something would happen sooner or later. The women had been working in shifts in patrols that served not only as scouting rides, but as potential bait because, no matter how organized the bandits, no matter the brain that might be behind them, there are always certain desires that drove them. In order to stay in control, a bandit leader had to meet those needs or he would be gone one way or the other.

The women of the village had been most helpful in offering their church-best clothes to the women that would fit them. Kaled rode with them this day in a violet dress that came from a woman of greater width. So it hung loosely around her, though that was something of a benefit in that it hid her frame in ways that wouldn’t tip off a keen eye.

The younger Jaye had been exceptionally quiet since setting out to Osten. Neral had not avoided her or dismissed her from her place as aide, though neither would have surprised Nelina under the circumstances. Even so, there was a wall there now. Neral expected her to do her job and anything related to that was fine, but that’s where the interactions had largely ended. It couldn’t be allowed to continue. She could hear her mother’s likely response in her head even now, and, just as importantly, she didn’t want that between her and her aunt. Walls such as that were erected and hardened quickly, and, once so, were very difficult to overcome. It was already feeling like something too big to talk about, which meant it had to be done.

“I am very sorry for the words I spoke, Aunt Neral. Please forgive my rudeness.” She had hoped that the general would forgive the informality.

There was silence for a few long moments until she began to wonder if Neral might simply choose not to respond. “It’s forgiven, dear one. I want your counsel and expect it, even if it’s something I don’t want to hear.”

Nelina realized just then that she had been gripping the reins tightly when her grip loosened on the leather. “Maybe so, but my tone was unacceptable.”

Kaled wondered as she looked to Nelina. “Can I ask what the problem was even if it’s none of my business?”

She glanced to Neral, giving her an opportunity to kill the answer before it was given. When there were no looks or words to suggest it, Nelina answered, “I questioned the general’s strategy,” the next words were hard, “...and implied that… she didn’t care about the people who had been hurt or would be.”

She was almost sorry that she asked. “Oh.”

“I know better and I’m sorry. It was just my own frustration and...”

“I understand, Nelina. I truly do. Your words just reminded me of the failings that brought us here, and they are all mine.”

“You will stop them,” Nelina said with proud certainty. “The successes are yours, too.”

Neral shook her head with cynical grin. “Those are never mine. People rush to give me credit and I take it with humility because that’s how it works, but I’m just one woman. The work of victory belongs to you and Kaled and everyone else that puts their blood on the field or makes it possible for us to do so. You all make it so and you will again.”

She sighed a happy sigh. “I am proud of you, Nelina. “I’m proud that you cleared every bar I set for you to earn your place with me here and now, even when I know that many of those bars were unfairly high.” She smiled and Nelina shied from it a little at the memories and feeling as though a million eyes were upon her. “You are a Jaye and, for good or ill, more will be asked from you because of it, so you may as well get used to it for as long as you wear the uniform.”

“There was also selfishness. I am happy that you earned your place beside me without question because I wanted you where you are if you could make it. I wanted to be the one to teach you and see first hand what you have to offer.”

Nelina blushed, but before she could speak, the gallop of horses could be heard behind them. Glancing over her shoulder she saw eight men coming up behind at a full gallop. She didn’t need years of experience to know who they were and what they were about. Her muscles tightened and so did her grip on the reins before Kaled cautioned her, her voice soft and calm. “Relax, Nelina. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Neral reinforced those words, “We’re just three innocent, defenseless women riding to town. Play that as long as you can.” Seeming to put a point on that, Nelina watched the general swallow hard and her face suddenly change, eyes wide and lips pursed as she looked back to the men fast approaching. It was almost as if she became someone else just that quickly and Nelina tried to follow suit. Remembering the first time she was brought before the queen when she realized the gravity of it helped her find that place.

Eight horses and their riders surrounded the women in short order. All the men looked the women over like they were hanging in a butcher’s shop and it took all Kaled had not to react with anger, though she managed not to react at all while Nelina kept her gaze downcast and Neral looked around nervously. Kaled knew her general was seeing how they were armed and gauging threats.

“Good afternoon, lovely ladies,” Dirkal, said as half the group dismounted and sauntered up to each of the women on their mounts, “Where do you hail from?”

“The city of Yven,” Neral answered softly after clearing her throat, making a point not to look any of them in the eye for long.”

“Yven?” He looked to the southeast with mock concern, “That’s quite a long ways from here. Headed to Osten?”

She nodded quickly and gestured towards the city “There’s a glass blower in Osten. My niece and my friend thought we’d meet with him and see if he could do some custom work.”

He saw the anticipation in the eyes of those around him and the lanky fellow to his left shifted in his saddle for either the money or the play; Dirlak didn’t know which. He looked over at the wench and her conservative little dress and imagined what her family would pay to get her back...more or less unharmed. Hell, the uptight ones, when they broke, usually loved every bit of it.

“It’s very dangerous for lovely ladies such as yourselves to travel the roads like this. There are bandits in these parts.” The men laughed and snorted as Dirkal smoothly dismounted and sidled up to her putting forth his best version of charm which sounded like sneer and condescension to Neral’s ear, “We’d be happy to escort you... for a reasonable fee.”

Neral cleared her throat again, unsure of how to most tactfully respond, not that there was anything to say that would keep things from deteriorating. She tried a quick, disarming smile and a nervous laugh. “Thank you for your kindness, sir, but that really won’t be necessary. It’s not that far to the city now.”

He smiled and Neral reflexively tensed, causing the men around her to pull them off her horse and the others to keep them from leaving. Stenna snorted in protest and stamped her hooves into the mud. The men were close behind them now, she could feel them even if she couldn’t feel them physically. Neral shook her head in a quick twitch to the others. It wasn’t time, even if the mood had suddenly turned darker.

“You sure?” Dirkal unsheathed a wide blade, turning it in his hand to show it off. “If it’s money you’re worried about...you can pay in other ways.”

Neral’s clenched her jaw so tightly it appeared to tremble. “Just leave us alone and let us go.”

He chuckled as he tapped the tip of his blade to her chin.“Oh, I don’t think we’ll be doing any of that. You can be our...guest. You’re far from home. We’ll take great care of you and keep you from harm while we make arrangements to get you back.” Hands came to her arms, caressing more than holding at this point. “I bet you’ll even like it. We can be very friendly men, he said, glancing at those in his orbit, “Cant we, boys?”

They laughed, one of them eyeing Nelina as he took her wrist roughly, “I like ’em short and stocky. You can carry ’em good after you’ve split open their cunts, enough meat on ’em, to be soft and strong enough to take it as rough as you wanna give it to ’em.”

She wanted to glare at him and burn him to the ground just that way. She wanted to break his neck then and there, but she saw how things were at the moment. They were waiting for aggression. They were waiting for an excuse to slice them and leave them in the mud, pin them to the ground and do what they were going to do anyway, or pick one to leverage against the other two.

Right now things were reasonably calm and she saw a way to maintain that. She managed a put-upon look by thinking about how quickly she could kill him “Aunt Neral, what if we just, you know, give them what they want? What if we just...call letting them do the disgusting things they’re going to do anyway a toll? We cooperate and you let us go?”

Dirkal smiled, teeth looking like a predator’s fangs, “Now that’s a smart girl,” he said by way of praise, pointing his knife in her direction before turning back to Neral. “We can call it a toll. Take care of me and my men because life on the road is so very,” he snorted the last word as he eyed her, imagining what was under the dress, “hard, and you three can go on about your business with the worst happening to you are your dresses getting muddied.”

Neral fretfully looked to the other women before daring to meet Dirkal’s gaze. “How do I know you’ll let us go if we do?”

“You don’t,’ he conceded, “but doesn’t it make more sense that I might just let you ride off once my balls are empty and I haven’t had to beat you to the ground or cut you or something to deal with all that aggravation you caused me?”

She thought it over. “Fair point.”

He noted his blade to her and snickered. “It is. But that’s not something the stuck-ups like you are into, huh?”

She surprised him with a sour grin, “A deal could be struck. After all, it’s not as if we’ll be seeing one another again, is it? You will hardly be at my door in a month to tell my foppish husband what had to be done.” Her head drifted towards him and she let her eyes roam him suggestively. “Mutually pleasant and we may be quite happy to meet you and...pay again on the way home.”

“Mmmmm...you buttoned up ones are all the same. You need a bit of rough on the side.”

“Not rough, just...different. My husband’s apprentice, actually, though she can be quite rough when the mood suits.”

“She?” He practically shivered as his mouth watered and his cock threatened to burst forth from the fabric. “Oh, I knew you had spark.”

Kaled was aghast, “You promised you’d never tell.” Raucous laughter and a few groans filled the air as they imagined Neral with the ebony tower of womanhood.

“He doesn’t care, dear,” she said without taking her eyes from him or missing a beat. “Besides, let them watch what we do anyway and it’ll make the time pass better for everyone.” Neral closed on Dirkal’s lips, her hand at his wrist, gently bringing the knife down and away from her. “Let’s just entertain the rowdy boys and be on our way.”

Bringing herself to block the view of the men behind her, she brushed his lips, no longer fighting the anger and revulsion, instead using it to fuel her strength, twisting his wrist until his shout of pain came with Neral feeling the pop of the ligaments in his wrist. His fingers opened and she took the blade, driving it into his thigh and twisting as she stepped back. She tightened her grip on the blade as she spun him about. Putting her boot to his chest, Neral pulled the blade free as she sent his bulk into the other two.

Dirkal’s first sound of pain was cue enough for the other two. Nelina happily drove her fist into the face of the pig that had sized her up, hie eyes tearing and blood coming from his nose after the crunching sound. His hands went to stem the tide. The other crashed the back of his fist to the side of her face. She dug into the mud and, out of reflex reached for a weapon. Finding none as she tried to reorient herself her eyes focused on one of the archers, still mounted, drawing back his bowstring. She blocked the fist coming at her and grabbed him with both hands to place him between herself and the arrow. It found the center of his back and Nelina took two strides to the archer and pulled him from his mount with the same ferocity that she was moments before.

The bandit with the now broken nose lunged at her as she pummeled the archer as most of the other horses scattered. His arm wrapped around her neck and her vision swam as he pulled her upward. Nelina slammed her elbow with full force to his ribs once and again and he stepped back enough so that his grip loosened. That was enough. She coughed and sucked in air as she turned around, took his head and introduced it to her knee. He screamed and cried in frustration.

Kaled used her size and strength to her every advantage, and it didn’t hurt her that the men had never expected that level of force to come from her. An elbow to the throat of one set him wheezing and gasping immediately as she slammed her knuckles hard just under the breastbone of the other and was rewarded as his lungs expelled all the air in them in a woosh. Her left hand connected with his jaw and consciousness fled.

There was one strike to her face that she barely noticed from the first before she took his arm, twisted her hip and his arm doing her best to pull it from its socket. Shouts brought Kaled’s attention to General Jaye, though the shouts came from Dirkal now spitting blood on his knees, “Bitch! I am going to fucking kill you. I am going to kill you and pass your corpse around before I hack it to bits!”

Neral cut the bowstring of the second archer even as he was fleeing at full gallop towards the swarm of bandits could now be seen coming to meet them, Shit. She looked to Nelina and Kaled, seeing that they had handled their own issues quite well. She felt a rush of pride before she took to Stenna “Catch me and we’ll chat again.”

* * *

Osten still had a bit of distance from the soldiers who were now kicking up mud, spraying themselves and each other bandits thundered behind them, led by Dirkal, his face a study in rage and a piece of his pants now wrapped around his thigh as they thundered towards the three.”

“That was fun, I admit,” Kaled said, voice raised to be heard over it all.

They were all hunched forward for that extra bit of speed, Neral focused on Stenna’s breathing. It was harsh but smooth as her stride ate the road. She and Stenna had connected immediately and Neral could almost always feel what was on the other’s mind. Kaled amused her, “I promised I’d never tell?”

“I was just adding to the moment, sir. No offense intended.”

“None taken at all.”

Nelina shook her head as the corner of her mouth turned up. “It did that. Did you see their faces? They wanted you to climb each other right there.”

“Men are often creatures of simple tastes, Nelina.” She judged the distance to town to be just about right and, knowing that there would be lookouts and that Dion would only need a few moment’s notice, she waited for the inevitable, hunching down to avoid the first volley. It would be ironic after having dodged several arrows on the way here to be felled by friendly ones. She waited until tiny streaks of black by the dozens created broken lines in the gray sky.

The bandit horde tried to stop short of the onslaught, but the hundreds of fighters together was its own single massive living entity and couldn’t stop quickly. Dozens raised their shields to protect their heads because they saw what was coming. Others raised theirs because they saw some of them around them do it. Others were so focused on closing the gap and the bloodletting that would ensue they saw nothing at all as the arrows rained.

Cries of pain, anger and surprise echoed as bandits fell and horses reared. What had once been a wall of fury now cracked as they struggled to regroup. “Hold the line tight!, Dirlak shouted. “Keep moving! Close the range!”

Most listened and attempted to obey, but there were enough not used to organized resistance let their fear take over and they responded by trying to peel from the main body. Those in the middle that wanted to flee slowed the body enough for another volley of arrows to thin the lines as more fell. Leaving the scared or wounded behind Dirlak focused now on the armored wall filling the road. He watched as two of the women flankedthe one called Neral was handed a sword by a cavalry officer just before she wheeled around to face them.

Neral? He shook his head. Should have known...should have slit her throat the minute I met her. Oh, well...still can.

He pushed forward, the men with backbone still behind him.

* * *

Neral took the sword Dion offered with a smile. “You timed that well.”

She dipped her head with a grin. “I try.”

Neral saw some of the men and women in Osten on their own horses and others on foot and looked to Dion who shrugged it off. “I urged them to stay home. I even ordered it.”

“If they want to defend their homes knowing the risk who are we to keep them from it?”

Neral turned and Stenna snorted, cloud from her nostrils almost an expression of anger, “Archers wide right and circle through..targets of opportunity.” As they charged with her Lieutenant Jaye, lead a detachment of cavalry to guard the archers.”

“Yes, sir,” she snapped, calling Kaled and others to her, encircling half a dozen others as they pulled away to orbit the battle.

“The rest of us?”

“Through the middle,” the general determined. “We’ll see if the serpent has more than one head.”

“Goddess be with us.”

She charged Dirlak, aiming Stenna’s nose to the brown and white steed that carried him. She want to not telegraph her action until the last moment. His was the face of all the pain caused to civilians, and solders. His was the face of the despair of those displaced and defiled. He caused it and he would pay.

The distance closed with the mass of men, but she closed on him. In the last moments she gripped her sword tightly, lifted herself herself on the stirrups and vaulted her body towards him with a howl. He brought up his sword to deflect her strike, but her momentum was too much to overcome. He slammed into the hind-quarter of another horse as they rolled together into the grass as battle raged around them. One was more ready than the other after the tumble and Neral used the confusion to scramble up and drive her boot into his wounded thigh he tried to stand.

He snarled as the pain rushed through him and dropped to one knee. She was on top of him in a flash, her mother’s dagger under his throat, ready to put an end to it.

And the sky burned.

A band of orange fire the color of the setting sun evaporated the clouds around it for miles. It was a wave that looked like the wrath of the Goddess herself. Miles away and yet it looked so close. At the base of it, Neral initially thought it was spreading, but she realized by the way they flickered that they were secondary fires. Then the sound; it was a screech that even from the distance drowned out almost any other sound

He pushed Neral off him and she allowed it. She widened the space between them just in case, but he was no more interested in her at the moment than she was in him. Everyone around her was in a similar state of disbelief like statues dotting the land. “Goddess,” he said.

She heard it as a whisper, but it must have been called out as a plea. She turned to see fear in his eyes. “She has returned,” he told her almost as if he were trying to help her. “She has returned and She will extinguish all those that do not follow her path. The world is over.”

Neral saw him tremble. She saw a frightened boy in him and she could not bring herself to finish the battle or him. “Take the men you have left and go. If your men come near Erette again I will hunt you to the ends of the world and kill you.”

He laughed. “You won’t see me again, Neral Jaye. We won’t be seeing anything. She comes. Get your soul right for Her return because She comes to judge us all.”

Neral didn’t know what was happening, though she had an idea. But she couldn’t disagree with the notion that the world might not have much time left one way or another.

* * *

The wait to see Dennet felt interminable to the point where Deres was reaching the point that he was ready to go hunt for the man on his own. The accommodations were lovely and the people hospitable enough, but he had just about had it when Governor Waylan had finally sent word in the middle of the night that Dennet was in the city and willing to meet with them the following afternoon.

Waylan himself came to them shortly after lunch. He had been quite friendly with them of late and seemed much more relaxed than when they first met him. Rumor had it that he was in a blossoming relationship with the noblewoman Besche and it was going well. There was a spring in his step that Deres actually enjoyed. He hoped for similar positive outcomes all around for everyone. Dreams, after all, often gave birth to possibilities.

Bryana suggested that Elan stay behind so as not to potentially overwhelm the man as sometimes men like Dennet could be skittish and since she wasn’t really the one who had business with him she could stay behind and Elan acquiesced to the logic. Waylan led them down the halls to his private residence. His staff, more likely than not to know what was afoot carefully avoided eye contact with the three as he led them to his wine cellar. Deres didn’t sense anything beyond some base tension when he searched their feelings, so he just attributed it to having to be willfully unaware.

Almost at once the air thickened as they descended the stairs, becoming a cloying thing. It was pleasant given the cold of the time of year, but they knew that that wasn’t going to last long. The two made their way to the back of the room and the man standing between two lamps on the wall. Given the nature of the man and the meeting Deres had a mental vision of a voice buried in the shadows unwilling to come to the light. Instead, Dennet stood before them, his long red coat over the back of the chair next to him. His black silk shirt woven with some other material that made it shimmer in the light. He didn’t look like a black market purveyor so much as carnival showman.

Bryana supposed that he used the wardrobe to bring some attention to himself as, otherwise, there wasn’t anything remarkable about the man, not tall or short and of average build. His hair was slicked back and his hazel eyes appraised the two. Put him in peasant’s clothes and he wasn’t someone people would look once at.

He smiled broadly and extended his hand to Deres. “Honored to meet you. It’s always a thrilling experience to meet a new client.” He shook the hand enthusiastically, but with no urge to dominate the meeting. “You get to learn about them, what they need and what they like. I enjoy it almost as much as fulfilling those needs and desires. Governor Waylan speaks very highly of you.”

His eyes met and held Bryana’s, seemingly captivated by the blue of her eyes and the blonde of her hair. He lifted her hand to his and kissed the back gently. “I am so charmed, Miss Lia.”

She smiled and kept her tone friendly as she slipped her hand from him naturally. “A pleasure, though it will be more of one if this trip isn’t for nothing.”

“Oh, I shall endeavor to make it a fruitful one. Can’t have much of a relationship with a client if you can’t meet their needs. To that end, please accept my apologies for the additional delay in meeting you. It would have been much sooner, but, with first clients I always make a point of doing research to see to it that I might actually be of help to them.”

Deres was firm. “We’ll see. First, I have to ask how familiar you are with the assassin’s guilds.”

He looked suddenly pained, “Oh, that dreadful business with Queen Evaline. It’s most fortunate that she survived. To see someone so loved by the world taken from it would be appalling.”

“Do you know who the would-be assassin is and where to find her?”

His mouth gaped slightly, “Are you asking if I was involved?”

Bryana chose not to play.“Were you?”

“Certainly not.” He stepped back from them as though struck. “I am a purveyor of a great many things, but I don’t deal in violence.”

“You just know people who do,” Bryana finished.

“In my line of work one meets all kinds of people, such as prominent members of prominent Houses of Erette.”

Deres folded his arms, unmoved by the dig, “If you’ve researched us so that you come here having a damn good idea of what we need, do you have her name and where to find her or not?”

Dennet stretched out his arms, “I am no good to new clients if I don’t have things that they need. Such things are generally kept in confidence, but since I don’t deal in violence, those confidences aren’t mine.” He seemed troubled for their sake. “The information is expensive though.”

“Price isn’t an issue.” To punctuate that he produced a small case from the deep pocket within his cloak. Opening it, he revealed rows of gold coin nestled within the violet felt.

He clapped his hands and smiled, “Wonderful. That’s just wonderful.”

Deres moved on to the next and more important matter. He explained the matter of the poison and their need to find the alchemist responsible. “We’ve searched on our own, but it’s so far been fruitless.” his frustration showed now. “No one in the guilds seems forthcoming or they simply don’t know.”

Dennet looked pleased with himself and his tone celebratory. “It’s at points like this where you need someone like me, someone who is already a bit outside the lines, so to speak. The guilds don’t know because not everyone who plies a trade does so for a guild. Some dabble in forbidden magics, some in alchemy. It’s a hobby for some. They might be quite skilled, but in cases of magic or the type of alchemist you seek they don’t want to out their skills to the wider world. Surely you and Miss Lia can understand that?”

She glanced to Deres before returning her attention to Dennet. “You make those little cuts with the skill of a master swordsman.”

The hurt look returned. “I apologize for offending. I simply like to take opportunities to to remind clients of my skill.”

“Prove your skill by telling us who and where this person is.” The humidity of the room was now beginning to add to her irritability.

“Rest assured that I know a great deal about the man you seek.” Dennet was quick to prove his worth and earn his fee. “But convincing him to aid you will be difficult. I doubt he is willing to do so and he’s a mage of some skill. His home is fortified against intrusion and he may have defenses you aren’t prepared for. I’d hate to see you be hurt.”

Deres was certain he could slip through anything this play mage could conjure.“What do you know of his defenses?”

He sighed. “Not much, I’m afraid. I can tell you more than you could want to know about the man personally, but he keeps details such as his manor secret from everyone.” His concern seemed almost genuine I would hate to see new friends of mine injured.”

Bryana’s interest was piqued. “Tell us of the man. Everything.”

Deres’ eyes narrowed a bit at Bryana, “And you believe he will tell us the truth. Or that this is not some set up?”

“He wants his money, Deres, and he knows enough of the two of us to know how very fucking difficult his life could be made if he games us, even if the man in question ended us. The mage guilds would see him as a threat and if House Jaye were to convince the queen that this region needed a more...direct and firm hand in control, it would be very hard to continue to be Dennet.”

Dennet grinned. “You have a keen eye for the situation. And, may I say, I usually find it crass when women use obscenities, but that rolled off your tongue in the most attractive fashion.”

She finally had cause to smile, “Just fucking tell us what we want to know.”

He now seemed slightly uneasy.“I would require assurances first, you understand. He is a faithful customer and it’s not in my interests to see him come to harm. If that’s your intent...”

“We suspect he has information we need,” Deres explained coolly. “It does us no good to harm him. All we’re looking for from you is general information about the man.” He began to pace before Dennet, a bit of his own amusement showing, “Also things perhaps not so general. You know, the type of things that the court of Idros would whisper about on their fainting couches, but nothing that would really endanger him...certainly nothing that would lead back to you in negative fashion.”

Dennet clapped his hands together again, “Wonderful. Then I would be more than pleased to assist you.”

* * *

The three of them sat around a small round table in their guest quarters and hashed out all they had been told. “No.” Bryana said firmly. “I don’t care how skilled you are. If you don’t know what you will face, it is too big a risk.”

“The risk to me doesn’t matter. The queen cannot live her life on the edge like she is today. “It’s not as if the people responsible will stop unless they are stopped.”

“The risk to you does matter. It matters to us here, it matters to Neral, and it certainly matters to your daughter, even if she doesn’t know where you are now or what you’re doing. If you go in there can you guarantee that you will get in, get to him, and get what you want to know?”

He was silent. He wanted to say that it was assured, but he’d be lying, and she would not play with him in that.

Bryana’s tone was more loving and less defensive, “I will go with you if you insist on this course, but please think. Yes, if anyone can pass any wards or defenses he may have it is you. But if you get in there and to him, who knows what will happen. We don’t even know with complete certainty that he knows what we need to know. If he senses our magic he could destroy what he knows or himself, or we might be forced to destroy him to save ourselves. There are too many variables.”

“There has yet to be a definitive link between the assassination attempt and anyone just yet.” Elan’s words were well-measured. “The Draleth seem likely given everything, but the only response would be war, so rock solid certainty is required.

He was slightly incredulous towards her in return. “They did it. We know it.”

“It is very likely, but we don’t know yet unless General Jaye has informed you of something new.”

Deres leaned back but remained silent.

“You do not want to fail the queen, Deres. She would be honored that you so want to validate her trust in you, but do not let the poor boy from the southern quarter that you were push you into doing something rash.”

He stood up and paced the room, “You’re right, both of you. Then what to do?”

“Use his lusts,” the white-haired archer said simply,“the two of you are good at that.”

“That’s another of our problems,” Bryana said, letting her own annoyance through now that she was fairly certain she wasn’t going to have to put her body between him and the door. “If he is a mage with any skill he would sense us and it could go badly. It just sets up the same issues that prevent us from charging in.”

An idea blossomed in the shadows of his mind and he stared at the loveliness that was Bryana. “I didn’t think the guild would sense you after you were changed and they didn’t.”

Bryana thought back to that night in Neral’s bed chamber on a mission of corruption for the mage mercenary that she once was. She thought of her capture at his hands and her change into someone new and the events that followed as she went from mercenary mage to instrument of vengeance against the very people that had hired her. “No. When mixed with a science complex enough the magic is muddied.”

He looked to Elan. “Bait his lusts and muddy the waters to sludge and we just might be fine.”

Bryana looked back and forth to them both, “I’m a mage to start with and Elan and I have had our minds marked. What do you propose we do so that he does not see?”

His gaze never left Elan, “A little science, magic, and chemistry of our own. And if it all works as planned,” he began, letting himself feel some satisfaction, “we can have Dennet set up that meeting after all.”

* * *

Work proceeded throughout the day and into the night with Bryana and Deres locked away in one of the rooms while Elan busied herself maintaining her physique and her marksmanship by engaging in some blade and arrow practice with other soldiers while they regaled one another with tales of their exploits that ranged from the mundane to tall tales that could only be described as epic. She fell into that camaraderie easily having lived her life within it, despite some initial shyness.

What was a bit more difficult for her to deal with was the sense of celebrity that the other soldiers seemed to imbue her with. She rode regularly with General Jaye and was considered one of the elite even though she didn’t see herself that way which was meant with some playful incredulity by one of the men. “So just any soldier can just come live in her house?”

“Damn sight nicer than here, I’ll bet,” another chimed in.

“That’s a long story.”

“Care to tell it? We don’t get a lot of new gossip. By the time it makes it here it’s pretty well worn.”

“A woman gets to keep her secrets,” she said smoothly as she pulled the string back on the bow and sighted the center of the wooden target, “but I have gossip aplenty. One of the advantages to being so close to Court.”

She was aware that they laughed on a peripheral level, but she had tuned it out in those last heartbeats before letting the arrow go. It hit dead center and the excitement of that she did hear.

Upon returning to their quarters she found Deres and Bryana discussing things among themselves. On the small table before them was a wine flute filled nearly full with a yellow liquid that reminded her of sunshine. As she looked closer it was almost as if it were generating its own light. It didn’t seem to extend beyond the flute itself, but it was there all the same. Next to it was a crystal twice as long as her middle finger and only slightly thicker. To Elan it looked like a piece of shaped quartz.

“Apologies for leaving you to your own devices today,” Bryana told her sincerely.

“It couldn’t be helped,” Elan told her in a tone that suggested that that was the end of it. “It seems that your own efforts to wile away the day were productive.”

“They were. Have a seat.”

Still in her boots and leathers from the day, she did as Deres asked and crossed her legs before the table now between them, “What is this that you’ve made?”

Bryana was thoughtful. “Our way to take him. The best way to do that is to have him lead us in, his guard down, then what needs to happen can.”

Deres picked up the thread. “But his guard won’t be down, not with either of you. You both have the marks of magic upon your minds, and that’s not touching the fact that Bryana is a mage herself. The only real option is to take that from your minds so that he cannot see.”

“The solution to that would work for both of you, but Bryana’s mage marks might put him on the defensive.”

“What is this solution?”

“To put most of your mind elsewhere.” He gestured to the crystal and she picked it up, feeling the weight of it in her palm as he spoke. “After the people who would become the first citizens of Adar fled to the wastes, survival was nearly impossible. It took walls of mages casting constantly just to protect them from the worst of the elements. There was no time for record keeping and no time to impart knowledge in the usual ways.”

“So as the most knowledgeable Adaran’s passed, their intellects were imbued into crystals like this one. The crystals could be accessed...their knowledge examined and built upon. And on and on. Now? For those that wish it? Death can be avoided on a fundamental level.”

“You would put all that is me inside this?”

He nodded. It would take only the smallest magics to tie you to the body enough to control the shell because your body is your body. It’s how you were born to traverse the universe. It wants to be controlled by you. You will be the puppetmaster of your own shell and what tiny a mark there would be would likely be covered by his own connection to magic in his proximity to you.”

Deres came from the couch to sit next to her and she turned her body to his. He stroked her hair and caressed her cheek. She was exotically beautiful and everything under that lovely surface only made her more compelling. She was extraordinary, as all the women in his life were. “Are you willing?”

There was nothing to consider. “Of course. How is this different than asking me if I were willing to take an arrow to my heart for my queen? If I would do that, why wouldn’t I do this thing that will not hurt me?”

He was anxious to assure her, “It won’t. I will be able to return you to your body with no difficulty through those same tethers of magic, and I will do so as soon as we have what we need. You will be fine.”

“My life is yours,” she whispered. That settled, she couldn’t help but give in a little to the warmth between her legs as she entertained the mechanics of it. “You will be the one to take care of this? Of me?”

“I will, Vessen.” He smiled as he leaned into her ear, “Does that appeal?” She shivered as the heat of his words hit her both on her flesh and in her soul. “Imprisoned by my magic?”

She bit her lip and whimpered, “Just as I was chained to you that fist time, back in the dirt, heels in the air in that cave as you chained me to you. You fucking me, commanding me to...become.”

“To save you, love.”

Her lips found his. “Does it matter? Still chained to you,” the ‘s’ sound stretching as she caressed it, “...sssslaved to you.”

“You will be in the crystal now just to make sure all is well and as it should be. The drink will be for you just before the meeting.”

“As you wish it.”

“Look into the crystal, Vessen. Look into it deeply. Make it the world.”

She looked down at it, focusing on the smoothness of it. She calmed her breath as much as she could, but her now dripping pussy made it difficult.

He seemed to know what was on her mind. “It’s all right. I will guide it. Just let it happen.”

“I will not resist, Deres.” The sound of those words on her tongue were perfection. She stared into it and began to notice that on the inside it wasn’t as clear as it first appeared. There seemed to be cracks deep inside, from point to point. As she looked, she followed the crack below the surface and she noticed that it split as a fork in the road.

“Your body will be a shell.”

The heat of that rubbed her clit and she felt as though she was scared, though, already she wasn’t entirely certain that her body jumped, but it nudged her to pick a direction and follow it until she saw that fork, too.

“You. Everything that is you will literally be in the palm of my hand.”

She followed the path, seeing now how the paths forked to infinity, like an endless canopy of autumn trees or spider webs, one layered to the next. Elan tried to pick one, but they appeared so quickly now and those splits occurring so quickly and in such an infinite progression that she could not pick one of her own will. Instead, she realized that she was selecting every path..or that they were being chosen for her.

She was rushing into the crystal and there was no fear, only curiosity. And the arousal followed her, too.

Elan heard his voice at both a great distance and as though he were right there with her. “I will carry you in my cloaks as I would any other tool that belongs to me.”

At this point, she didn’t know how much she was pushing herself downward or how much she was being pulled. I will not resist. To think it pleased her.

I belong to you, too, Elan. The responsibility that I bear for you...I am chained to you as well. And I’m proud of that; to be so bound to one such as you.

She didn’t know exactly when it happened. There was no specific moment of final transition. One moment she was in transition, and the next, all that was Vessen Elan was afloat in a lavender mist that had currents and eddies. She was still herself, every memory and every thought intact. She was whole, safe, and content.

I adore you, Vessen.

And I you.

She realized at that moment that she may still be in her own hands.

Or on the floor like some discarded thing as he decided what to do with her, if anything at all.

Or in his hand, like any other trinket he owned.

Elan rode the bliss.

To Be Continued...