Realm at the Edge of the multiverse

by B G Mitchell

  Shareriza passed a pint on to one of those wizards. He had just come as the council had adjourned. She had shown him to a private booth and made sure that he had plenty of beer and was served by the finest looking waitress. Once she was sure he was drunk enough, she grabbed his last jug from a waitress and headed into the booth where she smiled at the wizard who was about fifty and had a short grey beard and a smooth face and blue eyes. He was wearing an ornate turban which was covered in gems and rubies, his cloak lining was also very fine and contained a collection of fine stones as well, no doubt to show off how rich he was. That is why Shareriza liked him. He was arrogant and a drunkard, so easy to pump for information. She made sure some of her cleavage was showing as she sat down next to him and put his tankard of beer on the table. He mumbled a thanks. Odd, she thought to herself. He was not in his usual good mood. She smiled at him and put her hand up when he reached for his coin purse.

  “No this one is on the house.” She smiled again but he still just frowned as he took another swig form his mug and slammed his mug down on the table and let out a loud sigh.

  He then looked at Shareriza and then said in a slightly slurred voice, “You know the sorcerer king needs to step up to the plate. He wants war not anther campaign against the southern tribes or some orc holdout in the untamed wastes. Nope, he wants a war against some godforsaken dark elf city on the edge of nowhere called Nardebbsess or something.” He waved his hand drunkenly as Shareriza covered the shock on her face. “And do you know why?” he continued, unprompted. “It will better place us for a war with the Ellewryn, and then who knows, the goddam world,” he said in anger as he waved his mug about, spilling bear everywhere, but he seemed too drunk to care.

  Shareriza sat silent as the news was rather overwhelming.

  He then sighed and lay back. “And what does that bring the Morkangin Empire? A few more dead soldiers for nothing of value.” He checked the booth quickly, making sure that there was no one else about (which was rather stupid as it was a closed booth). He then leant in really close to Shareriza, so close she could smell that booze on his breath and then whispered, “The rumour is he has an ally, a powerful magic being possibly.” He then lowered his voice and spoke his words even slower, like saying the name would conjure said magical being. “A demon prince.” He then went back to his normal tone of whispering. “And apparently this city Nerdderbash or something has really powerful magic.” He then snorted and said in a voice rather louder than Shareriza would have liked to hear and in a rather sarcastic tone, “If it’s one thing that the grand necromancer needs is more bloody magic.” He looked at his beer and noticed it was empty mostly because Shareriza thought to herself he had been spilling it everywhere.

  She excused herself as he lay down on the sofa and stared at the ceiling trying to sing to himself. She rushed up stairs and grabbing a pen and paper and started to write a message out in a special ink. If she hurried, she could have this message in the hands of the elves in about twelve hours. She stopped writing for a moment and got up. The grand necromancer was treading a dangerous line, but that is what the wizards seemed to do, trend on dangerous things, and it was the average person in the street who ended up paying for their arrogance.

  The Grand necromancer smiled as he looked at the crystal that had appeared in his throne room. It was in the shape of a demon skull with horns and a lower jaw attached that was filled with fangs as well as dark red ruby eyes. He could feel the power surging through it as he lifted it up. He smiled as he walked. This almost made up for the meeting, even his control of the council had been pushed to the limits. He had to call in every favour and use every blackmail trick he knew to get the council to go along with his plan. Luckily, as usual, the Sorcerer king made an appearance but did absolutely nothing that would interfere in his plans. Maybe, he thought to himself, it was time to do `away with him.

  He went out one of the doors to a large balcony connected to the side of his tower. From there he could see a long, dusty road stretching off into the horizon going up in between a couple of green hills. Being the grand necromancer, he had built his castle next to a ridge that overlooked the road which led to a mountain pass that connected the oldest human city, Merdith, to the bountiful but harsh land of the untamed wastes and had been the scene of many battles between men and orcs as well as their goblinkin (for the grand necromancer followed the ancient estate agent advice of location, location, location). He looked at the sky. It was dark as it was the middle of the night. The place itself was empty of human beings with the last cart load of ore passing long before the land got dark and the threat of bandits increased. In fact, the only other human was his assistant, a small bald man by the name of Smidley.

  He muttered an incantation and felt his power whelm up as dirt started to swirl up in the green hills as the wind slowly increased. But by the time he had finished the ancient words, the wind had turned into a howling gale as the sky had darkened. Light struck in a few places as anyone unfortunate enough to be down below the ridge would find skeletal hands rising out of the ground followed by the skeletal body themselves, both orc and human. Skeletons arose, bursting out of the earth in a cloud of dust, many still wearing the ancient armour they had died in and the weapons they had used in life. As a flood of white took over the formerly green hills, the crystal skull began to shatter in his hands and tiny bits of the crystal flew to each risen. Once the skull had vanished, the two rubies that had been eyes flew up in the air and rotated about, forming one single green ruby which embed itself into his forehead.

  He smiled, gaping in awe at his new army. He spoke in a quaking voice, “How many of them are there?” The grand necromancer almost didn’t notice the question as he felt his mind reach out to all his new soldiers, but he thought he better humour Smidley.

  “Well, by my count, about eighty thousand four hundred and ninety three.” Smidley just nodded as the army of skeletons began to form themselves into divisions. The grand necromancer loved the control and the power flowing thought the crystal. He felt his army, he could see through their eyes as well and began to inspect his troops. He noticed that some of the weapons including the archers had long since rotted to dust, and most of the armour was useless. Well, it was time to spend some of his ill-gotten gains. He could easily turn the town of Murahim into an armoury to equip his new army.

  Sylvania looked at the note from her sister where she simply stated that she was well after the battle, but what she found interesting was the part where she talked about being saved by Lucinda from an orc ambush where she spoke rather warmly of Lucinda’s sword skills. Sylvania smiled as she looked at Lathenia. Maybe, she thought to herself, it might be genetic. Part of her was still torn. Part of her did see Lathenia as a slaver but she could accept the bonds of her slavery. If it helped Narderba and her sister, it was worth it, and so far Sylvania had stayed true to her word.

  She was wearing a simple, light blue sleeveless dress that hugged her figure and came down to her thighs, feeling slightly short and had a slit up the side, not leaving much to the imagination, but was a present from Lathenia. But she had to wonder who really enjoyed the gift, her or Lathenia. She still wore the collar given to her as well as a pair of laced up sandals.

  She was left alone in the study for the moment, and she looked at the shelf to see if there was a book she would like. She looked down at the lower shelf and pulled out one book that seemed to be hidden among the others. She then took a look. It was an unmarked cover. Curious, she opened the book and blushed. This rather explained the collar. It was a book containing a few interesting woodcuts of various females being tied up and in some case were joined by another female. She blushed and smiled slightly and put the book back, which was a good thing as she heard Lathenia coming back up.

  She sat back on the couch as Lathenia entered the room and went back to her desk as she sat down and then smiled when she looked at Lathenia quickly who had taken to her desk and was flicking through a spell book. She got up a
nd leaned over Lathenia’s chair, making sure to stay close to her ear, relishing every second and then folded her arms around Lathenia and spoke in her softest voice, “I feel like doing something tonight.”

  As she suspected, this got Lathenia’s attention who felt her hand and gently grasped her hand and stood up and led her to Lathenia’s bedroom. Once she arrived at their destination, before Lathenia got to the bed, she gently grabbed Lathenia’s shoulder and turned her so they were face to face. She then glanced down and noticed that she was still wearing her black military pants and a simple vest as well as her bra. Lathenia did not seem to be one for dresses.

  She then said, “I found your woodcut book.” Part of her enjoyed the blush running across Lathenia’s cheeks. It was odd to see the powerful sorceress blush so easily but she decided to continue. “And I was wondering if you have any well rope.”

  Lathenia smiled. “I will be back in a second.” She left the room as Sylvania untied the knots in her dress and let it fall to the floor. She then reached around and undid her bra. She sighed. Part of her justified it as an act simply to get Lathenia around her finger so she may better help Narderba, but part of her knew she had feelings for Lathenia, but why should she, given the way Lathenia had taken advantage of her.

  Before she had time to finish her internal debate, she heard the door open and in stepped Lathenia holding a role of white rope. She stood up as Lathenia gently grabbed her wrist and pulled it behind her back, sensing the way this was going to go, she crossed her wrist over and felt Lathenia run the rope between them and then tie it off in a knot. She then made sure it was not too tight as she snipped off the rope. Sylvania tried to pull her wrist free but found they were well and truly bound as Sylvania took her arm and gently pushed her on to the bed and placed a hand on her breast and gently fondled them, making her nipples perk up. She felt herself get slightly more turned on, feeling that Sylvania now had total control with her bound wrist and the collar around her neck she was pleasantly surprised that she actually enjoyed this attention being lavished on to her.

  Lathenia stopped and went to her cupboard and pulled out a red scarf. She then folded it length wise and then put it over Sylvania’s eyes to block off her view entirely and proceeded to tie it around the back of her head.

  She felt even more turned on now as Lathenia turned the grouping into kissing as she felt her gently kiss her breast and moved on to her nipples. By now Lathenia’s hand had found her panties and began gently rubbing up against her sex. She let out a low moan and Lathenia took full advantage of her. She felt Lathenia’s hand slip past the drawstring of the panties and into the folds of her hairless mounds, sending a tingle of ecstasy up her spine as she slowly rubbed up and down. Part of her now wanted to do something for Lathenia, but there was not much she could do with her bound hands.

  She then felt a hand lead her off the bed and made her knee on the floor. She felt Lathenia fidget a little and then felt Lathenia’s hand on the back of her head, gently pushing her forward. She guessed what might be happening and opened her mouth to taste Lathenia’s hairless sex. She began to gently lick, letting her tongue probe her folds, trying to find her clitoris as she heard Lathenia letting out a moan. She kept this up for a couple of minutes as she felt Lathenia’s breathing getting heavier and heavier. She could now taste the wet pussy in her mouth and could tell Lathenia was about to orgasm. Lathenia then pushed her head away, and she heard more shuffling, then Lathenia removed her blindfold and presented something to her. It took her a second to focus as she blinked in the fresh light and the surprise at the object itself. It was a double headed dildo made of heavily shined wood. She simply nodded, not too sure if it was shock or approval. Lathenia then stood her up and undid the rope around her wrist. She rubbed her wrist quickly to make sure they were okay and notice despited, Lathenia checking, that they were not too tight. She still had rope marks on her wrist.

  Lathenia got out a piece of rope. “Why don’t you lie down?” she said in a rather cool voice. Sylvania followed her orders and did just that as a fully naked Lathenia climbed on top of her and tied the rope to a hole in one of the posts on the headboard, and then took the other end to Sylvania’s already crossed wrist and tied them up slightly tighter than before. Lathenia then leaned down and gently pressed her lips against Sylvania’s as her other hand found Sylvania’s panties and rubbed her sex again. As she felt her lips press against Lathenia, she felt more and more turned on. She felt herself get wetter and wetter then Lathenia grabbed her panties and pulled them down. She broke the kiss off to remove the panties and find the sandals still in place. She simply removed one leg, she then grabbed the double headed dildo and gently pushed into Lathenia’s eager pussy, who moaned in response. She pulled it back out and back in, causing the breathing to become deeper as her legs moved in response and she felt her orgasm build. Lathenia then climbed on top and inserted the dildo into her own soaking sex, gently pulling it in and out and as she gently squeezed Sylvania breast and rubbing her erect nipples.

  Sylvania could only moan, and she felt herself nearing climax. Lathenia increased the pace and Sylvania could not hold on as she felt waves of pleasure float over her and moaned loudly as she felt waves of pleasure ripple through out her body as she came. Sylvania then took a couple of deep breaths as Lathenia orgasmed as well and then lay on top of her lover. Lathenia hugged her lover and then once she had recovered, she undid the rope that bound Sylvania’s hands and gently cuddled.

  Sylvania’s eyes opened when she heard the knocking. She must have fallen asleep. She looked up and noticed that Lathenia was already retrieving her dressing gown. Seeing that Sylvania was awake, she then said in a loud voice, “Coming.” The knocking stopped as Lathenia secured her gown. She then opened the door, and Sylvania heard Tanyarva’s voice.

  “I am sorry but I was told this was urgent.” She passed a note on to Lathenia who opened it up and then nodded to Tanyarva.

  “Yhank you.” She then closed the door and opened the note as she sat on the side of the bed. Sylvania was quite curious and rather concerned that a military message would be arriving at this time of night. Lathenia took a look at the paper and frowned. She let out a sigh and then turned to Sylvania. “The news is not good. Apparently the grand necromancer is marching an army towards the city of Narderba as part of a larger plan. He may attack Ellerwyn. Tomorrow the council will meet first thing in the morning to discuss.” Lathenia stopped for a moment and dropped the note. She then cluched her head briefly before saying in a shocked and somewhat distant voice, “Powerful magic has been unleashed.” She closed her eyes briefly then opened them. “I will speak to the high council tomorrow.” She paused for a moment then continued. “I think we have to go down to Narderba.” Sylvania’s heart skipped a beat at the news she knew she should be glad to go home but under the circumstances.

  As Gary looked at the statue of the cat. It looked exactly like it had in his coma dream. It was his first day back at work, and it was only a half day as they still had the contractor that replaced him and he had to get used to all the new changes, as they had gone through an upgrade which of course sounded like it had been a disaster. He had his laptop with him and one odd thing he had noticed was that he did not seem to need to charge it ever since he had woken up. He put his laptop on the table and then logged on to his PC. He then looked at his laptop, made sure it was off, and then opened a command console on his PC, typed in a command to communicate with his laptop, and hit enter. He looked at the screen. It said simply “reply received.” He checked his laptop again then pressed the up arrow and rerun the command again “reply received,” he looked back towards the cat statue.

  Lathenia stifled a yawn. She had trouble sleeping last night. Now she was stuck in the marbled hall of the council chamber and sat in the advisor corner down below the row of curved seats which held the councillors, and next to the three desk which held the military councillors and the leader of the council, which happened to be the king as
well as a tall elf with pale skin and black hair with a streak of dark green as well as green eyes. Her father, Arderan, sat to the right of him as the councillor of the army, and she was not surprised when she heard the magic users complain of the use of powerful magic and the general theory was it was part of the grand necromancer’s larger scheme. Now the debate had moved on to not if but when do we declare war. Now or wait?

  Her father then spoke in a loud tone that reverberated through the amphitheatre. “Ironically enough, our defence relies on a Dark elf city. If Narderba does fall, then the next target will be Blindstone, then us.” A couple of people murmured their agreement. He continued after their voices had died down. “We have no choice but to send more weapons down to Narderba they are potentially facing very powerful magic, and their city has been hit by a mass depopulation and an orc invasion. We must help them and send what help we can, and yes that does include weapons as well.”

  The council erupted it a loud murmur with councillors debating each other. As one councillor stood up a tall male with the copper skin of a forest elf. “And if the dark elves choose to turn our weapons on to us?”

  Her father let out a loud short laugh. “After being attacked by the grand necromancer as well as an orc invasion, I think the question should be will there be anyone left to use our weapons.”