The river ahead sent her mind back to the afternoon she and the others had bathed. And the naughty thoughts that raced through her head. Averyl had washed Henrietta’s back, and when Henrietta proved herself to be harmless, unlike most humans Averyl encountered, she wished the woman offered her chest to massage and wipe. And Tempeste, by Asteria, Tempeste in her natural form was perfection. Averyl had flushed when she saw how Tempeste brought the water up to her body, moved her blonde hair to the side, and did not shy away when Averyl stared at Tempeste for an extended period. It was as if Tempeste wanted Averyl to remember how the elven sword princess looked that day.
Averyl laid on the grass, spread her wings across it, and faced the mist blocking the view of the stars. The naughty thoughts sent a slight tingling sensation between her thighs and caused her labia to swell. Then Averyl remembered she was alone.
She raised Xanthe’s feather high up, smiling at it. “Very well, I cannot disagree with you.”
Averyl grabbed the ends of her Temple Dress, lifting it up to reveal her black stockings, her thighs covered in sigils, her lace panties, and her navel area. She ended up pulling the dress up and over her body. The dress fell on the grass beside her, then later her bra and panties. Averyl was a naked fairy laying on the grass while the river reflected her spread legs and left hand reaching for the pink flesh below. She held Xanthe’s feather with her other hand and used it to stroke its soft touch up and down the valley between her breasts.
She continuously made circles on her clit, and the pleasure it brought moistened her vagina. As Averyl pleasured herself, she thought about Guy touching her breast and wished he held it longer—
No, that was not right.
Averyl thought of Rain, the servant she seduced into being her lover, way back on Faeheim. Yes, that was much better. Averyl recalled the first night she bedded Rain, remembered burying her middle and index fingers deep inside the servant’s spread cunt, over and over. Averyl remembered the smile on her face when she pulled her fingers out of Rain to glance at the bodily fluids dripping down the length of them. Rain’s wings would flutter each time Averyl made her orgasm. Then Rain would make Averyl’s wings do the same when it was Rain’s turn to slip her digits inside her.
Averyl moaned, clenched her right breast, and thumbed the stiff nipple. Down below, her pleasing fingers relentlessly circled her clit. She was going to come. Xanthe’s feather came to fall beside Averyl on the grass, and she didn’t care.
“Oh . . .” Averyl moaned.
The river shone a glimpse of Averyl with her mouth opened, moaning with lust, as her body shook, and her wings fluttered as if she were trying to fly. Averyl’s leg trembled as she collapsed to the grass with the biggest smile she had in recent memory. She gave her clit a break and smirked at her porcelain fingers splashed wet from her orgasm.
There was no doubting it. Averyl was a girl who adored other girls. Then why does my heart beat faster when I think of Guy?
She lowered her wet fingers to her pink opening, this time thinking of other men. It killed Averyl’s mood instantly. Averyl thought about the night Xanthe tied her up in bed, naked, then played with her. A rush of ecstasy surged through her body, making it tremble. Averyl’s wings fluttered again as her orgasm soaked the grass below as if it were raining. Averyl’s thoughts returned to Rain, and she came again. She thought about Marguerite, about Henrietta’s back and her voluptuous curves wobbling about as she trotted over to her in the river.
Averyl loved women.
Then Averyl thought about Guy. And it felt good, really good.
Averyl could not bring herself to stop. Her fourth orgasm struck and throbbed out her love juices. Her fingers refused to stop rubbing. Averyl squealed, and her full-body orgasm pushed her back to the grass. Her chest moved up and down, breathing deeply in the aftermath of her sexual release while being embraced by nature. This was the ultimate stress relief for a fae. Averyl never got dressed and laid on the grass beside the river, naked, while using Xanthe’s feather to make circles around her navel.
The feather wanted Averyl to keep moving, however. It did not bring her to the river for this. It wanted something.
“What could that be?” she whispered to the feather, not that it could respond—
“Which way did she go?!” yelled the angry voice of a man.
“This way!” replied another.
There was a commotion ensuing in the mists behind Averyl. Judging by their accent, the men sounded like imperials. Were they looking for her? Averyl sat up, stored Xanthe’s feather into her inventory, then eyed where she had tossed her Temple Dress. Multiple charging footsteps thumped on the ground as she got dressed again, along with the buzzing noise of fairy wings. Averyl kept low and used the mists to conceal her appearance and crawled ahead to see who the soldiers were searching for.
Averyl came to a path in the woods and watched as a solo fae descended from the skies to give her wings rest. The fae woman was bleeding and covered in arrows and did not see Averyl watch her from a distance. Nor did the woman’s imperial pursuers. Averyl strode to the woman, using the mist and trees to keep hidden, tiptoeing to not make any noise.
“Stop right there!” shouted an imperial. The sound of his blade unsheathing echoed.
The fae woman in the blinding fog spun to see that her pursuers found her. A second man wearing armor approached and pointed a sword at the woman. The woman tried to run and ended up crashing into a tree. The nighttime darkness and fog made it hard for her to escape and made it hard for anyone to know that Averyl was close enough to watch and stay hidden.
The two imperials backed the woman into the tree’s trunk. “End of the line for you, impersonator!”
Impersonator? Averyl looked closer.
It was Nijana.
The imperials took turns pushing their blades through Nijana’s chest, face, and legs. Had Nijana been a normal woman, she would have died. Instead, her HP depleted as she struggled to fight off the two men with her rapier. Averyl could no longer watch and buzzed her wings. She drifted up and flew above the violence. Nobody had seen Averyl up above, so she retrieved her Flame Priestess’s Scepter, made it glow with light, and cast Starlight Recovery on Nijana.
Nijana’s HP rose when the sparkling green and blue light hit her. Averyl recast the healing spell, her fluttering wings keeping her elevated. Nijana’s HP continued to rise with each cast.
One of the imperial men stepped back, wincing as Nijana’s blood faded along with the arrows stuck in her.
“What the?”
“Who is healing her?”
“She was alone, I am sure of it!”
Nijana grinned at the two men. She had the advantage now, clenched her rapier, and resumed their brawl. Nijana’s HP never dipped below 76 percent, while the two men’s HP continued to drop with each stabbing thrust Nijana landed. It took a while, but eventually, the imperials realized a Cleric was healing Nijana, but their searching eyes could not spot Averyl flying high above in the mists. The men spun to retreat and did not make it far. Nijana gained AP and played a soothing Lullaby with her ocarina, putting one man to sleep.
The other kept running. Averyl landed ahead of him, cast Asteria’s Judgment to enchant her weapon with light elemental power, then spent her AP on Gravity Swing. Averyl swung the Flame Priestess’s Scepter in the opened space, hitting the imperial with enough force to send him hurtling through the air and hit a tree. Nijana put him to her rapier’s sharp tip when he was down on the ground, bloodying the landscape.
As for the sleeping imperial, Averyl cast Chastisement on him, causing his skin to bubble as if it were boiling. The pain from the damage over time spell forced the man to awake, but that was fine since he was face down with his weapon fallen far from his grip. As the imperial tried to get up, Nijana kicked his back, stepped on his head, and pushed her weapon’s tip into him. The imperial stopped moving.
Nijana withdrew her blade, shook off the blood, and looked ahead to where Averyl had
stood, covered in the mists.
“Whoever you are, healer, you have my thanks,” Nijana said. “I am in your debt.”
Averyl smiled. “Is that so?”
And she stepped forward to emerge from the fog, revealing her appearance to Nijana.
Nijana backed away like she had seen her reflection walk out of a mirror. “Oh fucking hell . . .”
“Do not go back on your word now,” Averyl said.
Nijana pointed her rapier’s tip at Averyl, her backpedaling footsteps moving her away. “I think I will,” Nijana said. “Now, back off.”
“Return the robe your Assassin friend stole, and maybe I shall consider it—”
“I hear something . . .” said a voice in the distance, another imperial.
“I do too,” said another. “Over here!”
Nijana spread her wings and glided away, disappearing into the darkened foggy forest. Her buzzing wings alerted the patrol to her location. The imperials spread their wings and flew in pursuit of her. Averyl sprouted and flapped her wings rapidly and drifted up into the trees to search for her fleeing evil twin.
She wanted her stolen gear back, amongst other things.
Chapter Sixty
“I hear something . . .”
Those words were loud enough to force Guy’s eyes to spring open. He awoke to find himself alone inside the tent. Averyl wasn’t sleeping at his side. A worrying feeling flipped his belly round and round.
“Ah, fuck . . .”
Guy grabbed his Svartálfar’s Halberd and exited the tent slowly as to not make a sound. It was dark out, making it damn near impossible to see the trees ahead in the perpetual fog. Guy had to rely on his hearing to guide him, and listened to the fae wings buzzing in the area. His ears picked up three, maybe four, pairs of fae wings. One fae was flying away from two pursuers, with another straggling behind.
Eventually, there were no buzzing wings to listen to, just footsteps trudging. The fae likely ran out of flight time, forcing them to move out on foot.
Fine by me, Guy thought. Moving on the ground made it easier for his human ass to keep up with them. The imperials were after someone, and he hoped it wasn’t Averyl.
He heard someone trip and fall over something, probably a rock or fallen tree log. Guy himself almost tripped over dozens of those while following the sound of the ruckus. From what he gathered, it was the prey who had tripped and stumbled because shortly afterward, he heard swords unsheathe, and the clanks of marching sabatons from imperials stop.
Two fae troopers pointed their blades at a woman lying face first in the dirt. Guy snuck behind a tree, placed his back against it, and peaked around its trunk, one hand holding his Svartálfar’s Halberd steady. It was Averyl on the ground. She sat up and crawled backward across the surface as the two imperials kept their weapons leveled with her scowling glare.
“Fuck off!” she yelled at the men.
One imperial laughed. “Oh, she has quite the sharp tongue.”
Guy did a double-take. “Fuck off” wasn’t the type of language Averyl would use. He looked closer and saw that Averyl had a rapier pointed at the men. No, that wasn’t Averyl. It was Nijana.
The label above her head shifted when Guy’s mind made the connection. He stepped out from his cover, twirling the Svartálfar’s Halberd about as he approached the imperials. Nobody saw him because of the mists, so Guy whistled to get their attention.
The imperials spun toward Guy’s direction.
He waved hello to them as he emerged from the fog. “Sup.”
An imperial narrowed their eyes at his appearance, then pointed his sword at Guy. “Hey, look!” he said to his partner. “It is that Paladin!”
His partner winced at Guy. “That is a Spell Lancer . . .”
“Yes, but it is him, just using a different class,” the imperial said. “I recognize his face and everything. I am telling you, that is the star-man.”
“He is still not a Paladin . . .”
“Well, never mind her,” the imperial marched for Guy. “Kill the star-dweller! Serzax would reward us handsomely for that.”
“Oh, so we’re done here?” Nijana said as the two imperials walked to Guy. She got to her feet, dusting her skirt and corset clean. “If so, I have another heist to pull off.”
Guy met the two sword-swinging imperial Berserkers. He wondered why the empire placed so much faith in that class. Probably its versatility, decent defense, HP, and high damage output. Depending on its gear and subclass, Berserkers worked well as a tank, or a frontline damage dealer. Hell, maybe even a ranged attacker with a Ranger or Gunner sub.
Or a Spellsword like Tempeste.
In today’s case, the Berserkers operated as ranged attackers because as Guy neared them, they pulled out bows to shoot him. As the arrows soared at Guy, he twirled his Svartálfar’s Halberd around like a helicopter propeller. The arrows hit the fast-spinning lance and plunked to the ground, up in the air, or off to the side. None got through, and the Berserkers lacked a Ranger’s high agility to blast him with shot after shot.
When Guy got within striking range, the imperials slung their bows over their shoulders and reached for their swords, one hitting the middle of Guy’s raised lance, the other missing as Guy evaded by leaping to the side. Berserker number one swung with his blade high, so Guy speared his Svartálfar’s Halberd low, hitting his belly. He pulled it free, then struck the imperial once more before diving away. The Berserker’s blade came down and hit the space where Guy once stood.
Guy pivoted to the second and swiped the air. The Berserker ran right into the Svartálfar’s Halberd’s tip. The shock of the blow staggered them, then Guy followed up with a multi-hit cleave, got AP, and used Elemental Attunement. Now the Svartálfar’s Halberd’s strikes inflicted light elemental damage.
The Berserkers switched tactics. One went for Guy, the other ran for Nijana. He needed another 100 AP to prevent that. Guy went for the Berserker swinging at him, carefully aiming the Svartálfar’s Halberd to pierce unguarded spots, spinning away to escape from a sword strike, spin again to get behind the Berserker as their attack was still in motion, then strike again. Guy dashed to the Berserker closing in on Nijana, used the weapon’s reach to jab holes into their back and fae wings. The last hit granted him 100 AP.
Guy used Astral Swipe and slashed the air, releasing a flash of light that damaged and partially blinded his targets. They couldn’t see Nijana or Guy. Gaining AP was a lot easier when your target failed to parry and block using their weapon. Of course, it came at a cost. When the two recovered their sight, they both went ape shit and stabbed Guy from behind and front, and without the defense of being a Paladin main, he lost a lot of HP.
Holding the Svartálfar’s Halberd with both hands, Guy deflected the next strikes from the men, pushed them back using the lance’s shaft. As the two men regained their balance, Guy used Become One with the Elements, and a flash of bright light illuminated the fog-covered darkness. Guy stood in his light spirit form when it subsided and flashed about at the speed of light escaping from his enemies’ sword edges.
It put a significant drain on his MP, as expected, but that was fine for now. Guy used Siphon HP and cast it on the first Berserker, draining their life away like a vampire, transferring it to Guy. After that, Guy followed up with Elemental Rain and summoned bolts of pure light energy to fall from the sky, each impact flashing brightly.
Scorching bolts of pure light fell and forced the men to leap out of the field, one to the left, the other to the right. Guy got them separated and the 300 MP cost of Elemental Rain destroyed Guy’s MP bar.
He canceled the effect of Become One with the Elements, returned to his human form, and jumped up with the Svartálfar’s Halberd held high. As he descended, Guy brought its shaft down upon the Berserker who dove to the left.
Smash.
He hit them, then completed his combo with a kick to their face, staggering them. The other Berserker raced to Guy, then stopped to sidestep ar
ound the field, raining light bolts down. It bought Guy time to finish his target. Guy used Astral Swipe, cleaved the air ahead, and blasted the imperial with intense blinding light. He gave his Svartálfar’s Halberd a twirl, then stabbed them repeatedly until the force of Guy’s attack pushed the imperial’s back and wings to a tree, splattering blood across the trunk.
The imperial was close to death, and Guy had AP again.
He waited for the second to close in and listened for their footsteps.
Thump, thump, thump.
They sounded close, so Guy used Storm Slash, destroyed the imperial pinned to the tree, hit and flung back the second along with a touch of light elemental damage.
It brought the imperial’s HP down to 14 percent. The spiraling Berserker slammed into the tree and fell. The impact removed over 6 percent of their HP.
As the imperial pushed up, Guy kicked him in the face, launching him up and down. He jumped on his chest, and the imperial yelped. Guy’s stomping feet pushed the wind out of him—
Guy plunged the Svartálfar’s Halberd through the imperial’s opened mouth that was screaming in pain, gave it a turn for extra damage, and nailed the back of his head to the ground with the weapon’s tip.
A circle of red pooled from the lifeless head.
Guy yanked the Svartálfar’s Halberd free from the imperial’s mouth, spun it around in the air to show off, then held the shaft with one hand and looked back at Nijana.
Nijana turned around and ran.
Guy shrugged. “Oh c’mon, girl, I’m not that scary!”
Chapter Sixty-One
Guy ran through the foggy forest, leaping over rocks and fallen trees as he chased Nijana. Nijana peeked back to see if Guy was in pursuit. She should have been looking ahead, because another fae soldier dropped from the skies, blocking her path. Nijana bumped into the armored man and fell over backward. Once again, the Bard crawled away with her rapier out at the imperial fae who clenched a two-handed axe, then brought it down to her. She rolled to the side, and the big axe hit the ground, sending rocks up and put a web of cracks in the dirt below.
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 47