Ms. Thompson!
I squeeze the grip of my sword preparing to rip it across her, but when I had almost reached them, Ms. Thompson stuck her hand out toward me.
"Stop!" she said. "Or she dies!" She clenched her other hand into a fist and turned it slowly.
I saw Alara's knees buckle. She reached for her throat. A swirling purple mist encircled her neck.
I skid to a stop a few feet in front of Ms. Thompson, then I raised my sword, deciding to strike her down before she could do anything more to Alara, but before I swung she moved her clenched fist outward, and Alara slid to the edge of the wall, leaning out into the air, seemingly stopped from falling to her death only by the mist around her neck.
I didn't swing my sword. "Wait! Don't!"
Ms. Thompson smiled. "That's better. I finally have a way to get you to listen to me."
I glanced to Alara. I could see she was still breathing, but her eyes were full of terror.
"Bring her back on the wall! Get that off her neck, or I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?" Ms. Thompson said. "You're not in charge, Dennis. This is my classroom."
"Just don't hurt her!"
Something whipped in front of me and toward Ms. Thompson's head, but it stopped inches from her face. It was an arrow. It hung in the air in front of her.
I glanced back to where it had come from. Tara was standing on the walkway around the top of the tower she'd gone to. She still had her bow up from firing the shot.
"Your friend needn't waste her arrows," Ms. Thompson said. They won't work on me. A look of pride came over her face. "One of the many things the old man has taught me."
"How can you do this?" I said. "Let her go."
"Oh, you don't want me to do that." She looked down over the edge of the wall.
"No! Not like that."
"Okay, then," she said. "Pay attention if you want to pass this most important lesson."
The dragon flew close by us, swooping down toward a crowd of people screaming and fleeing from its approach.
I lowered my sword.
"That's better," she said. "Don't worry about the dragon. It will be plenty busy down there."
"Why are you doing this? Why attack the city?" I looked at Alara. She seemed to be getting weaker. "Please! Don't hurt her anymore!"
"I don't care about the city." She glanced back toward the tower. "That's his thing. Just following orders. Heh. Loser." She looked at me like she wanted me in a bad way. "But you, that's my thing."
Fuck. Seriously. That can't be what this is.
"Not that I'm into your type," she said. "I much rather prefer Victoria." She eyed Alara. "Or this one here." Then she turned back to me. "But that's not what I mean."
"What do you want? If it means letting her go unharmed, I'll give it to you if I can."
She began to chuckle, which built into a full-on laugh.
Cackling bitch.
"What?" I demanded.
She stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. "Your life."
I glanced to Alara. Her eyes were bulging. I could see the fear in them. She managed to shake her head slightly.
"You'll let her go? Safely?"
Ms. Thompson shrugged. "I suppose. I have no need for her. It's you I want."
"Why?" I had accepted that I might have to give her what she was asking for. If it was the only way to save Alara, I had no choice, but I wanted to understand her reason. I had a faint hope that maybe if I knew what she truly wanted, I could satisfy her, save Alara, and still have my life.
"To drain the power from you," she said. "I didn't want to come here, but after the shock, I realized I could do more here than I ever could back on Earth." She glanced to the tower again. "The stupid horny old man showed me that. That's when I began to feel the power inside me, the gift I received when I was brought here. I knew I could become more than he ever was. And that's what I'm doing. This will be my world. I'll be in charge. But you…You have more power in you. Much more. It took spies and the scrying ball to find out about you. But now, all that is left is for me to extract it from you. Of course, you'll die in the process." She laughed. "At least the book had the decency to mention that. Too bad for you though."
I listened to her but barely heard what she said. All I could think about was Alara dangling over the edge of the wall, and how afraid she must be. My emotions were overwhelming me. I felt weak and cold and desperate for anything which would save her.
"I'll do it," I said, dropping my sword.
"No." Alara's voice was muffled from the mist constraining her breathing, but I heard her.
When I looked at her my heart broke. She was crying. "I'm sorry, Alara. I can't let you die, not if she'll take my life instead."
I looked at Ms. Thompson. "She won't be harmed?"
"I'll free her to go her own way," Ms. Thompson said. "After that, it's up to her what happens to her. But I won't touch her."
I nodded. "Then do it. Take me. But first, you must set her free."
Ms. Thompson bowed her head slightly then moved her clenched fist out from her body some more. Alara slid off the edge of the wall, but the mist around her neck held her up.
"No!" I grasped toward Alara, but she was out of my reach.
"Be patient," Ms. Thompson said, lowering her fist, which caused Alara to drift downward. A few moments later Alara was on the ground. "Come here and take my hand, Dennis."
I looked down at Alara. The mist was still around her neck, but she was looking up at me.
Feeling cold and numb, like the emptiness of my impending death approached, I walked over to Ms. Thompson and took the hand she offered me.
When our hands touched, dark purple smoke effused from her body, engulfing us both. The feel of the stone wall beneath my feet disappeared. A second later, I felt my feet again on firm ground, but not the same flat hardness of the stone wall.
The smoke cleared, pouring back into Ms. Thompson. We were standing on the tundra beside a warm campfire. I looked around and saw the city wall in the distance, a quarter mile away at least.
"Now," she said. "Before you get any ideas, know that if you don't stick to our bargain, I will transport back there without you and snap her neck like a twig without hesitation." She smiled. "Do we understand each other?"
I looked again to the city and nodded. As I stared toward the city, I saw several creatures flying toward it from the north.
"You're going be here on the ground," Ms. Thompson said."Not moving, while I read from this book. Do you understand?"
I didn't respond. I was still looking at the creatures. They were winged, like the small red dragon. They're so much bigger.
I remembered what Jan had said about the dragons, how they'd come to protect their own. My women! I realized the dragons would bring more destruction than even all of the sorcerer's creatures had. They won't survive.
"Hey," Ms. Thompson said. "Are you listening to me? I need you down here, so I can start."
As I watched the dragons, dozens of them circling the city, the sorcerer's tower vanished. He's fled.
Ms. Thompson shoved me. "Pay attention."
There's still a chance. I looked at Ms. Thompson. This bitch is going down.
I knew attacking her was too risky. I didn't understand how her magic worked, whether she'd be able to transport herself back to Alara if I started choking her to death or punched her in the face repeatedly, both of which appealed to me. I had to do something else.
"It's not going to work," I said.
"What are you talking about? You don't even understand any of this." She glanced at the book in her hands.
"No. You're right. I don't. By I understand the power in me." I looked back to the city for dramatic effect, to help sell what I was about to tell her. "And she did."
"What are you talking about?"
"She brought me here. She's the Priestess of Carnera." I looked directly into Ms. Thompson's eyes. "She put the power of the gods in me…and s
he knew how to get it out. I shared the power with her. That's how she's able to do the things she can." I looked at her book with obvious disdain. "Your black magic won't work. This power is beyond that."
She seemed uncertain, confused. She looked at the book she held, then back at me.
"You see those dragons over there."
She looked toward the city and saw them, apparently for the first time. She looked scared.
"Your boyfriend had enough sense to take his tower and go home."
"That bastard!"
"They're going to destroy the city, and my women are there—Alara and two others." I looked into her eyes. "You're going to save them because I can't."
"You're crazy."
"No. I'm just willing to do whatever I have to do to keep them safe."
She glared at me. Then her expression shifted to confusion. I could see was a little curious.
"Promise me you'll save them, and I'll give you my power…the only way you can get it…the way Alara got it from me."
I could tell she was taking the bait.
"How?" she said.
After a dramatic pause to reel her in, I reached down and unfastened my belt. Then I slipped out of my boots and dropped my pants to the ground. "I may not be your type, but if you want the power of the gods, I can put it in you."
She stared at my manhood. I'd dropped my undershorts along with my pants. From the look in her eyes, I could see she wasn't totally committed to the other team, or at least I was giving her second thoughts.
Evidently, her lust for power got the better of her. "I'll do it," she said. "But know that I can disappear and go to your friend in an instant. If what you say is a lie, I'll know…and your friends will die."
I nodded. "Trust me. You'll be satisfied."
She nodded slightly, her eyes drifting down to my unsheathed sword again. "Okay." She stepped closer to me, and I put my arms around her, reaching down and grabbing her ass to get myself primed for victory.
It's the only way. I imagined I was talking to Alara. I heard her tell me to go ahead, do what you have to do, she said in my head.
For the next twenty minutes, I schooled Ms. Thompson on what a hero can do. I thought about trying to knock her out or take away whatever magical things she had, to keep her from going back to Alara if I didn't finish her off, but I decided not to risk it, but to keep going for the sure thing.
After working her over deep and hard, she thrust her hips forward to stay with me as long as she could. Then, screaming out my name, she gave up what she had…and vanished.
Chapter 30
After, I put on my pants and boots and ran full speed back to Yedia. Halfway there, I saw the dragons flying away from the city. I hoped my women, and as many Yedians as possible had survived. I tried not to imagine anything else as I ran.
I surprised myself at how quick I moved and how easy it felt, evening sprinting the whole way there. Then I realized Ms. Thompson had summoning power in her too. And probably more than her own. I wondered if Victoria was still in their tower and where the sorcerer had relocated to, but I decided all that didn't matter for the moment. My mind, and my heart, was set on finding my women, making sure they were safe.
As I approached the south wall of the city, I saw a large section of it had been toppled. Evidently, the stone golems had finally hit it enough to break through. But when I ran closer, I didn't see any fighting going on at the top of the other sections of the wall, or on the ground outside it. What I did see were monstrous corpses strewn about, ripped to pieces, chunks taken out of them. The giant spiders, centipedes, and even the stone golems were dead, turned to rubble.
I ran around them and over piles of stone from the collapsed section of wall, climbing up and through the breach into the city. There I saw Yedians quietly celebrating, comforting one another. They'd won…or at least survived, but at a great cost. Some had begun the woeful task of dealing with the bodies of the fallen warriors, their friends and neighbors.
I looked around desperately trying to find Alara or Nithia or Tara. I ran down the street, scanning groups of people and checking up high on the wall and towers and down around the sides of houses and shops.
Finally, I spotted Nithia sitting beside a woman, tending to the woman's injuries. I ran to her and she helped the woman sit by herself. Then she rose and embraced me tearfully.
"We couldn't find you anywhere," she said.
"Where are they? Alara and Tara.
Nithia looked around, then pointed across the road. "There."
I kissed her on her cheek. "I'm so happy you're okay. I'll be right back."
"And you," she said, as I ran off to reunite with Alara and Tara.
"You're alive!" Alara dropped her staff and threw herself onto me. I caught her in a bear hug and neither of us let go for several seconds. Tara piled on to us and kissed me repeatedly. "I'm so glad to see you two."
"Oh," Alara said. "So am I."
"Come on." I nodded toward Nithia. "I want all three of you together with me from now on."
"You're not getting away from us again," Tara said.
We walked together back over to Nithia. Alara looked across the road as we reached Nithia. "Mettin,” she said. I followed her line of sight with my eyes and saw him. He walked toward us with his right arm around his waist. As he came up to us, I saw blood on his shirt from the wound under his hand.
"You okay?" I asked.
He glanced at the injury and nodded. Then he looked around at all the people still recovering from the battle. "It's going to be a while before we get back on our feet. But we'll make it. Tend to the injured. Bury the dead. Rebuild."
"We'll stay and help, however we can," Alara said.
Mettin nodded. "Thank you."
"The dragons," I said. "I saw them fly away."
"Yes," Mettin said. "They came for their little one. That's all they wanted." He looked around. "But they took their wrath out on everything and everyone in the process. But you four stood by us. Yedia is grateful. But, nothing we could have done would have stopped the dragons."
"Dragons killed the other monsters, though," Tara said, but with a sympathetic tone, clearly respectful of what the Yedians suffered.
"And scared away the ones who brought them," Nithia said. "And they took their tower with them."
"Good riddance to that bitch," Alara said. "How'd you get away from her, anyway, Den?"
"Well," I said. "In the end, I was just too much man for her to handle."
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Acknowledgments
To the readers who allow me to share stories with them. Without you, I couldn’t do this.
To the fun people in the Facebook Harem Lit group whose company I continue to enjoy online. https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit
Thank you all.
-Scot
About the Author
My innards were stitched together with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, childhood dreams, unbound possibilities, and all of the great 80’s movies. I think Frank Frazetta’s art is tops, and Conan the Barbarian and Flash Gordon are good role models.
I write sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, harem, and superhero stories—sometimes a combination of more than one of the aforementioned.
I’ve enjoyed stories all my life—some in books, some in movies… some in my head. What can I say? Life is great, but so is imagi
nation.
I’ve worked as a bookseller, a research library assistant, a computer network expert, and in a dozen other jobs over the years—some down the street from my childhood home, others which took me across oceans.
If I’m not reading or writing, I’m probably enjoying time with my family or friends, or hiking or Netflix-ing.
I’ve stumbled just enough times to give me some perspective (and character to my stories), but never so badly as to keep me down—for too long.
I believe in being decent to people just because, and going for what you want even when it seems really hard or almost out of reach.
Readers, keep in touch.
https://ScotCMorgan.com
Books By Scot C Morgan
FORCED VENGEANCE
(Jake Mudd Adventures Series, Book 1)
TANGLED PERIL (A Jake Mudd Tale)
DEADLY CARGO (A Jake Mudd Tale)
DENNIS THE CONQUERER
(Sword & Sorority Series, Book 1)
SWING AND THRUST
(Sword & Sorority Series, Book 2)
DEEP INTO DESTINY (Spring 2019)
(Sword & Sorority Series, Book 3)
SORDID SORCERY, a harem fantasy (Spring 2019)
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Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2) Page 22