Coven Master 4: (A Harem Fantasy)

by Nick Storming

  Logan found Evelyn and Gwen enjoying a cup of tea when he made his way to the kitchen for breakfast. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he poured a cup of coffee from the pot and drank it down in one gulp.

  “You look tired,” Gwen noted when he took a seat at the table, “Didn’t you get any rest last night?”

  “Not much,” Logan grumbled, and the witches cackled when three elves tumbled out of his room, each arguing with one another about who should get to use the bathroom first.

  “Well tonight should be relaxing,” Evelyn said, “no training or practicing and with Simon and his mom over, things should be… calmer than they have been lately.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Logan said with a half-smile as he sipped his coffee.

  “This weekend, if you have some free time,” Evelyn said, wincing as she said it, “it would be good if you could sit with the three of us to talk about the grail. I’ve been doing some research and the things I’ve been learning about it are mystifying. It would be good to have your opinion on it.”

  “Meryl should be there as well,” Logan said, and though Gwen frowned and opened her mouth to object, her raven-haired sister nodded in agreement.

  “You’re right, I’ll invite her. Might as well bring Jex’Amina and Becca as well. It would be good to have everyone there.”

  “I think I’ll head in then,” Gwen said, standing and setting her cup in the sink and grabbing her bag, “I’ll see you later, dear,” she said, pausing to bend and place a warm kiss on Logan’s cheek.

  The woman was wearing a narrow pencil skirt, with a tight white blouse and a pink jacket to match her skirt. The jacket was open, and the blouse showed a dazzling spread of firm flesh. Logan’s professor whispered quietly in his ear before she stood to go.

  “I have a break this morning after class if you want to stick around…”

  Logan matched her grin and the blonde witch popped up and headed outside with a hop in her step. After his shower, Logan locked himself in the bathroom with Ly’Synthia, finally able to steal a few minutes to read another couple of pages.

  In this third section it talked about picking the right team; that it was important to get viewpoints that differ from your own, to push you and the rest of the team to see new possibilities. But that sharing a common vision and set of goals was paramount to success. It spoke of great kings and commanders who’d even joined enemies together in a common purpose in order to succeed.

  Added to the ideas of living and exhibiting passion, as well as knowing thy self. It was a powerful lesson and one that kept Logan thoughtful on the ride into school. Syn gripped him around the waist, back straight and drinking the attention of the husbands and dads who’d learned to come out onto their lawns or front porches at this time of the morning to watch the leggy, dark-skinned girl fly past, her short skirt flapping in the breeze.

  When Logan arrived at school, he found Brad parking his car right next to the motorcycle parking lot. The jock threw Logan a frown when he swung off the bike, but the frown grew when he looked over Logan’s shoulder. Following the young man’s gaze, Logan spotted a dark golden haired beauty striding across campus with an impossibly handsome man at her side.

  All around the courtyard girls were stopping and staring, mouths agape. Conversations even died mid-sentence as girls turned to watch the tall man pass, hearts on their sleeves. There was even a small flock following at a discreet distance, the girls gossiping to one another as they followed the man with their eyes.

  “High elves,” Ly’Synthia hissed at Logan’s side, but before he could respond he felt the presence of Brad at his side.

  “God damn transfer students… the girl’s even more uptight than the dude, so I’d take care if you’re thinking of hooking up with her.”

  Brad mistook Logan’s intense stare for desire, and but only chuckled when Logan frowned at him.

  “Hey man, I respect the game,” he said, holding up his hands, “don’t know how you do it, but you’ve got a finer flock than any dude on the team.” Logan could feel Ly’Synthia’s glare as the jock looked her up and down lasciviously and shook his head, “See you in class, dude.”

  When he threw Syn a wink as he passed, the dark elf hissed but the boy only laughed and joined his friends who were standing nearby. Logan felt their glances, but his attention was on the two impossibly beautiful blondes as they entered the administrator’s office.

  “I saw her in my dreams,” Logan said, staring at the woman’s face right before she disappeared, “last night.”

  Ly’Synthia was rigid as a pole, like a cat with back arched, but she relaxed when she heard the gentle tone in her lord’s voice.

  “Are they not a threat? That Commander of the White Knights said they wouldn’t stop hunting you.”

  “I’m not sure,” Logan said, “but we should leave-.”

  “Logan come on!” Simon’s voice drew him around to find his friend waving him on, “we’re going to be late, and I don’t want to miss a second of Professor Holgrim’s lecture.”

  “Simon, I need to leave, something’s come up.” He saw the frown forming on his friend’s face, and knew it was going to be impossible to lie to the intuitive boy.

  “BLACK DRAGON!”

  The roar of rage raised the hair on Logan’s neck and arms, and he turned to see the pair of high elves striding towards them. Over the tall slender creature’s shoulders was a slender, dark man half hidden in the shadows, a feral grin on his lips.

  “Mordrek!” Logan hissed, reaching for his sword but finding only his book bag and cursing.

  “IN SERVICE OF OUR LADIES WISHES, WE DECRY YOUR EVIL AND SANCTION YOU TO DEATH BY DEVOURMENT!”

  The female elf spoke in a voice that boomed on currents of Fae magic. He and the woman wore white t-shirts and blue jeans, innocuous clothing. And their hair was long and straight, hiding all but the pointed tips of their ears within their thick golden tresses. All eyes turned to Logan and the two figures striding towards him with grim purpose.

  As time slowed for Logan, the battle juices surging through his blood, he waited for the pair to draw weapons, but instead the woman pulled a black gem from a lead pouch at her waist. The gemstone glowed with an unholy light; a darkness blacker than night that darkened the surrounding air.

  Logan could feel the terrible power wrapped up within the gem. More magic and purpose than he’d dreamed possible could be held within a magic item, and all of it with a fell purpose and intent. As the female High Elf raised the gemstone and threw it, everything happened at once.

  Ly’Synthia dove for her king, intent on throwing her body between him and the threat but his armor sprang into being, the golden and white plates repelling the dark elf, even as the black gemstone flew for him. Twin screams of fear, came from the buildings entrance, but neither Becca nor the witch could hope to intervene in time.

  Chapter 10

  Seconds before the gemstone struck the ground at Logan’s feet, while it still described a line like a frozen rope from the force of the high elf’s throw, a pudgy hand snatched it out of the air, holding it in a tight fist.

  “This is going to be… unpleasant. Sorry Logan, I know you weren’t ready to accept their souls yet.”

  Logan could only watch, disbelieving as the gemstone exploded in a storm of unholy magics. The sky grew dark, and screams howled down from the heavens as a colossal force bore down upon the stone and with a rushing, clapping sound the darkness and unholy energies wrapped themselves around Simon like a cocoon and the boy toppled to the ground, eyes staring wide and sightless, chest unmoving.

  “Impossible!” The female high elf hissed, and Logan could see the disbelief and horror on her face as she saw the innocent boy fall.

  “What have you done?” Logan sobbed, staggering forward, the towering loss he felt left in a rush as he felt the threat of Simon’s life force deep within the body, stifled by the dark energies but still alive, turning to the high elf he demanded in a tone hard e
nough to break rocks, “What have you done, woman?”

  “That wasn’t…” the high elf looked to her companion, but the man had turned and fled, his gorgeous long locks streaming behind himself and his beautiful face twisted in angry fear when he looked back. The female High Elf drew herself up to her full height, the imperious look and tone returning to her, “You compatriot intercepted what was to be your prison, you filthy cur, you monstrous dog. Kill me then or destroy my honor and dignity as you have the other gems adorning your crown, you fiend.”

  She stood as if waiting for the headsman’s axe to fall at any moment and Ly’Synthia grinned, pulling a small knife she’d somehow hidden within the folds of her tiny skirt.

  “With pleasure,” the dark elf growled.

  “Hold,” Logan said, kneeling beside his friend, and searching for any more signs of life, “All that matters now is saving Simon. What’s the matter with him?”

  He demanded it of the high elf in a tone of command so total the White Knight found herself reporting all she knew without hesitation.

  “The shackles are supposed to bind a criminal’s powers so they can stand for trial or execution. But something… Something is wrong with the magic. It’s been cursed or maligned in some way.”

  “Mordrek,” Logan growled, standing when Gwen arrived.

  Looking around, he saw many still watching the little gathering and whispering, but they hadn’t made as much of a commotion as he’d have wagered. Most would forget the magic, at the urging of Fae, and those few who didn’t, would remember a fight or some other scene.

  “We need to get him to the house,” Gwen said, her tone tight with fear as the silver glow from her hands washed over the dark energy encasing Simon, “Lord, your friend’s mind is trapped in another world or realm… hidden beneath many layers and traps… I can’t reach him, let alone draw him out on my own.”

  Logan remembered his dream from the night before and looked up at the high elf.

  “Grab your armor,” he said to the woman, “you’re helping us save him.”

  “What?!” The knight said, her tone shocked and angry all at once, “Kill me Dragon, and be done with it. I’ll not be party to your torturous games.”

  “No games, love,” Becca said with the hardest look Logan had ever seen on her face, “You’ll do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do. And if you don’t, there won’t be any torture, no trials. Only the guilt you’ll have to live with the rest of your long life.”

  The elf’s eyes were hard, but Logan detected a hint of shame behind the anger burning there.

  “Come on,” Logan said, fear making his voice tight as he picked up his friend easily, carrying him in his arms, “Becca, ride my bike home, I’ll drive your car with Simon in it. The High Elves prove they have no honor. Gwen, call his mom, she needs to know what’s happened.”

  The White Knight stood there, unshackled, unmolested and watching as the man she’d come to despise as a vile perversion of life, carried his friend off the field of battle without anger, but concern. The man barked orders, but his passion was wrapped up in saving an innocent. The realization gave the high elf chills and when she glanced at the young dark-haired human, unsure what to expect, the girl waved her over.

  “If you want to help save him, come on, otherwise your buddies are running away over there,” the finger pointed towards the two figures just disappearing into the woods off campus.

  There was no choice for Captain Iyllia. Feeling like she was walking into the belly of the beast she sat behind Becca as the girl fired up the motorized steed. The whole ride across town, Iyllia told herself she would leap free of the bike any second and escape this dreary world. None of her kin would think less of her for hitting the wrong human, only for missing her target. Nothing in her centuries of indoctrination into the White Knights told her she should feel the guilt coiling in her guts.

  And so, the elf remained on the bike as it approached the witch’s hovel and her skin crawled as she felt their queer witchy magics plucking at her as the bike rode through the gates.

  Chapter 11

  The knight and elf had just taken off, the Triumphs engine roaring through the school parking lot as Becca and the elf rod away. Logan was sliding the wheel of Becca’s car, when a high-pitched scream sent shivers down his spine.

  “What have you done to my Simon!”

  Turning his head, Logan felt hot fear rush in as he scrambled back from the door’s window. Standing right outside and peering in the backseat where Simon lay unconscious was a wicked-looking demon. Something about the shape of her triggered déjà vu in Logan and he remembered a pale, fang filled face he thought he’d imagined, peering from the corner of Dr. Nguyen’s living room roof.

  “You were at Simon’s,” Logan said, his confusion plain.

  “Of course, I was you dullard! He’s dying! My Simon is dying!”

  The demon girls’ screeches were so high pitched and awful, people were turning to stare and a pair of girls gasped when they noticed the oily black skin and wild hair of the little demon-girl.

  “High Elves attacked me but their spell, or trap hit Simon,” Logan said, his mind racing. “I need to get him to Gwen, so hopefully she can heal him. If you care about Simon, then get in and shut up.”

  “Hssss!” The girl turned and bared her fangs at Logan, red eyes tight with anger and fear, but a small whimper from Simon silenced the girl and she glanced down with an oddly gentle look on her wicked face.

  Looking as though it was the last thing she wanted to do in the world, the demon-girl yanked open the door and climbed into the backseat, right behind Logan and pulled Simon’s head into her lap, stroking the hair back with small, claw-tipped fingers. Logan tried not to feel nervous about the demon-girl sitting behind, close enough to strike the back of his head, but the occasional evil grins she offered him in the rear-view mirror made that hard.

  “What’s your name?” He asked, trying to ease the tension growing between them as he headed across town to the witch’s hovel.

  “My name is that which will pass your lips as you gasp out your last breath you ugly, fool! Drive this metallic steed faster and stop bleating at me.”

  Logan didn’t try engaging the demon-girl in conversation the rest of the drive, but he did push the car to its limits. Tires screeching as the back end swung around as he lined up with Sycamore Lane. As they passed beneath the arched opening over the driveway, the demon girl gave out a hiss, and held up her hands in a warding gesture, but the crackling energies of the witch’s warding’s weren’t triggered.

  Evelyn, Gwen and Eris came running out of the house when he pulled to a stop behind his motorcycle. Becca and the elf came to help, but the witches bustled all around the portly boy as they carried him into the house.

  “Let’s bring him to the ritual room,” Evelyn said, her eyes tight with concern as she took in Simon’s pale features, “Becca, call his mom and have her come as soon as she can,” the dark-haired witch’s eyes fell on the pale skinned elf and a frown twisted her lips. “What is that one doing here?”

  “I would ask the same thing,” the demon said with a sneer, her eyes gaining a dangerous light as she fingered the spear suddenly at her side. “Have you brought the golden bitch so we can flay her for her crimes?”

  “I’ll take no slights to my honor from Darkened dwelling filth such as you, who consorts with demon’s.” The high elf sneered, her eyes cutting to the little demon girl as her stance shifted as she readied to defend herself.

  “The black-hearted demon arrived at the same moment you did,” Ly’Synthia said dangerously, the tip of her spear lowering precipitously.

  “Syn,” Logan barked. He’d never taken such a dangerous tone with the dark elf, and though she still glared at the White Knight, her spear butt lowered back to the ground.

  “Heh, nice to see you whipped like the cur you are,” the High Elf sneered, but her smile disappeared when Logan rounded on her, and she had her blade
half out of its sheath before she realized that only he brandished at her was a pointed finger.

  “If you can’t keep a civil tongue in that head, I’ll have my witches muzzle that pretty mouth of yours, got it?”

  The elven females’ eyes flashed with anger, but they kept their silence.

  “What a tasty powder keg you’ve surrounded yourself with,” The demon girl said, her fangs flashing as a wicked little smile formed on her black lips. “It will be a simple thing for Mother to tear this place down and burn it to ashes.”

  Logan frowned at the little demon, but her heart didn’t seem to be in the threat. Her eyes were ringed in worry and her little clawed fingers gripped one another; an act so human he found himself reassessing his first impression of her.

  She wasn’t wrong, he noted as the group crowded into the ritual room. The dark elves stood on the opposite side of the room as the pale-skinned elf. From Syn’s glares, it looked like she expected the White Knight to attack any second. And no one wanted to stand near the little demon-girl, especially when she saw Simon lying on a table, and a keening wail rose from the back of her throat.

  While Gwen and Eris fussed over the young man, Evelyn rounded on the tall High Elf. The witch’s expression was tight with fear and Logan felt his hopes draining away when he noticed the green tinge to her skin.

  “Which of the Fallen One’s weapons did you use, girl?”

  “Fallen One?!” The High Elf’s indignation was plain, “I don’t have to put up with these accusations-.”

  “You saw the unholy light of the Fallen One?”

  The elf’s lips twisted in a grimace and she glanced around but had no sympathy or friends here.

  “It was a gemstone,” Logan said, then he described the explosion of magic as best he could describe. The High Elf’s cheeks grew spots of color when he talked about the cold sucking feeling, like watching his friend be dragged down to hell.

  “Not hell, but close enough,” Evelyn said with a deepening frown, “Have you nothing else to add, girl?”