by D. R. Rosier
The undead knight fell, and she turned to Mina, but the three of them had taken down the two skeletons already. She was shocked at how easy it was with six of them working together, and having a good plan with excellent execution.
She wished her council was the same. She’d gotten that note from Carlton, and had almost flew off in a rage. She’d already promised them a husband and heir on the way within two years, and she’d compromised to go dungeon diving as well, not that she minded the six-person party, it was a lot of fun and more of a challenge to work with six than four. Oh, and most disagreed with her sending ten mages into Jennesar, but they needed to get over that. It was a risk, but not nearly as large a one as they believed.
Regardless, she’d almost lost her cool, which in politics was a death sentence. Even a ruler could be worked around, and she didn’t want her barons to feel they had to. Her father had done a good job of raising her, and she knew what was important, and what not to compromise on.
So, she’d held herself back and thought about it, and finally decided that her losing her temper and railing at the council was the kind of behavior that snake Baron Nealy was actually after. She wasn’t sure why he wanted that, maybe he figured with her decision to come here, and to keep Mina as her lover, that if he could gather enough evidence of immaturity that King Jerrold might curtail her, or even put someone in her place until she was grown up and ready to rule.
Maybe that was paranoid, but she couldn’t think of another reason the baron would want her at odds with the whole council, unless it was so he could try and manipulate the other barons more easily. Regardless of his true intentions, she’d ignored the note, and enjoyed the annoyed look in his eyes at the last council meeting when his plans hadn’t born fruit.
She smiled, because maybe him underestimating her like that would be a good thing.
“You have a beautiful smile Cat, you should do it more often.”
She smiled wider, and flushed with pleasure at the compliment, “Thanks Karl, I guess we should loot?”
Diana said, “Good idea, just be careful, the dungeon really likes its traps level ten and on. It’s the one thing that makes me wish we had a cleric on the team, they’re good at traps, but there aren’t enough of them around right now.”
She nodded, and while she looked for loot she said, “Promise I’ll be good. I’m studying about elementals right now, I bet an air elemental could help with that, not to mention battle. I’ll see if I can summon one before our next dive.”
Summoning her first elemental would be very advanced magic, a plateau of sorts, and was something done at the adept level. She was adept level one, maybe two now that she could throw around tornados, so it was time to give it a shot. Ironically, it wasn’t the power level or the knowledge that was critical in elemental summoning, it was the control. An iron will would be needed when summoning an elemental, or it would rebel against any orders and do what it wanted instead, which could include attacking the summoner. She also needed to make sure the one she summoned was at a similar ability to hers, level of adept or lower. That was more difficult than it sounded, since power called to power, and while her control and knowledge made her an adept, her raw power was already greater than a great number of masters.
Mina stuck her tongue out, “I’m not ready for that yet.”
Her lover was still a journeywoman, level three last they checked.
Levin snickered but turned it into a cough as Mina glared at him.
She giggled, and then bit her lip. Duchesses weren’t supposed to giggle.
Diana sighed, “If your all done playing children, we have more undead to kill.”
They all answered in mock solemnity, “Yes maam.”
Diana snorted, and her and Cary took the lead, she was really starting to enjoy her new party, even if she did miss Jerrold and Suzy on occasion. Trust was growing quickly, which made sense considering they all put their lives in each other’s hands coming in here…
Carlton walked around the streets in the temple district, mostly because he was far too nervous to sit at his desk this morning. His mind tried to stay away from its point of anxiety as he reviewed the current training of the twenty-one young teens with light affinities. They seemed to be doing well and making a little progress. All but two were officially now initiate level, since they’d accessed and willfully channeled light magic.
He couldn’t help but think of what was about to happen, and it made his stomach turn, he forced his thoughts elsewhere, and tried not to show his inner doubts on his face. His doubts were foolish anyway.
Yesterday, he’d finalized some plans for the future. The high cleric assigned to Tenemin had always been a master, but right now he was the only master level cleric in the whole church. That would change in a year or two, but they didn’t have that time, things needed to move forward. Carefully yes, but also surely. After some deliberation, it seemed obvious who he should put in charge here, when he gathered half the church and went to crown city where the highest belonged.
Selwyn was the obvious choice. He knew the man well, they were close friends, and he trusted Selwyn with is life, how could he not trust the man with guiding the southern members of their church? He just needed to wait until his protégé got back from Jennesar to set it all in motion.
He grunted at a sound nearby him.
“What did you say?”
The young paladin asked nervously, “Are you okay highest?”
He was confused for a moment, until he realized he’d been staring at the temple without moving for at least five minutes.
“Just fine, I was deep in contemplation is all.”
The paladin blushed, “Sorry for disturbing you highest,” and walked off.
He felt a bit guilty, but it was true, even if a better description would have been woolgathering. He looked up at the sun’s position in the sky, and took a deep breath. It was time. His body turned toward the castle and seemingly started to walk without his volition. He laughed at himself, on the inside anyway, this was supposed to be a good thing, then why did his stomach keep telling him to run from this joyous… doom?
Foolishness.
As he got closer he was reminded of the baron’s distasteful visit, and he was glad Catalina was able to settle her council down. At least, he hadn’t had any other strange visitors yet. The castle was large, but not quite as large as in crown city. He was a little amused at the obvious display of power difference, but the ducal castle and throne was certainly nothing to sneeze at.
He walked through the gates of the inner wall without challenge, and across the large courtyard. There was a large fountain gurgling and the sun was out. It was a perfect day. He also picked up his pace, as he realized his walk had steadily slowed as he got closer to the castle.
He looked down, and checked his cleric’s robe one more time. It was the formal one for the highest, and the best clothes he owned. He wondered why it was so damned hot in the castle, when the duchess was an air mage, as he made his way down the wide hallway and into the throne room.
Their young duchess looked beautiful, but quite official in a dark blue dress that both flattered her form, and gave a more official air about her. Or, maybe it was simply her bearing, and her sharp intelligent eyes. He was very glad he was on good terms with her, and hoped when the time came he could enjoy a similar relationship with the king.
He walked over to her and consciously stopped himself from wiping his hands on his robes, they were all sweaty. He stood a little to her right side, and nodded politely.
“Duchess, it’s good to see you.”
The evil young woman smiled at him mischievously, “Highest, the pleasure is mine. Would you like Mina to freeze your feet to the floor? You look like you’re about to run… or possibly faint.”
He chuckled nervously, “Just one of those days I guess.”
She suppressed a laugh, and then the duchess smile became more gracious, “Congratulations by the way, I hear this is quite a commo
n reaction in men? Oh, we’re getting started.”
The teasing look cleared from her face, and he turned around. He noted all the other people there in the back of his mind, and wondered how he hadn’t even seen them as he walked by. But the lion’s share of his attention was on Liren. She was in the white robes of a cleric as well, which only showed tantalizing hints of the tight curvy and supple body underneath.
Her luxuriant red hair was up in a bun, revealing the long graceful curves of her neck, and her petite ears which had a pair of diamond earrings in them. Her soft brown eyes sparkled with joy, and her smile was so transcendently brilliant it almost took him to his knees.
He couldn’t look away, she was a vision of loveliness and grace, and suddenly his nerves fled as she walked up the aisle and stood at his side.
Catalina cleared her throat, partially in amusement, and he tore his eyes off Liren and looked forward at her again. The duchess’s smile however was light and happy, no longer teasing.
He honestly couldn’t remember a word that the duchess spoke during the ceremony. All he could remember was Liren’s scent, how radiantly stunning she looked, not just her appearance, but she seemed to exude joy, and the oaths they exchanged as they were joined as one before the people and before the gods.
Oh, he also remembered the kiss, and more than a few titters from the crowd.
The reception was a bit of a blur as well, as his focus seemed to center around his radiant young wife. There was dancing, food, alcohol, and more titters when they escaped the crowd, and went to their marriage bed…
Chapter Fourteen
It’d been a couple more weeks, and while the plan was moving forward with the clerics preaching in the square, it wasn’t quite as simple as the village. It became apparent almost immediately in a large city there were levels of oppression, and some of those oppressed still had some modicum of authority over those at the bottom. The city had a population twenty times what the village had, and it was about that much more complicated.
To be fair, the incidents were dealt with quickly and fairly, and the majority of the populace was being won over. There were just small pockets of dissatisfaction at the changes being made that had to be dealt with. It was boggling, but apparently some would rather be abused than lose their authority to abuse the lowest of them.
Humans were clearly insane.
I wasn’t really involved in that though, the mages and paladins took care of it, along with the fifty soldiers we’d brought in from Tenemin. Lila and I had been holed up in the inn the whole time, watching over the paladins and clerics in the temples, who still couldn’t decide what to do. I happened to know they’d make a decision soon, since their food supplies were running low.
Our group had even found seven young light affinities. Well, twelve actually, but five of them were still too young for any kind of training at all. The rest were already being trained and taught.
Overall, every evening the square held more and more people as Selwyn or Mary gave a sermon, to the point that last night they had filled the square and branched out into the surrounding streets. It was working, just slower than I would have liked. Staying at the inn wasn’t exactly horrible, but it was boring. Outside of our sex life that is, which at least gave us something fun to do.
It had gotten to the point where I wondered if there was such a thing as too much sex. Right then, Lila was riding me in a decadent and almost lazy fashion. It felt really good, amazing actually with her tight wet heat wrapped around me snugly, her every small movement set off sparks of pleasure from my manhood out into my body, little flashes of ecstasy, but there was no urgency to it at all, since both of us were beyond sated.
“They’re finally making their move, but I’m not sure we should stop them.”
Oh yeah, we were also holding a normal conversation while she self-indulgently rode me, as if that was normal. Then again, perhaps it was? I wasn’t about to complain though, and my dark angel seemed to really enjoy it. After all, she was the one that mounted me.
Lila sighed, and swiveled her hips in small circles, which was particularly intense as she gripped me tightly.
“Why, what are they doing?” she asked.
“They sort of figured out our plan, or at least the what part, if not the why, they suspect we’re waiting for them to attack us for some reason they can’t discern. They believe if they simply leave the city, that we’ll let them go. I believe they got orders to do so, but they talk to the capitol through a spell, which I can’t eavesdrop on. So, I can’t be positive.”
She froze on top of me, which still felt amazingly good.
“They’re right. If we attack and kill them in cold blood, we’ll undo all the work and progress Selwyn has made. Destroying the church in self-defense is a big part of the plan. I suspect they’re going to the capitol.”
I teased, “You just don’t want to stop fucking me.”
She giggled, which made her sex flutter and convulse around me quite pleasantly. I moaned, and my eyes rolled up inside my head as I twitched inside her heat.
She purred out, “That is a nice benefit master, but not why. Plus, we have to be sure, which means we have to follow them from the city. If they suspect someone is listening it could be misinformation their feeding you.”
I hadn’t considered that. Then I forgot about everything else but our bodies, the pleasure, and her fast breathy moans, as she started to ride me hard and fast. She squeezed my sensitive length tightly as she rose to milk me hard, and then released her core to use soft but still snug liquid friction as she impaled herself and I pushed up to meet her. It didn’t take long for both of us to reach completion at her fast and furious pace, she’d been keeping us both near the edge for almost a half an hour already.
She giggled as we came down together.
“What?”
She sighed, “The bath is going to have to wait.”
I sighed too, and hoped the enemy wouldn’t smell the sex as we stalked them. We’d taken a bath early that morning of course, but that was like ten rounds ago. I laughed, it was a little funny. I was soaked with her liquid ecstasy, and she was filled with my essence. It was a shame neither of us had a water affinity. We did manage to towel down but that didn’t help all that much with the scent.
It wasn’t actually a problem though as it turned out, we followed them from blocks away, all we had to do was keep them in my detection aura. The clerics were grouped in the center, with paladins around them in a large oval. It was a good defensive formation, but we allowed them to leave the city. We stayed at the gate for a while to make sure they didn’t come back, and that’s where Selwyn found us.
“Everything okay?”
“I think so,” I replied, and then I told him what happened with the clerics and paladins, and why we let them go.
Selwyn sighed, “Good, we can take care of re-sanctifying the temples, and prepare to get out of here. I have a suggestion.”
“What’s that?” I asked curiously.
The cleric replied, “We should take the other small city, and the capitol next. We all put in a lot of hard work, and every place we hit we lose a mage and a paladin. I think we’d have a lot easier time taking a village with the smaller numbers than the cities.”
That made sense. There were three more villages before the capitol, and then one village after that, before the second small city, and then the last two villages. Hitting them in order would probably make things far more difficult.
“Alright, let’s hit the small city on the other side of the kingdom first. When they get reports of that, they might panic and consolidate all their forces at the capitol. I imagine this group had orders to run based on the thousand soldiers, warriors, and mages we took out. Then it should be fairly easy to mop up the last six villages.”
Selwyn asked, “You want them to converge?”
I nodded, “That’s easier than chasing them all around. We’ll know for sure what they’re doing based on how they react at the
next small city. If the temples evacuate the city right away, or the city’s defenses are lower than they should be, that will tell us what they’re doing.”
Selwyn sniffed, wrinkled his nose, and took a step back.
Lila laughed, “We need to… go bathe. Night Selwyn.”
Selwyn half smiled, “Lila, Nurien,” and then walked off. No doubt to find Mary and get started on the temple complex. It was still early in the night.
It took two more days before we were comfortable leaving the paladin, mage, and fifty soldiers to handle the city. As for the portal to the next city, I realized I was being a bit of a control freak. Lila teleported with dark magic, but she also had the light affinity I’d given her when I made her my dark angel. Which meant instead of using her as a beacon, all I had to do was have my dungeon self use the teaching spell, and I taught her the portal light magic spell through the dark magic bond.
I wasn’t jealous at all that she could use both spells, but my avatar couldn’t. Certainly not, that would be childish…
I took a deep sniff with my nose buried in her hair, I loved Ebony’s scent, and my hand was softly rubbing her flat belly. I’d convinced Ebony to show me the human form she was capable of, and I was taking advantage of it in our shared dream by spooning her tightly from behind. Something that was impossible when her wings were present, not to mention the tail. She felt incredibly good against my body, but it was the vulnerability I felt as I held her, and knew she was pregnant with my child that filled my heart.
Yes, I was in love with two women, but my will was infinite, and they would have completely different lives with me, on different planes of existence. Did that make my love infinite as well? They didn’t seem jealous of each other, but they also didn’t show an interest in sharing me at the same time either. In fact, they’d gone out of their way to avoid it on several occasions. I didn’t mind.