by Reed James
The world swam into focus for a moment.
The assassin swung his chain at Sven, driving back the Zeutchian.
I charged. My stomach heaved, bile burning the back of my throat. I swallowed it down, focusing on the assassin. On carving him in half. One single stroke of my crescent-blade ax would finish him off. I raised it over my head. It felt so heavy, like the weight had doubled since I last swung it. My arms shook.
I screamed out and swung with all my might.
The blade hissed down hard. Right at the assassin's back. The whip-thin man danced around, pulling his attack from hitting Sven while whirling to face me. I growled in frustration as I missed; my ax slammed past his body.
And struck the ground.
The impact shivered up my arms. I almost released my weapon as I stumbled forward. I fought to keep my balance. Another wave of dizziness beset me. A chain rattled. Something silver streaked off to my right and—
Light exploded across my vision. My head erupted in pain and—
Chapter Thirty-Five: Exhausted Desperation
Zanyia
Ealaín hit the ground hard, struck by the weighted end of Keythivak's chain. The aoi si lay in a dark heap by the fire, her ax lying before her, arm spilled out reaching for her weapon. She didn't move. Red stained her pure-white hair.
I hissed as I threw off my blankets. I had to get into the fight. Hithina wrestled with Ava. The lamia bitch had her thighs wrapped around the princess's alabaster body, her claws scratching at the pretty face, marring the perfection of Ava's sculpture.
I crouched low, my limbs trembling. A wash of dizzy darkness spilled across my vision as a deep chill shivered through my body. My tail twitched hard. I had to focus. I couldn't afford to be distracted and weakened. Stupid poison.
I hissed and threw myself at Hithina.
Her head snapped around, baleful eyes glaring at me. Then she jumped away. I gasped moments before crashing into Princess Ava. She cried out in shock as I smacked into her naked breasts. Though they felt as soft as real flesh, she was still made of the alabaster. I bounced off hard, my head ringing. I hit the ground on my back, yowling.
“Zanyia!” the princess gasped.
“Slimy naga scales!” I hissed, the world spinning around me.
“Whoops,” Hithina hissed. “Did you bump your head, little kitten?”
I yowled at her and rolled over onto my hands and knees. I crouched, my tail swishing back and forth as I glared at her. She licked her lips, her ears twitching. Then, with a hiss, we sprang at each other. We crashed together.
We hit the ground and rolled. The world flipped around me as we snarled at each other. I struggled to get my claws into her flesh while fending off her gleaming nails. I remembered the burning, flesh-devouring pain of her poison.
I wouldn't get scratched again.
But the chemical in me...
Darkness washed across my vision. I shuddered, rolling across the ground. Ava gasped, chasing after us, her hands darting in, trying to help me. We bumped into her feet and bounced off as the world spun around me.
My stomach heaved.
My body shook.
“So weak, little kitten,” Hithina snarled as I ended up on my back. She leaned over me, her hands pinning mine over my head. Our breasts pressed together as she licked her lips. Hissing, she bared her fangs.
My exposed throat quivered.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
I dove to grab my short sword. I snatched it up and gripped my weapon. The world spun around me as I gained my feet. I swayed, fighting against the dizziness. My stomach churned. The acid burned at my throat. Chills rippled across my flesh.
“Las's putrid cum!” I growled as I staggered around and—
I raised my sword, smacking the hissing chain out of the air. It hit the ground at my feet as the assassin darted in, swinging the sickle at my face. I backpedaled, swinging my blade before me, knocking back his blade.
“How long can you fight?” the assassin asked, the blade whipping at me from my right.
I didn't answer, focusing all my will on fighting. I couldn't relent. I had the skill to be beat him. Desperation pushed me through my exhaustion.
“How long before you collapse?”
I parried the chain then blocked a swipe from his sickle. Zanyia yowled in the background, Ava screaming out her name. I backed up, leading the assassin from the fire, from Kora twitching and shuddering.
I had to keep fighting.
“Do you feel the styrchnos weighing down your limbs?” A deadly smile crossed the assassin's lips. “Robbing you of all your strength. How does it feel knowing you are growing weaker and weaker with every moment? That it's only a matter of time before you collapse.”
Sparks exploded from our weapons as I blocked his sickle. I took another swaying step back. Cold sweat poured off my body.
“You're shaking. You're barely standing, Sven. When you collapse, I'm going to kill all your women one by one.” Such pleasure filled his voice. “You'll lie there, helpless to do anything, shaking, wracked by the poison.”
Anger boiled through me.
My left hand darted down as I lunged forward, thrusting my blade at his guts. He swung the chain around in a sweeping, looping arc. It slammed into my sword, knocking my blade downward. He raised his sickle to slash at my face.
I hurled my throwing dagger.
He flinched back as my knife hurtled at his face. The assassin ducked his wiry body low. The thrown blade hissed over his head. Anger spilled across his features as I recovered from his parry and stabbed my short sword at his chest, screaming out my fury. The weakness melted away as the rage powered my limbs.
His left hand moved with blurring speed despite his wound. He grabbed a pouch off his belt and threw it at my face. I reacted. I tried to stop my thrust, but my momentum carried me forward. The bag struck my face. A dark powder burst around it and—
Itching, burning, aching pain seared my eyes. I reeled back. The world vanished into darkness. I couldn't see. Dizziness spun me around. I tottered and groaned, the poison surging through me as my eyes wept. I cried out at the agony stabbing into my brain.
The feyhound growled as I fell to my knees, dropping my short sword. I rubbed at my eyes, feeling the powdery grit staining my orbs, melting them. I screamed as the pain burned deeper into my mind.
~ * ~
Aingeal
I had to get up. I had to help my family fight. But... I just felt so weak. My eyes wouldn't open. I shivered beneath my blankets, my wings twitching. I felt Scáthnamhaid lying near me, whining and whimpering. He didn't know what to do. He was newly born, only created by me three days ago.
When I was still strong.
Metal clashed and rang.
Zanyia and another catgirl hissed.
“No, no!” Princess Ava cried out, the heavy footsteps of her proxy thudding through the ground.
I just couldn't open my eyelids. They were so heavy. I didn't have the strength. My blankets strangled me. I needed to help Sven fight. He needed me. My husband was in danger. Fear clawed at my guts, but the poison...
The poison shook my limbs.
My entire body trembled. This insidious toxin had spread through having sex. It settled inside of us. My spirits couldn't root it out. Kora's magic couldn't heal it. It was a foul and loathsome substance. I needed to get up. Sven needed my spirits and—
Sven screamed in utter pain.
The heart-rending agony shot through my body. It galvanized me. My feyhound reacted, sensing my pain. He growled and charged from my side. With a whimpering screech, I wrenched open my eyelids. I threw them up and saw the world. The fire burned to my right. Sven screamed to my left.
He knelt clawing at his face smeared in a reddish-black powder. He rubbed at his eyes as he howled in agony. He stood oblivious to the assassin striding to him, raising a curved sickle. Its edge glinted in the dancing firelight, reflecting orange and red, promising death to my hus
band.
My feyhound bounded closer. With a flick of the chain, the assassin sent the weighted end at Scáthnamhaid. It struck him hard. He whimpered as he flew back and sprawled on the ground, wicker legs twitching.
The assassin turned his attention back to my husband.
“NO!” The scream burst out of my throat.
Desperation cut through my exhaustion. I threw off the blankets and gained my feet.. No sickness, no cursed poison, would keep me from saving my husband. He rescued me from Queen Sidhe's prison. I would save him now. I reached out to all the spirits in the world. They surged around me, responding to my will.
“SAVE HIM!” I screeched, voice hoarse and dry. “HEAL MY HUSBAND!”
Purple light exploded from me as the spirits responded. Evocation and enhancement spirits streaked out at the assassin. He whirled around, gasped, and reached out with his own will. He seized blue abjuration spirits out of the world, forming a haphazard shield before my onslaught. My spirits crashed into his defenses.
He stumbled back, face twisting as he struggled to chain his abjuration spirits before him, whipping the blue balls of intangible energy into forming his defense. Where he had to dominate, I only had to ask. The spirits loved faeries. They happily performed feats of magic for us.
The green enhancement spirits, used to heal the injured, swarmed around Sven while the orange evocation spirits battered into the assassin's shield. Dizzy exhaustion swept through me. The world swirled around me as my hands balled into tight fists. Focusing my will sent my heart pumping and... I could feel the poison coursing through my blood, spreading through my body and...
The world trembled.
My limbs shivered.
Violent paroxysms seized my body.
I collapsed.
I shook.
The world became darkness. I drifted...
~ * ~
Keythivak
I staggered back from the onslaught unleashed by the faerie. I panted, shaking my head. My heart raced from the awesome feel of her power. She had so much of it. What she did with her spirits left me feeling weak, impotent.
But now she convulsed on the ground, overwhelmed by the poison. Froth foamed from her lips as she shuddered. Her feyhound regained its feet. It growled low and dangerous at me, advancing, its body gliding towards me. Fangs made of carved wood glistened in its maw. I could feel the enchantment spirits wreathing its body, animating it, giving it life.
“Ain... geal...” panted Sven.
He'd stopped screaming.
The blond man rose, his face clensed of the powder, his eyes clear and fresh. His face didn't look as pale. The faerie had healed him while attacking me, giving him back more of his strength. I changed my stance, eyes flicking back and forth between the feyhound and the blond Zeutchian. Sven held his short sword low.
“What are you going to do now?” Sven asked. “You can't be a coward and wait for your poison to rob me of strength.”
I smiled. “This was a trap. You feigned your weakness.”
Sven and the feyhound charged at me.
I relished the challenge. My blood pounded through my veins. I reached out to the agitated spirits. With the faerie around, they took even more will to control. They fought me, resisted me. I swung my chain at Sven, a whipping barrier of metal driving him back while the feyhound closed faster.
The construct leaped, snarling at me.
I seized the abjuration spirits and sent the balls of blue light streaking at the feyhound. They slammed into its wicker-woven body, phasing through the twisted wood to reach the enchantment spirits inside. I attacked them.
Without the faerie buttressing them with her will, the enchantment spirits fled. The feyhound became a statue of wicker, stiff and unmoving. Its momentum still slammed into me. I grunted and battered it away with my arm. As I stumbled back, it hit the ground with a clatter and rolled. It came to rest sprawled over the princess's collapsed body, her maid kneeling by her, knife in hand. The girl glared at me, her lips pursed tight, knuckles going white as she clutched the blade's handle.
I winked at her then turned back to Sven.
His blade hissed at me.
I parried with my sickle, falling back before his powerful swings. He hacked the short sword before him like a cleaver. Determination twisted his face as fresh sweat broke out across his brow. The poison still coursed through him.
Aingeal bought him only a little more strength. He would expend it. I need only be patient.
~ * ~
Princess Ava
I felt something distant and heavy land on my real body as I plunged my hands down and seized the enemy lamia about the waist. I arrested her biting lunge, ripping her off of Zanyia before she could rip out Zanyia's throat. The black-haired lamia I seized hissed and spat, squirming in my arms as I crushed her to my alabaster body.
“Let me down, cunt!” yowled the lamia.
“Cunt?” Indignation shot through me. “Cunt?”
I squeezed my stone arms around her body, crushing her hard. She yowled in pain and squirmed more and more. Her body wiggled in my grasp as I sought to squeeze the loathsome life out of her and—
She popped out of my arms.
I gaped as she landed at my feet, a big grin on her face. Then she turned around and lunged at the woozy Zanyia. My lamia lover hissed in shock and kicked her feet out before her. The enemy catgirl came down right into those feet. They planted into her stomach. She yowled in pain as Zanyia kicked out hard.
The enemy lamia flew over Zanyia's head and hit the ground a good ten feet away, rolling to a gasping stop. The lamia-bitch gasped and coughed, clutching her stomach, her body heaving. I charged after her, stone feet thudding on the soft ground beneath the grass.
The black-haired lamia rolled to her feet. She leaped back as I lunged to grab her again. Her black-furred tail brushed my arm. I scrambled to close my fingers around it, but it slipped out of my grip as she darted away.
She whirled around, picking up a rock.
“That's not going to hurt me,” I scoffed as she raised her arm.
“Nope.” She flashed me a toothy grin and threw.
I flinched anyway, throwing my arm up to block the small stone. But it didn't hit me. She missed, the rock sailing past me and—
A meaty thunk echoed behind me followed by a soft thud. I looked behind me and gasped. Zanyia lay sprawled on her back, her temple cut, blood trickling from a growing knot. It swelled red as she twitched on the ground.
“This stone,” hissed the enemy lamia. “This stone will do the trick for you.”
I whirled my gaze around. She'd picked up a big stone the size of a smith's hammer. Only the stone tapered to a sharp point on one end like the head of a hatchet. She hefted it in her hand as she advanced on me, her tail swishing behind her the same way Zanyia's did when she grew excited.
“This will do nicely.”
~ * ~
Sven Falk
My arms grew heavier and heavier. I sucked in deep breaths, my attack flagging. I had put too much energy into my swings. I wasn't as healed as I thought. The poison attacked my limbs again. Feverish heat burst across my face as my heart flagged.
“Las's... putrid... cum...” I panted, sweat pouring down my face.
The assassin grinned, the expression twisting the scar crossing his dusky-brown cheek, his dark eyes mocking me. He grabbed his chain with his left hand, swirling it in an arc. The weighted end hissed through the air as he advanced.
He threw it at me.
I swung my sword, battering the bludgeoning aside, chain clattering. He charged in after, swinging the sickle at my throat while he already whirled the chain around him to attack me again. I parried the sickle and retreated, the chain hissing down to trip up my legs.
I jumped backward. The chain hit the ground beneath my feet, ripping up a thick tuft of grass. I groaned, landing hard. The world spun around me. My balance tottered. I sucked in another breath, my strength flagging faster.
<
br /> I needed to do something fast. Aingeal and Kora convulsed on the ground. Zanyia and Ealaín lay in unconscious stupor. Ava faced the advancing lamia in her alabaster form while Nathalie huddled in her blankets and Greta held a knife in a trembling hand, kneeling over the princess's real body, the dead feyhound resting beside her.
I needed something bold. Something reckless. Something that would save my women. And I needed it right Gods damned now.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Dwindling Strength
Keythivak
I savored the weakness of my enemy as I attacked. My chain swung through the air, slashing and thrusting at him. It was such a versatile weapon, hard to deal with. Sven had talent. He had trained to fight, to use his natural grace and dexterity to his advantage. But the poison slowed him down more and more. I just had to wear him down.
And kill him.
His flushed face glistened with sweat. Rivulets poured down his neck to his leather jerkin. He swung his short sword before him, knocking back my chain. Each time, I redirected the swing, attacking him from a new direction, weakening him more and more.
His left hand moved down. He did it slowly, turning his body, almost hiding what he was doing as he went for a throwing knife on the bandoleer slung over his chest. I didn't betray my knowledge. I kept fighting the same, letting the fool think he could fool me with the same trick twice.
The knife flicked out.
I battered it out of the sky with my sickle as he charged in behind it. I didn't flinch in shock like last time. I could see it in his blue eyes as he thrust his blade that he knew his ruse had failed. My chain lashed out for his feet.
He tried to jump.
Instead, he tripped himself. His legs, weighted down by exhaustion, didn't move as spry as before. The chain caught him as he struggled to hold his balance. It smacked into his calves. He cried out as it swept his feet out from beneath him.
Sven crashed hard onto his side.
“Did you think the same trick would work twice?” I asked, advancing, savoring this moment. I would disable him then start killing the women. All but the princess. My Mistress would love to play with her royal beauty. “Huh?”