by Reed James
She loomed closer to me, her eyes boring into mine. Then she smiled. Her skin rippled again. Her body changing, growing grotesque. The hand wrapped around my cock became hard, covered in spiny hairs. Mandibles burst out of her jaws while her eyes became faceted onyxes. Through the lust, revulsion swelled through me as the spider-thing loomed over me.
A part of me wanted to fuck it still. To ram my cock into her. Her mandibles opened as they surrounded my throat. I felt their sharp pricks. I shuddered, about to be penetrated in a new way. I whimpered.
I should fight.
Couldn't.
Color exploded around us. A shimmering aura of dazzling hues assaulted my eyes. I gasped as the different colors blurred one over the other, rippling and undulating, swallowing each other and birthing new shades to spill around us.
The werespider jerked her head back.
~ * ~
Kora Falk
I screamed out loud as my illusion danced around the monstrous thing. It pulled its head back as I charged forward. I swung the piece of wood I had picked up and cracked it into the thing's head. The spidery, insectoid creature staggered beneath my blow.
Something inside of me, something ancient and visceral, snarled. The thing disgusted me. Its revolting, chitinous body had an oily gleam about it. Thick, spindly hairs thrust out from its body. I felt dirty just looking at it.
I screamed out, almost in a panic fear. I slammed the plank into it again, loving that crunching sound. The amulet bounced beneath my robe as I hammered my makeshift weapon down on the thing again and again. It raised narrow limbs. I swung with every ounce of energy I had. I had to smash this thing. It couldn't exist.
A giant spider!
It collapsed to the ground as I hit it again and again. I couldn't stop. My breasts heaved. Sweat fell off my face. Splinters bit into my palm. I battered this thing's head. I shattered its eye. It twitched and shuddered on the ground. My stomach churned. My throat grew hoarse from my screams. Ichor flew, smelling foul.
It twitched.
It gurgled.
The plank snapped. I stumbled, off-balance by the change in weight. Sweat ran down my body. My chest heaved as I gulped air. My heart thundered. My stomach twisted and... I had crushed it. I had shattered its head.
“Kora,” Ealaín gasped, trembling, her girl-dick thrusting out before her. Webbing like a spider's surrounded her.
The world swayed around me as the ecstatic fury fled me. I shivered, stumbling against her. The webs stuck to my wrist, holding me against her. I leaned against her, shaking, needing to be held. That thing was so disgusting. And the ogre was smashing up the building above. My family was in danger.
But... but... I saved one of them. “Ealaín!”
My body shook as the emotion spilled through me.
“I'm here,” she said. “You saved me. You poured out your emotions and created something visceral.”
“W-what?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “It's just... You're inspired by your family, aren't you?”
“Of course,” I said. I hugged her, not caring that the webs stuck me against her. “I love you, Ealaín. I don't want you hurt. I want you protected. I want everyone protected. I want us all safe and... and...” I couldn't speak. I pressed my face into her neck, wishing she could hug me back.
~ * ~
Aingeal
As satisfying as it was to savage the ogre's cock, it wasn't killing the monster. Sven's scimitar cut the brute's hide, but it didn't cut deeply. It kept fighting with the same brutal strength. It would only take one lucky blow to crush Sven's body, to break Zanyia's back. How much longer could we do this?
Ava ripped and pulled at the ogre's cock, drawing its fury for now. Its fists hammered on my spirits shielding us. They surged around me, dancing, withstanding the blows. They were so powerful. The abjuration spirits were buckling.
Sven's sword hacked at its hide, cutting it, but not killing it. The ogre was utterly focused on us, and it wasn't enough. There was something else we needed. Something else that we had to do to defeat this brute.
Some way to pierce through its body and into its heart.
An idea came to me. “Ava!”
Chapter Fifty-Four: The Rogue's Trust
Sven Falk
Frustration filled me. I swung the scimitar with all the force I could muster. My arms burned with the exertion. I pushed through the ache to slash into his back, leaving another ribbon of blood across his flesh. His muscles were iron. His skin tougher than boiled leather. I couldn't penetrate his hide. Ava gave me this opportunity, and I was failing.
“Las's putrid cum!” I hacked again, sweat falling down my face. I had to kill this thing. How many more attacks could I dodge? My legs felt like slagged metal. Fatigue built in me.
Ava released the ogre's cock. She darted to the side in a blaze of purple radiance, trailing wisps of violet behind her. She landed near Zanyia. The ogre whirled to follow. Ava darted behind me, the ogre facing me, seeing through me.
He didn't feel threatened by me at all. He rose above me. Most of the ceiling was gone, the ruins of the third floor above. The building lurched and swayed. Wood groaned. How much more could this structure take?
“HOUND!” the ogre bellowed.
“Stab him in the heart!” Ava shouted behind me as the ogre tensed, preparing to spring forward in a charge that would trample right over me.
The ogre sprang forward, a lumbering step.
“Lunge!” screamed Ava.
If I didn't move, the ogre would crush me like a bug. His thick legs would knock me down, his massive feet stamping down hard on my flesh. Bones would break. Flesh rupture. It would break me. Kill me.
But Ava...
I trusted my princess. She had a plan. She had Aingeal's fairy magic aiding her. I put my faith into my women and sprang forward. A stop thrust. I pushed off with my left foot, my right snapping forward before me. At the same moment, my right arm thrust out before me, the sword a spear, the curved pointing part aimed high at his chest. I put my entire weight into the thrust as the ogre barreled at me.
A brilliant flare of indigo rippled about my blade. The naga's weapon hummed in my hand, resonating with a force. My skin prickled as unseen forces moved around me and then flared into a violet wall around me.
The point of my sword rammed into the ogre's chest. A jolting shock ran up my hand as the tip bit into his flesh. His momentum hurled him forward. I felt my blade bite into his iron bones. The sword flexed.
The indigo light exploded.
Instead of my sword snapping, it sheared through his rib cage. His bulk slammed into the shield. The energy surged around me, washing hot about my flesh as his form crashed over me. He engulfed me like a tidal wave slamming into the shore, driven by a storm's violent winds.
But Aingeal protected me.
Gor slid over me, the shielding bowing towards me but not surrendering. The bulk toppled to my right, crashing on his side. The scimitar wrenched from my hand. I stumbled, my legs almost buckling. I caught my balance.
The purple light vanished.
Steam boiled from the ogre's wound. The scimitar's blade glowed, the weight of the handle bending the heat-softened metal. Flesh sizzled around the molten blade. The ogre gurgled, blood fountaining black from its gaping mouth, spilling over fist-sized teeth.
He gave a final grunt and went still.
“Pater's cock,” I gasped, exhaustion crashing into me. My body ached, remembering Zizthithana's coiled embrace. My limbs all felt leaden. I staggered to my knees, leaning on my left hand to steady myself.
“Master!”
Zanyia collided against me. Her exuberance knocked me backward. She gripped me, her tawny ears twitching, her sweat-smeared face beaming in delight. A purr rumbled from her throat. Above, her tail swished back and forth.
I hugged her tight, not caring about the stickiness of her back. I didn't care about anything but holding her, knowing she lived. Ava padded over to m
e, her acorn eyes looking concerned. She lay down beside me, purple dripping off her wicker body.
“Aingeal is hurt. She's unconscious somewhere. We have to find her.”
Fear galvanized my body and drove back exhaustion. “Where's Kora?”
~ * ~
Zanyia
“She's over here!” I shouted as I perched on a wall two blocks down from the ruined boarding house. I perched on a wall screening off the yard of a residence. Aingeal's body lay battered in a garden, her face covered in blood, her butterfly wings looking bent and ragged. “I think she flew into a wall. Hurry, Mistress!”
“I'm coming!” Kora shouted over the gathering cacophony of the crowd.
Sven, dressed in hasty clothes, pushed through the crowd, dragging Kora with him. She had her pink robes on. We had to cut her and Ealaín free of a spider web. She still had strands stuck to her beneath her clothing.
“Here,” Sven growled, reaching the wall. He cupped his hands.
Kora stepped into them. He lifted her up and she grabbed the top of the wall. She grunted and scrabbled over it. She let out a squeaking shriek as she moved with too much enthusiasm and fell over onto the garden side, landing in a thud on the ground.
I leaped down after her, landing with nimble grace as she coughed. I leaned over her, staring into her eyes. “You okay, Mistress?”
“Fine,” she groaned.
Sven landed beside her in a graceful crouch. He helped Kora stand then she rushed over to Aingeal. She fell to her knees before her. I knelt by my Master, rubbing my cheek into his leather pants, breathing in the scent of him.
He killed Zizthithana. I saw her headless corpse. She could never hurt me again. She could never send her minions out to hunt me. My Master stood up to her and he triumphed. My tail swished behind me. My purr rose in my throat. My entire body shook in delight. This was so amazing.
My tail swished back and forth.
Sven rested his hand on my head right between my ears. I shivered as he scratched me while watching Kora heal Aingeal. My ears twitched. I purred even louder, my vocal chords humming as the delight surged through me.
“You're in a good mood,” Master said, his words distant.
“No one's after the amulet now!” I said. “We killed Zizthithana and all her servants. We're free of her and her meddling.”
“We still have to destroy it.”
I cocked my head, catching something in his scent. Something... tense and... Fear? I peered up at him. “Master, there's nothing standing between us and destroying it. Not unless Prince Meinard discovers we're here with his daughter. We'll find out what we need to destroy the amulet from the Priests of Krab in the morning. We'll be off to the Altar of Souls in no time at all.”
He let out a regretful sigh.
“Master? D-don't you want that?”
He stared at his sister as she helped Aingeal sit up. The pair embraced, lips meeting in a loving kiss. Master's hand tightened in my hair. “Of course I want that. We have to destroy it.”
“But...”
“No questions, slave,” he growled, his entire body tense.
“Y-yes, Master.” I shrunk down, shoulders hunching, my purr dying. What did I do wrong? I thought Sven liked it when I asked questions. He let me have so much independence, but... I was still his slave. I had to remember that. I lowered my head and stared at my knees.
Then Kora and Aingeal were hugging him. He scooped them close. Ava cried out from the right. A gate opened. I looked up to see the princess, Greta, and Nathalie rushing in, Ealaín striding behind them wearing a dressing gown.
“Aingeal!” Ava shouted, throwing herself into the hug.
“You're alive!” Nathalie squealed.
In moments, Greta and Nathalie were in the hug, too. Master's hand tightened in my hair. Then he pulled, lifting me up. I rose, his scent smelling... happy again. He glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back, still confused, but he was surrounded by his women.
And I was one of them.
I hugged him, my body pressed against Aingeal and Greta. I felt just a touch of Sven as we all crowded over him. Ealaín padded towards us. She paused, her citrine eyes almost glowing with a silvery hue, moonlight painting across her white hair giving it a metallic sheen.
Then she joined us. She hugged us. I smiled, glad she was a part of the harem. I breathed in deeply, inhaling the unique scent that made up every person I loved. My purr rose in my throat, my tail swishing back and forth.
~ * ~
Ealaín
The shock made me tremble as I melted into the embrace, pressing into Nathalie's back. She shifted enough, letting me move in between her and Ava. Sven shifted his arm, letting me join it, too. He nodded to me. I never thought I would do this, but...
After the fight... after this night... We had all risked together. We had all battled Zizthithana's minions before, but tonight was different. Maybe it was the fear of loss, of losing Kora, but maybe it was because Sven touched me tonight. He gave me pleasure, gave me love like he did to the rest of his women before we fought together.
I caught his gaze and... in the depths of his blue eyes, I witnessed pain. Fear. Loss. He looked away and met his sister's gaze. She beamed at him, quivering in delight. She drew such inspiration from those she loved. From me, from Ava and Aingeal, from Nathalie and Greta and Zanyia, and from her brother.
Did I give my mother the right advice?
~ * ~
Sven Falk
I stared at Kora, drinking in the loveliness of her. I held all my women in my arms, feeling the warmth of their bodies. Zanyia purred, the rest talking, laughing, giggling, reveling in the euphoria of surviving tonight. Kora's blue eyes laughed. My sister had such joy in them.
I drank in her face. I would have to carry memories of her for the rest of my life. They would have to be enough. Because I have my other women to protect. As much as I wanted to tell Rithi that I wouldn't give up my sister, I couldn't allow my other loves to die.
I had to settle. My heart beat through the pain. So I had to take every moment I could to drink in memories with Kora because... Tomorrow, we would visit the Temple of Krab. We might be traveling to the Altar of the Souls soon.
Maybe in a week or two, I'd have to give her up forever. She could return to Az, to the temple, and enrich the world with her talent. Her paintings would inspire. They would do more good than following a restless rogue like me around. Than losing her life in pointless fight with a naga and her ogre.
“I love you, sister dear,” I said. “I love you all.”
“Brother mine,” Kora sighed. She leaned in and kissed me.
I closed my eyes, capturing the feel of her lips, the taste of her, the excitement surging through me. I recorded it all. I seared this instant into my brain, branding it across my thoughts. I would never forget her.
~ * ~
Prince Meinard – Echur, Princedom of Kivoneth, The Strifelands of Zeutch
I stared down at the map with the border of the Princedom of Anaopeth. Prince Reinhold's armies had entered my border. Without my proxy soldiers, I didn't have the strength to hold so much territory. My forces were retreating towards Qina. My enemies smelled the blood in the water.
I was so close. I could feel the High King's crown upon my temple. I had the strength to restore Peter's realm and bring order back to the world. Put an end to all the fighting, unite the Strifelands and the rest of the Human Realms.
A knock rapped the door.
My hands squeezed tight behind my back. My head throbbed. I pushed down the impulse to snarl in frustration. To tell the messenger to throw himself off the battlement. I didn't need any more unpleasant news.
A ruler didn't react with emotion. A ruler buried his heart in ice and made decisions rationally.
Only with his queen could a ruler lay down that burden and my queen... my step-daughter... Betrayal squeezed about my heart. How could she escape? The spell... She was supposed to love me. I saw it in her blue eyes.
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Ava was out of my reach. She would be with my rivals in Thlin. She sought refuge, perhaps thinking to make herself King Hoagathen's queen. Was she in contact with him this entire time? Was she plotting to overthrow my rule and deliver my lands to my southern enemies?
The rap came again, softer. I could feel the fear bleeding through the door. A ruler should yearn to be loved and admired by those he ruled, including by his queen. But fear... If you couldn't have love, then you settled for fear. For dominance.
“Enter,” I said, my voice calm.
The study door opened. A page stood there, the boy's face pale, his blond hair spilling in a disorderly mop about his face, his crimson doublet rumpled, hastily donned. I bit back a reprimand, his father a powerful earl whose men-at-arms I would need to hold back the tide.
“My Prince, a messenger has arrived w-with word about your daughter.”
“That she reached Thlin? Is this King Hoagathen trying to leverage my abdication?”
The page shook his head. “T-the messenger isn't human. She...” The page swallowed, his face blanching. “She says Ava is still in your lands. She wishes to... to speak to you about an alliance.”
I let out a snort. I almost dismissed the boy, but... not human. What did that mean? Was this a messenger from Zizthithana? She hadn't answered any of the missives I sent her since the Lodestone's destruction.
“I'll see this... messenger in my audience hall,” I growled. “Fetch Shevoin.”
“Y-yes, my Prince.” The page darted away.
I smoothed my gray doublet, feeling the velvet beneath my hands, the pattern bringing comfort. An alliance... Could I say no to any allies at this point? Especially an ally that could return my queen to me. If my daughter wouldn't love me, she could fear me. So long as she delivered me a son, a union of our imbuing bloodlines.
My boots thudded through the slumbering halls of my castle. I marched back straight, projecting confidence. Fatigue melted away from me as a curious exhilaration tingled through me. An eagerness to discover Ava's whereabouts. Her delicious, nubile body filled my mind, the memory of her forbidden activities animating my extremities. Fingers twitched and my cock swelled.