Empress's Endgame (Book 5 and final of the Death Incanate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “Now he tells us!” Megdline laughed with her husband. Frill made a quip that had his Summoner glaring as he padded along, tail raised high.

  “As I was saying, the five happy couples can choose their own rooms, which are fully accommodated with hot baths perfect to relax and ease tension. The rest of you can pair up as you want to. When we get inside I’ll point to mine and Meeka’s offices, do not try to force entry unless you want to be knocked on your ass and get thrown out. The kitchen is fully stocked to whatever preference you have. The third story is also off limits, unless you get a member of my family to let you into my library. As you mages can already sense, you cannot sense what I’ve blocked in those rooms. Trust me on this. If you try to break through, I will know and kick your ass. If I’m not fast enough, depending on the spell you try, they might kill you. And if any life signs suddenly stop, we’ll all know there had been a murder and you won’t like me if I catch the culprit. I want this to be a pleasant experience…”

  “But I agree with you warning us now.” Jormon said. “It is good to know you protect us and warn against misconduct. But I must ask… if I must Jump in an emergency, can I do so from inside your home?”

  “Yes, but not from outside. And just like my barrier which surrounds us, you can’t just Jump in here either. You’ll be sent in front of my home to answer a password I’m not divulging. You’ll stay there till someone in my family lets you out… and word to the wise, one spell while your held will automatically knock you out. If it doesn’t, the second level will, and if you can remain lucid after that… level three will kill you.”

  “Your warning is heeded.”

  “And before we head in,” He said while coming around a bend which would lead down to where Sean and Ollai lived. “my training equipment is free to be used by all. Tate, don’t overdo your new wife tonight from what Brooke told me. Katelyn, don’t drink in excess either. Brooke will train you harder if you’re having to deal with a hangover.” She nodded her damp rope of hair. “From here on in, you’re free to do what you want and as long as you abide by our rules, you can stay on my island without fear. Any questions, don’t hesitate.”

  They then reached the top and walked over to the giant oak while Zikon, Megdline and Frill separated to go into the evergreen home. As soon as Cage opened the front door to his home, expressions were all impressed, especially at the selection of alcohol displayed on the dining room table with an assortment of fruits spooned in large bowls, one for each person. Behind them stood the three beauties, Brooke gripping the neck of a bottle of whiskey and four glasses. She said “Find what you prefer and enjoy your night. Cage Love, you have a promise to fulfill.” She and her sister-mates ran for the stairs as soon as he grinned. They barely made two steps before he scooped Tohka and Meeka in either arm and stiffened while gazing Brooke’s backside bounce.

  Down below the stunned group heard Meeka yelp “Hot Damn!” and then a door slam, then nothing. They all laughed and King Skylar was the first to approach the table and uncorked a glass bottle with an amber liquid to reel back and wiped eyes suddenly filling with tears. “Take a whiff, General. What do you make of this?”

  General Corbid did so and had the same reaction. “What foul creature made this?... oh it has a label… hmm… ‘Extreme caution, will knock you on your ass in five shots guaranteed.’ It is called ‘Fire in the hole.’, My King. By the smell, it is aptly named.”

  “I’ll take that then.” Queen Jeanne plucked it and sniffed. “Whew! Husband, let’s take food and retire with this concoction.”

  “Mother could always drink anyone aside from Father, out from under the table.” Prince Sek whispered into his new wife’s ear as she stood wobbly, his hands on her hips.

  “Not me. Just a sweet wine, Husband.” She smiled as he did at the endearment to finalize their relationship.

  “Agreed. I want to remember tonight.” He moved with her and they read the assorted dinks. “Gen, Grain alcohol, Whiskey, Vodka, Rum, Champaign… Ah here, Sweet Wine, aged two months by the date.” He popped the cork and tasted it to say “This is better than the stock from Misty Way! How…?”

  His wife tasted it too and smiled. “Try not to dwell. I’ve learned when it comes to anything done by Sir Cage, it is best to not ask and just enjoy any gifts. Just like how you’ve chosen the circumcision like most have done in Vlara.”

  “I’ve already said I’ve followed all effects our host has wrought since coming.”

  “True. Let’s go find a room and get back to our honeymoon.”

  “Yes, Milady.” He grabbed a set of wine glasses and disappeared after his giggling parents did.

  Chapter 10

  “A wonderful morning, My Love.” Meeka crooned as she stretched in bed with Brooke lightly making feather light swirls around her breasts and nipples.

  “And so it is.” Brooke cuddled closer and received the kiss she desired.

  “Where are our mates and our daughter?” Meeka wondered as she sat up and looked into the empty crib. “Never mind… I can feel and hear them now. I guess we’ve become as Megdline said, especially how we can sense them wherever we are. Tohka is below in the kitchen…” she tilted her head to better hear. “Cooking with Mother and two handmaidens by their voices. And Cage is out back doing his usual thing, but where is Ananna?”

  “Where else? With Metali of course. They went flying with Daku and Metalu about five minutes ago. How are you feeling?”

  “Slight headache from the whiskey and my flower too from getting pounded by our man and licked raw from you and Tohka.” Meeka felt herself and sighed. “Did we really manage to do that last night?”

  “You mean him impaling you while Tohka and I rubbed our flowers along his shaft at the same time?” Brooke laughed lazily. “I can’t believe it either. He held our asses there while we gyrated our hips while working together to lift you up and down while you shook, quivered and moaned. I actually had an orgasm when I felt his lance pump his seed into you… well before we licked you clean and had our own turns doing what you did… I swear if we didn’t stretch all the time we wouldn’t have been able to contort our tangle of legs to experience that.”

  “Our man sure was pleased with himself before he bent you over and slid deep into you so fast you nearly passed out.”

  Brooke laughed huskily. “He better have been pleased. I swear he comes up with new positions just to show us how many ways we can orgasm. Can you rub my back, when he had me against the dresser, I hit the corner roughly.”

  “Sure.” Meeka straddled Brooke’s butt the moment she laid facedown and went to massage the pain out. “Normally when we have sex your muscles are always loose, but your knotted all over, My Love.”

  “Slept wrong. Ohhh! That feels sooo gooood…” Brooke moaned and let her woman do one of her many splendid specialties.

  “Glad to hear you say so.” Meeka continued till her soothed woman was putty beneath her.

  Eventually Brooke got up and gave payment in the form of a well deserved kiss. Meeka happily accepted it. The former priestess then went over and began strapping on her thigh sheathes. “I’m going to rouse Queen Katelyn for practice. I will see you when Tohka calls everyone in for breakfast.”

  “Remember, Brooke Love, she is our new queen. Go easy on her.”

  “The enemy won’t.”

  “Got a point there.” Meeka revised. “Then don’t endanger her life. Just because you can’t die doesn’t mean she can’t.”

  “I can promise that a least.” Brooke smiled as she went to the door while Meeka visited the bathroom to take care of some personal needs. The moment Brooke exited their bedroom she found several doors under constant guard. Two doors to the east stood General Kurk’s wife Elleanne with her double bladed staff. Her posture was just as rigid as the other soldiers, one ready to act as needed. Brooke sent her senses out and felt who lay within that door and walked over to stand a head taller than the other woman to say “Grab the new queen for her lesson.”
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  “My orders were clear they were not to be disturbed.”

  “They are both awake and not mating. Do it, Sister. Queen Katelyn has a duty to me to fulfill.”

  “If I get scolded, you’ll take responsibility.” The blademaster warned before turning around and began rasping her knuckles on the guestroom door.

  “What is it?” Boomed King Tate’s voice.

  “Lady Brooke has come for the queen.”

  “We will be out in a moment.” She replied and was truthful because in half a minute the door slid open to reveal the king and his blushing bride wearing her gold circlet to slightly manage her bright, curly red hair. Katelyn had to blink and said “Lady Brooke, My… you’ve changed.”

  Brooke smirked and offered a wink to the petite woman. “The paint comes off. Since the water ceremony is complete, you will not find anyone painted other than those who go hunting, but that will not happen since so much food remains from the feast yesterday. Go retrieve your knife I gave you.”

  “Oh I forgot!” She rushed back inside and returned.

  “Great sex does tend to make thoughts stray.” Brooke roared at the queen’s great blush that transformed her features. “I take it your man satisfied you.”

  “Hello, I’m right here.” King Tate waved his hand playfully at being spoken around and not to.

  Instead of nibbling on the bait, Katelyn, despite blushing hotly, nodded vigorously. “It was better than anything I had ever imagined in my whole life. It was such a beautiful time… but must we? I’m sore. I’ve not been with a man in the six years I was taken from slavery in the empire.”

  Brooke quirked an eyebrow. “Say that after mating with a man with a lance as huge as my mate’s. Your mate’s’ is impressive, but cannot compare. Toughen yourself, Sister. Now follow me.” She turned around and walked away, not needing to say anything more.

  The king grabbed his sword before the three of them followed the hostess down the stairs. Mouthwatering aromas wafted past them and he said “That smells delicious.”

  “Tohka is the best cook in the family… aside from Father’s sausages.” Meeka said as she came in behind them. “She can cook just about anything and loves to do it. Between dealing with children and feeding those she loves, she is skilled at being a nurturer. It is best she is to bare our first baby. Her skills with the family are simple, but irreplaceable.”

  “Flatterer!” Tohka called out from the other side of the room as the group entered the spacious living room. Her breasts were powdered with flour from baking. “Good morning, but we won’t be ready for another twenty minutes.”

  “At ease, Captain.” The king said as Cillian saluted the moment they came into view. Cillian checked Return in its scabbard and asked “My King, are you up to a match this morning?”

  “I believe I am.”

  The group left out the front door, but Meeka went the other way to check on her herbs and plucked any weed shoots that had sprung up from the day before. Many were medicinal, but a section was isolated for fresh herb seasonings.

  “Unbelievable!” The king of Vlara whispered as they reach the backside of the tree to find a training area beyond any he had ever witnessed before. But beyond the training dummies, weights and spinning drums with stick was a strange gauntlet where they all spied Cage flipping around and around a bar before lunching himself at a much higher bar and locked his arms at a ninety degree angle and there were these wooden slats made at an angle where he jumped one section at a time before reaching the topmost point and doing another acrobatic flip and launching himself at a rope with a ring where he zip-lined down, and let go to roll and continued with the momentum to rapidly climb a difficult rock wall more than fifty feet high and once at the top he flipped into a precarious handstand at the edge to begin a series of pushups, until he got to the point where he did so on just his thumbs. Great body control and balance are all that allowed him to remain erect and not fall. The group stared there in awed silence, counting to one hundred before he flipped completely over and ran down a steep ramp, dodging hundreds of flimsy sticks jutting up all the way down by a hairs breath. He then stopped for a breather before charging across the stream that made the waterfall and go straight into another section of strange blocks and small buildings to begin flipping, hopping and showing overwhelming athleticism on and around them.

  Chuckling drew their gaze to King Skylar and his wife lounging on a bench up against the large tree home. Both looked rather miserable while holding a steaming mug of coffee to cure their hangover while watching the warlock exercise.

  The moment of change allowed Tate to ask “What kind of gauntlet is that?”

  “He hasn’t named it, but says it keeps his Parkour skills sharp. He says it is also called Free Running, whatever that is. All I know is he moves like no man I’ve ever come across. And he hasn’t used a trace of magic since he started and this is his fifth time doing it without more than a five minute break. I can tell you right now few can do it, but none can make it seem as easy as he does. Believe me, I already tried. I’ll do it again when the dink leaves my head.”

  “Cage does ten laps, as he calls them, three times a week. I’m not a man” Brooke stated the obvious “so my upper body cannot last like his… and I cannot do handstand pushups on my thumbs. I can do fifty four at most the same way though. And I’ve only successfully completed the course once, but we raced and he did it three times to my one. It strains ones endurance… if you do not cheat.”

  “Cheat?” Katelyn asked

  “Yes, cheat. When Cage grew this many weeks ago from several pine seeds, some of our warriors resorted to using their new gifts to simply pass each obstacle. I was mad they resort to unfair advantages, but Cage said it helped teach them how to balance their strength at a moment’s notice so they didn’t wear their mana out in combat, but they still cheated because he doesn’t have super strength or speed. This was made to push natural limits, not magical.”

  “Oh.”

  “You can try later. Now you are mine. Come with me.” Brooke led the new queen over to the moss padded circles used to train. She then began teaching the novice woman how to properly hold and use the weapon.

  “My King, are you well for this?” Cillian asked as he drew the re-forged Return from his back in a practiced, fluid motion.

  “Unlike my counterparts, I know my limits and how to moderate my drink.” The king bantered and Skylar gave a playful, yet rude gesture unbefitting of his station. King Tate drew his own sword passed from king to king, dating back to the first Vlaran ruler.

  Cillian and the king moved to an open space where the flat ground could safely allow the practice to commence. They began with a series of testing thrusts and didn’t get serious till Jormon and Gaz arrived and watched from the balcony above. Thanks to the ancient wisdom given by their reptilian partners, they began to expand the combat, applying more speed and strength till their blades clashed with such force, normal weapons would have shattered. It was clear who had more extensive training when Cillian was slowly pushed further and further back by his king. Strength and speed alternated so as to extend endurance and not burn themselves out. This lasted minutes and was a simple spar to keep one’s wits sharp and forms crisp rather than rusty.

  By the time Cillian dropped to his knees and could barely keep Return from falling from his grasp, King Tate wiped his brow and turned to a single person clapping their hands slowly. Cage leaned up against a fixed dummy, wearing just a sheen of sweat. “Not bad, Tate. Seems like Semek has finally been teaching you how to fight more effectively. Two weeks ago you were pathetic, but now you can actually move the right ways. You’ve still got a long way to go, but you have certainly grown more accustomed to your new power. Want to hold that match for real this time now that you’re warmed up?”

  “I’d be glad, but if you give me a minute or two to catch my breath.”

  The warlock nodded and summoned his own pale blade from inside his office to begin meticulously looking
it over, still not finding a chip or dent in the special weapon. As he did this, King Tate breathed slow and deep while observing his beautiful wife learning how to use a knife properly and winced each time Brooke threw her to the soft ground, but she got back up quickly even though she was completely exhausted.

  In a few minutes Cage came over with a growing grin while his opponent’s expression turned seriously stoic so as to properly concentrate. Just as soon as Cillian officially declared “Begin!” did the warlock laugh and rush forward to begin the attack with a right punch as he showed himself to be ambidextrous, carrying Ghosts Bane in his left. The swords met with a loud clang, but Cage’s fist met Tate’s right elbow to overextend the man’s sword arm. Cage gripped his weapon neither too loose or tight. Otherwise the impact of the two weapons would have painfully numbed his hand. Just before the joint would have broke Cage sensed a burst of power grow along only Tate’s arm itself and reinforced the area just in time. King Tate went to counter with a kick, but Cage’s knee went forward and diverted all the power aside and while Tate was off balance he was grabbed by the arm and flipped over Cage’s shoulder.

  Cage watched closely as Tate twisted a moment before hitting the granite hard ground and rolled once before springing to his feet and brought his sword up, pointed at the ready. “Not bad. You’ve been practicing how to fall the right way.”

  King Tate began walking around in slow circles, matching Cage’s languid steps. “After the attack on the Winter Tournament, I commissioned every martial arts master in Vlara to teach proper falling techniques along with how to breathe. Blademasters I’ve got plenty of, but unarmed masters are quite elusive. I cannot count how many times I was thrown till I too understood the importance of what you spoke of that day. Many of my soldiers are learning, especially those I’ve been forced to draft.”

  This time they lunged together, but instead of flashing swords and the clash of metal, Cage showed beyond normal reflexes as he moved like a snake, avoiding each blow by blade or body. Tate pushed himself faster and faster, but could not come close to injure the man who laughed, almost dancing. Tate realized he was being drawn in almost too late, but he managed to leap twenty feet backwards just as fingers grazed his throat. He didn’t get far as Cage closed the distance in the blink of an eye and dove forward, rolled on his back and pushed off the ground inches from King Tate’s toes and mule-kicked him in the gut so fast he couldn’t react.