“Do you still think I'm a mutant?” I whispered.
Marex's hands clenched around my waist, and my hand clenched around his throat.
“I never thought that,” Marex murmured. “I was fighting this attraction.”
“Crow told me that we need you,” I said skeptically. “He said we could only conquer the Wizard with all of the elements combined. I can unite us, but only if you're willing.”
“What do you want from me?” Marex stared up at me hopefully. “Ask it, and it's yours.”
“Your rage is a front, isn't it?” I mused with an air of epiphany. “You have them fooled into believing that you're an alpha when all you want to do is submit.”
Marex roared and rolled me over so that he was above me.
“I am an alpha,” he growled. “I protect and guide my people with strength, wisdom, and magic.” His angry stare lowered to my lips. “But I have... dark urges.”
I pushed him back over and flattened my body over his. I couldn't come close to covering him completely, nor could I ever hope to hold him down with my physical strength. But domination wasn't about the power you had; it was about the control your partner gave you. Marex gasped with pleasure as I grabbed fistfuls of his hair and pulled.
“Urges to be dominated?” I asked as I ground myself against him. “Urges to be controlled?”
“And to feel...”
“What?” I asked roughly. “Tell me what you want, and let's find out—right now, before we go any further—if I can give it to you.”
“To feel possessed... and to feel loved,” he whispered. “I want something special; a connection beyond the comfort of an ordinary marriage. I want to feel the extremes of passion, and I want to give it in return.”
I smiled softly down at Marex; trying to hide the excitement that rose inside me. “I think we just may be exactly what each other needs.”
Then I covered Marex's mouth with mine and kissed him possessively. The lion was mine.
14
Uniting the Elemental Witches was only the first step. Next, we had to train the armies to fight together. Although my mother had been the one to orchestrate this uprising, I needed to be the one leading it. So, she handed the reins over to me.
We decided to train the armies on neutral ground; my mother's land. This also happened to be the closest region to the Emerald City; where the Wizard ruled. We marched the Earth Army back with us, and along the way, we gathered the full armies of Water and Fire, By the time we were passing the rebuilt Munchkin Village, we had quite the procession.
The Munchkins came out to line the road; cheering for the united army as it passed. The troops—riding within sparks provided by the Fire Witches—waved back; encouraged by the warm reception. It had been that way through the entire journey. Word had spread of our efforts, and the citizens of Oz came out to show their appreciation. Not only did we receive gratitude, but also supplies; villages brought baskets of food out to us as we rode by.
When we pulled into a clearing near my mother's home, we saw that the support wasn't going to stop there. More of the unusual races of Oz had gathered to offer their help to our cause. From the mountain people with their angular faces and sharp stares to the desert dwellers with scaled skin and slit pupils; everyone had come to lend what strength they could to our troops. My mother—seeing a new role that needed filling—set about to organize the volunteers as soon as she stepped off our spark.
Soon, we had launderers, cooks, and construction crews. The little things most armies had to do for themselves would be taken care of for us. Those things took a lot of time and having them looked after for us was a huge help. I made sure to thank all of our volunteers personally. Then I got to work on organizing our army.
Each tribe of witches had their own military ranking, but I decided to use my own system; based loosely on the US Army's. I didn't give myself a title; it was enough that everyone knew I was in charge. Calling myself Commander in Chief or some other such nonsense would have felt pretentious. But Rantin, Crow, and Marex became my generals. Beneath them, the Army was broken down into the separate tribes; the tribes were then separated into regiments which were commanded by colonels, and then each regiment was divided into companies which were led by captains. Yes; I know I skipped a lot of ranks, but we needed simplicity.
I met with my generals and their colonels, and together we decided how best to use each elemental group. At first, I kept the tribes separate, but then I remembered the vision I had, and I started to test theories on what would happen were certain elements to work together. On Earth, armies had formations; fighting collectives of different forces that worked together to create a balanced attack. I saw no reason that the same theory couldn't be applied in Oz.
My generals/consorts—who had been getting to know me better every day—weren't surprised when my formation suggestion was proven viable. But the Colonels were amazed to find that the individual elements became much stronger when banded together. So, we changed the regiments to formations.
Soldiers from Fire, Water, and Earth were transferred into other companies. These companies remained under the control of their original captains and were still mostly comprised of their elemental witches. Once the company combinations were determined, I took one blended company from each army and trained them to fight together. My twisted magic made it easier for me to recognize how each element could enhance the other.
Then there were the specialized attacks on Air specifically. Those training sessions were handled by my mother. She taught our troops the weaknesses of Air. After they trained with both of us, the companies went back to their formations and trained the other companies.
It was all going surprisingly smoothly; until the day we were attacked.
It had been over a week, and we had grown a little cocky. Of course, it had occurred to us that we may have been spotted by minions of the Air Witches. It would have been impossible for our huge cavalcade to escape notice. But there had been no sign of either Air Witches or the Wizard, and we had assumed that they weren't taking us seriously; that they were expecting to handle our threat when we arrived at the Emerald City.
So stupid really.
At least we hadn't slacked on our patrols, and the first wave of flying soldiers was spotted in advance. Alarm bells rang out, and the formations clamored to arm themselves. In the case of the Earth Witches, the soldiers simply shifted into their half man/half beast forms—the weres. Within moments, all sorts of animal-people were roaming through the ranks; some were even winged.
“Marex!” I shouted. “Get your birds in the air!”
“Airborne!” Marex shouted. “Attack!”
As our ground troops settled into their companies, werefalcons and werehawks took to the sky. They looked so small compared to the witches' flying bears, but our soldiers had been trained on how to use their size to their advantage. These earth witches had been born with wings, as opposed to given them through enchantment. So, they were much more agile, to begin with. Then there was the mass of the bears. Bears were built for a ground attack; they were clumsy, at best, in the air. When the hawks and falcons aimed their attacks on the shoulder joints of the bears' wings, the flying bears were soon grounded.
It was hard to watch. Knowing that these bears were actually innocent people who had been forced into servitude, made it feel as if we were fighting our own kin. And some of us were. It was a civil war; tribesmen against fellow tribesmen. As bear after bear fell crashing to their deaths, I found myself shivering with suppressed sorrow. Each thud on the earth, each wailing cry, sliced through me.
“Dareaux!” Rantin shook me. “What are your orders? Dareaux!”
The flying bears weren't the only troops attacking us. Smaller animals were able to avoid the werebirds and were dive-bombing our ground troops. But I could barely register it. My eyes were full of images of bears shifting back into men as they died. This wasn't what I had prepared for. But I doubt that war ever goes as expected. Tear
s started to trickle down my cheeks as the grief snowballed up my chest.
And then my world exploded.
A bright yellow glow—nearly white—burst from my body. I had to close my eyes against the glare, and Rantin dove for cover. I rose into the sky as waves of Air energy blasted out from me with only my grief to direct it. I hadn't lost control of my magic in such a way since the first day I used it. It should have scared me, but I had become intimately familiar with my Storm, and I trusted it. I knew it only wanted to help me, and so I gave it free reign.
The glow warmed with approval as it radiated out from me and into the sky. Streamers split from the initial blast and hit the flying creatures who weren't born to fly. Even though I was blinded by my own magic, I saw it all in my mind; the werehawks and werefalcons pulling back as flying bears, monkeys, lions, badgers, leopards, and tigers were all encased in my magic. Their wings vanished, but they didn't fall. My light carried them gently to the ground, and once there, another blast pulsed out from them. I felt the spell crack; the enchantment my aunt had cast upon them was gone.
My armies watched in amazement as some of the landed creatures shifted into human form, and some simply scurried off into the woods. The men and women who were once enslaved by Air had now been freed by it. They dropped to their knees and wept with relief. The earth witches of our army rushed forward to help their people.
“No!” A female voice screeched from above us. “It's not possible! One magic cannot break another!”
I opened my eyes to see a woman riding a broomstick through the air. I blinked in surprise at that; my mother didn't need a broom to fly, and neither had Glinda. Neither did I, for that matter; I was currently flying sans broom. Well, technically I was hovering, but whatever. But this woman rode a broom like a Halloween witch. She even looked like our human myths; with wild, black hair and a grayish-green tint to her skin. Toto barked up at her as if he wanted to tear her into tiny bits. I was leaning toward the same opinion.
“Easy, Toto,” I murmured as I floated down to the ground beside him.
I pet him reassuringly while keeping an eye on the witch above us.
“Hello, Momba,” my mother called out gleefully. “Allow me to introduce you to my daughter; Dareaux Thelia; the Storm Witch.”
“Storm Witch and Spellbreaker!” The Earth Witches cried.
My mother smiled proudly at me.
“This is not over, Tavia!” Momba cried.
“No, it's not!” Rantin shouted as he sent a stream of fire shooting up at Momba. “You will pay for the deaths of my mother and sister!”
Momba dove, and Rantin's blast hit the brush end of her broom. It caught fire, and Momba screamed with fright. She waved a hand at the brushes, but her Air magic only served to feed the flames. Momba turned about to flee as Toto started barking again.
“I'll get you yet, Dareaux Thelia!” Momba shouted. “You and your ugly dog too!”
As Momba streaked away—leaving a trail of smoke in her wake—our army cheered. But Rantin's gaze was grimly focused on the escaping witch. I slid my hand into his and squeezed.
“We'll get her, not the other way around,” I promised him. “Your family will be avenged; along with every other family she has hurt.
Rantin shifted his stare to me and smiled. “For the first time, Dareaux, I truly believe that.”
15
Momba's attack had given our army confidence. If I could free all of the enslaved animals and earth witches, it would neutralize the entire Air Army. That would leave only the Wizard's troops and the defenses of the Emerald City to surmount; both of which were significant. Still; it was a huge advantage. The skirmish had also proven my worth as a leader and gained me a new title: Spellbreaker.
The freed earth witches joined our army, and they bowed respectfully to me every time I passed. It felt awkward, but Marex said the tribute was necessary; their gratitude needed to be shown to assuage their honor. I was just relieved to see an end to the skeptical looks I'd been getting. Respect made training much easier. And despite our good show at the small battle, we needed much more training and preparation before we marched on the Emerald City.
“I've been thinking about that vision,” I said to my generals. “About how we have to work together to defeat the Wizard.”
“We will,” Rantin said confidently.
“Yes, but I think we need to do more than plan on it,” I said. “I think we need to prepare something.”
“Something?” Crow asked.
“A weapon geared toward the Wizard's extraordinary recuperation abilities,” I explained. “And I think I've come up with an idea. There was a weapon used on Earth once; its recipe has been lost to history, but I think with our magic we can work with—and even enhance—the concept.”
“What is this weapon called?” Crow asked.
“Greek Fire,” I said. “It's an oily substance that when lit, cannot be put out. Water will only cause it to burn hotter.”
Crow's eyes widened. “Fire from Rantin, oil from Marex's Earth, and Water from me. But if my Water fans the flames, what will Air do?”
“Air will be a cushion,” I said. “I will cast my magic around the heat of Rantin's to protect it from Water. Then I will use my Storm to bind all of our magic together.”
“Creating a combustible material that no physical or supernatural means can douse,” Rantin said with wonder. “When do we start?”
“Right now.” I tossed a jar of palm oil to Marex. “Start infusing that with your magic.”
It took us seven hours, but when we were finished, we stood in front of a campfire that wouldn't go out, no matter what we did to it. Marex cast dirt upon it, and it wouldn't be smothered. I pulled the air away from it, and it did nothing. Finally, Crow rained water down upon it, and it blazed hotter. That fire burned until all of the wood was incinerated.
We looked at each other and started to smile.
16
Weeks went by without any sign of Momba or her sisters. We trained hard during the day, and at night we got to know each other; the different tribes socially mingled while I spent time with my generals. We spent most of the day training together, but I preferred to spend time privately with my consorts in the evenings; one on one. It's hard enough to connect with someone when it's just the two of you, but with two other men hovering around, it was too strange for me. I couldn't relax; I kept feeling like maybe I was focusing too much on one of them and neglecting another. So, we rotated nights for me to spend with each of them.
“I have no idea how this will work between us,” I said to Rantin on his night.
We were wrapped in a fur cloak together, sitting before a campfire Rantin had made in the woods behind my mother's cottage. He had an arm around me, and it felt good—natural. I fit perfectly into the curve of his side, and his magic warmed us both.
“You are the only obstacle to our relationship.” Rantin nuzzled my cheek. “Crow, Marex, and I have accepted the situation and are ready to move on.”
“Move on?” I jerked my head up. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Further our connection,” he lowered his voice. “Deepen it.”
My throat went dry. “I don't know if I'm ready for deep.”
“Dareaux, I know it hasn't been that long in the scope of a normal relationship,” Rantin said. “But for people like us—with our bond—it has been too long. I know you; I know your mind and your heart. We all do, and you know us. Do you love us? Do you love me?”
“I...” I stared up into his night-darkened eyes and became mesmerized by the reflection of firelight within them.
“Dareaux,” Rantin whispered before he lightly brushed my lips with his. “I love you. And that is a miracle for me. It's okay if you don't feel the same yet.”
“I love you too,” the words just slipped out.
I guess that I needed to hear them said to me before I could say them in return. But once it had been spoken, something melted inside me, and I exhaled
a long sigh of relief. Rantin was right; it had been too long.
“I love you all,” I admitted. “And I want more too.”
Rantin's hot mouth covered mine, and I moved up into his kiss. It felt different this time; there was no reserve within either of us. Rantin moaned as he pulled me onto his lap. My hands slid over his wide shoulders and tightened; pulling him closer. Meanwhile, his arms went around me urgently and eased me down. I felt him hard between us, but we were both wearing pants, and our eager kiss showed no signs of slowing; even to remove the barrier.
Rantin had other plans for us anyway. He stood—lifting me with him—and cradled me to his chest as he strode back toward camp. A waved a hand over his shoulder, and rain fell over the fire; putting it out. The camp had become a makeshift village, and my generals shared a large tent in the center of it. Rantin went straight to their tent and carried me inside. He set me on my feet only to fasten the flap behind us, and then scooped me up before he turned to face Marex and Crow.
“She's ready,” Rantin said simply.
The other men stood with eager expressions.
“Um...” I faltered. “I didn't think about it being all three of you at once.”
“It won't technically be at once,” Crow said softly; his eyes flashing bright blue in the light of the lanterns. “But we decided that it would be best for our bond if we came together as a group this first time.”
“You have the final say, Dareaux,” Marex said with a hesitant glance at the other men.
I lifted a brow at Marex; wondering how much of himself he'd reveal to the other men. He stared steadily back, and I knew he was more prepared than I. Then Rantin carried me to a camp bed in the far left corner of the tent. He set me down on the mattress and started kissing me again. I lost all thoughts of doubt as his hands started to wander, and then there were more than two hands on me. Marex and Crow were with us; helping to undress me. I reached out to them; blindly seeking them as I continued to kiss Rantin.
Realms and Rebels: A Paranormal and Fantasy Reverse Harem Collection Page 83