Sacrifice

by Underwood, Patrick

  “Good to know, honestly I should have asked Vex if I was going to age as a human or demi.” We reached the entrance to the cave, and I peeked out of the opening. No movement caught my eye, and I moved forward. “Keep your spear out and ready just in case—" A snap sound came from somewhere up the canyon behind a tree.

  “Down!” I shouted and pushed Tyla back into the cave.

  Time slowed for me as I saw the arrow coming towards me. It was still moving fast, but like a slow ball rather than a speeding bullet.

  I stepped to the side and knocked it from the air with my makeshift spear staff.

  “Hold! Gods damn it! No one shoot!” a male voice said as he stepped out into view.

  “I am not here for you… they should not have fired that arrow, and I am sorry for that. I want the girl, give her to us and you can go free with a reward for her capture. She is a wanted fugitive by the new lord of the human territories and the Matriarchs of Nitre and Black-run.”

  When he finished, I noticed two more archers step out of the trees and pointed their knocked arrows at me. Four of them, two of us.

  Ah fuck.

  15

  Ambush

  I put my back to the cavern entrance as I gazed around at each of the four men. Each had a peculiar tattoo on their forehead that looked like an upside-down triangle in a circle. My gut told me that it was a Roxannez symbol, but I could not be sure why I thought that, or what it meant.

  “Stern? Is that you?” Tyla called out from the cavern before I could reply.

  “Don't come out of the cave,” I whispered.

  The man who had spoken stepped forward. “Yes, apprentice Tyla, I am sorry about this, but Lord Seir has tasked me with tracking you down and apprehending you.”

  “You would betray her memory so?” Tyla asked.

  “I have not betrayed her. For she is alive and issued her own order personally besides Seir's before I left. I must tell you she is in his service now.”

  Stern bowed his head, and I could see a little shame on his face.

  “What?” Tyla asked.

  I quickly backed up into the cave to grab hold of her and keep her back.

  “Stay here. We will figure this out. Just don't give him what he wants.”

  “He corrupted my mother!” she screamed.

  I struggled to keep her back with one arm while keeping my guard up in case any of the men tried something.

  “They have ordered me to guarantee your safety on pain of death should I fail. Your mother stated she will accept you back with open arms and ensure your… transition into Sier's service will be painless.”

  Tyla was breathing hard, she stopped struggling and was now staring at the ground. I wasn't sure she was in a state to be much help.

  “Tyla,” I whispered. “You are not going with them. I'll deal with this, but I need you to promise me you will stay in the cave. Can you do that for me?”

  “I… Don't… Order me to do so… please! I am not sure I have the will on my own,” she pleaded.

  I hesitated, just for a second.

  Do I cross that line?

  I swallowed hard. “I order you to stay in the cave, unless your life is in jeopardy, then you can use your best judgment.”

  A shudder went through Tyla's body. “Yes… Master.”

  I hated that term, but I didn't have time to correct it. “I'll be back soon.”

  I stepped back out to the mouth of the cave, relieved to see that no one had changed their position or charged me.

  “I am going to have to refuse your request. The lady does not want to work for Seir.”

  The man nodded, as if expecting that. Was that approval on his face?

  “I will give you one last chance to reconsider,” he said. “I have been told to use whatever force necessary. You will not survive.”

  I reached into my pocket and cupped an item in my right hand. shifting the spear into my left while I did so.

  “Not happening,” I replied, then lowered my stance.

  Ramping up my newfound ability to affect my power, my perception of time slowed just a bit compared to before. Hopefully, I could use it in the entire fight.

  Stern's voice slowed in his response. “So… Be… It… Fire!” he yelled, his voice slow and deep from the time dilation.

  As he sounded out the last word, I pushed off the ground and threw the object in my hand to the nearest archer, adjusting my throw along the way to line it up.

  One of the Panzite crystals I had removed from the cave rocketed towards the archer and hit him in the face.

  BOOM!

  “Shit,” I yelled as I hit the ground in a roll, my ears now ringing.

  I had not expected it to explode like that.

  The archer dropped to the ground without his head as I started healing my ear drums.

  The other archer on that side took cover from the explosion with his hands over his ears, but the last one on Stern's side pulled back the string and fired.

  The arrow came at me with a twang and sped at me like an average little leaguer's fast ball. Not slow enough for me to knock down, but I evaded it easily enough.

  I countered by taking my spear and throwing it as hard as I could at him, my increased strength sending it forward like a bullet.

  It hit him dead center, and he folded forward in half from the impact and his body flew backwards.

  I pulled my dagger and spun, putting the archer and stern on my left and right. Releasing my power of time perception for a moment to talk to them.

  “You two want to run away, or should we keep playing?” I asked.

  Hoping they ran for it, I used my tricks and now it was a little more dicey to guarantee my win. I was hoping the shock and awe would send them scattering.

  “Fuck this!” the archer said as he dropped his bow and ran.

  He stopped after half a second and reached up to his head.

  “Arghhghh!” he screamed from pain, rolling around on the ground.

  What the fuck?

  “It's the symbol on our heads,” Stern said, somehow standing there the whole time and staying calm. “It ties us to Seir making sure we cannot bend or break his orders without extreme pain. If it doesn't kill him, he will wish he was dead for several minutes at least. It is to remind you of the cost of displeasing your lord.”

  He sounded somber, as though having experienced it.

  “Are you a Demigod too?” he asked me with a smile on his face.

  “Does it matter?” I replied with a question of my own.

  He shook his head. “No, she is still coming with us, and I still have to kill you.”

  “You seem pretty confident in that.”

  “Because I know something you don't,”

  A whoosh coming from behind me was my only warning as a fireball slammed into my shoulder. I spun from the impact as the pain spread throughout my body.

  I had to focus on the water in my shoulder so that it told me how bad it was. It burned me all up and down my back. The pain was so bad that it threatened to send me into a blackout.

  I rolled on the ground to put out the fire, pushing myself up against the rock face near the entrance to the cave. The stench of burned skin invaded my nose, and I knew I was in trouble.

  I gazed at where the fireball came from, where a woman with dirty blond hair stepped out of the underbrush.

  I was honestly not sure how I did not know she was there. Her greenish dress, with a leather vest I would have to struggle to call armor, only really served to amplify her rather massive bust.

  How did I miss her?

  “Impressive… for a man,” the slutty woods-woman wanna-be said as she put a device back in her satchel.

  “Susan!” Tyla called. “Is that you too?”

  “Yes lover!” Susan replied giddily. “Come out where we can see you.”

  “I… cannot. I am sorry. Why are you here?”

  “To bring you to your new lord. Seir is most… generous to those who serve him w
ell. I have learned this lesson entirely,” she said, a knowing smile on her face.

  “Did he turn you too?” Tyla asked, despondent.

  “Turn me? No, he freed me! I never knew the power and pleasure I was missing out until I met that man.”

  I could hear the sobbing in the cave.

  I tested my shoulder, able to move it once more. If they could keep talking for just a few more minutes while I focused…

  “Come Tyla, he promised your mother you would join our harem. We could be together again. I know how much you loved what I did to you those nights we were alone.”

  Stern walked up behind Susan and stood next to her. “Miss Tyla, please come out, or I'll have to kill your protector out here.”

  A blast of water the size of a bowling ball exited the cave, striking Stern in the chest and sending him backwards.

  Tyla marched out of the cave, a grim look on her face. “You will not harm him!”

  “My little Tyla has grown stronger, I see,” Susan said, an evil smirk on her face.

  “I have grown in a lot of ways since we last sparred.”

  Tyla shot another ball of water at Susan, who jumped back and put up a narrow wall of flame to eat up the projectile of water. An explosion of steam, the result of the two forces meeting.

  Out of time, I jumped up, intense pain running up and down my left shoulder, but it was the best I was going to get. I slowed time once more but could feel my energy depleting to zero. Hopefully, it was just enough to give me the edge I needed.

  I rushed forward and tackled Stern to the ground before he could launch his crossbow bolt at Tyla. I heard the crack of the crossbow hitting the ground and the single arrow firing with a twang in the small canyon.

  A shriek sounded from a woman's mouth, and I panicked for a second. Looking over, expecting to find the bolt stuck into Tyla.

  But it was Susan on the ground. A bolt rammed through her back angled so that it pierced her heart and lungs. She had dropped to her knees from the impact.

  I looked down at Stern and hit him on the side of the head with my elbow. He went out instantly and I stood up in pain.

  Turning around, I found Tyla holding Susan's nearly lifeless body in her hands, which were glowing from the power she had pushed into the woman.

  I walked up gently and watched as the life drained out of Susan's eyes.

  “Don't go, Susan! He can give you back your life.”

  Susan let out a single smile before she released her last breath and died.

  “I… couldn't save her,” Tyla sobbed through her tears.

  I reached out and grabbed her shoulder, letting her know I was there as she cried and not bothering with any words as I focused on comforting her and healing my wounds.

  16

  The Carriage Ride

  “I believe they will not last more than a month before we force them to surrender, my lord,” General Taimana said.

  “Excellent news, General. No need to risk your men in a direct assault, use siege equipment only. This is the last of the human armies that oppose us, and we will teach them the price of resisting my rule. So, ignore any offers of surrender and let them starve to death. None come out alive, do you understand?”

  “I do, Lord.”

  “Carry on.” The general saluted and pulled out of the window before stepping off the moving carriage to go about his duties.

  The large carriage they were in continued its rocking on the cobblestone paved roadway on its way to the capital of Nitre.

  “Does it bother you I am about to let your only remaining husband die of starvation, Patricia?” Seir asked the woman in the seat across from him, an evil smirk on his face.

  With no hesitation Patricia said, “No, my lord. Your happiness is all that concerns me now.”

  “Good.” He smiled, taking pleasure in her subservience. “Take off your dress and service me with your—”

  Pain gripped Seir. He turned pale as he grappled with it.

  “What is it, husband?” Josephina asked with alarm from the seat next to Patricia.

  Seir gasped for a few more seconds, and he pushed the feeling of pain away. It was a feeling he did not like in the slightest.

  “Susan is dead,” he croaked.

  “What does that mean?” Patricia asked, the pitch in her voice rising.

  “It means,” Seir said through his heavy breathing. “That we either underestimated the power of your daughter or Susan was a stupid twit that is better off dead. Now follow your command Patricia!”

  Patricia did not hesitate as she began untying the ties that held her dress in place.

  “Get me, Albris!” Seir yelled out of the window.

  “Yes, lord!” a male voice sounded and ran off.

  Seir pulled his cock out of his pants. “All the way to the base this time.”

  Patricia nodded and got to her knees while she tied her long black hair in a ponytail. “Yes, lord,” she said before she put Seir’s still soft manhood in her mouth.

  The carriage rocked as a man climbed up onto the sideboard. “You summoned me, Lord Sier?”

  The body builder of a man poked his head through the carriage window. Glancing around at the occupants, only briefly stopping on Patricia before focusing on Seir.

  “Yes, Albris, the concubine I sent after this one’s,” He said as he patted Patricia's head, “daughter has failed and is dead. The tracker I sent is likely dead as well. I need you to find another tracker and go after them.”

  The large man brushed his hand over his closely cropped hair, flexing his muscles as he considered this. “Do I get to keep her this time like you promised?”

  Seir felt the sensation as Patricia gagged deeply on his shaft, a knowing smile formed on his lips. “No, I have promised that I would take her as my own. However, you can pick any three you choose from the holding facility at the academy as recompense.”

  Patricia became enthusiastic in her bobbing movements, bringing her hand and encircling the base of his shaft to let Seir know she approved of his words.

  “Yes, lord. I will hunt her down and bring her to you immediately.”

  “Mm-mm,” Seir moaned, unable to help himself. Finally starting to relax after the shock and anger, he continued. “Good, thank you. You may go.”

  Albris left the same way that General Taimana did without another word.

  “You coddle her,” Josephina said, reaching over and caressing Patricia's shapely thighs before reaching up and rubbing her womanly folds.

  “Mmmmmm,” Patricia moaned deeply then backed her ass back into the wandering hand as she was caressed by her lover.

  “Only because you asked me to, though.” Seir paused. “I have to admit she is an immensely powerful addition. My power grew significantly when we added her to our harem… and you were right, she is also excellent at using her mouth. Very relaxing.”

  “I did. Speaking of, may I?” Josephina asked as she sat back, hiked up her dress, and spread her legs, exposing herself.

  Seir nodded and pulled Patricia up from his manhood and pushed her towards Josephina.

  Without a word or complaint, Patricia wiped her mouth of the drool that fell off her chin. She then moved to the other side of the carriage, sticking her tongue into the waiting slit that was presented to her. She followed quickly with a shake of her butt to announce she was ready for Seir's attention.

  “May I join you, my lord?” Miranda's voice called from above the carriage.

  “Not this time. Keep watch. You will have your turn later,” Seir replied out the window as he got out of his seat to line up to his new target.

  He thrust inside of Patricia's waiting womanhood, eliciting a stifled moan of pleasure from the brunette woman.

  “Thank you, my lord,” she said when she pushed away from Josephina for just a moment before diving back in.

  “I take care of my concubines. Be prepared to turn around and give me your mouth for your reward,” Seir said with a smile as he pumped hard and
fast into Patricia.

  “Mmm-Hmmm,” Patricia mumbled and nodded since her tongue was quite busy.

  Seir gazed into Josephina's eyes while they both enjoyed their new toy. Susan was but a fading memory.

  17

  Cleaning up the mess

  I cut the man's throat without a second thought. Try to hurt me or mine and you die, that simple. The archer was still out from the pain earlier and didn't even scream as I killed him.

  Whatever this pain compliance thing was, and whoever thought of it was an idiot.

  I walked towards Stern, intent on doing the same thing to him, not even bothering to wipe off the new knife I gained from the archer. Much better than the shit daggers we had before.

  “Wait, master!” Tyla said as I grabbed his hair to pull up his head and end his life.

  I froze.

  She got up, setting her former friend gently on the ground before doing so, and walked towards me.

  “Tyla,” I whispered. “I am not sure I am comfortable with you calling me that.”

  “I am sorry m — Derrick,” she said, still sniffling. “I did not even realize I was saying it… but it felt natural to me. As if I get pleasure from calling you that.”

  I shook my head, still holding Stern's hair with my knife, ready to cut his throat. “I… dislike the way this came about. Eventually I'll adjust… but you are too important to me to see you as anything but an equal. Please try?”

  “Yes, my love,” she said.

  “I can live with that. Why did you want me to stop?”

  “Stern was my mother's concubine. It was a secret to all but a few. She was very fond of him, though. If they coerced him into his loyalty to Seir, maybe we can free him?”

  “V—our contact didn't say anything about the loyalty oaths, which I believe this mark on his head represents.” I barely stopped myself from saying Vex's name aloud.

  “All I am asking is we wait for him to wake up and then try. I just find it hard to believe that he would betray my mother willingly.”