Providing a bunch of humans could stand to live like this. Shaking his head, Devon continued after Galway.
“Don’t know how I’d feel about living in a hole in the ground,” the trapper remarked, as if reading his thoughts.
“Me, neither,” Devon admitted.
On the edge of the sleeping tents was a larger one. Galway led the way inside, and the two men found a huge, ornate circle drawn on the floor, a man in robes with horrible scars on his face standing above it. There was no altar, but a younger man stood in its center, looking at the chanting priest nervously. He wheezed as he breathed, holding his chest.
Morgal looked up as they came in, his fire sylph a glowing brand on the ground. “Welcome,” he said quietly. He’d warmed to the pair since they’d come, either disinclined or too busy to harbor suspicions for very long.
Devon nodded. “What’s happening?”
Morgal gestured to the youth. “Jes has breathing problems. We’re hoping he looks like enough of a challenge to attract a healer.”
The priest continued chanting and raised his hands, eyes closing, and the circle glowed dimly. The ritual was nowhere as grandiose as the few Devon had seen; it was stripped of nearly all its trappings. Still, a circle of nothingness opened above the boy, and he cringed, coughing.
Devon waited with the others against the tent wall, watching, but nothing happened. They stood silent for ten minutes until at last the priest dropped his arms and the glow faded from the circle. The gate closed.
“No healer today, I guess,” said the priest.
Morgal sighed. “I can’t say as I’m surprised. They rarely leave the hives, so few of them are wandering around to be attracted. When Ash told me one was near the gate, we hoped she’d take the bait. I suppose she was too busy to notice. Or a battler stopped her. Lucky thing it didn’t try to come through.”
“You know about their hives?” Devon asked, still reeling from his own recent revelation.
“Some. I know the sylphs here are creating one. It gives us all something to work toward, and going underground will make up for the fact that there isn’t any cover from the weather here.” The man nodded to them. “If you could go see Raseb at the foot of the hill, he should have some more work for you both—and for Airi. We need every air sylph we can get.”
“No problem.” Galway turned and headed out.
Devon followed more slowly. As he exited the tent, a distance away he saw a group of young people being herded by an older woman in black, he supposed to their next assignment. Heyou was among them, sidling up against a giggling Solie for a kiss every time the widow’s back was turned. They looked like perfectly normal teenagers with their hormones way out of control. Devon took a deep breath and turned away. As a responsible adult, he should stop them from doing anything foolish. As an intelligent man, there was no way he was going to get between a battle sylph and what he wanted. He followed Galway instead.
Chapter Sixteen
Solie’s bed was a straw tick in a tent shared by three other girls, blankets hung between their beds to give them each a bit of privacy. She was glad of that, for she lay upon it, biting her lip to keep from crying out as Heyou moved atop her. He had her nightshirt shoved up to her neck and licked her nipple, making her want to scream. Apparently, all her reservations were gone. As he moved contentedly from her one small breast to the other, she realized dazedly that in another minute she’d let him have her bloomers off.
Reading her emotions, Heyou could sense where each and every sensitive spot was on her body—and he was determined to find them all. He gently sucked on her breasts, feeling her shudder under him, then moved downward, kissing his way along Solie’s belly. The bed rustled but he didn’t care. The other girls were asleep, and his queen wanted him. Her desire had pulled him from his own bed on the other side of the bluff and into her tent with her. Now she was letting him become one with her.
Reaching the cloth she wore across her lower body proved only a mild distraction, but as he nuzzled lower, Solie made a strangled squeal, shuddering.
Outside the tent, Heyou sensed the Widow Blackwell making her rounds, checking on the youngsters in her charge. He looked over his shoulder in that direction, then turned back to his queen. He couldn’t have her here—it wasn’t safe. Instinct demanded security. Back home, this would be found in the center of the hive itself, other battlers guarding the doors. Here, he wouldn’t enjoy that luxury.
“Come with me, Solie,” he urged.
“Where?” she whispered.
“Somewhere no one will find us.”
“O-okay,” she managed after a few seconds. She let him pull her up.
They went out the back of the tent, Heyou leading her unerringly through the darkness. A few sylphs floated by but said nothing, and he took her to the edge of the cliff. Gasping, Solie backed away.
“It’s okay,” he promised, putting his arms around her. “I won’t let you fall.”
He let himself change for the first time since his fight with Ril, embracing her with his mantle and stepping off the side of the cliff. Solie clung to him, shivering as he flew her down to the plains below, well clear of the horses and livestock and the men who might be tending them, moving fast before she grew frightened enough to lose interest. Landing on the plain, he lowered her to a patch of soft sand, laying himself over her to keep her warm while kissing her neck.
“Where are we?” she gasped.
“Safe.” They were. He couldn’t sense anyone nearby.
Quickly, he pulled her shift up and off entirely, careful not to actually look at her, as she’d commanded, even while he nuzzled her breast and returned to her nipple. Solie looked down at him, her face soft in the dim light of the moon. “You can look at me,” she whispered.
He did. She was beautiful.
Reverent, he pulled her bloomers off, and Solie shivered again, suddenly frightened. What was she doing? He was kissing her again, though, sucking the sensitive skin on her inner thighs, and she collapsed upon the sand. Did it really matter, propriety? They belonged to each other, and this felt too good to stop.
“Heyou,” she whispered.
He licked and nibbled, sending hot fire up her legs, and all she could do was grasp his hair and shiver. He seemed not to mind, his kisses moving upward until he was lapping at the center of her, and she wailed, her entire body shaking. Everything felt like it was exploding inside of her, and he could feel it. She could feel him feeling it, and his enjoyment rocked her even more. She cried out, wailing into the darkness, and unconsciously pulled him against her.
At last the fire eased a bit and she was able to let go of his hair. Heyou nuzzled her contentedly and crawled up the length of her, shedding his own borrowed clothes as he went. “Solie,” he whispered. “My queen.”
Her body was warm, her heart pounding, and he lay against her, his legs fitting themselves perfectly between hers. She let him, still gasping in reaction. He moved himself, pressing against that core of her, and locked his gaze on hers, never looking away.
He pushed against her. For a moment there was resistance. Then he adjusted his size and slid in easily. She enclosed him, hot and damp.
“Oh, my god,” she gasped, her face going white.
He was in her, in his queen! Overcome, Heyou kissed her and belatedly remembered to move, drawing himself out and carefully pushing back in, starting a rhythm that she slowly began to match. She began to cry out, making little whimpers of pleasure underneath him as her fingers clawed his back, pulled him against her.
She felt phenomenal. Heyou started to move faster, to push harder as her heat burned all around him and her hips lifted up so that their bellies smacked together. Ecstasy! He loved her, and his mind projected both that and his passion. In return, he felt Solie’s mind and her wonder, and he accepted both and understood them, and in pure battler instinct he projected them.
She was no longer innocent. She was the queen, the sovereign of all, and in this ultimate act sh
e took her place as the unassailable ruler of a hive in need of a leader. Heyou felt it, and as her chosen, he amplified the pattern of her. Solie was queen!
Every sylph within a dozen miles, and all those of Heyou’s hive line, heard.
Up in the Community they answered Heyou’s call, ignoring their startled masters’ orders and gathered at the edge of the bluff, staring out at the night. A queen was being chosen, the mate of the battler, and sylphs who’d come from a dozen different hives now felt acceptance of their new queen just as they would have back home. Respectfully they gathered, though none went close enough to threaten the battler. They didn’t need to, and even as their masters panicked, screaming calls to arms, they relaxed.
Airi herself found peace unlike any she’d expected since she first crossed the gate. There was a queen again, and with a queen and a battler, the hive was safe.
A hundred and twenty miles away, Mace turned suddenly. He stared northward across the Shale Plain, his eyes glowing. Jasar and Leon slept, but Ril looked at him with bored incomprehension.
Mace couldn’t have spoken even if he was allowed. A queen! A queen of his hive line! He could feel her ascending with her chosen, and if he could have, he would have screamed and run to protect her. There was a queen! As the other battler projected her pleasure and the pattern of her mind into him, Mace accepted both, taking that pattern into his soul, making it his own. She became his queen and his link to this world, and he sighed blissfully, free in his heart, if not in his form. He looked down at Jasar. Not yet.
Solie cried out, overcome. She could feel Heyou’s absolute joy as he moved against her, inside her, and she could feel her own, and she couldn’t tell them apart or figure out who was pleasuring whom. It didn’t matter. There was a fire building in her belly even hotter than before, and Heyou couldn’t move fast enough. She clawed at his back, fingers tangling in his mantle as he became half-disembodied and half-human, pushing her repeatedly into the sand. She kissed him and was kissed in return, her body drenched in a layer of burning sweat.
The pleasure grew, and suddenly it was too much. She stiffened, her scream strangled and shrill. Heyou gasped and pushed into her a final time, shuddering and clinging. A moment later they both collapsed, shaken.
“Oh, gods,” she breathed. That had been magnificent. Gently she put a hand against her lover’s cheek and felt his happy little sigh. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he mumbled, his face pressed against her neck.
She bit her lip. “Um, don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“Okay,” he promised.
The collected sylphs sighed. It was done: there was a queen.
Nearby, Devon stood at the edge of the cliff and stared into the darkness, not knowing what was happening on the plains below. Around him, other men were just as frightened. Women back farther were tensed to run with the children.
The sylphs started to drift away, chattering as if nothing had happened.
“Airi!” Devon called as Galway came over with an arrow notched to a bow. “Where are you?”
His sylph swept to his side, and he heard the men around him start to relax as their sylphs returned to normal. They really were all wound pretty tightly, Devon realized. The Community was afraid of another attack. But they had good reason, he admitted. King Alcor wouldn’t want them here, even on useless land that could only be used because of their sylphs. The attack these people were dreading would indeed come at some point…but Devon was one of them now. He had nowhere else to go.
The men started to disperse, returning to their beds. The tension had eased. Devon stared at Airi. “What happened?” he asked.
Good things. The hive is complete.
He was about to ask what that meant, noting puzzled looks on other masters’ faces as they indubitably questioned their own sylphs, when he heard a shout. The men all tensed again, but the call was angry instead of frightened, and it was the Widow Blackwell who pushed her way through the crowd. She was obviously searching for someone.
A man grinned. “Lose another kid?”
“Don’t you laugh,” the Widow snapped. “Two of them aren’t in their beds. The new boy and girl. I am going to tan their hides!”
The men all laughed, joking about teenagers, but Devon felt cold sweep over him. He stared out into the darkness. “Heyou, what have you done?” he whispered.
“What?” Galway asked.
Staring out into the void, Devon saw the battle sylph first, saw black moving on black and a flicker of glowing eyes. A moment later Heyou was on the edge of the bluff, his mantle pulling back to reveal Solie in her nightgown as he resumed his human form. It was so quick that Devon only saw the change because he was looking in the right place, but everyone heard Solie’s startled gasp.
Men who had been heading back to their beds turned and saw the pair standing there, as did the widow.
“Where have you been?” she thundered. “Sneaking out in your nightgown with a boy! What were you thinking?” She stormed toward the couple, the men grinning as they watched. Galway chuckled, but Devon felt his heart start to pound, wanting to warn the woman, but afraid.
The widow went to grab Solie’s arm, but Heyou stepped between them. Suddenly there were no sylphs anywhere. Even Airi was gone. Sensing their absence, their masters gaped in shock, their fear returning. The widow was oblivious.
“Get back,” Devon warned, putting one hand on Galway’s chest as he retreated. The trapper let himself be guided, puzzled.
“What’s going on?” Morgal demanded from somewhere in the darkness behind them. “Does anyone have a sylph?”
“Are we under attack?” someone else shouted. “The sylphs are gone!”
The sylphs aren’t stupid, Devon wanted to say. “Get back,” he repeated, louder, his mouth dry.
Heyou regarded the widow, his expression flat. “Don’t touch her,” he said.
The widow froze, staring at him. In a moment, everyone was. It wasn’t hate. It was far from hate, but the aura was huge and it promised violence. Devon was petrified with terror. Never anger the battlers, he’d grown up knowing. Keep away from them. Every fiber of his body knew that meant death.
Heyou glared at everyone. The battler had one arm around Solie, her body pulled close to his, and his attitude was obvious: no one was getting near her. Then she glanced up at him and put her hands on his shoulders, whispering into his ear. He smiled and his aura vanished.
“Heyou’s going to walk me back to my tent,” she told the widow. Then the pair ran off holding hands, Heyou trailing behind. Armed men parted to let them go, and they vanished into the darkness.
Devon felt his knees would give out under him. The widow stared at the gathering in frightened confusion.
Morgal pushed forward, his eyes wild. “Did anyone else feel that? What happened?” He looked around for answers, but none was to be had.
Devon returned to his tent, knees shaking. Galway followed, but saw his face and didn’t ask any questions. Devon was glad of it. Someone would be asking soon enough, once everyone calmed down. He just didn’t know what he was going to tell them.
Solie ducked back into her tent, Heyou following a second later. The other girls squealed at the sight of him, but he only had eyes for his queen. Solie went straight to her bed and sat down on the edge, shaken. She’d…she’d slept with Heyou, and oh, she’d enjoyed it. He grinned at her, picking up on her emotions. She glared at him in response.
“How aware of me are you, anyway?” she demanded.
Very aware, he answered in her mind.
She jumped. He hadn’t done that before. It was a little scary, but easy to hear. She still didn’t know if it was her picking up his feelings or him pushing them into her, but she could feel his happiness and contentment. More, she could faintly feel the other sylphs as well now, roaming outside the tent. They were happy, too. Everyone was happy, except for her. She was confused.
Heyou took her hand. “It’ll all be okay, S
olie.”
She stared at him as he sat beside her, his eyes shining. Okay? She wasn’t so sure. She felt different, in ways she didn’t think had to do with losing her virginity. “What’s happened?” she whispered. “What did you do to me?”
You’re my queen, he told her.
She shook her head. “You keep telling me that, but this is different. It’s not just you I can feel. Why?”
He looked down sheepishly. I don’t know, he admitted. I don’t understand it either.
“Why not?” she wailed. The other girls stared in puzzlement, confused by her seemingly one-way conversation. “You did this! How can you not understand it?”
He looked hurt. “I’m sorry,” he said aloud.
She sagged, not able to stay mad at him. Biting her lip, she leaned forward to hug him reassuringly, and he met her halfway with a kiss. It was quite good and very distracting, making her forget her strange new awareness and that there were other girls there peeking around the corner as he pushed her back on her bed.
Unknown to Solie, Heyou glared at the girls over her body, his expression a very clear warning. Swallowing, the girls fled, and he returned contentedly to his queen, completely baffled himself by what had happened, but happy that the other sylphs also seemed to think Solie was their queen. It made this place feel like a proper hive. At the very least, they knew not to approach her, and now the humans did as well. Those girls could find somewhere else to sleep while he spent the rest of the night here pleasing his queen.
Galway grabbed the kettle from the fire as it started to whistle and poured some water into a mug, adding tea leaves. His shoulders hunched against the cold, he carried the mug back to the tent shared by most of the single men. It wasn’t much warmer inside, and he left his heavy cloak on as he went to a cot partway down the right side. Devon was there, still shaking, his face ashen and one hand pressed over his mouth. Galway didn’t understand what had happened, but apparently it terrified the other man.
The Battle Sylph Page 15