I could tell we were catching up, our spotter was hovering over his position a thousand feet up, which was a convenient way to gauge our progress through the twisty city streets.
Another signal came, the diviner had stopped and was setting up an ambush, we slowed, but still jogged. All we could do was trip it, and hope for the best. I knew all that running would come in handy, he was probably too out of shape to keep ahead of us the whole way, so gave up.
Of course, my whole group was out of breath as well, except for me that is, I was barely warmed up. Maybe they’d stop poking fun at my morning runs, but somehow I doubted it.
“Lia, block again?”
She nodded, a little out of breath, I’d have to make them join me on my morning runs. Or not, if some of the glares in my direction were any indication of how that would go.
I set off the sonic weapon and nailed him with a vacuum when I rounded the corner.
It didn’t work this time, he must’ve been ready for the sound weapon, because he stole the air back and then tried to take mine, which I in turn blocked. Perhaps he’d felt the edges of how I’d killed his partner, and had gotten ready for the same.
Of course, he only had six guards, and I had fifty. More, I could suppress his guards easily, and he couldn’t touch mine thanks to the elves.
I defended my group from his attacks, but he and his guards didn’t have a shot at guarding against fifty different guards all attacking three times simultaneously. The seven of them disappeared behind a storm of elemental magic that buzzed in my mind like a beacon.
When the magic cleared, there wasn’t enough of him or his guards left to even sweep up with a dust broom…
Chapter Nineteen
We moved toward the center of the city, which was very much a castle, not a keep. No one stopped us, and the citizens seemed more than happy enough to stay inside.
To my surprise, the castle’s ward hadn’t been updated, it was one ward, cast on one solid ring of metal around the castle under the wall. I reached out, twisted, suppressed, and ultimately snuffed the magic. I had one of the good ones in my bag to replace it with, and on a whim activated it before we even went inside. I was fairly sure there was no one left to fight, but it was better safe than sorry, now only my people could access magic here.
We paused at the large doors.
“You ready honey?”
Daphne smirked, “Very ready.”
There were guards inside, but they weren’t very hard to subdue, especially since the ward I released already did so. The ward was only keyed to my strike team members.
Daphne took the lead, and it was hard to imagine her growing up here, but she had. She led us into the throne room, which was empty, and then led us into a hallway behind the throne, and deeper into the castle.
She said, “We’ll try the royal apartments.”
I nodded, and she led us through a twisted path which eventually ended at a large double set of doors.
She opened the one on the right, and we stepped into a large receiving room, slightly reminiscent of an executive conference room back on my old world. There was a large square table, chairs, and a few couches off to the side.
The king was sitting on one of those couches, his face blank, and he looked like he’d been drinking.
He frowned at us, and then his eyes seemed to focus on Daphne.
“If I’d have known it would be you, I’d have strangled you when you were born.”
My first instinct was to turn him into paste, but Daphne shot me a warning look.
“What are you talking about father?”
He snorted, “Why not, no reason to hide the truth now. Sixty years ago your great grandfather was given a dream augury. It warned him that a sorceress would topple his kingdom, and take control. My grandfather was a mean bastard, and came up with the plan to suppress all sorceresses, so that it wouldn’t come to pass. But here you are daughter, come to take my crown?”
That, was really fucking crazy. I got why the suppression, it was done out of fear of losing their power, but the evil things they did? The rape, murder, and finally wholesale slaughter? It was also enlightening, since I’d always wondered why the royal family had started down this road sixty years ago. I’d given up ever discovering the real reason though, and was shocked by what it was.
She didn’t dignify his accusation.
“Father, you are guilty of mass murder, you will be judged, and executed. Where is Dion?”
He snickered, “Sent him away. He’ll be back though, one day, you traitorous bitch.”
A blast of air picked him up, and threw him against the wall. He fell down, and didn’t get up.
I felt a stab of disappointment along with the satisfaction, when I saw him still breathing.
Daphne looked at me, and I just shrugged. Like I was going to let that dick call her a bitch?
She smiled at me despite herself, and leaned over to give me a kiss.
Sharon stepped forward, and put the unconscious king in bracelets.
He would be judged, and hung no doubt, but we had a princess to crown first, and a fleet to claim…
We treated Pheles much like any other island, except on a faster timeline. The guards ensured a late afternoon crowd that same day, by spreading the word, and we did our usual speeches, although sadly, there were no more sorceresses to be freed. They’d truly all been killed save those we found in the woods by the west coast. We were hopeful however, that more survived the murderous purge on the other islands.
The only addition, was that we crowned Daphne queen of Iziral, right in front of the people of the island after the speeches.
The fleet matter almost took care of itself, as a few high-ranking men from the fleet arrived unsure as to what to do, or what was going on. They were smart men, but not ambitious which worked in our favor. Apparently, the king had been paranoid about that sort of thing and didn’t trust ambitious men with power.
Regardless, Daphne had no problems setting them some tasks. There would be obstacles of course, and problems, but it was very likely that the war on a large scale was over, we just needed to clean up the governors.
We planned to spend six weeks on Pheles, and set up a local council to watch things while we were gone. My mates were happy at how things turned out, which meant I was happy. I wondered if the goddess was happy, and if what we’d achieved was what she’d had in mind that day two years ago.
Because despite that fucker Murphy, it looked like things would actually work out…
Epilogue
The goddess was pleased, things had gotten rougher than she would have liked, but the world seemed to be back on track as it should be.
She heard a deep voice behind her, “So have you learned anything?”
She grimaced.
She’d been the one to visit Daphne’s great grandfather in his dream that night, and warn him of the future. The true message, had been that he’d lose the kingdom to a sorceress, if he didn’t stop his oppressive ways.
All actions have consequences, and she didn’t see the harm in showing him what the consequences of his actions would be.
She’d seen the future, and Daphne’s reign even then, but had hoped to tweak things to prevent suffering. Instead, the arrogant man had waged war on sorceresses, and then left off the second key portion of the portent she’d delivered when telling his children about it. He’d never informed them that if they stopped the oppression they would retain the throne.
The owner of the voice, obviously thought she should have learned not to interfere. Her interference had consequences as well. She found it hard to resist however, since she loved them all.
Besides, some of her interference went rather well.
She said defensively, “Tony didn’t turn out badly.”
The voice chuckled, “It was still a risk, and could have made things much worse.”
She wanted to disagree, what made the difference was Tony had faith, and perhaps more importantly, loved
her, but as a rule she avoided arguing with her superiors, so remained silent. Even a goddess had limits.
The peaceful age to come wouldn’t last forever, but she’d enjoy it while it lasted…
Afterword:
I hope you enjoyed the story. Tony’s story is complete.
If you can, please take the time to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
About the Author: If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at [email protected]. I started out posting short stories online and at readers’ requests started to publish them. If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book.
Other erotic fantasies by D. R. Rosier:
Cirenthian Chronicles – Book one is Out of Darkness.
Marcus, an ancient vampire, finds himself moved to another world where suddenly he is alive again, and magic is a known and powerful danger. No longer a vampire and dealing with emotions he hasn’t felt in over a millennium, will he be able to start a new life? This series is now complete.
Necromancer Chronicles – Book one is The Necromancer.
Vincent is a necromancer and has an even darker secret. Feared by the rest of the supernatural community he lives on his own, often struggling with his powers, and how to use them. But change is coming, and he will soon find himself dragged into the middle of a suspicious and untrusting community.
Anise is a sorceress, but she has secrets of her own. She is an ancient being, who has walked the earth for time immemorial. She lives in a never ending cycle of life, forever watching those she dares to care about age and die. But she is about to find something new that will offer her hope, if she can live long enough to find it.
Cytherean Chronicles – Book one is Flame of Cytherea.
This two book series follows the chosen champion of a goddess, brought to her world and healed after he was mortally wounded on Earth. At first Justin is a little lost, not knowing anything about the world he finds himself in or even why he is there.
Ashley’s Tale – This two book series follows the tale of a woman with unique parentage in a world greatly different from our own Earth. It is twenty-five years in the future, and the supernatural have long since been exposed. Ashley must struggle with her conflicting nature to find a balance, and her hidden power, as she is taken unwillingly into an extraordinary destiny.
Ashley’s Daughters – This three book trilogy is about Ashley’s three daughters. It’s about a new world of dragons, and a second new world of human mages and all the fallout involved. Of course, it’s also about them finding love, and their place in the worlds. It starts about twenty-eight years after the end of Ashley’s tale.
Sentient – This is the standalone book following an artificial intelligence from an advanced race, a man who comes back from war a little broken, along with diverse others as the Earth itself is put into danger as they are dragged into an interstellar war against their will.
Sentient: Evolution – This is a sequel to the stand alone book Sentient. It takes place a thousand years later, when Aide finds herself alone and broken, yet still following her programming. Others join her as a new menace approaches, one that makes the Sthellan look like a great neighbor in comparison.
Will Aide be able to recover and rise to a new challenge? She’s been alive too long, she must either evolve, or wither away, if only she could bring herself to care…
More books and series can be found on my author’s page at amazon.com/author/drrosier
The Dragon Slayer and the… This is a series of novelettes in a unique world, each story will be different characters with HEA endings. These will be about eighty pages long and priced appropriately. The first book, The Dragon Slayer and the Princess, is now available:
Sir Lance Spears, Baron, knight dragon hunter, has been hunting dragons for ten years. It’s what he’s dedicated his life too, eradicating the dragons that destroy human villages and see humans as prey.
He’s also been alone for ten years, and tired of the women of the peerage that see nothing of him, only of his titles and money. Not to mention, they all play the courtly game and faint at his feet. That’s not what he wants. He wants a challenging intelligent woman who will help make life interesting.
He should have been more careful about what he wished for, as his life is about to become very complicated as nothing seems to make sense about his next dragon hunt. It doesn’t fit in his world view as he enters a neighboring kingdom to help slay a dragon. He’s not sure what’s going on, and he also can’t get a certain princess with fiery eyes and attitude out of his head either. He better figure it out though, or he could lose everything… including his life.
Return of Magic - This epic fantasy series follows Katie Merlin’s successor, and diverse others as magic reemerges in our world in response to a dire threat. The government is in tatters, technology stops working, and most of the world’s population is dead. A new era for mankind has started, and they must share it with other races, such as elves and dragons.
Melody Smith Novels – This is an urban fantasy that follows Melody Smith, a siren with hidden depths.
Melody Smith is a siren. It isn’t an easy life, most of the people around her are affected by her mere presence, and she has very few true friends in her life. Her love life is a disaster, and her boss and guardian, Brent, has been keeping secrets.
She’s about to find out she can become more than she ever would have guessed, if she can survive.
Shawn Moore Novels – This trilogy is an urban fantasy that follows a warlock named Shawn Moore
Shawn is a young man down on his luck, living in the streets. He isn’t lazy, it’s just for some reason people don’t like to be around him, and even fear him to a certain extent. They’d always had.
His life is about to change though, as a man named Ben tells him he had an uncle, an uncle that died and left him an estate. He isn’t sure he buys it, and has no idea he’ll soon be fighting for his very life.
Not to mention, fighting for his soul.
Ted Stedman Novels – This series is a mashup of litrpg, sci-fi, and other things. The first title in this series is Ted Online:
Ted Stedman had a pretty good life so far. He’s forty-three years old, and still in good shape when something at work happens to put him in wheelchair. He finds his life is over, or at least the one he’d always known. That is, until a research doctor at his own company walks into his hospital room, and offers him a deal that seems too good to be true.
Join Ted as he enters a fully immersive online world, and finds that everything isn’t quite how he imagined it to be. He’ll have his new virtual life, access to the real world, and a game world to explore as well. As if three worlds to keep straight wasn’t complicated enough, he has even more surprises coming his way.
Non-erotic Fantasy titles:
amazon.com/author/dlharrison
The Formerly Dark Mage, by D. L. Harrison – This standalone fantasy book follows the life of Silvia and takes place in a world unique and separate to our own.
Silvia is a dark mage. Unfortunately, she finds herself about to be sacrificed. Someone must have told her evil master about her plans to kill him and take over. After that, things just seem to go downhill. She has no choice but to escape the kingdom of Zual, something that to her knowledge has never been done before. She will need to deal with many issues she never had to face before.
Among those issues, the white mages, and her conscience.
The Rise of a Dark Mage - This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Cassandra, it takes place in the same world as The Formerly Dark Mage, but happens three hundred years later, long after Silvia is gone and some shocking changes have taken place in the world.
Cassandra is a dark mage in the kingdom of Zual, she’s also a mage prodigy.
She hates both her kingdom, and her master. She wants him dead, not to take his place, but so she can leave and explore the world. Her ambition will drive her to redi
scover the secrets of the strongest of magics.
She is determined to succeed, or she’ll die trying.
Celia Winters Novels, by D. L. Harrison – This is an urban fantasy series. Celia is a witch who finds out she is so much more in the first book, Witch’s Moon. There are no cliffhangers, and each book will be complete in itself, though because of character development and the timeline I’d recommend reading them in order.
Just a Psychic: The Power of Air Book One, by D. L. Harrison starts off this series of a man who comes into powers he knows nothing about, and tries to both handle the present difficulties and find out about his past.
Ben has grown up with missing memories of his early childhood.
He has known he was a psychic since his earliest memories, seeing the future and gaining knowledge with his gifts.
Is it possible he isn't just a psychic?
Ben's world is about to be turned upside down as he turns twenty-one, all is not as it seems.
Alicia Jones novels, by D. L. Harrison is a series that follows a bright young inventor and scientist named Alicia Jones. It is a space opera and light science fiction.
The first book is titled First Contact:
Alicia Jones is a genius, and a little odd. At just twenty-three years of age, she is close to finishing her doctoral dissertation. But when she tests her latest theory in the lab to generate a strong EM field, it has very unanticipated results. Results that lead to faster than light travel, and first contact with another race.
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