Conqueror

by Isaac Hooke

  Gwen didn’t sound too happy when she spoke: “That’s right, Breaker, try to pretend it’s such a heavy burden. Wait, I just realized something, you could have been having sex with all these higher-level monsters all this time! Why bother to physically injure them, first? Just have them turn around and bend over!”

  He pressed his lips together, and turned back toward Weyanna. She was already falling asleep again. “We’ll try the mental route one more time.”

  But it was no use. He couldn’t reach into her mind.

  The latest attempt woke up Weyanna completely. She blinked several times and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I want to give in. But I can’t. Something won’t let me. There’s a part of me that will always resist any man, I think. I’m afraid of letting go, and truly surrendering. Afraid that if I give up control, I won’t ever get it back.”

  He nodded. “It’s a feeling a lot of people have. Abigail was the same. There’s something about you Metal dragons… you just refuse to quit.”

  Gwen rolled her eyes. He didn’t actually see it in the dim light, but felt it through the bond they shared. “Yeah, yeah, she just wants to fuck you. And you likewise.”

  “Such a classy woman,” Ziatrice commented.

  “All right, well, let’s get you up,” he told Weyanna. He held out a hand and helped her stand. She was wobbly on her feet.

  “You’re actually going to go through with this?” Xaxia asked Weyanna.

  “What choice do I have?” Weyanna replied. “I need the stamina his Breaking can give me.”

  “But you can barely stand…” the bandit said.

  Weyanna didn’t answer, and Malem helped her away from the others. She moved unsteadily on her feet.

  “Are all human so… promiscuous?” Rathamias said behind him. “Your sexual habits remind me of goblings.”

  “Hey!” Gwen said.

  They continued to talk softly behind him. Beside him, Weyanna stumbled twice, but he held her up.

  He navigated between the trees with his night vision. At the base of each trunk he could see the small piles of dirt where Khaan and Eddy had buried the entrances to the spider nests shortly after entering the thicket.

  When he could barely hear the voices of the others, he laid Weyanna down behind a thick trunk. He chose the side opposite the buried opening to the nest below.

  “Do we have to worry about the spiders attacking?” she asked nervously.

  “No,” he said. “The scent of basilisk and ettin is too strong.”

  “But how can they smell them, if their nest openings are buried?” she asked.

  “The seal isn’t complete,” Malem explained. “There are still small holes where the dirt fell through into the roots below. Otherwise, the spiders wouldn’t be able to breathe, and they definitely would’ve emerged by now if that was the case.” He paused. “Trust me, they know the monsters are camped out in their colony, waiting to devour any of them that emerge. My beast sense tells me they’re hidden well below the root systems. If that changes, I’ll know.”

  “But will you even notice?” Weyanna said. “The princess has been telling me about the sex we’ll experience. How… distracting… it can be.”

  “Ah,” he said. “Yeah, there will be a short interval where I probably won’t notice if any spiders are sneaking up on me, that’s true. But it doesn’t last long.”

  “Too bad,” Weyanna said. Her voice was beginning to assume the sexual quality it had when they had first met. Her old instincts were coming out, despite her injuries.

  “How tender are your wounds?” he asked.

  “Fairly tender,” she said. “I’m going to have to ride on top.”

  “Probably suits you, considering you like to be in control,” he said.

  “Oh yes,” she said.

  When he heard the hunger in her voice, a hunger that seemed somehow more than sexual, he reminded himself that she ate men like him for a living.

  Except she can’t even become a dragon. So I don’t have to worry about that.

  She unexpectedly reached out and massaged the area between his legs. He couldn’t help the soft moan that escaped his lips.

  He opened his pants and let her work him for a few moments. His toes curled as he came close to the edge, but he had the presence of mind to stop himself from going any further, and he slid away. “Careful. I might climax before I can Break you.”

  “That might be fun,” she said ravenously.

  “Damn, everything about you is hot.” He lowered his pants to his knees, then laid down beside her. He helped her assume a position on top of him, and she hiked up her dress and slid onto him.

  “I’m going to ravage you,” she promised.

  And ravage him she did.

  She rocked against him, and he thrusted in turn, matching her rhythm. He tried to increase the pace by thrusting faster, but she wouldn’t have it, and forced him to match her pace. She really did like being in control. It pissed him off, but the anger quickly faded with the pleasure he felt. She bent her hips slightly at the bottom every time she slid onto him, and that sparked a surge of pleasure in his member with each thrust. She certainly knew what she was doing.

  And that she was able to please him like this, despite the evil magic embedded inside of her, was a testament to how powerful arousal could be. It gave strength even to the grievously wounded.

  Even so, a distant part of his mind noted, he’d probably have to bestow a lot of vitality to her when he finally Broke her.

  Broke her. He’d almost forgotten, thanks to the pleasure she’d provided him with thus far. He was getting close to release… he’d have to work quickly.

  But then she suddenly stopped, as if sensing how close he was, and wanting to draw out his agony even longer.

  “Don’t stop!” he said.

  “Beg,” she told him.

  Definitely knew what she was doing.

  He wrapped the tentacles of his will around her mind and squeezed. “No. You beg.”

  She thrashed about once again as he squeezed his mental fist, and refused to surrender to him.

  He used his strength to lift her off of him, and began thrusting against her, rapidly, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t rocking into him in turn. He increased his pace, working even harder.

  He tightened his will around her mind again. She was weakening, but still she refused to let him in. He knew he’d have her eventually… he just needed a bit longer.

  Too bad he was close to release. He had to get her. Now.

  He crushed the fist of his will with all of his mental energy and it sank into her mind as she finally surrendered to the pleasure. Their minds intertwined, and she took her place in the special spot he had reserved for her next to the other women in his mind.

  The pleasure instantly skyrocketed as it reverberated between Gwen, Abigail, Ziatrice, Weyanna, and himself. He found himself exploding involuntarily inside of her, and he bit down on his lips to prevent himself from moaning too loudly into the night.

  Weyanna started to cry out, but slammed a hand into her mouth and bit down on it instead. Her muted screams of pleasure drifted through the trees.

  Finally she slumped onto him, clearly exhausted. He could feel her in his mind now that the pleasure had faded, and the five of them were no longer mentally intertwined. The bond was the same as the other women. Permanent.

  “That was everything Abigail promised, and more,” Weyanna said. She wore a lascivious grin.

  He helped her roll off of him and she closed her eyes. Her breathing was ragged, and not just from the sex.

  Malem fed her stamina, worried she was going to die on him, and her breathing promptly improved. She opened her eyes again and sat up.

  “So this is what it feels like,” she said. “I have energy again.”

  Judging from the mental headroom, he thought he had five new slots, maybe six.

  He reached out experimentally and was able to immediately break three spiders in the nest below hi
m. They fit snugly into the new compartments Weyanna had opened up in his mind, but when he tried adding a fourth, he couldn’t do it.

  He had six new slots, then, considering spiders needed two.

  The Breaking tired him, so he stole vitality from Hansel and Eddy. After that, he instructed the three spiders to emerge from their nest and climb the tree to act as scouts against other dhaarkan, ready to raise the alarm and wake him if any tried to emerge. He informed the other monsters of the new friends he’d bound; hopefully, they wouldn’t eat them.

  “Come on, let’s get back to the others,” he told Weyanna. “Unless you want to spend the night here, close to all these spider nest openings.”

  “No thanks.” She lowered her dress.

  Malem hiked up his own pants and then helped her to her feet.

  He rounded the trunk to lead her back to the center of the copse. He glanced at the base of the tree, and saw one of the spiders under his command was digging its way out.

  Weyanna leaped in fright when she saw it, and let out a muted yelp before hiding behind him.

  “Relax, it’s mine,” he told her.

  As they walked toward the central part of the thicket, he noted that she didn’t need to lean on him anymore. Plus, she had the energy to be afraid of the spiders. All good signs.

  “That’s right,” Xaxia said as he approached the others. “You’re going to work your way through all the dragons, like I knew you would. You make me proud.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Not really.”

  Ziatrice, Gwen, and Abigail were lying on the grass, gazing at the dark canopy overhead. They were panting, to a woman.

  “Holy shit,” Abigail said. “I might have to take back what I said about limiting you to only four of us. That was incredible.”

  “How many more slots did you get?” Xaxia asked.

  “Six,” he replied. “Which makes sense, given that’s how many I got when I Broke Abigail.”

  “What’s the running total now?” Xaxia pressed.

  “Twenty-six,” he said, sitting down. “Though keep in mind that monsters require different numbers of slots.”

  “Ah, I feel refreshed,” Weyanna said, laying down beside him and putting her hands behind her head. “Who would have thought being conquered by a man could be so pleasant. But next time, I plan to do the conquering.”

  “We’ll see,” Malem said.

  “Just be glad she didn’t eat you,” Abigail commented.

  “Well,” Gwen said, getting up. “I guess it’s time for me to take my place on watch, like I promised. Night.”

  Malem lay down and went to sleep.

  Though he was in the heart of monster territory, the dreams were pleasant, for once.

  17

  At some point in the night Malem awakened to distant hoots and howls. It sounded like a gobling search party had camped nearby, just beyond the range of his beast sense, and they’d just been ambushed by a group of other monsters. Malem remembered waking to a similar ambush in this forest, when spiders had attacked in the night, attracting the attention of a hill giant. Wasn’t all that fun.

  He listened until the howls died down, and thought about how typical such attacks were here in monster territory: it was always a fight for survival, no matter if you were human or monster.

  On that note he fell asleep again, only to wake with the morning light. The rays of the sun were muted due to the thick canopy overhead, but he welcomed the morning light nonetheless. Any respite from the dark was always a good thing.

  The Darkness. It hadn’t come for him in a few weeks now. It was overdue, in fact. He wasn’t sure if Banvil was pissed off about what Malem had done the last time: using the Darkness to help take down a Black Sword. Malem was under the impression Banvil and Vorgon were nemeses, so he would have expected the Balor to be happy about what happened. Then again, Banvil probably didn’t want to be helping Malem in any way. The next time the Darkness came, it’s arrival would probably be unexpected, and at the worst of times.

  Yet another thing I have to worry about.

  As if he didn’t have enough problems.

  He sat up and rubbed his eyes. A quick glance at the bases of the surrounding trees told him none of the spiders had attempted to escape their dens, instead electing to remain deep beneath the roots of the trees. And no monsters had attacked in the night. Always a good thing.

  He suspected having a ghrip, a basilisk, and an ettin embedded with his group, not to mention a whole lot of spiders around them, had probably made the difference.

  He considered releasing the spiders and then Breaking nearby hares and squirrels to summon to the camp for eating purposes, but the scent from the required cooking fires would carry for miles on the wind. He decided it wasn’t worth the risk, even if he felt relatively safe in his monster-protected thicket.

  So instead he broke his fast on his rations, and doled out the last of his salted meat to those who didn’t have any of their own.

  Weyanna shook her head as she finished the meat. “No more, right?” When he shook his head, she continued: “I’m at the lightest weight I’ve ever been, thanks to this mission.”

  Abigail nodded. “Even after living among the humans for so long, you never get used to their light repasts.”

  “You usually eat a whole cow for breakfast huh?” Xaxia said.

  “As dragons, perhaps,” Abigail said. “But we require about the same amount of food as normal humans in this form. Starvation diets are still hard on our bodies, though.”

  “I was being sarcastic,” Xaxia explained.

  Malem stared at her for a moment. He still didn’t feel her with his beast sense. She was human, after all. Still, now that he had increased his power by Breaking Weyanna, he thought he should be able to at least influence normal humans in some small way.

  He reached out experimentally, searching for her… nothing. He took a guess at where her mind should have resided, based on her position in physical space, and attempted to wrap his will around that spot, but he grasped only empty air.

  Oh well. It was a nice dream.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Xaxia said.

  “Like what?” he asked innocently.

  “Like you’re taking a shit or something,” she replied.

  He laughed. “When I look at you, you make me want to take a dump.”

  She gave him a sarcastic grin. “You’re so sweet.”

  After the humans finished eating, the party evacuated the thicket and Malem allowed the monsters to ravage the dhaarkan nests. Spiders burst through the webs that enclosed the copse and flowed outside in waves, running away terrified into the forest. This particular nest had more spiders than the last, and a few came a bit too close to him and the others for comfort—he whacked those with Balethorn.

  After the monsters had had their fill of spiders, the party set out due east. Malem dispatched the three spiders to act as scouts far ahead of the party. It was just as good as having an eagle. Probably better, given the limited confines.

  Eddy and Khaan followed a ways behind the spiders, with Malem and the others after them, and Hansel bringing up the rear.

  Eddy had offered to give a ride to Weyanna and Abigail, but the pair had insisted on walking, at least for the first part of the morning. While he applauded their show of strength, he could sense the Eldritch magic inside them, slowly eating away. He doubted they’d be on foot for very long. Not without a lot of vitality transfers on his part.

  Shortly after setting out, he sensed another gobling party approaching rapidly from behind.

  “I’ve got a search party,” Malem said. “Goblings, and two scallions, judging from the powerful energy signatures. I think it’s the same party that passed us yesterday.”

  “The searchers obviously followed the path of trampled branches left in the wake of your pets,” Ziatrice said accusingly.

  “Would you rather we traveled through the heart of monster territory without any creatures to protect us a
t all?”

  The night elf frowned. “No. But perhaps Breaking monsters that made less of a mess would be in order.”

  Malem cocked his head, concentrating on his beast sense. “They’re moving fast… the two scallions are breaking away from the others, and fast closing. My guess is they picked up our scent.”

  He tried to wrap his will around the scallions. He was hopeful that adding Weyanna to his mental coterie would have enabled him to more easily Break higher level monsters, but his will still evaporated upon touching the minds of these creatures.

  Nothing’s ever easy, no matter how powerful you get.

  He ordered Eddy, Khaan and Hansel to assume defensive positions at the rear of the party. He also recalled the spiders, which turned back from their scout positions far ahead.

  “Maybe the rest of us should climb the trees?” Gwen asked.

  “Lions can climb trees,” Malem reminded her.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Malem drew Balethorn. The sword remained silent in his grip. The others similarly prepared themselves.

  The spiders arrived just as the scallions appeared through the trees ahead.

  As Sark had promised, they looked like lions, except their bodies were covered in green scales, and two long canines hung down from the tops of their maws; each tooth curved slightly, like a saber.

  He could feel frustration emanating from Khaan’s energy bundle: the basilisk was trying to turn them to stone, but the scallions were resisting its evil magic.

  The nimble lions approached rapidly, and weaved between the bigger monsters, dodging their various swipes, and instead headed straight for the smaller party of humanoids within.

  Rathamias launched dark mists at both scallions, but it had no effect.

  Ziatrice launched her dark chains. They fell away upon contacting the creatures.

  Weyanna released small shards of ice. Abigail launched weak fireballs. Gwen released arrows in rapid succession. No good.

  The three spiders leaped on the creatures. The first two targeted the scallion on the left, the third the scallion on the right.

  While the spiders occupied their foes, Malem attacked the one on the left. Ziatrice joined him, while Xaxia and Sark took a run at the beast on the right.