by Mark Albany
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light enough to see what was standing over us.
“That wasn’t there before,” I said, stating the obvious as I looked up at the massive apple tree that was now standing over us.
“No, it wasn’t,” Aliana said, her voice soft and almost awed as she stared up at the tree as well. My eyes were drawn down to the base, where a collection of cats was sitting staring over at us.
One of them in particular, a ragged-looking tabby, was staring right into my eyes, unlike the others. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but somehow, I did. This was the one whose power had allowed me to bring the tree to full maturity. It cocked its head as it looked at me. The rest of the cats, sensing the connection had dissipated, quickly stood and scampered off.
“You’re no ordinary cat, are you?” I asked. There was a change in expression, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Something close to bemusement.
I tried to push myself to my feet, but suddenly realized there was no strength left in my limbs. As I looked down at my hand, the runes were standing out, glowing an incandescent and ephemeral white that slowly disappeared.
“What happened?” I asked, suddenly realizing how much energy it took to actually form the words. They came out slurred, like I’d been drinking.
“You dipped into your power,” Aliana said softly, moving over to my side and wrapping her arms around me. My skin was soaked in sweat, I realized as a soft wind moved through the garden, sending a chill up my spine. She pulled a cloth from… somewhere, and gently wiped my brow.
“Why is the sun in the wrong place?” I asked.
“We were here for several hours,” Aliana explained with a chuckle. “You reached out, and… Well, you found something you wanted to care for, and suddenly it started growing. And kept on going until I could feel you falling to the reserves required to maintain your life. That was when I stopped you.”
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” I asked, looking at her as she kept on gently washing me with the cloth.
She tilted her head, not looking me in the eye as she ran the cloth over my shoulders. “It’s a bit of both, really. Your emotional control was shot when you found that poor little seed. You were dangerously close to pouring your life into it. As admirable as the effort was, you may find instances when I’m not there for you and you might be unable to stop yourself. Mages usually just pass out once they’ve reached their limit. But you could die, under the wrong circumstances.”
I nodded, not really feeling up to talking anymore.
“You need to eat something,” she said with a nod, turning and reaching her hand out. There was a white glow in her fingers as she touched the tree. An apple came sailing through the air, twirling for a few long seconds before dropping into her hands.
“Showoff,” I said with a small, weary smile. She chuckled, but didn’t respond, raising the apple to my lips. I took a bite out of it. Almost immediately, I could feel strength filling my lips as I sucked in its impossibly sweet juices. A few more bites and I realized that the apple was gone, and I was still famished.
Aliana smiled, wiping a few drops of juice from my chin with her finger and raising it to my lips. As her finger slipped into my mouth, I realized the hunger I was feeling wasn’t only for food. She recognized it a second later, her eyes widening as I turned to her, quickly and roughly turning her around and pushing her onto the ground.
She gasped in surprise but didn’t put up much of a fight as I moved over her, pinning her legs beneath my hips as my hands gripped the skimpy clothes that covered her midsection. I could feel her wings fluttering excitedly as I tore them off, revealing her firm, plump ass, showing gentle red marks from where her clothes had dug into flesh.
I tossed the ruined piece of clothing aside, giving her ass another red mark with my hand as the other pushed my trousers down.
“Yes,” she whispered through gritted teeth, her ass still stinging as I moved in to mount her from behind. I guided my cock down between her thighs, finding her already drenched in anticipation. I pushed my hips forward, filling her tight pussy in a single thrust and driving her further into the ground, visible to anyone who passed by as I fucked her.
She moaned each time I bottomed out inside her, trying to push her hips back to match my pace. She eventually gave up, just letting me have my way with her. I reached out to grab a fistful of her hair, pulling her up lightly from the ground, giving me enough space to reach down and under her top, finding her breast and palming it firmly, kneading the supple flesh as I pounded her from behind.
“Cum for me, Grant,” she whispered, entirely at my mercy as I took her and enjoying every second of it. I’d felt her pussy clamping down in orgasm a couple of times. While the sensation had reverberated back on me, I’d managed to keep my control for a few long, torturous minutes. I released her hair, my hands settling onto the ground above her shoulders.
I picked up my already feverish pace, feeling her wings gliding lightly over my chest, her hands reaching back to grab at my ass, pulling me deeper as I gasped, cock twitching deep inside her. A few more pumps before I ground my hips heavily into her ass, my whole body tensing up as my eyes closed, the wash of sensations rushing from me to her and right back making the sensation of the orgasm last a lot longer than I was used to.
“Holy…fuck,” I gasped as it dissipated, leaving me breathless and a little weak in the knees as I dropped back to the ground beside her. I stared up at the sky—still blue despite the hour—through the branches of the newly grown trees.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Aliana said with a grin, turning over to prop herself up on her arm as she brushed tiny bits of dirt from her front before reaching down to dip her finger into her pussy and bringing it up to her mouth. “A bit disappointed that I didn’t get another round in my mouth, though.”
I turned back to her. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that. It was just so sudden.”
Aliana smacking her lips at the taste of our combined cum. “You have no idea how hot you are to me. Watching you conducting that spell like you were born for it… I had to keep myself from jumping you all afternoon. I guess all that just took a little while to reach you on a conscious level. When it did, it just washed over you in a wave.”
“Is that so?”
She placed her finger on my lips, biting hersas she looked down at me, still exposed to the elements. “I needed you just as much, you should know. Although now that the bliss of our coitus is passing, I am starting to feel a bit sore between the thighs. We might need to have Norel join us in this soon. I may not be able to take everything you have for me after a while.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Do you need my help getting up?”
“Such a gentleman,” she said with a smile, watching me stand and quickly pulling my trousers back up before reaching down to help her stand. As we turned to head back inside, I realized the tabby cat was still there, quickly jumping up to join us.
“That cat is still here,” I noted. “It watched us the entire time. Do you think we scarred it for life?”
“From what I know about cats, I’m sure it’s seen a lot worse,” Aliana said with a chuckle, but paused when she turned to look at the feline. “Although I can say with some certainty that it’s no ordinary cat. Norel was always better at reading animals than I, though. We should ask her when she returns.”
I nodded, watching as the cat waited for me to open the door before walking inside like it owned the place.
“No ordinary cat,” I agreed with a small smile before following Aliana inside.
5
“Another manor was burned down,” Norel said as soon as she found us. “The Emperor is not pleased, and the Official is tearing the city apart looking for someone to blame. I’m not sure why they don’t want to admit that Cyron is still out there, mayhem on his mind, but until they do…” She paused. “I don’t think it will be too long before they start searching the city house by house.”
“I wish them all the luck in the world,” I growled. “If the Official gets his hands on Cyron, that’ll be most of our problems here solved, right? Which means we can head over to the western kingdom and see what the trouble is with the dark djinn in their little corner of the world.”
“I doubt it’ll be that simple,” Norel said.
“It never is,” Aliana agreed.
Norel noted Aliana walking a little awkwardly as she moved through the dining hall, She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to ask her sister if she was all right, but her eyes quickly dropped to the tabby that had made itself quite at home, lying down next to the fire that one of the servants had started and purring contentedly.
“That is…” she said, her voice trailing off as she moved closer. The cat noticed her and rose from its prone position to lazily stretch and yawn.
Norel’s expression was complete disbelief as she moved closer to the cat, who walked over to her, purring loudly as it pressed up against her leg before turning back around and pressing its head into her calf.
“I don’t believe it,” she whispered, reaching down to pick the cat up. It showed no sign of protest, meowing softly as Norel pulled it close and wrapped her arms around it. The constant look of control and aloofness I’d grown used to seeing on her face shattered as tears started streaming down her cheeks. She started laughing and sobbing at the same time as she pulled the cat closer, hugging it firmly.
At that point, Norel did something that was entirely uncharacteristic of all my interactions with her thus far. She placed the tabby on the table before turning and running over to me. I had a second to brace myself for impact before her admittedly slight frame crashed into mine at full speed. It sent me staggering a step or two back, but my surprise was compounded as she quickly pressed her lips to mine.
She tasted, interestingly, of warm caramel. She moaned softly into my lips, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and legs around my waist to make up for the disparity in our heights as she kept the kiss going for a full minute before disentangling from me, hopping back down to the ground.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking as she pressed her face into my chest. “I thought she was lost forever.”
As Norel looked up into my eyes, there was something different. Her eyes were the same color as before, but the pupils looked different. They were slitted like the cat’s. The shape had changed too, but I wasn’t sure if that was just my eyes playing tricks on me as she turned back to pick the tabby back up, twirling the poor feline through the air as she started chattering to it in elvish while making her way out of the room.
“What the fuck just happened?” I asked, in a state of shock over pretty much everything that had transpired. After making a tree grow, I thought my afternoon could not get odder. Yet, there I was, in the presence of the evidence that I was dead wrong.
“You brought Frarris back to her,” Aliana said, moving closer and leaning up to kiss me as well. “I told you that isn’t an ordinary cat.”
“Shocking,” I said, sarcastically. “That doesn’t explain much else, though. Who is Frarris? How is that not an ordinary cat?”
Aliana shrugged. “I think that’s a story for Norel to share with you when she feels up to it.”
I nodded. “Nice to see her in better spirits, though.”
“Oh, yes,” Aliana said, a twinkle appearing in her eyes before she moved out of the room as well, indicating for me to follow her.
We moved through the estate, going through a bit of a hike as it seemed that the maze was changing, somehow. I still had no idea how she was doing it but didn’t really mind. I was with someone I didn’t mind spending time exploring with.
A few minutes passed before we found ourselves in another dining hall, this one already set up with an evening meal. There were no servants around, interestingly enough. The jugs of wine, water and mead had been left out for us to serve ourselves. It took me a few moments to realize why.
Norel was in the room as well, although she hadn’t bothered to look up as we entered. Her attention was fully focused on the cat in front of her. She was whispering softly to it, a contented smile on her face as she fed it strips of roasted pork.
Aliana shrieked suddenly, startling me as she sprinted around the table. My eyebrows were raised as I came around at regular speed, trying to make out what was different about Norel.
Once I did, I wondered how it had taken me so long. So many obvious changes, and yet the woman herself remained the same, like the layers of a costume had been removed to reveal the person she was underneath. It just fit, somehow. I wasn’t sure how that worked out in my mind.
The first thing I noted was that there was something long and pointed jutting out from underneath her long hair. I suddenly realized they were her ears.
As she looked up at Aliana, I noticed more changes. Her eyes remained the same color they had been, though again, with slits instead of round pupils. Her cheekbones were higher, changing the shape of her eyes into something a bit closer to an almond, maybe. She grinned, looking truly happy for the first time since I’d met her.
“You’ve taken back your true form!” Aliana said, sounding almost giddy. I realized I was looking at an elf, in full and glorious form. She remained a bit smaller in stature than her sister, but there was something different. I couldn’t place a finger on what it was as I found myself sitting down at the table next to her, letting Aliana and Norel hug and reconcile. At least, that was what it sounded like to my human ears.
They kept on chattering in elvish. I felt like an outsider intruding, quietly eating a meal that I found I desperately needed. The apple I’d eaten had done wonders for restoring the strength I’d spent growing a damn tree, but it had still fallen short of fully replenishing me and nothing told me that like the way my stomach was growling for nourishment. I ate quickly, leaving Aliana and Norel to their reunion.
I realized suddenly, with a pork rib in my mouth, why Aliana was so excited about seeing Norel back in her truest form. Aliana, transformed into a djinn, had no choice in her appearance. I was sure there were spells out there that could change her into something less attention-grabbing, but Aliana had chosen, I felt, to embrace her new form and everything that it was and could be. She wasn’t ashamed.
And yet, there was a memory of something she had been centuries back, and the image came to life again as Norel stopped pretending to be a human.
I still had questions about why a cat had brought all these changes about, but they could wait for another time.
I looked up suddenly, realizing that both women were looking at me, beautiful in their own unique ways, as Norel placed her hand on my forearm. I looked down at her fingers gently gripping me, not sure what to feel about that.
“I think it’s about time we find our third of a kind,” Norel said. Again, the words sounded almost odd coming from her. The voice remained the same as it had always been, soft and yet commanding attention. I wasn’t sure what was different, and yet there was something.
“We only need to find Braire to complete the prophecy,” Aliana said, looking genuinely excited at the prospect. I could only assume that this Braire was the third sister, but it raised another question in my mind.
Norel nodded, speaking before I had a chance to. “I think Ali and I could both deal with the dark djinn ourselves, but if Abarat is indeed coming back, we need our sister at our side.”
“Wait,” I protested. “Don’t we still need to find a dragon to complete the whole divination, or whatever it’s called.”
Norel grinned as she turned to face Aliana. “Still not wholly bright, is he?”
“Hey, I’m right here,” I growled.
“I’ll explain everything,” Aliana said quickly, reaching over to hold my hand. “Later. For now, I think we need to get a good night’s rest before we set off.”
6
Norel had agreed that a good night’s sleep was what we needed. After the evening meal, she broke
away with a pleasant smile. I still had questions, though. Why was it that a cat was all she needed to convince herself to turn back into an elf? Where was the dragon we were supposed to be finding?
Images of having to hunt down a dragon from the tales were keeping me awake despite the pact to get some proper rest tonight. There were a handful of different dragons in legend. All of them wise, ancient, and incredibly powerful as well as guarding some kind of horde. Whether the horde was one of treasure or knowledge differed from story to story. None of the stories had the dragons giving up what was theirs without one hell of an epic fight, however, which was why I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that they were acting like we had already accomplished it and now only needed to find the third sister to complete the prophecy.
Or divination, or whatever it was.
As I lay in bed, with Aliana having quickly fallen asleep curled up next to me, I couldn’t get my mind to come to terms with what I’d been seeing thus far. My life had changed so much over the past few months that actually thinking about it made me think I was going crazy. Why had Vis sent me to find the scroll? Had he thought I would find the djinn, Aliana, or did he want to find her for himself? I’d been stupid enough to read the scroll without any concept of real magic, believing I was nothing more than a familiar who owed his life to Vis.
I’d gotten to the point where thinking of the man’s name or hearing it didn’t get my blood boiling anymore. I wondered if the fact that I’d imagined all the various kinds of death I would inflict on the man if I ever found him played into that, but I would figure that out when the time actually came. Until then…
I looked down at Ali, running my fingers gently through her hair. She showed no reaction, telling me that she was already in deep sleep. This beautiful, dangerous creature had supported me in ways I’d never thought possible. As I looked down at her, I thought about how I didn’t want to disappoint her.