by D. R. Rosier
It didn’t.
Ash scoffed.
I finished my meal.
Then we went to bed, as the sun sank toward the horizon, with the wind screaming above us.
I woke up to a spitting mad roaring howl, and I bolted upright as my mates stirred around me. I looked up, and the sun was high in the sky, it was right around noon.
“What the fuck!?” I yelled as I saw a large cougar mauling my Ash.
I released a paralyzing spell, just in case I missed, but I didn’t. The cougar fell limp, and my panther ripped it’s throat out with her small but razor-sharp claws a second later. Cute, but very fierce.
Everyone around me had wide panicked eyes, and I frowned as I looked around, and my stomach sank as my heart rose into my throat in panic. It felt like a fist was squeezing my heart.
“Where is Karana?”
Ash looked at me, sniffed deeply, and jumped out of the hole.
Saria frowned, “My spells are gone. Only a mage could’ve done that. A more powerful one, which isn’t hard right now. I feel unrested too, as if I only got a half night’s sleep.”
I asked, “Okay, Karana was down, and your protections are weaker than hers. A mage comes along, dispels your spells, and then what?”
Sianna said, “Stasis.”
“What?”
Sianna replied patiently, “Stasis, that’s how we slept for eighteen hours and only feel like we’ve been asleep for four. I bet that cougar broke the stasis spell when it jumped in here and crossed the spell’s magic field. They have resistance to magic, and can use magic to hide, maybe it broke the spell. Whoever has Karana probably put her in stasis too, or she’d have kicked their ass.”
I’d have smirked at her spunky behavior and word choice if I wasn’t so freaked out. The only thing keeping me sane was that our bond was still there, I could feel that shadow of her true self, her soul, in the back of my mind where it belonged. However, I couldn’t tell where she was.
“Maybe normally she could have, but her channels were messed up, remember? Can a mage hide a bonded?”
Sianna nodded, “Maybe, if they block their magic. We have spells like that, it drains the ambient magic out of a room, so the mage or talent can’t replenish their magic.”
Yeah, I remembered that, we were put in one on the way to Malburn, our first time in Dulcier.
Ash roared, and I suddenly smelled Karana’s sweet sexy feminine scent through our familiar bond. I froze for a moment, at the rise of overwhelming emotions that scent evoked in my chest. It was a moment or two before I could even talk, and my voice was still shaky.
“Ash has her scent and can lead us to her.”
Claire asked, “Who has her? Any ideas?”
I exchanged glances with my mates, and the obvious finally seeped through my panic. We said his name almost as one, and all of us angrily.
“Narroc!”
Sure enough, when we got our packs on and left the hole, Ash led us back to the south east, straight for Amathyr. What was that sick fuck thinking, and what was he doing to my mate. The bastard had a ten-hour lead on us at least, if not more, if he hit us in the middle of the night. Fuck, for all I know we’d been there days, before the cougar found us. There was no proof this was noon the next day.
Ash said, “Next day, scent fresh.”
I relaxed a little at her certain tone, and sent her a feeling of thanks, as we moved as quickly as we could, bordering on reckless.
Okay, he was a mage, and although Karana made him look like a weak one, he was still a three-hundred-year-old dark elven mage. What were two mage apprentices, an elven scout, a panther, and a flesh sculptor going to be able to do? I doubted any of my offensive spells would even touch him, maybe the earth one? Would he be set up to deflect physical objects, or just magical ones? My Earth spell launched rocks out of my hand at the speed of a bullet, all the magic happened in my hand, after that it was just the rock and pure physics.
I absently picked up several promising small rocks, I hadn’t used the spell even once, since I’d gone hunting with Saria that first time to practice aiming. It was also possible Oceana would involve herself, and I wondered why she hadn’t stopped it last night or broken the stasis. Problem was, I couldn’t ask, talking would be asking for more danger. Regina was smart. I was a genius and intuitive, and a lot of the time I thought she was smarter than I was. Surely, she was asking the same questions of our fae, and if Oceana could help when we got there, she would.
I was surprised he didn’t just kill us, but maybe he couldn’t without breaking his stasis spell, and had been afraid to try? He might have been right, while his shields would be more than a match for my spells, my protections would hold him off for a while, unless he went for massive overkill. Like those green fireballs only master mages in destruction could cast.
My mind went in circles all afternoon, when Ash came back into our group and stopped us.
She said, “Privacy.”
I motioned them all closer, and then dropped the medium sized privacy dome over us.
Ash started talking, and I relayed her words.
“He didn’t make it all the way to the city, maybe being on his own while dragging another mage in stasis slowed him down. Regardless, he’s about a quarter mile ahead, and at least five miles short of the city.”
Regina said, “I fucked up. I told Oceana to only reveal her true nature if we were about to be killed, which tied her hands. She couldn’t get us out of the stasis, because we weren’t in danger. Now she can protect us as she sees fit, no rules. I was trying to protect her, I didn’t…” she trailed off with tears on her face.
“It’s okay, Regina. He’s still got her in stasis, which means whatever plans he has, will happen back at the city. At first, we thought he was blocking the bond by blocking her magic somehow, which he is, just not as we’d assumed. Her body can’t absorb magic while in stasis. She’s safe, and we’re going to kill the fucker. The plan is simple, and credit goes to Ash for it. We’re going to draw him out from a distance, fight defensively and dodge his spells. I’m going to try and kill him with a rock, that part is my idea, but chances are he’s smart enough to shield against both magic and physical.
“In the end, that doesn’t matter, because while we’re doing that, Ash is going to hide herself and sneak to Karana. She’s positive she can do the same thing the cougar did for us and break the spell’s magical flow. When Karana wakes up, he’s going to have a really bad afternoon, and this will be the last sunset he ever sees.”
They all nodded in grim agreement.
Regina said, “Oceana will shield Karana when she wakes up, just in case she’s disoriented for a few moments, and is vulnerable to one of his attacks if he notices her. She’s… really upset, and quite frantic.”
I nodded, “Have her come out after the fight, there’s no one in the forest to see her with us, and when we get home she can shape the armor into a dress of sorts. It won’t look great, but good enough for her to go shopping with you and pass as a normally dressed human. Especially if Karana helps with an illusion.”
Regina nodded, and wiped the tears out of her eyes.
“Everyone ready?”
They all nodded, and I dropped the privacy bubble. Ash disappeared from sight, right before she darted off into the bushes.
Saria took the lead, it would be her and Claire’s elven eyes that saw our target first from his body heat.
We moved slowly through the woods, it took us almost a half an hour to go that half mile, and we came upon a privacy shielded camp. That complicated things, or at least would have, until Ash broke it.
Narroc’s dinner flew out of his hands as he jumped up, and then he looked our way.
Just in time to see two balls of fire leave Sianna’s and Saria’s hands, an arrow shot from Claire’s bow, and a bullet sized rock fire out of my hand.
The fire splashed against his shields, and the bullet and arrow bounced off of him.
He laughed, “Sh
e is mine! You should have gone home human, I’d have allowed you your life in compensation for saving my love’s life! Forgiven you for stealing her away, but now you’ll all die.”
I tilted my head in thought as he started to cast, and then cast the hot tub spell, aiming the laser pointer about a yard away from his feet, which was outside of his personal wards and protections. Given it was about ten feet long in all directions, the ground underneath his feet disappeared. He screamed, which screwed up his spell, and he fell in the hole.
I bit my lip to stop the snicker, as I filled in the hole with dirt.
Saria looked at me incredulously, and said softly, “I love you.”
I winked.
Of course, he was a powerful mage, and the dirt exploded and he rose up out of the ground. I shot another rock at him, but it didn’t work again.
“How dare you!” he screamed, “She is mine!”
The sound of Karana’s sultry voice almost took me to my knees with relief.
“Am I now?”
Karana barked a single word, and as usual her spells didn’t have a sultry inflection.
Green fire burst against his back, and quickly and hungrily consumed him until he was ash, and the light breeze even took that away.
We walked over to the camp quickly, and Karana jumped into my arms. I laughed in relief. Laugh in relief… it was a phrase I hadn’t truly comprehended until that moment.
Oceana appeared in her human skinned form, I knew even a mage wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, she’d been practicing. I reached into my pack one handed, and lightly tossed her armor at her feet, which seemed to melt and crawl up her body. She looked… emotional, and very happy not to be hiding in the ether. Hopefully she’d never have to do it again.
Karana asked, “What happened?”
We told her the story, starting from when she’d hurt her channels, and had been healed but remained unconscious and needed rest. When we were done, she grinned.
She smirked, “A hot tub, and then you buried him?” she laughed in wicked delight, “I’m sorry I missed that, I woke up when the ground exploded.”
Ash said, “Harder than I thought, took a moment.”
“Well, the plan was to delay him, I didn’t think it would kill him, I just wanted to give you time to wake up. Ash said it was quite the effort.”
Ash replied, “Be easier, when big. More magic.”
I nodded in agreement.
She sighed, “I guess we’ll camp here, which means another night in the forest tomorrow night, and another few hours.”
“Yes, but then we’ll be home.”
Karana smiled sultrily, raised another privacy shield, and we unpacked our stuff.
Sianna asked, “Should we report this?”
Karana nodded, “I will, directly to Renesa with a communication spell. She won’t ask us to come back for a trial. He kidnapped me, and I have memories I can share of his threat to kill you, not to mention his insane mutterings.”
My body slowly relaxed, and my mind spun down as the night got on and we had dinner, though I didn’t feel totally right again until I’d made love to her later that night.
I wasn’t sure what the future would bring. I had four mates, and I had a feeling Oceana would be a fifth, even if she couldn’t bond or have children. We had a hell of a bright future ahead of us, but that night reminded me we’d have to be vigilant. We were a powerful group, a powerful family, but we were far from invincible.
Still, it was hard to look at the women I loved, and not see a very bright future ahead of us.
Epilogue
Ten years later…
The sound of children’s laughter filled my ears, as I stood in the backyard of the manor. Ash was huge now, five hundred pounds of deadly predator, being taken down by my nine young children and Regina, who still looked the same as the day I met her. Her red hair shone in the sun, and her glorious joyful laughter rose with the children’s. Four human children, and five half-elven.
Ash chuffed dismissively in my direction at my teasing thoughts, but I knew she was having a ball letting the kids tackle her.
I felt a touch on my arm and smiled as I turned, to see well-loved dark blue eyes, and shimmering silver-white blonde hair. She looked stunning and glowing in her pregnancy. She squeaked as I pulled her against me, and I claimed a long loving lingering kiss, as I rubbed her baby bump.
She pushed me away, and said laughingly, “Stop it, I’m huge.”
I heard more laughter, a laugh of dismissal at her words, and turned toward light blue eyes. My sixth mate, and final mate with the agreement of them all, stood there with a wide smile on her face. No one had been more surprised than Oceana when we’d tried the bonding spell, and it’d worked. It had been a shot in the dark, we all loved her to death, literally, we would love her until the day we died. She was still bonded to Regina with the closer master-servant bond, but the rest of us have seen her soul, and oh how it shines. The emotions made her so much more human, but every once in a while, I’m startlingly reminded that she is fae. I adore her, her love and devotion toward me and our family rivals Regina’s, and she makes up for the fact she can’t have kids by loving on all of them.
Oceana said firmly, “You’re glowing Claire, beautiful, and he can’t keep his hands off you. You know it too.”
I nodded in agreement, even as Oceana snuggled into my side. When Claire finally popped, that would be ten kids, two from each of my five mortal mates. It had come as a surprise to me, despite my Ash trying to tell me so long ago in the forest. I’d taught her for two years, and she’d graduated my school, before she took matters into her own hands and seduced me, rather directly.
It wasn’t until we’d kissed that first time, that I knew I’d loved her long before that moment. Our first kiss was an epiphany to me, and I told her I loved her as soon as it ended. I asked her to be my mate that same day, after making sure my other mate’s approved.
Which they did, they’d all been waiting for me to wake up, and figure it out. Apparently, my love for Claire, and hers for me, had only been a mystery to me.
If you can imagine, my light elven in-laws, and king and queen of Lelmalond, were quite annoyed with me when they found out they couldn’t have her back. They’d forgiven me though, about six years ago now, when my other elven student finished training Claire’s replacement. Malen didn’t seem to mind, and had just told me he’d seen it coming, and would take an apprentice when he arrived back home.
Apparently, everyone else really did know.
Call me thick, but my love had been hidden beneath my honest admiration for her strong strength and character, and partially because I was her teacher, plus the whole abused part. I’d buried my love, perhaps subconsciously, because making a pass at her would have been a dick move on so many levels.
She loved me deeply, and we set the sheets on fire often, she’d surrendered her body to me long ago. But… she still had her dark moments, when the memories of that horrible trial in her life came back to her unbidden. Shakes and cries that made me wish for impossible things.
I prayed for the day that would pass, but was thankful she was mostly at peace, and joyful in our family and lives most of the time.
I looked into her eyes and said with affectionate sincerity, “You do look magnificent, my love.”
Claire blushed, and relented enough to give me a soft kiss.
As for Karana, Sianna, and Saria, my other elven loves were busy teaching their students, of which Sianna was one. They’d be home soon enough, and only worked half days since the children were born.
I asked, “Where were you?”
Claire smirked, “At the school, checking on Karana, she said she wasn’t feeling good this morning.”
I nodded, I must have missed it, or I’d have checked her myself, “What was it?”
Claire grinned teasingly, “Number eleven.”
Oh… wow. Ten years, eleven kids, five fertile mates.
I had… s
even centuries plus left of life? I did some quick and alarming math. I was so screwed…
Ash chuffed, and accused, “You love it.”
Yeah… I did. I really did.
As for my business life that was going well. The teleporting rooms were a success for trade anyway, and I did build that floating car. My family made a whole lot more on selling our magical devices, than we did on healing. Between Eastguard only doubling the population in ten years, which was still under two thousand people, and the fact all the females seemed to prefer Claire for their complaints, I hardly healed more than a handful a week. I was a healer, and loved it, but the humans on this world were very healthy. My life was so full that was only a very small part of it. That was fine, it left me plenty of time for family, which I still held as most important. Things, coins, even responsibilities, paled next to my mates and children. I’d never forgotten, and never would, the lesson losing Cynthia had taught me.
Where did I go from here? Who knew what could happen, in the next seven centuries?
Afterword:
I hope you enjoyed the story. This was the final book in the dark sculptor series. Thank you for reading!
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.