by A. S. Etaski
“Did you prod her awake? Choose her over the other two?”
I shook my head vehemently. “No, Elder.”
“Are you so sure? Did anything odd happen? Think back.”
I didn’t want to claim it, because I was terrified what she might ask of me in the future if she thought I had some actual skill against Ornilleths.
“Nothing I can describe. Nothing I did on purpose. I wasn’t intending anything against my Sisters, especially nothing malicious, Elder, I swear. I don’t know why Reishel woke up and the other two didn’t. We had no special bond.”
“You do, now,” she pointed out, having yanked the details earlier on why I had stolen Gaelan’s Feldeu in the first place. “If D’Shea isn’t already planning to train a new team in you three, maybe the recruit, too, if she makes it, then I’m going to recommend it. It’ll help in dealing with the Prime.”
My heart thundered at this mention, and Rausery raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“Are you going to tell her?” I asked. At the same time, it was a plea against it. “I swear I don’t understand what’s happening much more than you.”
The General chuffed, her hands propped on her hips, far more relaxed than me as her chin lowered in thought. “Anyone else knows about this, Sirana, and it won’t be just the Prime who will want to kick you out and hand you over to the Valsharess for containment. On a good cycle, nobody here trusts a Davrin who had their mind twisted by a psion. You saw how tough it was on Reishel, trying to come back, and it will be a while before some Sisters will work with her.”
She lifted her chin and looked directly in my eyes. “Now imagine their reaction to one sharing memories and abilities with a psion she killed. Talking like him, in his language, so that even Panagan didn’t know it was you.” She watched my face and nodded. “Yeah. I imagine the Priestesses would demand control of you, whatever the plan, because it looks like possession. Something they have experience with. They could convince the Valsharess, easily.”
I was shaking. Sick to my stomach. My vision faded out briefly. “Please. No…”
“Head down. Breathe.”
I did. She watched me for a few moments before speaking again.
“Keep this in mind, Sirana, and keep your mouth shut. Don’t show your hand to anyone, don’t confide in any Sister, not even Jaunda or Gaelan. Like D’Shea, I don’t want to hand you over to the Sanctuary before figuring this out. You have potential, and we want that for the Sisterhood, not for the Priesthood. But we could be forced to if anyone finds out about this. Your Elder and I will talk. You stay silent. Understand?”
“Y-yes, Elder. I will. Thank you.”
Now, I waited alone in this tiny room inside the Cloister. A shiver went down my spine when it was Lead Jaunda who let herself in next, not either Elder. I felt the prickle of having been in this position before. I saw a flash of myself, still as a Noble at House Thalluen, small and powerless as I waited to be blamed for Jilrina’s death. It was the same here. Jaunda had remained with me in my own bedroom at my Matron’s House, keeping watch, until her Elder had time to announce my fate. Back then, I hadn’t been sure if the warrior had wanted to fuck me.
Now, there was no doubt.
My Lead twirled her finger, her face set in a happy leer. “Knees on the ground. Elbows on the chair.”
Sitting at a height of fear, Jaunda’s command caused a surge of arousal in my gut as I seized on the blatant opportunity to de-stress. My hands had already released my chair and I reached to undo my weaponless belt before I fully grasped my actions.
Spawn of an Abyssal slit.
When did my cunt start thinking for me?
This was my life until I gained rank in the Sisterhood.
Very soon I was gripping the back of the fiberstalk chair, my leathers bunched around my knees, and Jaunda spearing my netherhole with her familiar cock, deep enough that I could feel her fur pressing against me. She began with long, powerful strokes, both of us grunting. She enjoyed that pace for a while, then she leaned over to lie atop my back, wrapping her strong arms around my middle. A hand slid down between my legs to flick at my sensitive pearl, and I flinched.
“Aw, yeah,” she chuckled. “Squeeze that cock, Sirana.”
She did it again, and I gripped her pole, a hum slipping out of me. I adjusted my stance, offered that steady platform as she took her time. She slapped my ass appreciatively then stroked me some more. Her mouth was close to my ear when she spoke, her fingers circling my white bush and the folds just beneath.
“Gaelan told me her Feldeu was missing. Figured you took it. You were the last to leave the room.”
I squeezed her again though I knew it wouldn’t distract her. “Confessed to our Elders.”
“So it wasn’t an order from either?”
“No, Lead.”
She lunged in, her breath hitching just before a throaty growl. My cunt was wet, aching with emptiness as she filled my ass. She spoke next through a tighter throat.
“So, you can use it now. Gaelan said she taught you how. On her and Reishel.”
“Yes, Lead,” I gasped, the chair legs thumping and scraping against the floor with our heavy motions.
“You weren’t done when I interrupted you with Reishel? That why you stole it?”
I swallowed. “I had finished, Lead. Although…there’s more I can’t tell you…without D’Shea’s say.”
“Got it.”
Jaunda chuckled with odd satisfaction, asking nothing more. Her one hand left my crotch so that both hers could wrap around mine, trapping me as I gripped the back of the chair.
“You know, cait, you’re a lot like your Grand Matron. The way you push and pull.”
I jerked in surprise. Huh?
“My…?”
Jaunda let loose the reins then, fucking me hard, rutting my ass with glee, spending many lewd compliments on my well-trained, talented netherhole. Through it all, I felt my slit drooling down my thigh; arousal hit a high pitch, yet I couldn’t climax. She teased me too much with the mention of a Davrin I never knew. Perhaps this was Jaunda’s own style of interrogative torture for me before D’Shea got here.
An event which proved to arrive very shortly.
The Ward suspended, and the Sorceress stepped in while I was joyfully fucked. D’Shea just watched in silence at one side, standing patiently and giving Jaunda time to finish inside me. My Lead wasted no time, then; she sped up, throwing herself fearlessly off the edge.
“Yeeaahh!” she growled, holding herself deep, groaning through clenched teeth as she squeezed my hands with hers. I whimpered a bit, a sound I knew Jaunda enjoyed but also because I’d be sore either standing or sitting while D’Shea told me what came next.
Plus, I still needed to cum, whether my pucker was raw or not.
Abyssal slit.
“Wait for me outside, Lead,” D’Shea instructed with elegant calm once we had disconnected.
Jaunda stood up, put her toy back inside her leathers, and straightened her uniform. She obeyed without a sound, signing her acknowledgment and respect. Then, it was just me and the Sorceress. D’Shea waited while I gingerly pulled up my pants and put my tender ass back in the chair. I waited for her to speak.
“Panagan believes she’s absolved of your doings concerning the recruit,” my Elder began. “And she believes the part about your taking a potion to sense psionic presence. Fortunately for me, such a potion exists, though not easy to make. My instruction for you is to say nothing of this to any who ask. In time, it shall be forgotten.”
I exhaled, nodding. “Yes, Elder. The General said the same thing.”
More or less.
D’Shea offered a cunning smile. “I know. Rausery and I have a report which will satisfy the Prime, I believe, and we’ll put Aurenthietti through the Cloister, see if the Red Sisters accept her. If they do, we’ll train her.”
I opened my mouth.
“You are not to ask det
ails,” she interrupted before I could ask, “and speaking those you know is very dangerous for you, Sirana. If the Prime asks you directly, all you know is that I gave you instructions to chisel out that stone and find that group of Tragar. I told you to look for and interrogate the female among them, and you crossed paths with the recruit by happenstance. You made your decisions in the field to fight and aid her based on my order to capture the female for interrogation. Nothing more. Understood?”
I nodded. It was close enough to the truth for me to remember, though it was clear D’Shea was once again stepping between me and the First Sister. Taking on more risk.
Both her and Rausery.
“Yes, Elder.”
“Good. Now. I have a task for you, and you shall perform it immediately after we are through here. Again, ask no details. Look for opportunity.”
My heart again pulsing in my ears, I nodded. “Yes, Elder. Thank you.”
CHAPTER 9
With a silent sigh, I paused in my rather long walk to the Wizard’s Tower, removing to study again the sealed vial Elder D’Shea had given me, along with two of the three Dwarf stones I had collected in the field. I might have anticipated that D’Shea would twist something I had looked forward to into nothing more than another tease.
“This vial will get you into the Tower,” she had told me, her face stern. “But you make certain you accomplish your assignment first, Sirana. If you have the time before I call you, then you may reward yourself with the young wizard if you want. But, if two marks have passed since you’ve taken this prevention draught, do not take any prick in your cunt at all.”
Yes, yes, mouth and ass only. I’m quite familiar.
My shitter was still sore from Jaunda’s use.
Two marks, though. It was not very generous on first study, seemed like a weak potion, as Phaelous had claimed that his lasted for over twelve marks. But, then again, he did say male seed remained “viable” inside a womb for some time afterward. If that was the case, then D’Shea’s potion probably lasted for an equal time.
But not a mark more.
I knew these mages could make something long-term for the Sisterhood to prevent catching babies, if they tried, but I also remembered what the Headmaster had said when I asked him: I have nothing I am allowed to give to you, Red Sister.
Fuck.
With deliberate, inefficient methods based more on abstaining through willpower, a Red Sister had to get pregnant every so often. Then, she would be kept in the Sanctuary until she dropped the babe, and it was a marked failure for the Sisterhood and a boon for the sterile Priestesses. Another tick on the game board, as the Valsharess just turned it into another method of control between the two most powerful groups.
I resented how the older females could make me feel a little afraid of a few cocks in the Tower. Spinneret suckers. All of them.
Soon, I stood at the front door of the Wizard’s Tower. As at my first time, Headmaster Phaelous long knew of my approach in being allowed past the various ward-points, and he met me in the main entry. This time, instead of it being empty, there were a few buas cleaning. I felt their eyes on me even as they tried to be subtle. Phaelous tested the potion D’Shea had given me to satisfy his requirements, and I caught a few hand signs to each other.
*Blue eyes…*
*…she’s back.*
*Shh! She’ll see!*
“Very good, young Sister,” the Headmaster said, handing me back the vial. “Please drink this and come with me.”
I obeyed, having several witnesses to this, and kept the empty vial with me. We walked past the young wizards to the nearest jump circle, and Phaelous’ calm, aged face did not change much, perhaps a little amused. I wagered he didn’t rule his nest with a spiked club the way the Prime did, or there would have been some easy “examples” to be made just now.
“It seems you’re easy to identify, young Sister,” the ancient wizard commented after we had jumped to a quieter floor.
“When the torches are lit, yes,” I agreed with a shrug. “The battlemage has been talking?”
“Word spread of your visit, though not solely from his mouth. Regardless, some of the others will hardly let him be, asking for details about you. They also noted his change in behavior afterward. He’s been focusing very much on his crafting skills.”
None of this surprised me; the buas at the Court were the same way even without magic. I cleared my throat. “Speaking thus, I brought something on behalf of my Elder.”
“Indeed?” Phaelous’ long, leisurely gait flowed unabated. “Let us find some privacy.”
The Headmaster’s notion of “privacy” took the form of a small, round library on the fifth level which held both protections and—if I chose to guess—a hidden entrance or exit somewhere. Maybe a jump circle behind a scroll case. Once we were alone, he motioned me toward one of three, heavy and fine-quality study tables. I moved closer but didn’t take one of the wide seats with comfortable cushions; I remained standing.
“May I see your message from your Elder, Red Sister?” he asked politely.
“It isn’t a note.”
“Everything sent here from the Elder Sorceress has a message attached.”
True.
I removed the two Dwarf stones from my belt, setting them upon the table an equal distance between us. They appeared just like ordinary, greyish-blue stones in this light, and I watched Phaelous’ face for any sign of either recognition or skepticism. I saw neither.
“Instructions?” he asked.
“Do you know what it is?”
He smiled with patience, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Is that your Elder’s question?”
Damn it. I shook my head. “No, it’s mine.”
“Ah. Well. It would be reckless of me to answer without understanding what you already know of it, young Sister.”
“Mm. Still alive through good habits, eh?”
“Accurately stated.”
I fidgeted, straining against my orders. Phaelous watched me without blinking.
After a moment, he said, “I take it your Elder does not want you to share what you know with me.”
Fuck.
I shook my head. “I’m the one who found it. She instructed me to bring it here to you.”
“But I may not know the circumstances. Very well. Is there any goal at all? A direction?”
“Well. We heard on the Fringe that sometimes this stone turns blue.”
The Headmaster could tell I had couched the truth in a lie; it was obvious in his fine-lined smile. “Does it? Very curious. Perhaps I shall have to discover when and why it turns blue, hm?”
D’Shea is going to kill me.
“That would be welcome, Headmaster,” I said, breathing out my nerves. “Plus, anything more that you learn about it.”
“Certainly. Is there anything else, Sister Sirana?”
“My Elder said that the Elder General is also an acceptable contact for anything you discover.”
“Inform her that is understood.” The elder wizard looked again at the drab stones with unhurried curiosity. “And?”
“And, um, to use all resources available to you.”
Obvious, perhaps, but that part was explicit in my instructions. This wizard had a lot of resources that I did not.
He bowed a slow nod. “Very well, Red Sister. Please, allow me to call two of them right now, before you leave for the seventeenth floor to visit Callitro.”
Hm? Why?
It annoyed me that I imagined feeling the potency of the prevention draught fading away. Another test from my Elder. Finish my task first. I got a grip on myself.
“Certainly, Headmaster. I will wait.”
I remained standing rather than sit, thanks to Jaunda. I ambled, acting as if to browse the library, sneaking a look at Phaelous and whatever he was doing with his hands near a smooth plate of gloss stone next to a small basin of liquid.
I was cur
ious about the scrolls within reach, about the parchment-filled codices on the shelves surrounding me, about whomever would be coming, but I was fooling myself if I imagined I understood the markings and colors which seemed to categorize the knowledge written down. The markings were familiar enough to recognize a Davrin hand, to see our language, but changed enough to be unreadable to the average literate Noble. It was a complex system I knew nothing about, not even where to start.
Wonder if that’s why D’Shea is unconcerned with sending me here.
“Headmaster?” I asked when the old Elf seemed to be finished with his summons.
Phaelous turned toward me respectfully. “Yes, Red Sister?”
“Do many of my Sisters come here as messengers for the Elders?”
“Not regularly, only when necessary. There are other methods.” He paused. “A messenger is never a mage, I notice.”
He gave me that last bit for free.
“What about non-messengers? One coming for her own purpose. Any mages recently?”
“Not for a little over two centuries, young Sister.” The golden flecks in Phaelous’ crimson eyes seemed to twinkle in the smokeless torchlight. “But…for her own purpose? Like what, young Sister?”
I shrugged, thinking about Callitro waiting up-level. “Play that isn’t political, the way it is at Court.”
He chuckled softly. “Many of your Sisters have never been to Court, and most don’t seem to see wizards as much fun in that regard. My buas are studious objects kept clean and safe, largely ignorant of the grit of Sivaraus. Collected Davrin which cannot be broken and must be handled with care. This limitation doesn’t intrigue many Red Sisters, but the residents here remember those who are, as she seems interested in something more than his body.”
I felt an odd prickle up my back and neck, warming my cheeks and my crotch both. “Hm. Any of those recently? Non-mages, I mean.”
Everything about him remained poised and patient. “You could ask around the Cloister, I suppose. Forgive that I am not at liberty to name them, and my learners have been warned against loose lips.”