“I can feel... almost…” she formed words between delirious panting. She glanced back at me with her exquisitely formed red eyes. “Give….” her voice broke in a trembling cry. “Give it all to me!”
I was losing control of my own body. My hands let go of her hair and instinctively clamped onto her hips, half to steady her, half to steady myself as I punished her. My grunts grew more desperate, hot breath spewing from me like fire. Even with her immortal strength she couldn’t keep her hips upright as I smashed her, and her stomach fell flat against the bed. She was completely prone under me now, the sharp curve of her ass still lifted high so that I could go on pumping to the shrieking moans of her pleasure. Then by some mad instinct, my jaws spread wide and I bit into her. My fangs pierced into the flesh between her neck and shoulder. As hot breath swirled in my nostrils, I knew it was not to harm her. No, it was meant to mark her, to let all know that she was mine alone. She let out a cry, and somehow found strength enough to reach back with a hand and clench the fur along my neck to hold me to her, for she found some pleasure in the pain. We stayed in this primal entanglement for shuddering moments, her gasps filling my ears.
A swell of emotion. Tears. Rage. Longing—I could not put words to it. I arched up, bellowed in release. My hips buckled. I became lost in the throes of wild animal abandon. Hot seed shot out of me. With each ecstatic spasm I sprayed another white hot volley into her. I felt her grooved canal clench me desperately. Her face became wrenched as an orgasm shattered her. Her raven locks spilled wildly along her back, some of them plastered to her face by sweat.
A whimpering cry slithered from her throat as tremors ran through her.
My thrusting slowed, but lingered at its furthest penetrations. She pressed her hips back into me to meet my slow thrusts and absorb the last of my spasmed cumming.
“Haaawwgh…” hot breath rushed out of me as I spurted the last of me.
“Gods, my wolf…” She managed to speak, mind enough to form words returning to her as our bodies drank the last of the ecstacy and began to calm.
Finally, I collapsed back.
9
I was practically breathless, a stone. The whole world was a spinning meadow, a bowl of milk and honey, and I was melting into it. The earth and the stars could have drained into a bottomless void like water down a drain, and I wouldn’t have noticed, or cared. For everything was a satiny darkness now, a languid pleasure hanging over all things like a haze of incense.
Whether I came out of my delirium minutes or hours later, I was not sure. Eventually I did come to. My body was a human’s once more, and half buried in silk sheets.
Tiloshar’s face was drunk with pleasure as mine surely was. She moved up so that she lay next to me. Her nose grazed my neck as she gave me a long, wet kiss on the neck.
“So much for doing things against your will.” A smile curled on her lips but then dissipated. That queenly air had not yet fully returned to her.
“Tiloshar, was it a dream that I… bit you?”
“Oh, this?” She turned her shoulder so that I saw huge teeth marks on her flesh.
“I did not intend to...” I was in disbelief at myself.
“My wolf, did I not bite you as well? You truly forget what I am.” Her eyes grew intense with concentration, and the bite mark began healing until moments later it vanished.
“My frenzied beast wanted to mark you as mine.”
“And in that moment, I was. But you forget that I am queen and so I can be no one’s.” Her sultry smile returned.
“Aye.” I looked on in wonder at this being fate had brought me to.
“Our energy fields have truly merged. Now you can open your mind completely to me, and let me duplicate it.” She took the Idochron gem from her necklace and placed it on my forehead. She brought her face to mine so that our foreheads touched with the gem between them. Violet light began washing over my eyes and I closed them.
Memories began rushing out of the darkness. Everything from childhood through youth and into manhood. Moments small and large, loves, hatreds, passions, secrets, rivalries, desires, fears. Every meal I could remember, every sunrise, every ax blow, every horse ride, every landscape unfolding before my eyes, on and on it all spilled out from that darkness. The violet light pulled at these memories. They all were caught in its violet light like water in a tidepool. Finally, with a flash, it was done.
Tiloshar’s face rose from mine and she looked down at the triangle gem in her hand. “Good, it is finished.”
I managed to nod through my exhaustion. She wrapped her robe around herself and she left the room.
I dozed in bed, though I never truly fell into a sleep. My mind was calm, unconcerned by anything, perhaps too tired to think. A time later, Tiloshar returned with a small winged creature whose body was made up mostly of a single large eyeball. It had in its talons a ring from which dangled a tray of fruit.
“You should eat something to restore your vitality.” Tiloshar sat by me. The winged creature handed her the tray and she held it out to me.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. “Thank you.” My voice was drained. I plucked some grapes from the tray and felt their tangy sweetness in my mouth.
“The gem’s formation was a success.”
“It’s a strange way to get at someone’s mind.”
“Yours was a... unique creation. The normal procedure usually leaves my experiment drained of all but their mind’s most basic functions. I knew that we had the compatibility required for our minds to couple in that way.”
“It’s not a success to me that the Empire will know everything about me, every secret, every memory.”
“I had not thought of it that way.” She set the tray aside and ran a finger on my hand. “I will tamper with it. Perhaps I can remove those memories which are most private—I will certainly remove those memories from the past day. but it will take time, and I am running out of it. The Imperials will expect me to hand over the gem as well as you in two days’ time. And who knows, perhaps you will stay much longer than that.”
“I understand you will deliver my mind gem to the Empire, but how will you get around your agreement to hand me back as well? The ship the general wields could very well destroy this entire island if he feels betrayed.”
“Come. I will show you.” She rose and I followed.
We walked down corridors until we returned to the room where One Eye was held. We walked along the yellow glowing tubes until we came to one with a body in it. “Look, do you recognize him?”
I looked at the body floating there in the golden liquid. It was tall, with long hair, a male with a thick build and facial features. “A Skaldean.”
She hooked her arm around mine as she laughed. “A Skaldean indeed. My favorite Skaldean, actually.” She looked at me with a ruby read smile. “Look closer, Rothan.”
I looked at the body, but its features seemed incomplete. It seemed almost like he was being sculpted from clay. But that was flesh…. The shape of the straight nose was showing through, along with a wide jaw. “It’s me!”
“It is your homunculus.”
“My what?’
“A homunculus. Your physical clone in every way.”
I looked closer at the being in the tube. “How can that be?”
“You remember the first time we spoke, when you were bound to the metal table?” She turned, smiling at me.
“We did more than talk. Or should I say, you did more to me.”
“There was no time to explain. I needed your seed... to create him.”
I gawked as I tried to comprehend it all. “You will hand him over to the Imperials. You will say it is me!”
“Of course. That will be his purpose.”
“Will they not be able to tell?”
“No homunculus can be exactly the same in every way, but he will be indistinguishable to the Imperials. Remember, they expect me to hand you back as a nearly mindless corpse, your mind drained and stored in your mind gem. I wil
l put the most basic aspects of your mind in him. He will be as sentient as a worm.”
“I wonder what they will do to him.”
“Do not worry yourself. Even if they harm him, the homunculus is more of a machine made out of flesh. As long as there is no soul in it, it cannot truly suffer.”
“You worry me in some ways. You can brush away the suffering of beings with your philosophy.”
“Oh, Rothan.” She clasped my hands. “This is the way of things. Would you rather I hand you back to the Imperials?”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I am. This is the only way we can both avoid their wrath.”
“Why do you bargain with them, Tiloshar?”
“You see them as a mortal enemy. I see them as just another kingdom among many. I cannot leave this island. They bring me bodies and other goods.”
“Someday we will be at odds if you persist in being allied to them.”
“Do not threaten one who is more powerful, Rothan.” She was playful, but I sensed a seriousness beneath her smile. “Now, there is something we must deal with that is more pressing.”
Tiloshar guided me back through the rows of glass tubes in the chamber.
“You will have a companion on your journey to retrieve my memories.”
“If others can go on this journey, why did you not send them long ago?”
“I have sent a few. They have never returned. The one who did returned with a mind so broken he was beyond saving. It is a perilous place you will journey to. That is why when I came across you, I knew I finally found a champion with the strength to fulfill my greatest desire—and as it turned out, some other desires besides.” We came up to the tube where One Eye was kept.
“You will send me with One Eye?”
“Who better? He will be able to aid you. He is one of the few in my collection who I believe is strong enough for the journey. Even in his rudimentary mind he must have some unconscious memory of your friendship and so will be a faithful servant to you.” She gestured at a nearby stitched servant who stood on some metal scaffolding above us. The servant pulled on a lever and the yellow fluid began draining from One Eye’s containment tube. “Bring him to the armory, servant. I want him dressed and ready.”
Tiloshar and I made our way out of the chamber. I glanced back and saw that One Eye was moving within his containment tube. I wondered how much of himself there really was in that pale gray version of his body.
Tiloshar opened another chamber door and we entered the armory, a tall stone room reinforced by brass molding. Suits of imposing armor stood in rows, adorning display models. There were lines of axes, swords, spears, morning stars, weapons of every kind.
“Are you raising an army?”
“Hardly. All this was here long before I can remember. I know not what purpose I had for it. Perhaps I kept reserves for my own guards. In any case, it will serve our purpose now. You are an experienced warrior. Choose the right arms for yourself.”
I was already walking along the rows of weapons and armor. They were all crafted with such precision and artistry I would not have been surprised if they were from some other age, or some other world entirely.
“This place I am going. What sort of dangers will I come across?” I grabbed a hefty ax and admired it.
Tiloshar stared at me for a long moment. “Demons. There will be demons in the realm of Malfeon.”
“Well, then…” I grabbed an even bigger ax. It was so large even an average man would have had trouble holding it for long, much less wielding it in battle. “This will do.”
“That which you have chosen is no ordinary weapon, and can only be wielded by the greatest of warriors.”
“Aye, I can tell.” I felt its heft in my hands.
“It is not its size or weight which I mean, it is its arcane power. For that double-bladed ax is ‘Orbol’s Thirst’ to those of greater arcane lore, the Absorbing Ax to those of lesser.”
“I had a blade I named Thirst once, so this new weapon and I should get along well.”
“You do not understand. The Absorbing Ax responds to the wielders arcane power. As you bond with it, it will respond to your will, allowing you to shield yourself from magic blasts unleashed against you. Not only will it shield you, but it will drink the very energy set against you. It will absorb it into its endless thirst and hold it there until the moment you wish to unleash it.”
“And all I have to do is hold it in front of me, between me and whatever hellfire is being tossed my way, and it will drink it all up?” I had used my ax blades as a kind of shield between me and fiery blasts of arcane power before, though it was never ideal and more of a last resort. While they could lighten the brunt of the blast, most of the fiery energy would still penetrate through this improvised shield.
“Yes, but this power takes concentration; it will not work if you are caught off guard or are trying to strike while absorbing at the same time. You must be as still as possible, your will focused on your weapon. You will also not be proficient with this skill immediately, but with time you and the ax will grow a better link. Let me show you.” She pointed a clawed finger toward me, and it began glowing an eerie black and blue.
“Hey!” I raised the massive ax blades before me, still unprepared. “Ax… drink… absorb!”
She let out a tiny writhing snake of a lightning blast from her finger, its core black and surrounded by a corona of pale blue like that of a fume fire. While it should have struck just above the ax head, it seemed to curve down at the last moment and sparked against the ax blades. The lightning was gone, and my ax was cold steel once more.
“Now,” Tiloshar commanded, “summon that which it just drank.”
“Ax…” my brow furrowed as I mentally commanded it to bring the lightning back once more. The mental link we created felt like the ringing of brass bowls that I had seen monks from Partha perform, though it was inaudible. The razor edges of the ax’s twin blades glowed with a corona of black and blue lightning. “Ha!” I smiled as I studied the weapon, and I gave the air before me a wicked slash. The ax crackled with the black lightning, leaving a sizzling trail along the arc of my blow. Then, the ax went cold once more. “I like this weapon. But it should be called Rothan’s Thirst now, should it not?”
“Call it what you will.” Tiloshar smiled, and the fabric of her skirts shimmered as she gracefully turned toward some other weapons.
“Well, then. I can deal with sorcerers and great beasts. What else could be there in this Malfeon?”
“There will be creatures of flight as well. I want you to have a missile weapon to deal with them.”
“A bow?”
“No, that does not suit you, and it will be too much to carry now that you wield that mighty ax. And I believe, from One Eye’s memories, that he is more suited for bows and arrows.” She roamed among the suits of armor looking for something. “Here, this will do.”
She brought two gauntlets back with her. She held one out to me. “This is the Ghost Hand.” I slipped it on. Wearing it, the gauntlet’s metal was truly chilly. It was made of elegantly shaped lobstered white metal that was polished to a fogged mirror finish, a frosty appearance. The palm was made of black chainmail, each link being so small it looked like a solid sheet of metal until one looked at it closely. Its fingers were clawed.
“Tiloshar, it is a magnificent gauntlet, but how does this help me against these flying creatures?”
“See that suit of armor over there?”
“Aye.”
“Strike its helmet off.”
“I don’t see how it helps, but—” I took a step toward it.
“No, stay where you are. Stay where you are and strike at it.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Just do as I say. Aim for the helmet, and rake at it as if you had an arm thirty feet long.”
“Hells! Fine, I’ll do it.” I swung the clawed gauntlet. I jumped back when I saw that the armor’s helmet went flying off. M
y hand felt the sensation of striking the helmet, though I was some twenty feet from it.
Tiloshar curled her fingers in a “come hither” gesture and the helmet came floating to her. She held it out to me. “Look.”
I inspected the helmet and saw that there were claw marks upon its polished surface. “The gauntlet, it lets me strike at things as if they were within reach.”
“Finally, you understand. Here, the second one.”
I took the second gauntlet from her. This one was black iron. It had a black chain that wrapped around it many times. It was also clawed and had an elegantly cut large blue sapphire on its backhand. As I slipped it on, the stone glowed with arcane power.
“What does this one do?”
Tiloshar glanced at another suit of armor. “Go ahead. Aim. Strike.”
This time my hand lashed out with more confidence. For a split moment the gauntlet split apart into pieces, and I thought I had broken it. However, before I could blink, the fist part of the gauntlet reformed itself and launched itself at the armor. The claws dug into the armor, piercing it. The long thin black chain stretched from the suit of armor twenty feet from me all the way back to the upper part of the gauntlet which had stayed latched on my forearm at all times.
“Go ahead, bring it back.”
I yanked my arm back and the chain hissed as it came snapping back to me. It coiled around my forearm faster than a viper. However, the gauntlet did not come back empty handed. Its claws were still embedded in the armor, and so nearly the whole suit came barreling toward me. It crashed into me, nearly toppling me over from the surprise.
The suit of armor clattered all around me as its various parts went flying away from one another as they impacted against me. Tiloshar’s laugh rang in the chamber.
“My appearing a fool pleases you.” The gauntlet was fully assembled on my hand again. I ungripped the breastplate of the armor, and it clattered to the ground.
“What can I say? It’s rather endearing.”
I turned my hand, slowly taking in the gauntlet’s form. I snapped my hand out and the gauntlet’s claw went shooting out again. This time it had less force behind it and so it snapped back and reformed around my hand again. The two parts of the gauntlet, forearm and clawed hand, could disassemble and reassemble again by some arcane power. However, its chain always stayed connected to both. “How do I control it?”
Wolf Blade: Chains of the Vampire Page 8
