Wraith King

by Jack Porter

  She kicked her horse, and the animal sprang toward me, its nostrils flared. Raising her sword, she looked like she meant to cut me down right here.

  Desperately, I looked around for a rock or anything to defend myself with, but didn’t see anything within reach. “So much for not hitting a woman,” I muttered. However, I didn’t think that rule applied if the woman in question was trying to kill me.

  But I’d played enough video games in my short life. Stepping to the opposite side of her sword hand, I prepared to launch myself at her, hoping to knock her off the horse and even the fight a bit.

  I would most likely die, but at least I would die fighting.

  Instead of bringing her sword around and down on my head, though, she reined in the horse. It stamped and reared in front of me, and I ducked out of the way, not wishing to get trampled.

  Then, the woman spun the animal around, trotted to her man, who swung up behind her in the saddle, and they rode off through the gates in a gallop.

  Both confused and relieved, I watched them gallop through town, calling out. But then I heard noises behind me—the clinging of metal on metal, and the sound of heavy footfalls.

  Turning, I saw something that made my blood run cold.

  8

  A small band of dark beings marched rapidly toward the village, wearing frayed hoods and cloaks so ragged that they looked like wisps. Where they marched, the darkness seemed to spread over the road, for the reddish light didn’t illuminate their faces. They wore heavy metal boots with spikes, and carried swords, pikes, or dark crossbows in their hands.

  Feeling exposed, I scrambled to hide behind a corner of the gatehouse wall. It wasn’t much, but at least provided me some cover.

  Behind the band, they dragged two women in chains with manacles on their hands and feet, and collars around their necks. Bright flames licked along the chains, causing the women to wince whenever the fire touched their skin.

  Once I saw the women, all my attention went to them. One was lithe and taller than her captors. She wore a skimpy leather one-piece bodysuit that revealed skin from her neck down almost to between her thighs. Only leather strategically placed in the right places covered her most private areas. Her breasts nearly fell out of the cups over them, and as she struggled against her bonds, I wondered why they didn’t.

  Her blond hair was partially braided and partially left to the smoky wind, and it whipped around her like it had a life of its own, revealing long, pointed ears.

  The second woman was the most breathtaking beauty I had ever seen. With curves in all the right places, breasts that spilled over a tight leather corset, and an hourglass figure that would make men fight to the death over her. Her raven hair fell down around her shoulders as if she had just tumbled from bed, but in the sexiest way imaginable.

  Behind the women, a hooded man, this one in red robes that looked of finer cloth than the others, commanded the band to stop at the open gates. I wondered at this, at why the village hadn’t closed the barriers to the slavers they obviously despised.

  The red-robed man carried a whip, and as he unwound it, it burst into flames.

  “Bring the elf to me,” he commanded.

  The elf, the woman with pointed ears, was unchained from the other woman and dragged back to the red-robed man. She continued to struggle, and every bit of her body language indicated defiance.

  The dark-cloaked figures twisted the elf so that her back was to the man with the whip. He circled around and ended up with his back to me. His whip lit up the gloom over the slavers, and he whipped it once to test it, the end cracking the air with a loud snap as it broke the sound barrier.

  Two held the elf between them with her arms out, her body bent over.

  Before the scene played out, I knew what was going to happen. And I couldn’t let it. Looking down at the ground, I looked for anything to use as a weapon. There were plenty of stones here, and I felt around for the sharpest one I could find.

  My fingers closed over a sharp edge as the first sound of fire hit flesh. The elf didn’t scream or cry, and that seemed to make the man in red happy. I could hear his laughter as he reared back for another blow.

  The wind picked up his cloak, hiding me from the other slavers. There wasn’t time to think, but all I knew was that I couldn’t let it go any further. I’m no hero, but some things can never be ignored. A sort of tunnel vision took over. So when the wind whipped up, I took my opportunity. Running forward as quietly as I could, I snuck up behind the man in red, brought my arm around to his throat, and stabbed.

  9

  It wasn’t clean, nor was it immediate. I felt his flesh give way, but I didn’t know how deep I’d cut. So I stabbed again, hoping to kill him and yet terrified of the thought at the same time. The man staggered at the first blow, and at the second, he dropped the whip. Soon, hot blood poured over my hand, staining his red robes and coating my own sleeve in fresh blood.

  The other slavers lunged for me then, so I dropped the stone and scrambled for the flaming whip, which was the only other weapon within reach. The leather was heavier than I’d imagined, but I backed away from the dying man and swung the whip at the nearest thing approaching me. The whip didn’t crack in the air like you hear in the movies, but the flames whipped out and caught on the oncoming creature’s wispy robes.

  Soon, my enemy was on fire. It shrieked and ran. The others backed away from the fiery whip, which I was pulling back for another go.

  I didn’t want to hit the women, though, and the slavers seemed to know that.

  However, the elf, now free because they had dropped her chains in the commotion, lunged at her nearest captor and stole his sword. In two seconds, she had beheaded him and was charging for another.

  Trying not to let myself be distracted by the elf’s fight, I concentrated on the two beings holding the second woman. They had drawn their swords, keeping hold of the chain that bound her while waiting for me to attack. I reared back and lashed out again, going for the foe that was farthest away from the woman. The whip missed, but I pulled back and tried again. The slaver hit it with his sword, cackling in a raspy sound that made my bones shiver.

  The elf returned and engaged with the other slaver, which acted as if it didn’t dare to let go of the chain attached to the raven-haired woman. I continued to attack the cackling dark creature, and it continued to parry with its sword, but due to the ongoing sword fight, it couldn’t attack me on the offense without letting go of the chain. The raven-haired woman wasn’t helping him, either. Every time her captor tried to lunge at me, she pulled him back.

  Finally, my whip caught on the slaver’s robes, setting fire to them. The slaver, unable to continue fighting, dropped the chain and ran. I thought about pursuing, but I didn’t have anything to finish it off with.

  The elf finished her foe with a blow to its chest, and it fell to the ground in a pool of black blood that steamed as it hit the ground. She stood there, panting heavily, her breasts heaving up and down from her struggle.

  “Are you going to stand there ogling the elf all day,” the raven-haired beauty asked in an amused tone, “or are you going to free me?”

  I turned to her. The fire that had licked the chains was gone. Indeed, the fire on the whip was also dying out.

  Behind us, I heard murmuring and shouting from the village.

  “How do I free you?” I asked.

  “Use your magic,” she said exasperatedly.

  “I don’t have magic.”

  The elf moved to grab the other woman’s chains, but the dark-haired one jerked away. “No,” she said. “I want him to do it. If he didn’t have magic, he couldn’t have wielded that whip, no matter how clumsy it was.” She stared into my eyes. Hers were dark red and beautiful, with flecks of gold that almost glowed like the embers that drifted through the sky. They propelled me forward, and before I knew it, I was standing only a foot from her.

  Before, when I’d seen her from a distance, I’d thought she was the most
beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Now, I realized that I had been understating her beauty. She wasn’t the just the most beautiful woman I had seen, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Despite her recent captivity, and despite the harsh environment, her lips were plump and soft, her skin was supple and flawless, and her hair was like dark spun silk. I wanted to run my fingers through it and never let go.

  “Free me,” she purred. It was the most seductive thing anyone had ever said to me.

  The elf said something behind me, but I didn’t hear it. Without a clue as to what to do, I did the first logical thing and put my hands on the collar around the raven-haired woman’s neck. With a chink, it fell free into my hands, and I tossed it away. Next, the beautiful woman held up her hands, and I freed those from the manacles in the same way. Then came her ankles. I wanted to linger there, to look at her perfect legs in those leather, heeled boots, but instead, I opened her cuffs and straightened to look back into her eyes.

  They glowed golden as the sun, the red all but disappearing. And then she changed.

  Her raven hair whipped around her face as if the wind had picked up again, but it hadn’t. And something was happening on her forehead. Large bumps grew as if she had been hit with two hammers, but then the skin split outward. I gasped and took a step backward as horns grew from each side of her head. Two sets appeared, one curving up and one circling down, and they were hard and gleamed black with ridges. Like a ram’s horns.

  And then the wings appeared. Dark, bat-like wings that were both graceful and terrible. The raven-haired woman stretched them, and they opened to span out above us, at least ten feet across.

  The woman half-turned and wiggled her perfect ass in my direction, and at first, I was too confused to understand that she had grown a tail as well. It curved up and flicked back and forth, almost like a cat’s, only there was no fur but soft-looking dark skin.

  A succubus.

  I had just freed a succubus.

  10

  “I told you to watch out,” the elf said from behind me. “But males never listen. This is why they are the weaker sex. And human males are worse than the other races.”

  I realized I was gaping and quickly closed my mouth.

  The succubus smiled and moved closer. “Do you like what you see, human?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  Her breath even smelled sweet, not like flowers, but like desire. Even as the word ‘pheromones’ crossed my mind, it was forgotten when I stared into her golden eyes.

  She pressed herself against me, her entire body matching mine, feeling like it was made for me. I began breathing heavily, and it had nothing to do with the fight we’d just won.

  “Kiss me,” she urged, her lips parting an inch from mine. “I want to reward you.”

  “I wouldn’t kiss her,” the elf said matter-of-factly. “Or you’ll be lost forever.”

  A flicker of a scowl passed over the succubus’ face. “You will like being lost, human,” she cooed. “I promise.”

  The words triggered something in my sex-hazed brain, and I remembered that I was, indeed, lost here in this world. With great effort, I took a step back. “I don’t need a reward,” I said awkwardly. No, I didn’t need one, but I really wanted one, and it was hard to look away from the succubus and over to the elf.

  “You smell like horse shit,” the blond elf said helpfully.

  I glanced back to the succubus. “Either of you know where I can get a bath and some food?”

  “That’s the least of our worries,” the elf replied, nodding to the town behind me. She was pulling her own collar off, unlocking it with a key she must have found from one of the dead slavers.

  I turned, and saw more villagers walking down the road, carrying swords, crossbows, and a few longbows as well.

  The elf’s collar and remaining manacles fell to the ground with a clink, and she seemed to glow for a moment. I half expected her to turn into something else, as well, but she remained an elf. Whatever those slavers were, they must have somehow bound the succubus’ true form? Or maybe she was hiding. In any case, there was no time to find out.

  “Those villagers don’t like that you killed slavers on their doorstep,” the succubus said, taking my hand and pulling me away from the gate. “The Wraith King’s vengeance will be swift.”

  Wraith King. I had no idea what she meant. “But I was saving you,” I said.

  “Yes,” the elf said. “And it was very noble, but now the villagers haven’t allowed the wraith slavers access through their village, as the Wraith King commands, and they will try to capture us and deliver us back to him as penance, to keep from being slaughtered or taken as slaves themselves.”

  The elf and the succubus tugged me along, and despite my weariness, I understood our dilemma. The elf thrust a sword into my hand that had been taken from a dead dark creature—wraith, and the succubus coiled the whip and looped it over my shoulder as we hurried away.

  I didn’t know where we would go, but at least I seemed to have allies now, and I was content to let the women lead. The elf hurried us down the road, her footsteps fast and light. Soon, we turned left to cross a barren plain. The smoke was denser here, with more ash that got stuck in our hair, eyes, and mouth. I sputtered and began to feel that desperate thirst again.

  The plain was deceptive at first glance, looking as if it could go on forever, and not ending until it reached mountains far away. Soon, though, it dropped off into a steep canyon, and the elf found a narrow trail that followed the wall of the gorge. She acted like she knew exactly where she was going, but it did little to ease my mind. The climb down was treacherous work, and more than once, I was glad for my climbing experience. Lesser adventurers never would have made it.

  The elf didn’t waver, her footing sure, as if her feet had some adhesive that kept her from sliding around. The succubus half-walked, half-floated behind me, using her wings to keep her balance.

  Once, my foot slipped, sending scree clattering down into the dry gorge. I gripped the wall, panting as sweat ran down my face, neck, and shoulders. My hands were slippery with it, my grip unsure. I rubbed my hands in the dust along the rock face, and it helped as we made our descent.

  Above, I heard dogs baying and yipping. Debris pelted down as a few of them attempted to follow us.

  “The villagers,” the elf said grimly. “They’ll be waiting for us if we ever return.”

  “What will happen to them?” I asked.

  “Better not to think about it until we reach the safety of the bottom,” the succubus said.

  I glanced backward, but all I could see was the succubus and her wings. “Who is the Wraith King?”

  “Something else we won’t discuss here.”

  Nodding, I didn’t ask any more questions until the sounds of the hounds had faded. “My name is Jon. What are yours?”

  The elf glanced back at me. “I am Ashyn from Blackhold Castle.”

  “And I’m whoever you want me to be,” the succubus said in a sultry voice.

  “What am I to call you?” I asked.

  “Call me whatever you like, human Jon.”

  I snorted.

  “I have been called Fire,” she continued. “I have been called Pleasure. Desire, Devil, Witch… Take your pick.”

  “None of those sounds like names,” I said as I picked my way across a gap in the trail.

  “Then if you must call me something, call me Ilana.”

  “Is that your name?”

  “That’s what you should call me.”

  I smiled, but she couldn’t see it, and I didn’t dare look back just then as we navigated over another particularly treacherous section of trail. “All right, Ilana.”

  11

  By the time we reached the bottom, the red light of day had begun to fade. Here at the bottom of the gorge, there were plenty of rocks and places to rest, but the elf kept moving.

  Determined not to slow them down or be in danger of being left behind, I pressed on, bu
t my thirst once again was becoming unbearable. Neither creature with me had water, and I wondered if they felt the thirst as keenly as I did. My only hope was that we could find a spring somewhere in the gorge and that the elf or the succubus would sanctify it.

  But it never happened.

  Darkness came to the gorge before it did above, and soon, I was stumbling over the treacherous rocks. There was still danger here of falling, and a turned foot could result in a nasty sprain or broken ankle. And, if I fell just right, I could bash my head on a rock and die that way.

  The elf and the succubus did not seem to share my troubles, but after an hour of me blundering around in the dark, the succubus spoke from behind me.

  “Elf, our human savior is weakening,” she said.

  Ashyn stopped. Or at least, I heard her feet stop crunching over rocks. I couldn’t see much of her in the dim light.

  “Then we should camp here,” Ashyn said. “If he can’t see us to follow, then the villagers can’t see us, either, especially down here.”

  “How would they get to us now?” I asked, trying to hide the relief in my voice.

  “They have magic. It’s primitive, tis true, but they could use it to create some trouble for us. However, I don’t believe they will attempt the descent in the dark.”

  I sat down right where we’d stopped, shifting to find the most comfortable position so the sharp stones didn’t bite me in the ass. “And in the morning?” I asked.

  “They will continue hunting,” Ashyn replied. “If they don’t, they are all dead.”

  A pang of remorse shot through me, but I didn’t know what to do to rectify the situation. I couldn’t go back to the village and tell them I made a mistake. No more than I could return the elf and the succubus to their captors.

  “Is there a way to help them?” I asked. I felt like all I was doing was asking questions.