by Simon Archer
“That makes sense,” I said, taking another drink and emptying my own glass. The bartender had noticed I was low and brought me a refill along with Nadeine’s.
“Your magic and custom spells should help us gather information and survive undetected once we are there,” Marinka said. “We will be able to formulate a plan then.” Now that we were closer to the wall protecting the outskirts of the kingdom than we were the training grounds, this whole quest was starting to feel a lot more real.
“I’ve been wondering,” I said, thinking back to what I already knew about the mountain elves. “How is it that the mountain elves all got wiped out during the war? Or at least, that you thought they were, or that most of them were, or whatever. Did you guys make that happen? They can’t all have been in the forest away from their homes.”
“These are questions about a very dark time in our people’s history,” Marinka said carefully. “The short answer is yes, we in the kingdom were responsible for the destruction of the mountain elves. Mind you, Leo, there were no children mountain elves at the time. The mountain elves’ lifespans are far longer than even ours. They very rarely have children.”
“Well, that makes me feel better, I guess,” I said, trying to think how it was possible to have a longer lifespan than the kingdom elves, who lived for up to five centuries. It would probably get boring after around a millennium. “So, you just managed to kill them all?”
“Indeed,” Marinka said, nodding gravely and taking a long drink. “The tide began to turn in our favor towards the end of the war. The mountain elves began to be overpowered, and our magi took them out one by one. But as you guessed, more were waiting in the mountains, ready to take the place of those who had fallen. My great-grandmother, the ultimate mage Romilda the Vanquisher, created a spell to destroy those that lingered in the mountains. She cast it with the combined strength of the other living ultimate magi at the time, and the mountain elves were thought to be destroyed after that. The war ended, and no one ever heard from them again. Romilda never wrote down the spell, as she believed it too dangerous to ever be cast again.”
“That makes sense,” I said, nodding. “It must have taken her a long time to create such a powerful spell.”
“Indeed,” Marinka said. “That is the true limitation of our magic. That the more we hope to accomplish, the more difficult it is to do so in a reasonable amount of time. To create such a spell takes an almost insurmountable amount of time, skill, and power.” I didn’t know how to respond to that. To wipe out an entire group of people was a big deal, even if they were evil.
“There weren’t any good mountain elves?” I asked carefully.
“Not that we have ever been made aware of, Leo,” Marinka said, as Nadeine and Bernsten joined her in shaking their heads vehemently. “They have only ever sought to destroy us, even when we posed no threat to them or their way of life.”
“But come,” Bernsten said, slapping his hands down on the table and rising. “The wazo table has been vacated. Let us forget such troubling thoughts and engage in a friendly game.” I rose to join him, and the bartender rushed over to give us another round of drinks at the wazo table.
“May I play?” Godfried, who was still working on his first beer, asked when we arrived at the table, a gleam in his eye.
“Ah, why do I get the feeling you have great skill at this game?” Bernsten asked, looking at the younger elf warily.
“I have great skill with many things,” Godfried grinned, picking up one of the wazo stones and turning it over in his hand instinctively. “May I go first?”
“I suppose,” Bernsten said, still wary.
“He has won several regional competitions,” Marinka told Nadeine and me as we watched the game.
“Oh, dear,” Nadeine chuckled. “Between Godfried and Leo, I am afraid that my brother may be dethroned as the greatest wazo player in the realm.”
True to his and Marinka’s word, Godfried was an excellent wazo player. His first throw landed in the outermost circular ridge on the table, causing Bernsten’s mouth to hang open in shock.
“An unbelievable throw,” he gaped.
“Do you believe you can beat it?” Godfried taunted.
“The only way to do so would be to displace your own marker,” Bernsten said, throwing his own stone halfheartedly. Sure enough, he was not able to knock Godfried’s out of place. The younger elf went on to beat Bernsten three times and me twice, though I did beat him once.
“Ah, you barely drank this evening,” Bernsten scoffed when our last game was complete, waving away any suggestion that Godfried possessed more skill than he did. “Your coordination was artificially inflated.
“You mean yours was artificially deflated,” Nadeine corrected, arching an eyebrow at him.
“Ah, semantics,” Bernsten said as we climbed the stairs to our rooms. Marinka, Godfried, and Bernsten’s rooms were at one end of the corridor while mine and Nadeine’s were at the other, so we walked the last few paces together and stopped outside my room.
“That was fun,” I said, running a hand through my hair awkwardly.
“Indeed,” Nadeine said, teetering on her feet. “It has been good getting to know you, Leo.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” I said, surprised. “You too. I mean me too. You know what I mean.”
“Indeed,” she said again, grinning up at me. Our eyes met. I thought back to when we first met at that dingy piano bar in Queens, and how I’d thought she was really weird, in her mishmash of ill-fitting human clothing, but pretty cute too.
Before I had a chance to say anything else, Nadeine reached up and kissed me on the lips. She was firmer and more forceful than Marinka, but her lips shaped well to mine, and we fit well together. I returned the kiss, leaning in deep and wrapping my arms around her small waist.
Not one to waste any time, Nadeine pushed open my door and pressed against me, leading me back towards my bed. She broke the kiss and quickly pulled off her mage’s robes. I hurriedly pulled off mine, feeling myself getting excited already.
Once our robes were cast aside, Nadeine pushed me back on the bed roughly and straddled me, and I placed my hands back on her waist. I could already tell this was going to be fun.
“Should I…?” I started to ask, not knowing what she liked.
“Just do it,” she whispered, and I obliged, entering her without much hesitation. She was tight, very tight, even tighter than Marinka. This made sense, I supposed, since Nadeine was a few inches shorter than her. She was bustier, too, and as she moved up and down on top of me, I cupped her almost disproportionately large breasts in my hands, and part-way through, I pulled myself up into a sitting position and took her nipples in my mouth.
“Faster,” Nadeine instructed, and I wasn’t sure if she meant with my cock or with my mouth, so I went with both. She seemed to like that, smiling and arching her neck and back as she let out a cry of pleasure that was so deep it was almost a growl.
That only spurred me to go in faster and deeper, which was probably what she wanted. Who would have thought that stoic and reserved Nadeine would be so enthusiastic in bed? It was a pleasant surprise to be sure. Every time I thought this world couldn’t get any better, it turned around and proved me wrong. I’d never get tired of Eviroah, or of Nadeine, Marinka, or Freyja.
I moved in and out of Nadeine quickly and furiously, and she did more than her part to assist my cause from her position, pumping up and down on top of me so quickly that her breasts jiggled, causing me to lose my grip on them. I laughed, gave them a squeeze, and moved up to meet her lips with mine again as I continued to fondle her breasts.
She grinned into our kiss and continued to thrust my cock in and out of her at advanced speeds. My cock pounding, I could feel myself about to blow, and Nadeine didn’t stop me. I grunted several times and then released a stream of cum inside her. She came at the same time I did, arching her back and neck again and letting out a series of short gasps. I stayed inside her for a few moments af
ter we both finished, resting from the rigorous workout.
But Nadeine wasn’t tired out yet, and I was happy to oblige her. She pushed me back down on the back on my bed, and I rested my neck back on the castle’s fluffy pillows. Nadeine moved down my body until she found herself between my legs.
“I don’t know if I can get it back up so soon,” I warned her. My cock was definitely tired, still weak from the rigorous sex we’d just had mere moments before.
“I will rectify that,” Nadeine assured me, and I raised my eyebrows and grinned.
“Will you now?” I asked. She sounded pretty sure of herself, and I was definitely up for it if she could. And true to her word, she definitely could. Before I had even caught my breath from the last time, she was hard at work bringing about the next one.
Nadeine started at the tip of my cock, pressing her lips and the tip of her tongue to it. I groaned from the excess sensation and ran a hand through her short, straight dark hair. As she worked on the tip of my cock, she stroked my shaft with her thumb and forefinger, and it wasn’t long before my cock was growing hard again, responding to her firm touch. Shortly after that, I was throbbing again.
“I told you it would not be a problem,” Nadeine gloated when she came up briefly for air.
“I stand corrected,” I said, sighing with pleasure, but she didn’t respond, my cock already back in her mouth.
She moved up my shaft now, and she could surprisingly fit my whole cock in her mouth. Another pleasant surprise, given the elves’ smaller size. She moved up and down my cock furiously, continuing to stroke it when some of me was exposed. I smiled and groaned, feeling myself stiffen even more and getting ready to blow once more, this time in her mouth. I gripped her head tightly with both of my hands, assisting her in moving faster and harder on my member. She seemed to like this, responding to my touch and smiling slightly through her full mouth. Finally, when I was about to blow again, she sensed it and pulled back, moving to just my tip and then away from me entirely.
“Oh,” I groaned playfully. “Why?” She sidled up closer to my face and licked her lips.
“I believe you have one more round in you,” she said, arching an eyebrow at me.
“Oh?” I repeated, as a question this time, and returned the gesture.
“Indeed,” she said, and then, in one motion, flipped me over so that I was on top of her now. Following her line of thought, I reached down and spread her legs for her, until her feet were dangling over the sides of the bed. I moved my hand to touch her, but she grabbed it, stopping me, and shot me a playful grin.
“Let us get straight to the point, shall we?” she asked.
“Oh?” I asked again, grinning and pulling my hand back up to brush a strand of hair out of her face. “That can be arranged.”
I thrust myself inside her then, enjoying her tightness once more. I moved in and out of her slowly at first and then faster and faster until we both finished at around the same time again, sweating and breathing heavily. Nadeine still arched her back even though she was lying down this time, and I smiled at the sight of it. We both gasped out each other’s names when I released myself inside of her, filling her up one last time. Then, I kissed her and moved to cradle her small body in my arms, my hands cupping her ample breasts again. We lay there like that until we fell asleep, hot and sweaty and breathing heavily still from the exertion, the sheets tossed and spread every which way, much like ourselves.
9
Eldred
I turned the orb over and over in my hands, feeling its smooth surface pressed against my skin. I muttered the words so softly that even I couldn’t tell them apart… but the orb knew. All the orbs knew. Beneath my closed eyelids, I could see the lights flashing all around me, bright flashes penetrating the blackness.
It was happening. It was finally happening.
I rose from my chair, a loud screech echoing throughout the room as the metal legs pressed against the metal floor. I did not open my eyes, moving merely on instinct, knowing where everything was through memory and feeling alone. When I felt my way across the room, I leaned over to gather up more of the orbs into my arms and carry them back over to my desk. One by one, I turned each orb over in my hands and muttered the same words. Each time, it produced the same flashes and cracks of light.
I repeated this process over and over and over again until I had run out of orbs. Dozens of them would participate in this great spell, the most powerful and ambitious to be attempted ever. I had made sure of that, going through my people’s records for comparison. If I accomplished this, I would go down in the records as the greatest mage that there ever was. As far as I was concerned, there was no use seeking to complete such a task if it were not the most ambitious, if I were not the best of the best.
With each orb I empowered, the flashes of light grew brighter and more frequent. Cracks of sound began to accompany the flashes, and I knew that if I were to open my eyes, I would see lightning swirling around me in my small cave on the side of the mountain. About two-thirds of the way through the stack, a humming sound emerged as well, providing an almost calming background noise for the cracks of lightning.
I smiled. That humming was the sign that my great spell was working properly.
The whole process took several hours, but I would have never known it. Time blended together while I worked, and I was calm, calmer than I had been in years, centuries even. I was so close. There were times when I would never have believed that I would ever become so close. So close that I could almost taste it.
Certainly, it had been enjoyable helping that insufferable kingdom elf servant of mine take away his people’s magic, to watch their weak society panic and mourn their lost abilities. To sit by as they were forced to remake their social structure and military into something far lesser than it had ever been before.
But I was almost glad that they had found a way to gain their abilities back. It would not impact me or my plan in the slightest, other than to ensure that I would win a fair fight. That would bring me even more glory after my death. Besides, it would not be nearly as enjoyable to squash an enemy who could barely fight back. Still enjoyable, of course, but this would be so much sweeter.
I reached the point where there were only three orbs left in the stack. I had traveled throughout my people’s mountains after their destruction, collecting as many orbs as I was able. I knew that one day, I would devise a plan to use them and gain my revenge. I had toiled for years to find a way, and now that I had, I was using so many orbs that even if my enemies were able to find some of them, it would be virtually impossible for them to destroy them all and undo my spell. When my casting was complete, I would disperse them throughout the mountains, so it would take a great deal of time and care to find them. Time and care that the kingdom elves would not have once my spell was cast.
I picked up the last orb and turned it over and over in my hands, relishing this final moment, making sure I would remember it forever. My lips curled in a wide smile as I muttered the magical words one last time.
The moment was finally here.
I finished the spell and rose from my chair once more, still holding the last orb. As I opened my eyes, I walked through my small cave to the mouth of it so I could look upon the forest. Lightning cracked around me as I walked, but never touched me. Storm clouds swirled around me, but I did not grow wet. As I had planned, I was immune to my own spell’s effects.
I smiled at the sight that greeted me at the cave’s entrance. The darkening storm clouds and flashing lightning were not only inside my cave. It now stretched far out into the distance, covering the entirety of the forest beneath me. The lightning struck down into the trees, and I knew it reached all the way to the ground even though I was unable to see that far. The clouds swept through the treetops, covering their bright colors and casting them instead in deep shades of gray.
As the lightning reached down into the forest, one by one, the trees began to change. The hues of green from the leave
s and gray from the storm clouds grew darker and darker until the entire forest could only be described as a deep, dark, dead black. My smiling lips spread even wider into a broad grin.
As the forest changed, the sounds of birds and other wildlife emanating from it slowly faded, until I could hear almost nothing at all beyond the booming thunder of the storm, and even that was fading now. Once the entire forest was stricken dead, the lightning disappeared entirely, replaced by a stream of sunlight emanating from the center of the forest. It stretched in a long cylinder out in my direction, to the mouth of my cave where I stood and into the orbs stacked inside.
I stretched out my arms and cackled, basking in the light and life I had stolen from the forest.
10
It took us several more days to reach the edge of the kingdom. Every member of my team continued to practice at his or her magic, as we were working hard to hone our skills before we entered the mountains. Nadeine and Godfried continued to advance quickly, and I was confident that should we be put in a situation where we had to fight, they would do very well using their magic. Marinka was also still advancing well, though not as quickly, and Bernsten was now regularly producing the shapes he was supposed to with his spells. My own spells were going well, and I now had a whole slate of new spells I hoped to use in the forest to help my friends there.
We hadn’t received any messages from the council, the training grounds, or the forest elves, so we assumed that we were meant to continue on with our journey as planned and that nothing else of note had happened in the time since we left the royal castle.
“How do we know that the forest elves are on our side?” Godfried asked as we made our way through the prairies on the outskirts of the kingdom. He fidgeted uncomfortably on his horse, whose golden mane matched his mage’s robes almost perfectly. In fact, he had been growing more and more fidgety and anxious since we walked through the wall and left the kingdom behind earlier that morning. I could only assume that now that he was no longer in his homeland, the realities of our quest were growing very real for the young elf.
