Reborn Raiders (The Weatherblight Saga Book 4)

by Edmund Hughes

  She was carrying two clay plates, each covered with pieces of sliced steak and a salad of lettuce and wild tomato. The food would have made Ari’s mouth water if not for what it was interrupting.

  “Hungry?” asked Grena. Her Subvios was still a work in progress, and the word had an odd accent to it.

  “Ah, yes,” said Ari. “Thank you, Grena. I think Eva is actually starving.”

  He felt a little mean as he put even more pressure on the tether, teasing Eva to her limit with the psychic, caressing pressure it let him apply. She was trying harder to maintain her composure, which only made her flushed face and staggered breathing seem even more lewd to Ari.

  “Eva,” said Grena, smiling even more broadly. “Food?”

  She walked toward Eva and then frowned as she noticed her strained appearance. Grena set both plates down on the juvenile drake skull, which served as a corner table for the room, and then approached Eva in much the same way she would handle the children.

  “Oh,” said Eva, holding up a hand. “Really, I’m… oh! I’m fine!”

  Grena made a tsking noise and brought the back of her hand to Eva’s forehead as Ari continued to psychically tease, or perhaps torture her, through the bond. He felt more than a little bad about what he was doing, but it was hard to stop. It reminded him of being in the Hollow again and snapping the bands of the underwear of Kerys and the other girls.

  “Aristial said he felt unwell,” said Eva. “Aristial. Sick. Fever.”

  She gestured with her hand toward Ari, and he caught a vengeful, eager gleam in her eye. Her hand stayed extended, and he caught the flash of concentration that moved across her expression an instant before the sensation hit him.

  She did to him what he’d been doing to her. Ari felt a thousand hands suddenly caressing, and in a few cases, gently stroking different parts of his body. He jerked forward, almost falling to his knees at the vivid, all-consuming completeness of the sensation.

  It was like he’d fallen into a pile of naked women, and all of them were interested in nothing so much as grinding and rubbing their soft parts against him. His body began to react instantly, his shaft stiffening at a speed that left him bewildered, if not slightly concerned.

  He wanted to close his eyes and groan. He wanted to fall onto the stone floor and roll in circles, writhe against nothing, delve into the feeling. He really, really wanted to take a firm hold of himself and chase down a desperately needed release.

  “Vereshi Stoneblood?” asked Grena. “Unwell?”

  Ari felt Grena’s hand against his forehead and almost moaned aloud. Even just that tiny amount of innocent contact was enough to send another ricochet of pleasure through his aroused body. He forced himself to shake his head back and forth.

  “I–I’m fine,” he said, coughing the last word out. “Just a little tired.”

  He forced himself to stand up straight and tried to ignore the sight of Eva grinning at him from behind the concerned Ravarian matron. Grena frowned and stepped a little closer, inadvertently drawing near enough to graze Ari’s obvious erection. She blinked and turned her full attention downward, staring at it.

  Ari held up his hands and blushed more furiously than he ever had before in his life. Grena pursed her lips, and then winked at him. She tapped a finger on his erection, said something in Ravakkios in a sultry voice that made him blush even harder, and then scampered out of the training room, chuckling to herself.

  “You are evil,” muttered Ari as Eva hurried over to him.

  “You started it, milord,” she said.

  “And now I’m going to finish it.”

  He grabbed her by the cuff of her shirt and pulled her into him, kissing her hungrily and wasting no time dropping to the stone floor. The fact that the training room had no door seemed secondary to the inescapable, pressing need to get off.

  Ari had been on the defensive end of the psychic pleasure for the last minute, and he barely felt like he could think as he pulled Eva’s shirt up and over her head. Her small breasts bounced loose with a taut jiggle, and she only paused to spread her discarded clothing down across the cold floor before pushing him down onto his back.

  Eva pulled his pants down and planted a wet kiss on the tip of his cock. Ari tried to sit up, wanting more than what he thought she was about to give, but she roughly pushed him back down with a hand on his chest.

  She gave his erection a few long, licks with her hot, wet tongue and then mounted him. Ari’s cock would have slipped inside her regardless, wet as she was. The same lewd expression Eva’s face had harbored before came out again, except this time, it was completely unleashed.

  She rode him with perfect, accelerating precision. The teasing they’d done to each other through the bond had brought both of them near the edge before ever even touching each other. Ari groped Eva’s firm buttocks and ran his hands over her breasts. He watched strands of hair coming loose from her perfect bun as she continued to blush and bounce on his cock.

  Ari kissed her and felt her shudder as she finally found the release she’d been craving. Her hips kept moving, back and forth, back and forth, and he squeezed her buttocks hard enough to leave marks as he finally came.

  “Oh…” Eva shivered and collapsed on top of him. Ari ran his hand through her now-messy hair and kissed her on the forehead.

  “We’ll have to practice this more,” said Ari. “I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface.”

  CHAPTER 9

  They ate gazelle steak for a second time the next morning. The meat was lean, flavorful, and filling, and Ari sat with Kerys and the children as he devoured his allotted portion. He tried and failed to take his time eating, which left him with no other choice than to begin gathering the community and taking on the leadership role once more.

  He’d already decided that it was finally time to return to Deepwater Spire. The process of leaving Etheria using the tower was not a simple one, now that they’d spent so long treating it like a fixed structure. The beds of the children would need to be moved out, since Ari doubted that they would be capable of making the trip out and back in one day.

  “How long are you expecting to be gone for?” asked Kerys, as he explained that aspect of the plan. She stood in a circle with most of Etheria’s other adults: Eva, Durrien, Amber, and Virgil, who had Selene clinging to his leg.

  “If things go well, only a day or two,” said Ari. “The main issue is that we used up most of the tower’s essence on fixing the wards that control the roof. We only have enough on hand to make the trip one way.”

  He paused, gauging the reactions of the others. Kerys was the only one who looked openly worried, and had taken to playing with the end of her black and gold ponytail. Durrien looked skeptical, Amber looked curious, and Virgil still had a bulky bandage across half his face, obscuring his expression.

  “I think it’s a good plan,” said Virgil. “We’ve spent too long waiting here, doing nothing!”

  “Not nothing,” said Ari. “We started from the very beginning with Etheria. We needed that time to build up our food stores and grow comfortable in this area, not to mention building trust with each other.”

  “What does trust have to do with it?” asked Virgil.

  Ari shot a look in Eva’s direction. “It’s going to feel weird for you all here with the tower gone, I think. You have to trust that we’ll be coming back, even if… it takes longer than expected. It goes both ways, too. While we’re at the tower, I need to have people here that I can trust to care of the community, and the children.”

  Kerys and Durrien nodded, both looking as though they already knew they’d be staying behind. Amber tapped a finger on her lips. Virgil seemed like he was trying to make himself taller than he was, puffing his chest out and lifting his chin.

  “Where is Rin?” asked Ari.

  “Out with her training again,” said Durrien. “That girl is far too hard on herself.”

  “True,” said Ari. “Well, I think it’s better if she stays
behind, regardless. The weather for today looks clear enough, but if it does rain, or sleet, or even snow, she has the final say in organizing Etheria’s defenses.”

  There was no objection from the group. Ari moved on.

  “Kerys, Durrien, the two of you would be better suited for staying here as well,” said Ari. “Virgil, you too.”

  “What?” snapped Virgil.

  “I need you to help lead the tree transplanting project,” said Ari. “The sooner we start using your mystica to our defensive advantage, the better.”

  “I can fight!” said Virgil. “I’ve been training. The stories you’ve told of this place, I need to see it! You remember the work I did with my parents, don’t you? I have passion in my very blood for this type of thing!”

  “Virgil,” said Ari, in a calming voice. “You have been training, I recognize that. But your mystica would be better suited to helping with the situation here. There are no trees on Deepwater Spire, at least outside of the roof, which barely counts.”

  Virgil’s eyes flared anger of the type common to younger folk who’ve been denied their way. Selene drew closer to him and rubbed her hand on his shoulder. Virgil knocked it away.

  “If I’m not going, I see no reason to stick around for this conversation,” he snapped.

  “Virgil…” Kerys started toward the boy, but Ari set a hand on her shoulder, letting him leave with Selene trailing after.

  “He needs a few minutes to cool off, anyway,” said Ari. “I think it’s for the best.”

  “Can we shift our focus back to the discussion at hand?” asked Amber. “I’m curious about this spire. I’d like to go along with the exploration party, if possible.”

  Ari winced, knowing that allowing her to come without a good reason would be like pouring salt on Virgil’s wounds.

  “Do you have a reason outside just wanting to see it?” he asked.

  “My work on the Weathersense potion will remain stalled out until the hester blossom the children found begins to flourish, or another one is found,” said Amber. “Given what you’ve told me about this spire, about what the Escion said of its role in enabling the Weatherblight, I’m interested in taking a look at it.”

  Ari looked over at Eva, who was already shaking her head.

  “We wouldn’t be able to take you beyond the first level,” said Ari. “It’s a dangerous place.”

  “I’m fine with that,” said Amber.

  “It’s not a bad idea, milord,” said Eva. “Her presence could serve a purpose if she stays on the roof, near the tower. We might need someone to keep watch over that area.”

  “That’s true,” said Ari. “Alright, you can come with. We need to start getting supplies together. No sense in wasting time.”

  The group split off to see to separate tasks. Ari grabbed his pack from his room as Durrien and Kerys began emptying out the tower and explaining the situation to the children. The young Ravarians seemed of two reactions, some of them barely even seeming to listen, while others, Fuscia in particular, took the news with grim determination.

  Ari worried for them. Finding more essence was essential for the sake of their community, given that it would allow them to travel more freely, to Cliffhaven in particular, where they could purchase better supplies. Even so, the children had spent the past month living within the tower. It was the second home they’d lost, even if only temporarily, in a depressingly short time span.

  He shook the line of thinking clear of his head, finding that it only added to the stress of leadership rather than giving him any deeper insight. He headed outside and made it far enough up the large hill close to the settlement to see Rin’s tiny figure moving within the drake skull across the way.

  Eva had taken the lead on collecting supplies, and she’d made choices about what to take with them, from what Ari could see. She dropped each item into his pack as he came back into Etheria’s main room.

  “Food,” said Eva. “Mostly gazelle steak, given how dense and filling it is. Two waterskins, since with Amber staying at the tower she can simply drink from the shower. A long length of the vine rope that Virgil has been crafting for us. Can you think of much else we’ll need, milord?”

  “An extra weapon wouldn’t hurt, but we’re limited to the smaller cooking knives and wooden sticks, basically,” said Ari. “No. I think we’ll be alright as we are.”

  He spotted Virgil watching him and Eva from outside the underchamber he would now be sharing with his sister, given that his old room was in the tower. Ari couldn’t bear to watch the youth sulk, so he excused himself from Eva and made his way over.

  “Virgil,” he said. “Can we talk?”

  “I’ve nothing much to say, at the moment,” said Virgil.

  “Then can you listen?”

  Virgil shrugged. Ari almost smiled at his stubbornness and continued on.

  “Look,” he said. “I know you’d prefer to be at the front of things, but I need you here. Look around at the community. You must notice it too.”

  Virgil scowled, but obliged him, glancing around the interior of the massive domed room.

  “What am I supposed to be seeing?” he asked.

  “How many of us here can fight, Virgil?” asked Ari. “How many of us can defend ourselves, let alone others? We’re vulnerable on a base level.”

  “So you’re saying that I need to stay here because I’m weak?” snapped Virgil.

  Ari sighed, took his finger, and flicked him as hard as he could in the earlobe. “Mud and blood, if it wasn’t for your injury, I’d have smacked you upside the head for saying something that dumb. Virgil, with your mystica and your general stubbornness and courage, you’re probably the strongest fighter our community has outside of myself and Eva.”

  And Rin, though Ari figured it made sense to take how reliable each person was into account in his ranking.

  “You’re just saying whatever you think will make me feel better,” said Virgil.

  “What I’m saying is that I want you here because I trust you,” said Ari. “To defend your sister. To defend the children. And especially to defend Kerys. She’s not as strong as she acts sometimes.”

  Kerys was currently helping the children move their blankets and bed linings into one of the underchambers. Her ponytail swung in the air as she spun back and forth between them, keeping the more rambunctious ones in line. Occasionally, her skirt spun too. Ari chuckled as he noticed Virgil staring as fiercely as he was blushing.

  “You care about her, don’t you?” asked Virgil.

  “More than I can put into words,” said Ari. “Don’t let anything happen to her, okay?”

  Ari brought his fist to his heart in salute, and Virgil immediately stood up straight, offering his own in reply. Ari waited for a second before nodding, turning, and heading back to the tower.

  CHAPTER 10

  With most of the supplies and furnishings removed, the tower was a lot less homely than it had been in the time since Ari had first found it. Even the chairs had been moved out of the common room, which meant that he, Amber, and Eva stood around the table instead of sitting.

  They’d said their goodbyes to the others. The children had seemed dumbfounded and confused by what was going on. Kerys and Grena stood with them in Etheria’s main room, watching their departure in a manner that reminded Ari of how he and the other children in the Hollow might gather to watch one of the hot geyser spouts go off.

  “Ready?” asked Ari.

  “Ready,” said Eva. Amber gave a similar nod, and Ari set his hands down on the stone table, triggering the wards.

  He felt an odd flutter of nervousness. The last time he’d used the tower’s teleportation magic had been over a month earlier. The last time he’d been to Deepwater Spire had been long before even that. If there was ever a time to expect the unexpected, he was staring down at it.

  He ran his fingers over a few of the other wards, the one that would take him to Cliffhaven, the one that would bring him to Central Dominion. T
he tower was a powerful tool in the right hands; he sometimes wondered if there was more he could do to best make use of it.

  “Are you ready, milord?” asked Eva.

  She was wearing Ari’s clothes again, one of his tunics over her own tan leather leggings. Her hair was up, and she had a confident expression on her sharply beautiful face. She almost looked bored, and seeing that did more for Ari’s own resolve than anything else could have.

  “Here we go,” he said.

  He set his palm down on the rune ward that was connected to Deepwater Spire and triggered it with his will. Light flashed in a cocoon around the tower’s exterior, but only for an instant. The air made a woosh as the differing pressure adjusted, and intense sunlight streamed in through the tower’s crystal-glass windows.

  It was still a jarring sensation, despite how many times Ari had previously experienced it. The sentiment seemed shared by Amber, who had ducked slightly lower as though to hide herself under the table. She slowly stood back up to her full height, a small shudder moving across her body. She pursed her lips and ran a hand through her red hair.

  “Is it safe for us to go outside?” she asked.

  “It should be,” said Ari. “Come on. I want to see your reaction to this.”

  He’d described Deepwater Spire to Amber and the others in Etheria before, but seeing it in person was a different matter. Ari stepped out of the tower onto the roof of a massive stone structure, parts of it covered thickly enough in guano in places for bushes and small trees to have taken root.

  It was larger across than Etheria’s dome was wide by at least four or five times. Seabirds circled overhead, and the soft sound of waves crashing against the spire’s base hundreds of feet below added an ambient whisper to the air.

  Ari watched Amber turning in a slow, bewildered circle as she looked outward toward the horizon, trying to spot any nearby islands or landmasses. As far as Ari could tell, Deepwater Spire was far enough out in the ocean to be completely disconnected from the rest of the world.