by Simon Archer
“Yes, I’d like that very much,” she said, bowing in a jerking motion, “Um, Sorceress would like that very much.”
“You like the name, then?” I remarked,
“I am curious about one thing, first, if you don’t mind,” she asked, “It is a strange compulsion that will not be silent, and I must know. Does that armor get uncomfortable?”
“No, Tinker did a great job--”
“Tinker did a terrible job with it!” Hopper interrupted, “Just the worst. You are so uncomfortable, Lord Hank. You can’t bear to be in the armor another second. You need to get out of it right this minute.”
“What? Tinker does amazing work.” I looked at her, seeing that she was wide-eyed as she could be, standing alongside Tinker, who had a similar expression. She did not seem concerned with the insult. “Um, okay, I guess not. I’ll just take it off, then. Wait, here? Now?”
“There’s a latch in the back that unhooks all of the plates.” Tinker gave me a hot tip about my armor, her face getting stranger as this conversation went on. Her eyes darted over to Sorceress over and over. “Makes them all come off super easily.”
“Two buttons on each side of the leather underneath should get you out of the under armor, too.” Hopper helped out, still looking crazy like Tinker. “It’s all very efficient now.
“Thank you, girls.” I shook my head in confusion. “I can figure this stuff out myself--”
“Let me help you, Lordank,” Sorceress twirled around, mishearing my name apparently, working the latch that Tinker talked about, quickly finding it, and popping it. Steam escaped from everywhere on my body as the plates unfurled like feathers on a bird. Before I had even gotten to one, Sorceress had finished five, including my breastplate, quickly stripping me down to the leather.
“I just remembered!” Tinker shouted loudly and with clunky syllabic emphasis, “We’re all busy with that thing! The one we all need to do together! Or separately! It doesn’t matter, but the rest of us need to leave right now to do it!”
“I thought we just finished with the battle and everything!” Peter sat down to rest. “Can’t we take a breather for a bit?”
A portal opened up right underneath where Peter sat down, deleting him from vision. A moment later, a thud and Peter’s high-pitched scream accompanied a grinding slide, followed by another thud, all outside of the dome.
“Ow!”
“Oh, would you look at the time?” Wallace looked around, seeing no clocks or timekeeping devices anywhere. “It’s time to… not get sent through a random portal. Don’t want to be late for that. I don’t know why we’re so rushed, but we are, for that thing that I’m forgetting, I guess. We have to go, Lord General. Good luck with whatever you’re doi--!”
“Move it!” Tinker pushed at the small of Wallace’s back, getting him out the door and knocking his head against the top of the door frame as they left. Hopper took the doors behind her, giving me a wink before she shut them tight.
28
“Why can’t they be more straightforward about these things? Now I’ll just…” I said, looking over to Sorceress, only then realizing that I was completely naked in front of her. “Oh, you already took care of that. Very good. Do you want me to take your dress off myself?”
“You’d do that for me?” She bit her bottom lip. “You want to see me, too? Do you also want to just want to press my body up against yours and… do something? Something more than just touching. Yes, I want to keep our bodies together, but I want to be even more together. Does that make sense? Is there some runestone that can fuse us together?”
“We don’t need to do anything so drastic--”
“I need to do something drastic.” She gave me a hungry look in her eyes that scared me just a bit. In a good way. “Do you have that charm with you? Where can we find it? I think I need to put it on my stomach. That’s where I’m feeling this. Or maybe right below it. Wait, what is that?” She looked down below my stomach to the foreign anatomy.
“Oh, I was just getting to that, actually.” I explained, “It’s going to help us with that togetherness fusing you were asking about, but without all of the magic nonsense.”
“I think I need to eat it,” she said, getting down to her knees. “Something about it makes me want to do that. Will that hurt you? I shouldn’t remove it, right? But I still need to just have it there. What if I just use my lips?”
“Good instinct, but we don’t need to get too rushed about anything on my end,” I said, kneeling down right next to her. “This is your first time, and we can make it last as long as we want.”
“I want to help you!” She grabbed my hands, “I just don’t understand how I can yet, but I want to try everything and learn about everything, like that-- oh my gosh, what’s it doing?” She watched in amazement as it reacted to her beauty by standing to attention. “Wow, that’s amazing! Can it do anything else? Oh, is this when I put it in my mouth? I can get started now if you want.”
“Honey, let’s slow down,” I grabbed her by the hips, bringing her close to me. “We don’t have to worry about anything except being together. Alright? Take a deep breath.”
“Okay, okay,” she said, following the direction, “I’m sorry, I just know that I need something and I really want to get it, and I’ve never known I needed it until I looked at you, and I could feel that you would give it to me, and I just can’t tell if it is you or if it’s something you do or something I want to do, so I just don’t know--”
“Do you trust me?” I put my hand under her chin, getting her to look at me with her bright green eyes.
“Yes.” She stared right back at me.
“This is your time, and I can show you a small piece of what you’re looking for.” I gave her a few kisses as I began to pull off her dress, lifting it past her knees and then over her head, exposing her just like I was. I pressed her into me, the two of us feeling each other’s warmth in this cool Sanctum. I moved my kisses further down, my lips visiting every inch of her body as they traveled down, the thin layer of fur covering her skin feeling as soft as a cloud. When I had made it all the way down, I helped her understand the first part of what she was trying to convey, bringing about a sensation I was sure she’d never felt before, judging by her screams and giggling. From my mouth to my hands, I slowly increased her acceptance of the sensations as well as the limitations of her body, untouched until now, preparing her for what may come next.
“Okay, yes, that was part of it.” She breathed heavily as I finished, resting at the top of the altar. “I definitely needed that. Thank you so much, but there’s got to be more, right? I still haven’t gotten the thing I need way deep down. And you didn’t even use yours at all. Oh, is this when we trade? I’ll do the same to you now, right? Obviously, not exactly the same, but I can get down there for you.”
“If you’d like,” I fully permitted, “Whatever you want. Like in all things new, take it a little slow, alright? I don’t want you getting hurt or feeling sick because you did too much too soon. I know you’re just generous--”
“I’m not generous,” she commented, “I’m hungry.” She bent down immediately afterward, expertly bringing the full length down to the base without flinching once, pulsing her head back and forth as she did so. Her tongue danced around as she did so, venturing along as she did. I should have stopped her before she did something stupid. She couldn’t have been new at this, though. As I got close to bursting, she didn’t even hesitate for a moment, even as I warned her. The moment came, and there was no mess whatsoever.
“Damn, you were hungry.” I wiped my forehead. “That was intense. You must have done that before for someone.”
“Nope!” She smiled at me, “Never. I’ve never even met too many other Rabbits before now. Or Wolves. Anyone really.”
“Have you been cooped up in this cage your whole life?”
“Not my whole life.” Sorceress recalled a painful memory. “My Wolf master had me look at all kinds of things and touch the
se runestones a lot. When I touch a runestone, I can feel it call to me and me to it. Then I just let out this feeling, and something magical happens. I don’t know how to explain it. But they put me in this cage when I touched a runestone and made this big explosion. Destroyed the walls of the room they had kept me in. My master was really happy, and then I got put into another box, and another, and another, and got taken far away until they tied me to these things in this cage. Now I only see whoever comes in to feed me.”
“I’m so sorry.” I held her close in my arms as we sat beside each other. “That must have been awful. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
“That’s okay,” she smiled at me, seemingly unaffected, “But I can’t tell you why I did what I did just then. I just really, really wanted it right now. You’re bringing up a lot of new feelings for me. Is there a way that we can do everything at the same time? When you put your lips on my lips, that’s great. But we use our mouths for other things, too, but we can’t do it at the same time as the lips touching. Is there a way we can have our lips together, but then also have that same togetherness with-- oh, that’s why yours and mine look like that, don’t they? They’re like opposites! They’re supposed to go together!”
“Biologically, that is how it works,” I laughed at how absolutely new she was at all of this. Even Hopper and Tinker had an understanding of all of this beforehand. “It’s not the only way to go about things, but you can’t beat the classics, I guess. Are you ready to try it out now? Like I said, we don’t have to rush--”
Before I’d even finished my sentence, she’d already pushed me down on the altar, directing me with her hand to fit where she wanted. I’d have said that it was thanks to my work beforehand that she was able to take it all like a pro without too much stress or pain, but she may have just been that eager to start. Either way, she reached the base yet again, unflinching.
“Now is when either you start moving, or I do. Do you want to go first?” I felt the futility of asking her many of these questions as I watched her move, letting my hands take their time sliding across her body and up to her neck. “I suppose we’ll call that a ‘yes,’ then?”
“Yes!” she shouted, eyes closed as she lost herself in it, “yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Over and over again, while we moved about positions seamlessly all night long so she could fully understand what she had been wanting.
It’d been a long journey, and we weren’t done. From coming into this world, getting my first pack member, then my first pack, my first set of charms, my first noble, my first mutant noble, my first estate, my first town, my first official challenger, then my first military campaign, taking another town, and finally making it to this place, this spot, with this bunny, and we’d finally done it. Two whole cities and a powerful fortress, along with a major monkey wrench in everyone’s plans. Manewood, Timberpine, the old Baron, Wildheart, Paw-Paw, and then the Regent, all taken down. We were doing pretty well for ourselves, given that we’d been just two people who stepped through a portal a little more than a month ago.
But, we still weren’t done. We’d learned about the High Emperor, and now we knew that he was real, very angry, and surprisingly powerful. Thankfully, the deletion power he just displayed didn’t work on any of us, or he would have done that immediately. I’m sure it would work like a suicide pill that they couldn’t chicken out on, since they may not have known about it. He also had plans for the Blood Moon that were big. The Final Blood Moon. He was planning to never need a Blood Moon again. And we had to put a stop to it. But we were going to need help. With a bit more than a month to operate in, we had the space to claim a few more cities and build the workforce so we could have taken on the Citadel.
But he also had also mentioned ‘this world,’ specifically in his little psychological warfare voiceover. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but given that the voice was most likely King Steve, that Gillek Wraithmane, it wasn’t too far off to assume that he said that on purpose. Not only did it imply that he remembered the other world, but that he knew that I was from it. And that was something he specifically chose not to share with any of his followers. Not even the Regent knew about humans. Were they not in any sort of contact? I’d have thought that even if the Regent didn’t remember, he’d have been informed about the existence of humans. Maybe King Steve was really just that lazy, not even bothering to do anything until I had ‘garnered his attention.’ Still, though, something didn’t quite sit right with me. You’d have thought that a wolf who gained sentience would have grown to hate humans and want them wiped out. Hell, he could have had that become his whole crusade. Make some more portals, feed on some more humans, make more werewolves to become Wolf grunts and elites for the armies, and eventually take over the world. Or at least start. But he didn’t. He chose to steal a bunch of them from our world and then stay here. Was he trapped here? Then why would they have been suppressing bunny powers instead of cultivating them? Were they scared of them? Were they scared of humans?
And what was the plan for this Final Blood Moon? He had his empire, he had the bunnies, he had the mana to maintain his memories, and he didn’t bother to run his own empire until now. What was his goal? Was he going to get rid of the Blood Moon? He must have known something about it that I didn’t. And I was going to find out, put a stop to it, and finish the job this time. Wolves wouldn’t need Blood Moons when I was done: they were going to be a part of the new peaceful world, without any of the assholes who’d want to slaughter it.
If Sorceress was as powerful as I thought she was, and my girls weren’t lying about their powers being augmented so often, we were more than ready to make that all reality.
29
Spearmonger
That was the most intense couple of minutes I’d ever felt in my life. First, the Regent had us go to the Mana Crusher and guard him while he made some modifications to it without anyone knowing, then that new Hunter guy showed up, broke the apparatus for the Mana Crusher, then sicced his lightning bunny on me, who was handing my ass to me on a silver plate. It didn’t matter how hard I shot out my hands to attack her when she would just slip right by them, jumping through her doors in the air and bouncing around like a frog before I could have touched her. If I could have gotten just one solid jab into her, she’d have been dead as a crippled strider.
Then the new Hunter left to go by the apparatus he broke, but soon as I thought we had the upper hand in the fight, Tundralung went and got himself crushed and melted into the floor, and suddenly we were losing again. Could you have imagined how embarrassing that was for us? Our jobs were specifically to take care of high-profile targets for the Regent. We didn’t even know that these people existed, and they were paw-to-paw with us like it was nothing. Now the Regent was dead. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier, I was going to pledge myself to a Rabbit, of all the insanity. But he didn’t die or pass out in the Regent’s grasp.
How did he survive? It was like he knew that the Regent could only let go once he’d drained something dry. When it happened to us, he resuscitated us with mana infusions immediately afterward. Those always hurt, but now, he was dead. Still couldn’t have believed it.
Then, you know, that last bit happened. It felt like my head would pop a chick like it was an egg. I had no idea what was going on. My thoughts couldn’t even think. Was it a killswitch in our heads to keep us from betraying the Regent? The Regent was dead, though. Was it a side effect of the mana infusion? I had no idea. I didn’t know how I was still around. I didn’t know why Boneclaw was here with me. All I knew was that this new place was probably Hell because we died from that.
It was certainly scary enough to feel like Hell. It was dark and gloomy, and I could barely make out anything distinctive. The only things that seemed to have any shape were eight figures in the shadows, all in dark hoods. Oh, they made my skin feel like it was crawling, and I could have made my rubbery skin crawl at will. It was fun for me sometimes. But this skin-crawling was evil. I hated
being here, and I wondered if I was being punished for swearing my loyalty away from the Regent. But now, he was dead.
The Regent was dead. I had to keep saying that to myself. I’d eaten a lot of bunnies, so I could have remembered back to a few Blood Moon banquets ago. Silverfang was always there, and he was always the Regent. What were we going to do now without him? I’d never even seen High Emperor Gillek before. Was he even real? Silverfang said he would go meet with them for a summit every once in a while to see the state of things. He’d then sneak off to that room high up in the Citadel of Purity, and we’d just have to wait for him. But that was part of the job. It was how the job always worked before. Now it would be different. Were we going to lose everything? Did I have to kill Boneclaw now? I bet I could have taken him in a fight.
“How could this have happened?” A voice spoke out, one of the cloaked figures in the darkness. “Silverfang was nigh unbeatable. That was why he was appointed as regent in the first place, to avoid a situation just like this! His vampiric grasp would render any foe impotent until they were disposed of.”
Was this the Council that the Regent attended? Dear Gillek, how could we have fallen so far as to face judgment from them? What were we going to do? What were we going to do? What were we going to DO?
“You forget,” another voice spoke out, “He himself was impotent in that same moment, too, until his opponent was on death’s door. It was perfect for any duel between just two, but it was far from perfect.”
“Was there not a better candidate than him, then?” A third voice asked, “We can’t afford to be making these kinds of mistakes so close to the banquet! Someone has to make sure that order is maintained until the Blood Moon shines upon us, and we can all be blessed with the renewing of our minds. Who could we get to replace him this close to everything coming crashing down on us?”
