THREE QUESTIONS
by
Claudia Balvenie
Cover Art by
shipov
@claudiabalvenie
claudiabalvenie.com
Copyright 2014.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.
All characters are above the age of 18
CHAPTER 1
This was the end. The battle was lost.
Hilde let her sword fall heavily to her side. She sunk to her knees and her eyes threatened to overflow. Her people who had fought so bravely by her side lay dead at her feet.
Thirty souls. All had died for her protection. They were outmatched, they all knew it when they first spied the horde in the distance. Still they fought to protect their queen.
Why? She wondered. Why do I still live, and the others lie dead?
She'd been traveling home from training. Like all the royal children before her, she was required to spend her summers learning martial skills. Male or female, it was considered as pivotal a part of their education as the other nine months they would spend in the books. But it did have the determent of being two days by carriage from the seat of power.
When the call came that her father had passed untimely, she knew she had to make all haste to reach her home. Now she wondered if it were even true that he were dead. Perhaps it was just a ploy to get her into the open. Her retinue had been decently sized, full of not only her personal guard but the masters at arms who'd seen to her training. The best fighters in her entire land had accompanied her.
And now they were all dead. All except for her.
It had been easy at first. The first wave was full of goblins, easily enough defeated by the swords and axes of her men. She'd taken out three herself. The goblins fell to the ground and save a few cuts, no harm had come to her people. They were congratulating themselves on their great victory when the first ogre emerged from the woods. Two more followed afterward. They were half again as large as a man and their strength was ferocious.
But this too was easily defeated. The ogres favored hand to hand combat. This was no match for men who had trained together for just such an opportunity. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end only one man lost his life to the ogre's three. His head lay nearby, crushed into a bloody pulp.
The men were still joyful after having defeated such a foe. They were already discussing among themselves how they would impress their wives, their children, their mistresses with their deeds. Hilde however felt a prickling at the back of her neck. She knew this was not over.
It was hard to describe, the bolt that shot into her men at that point. It was thick as her waist, dark as the deepest night, and cracking with black lightning that swirled around it. It slammed into her first man unaware. He collapsed to the ground. A hole was burned through his chest. It quickly moved into the mass of her other soldiers. Six men fell to the ground the same way, as the beam burned through their bodies. Her other men tried to run, and it swept through them too. Her closest men were able to grab their shields, and push her behind them. But when the bolt turned on them, both man and shield were burned to the ground.
Only Hilde stood alive and unburned.
She knew she had to flee. The carriage would be far too slow, and there was still one unburnt horse. She freed him from his harness and jumped on bareback. She smacked him on his rear with the flat of her sword and buried her hands in his hair, urging him on, faster and faster into the darkening woods.
A sense of direction had never been one of Hilde's greatest traits. She'd was a skilled rider, but always she would be with a group of one type or another. She was not one to venture into the woods alone. Things tended to get all confused and it was often hard for her to get her bearings. One tree looked like another. Though she was running for her life, this time was no exception. Still she urged the horse on, trusting he knew the way home.
Suddenly a form emerged from the darkness directly in front of her. Her horse reared up in terror and turned to run the other way. She held onto it's mane for dear life, though twisted so she could see behind her at what had spooked the horse so. From this distance it appeared to be a man in black robes, a hood over his head. He held a staff of some sort that glowed in the fading sunlight.
The horse picked another trail, seemingly at random. He raced for several long moments until once more, a form appeared in front of them. He reared again, and backed up, trying to turn. This time she got a better look. The shoulder size confirmed it was a man, though everything else was hidden under the robe.
Then they were too far away. Still the back of her neck told her this would happen again. Suddenly, the horse broke free of the woods into a small meadow. There, next to an idyllic pond stood the black robed man. The horse reared back in fear again, but this time the man simply held up a hand and the animal froze in place. The odd position caused Hilde to slide off the back of the animal and fall to the ground, hard.
Still she'd been training all her life for this sort of situation. She recovered quickly and stood before him, her sword in a two-handed grip.
“You are using unauthorized magic in my kingdom. That is punishable by death, Sir.” Her voice was still and strong, and betrayed none of the fear that she felt.
A deep chuckle emerged from the hood. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper, yet it commanded all of her attention. “It is no longer your kingdom, my queen.”
“You are a fool. My father's armies amass as we speak.”
His hood tilted to the side. “Do they? But your father has perished. Whom do they follow?”
“They follow their rightful queen, of course. Even now they are marching to meet my party and bring me forth for the funeral and coronation.”
He found this to humorous. “Excellent. Then they too will fall to my magic.”
She knew then there'd be no reasoning with this creature. She bent down slightly to retrieve her boot knife. When she came back up, she hurled it, dead on where he was standing, only to have him dematerialize in front of her. He reappeared behind her, and one strong arm suddenly gripped her wrist so tightly that her sword fell from her hand.
She felt his breath intimately against her ear. “You will never again attack me, understood? I have plans for you, my dear.” His hand let go of it's cruel grip against her wrist and reached up to pull a pale blond lock behind her ear. “I do not wish to kill you.”
She felt a pressure behind her back. Both arms were suddenly wrenched together and held tight. She jerked around hoping to see into his hood. He disappeared as easily as he had before. Her hands were still pinned. She twisted to one side and the other, but they were still held fast.
He reappeared at his original position. He held out his hand and the staff rose from the ground where he'd dropped it when he disappeared. He turned and began to walk back into the woods, gesturing to her with his weapon.
“Come.”
CHAPTER 2
He led her a short way into the woods. She had no choice but to follow. Whatever was holding her arms behind her was also guiding her steps, ten paces behind his own.
They walked for what seemed like hours. True night had fallen over the sky. Yet even in the dark the pull of the magic kept her surefooted.
Finally, he stopped. She could see nothing special about this particular spot in the path, but he must have. He lifted the staff over his head and spoke words that she could not understand.
A tiny globe of light appeared in front of him. As he continued his incantation, it grew larger and larger, the glowi
ng part moving to the edges, and it faded to black in the middle. He stopped speaking and used his free hand to beckon her towards him. The magic forced her to follow.
“The doorway home,” he said as she walked to his side. He then pushed her through the center.
And she was suddenly somewhere else entirely. The brightness of the sun nearly blinded her. The sounds of thousands of people assaulted her ears. She tried to cover her eyes, but she was still pinned from behind. He was then behind her, pushing her onward.
When finally she could get her bearings, she realized they were on top of a thick stone wall that surrounded the most massive castle she'd ever seen. No architect of her people could have designed such a structure. It was formed of stone, glass and crystal, all in shades of black and gray. The top of the parapets had tall silver rods that crackled with lightning that constantly jumped from one to another and back to the sky. She'd never seen anything so beautiful or terrible.
When she finally pried her eyes away from the structure, she looked down into the courtyard. There was an army there, no other way to put it. But the creatures were not human. Though there were a few species she recognized, the vast majority were creatures she'd never seen the likeness of.
“Demons,” she breathed.
The cloaked man nodded once. He began to walk forward along the walls, and as expected, the binding on her arms caused her to follow. She was able to look on the other side of the wall as well, and it was far worse than the inside. There too was row after row of demon campsites.
They crossed a bridge from the wall to the castle proper, and he led her to his solar. It was handsomely appointed with more of the earthly comforts than she had seen. He gestured to a chair nearby and she was pushed to it. Her arms came free as the magic set her down.
“Tea?” he asked. She frowned at him and he chuckled. “Come now, if I meant to kill you, poison would not be the way.”
She took a deep breath and realized he had the right of it. She nodded. He pulled a rope behind him and almost instantly one of his servants, a creature like the ones outside, pushed open the door with a tray.
The creature was unnatural. It's skin was a dark red color, and horns covered not only it's bald head but ran in rows down it's bare back. It wore a tunic that covered below the waist as well as it's bare chest, but below were cloven hooves.
She'd took the tea from where he held it by one talon. He dropped a couple of spoonfuls of sugar into it. The familiar ritual actually was helping calm her nerves. She took a sip as the demon made her captor's drink. It even tasted normal.
He too took a sip. In the dim light of his solar, she could still not see his face. She wondered if he too were a demon. He waited until his servant had left the room before beginning to talk.
“I am called Braxus.” He took another long sip of his drink, then set it next to him on a pile of books. “I have brought you here to ask for a boon.”
She raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“The book is one that you may well refuse. Nevertheless, prophecy dictates that I shall request your aid three times.”
“And if I refuse a third time?” she asked, the tea forgotten in her hands.
“Then the time of asking shall be over, and the time of taking shall begin.”
She set the tea to the side, anger causing her to shake
“You forced me here. You killed my men. Those men, I'd known them my entire life! They were good men. And my teachers! Such knowledge the world will never see again! And you just murdered them all! Why should I ever grant you any boon? You might as well take whatever it is you want, because I will refuse every time.” She had risen from her seat in her fury.
He laughed at her sputtering rage. “Ah, my dear. That's the fun in it. When you grant me this boon, you will do so knowing exactly what I have done to you and to your friends. And that will make it all the sweeter.”
“What is the boon you wish?” she spat at him.
He folded his fingers together in front of him. “Simple. I wish for you to be my bride.”
She was shocked into silence. He offered nothing to fill the silence until finally she had to whisper, “You are insane.”
His hooded head tilted to the side, considering. “As I have said, I will explain my reasoning. Sit.”
She sat. If she did not, he would have forced her to anyway.
“The first benefit I offer you, in exchange for your hand in marriage, is the power that I hold. Surely you can see how great it is? You have felt what I could do to your hands, what else might I do?”
“Simple magics. Anyone can learn these tricks. Especially someone who consorts with filthy demon kind.”
“I thought you might say something like that.” He stood then and walked over to her high back chair. He held his staff in one hand and held his other hand to her. “Come with me.”
She took his hand and in a blinding flash of light, the room disappeared.
CHAPTER 3
Again she found herself in a new surrounding. Quickly she pieced together that they stood on top of the tower overlooking his demon masses. She'd underestimated their size from the wall. The camps were tiny to her from above. Yet their fires were all that she could see. On and on it stretched. She had no way to begin to count it all.
“There are so many,” she whispered, as the wind kicked up around her. She huddled her arms protectively to her chest.
“Indeed.” She still could not see his face, though the wind whipped his robes against his body. She got a impression of a human form underneath.
“And they are all yours to command?”
He use his staff to tilt her chin towards his cowl. “Yes. Although as my bride they would also be yours to command.” He ran the staff intimately along her cheek. She flinched and finally looked at the staff closely. It was carved to look like a man's skull at the top, with various specters carved all the way down.
Almost as if it noticed her attention, the eyes of the skull began to glow red. He laughed darkly. “Do not be afraid my dear. It is all part of my charm.” She shuddered, but something inside of her was intrigued by this dark wizard. The fact that she was helpless and the fact that he controlled forces uncountable, it excited her. But she knew she could not allow her own desires to cloud her fury at what the man had done.
He stepped away from her then and made a hand gesture. A demon appeared before them. This one was a more impressive specimen than the one before. He dwarfed Hilde, though she was tall for a woman. His skin was a purple so dark that it appeared black. He too was covered in protective horns, the two curling ones on top of his head the most massive of all. He wore nothing save a sword belt that carried a great sword that was nearly as tall as Hilde herself. His manhood was only barely hidden behind a mass of black hair.
His first glance was too Hilde, and he did seem surprised. She wondered if he'd never seen a human female before. His eyes traveled over her whole body from her honey colored hair down to the leathers that she wore to her traveling boots. She felt exposed, though he was the one nude and she was not.
Braxus banged his staff against the stone to get their attention. “Now, if you please. This is one of my generals. His name is irrelevant. The point is...” he trailed off and tilted his cowl again. “Ah my dear, I forget you know little of this world. Allow me to explain.”
He walked over to the demon and pointed to him with his staff as if using him as an object lesson. “The demons as you see them here were once like you. They once were human until the curse came upon them.”
“I don't understand,” she began. “that is not what we were taught of demons.”
“I'm sure. Still you will understand once I elaborate. You see, these demons who exist on this plane are men who have been cursed for one horror or another. Here, especially, are the ones who committed brutalities at war.” He leaned back and stared at the man for several minutes and laughed again. “Yet he's languished here for, well how many years has it been boy?”
The voice was unnaturally deep. “I lost count over a thousand, Master.”
“A thousand. And it could be far more, could it not?”
“Yes Master.”
“And how long has it been since you've been with a woman?” he inquired. She realized that though she'd followed Braxus' speech, and had moved from both of them, the demon's gaze had never left hers. His eyes were hungry. She dared glanced down and it was extremely obvious that he was very interested.
“The same amount, Master.” The demon answered.
She had been inching away, and now stood at the furthest spot she could from the demon. The wind had pulled her honey-blond hair down and it whipped across her face making it difficult to see.
Three Questions: Rough Demon Fantasies Page 1
