by Reed James
I mounted my horse. I hadn't bothered to name the farm nag. He lacked the majesty of Night. I wondered what ever happened to my stallion. Did he still wander the Forest of Lhes? Had a farmer found him and yoked him to a plow? Or had Prince Meinard's soldiers found him and claimed him for their own?
None of those options pleased me.
“I'll be back,” I said. “Hopefully, with the princess.”
“Okay,” my sister said, her shoulders sagging. She yawned.
Nathalie and Zanyia joined her.
“Perhaps we should set up camp,” Ealaín said. “I think we could all use a rest. I did not realize trudging through a forest could be so wearying.”
I didn't either. I didn't feel exhaustion this badly before we went to Faerie. But fatigue could build and build in a person. I shook it off and galloped my horse to the rise. He, at least, seemed in good spirits. Probably glad to stretch his legs and really move instead of creeping through the uneven ground and dense foliage of the woods.
I gained the top of the hill and pulled out her statue after dismounting. I stroked up and down the figure's naked body, feeling the breasts. It came to life, shuddering and shivering. She looked around as I sat her on the hill.
“You're out!” she said in delight as she grew. “That's wonderful, Sven.”
“Now we just have to see if you're anywhere near here,” I said as she grew taller and taller, her alabaster form swelling. Aingeal's enchantment worked as promised. Though I still missed Ava's rose quartz proxy. The way that figure's crystals caught the light was so stirring.
But the alabaster was nice. I smiled at my betrothed's petite body, her breasts firm mounds that shuddered as she reached her full height. She let out a groan as she stretched, her pure-white flesh painted in orange highlights by the setting sun.
“Let's see,” she said, turning around and gazing at the road. “I think we're close to you.” Her statue went still for a moment. Then it animated again. “We should be around that bend, I hope.” She pointed up the road. “Looks like we're ahead of you.”
I stared in that direction. The road bowed out to the south then turned back north to go around a thrusting bulge of the green forest. I trembled in excitement. Ava took my hand, her grip smooth and yet though made of stone, felt like real flesh, warm and soft. She rose on her tiptoes, trembling and...
“There I am!” she gasped as two figures rode around the road's bend, one slumped over her mare, strawberry-blonde hair spilling down over the shoulders of her blue riding cloak. The other figure held the reins, a blonde, Zeutchian lass.
“Oh, my, your bedmaid is quite the buxom girl,” I said as the pair rode forward.
“I thought you'd appreciate her assets,” Ava said. “Let's go say hi to me.” Then she giggled before her body shrunk again.
I picked her up, put her proxy away, and rode down the hill as the real Ava straightened in her saddle, now inhabiting her real body. She spurred her mount forward, pulling away from the bedmaid, her strawberry-blonde hair flying behind her.
“Ava!” Kora shouted.
“Wow,” I head Zanyia yowl. “She looks so pretty in the flesh. I didn't know her hair was such an exciting color.”
I rode past my family, racing toward my betrothed. Though I had just talked to her, I felt like I hadn't seen her, well, in a year. She had such a beaming smile on her face that lead me on. We reined up our horses before we collided.
I vaulted out of the saddle and raced to her as she shifted in her saddle. I grabbed her waist, her hands seizing my shoulder, and lifted her light body off the saddle. I breathed in that smell of her, something her proxies lacked. It was that familiar, sweet musk I had missed so much over the last year.
“Sven,” she breathed, staring up at me, her eyes trembling, tears breeding in their blue depths. Then her arms snaked around my neck. She clung to me so tight. “It's really you, Sven. I've missed you.”
“My princess,” I groaned, my arms tightening about her waist. I lifted her up and kissed her hard on the mouth. I tasted the freshness of her lips. I reveled in the wet feel of them, their silky texture.
I cradled her to me, spinning her about as we kissed. I had missed her so much. Touching her through a proxy wasn't the same as in the flesh. There was always this remoteness. This barrier that truly separated us. Now it was gone. It had evaporated.
There was only us. Together.
Her tongue darted into my mouth. My cock swelled and ached. I throbbed to take her. To fuck her so hard. The weariness fell away from me as my ardor grew and grew. My hands slid down to cup her rump through her riding cloak and dress, feeling her.
I broke the kiss, prepared to—
“Kora!” shrieked Nathalie.
“Mistress Kora!” yowled Zanyia.
The fear in both their voices snapped my head around. My sweet Kora lay on the ground. Her entire body bucked and convulsed. Zanyia whimpered beside her, her head swaying from side-to-side. Her ears twitched as she rolled my sister over.
“No!” I roared, setting Ava down.
“Oh, Gods, Kora,” gasped Ava as I raced towards my sister.
I flew down the path, running with all my speed. My heart pounded ice through my body. Fear whipped at me, driving me to get to her side as fast as I could. I reached her, falling to my knees next to my other women. Ealaín had her war ax and hammer out, scanning the trees.
“No,” I groaned at the sight of the foam flecking Kora's lips and mouth. The same poison as before. “That Las-damned assassin!”
I leaped to my feet and drew my short sword, facing the trees. “Where are you, you Illth-poxed bastard! Cowering in the trees?”
“It wasn't the assassin,” Zanyia said. “Nothing struck her. She just got dizzy and collapsed, Master.”
“What?” I demanded, whipping my head around. “That's the same poison. It has to be him.”
“It is the same poison,” the lamia yowled. “I think I know what it is. It can't be cured with magic. We never fully healed her.”
The world spun around me.
~ * ~
Zanyia
“What?” Master snarled at me.
Purple light surged from Aingeal, directing her healing spirits into Kora.
“It's this poison called styrchnos,” I answered. “I heard about it before Therek took me on his raid across the mountains and you saved me. It came from a new source. A new ally of Zizthithana. I think it's from the Paragon.”
Master cursed, his face pale, terror filling his scent. He could fight the assassin, even wreathed in shadows, but he couldn't battle a toxin coursing through his sister's body. I squeezed Kora's hand. Her spasming slowed and she no longer foamed from the mouth.
“Look, she's healing,” Sven said. “Aingeal's magic is fixing her.”
“But she won't be able to get rid of the poison,” I yowled, my ears twitching. “It stays inside the body. It persists. All she's doing is healing the damage it causes, but it will keep doing harm to her.”
“I... I think she's right,” Aingeal said. “There's no puncture wound from a dart. And it's the same poison. No wonder she's been tired if her body's been dealing with this since the fight.”
“Yeah,” Nathalie said, her face wan.
She looked as tired as I felt. All day, an exhaustion had been pulling at me. I almost never grew tired. I always had kittenish levels of energy coursing through me, but it was so hard to scamper beside Master as the day wore on.
“Shilia told me this new poison can also spread.” I swallowed. “Does everyone else feel tired?”
“Yeah,” Master growled. “And? We've been traveling all day.”
“My... fatigue does feel greater than I expected,” Ealaín said.
“I just want to fall over,” Nathalie confessed.
“It's in us all,” I said. “It's slowly killing us.” My ears dropped. “Master... We're all going to die. Slowly. It'll weaken us more and more.”
“And he's waiting for t
hat,” Sven growled. “The assassin! He's waiting for us to drop.”
“There has to be a cure,” Aingeal protested.
“Az!” Princess Ava exclaimed. She hovered on the edge, clutching her hands to her chest. “The University of Az has the largest collection of scholars in the world. The priests who reside their know more about the healing arts than any. They'll have a way to cure this there.”
“Az's three days away,” Sven said, his expression dark.
I shuddered. Would we make it?
~ * ~
Keythivak
I stroked Hithina's dyed-black hair as I watched Sven and his women realize the depths of their plight. In a day or two, they would all be as sick as the priestess. Two more days for my wounds to heal, two more days for them to weaken.
When I attacked, they would be as frail as newborn kittens.
Hithina snuggled tighter against me, her tail twitching back and forth. I felt the pleasure bleeding off of her. She knew we were close to recovering the amulet. Zizthithana would reward me for bringing her this prize.
Chapter Thirty-Four: Weakened Passion
Princess Ava
My stomach twisted and writhed as I moved around the campfire. My reunion with Sven and his harem had not gone nearly as well as I hoped. Instead of the passionate delight, making love to Sven and his women, the poison ensured that I couldn't sleep with him. Abstaining from sex with them kept my bedmaid Greta and I healthy while Sven and his harem grew worse and worse. The last two days were awful.
We were one day out from Az, and I feared we wouldn't make it.
I knelt down beside Sven. He had his eyes closed, his face pale and clammy, sweat beading his forehead. I dabbed at it with my cloth, giving him a forced smile. His blue eyes stayed closed. A nervous writhe ran through my guts, the dread clawing at my heart.
What if my Sven died? We still had to travel all day tomorrow to make it to Az.
I glanced at the woods. The southern edge of the Forest of Lhes loomed to the north of us, a wall of dense woods that ended abruptly against the cleared strip along the road. I shivered. I tried not to look. I could feel the assassin watching us. He had to be tracking us, watching my family getting weaker and weaker.
What could I do? I didn't know how to fight. And my bedmaid was utterly useless.
“It'll be okay,” Greta said as she leaned over Aingeal. The faerie was doing poorly. She whimpered on her back; her feyhound Scáthnamhaid lay beside her, resting its head made of wicker on his paws. “Just hang in there.”
“K-kora?” Aingeal asked through chattering teeth.
I glanced at Sven's step-sister. She lay beside him, her body looking so small, the blanket pulled up over her. She trembled in her sleep. I leaned over her, my heart pounding ice through my veins as I peered down at her.
“Kora?” I asked.
“I... I...” Kora opened her eyes, her blues dulled to grays. “It's... so cold...”
“I know.” I dabbed at her sweaty forehead. “Do you think you can eat something?”
“Don't... know...”
I hated this poison. It had destroyed my family. Zanyia, Ealaín, Sven, Kora, Aingeal, and Nathalie all lay trembling. And the assassin watched us. I could feel the malevolence of his gaze. When would he strike? When would he attack and put down my family?
“We're not going to make it to Az,” Greta said, her voice tight.
~ * ~
Keythivak
The time had come.
I cloaked myself in shadows. Sven and his harem lay dying. Too weak to stop me. The princess and her maid would pose no threat. The shadows surged around me, writhing and undulating as I shaped them, molded them, transformed them. My flesh vanished. The shadows hid me. My shoulder throbbed, still healing, but that didn't matter.
“Now, Master?” my lamia hissed. Hithina crouched on a branch nearby, her dyed-black hair falling about her feral face. She licked her chops, her tail swishing back and forth.
“Now,” I grinned and dropped out of the tree.
I landed as soft as a leaf. Hithina fell down beside me. An owl hooted above. She scurried off to the right, moving through the field on her hands and knees. Only the rustle of grass gave any sign of her approach. I moved to the right, uncoiling my chain-sickle. Using my enhanced shadows had failed me last time. The faerie could counter it too easily.
I'd kill her after dealing with the princess and her bedmaid.
Night deepened around me. The campfire drew me closer and closer. Princess Ava crawled into her blanket, lying next to her bedmaid. Around her, Sven and his harem huddled in their own blankets, too weak to fight. I'd watched them ride, slumped over their horses, hardly aware of the world around them. The styrchnos's insidious presence had done its work.
My heartbeat sped up as I crept up to the edge of the camp. Princess Ava rolled over in her blanket. She stared at the fire, her strawberry-blonde locks painted by the dancing oranges and reds. Wood popped as it burned, smoke pouring into the air.
“It'll be okay,” the bedmaid said, her voice light. She had blonde hair gathered in twin pigtails. “Maybe we will reach Az tomorrow.”
Princess Ava shook her head. “We won't. Look at them all. How can any of them ride? Can you lift Sven up into the saddle of his horse? I can't!”
I crept closer and closer. I slipped past Sven and his sister Kora. I could feel the amulet around the whimpering priestess's neck. My hands clenched, wanting to grab it but keeping myself disciplined. Deal with the threats first, then claim my Mistress's prize.
I stood over the princess and her maid. I drew back my fist, my chain-sickle held in the other hand, the chain wrapped about my waist, connected to the sickle. One blow to knock her out. Hithina approached the camp from the other side.
I—
“Kora!” the faerie shouted, her eyes springing open across the campfire.
My head whirled around to the priestess sitting up in her bedrolls, a spike of cold shooting through my veins. She pulled wet fingers out from beneath her blankets as she faced her feverish face at me. Her dull-blue eyes focused for a moment.
“Rithi, I call upon a light of such radiance to reveal the beauty around me!” she screamed out.
Daylight burst from her and washed across my skin. I felt it bathing me, destroying my shadows, revealing my flesh. A trap. They'd baited me into attacking. The chain clattered as it whisked against my waist, coming loose, the weighted end swinging around me.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
I popped to my feet and...
The world spun around me.
Exhaustion leaded my limbs. I didn't want to fight. Didn't have the strength to fight, but we had to defeat the assassin before we grew even weaker. Kora's light died. She fell to the ground, trembling, groaning, frothing at the mouth. She'd done it. She'd held back the poison long enough to cast her light spell and rob the assassin of his shadows.
Now... Now she convulsed on the ground. My stomach twisted. I wanted to help her but...
The assassin stood over Ava, a few feet away . He whirled to face me, blinking his eyes against the blinding glare of Kora's spell. He held a sickle in his hand, a chain dangling from the end. He swung the sickle, whirling the chain around him. It hissed through the air at me.
I pushed through the sickness and dodged to the right. The weighted end of the chain punched right over my head, thrusting out from him like a thrown lance. The chain snapped taut beside me. I sprang forward, racing alongside it and...
He flicked his wrist.
I ducked low. The chain whipped over my head. He slashed forward with the sickle as the chain warped about his thin torso. I raised my short sword, a wave of dizzy exhaustion fuzzed across my vision.
Metal clanged. My sword shifted in my grip. I almost dropped it as I parried his sickle. The impact shivered up the blade. I grunted and stumbled back. I needed to focus. I couldn't be weak but... My stomach roiled. My head pounded. My eyes wanted to shut. Sleep...
I wanted to—
“Las's putrid cum!” I snarled, diving past the fire as the chain uncoiled from his waist and flicked at me, hissing through the air.
How could I beat him?
~ * ~
Princess Ava
I sank into my alabaster proxy. I opened my eyes, staring out at the fire, shrunk and tiny. But Aingeal had enchanted this form for me, putting the same ability on it the soulborn witch had to my rose quartz statue. I swelled larger and larger, ballooning out to my full height. I whirled around, Sven fighting the assassin and—
“Princess!” Greta hissed, pointing across the campfire.
The assassin's lamia crept out of the grass, advancing on the trembling Zanyia. The catgirl struggled to get out of her blankets, her face flushed from the poison. I cried out and charged around the fire, my stone steps thudding with weight. Made of alabaster, it had a solid presence. That had to be good for something.
I had to fight. I had to help my family.
The lamia looked up at me, hissed, and then launched herself at me. I gasped in shock as her nubile body crashed into me. I stumbled, the fire crackling only feet away, the heat washing over me. The nimble lamia scratched at my stony flesh as she squirmed around me. I fought to keep my balance, my feet thudding on the ground.
Sven cursed behind me.
~ * ~
Ealaín
“Get up,” I growled at myself as I lay in my blankets. They felt so heavy, smothering me with warmth. Sven rolled across the ground as the weighted chain hurtled after him. He gained his feet and battered away at the chain. It wrapped about his sword instead. With a hard jerk, the dusky-skinned assassin yanked the blade out of Sven's hand.
Sven stumbled, yanked off-balance by the jerk. He stumbled, his sweaty face grimacing. I had to help him. I had to help him fight and protect my charge. Kora lay quivering, the poison wracking her body. We had to get her to Az.
All of us had to get to Az.
I found the hilt of my ax hidden beneath the blanket. I groaned and heaved off my blanket. I gained my feet naked. My breasts swayed before me. The world swam around me. My feet stumbled as I lurched to the right. I grit my teeth. I had to focus. I had to kill the assassin.
