by D. R. Rosier
Katy shook her head, “It’s not that easy. Remember the transport spell, you can’t steal it, you have to smuggle me in, and then smuggle me out. Once I’m in the city with the scepter, I can easily gather the force to take my throne back, but if were caught leaving the vaults, scepter illusion working or not, my uncle will probably try to kill me. I admit the guards might make that more difficult once they’re on our side, but between my uncle and Mal, both grand sorcerers, they could wipe out the guard and claim it was the imposter that did it.”
Erin glared, “Smuggle us Katy… Us”
Katy grinned, “I guess you could come with us, maybe hold my staff for me when I’m too busy to bother with it.”
Erin snickered, “That’s not happening, ever.”
Daniel fought for a straight face and kept his mouth shut, some jokes were just too easy to bother saying…
He continued to call her Kat, he knew she’d been concerned he would treat her differently, but he was troubled. He really should try to get over her. She was stunning, powerful, and sweet besides. But even assuming he could get her to marry him, which was a bit much just for a roll in the hay wasn’t it? He wasn’t exactly the marrying kind.
He was all wrong for her, and marriage was all wrong for him… something told him it wouldn’t be that easy. To get over it that is. She blushed when she caught his stare, he must have been eye fucking her again while his thoughts wandered. Damn it. What a mess.
He was excited about the job though, it would be a challenge to get in and out without alerting the guards and causing a lockdown. Plus, all the loot he could carry from a royal vault, he’d be set for life. That’s what he wanted, wasn’t it?
Chapter 7
“Listen Kat, the dress has got to go.”
They’d just finished magic training. He’d managed to transport across the small clearing with shadow magic. It was simple, but required a lot of magic to pull off. He’d also made a pretty convincing illusion of him walking around the clearing, and there was even illusionary grass that would bend along with a small noise as he took steps.
But right now he was trying to convince the stubborn princess that she needed to not look like a princess, or they were all going to get caught in constant skirmishes, and that was assuming they weren’t just plain caught.
Katy looked at him fiercely, “No, it wouldn’t hide me anyway.” she said stubbornly.
He sighed, “Listen Kat. It wouldn’t hide you from another sorcerer, but changing into a common dress, or even using an illusion over your current one to hide what you’re really wearing, will hide you from the average villager and soldiers that are looking for you. We can dodge sorcerers, but if you go in with that dress we’ll be dodging everyone. Might as well hire someone to ride ahead and scream the crown princess imposter is coming.
“If you dress like a commoner, and I dress like a prosperous merchant taking his sister along, then that explains having Erin along to guard us. It will fool everyone except sorcerers, who we can avoid.”
She glared and stomped off, he didn’t see her angry much, but it was always a breathtaking sight when he watched her walking away. She had a really nice ass. She was mostly calm and sweet. Her temper could blow though, usually when she was losing an argument with him, but it was usually over with fast. Hopefully she’d come to see his words as wisdom.
She came back in five minutes.
“Why your sister?” she demanded, her eyes still tight.
He looked her up and down quite deliberately with a leering smile, “Well, we could always say you were my wife instead, or maybe a mistress? I thought you might object though, when we shared a room at the inn.”
She blushed fiercely, gods she was beautiful.
“Fine, but I’ll set the illusion before we go into town.”
He nodded, “How about Erin’s armor, is that recognizable, or is it generic enough.”
Katy considered it, “It’s not a royal armor, so it should be fine.”
He shrugged, “Great, now we just need to deal with the horse tack.”
Katy growled and he smiled with amusement in his eyes. The tack screamed important noble, there was no way they weren’t replacing it with plain leather.
“I’ve been thinking, you said we could summon shadows, can we summon shadows around someone or something else?”
Katy bit her lower lip in thought, he looked away to preserve his own.
“I don’t see why not, but what would it accomplish.”
He shrugged, “That along with hiding in shadow, or even moving in shadow, could help. He concentrated for a moment, and called shadows around a small rock on the ground. The rock disappeared, and then reappeared in his hands.”
Katy snickered, “I could see where that would come in handy for a thief.”
He frowned and his voice held an edge, “That isn’t exactly what I had in mind. We’ll do what we have to, but keep in mind all the soldiers and sorcerers after you… aren’t after you. They’re after the escaped imposter. The less we have to kill the better. I was thinking more of using that as a disarming technique. I also think I could use the summon shadows and hide spell to create a temporary prison, at least for those without shadow magic of their own.”
He turned away and summoned shadows around a larger rock and it simply disappeared.
She studied the magic and nodded, “I see, so until the magic ends, it would hold someone in the shadow lands, kicking them back out when the spell expires. That’s a good idea. It will work in most places, but in the castle there are active spells to prevent shadow usage. Otherwise any sorcerer with that sphere could shadow travel to the vaults, or any other room. Not to mention spies.”
He flinched when he felt her hand lightly touch his shoulder. It felt like a trail of fire against his skin when she ran her fingertips lightly down his arm and squeezed his hand. She’d never allowed them to touch before, and he wondered what it meant, he didn’t have to wait for long. She’d meant to comfort him.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice, “Earlier today was the first time you killed wasn’t it? And you did it to protect me and Erin. Thank you for trying to think of ways to keep the deaths of my subjects to a minimum. I’m ill suited to sneaking, my whole life has been in the spotlight, especially after the death of my parents, I’ll try not to argue when you suggest things.”
He turned around slowly, still holding her hand.
She added, “Do you want to talk about it? It wasn’t too long ago I took my first…” she trailed off, her words had slowly lost volume as she’d spoken.
He was captivated by her eyes, and moved forward slowly. This was stupid he knew, she couldn’t… but he didn’t care, he wanted to feel those lips on his.
Erin cleared her throat loudly, Katy broke their eye contact and moved away guiltily, but Daniel stood his ground. He wasn’t sure if he should thank Erin from preventing a mistake, or throttling her for her timing. Erin didn’t look jealous exactly, but she was responsible for protecting the princess, and that included her innocence until marriage.
“Everything okay over here?” Erin asked suspiciously.
He nodded, “It’s just fine. We were just wrapping up magic training, and discussing what we need to change before we hit civilization.”
Erin frowned, “Like what?”
Katy answered, “No princess dresses, new tack, get our stories straight. I think we decided on merchant, sister, and guard. You came up when I was thanking him for protecting us.”
Erin softened at that, and he felt a little uncomfortable. He wasn’t immune to the fact he’d ended a life. But he was trying his best not to think about it, if he was going to help Katy get her throne back, there was no way that would be the last time. But he was actively searching for ways to minimize that sort of thing.
They turned in then, him in his own tent, Erin and Katy in the other. But before he could fall asleep he was surprised when Erin crawled into his tent just ten minutes later.
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br /> “Is everything okay?”
She nodded with a grin, “It’s more in the nature of a personal visit.”
She kissed him, long and hard, while fishing out his manhood and then dropped to her knees. He rolled his head back and gasped in pleasure as he hardened in her warm wet mouth. Just like she’d never been eaten before, she’d returned that favor a couple of days later, and she’d obviously never done it before, but she was a fast learner. Five days later she came at it with a confidence and aggressiveness that blew his mind… among other things.
Katy went back to a five foot personal space the next morning, which was frustrating but probably the smart thing, though he wondered if it was really her idea, or if… did it matter? Erin had taken the edge off, but he had to admit Katy’s draw on him was more than just physical attraction, so it didn’t help as much as he’d have expected or wanted. After a quick spar and some cold breakfast they broke camp and set off on the trail to Wildeholt.
The morning was fairly nice, except for his posterior which still wasn’t used to sitting in a saddle for hours on end. By early afternoon he was considering swallowing his pride for a little healing when Erin moved her horse closer to his.
Erin whispered, “I think we’re being followed. They’ve gotten a little to close a couple of times.”
That annoyed him, because he hadn’t noticed a thing. He was more comfortable sneaking and hiding in the city. The forest… not his strength, although he was better than when he got here a month ago, but for some reason he felt like he’d failed.
“Why wouldn’t they attack?”
Erin frowned, “Because they’re probably just soldiers, it would take serious magical talent to give us a challenge, they may be just keeping track of us until a sorcerer can catch up. Either that or they’ll try for surprise, but I kind of doubt it.”
He considered that, “What do you want to do?”
Erin sighed, “Let’s pick up the pace, if we get far enough ahead of them Katy can cover our trail, if they charge us we’ll have no choice but to stop them.”
He nodded and Erin moved her horse into a canter, and his followed with a little encouragement. He didn’t think they could keep it up long though, not with Erin and Katy riding double. If the soldiers were smart they’d just let them go, it was obvious the three of them were headed toward the village, which would make things more difficult. He considered mentioning this, it might be better to silence them… but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Sure, he’d rob them blind, but killing wasn’t coming very easily. He’d think of another way, maybe their disguises would work.
Picking up the pace seemed to work, there were no signs of pursuit, or at least there wasn’t when they slowed down to a walk later that afternoon. It seemed him worrying about the horses had been a moot point, Katy had no problem keeping them fresh with nature magic. They rode for another hour to be sure, he even dropped back and waited at one point, but their pursuers had lost them.
The next two days followed a similar course. Wake, spar, ride, magic, and sleep after a visit from Erin. They’d managed to play a cat and mouse game with the soldiers looking for them. His fears however seemed to come true as it became more difficult to find a way through them the closer they got to the village. He took another look at Katy trying to be objective, they were just hours from the village and she’d put on an illusion. She looked different, but of course he could still feel her magical presence, but hopefully it would be enough to fool some.
But for him it just looked wrong. Her long flowing dresses fit her personality and power. Her normal dresses were sexy, but covered everything, they tantalized and left things to the imagination. The illusion she wore covered a lot less skin, the hem barely reached her knees and the top… well it was showing some cleavage. It would hardly be called risqué back home, but it looked… wrong on her. Very sexy… but wrong. It was also strange because he knew it wasn’t her real flesh, that it was just an illusion over her normal dress. That didn’t stop him from drooling over it though.
His brain hurt just thinking about it.
Still, they were three, two women and a man riding two horses, coming at the town from the direction of the wilderness. No disguise could overcome those facts, so that obviously had to change. They decided to circle around to the other side of the city using the cover of the woods. He didn’t like the idea, but they were sending in Erin on foot first, covered in illusion to completely change her appearance, to purchase a horse, saddle, and then enough tack for all three horses. Then they could get their disguise right before entering the village.
They’d considered just letting Erin buy the horse and supplies, and just moving on, but they really needed some intelligence as well. Hopefully there would be enough rumors floating around. It had been close to two months since Erin and Katy had heard any news. Also, it would give him and Katy a chance to get real clothes for their disguises, and it would be unfortunate if their illusions died at an inopportune time.
They kept talk to a minimum as they skirted the village in the forest to the south when he felt some kind of magic reach out and grab him. He couldn’t move at all, and his horse seemed stuck as well. From what he was seeing out of the corner of his eyes Erin and Katy were stuck too.
He heard the guttural voice right before he saw the speaker, “Kill the others, secure the princess.”
The man along with four others that walked out must have been elves. Honestly he’d been picturing willowy and tall blonde people with big ears. Damn legends of Earth were a total lie. They had light blue skin and were between four and five feet tall. They’d gotten the pointed ears right, but they weren’t upswept and pleasing to the eye, they were… wrong looking. The hair was dark in appearance, blue black to jet black, and their eyes were a little too big for their heads.
They did have angular features, Earth had gotten that one right. Now that he thought of it, they looked a lot like one of those little gray aliens from science fiction had knocked up the elves of legend from Earth, and out popped this result. It was… disconcerting. And he still couldn’t move, but he was able to take in his magic.
He dropped an illusion of himself where he was sitting, while he moved through the shadows to the trees behind the elves. He fell over backwards, still paralyzed, he’d been hoping it would free him but no such luck. Even more embarrassing, he was riding the horse, so his legs were spread and bent, and partially in the air with his arms forward, like a turtle knocked on its back. Thank the gods this world had no camera phones.
Fuck!
Suddenly his limbs unfroze and he jumped up, maybe it was Katy that had freed them, but he wasn’t going to ask. He pulled out his sword and rushed them from behind. These weren’t human, weren’t Kat’s subjects, and had been planning to kill him out of hand. He had no compunctions about doing the same to them. In fact, he expected he might enjoy it.
Erin launched out of her saddle, and he cast an illusion to blind them all, but it didn’t work. He remembered Katy telling him they had a different kind of magic, but now wasn’t the time to think it through. He ran one through in his back, they hadn’t sensed him coming, still seeing the three of them on horses thanks to his illusion.
The skewered and dying Elf cried out startling the rest. Erin took out another in short order as they panicked. Two others went up in flames, and the last started running for it. He called the shadows and plucked him into the shadow lands. Apparently they could dispel illusions, but the shadows worked just fine. He hadn’t used that much energy, just enough to hold him for ten or fifteen seconds.
By the time he popped back out, Daniel was in the perfect position to slice through his neck.
Erin growled, “Fuck, I’d have liked to question him. What are they doing here?”
He cancelled his illusion and remounted, calming the horse with a touch. Apparently he was getting the hang of it.
“I’d have thought that was obvious. They wanted to kidnap Kat.”
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Erin glared.
Katy asked, “But why?”
He snorted, “Because if they have you nice, safe, and tied up out of the way, they can invade without impunity. Until your dead, your uncle can’t use the power of the scepter, right? So of course they want you alive, they must have a spy somewhere here to understand the situation. Lendaran has been exposed for over a year now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the elves were preparing for war.”
Erin unleashed a string of curses that even made Daniel blush, but her voice came out soft.
“I should have seen that, you’re right.”
He shrugged, “Let’s get to the west side of the village, and get on with the plan. The sooner we get the temperature of the situation we’ll hit the road again. If at all possible, we shouldn’t risk more than one night here.”
Katy nodded, “Agreed.”
He and Katy talked while waiting, he learned a bit about her childhood, she’d been lonely after her parents died. Her uncle was a real prick, the man was quickly become someone that Daniel wouldn’t mind killing. Still, they were both a bit distracted by being nervous for Erin as she went in alone on foot. But after about an hour, she showed up on another horse.
It took them a little while to change out the tack on their old mounts, and redistribute the packs. But eventually they were ready and rode into town. The guards gave them suspicious looks, but did not stop them. After all, they didn’t match the description of the three people on two horses, and were coming in from a different direction.
It seemed it worked, now they had to do a little shopping, listen to rumors, and hope they didn’t run into any sorcerers.
Chapter 8
It may have been three hundred years since the war, but the village was clearly defensible. There was a twenty foot wall surrounding the village, with thick gates to the East and West. The center street that led from gate to gate held miscellaneous shops, taverns, businesses, a mayor’s building, although here they were called a marquis, as well as a small market with booths that could be folded away and put on a wagon at a moment’s notice.
