Conqueror

by Isaac Hooke

  “Yes, it can be useful,” he agreed warily. “So far it hasn’t failed me today. But that may yet change.”

  “Yeah,” Gwen said. “So don’t jinx him, Night Elf.”

  Ziatrice glared at her. “If anything, I’ve blessed him, Archer.”

  Gwen actually giggled, and quickly looked away.

  “What?” Ziatrice said.

  But Gwen didn’t answer.

  He was curious too, but he wasn’t going to say anything to goad either of them.

  At least she didn’t call me Gobling, Gwen explained in his mind. But instead, Archer. She doesn’t realize it, but to me, that’s not an insult, but a great compliment!

  Maybe you should tell her, he suggested.

  Oh no, I’d never do that. I don’t want her to stop!

  Evening finally came without incident. The party passed by another dense thicket enclosed by the webs of dhaarkan spiders, and he called a halt.

  “We might as well camp here,” Malem said. “It will be dark in half an hour anyway.”

  “Amid dhaarkan spiders?” Sark said fearfully.

  Ziatrice glanced at Sark distastefully. “As before, they won’t even come out of their nests, thanks to our monster friends. But if they do, never fear, you’ll be the first they devour. It will be over quickly. Their favorite food is gobling, after all.”

  Sark whimpered.

  “How’s that supposed to make me feel?” Gwen asked.

  Ziatrice shrugged. “You have a big bow.”

  “Yeah, except it’s going to get kind of dark in here,” Gwen said. “I’m a half-breed… my night vision is weak.”

  “I’m sure you’ll manage,” the night elf said.

  He cut a path though the carcass-infested outer shell of web with Balethorn, and had Khaan and Eddy lead the way inside. As before, he instructed Hansel to keep watch just outside the thicket for an added layer of security. There were few monsters that would readily attack a ghrip as big as that one. They’d have to be extremely powerful. Or extremely hungry.

  Inside, the thick canopy made it seem like the sun had already set, and they entered a deeper twilight. Eddy and Khaan squeezed in between the trees on the left and right side of the copse, where they hunkered down for the night. The rest of the group huddled near the center of the thicket, where the trees were mostly clear, and well away from any of the buried nest openings.

  He activated his night vision and shared it with Gwen and Abigail. Ziatrice didn’t need it, since the night elf could readily see in the dark on her own.

  “That’s better,” Gwen said.

  Xaxia lifted a hand in front of her face. “Not for me. I can barely see my hand.”

  “Well, I’d light a fire globe, but then the dim glow from the copse would be visible for miles around,” Abigail said.

  Malem nodded. “We’d attract monsters like moths to a flame.”

  “I can see perfectly,” Rathamias.

  “As can I,” Sark said.

  “Silence, gobling,” Rathamias said.

  Gwen interjected: “What about you, orak? No one gave you permission to speak.”

  “My queen did,” the black mage insisted.

  “Oh really?” Gwen glanced at Ziatrice, who merely shrugged. Gwen’s bow was suddenly in her hand, with an arrow notched and pointed at the orak. “Still feel like talking?”

  Rathamias smiled brightly. “Go ahead. Release your arrow. Gobling Bitch.”

  He felt the anger spike in Gwen, and he knew the mage had just signed its death sentence. This was going to be one of those times when the human side of Gwen lost, and the monster won.

  But then the anger switched to outrage, and then desperation.

  He’s paralyzed me! Gwen sent.

  “All right, set her free, orak,” Malem told Rathamias.

  “As long as she swears never to harm or threaten me going forward,” the orak said.

  I will do no such thing! Gwen sent him.

  “She promises,” Malem said.

  Rathamias gave her a suspicious look, then stood up and took another seat so that the orak was no longer in the line of fire of that arrow.

  It must have released her then, because the arrow promptly launched, hitting the trunk of a tree behind where Rathamias had been sitting.

  Gwen drew another arrow and immediately pointed it at Rathamias.

  She became paralyzed again, judging from the helplessness he felt from her energy bundle.

  You need to get a hold on your inner monster, he sent her.

  I’m trying, she replied. This arrogant bastard is just really good at pissing me off.

  Rathamias moved out of the way of the arrow again with a sigh.

  Once more Gwen launched the arrow when she was freed, but this time she lowered the bow.

  Malem sensed a wild boar and a hare on the periphery of his beast sense, but he was too weary to hunt. Once again he found himself missing Felipe and the eggs the little monkey would steal for him when he slept in the forest.

  Malem lowered his pack and dined upon his stored rations instead. He shared food with those who didn’t have any of their own. Around him, the copse continued to grow dimmer as the sun set so that eventually, even with his night vision, it was somewhat difficult to see. It was like a night with only a crescent moon lighting the sky.

  Sark was chewing upon a piece of salted meat Malem had given the gobling. He suddenly spoke up: “I was the son of a chieftain. A chieftain! Destined to rule my tribe. But then my father’s guards rose against him and slew him, along with all of my older brothers. They left me alive because I was only five years old. They called me Runt.” He bit into the salted meat angrily. “Runt!” He looked down. “I could have been great. Instead, I’m now the slave of some human. Surrounded by creatures that hate me.”

  “Aw,” Xaxia said sarcastically. “Poor little gobling. Would you like a spider leg to make it better?”

  “That would be nice,” Sark said. “Compared to this chafar!”

  “What’s a chafar?” Malem asked the monster.

  Gwen was the one who replied. “You don’t want to know.”

  He looked at her and cocked his head. “I didn’t know you spoke gobling.”

  “Just the swears,” Gwen said. “I picked them up in my teens, when we captured a gobling while on a hunting expedition. The creature spoke Common, and called us every bad word in the book. It made sure we understood the meaning of each word, too.”

  “So your parents didn’t teach you?” Xaxia asked.

  Gwen shook her head. “I don’t remember them. I’m not even really sure what happened to them. I heard hints though, and put together a history based on what people told me and what they didn’t. As far as I can tell, my mother was from a neighboring village that had been attacked by goblings. She stumbled into ours, bruised and bloodied, and the good people took her in. They fed and clothed her, and nursed her back to health. It was then that they realized she was pregnant.

  “She died giving birth to me, I think. What a terrible sacrifice for any woman to have to make. A life for a life. Never getting to see the fruits of her labor, literally. I guess giving birth to a half monster is hard on the body. I wish so badly that I’d known her. So badly. But then, I also worry that she might have hated me, when she saw what I was. When she saw that she’d given birth to a monster.”

  “She wouldn’t have hated you,” Ziatrice said gently, but didn’t elaborate.

  Into the quietude that followed Sark spoke again. Or rather, muttered: “Could have been a chieftain. A great, respected warrior. Now, a slave.”

  “A chieftain?” Khaan said, the basilisk’s voice carrying from where it rested on the far side of the perimeter. “I have eaten more chieftains than I have fingers.”

  “Well, you have no fingers so that can’t be very many…” Sark said.

  “Careful,” Malem said. “I wouldn’t suggest pissing off a basilisk.”

  “I once had a basilisk as a pet,” Rathamias
announced.

  Malem turned his gaze on the black mage. “The same applies to you. Insult Khaan at your peril.”

  Rathamias raised its hands defensively and turned its head toward the basilisk’s location. “I meant no disrespect. You see, I was once part of an orak party that slew a merchant train. Nasty humans. One of the merchants had a basilisk egg that the human obviously intended to sell. Well, I kept it, and when it hatched, I raised the basilisk as my own. I had to get rid of it when it started turning all my friends to stone, however. I’m lucky it didn’t turn me to stone.”

  “Get rid of it?” Khaan asked. There was a dangerous edge to the basilisk’s tone.

  “Err, it died quickly,” Rathamias said.

  Khaan didn’t say anything. But from the energy bundle, Malem could tell the basilisk was pissed.

  Permission to devour this one whole, Khaan asked him over their mental link.

  I might need him in the battles to come, Malem replied. Sorry.

  He was ready for the basilisk to fight him, but thankfully the monster let the matter go.

  “How’s Weyanna?” Malem asked Abigail. The white dragon was lying on the ground beside the princess. She hadn’t eaten, and instead had gone to sleep as soon as Eddy had lowered her to the ground.

  “Not good,” Abigail said weakly. Her voice came in his mind, next: We need to talk about her.

  Okay. After we’re done eating.

  “Will she last the night?” Xaxia asked.

  Abigail bit her lower lip, then lowered her head. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

  Gwen nodded. “We’ll check on her throughout the night. Make sure she’s all right.”

  “Who gets to keep first watch?” Xaxia asked.

  “I’ll do it,” Gwen said. “I don’t like sleeping among spiders all that much.”

  “Keep an eye on the base of the trunks,” Sark said. “Make sure they don’t emerge from their nests.”

  “Oh, I intend to,” Gwen said. “I’ll be patrolling the grounds constantly, and if any spider dares show its ugly head, it will have a private conversation with Wasp.”

  “You’re assuming the ettin won’t eat it, first,” Ziatrice said.

  “That’s right,” Malem agreed. “Eddy is also on first watch. And Khaan will take over after midnight. And Sark a few hours after that. They all feed on spiders.” He glanced at Sark. “At least, I assume you do.”

  “Spiders are tasty treats!” Sark exclaimed.

  “There you go.” Malem retuned his attention to Gwen. “Hansel will also keep watch for part of the night… from the imagery the ghrip sent me, my understanding is it usually spends a few hours feeding after midnight, so it will rove the surrounding area.”

  “I’ll join Khaan for second watch,” Ziatrice said.

  “And I Sark for third watch,” Xaxia said.

  Malem nodded, satisfied with the watch order.

  “Notice how he never volunteers to keep watch,” Xaxia commented.

  Malem shrugged. “I need my beauty sleep.”

  He finished his salted meat, and then lay down, closing his eyes.

  We have to talk, Abigail sent.

  16

  Malem sighed. Yes. Sorry. Weyanna.

  You need to sleep with her, Abigail sent.

  Well, that’s a change from her previous attitude.

  You were the one who warned me not to, he told her.

  That was before her health took a turn for the worst. She isn’t going to last much longer like this. You have to Break her. She needs the strength and endurance you can grant her through the link. You’ve been keeping me alive, feeding me vitality. But look at how poorly she fares now, as compared to me.

  He glanced at Weyanna’s prostate form in the dim light of his night vision. Her eyes were closed, and her skin was very pale, so much so that she no longer seemed tanned—but that could have been a side effect of the night vision. She was still asleep, though her breathing seemed troublingly slow. Her forehead was covered in a thin layer of perspiration, despite the fact the night air was cool. She was the only one sweating.

  Besides, Abigail continued, you’ll need the added power to defeat Mauritania. So I say again: Break her.

  Don’t tempt me like this, Malem sent. If I start Breaking more half dragons, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop when we return to the Metals. I already thirst for the power they grant me. I’m barely hanging on as it is.

  Oh, I’ll make sure you stop after her, Abigail told him rather sternly.

  He raised an eyebrow when he looked at her. Oh, really?

  She nodded, and bore her teeth in a fierce smile. Her teeth almost seemed to glow in the dim light. Malevolently. I’ll eat you, if I have to.

  Ah. The jealous kind, are you?

  Let’s just say I can tolerate sharing to a degree, Abigail sent. But once you start bedding over four other women at the same time, that’s when my patience begins to diminish, no matter how great it feels when you have sex with them.

  He steepled his fingers. Then he made up his mind.

  “I’ll have to discuss this with Ziatrice and Gwen, first,” Malem said aloud. “Since adding her to our shared connection will affect them, too. You can all feel each other, remember. And perhaps exert a subtle influence upon one another. For example, since adding Ziatrice, you and Gwen have become a little… grimmer, of mindset.”

  “But when you took Ziatrice, you didn’t discuss that with me or Gwen,” Abigail said crossly.

  “I know, I’m sorry,” he said. “It was the middle of battle. I didn’t have time. And I didn’t know at the time that you could influence one another.”

  “So what’s this about discussing something with Ziatrice and I?” Gwen said, coming in from where she had been standing watch close to the outskirts of the thicket.

  “Abigail thinks I should Break Weyanna.”

  “Have sex with her, you mean,” Gwen spat.

  “Not necessarily,” Ziatrice said. “He Broke me without sex.”

  “Very true,” Gwen said. “If you have to Break her, do it the same way. She’s weak enough now, isn’t she?”

  “Might be,” Malem agreed.

  Gwen nodded toward the white half dragon. “Well she’s hardly in any condition for sex. She might shift a little bit here or there when you mount her, but otherwise you’ll essentially be masturbating into her, given the response you’ll probably get.”

  “What a crude image,” Ziatrice commented.

  “So you want to Break her so you can boost her vitality, is that it?” Xaxia asked.

  “I always said you were good at putting two and two together,” Malem said, the sarcasm thick in his voice.

  “Damn it,” Gwen said. “You were supposed to have sex with me tonight, remember?”

  “Actually, I don’t…” he admitted.

  “Uh, yeah?” the half gobling told him. “Your earlier comment about how I’m a sexual beast in bed compared to normal women? Or do you say that to all of us…”

  He sighed. “No, just you.” He was a little embarrassed she’d broadcasted it in front of all the others like that, but he quickly stumbled on, hoping to distract the other women. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Having sex with her is the same as having sex with you. Especially after I Break her… you’ll feel every moment, amplified tenfold.”

  “Actually that’s not quite true,” Gwen said. “Because I’ll know, deep down, that you’re having sex with someone else. You might fool my mind, but not my body.”

  “I’m sorry, I’ve made up my mind,” He said. “If Breaking her is the only way to save her, then it has to be done. And if I have to have sex with her to do it, I will.” His gaze once again shifted to Weyanna, and he watched her toss restlessly in her sleep.

  He went to Weyanna and woke her.

  She opened her eyes. They seemed distant, as if her mind was still far off.

  “I’m sorry, father,” Weyanna said. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

&nb
sp; “It’s me, Malem,” he said. “We’re in the Midweald.”

  Her eyes focused upon him. “Malem…” She sat up weakly. “What is it? Are we under attack?”

  He gently shoved her back down. “No. I’m going to try Breaking you. It’s probably the only way to save your life. Do you understand?”

  She nodded. “You’ve been giving Abigail stamina, because of your link.”

  “That’s right,” he said. “And I’ll do the same for you.”

  “But I’ll become your vassal,” she protested. “Permanently.”

  “That’s the price, yes,” he said. “I promise not to abuse my power over you, if it’s any consolation.”

  She bowed her head, and said, softly: “Some would choose death over such bondage.” She sighed, then met his eyes defiantly. “But not me. Do your worst, Breaker.”

  “Just relax, and try to surrender to me,” he told her.

  He reached into her mind. He found that while he could wrap his will around her, whenever he tried to squeeze, she always fought him.

  “Weyanna,” he said gently. “You keep fighting. You have to surrender.”

  “I’m trying,” she said.

  He extended the tendrils of his will around her mind once again, but still she fought him, and wouldn’t let him take control.

  Malem sat back. “Even though she’s obviously very weak, she still resists. It could be because she’s not close enough to death. Not like Ziatrice was.” He had impaled the night elf through the abdomen with Balethorn, after all, before he was finally able to Break her with his will alone.

  “I don’t think stabbing Weyanna in the belly is the best idea right about now…” Abigail said. “Especially considering we have no one to heal her, and I doubt she’ll be able to do it to herself. I also don’t think it would be wise to wait until she’s ‘closer to death,’ as you call it.”

  “No, neither are very good ideas,” Malem agreed. “I’m going to have to…” He sighed, and glanced at Gwen. “Sleep with her.”