by Bianca D'Arc
“Sorry, Dar. Maybe next time?” They both watched her reaction carefully on that point. Only she would decide if there was ever to be a next time.
“If the dama so desires.” Darak’s words were gracious, but his pace increased as he watched her bring Micah to orgasm with her succulent lips. Micah came hard and sudden, and she swallowed every last drop like a pro. Hard to believe she’d come to his cousin a virgin, but then he knew his cousin was a good master and if he didn’t miss his guess, she more than enjoyed being his pupil.
“That’s so hot,” he mused as he moved more swiftly inside her. She was licking up the last of Micah’s come, cleaning his rod as Darak watched. He swatted her at unexpected moments until she came around his cock, triggering his own release. It was long and hard and more pleasurable than the two that had come before. He hadn’t believed it possible, but each time with this special woman got better and better.
His cousin Micah was a lucky man.
The three of them loved through the night, taking various positions and many different pleasures. She sucked Darak off with Micah’s encouragement, then learned just how expert Darak was with a rope as he tied her up and made her come no less than five times before the men had her once more together.
By the next morning, they were completely reenergized. When Trini came in to wake them with a hearty breakfast on a tray, she sent them a knowing smile that made Jeri blush to the roots of her hair. Trini thanked them all for what they’d done for her brother, reminding them of just why they’d been so drained the day before.
Trini herself was looking ragged, having kept vigil all night by her brother’s bedside. Micah ordered her to seek her own bed and Darak promised he’d check on her brother throughout the day. The three of them enjoyed the impromptu breakfast in bed, then rose to greet the day and the various tasks ahead of them.
The Board of Governors cornered Micah not long after he’d left the house where Trini and her brother had taken refuge. They wanted an update on the help that would be forthcoming from the Mage Council, and Micah was glad to inform them that Specitar Agnor would be transporting down to deal with them. Tendil was well enough to transport, though he would require a great deal of rest to finish healing and Trini and her family had asked Micah to take the boy aboard the Circe. There was no way he could refuse. The boy had Talent, though he was young, and the healing worked on him could have very well kicked his Talent up a notch before its time. He would need to be closely monitored, and where better than on his ship?
Plus, Trini was devastated by the losses in her family and having her baby brother with her might help ease the pain. They were close, those two, and they needed each other for the time being. So when Trini and Tendil translocated up, Agnor came down planetside.
Agnor’s arrival made quite a splash since the only other Specitar on the planet had been killed early in the fighting. They’d thought all long-range communication was gone, but Agnor was like the magician’s white rabbit being pulled out of a top hat. Micah hadn’t gone into detail about his crew, but even he was surprised by the Board of Governors’ reaction to Agnor’s appearance on planet.
They treated him like royalty and the survivors planned a small feast in honor of the crew of the Circe, making Agnor and Jeri the honored guests. They thanked Jeri for her work with their all-important herds and Agnor for getting out the word so quickly to the Mage Council. Darak and Micah were honored for their work but it was clear Agnor and Jeri were the stars of the show.
All through the ordeal and the work they did to help these people, Darak, Micah and Agnor used every opportunity to teach important lessons to the yeomen and Jeri about their use of Talent. Real world training was invaluable to the youngsters and Jeri’s already accelerated learning was progressing by leaps and bounds as she got to use her Talent in real situations. All three students were learning more in this short layover on a war-ravaged planet than they would have learned in a year of simulated practice onboard the Circe.
On a purely mercenary note, Micah knew the goodwill they were earning from the people of this planet would more than make up for the lost profits from giving them the sale herd. Though their profit from this trip would be drastically diminished, the reputation of the Circe and those aboard would be greatly enhanced, not only on this planet, but in many star systems around. The Circe was cementing its reputation as a good merchant ship that was willing to help those in need rather than only seeking profits. In some quarters, such humanitarian acts would garner Micah and his crew great favor. As a merchant ship with the hidden task of routing out spies working to bring down the Council, such favor could be immensely helpful.
Liata was on the edges of Council space, but not in a very strategic position, which was probably what had kept it safe so far. But things were changing—drastically, if the enemies of the Council were willing to attack a peaceful agricultural world that was firmly decided on being under Council protection. The Liatans had a representative government and way back when the Council had first come and offered membership for the small ag world, the people had voted and decided overwhelmingly to join. The vote had been renewed periodically since, and each time the Liatans had decided to stay with the Council.
But the Council’s benevolence and democratic system was not employed by other powers in the sector. Micah and Agnor had monitored certain information and rumors about the Wizards of Mithrak and their new alliances with other worlds that used Talent as a weapon and forced those with it into virtual slavery. The Wizards were by far the worst, taking small children when their power first came to them and subjugating them from the very start, but other worlds also used those with Talent as unwilling tools, not letting them live free among the mostly un-Talented population.
There was fear of those with Talent, but the Mage Council had formed to band Talents together and give them standards by which to act, to protect and serve those without. Not so on many other worlds. And just lately the Mithrakians had been rumored to be seeking allies of like minds in an effort to expand that made Micah understandably nervous. The prospect of war did not sit well with him, and he feared Jeri’s reaction when she learned just who he suspected was behind this attack on Liata.
There was no way to protect her from the knowledge. A few prisoners had been caught. Some were soldiers left behind when the invaders ran off without them. One prisoner was proving a valuable source of information to the Board of Governors, for the broken soul had gone mad and was speaking openly to all who would listen. The Board had asked Micah to see the man, to use his Master’s abilities to see what was truth in the man’s scrambled mind and he reluctantly agreed. Sorting through someone’s thoughts was not something he felt comfortable doing at the best of times, but when that person was mentally injured and captive, it was even more distasteful.
Still, he knew it must be done. If for no other reason than to see if this poor soul could be helped back to sanity in some way. It was with a heavy heart that Micah went to see the prisoner.
He’d been warned, but he was still surprised by the level of unfocused Talent the man displayed. He was like a child, just manifesting his Talent, unable to harness and use it. He had Talent in plenty and it could be dangerous to others when uncontrolled at these levels. Micah immediately reinforced Mage Denik’s shielding around the man in order to protect others. It was only a temporary measure. Something more permanent would have to be done.
With a sane prisoner, Micah would have suggested the use of a reflective field. This prisoner, however would probably not know how to turn off his Talent in his excited state, and might suffer horribly when his flailing Talent was reflected back at him.
“She’s coming!” The man ran up to the bars and pounded with his fists when he saw Micah enter. “She’s coming back to finish it. She’ll kill you all!”
“Who is she?” Micah asked calmly, searching with his Talent to see the images brought forth in the man’s injured mind. He saw a woman in a red robe—a woman who looked ee
rily like Jeri. So much so that at first, he thought it was Jeri, and he caught his breath in shock. But then he saw the fine lines around her eyes. This woman was older than his lover, and she carried a jeweled scepter with a blue stone at its heart. The mark of the Wizards of Mithrak.
“Jana!” The man sank to his knees and sobbed. “Mistress Jana will come and kill us all. I failed her.”
Micah couldn’t take much more of the man’s raw Talent flashing harshly against his shields. He questioned the prisoner carefully, sifting through his thoughts to find the truth of what he knew. What he learned didn’t please him. Liata wasn’t out of danger if this poor soul was to be believed.
He also saw a little of what this man had once been, and he laid a gentle psi balm over the torn patches in his soul that had once been part of the Wizard collective. He was cast adrift, a survivor who should not have survived when his ship crashed on the surface of Liata. The Wizards had cast him out, torn the connection to his power as they fled and left him half-insane with the loss of their voices. It was probably the first time in his adult life that this poor man had heard nothing but the silence of his own thoughts, and he simply couldn’t deal with it.
Micah pitied him, and he did the best he could to begin the healing that only the most skilled of mind healers could complete. Hopefully, if they survived the second wave of attacks, the Council would see fit to help this poor raving man. First Micah had to warn the Board of Governors and the ships in orbit. If this lunatic was to be believed, there was already a second wave of attack planned and underway. They had little time.
Mage Denik was waiting for him when he left the prisoner, so he informed him of the renewed threat. Denik would alert the rest of the Board of Governors. That taken care of, Micah commed the Circe and the Valiant as he strode forcefully to the barn where Jeri was working with some of the injured horses. If she could be persuaded, Jeri might just be their ace in the hole.
But it might not need any persuasion. Jeri often told Micah about the pain losing her family had caused and she wondered what had happened to her older sister. Now that he knew what Jana had become, he feared his lover’s reaction. But he also knew her heart well enough to know that if there was any hope of freeing Jana from the Wizards’ collective, Jeri would seek it. No matter the cost.
Micah only hoped he could protect his woman while he helped her free the sister she’d lost so many years ago. At the same time, they had a planet to defend. It all hinged on two small, powerful women, and he would stand with Jeri, whatever she chose to do.
He found her in the big barn that had escaped most of the damage done to the other buildings. She was just finished helping with one of the more seriously injured horses, calming her while the healer tended her wounds. Jeri wiped her hands as she stepped out of the wide stall, looking up with a welcoming smile as she saw him coming toward her.
Micah couldn’t help himself. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. So much would change when he told her what he‘d learned.
“What is it?” She knew him so well, he marveled. She could read his moods easily.
“I’ve just come from questioning a prisoner. There’s a second wave of attacks planned, and it’s coming soon. We have to prepare.”
“Oh no. What can we do?” She pushed out of his arms but he wasn’t letting her go.
“There’s more, baby.” His eyes bore down into hers and he couldn’t resist placing a quick kiss of reassurance on her lips. “The Wizards of Mithrak lead the attack on behalf of a new alliance they’ve made with the Mendinians.” Her face paled in fear, but he had to tell her all of it. “Your sister Jana leads the Wizard force.”
“What?” She swayed in his arms and would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her so tight. “Jana? How do you know? Is it true? Jana’s alive? And coming here?”
“The prisoner they found was half-mad. He has a strong Talent, but wild now that he’s been cut off brutally from the Wizards’ collective. The Board of Governors asked me to read him and I agreed. I saw the truth of his ravings in his mind. The attack on Liata was a two-pronged plan all along. They’re coming back and your older sister is leading them into battle.”
She clung to him, needing the security of his arms. She shook like a leaf in the wind at the news and he wished silently he could take the pain and shock from her. But she was strong and she soon began to calm as he stroked her back, willing his own strength into her. At times like these it was second nature for them to mesh their energies and help each other, though he had never done so with any other being.
“Jeri, there might be a way to separate her from the collective. We might be able to free her.”
“And without their leader, the armada might be thrown enough to disrupt their attack plan.”
He kissed her brow. “That’s my Jeri. Always thinking ahead. Yes, there is a chance we could help the Liatans and our own chances of survival at the same time. I know you care about your sister. I’ll help you free her if I can. I think together, you and I might have just enough power to be able to do it. Though there is considerable risk.”
She pulled back to look up into his eyes, tears rolling unashamedly down her face. “For myself, I’ll take any risk to help save her, but I can’t ask you to put yourself in danger for my sister.”
He held one finger to her lips, stilling her words. “I’d risk anything for you, Jeri. You are my world.”
The tears fell freely as she stared at him. He hoped it was a good sign, but they didn’t have time to talk further as the alarms started sounding around the city. The second wave of attack was starting.
Chapter Ten
They were ready, but barely. Two ships were a poor defense against the ten that had jumped insystem to threaten them. The Valiant was fighting well and the Circe had some tricks up her sleeve. Jeri and Micah transported up with the rest of the crew since the Circe needed everyone aboard in battle and they could do more good defending the planet from orbit than down on the ground.
“They’ve seen us,” Agnor reported from his comm station. “Three enemy vessels breaking off to intercept.”
“Kirt, Welan, are you in position?” Micah used the shipcomm to check on his two young yeomen in the hidden gunnery positions. They’d barely had time to run to their stations and power up. In this fight, every second would count.
The two young men answered in the affirmative, keeping a line of communication open between themselves and Seta, who would make snap navigation computations to help them stay out of the kill zone while getting their enemies well in their sights.
Trini manned another set of guns on the back of the ship, near the main hatches to the loadbay. She checked in with Darak, who manned a bridge console of missiles Jeri had never noticed before. Together they would watch the fore and aft of the ship. She wondered what she could do, but she knew from a brief conversation with Micah that she would be used as a special weapon, when the time was right. He wanted to use the surprise of her appearance on the comms to confuse Jana, if at all possible. But he wanted to wait until the right moment. Timing in this very unequal battle would be everything.
“Jeri, stay by me,” Micah ordered, watching the display carefully. “I want you nearby when we get through to the command ship.”
Proximity would help, she knew, if their hastily devised plan had any chance of success. But they had to get past the three warships that were already closing on them first.
“I’ve pegged the command ship, Captain.” Seta’s voice had an edge to it Jeri had never heard. The voluptuous woman was all business as she plotted the complex trajectories of all the ships now converging on Liata.
“Can you microjump us closer to it?”
Seta looked back at him with narrowed eyes. “This close to the atmosphere it’ll be tricky, but I think I can get us right up in the middle of that swarm, dead in front of the command ship.”
“Do it.”
Jeri said a quick prayer as Seta returned to her furious cal
culations. This was an all-or-nothing maneuver. He was microjumping them into the lion’s den. If Jeri’s attempt to contact her sister had no effect, they would have no chance to escape before all those ships fired on them.
“Make it fast, Seta. They’re on us.”
Darak’s low voice warned the navigator of the approaching warships just as the first shots were fired by Kirt on the starboard side. The whole ship shuddered as the energy cannons let loose on the approaching enemy. Darak fired his first missile as another of the enemy came into range, at the same time initiating evasive maneuvers.
A split second later, they were in the unique realm of microspace. Not quite here and not quite there, they were jumping between two very close points—a dangerous and tricky maneuver. An eyeblink later, their gamble paid off as they reappeared in the path of the enemy command ship.
“Jeri, you’re up.” Micah moved her to stand before the vid pickup that would transmit her image to the command ship while he joined his hand with hers. Together they would direct their considerable energy to separating the commander of the enemy fleet from the collective.
Agnor sent the feed live as Darak prepared to defend. The timing was quick and the enemy hadn’t had a moment to figure out quite what the tricky little cargo ship had done.
“Jana, this is your sister, Jeri. Please stop this. The people of Liata have done nothing to you. I’ve done nothing to you. I’ve been looking for you since they took you away from Ma and Dad. I’ve missed you so much, Jana.”
“Enemy ship, power down your weapons.” The booming voice of a man came back over the comm, cut off a moment later as a vid signal was sent from the commander’s station directly. An older, harsher version of Jeri looked back at her.
“Jeri?” The voice was faint, faraway, as was the look in the woman’s eyes. She wore fancy red robes and there was a scepter with a blue stone at her side. Jeri knew the blue stone was the focal point that connected the collective that faced them. Shatter that, and they would all be disconnected from the collective.
