The Pillaging of an Empire

by Amanda Clover

  The flutter of its flame was at her back as she faced the darkness. She drew her sword and dagger, silver reflecting the shine of the flames, waiting in the silence. The stillness. Autumn’s chill breeze stroked her cheek, the scar there aching dully. Selina took a deep breath, let it out, always watching the dark.

  “Not the usual farm girl.”

  Her golden eyes flicked to the darkness that swallowed the town. Narrowed. The voice was no man’s though it was undeniably male. The guttural growl swept down her spine to tingle at her core.

  “No,” Selina said, her blades slowly spinning in her hands. “I’m not.”

  The chuckle echoed from the darkness, seeming to come from everywhere. “I was wondering if you’d ever come. I hoped it would be to me.”

  Selina’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh don’t play stupid. I know why you’re here. Every monster from the Barrier Mountains to the Endless Sea knows you were coming. The huntress with a silver braid and a cut on the cheek come to slay the Duke of Ashes.”

  The hairs on Selina’s neck prickled. “You were waiting for me?”

  “Me. A dozen others I know of,” the beast rumbled from the night. “Oh but I did hope. I was so looking forward to the chance to break a huntress of Ctharne.”

  Selina’s hands slowly tightened on the hilts. The lamp behind her creaked on its chain, swinging in the wind. “Why, then? Why do this to these women?”

  “Know a better way to get a huntress’s attention? Well, and to pass the time. You did take a while. But now that you’re here, I think we can stop playing.”

  “So do I,” Selina growled. She heard the pad of a heavy foot. “Now!”

  From behind the inn Girki flung down a lamp. The glass shattered, the flame within catching the oil Selina had laid out on the ground in preparation of this night. The flame blazed, an explosion of light at her back.

  In the blinding flash her foe was revealed. A rippling mass of muscle bound in midnight fur. Even hunched forward he was nearly twice her height and half again as wide. His canine muzzle peeled back in a snarl, the wulfen throwing up his arm with a howl, shielding his eyes.

  Selina dashed forward. The beastman blinked, stepping back even as her sword came up. The wulfen howled in pain, a long gash along his arm. He swiped, claws rust coloured with old blood. Selina threw herself back, the long claws just missing her. She landed on a hand, somersaulted back to her feet and raced back in.

  The wulfen snarled, retreating a step, arms wide, claws out, his long fangs bared in rage and pain. Selina kept up the attack, pushing forward, darting below his guard as he swiped again. His claw came down, and she pirouetted out of the clumsy blow, keeping her back to the roaring flames, keeping him blinded with it while her sword and dagger licked out like steel tongues.

  He wasn’t stupid. He backed up, coiled, and leaped. Selina threw herself forward, rolling beneath his reach. The wulfen skidded across the cobblestones, spinning about. His ears were back, his eyes yellow as the moon and sharp with the hunter’s wrath. His claws sparked as he dragged himself to a halt and lunged for her on all fours like the beast he seemed.

  Fast. Too fast. Barely up from her roll Selina sprang back to her feet in time for him to crash into her. He slammed her against the wall of the tavern, his teeth bared an inch from her face. Her head hit the stone. Stars burst behind her eyes and the world darkened for just an instant. She felt the dagger slip from her fingers. “Not dead yet,” the wulfen snarled, his breath hot and reeking of raw meat. “No. I’ll be breaking you first.” He hooked a claw in her shirt and tore, her breasts bouncing free. The wulfen grinned.

  Then howled in pain as Girki plunged Selina’s dagger into his leg. The wulfen spun towards the gertling, and in that moment of distraction Selina brought up her sword and slammed the pommel between the wulfen’s eyes. The monster staggered back, releasing her. Selina landed lightly. The wulfen looked at her blankly, still dazed, watching dully as she brought up her sword again, and smashed it again into his face.

  The wulfen fell in a heap. Selina took a slow, deep breath, and nodded at the gertling. “Thank you, Girki.”

  The goblin nodded, looking in awe at the insensate beast.

  “Now, the ropes. If you’d please.”

  The gertling hastened to obey. By the time the wulfen began to stir, Selina had bound him thoroughly to the post in the middle of town. Selina stepped back as the beastman woke fully, immediately straining at the bindings.

  “Don’t bother,” Selina said, pulling off her gloves. “Ropes are my specialty.”

  The wulfen fixed his golden eyes on her. He snarled.

  “I have some questions,” Selina said.

  “Torture won’t do you any good,” the beastman growled.

  “Not torture,” Selina said as she shrugged off her long coat.

  The wulfen hesitated, his golden eyes glowing as she stripped off the tattered remains of her shirt, revealing the rest of her toned flesh, her bare breasts golden in the light of the fires, her nipples hardening in the autumn cold.

  The wulfen’s red tongue flicked across his lips as Selina pulled down her pants, baring her hairless pussy. The huntress straightened, standing brazenly before the bound beast, a vision of naked femininity. The sight had its intended effect, the wulfen’s wedged canine cock stiffening starkly.

  Selina moved forward, her hips swaying, the mark embossed on her mons rocking almost hypnotically. She moved over his lap, straddling him. She squatted down, her pussy lips parting to reveal her pink interior, her fingers wrapping around his shaft.

  “The Duke of Ashes. Tell me what you know.”

  The wulfen laughed roughly, the sound a harsh bark from his canine muzzle. “You’re a lovely creature, huntress. But I’ll not talk. But please, do try.”

  His last word came in a rumble as her fingers moved slowly up and down the thick, red flesh of his shaft. “You will,” Selina said softly, her other hand slipping against her flushed pussy lips. “I know you will. Because you want to talk, beast. You want to tell me everything you know.” She began to leisurely stroke herself, her breath growing heavier as her fingers slid inside of her quim, pumping in and out.

  The wulfen watched, enraptured by the sight of the beautiful huntress openly masturbating before him. But more. Her dexterous fingers, calloused from years of wielding her blade, moving up and down his cock. At first, he thought it a trick of the light, but his jaw grew slack in shock when he saw without a doubt the low, crimson glow begin to trace the tattoo above her mons.

  “Tell me,” Selina said breathlessly, her voice shuddering through the wulfen.

  Only then did the beastman realize the danger. He clamped shut his maw, but a low, rough whine escaped him, his heart beating in tandem to the stroking of his cock.

  “Tell me,” Selina insisted.

  The wulfen moaned, slamming his head against the post behind him, his muzzle tight with denial.

  Selina frowned. But she was far from done. The wulfen’s eyes snapped open as he felt the warmth of her cunt move over his shaft. He looked down, staring raptly as her pussy hovered over his red shaft, his cock pulsing for her, veins pounding in time to the glow of her tattoo.

  “Tell me.”

  Her hips moved down. His cock slid into her.

  The wulfen slammed the back of his head against the pole again. A great howl escaped him as her velvety cunt swallowed his cock. Selina panted, her hips rocking, delicate folds stretching as she fucked herself atop him.

  “Tell me, monster. Where? Where is the Duke of Ashes!”

  “M… Mertovsk!” the wulfen whined as her pussy plunged atop his cock. “He’s in… Mertovsk!”

  “What is he? Who is he?”

  “M-Master! Sooorcerer!”

  “Where can I find him? Precisely, beast. Where?”

  The wulfen clamped his jaws shut again, muzzle tight with the strain of resistance. Selina panted, bouncing atop him faster. She palmed her bre
asts, and the beastman couldn’t look away from her pale orbs, how she played and massaged them, how they heaved with each rise and fall of her lovely body atop his cock. Against the finest torturer in Istanov he might have held his peace. But against the pleasured torments of her pussy around his thick canine shaft, he couldn’t fight for long. Pleasure defeated pain. His lips peeled back from his teeth. His cock throbbed with the need of release.

  “Where!” Selina moaned as she tweaked her sensitive nipples. “Where! Tell me and cum! Cum!”

  “Standing Stoooooones!” the wulfen howled, his cry echoing through the dark.

  Selina cried out with him as he came, his hot seed pounding into her pussy, his knot swelling, stretching her even further, trapping his hot cum within her cunt. Her inner walls trembled, the mark over her mons burning with her own release and the completion of the spell.

  The wulfen sagged beneath her. Selina, panting, trembled on her knees. She recovered slowly, waiting for his knot to shrink. When at last it did, she rose on shaky legs from atop the beast. The wulfen whined softly as his canine cock slipped from her depths, his hot seed slipping along Selina’s thighs.

  Selina steadied herself with a deep breath. Bending down, her creamy bottom bared to the monster’s golden eyes, she picked up her sword. Those same eyes widened as he saw her turn. His shocked expression remained even as his head tumbled from his shoulders, a splash of blood painting Selina’s stomach.

  The huntress tossed the blade aside, breathing heavily. She shivered, feeling filthy. The feel of the wulfen’s seed in her pussy made her ill as she walked away from the flame and the corpse and towards the stream.

  The flames were fading as she reached the stream running through the village. She didn’t mind the cold as she walked into the waters, shivering only for a moment as she went to her waist in the shallow waters. Immediately she began to scrub herself of the blood and sweat of the battle.

  The Duke of Ashes.

  Selina shivered, and not from the cold of the waters. That the sorcerer had such power. That his creatures were as varied as the wulfen and doppelgangers. She had no doubt now that the Duke of Ashes was responsible for the rise in monster attacks across the empire. And if the wulfen, a species notorious for their independence from any but their pack, followed his commands so readily…

  It was a disturbing thought. And he was in Murtovsk.

  She stiffened at the sound of grass rustling. She spun around, relaxing with a sigh as Girki poked out from among the reeds on the shore.

  “Silver-hair okay?”

  Selina smiled wanly. “I’m okay, Girki. I’m okay. Just feel… dirty.”

  The gertling nodded, his large eyes shining in the moonlight. Selina glanced down, smiling slightly at the sight of the tenting loincloth.

  “Girki,” Selina said, her voice lower. Husky. She walked slowly out of the river, her body gleaming in the cool moonlight. “Girki, I need a… deeper cleaning. Will you help me?”

  The gertling’s eyes flashed. The stunted goblinoid grinned wider. “Me help, Silver-hair. What need Girki do?”

  She touched his shoulder, easing him back onto the bank. She straddled the monster pushing aside his loincloth to reveal the warty length of his shaft. “Girki,” Selina sighed softly, taking his cock, aligning it. “I think you know…”

  She moaned as she lowered herself onto the stunted gertling’s shaft. He didn’t reach half as deep as the wulfen had, but the pleasure was far more. She moaned, rocking, riding the gertling into the ground, her thighs swallowing the gertling’s smaller hips as she fucked herself.

  “Ahhh!” Selina moaned as the gertling grabbed her swaying breasts, his thin lips locking onto her nipples. “Yes! Yes, Girki… Ohhh fuuuck! Suck my nipples. F-fuck my human cunt, Girki. Mnnn! Yes. Yes! Ah… ah… Yes! Fuck me clean of his seed! Ah. Give me your seed, Girki. Wash out my pussy with your cum!”

  “Me cum!” the gertling moaned. “Me seeeed!”

  Selina cried out as she felt the goblin’s cock pulse, his oily seed spurting into her welcoming quim. She moaned, rocking atop him, impaling herself on his warty cock while he tongued and fondled her aching teat.

  Panting, still feeling the sexual energies of her spell with the wulfen pulsing through her, Selina crawled off the goblin. In the muddy bank, she turned around, lifting her pale derriere invitingly. “Girki,” she gasped, glancing back. “As… as a reward for helping me. Please. Take my ass…”

  The gertling grinned. His ears flapped with the eagerness that he jumped to his feet. He swaggered over to her rump and gently stroked her pale cheeks, his knobby fingers admiring the firm flesh between his palms. He parted them, staring at the puckered star of her asshole.

  “Yes,” Selina panted. “Fuck me, Girki. Fuck my ass.”

  “Me make easy first,” the gertling said.

  “What- oh!” Selina gasped as the gertling slid his tongue along the crease of her ass. “Mnnn!” she moaned, biting her lower lip, arching slowly under the moonlight, her spit slathered nipples quivering atop her generous mounds as the gertling licked her ass. She pushed back her bum into the gertling’s face, relishing the feel of his long tongue stroking her puckered back door, teasing her inner muscles loose until she was a flushed, panting mess.

  The gertling pulled his face away. Selina cried out with pleasure as at last his cock slid inside of her, her inflamed rear feeling every bump of his warty shaft as he began to rut her.

  “Yesss!” Selina moaned as the gertling fucked her into the muddy bank. “Yesss! Fuck me Girki! Fuck my ass!”

  “Me fuck!” the goblinoid cried in his reedy voice, his thin hips slapping her firm bottom with every stroke. “Me fuuuck!”

  Selina wailed her pleasure to the moon as the gertling filled her again with his seed. He cried out, moaning, panting as he didn’t stop there, continuing to fuck her. When at last the gertling pulled from her tight rear, panting, to fall backwards into the mud, Selina could only moan, palming her breasts. She slowly slid to her feet, looking down at her muddied form. She sighed. She supposed she’d have to bathe again.

  Yet, as she slid into the waters, feeling the gertling’s eyes on her curvy frame as she scrubbed herself in the cool waters, she felt cleaner in a different way. A way that made her smile softly and glance back at the gertling with pleasure.

  Beyond the Rivers

  She left the morning after. Dressed in a spare shirt, she accepted the money from the innkeeper, his daughter watching her with quiet eyes. Eyes that burned when turned to the headless corpse left in the town’s square. Other villagers began to creep free as the huntress left the village behind, and Selina could feel more than a few eyes on her, not with awe, but with disgust. Though she’d saved them, Selina knew a few had peeked last night. Doubtless had seen what she had done with the wulfen before she killed him, perhaps even witnessed or guessed what she had done at the river with the gertling.

  It didn’t matter. She had a job to do, and she would see it through.

  Western Istanov slid by her, the flatlands slowly making way for more rugged landscape. More fortified towns and keeps. The wulfen’s words rang in her mind, and her encounter back in Akrane weighed heavily on her chest. She avoided the villages and cities now, riding through the landscape with swiftness, purpose firm in her mind. As was her destination.

  Less and less often she passed undefended villages like those of the nameless town she’d slain the wulfen in. Now all were guarded, surrounded by wooden palisades. Soon, only those fields crouched in the shadows of a town’s sturdy walls still showed signs of work. As she rode past them she saw the workers stop, watching her like deer ready to bolt, only returning to their efforts when she had passed them by. She stopped a few times, quizzing the wary farmers. They spoke slowly, but with certainty. Tales of orc raiding bands led by a pale one. Others claimed a woman with hair of flame walked, wielding magic that laid low walls and the armed bands sent against her. All tales that were followed with furtive glances tow
ards the west, all followed by warnings as she rode off that way.

  Now and then she passed the ruins of things that once were. Lone farms where splashes of sticky gore were all that remained of the family that once tended the land. Smaller towns burned to ash and smoke. Watchtowers broken, the stones sparking with latent magic when she touched them. The stench of carnal death hung heavy over these.

  Girki watched all with his wide eyes. Unreadable. Selina didn’t notice. She felt the pressure of worry on her chest. An unease. Orcish bands couldn’t do this much damage. They raided, yes, taking women and slaves and booty, but they tended to avoid fortified towns where a siege would be needed, wary of meeting the armies of Istanov and its lords in open combat. The so-called Duke of Ashes was making them fearless.

  Grim thoughts.

  Only her nights beat away the suffocating sense of doom that pressed down upon her. She took Girki whenever they stopped. With their stomachs full from dinner, she would ride the gertling to orgasm, gasping as she felt his seed surge into her, resting more easily with the stunted creature pressed between her breasts, suckling at her nipples as they huddled in her bedroll against the cold.

  Then came the Evina River.

  As she forded it, her horse stepping onto the bank seemingly the same as the one across from it, she felt it. A feeling that came on her with a chill like the first breath of winter. She shivered, and somehow knew she now rode in a land where men were no longer welcome.

  Girki seemed to sense it too. The gertling shivered and clung to her back as she rode past the tree line and into the dark forest beyond. A sense of evil beat on her as she rode through the darkened woods. No village. No huntsman’s hut. No sign of men but slumped homesteads abandoned decades past. She avoided the lone road, choosing trails overgrown and silent. Feeling the chill of dark things when night fell and the moon threw down shadows from skeletal trees stripped bare by the moaning wind.