by Bailey Dark
“Well, that unseen assailant slammed you into the railway tracks pretty hard. You sustained a major concussion. You shouldn’t move around too swiftly for a while. Are you sure you don’t want to lay back down?”
I smiled at him and pulled him toward the bath. “I’m sure…”
My chambers at the Harthen palace complex were quite luxurious. I didn’t know who in Fenvitz’s reign I had unseated exactly, but clearly being the new Duke’s Chosen liaison to King Kajo gave me some standing. The baths were spacious, with a large shower that had nozzles pointing from four different directions and a waterfall spout above. Two of the sides were grey and white whorled marble, lined with golden trim, the other two glass. It was a gorgeous assembly, with mirrors along the walls outside the shower that steamed up but cleared efficiently with vents along the floors and ceilings.
I slid open the door to the shower and twisted the knobs to start the hot water. When I turned back around, I laughed. Skarde was already naked.
“I don’t even know how you untied your boots that quickly.”
“Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t due to practice in these similar situations?”
I bit my lip and studied him. “I’m not actually sure… I haven’t quite figured that out, yet. It seems like you could have girls lined up for you on Vailstor, if you wanted. But, I don’t think you want that… You have been seeking the right one…”
Skarde reached for my tunic and slid it up over my head. He bent low and kissed my clavicle, then traced kisses down along the rise of my breasts as he undid my bra behind my back, letting it drop to the ground, then leaning in and sucking first one and then the other nipple into his mouth for a quick, delicate nibble. He leaned back, cupping them, continuing to massage them, as he looked at me, very seriously.
“I have been waiting for the right one. The Chosen one. My Destin. You, Ilisa. You and only you can match me.”
A trill of butterflies flurried in my stomach, hovered near my throat, almost seemed like the pinprick of happy tears, but I choked them away, then fumbled at my pants.
The steam was already rising on the surrounding mirrors as we slipped, naked, into the foggy shower setting, closing the door.
“Is it too hot?” I breathed out as we let the raindrops of water cascade onto our skin. Skarde shook his head, kissing my shoulder as the droplets matched the gentleness of his lips. The showerhead above us soon soaked us, a fountain spray, a waterfall cascade slicking our bodies as our fingers explored and pressed into each other.
I slipped my hand down to take Skarde’s hard cock in my hand. It was substantial, far larger than anything I had had before. I rubbed it in and out of my hand as he traced my jawline with his fingertips, beckoning my lips to his. His mouth was eager, sweet pressure against mine, drawing me in, small gasps intermingled with moans as I played with the head of his cock.
I pulled back from his kisses and dropped to my knees. I took his cock into one hand, my other hand on his ass, and gently, gently, slid his cock all the way down my throat. He gasped and slammed his hand against the wall, stunned. I pulled it out, working my tongue around the shaft, sucking in hard, forming a ring with my fingers. Then I thrust it in and out, continuing to knead his ass with my other hand. I looked up at him, his full cock in my mouth, water streaming into my eyes and down my face, mingling with the spit forming around his thick cock, and his eyes were glazed and euphoric. His legs were quivering, bowing down a little as I made them weak.
I moaned into his cock, humming, letting the vibrations of my lips quiver against his skin, and he grunted, “Good gods…” He laced his hands into my hair and pulled my head off his cock. “I want to take you.” His voice was low and guttural. He helped me to my feet. The steam was cloaking the walls entirely. There was fog all around us, drifting between our faces. Skarde smashed his mouth to mine for an intense, dizzying kiss, and then he spun me around, pushing my back down, pulling my ass into his cock. I pressed my hands into the walls, already breathless, half-scared, half-excited, knowing the pleasure that was to come, and then the tip of his cock entered me and I moaned. I gripped at the walls, leaning back into him.
“Come into me!” I yelled and he thrust. I screamed.
He filled me so deeply I thought I would jump forward through the wall. His cock was so large, hitting my G-spot, an instant, intense rhythm motion as he rocked in and out of me, his fingertips gripping my hips so hard they would leave bruises, and I slammed back into him with each thrust, guiding him in.
I looked back over my shoulder, his wet curls slick down his chest, his eyes wide and glazed over with the glory of the conquest of his Chosen, water slicking down his body, trailing off my ass as it shook back into him.
My fingers curled against the walls of the shower, making momentary movements of clearing the fog on the panels. We were both gasping for breath. I screamed with each thrust.
He got faster and faster and the world grew prismatic. The water rushing along beneath my feet seemed to take on its own life and it grew up, flooding around me, I was swept away with it, my entire body was gripped in the throes of a rushing world of G-spot vibrations and the orgasm was shaking me, flying me with fury into a tempest.
“I’m close…”
“Cum…”
The words were so brief, so few, but they resulted in sparks exploding, lights transcending through the fog of the shower, as if there were true fireworks going off fluttering from our skin and I realized that I was glowing, rippling, and he was, too.
He thrust again, hard, shuddering, gripping me, staying in me, crying out, pulling me up into him, and I was shivering with an orgasmic high that rocketed through my body, my capillaries on fire, as my insides clenched at his cock, aftershocks of the ride, over and over, my entire body rocking.
Skarde slipped out of me and he hung low over his knees, weak, but he couldn’t stop touching me, pulling me to him close, and I was weak-kneed, too, gasping for breath. The shower’s heat was still prodigious, and we sat down under the waterfall. He cradled me in his lap and I lay my head on his shoulder, running my hands through his wettened curls. He breathed out my name and kissed my shoulder.
The rippling lights against our skin slowly waned. I looked into his eyes through the fog and realized that we would be together always.
As long as we made it through whatever battle Fenvitz had planned.
That had to be the next step. We had to start thinking of that.
There was still a battle to fight. Or, perhaps, if Skarde had a scheme, a battle to outwit.
Sixteen
Skarde
I had spent much of the two days that Ilisa had been unconscious studying the chemical compositions of the mountainous regions of the Harthen area I was to rule. If I was to win the trust of these people, assuming Ilisa woke up and I wasn’t to be executed or imprisoned, I needed to be as informed as possible. And I had discovered something interesting. There was a mineral that floated, innocuously, and rather plentifully, in their mountain lakes. It flowed through their streams and resided in their water. They drank it with abandon. They didn’t bother to filter it because it did no harm. It was called masa and it had no real remarkable properties: other than it reacted rather excitedly with calasis from Vailstor.
A calasis fired cannon nearby to a water source that was filled with masa minerals would flash freeze in an instant.
Somehow, this detail had been overlooked in the entire trade agreement between Farian and Vailstor. I wondered how they had avoided accidentally freezing their lakes for all these years, or maybe masa wasn’t found all over their planet, only up near Harthen, so it didn’t often come in contact with their fire blasters that actually used the calasis mixture of fuel they needed from Vailstor. Either way, it was a good thing for King Kajo to know.
I had a plan to present the King that might bring this bothersome bout with the deposed Duke Fenvitz to an end. Peacefully.
Ilisa and I entered the control room and eve
ryone jumped to their feet. While there wasn’t necessarily a sense of respect toward me, there wasn’t open hostility. It was good that Ilisa was back walking around.
“King Kajo has been called,” Damox said, handing me a stein of something steaming. I nodded to the Commander. He had been surprisingly supportive of the plan since I had told him. I wondered if it was just the fact that it was intended to protect the lives of the people of his region--
“His family is from the Kall. I am sure some of them still call it home. It is a peaceful village. Fenvitz has set up shop there, but that doesn’t mean they are automatically loyal to Fentvitz trying to disobey Kajo’s orders and take you on by any means necessary.”
I squeezed Ilisa’s hand as she offered the clarity. It was a big win for me that the Commander would support me here.
The large video screen in front of the control room sparked up as Kajo’s beastly head, shimmering scar through his right eye, quivered into view and he steadied himself in his chair.
“Duke Skarde, how are you? Bravo Ilisa, it is nice to you up and about. Recovering well, I hope?”
“Yes, King Kajo, thank you.”
“Have you heard from Fentvitz since you refused his offer to battle on the fields outside Harthen?”
“No, he did not respond to that messenger.”
“Well, then what is it we have to speak about, Skarde?”
“I have an idea, King, that might settle this peacefully.” I tapped my fingers on the chair arms. “There is a mineral in the lake waters near the Kall, in their one water source. It is called masa. If a fire cannon that contains calasis as its fuel source is fired near it, the water will flash freeze. It is a catalyst reaction. We have seen it happen on many planets. It is actually a significant concern that it was left out of the trading reports that your planet has masa on it. It can be volatile to work with the calasis near to it.”
“We are aware of the masa near Harthen. It is located only in our northern waters, there are no blaster factories or testing rangers near there. Nor do we often have open battles in Harthen. It was, until recently, a peaceful mining community.”
“Still, weaponizing a water source--”
“Exactly as you are suggesting to do, correct?”
“Yes, in this instance, to save lives, is a very dangerous thing. And, please, do not take offense, but do you happen to know how to unfreeze it once a calasis fueled blaster cannon has made the masa reaction? It took our scientists on Valistor decades to figure out. But I know how.”
Kajo rubbed his chin. “So, your intention would be to sweep out any potential support Fenvitz has in the Kall. Make him bow down before you by securing his last form of sanctuary. Trust in his love of his people more than his love of his throne and himself.”
“Yes.”
“Where do you expect Fenvitz to go? If he does back down, state that he will cease making trouble for you, and you unfreeze his water?”
“I would like him to go into temporary exile. Go on vacation. Get out of Harthen. I don’t care where he goes. Just far away. Until my job here is through.”
Ilisa jerked in her chair, spinning to look at me. I gulped and couldn’t bring myself to face her. Her mind and soul were shouting out of control, gripped in a stunned horror at the idea of what I had just said: “does that mean you have plans of leaving?”
“Why, yes, Ilisa, I was always going to return to Valistor. Even Kajo and Truloy know that. I can’t stay here. I am not of Farian. I am the Duke of Astrida. My people need me. I protect them. I want you to come with me… But we can’t talk about that right now.”
Her mind went profoundly blank, as if she purposefully pulled back her connection from me, to hide her thoughts from me, and it left a vast emptiness, a hole in my stomach, in my heart.
I shook away the feeling. I had to focus.
“What do you need to accomplish this?”
“Two blaster cannons and a small force. Commander Damox and Bravo Renin, with their Spec Ops unit will do. We can go in with stealth and freeze the waters, then confront Fenvitz with the peace-offering of unfreezing it and exile.”
“Damox? What do you think of this plan?”
The Commander stepped into view of the screen so Kajo could see him clearly. “As you know, King, my family is from the Kall, though their safety is not the only reason I think this is a good plan. Duke Skarde is thinking of what is best for the continuity of his peaceful reign in his Dukedom and for the benefit of all the people of Harthen. If we can minimize civilian casualties, that is always a positive. Duke Fenvitz has shown a disregard for his people already, as we were able to see when he slaughtered his former soldiers to get to the armory. However, I think this will be an aggressive enough move to make him back down. And we will only need a small force to make it work.”
The King thought for a moment more. “And, worst case, he doesn’t accept?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I will duel him.”
Kajo rolled his eyes and grunted. “Fine.” Then he flicked his fingers and the screen shut off.
I turned to look at Damox. “Alert your soldiers. We leave tonight.”
When Ilisa finally looked at me, she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It pained me to see the hurt there. She had to know, she had to have known, that I couldn’t stay on Farian. As hard as she was trying to teach me the tele skills, and I was getting pretty good at them, I would never truly be one of these people. I was an off-worlder. I would always be a charzbos to them. Ilisa re-opened the connection between us and the warmth flowing from her soul filled me with such goodness that I thought my fingertips would quiver off into the arms of the chair. “We will discuss what you said later, but what is most important is that we remain connected. We are Destins and I will always be by your side. I love you, Skarde.”
“Thank you, Ilisa. Now, let’s go look at maps to the Kall.” We stood and spun a map source up from the computer holographic imager. “I need to find a good way above ground that isn’t through the mine shafts.”
“What’s this ‘I’ business. I’m going with you!”
“But you’re still recovering--”
She stamped her foot and held her hand out straight in front of her. “No argument, Duke.”
Her face was fierce, her brown eyes glinted with those sparks of color I loved to see and I smiled.
“Fine.”
We turned back to researching the best way to get through the forests to the Kall. We had peace to broker.
Seventeen
Skarde
This would be the first time I was performing the Berzerker ceremony after undergoing intense tele arts training. Would I feel different? Would I connect to my fellow Vailstorans differently? Would I connect with nature differently?
The way the klastani herb swept through our lungs and affected the blood-brain barrier, making our physical reactions laser-sharp, but making our thoughts frenzied, intense, intent only on the battle, was a mysterious and, ultimately, intoxicating and addictive rush. I wondered if it would hit me the same now that I had built up mental blocks: maybe it would hit me even stronger.
Jalasa walked around the circle we had taken to using on the ledge before the rocky shore, the waves crashing at the prows of the tall ships, and lit the torches. The salt spray was fresh in the air. I hadn’t been out on the sea for days and I longed for it. Ilisa was a new type of freedom I had been exploring, and I had been so concerned for her while she had been unconscious, that it had left little time for me to sail, though my heart always longed for those wild waves.
Nessi and Corsin were swinging their long swords against each other already. I pulled mine from my sheath and let it capture some of the setting sun’s rays. The glint was striking. These Farians might think speed and precision only came with the aid of telekinetics, but we Vailstorans knew: the klastani could make us fire on all cylinders, creating fierce fighting machines, extreme athletes and mechanisms for death and destruction that fought purely by ego and bo
dily function.
Now, matching that with my new tele arts… I figured I might just be unstoppable.
Jalasa picked up the pipes, already packed, and passed them around the circle. We set our swords down on the makeshift table of driftwood we had prepared. We didn’t have long. I had assigned the Spec Ops team to already gather. They would be getting briefed by Damox and Renin while my team of four rushed klastani through our veins, took some minutes to meditate after, and then joined them for the journey to the Kall.
The sun whispered her last goodbyes to the day and flashed below the horizon. We lifted the pipes to our lips, flicked flame to the bowls, and inhaled.
The klastani hit like a storm surge trying to blast my boat asunder. It had never hit me like this before. The smoke filled my lungs and I held it in, like normal, but the hit to my head was instantaneous. The torches blurred into a weeping stream of red watery glow around our ring. The faces in front of me smudged into the sensation of friendship, rather than true objects in space. My face was hot, so hot I knew my cheeks were flushed. My eyes watered. My heartbeat dulled, slowed, thudded in my ears. I moved my hand to pick up my sword and it seemed to move infinitely slow, like I was pushing it through an ice bank that swelled with obscene heat. My body was gripped by a fuzzy flow of fingernails down my back.
Then, I heard Corsin’s thoughts… He was considering challenging Nessi in the dance battle first. He was already getting amped. He felt good. He was ready.
Then Jalasa’s thoughts chorused in. I looked at her as I felt the weight of the sword in my hand. She lined the pipes up straight, ready for our next puff after this first dance sequence. She was laughing at her own exactitude, but also plotting a side strike against Nessi.
