by Mark Albany
“Shouldn’t we wait for Norel to be awake to weigh in as well?” Aliana asked.
“She needs rest for the moment,” I replied. “We won’t make any decisions without her adding her ideas, but that doesn’t mean we can’t consider what to do next.”
Braire nodded. “Well, it seems we can’t wander freely through the Imperial City, not with those golems crushing through it. Finding Cyron and Abarat might prove difficult.”
“I noticed that the Lancers’ headquarters was still intact,” I said softly. “That and the Emperor’s palace might be the first places for us to look, all things considered. Cyron seems like the kind of man who would stake his claim on the empire by taking over the Emperor’s possessions like that.”
“It’s the obvious choice,” Braire scoffed. “Cyron is just smart enough to know that would be the first place we’d come looking for him and will set a trap for us should we be stupid to look for him there.”
“Cyron isn’t hiding from us anymore,” I replied. “He has Abarat on his side now, and as I see it, he has no need to hide anything he’s doing anymore. He has no more need for subterfuge.”
“That doesn’t mean he won’t use it,” Braire said. “Underestimating his intelligence is not a mistake I want to make.”
“Enough, the both of you!” Aliana snapped. “It’s clear that we won’t be reaching a consensus right now, so the only thing to be done is get some rest, eat some food, and try to have a more civil discussion when Norel awakes.”
I opened my mouth, but it was obvious that Aliana was right. Braire and I weren’t going to agree with each other willingly, so it would be the wiser move to just let it rest and see if a better idea we could all agree on didn’t come to us later.
I finally nodded, and Braire did as well, and the three of us moved back into the ruins to check on how Norel was recovering.
I had my work cut out for me over the next day or so. Recovery was something we didn’t need much time to do, so most of the day was spent setting up our little camp in the ruins of what Aliana called the old city. Norel, once she was recovered from our fighting after a little rest and some food, helped Braire with reforming the runes and wards around the ruins to make the place as difficult to find and attack as possible.
Which left me with time alone with Aliana. She clearly was not happy with how the battle had been handled, which resulted in most of the afternoon being spent with her going through a long series of training, mostly just reaffirming what had been taught already. It had been a while since we’d actually had time to focus on battle training like this, which meant we needed to get back into the rhythm.
Well, not that long, I mused as I moved through the various battle techniques Aliana was reviewing with me. Less than a week had passed since we left Norel’s estate behind to go and help Oro escape from his prison cell. It felt like a lot longer, though.
As the afternoon wound down, I noted that Aliana’s thoughts toward my training were centered on focus and pacing my power, as Braire had pointed out during the fight. She hadn’t said anything, though she clearly hadn’t missed it. She was a good instructor, making me wonder if she had some experience in the role in her past life. She was harsh and demanding when needed, but she knew when a gentler touch was needed as well.
By the time the sun had set and an evening meal was being prepared, I found myself more tired than I had been at the end of the battle, bone-weary. After a quick and quiet meal, I drifted off to sleep with Norel coming in to sleep next to me first, and Aliana quickly joining her.
A few moments before I fell asleep, I noticed that Braire seemed isolated from her sisters. There wasn’t any hurt in her eyes, but there was a bit of acceptance as she stood and moved out toward the entrance of the ruins to stand watch with her beasts.
I felt a twinge of empathetic pain for the woman but was too tired to act on it and was soon lost in thankfully dreamless sleep.
I woke up the next morning to find that Norel and Braire were gone. I looked around, pulling off the blanket we’d used. I wasn’t sure how Norel managed to disentangle herself from me when we were wrapped up together like this. I must have been dead tired.
I was dead tired. The sleep had done away with some of it, but my muscles were still aching from the day before.
“Norel and Braire went back into the city,” I heard Aliana say. I turned to see her standing near the doorway, some food in her hands. “They thought it would be best if they were to go inside, try and find out if there are any people still alive and if they would be willing to help us.”
I nodded. “Why didn’t we go with them?”
She shook her head. “You need more training before we get involved in another situation like we had yesterday. Until you’re ready, it’s best that we keep our numbers smaller and work with a bit more subtlety than the four of us would manage together. Norel and Braire have worked like this before. They always were better at it than I was.”
I nodded. “Well… I can understand that. I don’t particularly care for it, but I will admit that I didn’t handle our battle yesterday particularly well.”
Aliana smiled. “You’d be surprised at how difficult it is to get mages to comprehend their limitations, fewer still who would openly admit it like that. I thought you would put up a bit more of a fight over being left behind.”
“I thought you were going to put it down to men,” I said with a grin.
“Gender has nothing to do with the arrogance that usually plagues those gifted with magical powers,” Aliana said, sitting next to me and putting some food out for me to eat. “But that’s something you should know a thing or two about already.”
I nodded, not bothering to respond as I started eating the berries and dried meat that had been left over from what Braire had hunted for us on that first day. We would have to collect some more today before Norel and Braire got back, but as I finished with the food, I realized it was going to have to wait. Another long day of training was waiting for me.
While the heat and tension between us was still there, with a very physical need that required satisfying, there was also the need to hone my technique. I could feel her controlling herself, holding herself back from jumping on me. Power volume was not my problem. It was controlling it, and that seemed to be what we were going to work on today.
Which was a pity, I mused. I really wanted to jump her as well.
We took a quick break at midday to get out of the sweltering summer sun, but that just meant meditation exercises inside the ruins. Once the sun was past its peak, we were back out where our attacks wouldn’t potentially level the place we wanted to call home for the moment.
Just as the sun was starting to disappear behind the mountains in the west, when I looked up from where Aliana had knocked me to the ground for what felt like the hundredth time, I saw a massive wolf striding through the forest toward us. I gritted my teeth, brushing the dirt from my bare skin as I saw that both Braire and Norel were riding the wolf.
“Does he have a name?” I asked as they came in closer.
“He does, indeed,” Aliana said. “Though I still can’t pronounce it.”
“Me neither,” Norel said, jumping off the creature’s back. “I just call him Beav.”
“And he still hates that you do it,” Braire said, giving the wolf a scratch behind the ears before dismounting. “Call him Giant Wolf, or Wolf, or by his real name. Or nothing at all. He prefers nothing at all, since he’s not actually a wolf, giant or otherwise.”
I shook my head. That was a lot of information that didn’t answer my question. Well, it did, technically. Now I knew that the wolf did in fact have a name. And if Aliana couldn’t pronounce it, then I probably shouldn’t even try.
“You’ve been teaching him to fight properly, then?” Braire asked, still not paying me so much as a look as she pulled a pack from the wolf’s back. “Should do us some good. With all the sex the three of you have been having, he has enough power to match any one of u
s, if he could only control it properly.”
“Was that a compliment?” I asked. “That sounded like a compliment.”
“It most definitely was not,” Braire said. “It was a statement of fact.”
“Anyway,” Norel cut in. “What we discovered in the city. As you suspected, it seems that Cyron and Abarat have taken up residence at the Lancers’ headquarters. They’re doing something in the dungeons there, but we couldn’t get close enough to find out more.”
“What about the people of the city?” I asked, wiping some sweat from my forehead. “Are there any survivors from the golems attacking?”
“Many,” Braire said softly. “A good many have already aligned themselves with Cyron. No mention of Abarat, which makes me think that the dynamics of their relationship might be different than we imagined. There are others, of course. Some avoided the destruction of the city and are trying to find a way to leave. Others are trying to fight back. What few mages remain in the city are leading something of a war of attrition against Cyron and his golems. They are helping those who want to leave, although most that remain are there to fight, any way they can.”
“You found all this out just today?” I asked.
“Gods, no,” Braire replied with a chuckle. “The darlings have been doing a lot more than just watching over our haven here. My falcon gathered most of the information about the escapees, the snake found the people fighting, and the wolf has been keeping watch over us.”
“All we found on our own was where Cyron made his home,” Norel explained. “And we spent most of the day trying to find a way into that damned fortress. As it turns out, the various weaknesses in the wards have been fixed since we were gone. I think Cyron knew of all of them, and while he enjoyed exploiting them, I don’t think he feels the same way now that he is in charge.”
I shook my head, noting that Aliana and Braire hadn’t shared a word since Norel and Braire had come back. She looked annoyed and felt annoyed too. Like she didn’t approve of the fact that the return of her sisters had interrupted our training.
“We need some food,” I said softly, bringing myself back into the moment. “Should we take the time to go hunting?”
“No need,” Braire said with a grin, tossing the pack right into my chest. I caught it but was forced back a couple of steps as she walked past me, heading deeper into the ruins as I looked into the pack. There were loaves of bread, a half wheel of cheese, a handful of fruits and vegetables as well as what looked like a skin of wine.
“Where did you find all this?” I asked, looking around at Norel and Braire.
“While our friends the golems are very enthusiastic about destroying the city around them, they have little interest in looting the buildings they destroy,” Norel explained. “Some of the abandoned buildings were well-stocked with food that nobody was ever going to return for, so we wondered, why let it go to waste?”
I nodded. “That does make sense.”
“And while we eat, we can discuss our next move,” Aliana said, putting on a smile and taking the pack from my hands.
4
Days passed. Not many, but enough to make me feel anxious about our inaction. Well, technically, Norel and Braire were acting, doing something. Norel had contacted the mages and people that had remained in the city. They wanted to fight, they told her, but they were afraid. Cyron’s power had grown to unimaginable heights, but there was no mention among those who had seen him of a powerful elf at his side.
We had misjudged the relationship between the two.
What we discovered about Cyron’s actions ever since he’d returned gave more weight to the fear that the people were feeling. Only stories had come to light, but the implications were disturbing. Blood magic was being used, that much was clear from what could be sensed from the outside, but the bodies that were being brought to the surface told of a power that was far, far worse.
“Necromancy has been banned for hundreds of years, maybe thousands,” Aliana told me after Norel shared the news with us. “The use of dead bodies was never what influenced the decisions of the elders at the time, of course. Morality was never their highest priority when it came to what the mages in the world could and could not do. Summoning spells like the ones used on the golems and hellhounds we fought are relatively simple and lack the infusion qualities that are required in necromancy. To summon up the dead and use their bodies requires one’s mind to be connected to what is summoned, and as you well know, the connection of minds always spans to both sides. The decay and the darkness of the dead is…damaging to the mind. Dangerous. The fact that one’s mind already needs to be in a dark place to even think of doing something like this doesn’t help either. The mages known for using necromancy are also known for going quite mad.”
The combination of the amount of power required coupled with an unstable mind had consequences I didn’t even want to think about. So many stories held their villains as someone who wanted evil things simply due to the fact that they were evil. Reality had proven that concept wrong so far, but from what I could tell, there were things that required a twisted mind to attempt. The goals of someone who wanted that were beyond my ability to actually comprehend.
My thoughts were brought to a halt when I saw someone coming out of the forest. I gripped my sword, narrowing my eyes and trying to make out who it was. I knew that Norel was coming close, but with the way we were all feeling over the past couple of days, there was no harm in being utterly sure about it. Whatever Cyron and Abarat were doing, whether it was necromancy or anything else, was making things difficult. Like the air itself felt heavier. I had no idea what it was, or even if it was something that was coming from those dungeons, but at this point, I couldn’t rule it out.
As I got closer, the question was quickly answered.
Norel jogged up to us, wrapping Aliana in a warm embrace. They shared a few words in elvish before Norel pulled away and came over to me.
“Can you two take a break from training?” Norel asked after kissing me firmly on the lips. “I discovered a few things I need to talk about.”
We nodded, heading back into the delightful shade of the ruins. Aliana had been pushing us hard over the past few days, and I could feel the results already. Physical strength was there, and it was reflected in the way my power could be used. Fine-honing technique made for a tired body, though, and I was looking forward to the rest times more than the training lately. It was new. I’d always enjoyed my time training. Well, no, I did still enjoy my training, but the pauses in between became more of a relief than a frustration.
I dropped onto one of the makeshift beds we’d set up. We had set up four, but we almost never used them all at once. The sisters were close even if they weren’t related by blood, despite their more recent differences, and I was close to them as well. Beds were shared.
Norel laid next to me, pulling my hand up to stroke her hair as she rested her head in my lap. I had placed the sword hanging from my back on the ground to keep the hilt from hitting me in the head when I sat.
“What did you find?” I asked. Aliana sat next to me as well, taking some of Norel’s hair in her hands and starting to braid it. “Is everything all right, Norel?”
She nodded, closing her eyes and pressing a light kiss on my arm. “All right… I don’t think we’ve been all right since we got back. But that has nothing to do with what we found out. I managed to contact some of the members of our original circle, the men and women I trust who were part of the gentry. I left them with a message to find us and gather anyone else they could find who would be willing to fight Cyron.”
“I imagine there are plenty of people still alive in the Empire who would want to see his head on a damn stake,” I said, keeping my voice as soft and gentle as I could, even though I could feel a gentle tremble enter my fingers. I was learning control, yes, but as time passed and I spent more time training than releasing the rage I still felt toward Cyron and Vis, the harder it became to keep that control.
And Norel noticed. She pulled herself up, placing a light kiss on my neck and running her fingers over my shoulders. It was a comforting move on her part at first, but eventually, there was a hint of arousal that started to spread between the two of us.
Aliana smiled, still braiding Norel’s hair. “Plenty of people who want him dead, yes. Not many of them have the means or the balls to try and actually act on it. Those that have both are what we’re looking for when it comes to allies… Would the two of you just fuck?”
I was distracted, admittedly. Norel’s kisses had climbed up my neck, connecting with my lips and staying there as she moved over, straddling my lap and gently grinding herself on me. Her petite yet still curvaceous frame pressed firmly into mine, letting me feel her soft breasts against the hard, planed muscles of my chest.
Norel pulled away from the kiss, letting me pull my shirt over my head and toss it aside. “Are you not going to join us?” she asked, tilting her head and pouting at Aliana.
“No, I think I’ll watch,” Aliana said, a coy smile touching her lips as she stood. “Not unlike how you used to watch when it was just him and me.”
I did have to admit there was something delightfully decadent about being watched as I fucked someone. Aliana didn’t move too far away, and I could feel her getting hot from watching as I ran my fingers down Norel’s back, slipping underneath her loose, flowing robes to stroke the warm, pliable skin. Norel’s lips parted as she started pressing harder into me, pulling closer and moaning my name as my fingers slipped lower. I gripped her ass with both hands and pulled her into me, letting her feel and grind against my growing cock, which was pressed neatly between her thighs. I could feel the heat and wetness there.
“Grant…” Norel gasped, her hands moving down between us, rubbing her fingers over my shaft, still concealed. “I want you to fuck me. Now.”
I didn’t comply with what sounded like an order immediately, enjoying the need and lust radiating from her. I didn’t even need a connection to see it in her eyes, feel it in the way she was touching me, but the bond made it so much better.
