Beastress Inferno

by Mark Albany

  “The way these humans rebuild is truly spectacular,” Braire said as we moved through the city, looking around at the people we’d avoided not too long ago due to Aliana and Norel’s appearances. “Most elves, when faced with this kind of destruction, would have left to resettle elsewhere. It’s interesting how stubborn humans can be about remaining in a place that has seen so much death simply because it reminds them of life.”

  I smiled as we moved closer to the Lancers’ fortress, which had been mostly rebuilt at this point. It was as close as Braire was going to come to actually complimenting humans. While I appreciated that her preconceptions weren’t unfounded, it was heartwarming that she was starting to see, or remember, the brighter aspects of life that my kind brought.

  As we approached the fortress, more than a few Lancers were there to greet us. Not all of them were wearing the armor I had come to associate with them, but there was something about the way they held themselves that made them unmistakable. I looked around, trying to make out what they were trying to do, then realized they were part of the rebuilding process. The massive courtyard between the walls and the main building behind had become one of the centers of construction in the city, providing housing and shelter for most of the women and children, giving them a place to stay that was behind some form of protection.

  “My ladies,” said the man who appeared to be in charge. He was wearing heavy Lancer armor and tapped his chest and bowed his head in deference. “An honor to have you among us at last. Most of the defenses have been set up, with most of the efforts going into narrowing the streets and providing our men with open kill zones to make sure that any troops Cyron might bring into the city face heavy losses before they even reach our defenses proper. Most of the buildings outside our defenses have been leveled and the rubble has been used for reconstruction to make sure that any attack can be seen from a distance.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the man as he started to guide us deeper into the building, and down into the dungeons. From the look of things, the whole place had been abandoned. Even the men and women outside that needed a place to stay out of the elements had avoided the place, and honestly, I couldn’t blame them. There was an essence of darkness that permeated the dungeons, making it the absolute last place anyone would willingly remain.

  All the empty cells didn’t help much with the visage. It seemed that even the Lancers were doing their best to avoid the place. And then I remembered that many of them had been kept in these very same cells while Cyron held the city, only released when the explosion after my chat with Cyron had broken everything open, letting them out to release their fellows and allowing them to join the fight. They understood the kind of dread the place had.

  “Why are you bringing us down here, captain?” Norel asked, noting that we were being led down into the lower levels of the dungeon. Even I could feel the strength of the malicious power that was radiating from the walls. That might have been related to the pain and death that had occurred here, but there was something else. I didn’t know what it was, but there was something older, primal almost, radiating from the black stones.

  “I wasn’t sure what to make of a sight that greeted me when we came down to release my brothers in captivity during the battle, my lady,” the captain replied, looking back at us and indicating for us to follow him with his torch. “There were greater issues to be dealt with at the time so I put it aside for later, but I feel that it needs to be addressed before we fight Cyron again. You should know that most of the cells above us were full to bursting with hundreds of inmates who were either serving their sentences or awaiting trial. When my brothers were imprisoned by Cyron’s men they were empty, with no sign of death being dealt to the men and women who previously occupied them. I assumed when I was locked in that they had all been sent to die elsewhere, but as I reached the lower levels, I found… Well, it was a disturbing sight that made my mind wander toward forbidden legends and stories of the past.”

  Norel nodded, taking one of the torches as we were led into what looked like a massive chamber underneath it all. I had no idea how deep underground we were, but there was something about this place that tapped into a very deep-seated fear. I wondered if all humans feared the dark and unseen.

  “This place has been used to bury the bodies of the men and women that have died in these dungeons over the centuries,” the captain explained. “For various reasons, this was never shown to the people.”

  “Fuck,” I said, looking across the massive expanse of the room. “How many died down here?”

  “None actually died down here,” the captain pointed out. “This was just used as a burial ground, except… Well, see for yourselves.”

  He raised his torch to give us a better view of the place. The ground had been torn up, showing off holes of massive proportions, some much deeper than any one grave had any right to be.

  “Gods,” Aliana whispered. “There must have been hundreds. Thousands.”

  “Which again raises the question from when we first arrived in the city,” I reminded them, taking a step closer. “Where are all the bodies?”

  “We don’t know,” the captain said. “There was no sign of them being removed from the fortress before your attack. Like the bodies of the people killed when the city was taken they’re all just…gone.”

  “Not gone,” Braire said, closing her eyes. “One of the reasons why I banished Abarat to the underworld was his willingness to learn any magic that could give our people a chance to win the war. One of which was a way to raise an army that would never need to be fed, had no issues with morale, and had the added benefit of filling any who fought them with the terror of fighting their own dead.”

  “Necromancy,” Norel said, shaking her head. “Did it really get that bad toward the end?”

  “Worse,” Braire said, her voice soft as she turned away from the massive, dug-up graves.

  “Cyron was raising the dead down here for what? Why?” I asked, looking around to the rest. “If he had an army down here that numbered in the thousands, why didn’t he use them to fight back when we were trying to take the city?”

  “More importantly,” Aliana said,” why did he come up and fight us himself instead of sending his undead monsters up to fight for him?”

  “Necromancy is not an exact science,” Norel replied, looking around the chamber. “Depending on the actual age of the bodies he found down here, he would have had to find ancient spirits to command them, in enough numbers to bring this many bodies to life, all while lacking in enough power to make them amenable to control. There is a reason, after all, why the use of necromancy was banned.”

  “Not because it was a horrifying atrocity?” I asked, turning to look at her.

  “The ancient councils of mages very rarely gave precedence to morality in their decisions,” Norel said with a sad shake of her head. “No, the real reason why necromancy was banned was because of just how tempting it would be for younger, powerful wizards to attempt, and then inevitably lose control of their horde. The thought that it might one day turn into an epidemic which could threaten all life on the planet made it one of the first full forms of magic to be banned from use and even study.”

  “Which would explain why Cyron didn’t want to put his forces to the test, either,” Braire said. “Like you said, it is not an exact science. I think there would be a lot of trial and error before he could fully control an army of the undead.”

  “Nice to know he now has all the bodies he needs to raise an army,” I said, shaking my head and turning away to leave this horrifying chamber. “And the time he needs to fully bring them to heel. I need some air. And sunlight. And the thought of hope.”

  The three sisters and even the captain looked like they felt the same way. The vestiges of what had been done down here clung to the air like a foul taste and smell that would linger for what felt like an eternity. The place would never be clean of it. I wondered if maybe after all this, it might not be a good idea to bring this
whole fortress and dungeon down and bury every horror that had been perpetuated here beyond the reach of any power-hungry mage who might want to use it.

  “When you reached into this place,” I said to Norel as we made our way back to the surface, “could you tell what Cyron was trying to do?”

  “There was no trying about it,” Norel said softly. “My attempts at sabotaging his work were enough to make him leave it, which is probably why he came out to fight us himself. But, the fact that he got all the bodies clear of this place, probably using Abarat’s ability to create portals, says he has more than enough power to raise them. All he needs is time.”

  “Should we start looking for him?” I asked as we finally reached the fresh air outside. I paused to take a long, deep breath, feeling cool and refreshed after a couple of gasps. “Deny him the time to try and control these spirits?”

  “At this point, it might be a better idea to give him the time to prepare and use it ourselves,” Braire said, her voice still sounding haunted from what we’d just seen. “Breaking what has to be a tenuous connection to the bodies he’s raised is dangerous. We might end up unleashing them on the world as-is. If they are forced under his control, there is the potential of him binding them to himself, making them less likely to revolt against him, and thus giving us a way to end any fight by killing him directly. The metaphor of cutting the head off a snake comes to mind.”

  I shook my head. “In that case, I think I’ve had enough death today to last me a lifetime. We should try to help them rebuild the city, and see if we can’t add any ideas we might have about killing undead to the defenses.”

  “There isn’t much to add,” Braire said, shaking her head. “Killing them isn’t too different from killing any other creature, except that these don’t seem to fear death of any kind and in fact seem to welcome it. Any defenses we might have must be altered for that. It will be the hammer of Cyron’s attack, and we must be ready for it.”

  I looked out into the city, trying to make out something that was pricking at the edge of my consciousness. We had taken over some of the rooms in the Lancers’ fortress over the past few days. It kept some space between us and the rest of the city that allowed us to continue training and preparing for the fight while still being close enough to what was happening.

  We even invited a handful of the other mages to join us in training since most of them had never dedicated much time or effort to honing their skills in combat magic, but after a few hours with them, I realized I’d outstripped them in power and technique a long time ago, at least when it came to fighting. Few of them had ever given it much thought, thinking their time was better spent running through the various meditation forms to develop their power.

  They would be useful in the battle to come, but not on the front lines.

  I pulled my sword and sheath off my back and laid it down on the table in front of me, gently running a clean cloth over the steel blade. It was interesting how it never seemed to dull, no matter how much I used it, or for how long. I guessed it had something to do with the magical runes that were carved into it, but that was neither here nor there. I cleaned it thoroughly before slipping it back into its sheath, the way I’d been taught, and turned to clean myself.

  Aliana was waiting for me when I finished. She was sporting a small, coy smile as she watched me approach my bed. I looked around, wondering what she was doing, then realized the clothes I’d set aside to wear afterward were gone.

  Dressed in a drying cloth around my waist and nothing else, I tilted my head as I watched Aliana standing in front of me.

  “If you wanted to get rid of my clothes, all you had to do was ask,” I told her, smiling as she came closer to me. She paused a moment before stepping close enough to run her fingers down my chest, letting them trace lightly over my bare skin as she leaned in. Her lips skimmed lightly across my shoulders then down over the hard planes of my chest as her fingers tugged insistently at the cloth wrapped around my waist, pulling it away.

  “I do like to take matters into my own hands,” she whispered with a grin as she tossed the cloth aside, leaving me completely naked as she kissed her way down my stomach, letting her fingers toy with my cock, caressing and stroking the growing shaft as she dropped to her knees in front of me.

  I took a deep breath, feeling a rush of pleasure climbing up my spine that left a wave of goosebumps in its wake as I looked down. She was peering up at me as she placed a long, tongue-filled kiss on my hip as her fingers kept working my cock, pulling me closer. My hands moved of their own accord as I reached down to run my fingers through her hair, toying with her horns first, using motions similar to how she was stroking me. I could feel how much she enjoyed having her hair stroked and played with through our bond, but the way her wings fluttered showed me a similar story. Her kisses moved lower and lower until I could feel her lips wrapping around my cock, still at half-mast but growing quickly to fill her warm, wet mouth.

  “Fuck,” I gasped. She began bobbing her head as my cock started to throb, my hands moving down to push her clothes away. I’d done it before, but there was always a nice sense of surprise at how light and easy to manipulate her immodest clothes were. As they fell away, I found my fingers trailing down to cup and squeeze her breasts, toying with her nipples and shuddering with pleasure as I felt her moans vibrating into me.

  I suddenly felt a pair of hands running up my back. Distracted as I was, I hadn’t realized that someone else had entered the room. I turned my head, careful not to disturb Aliana’s work, and saw Norel’s face as the elf leaned in to lightly kiss my neck and shoulder as she ran her hand down my back, fingers gripping my ass and pushing me forward to fill Aliana’s mouth a bit more.

  “Mind if I join you?” she asked, standing on her tiptoes to lean against me and kiss my lips as she reached her free hand down to stroke Aliana’s hair. The djinn couldn’t respond with more than a couple of soft, approving moans that only served to send a shudder of pleasure up my body, but I was in a better position to respond.

  “There is a dress code involved,” I pointed out as I reached over, undoing the flowing white robes Norel wore so well and letting them drop to the ground. The sight of her naked body as she pressed into my side, letting her hands run over Aliana and me, only served to heighten the pleasure being shared among the three of us.

  Four, I noted, when I discovered that Braire had entered the room as well. She was still near the door, and there seemed to be a hint of resistance in her gaze, but it was quickly crumbling. I could feel that much as she stepped closer. Norel was indicating for her to join them, but she came over to me instead, watching as Aliana used her mouth to toy with my cock. Braire’s hand dropped to grip the back of Aliana’s head, pushing it to take me deeper until I could feel her throat tightening around the throbbing head.

  Norel peeled away from me and moved over to Braire, watching with a delicious smile before stepping in behind her. I could feel her eyes on me, dragging my gaze away from Aliana to where she was undressing Braire for my pleasure. I watched as the woman’s clothes dropped away.

  Norel’s fingers dipped between Braire’s thighs. I watched as she started to toy with the little nub of pleasure between her lips, rubbing a pair of fingers in a slow, circular pattern that mirrored Aliana’s head bobbing. I continued watching as her movements became hungrier, her stroking more aggressive, until I could see that she was pressing both fingers inside Braire.

  Braire’s eyes rolled back, her hands moving to grab Norel, pulling her closer. I couldn’t see where Braire’s hands were, but the shared connection between the four of us told me everything I needed to know. Norel’s pleasure at feeling her thrusting reciprocated made me shudder with need, my hands coming down to grip the back of Aliana’s head, pulling her closer, my hips pushing forward to make her take me deeper into her mouth.

  She moaned in appreciation, giving me control of the thrusting as her hands moved away, one reaching over to grip my ass, encouraging me to pus
h harder and faster as the other hand dipped down between her thighs, filling her tight pussy with her fingers as I started to fuck her mouth.

  The view of Aliana on her knees, her mouth full of cock and her soft moans reverberating into me was difficult to pull away from, but the soft noises of pleasure and excitement coming from the other two attracted my attention as well. Braire had turned around to face Norel, hands exploring each other in passionate and hungry movements. Braire was guiding Norel over to the bed. I watched as she firmly pushed Norel onto her back then leaned over her, kissing and sucking her breasts before nibbling her way down between the elf’s thighs, using her lips and tongue to work over Norel’s clit and finally diving in to taste her wetness hungrily.

  I could feel their hunger starting to spread to me as I looked back down at Aliana. She was peering up at me, and I could tell she felt the same way. I had been reasonably gentle and soft in my touches up until now, but my control was starting to slip.

  And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  I pulled Aliana away from my cock, leaving it exposed to the air for a moment as I dipped my head to give her a firm kiss, which she returned passionately. I walked her over to the bed where Norel and Briare were, letting them watch as I pushed Aliana down onto the bed next to them and quickly climbed onto it as well.

  Aliana giggled as she watched me, moaning as one of my hands found her breasts and my lips wrapped around the other. I could feel her thighs squeezing my waist and pulling my still-hard and throbbing cock closer to her, pressing it lightly to her pussy as my free hand reached down between us to guide the thick head into her in a slow yet firm thrust. I felt her clenching tightly around me as I pushed deeper, my lips coming away from hers as my eyes closed, a low moan escaping me as I filled her, inch by inch.