by Mark Albany
Aliana’s moans were softer but more earnestly felt as her hand drifted down my back, leaving a bright red trail where her nails scored my skin before she gripped my ass, helping me in pulling out halfway and thrusting roughly back inside.
The bed itself wasn’t that large, barely enough for the four of us, which allowed Norel to reach over and run her fingers down my back as my hips were firmly thrusting my cock into Aliana, her prolonged moans punctuated with a soft jump each time I bottomed out inside her. I gripped her shoulder with one hand as the other remained firmly on her breast, feeling it move with each thrust as well. My eyes were closed, my body tense and in need of release. I could feel Norel’s nails digging into me as well as she started to cum on Braire’s lips.
The shared pleasure quickly drove Aliana into her orgasm as well. I could feel her coating my shaft with warm wetness as her pussy tightened around me further, making it difficult to keep thrusting. I growled, struggling to keep control of myself as I felt Aliana gripping me with her hands, her fingers trailing back up my spine. Her hand found Norel’s and pulled her closer. I could feel Norel’s lips pressing to my hips as I brought a hand to her head, running my fingers through her hair as my thrusts slowed.
Aliana grinned, disengaging from me and turning over. I could see Norel pulling Braire up onto the bed as well. I took in the view of Aliana on her hands and knees, kissing and nibbling at Norel’s lips as Braire straddled Norel’s head, leaving her own lips pressed against Norel’s pussy, allowing both to toy and play with each other as I started fucking Aliana from behind, feeling her warm pussy, still drenched from her last orgasm, wrapping tighter around me.
She was going to be sore tomorrow, I thought with a small grin, giving her ass a firm smack as I grabbed her hips, the hunger starting to fill me again. I could feel the shared pleasure from Norel and Braire starting to bleed over through our bond, sending rush after rush of pleasure into me as I kept pushing inside her over and over. I gasped for breath, feeling myself getting closer to climax as I felt Braire pushing toward hers. Norel’s lips and tongue were joined by her fingers and I watched as the two toyed with and fucked each other. The sight was intoxicating.
I dipped my head to press my lips into Aliana’s back as I reached the point of no return, my teeth lightly teasing her flushed skin while my hips started to buck into her. I could feel her body tightening around mine again, cumming hard as I kept my hips moving, filling her tight pussy over and over again as the sensations of pleasure from her orgasm joined mine, then Braire’s and Norel’s washed over me in an awesome wave to the point where I lost all control.
I didn’t even realize how close I was to climax until I felt my body tensing and pressing into hers, the thrusts coming harder and faster than before as my cock twitched inside her, bursting and filling her with my cum as my moans and growls turned into a gasp. All sensations were pushed aside as the shared climax among the four of us washed me away. I dropped onto the bed. Aliana moved with me, my cock still inside her as her hips started to ride me out of instinct although I could tell she was in a similar situation. The sounds of our sex gave way to silence as we all enjoyed the long and drawn-out pleasure. It had been a while since we had last had this—since before the battle—and the wait had only made the pleasure more delicious.
I groaned, unable to move for a moment as Aliana lay over me, her lips parted. I could feel her hot breath on my sweat-touched skin, sending shivers up my spine and slowly dropping my consciousness back into the reality of our situation.
I reached over, toying with Braire’s hair and, to my surprise, felt her lean up, pressing back into the gesture and moaning softly in appreciation. I smiled, her contented murmurs touching me as she craned her head up to press her lips gently to my open palm. I sighed softly, stroking her cheek and reaching over to pull her and Norel closer.
The power tingling inside me was a sensation I thought I might eventually grow accustomed to, and yet every time I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to take it for granted. I leaned up, pulling Aliana’s head up to gently kiss her lips, stroking her cheek tenderly. Norel growled softly, sounding like an angry cat as she pulled herself closer.
I chuckled softly, kissing her lips tenderly as well before settling back down on the bed. It had been a long day, fraught with training and hard work. Braire was already drifting off to sleep, I realized with a smile, with Norel and Aliana not far behind. I looked up at the ceiling bed for a moment. There wasn’t much of anything on my mind. I just didn’t want this feeling to end. Not ever.
14
I wasn’t sure how I could feel the approach. As the sun rose, I first found myself wide awake and unable to fall back asleep. I didn’t know what it was, but I did know there was something out there calling for my attention, and damned if I wasn’t going to answer.
I pulled myself from the bed. As small as it was, it had fit the four of us rather snugly for the night, but even so it wasn’t difficult to escape without waking Aliana, Norel and Braire. I wasn’t sure if what I felt was something they would be worried about or if it was something I needed to investigate on my own, so I didn’t wake them.
I pulled on my clothes after retrieving them from where Aliana had hidden them the night before, as well as the armor the Lancers had recently provided for me. I wasn’t sure if another battle was about to start, but there was something in the air that was making me feel uneasy. Almost like the way everything seemed charged and thick right before a massive summer thunderstorm. I strapped the sword to my back and headed out.
I made my way through the defenses, seeing more than a few of the soldiers and even civilians up and about already, preparing. From the way they were looking around, grumbling and complaining about nothing in particular, it made me wonder if they were feeling the same tension in the air that I was.
I looked around as I reached the walls of the fortress, stepping out from behind them as I made my way down to where they had set up a perimeter around where the people had started rebuilding the city.
If it came to an open battle, I wondered just how many of these buildings would remain. I wondered if Cyron would be able to command golems even while controlling an army of the dead, and if they were going to be large enough to render most of the outer defenses irrelevant. If there were golems being sent in advance of a main attack, I mused, I, as well as Aliana, Norel and Briare, would have to step out in front of the troops to stop them from tearing into the small makeshift walls that had been prepared.
I climbed to the top of one of the outermost walls. Most of the buildings outside this ring had been leveled, all the resources of stone and wood being brought in to help with the reconstruction and making it so that any approach to the walls could be seen from a good way off.
Or would be, if there wasn’t a cloud of fog coming in.
As the sun started to crest the horizon, I realized there was something starting to creep in from the forest beyond. The fog was visible from a distance, creeping in from beyond the city limits and rolling inward. I gritted my teeth. There was something off about it, and I couldn’t shake that feeling as the cloud drew nearer. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and pushing myself into a state of meditation, allowing my consciousness to spread out and reach forward to the edges of the city.
I looked around, trying to make sense of what I was looking at. Bright red eyes could be seen inside the fog. As they came closer, I realized the eyes were connected to bodies. Or what had been bodies a long time ago. I could make out wisps of black coming from the corpses that were marching forward in formation, sticking close together. A handful turned and appeared to be looking at me, but for a long moment, didn’t bother to break away.
And then, suddenly, they did. Five of them rushed out from the formed ranks of the dead, charging at me, screaming wildly and swinging weapons. I had no idea if they could hurt me in my current state, but I wasn’t willing to risk it. I backed away, and as weapons were raised toward me, I quickly broke m
y concentration and dropped back into my body.
“Fuck!” I cursed as I fell to my knees, trying to shake the sensation of pure terror that had filled me out there, making me wonder just how powerful these monsters were if they were able to attack someone who was in a disembodied state. I looked around, realizing that there were men standing around me, peering at me with expressions varying from confusion to fear over what they were looking at. I pushed myself to my feet, trying to gain some semblance of composure before speaking.
“Our enemy approaches,” I said, pulling my sword from its sheath. “They are at the edges of the city and are coming with the fog. Sound the alarm.”
There was a pause. They were all looking at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. Like they were looking for something to comfort them, or maybe a powerful speech that would rouse both their morale and their will to fight.
I looked around, realizing that most of the men standing around me were older than I was. Most looked more experienced in battles than I was too, with hardened looks about them. Even so, they had heard the news that they would be facing creatures that had been reserved for the horrors of night, never even gracing the stories that they had been told.
And I had nothing to give them.
“Sound the alarm!” I snapped again, raising my voice and taking a step forward. “Prepare to defend your homes, your loved ones, against an oncoming storm! Prepare for the fight of your lives, for the fight that will determine the fate of our homes! Do it now!”
They snapped out of the lull, remembering that while they were fighting against creatures that were very much the work of nightmares, the stakes were founded in their reality. Their lives and those of their loved ones were what they needed to make a stand for, and they didn’t need an empowering speech from someone as young as me to make them see that.
They quickly jumped into action, starting to run over to the various bells that had been set up and ringing them loudly and clearly. I could her commanders yelling at their men to prepare, dressing in armor and gathering weapons. Women and children were being herded into the fortress where they could be more easily defended, while every man and even woman capable of bearing arms was given armor and weapons along with orders about what needed to be done. There was a sense of urgency in their voices as they started moving, but a determination as well, a steel that was entering their looks as they mentally prepared themselves for what was about to come.
I gritted my teeth, taking a deep breath and trying to do the same. There was a good deal more that was expected of me, and I wasn’t fully sure I could do it.
The familiar warping sensation and the smell of ozone filled the air as I turned to see Aliana, Norel, and Braire stepping out from a portal that had appeared right next to me. They all had the same steely look in their eyes as the rest of the soldiers—the kind that came with knowing, more or less, what they would be facing and that they had it in themselves to do it.
I was lacking their certainty, I realized, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to fail them. Not at this point, or with so much at stake. I didn’t know if I could stand up against a horde of the undead, not after seeing that the spirits which inhabited the bodies were eerily similar to the ones that had pretended to be my parents when I’d spoken with Cyron before. And yet, there was something about being out in the middle of it with the three women who I’d come to care for more than anything in the world that made me want to be man enough to stand up against anything we were going to face. I wanted to be worthy of the kind of trust they were putting in me.
“What did you see?” Aliana asked, looking out into the fog that was still a good distance out but inching unstoppably toward the defenses.
I realized she was talking to me and nodded sharply. “I looked out into the fog when it was approaching and saw more bodies than I could count, walking toward us in neat, military formations.”
“What state were the bodies in?” Braire asked, looking at me.
“I… What does that matter?” I asked.
“Not a whole lot,” Braire admitted with a shrug. “I’m just curious if we are going to be fighting against the people that were dug up in the graveyards or something newer and fresher. It would indicate the amount of power Cyron is using to keep them afloat.”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. My attention was mostly drawn to the dark, wispy spirits that were emanating from the bodies. I didn’t see what kind of state the bodies were in.”
The three nodded. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down as the fog started to reach the open area between us and the rest of the destroyed city. Even from this distance, I could see the hundreds of dead eyes glowing red in the fog as they approached. I turned to see a couple hundred men with bows and crossbows manning the walls. I wondered if we might have been better suited using siege engines for defense, but there was no time to question that now. I looked at Aliana, Norel, and Braire, wonder if they had any kind of offensive strategy in mind, or if they were waiting to see what Cyron’s strategy was. I certainly had no clue about the nuances of defending a city against an attack by the undead.
Suddenly, it seemed like the fog was starting to peel back, or rather, the corpses that had been marching slowly forward under its cover suddenly started to overtake it, picking their pace up to reach the walls ahead. They were moving quickly, and I could hear high-pitched screams full of absolute hatred as they started charging at the defenses. I pulled my sword clear of the scabbard, feeling a sense of comfort washing away the uncertainty that had been plaguing me. My power flooded into the blade, illuminating the runes on the steel with a bright white light as I aimed at the advancing line of corpses now charging at the walls in a full run.
“Ready!” Norel cried as hundreds of bows were fitted with arrows and pointed at the line of advancing monsters.
I swung my blade forward, sending a controlled blast of white light toward the creatures. It wasn’t as powerful as it could be, since I was trying to hold as much power as I could in reserve for later in the fight, but it was still enough to carve a deadly piece out of the front lines. I watched as almost a dozen of the front line and even a couple from the second and third lines fell, blasted back by the force of it.
“Fire!” Norel called, raising her hand and bringing it down quickly. A host of arrows was released, hanging elegantly in the air for a few seconds before dropping into the lines of the undead. I watched as the monsters—which were armed, but weren’t wearing any armor—were torn to pieces by the volley.
Those that were killed were quickly pushed aside as those that survived picked up the pace.
“Fire at will!” Norel called, turning to Aliana, who had her daggers drawn already. Braire had as well. The three sisters joined their powers together, flooding Norel with energy as she closed her eyes, hands raising as I saw massive storm clouds starting to gather. A low rumble of thunder was all the warning I had before Norel extended her hands, screaming something in elvish as a massive lightning bolt struck the center of the advancing line of undead.
Dozens dropped from the strike, but not as many as should have, I realized. Something was protecting them, raising a shield that was stopping magical attacks as well as the arrows that were flying down on them in a steady stream.
“That’s what we were waiting for,” Norel said, turning to Aliana again. Nothing else needed to be said as the woman quickly formed a portal for us to step outside the limits of the defenses without opening any of the barriers. Norel, Braire, and I joined her on the twisting path that dropped us just outside the walls, a good distance away from the advancing line of shambling corpses. I gripped my blade tighter, feeling a shot of fear at standing on the same ground as the monsters. A moat had been dug in front of the lines, but the lack of water meant that the only thing we could fill it with had been spikes, and hope that we could funnel the attacks into the more easily-defensible areas of the walls. It wasn’t a certain thing, but then, there didn’t seem to be much about
this battle that was going to be certain.
“Open a path,” Aliana said, turning to Braire, who nodded. The woman pulled the flat, runed pebble from her pocket and tossed it forward. I felt the twisting manipulation of a portal coming forward as Braire’s three beasts burst through it. The massive serpent, the wolf, and the falcon charged toward the line of undead headed in our direction.
I forced myself to take a step forward, then another. And another. That was all I needed to do, right? I fought the need to run away from the monsters that were rushing toward us, taking it one step at a time.
I took a deep breath, flooding my blade with power again as I took a few steps ahead of the three of them. I was glad the men on the walls had been informed about Braire’s monsters and knew not to shoot at them as they started attacking the line of undead. There were also about a dozen mages standing on the walls where we had been, sending down lightning strikes on the undead as they started getting perilously close to the walls.
Norel had joined them. I could see her eyes had turned almost completely white as she sent strike after strike down to open a path for Braire’s beasts to open a wedge in the formations the undead were taking. They had broken away from the tight groups they’d been in before, staggering their lines to make it more difficult for them to be taken out in larger groups at a time. Someone was commanding this charge, but I couldn’t see any sign of them yet.
It was the reason why the four of us were holding back from using our full powers at this time. We were waiting for them to come forward, make themselves known. I doubted that Cyron would be commanding this charge himself, but he would probably send one of his familiars with the undead to keep control over them.
After a few long minutes of fighting, I felt the power on the battlefield surge as a man wearing long robes stepped forward.
