Chapter 2
Through the forest's eyes, Benidyr'ra had seen the group travelling in the woods for almost a week now. She recognized the male as the Baron who owned the lands around the forest - she had met him once, long ago, and they struck a truce. She did not recognize the two women that were with him, though they were quite comely. They were pretty enough to be nobles as well, perhaps his daughters, or maybe his wife. Benidyr'ra had always thought nobles were supposed to be good-looking, but these two were outstandingly so.
Wondering what business the Baron had in her woods, she decided to go meet him. If he had brought an armed escort, she might have thought differently, but even he was unarmed, and his two companions were obviously dressed for enjoyment rather than business. Still, there was something very odd about the two women he was with, and her forest scouts could only tell her so much.
They had been walking for almost a week straight, and were far from the road. Jynn would have suspected the Baron of treachery if she didn't observe him constantly gawking at Tavra. There was no doubt - her powers had grown and pulled him under her sway. She too found herself influenced by Tavra from time to time. Indeed, when she mentioned going to the fort last week Jynn was hard-pressed to say no, though at the time she wrote that off as her own personal agreement. In retrospect, it was unwise to rampage through a military installation as they had - questions would be raised and people would no doubt be looking for them. Still, they had gathered much-needed energy there, and Tavra was quickly catching-up to her. If the Baron wasn't lying, then this trip into the Galoran Woods might supply them with all the power they would need to take on any resistance they might encounter from the incident at the Arvord's Citadel.
The Baron had said they were looking for a woman who was infused with the primal energies of the forest. She had watched this forest for as long as he could remember, keeping intruders out and at the same time minding her own business. Her territory was on the outskirts of his, and the two had an unofficial treaty of non-aggression. He didn't know much about her outside of that, only that she was a sort of focus for the forest's energy, and that she commanded the forces of nature within it.
He had been quite docile on the trip, and they had accommodated his needs for food and sleep. Her and Tavra were still riding the vigor they had gained at the Citadel, and she guessed that a draining of such proportions would keep them that way for weeks. After that, they would need to either drain more, or begin eating and sleeping once again. Tavra, however, did like to sleep every now and then. She said it was because she liked to dream. Jynn envied her - every time she had a dream, it would quickly turn into a nightmare involving her falling under the control of the old masters once again.
Ahgran still felt like emotional stew. His sorrow and rage had taken a backseat, and even his lust for Tavra had become mundane. Sure, he still marveled at her body, but he found himself able to turn away with much more ease than before. Now, mixed in with all the other emotions, there was a growing fear for his life - that once they were done with the Forestkeeper they would turn on him. He knew he must escape and he knew how he would do it, but it all depended on how long Benidyr'ra occupied them.
Previously, a large part of him could not even ponder leaving her side, but now he had more control. He did feel that something in him was missing though, something more than whatever lifeforce she took from him that night in the keep. He had become something less, something defiled and dirty. He had lost everything that was important to him, partly by act of his own will, and now he had become a sort of conspirator against a long-standing friend.
It was nearing twilight when they had just found a small clearing to rest in. The Baron propped himself against a tree while the two ladies began to sit as well. Suddenly they both sprang to their feet once again and looked in the same direction.
"Jynn, do you feel it?"
"Yes, up ahead. Something quite powerful." Jynn undid the button which held the cape around her frontside, allowing it to drop to the ground. As she removed her bikini Tavra turned to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, if this is a fight, I don't want my nice, expensive clothes to get ripped or torn. We'll need to fit-in better once we get to Elezan."
"Good point." Tavra began to untie the halter-top from behind her neck. Just as she removed her long skirt they saw a large woman descend from the trees on a vine.
She too was naked, except for the splotches of mud and some leaves in her hair, and tall - probably almost six feet, and fairly overweight. Her face was wide, with a small mouth and large eyes with a slight glazed-over look to them. Her entire face beamed friendship and compassion, and though she wasn't nice to look at, she did have an aura of calming comfort about her. Neither of them could place her age, though she couldn't have been older than forty. To the girls, she was a nexus for energy - her body was the choke-point in an hourglass of energy as if flowed into her and out again, emanating from and at the same time dispersing throughout the whole forest.
"Greetings. I am Benidyr'ra, Forestkeeper for what you call the Great Galoran Woods." She smiled widely and approached.
Jynn looked at Tavra with a slight bit of confusion, but Tavra was already advancing on the woman, slowly. She was confused at how such a small vine could support her weight, but as she pondered, the Forestkeeper extended her hand, which Tavra took. She began to tap Benidyr'ra's power, her face contorted in pleasure as she drew-in the large woman's essence. Tavra pulled herself in with great speed, embracing her so she could get more skin contact, and thus more energy drained.
Benidyr'ra felt herself weaken as the girl took her hand, and then strengthen again as the forest replenished her. She felt the great amounts of lifeforce in these women, but didn't understand why they had so much until now. Invoking the power of the forest, she began to ooze slipperymud from every pore on her body - she had to break free of this woman's grip soon, as the forest could only replenish her so much before it too began dying in order to save her.
Jynn rushed into the feast with great speed, grappling the woman as best she could and drawing energy out of her. Through the intense pleasure she could feel the woman attempting to free herself with surprising strength, but Tavra and Jynn had her firmly secured - it was only a matter of time now.
Tavra's frontside was suddenly covered in mud, and Forestkeeper was working herself free. Neither of them could maintain their grasp upon her, though they continued taking what they could from her, calling-out with yelps of pleasure.
Benidyr'ra worked herself free and leapt upwards, commanding a strongvine to carry her up into the trees. She summoned forth some hunter snakes to attack the trespassers and made her way to a branch. There was no doubt these women were powerful already, and they had stolen enough from her to kill a normal man several times over - it would take her a moment to pause and allow the forest to replenish her.
Meanwhile, Baron Arvord saw his chance to make a run for it. Just as he saw the Forestkeeper fly into the air, he turned and ran towards the east. The trees and bushes cut him as he moved, but he could not stop - as he grew further and further from Tavra he could feel her grip on his will loosening. Though he still wanted to have her again and again, she no longer held his attention exclusively. Now he could concentrate on surviving...and picking up the pieces.
Benidyr'ra watched in horror as the life energies of the hunter snakes were absorbed into the two women below. Their auras both seemed to grow as it happened, and they reveled in the act. Still feeling a bit weak, she summoned Greatstone, though she knew she would be dangerously diminished after doing so. Her only hope would be that the elemental could hold them off long enough for her to replenish her powers. The ground behind Tavra exploded, sending dust and chunks of rock flying. A hunched shape, vaguely humanoid, formed from the ground and lumbered towards them. It was possibly twenty feet in height, but stocky by proportion, and with arms almost to the ground.
Tavra charged the creation, punching at its leg as she ran by. Some bits flew off of it, leaving a fist-sized dent. Her hand throbbed with pain, and she held it as she continued. She could sense the creature turning around after she had passed it - whatever it was, it didn't react quickly. Tavra stopped to uproot a small tree, grinning at how easy it was now.
Jynn looked on, wide-eyed at the elemental's fortitude. Quickly coming to her senses, she grabbed a large rock, about her size, and threw it at the creature. The impact sent small bits flying from the thing's shoulder, and Jynn's eyes grew wider at its apparent invulnerability. She rushed to a nearby tree and started pushing on it, trying to aim so it would fall upon the thing.
Greatstone swung at Tavra, but she easily leapt over its arm, bringing her uprooted tree down hard on its shoulder. Though it was a blow which would have crushed and dismembered any normal man, it only sent a small cloud of dust and leaves flying. Upon landing, she dropped the tree and pushed hard against the elemental, trying to knock it over. At that same moment, Jynn was attempting to push a larger tree over onto it, hoping its weight would at least stun the creature. She felt the wood buckle as she leaned-in, and the elemental seemed to dive sideways, partly due to Tavra, but Jynn hadn't managed to dislodge the wood enough for the tree to fall.
Tavra knew better. She felt that her pushing on the creature wasn't doing much, but it seemed to lunge in the opposite direction to catch the Forestkeeper, who had fallen out of a tree. It set her down gently in some grass and turned to face Tavra. Jynn had managed to push the tree hard enough so that it began to break, and Greatstone noticed this. Turning its attention to her, it began to charge around the tree. Jynn heard the thundering footsteps headed in her direction and ran, hoping she could outrun the giant mass of animated stone. Even with her great speed, she was barely gaining distance on the thing, and for a few, long seconds it gave chase.
Tavra rushed to the Forestkeeper, lifted her up, and carried her in the opposite direction as fast as she could go. Her increased strength provided much extra speed, which she also used to leap high into a tree. She could sense that Benidyr'ra was dangerously low on energy. Though she still had much more in her than a brigade of men, it was a quarter of the power she had in her when they first met.
She wrapped her arms and legs as much around the large woman as possible, touching her with every inch of skin she could, and began to tap her power, roaring in pleasure as the energy rushed into her. Pulling herself even closer, she pressed the lips of her pussy against the Forestkeeper and drew energy in through it. The sensation sent her reeling - Tavra clenched her teeth and scowled as her breathing became more rapid. She shut her eyes tightly and could feel her body pulse with newfound power. Too engaged in the rapturous ecstasy, she didn't notice a tree next to her withering in seconds and falling apart.
Greatstone felt the Forestkeeper's life dwindling. It changed its course to find her, but it felt that she had somehow moved very far away. The grass underneath its feet lost some of its color, turning a sickly pale green, and leaves began to fall from the trees all around. The elemental charged with all its might, but it too began to weaken - its charge slowed to a crawl, and soon it collapsed.
Tavra's whole body trembled as she drew the last of the Forestkeeper's lifeforce into her. Every nerve in her body was bursting, every bit of flesh was tingling with the passage of energy. Benidyr'ra's body quickly turned to a dry and fragile clay-like substance and began to break apart. Tavra's rapid panting slowed and she opened her eyes...
Shakaam knelt by the burnt remains of the wooden gate. After examining it, he rose and moved inside to inspect the tower.
"Lieutenant?" Jarif half-grumbled.
Stopping in his tracks, Shakaam looked back at him and spoke. "They didn't force their way in or out. It looks as if they either snuck-in, infiltrated, or it was a mutiny of some sort. I need to examine the remains more though."
"My guess is they used their powers of seduction to lull the men into a false sense of security, then killed them all and burned the keep to hide the evidence of their feast."
"You don't even know it was them!" The Lieutenant was visibly annoyed at Jarif's assumption. He gritted his teeth and waved his hand wildly, screaming. "Why am I even here? You've already made up your mind!"
"Because, Lieutenant, these women grow more powerful each time they kill someone, and if they are responsible for killing every man here, then there's no way to know what we're up against. THAT, Lieutenant, is WHY you are here." Jarif retorted with increased anger, though he was still calm by comparison.
Hatred filled Shakaam's head and gushed forth from his eyes in a burning stare. He'd had enough of this unknown man and his secret society who'd pulled him away from his work in Gebton Hollow, only to be treated as just another grunt doing footwork. The Lieutenant had no tolerance for those who allowed their zeal to consume them - it was often those people that committed crimes in the name of their cause.
"Any number of things could have happened here! This outpost protects travellers on the road between Gebton Hollow and Kemaj - what if one of the bandit kings organized an army and attacked?! What if some of the men simply mutinied?! What if it was a group of assassins?! You don't know! But then you're so busy chasing these women that YOU don't care!"
Jarif looked off to the north, his eyes lowered to the ground. "Lieutenant, you may have a point. Perhaps in my zeal to defend the people I have... overlooked other... possibilities. Proceed with your investigation. We will rest until you have reached a conclusion."
Shakaam was shocked. This man that had made himself out to be infallibility righteous had admitted some degree of ignorance and humility. He stood dumbfounded for a moment before proceeding inside, thinking to himself what a shock Jarif would be in for if he managed to drudge-up some evidence that it was an outside siege.
What he was finding did not point in that direction though. The few bodies which were not burned showed little or no sign of physical damage to them, and there were broken weapons strewn about the courtyard. He found door-remnants inside of the burned-out tower, and the barracks had a small pile of burned bodies that reminded him of what he saw in Gebton Hollow. Sighing deeply, he returned to Jarif with his report.
"Jarif, we may have a problem. Do you know how much more powerful they grow with each life they intake?"
"I'm not sure, why?"
"Well, these forts maintain anywhere from...eight to nine-hundred soldiers at a time, plus cooks, servants, and so on. If we assume they killed every man here, and there's two of them, that's about five hundred for each of them."
"Then you are certain it was them?"
"I've never seen anything quite like this. I'd still say bandits if I hadn't seen all the broken weapons and corpses without wounds. Do you have any idea what their abilities were before this?"
"No. I only know what I've seen them do - what I told you before. I have reason to believe that one of them is ancient and has been active for hundreds of years - she may very well already be much too powerful for us to handle. The other I have never seen or heard of." For the first time, Jarif looked slightly concerned as he spoke.
Shakaam looked northward, his eyes following the many footprints in and out of the burned citadel. Most of them turned and headed east or west towards the caravan route. There was evidence of various movement in other directions, but the surrounding grass and rocks obscured further tracking. Even an expert tracker would have a difficult time in such terrain.
"Well the obvious route for them would be on to Kemaj and then to the Capitol, but they've left an obvious swath of destruction. My guess is they're overconfident, thinking that none can oppose them, but if they're smart, they've gone off on another path, hoping to throw-off anyone who would be hunting them. Do they know you're after them Jarif?"
"As I said before, I have seen one of them once - she killed many men and fled quickly. That was almost two months ago. She seems to have grown in power since then. I have seen no indication that they know we are pursuing them, nor have we given them reason to believe so."
"Hmm... You say she's grown in power since then, what do you mean?"
"She killed thirty men and then ran when confronted with more - I think she may have been wounded in the fight somehow. Now she and her companion lay waste to an entire military citadel without opposition. Perhaps... perhaps there is something driving them..."
"You said they were ancient, but they have obviously grown in power since you've been tracking them. If they kept this pace all that time, why aren't they nigh-godlike by now?"
"Perhaps my information was wrong - perhaps they DO need energy to survive, and they were taking just enough to do only that, until now."
"Or they already ARE nigh-godlike and we can't stop them no matter what."
Jarif squinted at him. "That is not important. Our duty is to at least try to stop them, no matter the cost."
Shakaam looked away. "Many things are possible Jarif, but we should decide on a course of action here and get moving. We can't be too far behind them - the citadel was burned recently. I'd say we could catch them late tonight if we really got moving."
"Yes, but they may not be headed for Elezan at all. As you said, they have made their path quite obvious. To follow it now may be foolish."
"True, but there's so many people in the Capitol - more than any other city in all of Akeryn, and maybe more than any in the whole world. If I were them, and I thought no one could oppose me, that's where I'd go."
There was a long pause, and Shakaam could tell that Jarif was weighing his options heavily as he looked eastward. He and the elite guard stood for a few long moments awaiting Jarif's decision.
"Capturing or killing these women is our primary mission, Lieutenant. We ride now, for Kemaj. There we will wait for two days, after which we will ride hard for the Capitol of Elezan."
With that, Shakaam nodded, and the group set-out eastward, for Kemaj.
Strigori watched in horror as his men were tossed-around like leaves in the wind, flying high into the air and then landing, lifeless, on the cold earth. Within the space of a breath he'd lost three more men, joining the six already lying motionless. He didn't know whether to rush in and help or to run in terror. On one hand they were being defeated by two mere women, granted they had strange powers, but they were women. On the other hand, they were laying waste to his men without effort or resistance, and they seemed to enjoy doing it. Each time one of them touched one of his men, they seemed to draw some form of sexual enjoyment out of it, as their lovely faces contorted in orgasmic rapture while their victim quickly grew visibly weaker and eventually died. In addition to their deadly touch, they exhibited nigh-superhuman speed, and strength that was undoubtedly supernatural.
He'd had his back turned for only a moment, and somehow the women had broken free of their chains. His men had found them a few hours ago wandering the northern woods, dressed like high-class merchant concubines, and beautiful beyond compare. They chained them and brought them back, obviously in hopes of using them to pleasure themselves. Strigori had thought it odd that they didn't have their way with them right there and then, keeping them for themselves. He imposed harsh penalties for keeping such things to oneself, so they must have not thought these women were worth the risk. Now he almost wished that they HAD kept the girls, or that they'd never found them in the first place.
"It's her!" Gathim quietly exclaimed.
Gathim gasped in excitement as he saw the beautiful dark-haired woman once again. He had been trying to catch-up with her on the road from Gebton Hollow, but was kidnapped by these bandits and forced to march with them. For several days they had evaded patrols of soldiers, going further and further from the bandit camp. However a few days ago, the patrols all but disappeared, and Strigori, the bandit king, decided it was time to make a run for his camp. Now, as they were just returning, he saw the lovely woman again, still naked, wantonly killing his captors. If he hadn't been shackled he would have tried to help her, but in his mind, she would finish-off the bandits and free him, and she'd respect how he tried to follow her. Seeing his devotion to her, she'd fall in love with the him and they'd run off together. It was only a matter of time now.
After seeing them decimate his men with such ease, Strigori changed his focus - he was no longer concerned with saving his men or his bandit headquarters, only with survival. Quickly devising a plan, he drew his sword and slew one of the slaves they'd been dragging with them. The other captives looked-on in horror, except for the young blonde man who was too entranced by the women's killing - he somehow seemed to know them...
"Cover our flank. We retreat dis day." Strigori ordered his personal guard in a gruff tone. He turned to the young man who had been fascinated by the women and cut his shackles from the others' with a swift stroke. "And bring him along."
Gathim began to protest, but his cries were lost among the other captives' cries for freedom, mercy, and anger. Being all linked-together, they would now have to carry the weight of a dead man if they wanted to move. Some of them tried to get the others to start moving away, but they were disorganized rabble, and most of them were exhausted and hungry from their forced march.
Strigori and his men began to move away, three of them restraining the squirming boy. After a few minutes they could no longer hear the sounds of battle behind them. Though none of them were speaking, they all began to move a little faster, knowing that the strangely beautiful attackers may already be in pursuit.
Tavra surveyed the destruction of the camp. The scene was not unlike that of Arvord's Citadel when they had finished with it. Weapons lay everywhere, some shattered, while doors, emplacements, and even walls broken, and bodies carpeting the ground. She felt there was still a fair amount of lifeforce below her, slightly to her left. Searching in that direction, she found a system of large pit-cages holding prisoners. There were three of them per cage, crammed into a tiny living space. At the sight of her, they started begging to be freed. She smiled as she bent over and saw the looks of awe on their faces - they had obviously never seen a creature as beautiful as her.
Straddling both sides of the pit, she squatted low and willed their energies to pass through the air to her. A white snake of fog-like gas emitted from each of them and entered her pussy. She threw her head back and squatted lower as she bathed in their life energies. Tavra roared in pleasure as the newfound power surged into her. She placed her hands on her knees and looked down into the pit, seeing the white line of energy swaying slowly, connecting them to her. The confused captives didn't know what was happening until it was too late. They began to feel weak and then exhausted, trying to beg for mercy, but Tavra was too deep in her rapture to hear them.
After the first three were dead, she moved on to the next cage. Again, three prisoners, awestruck by her comeliness. Again, she squatted and forced their energies to pass into her, using her hands to move her long hair out of the way as she looked down to concentrate on the image of her own pussy and what was flowing into it. She found the act of watching their lifeforces flow through the air and enter her quite erotic. Tavra bobbed up and down, simulating a sexual motion as her senses were bathed in bliss.
Jynn's ecstasy was dying down as she drained the last remnants of her victim's lifeforce, adding it to hers. The world began to fade and fog around her - Jynn had seen this before. Sometimes when she took-in a lot of lifeforce her powers of arcane knowledge activated, and her mind felt like it was reaching to other realms for information. Time stopped, and she seemed to be outside of her own body, in another existence empty of all things except her consciousness.
Suddenly she found herself in the encampment again, holding the body of her previous victim. The only other living person she sensed in the immediate area was Tavra, who was busy reveling in her feast. Something new was in her mind, some fundamental part of the past had changed. She stood still for a few moments, thinking back, finally realizing what was revealed to her.
Long ago Tavra, herself, and six others like them were created in a great ritual. The ritual had elements of the Alnus Kagoi, the little-known ritual used to create true vampires. True vampires were fearsome beings - their physical prowess was almost unmatched, they were largely immune to physical attack, and they could create lesser vampires to do their bidding. The ritual that was used in the creation of Jynn and her "sisters" was twisted into something more, and fueled by a great and mysterious power, making them very much like true vampires, but without the same weaknesses. The most important differences were that they fed upon life-energy instead of blood, and they did not need to continually feed in order to stay alive. The energy they took in would only make them more powerful, unlike any kind of vampire.
There was also the matter of a demon's soul in the ritual. Somehow the soul of a great demon had been bound to a gem used in the ritual. It was a Succubus, a female demon who used her dark beauty to corrupt men. Apparently the demon was destroyed in the ritual, or rather its soul was "split-up" amongst the women. Jynn found it interesting that they were a sort of Vampire and Succubus at the same time, but more than just the sum of either.
The ritual, infused with power from whatever source they served, was made possible largely by human nobles and a small mixing of other races. The nobles had provided the most important part of the ritual - the place to enact it. Without their support, other humans would surely have heard about the two-month-long gathering and done something about it. The nobility bought the land, as it was their right to do, and provided some amount of manpower.
Somewhere along the line, the nobles gained the disfavor of whatever power created her and her "sisters," and the two began to war. The nobles had grown powerful and decadent, so the women easily decimated the order with their enhanced powers of seduction. However, this only forced them into hiding, and they began their own campaign to exterminate the women, and were hunting them, even now.
The knowledge did startle Jynn - someone out there knew about them, and quite possibly knew their weaknesses, maybe even better than she did. The only thing her and Tavra had working for them was that they were no longer automatons and because of that they'd grown much more powerful than the others, which might cause them to underestimate Tavra and Jynn.
Ahgran awoke in a grassy field, looking up at the early morning sky. He had no idea how long he had been there, or what day it was, only that he was hungry and that his much-needed rest may have shortened the lead he had on Tavra. She didn't need rest, or food, and she could kill him in moments if she caught him. What's worse is that he would more than likely let her kill him, or do anything else she wanted to him.
The Baron had hoped the part of him that wanted to be her slave would weaken as he distanced himself from her, but it had not. He wanted to see her again, to gaze upon her beauty and marvel in her majesty. He wanted to have her again and again, to defile her, to use her, perhaps even take something from her as she had from him. Last night he caught himself masturbating as he filled his mind with the memory of what they did in his tower - that night of passion that led to his downfall.
Something within him had changed on a fundamental level. He felt as if he was no longer human, as if perhaps she was the one who defiled HIM, somehow making him no longer whole. At first he wondered if it was all the lifeforce she'd taken from him, but he remembered Jynn saying to Tavra how their victims would become tired and listless after sufficient draining, and would never fully recover from such a loss. The Baron did not feel tired, just...altered.
As he lay in the grass, musing about the possibility that he was just depressed about losing all that he held dear, he heard people talking in the woods behind him. Turning quickly onto his belly, he crawled through the tall grass in an effort to get closer. The voices were distinctly male, though one of them was definitely younger than the others.
"How is it you know dem?" a low voice demanded. It had an accent to it, perhaps a Valabian accent - one of the hardy northmen from the frozen desert regions. They were a people to be feared, as their environment made them some of the strongest and most cunning warriors ever. It was remarkable to see one of them this far south, and in civilized lands.
"I...I don't REALLY. I just...worked for them." The younger voice said.
"What did you do for dem, boy, and what did dey pay you?"
This time Ahgran could tell for sure it was a Valabian accent. He crept-in closer to see who these people were.
"I...moved...bodies...for them...I did it...because I thought they were...pretty..."
"Bodies? Who did dey kill - and why?"
"Just...brothel patrons...and a few soldiers...I don't know why...I just know they...slept with the men and then...they called me in to remove the...the bodies...told me they were drunks."
Ahgran almost couldn't believe this. How long had Tavra and Jynn been killing people? Could it be that he had found some potential allies in his struggle against those cursed women? He drew closer to the group - now he could see them through the bushes. Arvord's jaw hit the dirt when he saw their insignias.
The Grim Falcon - the sign of the bandit king Strigori the Grim. His men had done battle with the Grim Falcons, and though they were mere bandits with piecemeal equipment, they had managed to give his Imperial Legionnaires stiff resistance in a few engagements. They were at the top of the raider food chain. A few days ago, they were the Baron's main adversaries - now it seemed they had a common enemy.
There was silence for a moment as Arvord thought about his next move. Now that his fortress was burned to the ground and his men killed, he had no ability with which to carry out his vengeance. Sure, he could go crawling back to the Empire, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't imprison him for his incompetence - there really wasn't a good way to explain losing an entire citadel to two women.
"Hrmph... What kind of woman kills like dat? Eh? Why would dey be after me? Perhaps we go see what de Sage-Eye says, no?" The Valabian said, finally breaking the long silence.
"They are not ordinary women, I promise you that. And they weren't interested in you, only your life energy." Arvord said, standing up with his arms held high. All thirteen highwaymen turned towards him, weapons raised. There was a boy with them, perhaps almost twenty years of age. He wasn't dressed like the others - it was more like he was an unfortunate traveller they'd happened across.
"Who would you be, and what do you know of deez... women." Strigori asked, lowering his sword.
"I... my name is Ahgran, and I was their slave for a time. They... have a way of... influencing men... I was no exception."
Strigori noted how this newcomer talked and carried himself. There was a noble bearing about him, though his clothes were torn and dirty. He stood tall, possibly almost six feet, and his body had no scars, yet he had a few minor cuts that looked fresh, showing that he was out of place in the woods. The dark-olive complexion of his skin went well with his slender and toned body. Greasy, shoulder-length black hair flowed beautifully from his head, and though there were hints of leaves and grass still in it, Strigori could almost be jealous of the man's good-looks and healthy body. If the man had been cleaner, it was clear that he could seduce any noblewoman.
Ahgran was not impressed by the outlaw lord before him. He was short, roughly five and a half feet tall, and ugly. The Valabian's small, pockmarked face seemed to be stuck in a perpetual sour-faced expression, and hair stuck-up out of the neck of his shirt. Small, black eyes beamed his stony gaze, yet there was a something about his stare that reminded Ahgran of a madman - indeed, as a whole he looked more beast than human.
There was another lengthy pause during which the two stared at each other, each sizing-up the other one. Ahgran was appalled at the depths he'd sunk to in only a few days, but he did his best to hide his contempt for them and his current situation. Strigori was impressed by the nobleman's courage and piety in approaching them - most noblemen would have ran screaming from a group of brigands. If what he said was true, then the noble had been reduced to crawling around in the woods and conspiring with outlaws.
"Denn tell us, Ahgran, why you have...volunteered dis... information."
"Because I want revenge. And because the enemy of my enemy is sometimes my friend. I have the knowledge, you have the manpower. You seem to have a problem with them as well, and if we work together, we can destroy them." As he spoke, he summoned forth his inspiring aura of nobility. For eons the people had been bred to look-up to the nobility, and when pressed, serve without question. Ahgran was hoping that this bandit had some of that subservient nature within him.
Strigori eyed him for a short while, deciding what to do. On one hand his forces were greatly weakened by the assault of the two women. Though he had other camps in the area with more men, those cursed wenches had destroyed his headquarters and the mainstay of his supplies and ill-gotten wealth. Years of progress were obliterated in a few minutes, and what's worse, he'd lost it to females.
"I shall make you a deal, Mr. Ahgran. We are going to another stronghold of mine, tree days from here. Dere I will use the Sage-Eye to divine more. You will give me more information I ask for. You travel wit us and tell me all you know of dees...women. If I am satisfied you told me all you know before we get dere, I let you live."
Arvord squinted and weighed his current options. His insides were still a strange mush of pride, self loathing, lust, and hatred, and he knew the only way he could redeem himself in his own eyes was to somehow kill Tavra. On the other hand, his self-esteem would drop to new lows when he began working with enemies he still despised. Pride was one of the things that made the nobility better than everyone else, and if he sacrificed his pride, what would he be then? Still, if he allowed Tavra to get away with what she'd done to him, he knew he'd be even less of a noble.
He nodded his approval at the brigand, and swallowed hard.
Arvord and the bandits travelled north for two days, making good time through the use of various shortcuts he'd never thought existed. It was obvious to him now how they had eluded capture so many times - they knew the land much better than his troops ever did.
During the three days he fabricated a story to tell Strigori about being a merchant who was seduced by the two women and drawn into their deceitful plan. He convinced Strigori that they used him to get into Arvord citadel and kill everyone there, though he did not know why and that he had escaped while they were feasting upon the soldiers Ever since then he'd been running in fear that they were still pursuing him. The disenfranchised Baron also told Strigori of their powers - their unmatched strength and nigh-superhuman speed, their ability to incapacitate men with their beauty, and their immunity to weapons.
The bandit king did not seem surprised through all of this - he'd seen them in action against his men and how quickly they fell before these strange women. He had no doubt that he, nor anyone he knew could stand against them in a straight-up fight, but if they had the right information, he could set-up an ambush of some sort, or perhaps he could find a bargaining chip to use against them...such as the boy, Gathim.
Strigori wasn't sure if they knew the boy, and were perhaps even looking for him, or if perhaps he was simply just a bystander caught-up in the fray. Thus, he kept the boy around just in case he would be useful later. To throw-away any potential resource this early in the game would be foolish.
Gathim saw himself as a spy. The beautiful dark-haired woman that Ahgran referred to as "Tavra" obviously had some incredible powers, and she may have been trying to kill Ahgran or Strigori. To this end, Gathim kept quiet and gathered as much information as he could about her enemies. For example, he could tell Ahgran hated being involved with Strigori and his men - the displeasure on his face was visible at times, though he was careful to hide it from those that mattered. He overheard Strigori talking about how he had more resources scattered about the area, which he would eventually rally to be used against Tavra. Most importantly, he knew that both men hid their fear that all their efforts would be in vain - Tavra and her companion Jynn appeared to be nigh invulnerable
His only concern was this "Sage-Eye" they were going to see. Strigori said that he had used "it" in the past to build his bandit empire, and that it practically knew everything. If Tavra DID have a weakness, they may soon know about it. Still, he had enlisted the help of Ahgran, which meant that whatever power this "Sage-Eye" had was not infallible.
After two days of travel through the Great Galoran Woods, they finally reached their destination. There was another hidden bandit camp, this one much smaller than the previous one. The woods here were much more dense than at Strigori's headquarters, and the area around the camp was arranged with some large and quite nasty-looking brambles, allowing entry and exit through only two choke-points. Small shelters were either carved out of fallen trees or piecemealed together from branches and leaves.
Strigori made his way to a small tent hidden under some leaves. There were no guards outside, which made Arvord realize the fear and loyalty this bandit lord inspired in his men. The men all crowded into the tent, making it hard to see what Strigori was doing. After a short while the men parted, and the bandit was standing in the center of a strange arcane symbol which had previously been hidden by a rug. The symbol's mere presence made Arvord uncomfortable, as magic was usually something best-kept among the mage guilds, or at least those who knew how to use it. Those who didn't understand it were best-advised to keep away from it. He hoped the bandit knew what he was doing...
Strigori pulled a rather ornate knife from a fold of cloth. It looked rather worn, even rusted in some areas of the blade, but the main feature was a large and quite valuable looking ruby embedded in the hilt. Taking the dagger in his left hand, he ran the length of the blade across his right palm, wetting it in the blood. He carefully set the dagger on the floor, obviously paying close attention to where it fit among the arcane symbols and how the blood dripped across them. The ruby began to glow as Strigori stared at it, his eyes alight with a similar eerie fire.
All attention in the room was focused on him. Strigori allowed his consciousness to be drawn into the stone, "Ghirza" the Sage-Eye. He saw the distant past, though he didn't know how far in the past. There was a great battle in the heavens - it was a legendary battle between gods. Lightning and fire rained down, turning a vast forest into a desert and laying waste to great mountains. A great lightshow in the sky shook the land, and then, all was silent. One of the gods, defeated, fell to the earth with a blazing white fire rippling behind it.
Eons passed before his eyes. In that time, humans had built civilization, fought with one another, and the other gods had left for another world. All that time the fallen god made allies from disenfranchised humans, entering their dreams, promising them power. Others were drawn-in as well - the Stalgis - a bat-like race of nocturnal predators, long thought extinct, and the Qegran - sentient insects who had freed themselves from hive-mindedness and were in chaos. Together they formed a cabal to raise the fallen one back to its place of power. With the other gods gone, there would be nothing to oppose its rule, and the cabal would be granted a place beside it.
Meanwhile, the humans had forged great civilizations, ruled largely by nobility. Some nobles formed orders which held their mutual interests. Many grew into outdated social gatherings which were little more than a name, but one was seduced by the dreams of power sent by the fallen one. They schemed in dark passages alongside its followers and brought their wealth and influence to bear. Finally, there would be a way for the fallen one to rise again.
In a cave, possibly far in the north, Strigori saw a gathering of the fallen one's followers. They were enacting a ritual - lots of dancing, muttering, bloodletting, sex, and general mayhem. Finally, the crowd parted, revealing the women - there were eight of them, two of which he recognized from the raid on his camp. All of them were magnificent in their nudity, though some were much more attractive than others.
Time passed again, and he saw the death the women caused, and how it fueled them. Ahgran was right - they seduced and killed, somehow drawing the living energy out of their prey to grow more powerful. Each woman also had an appointed place they would meet with two mysterious and sturdy men. The men were twins, but each meeting place did not hold the same twins, though they did all look alike. The twins and the woman would copulate, and they would draw the energy out of her, leaving her weak once again. The men would remain, and the woman would leave to gather more energy.
This had gone on for millennia, the nobles using the women to eliminate enemies, and the twins, somehow related to the fallen one, grew stronger. At some point the nobles and the fallen one became enemies, and the women immediately began hunting them. The nobles could not stand against the lures of the erotic huntresses, and thus they lost all the influence they'd gained, and their numbers began to dwindle. Forced underground, the noble order kept their remaining political ties a secret, and trained certain members to hunt the hunters. From their hiding places they struck out as best they could, all the while renewing their political ties in certain areas.
The bandit lord saw one such noble running a special scimitar through one of the women, killing her. The blade was an odd shade of yellow, and it was the first weapon he'd seen harm them. In another place, he saw a young mage tattooing some sort of rune on the thigh of one of the women who assaulted his headquarters. She was asleep, or incapacitated somehow, but when she awoke, there was something different about her.
She, in turn, put the tattoo on the darker-haired beauty that had attacked his stronghold, and ever after there was something not quite right about the two of them. Their actions seemed to be more "alive" than the others, and their craving for energy was not as controlled.
Strigori brought himself out of the vision for a moment, taking a mental step back to examine the facts. At first he thought he saw allies in the twins, as they drew the women's power from them. It made him happy to know that these women were being drained in turn by males - he would hate to think that these females were the most powerful beings in the world. But in the end, even the twins were pawns of a sort for the fallen god.
The real allies he sought were the nobles who were at war with this god. Or, Strigori thought, perhaps he could ally himself with the god by finding and destroying the nobles, and aiding the women... He'd witnessed the power the women held, and could only imagine the power the twins had. If he could only contact them somehow...
He focused once again on the Sage Eye, projecting his desire to see where he could find one pair of twins, the avatars of the fallen god. He felt the stone's power being blocked - something much more powerful than the artifact was hiding the location of the god's representatives. Strigori remembered seeing them in very nondescript places - caves with torches, ordinary stone rooms, a pinewood forest. He searched again, this time more forceful with his will, but still, nothing.
Frustrated, he withdrew from the vision and moved back into reality. He looked around the room at his men. With them were Ahgran and the boy, Gathim. They were important in this somehow, but he would not be able to use the Sage Eye again for some time. Ahgran was telling the truth, and there was something more to him than what he made out to be.
As usual, he would keep the knowledge to himself, not wanting anyone else to have the information should he fall. Now it was time for him to take action, though he did not know what. However, if he were to ally himself with a growing power such as the fallen one, it would be best if he did so soon, while he might still be of use to a fledgling god. Still, that would mean allying himself with those...women...
Ever since he joined them, Ahgran had been treated like dirt by Strigori's men. It did not annoy him as much as it frightened him - perhaps the bandit had found him out and was harrying him into telling the truth. He was randomly awakened in the night to do menial chores, was given smaller meals, and talked down to the entire time. At one point they made him dig a grave, which he was sure would be his own. Even when he discovered he was wrong, he realized that his usefulness to the bandits had to be proven again - he had given their leader knowledge, but now he had to show the men that he was worth something.
His name was Yasun, and he was among the strongest men in the camp. He'd been hounding Ahgran more than the others, and most of the bandits saw the big man as a foe only slightly less unbeatable than Strigori himself. Yasun was markedly less quick-witted than their leader, and did not have the ruthless charisma needed to run such an operation, otherwise he'd at least have posed a threat to the Valabian's position.
What better way to prove myself to the men than by besting him? Ahgran thought. I don't really have anything else left to lose.
Arvord found Yasun eating alone at a table in the mess tent. He sat down across from the oaf and rested his elbow on the table, forearm pointing upwards.
"Alright you worthless pile of Vrunti slime, let's see if you can best me!" Ahgran challenged, paying careful attention to the wording of his request - he had placed himself in a higher position than his opponent, showing the bravado that Strigori's men respected.
Yasun stopped chewing his bread and stared at the newcomer. His cold eyes could convince anyone that he'd never known fear in his life. He shoved his plate aside and rested his elbow on the table as well. Yasun's arms were visibly larger and more muscled than his adversary's, though Ahgran did not break his stare to notice the comparison.
He took the oaf's hand and felt a surge of ecstasy pass through his body, not unlike when he was with Tavra, but much less intense. A startled look came over his face and he gasped at the sudden pleasure. It was then that he realized it - Yasun's energy was flowing into him! It wasn't difficult to control his reaction to the feeling, but his adversary did grin his confidence to the Baron.
"What's the matter, weakling? Afraid?" Yasun smiled, showing rotting teeth.
Ahgran squinted a bit and stared straight into Yasun's eyes. "No, not in the slightest." The energy continued to flow into him, making him confident that he could beat Yasun with his newfound strength. However, he didn't feel any stronger - in fact, he sensed the energy was passing right through him!
Tavra stopped her brisk walk when the pleasure hit her. She inhaled a staggered breath and looked around, putting her hands on her hips and moving them up to her waist. She couldn't figure out where the power was coming from, but she was gaining energy. Looking upwards, she arched her back as the lifeforce flowed into her, though at a slower rate than she was used to. Tavra sensed...the Baron...was he doing this?
Ahgran's penis grew hard, and he felt his pants wetten slightly. He could feel Tavra at the other end, somewhere in the world, drinking the power that he was taking in. She was standing with her back arched, looking upwards, eyes closed, mouth open, hands made into fists and held at her sides. He wanted to stop what he was doing, but something in him couldn't - he was compelled to make her stronger, to serve her. The Baron was sickened by her greed, and at the same time aroused at his ability to make her writhe with such ecstasy. She seemed to be enjoying the flow of lifeforce more than he did, perhaps that was because he was only the conduit and she was the receptacle. Before he knew it, Yasun was looking tired, and the match was almost over - the weakness finally got to him, and their arms collapsed to the table. Arvord let go as quickly as possible and stood up. Tavra exhaled and opened her eyes drowsily.
"Are you ok?" Jynn was standing very close, inspecting her incapacitated travelling companion.
"Yes, I'm....quite good, actually."
"What happened? It looked like you -"
"Arvord. He...somehow... channeled energy into me."
Jynn squinted and looked puzzled for a moment. "Hold on, let me meditate for a moment." She looked away, as Tavra's body was too much of a distraction, and concentrated. Thinking hard on the issue, she enveloped herself in the fog again, questing. After a few seconds, the knowledge came to her. Her eyes widened as she spoke. "That's one of your powers - you made him into some sort of... energy... funnel!"
"But...how?"
"You exchanged energy with him - you took so much and replaced it with your own that...he's becoming your slave, Tavra, you can make slaves! You can see into their minds and control them! You can use them to gather energy for you!" Jynn looked at her companion excitedly, grasping her arms proudly. "He serves YOU now!"
"He serves himself."
"No, no! He's your minion, your slave."
"A minion who wants to kill me."
Jynn shook her head. "He only thinks he wants to kill you. You're in control, Tavra, and the more energy you gain, the more power you'll have over him! Exercise your control over him, do it now!"
Tavra looked at Jynn, frowning cynically. Still, the idea of controlling Arvord so completely did seem quite appealing - by controlling his will she could destroy him in a way no other person could.
She looked into the distance and thought of Arvord. She saw him in a wooded area of some sort. There were many bandits around with the same crest as that of the camp they raided earlier.
"Arvord...I want more."
The Baron was on his way to his appointed sleeping area when he heard her voice. He stopped in mid-stride, eyes wide with fear and lust.
She pressed harder upon his will. "Get me more energy. Do it again. Now."
Ahgran shook his head, mustering all he could to defy her. He tried to think of his home and his men, all that he'd lost because of her. She was far away, but still she had her talons in him. Closing his eyes, he started to push her out of his mind. After a long moment, the Baron shook off her hold and kept walking, smiling at his victory over her.
Frustrated, Tavra clenched her teeth and cursed. "Damn him!"
Seeing her displeasure and assuming the worst, Jynn tried to comfort the girl. "Tavra, my lovely, it's alright - you'll soon be able to bend his will without even a thought. He'll be channelling energy into you with every waking moment, just give it time."
Disgusted with her shortcomings, she thought back to the tree she could not uproot so long ago. Tavra began her brisk walk again. "We should keep moving."
Ahgran awoke in his tent to see Tavra's hourglass silhouette standing before him. He could tell her back was turned to him, and for a moment he thought of trying to do something - escape, stab her, call for help, but he knew there was no way to stop her from doing whatever she came to do. She parted the tent opening slightly, letting the moonlight in, and then turned around to him and paused. He was overtaken by a mixture of fear, rage, and lust - his cock quickly became hard as she approached, and his legs began to spread as if she had commanded him without saying anything.
She pulled the covers from him and straddled him. Lowering herself slowly, she guided his shaft into her, throwing her head back at the deep penetration. Tavra began to slide up and down his cock, letting out whimpers and yelps. Ahgran reached up with his hands and fondled her breasts as the waves of ecstasy passed over him. She arched her back and let out a single, guttural grunt.
Between his arms he saw a faint blue glow in her, and a strange yellow light feeding into it from below. Pulling his hands away, he saw she had become nothing but a silhouette with a blue light at its center. The yellow string of light passed through their connected genitals and originated in... him! She was draining him! He felt weaker, but could do nothing to resist, only watch the yellow mix with her blue as his own light grew more faint. He watched her light grow brighter as she writhed, back still arched, hands on her thighs.
Suddenly she leaned over and put her hands on his chest, and a string of blue light went through them, into him. He felt a strange strength, and then rapturous ecstasy as her power flowed into him. She was still draining him, but she was giving back more than she took. His body convulsed as the pleasure took hold. Ahgran's flesh tingled, and he felt like the most powerful being in the universe. He continued to spurt cum inside of her - forthy rivulets of his seed were dripping out as she thrust up and down upon him. Within all the feelings of sensual bliss, he looked down and was horrified to see his own light was changing colors - the blue was mixing with the yellow to become a sickly green.
Then, suddenly, it all stopped. She rose from him and moved to the head of the bed. He could still see the light in her - it was still the same color as when they had started, but he - he was still a sickly green. He looked up at her to see she was no longer a silhouette, but was once again flesh, and he could not see either of their lights anymore. She smiled at him and turned, closing the tent opening before she left.
After almost a full day of riding from the burned remains of Arvord's Citadel, Shakaam and Jarif still had not seen any signs of their quarry. They had asked passing caravans and travelers if they'd seen the two women, as they were hard to miss, but they had no such luck. By the time they had reached Kemaj, Shakaam began to feel that their decision had not been a good one. Still, Jarif was in charge, and he said they would wait for two days in Kemaj, hunting their prey, then move on to Elezan.
Within hours their information gatherers had picked-up on an odd trail of bodies without obvious wounds - Jarif indeed had good connections. The group went to the basement of the Kemaj Town Hall to inspect the bodies, and Shakaam noted Jarif's reaction to the corpses when he saw them. It was almost as if Jarif knew the victims, but he had to hide that fact from his men and Shakaam.
"There were only three corpses, all found over the course of a week, which seems an odd pattern for these women. In Gebton Hollow there were about twenty similar deaths total, Arvord's Citadel was completely devastated, and now only three?" Shakaam spoke quietly, as if there were ears dipping into their conversation. He had always considered city halls and political centers as places more dangerous than even the seediest taverns.
"Quite true. Your investigative skills are invaluable, Lieutenant. Do you think it is possible they were not headed for Kemaj at all?" Jarif nodded as he spoke.
"Possible, but as I said, if I thought myself nigh invulnerable and wanted to grow stronger by killing lots of people, I'd make for the Capitol at best speed. It may be that they caused so much carnage behind them to tide themselves over for a longer journey, or they were trying to throw us off - the trail was quite obvious."
There was a long pause, after which Jarif finally retorted. "We can't afford to start second-guessing ourselves. We'll stay here two days, and head for Elezan the day after. In the meantime, I want you to inspect these bodies closer. See if you can find any other causes of death. I'll post a guard with you."
"Can I get a seer?"
"No, I want as few people in on this as possible. Nobody else hears of anything you find. Understand?"
Shakaam sighed, nodding. "Where can I find you if I need you?"
"I have some business to attend to. We'll be staying at the Eagle's Nest. I should be there each nightfall."
"What, are there vampires or something?" Shakaam joked.
"Yes, Kemaj has quite a large vampire population. That is one reason I want you to carefully inspect those bodies. Vampires are adept at covering their tracks, which is why they often live for so long." The lack of emotion in Jarif's words sobered the Lieutenant's attitude. He nodded and went back to the holding room where the bodies were located.
A closer inspection of the bodies did reveal two very small piercings of the neck on two of the victims. They were carefully done - an average inspector would have missed them. While he was inspecting the third body, some soldiers brought-in two more bodies, "Found 'em in the river this mornin'. Still lookin' fer more." Shakaam nodded and went back to his work. The third body had no visible marks, and was in very good shape. Shakaam read the report on the body : "Rejind Kadric, Merchant. Cause of death : Unknown. Burial code : 3b."
The Lieutenant called for a servant to find whatever records could be found on the merchant, and proceeded to investigate the bodies from the river. More bite marks. Jarif wasn't kidding. However, one of the bodies was marked for cremation. Shakaam pulled a dagger from his belt and cut into the wrist of the corpse. As he expected, there was a surprising lack of blood, but the rest of the body seemed perfectly intact.
"Vampires indeed." He said to himself.
Adjra locked eyes with the merchant. She poured forth her will into his mind, making him want her like no other woman. She licked her lips and turned away - it was only a moment, but she knew that was all it took. Soon her and Tirah would be in his manse, taking his energy. After that they could see the twins again.
In her dreams they came to her, the twins. They had told her that the only way she could see them again was to drain this man. They had told her this about other men many times over, but she did not care - all that mattered was that soon she could be in their arms again, with both of their massive bodies pumping and thrusting their large shafts in and out of her. She almost spasmed with ecstasy at the thought.
Lately though, the dreams took a more urgent note - they had told her and Tirah to operate together, for there were two renegades, Jynn and Tavra, who had rebelled against the twins and were trying to destroy them. Adjra couldn't see how any woman would possibly want to destroy such magnificent men. In all her eons of existence, she had never experienced such pleasure as she did when they were inside of her.
"Here he comes." Tirah whispered in her ear.
"Ah, hello, my dear. My name is Alev Thukar, and I noticed your...grace amongst the peasants here in the marketplace. You're...not from Kemaj, are you?"
Adjra turned to meet the man's gaze again. She noticed how ugly he was compared to the twins. Instantly a feeling of disgust came over her. She could easily muscle him off into a secluded area and drain him forcefully there, but that might arouse suspicion. Each time she was made to kill a man she could only think of how they were pathetic in comparison to the twins. Each time she just wanted to get it over with...
Jynn could see the road and the city of Kemaj in the distance, its towers and sprawling slums on the outsides of the city walls. Kemaj was a rogue's den, and at the same time a mercantile nexus of the Empire, and the world. Ships from all over came into Bargalo Bay to dock at Kemaj and unload their goods for transport to the Capitol of Elezan. Criminals came too, to escape on a ship, seek their fortunes, or most of all, turn-in other criminals. Long ago the Empire of Akeryn decreed that any criminal who turns another criminal whose crime was equivalent or worse would be pardoned.
She didn't want to stay long though - she felt Tavra's growing desire for energy. Jynn feared that she'd want to drain the whole city. While the thought of such a thing did turn Jynn on somewhat, she knew there were people after them who had already thrown a wild card into the fray. Furthermore, Jynn didn't know if she could resist Tavra if her companion really put her mind to taking the lives of everyone in the city - she had become that beautiful, and beyond that, she constantly radiated an aura which at the same time commanded obedience and ignited lust in all around her.
After Kemaj would come the real prize - Elezan and her master. Jynn could feel her master's presence, and how he still called to her, trying to control her. She knew he would be hiding somewhere on the outskirts of Elezan, probably in one of the many ruins from past wars and rebellions. She'd been close before, but feared that she couldn't take him on by herself. That's why Byen and Tavra were needed.
Byen was the mage who had found a way to block their master's mind control with the tattoos made from magically-enhanced inks. He was also the only man to ever have satisfied Jynn without cumming. She still remembered the night he freed her.
She suddenly awoke, and as if it had been a dream, her memory of the past was spotty at best. He was standing over her, it was dark but she could see he was smiling and extending his hand to help her up. She took it and stood, finding that he was about half a foot taller than her, with short, dark hair parted in the middle, he was slim, well-toned, and absolutely beautiful. His eyes had a special property that seemed to draw her in, making her feel like she was looking for something valuable that had fallen into a pit and found something more amazing. His hands were strong - a minute quality many women in the capitol found attractive. He wore nothing but a loincloth, as it was hot and very humid. His bare chest shined with sweat, and had only a small patch of hair around his bellybutton leading downwards to his groin.
His first words were memorable as well. He said "Jynn, you are the loveliest creature I have ever seen." His voice was deep, and there was a magic to it that aroused her. She immediately began asking questions - she grilled the poor man until dawn, when he finally decided he had to have rest.
Byen was a S'rinkali - a mage who specialized in magics that affected the mind. Most mages of his type were feared, as their powers of manipulation were subtle, yet strong. To insure their loyalty, they were magically bound to obey a noble, unable to disobey or plot against them. Because of this, his order had largely become little more than slaves who used fancy magics to enhance the sexual pleasure of their masters. To "own" a S'rinkali was considered at the same time decadent and noble, as it was their master's duty to watch over them.
His particular master was quite cruel, and particularly decadent. Jynn had caught his master's eye, who then instructed Byen to use his magics to find out more about her. His lord had hoped to add her to his menagerie of mistresses, and thus Byen set to work. He subtly delved into her mind, but before he could inform his master of the peril he was in, Byen felt himself freed from the magical bond his master held over him. His master was dead, and the young mage took Jynn into his laboratory to hide her from a strange group of men who came looking for her. He pieced together a spell which could free her from her own master's control, and became determined to return the favor to her.
When she awoke with the red tattoo on her thigh, she had been freed. She decided she didn't want to risk her master regaining control of her, and thus set out to destroy him - and Byen pledged his help. As he tried to leave to get some rest, she moved around front of him, got on her knees, and took his cock in her hands. She began to massage it, and her eyes grew wider as it did - while his length wasn't outstanding, the width was incredible. She knew then that she had to have him inside her.
They had sex most of the morning, and into the afternoon. She reached climax after climax, writhing on his thick shaft, but by noon, she noticed that he had not yet climaxed. Jynn tried every trick, every position, but could not make him cum. When she finally asked him about it, he reiterated that he was a mind mage, with ultimate control over his own mind, and that it was enough for him to see her enjoying herself. He then excused himself, saying he desperately needed food, water, and rest, but he offered to continue again the next day if she so wished. Jynn was at the same time offended and in awe. It was unfortunate that she had no actual feelings for him, as he was courteous, good-looking, and extremely good in bed.
As the weeks passed, Jynn carefully gathered energy in Elezan, killing her victims only once in a while, but most often taking only little bits from her patrons at the brothel. She didn't know who or what her master was, but she assumed she'd need a lot of energy to take him on. She set Byen to work on more tattoo ink, as he said it took a long time to prepare. He had found the resting place of another of their kind - sealed in a cave long ago by unknown forces. That, of course was where Tavra came in.
"Are you coming?"
Jynn was snapped back to reality by Tavra's voice. She was half-in a large horsedrawn carriage, the kind that wealthy people owned. Inside she could see a merchant, who had obviously been smitten by Tavra, and his wife, who looked at them in disgust. She nodded and stepped-up into the carriage while Tavra turned to sit next to the merchant. Jynn sat next to the merchant's wife - she found it odd that they had been sitting on opposite sides, but with the interest that he showed in Tavra, Jynn understood why his husband had switched sides.
Jynn knew that Tavra wasn't interested in the carriage, only the lifeforces inside of it. It had been about two days since they raided that bandit camp, and they had been far off the main road until now. That was the last time they took-in energy, and Jynn was also feeling the lust to have another's essence rush into her.
The merchant was already pawing at Tavra's thigh, periodically moving more of her skirt so he could see more and more of her leg. Finally, he shoved his hand under her skirt and began kissing her neck. Tavra's smile slowly faded and she closed her eyes. Jynn could see the merchant's hands moving under her skirt. She looked to the woman next to her and willed the lust in the woman's soul to manifest. Immediately the woman's gaze turned towards Jynn, and she slithered to her knees. Moving the leather bikini aside, she began to lick Jynn's clitoris vigorously. She unbuttoned Jynn's cape and groped at the revealed breasts.
At times Jynn caught both herself and the woman looking at Tavra, whose face was beautifully straining from the pleasure. Her legs were spread high in the air as the man stood thrusting into her and fumbling amateurishly with her breasts. His thrusts were shallow and quick, and he climaxed quickly, repeating "Ohh my!" over and over again as hs cock spurted cum inside her.
Tavra was disgusted by the man's size and inexperience. Men didn't need to be excessively large or good to please her, but he wasn't anywhere near up to par. Instead, she very slowly siphoned energy from him through her pussy - at least she'd get SOME pleasure from him. She was even more disgusted when he pulled-out and tried to make her lick it clean. She looked him in the eye and brought her powerful will to bear. His was an easy will to crush, and she commanded him to satisfy her. Immediately he fell to his knees and shoved three fingers into her. His tongue lapped all around his hand, only occasionally striking her clitoris. Tavra continued to drink his essence slowly, gyrating her hips as his energy passed into her, giving her some semblance of satisfaction.
Jynn was about to climax by this time. She half sat-up, supported by her elbows, and watched the woman work. Though she liked to have a man's cock inside of her, she also adored how good women were at pleasing their own kind. Time slowed, and she experienced the orgasm moment by moment. The woman's smooth tongue glided over her clitoris and her two fingers pumped in and out, Jynn tightened herself around the woman's fingers. The building wave came crashing down on Jynn's womanhood, and pleasure shot through her. Her tongue flicked again and her hands thrust inwards and outwards. Again, her senses were bathed in delight, her whole body shook, and her heart jumped into her throat. The orgasm seemed to go on for minutes, her flesh overcome by repeated surges of pleasure.
As the climax subsided, she drew forth the woman's energy, as much as she could at one time. Immediately her body again was awash in the ecstasy as new lifeforce gushed into her. Jynn roared a long and mighty "YYESS!" as she was filled with her victim's vitality. The woman's body slumped to the floor, and Jynn quickly regained her senses. Tavra was sitting alone, playing with her hair, looking out the window - the merchant was also lying dead on the floor.
"Sorry about that, I had to have him." She said.
Jynn, still panting, raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what, my dear?"
"That I left you with that woman. I wanted a man in me, and you got the leftovers."
"Oh, no no, don't be sorry, she was magnificent! Sometimes women know how to please women better than any man." Jynn said, wondering if Tavra would catch her overture. There was a short silence and Tavra finally looked at Jynn, smiling, and responded.
"Maybe I'll try that someday."
As Adjra entered the room, she turned and again willed Alev to want nothing in the world but her. She wanted to get this over with - she was excited about seeing the twins again. His eyes grew large and he immediately began to undress. Tirah was already being penetrated in the doorway by Alev's young son.
She slid her summer dress from her shoulders and it fell to the floor. Alev moved over to her quickly and grabbed her hips, gently moving her towards his bed. Adjra rested her back on the bed as he bent over and entered her, fondling her small breasts. Even though he was no comparison to the twins, she still shuddered at the entry of his smooth flesh into her muscled passage. He slid in and out of her, and she could taste his lust for her. His thrusts became more and more rapid, and the pleasure began to build in her. She could not deny the feeling of her pussy wrapping around a man's cock. Adjra began to drain bits of lifeforce from him, quivering with pleasure as she did so.
She closed her eyes and imagined he was one of the twins, pumping his giant cock into her with great speed, his large hands running their way up her legs and hips. His muscled form loomed over her, and the size of his penis stretched her to the limit. When she immersed herself in her delusion, she began to cum, contracting herself around his shaft. The ecstasy the illusion gave her wasn't anything like what the real thing would be though.
Returning to reality after her orgasm, she realized Alev had an arm around her arched back, and was cumming himself. She drew the lifeforce out of him with his cum, throwing her head back and screaming in pleasure. His thrusts quickly slowed, and she pulled him in closer to finish him off.
She quivered as his chest met hers and the last of his energy poured into her. Just as the feelings of intense pleasure died down, she noticed Tirah was gasping, or rather choking, her victim already slumped on the floor. A blade erupted from Tirah's side, spraying Adjra with blood.
Surprised that someone could hurt them, she was almost paralyzed by her companion's slow death. As Tirah's body fell to the floor, she saw an older man behind her with a long scimitar. He was still focused on his kill, and Adjra used that moment to enforce her will upon him. She concentrated hard on him, but when he looked up and noticed her, he raised his blade and charged.
Adjra threw her victim's corpse at him with ease, knocking him back. She darted for the window and looked-out. They were two stories up and she didn't know if she had enough energy in her to make her strong enough to withstand the jump, but she leapt anyway. Shards of glass flew with her out onto the mansion lawn. She landed hard, feeling a sharp pain in her right leg. Getting to her feet, she looked back to see several men leaning out the broken window throwing knives at her. Two daggers whizzed by her head - luckily for her she had jumped far enough so that they would have difficulty being very accurate. Getting to her feet slowly, she felt the sharp pain in her leg again. She began a brisk walk away from the mansion, as it was the fastest she could go. Adjra was so shocked that she didn't realize she was still naked.
Then there was a sharp pain in her back, and the feeling of liquid rolling down her skin. Tears welled-up in her eyes as she limped on, knowing that one of them had hit her somehow.
Shakaam stared blankly at the sheet of paper he was handed. It was a message from his associates in Gebton Hollow saying that Saalja, Baron Arvord's wife had escaped the burning citadel and travelled just off the main road until she was picked-up by a merchant caravan headed towards Gebton Hollow. She stayed with them until they reached the small town and then reported to the Imperial Guard stationed there. She spoke of women of indescribable comeliness who also possessed strange powers, including unbelievable strength and speed, which they used to decimate the soldiers in the citadel. The Baron challenged one of them to a duel of some sort, and he sent Saalja away in hopes of protecting her and his own legacy as well. When she had heard the citadel was mostly burned, she began to organize a small army to go looking for these two women and wring her vengeance from them. If it wasn't for what happened yesterday, they might be headed back home to Gebton Hollow to question her further.
Yesterday they were visiting a friend of Jarif's at his manse when they heard the sounds of moaning upstairs. Jarif instantly drew his sword and rushed up the stairs, as if he knew what was happening. Shakaam followed as best he could, but when he rounded the corner, all he saw was Jarif driving his sword through a woman in the doorway. As he pulled the sword from her body, she fell limply to the floor and he looked into the room and charged. Something large flew through the air at him and he was knocked backwards. Jarif's soldiers drew their daggers and rushed past Shakaam. He briefly saw a woman jump through the window, where the guards stopped to throw knives. Shakaam quickly moved to the broken window to see the woman turning to run.
"Give me your knife," Shakaam commanded one of the guards who was about to throw. He eyed the lieutenant for a short moment and handed it over. It had been a while since he'd thrown a knife at a moving target, but during the wars he had become the best knife-thrower in the Empire, which is why he was inducted into the Ghosamm Imperial Guard.
He aimed for half a second and threw. At first he thought for sure he'd miss because he got that feeling just as he let go of the dagger, but the knife struck her firmly near the shoulder, dribbling blood down her back. Jarif was suddenly beside him, in awe of the scene. He put his hand on Shakaam's shoulder and commended him.
"Lieutenant! Good show! I am impressed! Now we follow the trail of blood to her hideout to see if there are others!"
"It may be wise to stop her now, Jarif, while we have the chance. Who knows if she'll suddenly stop bleeding?" Jarif became sullen and grim, looking Shakaam dead in the eye.
"No, I know they bleed when hurt by P'jurium. It would be foolish to pass-up this opportunity, I give the orders, now we go."
With that he turned and stormed out of the room, heading down the stairs quickly. His men unquestioningly fell-in line behind him, and Shakaam stood for a long moment before following. All the while he thought about how Jarif had to be right - he had been fighting these "dark maidens" for a lot longer, and besides, he'd only picked-up Shakaam for investigations.
Outside, they were almost two blocks behind the woman, who was clearing a path before her as she ran screaming. Shakaam and Jarif could both tell the wound was well-placed - she would not stop bleeding for a long while. The group, with Jarif at the head, was catching-up - she seemed to be limping slightly, though still keeping up a good pace.
Suddenly a horse-drawn carriage wheeled-in, seemingly out of nowhere. The door opened, and Shakaam caught a brief glimpse of the woman he'd seen in the vision - she was even more beautiful in-person. She was naked, and her bare, lightly-tanned skin had a smoothness to it that he hadn't noticed in the vision. For the briefest of moments she made eye-contact with him, and in that time he was struck with an awe he'd never experienced before. With one arm, she grabbed the woman they were chasing and effortlessly hefted her into the carriage.
Jarif called out to the driver, but he was in some kind of daze, and didn't notice them. He rushed back to Shakaam with a mad zeal in his eyes. "Kill him!" He said, pointing at the driver. Shakaam's eyes widened at his command, but still he drew his knife and gauged the distance. Making a seemingly good throw, the knife whizzed past the driver, cutting part of his hat and falling to the ground. Jarif cursed, and by the time Shakaam drew another knife, they both knew the driver was too far away to hit. The carriage sped-off northward, and that was the last they'd seen of them.
It almost troubled him that he intentionally missed the shot. In the few minutes that followed the encounter, Shakaam wondered if the woman inside had some effect on him, or if he was simply against taking an innocent man's life. He figured it was probably a mixture of both, though he'd made it look like he gave it his best. What worried him more was the thought of what would happen if they ever did meet in battle. He'd probably let her drain him, or at the least he might try to run from the fight. Shakaam hated the idea of running from a fight, but there was no telling what a woman like that could do to him, and without special weapons, he couldn't harm her anyway.
Later, Jarif identified the woman in the carriage as the one he'd fought earlier. A call was put-out to stop any carriages from leaving Kemaj, but there was no way of knowing if they had already made it out by then. Still, Jarif was determined to stay in Kemaj for a few extra days hunting them. Shakaam was put to work finding the carriage, as it was more likely they had gotten rid of it and continued on foot. He had doubts as to if it was even possible to track the women, for if they had such incredible powers, they would be able to seduce or kill anyone they couldn't sneak past. It was worth trying, but he could tell that Jarif's patience for waiting around Kemaj would wear thin quickly. Shakaam assured himself that it wouldn't be long now before they left for Elezan - maybe even by the next nightfall.
Jynn virtually threw Adjra face-first into the seat. She cried in pain as Tavra pulled the dagger from her back. The dark-haired beauty held it up and examined it - the short blade glistened with blood near the top, and a golden-yellow metal near the hilt.
"Oh no... they're here!" Jynn gasped as she saw the dagger. Tavra raised an eyebrow at this.
"Who's here?"
"That's P'jurium!" Tavra's eyes grew large, as she knew it was one of the few things that could harm her. She held the knife out a little farther, her hands grew suddenly unsteady. "Tavra, there's an order of nobles that's after us, our kind I mean. They know what can hurt us - they hunt us and can kill us and this means that they're here!"
Adjra was in tears by now - she knew who these women were, that they opposed the twins, and that she might be punished, or worse yet, never see the twins again because she had been tainted by them. She went into a fetal position, hiding her face from them. Tavra looked at the girl, bloody and crying.
"Can you tattoo her?"
"To free her from the mind control? Not right now. I need a special ink that takes several weeks to prepare. " Jynn inspected the wound on Adjra's back and sighed. "I don't think she'll live that long."
"Hey," Tavra said, shaking the girl's arm, "do you know who did this to you?"
Adjra tried to drain her lifeforce when she was touched, but she felt nothing - no pleasure, no energy flowing into her, absolutely nothing.
"Leave me alone!" Adjra sobbed, "You're corrupted!" Jynn and Tavra exchanged confused looks, then, almost simultaneously, they realized it wasn't her talking - it was obviously the mind-control. Tavra took the girl's other arm and turned her towards them. Adjra tried to resist at first, but Tavra was so much stronger that she barely noticed.
She faced them now, and a strange calm slowly descended upon her as she looked upon her captors. Adjra knew them both from long ago - she never forgot who they were, though they had changed and defied the wishes of the twins. Jynn, Daughter of Sight, who could find the secrets of their enemies with her powers of arcane knowledge, and Tavra, Daughter of Beauty, whose lures no man, or woman, could resist. Even she found herself overcome by an attraction for the raven-haired woman.
"Be careful," Jynn warned, "she was trying to drain you."
Tavra narrowed her eyes in anger and gripped Adjra's throat with a long arm.
Jynn added, "Don't worry - she's not powerful enough to drain you."
"Can we drain her?" Tavra asked. Just as she finished speaking, she tapped the girl's life essence, tilting her head back and drowsily closed her eyes as the energy flowed into her. She stopped after a moment and regained her composure. Jynn watched, pondering their next move.
"I'd think we might be able to use her as a bargaining chip with those hunters, but she probably won't live long with her wounds, and I'd rather not deal with their kind." Jynn mused.
"Well then, no use in letting good energy go to waste," Tavra said, smiling. She straddled the girl, her naked pussy pressed against Adjra's abdomen. She smiled and took the girl's arms, holding them far apart. Adjra struggled, but her strength was no match for that of Tavra's. Tavra winced as she began to draw the girl's stolen energies into herself. She threw her head back and opened her mouth wide, whimpering a little.
"What are you doing?!" Adjra screamed.
"Why, she's taking your power, dear." Jynn replied, smiling. "I think I'll have some myself!" She spread her legs wide and sat back. A milky white snake of lifeforce shot from Adjra's chest and curved its way to Jynn's crotch. She moaned as it met her, half-closing her eyes in ecstasy.
Jynn sat up, reached over, and cupped Adjra's breast with her hand, drawing-in energy via skin contact as well. Her arm brushed along Tavra's thigh, although her companion didn't seem to notice. Both of them were drunk with the feeling of Adjra's essence entering them - she had a lot of energy in her, and they were going to take it all.
Tavra took as much at one time as she could, actively willing her powers of life absorption to their full potential. She hungrily siphoned everything she could, her senses almost overcome by the great amounts of energy entering her. The sea of pleasure her flesh was immersed in fooled her body to believe that she was having an orgasm. Her hips gyrated against Adjra as if she were being penetrated, and her muscles tightened around the imaginary cock.
Jynn took a more casual approach to the experience - she was taking a lot, but she had no idea how much Tavra was getting. All the while she stared at Tavra, enthralled at her companion's beauty as she writhed in ecstasy. Tavra closed her eyes and contorted her face into the visage which all men lusted to see. With her other hand Jynn slowly stroked her clitoris, right above where the energy was entering her. Tavra's rapture-struck face made Jynn climax almost immediately. She rubbed faster as the orgasm shook her body, mixing with the pleasure of Adjra's energy emptying into her. Jynn clenched her teeth and erupted with a long, low growl.
Adjra felt them taking her hard-won energy. She tried again to resist, but might as well have been encased in stone. She began to feel weaker, and started crying out for help, tears streaking down her face once again. Slowly, a strange exhaustion overtook her, and she passed-out as the last of her essence flowed into her captors.
"AAAHHHYYYEESS!!!" Tavra roared. She dropped Adjra's arms, moved her hands to her own breasts, and turned to her companion, her mouth in an open smile. "That was amazing!" Jynn was panting heavily, legs still spread wide open.
"Yes, it was...quite...pleasing."
"I want to move on to Elezan now, Jynn. I want to find your master and take his energy as well. We can come back to ravage Kemaj later - I want to go to the Capitol now." A streak of her obsidian hair fell over her shoulder and draped down her arm. Jynn smiled, though it was difficult to resist or even disagree with Tavra, she didn't want to hang around with those hunters in the area.
"Very well, I think we should leave the carriage though - maybe to make them think we're still here." Jynn's words sobered Tavra somewhat. She remembered how badly a simple dagger had hurt Adjra, and wondered if they had other weapons. She nodded in agreement, her dark hair falling forward over her breasts, and slid off of her victim.
The two of them got dressed in silence. Tavra leaned out the door and commanded the driver to stop, which he did. She climbed on top and gripped his throat, sucking the energy from him as fast as she could. She found the experience not quite as debilitating as it once was - average people still gave her great pleasure, but she could focus on other things as she took their lifeforces. She carried the body into the carriage with ease, and then exited again to join Jynn.
"On to Elezan?" Tavra asked, turning to her companion. Jynn nodded, and the two set off for the northeast gate.
Somewhere in the Great Galoran Woods, a mass of clay rose from the earth. It took a humanoid form, fat and stocky, and bits of rock rose around it and fused together, armoring its new shape. It looked off towards the setting sun and then turned east, and started walking...
Continued in Chapter 3
Flesh and Magic - Chapter 2
Previous Story:Flesh and Magic - Chapter 1
Next Story:Flesh and Magic - Chapter 3
Post a comment