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Story Codes: Fantasy, Magic

For a list of all The Rogue’s Harem, other World of Erasthay stories, maps, and glossaryclick here

Comments are very welcome. I would like all criticism, positive and negative, so long as it’s
constructive, and feedback is very appreciated.

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Click here for Chapter 32.

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Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Sven Falk

Scáthnamhaid barked as he burst out of the brush and into the cleared field along the south side of the Forest of Lhes, disturbing an owl into hooting. All day, the new feyhound had ranged ahead of us, sniffing even though he didn’t have a nose, his tail wagging. He flushed out more than enough rabbits to provide a hearty meal for tonight’s dinner. Twilight approached.

I was glad it was almost sunset, almost time to camp, because I was dead tired. Two days trudging through the forest did not agree with me. It didn’t agree with anyone. My sister yawned, looking almost dead as she stumbled out of the forest leading her horse. She looked even more tired than I felt. I glanced to the west, towards Az.

Unease rippled through my stomach. I didn’t want to return to Az. I had so many happy memories of our parents, of poor Katriana. Did they tear down the burned ruins of our house? Had something new been built there in the last year? Had they erased any trace that the Falk family once lived in the scholarly city?

How much would it hurt seeing all those places that once brought me joy before Prince Meinard perverted them with his lust for his daughter?

Despite that dread gripping my guts, an eagerness also seized me. Az meant comfort. A proper bed for Kora to sleep in. A chance to rest and recover from the long weeks of travel we’d had since leaving to track down the faerie. Three more days traveling on the road, staying in village inns, and we’d arrive.

It would be nice.

“I don’t see Ava, Master,” Zanyia said.

I blinked. How could I forget about the princess? “She should be around here somewhere.”

The last two days I’d been in constant contact with Ava through her alabaster statue. I looked around and spotted a hill that overlooked the highway which ran along the southern edge of the forest. It connected Echur with Az. She should be somewhere along it. Hopefully, if Aingeal led us true through the woods, Ava wasn’t far away.

I mounted my horse. I hadn’t bothered to name the farm nag. He lacked the majesty of Night. I wonder what ever happened to my stallion. Did he still wander the Forest of Lhes? Had a farmer found him and yoked him to a plow? Or had Prince Meinard’s soldiers found him and claimed him for their own?

None of those options pleased me.

“I’ll be back,” I said. “Hopefully, with the princess.”

“Okay,” my sister said, her shoulders sagging. She yawned.

Nathalie and Zanyia joined her.

“Perhaps we should set up camp,” Ealaín said. “I think we could all use a rest. I did not realize trudging through a forest could be so wearying.”

I didn’t either. I didn’t feel exhaustion this badly before we went to Faerie. But fatigue could build and build in a person. I shook it off and galloped my horse to the rise. He, at least, seemed in good spirits. Probably glad to stretch his legs and really move instead of creeping through the uneven ground and dense foliage of the woods.

I gained the top of the hill and pulled out her statue after dismounting. I stroked up and down the figures naked body, feeling the breasts. It came to life, shuddering and shivering. She looked around as I sat her on the hill.

“You’re out!” she said in delight as she grew. “That’s wonderful, Sven.”

“Now we just have to see if you’re anywhere near here,” I said as she grew taller and taller, her alabaster form swelling. Aingeal’s enchantment worked as promised. Though I still missed Ava’s rose quartz proxy. The way that figure’s crystals caught the light was so stirring.

But the alabaster was nice. I smiled at my betrothed’s petite body, her breasts firm mounds that shuddered as she reached her full height. She let out a groan as she stretched, her pure-white flesh painted in orange highlights by the setting sun.

“Let’s see,” she said, turning around and gazing at the road “I think we’re close to you.” Her statue went still for a moment. Then it animated again. “We should be around that bend, I hope.” She pointed up the road. “Looks like we’re ahead of you.”

I stared in that direction. The road bowed out to the south then turned back north to go around a thrusting bulge of the green forest. I trembled in excitement. Ava took my hand, her grip smooth and yet though made of stone, felt like real flesh, warm and soft. She rose on her tiptoes, trembling and…

“There I am!” she gasped as two figures rode around the road’s bend, one slumped over her mare, strawberry-blonde hair spilling down over the shoulders of her blue riding cloak. The other figure held the reins, a blonde, Zeutchian lass.

“Oh, my, your bedmaid is quite the buxom girl,” I said as the pair rode forward.

“I thought you’d appreciate her assets,” Ava said. “Let’s go say hi to me.” Then she giggled before her body shrunk again.

I picked her up, put her proxy away, and rode down the hill as the real Ava straightened in her saddle, now inhabiting her real body. She spurred her mount forward, pulling away from the bedmaid, her strawberry-blonde hair flying behind her.

“Ava!” Kora shouted.

“Wow,” I head Zanyia yowl. “She looks so pretty in the flesh. I didn’t know her hair was such an exciting color.”

I rode past my family, racing toward my betrothed. Though I had just talked to her, I felt like I hadn’t seen her, well, in a year. She had such a beaming smile on her face that lead me on. We reined up our horses before we collided.

I vaulted out of the saddle and raced to her as she shifted in her saddle. I grabbed her waist, her hands seizing my shoulder, and lifted her light body off the saddle. I breathed in that smell of her, something her proxy’s lacked. It was that familiar, sweet musk I had missed so much over the last year.

“Sven,” she breathed, staring up at me, her eyes trembling, tears breeding in their blue depths. Then her arms snaked around my neck. She clung to me so tight. “It’s really you, Sven. I’ve missed you.”

“My princess,” I groaned, my arms tightening about her waist. I lifted her up and kissed her hard on the mouth. I tasted the freshness of her lips. I reveled in the wet feel of them, their silky texture.

I cradled her to me, spinning her about as we kissed. I had missed her so much. Touching her through a proxy wasn’t the same as in the flesh. There was always this remoteness. This barrier that truly separated us. Now it was gone. It had evaporated.

There was only us. Together.

Her tongue darted into my mouth. My cock swelled and ached. I throbbed to take her. To fuck her so hard. The weariness fell away from me as my ardor grew and grew. My hands slid down to cup her rump through her riding cloak and dress, feeling her.

I broke the kiss, prepared to—

“Kora!” shrieked Nathalie.

“Mistress Kora!” yowled Zanyia.

The fear in both their voices snapped my head around. My sweet Kora lay on the ground. Her entire body bucked and convulsed. Zanyia whimpered beside her, her head swaying from side-to-side. Her ears twitched as she rolled my sister over.

“No!” I roared, setting Ava down.

“Oh, Gods, Kora,” gasped Ava as I raced towards my sister.

I flew down the path, running with all my speed. My heart pounded ice through my body. Fear whipped at me, driving me to get to her side as fast as I could. I reached her, falling to my knees around my other women. Ealaín had her war ax and hammer out, scanning the trees.

“No,” I groaned at the sight of the foam flecking Kora’s lips and mouth. The same poison as before. “That Las-damned assassin!”

I leaped to my feet and drew my short sword, facing the trees. “Where are you, you Illth-poxed bastard! Cowering in the trees?”

“It wasn’t the assassin,” Zanyia said. “Nothing struck her. She just got dizzy and collapsed, Master.”

“What?” I demanded, whipping my head around. “That’s the same poison. It has to be him.”
“It is the same poison,” the lamia yowled. “I think I know what it is. It can’t be cured with magic. We never fully healed her.”

The world spun around me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zanyia

“What?” Master snarled at me.

Purple light surged from Aingeal, directing her healing spirits into Kora.

“It’s this poison called styrchnos,” I answered. “I heard about it before Therek took me on his raid across the mountains and you saved me. It came from a new source. A new ally of Zizthithana. I think it’s from the Paragon.”

Master cursed, his face pale, terror filling his scent. He could fight the assassin, even wreathed in shadows, but he couldn’t battle a toxin coursing through his sister’s body. I squeezed Kora’s hand. Her spasming slowed and she no longer foamed from the mouth.

“Look, she’s healing,” Sven said. “Aingeal’s magic fixing her.”

“But she won’t be able to get rid of the poison,” I yowled, my ears twitching. “It stays inside the body. It persists. All she’s doing is healing the damage it causes, but it will keep doing harm to her.”

“I… I think she’s right,” Aingeal said. “There’s no puncture wound from a dart. And it’s the same poison. No wonder she’s been tired if her body’s been dealing with this since the fight.”

“Yeah,” Nathalie said, her face wan.

She looked as tired as I felt. All day, an exhaustion had been pulling at me. I almost never grew tired. I always had kittenish levels of energy coursing through me, but it was so hard to scamper beside Master as the day wore on.

“Shilia told me this new poison can also spread.” I swallowed. “Does everyone else feel tired?”

“Yeah,” Master growled. “And? We’ve been traveling all day.”

“My… fatigue does feel greater than I expected,” Ealaín said.

“I just want to fall over,” Nathalie confessed.

“It’s in us all,” I said. “It’s slowly killing us.” My ears dropped. “Master… We’re all going to die. Slowly. It’ll weaken us more and more.”

“And he’s waiting for that,” Sven growled. “The assassin! He’s waiting for us to drop.”

“There has to be a cure,” Aingeal protested.

“Az!” Princess Ava exclaimed. She hovered on the edge, clutching her hands to her chest. “The University of Az has the largest collection of scholars in the world. The priests who reside their know more about the healing arts than any. They’ll have a way to cure this there.”

“Av’s three days away,” Sven said, his expression dark.

I shuddered. Would we make it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keythivak

I stroked Hithina’s dyed-black hair as I watched Sven and his women realize the depths of their plight. In a day or two, they would all be as sick as the priestess. Two more days for my wounds to heal, two more days for them to weaken.

When I attacked, they would be as frail as newborn kittens.

Hithina snuggled tighter against me, her tail twitching back and forth. I felt the pleasure bleeding off of her. She knew we were close to recovering the amulet. Zizthithana would reward me for bringing her this prize.

To be continued…

Click here for Chapter 34.

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I have released a part 43 of the revamped Devil’s Pact on Smashwords. Read this post for more information if you’re interested!