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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 33.

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Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Princess Ava – The Princedom of Kivoneth, The Strifelands of Zeutch

My stomach twisted and writhed as I moved around the campfire. My reunion with Sven and his harem had not gone nearly as well as I hoped. Instead of the passionate delight, making love to Sven and his women, the poison ensured that I couldn’t sleep with him. Abstaining from sex with them kept my bedmaid Greta and I healthy while Sven and his harem grew worse and worse. The last two days were awful.

We were one day out from Az, and I feared we wouldn’t make it.

I knelt down beside Sven. He had his eyes closed, his face pale and clammy, sweat beading his forehead. I dabbed at it with my cloth, giving him a forced smile. His blue eyes stayed closed. A nervous writhe ran through my guts, the dread clawing at my heart.

What if my Sven died? We still had to travel all day tomorrow to make it to Az.

I glanced at the woods. The southern edge of the Forest of Lhes loomed to the north of us, a wall of dense woods that ended abruptly against the cleared strip along the road. I shivered. I tried not to look. I could feel the assassin watching us. He had to be tracking us, watching my family getting weaker and weaker.

What could I do? I didn’t know how to fight. And my bedmaid was utterly useless.

“It’ll be okay,” Greta said as she leaned over Aingeal. The faerie was doing poorly. She whimpered on her back, her feyhound Scáthnamhaid lay beside her, resting its head made of wicker on his paws. “Just hang in there.”

“K-kora?” Aingeal asked through chattering teeth.

I glanced at Sven’s sister. She lay beside him, her body looking so small, the blanket pulled up over her. She trembled in her sleep. I leaned over her, my heart pounding ice through my veins as I peered down at her.

“Kora?” I asked.

“I… I…” Kora opened her eyes, her blues dulled to grays. “It’s… so cold…”

“I know.” I dabbed at her sweaty forehead. “Do you think you can eat something?”

“Don’t… know…”

I hated this poison. It had destroyed my family. Zanyia, Ealaín, Sven, Kora, Aingeal, and Nathalie all lay trembling. And the assassin watched us. I could feel the malevolence of his gaze. When would he strike? When would he attack and put down my family?

“We’re not going to make it to Az,” Greta said, her voice tight.

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

Keythivak

The time had come.

I cloaked myself in shadows. Sven and his harem lay dying. Too weak to stop me. The princess and her maid would pose no threat. The shadows surged around me, writhing and undulating as I shaped them, molded them, transformed them. My flesh vanished. The shadows hid me. My shoulder throbbed, still healing, but that didn’t matter.

“Now, Master?” my lamia hissed. Hithina crouched on a branch nearby, her dyed-black hair falling about her feral face. She licked her chops, her tail swishing back and forth.

“Now,” I grinned and dropped out of the tree.

I landed as soft as a leaf. Hithina fell down beside me. An owl hooted above. She scurried off to the right, moving through the field on her hands and knees. Only the rustle of grass gave any sign of her approach. I moved to the right, uncoiling my chain-sickle. Using my enhanced shadows had failed me last time. The faerie could counter it too easily.

I’d kill her after dealing with the princess and her bedmaid.

Night deepened around me. The campfire drew me closer and closer. Princess Ava crawled into her blanket, lying next to her bedmaid. Around her, Sven and his harem huddled in their own blankets, too weak to fight. I’d watched them ride, slumped over their horses, hardly aware of the world around them. The styrchnos insidious presence had done its work.

My heart beat sped up as I crept up to the edge of camp. Princess Ava rolled over in her blanket. She stared at the fire, her strawberry-blonde locks painted by the dancing oranges and reds. Wood popped as it burned, smoke pouring into the air.

“It’ll be okay,” the bedmaid said, her voice light. She had blonde hair gathered in twin pigtails. “Maybe we will reach Az tomorrow.”

Princess Ava shook her head. “We won’t. Look at them all. How can any of them ride? Can you lift Sven up into the saddle of his horse? I can’t!”

I crept closer and closer. I slipped past Sven and his sister Kora. I could feel the amulet around the whimpering priestess’s neck. My hands clenched, wanting to grab it but keeping myself disciplined. Deal with the threats first, then claim my Mistress’s prize.

I stood over the princess and her maid. I drew back my fist, my chain-sickle held in the other hand, the chain wrapped about my waist, connected to the sickle. One blow to knock her out. Hithina approached the camp from the other side.

I—

“Kora!” the faerie shouted, her eyes springing open across the campfire.

My head whirled around to the priestess sitting up in her bedrolls, a spike of cold shooting through my veins. She pulled wet fingers out from beneath her blankets as she faced her feverish face at me. Her dull-blue eyes focused for a moment.

“Rithi, I call upon a light of such radiance to reveal the beauty around me!” she screamed out.

Daylight burst from her and washed across my skin. I felt it bathing me, destroying my shadows, revealing my flesh. A trap. They’d baited me into attack. The chain clattered as it whisked against my waist, coming loose, the weighted end swinging around me.

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

Sven Falk

I popped to my feet and…

The world spun around me.

Exhaustion leaded my limbs. I didn’t want to fight. Didn’t have the strength to fight, but we had to defeat the assassin before we grew even weaker. Kora’s light died. She fell to the ground, trembling, groaning, frothing at the mouth. She’d done it. She’d held back the poison long enough to cast her light spell and rob the assassin of his shadows.

Now… Now she convulsed on the ground. My stomach twisted. I wanted to help her but…

The assassin stood feet away over Ava. He whirled to face me, blinking his eyes against the blinding glare of Kora’s spell. He held a sickle in his hand, a chain dangling from the end. He swung the sickle, whirling the chain around him. It hissed through the air at me.

I pushed through the sickness and dodged to the right. The weighted end of the chain punched right over my head, thrusting out from him like a thrown lance. The chain snapped taut beside me. I sprang forward, racing along side it and…

He flicked his wrist.

I ducked low. The chain whipped over my head. He slashed forward with the sickle as the chain warped about his thin torso. I raised my short sword, a wave of dizzy exhaustion fuzzed across my vision.

Metal clanged. My sword shifted in my grip. I almost dropped it as I parried his sickle. The impact shivered up the blade. I grunted and stumbled back. I needed to focus. I couldn’t be weak but… My stomach roiled. My head pounded. My eyes wanted to shut. Sleep… I wanted to—

“Las’s putrid cum!” I snarled, diving past the fire as the chain uncoiled from his waist and flicked at me, hissing through the air.

How could I beat him?

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

Princess Ava

I sank into my alabaster proxy. I opened my eyes, staring out at the fire, shrunk and tiny. But Aingeal had enchanted this form for me, putting the same ability on it the twinborn witch had to my rose quartz statue. I swelled larger and larger, ballooning out to my full height. I whirled around, Sven fighting the assassin and—

“Princess!” Greta hissed, pointing across the campfire.

The assassin’s lamia crept out of the grass, advancing on the trembling Zanyia. The catgirl struggled to get out of her blankets, her face flushed from the poison. I cried out and charged around the fire, my stone steps thudding with weight. Made of alabaster, it had a solid presence. That had to be good for something.

I had to fight. I had to help my family.

The lamia looked up at me, hissed, and then launched herself at me. I gasped in shock as her nubile body crashed into me. I stumbled, the fire crackling only feet away, the heat washing over me. The nimble lamia scratched at my stony flesh as she squirmed around me. I fought to keep my balance, my feet thudding on the ground.

Sven cursed behind me.

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Ealaín

“Get up,” I growled at myself as I lay in my blankets. They felt so heavy, smothering me with warmth. Sven rolled across the ground as the weighed chain hurtled after him. He gained his feet and battered away at the chain. It wrapped about his sword instead. With a hard jerk, the dusky-skinned assassin yanked the blade out of Sven’s hand.

Sven stumbled, yanked off-balanced by the jerk. He stumbled, his sweaty face grimacing. I had to help him. I had to help him fight and protect my charge. Kora lay quivering, the poison wracking her body. We had to get her to Az.

All of us had to get to Az.

I found the hilt of my ax hidden beneath the blanket. I groaned and heaved off my blanket. I gained my feet naked. My breasts swayed before me. The world swam around me. My feet stumbled as I lurched to the right. I grit my teeth. I had to focus. I had to kill the assassin.

The world swam into focus for a moment.

The assassin swung his chain at Sven, driving back the Zeutchian.

I charged. My stomach heaved, bile burning the back of my throat. I swallowed it down, focusing on the assassin. On carving him in half. One single stroke of my crescent-blade ax and finish him off. I raised it over my head. It felt so heavy, like the weight had doubled since I last swung it. My arm shook.

I screamed out and swung with all my might.

The blade hissed down hard. Right at the assassin’s back. The whip-thin man danced around, pulling his attack from hitting Sven while whirling to face me. I growled in frustration as I missed; my ax slammed past his body.

And struck the ground.

The impact shivered up my arm. I almost released my weapon as I stumbled forward. I fought to keep my balance. Another wave of dizziness beset me. A chain rattled. Something silver streaked off to my right and—

Light exploded across my vision. My head erupted in pain and—

To be continued…

Click here for Chapter 35.

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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!