Chapter 5: The Bard's Performance

The Erinyes Incessae – Lor-Khev, The Magery of Thosi

The howls of the rampaging barguest filled the night over the small town of Lor-Khev in southern Thosi. The Lesh-Ke Mountains loomed to the south, a wall of black that occulted the brilliant, starry sky I flew through.

My eyes scanned the town. My prey lay in here. The target of Mother’s vengeance. I glided over the town on black-feathered wings, gripping my spear of fire in my hand. Already Angela of the Knights Deute, bastard descendant of the despicable High King Peter, had defeated my sister Injuriae, forcing her to submit and pleasure the bitch.

I hissed through my teeth. We were the three erinyes, the avenging daughters of Slata.

My eyes scanned the chaos. The barguest, hideous shapechangers who shifted from coal-black humans to coal-black hounds, surged through the streets, converging on an inn. Their baying howls filled the sky with excitement. The pack had scented their prey.

We hunted the same creature. I had no idea what fortuity led me to this moment, but I would seize it and deliver upon the knight all of Mother’s fury.

Knight-Errant Angela

The next wave of barguests burst into the common room of the Merchant’s Rest. I set my kite shield as I stood beside Thrak, braced to take the flood of attackers. Behind us, Sophia healed the badly wounded Faoril and Xera fired her arrows into the mob. The barguests’ hairless, black bodies surged at us, yellow eyes burning.

They howled and snarled.

More answered from outside.

There attack could not be a coincidence. Someone wanted me dead. They had sent the warlock Fireeyes to kill me, and now they had sent a pack of barguest. I had no idea why. I was a knight, the daughter of a minor baron and his second wife. I was no one important.

A barguest slammed into my shield. The force of his body pushed me back, my bare feet sliding across the rough, wooden floorboards. I ignored the pain of a splinter shoved into the sole of my foot. I threw my shield to the side, my naked breasts heaving, and swung my sword, cutting through the barguest neck and slamming the dying beast to the ground.

Beside me, Thrak fought without weapon, slamming his thick fists into the barguests and breaking their bones. I was lucky to be in our rooms upstairs with the bard Chaun when the attack happened, able to grab my shield and sword. My pussy still burned from the lust his song had stirred in me and the excitement of a fight sent more juices trickling down my thighs.

I recovered from my swing. A barguest leaped away me from in fright. I pivoted. Pain flared up my leg. That damned splinter. I stumbled, my body flinching from the pain. I was unable to stand properly. The barguest, sensing my weakness, found its spine and crashed into the edge of my shield. I went down, the beast on top of me.

“You smell delicious,” snarled the barguest, his voice far too human to come out of the toothy muzzle. His claws scratched at my naked thighs. “I don’t know whether to eat you or fuck you.”

A red cock emerged from beneath him, glistening and hard. I tried to heave him off of me, but his weight crushed my shield to my breasts. His saliva dripped down onto my face. There was a primal attractiveness about him. If I hadn’t been suffering from the bard’s lusty song, I doubt I would have let out that wanton moan.

“I think you want to be fucked.” The barguest words were surprisingly intelligible through his bestial jaw. “Yes, I can smell it. Just spread those thighs.”

“Go fuck Illth’s poisoned cunt,” I spat and struggled to move my sword arm and swing.

A strumming lyre echoed through the room and a beautiful tenor sang. There were no words. It was a pure melody that reached through the room. The barguest atop me froze. A shudder ran through his body. His triangular, dog-like ears rose from his head. He twitched and let out a whine. His gaze shot across the room to Chaun.

The ebony-skinned changeling stood naked, his body lithe and graceful, his face beautiful, with silvery hair and long, pointed ears like Xera’s. He held a wooden lyre, a red stained impregnated the body and delicate gold inlays formed beautiful patterns. His dark fingers danced across the strings as he sang, striding boldly towards the barguest.

They all faced him, their tongues lolling, enraptured by his song.

“The seducing bard,” Sophia said, her cheeks crimson as she gazed at Chaun.

A flush of heat went through me. Chaun was beyond handsome. He was beautiful, his face delicate, though not feminine, and his body moved with an agile grace as he strode through the room, the barguest turning to face him. He moved like Xera did, innately perfect.

“Damn,” I muttered. I had been close to fucking him before the barguest acted. Sophia was right. He was the seducing bard. He was trained at the Bardic College of Az. They were supposed to affect peoples emotions.

Like making them horny.

“Pater’s cock,” I groaned. “No wonder everyone got horny.”

“I will lead them to the edge of town and then set them on each other,” Chaun said. “I cannot handle more.”

Barguests howled outside, the rest of the pack racing to the tavern.

“We’ll take care of the rest,” I nodded to him. “Thank you.”

Chaun returned to his singing, but he gave me a beautiful, pussy-melting smile, his eyes soft and passionate, then he strode into the night, leading the ten barguest after him. They followed like puppies, stumpy tails wagging with excitement.

“Jolly good song,” one said.

“Yes, yes, I have not heard its like in decades.”

“Thrak,” Faoril groaned as she stood up, the mage naked, her body smeared with blood. She had been badly savaged.

Thrak let out a relieved sigh as she crossed the room to him.

“I will take the roof and provide cover for you, Angela,” Xera said. “I advise we take this to the street so the innocent in this inn can be spared further harm.”

Journeyman Mage Faoril

My blood was sticky. I smeared at it with my hand, trying to wipe it off, as I followed Thrak out into the night. It only made the mess worse. Anger boiled into me. The damned barguest had almost killed me. And they had hurt my Thrak. He had fought barehanded while I lay dying, and scratches adorned his swarthy, muscular body. He moved without complaint, his fists clenched.

“You didn’t rage,” Faoril said as the cool, night air washed over them. It was summer, but the temperature dropped here when the sun fell and a breeze blew off the Lesh-Ke Mountains to the south.

“Then you would have died,” Thrak answered. “After I killed them, I wouldn’t have stopped. But I wanted to embrace it. The rage was there, begging to be used. But we are in a town. You would have died. And how many others?”

There had to be a way to help him channel his rage so it wouldn’t be such a threat. As it stood now, if he lost the fight and berserked only three ways would end it: exhaustion, sex, or death. Until one of those three happened, he would be consumed by rage and kill everything he came across. At first it would be those that angered him, but once they were dead, he would turn on friends and allies. The innocent people of this town would be imperiled.

Perhaps a spell. I should research—

A barguest leaped out of the shadows into Thrak. My orc barbarian pivoted and raised his left arm. The barguest bit into his flesh. Thrak barely grunted at the pain of those teeth savaging his flesh. I touched my blood-smeared side, the memory of agony flaring through me. Only a memory. Sophia’s healing was total.

“Las-damned cur,” snarled Thrak and he punched the barguest in the head.

A second barguest snarled and leaped at Thrak’s back. I reached into the magical reserves—Thrak’s cum from when he fucked me before the barguest attack—and sent out fire. I smiled as the barguest burst into flames and howled. I seized the burning corpse with wind, preventing it from hitting Thrak, and threw it to the ground.

The first barguest who savaged Thrak’s arm fell sprawling to the ground. It struggled to get upright. Thrak’s punch had caved in the beast’s eye socket. It whimpered in pain. I sent my magic out into the cobblestones of the road, shaping the rock with earth. A paving stone became a spike plunging up into the beast’s side.

“No,” the creature moaned, its voice far too human and feminine. It blurred and a naked, coal-skinned woman whimpered and died.

“Do you need Sophia?” I asked as blood dripped from Thrak’s arm.

“I’m fine,” he growled, anger boiling in his dark-red eyes. His thick eyebrows, dotted with bone piercings, furrowed. “There are more to kill.”

I formed a bandage for Thrak out of nearby grass, weaving the plants into a spongy cloth with life magic and using air to bind it about his wound. Then I strode past the dead barguest. More howls filled the night.

Xerathalasia

I walked through the bedroom on the third floor. Several humans huddled in the room, their eyes wide with fear. I ignored them and reached the window. I opened the glass panes and climbed out, twisting around and nimbly climbing up onto the steep slope of the room. Slate tiles covered it, cool on my bare feet as I scampered up to the roof’s peak.

The Merchant’s Rest was the larges building in town. I climbed up a brick chimney and perched atop it, my nose wrinkling at the scent of soot. I peered around the inn, commanding a sweeping view of the battlefield.

Thrak and Faoril stood on the inn’s south side, the mage forming a bandage out of grass for Thrak before the pair continued their hunt for more of the beasts. Both walked with angry steps. Faoril casually burned another barguest, leaving the beast panting and gasping.

She had changed. She had been almost in a panic the first time we were attacked.

On the north side, Angela stabbed a barguest in the throat and kicked the beast off her sword. Sophia padded behind Angela, the acolyte clutching her enchanted dagger that glowed bright pink. My eyes scanned for more dangers. The barguest streamed in through the streets.

Chaun’s music dwindled. He seemed already near the edge of town. His song shifted and the barguests in his direction snarled and roared at each other. He was useful. And gorgeous. He was the first man with a cock which had stirred my passions. Human men were so hairy and burly. And though Chaun lacked any breasts, his delicate features reminded me of a black-skinned elf.

I shook my head. Lingering lusts from his music still clutched at me. I had to focus.

A barguest lunged for Sophia as Angela fought another. My arrow hissed through the air and took the beast in the side. It howled in pain and landed at Sophia’s feet. The acolyte let out a frightened squeak then turned and stabbed her pink-glowing dagger into the beast’s throat.

Sophia pulled out her blade and kept moving, staying behind Angela, ready to help if the knight if she grew overwhelmed. Angela dispatched her barguest and scanned the darkness, shield ready for the next. Sophia pressed back-to-back with Angela, her knife held out before her. Even though she was naked, very little fear showed in her stance.

I shot a barguest slinking through an alley and checked on Thrak and Faoril. They were doing just fine. Another two barguest burned and Thrak ripped a third in half with a mighty heave and a bellow that half the town must have heard.

I knocked, drew back, and fired. My arrow took the barguest slinking out of the darkness to attack Angela in the yellow eye. It fell dead, twitching on the ground. Thrak and Faoril circled around the inn, heading towards Angela’s position as they dispatched the dwindling pack.

A barguest slinked beneath a wagon, lying in wait to pounced as Angela and Sophia moved up the street. I drew back my bow, aiming at the wagon, waiting for the barguest to emerge. The muscles in my arm burned as I held the draw.

“What are you waiting for?” I whispered.

My ears twitched. Wings flapped above me. The bird sounded large. Too large to be natural. I pivoted around. A flaming spear gripped by a flying, naked woman stabbed into my stomach. I gasped in shock, the force of the blow throwing me off the chimney and then from the point of her spear.

My stomach burned in pain. I let out a startled scream and then hit the tiles of the roof, rolling and tumbling. My bow slid down beside me and arrows clattered as they fell out of my quiver. I hurtled towards the edge while the erinyes that stabbed me launched herself into the air.

“Angela!” I screamed right as I reached the edge of the roof.

My fingers scrambled for the edge. I gasped as I flew out over the side, the ground far below me. My fingers slipped off the roof and I fell. I reached out for the windowsill beneath me. My fingers grabbed it.

“Matar’s cock!” I screamed as I gripped the lip of wood hard. My shoulders ached as I arrested my fall. Pain flared in my joints. My stomach burned as I forced my legs to move. Agony shot through my body. My right arm didn’t want to move, my shoulder dislocated. My feet scrabbled on the siding, my toes trying to find purchase so I could climb back onto the roof.

“Please, please,” I gasped, fighting the pain in my stomach as I moved my legs. My fingers slipped.

I fell again.

I screamed as I hurtled towards the cobblestones below. I was too high. The fall would kill me. I closed my eyes. Atharilesia, holding our daughter, flashed through my mind. They were both so beautiful and I would never see them because I fell to my death from...

Why wasn’t I dead?

I opened my eyes. I floated a foot off the ground, wrapped up in air. Faoril, standing farther down the street, shouted, “I’ll send Sophia to you.”

I groaned as she set me carefully on the ground. I clutched my belly. Abdomen wounds were terrible, but they killed you slowly. I opened my mouth, struggling to warn Faoril that another erinyes lurked in the darkness, but only a painful moan escaped my lips. I shuddered, my body curling into a ball on my side and I sobbed in agony.

Acolyte Sophia

Xera’s scream echoed through the night. I turned around and gasped at spotting the elf hanging from the third story window. She struggled to get up, but her grip slipped and she fell out of sight, behind a house.

“I have to help Xera,” I shouted to Angela.

Angela turned to me, barguest blood splattered across her shield and more dripped from her sword. “Okay. I’m fine here. Be careful.”

Angela pivoted and slashed at a barguest that burst out from beneath a wagon. Her sword slammed into the monster’s skull. It flopped dead on the ground. I shuddered at the grayish tissue that oozed out of its wound.

I ran back to the inn, my bare feet slapping on the cobblestone. I shoved a pair of fingers into my pussy. “Saphique, bless the font of my womanhood with your loving power,” I prayed, the first step to healing magic. I had to bless my pussy. A small orgasm shuddered through me, my pussy writhing about my fingers.

I grit my teeth and kept running as the pleasure rippled through me.

I ripped my fingers out of my pussy and smeared my juices onto my hard nipples and areolas. I rounded the corner and sighed in relief. Xera was still alive. She lay on her side, clutching her belly, blood pouring from a wound.

How did she get a stab wound from a fall?

That didn’t matter. As I darted to her, I prayed, “Saphique, transform my virgin milk with your love. Let my milk heal the sick and infirmed.”

Heat flowed into my breasts as my breast milk, enchanted to heal, filled my tits. White beaded at my nipples. I reached Angela and fell to my knees, ignoring the bruising pain. I cradled the elf’s head as she shuddered and moaned in pain, brushing a lock of green hair off her cheek.

“It’s okay,” I told her as I leaned over. “Nurse and you’ll be all better.”

Xera’s lips latched onto my nipple and she suckled. I shuddered, my eyes squeezing shut as my milk flowed out of me. I stroked her forehead while her long, pointed ears twitched and her body shuddered.

“Drink Saphique’s blessing and be healed,” I purred.

Overhead, wings flapped and something burned.

Knight-Errant Angela

I turned around in the knight. Footsteps pounded towards me. Down a side-street raced Thrak and Faoril. There were only a few barguest howling in the night. They sounded confused. They probably expected more to answer.

Wings flapped above. I looked up, gasped, and moved my shield to block the erinyes diving down, a burning spear gripped in her hand. The Spear slammed into my shield, the sharp point bursting through the wood right above my arm. The force of her diving impact made my shield arm go numb as I was thrown off my feet and landed hard on the ground.

I coughed as the erinyes landed before me. She was busty compared to Injuriae, her heaving tits swaying as she folded up her wings. Gold rings pierced her hard nipples. She lowered her spear and stabbed at me.

I raised my shield as I lay on my back. I winced as the spear thunked against the wood.

“I can’t wait to feel you eating my pussy,” I hissed at the erinyes. “You’ll love it. Your sister did. She wanted to drown in my pussy juices.”

“I’m not weak like Injuriae,” the erinyes hissed, stabbing her spear again as I scrambled back. I had to get to my feet. “I am Incessae. Remember my name when your soul is thrown into the Astral Realm.”

Thrak bellowed and threw himself at the erinyes. She swung her spear around, aiming it right at his chest. The big orc pivoted and dodged out of the way of her lunging spear. His momentum carried him around, his fist slamming at her face.

The erinyes flapped her wings and she raised the burning haft of her spear to block. Thrak slammed into the it. Fire flared. Incessae stumbled back from the force of the blow. Thrak grunted, shaking his fist, smoke rising from his knuckles.

Faoril slid to a halt. The mage stared at Incessae. The wind suddenly swirled around the erinyes and lunged at her. Faoril sought to bind the erinyes. If we forced the erinyes to pleasure us, then Incessae would abandon her quest for vengeance like her sister Injuriae had.

Fire flared around the erinyes and swallowed the wind.

Faoril gaped. “Las’s cum, how did she do that?”

More fire flared around the erinyes, swallowing sudden balls of water, spikes of stone shooting up from the ground, and even other flares of fire. All the magic Faoril sent at the erinyes failed to reach Incessae.

“How are you doing that?” Faoril gasped again. “Are you enchanted? I did not know erinyes could nullify magic.”

Incessae ignored her. She attacked me again, her spear lunging at me. It moved in fast blurs, forcing me back. Thrak circled her, but she was nimble, taking to the air and flying over Thrak, her spear stabbing to find his flesh.

“We need a plan,” I said to Thrak as he came up beside me, a strange bandage of grass on his arm soaked red with blood.

He nodded. “She is skilled and nimble. We need to deny her the air.”

“Indoors?” I suggested as Incessae advanced on us, her spear held in a grip. She could lunge it forward with surprising speed. I kept my shield up.

“That building,” Thrak pointed. “She’s trying to kill you. She’ll be forced to follow.”

“Okay.”

Incessae smiled at us as we plotted. She could hear every word. No helping that. But could she stop me from reaching the house? Thrak lunged at the erinyes. Her spear flicked out at his flesh. He had no weapon. He was forced to dance away. I circled around the erinyes, heading for the house.

She was faster. She lunged at Thrak, forcing him away again, then her wings flapped and she launched herself the twenty feet across the street to land before the open door, her spear brandished at me.

But that wasn’t the only building on the street. I turned directions and raced towards a door closer to me, my bare feet slapping. Wings flapped. I raised my shield to protect my left side as I ran. She hurtled across the street, her spear flashing across my face and slamming into the door. I stopped running, turning my shield in time to catch her spear lunging for my stomach.

“Las’s cock,” I snarled in frustration.

Music swept through the street. Chaun had returned. The changeling strolled down the street, naked and nonchalant. His fingers played a drowsy song. The erinyes flinched, shaking her head. Her eyes flared like burning coals at the bard.

“What are you...” Her eyelids closed for a moment, then she shook her head.

Chaun’s singing grew softer, a lullaby wrapped about the erinyes. Her shoulders slumped and then she shook her head and hissed. Her wings flapped hard and she took to the sky. Her howl of rage echoed across the town as she soared off.

An arrow buzzed up at her. Xera had been healed. The arrow took the erinyes in the side. She screamed in rage and kept flying north, fleeing from the bard.

“Well, I always did think I had amazing timing,” Chaun said, a confident, almost roguish smile on his lips. He stopped naked before me, his cock hard.

The lust that the battle’s excitement had only masked flared through me. I seized Chaun’s dick. “You are a talented man. It was naughty of you to make all my friends and me horny then not do anything about it.”

“Well, I tried to do something about your horniness,” Chaun laughed, his cock throbbing in my hand. “But we were so rudely interrupted by those curs and then an erinyes?” He frowned. “Why is an erinyes after you, Lady Knight?”