Chapter 54: The Rogue’s Trust

Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Sven Falk

Frustration filled me. I swung the scimitar with all the force I could muster. My arms burned with the exertion. I pushed through the ache to slash into his back, leaving another ribbon of blood across his flesh. His muscles were iron. His skin tougher than boiled leather. I couldn’t penetrate his hide. Ava gave me this opportunity, and I was failing.

“Las’s putrid cum!” I hacked again, sweat falling down my face. I had to kill this thing. How many more attacks could I dodge? My legs felt like slagged metal. Fatigue built in me.

Ava released the ogre’s cock. She darted to the side in a blaze of purple radiance, trailing wisps of violet behind her. She landed near Zanyia. The ogre whirled to follow. Ava darted behind me, the ogre facing me, seeing through me.

He didn’t feel threatened by me at all. He rose above me. Most of the ceiling was gone, the ruins of the third floor above. The building lurched and sway. Wood groaned. How much more could this structure take?

“HOUND!” the ogre bellowed.

“Stab him in the heart!” Ava shouted behind me as the ogre tensed, preparing to spring forward in a charge that would trample right over me.

The ogre sprang forward, a lumbering step.

“Lunge!” screamed Ava.

If I didn’t move, the ogre would crush me like a bug. His thick legs would knock me down, his massive feet stamping down hard on my flesh. Bones would break. Flesh rupture. It would break me. Kill me.

But Ava...

I trusted my princess. She had a plan. She had Aingeal’s fairy magic aiding her. I put my faith into my women and sprang forward. A stop thrust. I pushed off with my left foot, my right snapping forward before me. At the same moment, my right arm thrust out before me, the sword a spear, the curved pointing part aimed high at his chest. I put my entire weight into the thrust as the ogre barreled at me.

A brilliant flare of indigo rippled about my blade. The naga’s weapon hummed in my hand, resonating with a force. My skin prickled as unseen forces moved around me and then flared into a violet wall around me.

The point of my sword rammed into the ogre’s chest. A jolting shock ran up my hand as the tip bit into his flesh. His momentum hurled him forward. I felt my blade bite into his iron bones. The sword flexed.

The indigo light exploded.

Instead of my sword snapping, it sheared through his rib cage. His bulk slammed into the shield. The energy surged around me, washing hot about my flesh as his form crashed over me. He engulfed me like a tidal wave slamming into the shore, driven a storm’s violent winds.

But Aingeal protected me.

Gor slid over me, the shielding bowing towards me but not surrendering. The bulk toppled to my right, crashing on his side. The scimitar wrenched from my hand. I stumbled, my legs almost buckling. I caught my balance.

The purple light vanished.

Steam boiled from the ogre’s wound. The scimitar’s blade glowed, the weight of the handle bending the heat-softened metal. Flesh sizzled around the molten blade. The ogre gurgled, blood fountaining black from its gaping mouth, spilling over fist-sized teeth.

He gave a final grunt and went still.

“Pater’s cock,” I gasped, exhaustion crashing into me. My body ached, remembering Zizthithana’s coiled embrace. My limbs all felt leaden. I staggered to my knees, leaning on my left hand to steady myself.

“Master!”

Zanyia collided against me. Her exuberance knocked me backward. She gripped me, her tawny ears twitching, her sweat-smeared face beaming in delight. A purr rumbled from her throat. Above, her tail swished back and forth.

I hugged her tight, not caring about the stickiness of her back. I didn’t care about anything but holding her, knowing she lived. Ava padded over to me, her acorn eyes looking concerned. She lay down beside me, purple dripping off her wicker body.

“Aingeal is hurt. She’s unconscious somewhere. We have to find her.”

Fear galvanized my body and drove back exhaustion. “Where’s Kora?”

Zanyia

“She’s over here!” I shouted as I perched on a wall two blocks down from the ruined boarding house. I perched on a wall screening off the yard of a residence. Aingeal’s body lay battered in a garden, her face covered in blood, her butterfly wings looking bent and ragged. “I think she flew into a wall. Hurry, Mistress!”

“I’m coming!” Kora shouted over the gathering cacophony of the crowd.

Sven, dressed in hasty clothes, pushed through the crowd, dragging Kora with him. She had her pink robes on. We had to cut her and Ealaín free of a spider web. She still had strands stuck to her beneath her clothing.

“Here,” Sven growled, reaching the wall. He cupped his hands.

Kora stepped into them. He lifted her up and she grabbed the top of the wall. She grunted and scrabbled over them. She let out a squeaking shriek as she moved with too much enthusiasm and fell over onto the garden side, landing in a thud on the ground.

I leaped down after her, landing with nimble grace as she coughed. I leaned over her, staring into her eyes. “You okay, Mistress?”

“Fine,” she groaned.

Sven landed beside her in a graceful crouch. He helped Kora stand then she rushed over to Aingeal. She fell to her knees before her. I knelt by my Master, rubbing my cheek into his leather pants, breathing in the scent of him.

He killed Zizthithana. I saw her headless corpse. She could never hurt me again. She could never send her minions out to hunt me. My Master stood up to her and he triumphed. My tail swished behind me. My purr rose in my throat. My entire body shook in delight. This was so amazing.

My tail swished back and forth.

Sven rested his hand on my head right between my ears. I shivered as he scratched me while watching Kora heal Aingeal. My ears twitched. I purred even louder, my vocal chords humming as the delight surged through me.

“You’re in a good mood,” Master said, his words distant.

“No one’s after the amulet now!” I said. “We killed Zizthithana and all her servants. We’re free of her and her meddling.”

“We still have to destroy it.”

I cocked my head, catching something in his scent. Something ... tense and ... Fear? I peered up at him. “Master, there’s nothing standing between us and destroying it. Not unless Prince Meinard discovers we’re here with his daughter. We’ll find out what we need to destroy the amulet from the Priests of Krab in the morning. We’ll be off to the Altar of Souls in no time at all.”

He let out a regretful sigh.

“Master? D-don’t you want that?”

He stared at his sister as she helped Aingeal sit up. The pair embraced, lips meeting in a loving kiss. Master’s hand tightened in my hair. “Of course I want that. We have to destroy it.”

“But...”

“No questions, slave,” he growled, his entire body tense.

“Y-yes, Master.” I shrunk, shoulders hunching, my purr dying. What did I do wrong? I thought Sven liked it when I asked questions. He let me have so much independence, but ... I was still his slave. I had to remember that. I lowered my head and stared at my knees.

Then Kora and Aingeal were hugging him. He scooped them close. Ava cried out from the right. A gate opened. I looked up to see the princess, Greta, and Nathalie rushing in, Ealaín striding behind them wearing a dressing gown.

“Aingeal!” Ava shouted, throwing herself into the hug.

“You’re alive!” Nathalie squealed.

In moments, Greta and Nathalie were in the hug, too. Master’s hand tightened in my hair. Then he pulled, lifting me up. I rose, his scent smelling ... happy again. He glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back, still confused, but he was surrounded by his women.

And I was one of them.

I hugged him, my body pressed against Aingeal and Greta. I felt just a touch of Sven as we all crowded over him. Ealaín padded towards us. She paused, her citrine eyes almost glowing with a silvery hue, moonlight painting across her white hair giving it a metallic sheen.

Then she joined us. She hugged us. I smiled, glad she was a part of the harem. I breathed in deeply, inhaling the unique scent that made up every person I loved. My purr rose in my throat, my tail swishing back and forth.

Ealaín

The shock made me tremble as I melted into the embrace, pressing into Nathalie’s back. She shifted enough, letting me move in between her and Ava. Sven shifted his arm, letting me join it, too. He nodded to me. I never thought I would do this, but...

After the fight ... after this night ... We had all risked together. We had all battled Zizthithana’s minions before, but tonight was different. Maybe it was the fear of loss, of losing Kora, but maybe it was because Sven touched me tonight. He gave me pleasure, gave me love like he did to the rest of his women before we fought together.

I caught his gaze and ... in the depths of his blue eyes, I witnessed pain. Fear. Loss. He looked away and met his sister’s gaze. She beamed at him, quivering in delight. She drew such inspiration from those she loved. From me, from Ava and Aingeal, from Nathalie and Greta and Zanyia, and from her brother.

Did I give my mother the right advice?

Sven Falk

I stared at Kora, drinking in the loveliness of her. I held all my women in my arms, feeling the warmth of their bodies. Zanyia purred, the rest talking, laughing, giggling, reveling in the euphoria of surviving tonight. Kora’s blue eyes laughed. My sister had such joy in them.