Chapter 2

I had heard the "swatch" of a rift some hours earlier but had ignored it; the sound was a fair distance off. The blackberries of midsummer coated the side of the hill and I wanted my fill. As I moved towards the forest at the top, I heard the quiet snap of a dry twig. Without moving my head lest I give the watcher notice, I spread out my sense and brushed against a young Eldenhaun female. I could taste her mithral tipped arrows with my tongue.

Calmly I walked into the forest keeping my back to my stalker. Too many young trees blocked her shot, forcing her to move closer than she wanted to come. I waited, sending power to the bramble shoots in her path. It reminded me of the traps my father and I set for those rabbits over a year ago.

She stepped one foot into my snare and still lacked a clear shot. She took one more step. The crickets stopped chirping as she lifted her bow. I released my snare and the brambles shot forth from the ground up her legs and torso until every limb was securely bound and she was trapped.

I turned to examine my prey, my sword drawn and as I imagined it, hungry for blood. She was an adolescent, blooming into adulthood. Perhaps this was supposed to be her first blooding, the hunting of her first humans. She tried to utter a curse at me but I seized control of her mouth with a flick of my finger. Her eyes bulged in fear. A human with Eldenhaun powers was impossible, unheard of and blackly dangerous.

I considered slitting her throat right there when an ancient memory came to my forebrain, ancient even to my unwilling teacher. I chose. Dropping my pants I stroked my cock to an erection. Without emotion, I willed myself to masturbate and fired off a wad of semen into my hand. I used the rapidly cooling liquid to write a word upon her head in the ancient language. She tried to move her head to escape but the thorns held her tight. When the word glistened, I forced open her mouth and shoved the rest of white goop down into her mouth. Then I slowly recited the three short sentences of enslavement.

The wards about her dissipated into smoke; her charms fell lifeless from her clothes and limbs. The girl's eyes rolled up into her head and her body sagged informing me that the enchantment was complete. I released the brambles and let them retreat back into the ground. I had committed the sin of black magic according to their ways. I chortled in amusement; their ways were of no matter to me. They were the evil in my world, the destroyers of all that was goodly and pure. I sneered at the unmoving form and pinned her shoulder to the ground with the toe of my boot.

She stirred and opened her eyes. "I am your slave, master," she declared simply.

I stared back at her, suddenly curious. She was Eldenhaun, but she looked far too human for the monster that I knew she was. Her hair wasn't blond but nearly white, as they all were. I looked more closely. Her eyes looked like eyes though the irises were pale, the nose like a human nose, even if it was smaller and more pointed. I catalogued what I could see.

"Stand and take off your clothes," I demanded. She responded sullenly, refusing to look at my face. Her pants and blouse made a pile topped with a gossamer undergarment that looked far too delicate for a bloodthirsty hunter. I stared at her small breasts, with their pale nipples. She had a bellybutton, surrounded by a hint of muscles. Her feet and legs looked normal, the legs a little longer than I expected. Around her cleft was a light down of the same fine white hair. Without conscious thought, I stretched my fingers to stroke it.

"Please, my master, I haven't reached the Ceremony of Harmony yet," she protested. I had to dig into my new memory to dreg up the phrase but it was there. The ceremony marked the age of mating.