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Flame

By: dumpshock



It's been a few months since I wrote one of these and got POSITIVE FEEDBACK from it

*Cracks knuckles, limbers up, licks his lips and gets to it*

It's late, you've had a great night out on the town, all the songs you wanted playing came on and you danced yourself into an ecstatic buzz. You got all the attention you wanted and a few enticing offers. Your night couldn't have been much better.

You get into the taxi waiting for you outside the last club and you head home for a good night's sleep, but you're still buzzing.

You notice somebody strangely familiar in the cab with you, whom you could have sworn wasn't there before.

You notice somebody strangely familiar in the cab with you, whom you could have sworn wasn't there before. He talks to you, in a husky familiar voice. You're intrigued, you know him but you cant place him. He tells you that he's missed you, and he's glad to see you again.

You get talking, the taxi passing the cathedral on the way home.

It's like you've known him forever - the magnetism is electric. His words take you up into the air inside you.

And then, like a flash, you're home, and he leaves his door and opens yours. You stand there together, the cab disappearing into the distance. He looks at you, His eyes showing his inner fire, glistening in the night. You try to make out his features as he reaches and caresses your cheek.

The sudden contact makes you skip a beat inside, and you drift closer to him, the mist of breath in the cold lingering like a heady perfume drawing you in.

He pulls your body towards you

He places his lips onto yours in a slow, gentle kiss that builds up pace as he holds you tight in an embrace not meant to be broken for an eternity.

You feel electrified by this sudden, sweet contact. You break off; looking deep into his eyes, bright and alert, both of your breathing has changed

You take a step towards your front door, facing him. He waits, just a little while, sees the look in your eyes, and acknowledges your secret plea by taking another step towards you. You turn to place the key in the door and are greeted by a warm hand following the contours of your midriff as the stranger so familiar closes behind you, tilting your head and kissing your neck. The key is slid into place by slim deft hands.

The door opens, but you don't notice, you float upstairs, driven along by kisses, firm but not uncomfortable caresses to your body, your arms, your neck, your cheeks,

He whispers something point blank into your ear

The feeling, not the sound itself sets you alight. You gasp as he pulls your top over your head and spins you around to see him, his frame changed slightly and subtlety from the last time you saw him before tonight. He kisses you and drives you onto the bed.

You undo his shirt as he goes to work on your tender beasts. He deftly takes a nipple into his lips and rolls his tongue over it. It's been so long since you felt such contact you can't help but let a whimper out as you finally remove his dark shirt.

He pulls you upright and kisses you hard, passionately. You feel slight sensations of stubble following the tender soft plants of his lips as they travel down your body, from your neck, over your breasts, navel and down the waistband of your ripped boot cut jeans. He makes short work of the button fasteners and tugs at them till they're around your ankles,

Thumbing your underwear down swell in one swift motion, flicking both items off in one easy motion. He starts off tracing a line with his lips from your feet, kissing all the way unto your knee, and licking a long wet trail up to your inner thigh, separating your legs wide with one purposeful thrust. You lay before him, surrendered and breathing heavy now.

He pauses slightly to take in the beautiful sight before him - An Angel about to fall again into sweet forbidden sinful ecstasy. His eyes make hot searing contact with yours and mutual desire floods between you. Without a signal, he ducks down and kisses and nibbles the soft sweat beaded flesh of your inner thigh. You urge him on by bucking faintly toward him, and he obliges.

Hot intense movements of his tongue send a storm up and down your spine and you start to shiver.

He's caressing your sides and legs again, ever intently lapping at your sweet wetness, as you feel your heart begin to race. So long, so long, it seems to say. You hold out as long as you can before giving in to a shattering orgasm that makes you rock gasp and whisper sweet little sins toward this powerful, talented creature.

He slides up against your sweat slicked body with his own, and takes you into his arms. As you feel the hardness through his jean fabric on your naked hip, you turn towards him and kiss him deep, the aftertaste you your honey lingers on his lips and probing tongue as he strokes your sides, making you shiver sweet aftershocks as you deftly undo the belt and the zipper...

The kiss can't be over too soon, you think to yourself as you slide his jeans and boxers down his muscular thighs and calves in as deft a motion as he displayed earlier on, revealing his fully erect member, visible and intent even in the dark, street lit room. You take it in hand and you hear him gasp and feel him shift next to you, as you start to stroke the hot velvety skin on his shaft.

He moves so he is kneeling like you, giving you full access to his body. He kisses you on the neck and caresses your breasts and hair as you stroke him rhythmically, feeling his breathing become ragged.

He pulls you near, moves your legs apart once more and draws you onto his lap. You sit straddling him as he kneels on both knees, kissing you once again with renewed vigour feeling every inch of skin he can.

You feel his hot flesh between your legs, not entered, but running slowly along your slit and over your clitoris, the head teasing it into rich bloom once more as you writhe yourself on top of him, trading kisses as he starts to bring you around to full arousal once more.

You're this close, and you hear his hushed voice telling you how it feels for him inside, an insight into his innermost desires and wanton lust mixed together.

His voice sets you alight again, so familiar yet so changed than before, stronger, more assertive. You reply to his silent compliments with your own retorts, still working yourself up to full power on his hot member.

You feel the sweat building up on both of you as you angle yourself more, enticing his now pulsing member along the line leading to your glistening tight hole. He gasps as you feel a sharp sensation inside as his member stretches your walls, inching in slowly, you gasp all the way as he kisses your nape and neck, bites your chin, writes under you and moves his hands down from your neck to your butt to gain better purchase.

You feel the animal building it's strength inside you and by the way he's breathing and kissing you, you guess he's going to be close to his own climax. He rolls you onto your back, grinding deep into you, rubbing harshly on your over-stimulated clitoris, almost painful yet still intense, you feel yourself losing your battle to keep control. He's rolling, pumping into you. The sweat runs off his head, chest, body and legs and onto you, mixing with your own and tracing down onto the sheets, making them cling as you roll together, caressing stroking thrusting and bucking, losing yourselves in a sea of moans gasps and hot wet kisses. It happens. You feel your body tense as he starts to rack into you, lost in his own ecstasy. You bite down on his shoulder as he carries on, building up speed, hammering home time after time, you lose your battle and you come with a blistering whimper and gasp, driving him over the edge as he pumps and spasms in your embrace, hits home five or six times before slowing to a halt

He caresses your lips with his own like an old lover back from far away, as he rolls you onto your side, both of you panting, and embraces you tight. He pulls the covers over you and him as you lie there and kiss quietly sharing each other one more time.

Flame



"Hi, baby, Flame is my name, what's yours?" 

"My name is Doris, nice to meet you!" It was Saturday night so I must be in the 'Bad Girl Bar', because that's where I went every Saturday night! I sat next to Doris at the bar and bought her a drink. She was cute, white, and had brown hair and eyes. As we talked, I guessed that she was about 25 years old, 5'4" with small but perky breasts and the slit in her skirt revealed shapely legs. 

Noting that the bartender knew my name, Doris said, "You must come here often. It seems to be a popular place, this is my first time.

"That's why I've never seen you before! I'm here every Saturday night; I like the band and meeting sweet things like yourself." I liked the way she blushed, 'refreshing to meet someone that had not become hardened by the night life.'

The band played a slow song and we danced; I held her tight and could feel her body tremble. I was pleased to feel this little white girl melt in my black arms. As I held her tight, my black hand slid down to her shapely buttocks. Doris looked up at me with fear in her eyes. I was unaccustomed to that kind of reaction.

We returned to the bar and I asked her what was wrong. "This is all so new to me and I am quite nervous. Please, have patience with me!"

"I don't get it! What is new to you? Have you ever been with a black woman?"

Her pretty face was blushing again, as she said, "I've never been with a woman! I've thought about it, fantasized about it, and wanted to try, but have never been able to get up the nerve to do it!"

"Wow!!! I'm sorry but we are in a lesbian bar and I just took for granted that you were a lesbian! Then I thought that perhaps it was because I was black. Do you find me attractive?"

"Oh, yes, you are beautiful; I couldn't imagine anyone that I would rather be my first woman lover than you! I'm sorry; it's just that I am so aflutter. I am wet, just looking at you. I want you so bad, but I am scared!"

"I too am wet! Come home with me and let your desire overcome your fear. Don't worry, sweet thing, I will be gentle. You are in good hands!" I got her out of there as quickly as possible, we walked to my apartment. 

Sexy music was playing, drinks were served and we danced in each other's arms. I felt confident now that we were in the friendly confines of my home. We kissed, tenderly at first and then more passionately, out tongues entwined, my hand squeezed her buttocks. I felt her warm body pressing into mine. I dropped her skirt and slipped a finger under her panties and into her wet pussy. Doris was moaning in passion and lost in lust and I knew that she was mine!

I removed her top, brassiere, and her panties. She was sexy, in nothing but her stockings and high-heel shoes. Wanting to establish my dominance over the white bitch, I sternly told her, "Now take my clothes off, do it slow and let me see the yearning in your eyes when you look at my voluptuous ebony body." Her eyes were filled with desire as she nervously disrobed me. 

I kissed her neck, her perky little white tits and down her stomach to her thighs. My fingers explored her dripping honey hole! We were standing near a large mirror, I told her to look and observe the contrast of skin color, my big tits and her tiny tits and me towering over her at 5'11". I told her that opposites attract and make it so much more exciting.

I dropped to my knees and licked her moist pussy lips with my long serpentine like tongue. While flicking my tongue in and out of her pussy, I inserted three fingers in her horny hole and sucked on her stiff clit. With tongue and fingers, she was brought to a quaking and shaking orgasm.

I sat on the sofa and pulled her up on my lap. We kissed and I told her to taste her own pussy on my lips! Then I hand feed the sweet girl my huge ebony breasts and she nursed on them hungrily. I pushed her to her knees and told her to taste the chocolate treat between my long black legs. Doris kissed my thighs and slowly worked her way to my smoldering pussy! The white girl was kissing my pussy lips the same way she kissed my mouth! Then she began to French kiss my flooding cunt. I grabbed her hair and forced her face tight to my burning pussy and cried out, "Yes baby, that's it!! Stick your tongue as far up my love tunnel as you can. Suck my clit, oh, yes, look up at me while you suck my cunt, I want to see your eyes when I cum all over your sweet face. Lap up all of my cum, bitch, worship my black pussy!" Between me squeezing my long black legs around her head and pressing her face to my soaking cunt, the poor girl could hardly breathe, but she kept sucking my clit!! 

I picked her up and carried her to my bedroom, plopped her ass on the bed and lay next to her. I asked her, "Well sweetie, how did you like the taste of my black pussy? For your first time you did a good job. Tonight I will give you more practice and soon you will be a great little cunt lapper!"

"It was scrumptious; I love your black pussy and want to please you. It was even better than I thought that it would be!"

"Good girl! Now get between my legs and worship my pussy some more."

Doris eagerly licked the sopping black cunt to several orgasms. The white girl feasted on the luscious black cunt and lovingly licked up all of the love juice. She sniffed in the aroma of the aroused pussy and became beguiled. She licked and sucked the steaming pussy with fervor. 

I told her, "Very good, now I have a reward for you for being such a good little pussy licker!" I went to my closet and got out a 12" black dildo and strapped it on. I enjoyed the fear in her eyes as I spread her creamy legs wide! The big fat black dildo plowed deep into her pink slit and had her moaning and groaning in no time at all. Soon she wrapped her legs around my waist and her white feet rested on my black buttocks as I pounded the fuck out of her. I lost track of how many times the bitch climaxed! 

As I took off the dildo, my pussy twitched at the lewd sight of her stretched and leaking cunt! It was amazing, how the sweet young thing now looked like a total fuck-slut! She told me that she was divorced and offered to let me move in her house in the suburbs. I advised her to take it slow and just concentrate on becoming my obedient fuck-slut. I made it clear that if she wanted to feast on my delicious cunt that she would have to learn to obey my every command. "Yes, I will do anything you say, just let me please you!"

"Good girl, that's a fine start; now, get the fuck out of here and let me get some sleep, leave your number on the table and I will call you. I will wait awhile before I call you; I want the desire for my cunt to build until you can hardly stand it. I want you to crave my cunt so much that you will cum from just smelling it. Oh yeah, from now on you will address me as Mistress Flame, now go!"

"Yes Mistress Flame, I will be waiting for your call." After she left, I chuckled to myself thinking how easy she was. It was the best night of sex that I have had in a long time. I enjoyed my friends at the lesbian bar but realized that seducing straight women was much more exciting. I made up my mind to pursue, seduce and dominate straight white women. At thirty-two years old, I should be thinking of settling down like some of my friends, but to hell with that shit!!!

Sunday night I took my eye-catching ass to a trendy straight bar to see what I could get into. The place was packed, mostly couples, mostly white but there were some singles. I sat next to a 5'2" brunette, her tits were small but she wore no bra and I just loved her large brown nipples, they stood at attention from my gaze; I couldn't help but wonder what they would do at my touch. Then her husband returned from the restroom. 

We talked and they introduced themselves as Helen and Paul. They asked me how I got the name Flame. I got closer to her, looked her straight in the eyes and said, "My name is Flame because I am so fucking HOT! Maybe if you get too close to the Flame you will get burnt. Come on, Helen, dance with me." She started to make an excuse but her husband urged her to dance with me.

As we danced, I held her face to my big black boobs. Then I whispered in her ear, "You are one sexy little white bitch! I want to fuck you! Trust me baby, this Flame can light your fire!" She was embarrassed and told me that I was worse than her husband. When we got back to the bar, Paul told us that we made a beautiful couple? Then he shocked me by inviting me to their house for night-caps.

Once we were seated in their living room, the drinks flowed freely. I explained to them that I used to be a stripper but hit the lottery and retired young. Paul begged me to strip for them and I happily obliged. When I got down to my brassiere and panties, I took Helen's hand and urged her to strip too! She was very reluctant but Paul pushed her into my arms and asked me to show her how to strip. I held her petite frame to my seductive ebony body and unzipped her skirt. We were all feeling our drinks and Paul excitedly exclaimed, "Maybe my fantasies will finally come true!"

I said, "Tell me about your fantasies Paul. What is it that you desire?"

"I have always wanted to see Helen make love to another woman and something tells me that you are the one!"

"You got that right; I already told her that I want to fuck her. Tell us Helen; what do you think about all this? Have you ever made it with a woman? Are you ready for a night of sublime rapture? I can make your hot little volcano erupt, when I get through with you, your pussy will itch for me to scratch it again. You will be on your knees begging me to cum back again and again." I slipped two fingers under her thong and into her soaked slit! 

She wiggled and pushed back at my black fingers, I guess that answered my question. I sucked on her rubbery nipples and my long tongue licked down to her burning cunt! Her pink pussy was soaking wet and she shook to a violent orgasm when my long tongue probed her horny hole! Helen could hardly stand, so I laid her on the floor and straddled her sweet face and lowered my sopping black pussy to her waiting mouth. I fucked her face furiously; her tongue and nose were up my hot snatch! When I finally lifted my dripping pussy from her well fucked face, it was red from the friction and glistened from cum and pussy juice! 

I glanced over at Paul and his cock was out, his hand and pants were cum soaked! No need to ask him if he enjoyed the show. Before I left, Paul gave me their number and invited me to please come back soon. I helped Helen to her feet and asked, "What about you little girl; do you want me to come back and fuck you? Do you want to feast on my delicious black pussy again?"

"I...I guess so, if you want."

"Not good enough baby, I need more encouragement than that. Oh well, goodbye."

Before I got to the door she called out, "Yes, please come back; I want you to come anytime you want. I would love to be with you again!" I just smiled as I walked out the door. That was fantastic! The white bitches love my juicy black pussy, just as much as I loved them worshiping my cunt with their mouths and tongues!!!

I let a week go by and did not call Doris or Helen; I was tempted to make a call when a night on the town came up empty!! Hey, even Babe Ruth struck out sometimes. But I did not call them because I wanted them to miss me and build on their desire for me, but I was horny as hell.

I went to the gym to work off some steam. While lifting weights, my attention was drawn to an adorable blonde with big green eyes. She was struggling with her weights, so I went over to give her some assistance. I would rather give her something else!! Nothing like a good piece of ASSistance! I grabbed her bar and helped her lower the weights, making sure that she got a good look up my loose gym shorts. ¬

She thanked me and was out of breath. I suggested that we take a break and offered to buy her a drink at the juice bar. She had an adorable accent, her name was Susan and she was from Ireland. The 26 yr. old beauty explained that she was here on holiday visiting her married sister. 

The poor girl has never been out on the town. Her sister had four children and one of them was sick so they could not take her anywhere. I told her that it would be my pleasure to take her out for dinner and show her the town. She said that she couldn't let me do that but I talked her into it.

We had a divine dinner and I took her to the 'Bad Girl Bar', we sat at a booth and her big beautiful green-eyes were shining with the sights that she never had seen. We danced and the slender girl felt good in my arms. She was 5'8" and had 36 C breasts. I kissed her ear and neck, let my hand slide down to her shapely buttocks and looked into her eyes for her reaction. She appeared puzzled but did not say anything. Finally she asked, "Why are no men in here? Is this a lesbian bar? Are you a lesbian?"

"My, my, you are full of questions aren't you? The answer to all of your questions is 'yes'. If you are upset, we can leave and I will take you home."

"No, I'm not upset; we can still have fun but I want you to know that I am not a lesbian!" Susan loved the band and she sure did love to drink. We even danced to some fast music and she did know how to 'shake that thing!' I swear that she was teasing me when she rubbed her sexy body against mine. The more she drank the better my chances were to seduce sweet Susan! When the bar closed, we went to my place for more drinks; Susan wanted to party and I assured her that we could continue drinking and dancing at my place. Moisture formed in my pussy, I anticipated getting in her panties and seducing the sweet thing!

We stumbled in to my apartment and immediately opened a couple of beers. While sitting on the sofa, I accidentally on purpose spilled a beer all over her pink sundress!

I led her to my bedroom, told her to take off all of her clothes and I would wash them and gave her a flimsy black satin robe to wear. Her breast looked great on that slim body and the blonde hair on her pussy was a turn on for me. I explained that there was beer on my clothes too and would wash them with hers. I took my time putting on a white satin robe and noticed that she could not keep her eyes off of my ebony body! She stumbled and her black robe opened as I caught her. 

I looked in to her green eyes and could not resist kissing her. Our tongues were slapping each other! I squeezed a firm tit with one hand and with the other I slid two fingers into her soaking fuck hole! She pleaded, "No, please don't do this. I told you that I was not a lesbian. Please stop!"

"Susan girl, the lips on your mouth are telling me no, but the lips on your hot little cunt are screaming, 'YES!!!' Now which set of lips am I to believe?" I kissed her neck and worked my way down to her firm tits; I nibbled on her tiny nipples and sucked on them with vigor. I kissed and licked my way down to her sweet honey pot, I now had four fingers furiously pumping her hot little-hole as I kissed her thighs and smelled her aroused cunt, and she oozed love juice. Her sweet pussy was aflame, her face was flush and I knew that there was no way that she could turn back now. My little Wild Irish Rose was consumed with lust, passion and desire. This lovely flower was mine for the picking!!

Her long slender legs were wobbly and I feared that she would fall down. I guided my precious bundle of burning love to the bed. My lips meet her pussy lips, my long tongue invaded her flooded love tunnel and my fingers continued slipping and sliding in her soaked pussy! "She screamed out, "Ohhh..Nooo.. Please don't do this!! It's wrong, please stop!!"

Knowing damn well that she could not stop now; she was so close to orgasm, I removed my fingers from her blazing pussy and lifted my face from her soaked slit and told her, "Ok, that's it, if you don't want to cum, it's alright with me!! Fuck you bitch! Get dressed and I will drive your sorry-ass home!"

"But my dress is not washed yet. I want to stay with you but please, don't make me do this."

I smiled as I now completely understood her. Reading between the lines, it was obvious that she wanted to play but by having me 'make her have sex', she was relieved of all burdens of guilt. She wanted it but didn't want to feel guilty. Very well then, if she wanted to be dominated and forced to do things, she came to the right place!

I plunged right in and gobbled up her sweet pussy, I stirred her still waters and made them flow freely! Her smoldering slit dripped hot honey and it tasted luscious. My Irish Rose lost control and shook and quivered to a rocking orgasm. My fingers left her juicy cunt and poked their way up her tight ass-hole. Susan reached another intense orgasm and screamed out in sublime ecstasy!!!

Now it was time for me to dominate the white bitch and turn her into my submissive cunt-lapper!!! We snuggled and kissed; I wanted her to taste her own pussy! I roughly pushed her pretty face to my bosom and demanded that she suck on my big black tits. I could see the lust and desire in her beautiful green-eyes when she stared at my humongous ebony breasts. Her red lips kissed my black mountains lovingly; then she feverishly sucked my nipples, for a moment, I thought she was going to draw milk!

Then I pushed her down to my waiting pussy and spread my long black, beautiful legs wide for her. Susan breathed in the seductive scent of my hot pussy and the sweet bouquet mesmerized the girl. As if in a trance, her eyes stared at my fat pussy lips and her mouth opened wide when she watched my clit emerge and grow before her eyes. My pussy opened for her like a morning flower covered with dew!

Susan slowly licked my hungry cunt and was drooling! I grabbed a fistful of blonde hair and forced her face to my burning cunt. In an authoritative voice, I demanded, "Eat my black pussy, bitch, chew on my fat pussy lips, suck my clit like it was your boyfriend's little dick and wiggle your tongue all the way up my carnal canal! Stop trying to act like miss goody-goody and show me what a depraved, shameless little slut you really are!" Her tongue licked faster, she sucked my clit and ate my pussy with fervor!

"That's it bitch, lick up all of my pussy juice! Yesssss, suck that cunt.. Show your big black momma what a filthy, vile little white fuck-slut you are!!! Oh Susan, I'm going to cum all over your white face; gobble it all up, you greedy little pig!!! Oh shitttttt, here it comes, lick up every drop. I can feel it dripping down to my ass-hole, lick it out, Yesssss, eat my ass out, your big black momma is going to cum again!! Oh shit, you are a good little white girl; you have a mouth like a fucking vacuum cleaner!!!" 

I got out my 12" black dildo and strapped it on., spread her creamy legs and rammed it up her tight little white pussy. I could feel her cunt stretch, her eyes were rolling and she screamed out in rapture. I turned her oven and fucked her doggy-style. The beautiful blonde girl squealed like a stuffed pig and fucked back hard. I put two fingers in her ass and then with a sloshing sound, pulled out of her now sloppy cunt and fucked her ass!! Her pussy juices supplied all the lube that was necessary. 

At first, she cried out in agony. I pulled her blonde hair back and pumped her ass furiously; the pain gave way to pleasure and she humped her butt back at the big black invader!!! I wanted to demean her and tauntingly said, "That's it, you like that big black cock up your shitty ass, don't you slut? From now on, you are my bitch!!! You are a piece of worthless shit and you will obey my every command! Do you understand me? Address me as Mistress and I will call you my little white-fuck-slut! Is that clear?"

"Oh yes Mistress, I am yours and will do whatever you want me to do. I am your bitch and you are my black love goddess! Please keep fucking my ass, it feels so good! Oh my, I am going to cum again, Oh, oh, Yesssss!"




Flame



After I fucked the shit out of her; my little white fuck-slut worshiped my ebony body with her mouth and tongue. I loved it when she looked up at me with those big green-eyes while she sucked my sopping cunt!!! She said that she loved me and I told her to go do the wash! I drove Susan to her sister's home and when I learned that she was going back to Ireland in three days, I realized that there was no time to play the waiting game with her. We made a date for the next night.

When I got home, my mind was filled with thoughts of Susan, she was so fucking Hot! I felt pangs of regret when I realized that she was going back to Ireland and out of my life. I knew that I would miss her! I cursed myself for becoming attached to her so easily, but she was very special and even though I wanted to continue seducing other women, I did not want to loose her!

The next day, I called Paul and Helen and asked if they wanted to party? They were thrilled to hear from me and Paul was excited when I informed him that I was inviting two other women. Next, I called Doris and invited her; she was all fired-up and ready to go!

I picked up Susan and when she sat next to me in the car, I kissed her and said, "Hi, angel eyes, you look breathtaking tonight."

She laughed and said, "Angel eyes? I thought you were going to call me white fuck-slut bitch and I was to call you Mistress Flame." I told her that stuff was just for when we were having sex, because I knew that it turned her on so much and that when we were out, I would treat her like the gorgeous young lady that she was. Her captivating smile made my heart do flips and my pussy twitch! 

When we arrived at Paul and Helen's place, I was pleased that Doris was already there. Susan gave me a stunned look when I introduced her as my love. We drank, danced and chatted. Paul slyly suggested that I give all of the girls stripping lessons. I told him, "You just want to watch us have an orgy, you want to see us naked and you want to watch your wife get totally fucked, don't you?"

His answer was concise, "Hell Yes!!!" I began dancing and stripping, the other women watched me and did the same. Helen told Paul he could watch but warned him not to touch any of the women. Susan and I enjoyed an orgasm filled sixty-nine. Helen and Doris did the same. I bent all three white bitches over and furiously fucked them with my big dildo. I pulled their hair, called them sluts and slapped each ass hard until they were all red. Then I tore them new ass-holes, telling them that they would not be able to shit right for a week. I reprimanded them for soiling my beautiful black dildo and made them tongue wash it. Paul asked if he could use one of their mouths. I permitted him to use all three but he could only cum in his wife's mouth!

After the orgy, I drove Susan to her sister's house and wanted to know if she could stay and not go back to Ireland? She said that she must return but we could keep in touch and 'who knows what the future holds?' I drove home and thought that at least I had two more days to convince her to stay. I felt a strong need to keep this sweet thing in my life!!!



Flame of Cytherea 01



Ok, I am still working on Ashley's Tale, but I am stuck so I started this one. Never fear though, I'm halfway to the next post point, just juggling plot points in my head, the story is not dead.

The Flame of Cytherea is a transferred to a new world story, one where the protagonist will be moved to from Earth. I have read a lot in this genre that I enjoyed, so I thought I'd give it a shot. 

I want to add a disclaimer for the cursing in the story, I don't usually use that many, but Nora is a foul mouthed wench in my head and it's just the way it came out. So blame her, not me... She's an angry little thing, for good reason.

Anyway I hope you enjoy it. As usual this story will be in Fantasy/SciFi, but the sex will vary. The protagonist is Male, so it will probably be a harem type to a certain extent, but with less supporting characters than my previous works. There will be multiple points of view in the story, but mostly I will stick to the hero. If I receive feedback in this regard I will try to follow it, I know some hate multiple viewpoints and some love them... so we will see.

If you're looking for a quick fix, don't bother reading on, there will be sex in this first post, but I am going for at least 10k words for it. If you like stories with occasional sex and like my other stories... you're in the right place. Hopefully ;) Okay, that is enough of my rambling... At least... that's what the voices told me.

Flame of Cytherea.

Prologue – A soul traded

She looked down at the young man carefully. His life, his ambition, lay bare. His every thought, deed, impulse and emotion from his eighteen years of life were all revealed. She was not omniscient, she simply read it from his soul, the soul that had cried out moments ago.

She had answered. 

Time was frozen, there was no rush. But she was pleased with what she saw. He was a good man, one who tried to do what was right. It was why he had rushed into the alley, why the woman who fled was not a victim of rape. It was also why he lay on the ground, crying out for life.

She bowed her head reverently, his soul's cry reached her, he was what she was looking for, but he belonged to another. To one far beyond her station.

Father. She directed the thought respectfully.

A powerful voice filled her mind, she knew at its height it would shatter her mind, but it was tempered and gentled, "You wish to claim him as yours daughter? I can see what you have planned, do not forget, his will needs be his own. Remember that, and you have my blessing."

She answered with a smile, "I can see his heart will lead him where I need."

She heard a low chuckle in her mind, "Surely his heart and soul are compatible to your wishes, he is a good man, but I see a twisted route that lies ahead for him, he may not always do what you expect."

She nodded her head in acceptance. It was not in her nature to deny free will to a mortal, at least, not anymore. She had grown in wisdom the last two millennia. But still, she had high hopes. She knelt beside him. He was handsome, an inch over six feet. Brown hair and hazel eyes. He was in shape and knew how to fight. Kick boxing and other fighting styles were known to him.

He was also riddled with bullet wounds in his chest, extremely close to death.

She leaned down and lightly brushed his lips with her own. His body started to glow, his wounds knit and his body was transformed. The glow grew brighter and brighter...

Time resumed and the world around the alley came to life. Horns could be heard in the street, the revving of a car engine and a cool breeze made its way down the now empty alley.

Chapter 1

Justin woke up and reached a hand and touched it to his lips. They tingled strangely and he wondered what the hell had just happened. He slowly opened his eyes. There was a canopy of trees above him, he turned his head slightly each way, taking in the surrounding trees. He closed his eyes and shook his head in denial. The strange question popped into his head, what was a forest doing in downtown Chicago?

He laughed a little hysterically then shook his head, but when he opened his eyes the trees were still there. He closed his eyes again, but it didn't help, he could hear the birds singing and the rustling of leaves.

He gasped as his recent memories came back. His eyes popped open and he looked down at his chest as the encounter with a gang of rapists flooded into his mind. He touched his chest in disbelief, not only was he in a forest with birds, but his wounds were gone? Was he dead, crazy, or just dreaming? A last dream for him to be lost in as the bullets claimed his life, draining away into an alley gutter?

The idea that he was healed and in a forest wasn't even entertained. It was sad when the best case scenario was you lost your mind, but when the other two choices were dead or dying, it won hands down.

He also noticed he was wearing strange clothes, it looked like a tunic and breeches, something you would wear to a renaissance fair. Feeling foolish he called out, but no one answered. He chose a direction at random, hoping his dream would get better before he died, and started walking. He had a stray thought that maybe this wasn't a dream, maybe he was healed somehow.

He snorted. Right, next thing he'll be on another world, like in some book.

Of course, that's when he walked into the clearing, and clearly saw the sun was directly overhead. The disturbing part was there was a second sun on the horizon, and off to his left was a moon looming large on the horizon. Very large, it was too large really, to be a moon.

Yeah... either that he thought panicked, or he was on the forest moon of Endor and that huge rock was the planet. He put his hands on his knees and leaned over, breathing deeply. He muttered to himself over and over that he refused to get sick. He could feel himself start to hyperventilate, none of this made sense. 

He was almost sure it wasn't a dream at this point, so he was either dead or crazy... or he reluctantly added... healed and on another planet... Snorting to himself he looked over the trees from the center of the clearing, trying to see something, anything, to indicate what direction to walk in.

He saw smoke rising slowly to the sky in one direction, he frowned, it looked to be several miles away. He sighed deeply and started off. It felt a little different, walking that is. He didn't know if he was lighter, if the gravity was different, or if he was just stronger, but the quick pace he set did not tire him.

Curious, he started into a jog. This was too weird for this to be a dream or crazy time, either he was dead and alone here, or on another world. He fell into a comfortable rhythm, not really paying attention when he stumbled into a large break in the forest. 

The grass was knee high and moved with the slight breeze. When he stomped on it in a brilliant stumbling entrance, it made a loud scratchy noise as he flattened the blades. He watched a few deer running from a small stream on the edge of the field back into the woods. He realized quickly he must have startled them. He froze at the next thing he saw, a huge tiger stood, appearing from the grass as if through magic.

He had never seen a tiger outside of TV, but this one appeared bigger than he would have expected. It looked beautiful, and powerful. Not to mention deadly. A shiny light brown coat with streaks of black, he knew he should probably be running back for the trees himself, but he couldn't move. His feet were obstinately ignoring his plea to move.

The tiger looked at him and roared. He could swear it sounded more annoyed than angry, then watched as it chased after the fleeing deer. He stood there a few minutes, breathing shallowly. Finally he broke from his shock and started jogging again toward the smoke, hoping he wouldn't run into the tiger again.

He also had a disturbing thought, he doubted there would be deer hunting tigers in the afterlife. Not that he wanted to be dead, it's just what that left him with as an option was... crazy. Or possibly on another planet. He wasn't fully convinced yet, though he doubted even his dreaming mind could come up with the surprising things he had come across, but he resolved to move more cautiously. If he was on another world, who knew what could happen?

He reached the edge of the woods and was looking out from the path, carefully considering. Of course, he couldn't live in the woods all his life, so he felt a little silly about it. Still, for all he knew they were cannibals or something. He sighed in relief when he saw a human walk out of one of the buildings, he didn't realize how much he was worried about it until now. After all, an alien world should have... aliens right? Apparently not.

The smoke itself was coming from behind a large building that had a fairly large sign out front with a mug and a bed. He assumed this was some sort of tavern. The road was just dirt, and the buildings were all made of wood. There were a large number of small buildings with no signs that he could see as well as more with signs that were too small to read from a distance.

The town went on farther than he could see from his position by the forest. The tavern of course, brought up the idea of money. He patted down his pants and shirt, he didn't have any. That could be an issue. He was getting up the confidence to go check things out when he heard a silky, yet annoyed voice, right behind him.

"Well, you going to stand there all day?"

He turned while considering the fact that he understood what was said. It wasn't English, but he understood. All thoughts of how that was possible fled his mind at the sight of the woman behind him. She was about his age, maybe a year or two older. Long lustrous brown hair, a heart shaped face. She was beautiful... and her figure was curved in all the right places...

She was wearing hunting leathers but he didn't see a weapon on her at all, and she was dragging a dead dear that was already dressed on a travois, and he suddenly realized spying from the head of a well used forest trail was stupid, and... he was also in her way. He also wondered how she had snuck up on him while dragging a deer...

"Sorry, I'm new around here."

She rolled her eyes expressively and said, "First you nearly ruin my hunt, now you're in the way, please move, I need to get this thing on the fire. Tavern doesn't run itself you know."

Her face flashed with annoyance. Did her eyes just turn yellow a second? Couldn't be, must have been a reflection of the light. He stepped to the side, then turned his head, realizing he had been staring.

He asked, "Need some help?"

Her words finally hit him, ruined her hunt? He hadn't seen anyone else in the field. He looked over again and saw her studying him.

He shrugged helplessly. "I'm really not from around here, no money. I need to find a job, a place to stay. Sorry, my name is Justin, you are?"

She looked thoughtfully at him. "Katrina, you can call me Kat," she rolled her eyes again, "My pa had a weird sense of humor. Walk with me and we'll talk about it."

He didn't get what she meant, but he felt that he should. Shit... Kat, hunt, tiger, dead deer, and no weapon... He refused to take that line of thought any further and fell in beside her, taking one of the handles he helped her drag the deer into town.

Kat asked, "So, what can you do, job wise I mean."

He took in the towns obvious lack of technology, and frowned. What could he do? Thirteen years of school and... he had no idea. He knew a lot of... apparently worthless information.

"Well, I was still in school back home so I don't have much practical experience. I'm strong though, and I pick things up quickly," he wasn't sure it would help, but he threw in, "I'm also good in a fight, not sure how useful that would be around here."

He berated himself... pick things up quickly, might as well have added good with people.

They dragged the travois to the back of the tavern, there was a large fire pit already lit. She pulled the deer onto a spit and hung it.

"If you were younger I'd say apprentice with the blacksmith, you look in good shape and strong. I could use a server in the afternoons and evenings, one that could handle himself for the more rowdy folk. Maybe help out with the wood too?"

She studied him intently, as if measuring him, then nodded. "Show me you can fight and I'll hire you. One silver a week plus a room and three meals a day."

She looked at him challengingly, holding herself in a fighting stance. He was amazed by this young woman, barely older than him and apparently in charge of her own business. She had talked of her father in the past tense, he wondered if she was alone. His parents had passed as well years ago. He felt a sharp pain, wondering if he would ever see his grandparents again, but shook it off. 

He could deal with the loss of his old world later, after he took care of the basics of his survival.

He moved in to put her in a hold but underestimated her strength badly, not wanting to hurt her. She jerked out of his grip before he could get a good hold on her, which pulled him forward, and his face went straight into her elbow jab knocking him back on his ass.

"You're going to have to do better than that Justin, if you want a job here."

He looked up to see a playful smile on her face and relaxed a little. Taking a deep breath he stood. The second time he didn't underestimate her at all. He led her to make another elbow strike, giving her a false opportunity while they grappled closely, but caught her arm and twisted, putting her in a joint lock. She fell to her knees, her face pushed against the ground, her butt in the air.

He couldn't help the stirring in his groin, she looked... hot. And the way their bodies had met during the short spar had tried his focus and concentration and he couldn't take his eyes off of her perfect ass. He couldn't help but notice her breasts were heaving as well as she took deep breaths.

She looked up at him with a bemused smile on her face, as if she was reading his mind. He let her go with a slight blush then helped her up. 

She looked him up and down deliberately, smiled and said, "You'll do just fine."

He wasn't entirely sure she was talking about the job...

Chapter 2

First, she took him on a tour of the place. The kitchen was large. A huge island was in the middle of the room with many wood burning stoves along the walls. Outside of the stoves, pots, and pans, everything else was made of finished good quality wood. Through the kitchen doors was a large room with a bar along one wall. The center of the room was all tables and chairs, and a small stage was on the opposite wall from the bar. There was a fireplace, but no fire was lit as it was warm outside. She led him up the stairs and showed him where he would be bedding down.

He thought she was probably teasing him from his obvious ogling earlier. She kept touching his arm and back as she led him around, flirting just a bit. He wasn't about to argue about it though he just flirted back a bit, keeping eye contact just a second or two longer than normal.

His room wasn't much, just a small, maybe eight by six room. There was a small bed, and a foot locker inside. That was it. Of course, he couldn't complain, he didn't have anything at all except the clothes on his back.

He was also impressed with how clean it all was, he knew from history that Earth in a time before technology and advanced medical knowledge was not clean at all. She then introduced him to the other people working there.

Cynthia was about thirty, she took care of the bedding during the day and was a server for the evening meal. Ben was an older man, maybe fifty though he was bad at guessing ages, Ben was a cook and split firewood, a chore he would be sharing from now on he guessed.

He was right of course, he followed her back to where the tour started and she gave him an axe. He had split wood before, but now, it was almost too easy. He was definitely much stronger. She stayed for a minute, watching him. He turned and could see something in her eyes he couldn't quite identify. But she was definitely checking him out as he split the wood.

He asked carelessly before splitting another piece, "So, how does a beautiful young woman wind up running an inn?"

Oh crap. He just wanted to talk and get to know her, why does stupid shit keep coming out of his mouth? It had sounded good in his head, but when he said it out loud it sounded like the winner in a bad pickup line contest.

Her face tightened into a grimace, "Why, don't think a simple woman can do so?"

That response brought him up short. He thought a moment, splitting another piece, giving himself time to think. He had expected her to tease, mock, or laugh at the pathetic attempt at flirting, not at all expecting what she said. He knew nothing of this world... were women considered less here? Based on her reaction it looked like that was the basic sentiment at least that she faced. He almost took too long to answer, but before she could say anything else, he got his thoughts composed and spoke.

"Not at all, I meant to give you a compliment and learn more about you. Is... gender inequality an issue here? I literally got here today, I know nothing of your society, customs or even laws. My old home was... different. I also want to thank you for the job."

He felt relief when her countenance softened, she said, "Your welcome."

She continued in a softer tone, "As for how I came to run this tavern, I inherited it after the raids three years ago. I'm... sorry I jumped to conclusions. Just the fact that you're willing to work for me should have shown me you don't feel that way. But yes, many doubted my ability after I took over merely because I am female."

"Raids?" He worried about all the things he didn't know. Whole new world...

They talked for a while longer. He learned the planet's name was Cytherea, named after a goddess. He was skeptical about that, but wasn't about to insult a religion. Who knows, he got here somehow didn't he? It sure as hell wasn't in a space ship.

The town they were in was called Nerin, which was in the southern part of the kingdom of Abelaweth, named so after the founding King. Abelaweth was still a monarchy, the king had absolute rule, but she told him that the taxes were fair, and they weren't overly bothered much down here.

The downside of course, was the raiders that encroached every few years from the South. The kingdom to the south was called Egeria. They usually came in, raped and pillaged, then fled back south before the king could respond with troops from the northern part of the kingdom.

He took a break from history and asked some questions about her, hoping he didn't stick his foot in his mouth again. He was attracted to her beauty, but the more he spoke to her and learned about her, the more he wanted to know. She was sharp, witty and beautiful.

He still had a great number of things he wanted to know but...

"As much as I'd like to, I can't stand here and ogle you all day chopping wood while you ply me with questions, I have things to do. We can talk more tonight, after the tavern closes."

She winked and turned away, he couldn't help staring at her long toned legs and backside as she made her way back inside. He turned back and returned to chopping wood. He wasn't sure how much would be needed, but he imagined it was a lot to keep the kitchen going. While chopping he mulled over his situation, the steady movements and repetitiveness of the task helped keep him grounded.

He was a little overwhelmed, he missed his grandparents, and friends back home, and the list would only grow. On top of that his mind kept returning to Kat. He found her intoxicating. She was smart, driven, didn't take shit yet didn't come across as bitchy at all, and had shown him kindness. Even respect despite his obvious cluelessness in the forest. Without her he would be truly screwed, he had no idea how to survive in the wild, or where he could go...




Flame of Cytherea 01



There may have been other opportunities here, but the village was small, there probably wasn't many job openings for a stranger. Especially an unskilled one. It also didn't hurt that she was one of the most attractive woman that he ever laid eyes on.

He lost track of the time as his thoughts wandered, by the time Kat called him in he was surprised how much he had gotten done...

Waiting tables was... hard. He couldn't imagine how the waiters and waitresses back home did it. Here they had only one drink, ale, and just one food choice. Tonight was venison stew and a small loaf of bread. Things were going well after a while though, once he caught the rhythm and flow of the people coming in and out. That's when the trouble started.

He walked over to a table full of drunk men with smirks on their faces and asked what they wanted.

A very large man turned to his friend and said, "Jim, what is the world coming to these days, men hired by a woman, running her own business and making the man do a woman's job."

Jim shook his head in mock sadness, a smirk fighting at the corner of his mouth, "I don't know Bill, there's just so much wrong with everything you just said. Miles, what do you think."

He froze not sure what to do, he was a part bouncer too as he understood it, but he wasn't sure a bunch of mocking assholes were grounds to try and kick them out.

Miles said, "Yes, very sad. But what I'd like to know is what kind of man would go along with that. It seems a speechless one."

He was about to retort but he caught Cynthia shaking her head at him, and she signaled that she'd take the table. He turned and walked away, angry, but unsure how things worked here. He had no choice but to be guided by the people that lived here, at least until he understood. It burned though, he was not a coward and just walking away grated on his nerves.

Kat grabbed him and pulled him into the kitchen.

"I'm glad Cynthia got your attention. Bill is an asshole, but everyone in town just lets him be. His talent is too strong to do otherwise."

Justin felt like he was missing something, she obviously wasn't talking about the piano, "Talent?"

She looked at him in shock, "Don't you have magical talents where you come from? Everyone here has one. You saw mine of course, and Bill can move things with his mind. Everyone is different, and most talents are harmless, his isn't."

Magical talents? What the hell. He didn't have one, there was no way... The not so comforting thought of his body being stronger came to him, what if that wasn't the only change imposed on him?

He shook his head, "No, no one has them where I come from, and I am pretty sure I still don't, although... it's possible," he finished grudgingly, really uncomfortable with the idea. "How would I know?" he asked.

She sighed. "You must come from a strange place. Talents are different, but similar ones usually run in families. My parents were both shape shifters as well, though their animals were different. But it's close enough that they knew how to draw it out of me. If you do have one, it could be anything. In those cases, which are usually orphans, they have to wait until something triggers it. 

"Usually a need. But it can't be any need or want, it has to be something your talent will address. For me it was the desire to hunt with my parents, for you... it could be anything. But back to the reason I pulled you back here. No matter how good a fighter you are, Bill could toss you across the room and put a dozen knives in you from a dozen different tables without leaving his chair.

"That's why we put up with him. Thankfully people with the talents of telekinesis and fire starters are rare. There are other forms of magic as well, the rarest talent is to shape magic itself which translates into having multiple talents, and lastly, some few clerics in the temples can wield the power of the goddess. But we have none of those here."

Right... he tallied the weirdness in his head. So far today, shot in an alley, wake up in a forest, two suns, a moon-planet, a better stronger body, new world, tons to learn which he was now rethinking due to the shock of this new information, maybe ignorance would be better, and now magical talents for all, what's next? 

Oh yeah, and rumors of a goddess... He wondered if this first day would ever end. As he stared into Kat's beautiful expressive eyes that were showing concern for him, he decided that not everything about today was bad. He suddenly became intensely aware of just how close their bodies were to each other. He fought off the irrational urge to kiss her senseless.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Thanks, I had no idea. I mean, I knew you were the tiger, but I didn't know how or that everyone else could do... things." He couldn't bring himself to say the word magic. He was also finding her scent to be just a bit distracting and he was losing the point of the conversation.

"Just don't ask other people about what they can do, it's considered rude. If you stick around long enough it's not hard to figure out though. Just steer clear of Bill out there and you should be fine."

He nodded and thanked her, then headed back out into the bustle, his body on autopilot as his mind tried to come to terms with this new disturbing information. It seemed as if the whole town might be out there, as a distraction he focused on trying to learn everyone's name and face that he met...

As the lulls in the nights business got longer and longer, he realized to his pleasure Katrina kept coming up to him to talk about stuff. Maybe her earlier flirting hadn't been teasing, he could hope...

Before he knew it everyone was gone, the tables were wiped down and they were done for the day. He trudged up to his room, truly exhausted. He wondered if working at the tavern would put him in better shape than all the workouts and martial arts he used to do. He slapped his forehead, he had no other clothes but what he wore, and they were stained with food. He had no clothes to sleep in or even to wear tomorrow. The thought of wearing his dirty ones was not a welcome one.

Too tired to think about it, he just stripped then fell into bed. His body was tired, but his mind was still moving too fast, thinking about all that happened during the day, and the craziness of it all. A few minutes later he heard a knock on the door. He wrapped the sheet around his waist and opened the door. Kat stood there, wearing a thin robe of some kind and he stared at her blankly for a second before stepping back.

"Would you like to come in? Sorry about this, but those are the only clothes I have," he waved a hand at the food soiled clothes.

She nodded and walked in. After a time she spoke haltingly... This was the first time he had ever seen her less than confident, and he found it endearing.

"Justin, I wonder after today if something else is different where you come from. For us... a man and a woman joining for the first time... Well, it is neither casual, nor a sign of commitment but something in between. It is more an indication of interest in pursuing a relationship... which may, or may not, lead to something more."

She blushed, "I find you a fascinating man, you are strong, yet restrained. You also worked hard today and didn't complain, despite finding yourself in a strange land. I want to get to know you more, and... intimately. If you don't share that... desire, then I will leave."

Justin was never one for one night stands, but from what he understood that wasn't what this was. As best he could figure it was sort of like a first date with the hope of getting a second. It sounded alien to him, but then he was on a different world. Different social rules. And he did like her, alarmingly so for just a day knowing her.

He stepped forward, close to her, and pushed his door closed gently.

"I do share that desire, you have an inner strength tempered by kindness that draws me in. You are also beautiful, stunningly so, and grow more so with everything I learn about you."

He decided to quit talking at that point while he was ahead, he stepped even closer and tilted his head down. Only when she moved toward him did he complete the motion and their lips met, brushing tentatively against each other. He let go of the sheet and pulled her body close against his as they slowly explored each other's lips, their soft tentative kiss slowly growing more confident, and more passionate, with each second.

He was completely lost in the silky soft feel of her lips on his when he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, playing with her hair and teasing her skin with his fingertips. The other hand caressed her cheek softly before tracing down her back. He sensed the robe falling from her body, then her skin was suddenly against his as she moved into him, melding her body to his, and her hands started to explore his body.

He moaned into her mouth and kissed her harder when he felt her soft breasts and tight nipples against the skin of his chest. The heat of her core against his leg caused his cock to jump and harden faster. 

Her voice, throaty, sexy, full of need, tore at his control, "Please Justin, take me now."

He lifted her and carried her to the bed, and placed her as gently as his control would allow. He got his first view of her naked body. Her breasts were firm, her nipples hard. She had a perfect hourglass body, both silky soft yet firm and in shape. She had a look of desperate need on her face, that he imagined perfectly mirrored his own.

He retained just enough of himself to check her first, she was wet, and her labia swollen and parted slightly. He crawled up between her legs and looked down, to line up. The smell of her, the taste of her lips and skin, not to mention her pleading words, had driven him to the edge of control, he needed her now. 

He pushed firmly but gently until he was engulfed inside her molten core. He kissed her passionately as he gave her time to adjust to his size and penetration. He was exploring her neck and earlobe with his lips and tongue when he felt her squeeze his ass. He took it as a signal and started to slowly pump in and out of her. It felt incredible, her core was tight, wet, and silky smooth. It seemed to be a perfect fit, just for him.

She whispered into his ear as she started to move her hips, thrusting up against him, meeting his every thrust with her own, "Faster, oh goddess more, faster."

His body seemed to respond directly to her wishes as he sped up. He was pounding into her now, hard and fast. She had added a minute swivel of her hips on his down stroke that was driving him wild.

He reached back and grabbed her legs pulling them up and over his shoulders, thrusting inside her as deeply as he could. He let her legs hold him in place as one hand slid down her silky skin to her honey pot. He teased her clit with a fingertip, light brushes. When he sensed she was close he pushed down hard on her swollen nub as he slammed his pole deeply inside her as hard as he could.

She gasped out as her whole body locked up in ecstasy, "OH goddess, I'm... I'm..." she couldn't seem to finish with words, simply crying out in pleasure instead. 

Her core gripped and milked him so hard he had to stop thrusting, only starting up again when she started to come down. 

She was without a doubt the most beautiful, sexy woman he had lain with, and the mouth watering scent of her skin and arousal was almost overwhelming. The pure physical pleasure was more than he ever remembered having as well, so how the hell hadn't he lost control yet?

He dismissed it as unimportant, he could think about it later.

He noticed her clit was oversensitive so he started teasing her nipples and kneading her breasts. This too gave him pause for a moment, he had always been a generous lover, but he seemed to have an instinct now, of where to go and what to do without her even telling him. He just... knew...

"Oh goddess," she gasped, "I'm going to... again... don't stop... Please..."

He did one better than not stopping, and picked up the pace and pinched her nipples hard. A short few strokes later she screamed in pleasure and her core locked down on him hard. The vision of her coming so hard, the expression of absolute bliss on her face, and the intense milking and squeezing of his cock finally overwhelmed his control. He felt the walls of her core grow even tighter around his pole as he expanded within her.

He gasped in pleasure and whispered her name, "Katrina," half in amazed pleasure, and half in warning. 

As his legs grew numb he heard her encourage him, "Fill me Justin, I want to feel you explode in me." 

He started to empty himself into her ready womb. When he finally had control of his body back, he kissed her softly and stared down into her widened eyes. He could see his surprise mirrored in her eyes, it wasn't just him that was caught off guard by the intensity of the pleasure from their joining. What did that mean? Not that he would complain...

He slowly pulled out and rolled to the side, pulling her with him so her head wound up resting on his chest, her leg strewn over his own. He kissed her again tenderly for a moment, then just held her.

After a moment she broke the silence with a giggle. When he looked down and met her eyes she blushed and whispered, "If I had any idea, any idea at all, we'd still be in the forest right now."

He laughed along with her, he knew that wasn't true, it was just her mind dealing with the intensity of their coupling. All he knew was, now wasn't the time to think about it, not with her in his arms.

They talked for a while about inconsequential things, he told her a bit about his world and what it was like there. Then, slowly they explored each other's bodies with their hands and fingertips. Long kisses with exploring tongues and teasing caresses led to them joining again, but without the earlier urgency. They took their time, savoring every sensation and reaction they engendered in their lover.

He filled her again while she was slowly riding up and down his pole, her breasts swaying in his face as she too reached her peak. The beauty of her body trembling in ecstasy while riding him overwhelmed his senses. He held her close after and kissed her softly, then played with her hair as she lay her head on his chest. Completely sated, with the feel of her against him along with her scent, overpowered his worries, and he fell asleep for the first time in a new world.

Chapter 3

Katrina was lying on her side leaning against him, her leg thrown over his, held inside his arm. She had her head rested on his chest as he fell asleep, listening to the steady slow beats of his heart. The feeling of staying here felt... safe, which for her, was a new feeling. She knew she should go back to her room, not spend the night, it was too early for that... but she didn't want to move.

When she had met him, and she blushed realizing that it was just this morning, she hadn't thought much of him. He was worthless in the woods after all and had almost ruined her hunt. After learning he was new here, and talking to him however, she wanted to learn more.

When he'd asked her about it, she had downplayed the resistance in her society of a woman actually being in charge of a business. The last three years hadn't been easy since her parents died in the raids. She had given a handful of men in the past a chance, but they were all arrogant, treated her as... less. One had even suggested a union where she would continue to run the place, but the ownership and profit should go to him, since it was only natural for a man to own things.

She held back the snort, not wanting to disturb his sleep.

Outside of personal relationships, she had blocked a number of men from taking the tavern away from her. Simply by threatening to leave and take Ben and Cynthia with her. Ben and Cynthia were old family friends who she was grateful too. Without them she couldn't have stayed in business. 

Ironically their own attitudes that cooking and cleaning were woman's work made them back off at that point. They may have been able to replace the servers easy enough, but without her hunting the food, the cost of buying it or hiring a good hunter would severely cut into profits.

She had thought Justin attractive, and could tell he returned it. But it was the way he treated her as an equal that had piqued her interest and prompted her to get to know him more. She was also surprised by the way he actual listened and gave weight to her words. He was a strange mixture of competent, hardworking, strong... but also completely clueless about the world, as if he was a baby just born to life.

The more she had spoken with him and the obvious respect and attraction he had shown her was what led to knocking on his door tonight. She blushed again remembering how awkward she had felt, what she had told him was the truth, but she left out the part of it being the man that usually went to the woman showing interest and initiating sex.

She wasn't too worried about it though, it wasn't the first time she had gone against the grain after all, and he didn't seem turned off by a strong woman. In fact, it seemed to her the opposite was true. Plus, he had no idea how things worked here, which she found almost unbelievable, how would he have known she was open to it, or even that it was an option if she hadn't taken the lead? That led her to wonder how far away he came from, and why did he?

She really should get up and go back to her room, sleeping the night was supposed to be only after growing closer, and actually was a sign of commitment. She sighed softly and gave up on that idea. She felt warm, comfortable, and safe. She was lulled to sleep by the steady beat of his heart...

------

Nora ran so fast she was practically flying. Her feet were barely touching the ground every twenty feet or so. The tears in her eyes were not from the wind, the wind obeyed her and did not bother her eyes, in fact, it was the wind that buoyed her and pushed her along at such a fast pace. No, her tears were for her sisters in arms.

She hadn't had an easy life once she turned thirteen and became a woman. The power she had gained set her apart, had made her strong, but in turn caused problems. In a world where women were supposed to be meek she had dared to try and soar. It had only gotten worse as several of the boys her age tried to set her straight, and wound up beaten and broken instead.

She could have faked it, acted in a correct manner just to get along, but it was not in her nature. Like her power, her personality was wild and free, and at times unpredictable. The wind would not be tamed...

She had been independent but miserable for three years, but at sixteen she had come to the attention of the kingdom's elite women warriors. At first she resisted their attempts at recruitment, but they had been persistent, and understanding. For each of them were like her, had magical talents that made them strong, stronger than most men.

They simply did not fit in, not with anyone, except for themselves. The king was wise enough to recognize the problem of women with too much power and no place to call their own. There had been incidents. To try and fix things, he created their military unit. While they were really no more accepted, they at least had a place to belong, and for the most part, were left alone.

When she finally consented to join, she had not had occasion to regret it in the last two years. The group of nine women had been a law unto themselves; she had found acceptance of who she was, and a place to call home. Simply put, they had become her family. But now... she was once again alone... and it was her fault.

Two months ago, she had heard a young brazen knight in training going on about how women couldn't be warriors, and that the king was a fool to allow it. She was already in a bad mood that day and had promptly, and rashly, challenged the young man, then trounced him. She didn't just beat him, she toyed with him and embarrassed him badly.




Flame of Cytherea 01



It wasn't until later; she learned his father was highly placed in the nobility. The king in a tough position, decided to send them on a six month mission to the southern border on patrol duties. He hoped that would give time for emotions to settle. She knew the king wrestled with having enough troops to cover the southern border at all times, and the raids that came every few years caused suffering down there.

They always managed to force a retreat when a response was made, but it never seemed to be enough. He had briefed them to keep a close eye out, that another raid was likely to happen soon and to do what they could to protect the villages down there, and get an earlier warning back to him than usual. Perhaps that would help keep the casualties to a minimum. 

The king had been killing two birds with one stone when he sent her group south.

They were tough, the nine women were confident they could handle anything, after all they had already proven that singly before being recruited. Together they were unstoppable. The talents in their group were air, fire, earth, telekinesis, affinity with weapons, hypnotism, mind reading, speed, and their most powerful member was a mage, the ability to control actual magic.

Just a few days ago, they had found an army gathering on the other side of the border. They spied the best they could from the Abelaweth side of the border for three days to get the enemy numbers. Her and Bria, the speed talent, were going to run back north and warn the king, if he responded quickly enough, perhaps it could be stopped before it started.

They were confident... they were fools and underestimated the enemy.

A simple assassin had infiltrated their camp with a silence talent as far as she could figure. Whatever led up to when she awoke or even why she did she would never know. All she knew was she woke up with a spike of fear, fully alert. She could hear nothing, the forest was silent and a man stood over her, a knife aimed for her throat.

She reacted instinctively. I tight blast of air snapped his neck back while twisting it, it was so strong it stripped the skin off of one side of his face and he died as his spinal cord snapped. She stood and looked around, the rest of her unit was dead, she could see the blood pooling beneath them. What had waked her up? She took notice of the sounds coming to life around her as the assassin's magic died with him. She appeared to be surrounded.

Instincts and training took over, she took three steps to the north and jumped, calling the wind to her. She flew a few hundred yards, over and past the enemy. She had cushioned her landing and started the run north. She wanted nothing else but to turn around and kill them all in revenge. She was so tempted to just keep fighting and killing until she was taken down. Her family was dead. Once again, she was alone.

But... she had a duty. Her sisters would not thank her if she did not warn the king, if she put her revenge over ensuring the protection of the southern villages. Once her duty was done... then she would seek revenge. She was moving so swiftly, she knew she would arrive back at the capital in hours, when it took over a week to reach the southern border at a normal walking speed.

She ran wondering why she was still alive, wondering why she had even woke, she should be with her sisters, she should be dead. By tomorrow afternoon she would once again be in the south, her duty satisfied she would not need to run again...

--------

Arnath stared coldly at the dead assassin on the floor. The fool had let one escape. He growled, wishing he could kill the other incompetent as well, but the air user had already seen to that. He was old for a soldier in the Egerian military. Had reached the rank of colonel.

He had already participated in five campaigns. In the past, they had simply raided the southern villages, taking everything of value, along with young woman and children for slave labor. Then they slipped back out across the Egerian border before any serious engagements with the Abelaweth military. Their king was a coward and never followed them past the border.

But this time it was different, his king had died. The successor to the throne had ordered a full invasion, he wanted to expand, gain more power. There were also rumors the king had made a deal with a new god, trying to usurp the world from Cytherea. Arnath really didn't care about that, as long as he got his fill of conquest and fresh women to train, he would be satisfied. Still, letting a woman escape, no matter her power, was inexcusable. Not when they had planned so meticulously.

"Remove the corpse, and get ready to march. Send orders for the rest of the troops to catch up when they can."

He was still furious, he had lost the element of surprise. They would still win of course, but he had been looking forward to having a new slave girl for a few weeks before the actual battles happened, not to mention choosing where and having his men fortify the location to engage the Abelaweth troops. Now everything would be rushed. He had a week if that now to get everything set up.

He looked down at the young woman kneeling before him. She was beautiful, and very talented, but boring to him now. She had no fight left and followed his every order just as a female should. He was not unaware of the irony of this. He gestured for her to take care of his needs, he needed a distraction from his anger, and she would do... for now...

--------

Cytherea sighed. She knew she had been pushing the boundaries when she woke the young woman. It was surely a gray area, did waking someone usurp their free will?

It wasn't always like this, just a couple of thousand years ago the gods had interfered at will, which she admitted to herself, had led to chaos. She had been angry, as had all the other gods when the creator stepped in and banished them all from Earth. Since that time, she had changed greatly. At first, when her father had given her this world to watch over she ignored it and stewed in her anger.

Eventually however, she had fallen in love with it, and now that she was in danger of losing it she was terrified. She was more worried about the humans if this dark god succeeded here than losing her place. Her best hope were the humans she had chosen. She had ensured they were in the right place and had a chance to make a difference, but ultimately, it was their choice...

Chapter 4

Justin woke slowly and smiled. His right arm was completely numb, but when he looked down and saw her lustrous light brown hair fanned out on his chest he decided it was worth the slight discomfort. He felt her stir at his movement and she looked up at him and smiled.

"Good morning," she made a face, "Guess it's time to get up? I have to hunt."

She leaned forward, her body sliding along his, and then she kissed him. That's when he noticed several strange things. Her breath was fresh, and his mouth felt fresh too, as if he had brushed. The sheets also felt fresh, when he knew they shouldn't, not after last night. Not only that but his body should be sticky from the sweat, and other bodily juices from last night, yet... it wasn't. She stood to get dressed and he noticed his clothes also looked washed. What the hell?

"Umm, how?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

She grinned, understanding when he pointed at his clothes, "Well, I think the goddess must hate dirty things. One of the most common lesser magical talents is to make things fresh, clean. Your clean sheets, clothes and body are courtesy of Cynthia."

He understood then, how the town was so clean. He thought it odd at the time, but now it made sense. When he blushed she added, "Don't worry, her range is quite good, I'm sure she did it all from the hallway..."

"The goddess hates dirt?" he asked, not getting the connection.

She nodded grinning, "Where do you think the magical gifts come from?"

He nodded, relieved and said, "I'd join you, but I'm sure you'd rather your hunt be a success. Anything I can do while you're gone?"

She shook her head, "You can rest now, or cut wood early for the day, then take the afternoon off before dinner."

He followed her downstairs, curious. When she looked at him questioningly he said, "I'm curious, I'd like to see..." he waved his hands in a broad motion.

They first sat down in the kitchen and ate a quick breakfast, which turned out to be the leftovers from last night's dinner. For some reason the stew tasted even better this morning after simmering all night. It was thicker and the flavors were melded more.

He followed her outside and into the woods, after they were a hundred yards in or so she turned to him...

"Normally I don't like sharing this with anyone, remember what I said last night about asking people about their talents. I think you might understand better if or when you discover yours, but for now just take my word for it," she kissed him lightly on the cheek, "But for you I'll satisfy your curiosity."

He watched in amazement as her body blurred and a brightly glowing light surrounded her. He had read books and seen movies of shape shifters, or werewolves. He had been expecting cracking bones and the reshaping of flesh. Instead the light grew brighter and brighter until it was hard to see.

Then she became the light, and the light itself changed shape, flowing from the beautiful woman to the shape of a huge tiger, then as the light started to dim he saw the body of tiger. It was as beautiful, and deadly looking, as he remembered. He was right about the size difference as well, her head coming up to his shoulders while still on all fours. He couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face.

He whispered softly, "You're beautiful, amazing."

She nudged her head against his chest, and he heard a loud rumble come from her chest. It took a few seconds to recognize it as a purr, sounding so different in a large cat. She sneezed at him, whipped her tail and loped away into the forest. He snorted, his life was so weird now...

He had accepted that he was truly on another world, though, how and why escaped him. There was also a part of his mind that had trouble with this, even though he knew it was true, but he was trying to ignore it. Human nature was such that it resisted change, and being on a new world was a very large one. He turned back and headed for the tavern. Maybe if he chopped wood while she hunted, they could spend some time together this afternoon?

Last night felt a little unreal to him now that he was alone. What had he ever done to deserve an amazing woman like that? He also reminded himself she had made it clear there was no commitment in what they had shared. So... what did that mean? 

He shrugged, he would just treat her like she was a new girlfriend until he knew better or she told him to stop. Besides, wasn't that what she was despite the sex? Or in the case of this society, because of it. He took the fact that they seemed comfortable with each other this morning as a good sign. There hadn't been any awkwardness or sign of regret.

He sighed, the idea of how to treat her occurring to him, besides his attitude toward her. He couldn't exactly take her out to dinner and a movie, so what did couples do together here? Besides talking and screwing that is. He hated not knowing the simple day to day things, it made him feel out of control.

He was still splitting wood an hour later, when Ben came out and started a fire in the pit. Ben nodded politely to him and started to head inside when he heard the first scream, followed shortly by the sounds of weapon strikes. Ben cursed and turned to him.

"Raiders, damn Egeria," then Ben ran for the inn.

He froze for a moment, remembering another scream, a young woman's voice crying out from an alley. He had answered that scream, and gotten shot for his trouble. He shook it off angrily, ashamed of his fearful reaction. Looking down at the axe in his hand he shook his head. It worked for splitting wood, but was too unwieldy to control in battle.

He turned and ran for the shed, putting the axe down he grabbed two hatchets off the wall. They were light, and with his stronger body, more than they would otherwise have been. They felt like an extension of his arms and he would be able to wield them with the control of his martial arts background. 

He stalked around the edge of the inn toward the street, his mind rejecting the reality of raiders with magical powers and swords. It was too unreal. Impossible. Yet, he knew it was true and had to act accordingly. This was no sparring session, he could die here.

He hid behind a barrel as well as he could and took in the situation. There were soldiers going door to door. He noticed some people being pulled out in chains, they were all younger. He frowned grimly and dashed to a house, following the soldiers that had just entered a few seconds ago. They were working in teams of six, that would be a lot to take on at once, but he couldn't stand by and do nothing.

He slipped in, stepping on the balls of his feet trying to remain quiet. The guard at the door grinned at the scream further into the house and wasn't paying any attention behind him. His mistake. After a moment of thought, he reversed the axe and struck the soldier in the head with the blunt end and the man went down hard.

He felt a little sick to his stomach as he saw blood drip out of one of the soldier's ears. This was real violence, not sparring practice or a kickboxing bout. He felt his stomach rebel, but pushed it down. He continued to step carefully, the hall opened up into a large room where the soldiers had a young man and a small girl in chains. The parents were still alive, knocked out.

He had expected to find them dead but understanding came to him. These horrible people... they were like hunters. Hunters only cull the herd, if they kill everyone there won't be anyone around next time to steel from, or to take children from. His rage grew at the thought and he charged into the room taking them by surprise.

The first soldier went down without resistance, he smashed his hatchet into the soldier's neck and there was a sickening sound of cracking cartilage and bones, then the soldier collapsed. He spun into the midst of them, close quarters making it harder for them to use their swords. Using one hatchet to block or move a blocking sword out of his way and then taking out the soldier with a hard strike to the neck or head with the other.

There were two left when he was thrown across the room without being touched and held up against the wall. Damn his luck he would run into someone with telekinesis on his first encounter. He raised his hands and threw both hatchets. One stopped halfway to the soldier, the other was buried in the chest of his comrade.

The soldier growled and spat, "You're going to pay for that," and started forward brandishing his sword.

His mind screamed at the situation, he was screwed. He could no longer move at all.

The soldier smiled slowly, "I'm gonna bleed you sl," his voice cut off abruptly at the loud roar.

His eyes widened as he saw Kat, still in tiger form, dart at the soldier from nowhere. She moved so fast her form was a blur of motion and she took the invader's head off in one swipe of her giant paw.

He dropped off the wall to his feet, "God, it's good to see you, thought I was done there..."

She whipped her tail in annoyance and growled...

He sighed, "I know it was stupid, especially without a talent. I just couldn't hide though, I had to do something."

She paced back and forth as he unchained the children. He lightly slapped the parent's faces, waking them up. They gave a grateful smile, thanked him and took their kids and slipped out the back and made for the woods. He didn't blame them, they had their own kids to protect.

"So should we go after another group?" he asked thoughtfully.

She looked reluctant to him but nodded her head and padded softly out the back door. She knew the town better so he didn't even question it and followed as silently as he could. They cleared out three more houses, he was fast and a good fighter, but she was incredibly fast in tiger form, and ruthless.

He didn't hear a thing, but on their way to the next house his head exploded in pain and he fell to the ground. He could hear Kat's cries of pain as well. He couldn't move and couldn't think.

"Enjoy your nap slaves, you should both do well in the mines. I've followed your bloody trail and I'm quite impressed. I'm the captain of this little group and you've killed quite a number of my men, I hope you are prepared to pay the price for that."

The pain grew alarmingly high at that point. Did this man actually have a magical talent to cause pain in a victim? His body started shuddering as all of his nerves seemed to be set on fire at once, and mercifully he passed out...

He woke slowly, every muscle in his body was screaming. He was in chains and lying on the street. He was able to stand up and look around, the nearby soldiers barely took notice.

With relief he noticed Katrina next to him, awake and standing with a scowl on her face. Judging by the suns he had been out for a couple of hours at least. More people were standing by him in chains, ranging from children to young men and woman a little older than he was. They were surrounded by twenty guards.

The captain that had put him down so easily was about twenty feet in front of him, facing the other way where the rest of the town was gathered in the street. There were ten more soldiers on the far side of the crowd.

The captain started talking, "Now that everyone is... awake, here are my orders. You are all now Egerians, we are here to stay this time. Soon, the kingdom of Abelaweth will no longer exist. These people behind me, will be slaves. If you follow my directions, all of you will be free to live as you wish, if you disobey me, or one of my soldiers, you will die. There will be no second chances so choose wisely."

Five of the guards started to organize us in a line, obvious preparations to march us south to who knows where. He was trying to think of a way to escape when he heard a woman scream. It was not a scream of horror, or one of pain. No, it was a scream of anger and rage. He barely perceived the figure of a woman coming at him at high speed before she was already past him; she had to be running faster than a bullet train.

He watched as the two guards next to him froze, then a moment later their heads simply fell off their body and they collapsed to the ground. He saw the blur again, and two more guards were beheaded.

He saw her then, stopped for the moment, glaring at the captain. She was short, maybe a few inches past five feet. She was wearing a guard uniform, but different from the Egerians, he could only assume it was a guard uniform from Abelaweth. She had two blades in her hands that at first he thought were made of glass, they were transparent and distorted the image seen through them, but he quickly realized they must be made of compressed air.

He thought she might be attractive, but the look on her face was of absolute rage and hate. She was breathing hard as if she were extremely tired. She screamed again and rushed forward, two more soldiers died, and another three were tossed twenty feet away to crash into a building. They did not get back up.

Then she screamed a third time, but this time in pain and he cringed in understanding, he had felt that agony. Her blades of air disappeared as she collapsed to the ground. The captain looked at her and smiled.

"Good, perhaps the colonel will be happy when I report the bitch that got away is now dead, just like the rest of them."

He felt a physical pain in his heart at the scream of agony that left her mouth at that pronouncement. Not from the physical pain she must be feeling, but the agony of deep loss beyond his comprehension, and deep sadness. It pierced him sharply, he had never seen such agony bared before. His anger of the situation drained away as his focus changed solely to the woman, he was filled with compassion for the stranger who had attacked their enemies and a feeling of protectiveness rose up within him.




Flame of Cytherea 01



With that feeling rose something else, that he had never felt before. Power.

He burst into white flame. It was not normal fire, it didn't even give off heat. His chains turned quickly to rust and fell off of him, turning to dust before reaching the ground. His tired aching and tortured muscles felt refreshed. These were flames with the power to change, to restore, to heal, and to protect. He instantly understood this power could not be used to destroy in anger, it could not be used to kill at all... It had been his compassion that summoned it, and he knew now, that anger and hate would smother his power. 

It had been his earlier anger that had stopped him from finding it earlier in the fight.

White fire exploded from his body in a giant expanding ring of flames, carrying the intent to protect the woman, and the rest of the town folk. The soldiers left alive around them were unaffected, but their weapons along with all the chains on the young townspeople turned to dust.

The captain gaped around in disbelief. "What magic is this?"

The stranger, the woman who wielded air said as she stood, no longer in pain, no longer tired and sheathed in a protective flame, her voice ringing with triumph, "The harbinger of your death."

He watched as a blade of compressed air shot from her hand and grew to body width when it reached the captain. The captain opened his mouth and gasped in pain as his body split in twain. The remaining soldiers started to attack with their bare hands and some tried to use their talents. Fire, earth, telekinesis... they were all transmuted and absorbed by his protective flames.

They did have some luck with hand to hand combat, his power could not take a life. Or perhaps would not. Three of the villagers died before the woman of air and the rest of the townspeople overwhelmed and killed the remaining soldiers. When the last of the danger was gone, the flames all returned to him and dissipated.

He understood now, why most people would not want to talk about their talent. He had felt her, felt the goddess through an almost intimate connection, had felt her love for him. It would be wrong, crass, to share something so private with someone. Worse than a player bragging at work the next day about the hot bitch he bagged. It was personal, his connection to a goddess he know knew, beyond a doubt, was real.

He went over and checked on Kat, she was fine and gave him a hug and a kiss. He was filled with relief and elation, and not a little wonder at the magical talent he discovered inside him. When he was able to tear his eyes of Katrina, who he wanted badly right now, after the adrenaline of the situation, he was startled at how close the stranger was standing to him.

He recovered and smiled at her, "Thanks, you showed up at an opportune time to save us."

She just snorted. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you, so thank you for that. Now I get to kill a lot more of those fuckers before I die."

Now that she was closer, and standing still, he could see how attractive she was, but overriding that assessment was the look of fierce hate on her visage, and the offhand comment of her own death was chilling in the matter of fact way she delivered it. It was what she said next though that caused his mouth to drop open, then close in shock.

"You need to come with me, join the army. Those pieces of shit fuckers from Egeria won't stand a chance if you're there to nullify their talents. I'd rather continue through the towns killing the bastards, but you are too important to not make that happen."

She frowned which gave him the impression she was unhappy to take time away from her killing until dead spree that she seemed to be on.

When he didn't answer right away she said, "You will come won't you? The goddess gave you that power for a reason, didn't you feel that captain's power? It was evil, which means a dark god... Wake up and stop gaping at me!" she barked the last of it.

He looked at Kat, mostly for an opinion he trusted, but partly for reassurance.

Kat nodded slightly, reluctantly, and said, "She is right. It's your choice of course, we have free will. But for reasons we may never understand the goddess gifted you with a key power for this fight. A Flame of Cytherea hasn't been seen in the last thousand years. I know we haven't known each other that long, but I don't believe you would turn away from that. No more than you could when you were powerless with a couple of hatchets."

He just nodded, she was right, he needed to go. It was just taking some time for his brain to catch up. "I'll go, when are we leaving?"

The stranger said, "Now, sooner if it were possible, and by the way, my name is Nora," softer she said, "Last surviving member of the Elite women warriors," she made a face, "Stupid name I know, but the king named it, and he is just a man after all."

He ignored the jab at men the world over and replied, "Very well, my name is Justin, and this is Katrina..."

He trailed off suddenly feeling very alone. It had only been maybe thirty six hours, but she was really the only person he knew, plus, he didn't want to leave her, at all. Not after last night and the way they got along. He just looked at her and she smiled, then claimed his hand with her own. She must have read the way he felt in his face...

Katrina snorted, "You don't think I'm letting you get away do you? I'm coming too. Ben and Cynthia can watch the inn while I'm gone, not a problem," she looked him straight in the eye a mischievous smile on her face, but her voice sounded quite serious, "I just found you after all, can't let you wander off alone now."

They went back to the inn long enough to grab supplies, then Nora took the lead since she knew generally where the army would be and they were off running to meet the army. 



Flame of Cytherea 02



Chapter 5

Katrina wondered what the hell she was doing. She glanced at Justin again and felt a tug on her heart. She had just met him yesterday morning for goddess's sake, and she just abandoned her inn like it was meaningless to follow him. Like she hadn't poured her heart and soul into it, and fought hard to keep it after her parents passed. How did that make sense? 

She had seen a sense of loss in his eyes at the idea of leaving her behind, and something inside of her had echoed that back. It had been a spur of the moment response to that feeling. She found that even now, thinking about how stupid it was, she couldn't bring herself to regret the decision. She also knew if she hadn't come, she would have regretted it for the rest of her life.

What was bothering her is she couldn't figure out why. She didn't love him, not yet. She knew the potential was there for it though, and everything about him seemed to stir something within her. She finally gave up, deciding to just go with it and see where it led. She was also hoping they stopped soon, she had an unbearable urge to go for a walk in the woods with him, alone.

Speaking of alone, or not being alone, Nora was a mystery she wanted to figure out. The young woman had her whole life ahead of her, yet seemed focused on revenge, and dying. It would be impossible to hold a conversation at this speed though, so she pushed it to the back of her mind. 

----------- 

They were jogging at a speed that was incredibly fast due to Nora's talent. She was in a hurry to get things done and was surprised when Justin agreed so quickly, doing nothing but look trusting. It was strange, she was all ready to argue with a thick witted male and his simple and trusting acquiescence had taken the air right out of her sails and she was caught openmouthed for a moment. It was almost as if he thought her competent and accepted her word without question.

Admittedly what she was doing was very dangerous, she had to push and cushion all three of them separately in her mind, it took a lot of concentration. She was more than up to the challenge of course, but they wouldn't have known that. Most air talents would have killed them by accident by now. Still, she needed to get this done and get back to her revenge.

When she had thought death imminent it hadn't really bothered her, she missed her sisters dearly. But when she felt his flames cradle and protect her she immediately knew he was a Flame of Cytherea. Most people didn't even believe in the old legends of the Flame. Yet, there she had been, protected and rejuvenated by it.

She had no choice, duty once again trumping her desire for revenge. Worse, she had the feeling she should stick around to protect him. She snorted. Why the goddess chose a male was beyond her. She knew her opinion of men was overly harsh, but she couldn't help herself. 

It was stupid, them thinking women were less than they were, when she was a case to prove otherwise, yet they still persisted. She looked at Justin again thoughtfully.

That was another thing that freaked her out about him. He didn't try to talk down to her, at all. In fact he had seemed a little scared of her at times when she went off on a rant. She frowned at that, perhaps she ought to tone it down a bit. She had been so focused on revenge and the thought of joining her sisters that all the social niceties went down the toilet. Well, at least the ones that she did follow.

She estimated the military was a normal day's march south of the capital by now, she couldn't go nearly as fast while pushing two people with her, so they probably wouldn't meet up until tomorrow, sometime mid morning maybe. 

She sighed, finally admitting to herself that keeping him safe was her duty. Her mind had been mulling it over non-stop since he had saved her life. If the goddess thought the Flame was necessary, they would probably lose if he died. Not that she knew Cytherea's mind, it just made sense. If a talent shows up that hasn't been seen in a thousand years, the goddess probably only gives it out reluctantly in special circumstances.

She did cheer up when she considered, that perhaps with him she would get to kill more Egerian bastards before dying, than she would without him. Maybe staying to protect him wouldn't be such a bad thing after all...

-------------

Nicole Christina Althone, princess of Abelaweth was somewhat of a rebel. She didn't think her father would mind... too much. Ok, she was lying to herself, but she knew at the worst she would be punished by her father the king as a dad, not accused of treason by disobeying his orders.

She was determined to fight. She had been present early this morning when poor Nora came back alone with a horrific tail of death and invasion. She had tried to join the elite women warriors in the past, but her father had told her no, and she didn't understand why. She was a princess, but so what? It wasn't like she would ever rule, could ever rule. Plus she had two older brothers for that anyway.

She was just... an ornament. She hated it.

She understood after a fashion, it wouldn't look good if the king's daughter joined what amounted to the misfits of society... except that was where she fit in. The royal family had always been among the most powerful of the shape shifters. The founding king had actually been a dragon, although there currently weren't any in her family it still cropped up from time to time. Still, they were strong, and had secondary talents based off of what they shifted into.

She was determined to fight... all she had to do was sneak out of the castle. She looked into a mirror and saw green piercing eyes, fair skin and long curly hair the color of fire. She frowned looking at her elaborate dress, that wouldn't do for traveling, or fighting. She didn't have much of a choice though, all her closets had in them were silly dresses. Whenever she had asked for simpler clothing she was denied.

It wasn't that she didn't love wearing a dress, she did, but having something else for riding or weapons practice would be nice, of course, she wasn't allowed those activities despite her begging.

She looked out the window and considered it. There was just no way she could leave that way, her other form wouldn't ever be missed by the guards and her father would be after her in moments. She considered for a moment in anger, so what, she was more powerful. Then, overcome by shame at the thought she dropped her shoulders and felt helpless.

She looked in her closet one more time in miserable desperation, knowing she wouldn't find anything. To her shock she saw a leather riding outfit. Excited, she grabbed it then changed. She looked into the mirror and blushed. 

Her large breasts looked squeezed together and lifted, showing way too much cleavage. She was also a little uncomfortable at the amount of skin showing, and the womanly curves that the dresses hid so well were in plain sight. Then she got angry with herself. Yes, it showed too much for a princess perhaps, but it was not too much for a warrior. In fact the leather looked a lot like the uniforms the warriors she had wanted to join wore.

She realized despite being eighteen, she was not used to others seeing her body, and she was... nervous about it. Yet, war was coming, and she wanted, no needed, to help. She was not just an ornament and she would prove it. She slipped on the calf high leather boots she found with the clothes and headed for the secret passageway.

It wouldn't do to get caught now after all.

She slipped out near the armory and grabbed a leather helmet. Even in these clothes she would be immediately seen for who she was by her hair. It was unique to her across the kingdom after all. She put her hair up in a bun, then covered it with the helmet. Almost as an afterthought, she looked through the weapons and grabbed a long dagger and sheathe, attaching it to her uniform.

She took the passages again as close to the castle's servants entrance as she could, then boldly stepped out and walked toward the door, acting as if she belonged there. The guard didn't say a word as she walked by. She blushed in embarrassment. The guard's gaze had not gotten any higher than her chest...

She giggled after making it all the way through the city and outside the gate. Apparently she had no reason to be body shy, she was sure a guard would have recognized her, but their eyes had stayed on the sway of her hips, her backside, her long legs, and her generous bust. She started into a jog, wanting to get as far from the city as she could before she transformed and started flying down to the southern villages.

Her father had asked Nora to stay, to start a new unit, that she was the only one who could train the next group. She had declined, strongly, insisting her obligation was met with her report and she needed to go back south and start killing those... her mind shied away from the rough language Nora had used this morning.

She was hoping to catch up to Nora and help, surely the woman wouldn't turn her down. She admitted she was helpless with a dagger, but that wasn't how she was planning to fight anyway. Deciding the couple of miles she had run so far was far enough, plus her leg muscles were starting to burn, she wasn't used to running so much. 

Her body was in shape, she had just been confined to the castle and her work out opportunities was limited. She stopped and took a moment to rest. She smiled trying to feel confident through the slight tremor of fear. She would finally have the chance to prove to herself she wasn't just a worthless ornament. She was free of her jail, for now at least.

She ran forward and jumped, changing to light and back to her other form so fast it was just a quick flash. She flapped her bright burning wings once and shot off to the South.

-----------

Arnath sighed in disgust but tried to calm down. He knew he wouldn't be this angry if they had the original two or three weeks as he expected. Life wasn't simple, and he knew problems would come up, but with just a week to work things out, any delay was angering him beyond reason.

He had sent out fifty men for each village while he moved the bulk of his army further into the North. He was also burning fields behind him every step of the way, just to make sure the enemy couldn't miss him and accidentally pass them by. After all, they would assume the Egerians would stop at the villages like they always did, they wouldn't look for an invading army. Much less the five thousand troops he had with him.

He had even had extremely good luck early this afternoon, his scouts had found a highly defensible hillock, and he had verified it was a good place to take a stand. Even now his soldiers were fortifying it. The enemy would have no choice but to engage despite him being entrenched. They couldn't afford to leave an enemy behind them to bother with freeing the villages. 

They also wouldn't want to give him free reign to advance to any northern villages or cities. In short, they were screwed if they didn't attack, and would lose almost three to one soldiers when they did by his estimation.

He calmed down a bit, realizing the important part went well. They would be ready in a week for the coming enemy troops. The fact that one simple village out of the ten he sent troops to hadn't sent an update was almost unimportant. Still, he needed to see to it.

He growled at a captain who seemed to be somewhat intelligent, "Send a squad of scouts to this... town of Nerin. Then lead thirty troops an hour later to act on what the scouts find out. If there is no problem, bring back the captain so I can execute his stupid ass for not sending a status report, if there is a problem, deal with it."

The captain said smartly, "Yes sir!" before bowing and leaving the tent.

---------

Cytherea giggled. That was quite a uniform she had given the young innocent woman. Still, it had worked well to disguise her. She was pleased that all the players were coming together. She frowned at that thought, this wasn't a game.

She sighed looking down at the last, in chains and heading for the mines. This one would not be so easy to provide an escape for.

A simple uniform didn't impinge on anyone's free will; it only had given Nicole the opportunity to follow her own free will. She doubted her father would see her providing the keys to her shackles as a similar act. She just had to hope that either the girl would escape, or that Justin and the other three women would be enough...

Sadly, the girl didn't even really need help, she just needed to find her courage.

Chapter 6

Justin was starting to struggle to keep up when the second sun finally fell to the horizon. It was with relief that he slowed and stopped when the wind stopped pushing him. 

Nora said, "Let's go into that copse of trees and set up camp so we are out of the view of the road, we should be way past any enemy army, but I am not sure if they might have any scouts this far out."

He shrugged and followed. He felt a little unsure of where they stood, but when he put out his hand Kat smiled back at him and took it. His heartbeat picked up a little at her touch and he was hoping this meant she was willing to be... taken, as she had put it last night. They set up a rough camp, not having any tents about fifty feet into the trees.

He watched as Nora expertly set up traps that were obviously meant to give off enough noise to alert them. He squeezed Kat's hand and whispered what he'd been dying to ask all day.

"Can we go off a bit and..."

She grinned and said, "Thought you'd never ask."

But when they started to walk off Nora cleared her throat. When he glanced over he saw a knowing look on her face and she said, "You two stay here, I'll watch the road from the edge of the wood to give you some privacy."

Kat said thanks, but Nora just grunted under her breath.

When she was gone he reluctantly asked her, "I wasn't sure how you felt, could you explain a little more about relationships, so I don't do anything too stupid."

She snickered and nodded, "I also have a confession, so let's sit down and get comfortable."

He sat down against a log and gently pulled her in his lap, giving her a soft kiss.

She blushed and said, "Guess I better explain it all, your world is so different from mine. Don't worry, it's not that complicated. You already know step one, but it's usually the man that initiates it. There is no insult in asking for sex, and there is no insult if the woman says no either.

"If you do start a relationship, both, the man and the woman, can ask for sex at any time, within reason of course."

She coughed uncomfortably and said, "If things are going well and things aren't broken off, the next step is to... spend the night."

She blushed a scarlet, "I'm sorry about last night, that wasn't what that was, and I don't know why I couldn't bring myself to leave your bed. I wasn't trying to trick you or anything."

He caressed her hair and back slowly and said, "It's okay, I understand I think. Last night was... different for me too, and I can't explain it. Everything was... more. I didn't want you to leave either."

She looked grateful for his acceptance then continued, "The last step of course, if everything goes well after the second part. Sometimes people still break after step two, living together reveals problems sometimes. But anyway, step three after a reasonable amount of time, is of course, a child."

His eyes widened and he searched for the word marriage and it just wasn't there. He tried to find an equivalent in this new language and finally said, "So, a child would make us life mates? Or something like that?"

She nodded, "Exactly."

He said, "On my world they have a ceremony, I guess having a kid is even more of a statement though."

She asked, "Ceremony?"

"Yes, where you invite your family and friends, and exchange vows of... life mate. Like," he searched for the word for monogamy, and couldn't find it.

He asked, "I am searching for a word for a concept. When you join with a life mate, it is just you and them right? No sex with anyone else."

She gasped and her eyes widened, "No, many life mates are possible. What we have, and what we will or will not have in the future is just between us. Love is not so narrow as to preclude others. And if we ever become life mates in the future, how would you or I having another change what we have together?"

She looked frightened for a minute and whispered, "How narrow minded must your world be? By the goddess that's a horrible concept. To limit love so is heresy."

His mind was having trouble catching up, but what he was hearing is he could have others and so could she. That... seemed wrong. Didn't it?

He asked cautiously, "Heresy?"

She bit her lip and asked, "Don't you remember what you felt when you used your power."

He nodded, feeling uncomfortable talking about it at all.

She finally said reverently, "What you felt, is what she is. Limiting that, limiting... love in any way would be an insult, a heresy. Do you understand now?"

He nodded thoughtfully. It was still a foreign concept to have more than one girlfriend, or wife. It would take getting used to. But on the other hand, after experiencing a connection with the goddess, to deny a love simply because you already had one seemed, almost ridiculous.

These concepts fought in his mind for a moment, but he knew it would not resolve itself tonight, but he had faith it would happen. After all, he had felt the goddess's love too. Speaking of love... and lust.

He looked into her eyes, and when he could find no objection there he pulled her closer and kissed her. He teased her lips with soft kisses and light brushes of his tongue while holding her head still by her hair... He felt her push him back a moment and her leg swung around so she was straddling him. He smiled as she moved back into him and kissed him passionately. He gasped into her mouth as she ground herself against his tightened member through their clothes.

This time he pushed her back and pulled her shirt over her head, freeing her perky C cups. The cool night air hardened her nipples and he leaned over slightly and sucked one into his mouth, teasing it with a darting tongue and lightly scraping teeth.

He heard her gasp sharply and he pinched the other one with his thumb and forefinger. He felt her hands at his pants as she loosed his hardness and he stiffened further as she stroked him with her smooth fingers and palm. When he moved his hands down she slapped them away playfully and stood, taking a few steps back.

She said sultrily as she shimmied her pants down sexily, "If you want me come get me."

He just stared for a minute at her perfect form and wondered again how he had gotten such a beautiful and amazing woman. Her brown hair was swaying in the slight breeze, her eyes had a mischievous twinkle and her amazing smile made him weak. Her C cups were perfect and the curve of her waist mouthwatering. She teasingly spun for him and he knew he was in trouble.

He got up and tried to grab her, but she twisted out of his grasp, luckily this time she didn't elbow him in the face, just giggled as she danced away. He smiled and moved in again, this time focused, or at least, as much as he could with a beautiful naked woman trying to out wrestle him.

He wondered why she was doing this for a minute because it was driving him crazy as their naked bodies brushed and bumped as he tried to subdue her. Then of course it was obvious, she was trying to drive him crazy. He managed to put her in that same joint lock and put her down on her knees, face in the dirt.

He dropped behind her, grabbed her hair and pulled back. He checked her with the tip of his manhood, and she was more than ready, she was soaked. He impaled her quickly from behind and slapped her ass hard.




Flame of Cytherea 02



The feeling was heaven, his pleasure was unbelievably sensitive, and her welcoming warm wet center was tight and smoother than silk. If anything it was a little better than last night, but he didn't think about why that would be, he couldn't think at all with the intensity of it. He started to saw in and out quickly, pulling back on her hair with one hand while randomly slapping one of her ass cheeks.

She gasped and said breathlessly, "Oh goddess, take me hard, make me yours..."

He slowed a tiny bit so he could thrust harder and deeper, she started to buck her body back into him and rock her hips slightly when their skin slapped together. It felt so good, almost too good, yet, somehow he was lasting. He looked down at the curve of her neck as her hair was raised away from it, held in his fist. The way her tight ass shook every time he slammed into her, the perfect curves of her. 

The mewling sounds of pleasure coming from her spurred him on and he found it within himself to go faster and suddenly felt her tighten around him.

"OH fuck, Justin I'm..."

He felt her flood as it ran over his cock, her honey soaked his balls and the inside of his legs. He picked back up speed as her core let up a bit, though she was still trembling in pleasure he started pounding into her again. He thought about everything that had happened since he met her, all that he had shared with this beautiful woman. He realized it was so much more than her physical beauty that attracted him to her.

He felt his emotions well up and then something unexpected happened. He burst into white flame and the flames coated and surrounded them both... He heard her sharp gasp of pleasure and understood, the pleasure he was feeling had been multiplied as well, at least twice as much past the already enhanced pleasure. His mind barely noted the fact he now knew the enhanced pleasure was from his power... somehow.

He loved the doggie style position, but he wanted to see her eyes, see into her eyes, as they experienced this together, so he backed away and flipped her over. But when he tried to mount her she wrapped her legs around him and threw him to the side. Next thing he knew she was lowering herself down, impaling herself on him with a challenging look he found incredibly sexy. Did she think he would argue?

Everything was so intense, yet, they seemed to have been gifted with an equal amount of control, it was obvious to him he'd have lost control in thirty seconds if it wasn't so.

He licked her nipple when she leaned forward, dangling her breasts over his face. They started to bounce in his face as she slid up and down his pole vigorously. He reached up and started kneading them as she rode him hard, up and down, their skin slapping together as she simply impaled herself each time by dropping her body down.

He locked his eyes with hers and he lost himself in them, and in the pleasure, until he reached his peak. He cried out in pleasure and she gasped as his member expanded within her.

She leaned down farther and in a mewling, begging, but somehow demanding whisper said, "Yes, fill me, that's mine, give it."

As he started pumping his seed into her womb he felt her lock up in pleasure above him, gasping out his name as her hot velvety core milked the rest of his offering. As he stared up into her eyes, he wondered if she could feel it to, if she could feel the presence of the goddess, or if she just felt the enhanced pleasure. He wouldn't ask though, and he knew she wouldn't talk of it either, if she did.

She kissed him teasingly and nipped at his lip, then slowly rose off his slowly softening member. She lay down next to him with a brilliant smile on her face and snuggled into his side.

The flames slowly died around them and he smiled back questioningly, for her smile was not one of satisfaction, or at least not completely, but it was also almost smug.

She answered his questioning glance with a question, "The flame of course, you know what that means?"

He thought about it for a moment, and remembered the feelings he had when the flames had ignited around them. He considered it, and all he had learned and realized the truth. Compassion was the trigger for him earlier, but only because compassion was a form or expression of love. Maybe not romantic love, but love nonetheless.

Love was the trigger, of course, it had to be he realized. Then, it all caught up with him and he blushed scarlet realizing what that meant. Perhaps he wasn't ready to set up house and have a kid, after all it had only been forty eight hours, but there was part of him that already felt love for the woman lying in his arms, and his power had made that painfully obvious.

She kissed him again and said, "Don't be embarrassed, just this morning I abandoned my inn, temporarily perhaps, but I did it all the same, just because I couldn't bear the thought of letting you out of my sight. Maybe you aren't the only one. We should get some sleep."

She rolled away from him and at first he was confused, then he understood, she had decided to follow the rules tonight. His arms felt empty. It had only been two days, there was no way they were ready to move in with each other. There was no way, it was like an engagement here, or a tryout for being mates. It would be absolutely insane for him to ask, as bad as his power blurting out he loved her.

He looked over and meant to say goodnight, but what he whispered was, "Will you sleep with me tonight?"

He cringed as her back stiffened and cursed himself for being stupid and not listening to what he himself had thought. But despite knowing her such a short time, he already knew, there was no point in denying the love he felt now. It may not last, but they could try, see how it went... right? He just wished he had sounded more confident when he asked. He waited, his mind on pins and needles, for the answer.

Chapter 7

Katrina's back stiffened in surprise, and she felt her eyes moisten. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his arms. After her confusion all day, it had been their earlier talk, as he held her so gently while she explained the three levels of commitment. First showing interest, to staying together, then to mating. Then he had asked her that question and it had horrified her.

But as she explained that denying love, any love, would be heresy it had struck her in an unexpected way. She had fallen for him, she had been lying to herself all day. She was ready to live with him to give it a chance and see if it led to kids, or failure.

She was terrified though, even with the flames showing her he loved her. She wondered if it was just temporary, just based on the fact she was all he knew of this world really. She had taken him in and given him work, because she could tell he was a good man, explained things to him. She blushed, then she had seduced him...

Is it any wonder his feelings would grow so quickly in light of that?

Was that all it was? A temporary infatuation? She knew she was being foolish, she didn't even know if her feelings were more than temporary, but she had been hurt before. She knew she was attractive, but at least she didn't have to worry that it was just lust, his power activating had proved it wasn't, and had made her deliriously happy.

So why was she lying ten feet away instead of feeling warm and safe in his arms? She dried her eyes out, decision made, and rolled onto her knees and stood. She walked over and he looked questioning until she lay down beside him and cuddled into his warm hard body. She kissed him softly.

"I would love to..."

-------

Nora caught that last bit with her wind ability. She hadn't been spying exactly, but every ten minutes or so she had used the wind to carry their voices to her, she figured it was better than invading their privacy in person to see if they were done yet. She was exhausted, although not as much as she would have been if she hadn't been restored by Justin's white flames earlier.

She started walking back to the camp, ready for some sleep, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and gaped as a very large bird flew over their position. It had wings of pure fire, and the body and head of the bird were sheathed in bright flames.

Nora growled, "Fucking hell, what is that girl thinking, nothing but air between her ears."

She turned and started to chase her, then stopped, looking back at the camp. Well this is a fine thing she thought angrily. The king would want her to go after the princess, but she needed to protect the Flame. She considered it shortly then stomped back to the camp.

She spoke to them in a growl, so much for her toning it down she thought, "Listen, I just saw princess Nicole fly over. I don't know what the hell the girl is thinking but she is probably going to the southern towns to help me kill the sons of... invaders. So stay here, don't move, I can run much faster alone... I'll be back in two hours, maybe three."

The both nodded to her in agreement so she turned and ran for the south, cursing the princess the whole way...

--------

Captain Danth frowned at the scout that was reporting. Apparently the entire force of fifty soldiers was currently burning in a deep pit a mile south of the town. He was a little worried about that, only having thirty soldiers and not knowing what happened to fifty, but he really had no choice.

He ordered a pair of scouts to return and report what happened to Arnath. In addition they needed to report that he was about to take the town and pacify it. He ordered the other scouts to report the results of that but to only get close enough to the town to watch. If he blundered into the same thing as the other captain, at least it would get reported back. Scant comfort but there it was.

He ordered his men forward in three teams of ten. Teams were usually six but he wanted to be sure of it, he ordered two guards on the front and back door as the other six entered the houses and hoped to hell that would be enough...

---------

Nicole was coming up to the first town, she was nervous despite the fact she was a phoenix. She wondered how she was going to locate Nora so she circled the first town she came to. She saw some enemy soldiers, they were patrolling the streets, and she filled herself with a steely determination and dove. Her wingspan was thirty feet, her body was about the size of a wagon and fire fell from her long feathered tail.

She flew up the street, just a few feet off the ground at a very high speed, but she could still see every detail around her. Soldiers on both sides of the street caught fire as she passed, dying in seconds, turning to dust a few seconds after that. One in her way turned and pushed wind in her direction. She cawed loudly in contempt as her fire absorbed it and the sheathing flames grew larger, she brushed the man with her tail as she passed, incinerating him in less than a second.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the eighteen year old innocent girl cried out in horror at the slaughter she was causing, but the part of her in control was an eighteen year old bird of prey, these were invaders, enslavers, followers of a dark god. Death would be their reward.

She flew to the next street and watched in frustration as the soldiers dove into homes and businesses. She didn't want to burn down the whole town, and in human form she would still be formidable, but much easier to kill. Maybe when she found Nora they could come back. She winged off to the next town which was Nerin.

It was fifteen miles away and took her less than ten minutes. As she flew up the road she saw a large contingent of thirty troops approaching the town but still out in the open. She shrieked a challenging cry and dove for them. She cursed herself for not remaining silent as four of them lifted their hands. She was grabbed by telekinesis and held in the air. She saw a nasty smile on one of them, then felt pain explode in her head.

She felt her magic slipping from her grasp and knew if she lost it she would change back to human and be killed. She panicked and gripped harder despite the pain and flashed her wings to a burning white flame almost as bright as the sun, for just a moment, as she shrieked as loud as she could.

She felt the pain and restraints fall away, all of the talents attacking her were off balance and temporarily blinded from the bright flashing light and the very loud high pitched screech from her beak. She wasted no time and flew over them, burning them all as she struggled to remain conscious.

She passed out from the pain, the desperate burst of magic, and using the last of her power to burn thirty men at once, too many. Luckily she was just a few feet from the ground when she crash landed and changed form...

--------

The scouts considered walking over and killing her, but what if she woke up? Plus, she was real close to the town, and they were ordered not to enter it for any reason. As they argued they saw a woman appear out of nowhere, look down at the passed out woman and shake her head with disgust.

They clearly heard, "At least she killed a ton of the fuckers," in a grudging approval.

They watched as she picked up the unconscious woman, threw her over her shoulder, and then started running north. Obviously the escaped wind user lives. They decided they made the right decision in staying hidden else they would probably be dead. They headed back to report to Arnath. They drew straws to see who got stuck doing it, they were pretty sure that scout was about to die.

----------

Sally was terrified and there was a war going on in her mind. She didn't look like much of a threat, she was only just over five feet tall. She had long raven black hair which was rare this far south. Her eyes were a deep brown and her skin was much darker than most, it was more a light brown.

Her neighbors, the town she lived in, were good people. She thought they might not care about her secret, but she had promised her mother to never reveal it. Her mother had told her about their homeland to the north of Abelaweth named Uleni. Uleni was an even harsher place for women, and their family secret revealed meant death.

Her mother had told her if her talent became known, even if the villagers here didn't care, word would eventually travel of the dark skinned woman with great power, and Uleni would hear of it, and send assassins. Uleni regarded any woman of power with suspicion, though tolerated them as long as they followed the rigid rules of their society.

But her family secret was even worse, mages in Uleni were revered, but if the talent fell to a woman, she was branded a witch, an outcast, an evil, and summarily killed. Sally's secret was her bloodline, every daughter born of her family, according to her mother, was a mage... a witch.

So she had promised to never reveal her ability, ever. Yesterday afternoon she wouldn't have dreamed of questioning it. Life and family were more important than power, and she would never break a promise, break her word.

Yet, here she was, close to the Egerian border heading for the mines, where all the people here would be worked until death. How could she not reveal herself? What good was dying as a slave just to keep a secret. Yet she was afraid, she did not want to be hunted by her former countrymen, she did not want to break the promise she had made her mother. But... how could a promise be more important than all these people's lives? Would not her shame be worth the cost?

The very people she had grown up with. Perhaps if it was just her, she could stay strong, look for another way out and hope. But all these people. Tears ran down her face as she looked around. There were only five guards, she could see their magic and feel it. One had fire, the rest were earth, affinity for weapons, clean/refresh and balance.

She whispered, "I'm so sorry mother," as she gathered clouds in the sky, bringing a storm overhead. Maybe they would not be able to tell where the power came from. She brought the rain and the wind... then the lightning.

Her friends were all gasping as the five soldiers fell to lightning and looked fearfully up in the sky. She felt a little stab of guilt at that and the storm dissipated as quickly as it had formed. No one else moved so she walked over to the head guard and fished the keys off his blackened corpse and started to remove everyone's cuffs.

She noticed they started to look at her suspiciously and her hopes to keep it a secret died. Of course they knew. They already knew everyone else's power, it was only hers they didn't know, it wasn't hard to figure out.

Then she saw their looks were hard, questioning. She understood of course, why let them be taken to begin with, why let the soldiers take their town. She lowered her head in shame and tried to explain.

"My old country, Uleni, they kill woman that show mage powers. Mages are well known, and if my family secret gets out they will send assassins."

Her friend Hanna shook her head, "Does that matter now? How many lives could you save if you use the power the goddess gifted you with? Can you really continue hiding it and let all those die that you could save?"

She shook her head in despair, "No, I cannot. But I am now an oath breaker, and I must find a way to make amends."

It seemed no matter what she did, she would be shamed. Keep a promise and let people die, or break it. Keep breaking it really, since she had already done so. She knew what she had to do, she would go north, seek out a worthy end for herself. Perhaps if she died the Uleni will not bother to investigate the rumors.

After all, it wasn't just her in danger. They would hunt her whole bloodline if they suspected anything.

Trusting her friends could walk back on their own she said goodbye and shifted into a falcon, heading north with a heavy heart.

Chapter 8

Justin slowly clawed his way out of sleep. He had never been a morning person really, but the ground was just a little uncomfortable and he had a crick in his back. He was a bit confused for a moment, he felt Katrina snuggled into his left side, but there was someone else snuggled in on his right. His sleep addled mind took a moment, but it had gotten cool last night, and Nora didn't want a fire for fear it would be seen. Perhaps she was just cold last night and needed warmth?

He cracked his eyes open to confirm and jumped a little when he saw long curly red hair the shade of... fire was the best his mind could come up with, instead of the short curly blonde he had been expecting. His eyes roved further down, he couldn't see much from that angle, except the large D, or was it double D breasts that were tightly confined in thin leather armor. His fuzzy brain thought it looked more like a bustier than armor though.

He raised his head slightly in concern, and caught a glimpse of Nora lying on the other side of the strange girl cuddled into her back. It took a minute, but he guessed this must be the princess Nicole? Dressed like that? His mind rebelled a bit, and then she opened her eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

He opened his mouth to say something, not sure what, but he never got the chance as she screamed in his face and jumped up and went for her dagger with a fierce look on her young face that would have looked cute, if he wasn't in danger of being stabbed.

Thankfully, Nora intervened, "Nicci! STOP!"

The princess turned and spluttered, "But he... he," and then understanding lit her face and she looked sheepish, "Didn't do anything did he. You found me and carried me here and put me against him for warmth didn't you... Thank you, I was worried when I passed out like that from using too much magic."

Turning to Justin, she apologized and put the knife back.

Nora snickered, "Exactly, maybe next time you won't panic in a situation like that. Nicci, this is Justin, a Flame of Cytherea and on his other side is Katrina. Justin, Kat, this is Nicole Christina Althone, princess of Abelaweth, and also a runaway. Who I am proud to say killed a lot of those fucking Egerians last night."




Flame of Cytherea 02



Justin almost laughed, he thought Nora was being more polite with the princess present giving an introduction and all, but nope...

Nicole said demurely, "Just call me Nicci. I'm glad you found me, I was hoping to run into you so we could work together Nora," looking at Justin shyly she asked, "Are you really a Flame of Cytherea?"

He just nodded, then thought to add, "Nice to meet you Nicci."

Kat caressed his lower stomach, which was distracting, as she said, "It's lucky Nora saw you passing over us, we are actually heading north to support the army."

Nicole looked to Nora questioningly and Nora sighed before she said, "I know what I said yesterday morning, but protecting the Flame is more important, I can still avenge my sisters, perhaps even more so this way..."

Nicole sighed despondently. "I can't go north to the Army, they will send me home. One of my brothers is there, and even with the way I am dressed he is sure to recognize me."

Nora winked and said, "I've been trying to think of a way to keep you since I saw all those roasted Egerian soldiers. It came to me on the run back. Would it be unreasonable for a royal to make an oath of protection, for the duration of the war, to a Flame of the goddess?"

Nicole looked thoughtful...

Justin stirred uncomfortably, he was just him, not some legend. 

Katrina must have sensed his unease because she started to caress his back. He thought longingly of the comfort of the tavern and wished they were still back there for a moment. He also wished Cynthia was here as he smiled wryly, he was sticky, dirty, sweaty and worried that he stunk, what he would give for a hot shower...

Nicole looked at him calculatingly and finally said, "Yes, that might work. There would be no shame attached to the crown by swearing to one such as him."

Confused he said, "Oath?"

Nicci raised an eyebrow in surprise but Nora explained.

"He is from another world Nicci, he doesn't know many of our ways," turning to Justin, "An oath is a binding between two people. Normally a princess could not make an oath, as her loyalty is to the king and kingdom only, but this is not a normal circumstance. An oath is a serious thing, oath breakers are shunned by everyone. 

"If you ever swear to anything, you had better mean it, and be able to accomplish it. Point being that if she makes an oath, even the king will not be able to naysay it and recall her to the castle."

It seemed surreal to him as Nicci went on her knees before him. Out of the bottom of his eyes he could see her long mouthwatering cleavage, but was very aware of Kat on his arm and the seriousness of the situation, and he managed to keep eye contact with the young beautiful woman, somehow.

Nicci swore, "If it be within my power I swear to protect your life from all harm until the war is done."

He flinched as Katrina poked him and whispered in his ear.

He blushed and said, "I accept your oath."

He asked what the first part was about and Kat filled him in.

"Wording the oath is important, it means she will do her best to protect your life, but if you still die through no fault of her own, her oath won't be violated. If she had left out the first part and somehow you died, she would be an oath breaker, her fault or not."

He considered this and the seriousness of it, and felt a bit overwhelmed. An oath being serious on this world wasn't too big for him to deal with, but things just kept piling up. For a moment he desperately wished he was back home in Chicago. He had been rolling with things and it had been going fast. Too fast, too much. He was actually on his way to fight in a war, and he had three very different, but equally attractive women around him.

Ok, so being surrounded by beautiful women wasn't one of his issues. Especially Kat, the promise of them being together was making all the rest a little more bearable. He wasn't really considering running or anything, it's just, he wished things would slow down a bit, everything was coming too fast to process.

He followed Nora, holding Kat's hand like a lifeline, as she led them toward a large stream where there was a still water pool breaking the current that looked a few feet deep. There was a small waterfall at the other end. As they started undressing around him he blushed. Okay, another new thing, coed bathing. He could deal with that, he started undressing trying not to think about it.

When he slipped into the water he gasped, it was hot, almost too hot. It should have been freezing and he wondered what the princess's talent was. Nora had mentioned charred bodies, so maybe fire? Remembering at the last second what Kat had told him repeatedly, he swallowed down the question.

He did his best to maintain eye contact, but of course, he couldn't help but get a few delicious eyefuls as they all washed as best they could, passing around a pungent bar of soap that Nora had. As he got out, he wondered how they would get dry when he was suddenly pummeled with a high wind from every direction at once. It was intense.

He laughed, he was awake now, as well as dry, "Thanks Nora." 

When he glanced back he blushed as they were all unabashedly staring at him, and not his face. He couldn't really help his reaction after all, he wasn't used to communal bathing. They were beautiful and he was just eighteen. He picked up his clothes and smelled them as he walked behind some bushes to dress, they weren't too bad but he still grimaced as he put them on.

He was gawking, and knew he should close his mouth. When he had guessed fire talent he couldn't have been more wrong, or at least, so understated. Nora had told them she couldn't push four safely, and since Nicci could fly faster than she could run, she was elected to fly above them.

At first he was confused, how could a flying animal warm a pool. Then she had changed, flashed into a bird. But bird was an understatement. She was close to the size of one of the pterodactyls in the Jurassic park movie. But looked nothing like them, she was shaped closer to an eagle, but her wings were pure fire, no feathers, no flesh, simply fire. Her body ranged from dark red to burnt orange and rippling flames sheathed her from head to tail.

She was simply magnificent.

Nora snickered and poked him and he managed to move again.

Nora said, "We need to move, we should meet up with them by lunch."

He reluctantly released Kat's hand, he always seemed to be holding it, it felt good in his and after their confessions to each other last night, and the commitment, he wanted to be close to her. To show his affection. But they couldn't hold hands while moving; it would make it harder for Nora to push them along.

As they took off in a jog, at about thirty miles an hour with the wind pushing, he wondered what new surprises awaited him...




Flame of Cytherea 03



Chapter 9

They met up with the military shortly before lunchtime, and they were on the move as well. There had to be thousands of them, and it had Justin feeling uncomfortable. Not that he was really intimidated, he was just still to ignorant on customs and such. He found himself allowing Nora to take the lead, at least she knew what she was doing.

All he really knew was, the goddess had moved him to this world and healed him. He was as sure of that as he could reasonably be. And for some reason she had gifted him with this ability, and given him the choice to roll over and die again, or fight for her, fight for her world.

She had also given him a huge incentive he thought, as he looked over at Kat.

He had been thinking about things all day while running, he had also come to the conclusion that she had put him in the woods like that, specifically so he would meet Katrina. His power depended on compassion, protectiveness and love. What better way for the goddess to ensure his success then surrounding him with women he was compatible with and would instinctively want to protect?

At first he had been angry at the thought, as if he had no choice in the matter, but he finally realized that simply wasn't true. The goddess may have set up their meetings, but neither he nor Kat had been required to fall in love, it was a choice, had been their choice all along and still was.

It had also been Nora's choice to stay and protect him, and Nicci's choice to do the same with the oath, so she would be able to fight and not be sent home. Did that mean he would, or could, fall in love with them too? Well, probably, but the choice was there for them all, he didn't think it destined. At first when he had considered it, he wondered if Kat would react badly to it. 

But that was his old pattern of thinking, the way things were on Earth. He knew the simple truth was, that if he decided not to because of her, she would actually get mad at him about it. Weird... So completely opposite of how things are on Earth, but here it somehow made sense.

Perhaps he was over thinking this, arrogantly reading into the intentions of a goddess, but he didn't think so. He had noticed a change in Nora today, she still cursed like a sailor most of the time, unless she had been speaking directly to him. And yesterday's looks of confusion had turned more thoughtful today as he continued to treat her as an equal. 

She was a strong woman and he respected that, a lot, and he had been thinking that perhaps...

He wasn't sure what to think about Nicci yet, he didn't know her well enough. She was certainly attractive though on physical level. Her body was built for sin, yet her face had a fresh youthful innocence to it. Her voice was cute, but with enough of a sexy overtone for it not to grate. It was a killer combination of traits, but no more so than Kat and Nora, they were all beautiful in different ways.

They marched alongside the troops, back tracking their morning travel, but at a much slower pace. He was starting to wonder what the plan was, since they hadn't talked to anyone yet, when Nora addressed his unspoken thoughts.

Nora said softly, "We'll track down the leader of the troops when they halt for lunch, if we try and get in there now during the march we'll just make a mess of things."

He was glad to hear it; hopefully they would feed them too. There hadn't been much for breakfast, just cold dried venison, like jerky, and slightly stale bread from the day before. He could use a rest too, his legs muscles were really sore. Then he suppressed a snort, what good was his power if he never used it.

He didn't burst into flames, but he touched his power and it refreshed, restored and healed his body, leaving him feeling great. Not wanting to burst into flames before the soldiers and start a scene, he simply reached out to the three women and touched their shoulders one at a time. They looked at him gratefully as his power restored them.

He just wished he had thought about it earlier, it would have made running easier, especially for Nora who was supporting all three of them. He shrugged. Next time.

He heard orders to halt and the soldiers stopped, some few broke off and started forming a perimeter guard while the rest seemed to fall into chaos, slowly forming small groups and pulling food from their packs.

He heard a caw and looked up, a falcon was coming in for a landing. It was larger than a natural one, though not by much, it looked fierce. There was a bright flash of light, then a woman was before him on her knees. She had long straight raven black hair, large brown eyes and creamy brown skin. She looked up at him with a disturbing amount of awe in her face before loudly stating an oath.

"Flame of the goddess, I Sally, swear my life to yours and will follow you until you have no need of me."

While the rest of his brain tried to figure out what was going on, a thought with a sardonic note on it said, so much for not causing a scene...

From the wording, he thought it meant he would have control of her life, her decisions, and possibly even her death, and that she would follow him around until he sent her away? That seemed... wrong. Extremely excessive. There was much more than the fact he was a Flame of the goddess behind such an oath, there had to be.

He had no idea what to do, but he was loathe to accept such a sweeping oath from the young woman, although older than him, she looked to be about twenty one or so.

She was also stunning... four? He would have to have a chat with the goddess one day. There wasn't enough time in the day for him to keep four women happy, well he had a choice, Kat was one of them, he would see what happened with the rest.

He bent down and took her hand. "No," he said simply, and pulled her off so they could talk privately, he didn't want an audience, and didn't think she would either...

Chapter 10

Katrina watched with amused twinkling eyes as Justin dragged off Sally by her hand. She had been shocked at the woman's oath and glad to see Justin didn't even consider it. She had in essence given herself to him with those words, he could have had her do anything at all.

She saw the wistful look on Nora's face as she watched Justin walk away, and had the feeling she would be sharing him soon. She didn't mind that idea at all, she liked Nora as well and knew they would get along. She smiled as she could still feel his touch, and the touch of the goddess. She felt wonderful and was a little bit in awe of him, but was hiding it well enough she thought.

She knew he would absolutely hate that.

She saw a young man in an elaborate uniform approaching and they all turned to face him, she wished Justin were here for this but hoped he was setting that girl straight. 

He said, "Hi Nora, I'm surprised to see you here after what you said to my father. Who are your two frien..."

She held back a snicker as his eyes widened on his sister.

Nicci said with innocence ringing in her voice, "Hello Anton, how are you?"

She half snorted, half coughed. She was almost positive she was turning red.

Not missing a beat Nora said in a sweet voice, "My other companion is Katrina, she is from Nerin. We have one other companion, possibly two," she added thoughtfully before continuing, "He is a Flame of Cytherea."

She nodded her head and said, "Nice to meet you highness."

He waved a hand, "Out here in the field just call me Anton please." Then he said, "A Flame? Sister, what are you doing here, you should be back at the castle." he sounded confused, unable to pick a topic.

Nicci said, "I swore a protection oath to the Flame of Cytherea until this war is over."

She almost laughed at the range of emotions that crossed his face, but was surprised when he spoke and she found herself reassessing him.

"If you swore a protection oath, why are you not with him then?"

Nicci's face went white and she muttered, "I wasn't thinking, we are right next to the army and I thought us safe, you are right though, excuse me." 

She watched as the princess turned and walked off in the direction Justin and Sally went off a little while ago.

Anton watched his sister walk off, a thoughtful and conflicting look on his face and said, "When they get back, feel free to join me for lunch in the center tent. It was nice to meet you Katrina."

He turned and walked off before she could reply...

----------

Sally was confused. She was shamed, dishonored, for putting her family in danger, for breaking her promise. She had been flying for more hours than she could remember and searching, looking for a way to make up for her failures. For a way to make a difference. She had been watching not only with normal eyes, but with her mage power when she came across a magic so strong it nearly blinded her.

Surely it had been a sign from the goddess; surely what she had seen must be a Flame of Cytherea. She had never seen anything so powerful before. She had landed before him, and offered herself to him. She just wanted to serve and protect him, to earn forgiveness. But to her shock he had told her no, and was now dragging her off somewhere.

She was trembling slightly when they reached a fairly private spot, away from the others, and he turned and looked into her eyes. She saw that his forehead crinkled and his eyes questioned her. Was she so lacking that he would not even allow her to serve? Then he spoke.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to understand, why would you give me such an oath?"

She spoke haltingly, explaining her family's secret, explaining her shame and that she had found in him a chance to make up for things. It took her quite a while to get through it all, and to her consternation his frown grew the whole time...

He said softly, "Stop trembling please. When did you make this promise, and how often did your mother make you repeat it?"

"The first time was when I was still a child, so long ago I don't remember. My mother spoke of the evil men of Uleni constantly and made me repeat my promise."

She didn't understand what he said, but he looked angry. She caught a few muttered words... Brain washing, emotional duress and blackmail, and other words she didn't understand. She wasn't even sure what language he was speaking.

She watched as he took a deep breath and his face cleared before he said patiently, "I know oaths are taken seriously on this world, but I do not believe you to be an oath breaker. Not that I speak for the goddess, it is just my belief. A promise made from a young child that was extracted by the parent through emotional pressure..."

She bit her lip as he trailed off, looking as if he was searching for the right words, but then suddenly she was filled with his power. The trembling of her body stopped, and her tired and overwrought mind cleared. To her absolute horror she felt a foreign magic in her mind break, and the magic felt like her mother's. She felt the connection to the goddess through his magic, and she felt her love.

She collapsed into his arms and broke out in sobs, he just held her and caressed her hair, whispering, telling her it would be alright. She was in shock. She knew now, that yes, Uleni would come after them, but they weren't exactly helpless. She also knew beyond a doubt that a five year old forced into an oath would not be held accountable. It was laughable. She held back the gasp of horror at the oath she had tried to give. She had almost given away her free will, the most precious gift of the goddess outside of her love.

What was killing her, what was making her sob. Was it had all been her mother's spell, magic twisting her mind so she would never want to reveal her ability, no matter the circumstance. It had been the spell making her believe she was unworthy and had filled her with shame. She slowly pulled herself together and pulled back.

"Thank you Flame of Cytherea," after a moment's thought she said, "I would still like to join you, help guard you. It is a worthy cause and I am a mage and you could do worse than my company. Plus... I owe you my life, you freed me."

Her heart lightened more when he smiled down at her and said, "Please, just call me Justin. The Flame of Cytheria is just too much of a mouthful."

She laughed and pulled him into a hug, her emotions running extremely high. She blushed and stepped back after a long moment, "Sorry, got carried away. I just... feel free for the first time I can even remember. And your talent feels amazing... it just all," she floundered for a minute then waved her arms and said fervently, "Just... thank you Justin."

He chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I would never turn down the hug of a beautiful woman given honestly."

She looked at him appraisingly, he thought she was beautiful? Then slowly, she smiled...

-------------

Nicole watched from a distance, but stopped well out of earshot when she finally got within sight of them. She wasn't sure what was going on, but after a couple of hugs, they broke apart and a few seconds later they were headed her way.

She looked at Sally in shock. Gone was the woman that looked miserable, with shoulders hunched, and haunted eyes. Now she had a brilliant smile, and she walked confidently, back straight. She heard her tinkling laughter when they were about halfway to her. She was waiting and would join when they passed.

What the hell had Justin done to justify such a transformation?

But looking at the new Sally, she felt a stab of guilt as she glanced toward Justin. She really hadn't given him much thought at all. She had been focused on proving herself, getting her way and not being sent home. In her defense, she had watched her father, who was considered a good man, constantly use people to forward the kingdom's progress and agendas.

Still, she had made an oath to protect him the best she could, the Flame of the goddess, but hadn't given a single thought to the man himself. As if it simply didn't matter. She didn't like seeing that about herself and decided she needed to at least get to know him better. If Sally's transformation was any indication, he was surely worthy of at least that much effort.

As they came close she asked, "I take it the smiles mean everything worked out?"

Justin raised an eyebrow and said in faux sadness, "Mostly, no oath, but we are still stuck with her anyway."

She giggled as Sally just snorted and smacked his arm playfully, "Be nice, or else."

"Yes ma'am," he returned.

They continued to tease each other with her joining in, and she found that she was enjoying herself. She definitely needed to make more of an effort. Perhaps being locked up in the palace had robbed her of more than the chance to prove herself...

----------

Cytherea strolled around her garden, it was virtuously endless, containing all the flowers in the known multiverse. It was one of her favorite places. But only part of her mind was here. What she had set in motion seemed to be going well, but the dark god, and she refused to even think his name, lest his power grow in her realm from it, had a number of followers too.

Sadly they had no idea they were doomed, their souls slowly being consumed by the evil set within them along with dark talents. She mourned for them, as they were her children too, but they must be stopped.

She laughed at herself softly when she considered praying to the creator. She had set those five a hard task, but had also gifted them. She hoped they came through it all intact and would not be sacrificed. They deserved a long life to reap the benefits of the hard road she had set them on. She was so proud that not one had turned away.

She watched as they gathered in the tent and ate lunch before making plans. Just four more days until battle, and unfortunately, she knew it would only be the first.

The goddess hoped...

---------

Nora helped Justin set up the tent, it was a large one. Anton had taken one look at their supplies this afternoon and snorted in disgust. At first, he had suggested multiple tents but Nora immediately rejected it. 

She had said, "No, he is sharing a bed with one of us and the other three are here to support and guard him, splitting us up is not an option."

She had been surprised at the forcefulness of her feelings on the matter and found herself staring at him again while her thoughts wandered. Focusing back on the job they got their tent put up and they all put their packs in. When the camp started settling down, Justin came and just took her hand and dragged her a little ways from the others.

Her stomach tingled the whole way, an unfamiliar feeling for her at a man's touch. She knew all men were not bad, most were not and just wanted to protect, but very few gave equal weight to the opinion of a woman as Justin did. And he was... hot, she finally admitted to herself.

When they stopped he turned and said, "I am not sure if there is a specific way to say this, you know I am new here. But I think you're an amazing woman, confident with good reason. Your brashness fascinates me. You are also a very sexy woman. Will you lie with me with the intentions to get to know each other better?"

Her mind went in a million different directions, mainly wondering why he would want her, but without conscious thought she blurted out, "Fuck yes." Then she blushed.

He chuckled and said, "Can you take us away from here, far enough for some privacy."

She bit her lip and nodded, they jogged for maybe thirty seconds, ending up over a mile away. She was not an experienced woman but her worries seemed to dissolve when he put his arms around her and pulled her into a kiss that spread tingles down to her toes.

She looked up into his eyes as he backed away a second and looked down at her, as if trying to decide something. She was starting to get nervous but then his body language changed and he asked her a question in a very serious voice.

"Do you trust me Nora? I mean, really trust yourself with me."

He was so intense, in a way she had never seen before, and he radiated a confidence so absolute that it made her knees weak.

She whispered almost tentatively, "Yes," and wondered where her own backbone had gone too.

He smiled and stepped closer so they were almost touching. He leaned down and whispered into her ear, his breath warm on her neck.

Starting out softly, "Back at the camp, and with our group, you are the confident and competent woman, one who is in charge of herself, and even those around her."

His voice grew harsh to her ear, strong, "But out here, when we lay together. You. Are. Mine. What you want does not matter in the least. You will do what I say, when I say and how I say it, do you understand?"

She was so confused. She would normally be outraged and angry had a man said that to her, but from Justin who had shown her and earned her respect and who she did trust, she felt like lightning had struck her. She was weak in the knees, her mouth was watering and she was breathing heavily. Her core was tingling and growing moist and something in her made her say breathily, "Yes, I understand."

He smiled and said, "Good girl, now get on your knees."

When he said good girl it should have been insulting, degrading, but she felt proud for some reason, and found herself dropping to her knees. She licked her lips unconsciously as he undid and dropped his pants. She gasped as he grabbed her by the hair and started to use her mouth forcefully. She was still confused, but she didn't fight it. Her core was tingling and her stomach was tightening as he used her mouth. She loved the feel of his long cock sliding between her lips over her tongue.

He said, "That's a good slut, but suck it harder."

The word slut hit her like lightning and she started sucking as hard as she could while her hot molten core dripped honey and tightened. She had never felt anything like this before, but knew she wanted more.




Flame of Cytherea 03



Suddenly she felt something strike the back of her throat, he hadn't even warned her, except for that deep grunt maybe, as he filled her mouth. She thought she would gag, he wouldn't release her, forcefully holding her by her hair, and her mouth was so full, she reflexively swallowed, then sucked hard, trying to get more before swallowing again.

She felt him pull out and release her hair, demandingly he said, "Strip"

She was trembling now, on the edge, and he hadn't even touched her yet outside of grabbing her hair and using her mouth.

He barked, "Now," and reached around her and spanked her hard on the ass. She clenched up and had a mini-orgasm, the pain pushing her off her peak. She shuddered in pleasure as she stripped out of her clothes. She felt so exposed as he walked around her, looking at her as an object to be used for pleasure. She was so confused, why was she so excited, she should be mad... Right?

He said in an offhand way, "You really are a sexy little slut aren't you." Then in a more firm voice, "Lie on your back."

She lay down on the ground, looking up at him. Her body quivered as he lowered himself on top of her. He lifted and bent her legs, pushing them all the way back with his shoulders as he grabbed her wrists and pinned them down on the ground. She couldn't move, and it excited her that she was completely under his control.

He demanded, "Tell me what you want."

She said in a trembling and begging voice, "I want you to take me however you want."

He shook his head, "I can already do whatever I want to you, you are my little slut, I asked what you wanted."

She yearned to feel his cock within her and said half shamefully and half pleadingly, "Take me like this, I'm helpless and in your power, take me, fuck me, use me."

He smiled and said, "Good girl."

She flushed again at the praise that should be a demeaning insult, then gasped in pleasure as he plunged his long hard rod into her desperately waiting body, filling her core. She begged him to fuck her hard and fast, and he did. She had never felt so much pleasure in all her life, not just from his magical boost, but from her subservience. And from the way he was treating her.

She looked up into his eyes as he pounded into her for his own pleasure, and that triggered something in her that took her up high and fast. She felt so blessedly full, and the angle of his entry was perfectly placed for her g-spot, which put her over quickly.

He never stopped, he just kept pounding into her as she screamed out his name over and over. After her third orgasm she lost count, she was in a daze of ecstasy as he fucked her hard and mercilessly. She was dangerously close to overstimulation as she felt him start to expand against her tight and milking walls.

She begged, "Cum in me, fill me, fill your slut."

When she felt his pleasure emptying within her she again reached her bliss, screaming his name.

When he kissed her, it was tender and full of emotion. He released her, then pulled her onto his lap kissing and caressing her body so gently, so lovingly, she got tears in her eyes. She wasn't sure what led to the tears, she was a mess of emotions, and her body was spent, in a good way. But there was joy in those tears somewhere, she was sure of it.

She was still confused, not really understanding what happened, only that she had needed it, wanted it without knowing and that it was the most pleasure she had ever had in her life.

She melded herself against him, enjoying this gentleness from him, they kissed for a few more minutes.

He said tentatively, "You okay?"

She wasn't really sure and said, "Could I ask... how did you know I wouldn't kick your ass for treating me like that, how did you know I would like it? It was amazing, but weird and shocking for me at the same time. That... isn't normal is it? You didn't do that with Kat..."

He arched an eyebrow which made her blush.

"I only heard a few seconds at a time every five minutes or so, I wasn't spying, just trying to figure out when you'd be done so I could finally sleep."

He nodded and said, "Let's talk about the last question first. It is normal, just, not for everyone."

She gave him a confused look so he continued, "Back on my old world, you know women are considered equal, at least in some countries?"

She shook her head so he explained.

"Well, they are, and that means some of them have high powered positions, and some don't of course. It is not a solid rule by any stretch, but a lot of the women on my world in high powered positions like to be completely dominated in bed. 

"The rest of their lives they are responsible, in charge, so being dominated during sex is kind of an outlet, where they can not worry, not stress and just let someone else take charge for a while."

She nodded understanding. She did have a lot of pressure going on, and despite only being perhaps second in power in the group of five, she was basically calling the shots on where they went.

He said, "You probably just hadn't trusted anyone enough, before me, to let that part of yourself out. As far as your other question... I'd like to claim that I am just that good, but the truth is my talent gives me certain insights while I am in bed. I don't understand why, but I could just tell it was what you needed."

She moaned into his mouth as he swept her up gently and kissed her. To her surprise he lowered her gently onto his hardened member, smoothly entering her warm core.

His voice was a whisper as he said, "That doesn't mean we can't be gentle from time to time..."

She laughed throatily and started to slowly swivel her hips and grind down on him, gasping in pleasure as he hit all the right spots within her. They continued their slow lazy fuck for the next twenty minutes, teasing each other with kisses, nips, caresses and pinches as they oh so slowly made their way to another peak.

He laughed getting dressed as she muttered under her breath, "This relationship better fucking work or my sex life will be in ruins."

Chapter 11

He was smiling the whole way back to the camp. He had almost chickened out, wondering if Nora would be able to accept what she wanted. He was happy that she had surprised them both. When they got back and entered the tent, the women were mostly asleep, so he stripped and got under the bedding with Kat.

That struck him as weird for a second, having sex with one, but returning to the one he had a living with commitment too. But he firmly dismissed it in his mind, this was how this world worked and he had to get used to it. He spooned behind her, wrapping his arm around her, resting his hand on her abdomen.

He felt her push back against him but thought her asleep, until she did it again. His mind was stuck again, he still had Nora's honey coating his cock, but he leaned in and whispered directly against her ear, "In here, with the others?"

She turned her head and nodded, and put a finger against her lips with a mischievous grin on her face. 

He shrugged, and ran his hand from her abdomen to the apex of her legs. He was surprised to find her ready for him. Doing it in the tent with others nearby must have been a real turn on for her.

He separated her labia with his ring and forefinger, then flicked her clit with his middle. She bit down on and gasped into the bedding as he lowered his body a bit more, then filled her with one sharp thrust. He was startled how much fun he was having, he had no idea he had a little exhibitionist in him as well. It took just a few minutes of him flicking her clit while thrusting into her steadily from behind as they lay on their sides and muted their vocal reactions.

When she peaked and her core tightened around him, he couldn't hold it and started pumping his baby batter into her milking, greedy, and warm molten core.

He kissed the back of her neck, whispering in her ear that he loved her. Then he rested his head down while pulling her against him tightly. He fell asleep that way, still buried inside her...

Over the next four days he made an effort to spend some alone time with all four of the women, just talking and getting to know them. He usually split the marching time between Sally and Nicci. He was open to starting things up with them by the second day as they seamlessly seemed to hit it off, each relationship just a little different, bringing out other sides of his personality.

He had to give it to the goddess, she knew who was compatible with whom. But he knew all the work needed in a relationship still needed to be done. So far he was juggling the four, but he was only sleeping with Nora and Katrina, and he didn't really have much else to do. He worried about it a bit, but of course, maintaining a relationship didn't take several hours a day, but when the time came he would miss it.

Although he was ready to invite both to bed, he felt they were not ready yet. He wasn't sure why, he just knew his power was prompting him. Maybe they had stuff to figure out about themselves first, he wasn't really sure, and he didn't care either, he just enjoyed his time with them. It wasn't like he was sex starved; Nora and Kat were both wild and insatiable.

With Nora, like that first night, he explored both gentle lovemaking and extremely dominant and rough sex, although he would not, and never did actually hurt her, hard spanking being the limit he set. With Katrina it continued to be playful and was getting more exhibitionist as time went on. There were never any urges, even from himself, to try a threesome. It was two separate relationships for him at the same time.

On the third night though, he asked Katrina a question, "Kat, I have a question about this multiple mates thing. I get that they are all separate, and there is the common sense thing of not having more than you can maintain. But... What happens when you have two mates, or even two in the second level of commitment of sharing a bed? How..." he just trailed off.

He just didn't see how he could be in two places at once. The answer was obvious yet complicated.

She smiled widely, "You planning to ask Nora?"

He was again struck by weirdness, but not nearly as much as usual, she sounded almost giddy about the idea. His old world was narrow minded... Although he wondered for not the first time, if the connection to the goddess everyone felt here somehow eliminated jealousy.

He just nodded in response to her question and she explained it to him.

"Well, once you ask a second person and they accept, it is your two sleeping partners that decide, not you. Normally if they get along, they will just share the same bed and respect privacy when the other is having sex. If they are not thrilled with each other, they may decide to split your time. So you get one per night, or however they decide to split it up the living/sleeping arrangements.

"On the rare occasions the two people hate each other and cannot reach an accord, it will fall back to you to decide who to keep. That last one is extremely rare. Did that make sense?"

"Yes, strangely enough it makes perfect sense."

She asked curiously, "Strangely?"

He nodded in mock seriousness, fighting a smile, "Of course dear, who would think that a woman could be that logical."

She growled and tackled him. As their wrestling always turned to one or the other in control of sex, it was quite a long time later before they spoke again...

The next day, they reached camp late in the evening, just a couple of miles from the enemies reported position. He was a bit nervous, not really worried for himself, but for the women that not only protected him, but shared his life. He cared about them all now. He wasn't a pessimist by nature, but he decided he needed to ask Nora tonight, just in case. He wanted to make sure she knew where he stood, and how he felt before the battle.

They were worried about enemy movement so close to their position, so they stayed close to the camp, instead of their usual distance. That meant he wouldn't be able to play rough and make her scream, but that was okay. 

He softly made love to her that night under the stars. Then, when he held her he whispered lovingly in her ear an extremely ironic endearment that she loved to hear, and that he swore to himself no one else would ever hear. He also had a question that had him nervous, "My perfect little slut, I love you, will you sleep next to me tonight?"

She grinned at him mischievously and echoed her answer to his first proposal, "Fuck yes", and then tears filled her eyes and she cried on his shoulder. He wasn't disturbed by this, it wasn't the first time. She missed her killed sisters still, and often broke down when he made her happy. It was healthy, and he had hope one day she would heal. 

She still cursed like a sailor, was bossy at times, and short tempered, and he wouldn't want her any other way. But she was hardly ever bitterly angry anymore which he thought was a good thing. He was sure she would have wanted to share her good news with them.

That night he slept with a woman on each arm. He should have known, but they had talked about it already a couple of days ago, and they both liked each other just fine and didn't mind sharing a bed with him in the middle. The only thing that felt strange about it to him was... it didn't feel strange at all.

--------

Arnath stepped slowly into the small chapel within the castle of Egeria as his king directed. He was a bit nervous and unsure, but was not going to defy his new king, despite how wrong he knew it was. In a few short months he would have what he had strived for. He had worked hard to come up in the ranks of the military, and shortly he would finally have what he deserved, the lead of the next raiding group.

He lived for those times. One of his favorite things were breaking a woman, putting them in their place, but here in Egeria there were certain... lines he could not cross, at least, not with the local women. If he did, there would be inquiries, their families could object and he could lose everything. But every few years for the last twenty he had an entirely free hand to do as he wished with captured females.

So here he was, doing something that part of himself was screaming out against. But he stepped forward, the voice inside weak, so he pushed it down and ignored it, much like he had done many times before. He did not know that his inner conscience, his soul, was giving him a dire warning. He just knew it was the same inner voice he had pushed down and ignored ever since discovering his unique proclivities toward women.

The chapel that had once been a bright place was muted dimly. All symbols of Cytherea had been removed and other symbols that chilled his soul had been put in their place. He again stepped forward, moving toward the altar, spurned on by the thought of what he would soon have, command. If he did not follow this order, he knew the king would replace him. He couldn't allow that.

His soul cried out one more time as he made out the shape of a tied down person on the altar, his hand, holding the knife had gotten slippery from the sweat of his palm and he wiped it on his uniform nervously. But this warning he also shrugged off, and moved forward quickly, wanting to get this over with.

When the deed was done, and lifeblood flowed on the altar, the shadows around him seem to come alive, moving inky blackness that headed in his direction. The quiet voice inside him was screaming now as he instinctively felt evil, but he knew it was too late. The darkness closed in around him, then entered him. He felt his talent, his magic, being twisted, and he fell to the floor wracked in pain.

Arnath woke with a silent scream. His body covered with sweat. The last week had gone well for him campaign wise, outside of gods be damned Nerin. What a disaster that was. He had all his earth magic talents building traps, tricks, and fortifications. The enemy would be torn apart when they came.

But there was something wrong with his personal quest and it enraged him. He was changing in some fundamental way. His soldiers had brought back women from the nearby towns, and as he trained them he felt no joy or thrill in it. He felt dead inside. That's when the nightmares of that night two months ago had started; he had been dreaming it the last four days.

He was afraid...

---------

Katrina was tossing and turning, nervous about tomorrow. Though, she tried not to bump into Justin, he would need his sleep. She was worried about what tomorrow would bring. They had their last strategy session a few hours ago, she knew what she had to do. It was simple really, she could hold her tiger form all day without issue, so during the battle she would transform and stay by his side.

She knew Justin's magic although incredibly strong, was more limited than that. They had been experimenting at Anton's suggestion a couple of days ago. It had seemed to her the more power he channeled the faster he would tire out. If he simple touched people, like her, his power could be used almost endlessly, channeling small amounts of magic.

But when she watched him use the full scope and power of his magic, which was impressive, covering at least a hundred yards around him in all directions with his white fire, it only lasted about fifteen minutes before he was spent.

She glanced at his sleeping form so close to hers. The plan was simple really, at least, for their group. They would be in the center of the troops, possibly the safest place available. Anton had talked them into letting him direct his power, when called depending on the order, he was supposed to either flash a quick wave to cancel out the enemies' magic for just a moment, which would conserve his energy.

She knew the other command of course, would be for him to put out sustained power that would basically make the troops untouchable by the enemy's power, while charging and refreshing their bodies and talents. Of course, it would not stop physical attacks, but should tip the balance if done at the right time.

She worried though. But she was thankful the Flame of Cytherea was a protective power. Unless things went horribly wrong he would not be in danger. None of them would be. She cuddled against him and drew a deep breath, taking in his scent. Eventually she calmed, determined to protect him if in fact, the worst happened, and drifted off into sleep.

--------

Nora woke up to a light grunt. She could see the low light outside through the creases and small holes that tents develop and knew dawn had arrived. She almost giggled when she heard Nora moaning into the bedding. She frowned feeling guilty. She had been almost giddy a few times recently, spending time with Justin, it was so... unlike her. And she always felt a stab of guilt, knowing she should be with her sisters, and hoping that somehow, they were okay. That somehow, they were pleased for her.

She almost laughed at the next extremely poor attempt to suppress the sounds they were making as they tried to fuck sideways in secret. She had caught them doing it that first night in the tent, but didn't ever say anything. They actually thought they were getting away with something, and she had to admit to herself it was kind of hot they were fucking not more than two feet away from her.

She was pretty sure both Nicci and Sally knew as well, but they hadn't talked about it at all, just shared a laugh one night a few days ago. She didn't mind though, she had no right to judge if they liked the risk of screwing around others. Thinking about how she had begged for the privilege to lick his ass two nights ago, she definitely didn't have the right to judge.

When she felt herself lick her lips she deliberately changed the track of her thoughts, there was no time for a tryst this morning. They would be shortly marching toward the enemy...




Flame of Cytherea 03



She was still angry, very angry, that those fuckers had invaded and killed her sisters. She had been a bit disappointed to find out she would be in the middle of the troops. She wanted to protect Justin; she would be devastated if he followed her sisters without her, or really, died at all. But she wanted to kill the invaders as well.

She would surely be sharp and ready for any of their troops that made it within range of her magic. She had been practicing when she found time alone. Justin had told her about a strange device on his world, called guns. That shot small metal things at high speeds. At first she had been unbelieving that such a small thing could kill when he held his thumb and forefinger much less than an inch apart.

In the past and in her training she had always compressed air into blades, as long and as sharp as a sword. But she gave the strange idea a try and formed highly compressed balls of air that were small. She was taken aback at how little magic it actually took. When she sent them at a tree as fast as she could, well, she was surprised at the devastating result.

She was really looking forward to seeing its effect on one of those Egerian fuck heads...

--------

Sally was staring at the tent top, listening to Kat's and Justin's poorly disguised fucking, deep in thought. She was actually a little turned on and wistful about it, wishing it was her that his strong arms held from behind as he... she cut off the thought.

She had been confused though, he clearly wanted her, she could see it in his eyes when they spent their daily time together, a time she always looked forward too. At first she was offended that he hadn't, but she thought she understood why.

When she had first come here, she had been obsessed with her dishonor, only to find out the dishonor was her mother's, and she had been under a horrifying spell that stripped her will and forced her to think in a specific way. She thought she understood why her mother did it, she must have been scared she would slip one day and bring the Uleni down on them. Understanding though, was not excusing, it was unforgivable.

Not only hadn't he accepted her absurd oath, he had freed her, saved her, and she had been instantly infatuated and smitten with him. He was a strong and good man, and his body was... she cut off that line of thought when her breathing picked up and she felt a tingle in her core.

She had also found herself bubbly and joking. She was the oldest of them at twenty four, although she still looked closer to twenty. She had never been a bubbly person before.

So she was pretty sure he was denying himself because he didn't want to take advantage of her. She hardly knew herself right now, that spell had completely altered her personality. Add to that her hero worship of him which made her amorous feelings suspect. She was almost sure that's why he hadn't ask her yet, despite the way he looked at her, and the clear signals she had been sending him.

What was so frustrating was she was sure time was the only fix for what was keeping them apart; she needed to ground herself as her own person first. As for her feelings for Justin, she doubted they would go away. They had only grown as they spent time together. But perhaps, they would mature.

When the scent of Kat's arousal reached her side of the tent she almost groaned out loud in frustration. How could they possibly believe it's a secret? With a small sigh she decided she shouldn't be distracted and frustrated today with the coming battle. 

She needed relief.

She slowly slid her hands down her body, pinching her nipples on the way down as she constructed a screen around her with magic, to block both outgoing sound and scent. She knew how to keep things a secret... And be as loud as she wanted...

When her fingertips started teasing her core she fantasized about Justin's large fingers, and other things on his body...

--------

When Nicci woke up, all the others were already moving around and packing up. Unlike Sally, she had no idea why he hadn't approached her, and she had been getting irritable about it. She had taken her own advice and opened up to him, and to some extent the other women. 

She was happy she did, as the world of companionship was opened to her. She really hadn't had that before. The people she dealt with in the castle were all nice enough, but she wasn't treated like a person there, they didn't see her, all they had seen was a princess, an ornament.

She could tell Justin was attracted to her. He was more subtle about it than most, keeping eye contact and actually looking at her face most of the time. But she had caught him more than once, out of the corner of her eye, with his eyes lingering over her body when he had thought she wasn't looking.

They had both also enjoyed their time together during the march. She noticed he had made a point to spend a few hours with each of them every day. So what was it that gave him pause? Was she just not good enough for him?

She pushed that thought aside as she got dressed and gathered her things. Today she would have another chance to prove herself. She thought she had done relatively well her first time, although, passing out on the road outside of a town probably wasn't the best ending to her debut battle.

She would prove she wasn't an ornament, maybe then he would take her...

Chapter 12

Justin finally got a glance of the hillock from the scouting reports. Although it was only two miles away, it had taken them close to a half hour to march the distance. It looked more like a ramp, then a small hill. There was only one approachable slope, and based on what he was seeing it would be costly to take.

The sides were extremely steep, and according to the reports, the opposite side was practically a sheer cliff. The enemy was dug in well too; they must have been here for a while. He was a little worried about it, from what he had read back on Earth, the defenders had the much easier time, and they only had six thousand soldiers with them. From what the scouts said, the enemy had about two thirds of that, more than enough to win as the defenders of a siege.

He wasn't sure how accurate it was, but he had heard defenders with fortifications if done right could face ten to one odds.

Of course, he wasn't on Earth, and magical talents would surely rewrite those rules. Still, he knew there was a rule about not letting the enemy pick the battle site, but they didn't really have a choice here. Actually, they did have a choice, the idea of encircling them and choking off their supplies had been considered when he brought it up. The idea being they would be forced eventually to come down and face them in the open, or starve, but too many were against the idea.

They wanted the enemy gone now, out of their kingdom.

He thought it was foolish, a decision based on their emotions and anger, but he wasn't in charge so let it go. They would be attacking. He put his hand on Kat's flank feeling better for her presence. Nora and Sally were close to him too and Nicci was circling above, high enough to take in everything and out of range of any enemy magic, but low enough to respond quickly.

They stopped fairly close to the hill and as they formed the first group of soldiers who would charge what he was sure was a corridor of death, the ground below them rumbled. Sharp spears of rock burst from the ground all around him, impaling the unlucky soldiers to be standing in the wrong place.

Without waiting for the order he put out a short flash that calmed the ground beneath their feet, canceling the magic that had been lying in wait, but the damage had been done. He shook his head as the initial assault group yelled angrily and charged. 

He healed those that were still alive, but many, perhaps two hundred of the soldiers were dead. He watched the charge and felt his stomach drop, as he waited for some other trick. To his surprise they advanced quite a bit, meeting minimal resistance and mowing over it. A second assault group was sent, followed by a third.

The better the charge went, the more nervous he got, it didn't make sense. From what he could see of the front lines, it was absolutely chaotic. Fire was thrown around, blades of air, attacks from the ground, weapons flying through the air, walls of stone exploded, trenches were collapsed. It seemed clear they were still advancing, somehow keeping the upper hand in this fight. Their forces were taking out both the enemy and their fortifications while taking negligible losses.

The Egerians were caught up with evil, but they weren't stupid and the enemy commander had proven intelligent so far. He thought it possible that they just had better talents, but thought it far more likely there was a trap just waiting for them to be in position for.

He heard Prince Anton order the middle to advance, and he hoped whatever trick was waiting wouldn't be set off before he was in position. It didn't take long for him to reach the position they had gone over during planning, and he waited for the order. He now had the whole hillock in the range of his magic. Something though, still felt very wrong.

----------

Arnath watched the enemy army advancing quickly, he could hardly believe how well his plan was going. He turned to the earth talent next to him and ordered, "Wait five more minutes, then start the collapse.

A month ago he may have felt a twinge of guilt at the fifteen hundred men he was intentionally sacrificing, but his soul was so damaged now he felt nothing as he dropped into the trap door and made his way down the tunnel. He had his earth talents working on this for a while, and in a few minutes almost the entire hillock would collapse in on itself. 

Almost all six thousand of the enemy troops were already on the slope. He thought most would be killed and buried by the event. But none would get away, he had three thousand more troops, and they were fresh and waiting for the collapse before acting on the order he had given to spring the second stage of the trap.

Sadly, he felt no accomplishment, or really anything about it. He was just following his orders. He would gain this kingdom for his king, and for his new god.

--------

Nora gasped as she felt the ground shake beneath her. She heard Anton's order and felt flames refresh and protect her as they all lit up in white fire. But the shaking didn't stop and like a wave from the top, the hillock started to collapse in on itself. Whatever had been done with magic, the magic part was done, this was now nothing but a natural collapse and his magic couldn't stop it.

Desperately she reached out with her magic and launched them all backwards, high in the sky. She was having trouble cushioning them all properly for the landing. She sighed in relief when she felt Sally's magic reach out and take over for herself, and Katrina in her large and very heavy tiger form. It was easy to direct the landing toward the base of the disappearing hillock with only herself and Justin to control.

She watched in horror as all but the air, telekinesis, shape shifting birds, and earth talents were swallowed up by the collapsing mountain. Only the thousand or so soldiers near the bottom were unaffected. The talents had managed to save a handful of others as they escaped, but not nearly enough. Outside of Justin and the three women, maybe fifty others made it off the collapsing hillock. She was horrified.

Close to five thousand men dead in just a few seconds. 

At the sound of crashing behind her she turned and saw the ground open up and so many soldiers came up out of the ground it wasn't convenient to count. It was a trap that she never could have even thought of much less anticipated. She felt guilty, wishing they had listened more to Justin's ideas. So many dead, and now wasn't the time to deal with it.

She was still surrounded by white fire, and this was their only chance, the odds were stacked against them, at least three to one. She just hoped their initial and limited advantage would be enough. She started using those air... bullets she thought he called them. She felt a surge of satisfaction as a soldier's head practically exploded. She needed to concentrate if they were to have any chance, and she got to work...

---------

Kat roared and took off another head, her powerful claw tearing it right off the enemy soldier. She watched peripherally as Nora took out a frightening amount of enemies but she was focused on those that got by Nora's hail of air magic. She swore to herself she would not let anything get to Justin. He was on fire and his body was still, using all his concentration to maintain his magic.

She just hoped he could hold on long enough to at least even the odds, if not put them in their favor. The just over a thousand soldiers that were left started to form a line around them which made her feel a little safer, but she didn't let down her guard any. She would die before she let anything happen to him...

--------

Sally was going to call a storm and lightning, but at seeing the way Nora was using her air magic, so little power with such devastating results, she copied it, and started shooting little balls of air at every enemy soldier she could see. Some things took her a while to learn, but what Nora was doing was simple.

She saw the sky turn cloudy, and felt the magic at work. There was another mage on the battle field and outside the range of Justin's power, as were the clouds above them. She regretfully stopped her assault and concentrated on dispersing the clouds, she was afraid her power would be caught up in simply stopping the other mage. Still, that was better than allowing an attack. She concentrated on the magic in the area, trying to identify where the mage was... Failing that, she concentrated on identifying the next attack.

-------

Arnath growled in frustration. A damn Flame of the goddess? His trap worked perfectly, but his three to one odds were slowly dwindling as his men were slaughtered, unable to respond with their talents as the gods be damned Flame supported his enemies.

He had tried to create a storm and attack with lightning. He wasn't sure if a Flame's magic could stop that, both he and the clouds would be out of range, and the lightning would actually be a natural force. But there was another mage choking off his efforts. He cursed bitterly as he watched, impatiently waiting for the Flame to tire himself out...

---------

Nicci was circling after the collapse of the hillock. She saw with relief that Justin and the others were okay, not safe exactly, but had escaped the trap. But she couldn't see her brother Anton anywhere. His form was a wyvern, he should be in the air, he couldn't have been caught...

She cawed loudly in denial, then dove. She needed to kill some enemy soldiers while the white flames were still burning. She passed between the lines flying low, not wanting to get to far from her responsibility. She needed to stay near Justin. She concentrated on her oath, and the grisly job at hand, trying to ignore the tight ball in her stomach and the instincts telling her that her brother was gone.

She needed to be careful though, magic or not they still had crossbows and swords. She tried to conserve her use of magic, but all too soon she was close to out. She had taken out at least two hundred soldiers in quick succession with her fire magic as she flew over and she needed to rest.

She soared back up in the air and couldn't help looking around again. Her eyesight was sharp, and from this height she could see every face clearly below her. She did not see her brother at all.

She had an epiphany at that point, and it was a bitter one. She had been obsessed with proving herself. But she realized the only one that had doubted her, had been herself. She had wanted to prove herself to her brother so badly, but now that he was missing, it was painfully obvious to her that he already did respect her. The others along with Justin treated her like an equal, and listened to her.

She had nothing to prove at all, she wasn't an ornament. She was a powerful woman who had the trust and faith of her friends and family. Thinking back to how often she had talked to Justin about proving herself to be more than a title and fluff, it became clear exactly what he was waiting for before inviting her to his bed...

He was waiting for her to grow up. She had been acting like a self absorbed little girl.

She felt restored, mostly thanks to Justin's white flames, and dove back down to take out more of them...

--------

Justin stood there, with his eyes closed, imagining sitting around a table with Kat, Nora, Nicci and Sally. He focused on them, and what love he had for each, as he pushed out his power the best he could. He dare not move or distract himself.

He had felt the anger rising a few times, but had pushed it down, focusing on keeping his loved ones safe and healthy, rather than what had just happened.

He had a lot to be angry about. He was angry he hadn't pushed harder to make a better plan than to charge in where the enemy waited. He was angry that Anton didn't listen to his reasoning. They had been so confident of success, especially with his help, that he had let his concerns fall.

He had made a dreadful mistake, he knew it wasn't his responsibility, but he surely had a partial claim to it. All this fought for his attention in his mind as he focused on the women around him, fighting to keep him safe as he fought to keep them safe.

That was all that mattered, if they lived through this, they could deal with the rest of it then.

He felt his energy dwindling and risked opening his eyes. His women and the other fifty talents had managed to kill around a thousand of them, maybe a little more, but they were still looking at close to two to one odds, and he simply didn't have anything left. Maybe they should have run?

He mumbled, trying to keep his concentration, "I'm about out, maybe we should retreat?"

Then he felt a rumbling below in the earth and he heard Anton's voice scream out, "ATTACK!" as close to a thousand men emerged in the field from the same holes the Egerian soldiers had used just fifteen minutes ago. He started laughing in hysterical relief as the thousand men with him surged ahead and a general melee started. The odds had been cut back to about even, but the moral of the enemy troops wasn't all that high and they were off balance from being taken by surprise.

The Abelawethan soldiers quickly routed the enemy, very few escaped...

He was grinning with relief when Anton walked over and explained, "When the hillock collapsed, about ten of the earth mages decided to just fall in while controlling it. They managed to save a thousand of us and led us to those tunnels," he frowned, "Still, today's victory feels like a defeat, we lost four thousand good men to that trap, I should have listened to you. I failed those men with my arrogance. I was a fool on top of that, for not heeding the wise words of a Flame of Cytherea."

With a feeling of dread, he watched Anton fall to his knees and make an oath, "The strength of Abelaweth is yours in this troubled time, I Prince Anton will take orders from you in regards to this war only, for the duration of it, and pledge the support of the crown behind your decisions. Do you accept this oath?"

From what he could understand, Anton was putting him in charge of the war effort. If he accepted, it would be all his responsibility. Well he had been angry they didn't listen to him, but he wasn't sure he wanted the full responsibility for it either. He suppressed a sigh, time to put his money where his mouth was so to speak.

"I accept."



Flame of Cytherea 04



This one is about twice as long as my past posts, hope you enjoy it...

*****

Chapter 13

He spent the next hour helping the soldiers and healing the wounded. His magic felt low, but he had enough for that if he went to each one and physically touched them. He also figured out how to focus his magic. If he just turned it on, it would actively try to restore, heal, protect and change. But if he focused hard enough, he could get it to just heal and restore the soldiers, they had no need of protection or change at the moment and it was a waste of magic.

The oath Anton had given him didn't mean he had to come up with all the ideas, it was just when there were conflicting ideas he could force his through. No one had a differing opinion though, the way forward was obvious. Take the sixteen hundred men that were left and free the southern villages. There were still five hundred enemy soldiers down there, though split up in the towns.

For now anyway, he was convinced the commander of the enemy invasion had escaped, he had a feeling he would go for the towns as well, to collect his remaining troops and set a new trap. Though the end of the battle had been a rout, they had lost about four hundred of the two thousand soldiers that survived the trap. Still, in a battle, five to one on the butcher's bill was a huge win, even if it didn't feel like one. 

He did use the oath once though during the strategy meeting.

Anton said, "I need to go back north, report to the king and collect more troops."

He shook his head, "No, you'd be gone over a week. You need to lead the forces doing actual battle, why don't you write a report of what happened, what troops you need, and send an air talent to deliver it."

He had some good ideas from Earth's history and had smelled out the trap, but he wasn't a general. He didn't mind giving Anton orders, but he couldn't run the soldiers. He was also getting more comfortable with the culture and how things worked here, but he still knew he had a lot to learn. The problem was, he didn't know what he didn't know. 

As long as Anton was here with his own ideas and advice he wouldn't do anything too stupid in ignorance. Like get four thousands soldiers killed? He sighed at the thought, Anton wasn't all that happy about staying because of his blunder, hopefully he would get over it.

Although he could probably depend on Nora for that instead of Anton, he didn't think the soldiers would follow a woman's orders, plus, she was in charge of their little group, she couldn't do both at the same time, at least, not well. He also thought that though she had experience in a small squad and could lead, that might not translate well to leading a much larger force.

The battle had only taken a couple of hours, once things were settled and they had gotten some food down, they set out for a half days march. The faster they went, the more likely they would catch the Egerian soldiers in small numbers. Even so, it would be this time tomorrow before they reached the first town. 

He was a little tempted to go on ahead with the ladies, together they could probably kill fifty soldiers easily, but he held back from that idea.

He moved himself right next to Nicci and asked softly, "You doing okay after that mess this morning?"

She shrugged half heartedly and said, "Seeing all that death... It drove home what a self absorbed brat I've been. I don't need to prove anything to anyone. I just need to do my best for the people around me."

Trying to cheer her up he said, "You forgot beautiful, a beautiful self absorbed brat."

What the hell? Why did those dumb ass things always sound better in his head?

She asked with head hanging, "Is that what you think of me, really?"

Obviously he had failed miserably at the cheering up thing so he tried again, this time without the humor that wasn't funny.

Softly in denial he said, "Of course not," in a serious tone he added, "I think you grew up isolated, and it's just taking a while for you to open up to what's around you. Self absorbed has a... selfish connotation, and you have never been that. Just, trouble connecting at first."

She smiled a bit, a mischievous twinkle growing in her eye. He guessed he got it right the second time.

She cocked her head cutely and asked, "So not beautiful then either?"

He snorted, "Fishing for a compliment? That's like the water asking if it's wet."

At her confused face he said, "Merely beautiful is a major understatement."

She looked up with an innocent smile, then winked. 

That was another issue he had, the words translated but the sayings didn't. Right as rain, fit as a fiddle, fishing for a compliment etc... Still, at least he got her to give him a smile, so, mission accomplished.

He also noticed he wasn't getting that hold off feeling anymore while talking to her, yet he had no idea why, or what had prompted it before. He was starting to have suspicions about his feelings and those promptings during sex. His power connected to the goddess, but that wasn't unique. Still, he wondered if Cytherea had been, and still is, feeding him non-verbal advice that he was free to accept or reject. So far he had followed those feelings and it had always turned out well...

Besides, one could do a lot worse than having the goddess of love as a relationship coach and to improve his ability to sense what would give his partner the greatest pleasure during sex. He would be a fool not to listen. It sounded absurd to him, but there it was. He had originally thought it related to his magic, but none of the things his magic did had anything to do with identifying a woman's secondary erogenous zones.

He frowned at that thought, his magic did enhance the pleasure during sex, so perhaps he was reading into it too much, and the truth was it didn't really matter either way. He was after all, still learning about his new power, perhaps there was more yet to understand...

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, very glad, that his instincts weren't having him hold off anymore. All of the women attracted him, but in different ways. In Nicci's case it was her fresh innocent face and incredible body, it evoked a strange mix of protectiveness and the need to have her in every way imaginable until he collapsed in exhaustion. Her cute looks and the way she flirted seemed to enhance that innocence and in short, drove him crazy.

He also loved that she had a joy that was infectious, and a wonder of the world around her that probably came from her being closeted in the castle so much.

He admitted to himself he may have disregarded the inner urgings to leave her be, if his libido hadn't been getting plenty of attention from Nora and Kat. Those two ladies more than took the edge off, and held his complete attention. He saw her mouth twitch and knew he'd been busted staring again, fortunately she not only didn't mind but seemed to eat up his attention.

They talked for a while longer before he went off to spend some time with the rest of the women, after all, if he planned to spend most of tonight with Nicci, assuming she said yes, he needed to make sure he didn't neglect the others...

---

Arnath stared down from two thousand feet, fighting off his rage. He wanted nothing more than to go into a dive and kill the cursed Flame that had cost him so much. That wasn't his purpose though, at this height he was sure they would never detect his presence. He was following to be sure where they were going.

It looked to him they planned to start at the westernmost village and sweep the border going east from town to town. It wasn't a bad plan, but worthless now that he knew. He managed to force himself to break off, his anger growing. He could feel nothing else now, just anger and fear, which simply made him more angry. It had been a struggle for him to control himself.

He headed for the town east of where they were going. He would simply gather his troops, sweeping east a day or two ahead the whole way. They should have close to five hundred in the last town. He was tempted to gut the towns on his way through, but his king wanted to make the Abelawethans slaves, not dead enemies. He had a feeling he would already be in enough trouble for his failures.

He wasn't sure yet what he would do, once they were all gathered. If he could set a trap, he might consider it, or he may take what was left and head for the border. He considered it as he flew...

---

Kat was a hunter, a tiger made of mostly muscle, designed to stalk and kill her prey. Her magic lent her even more skill and strength. She was stalking a deer about a mile away from the main force. She had killed many soldiers this morning and needed time to come to terms with it, to absorb the strange turns her life had taken. Hunting was in her blood, familiar, and felt normal. She needed normal.

She didn't for a moment regret her feelings for Justin, or what they shared together. Quite the opposite, she loved him more than she ever thought would be possible despite their first meeting being a scant week ago. She would never regret following him that afternoon.

But the battle had hit her hard. She was a hunter, but one of animals, for food and sustenance. She was not a killer... or at least, not until this past week. They were invaders, and she had protected her intended mate, and she had reveled in it. The first two points didn't bother her at all, it was the third that had drove her to escape, to be alone with her thoughts, to go on a simple hunt.

Did she revel in the fact she had protected Justin, kept him safe? Or was it the kill, the power to take a life with such speed and ease. She hoped, she wanted it to be the former. But she just wasn't sure. So she was out here, doing what she knew best while trying to make sense of it.

She bared her teeth, having successfully snuck up to striking range her body scrunched in tight, muscles contracting, and she dove forward. The deer didn't even see what hit it, as she closed her jaws around its neck and twisted.

---

Nora shrugged off the guilt as she followed Kat's trail. She had recognized the look in her eyes, it was the same look Nora had worn after her first battle. Back then, it had been her sisters, who had been there for her and explained it. The guilt she felt was simply because she was growing to like Kat a lot. Outside of sharing Justin, she was becoming a real friend.

Now she was planning to tell Kat what she had been told, something that until now, had been shared only within the ranks of her own unit. It was something that had brought her closer to her new sisters two years ago. The guilt was because it felt like a betrayal, but that was stupid she knew, so she did her best to ignore it. Kat needed her.

She still remembered it like it was yesterday. It was her first fight off the streets, the first fight with actual casualties. She had killed three men that day, and had enjoyed it, she had felt... powerful. Afterwards, once her heart slowed, and her adrenaline dissipated she had felt horror and thought herself a monster for enjoying it.

She remembered how Bria had set her straight. It was slightly cruel, but effective, Bria had explained after, emotions trump logic every time. She just hoped she would be able to pull it off. She wasn't much of an actress. She found Kat skinning a deer with her claws and walked up and took a seat on the ground and just started talking.

"You know, it feels like that every time. The adrenaline, the way their life drains from their eyes. The satisfaction and thrill of it that makes a heart beat in excitement. I been killing those fuckers for two years, I practically get off on it, nothing better. Did you know they send in small parties all the time, it's only the large ones that get noticed overly.

"Still, it can be addicting the killing, making me feel the way it does. It works for all types of folk too. Not just enemy soldiers. I got an itch, what do you say we sneak off a bit, track down a couple of travelers and get us a fucking thrill, I know you liked it, I could see it in your eyes."

She watched as the tiger flashed with light, and suddenly she was looking up at Kat, an innocent look on her face as Kat stared down at her in horror. She could see Kat's eyes were damp.

She looked up quizzically and said, "What? Don't you want to feel that thrill again? Let's go!"

"NO!" she practically screamed it.

Scrunching her eyes together she looked up and asked, "Why not?"

Kat yelled, "Because I'm not a monster!"

She said calmly with a gentle smile, "Of course you're not. Remember how you feel right now, because that proves you are not a monster, a murderer, or sick in the head. The thrill is natural, from adrenaline, a survival instinct. You are normal, just like everyone else."

Kat spluttered, "But, what was all that murder talk about then."

She replied, "Emotion trumps logic. I had to show you emotionally you aren't a monster, before you would listen to the logic of it. Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, "If I remember right I was mad at Bria for doing that to me for a day or two, but I was a hopeless cause back then, so forgive me?"

Nora watched as Kat's face couldn't settle on anger, relief or annoyance. Perhaps consternation. 

She asked innocently, "Need any help dressing the deer? If we take too long Justin might get lost or something."

Kat snorted and shook her head in disbelief, but she said, "Fine..."

She remembered being in the same place Kat was now as well, and knew it would all work out. With a smile she made a dagger of pure compressed air and got to work...

---

Sally listened as Justin told her about his old world, what the people were like and all sorts of other things. When he had first come over to chat he had asked about her life, and she had told him a couple of stories about growing up in her village. But the longer she talked the more uncomfortable she became until finally she had redirected and started asking him question after question.

The reason was, as she was telling the stories, they didn't seem like hers. She would not have acted the way she did as crazy as that sounds. The spell had made her a shadow of a person, someone who avoided any confrontation at all costs. Quiet, reserved, unremarkable, invisible. She shuddered.

On top of that, it felt like a lie telling the stories, that wasn't her, which defeated the whole purpose of telling stories. He asked because he wanted to know her, not what a shadow she had been under the influence of her mother's spell. The problem was of course, she had no stories yet. Not any that he hadn't already been there to see firsthand anyway.

She couldn't possibly share who she was because she had no idea yet, not really. She was confident now, not reserved at all. Based on this morning she was good under pressure, but other than that? She just didn't know. She could guess how she would react to certain things, but often people don't react the way they think they would, or should, and it would be nothing but guesses or lies.

She was quite frustrated about it, and as she glanced his way she realized, in more ways than one.

---

Nicci almost rolled her eyes as they set up camp, and for the first time, considered getting replacement armor. She knew she looked good in it, and it was nothing short of scandalous, but she wasn't so insecure anymore as she was five days ago in her room. At first, the looks from all the men had given her a shot of confidence and made her feel good about herself. Now it just seemed, shallow.

She didn't really mind it, but it didn't do anything for her anymore. Well, except for Justin. When she caught him looking though, it wasn't a shot of confidence she felt. Instead, her heart and breath sped up, and she had a yearning to feel his hands where his eyes rested on her body. There was also a slight bit of fear to it as well, she was still a virgin, and the way he made her feel was slightly confusing, and she was nervous while at the same time wanting, more...

Her emotions were very conflicted about it, he made her feel... too much. The one thing she wasn't worried about was the pain of losing her maidenhood, besides being confident he would be gentle the first time, he was also a healer. If he ever got around to asking her that is.

She almost jumped when she felt someone take her hand, she had been lost in her thoughts and didn't hear anyone approach.

As if he had read her mind Justin asked, "Would you lay with me Nicci? With the intention of us getting to know each other better and move toward a commitment?"

She stared back at him, completely lost in his warm hazel eyes as her heart pounded. She knew she was supposed to say something, but her mouth was dry and she felt breathless so she just nodded slowly...

Chapter 14

He saw both anticipation and a little nervousness in her face as he led her to the edge of the camp. He thought that this first would be different. When he had first slept with Kat and Nora he had felt the same anticipation and lust for certain. He also knew they got along, or had at least; hit it off from the start.

With Nicci now though, he had spent hours a day with her for close to a week while putting their physical relationship off. Which didn't seem like much time to him at first, but he quickly realized it wasn't like a typical date back on Earth. There were no distractions of a show or movie or other activity. All they had done was walk together and talk, completely absorbed in each other as they got to know one another. As a result his feelings had grown quite quickly in comparison to what would be considered normal on his old home.

In short, he already felt the stirrings of love in his heart for this young woman. He was determined to make her first time the best experience of her life. That would take control on his part, because almost perversely, the second result from waiting so long was a burning lust and desire to ravish her without restraint, which he knew would be a bad idea for her first time.

He was close to the edge of camp when Nora appeared in front of them and shook her finger, looking very serious and determined.

"Back to the tent, we don't know where the escaped soldiers from this morning are. It's not safe to take private walks right now."

His first irrational thought was anger, luckily his brain kicked in before he said anything stupid. Neither Nora nor Kat would want to keep this from happening, and more, would probably think it was about time. He flushed in embarrassment as he thought it through, he hadn't given any thought of the danger at all, he had been too focused on making this happen.

Nora said knowingly, "Don't worry, we got it squared away."

They followed Nora back to the large tent, he was gratified to see that Nicci didn't look very happy at being interrupted either, even if it was for good reason. When they got to the tent Nora led them inside and one eyebrow rose at what they saw as Nora pointed them toward one end of the tent.

Part of the tent had been partitioned by a thick blanket they had hung at one end. He looked at it dubiously, was that supposed to be their idea of a private place? He was touched that Nora, Cat and Sally had tried to come up with a solution so he could still lay with Nicci tonight, in safety, but privacy was more than just being out of sight. He looked at them doubtfully.

Sally looked at him with laughing eyes and twitching lips, but her voice was calm and even.

"Go on, I made my own little addition, it is private."

He saw Nicci's fair skin blush scarlet as he led her through the blanket, but they both froze as the blanket fell closed behind them. The sounds of the camp, the men talking, the sharpening of blades, the pops of the fires, all disappeared. All he could hear was the sound of his and her breathing. A smile slowly grew on his face, he would need to find a way to thank Sally and the others.




Flame of Cytherea 04



He also thought this would be a good way to manage all the rest as well, even Nora would feel comfortable acting the submissive slut in this island of privacy. As he turned to Nicci and cradled her face between his hands, all thoughts of the other three women fled his mind.

He brushed his lips against hers and pulled back just a little, looking deeply into her jade green eyes. He saw the nervousness there, but he also saw anticipation, just as he went to lean back into her, she stepped into him instead. He felt her sexy body push up against his tightly, her large breasts mashed against his chest as her lips met his.

They slowly explored each other with their hands as he felt her lips become less tentative and more demanding. He ran his hands down her fiery hair, then around to her front, unclasping her tight leather armored shirt. He lifted his hands in the air as she pulled off his tunic and when their bodies met again, his manhood jumped at the feel of her large breasts meeting his bare chest.

It wasn't long before they were both naked and he lowered her down onto the soft bedding on the floor. He was in awe of her as he took in her tight body, large breasts he was almost sure were double D, but he wasn't positive. Her tight stomach and slim curved waist led to mouth watering rounded hips. Her core glimmered in the torchlight, a result of her moist arousal, though her lips were not yet swollen. Her long legs were opened for him invitingly, but her innocent face had turned a little more fearful.

He was so hard it hurt, he wanted to ravish this beauty before him, but the look on her face bade him to be patient, and the feelings he felt for her gentled his almost animal need. He lay down beside her and pulled her against him, kissing her, caressing her body. He wanted her to be relaxed and he hated the traces of fear in her eyes. He teased the bottom of her breasts and lightly pinched her nipples.

As that drew a gasp of pleasure, he wondered again for a moment, what prompted him. He had just known her breasts were extremely sensitive. He was going slow for her, but when the scent of her arousal hit him, he was overcome by the need to taste her and he kissed his way down her body, briefly stopping to tease a nipple with a light lick and nip of his teeth. 

Her fair skin was silky smooth against his lips, tongue and fingertips, and as he got closer to the source of her arousing scent his cock jumped and somehow hardened even more. His breath was heavy with anticipation as he ran his tongue along the length of her labia. He teased and pleasured Nicci with his tongue, every gasp of pleasure, every time she arched her back, or pulled his hair, it drove him to greater efforts.

"Oh, goddess Justin, that's incr..."

Her body arched and trembled against his tongue as he brought her to her bliss. He licked her slowly as she came down and looked up into her eyes. There was still some stress in her eyes, but it was eclipsed by the pleasure and held a hunger he knew his own did.

When she could speak, her voice came out thicker than usual, sultry, "Justin please, I need you in me now."

He crawled up her body then kissed her passionately before reaching down and guiding his manhood to her now flowered open labia, but still incredibly tight honey pot. He slowly ran his tip up and down her wet heat before guiding it firmly into her outer silky folds. He was gentle as possible, but it took not a little force as he tried to enter her core. Her silky wet heat was so tight on his sensitive tip, that they gasped together as it finally penetrated into her.

He took his time, letting her get used to it as he slowly filled her to her barrier. When she was ready he gave it a quick forward thrust to break past her maidenhood. At her gasp of pain he released his healing into her and the pain quickly left her face. He stayed frozen as the walls of her silken sheath contracted tightly and at the same time, tried to accommodate its invader.

Their gazes were locked together as he slowly inch by inch made his way deep inside her willing but inexperienced body. He was deeply aware of her every reaction from the supple nubile body beneath his, as he slowly claimed her with every inch of his hard and aching pleasure. When he was fully buried inside of her, he started to pump into her, pulling back a bare inch or so to start, worried if he pulled to far back her body would close. He slowly increased the length of his stroke as he gently plundered her body.

At first she just laid there as he stroked in and out of her. Her nerves and inexperience stifling the natural reactions of her body, the rhythm was slightly off and almost awkward. He saw the moment though, when the fear completely fell away, and she surrendered herself to the pleasure and to him. He knew she had let her instincts take over, her body make the decisions. Her breath sped up and her face filled with pleasure, her hips started to roll up and her young nubile body met his invasive thrusts eagerly, their skin started slapping together sharply. 

He wasn't sure how much longer he could last, already desperately holding it in, trying to get her there before him.

The feel of her warm wet heat hugging his fleshy pole so tightly was overwhelming. Add to that the feel of her silky and sexy body beneath him, her heaving breasts, the look of trust and love in her eyes, and the sounds of pleasure leaving her slightly parted lips. It was a miracle he had held on long enough to even start. He barely managed to hold on just long enough to hear for the first time, a curse pass through her sweet innocent lips, and it was emotionally charged with the feelings of surrender and passion that completely undid him.

"Oh fuck! Justin!"

Her trembling body, her warmth rippling against his hardened flesh, milking him, the look of absolute ecstasy on her face, and the strengthening scent of her arousal as she soaked his middle, all combined and pushed him over. He felt her get painfully tight as he expanded within her, his legs locked and he thrust into her hard one more time and stayed buried in her grasping heat as he started to fill her womb.

He wasn't worried about his lack of control, despite his intent to bring her over twice their first time, he knew his night had just gotten started. The second time she rode him. He stayed as still as possible as she experimented with moving her body in different ways above him. It was hard not to thrust up into her, but he held off until she settled into a rhythm and her breasts started swaying above him just asking for attention from his hands and lips.

This time he was able to hold off, as he watched her reach her bliss time after time. Until finally he was overwhelmed by the erotic beauty of her reaching completion time and time again, along with the pleasure of her tight velvety channel on his manhood.

They talked and cuddled for a while after they finished, then decided to turn in as it had gotten quite late...

It struck him again how strange this world was when he crawled into bed between Kat and Nora. He had been tempted to skip straight to the second step after his amazing lovemaking session with Nicci, but had held his tongue. He realized this would be complicated. Now it was fine as this common purpose drove them together, but how do you split time with a princess, a warrior, and a tavern owner? 

He shook his head and decided not to worry about it. Figuring out that stuff was up to them after all, but still. The question nagged him as he spooned with Nora, it was her turn tonight, and started to fall asleep. What will happen after their quest is done? He couldn't imagine his life without any of them and it hurt his heart to consider it. It would only get more complicated when Sally was added.

He almost laughed as he considered them making schedules on who slept on the outside, and who got to sleep against him. Finally his mind shut off, his body a little sore but pleasantly sated, he fell into a deep sleep.

---

Kat closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his cock hardening in her mouth. The feel of him parting her lips and the way he felt on her tongue. She had started doing this every morning shortly after he began lying with Nora. Although she had no inclination to do anything at all sexual with the other women, tasting Nora on him had given her a thrill, made her feel dirty, and it got her incredibly horny. Much like it felt when she took him in a place they could get caught.

Since the rest of the women were still sleeping, this had the added thrill of being both at the same time. She had to do it now, before Sally woke and did her daily morning clean and fresh magic. After then it would be too late, Nicci's dried essence would be gone.

She moaned softly around his flesh as he filled her mouth, his tip now teasing the back of her throat. She was enjoying the taste of Nicci on him as much as she did Nora's. She knew he had woken when she felt his cock jump in her mouth and a quick surge in growth accompanied by a muted gasp. She loved how he grabbed her hair as he thrust upward into her hot wet mouth. It made her feel in control. Powerful. She was in control of any pleasure he may feel.

She started bobbing her head up and down in earnest, her lips forming a seal around his girth as she sucked, and his tip popped slightly into her throat each time, making a muted squelching noise. The thrill of fear struck as she did this in the open, she could be so easily caught if someone else woke, it drove her wild and she found herself playing with her clit at the excitement of it.

She sped up even faster, the fear of getting caught and the taste of Nicci on him driving her on, and when she felt him expand between her lips she too reached her bliss as the taste of him filled her mouth. She did not bother to limit her reaction to the incredibly intense orgasm. Her sharp gasp then moans of blissful pleasure were muted by his manhood, as she felt her juices run down onto her thighs.

She crawled up his body and kissed him lightly before purring out with a mischievous smile, "Good morning love," as a strange mix of both relief and disappointment struck her, because no one had woken up, no one had caught her...

She snuggled into his hard body, just enjoying the feel of him for a few moments, before she gave him one more kiss, then rose to start the day.

---

Nora watched warily as they walked through the town. They had reached the village a couple of hours after breaking camp, and at twenty to one odds had taken it back from the Egerians with only one fatality and three wounded. None of the enemy had surrendered, so most had died, though a handful escaped into the countryside.

She didn't let her guard down as Justin not only healed their three soldiers, he was insistent on checking on the villagers as well, and healing where he could. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but if she was an enemy soldier, now was the time to strike for an assassin, right after a victory where your enemy would be feeling confident and more liable to let their guard down.

She was still an angry little thing at times, and she thought that probably would never completely go away. Her early life had been hard and left its mark. But as she watched out for Justin she knew she was changing, she didn't want an attack to happen at all. Her focus was shifting, she was dedicated to keeping Justin safe. She loved him. And if no one attacking meant he was more safe, she was more than willing to give up the chance at killing a few of the fucking bastards...

--

Nicci was a little sore, but just as intent as Nora as she looked out for trouble. She had considered asking Justin to heal her, it would take almost no effort, but she had decided she liked the feeling. It reminded her of last night, the way she had felt as he filled her so completely. The memory of the pleasure he had evoked in her body made her tingle slightly.

She knew she couldn't have fallen for a better man. When she was younger her mother had explained things to her. Told her men didn't generally concern themselves with their partner's pleasure in bed and to just bear it if she felt uncomfortable. Not only was Justin nothing like that, he also gave weight to her words and treated her as an equal, rather than something useless that he had to protect.

She shook her head, it was more than that. He trusted her to guard him, trusted her with his life. Although she had known other men, including her brother, that gave weight to her opinion, no one else before had trusted her to that extent.

She had also sensed that despite how wonderful last night was, he had held himself back, as if afraid to hurt her. Even their second time together she had been so tight, he must have been concerned he would hurt her, strain her center to the point of pain. Her mother had also warned her of that possibility, if a man became to rough and how to treat the pain.

In short, he was the best man she had ever met, and she had no plans to let him go, ever...

---

Sally did learn something about herself this afternoon. Despite being barely above five feet tall she did not cow easily. In fact, her new outgoing nature that had been a surprise to her the last few days, turned into a feisty stubbornness that she could not back down from when confronted.

They had left the first town shortly after lunch and reached the second town in late afternoon. When they discovered the enemy missing and unsure what it meant, Justin and Anton had started arguing about what to do. Apparently Justin was confident enough to push it, but not sure enough to pull out his veto power through the oath and just order it done.

Anton wanted to split off, take most of the powerful talents and go after them with a group of about seventy five at high speed, to catch up before they could combine the troops and set another trap or escape back south.

Justin on the other hand argued that if they did that, the bulk of their soldiers would be all but helpless to a small enemy band of strong talents, especially that enemy mage, although he did agree they needed to go faster somehow. Finally, Sally had enough of it.

"Stop it both of you, you're going in circles and getting nowhere."

When Justin and Anton both glared down at her, instead of shrinking back her back stiffened and she held her head high, glaring up at them in return. Perhaps it helped a little she knew they were frustrated at the situation and not her, but either way she had been proud of herself at that moment.

She continued, "Why not just increase the pace of the whole group."

Anton looked at her witheringly, but she held his gaze as he said, "Because the soldiers will tire too much. It's too dangerous and makes us more vulnerable to ambush."

She snorted. "Did you forget the person you are arguing with is The Flame of Cytherea? He can just turn restore on full for five minutes every hour to keep the soldiers fresh."

They both lost their glares at that point and started to gape. "What? Doesn't that address all your concerns while still gaining the goal of faster movement?"

She struggled to keep a straight face as she heard Nicci's tinkling laughter and Nora muttering something about men making things to difficult under her breath.

She thought for a moment the prince would blow his top, but finally he just shook his head ruefully, and started giving orders to move out at double time march. He also ordered the scouts to range ahead double the normal distance...

Chapter 15

Justin was exhausted. It had sounded good when Sally said it, but now he was just plain worn out from channeling all that magic all day. The last village they passed had assured them they were only ten or so hours behind, which meant they had closed the distance between them by half and should reach the enemy sometime tomorrow if nothing changed.

He was also pretty sure they wouldn't have time to set up such an elaborate trap, not with them on their heels like this. He thought back to the argument and wished something wasn't holding him back on approaching Sally, it had been hot the way she stared them down. He was willing to wait though for whatever needed to happen first, the one thing he understood was timing was everything to a relationship. 

He was almost positive she would say yes now, but he was also pretty sure it would be detrimental to a real relationship.

He wondered if he was selfish, wasn't three enough? Well, yes, more than enough really. That didn't mean he didn't have room for another love though did it? Especially one set up by the goddess. He also wondered what would happen next, once the enemy was removed from Abelaweth, but he didn't think too hard on it, wanting to stay in the moment. He didn't want to make mistakes.

Luckily after some time he was able to restore himself with a light use of his magic, he knew he would need it based on the looks Kat and Nora gave him. He left it to them to decide and found himself being dragged off by Nora. It was a long night between the both of them and he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy every moment of it.

Early the next morning they discovered the enemy's response to their pick up in speed. They had picked up the scent of smoke a few miles away and were filled with dread as they increased their pace until stopping when they could see it. They all slowly walked in to the burned out town. People were huddling in what was left of the burned out buildings. Kat looked freaked out, and I guessed it was because the next town was Nerin.

He couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. The enemy's ploy regrettably worked, the prince ordered the soldiers to help and he wasn't going to give a heartless order to continue. As he went through the town, healing burns, sword wounds, and people just plainly beaten he watched in amazement as the earth talents built large buildings out of the ground itself.

The soldiers with lesser talents were not idle, they swept through the town helping to move any food or items that had survived the fire. The building was very basic and clearly just temporary shelter, but it would do until the townspeople could rebuild. It was during this sweep they found something horrible.

He struggled with his anger when he saw the dead. He wanted to let the rage out, he wanted to chase them down and kill them, especially the one who gave the order.

But that was not his purpose. He was a protector, and although he had failed miserably here, his anger would hurt his ability to wield his talent. He slowly calmed at the thought that his anger was a betrayal to those he must protect, a betrayal to the dead that he couldn't. But he could protect those that would bring justice to the evil that had done this. He took one last look at the pile of bodies, every small child in the village, then turned away looking for a way to help.

It took about three hours to get things set, and after they sent off a flying talent to the capital to ask for aid for the village they continued on. Nerin was untouched when they reached it and they simply kept going, not even stopping to ask about the men they pursued. He did glance at Kat, and her face looked both relieved and guilty. He didn't bother to ask, he didn't have to.

They ran into the evening until it got too dark out, then made the camp by firelight. After what they had seen that afternoon, none of them including him was in the mood for sex. They made their beds, all of them quiet and reflective. It was not a restful night, every time he tried to close his eyes and sleep he saw the horror of it behind his eyes. He was not the only one.

Halfway through the night after waking for the fifth time, he reached within and touched his magical talent. As he felt the love of the goddess cradle him and fill him, he was able to drift off into a deeper and untroubled sleep.




Flame of Cytherea 04



He woke up feeling a little better, as if something had been lifted. He kissed all the women good morning, including Sally but on the cheek, but they all looked melancholy. He hoped they would come out of it, he was still upset by it as well, what they had seen in that town was monstrous. He tried to talk to each of them as they jogged a double march all morning, but they were mainly lost in thought.

He couldn't even get them to smile, and he felt something was wrong, but couldn't identify it. It was almost as if they'd fell into some kind of fugue. He ran out of time trying to track down his concern when they caught sight of enemy soldiers marching in the other direction. All the soldiers around him, and the four women who were supposed to guard him, screamed in outrage and ran forward.

Something was very wrong, they would never leave him like that.

It struck him finally that he had felt better after embracing his full power, while running he had only been radiating the restoring part of his gift to conserve energy. Perhaps there was more to the burned town than he thought, more to it than just slowing their progress. Hoping he wasn't wrong about it he reached for his full abilities and sent them out in an explosion of white protective fire. Their charge forward halted as the animal like screams turned to one of confusion.

They had been spelled somehow, most likely a spell left with the pile of young dead children, subtle enough not to be noticed through the horror and anger they felt at that act. Even worse, the two hundred soldiers had turned, and over a hundred more from each side started closing in. 

He wondered for about two seconds how the enemy had all their soldiers here before it struck him as obvious. When the enemy commander saw them following he must have sent a quick talent ahead to force march the rest back toward this way. They must have met here in the middle and waited for the Abelawethans.

They still outnumbered the enemy by about five to two, but breaking the spell had left them confused and he wasn't feeling all that confident.

The sky clouded over and it started to rain. The clouds were out of his reach so he ran over and shook Sally hard.

"Wake up! You are the only one who can stop this!"

Lightning struck.

He flew back forty feet and fought not to pass out at the pain, if he hadn't been holding his talent, all his magic, both he and Sally might have died. As it was his body was slowly recovering, and the strike seemed to wake Sally up and the sky started to slowly clear.

He heard a roar next to him and Nora appeared, he almost cried in relief that they seemed more like themselves now. Angry, but in control of themselves. 

The enemy soldiers seemed focused on him but that strategy seemed to backfire. If they weren't burned in a swath of flames from an angry Nicci standing over him protectively, they were taken out by compressed air shots from Nora. If they were lucky to get by both they found themselves on the wrong end of a huge tiger claw, their heads ripped off in one impossibly fast swipe.

He was ready if one got through, but the women were fierce and none broke through their three layer defense.

The fight was short and ugly, and they lost close to two hundred of their number due to the poor beginning. He shuddered. If he hadn't figure it out and cancelled the enemy magic...

He saw Sally, still standing in the same spot, in a struggle he couldn't see. He spoke softly trying not to break her concentration.

"Where is he Sally, I can't hold my magic much longer."

She pointed to the south and he turned and ran, his aura of power leading him. When he got out about fifty feet, he heard a brief scream of pain, then nothing. He turned, and Sally had a satisfied look on her face.

Sally said, "He wasn't far enough away this time, not from my range. I held him there as he tried to fight me off, once your aura cancelled his magic..." she trailed off and shrugged.

No one wanted to stay there, and everyone was concerned about the other towns, so they marched off again after disposing of the dead, to the next town where they made camp outside it. They would stay there until scouts verified the condition of the other towns. A few scouts who had flying talents volunteered to check on the other villages. He also thought there were more soldiers coming south.

Between the adrenaline and almost losing them he was feeling much more amorous that evening. He grabbed Nicci and she smiled as he led her behind the blanket and into privacy. She was still amazingly tight, but without fear, and extremely enthusiastic. He led her into many different positions and she seemed eager to try them all in one night.

Even he didn't have that much endurance. But he got through as many as he could. Even the powerful magic gifted to him by the goddess could only take him so far before the body gave out.

Many hours later, and so many orgasms they had lost count, he held her close...

---

Nicci rested her head on his chest, his heart beat slowing down after their last round. She had been unsure about that last position, she liked to look in his eyes, see his face. Run her nails down his chest. But he had put her on all fours and mounted her from behind. She had decided after the first five seconds she had a new favorite. 

The feeling of how amazingly deep he got, and the angle of his stroke into her body, had led to her bucking back hard into him with each stroke. She shivered. She wanted to do it again. She smiled mischievously; she had wondered what it would feel like if he ever didn't hold back, now she knew...

She didn't think anything would make her feel better than she did right now, in his arms, completely sated. She kissed his chest, then rested her head back on it. She loved the feel of his arms around her, his fingertips drawing lazy circles on her back.

She felt him kiss the top of her head before he asked, "I love you Nicci, will you stay in my arms and sleep with me tonight?"

As she said yes, she knew she had been wrong, very wrong. He had made her feel better, much better, than she had moments ago. She was beaming like an idiot when he led her out. She just couldn't help it and couldn't remember a time where she'd been happier. She blushed as Nora and Kat snickered before they moved apart enough for both of them to lie down. 

She lay down against him and sighed in contentment as sleep took her.

---

Kat was thinking about the future. Now that the invasion seemed to be over she wondered what would happen. Would they settle down? Or was there more for the Flame of Cytherea to do?

She missed her inn and wanted to go back someday, but realistically she couldn't expect a princess to move to a small village. She doubted Nora would want to do so either. So that would mean either they share him, and he moves back and forth, or she follows. She didn't like the idea of leaving her tavern for good, but she hated the idea of not seeing Justin for long periods of time.

She decided to talk about it with Nora and Nicci sometime tomorrow, it was something they should discuss together. For all she knew Nicci would be loathe to go back to the castle she grew up in, from what she knew of it, Nicci felt like she had grown up a prisoner.

She also wondered about Sally, he hadn't even slept with her yet, but she knew he cared for her. She wondered what was holding him back but daren't ask. Their relationship wasn't any of her business, at least, not until they had a commitment, and then her only business was negotiating his time.

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep...

---

Nora was having trouble getting to sleep. After Sally had killed the mage she had tracked where he was and made sure of him, cutting off his head. She was glad no one had seen, she had been crying while she did it and not entirely in control of herself. 

None of the other women seemed to have the same reaction. Once Justin broke the spell and they snapped back to reality, she knew it hadn't hit them as hard. She loved Justin, and swore to herself she would never leave his side, would always be there to protect him. Like she hadn't been for her sisters, when she had simply slept through their slaughter.

How could she sleep while those she loved were butchered?

Somehow, against her will even, she had found a new family, and a man to love, a good man.

And a fucking piece of shit asshole gets her to forget her promise with a damn spell? It failed to make any sense to her. She was terrified by that fact. And although none of them had died, it was apparent to her she had failed... again.

What if she wasn't so lucky next time?

It was a long time before she fell asleep, unshed tears gleaming in her eyes.

---

Sally's mind wasn't on the battle at all, it was on her sex life with Justin. The problem of course being that it was non-existent. She was feeling a lot more confident about who she was. It had just taken time. She thought that had been what he was waiting for, but still she waited.

She knew who she was, she also knew what she wanted, him. And she was tired of waiting for him to ask. She decided if he didn't ask her by tomorrow afternoon, she would ask him herself, and damn tradition.

She felt much better once she made her choice, after all, either way, she wouldn't have to wait anymore, and if he said no, she could move on. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

---

Cytherea looked down pensively. She was worried and knew she should have more faith in the people she helped bring together. 

"What disturbs you so daughter?"

She smiled, wondering that she had ever hated the presence behind her.

"I just worry too much, Justin still has far to go, if he is willing, and they face trouble ahead that will strain their relationship. Justin has worked hard to develop strong ties, and I hope that will be enough, but their time together has been so short. Being tested by enemies is easy, the actions of those closer to home however..."

She smiled wryly when he said, "Trust in love daughter, surely you of all would agree..."

She did trust in love of course, but it became an issue when love pulled someone in two different directions...

---

Oh god he thought as he woke up with a warm hot mouth working his length. He wasn't sure why Kat woke him up every morning with a blowjob, but he sure as heck wasn't going to question it. He clamped down his lips on a gasp as he felt her swallow down on the tip of his manhood. When they were alone she teased him mercilessly, holding him on the edge seemingly forever.

But in the morning out in the general tent, she took him fast, without fail. She was doing something with her tongue and lips that drove him crazy each and every time, he wasn't even sure he could describe it accurately, all he knew was, it was both incredibly intense and bound to make him cum in seconds.

He closed his eyes and put his head back, trying not to grunt or gasp out loud as he shot his hot sticky load into her warm wet and willing mouth. He watched as she crawled up his body sexily, that always made him want to take her, but he just kissed her when she said good morning,.

"Good morning to you too love," he whispered in her ear as he pulled her close.

When they were all awake and breakfast was put away he let them all know he was heading for the village. He wanted to check things out, heal anyone that may have been harmed during the short occupation of enemy soldiers.

Nora and Sally immediately said they would come with and he headed for the village. He noticed Nora looked a bit tense, and seemed to be staying even closer to him than usual. He wasn't sure what that was about, but let it play in the back of his head for a while. Sally however, was her usual bubbly self and kept him engaged in conversation all morning.

He did heal a few broken legs and some contusions, but it seemed like this village got off lightly. They were still missing a number of people, and he wondered if they could get them back somehow. He couldn't help but notice Sally was being more of a flirt today, and started feeling very annoyed about that feeling he had. Her hands would rest a little too long on his arm in a seemingly innocent touch, or the way she looked at him in the eyes just a few seconds longer than normal.

But his feelings had yet to fail him and he persevered, trying not to think too hard about her creamy brown skin, and large deep brown eyes. The feel of her touch on his skin that almost burned.

Or the very long dark black hair that shined in the sunlight and lightly brushed the small of her back as she walked. Or the way her perfectly rounded ass swayed as she walked. Her beautiful joyful and full smile as she talked to him. He took a deep breath; thinking about it certainly wasn't helping his cause.

He saw a store that had some jewelry and considered that he still had no money at all. He of course only worked at Kat's tavern for a day and a half before they ran off to help with the invasion. The women had explained to him as a Flame of Cytherea, everything he needed would be provided in one way or another. That his title earned that right in some way.

He was okay with that for now, he was earning it after all in what he had been doing, but once things calmed down he knew he would evaluate it again.

He frowned. That wasn't going to help him buy gifts for the ladies though. Although he wondered if that was just an Earth concept, none of them seemed to expect anything like that. Just his love and attention, and that he had a lot of to give.

They went back toward the camp around lunchtime and went to the main tent where they usually ate. Nicci and Kat had their heads together, and he wondered what they were talking about, but dismissed it. Not everything was about him, and even keeping track of one woman wasn't right, he'd go insane if he tried to keep track of everything going on around him with four.

When Anton came in with a few soldiers carrying their lunch, they sat down and dug in.

Curiously he asked Anton, "How soon do you think those troops you asked for will get here?"

Anton looking taken aback said, "I sent a scout to cancel them, since this is over we have no need of them anymore."

He hated that his voice came out so uncertain and confused, "Over? How is it over?"

"The invasion force was decimated, any left are running for the border. Like I said, it's over."

He sat back as he struggled to fit what Anton was saying into what he was thinking. Finally he asked, "What about the slaves they took, will you leave them to their fate? Not to mention the dark god that started this war. Something needs to be done there as well."

Anton frowned and put down his drink.

"I'd like nothing better than to charge south and retrieve our people. But we lost close to five thousand soldiers which is half the military kingdom wide. We can't afford to invade Egeria, we would have to empty the kingdom of soldiers to be successful, and although we have peaceful relations for the most part with the northern kingdom of Uleni, they may decide to attack us if they sense we are weak.

"No, my duty is to keep the kingdom safe. This war is finished. Besides, I could not order an invasion, only the king could. You are welcome to try and convince him if you want," offered Anton doubtfully.

He was confused, this wasn't a normal war. Nora had convinced him that day to go north and help the army, that it was a war against an evil dark god. She had said that evil must be stopped. He had followed at that understanding. He felt he owed Cytherea at that point as well, for saving his life if nothing else. After, he had started to love his goddess as he felt her love through his talent.

He had been upset by the idea of this world being taken over by evil, not the least of which was because it was his new home, or would be. That was the fight, stopping this king, not because of a stupid invasion, but because he had summoned an evil god into the world for power. Defeating the invasion was important, he couldn't live with himself if he ignored what had gone on around him. But those were small stakes in comparison.

He had always assumed it was just a first step. Stop the invasion, and then stop the dark god from getting more of a foothold on this world. Stop him from corrupting the magic of the goddess and taking the souls of greedy foolish men. Of course, he had no idea how to stop that from happening. He just knew if he did nothing, he would never figure it out.

He couldn't even order it, which he'd have been loath to do anyway, the prince had declared the war over. The oath was dissolved at that point.

Anton looked a little guilty and offered more, "Even if my father says no, you may want to consult with the main temple of the goddess in the capitol. They may have knowledge or writings about the last Flame a thousand years ago, knowledge you may need if you truly intend to confront a god."

Confront a god? Not likely he thought. Remove the invite somehow? Maybe. If there was a way for a god to be let in, maybe they could be forced out somehow? Free will swung both ways, but he was sure it would be more complicated than sending an eviction notice. He decided it was kind of crazy actually and he was trying not to examine it too much, or he might decide to find a nice hole with some nice soft dirt to hide in.

Then he wondered where the women fell in all of this. He hadn't actually addressed this before, thinking it was understood, would they all be behind him?

He looked around the table trying to discern where the women fell in this. Nora looked slightly ashamed, and he realized the sentiment was toward her Prince as she nodded her head in an obvious show of support to him. He felt Sally take his hand and squeeze it reassuringly, she was still with him. Kat and Nicci looked nervous, but they too nodded at the nonverbal question in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, relieved, and said, "Anton, the five of us will leave you here in the morning, we can travel much faster that way." He added his thanks for the suggestions, maybe the temple idea would work out. He had thin hopes to get the king to approve an invasion, but he would still try.

He let it drop at that point, and although he was annoyed at Anton he knew it was partially his fault. He thought, he had assumed, they would fight for the goddess, but Anton's concerns seemed solely with keeping his future kingdom intact. He would try to make sure he didn't make such assumptions again.

The tense awkwardness slowly dissipated as they moved on to talk of other things. Anton said he would follow shortly as soon as all the reports came in from the scouting parties he had combing the border.

After lunch Kat and Nicci dragged Nora away to chat. Nora had refused to leave until Sally gave her word she wouldn't leave his side and he wondered what they were up to again. Maybe they were splitting up his time, but it could be anything. He watched with amusement as they practically dragged Nora away.

He walked with Sally again, not really paying attention to where they were going. He was so focused on her, that when she guided him into the tent and behind the blanket of silence, he was surprised to find himself there.

He looked at her with a question in his eyes, and her face grew irritated.

She asked, sounding very annoyed, "Will you take me?"

He was struck dumb by two things. The first, was the disparity between her almost angry annoyance and the question she had asked. The second, when he tried to come up with a way to put her off, the reluctance fell away as if it had never been there. His mind was trying to sort out both things at once, and her face grew hard and she turned to walk away.

He realized he had been silent too long and grabbed her hand, and when she turned his voice came out strong.




Flame of Cytherea 04



"I would love to take you."

The look on her face indicated she was going to say something, but he had waited long enough and he wanted her now. He pulled her by her hand and caught her body inside one arm, pulling her tight as he grabbed her hair and pulled her into a passionate hungry kiss. There was no tentativeness like a normal first kiss. He demandingly plundered her lips with his own, while the hand around her waist lowered and he squeezed her perfect ass hard as he pulled her against his already hard pole.

He felt her stiff body relax into his as her mouth started to kiss him back just as hungrily, her hands roaming his chest. At some signal he stepped back a little, and they took their clothes off while staring into each other's eyes, he was sure his looked just as hungry as hers did. He took a moment to admire her perky B cups with large areolas and stiff nipples, her body was perfectly scaled to her height.

He pulled her into another kiss, then gasped as he felt her push him, her leg locked around his, and he fell on his back into the soft bedding with a grunt. She quickly joined him, straddling his middle as she leaned down and kissed him again. He gasped when she started kissing his neck, as she pinned his now fully hard member to his stomach and started to roll her hips.

The feel of her wet heat running up and down his length drove him crazy, the feel of her lips suckling his earlobe made it so much worse, he wanted her now.

His whole body shivered at her warm breath, and the words she whispered into his ear.

"Do you want me? Want inside me? Want me to pleasure that long hard cock with my body until you fill me?"

He managed to gasp out, "Yes, the goddess knows how much."

On the next stroke along his length she went just a bit too far, then swiveled her hips in some way. He wasn't sure how she did it, but he felt his pole effortlessly slide into her wet warm sheath. She took him all in at once, gasping into his ear. Then she rocked her hips and pushed her body up, hands on his chest.

He felt her muscles tighten around him, squeezing his length with her silken heaven as she throatily said, "Oh goddess, I waited too long for this."

The slight pain of her fingernails digging into his chest felt good as she started to bounce up and down on his manhood. They were both overwhelmed by the sensation of finally being together that they, for lack of a better word, simply started rutting. She was gasping with each bounce as he drove up into her, her breasts vibrating each time their flesh smacked together and she finally screamed his name.

"Oh goddess, Justin!"

Her body locked up above him and he felt her tighten around him. He grabbed her by her long black silky hair and pulled her down against him as she trembled in bliss. As she started to come down and her heat gave way slightly, he started to swing his hips up into her as hard and fast as he could.

Her silky soft skin, perfect breasts and hard nipples rubbed back and forth on his body as he furiously pounded up into her silky hot sex. Her whimpers of pleasure rolled into a cry of ecstasy so close to his ear as he drove her immediately into a second orgasm, her trembling body, the velvety feel of her tightening wet and hot sheathe overcame him and he expanded within her willing body.

The words that slipped out unconsciously as he filled her were a strange counterpoint to the wild rutting fuck they had just shared, "Goddess! I love you Sally."

He watched her face as her eyes widened, then softened. Her answering smile to his somewhat surprising declaration caused him to pull her down gently this time, by her hair, and kiss her softly.

When the kiss finally broke she asked, "Then why did you wait so long, why did I have to ask you?"

He caressed her face and ran his fingers through her hair as he explained the feeling he had. That he didn't really know why, but he had been determined to follow his feelings.

She didn't look pleased by that answer so he said, "Well, the feeling went away when you asked me, so perhaps you know why? Can you think of a reason the goddess would want you to ask me instead of me asking you? I have to assume that was her goal, though I still have no clue why that would be."

When she got a thoughtful look on her face and sat up straighter, he was struck by how beautiful she was, not to mention he was still in her, and her movement and beauty combined had stirred his manhood back to life.

He was curious about what her answer would be, but as her warm center brought him back to hardness, he decided it could wait. He pulled her back down, then carefully rolled. He started out slow, pumping in and out of her as he explored her tight and supple body with his hands. He had planned to make love to her this time, but was shortly overwhelmed by her noises of pleasure and picked up speed.

But the final straw was when she whispered, her voice full of both pleasure and desperation, "Harder please, faster. Take me hard Justin."

He was more than happy to comply with her wishes...

---

Sally was overwhelmed with lust and pleasure as she rocked her hips up to meet his thrusts, her body was practically vibrating as the pleasure radiated through her body each time he impaled her eager molten core. She had loved being on top, but this was even better, she could barely move as he took her hard and fast. 

She had been shocked when he said he loved her, in a good way. She had liked it when he went slow, and they would make love in the future, but this is what she wanted, what she needed. She was his and she wanted him to claim her, to take her passionately, she wanted to be his, both through love and in this almost insanely lustful coupling.

The other women had told her he was amazing in bed, but they hadn't mentioned his manhood was quite so big. She had never felt so full in her life, and had never felt so free, as she surrendered her body to his lust, and her heart to his love.

Her eyes widened as her center exploded in bliss, her body was beyond control but she still felt him expand in her and she screamed as her orgasmic ecstasy rolled into a new explosion as he filled her with his seed. She wondered again why she had waited so long.

Then he surprised her again, by asking her to sleep by his side. There was only one possible answer. Finally, she was his, and he was hers...

---

Nora finally tracked down where Justin and Sally had gone, and she was happy that he and Sally finally got together. She had snorted when Kat and Nicci started talking about where to live and all that. What did that matter now? She would worry about that if they all still lived when things finally calmed down. But really, for her, anywhere he was would be just fine for her.

It did seem important to them, so she just told them whatever they decided was fine, but that she would be wherever he was. Still, she was a little disturbed by the priorities. This wasn't a normal man that they had discussed, in her opinion it should have waited.

What if he had been attacked?

She frowned, knowing she was overreacting to their close call, but as she explained to Kat, emotion trumps logic. She just couldn't bring herself to let her guard down, and was almost panicking the whole time she was away from him. Even though she knew it was ridiculous, she couldn't help it.

He was hers to protect, and she would do just that...

---

Nicci was a bit nervous. She had after all snuck out of the castle, and got around her father by making that oath. Which technically expired a day or two ago. She wasn't sure what he would do, but she was sure he was mad. The castle was the last place she wanted to go.

Her father did love her, that's what made it so hard. Before her mother had died she had made the king promise to protect her. Her father had told her it was an easy promise to keep. Still, she was in a committed living relationship with the Flame of Cytherea now. 

She was hoping that would convince her father to let go, but still, she was nervous. It should be enough, a commitment would override any father's demands or desires, or at least, any man that wasn't a king. Her father had never been reasonable where her safety was concerned, and they were planning to prepare to go into an enemy kingdom.

She was sure it would work out though, thinking of Justin she bit her lower lip and decided it just had to.

---

Kat remembered the look Nora gave her when she discovered they wanted to talk about planning and how to share his time. She cringed. She knew it was silly of course, they still had a long way to go and she would follow Justin anywhere, even the seat of power in Egeria if she must.

But... she had to do something.

She was used to being in charge of her life, planning out her day's work at the tavern and being in control. She had been feeling out of control lately. She could have explained it, but she was embarrassed. It wasn't about splitting his time and arrangements really, although she did want to do that, the reason she had to do it now was it gave her something she was in control of.

It was also mundane, a day to day thing to ground herself in.

She hadn't really spent much time with Justin today though because of it. Hopefully she'd be able to grab him tonight...

Chapter 16

Sara frowned into the mirror looking at the young woman reflected there. It seemed strange to her, because she felt so old. She had long strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and a cute nose. She was midway between five and six feet. Her clothes were loose, shapeless, but it was hard to hide her generous C cup bust even in those shapeless clothes. She also had smudges on her face, trying to hide the porcelain beauty of her face. She hated it.

She heard a noise which broke her out of her reverie and was horrified by the amount of time she wasted. The visiting noble was with the Egerian king, and she wanted to finish cleaning while he was out. She quickly hung up the clothes, made the bed and reluctantly emptied the chamber pots.

Six years ago, when she had just turned twelve she had been hired as a kitchen helper. Things had been good for a while, until she started developing into a woman through her fourteenth year. At the same time, she had developed her talent, which turned out to be empathy. That was when the problems started.

As she grew, and her body changed, she started catching the cook looking at her in a way that made her very uncomfortable. She quickly learned not to use her emphatic talent when he was around either. The way he felt while staring at her really freaked her out, it was... slimy.

One day the cook had caught her alone stocking the pantry. She was so terrified of what he wanted to do to her, and she had no doubt, that she discovered she could also project emotion. Whatever she had done, he collapsed to the floor and threw up, heaving his guts out until he passed out. She had fled, and an hour later she was collected by the guard and taken out to the courtyard.

She gaped in disbelief when they told her she would receive twenty lashes for magical assault on the cook. Luckily, she escaped that as well, when the king happened along and asked what was going on, and why punishments were being given out without his knowledge or permission.

As a result the cook was ejected from the castle, and the King had given her a new job, to clean the rooms in the royal wing. She thought he was a good man, and for a couple of years, she had no reason to doubt it true. She had noticed the changes start, two years ago when she was sixteen. She felt it as his emotions and moods grew darker as time went on.

Sadly, she couldn't even see the shadow of the man that had saved her that day four years ago. She could feel his rage even now down in the throne room. She shivered. He must have gotten bad news and she pitied the one who delivered it.

There were other changes over the last two years as well. She had learned to dress as drably as she could, and also be dirty enough to avoid certain attentions. Unfortunately, it didn't always work, a lot of them already knew what she hid, that's why it was with great relief that she finished the noble's room and slipped away before he returned.

She had considered running before, escaping this life, but where would she go? How would she live? What if the next place was even worse? This place was all she knew...

----

Justin grinned as they ate up the ground, heading north. He forgot what a rush it was to run with the wind pushing him along. Although he knew Nora wouldn't let any harm come to him, it seemed if he ever put his foot down wrong, or tripped, he would break his neck in the fall. It took him some time to get used to it again.

He was trying not to worry. About the king, the dark god, where his life would lead with the ladies, what he needed to do, though he had only a small inkling of the last. Life was messy, and he wasn't guaranteed anything really. He would just do the best he could, he had a somewhat unique outlook since this was his second life. His first ended abruptly in an alley, where he was snatched from death at the last moment.

However it was human nature, so he worried a little about all of it. All he could really do is live his life and enjoy it while it lasted. Nothing lasted forever.

They enjoyed a quick lunch together. It no longer felt weird to him, to be surrounded by four women, all of them now truly in a relationship with him at the same time. And they got along so well, joking and talking like a close family around a meal. It did still strike him as surreal at times though.

It was a bit intimidating as well. He wasn't given to self doubt often, but he was surrounded by four women who amazed him at times, and wondered if he was truly worthy of even one of them. Yet, for some reason he was chosen by a goddess, saved and brought to this world, gifted with the rarest talent of all. That was not a small shot to his confidence.

He thought himself paranoid as he gave off his full power for a few seconds. Just in case of unwanted spells. Refreshed and fed, they continued on for the rest of the day.

They set up camp that night deep inside a forest clearing. Nora had said they would reach the capitol late tomorrow morning. Without pack trains following the soldiers, they didn't have their large tent and just took out their bedrolls. He left the tarp inside his pack, as the night was clear. 

He had slept with Nicci and Nora after dinner, but the others didn't approach him. It was almost with relief he realized they had made a schedule for his nightly activities. With his magic he may have been able to satisfy all four of them in a row, but it would have been brutal. The same two also claimed the inside as they lay around him. 

It was him in the middle being cuddled from both sides by Nicci and Nora with Kat and Sally on the outsides. A secondary result of this new schedule was he found it was building anticipation in him for tomorrow night, despite being completely sated.

The next morning they had a cold dry breakfast, and he actually missed the army encampment for a second. The morning itself seemed to fly by as they ran for the capitol. He felt Nora's magic lessening until they moved to a normal walk. He took in his first view of the city.

It was big, but he smirked to himself as he realized he had expected it to be much larger. Probably from reading those fantasy novels back home. The city was always surprisingly large in them. Still, it was nothing to sneeze at, he estimated it was at least two square miles as he studied it from the top of the hill they were on.

It was built against another large hill that had an almost cliffs edge. He could see the castle was built up against it, as if it grew out from the hill. Then he realized it did. Most of the city around the castle was wood, but the castle itself was stone. He wondered if earth talents had used the missing portion of the hill to build it, and as they got closer he realized the cliff didn't look quite natural.

The city itself was clean like the villages had been, though he noticed there were piles of trash in the alleyways. But there was no smell, like the trash itself was clean. He finally realized the talents couldn't remove trash, no more than they could make a bed, or put the dishes away, all they could do was clean and refresh. His thought was verified when he saw men loading the very clean trash into a wagon in one of the alleys. Presumably to be dumped somewhere outside the city.

The road led through the city, straight to the stone walls around the caste. There were a number of guards there in addition to younger people, barely teens, dressed in some sort of uniform. He was guessing they were probably pages or runners. They guards stopped them at the gates.

"What business do you have here?"

He managed to subdue a laugh when Nicci said, "My face is higher than that sergeant."

The sergeant's face turned white as he moved out of their way. "Pardon princess, go ahead. I was informed to tell you to go to the king immediately when you arrived."

Nicci nodded, indicating understanding. 

He tried not to look like a village idiot, reminding himself his world had wonders that would pole axe these people. He did manage to keep his mouth from dropping open, but couldn't help his wandering eyes. The surroundings were... palatial came to his mind.

Everywhere he looked something drew his eyes. Artwork, sculptures, even the flowers and plants were expertly displayed. The walls themselves were polished to perfection. He couldn't help feeling a bit intimidated by it all. Outside of the rest of it, which was crazy, he was also worried about meeting Nicci's father. Talk about meeting the parents...

---

The king reminded himself he was a devout follower of the goddess for the tenth time, but it didn't help. He was still angry. He was clenching the message that had arrived from Anton in his hand, his fingers turning white as his mind raced. How did this happen? The worst part is he knew some of the fault lay at his feet. He had kept his daughter too much out of the public eye. She had been inexperienced with life's realities when she had left.

It was done out of love and concern, but he could see now he had done more harm than good.

Was it any wonder she had an infatuation with the first man that had been nice to her? Even worse, the man she met was a legend in the flesh, a Flame of Cytherea. One he couldn't dare take to task for taking advantage of his naïve daughter. 

He would have to take some steps there, if it was a true love match then the time apart wouldn't hurt them, and if it was merely a passing infatuation as he firmly believed, his daughter would get over it.

On top of that, the young man was right about one thing, something had to be done in Egeria. It wasn't a simple enmity between two mortal kings anymore that would pass with the next generation, or even simple time. If it was true there was a dark god...

He frowned. Still, he couldn't do anything about it now, not without risking the whole kingdom. He could perhaps in a year or two, if they started recruiting more soldiers now and started training them.

He looked down at the letter and turned red, once again reminding himself he can't strangle the young man, he was too important. But the idiot actually wanted to take his daughter into an enemy kingdom? It would be disaster if she were ever caught. He could be blackmailed, and much worse than that would happen to her.

Determined to maintain his temper, he left his suite and went to the room he had them sent to, this wasn't something he wanted aired in the throne room with the rest of the nobles gawking and trying to gain some advantage from.

All he knew is he needed to save his daughter from his mistakes and her own naivety; he would do so at any cost.




Flame of Cytherea 04



---

Kat was a little overwhelmed as they sat and waited for the king. Just one more thing in her turned upside down life that she wouldn't have believed if someone told her just a couple of weeks ago.

Over the last week and more she had formed a friendship with Nicci, and it had been natural, easy to develop. As she looked around however she saw Nicci in a new light for the first time, she was a princess, and while she was a woman in a man's world, she still had great influence.

Her estimation of her new friend had gone up drastically at that realization. Nicci had never once when discussing Justin tried to pull the princess card, or treat her as anything but a complete equal. Simply as a friend and potential other mate for the man they both loved.

She was hoping the king was of similar character...

----

Sally has pondered things on the run over the last day and more. Besides being in awe of what Justin told her about his feelings, and that he thought they came from the goddess, she thought she understood why the goddess felt she needed to ask him, instead of the other way around.

She had been under her mother's spells. Her free will had been compromised for almost twenty years of her life, which was most of it. If he had asked her, she might have doubted herself or worse, them at some point in the future. Especially when life got in the way and the inevitable argument or two came up. She would have doubted that she had truly known herself and what she wanted.

Since it had been her decision to ask, to the point she had broken tradition, she didn't think she would ever doubt it. She had asked, and when they lay together she had given everything of herself to him. She believed with all her heart she would never regret doing so.

She wasn't worried about what might happen here, she would follow him, both the Flame of Cytherea and the man Justin, wherever he led...

---

Nicci's tears ran down her cheeks. She was looking at her reflection in the mirror, her mirror, the one in her room. She was trying to understand what had just happened.

At first, when her father came in everything went well, he had welcomed them all. Then he had told them he could build an invasion force. Waiting over a year wasn't ideal, and she had a feeling Justin would go it alone before waiting that long. But her father had been more supportive than she had expected, up to agreeing to allow a small stealthy force if they couldn't wait and could find volunteers.

Then it had all fallen apart, he had turned to her and said harshly, "Daughter, you disobeyed me, you will go to your suite and not leave the castle for at least two months."

At first she almost laughed, she couldn't believe her ears, she was being sent to her room and punished like a child. It seemed absurd after her life had changed so drastically over the last couple of weeks. 

She had tried to explain how she felt, and that she was living with Justin now, that they were in love and committed. That she also protected him and she had more important things to do than hide in her room. He needed her by his side. Not only that, she believed the goddess wanted her by his side.

She had tried, but she had barely gotten three words of protest out when her father's face reddened in anger and his voice rose and squashed hers into silence.

"You will do as I say, that is an order from your king! If you persist in this disobedience you will no longer be my daughter, do you understand?"

Then he had ranted at her, about what could happen if she followed Justin to Egeria because of some fool girlish infatuation.

She had turned red in embarrassment; she couldn't believe he had said that. She loved Justin, and would never leave him, but she also loved her family despite how unreasonable her father could be at times. The thought of either leaving Justin or her family tore her heart in half, so she had done the only thing she could.

She retreated to her room, just ran out of the room without saying a word. She needed to think, and she had the small hope her father would come to his senses and allow her the freedom to make her own decisions. She just hoped Justin and her companions knew she was just stalling, and that she hadn't abandoned them.

She hadn't, had she? She collapsed onto the bed and sobbed...

---

Nora almost started cursing when Nicci ran out of the room.

Then the king turned back to them and said, "Sorry you had to see that," looking directly at Justin he said in an almost grudging tone, "I also want to thank you for joining the soldiers though you had no responsibility to do so. There would be a lot of suffering people out there if it were not for you. Feel free to use the guest rooms in my palace for as long as you wish, if you need anything simply ask one of the stewards, but I must ask you for the time being, do not seek my daughters company."

Fucking idiot. She almost rolled her eyes. She knew the king was a good man. It had been one of the reasons she had relented and joined her sisters two years ago. But when it came to his daughter, he was just as much a fucking moron as any overprotective and overbearing father.

They were dismissed, so she led the three of them to the guest wing and picked out an empty suite that had two bedrooms attached. Everyone was quiet and it felt off without Nicci with them, Justin was looking a little out of it and she thought she may have to knock some sense into him.

It would work out. She was sure of it.

---

Justin was angry. Despite all the king's concessions and nice words, he could feel the underlying tension behind the words. The fact he had basically implied he had taken advantage of his daughter's naïve infatuation merely confirmed the idea. So much for impressing the parents. He was also a bit confused, it seemed to him living together was sort of like being... engaged in this culture. Not quite that, but close enough, and he had just been forbidden to see her?

It had hurt when she ran out, it had felt like a rejection. He had a feeling it was more of a tactical retreat, so she wouldn't have to make a choice between him or her family when she was put on the spot by her father's ultimatum. But it still hurt and that had made him angry, although it was also the fear of losing her altogether that made it worse.

This anger was too personal, it was harder to push down, to let go of. Worse, there was nothing he could do except hope and wait for her decision. Despite what he wanted, how could he ever ask her to forsake her family for their relationship? That would make him as bad as her father. Yet at the same time, shouldn't he fight for her? Would she want him to? He just didn't know how.

Not even together for two weeks, yet he hated the absence of her presence. She meant too much to him. He sighed and got hugged from three different directions at once.

They broke apart when the meal came, and he sat down with the ladies to eat. Finally Nora broke the silence.

"Nicci will figure it out and we'll have her back soon. In the meantime, should we go to the temple this afternoon?"

At first the idea of doing anything was unappealing to him, but he realized doing something may distract him from his worry. Besides, the idea of him brooding all afternoon wasn't a very attractive picture, he needed to get over himself and trust in Nicci. She wasn't gone after all, he just... feared she would be.

"That sounds like a good plan. I don't like the idea of waiting around for a soldier buildup, we really need to get some idea of what I am expected to do. I don't get the feeling we have enough time to wait."

After lunch, once again with Nora in the lead since she knew the city, he found himself walking through the streets. He noticed they were getting some looks, probably because he had Kat and Sally holding his arms on either side. He wasn't sure how rare that was, but they had also walked out of the castle like that, so he shrugged it off as curiosity.

The temple wasn't all that far away, and was also one of the only buildings in the city made of stone and not wood outside of the castle. It was probably also the largest building in the city outside of the castle. It looked to be just one story, but higher than the buildings around it and taking up much more space on the ground. It also had a large dome in the center.

The inside was beautiful, immediately inside was a small fountain with a statue of the goddess that seemed strangely familiar to him. They were approached by a man in robes who had an open face and a gentle smile.

"Good afternoon, I don't recognize you. I'm an acolyte here, are you new to the city?"

He couldn't help the answering smile that bloomed on his face despite his worries.

"Yes, I'm Justin and you could say I'm new here. I was hoping I could talk to a priest or priestess? I have some questions about the Flame of Cytherea from long ago."

The acolyte looked curious, but instead of asking a question he said, "Certainly, please follow me."

They followed the acolyte into the nave and immediately turned and walked along the back wall to a door. They were led through a couple of hallways until the acolyte knocked on one of the doors. Another man, wearing robes that were more adorned, answered the door.

After a few whispered words from the acolyte they were gestured inside and the four of them were left alone with the priest. The priest welcomed them and gestured to some chairs, when the ladies and he sat the priest started talking.

"Warren tells me that you have questions about the Flame of Cytherea?"

He was reluctant to admit what he was, a lot of people had treated him in a ridiculously deferential manner when they found out, and he didn't want to deal with it here, although he realized it was probably just a matter of time. 

He wasn't even sure what to ask really, he had been going on the assumption the last Flame was made to fight off a dark god somehow as well, that was a hell of an assumption. Although it did feel right.

He asked vaguely, "I wanted to know what the reason was for the gift given, and how the goal was accomplished?"

The priest sighed and said, "All I know is the last Flame saved the world from encroaching darkness. I know that probably isn't much help. The true threat is known only to the high priestess."

He asked why and the priest replied, "The nature of the threat, if it was general knowledge its return could be accelerated. Whatever the threat was, it took both free will and knowledge to loose it on the world. So over time the knowledge was suppressed as much as possible."

Even the vague explanation sounded like the dark god, but he needed specifics.

"Can we meet with the high priestess?"

The priest shook his head, "She is very busy, besides she would not tell you what you want to know."

Seeing no other way around it, he reluctantly raised the white flames over his body and said, "Are you sure she won't see me? It is rather important."

His fears were realized as the priest stood and bowed, eyes wide and perhaps a bit wild. "We had heard rumors the Flame of Cytherea was back but... I'll be right back."

Sally giggled when the priest left and said, "You really hate that don't you?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Respect is fine, it's the fawning looks that drive me nuts. Perhaps Cytherea finds me worthy in some way, but I am still just Justin."

The ladies shared a look he didn't recognize, then as one they dropped to their knees around him and started fawning, obviously teasing him. He couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped his lips. Of course, that's when the priest opened the door and slipped back inside.

He snickered as the ladies jumped up, faces red, and sat back down in their chairs.

The priest said regretfully as he took back his seat, "The high priestess, Celia, would love to meet you and answer any questions you may have, but she is tied up for the rest of the afternoon in prayers and services. Could you come back in the morning?" 

Slightly disappointed, but also excited he would soon have what information there was, he assured the priest he understood.

"Tomorrow morning should be fine; I will stop by right after breakfast."

The priest escorted them out. None of them wanted to go back to the castle yet, so Nora gave them a tour of the city which ate up a few hours time. He followed as she pointed out the good shops, a few different taverns, where to get the best armor or weapons. They were all doing their best to ignore the fact they were one short.

When they made it back to their room, he heard Nora giving instructions to bring out dinner. A short time later they were at the table eating when he felt Kat's hand on his leg. He made an effort to control his breathing when she started to trace circles with her nails on his inner thighs, teasingly close to his manhood. He looked over at her sharply when she started to rub his pleasure through the fabric of his breeches.

Her face was the absolute picture of innocence as she continued to chat with Sally across the table. He put up with it for about two minutes before he squirmed, holding back a gasp. He stood, forcefully grabbing her hand and walked toward the second bedroom. He closed the door after they crossed the threshold. 

She put her arms behind her and backed away slowly, an innocent look still on her face as she asked, "What is it love? Something wrong with dinner?"

He growled and pulled her in for a kiss, but she ducked and danced to the side.

"What is it dear? Did you... want something from me?" she asked coquettishly, slowly backing away again.

He both loved and hated when she did this, it drove him crazy with lust every time. He rushed her again, this time he got a good hold and spun her by the arm, pushing her up against the wall. His weight held her still as he held her arm behind her. He reached with the other hand to unclasp her breeches, mind clouded by lust by her beauty, her teasing.

She said in mock innocence, "I was enjoying dinner, shouldn't we go back?"

At the same time, she was driving him crazy grinding her ass back against his painfully hard cock and rocking her hips, not coincidentally keeping him from getting a hold of the clasp. He spanked her hard, which brought out a moan and she pushed back against him firmly, he finally managed to unclasp her breeches.

Once he got them past her sexy hips, they slid slowly down her legs far enough to expose her.

She breathed out in faux innocent confusion that caused his lust to spike again, "What are you doing?" 

He spanked her bare ass hard, then checked her. She was dripping and moaned loudly when he put his hand on her sex.

He growled as she turned her head, faux wide eyes full of innocence, protesting his actions and rough treatment. All he could think was she drove him insane, so expertly manipulating him in this game as she seduced him into rough sex. He knew it was play, yet he was overcome with lust and needed to claim her, to take her, to fuck her hard and fast.

He took care of his own clothing and bent his knees a little, then he thrust up into her in one quick stroke.

It only made his lust rise further as she whimpered in pleasure and flooded his pole, screaming his name on the very first stroke as he impaled her. He gasped when she ground herself against him, her inner walls hugging him tight during her bliss. When he released her arm, she braced herself against the wall as he grabbed her hips.

He started to pound into her from behind, pushing her hard against the wall with each thrust as her hungry core greedily sucked him in each time their flesh spanked together. He couldn't hold it for long, it was all just too intense, her grasping heat milked him time and time again as she rolled from orgasm to orgasm, his manhood pleasured deeply inside her hot, wet sex. He never stopped, couldn't stop, taking her hard and fast until he felt his legs start to numb...

He spanked her hard again right before burying himself up to the hilt, growling out, "Here it comes, I'm going to fill you."

He felt her tremble and tighten around his invading flesh again at his words, his pole surged and started to empty itself into her hot welcoming sheath. He couldn't help smiling back at her, at the little smile of triumph on her mouth. He pulled her hair and twisted her head to the side, kissing her hard before releasing her.

He may have pinned her against the wall and ravaged her, but he was under no illusions, she had been in charge the whole time. They got dressed and went back out to the common room of the suite, they did need to finish dinner after all.

He almost choked on a bite of food when he felt Nora's foot slide up his leg and she started to gently massage his manhood...



Flame of Cytherea 05



Chapter 17

Nicci had enough feeling sorry for herself. She sighed. There was no choice really. She loved her father dearly, but Justin was her future. She just had to hope her father came to his senses one day and they could be a family again. Until he could see her for more than a little girl needing protection, which she hadn't been for quite a while, it was inevitable.

Even if she chose to stay, the cycle would just repeat itself. No, Justin was her future, and she would not give him up. Hopefully the king would come to his senses quickly, but even if it took years to reconcile, that wouldn't be her fault. 

It would hurt, she would miss him, but it was the way it had to be. She also determined she would not sneak out like a child, like she had almost two weeks ago. This time she was taking the front door.

She sighed gazing out her window, it was the middle of the night and she was wide awake. That's what she got when she cried herself to sleep and slept the day away. She was wary though on the timing, if she marched to Justin's rooms and joined them, her father could make things difficult for them. Even by simply throwing one or the other out of the castle.

But she wanted to at least let Justin and the others know her plans, that she would not abandon them and what they had. Her new family. She slid the secret door open and slipped inside...

---------

Nora woke fully alert and looking around. She could swear she heard a latch click. When the book shelf pushed out from the wall and a figure stepped in the room she prepared an attack. Before releasing it, she saw it was Nicci and started cursing up a storm.

Nicci giggled, "It's good to see you too!"

She said frostily, "Damn it Nicci, I almost took your head off."

By this time everyone else was awake and pulling Nicci into a hug, including her.

Nicci said, "I'll join you all when you leave, I hope that won't be too long..." she went on to explain her choice.

"Nicci, why don't you just join us now?" Sally asked.

She was wondering that too, but she agreed with Nicci when it was explained.

"I want to, but I am afraid that my father's anger with me for making this decision will be turned toward all of you. At least when we are leaving we will all be out of his sight."

She considered that, she had never known the king to be petty, but then, things might be a different story involving his obsession with keeping Nicci safe.

She hugged Nicci back fiercely when the princess made her rounds before kissing Justin hard and fast.

Nicci said regretfully, breaking out of Justin's embrace, "I'm curious about your day, but I need to get back to my room in case someone checks."

She watched as Nicci slipped into the passage before she lay back against Justin and tried to fall back asleep...

---------

Sally yawned. She was trying to wake up after last night. She had decided to give Justin a rest after he slept with both Kat and Nora earlier in the evening, but she had been having a very pleasant dream when Nicci woke them all up. Needless to say, she was running on very little sleep.

She was happy to see the smile on Justin's face though; the change in him had been obvious once Nicci had stopped by to share their plans. He also looked a little too awake after their time together last night. Then it hit her, of course he looked awake. She leaned into him and whispered.

"Would you give me a little pick me up, you tired me out last night."

She smiled as she felt his magic suffuse her with energy and love from the goddess. She kissed his cheek and thanked him and got back to eating her food. She hoped they found out what he had to do today, and that it would all work out...

--------

Kat knew it had just been a day, but she was missing the smells and sounds of nature. The city looked nice, but it wasn't comfortable for her. She had an urge to change and run into the surrounding hills, go for a hunt. Nothing overwhelming, her talent didn't control her, but it did make the city an uncomfortable place to be and she just felt uneasy.

She felt better when she reached out and took Justin's hand, as they walked back to the temple. She hoped the high priestess would see them as promised, so they could go. 

She studied her intended mate as they walked, he was walking with more confidence now. She could see his inner strength reflected on his visage, though he insisted he was just Justin, she saw so much more than that. She wasn't sure if he was even aware of it, he was humble and always trying to downplay his own importance. But he radiated a calm authority now that she and the other women could sense.

It just made her love him more. She wanted so much, she wanted his child, a long life together, but she knew it had to wait. When he caught her studying him and gave her a questioning look, she just smiled and winked. She couldn't exactly tell him could she? How besotted he made her, or how amazing he was? It would make him uncomfortable, or worse, arrogant. She preferred him just the way he was...

---------

As they walked up to the temple he saw the priest from yesterday waiting at the door. He almost groaned at the looks he got when the priest bowed to him. He most definitely did not want to be famous. At least the bow was brief.

The priest said respectfully, "Follow me please."

They were led down the same hallways as yesterday, but then kept going deeper into the temple. There were large murals on the walls as they got further into the temple. Some depicting the act of sex, some were just a couple standing together that was drawn so well you could see the love in their eyes. There were also drawings depicting pregnant women and some of families with young children.

They were led into a room with comfortable couches and chairs, it looked like a lounge of some sort. 

The priest said diffidently, "Please make yourselves comfortable, the high priestess will be here shortly."

They sat on one of the couches, they did not have to wait long. A short time later their chatting was interrupted by the door opening.

The high priestess Celia was in her mid fifties, but she was still in good shape and quite attractive. She smiled at them and said, "Welcome to the temple of Cytherea. Please, call me Celia, we will have no formalities between us Flame of Cytherea."

He relaxed at her friendly greeting and said, "You must call me Justin then, if that is the case."

She smiled at his response and said, "My priest tells me you want to know about the last Flame, I assume that is because you are at a loss as to what our goddess asks of you?"

When he nodded she said, "Normally I wouldn't tell anyone, but then, you aren't just anyone. You need this information to do our goddess's will, yet, I would have an oath from the five of you that what I say here will never pass your lips for the remainder of your lives."

He thought about that for a moment, then replied, "With the exception of needing to for success, and that I will extract a similar oath from that person, I would be okay with that. Specifically one of our number is missing today, and she will need to know what we are doing. And who can say if any others will be needed?"

The ladies all agreed with him on the necessity of not being completely locked down. Celia didn't exactly look thrilled by the exceptions, if it became general knowledge they could face a new crisis weekly from idiotic power hungry assholes, but she would accept it as long as he extracted an oath first and said as much.

When they finished giving their oaths, Celia began explaining.

"Two thousand years ago, the goddess came to this world. There is much speculation about it, but we truly do not know the reason why. Before then, we had worshipped gods that simply weren't real, in an attempt to explain the world around us. The goddess loved us, and wished to walk with us personally, and be a part of our lives. But she could not do so without compromising our free will.

"It is said she loved us so much that she found a way. Shortly after that, all the children being born had magical talents. As you know, when we use them we can feel the goddess's love, yet, she does not interfere in our free will or how we use them. It is simply enough for her to have this personal connection with all her children.

"I don't understand it completely, but free will is a gift, and as such, we believe knowledge of our goddess, and other gods, were given to us. That way, we had a way to choose to reject our goddess, even choose another god. Regardless of what the full answer may be, the result was a cache of knowledge was found. Knowledge of our goddess and other gods."

She frowned, seeming to collect her thoughts, then continued.

"There is much we don't know, we are not truly sure why or how the knowledge was given, but it is what we suspect. Most people had no inclination at all to replace our goddess, or even invite a second one in. But it only takes one.

"The wrong man got a hold of the wrong knowledge, and through diverse rituals managed to summon a semblance of a new god. It is said this new god offered the man power and riches if he created an anchor through which the new god could enter this world.  

"The greed of the fool caused him to agree, and do so. He also found like minded men and they committed atrocities to forward the cause of this new god, and while he was rewarded with power as promised, he also changed.

"The new god was a dark god, who slowly consumed his soul. The man had unwittingly given his free will away and he became nothing but a puppet. As the darkness spread the people turned to Cytherea for help, begging for her assistance.

"That was why, and when, the first Flame of Cytherea was born."

He sat back as she paused. She rose from her chair and she offered them all something to drink. He thought about what he heard as she passed out refreshments, and it sounded like she was half guessing on a lot of this stuff. Hopefully she was right about the important things.

Celia took a sip of her drink then continued, "It was brutal, the war that started up. With the Flame's help however the darkness was pushed back and enough of the dark god's followers were killed, that his anchor to this world became vulnerable.

"You can do many amazing things with your protective powers Justin, but that is the true reason for them. You can cleanse the anchor that allows the dark god influence in our world, as long as his followers are limited. Right now I think you have a good chance, but wait too long and it will be too late, except for another large scale war that will ravage the world once again. If you try when he is too powerful, when he has too many followers, you will die.

"When the dark god was banished the first time, the people that were left two thousand years ago decided to destroy all knowledge of the rituals and spells designed to create that anchor. The spells which form the anchor were inscribed on an altar of some kind. That is why I extracted your oaths. Free will is preserved, but without the knowledge of how to make deals with the dark god, every power hungry fool won't be able to repeat it.

"Unfortunately we failed to find all the knowledge, that is why you are here, and the dark god is once again in this world. If you do not stop him, this world will slowly turn into a living hell before finally dying."

He thought about it for a moment, then asked, "How do I find it?"

Celia replied, "If the king of Egeria is truly responsible, it will be somewhere in his castle. You will be able to feel it when it's near."

Right... So they just needed to waltz into an enemy's caste and find an altar... He snorted. Forget the danger of the altar, just getting to it will be a nightmare.

But all he said was, "Thank you Celia, is there anything else you think we should know?"

She shook her head and said, "Just be careful."

---------

Sara hated straightening this room the most. It was too close to the room at the end of the hall, the one that felt wrong to her. It felt like sandpaper against her talent, and she had turned it off as she made the bed. She was sure that room had a lot to do with how the king changed the last two years, but the wrong feeling coming from there had grown over time.

She hated turning off her talent, it helped her keep track of any returning people so she could duck out, but she had to. She froze like a scared rabbit when she heard the door open behind her and hated herself for it. She tried to compose her face and she turned. The lord was standing directly behind her, leering down.

She sighed, shoulders slumping. She did try to avoid it, but when it happened she felt she had no choice. She had to submit, where else would she go?

"On your knees, now."

His rough angry barking voice made her freeze again, but before she could recover and resign herself to doing so, she felt his fist against the side of her head and fell to her knees.

His smarmy voice said, "Better, follow my orders faster next time."

She felt him grab her by the hair and start using her mouth. She couldn't breathe, and it didn't seem like he cared. Her head was slightly spinning from the blow as well, making it worse. She tried to push him back but he just laughed sadistically and started going faster, tearing into her throat. She started seeing spots in front of her eyes and panic rose within her, along with a great deal of suppressed anger from the last two years.

She took all her feelings, the fear, the anger, the uncertainty, and the desperation from the fear he would kill her, and focused it at his mind pushing hard with her talent.

She felt his hands release her hair and she fell back onto her ass. She looked up and saw him holding his head as he screamed in a way she had never heard before. Then he passed out.

She gulped the air in relief. Then as what happened registered she was terrified. She just assaulted a lord with magic, they would kill her for that. She just sat in a panic for a while not sure what to do. After a few minutes she noticed the lord still wasn't moving. She moved closer and checked him. She almost passed out when she couldn't feel him breathing, he was dead, she had killed him.

There was a small beaten down part of her that felt satisfaction, the man had deserved it. But mostly she was terrified. This place may be all she knew, but she couldn't stay here anymore. She hated herself and her life at times, but she had never wanted to die, or at least, not really.

She jumped up and ran toward the servant's entrance. She was sure she would be stopped, that someone would look at her and scream, "Murderer!" but that didn't happen. When she made it out into the city, she stopped for a moment, not having any idea what to do or where to go. Her mind slowly came to realize staying in the city wouldn't work, as soon as the lord's body was found they would hunt her.

She was scared, but she walked through the city, she was just too emotionally exhausted to run anyway. When she got out of the city, she started north on the road. She knew she was in trouble, and was scared of being chased, but she was also worried about food and water. She hadn't thought to grab any and she had no idea how to hunt.

She simply kept walking, not knowing what else to do...

Chapter 18

They were back at the castle eating lunch. They figured they would get in one more good meal before hitting the road. Since time was an issue they decided to leave right after.

The more Justin thought about it, the more he saw holes in the story that Celia had told them. While the free will part made sense, he wasn't at all sure the knowledge part made sense. It was two separate things, he didn't see how the gods were responsible for giving knowledge, free will didn't require knowledge to exist. 

He hoped the important parts were true, and if there were secrets his goddess simply didn't want him to know, he would have to get over it. That didn't change what he felt he must do.

He was a little concerned about how to get word to Nicci, but it turned out to be unnecessary as she slipped into the room halfway through lunch and sat down. She was dressed in her sexy leather bustier, otherwise known as armor, with a smile that lit her whole face and made her eyes twinkle. He was more than happy she was here.

Nicci said, "I missed you all, one of the servants said you were back, and that you were packing to leave. So here I am."

Sally laughed and arched an eyebrow, "So you've had a spy on us?"

Nicci looked faux shocked at the idea, then winked, "Of course I did."

After lunch he and Nicci spent a half hour in the other room for a proper reunion before they set off. No one stopped them as they left the castle and walked through the city, and he wondered briefly what had occurred between Nicci and her father before she came to them, but he didn't ask.

He really didn't have to, and she would talk about it if and when she wanted to. And not necessarily to him either.

They made good time the first half of the afternoon, but had to slow as the sky darkened and it started raining. After a miserable two hours of running in the rain as it slowly got colder, they stopped for the day. They were all soaked and in a bad mood, but Sally raised her arms and a smaller version of the shelters the earth talents built rose right out of the ground.

Nora asked, "When did you learn that?" the look on her face clearly asking why she hadn't done it before now.

Sally answered, "I watched the earth talents do it a few days ago, I finally got it working last night, it's a little complicated but not too bad."

They all went inside and stripped out of their soaked clothes. He sighed in relief when he felt Sally use her clean and refresh magic on them. He felt so good compared to the soaked and sticky skin he had moments before. He gave her a lingering kiss in thanks, and when she blushed and stepped back he realized they were all very naked and he had an inevitable reaction.

He firmly reminded himself as he got dressed, that he was in four separate relationships, though he couldn't completely get the fantasy out of his head that the circumstances drew out. Trying to start a five way would probably result in four very mad women and him in the doghouse.

He smiled though, as he watched Sally and Nora hang a blanket, and Sally cast that privacy spell on it. The building did have a crude stone fire pit with vents to draw the smoke outside. So he went back out in the rain and started collecting wood. It was a little damp, but Nicci could light anything with her talent so he wasn't worried about it. He also noted Kat had changed forms and took off, he assumed hunting.

It wasn't too long before the delicious smell of venison cooking on the fire filled the shelter. They sat on the floor cuddled against each other and close to the warmth of the fire as they made plans. Or rather he thought, Nora made plans and they tried to contribute to them.

They basically decided to use stealth to cross, once they were over they were going with subterfuge, they would all wear normal clothes and try and look like Egerians just travelling to the capitol for work. It would slow them down, but if they tried to barrel through they would have a kingdom's worth of soldiers trying to stop them.

They would decide how to infiltrate the castle when they got there and had taken a look at things. There were too many unknowns to come up with a plan before seeing the layout of it.

When the meat was done cooking they took a break from the conversation to enjoy it. They had some bread in the packs and it made a good meal. They took it easy and relaxed, enjoying the feeling of being full and just talked for a while. When the conversation died down Nora grabbed his hand and led him behind the blanket.




Flame of Cytherea 05



He wasn't sure if he wanted to make love to her or get a little rough, but she took it out of his hands. His manhood twitched as she sank to her knees.

With no trace of reservation on her face she begged, "I need you to use me, treat me like the little slut I am, please. I am yours."

---------

Nora's body was practically trembling with need as she waited for his response. She was no longer confused about their sex life, and she absolutely loved it. She felt untroubled and safe here, all responsibility put away, and all she wanted to do was please him, the man she loved and trusted.

She knew as a result of that, she would feel mind bending pleasure tonight, but that almost didn't matter to her, right now she was totally focused on what he wanted, and giving him pleasure.

She also loved making love to him, sharing their love in the gentle act, but whenever she felt stressed and overwhelmed, this was pure relief to her.

He barked, "Get my pack."

That did confuse her, however she did not hesitate, she didn't need to understand why. She stood and stepped out long enough to grab his pack, bring it back in and drop to her knees.

He ordered, "Strip, and lay out face down on the bedding, now."

She removed her clothes and laid down, extremely curious, this seemed new. Her body was tingling with excitement. She trembled at his touch as he pulled her head back long enough to cover her eyes with a blindfold, she couldn't see a thing. She felt his fingertips trace down her back before he spanked her, but not very hard.

She begged, "Harder, please spank your nasty slut harder."

She wanted it so bad, and he was silent so long her body was craving it. But instead of a hard slap he teased her ass with his fingertips drawing a soft sigh from her lips.

He said teasingly, "I have other plans for that sweet ass of yours slut."

She shivered as she felt liquid fall onto her back, it took her a minute to identify, it was massage oil. She sighed in pleasure at the feel of his strong hands rubbing her back. She wondered what other plans meant, but she dare not ask. She was his to use.

She was moaning and squirming her body by the time his hands found their way down to her center. She was so close as he caressed her ass and outer labia with his fingers. Her body was absolute putty in his hands and she was lost in the sensations.

When he slid two fingers in her hot wet slit she gasped and begged, "Can I cum? Please let your slut cum!"

She felt him push a finger into her ass and order, "Cum now my perfect little slut!"

Her back arched and she pushed her ass against his hand as pleasure exploded throughout her body. 

She whimpered as she came back down, "Thank you for allowing me to cum," as she wondered about that finger in her ass. It felt... good. The sensations from it were new, and felt just a little dirty.

He asked, "Do you like the feel of my finger in your ass slut?"

He was still fingering her, so she nodded the best she could and pushed her ass up a bit, "Yes, it feels good, something a dirty little slut like me would enjoy."

She gasped as she felt his breath on her ear and he whispered, "I'm going to stick my cock in there next, would you like that slut?"

She gasped, she had never considered anything like that before, but she trusted him and said, "Yes please, fuck my ass with your long cock."

She relaxed as she felt him pour more oil down her ass crack before slipping in a second finger. She gasped in pleasure as her ass wrapped tightly around his fingers as he invaded her. She felt him pick up her middle and slide a rolled blanket under her hips. She was disappointed when his fingers were removed, but then she felt him at her back entrance, pushing at her tight puckered ring.

She felt a sharp sting when the tip of his pole popped inside of her that slowly gave way to a burning sensation that felt good. She felt so full each time he slowly advanced into her, she didn't think she could take more, yet, she did. The balance of her ass burning mixed with the pleasure of his fingers teasing her clit made her whimper in both pleasure and pain. Then she felt him flush against her ass cheeks, and couldn't believe she had taken him all.

Slowly the burn got more and more pleasant, and she was enjoying the feeling of fullness with his pleasure buried deep inside her dark star. The more she enjoyed it the hotter she felt. The idea of his cock in her ass was so dirty. She realized he had been waiting for her to get used to him so she pushed up and back, gasping at the feelings of pain and pleasure shooting through her middle.

She moaned as he pulled her head back roughly by the hair and whispered in her ear, "Beg me for it."

She almost came right there as she said, "Please, fuck my ass, fuck it hard and fast."

---------

Justin had wondered about ass play, but hadn't thought he'd get the opportunity to try it. Until he saw the massage oil at the palace in the guest room that is. He had packed it hoping it would be something Nora would be willing to at least try when being his submissive perfect little slut.

Her ass was so tight and hot around his manhood, he had gone in as slowly as he could, and despite her begging for him to go fast, he started out slow and worked his way faster. He had to stop when a handful of strokes caused her to orgasm, her ass locked so tight it almost hurt as her love juice soaked the fingers working her clit. When she came down a bit, he started to stroke faster and faster until he was pounding into her hard.

To his delight she obviously loved it. He couldn't hold it long, not after getting her off so many times and massaging her sexy body. Then the feeling of the pleasure of her ass hugging and milking his manhood hard, each time he pulled out before slamming into her again started to overwhelm him. He gasped when she started to buck her body back against his, increasing the intensity of it, and he felt himself expand within her.

He buried himself hard and then emptied himself in her as she encouraged him, "Yes, fill your slut's ass, my slutty ass belongs to you," as she again exploded in ecstasy.

They held each other for a while and the mood changed. She mounted him and rode him, a slow sensual coupling, and they teased each other slowly to climax before they got dressed and rejoined the others...

---------

Sara felt a little guilty as she sat under the tarp and ate the stale bread. She had run into a trader and asked him for help, just a little food. When he had proposed a trade and she told him she had nothing, he had looked her up and down and told her she did.

Her response had been immediate as the fear filled her. At least he was alive and well, if unconscious. She had rummaged through his supplies and stolen a water skin, a few pieces of bread and because it was raining she grabbed the tarp and some twine.

She had never stolen anything before, so she felt a little guilty, but as for the rest she would never again let a man touch her body without permission, and he had scared her. She had seen that look before. Sometime during the day she had come up with the idea of going into Abelaweth. The king had always gone on about hating them, so she figured maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Also, it was far enough away for her to start a new life. She should be able to find work somewhere.

She hoped she was safe here, she had run for hours up the road in the rain after her confrontation. The man had a full wagon of stuff to sell, she doubted he would turn around and chase her down for a few scraps of food and a tarp. As for soldiers, she was sure they were already looking for her anyway. Despite the chill she fell into an exhausted sleep...

---------

The next day the sun was out and they made good time. They stopped in one of the southern villages and the ladies bought clothes they believed would allow them to blend in better. They got prepared for making a crossing into Egeria where they would change into their new clothes. They decided to stay at an inn in town and leave in the early morning before sunrise.

As a result, Justin's play time was severely curtailed as they all went to sleep early and he actually got a well deserved rest. They were all nervous as they got up and prepared to cross over into Egeria. No one really knew what to expect, going by how their soldiers acted wasn't a good measure, but they were very aware their invasion force was only five people strong.

Chapter 19

Kat prowled ahead of the others while Sally flew above. Just Nicci and Nora were back with Justin as they crossed the border. It felt strange not standing by him, but she understood the necessity of having scouts for this first part of their plan.

While Sally could easily spot the patrols on her own, Kat's heightened senses will be able to pick up anyone dug in or stationary below cover.

She wasn't that worried, the border was many miles long, she just needed to make sure they didn't stumble into any of the few patrols the enemy had, not to mention their own patrols. Not that their soldiers would do much, but they would be challenged, increasing the chance of the other side noticing.

She took in the scent first, and then turned toward it. Her eyes cut through the darkness. There was an enemy soldier well hidden in the tree a couple of hundred feet away. She had the instinct to remove the threat but shrugged it off, they needed to leave no evidence of their crossing. She could also tell he was sleeping.

Nevertheless she did not want to risk it, and quietly led the group to the side for a while before moving forward again. She did not detect anything else on their way through. After they had shadowed the road for a mile or so, she changed forms and started to change her clothes, hopefully the second stage would work as well.

None of them noticed the raven take to the sky from the trees, they were simply too far away at that point.

----------------

Nora felt really strange outside of armor after wearing hers constantly for over two years. She felt like she was naked without it. She was also used to moving much faster, they plodded along the road at a slow walk that set her teeth on edge. Yet, she knew it was necessary, moving at speed would be like screaming they were there.

They had already been passed by a couple of merchant wagons in each direction, as well as a small squad of soldiers. Going faster simply wouldn't have been worth it...

--------

Nicci had to force herself to relax as the second small group of soldiers passed them that day. Luckily Nora had forced her to buy this shapeless fabric, she was still drawing looks despite the unflattering garment, and it was nerve racking.

She was also grounded. Her large burning bird form was easily seen and recognized from miles away. If there was any trouble, she would have to stick to her human fire wielding and only change as a last resort. She realized it wasn't what they were doing, but she thought there was a good chance they had to remove the king of Egeria. Politically speaking it would be a nightmare if it got out that a princess from the neighboring kingdom took part in the assassination.

That might not be what it was, but it would be viewed that way by some she knew.

She also couldn't shake off the confrontation between her and her father a few days ago. She had expected him to be horribly angry, followed by a shouting match. But when she told him her choice, he simply looked heartbroken. She had been ordered to leave the castle, not in a roar, but a whisper. She knew it wasn't her fault, but it still hurt...

---------

Sally was tired after being in the air all day. She had been watching over them and had gotten nervous a couple of times, but so far nothing had happened. She felt relief as they made their way off the road in the early evening, and set up camp. She circled a few times, and not seeing anything, landed and changed.

She immediately felt her soreness leave when Justin touched her. It was a relief. They were watchful as they ate, and went to sleep under the stars. They had decided building stone shelters would be a mistake. She also wanted to drag him away, but it was too dangerous right now. She slowly fell into a deep restful sleep, content and warm in Justin's arms as he spooned into her.

---------

Sara worked to get a fire started. She hadn't eaten anything once the bread scraps ran out, though she had found a stream to refill her water skin. In her desperation to eat when she had seen a rabbit, she stunned it with her mind's emotions. It was a simple matter to pick it up and snap its neck, but she couldn't get the damn fire started.

Tears of relief started to run down her face as the grass caught, she held her breath until the sticks caught fire. She skewered the rabbit and hung it over the fire, her mouth watering. When it was finally cooked, or at least not raw in the middle, it tasted better than anything she had eaten before.

She was not suited for outdoor life, she was hardly surviving and she couldn't wait to find somewhere she could settle down, somewhere far away and out of reach of her old king...

---------

Justin brooded as he, Kat, Nicci and Sally waited a couple of miles from the village. They had decided when they started out to avoid villages if possible, and had brought enough food with them for six days. With Kat or Nicci being able to hunt for fresh meat it was more than doable. But as the morning had gone on they were running into more and more small squads of soldiers.

Since they had been ignored, they figured the soldiers weren't after them, but they had been a little nervous about it. So against his better judgment Nora went into the town to try and pick up rumors about what was going on. At first he argued he should be there, but he was eventually convinced spy work was best done by one individual who knew what they were about.

He smiled wryly, outside of Bond films he had no idea how spying worked. Somehow he doubted the realism of the films...

Plus, with Nora's talent she could listen to conversations from a hundred yards away. He was getting nervous after an hour passed, and sighed in relief when he saw her coming back.

Nora said without preamble, "The soldiers are chasing after some chamber maid from the castle named Sara. Apparently she is wanted for murdering a noble, and since she fled she has taken to highway robbery. Unofficially, from the gossip I heard, the lord was a raping piece of shit bastard that deserved it."

Sally said thoughtfully, "It would be a risk, but if we can locate her first, she would have invaluable information on the inside of the castle."

Nora replied regretfully, "My heart goes out for the girl, but if we start harboring a fugitive we might as well pull out trumpets and have Nicci lead the way in her other form."

Nicci snickered and said, "It would be too risky to start searching ourselves, but I think we should keep our eyes open."

He noted Kat didn't have anything to add, just looked thoughtful. He said, "Let's go with Nicci's take, Sally is right, and if we can help her and ourselves at the same time safely enough..."

Nora said, "According to the descriptions I heard she is our age, five foot six, long curly strawberry blonde hair and green eyes."

He felt a little guilt, normally he wouldn't hesitate to help, but he had to take into account the mission they were on. What if helping one woman caused a chain of events that led to failure? They needed to remain unnoticed.

He frowned. What good was saving the world from a dark god if he didn't stay true to his convictions? He didn't like the idea of sacrificing anyone, or his convictions, for the greater good. It was a cop out in his opinion. On the other hand, this kingdom was often brutal to women; he couldn't save them all, no matter how much he wanted too.

They continued on, and if anything the soldiers became more numerous, which raised his stress level. It was true he didn't want to die, but the drive behind his emotions of worry was the safety of his intended mates. They stopped on the side of the road for a quick lunch before setting out again. 

It was mid afternoon when they heard the high pitched scream of a woman somewhere in the woods to their right. He froze a moment in indecision, then started a jog into the trees directly toward the scream. When he broke into the clearing he saw six soldiers surrounding a young woman that was filthy. One of the soldiers must have been a telekinetic, because she was hanging four feet off the ground.

He was about to have them intervene, when suddenly the six men screamed and fell to the ground twitching. The girl collapsed to the ground and fell to her knees, he could hear the ripping sobs from fifty feet away. They approached slowly, Sara he assumed, looked terrified when she saw them, but she calmed slightly before they even said anything.

If she was truly raped, he knew that he should stay back. He could never truly understand what a woman felt after something like that, but he knew she would be wary around other men. He also remembered how scary Nora could be before he got to know her, so he gestured Sally forward to talk for them. 

Sally said tentatively, "Sara right? We want to help you. You won't make it if you keep going north right now, there are too many soldiers searching for you. Eventually you will meet one that is smart enough not to want a little fun first, and you will lose."

Sara looked suspicious, but also very confused, when she said, "Why should I trust you? I've had other offers of help, for a price. What is yours?"

He heard a noise from behind, it was another group of soldiers. Before they could call out to any others though, they turned into quickly incinerating pyres as they were struck by small balls of fire.

He looked at Nicci questioningly and she just shrugged and said, "Nora's air bullets were cool, so I figured out how to make my own. I had to do something with my time while I was kept from you."

Sara squeaked in alarm, but calmed down again after a moment. She looked terrified to him and he wondered why she hadn't run for it yet, though he was glad she didn't.

Sally said, "We just need information, and we hate men who mistreat women so we would probably have helped anyway. We can explain more later, but right now we need to make you disappear."

Sara nodded in understanding and said, "What must I do."

He watched as Sally used her magic to clean up Sara, and what emerged amazed him. Her strawberry blonde hair was glowing in the sunshine, and her perfect porcelain face was simply beautiful. 

He turned his back however when Sally started undressing and said, "Wear these clothes."

Nora poked him when it was okay to turn around, and he took in Sara. Her hair was now jet black, her eyes brown, and her skin was chocolate brown. She looked like she could be Sally's younger sister he thought. They didn't look that much alike to him, but he realized a casual inspection of their group by the soldiers may not notice the difference.

He was curious to ask how she did it, but that taboo kept his mouth firmly shut. He grinned back when Sally mischievously kissed him in her birthday suit. He caught her blushing smile right before she changed into a falcon.

He watched as Sally took to the air, and they headed back toward the road and started walking south...

---------

When the fourth band of soldiers passed them on the road, examining their faces, she managed not to flinch like she had the previous times. Sara's mind was spinning, who were these people and what did they want from her?

If she hadn't been an empath, she would have run as soon as she saw them. All of her experience told her she couldn't trust anyone, but she was overwhelmed by the last three days and running on instinct, and her talent was telling her these people meant her no harm.




Flame of Cytherea 05



It was the compassion she had felt from all of them that convinced her tired mind not to run. She almost did anyway at the small surge of lust she felt from the man when she was cleaned, but he did not step forward or leer at her, so she held still. To her surprise he even turned around to give her privacy as she changed clothes.

As they walked south, which her mind balked at despite understanding the need to throw off the soldiers, she felt herself drowning in feelings she had never felt. She was awed by it. The four women radiated love and protectiveness toward this strange man, and he returned their feelings. She almost cried, she had never known anything like that in her life.

All she knew was if they could help her, they would. She still felt their concern when they glanced her way from time to time and she decided she would tell them anything they wanted to know...

---------

Sally flew as high as she could, trying to stay out of sight, but she needed to remain within the limits of her magic. She couldn't actually change Sara's hair color, or skin pigment, but color was a function of light, and she was able to erect filters to change the color reflected. She needed to stay close enough to maintain it.

The afternoon seemed to drag in the tense atmosphere of so many soldiers, she hoped they would remain undiscovered or it would get very ugly. Eventually the time to stop for the day arrived and it was with relief she landed, changed, and dug into her pack for another set of clothes...

---------

Once the camp was up and dinner was over the fire, he watched from a distance as Sally and Nicci talked to the girl. He was sure the story she told was glossed over, but it wasn't hard to read between the lines and he was getting angry about it. He was sure the woman's life had been filled with abuse. He only managed to tamp it down when he saw the alarmed looks she was throwing his way.

He realized he was scaring her, as she had no idea what he was angry about, and that cooled his ire quickly.

He listened as they gently pumped the girl for information on the castle setup, guard locations, entrances and exits, guard posts inside and all that. Nora got involved then, asking about the smallest things. 

Based on the descriptions Sara gave, he was pretty sure they even knew where the altar would be that he had to cleanse, the last door in a side corridor in the Royal wing. But the amount of guards was intimidating. Especially in that wing, he didn't see how a stealthy advance would work.

When they had gotten all they could, Nora said, "Well listen, I wouldn't advise trying to go north right now with all the soldiers around. What we are doing is dangerous, but we can try to protect you if you come with us, and we will take you out again when we leave. Make sure you find a good place safe from men like that piece of fucking shit lord. 

"If you don't want to risk that, I would advise you to go deep in the woods, maybe west into the mountains and lay low a couple of weeks before trying again."

Sara said softly, "Thank you, I... don't know yet. The idea of returning anywhere near that castle scares me, but I wasn't doing so well alone, and you've all been so kind to me..."

When Sara trailed off Nicci advised, "Sleep on it then, you don't have to decide until we move in the morning. And... you're very welcome."

They talked for a while longer then went to their bedrolls.

---------

The king of Egeria snapped out, "What is it?" he was tired of dealing with these fools.

The messenger cleared his throat cautiously and said, "Your majesty, the Flame of Cytherea was seen crossing into Egeria two days ago. I verified it myself, he gave the same description of him and his lady companions that the survivors of our invasion force gave."

The king growled impatiently and ordered, "Well, send out patrols, find them, kill them."

The messenger said diffidently, "Most of our soldiers are already out patrolling, looking for the maid that murdered your advisor."

The king rolled his eyes, "So send fast messengers to update them in the field, do I have to tell you everything?"

The messenger bowed low and said, "Yes Majesty, I mean no Majesty," as he walked backward toward the door.

Chapter 20

Sara started awake, a scream caught in her throat. She felt strong lust and in her world that always meant danger. Always meant being callously used and tossed aside. But she slowly calmed when she remembered she wasn't there anymore. There was also something different to the lust she had always felt before, it was wrapped in love, excitement, and bliss.

The next realization struck her dumb founded, the origin of it was female. In her experience in the castle when she became a woman, it wasn't something a woman ever liked.

Curiously she looked over and her mouth dropped open. Kat, the confident woman who awed her with a radiating inner strength, was pleasuring Justin with her mouth right out in the open. And most shocking, from the emotions she was getting, Kat was enjoying it immensely. It was only when she felt Justin waking in shock, that she realized it had been completely Kat's idea.

She then felt Justin's lust, but also tinged with loving warmth and not just a little bit of awe at his intended mate. She was so taken off guard by his gentle feelings, something she had never felt from a man in the midst of a sexual act, it caused her to wipe tears from her eyes. 

She blushed as her body responded to their feelings of rising bliss, and she cut off her magic feeling like an intruder. She buried her face in the bedding, and wished she could have something so wonderful...

---------

Justin walked along, considering that he had never come across such an obvious case of the difference between knowledge and intelligence.

It was to his surprise that not only was Sara coming with them, but she had approached him and started a conversation. Two things were very obvious, she hadn't had much of an education, and she was frighteningly intelligent.

He found himself carefully walking as straight as he could. Despite her coming to him and talking as they continued their walk south, anytime he accidentally stepped too close to her she flinched back from him a little bit. He wasn't insulted, she wasn't afraid of him, he didn't think, just had been through too much at the hands of evil men.

He hadn't realized until now how much a person automatically gravitated to a set personal distance from the one they walked with. Unfortunately her need for personal space was not even close to most others, she needed much more space from him than he could unconsciously give, so he had to keep it in mind all the time.

His mind was doing a juggling act, trying to stay away from any negative emotions, tracking their space apart, and actually following their conversation. Despite all this, he found himself enjoying her company and before he knew it, she had drawn from him the basics of his life story up till now. 

After they stopped for lunch, he walked with Nicci while Sara seemed to retreat from him and started talking with Kat. He found himself holding Nicci's hand shortly after she told him about her confrontation with her father the morning they left the castle. He could tell she had let it fester too long, but outside of holding her hand and listening, there wasn't any way he could help.

As the afternoon passed, the soldiers started to thin out, he thought they were probably still moving north, trying to catch Sara, which could only be a good thing for them. 

When they stopped for the night and started setting up camp, he watched curiously as the ladies took out the tarp and started setting up a crude tent with it. It didn't look very sturdy, but he couldn't help the intense reaction of his manhood as Nicci came toward him, a hungry look on her face.

It had been a few days, they hadn't had privacy and outside of Kat's morning blowjob he hadn't had any of his intended mates. Apparently he thought, they decided to find a way to fix it. He allowed himself to be led into the tent, and smiled as all outside sounds were silenced.

He started to strip when Nicci did. The fuck me look on her innocent face drove him to shed his clothes even faster than usual. He pulled her nubile young body against his, the suppleness of her flesh against his caused his manhood to jump and harden painfully as he kissed her delicious lips. He tried to lower her down, but she twisted and dropped to her hands and knees.

The hunger in her eyes was a sharp contrast to her innocent face as she craned her neck around and looked up at him while her back arched and she waved her core at him in invitation. Her labia were already puffy and moist, glistening in the low light. He dropped to his hands and knees and pushed his face between her legs and licked as deeply as he could.

He moaned at her taste and devoured her. Every squeak, whimper and tremor he drew from her made him increase his efforts as he brought her to bliss.

"Oh goddess Justin, I'm..."

He moaned in approval as her voice cut off, the lips of her heat trembling against his tongue as she screamed in ecstasy. He growled in pleasure as she flooded his tongue and face with her rapturous honey. He licked her from clit to anus, then playfully bit her ass before he got up on his knees, grabbed her sexy hips, and thrust himself deeply into her hot, wet, and tight welcoming tunnel.

"Take me hard Justin, split me," she said breathlessly.

He started to saw in and out of her clutching center, she was still so tight, but more welcoming as he felt her body devour his manhood for every stroke in, her tight undulating walls milking him as he pulled back, as if her body was reluctant to release its invader.

He released the tight hold on his talent that he had kept up, not wanting to expose who he was the last few days. White fire exploded around him and the already silky hot wet pleasure of being deep inside Nicci doubled in a blink. He heard her gasp as he sped up more, really slamming into her. He felt her pleasure tighten around his, and the cries of her ecstasy pushed him over the edge.

He buried himself deep within her silken depths and felt his manhood expand followed by the release of his baby batter into her womb. When he could move again, they collapsed next to each other and kissed. He simply enjoyed the feel of her body against his, caressing her hair and back, stealing kisses at random moments, Nicci was a joy to him.

He started to kiss her harder, his intent changing as his manhood stirred back to life. He pushed her gently on to her back then kissed down to her generous double D breasts. He took a nipple into his mouth and sucked hard while gently pinching the other, remembering how sensitive she was. After a few minutes of this, her breathing was hard and she was gasping with delight.

He sucked a little bit harder and added a slight twist when pinching the other and she rolled into an orgasm, her body trembling. It wasn't a large one, but he was amazed she had one at all. He loved how her breasts felt in his hands, and in his mouth. He had a sudden urge to slide his cock between them.

When he asked she looked intrigued by the idea and nodded. He reached down between her legs and gathered her honey, slathering it between her perfect mounds of flesh and mounted her stomach.

He watched as she started playing with her tits, then she pushed them together lightly, tweaking her own nipples.

She said softly, "You want to fuck these sweet innocent tits?"

He didn't wait for a second invitation, sliding his manhood between the warm soft and silky smooth flesh of her breasts. When he heard the moan of pleasure from her lips, he sped up. He had wanted to do this for a while, and the fact it turned her on too just made it that much better.

He gasped and looked down when he felt her warm tongue lick his tip. She started teasing him with her lips and tongue when his tip shot out of her cleavage with each stroke. He was breathing hard, her flesh bringing him to his peak. He heard her whimper softly as another orgasm took her.

Nicci said sultrily, "Justin, I want your cum all over my tits and my pretty face. Please Justin..."

He gasped and felt his legs lock, his body thrusting forward automatically, his seed launching from his pole and landing on the sweet flesh of her neck and face. He felt her take his tip in her mouth after the first two spurts and suck hard with her full lips as she drained the rest of his offering.

He couldn't take his eyes off her as she started to wipe her supple flesh with her fingertips, gathering his seed mixed with her own slathered juices, then sucking and licking her fingers clean in her mouth.

She giggled, "We'll have to do that again sometime, it wasn't as pleasurable as, you know, but I loved it."

After kissing a little, they moved to get dressed, but she stopped him by grabbing his hand.

She said with a smile, "Don't bother, all of us were wanting you after almost three days of nothing, might as well save the effort, I'll send in the next one."

She winked mischievously after getting dressed, kissed him deeply and whispered, "I love you Justin."

Before he could reply she left the tent... He used his magic to restore his body, wondering who was next...

---------

Justin felt someone shaking his shoulder, when his eyes opened it was Sara, looking down on him with widened eyes.

He sat up and looked around, then looked at Sara.

She whispered, "There are soldiers all around us, searching along the road and even back in the woods."

He shook them all awake, and told Sally.

Sally said, "I don't feel them, but Sara's range is much larger than any talent I have ever met. All I can say is they haven't tripped my wards yet."

Sara said cautiously, "I think they might not just be looking for me."

Nora asked, "Why?"

Sara shook her head, "A bunch of them are scared, like they are afraid of what they hunt. I don't think they would be afraid of me."

He snorted, "They would if they were smart."

Sara blushed and averted her gaze.

Nicci asked, "Can you guide us out of here safely?"

Sara shrugged, "Maybe, there are eight groups of six, but there could be more I can't feel yet."

Nora sighed, "If they really do know about us, should we try to slip away? This just got much harder; leaving enemies behind to follow would be a mistake if they search for us."

He didn't like the idea, but Nora was right, if the stealth mission was dead they would have to change what they were doing.

He said, "Alright, whoever has armor, put it on, the time to be subtle is past."

How the hell do you invade a castle with five... Six people?

Nora had Sara lead them to a good ambush spot. The first three groups went down without a sound, but then on the fourth group, one of them let out a huge scream and all hell broke loose as the soldiers converged on that sound.

He burst into white fire, protecting the ladies from other talents. That weighed the battle heavily on their side despite their lower numbers. He stood in the center as the women surrounded him, even Sara helped taking down a number of them with her talent. 

Kat was transformed and monitoring everything, killing anyone that got too close to them, while Nora, Nicci, Sally and Sara got most of them from a distance. Without magic the enemy had no choice but to close in with weapons, but there was a killing field in all four directions. 

There were a few tense moments when more troops were drawn by the cries, but in all only twenty four more joined the original forty eight. They were lucky. If there had been enough troops to overwhelm their magic... Or even if they had thought to all rush at once it might have been different.

He said, "We need to move fast now, we can't take the chance of facing hundreds like that."

Nora nodded.

He turned to Sara, "Thanks for the warning, you're welcome to stay if you wish, but it's probably safe to say the soldiers aren't looking for you anymore, it should be safe to go north now..."

She shook her head, her voice light and strong, "No, I'll stay," she lightly blushed and turned her head.

They packed up camp and started south. It was a little slower with him and Sara being pushed, but Kat stayed in her Tiger form and ran alongside and they were moving pretty fast. Both Sally and Nicci were flying, Nicci was so high up he could barely make out a tiny red spot in the sky. He thought if they didn't run into any more problems, they should be there by tomorrow...

Chapter 21

They weren't sure by how far, but they knew they outdistanced any pursuit by a wide margin as they raced for the capitol. He just wasn't sure what they would do when they got there. If the enemy looked to be at high alert, maybe they could try entering in some kind of disguise? Still, the enemy would be foolish not to check any one man traveling with many women. It wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't all that common either.

He gave up thinking about it; they'd just have to see what happened. It was a crappy plan, but they were going into the unknown. They talked about it during lunch a bit.

Sally said, "Why don't we have Sara stop us when were a couple of miles out, then I can take a look, see if they are at high alert or not. We can make plans then."

Nora replied, "That sounds workable, but you'll need to be very careful, stay out of range."

Sally agreed.

---------

Sara wondered if she'd lost her mind. She had just met these people and she was going back to the one place she feared above all, just to stay in their company. Over the last few days they had all made an effort to get to know her, and as for Justin, well he fascinated her.

The fact he was surrounded by four beautiful strong women, and never once treated them as anything but precious intrigued her. She was also taken aback when all four women had almost been desperate to take him last night, she had turned off her magic blushing furiously after him and Nicci had disappeared into the tent.

They all treated her so well, and she wondered... She knew she was being ridiculous though, why would he want her at all, when he already had all of them. Plus... she was broken. She doubted she could even tolerate his touch.

She knew he was a good man who wouldn't hurt her, yet it had taken all she had and the fear of the soldiers to brace herself enough to touch him and wake him up this morning. Still, she must have had hope. Why else would she be going with them?

---------

Kat felt good. Despite the reason for it, it felt good to her as she ran in tiger form, the road flying by under her powerful paws. She was a little scared about tomorrow, but mostly just determined to keep Justin and the others safe. They would face it together, win, and live the rest of their lives together.

They had to...

---------

Nora snorted. She was in Egeria, she finally had the opportunity to kill a very large amount of the fuckers. 

Kick them in the teeth, help Justin show a god to the door, and go home. 

But that wasn't what she was thinking about. She was thinking about the future, about when this crazy ride was over and they could live their life together.

And to her shock, she found herself wanting kids. She loved her new family, and she wanted it to grow. If anyone had mentioned the possibility of what she wanted now three weeks ago, she'd have laughed in their face, but there it was...

---------

Although all they could see was a red spot in the sky, Nicci could see them all in perfect clarity. She was feeling better about things with time. She was where she belonged, and she knew her father would come to his senses, even if it took a few years and a grandchild to do it, it would happen eventually.




Flame of Cytherea 05



---------

Sally came down to land as they set up camp, she didn't see any soldiers at all close by as she circled down from the sky. They ate a quick dinner and all went to bed early, trying to get a good rest for the morning. She knew she would have to pay attention tomorrow, she had a feeling she wouldn't be the only mage there.

She took some time to pray to the goddess, she wanted a long life with this amazing family she was a part of, and she wanted each and every one of them alive at the end of the day tomorrow. She also gave thanks to the goddess for everything that she had... 

---------

Cytherea wished she could grant that, but tomorrow was in their hands, she could not interfere. She had already given them the strength, power and ability to see it through, now it was up to them.

"Daughter, I see he's picked up another stray."

Her lips twitched in amusement, "Well, I can't see everything like you can father."

He nodded, "That is what faith and hope are for... and love."

She grinned, "I've got those three, but I've also got worry... They have come a long way the last few weeks."

"That they have daughter. That they have."

---------

They were well hidden a couple of miles from the capitol of Egeria. Sally had scouted, and the walls were manned with at least a hundred archers, he didn't think it looked good for either sneaking in or subterfuge. Main assault was... crazy.

Justin wasn't sure there were any other options though.

Half joking he said, "So, how do we siege a city with six people?"

Nora snorted, "Very carefully. Sally, can you do tunnels?"

Sally said, "Sure, but they will have earth talents and possibly even mages monitoring under the walls, I'm sure they would block me once we got close."

Nora asked, "Would they even feel it if Justin covered with his magic?"

Sally considered that for a second, "Not mine, but if they are actively checking they will notice an area that doesn't feel right, that their magic can't enter."

They all thought about it and he said, "So, forget going small, I'll cover a huge area while you dig us in. A two hundred yard circle would make it hard for them to guess where we were coming up."

Sally said dubiously, "But they'll know we are here."

He shrugged, "They already do, know were coming at least. Unless someone can think of a way to sneak past... At least in the city we can limit how many soldiers come at us at once. Wait for nightfall?"

No one was crazy about the plan, but they made lunch and prepared as they waited for the sun to go down. The closer they could get to the wall before digging the better, he wasn't quite sure using his power on full for so long right before needing it the most was such a great idea, but they didn't seem to have an alternative.

Then he heard Nora mutter, "Chamber pots."

He looked at her questioningly.

Nora cleared up her obtuse comment when she asked, "Sara, you said when you emptied the chamber pots it led directly through an aqueduct to the river. Do you know if that's guarded?"

Sara shrugged. "I don't know. Even if it is though, it leads directly to the castle."

Sally said, "Let me check it out, I'll be careful."

He kissed her and said, "Hurry back."

It seemed like forever, but was probably only twenty minutes when she returned.

Sally said, "There are steel bars, and they aren't easy to get to, about forty feet from the ground. They are also warded, so someone in the castle will know when we enter. I also felt what could have been traps, but Justin can disarm them easily with a burst. I couldn't feel any talents or people by it though."

He sighed, "It sounds better than the tunneling plan, but we need to be careful."

It took them an hour to work their way around the city to the river side. They did run into one patrol along the river, but as soon as he saw them, he watched them topple over and guessed Sara took care of it.

He watched as Nora using her air talent took two people up at a time, a flying jump forty feet up to the ledge of the aqueduct. He used his magic of change and one of the thick bars turned to rust and collapsed into dust. As he stepped into the aqueduct he flashed his power once on high to cancel out any spelled traps. They followed it for a while, every hundred yards he flashed his power again, until they saw an access door.

It was locked, but that was child's play for Sally, he watched as she stared at the lock and it clicked open after a second or two. Once they were in the castle Sara led them. They came across a number of soldiers but only two at a time, he was impressed that they were knocked out before they even came into view.

Sara turned and whispered, "Through here is the royal halls, there are too many for me to knock out at once."

He nodded in understanding, and they burst through the door. He had his white fire on, but only large enough to cover the women, trying to conserve it for what lie ahead. The battle was fast and brutal as the ladies took out twenty soldiers in three seconds with air, fire, claw and mind. They followed Sara down the hall, then turned to the right.

He could feel it then, like sandpaper against his skin, but this was evil against his mind and talent. He stubbornly pushed the feeling aside and marched for the door at the end of the hallway. When they stepped in he was overwhelmed by the stench of death. It was dark and forbidding and he was afraid to step forward.

He connected to his talent and burst into white flame, giving him the courage and strength of his goddess's love, which drove him forward. The light from his flames partially lit the room, and when he came within range of the altar he could see runic designs all over it, and the stains of blood.

This is what he came here for, he knew he was most powerful in effect when he was in physical contact, so he stepped forward, took a deep breath, and touched it...

He heard mocking laughter in his mind, as his power fought against the power of the evil god's anchor. Then he heard a voice, "I am a god, you cannot defeat me. You and your mates will die here, in this room."

He almost snorted at that, but then he heard the sound of battle behind him. As he went to expand his protections to the women he loved, the altar attacked him with shadow. He was almost completely overwhelmed until he put his entire focus on the fight before him. He came to the grim realization he could not do both, this would take all his power. A shiver of fear and despair went through him, the women were on their own.

Chapter 22

Nora watched in shock as Kat was catapulted back. She caught her in a pocket of air right before Kat slammed into the wall, and then with a growl started firing back. She knew then that Justin could not help them, he was embroiled in his own battle, and they had to stand and protect him.

She watched, impressed as Nicci sent a rolling wave of flame through the door and down the hallway. She must have killed half of them in one shot, the rest however were protecting themselves with their own talents. She was busy putting up shields of air while Sally was doing shields of stone, air or water. She thought this would be the best way and she barked out orders to the others.

"Sally and I will protect, Kat, kill anything that gets through the door. Nicci and Sara, kill them!"

They clicked as a perfect team, Sara seemed to be killing them outright, or confusing them enough that Nicci's fire burnt through and killed them. Between her and Sally's shields they were able to defend against all the attacks so far, but she hoped Justin would be done soon...

---------

He had heard Nicci's confident orders and voice, and the screams of the enemy. His women were powerful, and as his confidence in them grew, he threw himself into a battle with the evil and corrupt power of this altar. But no matter how much he channeled his power into the altar, the darkness didn't seem to be giving way.

He wondered if he made a mistake, maybe they should have attacked the city, killed the king and all the other corrupted talents first, weakened the altar even more before this confrontation. But from the tale Celia told, the altar should not be powerful enough to win. But he felt himself weakening, the more of his magic he fed to the struggle to no avail, the faster he felt himself being drained.

He was doing something wrong, and he needed to figure it out fast or he'd be dead in moments.

The goddess couldn't intervene because of free will.

Free will, free will was the key. But how? The dark god grew more powerful when his followers unwittingly surrendered their free will, became slaves to foul darkness and misery.

That was the key, there was power in sacrifice, power in the will of a person given over to a god.

What if it is offered freely to a goddess, without trickery, to love? Not to darkness, but to light.

He bowed his head and through the connection he felt to the goddess's love, he gave himself freely, and with trust, over to her will, to her design. His life and will were no longer his.

His vision turned white and his mind shied from the immensity of power that came back through that connection. The shadows melted under white flames as bright as the sun and the altar cracked and fell to dust.

He felt the love and gratitude of his goddess as the power pulled back, and though he heard no words he knew she had returned his free will. When he turned, the women were all staring at him with awe on their faces.

He winked and said faux brightly, "What should we do tomorrow?" He couldn't help it, he didn't do awe and it brought out the really bad jokes that weren't funny.

Nora snorted and he relaxed. He wanted his intended mates, not followers. 

They searched the room and found some books as well as notes on parchment, he asked Nicci to burn them while his mind spun. He couldn't read it, but he could swear it was written in Latin. He just hoped it was the last of them, although he guessed this would probably happen again, hopefully long after he died of old age.

They had one more unpleasant task, even with the books and notes burned the king might remember how to do it. He was a little uneasy, he wasn't an assassin. But when they got to the throne room, it turned out to be an unnecessary trip. The king and two other men were already dead, he guessed that when the god was cut off from the world their magic power snapped or something.

Either way he was glad, self defense he didn't mind, but killing in cold blood?

After they went over their options, they headed back for the aqueduct. No one saw a need to fight their way out of the city when they could sneak out. Whoever set the ward must have died in the castle battle, or was connected to the dark god, because no one was waiting for them out there.

They travelled about three miles, it was the middle of the night after all and they couldn't go their full speed, plus, they were all tired and needed some sleep...

---------

It took them a week to get back across the border, they had made a side trip to the mountains. There weren't very many soldiers at the mines there and they had no problems freeing the people taken from the southern villages. As for a pursuit, that just didn't happen. The capitol must have been in turmoil while they tried to select a new king. He thought probably by the sword.

They decided to stop in Nerin and spend a few days at the tavern. He wasn't sure exactly what plans the ladies had, but knew they were going back up close the capitol, but not in it. 

They had barely been back an hour when Kat dragged him upstairs to the room they shared that first night, and started to playfully wrestle with him to see who'd be on top.

"Stop a second, I need to say something."

Kat froze in surprise and looked concerned, he had never stopped their version of foreplay before, "What is it?" she asked.

He kissed her softly, reassuringly, then asked, "I've been waiting for the crazy ride to be over first, now that it is, will you be my mate? Have my children?"

When she whispered out a shocked but pleased yes, he felt his talent reach out and connect with hers, and something... changed. It didn't hurt, but it was a strange feeling.

He asked in confusion, "What was that?"

She furrowed her brow, "I didn't explain that? That is the mate connection, it means we can have kids. Didn't you ever wonder why I wasn't pregnant yet? Only mates can produce children."

He spluttered, "You left that part out, I assumed there was some kind of birth control, but I didn't ask."

She giggled as she stripped in front of him, prompting him to follow suit. Then for the first time ever, she lay down on her back without a fight.

She said in a thick sultry voice throbbing with emotion, "Come give me a child mate, I love you."

He knelt between her legs and kissed her softly as he checked her. He could feel she was more than ready for him. He lined up and slowly sunk into her welcoming warmth, relishing the feel of her walls hugging him as he slowly slid in. He gasped as she rocked her hips up, increasing the penetration.

He stared deeply into her deep brown eyes as they slowly coupled, the pleasure they created as he slid in out of her love sheath slowly brought them to blissful release together. He felt her wet warm velvety core contract and undulate around his manhood and he expanded within her.

He felt himself fill her womb with the result of his pleasure...

He cuddled with her as he thought about the future and what it might bring. He had fulfilled his goddess's purpose and his whole life lay before him, he was ready for it... whatever it may bring.

-----------------

-----------------

Hey, hoped you enjoyed the story. I know I left minor plots and character growth hanging, but the major plot for the book is done and this part of the story is finished. I don't know when I'm going to start the next story with Justin, Kat, Nora, Nicci, Sally and Sara. Need it to swirl in my head a bit I think, going to try and finish Ashley's world first regardless.

If you're curious, I enjoyed writing this a lot, took a short eleven days for me to write out the just shy of 64k words novel.



Flames



Muscle flexed, body ground against body, sweat glistened across tight, hot flesh. He brushed one hand over his face to loose the strands clinging to him as desperately as he clung to his lover. Their bodies moved in tandem against one another, connecting again and again as the lines between love and lust blurred into blazing passion. His hands cupped his lover's hips as he trust deep inside, issuing a low moan of pleasure. Their bodies trembled, one just after the other as they came and collapsed in a mass of flesh and limbs in the center of the bed. 

They lay together, both struggling for breath, their bodies tangling around one another in an intricate knot. Their mouths fumbled for one another, issuing proclamations of love between heated kisses. Sex was always this way for them: strong, passionate and utterly amazing. He had never failed to deliver and Ferdinand was glad to not be alone again tonight. There would be no more nights of his own hands roving over lonely flesh and bringing himself to orgasm alone. They were together again and the promise was always kept: they would spend the next three days in bed, fucking and cuddling and feeding each other whatever takeout they could have delivered to the house. Sometimes Maki would have surprises from the places he had visited rather it was food or a present. It was generally either used in foreplay or tossed aside to be examined during sexual downtime as they were curled around one another. It wasn't so much what was brought as long as he had some proof he had been on Maki's mind as much as he had been on his. All that really mattered to him was he was remembered and missed. It was hard being here alone.

Maki ran his hands over Ferdinand's face, neck and shoulders, starved for the sight and feel of him. He had missed him more than he had realized. There was nothing quite like coming home and falling into his arms. While he enjoyed touring, he enjoyed coming home more. 

"Did you miss me?" Ferdinand asked his usual question quietly, staring up into Maki's eyes. He laughed gently and responded as he always did.

"Like breath." 

Ferdinand buried his face in Maki's shoulder and pulled his full weight down on top of him, wriggling into a more comfortable position. "And not just the sex?"

Maki bit Ferdinand's shoulder playfully. "No, not just the sex." His voice was gentle, amused and slightly irritated. He wrapped his arms under Ferdinand's shoulders and under the pillow beneath his head. He shifted to the side a bit so he was resting partially on his hip and moved so Ferdinand's eyes had to meet his. "I mean that."

"I know you do," he stated, wrinkling his nose a bit, "but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy hearing it."

"Is that why you always ask me the same questions every time?"

"Of course." His tone was playful as he twisted the long strands of Maki's black hair into half braids. "Would you expect anything less. Or different?"

Maki shrugged and sighed. "I might worry about you if you didn't."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Maki leaned in and rubbed his cheek against Ferdinand's lovingly. "Because we have this ritual, you and I. I go out, I'm gone for six months or more at a time and here you are, sitting idly by, waiting on me to come home. It has to be lonely as fuck for you but you still do it. And when I come home, we spend the first few days I'm home fucking like rabbits."

"We don't fuck like rabbits."

Maki quirked a brow and smiled. His dark eyes danced. "Oh, you don't think so, do you?"

"We don't fuck like rabbits, Makiros," he stated rather matter-of-factly. "We fuck like we're from a third world country."

Maki laughed out loud. "What? Where the fuck did that come from?"

Ferdinand, who was trying very hard not to giggle and was failing, shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. I just made something up."

"Are you going to open the present I brought you?" he asked, rolling toward the side table beside their bed. "You didn't seem very interested in it when I first came home but I think you can appreciate it now."

Ferdinand sat up against the headboard of the bed and took the wrapped package. He was sure it had been gift wrapped at the store before Maki had even left it. "The wrapping is lovely." He slipped the ribbon off of the package and dropped it to the bed between them before carefully tearing the paper. 

"You can just tear the paper off, Ferdinand."

He looked slightly hurt. "I know I could but I really just wanted to save it. You didn't have to have it wrapped. You could have brought me the plain box. The little things mean a lot to me, Makiros, and you know that."

Nodding, he gestured back to the package. "Go ahead. Finish opening it. I want to know what you think."

Without tearing much of the paper, he retrieved the small white box from inside the wrapping and lifted the lid. Inside was a rather large locket. Maki pressed a button on the right side of the locket. The face opened. Inside was a small version of the snapshot Maki carried in his wallet of the two of them, nose-to-nose and forehead-to-forehead, smiling at one another. A faint song played from the locket. Ferdinand listened closely. 

"Is that..." he questioned, dropping off again to listen.

"It's our song," Maki whispered, his lips brushing Ferdinand's ear. "Do you like it?"

Instead of answering, Ferdinand began singing with the music box song. "Close your eyes. Let me touch you now. Let me give you something that is real. Close the door. Leave your fears behind. Let me give you what you're giving me."

Maki sang with him, "You are the only thing that makes me want to live at all. When I am with you, there's no reason to pretend that. When I am with you, I feel flames again. Just put me inside you. I would never ever leave. Just put me inside you. I would never ever leave you."

Ferdinand wrapped his arms around Maki's neck and hugged him as tightly as he could muster. The locket swung loosely from his hand. "It's absolutely beautiful, Makiros. Thank you. I love it."

His head was bowed, his hair covering his face, but Ferdinand could see him smiling. "I was worried you would think it silly."

"Sentimental," Ferdinand corrected, "and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm rather fond of it." He fingered the locket for a moment before closing it. "Will you help me put it on?"

"You want to wear it now?"

Ferdinand nodded vigorously. Maki snorted softly and took the locket gently from his hands, unfastened the clasp, and placed it around his lover's bare neck. He fastened it and leaned in to press kisses along the chain. "I must have picked the right gift," he murmured. His lips brushed Ferdinand's flesh. "I was going to make you wait until your birthday but I wanted to be sure you liked it." He wrapped one arm around Ferdinand's waist and hugged him. "Want to know what else I have been meaning to give you and have never managed to do?"

"Hmmwhat?" Ferdinand leaned back against Maki's chest and closed his eyes, enjoying his warmth and skin on skin contact. 

"You need to re-braid this lock. It's grown out a lot since you last did it." He fingered a single lock of his hair just behind his ear. 

"I'll do it for you later."

"Before I leave next time, I want you to braid the other side like you did this one. I can cut it off and leave it with you so you'll have a piece of me with you."

Ferdinand chuckled and nestled against Maki's chest. "You really must have missed me. You're never this... mushy." He wrapped Maki's arms around his waist and sighed heavily. Maki shifted and curled down into the bed and pulled Ferdinand with him, spooning around his body. He yawned and tucked his chin against Ferdinand's neck, drifting off to sleep.