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A Harem Fantasy Ch. 01

By: madam_noe



I was born a rarity and since the day it was discovered, I have been sheltered. To keep my skin pale, my hair red, I was locked away from the sun's rays. Because of the marking of my hair it was known that I would join the Queen's harem, but what it actually meant I had no idea. My education was not like that of my sisters.

They were made to weave cloth, learn the art of strategy and battle, learn trades and land management. My brothers were taught the arts and made servile for their future wives. I was given knowledge.

My own mother had died upon my birth and my father was little more than a handsome face and trained muscles, so a tutor was brought in. It was a man, a man the villagers referred to as "light keeper," but the meaning of that was never explained.

He was tall and thin, not as bulky as the other men his muscles were long and lean and natural, his face all hard angles, his eyes harsh or kind depending on the light, or my mischief. All day long I was taught the history of our elders the science of our brethren, the politics of modern day. I learned ledgers and ciphering, languages and philosophy, and strange arts.

My brothers were taught fighting and dancing so as to please their future wives, some arts not taught to women, but what I learned was very similar. I learned things no one else knew, secrets of the elders I was sworn to uphold.

It seemed every age brought a ritual, and like all things I was made to look forward to them at night. My first Equinox Vernal I was baptized into the Order of the Moon, a religion only practiced by the High Priestesses of Caldor, the capital city a thousand miles away. My second, a tree was planted in the village center in my honor. My third a new kind of rose was sent from Caldor, bred by the High Gardener herself. My fourth I passed the trials of Caldor, becoming a low priestess. My fifth brought my tutor, at my sixth my hair was cut for the first time. On my seventh there was a draught and they sacrificed two white bulls to me while I blessed the fields. Our harvest was large.

My eighth and I became a page to Lady Callie Marlowe, who had fought as a knight in the battle of Treole, my ninth and I became a published poet. At my tenth I sacrificed two bulls by my own hand so thirty women could have babies, my eleventh I became a healer of the village. My twelfth and I celebrated womanhood on the Equinox Vernal, as if it had been ordained. I was told it was.

That made me a high priestess. My thirteenth brought the markings around my ankles, braided tattoos that resembled restraints. My fourteenth and my Tutor brought me to the capital of our province with Callie Marlowe, and I was made a knight. My fifteenth and I joined the hunt. My sixteenth and I took a paige to train, my seventieth and I learned how to dance the dance of eight veils, a dance no other woman I knew hand learned. 

Then my eighteenth came.

My tutor was named Cassipe, a man who'd been born and raised in Caldor as a servant to the queen, the old queen. The new queen had come to power during my twelfth year after the old one had passed. When Cassipe mourned her for ten days I knew he had been one of her men.

The Queen was forbidden to marry, forbidden to have children. She kept a harem of men and women to see to her needs, at that time I had no idea what that meant, and queens were chosen by merit and beauty from the harem.

When this was explained to me I began to realize I was being groomed to be a contender, but seeing as the new queen and I were only six years apart that seemed unlikely.

The old queen died a month before the Equinox Vernal and with every year the day was marked by a quiet Cassipe. When I was seventeen Vernals he was silent from that anniversary until the night when we all aged another year.

A year earlier I had been given my own servants, two girls from the village three years younger than I and forbidden to speak to me. Or they were supposed to be, but we talked openly. On the Vernal night they were ordered by my tutor to bathe me, dress me in thin white robes, and to bring me to the temple of the moon that had been built for me in the back of our gardens. Cassipe ordered my father to keep all of his remaining children inside the main house and I alone walked in the gardens.

Both moons were high, casting such a bright pink-blue glow that the torches were extinguished. I was shivering in the night air, unsure of what to expect. I never knew what would come, but so far my surprises had all been good.

I entered the temple to find it lit by what seemed like a thousand candles, all white tapers with perfectly gold flames. The roof was opened to the twin moons, shining their blue and pink light down onto the large altar that sat in the middle of the room. That night it had been covered in pillows and draped with white silk, fringed with gold.

Behind the altar stood Cassipe in a robe like my own, white with gold trim. It seemed strange to see him in the color as white was forbidden by all but the Priestesses to wear. The first time I had worn a white gown Cassipe had looked up from the breakfast table at me and pronounced it was to be all I wore.

He was tanned like a lowborn farm laborer and the white made his skin seem even darker a bronze, a shade closer to his dark eyes. His hair was blonde but the sun had made it almost white long ago, and tonight his long hair was loose and flowed into the robe as if they were one.

He was fifteen Vernals older than I, and a complete autocrat who taught me total obedience to him and the order, but that had not stopped my tender feelings. He was quite handsome, sought after by all the local women, but for eighteen years he had refused them all in order to raise me.

After the last Equinox Vernal, on a hunt, I had looked at him too long, and he had ordered that I never look him in the eye, so I fixed my gaze on his chin.

"Virtal, tonight you are eighteen Vernals."

I said nothing as I had not been solicited. The sense of obedience was commanded only by him, as even the mayor and governor were my inferiors. I wondered, not for the first time, how our statuses would be in Caldor. I secretly suspected he would also be my inferior.

In my nights I imagined all sorts of things, touching we never did in the day. I had no idea of what men and women did in the darks of their rooms, that knowledge was forbidden to me, but it did not stop my dark imaginings. As the only men I saw were my family and Cassipe, it made sense he was the face I saw in the night.

"Six years ago the first step on the bridge to womanhood was taken, and tonight will be your last."

Our eyes met sharply and he looked away first. I watched his throat bob and cast my eyes down again. I felt electric and trembling with anticipation, though I tried hard to calm myself.

"Lay on the alter, facing the moons."

I hesitated and took a deep breath, climbing atop the soft alter and lying down on my back. The moons were above me, looking so close and large that they appeared as if they were going to collide. At the height of the Equinox Vernal they would pass by each other so close that Huginal, the closer moon, would dip five hundred miles closer than its normal orbit. At that moment all the tides would surge, the birds call out, and the world rejoice that another year had passed.

I folded my hands on my stomach and swallowed. 

"Virtal, you must understand that I would sooner slay myself than cause you harm, no?"

"Yes, sir."

"When a woman takes this step there is pain. No one knows why, but it happens for all. It will happen only the first time."

His voice was off to the side and I wanted to look at him for reassurance but I was frozen, staring at the moons creeping closer together. 

"This ceremony is as old as time for the priestesses. Normally it is a priest who carries it out but the priest who was sent for you has been missing for a week now. So I must take his place. These men have been taught from the beginning of their education to complete this act causing minimal pain, but pleasure is to be forbidden to the priestess.

"Having done this in effect for a few other women in my time, I do not think it conscionable to carry out without pleasure for both, and I am not bound by the same laws," he said softly.

"Close your eyes, Virtal, and I promise you will enjoy this."

I closed my eyes but trembled, unsure of what it was he meant. Pain, pleasure, what on earth could he mean? And then I felt his hands placing mine at my side, and then my robe was parted.

I was naked beneath and though I had been naked in front of my maids often I had never been so before a man. The air felt cool and the tip of my breasts hardened as they did when I was alone with my deepest, darkest thoughts.

I felt his fingers brush them and I gasped, biting my lip to keep the sound in, waiting for permission but he said nothing. The tips hardened even more and then I felt him pinch them both. I tried to hold back the moan but I couldn't. I expected a reprimand but none came.

Then I felt something hot and wet. I opened my right eye slowly to find his blonde head bent over me. His mouth! He was kissing me with his tongue on the tip of a breast, pinching the other one. I gasped and felt my hips roll upwards.

Sensations I had never known exploded, and I felt as if I could feel each and every cell of my body. Deep between my hips I felt something seemingly turn over and expand, a feeling of liquid warmth and tension roll outward from there.

For long moments I watched the moons slide towards each other with the same sort of expectant feeling that he was building inside me. Then his hand left my breast and skittered downward, towards my aching heat.

He touched the place I had no name for, the one part of my body that had to always be covered, even in front of other women. He parted the folds gently and I tensed, but then there was a feeling of pleasure so white hot intense I made a strangled sound.

He began to move his fingertips and I felt everything in my body return inward, focusing on one single point. He stroked faster and faster until my panting became a crashing imploding thing, and just when I felt a pinnacle was in sight, he stopped.

Gasping, he lifted his hand and head and his eyes met mine. I expected to be reprimanded for opening them but he just held my gaze as he slid his glistening fingers inside his mouth. The sounds he made were the same I made when chocolate was presented; a desperate soul sampling the rarest of treats.

He pressed his mouth to mine and the feeling was strange. Then he made me open my lips and I felt a shiver all along my body spiking a pulse between my legs. I closed my eyes, lost sight of the creeping moons, and felt his tongue touch mine. He tasted hot and salty, the strange taste must have been from his fingers, from me.

Suddenly he pulled back, leaving both of us to pant, and then he looked at the moons. With a curse he jumped up on the alter, lying across me and parting my legs. I became aware that there was a part of his body that was harder than the rest, a jutting piece of flesh between his own legs. I didn't question it, somehow knowing my body craved it.

He leaned down to kiss me as the tip of that jut touched my tender folds.

"I am sorry for the pain you are about to feel, but thank the Goddess it recedes. Just clutch my shoulders and cry out if you need to, but stay still and it will pass. Yes?"

I nodded and felt his hips move back. Then they surged forward and in one swift move the jutting piece of flesh entered me. Immediately I felt agony, a burning feeling as if I had been made not of flesh but fabric, and it had been torn. I screamed into the night and squeezed my eyes against it.

I felt my heartbeat everywhere, the tension in my body far from pleasurable, and it lasted dozens of heartbeats. When I came down from it the pain was receding rapidly, and I felt a wet sucking at my breast.

He repeated his motions until the pleasurable tension was upon me, then he reared back and surged forward. The pleasure was incredible, more intense than anything I had ever imagined. I clutched at him and heard, as if from a distance, mewling sounds come from my own throat.

He had always been so long and narrow where the men of my village were shorter and bulky with muscle so I had never appreciated his size. He dwarfed me on the alter, a strange feeling for a girl born so tall, and I felt delicate and worshipped in his arms.

Above his head the moons were almost merged, casting an ethereal glow on his golden white head. Then he reared back, his eyes meeting mine as the angle changed, his flesh hitting some spot inside me that made my whole body shudder. His hand returned and the pad of his large thumb stroked the spot he'd teased earlier.

He glanced at the moons, his rhythm faltering for only a second.

"Come for me, my sweet Virtal, the moons are almost complete."

I felt the call we all did, the ocean getting ready to surge, the silent birds waiting, my blood calling out for release in the same way my body did now.

He surged deeper and I felt it, shining in front of me. The moons collided, my blood surged, the birds called out, and my scream echoed with theirs. Cassipe shouted and thrust even deeper, trembling as I did and the world went mad for a moment.

It took a long time for me to come down and when I did Cassipe kissed me softly and then removed his body from mine. He pressed a towel to where our bodies had joined and patted gently.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them he was dressed again and bid me to sit up. When I did he gave me a bone cup filled with a dark green liquid.

"Drink this. What we did could get you with child, but it is forbidden. This is a drink that will prevent that from happening. Drink."

I smelled it and knew the herbs well. One was a blood thinner, one was to ease cramping a woman felt at monthtide, another was to help pregnant women past their due dates to quicken, and the last was a poison that in small doses made a person sleep and appear dead. Most useful for escape.

"Will I sleep?"

He nodded.

"Fare thee well in Nod, then." I drank it all and it tasted foul. By the last swallow my eyes were drooping and then I fell into a dreamless sleep.

A Harem Fantasy Ch. 02



When I woke the birds were singing the happy song of morning and my maids were laying out my clothes into piles as I lay upon my bed.

"What are you doing, then?"

"Master Cassipe has ordered us to pack your things. You are heading to Caldor today, miss."

This brought a flurry of excitement, the kind of which I was prone to and which made Cassipe either smile or glower depending upon his mood. He told me it was childish to feel such surges of excitement, but how could I not, when life brought such wonders? At this time yesterday I was a mere girl, and now I was a woman, a woman who knew the pleasures between men and women, and I was headed for Caldor.

"Please ma'am, do not be so jubilant, your father has been in a fit all day, wracked with sadness. Master Cassipe is trying to convince him you must go."

"Dress me quickly, please."

"Here ma'am," one of the maids held up a more daring gown. The bodice dipped low on the chest and previously a flesh colored panel had kept it most modest. 

"What happened to the front?"

They exchanged looks. "Master Cassipe ordered changes made while you were sleeping. He said your wardrobe must be fit for a woman."

So many things were different already, had that one act really changed so much?

All my clothes were white but I looked at the stacks and saw blues and greens. "What are these?"

"Cassipe ordered them a fortnight ago. White is a color of purity, and purity and womanhood do not go together. Like the yin and yang, now you have a bit of the dark within you." 

Lousy know-it-all maids, that would teach me better than to let them read my philosophy books. I liked the purity of white, the color that set me apart. They must have sensed my mood for there was no more chatter as they dressed me in a tunic and breeches of white with blue trim on the pants, and high boots of bleached suede, a soft white that would no doubt be muddy by day's end.

My hair was brushed to a shine and set back from my face in combs, caught the long back in a net of gold. I wore no makeup as did the other women of my noble house, I was proud of my milk-white complexion and aimed to keep it pure. Against it my blue eyes were large and my lips a soft pink that needed no enhancement.

I was vain but what woman wouldn't be when from her earliest memory she was told she was the most beautiful woman in all the land? It was no small thing.

I grabbed a satin cloth of blue to cover my head as I marched to the house from my own small cottage. Servants cast their eyes down at me the way I did to my tutor, and my heels clacked loudly on the floor.

I found them in the solar where my father wiled away the hours. All his sons were married and my two eldest sisters had claimed their estates from his family in the north. My two remaining sisters lounged about, nodding to me as I entered.

Cassipe was facing my father at his desk. I bowed and kept my eyes away from him as I faced my father.

"Father I hear you have fears about my traveling."

"You're damn right. You're only eighteen and the furthest you've been from home was with Lady Marlowe to Provincetown. Now he tells me you are to move to Caldor and serve the queen? How can she when she's so young!"

"Father," Eliandra said in bored tone, "when Samantha and I were both fifteen we were allowed free reign."

Father shook his head. "With all due respect you are the third and fourth daughters of a great house. You have no land to inherit, you must find your own by winning notice from the queen. That is the same fate I should want some day for my youngest."

I knelt at my father's side and laid a hand on his arm. "Father, you have known my destiny longer than I have. You have always known this day would come."

My sisters made noises of support which shocked me. When we'd been younger there had been great jealousy between them for me, until we grew and they learned how cloistered my life was. No doubt they had known the pleasures of womanhood since they were sixteen. Judging by how attentive the male servants were I had little doubt.

Cassipe clucked his tongue in impatience. "Sir, she is right. The day has come. Do not lament on your child's ascension to glory, instead treat her as a father who loves his daughter should. Know that while she is with me she will come to no harm and there is no place safer in all the empire than in the Queen's Harem."

My father blushed at the last word, and I wondered what it meant. All I knew was that the Queen's harem served her, attended to her needs, was comprised of men and women, and was highly protected. My sisters chuckled.

"All right. Eliandra, Liliat, please leave us. Cassipe, sir, may I have some time alone with my daughter?"

"Certainly. I will continue to pack. We leave at sunset."

"I'll have her ready."

I watched my master go, wondering at the jumble of feelings I held. There was still the fear of punishment should I disobey, the feelings that I now recognized, but there was also a need to challenge him, to escape his tyrannical rule and be my own woman. My sisters had no idea how I envied them, those two wild and landless women, life was waiting to offer whatever they would take.

Only my other two sisters, Merchal and Simasde, knew what it was like. They had had arranged marriages since they were born, properties to inherit since our mother died. They had to go with it, never taking chances like the other two. They walked a fine line as much as I did, and so I had always gotten along with them better.

My father and I talked of mundane things, promised to write each other, and relived memories. He cried and I shed a tear, a rare occurrence for which he thanked me. Then he left and sent in Eliandra then Liliat in turn.

"Welcome to womanhood, little sister," Eliaindra told me with a slap to my back after she closed the door. "Though I know you were already welcomed well." She smirked. 

"What ever do you mean?"

"My first tumble with a man, well to be fair he was a boy and a virgin as much as I, was nothing like yours."

I blushed. "You heard?"

"The whole province heard. Jealously, I'm sure, for we've all admired Cassipe from afar, but he's never had eyes for anyone but you."

"What do you mean?"

"I find it so funny," she said after chuckling, "that for a woman bound for the harem he's taught you nothing of what he should."

"What do you mean?"

"Can you say nothing else? What do you mean?" she mimicked. "I mean the fact that man has been in love with you for some time. I've heard from your maids how the priest who was sent for you disappeared. I wouldn't put it past him to killed the man with his bare hands. I've been to Caldor, I know how these things are done. The tutor is never to touch you, and little sister, pleasure for the harem bound woman is forbidden outside the harem. Tell anyone when you get there how he made you scream and he'll be put to death."

I paled.

"The harem has never been explained to you, has it?"

I shook my head.

She grabbed an apple and slouched in her chair, taking a generous bite and looking evil. I knew the ancients had believed a woman had bitten an apple from the tree of knowledge and condemned mankind to pain, but I had never understood until that moment.

"The harem is the source for the queen's pleasure. It has always been filled with the most beautiful of all men, but the queen is only one woman, and men are not like us. What made you scream, little sister, is called an "orgasm." Women can have as many as they like as often as they like, but we do not need them every day. Men need at least one a day though very few can have more than that.

"So the queen stacks her harem with women to see to the needs of the men. For many centuries the women of the harem were ugly so as not to be competition, but more and more the queens have chosen a consort and tend to call on the other men very few times, so the queens have selected beautiful women.

"But this queen," she whispered and drew nearer to the edge of her seat, drawing me forward on mine, "likes women almost as much as she likes men."

I gasped at that and she laughed at my shock.

"Do- can she really do that?"

"You haven't grown up the way we have. When I was on board my ship for a year with no men around, all we had was each other."

"But you said women did not need...orgasms like men do."

She raised one brown eyebrow. "You have had one, would you really like to go without?"

"I guess not."

"So, little sister, you had better appreciate women."

Liliat had similar advice but a much kinder delivery. She too warned me never to tell about the pleasure between Cassipe and myself, and also not to expect any more from my tutor.

We ate dinner together and when the sun set Cassipe and I climbed onto our horses, and rode off with our pack mules behind us and my maids sharing one horse to bear their dainty weight.

We rode in silence and passed the capital, breaking an hour before dawn in the Black Woods of the North. The maids set up two tents while Cassipe made a fire. I agreed to cook and made our meal quickly with unleavened dough and meat cooked on a metal plate with vegetables from the garden and herbs from my collection.

Cassipe lectured me on the virtues of humility and then I was left alone in the dawn to practice with my sword. My maid Welmet was trained as well but I was an official knight and had the duty of guarding our party. I worked up a sweat and washed in a small brook before coming to bed. My maids slept at the foot of the tent leaving me the larger space while Cassipe slept in the tent next to us.

I awoke when the sun was high and knew I was two or three hours early. Then I heard it; a moan. It sounded like Welmet might be ill. "Arte you all right?" I sat up and gasped.

Welmet was on her back, her nightgown pushed high to her waist, the collar low beneath her breasts pushing them out, her legs bent at the knee. Between them Kisant knealt, her face pressed between them. For a moment they did not notice me and I felt my own body tingle. If the jutting piece of flesh- a cock, Liliat had insisted I call it, had felt so good, if fingers had felt so good, how might a kiss feel?

"Oh my goddess!" Welmet screeched and tried to shove Kisant from her. It took the other maid a second but then she stumbled back.

"My lady!" 

I held a hand out. "No! Please, my sister tells me I may have to do this for the queen. Please, show me what to do."

They gave each other sideways looks and otherwise froze. "Please?" I gently asked.

At last Kisant nodded and knelt again. She turned Welmet so that I could see her clearly and I was fascinated by what I saw. Was this how I looked? So pink and shiny.

Kisant shifted until the sat at Welmet's shoulder and then she bent down. I saw every inch as her tongue snaked out and licked the length of Welmet's slit. The other woman gasped and then Kisant used her fingers to spread her wide.

I scooted down my bedroom to peer closer and saw a nubbin of flesh revealed. The same in me that Cassipe had stroked me to pleasure with? From Welmet's moans I assumed they were the same.

Suddenly her moans grew shorter, breathier, quicker and then she squealed out a moan. Her flesh quivered and the shiny juices flowed, covering Kisant's mouth.

"Wow," I said when they pulled away. I was intrigued. "Can I try?"

They exchanged looks again. The damn rules. "The rules say I may not experience pleasure but do not say I cannot gift it to another. You, Kisant, lay down."

They were my servants and had to obey.

She lay down and arranged her nightgown like the other woman's and waited nervously. I leaned over her and experiment with my fingertip against her- what had Lilant called them? Her nipple. It hardened so I stroked it and that got me a whimper. I smiled with pride and then did as Cassipe had. I rolled and pinched and when her breathing leveled I licked at it.

Her back arched and her hands tightened around Welmet's who smiled at me, encouraging. I moved down and found her slit shiny as Welmet's had been. I used a finger to trace its line and found her nubbin peaking out from a hood of flesh. I rubbed it and she gasped loudly, the sound cut off by a hand over her mouth thanks to Welmet.

I leaned down and gave it a kiss and found her grunting. I looked at Welmet for advice.

"Lick it with your tongue. Suck on the clitoris. The nubbin sticking out," she explained at my blank look.

I licked and found the taste very salty, similar to my own. I liked the feeling of power her moans gave me but I began to wonder about using my mouth on Cassipe like this. Would he like it just as much? Did men, as much as women? I really wanted to know.

I licked until she was clawing at the bedroll and then, as directed by our third, I closed my mouth over the clitoris and suckled. She cried out and Welmet clamped her own mouth on hers, silencing the cry, but it was too late.

The flap was jerked open and Cassipe stormed inside. "What in the name of demons!"

He jerked me to my feet and dragged me from the tenth before turning back. "I will deal with you two later."

"Sir, she made us do it!"

"Silence!"

He dragged me all the way to the water and I kept silent, knowing I had earned whatever lecture was coming. It was to my great surprise that he threw me in. "Clean yourself."

I stood shivering the cool water under the sun's rays, my hair hanging loose and wet in my eyes. With my rage I expected the water to be steaming, but no such luck.

I waited for him to turn around and then I peeled my nightgown off, slapping most of the water loose on some rocks before dunking myself and scrubbing my face. I gargled water and came up, naked and shivering, my arms folded across my breasts protectively. 

"You don't know how bad this is, young lady!" He blistered me with a raised voice, a rarity for my tutor. "The queen is expecting you to be biddable, trainable to her liking. If you express your appetites now how on earth will you come to like hers?"

The argument made no sense to me so I held my tongue.

"Now come out," he ordered and sat down on a flat low rock.

In shyness I hesitated and he waved it off. "I have seen you, young lady, now get over here now."

I came to stand by his side and he grabbed my arm, forced me to my knees and draped my over his lap. The first slap came as a shock, he'd never stuck me before, but the second and third felt good. His palm was warm and big, my behind was soft and firm and received the blows well.

It made the tingling that had begun in my core grow again and I felt myself getting wet. Then I was raising my hips to meet him and keeping stubbornly silent, determined not to let him know how it affected me. Then I felt the hardness at my shoulder.

Impulsively I turned and rubbed my face against it. He gasped and sprang up, dropping me to the soft ground. I rolled over onto my back and pushed myself up on my elbows, watching.

I did not look at his chin like I should have, I looked him in they eyes and let him see all the questions and frustrations there in. He swore in words I did not know men knew.

"Virtal, no."

"I did not ask a question."

He stepped back and then forward again. "No. If I touch you I could well meet my death in Caldor. Have a care for how serious this is."

"The rules, as they have been explained to me, say that I must not feel pleasure, but that is not true for others around me."

He swore again and my eyes widened. 

"No, Virtal, no."

"I have already experienced pleasure, what harm can come from this?"

He swore again, but used the same words. "You have had one peak and this is how you act, like a madwoman. Goddess forbid you have another or I will have to keep you from the village men as we pass."

"I don't want them, Cassipe. I want you."

Those light eyes froze on mine and I sensed victory. I stood and raised my chin, not allowing myself to fall back into the role of student and give him an escape. I waited four full seconds before reaching for him, and found myself slammed into a tree.

He raised me and wrapped my legs around his waist, capturing my mouth. I felt his hand between us and waited for the touch but he was opening his trousers. The jutting piece of flesh- the cock sprang out and he thrust into me without warning. His mouth caught my cry.

The feeling was powerful and I was aroused, but not like the last time. The last time he had been gentle and caring, this time he was a feral animal, pumping into me harder and faster than I had imagined a man could. He pumped like a man too long denied, desperate, and I got caught up in it.

I caught a tendril that I had felt before and rode it. I cried out a split second before he did but he jerked out of me and I felt a splatter against my belly. I felt warm but empty and puzzled at it.

Cassipe set me down and used his own night shirt to clean it. "Ejaculate," he explained, "men release it when they peak. If they do it inside a woman she could get with child. I couldn't afford to have you sleep the night away. Now get dressed and don't, for a moment, think this will happen again."

Smiling, I cleaned myself, redressed, and followed him back to camp.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 03



Over the next four days it happened five times again. Then we reached the city and all thoughts of anything else flew out my head.

Caldor was huge. The buildings had as many as ten floors, how they did it I had no idea, but in the middle of it all was a giant pyramid, the royal palace. We arrived two hours after dusk and rode through town. I suffered many stares and points at my hair as everyone here had the browns typical of the south lands, a few blondes like Cassipe wandered in, from the north, even a few westerners with their jet black hair. I stared at them as they did me having never seen one, and I guess they had never seen one of me either.

The palace was guarded heavily not just by women with long swords and spears, their chests covered in metal plates of armor, but behind them men. The men were all massive and muscled, their own armor heavy, their swords impossibly large. 

Cassipe stopped us outside the gate and made me bade my maids goodbye. We hugged tearfully as he waited impassively in the setting sun, and then I was alone with him and three cases of our clothing. 

It was strange, as we walked the official looking women kept their eyes lowered at me, as Cassipe kept his lowered to them. My suspicions had been confirmed, he was lower than I, but I supposed it didn't matter.

The stones here were medium golden, like shiny sand, and every inch that could be was lined with actual gold. Every hall and door was framed with torches and the effect was glowing. It made Cassipe blend in, like most of these southern people with their tanned skin. I stuck out like a white candle taper, both by my white robes and my skin, my hair a deeper red than any flame.

An official gatekeeper read the scroll Cassipe presented and brought forth a young woman in scholar's robes.

"Welcome to the palace, I am Halfath. Cassipe, you have been summoned by Dracus." She waited as did we. "Cassipe? Do you not remember where it is? Have the years changed your memory so much?"

"Will she be all right?"

Halfath stepped closer to me. "Your charge has been excellently executed. She is safe, and she is home. Do show more care to hide your feelings, Cassipe."

I'd never seen him chastised, but this did it. He nodded, bowed to her and then me, and turned to leave. I twisted my head to follow him and Halfath put a hand on my shoulder. "You too. His life depends on the fact that all he is to you is a teacher, that and nothing more." She looked side to side but no one was close enough to listen, and she bent to my ear. "He will return to the harem if all is well, and you'll see him again." She stood up with a smile, though her eyes did not meet mine. "Come now, let's get you settled."

She turned to lead me down the deeply colored hall and through others, taking twists and turns until we were deep in the pyramid. And then we began to climb. When at last we stopped I saw we were higher than the other buildings, almost to the top. The stairs continued up or there was a door, flanked by two female guards, and two male ones.

They nodded to Halfath and opened the doors, and we stepped into another world. We were on a platform that wrapped around the stairwell and looked down over a huge room. One side was all blue and green walls, the other all gold and red. Halfath wound me towards the golden side and we descended past more guards into the section.

The walls did not reach to the ceiling, instead they rose ten feet and wound like a maze. On this side women lounged or walked, mostly in groupings of two or three, some slept on beds somehow through the light din of conversation and laughter.

From somewhere music flowed and I caught the sound of a waterfall. A waterfall, indoors! My eyes were wide and I felt quite the country mouse as I walked further down. I noticed the women were all young, most of them priestesses, a few even knights like myself, and they were all staring at me.

"Why do they stare?" I whispered to my guide.

"Your hair. Unless you prove to be...unworthy, you are to be second to the queen."

I don't think anything she could have said would have shocked me more than that. My feet followed automatically, one hand on a case of clothes, the other nervously toying with my sword. Halfath carried my other case as she led me through twists and turns to the back of the pyramid.

Here the walls were taller, the colors more soothing, the women taller. All off them priestesses and knights, all of them dark or blonde, tanned by the southern sun, and all of them watched me.

Halfath stopped me at the last room before a set of white stairs. At the top more guards waited, also watching. The door to this cell was gauzy and shimmery gold, and Halfath held it aloft. I stepped through into a strange world.

At home I was given few luxuries. Clothes, yes, but my bed was meager, my room large enough to house a chest, my bed, a dressing screen, and two beds for my maids.

This room was three times as large, the stone floor covered in soft animal skins and thick rugs. The bed was tall and soft looking, the sheets white, the wood dark, four posts rose from the corners and a canopy hung over, draped with more white cloth. Very private.

In the corner a dressing screen of rich silk partitioned off a corner next to a soft couch. There was a large chest with drawers, and a small desk topped with a mirror was crammed with jars. One fifth of the room was hidden behind another wall, this one did go to the ceiling.

I peaked inside and found a bowl with a seat, a small washbasin with flowing water at about waist height, and a lager washbasin I could fit myself and three other inside.

"Wow."

Halfath smiled and set my suitcase on the chest of drawers before taking the one I held and setting it there as well. "This is your home. The queen's quarters are up the stairs, and this section is for the first tier. Everyone here is a high priestess and a knight, so you'll be in good company."

She clapped her hands and two women appeared, both short and dark, their skin so bronzed it was hard to tell the original color. "Chas and Lile here will unpack your things. I will give you one hour to freshen up and redress, and then we will take a tour."

She left me then and the women had bowed and set to unpacking. "Freshen up?" I asked the nearest one. 

She bowed and opened a drawer, passing me a bar of soap and a vial of liquid, passing them to me. "The water runs here like a fountain. In the large basin you can plug the drain until it fills. Simply unplug it and twist the knob to turn off the flow. The vial is for your hair."

I opened my mouth and she smiled. "The pedestal seat is where you..." She made vague gestures and I understood. How advanced!

It took half of the hour to bathe the trail dust off and then the maids dressed me in a white down with blue-green trim. They dried my hair with a complicated bellows and set to braiding it. 

To my shock they approached me with the jars and brushes as I sat at the mirrored desk, and when I protested, they laughed. My eyes were lined with kohl, the lids brushed with a light color reflecting the blue-green of my eyes. My lips were lined and filled in with a pouty red rouge.

When they were done I looked magnificent. I wore much less makeup than any of the women I'd seen outside had, but I looked just as polished.

I was not allowed to clasp my sword, was told I did no need it, and instead hammered gold bands designed like snakes were wound around my left upper arm and my right wrist. A gold snake with green eyes fashioned into a diadem was settled into my hair.

I did not look like myself, I looked...

The maids chuckled as I thanked them. Country mouse manners, I guessed, but I could not let them go without a word of thanks.

"You look amazing, as you should," Halfath said behind me. I stood, turned to her, and she bowed. "Are you ready?"

"I am."

She led me out and down the line of cells, the women were lined up next to the doors. Halfath nodded to them as we went, introducing them by name. I was so excited I could not keep them straight, but I did notice who looked friendly and who did not.

The rows were arranged by tiers, the top tier was women who were knights and priestesses, the second knights, the third priestesses, the fourth highborn women of no distinction, the fifth and last lowborn women. There were fifty women and I was told there were twice as many men, but seeing them would come later.

I was shown the gym, the heated pool baths, the library, the training room, the private study rooms, and a myriad of parlors. There were three dining halls, all serviced by dumbwaiters leading to the kitchens below. 

The women of the harem were all tall, only the servants were short, and I was the only one with red hair. I wasn't surprised, my mother had strawberry blonde hair and of my six siblings I was the only one to inherit the red. Still, I always had a hard time believing the prophecies in the Caldorian religion, that my hair was a mark of leadership and spiritual harmony that inclined me to leadership. I was only a cloistered eighteen year old who felt like a twelve year old country hick, and it felt strange that no one there would meet me in the eyes.

The men's quarters were laid out the same way but I was not yet given a tour, only had Halfath wave her hand over it. Instead she brought me to a small room off the dining room and had me seated with the five other women that were priestesses and knights. 

I sat at the head of the table and to my right were two brunettes, to my left two blondes, and at the foot another brunette with the most striking eyes I'd ever seen. They were large and lavender, dominating her doll-like face.

Halfath reintroduced them all. Lavender was Mystrike, the brunettes were Morganna and Gorgent, the blondes were Missiply and Annist, twins of the same face. No one spoke as we ate formally and it was all I could do to remember my manners. Missiply, Annist, and Morganna snuck looks at me, while Mystrike gave me a hard look, and Gorgent looked at her.

I knew who would like me, I knew who hated me. This was the inner circle and I wished all of us could like each other, but as long as I knew where we all stood I was fine.

After the meal Halfath returned just as Annist was asking me about my life, only to take me to the white stairs. I trembled under the hot torches and bronze bowls, surrounded by dark golds and bright reds, and women wearing all manner so colors, still feeling like a white candle amidst a fire.

The guards held us at the stairs while one went inside to announce my arrival. Then both tall doors were opened and I stepped into a jungle. I knew jungles existed further south, but someone had made one in the pyramid palace.

Green plants were everywhere and the soft call of animals rang out. We walked a path behind a guard and emerged in a large room open to the night. Brightly colored birds sat on perches or the railings, the couches were all red with gold trim. Silks hung from the walls and everywhere I looked it was gold.

Behind a large desk sat the queen, and I realized the color preference. Her hair wasn't really red, it was auburn, and her skin was olive and deeply tanned, her eyes large and green. Her own gown was gold, the perfect color, and the red set off her skin well.

As Halfath did I lowered onto one knee until her cool voice ordered me to rise. I looked at her and saw she really was young. I knew her to be twenty four but she looked even younger, her body lithe and long even if she was petite. Goddess help me, I thought I was prettier, and in the back of my mind I knew that if she did not find me attractive, if she thought me a rival, I was dead.

She smiled and I felt relief wash over me.

"You are Virtal of the Northlands, yes?"

I bowed and spoke softly, "Yes."

"You are to be my second. Come and meet your counterpart."

She walked to me and clasped my hands within hers. I was not foolish enough to look her in the eyes or relax, but I walked with her as she brought me fully out of the foliage and into the room. Seated on a couch reading a map was a man of inscribable beauty.

He was tall, perfectly muscled, bronze skinned, his hair long, curled, and black as pitch. His eyes were large and blue, a startling color for a southerner. I estimated his age at perhaps nine Vernals above my own. His body was shown to perfection as he wore only a bathrobe and sandals, not unusual for a man, but strange for a male knight. Such people did exist, and when she said equal that's what I assumed. Perhaps he was also a rare priest of Caldor.

"He is my consort Marxim," she said, and I realized she meant equal in the harem.

He I could look in the eye and he me, and I saw surprise quickly masked into cool friendship. He stood and bowed as I did and we turned to the queen, waiting.

"What do you think of Virtal of the North?" The queen asked Marxim sweetly.

"I know nothing of her, my lady," he answered with measured correctness.

"How old are you Virtal?"

"I have seen eighteen Vernals, my lady."

"A mere child. I didn't want a child, how could her teacher not know this?" Marxim and I snuck a look at each other in confusion. This question was not meant to be answered, but it could lead down a dangerous path.

"Virtal, know you the ways of man and woman?"

I did not want to lie but I could not tell the truth, not if Cassipe wanted to live. "This last Vernal I was initiated as I should have been."

"I do not want anyone in my harem until they are of age. Eighteen! And her teacher comes to me, tells me the priest I sent was murdered and he fears for her safety. Not my problem! More to the point, if she carries danger on her back, why bring her to my doorstep?"

I felt fear suddenly. I had been in danger? Why had Cassipe not told me anything?

"My lady, perhaps she can be allowed to remain here finish her education in Caldor until she is of age." Marxim said quietly.

The queen began to pace. "I need an heir. I need one now, but she must be everything a queen can be. Not a slip of a girl who knows nothing of battle, of love."

I held my tongue, wondering if the queen was always such a dramatic person, or if she knew something I did not about her fate. "I have no time now, and I don't even think I like her."

She didn't know me! I stiffened and felt the slight touch of Marxim's elbow against my arm, somehow reassuring. It seemed this queen was of high temper, but surely she had been raised as I had, made to work hard and live without, to learn patience and the benefit of thought?

"Do you even know how to give pleasure?" She whirled about at me, stepping close, and I realized I was nearly a foot taller.

"Yes," I said simply, confused.

She looked me up and down in an assessing manner and snorted. "It will not do. Marxim?"

"Yes?" he responded softly.

"You will see to her education, a proper education. Do not return her to me until she knows of our ways. All of our ways."

He bowed deeply. "Yes, my lady. Come with me," he said to me and took my arm.

I followed him back outside, past the guards, and across the balcony to the green stairs. "Where are we going?"

"To begin your education. Your first lesson; when the queen orders something she expects it to be immediately carried out."

I followed him down into a row of rooms much like the row I now lived in. At the sound of his footsteps men stepped out and lined up much as the women had.

"This is my room," he motioned to the one that shared a wall with mine. "The men on this level are all priests and knights, that is why there are so few."

There were three.

"This is Uloga," he stopped at the first. Uloga was my height, his hair sandy blonde, his skin a light gold, his eyes a brown so deep they looked black. He was bare-chested and there were tattoos and battle scars on his frame underlying his age which I put at thirty five Vernals. He nodded, but kept his eyes down.

"This is Markal," Marxim said of the next. He was an inch shorter than I, his hair a deep rich brown, his skin olive like the queens but darker. He had the same tattoos, the equivalent I surmised of what my ankles bore, and his muscles were smooth. His chest had a thick smattering of hair and to me he smelled like cinnamon. Markal's eyes did not meet mine but he smiled as he nodded.

"And this is Lucius," Marxim said of the last. He was almost as tall as Marxim, several inches over myself, and had the light blonde hair of a far Northerner. His eyes were a green I'd never seen before, the same shade as the queen's jungle, and what stood out most to me was that he seemed to be my age.

He met my eyes and for that I smiled.

"Come along and meet the priests," Marxim said, and took me to the stairs down. The priests were four, men of distinction and variegated coloring, one even the rarest of our people, an ebony warrior priest from the small island of Tropalica. 

From there Marxim took me to a green paneled study, lined with shelves crammed with books. It was a warm place, and he set me on a couch before sitting on one across from me.

"Cassipe is a good man, but he no doubt taught you of the way it was under the old queen. Things are different under the new queen."

"How so?" I asked with great curiosity.

"As the Queen's second, under her rule, you will be expected to follow her behavior."

"That means?"

He shifted uncomfortably, reminding me somehow of my eldest brother. "You must take another member of the harem to your bed every night while in residence. Never the same two nights in a row, never the same more than once in a week save your consort.

"You will choose your consort of Uloga, Markal, or Lucius. They will see to your needs as required, and they will be exempt from the limits on visits. And, Virtal, you must take at least one woman to your bed every week."

I swallowed at that but had been expecting such. "You may only choose from the top two tiers of the harem as the Queen's second," he continued. "That's fifteen women and eight men."

"Eight?" I asked as he made nine.

"As queen's consort I can touch no other. Be aware the same will be true of your consort."

"How cruel!" I said without thinking, and he cast his blue eyes down.

"Yes," Marxim agreed, bitterly. "In town as you well know we sleep in the day, live in the night. Under the queen you will assist her in greeting the moons each night while she is in town. You will accompany her to functions as needed. Halfarth will direct you in those matters; in the harem I will be your teacher. It is late and I am needed back with the queen. Which man should I send to you?"

Shock rolled through me. "T-tonight?"

He nodded. "It happens all so fast when you arrive, but that is the will of the queen."

My head swam and I wondered if I should pick the least threatening or the most experienced. "I don't know who."

He smiled. "I have an excellent idea. Wait here, Virtal."

He touched my shoulder in a comforting way as if he knew how scared I was. I knew nothing truly in the ways of men and women and I was not to know about pleasure, though what Cassipe had given me was wonderful. 

I was alone for long minutes, listening to the sounds of late night in the harem. There was people talking, people yelling, people...screaming as I had with pleasure, men grunting. From somewhere came the soft music, moving with a steady beat that I heard squeaks moving to.

I moved to the floor where a fur rug stretched out, and it was soft. I stroked it with my fingertips, feeling how wonderful the beast had been.

"Oh," a man said behind me and I looked over my shoulder.

All I could do was gasp. Lucius, Uloga, and Markal were all standing in the doorway watching me. They were handsome, all in their own way, and my heart pounded. Just what did this mean?



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 04



Lucius stepped in first, thought it was Uloga who spoke. "We all remember our first night here, and we all know what you need. With the three of us you can have it, many, many, many times over."

My brain fogged as I tried to understand. "How?" I asked.

"Let us show you," Markal said in a very deep voice.

I reached up, and Lucius took my hand.

***

Heaven. I had discovered it, and I never wanted to leave it.

In a green room, under gold light the men were true beauty. Their bodies were lean, lush, and strong. I was laid on the rug and in turn they kissed me as the other two pulled my robes from me. I learned each had their own taste, but Lucius I found the sweetest.

His kiss was soft but firm, and he drew my lower lip into his mouth sucking gently, laving it with his tongue. I moaned and he bit me gently, inflaming my senses.

They told me to lie back and enjoy, but I jumped and gasped at the first touch of their hands, their mouths echoing along my fevered skin. The pleasure built slow and drugging, I felt mouths on my breasts, sucking and teasing, hands smoothing every inch of skin. Uloga kissed me before he pulled back and crawled around Markal.

I raised my head to see what was happening but Lucius bit my nipple gently and my head fell back, my eyes fluttering closed. Suddenly large warm hands parted my inner thighs and before I could form a thought I felt Uloga's mouth between my legs.

I shot up and had to be pressed back, but my body struggled as he began to suck and lick. I grasped Lucian's hair in my hand and clawed at Markal's shoulder as my body tightened up. In response their licks and suckling became harder, faster, and then so did Uloga's. I felt as if I was rising, floating up towards a peak, and then I broke.

I screamed when I came and they kept their ministrations up. It lasted an eternity under the press of hands and mouths, stroking and licking, and I twitched and whimpered as my body knit back together.

"Goddess," I said simply and met Uloga's shining eyes. His grin was honest, wide, and lopsided.

"You must taste her," he said to Markal and they shifted positions. Lucius moved to my mouth and captured me in a full, consuming kiss, his hand teasing the breast still wet from his mouth.

Uloga turned his clever tongue to my nipple and swirled it before pulling with his teeth. I gasped into Lucius' mouth, and then Markal consumed me.

His mouth was large and fit over the entire length of my opening. His tongue slipped inside me, pumping in and out the way Cassipe's staff had. Lucius and Uloga pulled harder at my breasts while the kiss remained sweet, and my body raced for the peak again. Markal discovered the nubbin anew and the crest broke over me in a burst of light.

I screamed out hoarsely and felt his fingers penetrate me. The waves of pleasure moved like the ocean, their bodies on mine like boats. A haze followed and I did not feel the shifting until I felt the tender kiss on my nether lips.

I opened my eyes to see Lucius smile at me before he kissed me there again, tenderly. The concert changed to a soft flow and I found myself kissing Markal and Uloga in turn, back and forth, sampling my own salty taste. Their hands caressed me, and I felt like a reed in the wind.

This peak was harder earned and a slower burn, consuming me until my voice gave out, my muscles collapsed, and I was breathless.

"This is heaven," I said when I found my breath, and all three chuckled.

Lucius lifted me in his arms and set me down on a plush backless couch. I closed my eyes and inhaled the scents of our acts, the perfume of the air, and let my ears drink in the sounds of passion all around us in the harem.

I was lifted and Lucius slid behind me, seating me reclining between his legs. His erection pressed into my back, stealing my breath. "I will show you what to do," he whispered into my ear in his deep, rumbling voice.

Uloga leaned down to kiss me before moving further down. I watched fascinated as his hand worked his erection, hardening it. Like Cassipe it was slender but long and I was relieved to know I could handle it.

Kneeling between my legs he locked his dark eyes on me. "I will go slowly," he said and began to sink in.

Lucius cradled me as I never had been before and I found my body starved for touch. I placed my hands over his on my ribcage as Uloga filled me. When our hips met I cried out, feeling the pitch of sensation stronger than before.

"Do you hurt at all?" Uloga asked me with his thick accent making the words seem exotic.

I shook my head and he began to move. Lucius kept me still as my body was thrust back into him, building in tempo. Uloga was a beauteous sight as his own pleasure grew and my body responded in kind.

Suddenly Markal straddled me and I was confronted with his erection at my lips.

"Open your mouth," Lucius said and I automatically followed his direction.

Markal slid in, his erection was not as long as Uloga's, but it was very wide. He was fairly soft as his erection dragged along my tongue, and he tasted almost sweet.

"Lick and suck him, Virtal, taste him."

The words were drugging and I moaned as Uloga changed his angle and found the little spot inside me that felt incredible. Markal began to move like Uloga, and I found myself desperate to taste him. My tongue explored as much as he would let me and I discovered that the underside of the head was very sensitive.

Soon his moans matched mine, then Uloga changed his rhythm and I was lost. I broke on the peak again and shouted my release around Markal's cock.

Uloga stumbled back onto a couch, gasping, with a smile. "Oh, Virtal, I hope you remain forever sweet."

Markal pulled from me and took Uloga's place. He did not ask, he sank in with violence, and it stretched me. I cried out and found my head turned, Lucius' lips on mine. The dark man moved with desperate need and my body sluggishly responded, seeking the same violent purpose he seemed filled with.

Lucius' hands plied my own breasts again, almost sore, and the pain blended with pleasure until I galloped up the peak again, this time far ahead my lover. I relaxed into Lucioius, let my head fall to his shoulder, and enjoyed the sight of Markal as he crested the peak.

I felt spent, dazed, my body filled with the fluid of two men already, and wondered what else there was in store.

Lucius nodded and the others left the room, leaving us alone. "What is happening?" I asked.

Lucius turned my head and caught me in a sweet kiss, his erection that had flagged renewed against my back. He began to move his hips, sliding it back and forth, and the thrill of it excited me impossibly once more.

"I want to show you another way a man may take a woman," he whispered against my lips.

My own simple mind could not comprehend such, so I merely nodded, curious and anxious. With a wry smile and the arrest movement he guided me with his hands to my knees before him, my backside to him.

Lovingly he stroked my spine, raising chills as his rough fingertips caressed my smooth skin. "All I ask is a simple gift from you, your total acceptance. Will you give it?"

I couldn't speak, merely turned and nodded, then I felt his hands part my nether cheeks. His fingers dipped down to where the fluid of the other men ran down my legs. He captured some, and brought it to my arsehole. I gasped at the sensation, the pleasure of it chilling and foreign, racing up my spine.

He moved in small circles, teasing me. "Relax for me, Virtal, please."

My head dropped down and caught sight of his free hand stroking his staff. The sight made me gasp for he had the best of length and width of the other men. Suddenly I felt his finger inside of me and the feeling was a blossom of pleasure and pain, making me groan.

"Goddess, you're ready," he said, and shifted to his knees.

More fluid was obtained and then he worked a thick thumb into me, stretching me, bringing back the pleasure-pain. Another thumb joined it and the pain was sharper, mellowing into a blunt pleasure as I felt stretched and achingly hollow where I'd never felt it before.

More movement behind me and the thumbs left. I cried out, afraid he would stop, but something smoother and wider was there. "There will be pain, jut as your other initiation, but trust in me as well as your priest and I promise you, this time there will be pleasure."

More fluid was swiped and then I felt him pressing in.

"Relax, push back against me," he muttered, his voice strained. The pain was burning now, a fire inside me, and still Lucius pushed in deeper. "Push back, he grunted, and I tried.

After long minutes of struggling he was seated inside, and I felt twice as filled as if he had been inside my pussy. The burning was mellowing into a curious pleasure, a shivering cold sensation like lightning. His front was plastered against my back and the intimacy of the act was overwhelming.

"Is this...normal?" I whispered.

His chuckle was strained. "Very, and let me show you what it truly is."

He began to move, slowly at first, and the first few strokes still burned like fire but the cool pleasure left in the wake was tingling. My pussy felt achingly empty even as I was filled, and by his moans I knew this act greatly pleasured Lucius.

I surrendered myself to him, to the odd pleasure, and he rewarded me. Soon his body moved taut against me quickly, and I caught sight of the distant peak. He built me up with the insistent strokes of his body and my vision hazed, colors blurred, and my muscles pressed inward, compressing my entire being.

He pumped harder and harder, his pants quickening like mine but faster. I cried out, pleasing for what I could not name, and his hand slipped around, his fingers burying themselves in my pussy. 

The peak was jagged and burst into me like knife. I screamed out again feeling every muscle and tendon tighten and flutter, and above me Lucius' cry echoed off the walls, into the cavern of the harem.

I collapsed, unable to move, and when he pulled out it felt odd, and I wanted him back.

"Thank you," he said and kissed my neck.

I drifted in a blissful dream-like state as he left the room and I marveled. Every night, I was to have this every night? How would I survive?

"Virtal," Lucius said softly by my ear.

I opened my eyes and looked into his green ones. 

"Drink this," he said, and handed my a cup of the green liquid. I raised up and drank the potion down and he pressed a damp cloth to me, cleaning me. Intimately.

"Thank you," I said and remained on my front, aware of my nudity while he had dressed in his trousers.

"Your robes?" He asked, taking the cup from me and turning to fetch the cloth.

"Thank you, again." I dressed myself quickly and felt unsure. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

His hand found my thigh beneath the robe and the touch was searing. "You will find everyone in the harem is nice...as much as they can be. But I will be especially nice."

The cryptic comment puzzled me, the last more than the first. "Why you?"

He leaned in as if to kiss me and stopped until my vision filled with his green eyes. "Because I wish to be your consort."



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 05



Lucius walked me to the stairs as men and women had done for centuries, and it felt intimate. I had just shared myself with him in the presence of two other men, and I found myself blushing like an adolescent when he kissed me goodbye.

I climbed the stairs, passed the guards who nodded, and descended into the women's section.

At the bottom of the stairs beneath a high bronze bowl of flame was a dark figure, instinct made me slow.

"Did you enjoy the men?" Mystrike said in a threatening purr. "They are so sweet, so almost...innocent. Lucius is my favorite, making him beg for mercy is the most erotic sound I can think of."

My blood turned cold. "But this is a place of...pleasure."

"And my pleasure is pain, so is the queen's."

I felt dizzy, frozen, and she took advantage, moving closer. She wasn't as tall as I, but she was older, wiser, and probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. The knowledge of those things was in her bearing, and she smiled at me, those strange purple eyes dark.

"You are joining a doomed dynasty, the time of the red hairs is coming to an end."

"What do you mean?"

She smiled and traced a sharp talon of a nail across my cheekbone. "Our regent is the fuel, the source of magic the world feeds upon. Our queen takes more lovers than any other, and just like those before, she is weakening. When she weakens too much it is customary to replace her with the next. But that won't happen, red hair."

She walked around me in a slow circle, the stealthy stalking of an animal I knew had seduced countless men. I was not so easily fooled, tensing, waiting to feel her strike. When it came, it was not with fists but words.

"Only the strongest can replace her and you, red, you're far from it."

"And you are, I suppose?" I said mildly.

Stopping in front of me she smiled. "Of course, for I can do the one thing someone like you can never do."

I just raised my brows, eager for her to leave.

"I can kill her."

***

We had begun with all seven women in the ring, but now it was down to Mystrike and me. It wasn't that she was the best of the group, t was that all the women had a strange way of deferring to her. Here was a woman who was queen of the realm made to serve another.

In the end I took down each opponent until she had no one left to take her blows. I was tired, my two sai felt as if made of lead, and I was bleeding from a small wound on my shoulder. She looked cool, refreshed, smiling. I felt like a dying dog in the summer heat, I knew I was dripping sweat.

She twirled one of the tridents around in a showy maneuver and struck the archer's pose. I had one thing she did not; an unconventional teacher. Lady Callie Marlowe had carefully studied every position, style, and theory of traditional teachings, as she made me, and come upon the conclusion that such show was unnecessary.

"If the object is to kill; kill your opponent, don't dazzle. If it's to drop them, do so quickly without the bother."

I stood a wide target, feet planted shoulder width apart, my three pronged sais at my sides. Laughing she charged at me but I had studied her moves as we sparred. She led with her right, her left drawn back, and that was the hand to watch out.

I whirled and spun around with full force. Her left sai swung up as the right went through my hair. I used both to catch her left and pull back, jerking it free. It clattered to the marble ground as I rounded and landed a solid kick in her chest.

She went down like a sack, the last sai clattering. At first there was silence and I turned to look grimly at the watchers. The queen and Marxim, the men who had sparred before, the lower levels of women who had yet to take the floor.

They began to applaud but the only smiles I saw were on Morganna and Lucius' faces. Something to remember, I thought, and bowed deeply to the queen.

She motioned for us to leave and I turned, ignoring the women as the crowd swallowed us up. The next level moved onto the floor and I moved to the edge of the arena, towards quiet.

Leaning against a large pillar in the corner I spied Cassipe. He looked tired but still as handsome as ever, dressed in golden robes he was resplendent. I moved towards him and when our eyes met he started.

"Virtal!" he whispered, grabbing me and forcing me behind the pillar.

"Cassipe!" I said and moved to hug him even as he shushed me. He stepped back and worriedly shook his head.

Frowning I bit my lip, wondering if what had happened between us precluded friendship now that we were in the harem. "How are you? Are you staying here or going out to teach someone else?"

"I am to stay here," he said with hooded eyes.

"Come, why would you not hug me, Cassipe? I know you may not be counted amongst my lovers here, but surely we are friends. Why, I've known you for as long as I can remember."

"Virtal," he said as if my name was a pain on his lips, "the queen keeps those of us who served her predecessor as...she calls us here 'private stock.' Like her consort we are forbidden to even touch another in the harem."

"But why?"

"She says to insure our loyalty. Virtal, it is too dangerous to even be seen talking to you."

"Why?" My shoulder wound began to ache and I knew I had best cleanse the wound and bind it soon, but I could not bear the thought of my great Cassipe living in fear.

"Virtal, the queen is very strict, nothing like the old queen. Death of even her favored lovers is well known, most infractions are punishable by death. She is harsh, and...well it is best to say she is nothing like the old queen." The way he spoke of Antal's predecessor showed clear love, and for a guilty moment I felt bad for having kept him from her all those years.

"I wish I could free you somehow," I said.

He shook his head. "Virtal, I am a priest. I was never much of one, but I had my moments. I sense great danger for you here, I have for long. I had a vision that the priest they sent to you that...night would kill you, and so I slew him."

I gasped, truly shocked. Cassipe was a man who never showed the slightest inkling of violence. "But why? Why would a priest kill me?"

He shook his head. "So much has changed here, if I knew how much Caldor had changed since the old queen's death I never would have delivered you. Virtal you must guard yourself wisely and tread carefully. Find your friends and keep them close. I can say no more."

He reached to brush my cheek as he had so many times in the journey to Caldor but stopped at the last minute. I watched him disappear back into the crowd knowing he felt the same longing I held in my heart.

"Virtal?"

I turned and saw Morganna smiling at me. "Yes?"

"Good fight today, but you must get cleaned up. Soon it will be time to greet the first moon."

I gulped nervously. My first true test with the queen, and I had reason to believe she had sent a man to kill me.

***

We had many gods and goddesses, but the father of us was the sun, our mother the first and largest moon. For a brief moment in every eve the two great orbs hovered in the sky at the same time, the briefest moment of mating between the greatest of the gods.

Caldoria ruled women, magic, and the moon. It was believed that the queen, the strongest in magic, granted Caldoria the brief time to propagate with her husband Ilarniat, the sun. From each mating came the new life of the day, the promise of the future. Should they not meet...great disaster would befall the people.

As her second I would channel the energy, guide it with the priests and priestesses. I was dressed in soft white robes, twisted about my shoulders leaving much of my skin bare. The skirt was split in the front almost to the apex of my thighs, but where it hung it brushed the floor. My new maids braided my hair and then the call came.

In the hall the women waited, each dressed like a flower in bright colors. We marched up the steps to where the men were, all dressed in the soft trousers of the colors that suited them best. Markal wore yellow, Uloga black, and Lucius wore a green so deep it matched his eyes. Again he smiled at me and I easily returned it.

The guards opened the doors and led us through the queen's apartments to her grand veranda. On it a stone altar stood covered in thin pillows. Draped across it was the offering of Marxim, completely naked, his skin oiled. The queen stood, her back to us, in a black robe so long it trailed across the stones almost to our feet.

"Mystrike explain to my new second her duties."

Mystrike stepped forward and with a scowl faced forward, not meeting my eyes. "She will ready your consort, and he who she chooses as her consort will ready you."

The murmur of the crowd below was building. My heart slammed inside my chest, unsure of what that meant. "Stroke him to hardness," Morganna whispered behind me helpfully.

"Who have you chosen as your consort?" Antal demanded, turning.

She was naked beneath the open robe, her body lushly curved like a beautiful statue, oiled as well. In her belly button she wore ornamental jewelry, something I had never seen before, and it took all I had not to gape.

"I have not decided. Must I do so?"

She smiled but it did not touch her eyes. "Then I shall enjoy all three. Come, my pets."

I turned to watch the men and noticed back in the apartment Cassipe and other older men watched with guarded expressions. This all seemed so strange that I paused, then Morganna nudged me.

I approached Marxim who lay flat and emotionless as if expecting something horrid. "Forgive me," I whispered impulsively, feeling as if I was somehow violating him.

I smoothed my hands up his thighs, enjoying the hard muscle of him, and he twitched nervously. I found his penis soft, and took it gently into my hand. He was cool, and gulped, his phenomenal blue eyes finally meeting mine.

Some silent message passed between us I could not read, and so I began to work my hand, glancing at the scene next to us. The priestesses watched as did Cassipe and the other "private stock." The queen was held aloft by Lucius and Uloga, suckling at her breasts, as Markal lapped at her pussy. 

She was wet, her juices glistened in the flame light on his mouth. As she moaned she reached down, fisted his hair, and yanked painfully. At his cry Marxim winced, and I kept up my gentle ministrations, adding another hand to his soft sac.

More cries of startled pain came from us but I held Marxim's eyes. Under my hands he began to grow, lengthening and hardening, his penis superbly formed and sized. I stole a glance at it and sucked in my breath at the sheer beauty of him.

"He is magnificent, is he not?" Antal said beside me, making me jump.

"Yes, my queen."

She trailed a sharp nail from his ankle to where my hand rested on his sack as he blushed scarlet. "And this is the only time you may touch him. Trust me, you will come to live for these risings, as Mystrike once did."

Mystrike had been her second! The anger now made sense, as did Marxim's fear of me. Mystrike had said she and the queen relished pain, and from the scratches and bruises on the men I knew it was true.

"You may step to his head now, Virtal. When he crests you will kiss him, swallow the magic, and then share it with your partner tonight."

She fluidly hopped onto the table and straddled him, lowering herself onto his erect penis, moaning. Marxim let out a groan as I settled, then he reached up and gripped my hands as if he would fall without me.

She began to move with most graceful, fluid motion I had ever seen. Her hefty breasts bounced, her head was thrown back, and Marxim began to pant. They built with the noise of the crowd, with the slow creep to where night met the day.

Marxim squeezed me so hard I thought I would have bruises. The feeling of pleasure between them grew with the queen's moans, and I felt my own body grow heavy and flushed with arousal.

I snuck a look at the others and found their eyes fixed on the lovers, but Lucius' met mine. I could see the evidence of his arousal clearly and the look in his eyes told me he was imagining us up there.

I closed my eyes and thought of it, his beautifully lean body beneath mine, mine moving above, taking him deep, giving rise to the magic of the world. He would fill me and I would take him. I would not hold him down, instead I'd want his hands all over me, mine over him. The thought shot lust through me deeper than Antal and Marxim could achieve.

Something hit me hard and I opened my eyes to see the queen staring at me in rage, her hand swinging away from the slap. "Pay attention and channel, you impudent bitch!"

I held my tongue, seething, tasting blood.

Her eyes held mine as she pumped faster, trying to outrace the rising of the first moon. Marxim whimpered, holding back, and the flush spreading across her breasts said she was with him.

Reaching down her right hand disappeared from view. The moon crested, and so did Marxim. He cried out and Antal found her peak, mewling in quieter joy, and then I saw it.

The blade was long, wickedly curved, and she slashed open his shoulder with it. His hands gripped mine so tight I feared bones would snap, and his shout of pleasure became a scream of agony.

The moon peaked and she slid off, licking one side of the blade, beckoning Mystrike over with a finger. "If you are a worthy second you can heal Marxim, as Mystrike here has done for two years nightly. To raise the power you may take any of the men."

I looked at everyone gathered and saw raw fear of the queen there.

"I need no one," I said when my eyes found Antal again. She and Mystrike licked the blood together, their tongues intertwining like fearsome beasts of prey. They laughed and breaths drew in all around me.

"Virtal, take Lucius, he is of great power. Don't let Mystrike...touch me," Marxim whispered.

I forced my hands from his and came to stand at his side, over the wound. The energy of the sex was still fresh and the twin powers of moon and sun were at their strongest.

I placed one hand on his flesh, raised my other to the sky. I called on the mother and father and found their warmth, the love of earth and sky, and I opened my body and soul wide.

It poured into Marxim and he bowed and gasped under it, the male of his energy matching the female of mine. I felt the zing of it heal my own wounds from the day's fights and once his flesh was whole I pulled back.

Below me Marxim stared up, his deep blue eyes wide as saucers, boring into my own gaze. "what have you done?" he asked in a voice barely more than a whisper.

"She healed him, all of him, all of his old scars!" Missiply gasped out.

Everyone went statue still, their eyes rolling to the queen. Where had I tread wrong? What had I done wrong? Fear like I'd never known crept over me when Cassipe refused to meet my eyes.

Queen Antal glided to me like a goddess in the flesh, the wicked knife wet with spit from two mouths. She glanced down at Marxim and the man, so much taller and stronger, shrank back.

My heart raced like a mad rabbit and I awaited my punishment.

After the span of ten heartbeats she threw her head back and laughed. "You have given me the perfect gift, a man made fresh and whole, and oh, clean flesh."

She trailed the tip of the blade up his leg and it was if a breath passed through the room. "Choose your consort of the night, but to sample your power myself tomorrow I will take whatever man you claim tonight."

"Whichever man I claim tonight. I have your word, you bond by power on this?"

The three men looked at me with fear as the queen nodded, sealing the bond. "I claim Morganna, and as she is a woman, she is free from that bond."

"I may claim her still, Virtal. Do not think to outwit me. Powerful and strong you may be., but I am queen here, no one else!"

I bowed deeply, my forehead to the ground at her feet. "Forgiveness, my queen."

"Go, leave now. You others will stay for a moment."

Morganna didn't hesitate, she grabbed my hand and dragged me through the lush forest of the queen's suites. As we walked past birds of brightest plumage and animals of sinewy grace, I began to doubt my fate for the first time in my life.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 06



Morganna's rooms were slightly smaller than mine, and decorated in natural colors, complementing her striking beauty. Her walls were adorned with pictures of stark landscapes and lush forests, mountains and grassy plains.

"What are all of these?" I asked as she moved to a stand to pour us some water.

"These are pictures I painted on my travels."

"Thank you." She handed me a cup of water and we sat on the bed. "You really painted all of these? They're beautiful."

"Thank you." She blushed prettily, and I gulped. "Are you nervous?"

I didn't know what to say so I gulped the water down. 

"It's perfectly natural. You have lain with the other men, so by now you know of pleasure. It would be my honor to show you just what it is like with another woman."

My hands began to tremble in nerves and anticipation. I thought of my maids, and I wanted to touch her with my hands and lips, hear Morganna's moans, I wanted to know how it felt to have her touch me that way.

"Tonight is a first for you, and all I ask is that you relax, and let me show you more pleasures of the harem. Will you, Virtal? I too did not like women before I came, but I have come to know the harem offers rare pleasures that we cannot live without. Please, accept my offer."

I nodded and she set her glass down, turned back and took mine to set beside it.

She stroked my hair, putting strands behind my ear, and cupped my cheek. Morganna leaned in for a kiss and my breath caught. She smelled of flowers and rain, gifts of the gods, and when her butter soft lips touched mine I tasted nature, wild and free.

She was so much softer than a man, so much more gentle, and I leaned in to touch her face as she did mine. Her skin was like velvet, her hair like spun silk. Our mouths opened as one and her tongue slid against mine as our bodies leaned in close. She tasted sweet, making my head spin, and our breasts met with hard aching tips rubbing against each other. 

Her other hand slid into my hair and she bent me back onto the firm bed, her weight atop me. Morganna pulled back enough to trail her lips over my cheek, my jaw, down my neck. I was gasping, clutching her slim shoulders, arching into her.

For a mad moment I expected hardness to push back, but her body was slim, firm, and lushly soft. She parted my tunic and slid a long, cool hand inside to cup my breast. Her mouth returned to plunder mine as she rolled the nipple between her fingers. I gasped, a broken sound, and heard the chorus of pleasure join me in the harem air.

My tunic was ripped open and her small mouth replaced her hand. It was hot, searing, and sweetly delicate. I was desperate for something to hold onto, and my hands found her own breasts beneath her tunic. They were small, firm, the tips pointed, and her nipples were stiff against my palms.

Morganna groaned and found the other breast, her hand returning to my wet nipple. I copied her actions and soon we were squirming against one another, seeking more. She pulled back and peeled my trousers down slowly, her soft hands following in their wake.

She set me on fire; she made me ache in a sweet keening manner I'd never known. Her long hair teased my fevered flesh, her sweet lips drove me towards a peak of purest need.

When her mouth found my center I gasped; a hoarse, broken cry. She kissed me softly the way Lucius had done there, her body cooler than a man's, her fingertips spreading me were sharper, thinner. Immediately she suckled and I grew wetter while she pulled on my clit using hard suction.

I gripped her sheets with none hand and let the other cup the back of her head, pushing her mouth into me as I thrust my hips, raising my wet pussy to her mouth. I cried out, wordlessly begging for more and she began to lap at me with short, hard strokes of her tongue.

I rolled and arched, driven to desperation my hands found my own breasts and rolled the wet, hard nipples. I climbed higher, my body knitting tighter, and then she slid two fingers inside. Instead of the thrusting or curling as the men had done she formed scissors with them and undulated them. Morganna again suckled my clit and the moment of climax arrived.

I screamed as I orgasmed, a moment of pure bliss, and her mouth left to be replaced by the heel of a hand, grinding into me, drawing out the last spasms until I felt deflated.

Panting, I raised my head to look at her. Her eyes shown in the dim light like candles, her chin and lips were wet with my own juices. She crawled up me with the stealth of a cat and when we kissed I tasted my own salty essence on her.

"I want to give you that gift," I said when she pulled away.

Morganna shook her head. "Tonight is nothing but a gift."

Something uncomfortable shifted in my heart and then she was moving to lay down, positioning my body so it was strangely entwined with hers. We each were between the others' legs, our pussies together. 

"Follow me," she said softly, and moved our lips open so that we pressed as close as possible. She began to pump her hips and it felt good; I did the same and it was wonderful.

We began a concert together that flowed as our sweaty bodies slapped together, our wet pussies slurping. I felt the orgasm building inside, rising, and Morganna's cries echoed my own.

I reached a frustrating level, found myself staring at her beautiful breasts bouncing, the flush across her skin, the sweat trickling down her firm belly, but I could not go further. She seemed to sense my inability to peak and slipped her hand between us, the pad of her thumb square on my clit.

I threw my head back as the pleasure claimed me, and her shout was a mirror to mine. When the last tremor shook us, when the pleasure burned back down to a simmer, Morganna fell back, exhausted and complete. I myself needed more, I needed to be filled, but I did not want to offend her.

So I moved slowly, pulling back, slinking away. She shifted too, blowing her mussed hair from her face.

"You're going to leave me now," she said as a statement. I remained silent. "There is something to be careful of, Virtal. Listen to me well.

"Unlike the others here I was not raised a priestess of Caldor destined for the harem. My people are nomads, and many of us practice the old religion. A priest saw a vision that a young queen with red hair would be the uniter who ends all war in our lands, a thousand years ago. Since then all high queens have had fire hair. My priest saw a vision it would be a queen in my time, and so I was ordained and sent to the harem.

"When the queen heard the second prophecy she did not refuse me. She welcomed me and made me repeat the story. I have been here seven years, and in that time hopes have fallen. There is more civil war and unrest than ever, and the queen spends her time on pain and paltry pleasures rather than ruling. 

"The queen has successfully kept a second from her harem until Cassipe produced you, indisputable proof to one and all that she may not be the last of the line. The queen will not tolerate any displays of power she does not command, such as tonight. Take care in all your actions, do you understand?"

I nodded and slipped on my clothes, feeling lonely, scared, and still frustrated. 

"Good night, and thank you," was all I said.

I found the others coming from the queen's quarters and ignored the women. Uloga was waiting for me, his dark eyes sad.

"I have met my duty by the queen and am so not encumbered. Would you like to talk about what has put that worried look on your beautiful face?"

His poetic words made me smile. "Come into my room."

He entered and looked around before sitting on the bed. For a moment I saw his expression as the queen had ridden her consort and dark hunger gripped me.

"Uloga, I need..." Unable to say what I wanted I waited, and after a tense moment his broad mouth cracked into a smile.

He reached for me but I wanted neither gentleness nor tender cresses. I opened his trousers and with my hand quickly worked him to hardness, then pulled my own off and sank down. 

He filled me widely, stretching, and husk of his groans was such a sweet contrast to Morganna's soft sounds I lost myself. He moved me with large hands on his hips and I gleefully pumped, riding him like a horse, and we built towards a swift peak as one.

When I found it his shout overshadowed mine and I felt his hot cum deep inside me. My pussy clenched and his cock felt twice as wide as before.

Finally when it was over I gave him a soft kiss and a smile. "I have nothing to discuss as you have removed that look from my face."

Laughing as I rolled off, Uloga made me smile.

***

Training was brutal. The queen again attended though I was told it was a rare occurrence. Since I was the youngest I was worked harder. I fought the women, and then the men. Uloga was light on me, his consideration, while an affront to my pride, was welcome. Markal refused to fight me but Antal had him whipped by Marxim until he did. I had to be light on him.

Lucius fought me with honest determination, and his skills with a sword were magnificent. If I hadn't been trying to keep from getting my head chopped off, I would have been fairly drooling in admiration.

He won, easily, but he was gracious about it, congratulating me. I merely smiled and promised him we'd fight one day when I wasn't exhausted, and I'd win. For all the pleasures I'd known the heated look in his eyes tightened things low in my body.

Antal dismissed our level as if we were the lowliest of beggars and I walked chatting with Missiply about her childhood and horses. I cleaned myself and, seeking solace and escape from Morganna's fervent attempt at friendship, began to wander the harem. 

The rooms for sleeping took up half of the top section of the palace, on the other side were public rooms. The arena, the library, the hall for eating. Below that were offices for the queen's staff and other private rooms for the queen's things. Below that were guest rooms, rooms for public reception and ceremony. Below that was the oldest level, accessible by the harem, I had no wandered there yet and found myself doing so.

I wound down ancient stone stairs until I found a fork in halls. One way was covered with ancient paintings, another well lit, the third dark. Taking a torch from the bight hallway I chose the dark path and came upon two doors. One held endless shelves stacked with artifacts from the reigns of dozens of queens, the other was the hall of records.

I saw no record-keeper which I thought strange, but at the same time I was excited. Whoever had organized it had done so well, all were labeled clearly except for four armoires near a window shaft.

Opening one I realized I was seeing the detailed logs of Antal's rule.

Despite weary muscles, even magical communion with the goddess could not heal tiredness, I lugged a crate to a flat, dusty table. Opening it up I saw the history of her birth. She was born on a trip, her parents migrating. Abandoned to a temple her hair marked her from the beginning. She was raised by the state under Caldotta, a priestess executed for immense cruelty of her patrons. 

She entered the harem when she was only fourteen after Caldotta's death. At seventeen she had challenged the old queen, Cassipe's queen, to a duel, and won.

After that many entries were blacked out with kohl, obliterating the ink. There was no mention of rebellions, civil wars, prophecies, or uprisings. I began to wonder about Morganna's tale.

"One doesn't expect to find a warrior down here," a deep voice said over my shoulder.

Gasping I jumped from the chair and whirled into a fighting stance. It was Lucius, and he grabbed my arm easily. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you. The queen was hard on you today, I wanted to say I was sorry to be the one that defeated you. But as you saw from Markal's punishment, one does not disobey our ruler."

"No, I guess one shouldn't."

He looked around the dusty room and down at the crate and open book. "What are you looking for, anyways?"

I picked up the book and pointed to the large black blocks of kohl over the text. "Morganna told me there have been rebellions, civil wars, things that dispute the prophecy of fire-hair. Antal's reign is in unmarked armoires, the text is blacked out like this."

He took the book from me, closed it, and without speaking placed it back in the crate and carried the crate back to the armoire. Closing it, he turned back. "Morganna knows such talk is punishable by death. It is treason. I will speak to her myself and make sure she spreads these rumors no more. Virtal, we must speak no more of it."

Meaningfully he looked around the room as did I. "There are spies?"

He shrugged but pointed at the shaft. Three of them led up to ground level windows and one could easily overhear through them. "Then why did you follow me?"

He strode back with predatory movements. "Tonight the queen will no doubt ask who you have chosen as your consort. Have you thought any more on my offer?"

I had, in detail, but I didn't want to say. Markal and Uloga had both made the same offers, Uloga's spoiling a good mood the night before.

"Do I really have to make up my mind so soon?" He nodded and stepped even closer until I was staring up into his amazing green eyes. "Why would you want that? No sex with anyone else but me. Confined to one partner, denied the pleasures of the harem?"

His hands came up to hold my arms, his rough fingertips making me shiver in the cool room. "A lifetime with you. Every night with you. The sounds of your pleasure in my ears, your face in my vision, the feel of you in my arms, the taste of you on my lips. The pleasure I can find within you; who would refuse that?"

He was unlike anyone I'd ever met. In my world women pursued, men waited. Lucius did not seem to have a shy bone in his body and something about it made me melt.

"Lucius," I said, and then he kissed me.

The kiss was searing, deep, passionate, and wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my toes, desperate to get closer.

He picked me up and helped me to wrap my legs around his waist. Lucius' muscles flexed as he walked over to the door and slammed my back into it. The pain was minimal, spice to the pleasure of his body, and I knew his sudden, frantic need matched mine.

He opened my tunic and latched onto my breast, sucking hard. His teeth bit into the soft flesh around it, making me gasp. He moved his hips, grinding his erection into me, and I clutched his hair in tightening fingers, pleading already. "Please, Lucius, I want to feel you."

"No," he said against a breast and found the other peak. This he sucked hard and the pain was sharp, mellowing into harsh pleasure. 

"Lucius!"

He fumbled between us opening my trousers and his. When mine proved difficult he tugged hard and split them down the middle making me gasp. At last I felt the hard, hot press of his bulbous erection against my wet pussy, and then he stopped.

"Don't stop!"

He chuckled and groaned, dropping his forehead to mine. "Say you'll let me be your consort, and I will never deny you."

"Don't ask me something so serious now! Fuck me!" I demanded. I was a woman, I was second only to the queen. He was to do my bidding, by the goddess. "Now!"

He rubbed the head over my clit and I squeezed my eyes shut, seeing starbursts. 

"Let me be your consort, Virtal, and I will let you command me into the underworld itself. Say yes, and I will be yours."

He moved his hips in circles, my mind focusing to a single point where we were joined. Cassipe had awakened an ache in me that I seemed unable to satisfy, and temporary respite was all I craved. Lucius; mine to take whenever, to use however, Lucius to take away the need. I was lost, and hopelessly I cried "Yes!" as he slammed inside me.

He fucked me brutally and the rocking motion was enough. He filled me, made me burn and shiver, and I built quickly until I screamed my pleasure. His mouth on mine swallowed the cries and then he shouted into my mouth, spurting hot cum deep inside me.

Coming down he held me tight and kissed me gently. "Thank you, Virtal. I will watch over you, protect you, do everything a good consort will do. Starting now; tonight when we bring the moon, do not heal Marxim so much, unless the queen commands it."

"And if she does?" I slid down.

He tugged my tunic out of my trousers to cover the tear. "She won't."



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 07



After exercises the next day I was hot and achy, but I wanted to be alone. Lucius and Morganna were both eager for my company but I left them in the tunnels. I followed one past plants and bronze sconces, past drawings of people older than history itself.


I stopped to ponder our ancestors, the beauty of their uniform honey skin, their large dark wigs, their kohl-lined eyes. We knew little about them, only the remnants of their religion survived in wild nomadic tribes like Morganna's, not even their literature was readable. The words were symbols, indecipherable, though many experts had tried.

I followed a painted story across the bricks until my nose caught the scent of water. Lots of water, and indoors. I emerged into a large underground cavern filled with an immense pool.

Columns that supported the heavy floor above us came down into the water and at one end a warm spring supplied the pool. The bottom and sides were tiles of all manner of blues from nearly purple to nearly white, mingling like the wild south sea.

I heard movement and stopped, wondering if I was allowed there. Of course I was, a voice in the back of my mind said, I was the second. But deep in my bones, I did not feel it, I still felt like a child in the city.

Cassipe swam from behind a pillar and my heart stilled. His naked body was magnificent in the torchlight, his long, smooth muscles rippling as he swam. Behind him his hair trailed, moving with the current he made, and the image was the most beauteous I'd ever seen.

No one else was about. I stripped quickly and dove into the pool, gliding beneath the surface until I crested by his legs. Above the water Cassipe stood with his arms folded, his expression something indefinable.

"Virtal," he nearly whispered.

"Cassipe." I reached for him but he jerked back, stepping awkwardly in the deep water. 

"Virtal, to touch is forbidden."

With my tutor I felt more than ever like a child, and the tears burned in my throat, my eyes. "The queen hates me, I am forced to defend myself against a jealous woman, and the men are making power plays to be my consort. How could this be my life? How could you, of all people, the one person I trust above all others, have brought me here?"

I burst into tears much to my shame and he brought me into his arms. Cassipe looked around and dragged my floating body to a dark corner behind a column. 

"Virtal it is your destiny and mine, we have no choice. But know that if I knew the new queen was...what she is, I never would have brought you here."

He stroked my wet hair and let me cry on his warm shoulder until the tears were gone. Slowly his comforting caresses became something more, something darker, and when I looked into his eyes I saw my longing reflected there.

"Cassipe-" I began, but he cut me off with a kiss. It was a kiss of love, not of need, mere lust, power, or loneliness. It was something great and earthy that moved between us, and my need was great.

Between us I felt his staff rock hard, and his hands found me wet and aching. Both of us looked around, knowing the act was forbidden, a death sentence to us both, and when we heard silence, he slipped inside me slowly.

As he moved inch by inch I stared into his eyes breathlessly, and when he was seated I smiled. "I've missed you so much."

"We must be quiet," he said against my lips.

He moved out, sending shivers along my spine, ad sank back in bringing burning heat in his wake. With the water moved quietly around us with his gentle movements and he repeated the action.

I was lost to the slow drugging pleasure of my teacher, and grabbed at him, smashing my lips to his to hide my moans.

We built for an eternity, the sweet slow burn of ecstasy growing, and then I felt his body tighten in warning. I found my peak with him and we moaned softly into each other, shuddering in pleasure.

Quickly I lowered my legs and he pulled away, and we used the water to cleanse our bodies of each other's scents.

"Virtal, we cannot do this, or we will be killed."

I pulled him down to me and kissed his lips softly. "It is worth it to feel your love, for you to feel mine."

He turned away from me then and hauled out of the water. I watched him dress slowly, relishing even that pleasure, and he glanced back at me with a nod before leaving.

I watched him go, but to my sinking heart I swore I heard two sets of footsteps leave that hall.

***

The next night I did for the second time as Lucius had cautioned me. The Queen greeted the first moon with bloody scratches all over Marxim, and his hands jerked in mine, his eyes pleading.

I healed him slowly and slightly so as not to overshadow her, blessing the goddess in my mind for her protection.

When it was over she bowed at the balcony to the subjects below, delighting in their adoration. The others held their breath, waiting to see her mood, but she turned with a smile.

"You may all go, save you Virtal, and you, Marxim."

He sat up and gave me a pitying glance as the others left. Morganna, Missiply, and Lucius all cast me glances of empathy and I found my nerves swell.

When the room was empty save us three the Queen belted her long robe. "Fetch my private stock, Marxim, and have them bring the chest."

I felt his heart sink and his body cool, but he obediently bowed and jogged off to the men's harem.

"You are to watch, Virtal, for tonight you will see what a true queen is made of."

"Yes, your highness," I said with a bow.

"Find a comfortable seat by the altar. I do not want you to miss a moment of this."

I sat as bidden worrying at what was to happen. Cassipe was in her private stock, and I wondered if someone had spied us and revealed all to the queen. I wondered, with good reason, if I would live to greet another moon.

Marxim returned with the three men, all of them carrying a large wooden chest which they set before the altar. As if they were dancers they all scurried to set places, fanning out in a close line before the queen, dropping to one knee, their heads bowed.

Marxim was still naked and bleeding in some spots, the other men wore loose white tunics, long, belted at their waists above bare legs.

"On both knees," she commanded, and opened the chest as they did so.

She withdrew a wicked looking whip, the kind I'd only ever seen used to drive bulls to market. I bit my lip and trembled in fear as she snaked it back and forth across the floor, letting loose a sickening slithering sound.

"I want you all naked."

The three robed men quickly shed their clothes and kept their heads bowed, hands clasped behind their backs.

"Why aren't you hard? Rise, Marxim, and step forward."

She walked behind them as the bowed men closed the gap Marxim let. She raised the whip and whirled it around her head, picking up speed, and then with a horrifying sound cracked against the backs of the kneeling men.,

I gasped and she jerked her narrowed gaze to me. I schooled my face quickly, though terrified. I knew from the sound flesh had been flayed open but no man had moved or made a sound.

"Prepare yourselves," she said and obediently all three used their left hands to stroke their limp cocks to life. How could they, I wondered desperately, in the wake of such pain.

"Faster!" She commanded and whipped the dark haired man on the end. At the ugly crack his rhythm faltered, then sped up.

"You, take him," she ordered the brown haired man in the middle.

On shaking knees he and the brunette turned, and I saw something I had never dreamed of. He slid his cock into the other man's anus, and as it was dry the other man whimpered.

The queen whipped his thigh for that and I saw a blossom of blood there to match their backs.

"Very good," she said as the other man began to pump, bloody trails on his cock from where he tore the other man's flesh.

"Marxim, being me the irons."

Marxim picked up shackles from the chest and brought it to her. With a flick of her hand she motioned him away, and when he turned his eyes met mine. The plea for rescue was clear but I had no idea what to do.

The queen bound Cassipe quickly, and then threaded her spiked fingers through his glorious hair, jerking him to a straight position. "And you," she purred, "please me or they die."

As she walked around Cassipe's look to me matched Marxim's, but then her hips blocked my view. The sounds of his tongue in her pussy echoed the disgusting wet sound of blood lubricating the other mens' fucking.

Marxim and I held our breath as the queen stood stock still, eerily silent. I knew what Cassipe's tongue could do and marveled that she could do so. With her back turned Marxim reached his hand out to me and I stared for a moment before raising my own.

The whip came around and flayed open his arm as she laughed, evilly.

He whimpered and returned to his stance as her laugh changed into a cry of pleasure.

She turned then, and her cold eyes bored into mine. "He is lovely, isn't he?"

I froze, unsure of who she meant, or if I should answer, and her expression turned to disgust. "Then leave us child, the adults want to play."

With horrible guilt I rose but her hand stopped me.

"Marxim, give her the cat. Virtal, take a woman to your bed, and use it. Taste the dark pleasures."

Marxim handed me a small whip not more than a foot long with many tails, all of leather. Once I had it I ran, sobbing, and just outside her doors Lucius caught me.

"Virtal! What's wrong?"

I grabbed him and hugged him tight. "It was horrible! I can't even describe it. And now the queen says I must use this evil instrument on a woman."

He took it from me and hugged me back. "Hush now, I will show you how this can be true pleasure, not the queen's sick desire."

I pulled back and looked up into his eyes, nodding in trust. And I knew I had chosen my consort well.

***

Missiply, Lucius had told me, was as knowledgeable about the "cat o' nine tails" as he, and now all three of us stood in my room. Missiply was pale and blonde, like her sister, her body lithe with muscle honed from training and no actual battles.

She eyed us warily and then smiled. "Lucius is your consort. You've chosen. Oh, Virtal, you've chosen well."

She hugged me then and out breasts pressed together, giving me a stirring of lust in spite of the horror I had witnessed.

I pulled her back but kept my hands on her arms, she kept hers on mine. "The queen says I must use this on you."

She shivered at me, her eyes darkening with lust. "And Lucius will you teach her?"

He nodded, and Missiply stepped back and stripped quickly. "Please," she said to us both, and knelt on all fours on the bed.

Lucius stepped forward. "Virtal, move it softly at first."

He cracked it gently on her buttocks, leaving barely and red marks, and she moaned in ecstasy and want. He repeated the action, again and again, increasing the tempo and strength until she was writhing seductively on the bed.

Lucius and I were already naked, and his staff proved how much he enjoyed this power, and I myself found I was breathless at it.

He stopped and she collapsed, groaning, her hand buried in her pussy. Lucius gave me the whip and turned around the brace his hands on the wall. "Practice on me, do as I showed you."

"Yess," Missiply hissed, and rolled onto her back to watch.

Nervously I took the small whip and applied it with flimsy force. 

"Do it harder, and jerk your hand back just as it touches," Lucius said with a patient smile.

I did as bade and it worked. I repeated it until the action felt comfortable and then, like him, built up strength and tempo, until Lucius jerked against the wall, panting.

"Stop!"

I did, and when he turned around his erection was huge and darker than I'd ever seen. "Now her," he said with a deep husky voice.

Missiply lay back, groaning in near orgasm. "My pussy, Virtal, do it on my pussy."

I gulped as she spread her legs, her pink cleft glistening, her hands fisting the sheets on either side. The first slap made her gasp, the second and third made her arch.

I found myself high on power, relishing the speed of the whip as it met her wet pussy with a slap. Behind me I glanced and saw Lucius stroke himself, his eyes burning into me, and I turned back with renewed violence.

I was shocked and pleased when she found her peak with the mere touch of the whip, and when it was over I sagged, my arm aching.

I heard pots and jars clank on my vanity and saw Lucius smear cream on his cock.

"Come here," he said desperately and jerked me into his arms, facing away. He slid into my ass slowly, filling me inch by aching inch.

When he was seated his hands came around to pinch and roll my nipples, whispering into my ear, "Well?"

"Well wh-ahhh, at?"

"What would you have her do now?"

I looked at Missiply, still dazed with pleasure but eyeing us hungrily. "Lick me," I said, and winced at the echo of the queen's earlier actions.

Missiply scrambled off the bed and sank to her knees, pressing her hot mouth against me.

We were all hot, keyed up, and Lucius began to fuck me hard. With her sweet tongue caressing my clit I built quickly, and Lucius' cry of pleasure hastily followed mine.

We came down, panting, and Missiply gave me a gentle kiss and then hugged my legs, pressing the side of her face to my thigh.

"Virtal!" Suddenly my curtain was parted and Marxim stared at us.

No one moved, but I felt myself blushing. "Yes?"

"The queen demands you heel us, me, and her stock."

"All right." I nodded. Missiply grabbed her clothes and brushed past Marxim as Lucius pulled out. 

"May I wash up in your bath?" he asked.

I grabbed him close, holding his head down towards mine. "Yes. Will you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone after...what I see."

"Of course," he agreed, and placed a kiss on my forehead that had nothing to do with lust.

I let him go and wrapped my robe around me, belting it tight. Marxim watched us with jealous eyes, and as I brushed past him I wondered, for the thousandth time, just how twisted this destiny was.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 08



The relationship between a priestess and the goddess was special. I knew her, knew her wishes, and she granted each and every one of us some measure of her power. Hers was to nurture, to heal, and for the first time I found myself wishing I had that same connection to her husband, the god of strength and protection.

"This cannot be," I said to Marxim.

"It can, and it is, and most of all, it is a challenge and a message."

I turned from the open wounds on the exhausted men to meet his striking eyes. "Challenge?"

"You are to heal us alone. To do this much requires sex, an homage to the goddess, and we are the four men you are forbidden to touch. Do so and you and the man you touch will die in the morning."

My heart fluttered. "And if I don't heal everyone?"

His eyes fell. "The queen will renounce you and cast you out."

Rage filled me then, and though I was that woman's servant I knew her in that moment to be my mortal enemy. "She thinks she has me so easily, does she? Marxim, lay down next to the others."

"But Virtal-"

"Must I remind you that I outrank you? Do as I say, now, Marxim."

His jaw protruded but he moved to do as bidden. I rolled the sleeves of my robe up and began to meditate, calling forth every favor I thought the goddess might owe.

I placed my hands on the worst man first, and I felt the sacred energy flow through me. Where our skin touched it burned with heat, and sparks flew brighter than the flames in the sconces on Marxim's room.

It took long moments of tense sweating concentration, but he was healed. Noticeably weaker, I moved to Cassipe who was the next worst. I repeated the process drawing an anguished moan from him, but then he was healed.

I stepped to the third of the "stock" and my left leg faltered. I caught myself barely and took a steadying breath.

"Go slowly, Virtal," Marxim said. "I will call to the god as I wait to help you."

"Thank you." I touched the third man and knew I had barely enough power to heal him.

I tried not to think of it as I worked, but my brain strayed. I would simply leave Marxim as he was, and take my banishment. I would not expose any man in there to death at the queen's hand-

A burst of energy shot between us as my concentration broke, eliciting a strangled scream. "I'm sorry," I said softly and the man nodded, eyes clenched tight against tears.

I dredged up the last of my energy and returned to the meditation. The power flowed from the goddess into his body through me like a great wind, and the heat and sparks flew.

When it ended it sucked the last of my energy with it and I fell to the ground. The healing had put the three "stock" into a slumber, only Marxim moved as I hit the stone floor.

"Virtal!" He picked me up into his arms and walked me to his chair, settling down with me draped over his arms and lap. "Virtal, are you all right?"

I tried to slow my breaths. "Yes. Sorry, it was just...difficult."

"Virtal, perhaps we can sneak someone in here to heal me, or-"

"No one else could do the same as I and the queen would know. I must simply rest and call upon the goddess."

Where our skin touched, my hands to his arms, there was a burning energy. I began to feel hope. Perhaps the secret was not in the sex, so much as in the touch, the joining of the god and goddess in human incarnation. But my connection to the goddess was weak, if he could call to her...that was the only hope I saw. "I may be able to heal you, Marxim, but you must meditate on the goddess with me."

"Virtal," he said softly as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "There is an option we could try."

For a moment I thought he meant sharing our bodies and I feared the worst. "No, Marxim, no."

"The power raised between male and female is spiritual, nothing more. If you would listen and follow me, we may be able to raise the power without resorting to...illegal acts."

I was tired, angry, weak, and disgusted by the blood and violence. It was my nature to question and argue but the fight had bled out of me with the last of the goddess' magic. "All right, show me."

For a moment he looked at me and I saw the true beauty of him, a heroic fight to keep me here. A growing suspicion told me someone needed to stop the queen, and with the way things were done...I was simply unsure I was up to the task.

I pushed that fear aside as he clasped my face and urged me to do the same. I was so weak it was arduous, and he let me rest my elbows on his forearms for support.

"Feel my chest rise and fall with my breaths, deep breaths. Do you feel it, Virtal?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"When I breathe in, you breathe out. Deep breaths, make sure you feel it in your belly, not just your chest. Good, now in, out, in, out. Good."

My eyes fluttered closed, and I concentrated on the breaths, the breathing, until I noticed the pattern we made. It was like a dance, but more intimate, the give and take like darker pleasures of the flesh.

I felt energy flow from him into me, male energy, energy of the god, and it spread outward to my limbs. A tingling began between my legs, and at my hip I felt him harden. My breath nearly hitched but I felt the energy flow weaken and so I caught myself in time.

Strength flowed into me; healing flowed out. A give and take, so male, so female, that it grew and burned and gathered like a tempest inside until we broke, crying out. A swift peak claimed us, letting loose sparks of pure magic, and it felt as if the top of my head had blown clear.

Instead the light show died down and Marxim's handsome face grinned back at me, his visible skin healed. "Did it work?" With renewed strength I scrambled off of him and walked around the chair to see his back whole and unblemished.

"You're healed. We did it!" I felt tears burn and then the weakness claimed me once more. I was crumbling to the blood-soaked ground, but I was so relieved I cared not for my own health.

He moved faster than I could see and caught me. "Virtal, thank you. I cannot thank you enough."

I smiled weakly up at him as he cradled me in his arms. "Just take me back to Lucius, I need...rest."

He smiled down at me. "I must warn you, the queen will not be pleased you passed her test, escaped her trap. You must control and measure your power and defiance around her, Virtal, or next time..."

I smiled at him. "Next time no one will survive."

***

Lucius held me, the first time I had shared a bed with another. It was not unpleasant, he was warm and comforting, and deep in exhaustion I slept like a stone, unmoving.

I awoke to his warmth and his smell, his sea green eyes smiling down at me. "Are you all right?"

I stretched and gave as big a smile as I could, which wasn't much. "I feel much better." It was only a small lie, I thought.

He sat up to lean over me and smoothed my hair back. "Marxim told me what happened. Will you be able to help call the moon, and heal Marxim tonight?"

I heard the unspoken words there, that the queen was waiting for me to fail, and then... "Well," I purred and slid my hand into his hair, "there is one sure fire way to build up the magic, but I'll need my consort."

Concern vanished in a wake of lust. "Mmm, I suppose you do."

When he kissed me, my concerns faded away as well.

This time was gentle. He made me lay on my back, draping his large, hard body over mine like a blanket. I was held tight in his arms, and I lost all conscious thought to his kiss. It was magic, pure, simple, human magic that was Lucius.

His large thigh parted my legs to lay heavily at my sex, and a trill of pleasure sang through my body. I arched my hips and clung to his broad shoulders, sliding along the hard muscle of his leg.

The pleasure was slow, drugging. He moved his leg now, and in surrender I ran my hands though his thick hair. I was left gasping as his mouth moved on a slow journey to my neck, sucking sharply, leaving the impression of teeth as he went.

I wanted more, but I was too weak in my struggles. He knew what my body demanded, and those teasing nips moved down to the tip of a breast. He sucked deeply at the same time his thigh ground into me and pleasure burst like sunshine throughout my body.

Strength returned, not in full, but enough that when I pushed at him, Lucius relented and let me roll him to his back so I was astride.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

He merely pulled my head down until our lips met, and when his tongue thrust inside me, so did his cock. And for hours, we built the strength of our respective gods.

***

We were all nervous for the ceremony. The queen wore a dress, not her robes, and her "stock" joined the upper level of the harem to watch. The three men glanced at me with fond smiles, Cassipe's wistful, but their gazes did not linger. I understood, the Queen gave off the aura of a jungle predator.

She gave me a look that normally passed from butcher to market cow and turned to the steps. Ascending, she spoke to the crowd gathered below.

"Tonight, I would like to formally announce my future successor has been chosen."

Marxim grabbed my hand, jerking me forward, and gave me a reassuring smile as he led me to the stairs and made sure I stopped at the base. "Be strong," he whispered cryptically.

"I present to you Virtal the Just!"

She stuck a hand to me and I took it, jerked up the stairs to stand awkwardly next to her in my thin white robe. We were ten stories above the open courtyard where the rich and titled gathered below us. So many, so very many. Thousands, and the sheer number began to eat at my confidence.

Cheers rose up and my poor addled brain scrambled to catch up with the title I'd just been given. The roar was deafening and my heart was pounding as I looked at the sea gathered below.

The queen gripped my hand tightly and raised her other, quieting the crowd as there were scuffled steps behind us. "And tonight Virtal the Just has claimed her consort, Lucius Harvinger!"

Her free hand flew back and jerked him up as well. We both leaned forward, puzzled panicked gazes meeting, shrugs matching, if only in our eyes. The crowd cheered once more and the queen leaned forward as well, her icy smile chilling Lucius and I to the bone.

She raised her hands up again, now clasping both of ours. "And tonight they shall call the moon!"

My stomach dropped out. Sex...with Lucius...in front of almost everyone I knew, and thousands of strangers...mastering magic I had yet to learn...and I had to prove to our people I could. Beads of sweat began to form on my brow.

The queen stepped back and turned to me, dropping our hands. "Let's see you call the goddess, awaken her from slumber, and keep our world running smoothly, little one."

That she had to tip her head up to say that to my face cheered me but a little.

"Marxim, assist Lucius," she ordered and strode to a throne-like chair where her "stock" now sat like pets. I seethed with rage to see Cassipe reduced to this, but that injustice had to wait while I battled stark terror.

"I will watch you. Breathe slowly and breath against Lucius, like last night," Marxim whispered as he took Lucius' belt. "The power will flow, I promise, breathe as you have been taught."

He backed away glancing at the queen and took the rest of Lucius' clothes off his body. Naked my consort was glorious, and despite the nerves my body fired. He was all lean muscle, his skin as golden as the sun, his sympathetic eyes swimming like the sea I had always dreamed of seeing.

Years of training had taught him to harden by sheer will, but his erection was flagging until he removed my robes, sliding the soft material down to reveal my naked body. Seeing his cock surge, I knew he wanted me for me, not merely for the ceremony.

And everything else in the world dropped away.

The altar was tall, tall enough to be seen over the balcony in full view of the world below. He laid on the cool stone, hands at his side like a virgin sacrifice, and for a moment I thought of my own virginal sacrifice.

I stole a look at Cassipe and saw his expression was fond, proud, encouraging.

I strode to the altar and looked down at Lucius. The queen raised her lust with blood, but that was not for me. When the Queen took Marxim, it was a definite taking, he was not to move. I did not know if this was the true way, but it was not my way.

I climbed up and straddled him, thinking fondly of our afternoon. Settling down onto his cock, I pressed it flat against his taut belly. 

"You are amazing," I whispered, and this won me a soft smile. In his eyes was a reflection of the nerves I myself possessed. "Breathe with me."

I stroked my hands over him, enjoying the play of muscle. As he breathed in, I breathed out, and so forth. I stroked his incredibly broad shoulders, the hard bunched muscles of his arms, the fabulous hills and valleys of his torso.

The breathing and the touching wove a spell over us. Lucius and I had never taken it this slowly, lust always claimed us swiftly. For the moment, however, the building of pleasure was all we craved.

A sound of impatience escaped the queen but I ignored it. Below us the crowd was strained, hushed, and a small corner of my soul said expectant. I shoved away distractions, and pulled Lucius' hand in mine.

Gasps rang out all around us as I guided it to a breast, made him cup the weight there. I moaned at the feel of his rough, callused hand on the soft skin.

My eyes closed, something the Queen's never did. I cared not, for the sheer beauty of Lucius could steal the very pleasure from my soul. I began to move against him, in time to our breaths. The wetness was immense, his hardness incredible, and shortly I drew to the knife edge of orgasm, but I held off.

My pleasure, that night, was for the goddess alone.

"Lucius, are you ready?" I asked softly, without opening my eyes.

"Please." His voice was hoarse, I had not realized he too was on the edge.

I could only hope this boded well.

Rising up I at last opened my eyes. The sun had set, the moon had not yet come. I saw the rim of her, the blood we called it, and in that moment, I understood the magic.

With a smile I sank down onto his hard cock, impaling myself. It felt deeper than I had ever felt, and Lucius fought a bowing of his body. I felt the power sizzle between us, the god and goddess possessed us now. By mutual agreement, discussion only in our eyes, we gave our bodies to them.

It was difficult to estimate the goddess, I had never felt her so strongly. She filled me, a small vessel, with the sheer immenseness of her being. It was a complete immolation of the soul, a possession of my body. My mind expanded and crashed in on itself, even as my body moved faster and faster.

The sparks between Lucius and I became real and visible, gold and silver, sun and moon, god and goddess. The pressure crept up my spine, different than orgasm, but related nonetheless. We began to move like lightning, the sparks growing, and I knew from the gasps the power swam around us.

When I thought my skin would burst, when I thought my mind could take no more, the orgasm came. For a long, blissful, wailing moment, I was one with the goddess, I saw the god in Lucius. Then the moonlight burst over us, and when I collapsed onto my consort, I was stronger and weaker than I'd ever been.

Dead silence greeted us as Lucius and I panted against each other. I felt the mad urge to laugh, and I knew he felt it too, but the silence was eerie.

And then the crowd erupted.

Marxim was there, helping me down, wrapping me in my robe. I grinned up at him, but the smile was not returned, killing mine. I leaned against the altar and watched as he did the same for Lucius, and when my consort was clothed the queen stepped up, her aura palpable ice.

"My successor has proven herself worthy, she is confirmed."

Cheers rang louder, and I blinked. My path, my destiny was locked in, and for a mad moment I thought of a story Cassipe had once told me, about the ancients, and a king named Damocles. He had declared the true meaning of power was a heavy sword dangling over his head by a thin thread.

I caught my teacher's eye and his glance said his thoughts were with mine.

"No!" A voice screamed.

The Queen quieted the crowd and turned back to her house. It was Mystrike who had spoken, her lavender eyes blazing.

"I have been your second for three summers, and by rights I am your successor. By our laws I challenge Virtal to a duel!"

It seemed, for the blink of an eye, that time had stopped.

Turning to my, my queen smiled like a snake. "She may challenge you, but you have the right to refuse. If you refuse, you may kill her. If you accept, you must fight now."

Damn her! She knew just how weak calling the moon left the vessel of the goddess. If I fought Mystrike now, I would be slain.

"I choose neither."

As if echoing the queen's mood, thunder cracked in the distance. The crowd below murmured with worry and the need for safe shelter, even as it warred with the desire to see two powerful members of the harem fight to the death.

"You must choose, Virtal," Antal's voice was pure cold.

"I choose banishment." Cassipe had seen to much of my education, but it had been my times in the old stacks and with Lucius I had learned of the politics of the harem.

"My queen," Marxim stepped forward, and her anger lashed out at him. 

"Do not challenge me, consort! Mystrike, you are hereby banished from the harem. You will leave tomorrow. Remove her."

Mystrike had a weapon in hand, but before anyone else could move unseen guards, summoned by the queen, grabbed her. Marxim crossed to help and Markal was already there, removing the sword from her hand.

"No! You can't do this! Antal!"

Gorgent was at her side, tears in her eyes. It was plain to see Mystrike's friend loved her, and it almost hurt my heart to see the naked pain. Almost.

"I will come back, and I will kill you, Virtal."

Something about the brunette's words chilled me, more than the queen's could. As Mystrike shouted, dragged from the room, Antal turned to me. "You have earned your first enemy, and you have let her live. You are heir to the throne, and if you do not learn to dispatch your enemies, you may very well not live much longer in that woe.

"All but the top tier, leave us!"

She clapped her hands and below us I heard the crowd dissipate noisily, the thunder and dark clouds drawing closer. Inside the palace, everyone but Missiply, Annist, Morganna, Antal, Marxim, Lucius, Uloga, and Markal left. Torches flickered in the wind and we were all as still as the marble statues that lined the room.

"Tonight, as my successor, it is time I taste you, Virtal. I suspect you'll bring me great power. You must select one of them to join us."

I knew what a night with the queen meant. I knew I would bleed, possibly even pray for death. She was in a fine froth, and my flesh was to be stripped. I knew this, understood this, accepted it. But now I was being forced to ask someone to share my fate.

I looked into brown eyes, green, amber, blue-grey. I saw strength in character tempered with fear. And I knew I could ask none of them.

"My queen, I would ask my first night with you be between us."

Antal smiled like a demon. "My dear, Lucius and Marxim shall watch, that is a given, and assist in as much as their duties allow. But one person does no entertain me. Be the strong future queen you have been attempting to prove you are and choose."

It was a test, I understood. I looked at them again and only one pair of dark eyes showed the same understanding I held. With my own gaze I begged forgiveness.

"Uloga."

From her laughter, I knew I had just signed over my and Uloga's souls.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 09



The queen's private bedchamber was richly decorated, lined by large palms and flaming torches. Cordoned off from the other areas of her private rooms, all that separated it was a sheer curtain. Beyond that her guards moved to turn their backs, like true sentries.

Antal led me and Marxim behind her, the two of us having equal status, and Lucius followed behind me, Uloga last, each man knowing his place well.

Antal waved her hand and Marxim moved aside to take up a seat on some posh pillows on a ledge overlooking the bed. The bed itself was huge, it could fit eight people comfortably, and the wall behind it's back posters was a glass-fronted cabinet lined with wicked looking toys.

With a nod to him from Marxim, Lucius joined the other consort leaving Uloga and myself to face the queen.

She turned with a smile. "Virtal, Lucius' seed is still within you?" She waited for my nod. "Uloga, you will remove it."

I felt a small tremor of embarrassment, which I squelched quickly. Embarrassment, I thought as Uloga dropped to his knees and guided my legs apart, would only lead to shame, and that was what the queen wanted. I would not give it to her.

He pressed his face to my mound through the parting of my robe and I tried to raise my arousal, but the fear I felt coming off in waves from the men was distracting. At the first lick of his lips chills ran along my limbs, and desire slowly followed.

He teased me, working the very tip of his tongue along the folds and valleys, and my breaths shortened. I reached out to grab his broad shoulders for support and was rewarded with the firmer press of his tongue against me. My knees trembled and my eyes fluttered closed with the faint hope that there was to be no horror, only pleasure.

And then I heard the hiss of a whip and felt Uloga jerk against me. I opened my eyes to the tang of blood in the air and a haze of pain in his eyes. Behind him the queen stood proud and lustful, rage and need warring in her gaze.

"I said clean her, not pleasure her!"

Uloga obediently began to slide his tongue inside and suckle. This did not diminish my pleasure at all, instead it increased it tenfold. I too felt lust with a man on his knees before me, serving me, but unlike the queen it was knowing his pleasure in it matched mine that drove me, with her it was their suffering. True pain could never entice me, and with that thought my desire died.

Antal must have read my face, for she laughed in victory, and it was a chilling laugh indeed.

She raised the whip again and protective instinct made me throw out my arm and the whip hit it. The very tail on grazed me, cutting me slightly, but I cried out nonetheless.

Uloga jerked to his feet as did Lucius, but my consort was held back by the queen's.

"You dare defy me, little one?"

In that moment I so badly hated the queen, I wanted to kill her. In the annals of history many times that was how it had been done, but I needed to know the harem, the elite, the powerful were on my side. The harem was split after Mystrike, I knew, and the elite and powerful knew from one ceremony only, and that very night. It was not the time.

"Instinct, my queen," I grunted out.

Uloga sank to his knees and pressed his face against me again, trying to hide or go unnoticed.

"I've changed my mind. Virtal, I was going to test your limits, but tonight, I will see how far you push Uloga's. Come, take the whip."

I had never been permitted by Cassipe to learn how to wield one, but I had not always been under my tutor's watchful eye. My sisters had to learn to use one on livestock, and I had studied in their shadows. I knew my craft well, and took the whip with confidence as she passed it to me.

"See what he can take."

I stood back and twisted and coiled the whip in flight, testing the strength and length of it. Once I had a feel for it, I met Uloga's eyes over his shoulder and gave him a soft look.

I kissed his back with it. I did what I had long fantasized about as a growing girl, using the tip to stroke his flesh harshly without opening it. Pleasure and pain I dreamed danced in the pattern I drew, and the look on his face confirmed it.

I snuck a look at Marxim and Lucius and the men seemed fascinated, but Lucius raised his eyes to mine and nodded in approval before his eyes widened in horror.

Suddenly I heard another rush of air and then I felt a cane slam across my robed back. It was hard agony, and I dropped to my knees willing myself not to cry, not to fold into myself and give up like I knew she wanted.

"I said hurt him!"

"No!"

She leaned down and grabbed my hair in her hand, jerking my head back harshly. "Him or you, Virtal."

"Me," I said without a thought.

"Virtal, no!" Uloga cried and was rewarded by the flick of the cane.

In a rage the queen dropped me and began battering him. I wanted to come between them but when I looked to the other men they both shook their heads. Uloga knew to expect this, I understood, but still, it was killing me to see the red welts rise, the blood flow, hear his cries of pain.

It seemed to go on for hours, but it was less than two turns of a sand dial. Uloga was beaten, his face left unmarred, but his body a bloody mess.

"Lucius, see him to the healer," the queen ordered as if Uloga had simply turned an ankle.

My consort brushed his hip against my shoulder where I still knelt, the only comfort he could offer, and helped his friend to his feet. Together they left, stumbling, leaving blood on the marble floors. There it looked shiny and crimson, horrifically so.

"Marxim, tie Virtal to the bed."

He stood at last and crossed to help me up. My back was one fire, and I worried madly if I was to be made to lie on the wound and irritate it, or on my stomach to receive more. Either thought chilled my blood.

Marxim removed my robe and made me kneel on the bed. He drew me to the head and set me to wait while he drew down some velvet covered rope. This he wrapped around my wrists, looking to the queen who stood at the foot, watching us with narrowed eyes, evil intent in her gaze.

"Tie her tightly, make the bitch kneel."

I gulped as he drew the cords tight and tied me so firmly I knew I could not escape. I sagged against the bonds, watching as Marxim drew back to stand beside the bed and await his orders. He was a thing of pure masculine beauty, his eyes sad, his stance firm. He offset the queen with her bright red hair well, but something in the pairing seemed off. It was not that they did not love each other, it would be foolish to think rulers and consorts did, but something else stood between them other than her rage and his fear.

She took the flogger and walked around like a jungle cat stalking prey. Marxim towered over her, but anyone watching would know he was clearly her victim.

"Present!" 

At her barked command he drew his bottom covering down, exposing firm buttocks and bent over the bed, bracing himself on his forearms. I snuck a look at Lucius and he seemed as entranced with Marxim's supple beauty as I was, but fear lay in his eyes too. For me, for Marxim, or for himself I knew not.

Antal drew back her arm and began to slap the flogger against Marxim's bottom. At first she warmed him, lust warring with anger in her face, but soon she no longer drew the flogger back and smoothed it with her free hand.

Tall enough to stoop to reach the soft flesh proffered up, she knelt and began to swing the flogger over her head. Slap, slap, slap it rang out, but it was still not hard enough to draw blood.

Her consort's face twisted in dark pleasure, and as I watched his erection grew. I trembled for I knew this was what the evil bitch wanted. We had all been twisted by her darkest desires and craved the tinge of pain to offset pleasure, but now that he had achieved arousal, she would twist his desire into agony.

Now the floggers tips hit his lower back and the sensitive organs inside, it snaked between his bunched thighs and hit the sensitive sac exposed there. Up and down the backs of those thighs she left angry red welts, across his back making Marxim jerk.

His erection flagged, enraging her even more, and she beat him harder while he stoically tried to bite his lip and contain his cries. At last she was panting and tired, but far from spent.

"On the bed, on your back, your head between her legs."

I gasped as he moved gingerly to lay on the very flesh so recently tortured, and she smiled at me like a jackal through bushes. "Remember, to know pleasure from my consort is death, my successor."

As he lay down and began to slide up I stretched up as far as I could, and his head slid between my legs. I couldn't move too well and so his hair and ears brushed the inside of my thighs, teasing me, but his lips were far enough. If I sank so much as an inch his nose would touch my inner folds and death would be demanded, I knew, and so my heart raced even as I stood stock still.

The Queen ordered Lucius over and made him fetch rope. As he walked he gave me a look of warm encouragement and I nodded as best I could.

When he brought the ropes back, rough hemp ropes from the eastern fields, Antal ordered Lucius to bind Marxim to the bedposts. With skill honed under her harsh tutelage he tied the ropes intricately around Marxim's middle, winding them out along his limbs in beautiful patterns until they latched onto the posts. The artistic creation was infinitely practical and made it so he could not move except perhaps to arch his back.

I could not see his eyes and it troubled me. Where our skin touched I felt a strange kind of magic, much more earth bound than that of the moon and sun. It was powerful, more powerful than anything I'd ever felt, and perhaps that and my fear was what clouded my judgment.

When Lucius was done he stepped back and the queen came to his side, drawing the tips of her fingers down an arm, leaving small red marks. When he shuddered she laughed and kicked his buttocks as he walked back to the cushions.

"You will watch...for now," Antal ordered him cryptically.

The queen began to strip off, baring her skin. She was pale yet golden, her body like marble without warmth, her muscles sleek yet well defined, moving beneath her skin in a manner that eerily reminded me of kittens in burlap.

She knelt on the bed between his legs and without warning grabbed the sac between them and twisted. Her jerked and cried out, his hot breath searing me intimately before I too jerked up and away from his thrashing head.

"She didn't stop him. Lucius, would you like to be assigned a duty your future queen will never again allow?" Antal looked at me when she said this, and I knew her game. She hoped to scare and enrage me, and use Lucius to do it, and she hoped I would beat my consort the way she did hers.

I felt a tear slide down Marxim's face against my inner thigh, and I knew I would never hurt anyone the way she did. Never.

His erection had flagged to nothing and so she leaned to the side of the bed and pulled out a drawer from below the mattress. From it Antal took a vial of liquid and a strange metal ring of bronze.

The ring she put over his soft penis until it rested at the base, then she poured oil into her hands and rubbed them together, warming them.

"Take the flogger and give my successor 20 strips for being disobedient."

My blood chilled, not at the promise of pain which was distantly exciting, but for the effect this might have on my consort. I tried to turn and see Lucius but as he moved he was blocked from my sight.

I heard the flogger be whisked up and began to hold my breath, my muscles tensing. Antal began to stroke Marxim's cock now, smoothing along it in long, sensuous pulls. The woman was not pure evil, but it was often hard to tell, yet as she handled him carefully I saw something of a bond.

From Marxim I felt his breaths timed to mine and I knew what he was doing. We could not touch sensually, that was forbidden, but just as he'd taught me, we began to breathe together. From this I felt his power flow, and again I realized it felt different, and he had held back that previous time, or perhaps the emergency had been too much for my mind to take it all in.

Lucius came into the space behind the bed and when he parted the curtains I felt a soft breeze, making me shiver. Would he truly hurt me, strip the flesh from my body? I prayed not, not for vanity's sake, but because I needed my strength, then more than ever.

The first hit was firm but gentle, a sharp sting followed by a sizzling sensitizing of the flesh on my back. I still jerked in surprise and the queen smiled, seeming to think he had hit me with greater force.

Another landed now on the flesh of my own buttocks, and a strange, expectant languor flowed over me. Beneath Marxim made an almost humming sound as moisture slipped from between my folds to coat his nose. At the queen's hand he lengthened, swelling, pressing against the bronze ring until his erection seemed huge and impossibly dark.

I watched as the queen drew herself up and over, but strangely she tuned her back. Marxim did have a slight bend in his penis, the ring made it even more pronounced, bending almost down, and as she sank onto it, she groaned.

Beneath me Marxim jerked, hissing, his breathing interrupted and the power flow between us broken. All the while Lucius hit me gently, and I found the teasing dance of pleasure and pain incredibly erotic, but there was no relief in sight. My nipples were hard, aching points and my body was straining to the point of madness. In front of my the queen moved like liquid silk flowing over her consort, drawing his power in little sparks where their skin touched.

The number of ordered strips had been reached and Lucius dropped the flogger and pressed into me. His arms came around so his hands could cup my breasts and he ground his erection into my sensitive, aching back. "I hope I didn't hurt you," he whispered into my ear.

I turned as much as I could. "It was wonderful." 

I kissed him then, a desperate meeting of lips and teeth and tongues, and his nimble fingers pulled and twisted at my nipples, making me whimper with desire. Between my legs I felt the power of Marxim's paced breathing build and build like a palpable force against me. Just when I thought I would go mad his tongue stretched out and the very tip landed on the sensitive nub there.

Power shot between us like lightning, and I felt it strike Lucius too, responding to the sun and moon inside us. He came with a shudder, wetting my back, shouting his pleasure into my mouth even as I screamed mine into his.

I felt waves of intense, searing pleasure like nothing I'd eve known roll through me, rocking me. I would have surely ground myself down onto Marxim's face if Lucius hadn't held me, and he gripped my like an iron cage.

The queen herd my scream and likely assumed it was one of agony for she gave a hoarse shout and came with a shudder, ordering Marxim not to release as she came down.

Just as her body stilled Lucius sprung back and Marxim withdrew his tongue from me. I hung my head hoping my hair curtained my face, for I knew I wore a look of complete and total pleasure, and the queen needed me broken by other means.

She rolled off and raised my eyes to see her grasp Marxim's huge erection and begin to work off the ring without any care of his comfort. The blood was trapped there so his tumescence remained, though he was wincing and bracing in discomfort.

"Leave us now, Lucius, I will return Virtal to you in hours, if she can withstand the temptation to take what is mine."

The look her gave me as he left told me he had read between her lines as well as I did.

***

I was mad with lust. It was nearly morning and all through the night I had watched my queen take her consort again and again. All through it on bunched thighs I could not sink down or find relief, and their pleasure had driven me to seek my own with no escape.

I ached from holding myself up, my arms were asleep, my entire body throbbed with emotion and fatigue.

I went to Lucius and found him asleep. He was gloriously naked beneath the thin blanket and I peeled it down slowly. With what little strength I had left I bent over, closing my mouth around his half flagging erection and began to suck and lick it to full hardness.

Sleepily he woke and I found his hands in my hair, my name on his lips. When at last he was hard I raised my head. "Take me, for I am weak. Take me, hard and fast and now, before I lose my mind."

He moved quickly, startling a cry from me as he jerked me up across his body and then rolled me beneath him. In the darkness I saw a flash of white teeth, the glint of light off one incredible eye, and then he filled me.

Lucius seemed larger than I remembered, and he filled me deeply, almost to pain. I cried out and his mouth was there, tasting of sleep and drink and man. We stayed locked like that, my feeble limbs wrapped around his, and just as the night had begun, we began to breath together, in and out in tandem. Sparks flowed as power between us grew, and when one made me jump Lucius began to move.

His sparse chest hair abraded my nipples as he slammed into me so hard we scooted back on his bed towards the headboard. I was too far gone to care and my pleasure had already been a knife's edge.

I peaked, screaming into his mouth, and Lucius kept moving. He wasn't as close as I and the thrusting movements drove me swiftly to another peak, then another.

Sweat poured off of us and the sparks turned into a glow that lit the room, making him appear like a dark angel bent on conquering me. I gasped and tugged his head down for another kiss, and when our tongues touched the glow deepened.

This peak built more slowly, almost pain as it went, but at least my Lucius built with me. When it broke we screamed, we clawed, we pulled, we went mad. I was torn apart into nothingness, my consciousness hanging by a slim thread connected to my consort.

I came down panting as he did and the glow seeped back into us. I concentrated on healing and felt my muscles relax, my body reenergize. I groaned as did Lucius, and he broke the spell, falling to his side.

Still he gathered me close, and when the night fell into me and all that I had been through slipped, he held me as I cried. I knew that I had done something I knew no other queen, future or realized, had ever done.

I fell in love with my consort.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 10



We slept through to the late afternoon as was customary. When I awoke a strange thought caught me; Halfirth, my guide upon arrival, had said I would accompany the queen on trips. I did not relish her company but I wanted to explore beyond the palace walls. I wanted to see the world I was risking all to inherit, I wanted to know if the rumors were true, if civil war and strife ruled the lands with a tighter grip than the queen's.

Beside me Lucius slept, looking somewhat fierce. I studied him, the grim set of his jaw, the bunching of his sleek muscles, and it struck me; he did not bear the tattoos of a priest.

Unsure of what to make of that I went to the bathing portion of my chamber and drew a cool bath. I allowed myself to sink in, spread some of the perfumed soap, and relaxed leaning back against the edge and closing my eyes. I'd cleaned my teeth with a cloth and now chewed the fresh mint left by servants without fail, allowing the rhythm of my jaw to set a tempo for my heart to mimic.

"That looks good."

I opened my eyes to see luscious there, sleepy, somehow more innocent in wakefulness, his long, beautiful hair free and rumpled.

"May I?"

I nodded and he came to the edge, moved me, and slid in behind me, holding me to his magnificent chest. I closed my eyes again and sighed. No matter what else happened, this felt good.

"Why are you not marked as a priest?" I asked before my brain caught up to my mouth.

He kissed my temple and reached for a sponge, wetting it, and running it over my shoulders. "I have seen twenty seven years, thirteen of them in here. The queen did not allow me to be marked...she said that was her job."

There was a hollow, bitter note to his voice that said there was more to his story, and it carried a warning that I should not ask. To distract me, I realized, he brought his rough hand and the soft sponge down below the water, teasing my breasts.

I sighed but pushed it away. "No more this morning. I am replete, and can take no more."

He chuckled but turned the washing to less sensitive areas. "I seek to distract you."

"From what?" I finally turned to face him and had to resist the pull f those deep green eyes.

"From what lies ahead. The queen will try that again, try to tempt you into doing something forbidden. Soon enough she will wise up and realize it is not Marxim who would tempt you so, but your teacher."

I gasped and jerked away, rising from the water to peer down at him. "It was you that day who spied on us!"

His eyes scanned my body with a tinge of lust but he shook his shoulders as if shrugging it off. "I begrudge you no lovers, my sweet, but I would not have you be so careless with your life."

I felt strangely violated. Was I to have no privacy, nothing of myself?

I stepped out and grabbed a soft towel made of fine cotton from the southern lands. Wrapping myself tight I faced the polished mirror and saw a very bedraggled, wet innocent young woman peer back with growing ghosts in her eyes.

Power plays were not me. Pain and pleasure blending were not me. Dear gods, the queen was succeeding. At first I would come to expect the unexpected, close myself off, guard against it. Then I would sample the lighter side of her dark pleasures.

The dizzying realization came with another. Was Antal in her own way preparing me for rule, albeit rule as she saw was fit?

"What is it, Virtal?"

Lucius was behind me, dripping soapy water all over the marble floor. I shrugged him off. "I need to be alone, really alone."

I stepped through to my room and grabbed his trousers, holding them out. With a hooded gaze he took them, slipped them on, and left without a word.

Alone, as it turned out, was a word no one in the harem would ever know.

***

I found myself back at the pool. There had been lower members of the harem but at my appearance they fled. The reminder of power and status should have offered comfort, instead a stab of loneliness washed over me.

I swam in long laps around the towering columns that supported the ceiling, alone with my thoughts. After an eternity I heard the splash of a diver in the deep end and I brought up short, treading water.

My heart stuttered for if it was Cassipe I would be loved, even if in a strange way, but loved for who I was and not what. The fear that that was what lay between Lucius and I was growing with every moment.

I saw a dark shape swim closer and closer, stalking like some watery beast, and then he popped up, spitting water like a more gentle sea creature.

"Markal!"

He grinned at me, his teeth even and white against his dark face and inky hair. "I apologize if I am intruding, I know you might have wanted to be alone with your thoughts. I too, and this is where I come to think."

Of all the men of the top tier I had spent the least amount of time with him. Tonight I would have to take him to bed or go to the next tier down, with men I did not know. Or take another woman to my bed.

Damn the rules, I did not want anyone.

"If I may distract you, how about a race?"

Markal was smiling at me, more usually an expression Uloga wore, but the water seemed to make him playful. Before I could agree he was off. I surged after him but did not catch up. At the shallow end he merely touched the edge and shot off it, pushing with his feet.

I Flipped as I'd been taught and did the same, but he still was several feet in front of me in the deep end, waiting with a smile.

"You're part fish!" I splashed him and he splashed back.

"I grew up in the water as much as on land. I feel at home here, it's the closest I have to home, aside from...the jungle."

Both of our minds flashed to the dark happenings there, and together we shook it off. "How long have you been here?" I asked at last.

"I'm the most recent acquisition, aside from you. I beat you by just two months."

"Will I get used to the games?"

He reached out and cupped my cheek, the most tenderness he'd shown me aside from a refusal to fight me. "By the goddess I hope not."

He kissed me then, a hungry kiss. I responded because what I felt was mutual need. We were two lost souls in a stolen moment, flimsy anchors for one another. All we did was cling to each other and kiss, finding comfort, struggling to stay above the water line.

No hands roamed anywhere, and though arousal began a slow burn we did not press closer.

It was a gift Markal gave me that evening. Innocence, in the only way I could find it in the harem. A childlike race, a relatively chaste kiss. When we broke we looked at each other with sad eyes.

"Soon," was all I could think to say.

He smiled and climbed out, showing a magnificent ass as he went. I knew from his look he thought I'd meant we lay together soon, but I had meant he'd be free.

Soon, I was going to have to kill the queen.

***

That night we greeted the moons again. I stroked Marxim to hardness and tried to ignore the pleading and ecstatic look in his eyes, and ignore the supplication of Lucius' hands on Antal's body.

I did sneak a glance at him and his eyes were hard. I could almost read his mind, and he was thinking: don't fight me on this. Those had been his last words before the ceremony.

Again Antal tortured Marxim, again the moon crested, and again I was to heal the queen's consort. Lucius adamantly advised we follow the traditional path, through sex raise the magic to heal Marxim, and hope the queen would somehow forget I did not need the sex to do so.

It was worth a shot though I did not think it would work. It was more that I felt distant from Lucius, and the sex act might give the queen dark ideas I did not want to contemplate.

I submitted in the end, and as the top tiers and the queen's stock watched, Lucius stood behind me, using his fingers to stimulate me through my robes. My body responded but the spirit did not move. Something had changed inside me, and more and more I was realizing I had to make my own way.

For the first time in my life I deliberately practiced deception. I allowed Lucius to take my body, but the spirits of the gods did not spark between us. I used my own power to heal Marxim.

When it was over he lay gasping, hope on his face. I held onto that, saw it reflected in the eyes of the few I could call friends, and did my best to avoid the questioning gazes of the queen, my consort, and my teacher.

***

I chose that night, by the Queen's orders, someone from the tier below. Actually, two someones. I chose the dark priest with the ebony skin and the wild hair, kinked into strings that fascinated me. From the women I chose a knight from my own lands, tall and pale, her hair long and dark like mink.

Power seemed to come naturally; I ordered, they obeyed. I asked for a show, and demanded they tell everyone and anyone who asked that I participated. To keep it from being a lie I kissed them both when we came to my rooms.

She was soft for all her years of training and tasted of cooked plums and precious chocolate. He was rough, but his lips were soft and quite large. I liked kissing him but that was not the point of the evening's exercise.

I sat on the chair for my desk and made them strip one another, slowly. First he pulled her clothes free, and she moved like a trained warrior, with strength and grace. He pulled her tunic up over her head and she shimmied from it like a dancer.

His hands skimmed her lithe curves, so black against her whiteness, it was a living picture. Then he slowly, painstakingly unlaced the strings holding her trousers up. Those he slid off, kneeling down, kissing the center of her chest as he went.

I caught a whiff then, a scent of love between them. I knew somehow they did not mind being watched, they considered it a great honor to perform for the future queen. Still I felt somewhat dirty for watching something so pure, but it did not diminish my need for the charade, or the desire I felt in doing so.

He caressed every inch of bared skin, worshipping her as only a man in love could do; without selfish thought, without necessarily the drive to please her, but only the need to live in the moment and draw from it all he could.

This aroused me greatly and a sharp pang of jealousy hit me. I wanted that, if I admitted it to myself. I was forced to give me body to so many and even my heart was torn between two men; Cassipe the teacher that had held back so much and would never make a good consort, and Lucius who was the perfect scheming consort and gave only what he thought helped him most.

"Now remove his clothes."

She moved with far more sensual passion, her mouth following the hands that skimmed his carved muscles. When she removed his trousers he was erect, huge, pulsing with the weight of his heartbeat. I saw how much he wanted to touch her, but he held back, awaiting my command, clenching his large fists.

"Lick his cock, slowly." My voice was deep husky, and the words coming from them just two weeks earlier would have been foreign and shocking. Now they came naturally, such had been my education in the queen's harem.

She did and again the contrast of their skin struck me, framed so perfectly by the honeyed gold of the walls. She moved her head back and forth slowly, one hand proceeding her mouth, the other cupping his hefty sac.

He could not control his hands and they dug into her glorious dark hair. He was a biddable man, however, and did not try to force her to move faster or take him any deeper. She did increase her speed of her own accord and I waited until he was close before barking out the command that halted them.

I knew by now the arousal process for men and women was vastly different. Women required long, dedicated stimulation, men needed quick fits of it or could stop and start time and again.

With that in mind I ordered him to lay her on the bed on her back, and he knelt on the soft rug, pulling her legs over his shoulders. He was well trained and needed little guidance from me other than "allow her all the peaks she can handle."

I sipped a dark brew and toyed with some jewelry left hanging from the mirror by the desk as I watched. My mood was dark and I felt far aged beyond my years, and very deadly. Before, being a knight was something of status, but I knew from my sparring I was quite deadly. Being a Priestess was symbolic in my home, but here I called the moons, I channeled the Goddess and did what the Queen, the High Priestess herself, could not do.

As he brought his lover to crest after crest of pleasure I mused on these things. It was time to stop acting like the frightened little girl who knew nothing, and start taking the power that was mine by right.

With that settled I mechanically sat back and allowed my arousal to grow. When she was limp and shivering then, and only then, did I command he take her. I wanted to watch so I had him sit on the bed, facing me, and she straddling him, also facing me.

I washed his large black cock sink into her, glistening with wetness, making her mewl with broken pleas. At long last, after long tortures of teasing, I ordered him to rub her and release, and they reached the pinnacle together with a ragged shout that seemed to echo off the walls of the harem, strangely silent around us.

I rang for a servant as they collapsed and the one who came was attentive. I ordered a tray of wine and cheeses to nibble on, a large litter and stout men to carry the lovers back to their rooms, and ordered my consort be brought to me at once, armed with a candle, a standing bowl, and oil.

When all these things arrived in seconds I thought it was good to be almost a queen. When I thought of what I would make Lucius do, I new it would be even better once I was queen.

***

I could feel the tension in Lucius and was glad for it. I wanted to control him, see how far I could push him. He'd pulled my strings nicely, I wondered if I could do the same. His hands smoothed the warmed oil over my skin and I closed my eyes as he massaged me and part of me warned I would never master this man.

"You did not take them," he finally asked as he finished releasing tension from my back and moved to my legs. He was gloriously naked, framed in torchlight and the glow from the small candle warming the oil in the stand-raised bowl. 

I knew he meant the young lovers I'd sent from my room, but I merely murmured as his hands found my feet. I had heard from the other women of the harem that this was a common duty to request from our male counterparts but I had never been massaged. I was discovering I quite liked it, but it did absolutely nothing to quell the arousal sparked earlier.

His hands lingered there drawing moans that I knew sounded like purrs from my throat. At long last he moved up to take a calf and I sighed. "You're very talented at this."

"I'm experienced. This was the service most often requested by the old queen. In my training and preparation for the harem I was instructed fully."

We did not speak again until he was working on my thighs, and his hands drew close to the hottest, wettest part of me. The urge to give in and demand he pleasure me was strong. I had had to concentrate on my breathing meditatively and bite my lip, but I resisted.

I opened my eyes to see a shadow of doubt in his, but he chased it with a smile. I merely turned over on the leather hide put down to protect my bed from the oil. I felt warm and languorous, simply decadent. "Keep going,' I murmured and closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to stare at his muscles flex and bunch as he worked.

Antal pushed her men's limits and displayed her power with pain and mutilation. I would do the same with worship and denial. I had been raised in many ways by Cassipe for this, lessons learned I never fully appreciated. Now I did; he had been teaching me to rule. I needed to know the harem was with me. The queen had no council, no advisors, only the harem and her absolute power. It meant I needed this men and women to support me fully.

I needed to know Lucius was mine, and not a creature purely of his own ambitions. Uloga and Markal I knew were mine to command, the blonde twins would be on my side, and the lower tiers who had all too often sampled Antal's dark tortures. 

I needed Lucius and Marxim. I needed to know their loyalty outweighed their fear of Antal, outweighed their desire for personal gain.

There was a part of me screaming at the rest of my mind that I wanted to know if Lucius loved me truly as he professed. I could not say I loved him, not yet, but my pride seemed to hinge on it.

He was so careful to massage my arms, my shoulders, my stomach, my legs. So slow, methodical, avoiding sensitive areas, but all it did was raise my arousal to a new level. Higher and higher into a realm I had never imagined, until finally I caved slightly.

"Massage my breasts."

He made a sound like a half-groan and moved back up. I felt his hard erection press into my arm and it took every ounce of self control I had not to stroke it with a firm grip.

Then I felt his hands on my breasts and the air left my lungs. I saw the goddess when my eyes fluttered closed, a sad expression on her beautiful, infinite face, and then I saw the god, and strangely it was he who wore patient understanding.

I had to hold out. I had to see him cave to passion before I did. If he failed, if he followed orders perfectly then I had to have him know I cared nothing for this beyond mechanical and power reasons.

When he went from massaging to whispered the backs of his fingers rapidly across my aching nipples I almost peaked then and there. I recited every incantation of health a priestess knew and managed to hold off, but when I opened my eyes he was smiling.

Damn it! He was older, he'd been here longer, he knew this was a game!

I was determined now to see him bowed low before me. "Worship my breasts, use your mouth." My voice came out gravelly, but he obeyed quickly.

It was a mistake; his mouth was something beautiful to feel, magical to know. My arousal pushed higher to a point of madness and all I could hear was the blood in my ears pumped away. Without my ordering it a hand of his found its way between my legs and he sank two fingers in, making me bow off the bed.

Another finger took advantage of the slippery wetness of my own juices and the oil and slipped into my nether hole. I cried out again and when he moved his hand in times to the suckling of a nipple I broke and screamed my release.

Before my mind could process he sat on the bed and dragged my legs over his. "Open your eyes, Virtal."

I did, ashamed there were tears there.

Satisfied, he took more warm oil and coated his cock. Watching him stroke himself I was mesmerized, and then he was pushing into that nether hole, still the only men to ever do so.

When he was seated I cried out, still feeling tension, and even he grunted. The message was clear; Lucius was not a man to be controlled.

He began to move and the curious dark pleasure swirled in my mind. He built rapidly and moved a hand down to feather over my nubbin. The crest took me by surprise and I gave another hoarse shout and he grunted in victory, spilling inside of me.

When it was over we fell from each other, panting heaps. A dark corner of my mind enjoyed this, that he would never submit fully, but the part of me that was destined to rule worried. A single ruler had always been the way, there was no room for two.

A consort was not set in stone. I could kill the queen, take her place, and take Marxim as my consort. Given my extremely young age his previous establishment in the position might be advantageous.

I propped myself up on my elbows and look at Lucius, smiling and replete. 

Why did the thought of casting him out sadden me so?

"You may sleep in your own rooms tonight," I said, rising to wash.




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 10



When I came out he was gone, and so I grabbed a robe, and did the most foolish thing I could do. In need of comfort, I snuck into the quiet, still harem to find Cassipe.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 11



It was early morning and all around, people slept. Guards were posted but nodding off, some playing cards; there was little fear in the morning light. I tucked my hair up under cloth and covered it with a cloak and snuck into the men's quarters.

The private stock were hard to find, but at last I did. Tucked out of site, around a corner from the top tier, these rooms were small along a narrow hall and steps led to a small door t hat appeared to be a back entrance to the queen's chambers.

Cassipe was in the second room I tried and his door was a mere curtain. Inside was a small bed and a dresser with the washbasins I was used to at home. No running water for the stock. I wondered who these rooms had been designed for but pushed it aside and I nudged Cassipe's shoulder.

His pale blonde hair was tangled and in he started, lean muscles tense as I woke him. I pushed my hood back and held a finger to my lips. "The records room, ten minutes," I whispered and slipped back out.

I waited until a guard left his post to relieve himself and dashed across the maze of cells to the hall that led down. It was a long journey doing this at every post but at last I was in the dark hall, and walked to the records room where I had consented to making Lucius my consort.

I checked behind shelves and armoires everywhere to make sure there would be no one else. I was alone. I hadn't thought to bring a weapon with me, but should anyone discover us, could I kill someone? To save a life yes. To save Cassipe, yes. To save my own...most likely, but I wasn't quite sure.

There came the sound of footsteps outside the door. I blew out my small torch and hid as the door opened and closed. Whoever it was bore no torch.

"Virtal?" It was Cassipe's soft voice.

I stepped out and ran to him in the darkness, intending to hug him but he sidestepped. "Virtal," he repeated, voice dripping with sorrow," I dare not risk our deaths."

"Were you followed?"

"I cannot be sure."

I cursed softly and brought my torch back up. Striking the flint on the wall it sprung to life. He was so beautiful, so haunted, my teacher. Those large dark eyes were full of sadness and he looked thin, stretched.

"Cassipe," I said and dissolved into sobs.

He took the torch from me and laid a brief hand on my shoulder, guiding me to the crate I had sat on just a week before. It seemed no one else tread here.

He crossed to a wooden chest and sat, his long legs almost straight. "Virtal, what troubles you most?"

"The queen setting me up to fail? The sick things she makes me do? That I did a foolish thing when I let my greatest enemy live to see another day? That I chose for a consort a man I cannot control? Or that I feel something for him? What of that is the worst?"

Cassipe considered this heavily. I felt childish, whining, but here I was a pawn, a mythic figure, and he was the only man who would see me as I truly was: a very lost young woman.

"I did not know when I brought you here what would happen. When I was dispatched by my beloved queen to find you, Queen Antal had not yet arrived. My queen believed you were her successor and when I met you and reported back, she ordered me to stay and guard you.

"When Antal took the throne it was a very sad day for me. I had once been a consort of the old queen and I loved her very much. I know love was never spoken of in your teachings but it is real and it does exist. I loved her and she loved me. If you do come to love your chosen consort it will be a blessing and a boon. 

"Young Lucius reminds me of...myself, actually," he smiled wistfully. "I never wanted to be controlled, it is not in my nature. I loved my queen, and I argued and debated many decisions with her, in private, but in public no one stood more firmly behind her than me. Lucius will be a bedrock for you, Virtal."

My tears slowed and I listened to his deep voice. "But how can I love him? I love you."

He smiled at the floor. 'There are many kinds of love, my sweet young queen. What you felt for me is puppy love, something of tender youth. It will pass, and I hope the love of friendship will bloom in its place."

I bit my lip though I wanted to argue; I sensed he had important things to say.

"A year after Antal came to power she disbanded the guards. You won't remember them, they were a service of the state that delivered the post, recorded news, and supported the Royal Guard, before that service was twisted in Antal's brute squad.

"News was stopped. In all your teachings I did not know how bad things had gotten. The only place people mix outside of their home areas is here in Caldor, and you've seen how the city walls are patrolled. 

"Antal has brought war and famine to the lands. She is decadent and corrupt. He cruelty knows no bounds. She has appointed the priestesses of the order she was raised in to high positions everywhere. They exist for only pain and suffering, Virtal."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

He stood, still holding the torch, and drew near. "I have only learned much of this. Virtal, no matter what, I raised you to believe in yourself, to fight for what is right. The indomitable spirit inside you that made you seduce me again and again is the same that will make you fight.

"Yes, you are young, but you are smart and more than capable. In the weeks here she has shown you nothing of rule, only the cruelty and perversions on these floors. She is doing her best to warp and twist you, and you must not let her!"

"He's right," another deep voice said. 

We both jumped and turned. Lucius stood in the doorway, hooded as I was. He stepped in and closed the door. "I warned you to take care and hide your feelings, Virtal."

Cassipe frowned. "You may be a headstrong young man but you do not ever order your future queen around."

"I am trying to protect her! And save you too." Lucius crossed to me and reached for my face, but I jerked away, still bitter he would not defer to me.

"This not what you think. I came to my old teacher for comfort and for knowledge."

He grabbed my chin and raised my eyes to his. "I am your consort; I," he emphasized, "give you comfort. Knowledge," he glanced to Cassipe, 'perhaps you can help with that."

"You've lived too long in this hell. The lands are falling apart. The time has come for a new queen to take control and save the lands." Cassipe ground out.

"I cannot unless I have the consent of the nobles." I stood and shrugged off my consort's hand. "And I am unknown to them."

Lucius grabbed my forearms. "They have suffered just as everyone else. I am not entirely ignorant of what is going on. They will support anything that ends Antal's rein. What you need to do before slaying her is kill the woman she lets govern in her place. You must kill the high Priestess of Caldor."

Cassipe snorted. "And just how is she supposed to do that?"

Lucius glanced at him. "That is what we have to figure out. Virtal, do you ever wonder why I am so hard on you sparring with the swords?"

"I assumed it was merely your nature."

"Fisine is not just High Priestess, she is a knight, and the best swordswoman in all the lands. I was awarded a place in the harem here under the old queen. I was being trained to kill Fisine who at the time was the greatest champion for the orphaned woman we now call queen. Antal kept me here so I could never escape.

"You are second. If anyone of us has a chance to leave these walls it is you. First you kill Fisine, and her false order will scatter. In the confusion you can kill Antal and assume power. It will not be easy, but it can be done.

"Virtal, bide your time, do as the queen says, no more, no less. I will protect you. Cassipe...you must take care. We can work together and get word to the priesthood. Through them we can fully secure the nobles."

Cassipe glanced to me. "Your young man does make some good points. I am willing to do my part."

I looked into Lucius' bright eyes. "I will do whatever I must for the people."

"Your people," Cassipe said. "I must go now, wait here, give me a good head start."

"Swift safety," Lucius said and I could not speak. Cassipe handed Lucius my torch and slipped from the room. 

We held our breath until he was gone and then Lucius extinguished one torch, setting the other in a sconce. "What are you doing?" I whispered loudly. "We need to go!"

"Virtal, you are the second highest ranking person in all the lands and I am your chosen consort. There is nowhere in the palace you may not go, and as your consort I may accompany you anywhere unless otherwise ordered by the queen."

He looked around the little hall. "This is where you accepted me as consort. Should anyone find us, they would assume we are visiting memories."

"Lucius...consort is not a forever position."

He smiled at me. "Why you little spoiled brat! Why is it there are only two men you cannot control and one you claim to love and one you're trying to turn your back on? What does your teacher have that I haven't? Yes, he was the first man to claim you," he stepped closer to me forcing my face up to meet his eyes, "but I too was the first man to have you in a manner, and I know I am still the only one who has."

"Why would you say such things?"

"Because very soon my arrogant yet innocent little one, you will have more power than even your swelled head can imagine. It's my job to keep you grounded, to connect you. You are the moon, the hopes and dreams, and I am the sun that illuminates all, good or bad."

"Suddenly, you're talking an awful lot," I said, sidestepping him and grabbing the torch, I stalked out.

I reached the fork of halls and there was no guard. Curious, I stopped and listened. There were three paths: one led back to the records and closed scribe offices, one led to the pool, one led back to the harem levels, and the last I had not yet explored. 

Not ready to go to sleep and not sure what I would find in the pool, I turned down the unknown hallway. It was long and narrow at first, widening, and the end was a single door. I opened it to find the queen's personal armory.

There should have been at least two guards and yet there were none. 

There were spears, swords, shields, bows, quivers, arrows, sais, throwing stars from the eastern lands, armor, and weapons I could not even identify.

"Little girl lost," a smooth, feminine voice called.

I whirled to find Gorgent standing between racks of swords. She wore light armor and her dark hair was braided back in a style common for battle. She had a sword, but not one from the rack. It was the sword her mentor knight had given her upon her ascension to knighthood. Mine was in my rooms.

She drew back into a classic attack pose, holding her body like an archer, the sword raised to guard in an attack without a shield.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I love Mystrike. Because you have no place here!"

She charged and without thinking I grabbed a sword of the rack and raised it just in time to stop a slash that would have taken my head. I forced her back and she stumbled, giving me time to toss off my cloak.

Gorgent came at me and brought her sword up in a move to slash open my belly. I blocked again and the hit sang up my arm.

"Gorgent, even with this sword you are no match for me. Why?"

"Shut up and die!" She yelled and came at me in fury. I stood my ground and parried, swirling my blade around hers to strain her grip. We danced about, her holding her sword with both hands me holding mine with one. It was smaller, lighter, and I moved faster.

By sheer length of blade she caught my shoulder, running around a rack and spinning to deliver the strike backhand.

I switched to my left hand and chopped at her head, embedding the blade on a rack. She swung for my neck and my sword was stuck so I ducked and rolled under the next rack and came up. 

Here were knives for throwing and I grabbed three. The first missed her to the side, the second whooshed through her hair, and before she could reach me the third struck the weak point in her armor, piercing her shoulder.

I grabbed another sword and raced over just as she pulled it out. Bleeding and panting Gorgent's beautiful face was a mask of hate. I meant to bring my sword down to pint at her neck but she swung hers up. I drew my blade to her hilt and it brought the sword I had grabbed, razor sharp, through her throat.

Her head was almost off and blood spread rapidly as she gasped.

I had never taken a life before and drew back my sword, wincing at the wet sound it made. I rested the blade on the stone floor, panting. "Gorgent, why? You knew you were not match for me."

She couldn't speak but mouthed the name Mystrike and through the fear of death, and evil glint came through her eyes.

A distraction! 

I ran into the hall, blood dripping from the sword, calling for the guards.

Three women came running and I yelled at them to follow me to the records hall. As we neared I heard the sound of a chillingly familiar laugh.

The door was locked and I threw myself against it but it wouldn't budge. The guards were heavier with muscle than I so I ordered two to help. The cackling inside grew louder as we fell against the door again and again. The wood groaned, dust plumed, and on the fifth fall it broke open, one of the guards falling to the floor.

We came upon a grim scene; Mystrike standing over Lucius with heer sword drawn. He lay in a pool of blood, his hands grasping for his own sword at his side, defensive wounds on his palms. 

I ran for Mystrike and fury gave me strength. Our swords clashed and blood from Gorgent flew from my blade to her face. Blinded, she stumbled back, and with a battle cry I drew my sword back then thrust it into her chest where armor had been ripped open in her earlier fight.

Her eyes widened and she fell to her knees.

I turned my back on her as the other two guards reached her and knelt beside Lucius as the other women shouted. There was a deep slash in his belly and he was bleeding fast, a mortal wound.

"Lucius," I croaked.

E tried to speak but I shook my head. "I have to heal you but I am low on power and the moon has not risen. It will take all I have. If Mystrike is not dead when I pass out, kill her. You will need rest too, but find a way to have another come to heal me, Uloga or Markal, whoever has more power. "

He nodded, fear calming in his eyes.

I laid my hands on his bare skin and called forth the goddess. In the light of day she was distant but I pushed on, demanding an insistent. In a vision she came to me, a woman of every face and none, every form and one, treading through a thick wind.

She drew near, the mother of all, and opened her mouth. Power surged out of her and into me, out my hands with sparks and it filled me too fast.

The next thing I saw was blackness rising up.

***

"Keep your voice down or someone will know I am here."

"Just keep it up, breathe with her. The Queen said she must be awake by moonrise for the ceremony. I am too weak to heal her, you're the only one."

"I cannot do it all, I cannot bring her the pleasure! The danger is too great."

I was swimming up through deep water, light shimmering at the surface. I recognized the vices of a weak Lucius and a scared Marxim. At the knowledge Lucius was speaking, weak but alive, I slowed my struggle to the light.

"That is why I invited someone here."

"No one can know, Lucius!"

"You can trust me," I heard Uloga say.

The water was thick, heavy and I couldn't breath. At Uloga's voice the weight lessoned. 

"You must swear to tell no one of this, Uloga."

"I am here to help Virtal, I have no other interest.'

"Then get to work," Lucius said.

Seconds later the water turned warm, the currents caressing me. I felt keen pressure on my lips, my neck, trailing down to my chest. I closed my eyes firmly and let myself float, enjoying the slow burn inside me this brought. 

The water became hotter and somehow wetter at the tip of a breast and a light current trailed down to the apex of my thighs. It speared me, coming inside and I moaned.

"It's working!" Lucius said.

The heat traveled down over my stomach and joined the spear of pressure between my legs, tickling, caressing, pulling. More pressure came at my breasts.

"You said that was forbidden!" Lucius said.

"Touch is what heels," Marxim replied. "Now shut up and don't distract me, I must breathe with her."

I floated in the water, buoyed, and relaxed into the pleasure being offered by shadows in the light. It built slowly, oh, so slowly, and then I peaked.

It was like I shot up through the water into the light. My eyes opened and I started. Uloga looked up at me from where he was bent between my legs. I lay against someone else whose hands were frozen on my naked breasts. I turned and saw Marxim.

We were in Lucius' room and he sat at his desk, looking alive but pale, tired. 

"What's happening?" I weakly asked.

It was Marxim who spoke, whispering into my ear. 'Trust me on this. We must heal you, you must heal Lucius, and then we must heal you again for the ceremony. There's no time to waste. Uloga?"

The older man dipped his head and licked my wet core. I could only gasp and arch into Marxim, who massaged my nipples between his fingers. My head rolled to meet Lucius' eyes and what I saw there surprised me. Warmth that was only somewhat sexual, and something...else.

I closed my eyes and relaxed into the pleasure and let another peak wash over me. Another and another came, all at the soft pressure of Uloga's fingers inside me, his quirking mouth working that nubbin, and Marxim's rhythmic massage.

With each peak I felt clearer, sharper, and realized Marxim's breaths mirrored mine and power flowed. At last I could move my arms and grabbed Uloga's head, tangling his silky tresses around my finger.

At long last Marxim stopped. "If I heal you any more, Virtal, I will not survive the ceremony. You must heal Lucius now, and I will send Markal to you to strengthen you more. I must rest."

He kissed the top of my head and lifted me easily to the side where Uloga cradled me as Marxim rose. "Lucius?" He said and my consort nodded to the queen's.

Lucius ambled over to take his place and Uloga helped me settle into my consort's arms. Uloga's kind dark eyes matched his smile as his fair hair fell into his gaze and he returned. Lucius touched my breasts and as the tension built in me from those long, slow licks gifted by Uloga. I closed my eyes, called the goddess, and felt her smile distantly, but the connection, though far, was strong.

As it flowed from me to Lucius pleasure claimed my every nerve and my body flared to life, undulating. My own hands held Uloga in place, begging for the suckling touch of his lips of my nubbin, rubbing my slick heat into his face. I peaked, crested, crying out with need and clamor, the pleasure as always a sweet, shock. Indeed Uloga now suckled, and Lucius regained some strength and fondled my aching nipples, and at the height of the shudders Markal entered my rooms.

I came down panting and met Markal's dark eyes and easy smile. "I would say you don't need much help."

Lucius extracted himself for I was now weak. "She has healed my wounds fully, but now she is weak. You and Uloga must heal her for the ceremony or all is lost."

Some of the humor dimmed in Markal's gaze as he nodded to my consort who staggered back to the desk and sat.

"Uloga, lay down on your back," Markal said and reached for me to pick me up. Against my pale skin his olive toned hands looked so dark and the contrast pleased me greatly. He lifted me again, for I felt completely weak, and Uloga laid on my large, soft bed. His face was still marked by my juices and he was fully erect, nearly pained by need.

Markal sank me down until I straddled him, speared on this thick member. I cried out, frustrated by my inability to move. Markal straddled Uloga as well and urged me to lean back. His hands gripped my hips, held them aloft, and then he sank me down. 




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 11



My fair haired lover cried out with my and then he began to move as Markal held me aloft, one arm banded across my waist, the other leaving his hand free to tease me. I galloped to the climax and cried out as loudly as any other in the harem rooms.

For long minutes we tangled and twisted and the God and Goddess came to us, building my strength. When it was over I collapsed in a different kind of exhaustion, and slept. Lucius joined us at some point and surrounded by three warm bodies I slept, and dreamt of past Queens and all the tribes my people. 

Not once did it feel wrong to call them my people.

***

The maids prepared me well for the coming ceremony. The queen was grieving. Mystrike was dead, and it seemed, impossibly so, the queen had truly loved her. She was retired to her private rooms, no one was allowed in, not even Marxim.

I would be called upon to address the crowd, officially the successor, and perform the ceremony alone. As the queen had demanded privacy, I was now in effect the ruler. After my nap I had been cleaned and taken to the meeting chambers. There dark knowledge had been imparted, and my head felt heavy.

Drought had claimed much of the southern lands and the Caldorean religion and its temples was claiming a huge portion of the meager crops. While people were working to death and starving, the food was sent to Caldor so the rich could live well.

A tale as old as time according to history, but for a young successor contemplating taking rule by force it presented a definite problem. To feed the common people I would have to take away the high standard of living the nobles enjoyed in Caldor. Without their support I would never survive rule.

I found myself seeking Lucius' advice without thought for another. That I hadn't thought of Cassipe startled me, but I had already found Lucius in the gym, listing heavy stones and training with the other men of the Harem.

When I appeared all had bowed to me, it was a strange feeling. Lucius had walked with me and we discussed. The Queen was in mourning officially for two weeks; I had that time to come up with a solution. In the end, nothing had been decided, and I knew it was for the best.

I was being over-made for the ceremony now. Youth was not my ally so my hair was piled atop my head, my eyes lined with kohl and dark, smoky lighter kohl above. My lips were reddened by crushed berries mixed with beeswax, which inflamed them slightly.

I was given a gold necklace that came from my shoulders in solid style and climbed up my neck, and when my heavy earrings, gold and lapis, hit it a clang rang out. The circlet in my hair was larger as was the diadem around my arm. The presence of so much heavy gold was to proclaim my status to one and all. Not as much as the queen wore, but close.

Even my sandals were inlaid with gold, crisscrossing and wrapping up my legs in a showy display. My dress was simple and white, but gold ribbons bound my narrow waist, crossed at my breasts, supporting them, holding the deep-v on the neck closed.

Halfath summoned me and the ladies of the harem who followed me as I climbed.

Marxim, who's position equaled Lucius' now, entered abreast of my consort. Marxim wore simple dark robes belted tight. Lucius wore white robes, like my own, his hair cleaned and shone like spun gold beneath the torches. His sandals were thicker versions of mine and he smiled at me as if we were totally free.

Everyone took their places and looked down, as if I were the queen. Even her "private stock" knelt in fealty. "Rise," I called and did not bother to explain. They would know my ways were more gentle than the queen's soon enough.

Marxim walked Lucius to me and I nodded to him. He was still weak from healing me but thankfully the queen's last decree was that as I became steward her commands stood, so he would be excused.

I took Lucius' hand and we stepped to the balcony to thunderous applause.

I raised Lucius' hand high and he stepped closer, a source of warm strength I appreciated. I thought of all my lessons at the hand of Callie Marlowe, and at the knee of Cassipe. I had chafed at them as a youth desiring freedom but now I was glad for every long lesson.

I motioned for quiet and both Lucius and I braced our hands on the wife railing.

"My people," I called. "You may have heard the news but today, one of the harem tried to kill me. In the fracas one our great queen loved perished as well as the assassin and the queen is in mourning. I am my consort shall greet the moon for two weeks and I shall steward this land for the queen.

"In one weeks time there shall be a ball at the palace I invite you all of noble birth to."

Over the applause I heard Lucius' sharp intake of breath as he stiffened. Had told no one but it had been swimming in my mind. I turned back and saw Marxim and Cassipe smile, and I knew I had made a good decision.

"The notices shall be posted upon sunrise tomorrow, but tonight we must call forth the moon!"

When we turned the smiles of all there shifted Lucius' look from concern to satisfaction and he squeezed my hand. I walked him to the dais, ordered Marxim to anoint him, and had Morganna loosen the straps on my dress.

We greeted the moon with love and passion and grand cheers. As the moon shone brighter than it had in recent memory the harem was ordered to celebrate with the same abandon.

I took Morganna and Lucius to my bed and over and over we took one another. At long last I slept peacefully with no outcry or painful demands from the queen who was truly sequestered. Soon I would take my first true step to rule, my enemy dead, my queen absent, and my harem loyal to me.

Now I had to secure the fealty of nobles, whose world I was about to destroy.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 12



The next week passed like a strange dream. With the queen absent, and I in her place, I had great power. Not limitless, but enough to survey all that I had to do.

Lucius was quite right. He was indeed very intelligent, if stubborn. Things were softening between us, but there was still an iron core inside him that would not bend or break. As much as it depressed and bothered me, I found myself almost admiring it by turns.

I also found myself ignoring the harem pleasures as business took over. At night I was often so exhausted that the only pleasure I knew in the day was at the raising of the moon. My thoughts in the night were heavy, and not given to levity.

I had come here as a spoiled brat, I knew that now. Despite years of hard work and training for one single goal, I was spoiled and sheltered. Now the weight of the world rested on my shoulders. I found myself envying my sisters even more. A life to lead freely, to own a small plot of land, raise a family the way I desired.

At night Lucius seemed to understand, and he simply held me. Those were the times I liked him best that week. I sought his counsel in the day on matters of state and he was never shy about arguing with me. And he did not always argue what he believed; often he argued many sides so that I would see them all and weigh them similarly.

After my work was done, we raised the moon. At those times I felt almost like we were alone. I seemed not to notice the crowd below or the harem members present. Lucius would smile and I felt the goddess within me, the god within him. It was a thing of beauty and all that week the moon shone brighter than any could remember.

At night I pretended my luxe rooms were in a farmhouse and Lucius and I were married. There would be work early in the morning, and soon children. At night I dreamt of two women with swords, blood, fear, and watching Lucius' light fade. Each morning I woke to the haunting sound of the Queen's mad laughter.

There was not all that much I could do. I did spend much of my time researching Fisine and her religious order, almost a parody of the old religion. They too believed in the inner strength of women being the path to spiritual enlightenment of all, but they took it one step further. They seemed to believe men should be slaves, and that pain and pleasure were one in the same.

It explained a lot, including how the order had survived. It attracted many women related by 3 or 4 degrees to a noble house with no female heirs. The order believed a male child could not hold the estate until he married, they believed it should go to those distant female relations. As such, they aided their cases and received rich rewards when the estate was funneled into the hands of a distant female relative.

The queen had strengthened their position, granted them unseemly land allowances in the provinces and here in town. She had not made it the official religion...yet. She had however laid the groundwork by instituting harsher laws on men. If she ruled another twenty years we might see men become slaves well and truly.

Lucius in the morning would aid my communications with Cassipe. I mostly asked about the days before Antal's rule. All that remained in the records about the previous queen, Cassipe's queen, were stories of her beauty and talent. Information on her budget, military strategies, and policies on infrastructure seemed nonexistent.

From him I learned the military budget had been small, the provincial governments stronger, the central weaker, and tolerance had been a lofty aim. A far cry from the modern world.

The old religion had once been practiced in many different ways, as was shown in the harem. All of us in the harem showed that in the various ways we had been raised. Now there was little declension from Fisine's practice. The queen set the fashion and it seemed that women in our world were overly fond of wielding whips.

My goal became clear. I had to win the nobility. I would do it through their men. I dared not tell Lucius this yet for I worried how he would take it. I could not put into words why his defiance was so distressing other than my world needed one anchor, one thing I could count on working as I had always been told it would. Ii thought a consort would be that anchor, but Lucius was the most unpredictable element of my world.

I sent my orders for the ball and had the invitations written by hand, the scribes using the most beautiful calligraphy possible. I made note that the evening would honor the beauty and power of men and had them delivered the day of the ball. I wanted as little word to return to the queen as possible. After that night, I did not know what would happen.

I remained in the public chambers on the ground floor, allowing visits from the subjects. Most were land disputes, appeals for decisions by high courts, and it was dreary. After I would greet the moon, then the ball would begin. I would arrive late as was customary, and also practical. It would take me a time to make ready.

Before the last visitors entered the chamber I sent word to have the upper levels of the harem make ready to greet the moon. I heard the case, freshened up, and hurried with the guards to the higher levels where the queen's balcony looked over the courtyard.

Lucius waited. We needed little preparation. By then, since this was our only contact, we both had great physical need built up for the moment. I greeted my people, dressed finely for the ball, and as they cheered I covered Lucius. I kissed him first with a smile. I had a plan in place for later that evening, where his nature would be an asset. 

Surprised, he kissed me back, raising his head to follow when I pulled away. I laughed as I rose up and slid him inside me. I was so nervous and my day so boring I had spent hours fantasizing about this, and the reality was sweet.

So sweet I almost forgot to raise the goddess. I moved over him, pumping, my hands stroking his lean, strong body, and when the hot curled tail of orgasm beckoned me I remembered to open myself to the great spirit.

Somehow the passion made her stronger and she shot through me just as I peaked. Lucius gasped and came with me, jerking up and placing his arms on my waist completely against tradition. I cared not, I felt the god strong in him.

There were gasps in the crowd and when Lucius and I slowed our panting and opened our eyes, we found the harem staring at the sky. I looked up and laughed.

The moon was eclipsed, looking bathed in blood. There were many legends of such an event, good and bad, the oldest was that only a queen of true power could accomplish it.

From deep within the queen's rooms I heard her cry out, and Marxim paled. "Go, now, and make ready. I will attend her."

"Tomorrow, Marxim, I swear this shall be your last night spent in fear." He gave me a look of hopelessness but nodded, and left for her inner rooms.

I disbanded the harem and let Lucius return to his rooms to make ready and I went to mine. I was dressed in a white robe shot through with purple dye flowing between bands of white. The piping at the edges was gold braid, and the gold and purple matched the ribbons wound through my hair. Again I was dressed in pounds of metal for decoration and coated with thick makeup. In the end I did resemble a living work of art, exactly the image a leader should project, but it made me feel tired when there was so much work to do.

At the edge of the harem, under the weight of stares from all the members, I met Lucius. He looked...amazing. He wore dark green clothes, the material thin and fine and silken, flowing over his body. At one shoulder a black cape attached, part of it anchored at his waist on the opposite side. His hair was damp and slicked back, looking much darker than its usual golden color and showing the sharp bones of his face. His eyes appeared almost as dark a green as his clothes. He gave off an aura of power worthy of a queen's consort.

"My qu- lady," Lucius said and bowed with a wink.

I frowned at the near slip. "My consort. Come, let us meet the nobles." Taking his hand we stepped forward and guards parted, though more lines the grand staircase.

We climbed down to the administrative floor and passed more as we rounded the corner away from the small hall that led to the pool, and took the stairs down to the public rooms.

A crier announced us, the woman's voice carrying loudly. The musicians paused for my name and Lucius', and the began a royal arch for our final declension into the throng. It was not the queen's song, but it was a variation on her theme.

Guards lined the way to the throne platform. I took the throne and Lucius took Marxim's seat as he would not be joining us. The other seat, planned for Lucius, was efficiently removed.

The throng fell silent as the tune faded.

"My nobles, gentleman and ladies, I welcome you. I am Virtal the Just, this is my consort Lucius. I wish to welcome you to the palace in the queen's absence. Tonight we celebrate...love."

There was no major reaction; in fact, if one dropped a pin in the outside courtyard, there in the ballroom I surely would have heard it.

"Love is the guiding force between the goddess and the god; love is what brought forth the blood moon tonight. Love is the answer to war, to fear, to uncertainty. Love is what we shall strive for, and tonight, it is what we shall celebrate!"

This was, I knew from records, the strangest speech every given by an heir of the throne. However, by the end of the short spurt of words, I knew I had the men. Their eyes were soft, some of them seemed almost infatuated. Who would have thought I would be a romantic hero? If that is what I needed, I would become it. If I had to compose sonnets and learn to sing softly with a lute, I would.

Applause began, shyly at first, but then the loud thundering of the men's claps overtook the women's, and the music began anew. I accepted a goblet of brewed wheat as did Lucius.

"To love," I toasted him and smiled at my consort's perplexed look.

When we had drunk a long sip I stood and held my hand to him. "Let us dance."

Down on the floor the crowd parted for us, still moving, but their eyes were fixed to us. Good; just as I wanted.

Lucius reached for my shoulders as the partner who would follow. Smiling, I placed his hands on my hips and put mine on his shoulders. "You know how to lead, yes?"

I had been expecting to have to ask twice but immediately Lucius took the lead. He danced like he moved in the arena, with pure, sheer grace. He lead the dance as well as any woman could and I found he made it easy to follow. 

There were gasps from the crowd but they melted away from my mind. I looked up into Lucius' beautiful face and his smile was more dazzling than any of the chandeliers. We moved together like we had been partnered through life. I couldn't help but smile back at him and wink, dipping back on a slow turn in the dance. He laughed, a wild, free sound of joy, and when I came back up I tipped my head up and kissed him.

The crowd was moving slowly, their faces staring at us openly. Lucius kept up the lead. I wanted the world to see I would not treat men as objects; I wanted them to see my path was not one of pain and cruel power. If there was anything of love and friendship possible between these couples, I wanted to foster it, to strengthen it, and in such give men power.

I would not tell my consort just yet. He would have his day in the sun, but for now he needed to stand solidly with me; not in front of me, and not behind me. That was a giant step forward under this world Queen Antal had formed.

The song ended and I slipped from Lucius' grasp as he bowed to me. Taking his hand we returned to the dais and sat. There was a feast awaiting us as the dancers filed to tables lining the dance floor. The lesser nobles remained in the courtyard and I quite envied them. 

It had only been two months since I had arrived, but it felt like an eternity. In that time I had not been outside, my only glimpse of the world from the queen's balcony. I wanted to dance out there, under the blood moon and the stars.

As we ate and Lucius and I made the pleasant easy talk of two people with ears all around, the urge grew. I could not help but think of that night with Cassipe and Lucius. Never had it so firmly been planted in my mind my place. I would be the next queen. I was the current queen's heir and steward.

With that thought, when the meal was cleared, I bade the musicians to play a lively tune from my homeland, and I led my consort out to the courtyard. The higher nobles stared at us in horror, the lesser in disbelief. I smiled to them all, and this time Lucius did not need to be told. He took the lead, and we danced the night away.



***



The ball ended just before dawn, and by then I was mad with lust. I had expended more energy than any other day of the past week and yet I was far from exhausted.

"Come with me," I told Lucius as we climbed the stairs to the harem. I led him away, towards the pool, and when my path became clear his steps quickened.

"I hate this metal," I said, opening the door to the silent pool.

"I hate this cape," he replied with a grin.

His grin made him soft, young, as if he were a boy. I gave in to a mad urge and pushed him into the pool. Lucius seemed shocked and made a great splash. I didn't wait and jumped in myself. I stayed under the water for a long minute, wiping the heavy makeup from my face.

Before I came up he grabbed me about the waist and we rolled. Breaking the surface and sputtering I saw him standing and grinning, quite wet. His clothes clung to him in a very enticing manner. Lucius' eyes slid down and I realized my white dress was translucent in the water.

I could only gasp and splash water at him. He dove under again and the light was so dim when he was under the water I could not see him. Hands suddenly caressed my thigh and I jumped, but then he was gone. The water seemed still yet he sprung from the water like an old god and grabbed me.

Mad with lust I clung to him and kissed him just as fiercely. Raising the moon had been sheer gentleness and now we needed rough animal passion.

His hands nearly bruised my breasts as he tore my dress to gain access. I clutched his head as his teeth skimmed down to capture the peak of one and cried out when he bit it. Lucius laved the hurt and fiery desire spiraled through me. I wrapped my legs around him, supported by his strength and the water. He sucked now and I could wait no longer.

I reached between us, gathered up his short clothes, and felt his hard, hot length. I positioned him and sank down, the water making it rough and somehow more pleasurable.

We both cried out when I was seated. I tried to move but Lucius stopped me, and then walked slowly to a column. He slammed me into it and smiled. "That's more like it."

I was past caring for anything other than the pleasure we could give each other. He fucked me, hard, without any trace of the reverence found in my other lovers. I needed it, and I fucked him back, slamming my hips against him, biting his shoulder until he cried out.

He suddenly began to grind against me and the pleasure caught me by surprise. I screamed out his name as I came, peaking with colors bursting behind my eyes, and before it passed he slammed into me so hard we shook the giant stone column.

Lucius cried my name with his release and it was a beautiful thing to watch, even in the dim light. He shook with it and I clutched him, undulating my hips when he could move no more, determined to milk him dry.

When it passed he collapsed against me, gasping. It hit me then. Cassipe had been right. What I had felt for him was young, foolish infatuation. He would always have a special place in my heart, but now...I wanted Lucius and only Lucius.

Shaken by this I forced a smile and disengaged from him. He leaned against the column still panting and I swam a short distance and splashed him. I understood why Lucius scared me now. All my life I had only had to answer to Cassipe and Lady Marlowe, my teacher and mentor. I had always known the day would come when I would leave them. Now I answered to Queen Antal and I knew there would come a day when I would kill her. All these people who had held power over me shaped my life, but I knew I would one day be free of them.

Lucius had won my love, which meant he held power over me. What truly scared me was I did not want to ever be free of it.



***



"Virtal, Lucius."

I yawned and stretched. The high windows of the harem told me it was late afternoon. I had left orders to be awakened only an hour before raising the moon.

"Virtal, Lucius," came the voice again.

I rose up on one elbow and shook Lucius. "Who is it?"

The curtain to Lucius' chamber opened and there stood Marxim, looking most grim and resolute. "What is it?" I asked with a yawn.

"The queen has decided to end her mourning. She has summoned you, Virtal. Please, hurry, and do take care."

My heart winced. Would I die? Did she know what I planned? Was I to die, or merely suffer her torture. Worse, would she kill another? Torture another and make me watch? I looked at Lucius who blinked sleepily at me. Stroking his face, I knew. If she hurt him, I would kill her tonight. The queendom be damned.

"I'll be right there." I kissed my consort. "I must go and get dressed and you must as well. The queen commands us. Lucius, promise me, whatever happens, you will not stand in my way."

He sat up and grabbed my head holding it close. "Do not do anything foolish. Your position is not secure. Fisine still lives."

"And if I kill the queen and I die, who is next in line?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Do you honestly not know? I must yell at your tutor for leaving you in ignorance. Virtal, if you both die and there is no other designated heir, Fisine becomes queen."

My stomach quaked.

"I will do nothing foolish but do not disobey me tonight."

"And if your order countermands the queen's?"

"I will be smart enough not to phrase it so. Now get dressed, and have some faith in me." I kissed him again and borrowed his sheet to cover me as I returned to my room.

The maids awaited me, took the bracelets and earrings I carried in my hand and helped me remove the heavy necklace. My hair was quickly and simply put up and I was dressed in a simple dress and sandals. I asked for my sword and the maids glanced at each other but did as I said and fastened the scabbard and belt around my waist.

I entered the queen's rooms to find the top tier assembled, the stock kneeling, foreheads to the ground by the queen's throne. Marxim stood by her other side, head down. Lucius stood by the stone altar where the moon was called and I joined him.

"You wear your sword, why is that, little Virtal?"

I curtsied to the queen, as beautiful a ever, but she seemed pale and drawn. "I like the feel of my blade with me, as it was only a week ago two women tried to kill me and my consort."

She sniffled. "You have disobeyed me."

The world seemed to fall silent. I raised my chin. "Have I?"

She stood. "You little bitch! I ordered you to take others of the harem each week. This week have you lain with anyone but your consort?"

My heart pounded. That was her only quarrel? I should have felt relieved, but this smelled like a trap. "No, my queen, only Lucius."

"Lucius, do you seek some special power over my heir?"

"No my queen, only her affection and satisfaction."

"Tell me Virtal, has any man possessed you arse?" The curse term drew gasps from the women. Missiply, her twin Annist, and Morganna blushed as well.

"Yes, my queen."

"Who?"

I hesitated, wondering where this line of dark questioning would lead. "Lucius."

"And only Lucius?"




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 12



"Yes, my queen."

She laughed and my hand automatically went to my sword hilt. She stopped and seemed to grow, gathering her own power. "You will remove your sword or challenge me now."

I paused, considering. Lucius made a murmur and slowly, glaring openly at her, I undid the belt and handed it to Lucius who set it at the head of the altar, he between it and me.

"Now, we can't have you feeling any emotions for you consort. You are heir to a queen, you must be above simple, stupid emotions. Lust and control, lessons you must learn.

"You are going to watch as Lucius fucks the ass of the other women." Again, the ladies of the harem gasped. 

"And while you watch this, you arse will be taken by the men of the harem. Lucius will be busy and this leaves only two, so tonight, I reward my consort. For being such a...faithful consort and confessing Virtal's transgressions you will take her arse."

I felt dizzy and sick. The men seemed to hold their breath, expecting punishment. When the queen sat back down they looked to me with apologetic lust. Lucius squeezed my hand, his way of saying we would get through this together.

"Stock, fetch the cream." 

Only they moved, the three men rising and slipping behind the curtain into her chambers, the cloth jiggling the potted palms. They quickly returned with it and she bade them to lubricate my anus and those of the other women first.

Cassipe dared to step towards me and bade me the turn and lean on the altar. He knelt and I felt his hands, so tender and familiar, spread the thick cream on me. I shivered in fear and surprise and he cooed softly. A finger delved in, and just as Lucius had taught me I pushed out. The finger sank in, spreading the cool cream inside me.

"Now the men," Antal said with dark joy.

I did not watch this, just closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and called on the goddess for strength.

"Consorts, you will not come, is that understood? All the women shall have pleasure, and Lucius, you must watch Virtal. Virtal, you must watch Lucius as he pleasures your friends." The last word she said the way most people would say "poisonous snakes."

"Markal, you go first, Missiply as well."

I looked to Lucius who's apologetic eyes met mine. He gave a small smile, permission, and I understood. The queen thought to torture us but we could still share pleasure. That was all that mattered.

Markal gave me a small kiss between my shoulder blades and I couldn't help but shiver, all while watching Missiply bend over the altar like me. She gave me apologetic eyes and I smiled at her.

I felt Markal's penis nudge my anus and tried to relax. Lucius' eyes seemed to meet Markal's and in unison they pushed in. My hand found Missiply's as we gasped. I watched Lucius' hand cup her pussy even as Markal did the same, and they began to move.

I kept my eyes on Lucius as Markal filled me, but his hands were strong and rough, the fingers clever, and soon my pleasure rose. Missiply cried out seconds after I did and I knew the men felt our orgasms more strongly in the dark nether holes. Markal cried out and Lucius grunted, slightly pained.

Markal left my with a kiss and Missiply had to be helped by Lucius. Antal ordered Uloga and Annist next and I felt a kiss with teeth. Annist, like her twin, held my hand, her eyes on me like Lucius', mine on him, as we repeated the dance.

Uloga was wider and it was tough, I felt tight after the orgasm. Lucius made a sound of pain, and they began to move. I kept my eyes on my consort even as Uloga used the blunt of his knuckles to capture my inner lips, tugging them with each thrust so they teased my nubbin.

My orgasm came quickly, I could not fight it as my I felt filled, stretched, and teased. I squeezed Annist's hands and closed my eyes with the pleasure, and cried out long before Annist did. Uloga grunted but kept moving, pacing himself. Only when Annist peaked did he allow himself to spill into me, and Lucius made a groan that sounded like a wounded animal.

Again I felt the biting kiss as my lover withdrew. My ass was beginning to hurt and I closed my eyes for a moment. I had seen Marxim's penis and it was larger than Lucius'; longer than Markals and wider than Uloga's.

I whimpered as he was called forward as was Morgana.

The brunette gave me a smile and lifted my hand to kiss it as Lucius' positioned himself. Marxim licked the bit mark Uloga had left then I felt his large head at my entrance. He sank in and I cried out, feeling impossibly stretched achy, hot and needy at once. Morganna made a soft cry and both the men made sounds of painful joy.

I knew my Marxim had been saved for last. In years he had had rarely had an orgasm that had not been painfully wrenched from him by the queen, and he was to be denied again. He fucked me hard and it was a knife-edge of pain. Lucius moved slowly, whimpering, trying to fight the need to cum. I watched his long thick fingers stroke Morganna who gripped my hand tightly, and then I felt Marxim push a thumb inside my aching pussy and press hard on the spot deep inside.

The pain was like a spice that made the dish and I came, wailing. Morganna grunted, close, but not there. Marxim kept going, fucking harder, the cream on us both and the seed from the other men making his way easy.

The burning pain and pressure from his thumb combined with the immense filling of his cock and I built quickly again. Mercifully Morganna was with me and we cried out together. Just as we finished the consorts pulled from us, panting, whimpering.

Antal laughed. I could barely walked and remained bent on the altar, only looking over my shoulder at her. She stood again and walked down place a hand on Marxim's shoulder, smoothing over his disarrayed clothes, and finally trailing a sharp nail along his thick, pulsing cock.

"Let's see if all your talk of love and nonsense allows you to call another blood moon." She laughed as Lucius helped me up.

Defiantly I kissed him, passionately and he froze for moment. I hoped he remembered my earlier command, and just then he returned the kiss.

I leaned on the other women as we left, as did most of the men. The queen ordered Marxim and her stock remain.

I would show her. That night I show luscious with my body what my lips could not yet say. We would call the moon and it would shine red like passion again.

I would not curb my power for the queen. I would let it fly for my people. They would know my power, my love, my mercy. Soon, the queen would know my vengeance. 



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 13



Things were moving fast, too fast. In the morning I sat in my glorious bath alone, soaking away the aches of the night before, and ruminating on the deeply ingrained lessons of history imparted through my education at Cassipe's hand.

Ours was a violent Queendom. Once we had been hundreds of tribes, all quite different, according to many even some of those tribes had been ruled by men. Then slowly overtime, in each of the five regions, a strong leader emerged who led their tribes to conquer others. The small battles had lasted two hundred years, and when the dust settled there were 5 Queendoms: North, South, East, West, and Central. The Central was Caldor, a very small city-state of high wall, the great pyramid, small dusty streets, long row houses, and temples. For a 1,000 years this had been life, until the first red-haired queen called both the moons at once and was told by the Great Mother to conquer all the lands.

Since that time there was no direct lineage. Rulership passed from one red-haired woman to the next, and many systems had been erected to make it as smooth as possible. At first they lived together in the pyramid until murder became a problem, then the heir was given to foster with a noble family. Plots and schemes became common and so a hundred years ago care of the heir was given over to the Cult Of the Goddess, the extremist temple that ruled all others in the Capitol. It's where Antal had been raised; it was where her predecessor, Cassipe's love, had been raised. 

Antal had been the most recent to change tradition again. Other Queens had kept harems; men of their family who needed protection, lovers, a consort, concubines, landless priests and knights under outside threats. It had always been small and friendly, a place of protection and respite. Some earlier queens had kept women there as well, as lovers or just as friends or family. Antal had changed it all, filling it with the powerful, those of good families, those who could threaten or challenge.

I still did not know how the old queen got her to agree to let a priest foster me, but I knew I was the first of a new line, Antal a strange, failed experiment. In the past to the citizens it may have seemed abrupt violence often changed Queens sitting upon the throne, but every other one had been raised in Caldor. Every other one knew the city guard, the priestesses, the nobility the merchant princesses. Everyone but me.

Lucius and Cassipe believed in me, but I knew I was young, unfinished, and even if I could kill Antal my hold was tenuous at best. My plan to soften the nobility by appealing to the men was a slow plot at best. They wanted me to move quickly and I understood why. Torture at the queen's hand was no easy thing, and though I loved both men in their own ways, I could not put their happiness above that of the Queendom.

My responsibility was to the people, and I knew nothing about them.

The queen had ridden her stock hard and slept late, and after my bath I was left free, with no combat training commanded. I found myself back amongst the archives, reading histories of the five kingdoms. I had servants bring my meals in there, assigned one scribe to read scrolls to me as I ate so I may not dirty them.

After my meal I did the necessary and for all the pleasure the night before had wrought I had to have one of the healers apply a salve so I could sit comfortably. As evening neared I was alone in the archives when Lucius appeared.

"You are a fine warrior, an excellent priestess, perhaps the best, but I begin to feel were you not the Queen's heir you would be a scholar by choice."

I set down the scroll I was reading, a history of farming exports from my own North country. "Is knowledge such a bad thing?"

He sat beside me on the small bench. "In this world Queen Antal has created it can be most dangerous."

"Just as a sword, it is necessary."

He stared at me, so beautiful, his amazing green eyes quietly searching my face. "Did it work?"

"What?"

"Did she drive a wedge between us?"

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him deeply, as much as the night before. "You tell me."

He pulled back and looked to the narrow windows. "I wish it could say it did not, but..."

"Yes?"

"I do not like to see you with others."

I reached for his hand with mine and gripped it tight. "Would that I ruled the world, I would want no other. The Queen rules and the Queen commands, and we must follow. Remember she controls our actions and our bodies, but our hearts and souls are our own. Take pleasure in the acts she deems cruel and know you bring pleasure to others. We must be patient. What good is acting rash and taking what we cannot hold?"

He understood my meaning and pulled my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles softly. "We could leave."

"And go where? Where can we hide? Two nights, a priest and priestess, and I so marked by my hair? Where would we not be hunted?"

"The Queendom starves as drought covers two lands, the rich are paying exorbitant taxes, and the queen spends it on her friends, on crooked priestesses, on training more and more commanders of the city guard to instill martial law across the land, and she lives for sick torture. This cannot go on."

"It won't, but would chaos be the answer? Should the head of a family fall, and her heir is too young or unable to hold the estates, what becomes of them?" I spoke in metaphor, not knowing what ears leaned towards us for snatches of conversation to be carried straight to the queen.

Lucius looked away. "I was resigned to my fate, living in the hope the Queen had no heir and when she faltered, the world would change. I welcomed the thought of chaos. Then you came, and now I find myself hoping for more."

I shifted to kiss him and winced at the sharp pain in my bottom. He placed his hands on my arms. "You're hurt."

"The healers have salved me, but yes, it does ache."

"Let me heal you." He did not wait for my response he kissed me and pulled me gently into his lap. Sitting sideways I steadied myself with my arms around his neck and enjoyed this kiss, sweet melancholy, and slow.

His hands slipped easily under the loose white dress I wore and he palmed one full breast with his hot hand. I shivered, impossibly arousal was yawning awake in me. His switched hands so that one wrapped around me, caressing my aching nipples, and the other slid now along my thigh.

Though only fingers had been inside me the night before after the calling of the moon, I was still sore and stiffened. He nipped at my lips and suckled it to steady me., and his lower hand did not move my skirt aside, instead he stroked over it.

I gasped when I felt his fingers part the folds of my sex, the thin fabric softening the sensation, making it lighter. My body softened as he began to stroke in a steady, circular rhythm around the nubbin. My juices flowed and my hips began to move with him, begging more. His hand at my breasts pulled back, finger tips fluttering over a nipple as light as butterfly wings.

I clutched at him, kissing him deeply, feeling the hard heat of our tongues sliding together. The world melted away, there was nothing but this man, this feeling of being surrounded by his strength and yet victim to his gentility. On that thought I broke, gasping and crying out simultaneously. He swallowed my cries and refused t stop his movements. My hips ground for his hand, rubbing against the steely length of his arousal.

In desperation I moved, kissing him harder and harder as the waves of pleasure washed over me. I wanted to feel Lucius inside me more than anything, but all he did was slowly rub and tease me, and kiss me with immense passion.

I expected a break as I came down but there was none. My consort kept up his ministrations and soon the vortex of need drew me in and I crested again. I rode this peak just as before, but my desire did not diminish, it increased. Madness touched me.

I forced his hands away and straddled him, rubbing my aching wetness over his hard length, chewing on his lip, and perversely asking permission of my own subject to impale myself and sate us both.

"Virtal, we mustn't," Lucius groaned out, breaking the kiss to hold me back.

I stared into his eyes, seeing my own desire reflected there. "Please," I begged quietly, and a dark shiver passed through him.

"We must call the moon tonight, and this desire must be allowed to grow, to build, and when we come together we must show the Queen how strong we are."

At mention of Antal ice cooled my veins and I sat still, pressed against my consort still, but no longer rubbing end enticing. "We must succeed and yet what penalty must we pay tonight?"

He kissed my temple. "Think of it not. You feel better, don't you?"

I shifted one leg between his and sat on a powerful thigh with only a distant, dim ache. "Much better."

He smoothed my hair back from where it had escaped from the thin gold net. "I don't want to face tonight. I want it to be you and me, and let the world watch, I care not, but I don't want to face her."

"We must live our lives one moment at a time. I have spent all day reading the histories of all the lands. Cassipe taught me to rule, but he taught me to rule Caldor, not everything. It was expected the Queen would finish my education but I must finish it myself. We must be patient. I will protect you as much as I can, but you must be strong for me. Yu are my consort and one day I shall be Queen. Until that day, you must never act rashly. Promise me, Lucius."

He nodded and kissed me softly and quickly.

I climbed off him and stretched. "It is time to prepare for the ceremony. I will see you shortly, and again, tonight,, do as I do and trust me," I called back as I walked to the door.

He stood too and looked sad. "I do."

That it was the truth and that it disturbed him as much as my feelings for my consort perturbed me made me smile.



***



Again the world melted away after I and Lucius had been prepared. From her canopied throne, cloaked in black mourning, the Queen watched us with glittering eyes. The stock watched us from bent positions, and the rest of the top tier of the harem stood in position in front of the Queen's guard who watched beneath their helms. None of it mattered, not even the eyes of the nobility below us.

When I took Lucius into my body it was smooth and perfect. All during my bathing I had touched myself, keeping alive the fires he had built in the archives, and never had I felt so wet, never had he seemed so thick and hard.

The moon burst forth, blood red, drawing gasps from all around but it did not register. I rode my Lucius to completion for both us, a release of joy, elation, a bursting of the soul as well as satiation of the body. It was beautiful, peaceful, thrilling all at once. 

And then came the gasps of shock from below, the thundering applause, louder than ever before, and I opened my eyes to smile down at Lucius. I had done it, I realized; I had won the nobility. One thing I had read about every queen of long life and great legend was their ability to project a goddess-like quality to the masses. For the first time in two thousand years, I had called two blood moons.

I kissed Lucius softly and turned to the Queen, ignoring all other eyes. She stared at me as if we had never met, as if we were two queens of two equal lands. I saw it then; a flash of fear in her eyes, and a great wash of pity flowed over me. I did not let it show, I let no vulnerability show, even as I sat there naked, still perched upon my consort.

Taking a deep breath I did my best not to sound like a young woman, but like a Queen. "Your Highness, your mourning is not yet complete. As you can see your queendom is in good hands, and you may rest easy."

She could form no response and so I nodded to Marxim, who caught my meaning. As I climbed off and the harem helped me and Lucius, garbing us in the robes for after the ceremony, I stilled the hands of the queen's guards from closing the curtains and blocking us from the people below.

The Queen jerked a nod and Marxim led her off, looking like a lost little girl in his large arms. The remainder of the harem stared at me, looking almost as lost.

I stepped back to the balcony and raised my arms, and a cheer rose. The voices of the men were loud and raucous, almost drowning out the noble women below. I had started to secure the nobility. It would be a long process, but I had laid mythology for them. Word of my spirituality would spread along merchant roads and toll ways, to villages, and in taverns the story would grow until my reputation reached the shores, cloaked in Goddess-robes.

What I had learned, what had been percolating in my mind, was this base. I would have to bide my time, but the next task of a hero was to win a great battle. The High Priestess of Caldor seemed a good target as currently there were no wars to send the heir of the Queen out on in her stead.

That would depend on my reputation. If the High priestess, known as the most direct conduit to the goddess for the people, felt threatened, she would find me. All that would stand between us was the Queen, but like in chess, she would be the last piece to fall.

I turned back to the shocked faces, Lucius' shining dangerously. There was love there, and love was a beautiful thing, but power and objectivity would direct us best. I had to get him to pull back and see the bigger picture.

"Tonight we shall revel in the usual manner set by Antal. However, I ask that the stock retire to their quarters for a night of peace. Markal, Uloga, you shall attend me. Missiply, Annist, Morganna, you shall attend my consort."

I kissed Lucius' shocked face and whispered into his ear, "Enjoy the pleasure, guard your heart." Turning from him, I led the other men of the top tier to my chambers.



***



Tonight I was to be in charge. For all that my education had taught me to lead as a knight, as a priestess, as a scholar, and commander, sex had never been part of my education until the last night. It had only been months ago but felt like years as I led the two scarred, handsome knight-priests into my chamber.

My maids bowed and left, closing the curtain, and leaving us in low torchlight. A flagon of spiced brew had been left along with assorted breads, cheeses, and fruits. Starved, I grabbed a few while Markal and Uloga stared at me. 

"How did you call the red moon two nights in a row?" Markal asked, sitting on the edge of my large bed.

I swallowed a bite of cheese and poured us three glasses of brew, passing them each one as Uloga leaned against the wall pensively. "I have been reading, and combined with the education I was given, things have become clear. Do you know why only a red-headed woman may serve as queen?" both shook their heads.

I sat at my desk so I could be close to the food cart and piled a trencher high with fruit, cheese, and bread. "Back when there were five queendoms, Caldor was the smallest, yet central. When the goddess came too earth in material form, she took that that had never been seen; a red-haired woman. She bore a child when the god took material form and declared that first great Queen would be queen of all. Each generation they would choose one woman, not of a family line, to rein. 

"The red-hair shows connection to the goddess. If you look at queens of old, the redder the hair, the stronger the connection. Mine is pure; when I call the moon I can see her, feel her in my mind, in my body. Sometimes, I feel I become her. And if the goddess wills great power, it is hers to command."

They stared at me. Good, I thought, with some sadness. The legend had to grow here in the seat of the power, as well as with the nobility and the people at the farthest corners.

"What are you planning?" Uloga asked at long last, his dark eyes questioning.

With a toss of dark hair Markal's frown disappeared for a moment. "This is dangerous."

I smiled and set down my empty plate. "This is the line of succession. This is what the goddess intended. This is righting the wrongs. Now, attend me in my bath."

I pulled off my robe and naked, crossed to the back room and plugged the tub, increasing the fall of warmed water. Quickly it filled and I added oils I felt were sensual, not too feminine, many used in fertility rites. I wanted passion, not children, as such was forbidden to the Queen, and so I added other herbs from pots and jars to turn the bath to turn the fertility magic to lust.

Markal and Uloga filled the doorway; one dark and slim, one compact and strong and light. Muscles and scars showed through their clothes, embodying male beauty, but I wanted more. "Remove your clothes."

They moved immediately, stripping down their fancy ceremonial clothes until they were naked. I slipped into the bath and laid back against the rim of it, shitting off the flow of new water. "Grab those sponges, and bathe me."

I closed my eyes as they moved, heard them dip the sponges into the water, felt the waves. All around us the sounds of the harem rang out; sounds of pleasure, laughter, and soft music. The smells of the herbs and water were sensual and pulled, and then I felt their strong hands lift my hand foot and the rough sponges caressed me.

I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the feel, and I let them move me, direct me as needed. I felt Markal's rough sword hand caress the very tops of my breasts and Uloga's firm grip moved my legs apart to scrub my thighs.

Soon the sponges had cleaned me thoroughly, and returned to my sensitive spots. One rasped my nipples, sliding along between air and water while the other, wet, soft, and heavy, played between my legs.

I raised my hand and slung it over Markal's broad shoulders and moaned. I felt sensitized, and though great pleasure had recently been mine the desire that had built up that day remained, blooming like a night rose against all known reason.

Fingers, thick and callused, joined the sponges, and the desire spun around me. One nipple was abraded by the sponge, the other gently stroked on the cool air, and two fingers filled me even as the nubbin crowning my apex was teased by the sponge. Pleasure, freely given, was so sweet I did not fight it.

I rode it, climbing high and fast to the apex, and I broke with a swan song of pleasure, shaking. I felt the goddess then, smiling at me, and my consciousness merged with hers.

In flashes I saw what happened. I kissed Markal with great hunger as Uloga drained the water. Lips pressed to my apex and suckled even as the goddess laughed with freedom and promise.

Next I knew we all knelt in the bathing pool, fresh water cascading over us like a waterfall and I had taken Uloga into my mouth, while Markal filled me. All touch was gentle and we flowed like the water.

Curiously I felt the god in me too, coupling reverently with the goddess even as my body was filled with pleasure and need. They surged into me like twin waves, filling my head with taste and sensation and need, and the goddess granted me hers, the god too, and suddenly we all broke.

Uloga spilled his seed into my mouth and Markal filled my depths, the god and goddess cried out with me, shivering, and the pleasure of us all combined. It was the deepest spiritual moment of my life and even as I swallowed the seed I rose laughing.

They joined me, and together we washed clean in the water, splashing like children. Just when Uloga, behind me, turned my head for a kiss and Markal bent to my breasts, there came a voice.

"Virtal!"

We broke apart to find Cassipe standing there, looking dazed.

"What is it?"

"The second moon has raised, and turned red in the sky when it rose white!"

This rang something in my memory, but my head was still filled with power; trilling bells, laughter, and music. "What does this mean?"




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 13



"The prophecy. You must come, at once!" he disappeared without saying where to, but I heard him climb the steps to the Queen's chambers.

I kissed my lovers and we gathered towels to dry and dressed quickly., leaving our hair wet and long and unadorned. I grabbed my word as we left, belting it on as we climbed.

There were all as before, staring into the sky. The twin moons both shone red. Below the square was filling again with gaping nobles, even merchants and beggars, smiths, and soldiers.

"The prophecy: a child of light will come and make twin moons red; a Queen of all queens who has been born and not bred; she shall lead from the dark once more into the light; vanquished and gone will be the fall of night." Antal said this solemnly, walking in with Marxim behind her. His eyes were dark, serious, and panicked. I could see hers filled with psychosis.

"You are not the Queen!" She yelled and drew her sword.

Before it cleared her scabbard mine was naked, and the room fell silent even as shouts below continued.

"No one need die this day, Antal." I stood my ground by the altar and she came closer, circling.

"That is Your highness, you ingrate!" She spat on the last word and lunged.

The god was still with me and it was his arm that commanded my sword, the goddess who commanded my mind. She thrust and parried and easily I cast aside her blows until I had her on the defense. I swung, not hacking, but fluidly, not to kill or maim, but to unarm.

Eyes tracked us as the sound of swords reached the crowd and quieted them.

"There can be only one Queen and it is me!" Antal cried.

I had her backed against her throne and with a final swing her sword clattered to the ground. She fell against the throne, her arm on the seat, trembling with rage, madness, and fear.

"You are defeated. Guards!" I called out to the queens guard, women who stepped forward t kneel before me.

"Take her to the dungeons and see she is locked tight but given every comfort."

"Yes, your highness," the captain said.

"Marxim!" Antal cried, but her consort turned his back on her, and joined the harem as they sank to the knees to me.

Antal was picked up by four and held tight, still screaming names as they carried her out into the harem where a rush of voices met her entry. I sheathed my sword, panting now that the god and goddess were satisfied.

"My Queen," Marxim said, rising. "She should be killed, it is the way. There can be only one Queen, not a Queen and a prisoner."

I walked back to the balcony, staring at the sea of faces waiting for news. "She is not my prisoner, Marxim. Come, stand beside me."

He joined me and I pointed to the temple at the city wall, directly across from the pyramid palace. The fires were bright and the red robes of the high priestesses were streaming in like blood filling a monster.

"The High Priestess who sought to rule by Antal calls her numbers. A battle is coming and our numbers cannot be strongly counted while hers can." I turned to him and held my hand out for Lucius, who joined me, dazed and stunned by the turn of events.

"I have the one thing she cannot live without. Antal is not my prisoner, you see, she is my hostage."

Cassipe was the only one to smile, and it was enough. The others would come around, but I had to make ready for war.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 14



I called a meeting with the Great General of the united Armies and the lesser General of the troops stationed in the Capital. Joining us were the captain of the queens guard, the entire upper level of the Harem, including Lucius and Marxim, and lastly, Cassipe, whom I had appointed to be my personal advisor.

We met in planning room of the Queen's- my personal chambers. In the rooms around us, as directed, lower harem members were bustling to remove the cruel trappings and colors of Antal's house, and pulling pieces from storage that would better suit me.

The first order of business was to have those who had not knelt in fealty to me do so; and with happy delight I discovered none held any obvious reservations. Still Cassipe motioned to me to keep a smile from my face. 

"Welcome. I trust everyone here has been told or witnessed what happened this moonrise. The last Queen is my prisoner, and the High Priestess will want her alive. The High Priestess is gathering her forces. I cannot arrest her or any priestesses without causing riots and the nobility, who are not assured."

This opened up the discussions. For a long hour they argued, some in favor of striking silently and swiftly, killing the High Priestess, some in favor of sending a messenger and cutting a deal to exchange Antal for the High Priestess' submission, and some for waiting.

In the end I could not yet decide. I did instruct the generals to lines the city walls and restrict the entrance of more priestesses, and had the queens guard post a line of guards in front of the palace. I tasked the warrior knights with organizing the harem and make ready for any assault. With the guards out front we would have to police ourselves.

I asked Cassipe to form a council of advisors and to spend the next day formulating a plan to keep the nobility calm and begin winning them over.

All that was accomplished was a lot of talk and bare precautions. I felt my measures would serve us no matter what course we took. Cassipe told me privately after I had dismissed them all that he would also see to riders to carry the news of succession to the provinces.

There was more important work to do, I knew. When a new queen succeeded, the old queen's consort was given the choice to die as well or retire into the harem at large. However, it was the feeling of Lucius, Marxim, and Cassipe that I should keep Marxim as a Consort. The nobility were used to him and he had been a late addition to the Harem, coming from a high family and achieving his own fame as a youth.

We were left alone, the three of us, and Marxim's blue eyes strangely held fear. I knew what he feared most and poured us all some wine so we could sit and drink. It was nearly morning, the sun was coming up to blot out the moons, and still below us the Harem stirred.

"Marxim," I began at last. "I will never let her hurt you."

"If you take me for a consort and through some treachery of Antal's you fall, she will kill me."

"You mustn't talk like that," Lucius said, placing a hand on the other man's arm.

"It will not come to that. I swear to you Marxim that shall I live or die, Antal will never again rule. She is gone."

His blue eyes looked at me with dreadful hope and I knew I had best take his mind off the current state of affairs. It had happened so rapidly, more rapidly than I had hoped, and we were all reeling.

"Tell me about your families. Marxim, you first."

"My mother is a Countess in Haliryam," he casually began, assuming we both would know that was the richest city in the Western Lands. I did and motioned at Lucius not to interrupt. "I have three aunts, one is the high priestess there, another is my mother's captain of the guard, and the other is in the army, she has the rank of lieutenant general. I have two sisters as well, my mother's heir is the eldest, and the youngest of the family is in the army, she has just made the rank of captain in the field. I have a brother, a younger brother, he is married to the Duchene of Jaralyn." That was the furthers large city of the western lands, I knew, a rich port city. "Her family commands a fleet of thirty war ships."

I knew he was listing off connections, ever the consort he surely knew what I would ask, but I would not until the next evening.

"Tell me about yourself. How did you come to be chosen for the harem?"

Marxim took a long swallow, his throat working through his nerves, and then he smoothed his long black hair. "My aunt, the high priestess, saw in me the calling when I was young. I trained with her as a priest from an early age, away from my family. My mother could never visit, but her sister could. At the time when she first began training me in the martial arts she was only a captain herself.

"I showed great skill and my aunt the priestess knew I should purse knighthood, but there was nowhere in my homeland I could do so, so I was brought to Caldor.

"Caldotta, the old high priestess, had just been executed for crimes against humanity. Her ward, Antal, became Fisine's new spiritual progeny. I lived with them to finish my studies as a priest and was tutored in knighthood under Lady Harlick. 

"When I was young I was infatuated with Antal, and foolishly thought she had escaped the horrid teachings of Caldotta and Fisine, I thought-"

"Shh," I patted his hand. "A pretty face has fooled us all at one time or another."

He smiled at e, shaking it off. "I am nearly twice your age. It feels so odd to be counseled by one so young."

Lucius grinned. "And that is why she is our queen."

Marxim returned the smile a shade dimmer. "What of you, Lucius?"

"My mother is not titled, but holds lands in the far north, thousands upon thousands of acres. Our arbors bring the sweetest wines and our mills produce the finest wool, not so necessary here in Caldor. My mother sought to have me train as a knight to fetch a titled daughter and my first tutor Lady Garlian saw in me the training ability to be a priest. My mother denied me that training for so long, fearing it would drive away the nearest titled families, but then the old queen came through on a visit.

"I still am not sure why she picked me but she did, and I left my mother, father, and sister to come here. She died just after I arrived and Antal declared she did not want me tattooed. I have studied my final lessons of the priesthood under Fisine which was most...unkind."

From each I had learned there were connections, aid to my cause, but what I heard was the desolation of men treated as property their entire lives. I reached to both and they took my hands.

"In my world there is choice. You are not slaves, not property. You are human beings with the power to choose your own destiny. I do ask you to stay with me now, to help this world transition to the new dawn that awaits, but I will never force you to stay."

"What do you mean?" Marxim looked between Lucius and I skeptically.

Smiling, I squeezed their hands. "I know there has been much discussion and debate about who will be my consort. I am asking that you both be my consorts."

The men stared at me as if I had gone stark raving mad. 

"Come," I dropped their hands and stood. The chamber was bare stone and wood for now, my colors would but put up soon. Behind us in my sleeping area the sounds of women removing the old bed, designed for pain, and installing the new, were all that broke the silence.

"My queen, that cannot be!"

"Marxim is right, there is always one Queen and one consort, to honor the goddess and god," Lucius said even as they stood.

I clasped their hands once more and drew them out to the balcony and alter, this area more bare than the other. "Come, what do you see?" I pointed to the breaking of dawn as the twin moons sunk to the horizon and the great blaring sun was peeking out.

"The moons and dawn, my queen."

"Virtal, Marxim, in private I ask to be addressed by name."I felt him tremble at that.

"My- Virtal, what would you have us see?"

"The great moon is the goddess and the sun our god, but there are three great beings in the sky. Don't you see? There is masculine energy, feminine, and the power of love. There are three aspects. If I am to honor them, there must be three."

I closed my eyes, feeling the warm breeze on my face, holding their hands. I closed my eyes and called to the god and goddess and saw them smile. "Do you feel that?" I whispered. "Close your eyes, see with me."

I did not open my eyes to see if they closed theirs, I waited for their soft exhalation of surprise. "I meant it, what I said at the ball. Love is the way, the path to the light," I expounded for Marxim's benefit as he had not heard my speech at the ball. 

"She's right," Lucius said.

I opened my eyes and raised our hands to the dawn. "Do you hear that?"

"What my- Virtal?" Marxim said with a laugh at my gay voice.

"Our new bed has been installed. Come."

***

Lucius and I had such a short time to know one another but we had used it well and his thoughts echoed mine so well. It was Marxim we had to tend and heal, and his deepest scars were inside.

I knew Antal had often forced men together but I did not know if this was a natural inclination of any or something they merely submitted to, but I remembered a night that seemed so long ago when Marxim's naked body had drawn Lucius' eye as well as mine.

I sat on the bed between them and turned to Marxim, holding his face in my hands. He trembled with fear, the fear Antal had bred into him that this act would bring swift pleasure and swifter death. 

I kissed him and he cried out in anguished surprise. Behind me Lucius molding his hard body to mine, his hands stroking seductively along my sides, patiently stoking my fires.

The larger man trembled beneath me, hands balled into fists clenched tight to his thighs. I let one hand trail to a bunched bicep as I used my tongue to coax his lips open. Lucius kissed my neck and I moaned as one of his hands captured a breast, palming it.

I concentrated on the magic, calling to the goddess and god for help, and suddenly where we all touched magic flared. The men gasped and I could only smile as Marxim melted by small degrees. Finally he raised a hand to cup my cheek and kissed me back.

He tasted sweet and dark, and soon his mouth moved across my face, turning my head to kiss my neck. Lucius took my lips then, tasting tangy and salty, familiar. Their hands covered me, roaming, Marxim exploring and Lucius teasing. The pleasure was so drugging I could only clutch at Lucius' face and Marxim's shoulder.

One man slid down the strap of my dress and a hot mouth covered the shoulder; the other slid a hand up my thigh teasing my hips into undulation. They shifted and I was laid back, and Lucius' green eyes told me to relax, that Marxim needed to explore.

I did not want to be passive but if this was the path to healing I would do what as needed. Their bodies pressed into my sides, heating me through, and I kissed them in turns, desperate to touch them but keeping my hands gentle.

Soon my breasts were bared and twin hot mouths covered the tips. I cried out and arched, the tips so sensitive as tongues flickered across them at different tempos. I wanted more but bit my tongue. I would be the one in control soon enough, here I needed to show them they were not toys for my amusement. I closed my eyes and let myself go, my body flowing with theirs. One man was sleek, lithe muscle, the other hard and bunched, both of them strong, both of them skilled.

I stoked where I could but I accepted with the grace of the goddess. Hands glided along my skin, teasing, pleasuring, spiraling my desire higher and higher as they danced with hot mouths. I found a peak at last, a wave of the ocean crashing against rocks, and the power flew.

Sparks of magic surrounded us, a blessing freely given, and as my pleasure ebbed I began to laugh joyously. This only made the men redouble their efforts and the next peak was the crash of a sudden thunderstorm, the next eruption of a volcano, and on and on.

We flowed as one without conscious thought and at last I was able to give the same as I had received. Tenderly I took Marxim into my mouth to gift him with the deep kiss of my soul. I showed him pleasure where for so long he had known pain, and when he spilled his seed I took it for the gift it was. Lucius stroked deep inside me and reached his peak with me and Marxim, the three of us shivering together.

The morning became a blur. Lucius relaxed with a smile as I took Marxim gently into my body, and Marxim lay replete while I let Lucius take me. Looks passed between them but something unspoken had decided today was not the day for full exploration.

Still when I was with them both is when I felt the sacred gift best. At long last I draped Marxim across the bed, so dark against my matted white sheets, his curling black hair spilling out beatifically He still trembled, but with need and exhaustion now, sweat sheening his perfect body like polish on marble.

I slid down and he filled me deeply, the force hard as Lucius guided my hips. His tousled blonde hair tickled me as he bent, working a nipple so sensitive I rode the thin line between pleasure and pain. My younger consorts arms helped me to move as my own muscles fluttered, pushed to the limits. I reached down as Marxim reached up and braced myself on his hands, looking into those fathomless blue eyes as pleasure toke him.

Lucius left us and I rode Marxim hard and fast with the freedom of a horse, driving his need and mine higher. I saw Lucius looking through the pots brought from my old chamber and knew what he was about. Both men had taken my nether hole that night and this would e the last time, but with them together inside me I could bear anything.

"Slow, please," Lucius said voice hoarse from his own innumerable cries of pleasure.

We groaned but did as bade. My darker lover spread his legs, flexing inside me, and I had to close my eyes to still the hot spurt of need. The cream Lucius had spread on himself he now spread on me, and my heart beat rapidly. This was nothing new, but I sensed this moment, with the three of us, I the Queen and both these men my consorts, this was important.

I reached out for the god and goddess and felt them reach for me. Lucius slid in with surprising ease and once seated the connection to the eternal filled us all. We began to move in concert and the feeling of pleasure was so immense it should have shut the deities out, but it opened the flood gate and they filled us more and more.

Lucius movement drove me, more against my other lover than along with, but the pleasure was there for us all. I kissed them in turns, felt them each take a breast with their hands, and I could bear it no longer. This peak was a tear in the fabric of the night sky, the light burning through stronger than anything. It exploded in my head as my body shivered with it. I heard the men cry out with pleasure in the voice of the god and suddenly night pierced the daylight sky. Light and ark danced, flowed perfectly, and the very earth itself seemed to notice and shimmer along with us until we collapsed.

It came as no shock then, that as we drifted to sleep while the market bustled below, the sky darkened with a solar eclipse. And by the grace of the goddess and god, my legend grew while we slept.

***

"My Queen," an urgent voice woke me, and Halfath loomed over us. Someone, I hoped on of the men, had covered us with a sheet and I woke sleepy, drugged and covered with dried sweat and other things, anxious for a bath.

"What is it?"

"You must rise and bathe quickly, there is an urgent matter that needs your attention."

I grumbled but rose, my consorts still in sleep's embrace. By the sun in the sky I knew it was just past mid day, early for court life which I had grown used to.

Halfath would not leave as I was attended to in a quick bath and dressed. With her were two of my guard who kept eyes on guard, avoiding me.

I was dressed as my station now demanded. My dress was again white, trimmed with my colors of purple and red, and the amount of gold piled onto me and my hair was easily a stone's worth. As a knight I had been trained to fight in heavy armor and the necklace reminded me of the preferred dress for naval battle. The sabers of sailors were quick to cut off heads and as that was the preferred execution method for a queen I wondered if there was a practical aspect to it.

"My queen," Halfath pulled me from my thoughts. "The guard have caught four women all calling for your execution and the restoration of Antal. We have brought them here to await your orders."

"My sword," I ordered my attendants who brought it and belted it quickly around my waist. I thought of the night before when I had worn it and won a Queendom; I already longed for the day when I would need not bother with it.

"Who are they?"

"Children of noble houses, young women, lazy wastes in my esteem."

"Say no more. Let us go."

We walked to the throne room where a crowd had gathered. Some to see the new queen, some with mundane business, and some to see the captives. Four women were in chains, all of them well dressed clean young women, scuffled and bruised in their capture. Cloaked guards held their swords which I could tell on sight marked these women as knights in training, not yet eighteen.

"Release them from chains!" I ordered as I took my throne. All kneeled and the girls were forced to, glaring at me with hatred.

"Rise all but the captives. I would have your names."

As they were released the guards had to threaten them, but at last they spoke.

"I am Joliyn Darevins," a lithe blonde said.

"Kassin Martick," A broad blonde who appeared to be a cousin said.

The girl with brown hair in the middle had to have a knife pressed to her throat to speak, the look in her eyes telling me she was the leader. "Halic Frinns."

The smallest girl with the same shade of hair spoke without prompting. "Yuling Frinns." Her quiet eyes told me she was forced into this game.

"And what have I done to any of you?"

"You stole the throne from the true Queen!" Halic yelled.

Suddenly the hall was filled with thundering gasps and murmurs, and I wondered just how many felt this way.

"Silence!" I ordered and at least that command was obeyed. "In the tradition of all High Queens I took the throne by right of combat. This was witnessed by many of noble birth, priests and priestesses, knights one and all. There is no dispute; only the oddity that I chose not to kill my predecessor. Is that what bothers you Halic? Does my love for life seem weak to you?"

"You are weak! A pretender!"

I stood and drew my sword. "The challenge me, here, in open court. Any of you may challenge me. If you are so wise in the right and wrong, challenge me and take my throne."

Halic smiled and looked to the large blonde. "Kassin."

The blonde rose. "I will accept your challenge."

"Guards, return her sword. Nobles and all people, back up, give us safe space."

Eyes were wide and behind me I heard the thump that told me my consort had arrived, but Halfath was keeping them at bay as Kassin strapped on her scabbard. I bowed to her as was tradition, she did not returned the favor, opting to strike with as little grace as I had ever seen.

I swung my sword in the most basic deflect and hers was thrown. My temper barely leashed I grabbed her collar and forced her to her knees, my sword to her neck. "Until you are a knight do not think to ever challenge me again. Know that without grace, knowledge, and honor you shall never be a true knight." 

The woman was larger than me, heavier, but trembled like a lamb. In disgust I threw down my sword. "No one shall ever be barred from speaking their minds in my land, but know that opinion and call to action are different. If you call to action you best be prepared to fight your own battle." This last I directed to the smirking Halic.




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 14



"Guards, take Joliyn and Kassin and put them to work for you, cleaning, fetching, do menial work. Notify their families they will work for two weeks in this service to learn humility and strength.

"Halfath, take Halic and three guards. Let her hear testimony from three harem members who have known Antal 'mercy.' If Halic is still so inclined after hearing, give her to Antal for the night as a toy and allow Antal three toys from her old chest. Post guards so permanent damage will not be crippling."

The brunette began to scream as she was dragged off, and Halfath bowed to me and scurried after. Only the quiet Yuling remained, trembling.

"Are you the younger sister?"

"Yes my Queen."

"Have you nay lands to inherit that your sister may not access?"

Yuling shook her head, near tears.

"I offer you the protection of my harem as once more a place of safety and shelter. There are knights a plenty to train you, scholars, libraries of purest dream. You will be safe here."

"I- I don't know."

I called forth one of my personal guards and asked her to bring Yuling to Missiply to tour the harem. Once she was gone there were stunned silence. I picked my sword up and walked to my throne. The consort's seat next to it was empty, Marxim and Lucius stood on either side of my throne.

"Back up," I said, feeling full of grand gestures. The men did as bade and I raised my sword, bringing it down to split the consort's chair in two.

"Bring me two fine chairs at once! Take this away."

The crowd erupted into puzzlement as women scurried to do my bidding. I directed the two chairs be placed on either side and bade Marxim and Lucius to stand in front of both. I held their hands aloft. 

"I am Queen Virtal the Just, and I have chosen my consorts. Lucius the wise and Marxim the Patient." I ignored their very masculine looks that clearly said they would have preferred titles like "killer of all" or "stormbringer" and smiled.

There was silence for a moment and then the applause began, thundering out. I took my eat as did the men and it went on and on until at last I quieted it. "The words I spoke today are true. I would not punish any woman, man, or child for a thought, only for deeds. To speak one's mind is a right by birth, but to incite others to rash action is dangerous and must be curbed. I will welcome any strong calls to action by any woman willing to face me in open challenge."

"Is that so?" came a voice that was melodic, deep. Towards the back of the large room the crowd parted to reveal a red cloak. A high priestess.

"If that is true, then I challenge you!" The woman faced me squarely, several feet back, and threw off her cowl.

It was Fisine, and as the shock filled the room I lost control of the people.

She smiled.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 15



Author's Note:

My first novel is now available. Check out my bio for more information. Updates to this story should be biweekly as I'm in the early stages of co-authoring my second novel.

As always, comments/feedback are welcome...but remember, what's posted here is a first draft. Yes there will be some spelling, punctuation & grammar errors. Pointing that out is a waste of time.

_____________________

"You dare misrepresent yourself to enter the palace?" Halfath asked behind me.

I lifted my hand, covered with heavy gold. "Not now," I quietly said. I stood, my hand drifting to my sword. "Fisine, High Priestess."

"Virtal, presumptive whore."

The crowd's murmurs died on a gasp at that. I didn't have look to see Lucius jerk forward, Marxim holding him back. Instead I smiled at my opponent as I descended the steps. "This from the woman who takes small children into her wholly house and violates them. Tell me, how old was Antal the first time you whipped her bloody and took her body? Eight? Older? Younger?"

The priestess, a stately older woman with long graying hair held back in the signature dreaded threads of the far western tribes, was turning purple. "Impudent whelp!"

"Guards, seize her!" I directed with my sword but this was not the time, nor the place. I could scarcely believe she was there...unless it was a distraction.

"Palace guards, detain Fisine, royal guards, with me!" I threw a look to Marxim and Lucius as I ran. Thankfully the common rooms of the palace were nearly ground level, it was only two flights of ancient stairs to the musty, dank dungeons.

The guards of the dungeons hall stood, proud women armed with knives, spears, swords, and shields upon their back, all glinting coppery gold in the moonlight. "The word of the day!" I shouted at a run.

They dropped to their knees before, something I was already growing irritated by. "Sun!: The women called back, husky voices united.

I stopped and quickly darted to the other tunnel, heading to the crypts. These guards were smaller, only one of the torches burning, against regulation. Their cloaks, a solid yellow version of the sand-brick walls, covered their weapons, only their spears and shields visible.

"The word of the day!"

"Sun," called back one, the other echoing her a half second later.

I drew my small ornate-handled knife and threw it into the chest of one. Marxim shoved me aside and threw his to the other who had thrown her cloak off to reveal a red robe from the order of Caldor. 

They were down, but there was no telling how many more were in the crypts.

"Hold the crypts," I ordered the royal guard. Here t was a bottle neck, and until more reinforcements arrived we had the advantage. "You three, come with me." I left my captain in charge, she knew what to do, and chose the three strongest to come with my and my consorts. 

We went back to the dungeons. "There are priestesses of Caldor in the crypts, and they are here for Antal. You," I pointed to the one on the left. "Go to armory and tell all the guards, even those off duty to split. Ten to my rooms and the rest to the crypts to flush them out. Go, now!"

"Swords out!" I commanded my small party.

"Let us proceed, your highness," one of my guards said.

I nodded. "Two in front, one in rear. Flank me, Marxim and Lucius."

The remaining guard gave me the key as bade after opening the heavy door. Like the crypts of long dead queens and consorts the jail was a maze. In my studies I had memorized it and knew the three main branches divided the prisoners between those lowborn and waiting a trial, those of great insanity and danger of any birth who were imprisoned under sentence, and the last was for highborn prisoners.

Leading the part by directing my guards we wound left and left again, following each branch until we were in a hall that shared a common wall with the crypts. Upon that realization a feeling of dread came over me.

The cells to our right were empty and the torches at the end of the hallway seemed to be out, lit on by the small windows giving sunshine and moonlight to the most regal prisoner we had.

Then we saw a flash of red and my party broke into a run.

At the end of the hallway we saw why they had chosen the crypts; somehow the priestesses had violated the sacred tombs and broken through the wall. Antal's cell was open, empty. Through the crypts it seemed empty, but the torches were out, leaving only small shafts of sunlight to illuminate the tombs of ancient queens.

"There is danger here," whispered one of the guards.

"There is a small group of priestesses and only one knight amongst them, and she has been a captive for some time. Any weapons they give her will be stolen, foreign, and crude. We are three warriors and three knights. It is skill, not numbers, that matter, Gugone." I Managed to remember the blonde guards name with difficulty.

Beside Marxim was shaking. I longed to comfort him, he who I had promised would never have to face the terror of Antal again, but there was no time, not now. We had to stop them from escaping or all was lost.

"Stop!" I called and everyone did. Like me I knew Lucius closed his eyes and listened as he'd been trained, but Marxim was too scared.

I let my ears move beyond the breaths around me. I let my senses reach out to the thin strips of sunlight and called to the god, the warrior, for protection and the gift of sight.

Move, he breathed across my soul. I followed him, sword out, and knew Lucius walked with me. We wound sightless through the tombs, silent faces carved in stone following us with painted eyes. Yes, they seemed to say, protect the line.

Move, the warrior father called, faster, he urged. I ran now, trying to blot out the sound of Lucius' sandals thumping in time to mine.

Here, here! I opened my eyes to see them, only four red-robed women, Antal behind them. Her auburn hair was as wild as her eyes, and she clasped a sword stolen from a tomb from a long ago queen, made of soft bronze.

"That's far enough," I said as the rest of my party caught us up.

"Kill her!" Antal ordered.

"Wait!" I cried, too late. One of the priestesses shoved Antal behind a column and the priestesses drew their crude weapons.

It was over quickly. Our folded steel against ancient bronze was no contest, and these women had studied the length of their lives in the worship of the goddess and the machinations of Fisine, their high priestess. I had studied this too, as had my consorts, but the five is us had studied combat as well.

When they lay dead I sent one of the guards to collect the rest at the crypt doors and dove around the column. Antal was long gone.

We fanned out two groups, one guard with Lucius, one with me and Marxim. There was no sound to pick up; the deposed queen's feet were bare and soft on the stone floor. I reached out to the god again only to lose him in the clamor of dozens of guards joining us.

"My queen, my queen!" My captain called. "The high priestess is gone!"

"What do you mean? How did she escape?"

"She disappeared!"

A laugh filled the tomb and we all jerked towards it. Suddenly a ball of light appeared, backlighting Antal. Within seconds Fisine appeared. This was sorcery far beyond healing magic, a dark gift banned from time immemorial.

Fisine, solid now, wrapped her deeply tanned arms around Antal from behind, an old lover's embrace. I myself was frozen, shocked, unable to process what I was seeing. Beside me Marxim howled, and before I could stop him, drew an old dagger I didn't even know he had. Plain and small, it was a metal spike more than a blade, weighted for throwing.

He drew back and as one, Fisine and I cried "No!"

The ball of light grew once more, swallowing the women up as the dagger hit with a sickening wet sound. The last part of them visible was Antal's eyes, wide with shock and pain, and then they were gone.

The group that remained was silent for a long moment. Lucius was the first to break it. "War is coming."

I nodded and turned to Marxim. "Do you know what you've done?"

He was shaking still in fear. "I want her dead. She needs to die, she needs to go away and never return."

"That was a mortal wound! In all the years of pain and suffering at her hands, did you forget your lesson? Deposed or not she is a queen, an totem of power, and with a mortal wound only her chosen consort can heal her through magic."

He began shivering. "But I am your consort now!"

Rage was bleeding into my panic and bloodlust and I shoved my sword, still bloody, into my scabbard with great force. "Exactly! This means Fisine will return...for you AND me!"

***

The common rooms had been cleared, the nobility and peasants sent back to their homes hours ago. All the guards were out patrolling Caldor tamping down on the ring panic. There was talk of open war. No other factions could reach the walled city as the gates were closed, but inside the threat of looting hung over us like a shroud.

Marxim had to be sedated in his grief, fear, and guilt. A twisted part of him loved Antal, or perhaps the idea of what she could have been was more apt. Now he had given her a wound she would surely die of, and soon, very soon, Fisine would try to bring us to her or her to us to cure her. That was a love triangle I wanted no part of.

The council was arguing. Most favored a first strike at the temple but a few, such as Cassipe and Halfath, argued that only Fisine and a few of the higher priestesses needed removal. I quite agreed; cut off the head and the force of the body would fall apart. I could quickly replace the high priestess with one of my choosing, and as little blood as possible need be spilt.

The argument continued for hours, food was brought in but appetites were small and tension was high. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, I brought Lucius aside.

"We must greet the moon."

"We need not do it publicly. The ceremony may stand but the danger is too high."

I shook my head and cupped his cheek, forcing those bright green eyes to meet mine. "It must be public. The people must see our strength. We are a new queen and consort in a situation the realm has no seen since the founding of the line. They must see our strength, our purity, we must given them comfort."

Frowning, he grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the large room to the balcony. "Do you see?" Lucius pointed at the priestesses temple where the fires burned high and a group had gathered. 

It was larger than those who stood below us, awaiting the greeting of the moons, burning candles as a show of faith in me, or perhaps just the established system. I did not fail to note an unusually high number of men in the crowd. In the short time my plan had to work, it seemed I was winning the men to my side.

I glanced at Lucius, arguing now even as I ignored his words, and thought of Marxim sleeping the sleep of the drugged after likely dooming my short rein. I could sway the men of Caldor and likely all the land, but I could not control the two that belonged to me by law.

"Lucius, enough! I am queen and you will do as I say."

He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing.

"I said today I would take any challenges. Do not start anything lest you mean to fight to the death, and take my throne."

To that he could not respond, his lips forming silent words. I stalked back to my council, suffused with anger and purpose. "Enough!" I slammed my fist on the top of the round table. "The time for talk has passed. Here is what we will do, and each and every one of you has a part to play. Do not make me repeat myself, there is little time."

***

My first consort was angry. It w as plain to see in his eyes. There was love between us, but there was a deep fracture of disagreement. He did not have faith in me. I understood that to a point, I was young and untried, but faith was what I needed most.

Marxim had that, his extra years and knowledge of two queens before me had granted him some patience, but his fear of Antal was large and unreasoning competing with his sensibility.

I greeted the moon with only the other harem members present. I could only take one consort on the altar, and so I had Missiply and Annist prepare Lucius while Marxim attended me.

He felt guilty, and expressed this with tenderness. His mouth was fervent and soft, pulling, his tongue stroking my nipples rapidly as his hands caressed my limbs and feathered over my stomach. By the time his mouth fastened on my center I was shaking with need. He knew to drive me to the edge but no further, his tongue stroking my nubbin even as he suckled.

At last Lucius was ready, his eyes and muscles hard, fists bunched. I knew then he wanted to be on top, he wanted to master me, punish me for not heeding him. I held no such anger, the goddess was already calling to me, swelled inside me with the need Marxim had planted there.

"People of Caldor!" I called, taking his hand as we stepped to the edge of the balcony. "Tonight we greet the moon, and then I urge you to return quickly to your homes. Join me now in the celebration of the meeting of the Goddess and God!"

A cheer went up from the crowd, half the normal size. Across the long plaza, backed up to the far wall, stood the silent temple of the priestesses, watching.

I laid Lucius down on the later, ignoring his hard eyes, and knelt, straddling his legs. I stoked my hands over his body, avoiding his hard member, and he bit his lip, holding back his need. His cock was still wet with the juices of Annist's mouth and some of Missiply's lip stain was on a nipple. I saw plainly he had enjoyed the new rules I had set in place, removing the threat of death for innocent touching between my consort and the harem, particularly at my bidding.

I covered him at last and he slipped into my wet body with ease, stretching me. We groaned as one, though for the first time he did not take my hands. I settled for bracing myself on his shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling the goddess swell.

I wished her, willed her into him, and began to move. Slowly at first I rose and fell, riding Lucius gently, delighting in the slow side in and out. My nipples tingled as he filled me, all coiled power, leashed under me, and I began to move faster and faster with need.

I fell forward, scraping my nubbin over his bones, letting my nipples sway over his. My hair mingled with his and the sight was fire, yellow gold and red heat. The passion caught him at last and his hands moved to grab my hips, slamming me against him now.

I heard the murmurs from beside me and below, and cared for nothing. I loved him, he was inside me, and the magic was with us, that was all that mattered. The precipice of pleasure loomed, but I held back. I needed Lucius with me and he was not as close.

Faster and faster we went, muscles straining, sweat beading on our skin in the hot desert night. At last the first moon neared the horizon and when it crested, so did we. I shouted my pleasure, not giving one damn about the people all around me. In that moment it was just Lucius and I, together, the goddess and even the god, at last, filling our bodies.

I rode it out straining to finish as the tremors wracked us both, luxuriating in the pleasure, the very gift of it. Mine by right of station I cared not, somehow impossibly in a land of strangers, surrounded by danger and enemies, I had found something pure and beautiful. I came down with tears on my lashes, my mind fogged, my need and hunger still great. I wanted the harem gone, I wanted Marxim in me, under me, I wanted to spend the night taking them both over and over until I could think no more.

"My queen!" Morganna called.

I opened my eyes to the striking brunette pointing to the sky, and heard the crowd below turn to vocal chaos.

As I looked the dying sun was being eclipsed by the second moon, rising minutes too soon. An eclipse, however late in the day, was a sign of dark tidings all of us from the order knew.

"Antal," I quickly said. "It is the sign of a passing of an old queen. The passing of title means little to the goddess, but the death does. Antal is dead!"

I knew the old ways and prayed I was right. If she was the pressure would ease and we would be safe. "My robe," I called and Lucius and I had our robes brought to us.

I climbed off and took the towel Annist offered, cleansing myself. Marxim was there, hope shining in his wet blue eyes. "Is it true? Is she dead at last?"

I took his hand, holding it in one of mine and smoothing it with the other. "It's true, a sign such as this can mean only that. Harem, to your own pleasures tonight. Leave me and my consorts."

They did as bid, bowing, and soon they left us in the jungled balcony. "Marxim, order food and prepare the bed."

"Yes, my queen."

"Virtal," I corrected and sent him off.

"My love." Lucius came behind me to stand, and wrapped his arms around me. 

I gave into the urge and leaned against him, closing my eyes and placing my arms over his. "I pray tonight we'll have peace."

"What do you mean?"

"The eclipse most likely means she is dead, but death is not the end. Not when Antal bears the love of a sorceress."

He turned me quickly, hands tight on my upper arms. "What does that mean?"

I looked up him steadily. "Fisine has power, commands many who c an call armies to her cause. In rage she may strike out at us. Or worse." 

"Worse?"

"She practices the dark magic. That light she casts with power may be bright, but is dark, forbidden. Older than the oldest ways. She could restore Antal to a form of life."

"Dear goddess!"

I nodded. "If you know the stories of the dead rising, it's dark tidings. There will be a funeral, but her organs shall not be removed as custom. She will be bathed and wrapped in linen, but if she rises, the dark life will be hers until vengeance is known. With our deaths Fisine may be able to grant her eternal life."

"Eternal life. A vicious, capricious queen who never dies?"

I nodded. "And there is worse we must face, but I would have us wait until morning. Tonight we will know peace, and it may not remain so come tomorrow. Tonight I would know love and pleasure."

He kissed me gently, moving one hand to cup my cheek. I placed my own hand over is large one, and nuzzled his callused palm. "Virtal, I am your consort. One of two. We are here to love you, guide you, support you. If you do not share the worries I see in those beautiful violet eyes how can I do any of this?"

"My beautiful, steady Lucius. I would not have you know the terrors that are possible, not when nothing is certain."

"Unburden yourself, let me in. We need not decide anything tonight, there is always tomorrow, but tell me what we face so I may better protect you."

I kissed his palm and pulled away, pacing to look down at the plaza, empty now. "Some things I cannot be protected from. If Fisine is powerful enough to raise Antal, she may be able to raise other dead. The city of the dead lays beyond our gates but in this very palace there are three hundred."

"Dead queens? But how?"

"Magic, the most foul, dark kind. They would be minions of Antal and Fisine, locked to her cause. Without their vital organs their souls have been weighed and judged, passed on, and these will be empty shells, nearly impossible to kill so long as her magic fuels them."

"So we kill Fisine."

"Lucius, my sweet warrior," I said without turning back to him. "We cannot sneak in there unseen, nor is there time to send a spy. She has the magic to transport unseen but we do not. We best prepare with one measure that is sacrilegious. For this I will need your help, we must befoul great heroes of old, and no one can know. No one. Only you, me, and Marxim if he can handle this knowledge."

"What must we do?"

"We will rob Antal of her unholy army so that should she rise from death, she is raised alone."




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 15



He joined me now to look out at the night and the quiet rows of houses and shops, the empty market stalls. "Whatever keeps you safe and protects our people, I will do."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed. "When the palace sleeps we must separate the limbs and heads from the dead queens, or we shall face an army from within of what old sorcerers called mummies."



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 16



In the end we decided not to tell Marxim. Keeping a secret from him felt like keeping him outside of us, as if we were partners and he an unwelcome house guest. I suppose that is what made us focus our attentions on him.

Marxim was a truly wondrous man, beautiful and strong, but his soul had been rent asunder after years of cruel torture and mind games. Hey lay in my bed, a thing of beauty, his long lines corded with muscle, his inky hair spreading out in tight curls, his eyes wide and blue.

I kissed him because he needed it, and I wanted it. He tasted of honey and soft, gentle heat. Parting his lips I stroked the delineation of his torso and hips as behind me Lucius petted me softly with his fingertips, waiting, supporting me with patience.

Marxim remained passive, something not normally of his character, but I knew he was awash with deep, conflicting emotions. I trailed the tips of my fingers over his penis, still flaccid, and he whimpered, but remained still.

I wiggled against Lucius, needing more, and he read my intentions. Bringing my hands up to cup Marxim's face and deepen our kiss Lucius took advantage of the space and cupped my breasts.

His fingers stroked my swollen nipples gently, creating a firestorm of sensation with his care. Passion took me and I slid my tongue along Marxim's, willing the goddess into him, willing that her power could heal emotional wounds as well as physical.

His hands rose at last, one sinking into my hair, the other bruising aside one of Lucius'. I moaned as his firmer touched joined the softer, and my body began to pulse between the mismatched sensations, equally pleasurable.

The power of the great mother filled me and I was ready, hungry, I wanted more, but Marxim was not ready. Lucius felt the power and understood, his free hand sliding down my back, lovingly teasing my ass before singing into my wetness.

He speared me with two fingers, filling me, forcing me to cry out. Marxim shifted us, moving me higher, his mouth capturing a breast, his hand massaging the other. I steadied myself and grasped his hardening penis, stroking, and Lucius curled around me, turning my head to kiss me.

It w as so simple, so easy, but I was awash in pleasure. When Lucius granted me a finger on my nubbin I broke into a wailing orgasm, shaking with it, pleased to hear their soft moans echo my pleasure and need.

My lighter lover became the aggressor, and I let him move me. Marxim knew what he was about, even as my blissful mind floated free. Marxim lay still, moving down, and I was guided to straddle his head. His hands met mine, supporting me, and as I settled his mouth closed over me, sending delicious little shocks of pleasure through me as he suckled.

Lucius kissed Marxim's stomach, his long blonde hair falling over him, softening the firm lines of his face where they met the hard lines of Marxim's body. I was entranced by the sight as he kissed down, raising his head as his large hands enclosed around Marxim's cock and sac.

I whimpered to feel the vibration of Marxim's moan against me as Lucius gripped him firmly and moved slowly. Green eyes met mine with a wicked twinkle as he bent down and took my other consort into his mouth.

The vision before me was pure, mad lust. Two lovers I cared for deeply shared a moment of rough passion, hips thrusting as Lucius took him deeper than I could, swallowing an impressive amount of Marxim's large cock. The sight inflamed me, and I let go of Marxim's hands to cup my heavy breasts.

His tongue began to flick at my nubbin and the sweet pleasure coiled around me, tightening me, driving me higher and higher into hot need. At last I broke, crying out, shaking with it. I felt my juices gush, riding my lover's mouth, rubbing, desperate for more sensation.

I fell forward and Lucius broke off to kiss me, his sweet taste filled with the salty secretions of Marxim's growing pleasure. Our tongues mingled and then fell on the head of the other man's penis, licking together. He moaned, his mouth still on my cunt, loose in deference to the sensitivity that pained me just after climax.

I raised my hips and pushed Lucius to take Marxim's cock into my mouth. He gripped the base for me and lowered his own plush lips to the other man's sack. We moved together, pushing his pleasure. Marxim's breath was hot on me and I moved aside, wanting to pleasure him. Lucius hand moved with my mouth, squeezing harder than I would have dared, and our victim cried out in desire.

Lucius broke off and grabbed me roughly for a kiss, our tongues mingling as his hand fisted in my hair. I knew what he wanted, what Marxim wanted, and so I shifted. Settling on his cock I slammed my hips down so he filled me. I felt a wet kiss at the base of my spine and then Lucius grabbed my hips and moved me.

I felt his hair and nose at my back, realizing he still licked the sac as he lifted me and slammed me down. Marxim's hands sought mine and his blue eyes darkened as his eyes bored into me. We moved, faster and faster, his hips meeting mine with equal measure. His body tightened, the muscles bulging, and then his eyes closed and he threw his beautiful face side to side, twisting as he came deep inside me.

For the most of the night we moved in concert, Lucius and I pleasuring Marxim with our mouths and hands, and I fucked him hard. While he relaxed Lucius would take me with near violence, in both holes, filling me, making me beg until his cock and Marxim's hands brought me to climax.

We broke for food twice, and I alerted one of the servants to wake us early. By dawn we slept in a sweaty tangle, Marxim in the middle. Despite knowing what was to come, Lucius fell asleep quickly, and I followed soon after.

***

I woke before the servant came, and went to my new bathing chambers. They were large, larger than my previous sleeping chamber. The bath itself was a pool, nothing like the main pool, but large enough to comfortably swim very small laps or fit a dozen people.

I bathed myself, preferring a moment of solitude. I was not positive that Antal was dead, but the guards had reported that all priestesses were locked away in the temple. The streets were empty, the shops closed, people hiding inside their houses. The large numbers without a home were not seeking shelter at the palace nor at the temple. The shroud of war was being laid upon Caldor's shoulders.

If Fisine succeeded in raising an army to fight for her, it would be an army nearly unstoppable. Women with no souls, the knowledge of their knightly training strong, their undead bodies nearly immortal. They would have to work quickly, and in secret. I did not even trust my guards with this.

"Virtal?"

I turned and saw my sleepy lovers at the door. "Come in, the water is warm."

They both climbed into the pool and dunked below the water, coming up with sheer masculine grace. "Why were we awakened so early?"

I smiled softly at Marxim, passing the vial of soap with the masculine scent to Lucius. "Marxim, there is something we must do. Do not ask me why, it will be fully explained later when the rest of the top level of the harem joins us, but we must go into the crypts, and we must separate the heads and limbs from all the former queens."

He froze. "Why?"

"In your studies, have either of you learned of the sorceress Julint?" Both men shook their heads. "Cassipe made sure I knew the story, I presume because of my destiny to be Queen. Wash now, and listen carefully.

"Over a thousand years ago there was a priestess in the west, Julint. She was an orphan, to this day no one knows of her origins. This was in the time of the previous line of Queens, the House of Caldor. The line was matriarchal and inherited. You know the story of how the second daughter of the Cartoma of Cambrian rose up to claim the throne, aided by a vision of the goddess, and established the current line, and you know there was a terrible battle, but you do not know the details.

"The standing army went over to Queen Hecata rather quickly as Queen Kelter was craven and had despoiled much of the lands. There was only her personal and palace guards who stayed, a few hundred women against an army of hundreds of thousands, buffeted by freewoman who rode with them, hundreds and hundreds of knights.

"Julint was a rising priestess who came to Kelter and promised her an unstoppable army. This required a blood sacrifice and so Kelter gave over the male children of Caldor to the cause. In their death blood magic was born, death magic. Julint used it to raise an army of the dead from the city of the dead. For five hundred years the dead had been entombed in the first city of the dead, long ago destroyed by the time we were born.

"They rose, undead corpses, mindless minions bound to the cause of Kelter, the death of Hecata. They cut through Hecata's army with ferocious intensity, it was after a year of slaughter that Queen Hecata found her own sorceresses. They granted the knights blades armed with magic, the pure light of the mother and father of us all.

"They made their way in Caldor and we all know of the duel fought in the plaza where Hecata slew Kelter. Julint still lived, her magic fueling the undead that remained plaguing the new order. They could only kill the risen dead with the enchanted blades, and new dead rose up every day, still wrapped in tattered linens after their death preparations.

"Hecata employed her sorceresses day and night, and soon they knew there was some connection to the powerful Jilint, but she had gone into hiding. Then Hecata's consort died.

"Julint made him rise, and he was the one who slew hecata with the help of two of her guards who were loyal to Julint and the dead Kelter."

"I heard it was just the guards," Lucius said, passing the soap to Marxim.

"The truth of it has magic, magic the ancient queens thought it best if the world forgot, but knowledge passed down to each and every one of us. Only when Hecata died did the mummies fall back into death, and Julint as never found.

"The sorceresses employed by Hecata created the order, based on a vision, that hr successor would be a girl with red hair, one worthy of the throne. And so it has passed since that day. The next queen, Delaed, was wary of such dark magic. She put the same sorceresses to death, and since that day the only magic permitted has been to channel the goddess and god. Until now."

"What do you mean?" Marxim asked, his hands slowing with the soap on his body.

"Fisine will want my death for Antal's. We can not let her, but before we can stop her we must remove the threat within the palace. We must go down and destroy the mummies of all past queens interred here. Once that is done, I will kill her. If she raises the city of the dead the walls will hold them until I can kill her. When she dies, so does her power."

"She- she can't- she wouldn't raise Antal, would she?"

I crossed to Marxim, laying my hand on his shoulder. Against his broad frame my arm looked so small, yet I knew he looked to me for strength. "If she did it would be a mindless shell, not the cruel, twisted woman she loved. Even Fisine would not dare."

He grabbed me, hugging me tight. Over her shoulder my eyes met Lucius' and the grim line of his mouth showed he understood why I lied, but like me, hated it.

I pulled back, laughing softly to be covered with the men's soap, chiding Marxim and I walked to one of the three waterfalls to rinse off before finding my own softer soap. A queen's first duty was the protect her people, and sometimes that meant concealing the truth. 

Not for the first time since arriving did I wish I had been born to another fate.

***

I left it to my consorts to explain to the other top tier harm members what they needed to do. They would remove the lids of the sarcophagi and cut all the limbs and heads from the bodies of the queens, praying as they went for forgiveness. The heads were removed to be burned separately, the ashes left to each body so as not to disturb their afterlife too much.

I would join them, as soon as I found the first tomb, the tomb of Hecata. Hers was back far, and very important. There were eight of us and almost two thousand queens. We could not stop them all, but the latest dead were the biggest worry.

Back as I went the queen's from the beginnings of my line were dust, there was little chance they would rise. As each fell to dust they were placed into a jar bearing a small bust of their face taken from their sarcophagus. The lid of the sarcophagus was then placed into the hall of records one level above, a new one fitted for the next queen. There were one hundred in the fancy sarcophagi, another four hundred in stacked sarcophagi filled with only bones, and the rest in their jars.

Hecata was the only one kept in form, her tomb the grandest. It was a doorway to a private room, ornate, capped with gold and brightly painted figures acting out scenes of hr life. There was no mention of mummies in the death, the decision to bury to truth of dark magic was a very final one.

The lock was a puzzle. I placed the torch in the holder and studied it, thinking back to the riddles Cassipe had taught me. There were eight squares of gold with figures in a space for nine. They had to be lined up.

He had told me the story of the sun and the moon, and how the moon had split into two bodies of one goddess. First there had been the sun, the father. I slid the panel with the sun into the top left space, moving the rest around. Then came the first moon, and I moved that tile next to it. behind me as I thought I heard the sounds of heavy stone moving, sword slicing, and smelled old linens and desiccated, dry flesh burning.

Then came the joining of the sun and moon, that piece completed the top row. Then came the earth itself, it went under the first. Then came the love of the earth, pulling the moon to it. The panel of the two orbs slid into place. Next came the anger of the sun, it's rays burning the earth. Then the moon saved the earth from burning, leaving most of it dry desert, but alive. The panel with three complete the middle row leaving the last two. They were out of order so I had to moved them all to fit in the lamentation of the moon and great rains, and finally the split so the goddess could love the earth and the sun with two bodies. When it came together the lock clicked and the heavy door sank a small bit.

I moved it, pushing with all my might and it opened into the dark chamber. I brought the torch in and placed it into the holder over the most ornate sarcophagus I had ever seen. It was painted in full detail, made of marble, lined with heavy gold and bronze tarnished with age.

Above it sat a statue of the first queen of her line. It was pale gold marble, her clothes made of gold, trimmed with jewels. Her eyes were bright sapphires, the size of fists, her hair a cascade of rubies. It w as more than I had ever seen, the wealth, the craftsmanship simply amazing.

She was beautiful, strong fierce, and as young as I was, I saw. Such a short life, such a hard one, and such a tragic death. 

"Forgive me," I said as I reached for the sword clasped by her effigy. 

The blade was long, soft bronze, but solid, untarnished. When I touched it I felt the magic, a burning purity that gave it strength that felt greater then my own folded steel blade.

I had to struggle for several minutes to remove the blade and when I had it free and closed my fist around the hilt the power sang up my arm. For the first time I truly felt my station, with the enchanted blade in my hand, I knew I was truly the queen.

I could not say how, but I knew the sorceresses had worked into their enchantments a safeguard that only the true queen could wield the blade. I was meant for this; this was Hecata's destiny and now mine. In that moment I knew something more, something dark and yet beautiful, something wonderful and terrible.

With the sword of the founder of the line of Radir, the ancient word for red, in my hand, I knew she was the first, and I was the last. What would come next I could not say, I only knew this meant I had to win.

If I founded a new line or died to let a new arise, that was the will of the goddess. But I would not fall and let Antal sit the throne, a creature of eternity and evil. Like Kelter Antal's petty desires and twisted needs had bankrupted the lands, taxation and apathy over droughts had led to thousands of deaths and more homeless.

The first red haired queen had put an end to that and until Antal our line had flourished. The last red queen would live or die in the next few days, but once more it was time to end the tight hold of evil on my people.

It was time to embrace my destiny.

***

When I rejoined the group they had made their way through almost all of the stand-alone sarcophagi. There was more, much more though.

"Behold, the sword of Hecata, founder of the line of Radir!" I announced,, holding the enchanted blade aloft.

It caught the light of the torches and magnified it, shining over all. They stared at me in awe, and I drew up into my full height. "We must move quickly. Open the rest, and let me strike a blow. A single cut from this blade will ensure they do not rise." 

Uloga was the first to move, tearing off a heavy lid alone. Soon they fell in, the men able to lift a lid alone, the women had to work in teams of two. The twins, Missiply and Annist worked together, Lucius moved to help Morganna.

I walked between them, striking a blow to e ach mummified corpse.

"How long o we have?" Markal asked.

"There has not been a sorceress in a thousand years, so I do not know much. Morganna!"

The brunette stood, wiping sweat from her brow. "Yes?"

"Go and bring Cassipe to us, tell no one about this. Do have food prepared and brought down, left at the doors. You and Cassipe will bring it in. Above all, speak not a word of what is happening to anyone, not even Cassipe, just tell him his queen commands his presence. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my queen."

I gave her a smile, even as I brought the sword down on the next mummified remains. The beautiful brunette scurried out to do my bidding and we returned to the work.

By the time she came back we had moved on to those who were bones. For these queens I prayed for their forgiveness as I split their skulls with the blade. My arm was aching, we were all tired, and the smell of food was welcome.

Cassipe, my mentor, looked well. He had filled out slightly, the haunted look in his eyes that Antal had placed there was receding. He bowed and helped Morganna pass out water and wine to the rest and by agreement we broke.

I pulled him aside, walking him back towards the first queen's tomb. I explained what I knew, and what I had shared, and asked his counsel. We brought with us bread and cheese, along with a small pitcher and a bowl of fruit. Sitting now in the shadow of the first queen we ate.

"The tales passed down from queen to queen. My beloved old queen did not trust Antal and so she told me what she knew, keeping much of the old legends from Antal, saving the knowledge to pass to you.

"I am pleased you remembered so much. And I must say I am so pleased that the rebellious young woman I knew who caused me so much worry has grown into a magnificent queen."

I blushed at this praise and laid my hand over his. "I had the best of teachers."

He clasped mine and squeezed before letting go to pluck another grape from the bowl. "No one knows anything about sorcery, except perhaps Fisine. Like Julint she is an orphan, a woman of no past. It is possible she is a descendent of Julint for all we know. Her magic may be strong, she may be weak. Her ability to appear instantly in another place could be the extent, we simply do not know.

"What I can tell you is that your feelings on the sword are correct. Only the true queen may hold it. It is death for anyone other woman."




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 16



"And a man?"

"Give it to me."

"No. Not if it will kill you."

"I swear, my queen, it will not."

I looked into his eyes, so calm and full of wisdom. I gave into my urge and gabbed his face, drawing it near, to kiss him deeply. There was still a slight twinge of lust but nothing of the infatuation I had borne for him just short time ago. There was love, however, a form of love not quite what I bore for my father, not what I bore for Lucius, and increasingly Marxim. It was entirely Cassipe's only.

"Thank you, my queen," he said with a smile, pulling back.

"You raised me, taught me, and spanked me when I w as bad. I insist you call me Virtal."

"Very well, but only when we are alone. Now give me the sword."

Shaking slightly I passed it to him. In his hand I felt the magic leave it, bleeding out. It became a soft bronze sword, a blunt instrument that couldn't piece paper effectively. "No!" I cried reaching for it.

He dropped the hilt into my hand and when my skin touched it the power sang back into it, a burst of light reflecting off it. With a sigh of relief I drew my sword and replaced it with the enchanted sword.

"Take my former blade. I know not where Antal placed yours, and after the melee in the armory I doubt we can find it. War is coming. I have little doubt of her powers. Julint killed the male children for magic, great magic from the death of innocence, but surely a gift of death freely given brings more power."

"What are you saying?"

"No one has seen the priestesses since Antal's escape. None even attend the eternal flame."

He paled and dropped the bowl of fruit. "There are over three hundred of them!"

"That works in our favor at least one way. Killing so many will take time. Julint killed the male children by her own hand, surely Fisine will do the same. I believe we have until nightfall."

"If we are lucky. You go, return to them, keep going as you were. I will start a fire her, we must work to mix as many ashes of the old queens as possible. If Fisine has natural power, all those deaths...there is no telling what she can do."

I swallowed another bite of bread and cheese. "You're a good man."

He stood with me and smiled. "I know."

I left him there to devise a way to start on the hundreds of jars of ashes and returned to the bonework. Into the afternoon we worked, and the twins were tiring more easily than the men. I sent them for more food as we took a break, drenched in sweat.

Morganna made the suggestion of relaxing one another, and despite tired hands the others made a circle, sitting. Each one massaged the shoulders of the one in front and I could see the communal touching was more relaxing than the actual release of knots in the shoulders and neck. 

I could have no such rest. I walked back to Cassipe who had a fire going, a small one. He moved slowly, carefully opening each jar and dumping the ashes into the fire before relaxing it on the shelf. The ashes would dampen the fire so he had to feed it with the strips of linen from the bodies that Morganna had been running back.

He was drenched in sweat, his white robes darkened by smoke which was filling the chamber. "There are no damn windows here, I'm not sure how much longer I can do this safely."

"Come," I said simply, grabbing his arm and dragging him back with me.

The twins had returned with food and everyone was partaking. "We need a boon from the goddess and god," I said. "This is why the queen keeps a harem. True magic is in love, the act of it, the physical joining."

Tired eyes watched me and nodded. I began to peel off the sweat-drenched clothes from my body. "Missiply and Markal. Annist, Uloga, and Lucius. Morganna, Markal, and Cassipe." I said simply.

It took a long moment but they took my meaning. I unbuckled the sword and set it on the end of a bench by a pillar, choosing that for my throne. There I sat naked, to watch. This was nothing Cassipe had taught me, nothing I had read in my studies. It was something I felt, the goddess like a soft wind in my hair, the god sunshine on my skin, the work of old in the sword by my side.

I watched them all, pale and dark, blonde and brunette, muscular and lithe, softly curved and harshly lined. They became a tangle of bodies on the floor, writhing in passionate embraces. Fingers stroked and sank in, tongues traced and tasted, cocks swelled and cunts glistened.

When the passion took them and bodies joined I moved at last. Closest to me were Cassipe, Markal, and Morganna. I touched them all lightly, willing the goddess and god into them, feeling the deities fill their bodies. Morganna crested first and I kissed her, swallowing her cry and the power that rose on her sweet lips. Beneath her Markal plunged into her ass, and I swallowed his climax as well. Cassipe pumped her cunt hard and our kiss was long, the god rising hard in him against the goddess in me until he cried out, biting my lip with it.

I left them in a tangle of passion and moved along to Uloga who pumped Annist mouth with his cock. At my touch he flared to life, and when I kissed him I let my fingertips trace over Annist's nipples. His pleasure roared into me as he filled her, and I s aw Lucius finger slip into her cunt even as his cock speared between her soft buttocks.

I pulled her from Uloga who fell back replete, and in her kiss I tasted his seed with the power she gave me. I brought that taste as a spice to Lucius's kiss, and my first consort did not fail me. His kiss was brutal, consuming. He clutched my head to his, bruising me with intensity, slamming into her ferociously. I tasted the power in him but also that unique, rebellious flavor that was pure Lucius, and I knew in his mind it was my body rocked with his thrusts. He came, wailing into me, and when it passed her collapsed along Annist's back, the blonde sagging with a fulfilled sigh.

Missiply and Marxim were beautiful together. Her slight pale body crowned with golden hair complimented his honeyed skin and dark curls. The passion was there between them but his blue eyes had watched my progress. When I crawled to them, drenched in my own lust, I hared her gasp and knew his erection had hardened inside her.

I straddled his chest, his hands cupping my ass, forcing me to rub my wetness against the ridges of his stomach. I took Missiply's face in my hands, letting my breasts rub against hers, delighting in her whimper as I slowly took her mouth. She clutched my arms, riding him hard and fast like a horse, slamming his body into the hard stone. When our lips touched she gasped, and I slid my tongue along hers. The goddess filled me so rapidly I nearly swooned, trembling along with her as she came, gasping into our kiss.

Marxim was all that was left. I gently helped Missply lift off him and went to take her place. Marxim's gaze cleared and he moved. I found myself under him, for the first time experiencing the power he had sublimated so far in our joining.

"Yes," I said, and he drove into me with great force.

It was all it took and his lips barely caught mine as we both peaked together. The god filled me too, and the bliss was physical, sexual, and spiritual. It lasted forever, my body shivering, solid and ethereal, tightening and loosening.

It passed after long moments and then we too lay gasping and panting on the now-warm stone with the others. I struggled to stand, guided by a sense of purpose and a growing sense of danger.

"Grab your things, quickly, and make for the exit. It is coming."

"What is coming?" Uloga asked sleepily.

I crossed to grab my sword. "Fisine. Hurry!"

They stood and grabbed their clothes, slowly putting them on. I felt the evil whisper through the air as I tugged my own dress down over my head. I froze. "It has come."

The ground began to shake. They gasped and grabbed for one another. "Run!" I cried and urged them along. I would be the last to leave, I as the only one who could survive what was happening.

Towards the outer wall jars rolled with the tremors, breaking open on the stone floor. A dark wind passed and then an inhuman roar stole the very air.

I drew the enchanted sword. "Run!"

This time they moved, and when they passed me, I followed, my sword shining bright in the scant torches. They were behind us, I could feel them, old and powerful and fueled by foul magic. We made the doors with them on our heels and I turned just as the men were closing the doors.

It had begun, they were coming. Hundreds of them, long-dead queens, priestess, knights, women of power, now soulless shells filled with magic fueled by death, bonding with that within each one. Borne of dust they shambled quickly like burnt corpses. In the back of the horde were ones with linens attached to them, wiry red hair smoking. They had even risen from the fire.

The mummies had come.



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 17



"Bar it quickly!" I shouted in the chaos as the doors shook. All four young man pressed them back.

"Bring us more timber!" I cried to the guards at the end of the hallway.

Around me the women gasped slightly as the men strained. Cassipe touched my arm and I flinched slightly. "The fire did nothing. Those who met your sword still lay as bones and dust, but those I burned have risen."

"There's too many. I know what must be done."

He nodded and then we stepped back as the guards ran the bar from the dungeons over. The hooks for it could hold three so I sent them back for another and the men still held the doors.

It took them longer but they came back with another and settled it into place. 

"Run now, get the masons. We must brick up this hallway. Harem, return!"

We ran to the end of the hallway but I bade them go on without me. The guards were fetching the women who would brick it up as additional defense, but in case the doors did not hold I stood there with my sword, ready.

When they were gone up the stairs, I was alone. There was the thumping of the mummies behind the doors which shook but the timber bars held. I was sweating, struggling with my fear. This could mean only one thing; Antal had risen as well. I had to kill her, and I had to kill that sorceress Fisine.

The guards returned, more of them, my own personal guards ushered in folded steel bars. I commended my captain, I had not thought of that. Carefully they removed the top timber, held the other two aloft, and began to slide the metal bars in until they had replaced the timber. The doors moved less but thudded more loudly.

They stood with me as we watched the masons work. Quickly they troweled down cement and placed heavy bricks. It took hours, and I was already exhausted, but I held myself at the ready. When it was set and drying I ordered a cot be brought down and had my guards stand over me as I laid down on it, placed the sword along my front as each queen in death did.

A queen out her people first, and I had two women to kill who were impossible to kill. I needed rest, and to my shock, sleep claimed me quickly.

***

I woke to chaos, Halfath shaking my shoulder.

"Your highness, you must come. It is war!"

My heart shook as I sat up and stretched. I wasn't sure how long I had, but my blood pumped fast and I was awake now. "What do you mean?"

"There are mummies at the city gates, and Halfath killed most of her priestesses and now they are mummies. She sent a rider, those mummies will not attack the citizens if you give yourself up."

"Open up the first level, begin assembling all the supplies you can. Empty the soldier's quarters, post them around the base. Send out the quietest and stealthiest along the back allies, begin bringing the citizens here one family at a time. Start with the closest and bring all, pay no attention to their rank or station. Arm the harem, every level, the top tier shall become my personal guard. My current guard will oversee the families. Hurry, is this all understood."

She nodded with a gentle smile that said she approved.

My guard accompanied me back to the harem but left me at the door. Inside it was chaos as fear and worry gripped them with rumors. Most looked at me, blinking in surprise, so I knew I didn't want to know hat rumors abounded about my fate.

I strode up the steps to the top tier and it was empty, they awaited me in my chambers. The sun was beginning to set, time was of the essence.

"We are at war," I said by way of greeting. I sent the attendants for food and then told the harem what Halfath had told me.

"No matter what I must greet the moon, and then we must act."

Marxim nodded first. "What you told Halfath, that was good. We must keep the people safe."

"There are nights among the nobility here, they should be organized to fight."

I nodded to Lucius and then looked to the rest. "That is why you will help organize them. We will eat, greet the moon, then you must go down to the common rooms and find the knights. Take the others of the harem with you. You will place a line of fire at the entrance to the lowest levels and guard it, and provide backup. You cannot kill a mummy, but you sure as hell can slow it down.

"Lucius and Marxim, you will stay with me. Cassipe you too, but for now you must go back to the masons. Find the one who is best with metal and bring her here after the greeting of the moon, is that understood?"

"Yes, your highness."

The food was arriving. "Now we must eat, our strength will be needed. If all goes to plan by morning this will be behind us. Morganna, come with me into my bedchamber. We will eat there together alone, we have much to discuss. The rest of you, eat well."

The brunette followed me into my bedchamber with attendants and simple fare was laid out. I poured myself wine and drank deep, thirsty from a hard day and needing the slight numbing. When the attendants left, I faced her.

"Morganna, you once told me your priest, a practitioner of the old religion, saw a second prophecy and entrusted it to you. This is why you came here, yes?"

She nodded and sat with me at my table. "Yes, why?"

"Tell me about the old religion."

"Well, my people are nomadic, we depend on the land. We believe the magic of the world comes not from the goddess and one consort, but two. And we believe that magic is in the land. You pull your magic from the goddess and god when you greet the moon, yes?" I nodded and she continued. "Our priests and priestesses pull it from the earth."

"And how do you pull it?"

"From fire or water, wind or stone. They control it. They can grow fire from a small spark, create a wave in still water, call the wind, move stones with their mind."

"And so you were trained as a priestess in this religion as well as the old?"

She nodded.

"Show me." I pulled a candle to the center of the table and set it down.

She looked me tenuously. "Antal forbade me to practice this, I have not done this in many years."

"I believe that you can. I am not Antal, I will not hurt you just because I can, or just because I want to. I will not hurt you if you fail. I need to know, you need to try. Our survival may depend on it. Your priest sent you here because he knew you would play a pivotal role in the coming of the true uniter. Please, try for me, for him, for our people."

She sighed, trembling, and stared at the candle with focus. Minutes ticked past and I held perfectly still so as not to disturb her. The flame bean to waver in unseen wind, and then suddenly it shot up.

"I did it!" The flame died again as Morganna clapped.

"Very good. Now eat well, and I will tell you my plan."

***

No one watched us as we greeted the moon. The rider I had sent in response to Fisine's rode back, her horse making lonely clacking sounds on the plaza. Across the city were a few red-robed priestesses standing with slight shifting movements that were jerky, creatures of dark magic and dead eyes.

The top tier watched, ready to help, they knew their places. That night, of all nights, we needed to raise as much magic as possible. Morganna might know the secret to find the magic in the elements, but the rest of us knew only how to call the goddess and god forth. 

Below the rest of the harem was already at work like the top tier. Naked bodies flowing together, masculine and feminine cries of pleasure ringing softly on the eerily still twilight. To our left, along the city wall, soldiers guided families quietly. Many were gagged I knew, to keep them quiet, children and men weeping over their possessions left behind. I had declared no animals, our space and resources were limited, but if my plan went off by morning everyone would be home.

Outside the city gate a writhing moaning mass could be heard when the wind raised, pressed to the gate but otherwise unmoving.

On the altar both my consorts joined me, and though such beauty, blonde and dark, sleek and bulky, should have aroused me, my nerves were fraying. They kissed me now, Marxim suckling my breasts, Lucius massaging my buttocks and kissing along my spine. The cool air raised chills, but I looked to my harem for my pleasure.

Fear had driven them to need and they moved with frantic need, sweat beading along skin as hands and lips sought, tongues explored and cocks probed. I reached down to stroke my consorts' cocks. They were soft, but began to harden as my body twisted to reach them. Now each man took a nipple, and Marxim's gentle sucking contrasted with Lucius' hard flicking tongue to raise my pleasure.

I dipped on hand into the small pot we had brought and came back with viscous lotion, and I smoothed that along Lucius' now-hard cock. Marxim's fingers brushed the nubbin between my legs and Lucius slid two fingers inside me. I moaned, trembling, and Uloga's eyes met mine between Annist's thighs.

"Now," I moaned.

Marxim turned me, Held me high and Lucius positioned himself. One finger with the moisture slid inside my nether hole, then two. Quickly he replaced those with hiss cock and pressed inside. I breathed deeply and slowly and Marxim kissed me until Lucius was seated. Once he was I was lowered onto Marxim's thick cock.

With both men inside I was filled, moaning, my hands seeking them both, my lips passing from one onto the other. They both held me and moved me. The slow dragging kept them pressed close, every nerve stimulated, and Marxim's thick hair rasped the nubbin.

The threat of danger brought me close as we thrust, pumping together, and soon the goddess filled me. I felt the gods slide into my two lovers, growing, growing... "Now!" I cried and at my command the harem moved faster.

I arrived at my peak first and the men were close behind. The harem cried out as light from the goddess such as I'd never known filled me, eclipsing my peak. My body shuddered in hot explosions of pleasure, but my soul nearly burned. Knowledge whispered across my skin and it filled me over and over until I nearly swooned.

I heard Marxim shout and then I was back in my body, out of the light.

Panting, I gave him a weak smile and turned my head to the sky. The two moons had risen together. The omen was good, very good, and I could have wept.

"Clean yourselves and go, all but my consorts and Morganna." We extricated ourselves and stood as the rest of the harem did. They dressed themselves and went to their rooms to gather what they needed. Cassipe was with the mason in my bedchamber, working and the other "stock" had the small fire by the throne going.

Cassipe emerged with her as I was dressing, the two armored breastplates in his hands. "It worked."

"Now onto the throne," I directed the mason as she handed Morganna her sword and me the enchanted sword. It let off a shimmering glow as I touched it and she gasped. "Amazing!"

"Marxim, Lucius, you must stay here. I am going to greet Fisine. If I should fall, Antal's mummy will come here. She will try to do what she would in life, which is claim you. If she comes you must have her sit on the throne."

Arguments rang out then and we yelled back forth as Morganna and I put on our armor and the Mason took an iron form and began to work on the throne.

Marxim would not be much good. Antal had abused him for so long she had taken over his mind, leaving a dark hollow place of fear. It would take years to heal, and so I sent him to lay down on my bed, threatening him if he did not comply. Alone, Lucius was more biddable, but he still wanted to come with me.

"No. You must stay here. If I should fall you will be the only chance this world has to be rid of Antal."

"How? I cannot wield you sword!"

"Morganna?"

She presented herself to us. I took my sword and pricked my finger, feeling the goddess smile inside me. I touched her sword and held it. "Call forth your power. Blood is elemental."

She closed her eyes and moments later the blade flashed. I let go and still it glowed.

"How?" Lucius asked.

"Magic," I said with a smile. "Morganna and I shared blood while we ate. Now Lucius, in a moment you and I must do the same."

I pressed my bloody finger to Morganna's breastplate and again she closed her eyes. Faster now it glowed, fading slowly like the sword long after I withdrew.

I pricked Lucius' finger and pushed mine to his. Like our blood the god and goddess mixed with us, granting this transference power. 

"It is done, your highness," Cassipe said behind me.

We shuffled to the throne where a very small spike sat in the middle of the seat. I pricked my middle finger on it as my first finger bore Lucius' blood as well, and the small silver spike in the golden throne soon shone red.

Morganna looked at it and almost instantly it glowed.

"If she comes, you must control Marxim, and make her sit. She will feel no pain, and you must touch the throne to activate it. When you do, she will die. This is why you must stay."

He stared at me, green eyes shining with unshed tears. "You come back. I love you. You come back in one whole piece. We need you. Your people need you. And I need you." He gabbed me then and kissed me fiercely. I clung to him with equal fervor, praying to goddess I would know his touch again.

"And I need you," Marxim said quietly behind us. 

I broke from Lucius, stroking his cheek, and turned. Marxim was pale, but steady. He took a deep breath and crossed to me. "If it means staying alive, rick her. Make Antal think Fisine can kill you. She will come here. If she does I myself will tell the guards to let her up. I will lead her here and make sure she sits so Lucius may kill her. You kill Fisine, and leave her to us."

"That wasn't my original plan, but yours is a good ne."

"We can do it. You take Fisine, and we'll do the rest."

"Tell Halfath," I ordered Cassipe. He nodded and ran off.

I pulled Marxim to me and brought his head down, kissing him passionately. When we pulled back I brought Lucius to us with my other hand. "You are the strongest, bravest men I know. Do this, do this for yourselves, for me, for our people. Tonight, this terror ends."

They solemnly nodded.

I looked between them to Morganna. "You part does not change. Are you up to this?"

"I am."

"Then let's go."

We strode down the steps each level, faces blankly staring at us. It was an unspoken word that an army should be sent, not the queen and one woman. Prayers to the goddess were murmured and I felt her inside me preen and yearn to answer, but she rode me as sure as I would ride my horse.

We mounted and rode out. The guards at the base parted and sand was thrown on the line of flame so we could pass. It was quickly lit as soon as our horses cleared.

We were alone in the world.

The clop of hooves made a lonely echo a we rode slowly, eyes wary. It was only a mile, slightly less than, but with each step our the horses we were further from the safety of others and closer to the temple containing doom. Even the city gates were abandoned, and as we passed them, the halfway point, they shuddered with all the mummies from the city of the dead. The bar, cut from a giant oak of the west, held tight.

"If Fisine dies, the mummies will live on, yes?"

"I don't know. This is how it was before. It does not matter, both Antal and Fisine must die. What I said inside was for the benefit of the men. She must not reach the palace. We must kill them both, together."

"I will take Fisine," she swore solemnly. "You know she is of my people. I do not think her magic is so grand, I think it is what I know, corrupted with evil."

"How so?"

"Mummies are like earth, dust. If one can move a stone, one can move a mummy."

I stopped and grabbed her reigns, forcing her to stop with me. "Morganna, do you think you can control another mummy?"

"I don't know. Fisine is much older, her power is greater."

"But is spread thin. Antal is the one she loves, if she has to let them all go to protect her, she will."

"So?"

"If I can draw Antal into combat she will be distracted. Rather than cut through the mummies, if you can control them, direct them to kill Fisine."

She nodded. "I will try."

"Good, then stay back here. I got forward alone. Wait until it is time."

"How will I know?"

I drew her to me for a kiss. Her lips were soft and when we touched the goddess breathed between us. "You will know," I said, pulling back. Dropping her reigns I kicked my horse into a run, and I rode up alone to the temple.

The priestesses standing were too freshly dead to be mummies. Still they were dead, their flesh grey, the wounds of their deathblows still purple and framed with dried blood. Their eyes were glassy and white.

I rode up and they began to shamble forward, until a tall figure in a red robe came out from the shadows atop the steps. "No! Queen Antal must kill the usurper. Back! Back!" They were slow to do her bidding. How much magic was it taking to control these, the dead queens, the city of the dead? How much more did she have,

Antal stepped out with her, looking almost human, her eyes without cloudiness. That was the center of her power. "Have you come to die, to save those pathetic people?"

"I never ordered you dead. It has always been the way to fight a challenge. I challenge you, Antal the strong. Do you answer me?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Virtal the Just...I accept."

"No!" Fisine yelled. 

"I have spoken!" Antal cried, and with the force of her voice an inhuman wind joined it, shaking the night like a roar of many beasts. Fear skittered across my back and my horse nearly bucked, calming only as I dug my heels in at the right height.

"No interference." I said, looking to Fisine and her risen dead with meaning.

"Agreed. Inside." Antal turned with confidence I would follow. This was good, I needed Fisine inside, unable to see Morganna approach, but I did not want to know what other horrors awaited me.

I dismounted and the mummies parted, watching me maliciously.

Inside the great temple was a large area with open doors at the end. Antal stood inside there and it was dimply lit by mirrors reflecting a distant torch. No flame for the mummies I mused.

I strode in to see it was an amphitheater, hundreds of freshly risen dead priestesses regarded me with glittering milky white eyes as I entered. 

"If by some miracle I fall, Fisine's power will keep them alive, and they will tear you limb from limb."

"No," I said as she drew a sword and took up a fighting stance. "They're not alive. Nor are you."

She raised an inhuman howl and the dead women echoed it, the cry of entire herd of night beasts. My heart nearly stopped with the force of it. Death; death surrounded me, but the goddess was strong in me and she was life. The gods, two of them I knew for certain, were there as well, and it was to them I prayed.

"Guide my sword and help me, gods," I murmured.

The cry died down, and then she attacked. She was strong, inhumanly so, and though I blocked with my sword the force had me stumbling back. I had to drop my guard to keep my balance and the blade swiped into my arm. Painful heat seared me as the blade cut my skin, but the pain told me it was only a surface wound.

I used my wobbling momentum to swing sideways at her but she was faster than human and blocked it. The sword fell from my hand.

It came back, aiming for my head, and I fell back gracelessly, barely avoiding it. I rolled towards my sword and she swung again, her sword slamming into the marble floor. I grabbed mine and blocked her next swing, but I was on the floor, wounded already, and she was too strong, too fast.

There was one thing magic couldn't affect, and that was her center of gravity. I pushed back her sword and swung my leg, hooking her ankle, and I pulled. Antal fell as well and I moved as fast as I could up, but she was faster. Again her sword swung for my head and I deflected it with the flat of mine, the blade skittering down to my breast plate.




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 17



Sparks flew and I knew I'd have a bruise later, but I was alive.

I jumped back and began to circle and she held still. Antal was tying with me.

"You came alone. Either very brave, or very stupid."

"Your time is at an end, Antal. You may only transcend death once. I am your end."

She laughed and it was a sound of the grave, of little things rotting and squealing in agony. She moved again, so fast I barely saw it, and though my sword blocked her she pushed my blade into my cheek. I was bleeding again.

She had the advantage and I was losing. This was not how it was supposed to be, but...

Goddess, call Morganna, I thought, and my soul felt the whisper of power answer. We thrust and parried, dancing around, and I was entirely defensive. Suddenly there came a commotion outside and just as Antal knocked me to my as once more Fisine appeared in a bath of light.

"My queen! She has a sorceress. The women outside...I must withdraw some of my power from you."

"No!" Antal cried as Fisine turned to the room.

I climbed to my feet as I saw Antal sag, her skin growing pale, her dress suddenly had blood in it from the spot where Marxim's knife had been thrown. She stumbled but recovered.

Seeing my advantage I dove around the high priestess and swung. She blocked, stumbling back. I smiled, and froze. There came a dark wind and then movement. The sound of hundreds of feet.

Fisine was chanting and I looked up to see her smile and disappear.

"No!" Antal cried just as my heart did.

The dead women were running, climbing over the low wall, hands out, heading for me. I had no choice but to run. Antal followed me and as the dead women reached me I began to swing my sword like a machete in a jungle, cutting them. One by one they screamed and fell, and then I was tripping over dead bodies.

Some grabbed at me, finding my breastplate, and when they touched they died screaming, but there were too many and they were closing in. As they swarmed me I fell on my back, the world upside down. And I saw Antal's feet retreating.

Then the priestesses covered me and everything went black. 



A Harem Fantasy Ch. 18



It's been a long time, folks! Here we are, at the conclusion of the story of Virtal the Just, a young woman caught in a power play in a world similar to ancient Egypt filled with dominant women, old religions, and magic. I hope you've enjoyed the tale, as always I welcome feedback and ratings, and yes this is a bit short, but it wraps up the story nicely. Enjoy!

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Just when I felt death yawn a greeting deep inside me, it stopped. I still could not see, all was black, but the scrabbling fingers, nails digging into me, fetid breath and sharp teeth all paused. 

And then they began to convulse, shaking, moaning. When enough were off me I struggled up and found them all on the floor, a writhing mass. Antal was gone.

I picked my way through them to find Fisine pinned by the dead, nearly whole priestesses who had been guarding the door. On her knees on the cobblestones, Morganna chanted, blood welling from self-inflicted wounds to help call her magic.

She looked at me, her black hair swirling in unseen wind, her eyes bled to black. "Kill her, Virtal."

Weak, panting, trembling, I moved to Fisine, held aloft by the mummies now under Morganna's control.

She laughed. "The mummies are mine! Your sorceress bitch can control only a few, not all. Kill me and Antal lives. She will live  until her purpose is fulfilled, and so will all the mummies!"

"And what is her purpose? Killing me?" I raised my sword like an axe over my shoulder.

Fisine spit a bloody wad from her mouth and grinned wider. "Silly girl! Bringing these lands to their knees!"

She laughed until I cut her head off. It flew to land at the base of a torch, smiling still, even as it knocked the flaming tower over, coals falling to burn her flesh. The mummies shrieked and ran, and Morganna stood.

"I need her blood now. It will take time."

"Where did Antal go?"

Morganna, calm and terrifying in her power, turned to the Palace. I saw a lone blur rushing towards it, moving impossibly fast without a horse. "No!"

"Go now, the mummies may follow before I can wrest control. Go now and stop her!"

I ran to my terrified horse and jumped onto her back, kicking her to gallop. We rode on and behind us I glanced and saw the mummies surge out. Morganna's blood soaked form disappeared amongst the walking dead.

They moved fast but my horse was faster. I heard Morganna's mount scream a death rattle behind us as we rode, and fear pushed my horse faster.

When we reached the fire line the soldiers behind it had broken in stark fear. We jumped it and as I landed I had only time to scream "deserters meet death!" and then we rode into the hall.

It was chaos. The citizens had not been settled yet and men, women, and children ran screaming. There was a line of bodies and a trail of blood over the golden marble leading to the stairs. The bodies began to rustle.

I found a guard as I dismounted.

"Fire! Keep them at bay with fire, chop them into pieces. They will die soon!"

Her eyes were wild but she nodded, and I ran.

I used my sword to strike at as many moving dead as I could, but I could not get them all at my breakneck pace. I sprinted up the stairs, but I fought living bodies and dead. The dead were armed, Antal had struck at the soldiers with care. More fought them, but citizens were panicked, stampeding like cattle in a fire.

I did my best not to hurt them, but my speed and care for my people kept me from the fighting. I had to reach Antal, kill her. If Morganna had fallen, killing Antal was the only chance we had.

I crested the third levels of the palace by the balcony, and I saw the mummies had reached the fire line down below. My heart hammered, even though I saw my soldiers had pulled themselves together, forming a line of archers. They used the fire line to light their arrows. Smart. Whatever commander had devised that trick I would give a higher commission...if I lived.

The harem was worse. The fighting here was rampant, ten harem members to every dead one, but the dead had Antal's magic, immense strength, and a ferocity that was staggering.

I struggled my way, killing as many as I could, but the sheer density of the fighting made it hard. Outside below, the mummies had somehow broken the fire line and fighting was now sword-to-sword, and sword-to-immortal-flesh.

The harem was in chaos. Antal had slain the other two "stock" members and Cassipe and the top tier fought them valiantly. Uloga cut off a head as Missiply and Annist cut the arms from the other.

"Go!" Cassipe cried, pointing to my chambers.

Inside I saw a sight that gripped my heart with fear. Lucius lay bloody on the ground, but he was not stirring as a mummy. He had to be alive, he had to.

Antal and Marxim wrestled. The man who had feared her, killed her before, now faced her in demon form. Still he valiantly struggled pressed against his nightmare, keeping her clawed hands from his face.

I moved to help him when a sword clashed with mine.

The lightly dessicated corpse facing me was Mystrike. She had been prepared for burial, still wore the linen bindings around her, but she was armed, and one of her striking eyes looked at me, clouded milky white.

"Not yet," she called, sing-song, voice scratchy and sounding as if it swam through dirt.

"Marxim!" I called and drew back my sword to strike at her center. She moved quickly and blocked me, sending me stumbling into the altar. "Get her to the throne!"

I looked to Lucius, who appeared to be breathing shallowly. He was too bloody for me to see his wounds, but he was so pale they were dire, I knew.

Mystrike's sword hit the altar and cracked it. I felt the goddess and gods in me cry out and I struck at her, nearly hitting her head but the undead bitch blocked me.

"Die!" I screamed, and she just laughed.

"Already did. Your Turn." 

Behind her Marxim had regained his feet and was struggling to push Antal back to the throne. Beneath us the sounds of vicious fighting rang out, the screams of the dying filling the night. For each that fell, they rose to join the mummy ranks, and I could gear as much as feel the tide turn against us. Time was waning fast.

We parried and Mystrike was much stronger, but her left eye was bandaged still and blind. I feinted and went to stab her. Unfortunately my move made me trip over Lucius who groaned, and my sword fell short.

Mystrike knocked it aside and cackled. My heart sank as the sword skittered to the throne where Marxim nearly had Antal seated. My attacker loomed over me, grinning with lightly rotted flesh hanging loose from the exertion. She was not healing fast, this had to mean Morganna was still alive, still working her magic. My heart soared with hope.

"Death is too good for you, Virtal. I want to hear you scream. I want to rape you, I want your body to betray you. Do you want to touch my sickly flesh?" She rubbed her body, still shapely under the linen, now stained with ichor, and my stomach lurched.

I licked my lips, thinking fast. Marxim had Antal on the throne now, his muscles bulging with the effort to keep her there. She was trying to reach for my sword and I abandoned it, praying she would touch it and die.

Mystrike's eye followed mine and she gasped. "No! It will kill you my queen!" She threw her sword to Antal who grabbed it.

"Marxim! My sword!" I sat up and ripped bindings loose from Mystrike's leg. Pressing my armor to her, she shrieked, moved to kick me, and then fell.

I shot up and moved Lucius away, albeit closer to the throne. I tried to touch it but Antal's sword hit my hand, slicing open my arm as she kicked me back.

I landed on Mystrike, turning to dust, and screamed as I rolled off. Below came a cry of victory and I rose up to see the mummies falling. "Great, Morganna waits until now," I muttered.

"Vrtal!"

I turned back to see Antal had thrown my sword from Marxim's hand. She had Mystrike's to his throat, and Marxim was trembling but frozen, sweating, panting. She was about to deliver a killing blow.

"You lose everything," Antal said, and her arm flexed.

"No!" I screamed, too far, but then magic swelled and Antal began to shake. The sword clattered to the stone floor and Marxim scrambled back.

At the foot of the throne, Lucius' hand weakly touched the leg. 

Antal's eyes went white, her body desiccating instantly. I grabbed my sword, too impatient, and cut off her head. It fell with a wet plop and kept decomposing, even as I began to hack the body. Rage suffused me and even as she fell to dust I kept swinging, util I felt Marxim touch me and the goddess flare inside me.

"It is done, Virtal."

I dropped the sword and fell into his arms, doing the one thing a queen should never do, the one thing I was taught to never do. I wept, shaking with it.

We sank to floor, uncaring of the dusty remains around us and he held me until I felt dry, then Marxim gently kissed my nose.

He sighed, smoothing my hair back. "I am sorry, so sorry that your work is not done. We must heal Lucius."

Shaking, I nodded, and we twisted our bodies to lay hands on him. All touching, the gods and goddess were strong, and soon all my aching wounds, Marxim's, and Lucius' healed.

When it was done He sat up, blinking, green eyes confused.

"You did it, Lucius. You killed Antal."

He weakly joined the hug, wrapping his arms around us both. "No, we did it."

I kissed them in turn and then watched as they kissed. It was a thing of beauty, their beauty, now mine. When they parted I struggled to my feet to look over the balcony. There were piles of dust blowing in the wind, more outside the city gates, but the survivors, whole, weak, or wounded, cheered.

I raised my fist in the air, still covered in dried blood.

"My people! Today we have tasted victory. You stood proud and fought for your homes, for you friends, for your family, for your country. I will not forget this, and let this night be known as the night evil was defeated!"

A roar went up and I sagged, this time it was Lucius who caught me.

"You need to rest."

"Send Cassipe to find Morganna, she is alive but likely wounded. And there are forces loyal to Antal in the farthest corners of the land, they will have to be hunted down and killed, and there is famine, and war looms wi-"

"You need rest," Marxim interrupted.

Lucius smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder as he rose. "You are the Uniter, the queen we have been waiting for for centuries. You will save the world but you are young, and you have time. Sleep now."

"Cassipe!" I yelled, and he appeared, wounded but smiling.

"Yes, my queen?"

"Stop that. Morganna is by the temple. Find her, bring her back. I am on the verge of collapse."

"I will see to it you are not disturbed. Halfath is a fine steward, she is already sorting things out down below."

"Go, quickly now, bring her to me."

"Yes, your highness."

Before I could yell at him to stop using my formal titles, he was gone.

"Bed, now, Virtal," Lucius said.

"Only if you both join me. You are my consorts, for now, forever. Join me."

They both kissed my cheeks, and Lucius carried me to my bed. Marxim pulled back the sheets and we lay together, a tangle of weak and weary limbs.

"Tomorrow we build an empire together, but tonight, let us just be lovers."

I kissed them in turn and settled into the peace of sleep. We had done it, the first, violent step of a new era. Stories and ballads of this night would be told and sung for ages. Once I was rested, I would make sure it was a story abut how love conquered hate.



***



The sun was shining bright when my sisters came to visit. We'd never been close, but the dynasty that had brought me to Caldor, which insisted on shedding off familial relations, was a thing of the past.

My family name, a gift never given to me, as I was born Virtal of the North, now called Virtal the Just, was Larenct. My dynasty was to be named for it, and when the smoke cleared, the rebels of Antal's guard put down, my sisters came to witness the decree.

With restrictions and tariffs lifted the famine over the west was lightening. Trade with the south to bring food supplies had soothed talks of war. My people were at peace, and an era for prosperity was upon us, if we could take it, if we could only hold it.

It turned out to be a simple soldier who had held the line at the ring of fire that long-ago night and raised the flaming arrows, the Tide they called it in song. I made her a captain, posted her to my own guard, and the woman was present at council meetings as my favored military advisor.

The council was made up Cassipe and the other top tier harem members. I had disbanded the harem, allowing the members to return to their families and lands if they wished or to stay and work. Most chose to stay.

Markal, Uloga, Missiply, Annist, Morganna, and Cassipe were key to helping me run the land. The little details they saw to, though I stayed directly involved, comprised much of daily life. Peacetime was quite boring. I still had decisions to make, though I never made one without input, and often arguments, of my two crowned consorts, Lucius and Marxim.

Morganna cleaned out the temple and was now high priestess. Men were equal in the new religion and were flocking to it in droves. Learning from mistakes of the past meant the raising of mummies was taught but illegal, as well as defeating any rogue who tried. Morganna made sure all her students knew the process so all could stop it should such a night of terror ever come again.

I had the palace reorganized, redecorated. My colors were white, and ivory and gold now danced along the sand walls, torches wrought in oxidized metals shining purple, red, blue, and green adorned capped them. The harem space was made into apartments and offices, and my consorts oversaw it all. 

After training for six months, many had left to the provinces to reorganize. Infrastructure, economics, trades...truthfully it was necessary but boring.

After dinner I excused myself from my sisters and their husbands, and took my consorts in hand.

Marxim had recovered beautifully, and his act of bravery marked him as one of the valiant men I'd ever known. Lucius, who'd fought impending death to kill Antal was the other.

"Tonight we once again greet the moons!" I called to the massive crowd below, who cheered. In the new era, affectionately called Two Moons, Caldor's population had swelled, and the city walls were being pushed back, claiming desert daily. So the crowd that stood below for the nightly ceremony was immense.

I kissed Marxim first, so handsome and strong, his black hair long, loose, and soft in my fingers. I turned then to Lucius, slim and bronze, his pretty looks shining beneath his golden hair. He kissed me, impishly biting my lip, and my body heated.

They raised me to the altar and Lucius kept my mouth, even as he helped Marxim to remove my dress. My other consort's mouth found my breast, claiming a peak to suck and nibble as Lucius palmed the other, teasing me with rough swipes of his thumb.

I parted my legs, and Marxim slid his hand up my thigh, teasingly stroking the folds of my damp pussy. The sun slid lower and the crowd hushed, fading from mind as only my gasps filled the air.

I stroked any flesh I could, enjoying their muscles, bunching and sleek, the contrasts of the two men I loved dearly. Their erections pressed into me, and how I wanted to revel in them, luxuriate in our mutual passion, but that was for the night. Now was for the goddess and gods, for the people.

They each moved one hand to the other's cock and I opened my eyes to see them stroke one another. Deep, erotic shivers covered me, and if I were free to, I would happily watch them play all night.

I groaned as they broke free and we moved, and this time it was Lucius who lay on the stone altar, green eyes glittering to me. He kissed me and moved me higher, capturing the dry breast in his mouth, suckling as Marxim moved behind us, spreading the lotion on his hard cock.

I teased Lucius, stroking my pussy over the head of his cock, and with a growl he bit my nipple and settled me, spearing me deep. Crying out I wanted to move, but his iron grip held me still. I opened my eyes, seeing my red hair fall onto his honey skin, and the misty look of love and lust filled his eyes.

He moved them to a point behind me, darkening with lust, and I felt Marxim settle in. "Raise up," he ordered me and I did.

Marxim's hand cupped Lucius' balls and the stroked up the shaft to tease my clit. I was shaking with desire, drenched by the time I felt his huge cock at my arse. His heavy body pressed against my back as his fingers opened me, loosening me up, and then he pressed inside.

When they filled me the sun sank below the horizon, and we had to move quickly. Without any orders they began to move, one sliding in as the other moved out, taking turns. The pleasure was filling, deep, dark, consuming me, and all I could do was hold still, trembling as my body tightened, heated, and climbed inexorably towards the summit.

Marxim's hand snuck around to cup my sex and Lucius suckled at my breasts. My body tightened and tightened impossibly further and then I felt the goddess fill me. With a cry of triumph I came, and they moved with the speed of a raging river and tumbled with me into bliss. The connection of our bodies gave me the flavor of the gods as well, even as colors burst behind my eyes, and when I opened them the moons had risen.

Applause rang out and only then did I remember the crowd. We extricated ourselves for a bow, and then headed inside to our bedchamber.

"I will wash up, and then we shall take our time," Marxim said with a kiss.

"Do hurry," Lucius purred, kissing me, and then he walked with Marxim inside, arms around each others' waist. Love had blossomed between them too, and I smiled.

I was staring at the throne. The mason had worked on it, and the spike was on top of the back, away from the head. The next queen to come, my successor, would be the only other one who could activate it, and through her touch that is how we would know her, though I prayed she was years off.

I pricked my fingers to see it light up with magic, my magic. Now it did so without Morganna's help, it was all me. There were all kinds of power to being queen.

I delayed and went into my study where there hung paintings of all the past queens, nearly a thousand. Some were small, barely more than scratches of a chicken in sand, all the way to Antal, a full painting, albeit small.

I hung my whip beneath her. The painting was from her youth, when her beauty was clear, and the darkness hadn't touched her eyes. I kept the whip below because, goddess help me, Antal had given me a taste for it. Lucius could tease me to begging with it, or I could make my men gasp and writhe. Power games and light pain were a delicious spice, but always with love in our hearts, never Antal's capricious cruelty.

Our lingering dark desires were her gift, one of them. From her I had my name: Virtal the Just. I had my taste for dark sensuality, and I knew just what lengths a queen must go to for her people.

She made me, just as much as Cassipe did, just as much as the goddess did. It would be the struggle of my life to never cross the line she had so joyously bounded over. I swore once more, my private oath.

"My subjects are people. My consorts are people.  My friends are people. They are all my people. My people have my protection; my people shall never fear me; my people should never be left wanting."

"Virtal!" Marxim cried, and for the insistence in his tone I grabbed the whip.

Though like my rein it was a cruel tool used with love, I could swear I heard a husky laugh behind me. I stopped, my reflection on the polished mirror in the spot where my portrait would hang when it was finished.




A Harem Fantasy Ch. 18



I was the last of one line, the founder of a new. I was Justice; the balance, the light and dark in harmony. I was love and vengeance, good and evil. I knew where I had come from, but where I was going was yet unwritten. In many ways, I was the mirror for Antal and those who came before.

I knew what had gotten Antal in the end. The seduction of power. When everyone bowed to you and the world was yours, somehow all you wanted was more. It was an easy thing to succumb to, and I swear her painting taunted me with whispered promises of further glories, if only I too would seek more.

I turned at last and headed for my bedchamber where naked my consorts waited. Slim and light, powerful and dark. They saw the whip and both raised a brow.

" Think it's about time I let one of you handle this again," I said with a smile.

I said the corruption of absolute power was an easy thing to succumb to, I never said I would. Mastering your own destiny; that was the goal of my rein.

Love was the greatest power on earth, and I lost myself to it. Antal's predecessor had given up the man she loved for me and allowed a viper into her home as a result; Antal had destroyed her world for the woman she loved. And I...for the two men I loved, I would build the world in an image of love so that all may taste the power the rules us all, Queen and pauper alike.

And that is the story of the ascension of Virtal the Just, founder of the Larenct line, taken at the dawn of the Era of Two Moons.