“Paladin, Paladin, surely this isn’t all you got?” Echo Ripper says to me as we try to kill each other. I stay quiet, so I can focus on deliberating a blow that’ll end her for good. “Come on! Try harder!” My frustration in this fight gets to me. I squat down to evade a swing, then blast her away to give me space. She skids back and backflips to catch herself. “Ha! That was something! Is that all you got?” I rush at her with my sword pointing outward to make myself seem open. “You can’t be that dumb.” She swaps her sword to her left hand before rushing at me in the same style. The moment I see her take her eyes off me to glance at my sword, she breaks to the left. My sword narrowly misses her stomach when I conjure it to fly forward.
“Fuck!” I say, calling it back to my hand.
“No, you don’t!” She blasts me before I can grab my sword. The second I regain my footing, I see her leap after me, getting ready to strike down a heavy swing. I quickly tether her ankles together, causing her to miss me. She breaks free of the tether once she falls to the ground. “Your restraints will not hold me!” She screams. Nothing you do will work on me!”
“I highly doubt that,” I say when my sword comes back into my hand. “You are vulnerable like everyone else.”
“I have no weakness. I’m a Paragon! One of Ivaran’s best warriors,” she says in the echo high-pitched voice I heard when we first met at Kromagia. She punches the air to make floating blue orbs appear. I ready myself for invasive action and prepare to cast Delayed Gasam to counter her spell. Ulrika isn’t here to save me as she did before. I better play it safe and see what kind of power this has.
The kinetic orbs are slow enough to dodge, barely, though. For every shot, a return DG shots. Sadly, the orbs that miss me kill or severely hurt the unfortunate allies in their pathway. Echo Ripper and I get lost in each other in the heat of battle. People start butting in our fight. I use the moment to take a breather to let someone else deal with that maniac, even though they will more than likely meet their end.
The interruptions become too frequent. I don’t know why people want to jump in between us, but I’m somewhat glad to be taking a break from an endless fight. These unfortunate followers or soldiers of the cult fall victim to the combined Kromagian and Succubus might. I’m so tired of fighting that I lay on my back to rest. The Kromagian warlocks seem to be turning the tide of the battle. Occasionally, I see them fly by in my field of view, shooting various spells from their weapons and hands. One of them casts lightning from their staff into a group of soldiers and discharges it into others.
“You get’em,” I say before closing my eyes. I hover my sword high enough above me so Ulrika or Haleema can find me. After minutes pass and the yelling of the fight begins to die down, I can hear Ulrika call out for my name.
“Kaioson! Where are you?!” Ulrika screams like she’s freaking out from reacting to something horrific. Her voice cracks at my name. I want to sit up to show her I’m okay, but I’m so fatigued all I can do is give her a wave. “Kaioson!” She drops to her knees from a sprint. The mud under her makes her slide to me. “Kaioson, are you hurt?” Before I can give her a funny answer to put a smile on her face, she starts checking for any wounds on my body. “What is this? Is that your blood?!” She opens my right arm to see a pool of blood.
“No, that’s not mine,” I say. “Relax,” I grunt when I force myself into a seating position.
“So, you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I nod. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?” She asks, cradling my jaw in her hands.
“Fight for this long. My stamina is gone.” She smiles to prevent herself from crying. Only tears of relief are all I get.
“I’m glad this is only the thing you’re suffering.”
“How are you?”
“Oh, you know,” she says as she helps me. “Same old shit.”
“Minor aches?”
“Minor aches.”
We stagger to Haleema’s tent within the encampment after withdrawing ourselves from another victory. The tent entrance is pinned open. She isn’t there, so we enter our room. We strip to our underwear and fall on the bed, bloody and dirty. Ulrika takes it one step further by removing her bandeau. The sight of her breasts jolts me with a sudden burst of energy I desperately need. I sit on my elbows to get a better angle. For some stupid reason, my body stops aching the more I continue to stare.
“Gods, I’m hot,” Ulrika says. She points up and twirls her index finger for three seconds. “This should do it.” She plants her face into her pillows while the air in the room blows around in circles. “How are you feeling?” She turns halfway to look at me with one eye.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“Okay,” she says in a gentle voice, then lays on her side, facing me. “Any pain?” I tell her I’m comfortable with subtle aches. “I’m proud of you,” she whispers, inching closer to my chest until her warm face touches it.
“Of what?” I ask out of curiosity because of how random the statement is.
“You,” she pauses to kiss my shoulder before laying back down. “You weren’t trained like I was, yet you’re performing splendidly on the field.”
“I guess.”
“You are,” she emphases while giving me a tender, loving punch to my ribcage.
“Thank you, my love. I had to fight that crazy bitch for a long time.”
“What crazy bitch?”
“Echo Ripper.”
“What?” She says loudly but in short. “You went toe-toe with a Paragon?”
“I hated every second of it,” I say with aggression as I recall the annoying moments.
“Gods, Kaio.” She snuggles her face near my neck with one arm crossing my chest. “If we hadn’t separated, I would have helped you kill that woman.”
“I needed you,” I chuckle.
“Kaio,” she weeps without crying. “Forgive me for not being at your side.”
“It’s not your fault,” I sigh. I try to roll over to kiss her on the lips, but aches in my body make the simple hard. “Damn,” I groan, then laugh at my aching body. “It’s going to be tough defeating her.”
“We’ll be here for a while before seeing all of Coretha’s champions.” Being here in the city for half a month has made me forget the whole goal we were tasked with.
“I thought it would go by fast.”
“I should have told you this before we set sail, but when It comes to war, expect it to go nowhere.” The frustration within me after hearing that has me sulking in silence as I stare into her eyes. “You don’t have to see this one out, Kaio,” she says genly with a hand on my chest. “We’re not soldiers.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Let’s move on to the next one, yeah? She carefully snuggles on top of me, slowly disturbing her weight across my chest and stomach. “How does that sound, darling?”
Ulrika, Ulrika, Ulrika. Why must you keep tempting me against my ways?
“It sounds good,” I say. “But...”
“No buts, Kaio.” Her leg presses down on my thigh when she gets in my face. “This shouldn’t be up for a debate.” Before I can tell her why we need to stay on mission, Haleema calls out our names.
“Guys! Hello!? Are you two in here?!” Haleema shouts from the main room.
“We’ll talk about this another time,” Ulrika utters in a near-mute voice right in my ear before yelling at Haleema. “We’re here!”
Ulrika puts her bandeau back on as she heads out of the room to meet Haleema. I can faintly hear Haleema asking if Ulrika and I were fucking. Ulrika says we might do it later if we feel like ruffling the feathers after a serious talk she wants to have.
When Haleema asks what kind of talk Ulrika will have with me, Haleema walks into the bedroom with red glass bottles in both hands. She places one on the nightstand to my left and hands me the other to drink. Its healing properties swarm through my entire body like a sudden heatwave.
“Gods, Haleema. Are you trying to make me sweat?” I say.
“Sorry,” Haleema says, taking the glass bottle from me. “These are Succubus potions.” I’m assuming the other flask is Ulrika. I doubt she’ll want to drink it since it is from a Succubus and not from trusted hands.
“Hey, Haleema,” Ulrika says, stepping into the room. “Do you have any idea what the armies will do in the next few hours?”
“Oh!” Haleema says with a single snap of her fingers. “I do have some information.” Ulrika returns to my side while Haleema explains Oraya’s plan for the day. I hand Ulrika the bottle and whisper in her ear, saying it’s from Haleema and it will help with the pain. She drinks without questioning its source. “Oraya is planning on going on the offensive. She wants selected soldiers to dismantle Nite’s encampment in the nearing city stealthfully.”
“Sounds like we’re in that pool,” I guess. Haleema hums with a nod to confirm.
“Nope,” Ulrika says, cutting Haleema off from speaking. “We’re not doing it.”
“Ulrika? What are you doing?” I say.
“We’re not soldiers, Haleema. We came here for Glysith and the people on our list.” Haleema stares at Ulrika with an emotionless expression for an uncomfortable amount of time before squinting her eyes.
“Does she speak for you?” Haleema boldly asks.
Ulrika suddenly leaps off my chest with her finger firmly pointing toward Haleema’s chest. She opens her mouth, but only one word comes out. “I...” Her hand drops when she looks indirectly looks back at me.
“I what?” Haleema temps Ulrika to finish her thought. “I what?”
“I do... not speak for him,” Ulrika says with her head down. “I wish we stop dabbling in these battles.” The tone in her voice worries me. It’s soft yet gentle, almost as if she’s defeated with worry. “My husband isn’t a soldier, Haleema.”
“Fighting battles upon battle were not in the plan,” I say to back up our shared ideals. Ulrika turns around and gasps as if she’s relieved or shocked. I continue saying my statement might be what she’s referring to.
“If that’s the case, leave,” Haleema says with her hand resting over my heart. “You have a decree from a god to seek out people like Glysith.” She takes a sit to my left, positioning herself between my waist and arm. “I’m sorry about Glysith declining. She’s not into that kind of stuff anymore.”
“Uh,” Ulrika and I say at the same time when we look at each other before I take the lead.
“She agreed to help.”
“What?”
“She agreed to help,” I say, putting more emphasis on my words.
“You jest!”
“Why do you sound so shocked?” Ulrika buds in. “Kaio found a reasonable workaround.”
“What is it?”
“The portal rings I used when I tracked down Jesse Gill or the Ivish rune,” I say. Haleema is giving us the most visibly confused face I have ever seen. One brow raises every time she switches from looking at one of us. Her two front teeth show from the slight opening of her lips. She doesn’t say a word, but her fist clinches when she restrains her words from coming out.
“Excuse me.”
Haleema storms out of our room, probably going to find Glysith. I don’t dwell on the thought of them potentially arguing since it looks like the news is a surprise. My mind goes straight to Ulrika’s attempt to speak
“Don’t speak for me unless we are agreed,” I say, giving her the side eye treatment.
“Hmph,” Ulrika responds with her arms crossed and looking away from me. “I’m worried for your safety.”
“Ulrika, look at me,” I say sternly. She rolls her eyes before turning her head to face me directly.
“Kaioson, I—”
“Stop.” I don’t say a word until I see her shoulders drop slightly when her body relaxes. “I’m torn between staying to see this through or leaving this city to find the next person on the list.”
“Darling,” she gently says to me. “I don’t want to sound repetitive.”
“I’ve been so involved...”
“Let us get out of here,” she says when she snuggles on my right side, then lays me down. “You did your job. You got one down on the list. Let’s move on, Kaio.”
“Fine,” I sigh, giving in to her wishes. “Pack your things.” Before I can roll over the bed, she puts me in a playful headlock. “Ulrika...”
“If you can break free, you’ll get to fuck me.”
“What?” I laugh almost uncontrollably. “I’m at a disadvantage. What if I can’t?”
“I’ll suck your dick.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“My husband has gone through a mountain of stress,” she whispers with her lips touching my ear. Her soft voice and warm breath make the hair on my neck stand up. “As your wife,” she continues, whispering in my ear but sexualizing her voice in moans. “I’m offering a choice to make your day.” The grip around my neck gets tighter. It fuels my growing erection and speeds up my heart. “Oh, look at that.” She gently flicks my crotch. “I didn’t know you liked being choked out.” She locks her legs over my stomach while maintaining the hold around my neck.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“This is impossible.”
“I know,” she giggles. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you both after I see you struggle with what to do.”
I’m shocked by how much I like being restrained by her. It’s fun yet challenging to see if I can wriggle out of her vice-like grip. Every method, like rolling around, brute force to pry her limbs off me and my magical tether. Nothing words, but I love it.
“How are you going to get out of the one, hmm?” She says.
“I could heat things up.” I ignite my hands on fire far away from her. “I could make you submit from being burned.”
“No fire magic,” she giggles. “That’s cheating.”
My exciting struggle suddenly ends when people from outside begin to deafen us with their shouting. Someone clashing swords appears directly to my left. Their weapons bang against the tent but don’t manage to cut through it.”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I’ll go check,” Ulrika says as she eases her grip. The second she lets go of me, an armored orc steps inside our room. “What the fuck?!”
I send my sword flying through its neck before he can raise his battle axe. Two more storms in. Ulrika quickly unsheathes her sword that is on the other side of the bed and throws it through the chest plating of one of the orcs. Lightning from her hand jumps to the sword. It arcs to the second orc but doesn’t kill him.
“Why are they here?” Ulrika says right as she thrusts her sword through the remaining orc’s chest. “Kaio, get dressed now!”
“Right!” I say, rushing to put all my clothing and protective gear on. “Okay, your turn. I got you covered.” I stand guard in the doorway. The people from outside begin to slash at an alarming rate. I fear the worst. We might be under attack, and I think no one saw this coming.
“I’m ready. Let’s go!” She takes the lead out of the tent. Not a moment too soon, I’m back into another bloody battle with orcs. “Stay close to me!”
“I’m already doing that!” I shout while blasting an orc with a fire orb.
“Paladin!” The Echo Ripper screams in all directions.
“Kaio?” Ulrika says.
“She’s coming,” I say.
“Okay? Where?”
“There!” I push Ulrika out of the way to blast Echo Ripper’s blue orb with a Delayed Gasam. The force of our two attacks explodes dirt upward from our feet and catapults my sword out of my hand. Echo Ripper takes advantage of my exposure by interlocking her fingers between mine.
“What are you going to do now, huh?” Echo Ripper asks before kneeing me in the gut. I fall over into another knee toward the center spot between my eyebrows. The force is hard enough to make me dazed. I fall over, shielding my face from a barrage of punches.
“Hey, bitch!” Ulrika zooms in with a flying punch, hitting Echo Ripper nicely across her cheek. Echo Ripper flies as if she got sucked into a westward vortex. She corrects her flight upward to the skies. “Where is she going?” We can’t watch what she’s doing due to the ongoing assault from the orcs.
“We need to retreat!”
“Retreat? We need to get out of this mess!” I quickly look all around me to find an opening. There’s nothing we can run through. Our options are flying out or trying to run.
“Fly us out of here!”
“That’ll take a good amount of mana to lift you with me! Can’t you use your sword?”
“Ah!” I clutch her to my side by locking an arm tightly around her waist, then bring us out of that shit hole.
“Take us to the library. I don’t see anyone there. It seems they’re only attacking the camps.”
“How did they get here without prior warning?”
“Maybe they ported?”
“But that wouldn’t make any sense. Oraya mentioned runes protecting the city.” That thought scares me. If it is true, then we have a serious problem.
“We got to tell Oraya about that now.”
“Paladin!” Echo Ripper screams from below. I look down to find her following us as she slashes anyone, Nite included, to reach us.
“What the fuck is her problem? Why does she hunger for you so much?” Ulrika asks me in an angry growl.
“Where are you going, huh?! Come down into the pit! Let’s have another go!”
“Kaio,” she sighs with her eyes, clenching her face with teeth bearing down at Echo Ripper. “Drop me.”
“What?” I yell in opposition.
“Go to the library, find a mage who knows where the runes are, then hopefully, that’s why we’re being attacked.”
“All right. Come back to me.”
“I’ll be fine. That bitch will get what she deserves.”
She lets go, falling into a backward dive after Echo Ripper with her sword pointed straight at her. Her lighting whizzes past me. Echo Ripper’s green lightning spawns to counter Ulrika’s power. I leave them to their aggression for the library. The succubi loitering around the building come to me to inquire about why the fighting is close. It takes several military guards a minute to scatter them from me.
“Are there any mages that know where the runes that shielded the city from teleportation are?” I ask franticly.
“Come,” a succubus with pale skin commands me to follow her inside. “Penoris! Where are you?! Penoris!”
“What, Felova?” Penoris says, nearly fumbling down the steps from the spiral staircase to my left. “What do you want from me? I was reading an amazing book on the cultures of mankind.”
“You’ll have to read it later.” Felova points her hand at me to open the floor on what I have to say.
“Do you know where the portal runes shield this city?” I ask, speeding my speech.
“Why do you want to know? That’s secretive.”
“I think it isn’t protecting us anymore. Orcs are attacking us within the camp.”
“What!?” They both say at different times.
“We need to see what’s going on. Do you know where all of them are?”
“I do. Felova, come with us.”
All three of us rush to three buildings that secretly house the runes. According to Penoris, these runes are made out of a native rock that is only formed in this part of the country. They adhere to the wall, permanently stuck on by magic.
In the fourth building, its front door doesn’t have a doorknob. The shattered wood suggests somebody has blown it off. Felova enters in with caution, lightly rolling her boot down on the ground to avoid making a sound. She disappears into the poorly lit room for several minutes without giving us any sign of what’s happening.
“Why is she taking so long?” Penoris says with her head inside the building. “Human, follow me,” she says as she slowly moves in. The moment we step in and ignite a firelight source from our hands, I see I’m in a fog of pinkish-red dust. It has a nice aroma and warms my chest.
“Wow, This smells nice,” I say.
“Shit! Hold your breath, human!” Those are the last words I hear before going numb and falling into darkness.
----------------------------------------
I wake up in a heavily drowsy state in a room dimly lit by a candle on a table against a wall to my right. I’m naked. My ankles are chained down to the bed I’m lying on, and my entire body feels heavy. It takes everything I have to look down my chest. The moment I achieve that struggle, a familiar succubus enters my room.
She’s the succubus that accused my people of bringing problems to their city!
She’s wearing nothing but a thin string of underwear to cover her crotch. She is holding two candles in her hands that she places next to the already lit one.
“Wakey, wakey, Kromagian,” she says as if she’s on the brink of laughing.
“What the fuck is going on?” I mumble in slurs. “Why am I here? Why can I barely move?!”
“Shush,” she whispers with her cold finger on my lips. She hops on top of me and sits on my stomach with her legs pressing into my ribs.
“Get off!”
“Shut up!”
Out of complete nowhere, she slowly licks up the side of my face. My mind feels like it’s swirling. I fall back, dazed by what’s going on around me. For no reason, my cock swells in size the more she licks me. The sensation feels lustful, but I’m abhorred by what’s happening. I want to throw her off of me. Some invisible force is going against my will to do anything. The more she licks, the more my body does what it wants.
“Why can’t I control myself?” I say, straining in my words.
“You don’t know?” She asks sarcastically. “Kaioson, right? That’s what the elf calls you, hmm?” She reaches for a pink flower that drops bits of dust on my face. It’s the same kind of particles I saw before I blacked out. “This is a Snosie. It’s a stimulant.”
“For what?”
“I think you know,” she whispers in my ear, then kisses my neck. ” Ulrika’s fear has come to light. I can’t imagine what she’ll do once she learns what’s happening to me.
Shit! What am I going to do?”
“With the right amount of pollen absorbed through your skin, you’ll want me for hours. Nonstop,” she says, rubbing the Snosie’s petals in circles around my nipples. I franticly glance around the room for my sword. “Stop that,” she giggles. “You look funny when you are scared.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Well,” she pauses to think about it. “I hate your kind,” she says with a smile and a giggle.
“You’re doing this because you hate my kind?”
“Yes, and some other things,” she mumbles, biting down the corner of her right lip.
“Okay?” I say, waiting for a reasonable answer. “Tell me.”
“Shut your mouth, Kaioson!” She swirls her finger on the pedal and rubs the pollen on her tongue. Once it’s gone, she’ll lick me again. My body forces itself to become aroused. I’m trying my best not to panic while thinking of ways to escape. I need to gain my strength back to sense my sword. One simple cast can save my life as long as I can channel my mana through this lustful prison.
“Can you at least stop looking scared?” She commands in a condescending tone while grinning. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“I’m beyond shocked you’re doing this to me!” After saying those words, the weight within my body lightens. Some strength returns. I can sense my sword is outside the room, but with the amount of mana gone from me, I can’t retrieve it. If I return from a drunken state, I activate its SOS and send it to find Ulrika.
“Are all Kromagian men this,” she pauses to snuggle for an awkward moment, “meaty?”
“Fuck you,” I say after losing my patients.
“Gladly, but I’m going use you to do it! Your body is mine!” She playful chokes me, squeezing her hands enough to keep me breathing. “When Nite takes over this city, you’ll be my concubine for all my needs.”
“You’re for Nite?”
“For?” She chuckles without opening her mouth. “I’m with them. With you out of the way, Echo Ripper will have one less threat to worry about once she wins this country.”
“You’re a disgrace to your kind and yourself,” I say to piss her off to see what she’ll do.
“I’m a succubus. We are not meant to be civil like you. We are deviants, created by the glorious, Zadione.” The second she puts her thumbs behind her underwear to drop them, something catches her attention. She turns around to watch the door. I don’t hear a single sound, but whatever is out there makes her ears twitch. “Who’s there?” No one responds. Her ears stop moving. Seconds go by, yet she continues to watch the door. “Whoever is out there, you shouldn’t be here.” Again, silence.
Suddenly, the sound pressure near my ears pops. She doesn’t care even though her ears move back. Her attention is back on me. Once she tugs on her underwear again, the door slams open. A gust of wind flies into the room, nearly knocking her off me.
“What is going on?” She says. My sword plunges through her back and out her stomach, splashing blood on my face. I don’t flinch in the slightest. A second later, a sword cleanly passes through her neck. Her eyes roll up as she falls backward, revealing Ulrika’s horrified expression.
“Air out this room,” I say in a shaky voice. “This room is poisoned with pollen.” Ulrika removes the body away from me before airing the entire room. The succubus’s head finally falls off her shoulders.
“Are you okay?!” Ulrika asks me as she wipes the blood off my face. “Did that thing do anything to you?”
“The succubus wanted me out of the fight so that Echo Ripper would have less to worry about.” I also tell her the succubus’s plan to make me her sex slave for life.
“Ugh!” Ulrika screams when she kicks the succubus’s body. “I fucking knew this this fucking shit would happen!”
“Ulrika, don’t yell. Your voice is making my head spin.”
Ulrika continues yelling and regrets coming to this place. All of the loud rantings make the room spin until I’m lost in darkness and silence. The moment I become conscious, I find myself in Haleema’s tent with Ulrika sleeping by my side in her typical naked manner. I’m drowsy, but it is the kind of tiredness I’m used to from waking up out of deep sleep.
“Ah, finally,” Ulrika says, leaning on her left shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel... normal.” She lifts the blankets to look down at my crotch.
“It looks normal. Any pain or tingling?”
“No.”
“Thank the gods! The deviant didn’t overdose you. I’m glad we don’t have to go to plan B.”
“What’s plan B?”
“I rather not talk about it. It grosses me out,” she gags, then smirks for a quick moment. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“For what you went through. I could have prevented that if my fight didn’t last long. Nite redrew suddenly, and she fled in the chaos.”
“Hey, what happened to the succubi that were with me?”
“Dead. Their throats were cut open. My guess was that deviant.”
“Shit,” I facepalm. “This war is getting out of hand.” I’m beyond a point of anger that I blankly stare at the canopy over the bed. “Ulrika... I think I am in way over my head.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve nearly died several times, been captured more than once, fought danger greater than me. I don’t think I should be doing this anymore.” We remain silent. After spuing my complaints out honestly, I can’t think of any words to say, so I close my eyes and try to head back to sleep.
“Keep your head up, darling,” she encourages after a kiss on my neck. “It saddens yet angers me to see you go through these curses of war and evil,” she says, clutching me from the side. “I wish you never knew what it was like to see the mess I dealt with for years.” In the middle of talking, she breaks into tears. She can’t continue talking due to the power of her weeping. I cradle her head against my chest to help her stop crying. It works enough to become minor tremors. “I just wanna cook you food in our little cabin, raise a family, live in peace, scrub you down from head to toe in a bath together.” The last line makes me chuckle because it has been a while since she did that to me. “Oh, and go on many vacations to see the other wonders of this continent,” she weeps with laughter. “Your happiness is everything to me. I can’t stand to see you any other way.”
“If your sad then I’m sad. If you’re happy, then I’m happy,” I quote her. “What am I going to do, Ulrika? I’m lost right now.”
“Do,” she stops to clear her eyes, “Do what your heart desires. Forgive your wife for any arguments that’ll come up in our future. She can be... emotional sometimes.”
“That’s okay,” I say before giving her some kisses. “If I didn’t have you to watch over my well-being, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Don’t say that,” she whispers three times while snuggling closer to me. “Don’t put that in my head.”
“Forgive me, my love.”
“You’re forgiven,” she says after a single kiss. “By the way, we got a battle plan meeting to go to in an hour. Oraya is suggesting a counterattack.”
“Oh, so you are staying to fight?”
“Umm,” she chuckles with her teeth biting down on her thumb. “I am.”
An hour and a half later, we join Oraya back at the library to listen to her plan. We’re on the second floor, sitting on a bench beside the guard rail. Ulrika has her attention on me in full. She’s cradled herself into my lap, cuddling me while I listen to Oraya’s military leaders bicker on the action plan. Haleema is among them, including all of the Paladins I know of. Rhyndac, Zadock, and Hayden. Everyone has something to say, even Zadock. He’s the only guy I am still waiting to hear from. His speech is gentle, soft-spoken, and wise in his arguments.
“Stopping further succubus bloodshed will benefit your city, General Oraya,” Zadock conveys. “The Paladins have magic-wielding fighters that can fight against Nite.”
“I agree with the old guy. I wouldn’t want to see all the lovely women here dwindle,” Haden says to a group of succubi near him.
“Gods, was that the dickhead who thought I was a man?” Ulrika asks.
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“What a swinger,” she sighs with rolling eyes, then playfully kisses my chin with light smooches. They tickle, so I tell her to quit it for a later time.
“Haleema, you’re Paladins express concern for my people. As the leader of your organization, you have the final say,” Oraya says as she walks around each Paladin. “My people are ready to die for our country. Your calvary option sounds good, but his offer sounds good too.”
Haleema gives Zadock a nod after saying, “Hayden, Rhyndac, find me a combination of twenty mages and warlocks. Bring them here before dawn.”
“Let’s go,” Rhyndac says, pulling Hayden away from speaking with the succubi. As they head out of the building, Rhyndac gives me a quick single wave. I lazily wave back without thinking if I should consider doing it. We’re not on friendly terms, but I don’t want to be rude.
Glysith comes in with her arm locked around a light pink, purple hair, and straight-horned succubus as they pass by them. She quickly scans the room but stops at me.
“Glysith is here and coming our way,” I notify Ulrika. “And she has a succubus around her arm.” Ulrika grunts like she’s uninterested.
“Good evening, Kaioson,” Glysith greets me as she sits on a bench in front of me. The pink succubus has her hands crossed against her crotch. I can see tendons bulge through the skin, plus she’s soothing the inside of her hand with her index finger.
“Good evening, Glysith. Who’s your companion?”
“Come. Sit,” she whispers in a gentle voice, guiding the succubus to sit down. “This is, Serith.” Serith bows her head as well as waves. “This is my lover. She’s mute and very shy,” she states, then kisses her once on the cheek. “Big gatherings like this make her uncomfortable.”
“Then why is she here?” Ulrika asks without looking at them. Serith tries to utter words for Glysith to hear.
“She wanted to join me on my visit to talk with your husband.”
“Okay then,” she pauses to adjust her butt’s seating position in my lap.
“Kaioson, I want to start helping you guys now.”
“Why now? We agreed for a moment later when we need help,” I remind.
“Today was the scariest moment in my life in many years,” she says with a soft, almost shaky tone. “An orc that fled from the battle today sought shelter in my home. Serith was there at the time. He held her hostage with a blade at her throat.” Serith lifts her neck to let Glysith point at the red cut. “I... I lost my temper. Killed him with my power to save her. I realize now it’s pointless to stand by.” Ulrika exhales a short yet significant amount of air out of her nose. I think she might be happy to hear that. “Serith and I talked about traveling with you two.”
“Stop,” Ulrika says. She finally moves her head off my chest to look at them. “You’re not coming with us.”
“Wha... why not?”
“That’s not the deal you made with him. You’ll be asked for service if we need help. That’s the compromise. You do that and continue the life you have here.” Glysith gives me a look like I’m supposed to say something against our agreement. I sneak a kiss on Ulrika’s nape as an appreciation for being faithful to my plan. “Are you two married?” Serith gazes at Glysith in such a way I can see how close they are. From Glysith’s gentle voice to bringing her down to sit to this, they’re beyond young lovers.
“No. Well,” Glysith gets interrupted by Haleema floating up to our level. “Oh! Hi!”
“Hey!” Haleema says in surprise, then greets Ulrika and me. She hovers over us to stand to my right. “Hello, Serith.” Serith uses her mouth to say hello. “I got you the portal ring.” She hands Glysith the exact type of ring I used. “This will light up when Kaioson needs you, and it’ll take you to his location within twenty feet of his position. When you’re done, you’ll return to where you left.”
“This’ll have limitations, correct?”
“That’s correct.” Serith carefully slips the ring on Glysith’s middle finger. “So... you’re really doing this?”
“Are you going to try to talk me out of it?”
“No.”
They both give each other reassuring smiles and then Haleema leaves us to train for the big plan for tomorrow. Ulrika and I are the last ones in the group to head back to the tent. On our way there, she suddenly holds my hand and then tells me something I will never forget.
“If you ever want to talk about your moment in captivity with that detestable succubus, or anything that troubles your soul, I’m here for you, my love. This war will try to break you. You may get into troubling situations worse than what you’ve been through, but don’t fear them. I will heal you. I will keep you safe; I will keep you whole.”