Aurora li Arakiel was rather flabbergasted when her Lord returned not only with several leading figures of his army in tow, but with a bound woman that looked very much like Countess Muirne, only slimmer, prettier and with pointed ears just like Marianka used to have. That feeling intensified quite a bit when she learned who the prisoner turned out to be.
It all went rather quickly after their arrival.
The rather frightened looking Duchess Scitath was transferred into a separate tent but Aurora, being ever aware, had noticed Ezekiel sneaking off with another girl.
Thinking this the more exciting of the two happenings, she followed him back to their own tent, where the slightly paranoid friend of Aurora’s Lord introduced a freshly captured girl called Alannah to Selene and Nyanna’s sisters, the latter of which recognized her right away, calling her out to be the lastborn daughter of the duchess.
Judging by the initial reactions, Selene seemed rather displeased while the two girls appeared to have some familiarity and a little later, when Ezekiel had removed most of the girl’s shackles and bindings, the three even exchanged hugs and little whispers of affirmation and reassurance.
When Aurora later overheard Ezekiel schooling Selene about how she should get used to a new bed warmer at her side, she could feel Selene’s dissatisfaction all the way; what she did not quite understand was the silver seraphim’s rather joyful reaction when her master promised to ‘correct that’.
She doubted she’d ever understand the Selenyean princess’s way of thinking. In Aurora’s eyes, she was just lazy and constantly shirked her duties as a seraphim. Not only did she refuse to greet the time of day, Selene also straight-up refused to do anything about her covenant.
But, in the end, it was up to the two of them and lately, Ezekiel hadn’t been a liability as far as Arakiel was concerned with which Aurora could live. It further spoke of his prowess that he and her Lord had returned as they did earlier.
With nothing much else to do, she returned to her Lord’s side and when some of the Smokeless Host’s guardsmen tried to stop her from entering the tent in which the commanding staff had disappeared earlier, Aurora silently looked each of the burly men in the eyes.
Then, she called upon her soul to wreathe her in gold after which she simply walked past the men.
Neither of the two reached out for her or said anything else – as they should.
Her appearance caused a brief scene, but none – not even Aisha, Akili or Basam – dared to speak up even if their glances held annoyance.
Aurora, uncaring, returned to her Lord’s side and silently observed the rest of whatever was happening here, which turned out to be not as exciting, just as she had initially surmised.
The duchess, still bound but no longer gagged, was instructed on how to basically pave the way for the Host’s occupation of her city and it spoke for Aurora’s Lord’s greatness that she was so willing to cooperate so readily.
Some time after the sun had gone down, the duchess was sent on her way without any bindings and Arakiel even arranged for her to say goodbye to her daughter for the time being. She left with a determined, hard-to-read expression on her face, but Aurora was fairly certain she would do what was expected of her.
Later, in the late evening, Aurora stealthily observed her Lord with Nyanna on a whim and after a particularly intense session, he noticed her being there and for a brief moment, the two stared at one another.
Even if she could’ve, she didn’t want to take her eyes off of her handsome Lord in that particular moment. Him standing there in the pale light of a sole brazier, with his straight, regal – commandeering – posture, the soft red eyes adorned by a softly glowing golden halo. He appraised her, just as she did in return and it made something with her, had her fall for him all over again.
In that moment, which was especially enhanced by the near-nude Nyanna obediently kneeling in front of him, Arakiel gave off an aura that Aurora found irresistible, for it appeared like a glimpse of a Monarch’s splendor. It radiated confidence, assurance, authority, power, stability, protection, shelter and above all… order.
And under that order, she was his.
Tonight, for the first time, he conquered her in full view of someone else and while that fact briefly irritated Aurora in the beginning, she soon forgot about it under waves of pleasure and bliss, sprinkled with tender and intimate caresses only to be topped with a slight pinch of pain.
And while it was most definitely the greatest night she had spent thus far, she could only lament the fact that no matter how much he seeded her, she wouldn’t be able to birth new life for him until the anniversary of her flowering came about.
A true monarch needed an heir and no seedbed was worthier to grow one than hers, but the blood needed to nourish it was still months away.
When she apologized to him as they lay entwined, he merely kissed her and went for another round as though he wanted to fight against the very nature of her being.
While it was most certainly futile, Aurora still found lots of affection and joy in the attempt.
Much deeper in the night, when most of the brazier had burnt down, she quietly played the violin, her mind still partially stuck in the afterglow, but her hands moved on their own either way.
Her Lord and Monarch-to-be decreed the atmosphere she created for him festive enough to officially add Nyanna into his household. Arakiel pinned the meek nature mage onto the ground and, with his slightly amber eyes circled in gold, he seared three thin lines forming the initials of his name into the side of her neck using nothing but his finger wreathed in Aurora’s soul.
The slave moaned in a bit of pain, but it was over quickly and, in light of the situation, Arakiel allowed the girl to sleep in his bed at which point she quickly drifted back to sleep.
Aurora liked to imagine her soft tunes helped and when her mind eventually cleared, her Lord had fallen asleep as well.
She went for a nightly bath under the few stars and a full moon, only to find Selene quietly kneeling nearby in prayer.
Although Aurora had seen Selene stretch her wings a few times already, she had never quite noticed just how much smaller they were compared to her own and the fact that the other seraphim’s silhouette was wreathed in a soft, fiery silver glow made it so much clearer, for the silver formed a clear contrast against the dark.
Feeling a little intrigued, Aurora watched Selene for a while.
The night around them was relatively quiet, with only a few insects chirping in the distance. Some of the guardsmen undoubtedly patrolled in the distance, but the planeswalkers’ camp was always a little isolated, enhancing their status as a collective group of ‘foreigners’.
Eventually, Selene’s silver faded and only when she got up did she notice Aurora standing in some distance, observing.
The other seraphim quietly curtsied towards Aurora and then headed back into Ezekiel’s tent which was right next to Arakiel’s. She didn’t say anything, instead honoring the silence.
Aurora affirmed and then went to bathe and when she returned, she found Lady Mellia quietly sitting by the fireside where embers still glowed.
Arakiel’s little sister did not deny Aurora’s polite request to join her and together, they watched the embers struggling to stay alight and when they were about to fail, Aurora sent out a small wisp of flame to support them.
What she hadn’t expected was for the entire fire to not only flare up in full once more, but turn golden in the process.
Lady Mellia drowsily called the subsequent fire beautiful and gentle. Just a few moments later, the young Kalanite leaned against Aurora’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep and for the first time, she managed to embrace her Lord’s kin with one wing only.
Feeling particularly proud, she remained there for the remainder of the night, watching the golden fire consume every piece of wood until nothing but ashes remained.
Aurora didn’t sleep in the night, but she felt fresh all the same come next morning. She rose from her spot at the first light of dawn and went to fetch her Lord.
Together, they climbed on a nearby hill where she greeted the dawn for him.
He accepted her tribute and given how busy today’s schedule would be, they only spent a little bit of time together before he went off to bathe while Aurora returned to the tent. Just before he left, she notified him that he should stop shaving – she was starting to appreciate the dark stubble on his chin.
Unfortunately, she found a highly busy and aroused Nyanna in the tent who, in her ‘desperation’, begged her to help find relief since they were now ‘slave sisters’.
Aurora recalled some stories that she used to read where such a thing was common practice, but the mere thought of touching such an impure being like Nyanna sent several shivers all the way down her spine.
In fact, it downright repulsed her enough to turn around and leave without a word. Her watching was one thing now that she wore Arakiel’s brand… physical contact was quite another.
When she later met the shameless woman again, the slave apologized for her earlier behavior which was the sole reason Aurora didn’t report her misconduct.. Nonetheless, the whole experience left her a bit troubled.
In a way, she suddenly began to understand what Selene might be upset about – it was an angle she hadn't even considered thus far.
Thankfully, such thoughts were easily pushed away once the Smokeless Host marched onto Scitathswood which it reached in the early afternoon.
Unlike normally, every warrior of the Smokeless Host was accompanied by the spoils they had already seized in the earlier stages of the invasion.
Arakiel and his commanders aimed for a thorough display of power and while Alannah and Nyanna might raise attention, the subjugated family of Duke Irias, especially the duchess, were quite literally bound to tell a tale on their own.
The sky had filled with grey clouds by then, but apparently the winds weren’t as big of a problem not that she ever noticed it. As long as Aurora didn’t specifically wish for it, her soul’s fire kept her such nuisances away.
She spotted people on the walls, but they didn’t run or scatter at the sight of the army.
Further behind the walls, Aurora saw a crowd of people having gathered in the square and its adjacent streets. Right in that center around a well, there was a large pile of something that looked like hundreds if not thousands of weapons of all kinds thrown on a pile. Mostly shields and swords of different sizes, but there were also spears, polearms and the like. She quickly lost interest.
Judging by the reactions of the Host’s commanders, they were very pleased with the way things were proceeding so far. Nonetheless, every single member of the Smokeless Host was tense, including her Lord, yet it couldn’t diminish the awe Aurora felt when the gates of Scitathswood opened right when she and Arakiel approached the city as the spear’s tip. Ezekiel and Lady Mellia were close-by alongside the other leaders, but Arakiel would be the first to cross the threshold, with Aurora following him right afterwards.
Duchess Scitath waited at the entrance along with three other people: an older man dressed in regal clothing alongside what might be a couple, for the younger man and women dressed in equally luxurious attire were holding hands quite intimately. The four of them preferred the colors green, brown and a dash of silver or buttery yellow.
Their expressions showed a notable internal conflict as well, especially when they witnessed some of the captives that the commanders were putting on frontal display. The young blonde woman with the green eyes had to be the elder sister of Alannah while the man she held hands with might be her husband or consort.
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The current ruler of Scitathswood welcomed the ‘new ruler’ with a polite greeting accompanied by a slight curtsy. The rest of her family caught on quickly and judging by the expressions of some of the highly-representative but disarmed guards nearby, it came as a slight shock, but not enough to cause them to forego their duty.
The duchess and her family accompanied the Smokeless Host through the streets which were lined with lots of curious onlookers, mostly peasants and burghers judging by the clothes’ cut, their decorations or lack thereof.
These men and women were much, much more surprised and downright shocked. From some of the whispers that Aurora caught wind of, they only just now ‘learned’ that their ruler had invited an entire foreign army into their walls. Others questioned the whereabouts of the noble families.
On the first central square, right around a sizable well, the duchess presented Arakiel with all the weapons that they had been able to find over the course of the last night.
And then, the duchess took off the circlet that acted as a kind of insignia for her right to rule. This, she placed in front of Arakiel’s feet and then knelt down in front of him and the Smokeless Host, giving themselves over to their mercy.
Aurora followed the ceremony with mild interest, for she was much more focused onto her beloved who used the recent accomplishments and tribulations to carve his own path forward. She couldn’t be happier with the way he carried his weight, with the way he radiated a kind of authority that he didn’t have just a few months ago when they had arrived here on this plane.
Lady Mellia had claimed something along the lines as well – that her brother Arakiel had made great progress, especially so after he ended Zari Amar’s maddened streak.
Aurora agreed in full and went a step further, even if she kept it to herself. Her Lord firmly walked the path of a conqueror, even if he occasionally sought to remain a champion just for Aurora. It pleased her, but he wouldn’t be able to do so for much longer. As far as she was aware, the covenant demanded a clear stance, but she still caught herself wondering that perhaps he might just be witty enough to find a solution, or compromise.
After all, he had just found such a ‘compromise’ in which the beautiful duchess and her family could live on – a compromise that might be hard to swallow, but Aurora had no doubt that they would soon realize just how much of a difference their service entailed to that of other prisoners.
And as long as Arakiel was content and satisfied with the way he handled this matter, Aurora could not and would not stop him. She could guide him, even nudge him, bring him back on track – but he had to walk the path and she had to follow.
The ceremony didn’t take long, for the elite of the Smokeless Host immediately continued on towards the keep in whose feasting hall Aurora witnessed a rather puzzling sight, although it didn’t seem to surprise Arakiel, Basam and the like. Not only the hall, but more or less the entire central floor was packed full with sleeping people who wore lavish dresses and extravagant gowns, some of which were quite stained with wine, grease and other tidbits of food.
The former Duchess Scitath explained that it had taken quite some effort and a lot of nature shards to make this happen on such a short notice, but she had succeeded in not only luring the nobles in under a false pretense, but she had further disabled them for the time being. They would, however, wake up as soon as someone touched them in any way shape or form.
Arakiel let his advisors and commander handle his manner while he had Finna, as the duchess was also called, show him and the other planeswalkers around her keep.
The tour she gave them ended all the way on top of one of the keep’s major balconies in a room that was Alannah’s atelier and Aurora had to admit that the girl was an excellent painter when it came to landscapes… not so much on portraits which looked downright horrendous.
Much further down below, they heard the occasional scream which was quickly silenced.
Arakiel and Ezekiel then faced the two couples while Alannah herself had to remain beside Selene, still bound but not gagged. She hadn’t said much so far, however.
Aurora’s Lord informed the Scatath family that for as long as the next two days went by without major hiccups, they had kept their part of the deal.
In light of this, he requested they write down whatever they were good at so he could give them tasks that wouldn’t bore them to death while reminding them that he intended to give them a proper place to work or stay as soon as he left this plane, which might be in a few months or maybe another year.
The former Duke Scitath warned him not to go back on his word which Arakiel replied with a dry smile, pointing out that he’d forgive such a tone twice before he would go for disciplinary measures.
Then, he announced his stay at the keep for the time being and until midnight, Aurora saw her conqueror perform in all his glory.
On the next day, the nobles of Scitathswood were judged in the central square in a grand feast that saw the survivors bow their head in submission to the south, towards Sultan Zimraan and the three cities of the desert.
The day afterwards, the Smokeless Host took their tribute from the burghers of the town and although there were two minor events, no one died on that day when hundreds had done so on the prior day.
On the third day of their stay here, Arakiel announced a new governor of the town and when a minor insurgency was discovered and put down on the fourth day, he and his advisors considered the initial occupation complete.
On the fifth day, it began to snow for the first time and although Aurora had witnessed it on Kalanaar, she had never seen its impact on the surrounding landscape, especially considering how high the keep’s highest floors overlooked the surrounding landscape.
When her Lord then let slip that they’d stay here for a while, she was overjoyed.
* * *
Even a week after having entered the settlement, Arakiel still couldn’t quite believe how easy it had been all things considered.
His army had taken the city without a single casualty while having taken enough prisoners in total to give even the poorest soldier access to a former Middle noble or a burgher given in tribute. He had initially been a little skeptical, but his troops’ morale was at an absolute high point as they animatedly discussed how to best take care of this or that type of Middle. And although their stay in the town’s noble district left them with more time for recreation, the warriors never stopped sparring and training while enjoying the amenities of a Middle city life.
He wanted them to be ready for anything.
Even during autumn, the soil had been firm enough and as long as they had enough wood – of which there was plenty of in the Middle Kingdom – they could easily make it through milder nights. The winters in this realm, especially the southern part of it, weren’t said to be very cold.
Meanwhile, the few Astral Thaumaturges of their army had begun a grand communion to inform the sultan and the other cities and until Arakiel got new orders, he could strategize on how to proceed as he’d rather not waste too much time, even if winter was upon them.
Finna – or Scitath as she had a double name – and her husband had been very cooperative in supplying him and his advisors with lots of relatively up-do-date information, which also explained why the former duchess had been willing to go so far.
Apparently, the situation on the Middle Kingdom’s northern border was much worse than he had anticipated. There wasn’t just one, but two major fronts from which High King Nerigal relentlessly attacked the Middles with unrivaled ferocity.
From what Arakiel could gleam in Scitath’s report, the High King’s army was more the Zari Amar type than the Arakiel kind of army. They butchered and pillaged indiscriminately and all three major northern settlements had been thoroughly sacked and razed. The surviving citizens – no matter which strata – were either held like livestock, or were kept as thralls and sent with nothing but a tool to fight against their brothers and sisters and if they stopped running forward, the wild hordes behind them would hack them to pieces.
A brutal but apparently efficient method of fighting the Middles, whose morale had apparently broken twice, resulting in two major routs on one flank, the eastern one.
It fully occupied the royal couple’s attention and more importantly, bound their army northward where they took repeated engagements against the numerically less, but much better equipped and highly disciplined troops of the northern mountain realm.
Whatever threat the Smokeless Host posed, High King Nerigal’s troops were a much more immediate and substantial threat to their subjects as they only removed the nobles who could be more or less replaced easily compared to the skilled burghers and peasants.
Arakiel could only hope that Sultan Zimraan would assess these pieces of information accordingly, giving him not only free reign to march northward, but perhaps even seize the royal city while the Middles attention was elsewhere.
If his army could stay below the radar just long enough until the other two forces wore each other out, he might just be able to swoop in and come out on top with minimal casualties.
But for this to happen, he and the Host couldn’t remain idle for too long.
For now, he sent out small cavalry units to announce the new realities to the surrounding villages while staying clear of the towns who had some, but too few overall soldiers to become dangerous. He’d rather take control and hold the actually sizable settlements while sending out threatening-yet-optimistic missives to the remaining counts in the two duchies’ area.
These minor rulers’ towns were too much out of the way to send his army there – he could only hope that Sultan Zimraan agreed with him to seize the current opportunity and not waste too much time securing bits of land that had no value right now.
While he waited on a response, he had seized quite a bit of treasure from the duchess’s coffers, most notably a grand total of twenty nature shards. Lamentably, it would’ve been even more had the countess not foolishly decided to use a sizable amount – over several years’ worth apparently – to put her hundreds or so guests into a fake slumber.
It spoke to her skill as a Thaumaturge, but also highlighted the potency of tapping a shard’s power to alter some part of a spell.
Nonetheless, the whole action was a true waste of such valuable resources that could’ve definitely been handled better, but some things just were not meant to be; Instead, he handed the shards over to Mellia while giving her full freedom on if and when to use them. Unlike the one of her artifact, these ones were permanent.
Through this, he learned that there was indeed a magical Site of nature just a few days’ away – an ancient grove called the Everbloom as all plant life there bloomed and wilted only to bloom again no matter the season. Every so often – meaning perhaps once or twice a year – one could find a crystallized green shard hanging on the big central tree like a sort of fruit.
That information wouldn’t help him in the short term, but it’d make the plane more valuable to his House.
Unfortunately, the shards were really the only notable magical item in her possession, which was bit disappointing. Neither duchy had an artifact when Count Filann used to have two but so be it.
At least the rest of her keep had quite a bit of coin and jewelry to stash inside his Spatial Ring – something he could definitely offer to the Transcended once this planeswalk was over.
On the next day, the Astral Thaumaturge Shahar informed him that Sultan Zimraan had sent a missive by manner of ritual and although the relayed content was rather disappointing, it at least made him somewhat hopeful. The sultan intended to send an Air Alterator as both messenger and judge on whether Arakiel had performed according to the sultan’s high standards. Any new orders would be relayed by this person – until then, he was to stay put.
As the sultan had failed to relay when he could expect the messenger, Arakiel was left with lots of free time to use as he pleased, as he wasn’t involved in the direct affairs of managing the domains he had conquered thus far.
He did receive reports from his advisors and he could suggest changes in direction, but he’d rather stay out of that part for now.
His concern mainly aimed at the state of his army which was more or less in good shape and the remaining injured would most likely heal over the coming week or two.
With things being as they were, Arakiel decided to focus mostly on Aurora, on Mellia, on Nyanna and himself. As promised, he had little interest in the presumably-elven duchess and her family. As long as they didn’t attempt any major shenanigans, he had no intention of interacting with them. Finna and her husband had given him all the information he cared about already so for now, there wasn’t anything else to majorly talk about.
The family stayed inside the keep to not rile up the citizens and since most of the keep’s staff had easily adapted to the change in leadership, there wasn’t a lot for the them to do.
He had half-expected the husbands to try something stupid in the first days, but nothing of the sort had happened – maybe the fates of the other nobles served as a good argument for his rather detached interest in them.
As such, the day’s routine in the rather luxurious keep of Scitathswood became a rather fortuitous affair. While the snow fell outside, he got to work on his sigils, got to take long walks with his little sister, got to further impose his will onto Nyanna and most importantly, he got to enjoy his aurea’s company in many different scenarios, be it a bit of cuddling around a warm hearth, a frosty excursion in the outskirts or a long and tender session in the duchess’s massive canopy bed.
Every other day, he sparred with Ezekiel who was also devoting most of his time to his spellcraft first, and then Selene and Alannah second, with the latter even putting Aurora to shame in how much she ‘got away with’.
Ezekiel seemed to pursue something entirely different with the young elven woman, yet Arakiel had to thank her for once calling Nyanna a ‘thinblood’.
This led him to research his slave’s ancestry in a bit more detail and what he found was actually quite promising. The girl hadn’t lied about her ancestry. As it turned out, Countess Muirne’s mother had been the youngest daughter of King Cahir and the former Queen Ceara and as such, she had been a sister of Finna and since Alannah’s father was a ‘normal’ human as far as Arakiel could tell, Nyanna was just one generation ‘thinner’ than Alannah.
This finding vindicated his rather in-the-moment decision of branding the girl that had witnessed something she should not have just yet. In all honesty, she wasn’t worth the brand on her neck so far, but if he paid the Transcended to awake her ancestral bloodline, then things might just look a little differently.
Alas, such matters were best left to the future.
For now, he had to fully dominate the girl that had stolen a kiss from him back then when she paralyzed him and the fact that he still recalled it to this day only proved Aurora’s objection back then right.
But given that he had not only taken quite a liking to the action, but had also ample time on his hands, things were looking rather bright on that front.
Or, admittedly, on any front.
Things were going well and he couldn’t wait to keep going.
If it kept up like this, then the plane might be his before the next year was over.
On that evening, he shaved.