The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Kel’s journey progressed easily. While the houses were few and far between in these parts, that they were usually meant that they were well stocked. If they didn’t have a lovely lady that could be convinced into coming along, they had food. If they didn’t have food, they had sturdy wagons that they didn’t need the way their good friend Kel did. If they didn’t have much food or anything that could help on the journey, they often had a bit of jewelry or other heirlooms of value that they were willing to part with. He couldn’t even think of an immediate need for them as he shopped those homes but looking for baubles was something he was used to doing and they might have a purpose down the road. He could move from home to home and avoid being seen by the few and far between specks of civilization.

He wrapped his hand firmly around the most important find of his life, comforted by the warmth of it that felt as if a part of him. Indeed, if he concentrated, that warmth would flow through his body enough to ward off the slight chill of the day. There wasn’t a luckier man in the world than he, he knew. He went from getting by and being content in that to someone for whom the possibilities now seemed limitless. Kel was unsure of what he even had around his neck. Proof of the Goddess? A piece of magic from the fairy tales of the old world and the whispers in this one? Some piece of technology that he didn’t understand that went wrong for the old man?

Kel was only thinking about it now to pass the time. He couldn’t remember the last time he thought about it in any depth because what did it really matter? What else matters when you can have anything? What else matters when you have that kind of power? People would give him the shirts off their backs, the last coin in their pockets, and beautiful women would lift their skirts, and all he had to do is talk them into it. It wasn’t so wrong, he told himself, that voice being the only voice he heard these days. Each time, the using got easier, and not just for the power itself. Those scolds of right and wrong and those pangs of conscience early on that he once almost had to beat down lost their effect on him, whittled away a bit at a time in the heady rush of power, the joy of gratification, and the complete lack of consequence. If someone asked too many questions or tried to make a fuss, he knew he would just simply talk his way free of it until, by the end of the chat, they would be apologizing profusely for disrupting his day in such a manner.

And he would let the matter be...if he wanted to.

That was another of the intoxicating aspects of the position in which he found himself. He thrilled when he asked himself the question, How far can I take it? because right now the answer seemed to be, ‘As far as I want to.’ The question then became, how far did he want to.

These women...these lovely, lovely women that he thought of before looking behind him to see them in the wagon kissing and fondling one another. It wasn’t frenzied. It was slow, gentle, and almost sweet dance of roaming fingers and exploring tongues while a couple of the other girls watched while two others just seemed to be content to smile up at the clouds as their heads bobbed a bit with the bumps in the road, which didn’t seem to bother them at all.

He hadn’t intended to take any of them, but he had to get some practice in when it came to using this gift and the first house he happened by had a lovely copper-haired woman living in it. She was beautiful and very agreeable after a little prodding and he had urges, all kinds of urges these days. Ever since he found the trinket it was like the power within would build. At first it was just a warm feeling and not an unpleasant one, like there was a fire and you were standing just a little too close.

But if Kel left it be that warmth would build and spread outward from the core of his being until his skin felt like it was one big itch that he couldn’t reach to scratch. Scratching the itch felt good, the results were fun, and the possibilities it afforded were limitless, so it was something that he could easily live with. The lovely woman with the copper hair led to the others and they were all his now, and happy with it. He was sure that whatever he decided to do with them they wouldn’t object to, but he soon realized two things:

First, that while the taking and using was fun, he knew they’d be in the way when it came time for him to chart his course for the future. The women were good practice for him and fun to have around right now, but he didn’t need to take them with him. There was much he didn’t know about his power and he could explore that with them up to a point, so they still had a use.

The man he fought with over the leavings of a corpse wasn’t likely to say anything, so he didn’t matter. If he knew he could leave the women wherever and they would be their happy, empty selves that wouldn’t care what he did to start with it’d be wonderful, but he couldn’t count on it. In that event, they needed to be somewhere it wouldn’t matter.

Second, if his journey thus far had taught him anything it was that there were always other girls.

Fortunately, having traveled all over these parts, he knew the places to go, even if those places were were ones he never would have gone near before. But now he needed a place to be rid of the girls where no one would make a fuss about who they were and where they came from. They would buy him a warm hearth, good meals, a soft bed, and time to decide what he could do, where he wanted to go and who he wanted to be. It was off every beaten path, and a place most people avoided unless they were the kind that had business there and those people were people that most people avoided, too.

So the wagon jostled down the path that really wasn’t a path that he knew. One spent time hearing about these places in a dozen bars, taverns, and just places where people brought their own goods and traded whatever they had, telling wild tales as they did so. Several spoke of having ‘special traders’ on the routes they traversed, saying that they dealt with everything you could think of. Those words hung in the air on their own before they would swear up and down that they had nothing to do with that side of things, so it didn’t take a genius to figure out what occupied the silence.

He cobbled the pieces in his mind, off this road here, down that path there, west at this pile of rocks that looked like a fallen statue and head north at the pond. He stayed on the path that he remembered from them and, despite a few necessary backtracks and a couple of stops just to keep his bearings he felt he was making progress. He contemplated the very real possibility that, if the place existed once, perhaps it didn’t now, as those types of people usually didn’t stay in one place indefinitely. Even if it didn’t, he expected that at least it would make a good camping area while he came up with a new plan.

The road droned on, the bare trees passed by, the wagon wheels squeaked in a dependable rhythm, and the miles passed by. The afternoon was drawing to a close and he contemplated the possibility that there was no camp to be found, through its existence being a tall tale, that it had moved on, or that he’d gotten himself and them thoroughly lost.

Then, just as contemplated stopping to reassess his position if not his goal, he saw behind some trees what first appeared to be more trees but revealed themselves to be standing tall and tightly pressed together to form a wall. He followed the hints of that wall that wall to a small clearing just before a gate and two guards standing watch.

His anxiety notched upward for a moment before realizing that the guards were decidedly unkempt and busy talking to each other until they heard his wagon coming upon them. They obviously weren’t military and didn’t seem particularly good at standing guard, though, to be fair, the place was remote enough that probably very little that was unexpected happened. Judging by how things looked, Kel guessed that this was an old trade post that had been reclaimed and built up after the woodlands spent more than a few seasons encroaching upon it.

One of the guards, a taller man, a bit gangly with a slightly wild beard took some casual steps to meet him well before the wood and iron gate. He found himself smiling as he got close enough to see the wagon’s passengers continuing to keep themselves entertained. “What do we have here?”

“Just some friends,” Kel announced with a glance behind him. “Some friends looking for opportunities. I’ve heard that this was a place for all sorts of those.”

“And who told you that?” the other guard asked, coming across as definitely the more serious of the two, from his cleaner look, to the way he walked. Kel would have bet coin that he’d had military training at some point. His eyes did linger on the women for just a moment, but he wasn’t moved enough by the sight to keep from doing what he knew his job was.

Kel shrugged, maintaining his amiability, but bringing the power to himself should he need it and it excited him. “You hear stories. You hear stories of places where there are no limits on the opportunities that can present themselves to a man who knows how to find them. I heard that this was such a place, so to here I made my way, which is no small feat, I must say. This place was quite difficult to find.”

“It’s not a public market, man. It’s not supposed to be easy to find.” the shorter man said firmly. “The man that runs this outpost values his privacy and he doesn’t know you, so I’m not inclined to let you in.”

Kel couldn’t help but wonder, “How do you…?”

The guard cut him off. “He doesn’t know you because I don’t know you and I wasn’t told to expect anyone like you. People don’t just show up here appearing from the ether to...trade.”

Kel put his hands up in surrender, “I don’t know who you think I am or what you think my motive is, but I assure you, I’m not some enemy infiltrator looking to cause trouble. I admit that I’m new to this sort of thing, but that’s the extent of the oddity of the situation, at least for me. Perhaps I could speak to the man who runs this place?”

“He won’t be back until late tonight or tomorrow. Perhaps you could come back.”

“I’m sure I could, but my friends and I were really looking forward to a place to get a hot meal and a warm bed, considering.” He gave the ladies one more glance and if they weren’t looking at him adoringly, they were giving those looks to one another while the taller guard looked on hungrily. “If this isn’t such a place, we can...”

“What do you have them on?”

He looked to the increasingly famished guard, genuinely taken aback for a moment. “Pardon?”

“What do you have them on? Whatever it is, it’s pretty looks like pretty strong shit.”

“Shut up,” the other man snapped, giving him a glare that would have wilted a smarter soul.

“What? I’m just asking...”

“I understand words, Gren, so I know what you’re asking. That’s why I told you to shut up.” He took a breath and held it so that he could hold his tongue before jerking his head back toward the gate. “Look. Why don’t you go inside, find Adger, tell him what’s going on, and find out what he wants to do.” When Gren still didn’t move, the other added a firm, “Go.”

Gren didn’t like the tone, but he knew enough to move. He opened one of the gates and closed it with a hard slam and, for the next five minutes or so the two stood there in silence until the door opened again and the first one out the gate Kel presumed to be Adger with Gren following quickly behind without closing the gate, speaking with a speed that common in the babbling of a man trying to ingratiate himself to one in authority. “See, Mr. Adger, I told you they were beautiful, some of the most beautiful women around. I remember seeing one of the women walking when I heading to the tavern one day and, Goddess, wait ’til you see.”

Adger had been listening to Gren jabber since he scurried into his sight and it was just about enough. “Gren? Shut up.”

His mouth clamped shut just as he drew a breath to say something else. When his eyes darted to his companion on gate duty to see him smirk and not try to hide it, his chin went to his chest and he stared at the ground as he flushed at the command.

Adger focused on Kel first, his hazel eyes looking like they were trying to peel away the layers and see what he was really about. He was an older man of average height and his paunch suggested that he liked occasionally resting on his laurels, but his powerful arms made clear that he didn’t stay resting on them all the time. His hair was still dark, but his hairline was retreating. He looked and carried himself as a man comfortable with authority.

“You have business?”

“I do,” Kel said with a smile as he proffered a hand. He withdrew it as Adger ignored it, instead choosing to orbit the wagon, examining the women with complete dispassion, as another might examine livestock. Kel realized quickly that there really was nothing else he was interested in, so he nudged them accordingly, though they needed little more than his word at this point. “Ladies, show Mr. Adger how handsome he is and what you have to offer.”

They turned to him like predators who suddenly realized that prey was casually strolling by. Several hands gently tugged at him, trying to pull him into the wagon. They were all smiles and purrs and sultry glances, his words and the heat within driving their instincts as the girl with the copper hair unbuttoned the top buttons of her dress, exposing her pale breasts while another sucked two fingers as she would a cock while another brought herself forward and simply made an offer, “Hi, I’m Alix. Would you like me to suck your cock? I’m really good at it. I can tease forever or milk it fast. Either way, it’ll be the hardest cum you ever had.”

Another woman elbowed her way into Alix’s space. “I’m Rose and she has only sucked one in her entire life and I’m the one who showed her how. I’m the one you need. Alix frowned at the intrusion, but as soon as her eyes caught the sight of cleavage and followed the trail down she had simply forgotten what had upset her in the first place.

Adger ignored the offers, instead focusing his attention on the nearly perfect specimen of blonde-haired flesh before him. He caressed his hand down her silky smooth cheek and watched intently as her eyes closed and leaned into the contact, her entire body quivering as she did so. Still silent, he parted from her and began to walk towards the gate. His back to the wagon, his right hand went up and his index and middle fingers gestured towards the gates. The guards opened it hurriedly as Kel grabbed the reins again and got the horses moving forward.

Kel looked around as he passed the gates and heard them close behind him. What struck him was how normal it all looked. There were people browsing goods, haggling with merchants, or speaking with people about their needs. It looked like any other trade post he’d ever been in. As he thought about it, he realized that what he’d sort of expected: caged people being bartered in the open was probably a dumb thing to expect. No doubt everyday travelers came through, not to mention the rare military patrol. For them, it all had to look normal, and it did, save the extra guards spaced throughout the grounds. Kel’s reverie stopped when Adger did. He bought the wagon to a halt about a dozen feet behind Adger as Adger himself turned to face it.

Kel hopped to the ground and smiled once again while not bothering to proffer his hand this time. He looked around before noting, “This seems like a very well-stocked post, considering how hard it is to find. Seems like an active trader could find...almost anything here.”

Adger’s delivery was smooth. He had to market this place and all the goods within to people far more important than this one and had done it so long that almost every word he spoke had the cadence of a salesman. He looked the man up and down, pausing for a moment on the talisman around the other’s neck. “Freelancer? Outlaw?”

Kel blinked and blew out a quick puff of air to buy himself a second to think without looking away from Adger because he thought if he looked weak or uncertain things might sour quickly, so he picked the option that most seemed to fit the moment. “Outlaw.”

He resisted the urge to clear his throat, hoping he put the right amount of conviction in the word. He had the talisman, of course, but he wasn’t completely sure that he could focus enough to make it do exactly as he wanted on a sudden whim. Aside from that, it was a formidable weapon, more so if he kept it to himself until and unless it was necessary.

Adger gave him a knowing nod and Kel took that as a sign to press forward, “Well, you can see how beautiful the young ladies are and I can assure you that they won’t be missed.” He couldn’t help but smile at his own cleverness “No one even knows they’re gone actually.”

“Let’s not dance with one another and pretend that this place is not this place and that you haven’t heard of it because it is what it is and because you’re here with the cargo that you are. So, with that out of the way, what is it your seeking here?”

“Not much,” he said plainly, a bit of his bravado returning. “Just a place to stay for a time.”

“With the women as payment then?”

“Certainly they’d be part of any arrangement we would make.”

“No.”

He was taken aback, unsure of what he heard. “No?”

“No.” He crossed his arms before him. “I know you were told, and the guard was quite correct that we generally don’t deal with people not already known to us, and here comes a stranger just riding up, pleasant as you please, with a wagon load of, shall we say politely, good fortune. This place makes its own fortune and we look upon such unexpected events with suspicion. Surely you can understand.”

He took the explanation without offense. “Of course. All I can do is assure you that I am only what you see, an...outlaw who has come to do business.”

“Fortunately or not, this isn’t a determination that I have to make. I keep this place running smoothly when Lord Solos is away. I expect he will return as soon, but, until he does, I can make no deals with strangers, so I’m afraid I can’t help you, aside from inviting you to return when he does and he can decide what business, if any, will be done.”

Kel didn’t hide his disappointment. “The guard told me tonight or tomorrow.”

“At the earliest.”

He still saw a chance to make a deal. “I completely understand, but it is quite a trip back to a bit of civilization, and I’m afraid that I only have camping gear for myself. I simply can’t take care of these beautiful women for how ever long it might take for your master to return.” His head twitched in their direction. “In return for your good graces in letting us stay here, perhaps you and the men might like to sample the merchandise?”

Adger was firm. “No. That doesn’t happen because it tends to create a perception by those that offer the sample that we’re somehow obligated to make a deal afterwards. You and your companions can certainly stay, but not by trading on whatever...skills the women might have.”

Kel wagged his forefinger and smiled. Now he was on more sure and certain footing. Hustling over to the wagon, he climbed up just far enough to reach the pack next to where he’d been sitting to retrieve his it He returned to Adger before he opened one of the larger pouches to reveal the jewelry and other odds and ends from his most recent travels. “I expect this will be enough for a few nights?”

Adger’s tension left his frame as he looked at the collection, happy now that there wouldn’t be further argument because, as so many other people didn’t seem to understand, they were in a place where people not them made the rules so there was nothing to argue about. And, when the prospect of an argument vanished, so did the likelihood of physical confrontation. He could also go back to doing more or less what he usually did, so his tone became one of practiced joviality.

“Oh, that will be just fine. This will cover food and lodging for your group for the next several days at least, or until Lord Solos returns, whichever comes first. We have one of several large, open rooms that will accommodate all of you, as, no doubt, you will want to stay with your companions.”

“Absolutely.”

“Though I will insist that you limit yourself to your room and to the courtyard here, of course if you’d like to get some air. The lower levels are not for casual guests, and, until and unless the master says otherwise, casual guests are what you and yours are. Do we have an understanding?”

Kel nodded smoothly. “I believe that we do.”

“Excellent.” Adger snapped his fingers and a man and a woman immediately scurried over from tending one of the food stands to come to his side to see Adger gathering the jewelry in his hands while Kel continued to hold the bag. “Take these,” he began, handing them to the middle-aged man, “catalog and store them and mark Mr. Kel and his seven friends as our guests with all the basic courtesies afforded to them for the next three days I think we have three days here, but have Kellin appraise anything that looks unusual, and if there’s something exceptional in the pile, let me know.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ina? Have eight beds and the usual amenities set up in one of the gathering rooms on the second floor.”

When he heard, “Of course, Mr. Adger.” just before she left his presence, he looked back to Kel. “It will take a bit, but she’ll find you once everything is ready. In the meantime, I would strongly suggest you and your friends take the time to enjoy a meal. No doubt it’s been a long trip for you all and I expect you know as well as I do that they will forget to eat unless you remind them.”

Kel nodded and hoped that it looked to Adger as though he were simply acknowledging the obvious when he suddenly realized how hungry he was while not exactly remembering when they’d finished the last of the food. It wasn’t so long that he wasn’t lightheaded, but he was definitely starving.

“I expect that the accommodations will be to your liking. The beds are just firm enough, the rooms are warm, and the food is good. If there’s anything else that you feel you need, employees aren’t difficult to find and I’m sure they can tend to your needs. I will speak to Lord Solos as soon as he arrives, and, whether or not he decides to meet with you, I’ll come to you directly and inform you myself.”

A practiced, warm smile crossed his features. “In the meantime, enjoy your stay with us.”

Kel surveyed the room and that which he owned, and thought things were going quite well for him. Adger wasn’t wrong. Once he reminded the ladies they hadn’t eaten in quite some time the haze they were happily mired in lifted enough to remind them that they were starving and they ate and drank their fill. He had to admit that he ate a little more than his fill himself, as the food was quite good for a trade post before he reminded himself that they traded in a great many things and they, no doubt, had to occasionally play host to, and impress, the powerful.

He told the women to pay attention to themselves that way and to eat and drink when they pleased, but all he could really do in the moment was hope that it would stick. The thought of having to remind them to do basic things constantly filled him with a feeling of dread. But he could dismiss that right now as he sat in the chair against the wall of the expansive room feeling like the padded chair with arms was more like a throne.

That feeling was only enhanced by the fact that he was surrounded by beautiful women that looked up at him adoringly as they waited for his whim. Their eyes displayed their heat and their emptiness in equal measure and the look caused the warmth and the power of the talisman flush through his body, and his cock begin to push hard against his pants. It was a lovely cycle in the moment and built his hunger for them. Look at them. It’s so easy.

“Oh, Alix, isn’t Tanya just so beautiful?”

Alix looked over at the young woman with smooth, cocoa brown skin and the gold flecks in her brown eyes as though this was the first time she’d truly looked at her, and, given the gauzy haze of the magic that subsumed them, that may well have been the case. “Yes. She’s so perfect.”

“And isn’t Alix just as perfect, Tanya? Lovely and sexy, and just as beautiful and desirable?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Why don’t you just look at each other,” he suggested. “Why don’t you just sit there across from one another and look at how beautiful the two of you are? Just take one another in until you just can’t stand it anymore and have to do something about it.”

The other girls slowly took their lips, and touch, and gaze from one another as the prospect of a different show presented itself. They began to watch, knowing the feelings that were building in the two and curious to see as to how long the young women could resist because resisting was something they had to give a first thought to in what seemed like forever.

As Kel had explained the world to them in ways that had made so much sense, the idea of not touching one another when they could was so foreign as to be almost insane, so the notion of them even trying not to had a bit of a sideshow quality to it to those bits of sanity still colored in a gauzy haze that seemed to just make everything perfect.

They watched the two as the moments ticked by, not so much as in increments of time, but in the responses of each as they struggled to control their urges because Kel had demanded it of them. Once set aflame and left to burn with virtually no control, that fire that drove them to need one another and to need whatever he told them to was not easily contained, though they both gave it a valiant effort so as not to disappoint their everything.

One could count those moments in the way Tanya’s eyes moved up and down Alix’s body in her dress that had been so pulled and tugged on by the other girls and torn at by Kel in the frenzy of his initial taking that the front had been yanked down allowing a fuller view of her breasts, a hint of the areola of her left breast showing. Tanya found herself biting her lower lip at the feelings, the sight gave her with Alix’s chest heaving, subtly faster at first, then more obviously, her fingers twitching before she pressed her palms flat to her thighs.

Tanya’s eyes widened. She wanted to see more of that breast; of everything. In one sense, Alix’s lungs filling and releasing was hypnotic and calming by itself. In another sense, it fed the fire within her like a bellows, each exhalation triggering a rush of juices from her pussy that seemed to not have stopped drooling since Kel first explained to her that she wasn’t using her pussy to make him and others happy as she was always meant to. And he was right. How could she not have seen? But she knew it now. Everything Kel told her felt so right and true. All women were beautiful, especially this one right here, right now.

She had eaten them all already, more than once and she just couldn’t stop, not that any of them wanted her to. Fucking them gave her purpose, and she needed to fuck Alix more with every breath the woman took. Her mouth opened slightly at the sight of Alix’s fingers clawing her dress up past her knees, exposing the soft thickness of her thighs. Alix was simply reacting but it was building want with just that much more ferocity.

Tanya’s fierce, aching glare simultaneously set Alix aflame and seemingly weakened, with every heaving breath, what bit of will she had left. Alix wanted and was already past resisting, but couldn’t make herself, as she envisioned in her mind, lurch forward and take what she craved. All that was in her to do was react as she surrendered what little power she had. Her eyelids grew heavy, her desire to keep looking into Tanya’s eyes the only thing keeping them open. The dreamy quality only served to entice Tanya all the more. It even served to feed the other women, who, with no such demands made on them by Kel when it came to touching, were absentmindedly fondling one another as they watched, beginning to mirror Alix’s gaze.

Alix began to sway ever so slightly, the air itself seeming to have more will than she did, her hand slipping under the clothing bunched now by her hips, middle finger sliding down her clit before curling upward and inside her. She pressed firmly, each drag of her finger making her shake and pulling from her belly a lewd moan so she was unleashing one with every breath, the sound finding Tanya’s spine, and traveling upward to make her brain tingle in sweet torture.

A moan, then another, then another, making in Tanya a growing need to jump out of her own skin. And glancing down to see that soaked finger glisten in the lamplight soon became simply too much to take. Each moan from Alix was a siren’s call and each whimper was a near helpless plea that couldn’t be ignored, so Tanya lunged with a growl and gripped her tightly as her head dipped and her tongue darted into Alix’s mouth.

Finding the will to move once again, Alix yanked Tanya’s dress over her shoulders and down, fully exposing her chocolate nipples. She groaned and took one in her mouth with no time to do more than suck it into her mouth but once before the other snarled and pushed her to the floor. Before Alix could react beyond a giggle, two hands went under her ass and lifted her body to bend it back to bring her knees parallel to the floor. Bracing her body against the other’s, Tanya pulled the dress back to expose Alix’s glistening cunt to the room.

So eager was Tanya to feast on that glistening slit that a line of drool met that mound before flesh met flesh. Tanya’s eyes were wild and wide as she licked, sucked, and slurped madly. Alix’s helpless wail that came seconds later was so loud and fierce that two of the women watching orgasmed spontaneously from the sound. While those peaks came with regularity the sounds between weren’t much quieter, as though she were in constant bliss that occasionally spiked into mindless joy.

While the other women melted into one another’s arms, Rianna knew well the look in Kel’s eyes. It was hungry, needy, and wild. When he let himself just be in the moment like that it reminded her of her sisters in service in its own way. He seemed startled for an instant as he suddenly noticed her coming towards him. She was so beautiful. Honestly, she was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He was tempted to keep her, but, as fond as he was of her, that perfection only served to make her a reminder of the road ahead. He could have anything. Throngs of the most beautiful women in the world would writhe when he wanted.

He could have a place like this. He could be a master of all he surveyed in a place like this. He could be king.

I could be king. He felt that rush of power again. He took a breath and his lungs tingled with it and the enormity of what he contemplated. Why not? He could see it all. It would take some time. He would have to learn more about his power; learn how to better use it to build his power in the world, but his own kingdom was something he saw as easily within reach. Take some comely princess of some small principality and use her as a link to others to bring under his sway until he had world enough that was within his influence with throngs that would kneel before him and cheer his name.

The thought alone made him hard and before him was a woman as beautiful as any princess. He gave her a leering look and a knowing grin as he stepped two steps back to his makeshift throne to relax into the armless chair as though it were truly where a monarch would be. “Take it off.”

She smiled, her eyes reflecting a bit of the empty heat within as she pulled her dress from her left shoulder, then the right. A tug at the waist and a shimmy took the dress to the floor to reveal a body as nearly perfect as her face. Her belly had the smallest bit of softness that only served to accentuate her femininity along with a perfectly hourglass figure. Her breasts, handfuls with a little to spare, always felt wonderful in his hands.

She put one foot seductively in front of the other to give her hips a bit of sway until she reached him, lifting, pulling the end of his belt through the loop and pulling it upward sharply to release the tongue. He gasped in surprise at the suddenness of it, happy in the moment to be surprised. She freed the buckle and he lifted himself from the chair just enough to bring his pants to a place just over his knees. Kel found that bit of passive restraint enticing.

She glanced down at his cock which was already twitching and drooling, almost as an extension of his power. Whenever he had the barest desire, the power of the talisman surged within him and he could simply perform without constraint, which was yet another effect that Kel found no reason to complain about.

“Now what?” she asked seductively. She had enough mind to know what the next command would be, but she lived to hear his voice caress her mind and body with any words at all, but commands and true things were the best of all. His warmth was always there, but the commands and the true things sank into the flesh of her.

“Ride this cock, princess.”

Rianna had been in heat for so long that she could couldn’t remember what it was like not to want to fuck and obey, but when she heard the command, she began to cream. When she straddled him and felt her body slide up his shaft, her mouth falling slack even as she looked at him she looked at him from the sensation of her pussy lips parting as she slid up his to the tip. She felt his hands grip her hips firmly as she took his cock in turn with no small measure of reverence and aimed it inside.

As it slipped in, her eyes closed and her head tilted back as she slowly began to ride, feeling it drive joy into her. She moved slowly at first, savoring every blessed inch, twitching her hips each time that she felt his heavy balls press against her. As Rianna fucked, Kel watched and allowed himself to enjoy the act and his power, which felt like a growing itch at the back of his neck. “Faster, princess.”

She complied at once, and when she did she began to yip each time he filled her. Her cunt clenched and creamed, the cream drooling from her almost as milk. He watched the light behind her eyes dim as she rode, lost in it all. The look excited Kel as much as much as the sensation of her pussy pulling on his cock.

When he figured out how to make this work, really make this work the way he wanted, where they weren’t so aimless that he had to remind them to eat, he wanted that moment with his princess, as he’d had it with each of the women that surrounded him now. That look of surrender; that look when his power subsumed them and they were happy for it was like sex all by itself.

“Faster, princess.”

The smooth glide became a little rougher, ass lightly slapping at his thighs.

When he got to control the power better, she would be her own person enough, but she would be his. What she thought would matter enough to hear it, usually, but there would be no arguments and no power struggles. Things would simply always be his way in the end.

“Faster, princess.”

She threw her head back and seemingly random sounds would erupt from her as the soft slapping sound turned to something of the sounds of punishment. There would be screams that gave way to babbling in tongues, which, in turn, occasionally descended into mad giggles. No matter the sounds, her pumping violently on his cock was the kind of punishment he could always live with. She braced herself on his shoulders, nails digging in as claws as Kel let the pain drive him in his own series of growls and snarls.

He imagined the moment when that as yet unmet, prim, proper, woman of power realized his and was overwhelmed by it enough to give up. Still her enough, but his always, and the power that was hers, his, too. She just had to have enough that he could build upon without starting from scratch. A powerful slut that was his. “That’s it. That’s perfect.”

She whimpered helplessly at the praise as every thrust elicited a feral grunt now.

It really was perfect. Maybe he’d keep Rianna, at least for a while, and maybe Alix, too. Of course, if he were to get top dollar for sisters, that might change his mind. It never hurt to keep all his options open. He looked down and watched his cock disappear inside her over and over in a hypnotic rhythm all its own. There was a flush within him, a flush of power and that inescapable build of sensation that came with his coming orgasm approaching the point that he couldn’t stop it from taking him if he tried. He slowly lost track of everything but that sensation, the sounds of their bodies driving into one another.

He grabbed her hips, feeling her hot, sweaty skin and helped bounce her on his cock. There was a sleepy sound at his touch and when he looked at her, she was, in many ways, elsewhere. Her eyes were dreamy and her head rolled loosely on her shoulders, giving her the look of a rag doll even as her body moved with purpose. Kel liked the way that looked and imagined his princess looking that way, helpless and willing to be anything he pleased. The thought drove his cock to the edge and beyond. When he called out that his orgasm was at hand in the animal way that all men did and poured himself into her, she screamed even louder than he and several of the women behind them joined them in a chorus of lust.

Kel floated dreamily on the sounds of their soft moans for a time, adding his own sleepy sounds to the air as Rianna lay pressed against his body, only barely conscious, drooling onto his chest. He waited patiently for his heart to feel like it was under his control once again, not to mention his mind and his body. The talisman took him for a nearly overwhelming journey in those peaks of joy as well. He felt as though he were pulled from his body and it took time for him to recover. He stayed relaxed, breathed deeply, and smiled as he enjoyed an afterglow almost as satisfying as the sex itself.

The joy and contentment of that afterglow lasted for quite some time and was so complete that he was unbothered by Rianna resting against him, virtually unconscious, breathing deeply, lost wherever they went after he fucked them. He didn’t need to see that soft smile creasing her lips to know it was there because it was always there. As that time passed though, that calm gave way to something that was becoming familiar to him, too. It was that bit that was always there now, like a knot at the base of his skull; pressure that built and an itch that needed to be scratched. Rianna against his body began to add to the irritation, creating a cloying sensation within him.

In response, he pushed her from him to attempt to get out from under the smothered feeling. Rianna was still in a blissfully dreamy state, but she seemed to know what he needed her to do and slid her body from him to be welcomed by her sisters in slavery who guided her to the floor with them, cradling her as another of Kel’s stable easily parted Rianna’s legs and began to feast, bringing a sleepy sigh from her as she spread wider for whichever of them wanted to paw at her inner thighs.

He watched them play as the cloying sensation faded while the itch remained. It was a feeling familiar enough to him now that seemed to make itself known when he didn’t make use of his power for a while. Oh, he still had to use it, even with the lovelies before him, but now, they really only required his words to build their reality for them with, perhaps the most feathered touch of his gift, but he no longer had to put effort into it.

It was a restless sensation that he’d classified as boredom and it was one he was feeling with some intensity. Deciding that it was as much a symptom of being cooped up in one place for hours as much as anything else, he decided that perhaps it was a good time to get to know the place he would be calling home for a few days at least. He clapped his hands as he called out to them in a sing-song not unlike one would use with one’s favorite pets, “Ladies, ladies, ladies, I need you to listen carefully.”

The sound of his voice instantly claimed their attention and they crawled to him, forming a semi-circle around him, again, not unlike a group of needy pets waiting on whatever his next words might be.

“I’m going to go look around and see what our new home has to offer, so while I do that, I want all of you to stay here and keep each other entertained.” Before they could pout too much, he turned that off with but a few words as he made his way to the door. “Now all of you stay happy while I go look around. If someone comes and asks just tell them that and don’t make any trouble for them.”

They nodded and murmured their assent as they watched him go, and they would keep watching until he disappeared from view as they did when he had so much as hopped off the wagon to relieve himself. He turned as an errant thought popped into his head. He didn’t think he’d be gone long enough to really make the words necessary, but, he thought it wise to give voice to it just in case. “Ladies, this is very important,” he began, gesturing to the table against the back wall with bread and cheese and several pitchers of water. “If you feel hungry, eat something and if you feel thirsty, drink something. I might not be back for a while so don’t forget and don’t think you have to wait for me to come back to get my permission, all right?”

Once they responded eagerly, Kel made his escape.

He spent the next few hours touring the little oasis in the wilderness that was this place and he found it felt much like its own little village, which he supposed made sense given that it was some distance from the nearest bit of civilization and there was little if anything along the other compass points. Sale and trading of all sorts of goods happened in a makeshift marketplace in the courtyard. The uppers floor had everything one might want, from specialty food and drink that wasn’t far from rooms where visitors could sample the flesh for sale, to gambling dens, to large rooms that looked like almost any other tavern he’d ever seen. There was even a tailor to make the goods they may have purchased fit. He supposed it was all necessary because, no doubt, some of the people this place served had no interest in showing their faces in society because they were wanted either from enemies made in the course of their trade, the law, or both.

Kel took his tour and looped himself back to the tavern and treated himself to a few drinks once he settled in. Old habits died hard so he staked out a table near one of the corners. It was something he always did in a new tavern. Living hand-to-mouth with what was on his person at the time led one to try not to draw attention as the new soul. He had his power, of course, but these people weren’t the simple folk along the path. Figuring that most of them had power of all sorts, too, it was best not to test anyone. He nursed his drinks to the point that several had lasted him until the tavern’s lights had been raised to mark the setting sun.

With his first drink, Kel relaxed and enjoyed his sense of freedom having been restored, and again imagined the avenues his life could take. By the time his last drink was in his hand the alcohol had taken hold. First, it had left him as a good drink always had, warm and relaxed. By the last, with his rational mind dulled by alcohol, that itching at the back of his skull was back, nibbling away at him, urging him on, to what, specifically, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he wasn’t learning how to use the gift here in this corner slowly drinking away the day. In order to choose his path, he had to know exactly how to use what he had and he came to the sudden realization that the girls with him would be no help. They would already think what he wanted when they bothered to think anymore and do what he wanted just for the asking. By the Void, they’d probably hurt themselves or each other if he asked them to, not that he would.

His head tilted in something of a shrug. Yet, anyway. He knew that would be an ultimate test of limits and that could wait until later. Now though, he felt as though he needed someone new to work on. The simple country girls had given him much needed practice, but they were simple he needed more. His mind tingled at the prospect. Yes, that was it. He needed more practice. Maybe everyone was that simple compared to what he could do now, but he had to know and he wasn’t going to have his answers sitting here.

And he knew exactly where to go to get it.

With the excitement of purpose he rose, careful to not draw attention and to casually look to see if he had drawn any. Kel kept that gait as he headed back in the general direction of his room long enough to make certain that he hadn’t indeed attracted attention, and, once he was sure he hadn’t, he made made his way to the nearest staircase heading downward and took it quickly and casually, as though he took the route every day. He quickened his step just as he passed the gates to the courtyard. He didn’t expect that he’d come across anyone that would cause trouble a push from the talisman wouldn’t fix, but why invite trouble?

He passed by a smattering of fellow travelers and employees, giving them exactly the greeting that he got from them, if any, no more and no less as he searched for more stairs or some other pathway leading down. Even though he was searching for a path, the way the light and shadows danced together in a gap between the doorways to two other rooms, he almost missed the space between that was a little wider than the width of a man on the opposite wall that seemed to mark a path. He was nearly directly in front of it and still missed it.

Deciding that was the point, he slipped through the veil of light and shadow and started down a path of polished wood that he followed as it wound around and down on the dimly lit path, that light coming from where he’d been and a hint of orange that suggested a lamp or torch ahead. The sound of his footfalls disappeared for several steps as the boots found dirt. Then he gasped in shock as the tip of his boot misjudged the rise in the ground as the dirt gave way to a raised bit of wood. He lurched forward and it took several steps before he regained his balance just in front of the next lamp on the path.

He took a moment to catch his breath and be grateful he didn’t crack his skull before continuing on to spot an archway ahead with an iron gate before it. Hearing voices beyond, he slowed his walk to a cautious creep forward so as not to be heard. One foot softly in front of the other until he reached the doorway and paused before craning his neck to peer into the hall. There was a wall on his left, and to his right a dozen or so paces away an iron gate with two guards on the other side of it.

The hairs on his neck stood up with the realization and excitement that came with knowing that he was on the path to where he wasn’t supposed to be. What, or more correctly, who stood between him and that path hardly presented a problem at this point. The power within the talisman and churned and roiled within him, anxious to be set loose in a frenzy. The itch at the base of Kel’s skull intensified from the anticipation of using the power again.

That anticipation became action as the magic tried to come forth in a rush that made him shiver and made his heart pound in a heady, breathless mix of excitement and fear. It wanted to lash forth like a whip and it was all Kel could do to temper it. Kel felt his own ignorance of the power at this moment as he did when he first used it in the woods. He winced as he put forth all his effort to tamp it down from a whip to a cloud. He didn’t need to control their behavior, only influence it. He could save the real effort for those he seemed firmly on the path toward.

The power seemingly grudgingly flattened into a widening and thinning from an erratically flowing river to a cloud. That cloud settled over them and he just let it do so. Ordinarily, he simply would have told them what would be done or what they would think and that would be that, but he feared his voice would call attention that he didn’t want, and, indeed, this might be good practice.

Instead of speaking, he focused on creating images in his mind. He built the guards from what he could see, from the weathered brown leather that caught the light to the gold studs that held it together. He built the image of them in his mind until it was as clear as the one before his eyes. Then he built the key in his mind and a hand to hold it. He didn’t know which had it and perhaps it didn’t matter.

The hand in his mind took the key and turned in the lock.

The hand took the key and turned it in the lock.

Again and again with no result until frustration added tension to his body. Over and over again until the cloud darkened around the men as a reflection of that frustration and the power within him scratched at the base of his skull again, wanting out, and he was tempted to let it. He was tempted to let it until the guard on the left side of the gate finally stirred, turning to the gate slowly, key in hand, moving as if floating through a dream. They key hit the lock and turned with a hard click and then simply resumed his place on the left.

Kel grinned and proceeded down the hall with a spring in his step, sliding sideways through the door with aplomb to look at the two men staring blankly ahead, perhaps seeing something in the way the light played on the walls. He snapped his fingers several times at each in turn without a response from either. Pleased with that, he grinned and urged them to, “Enjoy yourselves, wherever you are.” He took two steps, then doubled back just long enough to take the keys from the belt of the guard before moving on, just in case.

Down that hall and left down an incline, following the sounds, led him to a long hallway wide enough for three with with cells lining either side. The heady, floating feeling that came after using his power, especially with new people and in new ways, kept him from being particularly bothered by the sights he beheld, though with his conscience largely on the wayside these days, how much it would have bothered him anyway was debatable.

Cells lined the hall on either side either side and had anywhere from two to six women in them while the women themselves represented not only every corner of the known world, but every body type simply because, tall or short, thin or fat, or in between, there was always someone in the market for them, and he could see the appeal in each if not for sex, work in general. He could see something in each that he wanted and, when looking upon it the power stirred within. He could play with those big tits on one or test how those full pouting lips on another would feel pursed around his cock.

They all worse simple, plain gray dresses that had all the style of sacks with holes cut in them, and they were thin, probably to make the elements as much of an enemy as those that would hunt them for trying to escape. Their faces were mostly unblemished though some carried a hint of bruising, fresh or healing. And from the looks in their eyes he could tell how long most had been there waiting for whatever would come. No one spoke and some looked away so as not to meet his eyes while some still looked upon him with venom, defiance, and restrained rage. They would kill him if they could, but how they looked at him didn’t matter. If he wanted, he knew he could just take them no matter what and that felt good. The power was always there.

Then there were the others who looked away, hung their heads, or looked at him without quite meeting his eyes, not wanting to be perceived as challenging him. Some of the light was gone from their eyes, but not in such a way as to suggest it was never there. Those were broken and probably recently so, choosing to remain silent rather than incur more of the whip, lack of sleep, or whatever methods these people preferred. All had cuffs and chains around their right ankles with those chains linked to loops pounded into the walls. If the looks in their eyes weren’t tell enough, the skin around the cuffs of those women broken in was largely unmarked. They hadn’t even tried to get free.

The sounds of movement brought his attention to his right and his eyes beheld a most pleasant sight in the form of a woman alone in her cell staring daggers at him. The bruises she carried along her jawline and both cheeks were recent, but they had apparently done nothing to quell the murderous anger in her eyes of dark brown with golden flecks that drew him to look into them. Her lower lip was swollen as if stung and made the full lips that accented her small mouth look like something akin to a caricature. With short hair a dark auburn and fine features she was still striking and he thought that once she got cleaned up she might even be as pretty as Rianna in her own way.

“What are you staring at?”

He blinked at the sharpness and anger in her tone. Judging by that, Kel surmised that whatever she’d been through hadn’t even made a dent in the girl’s resolve. “Just you. You look like you’ve been through a bad time.”

“Looks worse than it is,” she assured him. “Tell your master to bring in some real men to work me over if they want the job done. The old women he has working for him just can’t cut it. Or are you here to try your hand?”

“He’s not my master,” Kel countered with some amusement, “I don’t have one of those. I’m just someone who happened by.”

She snorted in response, “No one just happens by this place. Are you buying, selling, or just here to get drunk, fed, and fucked on the way to wherever you’re going because that’s all this place is for. So why are you here?”

“Just seeing what’s around,” he told her.

She examined his demeanor. In her work, she’d learned to judge people and do it quickly. It helped in her business as a courier for a number of gray and black market business people, and it occasionally had saved her life. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of him yet, but the way he shifted his weight suggested that he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here. “Well, this is what’s here: women destined for parts unknown.”

Kel looked at her, then back at the women in the cages behind him. “Why aren’t you in with them? Why your own cell?”

She peered around him to see the icy glares aimed her way from those that still had the anger and courage to look at her. Others looked away and several simply didn’t seem to care one way or another, lost in their own brokenness. “We wouldn’t get along.”

“Did you put them here?”

She peered over one more time just to make certain, “Not anyone in that batch.”

Now he puzzled, “If you work with them, why are you in here?”

“I worked with them, not for them. I’m here because they want to move in to areas that are not theirs. What I know would make that easier.”

Kel continued to puzzle, trying to put the pieces together, “You could just tell them?”

“I could,” she agreed, giving the chain at her ankle a tug. “If I did, the people I work for would kill me, but they know they don’t have to worry because, unlike some other people in the world, I understand what loyalty is. I have loyalty to them, so they have loyalty to me. I’m already overdue enough that they’ll be sending people to look for me and they’ll come here because I was heading here eventually.”

“And when they find you?”

“There will be a fight; a large, bloody fight while they try to free me.”

“What if they just give up on you?”

“They won’t.” She sounded sure. They might give up eventually, thinking that perhaps she decided she was done with them and didn’t want to risk confronting them if she were one of those that was just too valuable in the moment to be allowed to leave. She wanted a future with them and they thought she held promise, but she wasn’t so important just yet that they would call that a betrayal. Under ordinary circumstances, they might have just let her go until such time as they stumbled across her or she used what she knew to encroach on their business.

But they knew where she was going with what she knew and they knew who their enemies were. They would come here, and they would probably use her as an excuse to wipe these annoyances off the map. All she had to do was wait and hold out until they came.

But perhaps now there was another option. She grinned. “You know, if you got me out of here, I could take you to meet them.”

“And they would reward me handsomely for your return, I take it.”

“Probably not, she conceded. “I’m not important enough to pay an actual reward for. But the fact that you brought me back to them, coupled with my word that you did so, would be a basis for some trust; trust enough that they would make a deal with you for whatever you came here for. I can promise that my employers are far fairer than this lot, no matter what you’re looking for.”

“But I have everything I need here already, and I’m not sure I want to get involved with getting you out and all the things that come with that.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re already involved. You’re new here, yes? I know because I’ve made the trip here often enough to know the regulars and I don’t remember you. So, are you new here or not?”

“It’s my first time here, what of it?”

“Did you imagine you were allowed down here? Did you imagine that the guards and locked doors didn’t apply to you and you could just go wherever you pleased, mage?” She groaned in exasperation when she saw his somewhat shocked expression. “Did you think it was some secret? How else could you get down here without being seen or heard?”

He came closer to her, “What do you know of mages and magic?” He tried very hard now to keep his face a mask, hoping he might learn something that could help him.

She saw through the guise though. “I know of them and I know some, and that’s more than most in these parts can say. You ran afoul of them? Did you poach someone’s job? Are the guild’s looking for you, outlaw? On the run and you find here, and you just have to come down and see what there is. Solos won’t take kindly to that. It’ll cost you. Better for you to just open the door, unchain me, and the both of us get out of here. My people won’t give a shit that you caused Solos trouble. Pfft, they’ll like you more because you did.”

Uncertainty began to take hold. He had the magic, but she wasn’t wrong. Being down here was its own kind of trouble. It was exhilarating, and fun, and confusing, and frightening. The latter struck him simply because he didn’t feel like he’d gotten here entirely under his own power. Yes, he had the thoughts on his own and he remembered taking every step to get here, but it also felt more than a little...beyond him. It was like he just had the idea and rode the thrill of it here. It often felt like that now when he wasn’t using the gift outright or enjoying its fruits. Even thinking about using it and the promise of that rush could make him feel giddy. He felt it even now, mixing with the itch at the base of his skull to urge him.

Drive him.

Tease him.

She wasn’t wrong that he didn’t belong here and there might be trouble if he stayed. Then he wondered what the problem with that would be. He would bring them to heel just as easily as the little girls on the trail. But what if I can’t? She knows from magic and so do these people. And in this moment where the driving, the teasing, and the urging at the base of his skull seemed to be giving way, at least for a moment, to greater lucidity, he noted that whoever they knew probably knew more about it than he did. Perhaps the wisest course was to get out of here and figure out the rest later. And perhaps this woman’s connections were better anyway. He was, after all, seeking opportunities.

His mind raced pondering them, the power rushing through his veins again. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been daydreaming, but it must have been longer than he realized because he had been taken from those imaginings by the cutting sharpness of her voice through the cloud, “Hello? Can we go, or are you just going to spend more time staring off into space? Because, I guarantee if you’re still staring at nothing by the time someone makes their way down here, they will refocus your attention.”

“Wake up, you fool.”

Kel jumped as the raised volume startled him, With a jump fueled by shock and embarrassment at being caught out floating in a daydream as much as being so lost in one here and now of all places and times to begin with to see her while the haze fingering the fringes of his mind fueled an image that he gave voice to before realizing it. “Suck my cock.”

She sighed. All men were driven by the same primal needs and some of them, by the Goddess, were so fucking stupid they could barely think beyond them for more than an hour at a time. And some even less. This one was dumber than she’d measured him at first glance. She’d probably have to lead him by the nose the whole way, but men that stupid were easily led, and what did it matter so long as freedom was at hand.

She pushed aside the annoyance and kept her tone friendly, as she might have with a new client that had expectations that were out of bounds. “That’s not something I do, but we can surely get that done for you when we get to where we’re going. You can have your pick of people to do that for you until your balls are sucked back into into your belly. Rest assured that whoever you pick will do a better job than I will. So let’s get me out of here so we can get to them.”

The image solidified in his mind. She had such pretty eyes despite the damage to her face, and her lips were lush and pink. The image became more real, the power coalescing around it, sensing the promise of use, which Kel felt as now as the itch at the base of his brain turned into a clawing and a rush of nervous energy that made him want to peel off his own skin. He had to act. He had to do something. He had to make the image real and slake the urges within. Kel went to her in a rush, yanking at his trousers as though they were aflame in a mad dash to unleash his cock. “Suck it. Suck my cock.”

The woman watched the mad frenzy and the wild in his eyes and tried to pull back from the bars. Whatever he was about, she decided quickly that the cell was preferable. Before she could scramble away more than a few inches, hands took either side of her head like a vise and drew her forward to him, his pants now around his knees and his cock hard, ready, and already dripping copiously. His hands were warm, almost hot, as though he had a fever. “Let go,” she hissed. Looking up at him, she still saw the wild, but also something more that she had seen more than a few times before. He did possess magic.

“What’s your name?” The question came from him in whispering, rasping, gravel tone that was more animal than human.

She wasn’t going to answer him. There was no way she was going to offer him anything about herself. “Delvine,” rushed from her lips.

“Suck my cock, Delvine. Suck it.” The power rushed through him and surrounded her.

If his eyes were filled with wild frenzy, hers were filled with rage. She often dealt with the dregs of humanity. She could see them from miles away and understood them sometimes better than they understood themselves, which wasn’t hard because, as she told this one more or less, they were all driven by the needs of their bellies, genitals, empty purses, or to sate their need for power. They weren’t worth her time beyond what her employers needed her to get from them, and this one was less than that.

“Let go of me, you piece of shit,” she spat as though the words were venom. “Suck it yourself.”

“Suck it now.”

She felt pressure against her mind, and, after several moments to weigh her options. It didn’t take long for her to come to the conclusion that, not only was she was safer where she was just now, this man needed to face some wrath. She filled her lungs, “Hel—!”

“Shut up,” he snarled.

In her mind, it sounded like a roar. In that instant, Delvine’s world spun. The world spun and it felt like her brain had smashed into the side of her skull, as though she’d been physically struck. She was too disoriented to truly register that she’d been struck by magic in that moment and sort of waited for the world to right itself. The best it managed was to still itself while everything remained blurry around the edges, as though fighting to see through watering eyes. But, at least she came to remember where she was and who she was with, and that who she was with, she wanted dead. That helped her anchor herself to the moment. She met his eyes through the blur, hatred still burning as she struggled to free herself from his grip. “Fuck you.”

All that was in Kel’s mind now was the power within, the vision he needed to make real. The thing in the way was this woman’s mind. That much at least he’d already learned how to contend with. “Now.”

“Fuck…”

Her voice fell silent as it felt like his hands passed through her skull and pressed into her brain, waves of his angry, frenzied expression of power crashing, uncontrolled into her mind. She blinked up at him rapidly, as though each blink denoted a new short-circuit within her mind. She tried to pull words together from this corner of her brain and that, but they were being washed away by waves of his power and the emotions of his that went with it; anger, fear, frustration, and need. Anger at her insolence, fear at being caught in this place, and the need to use the power that would not be denied given all else at play in the moment.

All there was now was the moment, and in the moment there was a woman under his power trying not to be when she should have known better. But he’d teach her. Delvine was holding on by the sheer force of will that came with her hatred of him. He could see it in those moments between flurries of fluttering eyelids. That wouldn’t be allowed to continue.

“Do it now.” His skin tingled with a giddy warmth that actually made him smile as he felt that heat travel from deep within him and into her mind. He could almost feel it slam into her this time. Kel could feel it without truly understanding what the power was doing as it both responded to his will and drove it, blasting even remnants of thought away and washing over the hatred that he didn’t want her to have. Driven by his own anger and insistence, the power pounded into her mind like fists pounding into a victim that could no longer resist.

In mere heartbeats, there was no reason for her to hate and no ability to articulate it even if she had a mind to. All there was was the warm, syrupy feeling in her mind and there was so much room for it now that there was so little else left to occupy the space. The warm was making him smile, so she smiled too.

When Kel opened his eyes, his smile broadened. The hate in her eyes was gone and she looked peaceful and happy, “Isn’t that better, Delvine? You understand now, don’t you?”

She really didn’t know what she was supposed to understand because words of her own were an insurmountable climb, but she knew, by instinct mostly, it seemed, what he wanted to hear. She didn’t remember the words to say, but she still sort of remembered the sounds, “Uh-huh.”

“Suck my cock.”

His words filled her mind and became all there was to her. She opened her mouth wide and attacked his dripping shaft with zeal, tongue swirling around it and roaming its length as saliva coated it and came forth in such a rush that it rolled over her lips and fell in long, pale strings that left splatters of it all over the stone floor. She hummed on it as it began to thrust in and out, using her mouth as it would use her pussy.

“Really good, Delvine, honey. That’s good,” he groaned as he picked up his pace. “You have such a nice mouth.” It felt like warm, wet velvet all around him. It was his own little slice of paradise as he rode the sensations of his body and those from deeper within, surrendering to the euphoria that came with using the power. He could tell that she’d given in completely now. He could tell. The energy in the act was different with women who were touched by the power. There was no hesitancy, no shame as the action conflicted with a sense of propriety or normality. They gave themselves to a cock. They gave themselves to its service and he couldn’t help but let them.

She sucked harder and he thrust harder in return. “Isn’t it better now? Yeah. Yeah, it is. Just let go and suck my cock. Sucking it hard. It’s so much fun for you, huh?” His breathing quickened and became more ragged as he approached the point of no return. “Here it comes, honey. Such a good girl. Such a good girl now. Here it comes.”

At almost the moment he gave himself that final permission. He let that feeling build in his cock, resisting that urge until it became a reflex response beyond his control. When that high hit, his entire body shook, his cock bucking madly even as he thrust back and forth, drowning his cock in his own seed mixed with what felt like a lake of her saliva.

He shook from the overwhelming sensations. Every nerve was alive in a glorious fire as his brain drowned in the heat as well. Ecstasy did not begin to describe it. There were no words to properly describe the all-consuming, glorious heat. After long moments the red and orange currents that filled his vision began to ebb and resolve themselves into the environment he remembered moments before.

Kel’s racing heart slowly found a pace that didn’t feel like it was trying to burst from his body and the sound of the blood rushing in his ears that once deafened him quieted as he breathed slowly and deeply, his exhalations, quivering. The smile on his face, however, could not be moved. He looked down into those wide eyes seeing the smile in them. She looked so peaceful now even as she looked thoroughly used, lines of drool still drizzling from her chin to add to the puddles on the floor.

All the anger and hatred was gone, and all that remained was happiness and contentment even as she continued to nurse his cock, trying to bring it back to hardness. “See, isn’t that so much better?” Kel was mildly surprised he could find his voice, as he eased himself free with his hand on her forehead. “Let me have that back now.” The gentleness in his voice reflected his inner calm. His body was sated. His mind was centered in a way that it hadn’t been in some time. Even the itch at the base of his brain was gone. The power was still there to be called upon but that...ache to be set loose was no longer nipping at him. He braced himself against the bars for a moment to bask in the peace as her hands delicately, reverently, played with his cock. “That was so good, Delvine. See? Wasn’t it so much better just to play nice?” He looked down at her face; a picture of sweetness. The anger was gone and her eyes were wide. She was waiting. Waiting to be used, or told, it hardly mattered. She heard his words, not gleaning any particular meaning. Since he seemed happy, and she liked happy, she just giggled in response.

“Now that you understand how much fun you can have if you just do what Kel tells you we might just have some more fun when we get to your friends.”

She liked friends. She giggled again.

He studied her, a look of curiosity crossing his once serene features. “What’s wrong with you, honey?”

She mimicked the look, but the happiness didn’t really leave her features.

“Delvine?”

She perked up at the familiar cadence, even if she didn’t exactly recognize it as her own name. Studying her, Kel realized that she reminded him as much of an eager dog as anything else. “Delvine?”

She smiled.

He swallowed hard, sending the gift outward to her. He still didn’t understand how it all worked, but he still knew what was wrong when he saw it. With the other girls, he could still see ‘them’ behind the eyes. There was no other way to put it. They were just drowned in the haze created by the talisman and had been long enough now that they’d stopped even trying to get out from it.

Delvine was different. There was no haze within or around her. There were splotches of it to be seen that frittered about like wisps of smoke, but the rest of her mind seemed to be a darkened void. He didn’t know how it all worked, but it didn’t take a genius to guess at what that meant. And, with the realization, the calm gave way to an icy flood of terror. He knew how to make people do what he wanted in the moment. He thought he had a good handle on how to make it so people wanted to keep doing what he wanted, as witnessed by the harem he’d collected.

But he didn’t know how to undo this. And, with the dead-eyed look she gave him, he wasn’t sure that anyone else did either. He turned quickly to look behind him, suddenly keenly aware of the women behind him, their eyes upon him. Perhaps they were shaken by the fear in his eyes or that they perhaps had some sense of what he’d done, but several had recoiled, trying to push themselves through the back wall of the cell. Others held their breath, hoping he didn’t find something he wanted in them.

But there were a few eyes filled with as much rage as Delvine’s had once. They didn’t have to know what exactly, but they knew he’d done something to her. They looked at him like they thought he was guilty. They looked through him like they could will him dead, and it seemed like they were trying for exactly that.

And he knew he was guilty. Looking back at Delvine and that smile and those wide eyes with little or nothing behind them. That shame and fear that came with being responsible for that, and for what might come to him because of it, pierced through the bewilderment of the moment. It probably wouldn’t matter if it were one of the women in the cell now. Most of the women that he brought with him were at least as pretty and probably more so. He came here to make a deal so a deal could be made.

That guilt turned to fear. There were no shortage of ways that his life was ruined now. There was no deal to be made that would undo what he did. Whatever they wanted from Delvine they probably weren’t going to get and someone would pay.

That someone would probably be him.

He turned quickly upon the women in the other cell. Whether it was the suddenness of the movement, the look on his face, or the sense that he had done something and, whatever it was, they didn’t want it done to them, several more pushed away from the bars, huddling into one another for protection while others still looked resigned to their fate, whether it was at his hand, or at the hands of Solos and his minions.

Guilt spoke quickly and with a snarl born more from that than actual anger, “Tell no one anything.” Scrambling to put himself back in his pants, guilt and fear then propelled him down the hallway and back the way he came. He knew the threat wasn’t going to work. Kel knew the threat was probably only going to be effective as long as he was in sight or sound of them, but he really doubted that as soon as they lost sight of him they were going to start screaming for help. Who would listen to them anyway?

He knew he had a window. The only issue was that he didn’t know how large it was going to be. It all depended on whenever this Solos returned. He could be gone. He could be well and gone by then. But if he rushed off all of a sudden it would certainly arouse suspicion. Take time, he thought. Take a few minutes. Go back to the room, take some time, calm the fuck down, make sure no one’s the wiser, pack your things, and get out. Of course, there was no way he could or would take the women. They’d only slow him down when the goal was that once he started moving he wouldn’t stop until he was well away from this place and the people that’d be sent after him. Should he try to remain alone. Or would it be better to lose himself in a large city where he could perhaps blend in and have opportunities to practice with the gift?

As it had been almost since he realized he had this power, whatever it was, he could drive himself to confusion until that urge started building again. He worked to hold onto the thought that he simply had to leave. One thing at a time. He had to leave. To leave, he knew he had to go to his room and grab his things. Grab his things, wait long enough so that anyone who might see him wouldn’t see looks of guilt or fear cross his face. He had the power, but it worked better when he went into it with calmness, and already a sense of what he wanted and needed it to do. There were too many variables right now; too many questions that someone could ask, and too many eyes on him and too many responses that those people could decide on. He had to be away from here and focusing on the simplicity of that was helpful.

It was helpful as he slowly made his way away from the guards and back to the common areas. He knew that once he was far enough away from people that they would come back to themselves with what he told them to think and what he told them to be. With the guards, he simply told them that he was never there.

It was helpful to hang on to that thought when he made his way up the stairs to his room, as he focused on where his things were and what direction he’d take once he left. He’d change direction a few times to try to throw them off the trail when they came. Kel knew that if he got a good enough head start that would probably be enough.

It was helpful to hang onto those thoughts as he quickened his pace to his room. He opened the door, stepped through and closed it so quickly that the air rushed into his eyes. He blinked rapidly, turned with the express purpose of grabbing his backpack, making sure it had everything it had in it when he came in and then to be gone without another backward glance.

But all his senses were assaulted by the scene before him.

His eyes beheld a heaving, writhing tangle of splayed legs, frantic fingers, and mouths full of the breasts or pussies of those closest to them. The scene captivated. They looked like a single creature, obsessed with nothing but the act of fucking. Legs were draped over shoulders with heels resting on backs. Arms seemed to have vanished, pinned by bodies as the actions of those disappeared fingers were visible in the glassy, dreamy eyes of the young creature they were playing with. It was animal abandon.

The scent was simply that of feminine wetness and want with the pungent, unmistakable tang of sweat. It all had its own heat and filled the room with an almost stifling humidity. He realized they must have been fucking almost since he’d left them. He inhaled because there was nothing else to breathe and, as his eyes and lungs drank it all in he began to relax. It was so beautiful. Tension fled his muscles with every breath as the heat filled him.

Thoughts did not flee with them, but they did lose cohesion. At least until they found a new focus. And when they did his cock came awake again as did the talisman he wore, both responding to his desire.

Rianna turned her gaze to see him there, having to stop her tongue from feasting on pink flesh to do it, though she continued to let her hips twitch into another willing mouth. She knew very little right now, but she did know that she was his favorite. He was here and she was his favorite, so she knew that he would want her now that he was back. She moved slowly over the tangle, looking more like a serpent slipping over them than a woman.

But then, that changed as well. Rianna took on the look of a predator closing in on a tasty morsel, arms coming well forward slowly as her back arched to bring her ass high into the air, having a sense of what effect the pose would have on an aching man. Her hard nipples almost brushed the floor while she met his gaze and she smiled. He was all but frozen. He wanted her, all right. And she was all about doing whatever he wanted.

He watched her come closer until she seemed to fill his vision. Her fingers dug into the fabric of his pants as if she were climbing them and he watched that, too. He watched Rianna’s fingers curl between fingers and flesh and pull them down in one hard yank. She saw what she wanted, and it wanted her. It was hard and proud and she could tell from the sight and the lingering scent that someone else had used it since they’d had it last. That was right, of course. He had every right to place that cock anywhere he pleased. But now it was hers again and was happy not to have to share it. And to be sure that she didn’t have to just then, she slid his cock past her lips and tasted the one who had come before her. She began the joyous task of cleaning and reclaiming it.

Kel’s fingers ran through her silken hair while quivering as her mouth worshipped him. He still knew he had to leave. He still knew that it was important that he go. The sight he beheld actually reminded him of why. But she felt so good, and he would never have her again once he left.

And he felt warm and safe with the feel of the power within and around him again. He could handle it if they came. In spite of that, he’d leave because it was for the best because who knew what kind of people Solos could set upon him?

But, he decided, as his hips began to thrust into her, he had some time before then.

Solos looked every bit like a man shaped by his environment, his trade, and his life. This part of the world was far enough from major cities of Erette, and most of the minor ones that the people who lived here often considered this place a world unto itself. In this bit of the world so far removed from the rest, one made their own way by their own rules or this land and its people consumed them.

Solos came of age in a place even more remote than this one, and he came of age learning quickly that the strong survived. He fought for his life, his power, and his every possession, and he had the scars to prove it. His flaming red hair flowed past his shoulders and his beard was as wild as the hair on his head.

With eyes so brown they could appear black in just the right light, he looked as wild as any other creature of the land. And with limbs like tree trunks to move a barrel chest he knew how imposing he was simply by being. There were many times he used that to his advantage. With the power he’d built behind him, coupled with his appearance, he could avoid most fights, and finish them quickly if they couldn’t be avoided. He wasn’t some royal though, content to sit on his throne and let the likes of Adger handle everything while he counted his gold and fucked his slaves. Adger and the others had their place, but he allowed them that place because it freed him to do as he wished and roam as he pleased. He understood the need to have a base, but he had no interest in being anchored to it.

He had just returned as the black of night settled in after several weeks of hunting and scouting. He liked the hunt. The skins fetched a good price usually, and that didn’t hurt either, but he liked proving himself superior to the beasts. He liked to prove himself the apex predator. Indeed, being the predator was probably what led him to sell live bodies as well. He could hunt, lure, trap, and take as he pleased.

Adger looked at the haul of pelts as he walked with his employer through the courtyard and towards the main gates. “It seems you did quite well this time around, Lord.”

Pride crept into his voice as he remembered stalking the particularly large Bresh he took down after having lost it for almost two days. For creatures so large they could disappear into the woods with such ease. A moment’s distraction and it could be gone, to flee or to pick a place to attack. Solos found it exhilarating either way. “I did. How have things gone here in my absence?”

“Mostly as expected. We had someone arrive with property they were looking to sell and perhaps open a channel for future business who is waiting to meet you at your convenience.” Following that line, he asked, “And your other hunt?”

“Probably as profitable, but nowhere near as exciting. I think I established a firm contact or two at the new trade post. They know my face, my name, and that I pay well. I leave it to you to soften and mold them so that they extend our reach. Speaking of my reach, how is my guest?”

“Treated as you’ve ordered, Lord. Not quite enough food, an occasional...lesson in physicality, but otherwise left to contemplate her discomfort and her future.”

They entered the building and Adger let himself fall behind Solos a bit. Knowing he was headed to her, and how the passages narrowed on this route, it felt claustrophobic to walk two abreast.

“Has she decided to cooperate?”

“Still quite defiant, I must say, Lord.”

“So I might have to start looking for a mage, you think?”

“I’m not sure, Lord.” They started down the path into the bowels of the building. “She’s defiant, and loyal to her employers, but she’s also quite practical. If she believes they aren’t coming or will fail to retrieve her, she might decide to change her own fortunes.”

Solos liked that train of thought. It felt sort of like the hunt: move and countermove. He followed that line, contemplating a bold counter. The more cooperative she would be in the long run the better, as she was surprisingly learned in their operations and connections for someone only in the middle of things. “Put scouts on the paths ahead of their likely approach. If her people are spotted? Kill them and leave them where they lay...along with a bauble or two of hers. Make sure it looks like she was a part of the ambush, then spread that word.” He grinned, liking that idea more and more. “Willing to bet that she’ll be more helpful if she finds her roads home already blocked off.”

“Very good, Lord.”

The guards turned at the sound of voices and one hurriedly groped for keys, not seeing the cross look the other gave as he fumbled for them. Finally unlocking the door, the other guard pulled it open quickly so that it was open just before Solos reached the door, relieved that they didn’t put themselves in a position of being responsible for making the man wait.

Solos ignored them. He ignored most of them. If they came to his attention for doing their jobs exceptionally well, poorly, or he needed something from them, he took note in the moment. Otherwise, they were just there to make things work as parts of his machine.

Solos made his way to the cages, looking ahead to nothing but the reason he made this his first stop since returning. He didn’t look at the other girls. He didn’t need to. They were all the same. They came. They went. They were broken before they left him or they weren’t. Some decided to make the best of it rather than risk losing themselves. And they all hated him for being where they were and whatever befell them. No prey wanted to be that, though that was just the nature of things, so, even if what they felt or thought mattered to him, he wouldn’t have taken it personally.

He was pleasantly surprised to see a contented grin on her face at the sight of him and found himself returning it for what that greeting might mean for his future. “Well, Delvine, this is a happy surprise. Done spitting, hissing and hoping that wishing me dead works?”

She giggled in response.

Taking that as a good sign, he pressed on, his smile broadening as he contemplated his future. “Don’t worry, dear. I’m not one to take the fight personally. I would have been disappointed if there wasn’t any. Help me, and, as my power grows, so will yours. Wealth. Your own power. Your own place. Your own voice. Prove yourself and your loyalty as all those around me have and your future is a bright one.”

Delvine just let the words wash over her without understanding. He seemed happy with things so that was more than enough. It did occur to her though that she could make him much happier. She practically lunged through the bars to grab at his pants and the prize beneath.

Solos stepped back quickly, his instincts and memory of his recent history with her, told him he was under attack. She continued to reach for a moment, then pulled back before looking up at him with bewilderment in those dark and gold eyes. He could read in her expression that she’d wondered what she’d done wrong.

It was then that it truly struck him that she was different. He reached a thick hand between the bars and lifted her chin in a sharp movement. She was surprised for a moment, but with just being held there, she quickly settled back to meeting his gaze and waiting. Not only was there no fight in those eyes anymore, there was no fire. He had seen similar looks in what he hunted when he had to track what he’d wounded for a final strike. It was almost resignation. Apathy. “What’s wrong with you?”

His cheeks flamed as he turned and bore an angry gaze down upon Adger, “What’s happened to her?”

Adger had seen that look directed at others before, but never him. It was a look that demanded the truth, whatever it was, or you would die. But, if he didn’t like that truth, you were likely dead anyway, so the question was if you preferred your punishment to be fast or slow. He found he didn’t like it at all when that gaze was aimed at him and, as red as his master’s cheeks had become, he knew his were a bloodless white. “Nothing, Lord.”

“Look at her.” he said slowly. “Look in her eyes, Adger. She wasn’t a fucking idiot when I left. Did you bring a mage or an alchemist down here when I told you clearly how I wanted her handled?”

“No, Lord.” He did steal a glance down at her happy, curiously empty expression. “I followed your orders. I-I would not dream of being so forward. Honestly, Lord. When have I ever been so proactive about seeing to your needs that I would so endanger something so important to you? I did nothing beyond what was asked of me and I didn’t ask anyone else to do so. I would never…”

“Clearly, Adger, someone did and, unless I know who that someone was, and exactly what fucking happened, since I left her in your care, I will give you as many guesses as you need before you figure out who I will hold responsible for whatever this is.”

“I know what happened.”

Both looked to the direction of the words as she continued speaking, Adger realizing he’d started to breathe again. “Well, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I know more than you.”

Solos eyed her. Average height. Lean. Stringy brown hair. Nice eyes a bit lighter than that. She wasn’t his catch specifically, but she was a good one. Silence stretched until Adger snapped at her, wanting her to say her piece. Or, really, anything that would keep his master’s ire from being directed at him. “Get on with it then. What do you know?”

She was as scared as the rest of them. She knew what her future was set to be. The bravado that came forth from within her to even speak now was simply the fact that she knew that this was probably her only chance to escape, so she embraced that false bravado for all that she was worth. “What’s it worth to you?”

Before anyone could answer her, one of the women next to her began to speak. Being one of those already broken, she saw a chance to ingratiate herself to her master, “He was…”

That was as far as she’d gotten before she felt the fist of the other smash her in the face, pushing her back so far so quickly that her head snapped against the wall with a thunk. Holding her nose and mouth as she tried to work through the pain, she looked up, seeing in the other’s eyes a willingness to hit her again if she spoke that she had seen in many an owner and user and, almost by reflex, she shied away. The woman who struck her scanned the other women with her, looking for someone else that might dare to speak. There was no one.

The scene made Solos snort in amusement. This one still had some fight. “If you tell me what I want to know, I won’t kill you. Isn’t that enough, girl?”

“Not when killing me would be a favor compared to this. What’s it worth it to you to know?”

“I’m not letting you go.”

“How about calling it ‘giving me a head start?’ Think you could give me a head start?”

“What are you on about?” Adger would have continued, but a raised hand from Solos ended that.

The girl used that to press forward. “You like to hunt and trap. Even down here we know that much about you. So, I tell you what I know and you give me a head start?”

He was becoming more intrigued by the prospect. “How much of one?”

“Sunrise. Or sunset, depending on whatever damn time it is.”

He laughed heartily, momentarily forgetting his rage. There would be time for it soon enough, “You want to wander in the cold and the dark? I’ll find you dead not more than two miles from here. What fun will that be for me?”

Her bravery went up a notch, seeing that he might actually be interested. “Then give me a coat.” She added quickly in the sane breath, “And shoes.”

Adger was incredulous, “How dare you…”

Solos spoke over him. “You know it won’t go well for you when I find you.”

“As if it’s going so well now.”

His eyes narrowed. If he were on that side of the cage he wouldn’t disagree, but a slave bitch wasn’t going to dictate terms. “No coat, no shoes, and a head start until dawn. Take it or stay in your cell before I beat what you know out of you. If there’s nothing else, talk.”

She talked.

It was good to be Kel. Lately it always seemed to be good to be him. He had infinite possibilities before him. A small corner of his mind remembered that he had to move on, but he wasn’t going to do that just yet, especially not in the moment where he was dripping sweat onto Alix’s back while she squealed in mindless ecstasy with his cock plowing relentlessly and the feel of his hands firmly holding her hips. Feeling his power and all the rewards of that power subsumed him as much as it did them in those times.

So subsumed was he that he didn’t notice the door fly open and hit the wall as it happened. It had to take a moment to register to him and he turned his head to it slowly, but his view was obscured by the two massive examples of masculinity pulling him free of Alix by the shoulders and start to drag him from the room as the women each reacted by either giggling at the absurdity or whining that their everything was being taken away from them.

It took longer still for Kel to begin to come back to himself, taken away from the scent and the heat and the hazy rush of power. The pain of being dragged across the floor helped. He squirmed slightly and they stopped moving, with one of the guards barking, “Pull your fucking pants up or let the floor take them off. Pick one now.”

Latching on to the simple choice, he reached down and pulled them up, the belt being just too physically complicated to manage, not that they were in any mood to allow him time to make himself presentable as they resumed half dragging him down the stairs.

He managed to ask what was going on as he edged toward greater coherence, but the guards were not forthcoming. Kel began to manage his own steps before the men took him off balance again by pushing him through the main gate and into the courtyard. He tried to right himself but could not manage to regain his balance. His strides grew longer, building momentum until the third step finally tilted his center of gravity, sending him forward, face first into the snow and mud beneath.

The cold and snow and mud did nothing to dull the pain of his face and bare chest scraping across the ground, but it did fully bring him back to himself before two hard slaps to his back lifted him by his shirt and into the air before planting his bare feet firmly before a hulking form who already looked none too pleased, though Kel got the impression that such was his default expression.

There were mere inches between them and, in the torchlight, he could see the clouds of breath come from him while he began to feel the effects of the cold, the remnants of sweat feeling as though they were forming a sheet of ice on the exposed skin. Or perhaps a bit of the cold came from the look in the behemoth’s eyes, “You wanted to meet me, Kel? Kel, is it?” He punctuated the question with a push that set Kel back a couple of steps. “Speak.”

“Y-yes. Yes I did.” The recent past was now fully back within memory, so he didn’t have to wonder why he might be out here half naked and in the cold, but he would be a fool to volunteer information, so he just alternated between meeting that glare, looking around at the onlookers and guards around him and above him standing watch on the walls. Whether bewildered, amused, or excited, they all seemed transfixed by the unfolding scene. Directly behind him were Adger and guards blocking the way he came.

“Hey, little man.” Solos snapped. When he had Kel’s attention he stretched his arms as though trying to encompass the entire courtyard. “Here I am. Tell me, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Finally called upon to speak, Kel stammered as he attempted to put words together, “I wanted to talk about… I have some girls to sell. Fine girls. Beautiful, I was hoping we could come to an arrangement.”

“Really now. Beautiful, you say.” He looked over the smaller man’s shoulders, “So, Adger, is he right? Are they beautiful?”

“Most of them are average for these parts. All of them have value, and there are indeed several exceptional beauties, Lord.”

He seemed thoughtful for a moment, then remained silent for a few more, just to let the prey shiver from fear or cold, seeing him react. “Well, Kel, good. That’s good. Perhaps we can make an arrangement after all.”

“First things first though. Old business before new business, right? I have a problem and perhaps you could help. You see, I have a guest in the cells below us. She’s a very important guest of mine. She had information that was important to me, critical even. Are you following me so far?”

Kel remained still, save the shivering and avoided the towering man’s gaze.

“But, you see, now she appears to be broken. It seems that someone decided to have a little fun with her and they broke her. More than broke, actually. She’s gone from someone I need to someone who just wants to suck cock. I doubt she remembers her own name, but she sure wants to suck cock. As fun as that is, in case you hadn’t noticed looking down there, or all around here, I have no shortage of ways to get that done whenever the fuck I want.”

He took Kel’s jaw in his hand and raised Kel’s eyes to meet his own, “You fucking mages. You think you have some power and that lets you make the rules. You think you can just do whatever you want because, really, who can stand against you with all your tricks? Well, use your tricks. Use your tricks and undo the spell, and if she’s as she was before, no harm done. You can have whatever it was you came for, less some additional compensation for all this trouble. Fix her.”

Kel said nothing because the only thing to say was the one thing no one wanted to hear. He thought that, since there was no way to talk his way out of it on his own, that he would just make Solos not care. He closed his eyes for a longer than usual blink to begin to marshal the power of the talisman. That warmth began to roil within, to the point where he actually felt the chill less. Kel contemplated how he might use his words to shape that power. He didn’t get very far before what felt like a wall hitting him in the face sent him spinning into the ground, his face bouncing off of it almost like a second hit.

His world righted slightly and he saw Solos bent at the waist, looking him over. “No fixing me, you little shit. See? That’s what I mean. You people think magic just fucking fixes everything and people are so stupid that they don’t know what hit them. Well, I’ve dealt with your kind often enough to see it coming. So no fixing me, little mage.”

He punctuated the words with a kick to the stomach that sent the air from Kel’s body as he rolled away in pain. He heard the boots in the snow before he felt the next strike, his arms coiled tightly around his belly giving him some protection. “Fix her. Now.”

“I can’t,” he whispered between gasps for air and the concerted effort to keep the contents of his twisting stomach in his stomach.

Solos bent down again. “What? What was that?”

“I can’t,” he repeated with only a bit more force.

Gravity seemed to end as a force as two clawed hands pulled him into the air to right him. “What do you mean you can’t?”

“I can’t,” some truth spilling from him before he could come up with a better lie. “I don’t know how.”

“Bullshit. Let me guess, you don’t know how, but you’ll figure it out if we make a deal. If I fucking pay you,” he began, giving Kel the back of his fist, sending the other into the earth again, “to undo what you’ve done.” He punctuated the words with another kick to the belly, causing Kel to cough and gasp anew. For the first time, he noticed Solos’s cheering section. Every time Kel was struck, they would either wince in sympathetic pain or howl and laugh in approval.

“It’s all right though,” he began, spreading his arms out again before slapping them against his thighs. “It really is all right. We’re negotiating. We’re making progress. You’ve made an offer and now it’s to me to make a counteroffer. Solos picked him up with as little effort as before and pushed him into the nearest wall.

“Here is my counteroffer, little man. You fix what you broke.” He pulled a long, wide hunter’s blade from his belt, placing the tip near enough to Kel’s left eye so that the blade was all that it would see. “You fix what you broke so it’s exactly, and I mean exactly as it was before or I’m going to use this blade, gut you, and find a mage to fix what you did, because there’s always a better mage.”

“So, fix what you broke, or die here and now. Your choice. Do you really want to have died for a good suck? Is it worth it? Was it so good that you see your life as complete and you can die a happy man?”

Kel pulled his gaze from the blade and met Solos’s gaze. There was barely controlled rage, but, almost more frightening than that, there was indifference. He really did believe it could be undone, and maybe it could, but Solos didn’t care either way. He would gut Kel and move on. He briefly considered lying, saying he could set everything right. It would buy him some time, but it would put him back in the bowels of the place, and potentially in a worse position than he was right now, not that he could imagine the particulars of how that could be so.

Kel decided that maybe if he pushed hard enough in one shot, maybe he could carve a path into Solos fast enough, so that he could make headway with the man with the words that followed. When push came to shove, how different could it be with Solos when compared to any of the women? The women didn’t matter. Nothing did. His future distilled down to the simple desire to leave this place with his skin intact.

Please work. Kel took a deep breath, using it to concentrate and call the power forth, imagining it as a wave to unleash. “You need to let me go.”

In the instant between word and force, as Kel had seen behind Solo’s eyes to his intent, so had Solos seen into his. He drove the blade forward and Kel saw that as soon as it was made. He gasped in anticipation and, in that moment, his fear, anger, confusion, sadness balled up within him and, in that instant, the talisman flared with power so that it glowed before it burst forth. Kel swore that he would see it with his naked eyes almost before he could process it.

What he did see though was the immediate result. It was Solos that looked as if he’d been stabbed. His eyes widened in shock at the sudden pain and the added surprise that it was there at all. There was no checking to see where the source was because it seemed to be everywhere at once with an intensity that didn’t fade with time. It was a sensation like no other. He had been wounded before in his violent life, and had nearly died more than once. He was no stranger to violent, wracking pain where one sobbed to keep from screaming and one had to force himself to think rationally, step by step, so that he might live. This wasn’t like that. It was horrible. It was paralyzing. But he could think past it. It was like something surrounding him instead of coming from within.

He held the knife in a reflexive grip, in too much pain to let the blade go, or to drive it forward. Solo’s eyes were locked wide and, even through the pain he noted the wild in the little man’s eyes. He saw the faint glow of power behind them. And he was afraid. He’d never been afraid in his life, not of beast or man, but he was afraid now, which was exhilarating in a backwards sort of way.

Power punched through his barrel chest, from Kel’s hands and when Kel pushed, Solos stepped back, his legs moving slowly, but with the joints moving in an unnatural progression, like a puppet on strings.

Kel was power now. He felt it flowing through him like never before since he’d found the trinket. It flowed through him like a rushing river of molten metal. It was a giddy thrill for which there were no words. It wasn’t even just that feeling of power, though that would have been enough. But, as he looked around, he saw Adger, the guards, and whatever other flotsam that chose darkness to make their deals just as frozen in fear or bewilderment as Solos was.

He could control them all, he knew. Thoughts of aiming small and building slowly evaporated with the high of power as it came forth from him in waves. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. He could feel the minds around him, some more than others. The more distant from him the mind the less he could feel it, but that was easily remedied in time. Once those closest were his, he could focus more on the outliers.

But they would be his. They would all be his. He was sure of it. Then, he would bring more to him and shape them, too. Even now he felt he could reach out, that there was no limit. His future was now crystal clear. He would build a kingdom from this place. Those in his thrall would do as he saw fit and even believe as he saw fit. He was a fool for worrying so much. If this is what the power could do, he never had to worry about anything ever again.

The world would be his.

Everyone that he needed or wanted to be part of it would be. The rest didn’t matter one way or the other. Goddess, as long as he could keep this feeling within him, nothing else mattered. No fear. No needing to talk himself into or out of something. Just whatever he needed in the moment and what could make him keep feeling this heady, glorious, uncontrolled rush.

The world was before him. All he had to do was just…

He felt a pinch at his back.

He turned to Solos, but the beast of a man stood paralyzed where Kel had left him. The discomfort was still there, and looking down he saw the dark, pointed shard of metal catching bits of torchlight protruding from his chest and the blood oozing from it and over his bare chest, drips already peppering the ground. He continued to turn, until from above him, he saw one of the guards on the railed platform that served as a watchtower struggling through the pain and paralysis, clawing for an arrow from his quiver. Every inch was a fight, and the stain of that was on his face, but he was determined.

Kel tried to fashion a piece of one of those waves of power that still flowed from him to pierce the mind of that guard. He would learn. He would end up like Delvine. Kel would show them. He would show them all. The power he felt could not be stopped. It was bigger than him, Kel knew. He would show them that it was bigger than all of them.

With the brief distraction that came with the sift and refocus of power, he felt a hand claw the back of his neck and a blade drive into his side. Kel finally seemed fully aware of the moment as he turned to look into Solos’s eyes and see the satisfaction behind them that went with a victorious sneer. “Not quite enough, was it mage?”

Kel tried to answer, but he couldn’t find his voice. The power that promised that everything was possible was fleeing him, the pulses of it fading almost with the beat of his heart. It could fix him, he knew. It could do anything, if only he knew how to control it better, but any control over it at all was slipping away. It seemed to be falling away from him, but that was as much the change in perspective of his world as much as anything else. All his grand dreams, desires and plans were slipping away along with his very life. Kel knew he was lost because it seemed as though the magic was discarding him.

With his last breaths he found himself wishing that he had simply walked away from the old man at the end of his life and had simply moved on with his own.

Solos eased him down to the ground, pulling the talisman from his neck as he rose, watching Kel fade. When he knew Kel was gone, he waited longer still to be certain that it wasn’t some mage trick. It was why, while he used them when necessary, he kept none close to him. Mages spun webs within webs and one could often become trapped without realizing it.

When he was finally satisfied, he looked to the guard that had managed to fire the arrow. He yelled across the distance between them. “You? What’s your name?”

His voice still shook as he continued to recover, “Rai, Lord.”

“Rai, that was a nice shot,” he said, trying to weather the throbbing in his own skull, but not daring to show weakness. He’d shown them enough, even if it was through no fault of his own. The man probably saved their lives. At the very least, he may well have saved them from becoming Delvine, which, for Solos was a fate far worse, so that deserved note. “That was a testament to your will and your skill. A week’s extra pay for you, whatever you want for your next meal, and the woman of your choice for the night.”

“Thank you, Lord. Though if most of that could wait until my brain stops trying to explode, you would further honor me.”

He couldn’t fault the man and even managed a grin in response. “Fair enough.” He used the lingering pain and deep lung fulls of the bitter air to return himself fully to his body.

“Are you all right, Lord? What was that? It felt like I was burning alive” Adger came towards him with a still unsteady stride.

Solos looked down at the lifeless eyes staring back at him, “I’m fine. And more dark magic from this mage.” He looked down hoping the corpse could still hear him, “Didn’t quite work out for you though, did it?”

He deliberately avoided looking at the body. He was not one for gore and death. “Orders, Lord?”

“Get rid of that.” He sighed. “And, with this one dead, we still need a mage for Delvine. One ruined her, so my best chance of fixing that is another one. Send a party down the road. Healers and mages happen by now and then. See if there is one. Bring them. Pay, barter with them, or seize them, I don’t care.”

“Lord, what if…”

Solos looked at him expectantly as the pause drew out, “Spit it out, Adger?”

“What if he did what he came here to do? What if her employers sent him to silence her in case she decided to assist you?”

Solos took time to game it out and it made sense. But it still didn’t change things. Indeed, if it was all part of some larger scheme, and he brought them to him there would be danger, but there was something to be said for meeting that at a time and place of his choosing, not theirs. “Then we’ll know that soon enough. Still, send the team to see if they can find anyone her employers may have sent. End them as discussed. It may not have use as originally intended, but it at least buys time even if Delvine can’t be fixed.”

“At once, Lord.” Adger moved quickly to follow the orders as Solos spared one last glance at the dead little man before heading back to the warmth of home. He couldn’t help but notice that the necklace was still warm even as it was coiled around his hand. That warmth spread over his skin and whispered of the power within that seemed to be only looking for permission to be unleashed. The feeling dancing across the hairs on his arm felt to Solos like the pacing of an anxious, chained animal.

Interesting.