Ch. 36 Arrival of the Messenger

From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:25pm

Leah's blue wings tentatively made themselves known to the room. She moved closer to examine Mab's wings and the new baby. There was a small intake of breath from Mab when Leah ran her fingers down the glittering purple of Mab's wings. The wings were very soft, satin soft. She felt a sudden urge to bury her hands in them. There was a slight shift of Mab's body and a deeper intake of breath when Leah followed through with this urge.

"You're going to make me drop the child." Mab warned.

"Sorry" came Leah's sheepish reply from behind her as she extracted her hands.

Mab passed her the child though. Leah gazed down at her mother in infant form. Would she look the same as she always had once she was grown up? Leah hoped so. Mab had been like a replacement mother to her for months, but it wasn't the same. She had been pulled from Moira's body when she was born, not Mab's. It was Moira she had the deepest connection to through blood and birth.

Idath came to them a few hours later. Mab was sitting with Moira melania in her lap and Leah curled up at her feet. Leah's wings did not go into hiding when he appeared. Mab was gazing at Moira and stroking the thin membrane of Leah's wings at the same time. The girl, Leah, looked lost in some wonderful daydream while her wings twitched. Idath cleared his throat to get their attention.

The baby was handed to Leah and she was dismissed from the room.

"Madame.." Idath spoke with an unusual grin. Before she knew it, he was upon her with a grasp on her wings. "Now here's a pretty thing I haven't seen in awhile."

"Hands off." Her voice commanded him.

"No..." he pushed her back to the bed. "You were always so much more docile during sex when I had my hands on these."

"Are you telling me you like tame sex?" she hissed from underneath him.

"No, of course not." he shook is head with humour. "But I prefer not to be injured by you just yet. I'd rather make some pretty marks on your skin first."

And with that he removed her dress and feasted his eyes upon her white flesh. He kept a good grip on her wings with one hand, but massaged them with the other hand. She writhed with undeniable pleasure.

He lost his clothes and pressed himself against her but didn't enter her body yet. She snarled in frustration at the taunting expression on his face as he continued to merely rub himself against her but not commit fully.

"The moment you let go of my wings I will make you pay." she threatened him darkly.

"I won't be letting go anytime soon then." he declared.

"Oh you won't?" she smiled sweetly and then grabbed him down below. He released her instantly with a gasp.

"My dear Idath," she breathed in his ear because he was frozen to the spot by her touch, "You should have learned by now not to taunt me."

The tables were turned and he was now at her mercy. He fell to his knees in front of her. Her purple talons curled around his face as she closed in for the kill.

Leah put the baby to bed in a room far away from the action. The diabolical laughter and shrieks coming from that room made her both want to laugh and flinch.

She wandered into the great hall after that. Dustin and Merlin should be safe if Ariel had looked after them. Now it was only a matter of time before things hopefully got back to normal. But Leah wasn't sure what would constitute "normal" anymore. So many things had changed and her life would never be the same again. What she didn't know was it was about to get even stranger.

The presence of another person entered the room and Leah turned to face him.

He seemed to be fae and yet she felt like an omen of Death had entered the room. A beautiful young man, dark hair and dark-eyed, but he carried a certain chill in the air around him.

"I am called Far Dorocha. I have a request."

"What is it?" Leah asked hesitantly of the strange fae.

"May I have permission to caress your face? The recently-mortal have always been fascinating to me."

Leah was unnerved even further and only wished to flee, but instead she asked, "What will you give me in return?"

If he was a fae, then he would play by fae bargaining rules.

Far Dorocha smiled devilishly. "A favour or aid you may ask for at any time as long as it is within my power to give."

"And you promise no harm will come to me from your touch?" Leah tried to make certain he wasn't tricking her in some way.

"I promise you no harm will come to you in the next five minutes." he assured her.

"You have permission to touch me for two minutes."

He wasted not a second of it, stepping forward suddenly and taking her face in his hands. The moment he did all light and sound was cut off from her and she felt like she was standing in some kind of void. The only thing she could feel was his hands on her face, softly caressing. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She tried to scream, but felt like she had swallowed darkness instead. His tongue was moving in her mouth, stroking every silken crevice and then he gently bit her lips and her legs collapsed.

Light and sound returned to her instantly as she sat panting on the ground, shaking from the encounter. She looked up at Far dorocha, "You said you only wanted to touch me."

"Thank you. I enjoyed that." he replied ignoring her accusation, and began to walk away.

"What about my favour?" Leah managed to string a sentence together.

"Just call my name whenever you're ready and I'll come."

"Who is Far dorocha?" Leah asked her.

"Far dorocha? The Ankou? He is the messenger of Death. He rides in the Wild Hunt and calls out the name of the person who is about to die. Then Idath takes their soul."

"So why would someone like that pay me a visit?"

Mab eyed her shrewdly for a few seconds.

"He is known for having a fascination with mortals because they are subject to death. I suppose he's fascinated with you because you are now beyond his reach." she chuckled with derision. "He used to work for me, but decided to change his employer to Idath a few centuries ago."

From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:47am

"Do you think you control me?" Mab whispered, her face slightly upturned as she looked at Idath. He was on his knees in her bed, trying to keep his breathing from being too labored. Her hand was wrapped around him, and with every breath, her grip seemed to get tighter and tighter.

"Majesty I would give you the answer you desire," Idath said with a smirk. "But I just witnessed how you melt with my touch."

Mab looked like a great demon before him, wings outspread as she hoovered, and reddish purple in the late afternoon light. She tugged hard at him and as he bent down a bit in welcomed pain, she opened her legs before him. His mouth opened to exhale, but she pushed him down to pleasure her there. Ever relished in his own capability for cruelty, he drew away as she reached her point, kissing her on the lips. Her hands dug at his back, leaving long lines in his skin. Idath was forced to break the embrace, calling out in pain. Mab laughed and pulled him back to her.

"Mab," Idath whispered as she took hold of him once more, this time to have him enter her. "All this is fun, but you gave birth not too long ago. I do not want to hurt-"

Before he could finish, she pushed him off of her, and he rolled to the floor. There was an old, familiar, flapping noise, and the naked Queen floated above her lover. Idath was on his knees on the bearskin rug, gazing up at her. She was within his touch, but he feared a touch with his hands would only send her closer to the ceiling.

"Pull me back to you," she commanded.

Idath scooted closer; he had a firm grasp on himself, and bent in such a way that she would be able to grab onto him once more. The position he was in did not allow him to see her, though he expected to feel her talons along his very tender skin. Instead, he felt the warmth of her inside, and he released a moan of pleasure.

Her wings lowered her as they continued their act. After a brief moment, Idath was flat against the rug, and Mab was perched on top of him.

"Idath . . ."

His hand reached up and he tugged on a bit of her hair, pulling Mab's face closer to his. She had never liked kissing once they reached this point, but he wanted to see her, as it had been some time since they had slept together purely for pleasure, and not for business. Idath began to suck on her neck and she shivered.

"Idath."

She was nursing, which he found to be both beautiful, and very lucky for him. His hand fondled her skin, tugging at her ever so slightly. She moaned, her neck bending back and her eyes closing. His mouth formed around where his infant daughter suckled and Idath bit her. The bite set Mab over the edge, and she pulled his mouth from her breast, kissing him passionately. He could feel her reach her point, which made him thankful, for he had been holding on for much too long. Mab pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him before she was forced to pull away.

"Idath!"

As Mab dressed, she folded her wings down against her back, and covered the marks Idath had left on her body. The had lain together on the rug an hour after the peak of their passion, listening to each other's breathing, and the beating of their hearts. They had shortly spoken of Leah and Moira Melania, but the majority of the sound they made had been the sounds of breathing, and a few puckered sounds of Idath kissing Mab's head amidst her mess of black hair.

He had never erased her marks, any marks she ever gave him, whether they had been in passionate ecstasy or violent anger, so Idath pulled his shirt over the bloody lines down his back. Blood touched the linen and stained it. Idath seemed so proud to wear her marks, or to eager to, as if she would up and leave him and the scars would be his only trace of her.

Idath approached her from behind, as she held her hand over her eye, where the ring he wore of a deer's head, complete with antlers, had scratched her skin. He kissed the top of her head, placing his hands on her small shoulders. Idath kissed her ear. Idath kissed her cheek. Idath kissed her lips. Mab bit him.

Blood pooled in the mark on Idath's lip and he slapped her backside so hard that her eyes widened. She guessed it had left a mark, and decided not to tamper with it.

The wax from Merlin's candle dripped onto the yellow pages of the book he was engrossed in. He waved his hand over the hot pool as it began to harden, removing it from the pages of Mab's hand-written volume. He had been fortunate to stumble upon this memoir of sorts when searching for an old book on malevolent creatures that he had shelved in his memory. Merlin had also stumbled upon a man with Leah. He was clearly fae, for he had decided not to humanize his form when speaking with the girl. He had kissed her, and Merlin had seen an expression on Leah's face that he had no idea existed. Merlin had not made his presence known.

Something about him had been familiar to the wizard, so he had hobbled to the library in search of a book Mab had placed on top of a pile of volumes Frik had given him to learn in his youth.

"Memorize these names and faces," she had said simply, plopping the book on the top of the pile and flickering away.

While that book was absent form her Tintagel library, Merlin had discovered other's that described the Anku, as he now remembered, so he was content. This particular book was not one Mab ever would have given him. It was titled "Faery Stories" and he had originally chosen it for the Anku was a faery, and Merlin was sure there would be stories about him, but this book did not include faeries as a species, but instead, one particular faery. Each story centered around the Faery Queen, and each story was written in the first person. It was an odd memoir of sorts of Mab's, from before Merlin was even a thought in her head. The stories were less musings, but rather, accurate and detailed descriptions of moments in her life she had found significant, or fascinating. They began unassuming, the moment of her birth, her first confusing brush with Death, and the first time she had delivered a child, as used to be Mab's occupation.

Quickly, the stories became darker, and Merlin could tell that the gaps between them were more than decades, perhaps centuries. She discussed Cleopatra, and the Egyptians, how Mab wished to be a Queen such as she, educated and learned, but also, how she envied how much hatred the general public had for Cleopatra. This story began the start of her musings, and was the oddest of all Mab's stories.

Drawn by nothing but intuition, Merlin flipped the pages to the final story.

Rome is turning on Jupiter, dispelling him from this temples, and his mountain, praise the gods.

The first story of Christianity. Though he hadn't read the others, Merlin knew. He began to skim, phrases like "cruel disfigurement" and "taste of Idath" popped out for him, but he was looking for something specific, something he only prayed would appear to him.

And above all, I pray that England does not betray me, as Rome has betrayed Jupiter. In the end, after all is finished, I assert that I would prefer complete atheism in England before Christianity. I could never survive such betrayal.

Mab picked up Moira Melania, cradling her softly near breast. The infant uncurled her fingers, grabbing onto some beading that dangled from her mother's corset. She had dark hair and perfect fingernails. She wasn't a very long baby, as Mordred had been; she was very compact.

"I would pay no mind to the Anku," Mab said, trying to reassure her daughter's daughter, as odd as that was now. "He is governed by Idath, and has a long history with me. You are well protected."

Leah shifted in stance, looking with worry at Moira Melania. "But," she said softly. "What if he wants the baby?"

"The baby?" Mab said, cocking her head. "Oh, oh dear . . ."

The Queen looked as though a terrible idea had struck her, for it had, that very instant. The Anku pronounced Death, warned it, and Moira had died, sacrificed herself. Leah had held her spirit away from Idath, and then Mab had cradled her in her womb. Moira had cheated Death, and that did not well please the Anku. He required a payment, and he had always been so fond of capturing children.

"Oh, Leah, dear," Mab said, pulling the baby closer. "Do not worry your pretty little self about Moira Melania. I have her with me."

The Queen was fascinated with her infant daughter. She was always so full of life, of excitement, and she had never once cried, not even at the moment of her birth. It was as if she knew, was fully aware, of how much Mab and tried and how lucky she was. Mab placed her on the bed, on a fur cloak that Idath had left after their escapade. It smelled strongly of him, and the baby tried to turn her head and bury her nose in the fur, but Mab gently turned her face upward, so she would not suffocate.

"If he wants to see you, he can see you," Mab murmured, stepping away from the bed.

"Anku."

There was a howl of wind, like a muffled screech, and he appeared before the Queen. It had been centuries, but his appearance had not changed, or at least, the appearance he used for her, for his face was changed quite often.

"Majesty," Far Dorcha said, lowering his head and taking her hand, kissing the red ring she wore. "It has been many, many moons since I viewed you. You look to be in good health."

"I heard you appeared to my . . . to Leah," she said. "You have frightened her, and I am curious as to why an apparition to her was necessary at all."

"I was curious myself, Madame," he replied, his eyes staring deep into her. "I was curious as to how the members of your camp continue to evade me."

"You?" she said. "I was unaware Idath had passed his duties onto you. I suggest you mind your place, Anku."

"My place," Far Dorcha responded. "Is at the alert of a death. I have alerted Idath to Moira, Dustin, Merlin, and Leah just within the past year, and he has captured none of them."

"I am not in debt to anyone, least of all you," Mab snapped. "You were able to collect Sky and the Lady of the Lake. Besides them even, Vortigern was returned. More to the point, had Idath any concerns, he would have voiced them to me, and he has been very vocal lately," she smirked.

"Yes, the entire castle heard," Far Dorcha said simply. "It was a quite disturbing, and yet very alluring sound. I enjoyed it," he paused, looking at the wiggly pink lump on Idath's cloak.

"Moira Melania is very beautiful," the fae said. "I am sure she has a breathtaking soul."