Ch. 37 Whispers of a Nameless Fear
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:01am
Things were going extremely well for Mab these days. It was a return to the renaissance of the past. Both Merlin and Dust had healed from their injuries. Ambrosius, otherwise known as Vortigern, was now dead and in Idath's keeping.
A few days later, Dustin was crowned king of Camelot. Like Vortigern, Dustin allowed both pagans and christians in his court as long as they swore loyalty to the king. But unlike Vortigern, Dustin was not a tyrant and because of this there was a steady peace at last in the kingdom of Britain.
But some disturbance wore at the edges of Far Dorocha's mind. It was not the lack of death in the mortal realm that made him uneasy, but something else entirely. Something strange was moving in the shadows of Anoeth and the faerie realm. People were disappearing. And not ordinary mortals, but people of Idath's court and Ariel's court. What was going on? This was unprecedented. Magical folk did not vanish into thin air when their leader and court was strong. What was happening?
"Have you noticed any of your people missing, recently?" Far dorocha asked Queen Mab.
"She's beautiful, Idath. When you do think she will visit us here? Moira melania belongs to our court as well." Far dorocha asked his master.
"I doubt Mab would be willing to part with her so soon. But in time, yes I think I can convince her." Idath replied, and swept his dark cloak about him. "In the meantime, I expect to be with her quite often."
"Why not invite them all for a little vacation here in Anoeth? Then the others can get a glimpse of Moira's face. And then you can play with Mab and I.." he smiled mischievously, "..can play with Leah."
"When is the last time you took a ride with me? The last time you rode with the Slaugh?" Idath asked her.
"Chasing mortals with the Wild Hunt, that nearly peaks my interest." her sardonic reply.
"Come now. When was the last time you did anything for fun? Now you have the time."
Leah gazed around at the desolate grey landscape. The sky above was grey and flat as well. Well this is a cheery place for vacation. The land of the dead.
But next her eye was caught by the dark, but majestic castle of Idath, lord of death. A world of death it was, but there was some plant life curled around the fence and in the courtyard. Idath was busy readying his hunt. Horsemen and horses of all shapes and colors were spilling out of the stables to line up at the gates. Leah was put into the saddle of a storm grey horse. Sitting up high, she could see at the front of the line, Idath standing next to a fierce red charger and Mab already on a beautiful black one.
"Greetings, fair lady." Leah turned in her saddle to find Far dorocha next to her with his own horse. "This should be a good ride this evening for we have the Lady of Ravens with us tonight."
"How does that make a difference?" Leah asked him.
"Ravens? Carrion-crows? well its not one of the more glamorous aspects of her, but it does have a strong connection with death." Far dorocha mused to himself.
A trumpet sounded in the distance. Far dorocha grinned at her, "Careful, fair Leah. Make sure you keep your seat. We stop for no one."
Two more trumpets sounded following this warning.
Leah gripped her saddle tightly. The tension and excitement was palpable in the other riders. White hounds with red eyes howled and bayed at the feet of the horses, clamouring to be set loose.
The minute the third trumpet sounded, the gates opened and the hunt surged forward in an instant. Her horse took off and the shrieks of excitement from the other riders filled the night.
As the hunt raced through the night sky of the mortal realm, the riders' appearances began to morph and change before her eyes. A man with no head and a jack-o'-lantern under one arm rode past her. Another rider had the head of a skull with green flames for eyes. Many of the riders had the heads of wild beasts. The screams that echoed through the pack no longer sounded human. Idath and Mab rode at the head of this carnival of nightmares brought to life. Far dorocha was further ahead and like a herald shouted out many names. His skin looked jet black in the unearthly light of the moon and he wielded a wickedly curved sword that he used to cut the night in half in front of him.
Long forgotten terrors rode the air and answered to only one being, the man named Death that rode at the front with glowing red eyes.
Excitement spilled into Leah and she let loose a shriek of her own that joined the cacophony they were creating.
The hounds and horsemen were hunting souls. But there were also ravens in the mix tonight. They were hunting flesh.
Leah was exhausted. The hunt had lasted all night. She just wasn't strong enough to keep up with them. Why not? She was pure fae. Why did other fae and other magical beings continue to outclass her? It wasn't fair.
"I'll tell you why. It's because you are still a child." Far dorocha had appeared in her room.
"A virgin-fae never has as much power as a full-blooded fae." he told her. "Until you become a woman, you are nothing more than a child."
"I am not a virgin!" Leah protested.
"Technically you are until you sleep with your own kind. I am aware you have had relationships in the past, but none of your partners were fae." He drew closer to her. "Your body is still...undefiled. You have shared flesh, but never mind and magic, soul and power."
"And I suppose you think you should be the one to do it." she glared at him.
"Of course." he purred into her ear.
"Why?"
"I'm willing, able, and available." he smiled at her innocently.
Leah made a disbelieving noise in her throat, but a smile pulled at her lips.
"Don't you want it? The power to protect Moira, to protect everyone you care about?" Far dorocha suggested to her. "I can give that to you. All it takes is one night."
He pulled her subtly closer and she didn't fight him.
Far dorocha took that as permission to pull her against his body and started planting kisses along her collarbone.
"I've never had sex with another fae before. What might happen?" she asked him nervously.
"You might enjoy it." was his humourous reply.
He helped her out of her dress. His fingers brushed the underside of her breast and she inhaled deeply. This was mere lust between them and nothing more, but he was right, it was time to sacrifice the last of her innocence.
Their bodies fit together like a dream, a meshed puzzle piece. His skin literally glowed with an otherworldly light, as though there was a flame lit inside him. Leah was glowing too. His fingers froze her skin and his kisses scalded, but there was no pain. Her touch left marks upon his body as well. The air around them felt ripe with magical power. Leah breathed it in, drunk on the taste of it. His teeth settled on her skin and left marks when she came.
Cool morning air caressed the naked bodies still wrapped around each other in the bed. Leah opened her eyes and stretched luxuriously. She felt alive. Her magic was alive like never before. She left the bed to her resting lover and examined herself in the mirror. No..she didn't look any different from yesterday except for the marks he had left on her body. The change she felt was purely internal.
Far dorocha wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and ran his tongue over marks made from teeth and lips. "I'm afraid I can't stay any longer, Idath will start to wonder where I am."
Leah nodded slightly and he vanished. Now Leah just had to figure out if she wanted to hide the marks or display them proudly.
She hid most of them with clothes, but she couldn't resist leaving the one on her neck highly visible. However, she was still glowing like a lighting rod with too much charge. She rubbed at her skin as if that would make it go away. Hopefully this would vanish soon, otherwise people were bound to stare.
When Mab had seen Leah glowing like a lightning bug, she had suggested a bath to "calm Leah down", whatever that was supposed to mean.
Mab also seemed to be using the bath as an excuse to check Leah's marks from last night, as though she thought Far dorocha might have injured her.
Talk about over-bearing protectiveness. Leah thought dryly, as Mab's fingers examined the bruises along her ribcage.
"Why am I being meticulously examined?" she voiced aloud.
"Where else did he bite you?"
Leah blushed and in a barely audible whisper, "my inner thigh..."
As Mab began to reach for that part of her, Leah flinched away, "I don't think..."
Mab paused and smiled like a cat. "Leah you know I would never hurt you right?"
Leah gave a tiny nod. "Then hold still." Mab commanded.
Mab's fingers were whisper soft on the wound, tracing the outline of the teeth marks. Then she went further than Leah ever dreamed she would go. She felt the opening of Leah, then went deeper. Leah had one hand with a death-grip on the edge of the bathtub, the other hand settled on Mab's wrist as she stroked Leah's insides. Mab pulled back after a few moments, but Leah's hand on her wrist urged her to stay.
"The bath is to calm you, not make you worse." Mab's dry chuckle from behind. "I've found no serious injuries, external or internal. You are sound."
"Please..." was Leah's tentative urging and after a moment's pause, Mab decided to humour her. Mab began to make strokes long and deep inside her child. Small sounds escaped Leah's mouth from time to time as she leaned back with her eyes closed.
"If this wasn't the beginning of your sexual awakening as a fae, I wouldn't..." Mab whispered to her. "But I know how strong it is at first. And I fear Far dorocha may not cater to you as much as he should. He simply wanted to take advantage of a virgin."
Soft kisses across her shoulders, a delicate touch to her breasts teasing the tips, and fingers that ceaselessly pushed her higher and higher into the clouds. For someone who only seemed to sleep with men, Mab knew her way around the female body.
Leah released into the water with a shriek of delight and Mab withdrew her talented fingers.
"That was amazing. Thank you." Leah spoke honestly.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:07pm
Mab was furious, but decided not to let Leah know it just yet. Losing her virginity to Far Dorcha was a grave mistake that would follow her daughter (Mab had decided Leah would be her daughter) for longer than Leah realized. The Anku, as he was titled, found the most pleasure in wrapping his hand around the neck of a child and dragging it from its bed, leaving a fae token in its place. He certainly had left some sort of tag or charm in the marks on Leah's skin, Mab was sure of it, and desperate to catch them.
The Queen was not so angry that the child had lost her purity; that Mab had come to expect after watching Moira and Mordred grow, as well as scores of other children she and Far Dorcha had nursed. The Queen was angry at the child's selection. There were many stones unturned in Leah's knowledge on fae life, and the more Mab brooded, the more she began to blame herself for leaving Leah so greatly unprepared.
On the one hand, however, Leah had never expressed interest in the male sex, especially since as far as Mab knew, she had some brand of feeling for Ariel. Mab would be the last person to judge her daughter's freely given affections. After Mab's virginity was taken from her, she developed an insatiable thirst for the male organ, a thirst Idath had beaten out of her when he insisted on becoming a more serious part of her existence.
"You best not ever expect me to serve you in that sense again," Mab snapped, chucking a towel in Leah's direction. "You know next to nothing about life as a fae, or life as one of my subjects. You are a subject of mine now that you possess wings and you also are one of my daughters. There are rules."
She could see Leah getting progressively more upset which each word that hissed from her lips. Mab knew it was imperative to drill protocol into Leah's head, but she would greatly regret angering the child or sending her away.
"Alright," Mab sighed. "I have to nurse Moira Melania. I very much do not wish to have a temper with you, so please, Leah, give me a minute to start her feeding; you dry off a bit, dress yourself, and then come to see me and we can chat."
They parted, and Mab crossed her fingers that the girl would reappear in her bedroom soon.
He had inquired after the health of her people, and she had answered him poorly. His question, which Far Dorcha had considered of the utmost importance, had been evaded, and that did not suit him well.
After the Slaugh, but before he had taken Leah, Far Dorcha approached the Queen in Idath's throne room. She had beautifully transformed herself for the event, donning a dark green netted dress with long sleeves and tufts of fur on the shoulders. The fur was from a small animal of some sort, something similar to a fox, and the entire creature was nestled on her shoulder, head and all, with the eyes sewn shut. The only makeup on her face was a silver and black painted mask that looked like a skull decorated with tribal markings. She had a pair of antlers on her hair to match Idath's helm, and her long black hair in a single fishtail braid.
"Have you noticed any of your people missing, recently?"
"I have not," she replied, examining her long black fingernails. "Though I do not have many children in my court."
"'tis a shame about the lack of fae children," Far Dorcha replied sarcastically. "For I have run through the absolute abundance of Anoeth's children."
Mab gave him that look that she used to give him when he brought another child home, or when he dropped a crystal. It was the same look for all things, a look that made him believe she was holding back from using her powers to melt the flesh off his face.
"Anoeth has had a problem with missing soldiers," the Anku said. "As has the water kingdom. While you and Loke do not seem to be having any problems thus far, the Mountain King is now isolated and alone on his plot of land."
"That is because he reeks of dirt," Mab chided. "Maybe if he took the time to freshen his breath, more people would pay him visits."
"You greatly underestimate the severity of this problem," her former servant said with an odd calmness. "After decades of struggle, you seem to finally be on top. What will you do when your faes begin dropping like apples in spring, and you do not have any one to go to?"
"What will you do," Mab whispered, leaning in closer to him. "When I make you eunuch for staring at Leah the way you do?"
The Queen crossed her arms, signalling the end of the conversation.
"You are dismissed."
Moira Melania sucked almost desperately at Mab's breast. The princess was nearing her one month birthday, and with each feeding that arrived, she seemed more and more aggressive for Mab's milk. Fae milk was notoriously addictive, especially within the species. It was indescribably sweet, and naturally possessed a charm that made the drinker never feel full of it. Now, that typically occurred with mortals, and often was a sneaky way to lead to their death, but Mab could see sometimes in Moira Melania's eyes that once she was pulled from her mother she was starving.
There was a knock at the door and it swung open. Leah tentatively entered, holding her hands at her sides.
"I can come back," the girl said. "If you are feeding her."
"Please, come and sit down," Mab said softly. "She is tugging at me like an animal. You have this odd calming effect on her. If you sit perhaps she will nurse much more tamely."
Leah came and sat at the foot of Mab's bed and Moira Melania turned her head to gaze at her, Mab's nipple hanging out of her mouth.
"Praise the gods," Mab sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. The infant's sucking was visibly calmed, and Moira Melania's eyes were beginning to close.
"It is odd to watch you feed her," Leah said, reaching out to touch the baby's thick dark hair. "I suppose I never envisioned you as the nursing type."
"I want her to have the best of everything," Mab said, looking down at the infant. "And I want the same for you, which is why I must set some guidelines."
"I thought her cuteness had distracted you from setting rules," Leah said, a hopeful expression on her face. Mab smirked, shaking her head.
"Rule number one," the Queen began, placing a finger on her baby's cheek. "Under no circumstances are you permitted to gallivant through my kingdom bedding faes of either sex. I was extremely promiscuous in my youth and I gained a terrible reputation for it. Besides the reputation, it broke poor Idath's heart and you will not want to have to convince someone special that you are faithful. It is a heartbreaking thing to have defend your faith in anything."
"Second, and probably final rule, as I am tired of rules already," Mab said. "You are not to flip back and forth between a committed deal with Far Dorcha, and a casual relationship. You must decide this moment whether or not you will go to bed with him again, and I highly recommend deciding against it. He is a malevolent spirit, as I am, and he will stop at nothing to get his way. I refuse to watch him hurt you."
Mab paused a moment, and then looked as though she remembered something.
"This will be the final rule," she declared, reaching out to touch Leah's hand. "I think it would be highly beneficial for you to educate yourself on fae life. You are grossly unaware of the complexity of our spirit and our emotion. You are in a completely different body, whether or not you recognize it, and you must know yourself. I will answer any questions you have. You must not be afraid to inquire."
"Is all this understood?"
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:55am
"You best not ever expect me to serve you in that sense again"
Leah looked at her with a hurt expression unsure why Mab was so angry.
But she dried herself off and found some clothes, hiding her marks, suddenly feeling ashamed of them.
Mab was nursing the baby when she entered the room.
"Under no circumstances are you permitted to gallivant through my kingdom bedding faes of either sex. I was extremely promiscuous in my youth and I gained a terrible reputation for it.
Leah smiled. "Now that sounds like too much fun."
"Then what fae am I permitted to bed if not Far Dorcha? Can I not use him as he uses me?" Leah suggested. "He still owes me a promise I can make use of at any time."
Idath sensed a shadow hanging over his land. The ride of the Slaugh in their strength had not chased away the ominous presence. He counted the souls he could sense within his kingdom. Five less than yesterday. Each day was the same. More people were missing. "Far Dorocha" Idath summoned.
"Yes, milord?" the dark man had appeared behind him on bended knee.
"I have Vortigern's soul in my keeping." Idath lightly touched a dark blue jar in front of him. "But where is Viviane's soul? I assume you must have seen it pass the gates."
"I am not sure, milord. I sense the shadow has been collecting certain souls that pass through the gates as well as our own people."
"Do you think this nameless menance is building an army somewhere?"
"Possibly."
"It may be time to form an alliance between the elements once more."
"Water and Air are in accord for the first time in a long time." Far dorcha offered. "But I do not know if Earth can be woken or if Fire wants to come out and play."
"Mab may not feel the need to move until she feels the pressure on her own kind." Idath mused. "Perhaps the shadow does not wish to attract her attention right away."
Idath shook his head. "I am loath to draw her into this anyway, it could put Moira in danger."
Ariel, Queen of Water and Light, watched Leah's image in a bubble of water. A single tear slid down her face as she watched Leah and Far dorcha make love.
True, they had parted ways because of Ariel's duties as a new queen, but it still hurt to watch.
Ariel's mermaids were scattered around her, basking in the twilight of the water. Her people were disappearing and other than reassuring the ones that were left, she didn't know what to do. Darkness she had never known swam through the waters of the world now, and her Light didn't seem to have any affect on it.
She stood up, her white diamond gown swished around her legs and bare feet, and began to pace. The light that reflected off her dress darted around the crystal palace at the bottom of the lake. Her thoughts bounced around her head as quickly as the reflections of light and water.
Was it time to call on the Queen of Air and Darkness for help? But whatever aid she asked would have to be repaid in the future. Was she willing to put herself in debt to another ruler so quickly? Was there a better option she was overlooking?
Loke, lord of Fire and Emotions, tapped a foot on the rock below. His fiery impatience was well-known, only matched by his sister Queen Mab. With a glance, fire sprouted and burned its way in lines down the rock face.
But the rocks did not burn.
It would take more power than this to wake the sleeping Mountain King, lord of Earth and the Will.
If the Mountain King's will was to remain asleep, then asleep he would remain. Nothing could match his insufferable stubbornness and unmoving, unchanging character.
Well, perhaps Mab could. Loke thought with a sardonic smile. If the Mountain King and Queen Mab ever decided to have a contest of stubbornness, Loke suspected they would wait to the end of time or longer to win.
Viviane, the Mountain King's old friend, was dead, and Loke wasn't sure if the Mountain King would take to Ariel as well as he had taken to Viviane. Ariel was more proactive, more like Mab in that respect. Viviane had been mostly passive, just like the Mountain King.
Loke sighed. In any case, it would take more than one elemental power to get stone-head to wake up.