Prologue, Part 6

You're not entirely sure what you were expecting from someone with a title like the Witch Queen of Kovora, but you're pretty sure it wasn't anything like the girl standing in front of you now. You look up at her from your kneeling position... but even kneeling, you don't need to look up as far as you might have thought to meet her gaze.

An iron circlet adorns her head, and her slender figure is covered by long, black ceremonial robes that don't quite fit her, probably an ancestral garment passed down from some previous bearer of her title. She holds a staff in her right hand, its darkened wood ancient and gnarled, with a red crystal at its top that glows with a subtle light.

Her blonde hair runs over her shoulder and down to her waist in a long, straight ponytail. She's trying her best to keep her expression calm and confident as she faces you down... but you can read the tension in her frame, the anxiety in her pale blue eyes as she comes face to face with a demon of lust incarnate.

Interesting. The flaw you noticed in the spell earlier makes a lot more sense now. She's clearly a neophyte at this. A talented neophyte, perhaps. Certainly one with a great deal of power backing her, along with access to some highly advanced spells. But she's out of her depth here. And she clearly knows that, too.

Which raises the question of why she chose to do something so reckless anyway.

You rise gracefully to your feet, glancing around the stone walls of the mostly-empty room. It looks like you're in some kind of tower—and pretty high up, too, if what little you can see out the nearby balcony is any indication.

Now that you are no longer kneeling and bent over, however, it becomes much more obvious that you are, in fact, completely naked. You don't particularly mind—you certainly have nothing to be ashamed of—but it does seem to fluster the young Witch Queen a bit.

"Ah. I... I see..." the girl says, her eyes fixed firmly on your face, her own cheeks flushing adorably as she makes a valiant attempt to preserve the dignity of the moment. "I... I... I suppose I should have anticipated that a being from the Second Circle might... ah... have different views... on the matter of clothing."

Sure... you can go with that. Your current lack of clothing is entirely due to your innate incubus indecency. It's certainly not because you were right in the middle of an impromptu tryst with one succubus when you got your ass ignominiously kicked by a second, making little things like "pants" a secondary consideration to running for your life. Not at all.

"But... but while you are here, you will need to dress appropriately!" she continues hurriedly, before spinning away. "Kelissa! Kelissa!"

It is not long before a woman in a maid's uniform emerges from a stairway connecting this room to the one below it. She appears human as well, with short black hair and brown eyes. She's older than her mistress—looking to be at least in her early to mid twenties—and with a notably fuller figure to boot. "Yes, your majesty?" she says. "How may I help you?"

"Kelissa, I need some clothes for... for a new ally of ours," the Witch Queen says, gesturing to you.

The maid looks you up and down, showing no sign of surprise at your demonic features, whether your black-feathered wings, your red-tinted skin or the horns running back along the sides of your head. In contrast to her young charge she remains unflappable and professional, even as she examines every inch of your body. "Yes, your majesty," she replies with a small bow of the head. "I shall come back as soon as I have found appropriate garments."

"Thank you, Kelissa," the queen says gratefully. And even after her maid departs, the younger girl seems calmer, as though the conversation had centered her. It's obvious that she both relies on and cares for that particular woman.

Drawing in a deep breath, then letting it out, she turns to face you once again. She's more composed now, and while you can still see hints of fear buried in those youthful features when she looks at you, she presses on anyway. "I... I know you must have many questions," she says. "I will explain as much as I can. As I said before, the reason that I summoned you is because a group of heroines have joined their forces, pledging themselves to... to kill me."

She abruptly turns, walking out onto the balcony you'd noticed earlier. You follow, and from that vantage point you can see much more of the surroundings spread out before you. The tower you're in is actually just one part of a brooding stone fortress. You can see farmlands spreading out across the surrounding plain, though they do not look very healthy to your—admittedly inexperienced—eye, and you doubt that their yields are particularly bountiful.

You can also see an immense stone wall further on, outlining what you presume are the borders of this realm. You also see several huge, disorganized camps scattered across the plain, each with a different battle standard flying. Looking closer, you can tell that they are all different Orcish tribes, though they all cluster around the largest camp, probably that of their warchief. Her army, you suppose.

But right now, the Witch Queen's gaze is focused off into the distance, in the direction you assume her enemies are. "They'll be coming for me soon," she says, her voice small and quiet. "Probably leading armies too. And they won't stop. Not until either I'm dead, or all of them are."

Then she looks up at you, a small glimmer of hope-against-hope in her eyes. "But then... I had an idea. There might be another way. I remembered the stories about... about beings like you. Beings who could tempt even the righteous and noble away from their path. And I thought... what if you could do that here, to them? I mean... make those heroines f-fall in love with you. If you did that... then maybe none of the rest of it would have to happen?"

You look down at the naïve young girl, as she chews her lower lip, waiting to hear your verdict on her plan. And at last, you understand why she would take such a risky gamble, summoning up a demon she didn't know if she could control. And why she had specifically sought out an incubus, as opposed to any other spirit that could have served better as an assassin.

Because it was the only way she could think of where nobody had to die.

You smile at the Witch Queen—a wide, toothy smile. "When do we start?"

At this point, you think you have enough of a feel for this girl to determine the general attitude you will take with her in your interactions. You may change this at a later date, but for the moment, you will approach her with an overall air of... Respect. For now, at least, you will not pressure her with any kind of sexual advances. Your immediate concern is building trust and rapport with your mistress. What you do once you have that trust, you can determine at a later time.

In addition, while you wait for Kelissa to return with your new clothes, you decide to steer the conversation toward the topic of... Summoning. Ask if she can summon your succubus as well focusing on the advantages a succubus minion could bring to your efforts.