Out of the Shadows, Part 33

The convent burns as you descend into the nightmare.

You can see nuns dying everywhere, putting up brave resistance only to be mercilessly cut down by fell magic. Their blood stains the white of the snowy courtyard as wave upon wave of shadowy figures swarm into it. A scene of carnage, of sadistic brutality.

And your mistress is in the middle of it all. Screaming, begging for them to stop the massacre of the only family she'd ever known. She tries to intervene herself... only to be thwarted by the cruel helplessness of such dreams. Her movements are slow and sluggish, allowing her to stumble in the direction she wants to move, but never quite fast enough.

Lily lets out a heart-wrenching wail as she watches High Priest Nergan close in on an elderly woman, doubtless the Mother Superior she told you about. But before he reaches her, you land in the courtyard between Lily and them, the snow swirling about you. Lily looks up, wide-eyed, as you wrap your arms around her, lowering her to her knees as you fold your black-feathered wings over her in a canopy. "Wh-what? How are you... how are you here?"

You nudge the dream just a little, blocking out the sound from the surrounding scene, creating a tiny bubble of calm, sequestered from the grotesque violence. "It's okay..." you say softly into her ear. "It's going to be alright, Lily. This isn't real. None of this is happening. It's just a dream. Just the past. You've already faced this. You've already survived."

As you speak, you use your newfound power to guide her thoughts out of the confused haze of sleep, bringing her into a state of lucid dreaming. She gives a quick gasp, tensing in your arms as she realizes her vulnerable position. As a summoner, she must know how dangerous it is to let her demon so close to her like this. That if an incubus has you like this... it's already too late.

But... you decide not to take advantage. Not when she's in such misery. Instead you simply hold her tight, quietly reassuring her as her terror slowly fades. And after many long seconds... she even relaxes into you. Her trembling body feels even smaller than her robes let on. And for a while you simply remain that way, as the girl allows herself a moment of true weakness, that she cannot afford to show the waking world, the tears falling down her face as she cries for the people she's lost.

Eventually, though, she does pull away, wiping an arm across her face. "Thank you..." she says, gratitude shining in her eyes. "But... how are you even doing this?"

"A new power that I developed," you explain. "Much like my Shapeshifting. This is my first time trying it out. I thought I would use it to let you know that Khaytala and I are on our way back. We have good news... and more allies."

Lily's eyes widen. "You brought Verika over to our side too?" she asks, her face lighting up. "Oh that's wonderful!"

"Her... and one more," you say, before launching into a description of the events leading up to the capture of Velaria. You regale your young mistress with the tale, your animated account causing the scenes of the nightmare slip even further from Lily's thoughts. She's understandably shocked to hear that you picked up the Matriarch of the Underworld as a side-trophy of your quest... but as you expertly weave a story of reconciled sisters snatched from a twisted den of malice, you see her accept it.

"Isn't there anything more we can do?" she asks, once you've finished. "For the Underworld, I mean. It all just sounds so... miserable."

"Probably not in an overt way," you say. "At least... not right now. Even as weakened as they are, we don't have enough loyal troops yet to take any direct action. We could use diplomacy and espionage, though. Verika still has the shadowgate, so we can send her on missions there. And she can bring along anyone else we want."

You don't mention it aloud—not even here in Lily's dream—but you're also considering what Verika suggested about the practical benefits of disrupting the worship of Melca in one of the two nations where her religion is enshrined. Depending on how much effort you wanted to focus on it, that could deal a noticeable blow to the goddess' power.

Though if you went that route, you would have to time it carefully, and weigh the consequences of when you made your intentions clear. Melca clearly doesn't have any problem with infighting among her servants over who holds power... but the instant you make a deliberate move against her worship, you fully expect retaliation.

And you can't forget the blackmail the sadistic goddess has over you, her threat to reveal your location to the Lust Queen...

You talk with your mistress for a while longer, focusing on soothing and comforting her, taking her mind off the past she just experienced again. Eventually you see her start to fade away, as the dream winds toward its conclusion. Still, as her dream-self vanishes, you see her gaze up at you with an expression of deep gratitude and trust. "Thank you," she whispers. "Thank you so much."

And with that, you find yourself back in your physical body. You exhale, before lying back onto your bedroll, staring up at the tent above you. Considering plans for your next move.

You do eventually fall asleep yourself. When you rise the next morning, you're rested and ready to continue your journey. After several more days of travel, you catch your first glimpse of the enormous stone walls that mark out Kovora's border. Before long you've reached them, the orcs manning the battlements allowing you through, excited whispers passing between them at the drow in your company. No doubt the guards are wondering if it really means what they suspect. That another of their feared adversaries has been conquered.

Passing through the gate, you ride across the plain toward the fortress, entering it as well. On your way to see the Witch Queen, you drop by the barracks of the loyalist orcs that you've bound with your Corruptive Boon, who you left on guard duty. You intend merely to check on how they're doing, to see if there were any disturbances while you were gone.

You walk in on a knife fight.

One of the participants is Ghazar, the leader of the squad. The other is the vengeful young assassin girl, who you left under their care to work off her sentence for trying to murder Khaytala. Your eyebrows go up... but the mood you read from the room, even from the two combatants, isn't nearly so serious as it might appear at first glance.

The two of them circle each other warily. Towering, muscular orc and petite human teen. She makes a few exploratory swipes, blade lashing out in a reverse grip, but Ghazar doesn't react, just continues to circle. "Don't just make attacks out of frustration, girl," he rumbles, punctuating the advice with a measured lunge of his own that forces the girl to scamper back. "If you're too far away for it to even work as a feint, you're just wasting your energy."

Several more orcs are watching the fight, some of the rowdy spectators cheering on the show. Surprisingly, a few are even giving good-natured support to the girl, calling out their own suggestions. Nor is it only the orcs who are watching. The drow women you captured from the raiding party and bound to your service are all here as well. Many of them are in the process of satisfying the increased libido that you inflicted them with, whether kneeling dutifully between the orcs' legs and sucking their cocks, or lying flat on one of the bunks, looking up adoringly at the orc fucking them into the mattress.

It's not universal, however. You do notice one of the sorceress drow sitting off practicing her magic. She's naked and disheveled, sure—clearly having been fucked to satiation already—but she's still taking the time to hone her skills. A few other drow are even clothed, sitting in the laps of some of the spectators, cheering on the assassin girl as the orcs leisurely grope them.

Past all of them, out in the adjoining archery range, you even catch sight of a mixed group of drow and orcs taking turns firing at a distant target, with the drow giving the occasional pointer on the orcs' form. Flirty pointers, of course, their curvaceous bodies rubbing up against the orcs whenever they adjust their aim, in a way that leaves little doubt what their fate will be once the archery practice is over. Still, it's an interesting development.

As you watch, the assassin girl makes another lunge, but this time Ghazar catches her wrist, twisting it around behind her in an armlock and slamming her facedown across a table before bringing his own knife around with the other hand, holding the cold steel against her throat. She moans, shuddering in a small orgasm at the power he has over her. "Fuuuuck..." she manages to say. "Damn it, you bastard. One of these days... One of these days I'm going to show you..."

Ghazar chuckles, a deep rumble. "Sure you are," he says tolerantly. "Just remember our wager. All you need to do is draw blood... and then you can ride me however you want for that day. Just keep practicing your knifework... if you really want that. But for now..."

He tosses the knife aside, then wrenches down her pants while still holding her bent over the table. "For now, all I see is a needy little cunt, desperate for some orc cock."

The girl struggles in his grasp, no doubt intended to look like resistance. But she does a particularly poor job of hiding how excited she is, and it comes off more like she's wriggling her ass enticingly. Ghazar wastes no time, thrusting deep into her dripping snatch and beginning to fuck the defeated girl over the table.

You observe his technique with approval. Really, all the orcs seem to have taken your lessons to heart, and are now experiencing for themselves how much better it feels in both directions when they take even their victims' pleasure into account. Once you've seen enough, you step more fully into the room. Ghazar looks up as you enter, though he does not stop fucking the girl. "Sir!"

You nod in acknowledgment. "I see you're helping the drow settle in," you observe with a smirk. "Did anything of note happen while I was gone?"

Ghazar nods. "There was," he says. Then he reaches down and cups his hand under the girl's chin, lifting her head to look you in the eye as he continues to ravish her. "It was actually this one who saw it. After enough fucking, she... ah... warmed up to us enough that we could put her as another pair of eyes on patrol. And she was the one who noticed someone trying to sneak out of camp."

"A spy?"

"That's what the bigshots say. Supposedly, she was one of Warchief Varthurg's personal slaves. Captured in a raid on a Vekmar village a while back. So you can imagine how furious he is, to find out one of his own possessions was working against him. Been howling for her majesty to hand the girl over to him, so he can see to her death personally."

Ah. So this spy was one of the girls who Lily couldn't get out of the orcish camp. Striking back at her tormentors in the only way she could. You can't imagine your mistress handing such a girl over to death, let alone to the sort of hideous tortures that an enraged, vengeful Varthurg would inflict. "I take it that the Witch Queen didn't let that happen?"

"Her majesty shut him down hard," agrees Ghazar. "She hasn't made an official judgment yet, but it will probably be soon."

You nod, then reach down and pet the assassin's head. "Good girl..." you tell her. "You did a good job." She blushes at your words, even as she's being taken hard from behind. She also starts to take a more active role in her violation after you praise her, starting to move in time with Ghazar's thrusts, wanting to show you how obedient she truly is underneath.

You grin, then glance back up at Ghazar. "What about the drow? Are they ready to serve as well?"

"Think so," says Ghazar. "They crumbled even faster than this one, really. Not like they even have anywhere else to go. Not after failing so badly. They're dead if they go back home... and it's not like anywhere else trusts drow."

Then he laughs. "And they've done wonders for recruitment. Hearing that the Witch Queen's chosen get elf pussy has made a lot more soldiers want to join up."

Another bit of promising news. You'll need to give any new recruits the same ultimatum you gave the first group, of course, along with binding them to those obligations as part of the Corruptive Boon that marks them as your loyal force. But between your skill with words and the raw temptation of your Boon, you don't anticipate much trouble convincing them how superior your way is to everything they've known so far.

"Excellent," you say. "I'll leave you to it then." With that you turn and head toward the Witch Queen's tower, with the gasps and cries and screams of pleasure a pleasant sound behind you.

Kelissa sees you as you approach the tower, and the maid is joyful at your return. You've suceeded not just once, but twice now, and you can start to see real hope in her eyes, even as she looks at Verika in awe. But the maid recovers quickly, and leads you up to the Witch Queen's study.

As Kelissa opens the door, you see that once again Lily is working on papers spread out across her writing desk. This time, however, Rysanial is helping her. The succubus—her own task apparently complete—sits on one corner of the desk, her body coiled coquettishly as she points down at certain papers, giving suggestions. You see Lily giggle at some joke that Rysanial made, before looking up upon hearing you enter.

She's better prepared for your return this time, knowing from the dream that you would be arriving soon. But even so, the smile that breaks across her face upon seeing you is radiant. Then she turns to Verika, still a little nervous, though not nearly so nervous as she was the first time, with Khaytala.

Of course, this time Verika is more prepared as well, having both Khaytala's testimony and the knowledge of your deeper plan against Melca. Even so, the drow ranger still regards the Witch Queen for several long seconds, gazing into those hopeful eyes... before finally sighing.

"Alright, alright," she admits to Khaytala, holding up her hands in defeat. "I see what you meant about her now." Khaytala's smile in response may, perhaps, be just a little smug. But you feel she's earned it.

You let Lily and Verika spend a while getting to know each other better, their initially halting conversation quickly becoming more natural as your mistress gives the same sort of explanations she gave Khaytala. Still, when there is finally a lull, you do interject. "By the way," you say. "I heard something about a spy that was captured recently? What is the latest on that matter?"

Lily's face falls a bit. "Oh..." she says, downcast. "Yes. Many of the details still aren't clear, but... our best guess is that an agent of Vekmar slipped in and made contact with one of Varthurg's slaves, convincing her to spy on his war plans and pass information back to help her homeland. She was caught before she could make the rendezvous... but the agent got away."

Fortunate you had set the orcs on guard duty, then. Since if the meeting had been successful, the slave girl would almost certainly have passed along the knowledge that Khaytala is working for Kovora now, as well as the involvement of an incubus.

Still... it's doubtful she was the only spy. Even if you've bought yourself a little extra time, at the rate word is spreading it probably won't be any more than one more mission at the very most before the heroines realize what is going on.

Lily, meanwhile, is continuing. "I... can't blame her for what she did. The cruel things Varthurg does to his slaves... it's only natural that she would want to strike back against her enemies. Even if that includes me. I can't kill her for that."

"I understand," you say. "But what do you want to do instead?"

"I... guess there are two things we could try," she says. "But... I wanted to hear which one you think is better. Since you're the one going out to face the heroines. And this will affect your efforts. One possibility is we could keep her here. Hold her in my tower, at least until the heroines figure out what we're doing anyway."

Interesting. That approach would keep the heroines in the dark over what had happened to Khaytala, probably allowing you one final hunt where your prey had no forewarning about Lily's plan at all. On the other hand, it would keep the spy around and within Varthurg's reach to agitate and target, potentially causing unrest in the populace with her as an aim. It might also increase outside animosity toward Kovora a bit, if any heroines that learn that such a tragic spy was lost and they assume the worst.

"Or..." Lily continues. "We could just send her back to her homeland. Maybe... like we're using her as a messenger?"

That approach would certainly not be popular with the hardliners either... though it would at least quickly put the decision beyond further debate, not leaving them a concrete target close at hand for them to rally their anger against. You could also try to spin it (in Kovora) as a show of strength, of contempt for the heroines, defying their efforts to resist. And on the heroine side, the Witch Queen's display of mercy, at risk to her own efforts, might put an extra crack of doubt in some of their defenses, however small. Still, it would mean that word about Khaytala's fate would reach their ears significantly faster.