Official Reckoning Read online

  The last word came out as a scream as her pussy tightened around me. I gasped for breath as her pleasure washed over me like a wave, quickly joined by that of her sisters as she pulled me closer. She didn’t want me to stop, I knew, so I kept working, filling her over and over, rolling my thrusts. The exertion burned in my core, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

  I didn’t want to, either. I pushed myself harder and brought her along for the ride.

  My eyes went to Braire and Norel again. The beastmistress was laying over Norel, her head between Norel’s thighs, her lips and tongue plying her pussy as she straddled Norel’s face, having the same done to her.

  A delicious view, and more than distracting enough that my hips started bucking hard into Aliana, rocking the bed roughly as I came deep inside her.

  “Oh… fuck, Aliana,” I gasped, trying to breathe normally, but nothing about my body seemed willing to cooperate without every inch of me focusing on the task. I came down from my climax, and laid on top of her as her hands lightly trailed up and down my sides, which sent tingles rushing up and down my body. The aftershocks of our climaxes made me shiver softly.

  “Well,” Aliana murmured in my ear as she stroked my cheek with her fingertips. “That felt like you had a beast inside you that needed to get out.”

  “Well, I have a good deal of control over myself now,” I replied, my voice lower since the other two were already drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms. “But sometimes that control needs to… break free, I suppose.”

  “I don’t mind,” Aliana whispered, still playing with my hair as she lightly kissed my cheek and let me feel her smile. “I don’t mind you manhandling me like that one bit.”

  I gently disengaged and dropped onto the bed beside her. She turned onto her side. Her wings stretched once they were out from under her as she reached over to pull me closer, then laid her head on my chest.

  I enjoyed it when she played with my hair. It was nice when she laid her head on my chest too, and let me play with her hair and a bit with her horns. Such odd things in abstract, but it was a part of her that I adored, now. I kissed the crown of her head before I settled back and drifted off to sleep.

  10

  Morning came a bit earlier than I would have liked. The sun was hidden under a heavy cloud cover with light drizzles of rain coming down every hour or so. Only for a few minutes at a time, but that was all that was needed to make the day drearier than it already was.

  The troop of Lancers readied themselves to ride out. Norel, Aliana, and Braire helped them with the horses and the packs. I mostly just followed their lead, and helped the Lancers carry the sacks of supplies that they’d need out of the palace.

  A few hours after daybreak they were finally finished with the details. The whole group of two dozen or so men waited out in the terrible weather once we were done. When the Official finally decided to come out of the palace, decked out in the full grandeur of her office, I couldn’t help a little bit of annoyance to see her nice and dry and well-rested for the trip.

  “Kind of you to join us,” I growled under my breath. Norel quickly and subtly shook her head at me, trying to stop me from doing what she thought I was probably about to. Sure, I had the impulse to knock her off her horse with a blast, hopefully into some puddles, for the stunt she’d pulled the night before. It was a nice impulse, something to fire up my belly.

  Not that I would have done it. I drew a deep breath. She appeared to have heard what I said, and turned to look at me. I couldn’t make out any discernible expression on her face as one of the servants brought her horse from the stable; a tall, powerful-looking speckled gelding that she smoothly mounted.

  “Daylight is being spent as we stand and grow ever more infirm, gentlemen,” Faye snapped at the Lancers, who quickly mounted their horses. I eyed the one that had been brought for me. Sure, I’d ridden before. Two, maybe three times in my life. As a familiar, I’d been expected to walk pretty much everywhere. A few occasions required me to travel quicker. After that, during the time spent with Aliana and Norel, any travelling done had been on foot or through portals, which left me staring at the warhorse that had been brought for me with a bit of trepidation.

  “Mount up, Varion, or you will be left behind,” Faye snapped, drawing her horse closer to me for the comment before heeling the beast forward into a short gallop. I scowled at her and flipped her a middle finger before I placed my foot in the stirrup and mounted.

  The horse, thankfully, wasn’t easily agitated or hard to control. I settled into the saddle, quickly remembering the lessons taken what felt like a lifetime ago as I gripped the reins, slipped my other foot into the opposite stirrup, and made sure that I wouldn’t fall off backward if the horse suddenly took off.

  It didn’t. If anything, it seemed like it didn’t even notice that I was on his back.

  “You wouldn’t want to forget this, Varion,” Aliana said, coming up on my left. She attached my sword to the saddle, strapping it in place before she placed a hand on my thigh.

  “Thank you, my lady,” I replied with a smile and a deferential nod as I nudged the horse forward a step, clicking my tongue softly.

  This had been Aliana’s work, of course, getting me a calmer horse to ride, making it easier for someone with my lack of experience. I gripped the beast with my thighs and balanced myself as the horse picked up its walk, following the rest of the Lancers. The three elves quickly mounted up on horses of their own, smaller than the creatures that the Lancers, the Official, or I were using, but they looked sleeker, faster.

  I remembered Braire saying that elves never used horses in battle, but the way they all mounted showed their comfort in the saddle, meaning that at some point they would have had to ride.

  Then again, as old as they were, I assumed that they would have tried pretty much anything that the world threw at them. Faye’s words to me from the night before still rang in my memory as I glanced back, waiting for the three of them to catch up.

  “Have you ever ridden before, Grant?” Braire asked, as she grinned and reached out to punch me in the shoulder. I shuddered in place as even the light tap made me struggle to keep my balance. “Wow, never before, eh?”

  “Not never,” I snarled back at her as I righted myself and drew a deep breath, then straightened my back. “Just… a long time ago.”

  Braire grinned. “Well, you just have to remember to grip with your thighs, don’t tug the reins too roughly, and try to get in rhythm with the horse. Kind of like… well, I don’t think you’ve ever… but sort of like how I… when we…”

  Braire wasn’t usually one to be tongue-tied about our relationship, but as I looked around, I saw Faye watching us out of the corner of her eye. She’d fallen back in the ranks of Lancers riding toward the edge of the city. Like she was hanging back to watch us.

  Braire noticed it, too, and broke away from talking to me to heel her horse forward. She galloped a little way toward where Faye suddenly straightened her eyeline to watch the rest of the troop.

  A little smirk came to my face as I heard Braire berate the woman. I couldn’t make out exactly what she said, since she kept her voice down and all anyone could hear was the cacophony of horse hooves pounding the cobbles, but from the offended and slightly intimidated look on her face, I inferred that Braire was taking no prisoners with her commentary on the Official. By the end of it, Faye had no answer, which resulted in her kicking her horse to a greater speed to overtake the rest of her men, possibly feeling that there was safety in numbers.

  Faye didn’t seem like she was easy to intimidate. Then again, I’d been on the receiving end of Braire’s foul moods and they were hard to handle. Even so, having an Official back away from a confrontation like that in front of all of her soldiers did feel odd, especially the way that she didn’t even offer any kind of resistance. Like she was afraid to actually engage with Braire.

  I narrowed my eyes at Braire, who came around to ride at us with a bit of a grin.
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  “I’ve been wanting to do that to her since last night,” Braire chuckled at me as she brought her horse alongside mine. She looked like she was the only one who was having fun with all of this, and I had to admit, her enjoyment was a little infectious. The Official did have it coming. The only downside was that I hadn’t gotten to do it myself.

  Braire reached out to punch me in the shoulder again but I managed to evade it, feeling a little more comfortable in my saddle than before.

  “We should probably try to keep up with them,” Norel said softly, although the hint of a smirk on her lips indicated that she’d enjoyed watching Braire take the Official on as well.

  I had to think that there would be some consequences to antagonizing Faye the way that we were. Sure, she had been antagonistic at first, but she was a representative of the Emperor, and was expected to put his needs above that of the regular, common folk. And while the Lancers that had fought alongside us and the rest of the elves had been much more accepting of us, I would have to be blind not to notice that all the men selected for this mission were the ones who had come with her from the south.

  I assumed that if Faye was going to make any move against us, she would at least wait until we were out of the city. It was a worrying thought, but the way that she seemed terrified of the three told me that if she tried something, it wouldn’t be as outright as stabbing us in the back.

  Most of the first day was spent riding through the cleared and cut roads closer to the Imperial City on the way to the western border. Small towns and villages greeted us with mixed emotions. Those that encountered us paused and watched, studying the group of armed and armored men passing by them on horseback.

  A small walled city came into view as night fell. Spending the whole day in the saddle had been torturous, and left me feeling bruised and aching all over my body as I struggled to stay on. I wasn’t used to this. I didn’t like it. I doubted I would have felt like this if we had walked. I tried not to share my situation through the bond, though, since I was embarrassed by it. I couldn’t sense any such thing spreading over from their end, which meant that I was the only one.

  We could have taken a portal to the western border, just the four of us, forcing Faye and her Lancers to ride all the way themselves. We could hunt down something to do, I was sure.

  “Alert!” came the cry from behind us. “To arms! Enemies! Alert!”

  I looked at the other three as I turned my horse, then gritted my teeth as the ache grew worse with the movement. I tried to see what had our rearguard rushing toward us. He was one of the Lancers, decked out in full weapons and armor, and while his sword was drawn, it looked like he’d picked discretion as the better part of valor.

  I reached over to my left side and pulled my sword clear of its sheath with the ring of steel gliding over leather. There was movement down the road. A group of villagers was rushing toward the city, and from the terror I heard in their screams, their hurry wasn’t just to beat the gates closing.

  More movement. A group of figures quickly moving after the civilians made me heel my horse into a quicker trot. I winced with each impact on the ground and tried to lift myself off the saddle, both to find some reprieve from the beating that I was taking, and to see what it was.

  The heavy, lumbering movements of golems that I’d begun to find familiar made me curse softly as I pushed the horse into a gallop and tried to cut between the monsters and the innocent travelers.

  They quickly parted and let me through just in time as I rushed in quicker than the rest of the troop. I kept my drawn blade in hand as I looked over the numbers that pursued the villagers.

  It wasn’t a particularly large group, but out in the open like this, their superior numbers would be difficult to deal with. Flat and open areas tended to favor the larger numbers. Every book I’d ever read said that.

  I considered charging into the thick of it on horseback, as was usually expected in battle situations like this, but I quickly reconsidered. I had trouble staying on at a gallop in the first place. Plus, there was added danger if I fell, since even if I didn’t break anything, I’d no doubt be trampled by angry undead and golems. It wasn’t my best choice.

  Besides. Despite my discomfort, I’d grown a little attached to the large beast during the day we’d spent together.

  I jumped down from the saddle and gave the horse, whose name I still didn’t know, a light pat on the neck as I walked out bow-legged into the middle of the road and watched the monsters approach. They were less than fifty paces away, and I saw something different about them. They looked bulkier, somehow.

  “Well, this isn’t dignified,” I growled and looked down as I tried to get my legs to work properly. A whole day spent in the saddle had me walking a little awkwardly. I shook my head and brought my mind back into focus. I looked around to confirm that the elves and the Lancers were putting together an organized attack, which told me that I might have moved a bit too impulsively when I put myself out in the front like this, especially since the monsters charged a lot faster. Sure, I’d done this to save the civilians behind me, but I wasn’t going to do them much good if the monsters just trampled over me.

  I inhaled and tried to stay calm, then reached into that dark pool inside myself as I turned to see that the horse I’d just dismounted had calmly strolled over to where I stood.

  “Well, me saving your life doesn’t work if you just put yourself in harm’s way again, dummy,” I growled. The horse showed no indication that it understood what I was saying. It never did. And yet, it was the only beast stupid enough to stand at my side at the moment. All it did was dip its head and browse through some of the grass that grew on the side of the road.

  I wondered if that was a commentary on the horse’s bravery or my idiocy. I would have to figure that out later. Assuming I survived.

  As the beasts drew closer, I saw what made them look bulkier. The undead looked pretty much the same, but the golems looked like they wore some kind of armor. The common brown and red of their skins was covered by something steely and grey. Some of them used tree trunks as breastplates. The one closest to me looked like it had fashioned a crude sort of helmet.

  It was only a matter of time before these monsters started to use weapons, and that would make getting rid of them that much more difficult.

  “Fuck you all,” I growled and pooled my power into my sword as they came into striking distance. “Just…fuck you.”

  With those elegant parting words, I stepped forward. The runes on the sword turned into a bright white light that washed over the whole of the blade. The runes in my hand burned painfully, but I had started to get used to that sensation by now. I sucked in a deep breath and let loose.

  The white light that pulsed on the blade suddenly released and lashed out in a wide arc as I swung the sword forward. The helmeted golem seemed to recognize the danger it was in, and quickly backed away. Not quickly enough, though, as the light cut smoothly through its neck and sent it stumbling back. The undead around it struggled to get out of the way to avoid being crushed.

  Just enough power, I thought with a grim smile, and watched the undead monsters rush at me. Their glowing green eyes gave me a sick sensation in the pit of my stomach. I jumped forward, the runes in the steel still gleaming a bright white. I kept my balance and swung the blade around to chop at the exposed necks of the monsters. Two of them fell away. I thought that I’d struggle to keep my balance after being on horseback for that long, but in the heat of the fight, the pains and aches faded. They didn’t disappear, but moved to the back of my mind to be dealt with later.

  I stepped back to avoid an ax swung for my chest and offered a quick riposte which sent the creature stumbling back. Black smoke came from the wound on its neck. That was new, I thought, and backpedaled as another golem charged forward. The undead rushed out of its way as quickly as they could. Again, it seemed like the undead followed the golems around without any real leadership from the massive, hulking creatures.


  I hurried back and flooded my blade with power. Just as I was about to strike at the monster, the horse came forward and neighed powerfully as it rose on its hind legs. Its forelegs bashed three powerful strikes into the golem’s face and knocked it to the ground. I stepped in to finish the job and quickly removed the head as the horse spun around and kicked out with its hind legs to keep the undead at bay as I moved around to the front. I used the power that I’d stored in the blade to sweep at the rest of the beasts around us, fighting together with the horse to keep it from being injured or killed as it fought to protect me, too.

  “You’re welcome!” Braire’s voice shouted over the din. I realized that the Lancers had all dismounted and joined the fight. I glanced toward her voice. Braire stood a few feet away from me and grinned as she tossed her pebble forward to summon her beasts into the fight. A huge wolf dove into the fray, crushing one group of monsters as it drove another group back.

  “Welcome for what?” I shifted to face Braire now that we had a bit of reprieve, although I kept an eye on the fight as well.

  “Controlling an animal in the middle of a fight is rather difficult to do,” she replied and grinned cheekily. “But I couldn’t leave you in the middle of it without at least some help. Even if it was a horse’s help.”

  “Ah,” I grunted, as I realized that my horse stepping into the fight had been at her request, although the sight of a huge wolf and a snake had spooked the poor animal badly enough that it galloped back the way we’d come.

  “Do you have something you want to say to me?” Braire asked, still smirking at me.

  “Many thanks, my lady,” I said with a flourish and a bow that was quickly interrupted as one of the few remaining golems charged at me with a soundless roar. Once again, as I raised my blade to defend myself, someone interceded, but this time a good deal more directly as a powerful bolt of red and yellow struck it in the chest. After a moment of pause that gave the creature a second to look down at where the bolt landed, a rumble was all the warning that came as the creature exploded into a thousand pieces and sent chunks of itself into the monsters surrounding it.