A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 32

I took her home when I returned there, thinking that I had failed in my quest. My father told me that I had succeeded in greater measure than he had hoped, for I found my spirit in a living one and not in the land around.

It is true," she smiled, "though it took me a long time to learn to see what he meant. Ones like her are chosen as playmates for young nobles when they are young, but the mistake that everyone makes is that they think of them as playthings.

Nika is no child, though she can sometimes see things in a childlike way. Her interpretation is always good to hear when I consider a path or a choice, because her view will always be the purest one. But she is no child. We were first lovers as I continued my quest and before I brought her home, but that was long ago. We belong together and share everything,"

Nika giggled a little as she looked up for a moment. Ksyusha nodded then with a little smirk, "especially males, she reminds me, but that has not happened for a time either. She does not understand what I say in the words of it, but she knows what I am saying from my thought to say it."

As he considered, Nika became more interested in Vadren, peeking at him when she dared more and more, until her fascination overcame her and she stood before him with a questioning look on her face as she asked the warlock something.

"He is very good to look at," Nika said, "Do you think it would upset him if I sat with him? I want to touch him at least a little."

"I will see," Ksyusha said, "only be careful and do not rush. We do not know him from more than what we saw and we do not know his personality yet. But I agree with you."

Vadren understood nothing, he only knew that he liked the two of them and that he wasn't being made to in any magical way that he was aware of.

"She asks if it would be wrong to eat with you now," Ksyusha said with a little grin, "You fascinate her. She wishes to touch your skin and your hair and wonders if it might be allowed."

Vadren smiled and nodded, and then Nika was on his lap. She'd eaten her fill, but she pretended to still want a little, and before long, he found that she sat looking at him and reaching for his hair tentatively with a small smile.

"Are there none where you are from who look as I do?" he asked them both.

"No," Ksyusha replied, "Sparks are most often lighter in this form and all of them are as moving night air when they are in their natural shape. My kind is darker still – most of us – but there are none of my kind anywhere whose skin looks like yours and none of us has white hair. My friend and I are spellbound when we see you move and, ...

Nika likes you very much already. She is a little impetuous."

Vadren smiled in a bit of shock as he felt Nika hug him, her small but perfect breasts crushed against his side, "Really?" He chuckled, "How would I ever know?"

"Oh yes, I see it already," the warlock laughed, "She is only shy to begin. She likes you. She had not even met you as she flew everywhere in the mountain looking for me, yet she already liked you then. She knew that it was safe to like you."

He looked up, tilting his head, "How could she know all of that?"

Ksyusha looked down with a little smile for a moment, and then she looked up, "Because I like you, Vadren."

Ksyusha laughed a little, "You should be careful. From what I see, Nika has the beginnings of her quiet little thoughts – the dangerous ones. You may find yourself with a smallish lover very soon if you would allow it, and if that happens ..."

She looked away, "We should speak of dealing with Garrend. He will likely come to seek me if I do not drop the marker that calls him to where I am. If he comes and I am not ready ..."

Vadren nodded as he put his arm around Nika to steady her, not really thinking about it, "Yes," he said, "What are your thoughts? I can help. All of us can. How can we help to free you both?"

She outlined as much as she knew of it all, aided here and there by Nika, who interjected occasionally when she saw that Ksyusha might overlook something, and in a little while, Vadren knew all that he had to and he offered his ideas.

"Do you think that he will allow us to remain with him?" Nika asked quietly in their speech.

"I think that it is very likely now," Ksyusha said, "Why, Nika?"

Vadren wasn't looking at the moment as he considered everything, so Nika looked at him before turning her head to Ksysuha and for the briefest instant, she showed parts of her third form in her eyes and slight snout, "I just, ... Ksyusha, it is him. I am certain, and I want him as much as you. After finally seeing him like this, ... if this does not work for us, ..."

Ksyusha shook her head and Nika hid the features which she'd shown as she listened.

"No," the tiefling said flatly though in a quiet and even way so as not to draw Vadren's attention, "I am not buying another goat, Nika. They never stay and I have no more gold anymore. This will work, it must. You are always telling me to trust in what we saw. Now I say the same to you. Try to be patient."

Nika looked down, "I know. How will you do it?"

Ksyusha didn't even blink. "I do not lie, Nika. I will not hide anything from him. If he is what you have always seen, then there is more need for truth than there is for deception. Try to be a little brave and have patience," she nodded in a barely perceptible way, "I will find a way, and when I do, I will tell him everything and then both of us will need to trust your dreams. If we are wrong, we will seek farther. I do not know yet, but I cannot buy another goat."

Vadren looked at them, and Ksyusha smiled, "Nika is a little nervous over some things."

"Our plan places her a little far from things," Vadren said, "and I do not know what she can do. Will she be in any danger?"

"I do not think so," Ksyusha smiled, "The way that she sits there with you, I think that she just needs to keep you in her mind - as I have been telling her," she looked at the spark a little pointedly.

Nika ignored the look and leaned against Vadren with a smile.

Ksyusha grinned, "Perhaps we should also give a thought to after, if we may be so bold as to assume our success. My dear friend likes you very much, I see and, ... well, ... Nika and I share everything."

Vadren found himself laughing a little, since though he thought that maybe he could understand this, he was also quite taken with the pair of them. Some people can set your teeth on edge just to meet them. Getting to know Ksyusha and Nika was like finding something which might be valuable in a mysterious way, and upon closer inspection, seems even more so, and the closer one looks, ....

They got down to business then and it wasn't long before a few of the others became involved in the discussions.

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After the meal, Ksyusha opened her pack and began to remove clothing for her and Nika and the pair began to dress themselves in front of Vadren as though it was nothing. More and more, little Nika became a smallish traveler before his eyes, pulling on breeches and boots, a short-sleeved singlet and then donning a close-fitting leather hauberk.

She smiled at him as she fitted her breasts into the places for them in the garment and then began to tie it closed, carefully flexing her arms as she did to make certain that she had freedom of movement before she tied the belts and stood before him looking vaguely like a small rogue, though a rather well-armored one.

"I begin to think that you have come to the right place," Vadren laughed a little, "if Nika has the skills to match what she now wears."

"She does," he heard Ksyusha say, "When she wishes it, there are few who can detect her. Of course, when she wishes to shed those clothes because there is a different sort of fight in the wind, she shows what sparks show then. She can leave all of what she wears there in a heap in an instant.

She flies like a small whirlwind, much faster than she was when she came in here, but also, she throws her sparks then, the blue ones which flicker and knock everyone down and the red ones which look like bits of burning wood, only tiny sparks from a fire which fall to the ground slowly, but when they land, it is best not to be there.

It is said where I am from that sparks have many shapes. but really, the most that any can have is three, but they can shift in any one and appear differently - as she did when she flew, for example. This is one that she likes, and there is another, but if you know her, then one look in her eyes tells you that it is her. The third shape has horns like the first and I believe that this is where the saying comes from about her kind."

Vadren found it remarkable and he noticed that Nika was listening closely to what was said. "She seeks to learn this speech," Ksyusha said, "and it will not take her long. She learns everything very quickly and I see that she wishes to be able to speak with you. My mother was born here on this world. She knows several languages and she taught them to me but, well, she has always liked to speak Russian to me. It is her mother tongue and she was happy to have me to speak with. Nika learned enough in a day to be able to make a little small talk – and it is not an easy language to learn, but that is Nika."

Vadren looked at Ksyusha and he had to stare. She stood in heavy boots and wore a garment over her hips which was fastened with a bit of bone over a piece of mail which protected her groin. From her hips up, she was still naked and just as comfortable with it as before while she quickly re-braided her hair. When she reached the end of the braid, Nika jumped onto a chair and tied the finishing touches for her.

Ksyusha pulled on a long sleeveless leather coat which left her pretty navel and some of her stomach in view and she settled her breasts into the top which went with the other things, but her breasts were now encased in what looked like bony and somewhat skeletal fingers over the leather. Her legs were bare above the boots, but the coat covered them.

"Is – is that real bone?" he asked and she chuckled as she shook her head and said only "No."

He watched as she pulled on leather bracers and gauntlets before she tied the coat as closed as it was supposed to go and Vadren asked if she wouldn't be cold like that. Ksyusha smiled at him a little softly. "You washed me and in here, carried me to my chair," she said, "Was I cold to your touch then?"

He shook his head, "No, you felt very warm to me," he said with a smile.

"I can stand the cold here," she smiled, "but it becomes a little difficult when one has no home month after month."

His eyes settled on the top of a skull of some sort which was fastened over the light spalder on her right shoulder. "That is what it looks like, is it not?"

She nodded, "One of the ones who were going to eat my Nika when I first found her. This one was their shamaness and she was my first kill. She and I have made our peace with each other long ago." As Ksyusha turned to remove a pair of articles from her pack, Vadren was startled to see that the empty eyesockets of the skull glowed a little faintly and he felt that there was a presence there.

"How was that done?" he asked as he looked at the eyes which regarded him from her shoulder.

Ksyusha shrugged, "I told her that she was young to be dead, but that she could remain with me if she would help until she wished to pass and I promised to release her then, so she chose this over the peace of being dead, for a time."

Nika glared at the skull with barely-concealed hatred and when she raised her glittering hand, covered in thin lines of static discharge toward the skull, the eyes went out.

Ksyusha frowned a little, "Nika has heard or felt no apology for her cruel treatment from this one, so there is nothing but hate from her for the dead one."

When Ksyusha stood straight once more the small things in her hands disappeared in a swirl of black mist and an instant later, she stood with a pair of swords over her back, covered by a shield. The muscles that he'd seen on her body made more sense now.

"Why did you not wear all of this when I found you?" He asked, a little amazed.

Ksyusha shrugged, "Because I was forbidden to wear these things by Garrend. I think that it makes his mage Verrick nervous, but I do not know this for certain. Now, I no longer care what Garrend says. We have met you and together, Nika and I wish to end this mess this night. It has gone on more than a year now – more than long enough."

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Garrend strode into his mage's tent. He was immediately sorry for the glimpse at what the ambitious old fool was doing to an imprisoned spirit.

"Get up, Verrick. The witch calls and she uses the stone for us to go quickly. Hurry and dress yourself."

"The mage nodded, "If she has summoned us in this way, allow me to bring my pupils along. We may be walking into a trap."

"Bring an army, for all that I care," Garrend growled, "I begin to think that you fear the huntress. Get up and summon another one to fuck when we return, though why you choose to lie with these things is beyond me – unless no living ones will lie with you of their own will."

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They arrived in a clearing in the darkened forest and the thirty-one acolytes fanned out, thinking to form a protective perimeter around Verrick until they knew what the situation was. There was nothing to be seen but the glow of a small fire up ahead in the trees as though someone camped there. Setting off as quietly as they could, Garrend and Verrick followed the tracks in the snow toward the flickering light.

Their guards lost sight of them and the small fire almost instantly as a thin fog rolled in among them and they began to call out nervously, but neither of the pair heard a thing.

"I have seen those ones before," Nika whispered, "He sends those ones to take what he wants, most often robbing people where they can and killing them when they have their gold."

"Then remove them," Ksyusha said, "Verrick will not need them anymore very soon."

Nika looked up at Vadren and smiled, though to Ksyusha she gave a little smirk, "I being to think that this is a little unfair." She began to undo her belts and the hauberk, "He will see me unclothed twice and as yet I have seen little."

Vadren blinked a few moments later as Nika stood for a moment in the dark forest as he'd seen her earlier. She bent to retrieve her blades from her clothing and Vadren began to stare as Nika showed him the shape of a spark demon at rest.

She was a little taller like this, standing on her small cloven feet, and he was more than a little thankful for the way that Drow can see in darkness. Her hair was long and black and her teeth shone a little as she still smiled at him.

"Nika," he said as he stared, "Nika, can I –"

He turned to Ksyusha, "She wears fur like this!"

Ksyusha grinned, "The other form is one that she assumes sometimes. This is her truest shape. Wait a moment, Vadren."

She spoke to Nika then, "He likes you like this as well."

Nika sighed in a bit of relief, "That is good to hear," she said, "I was afraid that he wouldn't."

"He seems to be taken with your fur," Ksyusha smiled, "Can I tell him that you would permit him to touch you?"

"I would like nothing more," the spark smiled, "but if he takes too long about it, we will lose the prey. They stand clustered in fear now, but in a moment, the braver ones will begin to wander."

"Especially if you enjoy his touch, no?" Ksyusha chuckled.

"Especially, yes." Nika giggled.

"Nika would permit it if you touched her fur," Ksyusha smiled to Vadren, "She was worried that you might not have liked her like this."

He stepped forward and ran his fingers over her sleek, short inky fur and when his hand reached for the goat-like horns, Nika managed to keep her pleasured purr to a very quiet one.

"We must deal with Garrend," Ksyusha reminded Vadren and he nodded as he turned to walk away with her. "Will she be alright?" He asked.

The warlock nodded, "After your touch, I think that she will have no trouble with them. If anything, she may be a little hasty."

Nika watched them walk away for a moment before she turned and spread her wings. Her outline became less definite for a second, and then the dark smear shot into the air in the opposite direction.

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Walking into the small space there, Garrend saw a hooded figure sitting on a log by the fire.

"Well? What have you found, witch?"

There was no reply, so Garrend repeated the question, leaning down a little to give the seated form a rude shake. In that instant, Vadren reached and sliced through the thongs around Garrend's neck and his invisible hand came away with all of the amulets which the elf king wore and he found Ksyusha waiting for him in the darkness a little way off inside the forest.

"That one," she whispered to Vadren, "the rest are charms to cure his bad breath and hammer toes."

He held it out to her but she hesitated, placing her hand against his chest. "You are very brave, Vadren. You knew me for what I am from the first and you give me this, knowing what I can do once I have it," she whispered, "You were not completely correct, but you were a little right about me anyway.

You could have killed me, but you did not. You heard me out and offer me a chance. You are someone who has earned my trust. I have not wanted to trust anyone other than Nika in so long, but I find that I want to trust you."

She indicated the amulet with a nod, "Would you do this for me?"

Behind them, Garrend was still trying to get answers from the figure on the log. He knew that for her to have dropped the marker which signalled urgency, there must have been something significant. He knew that she certainly wouldn't have done that lightly. He wanted this hunt over with. He had other plans for the witch, most of which involved keeping her in his bed. He knew that she hated him but that didn't matter, he thought, most people hated him.

"What must I do?" Vadren asked.

"Nothing much," she said, "Only hold it against my heart," she said, looking up at him as she opened her outer cloak and pulled the cups of her leather coat away from her breasts a little to give him the room.

"Only hold it against your heart," he smiled, "such a sweet task you set me."

He nodded and pressed it against her, turning back to see where Garrend was in this as he held the pendant there. He knew the swine had a short temper. It was what he was counting on. When he heard Ksyusha's sigh, he looked at her.

In the darkness, most likely wouldn't have noticed a thing, but Vadren wasn't most.

He gazed at her, and she seemed to glow a little and shift in the way that his eyes focused on her, as though part of her was already on the way to where she'd be in the next instant. His hand was still on her very warm breast, and it would have fallen away for the way that he was surprised, but she held it there with one hand as she slipped the other one around his neck.

She leaned in and he felt her bare body, warm against his own somehow as she whispered against his cheek, "We are all in peril from each other, Vadren. You, Nika, and I, but you have shown us your trust as well. We will never break it. Think on this and know that there are two hearts who come to care for your own so easily."

She looked into his eyes and looked down again with a little smile, "I feel so lost when I look there. I wish to say that you should try to think clearly before it is too late for all of us. I will tell of it later, if you ask, but, ... Nika and I cannot help ourselves. I see that you are drawn to us, but Vadren, I am being honest here.

We are being drawn too. Nika hides it the best because she is also so obvious with her flirting. I have no defense like her. So be careful and think - before I lose my ability to."