Bard's Tale 01 - The Beginning

"Yes! I want that so much!"

"So it's not just love that you want, but the love of a partner who shares your passion and vocation."

"Yes," Mindal agreed, her heartbeat suddenly pounding in her chest.

"But again, I put to you, there are others with talent who would leap at the chance to become your partner, and count themselves lucky for whatever you shared. And with them, you wouldn't have to share him with your sisters. You could have that other man all to yourself. What is it about Reison that excites you?"

Emotion suddenly welled up, and she could barely articulate the words. "He... hears music when he looks at me. I have a song! And he's begun to teach it to me."

"He hears the songs of your sisters, too."

"Yes," she gasped, tears spilling freely from her green eyes. "My sisters will love that, I'm sure. But they are devoted to the church, and to helping others. Music isn't just my job. It's a deep need inside me that always needs expression. Music is my center, my world. I've lost touch with that part of myself, and ever since, I've just been coasting along. Dying bit by bit each day. Reison, he would understand that about me, for he is like me."

"He could be the greatest love of your life. Your soul-mate, if you believe in such things. Do you believe you are worth such a gift?" the girl asked.

"Yes, I do." She wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming.

"I am glad, Mindal. I also believe you are worthy. And you should remember that I always have believed you worthy. It's time now to see a glimpse of what may await you." With a wave of her hand, a cloud formed in the air beside her.

Within the cloudy apparition, Mindal saw an unfamiliar room filled with people seated on couches, chairs, and even on the floor. It looked comfortable, homey even. Then she saw her two sisters sitting side by side. Tia rocked a small child, while Tahna was breast-feeding another. Wearing normal clothes, not that of a monk, and her long, long hair was loose, and that made Mindal's breath catch. Tahna only did that when she felt safe. Her sisters, both with babies! The others in the room -- they were strangers to Mindal. Some were adults, but most of the area around her sisters was filled with children, from the very young to even a few teens. Almost a score of them! And then she saw that the center of everyone's attention were Reison and herself! They sang joyously together, both playing their mandolins. And at the chorus, she could see everyone in the room joining in to sing with them. She heard no music, but Mindal knew by looking at the scene that it was her family, and they were happy. Even herself. And the rawness of her examination was replaced by a heart suddenly full to bursting.

"This is but one probability, not a surety," the girl warned. "To be fair, your life ahead for the four of you together will also entail some hard choices and a great deal of sadness. This scene is but one example."

The girl waved her hand again, and the scene changed. This time, Mindal saw herself standing near Reison, and again both of them playing their mandolins and singing. This time, however, they walked slowly on a castle parapet as they sang. This time, faint strains of music could be heard. It was Farewell to Carlingford! Strangely, both of them wept as they sang. Mindal saw that both of them were older. And behind them, smoke both black and gray drifted near, while even further away in forested hills darkened by war contained even more columns of smoke. Mindal could see that both of them had seen battle by the small tears and the spatters of blood on their clothing, by the dirt and soot that smudged their faces. For Mindal, however, the telling point was that the two of them sang in unison. And she heard not just the music, but also the power of two bards crafting magical sound even as they sang their grief. This was the life-partner she dreamed of! But what caused them such sadness? Who were they fighting? And why were they singing that song?

Then the girl flicked her fingers and the scene vanished. Once again, they were in the conservatory. "Again, not a surety," the girl repeated. "There is the chance of much happiness ahead. But much will also be demanded of you. You have a good heart, Mindal, but you don't always see the forest for the trees, which will make some things more... difficult. When the time comes, you may deem the price too high."

"I'll pay it," Mindal replied, then shrugged.

"Just as dangerous, is your willingness to sacrifice yourself when other options remain."

"I know now how much I want him. Thank you, Goddess. I'm ready to take him for my husband. The alternative is that I draw a hot bath and cut my wrists."

"Death is but a doorway. But I also cherish each of your lives for what they teach you, for those bonds of love you share with others are precious. Whenever a bard's voice is stilled, well, it makes me cry. So, I ask you, do not be so quick to leave this life. And you know full well that many of your family would grieve for you as well. Tia and Tahna would never be the same."

"I don't want to hurt anyone else," Mindal replied quietly.

"Isn't it better to be a whole person, before offering to share yourself?" the girl asked.

"Please! I'm lost. I have been for awhile. Isn't it the edict of the Dark Warrior to protect the weak and helpless, for each of us is helpless in our turn?"

The girl put her hands on her hips. "And you need a man for that?"

"Not any man. The man you sent to me. Reison Whisper Wind. Even on the battlements, he and I cried even as we sang together, united in our pain and our music. I need my music back. I need him."

"Which is what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Will... will I remember our encounter?"

"Not for a while. Bits and fragments here and there. You will know enough in your heart to be sure of your choice. The rest won't be recalled with any clarity for several years. But I need your permission to make it so. For as the future unfolds, you to make your choices without with the mistaken belief that you know how the future unfolds -- for you do not know what lies ahead! Rather, you must make your choices with the information available to you as your life unfolds before you."

"Oh?" Mindal was surprised.

"Free will, Mindal. I won't alter or fog your memories without your say so. You are my children, not my slaves. I ask that you trust me that it should be so, and it will be revealed to you later, in due time."

She smiled at the girl standing before her, and whom Mindal knew with complete certainty was not a child at all. "Lawgiver, Mistress of the Elements, Dark Warrior, Earth's Daughter, or Child of the Sky, I trust you in whatever guise You wear. You have my permission to do as you need to, my Goddess."

The divine child morphed into an adult woman, becoming the brown-skinned Earth's Daughter, garbed as a traveler. Her irises slowly shimmered through the colors of the rainbow. Reaching out, she touched Mindal's forehead.

A drowsy heat flooded Mindal's body. Hunger centered in her lower belly began to make itself known, and her lower lips filled with blood and loosened. Fluids filled her channel, and then seeped out.

"Sleep, Mindal, and dream of Reison, your future husband. Dream of how he will plunder you again and again, giving you luscious, body-shivering cum after mind-blowing, glorious cum. When you wake in the morning, your pussy will feel well-plundered, and the edge you have felt these past few months will be dulled enough to make waiting for his return bearable. Sorry about the wet spot, but them's the breaks. Imagine he's with you, right now..."

And suddenly Mindal was naked, in bed, on her back. In front of her, kneeling, she saw Reison, and he was as naked as she was. Lean, muscular arms. Flat chest and belly. Between his legs, he hung aroused and pointed toward her, the shaft and mushroom knob swollen with need. The tip glistening. He lifted her legs and put them onto his shoulders, spreading her wide. Pre-cum dripped, showing her his desire and his promise to fill her womb with his seed. Mindal blinked as she savored his maleness. He looked able to fill her quite nicely, and she licked her lips in anticipation. Caught the muskier male scent and her nostrils flared, and her nipples, already hard points, hardened further.

Her own sex dripped with want, soaking the hair of her cleft and pooling around her ass. As she felt his hands on her legs, she ached with emptiness, knowing she would soon feel the full measure of him. He moved over her, dropping into position. The intense look of his eyes. Mindal held her breath as he moved closer. She felt his flared crown press against her swollen lips as he guided himself to her entrance. Inhaled as she felt the heat of him lodging himself within the entrance to her slick tunnel.

Mindal groaned as he slipped into her body, impressing his presence upon her, within her. Shivered as he embedded his heated rod within her soft, yielding, slick tunnel. She moaned as she felt him press deeper and deeper, stretching her so wonderfully. She ran her hands over him, marveling in his strength, and how full she felt. His whispered breath, she was startled that he hummed. The tune he said was hers.

largo

Then he bottomed out, and she groaned louder, loving the feel of his heavy balls on her ass, his long cock buried within her pussy all the way to the entrance of her womb. Her body eagerly accepted him, molded itself to him. Pleasure was echoed by the anticipation of yet more ecstacy to follow.

grave

His mouth found hers, and her heart soared as they embraced, withdrawing and thrusting together as one, moving toward total union.

accelerando

Pleasure at him moving within her core. The ache of withdrawal, then reveling in the friction of his fat crown plowing into her sheath, spreading her, filling her with his heated bar of maleness. Moving her hips to meet him. Wet sounds of flesh frisking within flesh. Gasping becoming panting.

Then she could hear his heartbeat. Feel the heavy beat of it thrumming in his chest.

legato

Heartbeats in synchronicity, beating together as one. The intensity of his demanding presence opening up her core over and over again, forcing her to yield to him.

The slapping of hips to groin, pressing roughly upon her mound, sending delicious, vibrating sensation the length of her channel. His humming forgotten as he focused on her, feeling the tightening grow within his balls.

strepitoso con stretto

The heat of him oh! so deep! Mindal's body began to sing, the long-silenced music of her own heart made itself known, matching the fiery heat within her womb. Erratic at first, but quickly bolder. The single instrument was joined by others as she reached closer to her peak.

crescendo

Reison drove into her harder and harder, trying to reach into her center. Mindal met him, legs locked on his hips, adding her strength to each pounding thrust. And she heard his song for her join her own.

acceso col pugno

She heard bits and pieces of his song for her, in harmony with her own music. Overjoyed, her mouth sought his. The grip of his strong hands holding her close suddenly tightened. Pressed deep into her core, she felt his swell, stretching her even more. The flaming heat of hot ropes of sticky cum spraying into her core. Sensation and sound exploded within her, sending waves of throbbing ecstacy crashing everywhere. As her pussy lovingly milked his pulsing cock, her heart and her voice answered in joyful, screaming exultation.

calando accarezzévole

Hearts hammering, the weight of him on her body, cheek to cheek, both of them heaving for air. The fading twitches of his ejaculations, sending smaller aftershocks rumbling through her womb.

Lifting off her, he wiped the sweat from his brow. Breathing easier, Mindal looked up at him, effusive in the afterglow of release. The tussled brown of his hair. Beginnings of a mustache on his face.

He almost looked apologetic, and that surprised her. "Reison?"

"Is it too late to tell you that I love you?"

"No!" she exclaimed, sudden happiness now competing with the sweet languor. "I love you, too. Oh, goddess, I love you!" Reaching up, her hand guided his mouth to hers, and they kissed with slow deliberation. Sated for the moment, they savored the taste of each other as they basked in their continued union.

When they pulled apart at last, he smiled as he caressed her cheek, then brushed back a lock of her auburn curls from her eyes. "Good. Because I love you, Mindal. I'm glad we're getting married."

"Me, too. When we made love, I heard my music. I can't tell you happy that makes me." Thinking of it, she examined her heart and heard a complete musical phrase.

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought I'd heard something."

"You heard it?" she asked, stunned.

"It was different. Vibrant, alive, but with a subtle turn that I didn't quite catch. I was trying to listen to the song for you that I hear."

He'd heard her music!

Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers. Two, then three light kisses. Followed by using his teeth to softly pull and tease at her lower lip. Then a slow rock of his hips, moving his still-hard cock within her core.

"You aren't getting soft," she remarked.

"I thought this was a dream, and you can do anything you want in a dream. Don't you like it?"

"Oh, yes," she said.

"Good." His lips moved along her jaw.

Second verse.

appassionato

* * * * *

Tahna found herself walking through the tall grasses of the plains of Tildor. It was the summer of 2073, and she was heading home. Was it still home? It didn't feel like it. All she knew was that her heart was an aching emptiness.

Her quest for the church had been successful. Completed four years earlier. The second one, the personal one, was unfinished, and she'd been ordered home.

It had started as it almost always did, with the disappearance of children. When such cases were resolved, she felt good. But for the children who were lost or died, well, Tahna sometimes found it difficult to deal with her feelings afterward. This particular time, she'd found out the leader within a few weeks and then attacked, dispatching several of his henchmen, and leaving the rest, battered and unable to flee, left them for the church to punish. But the leader himself turned out to something unexpected.

A male drow, rare enough on the surface. But more than that, a Black Knight. In the crazy, female-dominated drow society, such a thing was truly rare -- for they often killed those men who became too powerful, fearing the possibilities of a strong, powerful male, free to act as he would. Perhaps even defy female rulership, or worse, seduce and suborn a drow priestess into accepting his supremacy.

Black Knights did not suffer in sunlight, and their unnaturally pale skin could be masked by magic. Maybe that's why he'd been on the surface, stealing human children.

His name had been Deecheere ki-an Sheelanthali, and upon discovery, he'd fled west to the Caloren States. Naturally, Tahna followed him. Without magic, it just took her longer to catch up. And she had made good time. A six week journey by horse for most of the way, traveling from Tildor, west across the plains, then through the great forest.

In Caloren City, she'd stopped into a tavern for a bite and a drink, and that's where she met her. Tall, lithe, blonde, and beautiful green eyes that sparkled with intelligence and humor. A casual chat that was initially just a distraction but quickly turned to friendship, and then love.

Lysandra Darkmoon, mage and follower of Hecate, the Hellene goddess of the dark moon, crossroads, and magic. Once she'd learned Tahna's mission, she volunteered to help. No mention of money or debts. Together they tracked down the child-murderer.

Surface elves and drow generally hated each other. Especially after the drow and their underdark allies had destroyed four high elven cities within two short years. Amber Leaf and Wind Brook in 2050, Oaken Hill in 2051, and finally, the fortress Elven Gate and the city of Glen Green, both in 2052. Tens of thousands of refugees, and hundreds of thousands dead. It would take more than a thousand years for the living to replace the losses, for elven children took more than a hundred years to reach maturity.

The ranks of the Silver Knights had suffered similarly. Many of the great captains that survived had been scattered, and the once vibrant cities of learning and light were now desolate ruins, filled with strange and deadly creatures, while underneath the earth were new drow colonies. Around them sprang other underground colonies of ithillids, troglodytes, grey dwarves, and others. Races that preyed on humans and surface elves.

When Tahna found the Black Knight Deecheere, he was living in Seagate, at the southernmost city of the Caloren States. The drow knight was the guest of one Baranthaya Black Oak, once a Silver Knight for Amber Leaf, the first high elven city to be destroyed. Afterward, she became a Knight defending Sanctuary, a city of refugees adjacent to Athens, a human fortress on the Skarda River between Glen Green and Harlindon. The rules were fuzzy around Seelie and Unseelie fay. But a high elf Silver Knight, providing sanctuary to a drow Black Knight?

It was inexplicable.

Yet the high elf lived in a manor near a human city, and was providing protection to one who should have been her dire enemy. Tahna didn't know the high-elven woman, but thought she had to be spelled or certifiably crackers. Or worse, he was turning her. Probably having sex. A lot of depraved, sick sex. With blood. Upper level drow seemed to need blood, either to spill it or taste it in order to orgasm.

Tahna had puzzled over it, but in the end it made little difference. The drow knight had kidnapped four children, killing one and sending the rest to the underdark to be blood sacrifices, or to be slaves in horrific lives they would come to loathe, or they would become food. The Ba'lorian church had lawfully condemned Deecheere to death, and it was Tahna's duty to render the sentence.

The Silver Knight was both a warrior and an arch-mage. A formidable opponent.

Getting past a mage is no easy task. The Rules of Hospitality decreed that a host defend the guest, even at the cost of their own life. And if attacked while in their care, the host was bound to seek out and punish the perpetrators.

Slipping in the elven mage's home had proved as difficult as expected, even with the help of Lysandra, a powerful mage in her own right. Once inside, Tahna wasted no time in killing Deecheere. She then used the scroll Lysandra had prepared to make sure he stayed true-dead. It cursed his body, invoking the power of Hecate Herself to permanently consign his body to the plane of Tartarus, for Hecate was known as a protector of children.

Just as Tahna was reciting another scroll, this one provided for her magical escape, Baranthaya had burst into the room.

Lysandra's magic and the power of the temple's sentence protected Tahna's identity from being scried or divined. But it couldn't prevent the Silver Knight from getting a good look at Tahna's face, just before the teleport spell kicked in.

Well, Tahna would do her very best to never cross that elven knight's path again.

For weeks afterward, there were inquiries about Seagate and the rest of the Barony of Palympia about a murderer matching Tahna's description. Fortunately for Tahna, she and Lysandra soon returned to Caloren City, the capital. It was hundreds of kilometers to the north of Seagate, and the city boasted over a hundred and fifty thousands citizens. The monk and mage disappeared into plain sight, hidden amongst all the masses of people.