Dread Rising

He felt a hand close about his shoulder and Magnur hauled him out of the water to face him.

"I've got you now!" the dwarf roared. The terrible blade rose above his shoulder, and Decius raised a hand to shield his face from the killing stroke.

Magnur's grip loosened, and the dwarf grunted in surprise. Lowering his hand, Decius saw a sword point emerge from the dwarf's throat. His eyes wide, Magnur turned slowly to regard Draithan, standing behind him. The green blade fell into the bath, vanishing quickly into the dark red waters, and the dwarf's posture slackened.

"Drai... than?" he asked. The half-elf nodded.

"It's time for fresh blood," Draithan whispered. He tore the blade out of Magnur's throat and a fresh geyser of blood rushed forth.

They left the crying girl with her dead companion, for Decius could not move her even as the whole bath turned red. Lomirran and Gilgabraith joined them in the main bath chamber delighted at their success.

"It's done," Draithan reported with a smile. "The dwarf is dead, my ascension is assured. Come, we must celebrate. Back to the Lotus, and we'll empty their wine cellars!"

Decius paused, looking back at the scene of carnage behind them.

"I will find you later," he said. "The queen summoned me to her palace once the dwarf was dead."

"Oh? What for?"

"No doubt she wishes to send a message to the emperor on my person," Decius lied smoothly. "Despite her power, the appearance of the Armada would be a great inconvenience for her."

"Very well. We'll save you a few girls," Draithan said with a smile and a hearty clap on the back.

"I won't," Lomirran glowered. Draithan shook his head.

"Ignore him. We'll see you soon. Oh, what a day!"

They left the bathhouse together, passing through a gaggle of frightened by curious patrons and servants to reach the street, where a crowd was forming. Men peered past them into the bathhouse and whispers ran through the crowd. The four of them pushed their way through quickly, and stopped in an alley on the far side, where they split up. No soon had Decius turned away from them than a cry went up from behind.

"Magnur Ironside is dead!" the crowd erupted into cheers and cries. Decius lowered his head and pushed on through the alley and out the other side onto a wide street.

Word of the dwarf's death spread quickly. Decius had made it no more than a block up the street before a man went by shouting the news. The city erupted into chaos. While the common folk fled indoors, sailors broke into brawls in the streets. Decius spied a mob descending on a tavern, where they seized and beat any wearing Magnur's colors, even cutting the throats of men in the streets. Near the Chained Market, a jewelers' shop was stormed by the mob, its wares quickly disappearing into the throngs even as its owner was hanged from his own sign.

As he neared the queen's palace, three men came running down the street toward him, pursued by a mob of sailors. The three men wore the dwarf's sigil and terrified expressions on their faces. Pistols cracked behind them, one staggered and fell. He was abandoned by his companions who did not break stride nor even look back at him. Decius stepped into a doorway, out of the way of the mob.

The mob stampeded past, a few of them stopping to beat the downed man to death before chasing after their fellows. Decius spared the dead man a brief glance before he moved on.

All over the city, he could hear shouts and sounds of battle. As he climbed the hill to Lamira's front gate, he could see the glow of flames to the east. Hopefully they don't burn the whole city down, Decius thought to himself. But such concerns fell away as he approached the massive, gilded and gem-studded gate to the queen's palace. A thousand precious gemstones adorned its face, glittering in the lantern light of the evening.

He was greeted by two guardsmen in gleaming cuirasses and black livery emblazoned with a white saltire.

"The palace is closed," the older of the two declared.

"I was invited by the queen," Decius replied. "My name is Decius Capricius Sallax."

The guard nodded. "We've been expecting you. Open the gate!"

The gate swung open on oiled hinges, making not even a whisper. Decius stepped through to the palace's inner grounds. A brick walk led from the gate to the grand marble façade of the palace, which glowed in the late evening light. Gilded lanterns hung from its walls while flowering vines climbed to the copper roof. To either side of the walk were exotic plants from all corners of the world. Decius recognized some of them only from old manuals in the Collegium's libraries.

A servant in the queen's colors emerged from beneath the grand façade. "This way, messere," he beckoned. He led Decius off through the garden, toward the sound of ethereal music. They passed along a tall hedge studded with bright purple flowers, and Decius could hear the music playing from the other side. But try as he might, he could not peer through the hedge to discover the source of the sound.

The man in front of him paid him no mind, instead leading him to a bathing pool beneath an arbor that extended from the side of the house. The pool ran up against the wall, and Decius could see a current flowing outward from the wall. The servant stepped past him and opened a door to the house. He pointed the way in, and Decius followed.

Inside, he found an indoor bath, much like the one he had left Magnur's corpse in, but far grander. Finely-tiled mosaics alternated with lapis lazuli tiling on the walls while the ceiling was a brilliant colored fresco showing heroes and nymphs at play in the waters of a mystical pool. Tall columns of red marble rose from the stone floor to meet the vaulted ceiling, golden lanterns hanging from them and casting a warm glow about the room. Beneath the central piece of the fresco was a steaming bath at the head of a long channel that ran out and into a tunnel connecting to the outer pool.

Within that bath sat Queen Lamira, naked. Her pale, wet skin glistened with the bath's moisture, her raven hair splayed out behind her in an arc. She rested her head on a pillow of black velvet, her hands outstretched as she was tended to by five beautiful handmaidens, all equally naked. Decius felt his cock stand up beneath his tunic. Lamira opened her eyes as he entered, the lamplight catching in her striking emeralds. Her maids paid him no mind, unconcerned that he viewed them and their queen in the nude.

"You, ah, you summoned me?" Decius managed. Through the steaming bath, he could see the queen's bare body, and she was every bit as well formed as the many nude statues of Nystra, Goddess of Pleasure. She looked like one of them come to life, her hair made of onyx and her eyes cut from emeralds.

"So I did," she purred. She raised a white hand from her handmaid's grasp and bid them stop their ministrations with a wave. "I assume the deed is done?"

"Indeed, Your Majesty. I regret to report that you are a widow."

"Oh dear," she sighed. "Alone at the top once again."

"Draithan believes that he is to take Magnur's place."

"And so he will, for that is the way of things. In time, he will himself be replaced, but that is for another time. For now, I must decide what is to be done with you."

She stood up, the water cascading from her naked body in waves. Droplets clung to her wide hips, her ample breasts, and her long legs. Decius bit his lip. Lamira held out her arms, eyes focused on him, and her handmaidens wrapped her in a sheer dress of rich green silk, though which Decius could still make out every detail of her magnificent form. The queen seated herself on a cushioned bench as her naked handmaids began to brush and pleat her hair.

"You come to me with quite the reputation, Sallax," she went on, heedless of her exposed state. She lifted her feet and two maids knelt to dry them. "I would list your accomplishments, but the night is only so long."

"You flatter me, Your Majesty, though I try to keep my star low in the sky. There are always enemies out there looking to cut the tall poppies of their foes."

She raised her head to look him over. "Let us hope that your poppy remains tall still." She waved her maids away and stood up. "The night grows late, and yet it is still young."

She swept past her maids toward the door at the opposite end of the room. It opened before she reached it; two guards stood at the ready. "Come along, Sallax," the queen bade over her shoulder, then vanished through the door. Her maids dressed quickly, pulling thin night dresses of silk over their heads, then followed the queen out of the chamber. Decius took a moment to catch his breath and went after them.

He passed through a short hallway and then followed the maids into what he discovered was the queen's bedchamber. The queen sat on her bed, her silken robe open. Decius could see her exposed breasts, pale orbs glowing in the candlelight. She sat back, her robe falling further open.

"How do you find me, Sallax?" she asked. Her handmaidens lit a pair of braziers against the far wall, fanning smoke across the chamber toward him. The scent of spice and perfume swirled about him, inducing within him a lustful stupor.

"I find you as beautiful as a queen should be, Your Majesty." She smiled.

Lamira put a foot up on the bed, her robe falling open to reveal her bare sex. The pinkness beckoned to Decius, who felt his cock stand at full attention beneath his tunic. Then queen beckoned to a handmaiden, a tall, willowy, half-elven woman. The woman crawled onto the red silken sheets with her mistress, her long blonde hair spilling down her back. Decius could see the outline of her every curve beneath the white silken nightdress.

The queen spread her legs wide and the handmaiden obediently slipped two fingers into her mistress' wet sex. Lamira rested her head on embroidered pillows, her lower lip clenched between her teeth.

"Do you like what you see?" she asked Decius, who could only nod. The queen motioned to one of her other servants. "See that he is ready."

The woman stepped close to Decius and reached for his belt. Decius was faster, unlooping it and casting it off before her hand even touched him. His empty scabbard clanged against the feet of a brass candelabra, but all present ignored it. The three idle handmaidens cracked a smile in unison as Decius yanked his trousers down, his hard cock flopping out from them.

"I had thought to order her to put some wind in your sails, Sallax, but you have enough to sail clear across the seas," the queen mused. Her breath was coming harder to her, her gorgeous chest rising and falling faster as her handmaiden fingered her womanhood. The queen sighed with pleasure and shooed the girl away. "Come here. Lay upon the bed beside me," she commanded, and Decius did as he was told, throwing away his last pieces of clothing.

He lay himself out naked before her, the silken sheets cool against his bare skin. The queen stood up, towering over his prone form, and shed her robe. The half-elven woman snatched it up and bore it away, barely noticed by Decius. Instead, his attention was fixed upon the queen's beauteous form, looming over him like a goddess looking down on a throng of worshippers. Her robe shed, she knelt beside him and took his cock in her hand, stroking him with one delicate hand while the other caressed his toned chest.

"I have heard so much about you," she said softly. "I hope you will not disappoint."

"I will always offer myself completely to any service I rendered," Decius replied.

Her eyes, outlined in black paint, seemed to pop at him in the warm light of the room. Behind her, the braziers flickered, their dark, wispy smoke blown across the bedchamber by a cool breeze from the open windows. Outside, the city was quiet, though Decius wondered if the sounds could penetrate the queen's private sanctum. His mind went to Draithan, who would soon be wedded to the woman stroking Decius' cock. Yet he banished any guilt, confident that Draithan and his friends were currently waist deep in pretty girls, celebrating his rise.

The queen threw one leg over him, straddling his balls. He felt the warmth of her naked body against his thighs and his breath caught. She gave his cock one more stroke, then mounted it. He shuddered as his cock slid between the lips of her soft flesh and the queen did the same. She leaned over him, planting her hands on his shoulders as her hips began to rise and fall on his cock. Decius clasped her hips, thrusting into her in time with her own motions.

Lamira lowered herself to kiss him, her pale face growing in his vision until he could see nothing but her stunning green eyes, flickering in the firelight. Her lips pressed against his and his hands climbed her body, sliding around her as he wrapped her in a tight embrace. She kissed him with great desire, her tongue slipping into his mouth to intertwine with his. Decius thrust his cock into her harder, his hips clapping against hers.

The queen laughed softly to herself in delight, her hands going to his chest, where she pinched his nipples. She broke from his embrace and sat back, taking command of his cock as she rode it. Her hands tweaked his nipples, pinching and twisting them in her long, delicate fingers whose nails were painted black. Decius' toes curled.

"One good pinch deserves another," he whispered, and reached up to seize her great breasts in his hands. He lifted his head to suck and kiss them, her soft skin an exultation in his mouth. The queen smiled, her head lolling backwards as she stared up at the ceiling, and a low moan of pleasure rumbled in her throat. Her big breasts bounced in his hands as she rose and fell, their motion hypnotizing even as he squeezed them.

She leaned forward again and this time her long black hair cascaded forward to wrap her body in a raven cloak. Hungrily, Decius pulled her closer and brushed her hair back that he might see her in all her naked glory again. He pulled her into his arms and held her close, his cock now slamming into her purse. Lamira's arms wrapped around his shoulders again and she kissed his neck, his jaw, then his lips. Decius kissed back with all the passion he could muster, his hands grabbing at her plump ass as he did.

Then he grasped her tight and rolled her onto her back, her legs pinned by her sides and her feet waving about in the air. A delighted smile cracked her face, then narrowed into a hungry glare.

"Harder," she hissed. Decius obeyed, rising up onto his feet and fucking down into her voracious sex. The queen grabbed at him, pulling him closer even as he struggled for footing from which to fuck her. Her breast heaved under the blows, her bare feet swaying above her head. Her long hair covered the red sheets beneath them like a cloak.

From the side came a rash of giggling, and Decius' mind was at once torn away from the queen beneath him. Lamira's handmaidens waited patiently against the wall, hands clasped before them as they watched. Their eyes drank up the sight before them, hands and expertly manicured fingers surreptitiously caressed their own bodies as they admired both queen and sorcerer. The blonde half-elf who had prepared her queen met Decius' eyes and the corners of her mouth quirked upward in salacious amusement. Decius could only smile dumbly back at her.

Already tired of the distraction, the queen reached up and seized Decius by his hair, wrenching his head around to stare into her eyes again. She pulled him close, holding him by the back of the neck.

Her breath was coming short and hard now, her teeth gritted and her jaw set. "Harder!" she hissed again, and her nails dug into his neck. Decius obeyed, fucking with every bit of stamina he had left after his escapades at the Lotus and Draithan's palace earlier in the way. Pinning her legs back with one hand, Decius seized her by the throat in the other. She grabbed his wrist, but he continued fucking and instead of tearing his hand away, her eyes rolled back in her head. She moaned in delight, her grip about his wrist turning to iron.

"Don't stop," she growled at him through gritted teeth. He did not. "Oh, Nystra's Tits, don't you stop!"

The queen came, her body convulsing in a mighty shudder that curled her toes and she squealed in delight, a girlish sound that Decius found erotically incongruous with her lofty station, but it set his heart racing all the same. He drove his cock into her pale body with a lust that surprise even himself, drinking in her fragrant perfume and the indigo scent of the room as he did. From the edge of his vision, he could see her handmaids nodding in approval.

Lamira shuddered again, her back arching on the bed, and she reached up to grab his cock in one hand.

"Oh, gods, I'm close!" Decius gasped.

"Pull out," the queen hissed, "Come on my belly, for the siring of an heir is not for you."

"Just as I would have it," Decius replied, and yanked his cock from her just as he came. He shot a long line of hot cum across her belly, reaching as far up her body as her chin, where it hung in a sticky white droplet. He spurted a second time, lay two lines of cum across her full breasts, then a third, weak shot across her belly that dribbled into her navel.

Her handmaidens approached, bearing a crystal carafe of water and cloth to clean her body of sweat and cum.

"Was he everything you hoped for, mistress?" the half-elf asked. Lamira stretched languidly on her sheets as the half-elf wiped her chest.

"Oh, indeed," she murmured. "I should hope you pay me many visits here in Torvuls. We could make an embassy for you, to come and fuck and come whenever the fancy strikes me. Or us."

"I am always happy to serve, Your Majesty," Decius breathed. He sat back on the bed, sweat dripping down his body as he stretched himself out. Lamira sat herself up on silken pillows and caressed her beautiful breasts. Decius thought his cock might get hard again already.

"That was quite a night," the queen went on, her chest rising and falling with each word. "I am not ready to let go of you yet, but I must rest for now. Reyne, take him to a chamber. In the morning, he may find his way back to Draithan, or," she rolled over on the bed, showing him her luscious backside, "perhaps back to me for another turn. But away with you now." She waved a dismissive hand and laid her head upon a thick pillow.

The blonde half-elf stepped forward and scooped up his clothes from the floor. Decius sheepishly dismounted from the bed, his limp cock swinging before him, perilously close to the half-elf. She paid it little mind. The half-elf thrust his clothes into his arms and beckoned. "Follow me to your chamber." Without waiting for a reply, she strode out into the hall and Decius had to follow in the nude. They entered a hall empty of servants or guards, running along the edge of the palace and looking out over the city's harbor through latticed windows.

A breeze floated in through the hall's open windows, carrying with it the distant sound of battle. Somewhere out in the deepening night, Draithan the Dreaded's purge carried on.