Mage and Consort Pt. 03

True to her word, the Lady put together a small pile of scrap wood, and she ignited it white-hot, with little smoke to speak of. Leo welcomed its fierce heat, and he knew his Lady's body would appreciate it as well.

To his surprise, Lady Karlov returned to help undress her. It truly was much easier with two people, if her arms and shoulders were to be kept still. A powerful stench greeted him when he shifted her smallclothes.

"Keep her sex clean," Lady Karlov said reluctantly. "There is risk of unpleasant infection otherwise. But do not scrub. A gentle touch with a wet cloth. There is an old well at the opposite corner, above. The squatters had a bucket." She pointed to it, by the stairs. "Do not tarry too long, Consort. My mood is souring."

It was unpleasant, uncomfortable work. Leo hated the need to touch his Lady over and over, in a manner that had nothing to do with his appropriate duties. But hadn't he just carried her bodily across the City? Was this really so different? He told himself it wasn't, but it didn't convince him. Maybe it was necessary, but it was still utterly wrong. He felt an exhausted relief when he finished.

At one point Lady Karlov disappeared above, probably to take care of her body's own business as Leo had. Now was she silent in the darkness, and he didn't ask for help dressing his Lady in clean clothes.

When he'd washed his hands a final time, he walked cautiously in her direction. She'd found a nest of sorts, nearly fresh hay. She was naked from the waist down and she lay motionless.

"Lady Karlov," he said nervously.

She didn't reply for a moment.

"It may take some small time," he said. "But I will try to be of service, as you desire."

The Lady shifted slightly, moving a hand between her legs, then withdrawing it slowly.

"Does Anya pleasure herself? For circumstances apart from joining with you?"

Leo's mouth dropped open.

"Well, Consort? What's the answer?"

"It is outside my experience," he said carefully.

She laughed that humorless laugh. "You do have an amusing talent for non-answers. Well, we should do this properly, and it seems I will need your tongue after all."

He nodded, lying between her legs. Her scent was pungently familiar, and he tried to work enough saliva into his mouth. She liked to have the hairless rim of her sex licked, or at least she'd instructed him to do it. Leo wondered why she'd asked him such a strange question. Almost the sort of question Lady Tur asked him, when she was jealous. He worked his tongue in the familiar way along her slit, marveling at the odd differences women had. Of course he liked Lady Tur's folds the best, and her small hairs --

"Not the way you do it for her, you idiot. More pressure, Consort, and more focus."

Ears burning, he did as she asked. The Lady grunted slightly, in that way that was almost satisfaction, but no more than that. Shortly she would push him away and climb on top. He was relieved to feel his manhood responding to her smell, and even more to his memories of doing this for Lady Tur. There was no guilt in fantasizing about his proper duty.

She didn't tell him to stop, so he kept going. But after another few minutes she shoved his head away with her usual impatience.

"That's enough. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Lady." It was strange how ill-attuned she was to him. After a while even Lady Carwen had been able to tell his state without looking.

He lay back on straw warmed by the Lady's own body. The detail struck him strangely, an intimacy that didn't belong with this Lady. She straddled him, catching his manhood at a poor angle, though she corrected quickly.

He wasn't as stiff as usual. The herb, he realized: he'd forgotten the herb. But he'd gotten this far. He held her slim hips, all tight muscle. Nothing to waste for this Lady. She settled upon him and began the small rocking motions.

One hand found his chest, and the other summoned the lightning.

It flashed between them, sometimes sparking off his jersey. The Lady's face was a series of frozen expressions, all radiant. Leo felt his Seed waking, pulled to her power, and he pushed it. No use holding back, not now. It didn't matter if there was none for his Lady.

His body spasmed, and the Lady halted her display of light, leaving him remembering her final ecstasy. Her tunnel squeezed his manhood tight, and he kept his eyes closed, willing the Seed out. It was what she wanted most in the world. More than his own Lady did, if he admitted the truth. And as long as his Lady lay unconscious, there was truly no other way he could be a Consort.

What would happen to him if his Lady never woke? He hadn't let himself think on that until now. Was it appropriate for him to stay at her side indefinitely? Could he even make a decision in this, and could another Lady simply decide for him? Lady Carwen had never explained how such placements were made.

The Lady rocked and shook on top of him, exulting in his Seed. This was what he was trained for, and he suspected Lady Karlov was no worse than most Ladies. Better than Lady Carwen in many respects. And nearly every time now, he was able to give her more than he'd given Lady Carwen. If he had never met Lady Tur, he would be proud, perhaps even content.

A hand touched his face, and he jerked instinctively. The Lady's body was still, and he had softened to uselessness, but she did not move.

"I had occasionally wondered if the problem were my own," she said idly. "If a defect in my feminine nature prevented me from making use of Tomas properly. But you are a far more variable Consort than he was, and I am led to conclude my first analysis was correct. There is something that prevents you from giving me your Seed reliably. Even now, when you perform adequately given your exhaustion, I can feel the potential for more."

He didn't respond, because she was right, and he no longer was sure how admirable any of his behavior had been.

"Anya was capable of drawing on that potential. Doe-eyed, underpowered, innocent Anya. Is that what you require to do your duty? I cannot provide it, alas. But she will again, perhaps, when she awakes, though I suspect she will not recover her talents quickly. Think on that, Consort, and ask yourself where your Seed best serves her. Consider how you could best do your duty as a Consort, and imagine what I could do, with your full power."

She rolled off of him, and he found some dry straw to wipe himself with. Leo felt miserable, drained far beyond his physical weariness. He pulled his breeches on, staggered partway across the cellar floor, and collapsed on the cool earth.

Between the two Ladies. Nowhere.

#

The stone smashed her, and she shrieked, but she was powerless, paralyzed. It was never different, and there was no beginning or end, just the pain and the pain. Her throat felt raw, and she shrieked again, and suddenly she felt something different. A coolness.

Anya chased after the sensation, willing it to cancel the pain, but it vanished. She shrieked again, and suddenly there was a stinging sensation, a pain so small that in comparison it was almost a shocking pleasure.

Noises came to her, familiar ones. One of them was yelling, but she couldn't hear over the screaming.

She took a breath, and the screaming stopped. The pain was so terrible. How could there be such pain? What was the purpose?

"Anya!"

The coolness was back, and she struggled for it again, but she was paralyzed. Buried alive, in the rubble. That's what had happened. They were trying to dig for her. She opened her mouth only to have something stuffed inside.

"You will never do that again, Lady. I swear, you will never lay a hand on my Lady again."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Stay away."

She knew the deep voice, and tried to say his name.

The cloth disappeared.

"Leo?" she tried to say.

"I am here, Lady. You are grievously hurt, but healing. Would you be able to take some water, Lady? And something for the pain?"

She tried to open her eyes, but everything was still a gray blur. "Can't see," she mumbled.

"It is dark, Lady. Here, can you feel this?"

Something cool was pressed to her lips, and she drank greedily, trying to cool her throat. The pain had never left, and it was near overwhelming her. But she could place it now. It was her arms, her shoulders. She felt nothing of the rest. Nothing at all.

"Leo," she coughed. "Leo, I'm paralyzed."

"Try wiggling your toes, Anya," said a voice she thought she'd imagined. Why was Melina here, of all awful companions? But Anya wiggled her toes.

"There," Leo said. "Lady, you are not paralyzed. But you are bound tightly, to help the healing. You have thrashed and I worried for you. May I undo your legs?"

Anya blinked, trying to understand. She lay on hard ground. There was movement, a little light -- no, she wasn't blind. It was as Leo said, of course.

"Please," she said. "I'm sorry for making such a scene. Was I screaming? It's just -- oh, Skies, Leo. The pain. How bad are my injuries, truly?"

"You broke your arm," said Leo. "And your shoulders were -- can you explain it, Lady Karlov?"

"Damage to the fibers that attach bones. The rest is just cuts and bruises. And yes, you were screaming. Fortunately not for very long, as we must keep quiet.""

"Lady, you will recover," Leo said. "We were most concerned about your unconsciousness. Do you remember what happened?"

"The stonestorm," she mumbled. She was losing the battle with the pain, and tears began to stream down her face. "Was it truly as severe as it feels in my memory?"

"Yes," Leo said. "As bad as those of my childhood. Lady, you saved our lives, with the strength of a High Mage."

Melina snorted. "Hardly, Leo. But it was still a remarkable feat of strength. Do you understand what you did wrong, Anya?"

Anya squinted in her direction. All she saw was a dark outline.

"I can't think about this, Melina. Where am I? Need to go to the medics --"

Melina stepped closer. "No, Anya, you're going to have to think about this. Your room is a shambles, and the medics unavailable. Your previous life is done. You see, we are hunted, because of your display of power. You must learn to focus your talents, or you will draw them to us the next time you lash out in panic. So, do you understand what you did wrong?"

"She doesn't need to talk of this now, Lady Karlov. And it's not her fault. My Lady needs to rest."

Anya couldn't make sense of the other things Melina said, so she tried to remember the feeling. She'd been joined with Leo, and she was sure it had been spectacular. But there was a hole in her memory where the sensation should have been. All she remembered was the instant of horror, when she realized that there was nothing but her own strength to stand in the way of the rock.

That was it.

"I stood in its way," she said slowly. "Lady Prentisse always told us to --"

"Stand aside," Melina finished. "In this she was correct, though I generally didn't think much of her instruction. You stood in the rock's path, and its force broke you. You were incredibly lucky not to suffer worse. The connection should have been with the earth, or the stone walls."

Anya didn't answer. Melina was always correct on matters of talent. But she'd had years to practice.

"Don't go retreat in a sulk, Anya. I know you're in pain, but that's the wrong time to nurse other wounds. You may not be able to use your talents for a while, and in the meantime I think you'd better start remembering all those lessons you didn't think applied to you."

"Lady Tur, can I get you some food?"

Leo hovered so near, but he wouldn't touch her. Of course he wouldn't. His stupid duty.

She squinted up at him. She was so fuzzy-headed, but Leo was still Leo. And that was terribly reassuring.

"Yes, Leo. And you're going to tell me what's going on. You, not Melina."

#

Leo wiped the sweat off his Lady's face. He'd hoped to have her try to sit up, but she'd fallen into an exhausted slumber again.

It seemed he couldn't have protected her from these injuries and her horrible pain, the way he'd done with his body. Melina could have explained it at any time, but he'd been too mired in his own exhaustion.

Lady Karlov. He felt her walk closer.

"You've put me off all day," she said. "Is your propriety safe, now that she sleeps again?"

He hated the way she needled him. She did it to Lady Tur as well, and the worst thing was, he suspected there was a reason for it. Lady Karlov wasn't cruel by nature, though she was callous. And she manipulated people. She'd been driving a wedge between him and his Lady, and he'd been too morose and exhausted to see it.

His Lady was awake again, and this changed matters substantially. He could put aside his worst fears and focus on helping her back to health, and eventually to safety. Somewhere far from Lady Karlov.

"You let her believe she was the cause of our flight, Lady. You provoke her with guilt. Yet I recall what the High Mage and Lady Essia said. They believed you were the source of the burst of power. You are the only one they fear, and you used my Lady's illness to badger me into accompanying you."

Lady Karlov was silent in the face of his accusation.

"Well? What do you have to say, Lady?"

"I was waiting for you to come to your senses and rethink the idiocy you just spouted."

She knew how to make him feel small, in her own way more even than Lady Carwen had ever managed.

"Do you deny what we heard? They were looking for you, and didn't care about my Lady, or me."

Lady Karlov sighed. "That's because they didn't yet believe that you or she had this power. I was the logical choice, a loose end from an unexpectedly powerful challenge to the royalty. Essia hates me because she knows I'm surpassing her, and her fears will be transparent to her Sponsors, perhaps exaggerating my importance. But the Third Mage is no fool. You missed the important point of their conversation, which is Tomas."

She was right, Leo realized. Tomas was a buffoon, but everyone knew he was powerful and would rise high. Except apparently that was all fake, and it must have been Essia's faction that was behind that. Yet last night, they hadn't known his whereabouts. "What did you do to him?"

The Lady laughed. "Oh, he was very happy when I left him. Blindfolded and tied up, in the furthest storage chamber I could find, with his great manhood ready to consummate his particularly pathetic version of a Consort's duty. They'll have found him long ago, sadly. The Third Mage moved faster than I expected. Perhaps I really was someone to fear."

Leo thought on that. "So then they'll turn to Lady Essia's question: what were you doing in my Lady's room, that you had occasion to protect her?"

"Correct. And if you were the Third Mage, what would your conclusion be?"

Leo sighed. "That you'd bullied my Lady into letting you make use of me, because it turned out even I was a less useless Consort than Tomas, and she had no resources to oppose you. And that's why you chose to escape with me rather than him. But they would still have little reason for thinking I or my Lady are otherwise of import."

Lady Karlov shook her head. "You are coming along, but I regret the high Mages are more subtle of sense than that. The Third in particular has been too near me, too many times. She knows my weakness with Force magic, and how much augmentation would be required to achieve what Anya did. If she was close enough, she would have felt your power directly when you filled up Anya with your Seed. That would make you of great interest, I'm afraid. And there are reasons she would keep such speculation from Essia."

"You still manipulated me into coming with you. My Lady's power remains hidden. She could have remained safe, with the healers."

Melina laughed. "With those injuries? The fort's healers have seen generations of students with similarly odd combinations of injuries, though usually less severe. They would have quickly recognized them as the result of clumsy, desperate measures to save herself. You risked much by bringing her to a healer at all, and I hope tale of her injuries does not spread. Even if it does not, she is hurt, and it's obvious you won't abandon her. Our fates are bound, as I said from the start."

Leo fumed. As always, Lady Karlov had run circles around him. All his certainty had evaporated.

"Are you through, Consort? I admit this verbal fencing is somewhat stimulating. In truth, you far exceed Tomas in that regard, as others."

"Lady, are you flattering me?" Leo said, exasperated.

"Would it help you do your duty?"

He shook his head.

"Pity," Lady Karlov said. "I suppose you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine I'm Anya."

Leo's heart thudded. How did she know?

Melina started laughing. "Oh, Leo, you really don't know own mind, do you? When you're with me, you truly are a Consort. Not a perfect one, but one nonetheless working with diligence to improve and perform his duty. Lady Carwen was a fool not to see it, and I have no doubt that in due time, you will become a great Consort. What are you, I wonder, when you're with Anya?"

"I am her Consort," he growled. "And all that I do with you, I do at her behest. For my Lady. My true Lady."

"Your true Lady," the other Lady repeated, unbuttoning her top. "Well, why don't you come and do your duty, then. For your true Lady. You can imagine whatever you like, and I will indulge you. As long as you do your duty."

She finished removing her top, then worked the laces on her breeches. A faint halo hung over her head, and there was motion at her bosom: small flickers, circling her breasts. Leo couldn't look away.

"That's right, Consort," she said, stepping naked into the firelight. Reflections danced on her dark skin, with the Lady's own additions. "My body is a means to an end. We both see that with clarity, and our coupling is already becoming smoother, as is natural. It was an excellent insight you had, that you needed my power to draw yours. Look at what I have to spare, with only what you gave me last night. Look, feel, and imagine."

She reached a hand forward, and fire erupted at his groin. His breeches fell partway down, laces smoking, and he finished the job himself. The Seed smoldered within him, and he reached for Lady Karlov.

She surprised him by jumping nimbly, bringing her legs up to wrap around him and forcing him to grab hold of her buttocks. Lady Carwen had described this standing position, but she certainly hadn't attempted to demonstrate it. Lady Karlov climbed him, sparks of fire and lightning shimmering between them. Lifting the Lady high enough to align her entrance put her flat breasts briefly in front of him, and for some reason he took one nipple in his mouth.

The Lady didn't push him away this time. His tongue tingled when he touched it to her nipple, and his Seed lurched for her.

"Yes," she breathed in his ear. "Yes, fill me, Consort."

She was wet, and it was nothing to drive up inside her. Her legs slipped, and he gripped her tighter. Lady Karlov was lighter than his Lady, but he would gladly do this with Lady Tur, if she desired. If she even knew to ask. He would do everything he did with this Lady, and more, and he would be so much more diligent, because she was his true Lady. That was the reason his Seed reached for her, and her talent had reached for him before she even knew what the joining was.

"Yes," the other Lady whispered. "I am ready, my Consort"

And so was he. Reluctantly he pushed at his Seed, trying to make it follow her talent, but it resisted.

"Leo?"

He sucked in his breath, half-turning at his true Lady's voice.

"She merely dreams," Lady Karlov hissed. "Finish quickly, Consort. Attend her afterwards."

With one last shove, he felt his Seed move, and he permitted his body to finish so it could ride into the Lady Karlov. She shuddered and sighed, waiting just the appropriate time, and then quickly dismounted, hurrying back to her straw to lie back and hold the Seed within. Leo turned, scarcely remembering in time to pull up his breeches.