Moon Witch Ch. 16 - End

The image of me grabbing her hips and plowing into her from behind flashes through my mind and I have to shake it out, waiting out the arousal until my erection drains.

The rest of the way we spend in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. I don't know how Selene feels, but compared to the last few times we've been travelling together it feels significantly less awkward. The air between us is relaxed, with Selene slouching against me and my one arm around her waist. As we ride on I keep catching the sweet scent of her hair in the wind.

More than just the physicality between us, though, it feels like something deeper has changed in the past day or so. When we were walking the streets of Sorrea, I saw the part of Selene that was guarded away while she was in Gra'marah. She is much more open in speech, like no matter what I say she'll entertain my thoughts. Maybe part of it too is related to those little green pills that her Collin gave her. Now, she seems a little bit less lost in her grief. Though I wonder if her mind is ruminating on her loss now as she's quiet, looking straight out ahead into the horizon.

I follow her gaze, already seeing Gra'marah in the stretching landscape. Areana noressa must have brought us much closer to the city than where we'd entered her realm from the first time. Despite my general dislike of her, I have to admit my gratitude that she saved us days of travel. I think back to the multiple parcels of bread and fruit stowed into our packs we'd prepared for the long journey.

The rest of our trip is idle. Conversations start up and then die, but for the most part we're both comfortable sitting in silence. I'm sure we're both filled with worries about what lies ahead of us.

"So where are we going?" Selene clears her throat, her voice a little rough from disuse.

"Off to Anya's. If I know the two of them at all, Lussen's moved in with her."

"It'll be safe?" She asks.

"It's a little bit risky," I admit. "The lodging for soldiers is close to the palace. But her place is near the perimeter. I'm confident that we can sneak in without anyone noticing as long as we bide our time."

"Okay, if that's what you think." She nods, her long hair catching the wind and flying up to tickle my chin. "Do you think they can help us?"

"I hope so." I can't comment with too much confidence, because frankly, nothing about the situation gives me any sense of confidence. "At the least I'm hoping that they'll be able to comment on what's been happening around the kingdom and help us figure out what we need to do next. They should also be able to support us if we need anything else."

"I've been thinking, you know, of plans and all... And the easiest way to overthrow him. How difficult do you think it would be to just sneak in and kill him?"

"It's how you'd want to kill him that's the question."

"Life magic." She answers. "Or, I don't know. If you'd like a crack at murdering him, whatever you'd call what you do."

I stifle a smile at her words despite the weight of her implications. "You want to make an assassin out of me?"

"Is that a thing that you do?"

I ignore the question with a chuckle. "Either way, it would be pretty difficult for me to get close enough to take him out. He's often surrounded by soldiers, and even if he's not, he's equally skilled as me in combat."

"Then magic?"

I shrug, forgetting that she can't see my response. "There aren't quite as many safeguards for that, I suppose."

"It looks like it'll have to be that, then." Her voice sounds a little less confident now, as if she had really been hoping that I could kill him.

In all honesty, though the idea of vengeance against Hes's murderer sounds gratifying, I'm also very cognizant that this feels like Selene's. Whatever happens when we get to Gra'marah, it ultimately won't be my burden to bear.

It's not quite a feeling I can freely share with Selene, but nevertheless it sits in the back of my head.

"Either way, we can figure things out when we get there."

Gra'marah is closer than ever. I can identify the outskirts of the town and nudge the horse to circle around the perimeter. Just going in through the main roads is a sure way to be sighted by untrustworthy people. Lone travelers around these parts are nothing suspicious, but I know that we'd draw more attention as soon as we were to enter the city.

As we approach the soldiers' lodging, there's a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's been a while since I've been in the area given how long ago I'd moved into the palace, so after resolving to remove myself completely from Gra'marah it feels odd to return.

Luckily we've arrived in the middle of the day, so there aren't too many people around. We walk towards Anya's room, having left the horse hidden away. I keep Selene tucked behind me as I survey our surroundings. The only other person I see is a junior soldier whose name I never learned. He's walking towards the palace and away from us.

"Come on." I usher us in, sliding her door open. I'm relieved it hasn't been latched shut.

"Who- Eryx?" Anya's eyes are wide as she takes me in, looks over Selene. I see that she's pulled a combat knife out of her robe, which she hastily tucks back into place.

"Do you have time? Where is Lussen?" I feel satisfaction at seeing the second pillow on the bed, validating my hypothesis.

"Yeah. He was helping Dakka run drills. I mean... What are you doing here?" Her normally steadfastness has been broken up by my sudden appearance.

I run a hand through my hair. As much as I'd thought about telling my former subordinates that we plan on taking Azrath down, in this moment, the conversation feels a whole lot more impossible than I'd imagined. "I think it would be better to talk when Lussen is here. If that's okay."

"You want me to go get him." It's a question even though she says it flatly.

"Could you?"

She rolls her eyes but there's a hint of a smile on her face. "I can't believe I'm still doing your bidding. I thought this was over when you told us you were leaving, tyrant that you are."

"Hey, Anya." I stop her as she makes to slip out the door. She turns back to me in question. "I won't bore you with any thanks, but you know I appreciate you two. I came because I trust you with my life."

The ghost of her smile that was there returns, and without answering me, she slips out the door.

It's not long before she returns.

"Eryx!" Says Lussen. I can hear the happiness in his voice and when I grasp his bicep in greeting he grins at me.

The two of them take their seats in front of us on the floor and in due time I'm inevitably the one to start filling them in. I try my best to make things as simple as possible, but as I talk I soon realize that I need to give them more and more context.

"So you're telling us that she," Lussen's eyes flash over to Selene, who's sitting placidly while the three of us talk. "She has magic that can kill Azrath, she's been told that she is of the Queen Enchantress's bloodline, and Anya and I are supposed to help you with all of this somehow."

"Pretty much."

"Can she show us?" Anya asks. "Not that I don't believe you, but..."

"It's hard to believe." I finish for her with a nod. They look at Selene, who looks at me in question.

I translate the request to her. She wrings her hands. "I don't know. I suppose if there's something alive that can be killed, if that would be proof enough."

So we make our way outside, Lussen and Anya leading the way. We head to where I secured my horse, an area close enough to Anya's room while still relatively hidden away for safety.

"Are you okay to do this?" I ask Selene.

"This is nothing compared to what I need to do to Azrath, so I'll be fine."

We arrive, all looking at Selene. She presses her lips together. "Let me just warm up," she says, bending down to press her hands to the ground.

There's a small patch of tall grasses right in front of her, and as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath we see it wilt right in front of our eyes. It shrivels up from the top down, turning brown and dry as if all of its life is being sucked out.

"Damn." Anya breathes out.

"I haven't tested it like this before," says Selene quietly.

"What about something bigger?" Not that I ever doubted Selene when she talked about using her magic against Azrath, but my curiosity has been piqued after seeing it happen in front of my eyes and now I want to see her push her power.

We amble over to the tree that my horse is tethered to. Just as before, she places her hands on its bark. This time, she keeps her eyes open, seeming to intently focus on her target. She breathes in while the rest of us are silent, watching her.

This time the tree seems to accelerate through the seasons, the leaves changing colors from its green to rich reds and yellows before wilting into the same browns of the tall grass from before. Many of the brown and crispy leaves began to rain down on her shoulders and the ground. I can hear the wood of the tree drying up as it gives an aching groan from within its trunk.

Selene drops her hands from the tree quickly as if she didn't mean to do what she just did, looking back at the three of us right behind her.

"Have her try it on your horse," urges Lussen, stepping towards it. Selene looks horrified at the implication of his pointed finger.

"We are not killing my horse!" I snap despite my own curiosity.

"I'd like to see it." Anya says with a shrug.

"Oh!" Selene's voice of surprise makes me snap my head up to see her fall to her hands and knees.

Before I can reach into my robes to grab my weapon a blunt force falling on the back of my head stuns me.

Just like Selene, I fall down, the ground seeming to spin under me. "Shit." I whisper to no one. I look up at her hunched form. The last thing ingrained in my consciousness is the pair of blue glowing daggers stabbed into her shoulder blades before I pass out.

---

It hurts. It burns.

I can't think of anything against the searing spots of pain in my back. I feel like there's energy sparking across my skin, but it simultaneously is burning me. I grit my teeth against tears that blur my vision as nausea overtakes me. Bile rises in my throat and I spit it up in front of me, feeling disgusting.

I can't do much against the rough hands that pull my hands together behind my back. They tie my forearms together at the middle of my back so my elbows are bent at ninety degree angles and my wrists are secured to the other arm's elbow.

The wave of nausea fades, but the pain of my back continues to hold, throbbing.

I look up to see Anya and Lussen treated similarly, knelt on the ground with soldiers standing behind them. Eryx is on the ground passed out.

Panic rises.

"Let me go!" I yell, struggling against the binds holding my wrists together. I'm frantic. With Eryx being knocked out, there's no one here that I can understand, no one that can understand me. I'm bound both physically and figuratively.

I remember then that I have magic on my side.

Despite feeling utterly unprepared to use my magic on the horse, this is a perfect time to try it out on a bigger target. But as soon as the thought occurs to me and I try to gather the magic within me I feel it protesting. I'm just... Unable to do it.

I'm broken out of my thoughts when a soldier behind me roughly pulls me up and I cry out in pain and surprise. He says something to me that I can't understand, but there's enough threat in it that I'm cowed into submission. They prod me forwards towards the direction of the palace.

I look over to my left where both Anya and Lussen follow us, being escorted along just as I am. The only difference is their faces. Lussen has some of the same panic that I feel on his face. On his other side is Anya, whose face is completely stone cold. The only sign of stress I see is in the lower half of her face - her lips look pinched and her jaw is clenched.

They both march along, not fighting the grip of their fellow soldiers on them as they lead us back to the palace.

Somewhere behind us someone is carrying Eryx. The small group of us walk along, quiet and tense.

My head spins. How did this happen?

I briefly consider Anya and Lussen's involvement, but then remember that they're being taken as captives as well. Ugh. My brain feels so foggy.

I yelp as a hand, surprisingly gentle, slides down my back to squeeze the flesh of my bottom. The soldier laughs as he continues guiding me, his grip on my wrists strong. I press my lips together with the humiliation of it all. I don't like the look of him, the meanness of his face obvious. He has stubble over the lower half of his face, which is twisted into a sly smirk.

I wish for nothing more than to be able to use my magic to strike these guys down, just as I'd read about in Re'aila's journal. But still my magic feels cold and dead, unable to be manipulated. I'm empty.

In my rising panic I try to find something to hold onto, some sort of comfort. I can only catch Anya's eyes, and it's a small amount of comfort I gain when I see the strength in her gaze. She gives an almost imperceptible nod to me, as if to bolster my confidence.

I swallow. I wish I could embody some semblance of the tenacity that I see in her, but all I'm thinking of is how far I'll have to bend this time to avoid being broken. I close my eyes against the thought that surfaces, a seemingly distant memory of when I made my escape from Azrath's clutches.

Just survive, the voice in my head says.

So it's with a heavy heart that I follow along to the directions of my captors.

While the path close by to where we were is unfamiliar, soon enough we're walking down the halls of the palace. It hasn't been too long since I left this place, but still I feel the memories of my time here bleeding into the present.

I'm pushed into the main room where Azrath sits. He smiles, and the sight of it pushes me into a panic. If anything, just the sight of him makes me feel dread. It's as if I can still feel the influence of his mouth on me, his body on top of me.

"Selene. Lussen. Anya. Eryx." He greets us one by one, eyes lingering on our faces. Eryx doesn't make any sound, still knocked out.

Azrath says something to his men, gesturing in front of him. I give a yelp as I'm thrust down to my knees in front of him by the soldier behind me. My knees throb against the cold floor. I can feel that they'll be bruised.

Anya and Lussen don't make any sound, having been able to brace themselves for the fall from Azrath's instructions.

The king says something else, the Gra'marian on his tongue sharp and rough. His eyes sweep over all of us once more before they settle on me at the end. He smiles but his eyes are cold. It makes me freeze. I feel trapped in his gaze, unable to move lest it angers him even more. When he speaks, it's to me. It's in my tongue, and somehow it feels so much more dangerous that these are words that only I can understand.

"Did you really think you could get away?" I can't answer. My mouth feels stiff. He looks down at Eryx, distaste dripping from his features. "My childhood friend, thinking with his dick rather than what's good for his king."

Azrath says something else in Gra'marian and a man comes forward from somewhere behind us. He's extremely pale, even more than Sorrean skin. That and the light color of his hair tells me that he's of the Eastern Isles. The man bends down in front of Eryx's unconscious form and waves a little jar under Eryx's nose.

Eryx wakes with a start, blinking a couple times as if he's taking time to regain consciousness.

I wish I could understand what they're saying, but judging from the tension in between the two men's short and clipped conversation it's nothing good.

At a point they switch to Sorrean, seemingly for my benefit.

"Now that I have you two here," says Azrath, tipping his head to the side where Eryx and I kneel on the floor. "Believe me. You'll get what's coming to you."

No one says anything as the king looks over us again. He takes his time. It makes me feel cold and naked.

He rapidly gives another set of instructions and the soldiers from behind us step forward.

They have Lussen take a huge mouthful of lembi. On his side they have to pinch Anya's nose until she opens her mouth to breathe, red in the face. They shove in more lembi, keeping her nose pinched shut, so Anya is forced to swallow it down before she's able to breathe.

Curiously, they skip over Eryx and come directly to me. The soldier who's holding the pot of lembi looks into my eyes as if to say sorry as he offers it up in a question. I had been debating whether to be more like Lussen or Anya, but when he looks at me with that small amount of kindness I open my mouth, allowing him to sprinkle the fistful into my mouth.

He has soft brown eyes, and despite everything I can see the boyishness of his facial features. To my surprise, I see him take some lembi as well, though it's nowhere near the same amount that's been administered to us.

"Leave them alone," says Eryx, suddenly looking panicked. "Let me take their punishment, just let them go."

Azrath laughs. "Don't worry, old friend. I have special plans for you."

"I'm begging you, Azrath."

I feel sick as at the king's indication Eryx is forced towards Azrath's throne. "Try anything and I'll keep you just barely alive for the rest of my life." He mutters, shoving Eryx's head down to the ground right in front of the throne. My heart clenches as Azrath places the ball of his foot on Eryx's temple, who grits his teeth looking back at us.

I feel the lembi starting to hit me in a wave. I close my eyes, drawing in a shuddering breath from the heat rising in my core. It's more intense than the other times I've been drugged, and I'm sure it's plain for Azrath to see. He laughs. "It's a more potent blend. We'll have a lot of fun with it."

Another wave hits me. I feel shaky, my heart pounding as the drugs flood my system.

My consciousness is fading, all rational thought melting away as all I can do is focus on the arousal that grips me. A sound to my left makes me whip my head to see Anya and Lussen freed from their bonds. Immediately I'm given the same treatment, my hands falling apart from each other.

Something else is said in Gra'marian, but I pay no attention to it as fingers wrap themselves around the roots of my hair and a hungry mouth descends upon mine. I close my eyes against its heat, the mean-looking soldier who groped me earlier nipping at my lips in a passionate kiss.

I barely realize the breathy sighs I'm making in between the dancing of our mouths as this man's attentions set my blood on fire. Something in the back of my head tells me I'm supposed to dislike him, but I can't really remember why in light of the sensations he's awakening in me.

He yanks my head back with the grip he has on my hair and I'm made to pull away with a gasp, keeping my eyes connected with his. His gaze sweeps down my front. He lets go of me and I wait, kneeling in front of him, trembling.

He says something roughly to me in Gra'marian as he undoes the buttons of my shirt one by one, yanking at them so roughly that I'm afraid they'll be ripped off. I bite my lip with the delicious anticipation, the warmth of my core ready to burst.

Another set of hands settle on my shoulders, sliding down my arms and my waist. It's the soldier with the soft eyes, who holds me by the middle while he kisses the back of my neck. The little sensations tickle and I giggle as they dance across my sensitive skin.

The one with the stubble has practically ripped my clothing from me, and now unceremoniously sticks his hands in between my legs. His fingers find their mark easily, the pad of his middle finger dragging across my clit. I suck in a breath at the feeling, lubricated by the wetness already dripping from me.