Queen Yavara Ch. 56

The swelling within me intensified every second. I twisted and writhed, bawling from my smiling lips, crying rapturously with each breath. I was so weak to it. I was a slave to it. I begged and prostrated with my body and soul, worshipping the deific ecstasy that raged through me. It was too great, too awesome a thing to even consider defying. How could I? For I was but Yavara Tiadoa, untested and unsure, a mere infant in my solo experience. But still, I didn't come. I held myself at bay, riding the precarious edge of sanity, clinging to it for some godforsaken reason that I could not know.

Let go, Yavara. Give in. Surrender. It is who you are. You are not a fighter, but we are mighty. You are a coward, but we are brave.

"Yavara!" someone screamed. It was Leveria. She was scrambling around the periphery of the battle as Zander desperately fended off my incarnation's attacks. How could she be so brave? "Yavara!" she screamed, waving frantically to get my attention. "Yavara, you're in control!"

"What?" I mouthed at her, though she couldn't see how my lips moved with my face buried in my arms.

Leveria scrambled out of the way of a fireball, and rolled unathletically to her side. She kept her distance from me and Alkandi, but she circled us doggedly as Dark Yavara and Zander traded earth-shaking blows. "You're in control!" she yelled, "You're stronger than her!"

I groaned, and shifted my ass backward, consuming Alkandi's ravaging fists deeper into my tight holes. God, why did it feel so good to be so horribly ravaged? I was made to be a victim. I was built for it. Not only was I weak, but I fetishized my own vulnerability, reveling in just how grotesquely I was being raped. How could I deny someone like Alkandi, who would so cruelly and perfectly give me what I needed?

"You can stop this!" Leveria cried, "Let me help you!"

I shook my head in defeat, and buried my face in my arms.

Come back to me, Yavara. Alkandi whispered, her voice caressing the base of my skull.

"Help me, Leveria." I whimpered, clinging to the very brink of Alkandi's blissful abyss. There wasn't much time left.

LEVERIA

Yavara's dark incarnation launched a flaming fist across the black expanse that struck Zander squarely in the chest. He flew backwards, engulfed in flames, and ended his trajectory as a smoldering husk a hundred yards away. He didn't get back up. I looked from him, to the pair of elves writhing on the ground. Yavara was overwhelmed with her own ecstasy, sobbing gloriously into her arms as her back heaved with undulations. Alkandi knelt behind her, both of her arms buried nearly to the elbow inside my little sister. She planted loving kisses along Yavara's spine, seeming to sooth Yavara's spasms with each peck. It wouldn't be much longer. I glanced at Dark Yavara. She turned from Zander as though he were just a mild inconvenience, and she faced me. She didn't emote anything; only stared at me, waiting for me to take one errant step. I looked from her, to Yavara, to Alkandi.

"Hey," I said to Alkandi.

Alkandi ignored me, not even looking up.

"Hey!" I yelled.

Again, Alkandi pretended I wasn't there.

"HEY YOU FUCKING OLD BITCH!"

Alkandi looked up. Her orange irises were blazing with power, dimming her ocular lenses so that the glowing orbs seemed to be rimmed in black. Yes, Leveria?

I gulped, and peed a little.

Alkandi smiled. You worked so hard to get my attention, and this is what you show me?

Gathering myself, I said in my most imperious voice, "You belong to me."

Our spirits may be kindred, but I choose whether to make the bond. I passed you over for a reason.

"No, no, no." I growled, "You don't choose; I do!"

Alkandi actually laughed. You have no choice in this, Leveria. The moment I entered your mother's womb, you became nothing but an afterthought to me.

I grinned. "I've been so much more than an afterthought to you, Alkandi."

Your significance in my life is simply a result of Yavara's weakness.

"You chose her over me, you dumb cunt. You don't get to make excuses."

And I don't need to.

I eyed Dark Yavara, and inched closer to Alkandi. Dark Yavara pumped her fists, and they erupted in flame.

Don't be stupid.

"The stupid thing would be to let me live." I said, watching Dark Yavara carefully, "If you and I are truly kindred spirits, then I know you would've killed me without hesitation the moment you had the opportunity. That means you can't."

If you desire to make that gamble, so be it.

I took one more step forward, and Dark Yavara exploded with energy. Her arms and legs pulsed with fire, her feet cracked the astral floor beneath her, and her hair splayed out with the convective winds of flame that radiated from her shoulders. I gulped, my entire body trembling, and I took yet another step forward. Dark Yavara's hands flashed to her sides, and two infernal swords were borne from her palms. I took another step forward. So did she. Again, I took another step forward, and she did as well. Step by step, we closed the distance between us until we were both equidistant from the two elves entwined in sex.

Not a step further, Leveria. Alkandi growled warningly.

"Why don't you just kill me then, you stupid old bitch?"

Dark Yavara leapt over the elves, and landed five paces in front of me, a shockwave of flame exploding from her feet. I yelped and scrambled backward, but not before my feet were singed by the blast.

Do not test me! Alkandi snarled. Dark Yavara crouched as though readying an attack, then abruptly stood straight, and sheathed her swords. She took them back out, and flashed them threateningly, then scabbarded them once more. She performed this strange dance three more times before settling on keeping her swords out, and adopting a relaxed stance.

I looked from her, to her high-elf counterpart, to Alkandi, then back. "Oh, I get it," I said to Dark Yavara, "there's more than one puppeteer pulling your strings, huh?"

Stay back!

I took one long stride toward the pair of elves. Dark Yavara stepped in front of me, her flaming swords flashing dangerously. Alkandi melted against Yavara, putting her entire body into the passion, moving with the sinuousness of a snake against my little sister as her pumping fists pushed deeper, and deeper. Yavara wailed and blubbered, her eyes leaking, her mouth drooling, but she stayed fixed in her ecstatic torture, not cresting over into the valley of release. Through her tear-filmed eyes, she looked at me, though I wasn't sure if she saw me, for her gaze was so unfocused that she seemed to be blind with pleasure.

"Leveria," she croaked, "help me."

"I'm here, Yavara." I said, watching her dark counterpart as I moved cautiously closer, "I just need you to stay cool, OK?"

"I can't hold it... feels too good..."

"Stay with me, little sis."

"Just... go..."

"I'm not leaving you."

Run away, Leveria. You don't belong here.

I took a final step forward, and Dark Yavara moved directly in my path, her chest only inches away from me. It seemed strange that she was shorter than me. From afar, she seemed a towering figure of menace, but right before me, she was just my little sister. She looked up at me with her emotionless orange irises, staring blankly and robotically right through me. I felt a cold horror crawl up my spine. There was no soul in this thing. This thing was an idea of a person, one that was given life through the thoughts of two noncompatible spirits. I reached up tentatively, and touched her face. A tear formed in her eye, and ran down her cheek to pool onto my thumb, but this thing could not feel the pain that caused it to weep. It was simply the idea of the emotion that it felt. Through a bastardized marriage of souls, this idea of Yavara had been created, and now voided of those souls that had merged to create it, it was lost. It had not walked as one with Alkandi's incarnations, but simply walked alongside them in herd, not knowing what else to do. If Yavara did not merge, Alkandi would not be able to take ownership of this thing. It would walk aimlessly and soullessly through the astral plane, devoid of meaning until it latched onto one. I had heard legend of such things; they called them Sentients. Even now, I could see the whites of its eyes darkening, becoming as black as the pupils at its centers, claimed by the astral plane. It opened its lips, and let out a low, guttural moan.

"Yavara?" I asked it, but it did not answer. It just stared at me, recognizing me, but not knowing me. There was something inside it that hated me, and something else inside it that loved me, but it did not know which to act upon. I looked over her shoulder, and to the elves locked in lustful combat. Yavara's eyes were partially rolled into her head, and her mouth was gaping in an ecstatic smile, but she hadn't fallen. Even now, she held back the tide within her. Alkandi's face was a portrait of consternation verging on the precipice of outright horror.

"You with me, little sis?" I asked.

"Yes," she croaked, unable to voice her words.

"I need you to stay real cool for just one more second."

Her eyes rolled forward, and she emoted her desperate confirmation with a single thought, Hurry!

I grasped Dark Yavara's arm, and tried to move it. It was rigid and strong as stone at first, but it softened when I caressed its shoulder. It looked down at the contact I'd made with it, seemingly perplexed by the sensation. Carefully, I pressed my body to its, squishing breasts and pressing bellies, allowing it to feel the heat between my legs. It looked confusedly down at our joining, unknowing of what to do. Kill? Fuck? Hate? Love? What was the command from on high? I gently ran my fingers down its forearms, and grasped its wrists. Its flaming swords dimmed slightly, but its lethal edges still glowed in the infinite darkness. I tried to ignore them, and instead focused on the black-rimmed eyes of the idea before me.

"Let me love you." I whispered to it. It relaxed its shoulders, and parted its lips. I took two deep breaths through my nose, and let them out through my mouth. The world seemed to come into vivid focus. It felt just like that moment after I'd killed my father, when I could hear my blood moving, and see the veins in my eyes through my lenses. Dark Yavara's plush lips were moist and ready, painted a deep mauve like a ripe plumb. Its bronze flesh was prickled with anticipation, alight with the sensations borne from my fingers as they massaged its wrists. Its blazing eyes stared through me, seeing, but not seeing; knowing, but not understanding. But it desired me, yes. The two souls that played it like a puppet could at least agree on that. My heart beat heavily in my chest as I closed the distance between our mouths. I could taste its breath, smell its flesh, and feel its warmth on my lips. I raised its arms out to its sides, and jammed the swords into its own neck.

ADRIANNA

There were only five of us left.

When the wargs saw us coming up the promenade, they crawled out of Castle Bentius like spiders emerging from their festering hovel, and they formed in the courtyard. There were only a score of them remaining, and most of them were riderless, but it didn't matter. Though we outnumbered them ten to one, we were outmatched in every way. Still, the rebels charged to their doom, spearheaded by Esmerelda herself. It wasn't bravery that compelled them, but a bizarre disinterest in their own lives. One can only take so much terror before terror becomes numb, and death is no longer vivid and horrible, but a dull mosaic. The screeching becomes annoying, the agony becomes a bore, and the gore becomes just an eyesore. I'd seen it before on battlefields; warriors who had endured such hell that they no longer understood anything else. Warriors who charged headlong into the fray and committed unspeakable acts of violence without passion; just blank stares into the void. Those were the rebel riders now. They crashed into the line of beasts, and were slaughtered.

The wolves tore through them with ease, rending limbs from bodies, tearing viscera from bellies, ripping heads off shoulders. Still, the rebels pressed on, swinging their swords, thrusting their spears, loosing their bows, piercing, stabbing, hacking through fur and muscle while they were massacred. I shot my arrows from the periphery until my quiver was empty, then I joined the frenzy, but the wolves paid me and Sasha no heed; they were focused on the ever-pressing wave of horseflesh that was slowly pushing them back. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in their red eyes. And why wouldn't they be terrified? For the enemy they so-easily killed simply would not stop. No matter how many times they snapped their jaws or swiped their claws, no matter how many women were sent screeching into pieces, they just kept coming, dealing death by a thousand little cuts, charging relentlessly and tirelessly forward. The wargs faltered. Their snarls and roars became yips and squeals. They began to shuffle backwards, and they began to die. One by one, they fell. We pushed them down the courtyard, through the gates, and into the atrium. By the time we reached the royal corridor, there was only one wolf left. It fought to the bitter end, gnashing and clawing its way through twenty women before Sasha finally got her jaws around its neck.

Then, it was over. No more nightmares lurked in the shadows, nor orcs set to ambush. I looked around the atrium, and saw the evidence of the struggle that had taken place before us. The watchmen and noblemen were lying in piles and pieces, their bodies forming paths up the four corridors of the four castle wings, their blood staining the stones. The orcs were mostly congregated upon the atrium entrance, shot right from their steeds by the awaiting archers. I recognized one of them as Ruglok, the leader of the outfit after Gorlok's death. The marksmanship exhibited in the arrow placement made me proud of the elven archers, though I couldn't help but feel that they'd let the orcs off easy. Neck, chest and headshots; the bastards had died too quickly.

"Adrianna?" Esmerelda asked, her voice dead in her mouth, "What now?"

I looked from her, to the four other survivors. They seemed exhausted, ready to collapse under their own weight at any second. Their horses were all dead.

"What do you mean, 'what now?'" I asked, "Now, you take your throne."

"My throne." Esmerelda laughed, her smile as bloody as the rest of her face, "What am I the ruler of? A city filled with death, and a country broken by war. I was supposed to be a savior of the people, Adrianna. It was my shield against your inevitable betrayal."

I raised my brows.

"Oh yes," she sneered, "I knew what you were going to do. Didn't I tell you before? You nobles are all alike. Snakes. All that matters is who you know, and I don't know anyone, but you're very well connected. You're so willing to use people like tools; why would you discard all your military friends for one hopeless rebel?" She pointed her sword at me, "I'm going to give you a chance to do the right thing now, because deep under all that bullshit, I know there's someone who truly wants to be honorable. I've seen little glimpses of it. The way you treat Justina. The pity with which you regard me. I told you before; you're easy to read."

"Esmerelda," I said cautiously, "put your sword down."

"Make your choice, Adrianna. Show me that there's still something in you that's good."

"Put the sword down!"

"Show me."

Sasha jumped. I drew my bow, reached for my quiver, and grasped nothing. There were no arrows left. In the moments before it happened, I connected eyes with Esmerelda, and I saw the realization dawn on her face. Such horror. Sasha's jaws came down, and the leader of the rebels was bitten clean in half. The other four leapt into action, driving their spears and swords into Sasha's hide as Esmerelda's mortal screeches sounded from the wolf's maw, her arms flailing between its teeth. Sasha chewed, Esmerelda crunched, and the moment was mercifully over. I drew my sword and gave the last of the rebels the clean deaths they deserved. Sasha swallowed what she had in her mouth, and panted contentedly, once again happy to have saved me. Then she jerked her head around, sniffed the air, and dashed down the royal corridor. I extracted the portal from Esmerelda's pocket, and followed Sasha at a brisk pace, passing contrasting beams of light, a body of a gored bald man, and piles of dead wargs twisted around wrought-iron hafts. I walked through the burst body of a wolf, and into the light of the throne room. There, I heard the voice of someone I thought was long-dead. Somehow, I wasn't surprised.

"I would beg to differ." I said in answer to her claim.

Elena gawked at me, and so did her mother behind her. King Ternias examined me like I was a riddle, but I wasn't in the mood to be solved. As I walked toward them, I plucked a pair of arrows from the hide of a dead wolf, drew my bow, and loosed. Elena was fast. She dived out in front of the king, and caught the first arrow before it hit him in the chest, but the second one was a heartbeat slower, and she had mistimed her jump. The arrow thudded into the back of the throne, and King Lucas Ternias of the Highlands slumped forward, blood pouring from his empty eye socket. Elena hit the floor a moment later, and sprawled out onto the carpet.

"All hail Queen Elena Straltaira of the Highlands," I proclaimed grandly, raising my arms, "long may she reign. Congratulations, Tiger."

She jumped up, and drew her sword with lightning quickness. "You?!" She snarled, "You led the attack on Bentius?!"

"It's a bit more complicated than that." I said, "I'm not sure it can be hashed-out in brevity. God, we've got a lot of catching up to do, don't we?"

"You mean you've got a lot of fucking explaining to do!"

I stopped in front of Sasha's eviscerated corpse. "I heard your conversation with Ternias. Do you know who the lynchpin of Leveria's plan was?" I tapped myself on the breast, "I was her fool. She maneuvered me and manipulated me and put me right into position to destroy everything I held dear. I framed Prince Matthew. I dragged the Lowlands into the war. I'm the reason Alkandra is going to be destroyed. What a fucking patriot I am."

"Tell me what happened here!" She snapped.

"I was exiled from Alkandra, I got caught up with the wrong crowd, and I made some bad friends. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"That's all you have to say?" She growled, "After everything you taught me?! After everything you swore?!"

"Careful throwing my old ranger loyalties at me." I said, pointing a finger at her, "Leveria did that same thing, and now look where we are." I spat on the carpet, "A kingdom stuck so far in the past that its traditions are older than religions. It's like a mummy of the empire it used to be, and we rangers kept it nice and pretty year and year out so that royals would pat us on the head and tell us what a good fucking job we were doing."

"It's our home!"

"It's not, Tiger. You've never been home. You don't even know who you are yet. You've been living a shadow of the life you should be, but you don't have to any longer. You're the queen now. Call off the attack, and come back home with me. If I bring you back, I'll be forgiven, and you'll be with Yavara again."

"I don't even know her anymore." Elena hissed.

I stepped forward. "It's not too late." I said softly, "Whatever you're thinking, it's not too late. Bentius isn't destroyed. A lot of people are dead, but it'll recover. You can rebuild it with Yavara. Show the world what kind of strength can be found with reconciliation. Show Alkandra that you understand their pain. This attack was a long time coming, and we both know it. The Highlands deserved everything that happened today."