Salveran Tides Ch. 06

Leona stared for a few moments longer, then shook her head. "Yes...right...okay!" She took a deep breath, and reached back to undo the knots holding her leather armor to her chest. It was as she did that she noticed there was something decidedly different about the witch's anatomy.

Namely, that she had a rather large male organ between her legs.

"Something the matter?" Vi asked.

Leona made a squeak, her hands stilling in the process of shedding her own garments. "I... wasn't expecting...I've never seen..."

"Ah, right. Forgive me, I spend so much time on my own it doesn't seem strange to me." The witch reached down and placed her hands atop the soft length of her cock. "Wildlings like myself can reshape our bodies to suit our desires."

Leona couldn't take her eyes off the majestic thing; Vi's hands couldn't cover it completely. "So you decided to make yourself male?"

"Do you simply define the gender of others by what's between their legs?" Vi raised her hands, spreading her arms so the moonlight cast her skin in silver. "It is so much more than that."

The mermaid ducked her head. "Forgive me."

A gentle hand touched her shoulder. "You are forgiven. Now, remove your clothes."

Leona did, the cool evening air feeling divine as it touched her scales. She cast the leather aside out of the circle of candles. She drew her legs into a cross-legged position. "What must I do?"

"Stay right there." Vi sat down across from her, gathering her bottles to her side. She clapped her hands together and closed her eyes. "Father ocean, Mother stone, hear your child's plea."

The ring of candles around them flared as Vi recited the words. Leona drew her legs in closer to herself. This was likely the part where she wasn't supposed to break the circle. A breeze began to blow, making the jungle in the distance rustle like an otherworldly whisper.

Vi held out her hands, her fingers curled into claws at Leona. "Father ocean, one of your children seeks knowledge. Will you give it to her?" Blue light bloomed around them as the candle flames all turned a deep shade of azure. Vi reached into a pouch and tossed a handful of something into the tide pool. "Mother stone, will you show us what has transpired on your body? Father ocean..."

Vi repeated the questioning mantra several times. Leona desperately wanted to ask what she was doing, but feared that doing so would interrupt. Even though she wasn't directing the magic, some sixth sense in the back of her mind could feel it. Vi's body grew more and more tense with every repetition, the motions of her arms and fingers growing more and more exaggerated. A thrum had entered the witch's voice. Though her eyes were closed, Leona could see light spilling out from underneath her lids.

They flew open suddenly. "Father ocean, show me what has transpired!" Vi cried.

In the tide pool next to them, the moonlight winked out, as if someone had spilled a barrel of ink into the water. The water swirled, black tendrils twisting and writing under the surface ripples. Leona saw shapes coalesce in the water, things vaguely resembling altaean bodies.

Vi made a strangled noise. Sweat poured down her body from exertion, her lips pulling back from gritted teeth. "Something else lingers in the shadows," she panted. "Something...augh!"

Her head snapped back, the candles around them all going out. The witch caught herself as she fell backwards, her chest heaving with her deep breaths. "Are you okay?" Leona asked.

"I'm fine," Vi said. She rolled over, crawling on all fours to the water. It had returned to normal, reflecting the moon in its glassy surface. "Seems this may require more than I first thought."

"What was all that?"

"There seems to be another powerful magic force at work that wants to hide things from me." Vi sat back on her haunches. "But nobody can for long. That is, if you're willing to offer me your body."

Leona made a soft squeak. "What."

"The magic I wield is very old, and in the olden days blood was often used as a catalyst to strengthen incantations. But intercourse is another way of generating the same energies. And it's my preferred method because..." Vi smiled a little. "Well, it feels better."

Leona suddenly felt very vulnerable. She hugged her arms across her chest. "And if I say no?"

"I can try other methods of divining what you wish to see, but I doubt any of them would be as effective. I will not force you if you do not wish to go the physical route."

There had been something familiar about the images in the pool, vague as they had been. Leona wanted - needed - to see more. More importantly, she was desperate to gain some sense of perspective on where she'd been and where she was at that moment. There wasn't anybody she'd made any sort of romantic commitment to back home, so there was nothing wrong with her lying with Vi.

Plus, there was no small amount of her that was curious about how that magnificent organ between the witch's legs worked.

Leona lowered her arms, hooking them underneath her breasts and giving them a little lift. "I think it's something I'm willing to do."

Vi gave her an easy smile. "Then give me a moment."

The witch tossed a few more handfuls of her strange ingredients into the tide pool, then clapped her hands together to get rid of the excess. She held out her hands again, bowing her head. "Father ocean, Mother stone, we still seek your aid and guidance. Bear witness to a coupling, so that we may see what is hidden from us."

Around them, the candles flared to life again, burning bright in the darkness. Vi turned to Leona. "Now we may begin."

Leona tried to force herself to relax. "Right...yes. So...do we just?" Her face burned. "How do we start?"

Vi laughed, a soft sound that sent tingles up Leona's back, and crawled closer to her on all fours. "We start as any other two might," she murmured. Her hands found Leona's thighs, gripping them and kneading the sensitive skin there. The witch pulled herself into Leona's body, her nose and lips probing at Leona's neck and collarbone. Vi's lips were incredibly soft, unlike any Leona had ever felt before. Then again, my experience is a little limi - mmph!

Vi kissed her on the mouth, a tender touch as she put more of her weight against Leona. Leona made a soft noise, but found herself kissing back after a moment. She reached up a tentative hand and touched Vi's bicep. The witch's skin was warm, as if there were lava rather than blood running underneath her skin. Vi hummed and broke their kiss, nipping down Leona's neck to her pert breasts below. Leona crooned as those soft lips found one of her nipples and took it between them. Her legs wound themselves around Vi's waist out of reflex, hooking tight at the small of her back.

Vi's arms wrapped around Leona and heaved with a surprising amount of strength, lifting Leona bodily off the stone and into the witch's lap. Leona squeaked in surprise, finding she could rest her full weight into Vi's arms. "How are you so strong?" she gasped.

"The primal power of the earth courses through me," Vi answered, speaking the words into the line of Leona's collarbone. "It tempers the body, focuses the mind, and allows for feats that most mortals could not comprehend."

Leona pressed her face into Vi's scalp. A sweet scent came from her hair, and she inhaled it greedily. "Any chance I could learn how that works?"

"No altaean to my knowledge has ever gone through the process to become a wildling." Vi returned to nibbling on Leona's throat. "Perhaps one day there will be."

"I'd like to...try..." Leona's brain was short-circuiting from the nips and bites. Though her kind had scales, they still had erogenous zones underneath them in places similar to humans, elves and other biped races. That fact hadn't been taught to her by her teachers. Instead she'd learned it from a book in the palace library in the section her mother had forbidden her from looking in. It had been the only book from it she'd read before getting caught. But that knowledge within had inspired Leona to explore herself, and a part of her was giddy now that she got to experience the other part.

"It's been a while since I've lain with one of your people," Vi said. Her tongue traced a line down Leona's torso between her breasts. "But I've not forgotten the sweetness of your people's skin." She buried her face into Leona's chest, holding her close while her strong fingers found the mermaid's shoulder blades and pressed. Leona crooned, her eyes closing as the witch played her like an instrument.

Then she felt it. A hot length, rising up against her thigh, thick and pulsing in time with Vi's heartbeat. Leona marveled at the size of it, rubbing her thigh against the shape as much as she could in Vi's grip. The witch made a noise, so Leona rubbed again. "So do you get to choose how big you are when you...reshape yourself?" Leona asked.

"Yes," Vi murmured.

What a delight that must be, Leona thought. She wriggled out of Vi's grip, sliding down Vi's body. Leona's hips touched stone, and she settled against the rock underneath her. From that angle, she could appreciate what had been drawing her eye repeatedly so much over the last few minutes. Vi's cock was a proud thing, a long length of dark skin topped with a thick head. Two heavy balls rested beneath, full and ready.

Leona shifted, nuzzling the beautiful length before her. The skin was even hotter than the rest of Vi, and it jumped at the touch of her tongue. Leona smiled to herself as she first nosed, then licked. Giving head above water would be different than under, it seemed. The few romps she'd had at home, she and her partner had been able to use their buoyant environment to their advantage. It allowed them to float into a myriad of positions for something as basic as oral. Here, things were more grounded, their bodies pressing and flexing against the ground as Leona wrapped one hand around Vi's shaft and her lips around the witch's cock head. Far from a bad thing, she thought. Just different.

Vi moaned, bracing her weight on her arms behind her as Leona slowly sucked her cock. A hand threaded into Leona's hair, silent but insistent encouragement. Leona went slow, as she preferred to, pumping her hand in time with dipping her head. She looked up at Vi as she worked, meeting the witch's eyes. Vi was biting on the corner of her lip, her gaze filled with the kind of desire that only came when it had been a while. Leona crossed her own legs behind her, lifting her feet up to make sure she didn't accidentally break the magic circle while she was focused on other matters. She changed her approach, dipping her head low and lapping at the base of Vi's shaft, lathing those heavy balls with her tongue as she did. Vi squirmed, a little moan slipping from her lips, and Leona kept probing further with her tongue.

"Ease up, please," Vi panted, hooking a finger under Leona's chin to lift her head away from her crotch.

"I was just starting to have fun," Leona pouted.

Vi licked her lips. "I only ask because you were a little too good at that. For this to work we must be joined as I reach my climax."

"Oh. Oh!" Leona felt her face burn. Since she'd been so focused on pleasuring Vi she hadn't realized just how warm her own body, the locus of that head between her legs. "You mean..." She spread her legs a little, pressing fingertips to her mons.

Vi's gaze locked onto her groin like a shark spotting a lame seal. "Yes."

Leona pounced, pushing Vi onto her back and straddling the witch around the waist. Vi's proud cock slid into the groove of Leona's rump, and she clenched her muscles and ground back against it. "I'm having so much fun I almost forgot this was part of a ritual," Leona said.

"It can be easy to forget," Vi said. She reached up and splayed her palms on Leona's belly.

Leona instead took her wrists and brought them up to her breasts. Vi squeezed her, kneading the soft flesh as Leona shifted her hips. She lifted her waist, using a hand to guide Vi's cock into position. Then she slid down, slowly, and had to bite down on her lip to keep from crying out loud enough to wake the others on the other side of the island. Leona didn't get to experience this all that often, her previous trysts all clandestine encounters in the heat of the moment that had been satisfying. But the thick cock attached to the witch was bigger than any she'd ever taken before. It felt like an iron rod sliding between her damp thighs.

Vi arched her own back as Leona settled her weight down. The entirety of the witch's cock was inside Leona; she'd never felt more full in her life. Leona bent over a little so she could grab Vi's shoulders. Her hair hung down over her partner like a black veil. "By all the oceans..." she mewled. Her hips bucked out of pure reflex, desperate to feel the length inside her shift and spark against her most sensitive spots. Vi's own body responded to meet her, the two of them settling into an easy rhythm.

A chill wind blew in from the ocean, the cool air sliding across Leona's breasts as she rode Vi. Each motion brought a new spark of pleasure, a new flare to the heat building inside her. The sense of something building tickled the back of her mind once more. Leona cast a quick glance at the tide pool. Indeed, the water had turned an inky black again, swirling with ripples. Vague shapes darted about underneath, silhouettes there and gone in a flash. Then Vi gave a particularly sharp thrust up with her hips and Leona ceased caring about much else other than humping down against the witch again and again. She reached between her legs, webbed fingers finding that sweet spot and rubbing gently.

Vi's eyes were glowing with power again. Her voice was steady but tight, as if she was trying desperately to intone her invocation right and not err in the incanting. "Father ocean, Mother stone, bear witness to this coupling and show us what we wish to see. By the motions of conception, by the energies of lust, show us what we wish to see. Father ocean, mother stone..."

Leona lost her ability to keep quiet as she rode Vi, her pants and moans punctuating the witch's mantra. There was definitely something building around them, the energy's locus right where cock plunged into cunt. Leona felt it wash over her, her skin crackling with the energy as the warmth in her loins boiled over. She cried out and bucked, feeling the tension inside her burst free like a breaking levy. A shudder passed through her as her body continued with it's motions, knowing that Vi was close.

"Father, Mother, show us what is hidden from our sight!" Vi cried out. Then she grabbed Leona's hips and pulled them down atop her, a wordless noise of pleasure tearing free from her mouth as she came. Leona felt the warm rush inside her, moaning at the feeling of being filled to the brim. It would take a long dunk in the ocean to clean herself out, but it would be so worth it.

The two of them collapsed to the stone, holding onto one another's bodies as the heat of the moment warmed them. Vi's lips found Leona's neck again, nipping at the hollow of her throat as she murmured, "Look to the water... look to the water..."

Leona found it hard to tear her gaze away from the witch's impassioned face, but she did, turning her eyes towards the tide pool. The water there rippled and swirled with a life all its own. Distorted images came together amidst the eddies, the black veil around them finally clearing.

But the face that looked out at her from the tide pool was not her own. It was her brother's.

"Makeil?" she murmured.

Vi shifted under her. "Who?"

"My brother." Leona slid herself off Vi, feeling the witch's essence flow down her leg. She moved to the edge of the tide pool and peered in at the face of her sibling. She and Makeil shared a great many features - the royal altaean family's wide forehead and sharp cheekbones, for example. But Makeil had always kept his hair short and tight to the crown of his head, breading the locks with sea shells and bits of coral. And unlike Leona, who had gotten her mother's sea-green eyes, Makeil had inherited their father's contemplative ruby-red eyes.

In the pool, her brother swam through a stretch of sea. Leona bent closer to see better. The image shifted, and now he was swimming in the wake of a large galleon similar to the ones that had chased them before. Then it became him holding an altaean trident, the weapon's prongs sparking with magic of some kind. He raised it high, his face contorted in concentration. Was he fighting someone? When did this happen?

The shadows returned, clouding the water like octopus ink. "No, wait!" Leona cried. She reached out towards the surface of the tide pool.

"Do not touch the water!" Vi cried.

But it was too late. Leona's webbed finger touched the surface, and she felt as though all the strength had been sucked out of her body. She fell forward into the pool, her upper body submerging in the inky water. Despite the fact that it was only a foot deep, Leona felt herself slide forward into a crushing abyss, as if she were swimming in the deepest trenches under the sea.

She spun every which way, trying to figure out which way the surface was. A tightness constricted her throat, and panic surged in her gut. She couldn't breathe, even though she was underwater and both her neck and torso gills were unobstructed. There had never been an environment where she couldn't breathe.

A light flashed somewhere above her, red and bright, and Leona kicked as hard as she could, swimming up towards it. Above her, something hit the water, sinking like a stone. As she drew close, Leona recoiled in horror. The sinking something was her, dead from numerous wounds across her body, sightless eyes staring up at the surface.

Then another body hit the water, and another, all across the surface as far as she could see. Dead altaeans fell like rain, sinking down from where they hit the water. They'd been ripped apart, scraps of flesh hanging from twisted, broken limbs.

Leona stared for a long time, until the lack of air really began to press in on her. She kicked up towards the surface, finally breaching it and sucking in a breath of air. But it was far from refreshing - the air was tinged with the smell of smoke. It scratched her throat raw as she breathed it in. She turned around in the water, looking for the source of it all.

When she saw, she wailed.

Somehow, Riesla, the altaean capital and her home, was above water. And it was burning. Fire snaked out of the building windows, magical flames that were a red so dark they were almost black. The palace was blackened, and there were things lurching about among the destruction. They were bipedal, twisted and misshapen, with glowing red eyes. At the edge of the city, Leona saw human ships firing volley after volley into the city, the explosive shells detonating among the architecture.

Atop one of the ships, flying the flag that she'd seen on the ships that had chased them the previous day were two humans. The first was a woman, tall and gaunt, with black hair that fell to the small of her back. Across from her was a man, wiry and strong, with curly hair and pragmatic dress.

Both of them were looking at her floating helplessly in the water. The man raised his arm. He held Scarlet's severed head by the hair.

Then came the voice from behind her, deep and menacing like something that wasn't of this world.

You shouldn't be here.

Something pulled Leona underwater before she could even scream. She went down, down, thrashing wildly but unable to break free. "No!" she screamed, the word lost in a bubble that floated up towards the surface above. The blackness closed in around her. "No, no, no!"