The Chaos Blade

"I don't know, she didn't tell us. But I think he was you."

Kelnozz grunted. The Queen was dead. His Queen. His aunt. Kelnozz felt no sadness, only a hollow pit in his stomach. The pit slowly grew warmer as the implications settled onto his shoulders. He did not want her final gift to him.

Kelnozz turned and headed for the door. Garrick stopped him with his hand resting on Kelnozz's shoulder. Kelnozz glared at him for a long minute.

"You're alive, elf, be thankful!" Garrick consoled. "Most men would give anything to be in your shoes. To be a king."

Kelnozz bristled at his words. He reached up and brushed Garrick's hand off his shoulder. Wordlessly he proceeded out of the room. Garrick called after him, stopping him briefly. "Remember that things could be worse. You could be him," Garrick said, motioning towards Kelnozz's clone who lay dead on the field.

Pausing in the doorway Kelnozz glanced over to where Garrick had indicated. He fought down a shudder within him and whispered, "You're wrong, I was him." With that he was gone. Out the door and quickly striding across the marketplace to the north.

Alesha watched him with a pained expression. She looked around and saw everyone either studiously trying to pretend to not be interested in Kelnozz's words and actions, or intently rapt upon them. She felt torn. She needed to be with him so badly right then, and she suspected he could use her company as well, but perhaps she was wrong. Then there was still the feeling of betrayal at learning of the light elf, Jethallin. Perhaps Kelnozz held no love for her anymore. That fear alone kept her in place, her legs as rock, unwilling to move.

"Go to him, lass, if ever there was a time, now be it," Garrick said, his deep voice shocking her out of her paralysis. She rushed out the door at just shy of a run, heading after him.

Bill moved to follow, his concern for her well being overruling his common sense. Garrick's hand caught him by the back of his shirt, lifting him up easily into the air with one hand again.

"What say you and I have a talk?" Garrick said, setting the man down and gesturing out the door so that they might walk and talk with some privacy. Bill glared at him and wished again that he had saved his M4 and a few bullets. Quite a few, in fact, just to be sure. In the end he grunted and headed out, granting Garrick the chance to have his discussion.

"What about us?" Elvanshalee asked Yamara. The two were alone in the room.

Yamara stared at the dead queen a long moment, lost in introspection. "I'm not sure. I'm not usually on this side of things."

Elvanshalee raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. "Well then, let us help, whatever my kin do, there are lizardmen and demons still running amok that must be dealt with. It seems you and I stand a good chance of helping with them."

Yamara nodded. Fighting the demon earlier had taxed her strength, then helping Bill had drained her more, but the turn of events and the seeming finally of all that was taking place had revived her somewhat. She felt ready to experiment with her re-found powers some more. Briefly, thoughts of Keeden flitted through her mind. She remembered what the things he could do and suspected that, with time and practice, she would be his equal or more. More since she possessed Brina's final gift to her that seemed to aid her. Then she remembered how he had died and she suffered a brief moment of shame. Helping Bill was only the first of many debts she needed to repay.

Chapter 33

Alesha found Kelnozz north of Loralost a few miles, sitting with his back to a rock on the side of a craggy hill, pondering Cirithallion silently. He held the drawn sword upright and was staring a the fine craftsmanship of the weapon, from the pommel, hilt, and quillions all the way up to the tip of the blade.

He spun his head to stare at her quickly, making her stop with her heart suddenly in her throat. He shook his head free of whatever thoughts had been in it and stood up to face her. Alesha hesitantly walked forward towards him, unable to gauge his mind by his expression.

"I left no trail, how did you find me?"

"I just did," she answered, looking behind her at the invisible path she had not realized she was walking. "I saw no signs but felt that you were up here."

"I thought your magic was gone."

Alesha recoiled at his statement. It was so calm and tired sounding. But what had surprised her the most was that he already knew it was gone.

"How do you know?" She asked in a stunned whisper.

Kelnozz gave her a weak smile. "I see and I hear. Easy enough to figure out from that."

Alesha nodded, fighting off a sudden wetness in her eyes that threatened to overwhelm her. "What now, Kel?" she asked him softly. In truth she was afraid to hear the answer.

"Now I go to Ancaruin," he said bitterly. "And when I return, I accept the crown."

Alesha gasped. "No! You can't!"

"Why not?" Kelnozz asked, eyeing her carefully. She reminded him so much of the young girl that had been summoned into his life so many centuries before by means of a dreadful miracle. So much that it hurt.

"Ancaruin is more powerful now then ever!" She pleaded. "You'll die, no one can stand against him!"

Kelnozz smiled again. "I won't be alone, child. Garrick will come, as will Luingirth. We three shall have to be enough."

"Then I'm coming too! I served him once, I can help you defeat him!" Alesha insisted.

Kelnozz smiled sadly. "Very well," he said, and turned away from her to look down the hillside at the miles of treetops beyond.

Alesha moved closer, until she was only inches from his back. She touched his shoulder gently. "Just like that, you're not going to tell me to stay behind or anything?"

"Everyone deserves to right to choose their own course. I shall not deny you the path you feel is yours."

"And what of Darakor?" Her tone was soft and nervous. She feared the answer almost as much as she feared not hearing it. Thoughts and dreams of Kelnozz were what had made the years passable in the Tavern, even if she had no realized it until that very moment. Yet Darakor was the result of the union of Kelnozz and another woman, an elf. An elf that still lived. What could Alesha hope to offer to compete with an immortal wife that could also bear Kelnozz children.

Kelnozz sighed and remained silent for a long moment. "Darakor is not your true question, is it?"

Alesha shook her head and offered him a thin smile. "Not really."

Kelnozz nodded. "Jethallin is dead, Alesha. I watched Darakor kill her himself."

Alesha was shocked. Darakor had slain his mother? What sort of a monster would do such a thing? Then Alesha remembered the fate of her own parents. She remembered and she felt something inside of her shrink and try to hide. Her face flushed and tears came to her eyes. She shook her head and fought back the repressed memories.

"Jethallin saved Nordan and I after we dispatched that blue dragon lord you used to be friends with, remember him?" Alesha nodded, eyes cast downwards to hide her face. Kelnozz gently reached out an raised her face so that she would look at him.

"What happened was a one time thing. There was something special about her, something unique. I don't know how she could be so different from other light elves, but it seems that the same oddity runs strong in her daughter."

"What of her son?"

"I hoped for that, but apparently it is not the case. He told me many things when I was his prisoner in Mezarbolle. Things that he could not know except that he learned them from his father," Kelnozz explained.

"Narellin!" Alesha hissed, remembering the devilish wizard clearly.

"Aye, Narellin. Darakor had slain him and usurped his position. Then Darakor insured that Ancaruin would be resurrected. And now Darakor seeks what you once sought."

"To rule the world," Alesha whispered. Kelnozz nodded.

"More, eventually. Such a thirst for power can never be slaked. He will want more then the world, in time."

"And what about me? After. Will there ever be a place for me in your heart again?"

Kelnozz turned to her and smiled. It was a real smile, but it was a sad one as well. "Ever there will be, Alesha. But my fate does not allow for a human, no matter what her history, to share it. Jethallin was special and unique and we shared one another briefly, but it was only that, a brief crossing of ways. What has happened to her was a terrible injustice, a sign of what happens to those who's paths I cross and care for. I will forever seek to protect you and do what is best for you, but that is all I can give you."

The tears finally came to Alesha's eyes, she could deny them no longer. Kelnozz reached out to her and pulled her closer to him, hugging her against him in an almost uncharacteristic moment of sensitivity. Alesha clung to him and let her tears flow. That was it then, it was done. A weight lifted from her shoulders even as her heart sank in her chest.

"Do me one last favor," she whispered into his ear. Kelnozz nodded separating them only enough so that they could see each others faces while they talked.

"Love me," she whispered again, leaning forward and closing her eyes. Their lips touched and the years of separation fell away from them. In moments that last a millennium and were over all to quickly, they spoke only with their bodies.

Their armor and clothing hit the floor in ground in disorganized heaps, all attention focused entirely upon one another. Kelnozz picked Alesha up and carried her up the rocky slope to a shade tree under which an expanse of soft growth provided a bed for them. Laying her upon it, he devoted attention to her body with his mouth, kissing, sucking, nipping, and licking wherever he could. Her neck and shoulders and then breasts he devoted special attention to, making her gasp at the sensations and arch her back into him for more contact. Kelnozz only moved on at his own pace, driving her crazy with her raging need she had carried stored up within her for decades.

He descended further, trailing butterfly kisses along her ribs and her belly, making her squirm in anticipation. His long slender figures, callused and rough with a lifetime of handling a sword, scratched lightly along the inside of her thighs. She opened her legs to him, pushing and pulling with her hands on his shoulders to make him arrive at his destination. After an eternity of blissful torture he arrive, gently licking and stroking the core of her being, igniting the nerves and making her body convulse with each deft stroke of his tongue.

Alesha shuddered over and over again. Within seconds she was at the edge. Kelnozz brought her over gently, licking her clit in a rhythm with her heartbeat, causing her to explode time and again against him. Only his incredible strength kept her from crushing him with her thighs as she spasmed against him.

As Alesha came down from her orgasm she pulled Kelnozz up towards her. He slid up her body fluidly and embraced her, kissing her deeply. Alesha took in his kisses with a fervor that was impossible for most mortals given the power of the climax she had endured. Nonetheless, she showed some of her prior strengths by tapping into her own adrenaline and lust to suck hungrily at Kelnozz's tongue and lips, tasting herself on him and feeling her libido driven to new heights by it quickly.

Alesha could feel Kelnozz's hardness against her leg, throbbing hotly against her. She wanted so badly to feel him in her again and to never let go. But first she had to taste him again, to remember fully what it was like and to commit it to memory. She slid down his body, pausing briefly along the way to leave a trail of kisses. When she reached her goal she eyed his manhood briefly, taking it in with a trained eye. She was filled with great happiness and sorrow simultaneously, but for the time being, she was solely focused on making this an encounter neither would forget.

Her tongue gingerly reached out and licked the head of his shaft, digging gently into the slit and tasting the pre-cum that was beginning to gather. Above her somewhere she heard Kelnozz groan. He had apparently forgotten the heights of pleasure she could drive him too. Alesha's hands began to work then, caressing the shaft of his cock with one and fondling his testicles with the other. Her tongue swirled around the head, digging in for the treasure of the pearl drops that would slowly form.

Alesha surprised herself and Kelnozz then. With no magic to aid her anymore, she nevertheless aligned her throat with her mouth and with a well timed swallow, sank down completely on him. The dark elf shuddered at the sensations of her tight throat massaging his cock, her rhythmic swallowing milking the seed from him. He groaned and clenched his teeth and fists, trying to deny the powerful urge she was putting into him.

After a few moments Alesha relented, popping up and off of him so that she could take a breath. She smiled victoriously and winked at Kelnozz, who watched her with lust glazed eyes. Her tongue lolled out sensuously and with the tip of it she rimmed the head of his shaft, again driving into the slit for a more copious amount of pre-cum. She pulled away slowly, letting a strand of it grow between her mouth and his dick. Kelnozz shook his head briefly to free him of his stupor and he grabbed her none to gently by the shoulders. Alesha grinned and let him pull her up.

She settled on top of him and, neither of them interested in waiting any longer, they crashed into each other. Kelnozz plunged deeply into her on his first thrust, making her gasp at the forgotten sensation. Bill had been a good sized man, but she had been in possession of her magic then and able to take virtually anything in her. Now she had no magic and Kelnozz's full length and girth was nearly half again what Bill had given her. She convulsed on top of him, shuddering as mini-orgasm raced through her body.

Kelnozz reveled in the sensation of her velvet pussy clutching and sucking at him. It felt incredible to be fully inside of her, no matter how many times he had done it in the past and no matter how many times he had lain with other women, there would be only one Alesha. No others could match her, even without the dark magic to aid her.

They began anew then, crashing into each other fiercely and rapidly. They grunted and moaned, lost in their lovemaking. Each thrust a little bit further apart, until after several minutes Alesha rose so far up on him that his glistening cock pulled free of her inviting sheath. She sank back down instantly, eager to be impaled again, but it had slipped just enough so that it speared into her rectum instead.

Alesha was so relaxed and crazed with lust that the pain did not register at first. The head was past her tight ring of muscle before she realized what had happened. Kelnozz gasped in time with her, such a sudden forceful intrusion was not without discomfort for man or woman. Kelnozz tried to back out but Alesha bore down on him, grinning fiercely.

"Make love to me everywhere, lover! I want you to own me in all ways today, if it can not be forever!"

Kelnozz growled and reversed his movement, thrusting up into her. The juice from her pussy had coated him well enough and had run down the crack of her ass enough to provide them with natural lubrication for their sodomy. Alesha growled and pounded down on him rougher and rougher with each thrust, trying to sink impossible amounts of him into her bowels in spite of the sheer impossibility of it.

So into their actions did they get again that Kelnozz popped free of her once more. Alesha crashed down quickly, making him glance off her perineum and crushing his rigid pole against his belly. Kelnozz ignored the pain and laughed heartily. He let his hands grab her hips more firmly and he rolled them over.

With Kelnozz now on top he slid back into her pussy, which was wetter then ever. Controlling the action he slid into her long and deep, stroking the inside of her with every thrust. Alesha groaned and felt herself beginning to peak. Kelnozz stayed with her, shifting forward so that his pubic bone ground against her clitoris while his manhood continued to thrust inside of her.

That proved to be the last straw for Alesha. She grabbed onto his back and pulled her onto him with all of her strength, crushing him to her. Her pussy constricted around Kelnozz, taking on a life of it's own. Alesha rode the waves of pleasure rushing out from their union, feeling them multiplied tenfold when Kelnozz's shaft suddenly stiffened and swelled within her then exploded, filling her with his cum.

After long moments of shared breathlessness, both began to come down. Neither moved, for Kelnozz was still fully rigid inside of her. Alesha smiled lazily and kissed him, holding him tightly against her. Kelnozz returned her kiss and was content to remain as they were, savoring in the afterglow. The days events, indeed the events of the past few centuries, were dull background noise to him right now. Alesha was a cure for depression, if nothing else!

At long last, though Kelnozz's second brain refused to cooperate, the elf started to uncouple from her. Alesha let him, for well over ten minutes had passed and she had felt something spark within her at their shared climax. It was unlike any of her powers before, with Bavorish as her benefactor. It was good and wholesome and promised a new beginning for her.

Kelnozz admired Alesha openly as he stood up, impressed every time he saw her body on display for him. Alesha winked at him and smiled seductively. She rose up to her knees and caressed his legs on her way up. She stopped at his crotch, as he somehow knew she would do. His manhood was still erect and turgid, as well as covered in both their spendings.

Alesha licked out again, tasting their combined juices. Her tongue lapped hungrily at him, then her lips followed. In moments she was all the way down on him again, inciting the same lustful thoughts he had only just gotten rid of anew in him. Kelnozz let her have her way this time, with her bringing him up and down he roller-coaster ride of impending orgasm. Her hands caressed, stroked, fondled, pinched, and even tickled at all the right times. As Kelnozz already knew, there was only one with her skills in all of Viconia. His future elven wife, whoever she might be, would be dull in comparison.

And then it was time. Kelnozz grunted and gushed forth the last of his cum into her greedy mouth. It took five full spurts and then a few hearty sucks from Alesha to drain him completely dry, but then Kelnozz had to reach for the tree they were under to steady himself. Alesha savored the taste of him in her mouth, swallowing him down slowly to remember every nuance of it. Then she too stood up.

"Thank you, my love," she said to him, embracing him again. Kelnozz returned her embrace, regretting the path that he was forced to follow more seriously now then ever he had before. He even considered, for a fraction of a moment, abandoning it all. Leaving his people behind, even all of Viconia. But in the end, he was too saddled with responsibility. Kelnozz had a job to do, and history had shown that no one else was capable of it if he did not.

"Come, queen who can not be, let us return. Tomorrow will be a day of reckoning."

Chapter 34

The elves assembled in the marketplace courtyard, the low murmur of their voices showing their curiosity. They had worked late into the night, assembling the dead and burning them on a large pyre. Light and dark elf alike were disposed of thusly. The majority of the real work had yet to be done.

And instead of working, they were waiting. Word had been spread that Kelnozz would address them all. It was common knowledge that he was the as yet uncrowned King. Yamara and Elvanshalee moved next to Bill in the crowd and offered him a friendly smile. Bill returned it good naturedly.