The Druid and the Igniad Ch. 08

The Druid and the Igniad

Chapter 8

The siege was lifted, and the remaining camps of the Witch Queen's forces were routed or killed. Gern marshaled the coalition of tribes to pursue their retreating enemies, and they transversed the land to Lu's mountain. They passed a couple of burnt villages on their way, and vengeful farmers emerged out of the hills and forests to join the march against Evalyn and her ravaging armies.

Arkis was their guide to find the best roads, and at the end of the day's march they arrived at his cottage in the foothills. They could have pressed on and begun to climb into the mountain range that was crowned by Lu's volcano, but Gern cautioned that they should not arrive exhausted into a battle. They made camp, and posted sentries to alert them if enemies were sighted.

Arkis insisted that Gern and Lu use his cottage as their own personal sleeping quarters. They graciously accepted, and Arkis camped with the other warriors. In the privacy of the cottage, Lu started a fire in the hearth, and extinguished her skirt of flames. It was a familiar place, a place of sanctuary.

Gern helped Lu take off her armor, then removed his heavy war kilt and lay next to her on the bear fur in front of the hearth. Lu relaxed into her empathic link with him as she stared into the flames. They lay there together for a long length of time, sharing the peace of their own company.

"Lu," Gern said in the quiet, "if you find yourself under a spell, I know a prayer that will break most any enchantment. But beware, for using it will also undo all the enchantments and protections you put upon your crystals, and leave you vulnerable. Use it wisely."

"Hopefully, I won't need it," she replied. "How do I cast it?"

"It ends with 'and forever shall be', got it?"

Lu nodded.

"With Gaia's might," Gern recited, then paused, waiting for Lu. She repeated the words after him. "I surrender all, to love and light. With all my worth, all chains be broken. By the power of three, my mind is my own...and then the final verse."

"Thank you, dear love." She kissed his hand.

Gern's gaze was drawn from the fire to the way the light danced across Lu's obsidian skin. From his position behind her, her rear obscured any sight of her pelvic crystal protector, and his memories of what awaited underneath it stirred.

Lu was lost in thought. Her mind drifted to how she had almost failed to save Opal's life. She did not want to dwell on what could have been, so she was drawn to memories of her time with Opal instead, and the magical bond they shared since her help with Awen's birth. She remembered that first night, when the allure of their connection drove them to explore each other's sensuous depths.

Then she felt Gern's erection growing against the valley of her rear, and she blushed, wondering if she had accidentally aroused Gern though their link because she had been thinking of Opal. She knew Gern found Opal wonderfully attractive, and she hoped he would be willing to explore sharing more with her and Lu together.

Gern smiled as she slinked her rear against him slightly. He leaned over, pressing against her, and kissed her deeply. His cock hardened within moments, and he shifted down, breaking their kiss. One arm was free to caress the curvature of her body, and his hard length slid against her smooth thighs, humping the seam between them gently. Lu kept her legs together, until his hand glided down to find her glistened mons in the firelight.

His long finger slipped into her, and she lifted her leg up to allow him access. She bit her lip and gave a gentle moan, then hooked her leg over his buttock. His fingers slid over her folds, coaxing her cream to anoint his fingertips. He maneuvered against her, and his hard shaft joined the sliding motions of his fingers as he smeared her arousal against the top of his length.

Lu had been thinking terrible thoughts all day, heavy with fear and anger, and she just wanted to make it all go away. She wanted to share what might be her last night with Gern in bliss. She closed her eyes and waited for what she hungered for him to do. Gern sensed her patience, and rewarded it by slipping the head of his shaft into the dark, slick portal of her pussy.

He let out a low groan of want, and pushed his full length into her. The joining was exquisite, and he felt the full strength of their empathic connection in thier flesh. He felt her insides singing in pleasure. He pressed his pubic bone against the crack of her rear, bottoming out in her from behind. She breathed a sigh of relief as the feeling flooded her consciousness. Their connection was so seamless that she felt like they were truly conjoined beings, and she felt the divine in their wholeness. Kissing her neck, he slowly, sensuously, slid in and out, keeping his hand at her crotch to massage the top of her cleft.

She reached down as well, and moved her hand over his, then past it, and stroked the underside of his shaft as it pumped in and out of her. Gern moved his leg between her parted thighs, rolling his hips and rotating his cock within her.

Gern changed his tempo, slowing down or speeding up according to his whim, the resting position giving him leisure to pace himself. They were both tired from the hurried journey as well as from the fighting before that, but they felt a wellspring of love feed the flower of lust in their bodies, and Gern pushed himself into her until he felt a tingling pressure beneath the base of his shaft. He slowed, groaning as if to say to himself "not yet", and pulled halfway out.

"No," Lu protested, and writhed her rear against him. She knew she could weave a spell to harness some of their orgasm's magic, but she was past caring. She wanted this to be for them. She was close, and her oily juices shimmered with dancing light from the hearth on Gern's half-rooted cock and around her stretched nether lips. She rubbed the sides of his shaft between her two fingers, then grasped his jewels and squeezed them tenderly.

"Yaeza," Lu whispered under her breath.

Gern felt an urgent pressure rise in his core by her magic bidding, and he knew he couldn't stop it. He thrust back into Lu, and crashed into her several times, jolting her against the bedding. She pressed her cheek against the bear fur and sang a burning note as the shockwave of her orgasm hit her. She knew she could have burned the whole cottage down in an instant, so she stared into the fire and channeled all her uncontrollable energy into it, causing it to combust with a roaring intensity that sent a stream of yellow flames out the top of the chimney and soaring into the sky. There was a rush of wind that broke the latches on the shuttered windows, and air was sucked in from outside to feed the inferno that reminded the old volcanic stones of the hearth what it was like to glow with power.

Gern felt himself call out, but his voice was eclipsed by the roar of the fire, and he burst inside her, his whole body jolting from the unbridled pumping of his seed. He trembled his fingertips against her peeking pestle as she continued to fondle the pouch of his ejaculating essence. He held her tight against him as they rode the waves together for as long as they could. At last, the rush of sensation was over, and they relaxed into one another on the warm furs. Embraced like an acorn in its cup, they let sleep take them.

That night, Lu was visited by Labolas in a dream. She knew she was dreaming, but it felt real enough to let her know that it was more than a dream. She was standing in the sheltered courtyard of the castle that now stood at the edge of her lava pool. She had never seen the castle before, but somehow she knew that she was seeing things as they truly were. Labolas stood as a bronze-skinned man with folded wings beside the altar, naked as ever, centered within a glowing magic circle drawn on the floor. A line connected his circle with a glowing circle that Lu stood in, and she recognized the symbols and offerings, and saw how her soul had been summoned to him in the astral realm.

"The time draws near," Labolas spoke in his low, meticulous voice.

"Will you help me, like when you helped me escape?" Lu asked, suspicion in her tone.

"No. I cannot intervene to favor which of you I would prefer be the victor."

"Which of us would you prefer?" Lu arched a brow. Labolas waited a moment to answer.

"My preference is for the victor to be the one who represents less of a threat to me."

"How can I be less of a threat if I have the power to defeat her?"

"It is not a question of raw power. Evalyn is ambitious. There is a hole in her soul that can never be filled."

"Yet she tries..." Lu said in understanding.

"Is there such a hole in your soul, daughter of Gaia?"

Lu let the question sink down into her being, and waited for an answer to come back to her. She felt it descend into her depths endlessly, but she did not feel troubled by it. She lingered in silence for a few moments more, a thought fomenting in her mind. There was indeed a hole in her soul, she felt, but it seemed natural, like it was supposed to be there. It was what drove her to act upon her wants and needs, and it extended for as long as her immortal life.

"There is such a hole, but I have no ambition to fill it."

"Are you sure? You were content to enjoy your simple pleasures on your mountain for an age, but you know much now you did not know then. Ambition can be contagious."

"I am a mother, now. My only ambition is to raise my daughter to be happy."

"You cannot deny you have other desires."

"I do, but I do not need to chase them because I am immortal. I have all the time I want to pursue what pleases me."

"As do I, and it was my pursuit of those desires that led to my banishment from the celestial realm. That is why they call me a demon."

Lu did not know how, but in her dream she felt the ring of truth in his words, and the cracked tone of a half-truth at the word 'banishment'. Then she realized it: she had an empathic link with Labolas in their shared dream.

"You weren't just banished," Lu said as if there were a question she was answering for herself, "they punished you."

Labolas shook his wings out, stretching his bronze feathers. He seemed to bristle as if Lu's statement were a threat.

"What did they do to you?" Lu asked.

"They took something from me," he answered harshly in a thousand whispers. "Do not pry into my affairs further."

"How can I trust you while you deceive me?"

"I have not lied to you."

"You said yourself that you cannot intervene in choosing whether I defeat Evalyn or not. If that were true, you wouldn't have been helping me all this time."

"I have not intervened directly."

"Nor have you deceived me directly."

Labolas folded his wings again, looking more stable on his feet than he had seemed a moment before.

"You will receive my help regardless," he countered dismissively. "Indirectly."

"And if I refuse?"

"You will not. I will give you the name of Fire in the South."

Lu felt a flutter in her heart. She remembered well the part of her lessons in magic that concerned the Quadrant Guardians. They were ancient forces that every magical rite of every stripe payed homage to when a magic circle was cast. To know their very names enabled one to call upon them for aid.

"You know the name of Fire?" Lu asked.

"The name of Fire changes from day to day, as Fire itself is always in a state of transformation. Fire is not obliged to answer, but given your...intimate connection to the element, it might obey your command."

Lu prepared to hear the name and got down on her knees, instinctively showing reverence to the element that she had been gifted a connection to since she came out of the world. She opened her mind and waited to receive it.

Labolas spoke, and the name slithered like golden snakes that filled the sun. It was a name that seemed impossible to pronounce, yet she heard it.

She felt bathed in warmth that caused her onyx skin to flush, and as the warmth seeped into her diamond bones, she felt a deep assurance of her core being. Her root chakra glowed red, coming as a soft light from the pores of her skin. She took a deep breath, then felt the fire within her rise, tendrils of power licking up from deep within, into her sacral chakra.

"Ohh..." She gasped, and spread her knees out to help ventilate her flushed skin. A tingling sensation peppered her nether lips as the spiritual node of her sexual energy was tantalized by a rising presence, rising from below.

She felt a power that was not her own fanning her flames, boiling up inside as a sensuality that was unlimited in its scope, a desire that was insatiable by its very nature. She could not stop its coming, for she had heard His name. She knew from the first tingle of warmth on her skin that for her, Fire was a male energy. At her physical body, Lu's crystal protector glowed brightly as it absorbed an outpouring of energy from her sex, silently illuminating the cabin where she slept beside Gern.

In her dream, the tendrils of power licked up like flames into her body, massaging her flesh with invisible forces, rippling the inner walls of her thrumming core. She could not help but to let a moan escape her lips, then she threw her head back in sudden bliss as the true power began to enter her.

It felt to her like the intensity of orgasm with every flicker of the power's flame, churning as it slowly nudged into her innermost vault at her root chakra, dancing in eternal climax as it rose through her trembling flesh, pulsing with the fire of life at the gate to her womb in her sacral chakra. The divine essence of Fire poured into her, feeding on her sexual desire, chasing her sensations, then started branching out, spreading like wildfire across a field of mature wheat prime for harvest. Every point of light in Fire's essence germinated every place of latent power in Lu. The power finally filled her sacral chakra to the most she could contain, and the excess poured out of her physical body from her crystal protector as a beam of orange light that melted through the cabin's stone wall and shot out towards the stars. It burned a head-sized hole through the wall but lasted only an instant. Gern remained undisturbed, heavily asleep.

Lu basked a few moments in ecstasy, and she begged in a silent prayer that she would remember, that the dream wouldn't be a half-memory fumbled by the foggy morning mind. She felt the power hold her closer, and every fiber of her being filled to the brim with energy. The fire within her illuminated her solar plexus, her heart, and on up to her crown chakra. Her pores shone like stars on the smooth, contoured canvas of her dark skin. The energy flowed out of her as every sensation was amplified. She gasped as the weight of power pressed upon her inside, and yet all the weight of her anxieties and fears burned away. Her essence thrummed with life as her spirit was cleansed of impurities. Her crystal protector glowed brightly as it continued to absorb an outpouring of magic from her body.

"Now I have given you all the means you need to succeed," Labolas announced. "You have the power to choose victory or defeat. I will wait until that time comes."

Suddenly, Lu woke to the sound of the rallying horn. The call of the horn was long and measured, meaning there was no imminent danger. Lu sat up abruptly, remembering her dream in all its detail except for the part where Fire came to her, which was murky with unfathomable power. As Gern stirred from his sleep, she put her hand between her legs, covering her glowing crystal protector. She felt the slickness of her slit against it, the leaking oily cream around its edges, and realized that she had orgasmed in her sleep, perhaps many times. She felt a draft, and it was then that she noticed the new hole in the stone wall. She fleetly got up and stuffed a pillow in it, then returned to Gern's side.

Gern opened his eyes and put a hand on her back, stroking her lovingly. Lu took his hand and they got to their feet. She told Gern about what she could remember of her dream as he helped her suit up.

"If you truly know the name of Fire on this day," Gern said, "then we have a great boon. Use it wisely." He kissed her, donned his war kilt, then took up his staff. He marshaled their forces, and they began the climb up the gentle slope of the sprawling mountain that rose on the horizon like the hub of the world.

When they arrived at the rocky fields above the snow line, within view of the volcano's black peak, a great host of skull-tattooed warriors held the high ground, and a rock wall ringed the crystal forest. Towering above it all was a scaly obsidian castle. Curved, claw-like arches seemed to clutch a fat tower that caught the morning rays of light in its geometric windows of electric violet.

The encircling wall was dry-stacked stone with rubble fill, and though hastily constructed, it was strong from its thickness and several span tall. The top had no battlements, but warriors with tall shields guarded a line of archers. As well, square formations of warriors with spears bristled on the slope before the wall.

Tears of rage welled in Lu's eyes over how her home had been defiled, and she broiled with a deep, passionate anger that links all mothers whose child had been taken from them. She began to stride forward, advancing with confident footfalls on the familiar ground.

Gern called his warriors into three wedge formations, and they marched forward behind Lu. Gern quickened his pace to catch up with her, and he strode alongside, though he kept a respectable distance so that they were not too close to maneuver in battle.

Lu needed to know where her child was before she started fighting. She visualized colored breathing as she advanced, and let her legs move for her. She focused her natural magic, thought of her daughter, and spoke in the celestial tongue:

"Bound and binding, binding-bound, see the sight, hear the sound, what was lost, now is found, bound and binding, binding-bound."

At once she knew where Awen was. She was up at the top, in or near the castle, as Lu had expected. Lu increased her pace, and began running up the slope. Gern, Arkis, Gartham, and the hundreds of other warriors that stood shoulder to shoulder increased their pace to match.

Lu heard Evalyn's voice whispering all around her, weaving a spell. Suddenly, the snowy, sloping field of volcanic rock quivered with cold, and ice crystals congealed instantly out of the air in a flash freeze. The ice stuck to her armor, and she was stopped cold in her tracks. Her allies suffered the same fate, some toppling over as the ice stuck their feet to the ground.

She focused her power, and her armor radiated heat that melted the ice around her into steam. Though she was free, her allies struggled, some chipping away at the ice around their feet with their weapons, but the ice congealed anew as soon as it was broken. She looked up, and saw a swarm of arrows flying toward them. Gern did not have a shield, and many who did were distracted trying to free themselves. She did not hesitate.

Lu blurted an invocation of flame as she leapt towards Gern and his warriors, and channeled elemental fire into the ground as she came down next to him, enveloping everyone around her in rushing flames. She knew they would not be harmed, for they wore the enchanted crystals that warded against her element. Lu drew heat from the heart of the volcanic mountain and channeled it through her magic. Her crystal trees sang in unison, for they felt their connection to Lu once more, and communed with the volcano on her behalf.

The ice and snow evaporated not just around her, but all over the mountain, and the air rippled from the heat wave. Lu quickly recovered from the magical exertion, but the arrows came down on them, and she did not have time to burn them. The warriors hurried to protect themselves with their shields, and Gern twirled his staff faster than the eye could follow, knocking arrows aside.