Unconquered Pt. 08

"My name's Granite," she whispered.

"Really?" he asked.

"Granite Stonefist," she said, grinning. "My family were miners from the Desert of Glass."

Then she was in for another kiss. Her hips rolled against him as her hands reached down to begin to tug and push at the armor plating that still covered Ember's legs. Ember squirmed himself and, while he lacked any magical energies for more fighting, he had more than enough to make getting his remaining pieces of armor easier than it should have been. His cock sprang free, grinding against the molten heat between her legs. Gold flickered as he ground against her, his cock skidding against her thighs, her cunt. Granite drew her mouth back, panting softly.

"God, I need some cock," she whispered.

"Yeah... "Ember nodded.

Around them, legionaries were slowly creeping closer. One held a spear in his hands, and tensed to charge. His sergeant reached out, grabbing his shoulder. The sergeant shook his head -- a wisdom earned on many a battlefield with many a godling, martial artist, thaumaturge, mortal hero and infused knight. He knew the way of such battles, and how they often ended with two or more partners naked and thrusting.

"Let them fuck," he said, his voice a deep rasp.

Granite rolled her hips up as Ember reached down, gripping the base of his cock. The folds of Granite's sex glowed with their own inner light, her lava bright juices dripping slowly along Ember's dick, dripping off his balls. Ember panted, then grabbed onto Granite's shoulder and pushed her down. Her moan was choked off as she ducked her head forward, kissing against this red shoulder, biting him slightly. Then harder. Then harder still. Then, at last, she broke the kiss and cried out. "How is it not all in?"

Ember, who had been wriggling his hips slightly to get his dick deeper and deeper into her, hissed: "Unconquered."

"But-"

"Unconquered!" Ember groaned out, bucking his hips up. Granite's full breasts bounced and heaved as she arched her spine, throwing her head back, her black hair spilling around her shoulders as she closed her eyes tightly.

"Holyfuck yes, god, fucking yes," she moaned, gasping heavily. "Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck."

"It is a holy fuck," Ember murmured. "I am the Unconquered, after all."

Granite laughed, raggedly. Her thighs closed ever so slightly around him, drawing tight around him as she put her hands on his shoulders, her eyes glittering. "Holy shit, though," she whispered. "I'm trying to picture the Good King Bahul fucking around on his wives, and-"

"Fucking around?" Ember asked, laughing. He tilted his head back.

At the top of the wall, peeking over the edge, was Chirp, Xora and Ceaith.

"I call dibs once you're done!" Ceaith called down. "And she's had a shower."

"You can do it, Ember!" Chirp said.

Xora gave him a thumbs up, smiling and showing off all her very sharp teeth.

"Chirp cheers me on every time I fuck someone else," Ember whispered. "They're worried I might lose confidence."

Granite ducked her head forward again and began to rock her hips slowly up and down. Up and down. Up and down. The view of her ass cheeks clapping together -- visible as Ember leaned his head against her shoulder, pressing against her, his hand squeezing her hip. He panted against her, his cock plunging into her sex again and again and again as she rose and fell atop him. But he noticed that his anima was flaring brighter and brighter with every moment and he felt that his magical reserves were growing dimmer and dimmer by the moment.

Ember, nervously, hissed. "Y-You, uh, your cunt isn't...it's not actually lava right?"

"Nnhh!" Granite moaned, her body quivering as her sex tightened around him, clenching like a fist as an orgasm racked through her body. Her juices dripped down Ember's balls and hit the ground under him -- sizzling and hissing as it began to melt the obsidian they were fucking on. Ember's eyes widened.

Normally, Ember took a great deal of pride in his endurance. In his ability to fuck for hours and hours and hours, to take each of his wives who wanted him in that way -- it was one of the things that made him the Unconquered, after all. But right now, the fact that he was barely a quarter of a way into his groove suddenly struck him as the worst fucking idea in the history of the universe. He squirmed, then grabbed onto Granite's hips, lifting himself up onto his knees. She rested against him, gasping as her legs hooked behind him, ankle over ankle.

"Oh Ember!" She moaned.

"Okay, double time!" Ember hissed, then began to jackhammer his cock into her. He slammed up into her, bounced her up and almost away from his dick, then let her slurp back down him. His balls swayed between his thighs, slapping against her ass as he focused on every sexy thing he could think of. He imagined Ceaith, surrendering her homosexuality to him -- a shameful, eager fetish that he knew he'd never have the cruelty to tell her. He imagined Chirp, their ass wriggling from side to side as they shot him eager, blushy bedroom eyes. He imagined Xora dancing for him on a stripper pole, writhing and gyrating eagerly. He imagined what any of his other Lunar wives might look like -- and he tried to focus on the delicious, silky feeling of Granite's pussy around him.

Even with all that he could do, it felt as if his magical reserves were dipping faster than his orgasm was approaching. Ember hissed, then gasped -- and then felt a pair of warm fingers pressing to his anus.

"Here!" Xora hissed in his ear.

Her fingers -- slippery with her own eagerness -- plunged into his ass, crooked up, and found something inside of Ember that bloomed with pleasure. Ember's eyes widened and his orgasm rocketed through him like a volcano. Which wasn't the best thing to be thinking of in the moment -- but he wasn't exactly thinking at the moment. Instead, pleasure bloomed in him as his balls clenched and clenched and clenched again. Steam rose into the air, thick and fragrant, bubbling around Granite's thighs as Ember shuddered against her. She tightened her legs around him, as if she didn't want to let him escape. Then she went slack, her eyes fluttering shut as she sprawled.

Ember slid out of her, set her down, and sprang to his feet. His dick was glowing with her lava bright girlcum -- and every step he took hissed and sizzled as her juices flicked off his dick and dropped onto the ground. Ember felt his magical reserves dipping more and more as he sprinted towards the nearest legionnaire -- spotting exactly what he needed. The legionnaire gaped at him, stammering. "Not gay, not gay, not gay-"

Ember snatched the water skin from his hip, then poured it over his dick and his balls and his thighs. Steam burst into the air -- and then faded, at the exact same moment the last essence of his magic faded from him. Ember sighed with relief and then started to pick at the thin skein of crumbly ash that now caked his dick. He handed the skein back to the legionnaire, smiling at him. "Thanks!"

"Now we attack," the sergeant said.

Ember, quite suddenly, was surrounded by bristling spears, each one angled in at him. Overhead, he could hear a low droning noise -- he lifted his head and saw that the two Dragon ships were swinging by overhead. Ember grinned, slowly. "Now, now, legionaries! Do you really think you can take me? The Unconquered?"

"You're out of magic," the sergeant said, chuckling.

Ember opened his mouth. "...fuck."

"Hey!"

Chirp's voice drew every single legionaries' attention. They and Xora were standing off to the edge of the field, about a spear's length away from the armored soldiers. Chirp cracked they knuckles.

"Megaladon Ruby Strike!" They shouted, then grabbed onto Xora's ankle. Xora's body glowed with a purple fire as Chirp's body glowed with ruby red flames. The glow brightened around Xora as Chirp began to swing her around -- and by the time Chirp was half done with the swing, Xora's form had reformed into her animal form. Where Chirp had the aspect of the drakhul bat, Xora had been born and Chosen in the depths of the vast western ocean. Her aspected form was that of an immense shark. A shark nearly as large as the Starshrike.

The shark struck the entire formation of legionaries with a sound not unlike a set of pins being hit in a game of bowllane. Legionaries went flying and Xora shifted back as Chirp completed the swing, so that the slender shark-girl was seated on Chirp's equally skinny shoulder. Chirp beamed, thrusting their fist into the air. "It worked!"

The two shared a high five as Ember sprinted forward, pausing only to grab Granite.

The Dragon ships swung their flanks to the side -- revealing bristling arrays of mana cannons. They clearly planned to level Iremire rather than let anyone escape it. A screaming sound, like the sound of a dozen doomed souls all letting loose at once, split the air and the Starshrike arrowed out of the sun. It had clearly swept high to evade the enemy, then come back far faster than any of them had expected. The Starshrike didn't fire her weapons. Instead, her sharp nose did the damage: It punched through the airbag on the left flank of one of the Dragon ships, burst out the other end, then hit the airbag on the right flank. It neatly pulled off the same trick on the other Dragon ship and both vessels began to list and glide towards the mutagenic slurry that surrounded the Iremire.

Legionaries went running for cover as the Starshrike whirred around and managed, by turning itself diagonally in respect to the rectangular shape of the keep. It lowered down, the thrust vents howling and screaming as they kicked up plumes of dust and bits of debris. The gangplank lowered and Ceaith stood in it, grinning as she waved.

"Oi! Sunboy!" she shouted. "Done getting your dick melted off?"

Ember laughed. "Ceaith! Xora! Chirp! All of you are so frigging awesome!" He started to run towards the Shrike.

"You're not mad for...I stole...I mean..." Chirp blushed as they caught up with him.

"Mad? Mad!?" Ember laughed. "That was amazing! One of my Lunars hit the bad guys with another Lunar! Hah!"

They sprang onto the gangplank. Ember hooked one arm around the support strut, looking over his shoulder as they circled around Iremire, sweeping up into the air. The two Dragon ships had landed, belly first, in the Sunderstuff. Their crews were scrambling onto their decks, throwing down life support pontoons so they could then float to the dubious safety of Iremire herself. He grinned, slightly, then glanced at Chirp, Ceaith and Xora.

"Not bad, huh?" he asked. "We saved the day, saved the prisoners, and I got laid. All in all, a one hundred percent successful mission."

Ceaith shook her head slowly. One of her ears twitched up and she grinned -- showing one of her very sharp canines. "Just wait."

Ember's brow furrowed.

Ceaith pointed and Ember looked back just in time for the massive explosion to rip through the left wall of Iremire. Smoke roiled into the air and the howling, ghostly shapes of a thousand spirits filled the air. Blue flames began to spread along the walls. The legionaries began to scramble away -- and soon, small balloons were filling the air. Emergency escape craft. The blue flames spread faster and faster and secondary explosions began to tear Iremire apart from the inside out. As a chunk of soulcidian lifted into the air with magesterial slowness, only to plunge into the broth of the Sunder around the former prison complex, Ember crooned. "Ceaith, have I mentioned I am madly in love with you."

Ceaith shoved him -- but not quite hard enough to send him pitching out. "Asshole," she said -- trying to sound angry and not like she was laughing.

"How'd you do it?" Ember asked.

"Oh," Ceaith said, then grinned. "Potato in the vent pipes. Works every time."

***

Despite having nearly three hundred refugees onboard, the Starshrike still felt plenty spacious. Part of this was because it was such a ludicrously overdesigned, ostentatious little ship. Part of this was due to some kind of magitech effect that June started to explain before Ember's eyes glazed over, which led her to sigh in disgust and go: "Bigger inside than outside." And then she left it at that. But the most depressing reason why the place didn't feel crowded was that all the Iremire prisoners were skinny, gangly skeletons. Chirp took over the job of feeding them -- and Ember was shocked that they didn't cram them full of so much food that they burst. Which was what he would have done. Instead, Chirp took gentle care to feed them all a tiny bit, then a tiny bit, then a tiny bit.

The refugees improved rapidly, so Ember figured that Chirp knew what they were doing...

However, as the Starshrike soared away from Iremire and towards the deep wilderness between it and the more civilized regions of the Regency to the east, Ember knew that the big question that loomed over their head was...what next?

Iremire proved to him, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Regency was vile to the core. He simply needed to look at the gaunt faces of the children -- the children that the Iremire thaumaturges were about to use to fuel the creation of their own soldiers. With those images in his head, he called the meeting: Him, his wives, June, Goat, Jerin and Granite. All of them assembled in the briefing room, which he found could extrude chairs from the ground.

"So," Ember said. "The question is...what do we do next?" He saw Granite -- who was dressed in a large white shift that suited her grayish skin -- tensing. As if she wanted to say something, then stopped herself. Ember inclined his head to her. "What is it, Granite?"

Granite rubbed her shoulder, then glanced at Jerin. "I've been...talking with Jerin..."

"Ah. Is that what the kids call it these days?" Ceaith asked. June and her exchanged a fist bump.

Granite laughed. "Between the fucking." She shook her head. "Jerin and I know that we cannot support the Regency. We...we thought it was doing what it needed to protect the Land. But there is no way, no possible way, that Iremire could have been necessary." She inclined her head. "But every Infused Knight out there has the same heroic spark that made us candidates. Most will be loyal. But they'll know Jerin, and they can respect my power." She looked down at her fist.

"We can begin to turn them," Jerin said, his voice serious. "Just drop us off near a village -- we'll make sure the refugees get to live somewhere safe. Then we shall go into the Legion and we'll begin to recruit people."

Ember nodded. "Then...when I send out my signal...you'll be ready?"

Jerin stood, slowly. He clasped his hand into a fist, then brought it to his chest. He bowed, low. "This I swear, my Unconquered," he said, his voice soft. Solemn. Ember felt a weight pressing down on his shoulders -- a responsibility. Jerin Kah was offering him this. His own life. His own future. Ember stood, slowly, and felt the brush of his Lunars touching him. Chirp's fingers on his hips. Xora's hand squeezing his shoulder. Even Ceaith's tail brushed against him. He walked past them and to Jerin Kah.

"Stand, Jerin Kah, knight of wood..." Ember breathed. Jerin stood.

Ember paused. "I do not want you to follow me as your Unconquered..." He said, his voice tight. "I want you to follow me...as your friend." He took Jerin's hand in his hand, clasping it with both and bowing his head to his knuckles. Jerin's eyes widened and he made a soft, stifled noise.

"Ember..." Jerin whispered, then enfolded his arms around Ember, squeezing him so hard that Ember's anima sparkled to keep him safe. Ember laughed and hugged Jerin back, slapping his back. Jerin kissed him, deeply, and Ember tensed -- then kissed him back, tilting his head.

"Woooo!" Ceaith clapped.

Ember drew back, laughing. "Keep it in your pants, Ceaith."

"Only if you don't," Ceaith said, grinning, her ears slicking up in excitement.

"Hah!" Jerin slapped his back. "It seems our little kitten does like men in one context."

"I mostly just want to see someone prep Ember for being pegged," Ceaith said, casually.

"So...you do want to have sex with me?" Ember asked.

Ceaith opened her mouth. Closed it. Then she scowled and stood up. "Fuck you, Ember, I'm going to check on my sister." And she stalked out of the room. Ember blushed and Jerin laughed, shouldering him gently.

"Keep an eye on that one," he said, winking.

It took the Starshrike only a few hours of flying at full tilt to find a village -- a logging village nestled in the middle of the deep woods. Jerin assured Ember that he could explain the refugees as being survivors of a fae attack that he and Granite bravely saw off. And since Iremire had been comprehensively destroyed and the only person there who had known that he had worked with Ember had been Craven and the other thaumatech, he knew he would be okay. With one last handshake, Ember bid him and Granite farewell.

They and the refugees left, leaving behind only Ceaith's sister on the ship. In the suddenly empty seeming Starshrike, Ember shook his head and looked around himself.

"So, where too now?" he asked.

"We should find your other wives," June said, seriously. "You need more of them to watch your back, if you're going to keep throwing yourself into battle and draining your magical reserves to almost fucking nothing."

"Sounds like a plan," Ember said. "...how?"

Silence fell again.

Goat shrugged. "Fate should bring them into your hands," he said, grinning. "So, seeking them out is redundant, huh?"

"True... "Ember rubbed his chin. "Okay, here's an idea. Lets go to the capital."

"Are you insane?" June asked.

"What!?" Chirp squeaked. Xora gaped. Ceaith's hair poofed out in alarm.

Ember grinned. "Like, in disguise," he said, nodding.

"Why?" June asked, her eyes wide.

"Simple," Ember said. "The Regent is behind Iremire. So, I want to look at him. I want to see what kind of a man can do what we saw in Iremire. And I want to punch him right in the fucking face." He grinned. "Plus, how hard can it be to get into the capital?"

In order from most to least horrified: June, Ceaith, Chirp, Xora, Goat. Goat, in fact, was looking pleased as punch. "Sounds fun!" he said, then popped his pipe into his mouth. "I presume you have a plan to get in?"

"Sure do!" Ember said. "...we walk in!"

TO BE CONTINUED