Unconquered Pt. 11

Xora collapsed into bed beside me. Chirp snuggled against my thighs, curling up on me. Ceaith crawled over to nuzzled up against Xora and me at the same time -- within easy petting distance, if I hadn't been bound. Jaquline, her lips quirked up in a little smile, crawled over to the open spot to my right and undid the binding around my wrists. Very softly, she crooned. "Know, Unconquered...we mortals have our own ways to take control too."

"I never doubted..." I whispered, then grinned as she undid the ties around my ankles.

"And I find the way my father tries to keep putting a half god baby in me to be rather..." She chuckled. "Exasperating."

"I'd be exasperated too!" I said, nodding to her. "Besides..." I panted, slowly. "Everything before cumming inside of you was ...was..."

Jaquline grinned down at me, then laid up against my side. "I've had practice."

I nodded, feeling sleep creeping up on me.

"I noticed..."

I thought that I should have asked her one more thing, one last little question. But I had no idea what. And with the question slipping from my mind, sleep stole in to take its place. I fell into a deep, warm slumber.

***

In the dream, I was running down the corridor. And I knew, at once, it was not a dream. It had been almost a month, maybe more, since I had had a memory like this. A memory of the previous Unconquered. June had said that past life memories were rare -- the Unconquered spark was supposed to be scrubbed clean by the Sun during its trips through incarnations.

The dream did not end so quickly as last time.

I sprinted down the corridor and came to the door. It bust inwards -- and I found myself standing in a room. My Lapis was sprawled on her back, her throat slit from ear to ear, blood puddling on the ground before her. Kneeling at the bed was the...

Her.

I knew her, not from a past life, not from the memories of King Bahul. I knew her from a vast clearing, with a collapsing statue between us. I had a name for her, a name told to me by June. Kergalian Rexatox Mishur Vilemarsh Kyife. She was holding the knife that had bled out the life of my love, my Lapis, my darling Lapis. In the dream, she was Ceaith.

"No!" The voice that came from me was not my own -- but it was weighted with all the rage, all the fury that I could have felt. I sprinted forward, but Kyife darted backwards, her blades glittering and dripping with more than just the blood of my Lapis. She swept her blade at my eyes. I ducked backwards, then caught her wrist -- and she slammed the other blade towards my chest. I released her and sprang backwards -- and then she flicked her freed hand out. A stinging blaze of pain sliced along my cheek and I felt the toxins on the blade sinking into my skin.

My anima flared and I knew I needed the potion to cure it. But my anima burned, Kyife sprang backwards, slashed the hangings of the silk curtains, and tossed them onto the nearest brazier in the stone bedroom. Flames leaped to life and before I knew it, the whole room was burning. My Lapis -- who had looked nothing like Ceaith at all now that I looked again -- was being cremated. I stepped backwards, the toxin still burning. Guards emerged -- but they wore arm bands. Black and gold ones.

I realized...they were not here to help me.

"Guards! Guards!" I shouted, hoping for loyalists. "Anyone!"

The guards advanced.

I backed into the wall -- and was surrounded by a blazing, purple light.

***

I woke with a start, sweat beading on my skin. The memory faded and my heart was racing -- and then I noticed that a figure was standing on the window sill of the room, backlit by the Agate moon that hung low in the sky, like a vast, multihued stone, striations banding through it. I glanced down at the bed, and saw that Ceaith, Jaquline, Xora and Ceaith were all snuggled up against one another, with Jaquline turned on her side, her red hair fanning outwards underneath the light of the moon. I looked back up and the figure leaned against the side of the window, allowing the moonlight to shine on them.

The Rose of Versalis was wearing a face concealing mask. But somehow, I knew he was grinning.

"Come now. No time to rest when there is moonlight to enjoy, my Unconquered," he crooned.

He turned and, in a haze of rose petals, leaped from the window. I rolled out of bed, moving with such adroit athleticism that the bed barely squeaked. Then I was at the window and saw that the Rose had dropped down onto the fence that ringed the palace. He swept out his cape as he leaped down again, landing in the alleyway with a rippling sound of cloth. I sprang out without a thought, my naked body glittering in the moonlight as I landed directly in the alleyway.

I saw the dark shape of the Rose at the end of the ally, his cape flashing, his rapier glinting at his hip. Then he was gone. I sprinted forward -- and as I came around the corner, I had a hint of green cape vanishing into another alleyway. And that was how things went, time and time again, as the Rose darted through darkness and the city street, until at least, I saw them vanishing into what looked like an old warehouse, near the stirrup section of the city. It was so late at night that we had passed no one, save for a single guard who hadn't even noticed our movements.

I walked slowly towards the front door of the warehouse, uncertain. Was this...for...

Romance?

Or...

I frowned, remembering how the Rose had vanished. Was she a proper Agate? What had June said Agate were for? I wracked my brain -- but before I could remember, I stepped through the door and something flashed at my chest. I reacted instinctively and snatched the thing from the air -- and found myself holding a gleaming, silver rapier. A single snap of fingers sounded and the dark warehouse flared with torchlight as every single torch came to life, revealing that the warehouse was full of dusty old machines and crates. In the center, standing with his rapier in his left hand, was the Rose of Versalis.

"I have a belief, my Unconquered: One can only truly learn the measure of a man...though honorable combat..." He stepped to the side, then swept his rapier up into a fighting style. "What do you think of that?"

I blinked at him. Then I grinned. "Unfair. I've never fought with this kind of sword before. And I'm naked."

"Ah..." the Rose's eyes gleamed. "But..." He lifted his arm, his rapier glinting in the torchlight. "I am not lefthanded."

"You are cloth-" I began.

The Rose flung the rapier into the air. It flipped once, landed, and they caught it from the air -- and quite suddenly, the Rose was naked. In a blur of movement, they had stripped themselves. The Rose was lovely. As a man, who was nominally attracted to women, I wasn't sure if I could be any such judge of things. But the Rose was lean and limber, with tightly toned muscles and a sleek form, with a light thatch of almost transparent red hair on their chest and a thick, dark red bloom above their cock, which was rather impressively beautiful, though not quite as large as mine. He was pale and had no sign of scars or marring marks of battle -- which I realized, slowly, was a realization that they were either a rank amateur when it came to the arts of war...or they were good.

Very.

Very.

Very good.

The Rose was still wearing a mask, but I noticed two things. The first was that he had sleek, fox ears that were visible now that he had taken off his tricorn hat. The second was that they had a long, bushy fox tail that they had somehow concealed by his legging and his pants. And yet, despite the mask, I could tell that he was smirking at me. "On your guard, my good Unconquered. Let us let the blades do the speaking now."

"Is...that how men do it?" I asked, grinning as I lifted my sword, aping their stance and posture.

"Only those worth knowing..." The Rose crooned.

He moved forward -- it was not with a shuffle, but his feet still barely seemed to leave the floor. It was a darting, quick, lunging motion, and his rapier flicked straight towards my chest. I reacted, sweeping my sword around, and our blades connected with a ringing sound. Almost musical. The Rose swept backwards and I tried to thrust at him -- but he twisted aside in a flurry of rose petals. He cocked his head backwards, his short red hair gleaming in the torchlight. "Ah, excellent riposte -- but you must not stand so heavily on those pretty feet of yours, my flickering Ember. Now! To see how you react to the Five Pointed Crane!"

His blade thrust towards my face. I ducked, but he had already thrust again -- a fluid, fast feint towards my gut. I caught his blade on mine, stepped forward, and bore him back against the wall. His back thumped there and his eyes met mine as our cocks brushed against one another, our hilts locked, clacking and rattling as he chuckled softly. "Ah, a hilt lock -- trying to use your greater strength?"

"It has worked for me so far," I said.

He hooked his foot around my ankle, then jerked me out of position. He bore me backwards, then leaped -- and a swirl of rose petals flew around me, filling the air with the smells of flowers. Then he sprang over my entire body -- sailing up into the air. He caught onto the hanging rope that swept from the roof, and machinery that had once been used to swing around crates and load them onto cargo carriers creaked and groaned, the crane shifting with his weight to add momentum to his swing, bringing him around to land on the second level of the warehouse.

He stood there, and I could tell he was grinning at me.

"Mobility, impressive!" I said, grinning right back, then started to run forward. I sprang up, flipping and landing on the second floor with a crackling flare of light. My flame blazed with golden light as I swung at the Rose's head. He ducked and then twisted and thrust at my side. I sprang backwards, then parried his second swing, sparks flaring. His own body was beginning to glow with a softer, more gentle light -- a stippled and multi-hued. His agate soulgem was flaring as he began to move with blurring speed, matching my strength with his speed. Sparks flared again and again as I stepped backwards, onto some creaking, rotten wood -- feeling my magic preventing myself from falling straight through.

"Magic can support you -- but still, watch your footing!" Rose said.

"That was my plan," I said, grinning -- then slammed my foot on the planks.

They shattered and I launched into the air, grabbing onto a rafter and swinging myself out, then dropping down through the hole I had made. The Rose, who had fallen through the planks, was on his back -- but he still parried my strike, skidding backwards and sweeping himself up to his feet again. He laughed, but I saw that his skin was glistening with sweat.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

"So!" I said. "Are you straight too? Or...bi? Since you enjoy Jaquline's body on a nightly basis, or so I hear."

Our blades rattled against one another again, and the Rose had to spring backwards. I swept my sword out to fill the space he had been in, and then I stepped forward, to follow him. He sprang without looking behind himself, landing on the top of a crate that remained attached to some ropes and pulleys. He looked down at me -- and I noticed that he, like me, was getting...excited. His cock was half hard and seeing his eagerness was getting me a little more excited. My tongue slipped along my lips for a moment -- but then he purred. "What if I was?"

"Well, then," I said, casually. "I'd have to give you the same gift I was to give Ceaith."

"Ah, a gender swap? How gauche!" He slashed out one of the ropes. A counterweight dropped straight towards my head and I sprang backwards. The counterweight crashed into the floor and I lifted my arm to protect my face from the haze of splinters and dust. A few bounced off my skin, my anima flaring as I hardened myself against such an attack. When I lowered my arms, I saw that the crate had swept the Rose above me. He dropped towards me and I twisted my sword up, just in time to lock our hilts together. He hung, suspended above me, and his mask swept aside -- revealing his wicked smile, his kissable lips, his beautiful face.

His fox tail trailed in the air behind him -- and when I shoved him off my blade and he landed, lightly, a few paces away from me, his ears were perked up.

"So...are you?" I asked.

"I'm...complex..." He grinned at me. "I enjoy men, under certain circumstances. These are not one of them." His eyes gleamed. "But if you were to become a woman, my Unconquered, I would make this duel seem like the fumbling of children..."

I chuckled, huskily. "If so...you'd have to wait..." I paused. "Ceaith put herself outside of what makes her comfortable. For me. She...pushed herself, and..." I shook my head. "I owe her that. I owe her a lot..." I lowered the tip of my sword. "I love her. I love all of them. But Ceaith..." I gulped. "I think that she deserves me putting myself outside of what makes me comfortable, for her. I get the feeling that no one's ever bent for her. That's why she has to...claw for everything, you know?"

The Rose bowed his head to me. Then he lifted his sword up, pressing the flat of it against his forehead. He bowed low, sweeping his arm out, as if he was brushing the cape he had removed away.

"You truly are an Unconquered worthy of my blade and my service," he said, sweeping his sword down, to allow the tip to press against the ground. "Though your fencing does need some work."

I grinned, slowly. "And how do you do all that rose stuff? I mean, I thought...you'd shine more. Like, Agate style."

The Rose laughed, heartily. "That is a bit of thaumaturgey I've picked up. After all, it would be rather improper to be the Rose of Versalis to be without." He flicked out his right hand and a rose seemed to slip into his fingers, as if he had cast it from his sleeve. Save that he wasn't wearing any sleeves. He breathed in the smell of the rose, then tossed it to me. I caught it with a smile. "Merely a magical trick. But using it prevents my anima from flaring -- which does help me conceal my activities from that bothersome Regent and his Infused bullies."

I grinned. "Good." I looked down at the flower. "So, if you don't like men, save in special circumstances."

"Of which, I am sad to admit, these are not," the Rose said, inclining his head.

"But we're both...kind of horny..." I grinned past the petals of the rose I held.

The Rose gasped. The fingers of his right hand splayed against his chest and his eyes widened, brilliant cat green orbs that caught the torchlight and glittered, gemlike. "Unconquered! Such uncouth language!" He scoffed. "I am not horny." He said the word with the same distaste I supposed a cat would have at being forced to sit next to a dog. His nose wrinkle . "I am filled with the burning passions of masculine triumph, eager to slake myself with the willing flesh of a comely lass. Preferably a married one." He grinned. "Mayhap I shall return to your bedchambers and seduce that beautiful Chirp..."

"Chirp is a saris!" I said, pointing my finger at the Rose.

He chuckled. "Ah, but that is tempting as well." He pursed his lips. "Or, mayhap, we shall go to one of the many taverns of this city and seduce some eager mortals." He grinned. "To borrow the phrase I believe I heard one of my fellow Lunars used...mortals...don't...count?" His eyes sparkled.

I blinked. "W-Well, I...I mean, they count!" I said, hurriedly. "They count a lot! Mortals are why we're doing what we're doing. A-And I just realized, I kind of slipped into using the word mortals without even thinking about it." I shook my head, blushing furiously. "Like, it just seems so natural. But...but I'm human. They're human. We're human. That's why we're-"

The Rose stepped forward and placed a soft, unscarred finger against my lips. His voice was a soft croon.

"My darling husband, my sun, my Unconquered," he whispered. "I love you, intensely, for this deep core of morality."

I blinked. "T-Thanks."

"But in this case, we're merely referring to the oaths of fidelity we have been consigned too..." the Rose murmured. "Your Lunars have agreed. If the Unconquered sees a comely mortal and wishes to woo her, or him, or they, then none of your Lunars have an iresome bone in their body when it comes to that. That is all."

"Oh." I blushed.

"Now..." the Unconquered stepped back. A whirl of rose petals flared around him -- and when it was done, he was dressed in a somber black tunic with white buttons and a white undershirt, one that gleamed brilliantly between the folds of the darker material. His gloved hands tightened a bowtie around his throat, drawing it out to its full, ruffled glory. "Shall we find some mortals to, to quote the Eleventh Unconquered...utterly destroy?" He grinned at me -- unmasked.

I gulped. "R-Right. Two things."

"Oh?" His eyes sparkled.

"W-What's your name?" I asked.

The Rose smirked. "That would be telling, my dearest." He started to walk away. "And the second?" He called over his shoulder.

"Can I have some pants too?"

The Rose laughed -- and swept into the night.

TO BE CONTINUED