Cloaks and Daggers Read online

  “All formed with magic,” Auria said smugly. “Molding stone and steel with our spells. There is no greater masters of spellwork than the mages of the Fount. The other races of the world fairly beg to have their wizards trained by our magistrixes.”

  “So I see,” Felix said in awe. It was like no city he had ever known in the Twin Kingdoms. Everything was as tall and willowy as their creators, looking strangely delicate and breakable to him. But then, he thought, the grandest city he had known was Kiln, where the monumental city had been carved from the very bones of the mountain. He had known rivers of steaming magma and the massive iron hewn halls writ with glowing runes. There was a different grandeur to Vassara, he thought. Fairer and more ethereal, much like its occupants. Elves whose skin ranged from coal black to soft violet moved about the city in trim leathers or flowing robes, though none of these clothes left much to the imagination. Slender soldiers in sweeping black steel patrolled with curving blades sheathed at their sides.

  Auria watched him from the corner of her eye, smiling in amusement. She directed them up a sloping street. As they climbed Felix saw a number of elegant looking riverboats drifting down the canals, palanquins floating on a cushion of magic gliding down the streets, many followed by soldiers afoot. He also noticed that the streets were emptier now, the shops and towering homes making way for tiered palaces of towers whose tips appeared to be fitted with glowing stones. The nobler district, he thought, amused that such a thing was recognizable even in such an alien city.

  Auria guided them to a towering compound on the edge of the royal square, and near one of the milling canals. The tall wall encircled the estate, the gate an arch guarded by a pair of leonine statues with the faces of beautiful elves. A pair of fleshly guards stood before it. They jerked to attention as Auria swung down from her mount and strode imperiously towards them.

  The guards, both males, fell to their knees. But another, a female to judge by her form fitting armour, her tall helmet bearing a towering red plume, saluted in surprise. “Lady Auria,” she said at once. “We were not expecting you…”

  “No doubt, Davina,” she said, waving. “Open the gates. I have come home.”

  Davina hesitated, glancing at Felix. He cut a quick bow, touching a hand to his brow.

  “Greetings. I am the Rune Knight, Felix Gravere.”

  She blinked again. “Who?”

  Felix sighed as Auria chuckled. “He is with me,” she said. Then her voice hardened. “Well?”

  Davina stiffened, saluted again and barked a command. One of the guards pressed a hand against the gates. The doors shimmered, seeming to melt like water into the walls. Auria swept through and into the courtyard, Felix following closely.

  The courtyard spread out at the foot of several vast towers, who in turns rose from a central structure. He spotted one building that might have served as a stable, but the rest were shuttered or masked with silken doors. More guards stood in the courtyard and before each door, their eyes following him and Auria. . Somehow word had gotten ahead. An elven man waited on the steps of the towering estate, oozing contempt, a violet cloak spilling from his shoulders while an elaborate silk shirt and pants trimmed with gold garbed the rest of him. His sharp nose was lifted to look down on the world at his feet, while a more austere and drab looking elf lingered at his shoulder.

  “Sister,” the sharply dressed elf said stiffly.

  “Brother Allithan,” Auria said with cold amusement. She widened her stance, hands on the swells of her hips, firm breasts thrust out as if in challenge. “Have you come to welcome me home?”

  His lip curled with disdain. “Were you gone? I failed to notice.”

  “Yes. Often a failing of yours.”

  Allithan’s lips writhed like he’d bitten on something rotten. “Whatever. Where were you?”

  “I don’t think you have a right to ask me that,” she said. Then, “But if you must know, I went past the Dusk Woods.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. “Is… that right. And what happened?”

  Auria smiled again with that coquettish, teasing smile. “I’m certain mother shall tell you in good time. Where is she?”

  Allithan’s lips tightened further. “Mother is waiting in the court. Your… human can remain here.”

  “My guardian will come with me,” she said sweetly before striding up the steps, brushing past him. Felix followed, giving the elf a curious look before they entered the manor.

  Long curling halls opened before them, looping about the trunk of the towering estate. They passed many servants, and many others in the same violet cloaks or gowns as the man they left at the front. Soon enough they reached a pair of towering doors, and past them, found themselves in a long hall.

  Tall windows filtered down the glow of the Fount, casting the room in shimmering purples and blues, like they were beneath some violet sea. More elves were within, all of them dressed in either elegant robes or the sparse attire that Auria herself wore. Felix glanced around, flushing at the sight of so much skin bared so suggestively. As they entered, the murmur of conversation ceased, a stillness infesting the room. Auria smiled, seeming to soak in their attention as she strutted across the floor, Felix following, feeling the eyes of the courtiers.

  Their destination was readily apparent. At the end of the room a dais had been worked, and upon that a throne whose back seemed to swell into the wall like a waterfall of frozen crystal.

  A woman reclined atop the throne, and Felix saw the similarities between her and Auria almost at once. They had the same mocking, mirthful eyes and breathtaking features. Yet the woman on the dais looked older. Her breasts were fuller and hips a touch wider. She was no more plump than Auria, but more shapely. Her hair was black and she wore flowing strips of violet silks. Two crossed over her breasts, just enough to hide her dark nipples, and a long skirt garbed her waist and legs.

  As they neared she rose and opened her arms wide. “My daughter!” she cried.

  “Mother!”

  The two grabbed each other in a tight embrace. Felix stood by uncertainly, watching the exchange.

  The two separated a moment later, Auria’s mother turning to Felix. “And who is this. A human?” she said.

  Felix cut a quick bow. “Good day my lady. I am Felix Gravere. The Rune Knight.”

  Quirking a lip in amusement, the matriarch of the dark elves bid him rise. “Greetings, Gravere. I am Nimeria Dalamas. Matron of House Dalamas and grandmagistrix of the Fount.”

  “A pleasure,” Felix said.

  “Oh it shall be,” the elf said, her eyes running up and down Felix’s body with unabashed interest. The knight shifted uncomfortably under such bald examination. Amusement danced in Nimeria’s eyes.

  Auria glanced back, as the far door opened, Allithan slipping inside. Her smile grew wider. “Mother, I have something for you.” Auria beamed, slipping her hand into the pouch at her side. Nimeria’s eyes glowed as the Arcris came forth, the orb blazing with power and life. A gasp raced through the room.

  “Oh…” Nimeria breathed. “My dear daughter. You found it!”

  Auria preened as her mother took the orb. The matronly elf sighed, her veins seeming to pulse as she held the orb, outlining her frame in a spider web of blue light. Taking a slow breath, Nimeria set the orb aside, smiling. “My dear daughter. Well done. Please, tell me where you found it.”

  “Of course, mother,” Auria said, squeezing the other elf’s hand. She glanced back slyly at the ashen face of Allithan. “But please. Might we speak in private? I and my dear Felix have come far, and he too has some questions for you.”

  Nimeria glanced at her daughter, a playful smile on her lips. “Hm? Does he know. How interesting.” She turned back to the rest of the court. “I tire,” she said aloud. “You are all dismissed for today. I will speak to my daughter and her companion privately. This way, Auria, my sweet.”

  Felix followed the two elves from the room and into a small side passage. They walked some distance
through the arching hallways of the estate, Nimeria and Auria bent together in whispered council. Eventually they arrived before a pair of tall doors engraved to resemble two crashing waves. Nimeria gestured, the doors opening at her bidding and admitting them to a large room richly appointed in silks and cushions and bedding. Near transparent curtains waved before a balcony overlooking the city below and its scattered towers and avenues.

  Nimeria drew the pair of them inside and settled on the bed with her daughter. “Now. Felix, was it?” she said, setting the Arcris atop a pedestal beside her bed, the stone floating and glowing atop the peak. “You had some questions for me?”

  “Yes,” Felix said, surprised. “I did, in fact. My arrival here was not planned. And I was hoping you might… be able…”

  He trailed off, mouth falling open as Nimeria shrugged off the straps across her shoulders. Coyly, the matriarch of the Dalamas bared her heavy breasts, the puffy dark nipples stiff in the air. “Please, go on,” she said.

  Felix cleared his throat. “…I ah… Your daughter told me you were a very skilled magus.” His eyes followed raptly as the matronly elf opened her skirt, slipping it free and baring her long smooth legs and her velvety cunt. “I was… um… hoping you might be able to assist me with… with discovering how I came… came to… be here.”

  “Hm,” Nimeria hummed. She beckoned and with a flicker of magic a bottle of glowing wine poured itself into a glass. “So you came to this land through some arcane means?” she said as the fluted glass floated to her hand.

  “Y-yes.”

  “You are rather red. Forgive me. My room can get so hot sometimes. Auria? My sweet? Do help him get more comfortable.”

  “With pleasure, mother,” Auria chimed.

  “Oh that’s not necessary. I er…”

  “Oh please,” Auria chuckled, opening his shirt, baring his scarred chest. “We insist.”

  Reclining on her bed, eyes gleaming with the very same unfettered amusement in her daughter’s eyes, Nimeria raised her glass to Felix. “Please,” she said, her other hand wandering across her firm breast and playing with a dark nipple. “Continue.”

  “Ah, well,” Felix stammered as his pants were pulled away, his cock straining the thin fabric of his underpants to a prominent tent. He flushed harder as Nimeria’s eyes focused on it. “I was battling my foe, Tiberius. A sorcer-er!” he yelped as Auria shucked down his underpants, baring the hard flesh of his shaft. “W-we were in the midst of battle. And ah… there was an explosion. He was conducting a ritu-al!” He gasped as Auria’s hot mouth enveloped his cock.

  “Auria!” Nimeria cried in mock dismay. “Daughter. Really now. Forgive her Felix. She simply has no manners at all. Continue.”

  “Nnn…” Flushed, tense, Felix desperately tried to sort his thoughts, all the while the sinfully sweet lips of the elven noble moved up and down his shaft. “We… ah… we were battling. And the ritual was...was disrupted. There was an explosion. And I…I came here. Woke in the woods. I didn’t…”

  “And that was where you met my daughter?”

  “Y-yes!” Felix cried out, hips twitching as he came. Auria’s throat worked as she swallowed his load. With a gasp she pulled off his cock, smiling devilishly up at him.

  Felix, panting, biting his lower lip, gave her a sullen look. But before he could do anything about that Nimeria said, “A most unusual event,” she said, grinning with every hint of enjoyment. “Please. Come here.”

  Somewhat awkwardly, Felix made his way to the bed. She reached out, pulling him down beside her. He sucked in a breath as her hands glided across his chest. “M-my lady?”

  “My daughter was wise to bring you here,” she said. “There are still many things we don’t know about how magic works. Oh we make our studies, but the days of our great empire are long gone. And so much of that knowledge as well. There are so many things still needing to be understood. Not the least is how it works on the human body.”

  She leaned over him, her soft breasts pressing against his side. He tried to move, but found Auria quite suddenly on his other side.

  “Oh yes,” Auria said, trapping his arm against her, her hands stroking his chest. “And such strange magic too.”

  “I will need to examine it… very carefully,” Nimeria murmured, the matronly dark elf’s fingers finding his cock. “But you’re in the best of hands,” she added, smiling with delight as she felt him stiffen. “I have a very intimate understanding of the bodies of every race in the lands.”

  “Is… that right…” Felix gasped as she began to stroke his rapidly hardening cock.

  “Oh yes,” She said, leaning up, her dark hair sliding down his shoulder with feather light touches. “Very.”

  Her lips pressed to his, and despite his reservations, Felix responded. He slid one arm around the buxom matriarch, his other finding her daughter, pulling both full bodied women against him. He broke the kiss with Nimeria, only for Auria to cup his cheeks, turn his head and steal his lips, her kiss hungry, her firm, youthful body moving against him with every hint of enjoyment.

  “Greedy, Auria,” Nimeria laughed. “Keeping him all to yourself.”

  “Mmm.” Auria broke the kiss, her silver eyes shining. “Forgive me mother. But he is so tempting.”

  “Too true. But I am the elder,” she said as she lifted herself from the blanket and straddled his waist, her velvety quim pressing down on his throbbing cock. “And therefore, I have first claim to his cock.”

  “Ohhh,” Felix moaned as she rubbed the folds of her cunt against his hardened shaft.

  “Age before beauty, mother?” Auria grinned. She yelped as magic struck her rear a playful spank. She giggled. “Then I suppose I must claim his face,” Auria said.

  “Seems fair,” Nimeria said playfully.

  “You could use the practice anyway,” she told Felix a moment before her firm ass descended on his face. The Rune Knight never even thought of resisting the daughter. Not when he felt the confident fingers of the mother grasp his cock and feed it into her cunt. He moaned into Auria’s mons, the loose depths of the Dalamas matriarch gripping his cock as she began to move. He grabbed Auria’s hips, his tongue exploring her hot gash, making the dark elf gasp and grind herself against him.

  “Ohhh! You are a quick learner my knight,” Auria moaned.

  “The best are,” Nimeria laughed, her breath hitching as she bucked atop his cock. “Oooh it’s been so long since I had a human’s cock!”

  “Enjoy it mo-other!” Auria moaned as Felix’s tongue found her clit. “Mmmnn… He’s still mine.”

  “Greedy,” Nimeria moaned as she bounced atop Felix’s cock, her wide hips rolling with expert skill. “But I suppose I forgive you. This time.”

  Felix moaned, bucking beneath the pair. He had a feeling he was in for a long night.

  Meetings

  It was night.

  The stars glowed silver in the dark canopy above. Below, fires dotted the valley, gathered between the twisting rivers of lava as the tribes returned to their camps, mulling what they had seen.

  The conspirators had gathered in secret. Silence. Crouched in a circle, they rested their fists on their knees. A low fire burned before them, sheltered from prying eyes by the jagged thrust of the rocks. Stealth did not come easily to an orc, but the ragged lands beyond the Dragon’s Teeth had taught them how to avoid being seen, at least. Likewise, politics generally boiled down to ‘who’s the biggest? You? Okay, you’re the boss’.

  Thus, political subterfuge was a new experience for the orcs. And like all new experiences, someone was probably going to die during it.

  Borgrin crouched among them. The pugnacious orc glowered at the dancing flames. “How long we wait?” he demanded roughly.

  Another, Gilnig, shrugged. “You know Rockrenders. Always late.”

  Muttered acknowledgement came from the others. Borgrin snorted angrily and flexed his fists, muscles across his broad, brutal form tightening and loosening with the motions. Time
s had been tough for the grey skinned orc since Morgoroth died. Once, Borgrin had power. Prestige! Slaves! Yet now? Now, he was ignored. Socretha was thought the mightiest in the tribe. And the sorcerer stood over her as well, the clans in the palm of his hand. A human. Borgrin sneered as he stared at the fire. No human would lead him! No matter how many arms he thrust in lava. Probably some trick to it. Yeah. A trick. That explained it.

  A rattle of tumbling stones brought the group to their feet, axes in hands, beady eyes peering at the dark. After a moment a form made itself known. The newcomer didn’t so much arrive as insinuate himself among the group, sliding in on quick feet. A goblin, the short, stocky creature grinned up at them, his cloak of what could generously be called rags settling about him. The orcs glowered at him.

  “Nivi has come,” the goblin said. “And presents master Durgith!”

  A mountain moved. The other orcs drew back as what might have been a piece of the landscape stepped into the light. The assembled orcs had followed Morgoroth most of their lives. They knew big. But the orc before them dwarfed even that orc’s legendary girth. Once upon a time, an ogre and an orc met in unholy wedlock. Whichever party had gotten the worst of that deal, the result had been Durgith. Unlike the dark green skin of the other orcs, his was a speckled brown and grey like the rocks around them. His chest bulged above a heavy gut, and his long arms were knotted with muscle. His low slung jaw bulged with sharp teeth, and across his body jangled a series of metal plates buckled into place in some attempt at armour, though it barely provided modesty.

  The ogrespawn paused in the firelight, looking down on the orcs before him. He gave a low rumble.

  “Durgith come,” Nivi said, the goblin hastening to the ogrespawn’s feet. “He come to see what you offer.”

  Borgrin coughed and stepped forward. “I am Borgrin,” he said. “Leader of Wolf band of Iron Tooth clan. You come today to meet with sorcerer, Tiberius. But he is mere human! Seeks to rule orcs and use us as minions.”

  “Durgith come,” Nivi said. “He meet with sorcerer. Why you care?”