Dawn today was stretched.
Amara was blindfolded but she was closely surrounded by four thick poles with 4 retractable arms, each tipped with very sharp blade. The arms whirred to life, extending and retracting unpredictably, slashing at her with blinding speed, and enchanted to silence. She ducked and parried, her movements easy as she blocked a blade with hers, then rolled aside to dodge another while parrying two more that met her there.
"Not even a single letter did he reply back" she complained as she dodged two arms that passed through her.
She met multiple blades from different directions in impressive quick parrys, and Olivia stick lashed out, striking her thigh. "Poor posture," she said, her tone clipped. "It makes it easier for someone to—"
She lunged towards Amara's shoulder, her blades crossed instinctively, blocking the strike with a clatter, but Olivia twisted the stick, hooking Amara's ankle and sending her toppling to the ground. "…fall you."
Amara hit the dirt on her ass, and she moved her blindfold away, "But you understand what I mean?" she said to Olivia. "Seven letters, and not one reply back. Does he think I'm pursuing him?"
"But you are pursuing him"
"Yes, but that's not the point." Amara stood, dusting herself off, and tied the blindfold back on with a sharp tug. She resumed the drill, her posture now flawless. "Is he one of those idiots who think it improper for a woman to pursue a man? I'm only trying to make us closer."
Olivia stayed silent, her eyes tracking Amara's movements as the princess's blades blocked every attack and hit target after target, each strike hitting the marked points despite the blindfold. After a long pause, she spoke. "Does it occur to you that perhaps he's not interested, and going aggressively is only making it worse?"
"Why won't he be interested?"
"I heard his druid wife is quite a beauty" Olivia said. "And he has more than half of every single woman in the south that has been called beautiful living in his castle"
"And I don't mind that" she said, still focused. "Everybody will note their place"
"And where do you think yours is?"
Her rhythm faltered for a second. Her blade met an arm late, the clang louder than it should have been. Then she surged. Her movements lost their earlier balance. She slashed too hard, stepped too deep.
Olivia noted the use of mana, which was not allowed, but she kept quiet and just watched the princess went at it. She no longer parries the blades, she dodged them and cut them down. It was no longer training, it was an emotional outlet.
Then she stopped. She stood there, head bowed, breathing hard. The arms were still active, extending, but none had their blades, nor reached her.
She walked out, tugging the blindfold off and letting it fall behind her.
"I don't want to see you get hurt" Olivia said, her voice small.
Amara didn't say anything. She shoulder bumped into her and walked away. Olivia just sighed.
┌─────── ♕ ───────┐
"Hold!"
The slaver called and they all reined their horses to a stop. The sun hung low behind the canopy, casting long shafts across the small clearing. They were 7 of them. Nadia and her knights, and the old slaver with 3 others he had brought with him. They've been riding together for the better part of ten days, searching for the dark elf that the slaver said exists.
Nadia heard the cage open, and the old slave tottered forward. He is not a zar, as the human call her kind. Nadia identified him as human. He was tall, even for his age, but nothing more than skin stretched over bone. They had a chain on his neck that is held by one of the slaver's men on a horse. His knees buckled as he walked.
At the clearing's edge, he sank slowly to the ground, his aged joints folding with a quiet groan. He gathered up dirt in a clutch, like he has done several times before, and began looking around like he was searching for something. Like he has always done.
Nadia grows tired of this because she didn't understand it. At first she thought it was a trap, but after several days of the slaver making them follow the slave's directions, she doesn't know what to think. It makes sense for a dark elf to be hard to track, especially if she was as injured as he said, but how much time can she waste on this?
"She's around here somewhere" the old man announced, bringing his horse close to her.
Nadia gave a slight nod toward one of the knights. The man dismounted immediately and moved ahead, two of the slaver's men trailing after him. The third turned away, tugging the old slave back to the rusty cage hitched to two horses.
Nadia climbed down too, they've been sitting for too long. The man followed suit.
They didn't wait for long before she heard commotion from the forest. The slaver chuckled softly beside her. She casually turned, to check something behind her, taking a few steps back when she faced front again, placing her slightly behind the man. She grabbed his hair, yanked his head down, and slit his throat. She did it with such ease and grace that even her knight wasn't sure what happened until he saw the man clutching his gushing neck and collapsing to the ground.
Nadia stared ahead, unfazed, as the man gurgled at her feet. His companion, witnessing the act, spurred his horse to flee, but the knight had already mounted and in pursuit, hooves thundering.
Nadia didn't care to look. Her eyes stayed fixed on the forest ahead, where the cries of a weak young girl rang clearer with each second. Soon they came into view and she saw the knight powerfully clunging onto the girl in a way that restricts her arms as she struggled and cried.
The knight threw the young child to the ground roughly, despite the deep wound on her right leg.
The young elf sat on the ground, legs bent and folded to one side, breathing hard and glaring at Nadia. She noted the dead old slaver, but was not giving up yet.
Nadia squatted before her and pushed down her hood, showing herself as an elf.
The young elf stared at her, surprised, and a little bit of relief, but she still didn't give in yet.
"Do you know me? " Nadia said to her in their language but the girl just looked at her.
She was young, but Nadia saw recognition in her eyes, still she didn't yield.
"I have a proposition for you." Nadia said to her. "Your father is dead and I'm sure you know what that means." Nadia said
The young child held Nadia's eyes with intense glare, but now mostly clouded by tears that she refuse to let fall. She was shivering, pale, her small hands fisted into the dirt.
"I can have your wound treated and let you go your way" she went on. "Or you can come to me and help serve a man that may save your father"
When said like that the girl has little choice, and Nadia knows it. She held the girl's eyes, "What's it going to be?"
┌─────── ♕ ───────┐
The throne room was empty—save for the knights lining the walls, Ophelia at my left, and the furious dwarf standing before the dais.
With the way the throne room was built, the dais makes it that the person sitting on the throne would be looking down on the person standing before him and I consider it fitting.
"You think you can come into my land and take anything you want without permission?"
"The demon forest is no one's land!"
I chose to make it an official meeting, and normally the palace would be filled by nobles or their representatives, and the court, but I have already dissolved the court, and most of the nobles in the capital have been chased out. The ones that remained I gave no notice of a gathering because it would ruin the effect I was going for.
"You must really think low of me to even say that" I told him. "You consider yourself safe? You think you can't be touched? I will give you time to see that you are not, then I will decide what to do with you. Lock him up."
"What?!" he roared, confused and angry. "You wouldn't dare! Where are you going—come back here! Damn you!"
He was yelling all sorts of arrogant words as I left the throne room.
The knights wanted to follow but I waved them back, with Ophelia trailing close.
I really need her to pay Montreal a visit, but I can't afford to have her away from me. With [Flight], trips to Crimea and Montreal have been reduced to about 10 hours, which means the best option is to go with her, and then return instantly with the [Warp point] spell, but [Flight] is exhausting. Merely thinking about another hours of it, and carrying Ophelia too is draining the life out of me.
Still, I need that message sent before leaving for the marriage ceremony. If the king of Montreal still doesn't hit me, considering his reputation, then it means they are either still on the planning phase, which makes no sense, or he is not part of Mittelreich equation which would give my attention to Cremia as the major route of attack.
I made up my mind to go with Ophelia, but since the marriage is in 3 days, we still have two days to set up properly.
I had Naram-Sin waiting for me in my office but we went to Eowyn's room.
"I told you you can't stay away too long from your creature when they are this young" Eowyn said the moment she saw it was me coming in.
She was by the table where the creature was kept. It was pulsating.
"There's no way I'm taking that with me everywhere I go"
"Shhh! Language!" Eowyn admonished in a small voice like a mother to a father that said a bad word in front of their child.
I smiled and I hugged her from behind. "Sorry" I whispered back.
She slipped free when she bent to tease the creature with another crystal, but I left my hand casually on her ass, fingers grazing the curve as she moved.
"What are you doing?" I asked, leaning over the table, the wood creaking faintly under my weight.
She stood up.
"I saw he feeds on crystals" she said, returning the one she had to a bag. "But only pure ones it would seem"
She brought out another crystal, exact same as the other in my eyes, and held it close to the creature. The closest part of the creature immediately extended pseudopods toward it and collected it into their person. The center glowed turquoise for about a moment and then it pushed out a used crystal, more clear and transparent than the used light crystals I've seen.
"I have never seen anything like it before" Eowyn stood beside me looking at the black goo. I wasn't impressed by the creature but she looked at it with such fascination that I had no choice but to have a bit of interest in it.
"Good thing it has you" I gently palmed her ass as I walked away to another edge of the table.
I picked up a stone and was inspecting it closely when Eowyn came closer, and plucked it from my hand. "If only it were that easy," she said, snatching another I reached for.
I walked away from the table, glancing around.
"Creatures from a mana beast egg need close presence of their owners at an early age if they are to survive" she said stepping closer, "And it is especially so of a creature we don't understand yet"
"Eowyn I'm a very busy king" I said, turning to face her. "I'm afraid it is not possible to be there for the little guy all the time"
"You will have to make time, your majesty" she insisted. "You cannot afford to lose what came out of a thousand year manabeast egg"
I chuckled. "I think you enjoy my company more than you care to admit" I said, getting closer to her.
She laughed softly. "That I do" she said turning away to return. "You fascinate me, more than any human has."
I came even closer. "Careful now" I said softly. "That sounded like a flirt to me"
Her eyes flashed. "Foolhardiness such as yours can only be possible from a curse of the spirits"
"Tough words" I said. "But I see fear in your eyes. Fear of what would happen if this is allowed to go on"
And I leaned in and kissed her. Hands on the table as I feast on her lips. Face pressing forward, going deeper, and she allowed it for a second or so longer than the first and then she pulled away.
"I have been alive for years longer than when your first ancestor was born" she said, casually moving to the other side of the table. "Words don't move me"
I followed her. "Yet you run" I said.
I've made up my mind that today would be the first day, and it seems that would happen.
I grabbed her by the waist and drew her close to resume feasting on her lips. My hands slid down to her ass and I grabbed them tight and pressed her crotch against mine as I pulled her up as if to give better access to her lips. A low hum escaped her throat, vibrating against my lips, and that's when she gently pushed me away. I resisted, holding on to her lips, but we finally disconnected.
"This has gone far enough" she said.
I didn't pursue it, only smiled. "Sooner or later I will find out why you are so scared" I said, then looked around. "Where's Isadora?"
"Making some friends" she said, fixing her dress, and then picking up the used crystal and dropping it into a pouch.
"Please send her to my room this evening" I said and she bowed.
I left the room and went to my office.
The doors opened and he stood up as I walked in and saluted.
"I received interesting reports about an activity of yours" I said as I sat down, my erection from Eowyn still hasn't eased down.
"I can assure your majesty that you have nothing to worry about" he said.
He no longer seems nervous when he talks to me and I don't think I like that, but the fact that we are still in the soap business solely has to do with him. I know that much. It was why I kept him, but I needed to make sure he is still in line.
"Interesting thing to say seeing that you didn't see to tell me" I said to him. "And who will determine who gets to join this little group?"
"I will not include anybody that Your Majesty says no to"
Very sly and greedy, I smiled inward. He is consolidating power, making himself more powerful and indispensable. I can see that from a mile away, and if I was an ordinary king it would be a threat.
"Fail to make a report of this nature again," I said, casual. "You will live the rest of your life without an arm. Is that clear enough?"
"Yes, your majesty" he bowed, still no nervousness.
I waved for him to leave.
More reason why pressuring Montreal out of the equation is important.
They would be expecting us, making it very dangerous, especially with me going now, but if their eyes are part of the eyes on me, then I have less to worry about.