A calm fell over Cassia. “His penis has not… tasted my vagina.”
“So, you haven’t fucked?” Brynhild arched her eyebrow in confusion. She’d been so sure.
“No, we have.” Cassia’s voice barely carried along the dark corridor.
“So… then…” Brynhild smiled. “You took him up your ass? I’m impressed! You’re tougher than you look. Did he cum in you?”
“Yes.”
“How many days ago was the first time?” Brynhild thrilled at this inquisition. Things were so much easier when Hekate wasn’t involved.
“Four.”
“Right, right.” Brynhild shoved the duchess onto her butt. The lamp crashed to the floor and went out. Still, none of Pluto’s light. Brynhild ignited her own glowing orb above them. “How rude of me. Here.” She offered Cassia her left hand and helped her up. The sorceress did not release the hand. “Who else has Vel fucked? Specifically, who has he cum inside? Not some prude playing hard to get with her ass like you. I’m looking for a pussy. I’m trying to rule some things out.”
“Naevia. Dellia, I think. Also, Norbana.” Cassia blinked slowly at the pretty orb floating above them.
“Ah, Lady Norbana. Perfect. I’ll check in on her first.” Brynhild took her right index finger, placed it on Cassia’s chin, and turned her round face so that they looked into each other’s eyes. This was the tricky part, but not as tricky as it used to be. “You didn’t see me this morning. You tripped and fell, dropping your lamp. You’ll remember nothing of our conversation.” She let go of the duchess, her orb quenched itself, and blackness consumed them. Brynhild was gone.
“Damn, I dropped my lamp.” Cassia reached her hands out for the wall. She had nothing to spark the sconces all around her. She’d have to walk a while in the dark before she could find some light. She sighed. A rough day was off to a poor start. It was going to be a terrible day… or worse.
When she finally made it to the kitchen, she found it was worse. The women servants were there. They had gathered early as expected, getting ready for the coming wave of guests. But the men were not there. Cassia enquired, but the women knew nothing. She summoned the seneschal, who also knew nothing. She prayed she’d have a solution before Bantia learned of the new catastrophe. She ordered the women to spread out into the city and request the loan of servants from any family that could spare them.
She needed some relief, whatever the source. But Cassia could see the storm was only gathering its strength. She prayed to Minerva to give her the wisdom to survive the coming days. Get through the wedding, and then she could reassess… everything.
~~
A rushed and perilous journey by boat through the night led to towering cliffs. With dawn’s first breaking light, they made a harrowing climb up the scorpion’s trail, zigzagging up to the palace walls. Nicias pushed himself harder than he thought possible. He and his comrades, a group of a dozen men, arrived right before midday. Just as they had planned. Nicias wasn’t sure whether his knees were shaking from fear or the climb.
The plan would work. He would soon take his wife home, and perhaps free a princess, too. On their own, they were nothing but a clutch of exhausted servants. But they weren’t alone. They had the power of a mighty northern sorceress behind them.
The heavy, studded oak door swung open and they were through, inside Accipiter Cubitum Palace.
“Go quickly, or it will be my head.” Their contact looked them over as he shut the door behind them. “Where do you go?”
“The Blessed Tower,” the duke’s footman, Proclus, replied. He clapped his cousin’s shoulder.
Their inside man looked like he enjoyed the mention of that place even less than the sight of them. “That is an evil building.” He spat on the pavement. “Good luck to you. If you leave by this door, I won’t lock it behind you. I was never here.” The man ran off down a narrow alley.
“Follow me, friends.” Nicias put his hand on the hilt of his sword, safely stored in its sheath, and jogged south. Brynhild had instructed him on the way over and over in the preceding days. They found the narrow tunnels and streets of the outer palace deserted. Nicias had been worried the place would be crawling with people. He had rehearsed his excuses for their presence over and over. The sorceress had planned their trip so well, they didn’t run into anyone all the way to the tower.
The Blessed Tower rose to the east of the main palace, nearly disappearing into the sky. Nicias slowed to a trot as they approached and stared up at it. The round building was encased in scaffolding, and there were pallets of stone blocks haphazardly placed in the courtyard. Very high up, he thought he could see workers scurrying about the outside of the thing. “Off to the side. Over here.” Nicias called his troop over. Standing by the front door, he could see the first royal guard with his crimson cape fluttering in the breeze.
Lucky for them, the sorceress had told them of another secret door in the back. Nicias led his men into a space covered with broken timber, rendered steel, and cracked stone. They navigated the detritus, and he found the block he was to press. He pushed with his foot, and a door opened in the side of the tower. The masonry looked for a second like liquid, and then it was gone, leaving an arched entrance.
Once inside, they gave themselves the barest minimum of time to adjust from the searing brightness outside to the newfound gloom. The place was stark and barren, obviously not yet furnished. They found the stairs and climbed. The sorceress had bidden them rescue Princess Minicia first, and then circle back for Merope. But Nicias could wait no longer for his reuniting moment. They stopped on Merope’s floor, and fanned out in the hallway. At this point, the sound of drawing steel filled the dark, cloistered air.
The door was locked. With trembling fingers, Nicias pulled forth the charm Brynhild had given him for this moment. It was a simple bit of parchment with strange symbols burned onto the page. He placed it on the glossy, maple wood. The door swung in on hinges too new to creak. They all filed into the room quickly. They were in a large, barren entry space. There was a library to the left and another room to their right. That room had its doorway angled so that they could only see a patch of stone wall inside. A bank of windows ahead of them looked out far over the sparkling sea.
A sound like waves smacking against the shore greeted their ears. The room itself swam about them, as if it was there, but also not there. Nicias lowered his sword. Its point trailed behind him, gouging out a tiny path in the wood floor. The cadence of the slapping waves was familiar to him. There was another sound. A woman’s whimpering cry filled his ears. His wife’s voice roused him from the lethargy that had beset them all as they’d stepped into the room. With his comrades, he moved toward the room to their right.
The chamber came into view little by little, but it wasn’t until they had arrived almost at the door that he saw the thing that caused him to drop his sword with a clatter. A woman… a pretty woman… faced away from them, riding in a horrible sex act. His cheeks went pale as he stared. The cock was far too large and smooth. The woman’s vagina was obscenely spread on it with every thrust. The woman’s asshole gaped, like it had seen too much regular use. And she was clearly pregnant. That was not all. Nicias found his brain much too slow to take in everything the room offered. The woman rode another woman. As the sneering face looked out from behind the mounting woman’s heavy breasts, Nicias could see it was one of the queens underneath. “Who… what…?” he croaked.