Queen Yavara: Chapter 57 free porn video

Chapter Fifty-seven

LEVERIA

I took a deep breath, and my nostrils were filled with the smell of spent lust. Warm morning skin moistened in a dew of hormonal sweat, the subtle pungency of sexual fluids, and the tang of orifices that had not yet coalesced into their fleshy confines. Ah, what a wonderful miasma. My eyes fluttered open, and I sighed with contentment. The morning sun wasn’t yet up, but I felt no need to rise. The day would bring immeasurable bloodshed, and so I clung to the night like a stubborn child with her blanket.

I was in the middle of a pile of women. Destiny slumbered just above me, acting as my pillow, while Soraya snuggled into my left side, and Furia spooned my right. Faltia and Kiera rested about my feet while Eva and Brianna were nestled between my splayed legs. My cock was still in Eva’s mouth, and Brianna was snoring contentedly into my nuts. It had been a night to remember for certain.

Destiny had been my tutor in the brutal art of a man’s lust. She let me learn how to use my cock upon her as she directed me from the inside with her tentacles. For a few awkward minutes, I felt like a child trying to learn how to ride a bicycle. Then it all clicked together, and before either of us knew what had happened, I had Destiny bent over with my foot pressing her face into the mattress, and my cock ramming into her cunt with such force that she lurched forward with every thrust. She came in a writhe of wiggling tentacles and limbs, and screamed out her muffled orgasm before I filled her with my seed, and rolled off her. I knew I was good by the pitch of her squeals, but I didn’t realize how good I was until Destiny came crawling over to me, and deepthroated every inch of my shaft with an expression of pure gratitude upon her face.

“Do you know what mistake Yavara made with the hybrids?” Destiny asked me after she popped my cock free from her blue lips.

“What?”

“She tried to be their friend. The hybrids don’t want a friend, Leveria. The hybrids are beasts, and beasts only respond to one thing.”

“Strength.”

“A very particular kind of strength,” Destiny giggled, and ran her tongue worshipfully up my shaft. I shuddered all over, still marveling at how much I loved having this raging piece of meat between my legs. It was power distilled to its most simple, brutal, carnal form. It was a tool to burrow deep into someone, to defile them and ravage them in their most intimate places, to utterly dismantle their pride and ego, and to make them love it. I knew what kind of woman Destiny was, and she wasn’t the kind to reverently clean off her own pussy juice with her tongue after a good fucking. I had done something to her.

After that, my conquest began. I fucked Soraya in front of Eva, and made Soraya call me ‘Domina.’ She sobbed the name like a horrible confession, and Eva looked upon me with comingled hatred, admiration, and desire. The sadistic hermaphrodite tried to test me then, and I had my fat cock buried all the way up her ass a few seconds later. I choked her as I fucked her shithole, ramming so hard that she prolapsed within a minute, and I didn’t stop my jackhammering thrusts until she was so defeated that her eyes were rolled back, and a stupid smile was stretched across her face. I milked her orgasmic seed into Soraya’s awaiting mouth, then tossed her onto the bed like trash. They all looked at me differently then. Soraya was the weakest of them, but Eva was second only to Furia. When Kiera and Brianna approached me at once, they did so with trepidation. I grabbed Kiera first, turned her around, and railed into her pussy until she wept with ecstasy. I made Brianna bend over in front of her, and I used her beloved like a condom to fuck her into a screaming puddle. When I was done with Kiera, I tossed her dazed body onto the bed, opened her mouth, then dipped my cock in Brianna’s gaping hole, and slid it between Kiera’s lips with the next thrust. I did this for minutes, stretching Brianna’s malleable ass and pussy until they fit the shape of my organ, then making her beloved clean it off. When Brianna was at her breaking point, I delivered an assault of slaps to her fat ass, and fucked her until she was put to sleep in the bedding.

Faltia was a bit harder. Her hatred for me ran deep, and though we had made love before in my cell beneath the arena, this was different. This was a test of wills, and unfortunately for her, it was no test at all. After two minutes, I had her glugging on my cock with spit pouring down her chin and onto her jiggling breasts, which she squeezed with one hand as she fervently masturbated with the other. I came down her throat and made her swallow every drop, and she orgasmed right there and then, her eyes rolling back into her head as she looked up at me. After that, all I had to do was straddle her across my lap, and pound her surrendered body until she wept with euphoria, and forgave me for everything.

Furia was the hardest. It wasn’t just that she was the most masculine of the group, but that she commanded the others to her will. Like any commander worth her salt, she didn’t take on the threat alone. Eva, still looking to regain some of her lost pride, came up from behind me and shoved her cock all the way in my ass. I tried to buck her off, but the moment I felt her raging organ inside of me, I couldn’t find it in my heart to deny her. After that, it was easy for Furia to part my legs, slide her cock under my balls, and penetrate my pussy.

The two hermaphrodites ravaged me for twenty minutes, attacking my weaker side, making me blubber and beg and scream in submissive glee. Having a prostate made me vulnerable to anal in a way I never imagined, and Eva knew just how to hit it. Furia’s massive organ hollowed me out to the bottom, rubbed along all those spots upon my womanly ceiling, and pressed against her partner from the other side. They held my arms back and fish-hooked me, they yanked my hair and spanked me, the spit in my face and choked me. They did everything they could to dominate me, but I resisted. Even after orgasming in successive cascades, forcing me to endure ecstatic sensations that would make a slave of any other woman, I resisted. And when their organs quaked in release, and they cried out their climaxes, I took their seed deep into my battered holes, and made my move.

“What the fuck?!” Eva screamed. She was suspended in the air, her holes stretched gaping by invisible forces, her cock nearly turned white with pressure.

“What?” I giggled sardonically.

“You can’t use magic on me!”

“And why the fuck not?”

“You want us to respect you, don’t you?” Faltia snarled, “Then you’ll never use magic on us! That’s something even Yavara—”

Faltia’s next words were cut from her by a stream of orgasmic obscenities as I telepathically tapped into the pleasure centers of her mind, and dialed them all the way up.

“You made two mistakes, Commander; the first was that you think I give a shit about your respect. I don’t care about your respect; I demand your obedience. The second mistake you made was comparing me to my sister. I am not my sister. Continuing to make that mistake will result in you becoming demoted to the public urinal for the rest of your miserable life. Do you understand?”

“Yesh!” she slurred with an ecstatic smile on her face as she writhed on the bedding.

“Good,” I grinned, then turned to Furia, “now, shall we?”

I wrestled Furia into the mattress, pinned her with telekinesis, then spread her legs wide open, and plunged into her feminine slit. The gasp she uttered when I touched her bottom was one of pure awe, and the look she gave me afterward was of a resigned understanding. She would resist me, she had to, but she knew then that it was futile. And though she performed admirably in her attempt to reclaim dominance with her clenching feminine hole, it was all for naught. She called me ‘master’ when she orgasmed, and broke down into euphoric tears in my arms.

After that, the night was a blur. Having established my place at the top of the pack, I allowed my lovers to penetrate my holes at will. Kiera, Furia and Eva occupied my ass, pussy and mouth on rotation while I buried my filthy shaft into Faltia, Brianna and Soraya. I learned the texture, shape and tightness of every single hybrid hole to the point that I could distinguish them just by sensation. When I fucked the hermaphrodites, I paid close attention to their masculine sides, and serviced each of them generously with my mouth. I suppose it wasn’t entirely selfless, for I enjoyed sucking cock nearly as much as I enjoyed having my cock sucked, and the ***********ion of penises I had for me were second to none. But of course, my mouth was the one and only of its kind. I brought Furia crashing to her knees with just my lips and tongue, then I subdued her with my throat. I made Kiera sing when I swallowed around her shaft, and I made Eva speak in tongues when I nestled her tip deep in my esophagus.

While I sucked the three hermaphrodites at once, the women spoiled my body like I was a goddess. They nursed from me, tenderly consumed my ass and pussy, and massaged me sensually. I rewarded each of them with the part of me they desired, and satisfied all of them equally. In the late hours of the night, the all descended upon me, and I turned into a mindless animal of avaricious lust.

After that, I didn’t remember much.

I looked out the window at the changing sky, and let out a melancholy sigh. My first night as the Dark Queen had been one of the best nights of my life, and now my life was likely almost over. It galled me that I had wished for death on many occasions over the past few days, and now I wished for life with every fiber of my being. But such was the nature of living. I peeled myself off the bed, and roused my new harem. We had a busy day ahead of us.

ELENA

I burst through the portal of South Fort. I was naked and covered in blood with a tattooed quadruple-amputee strapped to my chest and the king’s decapitated head in my hand. The mages gawked at me. Dog Meat wiggled her stumps and giggled. I raised my hands, held Ternias’s head aloft, and said, “Take me to Field Marshal Peter Shordian.”

I was only in holding for five minutes before the tent flap opened, and the field marshal walked in. The twenty mages that surrounded me waited on his word, the points of their glowing swords making a lethal necklace about my collar. He looked down at me, and let out a grunt.

“Lady Elena Straltaira, you look rather different than when I last saw you.”

“Is it the tan?”

“No, it’s the look in your eyes. You weren’t a killer the last time we met.”

“I was fourteen.”

“There are younger murderers.” He waved his hand, and the blades were withdrawn from my throat. He pulled up a chair, sat down across from me, and pulled out a bloody sack. “So, the despot is dead.”

“He is.”

He nodded gravely. “Ternias never gained the loyalty of the army. He tried to buy it from me with a political marriage, but I only paid lip service to his offer. As you and I sit here, the only monarch I recognize is Queen Leveria Tiadoa.”

“We are in agreement then.”

“So are they.” Shordian gestured to the mages standing behind him. “Without the loyalty of the royal mages and the army, there is no ruler of the Highlands. Ternias would never have stayed king.”

“Your loyalty and honor are admirable, Field Marshal.” I said. I studied him carefully, then turned my gaze to the mages behind him. “As are yours, gentlemen. The Highlands thanks you for not bending to those who would seize power through lies and obfuscation.”

“Indeed.” Shordian grunted, “Most people say things without ever meaning them; Lucas Ternias was one of these people. There are very few people in the world who say they’ll do something, and then go and do it.” He gave me a furtive look. “Thomas Adarian is one such person.”

My heart skipped a beat, but I kept my face composed. “She never told me you were involved.”

“He—or she, rather—sent me a letter carried by one of Gorlok’s eagles.” He set the sack down on the table beside him. “I should’ve known she had you on her side the whole time. Your reputation as a silver-tongued demoness precedes you, Lady Straltaira.”

I smiled back at the field marshal, keeping my face unreadable.

He eased back into his chair, and pondered the blood-stained crown that sat on his table. “And the other traitors—Huntiata, Jonias, and Feractian—have they been dealt with?”

“They’re all gone.”

He nodded solemnly. “Then the line of succession has been ended.” He glanced up at me, “I take it Adrianna has heard the news of the army’s mobilization; that is why she sent you here.”

“She had great misgivings about the army’s plan.”

“I didn’t mean to deceive her, but there was no way to contact her at the time.” He rubbed his hands together uncomfortably, “I know she has sympathies for the Alkandrans, but she need not fear me, nor should you. I know that you and Yavara were… well-acquainted.”

“The Dark Queen and I shared a past, but my eyes are for the future, Field Marshal. As you said, we are both faithful servants of Queen Tiadoa, and this attack was her last order.”

“Aye, we’re all loyal soldiers, the three of us. You, me, Adrianna. When this is over, we’ll continue to fight the good fight as loyal soldiers do.”

I nodded, and contemplated the bloody crown atop Shordian’s table. Leveria had killed her mother to get it, Ternias had killed Leveria to get it, and Shordian had killed Ternias. For all that Shordian spoke of honor and virtue, he’d inherited the crown the same way his predecessors had. In the dimly-lit tent surrounded by the royal mages, I could practically hear Leveria’s laughter.

“Adrianna won’t be joining us in the good fight, Field Marshal.” I said.

“Why?”

“Because Adrianna was a traitor who led our enemies to the walls of Bentius, so I killed her.”

Shordian’s expression became suddenly stony. He turned to the mages behind him, and snapped his fingers. “Leave us.”

“Stay.” I ordered.

The mages looked from Shordian, to me, and did nothing.

“Leave us!” He roared.

“Those are royal mages, Field Marshal.” I said softly, “They only obey royalty.”

“You’re a goddamned dark-blood!” He snapped, “A fucking race traitor!”

“You dare call me a traitor?” I hissed, “When you failed to warn Bentius that an army led by an Alkandran governess would soon be attacking?!”

“It was a trap! The rebels and orcs were destroyed at the wall!”

“No, Field Marshal. They made it over the wall. They made it over every wall.”

The look of horror that cross Shordian’s face almost gave me pause. He blinked, then closed his eyes. A pair of tears streaked down his cheeks, and he exhaled slowly from his nose. “Does Bentius still stand?”

“She kneels.”

He bowed his head, and let the tears pour freely down his withered face. “I only did what I thought was best for my country.” He said to the floor.

“You did what was best for you.”

“Someone needs to lead us.” He glared at me from the tops of his eyes. “You are not a Highlander, Elena. Not anymore. No one will follow you.”

“Dog Meat!” I said, and the tattooed woman wiggled her little stumps, and cast a perception spell upon me. “Very few people who have seen me in my true flesh still live, and those that have will not betray me. Everything the people have heard are just rumors, and rumors are as transient as the wind. They’ll follow me.”

He turned to look at the mages surrounding us. “And you? Will you follow a half-breed Alkandran?”

Their silence was his answer. He looked from man to man, trying to find a sympathetic pair of eyes, but there were none. The rage slowly boiled to the surface of his face, twisting the features that had been gaunt with shame.

“Damn you all then.” He growled, “Damn you all! I will not give the throne of the Highlands to a goddamned Alkandran!”

“But I’m taking it anyway.”

“You can’t just take the army, you fool!”

“When those soldiers hear what you did, will they follow you?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He only glared at me from the tops of his eyes.

“You were a great soldier, Peter.” I said, and stood up, “This country owes you a debt for all that you have done. Consider that debt paid today. No one will ever know of your involvement in Adrianna’s attack.” I pulled open the table drawer, and dropped a quill and parchment into Shordian’s lap. “Tender your formal resignation, and recognize my right to rule.”

“Kill me, you bitch.” He snarled.

I gave him a pitiable look. “Don’t go out like this. It’s unbefitting of a man of such honor and dignity.” I placed a bottle of ink on the table, and opened it. “You had a heart attack in your tent when you heard the news of Bentius. In your last moments, you sought to bring stability to the country that has gone through so much chaos. You reestablished the line of succession, and you consolidated the power of the military under royal rule, never allowing it to be used as a political tool again. When all is said and done, there will be a statue of you in every Highland city for the victories you achieved and the sacrifices you made.” I placed my hand on the bloody sack that contained Ternias’s head, “Or you will be forever known as the man who let the enemy rape Bentius.”

He looked from the bloody sack, to the ink well, then back to me. The hatred showed clearly in his eyes, but there was something akin to admiration mingled with it. “Leveria taught you well.”

“She did.”

He snorted, and grabbed the quill. Dipping the point of it in the ink, he began to scratch out his letter of resignation. His hands were trembling by the time he was done, and he had to fold his fingers together in his lap to keep them from rattling on the table. I read the letter thoroughly, checking for coded words and phrases. When I was satisfied there were none, I made a slight motion with my head, and the mage behind Peter Shordian burst the general’s heart. Shordian slouched, a stream of blood poured from his lower lip, and the light faded from his eyes. The mage who killed him looked up at me.

“Peter Shordian’s days were numbered when he showed us his weakness,” the mage said, “contrary to what he claimed here, he refused to even hear Queen Tiadoa’s final orders. It was General Krakis who followed them, and General Krakis who would’ve ruled after Alkandra was taken. We would have made sure of it.”

“And now?”

The mage wordlessly walked to the other side of the tent, then came back with a weapon in hand. It was a standard-issue broadsword, one of fifty-thousand that had been hastily prepared for the army.

“Seven of my friends died to make this weapon,” the mage said, “it will cleave through any arcane shield, and render any wound unhealable. Peter Shordian wanted it destroyed.”

I extended my hand, and wrapped my fingers around the handle. It didn’t feel any different than another sword; it was actually a little dull, but the knowledge of what it could do seemed to make it heavier in my hand. I looked at my reflection in the blade, the high-elf façade staring back at me, and I wondered if that woman could do what was necessary.

“What’s your name?” I asked the mage.

“I am First Mage Lucian, apprentice to Headmaster Glendian.”

“First Mage Lucian,” I said, “I will make sure that your friends’ sacrifice will not be wasted. You have my promise.”

“Then you have my loyalty. All hale Queen Elena Straltaira!” he shouted, and the others echoed, “All hale!” They knelt around me, and bowed their heads. In the corner, Dog Meat wiggled her stumps, and giggled.

I was bathed and dressed in form-fitting gilded armor. The Highland crown was washed of blood, and placed ceremoniously upon my head. This was all done in the darkness of the command tent, and besides Dog Meat and the mages, only the corpse of Peter Shordian was there to bear witness to my coronation. Then the mages sent out their messenger boys, and copies of the field marshal’s letter were delivered to every corner of the camp. One by one, the forty generals of the army came to pay tribute. They knelt at my feet, kissed the familial ring on my finger, pledged their unwavering fealty to me, then paid their final respects to Shordian, who was laying peacefully in a decorated bed. I assessed each man very carefully, wondering how I would maintain their loyalty after the coming engagement. My question was answered when Cavalry Commander Krakis came strutting into the room with a chest full of freshly-polished metals. The other generals saluted him smartly, and he returned their salutes with the confidence of a man who owns the room.

“The conquering hero kneels before me.” I mused with a smile as he bowed to kiss my ring.

“And the court’s infamous pacifist dresses herself for battle.” He said wryly, and planted his kiss, “But pacifism isn’t her only claim to infamy.”

“Careful, General. This pacifist has bloodied her sword a hundred times already.”

He made an imperceptible glance at my crotch, and muttered, “So I’ve heard.”

“What was that?”

“The queen’s hearing is excellent, I’m sure.”

I gave him an appraising smile. “You may rise, General.”

“Always for you, Your Highness.”

“You’re incorrigible.” I chuckled, “You would do well to remember how many ambitious men I’ve left as corpses to get to where I am.” I glanced over at the dead Peter Shordian, “Now go pay your final respects to the field marshal,” I pinned a medal on Krakis’s decorated chest, and smirked, “Field Marshal.”

He was much less forward after that. He accompanied me as I stepped out of the tent, and assessed the full breadth of the Highland army. It was a magnificent sight to behold. It stretched from the plateau of the Highland Rift, through the walls of South Fort, and down the great causeway that led to the fields before the marshlands. The tens of thousands of golden helms glinted in the winter sunlight, seeming to illuminate the very ground in a gilded aura. They marshalled on the old highway that banked the Knife River, the cavalry out in front, standing proudly before the pine-tree tunnel of the Great Forest.

“I will follow behind your cavalry, Field Marshal,” I said, mounting Shordian’s old horse. “You are going to suffer great casualties trying to get through the forest. Arbor won’t let you walk into it freely.”

“You know the forest spirit?”

“We have rapport, but my clout won’t count for much anymore, especially with this crown on my head.” I sighed, and watched the horizon, “There’s a lot of my history out there. I’m destroying more than just the enemy today.”

Krakis cleared his throat. “If I may be so bold…”

“Your timidity was getting dull.”

Krakis laughed uncomfortably. “There were rumors—”

“There are a thousand rumors surrounding me, and some of them are very hazardous. Be careful with your next words.”

“There… there were rumors that you didn’t come back completely yourself when you returned from your espionage mission in the Dark Queen’s court.” He gestured to the horizon line, “Rumors that there was another hybrid of Alkandra.”

I smiled dangerously at the field marshal. “Field Marshal, which way is the enemy?”

He pointed to the eastern horizon.

“And when we destroy her, who will be your next foe?”

He just looked at me, perplexed and unsure of himself. I smiled, and tapped him on the lips. “That mouth of yours will get you killed if you don’t learn to keep it shut. I have no use for a cocksure killer. I can find a man like that anywhere. If you want to find out how many of the rumors you’ve heard about me are true, then you’re going to have to learn discretion.” I drew my finger down his chin, let it linger there, then pulled it back. The man looked ready to melt into his own armor. God, he was easy. All soldiers were. Shordian hadn’t stood a chance against me, and Krakis was already my loyal dog. I almost missed the serpents of the Noble Court. Almost.

“Field Marshal, I won’t presume to know anything about pitched battles or sieges, so I won’t disturb the plans set in motion by Shordian and yourself, but there is one thing I want you to change.”

“Anything.”

“The hybrids of Alkandra are to be taken alive, and unharmed. Alive and unharmed, Field Marshal, do you understand?”

“After what Governess Adrianna did to Bentius?!”

“Are you questioning my orders?”

Krakis averted his gaze. “No, Your Highness.”

“Good.” I smiled, and patted his armored thigh, “Well, off you go then. God’s speed to you and your riders.”

“And to you, Your Highness.” He said, some of his bravado returning to him. He kicked his heels into his horse’s flank, and thundered out to the front. I watched him go, then pondered the eastern horizon.

Yavara, I thought, fly away. Fly far, far away before I get there.

“Your Highness?” someone called behind me. I turned around to see five of my new mages walking in formation toward me. I had to stay the instinct to draw my sword.

“Yes?” I asked.

The lead man stopped before me, and bowed. “Your assistant is asking about you.”

“Bring her out here.”

“We could probably heal those amputations if given enough time. And the mental trauma—”

“Bring her out.”

He glanced around. “Is it wise to be seen in public with such a woman?”

“Bring her out!” I snapped, and the mage bowed profusely. A moment later, Dog Meat was carried from the tent, only she was no longer naked, for the mages had dressed her little body in a burlap sack. I hoisted her up onto my horse, secured her to my lap, and nestled her fat little ass into my crotch.

“Do you think you can keep that spell up for a whole day?” I asked her quietly.

“Yeah,” she answered, “are we going to Alkandra now?”

“Yeah.” I whispered back.

Dog Meat excitedly wiggled her little stumps, and giggled.

YAVARA

I knew I was dreaming, but the dream was still vivid. It was a memory, or something like it. The sun shone high above the Highland Basin, sparkling off the blue tributaries that stretched for as far as the eye could see. My feet dangled over the top of the eastern wall, taunting the ground a hundred feet below me.

“Your dad is going to kill us if he finds out!” Elena hissed nervously. She was a a younger version of herself with fair skin and hair. I was the same age, and even then, I was beginning to notice Elena in different ways than I had before. I was much better at hiding my curiosity than she, however, whose eyes wandered. She didn’t yet understand why her gaze sought my body, but she would soon, and she would wear that shame like an albatross for the next five years. As for now, her gaze was only locked on the horizon-line, trying to avoid the vertigo of the drop just below our feet.

“Dad won’t care.” I said, “He told me school is only for stateswomen, and I am already a lost cause. Let Leveria learn about the history of different inbred noble houses; I’ll learn about shit that matters.”

“You shouldn’t say that.” Elena admonished, and though she spoke with her juvenile voice, she was her older hybrid-self now. It didn’t bother me. It made sense for some reason.

“What? Shit?” I tittered, “Shitty-fucking-cunt-whore-slut-damn-titty-dyke-faggot-skank-bitch. Oh, and also: booger-heck-darn-poop.”

“Booger-heck-darn-poop?”

“Elena!” I gasped, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“I’d like to kiss your mother with that mouth.” Elena muttered, then laughed a little too forcefully.

I giggled with her, and enjoyed the view. “Can you see the Jonian Spire from here?”

“It’s a hundred miles away.” Elena responded, now back in her adolescent Highlander body.

“But it’s three-thousand feet tall.”

“So if we take the inverse tangent of five-hundred-eighty-two-thousand over three-thousand, we get zero-point-three-two-five degrees, and factoring the curvature of the earth—”

“Shut up, nerd.”

“…and factoring the curvature of the earth, we still wouldn’t be able to measure the circumference of your fat ass.”

I burst out laughing, and pitched forward. I’d forgotten where I was. My stomach lurched, and I went flailing off into the void.

I opened my eyes, the feeling of freefall still fluttering in my belly. I swore I could feel Elena’s hand in mine. She’d saved my life that day. She’d caught me in midair, and yanked me back over the wall, then she’d screamed at me for minutes while I laughed manically, the exhilaration flooding my mind and senses. I remembered that I didn’t feel fear when I went over, but I felt it now. Mortal fear suffused my limbs, leaving me petrified in the bed. Only the memory of Elena’s hand kept me from panicking, and I held onto that memory like it was physical, and let the world settle down.

Someone was knocking at my door. I groaned, and rolled out of bed. I was naked and filthy, and none-too-pleased to be rising at this ridiculous hour. Why, the sun was hardly up! A princess of the Highlands should never have to—oh… oh yeah.

“Wait a second!” I called to the door, and quickly washed myself with soap and a water from a basin. I toweled myself off, then looked through my outfits. Everything was lingerie. Even my armor was made more for fucking than fighting. I looked for a pair of panties, realized I didn’t own any, then I donned my leather one-piece with the cutout in the crotch and bosom (my “armor” as it were), tied by blonde hair back in a ponytail, and shoved my feet into a pair of tall stripper boots. I walked in front of the mirror, and struck a fighter’s pose. The outfit was not exactly intimidating, but it was at least somewhat functional. It wouldn’t stop even a butter knife, but it would stop the grazes and nicks that could pile up during a battle. A battle. I was going to fight in a goddamned battle! Was I out of my fucking mind?! I’m going to fucking die!

“Stop.” I told myself in the mirror, “Just… stop. You’ve done this before, Yavara. You single-handedly killed the orcs that ambushed your father, and you hunted Brock’s squad of Terdini down to the last man. You did that. Alkandi was only along for the ride. Deep breath in, and deep breath out. You are going to get through this.”

I settled myself, laced my boots, and walked to the door. I opened it to see the Dark Queen lounging against the wall, casually smoking a cigarette.

“Done having your little freak-out?” Leveria smirked.

“Oh, you figured out telepathy, did you?” I sneered, and made her slap herself, “How cute.”

Leveria glowered at me, attempted to make me shit myself, and then farted loudly when I counterattacked. She immediately broke off her attack.

“I was trained by Prestira Rasloraca; you’ll never beat me, Leveria.”

“We’ll see.”

I made her fart again, and she jolted upright.

“Ok, you win! Fuck!”

I grinned, and sniffed the air. “Smells like… Eva Alecia.”

Leveria raised her brows. “Impressive.”

“She always had a pungent aroma, and an even more… tropical flavor.”

“She drinks pineapple juice for that exact reason.”

“Ah,” I muttered, and looked Leveria over. She was wearing one of Eva’s outfits, a dominatrix corset and chaps that had been retrofitted with leather armor at the shoulders and chest. Though her breasts were nearly exposed to the nipples, the chest-piece covered her all the way to the chin, giving the armor a turtle-neck appearance. Her cock was proudly highlighted with a silvery codpiece in the shape of a phallic dragon, and her muscular midriff was exposed from the bottoms of her breasts to the converging lines before her pelvis. With her black hair done up in a dramatic swirling do, her black eyeliner and lipstick giving her features a menacing allure, and her platinum hooped earrings dangling from her pointed ears, she looked like the empress of hell. Pure, wonderful, evil. I had to fight the urge to prostrate and spread my cheeks for her.

“No need to fight your urges, Yavara.” Leveria smirked, her black-sheened lips pouting supplely.

“You can’t read my mind.”

“I don’t need to.” She said, and made a show of pursing her lips around her cigarette, and sucking it sensually, “Come on, baby sister; this may be our last chance.”

“Then you should probably just fuck yourself.”

She exhaled the smoke through her nostrils, and shuddered pleasurably. “Oh, Yavara; I can’t wait until your coronation night. I guess it’s a good thing your favorite hole isn’t the right one. No need to fear transforming you. I’ll fuck your tight little asshole until you’re shitting my cum.”

“Promises, promises.” I sneered.

“I have six credible witnesses that can testify to my prowess,” she sneered back, “They all called me ‘Master’ before the end. Even Furia. When Adrianna gets back, I’ll—”

“WHAT?!”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Leveria grinned wickedly, “Zander exiled her; he didn’t kill her. I’ll be granting her a full pardon.”

I was nearly overcome with emotion. I wiped away an impending tear, sniffled, and smiled. “That’s so good to hear.”

“D’aw, you’re just a little sweetheart now, aren’t you?” Leveria laughed, and punched out her cigarette on my door. “Anyway, the hybrids have been getting the people together on the streets outside. We’ve got quite a bit of explaining to do before you formally coronate me.” Leveria grinned, “I want it to be you who puts the crown on my head, just so you know that I own your little ass.”

“Little? It’s certainly bigger than yours,” I said, then drew my eyes down to her codpiece, and purred, “and deeper.” Leveria’s codpiece jolted, and I sneered. “So responsive; like a trained dog. My dear sister, I do believe it is I who owns your ass.”

“Just get that fat ass downstairs,” she grumbled.

The castle had been blessedly emptied before I made my journey down the steps. I led the way before Leveria, and though she tried to jostle in front of me many times, I simply moved my fat ass in front of her, and blocked her way in the narrow corridors. If this was to be a coronation ceremony, then I was still the queen. She grumbled and growled her way down the winding staircase, and finally walked hastily past me before we reached the throne room’s atrium. There were two people waiting for me there. Certiok Terdini gazed upon me with comingled loathing and satisfaction, and Drake Titus simply looked upon me with pity.

“You look so pale and sickly, Your Highness.” Titus said.

“Even after everything, you still call me ‘Your Highness?’”

“But of course. You’re still royalty, are you not?”

Certiok spat on the ground. “I have no problem calling you what you are, you weak white-skinned slut! This is what you always were on the inside anyway!”

I just nodded, and walked past her. There was nothing I could say to Certiok that would do either of us any good.

“Your Highness,” Titus said, taking my arm, “if you’re interested, our original agreement still stands.”

“You were so reluctant to give me that offer the first time.” I raised a questioning brow, “Now you give it freely?”

“Freely?” He laughed, “No, of course not. If all goes as planned, you will be queen of the Highlands.”

“Hedging your bets, Titus?” I smirked, and looked toward Leveria, “Or did she refuse your offer?”

His lip twitched. “Your sister is… well, she’s a much tougher negotiator than you.”

Leveria laughed at Titus. “It’s very easy to negotiate when I have all the leverage. If you don’t like it, I suggest you go back to Ardeni Dreus and see how well they receive you.”

Titus scowled. “I am having regrets about you, Leveria.”

“Your Highness.” Leveria hissed, and elevated Titus from the floor with a spell, “I’m not trying to be your best buddy, Drake. I am your queen, and you are a self-serving treacherous little rat. If you want your blood in my veins, then you will have to earn it.” She dropped Titus, looked at him like he was a piece of shit, then smiled warmly to Certiok. “Certiok, would you do me the honor of announcing our procession?”

“Certainly, Your Highness.” Certiok beamed, and strolled past Leveria. Leveria gave the she-orc’s plump rump a hearty smack, and Certiok grinned approvingly over her shoulder before disappearing behind the threshold. Her voice carried loud and true when it announced, “All hail Queen Regent Yavara Tiadoa, and Princess Leveria Alkandra!”

Her voice echoed in the adjacent hall, and though there was silence in its wake, it was not an empty silence, but a pregnant one. Hundreds of beasts were in that room, and tens of thousands were on the steps and in the streets outside. They’d all been assembled, and had been expecting me to give a rousing speech the morning before the battle. So when they heard me called by my old name, and my sister called by my new one, the cheer that had been poised on their lips was torn away, and only a stunned silence remained. Leveria enjoyed the silence as much as I hated it. She took a deep breath, then another one, and let them out slowly through her nose. She turned, and extended her hand to me. I took it, our fingers interlocked, and we walked hand-in-hand through the threshold.

LEVERIA

The throne room was full. Only a thin strip of open floor divided the myriad beasts that packed around the columns and into the balconies and alcoves. When I’d first entered the expansive hall, it had been filled with raucous revelry and motion. Today, it was as if the people that lined the room were statues. Only their eyes moved as they flitted from me to Yavara, uncomprehending of what they were witnessing. The six hybrids stood in their white robes upon the steps leading to the Black Throne, their faces cast in solemn ceremony. I threw back my shoulders, tilted my chin, and walked boldly through the beasts, a vision of sex and power, an empress of debauchery and violence. Or rather, that’s what I would’ve done if the dead weight in my hand hadn’t yanked me backward, causing me to stumble awkwardly and nearly fall on my ass. I whirled my head around, and glared at my little sister.

“What?!” I hissed.

She swallowed, her eyes wide and trembling. “I can’t do this!”

“Are you fucking serious right now?!”

“Just do it yourself!”

“I need you to legitimize me, or they’ll tear me apart!” I gestured at her, “They’ll tear us both apart!”

“You’re good at explaining things, why don’t you just—”

“Yavara,” I said, clasping my other hand over our joined grip, “the people are terrified, and they’re watching us right now wondering what the fuck is going on. They are about ten seconds from deciding to just ransack the castle, and make a run for the forest, but they’re going to rape us to death before they do that. So please, for the love of god, stop being such a fucking pussy.”

Yavara nodded tentatively, and stepped forward. Though she trembled visibly, and though she moved with the stiffness of a board, she walked with me through the rows of beasts, and bore the incredible weight of their gazes. Each step felt like an eternity, and every footfall could be heard echoing through the hall. It seemed as though we made no progress to the hybrids until we were finally at the stairs. Once there, Yavara relaxed somewhat, and I allowed her to lead me up each of the stone steps toward the Black Throne. Zander stood next to the ebony chair, holding a black crown in his hand. It was different than the one Yavara had worn. This one was an elaborate and ornate piece of iron encrusted with orange gems that glowed with astral power. He must’ve made it himself. How cute. He and Yavara exchanged meaningful looks, then she reached the step before the throne, and turned around. I stopped where I was, and got on one knee. I heard the shuffle of hybrid robes when they knelt, and following their cue, the masses behind us all knelt as well.

Yavara stood in silence for a moment, looking out at the hundreds of beasts in the hall, the thousands that littered the steps beyond the open doors, and the tens of thousands that witnessed the moment from the streets below. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and held an astral gemstone against her voice-box.

“People of Alkandra, brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters, sons and fathers. I understand that you are all likely very… very confused right now.” Yavara laughed nervously, and was answered with thundering silence. I could feel the tension in the air like a physical thing, suppressing my bowed shoulders. Yavara cleared her throat. “Before I explain what has happened, I just want to say that it has been an honor and a pleasure to be your queen. You all have proven to the world that those deemed ‘beasts’ can form a great and strong society. Though Alkandra is named after one woman, it is you who are Alkandra. Long after I am gone, long after the Dark Queen is gone, Alkandra will endure and thrive, and it is you who will make that happen. Thank you.” Yavara paused, and there was a smattering of applause that was quickly silenced. She swallowed again, and knitted her fingers.

“So,” she started awkwardly, “I guess we should address the elephant in the room. I am no longer the Dark Queen. I guess… uh… I guess it was a temporary condition.” She wiped the sweat from her brow, and laughed nervously. “But I guess I’m cured of it. I… uh… I met with Alkandi yesterday… I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense because I was Alkandi incarnate, but… uh… well…” she trailed off, her cheeks flushed, the rest of her face clammy and pale.

Holy shit, you are bombing. I growled in her mind. Didn’t you practice this?!

Shut the fuck up, please. She hissed mentally back, and cleared her throat again. “The point is,” she said, her tremulous voice carrying over everything, “I am no longer the Dark Queen. I have passed that mantle to my sister… or rather, Alkandi passed the mantle to her—I didn’t really have much choice. Well, I mean, I did, but it was… Ok, restart.” She laughed again, though it sounded like a sob, “So the woman we’ve all been raping and torturing for the past four days, the woman that represented the worst of elven imperialism, the woman who hunted you down like you were animals, the woman who raised an army to commit genocide upon you, who massacred our horde down to the last man, who singlehandedly wiped out two generations of fighting men after her country had signed a peace treaty, who launched the entire Lowland fleet against us to annihilate us down to the last baby… that woman is now your queen.” She giggled, her voice carrying over the pervading silence, the deathly-still voices of the tens of thousands. I glared at her, my rage vibrating from every pore in my body, and she only giggled more, trapped in a hysterical fit. “So, anyway,” she managed to get out with a few desperate breaths, “everyone… everyone give a warm welcome to your new ruler, Dark Queen Leveria Alkandra!”

Yavara grabbed the crown from the stunned wizard at her side, and delicately placed it on my head. Then she shuffled over to the other side of the Black Throne, and stood there, failing to keep a straight face. I just knelt there for a moment, hating her with every fiber of my being before I stood up, and turned around.

“Good people of Alkandra,” I said, donning a confident smile, “I am… well, I suppose I don’t need to introduce myself; my sister did a fine enough job of that already. I had a whole speech written up, but… I think I’ll just speak from the heart. Good people of Alkandra, I am your daddy. Not your patriarchal father figure, no—I am your daddy, and you all… you’re my bitches.”

A murmur went through the crowd, then silenced.

“Good people of Alkandra,” I scoffed, “there’s nothing good about any of you. You’re either societal outcasts or wild savages. I hunted you like animals because you are animals. You’re a herd of inbreeds who ***********ively fucked based on muscle-mass for centuries. You know who else does that? Cows. And you wonder why you were slaughtered.”

A chorus of anger simmered from the crowd, and the hybrids looked back at me with perplexed horror on their faces. I just smiled, basking in the outpouring of hatred, then I clapped my hands together, and a great telekinetic boom shot through the crowd. They went silent once more.

“People of Alkandra,” I sneered, masking how hard I was breathing; that spell really took it out of me, “I am not Yavara. I will not be nice to you. I will not take your feelings into consideration. I will rule you like the bunch of unruly little bitches you are, and I’ll fuck you good and hard just like a good daddy does. But also like a good daddy, I’ll protect my bitches. No one else fucks my bitches unless my bitches want to get fucked. Now there’s two fat-dicked johns coming here to double-stuff your bitch-asses. My only question is, are you going to bend over and take it?”

The crowd was silent.

“Are you?!” I snapped.

There was a dispirited ‘no.’

“No?” I laughed, “NO?! You know what that sounds like to me? That sounds like a little bitch playing hard to get. You want the Lowlanders to fuck you, don’t you?”

“No!” came a more impassioned roar.

“Oh, you don’t want it?” I laughed, “Maybe I’ve got some bad bitches here after all. Well, are you just gonna take it?”

“No!” They roared louder.

“Bullshit!”

“NO!”

“Oh yeah?!” I yelled, holding my arms out, “Well, they’re coming anyway, and somebody’s gotta get fucked! Who’s getting fucked?”

“They are!”

“I said who’s getting fucked?!”

“THEY ARE!”

“AND WHO’S GONNA FUCK ‘EM?”

“WE ARE!”

“I SAID WHO THE FUCK IS GONNA FUCK ‘EM?!”

“WE ARE!”

“THEN LET’S FUCK THOSE BITCHES!” I roared, my fists raised overhead, and all of Alkandra roared with me, screaming their stupid war-cries, dancing their stupid tribal dances, pumping their fists like a pack of fucking morons. But I didn’t hold them in contempt; no, I loved their stupid savagery, their single-minded tribal mentality, their quickness to sex and violence. It was power, oh, it was power! I could feel the magic pumping in my veins, but it was nothing compared to the waves of energy I felt from that stupid, roaring crowd. I knew these people. I knew what they wanted—what they needed. Yavara was a pretender, but I was the real fucking thing. I would be brutal. I would be cruel. I would kill with impunity, rule with an iron fist, and make this pack of beasts into a tool—a sword—and I would carve my name right into the flesh of history with it. No one would even remember Yavara after I was done. No one would even remember Alkandi. The only Dark Queen would be Leveria. The warrior males were all dead, but the warrior females still lived. I would breed the strong ones, pump out the pups one after the other, and raise a horde the likes of which had never been seen. I would smash the Lowlands, take Ardeni Dreus as my own, and then turn my eyes westward.

I glanced back at Yavara as the crowd worked itself into a frenzy. My little sister was looking at me with a strange mixture of emotions. There was fear, there was awe, and there was desire. Fear for who I’d always been, awe and desire for what I had become, and fear once again for what I would become. Oh, she knew then. She saw it, she heard it, and she felt it. The crowd had never moved like that for her, nor had they ever roared like that for her, nor had they ever shaken the ground like that for her. The only time they’d done it before was when I was on the sands of the arena, and they only did it for, yes, just for me! She knew then what the future would hold for her; not ten years down the line, but twenty. If Alkandra survived this battle, Yavara Tiadoa would be the last queen of the Highlands.

“It’s a sight to see, isn’t it?” I called back at her.

“You certainly got them riled up.”

“I wasn’t talking about them, Yavara.” I smirked.

I turned around, and beckoned to the hybrids. They all looked upon me with awe as they ascended the steps, the crowd’s roar billowing upon their white robes like a great wind. When they reached the top step, I grabbed Furia by the hair, tore her head back, and plunged my tongue in her mouth. The crowd’s roar when up a decibel when the strongest of the hybrids wilted submissively against me, writhing in a feminine dance as her cock stood rigid, her mouth humming lecherous moans as she drowned in my lust. I ripped off her robe, exposing her nudity to the tens of thousands, then I wrapped my hand around her stiff cock, trailed my other beneath it to penetrate her pussy, and I carried her onto my lap as I sat upon the Black Throne. She spread her legs out over the arms of the chair, and reached behind her to snake fingers through her ass-crack, and into my codpiece. The people gasped and cheered when she revealed my raging cock, and their cheer only became louder when she pressed it to her tight anus, and sat all the way down. She broke her kiss to scream out in delight, and all of Alkandra adulated her for taking every thick inch inside of her.

I put the gemstone to my throat, and told the people of Alkandra, “Watch me, you degenerates and whores. Watch what I’m about to do to the Lowland fleet.”

I grabbed Furia by the hips, and I fucked her. She bounced off my lap, squealing and gasping with every rebound, struggling against me to maintain some semblance of dignity and grace. It was futile. With the energy of the crowd propelling my thrusts, I pumped into the poor hybrid bitch with such violent fervency that every hard ranger muscle was turned to jelly, and all her stoic masculinity was turned into slutty faggotry. She blubbered and wailed in delight, her stiff tattooed cock bouncing off her belly with every skin-jiggling thrust, her supple breasts turned to blurred globes of motion. The people cheered her on as she was dominated, and she basked in it, reveling in a side of her sexuality that only I could unlock. I fucked through her tight clenching insides, buried my shaft deep into her delightful filth, and panted into her ear until my breaths were cries, and my cries were screams. She suddenly arched her back away from me, presenting her breasts to the world as her splayed thighs quivered in euphoria. She sustained a high, true note, and her prostate convulsed in celebration of my cock until it finally released. Hot white seed shot from her pulsating tip, and with every violent thrust I dealt into her convulsing shithole, she sprayed herself. Her belly, her breast, then her face and hair; all was splattered in her thick orgasmic seed, and she wriggled in delight of it, linking her hands behind her head, thrusting her body forth for all to see what was being done to it. I came with a final ferocious plunge into her tightest channel, and filled her to the brim. She quaked in another orgasm, this one from her feminine organ, and the crowd lauded her for spraying her clear nectar onto the Black Throne. I groaned in pleasure, and took her by the throat. She turned her face to kiss me, but I just grabbed the back of her head, wrenched her face skyward, and licked the cum that she’d sprayed on her cheeks. She wasn’t my lover; she was my toy. I had no equal in this world. I was above them all.

ZANDER

No one noticed me in the frenzy. I was an afterthought, a background character that would be painted into shadow when this moment of historical debauchery was eternalized. ‘The Conquering of Furia,’ they might call it, though Furia had already been conquered very thoroughly the night previous, just not so dramatically. As the viewer of the painting marveled at the renaissance depiction of power-driven sodomy, he or she would study the way Leveria’s fingers sunk into Furia’s pliant flesh, the way Furia was splayed out like a trophy, the expression of orgasmic surrender on Furia’s half-tattooed face, and the expression of evil on Leveria’s climaxing visage. Then, the viewer would likely see the look of solemn acceptance on Yavara’s face as she bore witness to this ravaging, a ravaging that was quite metaphorical for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if the artist was commissioned to paint another masterpiece, this one titled, ‘The Last Queen of the Highlands,’ with Yavara bearing the same blissful expression of surrender on her face as Furia now had on hers, and Yavara splayed out like a victorious prize wrapped in chains and contorted in whatever compromising position Leveria desired.

But what the viewer would likely never notice in the painting, ‘The Conquering of Furia,’ would be the expression of existential release that I felt when Leveria’s plump tan ass made contact with the ebony wood of the Black Throne. It was as if layers of clay had been peeled away from my soul, and the suffocating dampness that had caked me for so long was simply washed away, leaving me naked and free. The agelessness that had petrified me disappeared, and I felt my flesh and muscles relax into a gentle sort of decay. The lines on my face were undoubtedly clearer, and the hair on my head was undoubtedly grayer. The ravages of time that had been held back now worked on me with impunity, but the pain was so sweet. My joints eased into states of wear, my back bowed into a curve of exhaustion, and my hip ached with the twang of impingement. I was dying. I was dying very quickly. I had perhaps a few more weeks before I finally withered away to nothing, and I was fine with it. I was perfectly at peace.

A smile crawled across my lips, and I receded further into the shadows. “Thank you, my love.” I whispered to the skull that topped my staff. She grinned back at me, and I kissed her ivory brow.

ARBOR

I had lived in flesh for too long. My connection with the forest was weak, and my mind was cluttered with thoughts of sensation and emotion. When I placed my hand on the bark of the pine tree I was perched upon, I recognized it, but I did not know it as I once did. The tree did not have a way to identify itself, nor did it have a consciousness that animals could recognize, but it had an awareness. Soil, sun, water and wind; these were the things it projected out from its being. It wasn’t a centralized state of mind, but a mosaic of mindfulness that ran from its roots to its leaves. This tree was hundreds of years old, and it had a memory. The rings within its bark bespoke the seasons of plenty and the seasons of less, the cold nights and the warm days, the passage of the sun, the abundance of rain, and the flavor of the winds and air. This tree could tell me that a volcano had erupted on the other side of the world fifty years ago, for this tree could remember the way the ash filtered the sun. This tree could tell me that nine fox dens had lived beneath its roots since it was barely a sapling, and that two of those dens had succumbed to starvation during the winter. This tree could tell me about every insect that crawled upon it, every worm that slithered around its roots, and every woodpecker that had wounded it. This tree could tell me about its grand neighbors, the other pines, and though the tree could not form opinions of its kin, it was aware of which ones provided stability from the strong winds, which ones were competing for resources, and which ones had created a symbiosis with it. Simply by touching the tree’s bark, I could see the connection this tree had with every other in the forest, the network of roots that stretched for thousands and thousands of miles. That network had more connections than all the neurons in the human mind, and it created a consciousness of itself. But that consciousness was missing its soul.

Come back, it said to me. It did not speak, nor beckon, nor even request in any sense of mortal understanding. It was simply generally aware that the forest was sicker than it had been before, and it was because its mother was not tending to it. It was something Yavara could not understand. She had accused me of stunting my children, of being a slaver and not a mother. She looked at nymphs, and she saw hands and feet, breasts and buttocks, and she assumed they were like her, and had her desires. She could not comprehend that my children were of my mindfulness and spirit, that they were meant to grow and live and die within the cool soft shade of the forest canopy, never knowing the extremes of their biological functions. Serenity and bliss were things they understood intrinsically, but freedom and individuality were corrupting ideas, a rot upon their simple minds that would lead them inevitably to succubus corruption.

Come back, the Great Forest whispered, and I felt a strange horror at the prospect. Going back would mean leaving this realm of sensation and experience, and to become a transient caretaker of the woodlands once more. Going back would mean disconnecting from mortal delights; from lust, pleasure, violence, pain, exhilaration and terror, and settling into something like slumber. I would lose the mortal awareness of the present, and time would become a blur as my mind meandered about the realm of roots, gently doting upon every nook and cranny, every hovel and hole. Why did I fear it? Because it was death. I had been dead all my life.

Come back, it whispered again. I closed my eyes, and tears cascaded down my cheeks. It was so vivid, this mortal perspective. My spiritual self could know the molecules in the soil for thousands of miles, but it could not understand the coarse caress of bark on my palm, the wind whispering through my hair, nor the chill upon my flesh. It was a passive observer—compassionate, but not empathetic. There was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to place all of my soul into this prison of mortal flesh, and live a visceral mortal life from beginning to end, but that would simply be a lie, a momentary escape. I was Arbor. I was no one at all. I was the forest, and the forest was me, and we were I, and we were no one. Peace and serenity, not freedom and individuality. Peace and serenity. Peace.

“I am coming back,” I whispered to the tree, and touched my brow to its bark, “but you will not join me. I am so sorry.”

And though I spoke the words intimately against the white pine’s trunk, I could not hear them from my own lips, for they were stolen by the thunder of hooves beneath me. Like a river of gold, the Highland cavalry flowed through the trunks of the pine trees, following the remnants of the highway they’d carved through my forest so many centuries ago. Their beasts were domesticated creatures, born in a barn and raised in irons, their ears unable to hear my call. They rode with gnashing teeth and anxious neighs, pounding their ironclad hooves into the earth, kicking soil into the air. The dust created a fog over the endless river of men, dulling their gilded shells. Orders were shouted and barked, banners were raised, and steel shone from their weapons, glinting like a warning. These creatures were so very detached from the earth they’d come from. They would kill their own mothers, and not even recognize the murder.

I looked to the other branches, and saw my daughters and sons standing in the treetops, their natural camouflage concealing them from the riders below. They needn’t have bothered; the elves didn’t even think to look up. My children looked to me, waiting. I watched the river of golden men, and wondered what I was waiting for. I realized with a smile that I was just afraid. Being mortal was such a sweet experience. I planted my hand against the tree, and requested its sacrifice. It accepted my request.

There was a groan, then a creak, then a crack. I stepped off the branch, and into the canopy of another tree as the great white pine swayed, then