Lord Hort Part 4 free porn video

Hello to all of you out there in internetland. This will likely be the last piece I will ever psot to Fictionmania. To be honest the admins don't answer my e-mails excpet once where they did so with as short a message as was humanly possible to get thier message across, so I'm moving to a different location. When I post any new parts of the story it will now be at the Yahoo! group I have created for that purpose. This will also allow me to respond to comments and criticism from people with much more practicality. I'm sorry if you don't like Yahoo groups/are allergic to them/they killed your mother, but I'm doing this for free on my own time so quite frankly if you want to complain about the sitaution I will ignore you, delete your message and palce you on the banned list of contacts I keep handy. That being said no-one has harrassed me about this yet (apart from an apparent lack of interest of anyone to actually create a listing somewhere to discuss my work. As they say, you want something done you have to do it yourself) so I'm willing to take the next step towards practical feedback and response myself. This also marks a new direction for the Lord Hort series. Based partly on fedback and partly on the way I would prefer to write it, the sereis will no longer be the 'fap-fest' I wrote the original three parts to be. Those loking for a good 'bedtime story' are going to be dissapointed while those interested in the storyline and characters will (hopefully) be happy. Enjoy. -Grayfield. Lilien ducked under the sweep of her opponent's blade and rushed forward, pressing her advantage. But despite his greater size he was in no way slower than her and she had to jump back to avoid his other arm coming around in a vicious sweep for her head. She danced around him, their swords clashing, looking for an opening. But none were forthcoming. She launched a calculated assault into his left side and managed to put him off just long enough that her blade passed mere millimetres from the flesh of his chest... And then she was flying through the air, her sword dropped from fingers made numb by the impact of her opponent's palm with the top of her abdomen. She fell to the ground on her back, the wind knocked from her. She rolled over on to her hands and knees and proceeded to make a spirited attempt to cough up a lung as she gasped for breath from the double impact. Her opponent retrieved her fallen sword and strolled over to her as she moved to sitting on her legs while drawing in lungfuls of air. "You're improving, mother," Sammael compliments as he crouched next to her, holding out her sword to her. "Fuck... You... Sammael..." she gasped out as she took the blade from him. She stuck the point in the ground and used it to rise unsteadily to her feet. She was exhausted but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being the one to cancel the training session. Sammael's face wrinkled briefly with concern, his concern for her a trait of his she had always found disconcerting, and he relaxed his stance as she stood there sweating profusely and still breathing heavily. "Sorry mother, not interested. I do think, however, that you have reached the limits of your stamina for now. Go back to your books." Lilien collapsed on to the ground, letting her sword clatter down by her side. Her body moved in... interesting ways as she did so. 'Cursed female clothing and stupid curvy body' Lilien thought as she lay there. Sammael smiled down at her. "You seem a tad frustrated, mother." "You try sword fighting in a bikini and rounded feminine body and see what it does for your disposition." As Sammael laughed warmly Lilien wondered why Hort made her train in such brief swimwear. She swore he must be watching her and just enjoyed the look of her exerting herself in such skimpy attire. "I'm afraid father has never seen fit to punish me badly enough that he thought I deserved to be a female, mother. No offence." Lilien wondered at her son's strange morals and his view of women. He treated all others like objects, but seemed to have some sort of strange respect and reverence for her. But it was true that, from what she had managed to pick up, Sammael was the most talented of the bastard's children. It filled her with an odd, unbidden sense of pride. Even if she was sure she would be less proud about what he was actually doing if she knew. Lilien swung her protesting muscles into action, getting to her feet and picking up her sword as she wandered over to the wall of the training room, scabbarded it and fastened the belt around her hips. She undid the leather band holding her hair in a ponytail and swept it away from her so that it fanned her with a cool breeze before settling against her back. Placing the leather band about her wrist, she headed for the door. Sammael walked there ahead of her and held the door open for her. She looked up at him as she passed by him out of the dome of the training room and into the forest of pillars beyond its confines. "While I appreciate the things you do for me, I still think you're an evil bastard too." Sammael's eyes flashed with anger at her words and she flinched as he shifted as if about to strike her but he stopped himself, Lilien unable to help feeling guilty at the measure of remorse now in his eyes. "I guess that due to my nature that is something I will have to live with. Ah well. I'm off to take my frustrations out on people I don't actually care for. See you tomorrow, mother." And that was the thing. With her he was a somewhat caring if still demonic personality, but she just knew he was doing things she would consider quite disturbing while he was away from her. Given her life since she was transformed she was willing to give many things consideration, such as actually having a somewhat demonic offspring, and she couldn't deny a certain amount of affection for the first child she had given birth to, but she still couldn't bring herself to accept him as a loving son. He was just too... alien. Besides, he scared the crap out of her with how good he was at fighting. *** Lilien strolled into the shower room and placed her sword against a wall and the walked over, turned a shower onto to warm and got under the blast of soothing water. She noted with some satisfaction that the men in here seemed to be nervously avoiding her, scarcely even directing their gaze her way as she let the water relax her. Despite the general attitude with which women were treated here, she was viewed with awe and fear by the men. Those who touched her either ended up dead or seriously damaged by her hands or punished by Hort. So even the sight of a beautiful woman showering near them couldn't bring these men to dare touch her. Still, she washed herself with her bikini still on. No sense tempting fate and she was pretty exhausted. Her muscles ached as she soaped herself down and she tried hard not to wince. She would have to get Shall'ia to give her one of those very effective massages. Admittedly she would then have to contend with the woman's libido, but her altered friend was still the best source of conversation she had access to, apart from Hort and Sammael. And those two came with a host of other difficulties that were a lot harder to deal with than a promiscuous bisexual elf. She just had to convince herself that Shall'ia was a different person to her friend, whose name Hort had removed from her mind along with her own original name, who was still a friend to her if somewhat playful. And, as was the problem with Sammael, no matter how much she liked her she knew that she was ultimately loyal to Hort. She sighed and stepped from the shower. She went over to the communal linen closet and hoisted out the fluffiest towel she could see. She dried herself off as best she could while making sure not to abuse her hair. Shall'ia would be grumpy at her if she let her hair get messy. She had learnt more now about caring for and styling long hair than she had ever wanted to know. Still, at least she had a practical use for the knowledge now. A while back she had defiantly tried to cut her hair short, but Hort had merely made it grow back and had... punished her. She knew well enough not to try it again. She dumped the used towel I the laundry basket and moved back out in to the pillars, heading for her room. It had taken her a while to get used to how to navigate the pillars, it seemed to have something to do with having a fixed destination in mind rather than a direction to travel, but now she could manage it with barely a thought. She wandered over to her little desk and sagged in to her chair. Calling forth a little magical energy she summoned a simple sprite. "Go find Shall'ia and bring her here," she told it. It nodded its acknowledgement and zipped off. Trying to keep her movements to a minimum since it meant her muscles, which were now seriously beginning the 'you know you overworked us, don't you' stage of post-exercise, complained at her far less she pulled out the latest grimoire she had been studying. She was fairly fit and capable of extended bouts of exercise but Sammael's training sessions required a much more intense physical workout than Hort gave her. Not to mention Hort was a somewhat caring lover and made sure not only that she wasn't in any kind of physical stress when he made her participate in their 'lovemaking' sessions but that she also enjoyed herself. As much as she hated him for what he had done to her friends and herself, at least he demonstrated the ability to actually care for others even if it was for his own ends. He had mostly left her alone this past week, seeming to leave her spare time in the hands of Sammael. She wondered if he had really meant that he was letting her go since her sword practice had been somewhat accelerated. "Knock knock." Lilien twisted her neck around towards the sound of Shall'ia's voice and immediately regretted it. She winced as pain flared along her neck from muscles that had been strained, allowed to rest and then suddenly put into use again. She guessed she had been studying the grimoire remaining fairly still for about twenty minutes now, so she should have known better. "Ah, I see I'm right in that you just came of a session with your son and would like to be able to move again." Lilien moved a little stiffly as she got out of her chair. "Please don't call him that. It's kind of disturbing to me." Shall'ia rolled her eyes. "You can be such a prude sometimes. If you go around denying the truth all the time you are going to end up with some serious denial issues." Lilien fell forward on to her bead as Shall'ia slid over to her and swept her hair to one side, leaving her back open. "You mean something like thinking I'm a completely different person to the one I was born as?" "Ooh, fair call. Alright, I'll get off your case. Not that it matters much." Shall'ia started sliding her hands into areas Lilien wasn't really comfortable with her touching. "Watch the hands!" Shall'ia pouted as if hurt, but moved her hands to actual muscle groups and started kneading. "What do you mean by that?" Lilien winced a little from the massaging of her sore muscles but put up with it, knowing it would make her feel better soon. "You don't remember? Lord Hort said he was going to release you tomorrow." Lilien twisted her head slightly to regard Shall'ia with one eye. "He was serious about that?" Shall'ia nodded. "Why do you think Sammael has been so intense in his training bouts? He doesn't have much time left to be with you, and he's going to miss you. You know you're the only person he really talks to, apart form Lord Hort?" Lilien felt a wave of guilt from her thoughts before return. She quickly turned her thoughts elsewhere though; she was going to be released. After she had been quiet for a little while Shall'ia continued. "He wants to know that you will be able to protect yourself out there. You are marked by our Lord's power and will naturally generate animosity. Not to mention that since you're a drow people will be suspicious of you on sight." Lilien just hummed her acknowledgement as she started to relax under Shall'ia's graceful touch. "You know how bad racism can be because of the circumstances on our own world of origin; imagine how bad it gets when there is reliable evidence that a race is mostly evil." "I'll manage somehow." Shall'ia sighed and Lilien luxuriated, her mind not completely on the conversation as her body moved from pained to relaxed. "You're not even thinking about it, are you?" Shall'ia inquired, a little frustration seeping into her voice. "Not really." Lilien mumbled into her bed. "What am I supposed to prepare for? I have no idea where I'm going, no idea what I can do when I get there and no idea what lives around where I'm going. Not to mention I don't know if I speak their language, not that that is a problem with Tongues and Permanency, but I won't be able to read the signs or anything like that... I figured I'd work it out when I got there. Not that I believe Hort is really going to let me go anyway. And I have no idea how to make a living as, of all things, a female magician drow. When most of your life skills and knowledge are based on being a technologically based human male in his twenties, you can understand how I don't think there is too much I can prepare for, having no idea what preparations to make." Shall'ia had paused in her ministrations to listen with what Lilien hoped was stunned disbelief. "Don't stop; I'm almost feeling better." Shall'ia went back to rubbing her shoulders. "Well, when you put it that way I guess I can understand. You really don't know anything about Hort's world?" "Not a thing, except I assume from some of the conversations I've had with Hort it resembles our D and D setting somewhat. Not really sure which one though. Don't suppose you could tell us anything that would help?" Lilien could feel Shall'ia smile sadly as she moved down her back. "Not worth defying Him, I'm afraid. He told me not to say anything to you." "How convenient." "Don't be like that! I don't expect you to understand my dedication to Hort, but you could at least not take out on me things that are beyond my control." Lilien sighed as Shall'ia finished her massage. She sat up and looked the troubled elf in the eyes. "I don't blame you for anything he's done to you. I just wish, although I doubt you will appreciate it too much, that I could free you from his influence." Lilien was a little surprised as Shall'ia swept her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you. I'll only have Tifa to talk to on a reliable basis now, and while she's fun to play with she isn't very good for conversation." Lilien awkwardly hugged the other elf back, trying not to be annoyed at the unfamiliar emotional reactions she was going through. Not to mention the embrace was a little more intimate than she preferred. "Uh, no offence Shall'ia, but this is too much naked girl flesh in contact for my comfort." Shall'ia smiled and withdrew from the embrace, sniffling and dabbing at one eye. "I just wonder when I'll get to see you next after tomorrow." "Aww, don't go all girly on me Shall'ia. It's bad enough when I do it without thinking; I don't want to see you doing it too." Shall'ia stifled a giggle and nodded, holding back her tears. Then she cocked her head to one side as if listening to something. "I have to go now, He's calling me. I'll see you tomorrow when you have to leave ok?" Lilien nodded and smiled warmly at her strangely changed friend. "Ok." Lilien watched Shall'ia get up and wander away, then went back to her grimoire, happy to be able to move without pain again. She was going to at least finish the section of the grimoire she was on before she went to sleep. After all if she was going to be 'let go' tomorrow, she didn't know what she was allowed to take with her. It took her several hours, and by the end of it her head and eyes were hurting as much as her body had, but she finally finished. She closed the book and stumbled wearily to her bed. It didn't take that long before her exhaustion caught up to her and she fell asleep. *** "Time to wake up my little Silverthorn." The fog of sleep cleared from Lilien's mind as those words filtered through. She remembered dreaming something about being chased through endless halls by swarms of arcane scripts. She sat up in bed, stretching and yawning, until she registered the male tone of the voice and snatched up her bed sheet, wrapping it around herself in a semblance of modesty as she turned an angry expression on Hort. "Why don't you call up some damn doors and walls so you can knock first?" Hort laughed. He seemed to be in a good mood. "Ah, I always appreciate your angry defiance Lilien. Reminds me of my limits. Come now. It is time to prepare for your departure." Hort turned and started to walk away as Lilien curled up tighter in her sheets, somewhat unwilling to obey him out of hand. She noted with a degree of interest that today instead of his usual casual-style clothing he was wearing a suit of full plate mail with an intricate series of designs over it. It was a curious purple-tinged silver that reflected the light in an odd way and the stylistic curves of the armour plates reminded her of no culture she was familiar with. Not willing to let herself get distracted, she instead thought up an excuse to not automatically follow Hort. "I need to get dressed and have a shower. Not to mention my hair is a mess and..." Lilien blinked as Hort lazily waved a hand and a brief feeling of constraint washed over her. When she looked herself over she discovered that she was now fresh and clean. Her hair cascaded down her back in an orderly fashion while two long strands came down in font of her ears and flowed down her front like waterfalls. She could feel a band of some kind holding a part of her hair separate from the others in some sort of girly hairstyle in the back of her head and her bangs waved gently just above her eyes. She was attired in a tight sleeveless tank top style top with the somewhat obligatory low v-neckline that Hort used as his most restrained design and a pair of tight shorts that came a bare few inches down her thighs. Both were snug and comfortable while being elastic enough that she might as well be naked for all they managed to conceal the curves of her body. Although the tightness of the top did mean she had enough support from it to forgo a bra, apparently, since her breasts were nicely pressed together to display themselves in the dipped neckline. Strangely she didn't seem to be wearing some kind of degrading high heels or fancy feminine shoes designed to show off her legs but rather a knee high pair of soft leather boots covered in a segmented armour that actually looked like they were designed to protect your feet as you walked. Knowing better than to try more defiance at this point Lilien cast off her sheet and hurried after Hort catching up to him and walking just behind him and to his left. This allowed her to discover that while not actually heels, the boots did angle her heel up and her toes down enough that she no doubt had the pleasing turn of thigh that Hort seemed to prefer. At least her hairstyle was somewhat practical and didn't get in the way or bounce around too much as she walked. She noticed she had taken one of the forward falling cascades in her hands and was absentmindedly playing with it, and made herself stop. Instead she concentrated on glaring daggers at the back of Hort's head as he led her through the pillars of his domain. They emerged into the clearing that the portal was in. Lilien averted her gaze from the horrible thing with its twisted ring. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the pour souls transmuted into it, the memory of Ssiliara's son a sorrowful reminder of Hort's casual cruelty. She also spotted Shall'ia making out with Sammael in front of a group of four soldiers standing around a large chest. The soldiers where looking everywhere but at the distracted couple and gratefully fixed their eyes on Hort as he merged from the pillars. He had to clear his throat pointedly before Shall'ia and Sammael broke apart though. Shall'ia had the grace to look embarrassed, even shooting Lilien an apologetic look, while Sammael had to fight to keep a smug grin from his face. "So here we all are, gathered here for this most auspicious of occasions." Hort announced to the room at large. He walked near to the group in front of the chest and stopped, motioning for Lilien to come around in front of him. She complied mainly because she was curious to see what happened next. "We are gathered here today to witness the departure from our merry group that most defiant of us, Lilien the mage." Sammael applauded somewhat proudly, the soldiers following suit unsurely after a short pause. Shall'ia just smiled at her and waved. "It has been a fine time we have had with her in our presence these past months, but as they say all good things must come to an end and I'm afraid it I time that I have to release her from my realm." He made a chopping motion with his hand and the applause stopped. Hort turned to Lilien. "The mockery of ceremony aside, are there any questions you would like to ask?" "You're really letting me go?" Hort laughed happily at her quick response. "Strange as it may seem to you, yes. Your rapidly growing power along with your somewhat stubborn sense of defiance to me means that I must sadly let you go before you accidentally interfere with my plans here to too great a degree. Not that I wouldn't necessarily be able to deal with it but it is better to guard your fort than retake it. Besides, it will be delightful to hear tales of your travels in my world." "What's your world like?" "Ever the practical one, aren't we? I'm not going to tell you much in that regard. Suffice to say it is somewhat similar to your Dungeons and Dragons setting in terms of races if not details. Completely different pantheon for starters. You will, no doubt, discover a lot of similarities. My theory is that someone from your dimension dreamed of mine or one similar to mine, or perhaps of the planar array itself and... But I'm rambling a bit. Today is all about you." Hort smiled at her in a way that reminded her of a cat smiling at a canary in an open cage. She smiled back a little nervously. "Aren't you afraid I'll die? I know it's crossed my mind..." Hort waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that. As long as I'm alive you will be too. Your body will recover from being burnt to ash although I daresay you want to avoid things like that as much as possible. I'm told it's incredibly painful to be burnt alive." Lilien looked at Hort a little disbelievingly. "You've made me immortal?" Hort adopted a thoughtful look. "Unkillable would be a better term. You will recover from any injury. You won't age. Starvation, while unpleasant, won't kill you. You can't drown. Should it become trapped in a hostile environment, the power I have invested in your body will remove you from it. Although if I have to do that I will be most displeased and will likely turn up to punish you for being so careless." Lilien marvelled at how Hort could pack so much threat into such a casual, seemingly offhand comment. "You don't age either. In fact your body can not be changed in any way. Don't want people ruining my masterpiece after all. Magical transmutations will have no effect on your body, so don't waste your own spells either." Lilien blinked. It sounded to her that Hort was actually being fairly generous. If she wasn't also a busty drow with the kinds of curves that make men drool merely from the memory of them she would have been quite happy with what he had just told her. "Aren't you afraid that I'm going to use these gifts you have given me to try and stop you." Hort tipped his head back and laughed. It was the most genuinely amused, disarmingly basic of emotions Hort had ever shown in front of her. He always seemed to be hiding something whenever he talked to anyone, never tipping his hand even a little, but this seemed like raw, unfettered amusement. He stopped laughing and dropped his gaze to hers and she trembled slightly at the conviction in his eyes. "No." Lilien floundered for a minute under the force of Hort's personality before she found the ability to speak again. "Well then if it annoys you so much that I might get myself injured, why haven't you given me something better to protect myself than a tank top, tight shorts and some armoured boots?" Sammael looked happy as he gestured at the soldiers to open the chest. He retrieved something from it and Hort gestured towards it. "This is an exquisite sword I created with the perfect balance in mind for your physical abilities and body shape. The design while somewhat plain is incredibly practical. The scabbard and belt are made from imperishable leather. The sword itself is classed as what you would term an 'artefact', indestructible to all but the most powerful of means. In 'game terms' it would be a 'plus eight keen vorpal sword'. It is called Ender of Fates. I suggest you try very hard not to let anyone draw it unless they want Ender of fates to sever the offending limb." Lilien was so stunned by Hort's speech that she didn't even resist as Sammael gently lifted her arms and buckled the sword around her waist, the belt lying at an angle across her curved hips. She stared at the rather plain looking scabbard which nevertheless radiated power to her magic senses. She remembered to lower her arms again as Sammael reached into the chest again, bringing her back to the situation at hand. "This robe was made with your physical attributes in mind." Sammael drew forth a shimmering black robe from the chest. It glinted in the odd light of this place like it was made from metal, although it moved like a fabric. "It will protect you from all extremes of temperature and was designed with ease of travel in mind." Lilien allowed Sammael to help her put it on. It closed across her stomach with two short straps in the front and elegantly flowed across the rest of her. In somewhat typical Hort style Lilien noted that it did not, in fact, cover either of her private areas although its cut suggested that wearing clothing under it was the desired intention. The front closed over her stomach kimono style, if kimonos had ever been designed to expose the breasts, with the two straps holding it together. It then rose up either side of her torso and snugly fit over her shoulders before the sleeves descended tightly down her arms to the elbow, where the sleeves gradually became looser and looser until they reached the final oval-shaped opening her hands poked through. When she held her arms by her side the fabric came to her wrists aside from the end of the elongated sleeve holes which dangled slightly downwards. The skirt was an open-in-the-front affair that half covered the fronts of her legs as it swept around them. Lilien twisted around to note that yes, it did show off her butt. Other than that despite the rounded end dropping down to her ankles it gave her legs a remarkable amount of mobility despite its length. As soon as it was secured around her she felt comfortably warm. "It also provides a degree of protection against incoming physical attacks and will ward of all low-range most mid-range and some high-range magics. It will also burn the skin of anyone but you who puts it on. You would understand it best as 'providing a plus eight AC bonus and a magic resistance of twenty-one'." Lilien blinked and moved around experimentally, noting how the robe did indeed give her a good deal of freedom of movement. She even noticed how her sword was carefully concealed beneath the skirt with only the pommel sticking out for ease of access. "I would have woven more complicated magic into it but I figured you would manage better with a set of passive boosts to your abilities instead of something you had to worry about controlling." "You're too kind." Hort grinned. "I know. Next up is this belt." Sammael pulled a intricate belt from the chest next. It was covered with all manner of clips buckles so that one might secure things to it but didn't seem to forgo a certain element of style to Lilien's eye. She noted that it too was black. "Aside from the practical applications that should be obvious it also magically enhances your strength. Sadly when I designed your body there were certain limits of physical strength I had to observe given your tissue density, ligament anchoring an\d other such similar factors imposed on me by the desired shape of your body." Lilien gave Hort a sullen glare, not liking to be referred to like some kind of science experiment. "This should make up for your regrettable lack of actual physical strength somewhat." Lilien snatched it from Sammael when he got near and secured it around her waist above the scabbard's belt herself. Sammael gave her a disappointed look but she ignored it. She didn't really feel stronger. But she guessed that was the point. "Of course, should someone other than you put it on it will constrict until it tears them in half." Lilien attempted to muster as much sarcasm into her shrug as she could manage. "Naturally. Wouldn't want anyone to try and take possession of things that you meant for someone else." "Precisely." Lilien felt her left eye twitch. She knew Hort was perceptive enough to tell she was annoyed, not to mention he had an amazing ability to grasp sarcasm, but the way he just ignored her attempts to rile him up meant that she was getting annoyed instead. The least he could do was acknowledge her hatred of him but he always treated it as if her emotional state towards him was of no concern. "The last two things are, I'm sad to say, rather mundane in terms of magical items. One is a bag of holding," and Sammael tossed it to Lilien who used the opportunity to secure it to her new belt, "containing all your magical books as well as some of the reference materials you were studying." Lilien felt a little relief. She had actually found she quite enjoyed studying magic and regraded it as the best thing to have come out of this whole ordeal. "The other is a similar thing but in the form of this backpack." Sammael walked over to her with the somewhat girly style backpack and gave her a pitiful look. She sighed and held out her arms so he could put it on her. "It contains all sorts of everyday necessities including a tent and camping supplies as well as 'feminine hygiene products'." Lilien blushed. She still hadn't quite got used to the month long female reproductive cycle. She'd only had two and had been miserable through both. "It also contains only two weeks worth of food so I suggest you find a place to acquire more before you run out, being unfamiliar with how to scrounge food from the wilderness as you are." Lilien thought back to her days in the Boy Scouts but didn't think that really counted as wilderness survival training for a world where she had no idea what the flora and fauna were like. "Finally there is this." Sammael pulled out a length of dark brown fabric and then motioned to the soldiers who closed the chest, picked it up and walked off with it. "What, is that some sort of cloak that blends into the surroundings to hide me from view and drips acid on anyone but me who wears it?" Sammael chuckled at her comment and Shall'ia giggled while Hort seemingly ignored her jibe. "No, it's just a roughly tailored length of brown cloth with a hood so you can conceal your appearance should you need to. Nothing magical about it at all I'm afraid. Since drow aren't really regarded with favour in most civilised places above ground, and a great deal of them below, I figured you would appreciate the ability to not instantly draw ire upon yourself." Lilien let Sammael drape the cloak over her. He left the hood down but Lilien did note that it did a good job of concealing her appearance if not necessarily her figure. She had too many obvious curves to effectively conceal them with a simple layer of rough cloth. "Now much as it pains me this is where we part ways. I'm sure you have many more things you would like to ask but sadly I don't feel in the mod to answer your questions anymore. Say goodbye to loyal Sammael and Shall'ia and then we'll set you on your way." Lilien looked to Sammael. He looked so genuinely sad that she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. She reached up a hand and caressed his cheek. "Try not to be quite so evil, ok?" Sammael chuckled sadly. "No promises I can't keep, mother. Good luck out there." She turned next to Shall'ia who was almost in tears. The other elf rushed over to her and folded her arms around her in a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you." Lilien reached up a hand and stroked the head of her friend. "Me too Shall'ia. I'll come back for you and the others some day." Shall'ia looked up at her with watery eyes. "It's nice of you to say that. Just remember you don't actually speak the common tongues of the place and the Tongues spell won't let you read anything apart from those languages you learned here." Lilien smiled and the other elf released her. "So Hort, what now?" she asked as she turned to face her tormentor. "Thank you for all the fine gifts, do I just walk through the..." She paused as she came round to face Hort's armoured palm. "You don't really think I'm stupid enough to let you know the location my portal comes out in the planes, do you? You are, after all, my stated enemy." Lilien was about to form a retort when there was a sudden sense of power. She felt a concussive force pass through her senses and fell to her knees before everything suddenly went black. *** Lilien groaned as she came awake with the worst headache she could ever remember having. It was even worse than the one she had gotten from the office party when she had drunk way too much. She still remembered Tifa telling her about her drunken antics involving a toilet brush, a bowl of nachos and a woman's shoe... Her head cleared as she remembered that Tifa wasn't the actual name of her friend and now she was likely to be the one wearing that shoe. Not to mention the crisp, clean smell of the air here was invigorating. A cool breeze stirred by her face and caused strands of her hair to waft across it and tickle her nose. She inhaled heavily as she sat up on the grass she had been lying down on and brushed the stray strands from her face. She noted the clasp at the neck of the cape was undone and that it now lay on the ground around her as she stared up at unfamiliar stars. "Sorry about the headache. I didn't realise father was going to do that." Lilien spun to her left at the sound of Sammael's voice. He was sitting on a nearby rock wearing a complicated set of armour in the same style as Hort's. A helmet with a visage that was far more terrifying than his almost human one rested at his hip. Lilien slid off the cloak and picked it up from the ground, making an exaggerated attempt to dust off the back. "So this is my new prison is it?" Sammael eyes shone with amusement. "Hardly a prison, mother. You are free to go wherever you want, do whatever you want to do. An entire new planet to explore." "Lucky me." She had practiced her deadpan expression with her new face. She was confident she could do it well now. "Look at it this way mother. If you are ever captured and imprisoned for a great length of time here, father has ordered me to bring my army after you and free you. Though it is likely he will visit his displeasure upon you, not to mention the calamity this will inevitably bring to your captors, should such an event transpire. Seeing as how you generally show a degree of compassion for your fellow sentient beings I would think you would not want father's armies to destroy any place and do to its people what you can probably imagine his army would do to its victims." Lilien shot Sammael an angry look. "If you command the army can't you stop that sort of thing?" Sammael held his hands up defensively. "Oh heavens no. Aside from not wishing to contradict father's standing orders maintaining discipline is paramount. If the soldiers are not rewarded for their efforts they become annoyed and do not fight as well. And while having an entire army punished is an amusing concept I would not wish to be amongst those who were the subject of father's ire. Besides," and his pointed teeth glinted in the moonlight, "I do so enjoy those kinds of things." Lilien shivered and stepped back. Thanks to her robe she knew it wasn't from the chill in the air either. "So this is it then? 'Look after yourself, hope you don't die or get captured?'" "Pretty much." Sammael stood from his rock, the ripple of movement from the segmented armour along his strange legs an interesting distraction. "I wish you only the best, mother. Despite our unfortunately diverging viewpoints. If you follow the rising sun for about a week and a half you should come to a decent sized town. Do try and avoid the smaller villages and farmhouses along the way unless you like being chased or forced to deal with sadly uneducated peasantry who have torches and pitchforks too easily at hand." Lilien was trying very hard not to hate her son for loving her. She managed to smile at him as she swung the cloak back on and refastened the clasp. "Thank you for your concern, Sammael." Sammael seemed happy with those few words. "I have tarried too long waiting for you to wake." He bowed regally to her. "Until we inevitably meet again, mother." There was a sudden flare of magic and then with an inrush of air Sammael was gone. Lilien sighed and took some time to take in her surroundings. She glanced up at the sky again noting the presence of not one but two moons. One was slightly larger than what she was used to and seemed to have a vaguely greenish cast to it. The other was perhaps slightly smaller than the one she was used to seeing but was an odd red colour. Both looked fairly odd to her until she realised it was because their surfaces were stippled with unfamiliar patterns. She realised it would take some time to get used to this strange new sky. She hoped there weren't two suns as well. Surely Sammael would have mentioned when he had talked about sunrise. She appeared to be on top of a fairly tall hill that overlooked her surroundings in a manner that afforded her a view in all directions. Lacking any means to define a direction in terms of navigational points she merely decided 'forward' was the way she happened to be facing now. She could also quite clearly see her immediate vicinity despite the darkness, as both moons were only half full, her first ever real experience with darkvision. It was kind of odd. 'Forwards' was mostly rolling hills stretching to the distance even if she was sure she could make out fields that looked like farms dotted across the landscape. To her left was a mountain range that looked fairly distant. She wasn't used to walking great distances and so couldn't really gauge how far it was. Where was a road sign when you needed one? Even a two lane road would be useful. Behind her was a forest that blocked any real ability to tell what was in that direction since it was about a hundred feet away. It looked creepy. She found herself hoping the sun didn't rise over it. To her right were more fields and a river. She hoped it was that way; the river was the best landmark she had to go by apart from those mountains and it was also mostly downhill. She wandered over to the rock and sat down on it, or rather climbed atop it and sat on it. She had forgotten just how tall Sammael really was. Having nothing better to do while she waited she pulled off her backpack and inspected the contents by rummaging through it. It turned out dimensional space felt pretty weird to just thrust your arm into and wiggle it around. But she eventually took stock of exactly what Hort had told her would be in there. The food turned out to be dried meat, fruit and fish along with some nuts and other slightly less perishable gods. There was also a decent supply of water. Some of the nuts were of curious shapes or colours, not to mention she had no idea what animal this meat had come from, but she didn't think Hort would go to these obscure lengths to poison her so she assumed all the food she had been given was safe and made a note to look out for similar things to gather while travelling to supplement her supplies. When she was done taking inventory she pulled out her spell book. Not needing light to read was an interesting and quite nifty advantage that filled her with an insidious glee. She found cheating light to be almost as much fun as brushing up on her magics. Knowing that she didn't want to be detected early by any other magic users who happened to be around she first cast a warding about her to mask her magical signature and that of the items Hort had given her. She then cast a precognitive alarm that would hopefully warn her of approaching dangers. Not wanting to light the hillsides up with spells she stopped at that for now and merely perused her library to refresh her mind of various incantations needed to cast spells while she waited for the sun to rise. When false dawn lit the horizon to her 'right' after about an hour after she had awoken Lilien centred herself on the middle of the glow, stashed her book and set off. She pulled her hood up and made sure her cloak was draped around her to a sufficient level that nobody could just look at her and tell what she was other than another traveller and set off. She hoped that she could find some level of acceptance in what passed for civilisation here. Much as she was used to being a social outcast she hoped that at least here she could fit into society much better than in her previous life. She tried not to let the rather physical reminder of her body as she walked remind her that she was probably considered a monster at first glance here. A sexy monster, sure, but a monster nonetheless. As a troubled aura settled about her she resolved to put off contact with people as long as possible, and at least until she reached that city Sammael had mentioned. She couldn't help but feel nervous at how people might react. After all, this was apparently her new home. *** Sammael swallowed nervously when he found his father waiting for him on the other side of the portal. He knew he had spent longer than was necessary dropping Lilien off and was worried about Hort's reaction to his tardiness. Hort's smile as he stepped back into his home realm didn't really reassure him. "Took you long enough. Get your things together and then head back to our occupied territory. I think we've expanded our borders enough for now to make my point. I want you to start consolidating our hold on captured territories and crushing any resistances left in those areas. See to it personally if you have to, but quell any rebellions." Hort cocked his head to one side. "You have questions." "You aren't angry that I took so long?" Hort laughed. "Of course not, my son. You are who you are for a reason and to try and deny your nature would mean that you are having some sort of deep seated problem. If I had told you to drop your mother off and return here without delay and you had been tardy I would justly punish you. But I won't punish you merely for loving your mother as you should." These words gave Sammael the courage to ask his next question. "Why did you send her away father? Aside from the fact that I liked her to be around, isn't she dangerous? She knows us very well by now and you admit yourself that her magic is very powerful." Hort smiled knowingly. "Don't worry Sammael. Sure I had to adjust my plans slightly when she proved challenging to break but this is nothing I can not adapt to. I will far more enjoy the pleasure of resistance to my plans she might bring rather than her surly resentfulness at being held here. And here presence here undermines my authority by the way she would openly defy me here, in my own sanctum. Besides," And Hort's grin reminded Sammael of the sort of expression he showed before finishing off a challenging foe, "I have further plans in store for my errant lover." *** Lilien shivered in the cold night air. It seemed to be more out of habit than anything else since the cold of the air only brushed along her senses rather than actually chilling her thanks to the robe Hort had given her. It was kind of weird feeling how cold it was and not really being cold though. It wasn't the first time she had thought it, but magic sure was odd. But she had been learning a lot of things recently. For starters although she was rather fit walking endlessly across the countryside made her feet ache, her thighs burn and her ears tingle with the heat her body generated from the simple act of walking. The armoured boots might be somewhat practical from the standpoint of someone who was involved in a lot of combat but so far all she had done was walk. And she had never had to contest with bouncing breasts or sweaty cleavage before. And just because the temperature of the air didn't affect her didn't mean she couldn't get hot and sweaty from her exertions. She was stopping by the river every night to wash in it and cool off after making sure there was nobody around. When it had occurred to her that she was suddenly alone and unprotected and very attractively female she had suddenly become nervous about peeping toms. It had never been much of a consideration around Hort and his men but now that she had more control she found she disliked the idea of men staring lustily at her. She guessed part of it had to do with all that fanservice-style anime she used to watch which made her imagination run wild with what were probably impossible scenarios. She pulled her cloak tighter about her shoulders and marched resolutely on. Another thing she had noticed was that the people out here tended to pretend that strange lone cloaked figures didn't really exist. She had been avoiding people but occasionally she had to pass near a farm or travelled along a road for a length to give her poor feet a break from the rocky uneven ground that she had to walk along to avoid too much notice. The phrase 'away from the well beaten path' was holding a new sense of meaning for her. She had even passed within greeting distance of a man driving a cart stacked with hay once and he had almost studiously decided that the opposite side of the road was much more interesting than examining his fellow traveller or attempting to greet them. She guessed she did appear somewhat suspicious and, she would like to think, a little intimidating even if she didn't really feel much more than sore and tired. Still, this place did deem somewhat Earth-like in tis appearance. The Flora of the place was mostly familiar shapes and sizes and it seemed to have the same kinds of local wildlife. She had felt somewhat reassured when she had spotted bees playing amongst some dandelion-like flowers. Even if the bees were blue where they should have been yellow. But the little familiarities like that helped make her feel less like she was intruding upon some alien world. It also had a medieval level of technology as far as she could tell. Well, apart from the airships. She didn't know yet what other enhancements to daily life magic had given this place but giant flying ships like something directly out of Eberron were a little hard to miss even if she had only seen one so far. It had passed almost overhead several days back, a ring of fire turning about it as it floated serenely through the air as if unconcerned by trivial things like gravity. She had found a rock to sit on and had watched as it sped along until it had passed to far away to watch properly. Despite all her discomfort she had quite enjoyed watching it sail overhead and off into the distance. The best part about it was that it had come from the direction she was headed suggesting that there was indeed a large city that way. It had also made her realise that she had no money nor did she know what passed for currency in this place. Thoughts of buying a ticket and going for a ride in an actual magical airship had been tempered by the practicality of not knowing how the economy worked here and definitely having no real expendable resources of her own. Her excitement at seeing the airship had turned to depression at the practicality of her situation. She had set snares that night to try and catch something fresh to eat to improve her mood since the activity had helped her to relax and break the monotony of travel but when she had awoken in the morning to find a cute bunny-like creature caught in one of them the thought of skinning, cooking and eating it made her loose her appetite. Not to mention she wasn't too sure how to do it in the first place. So she had let the little critter go and instead disarmed the few other snares she had set. Stupid boy scout training. She had managed to find some of the various nuts and berries she had been given by Hort and collected them but apart from being fresher they did nothing to stop her wanting a proper cooked meal. Since she didn't want to have a fire at night so as not to attract attention and didn't want to kill her meal herself she guessed she just had to put up with travel rations until she found a way to get someone to cook something for her. Sure she could just conjure something up but she was quite proud of her ability to resist casting any magic. She didn't know if it could be detected easily by other magic users nor what sort of magical signature she gave off but she wasn't risking attracting the attention of someone or something she would rather not have to deal with. So far she had managed to walk for a week towards her destination without incident and she hoped to continue that way. It was about this time that her early warning spell started a low level buzzing in the back of her head. He eye twitched as she stopped, noting two disreputable looking men emerge from cover ahead of her. Glancing behind her confirmed the presence of two others. 'Thank you Murphy' she thought, directing a grudge against his spirit. "You look a little alone there traveller." The one she labelled as the leader stated with a leer. "We're here to relieve you of extra travelling burdens like, say, any cash you might have on you right now to help you on your walk." The odd syllables were automatically translated thanks to the Tongues spell but she still felt odd hearing the strange tones of an unknown language. "Sadly," and she hoped her magic translated her words properly, "I don't have any money on me so I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer." "Told you she was a woman," she heard the one now labelled thug number two whisper to thug number three behind her. Leader smiled at the tone of her words. "Well if your face is as pretty as your words I daresay you have something else to offer us then." Lilien sighed and reached a hand up to nurse her forehead at her sudden headache. She couldn't believe people like this actually existed. She swore she had written a scenario like this in one of the games she had run. "I'm really not in the mood for this. Why don't you just go away before I make you?" She had had practice sounding girly but scary on Hort's men and tried to put all the little nuances for speech she had learned from her efforts to use right now. Thug number one started to look uncertain but leader was obviously too stupid or too brave to be intimidated that easily. "You'll have to do better than that, girly. We've had a few days without much to do now and the boys and me could use a little stress relief." Instead of answering him as he continued to advance Lilien merely stretched her hand out towards him in a fist. She mimed punching him as she gathered magical energy and then he flew backwards through the air for ten metres before landing in a crumpled heap when her bolt of concussive force slammed into his chest. The others took one look at her delicate, black skinned arm, absorbed the fact that she had obviously just used magic and used the pause in activity to make a run for it. Lilien heaved a relieved breath. She so did not want to deal with bandits right now. She wandered over to the unconscious man, her nose wrinkling at his smell as she got close. Gathering up a nearby stick she prodded him a little until she saw a pouch on his belt. Realising she really did need to cover up her arms unless she wanted to give too much away when her arms inevitably emerged from under her cloak she gritted her teeth and pulled his shirt off him. She also took his knife since it would be pretty useful to her as she had discovered when trying to set snares without one. She resolved to wash the shirt and then cut it into strips to cover her arms. She tried not to look at his recumbent hairy-chested form beside her as she stashed her newly acquired stuff on here belt. She hurried off, the smell from the captured shirt already irritating her nostrils trapped as it was under her cloak, hoping to get away from the bandits before they gained the courage to attempt to follow her. The river was close but she had to resolve herself to the smell and wait until nightfall. Now that she was close enough to civilization to attract the attention of bandits she was going to have to be more careful as she travelled. She resolved to stay away from roads until she was in sight of this city she now hoped was actually there. *** The shirt, once thoroughly scrubbed until it didn't smell anymore and cut into strips with the captured knife, had proven to be a somewhat practical if a little itchy way to cover up her arms. So she had started wrapping her arms up every morning and taking the bandages off every night as she travelled to get used to it until she could get something better. The pouch had been full of what she hoped were coins for this area. The writing was in some language she couldn't read and there were quite a few copper coins and a few silver ones too. She was guessing at the numbers on them since different what she guessed were denominations had different shapes and hoped she was getting the numbers right but would have to bluff her way through until she could at least read the numbers. Or what she hoped were numbers. They might be symbols for lords or signs for birds or pretty much anything else. Why couldn't every alternative dimension just speak English so that being forced into another dimension was easier on a girl? She blinked as she realised what she had just thought. Person. Easier on a person. Then her shoulders deflated a little in defeat. She really did have to just accept some practical facts about herself now. Now was not the time to start denying she was female now. She had spent enough time in this body now to get used to its little quirks. Like how, she mused angrily, her next period was due in a couple of days. It seemed the female elf reproductive cycle was just as long as the human one. When she had female friends here, an event she fervently hoped would actually happen, she would have to ask them about feminine hygiene products. Until then she was damn well going to use a little magic to help her 'rough it'. It was with these dark thoughts on her mind that she emerged from the wood she had been walking through all day to observe just in the distance a walled city. The river cut through the middle with some rather big looking bridges spanning it. It widened considerably towards the other end of the city and had docks there. Obviously this was as far down this river as was practical to bring a large boat and this was one of the reasons this city had been so built up. It looked, to her eye, fairly busy if somewhat flat. Most of the buildings were rarely any larger than three stories high and those that were tended to dominate their surroundings. Like the tall spire that had Lilien swallowing nervously, reminded of the wizard's towers she had come to associate with such structures. In what looked like the richer, and at least certainly cleaner, quarter of the city there was a large structure that Lilien couldn't help but label a palace. There were some other larger structures here and there but the only other one that really caught her eye appeared to be wrought from marble and gold. She couldn't help but think 'paladins' when she looked at it. Lilien lurked nervously at the tree line, noting a proper paved road leading up to the city with people passing along it. Now that she was here she was nervous about taking this next step. She didn't really know what to do from here. Should she reveal herself? Or hide? At the moment the best thing seemed to be to scout out the city before her and gauge the attitude of the people before making a final decision about what to do next. Pulling her hood down a little more to better hide her face and making sure her cloak properly covered any exposed flesh Lilien marched resolutely forwards to join the traffic headed into the city. No one seemed to particularly notice her as she joined the trickle of people coming into the city. It looked like this level of traffic was normal because when she neared the gate she could see two guards standing on either side of its yawning maw looing a little bored as they scanned the carts and pedestrians headed into the city. She felt sure she stood out like a sore thumb, her heart beating nervously, but thankfully the guards didn't seem to poses some mystical method of insight as to her nervous disposition and she passed by their gaze with barely a second glance. Once she had passed under the portcullis the smell she had been detecting for a little while now hit her full force. She resisted the desire to cough violently at the smell of what she assumed was a normal medieval town. As she entered the streets she did notice sewer grating so assumed that the streets were at least clear of offal even if they didn't smell so nice. Since she had a sharper sense of smell now she wondered if the cities back home would smell like this to her now too? *** Unknown to her hr lone arrival and general air of nervousness had been spotted by someone. In an alley that had a good view of the entrance to the city Hull Two-fingers elbowed his small apprentice and pointed to the distracted looking robed figure that had just entered by itself. "There's your mark Thel." He said to the shorter human beside him. "You go get something off that one and bring it back and you can count this phase of your initiation into our guild over." The smaller figure nodded and slipped into the crowd after its target. *** When Lilien's danger sense spell started giving her something more practical than a low level hum that was quickly giving her a headache she had to try very hard not to look around in the direction the threat was coming from. She felt whatever was aiming for her close at a steady pace. It looped around in front of her and concealed itself in an alley. Guessing this was as good a time as any to get some information and not really objecting to the thought of rouging up a criminal Lilien approached the mouth of the alley with intent to capture her would be attacker and pull him back into the alley for some questioning. So when she passed by the alley and a small form darted across her path, one hand dextrously sneaking under her cloak, she changed her plan from 'incapacitate with a small spell' to 'capture street urchin'. The urchin in question certainly seemed surprised when a bandaged hand firmly but gently closed around its wrist. After confirming this was a pick pocketing attempt given the complete lack of weapon in the little hand whose wrist was now in her grasp she pulled the young person into the alley it had just ducked out of with a barely a yelp from the poor thief much to Lilien's grudging respect. As soon as they were out of easy sight of the crowd halfway down the alley Lilien allowed the gently struggling urchin to pull her arm out from under her cloak with its struggles. Her magically enhanced strength was proving a help in making sure the struggling child didn't break free of her grasp. "If you're willing to stop wriggling about I'm willing to talk about this." The soft melodious tones of her voice seemed to be helpful here since the child slowly ceased struggling. Lilien could still feel the tension in the child's frame though, ready to bolt at the slightest opening. "Alternatively I could go with my original plan and just reduce you to a pile of ash." Well, at least the child had both stopped struggling and now had its undivided attention focused on Lilien. Even if her threat was something of a bluff. "Now, let's get the formalities out of the way. My name is Lilien. What's yours?" Scared as the child seemed the answer came fairly quickly. "Thel." Lilien nodded happily under her cloak. Progress was being made. "That's a sort of bland name for a girl isn't it Thel?" Thel stiffened in her grasp. Her next words came out as more of a plaintive wail. "You can tell?" Lilien blinked and looked her over again. Loose, baggy clothing. Short, roughly cut hair under a scruffy cap. Dirty face. Enough to fool most, she guessed, but Lilien had a bit more practical experience telling what gender people were. "Uh, sorry. Didn't know I was supposed to think you were a guy. I sympathise." Thel regarded her with an odd expression and Lilien hurried on. At least Thel seemed to be relaxing a little. "So, what's your real name then?" Thel sniffed and looked down at the ground. "Thellia." "You see? Now that wasn't very hard now was it? Much more appropriate a name for a girl." Thellia nodded sullenly. "Now, Thellia, I'm going to let go of your arm and then we're going to have a little chat. You can try and run away if you want but I assure you I'll be able to stop you before you can reach either end of this alley. And then I'll be questioning you instead of talking to you, which will be far less pleasant. Understand?" Thellia nodded. "Do you agree?" Thellia paused for a second then nodded reluctantly once more. Lilien let go of her wrist. It was obvious Thellia gave a very serious thought to bolting but obviously decided it was against her best interests. "How old are you Thellia?" Thellia rubbed her wrist absentmindedly as she answered. Lilien felt a little bad for grabbing her so tightly. "Fourteen." "Just old enough to appreciate how living the lief of a thief means being troublingly open to the unwanted attention of men then?" Thellia looked up into her hood with an expression that told Lilien she was right on the mark. "So why did you feel it necessary to relieve me of some of my possessions?" Thellia looked a little nervous. "'M trying to get into the Thieves Guild." She mumbled. "Much safer as part of the Guild. Other people to look after you. If they found out I'm a girl they might protect me." Given what she knew of the disposition of thieves Lilien didn't think this was necessarily true. But it did give Lilien an idea of what to do next. "So, what did you have to do?" Thellia looked a little embarrassed. "Steal something of yours." "Any particular reason it had to be me?" Thellia shuffled around a little. "Hull pointed you out." "And this Hull is?" "Hull Two-fingers. He's my watcher." She started sobbing a little. "I was so close as well. He said that if I got something from you I was in." "Hey! What's that for?" "You're some creepy lady in a robe and you're gonna kill me!" "I'm not creepy!" Lilien thought for a second. "Ok, I may be a little creepy. But I'm not going to kill you." "Really?" "Really." The sobbing stopped so quickly that Lilien couldn't help but think she was being had. But she had taken a liking to the kid. "Tell you what. I'm new to this area and want to keep a low profile. Why don't you take me to this Hull two-fingers and we'll see what we can work out from there. That should fulfil the circumstances of what he asked." Thellia dramatically rubbed