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His Redemption (TheCorsair and Xana)

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Ari was speechless by what she saw before her. Both men, sucking each other, mimicking the way she and Rielle had just awhile ago. She had no idea Matthias or Edwin appreciated men, but they sure as hell were appreciating each other.

“It’s…uh…fascinating,” Aurianna managed, utterly hypnotized by the movement of Matthias’ head up and down Edwin’s cock. “But I want to get fucked again, don’t you?”

“Yes. I want some thick cock in me,” Rielle begged.

“What do you say? Think you can pull yourselves away from each other long enough to give it us nice and hard?” Aurianna pleaded, slinking on hands and knees towards them.


Sue groaned at the taste of the woman riding her face. She still couldn’t boast a ton of experience, but the woman above her was quite vocal about how good it all was. Between her own thighs another woman lapped at her lust and fingered her, causing her to shudder and squirm. “I’m cumming!” the woman above her screamed, giving voice to Sue’s own pleasure.


Roland’s cock throbbed almost painfully as he watched Lucian sucking another man off. His once apprentice, the boy he had known, grown into the man he had become. Bloody hell, he couldn’t do this anymore. He moved towards the young man, kneeling behind him as the man he sucked shot his load over Lucian’s face and chest. Lucian turned to face him, as his chest pressed against his back, “Roland?”

“I’m tired of lying to myself, Lucian. I’m tired of lying to you,” He took Lucian’s mouth to his, kissing him with a deep hunger, tasting countless other cocks on his tongue. “I love you. I love you, and I want to be with you, from now on. Let me make love to you.”

“I’ve been waiting all night to hear those words from you,” Lucian smirked, grinding his ass against Roland.


“You want more cock, Diana?” one man asked, teasing her well fuck cunt, and feeling the numerous load that coated it.

“Yes,” She growled biting his lip as another man rubbed his hardness against her ass, “I want cock in every hole.” The group of men surrounding her laughed, helping her get into position to get fucked from every angle. Riding one man, with another behind her, and a third in front of her, while two more made her jack them off. Even with a mouthful of cock, Diana’s blissful groans could be heard.



How many cocks she had taken, Clara had no clue. She was getting sore, as another man pushed into her sloppy slit, drawing an in drawn hiss of breath, as she sought to perform her duties as Goddess. Her current lover seemed to take notice, bending over to kiss at her back and neck. “Is it too much, my Goddess?”

“I…can’t,” Clara groaned, tensing as her body strained under the weight of the dozens she had already been with. He withdrew from her cunt, his cock slick with the seed left within her, and pressed the head of his cock against her ass, until it popped in.

“May I worship here?” he asked, holding still until she gave her word. But Clara could only whimper, nodding as her ass swallowed his length with every breath she took.
 
The two men disengaged, crawling slowly towards the two women before them. Edwin pulled Aurianna into an embrace, his chest smooth and slick against hers and his tongue flavored with Matthias as he kissed her. Gently he pushed her back, exploring her body with lips and tingue and hands as he did. "Magnificent," he whispered, cupping her breasts and sampling them. "I could worship you for hours, my goddess. Shall I worship you with my mouth, or my rod?"

Rielle was about to answer when Matthias shoved her down in her belly. She squeaked in surprise and started to rise, only to shudder in pleasure as Matthias drove himself into her from behind. "You always did lije it a little rough, didn't you?" he laughed, pinning her wrists to the ground. He knew she could throw him off in a heartbeat, if the mood struck her. But the way she clenched on his invading meat told him all he needed. "The Lady High Commander, fucked on her hands and knees in front of your husband. And you love it, don't you?"

"Yes..." Rielle gasped.

"I didn't hear you!" Matthias snapped, driving himself hard into her and rearing up, slapping her ass. "You love being fucked in front if your husband, don't you?"

"Yes!" she shrieked, driving herself vack onto Matthias' meat. "Goddess, yes!"

Matthias laughed, meeting Ari's and then Edwin's eyes. "Go on," he said, "let her see you fuck my wife."


Thora didn't know the name of the man she was riding. Didn't care, either. or about the fact that, from his iron-grey hair and fleshless hands, he was probabky old enough to be her grandfather. He was thick and hard in her, and his rough hands trailed fire on her skin, and experience had left him with a reportoire of erotic, filthy encouragement for him to moan as he slipped in and out if her cunt. She'd thought he would be a pity fuck, but she'd been wrong. "Goddess," she moaned, "I'm... I'm..."

An iron grio caught her hips, keeping her from moving despite her struggles. Goddess, she was so close! But she couldn't move, couldn't quite... Tje nan chuckled beneath her. "Not yet, my priestess," he grinned, moving himself just a little and making her arch in a desperate struggle for release. "You're in goid hands, and I'll let you cum soon." One rough fingertip circled a taut nipple. "Soon... when my meat and your need has become unbearable sweet torture..."



Rielle gasped, body jerking with each powerful thrust of Matthias' thick cock. She stared, watching Edwin's dark meat slowly push into Ari's dripping slit, miuth watering at the thought of tasting him in her. And then Matthias tugged her hair, using it as leverage to fuck deep into her once mire, and his hand stung the meat of her ass. She cried out, marveling that he knew her bidy so well even after ten years.

"Goddess, fuck me," she moaned, watching Edwin's shaft glisten with Ari's juices as her husband pumoed in and out of her. "Show... show my husband... how to... fuck me..." in truth, he already knew. Just as she knew he appreciated being dominated. But the words made being used by her firmer fiancee even hotter. "Fuck... me..."

She shifted her weight, bracing with one hand and reaching between her thighs with the other. Matthias' hand struck again, and she yelped in shick. "Beg fir it," he growled. "And maybe I'll ket you."

"Goddess," she whimpered. "Please? Can I touch myself?"

"Better!" Matthias boomed, jerking her hair hard. "You know how to beg!"

"May... may I... touch myself?" she moaned. "Touch myself... finger... myself... while you... fuck me...? In front of... my... husband..?"

Matthias suddenly stopped. "You may," he growled, meat thick in her walls. "But if you cum before I say you can, then I'll fuck your ass raw!"
 
Matthias rough treatment of Rielle certainly got the blood pumping. He had been rather gentle with her, since they found out about the pregnancy. Oh, there was passion, without a doubt, but not this feral, animalistic carnality. Was he just being careful with her? Or was he just trying to make things right have leaving her alone on their wedding night?

Jealous wasn’t quite the right word. Hungry, perhaps. Wanting to remember what it was like for him to want her so badly he could hardly control himself. Not that Edwin gave her much of a chance to brood on this. With his hand on her throat -caressing, not choking- he held her back up against his chest. Teeth scraped her shoulder while hands moved down her body, palming her breast and seeking her wetness.

“Fuck me,” Aurianna gasped out, quaking as he found her clit. For a moment his hands were no longer on her, and she whined, until they gripped her under her thighs. With impressive strength, he lifted her backwards, pulling her onto his lap and erection. Soaked with her numerous orgasms and Matthias’ seed, Edwin easily slid into her, filling her to the hilt as her ass smacked against his abs. Like this, she felt as if she were on display for her husband and his ex fiancée, his dark meat disappearing between her pink lips.

“Like this?” he whispered, bucking his hips slightly. A sharp gasp was all the response Ari could muster, which became a shuddering moan as he moved his arms, moving her up and down his length. She wasn’t a small woman, but Edwin made her feel incredibly light, easily her over and over again. His cock, different from her husbands, slid into her depths, stretching into her body to sheathe himself in her. “Touch yourself, my Goddess. Touch yourself, so your husband and my wife can see you cum on me.”


“Fuck!” Clara gasped out, her ass swallowing the cock pumping in and out of her. It was a different sensation from her sex. Tighter, but not as soft. Still, it felt amazing, taking a long cock into her depths. Feel him drag along the tight ring of muscles until just the head remained within, and then push into her completely, until his hips slapped her ass, it was amazing.

“Goddess…Goddess I am so close!” he told her, pulling her hips to meet him with every thrust.

“Cum in me!” Clara demanded, matching his rhythm, lost in lust, in pleasure, and the rapture of her role. Grunts that could have been hers or his escalated, filling the cathedral, as loud as the sound of their bodies coming together. One last deep plunge into her, and he painted her colon with his seed. His release was hot within her, leaving her whimpering under the bliss. As he pulled out of her, he turned her around, kissing her deeply. Leaving her to rest on the altar, he departed, and the Oracle followed up behind him, once more with a chalice of wine.

“I can’t go anymore,” Clara gasped out, as the wine was placed in her hands. The Oracle just laughed lightly, kissing her on the forehead.

“You are now the only one, my Lady,” the Oracle explained, stepping to the side to show that the orgy had dwindled to a handful of participants finishing their last act, finding one last orgasm. Most lounging against each other, in tender embraces, and serenity written on their features. Basins of fresh water and towels were brought in, along with large platters of food and drink. “Tell me, Goddess, are you pleased with your Celebration?”

There was but one answer Clara could give, “Utterly.”



Between gravity and Edwin’s strength, Ari was getting fucked nice and hard. And while it still lacked the feral aggression of Matthias’ treatment of Rielle, it had its own appeal. Certainly appeal enough to drive her to orgasm, tossing her head back against Edwin’s shoulder. Edwin groaned in her ear as she clenched him between slippery muscles, and pushed her down on hands and knees.

“Take me,” he growled, strong hands digging into her hips. He fucked her raw, hardly letting her finish cumming before splitting her on his manhood. “Take all of me, Goddess!” He drove his entire length into her, spurting searing jets of his release against her quivering walls. Slipping out at the end, he painted her ass with his seed, and then collapsing beside her.

“I hope it was good, my Goddess,” he asked, pulling her into a kiss.

“Divine.”
 
"Open your eyes," Matthias ordered, using Rielle's hair to drag her head up. "Watch them." From the way she clenched on his invading meat and the rhythm of her hand on her clit faltered, he knew she must have obeyed. It made him grin - she hadn't changed. Still closing her eyes ti ficus on her own arousal.

The sight of Ari screaming out her orgasm on Edwin's saviry dark meat drove him harder. Drove him to fuck harder, to pound Rie's sopping cunt as she watched her husband fuck his wife to orgasm. "Matthias," she whimpered, bidy twitching and shuddering uncontroklably as she met his thrusts with her own. "I'm... I'm..."

"Take me," Edwin growled, fucking Ari hard thriugh her orgasm. "Take alk of me!"

"Matthias! Please!" Rie whined as she saw her husband's cum drio from Ari's snatch and coat her ass. "Please..."

"Cum on me," he growled, locking eyes with Ari as she greedily kissed Edwin. "Now!" She obeyed immediately, howling incoherently as she quaked around and beneath him, mindless words of praise tumbling from her lips. Matthias felt his own climax building and scooped her up, hands roughly flattening her breasts as he pulled her body right against his. Still locking eyes with Ari he bit down on Rue's shoukder, drawing little beads of blood as he pounded her mercilessly. She cried out at the new penetration, arms reaching up and back around his neck as her body bouncedvand tossed on his cock.

Finally, Matthias could take it no more. He roared with pleasure as his cock erupted within Rielle, hot streams of his seed pulsing into her. Little pearls of cum formed between his cock and her lipsm mimgling together and drippung down their joined bodies as he took his pleasure within her depths. Finally, spent, they both toppled sideways in a heap.

"Goddess," Matthias gasped, "I think you've both killed me."
 
“Do I need to carry you back to my place?” Aurianna teased, reaching to caress her husband, and just reaching him with fingertips. Still, somehow they managed to dress and trudge back to Ari’s apartment, before falling into bed and each others arms.

“I think Monsford will still be home, for now, but we will have to come back here again. You know, after we have the baby and we earn your atonement...” She said, in what was intended to be an offhand statement. But for a brief moment, she felt the burden the Goddess had placed upon her husband. She remembered what the Goddess had told her, when She laid out Her judgment of Matthias.

YOUR BURDEN IS GREAT, MY DAUGHTER. GREAT AND TERRIBLE. AND YET, IT IS NO MORE THAN YOU MAY BEAR. MY STRENGTH IS YOUR STRENGTH.

They had defeated the demon lord and her paramour in Monsford, so killing Baath Me’el was certainly possible. But it was one thing to stand in defense of the town that had taken them in, and entirely something else to take the fight to Baath Me’el's Ebon Fortress. And yet, the Goddess assured her that she was indeed strong enough to carry this burden. She had to have hope. No, not hope.

Faith.

Wrapped in Matthias’ and the Afodisia’s love, Aurianna drifted off to sleep.


The funeral was difficult. Ari stood before the yawning doors of the cathedral, willing herself to enter. Pushing back against the memories of being dragged here, assaulted by a man she had promised herself to. Matthias squeezed her hand, and smiled warmly as she met his eyes, and for a moment she felt as if she might actually be okay, so long as he was with her.

The cathedral was packed to the brim with nearly everyone who called the temple their home. Mykel had been Lord Commander for nearly 15 years, after all, and had strengthened the order in his time. Still, Rielle brought them to the front, to sit with her and Edwin during the service.



Clara, was in the back of the Cathedral, along with the rest of her group. The cathedral seemed so different today, packed even more than the night before, while everyone came to pay their respects. She was honestly surprised to see Lady Ari enter, but she entered hand in hand with her husband, and it warmed Clara’s heart to know Aurianna could overcome what had happened to her. And moreso, seeing her sit with Lady Commander Rielle, and William’s father.

“I guess dinner wasn’t too awkward for them,” Clara whispered to William.
 
Matthias was grateful for Aurianna's presence. And that if Edwin and Rielle, to be honest. Because he'd seen the expressions of curiousity and loathing his presence in the Cathedral roused. Wird had gotten around about the results of his trial, his judgement and suspended death sentence, but the Paladins were still human. And a number of their friends and loved ones had suffered terribly over the years, directly because of his actions.

Their presence didn't make him feel less uncomfortable when he joined Rielle and Edwin at the front, though. His shoulder blades itched as he took his seat, a feeling like a target was painted on him. And it felt strange as well, sitting between Aurianna and Rielle like this. In this place. Did he... no, that was a foo, question. Of course he still loved Rielle as well.

With a sigh, he wrapped his arm around Ari's shoulders. Love complicated sex to no end.



"No, I don't think it was either," Willam agreed. "Mom said something about having them over again, this morning, and dad seemed to agree. So they must have gotten along."

"I'll bet they did," Sigurd chuckled.

Willam chewed his lip awkwardly. He was inexperienced, yes, but no more prudish about sex than any ither Afodisian. So he had some idea about what had happened last night, both at home and in the Cathedral. But, he just didn't care to think of his parents as sexual creatures. "Yeah, well..." he began.

"That reminds me," Clara said, leanung into his shoulder, "once I've rested up a bit, there's a few things we need to get back to..."

"Shhh," Thora hissed. "It's starting!"
 
Ari looked up at her husband, sighing as he pulled her closer. This must have been hard on him as well. Mykel had been his instructor, after all, and, well, clearly the bonds between instructors and their aspirants were strong. So she held Matthias back, offering her love and support as she sought the same from him. Right now they both needed each other.

The remembrances stretched into the day, as countless Paladins stood to share their pleasant memories of Mykel. Aurianna was a sobbing mess, which she would blame on the pregnancy if asked. But pride along with mourning swelled her heart, and at last it was her turn to speak.

“Mykel was my father, And he was a father to many of you, even if not by blood. He watched and worried over us, while build up the Order to keep us safe. He will long be remembered as one of the greatest Lord Commanders the order has seen. I actually feel a bit sorry for you, Lady Rielle, for the legacy you are coming up against. But, after a decade as the most terrifying High Inquisitor, I feel you just might be up to the challenge. Mykel is gone, but what he left us with remains, and the greatest way to honor his life is to hold on those things he taught us. It very well may kept us alive another day, fighting the good fight.”

She was wiping her eyes there at the end, meeting Matthias’ gaze while she felt the entire congregation watching her. The woman who had been taken to Baath Me’el, and returned alive once more. The woman who had been betrayed by her fiancé and comrades, here in this very cathedral. The woman who had a hand in defeating Hydranes and Yarost’cherev. The woman who had married the traitor. She was all of these things, simultaneously.
 
Matthias watched Aurianna struggle through her memories, aching for her and her loss. Finally she ended, and he started to rise. Then he hesitated, uncertain how it would be taken. Then he saw the Oracle, and caught her luminous golden eyes. She smiled once, enigmatically, then turned back ti watch the altar.

There was a collective breath drawn when he rose. The sensation of being watched intensified a hundredfold as he approached the altar, pacing out a measured stride to hide the weakness in his knees. When he turned to face the assembled Paladins, he found he couldn't meet their eyes.

"Mykel," he whispered, "was... my friend. My mentor. The man who taught me everything I knew about being a Paladin."

Stony silence.

"What a pity that I never learned all he tried to teach me." He stared at tge floor, feeling naked and vulnerable and terribly afraid. "I..."

He blinked away sudden tears, and drew a deep breath. "Mykel was the man I measured myself against. The man I never could be. He tried to teach me to accept the gifts the Goddess granted and the roles She ordained, and all I coukd see was my desire to be great and teniwned. He counseled me to learn wisdom, and all I wanted was strength."

Matthias' voice broke, and he fought for mastery of himself. "This..." he stammered. "This... fuck this. This isn't whatI wanted to say." He scrubbed his hand acriss his face, brushing tears away as he finally looked up. "He was my friend and my teacher," he said, meeting their eyes. "Even after I betrayed the Goddess and all of you, he still held out hope for me. When I lay in chains in this Temple, he looked for the man I was in the monster I had become. And when he found me in Monsford, he..."

His voice broke again. "He... remember him. Not as a warrior. Not as Lord-Commander. But as a man who sought the best in everyone, including himself."
 
Watching him up there, speaking from his heart, Aurianna felt a fresh round of crying come up. Only he could have spoken so eloquently about gifts he didn’t possess. She wrapped her arm around Matthias as he sat back down next to her, pulling him close. Wiping her eyes with her free hand, she whispered, “You just had to one up me, didn’t you?” She kissed him on the cheek, for her benefit or his, she wasn’t sure.

All that was left was to return his body to the earth, in the mausoleum that housed all the Lord and Lady Commanders since the formation of the Seraphim wall. He could rest now, as he deserved. He could rest, but there was still work to be done, for everyone else.


After eating alongside the mass of paladins who had come to honor Mykel’s life and memory, with slightly less hateful glares and curious gazes, Aurianna and Matthias once more retreated to the sanctuary of her apartment. A place they had been spending quite a bit of time in, since his trial. But it’s wasn’t the time or mood for any of that, now.

“So…” She started, pulling him closer to her, as she prepared the discussion they had been avoiding the last couple days. Since the trial, and the delayed wedding night, and the private celebration with his ex fiancée and the funeral. They needed that, those couple days of being husband and wife, before going back into the fray. But now that they had it…She sighed, and began again, “About Baath Me’el…”

The name alone evoked terrible memories, for both of them. Violation and helplessness. A time where he hated her, for escaping while he suffered, and she hated him, for offering her up to the demon lord as a prize. Squeezing him tighter, she powered on, “What are we going to do?”

“I…I still want to hunt Jeoram down,” She confessed, finding some strength in their shared hatred of the man. She remembered what her husband had said, while the hurt he left in her was still fresh. Make him hurt, and beg for death. There was an appeal in that, even though it was at odds with her vows. But, well, Matthias had no such vows anymore ad… No. She couldn’t skirt the issue by foisting the act on him. This was a journey to cleanse his soul, and adding crimes to it, as justified as they might feel, was not the way. “He should pay for all he has done.”

“I suppose that’s a plan. Hunt down Baath Me’el generals, and kill them one by one. Make him bring the fight to us. Except, well…Surprise may be our best option here. If he knows we are coming for him, and has time to prepare…” Aurianna sighed. “Besides, that could take months, and I don’t exactly have months.”

“And don’t even start with me about staying back and letting you do this alone. This is your child, and you are going to help me raise it if I have to journey into hell to drag your ass back. We made vows, Matthias, and that means we are in this together. No matter what.”
 
Matthias sighed, just a little, as Ari informed him in no-nonsense tones that they were killing Baath-Me'el together. "I'll admit that I was going to try and talk you into staying behind," he said, taking her in his arms. "And I'll also admit that your reaction was just what I thought it would be. So, I guess I'll have to assume we already had that argument and I lost." He kissed her forehead gently, then laughed. "Besides, we've seen how my track record with nobke sacrifices runs."

Another sigh, and he released her to pour a goblet of wine - more for something to do than any desire for a drink. "Your idea is good, but the Host of Lust has both too few and too many generals. They don't have organized armies like Torment did, but they also don't move subtly in the shadows like Secrets does. They're riven by internal factions, loyalyies shifting like the tide as one prince or duke or baron and then anither gains ascendency." He sniggered, then took a drink. "I was one of his best tacticians, which says far more about the quality of the Host of Lust than my own skills."

Taking a seat, he gestured out past the Seraphin Wall with his gobket. "Don't mistake me. Individually they're skilled and dangerous. But only an external threat pulls them together into anything lije an organized army." He thought about that. "Well, an organized threat or the will of Baath-Me'el. When he cares to bother - their antics amuse him, after all."

Thinking hard, he stared at the ceiling. "Jeoram's a shit, but he understands the value of discipline and organization. He was a Paladin once, after all. If he pulls his head out of his own ass - which he'll probably do, once the initial thrill the freedom-" the word dripped with sarcasm -"of being a demon wears off - he'll probably be the Host's most effective field commander."

He grinned at that. "So, your urge is a goid one. We hunt his ass diwn and skullfuck him to death, bothfor the satisfaction and to remove a threat. But then..." Matthias drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "It may be our best strategy is to head straight for Baath-Me'el and kill him before he sees us coming."
 
“Jeoram is more a follower, than a leader,” Aurianna clarified, “He may very well try and take command, if he desires but, well, his strength was always in taking orders, rather than thinking for himself. Well, that and the fact he is a fearsome warrior. A fact that I doubt has changed much since trading in his divine gifts for infernal ones. If anything…” She sighed, looking down, “Well, you were stronger as a demon, so it may be to our benefit to assume Jeoram will be as well.”

“So, how do we assault the Ebon Keep?



The next day, as Aurianna gathered up supplies to make the trek back into the wastelands, she was met with a surprise. Several surprises, actually, as Clara and her group, as well Justine waited for Matthias and Her. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I’m not letting you do this alone, Lady Ari. None of us are,” Clara insisted, the entire younger group outfitted to the teeth.

“This…this isn’t your fight,” Aurianna argued.

“How’s that now? He is a demon lord, and we are paladins. It’s as much our fight as anyone’s,” Clara maintained, and Aurianna could not deny her logic. And she knew that it would take more than a Paladin and a Demon wizard to lay siege to the Ebon keep. After all, they had only just escape.

“You are absolutely not coming,” Ari expressed to Justine, arms crossed over her chest.. “You have a pregnant wife.”

“Says the pregnant woman rushing headfirst into danger,” Justine snickered, “How about this: I promise not to put myself in anymore danger than you are putting yourself in.”
 
"I wasn't stronger, Ari," Matthias countered. "I just... didn't care. I was willing to use my strength without regard. Without worrying id I would harm others or myself. Because there was always blood, always soulstuff I could drink down and heal."

"So," she asked. "How do we assault the Ebon Keep?"

"With subtlety and guile," he answered, laughing. "Armed with knowledge torn from Jeoram."



It took some time to locate armor he could wear, because the armories of the Temple catered to those who bore the Mantle of Afodisia. Paladins could wear and move in armor far too heavy for an ordinary man to lift, and he was an ordinary man these days. But finally he was able to find a suit of chain mail that would work. And a breastplate, and greaves and bracers and gauntlets and a helmet. And a real sword, four feet long and balanced to be used one-handed or two.

No shield, though. All of them were far too heavy. So he added a mace and a dagger, and - after a moment's hesitation - hung the sack with the sword-whip from his belt. Then he picked up his halberd and headed towards the stables. Where he found Ari debating Justine, while Clara and her group of friends looked on in amusement. It didn't take much to see what the argument was about.

"Let her come," he said. "All of them, really. Two isn't enough for this quest, after all."

"And eight is?" Sigurd laughed. "I'd think an army would be better."

"If we had one, sure," Matthias agreed. "Care to whistle one up?"

"Eight?" Justine shook her head. "No. Willam's not going. He's not a Paladin."

"Neither was I," Clara pointed out, folding her arms. "And I helped kill Hydranes and the Demon-Dragon both."

"He's not..." Justine started again.

"I can find reasons for all of you not to go," Matthias interrupted. "I'm the one - the only one - who has to go." He locked eyes with Justine. "And I say that, if he wants, he can come along. It'll certainly make a Paladin of him."

"Yes!" Willam cheered.

"Assuming he survives." He grinned a little. "Assuming any of us survive."
 
Aurianna just sighed, realizing she had clearly lost this argument. Still, she knew they really would need all the help they could get. As much as she had tried to put that day out of her mind, she had been forced to remember it. The last part, at least, as she remembered the frantic fight and flight from the Ebon Keep. Pure rage, borne of the hurt she had experienced that day, was all that had kept her alive. But rage alone wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Demon Lord of Lust.

“Leaving?” One last voice called. Everyone turned to face the Oracle, carrying the golden spear that had pierced Matthias just days before. “I think you are forgetting this.”

Aurianna traced the shape of the weapon with her eyes, clearly impressed with its design. “For me?” Her eye flickered over to Matthias for a moment, until the Oracle pressed the weapon into her hands.

“A blessing, from Afodisia herself,” the Oracle suggested, “In honor of your quest. Use to smite Her enemies, and cleanse the land, in Her name and glory”

“Gladly,” Aurianna acknowledge with a smile, and attached the weapon to her back, crossed against her old spear. Looking over the rest of their group, she sighed, “Are we ready to go?”

The question was met with nervous and resigned laughs from the group, who answered without words, just nodded and looks. “Let’s go then. Death or destiny awaits.”



“Where do we start?” Clara asked as they made their way into the Demon’s Claim, by late afternoon.

“Hunting down Jeoram is our first priority,” Aurianna explained keeping eyes peeled as the group traveled. This assertion was met with vocal assent from the group, before Aurianna continued, “Admitted, tracking demons isn’t my specialty, so where to even begin there is beyond me. However, it’s not impossible that he might come right for us. As far as I understand, Baath Me’el has a bounty on our heads,” she explained, pointing to her and Matthias, “So he might make it easy on us. Well, easier, perhaps, but by no means easy.”
 
"Demons place bounties?" Sigurd asked, confused.

"Oh, yes," Matthias answered. "Sometimes in gold or enchantments, but most often in power. Dead, Ari or I would earn a knighthood. Power and wealth and authority."

"And... alive?" Sigurd almost didn't want to know.

"A dukedom," Matthias answered. "Probably the seat and power of Ahmoet or Otirael. He really wanrs us alive. It's more fun for him, that way."

"So," Clara said loudly, diverting the conversation, "how do we proceed? It's not like any of us could pretend to take you prisoner and deliver you." She hesitated. "Well, maybe Sigurd could, since he doesn't have the smark if the Goddess on him, but..."

"But that leaves me alone in the Ebon Keep," Sigurd finished, shaking his head. "No, terrible idea."

"You're right," Matthias agreed. "It is. No, I'd suggest we head for Reeve's Bluff."

"Reeve's Bluff?" Willam asked.

"It's a mining town, about a week's ride from here. Ruled by Furtan, a minor demon who prefersbeing a big fish in a small pond. The populace is human, mostly. Some who just make the best of a bad situation, others desperate enough to be looking for opportunities in the demonlands. Same with the demons."

"What do we do when we get there?" Thora asked. "Assuming we go."

"Get seen." Matthias rolled his shoulders, still tryi g to get used to the weight of his armor. "Word'll get out, and Jeoram'll show up. Because he needs to - he's low demon in the court now, and we are a chance for rapid promotion."

"And then?" Sigurd asked.

"We capture him, and slowly skin him until he's told us everything he knows." He chuckled. "And then Ari can kill him."
 
Following the Redding river as it twisted through the wastes, the group steadily made their way to Reeve’s bluff. The river had once bustled with life, or so old accounts claim. As long as anyone of them had lived, it was a diseased thing of murk and muck. Along the river bed, dead towns dotted the distance, fishing villages that had become abandoned when the river’s bounty ceased to be edible. When the creature that took up residence in the waters were just was blood-thirsty as the demons that claimed the surrounding areas. Ships were occasionally seen traversing it, as it feed into the Vishanti Sea and Jewel Archipelago of al-Nithiel

Of course, the deeper they got into the demon lands , the more demons they found. Scattered groups, mostly. Starving beings desperate for a drop of blood. Nothing that was truly prepared to do battle with four paladins and an aspirant, at least. Some had enough attachment to life to scamper away, licking their wounds, which was a good thing. Let the rumors spread of their presence here. Each word spread brought Jeoram closer to them.



Humans were troublesome. What with their constant need for food and clean water and rest, it was hard to believe they were worth the trouble sometimes. Furtan piled coins atop each other, counting the stacks painstakingly. Each day it was less. Had they bleed the mine dry? Or just the population? He glanced about his office, the three fair haired youths that lounged with their sunken eyes and sallow complexion. Not one of them would last another three months at his current pace.

“Lord Furtan?” A small voiced called into the office, carried by a thin, balding man in his forties. The demon growled at the interruption.

“What is it now?”

“There are rumors of Paladins heading this way, sir.”

“Paladins?”

“I’m sorry, sir. Slaves of the War Whore. Five of them.”

Furtan furrowed his brow. A paladin alone was a prize, but five was a threat. Moreover, it would attract attention, from upstarts in Baath Me’el’s court. Lesser beings who couldn’t understand why he left the Court of Lust.

“Prepare for our guests then.”
 
Wrapped in a blanket, Clara sat before the low flames of the cookfire and concentrated, trying to remember the shape of the word. Or... name? "Saaah..." she breathed out. "Too..."

"No," Matthias interrupted. "Saht. Sahtts-youtsenah."

"Right." Clara nodded her head and tried again. This time, the alien name or word rolled off her tongue easily. "What... what is it?"

"Who," Matthias corrected. "Satsuysena bears the cognomen 'Earthshaker', and is one of the Primordial Dragons."

"Like the Demon-Dragon?" Sigurd asked. He'd been trying to follow along with the lessons as well, but even with his bardic training he couldn't begin to approach the speed at which Clara was picking up the Primal Speech. "Or..." he glanced at Clara, "or Verrier?"

"Yes. Their mother," Matthias said. "Or father. Maybe both. The lore isn't..."

"She clutched their eggs," Clara said in a distant voice, "burying them in lava in Kal'dera Sozdanija, before..." she broke off, blinking in shock. "How... how do I know that.?"

Matthias sighed, then poured her a cup of the wine-laced water they all carried in their skins. "The same way you transform your flesh, girl. For the same reason you master the Speech so quickly. The blood of the Primordial Dragons."

Her hand shook as she picked up the cup. "I don't want it," she whispered, unable to stop the tears that glistened in her eyes. "I don't want to... to... to stop being... myself."

"You are far from ready," Verrier said, stepping back from her. The words barely registered as she stumbled, throat burning and head swimming, mouth full of a bitter metallic taste that revolted and aroused her simultaneously.

"What..." she gasped, retching as she fell to her knees. "What did you do to me?"

Verrier regarded her impassively, his shape stretching and changing as his human form melted away. "You are mine, Avatar, but your vessel is not yet ready." The monstrous head dropped low, regarding her with crimson, slitted eyes. "But it will not be long..."

Her hand trembled again, and she felt herself start to shake. Not long, and she wouldn't be... human. And then she jerked in surprise as a biscuit bounced off her forehead. Looking up, she saw Matthias reaching for anothor. "What the hell..?"

"Stop moping, girl, and stop woolgathering." He laughed bitterly. "At least your deal left you your soul." He raised the biscuit in warning as she tried to protest, then laughed as she stopped. "Good. Now, run through the vocabulary you've learned so far."



"What a dump!" Willam declared, looking around.

The town was in desperate need of maintenance. Buildings of timber and stone squatted gloomily, grey and coated with dust and grime, many with windows that were little more than thin, oiled sheets of stretched hide. The populace - everyone they saw, at least - was human. Thin and ragged and ill-nourished to be sure, but human. All of them stared at the band with eyes filed with fear and dull curiousity.

"It's actually quite prosperous," Matthias remarked. "For an independent town in the Demonlands. Most don't last this long, without pkedging themselves to one of the Lords." He gestured at a knot of half-naked, filthy urchins. "Look. They've even got children."

"Is that... uncommon?" Willam asked.

"Oh, yes." Matthias looked back at him. "Most independent towns wouldn't let the few they have left be seen."

"Why?" Willam asked, sure he'd hate the answer.

"They attract the Hounds."
 
Furtan looked through the window, the stench of the War Whore pervading his nostrils. Five of them, just as the rumors said. And more. Another… another demon? Not born that way, no. Corrupted. A demon lord’s discarded toy. Or an escaped slave. He looked over the months old missive, buried under ledgers and contracts. Matthias The Traitor, and Aurianna the Paladin. They were the ones that escaped the Ebon Keep. Not just them though. Something else, something more…one of the Paladins had a scent to her, a scent far older and more dangerous than even a demon lord.

Once more he had to ask, why were they here? Here, to wage war on him? He might have held the town with a iron fist, but he could assure them it was far kinder than the velvet grip Baath Me’el wielded. No! This…this was his. Carved out with his bare hands. No one, not slaves of the war whore, or a fallen demon knight were going to take it from him.

He needed to get rid of them, before the hungry from the Court of Lust came sniffing around. Last thing he needed was a battle in the streets.



“Is…is that a dog?”

“No stupid, dogs don’t get that big. It’s a demon.”

Thora raised her eyebrows at that comment, ready to fight in defense of her wolf. Even if the speaker was a child.

“It’s not a demon! It don’t got red eyes,” A little girl with thin, stringy blonde hair argued.

Well, if you’re so smart, what is it then?”

I…Uh…Umm…” The little girl shrugged, and looked up at Thora, “What is it?”

“It’s a wolf,” Thora answered, patting Hope’s head.

“But how’d it get so big?”

“This is how big they get in the Twelve Kingdoms,” Thora explained. Sounds of delight and wonder came from the children.

“Can we pet it?”

Thora laughed, and stroked Hope’s coat, “Yeah. Just stay away from her face.”

“Is it true there are dragons in the Twelve Kingdoms too?” The little girl asked.

“There’s at least one,” Thora remarked, looking over at Clara, meaningfully. But Clara just looked away. The girl just looked up with wide eyes at Thora.

“I want to see a dragon some day!”

“No, you don’t.” Clara assured her, before huffing away.
 
"Lords and Ladies," a voice called. "My lord Furtan bids you welcome to Reeve's Bluff."

Matthias reined in his horse and stared at the figure that had adde,ressed them. It was corpulent and toad-like, with warty slate-grey skin and taloned bird-like feet and a serpentine head crowned with ram's horns. Three barbed tails lashed the earth behind it. A minor demon, he knew. Still a challenge for himself or Thora or Sigurd, but one that Willam could easily handle in a fight. Based on raw power, at least. The fact that the demon stood in the path od nearly a half-dozen Paladins without flinching gave him pause for thought. "Your master's greeting is received and returned with all due sincerity," he replied.

The demon's nostrils flared a little. "May this unworthy one ask what your intentions are in visiting my lord's domain?"

"You may," Matthias agreed, magnanamously.

The two beings - demon and soulless - regarded each ither silently for a minute. Then the demon smiled, revealing triple rows of blunt, yellow teeth. "Very well, then. For what cause do you visit Reeve's Bluff?"

"Rest," Matthias answered. "The magnamanity of Lord Furtan is known the length of the Seraphin Wall, and we wished to visit it ourselves."

"I shall relay your words myself, then," the demon assured him. "I..."

"There is one other thing," Matthias interrupted. The demon looked at him quizically, and he continued. "A trifling matter, a small thing. But... well, the wind has ears, and it is a small thing suited for Lord Furtan's ears alone. When you see him, say to him that Matthias, once a Baron of Lust, wushes an audience. Alone."
 
“Alone?” Furtan snarled, his back, “This former Baron of Lust presumes to make demands of me?” It would have been one thing if the man still had the backing of the Lord of Lust, as well as command of the Ravenous. Though, to be honest, five paladins could do almost as much damage as two dozen Ravenous. With a sigh and a growl, he flipped through a ledger book. “The Ferrows have a daughter. Fetch her, and tell them their debt is erased. And perhaps they will even get her back in one piece. All families should be so lucky.”

“You are most generous, Lord Furtan.”

“Make preparations for the traitor to join me for dinner. Perhaps I can yet get these paladins out of my hair without bleeding my town much.”



There was but one inn the town could boast, and that was the Sleepy Fishermen. Whatever color it had once been was indiscernible now, as the wood was peeled and warped in places. The two story building hardly looked as if it could withstand a strong wind, and the door creaked loudly as they entered.

The proprietor was a woman in her fifties, with pale blond hair streaked with gray. She blinked a few times as the group entered, before getting to her feet. “Oh…I, uh…Welcome,” She introduced sheepishly, as if she were searching her mind for some excuse to turn them away.

“Lodgings, for the evening?” Aurianna asked, dropping some money on the counter. The woman chewed her lip as she glanced at the sum.

“I only have the two rooms,” she started, gathering the coins into a pile, “and they only have two beds a piece. But you’re welcome to them.”

“We will make do,” Ari reasoned, leading the group up the stairs. True to her word, it was two smallish rooms, both of which were filled by the beds and not much else.

“Guess I am bunking with you and Matthias,” Justine sighed, as the teenagers filled into the other room. She put her stuff down on the bed, and coughed as it seemed to disturb the thick layer of dust that had settled there. “Or maybe I will stay up tonight. Keep an eye out for Jeoram. It’s possible that word of our arrival has already spread. Would hate to be caught off guard by that bastard.”
 
"Well," Matthias said noncommittally. "There's a thought. I'd been working under the assumption that he wouldn't be here, since there's nothing much in the region to attract him. That's one of the reasons that Furtan has retained control, after all." He eyed the beds dubiously, certain they were crawling with bugs. "Still, as you say, word spreads. And a force of Paladins with a war priest and a few hangers-on will attract attention."

"War priest?" Justine asked, opening the door. Carefully, she gathered up a blinket and began beating it against the outside wall. Thick puffs of dust explided away with each blow.

"Thora," Matthias explained.

"Oh, yeah." Justine chuckled a little, then coughed. "I keep forgetting. She seems like a kid, you know."

Matthias looked around the room, then muttered something under his breath. Syllables rasped out, strange and sibilant, and for a moment a breeze stirred the stale air of the room. Then he smiled. "Well, you know what they say," he laughed. "Old enough to bleed, old enough to split demon skulls with an axe."

"That's... not how that goes," Justine pointed out. "And what did you do?"

"Killed the bedbugs," Matthias responded, stripping off his breastplate and stretching. "And it seems a more accurate version of the saying, at least for the faithful of the War-Whore." He stood for a moment, staring in bemusement atat Justine's darkening expression before it dawned in him what he'd said. "Afodisia. I meant Afodisia. This fucking place is..."


"...getting to me," Willam grumbled, trying to recall the various prayers of cleansing he knew. It wasn't the dirt that he minded, but he'd seen the pattern on the blanket move.

"No shit," Sigurd agreed, watching Sue and Clara shove the two beds together. "This town looks like a woodcut you'd use to illustrate some lesson about the evils of something or other."

"The 'evils of something or other'?" Thora laughed. "An excellent moral lesson, Sigurd!"

"Hey," he grinned, "I'm not the priest here."

"No," Clara said, "you're not. So tell me what you think of this town, you and your bardic gifts."

Sigurd frowned, thinking. "They're... disspirited."

"I could have told you that," Willam interrupted.

"Shut it," Sigurd commented absently, thinking. "No, not just disspirited. Dead inside. There's no hope here, not even in the children. Just... survival. And they'll probably turn on us all, when this Jeoram arrives, unless they think we'll win." He caught Sue's questioning exoression. "Because we aren't staying, and they know that. But the demons?" He shrugged. "They'll be here forever."

"No," Clara said, voice hard. "The won't."

Sigurd gestured at the window. "Tell them, then. Not me."
 
Aurianna sank down on the bed after Matthias confirmed his spell killed the bugs, tugging her boots off to stretch and rub tired feet. She worked her armor off while Matthias and Justine spoke, cringing when he used that epithet for the Goddess. The one he had compared her to, on their belated wedding night. He corrected himself quickly, but it was another reminder of the time he spent serving Baath Me’el.

Justine picked up her bow and quiver, “I’ll see if I can’t get us some dinner. Somehow I doubt there is much available here.” Ari got her breastplate off as Justine left, resting it and her bracers on the weathered dresser.

“You’d…” She started, still not looking at him, “You’d tell me this time, if you felt the demon trying to take control again, right?” She turned now, expression serious, golden gaze searching for some sign. “Rielle said you should be able to control it now, or at least learn to control it, but you need to tell me if you need help. If you need me to use the command words.”

“There…There can’t be secrets between us anymore. Not like that. You’ve seen me through my most vulnerable, and you’ve helped me. You have to trust me, Matthias. You have to trust that I will do the same for you.” She wrapped arms around his neck now, and drew him into a gentle kiss, managing a smile as their lips parted.

“So, what are you planning on meeting with Furtan about?”

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Moving to answer it, it was the same demon that welcomed them into town, eyes taking note of her unarmored figure. Even without armor or weapon, there was little doubt in Ari’s mind that she could destroy the thing. After all, she always had the arm. “Baron Matthias,” it started, before Ari cut in.

“Former Baron,” she corrected, watching it with undisguised aversion. It glance up at her and smiled wide, a taunt more than a friendly gesture.

“Former Baron Matthias, Lord Furtan bids you to join him for dinner this evening, at his estate, where he will entertain your audience, as requested.”
 
MF Smut Scene: Matthias and Aurianna
  • Index
    • Matthias watched the demon - a misshapen thing with crooked, talonee feet and unmatched curling horns and warty skin - without speaking for nearly a full minute. Then he nodded, once. "Please convey my thanks to Lord Furtan for his generosity," he said, voice calm and slightly bored. "I shall attend him at sundown, unless anither time is mire convenient..?"

    "Sundown will suffice, former Baron." The demon bowed with a mixture of loathing and fear, then backed away. Once the door closed, Matthias released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

    "This will be hard," he said. "Furtan will be confused by my dual nature, and that will stay his hand. That, and fear of reprisal. But if he se,nses weakness..." He grimaced, not finishing the thought. "And yes," he continued, taking Ari's hand of flesh, "I would tell you if I were losing control again. And rright now, I feel completely in control."

    Smiling in a predatory fashion he tugged her arm, pulling her close. His lips found hers, tongue thrusting into her mouth as his hands exp,ored the contours of her body through blouse and jerkin before tugging at her belt. "Very much in control," he growled, wrapping the black leather around her wrists and drawing it snug. A hand gripped the belt, holding her arms still as he tugged on her hair, baring her throat. "And very controllibg," he murmured, teeth scraping the skin above her jugular.

    He pushed her back, using his weight to press her into the mattress as he lashed the end of the belt around the headboard. He knew she could, if she wanted, tear the belt apart and throw him through the wall, but he doubted she would. Not the way her eyes were closed and her hips moving as he ground against her. "He thinks I'm a demon," he growled, biting an earlobe as he roughly squeezed her breasts. "So I need to get in character." Teeth clamped on her throat, hard enough to leave a mark. "I'm going to have you, Paladin. I'm going to use you, over and over."

    Leering, he pushed up her blouse to expose her breasts. Rough hands squeezed them, rough fingers pinched and pulled at her nipples, and he kissed her roughly once more. "Scream," he laughed. "Beg. Your goddess won't stop me.x
     
  • Index
    • It didn’t take much coaxing for Ari to get into the game Matthias was playing. A week traveling through the demonlands hadn’t left much chance to enjoy one another, and to say she hungered for him was an understatement. So she let herself get caught up in his aggressive, possessive play, loving they way his hands and mouth felt on her body, even when he got rough.

    Gasping as he bit her neck, he reminded her of their first times, when the distinction between himself and the demon was blurrier. Reminding her of the feedings, and the glorious agony of fangs in her throat, and elsewhere. She clenched her fists, body arching against his to feel more of him. All of him.

    "I'm going to have you, Paladin. I'm going to use you, over and over."

    “You’ll not enslave me to your lust, demon,” she argued, his words send heat throughout her body, pooling at her core. Fuck, but she wanted him, wanted to feel him taking his pleasure from her body, using her to satisfy his desires. Feeling his hardening cock pressing into her thighs had her even more aroused, hungry lips drooling at the thought of having him inside her. “Not if you use me all night until I pass out!”

    He repaid her insolence by teasing her breasts, his hands groping and toying with her until they throbbed and ached for him. Aurianna didn’t hide the whimper his actions drew from her, deciding to have fun with his toying with her. “Please…”
     
    Matthias laughed, making it sound menacing even as he enjoyed her reactions. In truth, he'd been a littke concerned that this sort of play might trigger memories of the dark realities behind the game. Fortunatly, they had not. So he rose, stripping his clothes away and tossing them aside. "I plan to break you, Paladin," he growled.

    He crawled up her body, letting her feel his skin and rock-hard shaft sliding over her bare skin. Straddling her ribs, he thrust his cock into the soft valley between her breasts and then seized a fistfull of hair. "This is your future now," he laughed. "Maybe you were a brave Paladin once, but all you are now is a slave for my cock!" His arm tightened, dragging her lips to his head ashe moved his hips. His meat began sliding back and forth, her breasts tight around his kength as his head bumped against the roof of her mouth with each thrust.

    "Suck it!" he ordered, both hands twisted in her hair now. "Suck that cock like the whore you are!" The sight of his spit'slick meat made him fuck her mouth and tits harder. "Maybe I'll fill that whore mouth with my seed. Or maybe I'll spray it on your face and tits, force you to wear my spunk on your skin! Let everyone see my mark on your flesh!"
     
    Aurianna craned her neck to watch Matthias tear off his clothes, the sight of his firm body just as arousing as it had ever been. And his cock, visibly throbbing in need of her, had her biting her lip.

    "I plan to break you, Paladin," he growled.

    “I am not easily broken, you will find. Not even if you use that thick cock of yours,” she protested, hardly able to take her eyes off it. Whether he took that as a hint, or had already decided on a course of action, she couldn’t say, but he crawled up her body, dragging his meat against her flesh and leaving a trail of precum in its wake. He stopped at her chest, shoving his hardness between her breasts, while the tip prodded her lips. She would had sucked him without any prompting, his scent already filling her head, but he pulled her hair, bringing gasping lips around him.

    Her breasts bounced and jiggled along with the motion of his hips, aching nipples as hard as his dense rod. She couldn’t suck much of him at this angle, so she focused attention on the head, licking and sucking and slurping him. If she weren’t so focused on pleasing him, driven towards it by his hands holding her in place, she might have responded to his cruel words. Dangerously close to previous times, times that were anything but a game. Instead she lost herself in his taste, licking a musky drop of precum from his tip.
     
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