She was sitting just to the right of him. His mind wandered to the last time he had been with a
woman. He could remember the
details, but he couldn’t remember how long it had been. Six months, a year, even though he
couldn’t say, it felt like a lifetime ago.
The others in the group were keeping themselves occupied. All of them milling around before the
day turned to night. Dinner would
be made soon and they would all settle down. It was the last night before they returned to Kendell
Keep. The time was right.
Her name was Acatia. She was
one of the girls that they had saved.
They found her naked in the baths of the caves. Her beauty and lack of clothing made it clear that she was
there for the pleasure of Iuz’s priests.
And now she was sitting there next to him. The only thing she was wearing was the cloak that he had
given her. She didn’t flinch as he
began to cast a spell.
He kept his voice low, as to keep the others from hearing. They didn’t. His spell complete, he coughed, then turned to her and said,
“Come with me, I have something for you.”
She stared into his eyes and with a smile replied, “of course”.
As soon as he knew she was unable to refuse, he gently led her further
from the fire. Her cloak swung
open as she walked. Slowly looking
down at her exposed body, she moved her hand to the edge of the cloak. His hand went to her chin. Lifting her head, so that her eyes met
his, he paused. He looked down to
her hand, her eyes followed his. He
waved her hand away, with just a slight movement of his fingers. Her cloak hanging open, her face
wearing a shroud of contentment, she followed him behind a mound, to a spot the
others could not see.
From
a distance, Merric caught the two out of the corner of his eye. It looked strange to him. Where were they going? What was this old man going to do with
this young female? Then he saw her
cloak fall open. He saw Thaer wave
her hand away. He knew that she wasn’t
of her own mind. He dropped the
vambrace that he had been polishing and hurried to them.
The
moment they walked behind a large mound where the others couldn’t see, his mind
turned dark. He was going to take her. Fuck her hard, like she hadn’t had
before. She was under his
spell. He would be able to push
her past her normal limits. He was
going to take out his anger on her.
He planned to push her hard to the limits of the spell. If it didn’t break on its own, he would
break the charm and force her to take it.
She deserved it. She had been
held in those caves, unbound. She
must have wanted it.
“Thaer,”
Merric said loudly, mustering up his confidence.
Thaer
let out a sigh. His eyes rolled and he turned his attention away from his
prize. “Shoo” Waving his hand and
coughing, “go back the campfire little boy”.
Thaer
could tell that it was not worth it.
The weeks of traveling had taught him that this boy would not let this
go. Thaer felt fatigued and
another wave of nausea consumed him.
He mind quickly assessed the possible outcomes of this situation. It was not worth the effort that it
would take.
Merric
went on about doing the right thing, his god, and whatever else. Thaer stopped listening and was walking
away. Before he disappeared behind
the other side of the mound, he turned back and said, “Acatia, that’s
Merric. Let him do whatever he
wants to you.” With that he smiled
and turned back to the fire.
Merric
stood there frozen. He looked down
at her naked body, then to her face.
She stared back at him, waiting, willing.
Thaer
broke the spell on Merric’s insistence, sat by the fire, and helped prepare the
food. He acted as if nothing
happened.
While they ate, Acatia sat next to Thaer. She started to open up about her experiences in the caves,
but soon caught herself, thinking that he couldn’t understand. Hearing her raw feelings touched
something in him. Feeling a
connection with her he told her of his recent past. They spoke quietly.
They talked until almost all of the others had retired for the night. Merric was still up.
Acatia walked over to him and thanked him for his actions earlier. Then she told him that she no longer
needed saving. She walked back to
Thaer and gently took him by the arm and led him away.
Spent, croaking with exhaustion, he crashed to the ground and rolled
over. He laid his head back and slowed his breathing. Acatia lay beside him.
Looking up into the stars, he thought of the darkness inside him. It had grown so powerful. The seed had taken root and the seed
had not been sowed by him. He
thought about how it had been showing itself. He thought about how he felt. The sickness within his body and the evil that he had
endured had affected him more than he wanted to admit.
He thought of Merric. The boy’s
actions were noble, in his own eyes.
He was following his beliefs.
Thaer had no issues with using his new found magic to get what he
wanted. He had always used the
minds of the week to get his ways.
But, this anger was not his.
“Thank you, Merric” was his thought. Knowing that Merric wouldn’t understand, but Merric had
stopped him from being something he didn’t want to be.
