ã€ŠThe Heretic Legionã€‹


 1. Better Lucky Than Dead

    The Hob¡¯s blood was currently still pumping out onto my clothes. A promotion of sorts I suppose. I crawled out from underneath him and considered what to do about my other problem, come to think of it I probably should have done that a little more often before now.

    You see I¡¯d survived this far largely on luck. When my village was raided by a Necromancer he¡¯d recognized my affinity for the art. Though that isn¡¯t nearly as impressive as you might think. I swear the Gods must have wrote the laws of nature such that every burnt down village comes with either its own budding hero or evil overlord in training as part of the package because you can¡¯t jerk off a small dick in the Halls of the Chosen without jizzing onto some monument to someone or other whose family or lover or most favoritest pet was killed in an attack by undead or whose village was consumed by demonfire from a rogue summoning.

    I¡¯d have thought maybe after the first couple hundred horror stories people would learn to stop building villages on top of battlefield graveyards or near where the ethereal plane most closely intertwined with our own but they neeeeever do.

    My affinity for the arts meant I ended up enslaved alive instead of enslaved dead which was at least slightly better and over the course of a few weeks I was broken. The stupidest part was at first I wasn¡¯t even worried. I¡¯d been told all those stupid stories about the Chosen and figured this must just be my chance to prove myself to the Gods. Can you believe it?

    Oh, sure I was a little scared. But part of me was excited I just knew I¡¯d survive, becomes a hero, slay the necromancer and get the girl! So no worries, he couldn¡¯t possibly break me, nope, no way. Which was a great idea for the ten minutes it lasted. Then the other boy beside me spat in the necromancer''s face and was reanimated three hours later with his dick bisected in half and a spear still stuck up his ass and I couldn¡¯t be more helpful in the process.

    I won¡¯t go into details but needless to say, it works out better if you give in early. After being broken he put me back together again as a Neophyte and I started a new life of sorts. Which when the alternative was being a zombie actually constitutes luck. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    I¡¯d gained the rank of Acolyte doing the only thing actually required to advance in an undead raiding party, being the one re-animating those that failed instead of the one being re-animated. In a world where the dead still serve and every error is punished with death, I¡¯d been lucky enough not to be sent charging naked into a shield wall with nothing more than a reek of desperation and a dagger. Score two for me.

    To understand how I was even luckier you first have to understand what a necromancer is. A necromancer is two things, A controller of necrotic mana through which to manipulate the undead and also a corrupter of other manas to forcefully convert them into necrotic instead. This is because necrotic mana isn¡¯t so much its own mana as it what remains when mana decays or is corrupted somehow. Turns out I¡¯m excellent at utilizing necrotic mana. My ability to take other forms and corrupt it though was only slightly above those killed for incompetence. Being great at one and poor at the other meant my skill had been neither so abysmal as to warrant death nor so great as to be made a personal apprentice. Thrice lucky, few people survived the first problem and even fewer the second.

    That made me the perfect candidate for selling off. I was traded to nearby Hobgoblins for some well-preserved corpses and sent raiding. There had been me, Acolyte Ryzen. A neophyte sold along with me whose name I never bothered to learn. My skeletons, skeleton one, skeleton two, skeleton three and skeleton four and finally the raid captain of our little group who was known only as Captain.

    Unless you¡¯re talking about in my head in which case he was also known as that stupid fucking hob.

    There was also a girl the neophyte had taken in our last attack on a small farm a few hours earlier in the day. A part of me felt sorry for her as he dragged her away from the farm. I¡¯d been her once, broken and used for the benefit of another, though she¡¯d perhaps soon be broken and used in different ways, still, we were kindred souls after a fashion. Nothing to be done for it though and besides, it could have been worse, I could have had skeleton five in my group.

    The Captain had decided to make an attack on a caravan even though this particular one was guarded by a group of mercenaries. I can only assume our repeated attacks on the exact same stretch of road for weeks massacring everyone we found had finally made someone consider they¡¯d not all just got lost on the way and start protecting the ones passing through. He¡¯d commanded me to lead the attack and I made the mistake of suggesting to him that a charge across the open desert into a hail of ranged fire before you even reached the enemy might not be the best idea. Sounds reasonable right? Never try to reason with a hob. This is probably where my luck should have run out and my story as a zombie should have begun.

 2 A series of fortunate events

    The Hobgoblin Captain raged at me "You thinkin'' you know better''n me runt? Think maybe you should do the leadin'' and I should do the followin''? nobody betrays Black Flag Clan! "

    Betray him? Now? Ridiculous! It would be days before that happened! That was planned for after the attack on the nearby group of Kobolds had exhausted him, not now. Maybe if I explained that to him? But it was being reasonable that got me into this mess.

    Even as an acolyte I''d grown to understand basic tactics and knew that Hobgoblins were excellent at analyzing individual fighters but poor at group fighting. He''d decided those lightly armored bowmen and a priest with a staff couldn''t pose a threat to axes and spears so I must have some ulterior motive.

    That is what led to the very probable act of him grabbing his spear and the very improbable act of him impaling himself onto that very spear.

    He''d charged me almost before I could get my sword readied. But I managed, just barely, to get it raised towards him enough to parry his initial strike and deliver a quick slash to his shoulder. That''d forced him to pull up short and he stabbed at me.

    More than one villager has died to a Necromancer shocked to discover they know the basics of using a weapon. We''re no King''s Knights but when you start out knowing only how to cast two spells you can use maybe once a day before becoming exhausted with a fifty percent chance of not screwing it up and hated by every living thing. Well, you better have a backup plan in case the sight of a screaming peasant boy with a raised woodcutter''s ax causes your control to falter when reaching into his mana to cause his blood to boil or his legs to turn to jello.

    Which is to say mage or no I had enough skill my shield should have blocked his attacks, should have. Except it was resting on the ground several meters away and so I instead began to develop a greater problem with leaking than troubled the conjoined triplets of Orgas after a vigorous bout of lovemaking with the great God of War Sorde.

    I had a head for analysis however and I knew that If I timed my rush to it just as he pulled back and ran at maximum speed I would make it all the way to within ten inches of the shield before his stronger legs carried him close enough to begin a strike, then I would have just enough time to reach the shield itself before the strike finished and the tip of his spear exited my rib cage. Actually, that would not do.

    I re-analyzed the situation. He had a longer reach and his two-handed stabs were more powerful than my single handed attacks, combined with his greater strength I was at a severe disadvantage. But I did have a few edges. I could attack with both cuts and stabs where he could only stab and I could easily deliver multiple strikes if I got in past his spear tip before he could recover. So outwit a stupid hobgoblin. Seems easy enough.

    The hobs face became feral as his heart rate raised, forcing his mana to flow through him at an increasing rate. His strikes lashed out at a furious pace and his natural instincts for one on one combat let him know exactly where to strike. Occasionally the blood flowing from my wounds would stream together in mid-air and coagulate, hardening into an impromptu shield to block a particularly lethal strike, but it cost too much to do it every time.

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    His increased ability to act and predict the best move was pushing me back into a line of my undead and a neophyte behind me. Something I''d have normally consider a boon. But I''d been trying to command the skeletons to aid me the last several seconds and my attempts to send blood and mana flowing into them was repeatedly knocked off course. The neophyte no doubt, he''d chosen a side and it wasn''t mine. I could overcome it but it''d take more concentration than I could currently muster while avoiding impalement. It was at that moment the neophyte decided to remove all doubt of his being promoted.

    He shoved me forward no doubt expecting an impaling jab to end me and make him Acolyte. But while I''d not been in a Hobgoblin raiding party long enough to know what happened if you tried to reason with the Commander. I''d been in an undead one long enough to expect his treachery and used it to aid my legs in a sudden rush forward. I barreled past the Commanders still readying weapon and crashed into his chest. My sword hacked into his side and I began sawing it back and forth on his armor.

    I expected to be pushed back but instead, he threw forward his now useless weapon and wound back his fist. Admittedly it was a rather large fist but hey I had a Sword!

    I could see the blood and more importantly mana begin to leak out of him as I went to work, at least until my eyes watered and my own blood splattered across my face blocking my view. His punch landed hard but I could take it. His next punch landed even harder but I focused on opening up the wound with a sawing action, cutting until I felt bone. His third punch landed and I dropped the sword in a daze. Apparently, he could win a sword fight with his fists.

    My own fighting instincts kicked in then and I started to step back while at the same time trying to turn around and run. One or the other dammit! stupid instincts. My feet tripped over another in their attempt to comply with both requests at the same time and I began to stumble.

    I dodged the haymaker aimed at my head with a flailing twist backward and fell to the ground impacting hard on my chest. I landed purely by chance with my hand falling onto the shaft of his discarded spear. I clutched it and turned futilely readying the tip to parry in front of me. It seemed largely pointless by now, it had taken me several moments to re-learn how breathing worked again after that impact and I''d only just stopped suffocating. No doubt my lost sword had been picked up and was already in his hands stabbing towards me. I''d be too late. I totally would have been too except only one of us had realized I was once again armed.

    His leaping lunge to get on top of me and pummel me with his fists drove the broad tip through his neck, nearly decapitating him.

 3. More than just a pretty face

    I stood up and finished considering what to do. I was still critically wounded and a simple risk assessment told me it could be very dangerous to try to avenge myself on the neophyte right now.

    So  I grabbed just behind the spear tip, pulling it completely through my former Commander''s neck and hefting it up in one hand. I turned back towards the line of undead skeletons, took one look at the little bastard and loosed the spear anyway.

    It might be dangerous to fight wounded, but it would be suicidal to show weakness to him by letting a challenge like that go unanswered.

    The impact knocked him to the ground and he howled in anger. The already blood-soaked shaft began dripping fresh ichor onto the desert sand.

    He made to rise and I regained control of the skeletons. Guess I wasn''t the only one who had trouble fighting for command while worrying about impaling spears. I growled at the girl "Hold him down" and then watched three skeletons turn to him, she hesitated for a just a second, no doubt wondering whose bed would be worse to warm, before finally going for a leg.

    After the neophyte had his second leg pinned I settled down on the ground near his feet and watched. It took nearly an hour for enough blood to leak out of him. I basked in the dense concentration of mana infused air. My own bleeding began to staunch and the wounds stitched themselves together. His howls of anger turned to pain as the time ticked by. He''d finally tried begging in the end. I''d hoped he would. I bared my teeth and smiled as he executed a few last ragged breaths and then watched as the core of mana that was him decohered and flowed out suffusing the air.

    I''d been staring at the neophyte the whole time and finally took a moment to glance at the alluring curves of the girl beside me. My enjoyment turned to shock when I saw the myriad of different mana types entering her lungs and coming out corrupted and twisted. My respect for the neophyte went up a notch. Apparently, he''d had more plans for her than a simple way to pass the night.

    She clearly had the capacity to learn necromancy. In fact, now would be an excellent time to teach her.

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    "What''s your name?" I asked.

    She looked up at me, a saw a glint of steel for a moment then it passed. A little more dangerous than her pale skin and short frame would suggest perhaps.

    "I''m Kaylee" she replied. Immediately looking away.

    "I''m going to teach you something Kaylee," I told her.

    She immediately tensed up. "Nothing like that," I said. "I''m going to teach you how to use mana".

    I could actually see the conflicting emotions she had as they crossed her face. She finally settled on one. "Why?" she asked.

    "We''ve limited time for questions now, we''ll go over why later, for now, you''ll do as a say because knowing is better than not knowing if you want it to be less likely you''ll wind up dead."

    "Didn''t seem to help him much" she quipped.

    "I said more likely" I replied.

    She sighed lightly in response "fine" she said.

    "Breath deep...Deeper...Deeper!" wow it was getting hard to tell which of us was the girl in the conversation. "Don''t slouch forward, chest out like your trying to get a cute boys attention" she scowled but complied. "Now hold it in, close your eyes and think about the air in lungs getting thicker, feel it compressing together until it''s like like a thick fog." She did that pretty well actually. I watched carefully with my mage sight, trying to focus on the mana flowing inside her and not the curves resting lightly above them, now was not the time for that, later, perhaps later would be...

    She spent some time like that focusing on breathing, compressing and releasing until the level of residual mana in the air from the recent deaths started to taper off and she was losing more than she gained with every breath. Exhaustion finally hit her and she could do no more. A good start though.

 4. The Laws of Mana

    "We need to gain some distance from here," I told her. "Scavengers will pick up the scent soon enough and we don''t want to be here when they do". I wasn''t too worried about the animals of the desert, few things big enough to challenge a mage and a group of skeletons, even a low ranked one, existed in a place so devoid of things to eat.

    No, it was those Kobolds we''d been planning to attack that worried me most, they had keen noses as a nasty habit of eating anything that smelled good enough to eat. And when you''re a kobold, everything smells good enough to eat.

    I packed up my own small tent, gathered up the supplies and looted the corpses. I packed most of it onto the skeletons but ordered her to grab a smaller sack.

    She immediately complained, "Why don''t you just raise one of them to carry it!?"

    All four skeletons turned to look at her and I narrowed my eyes. "Because you don''t have six holes."

    That''ll shut her up.

    It worked too, she grabbed the pack and began silently trudging forward. Not actually the reason, I mean what even were the fourth and fifth holes? Ears? I guess so. I''d need to remember that too because once she got forgot her fear long enough to say whatever stupid questions popped into her head again she''d probably ask.

    Here I was I''d killed a hobgoblin in single combat, then killed the traitor that tried to betray me, commanded undead warriors, taught her how to wield the power of mana and instead of being awed WHICH SHE SHOULD BE! All I got was whining! ¡®waaaah, why can''t someone else carry this, waaaah''. Go ahead and try managing an army of undead in an area so devoid of mana grass doesn''t grow you, ungrateful bitch!

    I stomped off towards a large rock formation jutting out a few miles off. With a bit of luck, we''d make it before the sun fell and the few animals that were big enough to make a meal of us came out.

    After a few minutes of walking and cooling down a bit, I considered again. Perhaps she wasn''t impressed because she didn''t know how amazing what I''d just did was?

    It wasn''t entirely implausible. Not with all these stupid cheating Chosen ruining it for everybody else! I mean let some village herder get picked by the God of goats as his chosen or whatever and suddenly he wakes up the next morning and easy as can be goes and builds a temple to him single-handed. Of course, people find out about it and now suddenly that''s just a thing mages do! As if drawing on the energy of every goat in creation to make buildings out of nothing is to be expected! Suddenly anyone that doesn''t make the walk to town easier by moving a blocking mountain out of the way isn''t worth talking about! Stupid cunts couldn''t count to eleven with both hands and a dick but they think they know everything there is to know about manipulating the energy of creation.

    Alright so then I''ll explain the Laws of Mana to her. And assuming she is at least slightly smarter than the skeleton beside her she''ll realize how lucky she is and stop asking stupid questions. Problem solved!

    I began speaking "Every being is composed of mana of varying types bound together. We all grow in strength by condensing that mana into greater and greater concentrations so you can perform greater and greater feats. You did that when you made the air in your lungs into a thick fog." I let her ponder that statement for a moment then continued on.

    " In normal circumstances mana is concentrated most at the center of your being and is weaker both the further away you go and where exposed to air which is where some of it tends to be pushed out of the higher concentration in your body and into the lower concentration of air around it, like in your lungs. This is why being cut open is generally bad and can be especially bad in areas of highly concentrated mana. If the mana that sustains you leaks out faster than you can replenish it, you''ll die."

    She joined in then, "The air in my lungs seemed denser than my body though, even before I tried to condense it?"

    She''s curious then, curious is good, I can work with curios.

    "The ability of organisms to bind their own mana together and hold it there against the pull of the outside world or to even leech it from the air is determined by how much you can concentrate your mana and it also determines how quickly you could recover mana lost in use."

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    "That still doesn''t explain why it was denser at first and then weaker" she interrupted.

    I glared at her and she shirked back. That was enough to satisfy my desire for obedience for now and I continued.

    " In normal circumstances, it''s difficult to gain any real strength just existing. Killing creatures though is unique, the moment something dies all the mana bound up in it is released and it saturates the air with so much mana that the normal flow is reversed. The air containing a person''s released core is so rich breathing it in causes it to flow into your body instead of out. That assumes, of course, enough mana is released into the air to be more concentrated than what is in your lungs already. No point in killing bugs, you could spend all day slaying ants without ever increasing the concentration of mana in the air to more than what''s already inside you. If however, you kill something strong enough or enough somethings or even just wound it badly, breathing it in will compress your core forcing it to take in more mana. That''s super condensing your core. After a while, the mana in the air is dissipated and shortly after most of what you''d gained leaves in reverse. But a very tiny portion stays each time you super condense your mana because you get just a little better at holding it all together. That is one of the ways you grow stronger."

    I could see the questioning look on her face, but she was pensive now about asking anything.

    "Go ahead," I said in a slightly annoyed voice, though in truth I was a little excited by her eagerness to learn. Assuming I could avoid being betrayed by her, she might be the perfect cover for my rather glaring weakness.

    "There are other ways to get stronger?" She questioned.

    "Eager I see. Well, don''t plan a re-ordering of whose in charge just yet girl. There is no easy secret to getting stronger unless you''ve been hiding from me your one of the chosen of Baal and a hundred men are sacrificed alongside you every day to keep the mana in your air ever dense. In which case you can plan your rebellion for just a few suns from now. But otherwise, it''s work, hard work or at the very least it''s easy work but it''s going to get someone killed and hopefully it''s not you."

    She waited, impatiently but waited, admittedly I suppose I did have a flair for over-explaining things and seeing she''d contained her desire to once again point out I hadn''t answered her question I continued on.

    "Mana is energy, you can strengthen the mana in your arms and legs and other physical areas through contracting and expanding them. In expanding your muscles you create a little more space for mana that flows naturally into it from your blood and by contracting it the mana inside becomes a bit more condensed than normal if it can''t escape when you contract. Over time it can have the same effect. Lifting a heavy weight forces you to surround the muscle with more mana to have enough energy to force it to contract and it''s this outside mana that keeps the mana inside from escaping when you contract. With the right amount of weight and effort it can''t escape before its super concentrated a bit. However, this uses up a lot of mana in forcing the contraction and you have to keep resting and increasing in weight to get stronger." I explained.

    This was all pretty confusing but she seemed to be taking it well, a good sign.

    After I''d waited a moment she must have felt safe she wasn''t interrupting me and said: "what about us, can we get better at using Necromancy like that?"

    "Ha! Ten minutes in and you already fancy yourself a Necromancer. Your about as likely to wake up a Necromancer tomorrow as you are a virgin."

    I didn''t know people came in a color that pale. This was fun.

    I continued explaining "Most beings contain mana through largely physical means, Mana is real even though most can''t see it. As such it tends to stay in you for the same reason your blood does. Every time you fill your lungs you try to draw mana from the air and every time you breathe out if you have more than you could take, a little mana goes with it. An infant can grow this way pretty quickly but your gains just through breathing taper off pretty quick from taking days to taking months to eventually years to be noticeable. a mage is someone that can compress and manipulate nearby mana without using a physical container to hold it in, they just tell it to do things and it does them."

    Though what I didn''t say was how they did that. And for good reason, it still wasn''t understood how, or at least not by me. I was VERY curious, If I could figure that out I''m sure I could greatly increase my abilities.

 5. Bloody Foreplay Better Be Worth It

    We made it to the outcrop and after circling around I found a cut out concealed enough to keep the light from a fire from escaping and with enough space to set up a tent. Every real mage had at least a superficial understanding of how to control every type of mana even if they could only do so poorly and I concentrated enough of the fire mana in the air to heat up the fat used in place of kindling coating the dried dung. Soon a serviceable if foul smelling flame danced merrily nearby. She lived in the desert her whole life so dung fires were nothing new.

    I went into my tent and she fidgeted nervously under the watchful gaze of the skeletons until I grew tired of waiting.

    "Kaylee. Tent. Now."

    After a few moments, she slowly crept in and sat with her legs pulled up to her chest in the corner.

    "Lay. Here." I pointed beside me.

    After an even longer wait during which I began to grow VERY impatient she finally got if not quite where I''d pointed, close enough.

    I rested my hand on the side of her tummy and felt her pull taut. She didn''t say anything, I didn''t move and after what was surely an eternity for her but really only a couple seconds, her body relaxed slightly. It was then that I traced my fingers over the sides of her hips and felt her tense all over again, this time holding her breath.

    She might have laid there that night hoping that my conscience would kick in, that I avoid taking her because underneath it all I''m just misunderstood man longing for love. No such luck.

    Oh, I did avoid taking her that night but it wasn''t because of a conscience. I''d shed my conscience when I had to choose between it or my dick. Nope, I was just completely exhausted and didn''t feel like fighting with her.

    That didn''t mean I couldn''t have a little fun exploring though.

    Pain isn''t real, I''d had that drilled into me during my "training" sessions. But if pain had been real, the feeling of spending hours walking in the desert sun after having just barely recovered from your insides being your outsides and your organs being subjected to the tender mercies of a sharp thrust would have been enough to make a river of it and besides I was nearly certain my work wasn''t finished, no rest for the wicked and all that.

    After a few hours meditation to recover I felt it. A gentle breeze of air, the sound of barely perceptible movement followed by I assumed a sudden attack. I was nearly right, I opened my eyes to see her tears, she was sobbing now with the blade held against my throat. She was too soft for a world this hard. I don''t know how she survived out here this long but she was worse than useless to me at the moment. She''d need to get stronger in more ways than one.

    "Why the tears , baby girl need a hug?"

    She glared over me "you fucking monsters deserve to die."

    Hard to argue with actually.

    "What''s that you said about fucking a monster? You got a fetish or something?"

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    The blade cut skin.

    She became enraged. " You filthy heretics have to be cleansed from the world! The Gods command it!"

    Better but still not enough.

    "Cleansed from the world? You mean like whot they let happen to your mom and dad?"

    Yeah that did it.

    The blade sunk into my throat and she started crying as she stabbed down multiple times until I nearly lost count. Damn, but she went from bedtime princess to psycho crazy bitch fast. And she was twisting the blade now! Clearly one of those girls a bit slow to get started but once you got her going she was if anything a bit too eager.

    I''d have to keep an eye on her.

    After she''d spent herself and finally calmed down she wiped her tears and looked around, clearly a bit distraught and confused as to what to do next.

    "That''s right," I said, "Didn''t think about that did you?"

    She screamed.

    Aaaaannd that''s another bout of countless stabbing, didn''t we do this already? I couldn''t have been this bad when I was taught how futile it was.

    "You can''t kill me you know? At least not with that."

    She stared down at me in disbelief. "WHY WON''T YOU DIE!"

    "Because you''re not strong enough to actually hurt me silly".

    The skeletons walked in and grabbed her by her wrists and ankles, too tired from "killing me" to really struggle she let them pin her back down beside me.

    "Go to sleep and stay that way, if daddy needs a good night kiss from you you''ll know it."

    She sobbed into the pillow as I prided myself on a job well done. Thank god it took her a while to work up the courage to attack and she finally did manage to.

    True necromancers could make their entire body incorporeal on a whim for periods and watch as blades and even doors passed harmlessly through them so long as they weren''t enchanted to create a mirrored version in the shade realm.

    My abilities though were much weaker, I could barely manage to shade part of myself and only after intense concentration. It also took every bit of concentration to keep it going. In this case, I''d not even shaded my entire body, I''d left the skin and enough blood underneath to fool any mad princess on her first real killing spree into thinking she''d just well and truly stabbed a man instead of just having done a real hack job at giving me a shave.

    With any luck, she''d now focus on growing her necromancy to kill me and I''d only have to worry about managing that instead of the wrong side of a dull knife every time I got near her.

    I focused a bit of the mana I''d gained during meditation into healing all the fresh new cuts she gave me, thanks to my affinity I didn''t so much heal it though as a kind of killing it off and then raising it back to life

    .

    That''s why most older necromancers were often so white. Cuts could be healed by taking the dead skin on each side and joining them together, so long as the necromancers core was strong the flow of necrotic mana would keep the now "dead" skin functioning as undead skin and stay patched together indefinitely at little cost.

    I could feel her relaxing under the grip of the skeletons, quite the feat actually, few acolytes at my level could boast of being able to meld so well with minions under their command as to notice such a minor change. I ordered them to release her just before dozing off. It''d be fine! Maybe. Hopefully. Eh, whatever.

 6. Practice makes... something..

    I woke the next morning and stood up as she feigned sleep behind me. She did a good job concealing it, but I could tell by her heart rate. The mana was flowing through her too fast to be the pace of a sleeping girl.

    "Outside. Your bedroom training is finished for now Princess."

    I was a bit surprised by the lack of defiance in her eyes when she looked up at me. As if she''d resigned herself to her fate already. I guess last night really took it out of her.

    "Your going hunting, grab the dagger."

    She picked up the still blood-soaked instrument and a touch of the murder I saw last night returned.

    Good, I had enough experience being on the receiving end of being broken, if she''d been taken apart that easy, she likely wasn''t worth fixing.

    I eyed her carefully. "Pocketing that dagger off the Neophyte was smart. But the next time you pull a blade on me I''ll slide it down your pants each night and bleed you till your dead. Then it''ll be the Skelton¡¯s turn to have fun with you "

    Barely a response at all, she seemed to be getting hardened to my threats. Or else numb. Hopefully, it was the former, if she was going so numb she didn''t care then she''d do something stupid, make mistakes she couldn''t afford to make, mistakes I couldn''t afford her to make.

    "Now go clean and sharpen the blade, including removing the rust you''ve no doubt caused to form by letting it sit out all night caked in blood."

    She said nothing, moving off to the supplies where she poured the tiniest thimble of water out onto the blade and scrubbed merrily away with the cuff of her shirt sleeve before grabbing a whetstone.

    She brought it back several minutes later, offering it up for inspection. The leather around the hilt was still tinged with red, but the blade was shining and the edge appeared sharp.

    "Let''s go."

    She followed behind me with the skeletons as we circled seemingly aimlessly around the outcrop until I saw what we were looking for.

    "Open your eyes." She gave me an incredulous look. "Not your actual eyes Princess. Alright, it''s best if you use both at once but for now, we''ll focus on one. Close your eyes and focus like you did yesterday on the air in your lungs, but this time, after you breathe in, pick out a few bits of mana and stay with them as you breathe out."

    She struggled for a moment breathing out and then eventually in again as she lost track exhaling and had to restart.

    I heard her gasp and I knew she''d managed it. A bit quick actually. Seemed almost quicker than when I did it. But then her teacher was much better than mine so that''s probably to be expected.

    "I can see little dots of light everywhere, it''s like a night sky but with stars of every color!" There was a touch of wonder in her voice. I remembered that feeling.

    "Oh really? I said "How poetic." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    She looked at me a bit surprised for a moment until I finished.

    "Except I fucking hate poetry. So unless you''ve got another verse on the size of Goddess Luvres tits you''ll focus on what I''m saying and not on telling me what things I''m already looking at look like."

    I pointed my finger at a narrow crack between layers of rock. "Look there."

    She realized she couldn''t see my finger, opened her actual eyes to see and having now lost her ability to see the flow of mana stared blankly at where I was pointing.

    Sigh.

    "Look there using your mage sight." I prodded. Her eyes closed once more and after a moment she said: "There''s some kind of green blob."

    "That green blob is a snake, it''s curled up nice and safe inside there. You''re going to kill it."

    "How?" she asked.

    "With necromancy. If you had more skill you could simply reach into the snake''s body and corrupt its blood or weaken it''s heart or do any number of things. Right now though you''re going to suffocate it. That means we need to corrupt the air in the crevice by pushing your own necrotic mana inside."

    She breathed out a huge puff of rich air and I could see her trying to command and cajole it towards the spot. It was a valiant effort trying to force the mana to all stay together. Utterly pointless at her skill level, like watching a house cat hiss at a dragon to behave but also just as valiant.

    I continued on after a moment "You don''t have enough and what you do have is going everywhere. Even a big breath of air isn''t much mana, particularly without compressing it in your lungs first. All mages control mana from their core, which means any mana you want to control needs to connect back to there. Those tiny dots you see are called mota, they are bits of mana. As the ability of your core to bind mota together grows you''ll be able to have larger gaps between each mota leading back to your core but you''ll still be strongest at your core. The more you expend reaching something the less you''ll have left to use once you reach there. "

    I walked up behind her and leaned in close.

    "Keep your eyes closed, hold out your hand, DO NOT open your eyes, focus on maintaining your mage sight."

    "OW!" she yelped.

    The dagger pricked deep into the tip of her finger.

    I leaned a little closer breathing in her scent. "Now, guide the stream of mana coming out towards the hole."

    She''d been covered in the smoke of her burning farm, spent all day sweating in the desert and slept caked in bits of dried blood. The Gods were cruel to allow her to still smell this enticing.

    Just one more injustice in a world full of them.

    To her credit she didn''t open her eyes, instead pointing towards the crack with the now bloody finger and guiding mota until the stream of them along with a few globules of blood began snaking towards the entrance to the lair.

    My thoughts began to wander.

    Her skin is so pale, I don''t even know how she could possibly be a desert dweller. There must be a story there...

    No time for anything but training though, we''ll be out of supplies soon if we don''t find someone to take them from.

    But then again she has so many things I want to teach her, perhaps she could be made to learn two at once.

    I grinned.

    "As a Necromancer, it''s vital you be able to maintain focus and never be distracted, even for a moment. Pain is nothing, pleasure is nothing"

    Her neck, so vulnerable, I couldn''t help it really. I tilted my head and bit roughly down just at the bottom where it met the shoulder. That''d bruise for sure, she''d be marked for all to see...

    Her control wavered, she was close to losing it.

    "Fail and we''ll have to start over," I said as I lightly smacked her ass for good measure. The stream of mana nearly dispersed again.

    I exhaled lightly, the gentle breath inches from her skin causing goosebumps on her neck. It also made a long enough connection out from my core to guide a few mota that strayed from her stream back in line. Just enough to keep it all from falling apart until she could get it back together. I smiled. Who''d known training could be so much fun?

    As it got closer to the crack in the rock, the stream she controlled grew thinner. Her stray mota near the edge of the steam were being knocked off course in collisions with natural mota blown around in the air.

    That was fine, with practice she could bind the mana together with enough force to resist everything short of a hurricane.

    The mana finally reached its destination and began to thin even further as it flowed in through the center of the crack.

    She''d clearly seen that she would need to leave space for the mana already in there to exit and thinned her own stream even further to allow for it. Smart girl.

    I watched as the area filled with necrotic mana until every breath the snake took drew it in, slowly corrupting him until all that remained was decayed flesh and bones.

    as I relaxed my eyes wandered, enjoying the view.

    I felt one of the skeletons wrap his bony fingers tighter around a rusted blade.

    I turned to look and frowned. It turns out you totally can charge across the open desert against ranged enemies and survive just fine. Just make sure the enemy your charging is busy looking down a girls shirt when you do it.

    I screamed at the Gods "I just knew this bitch was going to get me killed!"

 7. Teetering On The Edge

    I looked around for somewhere to run but I''d managed to box us in better than the kobolds could have ever managed on their own. The rocky outcrop was of course directly behind us and the Kobolds in front but if we went left we''d be going further away from a lot of things including most importantly water. On the other hand, if we went right we''d be going back the way we came and the ground I knew was treacherous in parts, we''d walked it easily enough but it¡¯d be impossible to run through. In short, we were trapped.

    I looked over the enemy, a dozen Kobolds, two rows of five armed with a mix of spears and clubs and two female Kobolds with swords as well as two more girls with a slingshot in the rear. My own warriors lined up in front of us both and readied to receive them.

    The first wave reached mine with rather mixed results. Three of them with spears stabbed clean through the skeletons to no effect whatsoever. They tried cutting bones with the edge of the tip but had about the same success. The last two however ganged up on my left skeleton with clubs.

    I drew my sword, realized my shield was even further away this time because I hadn''t felt like lugging it around and sighed.

    I wrapped my right hand tightly around the blade of the sword and pulled up.

    Red sprayed out of my palm and fingers coating my hand in necromantic mota and blood.

    Then I grabbed the sword with both hands and charged at the nearest kobold as he bashed my skeleton repeatedly on the head.

    The skeleton had lost his weapon when he''d chopped into the shoulder of one of the two kobolds attacking him. But right after impact, the second Kobold brought his wooden club down on the middle of my skeleton''s arm, taking off it off at the elbow.

    This had left him weaponless and helpless against the rain of blows which now assaulted him.

    The upside was the strike had actually driven the sword attached even deeper into the other kobolds shoulder further disabling it.

    Now headless from repeated strikes, my fourth skeleton fell lifeless to the ground and the still healthy kobold turned to face me growling.

    His first strike came at my left side and I parried it with my sword, guiding it towards the ground. I kicked out at his chest and knocked him down but couldn''t follow up. I had to intercept the charge of another kobold from the second group arriving behind.

    His club came down hard onto my blocking sword and I had to absorb the full force of the strike. My legs buckled, driving me down onto my knees. He''d overextended though so I tried to go for a stab at his gut, that''s when I discovered my blade was stuck fast into the wooden club. Shit. Shit Shit Shit. I''m so fucked.

    I only barely had time to catch the glint of sun on smooth metal as a one-ounce ball of iron left its sling.

    The blood dripping from my hand raced out in front of the incoming iron and formed a tilted shield of red between me and it.

    The metal ball hit the angled shield of blood and ricocheted off careening into the face of the kobold above me.

    Damn, I''m good.

    The kobold screamed pulling his hands back towards his face and ended up taking his club and my blade along as well. Being driven to my knees turned out to be fortuitous, I drew the dagger from my boot and stabbed out at the blinded Kobold, driving the blade through his palm and into his already damaged eye socket. The narrow blade must have been long enough to reach his brain because he fell back and started spasming on the ground. I ignored my dagger buried in his skull and heaved the blade of my sword free from the now discarded club as he twitched a few more times before staying still.

    The four other kobolds in the second group joined the three already attacking my other skeletons and began laying into them with greater efficiency. It was seven on three and they had two clubs and a sword now.

    The first kobold I''d kicked down stood back up and swung at my feet. I jumped back and looked behind me to see the injured kobold had also recovered enough, his club now in his other hand and swiping at my head.

    I''d forgotten that he was still alive and even with his off hand he could easily split my skull. His club whistled by my head as I successfully ducked but I was surrounded on both sides now.

    Then the injured kobold gurgled behind me and blood spewed out his neck, Kaylee had been blocked from my view by the kobolds bulk and I''d not noticed her until the dagger¡¯s tip ran through his throat.

    Both slingers fired again and one got dangerously close, forcing me to use precious energy deflecting it.

    I eyed the single remaining kobold appraisingly. "Kill him," I said.

    "What!" she replied, terror in her voice, but I was already running towards my surrounded skeletons.

    There were only two skeletons left now and two of the kobolds armed with a spear and a club turned to block my path.

    The spear-armed one reached me first and stabbed out in an utterly expected attack the moment he got in range. I was turning sideways to let it pass almost before he even began the strike. How predictable.

    After the spear tip passed I reached out grabbing it by the haft and pulled it onwards, extending the strike far past it''s original intention. The Kobold wielding it was knocked completely off balance, holding on he was pulled forward into the dirt and then forced to release it anyway as he tumbled. I casually ran my blade across the back of his legs as I walked by, severing tendons and leaving him incapable of doing more than dragging himself through the sand.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I hefted up the spear I''d stolen in my off hand and then threw it at the Club wielder. He flailed his weapon in front of himself in an attempt to intercept it but missed.

    Having been thrown with the tip facing me, the blunt end smacked into his stomach. It did little actual damage but so greatly startled the lizard that he didn''t react to my charging in after.

    I got inside his reach in the confusion and drove my sword into his chest.

    Then I wrapped my arm around his neck, embraced him in a hug and drove the sword deeper. The rich infusion of mana was intoxicating as it poured out of him. Better still was the sound of gurgling as his lungs tried and failed to breathe for the last time.

    Breathing deeply I tasted the air, it tasted of death and waste and I couldn''t fill my lungs with it fast enough.

    I took a moment to glance behind me.

    Kaylee looked to be struggling. The kobold''s greater reach kept her at bay and worse, her knife had somehow been knocked free and she was unarmed.

    She breathed deep, her chest jutting forward appreciatively for a moment before she exhaled directly at the kobold''s face. The necrotic infused air wormed into the kobold''s mouth and nose and he coughed violently once to expel it.

    That was all the time my little psycho bitch needed. She ran forward and leaped towards him, knocking him over and winding up on top.

    Her hand clasped over his mouth and he struggled a moment before biting down. Her grin was absolutely feral as his teeth drew blood. Dear Gods, if she fought like she fucked, she''d fuck till she cried.

    The blood dripped into his mouth and I looked away, I already knew how it would end.

    My skeletons were all dead and five kobolds turned to face me. Yet more balls whizzed by but none came close enough to be a danger.

    I pushed the kobold I''d embraced off my sword while at the same time infusing mana into him. As he came free the now undead zombie immediately turned and launched at the nearest enemy.

    The kobold it charged at held its spear forward but the zombie just kept charging, impaling itself all the way up to the kobolds hands and lunging forward bringing them both to the ground. Claws and teeth raked at the face of the downed lizard.

    the nearest female kobold took her sword and stabbed at the zombie, clearly not having learned yet of how little undead care about being stabbed.

    I commanded the zombie to reach behind with both hands and grab the weapon by the guard on each side.

    The kobold tried to pull away in terror as what was about to happen hit her. But the zombie''s grip held fast and the weaker kobold couldn''t get the blade away.

    The zombie pulled hard towards itself, stabbing the blade clean through and into the guts of the kobold underneath.

    The sword-wielding kobold, hands wrapped around the hilt of her weapon was reeling in shock and did nothing as my blade came down on her wrists. Severing both hands and separating her from her sword permanently.

    She screamed in agony, her stumps turning towards me and showering me in a spray of red mist. I licked my lips.

    Three left plus the slingers.

    Kaylee ran towards me, the decayed remains of the kobold she''d petrified from the inside out baking in the sun behind her.

    Just as she reached me two more shots whistled through the air and this time one found it''s target.

    The slug impacted her bicep and was followed a moment later by the sound of metal impacting bone.

    Her scream so close to my ear was deafening.

    I caught her as she stumbled and grabbed the dagger as it began to slip from her now dangling arm.

    No time to do this the right way.

    I pulled her close to me and laid our arms palm up beside each other.

    Then I sliced the dagger across both our wrists spraying blood into the air.

    I arced mine towards the stumpy girl and poisoned her open wounds, quickly killing and turning her in an instant.

    Next, I raised up the dead kobold pinned underneath my zombie and together with stumpy they buried one of the remaining two in a pile of bodies.

    I saw Kaylee drive her wrist up into the dagger, spewing a jagged rent of mana and guiding it towards a charging female.

    Kobolds don''t generally wear clothing and these were no exception. You couldn''t normally pierce the skin with mana, but she didn''t need to.

    Necromancy worked its way between her legs and shoved inside. I could see the skin begin to wither and die as the corruption spread.

    She turned away to break the stream but it was already too late, blood spewed out as she bled internally and she only made it a few steps before collapsing onto the sand.

    Kaylee barely seemed to notice her life spraying out across the desert. Her eyes were glazed over and I understood why. It was intoxicating.

    If you ever feel sad and lonely, if you ever feel dead inside, just throw yourself out onto the edge of existence and while you teeter push someone else off.

    I never tired of it.

    Seeing what was happening the slingers bellowed a cry of fear and began running.

    The remaining kobold, realizing he''d been abandoned turned to do the same thing but took a moment too long to stare at his comrade under a sea of bodies.

    The reanimated hands of stumpy crawled up his legs and he freaked out trying to shake them off. He could only shake one leg at a time, however.

    The unhindered right hand first crawled up his back distracting him.

    This caused his leg to stop shaking and the left hand made it to his chest.

    He freaked out again but focused and eventually grabbed the one on his back.

    He threw it onto the ground in front of him and went to stomp on it. The left hand leaped at his face.

    Fingers gouged into his eye sockets and he tried to flee. But he stumbled blindly into the kobold trying to drag itself away with no working legs and fell.

    I walked casually over and brought my slit wrist close to his ruined face.

    I drew on the necrotic mana created as some of his became corrupted in death. Using it to rapidly stretch my dead skin taut and meld it back together.

    The hand on his face was now busily trying to crawl into his mouth muffling his screams.

    I whispered to him gently ¡° sssshhh little one, it''s ok, it''s all over but the dying now¡±

    Kaylee looked at me with a hint of desperation, finally having noticed she was about to stop teetering on the edge and start falling off it.

    "Ryzen?" She said.

    I sat down on the hamstrung kobold.

    ¡°Come here,¡± I told her.

    Her wound was too jagged and torn to be fixed as easily as mine. She''d been reckless in opening it.

    She walked over as I pinched some skin on my chest, I then ran my blade down cutting off a strip and leaving me gasping.

    I pushed the open wound together after, then killed off and melded skin together enough to hide bone.

    It was actually possible to heal as a necromancer. You just needed enough life motas concentrated that you could wrap it in a bubble of necrotic mana and force onto a wound before it all became contaminated.

    Done quickly it would bind and heal wounds.

    "I''d considered healing you but you did well, you''ve earned your scars Kaylee."

    I laid the strip of skin across her wound and infused it with necromancy until it was bone white, before melding it to her.

    Over the next hour, I carefully set her broken bone so it could heal properly then made an incision exposing it. It''d actually been nessacary to heal her as she''d needed to replace some shattered bits of bone I couldn''t set back into place. Luckily we had a ready supply of life mana just below me. I finished up by slitting the throat of the last remaining kobold and shoved his life energy into the open incision. In a few minutes, she was healed and we could get ready to head back.

 8. A Beautiful Heresy

    I patted the dead kobolds ass. ¡°Sit down, you¡¯ve more to learn,¡± I said. Her brows lifted above her bloodshot eyes and her face said ¡®can¡¯t it fucking wait asshole?¡¯ but she complied.

    The warriors bleed,

    the forests burn,

    and Lustria lies alone forlorn.

    But worry not Great Lustria, your friends are marching toward.

    The Dwarves with speed of glacial ice,

    and humans faster still by twice,

    Yes, worry not Great Lustria they¡¯re ever marching toward.

    The city sallies from the gate,

    The women stand in warriors plate,

    The children weep and all we wait,

    But worry not Great Lustria they¡®re ever marching toward.

    At last, the humans join the fray,

    The dwarves will be but one more day,

    Just one more day Great Lustria they¡¯re ever marching toward.

    The Sacred Groves are wastelands now,

    The Lives of warriors wasted now,

    the battle is won but the war is lost,

    the lich is dead but at what cost.

    Why did you listen Lustria?

    Were they ever marched toward?

    No, they were never marching toward...

 9. Explicit Content

    I awoke the next morning feeling anger boiling up inside me. I''d made her sing songs of the elves. Hell, I''d all but fucking begged her to! She should have been begging me to stop, instead, I hadn''t even fucked her yet!

    Rage continued to build inside me, I remembered the pity on her face as she looked at me, the sound of her lilting voice. No, I hadn''t taken her, but I could remedy that easily enough.

    I threw the cover off and saw the thin robe clinging to her curves. I recognized it as the dead neophytes, she must have taken it from the supplies we took when we left.

    She looked up at me scared but also angry.

    I leaned over climbing on top of her and pinned her beneath my hips. I could see tears welling in her eyes but she narrowed them. Her hand flew out landing hard across my face. I put one of mine around her throat and squeezed lightly.

    "Going to kill me now heretic?" She asked.

    My other hand grabbed the top of her collar and yanked, ripping it down and exposing her breasts allowing me to stare openly at them.

    "Not till you ask nicely princess" I replied.

    Her hand flew out again and this time I caught it by the wrist, pinning it to her side. My lips came down against hers but instead of struggling to escape, she bit me, hard.

    I released her hand and leaned up, wiping the blood from my now bleeding lip. I shook it off my hand and it splattered against her face. More from my mouth dripped down onto her pale chest.

    I grabbed her hair and held her there while I ran my tongue over each drop that dripped down, tasting copper and leaving streaks of blood across her chest. My legs moved inside hers, forcefully spreading her thighs as I kissed her breasts. I reached her nipples which had grown incredibly hard, probably more in anger than in lust and bit her back.

    She screamed like a cat and then struck out like one. I felt for the first time in a long time fingernails once again scrapping across my back.

    My already boiling rage exploded and I could see the spike of fear as she realized what she''d done. But then her own anger must have hit her and she dug them in deeper instead of pulling back.

    I leaned in close and whispered, "My turn."

    I thrust into her burying myself inside and tearing her hymen but she barely flinched as I smiled cruelly down at her.

    "Was it everything you imagined?" I asked.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "I don''t know," she spat "does it still count as losing it if the thing you fucked is a pussy?"

    I actually laughed.

    A skeleton''s hand popped through the flap and I grabbed the rope. I then grabbed her wrists and tied them up above her head to the base of a tent pole. I kissed down her body as she squirmed. moving across her hips and down to her legs. I gently caressed them, feeling the tension in her taut firm muscles as they struggled against the arms pinning them spread.

    I ran my tongue along the edge of each side of her pussy savoring the scent of her body. Then I ran it directly over, driving my tongue between the folds and exposing her. My mouth closed over her clit and I began licking. She struggled to push me free but I sucked her button inside my mouth and flicked my tongue over it rapidly. Every mage knows a little of all the manas. I pulled bits of fire mana from my body and expelled them. Then I compressed each one a tiny amount before releasing it and setting off bursts of heat and vibrating air inside my mouth. I could feel the rebellion taking place inside her as her mind and body warred for control. I kept up the magical assault on her clit while sliding my tongue inside her pussy.

    My mana slipped inside with me, creating so many additional bursts around my tongue it felt a little burned from the heat, but it vibrated faster than I could have ever managed alone. The heat and shockwaves hit her from inside and out. Her mind finally gave in. Her legs wrapped around my neck and she drove her hips into me, burying my tongue deeper inside her.

    Her wrists strained against their bonds and able to stand it no more the tent collapsed into a heap on top of us. I tried to come up for air but she grasped the top of my hair in her fingers and squeezed her legs until I could feel the blood pulsing in my neck, struggling to reach my brain. Her hips were off the ground now, grinding against me.

    She screamed, her back arched and every muscle in her body tensed at once as I felt her cum fill my mouth, dripping off my lips. I drank it all in savoring the taste as she collapsed in a heap.

    "Your gonna need another shower," I said, kissing gently until the sensitivity was too much and I let her push me away.

    I could see the shame she felt in her eyes when I looked up. She threw the tent sides off then stood up and I watched as she walked away, the sheen of wetness on her thighs and the streaks of blood in her hair that went down to the small of her back.

    Part of me felt fresh anger. I''d been the one taking her, how the hells then had I been the only one left feeling horny and unsatisfied?

    But another part of me couldn''t help but laugh at the irony of it all and I released my anger. Instead, I simply appreciated how the gentle sway of her hips and bounce of her ass as she walked away made me want to take her all over again.

    I put the tent back up enough to keep it off me then stay in the tent as she showered, cleaning my own wounds and sealing them enough to staunch the bleeding.

    After I came out she looked directly at me. "You don''t know me and taken or not you sure as fuck don''t own me."

    I walked over to her and looked down into her eyes. She looked both fierce and vulnerable at the same time and I felt weakness pooling up inside me.

    "I don''t know you, but I think I''d like to know you."

    Tears rolled down her face and she reached out slapping me but I barely felt it. It gave me the time I needed though, I found the weakness inside and consumed it.

    "And of course I don''t own you, after all, I haven''t finished taking you, you''ve still got half your virginity left," I then reached around and smacked her bare ass for emphasis. She shivered.

    I turned and walked away, speaking as I left.

    "Get ready, we''ve more Kobolds to kill if we want to survive long enough to escape this desert."

 Ch. 10 Balls

    I grabbed several bones from the collection we¡¯d amassed through our kills. Mostly it was just the twice dead remains of my own skeletons but we also had the skeleton of the kobold Kaylee had been perhaps too overzealous executing. Her necrotic mana had so thoroughly consumed him it left little but bone remaining.

    ¡°Come here,¡± I told Kaylee.

    She walked over and after taking a glance at her face I handed her the smaller of two carving knives I grabbed from a pouch.

    ¡°When mota are close, they pull on one another in many directions. If you release the containment while they are in that state it will rapidly expand and fly off everywhere. If however, your careful, they¡¯ll reach equilibrium and the pull on the bonds will be equal in all directions. Such a stable state will allow you to release the containment and they will stay bound. This is what happens in your core. Watch,¡± I told her.

    I nicked the top of my hand and poured mana into two bones. The mana first corrupted what remained of life mana inside before filling it with concentrated necrotic mana. A small chain of mana linked both bones together at the top and bottom respectively creating a joint.

    ¡°Mana will naturally settle into a balanced state if one is possible. Your job is to feed and compress that mana until you have the right ratio to achieve stability.¡± I stated as I tossed her a small finger bone.

    She fed mana in while compressing it tighter. The pressure must have been too much for her and the containment suddenly collapsed causing the bone itself to try to hold the rapidly expanding cloud of mana in. A hairline crack left over from some injury rapidly fractured further and the top half of the bone flew into the air as the bone splintered in half from the pressure.

    I grabbed two more medium bones and cut the top and bottoms off before cleaning out the marrow from the middle. I handed her one.

    ¡°Take this, you¡¯ll need it later,¡± I said, ¡°Then practice more.¡±

    I went off to train myself. Most mages focused on ever increasing their core density but there are actually two important base skills. The ability to condense mana of course but also the speed at which you could do it. I practiced my speed, starting with a basic defensive barrier, I quickly stabilized it using just enough mana to protect against an arrow or simple spell. Then I continued moving up in density doing it asrapidly as possible until I reached the strongest density I could manage, a death touch spell.

    After several hours spent training and meditating andthen training once more the sun began setting andwe readied to leave.

    We moved out for the edge of the Kobold camp after dark. That ensured we could get relatively close without being spotted by any posted sentries.

    As we walked, I kept a careful eye on Kaylee through my skeletons, which is how I noticed her drawing closer suddenly.

    ¡°Yes, Kaylee?¡± I said as I turned.

    She pulled up short surprised by my action. The two skeletons behind her grabbed onto her shoulders and wrists and pinned herin place.

    Itappears getting to have an insecure virgin is way more fun in your imagination than in practice.

    Perhaps a little fear would temper her anger.

    The skeletons shifted their hands slightly lower down the front of her shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯d hate to share you, princess,¡± I told her.

    I could see a moment of fear cross her face as the realization of what I¡¯d just said hit her.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°I- I wasn¡¯t trying to kill you!¡± she stuttered. ¡°I just wanted to know what the plan was.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, perhaps..¡± I said as I trailed off into details.

    We finally reached a small trail in the desert after several hours of walking. The trail was walked often enough it was visible even in the ever-shifting sands. I¡¯d scouted out this location several days ago when we were still a raiding party and knew the Kobolds used the path every morning and evening to get water from the small oasis at the end of the path.

    They did not camp at the water or even leave a guard. I suspected it was due to the number of desert creatures which frequented it every day. That meant we could refill our water skins and make preparations through the night.

    As I listened, I could hear what had to be another dozen of the enemy approaching the water¡¯s edge. With nothing in view, they seemed unconcerned as they filled up containers.

    One kobold I could sense peering closely into the muddy water but he was already too late. Four spears shot out from skeletal hands laying on the waters bed and impaled two of the kobolds before dragging them into the water and holding them submerged until the last bubbles died.

    The other three filling water shrieked in alarm and backed up as my minions stood up and walked out from the water¡¯s edge. They¡¯d apparently not even bothered bringing weapons and hid behind five guards with the apparent leader.

    The leader shrieked at one of the unarmed kobolds and he took off down the path towards the camp. He made it less than thirty feet before my hand came free of the sand in the path where I had been buried by the skeletons and it closed around his ankle tripping him up and triggering my death¡¯s touch.

    Death¡¯s touch is an exception to the rule you can¡¯t directly harm someone with necrotic mana like you can with other types. By directly touching a target a concentrated blade of necrotic mana can overwhelm the dense life mana in the skin and then rush through the gap to spread corruption inside a target.

    Scale and skin tried and failed to resist the onslaught of necrotic mana. His face barely had time to register shock as it liquified his insides.

    Kaylee rose beside me and I saw the predatory grin on her face as we both watched the unarmed kobolds look desperately for an escape that didn¡¯t exist.

    That face looked a little too interested in a slaughter.

    ¡°Keep to the plan,¡± I reminded her.

    The five guards reorganized into a circle to protect the three ones without weapons and we closed.

    Kaylee struck first, biting her own cheek before sucking on the wound and spitting at a kobolds face. The blood pulled up short, going from a ball to a thin sheet and hung in the air blocking the kobolds view, growing bigger as more blood streamed in from her wound.

    The kobold barely had time to notice the blood dispersing as my shield charged through it, the center boss smashing into his face and leaving him exposed to a follow-up strike. A sword disappeared into his stomach and I twisted on the way out. He looked briefly down at the remains of his intestines he now held in his hands before falling to his knees and then collapsing altogether.

    Three armed kobolds faced me and Kaylee while the last two stood against my skeleton warriors.

    Two club armed skeletons tied up the enemy while I directed the last two with spears to stab through their ally¡¯s empty chest and into the kobold, piercing hisstomach and thigh. He howled as they withdrew to stab again, quickly taking him down.

    The second went down with barely an effort outnumbered and surrounded.

    Kaylee flung the now reformed wall of blood at another enemy charging her, wrapping his head in blood that filled his nostrils and blinded him such that she simply stepped aside and tripped him as he charged past. She leaped onto his back and drove her dagger in severing the spine. But she was so engrossed in her work she missed the second kobold rushing her.

    ¡°I think your friend wants a chance to be on top now Kaylee,¡± I yelled.

    I poured mana into now dead kobold beneath her and took pleasure in seeing the brief look of shock cross her face as it grabbed hold of her and threw her to the side just before the charging sword came down. The blade buried into the zombie and I forced it to roll away from Kaylee with the blade still pinned in it. The kobolds blade flexed as it held the handle fast. Then in a sign of the cheap quality of the metal, it snapped near the guard and he held a one-inch long sword.

    Kaylee recovered enough to see him with his broken sword andhaving so nearly died must have made her wild again, she giggled before saying: ¡°I didn¡¯t know they made them that tiny.¡±

    Then her hand reached up and grabbed his sack. She buried her fingernails into him deep enough to draw blood and yanked down. I actually gulped as a few moments later as his decayed balls came off.

    He stabbed uselessly then leaped for her trying to claw and bite. The dagger in her hand embedded in his neck and he gurgled blood.

    It then flowed up into a sheet and wrapped itself around the head of the final kobold. He died clawing at his face to extract the blood as it wormed into his nose and ears.

    That left only the three unarmed kobolds.

 Ch 11. Trust Issues.

    The three unarmed kobolds ran at the enemy camp shrieking with four skeletons and two zombiefied kobold corpses chasing after them. Kaylee and I followed at a light jog behind it all.

    nearly two dozen kobolds grabbed various weapons and ran from all directions forming a rough group where the trail met the camp. The skeletons and zombies slowed allowing the three fleeing kobolds to reach the safety of the front line. My own minions continued to close on the mass of the enemy. I could hear them hissing and saw two rocks fly out, one tearing the cheek off a zombie''s face and exposing bone. The twenty-two kobolds had a line of twelve with five more behind them. back further still, I could see a slinger and finally, a group of three kobolds clad in light leathers surrounding what I could only assume was their leader.

    The lead kobolds seemed surprised when my undead charged at them. The surprise though turned to shock when two of the unarmed kobolds near them screeched a war cry and attacked from behind. The third had gone back to the slinger and was busy ripping his neck open with his sharp kobold teeth. I recalled executing them, teaching Kaylee in her still slightly delirious state how to perform a death¡¯s touch and flood mana in after. I¡¯d made her paralyze one so I could carefully stab in through the ear and leave him unmarked but dead. A quick reanimation after had ensured they would fool the camp kobolds. And as the enemy turned on the three traitors, I poured mana into each, condensing briefly before releasing.

    Kaylee¡¯s failure with her training had inspired me.

    Blood and guts exploded in exactly the manner I¡¯d hoped followed by shards of bone. The sight was like foreplay.

    I grabbed Kaylee beside me.

    ¡°Let me help you get the blood flowing princess.¡±

    Grabbing her ass with one hand to hold her close and using the other to keep her head from struggling too much. I kissed her forcefully and bit her bottom lip until I could taste copper tinged death. The death was new, her skill was improving.

    Turning back I could actually see through the stomach of one kobold. My suicide minion had latched onto his back when he exploded and there was little left of either of them now.

    The explosions killed a slinger and wounded one of the leader¡¯s guardsmen along with killing four kobolds outright and wounding two more in the front. The charge of my soldiers brought blades and spears against startled lines and three more fell before the real fight began. That left only eleven kobolds out front with two already half dead. I felt good about those odds for a moment.

    Then a small gap opened in the line facing towards us and I barely had time to register the streak of fire before it sailed outwards towards Kaylee.

    I dove at her tackling her to the ground.

    I rolled us both as the ball of flame exploded in mid-air and fire licked at my arm before I escaped. The intensity was enough to super-heat the water in my skin. Bubbles formed and popped and skin blistered and burned, some of it disappearing completely. The pain was blinding but worse was when I finished my roll. My burned arm scraped against the sand and I saw white as the particles of sand embedded themselves in my wound and friction rubbed them raw.

    Kaylee¡¯s eyes locked onto mine as she took in the state of my burns.

    I reacted on instinct and my core flooded necrotic mana to the wound, finishing off the burned skin and then melding it together. But leaving dead tissue exposed where no skin was available to cover the wound.

    ¡°You can thank me later,¡± I told her.

    ¡°I¡®d rather burn,¡± she spat.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Well then, perhaps if you¡¯re good, I¡¯ll brand you after,¡± I replied.

    I stood up and walked forward through the hole in the enemy''s lines made by the explosions and flame strikes. The next ball of fire leaped into the gap again but I¡¯d already moved a zombie in front several feet as a shield and while coming out blackened and charred it was intact enough to stop the heat from reaching me.

    His three personal guard moved to block, and the charred zombie fell to the ground decapitated.

    It surprised me to find Kaylee behind me. She stabbed the knife through her own palm before withdrawing it, blood flowing towards nearby remains.  That was concerning, there was no way she could reanimate a corpse, it was likely to explode killing one of us. And what with being fully one half of that group, it worried me greatly.  She didn¡¯t though; the blood filled the bones and then they flew forward like daggers, pulled like a whip by her core and flung towards the guardsmen.

    Wow, that was fucking brilliant. I joined in throwing bone shards until it cut open an artery on the wounded guard and he collapsed. The two remaining guards and the mage took cover behind shields giving me a moment to glance behind.

    It was chaos.

    My four skeletons and remaining zombie were fairing pretty well. My increased skill had resulted in more dense mana, making them more resilient, the zombie was actually stronger now as an undead than he¡¯d been alive.

    I took a moment to direct them; a zombie allowed a blade to slam into his side and used the stop to grab the wrist holding the blade. The nearby skeleton then made to swipe at his opponent before redirecting the blade into the zombies enemy, gouging into the shoulder. A strong pull by the zombie at the wrist separated the limb from the shoulder.

    I pointed back at the Kobold. ¡°That¡¯s one way to disarm an opponent eh Kaylee?¡±

    She tilted her head at me before throwing another bone shard that narrowly avoided my skull.

    ¡°Bitch, you have no sense of humor!¡± I told her.

    The guards lifted shields, and I saw the flame shaman breathe out onto the tip of his staff which was already red hot. The breath of flame chased after Kaylee turning the sand behind her into glassy shards. Just before it reached her the hands of the deceased guardsman reached up and grabbed the mages ankle causing him to stumble. He was still breathing as he stumbled and flame engulfed one of his own guards.

    It blackened the guard and his tough scales and hide sloughed off him like a snake shedding its skin, exposing tissue and sinew underneath. I could see his mouth open wide but no sound came out. Lungs and throat filled with air hot enough to char them left him screaming silently.

    The other guard bellowed in rage but then turned to strike at the flame shaman, Clearly, he¡¯d had one betrayal too many. The mage made to turn away but still caught he fell sideways.

    He was mine though and so before the kobold could reach him my dagger sunk into the final guard¡¯s side, twisting as it entered his kidney and leaving his vitality pouring out of him. I corrupted his blood and threw it up to block a quick blast at me from the mage, angling it to send the worst of the flames into my victims face while I hid behind his back.  The guard dropped, and I jumped onto the mage, driving the air from his lungs before he could try to breathe again. My hand closed around his neck and he sputtered choking as I whispered.

    ¡°Surrender and you have my word I will not kill you all.¡±

    He glared at me in fury.

    My fingers tightened a little further making him light-headed and his shoulders slumped.

    I heard something guttural that I can only assume was the equivalent of OK and I lightened my grip enough for him to gasp out another barking sound at the other kobolds.

    After a moment they tossed down weapons, and I directed Kaylee to help round them up.

    I had two of the skeletons come to contain the mage. With spears touching his throat I got off and cut strips of leather from the armor of his personal retinue. I tied his hands with one and used a larger strip to wrap several times around his mouth and nose as insurance against any more fiery attacks. His new bone guards would live long enough to stab before going down if he attacked.

    We tied up the rest of the kobolds and sat down to meditate and condense our cores.

    ¡°What are you planning on doing with them all?¡± Kaylee asked.

    ¡°Making an army,¡± I replied.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seriously think you can trust them?¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± I said.

    After several hours meditating the supplies were gathered up and the entire group, prisoners and all headed back to the rocky outcrop. I planned to move to the Kobolds¡¯ base with its nearby source of water, but we¡¯d need to collect what we had at the old location first.

    The sun had fallen as we arrived and Kaylee made for the tent.

    I came in behind her and shoved one shoulder hard, twisting her around so I could tackle her forward onto the bed. I followed her as she fell, pinning her beneath me.

    My hand grasped her neck, and I whispered, ¡°Who told you to go anywhere?¡±

    She said nothing.

    My dagger cut a slit up the front of her skirt splitting it in half.

    I saw her look down and her face darkened. But still, she said nothing. Oddly, I could also see the mana flowing through her body increase, her pulse was rapid and her cheeks flushed red.

    ¡°You are mine, all mine, this,¡±  and my dagger¡¯s tip resting lightly at the top of her skirt cut down, drawing a thin bead along the top of her sex for emphasis. ¡°Mine,¡± I told her.  ¡°Never forget that.¡±

    ¡°And since you were mostly a good girl..¡± I said trailing off as my dagger drew a half circle around the top of the line and another angled one underneath, leaving the letter R cut into her smooth skin.  ¡°You¡¯ve earned it,¡± I told her before breathing onto the cuts.

    They went stark white and scarred over leaving the letter imprinted permanently.

    ¡°You¡¯ve more training to do outside before we finish in here pet.¡± I finished. Then I got up and walked towards the exit.

    ¡°Oh and Kaylee,¡± I said as I left. ¡°If I have to come to retrieve my property. I¡¯ll leave the next brand on the inside.¡±

    I heard her whisper her response, almost accepting. ¡°Yes, Ryzen.¡±

    I hardened hearing it, excited by the idea of her submission.

 Ch 12 Embrace your Demons.

    Kaylee came out and walked over. ¡°Yes, Ryzen?¡± It sounded slightly more questioning this time but still had the same effect of a moment ago.

    I said nothing and walked over to the supplies grabbing the flame shaman¡¯s staff. The tip was still glowing red, viewing it with my mage sight I could see the fire mota from the air being slowly drawn into a reddish black stone on top.

    ¡°See the top of this, that¡¯s called volcanic rock, it forms in intense heat and -¡±

    She interrupted me excitedly ¡°I¡¯ve heard of that! They say when mother Gia¡¯s anger is great enough mountains will suddenly explode and fire flows like a river!¡±

    My gaze slid down to her still torn skirt.

    ¡°Your passion flows like a river too as I recall..¡± I told her trailing off.

    Her cheeks reddened a moment, and I heard a short barking sound that could only be a laugh emanate from the line of captives sitting cross-legged and bound behind me.

    I looked back to see an openly leering Kobold, his eyes trying to split the skirt further.

    ¡°Enjoy getting your hands on her would you?¡± I said to him.

    He seemed hesitant at first but nodded.

    "Good!¡± I said, ¡°I was just about to ask for a volunteer to lend a hand.¡±

    Kaylee backed up slightly, clearly terrified of what was about to happen.

    I took the staff in my off-hand and a short sword in my left.

    As I walked over to him I continued my instruction. ¡°When coral forms in water or volcanic rock forms in a river of fire. It traps already concentrated mana inside. When it finally cools or the coral leaves the water. The mana exits and it leaves holes perfectly situated to achieve balance for that specific mana. When you then fill it with that mana again later it achieves stability effortlessly.¡±

    I reached the kobold. He looked behind him eagerly as a skeleton took both wrists and brought his hands up behind his back near my blade. I smiled at him as he watched me gently saw the leather straps free.

    I could feel my heart beating faster as I saw the look of desperation in Kaylee¡¯s eyes, terrified but with nowhere to run she tried to listen.

    Tried to pretend everything was normal.

    ¡°Bone behaves similarly for life mana. Necrotic mana is a little different though. As a corruption, the bonds are only close to the same. Bone is still ideal for making undead constructs but not effortless.¡± I finished.

    After the strap came free, the skeleton holding the kobolds wrists put his foot into his back and yanked hard, pulling his arms straight back and holding them tight.

    I looked back into Kaylee¡¯s eyes, basking in the fear I found. Then my blade came up and down in front of me, severing his hands cleanly. The almost overwhelming relief that hit her as she watched was as intoxicating for me to see as it was for her to feel.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    He, on the other hand, howled like the wounded animal he was and brought his now freed arms back around. He took in the bloody stumps and watched in shock as each heartbeat sent jets of ichor streaming out of severed arteries.

    ¡°Whoops, forgot about the bleeding, just needed a hand or two, not the rest of you,¡± I told him.

    The skeleton behind him wrapped his arms around the kobold¡¯s neck and held him sitting as he struggled until the loss of blood made him weak.

    I struck out quickly with the tip of the staff and pressed it into a bleeding stump. The pain woke him from his state of near passing out and he struggled once more. I looked over to see Kaylee smiling, pleased now that she knew she wasn¡¯t going to be made to fuck a lizard.

    After a brief but pointless fight, his weakness took him again and the staff flashed forwards, clotting the second wound with fire. His howl was hoarse now, but he was nearly beyond struggling.

    The skeleton released him and I pushed him lightly onto his back before straddling his chest.

    ¡°Come here Kaylee,¡± I said, pointing to the spot beside me.

    She walked over and I could sense a little excitement in her eyes. I discarded the sword and handed her the staff.

    I put one arm around her waist and pulled her close.

    I made sure he was watching as my spare hand slid up her leg and pulled the skirt open slightly, exposing her-

    I did a double take for a moment looking up in surprise.

    I noticed now her nipples poking out and the scent of arousal hit my nose. The dampness between her legs left no doubt, Kaylee was more than excited the little freak. I grinned before going back to the panicked kobold.

    His eyes darted in every direction.

    ¡°How rude,¡± I told Kaylee, ¡°got her all warmed up,¡±

    the tip of my finger traced the wetness of her panties for emphasis,

    ¡°and now he¡¯s distracted. Typical.¡±

    Both my hands released her allowing me to push up on his chin first then back onto his forehead. This drove his skull into the sand, holding it in place.

    ¡°Burn the image into his eyes, Kaylee.¡±

    He closed his eyes, but she simply scorched through the lid and into the squishy softness below. His eyeball boiled and steam rose up from the socket.

    She switched to the second one. This time I yanked his head forward, forcing the staff deeper as I screamed at him.

    ¡°You dare covet what is mine you filthy fucking reptile! Take a good look! It¡®ll be the last thing you ever see!¡± I looked around as I spoke the last bit, ensuring every prisoner had heard me.

    ¡°You understand me you fucking sand lizards?!¡± I asked.

    I saw every prisoner look down in fear.

    ¡°I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME YOU FUCKING SAND LIZARDS!¡±

    I chorus of what I could only assume was assent followed.

    I stood up and together Kaylee and I gazed down into the now hollow sockets of the sobbing Kobold.

    My hand rose to her cheek and pulled gently, guiding her to look at me.

    Feelings raged inside me as I looked at her.

    She was beautiful.

    ¡°I will never share you with any man,¡± I whispered.

    She smiled and the sincerity I saw there felt painful.

    She wasn¡¯t supposed to be sincere, wasn¡®t allowed to be, I didn¡¯t deserve sincerity. And anyway I didn¡¯t want it. Sincerity was for the weak.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get all giddy,¡± I said as I turned away ¡°I¡¯ve just never been good at sharing my toys.¡±

    ¡°Yes Ryzen,¡± she said, and I felt her fingertips brush against the top of my hand as she moved to stand beside me.

    It felt...

    I growled.

    It felt like a feeling that needed to be drowned, and like all weaknesses, drowned in blood.

    I clasped her hand pulling her with me towards the nearest intact prisoner. Yes, pulled her, directed her, that was why I did it.

    The lie warred with the truth and the truth nearly caused me to pull away. Then I felt her hand squeeze mine, and that was all it took, the lie won. My brain rationalized If I let her go she might try to run away from the next part. I seethed inside but didn¡¯t let go.

 Ch 13 Dueling hearts and minds.

    After a rather slow walk to another prisoner. I released her hands and gave the staff to a nearby skeleton.

    ¡°Those bone shards you sent into the guardsmen were... Inspired.¡± I told Kaylee. ¡°Practice it further.¡±

    ¡°Cup your hands,¡± I instructed.

    She did so, and a skeleton walked up from behind placing one of the severed hands in hers.

    ¡°Bone them,¡± I continued. I saw her try to reach for a dagger while still holding the hand.

    ¡°No.¡±

    She paused considering. I walked behind and put my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder and cupping her hands in mine before pulling them up. Her own head tilted slightly, nuzzling her head against mine.

    ¡°Breathe.¡±

    We exhaled together, my own hands moving to cover the top and trapping the air from our lungs inside. Scales turned dull and fell off, then bits of tissue and blood dripped and ran between her fingers. They sizzled in the midday sand and the smell of burning kobold flesh and death hit the prisoners nostrils.

    I spoke softly, ¡°Can you smell their fear?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you tasted like.¡±

    She shivered and goosebumps formed. Her control faltered and the necrotic mota floated through her fingers.

    I bit her earlobe, ¡°Concentrate.¡± I said seriously.

    It was a far cry from my training. I recalled the feeling of the tube forced down my throat, scraping its way down to my lungs before water poured from it to fill them. Trying to concentrate enough to condense the mana in my lungs and use the pressure to force it back out my throat.

    Failure meant passing out and having my head tilted to let the water drain out, then slapped and hit until I woke up. The rule was simple, succeed three times or pass out six. But the only thing that made him more upset than me failing was me failing to pass out. He¡¯d pour water in twice as long after every success, waiting until I was spasming from a brain starved of oxygen before giving me the chance to clear my lungs.

    I bit again harder, hearing her cry out.

    ¡°Can¡¯t have the teacher¡¯s pet failing can we?¡±

    The bones were polished now, lost in my thoughts I¡®d barely noticed her finish. Cleaned until what little remained would struggle to feed even the mites in the sand.

    ¡°Grab a carving blade and sharpen the tips. Three cuts, that''s it, after you¡¯ve finished with the first hand, clean and train on the second. If you take more than three cuts to make one sharp enough after you¡®ve finished with both hands.¡±

    My fingertips stroked her own middle finger as I finished speaking.

    ¡°I¡¯ll demonstrate the proper technique on yours,¡± I told her.

    I armed myself with the blade and staff once more and the skeletons followed me to the flame shaman, dragging the blind and amputated kobold behind them. I continued past him and turned around, allowing me to keep Kaylee in the corner of my vision and watch her as she trained.

    She only barely flinched when her knife slid on the second attempt and left a chunk of her palm hanging on by a small section of skin.

    She looked up suddenly, no doubt worried I¡¯d seen her failure and having her fears confirmed when she saw me watching her.

    I mouthed a single word.

    Earned.

    She nodded and held the chunk tight to her palm before fusing it in place.

    A skeleton undid the leather holding the shaman¡¯s hands bound and he rubbed at his wrists.

    I kicked the moaning kobold between me and the shaman and spoke softly.

    ¡°I told you I¡¯ wouldn¡¯t kill you or your friends here if you surrendered, do you remember that?¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    He said nothing.

    I waited and finally realizing I would not continue until I had an answer he simply nodded.

    ¡°You lizards might not be brilliant, but your cunning in your own way. Perhaps you even realized at some point I could honor my agreement just by having you killed by someone else.¡±

    His eyes went downcast. He had realized that.

    ¡°No worries friend, I wasn¡¯t trying to be cunning like you fucking lizards. No it turns out,¡±

    My blade''s tip impaled into the chest of the kobold between us.

    ¡°I lied.¡±

    I saw the leather covering the shaman¡¯s mouth blacken as fury hit him.

    I threw the staff at him, smacking him in the head with it and snarled.

    I could already taste his core and even the fight against the neophyte hadn¡¯t been a mage duel, I needed training. My blade split my palm as the leather finally burned free and flame came roaring out. Slightly predictable and I already had a blood shield redirecting the attack to the ground as it grew closer.

    The attack was impressive but wasted a lot from being spread out over such a large distance. By the time it was a few feet from my core the flamethrower attack washed over my barrier but stood no chance of penetrating it.

    His next attack was more concentrated. Balls of fire spat forth from the staff in rapid succession. These were much denser but also barely contained, made so rapidly they lacked stability and ripped apart exploding on impact. I threw up a minefield of small globules of blood to cause them to detonate prematurely. It worked, but I was getting concerned about the amount of spare blood left in my body.

    I ran and as he turned to fire I distracted him, the kobold at his feet couldn¡¯t even grab an ankle, but his stubs struck out and drew his ire as I ran towards the supplies.

    Realizing the zombie was no threat after a moment the shaman kicked him away but I¡¯d already reached my target.

    I threw several flasks at him and his staff¡¯s tip flared red again firing to intercept.

    They impacted and the water flasks he hit disintegrated leaving a haze of steam between us.

    Holes quickly formed in the steam as he fired at random and I had to waste several barriers protecting the supplies. Perhaps not the best choice of cover.

    I took off again towards Kaylee this time. She¡¯d been watching me and part of me wondered if she enjoyed the show.

    ¡°Need help?¡± She asked.

    Do I need help! I defeated the fucker when he had an army with him, bitch.

    I grabbed her ass running by.

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m just not sure now is the best time to bend you over Princess.¡±

    My other hand reached up and grabbed several of her already made bone shards.

    ¡°But if you did a good job on these, I¡¯ll make you a whole bed from the dead kobolds to take care of the problem on.¡±

    I launched the first one through the mist in the general direction of where the fire had been coming from and heard him shriek.

    ¡°Always stay moving,¡± I yelled to Kaylee, hoping she¡¯d been paying enough attention to at least realize some of my brilliance.

    A solid circle of flame was visible even through the mist and I launched another shard at it. I could feel the necrotic mana in the bone lose connection to my core as it hit the solid flames, the heat must have been hot enough to melt bone because no sound came this time.

    My silhouette became visible as a dark running outline as the mist lightened and the shaman went forwards. The water would still weaken any attempt to burn a path through, especially if he missed and he couldn¡¯t quite tell my distance.

    I knew he¡¯d need me to stand still long enough to close and use his mana¡¯s superior raw power to overwhelm me. But his leg was bleeding from my earlier attack and he had trouble running. The air cleared further as my outline was rocked with nearby explosions. He condensed air roughly in front to slow me down and one finally exploded close enough to force a stop. More explosions rocked the area, and he held his staff pointing forward. Grinning in triumph as he walked closer while spewing a jet of flame. He reached it just in time to see the blackened silhouette of pure blood disintegrate. His eyes went wild and turned in all directions, looking right just in time to see the shard of bone burrow into his chest, penetrating his lungs.

    I walked up enjoying the view as he tried to breathe fire and spat only blood. I pulled bits of it in before it hit the sand, using them to mend the cut in my palm smooth.

    Scars were earned, and he¡¯d spent too much of his short life being the only person capable of manipulating mana.

    Still, his core was worth it. He fell down and gasped a few more times.

    ¡°Come, Kaylee,¡± I told her.

    We sat down beside each other once more on the body of a dying kobold. I threw a bone up in the air and made her catch it with her necromancy before it landed. After a few tries, she did so easily. Then we dueled, taking turns with one of us trying to hit the other¡¯s shard while the other person tried to avoid being hit. The fights of the last several days had greatly increased the core density of both of us and flying a small shard around did nothing to tax our strength.

    After a while, I threw several more into the air until we had over a dozen in the air at once between us. Her skill was improving enough she¡¯d soon be able to command a whole skeleton and not just pieces of one.

    I¡¯d been winning the aerial duels and was surprised when she used several shards at once to box one of mine in, smashing into it with multiple attacks.

    I felt the tinge of failure and I knew what I needed to do. To demand she did it again and again as I made it harder and harder, forcing her to get better at every moment until she broke.

    But then the weakness I thought I banished came back. Perverting my feelings. I felt pride. Not in my own success but in hers, hers that came at the cost of my failure. Several shards flew off course, embedding themselves into my legs.

    She turned to look at me surprised. When I said nothing, she remained silent but her eyes became questioning.

    ¡°I failed,¡± I said after a moment.

    ¡°Mm,¡± she replied.

    I felt her hand reach over and pull them out one by one. Then we sat silently together, meditating over the kobolds corpse, his life force knitting my legs whole again.

 Ch 14. Womans best friend.

    After the residual mana finally faded, we stood up.

    ¡°I want to go back to my house,¡± Kaylee said.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I want to grab stuff, I need my clothes.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said firmly. ¡°We burned the altar, the smoke will have been visible for miles out here. Caravan guards will have reported it when they reached Atlas.¡±

    ¡°And what if they do?!¡± She shouted.  ¡°Atlas doesn¡¯t care what happens in out here! Followers of Gaia named the city Atlas because they say it¡¯s where the world ends!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said once more.

    ¡°As far as they¡¯re concerned The Veiled Desert exists to separate the living from the dead. They will not go looking for trouble.¡±

    She crossed her arms and glared at me.

    I looked at her impassively for a moment and walked away.

    ¡°Wait!¡± She shouted.

    I paused waiting.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got dresses from when I was younger I still wear to bed sometimes,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Good for you,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡®d¡­ like it, if I wore them to bed. they¡¯re short.. very short.. an inch away from showing... ¡±

    The last came out in a whisper.

    ¡°everything.¡±

    I paused for a moment, then continued walking. After a few more feet I shouted.

    ¡°Get Up!¡±

    My skeletal guards were already untying several kobolds, and the shaman was being reborn behind me to help ensure they didn¡¯t get any ideas about trying to overpower us even unarmed.

    ¡°Get this damn place packed up! Were taking everything worth taking and anyone not loaded up and ready in ten minutes isn¡¯t being included on the list of shit worth taking!¡±

    We quickly collected everything since most of it was already in some kind of container. I distributed the tent amongst the zombie and shaman and we were ready to leave.

    I took the lead but intentionally avoided looking behind me as I walked. Kaylee, no doubt sensing my desire to be left alone promptly jogged up alongside me far too pleased with herself.

    I could hear her pouring a skin of water onto her face and glanced over at her.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t your mother teach you, Kaylee?¡±

    She looked at me questioningly.

    ¡°It goes in your mouth,¡± I growled. ¡°Not sprayed all over your face.¡±

    She giggled in response.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±  She asked. Her voice was innocent but her wet shirt and perky nipples were anything but. The combination was incredibly tempting.

    Her eyes glanced down long enough to see she was having the desired effect.

    I gave in.

    ¡°We are going to measure that dress.¡±

    She all but shrieked.

    I ignored her and carried on.

    ¡°And if it¡¯s more than HALF an inch from showing everything by the time I see it I¡¯m trimming it to size using your body as the cutting board.¡±

    She put her fist to her chest in a mock salute, ¡°half an inch sir yes sir!¡± Then turned to bounce away.

    I wanted to be annoyed with her, was in fact annoyed with her, but her ass jiggling appreciatively behind her as she left did have a point about considering the issue from all angles as it were...

    We arrived at the remains of what passed for a farm when you lived in a desert and she walked into the muddy hut. Our raiding party had slaughtered the few animals they¡¯d kept for livestock during the attack and all that remained was the modest fence that had contained them.

    After several minutes Kaylee still hadn¡¯t come out, and I shoved two kobolds forward ahead of me just in case something was lying in wait.

    I¡¯d considered bringing some skeletons, but I still needed the rest of the lizards watched and if something had to die...

    The hut was barely a few rooms and Kaylee was on her knees near the back. I could hear her sobbing a few feet after I entered and scowled. She must have found the bodies of her parents.

    It actually surprised me when I saw she had gone past their remains completely and was hunched over the remains of the lean dog that had barked furiously at us when we first showed up. The kobolds made a peculiar sound that could only be laughing as they exchanged some unintelligible gibberish with another.

    She turned to look at the sound and I could see her blood pouring out onto the creature. She was trying to bring the animal back to life, or at the very least un-life.

    They made the sound again, harsher this time.

    They were clearly laughing at her and through extension me. If I didn¡¯t keep them scared their disobedience risked turning into scheming.

    Had it been a single kobold I¡¯d kill him and be done with it. Two, though,  was too many.

    I¡¯d only just sacrificed one of them and killed their shaman. The rest would act like cornered beasts the next time I ordered them to go with me anywhere if I came out alone.

    ¡°Out,¡± I commanded.

    After a few more moments and another round of mocking gibberish, the kobolds headed for the door.

    I could see she was trying to bring it back to life trying and also failing miserably.

    Incapable of stabilizing the amount of energy she¡¯d released it bounced wildly off the barriers she made to guide it to the dog¡¯s bones.

    Walking up behind I put one hand on her shoulder and then used the other to drive my blade through that hand and into both of us.

    She gasped but didn¡®t falter.

    After she¡¯d settled into the initial pain I spoke.

    ¡°I can see I¡¯ve been too kind to you, let you be weak,¡± I stated.

    Before she could waste her breath responding, I twisted the knife and the fresh new agony sent her reeling. Her control failed and I could see the shock as she realized she¡¯d just loosed a bomb.

    Of course, the only reason it even had time to register was my containment taking the place of hers.

    ¡°Again,¡± I told her.

    She struggled to force the motas together tighter into a stable bond but failed repeatedly.

    She looked up at me, dejected. Nothing changed for nearly another minute and I grew tired of waiting and leaned down a few inches from her face.

    ¡°Again!¡± I screamed

    She reached out once more, flailing with rage in an attempt to beat the mana into submission.

    ¡°I... I can¡¯t,¡± she said.

    ¡°YOU WILL!¡± I shouted.

    I grabbed her by the hair roughly.

    ¡°Pay attention child.¡± I spat.

    Her anger flared up anew and I could see the individual motas flailing against her control as she tried to force them into the animal.

    Moments before one wildly impacted her barrier I pushed mine in front and reformed the barrier to send the mota back to the center where a large mass of them resided. It scattered some on impact but dissipated its energy in doing so.

    ¡°It¡¯s like breaking in new whores,¡± I told her. ¡°get the wild one in line and the rest will follow.¡±

    The rogue ones sent flying were much weaker than the original and quickly succumbed to the pull of the others falling back into a stable formation.

    Her anger subsided, and she slowly created stable bonds. The mana flowed into the bones of the creature and settled into stability. The dog came to un-life.

    The immediate issue over I yanked her up by her hair and threw her against the wall.

    ¡°You humiliated me!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m didn¡¯t mean to,¡± she mumbled.

    ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t mean to?¡± I said harshly.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry daddy I didn¡¯t mean to!¡± I continued in a mocking tone.

    ¡°Did coming back home cause you to confuse me for someone who gives a fuck about what you MEANT to do?! It¡¯s what you did that matters!¡±

    ¡°They laughed at you! Which means they laughed at me!¡± I screamed.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Kaylee cried.

    ¡°No, you aren¡¯t but you fucking will be!¡±

    My hand went up to backhand her.

    ¡°I am!¡± she shouted and she raised her arms to shield her face.

    I flashed back to my captor and the first time I¡¯d angered him with my failure. He¡¯d punched me in the gut and demanded I get back up. When I¡¯d failed, he stomped his boot between my legs, laughing as I begged him to forgive me. Disgust filled me.

    My hand lowered.

    I leaned in close.

    ¡°You will fix this,¡± I whispered to her. ¡°You will go out there and make them scared again or your new daddy will finish what he started princess.¡±

    Kaylee nodded her head.

    ¡°Don¡®t think your finished apologizing either, tonight they will hear you LOUDLY begging for daddy¡¯s forgiveness.¡±

    ¡°Get your things,¡± I finished before turning and heading out the door.

 Ch 15. A place for everything and everything in its place.

    Kaylee stepped outside looking like a large closet had ambushed her. She had various clothes draped over her arms shoulders and head along with more bags of more stuff held in her hands.

    ¡°And just how far does the princess imagine she will be able to carry all that?¡± I asked.

    She walked a few more steps over to several of the kobold prisoners.

    They snickered as they looked at her causing me to scowl.

    ¡°Oh, I imagine this is about far enough for me.¡±

    She leaned over, exposing her ample bosom to a few kobolds who were trying desperately not to notice and said. ¡°Would you mind carrying this for me? I¡¯m sure I can repay you,¡± she winked before tossing them onto each one.

    I walked over and grasping her long hair pulled her ear close to my mouth before whispering.

    ¡°And how might you be repaying them?¡±

    She turned to look at me and replied loudly. ¡°Well, since they¡¯ll need their hands, I¡¯ll won¡¯t cut any off to use for practice tonight. That seems good payment right?¡±

    I chuckled.

    The Kobolds, however, must have understood something of what she said because they stopped chuckling. Instead, those not given anything to carry tried to grab something from those that were. All except one. Kaylee looked over at him but he was unmoved.

    ¡°He¡¯s not fixed,¡± I said.

    ¡°Bend him, break him or discard him I don¡®t care which but finish the job by tomorrow,¡± I told her.

    Kaylee nodded.

    With that, we made our way back towards the camp.

    Our party consisted now of four skeletons, a zombie, the undead mage and ten kobolds and a worthless dog.

    As we walked, I noticed a cloud of dust being kicked up in the distance. Why though? I spent a moment orienting myself and the dust cloud with what I knew of the area. It had to be a caravan. The trade route ran that way. With the threat of both kobolds and my former party absent, it¡¯d been several days since one got hit. They had likely grown complacent.

    We began a sloping curve to intercept them just after dusk if we kept a brisk pace. I¡¯d planned on Kaylee lagging eventually allowing me to both chastise her for her failure and slow to a more realistic midnight arrival path.

    The problem with that was she refused to cooperate. I¡¯d expected the multiple forced marches I¡¯d done with the raiders and necromancers to have built up my tolerance enough to have her collapsing after an hour. But in her continued commitment to annoying me, she marched along oblivious to the heat. Her years spent living here had apparently inured her to the worst effects of the desert sun.

    The only way to keep the kobolds under heel was for them to fear me more than they despised me. It wouldn¡¯t do to be seen as weaker than her.

    So I kept up the ridiculous pace.

    I could feel the sweat burning my cracked lips and taste the iron in the blood when I licked at them.

    I consoled myself with the thought we¡¯d be back in a tent tonight.

    ¡°I¡®ll teach the bitch a lesson in begging me for a rest if it means she bounces up and down all night,¡± I muttered.

    Though come to think of it that might make hurrying to get back worth it¡­

    I smiled.

    After a while, Kaylee came up alongside me and walked at my side. She said nothing for a while but kept glancing nervously at me out of the corner of her eye.

    ¡°You did well enough to rein them in but do not forget that what you do reflects on me,¡± I told her. ¡°You will be rewarded¡­ or punished accordingly.¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Thank you Ryzen,¡± she said and reached down to pet the scraggly dog padding along beside her.

    The thing looked like it suffered from mange and was already near death even before being killed by the former leader of the raiding party.

    We arrived just after the sun came down. We weren¡¯t lucky enough to have a moonless night, but it was a waning crescent with a new moon due tomorrow.  The darkness concealed well enough especially with a campfire both silhouetting our target and robbing them of their night vision. We waited until the lone sentry had settled into position and everyone was in bed before creeping forward to begin the assault downwind of the enemy.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    I¡¯d sent the kobolds first not trusting them at my back and wanting the undead back far enough to not alert anyone with the smell of rotting flesh. One of the lizards nearly ruined my plans though when it tripped on a bit of rock and stumbled. The sentry turned to look at him and was about to raise an alarm when Kaylee sent a bone shard flying. His cry turned into a gurgle as blood filled his lungs. Several more died in their sleep before a chop intended to sever a neck hit the top of a rib cage and left an older woman alive long enough to scream. The guards slept with weapons in reach and a half dozen of them stood up to challenge us. The last was even smarter, he awakened but feigned a deep sleep allowing him to quickly run through a kobold that came to finish him. Then the seven of them formed a line with wagons anchoring each flank.

    my undead finally moved up to help with the fight and horses tugged at their stakes in a desperate attempt at escape as the smell hit them.

    With nine kobolds and six undead, we had numbers at least, if not skill.

    ¡°This looks like an easy victory,¡± Kaylee said.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t won yet and we won¡¯t if they don¡¯t let us in. We need an opening.¡±

    She seemed surprised.

    ¡°But we outnumber them nearly two to one?¡± she said questioningly.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied ¡°but every one of them is worth two of ours. Right now they¡¯ve got us forced to fight them one on one and fighting that way we lose. We have to split them up somehow.¡±

    I could see her face lost in thought for several moments as she watched the kobolds trade blows with the caravan guards. Then she smiled as a cut sent a spray of blood into the air.

    She ran behind the single kobold that had refused to carry anything and drew her dagger across his throat.

    ¡°I know I told you to keep the help in line but this isn¡¯t the best time,¡± I shouted.

    She looked back at me long enough to grin as she licked the blood from her dagger.

    As the dark ichor sprayed from his neck, she sent it into the air in a fine mist towards the three closest guards. It was impossible to avoid and created a fog of necromantic energy. Then the pain started. Tiny bits of mota hit eyeballs and irritated them until eyes watered and they could barely see. Rubbing at them only moved it deeper behind the eyeball causing greater suffering.

    The one in the center must have got some in his ear and tried shaking his head and dislodge the irritation. His pain didn¡¯t last long though. He stabbed out distractedly but hit only an enemy already dead. Kaylee shoved the dead kobold forward trapping his blade and lashed out leaving a deep cut across his sword arm. His blade fell to the ground, and he was helpless to stop the follow-up strike that pierced his chest.

    The guardsman beside him stabbed towards Kaylee in vengeance only to be blindsided by a matted ball of fur latching onto his thigh.

    The dog¡¯s black fur had made it seem as if it appeared out of thin air and left the soldier desperately trying to staunch a bleeding artery. After just a few moments he collapsed into the sand, his last sight a gaping black maw lined with razor-sharp teeth.

    The necessary hole now made It was time to finish the deed. My four skeletons made their way into the gap to surround the enemy and the soldiers broke ranks to back up against the wagons instead.

    The mangy mutt showed his worth once more, however, by going underneath the wagons and biting at exposed legs. Too preoccupied with skeletons to go after the thing they were repeatedly crippled.

    Two more kobolds died but moments after death I had them walking mindlessly into the enemy before exploding into pieces and killing their assailants.

    As we finished mopping up the last one I noticed Kaylee glancing at the dead bodies, including the older woman in a fine dress that had given the first shout and what had to have been her husband lying next to her.

    ¡°Something you want to say?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Caravans like this would sometimes stop at our farm. The women would sneer down at you and make us sleep outside. The men were worse, they¡®d leer down instead insisting you didn¡®t sleep outside but instead in bed with them,¡± She replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to be looking down on them for a change,¡± she finished.

    I took a moment to examine our haul. The caravan had been carrying several exotic artifacts. I¡¯d ended up in The Veiled Desert when the necromancer came here hunting for relics so it wasn¡¯t entirely surprising. Lots of creatures driven from the more inhabited parts of the world still exist in places like this.

    ¡°What were they transporting?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Griffon feathers as well as several of their eggshells. These are worth quite a bit to right mage. An air caster can use them as a focus.¡± I stated.

    ¡°What¡¯s that!¡± Kaylee shouted.

    She reached at a small yellow-orange stone.

    ¡°My loot!¡± She screamed. ¡°It¡¯s so pretty!¡±

    The kobolds started openly laughing.

    Rage flared, and I felt a calm detachment from myself as necromantic energy filled me.

    My hand lunged at her neck. She tried to shield herself with an arm accidentally dropping the stone in the process but my hand went ethereal and passed through closing around her throat.

    ¡°INSOLENT AGAIN!¡± I shouted.

    The kobolds stopped laughing.

    I could hear her breathing shallow as my fingers closed lightly.

    ¡°You forget your place,¡±  I growled.

    I expected her to cower. But she stared back at me.

    ¡°Remind me,¡± she whispered.

    I lowered my hand as I held her throat forcing her to her knees directly in front of me.

    ¡°Your place,¡± I uttered.

    she continued to stare up at me saying nothing for several moments even as my fingers grew tighter.

    Her voice was a raspy whisper when she finally replied.

    ¡°Yes, Ryzen.¡±

    I could feel her body shudder as she spoke.

    I released her and reached down to grab the stone from the sand.

    ¡°What are you looking at!¡±  I screamed at the kobolds. ¡°Get this shit packed up!¡±

    After they¡¯d dispersed, I looked back down at her.

    My anger tended to dissipate as quickly as it formed, at least with her, having punished I moved on.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said holding the stone in front of her. ¡°And it¡¯s more than just loot.¡±

    ¡°Push mana into it.¡± I directed.

    She drew stray mota created by the dead woman¡¯s corpse and flowed it into the amber.

    It flowed in easily, bonds forming with little effort until it was so densely packed it seemed to pulse with energy.

    ¡°Amber is an arcane focus just as the shaman¡¯s staff is. It forms from decaying life, in death pockets of released necromancy become trapped inside and eventually form stable bonds while the amber is still soft. Only after ages when the amber is long hardened does it finally turn back into pure mana and break its bonds to escape. It leaves behind a lattice of hollow spaces perfectly suited for binding the right mota together.¡± I told her.

    ¡°So it works to store the mana then!?¡± She asked excitedly.

    ¡°That is one purpose yes. Foci have several.¡± I replied.

    She was still on her knees and looking up at me interested. She seemed to have forgotten completely her chastisement a few moments ago.

    ¡°Foci are of different quality, largely based on how densely packed the mana was when it formed. For new mages, foci denser packed than they can make it naturally can aid them in learning the form. If charged it can also allow them to continue practicing past the point at which they would normally run out of mana or blood in our case.¡± I continued.

    She injected as I paused.

    ¡°But if you use it all at once you could do anything!¡±

    I nodded my head.

    ¡°Alternately an experienced necromancer can release a vast amount of mana to use all at once. But you still need the ability to control it all. Otherwise, it goes off more like a bomb in all directions than a directed flow.¡±

    I gave her a moment to think about that, not wanting a repeat of what happened at her house. She must have suspected my reason for pausing because she nodded sheepishly.

    Seeing she understood I continued.

    ¡°The most important aspect of them is to allow you to create bonds with no need to focus. Direct the mana into the focal object and the bonds form themselves.¡±

    ¡°So with this I!-¡± She caught herself ¡°You I mean, YOU could be much stronger!¡±

    ¡°And maybe I could too when you¡¯re done!¡± she finished rapidly.

    ¡°While it would have been helpful when we first met, I can make bonds as dense as this with ease and it¡¯s too small to store much mana,¡±  I replied.

    ¡°Practice filling the Amber from the corpses and then drawing it into your core.¡± I finished casually tossing the stone to her.

    With that, we both sat on the dead woman and trained. First individually condensing our cores and then competing with bone shards.

    I also practiced shading my hand again. It was much more difficult than earlier. I hadn¡¯t even meant to then, it¡¯d just happened. Still, by the end, I could shade my arm in ten or twenty seconds of concentration instead of ten or twenty minutes. Though I¡¯d only roughly doubled how much I could shade from around fifteen percent of my body to about a third. A marked improvement though.

 Ch 16. Gaias a Bitch.

    ¡°Three wagons full of loot, horses to haul it and an army to defend it!¡± Kaylee exclaimed looking down at the bodies.

    ¡°No,¡± I stated simply.

    ¡°Why not!¡± she grumbled.

    I grabbed her hair roughly.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said.

    Annoyed at her outburst but still in a good mood from my improvement at shading I decided I could teach her instead of punishing her, for now at least.

    I released her and leaned myself close to whisper in her ear.

    ¡°Raising all these corpses would drain me dry and we used all the residual mana in the air from the dead to practice. Right now barely contained kobolds now make up one half our army and they could easily kill us while we¡¯re weak.¡±

    Her voice sounded hurt as she asked, ¡°what about me though?¡±

    ¡°I only let you become exhausted because there is a store of power there in that amber for you to draw on my pet.¡±

    She smiled slightly.

    ¡°Not all these corpses are useful either.¡± I continued. ¡°Your standard zombie is generally a weaker version of whatever it was in life. You can rebind lost limbs and strengthen weak specimens but your better off having good stock to begin with.¡±

    She looked at the corpses again but this time with an eye to the zombie they would become.

    Both kobolds had exploded into bits and the caravans rich passengers were far too old and weak to be worth the effort. Of the seven guardsmen, several were missing chunks of flesh from where the dog had ripped flesh from neck and leg. Then there was one Kaylee fought with an eviscerated arm barely hanging on.

    That left only three worthwhile specimens all stabbed clean through with a single wound and otherwise unmarred.

    I raised all of them and set them to work collecting supplies from the wagons. As Kaylee made her way towards the trio of horses used to haul the wagons they whinnied and tried to escape.

    ¡°It¡¯s no use, horses can¡¯t abide the smell of necromancy. You¡¯ll stink like the dead to them no matter how much you wash.¡± I told her. ¡°Best to put them down.¡±

    ¡°No! You-¡±

    My gaze hardened.

    She cleared her throat.

    ¡°Should let them go instead.¡± she finished.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    I could almost see the cogs turning as she fished desperately for a reason.

    ¡°Atlas may not care about most of what goes on in the Veil, but they¡¯ll notice those two went missing. When the caravan doesn¡¯t arrive their family will send a search party if nothing else. But...¡±

    She paused briefly, and I waited as she finished rationalizing the whole thing.

    ¡°If we can send the horses along with the wagons and leave a few supplies and a corpse inside. They¡¯ll suspect there was no way the nobles survived and give up searching for them sooner! And we can¡®t take any of that stuff with us anyway!¡± she finished.

    I considered her words; it was mostly bullshit, but it mattered little.

    I grunted.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Have fun getting them harnessed,¡± I said.

    ¡°Kobolds! Come here!¡± She exclaimed. And with that began the process of wrangling some very reluctant, very large beasts. I noticed her surreptitiously filling the bags around their yokes with water and hay from the wagons when she thought I wasn¡¯t looking. They¡¯d make it to Atlas most likely, or not, either way, it mattered little.

    I watched the Kobolds carefully as they worked. They were getting more and more disobedient as time went on.

    They¡¯d put on more a show of force than a real fight against the caravan guards. It was the undead skeletons that did most of the real work.

    Still, I couldn¡¯t afford to be too harsh. I had to keep them battered, not cornered.

    Otherwise, I risked having to put them down, an ordeal which was itself fraught with risk.

    We started our walk back to camp carrying fresh supplies of food and water and several artifacts I could sell or trade. I had discarded most of the loot as too heavy or bulky, but a few small things were worthwhile.

    Our attack and training had taken us through the night and after a morning march the sun was well into the sky when I saw yet another cloud of dust, this time coming behind us. Likely a patrol. Though perhaps the caravan was already running late, and they¡¯d sent scouts to find it.

    Either way, the sand was already working to obscure our passage, they¡¯d find nothing that could lead to us.

    My mind continued to insist that truth even as the dust cloud drew closer. They must be going this way by chance I reasoned. I shifted our path forty-five degrees. It seemed to work for about half an hour. Then they mirrored our change.

    Shit.

    We were being followed.

    And even worse my attempts to throw them off had confirmed what everyone had hither for only suspected. Even a fucking lizard could see the dust trail was turning to follow us again. The kobolds kept throwing nervous glances behind them and everyone subconsciously picked up the pace.

    I searched around as if wondering if the desert might suddenly provide us with a forest to hide in or even just a nice place to make a last stand. No such luck.

    ¡°Put down your packs, we¡¯ll wait for them here,¡± I said casually.

    The Kobolds clearly disagreed with my choice, Kaylee did as well but she knew enough not to voice it openly.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± She whispered after a moment.

    ¡°Just what I said¡° I snarled

    ¡°or would you prefer us being run down exhausted and carrying a wagon¡¯s worth of goods?¡±

    I could see the tension in her body as listened to my words. She was scared. Weak.

    My fault perhaps?

    No.

    Even though it felt like a distant past, It hadn¡¯t actually been that long since I¡®d started training her and besides look at the stock I was working with!

    Still.

    I reached out grabbing her ass and pulled her close. Then I bit down on her earlobe, holding her still as she struggled until I could taste blood on my lips.

    ¡°There,¡± I said. ¡°Got the blood flowing, now you''re ready to fight.¡±

    ¡°Your welcome.¡± I finished.

    When she said nothing I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me.

    ¡°I said you''re welcome.¡±

    Her eyes narrowed staring fiercely at me.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She spat.

    She turned and walked away muttering something to the mutt beside her.

    I thought about the coming battle. We were unlikely to survive. But then things happened didn¡¯t they?

    The riders drew closer and several knights came into view along with a staff-wielding priestess leading them all. Her white robes and haughty air left little doubt about her profession and though the knights were wearing hardened leather instead of plate, they too could be identified by the long lances at the ready.

    Not a patrol then, the caravan must have been late even before our attack.

    The woman in robes spoke up.

    ¡°I could smell the stench of your kind from Atlas heretic! The Goddess demands retribution for your sins against humanity!¡±

    That explained it then. She must have been able to track the undead members of my party and perhaps even me and Kaylee through the stray mana we let off. That didn¡¯t bold well though as I was pretty sure it took quite a bit of skill to do such a thing.

    ¡°The Goddess demands?!¡± I said incredulously.

    ¡°Sins against humanity?!¡± I continued

    ¡°Fuck but you priestesses are all the same. All of you vying to see which of you can crawl furthest up Gaia¡¯s twat. I mean are you in fact even completely certain it was me you smelled and not the dead stank wafting up from Gaia¡¯s taint?¡± I taunted.

    Her face contorted in rage and given a signal all five Knights behind her moved forward. After a moment they broke into a charge and raced toward the kobold line.

    The lizards broke before the knights even reached them, running in all directions. But they were running from trained horsemen so all they managed was being impaled from behind instead of facing the enemy. Small comfort true but I¡¯d take what I could get.

    The horsemen wheeled to reform and I knew my undead would fair only slightly better. They wouldn¡¯t break willingly like the kobolds, but they¡¯d break all the same. I could try to take several with me though while the undead distracted them.

    Then the priestess pointed her staff towards the line of undead and a blinding light poured out.

    When my eyes would finally open again, spots dotted my blurry vision and so I could barely make out the row of now dead dead zombies and skeletons in front of me.

    I had little time to worry about that though as I the tip of a lance was also visible and mere moments away from impaling me.

    Not that I was really worried about dying. But then death has a way of taking its time once you know it¡¯s coming.

    My mind reached back to the times he had whipped me with nettles and what they had done to my mother after raising her from the dead. I¡¯d tried to close my eyes and block it out, but that had only resulted in my eyelids being sewn open with thread. Water tossed onto my face every few moments to keep me from going blind blurred the image but didn¡¯t make it go away.

    I¡¯d begged the Gods to take me more than once those first few weeks. But the Gods it turns out are no less cruel than anyone else and my prayers went unanswered.

    Anger and hate welled up inside me, building until it consumed everything else. Then it disappeared suddenly. I felt disconnected. Like I was not me but was instead looking down on myself. I watched unconcerned as the lance struck. Blood sprayed for a moment but then my body became almost translucent and I watched the lance continue to strike without actually hitting anything. My body slumped down onto the sand after and I looked over to see Kaylee. Terror filled her eyes as the horseman made to ride her down.

    I reached out for her and a stream of mana spat out, crossing the gap in an instant. Suddenly I could see two of her. One of her here with me wherever that was and an opaque version of herself also slumped down on the sand and ridden roughshod over by a horse''s hoofs. It didn¡¯t look right though. It needed something.

    Bits of my body in this world and her body in the real world shimmered and fluctuated in color. I became less real here, and she became more real there.

    This time when the rear hoof struck blood squirted out. Better. I could feel a tingling sensation as the hoof struck, similar to pain but not at the same time It was like that uncomfortable feeling you have reflexively at the sight of another guy getting his balls smashed in. A kind of sympathetic pain.

    Having apparently accomplished her goal the holy woman smiled in satisfaction and the group of riders reformed, riding off slowly into the setting sun.

    The Kaylee that was here with me continued to look around in shock not understanding what was happening.

    ¡°Am I dead?¡± She asked me.

    ¡°Are we dead?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I answered ¡°Maybe?¡±

    With that, my mind must have lost its grip on whatever passed for reality and blackness filled my vision.

 Ch 17. Death springs eternal.

    I awoke to the feeling of my head exploding with every heartbeat. I tried and failed repeatedly to open for eyes for several seconds before they finally responded. Still seeing nothing I considered my experience may have blinded me.

    After a moment I could make out the pinpricks of light from the stars coming into focus, no moon but I¡¯m pretty sure that was to be expected though it was all a little hazy.

    My mind slowly gathered itself. I noticed the sand against my back and a light breeze against my face. I heard a soft sniffling sound and turned towards it.

    ¡°K-AY¡± My voice was hoarse and I could barely get anything out.

    Kaylee¡¯s head snapped towards me and she squealed.

    She threw herself at me and I tried desperately to get my arms to respond long enough to push her off before she suffocated me. My breath was coming in shallow gasps and I could feel sharp stabbing pains from my chest. she must have finally noticed the difficulty I had because she withdrew sheepishly.

    ¡°Sorry! You must be thirsty! Stay here! I¡¯ll get some water!¡±

    Stay here. Right.

    ¡°Looks like the wounds on your chest opened a bit. I¡¯ll seal them right up.¡±

    Her finger traced over my skin and white scar tissue followed behind.

    Then she moved to my face, her soft fingers opening my lips.

    I felt cool water splash against my tongue.

    Too much.

    I could barely swallow and coughed as gravity carried it to my lungs.

    ¡°Sorry! Sorry!¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Kaylee lifted me to a sitting position and tried once more, slowly this time.

    After several large gulps, I could feel my eyes growing heavy. I took one last look at Kaylee¡¯s face before dozing off again.

    I awoke to feel of the ground moving underneath me. I watched the sun pass over me while becoming fully aware and then tried to speak.

    ¡°Kaylee,¡± I rasped.

    The ground stopped moving.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡±

    ¡°Going back to the old camp.¡± She said.

    ¡°And how are we getting there?¡±

    ¡°I made a sled from some bones and the tent fabric. We¡¯re dragging you.¡±

    ¡°We? Am I dragging something?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Me and the dog,¡± she replied exasperated.

    ¡°Dog? isn¡¯t he dead again?¡±

    Kaylee walked over and crouched above me.

    ¡°Wha-¡±

    She poured water into my mouth causing me to focus on not choking. But she didn¡¯t seem bothered by my coughing this time and just waited till I finished before pouring with gusto once again.

    .

    ¡°Well be there soon,¡± she spoke as she continued.

    I glared at her.

    Maybe.

    I''m not entirely sure I was up to glaring at the moment.

    She smiled but said nothing, emptying the rest of the contents of the skin onto my head.

    ¡°Unless you drown me first.¡± I sputtered.

    I gave up asking questions and laid there watching as the sun passed overhead. It was peaceful almost, the only sound an occasional grunting from Kaylee as she strained against the weight of the sled.

    I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I¡¯d relaxed.

    Then I remembered my night with Kaylee in the tent and smiled. But even that took some work, worthwhile perhaps but work all the same.

    After a while relaxing my mind grew restless, and I meditated. Focusing inside myself I found and fixed the worst injuries. I killed off the dead and dying bits of me to be raised once more.

    As the sun started its way back down the sled came to a stop.

    I felt much better. I was still weak and the inside of my throat likely looked white from all the reanimated flesh but at least I could speak.

    I sat up and noticed a small bundle of supplies surrounded me on the edges of the sled. Turning around, I saw the dog was equally encumbered. I almost laughed as I saw the griffon feathers tied to one ear. She¡¯d apparently taken the loot with us.

    I closed my eyes and laid back once more when I heard her speaking softly.

    ¡°What happened back there?¡±

    I considered her question.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied.

    ¡°What do you mean? That was your doing wasn¡¯t it?¡± she asked.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Kind of.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean! I watched both of us get killed! Was that like our soul being released? Are we undead too now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we went to the ethereal plane. It¡¯s a place between the living and the dead. I¡¯m not sure how it happened though. I¡¯ve never been able to send more than a small part of myself there at one time.¡±

    ¡°Your eyes...¡±  She said. ¡°They went white, That¡¯s the second time you¡¯ve done that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that either,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°You saved my life.¡±

    She sat silent for several seconds apparently she was waiting for me to say something.

    ¡°Yes, well, I¡¯d have chosen the priestess but those bitches believe in remaining completely ¡°pure¡° and ¡°natural¡° no trimming for them. get her in a dress a half an inch long and people ask her why she was standing on her head." I replied.

    "Easy for them to avoid a pregnancy though, you¡®d need half the king''s groundskeepers just to figure out if you¡®re stickin¡¯ it in the right hole.¡±

    Her soft laughter grew closer.

    ¡°Ryzen?¡± she asked

    ¡°Yes?¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready for bed,¡± she replied.

 Ch 18. Explicit Content

    I opened my eyes and looked up. Kaylee stood a foot away and from my vantage, her dress did nothing to conceal the panties underneath. she had tacked the Hem up in a few places with some thread to make sure it passed muster.

    ¡°Half an inch,¡± she said, spinning around to show off her work. Unfortunately, as she did a few threads worked loose causing the hem to slide down slightly in one spot.

    I reached up and rubbed the area between my fingertips.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± I said.

    I grabbed her wrist and pulled her down roughly. She caught herself as she fell landing on her hands and knees to the side of me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± I said before she could react.

    I stood up and faced her, placing my hand on her cheek and guiding her to look up so she was watching as I pulled my dagger free from its sheath.

    Her breath quickened, and she followed my movement with her eyes as I made my way around behind her.

    I waited for her head to follow.

    ¡°I said don¡¯t move!¡± I chastised, already imagining how I¡¯d punish her mistake.

    Her head snapped back.

    ¡°That¡¯s twice you¡¯ve disobeyed me,¡± I said more softly.

    ¡°Close your eyes.¡±

    Her dress showed every detail of her body underneath and I traced the lines of her body with my fingertips as I walked around behind her.

    I could see goose bumps forming on her exposed skin as I slid gently over her shoulder blades and down the small of her back before continuing further.

    Reaching the end of her back I tugged up lightly on her dress, bunching it up and exposing her panties underneath

    I continued along the top edge of them briefly before sliding along the top of the fabric as it disappeared down the center of her ass cheeks.

    Her ass firmed up in response to my touch as I did.

    ¡°No,¡± I said firmly.

    My hand rose and fell sharply smacking against her rear.

    ¡°I told you not to move.¡±

    My hand came down against her ass again and she tensed further. She still hadn¡¯t seemed to realize what she¡¯d done.

    ¡°Relax,¡± I whispered.

    Understanding now what she¡¯d done I took time to enjoy the show as her ass moved in response.

    ¡°Are you going to make sure you don''t embarrass me again princess?¡± I asked

    ¡°Yes,¡± she replied.

    I walked in front of her and leaned down inches from her face.

    ¡°Yes, what?¡±

    ¡°Yes...¡± I could feel the hesitation in her voice as she struggled to continue.

    ¡°Yes, daddy.¡± She finished shakily.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "mmhmm, we''ll see" I smirked. ¡°Now about this dress..¡±

    I made my way back around behind Kaylee again before pulling the hem back down and firmly against her ass, a feature it just managed to cover.

    ¡°This length would have been fine,¡± I stated. The tip of my blade poking gently against her skin just underneath.

    ¡°IF," I emphasized. "you had done the job right, but now this length¡­¡±

    The tip of my blade lifted, coming back down an inch above the bottom of her ass.

    ¡°Will make sure it doesn¡®t happen again.¡±

    <div>

    I poked the tip through the fabric lightly nicking the skin underneath and causing her to shiver.

    SMACK!

    My hand came down hard on the same spot as before.

    "You need to stay still so I don''t slip don''t you?" I asked.

    ¡° Y-Y-yes, yes. Daddy.¡± Kaylee sputtered.

    I worked the blade back and forth in my other hand widening the tear.

    Once it was wide enough, I both lifted and pulled the blade single motion cutting the fabric cleanly and creating a new slightly higher edge. I then continued working my way in each direction before slipping the blade between her legs to slice the front.

    ¡°There, that¡¯s better isn¡¯t it?¡± I told her as I finished.

    ¡°Yes... um¡­ ¡°

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she finished.

    ¡°Good girl,¡± I told her squeezing her ass gently. She surprised me by moaning softly as I did.

    Encouraged I sat the knife down and slid the dress up over her chest and neck until I bunched it at her wrists.

    I placed my hand on her back.

    ¡°Give me your hands,¡± I commanded.

    Following my instructions, she slipped her hands free from the dress and laid her head and chest against the ground. They then moved to her back allowing me to use one of the three cut strips of her dress to tie the wrists together.

    The last two strips I layered together before blindfolding her with them.

    I pushed gently out from the insides of her thighs and she complied eagerly, spreading her legs wider and giving me an unobstructed view between her legs.

    Her thin white panties were visibly wet and clinging to her skin allowing me to see pale pussy lips outlined perfectly underneath.

    I rubbed my fingers across the top of them and she gasped.

    Sliding them back and forth over and over I could feel her occasionally lose control causing her to push back slightly against me.

    ¡°Ryzen, please¡± Kaylee moaned.

    ¡°Who?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Please,¡± she said again.

    ¡°Are you going to behave?¡±

    My hand came down hard against her ass.

    ¡°Yes!¡± she cried

    ¡°Do you know what happens when you don¡¯t?¡±

    SMACK!

    ¡°I get punished,¡± Kaylee answered loudly.

    I teased her, rubbing her ass then lifting my hand, she¡¯d tense up expecting another spanking, and I¡¯d leave her there for several moments before putting it down gently and rubbing once more. Other times though I¡¯d wait until she relaxed slightly before I brought my hand down hard on her little bottom again.

    I could tell the skin was reddening underneath but I could also see the wet spot on her panties building as I punished her.

    ¡°You like that don¡¯t you Kaylee?¡± I asked.

    She moaned slightly in response.

    ¡°You like having your ass punished for disobedience you little slut.¡±

    She moaned louder and bucked her hips back and forth like she was trying to fuck the air.

    I brought my hand down hard enough to make her yelp.

    ¡°Say it!¡± I commanded.

    ¡°Yes! Yes, daddy, I do! I like having you punish me!¡±

    Her body was almost vibrating now.

    ¡°A little slut like you needs punishment every day as an encouragement to behave.¡±

    Kaylee¡¯s head nodded in agreement.

    ¡°You will behave right?¡± I asked her.

    SMACK!

    I could see tears forming in her eyes as I struck the same spot again and her skin felt hot on my hands

    ¡°I¡¯ll behave!¡± Kaylee cried.

    SMACK!

    ¡°I promise I¡¯ll behave!¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I replied

    I grabbed her hips and flipped her over onto her ass.

    She had tears running down her cheeks but she smiled and spread her legs herself as I started kissing her panties and thighs inhaling the scent of her sex.

    She moaned repeatedly as I pushed my tongue harder up and down

    ¡°Mmmmm... Thank you¡­¡±

    hooking my fingers around the waistband of her panties I paused for a moment.

    ¡°They should tie at the side,¡± I spoke.

    With that, I grabbed the knife and cut the thin bands on each side of her panties.  Now cut free I grabbed the top of her panties with my teeth and peeled them down exposing her pussy underneath.

    I licked at her once more alternately taking her clit into my mouth and burying my tongue inside.

    Her breathing came quicker and I could feel the tension building as she moaned.

    Rising to stop her from finishing I got to enjoy the sight of her pouting and her wrists straining at bonds they couldn¡¯t escape.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡±

    My hand shot across us slapping her cheek.

    "What was that?" I said, taking her cheek in my hand gently.

    ¡°please don¡¯t stop.¡± she amended.

    ¡°you sure?¡± I teased

    ¡°YES!¡± She shouted.

    I stripped off my shirt and pants and moved up her body, stopping long enough to suck each nipple on the way up.

    My hands reached around to her hands and untied her.

    She immediately wrapped them around my neck while I slid off the blindfold.

    ¡°You absolutely sure?¡± I asked looking down into her eyes.

    All the hesitation from earlier was gone and she eyed me hungrily.

    ¡°Yes daddy,¡± she replied eagerly.

    Kissing her hard I thrust forward in one hard stroke and piston¡¯d inside her over and over.

    ¡°You want me to cum inside you don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Please, daddy!¡± She screamed.

    Her hips were rising to meet me now and I could feel her excitement building in time with my own.

    ¡°You want that womb filled with cum,¡± I stated.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Ye- mmmm!¡±

    Her response trailed off into incoherent moans and I felt her body shudder and her fingernails gouge into my back as she orgasmed.  The sight of her pussy squirting cum out each time I withdrew, soaking the tent beneath us and covering my legs in more of her wetness was too much and I buried myself deep before pausing to cum inside her.

    She continued to thrust slowly against me as I finished, my cock slipping in and out of her for several seconds and filling her with fresh ropes of cum each time. Fully spent I laid there, still buried inside her kissing her neck and sucking on her earlobes.

    ¡°Mmmmm..¡± she sighed,

    After a moment I moved out from between her legs and slid up until I was resting on her chest.

    ¡°you¡¯ve still got a little cleanup to do,¡± I told her.

    Grabbing her hair I raised her mouth to my cock and slid in and out a few times enjoying the feel of her tongue as she explored trying to please me. She¡¯d need a little more experience to actually make me finish like that but when it came to eagerness to please she was a natural.

    After a few more minutes of enjoyment, I let her go.

    ¡°you can practice more tomorrow,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Morning?¡± She asked eagerly.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I chuckled.

    I laid back on the tent fabric and she snuggled her head against my chest, my hand resting on her ass as we fell asleep.