A War Dawning - Epilogue

Epilogue

If the bar that Elan found herself in in Idros could be said to be the height of class and modernity, the bar the assassin known in this part of the world as Wyrnn was the opposite. It was a dead end in the small town and usually attracted those at the dead end of their lives, whether it be physically or emotionally. Broken bodies and broken lives made their way here to while away what was left of their time, whether it be drinking to forget, tell stories of past glories, or to seek some solace with those as broken as they were.

The interior reflected that with a weathered bar, mismatched furniture and a floor that creaked as though a misstep would send one rapidly to the cellar, and it smelled to her as though the owners used the cleaning solvents to cover over the old of the place and the sickness of the patrons in a way that she could only describe as 'almost' successful. Almost every place she had been that was like this was exactly like this. It reassured her when it came to the predictability of human nature and it reassured her that there would always be places where she could conduct her business. Places like this were such that you could be completely alone in a crowded room. Most were wrapped up in whatever brought them here and didn't care for much else. Sometimes she had to avoid amorous overtures, but it at least rarely turned physical.

She entered through the back way, measuring her steps to remain in the embrace of shadows as much as possible. It was quiet, but she expected that, as the establishment was closed for those scant few hours between dawn and late morning that the employees had to clean and make ready for the next wave of the walking dead. She crept, seemingly knowing where to step and how to keep those steps soundless.

Creeping through the storeroom and peeking through the spaces between the slats of the door she caught sight of Lian, though she had hoped to not see him for a good clip longer if ever again. He sat at the table with a shot of yellow liquid and the bottle with it, seemingly happy to wile away the time. He always seemed to know when she was near though he looked around the bar casually as though he had yet to sense her.

They had an excellent working relationship. She paid well, while he tended her wounds and occasionally helped her line up work. The botched attempt on Evaline still gnawed at her for many reasons. She had been thwarted by timing and a child's move that there was no reason to expect royalty to know. That the woman still lived was the final insult to her reputation.

Mareth had called off the contract after berating her for her failure, so she didn't see payment beyond the initial outlay that had to go to helping her lay low for a time and distance herself from Erette. She had contemplated finishing the job on principle, knowing no one could stop her a second time, but had decided against it, at least for now as she rarely let emotion cloud her judgment and right now the thought had a feeling of rashness that came with it. Rashness led to mistakes. Let normal find both her and the queen for a time and perhaps she would visit Evaline again to finish what was started.

For now though, that Lian had trekked to find her as he had was a bad omen, but that he had done meant he had news. The knob turned with a click and the door announced her. He gave her that usual disarming smile that she knew probably got many a maiden to part her knees. "I wondered how long you were just going to stare at me through the door."

"Just making sure you were alone. You weren't followed?"

She annoyed him. "Don't be stupid. It's not as if we've never done this before or that you're the only one I meet away from prying eyes."

Relax, mage. It's just a long way for you to come for no good reason." She put herself in the seat opposite him before looking for clues in his face, "So what's the good reason?"

Worry piggybacked onto his voice. "They traced the channels you came through and they might be getting close to finding you."

She sighed it out. "And Wrynn isn't my name, and this isn't the first time

I've

slipped away. But even if they did find something, we're not exactly in territory friendly to Erette."

He finished his shot and put the heavy glass down with a touch of harshness. "Ordinarily that might matter, but these are not ordinary times. The queen was almost murdered and, in response to Mareth's involvement in it, not to mention his open challenge to her that he botched so miserably, he's dead and all the Draleth Court can hope for is that she's satisfied with the half of the kingdom she said she'd accept rather than all of it, their heads included."

"As you might expect, an army on the rampage spoiling for a fight makes everyone nervous. Others may not be on the best of terms with Evaline, but helping to find you and turning you over in return for favors would be fine, or just not wanting it to get out that you

might

be in their lands so that Erette comes to swallow them whole looking for you."

"They're still that pissed?"

"General Jaye took Mareth's head and I hear she's still smiling about it. Now that they have something like a trail to scent they won't quit. All I really know is that I'm worried for you and I'm worried about how far they will go to get you. Jaye would have your head before you could get back there to be hanged."

Her eyes narrowed, "Any special reason you care so much?"

"Goddess." He rolled his eyes. "We've had a decent relationship, you and I. I've patched you up and made introductions without a question and you've paid well with gold or barter, and we've treated each other fairly." He grinned wickedly, "Then there was that night of the ale binge that you showed me how flexible you were."

She winced and huffed, contemplating a shot or two herself to wash away the memories. For the hundredth time,"

that

was a mistake."

He shrugged. "So you keep saying. Fine. But it was a great night, so maybe this is a thank you for that. Call it whatever you want, but I'm just here to try and warn you."

His face was inscrutable enough so she couldn't tell if she had wounded his feelings. If she had, she carefully removed the hostility from her next words while she tapped her nails to the table."It's not as if I haven't thought about all of this already. If you honestly think it's going to stay this bad for that long, I can hop an explorer and be on the way to nothing on the map in two days, then Jaye can chase her tail or decide if she actually wants to waste her navy looking for me, assuming she figures it out."

Reflecting her kinder tone, "I've been thinking about this a lot, too, and I think I have an out for you that doesn't require you dashing off to parts unknown forever."

She admitted to herself that it intrigued her, so she leaned in slightly, "What?"

"I can help you become someone else."

She shook her head with a knowing grin. "Lian, honey. I can become someone else in an hour. I don't need you for that. I've been so many someone elses I barely remember the name my mother gave me."

"It can be done. We can provide evidence that the matter was taken care of so no one will be looking and..."

She stiffened, body ready to attack or bolt, her senses keen for signs of anyone else, "We? Who in the depths are 'we?' The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and that was the last nudge to act that she required. "Fuck this." She was up from the chair in the blink of an eye. "Never contact me again."

His hand was wrapped around her wrist just as quickly. "This is for the best. I promise. No one will hurt you."

She would have hurt him in response. She would have put her fist to his throat and perhaps ripped it out for him, but she could make her muscles do nothing. She could breathe and blink and speak, but otherwise, her mind's will could not become reality. Wrynn loathed the sensation. She could not bring herself to think 'terrified' though it did feel like that. Wrynn didn't succumb to fear. It was an enemy to be overcome, though she admitted in the privacy of her mind that it was a pretty powerful enemy at the moment.

"Let me go." It carried a bit more of the cadence of a plea to it than she was hoping for, but it was still angry enough.

"Soon."

A hand pushed her down into the table. It was feminine, but strong, perhaps in some ways not unlike herself. Unable to do more than be posed as her attacker wanted her to be she listened as her tunic was ripped from her back, exposing the smooth, muscled flesh. She tried once again to struggle, but, once again, succeeded in accomplishing nothing. She heard the woman begin to murmur using what Wrynn only knew to herself as mage words as two fingers from each hand drew on her back in exceedingly intricate patterns. "Stop this. Stop what you're doing. Do you hear me? Stop, or by the Goddess, I'll kill you when I'm out of here."

Lian did his best to console her. "It's better this way. No one will be chasing you and you can be helpful to others, truly helpful. And Mistress might have need of some of your talents one day."

Her back started feeling prickly, as though the muscles were limbs that had been slept on. "Mistress? You bastard. You sold me out," she hissed as the fingers on her back drew their symbols and the voice sang. "To her? Why? You hate her." She raised her voice so the one behind her could well hear. Maybe it'd break her concentration "He hates you, you know. That's how we met. He'd hoped to hire me to kill you. We'd settled on a different relationship when he realized he couldn't afford me for that."

It dawned on her why the two of them were probably together here and now and she was afraid again because she hadn't seen a clue in the time she'd been feet from him. "She got to you."

"She did what she had to," Lian affirmed. With some amusement, he continued. "Ironically, I sort of did it to myself, but she was right to do it. I overstepped and that was wrong. I was immature and a threat to her and my guild. Someday it

was

going to be a matter of her or me, she just acted first. It's for the best." he looked upon her as she worked...so beautiful and so skilled. He prayed to be truly worthy of her affection one day.

Wrynn recoiled as much as she was able, which was only really to scrunch her eyes shut and gag as two fingers slid under her nose, leaving the unmistakable tells of feminine wetness in their wake.

"Done," Bryana said in the first word uttered that Wrynn understood. She had moved away from Wrynn and there was rustling beyond, but she was still unable to move. Her back still tingled, but now a warmth spread through in patterns. She could almost feel fingers against her skin as though she marked her body still. Her sleeves kept her muted green tunic to her body.

The instant he released her she stood straight, eyeing the doorway and the table and mage between it. She'd planned her response in her mind. Wrynn would jump the table, jump again, using the momentum to hook her arm against his jaw and use that momentum again to snap his neck. He saw the hostility in her eyes and literally stepped away from it.

When he saw how her eyes still didn't leave him, he held his hands up, giving her a straight run to the entryway. From there, into the darkness that had always been a friend to her, and then gone. She regretted saying as much about her possible plans as she had, though the sea was still a solid route of escape, she'd just have to change her means of getting there.

She did not lie when she said she could be someone else in an hour. She suspected the spell placed upon her would allow them to track her, but he was hardly the only mage she knew. The spell could be undone, she was sure, she just had to stay ahead of them just long enough. Wrynn moved quickly. Freedom was at hand. She could see it. She could smell the night air and feel the breeze touch her face when the wind gusted.

"Stop and listen."

As if she were a marionette on strings she simply stopped moving. The fingers were still on her back, and, even though she wasn't restrained as before, she was asked to stop and listen, so she listened intently to the mage's words.

"The queen is a good woman, and arguably the best leader of Erette in generations. There would have been much suffering without her. I accept that that you did not care. I accept that it was just a job. I accept that because I was like you once. It was just a job for me, too...almost no matter what I was asked to do. As long as the price was paid, all was well. I do not know you or know what you've done, but if your history is anything like mine, you have done things that would terrify any random person on the street that you started sharing your stories with."

"But, I can make use of someone with your skills. As an assassin if need be, but also as eyes and ears for the guilds and perhaps the queen you tried to kill, even though, for obvious reasons, you'll probably never see her again."

Her bitterness and dread were apparent as she turned. "And you're going to...change me." She had to consciously close her mouth to change the look of shock at the sight that filled her vision. In a chair between two tables sat Bryana, black tunic under a lavender jacket that set off her long, silky blonde hair and eyes that projected power all on their own. Beyond that there was nothing but her body on display, long legs spread, high-arched feet planted firmly on the floor, guild markings and runes in patterns on both legs.

Wrynn inhaled and the scent of that pussy invaded her brain. The fingers were still on her back, and, once her brain filled with Bryana's cunt she felt the thoughts and sensations ooze down her spine like pouring honey until they reached her belly. Her mouth dropped open for a moment as she felt herself fill and that sweet honey began to drool from her pussy in a near torrent. She only liked women when the job called for it and faked it with the best of whores. She never before

wanted.

But she wanted now.

She wanted to leave, too. She knew she could try as long as Bryana wasn't speaking, so there was nothing that demanded to be listened to. But if she left she would leave that pussy and she couldn't make herself do that. either The worst part for her is that Bryana could see the war being waged within her and was amused by it.

Bryana asked shyly, "Do you want to want me?"

"No. Please make it stop."

"Do you want me?"

She didn't answer in words. Wrynn whined and stripped herself of her torn tunic, pants and boots, leaving herself nude. The dark pink nipples on her teardrop breasts that could fill a hand nicely stood proud in the air and the subtle shadows made by the lamp lights made her even more alluring.

Bryana liked the look of her. "It seems that your body does. What's your true name?"

No one knew it. It was something that had belonged to her alone since she left her family that, in some ways, literally a thousand lifetimes ago. To give it aloud to another stripped her bare, yet the sight of the mage awaiting her and the promise of bliss between her legs shredded her will. She fought for all the precious seconds she could and then managed a few more before she gave in. "Imir. Imir Ageko."

"Come to me, Imir Ageko."

It was an absolute command and the fingers at her back pushed Imir forward. "How can you do this, mage? How is this different from anything you've done before? How does making me a...slave...mean you're better than me or who you were before?" There was a rush of self-loathing as her body undeniably liked the sound of slavery. "Really need to get me...sucking your cunt to steal me from me?"

Reaching up to touch her shoulder, it only took the lightest of downward pressure to bring Ageko to her knees.

Bryana's nails gently raked that thick dark hair. "No. But it is helpful, Imir. Clouding your mind makes it much easier to shape. And if I can have some fun, too, so much the better. Ask Lian, as he rather enthusiastically enjoyed his downfall, didn't you, young man?"

His eyes glittered in want of his Goddess on earth as he remembered, "Yes, Mistress."

"And you will enjoy Mistress again." She looked down at Imir, watching carefully. Inches from Bryana's mound the ensnared held her breath for as long as she could, her belly flexing as it fought her will. When she finally had no choice but to succumb to her need for air, her eyelids fluttered as her mind embraced the narcotic that was her soon-to-be Mistress

Bryana waited until lucidity returned to Imir's eyes after the rush before she continued. "The difference between then and now is purpose and balance. My deeds furthered my own ends, no doubt as yours have. Wealth and power were all that mattered. Broadening of perspective...as was done to me, against my will initially, I admit, has given me greater understanding."

"Yes, it's an evil to take you from you to make you mine. But you will have pleasure and a purpose greater than now. And, without my intervention, you would no doubt only simply spread pain with thought only to yourself. It benefits the world to take you."

"So, it's an evil, yes, but it's one we will both be able to live with in the end. Eat." She pushed Imir's face between her legs and held it while the other squirmed more than struggled as Bryana's essence filled her senses. Imir put both hands on Byana's knees and there was a pause that had the mage wondering if she was going to push herself free.

But the answer to that came when both hands went from her knees to meander tantalizingly up her thighs, nails raking briefly here and there to tease. Several long, slow, deep breaths later and her tongue darted outward to collect the true honey to be had in the mage's wet.

The scent of her soothed Imir. It was peaceful here to just lick. It was simple, almost reflexive, and it felt good to let go. And Bryana's nectar? It was sublime sweetness that seemed to warm every inch of her. The invisible fingers still on her body were massaging her clit even as they still marked her.

She hummed in lust, her mouth full of pussy, feeling the real fingers still running through her hair.

She's petting me. I'm her pet. Goddess, never stop petting me.

She came so hard she was completely paralyzed, realizing that those fingers that still raked through her hair were now raking through her brain.

Her world became nothing but blinding white.

***

Neral Jaye was settled. Bryana was taking care of the largest remaining loose end and would be home once that was done. Evaline trusted Neral when she told her that her connections would end the Wrynn problem without saying exactly how. She assumed that meant dead, but she decided that in a hole somewhere forever would be fine, too. She was healed, Erette was safe, Mareth had paid the toll for his treachery, and Court was thrilled to see a sizable expansion of the kingdom, so she decided she could afford some generosity, even to her assassin. Expansion was the matter that that Evaline and Neral were discussing as they were ensconced within the latter's private study preparing to play yet another game of Strata.

The game reached up like an upside down pyramid with a silver border upon which the tokens moved forward or back according to rolls of six hex dice that dictated which pieces could move and how far. Reach the end of the path and the player took their tokens to the checkered board in the center. One last roll of a numbered die dictated how many moves each had to use. One took the tokens they had, made their most strategic moves within the constraints of the roll and the rules governing how the pieces could move in order to knock an opponent's pieces from the game. If any of the dozen small tokens survived, they moved to the next tier, onward and upward until whomever had the most pieces after the last moves on the highest tier won.