A Harem Fantasy

In the end we decided not to tell Marxim. Keeping a secret from him felt like keeping him outside of us, as if we were partners and he an unwelcome house guest. I suppose that is what made us focus our attentions on him.

Marxim was a truly wondrous man, beautiful and strong, but his soul had been rent asunder after years of cruel torture and mind games. Hey lay in my bed, a thing of beauty, his long lines corded with muscle, his inky hair spreading out in tight curls, his eyes wide and blue.

I kissed him because he needed it, and I wanted it. He tasted of honey and soft, gentle heat. Parting his lips I stroked the delineation of his torso and hips as behind me Lucius petted me softly with his fingertips, waiting, supporting me with patience.

Marxim remained passive, something not normally of his character, but I knew he was awash with deep, conflicting emotions. I trailed the tips of my fingers over his penis, still flaccid, and he whimpered, but remained still.

I wiggled against Lucius, needing more, and he read my intentions. Bringing my hands up to cup Marxim's face and deepen our kiss Lucius took advantage of the space and cupped my breasts.

His fingers stroked my swollen nipples gently, creating a firestorm of sensation with his care. Passion took me and I slid my tongue along Marxim's, willing the goddess into him, willing that her power could heal emotional wounds as well as physical.

His hands rose at last, one sinking into my hair, the other bruising aside one of Lucius'. I moaned as his firmer touched joined the softer, and my body began to pulse between the mismatched sensations, equally pleasurable.

The power of the great mother filled me and I was ready, hungry, I wanted more, but Marxim was not ready. Lucius felt the power and understood, his free hand sliding down my back, lovingly teasing my ass before singing into my wetness.

He speared me with two fingers, filling me, forcing me to cry out. Marxim shifted us, moving me higher, his mouth capturing a breast, his hand massaging the other. I steadied myself and grasped his hardening penis, stroking, and Lucius curled around me, turning my head to kiss me.

It w as so simple, so easy, but I was awash in pleasure. When Lucius granted me a finger on my nubbin I broke into a wailing orgasm, shaking with it, pleased to hear their soft moans echo my pleasure and need.

My lighter lover became the aggressor, and I let him move me. Marxim knew what he was about, even as my blissful mind floated free. Marxim lay still, moving down, and I was guided to straddle his head. His hands met mine, supporting me, and as I settled his mouth closed over me, sending delicious little shocks of pleasure through me as he suckled.

Lucius kissed Marxim's stomach, his long blonde hair falling over him, softening the firm lines of his face where they met the hard lines of Marxim's body. I was entranced by the sight as he kissed down, raising his head as his large hands enclosed around Marxim's cock and sac.

I whimpered to feel the vibration of Marxim's moan against me as Lucius gripped him firmly and moved slowly. Green eyes met mine with a wicked twinkle as he bent down and took my other consort into his mouth.

The vision before me was pure, mad lust. Two lovers I cared for deeply shared a moment of rough passion, hips thrusting as Lucius took him deeper than I could, swallowing an impressive amount of Marxim's large cock. The sight inflamed me, and I let go of Marxim's hands to cup my heavy breasts.

His tongue began to flick at my nubbin and the sweet pleasure coiled around me, tightening me, driving me higher and higher into hot need. At last I broke, crying out, shaking with it. I felt my juices gush, riding my lover's mouth, rubbing, desperate for more sensation.

I fell forward and Lucius broke off to kiss me, his sweet taste filled with the salty secretions of Marxim's growing pleasure. Our tongues mingled and then fell on the head of the other man's penis, licking together. He moaned, his mouth still on my cunt, loose in deference to the sensitivity that pained me just after climax.

I raised my hips and pushed Lucius to take Marxim's cock into my mouth. He gripped the base for me and lowered his own plush lips to the other man's sack. We moved together, pushing his pleasure. Marxim's breath was hot on me and I moved aside, wanting to pleasure him. Lucius hand moved with my mouth, squeezing harder than I would have dared, and our victim cried out in desire.

Lucius broke off and grabbed me roughly for a kiss, our tongues mingling as his hand fisted in my hair. I knew what he wanted, what Marxim wanted, and so I shifted. Settling on his cock I slammed my hips down so he filled me. I felt a wet kiss at the base of my spine and then Lucius grabbed my hips and moved me.

I felt his hair and nose at my back, realizing he still licked the sac as he lifted me and slammed me down. Marxim's hands sought mine and his blue eyes darkened as his eyes bored into me. We moved, faster and faster, his hips meeting mine with equal measure. His body tightened, the muscles bulging, and then his eyes closed and he threw his beautiful face side to side, twisting as he came deep inside me.

For the most of the night we moved in concert, Lucius and I pleasuring Marxim with our mouths and hands, and I fucked him hard. While he relaxed Lucius would take me with near violence, in both holes, filling me, making me beg until his cock and Marxim's hands brought me to climax.

We broke for food twice, and I alerted one of the servants to wake us early. By dawn we slept in a sweaty tangle, Marxim in the middle. Despite knowing what was to come, Lucius fell asleep quickly, and I followed soon after.

***

I woke before the servant came, and went to my new bathing chambers. They were large, larger than my previous sleeping chamber. The bath itself was a pool, nothing like the main pool, but large enough to comfortably swim very small laps or fit a dozen people.

I bathed myself, preferring a moment of solitude. I was not positive that Antal was dead, but the guards had reported that all priestesses were locked away in the temple. The streets were empty, the shops closed, people hiding inside their houses. The large numbers without a home were not seeking shelter at the palace nor at the temple. The shroud of war was being laid upon Caldor's shoulders.

If Fisine succeeded in raising an army to fight for her, it would be an army nearly unstoppable. Women with no souls, the knowledge of their knightly training strong, their undead bodies nearly immortal. They would have to work quickly, and in secret. I did not even trust my guards with this.

"Virtal?"

I turned and saw my sleepy lovers at the door. "Come in, the water is warm."

They both climbed into the pool and dunked below the water, coming up with sheer masculine grace. "Why were we awakened so early?"

I smiled softly at Marxim, passing the vial of soap with the masculine scent to Lucius. "Marxim, there is something we must do. Do not ask me why, it will be fully explained later when the rest of the top level of the harem joins us, but we must go into the crypts, and we must separate the heads and limbs from all the former queens."

He froze. "Why?"

"In your studies, have either of you learned of the sorceress Julint?" Both men shook their heads. "Cassipe made sure I knew the story, I presume because of my destiny to be Queen. Wash now, and listen carefully.

"Over a thousand years ago there was a priestess in the west, Julint. She was an orphan, to this day no one knows of her origins. This was in the time of the previous line of Queens, the House of Caldor. The line was matriarchal and inherited. You know the story of how the second daughter of the Cartoma of Cambrian rose up to claim the throne, aided by a vision of the goddess, and established the current line, and you know there was a terrible battle, but you do not know the details.

"The standing army went over to Queen Hecata rather quickly as Queen Kelter was craven and had despoiled much of the lands. There was only her personal and palace guards who stayed, a few hundred women against an army of hundreds of thousands, buffeted by freewoman who rode with them, hundreds and hundreds of knights.

"Julint was a rising priestess who came to Kelter and promised her an unstoppable army. This required a blood sacrifice and so Kelter gave over the male children of Caldor to the cause. In their death blood magic was born, death magic. Julint used it to raise an army of the dead from the city of the dead. For five hundred years the dead had been entombed in the first city of the dead, long ago destroyed by the time we were born.

"They rose, undead corpses, mindless minions bound to the cause of Kelter, the death of Hecata. They cut through Hecata's army with ferocious intensity, it was after a year of slaughter that Queen Hecata found her own sorceresses. They granted the knights blades armed with magic, the pure light of the mother and father of us all.

"They made their way in Caldor and we all know of the duel fought in the plaza where Hecata slew Kelter. Julint still lived, her magic fueling the undead that remained plaguing the new order. They could only kill the risen dead with the enchanted blades, and new dead rose up every day, still wrapped in tattered linens after their death preparations.

"Hecata employed her sorceresses day and night, and soon they knew there was some connection to the powerful Jilint, but she had gone into hiding. Then Hecata's consort died.

"Julint made him rise, and he was the one who slew hecata with the help of two of her guards who were loyal to Julint and the dead Kelter."

"I heard it was just the guards," Lucius said, passing the soap to Marxim.

"The truth of it has magic, magic the ancient queens thought it best if the world forgot, but knowledge passed down to each and every one of us. Only when Hecata died did the mummies fall back into death, and Julint as never found.

"The sorceresses employed by Hecata created the order, based on a vision, that hr successor would be a girl with red hair, one worthy of the throne. And so it has passed since that day. The next queen, Delaed, was wary of such dark magic. She put the same sorceresses to death, and since that day the only magic permitted has been to channel the goddess and god. Until now."

"What do you mean?" Marxim asked, his hands slowing with the soap on his body.

"Fisine will want my death for Antal's. We can not let her, but before we can stop her we must remove the threat within the palace. We must go down and destroy the mummies of all past queens interred here. Once that is done, I will kill her. If she raises the city of the dead the walls will hold them until I can kill her. When she dies, so does her power."

"She- she can't- she wouldn't raise Antal, would she?"

I crossed to Marxim, laying my hand on his shoulder. Against his broad frame my arm looked so small, yet I knew he looked to me for strength. "If she did it would be a mindless shell, not the cruel, twisted woman she loved. Even Fisine would not dare."

He grabbed me, hugging me tight. Over her shoulder my eyes met Lucius' and the grim line of his mouth showed he understood why I lied, but like me, hated it.

I pulled back, laughing softly to be covered with the men's soap, chiding Marxim and I walked to one of the three waterfalls to rinse off before finding my own softer soap. A queen's first duty was the protect her people, and sometimes that meant concealing the truth.

Not for the first time since arriving did I wish I had been born to another fate.

***

I left it to my consorts to explain to the other top tier harm members what they needed to do. They would remove the lids of the sarcophagi and cut all the limbs and heads from the bodies of the queens, praying as they went for forgiveness. The heads were removed to be burned separately, the ashes left to each body so as not to disturb their afterlife too much.

I would join them, as soon as I found the first tomb, the tomb of Hecata. Hers was back far, and very important. There were eight of us and almost two thousand queens. We could not stop them all, but the latest dead were the biggest worry.

Back as I went the queen's from the beginnings of my line were dust, there was little chance they would rise. As each fell to dust they were placed into a jar bearing a small bust of their face taken from their sarcophagus. The lid of the sarcophagus was then placed into the hall of records one level above, a new one fitted for the next queen. There were one hundred in the fancy sarcophagi, another four hundred in stacked sarcophagi filled with only bones, and the rest in their jars.

Hecata was the only one kept in form, her tomb the grandest. It was a doorway to a private room, ornate, capped with gold and brightly painted figures acting out scenes of hr life. There was no mention of mummies in the death, the decision to bury to truth of dark magic was a very final one.

The lock was a puzzle. I placed the torch in the holder and studied it, thinking back to the riddles Cassipe had taught me. There were eight squares of gold with figures in a space for nine. They had to be lined up.

He had told me the story of the sun and the moon, and how the moon had split into two bodies of one goddess. First there had been the sun, the father. I slid the panel with the sun into the top left space, moving the rest around. Then came the first moon, and I moved that tile next to it. behind me as I thought I heard the sounds of heavy stone moving, sword slicing, and smelled old linens and desiccated, dry flesh burning.

Then came the joining of the sun and moon, that piece completed the top row. Then came the earth itself, it went under the first. Then came the love of the earth, pulling the moon to it. The panel of the two orbs slid into place. Next came the anger of the sun, it's rays burning the earth. Then the moon saved the earth from burning, leaving most of it dry desert, but alive. The panel with three complete the middle row leaving the last two. They were out of order so I had to moved them all to fit in the lamentation of the moon and great rains, and finally the split so the goddess could love the earth and the sun with two bodies. When it came together the lock clicked and the heavy door sank a small bit.

I moved it, pushing with all my might and it opened into the dark chamber. I brought the torch in and placed it into the holder over the most ornate sarcophagus I had ever seen. It was painted in full detail, made of marble, lined with heavy gold and bronze tarnished with age.

Above it sat a statue of the first queen of her line. It was pale gold marble, her clothes made of gold, trimmed with jewels. Her eyes were bright sapphires, the size of fists, her hair a cascade of rubies. It w as more than I had ever seen, the wealth, the craftsmanship simply amazing.

She was beautiful, strong fierce, and as young as I was, I saw. Such a short life, such a hard one, and such a tragic death.

"Forgive me," I said as I reached for the sword clasped by her effigy.

The blade was long, soft bronze, but solid, untarnished. When I touched it I felt the magic, a burning purity that gave it strength that felt greater then my own folded steel blade.

I had to struggle for several minutes to remove the blade and when I had it free and closed my fist around the hilt the power sang up my arm. For the first time I truly felt my station, with the enchanted blade in my hand, I knew I was truly the queen.

I could not say how, but I knew the sorceresses had worked into their enchantments a safeguard that only the true queen could wield the blade. I was meant for this; this was Hecata's destiny and now mine. In that moment I knew something more, something dark and yet beautiful, something wonderful and terrible.

With the sword of the founder of the line of Radir, the ancient word for red, in my hand, I knew she was the first, and I was the last. What would come next I could not say, I only knew this meant I had to win.

If I founded a new line or died to let a new arise, that was the will of the goddess. But I would not fall and let Antal sit the throne, a creature of eternity and evil. Like Kelter Antal's petty desires and twisted needs had bankrupted the lands, taxation and apathy over droughts had led to thousands of deaths and more homeless.

The first red haired queen had put an end to that and until Antal our line had flourished. The last red queen would live or die in the next few days, but once more it was time to end the tight hold of evil on my people.

It was time to embrace my destiny.

***

When I rejoined the group they had made their way through almost all of the stand-alone sarcophagi. There was more, much more though.

"Behold, the sword of Hecata, founder of the line of Radir!" I announced,, holding the enchanted blade aloft.

It caught the light of the torches and magnified it, shining over all. They stared at me in awe, and I drew up into my full height. "We must move quickly. Open the rest, and let me strike a blow. A single cut from this blade will ensure they do not rise."

Uloga was the first to move, tearing off a heavy lid alone. Soon they fell in, the men able to lift a lid alone, the women had to work in teams of two. The twins, Missiply and Annist worked together, Lucius moved to help Morganna.

I walked between them, striking a blow to e ach mummified corpse.

"How long o we have?" Markal asked.

"There has not been a sorceress in a thousand years, so I do not know much. Morganna!"

The brunette stood, wiping sweat from her brow. "Yes?"

"Go and bring Cassipe to us, tell no one about this. Do have food prepared and brought down, left at the doors. You and Cassipe will bring it in. Above all, speak not a word of what is happening to anyone, not even Cassipe, just tell him his queen commands his presence. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my queen."

I gave her a smile, even as I brought the sword down on the next mummified remains. The beautiful brunette scurried out to do my bidding and we returned to the work.

By the time she came back we had moved on to those who were bones. For these queens I prayed for their forgiveness as I split their skulls with the blade. My arm was aching, we were all tired, and the smell of food was welcome.

Cassipe, my mentor, looked well. He had filled out slightly, the haunted look in his eyes that Antal had placed there was receding. He bowed and helped Morganna pass out water and wine to the rest and by agreement we broke.

I pulled him aside, walking him back towards the first queen's tomb. I explained what I knew, and what I had shared, and asked his counsel. We brought with us bread and cheese, along with a small pitcher and a bowl of fruit. Sitting now in the shadow of the first queen we ate.

"The tales passed down from queen to queen. My beloved old queen did not trust Antal and so she told me what she knew, keeping much of the old legends from Antal, saving the knowledge to pass to you.

"I am pleased you remembered so much. And I must say I am so pleased that the rebellious young woman I knew who caused me so much worry has grown into a magnificent queen."

I blushed at this praise and laid my hand over his. "I had the best of teachers."

He clasped mine and squeezed before letting go to pluck another grape from the bowl. "No one knows anything about sorcery, except perhaps Fisine. Like Julint she is an orphan, a woman of no past. It is possible she is a descendent of Julint for all we know. Her magic may be strong, she may be weak. Her ability to appear instantly in another place could be the extent, we simply do not know.

"What I can tell you is that your feelings on the sword are correct. Only the true queen may hold it. It is death for anyone other woman."