Casus Belli Ch 21 Submissions

Enemies strike close by and far away, and a prize embraces her sexual nature.

While writing this chapter I was inspired by a scene from a great fantasy movie, guess which one...

Cautionary (for series): non-consent, reluctant, violence, straight sex, inter species sex, anal sex.

Cautionary (for chapter): non-consent inter species sex, some BDSM.

Setting: Nigawa, planet Mundea (Galeon III), year 3647 (local)

Note: maps and plans of Nigawa, of Iriskan, and of Bromodin keep, are available, the link can be found on my profile page.

Characters:

Cassandra, human female, 21 years old, Bashuk's prize, female lead

Denora, human female, 24 years old, Batul's mate

Vala, human female, 22 years old, Bolar's mate

Syldan, human female, 19 years old, Yakha's mate

Leavy, human female, 21 years old, Kurgan's mate

Moiga, human female, 23 years old, Durgat's mate

Polly, human female, 18/19 years old, Kasho's mate

Bashuk, orc male, 32 years old, Green Vale Orcs Warlord

Kurgan, orc male, 27 years old, Bashuk's guard, Leavy's mate

Kasho, orc male, 26 years old, Bashuk's guard, Polly's mate

Yakha, orc male, 26 years old, Bashuk's guard, Syldan's mate

Batul, orc male, 25 years old, Bashuk's guard, Denora's mate

Durgat, orc male, 25 years old, Bashuk's guard, Moiga's mate

Bolar, orc male, 24 years old, Bashuk's guard, Vala's mate

Daitan, orc female, 53 years old, harem supervisor, Bashuk's mother,

Zirgin, orc female, 57 years old, seamstress

Borin, orc male, 35 years old, warden of Bromodin's brothel

Kira, orc female, 55 years old, kombar-karan

Solsis, orc female, 62 years old, kombar-karan,

Durz, orc male, 27 years old, former master of Lily

Kozan, orc male, 25 years old, Durz's pack, second-in-command

Raban, orc male, 24 years old, Durz's pack

Boran, orc male, 23 years old, Durz's pack

Oz, orc male, 22 years old, Durz's pack, junior male

Sir Brando Boruga, human male, 27 years old, Cassandra's betrothed

Dreafan Balor, human male, 53 years old, mage

Baldrin, human male, 38 years old, mage's apprentice

Melisant, human female, 27 years old, mage's apprentice

Casus Belli Ch. 21: Submissions

Nocturnal

Dreafan Balor looked out of the tall sixth floor window, into the depths of the night. He was gazing towards the northwest from the imperial bourg's massive northern tower, across moons-lit Alesia, the Lorasian capital, towards the snowcapped mountains of the Massif Centrale. Nearly three hundred leagues beyond those mountains lay the great city of Iriskan, and Bromodin castle, Dreafan's main point of interest. He wanted that castle, he had wanted it for a long time, and he was going to get it, as the Emperor had accepted it would be his prize in exchange for his services, with the governorship of Iriskan thrown in as a bonus.

That the Lorasian Emperor thought it was the other way around, that Bromodin castle was the bonus to Iriskan, didn't matter, it only confirmed his ignorance. Iriskan was a wealthy city, but its wealth paled in comparison to what Bromodin had to offer. Kyron Abaddon, the great warrior-mage, hadn't built the original castle just anywhere, he had built it at the position of greatest power, and after Kyron's death the Great War had been fought over it. Over three and-a-half millennia had passed since though, and history had forgotten, because during that Great War, legend had it that magic had died - but it hadn't, or at least not really.

What had happened was that the war waging mages had managed to deplete the planet's huge reserves of Dusan energy, at which point the energy-web had collapsed, and with no energy 'on-tap' anymore magic had simply stopped working. Once the energy drain had come to an end though, the planet's reservoir had started filling again, and at some point, as soon as the rising energy levels allowed for it, the energy-web had re-established itself. He knew that it was intelligent life that created the Dusan energy, but he didn't know how long ago it was that it had started flowing again. With no mages around anymore there simply hadn't been anyone to notice, so as far as he knew the web could already have re-established itself centuries ago, and maybe even much longer than that.

His hand reached up and as his fingers touched the silver amulet on his chest the small sapphire at its center lit up, just like it had that first time he had touched it on Krishnak's market all those years ago. He had felt it then, this power inside him, as it awakened. Once he had recovered from the shock he had bought the amulet for the ludicrous price the trader had asked for it, or better for what the trader had thought was a ludicrous price to ask for it, because in reality, for what it represented, it had been dirt cheap. From that moment on, the power inside him had grown, as he instinctively developed his new-found magical abilities.

At first, he had discovered how to produce fire out of nothing, and how to control the flow of water and air, abilities he would later learn were part of elemental magic, which had been the most common type of magic used in the far past, because it was the most widespread ability among mages. He had utilized this power to increase his wealth, in any way he saw fit, and once he had accumulated enough wealth, his search for knowledge about the legend that was magic had truly begun. It had seen him to the far corners of Mundea, and during these travels he hadn't just accumulated vast knowledge about the history of magic, but also a new and much rarer magic ability had manifested itself inside him.

He had started developing telepathic abilities, at first just the ability to intrude into people's minds, to read them, and to influence their behavior by suggestion, but later this had grown into the ability to fully control them. The latter was a taxing process however, and unlike with the reading and influencing, the victims knew they were being possessed, that they had been made a prisoner inside their own mind. So the best solution, after you had no further use for them, was to get rid of them, by killing them, which was rather easy when you were controlling their mind. The real problem with controlling minds was in how taxing it was though.

You had to dedicate a considerable part of your own mind to it, day and night, for as long as you wanted the possession to continue. It was the main reason why, while it was theoretically possible to control more minds simultaneously, the practical limit was just one. But even so it was a terrifying ability, and it had brought him to where he was now, on the verge of realizing a by now decades old dream; to make Bromodin his own, and become the most powerful mage of this new era of magic, and maybe even unlock that enticing third magical ability, the ability to control time, to become a chronomancer, just like that most powerful mage in history, Kyron Abbadon, had been.

All magic abilities needed an inherent talent for them though, with the talent for elemental magic being widespread among mages, and the talent for telepathy being much rarer, but the talent for chronomancing was the rarest by far. Talent also came in different strengths, but when the talent was weak it just needed more power to manifest itself, and even a weak talent could, with time, be developed into a full strength ability. Now Bromodin was situated on the well of wells, and with that much power available he would need only the slightest trace of chronomancing talent to be able to awaken it, and then develop it.

It was, and had been for over a decade now, his main drive in life. He had cheated, stolen, betrayed, killed, and even arranged a true massacre for it, and now it was finally within his grasp. So he wanted to make absolutely sure his plans would succeed, which was, after an earlier failure, the task he had set for himself this night.

***

The powerful mage let go of the amulet, and looked back across his shoulder, into the expectant eyes of his two apprentices. He had met scores of potential mages on his travels, humans as well as other species, both young and old, and with varying levels of talent. He had gauged their potential, without awakening them, and then he had ignored the weak ones, and further evaluated the strong ones. Of those he had 'read', he determined their suitability to serve him, which required a certain mix of unscrupulousness and loyalty. It was how he had found Baldrin, who was now looking back at him.

The others had proven either too honest or lacking loyalty, and as this rendered them potential enemies he had killed all of them. His eyes locked with Melisant, his other apprentice. Melisant had fallen among the weak talents, and she had also failed on unscrupulousness, but she made up for the latter with boundless loyalty. The main factor in her becoming his apprentice though had been her youth, her beauty, and her willingness to cater for his more basic needs. Her magical contribution to the realization of his plans was rather limited, but she warmed his bed rather nicely, and she was also very useful to keep an eye on her fellow apprentice.

It was well past midnight, and his target for the night should be asleep by now, a state that would render him the most vulnerable. "Are all the doors secured?" he asked Baldrin.

"Yes master," his apprentice answered, "all locked and checked". Baldrin was in his early forties, and an ugly runt, but he was also smart, in a devious way. Melisant hated satisfying Baldrin, but he made her do it once in a while anyway, both to keep his male apprentice satisfied, and to maintain Melisant's antipathy against the man. Dreafan nodded, and then he moved to the small podium at the center of the room and sat down cross-legged on its comfortably padded leather top, facing towards the northwest. He closed his eyes, and concentrated, and as he did the darkness was replaced by the bluish world of the immaterium.

It was a translucent monochrome world, where dead matter became more faint than live matter, and all around it were the strands of the ever-changing Dusan energy-web, like a sky permanently filled with blue lightning. There were the huge permanent streams of Dusan-energy reaching up from the blue ocean surrounding Mundea's core thousands of leagues below him, splitting apart like the branches of a tree in the sky far above him. There were also the lesser, wandering, strands of energy reaching up into the sky, where they connected with the branches of the energy trees, forming a gigantic world-spanning canopy of blue energy strands.

Far above it all, the blue spheres of Brag and Lurcan glowed, emanating their own energy strands that reached down and connected with the strands in Mundea's sky above. It was mainly the gravitational pull of these two ever moving moons that made the many strands of the Dusan-energy web twist like weed in a stream, and that even made those huge skyward reaching streams wave like trees in a strong wind. The Château du Pouvoir Impérial, like all centers of power whose locations dated from before the great war, was built on a permanent well of Dusan energy, but instead of a single massive column of power, like at Bromodin, it consisted of five much smaller streams whose branches joined and then merged with the canopy in the sky far above him.

He pointed his right index finger at the nearest stream, and a tiny branch grew from it, snaked its way towards him, and as it connected, he felt the Dusan energy start filling him, awakening his slumbering magical abilities. His right hand moved, but it wasn't its physical movement but its mental one that made the energy flow increase, until he became an almost blinding source of blue light. Once his well-developed core had been filled he started shaping the energy with his mind, towards his purpose, and his ethereal body separated and rose from his physical one. He watched himself from above for a moment, noticing the blue fringed silhouettes of his apprentices watching over him, and then he turned away and looked to the northwest, where far away a massive column of energy dwarfing all others, reached into the night sky.

The powerful mage started drifting towards it, faintly noticing the tower's thick stone walls as he passed through them, and then he started to accelerate, towards his far-away destination, towards the mind he desired to read and control, towards the mind of the orcish leader, who had now become his most important opponent.

Dreafan soared across the land at incredible speed, crossing the mighty Massif Centrale, passing the Cravas river, which formed the border with Nigawa, and then on to far away Iriskan. Soon the mighty city was beneath him, and he was closing on Bromodin castle, focusing on the keep's massive southern tower. He knew where to look for his target, he had been looking for the orcish leader before after all. Before his first attempt Lorasian intelligence had informed him that the orcs had taken up residence at Bromodin, and that the private quarters of the former royal family, the most obvious location for the orc leader to be staying at, were located on the 2nd and 3th floor, in and around its sky-scraping south tower.

Locating the orc Warlord had proven relatively easy then, even with the keep's entire southern tower being located inside a massive vision impeding column of Dusan energy. He had located him and his human bed-wench inside the largest 3th floor bedchamber, but as he closed on him, and entered the energy column himself, that had changed. His vision had blurred a little as he entered the physical tower, but he had still seen them, but then, as he closed in to touch his target, and invade his mind as planned, the huge orc had disappeared. One moment he had been there, and the next moment he had simply vanished.

The female hadn't however, and he had touched her instead, and skimmed her shallow mind. She had proven to be his bed-warmer indeed, his human whore, just as he had expected her to be. Once he had established that, there had been nothing left for him to do, as he wasn't interested in controlling orcish minions, and so he had retreated to Alesia, to evaluate his failed mission. At first he had attributed his failure to some side effect of being inside such a massive stream of Dusan energy, but a subsequent search in the vast collection of magic tomes he had 'acquired' during his many travels had turned up nothing supporting that. It had probably just been a fluke then, he had reasoned, some unfortunate set of circumstances thwarting his efforts.

***

Cassandra woke up to someone calling her name, but once she was awake nobody was there, and she found Bashuk soundly asleep. She waited for a long moment, but when everything stayed quiet, she snuggled up against her master again, who felt warm and comfortable, and tried to go to sleep. She couldn't find sleep though, something just didn't feel right, and while she was trying to determine what it was, the near darkness around her turned into this unnatural blackness, and then the faint swirling strands of blue returned as she became aware of the web once more. Instead of curiously checking her surroundings, like she had done the first time it had happened, she closed her eyes and snuggled up to Bashuk even closer.

Her master's softly glowing shape was just as visible with her eyes closed as it had been with her eyes open, she noted. Meanwhile her horizon slowly expanded, and she saw the faint blue blurs of the keep's other inhabitants once more, most of them sleeping, some engaged in their night-shift duties. The keep became visible next, or rather a faint transparent version of it, disclosing all its secret passages and defense works to those with a magical ability she now realized. Floating was a disorienting experience, the former Kangess ascertained, and she was still finding her equilibrium when she first noticed the evil mage, floating in the air just outside the tower. She kept her calm and prepared for what would be coming.

***

Dreafan found his target just like he had before, with the huge orc sleeping in the same bed as before, with, at first glance, the same whore keeping him company. He entered the massive column of Dusan power, and his sight blurred a little, just like it had done the previous time. He couldn't interfere with the energy though, nor could he channel it, as his physical body was still in Alesia, hundreds of leagues away. The tower's thick stone wall felt like a cold mist on his skin as Dreafan passed through it. His target was still visible, with the whore snuggled up against him, sleeping too, and he floated towards the pair, feeling confident.

He approached slowly, taking his time to study the massive orc's features, chiseled in blue. His face had seemed familiar the first time, and now he positively identified him.

So you like to lead from the front,

he thought. His attention switched to the whore. She was extremely pretty, and definitely the same one as before, which couldn't be a coincidence. Was she his personal slave? Maybe his lover even? The idea of her being the beast's lover repulsed him. He was hovering over them now, looking for anomalies, but finding none. So he reached out towards the huge orc with confidence, but just before his fingers could connect, the massive ethereal shape simply vanished again.

The powerful mage cursed, and then he reached out a little further, to the void the whore was still snuggled up against, but his ethereal hand found nothing. It was happening again, Dreafan realized, and the why was beyond his grasp, because a fluke never occurred twice... He refocused on the orc leader's bed-warmer, but a second superficial reading of the whore only confirmed his earlier impression. There had to be something interfering with his ability though, so this time, instead of withdrawing, he dug deeper instead, invading her thoughts more fully, but still avoiding making the sleeping slut become aware of his presence.

***

Cassandra had felt the mage's anger at Bashuk's disappearance, and his attention shifting to her. The foul creature had come closer, and this time she had seen its evil face quite clearly, its cruel features hardened by the monochrome blue light. It was a human male indeed, and when his consciousness touched her, it felt just as cold and wet as before, as its slimy tendrils groped at her. Her mind reacted to it like it had done the first time, by relaxing the surface of her consciousness while at the same time pulling up this impenetrable wall around her core, and fabricating the persona she knew the invader was expecting. As he scrutinized her, his mind's eye inadvertently opened up a small window to his own consciousness, and a superficial view of his malign evilness.

She observed him, learning from his actions, and then he suddenly penetrated her mind deeper than he had done before, and she realized she had to lead him away from the protective wall around her core, because the moment he became aware of it, the game would be up. He was looking for memories confirming his earlier assessment of her she felt, so she made him find her recent memories of Bromodin's brothel, of her father's former living room, now filled with beds, and a dozen whores being fucked on those beds, by twice as many males. The evil mage just soaked it up, she felt his arousal, and with it came his expectations for memories of her getting fucked at the brothel, memories she didn't have for him to find, so she got creative.

***

Dreafan watched the whore enter an adjacent room that was filled with a large circular podium, and then she was on top of that podium, and a huge dark-skinned orc was mounting her, fucking her brutally. Her legs just spread wider, as she submitted to the creature, and he could feel her lust, her pleasure, as the green beast's huge cock plowed her, and as good as raped her. The whore's mind was an unstructured mess, Dreafan thought, and then he found this memory of her in what looked like the common room of some inn. Men were looking at her with barely hidden desire, and then she was moving up the stairs, and the next moment she was at the attic, on some cheap canvas clad bed, with a large young man dressed like a laborer on top of her.