Zerafina awoke to the sounds of hooves striking the cobbled road. She slowly raised her head off of the makeshift pillow that she had made from her satchel bag and looked around. The two strings of control that she had tied to the skyyrim with the lust spell guided her eyes to where they had stationed themselves. They had already dressed in their armored kilts and scaled armor and were loosely holding their broad bladed spears in preparation. She shook her head and pushed herself to her feet, feeling slightly weak from hunger. The reptilian warriors glanced in her direction, and she could see their forked tongues darting out to taste the air. Zerafina felt herself grow wet at the thought of those tongues and what they were most definitely capable of, but pushed those thoughts aside for the moment. After all, she had been traveling with the two warriors for a few days now, and there would be plenty of time to take advantage of their talents later.
She started to dust herself off, but then thought better of it, instead recalling a simple spell that she had learned back when she had been but a mere apprentice. She muttered the words, made the appropriate mystic gesture with her left hand, and with a shimmer in the air her clothes, skin, and hair were refreshed and cleaned. It still did nothing for her stomach, which grumbled in protest. She glanced around for her familiar, Tidgit, and whistled to him, beckoning him to come closer. Once he was in arm's reach, her hand shot out, grabbing the perverted little imp around his neck.
"Go, be useful to me," she purred, letting her fingers run along the imp's perpetually engorged cock. "Go and see who travels along the road. May be I can bend them to my purpose."
Zerafina had to admit that she was in a better place than she had been a week ago. Then she had been homeless, her former home having been destroyed along with the wizard she had been apprenticed to, penniless, and without a plan. Now, after giving herself wholly over to Nyyphas, Dark God of Lust, and having managed to entrance the two skyyrim, the beginnings of a plan were beginning to take shape. She was still homeless and penniless, of course, but she felt that those were obstacles that could be overcome.
She saw Tidgit flit over the tops of the trees and off to the road. She smiled and closed her eyes, muttering the simple charm that would allow her to see through her familiar's eyes. Her tongue poked between her lips as Tidgit flitted above the tree tops. The disadvantage to the charm was that she also received some of Tidgit's emotions. They came through in a filtered way, and it was no great feat to lock the imp's desires out of her conscious thoughts. Still, she screwed her face up slightly at the wave of lust that battered against her. The imp was truly incorrigible, and Zerafina found herself wondering if the imp had any connection to Nyyphas, or if the imp was naturally perpetually horny.
She pushed such thoughts to the side for the time being as Tidgit crested over the tree line and came in sight of the road. The imp's eagle like sight quickly picked out a band of people on horses. Zerafina willed her imp closer, and Tidgit complied, staying near the tops of the trees so as to remain concealed, but otherwise advancing to get a better view. As far as Zerafina could tell, it looked like a noble entourage. Six men-at-arms, arrayed in chain mail and carrying axes and maces were arrayed on horses in a formation around two other figures. From the look of their clothes and the quality of their horses, Zerafina took them to be nobles of some sort. Given the paltry size of their escort, Zerafina thought that they must be minor nobility, but nobility all the same. She willed Tidgit to stay where he was.
Opening her eyes, she crooked her finger to the two skyyrim and started off for the road, her hunger forgotten for the moment at the new possibilities that opened before her. If she had been able to gain control over the skyyrim as easily as fucking them, it could not be that much more difficult to exert her will over a few soldiers. The question was though how best to approach the group?
"Stay hidden," she hissed at the skyyrim, urging the reptilian warriors to stay back and out of sight. Likewise, she directed Tidgit to make himself scarce and to keep himself busy by harassing squirrels or the like. Her plan hinged on her being seen as non-threatening as possible, and skyyrim bodyguards and an imp familiar would go along way to dispelling that illusion.
She walked out beside the road and sat down beside the tree. The group was still a few miles away, so she ate some of the last of her food from her satchel as she browsed through her master's book. When she had first fled the destruction of her master's tower nearly all of the spells in the book had been utterly incomprehensible. The old man had refused to teach Zerafina more than what was helpful to him for her to know, and as a result her learning of arcane arts had been greatly stunted. After summoning, albeit unintentionally, the Demon God of Lust, she had found that she suddenly possessed understanding far beyond her years. All she had to do in return was pledge herself to Nyyphas, though she was uncertain what else the Demon God might require of her. She tried to focus on the spells and formula depicted in the book, but found her mind wandering. Sighing at her lack of attention, she put the book away and stood, stretching her limbs. Surprisingly, she wasn't too sore from the fucking the skyyrim had given her the night before or the night before that. She could only surmise that after being ravished by Nyyphas, anything else was going to pale in comparison.
Opening her eyes, she looked down the road. In the distance, she caught a gleam of sunshine reflecting off of metal in the distance. She had Tidgit survey the area, and they were the only other humans, or other bipeds for that matter, within his keen sight. She stood up, and thought quickly of how she was going to introduce herself. Luckily, she did not much resemble the stereotypical witch. Her black hair was free from grey, her face was smooth and clean, and her breasts were full and firm. She took a moment to adjust her robe to allow a bit more of her considerable cleavage to show, then, slinging her bag back around her shoulder, started to walk down the road in the same direction that the other group was traveling.
It took about fifteen minutes of walking, but she finally heard someone calling in the distance. Zerafina stood to one side of the road, and looked back as a horseman galloped up. A coat of arms was proudly displayed on the banner that he carried, but studying arcane arts and acting as a live-in maid hadn't given her much chance to stay current on her heraldry. There was something vaguely familiar about it though, something that tugged on the strings of her memory.
"Hold there, wench!" the armored horseman declared. The visor of his helm was raised, and Zerafina could see fierce black eyes over a sharp, aquiline nose. The figure sported a braided beard that was black shot through with grey. "'It is strange to see a woman traveling by herself on these roads. The nearest town must be ten miles away, so I must ask what you are doing out in these parts." The knight rested his hand lightly on the handle of the axe that was looped through his saddle. His voice was hard and rough, much like the rest of him, Zerafina surmised.
"M'lord, I am just traveling from town to town looking for work as a midwife," she replied. "The last town already had one, and didn't want any competition. Seeing as how she was the mayor's wife, I wasn't about to argue with her. I'm hoping to be able to find work in the next town."
The knight snorted. "I met the mayor and his wife, and I can't say I find your story hard to believe, much as you don't look like a midwife," he added with a leer as he leaned over for a better view at the tops of Zerafina's breasts. "I am no lord though, merely a sellsword in the employ of M'Lady Firanda. A bit of a spoiled brat, but the pay is good enough." The knight paused, running a gloved hand over his bearded chin. "If you are heading in the same direction as we are, I don't see much reason why you couldn't travel with us for a spell, at least as far as the next town. If you are amenable, of course."
