Mage and Consort

Lady Tur's weight bounced in Leo's arms as he ran through the devastated fort. He would carry her to the end of his endurance, but his Lady was not a slight woman, and Leo cursed himself for his weakness. Her head threatened to bounce off his shoulder, and he shifted again before hurrying after Lady Karlov. It was nearly intolerable to be following this other Lady of his own will, and he wondered again if this were truly the best course. But the risk was too great, after Lady Tur's explosion of magical power. Of all Lady Karlov's claims, one rang true: until Lady Tur awoke and could defend herself, she was in danger from other Mages who might covet her newfound power. Escaping with Lady Karlov would at least give his Lady time.

Two more corners, and then Lady Karlov stopped so suddenly that Leo nearly ran into her. He lurched desperately, holding his Lady as still as he could. When Lady Karlov moved to the side of the corridor, he followed as nimbly as he could, crouching in the shadows behind a cracked column and resting the Lady's weight on his knee. Lady Karlov had a finger to her lips, but he wasn't stupid. He kept his breathing as still as possible. And then something within him tingled: the ghost of his Seed, reacting to something.

A short, angry-looking young Lady stalked through the hall, and close behind her were two Mages, who seemed to be allowing her to lead.

This was Lady Karlov's rival, Essia. But there was no question where the power truly lay. The cloaked form at her right shoulder was the kingdom's Third Mage. His nascent Seed thrummed again, and he willed it down, focusing everything on his Lady. But she was unresponsive in his arms, not reaching for him in the slightest.

"There is a Consort," the High Mage said. "At some distance, perhaps. It may be Tomas."

"Can't you find her directly?" Lady Essia whined. Her hand twitched, and the air rustled. But her power was nothing to the Third Mage's.

"She has likely exhausted her powers," the Third Mage said evenly. "And Consorts are always easier to sense, as you should know. She will be with her Consort."

"Much good it will do her," Lady Essia chortled. "I'd just like to know why she was protecting Anya, of all people."

Leo had no time to think on that remark, because the Third Mage had slowed as she approached their hiding spot, and he felt his Seed lurch once more, drawn to that immense power. Desperately, he looked to Lady Karlov, who had her eyes closed and was mouthing some sort of meditation, perhaps keeping herself concealed.

He could think of no alternative. And so Leo forced himself to imagine their coupling, during those brief moments where she gained satisfaction. When he emptied his Seed within her, and her body seemed to light with the power, leaving a looseness to her face. She was beautiful, and her power did draw him, when he encouraged it enough.

He knew she felt it, but she didn't change expression. Brows tense, mouthing words silently, hands taut. Her power was there, smoldering, and he imagined joining his Seed to her, wrapping it tight inside her body.

Footsteps approached, and then passed. They waited silently, and until they heard no more.

"Now," she said quietly. "Well handled, Leo. But I must have it now. It is safer within me, and far more useful to your Lady."

He looked down at Lady Tur, head resting against his shoulder, almost peaceful. He couldn't do what Lady Karlov asked.

"I will do what is necessary for your body. And you must in turn do what is necessary," Lady Karlov whispered remorselessly. "Your duty, Consort, for the Lady in your arms."

She reached around his Lady's hip, finding Leo's breeches and undoing the laces with fair deftness. Leo didn't resist, and finally he shifted his Lady to the side, leaving himself open to Lady Karlov. He closed his eyes, and a moment later her mouth engulfed him, her tongue using every trick at once. Too fast, too complicated, but it sufficed. He buried his face in Lady Tur's hair, smelling her and trying not to cry.

"Your talent," he whispered, reluctantly turning his head. She reached a hand up blindly, and he took it with caution, holding it just in front of his face, palm up.

The tiny flame appeared, disappeared, flashing hypnotically, and she adjusted it to match her tongue. Little tendrils of power, something at least for his Seed to reach for, if he encouraged it. Power tightly controlled, needing his Seed.

His duty was to protect Lady Tur.

Leo's body responded of its own, and when the moment came, he pushed as hard as he could, trying to expel everything into this terrible Lady's mouth. Willing her to choke on it.

A dribble was all that emerged, but it carried a small portion of Seed. The Lady eagerly sucked and swallowed all of it.

Her mouth popped off of him, and he quickly tucked away his deflating cock.

"There," Lady Karlov said quietly, standing and licking her lips. "That will help, Consort. When next you feel it, reach for me again as you did. I believe we have an understanding."

#

Evening darkened the sky, and through scudding clouds Leo could already see the dim flashes. Distant thunder rumbled, though the worst seemed to have passed. What remained was still a bad stonestorm, studded with pebbles big enough to injure.

From outside, he could only gape at the damage to the fort. Some was minor, but elsewhere whole sections of roof were caved in, the sod layers beneath spilling out into now-exposed rooms. In several places the reinforced stone was smashed to slivers and powder. He shivered, pressing himself further back under the old ruined alcove they'd dashed to on the edge of the fort's grounds. Lady Tur's body was warm against him, but that meant she was losing heat. He would need to retrieve her cloak soon, or she might catch a chill. He wrapped his other arm around her protectively.

Melina crouched next to him. "We are still in great danger from the stones," he said softly.

Lady Karlov, he corrected himself. Her frown was deeper, and for the first time he wondered if she even had a plan.

"I know that, fool," she said. "If I had more power, I might be able to protect us. A tight vertical circulation of Air, reinforced with a divergence of Force, and perhaps -- no, no."

She continued on a while in that fashion. Lady Karlov was powerful and intelligent, but she'd never faced the reality of a serious stonestorm.

"Lady," he said cautiously. "As you say, my knowledge of the City is from childhood. And yet there are things that will not have changed. There are protected routes for times like these, and I can't imagine they have disappeared. We will not be conspicuous, not even with an injured person."

Lady Karlov turned and frowned. "Yes, I have noted these routes. They lead to the underground shelter, as I understand. That is no refuge for us."

"That is their convergence, Lady. But they radiate out through the City. If my Lady has a destination, I could direct us --"

Lady Karlov cut him off. "I do have a destination, but the first imperative is to distance ourselves from here, and find a refuge where Anya can recover enough to move on her own. You are strong, but you can hardly carry her for many miles, can you?"

He shook his head, wishing it were otherwise. "Perhaps we can find a cart."

Lady Karlov smiled sarcastically. "Yes, I had actually thought of that. But it will only help us on the roads, and very soon those will be watched. We must strike cross-country, as quickly as we can. I had not planned for Anya's incapacity."

"Lady, do not even think of leaving her," Leo warned. "I will certainly not accompany you alone."

Lady Karlov sighed. "That is painfully obvious. And you are both useful to me, as I've said. I recommend you continue being useful. Well then, we will have to make a break for it. This storm is not weakening as quickly as I hoped. Can you recall the nearest protected route? We will follow it as far as we can away from here, and then find an abandoned house, someone who's gone to shelter."

Leo shook his head. "Lady, you were not here during the great storms. There will be empty houses, it is true, but there is no worse crime than looting while others seek shelter. Each neighborhood will have watchers, in the most secure dwellings. We will not stand out while traveling, but we cannot leave the paths to find a dwelling as you suggest."

"We have no choice," the Lady said. "I will use my talents as I can for distraction, and you will apply your great store of City knowledge to choose the safest location. Is that acceptable to you, most high Consort?"

Leo frowned. But he couldn't think of an immediate alternative.

"It is, Lady."

The hardest part was the scramble through trees, then over a broken section of the fort's ancient outer wall that the Lady knew of. Clearly she had long anticipated the need for a quick escape.

He staggered down the bank cradling his Lady, and tried to orient himself. There were new dwellings out on this edge of the City, erected next to the fort by poor citizens who hoped it might yield extra protection if the Castle ever forgot about them. Clearly they'd been wrong about that. Several of the flimsier houses were badly damaged. Further ahead and below them he glimpsed a few torches speckling the darkening city, and finally he put together his memory.

"This way, Lady," he said. When they reached the first proper houses, he ducked under the heavy eaves, scuttling along the wall of one house and then dashing through the open to the next. The Lady quickly understood, moving heedless of the filth they stepped in. In the edge of his vision he caught occasional movement: other humans scuttling under protection as they were. And then they joined the main thoroughfare. This road cut into the western side of a modest, broad hill, with the hillside edge carved far enough inward to provide a slight overhang. The ground beneath had been lowered, and in ordinary times it served as a drainage channel. The Lady moved in front of him, and stinking mud stuck to their boots as they hugged the wall.

Ahead a small clump of people moved toward them.

"Outside, Lady," he warned. "Take the outside."

He relaxed when she moved to the left. The bedraggled figures kept to the wall, not even looking up at Leo and his burden as they squeezed by. A small pebble struck his cheek, and he flinched, trying to protect the Lady.

"The inside is for those moving to central shelter," he said as they continued.

"I had gathered as much."

They encountered several more such groups, and then there was an intersection. Leo had remembered correctly.

"Now we must cut across streets," he said. "The left side of the road. Not far."

Lady Karlov nodded, moving quickly forward, holding her bag protectively over her head. Leo followed, but his eyes searched the shuttered, squat mud homes. A number were damaged, and there was no sign of residents. But that one, roof lower than most, with the hollowed-out entrance -- he saw a flicker of light, and his heart soared.

Leo stepped down cautiously, crouching and protecting his Lady. Everything was so much smaller than he remembered.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my Lady the aid she needs," he said, feeling suddenly brave. "You can go on your own if you're in such a hurry. In any case, I don't think Gray Selia will like the look of you. She hates people who look -- I mean, outsiders, Lady."

Melina sighed. "My skin, you mean. As though they've even met anyone from across the sea. But I suppose Anya could pass for a local if she doesn't open her mouth, and I suppose you're going to insist on risking this. Does this Gray Selia know of your life now?"

"No," he said, hoping it was true. "No one does, not from this neighborhood."

"You'd better be right. I'll stand guard, and listen. Do not tell her of me."

Leo descended the last stair, took a breath, and gave the old children's knock.

A few seconds passed, and then some indistinct noises. The door cracked open, not enough for him to see much.

"Grandma Selia?" he said, feeling a fool. "I -- I'm sorry to pester you, but my -- she's hurt bad."

The door eased open, and an unfamiliar face stared at him. Much younger than Gray Selia.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

"Mother's been gone three years now," the woman said slowly, eyes on Lady Tur's slack body. "You one of her old lost flock?"

"Oh," he said. "Yes, ma'am, I guess you could call it that. Leo Oakborn. I -- pray your storm has been gentle, and I'll leave you in peace."

The woman sighed. "Come in, then. My husband's the real healer, but he's in the shelter. Why aren't you there?"

"Too far," he croaked. He barely had to pretend to stagger. "And my landlord --"

The woman pursed her lips and shook her head. "A hard luck case, naturally. Just the sort Remi would insist we help. Well, keep going, yes, put her down over there. I will do what I can."

The woman never gave her name, and he didn't ask. In the back he heard the small sounds of a child.

"Her arms are well enough bound," the woman said. "But the bones in her wrist must be set properly. Good that you did not wait. I suppose she was caught by debris."

"The roof collapsed," he said. "Thank you so kindly, ma'am."

The woman worked with quick hands, prodding Anya's swollen arms and frowning, then lining up a straight stick and grasping around the break. He forced himself to watch, though he felt sick.

When she was done with the arm and re-wrapped the shoulders, she opened Lady Tur's eyes and stared, muttering.

"She hasn't woken?"

"Not since the injury," he said, stomach flipping.

"Perhaps simply shock," the woman said. "She would be in immense pain were she awake. I see no obvious injury to the head, but there are some signs, and surely she could have taken a blow if she was caught in a collapse. She must have thrown her arms above her head, for protection. That seems what her injuries suggest, though her hands were thankfully spared."

"But she will recover?"

The woman looked at him. "What is she to you, young Leo?"

He didn't answer that.

"I see. Then I'm sorry, because I can't promise you anything. She may wake, or she may not. She may remember nothing. But Remi says in such a case, she may still sometimes hear what you say. I will give you herbs for the pain, but I have few to spare. And I have no space for her. You must keep her arm carefully bound as long as possible. Weeks, at least. The shoulders will heal sooner."

He nodded, accepting the meager packet of medicine. Then the woman helped him resettle her in the sling, and he carried her back to the threshold.

"I hope your storm finishes gentler than it began, Leo."

Leo squared his shoulders and climbed up the stairs.

Lady Karlov emerged shortly to join him from the shadows. "I trust you weren't relying on her for shelter."

"We continue" he said. "Two more streets, then left, up towards the hills."

She turned as he indicated. This was a finer street, but there was no hill to help with the protection. Gaps and holes interrupted what had once been a solid line of heavy overhangs from shops and residences. In places there were piles of rubble left by the current storm's destruction. It made Leo sick, and he had to turn his mind away from the last time he'd seen anything like this.

"You were foolish to give her your real name, Leo."

She was right. Still, he had to defend himself. "Lady, I moved across the city in search of work. Then it was three more years before I was taken to the castle. I never kept touch with anyone here."

There were fewer people on this street, with the shops all closed. Leo nonetheless felt eyes on him and tried to move faster, to match the Lady's impatient strides.

His memory was correct, and the street suddenly devolved into more ramshackle huts, and then open fields. These farms had been abandoned decades ago, but some buildings remained. Perhaps enough for protection.

That might not even be necessary anymore. His arms were shaking, and he scarcely had the energy to go further. The clouds had thickened, leaving nothing but open darkness and a hint of distant shapes. But the thunder had become rare and distant. The clink of stones now seemed more an ordinary stonefall.

"My Lady, there may be squatters in any buildings that still stand," he said. "I cannot do better than this, and I fear I am at the end of my strength."

"This will do," she said, turning from the road and striding off through the high grasses. Leo stumbled half-blindly after her for another minute or two.

"Remain here," she whispered, moving forward in the darkness.

How could she even see? Her talent, obviously. Somehow. They were somewhere near the edge of the thin forest, and perhaps the dark shapes ahead were a jumble of stone and wood, some remnant of an old farmhouse.

There was a sudden cacophony, a banging and cracking of wood. He heard new voices, and then the Lady yelling, but she didn't sound scared. Leo waited nervously, crouching low in the grass. Some seconds later he saw motion to the side: a few figures quickly retreating.

Lady Karlov retrieved him shortly. "You were right," she said, sounding satisfied. "There were some squatters."

He shivered. "They may tell rumors," he said. "Won't they be looking for magic?"

She laughed softly. "I barely used any power. Just made enough noise to sound like the City guard, and told them there were shelters for people of their sort, and they'd better be moving along."

#

The ruined farmhouse was half open to the sky, but these squatters or more likely a succession of them had slowly enlarged the cellar, with a few heavy pieces of wood to seal the space above a makeshift earthen staircase. Leo stepped slowly, down, his thighs burning. The Lady provided no help save the light of a small torch, without which he would have been utterly blind.

Then there was flat earth, and Leo nearly collapsed, unfastening the sling and then laying Lady Tur out as carefully as he could.

"You should have seen their faces," Lady Karlov said. "Oh, that was satisfying. And now that we have the opportunity, I will take your Seed again."

Leo snapped his mouth shut, restraining any dangerous response. Lady Karlov was an egotist, utterly selfish, and necessary.

"I must recover," he said. "Nothing could extract it at the moment. Let me attend to the Lady, and rest."

Lady Karlov didn't respond. A moment later she was crouching over Lady Tur's still form. A hand to her forehead, careful study of her wounds and the mottled bruising.

"She will require water and food," the Lady said. "As the healer said, we don't know how long she'll be like this. And she stinks. Get her cleaned up, Consort. I will start a fire to keep her warm, and when you are through with her, you will do your duty with me."

Leo hadn't been sure until now, given all the smells from his boots. But he had to accept Lady Karlov's conclusion. He had heard that sometimes an ill person lost control of their body's functions, and vaguely he'd guessed how messy that might be.

A Consort had many duties, but this was not one of them. This was a duty for a servant.

Or perhaps a husband, if their relationship were such. He tried to remember his father, the way he'd looked at his mother. He'd been so young.

If a Lady was indisposed to this degree, then her Consort would wait idly, or be found a temporary alternative. In the unpleasant case of her death or permanent inability, he would be released and reassigned.

"Lady," he began nervously. "I don't think such a task is proper, for a Consort and his Lady --"

Lady Karlov barked a laugh. "You know which holes it all comes out of, don't you? This isn't something you need instruction for. Ignore your wounded pride and be practical. Either you do it, or I do it, and I suspect on the whole you will prefer it be your hand. If you ask, I will check afterwards to see if you have left her comfortable enough in her womanly parts. Otherwise, I think I'll just prepare myself for you."