The wizard saw a shadow emerge from the bricks of the wall. Immediately his gaze was drawn along the wall to the left, deflected by the magical disguise. As a wizard he was impressed. The mage who created this protection had done a thorough weaving. He did not know how this deflection had been created.
The sorcerer looked closely at the young woman who stood before him. She was ripe indeed, as his probing had elaborated. Long straight dark black/brown hair framed a tanned exquisite face. She was slender and her skin smooth and perfect. As far as he could guess, beneath the dress she wore, her body was slim and perfect, mildly muscular, enough to give her shape. She was indeed a great prize.
"I believe I have made a good bargain," he said, "But will you honour your side of it? You must be good to me and honour me otherwise your family place will be revealed!"
"I understand," she said. She did not have the look of someone who was easily controlled. He could see intelligence in those eyes. He did not need magic to see that she controlled her feelings and that her real opinion of him was not the one she revealed to him. He hoped she would give him the pleasures he craved. There was little likelihood she would fool and deny him because she needed to protect her family. She was of a race and people in these lands who were soft and easygoing. To them the pleasurable use of their bodies was not a prize to be fought over or defended like a crucial honour. They gave their charms away easily and generously. So he had heard and at times had experienced. They were a prized people. It was a pity that so many of the generous lives of these people were to be wasted by Guthelm's bloodlusts, and those of his servants, for they would make the most marvellous slaves.
The sorcerer was a big man, muscular arms, and a head of barbarian hair. He held a long whip, which he flourished without devoting full attention to it. She knew he could use it and he had a long range. She knew it would be difficult to run from this man if ever she needed to. And those muscles were not to be ignored either. He was ugly to her - a mature man with a body well used and overly weighty. His muscular arms were too large for her tastes, his hair, thin at the top, but long, was greasy and unkempt. He stank of sweat and foul odours. She knew his sorcery was powerful. How else could he have invaded Princil's carefully created mist. She was in despair of regaining her freedom. If she escaped her family would be betrayed.
The sorcerer Aribor approached, his whip hanging effortlessly in his right hand. A sorceror's hat sat on his head, battered and used. A long bristly moustache covered his upper lip and small beard. "Come with me young lady," he said in a voice that allowed no question or argument.
"Where?" she asked nervously.
"You will follow." He grabbed hold of her arm in a strong grip and led her through the streets away from the family she cared for; mother, brotherlover, secondmother, half sisters, and the life she had known, but would probably never be able to return to. She must serve this foul man for the sake of her family.
Aribor looked upon the young woman with the lust he had already felt in his magical search. The lust remained strong. She was beautiful, a face that many men would fight for. He knew he had one of the best prizes he had ever found. She would be sought after by others too. Best to get her into a house before he could be disturbed. Other sorcerors and warriors would be interested in this wench, and for this reason he did not wish to draw attention to her. He must safeguard her and keep her secret. He must remove her from the streets of this city of fear and chaos.
"You will come with me. You must please me, be kind and make love, as you would to your own husband. When I have had sufficient pleasure of you, on one or maybe 5 or 10 or more occasions, or perhaps many more, over two or three years, then you may go. When I decide I have had enough of you you can go. You may eventually return to your family if you can find them, or you may have opportunities to serve others in Guthelm's army. A woman as beauteous as you will find service I assure you."
And so Aribor made his pact with Remzain, a contract, in which she had little choice if she were not to lose all her family to the barbarian invaders. She would give him access to her deepest passages and crevices in return for safeguarding her family. In some respects, as a citizen of Cromilil in Shalirion, this was no difficult action for her to take. All the people of her land were noted for their liberality with their own bodies. Yet the loss of her past life and the freedom and pleasure of that life, into which she had still been growing until today, was immense. She hoped she might bear it and not be shattered by it.
"Where do we go?" she asked.
"There is an empty house nearby," said Aribor.
"You want to go there now?" she asked. "The city is in chaos. It is dangerous, for me, and for you also!"
"That is why I must have you now. I will of course look after you if you do my will, but those dangers do mean that it is sensible for us to share what I wish us to share before any other possibilities intrude."
He led her down an adjoining street of house walls and gradual steps, until they came to the house he had chosen.