"So are we agreed?"
Her black-painted fingernails clicked on the elegantly carved wood table between us. The table surface was etched with a scene of festival revelry, covered by a single giant sheet of inset glass; jousting knights careened around the sides. A sheet of parchment lay between us, terms scribed carefully with her flourishing hand. She offered the quill for my signature.
I read, checking for any deviations from what we had discussed. Seeing none, I signed.
"I'm calling in my favor now."
"What do you mean?" Now perhaps I would see if she was actually as mad as they said she was.
I stared across the table at her. She stared back. Her hair, red as a rose,was tied so that the ends resembled a cascade of flowers down her neck. Her eyes were gray, but the glint in them threatened to steal the attention from her crimson tresses and even the eye-capturing glow of candlelight on her skin, which I had been able to follow a dozen time across her exposed shoulders, down her smooth neck, and into her cleavage over the course of negotiations.
"Our agreement. You are bound now."
"You wanted the supreme advisory position on my council, but I am not yet lord of this land. We discussed this not an hour ago. The ink is still wet in front of us. I don't understand what you're getting at."
Black polished strips of hide wrapping her creaked with the movement, arranged as if to reinforce the fine leather corset straining to contain her generous bust and distractingly full-figured body. A skirt, slit down both sides so as to hang like a long, wide loincloth, kept her technically decent, although it utterly failed to stop the eye of my imagination. Such lovely legs, bound in leather strips which could not hide the powerful muscles under the radiant skin.
"Have you forgotten?" She asked sternly. "Let me remind you of the terms: I get titles to this castle, full control of the Sorcerer's Guild, that stuffy bunch of old men that think women are only good for carrying children, and only tolerably at that besides."
"And in exchange you use your magics to bring ruin on my foe in the next battle, allowing me to seize victory and claim my dominion. How could I forget when we have been arguing at length all evening?"
"Yes, yes, advisory position, lands and title, the guild, and-" she pointed at a clause on the parchment- "one favor to be named at a later time. In exchange for my aid."
"So? A later time, you said. We can discuss it at the victory celebration if you like."
"No. The time is now."
"There's no feat I can perform before I am needed to complete preparations in my camp. You'll have to wait."
"Then you'll wage your battle without me."
A long moment passed between us. Tallow candles flickered as a small draft swept through the hall. I had to have her, and she knew it. Why was she being so difficult all of a sudden?
"Alright, I'm listening. What's so damned important it can't wait a few days?"
"I'm glad you ask. You see, I want you..." She began to smile, got up, and slid around the table to stand by my chair. "...to share my bed tonight."
I felt my jaw drop.
"What?" Was the word that came tumbling out.
She put her hands on my shoulder, grasping intently at the sleeve. She leaned close, a lock of hair brushing my cheek as she put her lips by my ear, watching me out of the corner of her eye.
"You heard me. I want you to take me. To use me. To have your way with me."
"I've already agreed to your terms. You don't need to sweeten the deal now. I have preparations to see to for the battle."
"You misunderstand. Negotiations are past. I want no more than what's been agreed to. Spend the night with me."
"...um."
"What's the matter? You're not afraid of me are you? I don't bite. Oh," she giggled, "Maybe I do. But you'll like it, I promise."
She licked her teeth dangerously.
"You do have an... interesting reputation. What was it, two days for the tendril spells on those four men who attacked you at once to wear off? Such uncomfortable shapes I heard you left them in. And all of them trained sorcerers. Deflection of spells while casting your own is supposed to be impossible."
"A girl's gotta look out for herself," she said agreeably. "Two days? My form is improving. I'd have loved to stay and keep them company, but I'm afraid I was in a bit of a hurry."
"Hurry? I'm no sorcerer, but I understand that's the last thing you possibly want to do where magic is concerned."
"Fear not; my signs were impeccable. Two days 'til dissipation is plenty proof of that."
"I'm not worried about your signs," I said. "They are, in point of fact, what brought me to you. It's your discretion I'm not entirely convinced of."
"Then, if my words can be of any comfort, be comforted. The battle will begin, armies will race towards uncertain doom, and then you will see a sight never dreamed of. I shall take to the air to dispense with our enemies in the blink of an eye."
Her face took on a particular intensity; the air crackled with the power of chilling prophecy. Her hand trailed down my sleeve as she spoke, coming to rest on my knee.
"You will know me by the streak of red, marking my passage with such speed that the trail of my hair will be the only thing your gaze can catch. I will descend as a shower of meteors, and your foes shall die. Their bodies shall rise like flotsam of a shipwreck floating to shore upon the mightiest of waves. It shall rain blood and steel, flesh and bone. None will be able to stand before you, my lord. The day shall be yours before any blade draws blood, before your line tangles with theirs and the confusion begins."
I was struck dumb. Who could possess such strength? Surely, even she did not- yet what if she did? She could sweep my own army aside just as easily. The thought stirred deep suspicions.
Finally, "If you can do half of what you say, you have made a very shrewd bargain for your soul. What dark deity claims your allegiance?"
"Merely the griffin," she said, gesturing to the ceremonial shield I had laid to rest on the table. It was my standard, my flag.
"But," she said, leaning closer so that our faces were nearly pressed together, "after you have let me touch your inner self tonight, you will know that you can bear no lesser woman evermore. And at the sight of it when all is done, you will know in a whole different way." Her eyebrows animated with her words, reinforcing the absolute certainty of her conviction. Her lips remained open, an invitation only too easy to accept.
Something bubbled in my gut, a gentle tingle of awareness of her presence so near, the scent of her mixed with leather so palpable; so easy to reach out and touch, so real I felt I could see her with my eyes shut, if only I could bring myself to do so. I could not, until our lips met, and my veins turned to fire.
All my strength melted in her embrace. Her lips were soft, her mouth delicious. I couldn't get enough. Her tongue snaked in to tease mine, brazen and insistent.
"Come. This way," she said, breaking away to lead me up a small staircase.
The stairs cut into solid rock, climbing into a tower constructed right up the mountainside. Every step she took, her hips swayed hypnotically, her black-and-silver, arcana-inlaid boots clicked on the floor, and her leathers squeaked quietly, drawing my eyes to her bare shoulder blades. Her shadow danced on the wall as drafts made the oil lamp she carried flicker and jump. At the top, an impressive doorway opened into a single giant room; windows covered in silk looked out over the entire valley. Candles in wall sconces sprang to life as we entered.
The sorceress put the lamp down and closed the door, pausing to lean back against me and reaching a hand up to stroke my face. It felt only too natural to reach around to fondle her breasts, stroking them where they rose above her leather.
"Mmm," she said, halfway between a moan of pleasure and a sigh of contentment. Her leg pressed between mine, rubbing both of them, sending a shiver up to my waist. She put a hand to my groin and squeezed, arching her back and giggling with sudden delight at the swelling she found there.
She led me past the fireplace in the center of the room, and to a ridiculously large pile of pillows on a magnificent rug. I started towards the grand, curtained bed nearby, but she shook her head and pushed me such that I tripped and sat heavily in the pillows. I felt like I was in danger of sinking into the middle, but instead simply floated under the surface of the mound of fuzzy softness.
"Let me show you something," she said as she started undressing me, starting with the boots.
"Show me something?" I asked. It seemed to me at that moment that what she wanted was to show my body to her.
"Yes," she said.
"What's that?"
