Camilla's Memories
"Good lords, ladies, and worthy friends, I crave your heed!"
The hall was small, though with enough room to hold escore-odd guests who strolled while sipping wine goblets. Burghers robed and turbaned strode beside nobles and knights clad in silk jupons. On their arms hung perfumed noblewomen of faces both dark and fair, though hair dark despite the jewels sparkling therein. Painted silks of blue and rose clung to their curves but did not hide where they plunged between breasts and clung low on hips, revealing taut, pouting bellies.
On a stand at the hall's head, shared with musicians who had paused play, Theophobus spread arms welcomingly: "It is my great honor to return to Yaralet after many years abroad, and again in your excellent company I look forward to providing you such enchantments for your pleasure as I once did, and advising in matters sorcerous.
"For your diversion tonight," he added: "I provide a small challenge." He waved,
Camilla stepped unseen among the courtiers. Under fluted columns and arching, sky-painted ceilings, full threescore revelers and more danced and laughed within the Palace of Yaralet. Zithers, flutes, and drum played a rolling, hypnotic tune while dancing girls, nude but for scarves clung to round hips and bangles on wrist and breast, who writhed and whirled bone lessly. Slaves oiled and shaven bore silver platters full of sweetmeats, or ewers of thick ruby wine among the guests: silken-draped ministers and barons, chiseled knights with hard arms in sleeveless tunics, and noble ladies in gossamer gowns that hinted wickedness half-concealed.Camilla studied the panorama, of bodies strutting amid the candles and blazes, figures flitting among the shadows, pairs twisting on each other, and those seeking solace among the hall's nooks or benighted spaces, where the portico opened unto the palace gardens. She watched their stirrings away from the light, from the broad banquet tables
Story of a Salem witchJessalyn Radisson gets just what she wants when the townsfolk burn her at the stake."Jessalyn Radisson, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Salem Massachusetts, on this day of our Lord in 1692, I find you guilty of witchery, witchcraft, wizardly, sorcery, and conjuring," said the Honorable Judge Robert Hall. "Do you have anything to say for yourself before I pass sentence."Even though he mindlessly asked her if she had anything to say before he sentenced her to die, he wasn't paying her any attention. Too busy looking through the papers he had before him, he seemed ready to ignore whatever she had to say."I'm not guilty of witchery, witchcraft, wizardly, sorcery, and conjuring. If I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of being a redheaded woman. If I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of being beautiful and sexy and all those bitches are the real witches," she said looking at and pointing to the wives and the girlfriends of the men
Camilla’s memoriesMorning broke with a thin red gash of light along the crests of the mountaintops. Owls finally dared to close their eyes, and bats cautiously folded their wings. The night horrors and prowling beasts of the forest abandoned their hunts to drag bloodied carcasses back to their lairs. In the west, a handful of lingering stars still shone.Krimeya and I sat atop her cottage roof, tense and watchful. The hood of her crimson cloak obscured her sleek black tresses while framing her ashen features. She held a whittled staff of red-stained wood in both hands, in the manner that a gladiator might wield a spear."I expect they will begin their march shortly," she said softly, "Have you given thought to how you wish to proceed?""I won't flee," I whispered, quiet, but firm, "They'll allow me to return to them as their daughter or..."Krimeya gave me a pitying look."They won't. You know that deep down. They will find us here, a
Camilla’s Memories"I was weak before," I said sadly, "I didn't really understand how weak I was,""Nonsense, Little Wife," Kas still never used my name, joking endlessly that I was her 'Little Bride' or 'Little Wife' - and every time she did, it became a little truer. "A girl who takes her destiny into her own hands is always strong. Whether she succeeds or not." It was impossible not to swoon in the wake of Krimeya's wisdom.After a busy day buried in spell books and practising calligraphy while Krimeya was out in the forest, I was excited to show her my next intended endeavour."I want to make one of these," I said, holding the heavy book open at the right pages to show her, "I think it's a little advanced for me to manage on my own though,""A scryglass? Whatever for?""To watch over my mother and sisters," Though I tried not to dwell upon my old life, I missed them deeply. Krimeya scoffed."The women who wanted you to spend
Camilla’s POVFor several seconds, it was entirely dark. I felt absent. Bodiless. Adrift.Then with a sickening lurch I hit the blistering sand. The grit scalded my bare skin and I squealed in pain. I tried to climb to my feet, but was so winded that I just lay panting on the burning ground. The very air was hot to breathe. Coughing, I propped myself up on my hands and knees, pushed my hair from my face and looked out into the vista.It was a hellscape.An endless panorama of blue sand - so blue that it was difficult to discern from the sky. The swollen sun was white like molten glass. Small cerulean fires shuddered across the sand dunes, arching then receding in waves. I couldn't understand what their fuel was. The only landmarks were jagged rocks that jutted in painful intervals from the acrid land. There were no trees or plants of any kind. But for the quaver of the wind: it was forebodingly quiet.I spat
The landscape here was a little more hospitable than the desert, but there could be no denying that this was still the Kingdom of Azure. The flat, dry, dusty blue plain had little to offer the eye, but for the crater of an empty lake and odd clusters of gnarled indigo trees. I reached out with my senses to look for nearby life... but found only a family of small thirsty lizards basking completely camouflaged against the stones. I despaired for them, living in the horror of such an unnatural seeming setting. I turned my gaze back to the garden, my eyes greedy for any colour that was not that unbroken blue.I leant over the balcony, looking up and down to try and get a sense of what sort of building it was -- but the effort was fruitless, the overhang of the balcony prevented me from seeing the walls below, while what seemed to be another balcony directly above obscured the line of sight looking up.I sighed as I ventured back into the cool of the indoors; at least if th
Camilla’s POVEven though I had been back to the earthly realm for some time still I was again back to hell by some kind of magnetic pull and I could not fathom for the life of me why.I had not known that it was possible to hate a place.A person, an idea, a chore; certainly. But a place? My whole life's experiences had been made up of sturdy grey cottages in scenes of pastoral farmland, dewy meadows, meandering burns and dense pine forest. A hot sunny day was a rare happening, and it meant only the race to bring the harvest and laundry in before the storms that followed.What I would have given for a goddamn storm!The days in Azure were tiresomely long, dry and impossibly hot. I often felt faintly sick. I could not adjust to any aspect of the castle.All the foods tasted like horseradish and ginger - yet stronger -- and scalded my mouth no matter how long I let them to
Camilla’s POVThe introduction to the King was a perplexing but wholly necessary engagement. It required a low bow, a simpering tone and the wearing of a ceremonial gold chain about my waist that marked me out as an incubus's property. In principle, I objected to all of these things, but Maya's advice was prescriptive."If you do not allow Lazuren to introduce you in this way, then the King will consider you available to... fulfil his own needs."And while I had idly considered the prospect of indulging myself with one of the many incubus soldiers that lived in the castle barracks, the hurt that I knew this might inflict upon Lazuren had always prevented me from entertaining the idea for too long. A tryst with his father was altogether out of the question. (Although, if I had had any ideas of this sort, they would surely have evaporated upon meeting him!)The feast to welcome the King had already begun as Maya and I followed Lazuren to the banquet h
Her father was not home when Alison arrived, which for once she was grateful for. She was in desperate need of some quiet time to contemplate what just happened. Not even bothering to go inside the house, she took the small stone pathway that twisted around the back of the main house and headed straight for the gardens. She loved her father's garden. Tall green hedges sectioned off different areas that all had their own unique theme. Her favorite section was the lily section and whenever she visited she made sure to stop by and take a nap on the cushioned bench that was found there. It was luxuriously relaxing to simply lay there and breathe in the scent of flowers and fresh air.Today, however, her mind was in a whirl and even meditating on her favorite bench didn't seem to be helping. The men she overheard in that room wanted to keep her around for whatever they were planning, but what was it and how did she fit into that plan? She felt incredibly vulnerable and wished that
Braden had not been able to sleep that night. Thinking about Alison facing the king made him feel like he was just punched in the stomach. He was well aware of the interest that Medeas had in Alison's work, and he knew for a fact that the king had not just recently taken interest in the biomagical field. In fact, it had been about two and a half years since the king first heard about it. Whether Alison knew it or not she was about to be horribly exploited, and unfortunately there was nothing Braden could do to stop it. He had been called to the capital earlier in the week so that he could be told to his face that if he warned her at all he would never see the end of their harassment. This arrangement was the reason he had never pursued Alison before, but eventually he just couldn't take it anymore and he had to be with her.He had been instantly smitten with Alison the very first day they worked together. While she was classically beautiful, she also had a penchant for making
So early Saturday morning had found Braden and Alison standing in an empty field that was surrounded by trees and sectioned off from the rest of the nature reserve that was near Braden's apartment. They had decided to spend the night with each other because Braden's lack of control over Fire made it too risky for him to stay by himself. That, and the intense fear they had felt earlier had them both hesitant to leave the other's side.The morning began with them taking turns walking each other through the basics of their elements. They quickly discovered that they had all the abilities of advanced Air and Fire elementals, most likely because Braden and Alison were each advanced in their own element and the stuff they were exposed to was extracts of their own magics. The problem facing them now was control. Braden could easily produce fire balls, but if he wasn't extremely careful they would grow too large in size and Alison would have to step in to contain it. Likewise, Alison
Alison woke to a weird sensation pooling around her back. It was both cool and hot at the same time and caused her skin to tingle. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of Braden gloriously stretched out next to her. The image of Braden's naked chest immediately made her forget about the annoying sensation.We need to get moving; we can't stay on the floor all day long,she thought to herself with regret.Braden hugged her closer and slowly opened his eyes."mmm, I wish we could stay just like this all day. That would be spectacular." He said as he slowly stroked the skin of the thigh that was thrown over him."Yeah until the janitor comes to empty the trash and finds two naked people on the floor.""Ha, Steve could use a good pick me up. I hear he doesn't get much as home."Gross I never want to think about Steve having sex.."Even an guy like Steve deserves to get some lovin' every so of
"God that was fucking incredible." She said to herself after awhile. But while she wasn't expecting a response, she got one."I'm glad you thought so little one."Her eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice."Braden?""Yeah it's me Ali." His voice was raspy and husky sounding. She bolted out of her lab chair and began to pace back and forth in front of the desk."This is so embarrassing." She said meekly, looking down at the floor and playing with her fingernails. "I can't believe you just saw that." Even though she knew that Braden had been responsible for the air-induced orgasm, she was still embarrassed at being caught in such a position.Braden waited for her to pass by him again and then reach out for her arm, pulling her so that she stood in front of him. He ran his fingers along her temple before tucking a stray hair that had fallen from her pony-tail behind her ear."You have absolutely no reason to be embarrassed. Y
To be a warrior, you must make friends with pain. It is a constant bedfellow who hung around just to say hello every so often. It lived as a reminder of the hazardous nature of the profession. It was a hazard that Aneesa knew about from a young age. The spirited woman was raised a fighter and proud warrior, one who shook off the occasional stabbing or attempt to decapitate her with a smile on her tanned face. In fact, she took pride in them, treating each scar as a new trophy to add to her collections of war stories. So Aneesa was no stranger to pain. Usually, she would grin and bear it, but this time it was different.The poor woman's arms hung over her head, extending slightly behind her as they were chained to a point on the ceiling. It was a slow-burning pain as she had been in that position for what felt like hours. The chain gave her no slack as she fought to keep her body upright, leaning forward would only tire her more. The bind that she got herself in was ingenious
Her eyes followed the red liquid as it flowed through the coiled plastic tubing and entered the glass collection beaker that was sitting on her laboratory table top. She needed 5 more milliliters of the stuff and then she could analyze its magical content and complete her thesis. Alison was a 24 year old master's student at the University of Sunderland and was apart of the first wave of bio-magical researchers that the kingdom of Sunderland had ever had. Wishing to stick to the traditional view that magic was a deep seated ability inseparable from the soul, most of the population refused to believe that there was a biological basis for their special abilities or that magic could be analyzed, quantified and experimentally manipulated.But Alison was about to prove them all wrong. The red liquid that was painstakingly dripping into the glass beaker was what she called Potion de feu, and was actually an extract of her own Fire magic. It had taken her four years to determine the
The Ancient lowered her cup."Of course, there is more to this particular tea ceremony than merely drinking tea," she whispered, her kimono parting to allow Taiju a quick glimpse of her spotted but seemingly firm brown breasts.Taiju suspected as much. That was the reason he had climbed for five brutal days through the unforgiving mountains to reach the witch's aerie. It was told that Ancient had uncovered the secret of life and death. Some said she was 200 years old. Others said 1000. Most people of course said she didn't exist. No one who returned had ever been able to find her.The deep creases surrounding her eyes seemed to twinkle as she pulled the kanzashi from her hair, spilling her silver tresses down her back."If you wish to gain eternal life, then we must drink each other," she whispered and shrugged her shoulders, spilling her silk kimono onto the floor. She stood, shameless before him in her nakedness.His eyes were drawn to the white
"Even if you do, you'll never make it out again. The others will tear you to pieces."Ean smiled grimly."That's my plan. Now let's go."They walked towards the mansion, Ean holding Adele in front of him. There was no one else in the garden, but as soon as they stepped inside the house they were noticed. Surprised shouts and yells of "Tenumago!" soon had them surrounded by vampires. Ean grinned at them."Come any closer and she's dead!"He pushed his claws in even deeper in her throat making blood trickle down her skin. The vampires backed away, knowing that he could tear her head off if he wanted to."Good. Now where's Percival?" he growled."Don't tell him!" Adele croaked."He's no match for Percival, Adele!" one vampire shouted. "In his office. Down that hall, last door on the right.""Much obliged. Now, all of you: get out!"The vampires hesitated, then did as they were told, reluctantly filing through the doo