Dark Lord's Commands 2, page 2
I reached up to cup her chin, locking my eyes with hers. “We are going to rebuild this kingdom, even if we have to do it one stone at a time. It might take decades, but Duskhaven will rise and the Luminark Empire will fall. We will ensure our people’s happiness and freedom.”
Vexile smiled, her fangs framing her lips. “Of course we will. We have the Goddess on our side.”
She pulled us towards the bed, laying us down across the mattress. It was large, meant to hold me and both my wives at once. Vexile loosened her grip on me, coiling her bulk across the sheets as she nestled me by her waist.
“What has brought about this burst of confidence,” she asked, as she ran her hands over my chest, her fingers trailing along the sash that held my robe shut. “Not that I’m complaining, but I’ve found that my husband is --”
She licked her teeth, trying to find the right word.
“Pessimistic?” I laughed, my hands trailing up her wrists, over her shoulders, and then wrapping around the back of her neck.
She leaned into my pull, kissing me.
“You are a realist,” she said, her lips brushing against my jaw. “You acknowledge the difficulty ahead of you, count the resources you have available, and then work to find an answer.”
“I love it when you talk sexy,” I said, my fingers reaching through her hair to trace along the edges of her long, pointed ears.
She shivered under my touch, her scales trembling below me.
“I saw a kingdom rising today,” I whispered to her, pushing away all the fears and worries that had been percolating in the back of my mind. “We have come so far in just a year, and we have a clear path forward, to see Duskhaven rise from the dust and the ashes. I swore, for just a moment today, I could almost see it, in my mind’s eye, and it was glorious.”
All words were lost after that.
Vexile slipped off my robe and then tugged off my pants. I returned the favor, untying the knots that held her skirt in place before helping her remove her shaw-like blouse. For a moment I just marveled at her ascendant beauty, but before I could reach for her she shifted out of reach.
She coiled around my waist so that her mouth was hanging just above my cock. The sight of her, suspended just above me, her breasts hanging heavily above my lap, got me hard in a heartbeat. She cooed in appreciation before she ran her forked tongue around my shaft. The wet slickness of her saliva and the tight constriction of her pink tongue was heavenly.
She bent at her hips, giving me a wonderful view of her shoulders and back, her damp hair hanging around her head like a curtain, as she lowered her lips around the head of my cock. I groaned in appreciation, settling against the bulk of her tail. The warm friction of her scales against my skin was wondrous compared to her wet, wicked efforts.
I could feel her body thrum with self-satisfaction as I sunk deeper into her embrace. Vexile placed her hands on my hips as she pulled me even closer to her. She hovered over me in a predatory fashion before she finally took my entire length into her mouth, her lips not stopping till they hit my base.
Her tongue twisted around my shaft, teasing my cockhead, lapping around the tip, before whirling back down to the base again. I could feel her fangs, which I knew were full of deadly venom, barely nipping and rubbing against my skin. The thrill running through me was almost as unbearable as the pleasure assaulting my senses.
Slowly, Vexile reached one hand down to trace along my balls, tickling and rubbing them.
Unable to hold back any longer, I reached up and placed my hands along the side of her head, gently guiding her as she began to bob up and down. I closed my eyes, savoring everything Vexile was doing, the feeling of her lips against my flesh and the wet sounds of her sucking.
I felt a tremble run through my legs, and I knew I could not hold out much longer. An eruption was building in my loins, and my First Queen’s lips and hands were sculpting it to be a massive one.
Vexile, sensitive to the smallest vibration or tremble, detected my strained state. She redoubled her tempo, her lips curling and tongue twisting at an even faster pace.
Feeling almost feverish, I opened my eyes and swept the hair from my wife’s forehead. I wanted to look her in the eyes as I came. Sensing my intent, she shifted above me, turning her chin upward so she could watch my reaction.
Her eyes glowed orange, the slits as thin as razor blades. The sheer hunger in them was captivating, and I let loose the last bit of restraint I had. She locked her eyes with mine, never breaking contact as her lips pursed to accept the upwelling of seed that burst out of me.
Afterward, I collapsed flat against her scales, my chest heaving and my fingers and toes tingling as I tried to regain my senses. My body felt as heavy as lead, and my lungs ached as I tried to catch my breath.
“Magnificent,” Vexile said as she slithered to rest her head on my shoulder.
I couldn’t put a coherent thought together, so I just leaned over to kiss her forehead, thankful for having her in my life. We laid like this, just basking in the afterglow, until I was finally able to pull myself together.
Twisting around, I crawled along Vexile’s scaly underbelly until I was facing her pussy. Juices were running in rivulets down her scales, and her nethers were pink and inviting.
“It is only fair, as king, that I honor my queen as well,” I murmured before I lowered my lips to hers.
Chapter 2
Shielding my eyes, I gazed out across the steppe towards the ruins, which spread across the horizon.
Vilewind, unlike Gloomglow, had once been a huge, metropolitan city. I could see the shattered stubs of towers and the broken remains of cathedrals and castles sticking up from the rubble. Closing my eyes, I imagined the bustling commercial districts, the wide avenues of the residential neighborhoods, and the sprawling university campuses that had once made up the city.
Nichessa and Vexile came up behind me. The three of us stood, staring at the ruins, dreaming of what could have been. And what might be born again?
Breathing heavily, Lita came up to join us. Behind her were several hunters and three crawlclaws, all of them hauling sledges behind them. I had feared the giant crustaceans, accustomed to carrying riders on their broad backs or pulling wagons, wouldn’t accept the sledges, but they had borne them with stoic acceptance.
Three loads of stone means at least two new houses, a new community building, or a warehouse, I thought, doing the mental calculations in my head.
For the time being, the crawlclaws were burdened down with the hunting gear Nichessa had made; a series of metal stakes and plates. The hunters that accompanied us carried newly forged spears that featured extra-long hafts and dangerously barbed black iron heads.
“What’s your command, Dark Lord?” Lita asked as she stopped a respectful distance away.
I looked towards Vexile, “Can you sense anything at this distance?”
My First Queen closed her eyes, concentrating. Thanks to her serpentine nature, she could sense movement and vibrations over great distances, making her perfect for our hunt.
She pointed towards the north. “I’m sensing most of the sand serpents towards the far end of the ruins. It could be their nest.”
Nichessa rubbed her chin, thinking. “I see a clearing,” she indicated a low-lying line of rubble to the south. “We could set the trap there.”
Looking, I saw there was plenty of stone to salvage close by “We could start loading up the sledges. I’m sure that kind of heavy activity would attract the beasts’ attention quickly.”
I turned to address our group, which numbered around twenty. “We have two goals to achieve today,” I told them. I channeled a sliver of divinity into my voice, so it would carry over the vast expanse.
Revina hadn’t just blessed us with magic; my queens and I could channel a portion of her divine blessing into our voices, granting them persuasive power. We could bolster the brave or unnerve the weak with a few simple words.
“We are here to salvage stone for future construction projects,” I told them, channeling all the confidence I could into my speech. “By your efforts, our people will have the materials to build new homes and shelters.”
“But we are also here to hunt,” Vexile said, her voice throbbing with the same blessed power as mine. “For years, we have feared the sand serpents, the deadly terrors that lurk below the surface. They have kept us from our ancestors’ cities, greedily nesting in the ruins that should belong to us.”
“But no longer,” I gestured grandly towards the blacksmith. “Second Queen Nichessa has devised a brilliant solution, which shall prove to be the sand serpent’s bane!”
The hunters cheered, hammering the butts of their spears against the ground. They were fired up and ready to reclaim what was ours.
We led the way down to the city.
“You know I didn’t come up with the idea,” Nichessa hissed, blush rising in her cheeks. “It was all you, Robert.”
I gave a small shake of my head, “I just remembered something from a story back home, you’re the one who took a shaky description and turned it into an actual solution. You deserve the credit.”
A small, pragmatic part of my mind reminded me that the more popular and well regarded my queens were, the more powerful I’d be. I pushed that machiavellian thought aside.
In truth, after hearing more about the sand serpents from our hunters, I had thought of an eighties horror movie I had been a fan of as a kid. Describing it to Nichessa, she had rushed to her forge and come up with a brilliant solution.
I’ll have to send a thank you letter to Kevin Bacon if this all works out.
Moving through the rubble of Vilewind’s outer quarters, I saw the Luminark had been thorough in their demolition. Most of the ruined buildings stood less than a story tall, their stones stained black with flame and soot. Nichessa inspected them and declared that they were too brittle to be of use, so we moved further into the fallen metropolis.
“Do you know where that name came from, Vilewind?” I asked Vexile. She was our preeminent historian, carrying on our people’s history as well as their traditions.
She shook her head. “There’s nothing in the records about it,” she said as we paused in a rubble choked intersection, waiting for Nichessa and her workers to clear a path for the sledges.
Much of Duskhaven’s history was simply gone, erased by the Luminark Empire. They kept our people as slaves, supporting their vast and wealthy nation, using them as laborers, disposable soldiers, and servants. Their inquisition ruthlessly cracked down on anyone who kept to Duskhaven’s old religion or retained knowledge of our nation’s past.
The Luminark kept horrifying tales of the Dark Lords of old as boogiemen, monsters, and ghosts. They were meant to terrify their populace and enshrine the church and the inquisition as the de facto rulers of the empire.
They routinely swept up Duskhaven slaves, labeling them as rebels and heretics, to paint them as some insidious, internal threat to the empire. Vexile herself had been an innocent child when she had been wrongly arrested for sedition and heresy. She had only learned about Revina while in prison on that false conviction.
I remembered the brand she had shown me, seared into her flesh when she had been condemned to a life sentence. Just the thought of it made my blood simmer with anger.
Vexile’s brand had been erased when she had ascended, but I knew many of our citizens carried the scars of their captivity and enslavement, reminders of the pains they had endured. Pains we shall revisit upon the Luminark Empire when our people are freed.
We arrived in the large clearing Nichessa had spotted. It appeared to have been a communal space, maybe a park or a sports field back when the old kingdom stood. Dunes of cracked dirt and red sand ran in irregular waves across the area. Bits of brown, ragged scrub grass and dead, twisted trees were the only signs of vegetation.
I imagined the ruins hemming the space had once been shops, restaurants, and businesses, their sidewalks busy with families enjoying the city’s offerings. Green grass must have spread across the park’s lawns, shaded by huge, leafy trees. I could almost picture families and couples walking along its paths.
It must have been beautiful.
Nichessa scouted out the main north-south boulevard and hailed Marl to bring the crawlclaws over. Quickly, she began directing her workers and the hunters to unload the sledges and set up the traps, barring the end of the roadway.
I could feel the earth tremble each time she raised her hammer, using it to drive the stakes into the ground. The workers joined in with shovels and picks, digging trenches and slipping the metal plates inside, supported by the stakes. In a matter of minutes, they had constructed an underground barrier, a wall of black iron.
I grinned at Vexile, “If the sand serpents weren’t aware of us before, they certainly will be now.”
She nodded, her tail twisting against the bare soil. “I can sense several of them coming our way.”
I waved towards our hunters, directing them to take up posts in the ruins lining the roadway. “Then let us begin the hunt. We shall retake this city for our kingdom and reap its rewards.”
Vexile, thanks to her serpentine nature, was far faster than even our fleetest hunters. She could also sense the sand serpents moving underground, making her our best choice to lure them into our trap.
I hated the idea of putting her in danger, but it was the right decision.
For a moment I thought of volunteering for the task, but our adventure in liberating the Luminark mine had taught me a harsh lesson. I had nearly died while freeing the camp, and if I had died then that would have been the end of the Dark Lords and Duskhaven.
There was no one else to carry on our bloodline, those capable of channeling Revina’s divine blessing into the land.
Well, outside my bastard cousin Charles, I quietly admitted to myself.
He had been summoned by Vexile to Turmont before me, as the only other descendant of the Dark Lord bloodline. Unfortunately, Vexile did not know that my cousin was a sociopathic con-man. He cut and ran, fleeing Gloomglow as soon as he saw the state of the kingdom.
Thus, if I died, Duskhaven’s hopes died with me.
So I needed to steel myself to be more patient, more careful. I couldn’t risk my life so freely as I had in the past.
Vexile quietly made her way down the boulevard, her tail slithering widely against the broken paving stones. Nichessa and I manned the barricade; I had one of the hunting spears in hand and my crossbow was belted to my side. My Second Queen carried her massive war hammer in her four hands.
“There’s no stonework below us, just loose rock and dirt,” she confirmed, using her earthen blessing to sense the composition of the street. “Nothing to get in the serpent’s way when they charge.”
“Except several centimeters of black iron plating,” I agreed.
The plan would work just like it had in the movie; Vexile would make a bunch of noise to lure the serpents her way. She’d race down the boulevard, drawing the serpents to match her speed, before she crashed them into the barricade.
Hopefully, the beasts would be dumb enough to simply kill themselves.
Vexile disappeared into the city, and we began to wait. Lita stood atop the highest perch she could find, watching for signs of the First Queen’s return.
I did my best to look confident and regal, pushing down the anxiety I felt inside. I absently plucked at my black mantle, another symbol of my office, as my eyes scanned the ruins.
“It’ll be fine,” Nichessa said quietly, more to herself than to me I suspected.
My queens had formed a fast friendship, based upon their shared bond of ascension and mutual respect.
“Here she comes!” Lita shouted, much sooner than I had expected.
I backed up a step and braced my spear against the ground. The hunters, concealed in the ruins, raised their barbed weapons, pointing them towards the roadway.
In the distance, I spotted a cloud of dust being kicked up. Vexile appeared, moving as quickly as she could. The earth rippled behind her in three distinct tremors that sent the earth flying behind them.
“There!” Lita pointed to the hunters, quickly assigning them targets. “If they survive hitting the barrier, we’ve got to spear them and haul them topside to finish them off!”
Vexile raced down the roadway, straight towards us. Nichessa raised her two upper arms. I heard the metal plates underground groaning as she used her magic to reinforce them, giving them the strength to resist the coming impacts.
Tensing, Vexile leapt the closing meters between us, sailing over the staked border of the barricade. Her jump was accompanied by a triplicate of thunderous bangs as the sand serpents collided with the barrier.
The ground shook with the violence of the blows.
It was strangely quiet for a second, the dust dying down before an almighty cry erupted from the dirt. Blood oozed and bubbled up from two of the impact sites, but from the middle one, the ground erupted as an injured sand serpent pushed itself to the surface.
In truth, the bizarre creature looked nothing like a snake except for its sinuous shape. Its body was long and round, but instead of scales, it had a rough, grey hide that was textured like leather over muscle. Fins and spines, meant for propulsion, ran in unorderly rows down its flanks.
Blood spurted from its bony head, the hard planes of its skull having shattered upon collision with our trap. It writhed and shook, wetting the dirt with its vile ichor.
“Spears!” Lita cried as she ran out into the open, her weapon before her.
She jabbed the barbed point into the thing’s hide, bracing the end of her weapon against the ground. More hunters, emboldened by her actions, ran out to join her, pinning the beast in place. I joined in, keeping my distance as I stabbed my spear into the beast’s throat, blood spurting from the wound.
The sand serpent thrashed, throwing several hunters off their feet, but more rushed in to take their place.
