Uleni's Gamble (11 page)

It took a few corrections that he pointed out and Sally fixed on the fly. Then he had her make bullets that would fit the barrel, just a few for testing. Lastly, he asked Nora if she could set a small jet of air on the back of the bullet, to be activated on command, until then it should store the magical energy.

It took a few false starts, but they eventually got it working so just the bullet in the chamber would fire if the trigger was depressed. They got an earth and air talent from the army, showed them what it was and had them get started. He wanted a lot of them, to arm as many soldiers as they could with the equivalent of modern rifles.

He had them get jars of oil, and showed how deadly they could be if flung by a telekinetic, burst by an air talent and lit by a fire talent. The key of course, was to get all that done before the the jar was closer than ten feet to the target.

He also filled jars with sharp metal shavings for a very crude mine. The explosive power would come from a very dense small pocket of air at the bottom of the jar. When the enemy soldier ran toward it, the magic holding the air together would fail, and push out. No conventional explosives needed.

He worked with the earth talents on creating similar traps, open holes with stakes at the bottom, the very top of the earth held together with magical support. The key being the loss of the magic causes the cave in, not the presence of it. He encouraged them all to think of other ways the removal of magic could trigger a trap.

He worked with the telekinetic talents, only telling them to gather things that could be used as weapons, then launch them at speed, even without the magic for the last ten feet, that shouldn’t matter. He had Nora cut some trees then Sally put together a catapult that could fling many large rocks. As for defense, he told the Earth talents they needed to raise the walls to forty feet high, and fifteen wide.

The enemy would not have magic to knock down walls after all, and forty feet would be far outside their anti-magic aura.

Not that they would be fighting at the capitol. If they tried that he was sure the bastard would burn down every southern town and rape every woman there before moving north. He wouldn’t let that happen. But just in case they failed, he wanted to leave behind a viable defense.

He just hoped they had time to make enough rifles, bullets, fire bombs and mines. They had to start moving south soon, there was no telling when Riese would be ready. Still, it should take Riese time to recruit the soldiers at each town, and kill those who didn’t convert, as he made his way across Egeria. But he had decided three days was all they would dare. They could always make more on the fly at night in camp, after all, it was all done with magic, no machinery or even a blacksmith required.

He encouraged the mage talents to use lightning storms, from up in the air if they could shift to a bird form. The enemy wouldn’t be able to reach the mage, or the storm, to stop the attack. He had a few other theories, but they had enough to do already, and a few more tricks wouldn’t really help, just split their focus too much.

Last thing of the day, he called all the military leaders of the rank lieutenant or above, up to Anton, to explain the necessary tactics for the weapons and to inform them they only had two more days before they marched south for the Egerian border. The ones being left behind as the last defense could train the Uleni contingent on the tactics when or if they got there. He was a bit flustered by how everyone listened to him without question, but he needed to get over it and make this all happen.

He ended with, “The Earth talents may have the most important job. Obviously, the enemy cancels magic at closer than ten feet, that means our new rifle weapons, or more accurately, the bullets will be rendered useless if they get within range of us. It is imperative that we avoid that for as long as possible. The good news is there will be no earth talents or mages blocking you from doing anything.

“So be creative on slowing the enemy down, trenches, stakes, walls even. Just make sure you make it happen before they are ten feet away. If they get close to overrunning those obstacles we will have to retreat. Worst case if they fall upon us switch to swords. It should be mostly even that way skill wise, outside of their leader Riese anyway. The idea of the weapons is to even the numbers or make them in our favor, he will probably have more people than us. Of course, if we can kill them all from a distance that would be great, but that’s probably not realistic.

“We will probably need to chase down Riese once his people are down. This is very important, we need him to die to win and push this unwanted god off of our world. I can handle that part, but only when Riese and his army is dead.”

He answered a few questions, and deflected a few, keeping the knowledge he needed to keep secret a secret. He had given his oath, and although mentioning Riese needed to die to get the god away from their world, it didn’t really touch on the parts he had to hide.

They returned to their rooms for a late dinner, there really wasn’t much else he needed to do, just give the military time to build what they would need. He planned on just spending time with his family for the next two days, minus anything else that came up of course, he wouldn’t hide…

*

Sara’s stomach fluttered as she glanced toward Justin. She had talked to his mates, and they had been all for her plan and let her have tonight with Justin, none doubted he would say yes if she asked him, but all of them had wondered if she was up to it.

She was wondering that herself, since she hadn’t asked him yet.

He made her feel out of control, like her emotions were in charge, and she ached for him. It made her feel vulnerable. Out of control and vulnerable were hard for her to deal with considering her past, but she trusted Justin. With determination she got up and walked over to him, took his hand and led him to the second bedroom. She really hoped she wouldn’t faint as her breathing picked up.

She said softly, “Would you take me, or really, let me take you with the intentions for more?”

She felt his concern when he said, “Are you sure you’re ready? I’m sure you can feel I would love too.”

She blushed at that, she could very much feel his lust at the idea, but again, like with his mates it was tied up with tenderness and love.

“I think so, it would help if I was in control.”

He started stripping and then laid out on the bed, looking into her eyes he winked and said, “Is this good? You on top? Or… if you want, you can get some rope, that might be fun actually…”

She grinned and said, “Maybe next time,” and started getting undressed. He looked really good, his body was in shape, his muscle definition obvious but not exaggerated.

She felt his eyes on her, and his lust rise as he looked over her body. But when she looked over at him, she could see how in control he was, and patient, just lying there waiting. Her breasts weren’t as big as Nicole’s, but at eighteen her generous C cups were still perky and sticking straight out, firm and supple. Her nipples were hard, whether from his gaze or the room’s temperature, or both, she wasn’t sure.

Her fair skin was flawless, with the exception of a freckle on one cheek, adding to her beauty as her long strawberry blonde hair framed her face and teased the curves of her body down to her ass. She had always hated how attractive she was, it made things… harder for her. But she loved the way he was looking at her now, despite the feeling of vulnerability it engendered. She realized after a moment she had just been standing there, letting him stare at her naked body, she blushed and moved toward the bed.

Her body tingled as she straddled him, and the feeling of her warmth as it brushed against his tool shocked her body with pleasure. Her breasts felt very tight as her nipples grew even further. Her skin touched his as she moved to kiss him. Strangely it occurred to her as their lips met, that this was their first kiss. She was tentative and he didn’t try and rush her, letting her set the pace.

She moaned as she felt him harden between her pleasantly tingling core and his stomach. She kissed him deeply and moved her hips forward and back, the sensation of his hard length running across her silken folds caused her to gasp. She deepened the kiss even further, sliding her tongue into his warm mouth and realized he was being so cautious his hands were still on the bed. She needed to feel him touch her, her breathless request sounded more like a desperate plea.

“Touch me. I want your hands on me Justin.”

She felt him softly squeeze her breasts, then arched her back and ground herself on his shaft as she felt him brush her nipples with his thumbs. She reached under herself, pulling his length to the right angle, then slowly lowered herself down. He was so big, it took time for her body to accommodate his length. She ground herself against him when she felt their bodies come together.

The feeling of pleasure was so intense, both from feeling so full, and the wondrous sensations running through her body from her core. As well as the feelings that came from Justin as her hot silken warmth welcomed and pleasured his manhood. She couldn’t feel what he felt of course, just the emotions themselves. She was drowning in the pleasure they were both feeling.

She just sat there for a moment, as he teased her nipples again, then ran his fingertips down the curves of her body and back up.

He got a concerned look on his face when she hadn’t moved for about a minute and said, “Are you sure you are ready for this?”

She almost giggled, if he had any idea what she was feeling right now, he would know what a stupid question that was… There was an idea, she had only ever used her talent to detect, and harm those that meant her harm. What if she did exactly that, let him see how she was feeling?

*

Justin was waiting for her to answer the question, wondering if this was about to come to an end. He had been controlling his emotions the best he could, and he could control himself, but she was so beautiful it had been all he could do to just lay there and not touch her.

He smiled, at least he finally got to touch her hair. Other parts too, her body was exquisitely proportioned and her skin was as soft and smooth as he had imagined. He loved her though, if she couldn’t continue he would understand, despite the bliss of being buried in her wet silken heat.

Then he felt his pleasure more than double and he gasped. He realized right away some of the emotion didn’t feel like his exactly, and realized she was projecting her emotions to him. It didn’t take long to understand why she hadn’t moved yet, if she was feeling his as well.

There was feedback aspect to it as well it seemed, he could feel them both building toward a climax now, as he just stayed engulfed in her heaven.

But then she did move, and they gasped as one, as she started to grind in little circles. He teased her breasts and grazed her nipples again and felt his pleasure go up. It was kind of weird, but at the same time awesome, instant feedback. He started exploring her sexy body, finding all her places, between his power guiding him, and the instant feedback, it didn’t take long for him to find the best ones.

His breathing was getting harsh, and she started mewling in pleasure, she raised herself up his length to once again impale herself on his manhood.

She said breathlessly, “Oh goddess Justin, you feel so good in me.”

He slid his fingertips down the side of her body and across her leg, and found her button with his thumb. He pushed down on it gently, her clit peaking out of her hood, and they both lost it.

She screamed in ecstasy and he grunted loudly as he expanded within her. He felt her velvety heat as it grasped and undulated, milking his offering to her womb. He almost passed out at the intensity of feeling his and her orgasm all at the same time.

It had definitely been worth the wait. When they came down, he put his fingertips on her face, and she followed them as he pulled his hands back, he kissed her tenderly. She bit his lip then deepened the intensity of their kiss, claiming his mouth with her own, he moaned softly at the taste of her tongue as it dove past his lips.

She moaned into his mouth when he felt himself hardening to his full length once again. He was pretty confident touching her now, he just knew he shouldn’t do anything even playfully rough, and they continued to make love for another couple of rounds.

When they were getting dressed, he turned to her and asked, “Will you join me for sleep? I think you know I’ve already loved you for quite a while, I don’t believe I am jumping the gun by asking you to be my intended mate so soon, am I?”

He had almost said us, meaning his mates, but reminded himself he was in separate relationships, his mates would be there, but it wasn’t really about them. What existed between him and Sara was theirs alone. In reality, the ladies had to get along, or things would get complicated, but he wasn’t worried in this case. All of them already loved Sara as much as he did, if not in the same way.

Sara shook her head a bright smile on her face, “No, it isn’t too soon. I’d love to.”

He felt her love and happiness as she sent it to him. He wondered at that, why she didn’t just say it back, but then, actually feeling it added a certain dimension, made mere words seem trite. So he walked over and caressed her face, kissed her softly, and made sure she knew the depth of every emotion he felt for her…

*

Trina watched wistfully as Justin led Sara to his bed, to join the rest of his mates for sleep. She wasn’t jealous of Justin of course, she didn’t begrudge any love Sara could find. She loved Sara and wanted the best for her. She just wished that they could share a connection too. She had sensed Sara was curious, but that wasn’t what Trina wanted.

There was a part of her as well, that didn’t think she deserved Sara at all. She really wasn’t a good person, she had helped yes. But first because of twisted logic, then she had stayed because helping him win would keep her safe. Now she stayed because of her feelings for Sara. It was all selfish, all for herself.

She wondered if what she had gone though, and the path she took in life, had destroyed any capacity for true empathy in her soul. Which was ironic, considering she was in love with an empath… she wondered if she could ever get it back, heal from what she was, what she had done. Perhaps the only way to change was to pretend, she could pretend at first, wear a mask, and hope that one day it would be her true face. After all, she did feel some guilt, if she couldn’t change, why would she care at all?