Uleni's Gamble (3 page)

She closed her eyes and touched her talent, as she brought up the flames she pictured the large boulder in the clearing and ordered the fire to protect. She opened her eyes and there were eight birds made of pure flame, hovering like hummingbirds, around the rock.

She was no longer controlling what she conjured, the last five times they had just stood there doing nothing until the magic she imbued into them went out, she crossed her fingers as Sally raised her hand.

Sally cast five air balls at the stone while she held her breath, at the last moment, the birds dove and intercepted the air, causing them to flare and grow in size. She couldn’t help the grin that grew on her face, she had always been able to control fire, but this was different, she had actually imbued her flames with her will, they were living flames.

She gaped as Sally took them all out with water, then turned to her.

“Good job, but let’s make sure you can do it in your sleep, only way to be sure is practice, so do it again.”

She sighed, she had after all asked for real training. She closed her eyes…

“No, do it with your eyes open.”

She growled, opened her eyes, and while looking at the rock, summoned her flames…

*

Trina was annoyed and a bit concerned. Justin had not shown up at her door for the last two hours, she knew she had miscalculated. After the way she had humbled herself for him, any other man… Or at least, any other man in Uleni, would have his cock down her throat already. Was he just different? Or were things different outside Uleni?

She hadn’t been briefed about any social differences, and it barely seemed possible, but were woman afforded more respect in Abelaweth, or was it just him, or some combination of the two? She had expected to have him in her mouth by now, and when he filled it with his seed she would have had a dagger in his vitals while she sucked out the rest. It was her preferred way to kill, men never defended themselves during orgasm.

And it kind of got her off, the power to give the ultimate pleasure and death in the same moment. Her body shivered as she thought about it. She knew she was a little twisted that way. But the way she saw it, if a man was dumb enough to think a smile was an invitation to order her to her knees, he well deserved it.

She wasn’t always this way. It had been her lot in life to be used by men, her beauty a curse. When Ross had found out her talent, he started training her as an assassin. She would never be used again, the kill put her back in control. She even enjoyed it now, when they ordered her, took from her without permission, because from now on that was part of her plan and she would have her revenge at the finish.

Her initial ploy may have failed, but she had been trained in many other ways to kill, she was the best. But she was worried about making another bad assumption. She had never had a target outside Uleni before. The Flame of Cytherea was also extremely dangerous, and she wasn’t stupid enough to believe all the women around him were weak, like a man would.

She decided just to be safe, she would spend some time here, study her prey first. Besides, she hadn’t even seen the Uleni witch yet, who was her secondary target. She just hoped the rotting carcass of the real acolyte wouldn’t be found before she was done. She had hidden it well, but sometimes fate was a bitch.

Chapter 3

Lian walked into his master’s rooms, he wasn’t happy with the report he just got, and he was sure mage Riese would be pissed off about it.

Riese looked up. “Report.”

Lian replied, “Our spy indicated the assassin has reached the target hours ago, yet he still lives.”

Riese frowned, “How up to date is this?”

He said, “Fifteen minutes? I had one of the travel mages on it.”

Riese sighed. “I knew sending a woman would be a bad idea. Give it twelve hours, if the Flame isn’t dead by then; dispatch a team to take care of it.”

A few seconds later Riese added, “And make sure Ross’s precious pet dies as well. Keep this between ourselves.”

Lian bowed, “It will be done mage Riese,” and retreated out of his master’s rooms.

*

He felt sheepish as he knocked on the door, Trina answered it with a smile and a bow. She put her head down and looked up at him through eyelashes.

She said in a soft vulnerable voice, “How may I… serve you, Flame of Cytherea.”

Shit, now he felt even guiltier. He was pretty damn sure she had just offered her body to him, what he couldn’t figure out is why. He was eighteen, so he was forced to ignore his swiftly hardening cock. So not going to happen, despite how hot she was, he already had four and a half downstairs.

“Umm, that won’t be necessary. I came to apologize for being such an ass earlier. You see, the temple’s offers of wealth don’t interest me. I’m young and have a full life ahead of me. I’m too young to not be doing something. But back to my point, I’m sorry I took that out on you, it wasn’t your fault.”

He waited for her to say something, but she just gaped at him. After a minute or so it got uncomfortable, as he waited for her to accept it or tell him to screw himself.

“So umm, I hope you accept my apology, and there is one thing you can do for me, don’t call me that anymore, just call me Justin. Oh, and dinner should be ready in a few minutes.”

She was still looking shocked so he shuffled his foot a bit and said, “Well, see you down there then.”

He muttered under his breath as he went down the stairs, “Well that was bloody awkward.”

He felt better about things after apologizing, he just hoped she accepted it, she hadn’t even said anything at all. Dinner was great, he loved Katrina’s stew. There were a couple of traders that had dropped in. They were going to push on after dinner to get to the capitol, but decided to stop for a decent meal instead of trail rations.

They told him that they would spread the word when they reached the city, they had apparently enjoyed the meal as much as he had. He thought it odd though, that Trina didn’t come down and join them.

Sara volunteered to bring a bowl up to her room; he hoped Trina would get over whatever had shocked her. He didn’t see how it could be him. He wasn’t all that mean this afternoon, just cold and standoffish. It was out of character for him perhaps, but hardly for this society.

When Sara came downstairs she said, “We are being spied on, I think.”

He asked gently, “Why do you think so?”

She said haltingly, “Lately I haven’t been using my talent as much as I used to, I haven’t needed too since I feel safe here. But I checked on the way upstairs, out of habit, and I felt two people. One is a few hundred yards to the west, the other is about half that distance to the north. The one to the north is worried. The one to the west is full of… angry anticipation. Impatience.”

Nora asked, “If they are so far, how could they be spying on us?”

Sally answered, “My range isn’t enough to reach that far in a circle, but I could certainly do it if I pushed all my magic in one direction. I don’t bother since I have no reason to, but for a spy it would work just fine.”

Nora nodded in understanding, stood, and started walking for the door.

He frowned and got up to follow, “Let’s check west first?”

They all exited the tavern and moved quickly to the west. He wasn’t happy when Nora took off like a bullet and left them chasing behind.

When they caught up Nora asked in a growl, “Where is he?”

Sara blushed. “I don’t know, his emotions just disappeared, I can’t detect him anymore.”

Sally said, “He might have been a traveler mage, I caught a big surge of magic right before we got here.”

He cleared his throat and tried not to sound annoyed, “Traveler mage?” He hated being ignorant, which happened to often on this world.

Sally said, “It is a very hard magic to learn, if a mage wants to spend four to five years studying it, they can move from one place to another in the blink of an eye. I doubt I’ll ever do it, I can learn so many other things in that span of time, plus, most that try wind up dead the first attempt.”

Teleport? Kind of cool, but not so much when it was someone spying on them. He was failing to come up with an explanation of why they would want to even spy on him or his family.

Sally said softly, “I wonder if this is my fault, Uleni has mages that can do it, and I am sure they have had word of me by now.”

He pulled her into a hug and said, “Don’t jump to conclusions, and even if that is the reason, we all have your back. Let’s check our other spy shall we?”

The moved to the north and stopped, they didn’t see anyone there.

Sara pointed and said, “Right there.”

He burst into flame and pushed out an arc of white flame, as it ran across the spot she pointed at, a nervous looking man appeared. The man’s mouth fell open and he raised his hands in a peaceful gesture.

The man asked curiously, “How did you know where I was?”

Sara replied, “Your magic hides sight, smell and sound, but not your emotions.”

The man sighed, “Damn empaths,” bowing to Nicole he continued, “Your highness, nice to see you again.”

He turned and looked at Nicole as she frowned and said, “Why did father send you to spy on me Reg?”

He started to feel amused as Reg struggled to find an answer, finally the man sighed and said, “Uleni, our spies there are picking up troop movements and preparations for war, but so far none have moved to the border. We think they plan to take advantage of our weakened state, the only reason we could think of for them to wait, is because of your… intended mate. Nothing else really makes sense.”

Reg added, “I think he is really worried about you, but mostly I’m here to keep an eye on the Flame of Cytherea, make sure he stays alive,” looking embarrassed he kept going, “Or in the worst case, that word of his death reaches the palace quickly.”

He shook his head and turned, walking back toward the tavern. No reason not to let the man haunt his forest. He thought he was done with all that, and he realized how naĂŻve that was. Even without the dark god, because of what he was, he would be pulled into other conflicts. He was both regarded as a hero, and a deadly enemy to be dealt with.

He had never really believed he was that important, and the idea a whole kingdom was putting off an invasion simply because he was alive, just didn’t make sense to him. His only consolation right now was he had already been determined to keep Sally safe from the kingdom of Uleni’s machinations. Now though, he was a target as well, and he had no idea how to process that information, or what to do…

*

Sara walked along side Justin. She was almost positive he had no idea she was there. His emotions were a roiling mix of self doubt, anger, and worry. He wasn’t the only one, she was quite a mix of emotions as well being so close to him. She felt fear, shame, and a kind of helplessness that she hated, even though she was positive he didn’t judge her, or wouldn’t threaten her.

Those weren’t the only emotions she felt. She was scared that these people who had saved her, and taken her in were in danger, and although she was positive he would never return her feelings, she was pretty sure she was more than a bit in love with him. She ached to reach out and take his hand, reassure him that her and his intended mates were there, and it would all work out somehow.

She suppressed a sigh, might as well ask her to put her hand in a fire.

“Thank you.”

At first she wasn’t sure who he was talking to, then she blushed and said, “For what?”

He said, “For staying with us, for warning us at dinner,” he shrugged, “For making the effort to walk so close to me. I must seem a mess right now.”

She wasn’t sure where it came from, but she quipped without thinking, “Don’t worry, you’re in good company for that.”

She blushed until he started laughing, it wasn’t really funny, but she found herself laughing with him…

*

Sally sighed. Intellectually she understood they would always stand together, they would always be there for their family. But emotionally she was terrified, what if someone died because of some idiot back in Uleni that couldn’t leave her in peace.

She watched the others walk back after Justin and Sara.

“Nicci, I’m going to build some warded traps out here, maybe the spy will come back.”

Katrina said, “I’ll stay here with you, I’m wary of leaving any of us alone right now.”

She sighed, she wanted to be alone. Katrina must have read it in her face because she said, “Don’t worry, you won’t see me.”

She watched as Katrina turned into a large tiger, then jumped into the trees. She could still feel Katrina’s magic, but she couldn’t see her at all. It wasn’t perfect, but Katrina was probably right about them not being alone.

She spent the next hour casting wards from three hundred yards out to the west in a semi-circle. Aware they may catch more than an enemy in this area, she set them to trap and hold. Hopefully they would be able to get out here if another spy came, before they got away.

As she came cast the wards she came to terms with it, there was nothing else to do really. She wouldn’t run or back down, and if someone came after her or her family she would destroy them without mercy.

She smiled and said, “Thanks for ignoring me, and keeping me company.”

She almost jumped when Katrina came out of nowhere and rubbed her body against her side. She smiled as she made her way back to the tavern, she wasn’t the only one that wouldn’t show mercy to their enemies.

Chapter 4

Nicole was glad she had started practicing her magic with Sally if there was to be another conflict. She hadn’t thought it would come from Uleni. She was sure they would face something eventually, even if it was just assassins from Egeria from what they accomplished there. From what she understood though, they were still in turmoil, deciding on who would be king.

She looked around at her new home, and it already felt like home even though it had only been a few days since they built it, and hoped it weathered the attacks she thought were probably coming. They would all rally and protect Justin from any attempt on his life… almost all. She forgot they had a guest. She turned and went up the stairs and knocked when she reached Trina’s room.