Sisters of the Mists Ch. 08

Author's Notes:

This story is erotic fantasy, set in a world of magic. I reserve the right to be listed as the author of this work wherever it is posted. If found anywhere except Literotica.com with this note attached, this story is posted without my permission.

© Darkniciad 2007

The villains in this story are truly evil, and their actions prove it. Some scenes may be disturbing for some readers.

I make use of modern weights and measures quite often in my work, because those are the weights and measures of my fantasy world. I know many fantasy readers prefer more archaic terms, and I hope those readers can overlook my use of miles, feet, and other such measures.

Please note that the form of witchcraft in my world is not meant to be true Wicca. Nor is it supposed to follow "Charmed" exactly. No offence or confusion is intended.

You should read the preceding chapters of this story in order to know the characters and what is going on. You will find that reading Book I of this story, Danica, will give you a lot of insight into the characters and the continuing storyline.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Danica's legs were still weak from her early morning climaxes when she walked out of her room in Boldheart Castle. Looking down the hall, she saw Andrea emerge from another door. The barely dressed Duchess of Cratel kissed the blonde witch one last time in the doorway, turning to wink at Danica when she saw her down the hall before stepping back into the room.

"Good morning," Danica chuckled as Andrea gingerly walked toward her.

"Morning," Andrea responded in languid tones, and then squinted as she winced.

"You're walking a little funny," Danica teased walking toward her friend. Her statement was a little ironic, because she stumbled on her wobbly knees only a moment later.

"So are you," Andrea said and laughed.

"You could ask for healing, you know," Danica suggested, nodding her head toward Andrea's mound.

"It just feels selfish. I'll feel better in just a little while anyway," Andrea responded with a shrug.

Danica smiled and said, "I suppose you're right. We should get back to help with breakfast. I really need to get started on the toys for the girls, since they're doing everything we ask them in return. I want to go try out my gift before I go to work in my lab, though."

"Do you want to go say goodbye to Devan?"

"She could sense that I would be occupied from the moment Nicholas walked into the room. We said our goodbyes before I went to my room last night. Ready to go then?" Danica held out her hand to Andrea.

Andrea nodded and clasped Danica's hand. A few moments later, they flew back home on the wings of magic.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Heather's honey blonde hair flashed in the morning sunlight as she whipped her head around, having heard a familiar sound. Walking quickly toward the ceramic bowl across the room, a wide smile spread across her lips when she saw the folded paper lying in the bowl. She cherished every letter from Danica, a reminder of the time they'd shared together. She picked it up quickly and opened it.

Unlike most of Danica's letters, this one was short. A wide smile spread across her lips as she read the letter.

Send me a note back when you get this and both of you are home. Then, meet me in Grant's workshop. I'll open the portal there.

Love, Danica

Heather let out a squeal of delight, overjoyed that Danica was coming to visit for the first time since she'd spirited the couple away to their new home.

"What was that all about," Grant chuckled from the counter of the shop adjoining their home in the front.

"Close the door, turn the sign, and come in here," Heather called back.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Heather laughed. "Just close up the shop, sweetie. Trust me."

"I'll be there in a minute, Heather."

"Hurry up!" She playfully scolded, quickly writing a return note to Danica on the same piece of paper as her friend's correspondence.

"What is it, Heather?" Grant asked when he walked into the house from the now closed shop. She didn't answer, but instead showed him the note. When a smile spread across his face, she folded the note and walked over to the ceramic bowl to send it back to Danica by touching one of the runes decorating the magical device.

The couple then hurried down to Grant's shop to await Danica's arrival.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Even though she couldn't physically hear the chime, Danica felt the magic vibrating through her. She paused in her work kneading out the clay on the table in front of her to say, "That was quick."

Andrea looked up from where she sat opposite Danica kneading a lump of clay as well and asked, "Heather already sent a note back?"

Danica nodded and stood up from her chair. Andrea let out a little giggle and stood as well. "Don't get too excited yet," Danica cautioned, "They may just be letting us know that they can't meet us until later." She then cast a spell over the table to ensure that the clay would not dry out in their absence.

When Danica opened the note, she smiled at Andrea. Andrea laughed and made an impatient gesture, urging Danica to cast her spell. A few words and gestures later, they stepped into the Hellgate portal.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

C'seka felt the familiar tingle and drooled in response. He immediately shimmered into the opening Hellgate portal, suppressing a hiss when he saw not only the powerful presence he'd felt for so long, but another female as well. Reaching into the women's minds, he changed his form and stepped from the undergrowth.

Danica turned with a scowl when she saw him approaching out of the corner of her eye. "I guess you all need a reminder every once in a while," she said ominously, and clenched her fist.

C'seka heard the cries of pain from the native demons of the pocket dimension, and certainly felt the touch of Danica's controlling power as well. He cowered, but still sent his charming energy flowing toward the two women.

"Get out of my sight. I told all of you that I don't want to see a hair on your heads unless I call for you," Danica warned, clenching her fist tighter. The demons of the realm screamed louder, thrashing sounds emerging from the undergrowth where the demons writhed in pain.

C'seka dropped to his knees, but hunger for this fascinating woman overpowered his pain, allowing him to remain and keep his body in the shape of Nicholas. Fighting against her control, he maintained the pressure of his charming power.

Danica let out an irritated growl and a gleaming silver sword appeared in her clenched fist. C'seka's eyes widened when she manifested the Soul Blade and he backed away on instinct, shifting painfully back into his natural form.

Danica took a single step toward C'seka, and the demon wisely dived into the undergrowth, immediately returning to Nightmare Castle, still in pain -- and still hungering for the powerful woman in the portal.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

"There -- persistent little imp," Danica said and punctuated it with a satisfied snort. The Soul Blade vanished from her hand, and she turned her attention back to the portal, attuning its focus to Grant's workshop.

"There they are," Andrea said happily when the image of Grant and Heather standing in front of Grant's glass blowing equipment appeared within the portal.

Danica concentrated and opened the portal to the couple's home. Grant and Heather both smiled, immediately walking toward the portal when Danica beckoned.

Andrea wrapped Heather in her arms as soon as the woman stepped across the threshold of the portal, moving to hug Grant immediately afterward. "It's so good to see you both," Andrea greeted them after she released Grant from her arms.

"The same goes for us," Heather agreed. "You didn't mention that you'd be bringing Andrea with you, Danica."

"I wanted to surprise you," Danica revealed, taking her turn hugging the blonde. "Is everything going well?" Reaching down and rubbing her hand over Heather's distended tummy, she laughed and amended her question to "Is everything else going well?"

"We're making more money a day than we saw in our entire lives. Its all Heather can do to keep up, and that is after we doubled the prices for her etched bottles to cut down on the workload. I can barely keep up with the requests for colored bottles," Grant answered, opening his arms for Danica when she walked over to him.

"How would you like to see where we live now?" Danica asked the couple.

"We're going to take them back to the valley?" Andrea asked, her tone revealing that she liked the idea -- a lot.

Danica explained, "I originally planned to try this here in the portal, but I can feel that it won't work here. I guess the Hellgate is just too opposed to the magic of the valley."

"We'd love to see it, but we probably shouldn't stay long. We have a lot of work to do," Heather responded.

"I have a lot to do too," Danica agreed. "I moved the two of you here to hide you, and now I think I have a way to do an even better job of it. I'll give it a try, and we can visit for a few minutes before we all have to put our noses back to the grindstone."

"That sounds fine to me. I'm not overly enamored of the job we're working on right now anyway," Grant said and let out a quiet snort.

"Why's that?" Danica asked.

"There's just something about them," Heather explained. "They're new in town, and they just aren't fitting in. Something about them makes my skin crawl, and our neighbors are saying the same thing."

"Can you picture them in your mind?" Danica asked.

"I suppose," Grant answered.

Danica closed her eyes and concentrated, saying, "Just think about when you've seen them, whatever you remember." Only a moment after she finished speaking, Danica could sense the images forming in both Heather and Grant's minds.

Opening her eyes again, Danica said, "I see what you mean. There's something not right about them at all. I wouldn't doubt that they're aligned with Zoraster somehow. Did they seem like they were interested in you in any way?"

Grant shook his head. "Quite the opposite. They seemed irritated that they had to deal with us. I actually told them that they could take their business elsewhere if they liked. Of course, there isn't another glass blower for miles, but that's not my problem."

Danica sighed in relief. "They must be there for your wares instead of you, then. That gives me another idea, but I'll explain it in the valley." She then turned her attention to the portal, shifting the focus back to the manor.

As soon as she stepped out of the Hellgate, outside the front door of the manor, Danica could feel a connection to her hidden gift again. "First things first, let's give this a try. I don't know what you're going to see or feel, but just trust me that this isn't going to hurt you in any way."

"We trust you, Danica," Heather said with a smile.

Danica allowed the connection she felt to open wide, and a wispy cloud formed over the heads of Grant and Heather. Knowing instinctively what to do, Danica directed the mists to rain down upon the couple.

"It doesn't feel cold or wet at all," Grant remarked as the fog-like tendrils swirled around him and his wife. The mists glowed with a faint blue light as they drifted around the couple, before finally sinking into the ground at their feet.

"Well, that's supposed to help protect you from people who would seek to do you harm. I can't say how, but I've seen the others use their special gifts, so I know that they do work," Danica explained.

Heather rubbed her hand over her tummy and smiled. "Do you think it protects the baby too? I get the strangest feeling that he feels happy... Warm... Safe."

"He?" Grant asked.

"Did I say that?" Heather asked, looking at her husband. When he nodded, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know, I guess it just feels right. I'm probably just imagining things. I couldn't know."

"The mists did look like they were around Heather's tummy a lot," Andrea interjected.

"Probably, because I was thinking about the baby too," Danica answered Heather's question. "Let's go to the lab. I want to work out something with you, Heather. I think I can keep track of your disquieting customers and see what they're up to. Even if they aren't after you specifically, they're probably up to no good. It shouldn't take too long. Then we can just visit for a while, until you need to get back to your work."

"I can't wait to see how this looks on the inside," Heather responded with a smile.

Danica opened the door and gestured for the couple to enter.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

"Ouch," Bear exclaimed in sympathetic pain for the man falling to the ground several feet from his original perch atop a well worn stump. "Do they have a healer nearby? I think that man might need one." He shrugged his massive shoulders and shivered to further illustrate his point.

Janelle pointed to a robed figure already moving toward the downed man. "They keep one on hand any time Mache is training. I don't like that man. He picks up new weapons like he was born with one in his hand. He's as strong as an ox and as witty as a jester, but he just seems..."

"Odd?" Bear suggested.

"Dangerous," Janelle corrected her husband.

"His trainers will temper him, teach him to focus his dangerous side."

Turning away from the window, Janelle softly said, "I'm not so sure."

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

With a grunt and a groan, Eris released his seed into the sobbing woman's depths, jerking his manhood free from her only moments later. Tied to a chair a few feet away, her husband could only watch in horror.

Bending down, Eris pulled up his dark trousers, retrieving a dagger from a hidden sheathe within them as soon as he cinched the waist. Turning to the blindfolded and gagged woman leaking his semen from her abused sex, Eris rapped her sharply on the back of the head with the hilt of the weapon, knocking her unconscious.

Casting his gaze toward the bound man at the foot of the bed, Eris said, "I found that pleasurable. Though a requested portion of my service, I consider it a part of my payment as well."

Flipping the dagger up into the air, he caught it by the handle and took the few steps to reach the weakly struggling man in the chair. "Too bad there's not time for more entertainment." Pushing both man and chair out away from the bed with ease, Eris leaned down and said, "You are to know who paid my price. Ligget sends his greetings."

With that, Eris thrust the dagger into the man's abdomen and pulled the blade through the flesh, opening a wound that allowed the merchant's entrails to boil outward. "You'll have plenty of time to think about it. Belly wounds are slow killers." He then chuckled and wiped his blade on the man's shirt sleeve before sheathing the weapon and turning to leave.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Ebonar banished the image in the mirror with a wide smile, especially pleased with Eris' performance. All five of Meckataur's spawn acclimated well, steadily gaining the knowledge they needed to blend in to their particular element of society. Once submerged within the populace, the demon spawn would steadily gain power, becoming the perfect generals for Meckataur's hordes -- and the perfect pawns for Zoraster's designs.

Thanatos had already proven his worth within the complex, taking on numerous tasks that he performed with skill and wit. Already he outstripped several of Zoraster's most trusted associates.

Ebonar smiled when a brush of his wards let him know that the demon spawn had arrived at the door of the inner sanctum. Waving a hand, he allowed Thanatos into his inner sanctum. "Welcome, Thanatos."

"You require my services?" Thanatos asked with a slight nod of his head.

"Indeed. I believe you will find this task both enlightening and enriching without any additional compensation."

A rare, wide smile spread across Thanatos' face, hidden deep beneath his hood.

"I have in my service one who has proven duplicitous, and I believe you are perfectly suited to remedy that situation in an appropriate manner. She struck a deal with a newly transcended Devil in exchange for power, which in itself is of no concern to me. However, she has used that power not to further her own usefulness to me, but rather to break a significant bond encouraging her service to me."

"This one has power?" Thanatos asked, with obvious hunger in his tone.

"Invisibility and shapeshifting," Ebonar answered.

"The Devil she serves?"

"Tanarax."

A low, amused growl rumbled from Thanatos' throat upon hearing the name.

"I see that your sire has informed you of Tanarax's defection from his host. I'm sure he would be quite pleased to see Tanarax vexxed, or even destroyed."

"Where can I find this witch?"

"That is simplicity. Having no ability to teleport, she has been unable to escape the cell in which I imprisoned her. I wish any information you may obtain from her, and for her to know the folly of her betrayal before she dies to increase your power."

"Your gain?" Thanatos suspiciously asked.

"You learn quickly," Ebonar responded with a smile. "In addition to her proper punishment, I seek to goad he whom she serves. In doing so, I seek to eliminate the threat he presents to my designs, and perhaps turn his power to my advantage."

"Where is the cell?"

"I will have you shown there immediately." Snapping his fingers, Ebonar summoned Camilla to lead the demon spawn to the woman. As soon as the pair left, he immediately activated a mirror.

"The rune wizards have completed their work, Master," Ebonar said with a bow of his head when the image of Zoraster appeared within the mirror.

A wide smile spread across the Archmage's face. "Excellent. Send them along at once."

"Of course, Master."

"Make contact with whatever wretched creature passes as the king of the goblins. I have plans to slow the preparations of Egoria and Freeland for my tide of war. I will inform you how to proceed when you have located the creature and have agents and magic in place to watch it."

"Normandal?" Ebonar guessed.

"Exactly," Zoraster said, and punctuated it with a long, wicked laugh.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Danica let out a satisfied sigh and said, "There -- all done. It's a little crude, but it will work. You're sure that design won't be too difficult, Heather?"

"No, not at all," Heather replied.

"Good. Just touch this wand to the etching when you finish it, and then put it back in the holder. There will be nothing magical about the bottles, but I'll be able to locate anything you etch with that pattern that this wand touches. I should be able to track down anyone with one of these bottles, and there's no way they can trace it."

"As much as I hate to say it, we should probably get back," Heather said and sighed.

"Hopefully we'll be able to visit longer soon," Andrea piped up.

"I hope so too," Heather responded with a coy smile.

Danica let out a little purr and said, "If you keep smiling like that, you're not going back to work -- at least for an hour or two."

The four laughed, and then Danica cast her spell, returning the couple to their home. Stepping back out of the portal in the manor once more, Danica said, "We should get back to work too, Andrea."

Andrea nodded, and followed her friend back to the lab, where their clay awaited them. A sound like a small explosion and a great puff of crimson smoke startled them both when they stepped into the lab.

"What in the world was that?" Danica laughed, seeing Celes and Ashley fanning their hands at the smoke, trying to keep it out of their faces.

"I scooped up some of the demon goo from those demons we destroyed. If this worked, then I should have some charms that can find demons with the same master as those we destroyed," Ashley explained. "Maybe we can wring some information out of one of the demons about that dimensional breach."