Unveiling the Sorceress

She bit her lips together, unable to reply, watching his strong, naked body unsheathed in the candlelight. His body was beautiful, taut and sinuous, expressing the same elegant perfection as his features. His shoulders were more powerful than she had imagined, the muscle of his chest beautifully carved. Her gaze followed the line of dark hair from his chest down to his belly, where his phallus bowed, potent and erect, ready for her.

"Somehow,” he whispered, as he eased the head of his shaft inside her willing flesh, “I feel this has to be done.” A look of significance passed briefly over his face, and then was gone. He drove his length inside her, his eyelids lowering, his mouth opening in a grunt of pleasure as he wedged against her very core.

When the sudden heat and fullness captured her senses fully, her ability to respond properly was gone. She met his gaze. Time seemed to stop.

"Amshazar..."

As she said his name his mouth closed over hers, his tongue teasing against hers, presenting a curiously gentle counterpoint to the vibrant thrust of his body elsewhere.

His hands moved over her flank, moving the flesh of her buttocks in his hands. He reached under her as her body raised, his hands caressing her. His every touch and precise measured movement caused in her the utmost inability to resist total abandon. Her knees lifted, her feet moving on the rugs and cushions, her hips grinding up against his. Her hands moved over his shoulders and upper arms, reveling in the power as he lifted up and thrust inside her.

Her climax was blistering on the horizon. The sensation of his shaft bowed there, moving against her most sensitive and secret places, built waves of pleasure inside her. Her breath came quicker with each stroke. Her body was bowed back against his, arched in suspense. She couldn't hold back her moan of ecstasy. “Yes, oh yes,” she whispered.

"Tell me,” he whispered, rising up onto his arms, his chest powerfully strong as he flexed, thrusting deep and slow, and intensity blazing from his eyes. “I want to hear you say that you will trust me in this battle with Karseedia."

The way his words were breathed between his gritted teeth in between thrusts pushed her over the edge. Her body flexed and reached. She tried to speak, but words could not form, for she was about to climax. She opened her mouth wide and rode the feeling. A wild cry, a dense, muted scream rose up in her.

He clasped his hand quickly over her mouth, and contained her release within their hearing. As the heat flamed out and spread through her, it melted her flesh on his. Grappling for his fingers, she moved his hand. His eyes locked with hers, his gaze compelling her to spe

ak, concern in his expression. Her heart soared when she saw the look in his eyes. Dizzy with pleasure she reached up and kissed his mouth, laughing softly against it. “I will trust you,” she whispered.

Then and only then did he groan, riding her deep, hunting for his release inside her. The thrust of him, so deep within, fast led her back to her own peak. She gasped when her entire nether region flamed and sparkled, sensation soaring inside her. “Dear gods,” she exclaimed, her inner flesh clutching and holding his rigid phallus as she released a second time.

She saw his eyes narrow, his head drop back, felt him shift and withdraw, and then his seed spurted against her belly. The sense of loss she felt was sudden and acute, until a moment later he clutched her close against him, whispering to her, slowly kissing her down to the ground, his hair closing in around them.

She reveled in his touch, craving more of him, craving his body alongside hers. The sensual heat in her body ebbed, slowly, but her nerve endings still hummed with the aftermath of his lovemaking. She moved her thighs, embracing the liquid heat inside her, then captured his face between her hands. “Who are you, Amshazar? I answered your question, but you never answered mine."

He lifted his head to look down at her, and opened his lips to reply, but before he had a chance to say anything, the sound of a woman's scream reached them. Snaking through the low hum of life in the camp, it pierced the air between them.

"What was that?” She reached out to touch his shoulder, questioningly.

His eyes grew dark, his mouth tense. “Alas, I fear the battle begins earlier than I had expected."

She was stricken by a sense of dread. A distant gannet cry echoed the earlier sound. A shiver raced up her spine. Torn between the need to stay with him, and that of returning to her people, she moved reluctantly, reaching for her robe.

He gripped her arm as she tried to take her leave. “Tread carefully, Elishiba. Do not let the enemy see what is in your heart and mind. Your newfound skill is with you now and it will grow. You will know when to use it, but guard it well."

Chapter Seven

At the sound of the scream,Kerr leapt to his feet, staggering back from the place where he had been warming himself by the fireside. The dreadful sound had come from within Elishiba's tent. His immediate thought was of his mistress, and then he remembered she had gone out for a walk some time earlier.

She might have returned.

He glanced across the blazing fire to where Elra had been chatting with the warrior known as Xerxes. Elra now had one hand over her mouth, the other on her chest. Her eyes held a stricken look. She stared over at the entrance to the tent, where a sentry had his sword unsheathed and was entering the tent, closely followed by another of the Aleemite guards. The sound had definitely come from in there. Both Elra and Xerxes started to move toward the spot.

"No.” Xerxes arrested Elra with a hand on the shoulder. “Please wait here. There may be danger."

She pulled free of his grasp, stumbling as she ran toward the tent flap.

Kerr followed them. He felt a sharp jerk on the back of his tunic.

"Wait up, young man.” It was Yoshi, and she had a flagon of wine clasped in her free arm. If she was outside the tent, who was left inside?

Kerr fought back the feeling of dread that came over him as he took the flagon from her. Elra had gone inside and a garbled wail came from the tent. What had she seen? He and Yoshi exchanged glances, and then hurried on. He lifted the flap covering the entrance to the tent, and Yoshi darted in. Glancing past her, Kerr saw figures gathered around a dark shape on the floor. His heart skipped a beat. A cry of dismay escaped Yoshi's lips, and she pushed away the sentry as he tried to block her path.

The sight of Amra's contorted body transfixed Kerr. He set the flagon of wine on the ground, barely noticing as it sloshed up over his sandaled feet. He had once before seen a corpse, and he knew that was what he was seeing now, but he had never seen anything so strange and disturbing before. Her eyes were open and rolled back in her head. She had a painful grimace fixed on her face. Both hands were clawed at her neck, her tongue lolled at one side of her mouth. Her normally warm, healthy skin was tinged blue, her body bowed up at the torso. It was as if she had choked, or been choked.

Bile rose in his throat at the sight.