The Eidolon's Conquest

The Eidolon’s Conquest

The elite Eidolons were genetically engineered to have a lust for conquest, but after decades of war, peaceful trade with their enemy is now required for their survival.  Since they have the upper hand, the Eidolons demand the custodianship of particular enemy soldiers to ensure the terms of their truce will not be violated. 

High Lord Deandred now possesses Rand, a cocky stealth fighter who caused him no end of trouble during the war.  Deandred needs to satisfy his potent lust for conquest during the truce.  Conquering Rand will be just the diversion he needs.  

Surrendering to become a prisoner was never in Rand’s service contract—especially not when he’s being handed over to the super-human deviant who’s been trying to catch him for years.  Now he’s just supposed to turn himself over?  The Eidolons are known for doing things to prisoners that Rand would rather not experience.  A thrilling sci-fi BDSMerotica tale by the author of UnPrison!

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Excerpt ~

"This is an all frequencies message for the Rendono refinery saboteur."

Rand turned down the volume on his communicator from where he hung upside-down in the abandoned mine.  The voice coming through was human—not robotic.  One of the elite Eidolons was reaching out to him directly.  He felt mildly humbled.

"I'm High Lord Deandred."

Rand's eyes bulged.  Whoa, the High Lord? 

He adjusted his grip on the metal loops he'd fused into the massive mine's ceiling.  A quick glance through the night vision setting of his goggles confirmed his camouflage cloak was still perfectly sealed against the rock.  Even if the robot soldiers looked right at him, they wouldn't detect him. 

"We know you're in the derelict mining cave.  All our forces are converging there.  We will find you.  There's no chance for you to escape.  Given this fact, I would like to negotiate for your surrender."

Rand swallowed down some thick spittle.  He wanted to take a swig from his canteen, but the amount of movement that would cause might lead to his detection.  He nudged a button on his communicator with his chin.

"If you're so sure you're going to catch me, then why negotiate?"

Silence followed for a few moments.  Rand kept his ears perked for any movement in the cave.  The mine floor was fifty feet below him.

"To whom am I speaking?" Deandred said.

"Stealth Fighter Rand."  Rand said it without hesitation.  He didn't care if they knew who he was.  They'd still never catch him.

"Rand, it's my preference to take you alive.  However, since you're clearly the same saboteur who destroyed Krot-Den, Hiver-1, and the machine factory in Chalbenex..."

Rand grinned as his resume was ticked off.  What a shame Rendono's refinery couldn't be added to the list.

"...I must stop you by any means necessary.  Here's what I offer: surrender and you will not be executed, you'll be provided a comfortable cell and palatable food, and you will only suffer mild torture."

The word torture put an incredulous expression on his face.  Rand wondered if this was a sincere attempt to gain his surrender, or if High Lord Deandred was just trying to throw him off his game.  He'd already impressed Rand with an ingenious booby-trap in the garbage chute of the refinery's main building.  The fact Deandred not only knew Rand would strike their most heavily guarded refinery, but also knew how he'd planned to infiltrate it, blew Rand's mind. 

For the first time since he was drafted he'd finally found an Eidolon he considered a worthy opponent. 

He decided to humor him.

"You should have left out the torture part, High Lord."

"I respect you enough not to lie to you."  Deandred had a smooth aristocratic voice.  Rand could picture his big Eidolon silhouette sitting coolly at a com station, legs crossed and his long fingers coiled around a mic.  "Don't let the torture prevent you from making the proper decision, Rand.  I've promised you it will be mild.  Someone with your level of physical and mental stamina will have no trouble enduring."

"Torture is kind of a deal-breaker, High Lord."    

"Torture is the word your superiors use to describe our preferred method of dealing with human prisoners.  You know exactly what I'm referring to.  It will simply be that, but performed without undue cruelty or injury to you."

Rand chuckled.  Oh...so you want to fuck me.  That's not what he would call torture, but the Eidolons probably encountered straight soldiers most often.  A rendezvous with one of the big muscly Eidolons sounded appealing.  He'd been going through a daddy phase recently—well, for the last 6 years.  If it was just pretend he'd be down for some 'mild torture.'

Since he'd tripped a booby trap he was sure he'd been caught on security cameras.  Deandred had a chance to drink in his lean body.  Rand's eyes were concealed by goggles, but the rest of his face, red pouty lips, a shapely chin with a thin goatee, and a blond pile of sultry tresses on his head, must have looked good to him.    

"All right, you win.  I surrender."

"Excellent."

The two soldier robots who'd been searching below him moved too far away for Rand to hear their footfalls.  He turned off the communicator to move the hooks holding up his feet one at a time so he could crawl forward on the ceiling.  "I'm all the way in the back of the mine, down the old elevator shaft that's caved in.  I did that.  You have to dig through."

"Understood."

While Deandred answered he placed his foot where his hand had been and moved another hook forward to continue crawling upside-down.

"I'm three floors down.  I'll meet your robots in front of the elevator.  Then I'll hand over my weapons."

A sleek ship flew into the mine, destroying an old fence blocking the entrance as it did.  Rand scampered out onto the side of the cliff after the nose passed him.

"I'm extremely pleased.  I shall reward your cooperation."

Rand rock-climbed down and towards the right where the remains of a dead forest met the bottom of the cliff.  He only checked his trajectory once, and then kept his head hidden beneath his camouflaging cloak.  He moved fast, but with the rhythm of a leaf bug, bandying from side to side so that he merged into the fluctuating shadows the smog clouds caused.  The sun was finally in the right position to cover his movements. 

"Okay, High Lord.  Remember your promise to uh...you know, be gentle with me."  He clicked off his communicator to laugh.  As if he'd sign on as a sadistic eidolon's fuck-toy; he was far too skilled to actually get caught.

"Rand, I hope you're not so foolish as to be trifling with me now."

This got rid of his smile.  Damn this guy is good.

"Even if you think you've found a means to escape, your people have no chance of winning this war.  You'll be my prisoner eventually.  I have your face mapped, Rand Kalyx.  I don't forget those who've slighted me."

Deandred impressed him once again by discovering his last name so quickly.    

"I'd never trifle with you, High Lord."

His feet touched the ground, but he remained camouflaged to scan for soldier robots.  The only ones visible were in the distance, heading for the trail that led up the cliff. 

Rand bolted at an immediate sprint away from the mine.  He hugged the cliff bottom for half a mile, then ran deeper into Eidolon territory.  They'd search for him in the direction of the border once his ruse was discovered.  By going deeper into the wasp's nest he knew he could hit a ship depot.  Once it got dark he could steal a ride out of there. 

Maybe he'd plant the bomb he'd meant for Rendono-5 there while he was at it.  Since he'd already pissed off the High Lord he might as well go big.

* ** *** * *** ** * * ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** *

Two months later.  Delphi Headquarters.

Rand stood in the doorway of a giant lecture arena crammed full of new draftees.  His arms were crossed and he leaned against the doorjamb while only half listening to the aging sergeant on the central stage below.

"Delphi's advantage has always been numbers," the general with noncompliant shaggy facial hair said.  "For all their robots, machines, and mech vehicles, the Eidolons are only 500 individuals.  Probably less than that now.  You've heard of Gizmoidon, that super computer piece of shit.  Gizmoidon made all his elite super soldiers all male.  They can't breed with humans, so they can only be made, and word has it Gizmoidon is out of the resources he needs to make any more of them.  They're tough to kill, what with super strength and bodies that handle trauma better than any of our armor, but it's not impossible.  We wipe out 500 of these bastards and we win this thing.  Then blow up Gizmoidon and it's all over.  We get to turn the clock back 50 years before these fuckers started ruining everyone's lives."

A major general named Skip tapped Rand's shoulder.  Rand glanced briefly at the olive-skinned man, then looked back at the stage.

"What are you listening to this for?" Skip said.  "You know it inside and out."

"I'm waiting for him to get to the part about Gizmo-fuck programming his super-twats with a 'need for conquest'.  I want to see if he's going to mention the fact that it turned them all into perverts."

Skip's mouth screwed to one side.  "I wouldn't say perverts exactly.  Some people are into the same kinks on our side."

"That's how they learned it all.  Spankings and nipple-clamps."  He turned to Skip with a brow raised.  "You into that shit?"

"Who, me?"  Skip incriminated himself by laughing nervously.  He cleared his throat abruptly.  "Are you here for that meeting with High Command?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Brigadier Hornet sent me to sit in for him.  He's doing maneuvers on the equator islands."

"Huh."  Rand pushed himself off the door jam to start walking.  "Must be some big shit going on if they're calling in brigadiers."

Skip kept stride with him.  "There's been rumbles about a truce."

"There's always rumbles.  Shit never happens."

They went to the end of the broad corridor.  Rand opened a panel on the wall and leaned down for his eyeball to be scanned.  A capsule elevator came up from the clear cylinder in front of them and sleek metal doors slid open.  Rand and Skip entered.

"You better have clearance, you little twerp, riding on my eyeball ticket."

"Hornet called ahead for me.  I was his highest ranking subordinate on base."  He shifted his weight.  "You know, technically, I outrank you."

"No one outranks me," Rand said while staring straight ahead.  "I'm the only one in this fucked up army that gets shit done."

The elevator descended seven floors and then opened to a lighted corridor walled with steel.  Rand led the way toward forbidding doors at the end.

Another eyeball scan caused the left door to pop open.  They entered into a long conference room with a table that seated thirty.  All the chairs were full of their highest-ranking officers except for the two empty seats nearest to their rotund Master General, Sidmory Gray.  Standing behind each chair, causing Rand to hesitate in the doorway, were armed soldiers.  To the untrained eye they might have appeared to be low-ranking infantry, but Rand recognized enough faces to know they were all stealth fighters, like him.

Sidmory stood and scowled across the table at them.  "Finally."

Rand entered, followed sheepishly by Skip.

"You're late, you dumb fuck," Sidmory said to Rand.

Rand pulled out the chair kitty-corner to the General and sat.  "I was hoping to miss the boring shit."

Skip took the chair beside him.  The General's wizened eyes moved to him.

"Why the fuck couldn't your brigadier make it?"

Skip fidgeted with his hands.  "He uh...he's doing maneuvers down by the equator."

Sidmory resumed his seat.  "No shit."  He gestured to the man on the other side of him, seated across from Rand.  "And Brigadier Hern was in South Quadrant."  His hand moved toward another man.  "Jeck was up in Moors Bay.  He should have took a fucking hover jet and got his ass in here."

Skip turned up his hands and shrugged.

The General snuffled at him with a sneer.  Then he placed his entwined fingers on the table and looked out toward the rest of them.

"Fine.  I'll get right to it.  Gentlemen, we have a truce."

Rand's eyes bulged.  The gathering erupted into cheers.  Most of the men rose from their chairs to give celebratory handshakes to each other while bursting with happy expletives.

Rand used the commotion to draw a blade out of his thigh pocket.  He prepared it in his clenched fist between his ring and middle fingers.

Sidmory remained stone-faced in his seat.  "Sit the fuck down.  You haven't heard the terms yet."

Only a few smiles erased as the gathering resumed their chairs.

Sidmory opened a plain white folder.  "For the last few weeks the word from our spies has all been the same.  The Eidolons are running out of resources.  Their mines are tapped-out, their seas have gone dry due to last year's drought, there's only 500 of them and they're even running low on food.  They've been cannibalizing their own shit just to maintain the border."

"That's what our scientists said would happen for years," Brigadier Jeck said.  "They were plundering the land like there was no tomorrow, speeding up their own desertification in the process."

Sidmory flipped a page in his folder.  "Yeah, well it's finally happened.  We always say our best advantage over the Eidolons is our numbers.  It's more than that.  We hold the wet side of the world.  We've got all the planet's resources.  Now they need them.  They've gotten desperate."     

"So they have to play ball," a colonel major Rand didn't remember the name of said.  "Why the Hell can't we celebrate?"

Sidmory slammed his fist down on the papers.  "Because the Eidolons never have to play ball!  They've got the fucking bomb, remember?  They can end this war any time they want by blowing our cities to smithereens."

"Then they'd destroy all our resources...the stuff they need," Skip said, almost too quietly to be heard.

The Master General looked at him.  "They'd destroy a big chunk of what they need, but not all of it.  They'd have enough to get by until the scorched areas recovered.  That's what they were headed for.  Spies reported they were melting down mech vehicles to make warheads.  Big ones."  He closed the folder.  "When the Eidolons get desperate, we all have to get desperate.  That's just how it is.  They'll always outmatch us on weaponry."

All the smiles were gone now.

"How did this lead us to a truce?" Jeck said.

The anger lines on Sidmory's face deepened.  "Because we begged them.  We got down on our fucking knees and begged.  Don't bomb us.  Let's open up trade.  Ore is out of the question, but water, food, wood, all that shit we got plenty of and they got none of, we'll open trade with them for it.  Our trucks will haul it in to their territories.  Get them out of panic mode—their finger off the button.  Get ourselves a truce in the meantime." 

"They're not going to open the border to Delphi vehicles," Brigadier Hern said with his dark eyes opened wide.  "We'd sneak in every stealth fighter, every bomb, every spy we have!"

Sidmory lowered his eyes.  "They're asking to hold collateral for the duration of the truce to make sure we don't pull any shit like that."

Rand hid his knife clenching hand in his pocket and shot up from his seat.  "You know...I just remembered there's somewhere I need to be."

The stealth fighter behind him placed a strong hand on his shoulder.  Rand darted him a seething glare.

"Sit the fuck down, Rand," Sidmory said.

Rand shifted the glare to him.  Then he took a quick glance around to see that the rest of the stealth fighters had all fixed on him.  The hands not on their weapons were close to the pockets where their stunners were housed.

Rand fumed through his nostrils.  "Well, fuck."  He lowered back into his seat.  The stealth fighter removed the hand on him, but stayed close behind him.

Sidmory eyed him a few seconds before continuing.  "We're going to let them hold 4,986 of our men for the duration of the truce."

Gasps and groans passed through the gathering.

"We violate their trust in any way, they decide how many men they get to kill in return."

Jeck clenched his teeth.  "Fuck!"

"They've agreed to humane internment for 4,500 of our men.  No torture.  We get to approve the prisoner encampments before handing over the soldiers.  The men who volunteer to be prisoners will get traded out for new prisoners at the end of their service contract.  They'll be prisoners five years max, and then get to go home."

"You think this truce is going to last more than five years?" Hern said.

"We want this truce to last forever, to turn into a treaty."  He moved his gaze over each of them slowly.  "This war isn't sustainable for the Eidolons.  Over fifty years we've proven that.  They're never going to have enough resources to beat us with robots and machines.  Either they finally bomb us to oblivion or they sign a lasting treaty.  I'm saying it's worth going for a treaty no matter what the cost.  Even if we have to cede the balance of power to them.  If that's what it takes then let them call the shots.  The war isn't sustainable for us either.  They lose robots—hunks of metal—every time we battle.  We lose men.  Human lives.  Tens of thousands of them every year.  We are taking the gamble on lasting peace, letting them know we're willing to bow down if that's what it takes to end the war.  We're going to make peace too good for them to give up this truce.  And we're going to do it with a fucking smile, because this is what our people need.  It's got to end.  Let's end it."

Rand scratched a circle into the patina of the wooden table.  "Gee, sounds great.  I just can't help but notice—"

"You're expecting our men to volunteer to be prisoners?" Jeck said.

Sidmory looked at him.  "Yes.  That's right.  Twenty percent of funds earned in trade with the Eidolons will be put in a bonus fund for the prisoners.  We're talking about an astronomical amount.  Each prisoner will get that bonus at the end of their service contract.  They won't have to work a single day as a civilian."

"That just leaves one tiny detail," Rand said.

"I'll get swamped with volunteers from my unit alone," Jeck said.  "It won't be for the money, either.  If this is something that will end the war they'll put their asses on the line for it.  It's worth it."

"I want men from all of your units.  An equal amount from each.  I don't want any of you seeing an opportunity with the trade vehicles and making a gamble that might cost us lives.  We're playing nice.  By their rules.  We're not going to fuck this up."

"Even if we have a chance to blow up Gizmoidon?" someone else Rand didn't know the name of said. 

"We don't do shit, you understand me?  We want peace.  We are not going to violate their trust in any way.  If that changes in the future the order will come straight down from me.  For now, going forward, you bow the fuck down and do everything it takes to keep the Eidolons happy."

Rand placed his forehead in his hand.  "Aw, geez."

"Spit it out, Rand," Sidmory said without looking at him.

"4,500 soldiers get to take a vacation in a nice little prison camp.  What about the other 486?" 

"4,985 men are going to be handed over as collateral prisoners.  Every volunteer is going to be told up front that there's a ten percent chance they might be chosen to become the comfort slave of an Eidolon.  These prisoners don't get to come home after their service term is up.  They'll stay prisoners as long as a truce or treaty is in place."

Rand put his face in both his hands now and let out an exaggerated sigh of anguish.

Jeck started to talk, but Hern cut him off.  "Comfort slave?  What the Hell does that mean?"

"It means exactly what you fucking think.  It's what we're willing to do to keep the Eidolons happy.  We needed to give them a way for them get their conquest programming bullshit out of their system so they wouldn't be itching to go back to war.  It was the berry on the cake that got them to agree to the truce—the only way they'd do it."  He paused to swallow.  "Some of our men are going to end up being sacrifices.  It's just what it took to get it done.  And you're going to tell them that before you ask for volunteers.  They have a right to know."

Rand heard movement and darted to look.  The stealth fighters were slowly converging on him.  If he stabbed the one behind him in the neck, then threw Sidmory into the three in front of him, he could hop the table and—

"Rand," Sidmory said, "Put the knife away.  We talk first, understood?"

Now the knife was no longer in play—they'd probably disabled the elevator, too.  He could take Sidmory as a hostage...but...no.  They all had to have sleeper darts for him. 

He buttoned the knife back into his thigh pocket.  An icy numbness started spreading through his middle.

"That's 4,985 accounted for," Rand said.  "What about the 4,986th?"

Sidmory signaled with a tip of his chin for the other attendees to back off.  Skip quietly exited the seat next to him.  All the officers grouped by the door, the furthest distance away from him allowed by the room.  The stealth fighters now surrounded him and Sidmory.  Two climbed onto the table to block his final avenue of escape.

"You're Mister 4,986.  You're the only one they asked for by name."

Rand met his eyes.  Nothing in his voice indicated how cold his spit had gotten.  "So I get to go to a nice prison camp and relax for the rest of my contract?"

Sidmory shook his head.

Rand had to start breathing through his mouth.  His chest was shaking; his hands trembled with the dire urge to launch an attack.  He tried to draw up enough spittle to form a word. 

"Deandred?"

"He's their leader, Rand.  If you can keep his need for conquest satisfied he's not going to want to restart the war.  It's his call.  You're going to be able to influence him.  You could save hundreds of thousands of lives."

"He'll torture me until I'm half dead!"

"That's not how he wants to use you.  Don't make me force you, Rand.  You've been my best asset for three years—but think of what's at stake."

He dropped his head and shoulders onto the table while letting out another anguished sigh.  "Just fucking dart me."

He saw Sidmory nose a signal to the stealth fighter behind him.  A second later he felt a prick in his neck.  Then, blissful unconsciousness.

* ** *** * *** ** * * ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** *

"Hey."

Someone was speaking over the noise of an engine.  The sounds made Rand dream of being back at the flight school he'd lied his way into at age 15.  In the dream he was abandoning the pilot's seat to leap off the plane with a parachute.  He had a strong need to get away.  He didn't remember why.

"Come on, Rand.  Wake up."

A pungent stench assaulted his nostrils.  Rand jolted awake.  He immediately became aware of his constricted movements.  His wrists were belted to the armrests of a cabin seat.  His ankles were bound together.  Tight seatbelts made an X across his shoulders and torso.

He jerked to test the restraints again.  "Oh, fuck!  Fuck!  What's going on!"

"Calm down."

He looked in front of him while hyperventilating.  Master General Sidmory and another soldier Rand didn't know were seated side-by-side across from him.

"Everything's going to be okay," Sidmory said.  "Just take a deep breath and calm yourself down."

"What...what's going on?"

"You're on the transport to take you into Rendono to deliver you to High Lord Deandred."  

"How is that okay!"

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The Demon and the Emperor

The Demon and the Emperor

by Yamila Abraham

“I must ask you–with greatest respect, Lord Demon…”  The general looked up with eyes maddened by fury.  "Why do you drape your arm around the Divine Emperor with such intimate familiarity?“

Rodukjo stared down his nose at the general.  "Your emperor has but one thing of value to offer in exchange for my fealty.  The pleasures of his body.”
Newly crowned Emperor Dianese needs the power of the lascivious demon Rodukjo to solidify his authority.  The mighty demon asks for a dear price in exchange for his aid, one Dianese has no choice but to accept.  
The emperor expects a life of suffering at the hands of the demon, but as their partnership evolves something more profound develops.

• A FULL-LENGTH novel presented in its entirety–not a series.
• Intense erotica with elements of bdsm.
• A fantasy realm more typical of anime than fairy tales.
• The well earned HEA comes after numerous twists and turns!
• The author’s longest and most satisfying work to date.
• Fans of Yamila Abraham’s Vanquished Series will love this book!

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Exerpt~

Emperor Dianese exited his coach where the road ended in Farravie forest.  He could hear the waterfall, though it was at least a mile off, as well as the trilling of cicadas.  The forest had dense overgrowth that allowed only a few blades of sunlight to crack through.  Dianese filled his lungs with a long draw, then exhaled with a slump of his shoulders.  He hoisted a large leather satchel onto his shoulder.  His attendant, Tessai, lunged for it in protest.

"Let me carry that, Divine Emperor."

"You're not coming with me."

Tessai eyes bulged.  Though a sword cut had rendered him too lame for battle, he was still dense with muscle.  His shoulders were broad enough to easily handle the bundle.  On Dianese's delicate frame it looked as though he were an ant carrying twice his body weight.

"Divine Emperor, you shouldn't go alone.  There could be assassins."

Dianese ignored him to make his way through thickets that threatened to destroy the fine silk fabric of his robes.

Tessai stayed planted beside the coach behind him, as he would never disobey a command, yet still cried out to the young emperor.

"Divine Emperor!  Why will you not let me help you?"

Dianese turned to meet his servant's eyes.  "I must do this alone.  If I don't return in two hours time, you may come to look for me.  But if you come sooner than that, Tessai, I will demand your suicide."

Tessai's eyes bulged once again.  "My Lord..."

Dianese gave a gentle smile to ease the sting of his threat.  "I'll be fine, Tessai."  He continued on until his servant was no longer in earshot.

His silk curl-toed shoes with ivory soles had no traction on wet leaves.  Dianese had to scramble on hands and knees to get over even the shallowest gully.  His burden made it feel as though a fire had been lit between his shoulder blades.  Then he grew aware of his labored breathing, and how his sweat caused some of his feathery tresses of blue hair to stick to his forehead. 

A toppled great oak offered a tempting place for him to rest in a clearing.  Dianese didn't have to check his pocket watch to know he was already taking far too much time to reach the waterfall.  If he rested then he risked coming back after dark.  Even if he could find his way back to the road, their coach would likely fall prey to blockades on the way back to the city.  He thought it fine to pay a few unscrupulous tolls, but Tessai would rather coat himself in their blood than suffer such disgrace.  If one got the better of his attendant, then what would Dianese do?  He could never make it back to the castle without a guardian.  Even his mile-long trek with a bundle of bones was proving a greater challenge than he'd imagined.

The air became electrified with the cleansing aura a massive waterfall produced.  Dianese came around two ancient trees broader than houses, and then spied the clearing.  A roaring waterfall poured into a misty crater that led to the underworld.  The spraying water had drowned any grass growing near the hole, leaving a bare circle of sodden peat. 

Dianese ventured as near to the crater as he dared and let the bundle drop from his aching shoulders.  He dropped as well, getting muck on the shimmering silk of his green dressing gown.  For a while he could do nothing but gasp and wait for his pain to abate.  Then he settled back on his bottom to behold the glistening water as it disappeared into the abyss. 

He had to look wretched.  He'd dressed for a royal ceremony, the kind he should have been carried to in a pristine litter so that his dainty feet never touched the ground.  This was to give a good impression to the demon.  He wanted to be sure he knew the highest manner of noble was summoning him.  Lack of experience had caused him not to anticipate the rigors of his journey. 

Dianese wished to wash his face, since his powder had certainly been ruined by sweat, but he dared not get near enough to the crater to scoop some falling water into his hands.  He instead drew out a handkerchief and wiped his face clean.  This renewed his confidence.  Even without make-up he knew his face was incomparably beautiful.

He forced himself to his feet to dump out the bones: a gozz-hound's tooth, the leg bone of a giant tortoise, the lower jaw of a giant, the finger of a tangador bat, and, wrapped in cloth, the skull of a virgin queen whose eye sockets had been filled with jewels. 

Each relic brought him back to the time and place when his father had obtained them.  Two thousand brave men had died to battle the gozz-hound.  Not a one of them understood what their sacrifice was for, or why they hassled the reclusive beast who was a threat to no one.  Then the tortoise, so beautiful a creature and over 1,000 years old.  None understood why the former emperor Ryuinto had ordered that its species be made extinct.  The giant was simply a man who had grown to gargantuan proportions due to reasons of ill health.  No one claimed he was cursed, as they might have done with someone who was less well-liked.  He had a wife and a large brood of children who all relied on his income as a carnival sideshow act.  He'd committed no crime, yet was still slaughtered at the whim of Ryuinto.  The final relic had to be obtained through war, two hideous years of it.  Fanterah suffered famine and poverty at levels they'd never known before, and a generation of children would now be reared without fathers.  Their enemy had been a valued trading partner who'd never crossed them.  Emperor Ryuinto first killed the king and then his only daughter, who'd become queen at the age of 13 after her father's death.    

Dianese scattered the bones around the perimeter of a circle large enough for him to sit in.  He took his place, and then felt a cold in his middle so profound he hugged his arms close to his body to warm himself. 

Dianese's lower lip trembled.  He swallowed, closed his eyes, and whispered a soft oath.

"You must.  You must.  It's all that matters.  You must, Dianese."  

He gave a deep sigh to still his rioting nerves, then bowed as low as an envoy from a lessor country might bow to him.  His forehead rested on his hands, which rested on the earth.

"Come forth, Rodukjo."  His voice was weak even in his own ears.  He cleared his throat.  "Come forth, Rodukjo.  It is the Divine Emperor Dianese Diancanchi who summons you."  

"I'm here."

Dianese's pulse thundered in his temples.  He'd not only heard the deep voice, but now sensed an encompassing presence mere feet from him.    

He lifted his head slowly.  Seated on folded legs outside his circle of bones was a demon twice the size of his large attendant Tessai.  His flesh, mostly bare, was intricately colored in red and yellow.  Red on the rounds of his massive shoulders, and carving accents over the rippling muscles of his arms.  Yellow on his bare chest and bulging abdominal muscles, though surrounded by red on his flanks.  His face had red markings over yellow skin in an aesthetic manner.  Dianese was at once reminded of the masks used in battle hundreds of years ago.  He now beheld the demon these soldiers sought to imitate to add to their fearsomeness.  While those masks were grotesque, the source was indelibly regal.  His red and yellow face was handsomely boned with a broad masculine chin and enticing full lips.  His eyes, though pure white and without pupils, bespoke both confidence and serenity. 

Dianese felt emboldened by what he sensed in the demon's eyes.  He sat up in full to continue his examination.  Rodukjo had a long mane of thick black hair.  On the top of his scalp were six horns, two of gold in the up-curling shape of a bull's, two in silver, in the shape of a ram's, and two coming from the peaks of his hairline, short and black like onyx.  The demon's feet were bare, revealing toes tipped with sharp black claws.  His hands rested on his lap and were also accented with fearsome black claws.  He wore metal gauntlets on his forearms and similar guards on his calves.  Besides this, his only garment was a skirt of brown leather with tassels of softer leather dangling before it from a braided belt.     

"How pretty you are," Rodukjo said.

Dianese fixed his gaze back on the demon's eyes.  There was now the touch of a smile at the corners of the demon's lips. 

"I thank you," Dianese said, forcing the words past a building lump in his throat.

"Speak, Divine Emperor who has summoned me."  Dianese glimpsed the demon's sharp white teeth as he spoke.  "I'm so eager to hear what you have to say."

Dianese nodded.  "Honorable demon, unimaginable efforts were taken to procure these gifts I've laid about me."

"I have no interest in any of that garbage.  Why would your father kill the last giant tortoise in existence?"

Dianese's heart resumed its thunderous beats.

"And you bring me the skull of a virgin instead of the virgin herself?  That sickens me."

"I don't understand."  He gazed at the hard-fought treasures about him.  "My father was convinced these items had merit for you."

"The fool probably spoke to a witch who sent him on an impossible quest rather than admit her ignorance."

Dianese's stomach squeezed.  He recalled the conversation about a witch his father had consulted shortly before adopting him.

"I beg you to forgive my ignorance, honorable demon."

"Call me Rodukjo."

Dianese bowed his head in consent.  "There's more on offer than these regrettable items, Rodukjo.  We purchased twenty of the finest courtesans from nineteen brothels in seven regions."

"I most recently aided a warlord who granted me sixty courtesans."

Dianese believed the ground was spinning.  He realized it was only an illusion caused by the churning waterfall in his peripheral vision--as well as his collapsing situation.

"I could provide you with a hundred."

Rodukjo smirked.  "Ah.  But then they would not be the finest."

Dianese mouth was growing dry.  He sealed his lips and tried to draw up some spittle.

"Never mind the courtesans, sweet emperor.  Twenty, sixty, or a hundred--it matters not.  My appetites could be sated with but a single bride.  It's your kind who deems me a glutton."

Dianese's voice lowered to scarcely above a whisper.  "Forgive me for my ignorance once again."

"You're more ignorant than you know.  I desire no courtesans.  If I were to grant you aid it would be for you, Dianese.  You, personally, grant me compelling enough a reason."

"Tell me what you wish, Rodukjo."

"I have told you."

Dianese lowered his gaze.  "Then I don't understand."

"First I'll take your body."

Dianese looked back at him.

"I've been a glutton on these courtesans, as I said.  My palate can endure no more rich desserts.  I desire the finer meat of a half-fey emperor."

Dianese felt a terrifying pang within him, as though frozen metal were pressed against his tender abdomen.  "How did you know that I'm--"

"Next I'll take your authority.  You must accept me as your master.  Oh, you may continue to perform your duties as emperor.  I care little for mortal minutia.  However, you'll truly be no more than a viceroy henceforth.  My will shall supercede yours, particularly on matters of war.  When I choose to rule you shall be as my puppet and carry out my wishes over your domain."

Dianese's lips were parted.  He shook his head slowly.  "You've asked for two things I can't possibly grant you."

Rodukjo laughed softly and without malice.  "My sweet emperor, you have no choice."

Dianese kept his gaze fixed on him.  Fear had evolved into cunning, as it always did when he felt cornered.  He remained calm and listened.

"I've no need to threaten you.  You already knew the only two possible outcomes for a meeting with Rodukjo."

"You either help the summoner," Dianese said, "or kill them."

Rodukjo nodded.  "But the threat of death is not why you will come to accept my terms."

"Tell me."

"It's because...you must.  You must.  It's all that matters.  You must, Dianese."

A chill dripped down his spine at hearing his words parroted.

"You're desperate.  I'm your only hope.  You've already conceded to my wishes in your mind as you sit there.  You're inwardly celebrating that I've agreed to help you--regardless of my terms."

Dianese considered while staying fixed on the demon's white eyes. 

"I have conceded.  But I'm not celebrating."

Rodukjo smiled.  The sharp-toothed grin portended no cruelty.  The demon was merely pleased.

"Shall we go, then?" Rodukjo said.  "Your attendant grows mad with worry."

"Would you humor me a moment longer?"

"Of course.  For the rest of your mortal life, I shall."

"How did you know that it was my father who gathered your gifts?  How did you know of my desperation?  And...how did you know of my half-fey blood?"

Rodukjo laughed through his nostrils.  "Which of those three questions is the most pressing to you?"

"My blood.  How did you know?"

"I knew it was that."  He braced himself with an arm and rose to his feet.  "I'm going to fuck you and take you as my slave."

Dianese cringed both within and without.  The demon was too blunt for him to stifle it.

"Yet what troubles you most from our meeting is that I know who your mother is."

Now Dianese crumpled forward and buried his face in his hands.  "You know...as much as that?  Who was she?  I beg you to tell me."  He began to weep against his will.  His reaction repulsed him.  The demon already had control over him to cause such emotion. 

"Wipe your tears and rise, sweet emperor.  I'll answer you in your coach."

Dianese lifted his red-rimmed eyes.

"Dark approaches fast in these months after harvest.  Your domain belongs to me now, and I should like to survey it in the daylight."  He offered Dianese his clawed hand.  "I should also like to hold you on my lap as we ride.  I wish to fathom your delicate form enshrouded in your silk layers.  The look of you is like a bird, lighter than one would expect, fragile and easily crushed.  I've not held anything truly delicate in centuries."

The speech granted Dianese time to collect himself.  He wiped his tears on his sleeve and accepted Rodukjo's hand.  The strong demon lifted him with little effort.

"Before I bring you to my home...no one can know of my heritage."

Rodukjo's smile returned.  "Have no fear."

"Nor of our terms."

"We'll discuss that further."

"Nor that I shed tears just now."

Rodukjo bellowed with a laugh.  "You're troubled by such foolish things!"

Dianese scowled.  "You are not familiar with my plight."

Rodukjo pulled Dianese against him.  He closed both thick arms around him so that the small man was pressed against his body.  Dianese kept fixed on his eyes with determination.

"I am familiar."  Rodukjo moved his lips very close to Dianese's face.  "I know who your mother was.  I know who your father was before Emperor Ryuinto adopted you."

The determination drained from Dianese's face.  His lips parted.  "Then...you know everything."

"Everything you wish to hide."  He brought a large hand up to stroke the blue tresses of Dianese's hair.  "Indeed, my sweet emperor."

Dianese swallowed.  He looked back into Rodukjo's eyes.  "It's good that you know...if we're to be allies from here on.  There should be no subterfuge between us."

Rodukjo smiled with one side of his mouth.  "Yes.  Save your cunning for the rest of your court.  You can't deceive me.  I know the roots of your soul."

Dianese nodded after a moment's hesitation.  "Then you must know that I wish for you to release me now."

Rodukjo's smile grew tender.  He wove his fingers through the long strands of Dianese's hair.  "I know that very well, sweet emperor.  It's just that I don't care."  He forced their lips together.

Dianese made a nasal scream.  He bashed both clenched fists against the demon while wrenching his body to struggle free.  Rodukjo pulled back and dropped him.  The emperor tumbled to the ground.  He remained where he fell, panting while glaring up at Rodukjo.

The demon's white eyes were wide.  "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"We have an agreement."

Dianese climbed up on shaking legs.  "And this is how I intend to serve that portion of our agreement.  By resisting with every fiber of strength I can muster."  He dusted his robes with furious swipes.

"I--I can overpower you easily."

Dianese turned his back to him.  "I'm aware.  I'll still resist."

Rodukjo's voice lowered.  "We are meant to be allies, Dianese.  An ally is what you need."

Dianese crossed his arms.

Rodukjo grunted through his nostrils.  "This won't do.  And I've no wish to kill you now, despite you violating our terms." 

Dianese turned back to face him.  For several moments the demon looked him up and down.  A stitch formed between his dark brows. 

"Perhaps I could take the time to court you in some manner--and then seduce you gently.  Will you cease your resistance then?"

"What you suggest is despicable."

Rodukjo flared his sharp teeth.  "There can be no alliance between us if I have to rape you!  You must yield on this.  I don't owe you any compromise.  You're my possession now."

"I don't wish for there to be strife between us any more than you do.  I've enough strife to contend with.  But...what you seek, that was never meant to be our bargain."

Rodukjo's white eyes narrowed.  "The deal is already done."   

Dianese drew a breath and then shuddered as he exhaled.  He uncrossed his arms and bowed his head.  "I will compromise."

Rodukjo's one-sided smile returned.  He strode ahead of Dianese to lead him back to the road.  Once he'd passed, Dianese allowed his own sly smile to form.

"You needn't act like it's a death knell," Rodukjo said.  "I'm the greatest thing to ever happen to you, and you're getting almost all the benefit from our arrangement.  You should admit that this is the beginning of a magnificent partnership."

"I admit that without reservation."   

He paused at the bones before following.  So much time wasted, so many sacrifices, so many lives lost--and now it was just litter on a forest floor.  Dianese shook his head and sneered.  What a fool his father had been.

***

Tessai placed his hand on the hilt of his broadsword when the demon broke through the woods ahead of Dianese.  Rodukjo looked the large man over with a placid expression.

"Hold, Tessai."  Dianese emerged, once again winded from his journey.  He maneuvered himself between his demon and attendant.  "This is the great demon Rodukjo, Master of Ten Thousand Armies."

Tessai gasped with his mouth opened wide enough for his uvula to show.

"He has graciously joined our cause.  Grant to him as much respect and consideration as you would me."

Tessai dropped to the dirt at the demon's feet.  He bowed as low as Dianese had when first greeting him.

"Lord Demon, I am without words."

"Oh, you have words."  Rodukjo smiled down at him.  "Let me hear them."

Tessai's large form quivered.  "For...for ten years my former master sought your tributes.  He had me lead my men in so many directions...chase so many phantoms.  No sacrifice could be too great to one day summon you.  Once we had you...we would be invincible.  Now that day has come.  If only...if only Emperor Ryuinto were alive to see this."

"If it were Ryuinto who'd summoned me I would have killed him."

Tessai lifted his head.

"You were a commander of soldiers once.  How is it you're now the handmaiden of the Emperor?"

Dianese's brow rose.

Tessai's face grew marred with pain.  "During the war with Yowscot--I was wounded.  I could manage the rigors of the battlefield no longer."

"He's still a most able servant to me."  Dianese exchanged a glance with Rodukjo.  "I needed a guardian as well as an attendant."

"Of course you did, sweet emperor.  You can not even lift the sword your man carries so easily on his lame hip."

Dianese heard Tessai gulp.

"Yowscot was the land of the virgin queen, was it not?"

"Yes, Lord Demon."

"We still suffer the consequences from my father's insane quest," Dianese said.

Rodukjo looked down at Tessai.  "How would you feel to know that I desired no such thing as wretched as a young woman's skull?"

Tessai sat back on his haunches.  Tears streaked his reddened face.  "It...it was all for nothing?"

"No, there was merit in the war games, the battle training.  No simulation of war could serve your soldiers better than actually going to battle.  But your former emperor was a deranged lunatic.  He should have measured the cost of his folly and sought to win my aid by other means."

Tessai closed his eyes, allowing more tears to fall.  His voice was now hoarse with emotion.  "He had us convinced that nothing short of the ultimate sacrifice would do."

"You are not to blame for that.  Be glad that your master replaced him before I was summoned or it truly would have been for nothing.  I would never serve one so despicable as your former lord Ryuinto."

Tessai nodded slowly with fierceness in his eyes.  "Lord Dianese is the more worthy emperor."

Rodukjo fit inside the coach despite his horns cutting the satin fabric of the ceiling.  Dianese accepted Tessai's help to climb in since his limbs had scarcely any trace of strength left.  The door of the cab was closed and they were lightly jostled as Tessai climbed onto his seat outside to steer the giant stag that pulled them.

Dianese sat across from Rodukjo.  He was unsure of whether to be angry at the demon.  His expression and voice was neutral.

"Why did you discourage Tessai like that?  He nearly lost his leg and his life in the war.  When he saw you he thought he'd finally had validation for the sacrifices he'd made in order to obtain your tributes.  Now you've told him it was all a waste.  You may have destroyed him."

"Did you hear his words, sweet emperor?"

Dianese kept an unblinking stare focused on him.

"When he said, 'Lord Dianese is the more worthy emperor.'  He was telling this to himself.  It was the first time he'd come to realize that.  Tessai was only loyal to you because you were the son of his cherished Emperor Ryuinto.  Today, in that moment, he has finally shifted his devotion to you in earnest.  This is what you need from your closest attendant.  I could not proceed with him in our inner circle until he made that leap."

Dianese touched his chin in consideration.  Then he bowed his head one time to the demon.  "You are more insightful than me...something I thought impossible.  I won't question your judgment again."

Rodukjo smiled.  "Wonderful, my sweet emperor."

"But will you expose my father's folly to the rest of our soldiers?  I fear the discouragement this will cause them.  Morale will plummet--don't you agree?"

Rodukjo leaned back into the satin cushions.  "Have no fear.  There's no need to tell them.  They will become loyal to you when they see my own fealty.  When they know there's no way they can have use of my armies without Divine Emperor Dianese leading them, then they will bow to you with the greatest devotion."  He smiled gently.  "You'll still need to make amends for your father, without exposing his folly.  Let your troops discover what a fool he was slowly and for themselves.  This will be long after they've come to appreciate your rule.  They'll realize they've lost nothing, for they have a far better lord to serve."

Dianese smiled back at him.  "Your wisdom humbles me."

Rodukjo patted a spot on his lap.

Dianese lowered his eyes.  "I'll come into your arms, if that's what you truly wish, but I'm caked with filth and sweat.  You shall find me most unpleasant right now."

"The sweat was clean as it poured from your freshly bathed flesh.  The dirt was clean as it soiled your perfumed garments.  You're not unpleasant at all.  This is a chance for me to absorb the true essence of you.  I find it erotic."

Dianese's face grew paler.  Rodukjo merely smiled.

"If you do more than hold me I will scream for Tessai.  You'll be forced to kill him--and he's valuable to us."

Rodukjo reached out and took Dianese's finely boned hand.  "I wouldn't fuck you here, my sweet emperor.  Such a thing shall happen on a bed, and at that time you shall relinquish yourself to me like a dutiful bride on her wedding night."

Dianese stood in the rocking coach since he was small enough to do so.  He let Rodukjo help him onto his lap.  The demon cradled him in his large arms as though they were lovers.  Dianese's aching limbs and shoulders strained with tension.  The demon soothed his hair.

"Relax."

"This is most distasteful for me."

"Struggle past your distaste in order to please me.  Am I not entitled to that?  Breathe deeply until your muscles grow slack, then cuddle your body against me.  Amend your heart to pleasing me, even with so small an offering."

"This isn't small to me."

"But it should be, for it's merely an embrace.  It's but one step on a mile long journey."

Dianese closed his eyes and his chest swelled with a deep breath.  He exhaled slowly, allowing his shoulders to slacken as he did.  Then, with his eyes still closed, he rested his cheek against the demon's massive chest.

Rodukjo caressed his throat with one clawed finger.  "How sweet you are."

"I value you--and our partnership."

"Indeed.  And you think I'm not aware of your manipulation."

Dianese's eyes opened.

"You would take all that you can from me and give nothing in return.  You're already aware of how your charm will grant you everything you wish from me."

Dianese waited.  He did not yet feel the anxiety the discovery may have warranted.

"You think I can't seduce you--that you're entirely in control.  In truth you're just enriching my challenge.  I'm exhilarated.  I've never sparred with so worthy a partner.  Taking you without resistance shall be one of the most glorious triumphs of my existence.  Not just the first time you yield, but each time I bed you.  You're a treasure I'll savor precisely because you're nearly as cunning as I am."

Dianese thought for a moment in the silence that followed. 

"Alright.  I accept that I can't manipulate you unless you abide my manipulation.  I will speak to you as plainly as I'm capable.  I could never give my body to you without reservation because you are a monster whose endowment will tear me in two."

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