Pleiades Over the Shepherd

Fantasia for Pains and Healing

Pierce lay on the bed with one arm wrapped around Mono, drawing slow circles on her shoulder, comfortably naked and delightfully intertwined. He had woken from napping in each other's arms and the questions in his mind were shifting from what it would finally take to keep her sparks from fading to whether she would want something to eat when she woke up.

Through their window, a ripple of magic shot across the sky and into their room.

Familiar magic. No surprise at all that it resolved into layers of vast, thin gears that began to churn the walls into shreds. He rolled across Mono, scooping his arms around her shoulders and waist, then touched the floor just long enough to spring away to the washroom doorway.

The translucent, blue gears separated from one another, expanding upward and down to shred the roof and floor, then continue down through the rest of the tavern. Wood splintered and shrieked as it was torn apart. Farther down came the screams of people.

"Pierce!" gasped Mono, staring past his shoulder at the destruction. 

The bedroom floor sagged to the side and their bed slid sideways and tipped over the edge, then crashed somewhere below.

He pulled her into the washroom. "It's Lillia. The woman who brought you here. Will you help me fight her?"

"Well, yes, but...." She glanced at his bare chest.

He pointed to her bodysuit. "Find Freesia. I'll distract them so you can hit hard." He waited for her nod of agreement, then took his sword from the beside the inside door and went to where the floor still stood firm.

The entire corner of the tavern was ripped open. In the east, the first glimmer of dawn warmed the horizon. The last dissonance of Lillia's magic faded down the road to the west. Some of his clothes hung from the splintered wooden planks and beams. On the next floor down, a tablecloth of dark plaid lay beneath a shattered window.

He leapt down to that floor, caught the corner of the cloth, and snapped it to fling away any stray shards. Then he wrapped and folded it tight around his hips. The barbarians from the north wore hardly more than this, so it would suffice. Then he dropped down to the ground level.

Several people lay partially buried under the debris, while a few more stood against the remaining walls and gaped. Freesia wasn't visible.

Projecting his voice with magical tones, he said, "This place is no longer safe. Go and find shelter." Then he walked out onto the dusty road that ran beside the tavern, heading west. 

* * *

Mono watched as he strode into the dwindling night, quickly pulling on her body suit, chaps, boots, jacket, and gloves. As she slipped through door to the hallway, her katanas swung upright and alert, drifting just behind. Dropping down from one landing to another of the stairs, she reached the ground in seconds and surveyed the mess with a hunter's eye. There wasn't enough skin showing in the rubble for Freesia and her assistants to be in the main room. 

A side door opened an inch, but a thick beam blocked it.

"Get back," she said to the other men moving toward the door. Grabbing a katana, she hurled herself at the beam and sliced through. Then she dropped the blade and shoved debris aside before hauling the door most of the way open. 

A tall man wearing only pants recoiled in surprise, then explained, "She said to find out what happened."

Mono shouldered past him, walking into a small storage room that was filled with naked bodies and thick with the musk of sex. 

Lounging across several unconscious bodies, Freesia lay on her back, as nude as the others, lazily stirring the handle of her whip against her pussy. "I ought to be simply furious with you, darling, but---"