Disclaimers: All characters are owned by me, copyright 2013, girl/girl romance, you have been warned.
Fortunatus Light of Dark
by AJ Marks
Chapter 3
Tess looked over to the window, seeing the glow of the morning sun entering the room. She glanced down at the top of Ami’s blonde head, the girl appeared fast asleep. A slight smile came to her lips as she recalled the previous evening’s activities. The girl had been submissive but also as responsive as Tess expected her to be. Tess went for simple sex, not bondage or toys, which Tess knew they would use later on. Last night had been all about learning Ami’s body, which had been very sensitive despite her obvious inexperience.
Tess ran a hand through the silky long blonde hair recalling last night’s activities, and the cute squeaks and moans that came from the girl. Tess sighed, looking back at the window realizing that she had to get up soon. If she did not, Lycos might start knocking on the door trying to get her up and back on schedule. She had gotten mad at him more than once and to his credit, he feared her, yet knew as long as he did his job, she would overlook such trivial things. Tess had no desire to train another person to put up with her like he did.
Tess slowly extracted herself from Ami, who did not wake up, much to Tess’ surprise. She glanced down at Ami’s face, giving the cheek a slight caress watching as the girl leaned into it. Tess had a feeling that she could grow attached the blonde. She wondered what the girl really thought, and decided to make that part of the training as well. Tess admitted something about the girl attracted her.
With a last look Tess walked over to the dresser, put on a red outfit, before checked her hair in the mirror. A few brushes with a comb and she deciding she looked presentable, headed out to the main room of her chamber where Becca and Carrie waited for her. She closed the door, watching as both looked at her then at the clock.
“Ha! I win,” Carrie stated as Becca frowned.
“What time did you guess?” Tess asked, knowing their game of guessing when she would get up, especially after they knew certain activities took place.
“I said eight, she said nine,” Carrie said pointing over at Becca ass Tess looked over at the clock which read eleven past eight.
“Yeah, yeah, now you have any news?” Tess asked, dismissing the game and getting to a bit of business before the day really started.
“We did the sweep,” Carrie stated. “I’m sorry to say that the mages did not find anything.”
“And it’s a safe bet to think that he knows we’re looking for him now,” Becca said.
Tess sighed at the news. She had hoped for something else, something she might have been able to use to plan some sort of strategy around. The scan failed and now Gregory knew she was looking. She glanced over at the two of them, who had the same look she figured she had.
“I have to go with the assumption he knows, so either he was not there or,” she trailed off knowing the implementations of the second thought.
“He has more than a few trained mages who can hide their presence,” Carrie said, completing Tess thought.
“Yeah,” Tess said, not liking that option.
“I say we assume the second part and he has trained mages. That makes him even more dangerous,” Becca said.
Tess nodded in agreement. She understood, and could not afford to assume that Gregory did not have some highly trained mages around him, despite his dislike of magic.
“He might have split his forces,” Carrie said suddenly causing Tess to look over at her. “A small force is harder for a sweep to find and would require less magical power.”
Tess thought about that when the door opened allowing the twins, Kari and Kira, to enter the room.
“Empress, we’re sorry,” Kari said, seeing the three of them in the room.
“We saw Lycos running around,” Kira said.
“As normal and assumed you were in a meeting.”
“So we came to check on.”
“Your new slave.”
Tess waved them inside. “Go ahead, she’s probably still asleep, we stayed up quite late,” Tess said, with a smile, as the two quickly walked past her and into the next room, being their normal quiet selves.
“So, how long will this one last,” Becca asked, leaning against the table.
“This one, as long as she wants and obeys,” Tess said, giving the question serious though. She honestly had no desire to get rid of Ami any time soon. “Besides, I have plans for this one.”
“Too much information there,” Carrie stated, causing Tess to laugh at that.
“Any reports from the Shadowlands about strange attacks or some sort of Zero-Mage machine?” Tess asked hoping to have some new information.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Becca said. “I’ll check on that though.”
“Good,” Tess said as the door opened again and Lycos walked into the room.
“Ah, Empress, good, good, you’re awake and dressed,” Lycos said.
“Yeah,” Tess replied, not sure she liked where this conversation would be going.
“You have a meeting in twenty minutes with the nobles,” he said.
Tess groaned at that. “All right, I’ll be there, let me grab something to eat and I’ll be right there.”
“Good, I’ll let them know to expect you then,” Lycos replied heading back out of the room.
“The life of the ruler, glad it you and not me,” Carrie said.
“I can arrange it,” Tess stated, seeing Carrie’s eyes go wide at that.
“Um, no, I’m fine, I’ll go and check with my mages and pass along to look for smaller groups,” Carrie said, quickly leaving the room.
Tess sat down at the table and began eating knowing she probably had a long day ahead. The only real bright side to the day, would be tonight. At that thought, a slight smile came to her lips and she hoped the day would go by quickly.
*****
Ami slowly woke, feeling the soft sheets against her skin, while lying in a soft bed. She felt cozy, warm and comfortable, with no desire to move. Her mind finally caught up with her, and where she now lay. That thought caused her to bolt upright in the bed, knowing that she was in the Empress’ bed. She figured she slept the night in bed, and looked around the room frantically for the Empress, hoping she had not done something wrong.
Ami glanced around the room catching sight of two startled figures. Both were a bit taller than she was and with brown hair and looked alike. Ami noticed they were looking at her and looked down seeing that her quick movement had bared her upper chest. Ami blushed and quickly pulled the sheets up covering herself back up.
“Scare us to death.”
“Why don’t you.” The twins said.
Ami looked between the two, unable to tell them apart, as she recalled them from yesterday, Kari and Kira. Looking closer at the two she realized they were mirror twins, one parting her hair on the left the other the right but could not remember which was which. Ami glanced around a bit further but saw no sign of the Empress.
“We were wondering.”
“How long you’d sleep,’ they said, with a smile that indicated they knew what had gone on last night. The thought of someone else knowing caused Ami to blush again. Ami recalled last night, and how Tess had touched her in ways she never knew existed. Her skin still tingled in some areas, realizing no story she had read came close to what she experienced.
“Nice blush,” one twin said laughing slightly. Ami looked down wishing the blush away, then shyly back up at them. They took a moment to look at each other, before one left the room. Ami frowned, confused at the silent conversation but waited to see what might happen next.
“You must be hungry,” the remaining twin said, waking over to a tray and uncovering a plate of food, moving it over the nightstand where she could reach it. Ami looked at the food with more interest than she had last night. She noticed a roll, some sort of fruit and an orange drink.
“Um, thanks,” Ami said, for a lack of anything better to say which surprised the twin. “Is there anything I can wear?” Ami asked not wanting to let go of the sheet and flash the girl.
“Oh, sure, I’ll be right back,” the twin said, walking out of the room and coming right back in holding a shirt. “Will this do?”
“Yes, thank you,” Ami replied, putting the shirt on, and feeling better about sitting up in bed. She understood she was the Empress’ pleasure slave but Tess had said nothing about remaining nude all the time.
“You surprise me, considering we’ve already seen you nude,” the twin said.
“I know, I-I guess I’m shy,” Ami replied, taking a bit of the roll, which tasted like a cinnamon roll without the icing. She took a swallow of the drink as the twin went about cleaning. The drink reminded her almost of orange juice with a hint of lemon in it. “So which one are you?” Ami asked the girl.
“Kira,” she replied, back still working.
“Kira and Kari, guess your parents had a sense of humor,” Ami said, finishing off the roll before looking at the fruit, or at least she assumed it was fruit.
“I don’t understand,” Kira stated confused, turning to look at Ami.
“Huh? Oh just something from where I come from I guess. Do you peel this or what?” Ami asked, still looking at the fruit in her hand.
“You’ve never had a liange before?” Kira asked, her tone shocked at the idea. “Here,” she said walking over and taking a knife quickly cut the fruit. “You want to take a bit of both the peel and pulp to get the full rush of flavor.”
“Um, okay,” Ami replied, unsure about it but took a bite. She felt surprised when the peel actually felt soft instead of tough like she expected. The flavor hit her taste buds in a rush giving her a rush of orange followed by a hint of lemon. She decided it tasted good, and finished it off in silence before washing it down with the rest of the juice. She glanced up as Kari came back into the room.
“Your bath is ready,” she said to her.
Ami blinked, before nodding that a bath actually sounded good right now. Kira took the tray away allowing Ami to get out of bed. She stood as blinking slightly when the world went grey on her. She wondered in confusion if something had gone wrong or she had been hit by some strange spell.
“The hour is at hand.”
Ami looked over to the fireplace seeing a grey robed figure, a hood masking any facial features causing Ami to freeze unsure about saying anything, or trying to run away when it spoke again.
“Humanity’s greatest hope for survival arrives, as the darkness awakens from its slumber so too a light begins to shine.”
Ami opened her mouth to respond when the grey world disappeared and color returned. She looked over to see Kira and Kari standing there looking very strangely at her.
“Are you okay?” they asked in unison.
“Yeah,” Ami replied, deciding to keep what happened to herself. She had a feeling that seeing things would not be taken very well. She looked over to see the twins still concerned. “I guess I’ve been in bed too long,” she finally said, giving them a bright smile.
The twins still looked skeptical, but said nothing leading her out of the room and towards the bathing room. Ami noticed the bath water waiting her. Minutes later she found herself lying in the tub and the twins walked around doing some last-minute preparations for something.
“So, you two are the Empress’ servants. What else do you do?” Ami asked, hoping she would not sound out of line with them.
“Well, we do just about everything the Empress wants.”
“Except pleasure.”
“After all that’s your job.”
“But we clean, bring her food and pack if she travels.”
“Of course we do the same thing for you as well,” the twins answered in their typical fashion. Ami looked back and forth between the two, reminding her of watching tennis.
“So, is it true that you’re not from around here?’ one suddenly asked. “I mean that you come from, well, ‘that’ place.”
Ami frown at the twin’s question as the other twin glared at her.
“That place?” Ami asked, hoping for some sort of clarification about the question. Even as she asked the question she realized what the twin meant.
“Eh, the place where evil people come from,” the twin said, clarifying her question a bit.
“Kira!” the other one stated, her tone sharp as she glared at her twin. “That’s taboo.”
“I’m just asking,” Kira said, wringing her hands in front of her. “They say it’s where the Zero-Mages come from.”
Ami recalled the question, and the phrase Zero-Mages, knowing she heard that somewhere else before. She thought about it for several seconds before recalling the name when she first appeared here, after the wormhole. She realized that the people here would easily think where she came from as hell. Especially if the only contact they had, were some of the most evil people of her home, it would be easy to jump to such conclusions. Ami wondered what type of havoc previous prisoners had wrecked on this world.
She looked up to see both Kari and Kira looking at her. She saw that despite the warning she gave Kira, Kari seemed to want to know as well.
“I guess you could say so, but it’s not what you think,” Ami said, watching Kari’s eyes go wide in horror. “We’re not really evil, most people are like you and I, well almost, there is a difference in technologies,” Ami said, not having seen any type of computer anywhere. “You see our scientists discovered how to create a wormhole.”
“Scientist? Wormhole?” Kira asked, confused by the terms.
“You see, scientists create things, try and solve the mysteries of the universe. One thing they created was the wormhole which allows us to travel from my world to this one, however it’s a one way journey. I really am not evil,” Ami said, hoping to convince Kari. “We’ve even managed to build machine of exploration, like going to our moon and Mars.”
“Mars?”
“A nearby planet,” Ami said.
“Oh, like how the Evas have done with Donnest,” Kira said, excitement in her voice.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Ami replied hoping that Donnest was like Mars, but no clue who the Evas were.
“And you do this without magic?” Kira asked.
“We don’t have magic,” Ami said. She had no idea how else to explain it, except that she had gone into another dimension like some sci-fi story.
“Too strange.”
“Yea it is,” Ami muttered in a whisper, more for herself than the twins. They fell silent for a few seconds everyone thinking about the conversation as Kari sent some folded clothes across the room and into a drawer. It looked strange, and Ami realized she would have to get used to it.
*****
Tess walked into the council room, seeing the nobles already assembled in the room. She sighed, hoping she could get though this without wanting to kill one of them. She spotted Leon sitting down already and next to him Peter. Both were human and about the same height, and while Leon kept himself in shape Peter had not. Both had short black hair and while Leon had no facial hair Peter had a beard with no moustache.
“I see almost everyone is here,” Tess said, walking to take her place at the head of the room, with Becca right behind her.
“I hope you can address our concerns Empress,” Leon said, with a slight bow but his eyes never left hers.
“I’ll see what the Empire can manage,” Tess replied back to him, wondering what he had in mind.
“Empress, we have a grievance with your protection of the trade routes,” Peter said speaking up. That surprised Tess slightly as she expected to hear Leon not Peter.
“And what trade routes,” Tess said looking at the table as Peter waved his hand and a map appeared with some dark lines. Tess recognized it as the routes being near the Shadowlands.
“These routes are being hit. If nothing is done, we will have to shut down trade along those routes,” Leon said as he and Peter had stood to indicate the routes on the map.
“My caravans have been attack four times in the past week alone,” Peter said. “I cannot afford such loses and have good to sell in the market.”
“If his goods are not coming in then our services suffer,” Leon said.
Tess sighed knowing that economics had never been her strong suit. She had left it up to the nobles to keep things stable. Give her a battlefield and an enemy and she could plan anything. This battlefield always seemed beyond her abilities. She knew they were all looking at her, and she could not appear weak, especially in front of this group.
“I can increase patrols but I doubt that would work if they are targeting certain caravans,” Tess said, her mind turning to the logical idea of a battlefield. She had limited troops and a large border to protect.
“And we do not have the manpower to protect every caravan,” Becca said, speaking up.
“Are you saying we should suffer these losses, after all we supported you when you took over,” Leon said. “We can easily support someone else.”
Tess growled slightly, walking over to where he stood, making him look up slightly. “Is that a threat?” Tess ground out as her blue eyes stared right into his green eyes, watching for the littlest bit of lying he might give her.
“N-No empress, of course not. Forgive me, I spoke without thinking,” he finally stammered out. Tess waited a few seconds, letting him sweat, before returning to her chair.
“I suggest then you work with local patrols and military officials to help protect your goods. We cannot patrol every caravan so you might have to work together and combine some of your caravans to give them a military escort, all right?” Tess stated looking around the room. “What else?” Tess asked as waiting for the next person to come forth.
She barely listened to the next one, her mind still focused on the caravan attacks. She had a bad feeling about them. Perhaps it had to do with the fact the attacks happened so close to the Shadowlands and Gregory seemed ready to move. She quickly scribbled a note down about her concerns and a course of action. She handed it to Becca, who quietly took the note, read it, then retreated out of the room. Tess turned her attention back to the noble talking, knowing that his accusing another noble of criminal activities meant for a long session.
End Part 3
Comment below or send to AJMarks01@aol.co