"About... Raia?"
I was shocked. Nobody was supposed to know about Raia. Right?
Max nodded. "Yes, Zack. I know the truth. And trust me, I understand your
dilemma. On one side, there is a legend speaking about immensely powerful,
immensely evil person who tried to destroy the world, and on the other side..."
"I met Raia," I said. "True Raia. Sure, she wasn't a nice person, but I can't
believe that she's really evil."
"It's a bit complicated," said Max. "Mrs. Tain could say it in a better way..."
"You know her?"
Max smiled. "I know lots of people. Few days ago, she contacted me. She called
in an old favor."
"Figures."
"She wanted me to get in contact with you," said Max. "I was supposed to
find Raia and guard her."
"Guard her? What's going on here?"
Max sighed. "Raia is very powerful Zack. And she has enemies - powerful enemies.
You might already encounter them."
"Shawn," I said. "He knew about her - and he wanted to kill her."
Nod. "Shawn is just a tip of the iceberg. He serves another master. They
believe that Raia must be destroyed, but they are mistaken! Raia is... important."
"Why?"
He shook his head. "I don't know! But there must be a reason. Three hundred
years ago, they defeated her, but they didn't kill her - why? The old Geomancers
chose to rob themselves of their powers and create a seal rather than end
Raia's life. They had to have some reason for that!"
"What reason could that be?" I asked.
Linda woke up. Her whole body ached. She looked around, but there was nobody.
And nothing.
And yet, she felt a presence, like a giant sleeping everywhere around her.
Then the world cleared up. She was standing on a dusty road leading from
a small village. She looked around.
There was a little girl watching her. She couldn't be more than five years
old; she had brown hair and eyes.
"Welcome," she said. "Will you play with me?"
"Why is he going with us?" complained May loudly. "I don't want him here!"
"Max has important message for us," I said. "Don't be so bratty."
"I don't like him," she said. "He wants to spank me - I just know he does!"
"I ensure you that my private urges have nothing to do with this," protested
Max. "This is official. I need to talk to Zack - and to Grace, too."
"What about?"
"It's about Merta," I said quickly. "Max knows something about her and we
should, too."
May just pouted.
"Who are you?" said Linda. "Where am I?"
The girl shrugged. "Is that important?"
"It is for me!"
"You never cared for where you are," said the girl in a reproaching
tone. "You've changed, Linda."
A ginger cat appeared from somewhere and rubbed on the girl's leg.
"You used to be like this, too," continued the girl and patted the cat's
head. "I changed you. And I can change you back, too."
"What?"
Linda finally realized the obvious. "Are you... Merta? She had to look like
this when she was little..."
"Merta?" The girl laughed. "Nope."
She patted the cat again, but this time her hand didn't stop at the surface.
It passed through the cat and the cat... started to change.
Linda watched in awe as the little shape grew and unfurled until it became
her exact copy.
The girl waved her hand again - and the transformation went backwards, compressing
the catgirl back into a body of a cat.
"This sort of things is easy," said the girl. "Easier than you would think.
Getting you to notice me, now that's harder."
"Who are you?" cried Linda.
"I have no name," said the girl simply.
"Almost nothing is known about Raia's youth," started Max. "At that time,
Geomancers were scarce and not very powerful - but common people were afraid
of them. Raia... it's said that she has killed her parents as a little girl."
"What?" I gasped.
"I don't think it's true," shrugged Max. "Or, at least, not entirely
true. I think... her parents might have died when her power manifested. She
couldn't control it... But that was what made her outcast. When you have
nothing but the power... anything can happen."
"What did she really do?" I wondered.
"Why you don't simply ask her?"
I sighed. "I'm... afraid. I mean, she's struggling with Merta. Every day,
they are closer to the critical point. Eventually, Raia will disappear -
or maybe Merta. And I... I don't want either of them to go."
"It's not a matter of what you want," said Max. "
No matter what Raia did, they didn't kill her. So... what would happen,
anyways, if she died?"
"Mrs. Tain seemed to not mind," I said. "She thought it would be for the
best if we let her disappear."
"It's easy to condemn someone you've never actually seen," nodded Max. "I'm
afraid Mrs. Tain can be a little... old-fashioned, at times. Or maybe that
Raia must be alive physically, but it's not necessary for her mind
to exist."
"Even like that, I don't want her to die," I said.
Max smiled. "Neither do I. That's why we must talk to her."
"Where am I?" yelled Linda. She was starting to panic.
"You can think of it as a dream," shrugged the girl.
"You... you are something like that monster, aren't you?" said Linda.
"Spectre?" laughed the girl. "Don't compare me to her!"
"But you know her!"
The girl smirked. "Let me show you something."
The landscape changed. Now there was a large room. Seven men and seven women
were standing around a table. And there was another woman, lying on it, tied
with straps. She was unconscious.
"I never wanted to go this far!" said one of the women. "This is inhuman!"
"We talked this through, Marie," said a
man.
"There is no other way. You know why we can't use any of us."
"The power is weakening," said another man. "We can only be saved through
this."
He took a needle.
"One drop of our blood. That's all we need. The nature will take its course,
then."
He pricked his finger and let a drop of blood fall into a crystal goblet.
One after another, all the others did the same.
The leader looked at the unconscious woman form. He touched her hair.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But you can't possibly understand our desperation."
Then he raised her shirt to uncover her stomach. He put his finger in the
goblet with blood and started to draw a picture.
"What is that?" cried Linda.
"Why are you showing that to me?"
"Oh, that was a... special moment," chuckled the girl. "That was when I
was born."
"What do you know about Shawn?" I asked Max.
"He serves a Guardian - a
powerful one," he replied.
"What's a Guardian?"
"When Raia was sealed, all the Geomancers lost their powers. They became
regular folks, but the truth of their origin and their powers - that is passed
over. And when it's passed, it's garbled. Guardians are... the descendents
of the original Geomancers. Raia's revival has alerted all the Guardians.
Most of them are just regular folks now. Maybe they get weird dreams at times,
but there is not a trace of the old power in them. But some... when two or
more lines cross... some of them remember, Zack. And the strongest of Guardians
- they can find and rally the others."
"How many is there?" I asked.
"I don't know! But there are three of the strong ones, at least! The Guardian
Shawn is serving is one of them - he believes Raia is pure evil and she must
be destroyed once and for all. He won't stop in front of anything to achieve
his goal. Then, there is the Queen, whoever she might be. She wants to use
Raia for her own purposes. And then... there's Mrs. Tain."
"Mrs. Tain is a Guardian?"
Max nodded. "She is. I'm not sure just what she intends except that
she doesn't want Shawn's master to succeed. And she wants to stop the Queen."
"The things might get ugly," I said. "Is Mrs. Tain on the same side as us?"
Max hesitated. "Well, I hope so. But she doesn't tell me everything."
"Even with her, there are still at least two enemies," I said. "It could
get... ugly."
The landscape changed back. Linda was breathing heavily.
"I was an experiment," said the girl. "The last, desperate try of dying people.
Everytime they used their powers, they dwindled. There was only limited amount
of geomancy in the world. They needed a new source. A... new blood, as it's.
That's why they did this."
"What happened?" breathed Linda.
"The ritual has tied their blood together. Blood of fourteen Geomancers who
were still alive. They hoped it will make the blood stronger. So they placed
a spell on that woman, and in due time, a baby girl was born." She laughed.
"But even before that, I was born. I swam through her, I whispered
to her and I promised her power. She was my body and I... I was her blood.
She was my Raia - and I was her Queen."
The landscape changed again. Everything was covered with ash. Ruins of some
houses were visible in the distance.
"It took me a long time before I was strong enough," said the girl dreamily.
"But eventually... I was. And a power awoke in little Raia, power more terrible
than she could understand. My power. And the power... corrupts"
"She did... this?" said Linda.
"She did. Or maybe it was me? At that time, we were one. I was sleeping,
but yet I commanded - and she obeyed. And she never even knew she
was obeying! We were Queen Raia. We were gathering followers - and power.
I taught her how to reach for human minds and reshape them. We were invincible."
"What happened after that?" cried Linda.
Another scene change.
A man was kneeling, holding a woman. She was coughing and there was blood
on her shirt.
"Marie!" he cried.
"I'm... OK..." she said faintly. "Raia... You must... stop... Raia. Stop
her... before she... awakes."
"I told Raia that the other Geomancers are a threat," said the girl. "And
she was eliminating them for me. With each of them dead, it was like one
of my chains burst. With fourteen chains I was tied, and when all fourteen
Geomancers were dead - I would be free. I could do whatever I would please.
But..."
This time, it was a battlefield. People fighting, people dying. And a lone
figure, watching from aside.
An arrow flew, aiming at her heart, but it smashed at an invisible barrier
protecting her body. The girl looked around. A hood slipped down from her
head.
She was Merta.
Three men and two women stepped out of the woods. One of the women was holding
a bow.
"This has gone too far, Raia," said one of the men. It was the same man who
had performed the ritual before.
Raia took a breath, but it wasn't her who spoke.
"Whose fault it is, Geomancer? You were the one who created me. Now you reap
what you sowed."
"We never wanted that!" cried the man. "We wanted a leader! A powerful Geomancer,
not a murderer!"
"What is the difference?" said Raia.
"You can't affect our minds," said the woman with bow. "You know that your
power doesn't work on us."
"And you know who I am," nodded Raia. "Who I really am. Face it. There
was fourteen of us. Now there are just the five of you - plus one, but her
life force is faint. I remember, you know. I remember when I was in you.
But I was weak and powerless until you have combined your blood. And
my memories reach even further. I remember the first Geomancers. True warlocks,
not pathetic excuses like you. All the time, I was weak and I waited. But
now I'm almost awake."
Five tetrahedra hit her in the chest. The barrier hold, but...
The second woman threw a different shape. It looked like a tetrahedron,
but there was a fifth point, inside of it.
The point shoot through the barrier and exploded.
Another change, but this time it was from high above. Raia was lying on the
ground. She opened her eyes.
"I was... a fool, weren't I?" she said. "All this time... I thought... it
was me..."
The woman with the bow aimed at her neck.
"You mustn't..." said Raia. "The blood... is strong. If I die, it will...
come together again. It will wait until there are... no more Geomancers,
then it strikes."
The other woman kneeles and took a piece of stick. "I'm sorry," she said.
Raia widened her eyes. "No! I'm strong! I can fight her... I can..."
"We can't take the risk," said the man. "It's the... only way."
He hit Raia. Hard. She slumped on the ground. Then he drew a shape around
her.
It was a heptagon.
"Are you sure?" asked the woman with the bow. "She's..."
"There's no other way!" shouted the man. "No other way!"
Then he drew another heptagon. Smaller, next to the big one. And third. Soon
the central heptagon was surrounded by seven others. Then...
Light shined. New lines started to appear. More and more heptagons appeared,
smaller and smaller, until they formed a shining mass, at the boundary of
a circle. Then it flashed...
Nothing was left, except for the circle and several heptagons that flashed
on and off. The man coughed.
"Old power will die soon," he said. "And the new power - is sealed. After
we are no more, noone will be able to break the seal."
He kneeled. "I'm... at my limit," he whispered. "I did what I had to. I..."
He fell down.
Scene changed back.
Merta ran out of the woods and collided squarely with me. "Zack!" she cried.
"Oh, Zack!"
"What happened this time?" I asked.
"Linda fainted! She's burning with fever! And we can't wake her up! Zack,
it's all my fault!"
We started running.
Linda was lying on the bed. Her breathing was shallow. Grace looked like
she had been crying.
"I thought it's a neat trick," said Merta sadly. "I never thought... it could
hurt her." She started to cry, too. Rosey jumped to the unconscious figure
and shook her. "Linda! Open your eyes, Linda!"
"It was bad," said the girl simply. "But I found a way out, in the end. Raia
had locked me out, though. I couldn't get to her, but I could... escape.
I run in the blood, Linda. I am in Merta, I am in Swarm and Nyx... and yes,
I am in you, too.
With surprising power, she reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"And from now on, you are mine."
Linda's eyes opened. She slowly dragged herself out of the bed. Then she
hit Rosey and she flew across the room. Soot caught her. "What are you..."
she yelled...
Linda's movements were like a broken doll. She couldn't coordinate. But suddenly
she was at Merta and dug her claws in her forearm...
Sparks came out as if she hit a stone, but my forearm started bleeding.
Linda shrieked. Then she jumped...
May's cry was muffled when she grabbed her.
"Get rid of your amulet!" she ordered. "If you don't, I'll kill your sister!"
Linda struggled, but the girl held her firmly down. She was much stronger
than she looked!
She saw the fight... but at the same time, she was watching a different one,
the one where she was holding May and threatening to kill her.
She started to hiss.
"You are not Linda!" I cried. "Linda wouldn't..."
"What does it matter!" she shrieked. "I am who I am! The amulet!"
She pricked May's neck. Blood started to ooze. May cried in pain.
Max tackled her.
Surprised, Linda let go of May and stood against a new enemy.
"Die!" she growled and jumped...
Linda lied limp. This required precise timing.
Then she struck with both feet at once.
The girl thought she was harmless with both arms pinned down? Well, she got
another thing coming.
The claws on Linda's feet dug deep in her hips and left long gashes. Instead
of blood, light poured out of them.
The girl shrieked and let her go.
Linda was on top of her in a fraction of second. She duck her head to the
girl's neck and she bit down...
...and Max, who was struggling with, basically, a frenzied cat his own size,
felt her go limp in his arms...
Linda fell to the ground and started coughing. Blood was flying out and stained
the floor.
"Nobody... touch that!" she cried. "You must... burn it! It's... it's..."
She slumped, having lost her consciousness.
Merta drew a tetrahedron around the bloodstains and everyone watched until
the wood burned through. It just seemed safer.
Linda woke up three hours after that. It took another two hours before she
managed to tell me her story. Max listened, too. So did Grace.
"So that's it," said Max, in the end. "So that is the Queen."
"How did she get out of the seal in the first place?" asked Grace. "Didn't
Nyx tell us that the Queen is a descendant of Geomancers?"
"Maybe some of Raia's blood stayed outside the seal," said Max. "It could...
infect somebody and go with his or her line through the ages. Until it was
strong enough to manifest - and then it undid Raia's seal. I can't come with
another explanation."
"But it means that Linda could do it again, right?" asked Grace.
Instead of answering, Linda drew a tetrahedron. We all moved away.
But nothing happened. They were just dead lines.
"I've killed Queen," said Linda. "At least... the part of her that was inside
me. She was in the blood I coughed. But it also means... that I'm not a Geomancer
anymore. I lost the power. I'm... no longer dangerous."
She started crying. "She was threatening me! She could... turn me back, into
an ordinary cat! She..."
"But you defeated her," I said. "That's all that matters."
"Well," shrugged Linda, "I've eaten two kittens from my first litter. Breaking
a neck of human child wasn't hard at all!"
We looked her with newfound respect.
"Can I get out of this bed now?" asked Linda.
"Oh! Good for you to remind me!" Grace slapped her forehead. "I have... something
I made for you."
It was a yellow shirt with matching trousers. And bra and panties, also in
yellow. The trousers and panties had a hole carefully made in them.
"For the tail," explained Grace. "I knew you had some trouble with... normal
clothing so I thought..."
"Where did you find that?" I asked.
"It belonged to Fia," said Grace. "I've asked Rosey. I just... improved it
a bit."
The dinnertime was silent. Linda devoured her fish with utmost enjoyment,
but the rest of us couldn't think about anything to say. Merta and May were
eating particularly slowly.
Finally, when Grace went to wash the dishes, Merta took a deep breath and
came toward me.
"My Knight?'
"Yes?"
"Was it my fault? What happened to Linda?"
I sighed. "Well, not entirely your fault. But you had a part in that."
She nodded. "Will you... spank me for that?"
I considered that. "Do you need a spanking?"
She nodded. "Yes, I do."
"And I need one, too," said May. "I was really rude to Max and he - he saved
my life!"
I looked at Max. "Do you think she should be spanked because of that?"
He nodded. "She's made her decision."
"Maybe... you should do it."
May paled. "No... please... don't..."
Max smiled. "It won't be the first time I had to turn over a bratty girl."
He took May by the arm. "Well? If I give you your spanking, can you forgive
me?"
"If you will forgive me," said May with her eyes lowered.
"It's a deal, May."
We both stood up and took our respective girls to the small bedroom. Both
of us made the decision at the same time.
"Give me your hairbrush, Merta," I said.
"And I think I'm going to use your wooden spoon, May," said Max.
"Wooden spoon?" I wondered.
"Oh, she didn't mention it?" Max chuckled. "One of my wares. Designed for
twenty-five strokes on fifteen-years old bottom. Thirty strokes for sixteeners."
"Thirty strokes?" I mused. "Maybe that's what Merta needs, too."
"Are you..." asked May, "are you going to spank us... both at once?"
"Yes," nodded Max. "It will be much more effective that way."
He sat at one of the beds. There were two - presumably Soot's father was
sleeping on one of them, and Fia with Rosey on the other? I took the other
one.
Both girls came to us, reluctantly. The impending punishment was worrying
them.
And in a flash, both were turned across our laps. The space between the beds
was narrow so when they raised their heads, they were looking straight at
each other.
They both gasped as their panties were taken down.
I raised the hairbrush, but Max shook his head. "No, Zack. First, we have
to spank them with our hands. To tenderize their bottoms a bit. Then they
will be ready for the brush - or the spoon.
"What rhythm should I use?" I muttered darkly.
"Like this," shrugged Max and started spanking. "One, two, three, four. Try
it."
I gave four even-timed spanks to Merta's bare bottom. She shuddered a bit.
"And now!"
We spanked the girls slowly, in sync. Max was right, the fact that both could
see each other's face made a profound impact. We were making sure to "tenderize"
the whole buttocks area. It wasn't a hard spanking, they didn't cry, just
sniffed occassionally. Then we stopped.
"Now, for the real spanking," announced Max, taking the wooden spoon. I took
the brush.
"Hmmm... We will do it in bursts, what about it?" said Max. "Five hard spanks
at time. You will get that six times each. Understood?"
Painful sniffing told us they did.
"Merta, you did a bad thing and Linda suffered because of that," I said.
"That's why I'm going to spank your bottom with the hairbrush."
"May, you were rude to me, but you want to be forgiven," said Max. "That's
why I'm going to spank your bottom with the wooden spoon."
We both raised our hands...
"Aim for only the left bun with the first burst," said Max.
*SMACK!* *SPLAT* *SPANK!* *WHACK!* *THWACK!*
The girls were speechless with the shock. On bottoms tender after the light
hand-spanking, this must have felt like a firestorm!
They started to cry.
I looked at Max and nodded. "Right bun, this time."
*CRACK!* *PLESK!* *SMACK!* *PLOP!* *SLAP!*
"Aaaaahhh!" "Zack, that hurts! Owwww!"
"Third burst," ordered Max, "left, right, left, right, left!"
*SMACK!* *PLOP!* *STING!* *SLAP!* *THWACK!*
Both May and Merta were crying freely by now and kicking wildly.
"Fourth burst," I announced, "right, left, right, left, right!"
*WHACK!* *CRACK!* *STING!* *STING!* *PLESK!*
The crying tuned up to the high-pitched screams.
"Now, for the last ten - slow and steady," said Max. "It works wonders, trust
me."
The girls were yelling and squirming so it was increasingly hard to spank
the right spot. But we still tried. Both May's and Merta's bottoms were fire-red
by the time they got the last smack.
We stood them up. Merta and I hugged - and to my surprise, so did May and
Max.
"I'm so sorry," they said in unison.
"It's OK," I said. "The spanking is over and you are one well-punished little
Lady."
"And you are a well-spanked part-time worker," said Max.
May blinked. "You would still... take me?"
"Anytime," smiled Max.
"I feel terrible," said May. "But at the same time... I feel better. Isn't
it strange?"
"No," shook Max his head. "Every girl should feel like that after she's spanked.
That's what my wares strive for. But not everyone can use them... the right
way."
"Well, you certainly do!" She sighed. "I'm going to sleep on my stomach
today..."
"Are you going to stay here overnight?" I asked Max.
"I guess so," he sighed. "Sorry about that. Is there anyplace for me?"
I smiled. "Of course," I said. "But prepare to be blindfolded in the morning..."
Swarm and Nyx were dreaming... listening to whispers in their blood.
"Spectre has failed," said the disembodied voice of the Queen. "And Richard
started to move, too. And the... other one, too. There is no time to lose.
This time, you must kill them. Destroy the whole island if you have to. I...
underestimated them. If Raia would to die... welll, it would set us back.
But if nothing else works, kill her too."
Voices whispering in the blood... How could they be disobeyed?
End
of Chapter 16
May's
and Merta's Readers' Corner:
Well, as today we got spanked together, we are going to do this corner
together, too.
You know, we are not sure why this is even called "Readers'" Corner - no
readers are writing to us! Fulgur is quite disgruntled... and when he's disgruntled,
our bottoms are not safe! So, please, write, write, write...
Well, part of the mystery surrounding the Queen is finally unveiled - but
there is more! It seems we are about to go under a serious attack! Can we
survive that now, when we only have one Geomancer left? You will find out
in the next chapter, titled "Battle of Island Meneo!"
