Riss Cobalt, sorceress supreme, is kidnapped by a guy who "collects" women. Riss's husband, Fiore, has to somehow rescue her in this story taking place after the sequel to my novel Kismet and Tell
What A Drag:
An Adventure in Sorcery
An attractive young woman in her twenties with long blue hair sat at a far table in the dimly lit back of a cozy little tavern. She was in the company of a handsome young man with long red hair, also in his twenties. They were enjoying a delightful dinner of a stew that came highly recommended in the quaint and peaceful little seaside town of Bryne. Well, Bryne seemed quaint and peaceful to them at the time. However, that illusion was about to be shattered…
“It’s nice to have some time to ourselves, without the twins being around,” the blue-haired woman said. “I love traveling around with you again.”
“It sure is, Riss. And I love it, too. I just hope Elisha and Elyssia are doing all right.”
“I’m sure they are, Fiore. I’ve taught them everything I could. They’ll be fine.”
“Still, it’s the first time they’ve been away from home on their own.”
“I know.”
“It’s hard to believe they grew up so fast.”
“Well, they are elves, after all.”
“I know. But still…”
The woman got a wistful look in her blue eyes. “Yeah…”
Just then, the front door of the tavern was suddenly thrown open. Everyone in the tavern stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the noise. When they did, they saw a young, pretty brunette in a tattered dress come running in. She appeared to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her face was pale and her green eyes were wide with fear. She spied the blue-haired woman and her companion and ran over to them.
“Miss Marissa Cobalt!” she cried, “Master Fiore Ferio! Please! You must help me!”
The couple looked at each other and gave a slight nod. Then they set their spoons down on the table and looked at the girl, instantly gauging her sincerity. Satisfied that the girl’s need seemed genuine enough, Marissa and Fiore then looked at each other and nodded. Then the two turned back to girl. Marissa opened her mouth to ask a question of the girl, but before she could speak…
The door of the tavern was thrown open again and five big men entered. They wore light armor and brandished short swords. The young girl saw them and let out a small scream and backed up against the wall.
“M…Miss Marissa…” she stammered.
“Hmmm…Interesting…” the blue-haired woman just murmured.
“Riss?” the redheaded man whispered back.
“Layla Olson!” the lead man said. “You will come back with us, now!”
The girl whimpered and shook her head.
The blue-haired woman, Marissa Cobalt, stood up from her seat and stepped in front of the girl, Layla.
“Sorry, guys,” Marissa said, “but while I’m here, she’s not going anywhere with you.”
A look of fear crossed the faces of four of the armored men, and they lowered their swords a little. The lead man, however, chuckled.
“Ah, Marissa Cobalt, the infamous mercenary sorceress. We’d heard you were in town. Don’t think we came unprepared for this eventuality.”
“Oh?” Marissa said.
“Yes,” said a voice from behind the group of armored men.
A robed figure stepped out of the shadows of the doorway. He raised an arm and said two words quickly, activating two pre-cast spells in such quick succession that Marissa didn’t have time to react. A pale light surrounded her, and as the spell took effect her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth moved as she tried to speak, but no sound came out. By then, the second spell took effect and an invisible force knocked her into the wall, where she then slumped to the floor, unconscious. It all happened in just a few seconds. As Marissa went down, Layla screamed and Fiore growled and jumped out of his chair. But he wasn’t quick enough and the robed man was prepared for him. A bolt of lightning struck the redheaded man and knocked him to the floor, unconscious.
Layla watched with fearful eyes as the five armed men and the robed man approached her.
“Now, Layla,” said the robed man. “You will come back with us. You don’t want to make Lord Nigel angry, do you?”
The girl sighed and reluctantly released herself into the hands of the armed men.
“Master Dorlandt, sir,” said the lead officer, “what about Marissa Cobalt?”
The robed man considered it for a moment. “Bring her with us,” he finally said. “She is a quite attractive woman. Lord Nigel will undoubtedly be pleased with her. And as long as that Mute spell stays on her, she won’t be able to do magic, so she shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.”
With that said, the officer picked Marissa up. And with Layla in tow, the five officers followed the robed man, Dorlandt, from the tavern.
Fiore returned to consciouness to find himself lying on the floor, flat on his back, with a man slapping his face and yelling into his ear. As the man prepared to slap Fiore again, Fiore’s eyes snapped open and grabbed the poised hand.
“Enough!” Fiore said. “I’m awake!”
Fiore then sat up and surveyed his surroundings. He was still in the tavern, which was now practically empty of patrons. But the first thing he noticed was that Marissa was gone, and so was the strange girl.
“Where’s Riss?” Fiore asked the skinny, slightly older man beside him.
“Are you all right, sir?” the man asked, ignoring Fiore’s question.
The man cast his eyes to the floor, not wanting to look directly at Fiore when he told him the bad news. “I…I’m sorry, sir. But Lord Nigel’s men took her with them.”
Fiore’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?!”
“Yes. Lord Nigel’s men took her and the girl Layla away.”
Fiore stood up. “I have to go save Riss. She’s in no condition to help herself right now. She can’t do magic. That’s why we came here. Bryne’s supposed to be quaint and peaceful. We thought it would be a great place for her to rest up for the week…” He trailed off and flinched instinctively as a mental image of Marissa frowning and clunking him atop the head for talking about “that time of the month” popped into his mind.
The man looked at him questioningly. “Sir?” he asked, his confusion evident in his voice.
“Oh, nothing,” Fiore said with a wave of his hand. “Forget it.” He got back to the problem at hand. “Where’d Lord Nigel’s men take the girls?”
“To Lord Nigel, of course.”
“Ummm…yes. Naturally to Lord Nigel. But where is this Lord Nigel? And just who IS he?”
Fiore couldn’t help but notice that he was acting a lot like Marissa usually did, and smiled a small, wry smile. She’s rubbing off on me. Well, we’ve been together for a couple of years now. I guess it was bound to happen. But I wonder, is it a good thing?
“Lord Nigel owns a large mansion just on the outskirts of the town,” the skinny man to Fiore. “He’s not really a lord. He just fancies himself as one. But he does have the money to finance a small personal army. And he’s been using his money and threat of force to try to gain control of the town.”
“But what does that have to do with the gir, Layla, and with Riss?”
“Lord Nigel, uh, has a thing for pretty young girls. If he sees one he likes, he’ll do whatever he has to to get her, be it buying her from her parents, making extravagent offers to the girl until she agrees to go with him, or just outright kidnapping her. The men in his army are aware of his penchant, and have taken some girls to him. If rumors are true , he’s amassed a pretty large collection so far.”
Fiore growled, and his eyes gleamed. The thought of all those girls – and Marissa - in the hands of a guy like that caused the fires of anger to burn within him.
“I’ve got to do something!” Fiore said. “I can’t leave Riss and those girls with that guy! Which direction is Nigel’s mansion?”
“East. But you can’t just go walking in there. He keeps that place under heavy security.”
“That’s no problem. I’m pretty handy with magic. Not as good as Riss, but still pretty good.”
The skinny man shook his head. “No, no! You don’t want to do that! If you try a full-out assault, who knows what they’ll do to the girls in retaliation before you even get into the mansion.”
Fiore considered that. “I suppose you’re right about that. Then how can I…”
The skinny man looked at Fiore closely. “Well, we know that pretty girls can get in and close to him…”
Fiore gave him a confused look. “Yes. So?” Then he caught on, and his face drained of color. “No WAY! I’m not going to do it!”
It was twilight as Fiore moped along the street in the direction of Nigel’s mansion. His long red hair had been put into pigtails, and he wore a cute lavender dress with matching satin slippers and cape, and some very tasteful jewelry and make-up.
“I feel so silly…” Fiore muttered as he walked along the street approaching the mansion. “Gods, how did I ever let myself get talked into this?”
The answer came to him in a flashback.
Fiore had said he wouldn’t do it. But the skinny man had said in response, “Not even to save your wife?”
Fiore had sighed at that and then agreed. Then the skinny man led him to a back room of the tavern, where he and a few others helped Fiore get into costume.
“You look lovely, sir!” the skinny man had said after the finishing touches were applied to the costume. “Very effeminate! Lord Nigel will definitely like you.”
Fiore had then looked at his reflection in the mirror, and groaned. Then he’d left the tavern and stopped briefly at the room he and Marissa were sharing in a nearby inn before heading for Nigel’s mansion.
“Oh, yeah,” Fiore said to himself as the flashback ended. “That’s how.” He sighs. “The thing I do for her. Well, Riss, I hope you appreciate this, because I’m never going to do THIS again. NEVER.”
Fiore then passed in front of the gates to the mansion. As he did so, the four sentries on duty there spotted him. They whistled and catcalled to him. Fiore blushed but kept walking.
“Hey!” one sentry said to the others. “I betcha Lord Nigel’d like her!”
“Yeah!” said another. “And he’d probably give us a nice reward if we brought her to him, too!”
“Yeah!” the four sentries said together.
The four sentries abandoned their post and chased after Fiore. Fiore led them down an alley, where, according to his plan, he let them catch up to him. He didn’t put up a fight, either. He let them escort him back to the mansion and all the way indoors to Lord Nigel’s drawing room and Lord Nigel.
The somewhat handsome, middle-aged blonde man at the desk looked up as the four sentries entered.
“What are you doing?!” he asked. “Why aren’t you at your posts?”
“Lord Nigel, sir,” said the sentry in the lead, “we brought you a girl. We saw her walking by, and knew you’d like her.”
With that, the sentries stepped aside enough to allow Lord Nigel to see Fiore. Lord Nigel smiled, stood up, and walked over to Fiore, where he then looked him up and down.
“Hmmm….yes,” Lord Nigel said. “Very nice. Very nice indeed. But I’m busy at the moment. Take her down and put her with the others. I’ll see to her properly later.”
“Yes, Lord Nigel,” the lead sentry said.
The sentries left the drawing room and escorted Fiore down a long and winding passage to a large, windowless room in the back of the mansion. They shoved Fiore inside. “Stay here until Lord Nigel’s ready for you,” said the lead sentry. Then they shut and locked the door. Fiore heard them chuckling as they walked away.
There were a couple of torches in the room, high out of reach. But there was enough light for Fiore looked around him. He saw about twenty or so girls in the room with him, some as young as thirteen or fourteen years of age. It seemed that most, if not all, had tattered dresses on. He also spotted a few bruises on some of the girls. Fiore shook his head sadly. Then he saw a hint of blue at the far end of the room, and hurried over. There, a woman with blue hair sat against the wall. Her hands were chained to the wall. Her head lay against her chest. Layla sat near her.
“Riss!” Fiore said.
Layla and the girls around them looked in surprise at the sound of a man’s voice.
The blue-haired woman looked up, and her eyes widened. Her mouth moved to say his name, but no sound came out. Then she noticed his outfit, and her eyes widened more and her mouth moved to say his name again, this time as a question.
“What happened?” Fiore asked Layla.
“She put up a fight when they brought her here,” Layla said. “She managed to knock out a few of them, but before she could escape, more came. There were just too many, and they managed to subdue her and chain her up.”
“Why can’t she talk?” Fiore asked her.
“I heard someone say something about a Mute spell.”
Fiore nodded. “That’d explain it. All right, then. That’s easy enough to fix.”
Fiore held his hand over Marissa’s head and whispered a small spell. A pale light glowed around her for a second. When it faded, Marissa smiled at him.
“Oh, Fiore, thank you!” she said.
Fiore smiled. “You’re welcome, dear.”
“Umm, Fiore…what’s with the dress, hairdo, and makeup?”
“It was the only way I could get in here. Now, let’s hurry up and get you and the other girls out of here so I can change back into some normal clothes.”
Marissa nodded.
Fiore took hold of the manacles and whispered a small spell. The manacles fell open, releasing Marissa from their hold.
Marissa stood up, then she and Fiore got the girls in the room together and prepared to escape.
“How are you going to open the door?” Layla asked.
“Well, the Knock spell is pretty handy in this sort of situation,” Marissa said.
“But I heard that the door was enchanted against spells,” a girl said.
“Hmmm….That does make it difficult,” Marissa said. “So, now what?”
“How about brute force?” Fiore said.
Not waiting for a reply, Fiore gave the heavy wooden door a few good swift kicks, and the door collapsed. The captives poured out of the room and congregated in the hall.
“Riss,” Fiore said as he reached aroud behind his cape and pulled out a sword, “you can’t do magic right now. So take this sword and get the girls away from here. I’ll go take care of Nigel and meet you back at the inn.”
“Okay. But how will we get out? The ‘through the front door’ tactic would be too dangerous.”
“Well, how about we make our own door?”
So saying, Fiore cast a Fireball spell and tossed the ball of flame at the wall at the far end of the hall where, after a big explosion, a hole leading to the outside was formed.
“Nice job, Fiore,” Marissa said, pleased.
“Thanks.”
“Well, we’d better go. Be careful, dear.”
“You, too.”
The two kissed quickly, then Marissa and the girls made their way out the impromptu door. Fiore stayed to make sure everyone got out of the mansion, then headed back down the passage.
Fiore entered the drawing room. Lord Nigel still sat at the desk, writing in a book. Nigel looked up as Fiore entered.
“What are you doing here?!” Nigel asked. “Why aren’t you with the other girls?!”
Fiore just stood there in the doorway, not saying anything.
“Well, nevermind that,” Nigel said, standing up. “I’m ready for a break now, anyway. Come here, sweetie.”
Fiore smiled and walked over to Nigel. He stared the self-ascribed Lord in the eyes. The look in Fiore’s eyes made Nigel’s eyes widen slightly, and he gulped.
“Yes, sweetie?” Fiore asked mockingly.
“You…You’re not a woman!” Nigel said.
Fiore gave him a wicked grin. “That’s right. I’m not. I’m Fiore Ferio, Marissa Cobalt’s husband. I’m also your judge, jury and executioner in one. And I find you guilty of illicit activties with women. You said you were ready for a break? Allow me to help you.”
Fiore’s movements were a blur of motion as he grabbed Nigel by the neck and twisted. Bones popped. When Fiore released him, Nigel’s body slumped to the ground at his feet.
“Court is adjourned,” Fiore said.
He turned to leave, but just then a man in a sorcerer’s robe appeared in the doorway.
“YOU!” they said at the same time.
Dorlandt tossed a hastily cast lightning bolt at Fiore, and Fiore blocked it with a quickly cast shield. Fiore tossed a Fireball, but Dorlandt blocked it. The two magic-users tossed various spells at each other for a few minutes, neither getting an edge over the other.
“You’re pretty good,” Fiore said.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” Dorlandt said.
“Thanks. I had a good tutor.” He smiled slyly. “And she taught me a few tricks!”
Once again his movements a blur of motion, Fiore reached around to his back and pulled a crystal-topped staff from behind the cape. The crystal glowed. “RAZE BLAST!” Fiore called out.
A sudden explosion beneath Dorlandt sent him flying through the roof. He landed hard on the ground outside the mansion, and didn’t move again.
Sighing with satisfaction, Fiore returned the staff to its hiding place and left the mansion, just in time to be confronted with some of Nigel’s small personal army. A quick Fireball later, the half the enemy was no more and the other half was running for their lives. Fiore shook his head and continued on his way, again noticing how much he was acting like his wife. He also noticed on the far side of the yard some dead bodies strewn about. Looks like Riss ran into some trouble but managed to take care of it.
Fiore left the grounds of the mansion without further incident and made his way back to his and Marissa’s room at the inn. She was there, waiting for him.
“Ran into a little trouble getting out, did you?” he asked.
“Not a whole lot.”
“Are the other girls all right?”
“Yeah. They all went to their respective homes after thanking me. They also told me to thank you.”
“They’re certainly welcome.”
“I’d like to thank you, too,” Marissa said, her tone quite suggestive.
“I know you do,” Fiore said. “But I want out of this silly costume first.”
“I don’t think it’s silly,” Marissa said, a mischievous smile on her face. “I like it. I think you look quite adorable.”
“Adorable??? No way! I look silly like this. I never want to wear this kinda thing again.”
“Never? Not even if I ask you to?”
“Not even.”
“Not even so I can promptly take it off you?”
“Uh, well, when you put it that way…”
She sat on the bed and smiled invitingly. “Come here and let’s get that dress off you.”
i like your style, writer. i also sense the prose of a gamer, perhaps d&d, old-school style, with a board and die? this story was complete, i was satisfied by the end. i like the world of your creation, it evokes the timelessness of excellent sword&sorcery, which is a testament to your skills. keep writing!
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