Liam Moran offers an early scene from his erotic swords-and-sorcery adventure, The Darkness of Castle Tiralur. At this point in the tale Arden, a magician, and his apprentice Toral have met up with Lun, a warrior. They have decided to search together for Dannas, Lun’s comrade-in-arms, who has failed to keep a rendezvous with Lun. Here they enter the principality governed by Virax, Lord of Castle Tiralur.
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The Darkness of Castle Tiralur
Torquere Press (January 2007)
ISBN: 1-934166-61-8
Excerpt
The three travelers stood beside the dusty road, gazing at a black stone obelisk, thick as a man, and twice as tall. From its side glowered a deeply carved griffon, passant, with unusually long talons clutching a lamb.
“Well!” grunted Lun. “After three days’ march, our first sign of real progress. This must be a boundary marker, though I don’t recognize the heraldic device.”
“Nor do I,” added Arden. His face clouded as he placed a hand on the black stone carving. “This is a realm poisoned with dark magic. Magic of a very high order. In a way, I hope Dannas did not come to this place. From what you have told me about him, Lun, it is where he would be most vulnerable. We will have to be unusually careful. Toral, put your hand here and tell me what you sense.”
Toral placed his hand where his master’s had been and closed his eyes. After a moment’s silence, he said, “I feel nothing.” He paused again, puzzled. “No – not nothing. Something. Something hidden. Yes, hidden. Can you tell what it is that’s hidden, Master?”
“Well done,” Arden commended. “No, I can’t. But there are obscuring veils very deliberately placed around whatever or whoever it is. Something or someone very powerful in this realm is supposed to remain completely unseen and unknown.”
“So what do you suggest we do?” Lun asked.
“Practice invisibility ourselves, at least until we find out more of what this place is like. Be discreet. Be as unremarkable as possible, and pose no challenge unless it can’t be avoided. Toral, you and I will have to be very careful with our magic. Use the simplest spells possible. Any high level magic might attract unwanted attention.”
Toral laughed. “Do you have a simple spell that will make Lun unremarkable? Perhaps make him appear small and ugly, Master? Better yet, make his cock the size of my little finger!”
Lun seized Toral with mock anger and pulled Toral backward against his crotch. “So that’s what you really like, is it, Toral, a little finger to sit on? Do you think that would keep you adequately entertained? I’m sure Arden could arrange it!”
“No,” grinned Arden, “that would take more than a simple spell to accomplish. It would take a miracle from the gods – a miracle I would be very reluctant to pray for.” Then his smile vanished. “Seriously, do nothing that would draw extra attention to our presence. It may be that it isn’t really necessary to be this cautious, but it’s better for us to be overly careful, at least at first.”
“I understand very well, and I agree.” Lun nodded as he released Toral, swatting him playfully on the rump. “For me the best tactic is to act a little stupid. A big man is more easily ignored if he’s assumed to be slow-witted. I’ve done it before. It works quite well.”
“Good!” Arden looked at the sun. “We’ve got light enough to cover a significant distance before it’s time to set our camp. By the way the vegetation has been growing more plentiful, I expect water will be easier to find tonight.”
More serious and quiet than before, the three set out at a brisk pace. As the sun began to hover in the haze above the rolling horizon, the road led them past a few scattered farms and then into dense forest.
“This could be the ideal place to spend the night,” Toral said, gazing at the thick woods. “It smells so rich and sweet after the sharpness of the dry land we’ve been passing through.”
“Well, if we’re comparing ideals,” muttered Lun, “I think I would choose a long hot bath, a meal prepared by a good cook, and a few cups of excellent red wine. And then a big soft bed to make love in all night long.”
“Decadent sybarite!” Arden laughed. “I think Toral meant ideal within the range of our real choices. I’m appalled at your shameless desire for comfort. And you call yourself a warrior!”
With a devilish grin Lun turned to Arden and clamped a massive hand around one of his buttocks. “Well, magician, if comfort is so unimportant to you, maybe tonight is the night we complete our little exchange agreement. Are you ready to let me into that fine rump of yours, regardless of a little discomfort?”
“Certainly!” Arden shifted position and guided Lun’s hand into the cleft of his ass and squeezed the cheeks together. “Contracts as solemn as ours must be honored regardless of pain – or pleasure.” He reached a hand under Lun’s leather apron and stroked the thick mass inside the codpiece, chuckling as he watched lust gather in Lun’s eyes like summer thunderheads. “Tonight will be a good time, Lun. A very good time.”
“In the meantime,” Toral interjected with a leer, “we should find a suitable place to hold these festivities. Master Arden, will you search for water again?”
Arden turned to Toral. “Yes, but let’s do it together. That’s something you could start learning now.” He walked to where Toral stood and put a hand on his shoulder. “In principle, it’s pretty straightforward, but more complex in execution. Close your eyes. Focus your mind on the essence of what you seek: water, the essence of water, the living energy of water. Now link consciousness with me, and we will go searching.”
Almost as soon as they had begun, Toral stiffened and gasped, his mouth falling open. “There is so much! How do you discern…?”
With his eyes still closed, Arden replied, “By making the focus of what you seek more specific. There is still water, large, probably a lake, and there is moving water. Focus on where the moving water meets the still.”
“Yes, there. To the west, slightly south. Not far at all, it feels like.”
“Unlink.” Arden opened his eyes. “Good, Toral. You did well. It’s probably further away than you think, though. I estimate at least a league as the crow flies. It seems closer because there is so much water around. Accurate distance-sense requires a lot of practice. However, your direction is true. You lead the way.”
Leaving the road, the three entered the woods. Without a trail their progress across the spongy forest floor was only moderate, but after a while Lun stopped them.
“I hear the river, or a waterfall, perhaps.”
“Me, too,” Arden said. “Well done, Toral! You led us right to the spot.”
“It would have been embarrassing if I hadn’t,” replied Toral with a grin. “You two would have had to complete your contract standing against one of these trees if I had missed.”
In a moment they entered a small meadow lush with ferns and thick sweetgrass. Across the clearing, a bowshot away, a large stream tumbled over a low waterfall into the lake. Toral went to snare a game bird and gather fresh food while Lun and Arden set the camp. Then Arden peeled off his clothes and waded into the lake toward the base of the waterfall, washing away the dust and sweat of the day’s travel.
“How’s the water?” Lun called out, shucking his kilt and codpiece.
“Good. Not as cold as some of those desert springs we’ve used. As long as you aren’t expecting to be cosseted in that hot bath you were dreaming about earlier, you’ll enjoy it.”
“Ha. You’ll be the one getting a hot bath from me tonight – on the inside.” Lun waded to where Arden stood waist deep in the water and wrapped his huge arms around the magician, kissing him deeply.
Arden opened to Lun’s kiss and clung to Lun’s massive body, luxuriating in a swirl of sensations: the cool water, Lun’s warm flesh, the roughness of Lun’s chin rasping against his throat, the urgent dance of the man’s muscles as Lun ground against him, the enfolding crush of Lun’s immense arms. Nipping and licking at Lun’s ear, he lifted himself and wrapped his legs around Lun’s waist, letting Lun’s swollen shaft glide back and forth in the cleft of his ass as he pumped his own cock against the hard ridges of Lun’s belly. Lun, his mouth still locked on Arden’s throat, grunted and pulled back to gaze hungrily into Arden’s eyes. “You want this as much as I do, don’t you?”
“Yes, Lun, I do.”
“Do you think you can manage it?”
“Yes. In my youth, I learned well from good teachers. It’s been a while since I’ve had a lover inside me, but I know what to do. In addition, I have some magical resources that should greatly enhance our pleasure.”
Striding out of the water into the warm evening air, Lun carried Arden to where their cloaks lay stretched upon rushes and ferns and lowered him to the bed. Lun knelt beside Arden, covering Arden’s torso in a descending torrent of wet, sucking kisses before gently taking Arden’s shaft into his mouth.
Arden moaned and surrendered to Lun’s passionate attention, writhing with every twist of Lun’s tongue as it snaked up and down his cock. He moaned again as Lun rolled his haunches into the air and began to lick along his perineum and then into the delicate ridges of his hole.
With a brawny arm clamped around each of Arden’s thighs, Lun pulled Arden’s crack up to his face, ravaging the sensitive flesh with a furious tongue, relishing his feast of preparation.
“Oh, Lun!” gasped Arden as he drew his knees toward his chest to better expose the target. He reached down past his haunches to seize Lun’s dripping cock and pumped slowly, running his thumb around the flanged base of its now-slippery crown.
Lun let out a muffled whimper and stabbed his tongue deeper yet into Arden’s ass before pulling away and staring down into Arden’s eyes. “I’ve wanted this since I first saw you,” he rumbled huskily.
Arden squeezed the massive shaft in his hand and gazed up hungrily at Lun, at the parted lips shining with saliva, the raven hair, long and wild, about to burst from its ponytail, the eyes radiant with lust. “Me, too, Lun. Now. Come in now.”
A boyish grin flashed across Lun’s handsome face as he leaned down, spat into Arden’s hole, and spat twice again onto his cock. He straightened, and lowered Arden’s ass to meet the swollen head of his shaft. He placed the magician’s feet against his chest and began to push forward against Arden’s soft gate.
At first penetration Arden gasped, closed his eyes to recover, and then smiled up in welcome at Lun. With their eyes locked, shining, Lun drove slowly deeper into the mysterious, enfolding heat of Arden’s body. When his loins met the firm round of Arden’s ass and he could push forward no further, he paused. “Oh, this is going to be good. You feel wonderful.” He grasped Arden’s feet and lifted one over his shoulder, the other to his mouth, sucking in Arden’s first and second toes, driving his tongue between them, biting softly on the larger.
“Mmm. It’s good already, Lun,” groaned Arden, writhing in pleasure as Lun’s tongue snaked again between his toes. “Here. Let me set an energy spell.” Arden pulled his foot from Lun’s mouth, locked his ankles behind the warrior’s lean waist and sat up, settling his body upon Lun’s massive column. He placed the middle finger of his right hand against the forested knot of Lun’s navel, and that of his left on his own. “When I tell you, take three long, slow breaths, synchronized with mine, breathing out first. This spell will amplify the polarity of our bodies so that wherever and whenever our flesh touches, the charge of our body-lightning will be greatly intensified. Is that acceptable to you?”
“You’re joking, of course. Do it!”
“No, I’d never use a spell during sex without my partner’s consent. But,” Arden leered up at the muscular giant embracing him, “I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.” He pressed slightly with his fingers. “Ready? Breathe out now.”
Lun pressed his breath out slowly, watching Arden to keep in time. At the end of the second breath he could feel a strange heat begin to build at his navel, spreading out like ripples in a pond. By the end of the third breath, Arden’s finger had become a searing brand on his navel that sent its fire plunging down to his groin, igniting his balls and shaft, flashing like a prairie fire across his skin everywhere the two of them touched.
He leaned down to kiss Arden, and upon contact his lips sang with the new sensation. Yes, body-lightning. What a good name for it. “I hope you can handle what you’ve unleashed, magician,” he mumbled into Arden’s throat, his voice thick with lust. “The gods help you if you can’t.” He straightened and surrendered to the pounding drum of his desire, driving his rigid flesh up into Arden’s body again and again, helpless in the tumult of sensation and need that engulfed him.
Falling backward and pulling Lun on top of him, Arden twisted, clamped and rocked to meet every thrust that filled him, igniting his inmost parts, yielding to Lun’s conquest, Lun’s possession of his body.
Lun pulled out, and Arden yelped at the sudden void, but the warrior flipped him onto his hands and knees in a single, rough motion and drove back in. Lun leaned forward and wrapped his huge arms around Arden’s chest, sending the magic fire through them both wherever he clung, licked, bit and kissed. The rhythm of his thrusts took on a relentless life of its own, binding all awareness back into itself, into the fiery hunger that now owned their bodies, breath and touch.
Feeling the first convulsions of his climax building, Lun pulled Arden upright, crushing Arden backward into his chest, lifting Arden from his knees and ramming his cock deep into Arden’s body in ecstatic madness. As the explosion built he held Arden against him with one massive arm and with the other hand began to pump Arden’s dripping cock furiously.
Arden gasped at the fire of Lun’s fist around his shaft, then melted against the warrior’s chest, letting Lun control every move. Lun stiffened and stopped breathing for an instant, then bellowed and sobbed as he erupted deep in Arden’s bowels, burying his face in Arden’s neck, stroking urgently on Arden’s cock. Arden, feeling the burning, liquid explosions inside him, thrashed in Lun’s embrace as he shot his streams into Lun’s hand and onto the ground in long white ropes. Still they came in unison, spasms of ecstasy making their bodies arch and roll in a delirious dance of pleasure.
Finally, they collapsed together onto their bed of rushes and cloth, sweating and panting as the body-lightning faded with their orgasms. Lun, still inside Arden, pulled himself close and wrapped himself around the magician, licking the sweat from Arden’s neck, caressing his chest, belly and thighs. “Oh, Arden,” he murmured, voice soft with wonder. “So good!”
Slowly their breathing eased into rhythms of rest and their limbs slackened. Arden turned his head to kiss Lun on the lips, and softening, Lun’s shaft slithered out of Arden’s ass with the movement. Both men grunted at the loss, smiled knowingly at each other and kissed languorously, deeply.
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