Beyond?

“I've made it to the coast! Ha! A landlubber would have drowned, but not the good old Saltfoot. All I've to do now is to find one of those villages with lobotomised villagers and get them to do what I want. Just need a small ship that's all. Then I am on my way again! My prosthesis dissolved though, hopping to the next village will be no fun at all... but the stench is gone!”

-Message in a Bottle.

***Eastern Plains***

***Azir***

Suddenly something slithers around me and tightens. It circles around my neck once, twice and lays itself over my mouth. Straining my eyes, I can identify familiar, shimmering scales. Stella tied and gagged me with her tail! I force my head around to look at her out of the corner of my right eye, but she is acting like nothing special happened.

After a few moments of awkward silence she lets her eyes wander through the room. “Is something wrong? Please, go on.”

Leon starts grinning like a little child. The situation seems to amuse him to the point of almost bursting out in laughter. If the rope which is tying me up wasn't Stella's tail I would free myself and twist his neck by three hundred and sixty degrees. Though that would probably create a nice little diplomatic incident.

Stella turns her head to face Leon. “Is? Something? Wrong?” Since she is looking away from me I can't see her expression, but it has to be fearsome! Leon's grin vanishes and he edges away from the table as if that would make it easier to jump up and flee in case of an emergency. “Everything is okay. If I am honest then the incident with the satellite was a good thing. Your fiancé’s way of speaking his mind may seem rude, but he is smart. Having someone like him at a conference lets you at least know where the other party is standing.”

He complimented me! I would've never thought that a person like him could be persuaded to do so! Stella's expression must look like an ancient god of destruction and annihilation could come down on him at any moment! If I am honest then she is a god of destruction. She just doesn't know it. The nuke, which I used on the Black Magicians, is her power after all. The raw materials came from her efforts in helping me.

Giana nods and places both of her hands flat onto the table. “We shouldn't harbour bad feelings about old stories. But since we shared our history with you, how about explaining how Nict and Dwem ended up in cahoots with each other?”

Helen starts with explaining our ongoing conflict with the puppeteer who is hiding in the shadows, followed by the Great Shaman and Dwem's story.

When Chuck stops speaking our visitors are left with confused expressions. It was a little too much information at once after all. Finding out that this conflict seems to span the whole continent has a huge impact if you aren't an emotionally-solid person like me.

Though it seems like they haven't realized a very important point, which gives our voyage a new direction. First I have to free myself from this gag. I try to use my teeth, but I have to admit very soon that Stella's scales are as hard as my dental enamel. She doesn't seem to be bothered by my attempt to bite off the tip of her tail. A woman's tail is essentially just a big accumulation of muscles, tendons and bone. My attempt was probably doomed to fail from the start.

Due to the fact that I'll soon be called “daddy”, I decided to study the female anatomy. If there is a small chance that you wake up one day and find your partner gnawing at your hand you have to take precautions.

Going by the book's knowledge Stella has to feel at least something in her tail. Even if I can't cause her pain, the book said that most females are still sensitive to anything touching their most precious appendage. So I start licking the tail, moving my tongue back and forth, up and down. Stella doesn't react, so I pull out my trump card and start sucking while applying pressure with my tongue. That causes a slight reddening of her face, but otherwise she keeps calm.

In the meantime the discussion between the present parties moves forward while they are trying to decide on how to proceed from here. It's the usual political talk where nobody wants to admit anything or take any responsibility. The tail is perfectly covering my mouth, so nobody notices what I am doing.

Not giving up I intensify my efforts until Stella's expression turns strange. The pressure of her tail increases, but I endure it until a slight shiver runs through the living rope that binds me. Giving off a quiet, satisfied moan she slides from her chair while loosening her grip on me. How cute... that sounded sexy!

I hurry to free myself and pull the tail away from my mouth. The discussion stopped when Stella slipped from her chair, so it's the perfect moment for me to insert my opinion. “Guys, aren't you all forgetting the strange fleet of black ships? Giana, Leon, you two said that the army was brought by them. Where did they come from? Judging by your description the number of ships must've been huge if they transported so many troops. Going by your observation that the ships were painted black it must mean that this is unusual? Isn't it possible to determine the origin of those ships and shouldn't they be related directly to our problem since they seem to belong to an unknown force?”

Chuck is the first one to avert his eyes from the empty spot where Stella vanished from their view. “You are certainly right. We have a very small merchant fleet since Dwem has only one sizeable port, but our ships travel far up to the north and a long way down the coast and towards south. Some even go the western archipelago of islands. I've never heard of a fleet of black ships, nor do any of the nations on this continent paint their ships black.”

Giana nods with slightly red cheeks. “Neither do we know of any nations with such habits. The northern tribes never had many ships since there isn't enough wood in the northern regions. The southerners don't paint their ships and the pirates use what they can steal from others. The Nomads don't have to be mentioned since they have no access to the ocean.”

Then there aren't many possibilities left. “That means that our enemy has his base of operations on the second continent. It would explain why he was able to hide himself so well. Either that, or we are facing an invasion from another plane of existence.”

Leon starts stuttering. “Inv... In... other... P... Plane of existence!?”

I nod. “Well of course. Our enemy has proven that he is able to open portals to places which aren't on this world. But I think that the possibility with the second continent has much more appeal. If there are two solutions to a problem, you should always try the faster one first. Checking out the second continent is easy. Searching for our opponent on other worlds could prove to be a little time consuming.”

“It's time consuming, he says! Hahahaha!” The Great Shaman shakes his totem at me and starts laughing.

I shrug my shoulders and continue. “The other continent also has some kind of satellite defence, but we haven't tried our drones yet. It may work if we send one there to take a look at what's going on. Flying deep enough should do the trick. Though it seemed that their defence is similar to Quinn's. I suppose you won't tell us how your system works?”

Leon snorts and shakes his head. “No. That's a national secret. We won't share our most secret technology with heretics.”

Helen tilts her head while looking at Leon. “We'll still send the drone. It's worth the try.”

Yes! I am allowed to use one of my toys! Stella's limp tail is still in my hands and I use it to point at Leon. “It's not like I actually need any hints to find out how your technology works. Our satellite's magical circuits are built very sturdily. It's a military device after all. The only thing that's able to take it down without visible effect is something that disrupts spell formations or a device which is able to suck the mana out of it's surroundings.

Since the second option is hard to handle I suppose you built a disruptor. Most likely something that creates a big magnetic field to produce a ripple effect. Magic is after all obeying certain laws of nature. If your magnetic field hits the right frequency you can disrupt spells and magic circuitry like any other electronic device. We'll simply protect the next generation of satellites better against those kinds of influences.”

Leon's expression darkened during my explanation, but he didn't give himself away like earlier. “Magic is against the laws of the goddess. Protect your neat little devices against magnetic fields all you want. We don't fear you.”

Giana grabs Leon's hand. “It's getting late and we've already been talking for a long time. How about postponing further talks until tomorrow? I am sure that everyone wants to think about what we heard here. We also have to inform the king and the queen about the situation.”

The Great Shaman nods, bobbing the feathers of his mask by doing so. “That's a good idea. The new situation requires recalculations and careful considerations.”

Lucas claps his hands. “If it's like that then we would like to invite everyone to stay and enjoy the luxuries here.”

Leon rejects the offer by raising a hand. “Actually we need to get back to our expedition force. They have to be informed of the changed circumstances.” He stands up and bows to take his leave, followed by Giana.

The Great Shaman also declines. “It's okay. There is much to do and since your stepper discs offer me the opportunity to travel quickly between this conference and Dwem, I'll use the time to get some things done.” He shakes his totem to say goodbye and leaves the room with his aides.

That means that only we from Nict remain behind. Lost in thought I use the tip of Stella's tail to scratch my chin. Leon's reaction to my speech was a little subdued. Maybe they have a fancier trick up their sleeves?

Suddenly a hand slams onto the table right in front of me. The shock causes me to twitch. I slowly follow the arm up to the shoulder of the person who shocked me like that. I notice the heaving chest before I look into Stella's bright red face.

Not knowing what else to do I use her tail and wave it at her. “Love, you are back! I am glad that you recovered that fast. Hurgh-”

Stella's left hand shoots out and closes around my throat. A last death rattle escapes my lips before my windpipe is reduced to an unhealthy size. I wriggle as I am pulled from the chair, but to no avail. Stella's forceful pulling causes me to lose my balance and I frantically try to regain my foothold, but Stella ignores my struggle and pulls me along with her towards the door.

On the brink of my consciousness I notice that I am dragged over the floor until we reach the stepper disc in front of the room. The world starts darkening and swaying while I try to stay awake.

Just when I am about to pass out Stella lets go and I drop to the ground. Lying on my back I draw a deep breath. Alive! So lucky, she didn't kill me!

Surveying my surroundings I find out that I am on the floor in our mansion's bedroom. I am lying on my back while Stella is standing with tears in her eyes above me, so I raise my hands into a protective position. “Stel, I am sorry. But you didn't give me any other choice.”

Then she sits down on top of me and starts to strip, opening the top of her robe! Instead of hitting me she grabs my left hand and places it on her naked, bouncy chest. The tip of her tail wanders into my right hand and with her free arm she grabs my collar to pull me closer.

“~Do that again!~”

***Eastern Plains***

***Giana***

We are sitting in our transport and I am staring out of the window. “What do you think about them, Leon?”

It takes him a while to answer. “They are heretics!”

That much was obvious from the start! “What else. For example this Shaman...”

Again it takes a while until he finds the right words. “He is smart. They seem to have some tricks up their sleeves and they have guns. We have to be careful of Dwem.”

I nod, but keep my attention on the scenery. “So you admit that they are powerful. What else? What do you think of this new Nict?”

This time it doesn't take him long to answer. “They are still running around with swords and spears. Their artefacts and building capabilities could become annoying, but that's all. And they are perverts!”

I nod slowly and agree to the only point in which we share the same opinion.

“They are perverts.”

.