Asher's Futa Chronicles

***

Remmi deals with the morning after banging a supernatural entity, learning a valuable life lesson. Then had to stand in for Asher in one of the most important meetings of their lives. No pressure.

Meanwhile, Beth finally gets to scratch an old itch while Shae listens in from next door.

Another long one, folks, sorry?

Enjoy!

***

Chapter 35

REMMI

The polished wood was cool against my cheek. Sitting at the table with my head down wasn't the most comfortable, but at least I was out of bed.

James had gone downstairs to get us breakfast when I woke up this morning, giving me enough time to pull on my clothes. But that had used up most of my energy already, so I plopped into a chair by the table in his room. It wasn't long before my head found its way down to the table and my eyes closed once more.

Shae had been nowhere to be seen when I woke. I'm sure I could reach out and find her with my mind, but I didn't want to do that right now. My brain hurt.

"Here, drink," James said as he put the steaming mug on the table beside where I had my head resting. "You can't go out there looking like this."

"I don't want to go out there," I said. "I want to go back to bed."

"Come on now," James started. "You can't hide up here in my room all day. People will talk."

I raised my head off the table enough to give James an evil look. It was somewhat subdued by the fact that my face had a big red mark across it where I'd been lying on my arm.

"They already talk," I said.

"True..." James said. "But...well...just eat something, you'll feel better after some food."

I frowned at him but reluctantly took a sip of the warm beverage he'd brought me. It warmed my insides nicely, so I took another, followed by some of the bread on the plate.

"There you go," James said. The chair creaked as he sat down across from me. He kept quiet as he picked up his own mug.

"What?" I managed around a mouthful of food.

"I didn't say anything," James said.

"You didn't have to," I replied. "You just have this look."

"What look?" James asked innocently.

"The 'I'm not going to ask, I'm just going to wait for you to talk about it yourself' look," I said.

James didn't say anything, only nodded.

"Jerk," I said and washed down the bread with another drink.

A few minutes later, and I was feeling awake and almost human.

"Did I really call Shae, Mom?" I asked, cringing.

"Don't sweat it," James said, waving it off. "It's a nickname we use with her all the time. It's kinda her thing, though, looking after the rest of us. It's her nature. Just don't call her that too often, she gets irked about it sometimes."

"Got it," I said and swallowed the rest of my food. "You go on ahead," I started, rising from my chair. "I want to wash up real quick, and then I'll be downstairs."

"You sure?" James asked as he stood, giving me a worried look.

I simply nodded as I headed to the bathroom. I waited for the door to close after he left and washed my hands and face.

"Miranda," I said quietly.

"Yes, my Guardian?" Miranda said, shimmering into existence in the doorway to the bathroom. She was back in her blood red dress today and sounded rather chipper. At least, more so than yesterday.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"Oh," Miranda's eyes widened and sparkled at the same time. "We had sex!" She said brightly.

"We did?" I asked.

"Oh yes!" Miranda said, the excitement in her voice unmissable. "It was quite a lovely time, so much fun!"

It had taken a while for the memories of last night's events to resurface to the point I could understand them. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement. I still didn't understand them, but if I was careful, I could sort of feel around them to get an idea of what happened.

"That was sex for you?" I asked.

"Well, no, not really," Miranda said. "That was sex the same way as you do it."

"Huh?" I managed as I was drying my hands.

"You said you wanted to have sex the same way you do it, so we did," Miranda said, her arms squeezing together in front of her and pressing against her chest. "Why? Would you like to do it again?" Her excitement was that of a college cheerleader on crack.

"Uh, no," I said and watched Miranda deflate slightly. "Not right now," I countered. "Got a lot to do today, you know."

"Of course, my Guardian," Miranda said, some of her previous enthusiasm returning.

"Just, out of curiosity," I started as I turned and stepped past her, out of the bathroom. "How did you...come to the conclusion that what we did last night was how I had sex?"

"Oh!" Miranda said. "You'd done that to Guardian Asher. Using your body to encase her and pleasure her until she couldn't take it anymore. You both seemed to have enjoyed it, and since there wasn't anyone who could turn around and do it to you..."

"You figured I'd enjoy being enveloped and pleasured by you," I finished for her.

"Exactly!" Miranda said, then paused. "Why, didn't you enjoy it?"

"It's not that I didn't enjoy it," I started, carefully picking my words. "You did make me feel amazing, thank you..."

"Was it too much?" Miranda asked, her face looking pained. "It was too much, wasn't it? I'm sorry--"

I cut her off by taking hold of her hands.

"Miranda, it's fine," I started. "It was intense, but still fun. I enjoyed myself, really. But next time--"

"Yes, next time?" Miranda asked excitedly.

"Next time," I tried again. "Let's take it a little slower, OK?"

"Ahhh," Miranda said slowly. "I understand. It was too much for you, so it ended much too fast,' Miranda nodded. "Got it. Next time, I'll be careful so I can make it last longer for you." She smiled brightly.

"Right..." I said, nodding. "OK," I said and squeezed her hands. "Glad we had that talk. Now, I need to get downstairs."

"Of course, my Guardian. I'm sure you'll want to be present when the messenger gets here," Miranda said.

"What messenger?" I asked.

"The one approaching the main gate right now," Miranda said.

I quickly packed away all thoughts of last night to pick apart later and made my way downstairs.

Sure enough, by the time James and I reached the main gate, a messenger was already talking with Shae.

Shae held up her finger to James to wait as she listened to what the messenger was saying.

"They're on their way now?" Shae asked the messenger.

"Correct," the messenger said.

"Thank you," Shae said as the messenger nodded and turned around to leave.

"Well, that's unexpected," Shae said as she turned to us.

"What is?" I asked.

"Oh, good, you're up. Feeling better, I take it?" Shae asked.

"Later," I said, waving away the comment. "What's going on?"

"The king has agreed to speak with us, and the church will accompany him as well," Shae said.

"That's great!" James said and then paused. "That is great, right?"

"If it avoids a bloodbath, then yes," I said. "What do we need to do?"

"They're setting up a meeting spot just outside the burn scar. We're to send two people to oversee the setup to ensure there is no subterfuge."

"Subterfuge, huh?" I asked.

"Yes, it seems the king does not wish to enter the forest in order to come to The Roadhouse," Shae said.

"I'm not surprised," James said. "After what he did to the forest, I'm pretty sure he'll get his ass kicked if he gets within arm's reach."

"If he's lucky, that's all that he'll get," I said. "OK, so there's a meeting point set. How long do we have?"

"Two hours," Shae said. "His majesty appears to have certain expectations when it comes to such events."

"Meaning, he wants a throne set up with a cushion for him to sit on," James said.

"Maybe," Shae said, but then her expression darkened.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"They have conditions for the meeting," Shae said.

"OK, what?" I asked.

"Mostly just standard safety protocols and such. But," Shae started. "There is one condition, and it's non-negotiable."

"What?" James asked.

"They want Asher at the meeting," Shae said. "It seems she insulted the king's son, and they want to talk about it."

"What?" I asked.

"Seems kind of petty, if you ask me," James said.

"Well, it did kind of start all of this," Shae said through a grimace. "They said unless she presents herself with an appropriate apology, then the deals off."

"Great," James muttered.

"It's not all bad," Shae said. "For the king to agree to this meeting so soon after the start of hostilities means he's in a bad way."

"How so?" I asked.

"He wants to start negotiations while he still has a relatively strong position," Shae said. "The fact that they threw in this apology bit tells me they're looking for a way out. Accepting an apology from the person who started it all is a way to bow out and still save face."

"Or, it's a trap," James said.

"Or it's a trap," Shae agreed.

"Well, our scouts did say there seemed to be some desertion in the ranks of the army," James said.

One of the reports I'd read yesterday said the army wasn't all standing troops. Many of the soldiers they had were pressed into service along the way. They were traders, farmers, day laborers, that sort of thing. They weren't real soldiers, and they didn't want to be here.

"If we don't do this," Shae started. "The king could do something desperate before he loses complete control of his army. If that were to happen, he couldn't return to the capital and still consider himself in charge of the country."

"Maybe someone else would step in and take care of him for us at that point," James said.

"True," Shae said. "But, it would send the country into chaos and who knows who'd be propped up next on the throne. They could be 10 times worse than King Putner."

"Fine," I said with a sigh. "We'll go."

"Uh," James started. "I hate to point out the obvious, but aren't we missing someone?"

I glanced at Shae, who just shook her head.

"He's got a short memory," Shae said.

"What?" James asked, looking from Shae to me and back. "What'd I miss this time?"

***Ω***

REMMI-ASHER

"They brought an actual red carpet?" I whispered to Shae as we approached the neutral site.

A large square of land had been roped off with curtain half-walls, and multiple red carpets had been laid out inside to cover the ground. Chairs had been set up on three sides of the "room," of which it was obvious which chair was for the king. It sat atop a small platform, a few inches taller than the rest.

"There are protocols to these things that have to be met in order to be official," Shae whispered back.

What she said was true. One of the many books we'd been forced to read while with Tim included Kingdom Protocol. There were so many small, nit-noid things that had to be done, such as blessing the site in the religions of all parties involved, making sure the corners of the room faced a certain direction, having the king's back to his capital, etc.

There were even people hired as protocol officers just to make sure everything was just so.

We were waiting at our designated "waiting spot" until all parties arrived. You couldn't just go into the meeting space. You had to be announced in a certain order, and a bunch of other protocol I'd left to Shae to organize. I was relying on her to keep me out of trouble.

The sun was getting warm, and I was trying not to fidget as James, Shae, Cr'eon, and I waited for the others to arrive.

We could see both the church and the king's parties in the distance. They were taking their sweet time getting here, and I was starting to think it was on purpose.

*Of course it's on purpose,* Shae said in my mind.

I glanced around at my group. Everyone but Cr'eon was in disguise. She didn't need one as her presence was part of the reason all this was happening.

James and Shae were wearing the disguises they normally wore while they were down at The Roadhouse. Whatever they used fooled everyone but those of us who initially came here with them. It had something to do with a ring, but I didn't bother to find out how it worked, as I'd never need to use it.

I was putting my shapeshifting ability to the test today by taking the form of my girlfriend, Asher. I'd done this enough times in private that I was confident I could fool anyone. I wasn't worried about fooling a man who'd seen Asher for all of five minutes.

An eternity later, all parties arrived. It was another eternity of introductions, pomp and circumstance, and even speeches before we were all sitting down, facing one another.

The king surprised me. I was expecting a fat old guy like in all the movies. But though older, he was a burly man in excellent shape. He had dark hair and a chin-beard, and wore armor beneath an actual cape!

The prince was beside the king, not looking very pleased to be here.

Both men wore armor different from that of their guards. It was even different from what the prince had been wearing the last time I saw him.

Something about the armor was nagging at me.

The clergy, on the other hand, looked even more like soldiers than the king's guard. Every member wore the same grooved metal armor and bright red-and-gold robes.

The Cardinal sat alone while the rest of his people stood behind him.

"Can we get on with this farce, already?" the prince growled low to his father, but we all heard him.

The king ignored him while the Cardinal frowned in disapproval.

That's when Shae started talking. Good lord, the woman can talk. I only understood about half of what she was saying. The language she used was one I thought I was fluent in, but the way she pronounced words made me question myself.

Let me break it down for you, as I don't want you to be as bored as I was during this mess.

The king said we were on his land and basically setting up places of worship for an outlawed religion.

We argued that the parcels of land we occupied were not theirs to claim. And that the religion was one of the core faiths, free for all to worship. All of this backed by ancient law.

Blah blah blah.

This went on, back and forth, for a solid hour without anyone making any headway.

The closest we got to anything was the whole "you can stay, but be my slaves" routine the prince had told us back when he first arrived at The Roadhouse. But that was a non-starter, of course.

For my part, I sat there quietly as the prince stared daggers at me. Or, more specifically, Asher.

At no time did the church speak. They weren't supposed to speak as they were there to mediate. When they finally did speak, it was to call for a break.

We were all standing and, per protocol, waiting for the king's party to leave when the prince finally lost his cool.

"This is xroet!" The prince barked, drawing a sharp look from his father. Don't ask me what the word meant. But before the king could say anything, the prince continued, spouting off a long line of other words I didn't understand or even recognize.

The king grabbed his son's arm and spun him around, about to strike him, when the Cardinal spoke up.

"Then it is decided," the Cardinal said.

*What?* I asked Shae. *What's decided? What the hell'd that guy say?*

Shae shushed me as the Cardinal continued.

"Do the Guardians continue to proclaim by ancient writ?" The Cardinal asked Shae.

Even though Shae's body remained perfectly calm, I sensed the dread from her.

"We do," Shae said.

*Shit,* James muttered.

*What? What's going on?* I asked, forcing myself to keep from turning to face James.

*You...or Asher was just challenged by the prince to solo combat to decide the outcome,* James said.

*So? He's a puss, I'll kick his ass, easy,* I said. I'd sized the prince up the first day I saw him. He was in shape and had some training, but didn't look like he was getting into sword fights every day.

*The challenge he used was in the same ancient laws as we're claiming for the Guardians,* James said. *If we refuse the challenge, we're basically giving up, and they win.*

*I repeat, so what?* I said.

*It's a challenge to the death,* Shae said, still staring at the Cardinal.

*Death?* The word slammed into me like a fist. Sure, I could beat the guy, but could I kill him? Over this?

"We accept the challenge," Cr'eon spoke for the first time.

"Then it is done," the Cardinal stated.

The prince had a crazed look in his eye, as if he was about to come over his chair at me.

The king looked furious, but not at us for a change. The way he was looking at his son, you'd have thought the prince had just stabbed him.

I was too shocked to look at the Daemon that just signed me up for a deathmatch.

"As the challenged, you have the choice," the Cardinal said.

Without skipping a beat, Cr'eon answered.

"As per ancient writ," Cr'eon said.

"So be it," the Cardinal said and turned to the prince. "Heard?"

"Heard!" the prince snapped.

"Sealed," the Cardinal said and left the room without waiting for the king and his party.

"Stupid boy!" the king growled and started out the door. "Bring him!" he barked.

One of the king's knights ushered the prince out of the room, but not before the prince had a chance to smirk at me.

This left only the four of us in the room, watching the other parties mount their steeds and depart.

"What that fuck was that?" I asked when I could speak again.

"You will decide the outcome of this dispute," Cr'eon said as she looked at me.

"Yeah, and to win, I have to kill the king's son!" I spat. "You think the king's just going to let us get away with murdering his son and then head on back home?"

"By ancient writ--" Cr'eon started.

"The same ancient writ the king is already ignoring!?!" I demanded.

"OK, this isn't helping," Shae interrupted. "Let's head back."

"Yeah," James added. "Y'all can yell at each other back at The Roadhouse."

"Well, at least tell me when this stupid duel will take place," I said as we left the make-shift room.

"Dawn, of course," Cr'eon said as if it were common knowledge.

"Of course," I muttered.

The trip back was quiet as I stewed and the others plotted.

"Why can't the king just override the prince?" I asked later, while we were sitting around at dinner. "It was obvious this wasn't what he wanted."

Word had spread through The Roadhouse of the coming fight, and reactions were mixed. Some offered me luck, and others fighting tips. Others simply expressed gratitude for settling it one way or the other without further bloodshed.

Yeah, except the prince's blood or mine.

"He can't," Shae said. "Since he's a prince of the reigning royal bloodline, under ancient law, he has the right to put his life on the line for his country."

"That's just stupid," I said.

"It was a different time," Cr'eon said.

"Still stupid," I mumbled.

"Not really," Beth spoke up. She and Mondy had been the observers we'd sent out to oversee the erecting of the meeting spot where the "challenge of doom originated." They'd stuck around afterwards to be witnesses.

"How so?" I asked.

"Every person who raises their hand to serve in their country's military is putting their life on the line to protect their country and countrymen," Beth continued. "It doesn't matter if it's the Kingdom of Yolig or the United States. They will lay down their life in service to others."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," I said, stopping to think about it. "But this prick isn't doing it for some grandiose reason like that. He's doing it out of revenge for his wounded pride."

"Can't argue with you there," Beth said.

"Anything strike you as familiar about his armor?" James asked.

"It's Guardian armor," Cr'eon said flatly.

"Guardian armor?" I asked. "How'd he get that?"

"Where do you think?" James asked.

"Both the king and the prince wear Guardian armor," Cr'eon said. "While uncommon, it has happened before. If a Guardian falls in battle, or dies for other reasons, or just loses it, their armor doesn't simply disappear."