Elf Maidens of Thurn

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Chapter 31: Solving Contradictions

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When we set off from Atene, we knew that our mission to find another of the seven hibernation chambers, or Potiora, would bring us into contact with one or more other races. However we never anticipated the amount of information the sentient machine that controls the Merope Potiora is able to tell us. It describes what it knows about the ancestry of our different races. The information appeals to the scholar in me, but it is of minimal use at the moment. Of greater interest, is our ancestor's theories about how each of the Potiora races would survive in this new world.

Our group has met with the leaders of the race awoken from the Merope chamber. If their leaders are to be believed, their population is already several times larger than the combined populations of Thurn, Atene and Phebe. Furthermore, the Merope technology is more advanced than anything used by the Thurnian and Atenex races. We haven't met the Phebes yet, so we don't know their level of technology.

The Merope's superior technology means that they are far better placed to help the other Potiora races, but they show no inclination to do so. While the Merope technology is impressive, it is clearly used by, and for the benefit of, those in power. The hypnotic effect of the purple light in the Sphere of Wisdom was an example of the misuse of advanced technology.

"The Merope senate may have expansionist ambitions, but they focus most of their resources towards preserving their own grip on power," observes Cassandra.

"Even so, the Merope will be a dangerous threat if they choose to cause trouble for Atene or Thurn," I reply.

The Merope people no longer visit their Potiora, believing they have extracted all they want to know from the vast knowledge stored in the intelligent machine that controls the tower. From my experiences during my interrogation of the Dioxippe intelligence in Atene, I think the Merope leaders are mistaken. They anticipate that in a few generations their population will grow large enough to expand into Atene and Thurn. We have yet to meet one of the Phebes, although I suspect the Merope leaders would be perfectly content for the Phebes to become extinct. Thurnians and Atenex may one day share the same fate if the Merope leaders have their way.

Despite the disgraceful treatment of the elves within Thurn's borders, the survival of the Atenex race owes much to the rampant breeding of Elf Maidens in Thurn. Because all elves born in Thurn are clones of their mother, the combined Thurn and Atene female population of elves now exceeds the number of male elves by a considerable margin. Until recently, contact between elves in Thurn and the freeborn Atenex has been limited, so the gender mix among freeborn Atenex has always been more balanced. However, because of the poor fertility of Atenex males, the birth rate of freeborn Atenex has plummeted in recent years. In an effort to stem the decline, Thurnian men have been allowed to breed with freeborn Atenex females. While that should stabilise the Atenex population, it creates an even worse gender skew. Nor does it help a similar reproduction problem in Thurn. The static size of population of native Thurnians is a stubborn problem needing some serious research to solve.

We know very little about the Phebes. If those in Merope's underground city, Pahuna, are to be believed, the Phebes are suffering a catastrophic decline in the size of their population, and may soon become extinct. The Merope machine suggests we help solve the Phebe's problem in the same way that my forebears unintentionally solved the Atenex struggle to maintain a viable population. I'm unsure what good will come from us making contact with the Phebes, but we should at least try.

"We could learn a lot by spending some time here at the Merope Potiora," says Cassandra. "Not least of which are answers the anomalies between what the Dioxippe machine told us at the Atene Poriora, and what the Merope machine is telling us here."

"I agree," adds Ikaroa, who was Cassandra's research partner during our time in Atene. "Dioxippe was adamant that this is the land on which our distant ancestors evolved, Merope implies that it isn't. One of them must be wrong. I would like to discover the truth."

"I would also like to discover more, including learning some of the knowledge stored in the Merope machine," I reply. "However, that will take several months, and time isn't something we have in abundance. We promised to return to Atene within six months; at least a month before any pregnant Atenex is due to give birth. It has taken us the best part of a month to reach here from Atene, and a return journey travelling against the river current will be slower. Added to which, we will need to carry the boats around the rapids that initially delayed us. That won't be easy if nearly half of our party is pregnant. The longer we delay returning to Atene, the harder our journey will become."

"I think we should also try to locate the Phebes while we are here," says Makareta. "We aren't likely to get another chance once we return to Atene. I estimate that we have three months before we need to start our journey back to Atene."

I'm reluctant to suggest dividing our small party, but doing so offers the best chance of achieving our goals. Fortunately, there is general agreement when I suggest the idea. Cassandra, Ikaroa, Defina35, and I will remain at the Merope Potiora. Meanwhile Makareta, Ihapera, Whina and Emere will try and locate the Phebes. I think we all understand the risks of dividing into such small groups. The river and surrounding forest are home to several species of dangerous beasts. Although most of them seem harmless if left alone, none of us fool ourselves into believing that there aren't predators lurking nearby.

We move most of our supplies into the Potiora tower. Makareta's party can travel faster without the burden of excess supplies. The second wakawaka is taken out of the water and stored inside the tower. Leaving it moored in the river would be asking for trouble. The river provides both drinking water and a plentiful supply of fish, so Makareta's party can easily find food on their journey. Both Whina and Emere grew up in a riverside settlement, so they will be familiar with edible plants that grow near the water. We, on the other hand, must forage in the thick, and potentially hostile forest, or eat from our stored supplies.

We discuss Makareta's exploration plan, although it is little more than a rough strategy. Apart from a squiggly line on the map I drew back in Atene, we have no idea how far upstream this smaller river is navigable, nor anything about the terrain surrounding it.

Makareta promises to return here no later than ten weeks from today. I would have preferred a shorter absence, but she and her party may need to travel a long distance. Besides, our research here could easily take that long to make any sense of what we hope to learn.

We part company early the next morning, and Cassandra, Ikaroa and I begin our own ambitious task. Defina35's skills are vocational rather than academic, and she excels at metalwork. She finds some scraps of metal, presumably leftovers from when the Merope people abandoned this area. Before long she is producing a variety of tools and a selection of weapons.

Cassandra, Ikaroa and I make good progress with our research over the next week. Ikaroa is still in heat, so she and I are occasionally distracted by sexual urges that we need to satisfy. Cassandra soon overcomes her morning sickness, although Rawiri demands some of her time whenever he gets hungry.

The Merope intelligence that controls the Potiora provides answers when asked direct questions. However, after its initial bout of helpfulness, it rarely volunteers additional information. Consequently we spend a lot of our time trying to work out what questions to ask. We gradually build up a clearer picture of the origins of the Potiora, and why our ancient forebears created them.

"Not everything that Merope and Dioxippe tell us is correct," says Cassandra when we review our first week's work. "Merope says that each Heliade stores a huge library of facts about our ancestors, but those libraries aren't exhaustive. I think that is why Merope and Dioxippe disagree about whether we are living on our ancestor's land or a different one. They both hold facts that help towards solving that question, but nothing that answers it directly. Being intelligent, they've interpreted the facts they each possess, and arrived at different conclusions."

"It would be easier if the Heliades shared their information with each other," observes Ikaroa.

"Yes, but I think their inability to do so is a deliberate feature in their design," replies Cassandra. "The Heliades seem to be able to send and receive messages with each other, but not to generally share what they know. Merope said that each of the ancestor races that contributed to a Potiora chose what information to pass onto their descendants. That implies the different races didn't agree with each other."

"Hmm, that could be true," I muse. "Dioxippe said the old world was dying from natural disasters that triggered famines and wars. That suggests there was a lot of distrust between the different races in the dying days of their civilisations."

"Which is something we are in danger of recreating here if the Merope leaders proceed with their goal of racial domination," says Ikaroa.

"Possibly," I reply. "But we are a long way off being able to address that issue. For now we must learn everything we can about our origins. That may help us understand a way forward."

"We should instruct Merope to answer our questions with stored facts provided by the ancients, rather than the machine's interpretation of those facts," says Cassandra. "That way we can put our own interpretation on those facts."

While Cassandra's suggestion seems such a simple idea, it enables us to make several breakthroughs in our understanding of our origins. Over the next month we learn enough to compile the various strands of our research into a coherent picture. By combining and filtering the information given to us by the Dioxippe and Merope machines we resolve the initial conflict about the land on which we live.

We deduce that we are living on our ancestor's world, but that the habitable zone on it has reduced to small zones determined by the vagaries of ocean and wind currents, or the presence of geothermal activity such as geysers and volcanoes. Frozen wastes still cover most of our world, but perhaps not as much as they once did. That explains why Thurn's winters are so bitterly cold. Away from the north coast, the land is sheltered from the icy winter winds, so the climate becomes milder and more bountiful.

"I asked the Merope machine to try and explain the different climate between Thurn and here," says Cassandra. "There are no facts in its library to explain the change in climate as we travel south, so I asked it to deduce an answer from what it knows."

"And what did it decide?" I ask.

"Merope estimated with sixty percent certainty, that a large heat source to the south of us could achieve the difference in climate. Perhaps something natural like a thermal field or an active volcano, but it could also be something that our ancestors left behind."

I've come across thermal fields before, with their geysers and boiling pools, but I've never seen a volcano. I've only read about one in a discredited history book gathering dust in Thurn's Imperial library. Mountains that spew fire and molten rocks seem more like fiction than fact. But Cassandra isn't ready to dismiss the idea, partly because her research in Atene also found mention of fire breathing mountains.

"We don't have the time or the resources to travel south and investigate that theory," I say, knowing both Ikaroa and Cassandra are enthusiastic for such a venture.

"I agree," concedes Cassandra. "Besides it isn't the only theory Merope offered. Merope said the change could be due to a current of warm ocean water flowing towards the west coast. If Makareta's party succeeds in making contact with the Phebes, perhaps they will know something about it."

We celebrate our progress the following evening. While Cassandra, Ikaroa and I have been occupied with our research, Defina35 has been busy exploring the remains of the old Merope settlement. Despite her city upbringing, Defina35 has successfully seen off the occasional wild beast. Generally the animals living nearby will avoid confrontation. The wicked looking blade that Defina35 has made for herself has so far deterred any animals who mistake her for their next meal.

"The Merope social structure that we observed in Pahuna must have existed here as well," says Defina35, when she gives the rest of us a tour of her discoveries. "See. This house clearly belonged to one of their leaders. The house is well made and the walls are still largely intact. Inside, I found an abandoned plate that was made of metal. When I compare this house to the others, there are several big differences. Most of those houses have collapsed, and what remains suggests they were hastily made with shoddy materials. I also found several of these scattered around the village."

I look at the box of metal objects that Defina35 has gathered ready to melt down in the forge she has made. I've seen such things used in Thurn to restrain dangerous prisoners and disruptive adolescent elves. Since it seems unlikely that the Merope's ancestors would leave such items in storage for their descendants, I conclude that the Merope made these items themselves. Tambara told us that Merope had a limited supplies of metal, so using a precious resource on prisoner restraints speaks volumes about their society's priorities.

"If the majority of the Merope population are treated little better than slaves, then the expansionist dreams of Merope's rulers could be upset by rebellion from within their own society," observes Ikaroa.

"Possibly," replies Cassandra. "Thurn's leaders treat adolescent elves similarly, but their rule continues unchallenged. I think it would take a significant event to spark an open rebellion in either society."

"I agree, but it something worth noting," I add. "Where do you think they found the metal, Defina?"

"There are iron and copper items among the things I've collected," replies Defina35. "This area is unlikely to have natural deposits of either metal. I think they were made by melting down items that the Merope have found inside the tower. I built my forge from the remnants of an old Merope forge."

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Chapter 32: Breakthrough

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Our research continues to make progress, and we should be able to complete our work by the time Makareta's party returns. We approach the time of the month when Defina35 and Ikaroa should be coming into heat. I confess I am eagerly waiting for the chance for some sex. At first we think that Defina35 is a little late coming into heat, but as the days progress, she realises that she may be pregnant. She's had sex with me on countless occasions and not become pregnant, so it seems likely that her escapade with the stud in the breeding pen in Merope may be the cause. It's too early to be sure about her pregnancy, but it means that Ikaroa is going to be the only available Atenex in heat until Makareta's party returns.

Sex with Ikaroa is problematic. Ikaroa is the bonded mate of an Atenex male. While she has been more than willing to have sex with me when she's in heat, I'm aware of the dire social consequences should I make Ikaroa pregnant. Consequently I've previously been very careful with our games. Cassandra's and my ambition is to unite the Thurnian, Atenex and, if possible, Phebes races. Sparking a private feud with an Atenex male will do nothing to help achieve that goal.

Of course, Cassandra and I could have sex together with Ikaroa's help. My body will respond to Ikaroa's pheromones, and even though Cassandra isn't in heat, she is capable of enjoying sex with Ikaroa's participation. However, doing that is unfair to Ikaroa, whose own sexual urges will go unfulfilled.

"We need an artificial cock," suggests Cassandra. "I could fuck Ikaroa with it while you fuck me."

"There's no need for that," replies Ikaroa. "Mikaere forfeited his claim over me when he abandoned me in the care of another male at the rapids. I have waited the customary four week period for him to return and make amends, and he has failed to do so. Atene law states that I'm no longer bonded to Mikaere. See. I've removed his tag from my earlobe."

Most of the Atenex customs are strange, although they generally have a practical purpose. I haven't come across this custom before, but I have little reason to doubt Ikaroa's word. However, I'm not sure Mikaere will view Ikaroa's claim the same way. After all, he doesn't know where we are, and he didn't have a choice of his destination after being banished from Pahuna. Consequently he hasn't been able to make amends even if he wanted to do so.

In the end, it is Ikaroa's powerful pheromones that break my resistance. Even Cassandra is sympathetic to my urgent need to respond. The hooded males in the Merope breeding pen spent most of their time with huge swollen cocks straining the stitching on their pants. I'm more fortunate in that my pants are loose fitting, and my erect cock is a more modest size. However, the need to ram my cock into a moist hole is almost unbearable.

By mutual arrangement, Cassandra is allowed first use of my erect cock. By now we have experimented having sex in a wide range of locations and positions. Cassandra has recently discovered a passion for having me lie down on my back while she straddles my cock. Usually she faces away from me when we have sex in this position, but today she faces towards me. Ikaroa takes up a similar position, straddling me with her pungent cunt practically brushing my face. She faces Cassandra and I detect them fondling each others breasts as Cassandra pumps up and down on my cock.

I focus on restraining my orgasm since I don't wish to come prematurely. Cassandra feels no need to exercise the same level of restraint and I detect several orgasms wrack through her before she yields the use of my cock to Ikaroa. The two women swap positions and I'm pleasantly reminded of the tightness of Ikaroa's cunt. Her muscles grip my cock like a vice, and it's only the abundant juices flowing from her cunt that enable her to move up and down on my cock.

Meanwhile, Cassandra is far from idle. She places her cunt close to my mouth and invites me to push my tongue inside. We've only done this on a few occasions, but I'm happy to comply. Cassandra frigs herself to another orgasm while I eventually surrender to Ikaroa's strong pumping. I can't hold on any longer and I flood her innards with my cum.

If I thought that was going to be the end of our games, then I'm soon disabused of that notion. Ikaroa's powerful pheromones are a deadly lure to my sexual urges. With Cassandra's help, my cock is soon a rigid pole once more. I doubt I can produce much in the way of cum at the moment, but that isn't what Ikaroa is wanting. I recall that Atenex males have much smaller cocks, so I think this is the first time Ikaroa has experienced something so large inside her. It's driving her crazy with lust.

Cassandra opens Ikaroa's cunt lips wide and I guide my cock into Ikaroa's tight hole. This time I'm the one doing the pumping, while Ikaroa wraps her legs around my thighs, preventing me from withdrawing. She's almost out of her mind with sexual heat as several orgasms wrack through her in quick succession. My cum from our initial coupling mixes with her abundant juices, making it easy for me to drive hard and deep into her yielding body. Cassandra looks on in amazement and starts frigging herself to an orgasm of her own.