The Rakshasa 's mettle
Chapter Four : The Rakshasa 's pith
By mypenname3000
copyright 2017

Princess Malakisha - Ankush, The Queendom of Naith

I strode through the corridors of the zikkurat, my men at my spine, armed, armored. Death was in the air. The hereafter promised descent and violence. My nipples were hard as my purple saree whisked against my second joint. Juices dribbled down my wooden leg. My tenderness, my costly Lucy, marched at my position, defenseless and unashamed, her light-brown hair bouncing about her shoulders.

She smelled excited, too. Eager. She was set up to witness me prehend the Queendom, to proclaim my strength before my baby and first cousin, my aunt and nieces. I would claim the bloody throne and make it mine.

I just had to kill Rushina and Kushini. I 'd shed so very much blood. I licked my chops, my vibrissa twitching in anticipation.

hard worker gasped as they saw us, scurrying into the darkness. They knew best than to be around the royals when they"twist claws."Family political sympathies were so savage in the zikkurat. It honed you into strength, into dominance. It kept you alert.

It spiced lifetime, made you appreciate what you had.

I was glad Lucy was with me. I was glad I had her backing and love. My heart marched at my face. My men trooped at my cover. Bakiir strode in their lead. He would cut up my way to the throne. I would lose men tonight. Maybe even Bakiir.

But they all could die so long as I gained the prize.

Kushini appeared ahead, rounding the corner. She did n't wear a sari but her leather pants. She left both her mamilla bared, her right nipple pierced by the same Au halo that I had. Her hips swayed, her sword swinging at her side.

Pathetic.

Her men moved up behind her.

"So you had the bravery after all, Malakisha,"she purred.

I inclined my question, not bothering to even acknowledge the insult."Shall we pay call to your dearest mother."

Kushini licked her chops. She was excited, both nipples hard, her whiskers quivering."I am so eager to see her tonight. I am such a duteous daughter."

My purr rose in my pharynx as I turned, nodding to my ebony slave.

Bakiir strolled forward, barking monastic order at Kushini 's striver. They obeyed. The men broke into a trot, rushing past Kushini, Lucy, and me as they pounded through the corridors. We followed after, the men 's power train jingling as they raced up the stairs to the top of the Ziggurat where Rushina waited in the throne room, surrounded by those whorish womanhood she thought would protect her.

"Soon, you 'll be queen,"I purred to Kushini. For all of a few heartbeats.

Her bridge player played with the hilt of her steel. For a second, a fear swelled in me. Would she try to kill me in such a ... engineer mode ? No. Not even Kushini was so crass as to try that. And if she thought I was defenseless, she was mistaken.

I would charge her throat out, sword or no sword.

My sari whisked as we hurried up the stair after our men. My capitulum were pricked forward, listening for the tell-tale sounds of fight. A woman let out a warning cry, the chieftess of Rushina 's bodyguard. She thought buying female striver and training them to fight would ease up her a with child safeguard since they were crummy than purchasing gladiators.

But no womanhood, no matter how skilled, could match my slaves. They were big, brawny men. Size and reach made far Sir Thomas More of a difference in fighting than dexterity and drill. Especially with how honed my men were at combat, equally as maven as Rushina 's whore-guards.

Blood scented the air.

We hurried faster, arousal bleeding off my first cousin. We gained the top of the stairs, bursting out on the antechamber before the stool room. deep red slicked the level. sword rang on sword. Women were on the ground, hemorrhage, groaning, limbs severed as our striver pressed forward, Bakiir at the lead.

He was a god. He carved through the fair sex, laying into them with his mighty expanse of his sword. He reached the threshold, throwing them open up onto the potty way and running another guardswoman through the throat.

The hard worker fell screaming off his blade.

Blood soaked into my sandals and my socks as we walked through the antechamber, Lucy 's air feet padding on the sticky stemma. Kushini 's and my slave-soldiers were pressing into the toilet room. Rushina rose from where she knelt naked. The quondam rakshasa stood with imperial thanksgiving as she faced the butchery, watching her female guards being butchered.

There were many of the fornicatress. They pressed in on my men.

Henyak went down, a blade through his gut. He fell onto his hands and knees, struggling to get up. A trident wielded by a wild-eyed, Tuathan slave-guard rammed into his spinal column, driving him into the floor. Thushin took a hard golf shot on his neck. The vane cut trench, his capitulum held on only by his spine. rake spurted as my slave crashed short to the floor.

Rushina watched it all with Stoic courage as Bakiir slew her guards. My slaves hacked and slashed. Issanik sword took a adult female in the abdomen, spilling her gut like gamy roofy across the ground. Blood streamed from a cut down his back, but he kept fighting.

Kushini and I strolled forward in the wake of our men. The dwindling distaff safeguard fell back to their kept woman, collapsing into a shrinking doughnut about her. Bakiir growled his order, swinging his sword over his head, rallying the men.

I stepped over Nathan, Kushini 's slave, bleeding from a his thigh, his eyes rolled back into his question. A stab of expiation shot through Lucy 's scent as she stepped over him in as she trailed behind me.

"Daughter,"Rushina said.

"Mother,"Kushini purred, her arousal so inviolable now. I bet she was aching to fuck one of her safeguard right here on the blooming floor, to seethe in the Gore as she writhed in passion.

"And costly Malakisha."

"nobleman aunt,"I nodded, giving the successor due respect for her poise.

Bakiir 's blade stabbed into the intestine of the only slave-soldier between him and Rushina. The cleaning lady screamed in pain, descent bubbling from her rim. He kicked her off his weapon and drew back his steel to strike down my aunt.

Rushina lifted her Panthera tigris psyche, exposing her throat. Accepted that she had lost.

I tensed. Here came the betrayal.

Kushini moved faster than I expected. The rakshasa sprang forward, snarling out in fad. Her sword sang as it slid from her scabbard. The sound reached Bakiir 's ears. He turned to fight back himself.

Kushini 's sword slammed through his dresser. She 'd closed the length so fast. My favorite striver, the solely man I had found worthy enough to engender my daughter, died, his center destroyed by Kushini 's expert thrust.

His sword fell from suddenly limp finger. His eyes found mine. I saw it in his center. Shock. unsuccessful person. He had wanted to please me.

I would overlook him. But his death was worth this sacrifice.

Issanik cursed, his sword taking one of Kushini 's striver in the neck before a spear wielded slammed into his belly. My men, who had led the charge with Bakiir, had taken the worst of the combat injury dispatching Rushina 's whore-guards. Now Kushini 's men hit them from behind, running them through, butchering all the hard worker I had spent yr cultivating.

My nerve hammered in my throat. This was it. This was the moment. I glanced at Lucy, saw the smiling performing on her lips. She gave me a subtle nod of her headland then screamed out,"Treachery ! You betrayed my Mistress !"

Her words were loud, piercing, reaching through the corridors.

Kushini yanked her bloody sword from Bakiir 's organic structure. He slumped to the story, arms spread limp, rake pooling across his ebony flesh. I watched Kushini step over his soundbox, approaching her female parent. My men were all dead now. Two-thirds of Kushini 's also. But that still gave her five men, their weapons all prepared to cut down Rushina as they ringed her.

"Well, girl, very well played,"Rushina said, pride in her phonation. Any mother would be so thrill to see a girl grown strong.

And then something I had n't expected happened. Kushini knelt before her female parent and said,"Malakisha wanted to kill you, Mother. But I heard about the secret plan in time to act and came to your rescue."

Rushina 's ears twitched. The shock was clear. Her head cocked, looking around, trying to figure out her girl 's game."What a ... loyal girl you are, Kushini. putting to death your cousin for her treason."

"Gladly,"Kushini purred. A shudder ran through her. She rose and turned to look me, Bakiir 's blood drip from her sword. Her men fanned out. They had expected this. They advanced.

Lucy bent down, snagging a sticker from a fallen woman. She tensed on the balls of her metrical unit. I faced my full cousin, my inwardness pound. fearfulness twisted through my stomach. My spike pricked. Where were they ?

"Yes, you thought to stab me in the spinal column after I killed my female parent,"Kushini said, advancing on the musket ball of her bare feet, slicked by blood."You thought you could use me to vote out my own mother."

"And you thought to use me, too,"I shrugged. If this was my Death, I would face it with all the Grace and self-respect of my station in the humankind."Though I 'm shocked. Too scared to take the crapper for yourself ?"

"Oh, I have the throne,"she purred."mother will need me to protect her. I 'll whisper in her ear. She 'll do whatever I say while she draws the assassins. Not me."

I inclined my head."Well played."

armor jingled. iron boot thumped. Louder.

"But, I am afraid, I knew of your betrayal,"I continued.

"Because your little prostitute told you."Kushini let out a growling laughter."Everyone in the zikurat knows you love her, Malakisha. That you are so debile you love a homo female. We all laugh at you behind your back. You think you 're so smart, so cunning, that you 've hidden it so well even though you take that petty strumpet with you everywhere. We all know you use her to spy on us."

The run-in stung. I did n't wish."So what if you know she 's my tenderness,"I said."She 's the rationality I 'll be queen."

"Oh, how ?"Kushini asked.

The boot dance step thundered louder.

"Do n't you hear your death coming, cousin ?"I asked.

Men burst into the throne room behind me. Kushini froze, her ears flicking as she witnessed the royal sentry duty of stagnant Queen Adroyna, led by Konayveh, surge into the way. Ten of them, all brawny, all substantial, and all mine.

"I made musical arrangement,"I said as they rushed charged past me at her men."Lucy won me their hearts."

It was such a wonderful bit to see Kushini raise her sword to deflect Konayveh 's cruel swing. The early royal guards crashed into her men. The competitiveness was brutal, swift. Rushina, who 'd been standing stiff, now flinched back. She had come to the realization she was about to die, been spared, and now faced it again. The whiplash was too much for her poise to withstand.

She cracked, proving her weak. Unworthy to curb the throne.

I licked my chop, watching the work.

Kushini 's fenced with skill. She blocked and parried Konayveh 's hefty thrusts while her men died behind her. The five were outnumbered. They killed three of Konayveh 's men before the last fell suddenly.

Rushina screamed as they advanced on her. She grabbed something from a pocket of her sari, a ampule of something white.

Of cum.

My ears pricked in shock. She downed it as Konayveh 's six men advanced on her with weapons.

The air rushed through the room. Wind howled. My new soldiers were struck with magic. Their hair whipped about their heads, loose cloth whisking about their bodies as they died. Their header were twisted so operose around by the howl blow, their skin ripped. They dropped in torn part around Rushina.

No wonder she was so calm. She had magic to fall back upon. Why had I never learned she was a mage ? When had she learned this talent ? Magic was abhorred in the Queendom. It was why we wore our piercings.

Snarling, I charged past Konayveh dueling with Kushini, theirs steel ringing. I leaped over the abruptly. I would cause to get my own fangs bloody. It was galling, but I was too close to the throne to lose it all now. My sari swirled about my thigh as I leaped.

Rushina 's point snapped towards me.

The wind howled, rushing at me. It whipped at my clothing. My nipple piercing flared hot. The magic melted off of me. I was protected. Rushina 's felid eyes widened as I landed before the throne. She 'd forgotten what all daughters of the Ziggurat were gifted : the chromium-alloyed gold ring made its wearer immune to magic.

This woman was too weak to be our queen if she forgot something so basic as that.

I seized her wrists as she tried to slap me. My head snapped at her. I felt her furred throat against my fangs. My teeth bit in hard. Orgasmic expiation surged through me at the hot, salty tasting of her life. I ripped her throat out. I devoured her physique, chewed it as she fell gurgling onto the throne, slumped over it, descent sheeting down her naked breasts.

drubbing my chop, I turned to face Kushini.

She fought with Konayveh still, the pair circling each other. Lucy watched from the wall, her mitt clenching her dagger. Her face twisted with Bob Hope. She felt my victory near. I watched the engagement. Konayveh would win me the throne.

It was far costlier than I expected. Damn Rushina for being a mage. I would only have Konayveh as a guard duty now. I would be vulnerable. It would take on so much slyness to protect myself. I licked my chop shot, looking forward to the challenge of holding my throne.

Weapons rang. Kushini stumbled.

Konayveh thrust.

An orgasmic heat rushed out of my pussycat as his sword took my cousin in the belly. She snarled in botheration, bending over, her jaws snapping. She ripped out Konayveh 's throat with her dying effort. Lucy screamed out in shock, in fear, realizing that my rule of the Queendom just became that much more perilous.

Konayveh toppled back, blood spurting from his neck. He clutched a hand to his ruined pharynx, took a step towards Lucy, and collapsed. His blood mingled with Bakiir 's as he lay dying only groundwork from my slain champion.

"No,"groaned Kushini. She fell onto her back, her sword fallen from her grip. She clutched her belly, blood streaming through her fingers.

I moved to her, standing over my cousin."Did you sleep with your mother had magic ?"

Kushini snorted, blood flecking her fangs. Her aliveness pumped out of her, eyes glossy with agony."No wonderment she was so calm down with those sluts protecting her."

I straddled my cousin 's trunk, staring down into her eye."Do you want it quick, or do you want the bother to sweep out, to have hope that somehow you 'll triumph ?"

She let out a purring laugh that turned into a snarl of pain."You outmaneuvered me. You used that little slut of yours well."

"She 's my heart,"I told her.

"Is she ?"Kushini asked, her eyes flicking to the right field for a moment."I wish you well with that, cousin. You won."She lifted her throat."Quick."

I tore out my cousin-german 's pharynx. I killed my rival for the crapper. I savored her blood even more than Rushina 's. I gloried in it pouring down my muzzle as Lucy padded up behind me, her pes slapping through the sticky puddles. I lifted my gag, turned to see the triumphant smile in Lucy 's face.

She stabbed.

Pain knifed through my flesh. I gasped, my back arching as Lucy 's obelisk buried into my slope. As I turned to present her, her knife missed my organs. Instead, she sliced through my abdominal sinew. I groaned, hissing in pain, my manus lashing out at her out of instinct. I struck her. She gasped, stumbling back, the dagger left lodged in my flesh.

Lucy slipped and landed on her back, her naked body smeared in the blood, her side twisting with ... anger. With passion. With hatred.

hate ?

She glared at me as I rose, the pain throbbing through my book binding, reaching for my heart.

I wrenched the knife free of my side. Blood poured hot down my skin, soaking into my saree. I stumbled to her. To my kernel. confusedness rippled through me. She just stared up at me, that anger blazing in her face.

"My heart ..."I croaked, letting my transformation end, my man face appearing as the fur retracted."What—"

"My nerve,"she sneered."How I hated calling you that, pretending to have it away you, to carry your unsporting touch !"

Her Son cut bass than the knife.

"I ..."I could n't verbalize. I could n't cover."No, no, you loved—"

"I never loved you !"Her phonation was shrill."How could I love the animate being who bought me ? Who enslaved me. Who whips me and shell me. Who forces me to do degrading acts for her pleasance ! This was my chance for freedom. I took it. 'Risks have to be taken to seize peachy rewards ,'” she said, sneeringly quoting my words."'You can not be afraid. You have to seize your opportunity and act .'I seized ! Konayveh and I would have been loose !"

"You loved him !"I snarled, the blood pouring down my side, agony whipping in my centre."That man !"

"The man who cared for me ? Who was tender with me ? Who never smart me ?"

"You enjoyed being—"

Her laugh was so derisive."I never loved a irregular of being with you. I just learned to profess. I faked it, and it kept the worst of your desires from being afflicted upon me."She lifted her throat."I die exempt of you, Malakisha !"

Anger surged through me. My fur sprouted as I leaped at her. Teeth became Fang. Never loved me ? Never cared for me ? All those times she spoke those three beautiful words were a lie ? Tears matted my fur as I landed on her body. My teeth snapped about her throat. I felt the round of her heart.

No fright. She was never afraid of me. But she never loved me.

She lied.

She was false.

She hated me.

I ripped out my pith 's throat. I had never tasted more acerbic blood. She spasmed, her chief turning away, looking at Konayveh 's corpse as she died. I lifted my bloody gag. A tear fell from the fur around my middle, splashing on her face.

She grimaced.

Her body twitched.

Her perfective tense boob rose and fell for the death time.

< p style= '' text-align : meat ; '' > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stumbled through the harbor, bleeding, in pain. Blood coated my English, weighed down my sari. I did n't care. cypher mattered. I was queen regnant, and I did n't want to sit the pot. Why ? What was the point ? I was so empty inside.

I loved her so much. I thought she had grown to love me back. I could still call back stumbling across her in the hard worker pen, seeing the strength in her eyes as she sat with the other scared slave woman, this young thing, a virgin, but glaring with such defiance.

I had fallen in beloved with her. She had stolen my heart.

And she had taken it into the grave.

How could I have missed her true feelings ? The hatred ? The contempt ? She had faked it all these yr. She had used me. Lied to me.

I should n't aggrieve for that squawk. I should n't hate myself for ripping out her throat. For killing her. She deserved to die.

I threw a look over my shoulder. The Ziggurat was a dark shape looming over the urban center, a rising pyramid built on blood and pain in the ass. Lucy 's last was one more drop curtain to surcharge into the stone. My stomach curdled.

I let my fur retract, my whiskers slid into my cheeks, and my fang became dampen tooth. My man case emerge. I could n't go back. I could n't endure to be in that place. To be haunted by all her deceptions. Everywhere I 'd go, I 'd see reminders of the delusive beloved I shared with her. office I had once thought of fondly, berth I thought we shared such joy, were tainted.

Destroyed.

I should hate her.

Why could n't I just hate her ?

A whip cracked.

My head snapped around. A man bellowed on the ship I stood beside, a aerodynamic pirate vessel. I smelled the fresh Strategic Arms Limitation Talks of the sea, heard the pier creaking as the waves rolled in with the tide. I stared out at the Shilter Strait.

I marched to the gangplank, snarling against the pain in the ass. I gripped the rope rail, hauling myself up it step-by-step. Snarling in pain, I stumbled onto the pack of cards. An elder man stood with a party whip in hand, a Halanian man kneeling before him, blazon bounds to the mast, so coal black and brawny, his back welted, bleeding in spots.

"Who in Vedr 's gaping cunt are you, lass ?"grunted the older man.

"You the sea captain ?"I asked, marching forward, raising my Chin, matching his gaze.

"Aye."

I 'd forgotten I held the sticker still in my hand until I 'd planted it into his breast. I snatched the whiplash from his hands as he crashed onto the deck. His face widened in jounce as he stared at me. I stared back at him as his face went slack.

"Seljan 's white beard,"grunted the leap man."Who in the Gods'name calling are you, womanhood ?"

I almost said my epithet, but Malakisha had no substance. I chose a new one at random."Thyrna. What 's the name of this scow ?"

His eyebrows narrowed."Why ? What are you doing."

"I 'd care to recognize the name of my new gravy holder,"I said, fighting the wince of pain as I bent down and ripped the dagger out of maitre d' 's breast."Well !"I barked, putting all my geezerhood of dominance into my photograph voice."I gave you an society, sailor."I cracked the whip inches from his back."Speak !"

"The Golden thirstiness ..."

My whip cracked across his back.

"Captain !"he grunted.

I grinned. headwaiter. I liked the sound of that. A new starting. A new life. I cut him free."Prepare my ship to sail."

"The crew wo n't just follow you because you ..."His Word trailed off as I fixed a gaze on him.

"Leave the crew to me."

I turned my dorsum on the ziggurat and strolled the pack of cards of my new ship. Thyrna. I liked the epithet. Thyrna did n't need a heart. She did n't need love. She was n't the anserine idiot that Princess Malakisha was.

That cleaning lady died in the palace, stabbed in the book binding by her bosom. A pirate ship captain did n't demand a heart.

She just needed obedience. Lucy 's side flashed through my thought, twisted with ira, with hatred.

Pain. That was how new lives were born. Whether through the female parent 's bother in childbirth or the agony of lifespan remolding you, new beginning always came out of agony. I would n't let the tears come as strode the deck of my new ship.

I needed to be strong. To be concentrated. I had an entire crowd to dominate. And I doubt any of them would be as potent as my Bakiir. pity he was short. What a pirate he would let made. I rubbed my belly. Shame his seed never quickened in me.

My hands tightened on the whiplash and dagger as the gang began appearing, eyes flicking to their dead headwaiter and then to me. I grinned, tidal bore for the new challenge.

My whip cracked.

The END