The Fate of Xon

Lionore was a beautiful city set at the base of the mountains just west of Mystic Manor. The first part of the city is actually carved out of the mountains and is used for inns and restaurants. This is where Daniel decided to stay. He didn\'t think that he could resist the charm and pull of Dahlia any longer. There was no long anyone around to beat them if they tried anything, but it just wouldn\'t feel right, especially not in Mystic Manor with the memory of her parents lingering there.



He looked out the stone window, sighing softly. A huge tree blocked the window from being able to see Mystic Manor in all its glory. Not being able to see it, didn\'t help Daniel\'s little problem, so he crawled under the sheets of the lush bed in the room. He tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep, but nothing happened. He couldn\'t get to sleep, couldn\'t think of anything to put him to sleep. He finally got out of the bed and began to pace the room, looking out at the tree in the window.



Sighing, he grabbed his cloak and walked out of the hotel room, heading out toward where the wagons were kept. He found his servants goofing off, smoking, and talking as he approach them from behind. He caught his name, smiling slightly as he tapped one of them on the shoulder. "Do you have a smoke I can bum?" The guy began to turn with a "Go find your own, buddy" until he realized that it was their prince. He began to apologize but Daniel held his hand up. "Just give me a cigarette and all is forgiven."



The guy nodded and handed an already rolled cigarette to Daniel. He struck a match and lit the cigarette for Daniel, who inhaled heavily. He released the smoke with a heavy sigh, and one of the older servants noticed. "Your Highness, if you don\'t mind an old man\'s curiosity, what has you so stressed tonight?"



Daniel took another long drag of the cigarette before turning to the older man. "I\'m stressed, my dear sir, because tomorrow I am to ask the High Seer if she will do me the honor of marrying me before we leave for Flagcord College in a month\'s time."



The guys clapped and cheered, clapping him on the back. The same older servant laughed and shook his hand fervently. "We are all a little nervous when we ask a woman to marrying us. It\'s a typical male response. At least you are already engaged to the girl. That part is the worst."



Daniel nodded. "I would assume so." He took the final drag of the cigarette and dropped the rest on the ground, putting it out quickly. He squared his shoulders, looked up at the dark sky, and nodded quickly. "No time like the present. It\'s late, but if I have to wait until the morning, I\'ll go insane."



He began to walk up the trail to Mystic Manor with the cheers of encouragement coming from the servants behind him. The marriage would mean that a new castle would be erected when they returned from school on the border between the Outskirts and the Desertland. It would mean a new beginning for most of them. It would mean breeding between the Desert people and the Mystic women, something that had been forbidden for centuries. This was going to be a new life for all the Northlanders.



Daniel knew this, knew this was one of the main reasons that his servants were cheering. They had all be vying for change for the last few years, now it was going to happen. Or he was hoping it was going to happen. He hadn\'t realized how fast he was walking until the Manor was magically before him. He stopped in his tracks, looking at the lanterns hanging all over the place, and sighed, looking up at the room that he knew was Dahlia\'s. The light was on, and she stood framed in the window. Somehow, seeing her there gave him a new resolve. He moved toward the door about the time she disappeared from the window.



Both Daniel and Dahlia knew what was about to happen. As soon as she had seen him standing in front of the Manor, Dahlia knew what he was there to do. She had pulled on a robe and ran to meet him in the Foyer. Arriving, he was talking to a servant who was going to fetch her, thinking what he had to say was urgent. To the two of them, maybe it was. The servant came around the corner and stopped in his tracks when he saw Dahlia. "Madame, Prince Daniel requests an audience with you. He looks positively frightened. I think it\'s urgent."



Dahlia nodded, trying to keep her heartbeat from overpowering her ears and her voice from quivering with anticipation. "Then I think that it would be best to see him. Is my guardian awake?"



"Right here, Princess." Morrigan came around the corner with a look of pure anger on her face. She was a happy woman, unless woken up in the middle of the night. She was a short woman, at five foot even, and that made her a large woman, weighing close to two hundred and fifty pounds. Her hair was up under a night cap, though Dahlia knew that the solid gray curls underneath it fell to her waist. She was wearing the black robes of the High Order of the Goddess, a group of nuns whose sole purpose in life were to serve the Goddess and the High Seer. Right now, she was not her happy, cheerful self but a complete grump. "What in the dickens in going on around here? Why are we being roused from our beds when the moon is high and not when the sun is low?"



Dahlia sighed and ran her fingers through her long red hair. "Daniel has come. The servants say that it is urgent. Seeing as you won\'t let us be alone for more than a few minutes, I thought it best if you were here to see what it is that he wants. Shall we?" She didn\'t even wait, too anxious and excited to wait. She walked into the foyer and nodded in response to seeing Daniel. "Prince Daniel of the Desertland, what brings you to our house so late at night? Nothing too serious, I hope."



His heart beat a mile a minute, almost in rhythm with hers, though neither knew it. He gave her a low bow and then stood to face her, switching to the familiar talk that they were only allowed after the formalities had been accomplished. "Dahlia, I have been giving it a lot of thought in the last few days that I have been here and have come to a decision." He paused long enough that Dahlia was beginning to think that she had been wrong, that he was leaving and not going to escort her to Flagcord. When he finally spoke, she could have cried out with joy. "It would be safer for you, when we head to Flagcord, to be married to the most vicious Prince in all of Xon. The barbarian Prince. Since we are already betrothed and running our countries by ourselves, we should be married immediately."



Dahlia felt her heart leap and was about to respond when Morrigan\'s laughter rang out through the foyer, reverberating on the walls. "You think she would want to marry you early? That is still my decision."



Dahlia\'s anger was legendary when it hit a high point, and it hit that point right at that moment. She turned on Morrigan, her hair flying around her as her power sprung forth to slap Morrigan in the face. "My father said that I would be able to make my own decisions when I began to rule the Outskirters without the aide of a guardian. In the last five years, I have done that. This is my decision, not yours." She ignored the look of shock on Morrigan\'s face as she clutched the now reddened spot on her face. She turned back to Daniel, looking as if she was thinking about the idea. "You have a point. If I am married to the Barbarian Prince, there would be no one who would dare harass me. I approve of the idea. But we must have a few days to get everything in order."



She spoke a few quick words under her breath, sending a silent message to Daniel for him to meet her in her room in ten minutes, nodded, and then turned to walk quickly passed Morrigan towards her own room. She heard Daniel apologize to Morrigan for waking her and being the cause of Dahlia\'s anger. He had not thought that this would be such an issue. She ignored it and slammed her bedroom door, knowing that no one would follow her. She flopped onto her bed and allowed herself to laugh a little. In a few days, she would married to Prince Daniel of the Desertland, the Barbarian Prince. He was trained to kill a man a hundred different ways with his bare hands, could live on the land of the desert, and struck fear into the hearts of even the most vile criminals. And he was going to marry her. She knew that most would be frightened, but she had seen his softer side and was ecstatic about being his bride.



Ten minutes later, her window opened and Daniel jumped lithely onto her royal purple rug. She stood quickly, having been laying in a weird position on the bed. She ran to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him as passionately as she ever heard. It was the first time she had kissed him since she was sixteen. He returned the kiss, and the next thing she knew, her robe was on the ground and his shirt was missing. She managed to push him away, through a great deal of will power, shaking her head. "No, Daniel, we can\'t. A few more days and we won\'t have to worry about dishonoring our fathers. I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that we are to be married. It\'s what I\'ve wanted for the last five years or more."



Daniel smiled, taking her in his arms again and kissing her, though not as passionately as before. "I\'ve been thinking about doing this for the last few years. When I saw how well you handled your own people like your father wanted, I knew it was time to ask. I just didn\'t have the courage to ask you."



"The Barbarian Prince? Not having courage? Impossible." She smiled up at him, teasing him a little.



"My darling, when it comes to you, I have no courage, only fear."



"Fear of what?"



"Fear that you will reject me. Fear that you will change your mind about our fathers\' agreement of our marriage. Fear that your visions will tell you that I\'m no good." Daniel hugged her as tight as he could as he spoke, afraid at that moment that she would pull away and not want to touch him.



She sighed, leaning into his body, breathing in his scent. "I have the same fears when it comes to you, Daniel, but know that as long as you love me, I will return your love." She pulled back and kissed him again as she heard the sound of someone coming down the hall. She knew the heavy footsteps and knew that it would Morrigan coming to apologize for forgetting her place. "Go! I shall see you on our wedding day, for now, we\'ll leave the wedding plans to our servants. Send yours to the Manor tomorrow and, if they are fast, we can be married by the evening or the next morning. Now go!"



He grabbed his shirt off the ground, kissed her one more time, and then jumped into the tree outside her window. He got halfway down before Morrigan came through Dahlia\'s door. He heard the sorrowful apology and Dahlia\'s own apology in response. He smiled as he landed on the ground, running through the courtyard and onto the path into Lionore. When he was out of sight of the Manor, he slowed to a walk, though he wanted to jump and leap for joy, but he contained himself.



As he came in view of the caravan and the servants, who had obviously been waiting for him, he noticed them turn toward them. He turned his expression to anger and rejection. When they stopped him and asked what had happened, he couldn\'t help but to smile. "A few of you are to head up to the Manor first thing in the morning to help with the wedding arrangements. We\'re in a hurry, so you need to get it done as soon as you can tomorrow. We\'re hoping to be married by tomorrow evening, or early the morning after."



* * *

Somehow, the servants had done it. They had managed to get a wedding in order in less than a day. By mid-afternoon, Dahlia\'s servants had already begun to dress her, preparing for the sunset wedding in the garden of the Goddess. It was to be like every wedding in the City of the Mystics. Though for Dahlia, it was the best wedding she would ever attend for she had her mother\'s wedding dress already prepared, by the servants, to wear tonight. It was interesting because, she had heard from some of Daniel\'s servants, that he was wearing the suit his father had worn the day his parents were married.



She stood in the mirror and looked at the closely fitting white dress she was wearing. Like her High Seer dresses, it had diamond beads in the bodice, though this was like nothing she wore in the public eye. She was modest in the public eye, but a wedding under the Goddess, especially for a Mystic, meant the tight fit, revealing clothes of the Goddess. The topmost part of her breasts showed the fresh cream color of her skin. The bodice stopped just below her breasts in the middle revealing her sculpted midriff, though the dress was still connected on the sides. The skirt of the dress was a white so sheer that her legs were like white trunk under the leaves of a olive tree. The lace of the under skirt, that reached to just above mid thigh, was the only cover she had from keeping her from being completely naked below the waist.



She watched as the women around her finished her outfit with white roses from the garden of the Goddess braided into two strands of her hair pulled back on her head. The rest of her hair hung down to her ankles, all around her in its normal mass of shiny curls. The white on strawberry blond, almost red, managed to make her skin even creamier and all the women kept commenting on the fact that she looked just like her mother had her wedding day, except for the green eyes and the color of her hair. She could see her mother in her face and she longed for her parents to be here. She said a silent prayer to the Goddess that they be watching over her from the trees and flowers around the garden. She asked for a sign that her father and mother approved of the match and waited for a response.



It didn\'t take long for the picture of her parents on the wall to catch in the wind and bang twice against the wall. She bit her lip to keep from crying, remembering when she had been a child and she would be angry at her parents. Her mother would ask her questions and if the answer was no, she would not once. If the answer was yes, she was to knock twice. Their painting had been the sign. Hitting the wall twice meant that they approved of her marriage to Daniel on this day. She hoped that they could see the love they had for each other, even with it being arranged ahead of time. Again, the wind blew the painting so that it hit the wall twice. They knew.



She sent her servants away, telling them to come back when they were ready for her to come to the Sanctum. As soon as they were out of the room, she began to cry. A bang to her right made her jump. She sighed as she realize that it was the painting again. They didn\'t want her to cry. "Are you guys happy?" The painting banged twice and she fought not to burst into another bout of tears. The Goddess acting in mysterious ways, and if this was one of them, Dahlia couldn\'t be happier. Or sadder.



She regained her composure just as Morrigan came to get her. She couldn\'t cry, but Morrigan sure could. She balled as soon as she saw Dahlia. "You have grown up so much. You look just like your mother."



Dahlia nodded and her nerves finally hit her. "Is it time already?"



Morrigan nodded. "Yes, but we can postpone it until tomorrow if you want to."



Dahlia shook her head, took another look in the mirror, and stood up. "No, no, it is now or never. I see things in the future that could hinder this ever being able to happen again. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon." She saw the slightly worried look on Morrigan\'s face and smiled. "Come now, it\'s my wedding day! We should not be sad and thinking about the future, but happy and thinking about the present."



Morrigan nodded and they walked hand and hand down the long hallway to the Sanctum where Daniel and the Priest would be waiting. Butterflies flew around Dahlia stomach, but it was more about the wedding night than the actual wedding. She knew the gist of what was supposed to happen tonight, but, having never done anything with Daniel, she didn\'t know how it was going to work. She knew that Daniel had never done anything either, having asked the Goddess the night before, but she was a hundred percent sure that both of them would know what to do as soon as the time came. Having this train of thought brought the visions she had had of them in an intimate embrace back to her. She had to stop in the middle of the hallway, using Morrigan as a support and an anchor, before she could come back to herself.



When she had regained herself, the doors to the Sanctum were opened for her. Her breath caught in her throat as she spotted Daniel standing at the base of the statue of the Goddess. He was dressed in the reddish tan of the Desertlander royalty. His pants were cut to fit his body to perfection, clinging to every inch of him and showing that he had nothing on underneath the pants. Due to the fact that were getting married under the Goddess, he had to change the uniform to reveal more skin so he had no shirt on and the vest of the Desertlanders opened up to reveal the smooth expanse of his tanned skin. He was barefoot and standing in rose petals dyed the emerald green of the Goddess\'s eyes.



Apparently, she had the same effect on him, because they both inhaled at the same time. She continued the long walk towards him, standing in the rose petals opposite him. She was barely aware of all their closest servants around them before the Priest told her to take his hand. As soon as she did, everything else faded but his hand in hers, his smile across from her, and the Priests words. She had always been curious about what the ancient words meant, but now that she was standing before him, she knew. She didn\'t know how she knew, but she knew what he was saying. It was a binding spell so ancient that even the scrolls weren\'t old enough for it. She somehow knew that it was passed down by mouth to priests who wanted to dedicate themselves to the Goddess.



Before she knew it, it was all over. A vine of red roses were bound around Daniel and Dahlia\'s hands where they held on to each other. The thorns cut into their skin and their blood mingled, binding the spell. She felt the warmth of the Goddess and the spell fill her, saw Daniel\'s wide eyes, and knew he felt it too. The Priest stood back and announced that Daniel and Dahlia were now one person, one mind, and one soul, for all eternity. The cheers rang up through the entire Sanctum and the eyes of the Goddess glowed a brilliant green. This more than anything shocked everyone, for the Goddess had never shown a sign like this one. They took it to mean that it was the right thing, and lined the hall toward the room that the King and Queen would now share.



The butterflies returned to Dahlia\'s stomach as they arrived near the end of the hallway. Morrigan was the one that had the honor of opening the door to the bedchamber, having been the guardian to the High Seer and Princess most of her life. They walked into the room hand in hand and the door was closed behind them. Daniel moved to take the roses off of their hands before turning to Dahlia and looking her over again. She was returning his look, wanting nothing more than to find out just was under his pants.



They stood that way for nearly five minutes before he moved toward her, kissing her. She returned the kiss, running her hands under his vest like she had wanted to do since she had seen him in the Sanctum. Before she knew it, she had taken the vest off and let it drop to the floor. His hands had found the ties on the back of her top, pulling it so that it fell to the floor next to his vest, leaving both of them bare chested from the waist up. His hands found the waist of her skirt about the same time she found the waist of his pants. A simple movement of his wrist and she was completely naked, moving towards the bed and stepping out of her dress.



She pulled him along to the bed with her by the waist of his pants, finally getting them off. She took a moment to be satisfied with the fact that she was right in guessing that he didn\'t have anything on underneath them before he was leaning over her, pushing her onto the bed. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to her. She could feel the length of his phallus pushing up against her thigh, but he wasn\'t moving closer to her. He had even stopped kissing her. Instead, he was just looking down at her, longingly. "What is it, Daniel?"



He smiled and it made her heart sing. She wanted nothing more than to consummate their marriage as soon as they could, but he wasn\'t moving, and she didn\'t want to seem too eager in case that was wrong. "Nothing, Dahlia. I just wanted to look down at the most beautiful woman in the world and realize that she\'s my wife, mine for eternity." He leaned down and kissed her again. "I love you, Queen Dahlia of the Outskirts, High Seer of Xon, Queen of the Desertland."



She had forgotten, in the excitement of marrying Daniel, that this marriage meant she was now queen to both her land and his. It was a little troubling, but at the same time, he had said that he loved her. "I love you too, King Daniel of the Desertland and the Outskirts."



He kissed her again, but this time, he moved his lower body towards hers. The head of his penis began to enter her, slowly as not to hurt her, but there was still that first burst of pain that sent a moan through her body. He stopped when he was as deep in her as he could get. He pulled her into his arms as he began to pull out of her. He clung to her as he began to pump himself into her and out of her. Dahlia felt pain the first few times, but after that she was ridden with wave and wave of pleasure, biting her lip to keep from screaming his name. They were supposed to be playing like they were unsure about this, not like they had started as soon as they walked in the door.



That thought didn\'t last long. The pressure inside them was building, higher and higher. Dahlia began to fly, her eyes going a solid white as her powers overtook her. She felt the orgasm the second before it hit, but that didn\'t prepare her for the power of it. She screamed in pure ecstasy, hearing Daniel\'s moan echo her voice. There were cheers from outside the room, as if the servants were listening in, and then she had one of her black out moments.



She opened her eyes not fifteen seconds later to find Daniel smiling at her, laughter in his eyes. "Was it that good, Dahlia, that you had to black out and go all High Seer on me?"



Dahlia had to swallow twice to find her voice, but when she did, it was clouded with pleasure, making her sound almost drunk. "Yes. I\'ve never had that much emotion and feeling piled on top of me at the same time. My powers aren\'t really advanced enough to stay in check when dealing with that much. My Goddess, that was almost too much."



Daniel smiled and shook his head. "Don\'t worry, Dahlia. We\'ll practice so that you won\'t black out every time." His implication that there would be a lot more sex made Dahlia blush bright red. "It\'s a little late to blush, my darling wife. Besides, we have the rest of our lives for this."



She blushed again and he laughed, pulling her into his arms and throwing the blanket over them both. "We\'ll rest for a little while and then try that again, minus the blacking out." He kissed her ear and pulled her close to him. With his presence so close to her, she knew that she would actually be able to sleep tonight, something she hadn\'t done in years. When they left for Flagcord in a month as husband and wife, King and Queen, it would be the happiest day of her life. Today was beyond ecstasy, beyond imagining, but when she could leave her world and travel into another, safe in his arms, she would truly know what it was like to feel pure joy.