Reah Leah the White: From Cat to Queen

By Aidan Stone

After four years, the once beautiful Lourack, Reah Leah, remains broken in body and spirit, alone on her island prison. Ripped from earth by alien technology, Wess finds himself on Aelfyce. Met immediately by the ruthless overlords the Brissack, Wess is tortured and left for dead. "The power of the stones" dumps Wess, nearly dead, in front of Reah Leah. Reah Leah heals his wounds, desperately hoping he will end her sexual torment and release her from her prison. When Wess discovers "The power of the stones" within him, love blossoms between them. Wess intends to annihilate the Brissack, and a fool named Malcolm must die. The Draca and a mysterious ally are willing to help Wess try!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aidan Stone
• Release date: Apr 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310848346

Aidan Stone

Aidan took his first job at the age of eleven, shining shoes in the local barbershop. Some of the stories he heard there would make fine books. He broke his back at meaningless tasks until 1992. Aidan found art in 1992, several media of art. As one of the lucky few who managed to make a living as an artist, Aidan enjoyed himself until 2009. That's when Aidan threw a hissy fit! He swore never to work in those media again. After the boredom of retirement set in, someone he trusted suggested he try his hand at writing. Aidan began to write Reah Leah the White-From Cat to Queen, which quickly became a trilogy because of his propensity for long-winded stories. A teller of tall tales, Aidan imagines himself surrounded by friends telling bawdy tales of the past.

Book preview

Reah Leah the White: From Cat to Queen

By Aidan Stone

Book One

The Sisters of Reah Leah Trilogy

Reah Leah the White: From Cat to Queen

Copyright 2013 by Aidan Stone

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction; all characters and events portrayed in this book are products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format, electronic or text, without the written consent of the author, except for short passages used by a reviewer during a review of the book.

Dedication

To every author whose science fiction, fantasy, adventure, or erotica I have ever read. From the land of puns to the lands of dragons and beyond, each one was worth every moment I spent reading it.

Table of Contents

Introduction page

Very Important Information

Chapter 1

I Know the First Part of This Story

Chapter 2

At the Time, She Only Knew Who They Were

Chapter 3

Everyone Wanted More Power

Chapter 4

Malcolm Would Set the Stage for His Own Death

Chapter 5

I Can Manage to Talk about It Now

Chapter 6

My Memories of That Time

Chapter 7

Countless Awakenings

Chapter 8

The New House and the Food through Time

Chapter 9

Salith's Mistake

Chapter 10

Ibex

Chapter 11

The Venggah

Chapter 12

Vindication

Chapter 13

The Draca Fly and the King Dies

Chapter 14

Ruby Lives

Epilogue

Pronunciations

Glossary

Other books by Aidan Stone

Contact Aidan Stone

Sample of Red Sister

Introduction

By The Last Year of the Lords, Aelfyce has been through many changes. Several different factions have brought them. The Cipartie fostered and nurtured it, the Brissack dominated it, humans invaded it, and Wess freed it from the Brissack because of his love for Reah Leah and his empathy for the common people. Now, all he and Reah Leah have to do is fight a war to give those people their freedom.

Book 1 introduces several characters and establishes a basic time line that spans thousands of years. Some of the characters are well developed; others remain less so until books two and three. I did that on purpose, hopefully, to embed some mystery into my story.

None of the sexual content in any of the three books was written for a specific gender or partner gender preference. Fetishes of many types appear throughout the trilogy; however, book 1 is just the beginning. Do not make the mistake of thinking that any of the characters in book 1 have fully explored their sexual limits. Some characters' sexual preferences change because of events that occur in books 2 and 3.

Many critics disagree about the way parts of the human anatomy should be referred to during sexual encounters, as they often disagree about a multitude of other things. In the year 2013, on the planet Earth, I personally do not know anyone who prefers to speak to his or her lover with such esoteric terms as glistening mound, snowcapped peaks, or fervent manhood. I shall not do so—not by a long shot!

Some very important information

Reah Leah's story begins at a large gathering of people who recall the events of The Last Year of the Lords to two unidentified individuals. Everyone gathered is extremely angry with those two individuals for reasons yet to be disclosed. Those gathered have—also for a reason yet to be disclosed—intimate knowledge of each other's thoughts, actions, and feelings in the past.

Individuals speak in the first person about events of the past. Each has his or her favorite part of the story to tell or is asked by the previous individual to continue the tale. They all recount the story using three forms of communication: the spoken word and two forms of telepathy.

When a speaker refers to the comments made in the past by another individual using the spoken word, those comments appear in plain type surrounded by quotation marks.

This is what you will see, when speakers refer to a spoken-word statement made by another individual or themselves.

There are two types of telepathy. The first is referred to as mind talk and the second as the bond. Both types of telepathy appear surrounded by quotation marks in italics.

This is what you will see when they refer to a statement by another individual or themselves, using either form of telepathy.

The bond does not fully appear until chapter 7; you may assume that the initial use of telepathy before that is mind talk. However, if you pay close attention, you will note its true origin and have a clue about how it becomes so prevalent by The Year of the People 36.

Many people speak, and the change of speakers at times is rapid; therefore, I have included the use of the * symbol to acknowledge those changes.

* The symbol will appear at the top of the paragraph, on the left-hand side of the page, just as it does in this line of text. When the speakers change, it will occur again.

* Every time you see a paragraph began like this, the speaker has changed.

Reah Leah, for the most part, leads the exchange of speakers for the first five chapters. However, she cannot be expected to be in complete control of everyone at the gathering. Others interject comments about what is presently being said or offer their opinions about something someone else just said. Usually, that will happen in a separate line beginning with the *. Sometimes, the statements made by characters are short enough to be pushed together. This is what that looks like:

*This author must be out of his mind! * I think he is nuts! *It might work!

The longer statements appear with each having its own line space.

*It is either going to work very well, or be a complete disaster!

*Hopefully, it will impart the feeling of a story being told in a gathering, or this guy is nuts to try it.

I hope that I am not nuts and you will be able to follow what is happening and feel as though you are there at the gathering. Think of yourself sitting on an extremely large patio, sipping on some very fine wine and listening.

If you have not already done so, please return and read Important Information.

Chapter 1

I Know the First Part of This Story

March 12, Year of the People 36

Well, you finally arrived; sit down, shut up, and hold still! Don't speak unless someone speaks to you. If you fail to listen carefully, we will strip your magic away from you. If you think that's a joke, look at the faces of those gathered here. That's right! No one here is very happy with you, and they all have good reason not to be. Brendon will tell this part of the story. He was our friend before the two of you were born. I'm ashamed of both of you, prying your way into his mind. His power is second only to Wess's, and only his friendship with Wess leaves you with breath still in your lungs. You two will sit quietly and listen, if you know what's good for you!

Brendon, both Wess and I thank you for restraining yourself when you realized what they were doing. Without you, none of us would be here today. None of us truly knows what would've happened if it weren't for you. Since they're both so curious about what happened between everyone, hold nothing back. That goes for everybody else gathered here; make them squirm where they sit. They both deserve it!

* Thank you, Reah Leah. I will try to keep this part short, because there's so much more for them to learn. I know the first part of this story; they recounted it to me after the Cipartie's technology merged with the power of the stones. They retrieved some of this story for us from Earth's history, and some came from their own.

The Cipartie's technology is unequaled. Their space-going vessels are capable of traveling light years in only a few months. They created gates they could use to travel from land-based positions. Placed on worlds throughout the universe, the Cipartie could travel extremely long distances without the need of ships. They chose to interact with and preserve many flora, fauna, and intelligent species. Some species they met were completely benign, some were violently aggressive, and some had mixed traits. Others the Cipartie avoided altogether!

They look somewhat like a beetle although they walk upright and their eyes face forward. They have six appendages that extend like arms. The appendages on the top they use to reach above their head. The ones in the middle they use just as we would use arms. The bottom set help facilitate forward motion, but most of that forward motion comes from what I can only describe as hundreds of, long fingers. A single flat muscle attached to the back—or top of—their carapace, depending upon your point of view, moves in toward their center of their bodies and then back to their shell. It makes their blood pump, their lungs breathe, and other vital organs perform their functions. Their faces would look like a fat happy child if it weren't for the huge green eyes. They don't have teeth but the hard plates they used to chew with would shatter yours. Let's move on, at some point in your life you'll probably see one.

Their entire exoskeleton, eyes, joints, and carapace are capable of withstanding the tremendous pressures caused by travel through the gate. Even with their tough exoskeleton though, those pressures had to be kept in check by energy fields to keep them from being crushed in the gates. Upon arrival at the intended planet, a brief stay in a rejuvenation chamber would heal any damage the trip might have caused.

The Cipartie discovered many species that would benefit from symbiotic relationships with other species from different planets. They also found species that lacked or had exhausted natural resources on their home planet. There were planets that had evolving lower life forms they simply found interesting and wanted to rehome for diversity.

About that rehoming: I came through the machine after Wess and the diversity of what I found here raised many questions for me. Plants and animals I had never seen before, existed side by side with those I had known all of my life on Earth. What things, went in which direction is still anyone's guess. The Cipartie, say very little about it; they feel that way about a lot of things, I guess we are lucky they say what they do or we wouldn't know this.

Their first attempt at transporting another species through the wormholes was a deadly disaster. The Cipartie were certain that even though the species was intelligent, they would eventually annihilate themselves. They became even more determined to save at least some remnant of them. After repeated refinements finally resulted in viable transports, they spread that species throughout the galaxy. The transports left some physical damage, but extensive time in their rejuvenation chambers would heal it.

They implanted the next volunteer with a crystalline device to stabilize the energy field that surrounded those transported. He came through the gate with bruised skin and some minor ocular damage. However, his body did recover fully after rejuvenation. They automated the chambers to receive those they would transport, sedate them, and immediately begin the rejuvenations necessary. They automated the gates to implant the crystals in all species transported through the wormholes.

That is how the lourack came to be spread to seven worlds. Some would learn and prosper, some would fight and die, and on one planet, they would become second-class citizens to an even more ruthless species.

Frankly, I'm glad I can speak about the Brissack in the past tense. The Brissack were reptilian bipeds. The males stood well over eight feet tall and could easily lift two hundred pounds with one arm. They had a short, thick tail, which they used to support themselves when leaning backward or to propel themselves forward in battle. Their skin was smooth and thick, mottled in various colors of green. Their elongated heads sprang from their shoulders without any sort of neck and terminated in a blunt nose. Their eyes were set forward to judge the distance to their prey, like any predator. Their mouths held three rows of very sharp, very large teeth. Their hands had three fingers and an opposable thumb. The feet had four digits, which would spread very wide, providing good balance for a creature of their size. Their fingers and toes ended in thick, flat claws. Overall, the Brissack were perfectly built for killing—something they did with great regularity and relished.

Throughout their history, the Brissack had gained their technology in the reverse order of most intelligent species. From the earliest dawn of their civilization, they created all of their technology for war and then retrofitted it for use in their society. Sharpened stones used to kill soon became knives to cut and skin their prey. Eventually, super-powered flamethrowers created to inflict maximum mortality became missiles. Missiles created to traverse intercontinental distances eventually became launch platforms for satellites designed as listening stations.

Then, one of those listening stations detected unknown but patterned signals from outside their solar system. The knowledge that they were perhaps not the superior species in the universe frightened them. The Brissack were forced to amalgamate their warring factions to investigate a common threat. However, each faction had insisted on leading this new alliance, which of course led to more war and more death, until something resembling a central government emerged. Created from members of every faction, the Massiera ruled with ruthless authority from that point on. Their orders were ignored on pain of death—or, more likely, pain until death!

The Massiera gathered many second-class citizens and tasked them with building ships to traverse the emptiness of space. Many creators, laborers, and technicians were put to death for failure during the initial phase of the program. The Massiera were forced to create a third class. That third class was endowed with some protection within Brissack society. They were also expected to train the weak and small to perform the tedious tasks of building, piloting, and repairing the warships for space.

They forbid the Briss to gain rank through assassination. To do so only wasted their education and their education was the only value they had. Eventually, the Briss amassed enough knowledge to build and pilot the first of the warships. Those ships immediately set out for the source of those well-patterned signals. After finding the source and conquering that species, the limited creativity of the Briss no longer hampered them. New technologies and new slaves had been taken. That technology, they retrofitted for conquest in space. With each succeeding technology, their ability to conquer every species and every planet they encountered grew exponentially.

In the warrior society, only the strong prospered. If a male wanted a promotion, he simply killed his immediate superior. To kill an enemy without compunction they saw as strength. The Briss had their uses, but they would never know the honor of battle or have the respect of a Brissack warrior.

As for Brissack females, they were only for pleasure—those who did that well lived the longest! Those females who didn't, they forced to breed selectively, and after laying their eggs, they publicly executed them. That ensured a continuing supply of capable warriors and made a dramatic statement to all other females. They separated their children from the day they hatched, into two groups, male and female. A Brissack warrior would fight to the death against any enemy, at any time, with or without a weapon, under the orders of any superior officer.

They were fanatical and driven. For them, the only way up was to kill. To a Brissack warrior, everyone was an enemy, even other Brissack. For a Brissack female, there was only sexual servitude, and they all attempted to serve well. The warriors of the highest rank claimed those who brought great pleasure. A female who served a commander lived in far better style than one who served at the warriors' barracks. To serve in the warriors' barracks was to be one-step from execution. All it took was one warrior to be unhappy.

The Brissack constantly found and ruthlessly conquered many different species, as they moved ever outward into space. For them, it was simple—This is ours; you will work, or you will die. They moved from planet to planet, population to population, destroying all opposition and duplicating every technology they encountered. They claimed every inch of soil they touched, until they met the Cipartie!

Fassiil Nekktu was in charge of an invasion fleet for the first time in his life. The Massiera wanted the planet for its abundance of vegetable matter. Data gathered from long-range scans showed nothing extraordinary about it. They could detect no missiles, no targeting platforms, no unusual energy readings, and there were only a few satellites. The only attempt the indigenous species made at communication was an unrecognizable series of clicks and squeals.

Fassiil brought the fleet in as a whole, moving at extremely high speed, thinking that it would intimidate the occupants of the seemingly benign planet. He had missiles destroy the satellites and then launched a full-fledged bombardment using concussion bombs. The bombs worked to perfection, leveling all of the structures on the surface, while doing little damage to the vegetation they had come for. He ordered communications to signal the planet and call for their surrender and their services as slaves in every known language.

What he didn't realize was that the Cipartie lived deep underground and understood one of the languages from that communication. They didn't intend to be anyone's slaves. They also didn't intend to tolerate any further destruction of their surface installations.

Their response came in the form of very thin beams of light from underground installations. They decimated his fleet within seconds. Twenty warships were totally destroyed, their atmosphere and personnel vented to space. Of the five ships left, none was in any shape to finish the fight.

Fassiil's ship was venting atmosphere on several decks, and nearly every system was off-line. They still had life support and engines, but they no longer retained the ability to fight. It wasn't a good day for Fassiil. No Brissack commander had ever retreated from any enemy without severe consequences. He knew what would happen to him if he did retreat. It caused him more concern than the beams of light from the planet's surface. Fassiil motioned aside his science officer Rachnic and asked for a solution that wouldn't end in shame and agony.

Rachnic explained that the sheer mass of the warship run through the atmosphere at high velocity would be sufficient to eradicate the surface. That and the heat generated from such an impact would reach far below ground. Fassiil understood they would be vaporized the instant they hit the atmosphere. It was a better alternative than what would await him should he retreat.

Fassiil sent communications to the four other warship commanders and advised them of their options: die fighting or retreat in shame to certain torture. All four confirmed their acceptance of his battle plan immediately. He had his communications officer send both visual and verbal recordings of all that had happened and outlined what would be his final order.

He sent that communication to Brissa before his final attack began. Of the five pitifully damaged ships, two would enter the atmosphere at each magnetic pole, while he and the remaining two ships would enter at equidistant points on the equator. Even as they moved into position, the lights took another of his ships; however, there was no time to halt the attack. Fassiil could feel the velocity of the ship increasing constantly; the roaring in his ears amplified to the point of pain. Then, he felt or heard nothing!

Fassiil thought it was a brilliant maneuver and that he would be honored for his decision. However, as more and more Cipartie ships arrived and looked upon their home world, they decided they would take the battle to Brissa. The Massiera had indeed received Fassiil's message. As they huddled in underground bunkers, watching the surface of their world torn apart by weapons they couldn't understand, they no longer had any appreciation for it.

Messages had gone out to all warships. All ships return to Brissa! Commence evacuations! A list of all those who would be honored for their service and those from whom honors would be stricken went out. Fassiil's name was at the top of that list; his progeny would be shamed for generations. The message went out to all planets and all ships, along with the descriptions of and warnings about the ships with the formidable weapons.

The Massiera watched and waited until the lights from the ships above had stopped, but the viewing screens were useless when they did. The council sat steadfast, waiting for evacuation. One of the Briss operating the ground-to-air detection system screamed. Members of the council turned their heads, thinking he would be punished when it was over. However, when they saw the display on the wall and realized what was happening, not one of them was very comfortable either.

The ships with lights had stopped using them. There new choice of weapon was burrowing deep underground into the bunkers. As each of the burrowing weapons struck, it severed another point of communication. The Massiera had felt safe in the deepest of the bunkers. None felt safe now as they listened to the massive grinding roar above their heads. None felt brave or honorable when the resulting explosion ripped them to shreds.

So went their war! Cipartie and Brissack, ship against ship, world to world, the Brissack driven to revenge and the Cipartie defending all they had built.

The Brissack duplicated the light-energy weapons from a single Cipartie ship destroyed in battle. They also shielded themselves from the Cipartie's light-energy weapons, using a crystalline technology captured from another space-going species. They were finally a match for the Cipartie—or so they thought!

They tracked a Cipartie ship to one of the many planets they inhabited, and after a long, hard-fought battle, the Brissack were finally victorious. They dispatched a landing party to investigate a damaged structure that showed high levels of energy, and used the Briss as fodder to enter the structure. Why should they waste a warrior?

What they found inside was extraordinary. The structures used a technology similar to several anomalies they had found during their travels in space. Having already deciphered the Cipartie language and alphabet during battle, the Briss were able to determine which planets were accessible to them. The Briss discovered the crystalline technology they used for the energy shields on their own ships was very similar to that incorporated into the machines. In addition, they could use it to protect their bodies as they transferred from planet to planet.

They sent every warrior they could spare to every planet with natural resources they could exploit or populations they could enslave. Luckily, Aelfyce wasn't one of those planets; they found it via ship. The Cipartie became aware of the intrusion on their gates, and their response was swift and permanent.

They sent a single communication, and instructions filtered through every gate in the universe. They locked the Brissacks' genetic pattern out forever. The entrances and the gates themselves they programmed to allow others to travel. However, they instantly recognized and incinerated any Brissack intrusion on their gates. From that point on, the Cipartie and the Brissack remained locked in a war only one would survive. Which one that would be was a matter yet to be decided.

The Cipartie had been to many worlds. One planet had several large landmasses, each occupied by beings with the same basic genetic pattern. They watched unseen and unknown. They saw that species make war and broker peace for thousands of years. The Cipartie witnessed progress, architecture, art, music, and an ever-growing ability for invention. However, the Cipartie found that on one landmass, this progression hadn't occurred.

They established another gate on that landmass. Unfortunately, the inhabitants had seen the cargo ships necessary to deliver the materials to build the gate, and saw the Cipartie as deities—or rather, their ships had.

Their observations continued for a thousand more years. Finally, they decided that those people, of their own volition, had chosen to live a much simpler life. The only interaction the Cipartie had with them was to send a moderately sized faction who had become ill through the gates. That transport allowed the rejuvenation chambers to heal them in the process.

They were anguished by the fact that eventually the more advanced society would find that landmass and undoubtedly decimate those simpler people. A decision by the Cipartie as to whether or not they would interfere in such a battle was necessary.

Before they made that decision, all Cipartie were recalled to their ships. Their home world had been attacked. Time was of the essence, and they didn't perform the long process of de-energizing the gates. They knew that in time, the energy veils hiding the gates would fail, but it couldn't be helped.

The gate they built to observe the simpler people they installed high on a steeply sloping mountain. There, nature itself intervened. A mass of highly unstable rock and mud slid downhill during a long period of heavy rains. It buried the gate deeply, where it remained hidden for thousands of years. The Cipartie hadn't been so lucky at the site of the second gate; within only a few hundred years, the veils failed. The natural curiosity of the people in the region led them to investigate that gate, and an entire world became populated with humans when they used it. Our world!

The protective barrier of energy that prevented contamination of other ecosystems was visible to the naked eye. The first to find it attributed it to deities of both fair and evil nature and refused to cross it. They did report it to the lord's soldiers, who in turn, reported to him.

That leads us to Oswald—a real piece of shit! He was the second son, not directly in line to inherit his father's lands. Oswald had always felt himself to be twice the man Anweald, the first son, would ever be. His older brother's unwillingness to do anything that might be even a little bit exciting bored him. When Major Thames brought the report from the outriders to his father's attention, he could barely contain himself.

Both his father and Anweald dismissed it as the ramblings of soldiers who had been drunk when they shouldn't have been. Oswald, however, saw it as something to investigate immediately.

It seemed to him they had ridden through the dust and filth of every insignificant village for nothing. The steel cave didn't exist; there were no glowing lights, no strange marks, nothing. Just as he was ready to give the order to mount, a soldier who had been relieving himself started pointing and shouting, There, right there, young prince! Oswald ran in the direction the soldier pointed, outpacing his guard. He could see it, just as described, a square opening made of steel with no rust.

There, Oswald stopped at the entrance and waited for his guards to catch up. They insisted on preceding him and went as far as the glowing green curtain before their courage dwindled.

However, Oswald's courage hadn't dwindled; he drew his sword and against the advice of the sergeant of the guard, pushed just the tip in. Nothing happened; the sword just slipped in and slipped back out. Encouraged, he stretched forth his hand to touch the curtain of green light. His finger was almost on it when the rough hands of the sergeant fell on his shoulders and jerked him back.

The look of anger on Oswald's face drew an immediate apology. Your pardon, my prince! But I am charged with your safety and cannot let you be the first to test this strangeness.

Of course, the sergeant didn't intend to be the first either. You, Smith, press your hand upon it! Smith brought his hand up, holding it close to the green curtain of light. His face had the look of a man standing on the gallows. He hesitated until Oswald couldn't stand it.

Oswald gave Smith a mighty push, shoving him through the green curtain. Smith, with one hand covering his face, was floating slowly down the hall, seemingly suspended in air. At the first band of symbols, a bright flash of white light appeared. Smith passed through it and continued his slow trip to the next band of symbols. There, a thin beam of bright purple light stabbed into his chest. His slow journey continued to the final and largest band of symbols. As his body passed through them, there was a cascade of multicolored lights, all funneled into a single point. Smith was gone!

Oswald ordered the next soldier to pass through the green curtain, but he turned and ran—as did all of the rest of the guard, except the sergeant!

The sergeant steadfastly refused to enter the curtain, regardless of Oswald's repeated orders and threats. Oswald and the sergeant eventually returned to the horses, where soldiers' tracks indicated they in no way intended to return to his father's lands. Oswald and the sergeant reached an agreement. They never found the steel cave, and the soldiers had deserted.

Oswald and the sergeant agreed they would never speak of that day again. They covered the cave with vines and shrubbery, and once again, they were riding home down the same dusty road. Oswald was considering his options as he rode. The cave was an excellent place to dispose of anyone unwanted. That thought brought a smile to Oswald's face, but when he looked at the sergeant, he could see only dread.

Within three months, the sergeant, Oswald's brother, and his father had all gone missing, rumored to be the victims of kidnapping or assassination. In fact, it had been a very quiet, very private, and very clandestine ride through the woods to see this new wonder that caused their disappearance. He governed in their stead and was given rule of the land and eventually confirmed as its lord.

To Oswald, the problem with being a lord was that he was expected to marry and sire children. Oswald had no problem with the marrying and certainly not with the siring. It was his grandmother's choice of whom he was to marry he objected to. He felt Princess Gwendolyn had likely been a beauty in her youth, but her youth was long since spent. She was already nineteen years of age! Regardless of how much the marriage would increase his family's station in life, he didn't intend to marry her. Oswald and three score of soldiers under the command of Major Thames rode down that same dusty road.

As they passed the small trail leading to the meadow under the steel cave, a wry smile crept onto Oswald's face. He had been there repeatedly to dispose of those who opposed certain decisions of his. Keeping the cave unknown had been a rather simple thing. Long vines and ferns grew at the top of the cave, and he had simply trained them to cover the entrance. Keeping the commoners out had also been a very simple thing. Upon his confirmation as lord, he claimed much of the surrounding land as his private hunting reserve.

The day after their arrival, Oswald bowed and formally asked for Gwendolyn's hand in marriage. In a quiet chamber designed specifically for the purpose, Gwendolyn made sure he wouldn't change his mind. She refused to give up her vaginal virginity, but she used her breasts to please him twice. The third time, Oswald told her to open her mouth, and took his pleasure there. Oswald scoffed at the idea of reciprocating in the same fashion. He rudely left Gwendolyn lying where she was and moved out of the room without pleasing her.

The next day, Oswald, his soldiers, and Gwendolyn, along with two score of her soldiers, began their return to his lands. Oswald and Gwendolyn rode near the front of the columns and spoke casually between themselves on the way. Gwendolyn assured him she would bear him children and that she would do it with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Oswald thought she would never bear any children, nor would she ever see his homeland.

It took Oswald a great deal of manipulation to arrive at the road to the meadow at the proper time. After a dinner, he convinced Gwendolyn to take a short walk with him in the woods. Of course, her ladies-in-waiting had followed at a discreet distance.

Oswald spoke to her in a quiet aside and told Gwendolyn of a place where a magic curtain of light could restore anyone's youth. What Oswald hadn't noticed was the vigilance of Gwendolyn's own guard. They had shadowed the pair the entire time, just as his guard had shadowed hers. When they stood at the entrance, Oswald moved aside the vines and ferns quietly guarding it.

Gwendolyn's first feeling was one of total shock and then that of a giddy young girl. She turned to him and with genuine excitement asked if what he had said was true. Oswald assured her that it was and that all she had to do was to step through and step back. In his excitement to rid himself of her, he hadn't noticed her ladies quietly filling the entrance behind him. Gwendolyn moved toward the shining green curtain with purpose in her step, and Oswald stood to the side smiling, like the prick he was.

Gwendolyn was almost halfway through the curtain, when one of her ladies in waiting clutched onto her in a vain attempt to drag her back. That resulted in her being drawn through with Gwendolyn, and in rapid succession, all of them were clutching one another, slowly floating down the hall. Oswald faced the curtain and watched them all float away with satisfaction. It was when he turned around that the smile faded from his face. Gwendolyn's guard had followed her, fearing only for their lady's virtue and had instead watched her demise.

Oswald was a lord, but her guards had no fealty to him. They hit him square in the chest and drove him through the curtain. Just then, his own guard arrived and reached through it to save him. The entire entrance to the cave became a melee. There were men on both sides fighting to retrieve those on the other side of the curtain, and in turn, they were drawn in with them.

Oswald felt something warm when his body passed through the first barrier. He continued floating down the hall and saw the second set of markings just as the shaft of purple light stabbed into his chest. When he saw the outer edge of the final markings, he realized that he too would disappear through the funnel of lights.

Oswald awoke lying on his back on what appeared to be a flat slab of polished black granite. A large bowl covered him, and it made him feel as though he lay in a casket. In short time, it removed itself upward into an alcove. His first attempt at standing left him on both knees. After a moment, he succeeded in gaining his feet, with the aid of the table to lean on.

As his wits returned to him, he took stock of the room. The same tables, covered with the same bowls filled the room. He could see the green curtain of light at the end of the hall. However, the view beyond it was as nothing he had ever seen in his life. It was at that point, he heard a strange hissing sound and spun his head to see three more of the bowls lifting from the tables.

The soldiers on those tables weren't his. He ran to the closest table and unbuckled the soldier's sword. The man was conscious but weak and

Reviews for Reah Leah the White

[kimmyd76 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me a bit to get into this book but once I did it was not bad. I wasn't too thrilled with the "erotic" scenes as they were between a man and a half human half cat creature (I think). I guess maybe I'm jut not a fan of this particular genre with the fantasy and erotica but I did find the story interesting. The idea of the stones that give certain powers when implanted in someone and the teleporting or transferring was interesting. I may or may not continue on and read the rest of the books in this series.