Qurrah picked up his robe and put it back on. He tied the sash while he watched Tessanna have her fun. The two men that had held her had long fled into the night. Only the leader remained, held sway by the beautiful sorceress. She ran a hand down his face, smiling as one of his eyeballs popped.

“Do you still want to bed me?” she asked. Tears ran from his good eye, and he tried to speak but all that came out was a pathetic whimper. “Good. You interrupted my fun, so I’ll have to have fun with you.” She pressed her body against his. Her arms wrapped about his body and pulled him closer. She ground her crotch against his leg. She slipped a finger inside his mouth. His clothes burned away, as did his flesh. Still she caressed him. Still she held him against her.

At last she pulled back and cried out in ecstasy. She released him from his paralysis. His throat and mouth was so charred and burned he could not even scream. Nothing but a blackened mess, he collapsed to the ground, bled, and died. The fire left her body…at least the outward fire. Qurrah wrapped his whip around his arm, amused at how aroused his lover was.

“I told him he couldn’t handle me,” she giggled.

T he next morning, Qurrah was first to awake. His whole body shivered underneath his blankets. He pulled them tighter about himself and attempted to return to sleep but the groaning of his stomach refused to let him rest. He had eaten nothing the previous day. Their provisions were running low, and he meant to stretch them as far as they could go.

“I should have made her teach me that spell,” he muttered, thinking of the banquets his brother’s wife Aurelia had conjured seemingly at will. The spell most likely required some sort of component to cast, but whatever it had been, Qurrah knew it would be easier to carry and obtain than his current stock of food.