Massacre of the Massagetae--The Sorcerer Gaumata's Journal

By this time, Cyrus the Great was getting a reputation for being a bit zany—ha! After all, I was in his head. When he called his army together to move against the Massagetae, his advisors, especially the now adult Mihr, were against the campaign. It would be a disaster, they told him, but he cared not. So they left for the long journey. 

I have told you that Cyrus wanted to keep up the fantasy of his being god-like. People believed that he never defecated or even passed urine. Now, as the trip dragged on, he found it harder and harder to arrange a situation where he could relieve himself unseen. He became very constipated. This was my plan, of course.

The day arrived when we were very close to our destination. Our scouts reported that in the absence of the Queen, who had gone to secure allies, the foolish prince had tried to usurp the kingdom. Now the army of the Massagetae was in disarray. Cyrus ordered an attack, and most of the army was destroyed. This was very good, he thought, but he had not considered Queen Apuyani, who was to return with her allies.

The night after the massacre of the Massagetae army there was feasting and merriment in the Persian camp. By the time the soldiers had retired for the night, they were quite drunk.
The dawn was just breaking when Cyrus heard the war cries and lunged from his bed. He dressed hurriedly, for there was no way that he would appear in disarray. His guards would hold them off. He needed to urinate, but there was nothing that could be done about that now. His headache throbbed and he thought about his comfortable garden Quiet Room where he could sit in peace and silence.

His charger was saddled and pawing the ground when Cyrus appeared from his tent. The soldier holding the reins looked pale and panicky.

“It’s the Massagetae, Your Highness, and they have allies, their kin, the Paralatae Scythians. Our army is much larger, but they have attacked without warning,” the soldier’s voice broke as if he were a teenaged boy.

Cyrus was annoyed, but he felt a twang of sympathy for the young man, who could be among the dead when this was over. Taking the reins, he reassured him, “they are only barbarians without the slightest idea of how to conduct an attack. Let’s send them to their barbarian afterworld without delay so they can enjoy their reward!”

http://www.extasybooks.com/banner-of-fire-9/

Der Werwolf--A New Book by KB Forrest

Dark forest full of secrets call to her ancient blood. Can lovely Usha resist their seductive allure?

Professor Usha Baron embarks on sabbatical with hope, even after almost losing her tenure battle. Returning to her ancestral village deep in Germany’s Black Forest, she will finally continue the work her disgraced father had begun. He’d been laughed out of academia because of his firm belief in the existence of werewolves. Usha knew her father well. He was a peerless scientist, not the foolish madman his colleagues claimed he was. His work proved that there was a scientific explanation for this rare disorder, which he claimed ran even in his family line. Usha is determined to find rational answers, but dark castles and deep forests trigger a call in her ancient blood that cannot be explained by reason.

http://www.extasybooks.com/der-werwolf/

Back to Cyrus the Great and My Plan to Kill Him

When we left off, I was telling you about how I planned to exact my revenge on Cyrus the Great. I had stayed with him, learning the art of ruling while I exerted my will. Sometimes this was quite difficult, as the man was strong. People began to notice his odd behavior, especially the way he treated his wives. Previously, Cyrus had been a man who loved women, but now he was erratic, often spurning them violently. Of course, that was when I was in residence. I took to leaving when I believed he wanted to mate, for I despise that activity, as you well know. I would return to my body from time to time so that its limbs did not whither. 

I saw the chance for final revenge when a messenger arrived announcing disturbances in frontier satrapies. Among them was the kingdom of the Massagetae, fierce ex-nomads who were settled into lands north of Persia. It appeared that it was the Man-Eaters, a related Scythian tribe, which was responsible, but I guided the king to think hostile thoughts against the Massagetae, who were led by a Queen Apuyani, a witch.

I also learned that she was the sister of a witch who had taken in the daughter of the Sorcerer-Mage Rustem—my now dead enemy. I reasoned that Cyrus the Great would be terribly shamed if he were killed in battle by a woman, and I was quite certain that if a woman could do such a thing, a witch would be the one. I forced him to write a letter to the Queen, ordering her to surrender and accept marriage to the king. She answered in anger, prompting Cyrus to collect his army and move in the direction of what would be his final battle. 

http://www.extasybooks.com/der-werwolf/

I Turned Him Into This!!! HA HA!!!--The Sorcerer Gaumata

A writhing, quivering thing!

The Wannabe Sorcerer Gets His Due--The Sorcerer Gaumata

I thought of what to do next. For example, I considered that he might want to try the fire trick and I would make fire come out of his ass. But he was out of luck. I had been curious, but now I was bored. I was also annoyed to find that Martyn was one of those bullies—the kind I despised. If you remember well, I was a victim of such a bully, but in my time, these mean-spirited boys could literally get away with murder if their target was a poor child. I was the child of a whore. Nobody in my wretched village would ever have intervened on my behalf, so I was forced to endure terrible beatings.

These memories came back in a frightening crash as Martyn glared at Tete de Lun and threatened him. Martyn shook him as if he were a bag of bones then he said, “Make him atone for his sins against me, for I am the great Sorcerer Gaumata!”

My rage was like a dark storm cloud. How dare he use my name! Yes, I would make him atone for his sins against me. Martyn grinned like an empty skull, but only for a moment. He reached and pulled his own hair again and again until there was a bald spot like the sort a much older man would have. Then he began to tear at his clothing, feeling as if fire ants were crawling over him, their leader periodically sending out the order to bite. When they bit in unison, the formic acid felt like a torch upon his skin and he slapped himself again and again as more of his flesh was exposed to the gaping audience. When he was well naked, he began to caper about hysterically screaming and waving his arms over his head. He punched at his cheeks and jumping from the stage, he began to gnaw on the shiny bar until his teeth began to fall out. 

I could no longer bear the pain, having to share it with him as I was in his body. I left him and hovered over his body, unseen before rushing back to my own. I felt light now, as I always do when I have done something evil. Somehow, although I am not drawn to morality at all, I thought I had taught Martyn some valuable lessons. One was that you should never try to dabble in evil when you have no idea of what you may encounter. The second was that being a bully is bad. The third and most important was to never cross the Sorcerer Gaumata. 

He Makes Water--The Sorcerer Gaumata

His train of thought was broken by a slight guffaw. It came from a slight young man, who wore thick glasses and appeared to be alone. Martin glared at him and said, “You dare to laugh? You shouldn’t even be here. You are a mere human among us immortals.”

I saw what he hid in his mind. The young man who laughed had been the object of Martyn’s ridicule for as long as they had been in school together. Martyn hated him because he was awkward and perhaps plain looking. Before his fascination with the occult, Martyn had been what he called a “jock.” He ran with a crowd of likeminded rascals who preyed upon boys like the one he called “Tete de Lun,” because of his severe acne. Those boys ridiculed Tete de Lun because of his interest in esoteric lore. Somehow Martyn became likewise obsessed, but he never showed this side of himself to his jock friends, and he still made fun of Tete de Lun.

Now he was furious that the object of his ridicule was laughing at him and his secret hobby. Now in college, Martyn still maintained the facade of being a jock, even joining a fraternity, while Tete de Lun, also attending the large college was still an outcaste. If you know me, my dear readers, you know that as a child, I was subjected to torture by bullies like Martyn. This turn of events enlivened me.

Now Martyn called out in a loud voice, “Come, oh Tete de Lun. Come and join me in a duel. Since you have dared to laugh, we will see who is the better sorcerer.”

The boy stammered something then turned to leave. Martyn pointed, “Make him come up here. He has laughed. Now see my power!”

Some of the men, who were dressed as monsters of some sort or another, pushed Tete de Lun forward. He ascended the stage with knocking knees, for he was still quite afraid of Martyn.

“Now kind audience,” Martyn intoned, “we shall begin with the simplest of sorcery. Here, you,” he pointed to a woman wearing vampire teeth. Please give me your empty glass.” She passed up a clear glass beer mug stained around the lips with her tawdry red lipstick. He handed the glass to Tete de Lun, who took it with trembling hands. His face had gone pale.

“Now make water! Make water from nothing!” he ordered.
Tete do Lun giggled nervously. “I could in the lab. I am a chemistry major…” Everyone in the room began to laugh, and a few tossed beer and nuts at him. 

“As expected,” Martyn said, taking the glass into his own hands. “Now see the wonder of my power!” Some people laughed, but all watched. “Make water!” he called out.

I was ready. I forced the contents of his bladder out and a puddle began to form around his feet. Martyn looked down at the mess, unable to believe what had happened. This drew the crowd’s attention, and they roared with laughter.

At this, the proprietor, furious at this indignity, ran to the stage. “Get down from there, you ass!”
Martyn almost shrieked. “No, wait! I will show you! Give me a chance!”

The man stepped back only because the audience was screaming for more.
Inside of Martyn’s mind, I saw what he was thinking. He realized that he had used an expression he thought I had misunderstood. He would be more careful. As Tete de Lun tried to run off the stage, Martyn held him by the elbow and shook him. Under his breath he muttered, “Stay put, insect. I’m going to destroy you for what you did.”

http://www.devinedestinies.com/the-sorcerer-and-the-shaman/

The Fake Sorcerer and His Sorcery

It was dark when they arrived by rolling carriage to the place they called a nightclub. I heard much disturbing noise that passed for music, and it got louder as they approached. A fat man wearing garish black makeup around his eyes seemed to be screening the prospective patrons before they passed on to leave money for entrance. The man wore no shirt, but he decorated his chest and arms with a series of black leather straps, some of which must have been dog collars with spikes. 

Martyn looked at him with obvious distain. I suppose he felt quite proud to be about to make his debut as a master sorcerer. He also seemed proud of his garb, which consisted of a ridiculous long black hooded cape over a black suit and white shirt. His female friend dressed in what she thought passed for a witch’s outfit. She wore a long black dress with a long train lined in purple satin. She also wore a black cape, but the back of it was embroidered with a large, upside down, five pointed star. She was telling people to call her Sabrina.

After a long time, during which my host was feeling increasingly nervous, he approached a spindly man sporting vampire teeth, who seemed to be in charge. Martyn said, “You agreed to give me time if I could do what I said I could.”
The man drew back thin, cracked lips over his yellowed teeth in a grimace that passed as a smile. “If you are going to do some stupid magic tricks, I’ll have the bouncer kick your ass in front of everybody. Got it? Anyway, I want to see proof first. This is a serious place. If I get some ass-clown making me look stupid, we’ll lose our reputation.”

Martyn took in a deep breath and mumbled, “I call upon the powers of the Sorcerer Gaumata. Make fire come from my mouth!”

He blew out and I obliged him by making a small blue flame pass from his lips. The master of the establishment was impressed. “Okay, but make this good,” he said. He rang a loud Tibetan type gong until everyone fell silent. He called for the audience to look at the stage, where Martyn and his witch friend had already ascended.

“We at the club Sorceria are proud to present Martyn, the master sorcerer and Sabrina, an eighth level witch.” He made a ridiculous bow and backed away. All eyes were on Martyn, but I heard some giggling too. It seemed that he had some detractors. 

“After much tribulation, after much deprivation and suffering, I, Martyn, have become a master sorcerer. I have within me the knowledge of the ages—I know what only the ancients knew…”

http://www.extasybooks.com/fire-demon/

An Arrogant Would-Be Sorcerer--The Sorcerer Gaumata

As a sorcerer, I get many requests to take on students. The last student I had, met with an unfortunate end. You see, he was an annoying person who believed that simply by being tenacious he could force me to accept him. First he came forward with a fruit basket for me. I turned it into a basket of rotting limbs. He acted as if he were delighted, but I sent him away. Next he came offering me a young woman. I was horrified and immediately disappeared. This only encouraged the fool. Finally, he came with an offer. He said that I could possess his body and use it for whatever purpose I desired, but then I should take him as a disciple. I agreed just to rid myself of the man.

First I will tell you a little about this would-be-disciple. His name was Martyn. Of course, this spelling is ridiculous, but he was a young man, whose parents thought an aberrant spelling of a name would make their little bundle of piss and shit special. He certainly thought he was very special. He had arrogance written all over his face. He was especially in love with his own features. His lips—oh, how he loved those tiny lips with their cupid’s bow and pink color a woman might envy. His nose was well shaped. His eyes were comely enough, except for the fact that being a blond, his eyelashes were almost white, making him appear to be a cow. All in all, he thought that he was the picture of handsome masculinity. I thought not, for you see, the arrogant are ugly. It cannot be hidden under good looks.

I decided to get rid of Martyn by taking up his offer, so I entered his mind. As soon as I did, I realized, to my fury, that he had planned this all along. He wanted to possess me! Not my body. He wanted to possess my sorcerer’s mind. He was part of a young people’s group that thought themselves to be vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, witches, and the like. He believed that he could trap me there, in his mind. One of his female friends, a self-professed witch, had provided him with a spell that was supposed to trap me, making my powers accessible to him. I chuckled low and soft, but decided to go along for the ride, making him think that I was captured.

He apologized to me as he started for his home, where his witch friend was waiting. She ordered me to make a glass levitate. I did it from within him, and they were delighted. Now they dressed in outlandish garb to attend a nightclub where others such as themselves congregated. There he was to stun his audience with “his” newly acquired talents. He wanted them to acknowledge him as a master sorcerer. Tomorrow I will tell you how it went for him, but you may already guess that it did not go as intended.

http://www.extasybooks.com/la-bruja-2/

The Rats Eat the Snakes--Revenge is Sweet--The Sorcerer Gaumata

Let me tell you a little about my plan. I wanted to kill Cyrus, but I needed to enjoy it. It was revenge. Do you remember? He and Rustem had my ears chopped off, which was painful and most of all disfiguring. Now I thought that I must humiliate the so-called great king. The road to that great humiliation was to expose his greatest fear. Ah, yes! I can know a person’s greatest fear, and I exploit that. My dear reader, think of it. What do you fear the most? Do you fear suffocation? Do you fear spiders or cockroaches? Do you fear insanity? Do you fear being exposed for what you really are? Oh yes, I can find that fear in your heart and use it against you. But for now, let me tell you my plans for Cyrus the Great. 

I have explained that he had a fear of being exposed as a normal human. Indeed, being the King of Kings, he had the reputation of being god-like. A Greek visitor once commented that Cyrus the Great was indeed the greatest monarch, for he seemed to have no bodily needs. He never had to void waste. This became his fear. Cyrus feared that someone might find out that he was a normal person who shat like we all do. 
Cyrus had a solitary room people called the “Quiet Room.” 

This room was designed by a skilled craftsman who hid in it a throne that could be converted into a commode when needed. It was a lovely little private house that opened in places to the sky, so that a variety of plants could grow in there too. The king tended to these himself, for no one, not the queens, nor the princes, what to speak of common gardeners, were allowed entrance. Once the building was complete, Cyrus had the craftsman killed, so that his secret would be safe. 

I also wanted him to commit a serious political blunder that would stain his good name in the future. There is nothing more evil than to tarnish a man’s reputation, is there? Ha! My plan was simple. I will explain it tomorrow, for now I am busy. I am not a lazy man. I like to help my host. I caught two monstrous snakes yesterday. Brimming with venom and evil, these snakes had been eating birds and mammals that humans fancy as pets. I paralyzed them with a spell then I got distracted watching two birds fight. I forgot about them, but when I returned the next morning, rats had gotten their revenge by eating them alive. Most amusing.

http://www.extasybooks.com/pride-of-the-beast/

They Say Possession is 9/10s of the Law--I Possess People--The Sorcerer Gaumata

By the time I had been in the mind of the King of Kings, Cyrus the great, for seven years, I was bored and ready for a change. The brat Mihr had grown to be a young man, but Rustem visited him and in a way, like I did, he possessed the boy. He did this so that he could still advise the king. I found myself paralyzed at times like those, but I quickly learned that he could only speak though Mihr.

I began to impersonate Rustem, so that I would speak through the king’s mouth, but to him, he heard his dear advisor. One day Mihr caught me advising in this manner. What he heard me saying was this:

“Your Lordship must protect the eastern regions of your vast kingdom. We have discovered that the tribe that calls themselves the Massagetae has decided not only to challenge your over- lordship, but they are also instigating rebellion throughout the lesser kingdoms. As I have interpreted your dream, you see that the truth of my words is evident. In addition, you have heard yourself that the evil that will come to you will start in the east. Like the god Mithra, you must sweep in from the east and devastate any state that dares oppose you. In addition, the queen that rules that kingdom would make a fine supplement to your maidservants, if you catch my drift...”

I was, of course, encouraging him to attack one of his satrapies. It was a powerful one, and I hoped that he would end up dead in the scuffle. Mihr flew through the door and began to shake his sacred Kusti rope screaming, “Be gone, demon!” He surely felt my presence.

Cyrus began to explain the plan to attack the Massagetae to Mihr, but Rustem came to the surface and began to tell him that this was all wrong. The king stared at Mihr as if he were mad, for remember, he believed that Rustem, not I, had been advising him.

He screamed, “What do you tell me? Have you gone mad? Perhaps you are ill, Rustem? Never mind, prepare, for we are going to war. I am convinced that this rebellion must be quelled and I will see to it myself. Do you not remember that the Emperor Astyages, my grandfather, allowed a certain rebellion to get out of hand? Look what happened to him! Ha! The land of the Massagetae will swarm with the royal army and they will be the example I will set for people who oppose me, as you so elegantly stated before that crazy outburst.” Cyrus sat back on his throne gathering his strength. He blinked, and now he saw Mihr, not Rustem.

“Mihr, I am getting old now. My two strong sons, Cambyses II and Bardiya, are eager for me to die so they can rule. If I have to die, it will be in battle, not being tended by the women as I lie in bed. No, I will continue in my glory until the gods see fit to take me. Ah...perhaps the gods don’t even care. They’re probably too busy getting drunk,” he said with a dry chuckle.

“Well, what do you think of this?” he asked. “I will first propose marriage to the Queen Apuyani of the Massagetae. If she accepts the proposal, then there will be no need to waste the time and men that it will take to secure her kingdom. I can simply annex it.”

Mihr nodded dumbly.

“See to it that a messenger is sent immediately with the message and gifts. We should, nevertheless prepare for war. I do not believe that my proposal will be accepted.”

So my plans to kill Cyrus the Great were put into place.

http://www.extasybooks.com/taino-ti-6/