This was not ideal. From the way she shot that cockatrice, I knew she was a crack shot with that bow, and while I could likely dodge that arrow on a good day, this was not a good day. Cockatrice venom was still doing something in my legs and tail, throwing off my mobility and reflexes. My odds were hard to gauge.
“Easy now. You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do. My master has ordered it. Now move.”
So that’s what that strange play of emotions across her face was. She’d received some sort of mental communication from her master, and it wasn’t pleasant. Raising my hands, I moved as she directed, hoping that I could walk off the effects of the paralytic poison currently slowing me down.
She looked back at the birds we’d hunted and appeared to consider something. “Pick up these cockatrices.”
That seemed like a tall order given their size, but on the other hand I wasn’t super keen about losing my hard-earned capture to a random predator, so I complied, picking up my lightly-struggling sack, plus the two carcases by their feet. It turned out I was strong enough to handle this without much issue, making it more of a bulk problem, but with a bit of rope I was able to solve this. She marched me in a direction that seemed random to me, but she was able to fly above the treetops so she likely had a clearer idea of where we were going.
“So where are we-”
“No questions. I’m sorry, but orders are orders.”
That wasn’t going to be helpful. My legs still weren’t in particularly good shape yet and with these evil turkeys lashed to my body I wasn’t going to be dodging very well. Maybe that’s why she wanted me to carry them?
As we cleared the wooded area we were in, I could tell we were now going up the mountain. Where could we be going? As we continued to climb, I could feel something in the air, like some sort of tension. We came within view of the mouth of a cave. It once had some sort of strong doors, but they had been scorched and clawed and now hung open. There were other signs of conflict in the area, trees and rocks with burn marks and gouges taken out of them, plus some other damage I couldn’t immediately identify.
“Message from Sable. Portal in that cave.”
Lyris glanced over, wondering if the message was of any importance, but not knowing English, she didn’t seem concerned with what she heard.
“Keep moving. Into the cave.”
I had a bad feeling about where this was going but I wasn’t really in a position to argue. The cave itself was pretty interesting, looking like it had largely been naturally formed in some manner but widened and supported in places. Crystalline veins suffused the walls, glowing a strange purple color. Cool.
The path opened out into a larger room that looked like it had been ransacked and burned, and in the middle of the room, a dog-like creature apparently stood watch. It barked when Lyris approached and it walked up to sniff me. I held out my hand for it to sniff. Lyris spoke up finally.
“This is Relex, a familiar serving the same master as I. Drop those birds here and he will watch over them.”
I did as I was commanded, setting the live bird down carefully.
“Now keep going. Further that way.”
Shrugging, I continued down the hall… my legs had much improved while we’d been walking and they were probably ready to tangle, but in the confines of the cave hall, with minimal cover opportunities, I decided to wait for a better opportunity. I surreptitiously checked my phone… No Service. Figured, I was in a cave after all.
Soon we arrived at a chamber with a giant purple glowing crystal in the middle, looking like something out of a video game. There was a pattern of sigils drawn in silvery substance. It was pretty obvious this was supposed to be drawn in the shape of a large door, and I had to assume it was the portal.
“Now what?”
“We wait. My master wants to meet you.”
A wizard on another world wants to meet me, huh? This should be interesting, and a bit above my paygrade. The space within the sigils on the crystal shimmered and swirled before it took on a uniform white glow.
“Now go through.”
I considered my options. On the one hand, I could try to deal with Lyris and her bow at nearly point blank range. Dodging would probably be hard at this range, and pulling out my only spell would take a bit of concentration I didn’t have available. On the other hand, I could go through that portal and meet the wizard. Risky, but… I’d have a chance to find out what all of this is about. I stepped through the portal.
A feeling of falling and vertigo came over me and saw only bright light for a few seconds before emerging disoriented into what appeared at first like an identical room. However, instead of Lyris, an elf in robes stood before me. Momentarily, Lyris emerged from the portal herself. The elf looked me up and down curiously as he spoke.
“Welcome, princess. I am Taliornen.”
That was a new one. I did a double take and looked at Lyris, hoping she had some explanation for this strange mode of address. Seeing the question in my eyes, she spoke up.
“You can cast spells, yes?”
I nodded and brought out my Control Flame sigil as proof.
The man smiled when he saw it. “So you are indeed a witch as well as a familiar. And you speak the noble dialect so fluently. You can be none other than a princess of the Ward dynasty.”
I blinked at that… Ward dynasty? Noble dialect? The Sympathy Potion made me speak whatever dialect of Elven that Lyris spoke, so that much I could explain, but I wasn’t sure of the rest of their reasoning.
“How do you figure?”
The man smiled as though he had figured out some clever puzzle. “Do not take me for an idiot. I have interacted with the Ward family in ages past, and they had the peculiar habit of making familiars out of their excess heirs. Nobody else would take a familiar who was also a spellcaster than the lunatics of the Ward family, and even they would only do so within the family where trust could be ensured. You even have their signature black hair.”
This guy was so sure I was a Ward “princess” despite such flimsy evidence. My hair was only black because I was a black cat familiar, and Sable was just desperate for help after the dragon he had sent through the portal. A part of me wanted to “well actually” him, but since I didn’t know his motive, contradicting him might play against me.
“Supposing I am a… princess, why have you brought me here?”
“As a hostage. Perhaps then your family will stop attacking us.”
Taliornen brought out a spell sigil, something far more complex than I was familiar with. Like the sigil on Lyris’s arm that I’d seen only briefly, I could also tell something was stylistically different about this one compared to mine.
“What’s that?”
“Just something to ensure your compliance. I call it ‘Pacify’. It will prevent you from taking any hostile actions against another, at least until a hostile action is taken against you.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of it, though it sounded kind of fair in a way. If that meant Lyris could stop pointing her arrow at me it’d be an improvement maybe. I could see the sigil light up and feel something wash over me. I didn’t feel any different, really, but I could tell some sort of magic was on me. Hopefully it would expire after a time.
Lyris waited until Taliornen nodded before putting down her bow. I likewise put away my Control Flame sigil. Taliornen pointed at the still-bloody cockatrice wounds on my legs.
“Lyris, clean those up for our guest.”
She approached and looked over my wounds, and I could feel a slight amount of guilt from her; she must have regretted not treating my injuries before making me hike up a mountain. Producing a handkerchief and a vial from her pouches, she cleaned the blood off my legs, tail, and hand before applying a small amount of the potion from the vial, which I quickly recognized was the same healing potion I’d given her yesterday. She was using it in very small doses to conserve it, applying it carefully to each wound to close it.
Now that we weren’t aiming weapons at each other, I figured I could look around the room a bit more as she worked. The crystal in this world looked very similar, though not identical, to the one in mine. There was something different about its shape and size I couldn’t put my finger on. Additionally, I could tell the sigils around the portal door were drawn in the unfamiliar sigil script, seemingly the same as the wizard’s spell. I wondered whether that was truly stylistic or whether there was something significant about the difference. Either way, now was not the time to ask.
Looking at me with concern, Lyris asked, “How is the venom?”
“It’s fine now. I had a few antivenoms. Just had to walk it off.”
Satisfied, she closed the vial again and backed off. Taliornen then spoke again.
“Now, princess, I will take you somewhere a bit more comfortable and we can speak at length.”
It didn’t seem like I had much choice at the moment, but on the plus side maybe this guy would actually talk to me about his problem. A sturdy door had been placed in the hallway leading to the next room, which Taliornen and Lyris escorted me into at this point. Like in my world, there was another room past here, but the configuration was different. The stone was worked, the size was smaller. The one thing in common was that the furnishings in the room had seen better days, though they hadn’t been burnt.
On the floor to one side, there was a large glyph of some sort drawn, something different than the sigils I was familiar with, which we moved onto. My nerd senses tingled a bit as I had some idea of what this was, and that was soon confirmed as Taliornen brought out another sigil and the world lurched suddenly. The cave room was gone, and we were elsewhere. A round room made of stone blocks, with light coming in through windows. A single sturdy door was the only way in or out. We’d teleported to another glyph.
They walked me to another room that appeared to be some sort of guest room. There was a bed, a wardrobe, and a door apparently leading to an en suite bathroom. None of the furnishings were in a style I could recognize, but it favored curves and gold trim.
Taliornen put a hand on my shoulder.
“Now, young lady, it seems likely that you are not personally at fault here, so please be at ease. You will not be harmed in my home, though depending on the resolution, it may be your home for some time. Before we speak, please bathe and change. Lyris will see to your needs until I return.”
“I’m fine actually, I’d prefer to talk now.”
“Nonsense. Hospitality protocols are very important among our kind. You will refresh yourself and then we can speak.”
Well, whatever. I supposed a bath couldn’t hurt. Taliornen left, and Lyris drew me a bath. They had some sort of indoor plumbing system but I wasn’t sure how to work it, so Lyris showed me the appropriate mechanism to draw a hot bath. She added some sort of oils or something to the bath, claiming “These are quite soothing, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.”
After she gave me some privacy, I stripped down and got in, enjoying the hot water as the bath filled. Whatever oils she had added seemed to be the local equivalent of a bubble bath, as a fine and frothy foam emerged and slowly covered me before I finally turned the water off. Whatever it was, it smelled nice, if a bit feminine for my tastes, and I could feel the lingering aches in my muscles from the cockatrice fight start to melt away.
There was a quick knock on the door and Lyris came back in, startling me. I sunk my body deeper into the bath, suddenly feeling self conscious about it, though I suppose as far as she knew I was just another girl.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I’d launder your clothing.” She picked up my pile of clothes.
“Uh, no, that’s-”
“Don’t worry, I’ll clear the pockets out.”
“That’s not-”
She quickly exited the room. There was some sort of fluffy bathrobe on the back of the door that I might have to resort to once I got out of the bath. Finally left alone for a bit, I stretched out into the bath and let the heat and oils seep into me. I reflected on my situation. I’d been on this weird-ass job for only two days (more or less), and I’d been turned into a catgirl, met actual elves, fought a pack of magical raptor turkeys, got kidnapped to another world by a wizard, and now I was… having a nice relaxing bubble bath and getting called a princess? This summer job couldn’t get any weirder, could it? I only had a few more days to clear out my dorm room… was that even going to be a concern for me? Was an elven wizard going to keep me locked in his tower forever?
Well, either way I needed to get out of this bath before I pruned up. I drained the tub and got out, toweling myself off. The sight and feel of my naked girl body was still taking some getting used to, and with those bath oils my skin was feeling particularly soft and smooth, and just a bit floral. It was… nice, I guess. The way I’d want a girl’s skin to smell and feel. Maybe the way I wanted my own skin to smell and feel… as long as I was going to be a girl anyway. Pulling on the fluffy bathrobe, I exited the bathroom and found Lyris waiting with an outfit spread across the bed. The style was unknown to me but it was definitely some sort of dress. It came in layers, and there were undergarments provided.
“I thought someone of your breeding might like this sort of thing now that we aren’t out in the wilderness. You’re probably around my size, generally, so this is one of my cuter outfits.”
I could tell both from her face and through the Sympathy bond that she was excited to have me try this on. My own clothes were nowhere in sight, and I’d guess she’d washed them and they were drip drying from a balcony somewhere by now. With little other option, I let her help me into the foreign outfit. I was a bit self conscious about showing her my body, and I felt more conflicted about it as I pulled the robe off and got a sense of mild arousal and approval from her as she helped me install the bizarre contraption that was an elven corset. Maybe it was a normal Earth corset for all I knew, but it was bizarre either way. Eventually it was all on, the corset, the stockings, the dress, the flats. Then she got out a hairbrush.
“Uh, I can do that myself…”
“I’m sure you can, but I’d like to…”
I relented. She started brushing out my wet hair. It wasn’t long like hers, but it had a fluffiness to it that I still hadn’t gotten used to. It was kind of like a cat’s fur, in fact. And having it brushed was… well it was pretty great honestly. I caught myself purring and blushed.
“You really are like a cat princess.”
“I am not!”
“Ah, a bit of a tomboy, are you? Well either way you look great in this dress. Your body is lithe and strong.”
“Well, that’s the cat spirit’s influence.”
“I’m aware, my raven spirit bolsters me as well.”
“Lyris, how long have you been a familiar?”
“About six years, I’d say. Overall my master has been… tolerable. How about you?”
“About two days?”
“Wow, you’re that new to this? And your master, Sable, is she your mother or your sister?”
Ah, this misunderstanding again. I didn’t want to out myself as not a ‘Ward princess’ just yet, so I played along. “Sister.”
“And how is she as a master? Did you have a choice?”
“Uh… I guess I didn’t have a choice, no, but allegedly she’ll let me out of the contract later if I want to quit.”
“She’d let you go? I’ve never heard of that happening among elven mages.”
“Well, we’ll see if she actually follows through later. For now I guess she’s not a bad… master.”
“That’s good to hear. Perhaps she’ll take your situation as a hostage seriously. You are family, after all.”
Would Sable actually take this seriously? We weren’t actually family, but I did have her cat familiar bound to my spirit at the moment. “Yeah… right, family.”
“Well enough about that for now, let’s get your makeup on.”
I wasn’t prepared to wear makeup. The cutesy dress was bad enough, and Lyris had that same gleam in her eye. “No, thank you, that’s-“
I was saved when Lyris seemed to get a mental communication and looked disappointed. I wondered how he was doing that, if Sable couldn’t do it to me.
“Ah, master would like to see us now. Later, perhaps.”
I caught a look at myself in the room’s dressing mirror before we left, and was forced to confront the image of myself in a cute dress. It was a weird sight. Since this was Lyris’s dress, the shoulders were exposed to allow for her wings, and there was a deep cut in the rear to allow for her, or my, tail. I wasn’t really comfortable with the amount of cleavage on display. I flushed a bit as I stared, not really prepared to see myself this way, but I also couldn’t deny that I looked great. Cute, even.
“It suits you well. You have a nice figure.”
I hesitantly nodded before proceeding out of the room, wanting to get back to business and try to get all this sorted out so I could go home.