The snaking tunnel gives way to a few caverns, some small, some large, all empty. It’s an hour of walking, bathed in the sunset orange of Indel’s light, before we find something new. Frustratingly, it’s not a Familiar, but it is fascinating.
“There shouldn’t be any structures here, should there?” I ask, certain of the answer but needing to hear it confirmed.
“Living stone, like the gargoyles. Something like this, however? No.”
Set into the cave wall is a flat, angular archway flanked by inscrutable reliefs, nothing more intelligible than tangled fishing wire. “An impressive amount of detail,” Indel says, “but in service of what? It’s no script I recognise.”
I’m not sure it’s a script anyone could recognise. If it’s a script at all. “Should we find an Instructor? One of the Professors?”
She clicks her tongue. “You know of Highspire?”
“The Royal Seat?”
“Yes. It sits at the confluence of seven separate leylines, and those born beneath its roof are guaranteed power far beyond what most could ever hope to attain, even with a lifetime of study. Do you know why it is House Endaria which claims this seat?”
“It was granted to them by the Gods thousands of years ago.” I remember all the stories — dad made sure of that.
“All the world is granted by the Gods,” Indel says, like she’s talking to a child. “No, it was merely an Endaria who found the site first, and claimed it as hers. Your magic brought us here, did it not?”
The tug within my stomach’s still there, only stronger when I stare into the ruin’s open, dark mouth. “It did.”
“Then let us claim whatever lies within, as is your right.” And let us hope you have the sense to claim more than that, Orc.
I blink at her, but she just tilts her head and smiles. “Is something wrong? Are we not to enter?” You need my courage? Her talons cup my cheek, her smile turning from confusion to tenderness. “You have nothing to fear. I shall protect you.”
What’s happening? These are her thoughts, they have to be — but they come through in my voice. Disorienting, to say the least. Such pretty tusks; if only they were against my neck.
I can’t bare to stare at her regal face. I whip my head away, and in the swirl something catches my eye. “I can read this!” I say, marching over to the reliefs. “Temple of the Seer. Walk with all eyes open.”
“Of course,” Indel scoffs, “who else would build in the Plane of Magic? You Mystics…”
The corridor swallows most of the light. Indel moves closer to me, hand on my arm as we walk through the near total darkness. We go right past three trapped doors, and each time she wonders why I don’t think to check them out.
The Temple must be amplifying my abilities, showing me what’s possible. Seeing is so much more than-
It swallows light, might it swallow screams? If she wanted her revenge, none would hear, none would come to save me.
Stay focused.
But there’s no way to block her thoughts out, so I settle on keeping my mind blank and trusting my senses alone.
“Here.” We stop in front of a wooden door smashed off its hinges, but only open a crack. We could easily slip through, though it’s impossible to see anything within through that tiny slice. “It’s behind this door.” It’s calling to me. It’s destiny. My whole life this thread of fate has been so strained, but now there’s all the slack in the world; we’re metres from each other.
If she’s right we’ll have another two hours to find mine — and she’ll have time to do what she will to me.
I shoulder through the door just to get some distance from Indel’s thoughts, but flexing my muscles to shift the ancient ironwood only makes her desire more insistent than ever. The beast is exactly the distraction I need, though.
Its snarling face, mouth full of teeth, shoots towards me, body propelled by muscled wings. I’m too slow getting my arms up, and the wolfbat knocks me to the floor, our bodies skidding across the corridor. My head smashes against the wall, but there’s no pain; it sinks its fangs into me, but can’t break the skin. Indel stands well back, talon extended — thank the Gods she got the spell off in time.
My hands grab two clusters of shaggy black fur and force its head back by inches. Its blind eyes stare into me, teeth dripping as it screams. A ball of magic light hits me; I shove the wolfbat and drag myself onto its back. I try to find a good spot to straddle it, but its craggy body would be difficult at the best of times, and right now it’s thrashing with every bit of strength it has.
The beast skitters down the hallway, wings and legs smashing against the stone, my body trailing behind it like a banner as I clench my fingers tighter around its fur. “Hattie!” Indel cries, disappearing in the distance.
The wolfbat digs its claws into the wall, bringing us up onto the ceiling and looping back towards its den. I dangle down the corridor. This thing won’t resist its destiny any longer.
You’re an Orc! Orc! Orc! CONQUER!
I swing, swing, swing, build my momentum, and then crash into its back, wrapping my legs around its side and digging my feet into its belly. It yelps, releases, spins, and lands on its feet, with me still mounted. I yank back on its fur, thews tightening, and the creature comes to a stop just before it would bowl over Indel, wide eyed and still.
“You are mine,” I declare, refusing to release my grip. “We are bound together.”
The wolfbat whines. Visions of the past flood my mind, of a tall tower in the forest and the woman who lived there. The villagers come before her for fortunes and prophecies, for rumours and news from far-flung corners. Then the tower’s collapse, and the fear, and the labyrinthian caves — a journey that ended here, in a ruin turned den.
Then the future. That same vision of Vila, exhausted. Of wingbeats and fire. Of Mae, mace raised above her head. I want to grab these threads, pull them around me, examine them, but they pass from my hands and give way to what I know is now, all around me.
I see Syrene feeding a fat black raven a pawful of wriggling worms. Nym, with a steel-scaled snake curled around her wrist. Mae, against a tree, my hands either side of her head; she stares at me, waiting for me to lean in, and as I start to, I realise these hands are brown-furred. I can’t see this right now, not when the fight’s got my blood up, but I can’t pull away before Alyx’s lips meet Mae’s. Nym! I think, desperately, Gods, back to Nym and Syrene!- oh no.
There’s a wash of watercolour and the sensation of speed as I fall into the vision.
I’m in Nym’s short, plump body, seeing through her eyes, and after a moment, my mind settles into the contours of hers as well. I am Nym, I always have been.
I’ve let the mute girl lead me into the deep woods, for some reason. Selfish of her, to just assume we’re getting her Familiar first. What if mine’s in a totally different direction? It irritates me.
I ignore the fact that I can barely sense the tug of my magic through the roiling of emotion in my stomach. The morning has been eventful, what with Hattie and Mae… I was lucky I got away with that one. Hattie’s too good at seeing through my tricks.
Don’t you like it when she calls you out, though? Doesn’t it give you a thrill?
I shake the thought away, desperate not to worsen my distraction. Besides, it annoys me more than it compels me. I hate to lose. Syrene moves ahead as I climb over yet another damp log. At least I like the forest. Wait. Where did she go?
She drops from above, landing close enough that I can feel her breath and smell the vanilla of her fur (that smell was driving me crazy on the busride, already worked up, and having to stare ahead at Hattie, perfect Hattie, [the thought of me being seen as perfect by anyone almost pulls me out of the vision] lucky enough somehow to be partnered with the Princess Indel — the glorious, elegant, beautiful Princess Indel. And me stuck with the silent mouse girl who, despite being utterly boring, smells good enough to drive me out of my head). She presents me with a handful of large, dark brown nuts. My stomach turns.
“Oh- No, thank you. I only eat meat.”
She cocks her head to the side, and then shrugs, plopping down on the damp forest floor, deshelling her prizes. What the fuck!? We haven’t found either of our Familiars yet, she has me half an hour deep into the overgrowth, and now she wants to sit down for a snack? I open my mouth to tell her off, but hesitate. If she’s stopping anyway, might as well take care of my own little issue, right?
I scooch close to her, and when she looks up at me, confused, and tries to shuffle away, I grab her lower back and pull her forcefully toward me. “Sorry, this one will only work if we’re nice and close.” She struggles, pushing her paws against my chest, but only for a moment. My magic takes her and I paint my picture, a favourite of mine.
I erase the nuts; she didn’t stop because she was hungry. She stopped because she was horny, because she wanted me. She couldn’t stop staring at me on the busride, couldn’t stop thinking about me on the walk as she was supposed to be focusing on her Familiar. Finally, unable to take it, she jumped on me from above, we tumbled to the forest floor together. She kissed up my neck with utter devotion.
She wants to serve me, that’s all she wants in the world.
Okay, should be a decent start. Syrene’s eyes go from blank to on-fire as she tightens her grip on my arms.
She straddles me, buries a fist in my hair, yanks my head back so I’m looking at her, kisses me full on the mouth. She shuffles down, starts grinding against my thigh as she grabs my ass, digging her nails in deep enough to break skin. She shivers with pleasure.
Wow, this went even better than expected. Who knew Syrene had such an intense side?
Still, I doubt we have enough time for both of us to have equal fun. We have Familiar hunting to do, after all. I try to get us back on track, flooding Syrene again with-
A thin wisp of purple connects us and she screams in pleasure as she grinds. The noise echoes against the mountainous trunks. She can talk!?
“-”
Suddenly, I realise that it’s my voice screaming and moaning and sobbing against me in tones of desperate, totally unaffected pleasure. I feel a rush of humiliation, hearing my voice used like that. Her full weight is against me, and I dig my nails into her hips to slow her down.
She adores me, she wants to service me. She would never take my voice, such a thing would be borderline blasphemy against her idol.
I wonder if any of this imprint will be strong enough to last? I had her pegged as a boring, weak little thing. But seeing her like this… Might be a well worth returning to.
I feel my voice come back to me in a rush. Syrene slows down her gyration, pulling me into her so we’re pressed tight against each other. She reaches between us to unbutton my top.
“No,” I say quietly. “Take yours off, though. You want to take yours off.”
It’s off as quickly as I’ve said it, and I barely have time to admire her surprisingly large chest before she’s pressed against me again, desperate, like she can’t bear to be away from me, teeth tickling my throat.
Gods, I might have gone too hard. It’s like fucking someone that’s obsessed with me.
Well, good then. I certainly made her much more interesting than she was. All she wanted to do before was eat nuts and get lost in the woods. She’s started grinding against me again, but we can’t get distracted. I push her head down.
She resists for just half a moment, looking up at me uncertainly, before she’s disappeared beneath my skirt.
“You want to,” I assure her, letting out a little gasp as she pulls my underwear aside, and her tongue makes contact with skin.
She goes in, expertly, and I let out a moan. Finally! I grab her hair and push her face harder into me, biting my lip and crying out.
“Yes!”
Gods, I’m so worked up, I’m already close. She-
She stops.
What the fuck? I jostle her hair, move against her, but Syrene only reaches up and disentangles my hand from her hair, emerging from beneath my skirt. I flood her with feelings of devotion again, but her eyes only meet mine steadily.
!?
I ratchet up the love feelings. Her paws tighten hard into my sides, and her eyes are burning with desire now, but she still doesn’t move.
What’s the big idea? I was so close.
“You want to service me,” I say, at last, wiggling beneath her, “You want to-”
The purple wisp connects us again and my voice cuts off. When she opens her mouth, it’s hers.
“I do,” she says, and I feel the burning truth in the words as she stares down at me. “Isn’t that strange?”
No! It doesn’t matter! The only thing that matters is feeling good and I was just feeling very good so please, please keep going. You want to keep going!
“-”
She grabs a handful of hair, uses it to move my face side to side, inspecting. “Do you want me to tell you why it’s strange?” she says, interrupting herself to kiss me violently and then pulling back, breathing heavy, “Because, normally, I don’t like to be the one doing the servicing.”
She shuffles up so she’s straddling my waist, towering above me. I try to whimper and no sound comes out. Why did she have to stop? She was so good at it. I’m desperate, now. I send another wave of illusions through her, but they make no impact.
“So I’m down there, right, having a spiritual experience eating out a 95 pound elf that even I could beat in a fistfight, and I’m thinking — what an unusual coincidence. For the first time in my life, I want to devote myself to someone, I want to bend my will to another’s, and that person just so happens to be an Illusion mage. You see, darling, where I start to question things.”
I wriggle beneath her, because I don’t care. I don’t care about anything right now except for getting my right hand down my panties so I can just do it myself.
She catches my wrist and then my other, holds them firm over my head, looming.
“I thought you wanted me to do that,” she whispers in my voice. “Don’t you like me anymore?”
I squirm desperately. She shifts position, rolling off me and slotting in behind me, so my ass is pressed into her. My arms are free now, so I move them straight down to take care of myself as she takes my tie off- and she has them again. I try to cry out in frustration but again, no sound. In less than a minute, I’m restrained.
“I want to service you, Nymeria,” she says, hand snaking into my panties. Yes! YES! She traces slow circles. “I love you,” she says.
My eyes widen, but I can have no other reaction, immobilised and voiceless as I am. It’s a shock, but, sure, I can be into that. I close my eyes, try to concentrate, but she’s moving unbearably slowly, fingers so light against my clit. I thrash, desperate for more stimulation, and she pulls me tight against her.
“Did you hear me?” she says, “I love you. It’s fucking tearing my chest apart right now how much I love you. Because, what? The Illusion mage was bored? Horny? Do you know how this fucking feels?”
Gods no, of course not, all I can fucking think about is your finger against me and please, please speed up. She stops. No!
Suddenly, her claws are digging into my face and she’s twisting me around to look at me.
“No,” she says. “You don’t. But you will.”
My voice comes back to me and, to my horror, immediately explodes into a desperate whimper. She smiles, the cord isn’t gone though, still snaking into my forehead. What is she-
The emotion hits like an explosion, a rush of pain and longing in my chest. I cry out, a note of flat horror. Gods, she smells so fucking good and she’s touching me and I want her more than anything, so why is it painful? Her fingers start their sleepy movements again, and I can’t help it, I scream.
She takes my voice.
“What do you want?” she whispers. “Do you want to cum, or do you want to service me? We don’t have time for both.”
Another wave of emotion washes through me. No, she can’t do this. I’m an Illusion mage! I can see through anything she throws at me. I love her, though, I love her so much it hurts.
Nothing could be more of a motivator than her slow fingers between my legs, though. I need relief.
“Which is it?” she asks.
My voice collides back into me with a “Please! I need to cum!”
Her fingers stop, she rolls me onto my back in the dirt, straddles me so I’m looking up at her face, lit from behind by the veins of light shooting through the forest canopy. I want to sob in frustration, but she’s taken my voice again.
“I’m so flattered,” she says, “that you would choose to service me, even when you’re so desperate. You must really love me.”
I do, I do, but why did I agree to this? I’m going crazy, my brain feels like it can’t function. I changed my mind. I need to cum. I need to tell her! She doesn’t give me back my voice though, just pins my arms above my head with her knees and rides me until she’s screaming up into the trees, sounding like me.
My face is flushed with colour as I recover from the vision, heart pounding and blood in my ears from the fight. I dismount the wolfbat and press my face against it. “Stay here,” I say, and it grumbles before spinning twice and collapsing with a sigh.
“Hattie,” Indel says, touching my shoulder. I grab her wrist and pull her against me. Her eyes go wide as I scoop her up and carry her light body into the creature’s former den. I throw the Princess down onto a decayed mattress, which becomes luxurious and fluffy just before she lands.
YES YES YES SHE’S DOING IT SHE’S DOING IT.
No, she’s not, she can’t, she’s- she’s gorgeous and beautiful and- she’s not Mae, I want Mae- the Mae with Alyx’s tongue down her throat? Be real. She’s before you and she wants it and she thinks she’s better than you. Drag her down.
Her royal, custom tailored uniform is of the highest quality, but it doesn’t survive my hands. Buttons fly off her blouse when I rip it from her. “You are below me,” she shouts, but I ignore her feigned protests until she’s down to just her underwear, a fine set of lacy red and silver lingerie. “Stop it, peas-” a hand around her slender throat chokes off the words. I drag her long neck down so her head’s beneath my skirt; I roll my stockings down and she obeys without question, but I keep my hand on her neck in case.
The Princess must be well-practiced. Her tongue is bliss — yet still, not enough. I need more to distract me, more to shut out that stupid fucking deer in the place I should be, and the desperation still clattering around in my head from when I was Nym. I shift, dig my knees into the mattress, grind my crotch against her face. Still not enough. Nothing’s enough.
Indel successfully provokes me with a scratch across my arm. I tighten my grip and drag her out by the throat, slam her against the wall and growl in her face.
YES YES YES.
Her fingers twitch and fly towards me. I’m a second too late to stop the magic flowing into me, and I feel something new between my legs. She loves that trick.
Indel’s tall, but so light. Light enough to flip around, hike her hips against me, pull her panties aside. Light enough to pull back and forth by the waist, every movement making her moan all the louder. “Savage,” she gasps, until I wrap a hand around her beak to shut her up.
I only need the one arm for her waist — it’s tiny enough to have an elbow on one side and arm on the other, yanking her into my thrusts like she’s a toy.
YES!
I’ve never had one of these before, obviously, but it’s intuitive, natural. My body knows what to do with it, and the pleasure of her tight warmth tells me I’m doing it right. “Stuck up royal bitch,” I grunt, unsure where such hatefulness came from, “who’s coming to save you now?”
YES!
I wrench her head back and stare into her eyes. Indel can’t hide the thrill, even if she tries to look afraid. “Who’s going to stop me from breaking you?”
YES!
“Please,” she whines, barely intelligible around my grip. “D-don’t.”
“I will if I fucking want to.” I lean more weight into her. “I’ll do whatever I want with you.”
YES!
“I’ll-” but her beak snaps open suddenly, her moan echoing through the tight space.
“I LOVE YOU!” she screams. When I freeze in shock, she throws her hips back, whimpering and screaming “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Her graceful body spasms. She tightens around me. Her claws dig into the mattress and tear huge chunks of cotton free as she cums, still screaming “I LOVE YOU!”
“Shut up!” I ram her head into the lush fabric. “I don’t love you. You’re a condescending bitch; the only reason I’m fucking you is you’re warm and you’re here.”
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! She moans into the mattress so loudly I’m worried they’ll hear her on the surface.
I bury myself inside her and flood her royal womb.
I’m rolling my stockings up and feeling the mad urge to apologise (Apologise!? For playing right into her hands after what she did to me?) when Indel’s thin curving figure rises from the mattress and her big besotted eyes appear before me. She tries to plant a kiss on my forehead, but only manages to catch my cheek as I yank violently away.
Suddenly, we’re beneath the overcast sky again, energy crackling in the air.
“No need to be shy with me, Hattie,” says a suddenly dressed Indel, “your cum is dripping down my legs right now, you know.”
I blush. I should never have let myself lose control like that, especially not around this girl — she’s clearly crazy; but the fighting and the humiliation and her thoughts pounding into my head rid me of my senses, brought out my ugly side. I need to stay on guard around her.
A very disoriented wolfbat unloafs beside me, letting out a high-pitched sonar squeal. Indel takes my arm. “Now come along, darling. Our time runs short.”
In my daze, I let her lead me. At least her thoughts are out of my head.
“I’m still aching from you,” she whispers. “I can still feel your hands on my hips.”
I’m closing my eyes and wishing for a way out when my Familiar squeaks and bounds off. “It will lead us to mine,” Indel says. “I’m sure of it. My destiny is to follow you, as your destiny is to lead me.”
“Um- so all that… love stuff was real?” I ask, following — she is my Familiar, after all, bounding into unknown territory, so I have little choice. “You weren’t just acting?”
“Real? How could you possibly question my sincerity? You felt the steadfastness of my thoughts, did you not?”
All I can do is clear my throat awkwardly. We break through a copse of trees and into a blue-mossed meadow, at the centre of which stands a huge, majestic white pegasus.
“As I foresaw!” cries Indel, running ahead into the clearing. The pegasus lets out a startled whinny, stretches its wings out to fly.
“Indel, stop! It’ll get away!”
Magic shoots out of her talons before I can even finish the thought though, coalescing into a brilliant, bright white orb which floats sleepily before the creature’s face. The creature’s wings stop mid-motion and fold back into its body. Its features, locked in a furious squeal, slacken.
Indel prances over and places a kiss on its huge white head. “I, The Princess Indel, Lady of Sapphire Thicket, claim you as my own, to serve in my household faithfully until the end of time — I appoint you Castellan!” she says cheerfully, and the orb disappears.
“Come love!” cries Indel, “we will fly back to Vayal on horseback, the perfect fairytale ending to our day!”
“No,” I say, “I told you, I don’t love you. I don’t even like you.”
“Nonsense! But surely you will not allow your partner to embark on such a dangerous journey alone!” she says, placing a hand on the pegasus. “We’re supposed to stay within sight of one another after all.”
I close the distance between us in three long strides and grab her wrist roughly as she tries to mount. There’s only one language this woman understands, apparently.
It would be a lie to say I’m not frightened as I drag her roughly back through the clearing and toward the others — after what happened last time I defied her, a girl has a right to be a little nervous — but she only looks up at me, fluttery eyed and breathless.
Our Familiars trot after us, side by side, casting as stark a contrast to each other as we ourselves must cut. Finally, a sense of achievement and relief washes over me. I actually did it — I claimed a Familiar. The biggest obstacle I’ve faced yet — and Gods if it wasn’t even more of an obstacle than I expected — and I did it. I deserve to be here. The feeling is enough to leave me floating all the way back to the others, where the dragon sits breathing its mountainous breaths and where Alyx sits with a huge, tusked bear.
It takes me a moment to realise she’s crying.
“Alyx?” I say, rushing forward.
She looks up. “Hattie,” she says, eyes red, “I’m sorry. Mae’s injured. She didn’t get her Familiar.”