It didn’t take long walking through the town, before I noticed a few changes in myself. Ever since the girls had completed herbing me down, I’ve been overly sensitive — to the point where the wind, or even the friction of my inner thighs rubbing together, would make me almost lose my mind. Now, that sensitivity was still there, but it didn’t affect me as strongly, for some reason.
Was Alaina just having fun teasing me? Enjoying someone being of lower rank than her? Or had she been training me, in her own extreme way, to handle the feeling better?
Honestly, I wasn’t certain if she’d planned for this result, or was just having fun. Either way, it was undoubtedly her actions which helped bring up my tolerance levels to where walking and moving were no longer unbearable. Think of it as having a painful knot on your arm. It hurts, and hurts, and hurts. Then the doctor pokes and prods at it, examining it, which causes overwhelming agony. When he finally stops, and it goes back to the original dull throb, it’s a relief to your overwhelmed nerves.
That’s basically how it was now for me. The stimulation was still there from casual contact, such as the wind blowing, or my legs rubbing together, but compared to the direct physical assault my pleasure centers had suffered all day long, it was a relief to return back to that dull throb.
Walking through the ruins of Sun City, my mind was once again clear enough to boggle at how large and opulent this place had to be at one time. Though time had crumbled all the buildings and roads into shattered rubble, the sheer volume of rubble attested to the size and complexity of the city. Just the fact that enough of the road remained, to still recognize that we were walking on a road, was testament to the greatness of Sun City. Hell, I’ve seen paved driveways – both concrete and asphalt – shatter and become unrecognizable after only a dozen years, or so, of a home being deserted. The outline of the roads here still existed, ages after they were last maintained – and in a swamp trampled by corrupted, moving plants, to boot!
Sun City truly had to have been one of the great masterpieces of human civilization, and now, it, much like how I felt myself, had fallen into an unrecognizable ruin. Though my mind was able to focus enough to think once more, my thoughts were just as broken and gloomy as the ruins all around. I didn’t talk – none of us did, really – as we slowly worked our way through the dark and silent streets. Night had fallen, and the boogermen were inactive, but their presence was still enough to keep all other creatures away. Nothing moved in the dark, deserted ruins, except for us and the wind – and neither howled loud enough to be heard.
The silence in the city was almost as loud as the silence which was starting to worm its way back into my heart.
----------------------------------------
As we reached the gates, for the first time, I was astonished to find them still intact. Even with the rest of the city crumbled into ruin, the gates still stood open, majestically welcoming all to come and go freely as they wished into the city.
The walls themselves here, were much the same as what we’d seen and climbed over before, when we’d first entered the city. Wide enough for three men to walk atop, side-by-side, the sheer volume of stone which had been used to form the walls still stood tall and proud, forming a barrier against nature that even time would find hard to wear down. The outer layer of the walls was cracked, and vine covered, with numerous fine shards broken off by time and the elements, but the core of the wall was still solid, unmovable stone.
The gates themselves were metal – the first metal that we’d seen in the whole of the city, as time had turned everything else to dust. Overgrown with vines, and covered in a thick layer of greenish yellow-black moss, only small glimpses of the shining metal peeked out, visible to the world. From the few reflections of moonlight on silver steel that I saw, no rust yet corroded the metal gate itself – whatever steel it was made of was apparently immune to oxidation. Standing every inch as high as the walls themselves, and with a width that was thicker than my slim woman’s body, both gates were a marvel to behold. To think that humanity could forge something to stand so strongly against time, was awe inspiring, in its own way. To realize the same humans who created this, destroyed themselves, was both humbling and frightening, as well.
As we carefully worked our way outside the city, and I was ruminating about how we’re our own worst destruction, a sudden thought hit me. “Wait!” Stopping, I turned and quickly headed back to the gates. Rubbing the bottom of the one to the right of the entrance, I frantically brushed away at the overgrowing plants and dust.
“Laulaia, you can shape items with your magics, can you not?” My mind was reeling with the possibilities – even to the point where it was completely ignoring the sensual overload which my altered body generated non-stop now.
“Not anything that large,” Laulaia laughed, happily. “I’m glad you think I’m that mighty of a wizard, but I’ll probably need a few hundred years of practice before I could ever shape anything that size!”
“But you can break things as well, right? Can’t you break off a small corner of these gates?” Already, I could imagine dozens of various things which we could make out of a rustless steel material. Swords. Knives. Arrows. Spears. Forks and Spoons. Armor, which doesn’t have to be accursed shackles!
“Maybe,” Laulaia admitted, sounding doubtful. “It’s too thick. These gates were made to hold out both man and wizard. With enough time and repeated casting, I could probably crack and break off part of the gate, but it’d take days of work to fully penetrate something so dense, and so thick. I don’t think we’ll have the time now to work on gathering any of the gate’s metal, for use.”
“And probably not even after,” I sighed, sadly. “Winter moves closer with every day, and the closest human settlement still lies a half month’s walk away. I suppose we’ll just have to give up on the gate metal.” Such a disappointment! If the gates have lasted this long, unblemished, then they could probably be reshaped and reformed into tools beyond compare.
It was with a truly heavy heart that I slowly turned and trudged to catch back up with the others. I was honestly hoping that I’d thought of something grand to help us survive. Something to help remind the girls that I was still essential and not just some slave-toy. Instead, I was just like the gate itself – forgotten, useless, and covered with dirt and filth.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Heart heavy, I said nothing more as I trudged back up beside Laulaia and walked with her, as we followed the road around the wall and out into the swamp.
----------------------------------------
My mind was heavy with dark thoughts, so I have no real idea what criteria was used to determine when we left the path around the wall, and turned to begin trudging into the swamp. One moment, there was broken stone and gravel at my feet. The next, there was damp mold and moss, which squished softly with each step, as the ruins of the city fell behind us and the darkness of the twisted forest slowly smothered all light and air away from us.
“Let ennas n- galad,” Laulaia chanted, raising her right hand high to the sky, causing a brilliant white globe of light to appear and float slowly in front of us. Much brighter than the feeble light I’d witnessed her producing in the past, it seems all the time she’d spent soaking and absorbing the energy of Casper’s pool hadn’t been wasted after all.
“There’s several of the boogermen out here,” Alaina pointed her spear out towards one shadow-covered shrub, “that I’ve never seen before. They’re probably of a plant which we haven’t found and purified yet.”
How the hell Alaina could tell the difference in one muck-man and another, I’ll never know. All I can tell, when I look at the foul creatures is that they appear to be some sort of slime and mold covered bushy plant – and half the time I can’t even make out that much, in the darkness of the night, with just Laulaia’s light lighting up around us.
“Leave them be,” Laulaia ordered, “and keep moving. We can’t be certain they won’t wake if they’re exposed to the light for too long, so it’s best if we just move on and save our strength. These aren’t what we’re interested in now, anyway.”
“Of course, my lady. I was simply mentioning it, to make you aware of the situation. We’ve never encountered boogermen like some of these,” Alaina warned, “so we can’t be certain how dangerous all of them are. I just wanted everyone to be on their guard – not to fight them.”
Made sense to me. After all, we couldn’t swear that there wasn’t at least some of the creatures that weren’t inactive at night. For all we know, there might be a breed of the corrupted things which lie in wait, like an assassin, just to strike while all the others are inactive and everyone’s guard is down. I, for one, was happy to have the warning.
Laulaia, on the other hand, simply nodded and didn’t say anything. You’d think she’d praise Alaina for trying to do a good job, but Laulaia didn’t. She was too busy straining her eyes and sweeping the floating orb of magic left and right in front of us to speak.
One thing which I do have to admit – these damn shackles worked as advertised. Being forced to always walk on the very tips of my bare toes was annoying as hell – especially with the soft muck and slime of the swampy soil squishing and smearing between my toes – but I never sunk into the ground, or slid on the slime. Just as promised, the shackles made walking across the ground as easy and smooth as if it was the same as gliding across the perfectly maintained stone tile surrounding the pool, in the temple.
Gritting my teeth slightly, I deliberately tested another supposed feature of the shackles, by stepping directly down upon several broken limbs laying half buried in the muck. With a soft snap, they broke under my weight and were pushed down into the soil, leaving my bare flesh completely unscratched. The shackles were supposed to offer magical protection, and I suppose they did that as well. I can’t swear it’s as good as chain armor, but it’s strong enough to protect from casual scratches, like I’d just tested. I suppose, as far as protection goes, they have to be better than being naked and without them – but I still can’t stand the damnable things!
“I think we’re here,” Alaina whispered, bringing me out of my own inner thoughts and experimentations.
‘Here’ really didn’t look very different than ‘everywhere else’ in the swamp, except ‘here’ there was a knee-high mound of moss and slime, which ran left and right into the darkness to either side of us. Only a foot or two wide, in the widest spot, the mound reminded me of an over-long speedbump, which had been reclaimed by nature.
“What is this place?” Straining my eyes, I tried to make out any thing else which might make this area stand out from the swamp around us. Honestly, in the dark of the moonless night, with thick clouds glooming up the sky above, and just Laulaia’s light glowing to illuminate our way, nothing looked very exceptionally different to me, with the exception of the speedbump itself.
“I think this is the wall which our lady had told us about,” Alaina whispered, so as to not break the stillness of the night. Silence hung heavily all around us, like a deep cloak, concealing the world in its secrets.
“It was supposed to be as tall as a man’s height,” Laulaia whispered back, frowning heavily.
“It probably was,” Alaina shrugged, “before the swamp reclaimed it. Now, I’d say this is probably all that’s left of it.”
“I’m not sure…” Chewing her lower lip, Laulaia moved her magical glowing ball left and right, straining to see if she could verify, or disprove, where we were. “We’ve traveled about the right amount of time,” Laulaia sighed, “and I don’t think we wandered down a wrong turn, but I just can’t be certain.”
“I can go scouting, and look around for us,” Alaina volunteered, as brave as always.
“Hmmm…” Frowning, Laulaia mulled the idea over for a few moments and then nodded in ascent. “In just a second. Let me get a few things out for you, first.”
“Certainly, my lady.” Sitting on her ankles, and showing herself completely, like we were taught to do, Alaina waited patiently. Part of me wondered why she didn’t stay standing and patrol, but I knew why. In the pitch darkness of the night, with Laulaia’s light staying stationary above us, we couldn’t see shit out in the dark. Staying motionless, and simply using one’s ears to listen for the tell-tale sound of the muck and mud being disturbed, was much more reliable than trying to patrol and strain one’s eyes staring into the shadows.
Shadows flickered and danced haphazardly all around, as Laulaia’s light dimmed and flickered unreliably as she knelt and concentrated on making use of her ring. Several sticks appeared about a foot in front of her, out of nowhere, and hung suspended in the air for just a few seconds before falling softly to the ground.
“There you go,” Laulaia beamed, staring down at the fuzzy-tipped clubs, proudly.
It took a moment for my still overly-stimulated mind to understand what I was looking at. Torches. While I’d spent all day entertaining myself and “relaxing”, Laulaia had taken some of the cotton we’d harvested and soaked it in sap, before wrapping the sticky mess around several thick limbs. She’d made us torches.
Picking one up, Laulaia softly whispered a few words of magic, causing the end to alight in smoky flame, before holding it out to Alaina. “You’ll need this, I think,” she told her, beaming brightly.
“Of course, my lady.” Alaina bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement, before taking the torch in her left hand. Leaving her bunny-horned spear laying, Alaina tugged her stone hatchet from where it hung on her waist shackle. Smoothly rising, she waved merrily and promised, “I’ll be back in just a bit.”
As she gracefully hopped the small wall, Shadow barked happily and chased after her, surprising me. Not too long ago, the little bugger would’ve been to fat, too lazy, too spoiled, and too small to easily clear the mound in front of us. Now, he did it with relish, completely enjoying himself.
At least this damn world seems like it’s been good for him.