Laulaia and I didn’t have to wait long, before Shadow’s incessant barking told us they’d found something. With the night as silent as it was — the wind wasn’t even blowing to rustle a single leaf — and with the darkness all around us, our ears were hyper alert, and Shadow had no concept of being quiet. His sharp and angry barking carried easily through the swamp, letting us know Alaina and he were returning, long before her torchlight come into view between the trees.
“This is it,” Alaina yelled, running towards us as quickly as she possibly could. “There’s dead after us!” Hopping over the small mound, which was the overgrown and collapsed wall around the cemetery, she turned and struck a fighting pose, with her hatchet held high and ready in her right hand; torch extended fully into the darkness, in her left.
“Bawoww woooww woooww!!” Barking excitedly, and drooling happily, Shadow hopped atop the mossy mound and ran excitedly back and forth upon it, as Laulaia floated her magic globe of light out past the others.
It wasn’t long before the first dead straggled into view. All bones — thin and slime covered — the skeletons that shambled after Alaina and Shadow barely seemed to be a threat. Chipped and cracked, there didn’t seem to be a whole corpse amongst the half dozen that slowly ambled and shuffled our way. One was missing half a rib cage. Another lacked its lower jaw. A couple were missing arms or hands. The damned things basically looked like they’d fall apart in a simple hailstorm!
If I’d been in my oversized brute form, I could’ve splattered the damn things just by breathing on them hard, but stuck as I was, in girl-toy mode, all I could do is watch the battle unfold.
“Stay!” Yelling at Shadow, Alaina kept him from running out alone and being swarmed by the beasts. “Good boy,” she praised him. “Hold!”
I’m jealous! Damn dog is listening better to her than he does me!
The dead didn’t lumber very far into the light, before they suddenly seemed to go crazy. One surged forward so hard, it suddenly pulled one of its own legs off, leaving it in the mud, causing the corpse to fall, and break into a dozen pieces. Another suddenly changed directions, crashing into a second skeleton beside it, causing both to shatter into dozens of broken pieces. The other three dead went just as crazy, suddenly changing directions and rushing towards the mossy mound.
“Go!” Alaina barked a quick one-word command at Shadow, and he instantly disappeared and reappeared directly under the furtherest skeleton’s ankles. Biting and jerking at its lower leg, Shadow had blinked like one of the bunnies to instantly reach his opponent!
My damn dog used magic!
Completely ignoring Shadow, the skeleton frenzied blindly forward, lost its balance and tumbled to the ground. Even though Shadow ripped its whole lower leg and foot off, the skeleton relentlessly clawed and crawled its way forward.
“They’re after Stef,” Laulaia yelled.
Alaina intercepted one of the two remaining skeletons at the raised mound, smashing her hatchet into its ribs hard enough to break the fragile bone into dozens of splintered shards.
The last skeleton, oblivious to all the mayhem going on around it, charged into the moss-covered mound and tumbled over it. Apparently sturdier than the rest, it crawled on all fours, making a beeline directly for me.
“Lady Life, heal this creature before me!” Offering up a prayer, I pointed towards the rapidly approaching skeleton, and channeled the power of the goddess at it.
Unfortunately — or maybe fortunately, depending on how you consider it — it was at this point that I learned an important lesson: Video games and movies lie! All my life, games and movies had taught that healing magic could destroy the dead — it unraveled the death in them, or some such crap.
WRONG!!
Healing magic simply tried to restore cracked, or broken, bones. My damnable magic repaired the damn skeleton, allowing it to travel with more strength and speed to eat me! I’d just completely screwed myself!
Or, so I thought… until Laulaia’s ball of flame burst through the creature’s skull, exploding pieces in all directions!
“What the hells was that?” Blinking furiously, Laulaia was staring at me like I was a suicidal idiot. “Why’d you heal the damn dead?” From the color of her face — Why’d her magic glowlight have to show it so well, now? — it was obvious that she was completely flabbergasted and flummoxed by my incomprehensible action.
“Umm… Sorry.” Shrugging slightly, I didn’t really know what to say. “In my world,” I tried to explain, “life energy is the opposite of death energy, just like water is the opposite of fire. I thought it’d cancel out the corruption and destroy the skeleton.”
“Dumb ass!” Even Alaina had to get in on the act! “Even I know you didn’t heal the boogermen to remove the corruption from them. You had to remove the disease and poison!”
“Ummm…”. All I could do is sputter and hang my head apologetically. She’s right — I didn’t heal the boogermen to cleanse them. “Sorry,” I murmured softly. “I guess I simply didn’t think of that, with the damn thing coming to eat me. I panicked, I suppose.” Even to my own ears, it sounded like nothing more than a poor excuse.
“At least no one got hurt,” Laulaia sighed, trying to put the incident behind us.
“Shadow might,” Alaina laughed, tactfully changing the subject, “if he tries to eat that whole damn foot!” Pointing over the short mound, Alaina drew everyone’s attention to Shadow, who was happily laid flat on his stomach, holding an entire leg bone, ankle, and foot, trapped beneath his paws.
Seeing everyone’s gaze on him, Shadow lowered his head protectively over his treasure. Growling threateningly, he made certain everyone knew that was his.
“You can keep that, no one’s going to take it,” Laulaia assured him, as she headed over and sat gingerly sat down atop the mossy mound. Wearing only her boots, for the magical effect they offered while traveling, she was the one of us with the least amount of protection, so she was extremely careful while out in the wild.
“Take a rest, girls,” she ordered us, patting the moss beside her. “And you can sit up here for now, while we eat a small snack and recover our energy. It’s not the world’s most comfortable bench, but it’s got to be better than sitting in several inches of the murk-water.”
“Graciously, my lady.” Thumping her hand across her heart, Alaina moved to sit on Laulaia’s right side. Seeing me watch her, she smirked slightly, then spread her legs as wide to either side as she could, before patting the moss on her right. “Come join me, Stef,” she commanded.
Sighing, I didn’t even try to resist, as I shuffled over to sit by her other side. Knowing what Alaina expected, just from her previous actions, I made certain to imitate her and sprawl my legs open wide against the overgrown wall. Closing my eyes, I tried to tune out the world and rest. Magic may have healed my physical fatigue earlier, but my mind was still struggling to catch up.
“Don’t forget to rub yourself,” Alaina whispered softly in my ear. “Keep those nips all perked, and don’t let your bottom get lonely. It should get quite used to travelers going in and out it, all the time. You don’t have to bother with the backside, this time, from the way you’re sitting,” Alaina whispered magnanimously. “So make certain you do a good job with the front,” she added, giggling lightly as she softly licked the inside of my ear and bit my lobe.
Great! Even in the dark, with boogermen behind us, and the dead walking in front of us, I couldn’t catch a break. It took all my willpower to keep from crying, as the compulsion on the shackles started my fingers moving and exploring my own body once again.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“So what do we have to snack on?” Laughing merrily, Alaina innocently acted as if everything was normal. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to think that to her way of thinking, it is.
“Melonberry,” Laulaia told her, passing Alaina a small green fruit.
“One’s enough for us,” Alaina assured her, shaking her head and declining to take a second. “Stef didn’t each much before, and after those herbs the goddess had us use on her, she hardly eats at all.”
I couldn’t tell if she was worried about me, or just stating a fact.
“She shouldn’t now,” Laulaia confirmed. “Some of those should have strengthened her stomach, making it so she’d digest the nutrients out of food better. She should eat about half what she used to, and she shouldn’t need to use a chamberpot anymore.”
It’s true — I haven’t ate hardly anything since the girls did what they did to me, and I haven’t had any urge to use the bathroom. I don’t guess all the herbs I was given were completely terrible.
“She shouldn’t need to drink anything either,” Laulaia added. “Her body makes a lot of natural moisture now, but as long as there’s water in the air, she’ll never dehydrate. Her lungs will gather the water she needs now. We’ll just have to be careful with her, if we ever end up in a desert, or such,” Laulaia warned Alaina.
“That sounds convenient,” Alaina laughed. “I wonder if there’s any of that medicine left?”
I’d wondered why I hadn’t dehydrated earlier, as many times as I’d creamed myself today. Now, I guess I know why. No matter how much I rub that bottom, I’m never going to dry out, or dehydrate. Casper made certain I’d became a nice, moist, girl-toy, who was always ready for any action — and Alaina seemed like she was going to make certain I got it, even if it was just by myself.
As the girls continued talking softly to each other, I let alternating waves of despair and overwhelming pleasure take over my mind, as I faithfully entertained myself. I barely even noticed when Alaina put a soft piece of fruit in my mouth, and told me to swallow. As for how much time passed while we sat there resting, I have no clue. My whole existence had been broken down to nothing more than keeping my nipples fully erect, and working my fingers in and out of my bottom.
I wasn’t a man anymore. Hell, I wasn’t even a woman. All I was, was fingers and holes and perked nipples. I d know if there’s enough of me left to even be considered a toy anymore. I’m just broken parts.
----------------------------------------
“Quit now,” Alaina ordered softly, in my ear. “Heal yourself, and straighten up. Our lady’s finished her meditation.”
“Of course, my lady.” Exhausted, and completely drained from the sensual overload, it took Alaina giving a direct order, and the compulsion from the neck collar, to bring me back to my senses.
“Lady Life, cure my exhaustion, please.” Not honestly caring if she did, or not, I only half mumbled the words, without putting any heart in them. Apparently, that was enough, as the soft pink glow enveloped my hand, and cool energy soothed my muscles and refreshed my tattered nerves.
“Everyone have a nice break?” Lighting a torch, Laulaia didn’t bother to resummon her globe of mystical light again.
“I did, my lady, and I know Stef enjoyed herself,” Alaina laughed, answering for me.
Well, she wasn’t lying. Thanks to her orders, I’d spent the whole time pleasuring myself, and with the way the goddess had herbed me, it wasn’t very difficult. Even without any external stimulation, the walls of my womanly lips twitched and spasmed in a state of constant arousal, just from the pulsing of my own blood traveling through them.
Simply stroking or rubbing, caused that flame to kick into high gear, and working a finger in and out caused such an inferno, it burnt away all reason. From my ragged counting, it didn’t take a minute to go from start to full spasmodic orgasm — and even if I got a few seconds to relax in the afterglow to catch my breath, it still only took less than a minute before I was reaching my next climax.
I’d probably ‘enjoyed myself’ a hundred times, in the time Laulaia had spent recovering her magics. I’d enjoyed the hell out of myself!
“That’s good,” Laulaia laughed, smiling happily. “And the good news is, I think I have a plan.”
“And what’s that?” Alaina asked, sounding all happy and chipper,
“Based on what you told us earlier,” Laulaia laughed, “it’ll take us a month to fight our way in, if we try and peel off the dead from around the entrance to the tombs, like you did earlier. There’s just too many of them to deal with easily, a few at a time. Correct?”
Alaina had told us about the dead earlier? When was that? I guess I must’ve been occupied doing something else vitally important and missed it. Dammit! What other vital information did I miss out on?! Yet, no matter how much I wanted to rant, rave, and curse over the whole damn situation, the magic of the neck collar wouldn’t let me. I’ve been ordered not to complain while Laulaia is my owner.
“Right,” Alaina confirmed. “There’s probably as many as two or three hundred of the dead surrounding the entrance going underground. They’re just milling about and scratching on the stone, trying to get in, and not really doing anything else until you get too close.”
“And you had to get fairly close to draw a few off,” Laulaia mused, aloud. “Pulling them away a few at a time would be the safest way to go, and if we weren’t limited with time, that’s what we’d do – just slowly whittle them down until there weren’t any left. Unfortunately, we only have a week’s time, if we want to get the full reward.”
Frowning, Laulaia grew silent for a few moments, mulling over the problem in her head. “No matter how you look at the problem,” she mused, “the Lady of Life has to think that we’d be able to accomplish the feat in less than another week’s time. Originally, the task was going to be an all-or-nothing hunt, which we should be able to finish in that little time. I think I see a way we can do it, in that time,” Laulaia sighed, biting her lower lip worriedly, “but I don’t really like the way I’ve thought of. I’m afraid we’re missing something obvious, like a secondary entrance, or such, where we don’t have to fight the dead at all.”
“Well, at the moment, we don’t know of any other entrance,” Alaina sighed, frowning herself. “What’s the idea you have that you don’t like? Share it with us, and maybe we’ll be able to help sort out any issues with it,” she offered, as she got up to pace, worriedly. The two were so close, Laulaia’s nervousness was beginning to seep into her.
“Bait,” Laulaia said, simply. “Stef can go out and be bait. She won’t have to get as close, and the dead are drawn much more strongly towards her, and their gazes never falter from her, once they lock onto her. She can go out and draw the dead in large numbers back to us.”
“Of course I can,” I said, utterly defeated. From man to woman, to toy, and now to nothing more than bait. What am I going to be next? With my luck, it’ll probably be fertilizer for the vultures.
“If you can draw them to us in a tightly knit group,” Laulaia smiled, thinking I was volunteering to go along with her half-assed, hair-brained idea, “I can use a strong essence of fire to blast them as a whole. I’ve got enough strength now, after soaking in the pool these past few weeks,” Laulaia bragged, proudly, “to be able to throw at least three great balls of fire now, before exhausting my energy.”
“And if that’s not enough,” Alaina added, throwing fuel on the fire, “me and Shadow can follow behind and pick them off one-by-one, while they chase after Stef. Like you said,” she reminded Laulaia, “once they notice her, they don’t pay any attention at all to the rest of us. As long as she keeps moving, and dragging them around in circles, we should be able to pick off the whole bunch in one single go.”
“And what happens if we can’t?” I asked, feeling utterly despondent. Seems like the two have already made up their minds to use me as dead-bait, and with these damn shackles on, I don’t really have any damn say to stop it.
“Then you just keep moving,” Alaina answered, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. “Head back to the city and take refuge in the pool. The dead will usually be destroyed if they try to walk upon holy land, much like the boogermen was. Barring that,” she laughed, “climb atop the tomb – it’s still standing and looks solid enough – or climb a tree. Either keep moving, or else make certain you find some place to stop where they can’t reach you.”
“Great,” I muttered, unenthusiastically. Glancing up at the black and cloud-covered sky, I couldn’t help but sigh deeply. I’d lost all track of time while ‘entertaining myself’, and I had no clue how close to daylight we were. If going back took us as long as coming out did, then we’d have to leave a few hours before daybreak, so as to not have to deal with the boogermen on the way back. “Are we going to have time to gather them up, kite them around, and kill them all tonight?” I asked, worryingly.
Of course, when thinking about it a little, I wasn’t really so certain that I wanted to go back to the pool either. The thought of having to deal with another day of what passes as rest there, with Alaina overseeing things, is every bit as dark as the thought of daylight coming and being trapped outside, having to deal with the endless swarms of boogermen which the swamp produces.
“Honestly, we’d probably be best served to head back early tonight,” Alaina said, glancing up at the sky fruitlessly to check the time, as well. “We’ll probably only get one chance to try and pull the whole swarm at once, and we don’t want to scatter them by dragging them back towards the city, if it gets too close to sunrise before we finish. One large battle tomorrow would be much better than having to spend four or five days picking off stragglers as we work our way back, if something goes wrong tonight.”
“Then we’ll go back early tonight,” Laulaia decided. “Stef can cleanse and harvest one of the boogermen we haven’t collected yet, on the way back, and then we’ll rest up and head out as soon as the sky gets dark tonight. We kind of know the way now, so we can pick up the pace and hurry back tomorrow, making certain we have as much time as possible. If my magic can’t take them all down with just a few blasts, you guys might need several hours to pick them off while Stef keeps them busy.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Alaina agreed, smiling broadly. “Come on Shadow!” Yelling, she woke my sleeping boy, causing him to jump up growling, looking for trouble. “Let’s go!” Taking the torch, Alaina turned and led the way back towards the city; Shadow happily chasing after her heels.