Max felt a chill run through his body. His head rang like a bell. His mouth was dry and sticky and his throat burning.
“I’ve got to get up,” Max said, willing himself to move.
“We’ll get you up,” Blondie said with smiles and gentle kisses.
“I always hated the alarm clock, but I really need one now.” Max moved one of the beauties off him and got to his knees.
“What’s an alarm clock?” Chestnut said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her hands on his chest, kissing him on the back of the neck. “You are funny. I like a man who can make me laugh.”
Max gasped for breath as he crawled away from the fire. His arms and legs felt weak, barely able to take his weight. They quivered under him as he moved.
“He’s thirsty,” Chestnut said and brought the cup to his lips. “Drink, handsome adventurer.”
“Janet?” Max called out, his voice scarcely a whisper rasping in his dry throat.
“Who’s Janet?” Blondie said. “Is she special to you?”
Max wasn’t sure if she was or not, but she needed his help, and he needed hers too. She had warned him that he was in danger, impossible to believe as he looked at the faces of the three beauties, but he was starting to trust her.
“Yes, I think she is special to him.”
“I won’t tell her if you don’t,” Red said, her voice soft, her fingers caressing him gently. She raised the cup. “Stay with me a while.”
Max crawled on all fours away from the fire and the three beauties. One crawled in front of him up on her knees. He was looking directly at her smooth skin through her sheer translucent robes that billowed gently as she twisted about her hips, dancing to a silent tune, her robes caressing and showing her curves.
Max groaned in tormented agony and excitement. They were so beautiful, so gentle. He wanted to collapse, roll over onto his back, and let them smother him with their bodies. He remembered Janet calling to him. With a groan of disappointment, he pushed the beauty aside. She moved without resistance, only her gentle fingers caressing his skin to tempt him to stay.
He couldn’t believe he was giving up these temptations of the flesh. He grabbed his satchel and pulled it over his head and let it hang on his shoulder. It felt like it weighed a ton. He tucked his leather tunic under his arm. His belt with his scabbard was just within reach. He dragged it to him. With a huge effort, he knelt and clipped it on around his waist.
Gathering his belongings took so much effort that he collapsed exhausted, gasping for air, sweat soaking his shirt. The beauties were on him, rolling him onto his back so they could shower him with kisses, their long hair tickling his skin. They held up his head, and the cup was offered again. Max thought that one last sip, just to get him on his feet, would be a good idea.
Janet appeared as a distant, tiny white figure at the end of a long dark tunnel. She was calling him away from the beauties and their fire. Max pushed the cup away, rolled onto his front, and crawled. Moving across the soft ground was harder than any climb he’d ever taken on.
He reached the edge of the clearing and the tangle of vines and branches forming the canopy. He drew his sword and cut away at the tangle of vines.
“Don’t look back, Max,” Janet said as he burrowed through the vines. He felt the branches on his skin. His skin felt cold and sore, the wet leaves stinging it. He could see behind him, in the reflection of his sword’s blade, that the three figures at the edge of the canopy were not the voluptuous beauties who had been teasing him and exciting him all this time. They were pale, thin figures, faces drawn, jaws hanging slack, eyes sunken and dark with a tiny glowing point of light deep in those dark eye sockets. Their pale, translucent skin was shot through with dark red-and-blue lines. They had patches of dense gray fur over their bodies. Their limbs were long and with many joints, long fingers tipped with hooked, heavy claws. One opened its mouth to call to him, a wide mouth with no teeth, only thin, chapped, sucking lips.
Max looked at the view reflected in his sword and turned in disgust. He was greeted by the sight of three beautiful, young, attractive, curvaceous beauties, each with thick, long hair, full lips, smooth skin, and sparkling eyes.
“We can make you happy,” Red said, a slender finger beckoning him. Chestnut and Blondie knelt on either side of her and ran their hands over their bodies.
Max turned to the canopy, his sword hacking through the dense foliage, and again he caught a reflected glimpse of the ugly horrors behind him. He pressed on, feeling claws on his ankles, cold and sharp, slowing him down. Finally, he tumbled out of the canopy.
He fell onto his back and stared up at a bright blue sky through the branches overhead. He had been sure it was still the dead of night. He looked at the canopy he had just come through. A dense clump of weeds. Inside the tangle of branches, he saw beady eyes staring out at him.
Max scurried backward. He collapsed again. His skin was covered in fine cuts, hundreds of them. Blood droplets on his skin everywhere. His lips were dry and chapped, his head banging with the worst headache ever.
But he had escaped.
>
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> Max gains experience points.
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“Janet,” Max called, his voice weak, his throat not letting the words out. He rasped. He collapsed and stared up at the sun overhead. Finally, he reached into his satchel and found a Potion of Minor Healing. He drank it and felt instant relief, then he closed his eyes and fell immediately to sleep.
“You made it out,” Janet said.
Max felt fitter in his dream than in the world.
“Only with your help.”
“Rest,” Janet said. “Your friends are coming.”
He didn’t know how long he had lain there, but when he opened his eyes, it was getting dark. He heard a voice that filled him with hope.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Over here.” The voice was clear and strong.
Max turned to the sound.
“Anita,” Max said. He tried to lift his arm.
Anita came running through the trees, her staff in one hand as she leaped over a fallen branch. She came to a halt and dropped to her knees.
“Where have you been?” Anita demanded. She held his face in her hands. “We’ve been looking for you for days! What happened to you?”
Max pointed at the knotted branches he’d crawled through.
Anita went to the knot of weeds and investigated, then she returned to Max and dragged him further away into a wider clearing between the trees.
“What were those things?” Max said, resting in Anita’s arms.
“Nymphs,” Anita said.
Max looked back at the clump of foliage he’d escaped from. He could still see their tiny white eyes in the dark tangle.
“They still call to me,” he said. “I need their brew.”
Anita laid her hands on Max and cast Basic Healing.
“You were lucky,” Anita said. “Few can escape their temptations. They would have made you feel exquisite ecstasy for a few days, and then you would have become dust. You are heavily wounded, and your Health is still very low.”
Elderon and Jahrod came to the clearing. Jahrod stepped over to the bush, his axe in hand. “Evil Nymphs,” Jahrod said.
“Don’t get too close,” Max said. “They drew me in, and I was trapped.”
Jahrod made ready to swing his axe. “Their songs have no effect on dwarfs.”
Max saw the beady little eyes fall back deeper into the knotted cluster.
Jahrod swung his axe and cut through some outer branches.
“You’ll never get them,” Elderon said. “I will set up a Ward of Warning so travelers know not to come this way.”
Anita lifted Max to his feet. Jahrod helped, and the dwarf’s hair was so stinking and sour up close that it was like a dose of strong-smelling salts, and it jolted Max to life. With the support of Anita and Jahrod, Max was able to walk, slowly at first, but gaining strength the further he got from his deadly girlfriends.
Once a good distance away, Elderon called a halt. “We rest here.”
Max looked at his skin, covered with thousands of cuts. Anita cast a spell, and the cuts healed. Max felt his mouth and throat ease, and now he could swallow more easily.
Anita brewed up a pot of something hot and sweet. She handed Max a cup, but he looked at it nervously, overcome with suspicion. Was this another trick by the Nymphs?
“You are safe,” Anita said. “Look at me closely. You will then see it is truly me.”
“And Nymphs can’t take the form of a dwarf,” Jahrod said.
Max was sure if they could, they would emit a sweeter smell.
Elderon took the cup from Anita and sat next to Max. “Think, Max. When you were in there with them, did you ever notice something was not right? Think, and you will have seen them for what they truly were. Nymphs cannot hide their true form, only invite you to see something you desire.”
Max thought about it. Then he remembered catching them at a certain angle and thinking they were repulsive, and then suddenly, they were not.
“I don’t believe it,” Max said. He felt like he was about to puke. “I let them touch me?”
“It is dark magic and very difficult to resist. But you chose to see their trickery and broke out. You are very strong, Max. Here, drink.”
His thirst overcame his suspicion. He drank the brew and felt it burn its way down his parched throat.
“You were gone for three days, Max,” Elderon said. “It will take time to recover, but we can only rest for one night.” He pressed the Mage Book into Max’s hands. “Check your spells. We will rest. In the morning, we will continue to Ralynn City.”
Max checked his spells. Three Magic Missiles and one of Strength.
Anita wrapped her arm around Max and lay down with him on the bedroll. She pulled a blanket over them. He felt at ease in Anita’s arms, and he was soon asleep.
Max dreamed of fingers clawing at him. He woke with a start to see the fire was lit and crackling, a pot on the embers. Jahrod was looking at him as he stuffed a roasted creature into his huge mouth.
Anita laid her hand on Max’s sweating brow. “You are healed, but still weak from your ordeal.” She handed him a piece of yellow bread.
Max sniffed it, and it smelled sweet, so he ate it and felt a little stronger. Anita pressed him back to the ground.
“Sleep.”
It felt like a mere moment later when Max opened his eyes. The sun was overhead, the forest fresh and alive.
Elderon came striding forward. “You are awake, I see. Today we march. We will do our best to avoid encounters. You still need to recover, but a good long walk will help you do just that.”
Jahrod stood up.
“To Ralynn City.”
Max followed Jahrod and stayed close to Elderon’s side. They traveled through areas of forest scattered with meadows. Again, Anita scouted ahead, checking the way was clear, and she appeared a few times in the day. As dusk came on, she returned from where she had been scouting in front of the party.
“Trouble ahead,” she said. “A lone traveler, a common farmer. He is surrounded by Skarak.”
“Skarak?” Max said, looking at Elderon.
“Skarak,” Jahrod growled and gripped his axe.
“Skarak,” Elderon said with a sigh. He seemed to consider Max, and then said back to Anita. “Can we avoid them?”
Anita nodded grimly. “But the common farmer will not survive much longer.”
“What is a common farmer doing so far from his fields?” Elderon shook his head. “What do you think, Max? Are you strong enough for an encounter?”
Max had heard the name Skarak before, and he was intrigued. And if a common farmer could hold them off, then they couldn’t be too dangerous. His party would be more than a match for them, he had a fresh batch of active spells . . . maybe he should help.
“We have to help,” Max said.
Anita led the way as Jahrod ran and caught up with her while Elderon and Max came behind.
They exited the forest and came out into a wide meadow. A common farmer was swinging a long staff. Max saw the small creatures pestering him, so he checked their stats.
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> Name: Skarak
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> Status: Aggressive
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> Attack: Spear
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> Threat level: Dangerous in groups
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The Skarak leaping at the common farmer were only around two feet tall. They were covered in short dark fur. They stood upright on hind legs and wore tattered breeches, long thick tails flicking behind them. Each carried a short spear, about as long as the Skarak were tall. They leapt forward at the common farmer, jabbing at him, but the farmer’s swinging staff was enough to cause them to leap backward and out of the way. However, the farmer was clearly tiring.
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> Max casts Magic Missile on Skarak causing major damage.
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> Skarak has been defeated.
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The rest of the Skarak turned with a shriek and saw the party of adventurers that had arrived. They turned their bald thick tails to the farmer and ran off across the meadow to a rocky outcrop near the tree line.
Max walked up to the dead creature and looked down at its strange little body before bending over to pick up the loot.
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> Max gains experience points.
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> Skarak inventory:
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> • Skarak spear
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> • 1 gold
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Max dropped the coin into his satchel, then he picked up the spear. It had a vicious spiked tip, but the weapon didn’t appear as powerful as his shortsword. He dropped it.
“Hey there, farmer,” Elderon said, striding forward. “What brings you out so far from your fields?”
“Oh, Master Mage,” the farmer said, falling to his knees. “The Skarak came in the night. Dozens of them. They snuck into my simple cottage, and they captured my daughter. Oh, please help! She is only a child, little more than an infant.” The farmer pointed to the outcrop. “That’s their lair. I have tracked the Skarak to this point, and that is when they attacked me.” He looked to the outcrop. “They must have made their Skarak hole in that outcrop because they like dark places.”
Elderon nodded. “I know Skarak very well.” He turned to Jahrod. “Master Dwarf, it seems we are waylaid yet again.”
“I must get to Ralynn City,” Jahrod said. “Skarak are a nuisance but not a threat.”
“Maybe not a threat to you, Jahrod, for you are strong and fearless.” Max hoped he could charm the gruff dwarf, but he wasn’t too hopeful. “But this farmer is no match for a group of Skarak. We must save this good farmer’s child.”
Anita stood at Max’s side and nodded. “Max is right. We cannot leave this child to the mercy of these vile Skarak.”
Elderon laid a hand on Jahrod’s shoulder.
“If you need to go on to Ralynn without us, we quite understand.”
Jahrod considered, his beady eyes flicking over Max.
“If I stay with you now, do you promise to help me, Max?”
“I do, Jahrod. You have my word.”
Jahrod swung up his axe. “Then we save this child.”
Max studied the outcrop in the distance and then nodded to the farmer. “Stay here, good farmer. We will find your daughter.”