by Reed James
“The forest!” Ava squeaked, pointing ahead.
A dark wall of trees materialized out of the gray. The world grew lighter and lighter with every step. The land around the woods cut by farmers for wood, leading to the primeval depths untouched by humans. The road we charged down, a woodcutter's trail, ended at a field of stumps.
“Sven,” Kora groaned.
My sister clung to her saddle. She came awake enough some time ago. But she swayed in the saddle, the side of her head swollen from her fall, blue eyes unfocused. Only her years of riding kept her in the saddle. She needed to heal herself with her magic. We all needed to be healed, but we had no time. Zanyia slumped over her, a bandage over her left breast, her nipple almost torn off by a dog's claw.
“You can lose them in the trees!” Ava squealed. “Hurry, hurry!”
I threw a look over my shoulder. Another patrol followed, gaining on us. “We better,” I growled as the edge of the woods hurtled closer. “Pater, please.”
And then I galloped past the first towering spruce and entered the darkness of the Forest of Lhes.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Flight into the Woods
Sven Falk – Forest of Lhes, Princedom of Kivoneth, Strifelands of Zeutch
The pain in my arm grew with every pounding beat of my horse's hooves on the uneven forest floor. Branches whipped past my head. I sucked in breath after one thwacked into my wounded left arm. Numb agony throbbed up to my shoulder.
“Las's putrid cum and disgusting cock!” I howled out, throat thick and hoarse.
My teeth ground together. The waves of agony swept through me, threatening to overwhelm me. I clutched at the reins with my right hand, cradling my left arm to my chest. Blood soaked through the bandage, bright and crimson. I bled again. A dizzy sway seized me. The world spun, dark spots fuzzing across my vision.
“Sven, my love,” Princess Ava squeaked, still perched on my shoulder, her rosy hands clutching my hair. “Oh, no.”
“I'm fine,” I lied through the pain.
“You're not. You need Kora to—”
Horns sounded behind us. A burst of cold energy drove back the dizziness. I threw a look over my shoulder, but saw no signs of our pursuers as we galloped through the woods. The foliage grew more and more dense the deeper we penetrated.
“Master,” whimpered Zanyia. “We have to stop.”
“They're still chasing us,” I growled. “Can't you hear that?”
“It's Mistress!”
The concern in the lamia's voice whipped my head around to my sister, her horse led by Zanyia. Kora swayed in her saddle, the right side of her face swollen so badly it forced her eye shut. A deep, sickly purple marred the center of the swelling, radiating out into brown and yellow rings. She let out whimpers, her right arm twisted, the break shifting. It wasn't splinted right.
“Kora!” gasped Ava.
“She needs help!” Zanyia groaned.
“We all do,” I gasped. The agony in my arm surged upward again right to my shoulder. I groaned, clutching my reins as we crashed through another brush.
“You have to stop,” Ava pleaded, tugging at my ear. “Please, Sven.”
“They're falling behind,” the lamia persisted. “We have time, Master. We can take a few moments to let Kora cast healing magic. She's a priestess. They always know those spells.”
“And they'll be gaining on us.” My stomach twisted. My sister needed to be healed. So did Zanyia. Dog scratches covered her naked body, beads of dark-crimson blood grown sticky on the wounds. A nasty one ran across her left breast, half-tearing off her nipple. “Las damn it!”
I hauled my reins short. My arm jostled. I almost screamed from the intense, thought-robbing pain. I shook my head, sucking in deep breaths. They came fast as my head swam again. Blood dripped from my arm from a sword stroke that cut me to the bone.
“Get her off her horse,” I said. I couldn't let my sister die. I loved her. Zanyia was in pain. I could barely fight now. “Hurry.”
“Yes, Master,” Zanyia said, her face flushed and glistening with sweat. She hopped off Rainbow, my sister's horse, with nimble ease, landing lightly in a crouch. Her tawny tail swayed back and forth. She sprang to Kora riding my stallion Midnight, attacking the robes binding her to the saddle. “It'll be okay, Mistress.”
“Are we safe?” Kora mumbled.
“We're safe,” I told her. “It's time for you to heal yourself. Isn't that great, sister dear?”
“Yes, brother mine,” she said. She tried to climb off her horse. Her pink robes tangled between her leg and the stirrup, trapping her foot and throwing her off-balance. She gasped, falling into Zanyia.
Agony screamed from my sister's lips. I snarled, whipping out my short sword, staring in the direction of our pursuers. The pain echoed through the trees, my sister sobbing, cradling her broken arm as Zanyia struggled to support her.
“Kora,” Ava whimpered in shock.
Tears burned in my eyes. I should have done a better job protecting her. I should have guided us better. Why did I stay on the main highway? We came too close to Echur. To that bastard's seat of power. I should have taken the longer way and added a few more days.
She wouldn't be in such agony.
“It's okay, Mistress,” soothed Zanyia, setting Kora onto the ground. “Do you feel the pain fading? It's time to heal yourself.”
“Okay,” whimpered Kora, her voice so small. “But...I... I can't remember.”
My stomach chilled.
“What?” I said, mouth growing dry, the pain in my arm fading beneath the surge of fear through me.
“Rithi, I need you...” She shook her swollen head. “No, no. It's... Rithi, bless my...my... What?” Tears shone in her left eye. “Sven, I...”
~ * ~
Kora Falk
“It's okay,” Sven said, his voice so far away.
Why couldn't I remember the words? They were...
“We're in a forest,” I said, staring bemused up at the trees.
“Yes, Mistress, a forest,” Zanyia smiled at me, her triangular ears twitching.
“You have ears like a cat.” I struggled to move my right arm.
Pain shocked through me. I screamed out, my bones twisting against each other. Only agony gripped me. I howled. Breath sucked through my lips between shouts. I couldn't stop it. The hurt... It struggled to drown me. To smother me in never-ending torment. I had to... I had to heal myself.
“Rithi...bless my...” I needed to remember. But... My head throbbed. And... “You have cat ears.”
“She's slurring her speech,” Zanyia said. “She's not making sense.”
“Kora.”
My Sven appeared, my brother whom I loved far more than I should. His weary face stared down at me. Something rust-brown smeared across his cheek. “You have mud on your face. You need to clean up or Mother won't let you eat.”
“Mother?” He frowned. “Sister dear, you need to remember your spells. You have to heal yourself.”
I blinked. Right. “I'm a priestess. A radiant of Rithi.”
“That's right. I know you can cast this spell.” He took my left hand, sliding it down my body. He pushed it into my robes. I gasped as he pressed my fingers into my pussy.
“This isn't the time for that, brother dear,” I shuddered. “We can't fuck right now. We're being...”
Horns sounded.
“Hunted!” The fear shocked through the foggy hurt. “Oh, no, we have to flee.”
“You have to heal yourself.” He pressed my fingers deep into my pussy, his joining mine.
I shuddered at the sensation. I loved my step-brother's taboo touch. “I shouldn't love you, but I do. I know it's wrong.”
“And I love you, sister dear.” His blue eyes stared down at me, bloodshot. “You have to focus. The spell.”
“Please, Mistress,” Zanyia groaned.
A dog howled.
Focus. Focus. “Rithi, bless my.. .natural paints and... And...” I let out a whimper o
f pain. The stupid agony smothered my thoughts. I couldn't remember the words. But I needed to. What where they? “Rithi, I...”
“Rithi, bless my natural paints with your divine love,” Sven said, staring down at me with those intense eyes.
“Those are the words!” I gasped. “Rithi, bless my natural paints with...”
“Your divine love.”
“Your divine love.” The fog billowed through my mind. A moment of clarity washed over me. I sat on my stool with the other glimmers at the Temple of Rithi, just a young acolyte learning my magic. Radiant Gertrude taught the lesson, her beautiful voice whispering through my thoughts. “Let your vision flow through me and restore the art ruined by the cruel acts of the world.”
I gasped, feeling the magical touch of my goddess electrify my pussy. My snatch clenched on our fingers inside of me. My cream coated them, the medium allowing Rithi to restore the art of my body ruined by my injuries.
Sven pulled out my fingers, guiding my hand to my head. I winched as he pressed them against the swollen knot at my temple. For a moment, fuzzing pain shot through me. And then... Clarity. The fog fell away. The tightness in my head lessened, deflated. My right eye opened, allowing me to witness more of the world.
I shoved my left fingers down to my broken arm, smearing my juices up and down the wounded limb. It looked like an over-stuffed sausage, turning blue and black in places. I groaned, and then blessedly, the agony vanished, the bones knitting back together, becoming whole. Undamaged.
“Brother mine!” I gasped, seeing the bloody bandage on his arm. My fingers shoved at him, smearing across his wounded arm.
“Mistress!” Zanyia gasped, staring down at me with a toothy, excited grin.
My right hand shoved between my thighs as I stared in horror at Zanyia's left breast, covered in a bandage tied about her torso. She looked so battered. The poor thing. My digits pushed into my pussy, gathering my natural paint, and then smeared it across her body.
A dog howled.
Brush rustled.
Sven moved, pulling out his hand crossbow and loading it, using both arms. He aimed at the brush and fired as I smeared my healing juices across Zanyia's body. A dog howled in pain, the hunting hound crashing to the ground at Sven's feet, whimpering, kicking, gurgling as it died.
“Go!” Sven shouted. “On the horses! We have to ride!”
More dogs bayed. Horns sounded.
~ * ~
Princess Ava
The world bounced as I rode Sven's shoulders, the brush crashing into him. I gripped his hair, feeling like a little, helpless bug while the man I loved rode from danger. From my step-father's own soldiers. And what could I do? Even with my detestable lust for my father, surrendering my body to his forbidden, carnal desires, I couldn't order this to stop.
Even if I did, they were days from Echur now. Out of my reach. I felt so helpless. This was worse than my lust for my father. I wanted to do something, to rescue them. Sven, Kora, and Zanyia... I cared for them all.
I loved them.
“Sven,” I whimpered.
“We'll be fine, Princess,” he snarled as he hauled up his horse before the steep slope. “We have to go on foot. The brush is too dense.”
“But...” I protested even as Zanyia and Kora dismounted with him.
“Goodbye, Rainbow,” Kora said, stroking her mare's nose. She kissed her then smacked her rump.
“How will you outrun dogs on foot?” I gasped as Zanyia scampered up the steep slope covered in thick brush and dead leaves. They crunched beneath her naked feet, her tail swishing and swaying.
Sven followed, saying, “We just have to outrun the soldiers. We can kill the dogs. The soldiers are in armor. We're not.”
I clutched to his blond hair, swaying and dangling from it as he and Kora scrambled up the hill after Zanyia. Kora's magic invigorated them, restoring all the minor injuries and soreness being chased for days had given them. They scrambled higher and higher up the hill, leaves crunching and debris following.
Horns sounded. Dogs bayed. Brush rustled.
“They're coming closer, Master,” Zanyia said, at the top of the hill. “They're almost here.”
“Hurry!” Sven snarled to Kora. “They'll feather us with arrows if we don't make it to cover!”
“Yes, brother mine,” Kora groaned, her blonde hair bouncing in twin braids down her back. She scrambled with such ease. She used to be like me, a noblewoman not used to physical exertion. But seeing her now, her flesh appeared firm and toned through her robes. She was no longer soft.
Guilt twined through me. The man I loved had to flee while I lay in the safety and comfort of my step-father's castle. And then fucked him. Such shame suffused me. How could I want to have sex with my father while also hating him and wanting him dead? It didn't make sense to me. What was wrong with me?
I could hardly be angry at Sven for finding comfort in his step-sister's arms. She was there for him, unlike me. So what if it was wrong. It wasn't as depraved as my lusts. And seeing them scrambling up the hill together, gasping, fighting to live, illuminated their feelings for each other.
Sven loved her as much as me.
“They're at the base of the hill!” screamed Zanyia.
Horses snorted, neighed. Men shouted. An arrow hissed through the air, embedding in the slope beside Sven. I screamed in fright, clutching to his hair. They were almost to safety. Only twenty or so more feet to go.
Another arrow whizzed past, embedding in a tree by Zanyia's head. The catgirl squeaked and ducked low. My heart squeezed so tight. My little, stone body quivered as Sven snarled, scrambling faster and—
Sharp pain bit into my nipple. My real nipple. My real body called to me.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Pleasing Under Pressure
Princess Ava – Echur, Princedom of Kivoneth, Strifelands of Zeutch
I gasped awake into my flesh, lying in my bed, my body soaked in sweat. I trembled. I'd never spent so much time in a proxy before. All night. My bedmaid Greta looked up from my nipple, her eyes wide. It throbbed. She bit me.
“Your father is here!” she said. “I told him you were sick, but he insisted I make you presentable and—”
The door to my bedchamber opened. I hauled up my blanket as my pale step-father entered in his gray doublet and hose, his ice eyes falling on me, staring at me with such lust. I shuddered, my entire body flushed, my heart racing.
Did Sven and Kora survive? Or were they feathered by arrows? Tears burned in my eyes.
“What is the matter, my sweetling?” Father asked me, sitting down on the edge of my bed. He took my hand. “You're clammy. You're covered in sweat.”
“I don't know,” I whimpered, my heart beating in terror. “Some foul vapors I breathed in, I suspect. I just... I need rest.”
His hand tugged down the blanket, exposing my naked breasts. I shuddered as he cupped my right tit, my nipple puckering hard for him despite my fear for Sven, Kora, and Zanyia. That depraved lust rose in my pussy. My juices flowed, my thighs so hot and sticky.
I wanted him right now. In me. Despite my love being in danger, my body yearned for the forbidden congress of our flesh. I hated myself so much. I pushed down my lust, fighting the whimper threatening to escape my lips as he brushed my nub.
“I was hoping to ensure your fertility this morning,” he said. “I ache so powerfully for you, sweetling.”
“I know. I do, too,” I said, hating how it wasn't a lie. “But...” I kept my voice wan. “I'm just too tired. I hardly slept. I cannot please you right now, Father. As much as I yearn to. I'm too weak. I need rest.”
“Of course, my sweetling,” he said before leaning over and sucking on my nipple.
My pussy clenched in wanton desire.
“I will send for a Priestess of Slata to heal you.” He smiled at me. “Then you won't have to be in discomfort.”
“That's not necessary,” I groaned.
“Nonsense. You are the Princess of Kivoneth. The prie
stess will be honored to heal you.” He pinched my nipple again. “I'll visit you in a little while, sweetling. Once you're rested.”
“Thank you, Father,” I groaned, knowing there was no other way out of this. At least I had an opening to find out if my Sven survived. If Kora and Zanyia still lived. That was more important than my abhorrent lust for my step-father.
“Anything for my sweetling.” He leaned over, giving me a quick kiss that sent shivers through me. My fingers curled to seize his straw hair, to hold him to my lips. But Sven... I needed to know.
Then he stood and strode from my bedchamber. The moment I heard the door shut on my sitting room, my father out of my apartments, I closed my eyes and imbued my proxy with my awareness. I put on stone as my own flesh.
They lived.
~ * ~
Sven Falk – Forest of Lhes, Princedom of Kivoneth, Strifelands of Zeutch
“I have to go,” Ava said. “My father is... being very demanding of my time.”
“Okay,” I told her. She'd been coming and going all morning since our scramble up the steep slope while the arrows rained at us. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I held her in my hand, Kora and Zanyia panting nearby as we rested. I brought my hand closer to my lips so her small, rosy form could plant a kiss on my lower lip. Then she went stiff, rigid. Her awareness gone.
I slipped her in my pouch.
Armor crashed through brush behind us. The guards still chased, but we moved faster on foot than they did. Barely. I groaned, my entire body sore. Every muscle burned in my legs. I wanted to collapse. My stomach growled. My throat parched. We'd already emptied our waterskins and had no time to grab food when we abandoned the horses.
“Let's go,” I groaned, pushing off from my tree.
“They have to be as tired as we,” Kora said, her face flushed, twisting with discomfort as she hobbled along with me. “Las damn it.”
“Blister?”
She nodded her head. “I'll survive. Let's keep going.”
Zanyia scampered ahead. The lamia still had boundless energy. She crashed through brush and then she gasped. “Oh, no!”