by Des Pensable
Alpha wasn’t happy about his plan at all. Alpha didn’t want him to approach the nymph, believing it to be too dangerous. He had never heard Alpha so vocal about anything. Alpha definitely seemed to be getting its own point of view and it was becoming protective like his mother or grandfather. You shouldn’t do this or that, as it might be dangerous. Of course it was dangerous and it gave him a thrill, but he was always alert enough not to go too far. Except perhaps when he was with Miranda, and then he seemed to lose all fear and common sense.
He headed for the U-shaped gully, as it seemed to have a track leading into it. Even if he wasn’t in the correct place he must be close, and perhaps someone living here would be able to advise him where Snowbelle’s place was located. He had gone no further than a dozen paces when an owl flew down onto the path in front of him and spoke to him using mindspeak.
‘Who are you and what do you want?’
‘I am Aquitain of Twin Towers, and I’m seeking Miranda. If she’s not around then I’d like to speak to her mother, Queen Snowbelle.’
‘Miranda is not here at the moment and I would advise you against proceeding, as you are obviously not a bear and Queen Snowbelle is known to dislike wizards intensely,’ advised the owl.
‘Oh but I am a bear, and I still wish to see Queen Snowbelle.’
‘Then you may find her near the waterfall at the end of the gully. Remember, you were warned!’ and the owl flew off down the gully.
‘I wonder if that was her?’ he thought, then continued onwards.
The gully continued on for about five hundred paces and was about thirty paces at its widest, with steep rocky sides that would cast a shadow for much of the day, keeping it moist and cool on the hot summer days. The floor was relatively flat and covered in lush green ankle-high grass, with a smattering of flowers, small bushes and the occasional tree. Patches of moss and lichen covered the gully walls near the ground and ferns sprouted from cracks and crevices on either side.
The waterfall was a silvery flashing cascade of sparkling water that made a busy but pleasant pattering sound as it created white foam at the top of a large bluish pool at the base of the wall at the end of the gully. The overflow from the pool reformed itself further down the gully, near Aquitain, into a gently gurgling crystal-clear stream over a bed of small water-worn pebbles. He tasted the water. It was beautifully fresh so he drank a good quantity, slaking his thirst and wetting his dry mouth, then continued onwards. It was absolutely peaceful until he was halfway to the waterfall, when two puffs of mist appeared several paces in front of him and turned into hideous, nightmarish seeming images.
The bottom half of each monster was that of a black bear, but from the waist up each was covered with dark brownish feathers and had the head of a bird of prey, with a wicked hooked beak as large as a newman head. Hatred glared from their burning red eyes, which looked totally devoid of sanity, and they reeked of a foul stench like rotting flesh. As one moved towards him it uttered a high-pitched hiss, which despoiled the purity of the gully but warned him to act fast.
It was upon him in no time, slashing wildly at him with long curved claws, but fortunately he managed to dodge backwards. A change came over him then, as his bear body responded to danger. He felt strong, powerful and very angry. He let out a terrifying growl and launched at the beast with a ferocious attack, raking it with both claws. The creature wasn’t ready for such an onslaught, and was slashed deeply across the chest and stomach. Hot steamy blood sprayed out as it let out an agonizing scream, one that was answered from the creature’s mate a dozen paces away.
Without a care for its wounds the creature dived forward, grasping at Aquitain’s upper body. The two creatures crashed together with an awesome thump and embraced like giant wrestlers, each trying to topple the other. The pain from the creature’s wounds gave it unnatural strength and Aquitain felt himself go over backwards with the creature on top of him. It raked him across the chest and tried to bite into his neck with its beak. A mighty heave by Aquitain dislodged it momentarily, but as he tried to right himself he was knocked off his feet by the creature’s mate charging from behind. The odds had changed.
The first creature quickly pounced on him again, trying to pin him down and biting into his shoulder, whilst the second raked him twice across the flank. The pain enraged him. His mind struggled for some semblance of control. His eyes turned black momentarily, but he refused to give in to the darkness. These things were not holding back.
‘Use your mental power to even up the fight a little,’ Alpha screamed.
His mind retreated to the mental tower he had constructed earlier. He could think more clearly here, but had less control over his body’s actions. He was fighting more by reflex than direct control. He blocked the pain from his wounds and sought the power he wished to release, and let it go. His body tingled all over, as his skin thickened and hardened with infused mental energy. It wouldn’t stop all the damage from these creatures, but it would make it a lot harder for them to hurt him.
He felt them slashing at him again but this time their claws scraped across his back as if it was made of smooth marble. Their claws left trails on his skin but hardly penetrated the surface. He rolled and heaved and managed to again dislodge the creature on top of him, only to be tackled and knocked over again by the other. Their tactics were becoming obvious. Each in turn would knock him down, while the other raked and slashed him.
It was time for a change in tactics. He concentrated and formed the image in his mind of a giant constrictor snake, and his body responded by lengthening and becoming covered in tough armor-like scales. The sinuous new body allowed him to slither out from under the creature trying to hold him down, while the other frantically tried to slash him, causing only minor damage.
He slipped his mind out of the mental tower to take a more direct control of his body, and immediately his mental control was weakened in a torrent of rage. He focused on the creature bleeding from his first attack and went after it with a singular purpose, to cause its death. It grabbed him near his head and tried unsuccessfully to bite into him. This was his chance. He bit into its shoulder, gagged a little at the horrid taste of it, but hung on tightly and started coiling around the creature.
As coil after coil whipped around it, the creature tried in vain to dislodge him but he held on, tightened his grip and constricted steadily. Tighter and tighter he squeezed. He felt a deep basic satisfaction as he drove the air out of its lungs while it struggled in vain for breath. Its mate frantically tried to claw and bite him but to no avail, it couldn’t penetrate his toughened scaly skin. He slipped another two loops around the creature and constricted even more tightly.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack like snapping bamboo as the creature’s rib cage collapsed, it let out a rasping gasp, jerked nervously and went limp. Its mate howled in rage and slashed at him with renewed vigour. He quickly untangled himself and slithered round to face it. His mind was clouded with serpentine fury. He struck at it to try and get a purchase so that he could coil around it, but it was wary and dodged and wove out of the way, raking his body as it went. After half a dozen further unsuccessful strikes, Alpha’s screams finally penetrated the back of his mind. He needed to change tactics again.
‘But how?’ he asked the voice.
‘Use your mental tower, use the tower,’ was the frantic response.
He circled around as if getting ready for another strike, while he tried to recall through the turmoil of rage and anger what a mental tower was. Then he remembered and thrust his mind into it. It was like entering the serenity of a secure building while a hurricane danced chaotically outside. The anger and rage subsided and he quickly considered his tactics.
He changed his colour to a total black and used his ability to adjust light, making it completely dark. He moved a few paces away, and then resumed his bear shape and slipped his mind out of the tower. The emotional fury of being a terrifyingly angry and a hugely strong bear in some sort of blood lu
st almost took his breath away. He closed his eyes and changed the blackness to a sudden flash of light. It had the desired effect. It dazzled the other beast.
Aquitain charged the creature, slashing at its upper chest with claws and with his huge jaws thrust for its neck. The feathery beast, caught flat-footed, toppled over backwards with his jaws clamped around its throat and his immense body weight pinned it down. It tried to scream. It coughed, gagged, choked, struggled violently and tore at his flanks with its claws, but he held on with a vice-like death-grip. Aquitain’s thick skin enchantment wore off. He started taking damage again from the threshing monster, but it was too late for the horrid creature.
Half a minute later, the fight was over. He crawled off the body of the second dead monster and sounded off a blood-chilling triumphant roar that echoed throughout the gully. What a feeling! The excitement, the fear, the anger, the rage, the feeling of power, the pounding of his heart, the smell of freshly spilled blood – all fired up his new body in ways he had never thought possible. Sheer exhilaration! His new body was tough. He could grow to like this! His heart was racing. He looked around for something else to kill.
‘Use the calming mantra,’ yelled Alpha into his blood-crazed mind. ‘It’s finished!’ He tried chanting a calming mantra but couldn’t remember the words. He wanted more blood. His mind struggled for control while his emotions surged. He ran around in circles roaring, looking for something else to attack, and slashing the air with his mighty claws.
Eventually, with nothing around to focus his aggression on, he managed to remember the mental tower. He drove his mind into it and began chanting the calming mantra over and over, and several minutes later he was back in full mental control of his body.
As the euphoria of the fight wore off he began to feel the pain of his wounds. He looked at them and saw nasty gashes exposing torn muscle. Here and there chunks of flesh as big as a newman hand had been torn out of his back. He formed a mental image of his body and its wounds and released the power to start the healing process. He hadn’t had much practice at healing as he had never before had much reason to use the power, but his mother had taught him the principles and it worked.
The warm glow of the healing process eased his muscles, and after a minute or two the pain of the wounds faded and he was ready to proceed. Rather than press on as if there were some great urgency, he decided instead to cleanse himself of the blood and stench of the creatures he had killed. So he waded into the steam and let the water restore his lush brown coat to a more pleasant state, then strolled out and shook himself dry. This also allowed him a short mental respite to prepare his mind for what was still to come.
He checked his source. It was already half gone. He assumed the monsters were a second attempt to warn him off. If that was true, then Miranda had told her mother about him and she was a little worried about how Miranda might react if he was harmed. Then again, he could be totally misreading the situation. Maybe she always warned wizards off, but they were all too stupid to take the warning seriously.
Aquitain wondered if he was behaving too rashly. He asked Alpha and knew what the response would be. He should get out of there as quickly as possible. Alpha thought that the two monsters were a clear warning and not to be taken lightly. The problem was, that if he liked Miranda sooner or later he would have to face her mother, and he might as well do it now while he was strong and mentally prepared.
So off he went again. He only had to go two hundred paces and he would reach the waterfall. As the distance shortened he grew more nervous, until when he reached the waterfall and nothing had happened he found himself breathing too heavily and too fast. He mentally chanted the calming mantra, and when in total control walked through the cascade to the entrance of the cave beyond.
‘You are a hard creature to dissuade, bear. Come in, but don’t expect to leave soon. I’m sure we can find lots of interesting things to do,’ said a pleasant voice that began to sing a beautiful song.
Aquitain created light on himself and walked in. Suddenly the most beautiful woman he had ever imagined appeared in front of him, totally naked. She was a goddess. Her beautiful hair was golden and shone with a light all its own. Her face was a picture of purity with an expression of sincere longing and loving. Her body was the honey brown color that he liked, and was perfectly proportioned with delectable breasts and sumptuous hips that would cradle a man forever in the throes of ecstasy.
Had he been in his newman body Aquitain would have immediately succumbed to a fatal lust that had doomed a procession of wizards before him. However, his body was that of a bear, and totally unaffected by the ravishing vision, only his mind was infatuated, until Alpha blurted.
‘It’s an alluring illusion you idiot. Get control!’ and the illusion shattered.
Standing before him was a woman, not a goddess. She was smaller than in the illusion, but still very beautiful. She had the same long blonde tresses, but her face was different. She had long pointed ears and her eyes were of cold gold. Her expression was feral and heartless, as if she was about to draw a knife across his throat. She continued singing and began a sensuous dance routine, not aware that the illusion had been broken.
He sat watching and listened for a moment, wondering what she would do when she realised that her actions were having no effect on him. He noticed that she was watching his eyes for some sign that she had him charmed by her looks and song. Finally she realised that her current efforts had failed and smiled, acknowledging his resistance.
She activated a ring and spoke to him in cultured galactic trade common using mindspeak.
‘So, you really are a bear. Interesting! I thought my daughter was trying to mislead me.’ And she shape changed to a bear herself, a female bear. She adopted a particular posture standing at an oblique angle to him with her rear pointed in his direction, and looked back at him then said in a provocative sexy voice:
‘Let’s see what sort of a male you are, bear. Come boy, come and get it.’
The posture itself was particularly arousing. Moments later the scent hit him like a club: the perfume of a female bear in mating season. It set his body on fire and attacked his mind with lust. His penis extended and became like an iron rod. His heart raced, his breathing went shallow, he wanted to mount her more than anything.
Alpha screamed and sent a blast of pain into his mind, which made him stop and wonder for a moment about the origin of the pain. Did the other bear do it, if so, why? Then he realised his predicament, froze his actions and sent his mind scurrying for his tower of will and slammed the door closed behind him.
His body was paralysed and unable to fulfil its desire while he hid behind a closed door in his mind. It worked and he quickly gathered his wits, waiting for the next attack. He expected that once Snowbelle realized that her sensual attack on him had failed, she would probably either attack him physically to try to break his concentration, or try a domination attack and he was already protected from that.
She attacked him physically, but not with the blow to the body he expected, but instead she ambled beside him so that her rear was close to his nose for maximum effect and began licking his most sensitive spot, which was already rigid enough. Each lick was like a sledgehammer blow against the door of his mental tower. His will power was fading fast.
His defences rocked as his body fought his mind for release. He desperately tried to think of a way out of the situation, and came up with probably the most unique mental defence of all time, if it would work.
Most tacticians agree that the best form of defence is attack. So he suddenly dropped his mental tower, but before his body could release its bursting tension he forced a mindlink into Snowbelle’s mind, and channelled the whole feeling of the ecstasy of his ejaculation into her mind.
She had all sorts of mental blocks in place, but none against pure overwhelming feral pleasure of his bear body release. Her mind totally wilted under the onslaught for a second or two. Enough for him to physically spin aroun
d and assault her mind with his most powerful domination attack.
He thrust into her mind as an enraged bear, seeking to wrestle it into submission. All her defences crumbled before his assault until he reached the spherical core of her being, but as he grabbed for it she turned it to the form of a cat and leapt out of his grip.
‘Most inventive and most pleasurable,’ she purred into his mind, and attacked his bear and he attacked back. It didn’t take long for her to realize the pure strength and stamina that his bear form had over her cat form, so she retreated a little and used a power and six cat forms appeared around him. The situation reversed, and with so many cat forms resisting his bear form mind attack, it began to tire.
In desperation he tried one last trick to turn his attack around. He changed his bear form to a cat form and as the Cat Lord appeared as his mind attack, the six conjured cat forms helping her vanished at its request, leaving her a little shocked.
She turned her cat form to a dragon.
‘Let’s see if your Cat Lord can beat my dragon,’ she teased, and continued fighting.
‘You won’t win this way. She’s very good. You’ll need a more physical approach I think,’ said a voice in his mind that didn’t sound like Alpha.
He felt himself physically spin around and clout her on the side of her head so hard that it momentarily stunned her, knocking her down. He quickly grabbed her around the neck with his great jaws and pinned her body down with his body.
‘Submit,’ he said into her mind.
‘No. This is cheating,’ she hissed back.