Master of the Dungeon: A Heroes and Harpies Fantasy

by Cara Vance

  That they were nearly seven feet tall with bulging muscles was bad enough. What made it far worse, borderline insane even, was the rest of them. Their bodies were all green skin covered with coarse black hair. Close-set red eyes topped heads containing thick wet nostrils above cruel mouths from which fangs...no, tusks protruded.

  One of them carried an axe large enough to cleave her in two with one swipe. The other carried a club in one hand and a sword, oddly familiar in shape, in the other.

  Trinity had no idea who or what they were. But one thing was painfully obvious.

  They didn’t look friendly.

  SIX

  Both of the brutes stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of Trinity rising to her feet. For a moment, she wondered if maybe they were as afraid of her (but I’m not afraid) as she was of them.

  Then the one on the left let out a cruel laugh and shattered that hope.

  “She awake,” it growled in broken English. “Tevor will be pleased.”

  Tevor?

  “Yes he will, but we have fun with her first,” the other, the one with the axe, replied. As if to accentuate his meaning, he reached his free hand down and rubbed it across the dirty loincloth covering his crotch. Within seconds, Trinity could see the bulge of excitement beginning to rise up from beneath it.

  The first one smiled at that suggestion and dropped both of his weapons, including the sword that Trinity for some reason seemed to recognize. “Which end you want?” He leered at her as he said it, advancing a step and using his frying-pan-sized hands to claw at the simple belt of animal pelts he wore. Once undone, the cloth around his waist fell away and Trinity saw his member - green, hairy, and oh so huge - beginning to stand at attention.

  “She have pretty lips,” the other replied. “I think she hungry for me.” He continued to paw at his loincloth, grabbing and pulling. Judging by the way the material was straining, he was at least as large as his friend.

  A small, obviously insane, voice in the back of Trinity’s head wondered what they would feel like inside of her - both of them dwarfing Trevor’s somewhat below average cock size, although god forbid she had ever said that to him.

  Another stab of anger raced through her at the memory. Deep-throating him, if one could call it that, hadn’t been a particular issue, but his constant comments for her to be “careful not to choke on it all, baby” or “are you sure you can handle it?” had been laughable at best. Sadly, her stifled giggles at the absurdity of it all had often been misinterpreted by him. At such times, he’d pull out for a moment to “let you get some air, baby.”

  Prick.

  Unfortunately for her, she had two much bigger pricks to worry about right then. Although a part of her, one she still couldn’t understand, wanted to leap at these two monstrosities - to tear their throats out with her teeth and claw their eyes out of their stupid heads - she forced it down. Rationality dictated that she was in trouble. She had no idea where she was, no clue as to how she’d gotten there, and now she was being threatened by two creatures who shouldn’t even exist. Worst of all, they seemed intent on having their way with her.

  Judging by the size of them, she didn’t stand a chance - having never taken so much as a single self-defense class in her life. Hot yoga might have been great for staying in shape, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t help her much now.

  Amazingly, though, a part of her still felt no fear as the two beasts approached, lust showing in their animalistic eyes. That was crazy, though. She was a girl with a slim frame, at least a foot and a half shorter than these creatures. Either of them could have snapped her like a twig, and if they chose to violate her - as seemed to be their intent - there was nothing she could do except pray it was over quickly and didn’t hurt.

  Well, maybe it can hurt a little.

  She mentally screamed, forcing back down whatever madness had been welling up inside of her. In that moment, she found her voice and willed it not to betray her. “Please, don’t.”

  Bemused smiles broke out on their ugly faces, showing off their cracked and rotting teeth.

  She tried again. “Don’t hurt me, I’m begging you.”

  “She begs us,” the one on the left said with a chuckle.

  “I like that,” his friend replied. “Worry not, girl. We not hurt you. That Tevor’s job. We just teach you that no humans travel upon our road without first paying toll.”

  “Toll?”

  “Yes. Toll paid by all humans. Some with gold, some with blood, some with...” He trailed off, his massive paw grabbing hold of his cock again and beginning to stroke it. Trinity could see beads of glistening moisture beginning to form on its head.

  Once more, the voice in her mind laughed at the threat before her.

  Did I hit my head and go insane? she wondered. This was no laughing matter. She didn’t want to fight. She didn’t want to get hurt. She didn’t want to die.

  Trinity backed up as far as she could go. The rough wall of the cave bit into her backside and she let loose with a scream, despite knowing it would do her no good.

  SEVEN

  As Trinity’s cry echoed throughout the cave, the two creatures ceased their advance upon her. However, she was certain it was only a temporary reprieve; that any moment they would be upon her, forcing the engorged clubs of meat between their legs inside of her.

  She considered this in the space of a heartbeat and was surprised to find a bit of yearning inside of her, a curiosity to know what it would be like. She’d never considered taking on two men at once before, and certainly never two...whatever these things were. Even if she had, the imagined circumstances would certainly be different...a nice bed, maybe a fire roaring. Definitely not being thrown to the floor of a cave at the mercy of two horrid monsters.

  The differing opinions in her mind warred with each other for a few more seconds, during which time Trinity realized her attackers hadn’t moved any closer. Hell, they were still standing where they’d stopped - seemingly mid-step - their staring eyes focused on her.

  “Back up,” she said, mustering a pathetic note of threat to her voice. “Please.”

  Neither of the two beasts so much as blinked. Hell, they didn’t even appear to be breathing.

  What the frig?

  It was only then that Trinity realized the light in the cave had become steady. The flickering had ceased. She dared a glance past her two would-be tormentors and saw the impossible. The campfire was still lit, but the flame itself appeared to be frozen, almost as if...

  “You disappoint me, Sonya,” a voice said.

  She glanced back at the two creatures, but neither of them had so much as moved an inch. Regardless, the voice hadn’t matched their guttural tones anyway.

  “Hello?” she tentatively asked.

  “Why are you fighting so hard against what you know you want to do?”

  “I don’t understand,” she replied to the thin air.

  At that, a portion of the cave wall off to her right seemed to shimmer. Fleetingly, it became amorphous, almost liquid in appearance. Then a figure stepped through the portal and it solidified behind him.

  Whoever he was, he wore a black cloak with a hood covering his face. The figure turned toward her, his head still in shadows, and she saw that the cloak was open in the front. Trinity couldn’t help but notice the powerful chest over a set of defined abdominal muscles. For a moment, she wondered what else lay beneath the fabric, when it struck her that whoever this was, he appeared to be human.

  “Please help me.”

  “No,” he replied, lifting his head and throwing back the hood. Trinity was shocked to see Seth’s face peering back at her. “You have to do that on your own. Those are the rules.”

  * * *

  Trinity was temporarily silent. When she’d first awoken in this place, she’d been certain it had been Seth’s doing, that he’d drugged her somehow. But then, when she saw who - what - her captors were...

  “Those are orcs by the way,” he replied, alm
ost as if answering her unspoken question.

  “What?”

  “Orcs. Large, aggressive humanoids. According to Tolkien, they’re descended from elves, but I never really bought that. Either way you look at it, they’re a threat, although they have been known to interbreed with other species.”

  Trinity couldn’t believe it. She’d thought herself crazy when she’d first seen those things, but now she was hearing that Seth knew about them - perhaps was working with them too. What the hell was going on?

  She took a step toward him, then stopped and eyed those monsters again. Amazingly, they still appeared frozen in place.

  “I’ve stopped time,” Seth said as if that explained it.

  Oddly, that sense of aggression that had nearly overwhelmed her at the sight of these...orcs wasn’t present now. If anything, a sense of awe filled her, perhaps combined with a little tingling inside her nether regions as she once again found her gaze straying down his body.

  “It’s a natural reaction.”

  “Huh?” she replied, forcing her eyes back to his face.

  “That sense of awe. You come from a people who both revere and fear the supernatural.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You, your character. You’re one and the same here.”

  Trinity had no idea what he was babbling on about, but it didn’t matter. “Listen, Seth, please just drive me back. I promise I won’t tell anyone about this.” She let out a short, mirthless laugh. “Hell, nobody would believe me anyway.”

  “Back?”

  “To campus.”

  “You still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?”

  “There is no driving, no campus. There is no back...at least until you’ve come to grips with who you are and what it is you want.”

  “That makes no sense. How can there be no campus?”

  “It’s simple. You’re no longer in the world you once knew.”

  Trinity’s eyes widened as he said this. A thought occurred to her, an insane concept, but she refused to believe it. It was impossible.

  “No, it’s not,” he replied, once again responding to her inner thoughts. “Believe it or not, you’re in the game now.”

  EIGHT

  “I’m in the game?”

  “Yes,” Seth replied as if discussing the weather. “Heroes and Harpies.”

  “But how?”

  “I showed you, right before we came here. It was that book. I don’t know how, but it makes this all possible. It opens a portal to the world I’ve created for the game.”

  “How?”

  “Call it what you will; a pocket dimension, an alternate universe maybe. Me, I like to just think it’s magic.”

  “You realize how that sounds, right?”

  “Of course, but at the same time, you’re standing here in a cave about to be attacked by two rather brutish looking orcs, and you’re having a discussion with your Hero Master who, I might add, has graciously stopped time so as to give you a fighting chance.”

  “Graciously? Not quite the word I would use, asshole.”

  “I would,” Seth replied, his tone somewhat annoyed. Almost as if in response to his change of mood, a peel of thunder sounded from outside the cave. “Would you prefer I start things up again?”

  “No! Don’t do that.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Um...please.”

  “Better. Sadly, I can’t hold it forever. That would be unfair to Becca.”

  “Where is...?”

  “She’s completing her own part of the quest, dealing with her own foes, and perhaps some personal demons too. She’s come so far, but it’s always been with others: the party members who couldn’t make it tonight, and now you. She really needs to be able to stand on her own two feet. I think it’ll do her some good. Anyway, as I was saying, I can’t hold time forever. But I can hold it long enough to give you the knowledge you need to survive.”

  “Well then, give it to me already,” Trinity snapped, her frustration breaking through.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, dork. I didn’t want to play your stupid fucking game to begin with and I definitely don’t want to play it now.”

  “You really don’t have a choice.”

  “Oh?”

  “Not with that attitude anyway.”

  “What’s wrong with my attitude?”

  “Everything,” he replied with a snarl. Trinity could have sworn she saw a flash of lightning behind his eyes as he said it and it caused her to take a step back. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you all night and you’ve treated me like shit. You couldn’t even give the game a chance before laying in on it. Even after I’ve explained how it helped me, how it can help others, you still can’t resist getting in a dig like you think you’re superior. Well, I have news for you. I’m done. If you’re so smart, you can figure this out on your own.”

  Seth turned and waved his hand, the wall once more becoming amorphous - shimmering as if it weren’t quite solid.

  Before he could step through, though, Trinity cried, “Wait!”

  “What?”

  “How do you do that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m the Hero Master. This is my world.”

  “Your world?”

  “I created it. I can shape it to my will.”

  “Is it...real?”

  “As real as I wish it to be.”

  “So can you make those monsters go away?”

  “I could.”

  “Then...”

  “But I won’t. As I said, this is your quest...your chance to find yourself.”

  “I don’t know what that means.” Frustration and fear welled within her, and it combined with a bit of shame too. He was right. She had treated him like shit and now she needed his help. “I’m sorry.”

  He turned back toward her, the wall solidifying again. “I’m listening.”

  “When you first...um...got here, you said you could tell me what to do to get out of this mess.”

  “I did, but I’m thinking now that maybe you need to earn it.”

  * * *

  Maybe it was just her, but the tone of Seth’s voice sounded suggestive. Once more, Trinity couldn’t help but find her eyes roaming south. Earn it, eh? To her surprise, despite being trapped in a dank cave just moments away from being slaughtered like a lamb by nightmare creatures, she found herself somewhat aroused.

  But that was crazy. It was...

  “It’s the key to survival here - to winning,” Seth said. “Stop fighting and embrace it. All those feelings, all those wants; deep down, those are coming from you. Search inside of yourself and tell me what you really want.”

  Almost immediately, Trinity’s thoughts turned back to her time with Trevor, to all the disappointment. All she ever wanted him to do was throw her back on the bed and fuck her properly. Instead, he’d sat around disinterested - letting her do the work to try to get him into the mood, and then blowing his load and passing out instead. Hell, in the past few months, she’d had more of a relationship with her vibrator than with him.

  She glanced up and met Seth’s eyes, holding his gaze. The odd duality inside of her continued to war with each other, but this time, she decided to let the other side win - see what it had to offer. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised when she answered, “What I want is you deep inside of me.”

  * * *

  Seth raised an eyebrow in return. He seemed surprised for just a moment, but then he nodded. “So be it.”

  “Okay, hero master,” Trinity replied, letting those raw emotions wash over her like a hot shower. She realized she’d been wrong to fear them. They felt good, clean...right. “So what exactly can you do?”

  A smile reached Seth’s lips as he lifted a hand and snapped his fingers. “For starters, I can control what you wear.”

  Trinity felt an odd tingle about her and then the coolness of the night air against bare skin. When she looked down, she was somewhat unsurprised to see h
erself back in the chainmail bikini she had railed against him about. She smiled sardonically, ready to issue another challenge, but he wasn’t finished yet.

  “I can also control what you don’t wear.” Another snap of the fingers and the leather straps holding her meager garments on gave way. The chainmail lingerie clattered as it hit the floor, leaving her nude for Seth to behold.

  “And now,” he said, a wicked grin on his face, “you’re going to play the game the way I want you to.”

  NINE

  He was upon her in the space of a heartbeat. She’d taken in an excited breath one moment and ended up blowing it out into his mouth as he crossed the cave floor and crushed his lips against hers.

  His hands caressed her back greedily, trying to feel every part of her, an undeniable strength to them. All at once, she understood. This was his world, his realm. Here, he was a god and she had no power to resist him...not that she wanted to.

  A gasp escaped her lips as she raised her hands and ran them across his strong chest, pushing them further into his robe. It was so dark in color, almost fathomless, that it appeared as if she was reaching into infinity itself as she exposed more and more of his delicious...

  “No!” He grabbed her hands with his in an iron grip. Though Trinity knew it should be painful, there was something different about her too in this world - something stronger.

  She wasn’t strong enough, though, and he forced her hands to her sides. “You will do nothing until told to,” he growled, energy pulsing behind his eyes. “I am the Hero Master here. Nothing happens unless I say so.”

  Although she felt as if he could have willed her to stay still, ravage her like she was no better than a mannequin, he didn’t. He just stared into her eyes, forcing his dominance upon her.

  “Your saving throw is strong,” he said with a grin, “but mine is stronger.”

  She had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but didn’t much care either as he once more pressed his lips to hers, crushing any last resistance. Using the tip of his tongue, he made his way to her neck, nibbling upon it until she was sure she’d squeal with delight.