by Reed James
My stomach lurched to the right. I gasped as she hurtled the ball down the street, slamming through the insects. I smiled as they buzzed away, streaking in all directions to avoid getting swatted. A few splatted on the outside. A pleased purr rose in my throat. Aingeal had a sense of humor.
I loved it.
The ball of energy dropped me off before the Temple of Krab. It vanished, leaving me shaking my head, lying on my side. I sat up, snapping my head around to gain my bearings. Mistress Ava was right; I needed to find something else to fight.
~ * ~
Kora Falk
I formed another illusion of myself clutching the amulet. My left hand tightened on the facets of the ruby as my right pointed at the formless, beige mound of ooze. Carsina charged in, wielding the diamond hammer. My fingers painted, controlling the illusion, my pussy juices evaporating off my fingers, consumed by the spell as paint.
“Here!” the illusion shouted, waving the gem. I made it glint, flow red. I had to protect Carsina. The ooze would kill her. She didn't have Ealaín's armor, and the aoi si warrior was having trouble not getting hurt. I couldn't let the poor priestess die.
Not after failing to save poor Master Theophil.
The protrusions writhing to seize Carsina shifted around. The thing let out a loud burble of triumph. A tentacle surged out at my illusion. My hand squeezed down hard on the ruby, the facets biting into my palm. I maneuvered the lie I created. I couldn't let the ooze touch my illusion. It would fall apart.
Only I wasn't fast enough. It sent those tentacles out before and behind it. I ducked beneath one, but the second struck my illusion in the stomach and... grabbed it. It pulled my illusion into its body. I shuddered as I suddenly felt so slimy. It reached beneath my robe, caressing every inch of my skin.
Like I was in him, not my illusion.
What was going on? I stepped back, confused. My illusions shouldn't be solid. I shouldn't be feeling anything. Pain pulsed in my left hand as I shook my head in confusion while Carsina howled in wordless rage, slamming the diamond hammer into the outside of the ooze over and over, the brilliant weapon flaring with light.
Doing nothing to the monster.
The thing writhed, shifted, then it seized Carsina.
“No!” I shouted in shock. “No, no, stop grabbing her!”
The monster writhed. Carsina gasped as the ooze dropped her inches from being pulled into its girth. She scrambled back, her midriff soaked by slime. Her eyes were wide. She glanced at me, her red eyes trembling, almost glowing surrounded by the blue of her skin.
“TRICK!” gurgled the ooze. “TRICK! TRICK! TRICK!”
It undulated and writhed, almost like it beat against an invisible fist. It made me shiver. What was going on?
~ * ~
Sven Falk
Metal groaned behind me. I threw a look and—
“Las's putrid cum!” I snarled.
I moved with the shadows. I flowed away from Prince Meinard's massive sword slicing down at me. I felt the air whistling by me as the blade missed me by mere inches. It hit the cobblestones. Sparks burst from it.
I spun out of instinct, ramming my rapier at the dripping torso. The shadowy blade slammed right into the belly, just below the sternum. On a fleshy body, it would have penetrated deep, cutting organs, incapacitating Prince Meinard so I could dispatch him.
The shadowy blade only bent against his metal form.
Bellowing, Prince Meinard pivoted his attack. His sword slashed horizontally at me. I ducked low, slipping into a crouch. Then I flowed with the shadows backward as the iron body leaped off the well and crashed against ground in a mighty clang.
“You scurry like a cockroach,” Prince Meinard growled. “And you think you're worthy enough to touch my daughter.”
“Oh, I've done so much more than touch her,” I said, putting all the cockiness I could into it.
But I needed another plan. How I could deal with this Las-damned iron construct. My weapon couldn't hurt it at all. Frustration boiled through me as Prince Meinard came slashing at me, blade whistling, searching for my blood.
But what?
~ * ~
Princess Ava
“We need something more effective,” I thought to Aingeal.
“What's good against bugs?” Aingeal asked me back as she sent Zanyia's ball of energy crashing through the insect swarm, killing another dozen.
“I don't know...” I jumped the feyhound's body to the right as a fist of insects slammed down into the street. A few spilled over us, biting at the wood, gnawing at it. Purple rippled over my proxy's body, battering off the gnawing insects. They didn't do much damage, but if enough nibbles were taken out...
“Moths are attracted to candle flames,” I thought to her. “It burns them up.”
“Nathalie!” Aingeal shouted, my soul jarred by her enthusiasm.
The insects suddenly burst away from us. They charged up the road, flying towards crackling flames and Sven's shadowy form dancing in the street.
~ * ~
Ealaín
I stood there confused as I watched the ooze writhe. Carsina scrambled back while Kora stood shaking her head. I lowered my weapons of light and stopped forming the brilliance I was about to unleash to distract the thing.
Carsina scrambled back, a band of slime coating her leather work clothes. The diamond hammer flashed with light, a momentary flash of crimson reflecting off the ruby clutched in Kora's hand. Was it the hammer? Had it done something to Kora's illusion to make it solid?
“FALSE!” gurgled the ooze, it's rippling body hammering against the constraining force.
Carsina glanced at the hammer, her brow furrowing. Then she gained her feet and yelled again. Maybe her hammer could do something. She reached the beast and slammed her weapon hard against its rippling bulk and...
It was like slapping jelly. It rippled and undulated, but it didn't penetrate. It didn't do any more to the creature than my weapons did. And yet the thing stood there, unable to move, writhing. I charged in, thinking of nothing else I could do but keep attacking. Maybe my ax could hurt it.
Fire roared. Nathalie screamed. She darted past in the corner of my eye, racing for the exit, chased by the flaming centipede. I shuddered, wanting to help her. Maybe... I would be more use fighting something else. Greta still battled the emaciated bear-thing, sweeping water at it.
But who would protect Kora?
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Devouring Flames
Sven Falk
I jumped back again, retreating before the Prince's swings. A purple ball of energy landed before the temple, spilling Zanyia out of it. My lamia slave gained her hands and knees, tail swishing. She had those katars thrusting out from her leather armor, but they would be equally as useless against Prince Meinard as my rapier.
Then Nathalie burst out of the temple, still looking slender and girlish despite the ruby armor she wore. Ruddy orange glowed in the stylized pattern of flames decorating her armor. The air wavered around her, heat dancing in an aura behind her.
A moment later, a flaming thing burst out, its body long and sinuous, segmented. Oily fire dripped off of it, leaving splatters on the ground as it scurried after Nathalie. Her screams galvanized me into action.
I darted from Prince Meinard, sprinting from him towards my slave. He snarled. His footsteps crashed after me, but I was faster. I had to get to Nathalie. Maybe I could hurt this monster. My boots thudded on the cobblestone.
“Master!” Nathalie gasped, her face painted by the orange light of her armor as she charged at me, leading the insect. “I tried! I tried! But it likes fire!”
Mandibles clicked, scything blades that hungered for my slave's—my wife's—flesh. I growled as I darted past Nathalie. I lunged my rapier at the monster's flaming body. The shadowy point slammed into the chitinous face plate.
And skipped along it.
I left a scouring scratch across the surface, my blade sliding past its multifaceted eye. Frustration surg
ed in me for a moment. And then my rapier's blade hit the joint at the neck. It penetrated into it, biting into flesh.
The thing snarled in pain. A violent surge of triumph rippled through my body. I twisted the blade, savoring the thing's chittering snarl of pain. Its long body contorted around, legs scuttling on the ground, splashing flaming oil to burn on the cobblestone.
Finally, something I could—
The thing's back half uncoiled and slammed into my chest. I grunted as shadows swirled, swallowing up the burst of fire exploding around me. I stumbled back a step, my chest aching, the leather armor absorbing only some of the impact. A cough burst from my lungs.
“Gods damn it,” I grunted as the thing hissed and chittered.
Metal rang behind me. The air hissed.
Prince Meinard had caught up to me, his sword slashing down at my back.
~ * ~
Prince Meinard
Sven flowed out of the way of my blade, darting for the right. The Hunger scuttled after him, ichor bubbling from the wound in its neck. Its sharp mandibles opened and closed with a scything whisk that sent a chill down my distant body.
Now I had Sven. He couldn't dodge us both.
“Las's putrid cum!” Sven snarled, shadows dripping off of him as he dodged out of the snapping attack of the Hunger.
I thrust my sword at his chest as he dodged right for me. I saw a moment of panic flash across his face. Then the shadows moved his body. He twisted out of the way, that damned armor of his keeping him alive.
But for how long?
The Hunger scurried after as I pivoted and swiped at Sven again, forcing him to dodge the Biomancer's monstrosity. Sven growled and leaped over the slashing bite only for the centipede-thing to slash at his body. It forced him to slide to a halt, to shift his weight and dodge back.
I leaped and slashed, my metallic body hurtling through the air. My blade hurtled down at—
Fire washed across my face. Heat kissed my body. It absorbed it, drinking it in with ease. I hit the ground, my view obscured by the curling tongues of orange and red dancing before me. My sword slammed into the cobblestone with a jarring force.
The fire died. I blinked and then whirled around to see a slender girl in ruby armor slamming a flaming sword into my chest. It hit my iron body and bounced off. The girl stumbled back, eyes widening in shock.
I backhanded her, my metal fist slamming into her breastplate. Flames burst around the impact. She gasped as it threw her onto her backside in a metallic clang. I ignored her. Fire and her sword couldn't harm my flesh. I had to kill Sven.
Shadows flowed to the right.
“Fire!” a familiar voice yelled. “Nathalie!”
“Ava?” I growled, looking down the street where a wooden dog chased a swarm of insects. The Colony buzzed closer, hurtling towards Sven.
~ * ~
Princess Ava
“Nathalie!” I yelled as the girl scrambled to her feet. She looked at me, her blonde pigtails peeking out from beneath her helmet giving her martial form a girlish demeanor. “We need your fire! Burn them!”
She shook her head, then she saw the swarm of insects descending from the sky, hurtling down at Sven as he darted around my father's iron proxy. The buzzing insects had found prey they could harm. I ran faster, wooden claws scratching at the road.
“Burn then now, Nathalie!”
Purple energy burst around Sven. Nathalie slashed her sword down hard before her. The flaming blade left a sweep of heat that burst into dancing fire. It swept through the air, propelled before her. It crackled hungrily as it slammed into the horde of bugs.
“Gods, yes!” I cheered in delight as they crackled. Died.
~ * ~
Aingeal
I protected Sven as the fire rolled over the insects. My soul trembled against Ava's as those bugs roasted. Crisped insects rained from the sky as the flames devoured them. A buzzing roar of pain hummed from the remaining swarm as they climbed into the air.
Nathalie aimed her sword, pointing at the swarm. Her flames chased, hungry for the bugs. The cloud rose into the air, fleeing her fire. It split apart, dozens of tendrils of scared flies darting in every direction.
The fire split, too.
It roared and crackled. Oranges and reds and yellows danced across the iron body of Prince Meinard. Ava's step-father growled as he lunged at Sven, swiping his sword at my husband's body. Sven, his armor drinking in the inferno's glow, flowed.
“No, you Las-damned bastard!” I howled, only Ava hearing me.
Evocation spirits responded to my anger. The balls of orange light descended, dancing around the feyhound's body. I focused them, my purple aura spreading around them, forming a ball of brilliant power.
I fired it.
The blast soared at Meinard as his massive sword hacked at my husband. Sven retreated before it. He didn't attack. Couldn't attack. What could a blade, even one made of shadows, do against a solid block of animated iron?
My ball slammed into the body. It hit with the force to demolish a building. Prince Meinard's heavy body stumbled back as the evocation spirits spilled over him. He snarled, his voice booming with a metallic ring, and crashed onto his back with a heavy rattle.
“Finally!” Sven growled as burnt insects fell like gray snow around him.
~ * ~
Zanyia
The fire burned the bugs. I smiled. Nathalie had that in hand. I needed to find something to do. To be useful. To help my family. My new wives needed help. My ears pricked. Water sloshed around inside. Something gelatinous quivered.
“FALSE!” something hideous gurgled, like hearing a swamp bog speak.
I glanced through the ruined door and saw Greta swinging a watery sword before her, slamming waves of water into an emaciated monster, the size of a bear. Despite its wizened form, it moved with power, battering through the tidal surf that Greta conjured, a desperate move to keep herself safe.
I formed new katar claws, the leather wraps of my armor springing before me. Silence wrapped about me. I stalked forward at the monster, hunting it, my tail held still as I moved. I licked my lips. Not a sound reached my ears.
The monster would never know what hit him.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
It clicked in my head as I grinned at Prince Meinard knocked on his ass. “Ava, Aingeal, you fight your father. I got the centipede thing.”
It scuttled at me as Ava shouted, “We'll stop him!”
“Nathalie, keep burning! You're doing great!”
My sex slave flashed me a grin as she kept her fire burning up in the sky, chasing the strange swarm of insects. The Biomancer's creations were all hideous and disgusting, my skin crawling at the sounds they made, how they scuttled.
The burning centipede scurried after me on its dozens of legs. Each one knifed down into the cobblestone, scratching at the hard surface. It undulated like a snake as it moved, leaving a sinuous, burning trail in its wake, greasy smoke filling the street. Mandibles flexed, hungry for my flesh.
“You're welcome to try,” I grinned, falling into a dueling stance.
As another blast of energy knocked Prince Meinard back, I tensed, watching the slithering approach of the monster. Ash drifted down from the sky. Time slowed as my heart beat faster and faster. I focused, my blade becoming an extension of my body, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. To impale the thing on my sword. I aimed for that neck joint bubbling with ichor.
It came closer.
Its body shifted to the right.
Then left.
Its mandibles snapped.
Now.
I snapped forward. My right leg kicked out as I propelled myself forward with the left. My blade aimed down, the entire weight of my body behind the thrust. The shadowy blade drove at the creature's neck joint.
Its tail flexed. Flaming oil burst from it and flew at my face.
~ * ~
Zanyia
The monster crashed through Greta's wave
. With a long, bony arm, it knocked her from her feet, her blue armor ringing. She gasped, trembling on her back. It rose above her, mouth opening to rip out my fellow sex slave's throat.
I abandoned my slow stalk and charged.
I took two steps and then yowled in delight. Not a sound came from my body, not even my shout. The armor absorbed everything. I didn't need to move slowly. I could run as fast as I wanted and still be the quietest hunter in the world.
I leaped, a purr rising in my throat. I didn't hear it, but the soothing rumble of my vocal cords electrified my body. I drew back both my fists, aiming the triangular katars square at this thing's back. A tremble raced through my body.
I crashed into its back and thrust.
My blades both punched through the papery skin and slipped past ribs to bury deep in the flesh. My bare feet planted on the lower back, my tail swishing behind me. My purr rumbled my throat with swelling intensity as the monster let out a bellow of pure pain and anger.
I loved it.
My tail swished back and forth to give me balance, keeping me in place as it thrashed. Greta squeaked in surprise. Her armor clanged as she scrambled to her feet. I caught blurs of her as the monster thrashed, twisting his torso to throw me off.
~ * ~
Princess Ava
“Like my new proxy, Father?” I asked as I hurtled past Sven lunging at the flaming centipede. More purple energy glowed before me, gathered by Aingeal.
“My sweetling?” my step-father gasped as he stared at my feyhound proxy.
Aingeal fired her power.
The blast slammed into his iron chest. The purple energy spilled over his metallic body. He stumbled back from the force, ringing like a deep gong. I landed before him, staring up at his towering form. Blood and dirt splattered his body. He looked terrifying. Inhuman.
“You... would attack me?” he said.
“Yes!” I snarled.
“Ooh, we're going to kick your ass!” Aingeal screeched, forgetting only I could hear her.
His blade slashed down at me, a falling meteor of iron death. I sprang to the side with ease. It crashed into the stone. Purple energy fired from my mouth. It struck my father in the shoulder. He reeled back.