The Scarlet Cavern

by Michael Dalton

  Ayarala appeared in the doorway, followed by Kisarat. They both laughed.

  “You have not wasted time,” Kisarat said. “We have dinner, but it will keep for a little while.”

  They disrobed quickly and joined us on the bed. Mating with Narilora had only increased my desire for them. I pulled them above me, Ayarala onto my erection and Kisarat over my mouth. Ayarala sank back onto me easily. She was still wonderfully, deliciously tight, but the resistance to penetration was gone. She began bouncing eagerly on my cock.

  Kisarat settled over my mouth. I licked up at her and reached between them to play with their breasts. I realized a few moments later that they had come together above me, holding each other and kissing.

  “I like kissing you, awasa-late,” Kisarat said after a minute. They had “practiced” kissing the previous night for long enough that I had decided they were well past practicing and simply making out.

  “I like kissing,” Ayalara replied. “But I like it more during mating.”

  I couldn’t see them, but the words were enough. Ayarala reached her release first, thrashing and shaking above me. She threw herself to my side, opposite Narilora. I kept licking up at Kisarat, who fell forward onto my chest. A few moments later, I felt her kissing and licking my cock.

  “Does this feel good, tsulygoi, as it does to me?” she gasped.

  I answered her as best I could.

  “Yes, but take it into your mouth.”

  Her lips slid down over my cock. A moment later, I felt her fangs against me and suddenly reconsidered.

  “Just . . . don’t bite it.”

  She pulled back and laughed. “I will not harm your wonderful penis, tsulygoi.” Then she went back to work.

  But she was too close to her release. She leaned back, moaning. Then I felt Narilora climbing around, and a moment or two later, as I drove Kisarat toward her orgasm, Narilora’s lips closed around my erection.

  Kisarat came above me, thighs battering my head, and she fell forward again next to Narilora. I let my cat-girl pleasure me for another minute or so before pushing Kisarat off and pulling myself up. I grabbed Kisarat’s hips, lifted her tail, and thrust into her serpentine body from behind. She was still quivering in the aftermath of her orgasm, and it took only a few strong thrusts before I lost it inside of her. I let the waves of pleasure wash over me, before finally falling forward between the three of them. As I caught my breath, I lay there feeling the warmth and affection flowing out of them, and for a few moments, I was able to forget how I came to be here.

  ◆◆◆

  We assembled downstairs in what was left of the kitchen. In asking them to get dinner, I had forgotten we were in a rabbit-girl village, and what they had returned with was unquestionably rabbit food: several different vegetable dishes heavy on the roots and roughage.

  “It is all they had, Will,” Ayarala said. “I hope it is sufficient.”

  “It’s good. Thanks.”

  Take-out was a thing in this world too. The food was packed into several plastic-like containers. Kisarat served things up and we began eating.

  “How do you find mating with the makalang, awasa-late?” Ayarala asked.

  Narilora scoffed.

  “I feel like I have been beaten between the legs with a stick,” she said.

  The other two girls laughed.

  “That will pass,” Kisarat replied.

  But Narilora smiled at me.

  “Even so, I am already wanting more.”

  “That will not pass,” Ayarala said.

  Chapter 13

  Once again, I woke the next morning in a pile of warm female flesh. Ayarala was under my right arm, face pressed against my neck; Narilora was sleeping half-on and half-off my chest on the other side like my cat used to do. I hadn’t gone to sleep like this. They seemed to seek me out during the night.

  But Kisarat was up. Somehow I managed to extricate myself without waking the girls. Narilora mumbled something and reached for Ayarala. They rolled together in their sleep, ending up with Ayarala spooning against Narilora’s back.

  When I got to the floor, I idly reached for my arm where Narilora had clawed me the previous morning, during our initial fight. But the scratches were completely healed – there was barely a trace of anything left.

  I stood there for a moment wondering what the fuck was going on. I was healing at a ridiculous rate. No matter what injuries I sustained, I was somehow shrugging them off like nothing. Was it Taitala itself? Was I . . . somehow . . . something like Superman, possessed of heroic abilities simply by virtue of being here?

  That didn’t seem quite right. Other than the healing, the only ability I had was my inexhaustible dick. I wasn’t any stronger or faster than I’d been before. I certainly couldn’t fly, or stop bullets. All I could really do was heal fast and fuck my rapidly growing collection of females into oblivion.

  It occurred to me that those two might be connected. Maybe. But I couldn’t see how.

  I found my pants and went downstairs. Kisarat was waiting in the kitchen. As I walked in, she was mixing up a mug of massit. She smiled as I walked in and handed it to me. I took it in one hand and her in the other. She leaned against my shoulder. I kissed her head.

  “All good?”

  “All is good, my tsulygoi.”

  I felt her tail caressing my leg.

  “You don’t want any?”

  “I do not really care for it in the morning, and you do.”

  I sat down at the table and took a long sip as she prepared breakfast from our stock of travel supplies.

  “You haven’t expressed much concern about what we’re doing here. What I hope to do in Phan-garad.”

  She looked over her shoulder at me, smiling.

  “I trust that you know what is right, Will. And I trust that you will take care of us, whatever happens. You are our tsulygoi.”

  I took another sip of massit, wondering what decision I would make when the time came.

  ◆◆◆

  There was a large hot-tub-like bath on the first floor. Kisarat told me that cunelo generally did most things in a communal fashion, and there had likely been six or eight of the rabbit people living here at one point. So they had one bath, large enough for everyone. I went in to wash up, and the girls joined me one by one. We had things to do, so I contented myself with watching them wash each other.

  Their plan, essentially, was to disguise me as a large rabbit so we could all get on the train. Narilora geared up like one of the mercenaries, throwing her crossbow over her shoulder, and went over to the station right after breakfast. She returned quickly with tickets for a private cabin. The permit had done the job. Now I just needed to get in there.

  Meanwhile, Kisarat and Ayarala had gone shopping for components for my disguise. The idea was to make me look like an old, fat, cunelo female. While they were gone, I had been taking occasional peeks out the window, and I realized that the cunelo were on average quite a bit stockier than the other races I’d seen. So maybe this idea wasn’t as dumb as it sounded.

  They returned about an hour later with a large dress, a hooded cloak, and a fake set of ears that were apparently left over from some costume festival. I gave thanks that my former buddies in the Marines couldn’t see this and got dressed. I was concerned about getting it all on over my armor, but it fit. Taitalans were not tall, but it seemed obesity was a thing here.

  Ayarala and Kisarat went ahead to sell the wagon and kabayang. Narilora and I waited until a few minutes before the train was supposed to arrive. Hunching over as far as I could and keeping the cloak up over my head, I followed her to the station.

  The streets were fairly quiet and few people were out. We got to the station in about five minutes, and though I got a glance or two, no doubt because of my size, no one seemed overly concerned. Ayarala and Kisarat were there waiting for us.

  I envisioned something akin to airport security back home, but whatever went on normally, Narilora’s pass got us waved
through without an issue. We found a spot near the end of the far platform, and I squatted down to make myself look smaller.

  A few minutes later, the train arrived. I assumed based on the concave tracks and the scarcity of metal in this world that it would be rolling on some kind of rubber or plastic wheels.

  I was wrong. The train approached as silently as a mild breeze. The engine and cars were roughly triangular in cross-section, with rounded sides and rounded off on the roof. There were no wheels. It simply floated over the trough below. The crystal plates lining the trough lit up as it passed, and identical plates on the train matched them in illumination.

  A maglev. They fought with swords and crossbows in this world, but rode on maglevs.

  When the train stopped, the doors on the sides of the cars slid open. Narilora led us toward the front where our private cabin was located. Again, we got curious glances, though I suspected that had as much to do with our mixed group and our weapons as anything else.

  In a minute or so, we were safely inside the cabin. There were two windows looking in from the passageway outside, but they had privacy curtains and Narilora drew them all closed. Once the train began moving, I allowed myself to relax. I took off the dress and fake ears, but kept the cloak close at hand.

  “How long should it take to get there?” I asked.

  “Likely the rest of the day,” Kisarat said. “Fortunately, it will be dark when we arrive in Phan-garad. The city is much like the villages. It is not as busy as it once was.”

  The interior of the train was modern and comfortable, and the ride was about as smooth as could be. Our cabin was six seats facing each other, three across, with a small closet/cabinet along the inside wall. A window on the outside wall gave us a view of the forest as we passed.

  But I was surprised to realize that the train wasn’t traveling anywhere near as fast I had expected. We hit about 60 mph and stayed there. There was presumably a reason, but I didn’t figure that it mattered.

  “I am wondering,” Ayarala asked, “when we reach Phan-garad, should we be concerned about the Black Sky?” Somehow I heard the capital letters. “I have heard troubling things.”

  “I cannot say,” Kisarat said. “They did not appear until recently, after I left. I only know what I have heard.”

  “The Black Sky?” I asked.

  “It is . . .” Ayarala began. “I am not quite sure what it is. A group in Phan-garad that has destroyed things.”

  “There have been explosions in the city,” Kisarat said. “Buildings have been destroyed, though fortunately no one has been hurt. Each time it happens, there are words found painted nearby. ‘The black sky is coming.’ No one knows what it means, but people call them the Black Sky, whoever they are.”

  So they had terrorism here too. Unbelievable.

  “What do they want?”

  “No one knows. No one knows anything about them.” She turned to Ayarala. “I don’t think we need to be concerned. Phan-garad is large, and there have only been about eight or ten explosions.”

  “I have heard they are panikang,” Narilora said. “Not that I believe it. They are blamed for everything.”

  “The explosions have come both day and night,” Kisarat said.

  “Which could mean anything.”

  ◆◆◆

  Ayarala went to get some food a little while later. She returned with several vaguely sandwich-like things in a plastic tray and four bottles of some greenish liquid. Narilora groaned when she saw it.

  “There weren’t a lot of options,” Ayarala said. “I am sorry.”

  “So train food sucks in this world too?” I asked.

  Kisarat and Narilora looked at me in confusion. Ayarala explained what I meant.

  “Yes, unfortunately,” Kisarat said.

  The sandwich tasted like dry, peppery cardboard, but it was filling, so I ate it anyway. The drink tasted a little better, sweet and vaguely fruity. When we were done eating, I gathered up the trash and looked for a place to put it. I opened the cabinet door to see if there was a trash can inside.

  The moment I pulled open the door, there was a squeak of alarm, and something jumped around inside. I fell back in surprise. Narilora leapt out of her seat to see what was going on. Ayarala and Kisarat stood up, but kept their distance.

  There was a girl hiding inside the cabinet.

  A rabbit-girl, to be precise. She huddled in the back, staring at me in shock and alarm. She clearly saw me and knew I was something alien.

  Narilora reached in and dragged her out. The girl let out another squeak.

  “Don’t hurt me,” she gasped. “Please don’t hurt me. I’m sorry, please.”

  “What are you doing in here?” Narilora asked.

  The girl fidgeted for a moment, looking around at us.

  “Hiding,” she said quietly.

  “From what?”

  “Please don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

  She kept looking back and forth at me and the girls.

  “Did you sneak onto the train?” Ayarala asked.

  “No. I had a ticket. But I was supposed to get off at the last village.”

  “Why didn’t you?” I asked.

  She didn’t answer me. She just continued staring at me in shock.

  As my surprise began to subside, I saw that she was very pretty, in a girl-next-door kind of way.

  Assuming, that was, you lived next door to a bikini model with rabbit ears. She had light brown hair and light blue eyes, and her big breasts strained against a tight sports-bra-like top. Her bare, narrow waist led down to a tight but nicely rounded butt, and a small, fluffy white tail protruded from the back of her shorts. She also looked a fair bit younger than the other girls. She was slightly taller than Kisarat, but still short by Earth standards.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, or turn you in. You’re not in danger. We just want to know what you’re doing.”

  “What are you?” she finally asked.

  “What does he look like?” Narilora responded.

  The girl swallowed, looking me up and down repeatedly.

  “He looks like the makalang.”

  Narilora just cocked her head and lifted her eyebrows like, duh. The girl’s eyes widened.

  “He’s the makalang?”

  “Yes,” Kisarat said.

  “Why is the makalang on the train?” she gasped.

  “You haven’t told us what you’re doing here,” Narilora said.

  She put her hand on her forehead.

  “Do you promise you won’t turn me in?”

  “Yes,” I said. “That’s not why we’re here. Why don’t you sit down and explain.”

  ◆◆◆

  Her name was Eladra, and she was essentially fleeing an arranged marriage. Amongst the cunelo, the girls explained, the elder females typically decided who mated and who did not. And when Eladra completed her tenth talon, making her old enough to mate, the elders in a village further around the mountain sent her to the village we had spent the night in, intending for her to mate with a tsulygoi who lived about a day’s ride further down the hill.

  But instead of getting off at her stop, she’d left her seat and hidden in our private cabin, planning to travel all the way to Phan-garad and meet up with a cousin who had gone there the previous talon to find work.

  “You don’t want to mate?” I asked when she finished her story.

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Kisarat asked. “I suspect I have an idea, but tell me.”

  “Males are revolting,” Eladra said.

  All three of the girls sighed and nodded.

  “That’s an answer,” Narilora said.

  “We’re going to Phan-garad,” I said. “You can stay here with us.”

  Eladra stared at me, breathing hard.

  “All this time, I thought . . .”

  “The makalang was a myth?” Ayarala said. “So did we all.”

  “Well, I didn’t,” Kisarat said. “I just didn’t expect t
o have him arrive at my house.”

  She reached over and squeezed my hand. Eladra saw it, and her eyes widened again.

  “Are you his wives?”

  “Yes,” Kisarat. I didn’t feel like arguing.

  Eladra looked back at me.

  “The legends say –”

  But I cut her off. “We are not doing this again.”

  The girls all laughed.

  “The legends are accurate,” Ayarala said. “More than I expected, to be perfectly honest.”

  Eladra’s face took on a look very much like a frightened rabbit.

  “That isn’t something you need to worry about,” I said.

  “Why are you going to Phan-garad?” she asked.

  It seemed as if this girl wanted nothing more than to lie low and avoid attention, so I figured it was safe to explain what we were up to. I told her how I had arrived here, what had happened, and what we intended to do.

  “I still can’t believe this,” Eladra said. “I want to tell someone, but no one would believe me. They would think I was crazy.”

  She stared up at me.

  “You are very large. And, um, very handsome.”

  “Thank you.”

  I left it at that. The last thing I needed here was another female following me around, as cute as she was.

  “Who is the tsulygoi you wish to meet with?” she asked.

  “aJia’jara,” I said.

  Eladra gasped.

  “He is the tsulygoi my cousin is employed with! I could take you there.”

  “Do you know where he lives?” I asked.

  “Well . . . no. I’ve never been to Phan-garad. I was going to ask at the station. But maybe she could introduce you.”

  “She isn’t mated with him?”

  “No. She, um, she doesn’t look like me. She just works there.”

  I looked at the girls. “It can’t hurt.”

  ◆◆◆

  It took about five hours to get to Phan-garad. The landscape leveled out and changed from forest to cultivated farmland. But as with the villages, a lot of it seemed abandoned. We stopped several times at towns and villages along the way, but no one bothered us. It began to get dark as we traveled along the last leg.