Ogres and Ogresses Ch. 16

"Your modessty is nothing ssshort of infuriating," he lulled, eyeing her in irritation.

"You are attractive and I want you, Zyra the keromedio. I want to adorn you with my treasure and make you scream my name until tears run down your face."

Zyra's heart began to race and she took a step back.

"Why? Isn't there more to it? There has to be. Instinct..."

"Your life is finite," Scallen spat. "I have lived a thousssand of your fretting lifetimess mussssed with formality. Out of all of them, you have chossssen the hardest one!"

He seemed to be getting angrier as he spoke and she took another step back. This time he stepped forward. In one step he held her again, a hand on her waist the other in her hair.

"You are a ssseed that thinksss it iss a flower! You are unripe sssZyra and if you live the life the witches have ordained for you..."

His eyes shone with sadness and he gently combed her hair back.

"You will never grow. It will destroy you."

"You think you can protect me down here?" she asked curiously. "Ontheir lands following their rules?"

"I think out of all your comradesss, I have the healthiessst chanssce..."

"I don't think you owe me that much."

His lips quirked for a second.

"I would, after I got through with you."

Scallen kissed her neck and brought her in closer to his warm inviting body.

"I can help you grow."

His voice shook her, something wasn't right.

"Scallen...the witches did something to you didn't they?"

He pulled away from her, hissing like she was fire. His eyes seemed to flash fear before anger took them over.

"Nothing clossse to what they will do to you," he snarled.

"And if you think your preciousss ogre can sssave you, he cannot."

Her eyes widened in shock. "How did you..."

"Bassilisssksss hear everything. You come from a village of women Zyra," he said bitterly. "What other man could you have?"

So he did believe that she was seeing someone, he just didn't care.

"Kail was exiled by them," she said defiantly. "Do you believe he still holds loyalty to them?"

"Ogresss have always been loyal to the witchesss," Scallen remarked. "They're a subssservient breed in terms of obeying the Dark Council. The Shyla clan is especially closssse. One of the reasonsss your Kail is still alive."

"What do you mean?"

Scallen's face turned cruel.

"Has your preciousss ogre not told you why he was exiled?"

Fear gripped her heart. "Don't..."

"Are you afraid to learn of his true nature, or are you just afraid that it will chassse you into my arms?"

She shook her head in disgust.

"You're twisted."

Scallen snickered. "We all are. Even your ogre. It isss the nature of placsse. Don't worry, you'll twisssst quite ssssoon."

He tilted his head to the side and his expression grew concentrated.

"Did you come with companionsss?"

"Yes!"

"Well...they are here."

She watched him go towards the back the cave wall.

"I need to change."

She expected him to put on clothes, but instead she watched in horror as his body began to break. The distorted flesh made her scream and his tongue lashed the flame of the candle out. A mercy on his part no doubt.

When the popping stopped she heard sliding on the floor. It stopped beside her. Without a word she climbed upon his back and closed her eyes, shivering as he slithered through the darkness. __________________________________________________

"There it is!"

Rell and Rair ran to the hole which had begun to magically close over. A tiny pink sprite was closing it over with grass and flowers.

"Hey! Get away from there!" Rell shouted.

The thing tinkled in alarm and sped off, Rair pulling out the animated vines and tossing them behind her.

"ZYRA!" she shouted. "...ZYRA!"

Rell joined her and they paused to hear her response. They heard nothing.

"How do we go after her?" Rair asked solemnly.

Rell regretted his earlier words that smacked of leadership. He had no idea. Suddenly the ground began to rumble.

"Get back!" Rell shouted.

They pushed back and they watched as the giant basilisk slipped through the hole, spraying dirt everywhere.

Rair turned her spear to face it but Rell held up a hand. On its back, blocked by its massive head was a figure covered by a black hood.

"Zyra!"

She took a deep breath of the fresh air and slid off of the basilisk. Going to them with open arms they expected a hug. Instead she turned them around and made them all face away from the basilisk.

"What are you..."

"Quiet," she whispered.

They heard a series of pops and hisses that made them all uncomfortable. Then Zyra felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning she watched her comrades stare in shock at the humanoid basilisk.

"This is Scallen," she introduced. "Scallen these are my friends, Rell the Ursie and Rair my fellow huntress."

Scallen hissed, smirking as he circled them predatorily. Rair was in shock, her hand gripping tightly on Zyra's elbow. Her knuckles were turning white.

"Youuuu..." Scallen said smiling at Rell.

He suddenly stood nose to nose with him, his green eyes lighting with mischief.

"You've tried to fuck her."

"W-What?"

Zyra whipped to Rair. "Rair..." she said uneasily.

"And you..."

He turned to Rair as she still held her spear, still at the ready.

"You are quite pretty."

His lips twisted into a grin. "But your eyes are stained with your sins."

The hand holding Zyra went limp.

"You can't..." she whispered.

"I do know. It'sss written all over your..."

"No!" Rair screamed, screwing her eye shut as she clasped her ears.

"Scallen!" Zyra shouted, putting herself between them.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop this now!"

"A basssilisssk ssseess all," he said disregarding the panic he had caused.

"It'ssss in their body language. It wass in yoursss last night..."

Rell looked at her in horror and she grit her teeth.

"Keep your promise or go back into your hole."

He only smiled at her as usual.

"It appearsss the witchesss have a sssenssse of humor," he said lightly. "Young man, do you know who'sss colorsss it isss that you wear?"

Rell looked at Scallen suspiciously, but Scallen was content to wait patiently until he answered.

"No."

"You wear the colorsss of the Monokerosss. White and gold."

They stared at Scallen.

"And?"

"Do you know what it meansss to wear the colorssss of a creature?"

"We know nothing Scallen," Zyra snapped. "Please, explain yourself."

"The young man isss an offering," Scallen said with a chuckle.

Rell's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You are bait. Monokerossss do not have a preference for femalesss or malesss. I asssume they thought to lure it out using you, and Zyra would be the one to capture it. Or at least, interpret the message after it was...done with you."

"They intended to have him sacrificed?" Rair asked in shock.

"Not in the way you assssume," Scallen said smiling.

"There are only two reasonsss why a Monokeross comesss into human form. It is either for one, to relay the newsss of something that could change the very core of the area itself or...to have sssex."

"Monokeros can't have sex?" Zyra asked.

"Monokerosss can only have sssex with other monokerosss. Unlessss, they enter a hybrid form. The young one I met seemed to be quite fusssssy. They ussually are. He didn't want a witch, in fact I'm quite sssure he wanted a human."

"Are you telling me the witches were going to let him fuck me?" Rell screamed in fury, red veins popping out of his neck.

Scallen dissolved in laughter.

"It would have been interesting to sssee. You are a feminine man."

Zyra had no idea what to say. She turned to Rair.

"What does blue mean?" Zyra asked nervously.

"Blue iss the color of the ocean, the ssky..."

"Scallen! What the fuckta does it represent?"

"Nymphsss and ssSelkies, though they hate each other viciously. Your Monokeros enjoys to bathe in a sssmall lake occupied by a sssSelkie by the name of Nymare. It is not far from here."

Zyra's fist tightened.

"How convenient. Why do I feel like everything was a set up?"

"Because it wasss," Scallen said nonchalantly.

"The witchess knew where the Monokeross wasss, but they could not sssatisfy his needsss. When they tried to approach him, he ran into Rovian land where they have limited power. That isss why you wear my colorsss. I am the catalyssst to your...'enlightment'." You had no choice but to follow their game.

Rell's head snapped into Scallen's direction. His eyes narrowed in anger.

"What did you do to her you monster?"

"What you can't little boy."

Rell surged forward with a fist but Zyra stepped between them.

"This is no time to be infighting!" she shouted. "We still have a job to do!"

"You would still complete their task?"

The voice was Rair's. Rair had loosened her grip on her head, but her eyes grave. Zyra was used to having no secrets in this horrid place, Rair was not. Apparently Rair had some demons of her own.

"I have no choice," Zyra answered her stoicly. "I lost that right."

"There are thingsss you can control."

They looked to Scallen whom had dropped his merry facade. His eyes pierce through her, but instead of probing they seemed as though they were trying to lend her strength.

"You can control how you ussse what they have given you. You can control how to manipulate the elementsss they give. You can choossse how to go about your misssion, even if you cannot choossse what that isss. You can even control a Monokerosss by grabbing its horn."

"Will you take us to the pond?" Zyra asked.

"I cannot," he replied. "I too tread on ill ground with the inhabitantsss of the Marble Tree. I am sssure though that one of you shall remember the way. Use your witsss."

He gave her companions an appraising look.

"You humansss are a decent bunch, I am sssure you will pull through. Get usssed to disscomfort."

With that he began to walk back to the hole.

"Oh and,ssssssSZyra?"

He arched to look at her with such fluidity she was sure he had no bones, her image danced on the shiny cover of his eyes. She felt entranced.

"My offer? It ssstill standsssss..."

The hiss did not let up as he jumped down into the hole. They didn't move until it was but a whisper.

"What do we do now?" Rair asked Zyra softly.

Rell realized he had been demoted once again.

Good, he was glad.

"I have a plan," she said confidently.

"Come closer." __________________________________________________

Rell didn't like going back to the place where he had nearly been drowned. The memory of his insecurities riding up on him nearly made him gag. Yet, here he was creeping about where a rapist unicorn might be somewhere, ready to pounce on him.

He really hoped Zyra knew what she was doing. He didn't like how exposed he felt.

Rell was currently shirtless and the only thing that covered him was around his waist. He wore Rair's blue dress.

Rair was currently wearing the shawl.

"Nymare!" Rell called, holding the dress close to him.

"Nymare!"

A soaked hand grabbed his foot. He jumped back with a yelp, a torrent of giggles bubbling up as her head rose above the water. There she was, innocently evil.

"I did not think you would come visit me, son of man," she said smiling.

She had not bothered to hide her form, her teeth were pointy like stalagmites.

"I must say I am surprisingly delighted to see you once more...and more of you as well," she said leering at his hind parts.

"I need your help," he said firmly.

Nymare blinked before a razor sharp smile reached up to her ears.

"Oh? And why would I help you? If I recall you nearly killed me."

"I spared you," Rell snapped. "And I'm sure that had I not done that you would have drowned me. Or did you forget?"

"You weren't a keromedio then," she said wistly twisting her long flowing locks.

"And you weren't much a man either. You are more a man than before. I will do what you ask."

"Thank you."

"For a small penance."

Rell cursed to the sky. "What do you want?"

Nymare looked up at him innocently.

"I want to suck it."

Rell looked at her in confusion.

"Suck what?

She twisted a finger in her cheek and smiled with her lips.

"I want you to give me your penis and let me suck on it."

Rell glared at her in response.

"There is no way in this life or the next that I would let your teeth anywhere near my lineage."

She giggled in response.

"You are right. I just wanted to remark on how stubby and ugly I thought it looked."

Rell's glare intensified.

"Very well, if you insist on doing things this way I promise you this," his eyes took on an evil sheen.

"I will poison every drop of your precious water with basilisk venom. Then I will take your land soaked body and drag you into the desert until you burst into flames or..."

He ushered a hand to the tree behind him. He watched as Nymare's eyes widened in horror as three nymphs came out.

"Or I can let my friends have their way with you."

The nymphs looked over eager to enjoy the treat Rell had led them to.

Nymare snarled at them as she pulled herself farther out into the water.

"Don't you see what you've done?" she shrieked. "I will have to change water now!"

She was hiding from most living things. She enjoyed torture and pain, the act of sex could no compare to the agony she could inflict on someone. Someone drawing pleasure from her was a kind of torture to herself.

Much to her dismay she had had sex with nymphs before. They were depraved heathens that didn't deserve the element of water, and they had a fondness for bullying lone Selkies.

Rell shrugged. "Well I guess my hands are tied. I'll just leave then."

"No! I'll help you," she snapped. "What do you want?"

"I want you to pretend to be a human and present yourself to the Monokeros," Rell said. "And wear this."

He tossed her his white shirt. She caught it and frowned, sniffing distastefully at it even as she put it on. She wrapped it about her and it stayed dry, even as she floated in the water.

"Then?"

"Then you can go back to the chasm you crawled from."

Nymare smiled at him.

"You may dislike me son of man, but I do believe I'm rubbing off on you."

"What can I say? Your spite is contagious."

"Oh go on you charmer."

Rell could only shake his head as he urged the nymphs to return with him.

Rair had lured them in and Zyra had beseeched them for aid in Enui's name. Now came the hard part.

"Rair are you sure you're comfortable with this?" Zyra asked her for the eleventh time.

"Yes," she answered as she waited by the water's edge.

"Are you sure? I can make Rell do it instead. Really."

"Hey!"

"I am sure Zyra. I would like to do my part," Rair said nodding seriously.

Then she went into position. Rell's pants had been cut into shreds that now wrapped around her in a scant covering pattern.

Zyra took her place inside the tree that Rair was to sit by. Rell lay in wait by the forest. Then all was still.

They waited several hours in their positions, wondering if the Monokeros had somehow sensed their treachery. When they were about to come out of hiding, they heard a rustle in the trees.

Zyra's eyes narrowed as she watched the figure emerge from the green brush. On two legs stark naked came a man. It was illuminated by its own inner light, shining like a man made of moon. The shimmering glare made it too hard to see much else, but they all knew it was the Monokeros.

Nymare sat on a rock in the middle of the water that she had conjured up. With her human glamour she was naked underneath the pink shirt that fell to her thighs. She turned her back to the Monokeros as to seem a naïve human bathing.

Her damp tresses whistled in the wind. She raised a smooth pink arm and washed it. A small perky breast pushed against the fabric, a posy colored nipple mystically visible despite the cover.

She was beautiful.

Zyra saw the Monokeros pause very deliberately as Nymare splashed her pointed toes. A second later it began to walk towards her. Without a word it raised a hand and swirls of golden light extended towards her.

Nymare yipped as she was pulled by an invisible force into the water and towards the shore.

Zyra had not expected that.

Panicked, she looked down at Rair who was also astonished by the Monokeros' ability.

How could they improvise if talking would give up their position?

Nymare was no martyr. She had no intentions of following the ruse once she realized she might be in danger. As soon as she reached the shore she screamed, her sharp teeth and vicious face coming in view. Seeing that Nymare was in fact a Selkie the Monokeros let out a rough neigh and dropped her.

He began to gruffly reprimand her in his strange language and she replied in soft supplicant mews. The Monokeros' voice turned in a harsh whisper and a stricken look marred Nymare's face. She appeared to plead but the Monokeros said nothing in return. Sullenly she bent on all fours.

To their surprise she began to change, morphing and melding until what stood before them was a black horse. The Monokeros slapped Nymare on her behind and she galloped off into the trees.

So this was the power of the Selkie. Not only did she drown the unsuspecting by appearing to them as a lovely maiden, but she could bring a foolish lost human straight to his death. He'd think he was lucky finding an abandoned horse, and off she would go with him.

Zyra shuddered as she thought of why Nymare had been ordered by the Monokeros to go into her horse form. She really was a nightmare.

The Monokeros sniffed the air before turning to walk away. Zyra's eyes grew wide as she tried to think of a plan.

Instead, Rair tumbled into view. Holding her white rags to herself with trepidation in her eyes, the scared beauty looked ripe for the taking. The Monokeros let out a squeal of glee and ran to her, scooping her up in his arms.

Rair lost her composure, screaming and beating at his glimmering chest. The Monokeros didn't seem to notice.

Zyra instinctively leaped out of the tree onto his back, tumbling all three of them onto the green grass. Locking her arms and legs around him she shouted.

"Rell! Now!"

Rell ran from the forest with a vine that they intended to use as rope. The Monokeros bucked violently against her but she held on.

Rair crawled away from underneath his body, breathing heavily as she did.

"Grab his horn!" Zyra screamed.

Rell was trying to bind the Monokeros' legs but a powerful kick sent him flying into the water.

"The horn!"

Rair was pressing into his scalp but shook her head in distress.

"There is no horn!"

"What?"

With a might heave the Monokeros squashed Zyra against the tree, knocking the wind out of her.

She sunk brokenly against the stump as the Monokeros grabbed Rair and charged off into the trees.

Her vision blurred and she could hear Rell calling to her. Cold water jarred her senses and she jumped up, her head soaked as a wet Rell grabbed her hand and ran in the direction Rair had disappeared.

"He has her!" Rell growled. "Snap out of it Zyra!"

She did. She released his hands and launched herself through the trees. She inhaled deeply, pulling the power from deep within her.