A Kingdom for Slimes Ch. 02

Xera nodded in satisfaction at her handiwork. She had chosen to make every last servant a slime girl rather than just a slime because, as she had so often explained to fellow transmografists, the female form was by far the nicest to look at. Judging by the reactions of the newly-transformed servants, she had to say they agreed with her.

A wicked grin crossed the demoness' face. Now it was time for step two of Setsa's plan to come into play.

Clearing her throat, Xera shouted, "Hey, everyone! I have some sad news."

The slimes all turned their attention to her, looks of concern and confusion on the crowd's faces.

Satisfied to see they were all so attentive, she continued her speech. "The king and queen of this castle are a couple of sticks in the mud. As soon as they hear about all the fun you're having, they're likely to send people to punish you."

This announcement was met with cries of dismay.

Xera held up her hand for silence. "Don't worry, I have a plan to save you all. We'll just have to show the royals how much fun your new bodies are! Let's all spread out and search for them, okay?"

The slimes, still muddled from the lingering magic in their minds, started to ooze away, each one eager to bring the royal family to 'justice'. Xera watched them go, her tail swishing side to side in pleasure. Although her heart was soaring, her body felt like wet sand. Transforming so many people in such a short amount of time took a toll on her, even if it was her favorite type of magic. What she needed now was a long rest in a soft bed, but she didn't have that luxury. As long as the king and queen kept that foolish Fisher King effect going by holding the throne, she wasn't safe to relax.

As Xera trudged her way across the courtyard toward the great hall, she paused to glance toward the guardhouse. There was no sign of Setsa or her magic, but then again, there also was no sign of any guards, so she assumed the other demoness was having a grand time keeping them occupied. Setsa had always been a capable sorceress, so there was little worry about her getting into trouble. And as long as she was keeping the guards occupied, there was little chance of Xera getting into trouble, either. She might be tempted to collapse into the frost-withered grass of the courtyard, but she still had enough energy for two more transmutations. That should be all she needed, she reasoned.

The entrance to the castle's great hall was, predictably, the grandest part of the building. Fluted columns of pale stone rose up to a stately height where they were crowned by a heavy plinth of marble engraved with the royal family's crest. Alcoves where royal guards would have normally been standing on either side of the entrance were left abandoned and the gold-trimmed oak double doors stood open. Whistling a jaunty tune, the demoness strolled across the threshold and into the flickering gloom beyond.

A wide, carpeted corridor led from the gate to the throne room. Just as the courtyard had been, the path was completely deserted. Lit torches had been left in the elaborately shaped sconces, however, giving the hall an almost ominous feel as dancing torchlight played with the sun streaming through the open door and high, arched windows.

"Someone's making my job easy," Xera chuckled to herself. The demoness made her way slowly down the plush red carpet and through the door to the throne room beyond.

No sooner had she entered the room than the very walls came to life with surging green light. Xera cried out in distress as the last of her stamina was sapped by the vicious luminance and she collapsed to the floor.

"As you can see, the creature has spent all of its strength prior to coming here." A stern-faced man and woman in their late middle age were seated on the thrones, each crowned with a ring of gold and jewels. Beside the dais was a frail elderly man, his stick-like body concealed under layer upon layer of robes. A staff as gnarled as the branches of the orchard's apple tree was clutched in both hands, the crystal orb topping it glowing with the same green light as the walls. It was the old man who had spoken.

"You are the demon who challenged my place upon the throne?" the king asked, his voice every bit as commanding as that of a ruler from a fairy tale. Xera quailed at his presence. She hadn't thought such humans truly existed anymore. To the old man, he asked, "You can eliminate her, yes?"

The old man nodded. "As Grand Court Wizard, removing the presence of a creature as miserable as this will be a simple matter, Your Highness."

"I'd like to see you try, you senile old codger," Xera growled. She might have been rendered immobile, but that didn't mean the fight had been extinguished from her heart. If the wizard was going to banish her, she'd make sure he got some scars to remember her by.

In response, the wizard waved the end of his staff in a wide arc. Green light pulsed forth from the crystal orb, temporarily blinding Xera. When the light died back down, her limbs felt as heavy as all the stones in the castle. It took all her strength just to lift her head up off the carpet and face her opponents. The throne was barely ten paces away. To think that she was about to fail when her goal was so close within her reach was unthinkable. And yet, no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't move forward even an inch.

The old wizard took a hobbling step toward the demoness. In time, he was close enough to jab at her with the butt of his staff, although he clearly had more refined methods of demon removal in mind than blunt trauma. With his staff held at a fixed distance from his body, he started to shuffle in a wide circle around where Xera lied. His footsteps left a trail of emerald flames that didn't seem to harm the carpet but felt almost certainly fatal to the demoness. It didn't take long for her to recognize the wizard was trying a sealing circle similar to the demon hunter's from earlier. The difference now was that the wizard was much, much more talented with magic.

Xera's eyes widened in surprise as the memory jumped back to the forefront of her mind like a lightning bolt. Perhaps she still had a way out of this tight spot, after all.

"You aren't even going to give me the dignity of last words?" she asked.

"No," was the wizard's curt reply.

Smart decision, Xera thought wryly. Her last words very well could have been a curse upon everyone in the room. Still, she wasn't about to be silenced with a simple 'no'. "Either way, you'd better rethink what you're doing, old man. Get rid of me and you'll consign a friend of yours to the void."

"Silence, insolent fiend!" the queen shouted.

Despite the queen's protest, the wizard stopped tracing his arcane circle and regarded the demoness shrewdly. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Xera forced her arm to move through sheer willpower. She had to show him to make him believe her. With a monumental effort, she picked up the glass bottle on its chain and held it up for all to see. Dolly looked like she was about ready to faint from terror in her little prison, but Xera was only concerned with the shrunken woman's safety as long as it bought her her own. "See?" she said between gasps for breath. "Me and Dolly are a package deal now."

The wizard recoiled as if he had been struck across the face. "Cassandra? What... What happened to you?"

Xera grinned. This was turning out better than she had thought. "She thought she could stop me on her own. She was mistaken." The wizard moved to snatch the bottle away, but Xera stopped him. "Not so fast, old man. You cross the circle and all the magic you've cast on me is dispelled. You know how this game works."

"What do you want?" he asked, defeat heavy in his voice.

The king pounded his fists against the arms of his throne. "I thought you said we do not make deals with this fiend!"

"Yes, but you must understand, Your Highness, she has my granddaughter."

The king slumped back into his seat. "I see. That does change things, doesn't it?"

"I'll gladly exchange your granddaughter for one of those crowns," Xera offered helpfully.

"The crown is out of the question," the king said firmly.

"Oh is it? That's too bad. I suppose Dolly's out of the question too, then."

"No," the wizard blurted before either of the royals could interject. "We can work out a compromise. You return Cassandra, and I will allow you to return to wherever it is you call home safely."

Xera picked up the faint sound of ooze flowing over smooth stone. It was distant, but quickly getting closer. And by the sound of things, there was a lot coming. She grinned slyly. At last, the cavalry was coming to the rescue.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's quite enough," she said.

The wizard's face fell into a look of suspicion. "And why is that?"

In response, a wave of giggling, multi-hued slimes tumbled through the arched doorway and into the throne room. Setsa flew at the vanguard, urging the transmuted servants on toward the throne. The wizard toppled under the encroaching wave and was pushed helplessly aside. The green lights flickered, then went out as he dropped his concentration on the spell. The slimes poured over Xera's body, setting every inch of her tingling the unique arousal only a slime of her creation could provide. The royals stood, but it was too late for them to make their escape. The slimes had already surrounded the dais, and more were joining the first wave by the minute.

Xera grinned. "Looks like I won, after all."

As soon as the royals and court wizard had been tied up and set in a corner where they wouldn't be able to run off, Setsa turned her attentions to restoring Xera's strength. "Here, this will only take a minute," she said, leaning in and planting a deep, soft kiss on Xera's lips. As their mouths connected, energy flowed from the body of one demoness into the other until both were restored to their old selves. "Better?" Setsa asked, cocking her head and smiling sweetly.

Xera stood and stretched. "Much better, thank you. Now, I believe this is rightfully mine." The demoness strode confidently over to the bound king and snatched the golden crown off his head. "How do I look, Setsa?" she asked, twirling in place.

"Like a wonderful ruler. Mind if I take that other crown off your hands?"

"By all means, be my guest."

Wisely, neither the royals nor the wizard voiced their protests.

"So, what exactly should we do with this sorry lot?" Xera asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the captives. "I don't think a slime body would suit them, but I'm not very good at transmutations that don't involve slime in some way."

Setsa was silent in thought for a moment before responding. "I have an idea!" she said, clapping her hands together and grinning broadly. "Do you mind if I take a shot at transforming them?"

Xera stepped away with a sweep of her hands. "By all means, be my guest."

Setsa spoke the beginning words of her incantation and the room filled with a deep azure glow. The air started to crackle with the familiar smell of ozone that heralded transmutation magic as the three bound bodies started to compress in on themselves. The royals cried out in distress as their clothes first grew baggy, then puddled around them. The ropes fell by the wayside, but by this point, the clothes acted as prison enough to keep them in place for the transformation's duration.

As they grew ever-smaller, the three captives' bodies shifted proportions to become androgynous and ageless. Their skin became milky and flawlessly smooth, their eyes grew large and dark. Hair thinned, then disappeared entirely. In its place grew a pair of large, feathery antennae even as spotted brown-and-white wings blossomed out of their slender backs. When the transformation was complete, three moth-like fairies fluttered fretfully up from the piles of royal garb.

"Are you sure giving them wings was a good idea?" Xera asked skeptically.

"But they're so much cuter with the wings!" Setsa responded.

"Can they cast magic like this?"

Setsa shook her head. "Not in the slightest. I made sure of that." She winked and nodded toward the throne. "But enough about that. I believe you had a Fisher King to dispel?"

Xera grinned. At last, her goal was within her grasp. It had started as a bit of casual fun, but after all she had gone through, finally reaching the point where her fun could begin felt monumental. "With pleasure," she said.

Slowly, she lowered herself into the throne. As soon as her rear touched the cushioned seat, a gust of cool, damp air swept through the chamber and down the corridor leading outside. The sunshine streaming through the stained glass windows faded ever so slightly and the clouds started to gather just a bit thicker overhead.

Xera crossed her shapely legs and leaned back in the throne. The swamp kingdom she had dreamed would soon be a reality. Truly, it was good to be queen.