A Monster Life Ch. 31-33

'Good.'

'Before you go,' said Sawea. 'could you show me the piece you have of the artefact?'

'Val?' asked Ulric, and she sat down next to him and held it out to the queen.

She took it and carefully examined it as she turned it over. 'This is part of a circular object?'

'Yes.' said Valdys. 'It should be a ring and by connecting the pieces in the correct order, open a portal to where the demon lord resides.'

Sawea returned the piece to Valdys. 'Although we barely have contact with others, we know the demon lord is very powerful. What do you hope to achieve?'

'I've been pulled into this world and this body from my own world.' said Ulric. 'I'm actually human, and according to wizards, I'd need the power of the demon lord to return me to my world and my own body. But there's also the report that the demon lord plans to conquer the world and we'd like to put an end to that as well.'

Sawea nodded. 'I see. It would be better if there was no bloodshed in the world. Do you know where the piece is that you're looking for?'

Valdys pointed towards one of the mountain cliffs. 'It should be in that direction. Is there anything special there? Like a building or a marker?'

Sawea shook her head. 'From here to the rock face is nothing but ordinary plants and trees. There is no construction of any kind around here.'

Valdys looked at Ulric. 'It should be here according to this piece and what Demetrus wrote about finding it. Unless I made a terrible mistake.'

He laid his paw on her hand. 'I'm sure you didn't. It's likely buried somewhere so we'll just follow the direction we're given and dig where it points in all directions.'

'It must have been buried in secret or a long time ago then,' Sawea said. 'but we'll help where we can in return for your help.'

Ulric smiled a little and gave her a nod. 'It's appreciated.'

'We'll have to deal with those thieves first.' said Conchim.

'You're right.' he said and stood up on all fours. 'Let's see who we're up against.'

Sawea smiled. 'Be careful.' she said. 'And thank you.'

'Leave that for when we actually have done something.' he chuckled and Trixy hopped onto his back. 'After you, Conchim.'

***

The small group travelled through the trees to stay out of sight while Conchim flew up occasionally to take a peek above the tree tops. 'There's a school of fish heading this way.' she said as she landed gracefully. Without the distraction of fighting, Ulric could get a good look at her large wingspan of four to five times her height, the shimmering of the darkest blue on her black feathers, and her V shaped tail with the tips reaching to her calves. He'd seen depictions of harpies but the real thing was something else. She was truly a shadow silently passing through the air and would vanish into the dark of the night easily. She folded her wings behind her back. 'We should see them pass overhead soon.'

Everyone looked up at the sound of fluttering coming closer. It reminded Ulric of the slightly crispy sound of the thin and stiff paper to build kites with, only in this case there'd have to be at least a hundred kites flying.

The glittering silver and blue-grey cloud filled the view in an instant. 'It's exactly like fish in water, wow!' he said and squinted his eyes. 'Except these fish have four fins like dragonfly wings?'

'Indeed.' said Elzbieta. 'It's the first time I've seen them apart from drawings in a book.'

'Fish can't be taken far or in the quantities to be profitable for merchants, so I doubt many people outside the area know about them.' Iphigenia said.

'They only migrate between the lakes and large ponds spread between the mountains here.' said Conchim. 'If they're hunted too much they'll die out and we'd lose an important food source.'

Ulric nodded as the last fish disappeared from sight. 'Shall we follow them to see if we encounter the hunters?'

'Yes. I suspect we'll see them soon.'

They hurried in silence after the school until Ulric smelled the scents of humans. 'I smell a group of humans up ahead.' he whispered.

'That must be them.' said Conchim. 'You'll see how they catch the fish.'

They arrived just in time to see four men aim heavy crossbows up at the fish, standing at the corners of a net made from thin rope lying on the ground. 'Two, one, fire!' said a fifth man, shielding his eyes while he observed the shimmering cloud.

The bows twanged as one and four thick bolts went up and snatched the net upwards. It spread further in front of the fish and ensnared most of them. The packed fish ceased to fly and the bundle fell down while the rest of the fish scattered in panic. The full net came down with a wet thud near several more men and women, who rushed towards it and secured it before any fish still alive could escape.

'Good catch.' said the one who ordered the bowmen, and Ulric suspected was their leader, a gruff looking man who looked like he'd been working at sea all his life. Screeches came from the other side and he turned to four other men surrounding a net. 'Harpies! Get ready!'

Conchim shot forward but Ulric grabbed her. 'Don't!' he whispered.

'I have to help them!' she said as she wrestled him.

He clamped her mouth. 'We'll help them if they're in danger of getting killed. If they get hurt we can heal them later but right now we need to watch what they're doing to find out how we can stop them.' Conchim tensed in frustration but realised he was right. She nodded briskly once and Ulric let her go. 'Trust me, I don't like it either but we need to know.'

Brun muttered an incantation while touching the net and a faint light yellow light spread across it and faded away. He stepped back and the bowmen aimed their crossbows at the sky while several others readied arrows on their bows. Five harpies flew fast and low over the tree tops with ammunition in their talons and hands. He spoke clear and calm. 'Steady, two, one, fire!'

The net shot up at the sky with the bolts but almost faded from sight in an instant. The harpies avoided the bolts but flew into the net and screeched at the shock they received. Stunned, they crashed into the trees below and fell down with he sound of branches breaking under their weight and the dull thuds of their bodies hitting the ground.

Conchim gritted her teeth and clenched the leaves from the bush in front of her. 'I'll make them pay!' she hissed.

'He put a stunning spell on the net.' said Elzbieta while the harpies were pulled from the net and rolled aside.

Brun turned to the group that had divided the fish in smaller bundles in the meantime. 'Done?'

'Yes.' said one of the women and hoisted her bundle on her back.

More screeches came from afar and he looked up at the sky. 'We're leaving!' he said and the men and women wrapped brown and dark green cloaks around them. Ulric held his breath in surprise when each of them vanished into thin air. Brun looked around once, then pulled his own cloak around him and faded from sight.

'They use invisibility cloaks!' said Iphigenia. 'That's how they get away.'

Ulric smelled the air quickly. 'They've left the area, let's help those poor harpies quickly.'

More harpies arrived while Iphigenia used her healing powers to treat the worst of the wounds of the downed harpies, and together they carried and supported them back to the home tree. Ulric made sure to walk carefully with two of them on his back and Trixy in his neck. 'We could attack them the next time, but the problem remains on how we can get all of them before even one of them escapes while invisible.'

'And how to avoid getting stunned.' said Elzbieta.

'Val? Can you see if there's some way to deal with any of this?'

'Already on it with Kaui as soon as you mentioned it.' she said over the link.

He smiled. 'The both of you are great.'

Kaui blushed. 'It's the least we can do to support everyone, Master. We also prepared healing potions for the wounded.'

'Thank you. We'll see you soon.' he said and his heart was filled with pride to have them at his side.

***

'Daddy! barked Susi as she darted happily towards Ulric when they arrived at the tree. 'You're okay!' she said and nuzzled him.

He chuckled. 'I'm pretty sturdy so nothing will happen to me any time soon.' he said. 'No need to worry.'

She looked up at him. 'Promise?'

He smiled and touched her nose with his. 'Promise.' he said. 'But now we need to take care of these hurt harpies.'

She wagged her tail. 'Okay. I collected many plants with Kaui for healing.' she said and followed him to an overhanging branch where the other harpies sat down and Kaui began treating them with the harpies who had experience in healing.

Sawea joined them a little later in their shelter. 'How did it go?'

'They use magic to make the nets and themselves invisible, and stunning magic on the nets to take us down.' said Conchim, her eyes full of anger. 'It'll be difficult to catch them all. We're at such a disadvantage it's unfair.'

'No use talking about fowl play.' chuckled Ulric. 'We have our own tricks up our sleeves. Didn't we see one of you use some sort of wind magic?'

Sawea nodded. 'Some of us can use it, yes. We can create gusts of wind to knock down enemies.'

'But it doesn't work on the nets.' sighed Conchim.

Ulric hummed. 'Not enough surface, yes.' he said and thought of all the times he read about magic. 'Don't you have something like wind blade, or cutting wind, a technique to use your wind magic to cut things?'

'No, I don't even remember any mention of it in our tales.'

Ulric looked at Valdys and she chuckled. 'Yes, I already found a few references in the library.'

He smiled. 'Can you use it to teach them in a day?'

'I think so, if they can grasp the concept quickly enough.'

He turned to Sawea. 'We'll need all the capable ones then.'

'We'll call them together.'

'That should take care of the nets.'

'We might also have a means to deal with the invisibility cloaks, Master.' said Kaui. 'I think we can find the materials around here.'

'Wonderful! We can begin our battle strategy.'

33 - Team Effort

After going through the possible plans of attack and finalising the initial strategy, Iphigenia turned to Conchim after queen Sawea left and the others prepared for a meal and rest. 'Is there a place to freshen up?'

'There's the pond a little further back which we use.' Conchim said as she gestured in the direction.

Iphigenia looked that way for a moment, then back at Conchim again. 'I'd need a place that's more private. There are some circumstances which I'd rather not have anyone see.'

Conchim cocked her head a little but thought she understood why someone wanted to bathe alone. Sometimes a harpy covered ugly scars with a piece of cloth because it made them feel bad and she pointed into another direction. 'There's a smaller pond that way and sheltered for the most part. You can find it if you follow the narrow path.'

Iphigenia gave her a smile. 'Thanks.' she said and returned to the others. 'Girls, I need you to cover for us after we've eaten.' she said over the link and nudged her head towards Ulric, who picked food for Susi. 'I've used up a lot of my healing power.'

Elzbieta looked up flustered from her pack. 'Wait! You plan to do it with darling!? They'll hear us all!'

Iphigenia giggled. 'Although I'd love to, I'll just have to make due with a quick boost.' she said and licked her lips with a grin. 'It's not as much but it'll be something until we're clear enough to charge completely.'

Elzbieta sighed in relief. 'Then you should do it while we eat. Any sound we'll make will be because we're hungry.'

'Good one.' said Iphigenia and stepped over to Ulric and stroked his ear. 'Come with me, Wolfie. I need you to do something for me first.'

He stroked Susi's head while she sat next to her plate and waited for the others to begin their meal. 'Okay?'

She took his paw and led him along a path flanked by thick bushes and ending up at a small and clear pond at the base of a rock, and mostly surrounded by overhanging tall bushes and a patch of grass at one side with patches of small white and yellow flowers. The quiet atmosphere was underpinned by a trickle of water at the rock base and the soft chirps of birds and rustling of leaves on the breeze. 'You wanted to take a bath?' asked Ulric. 'We could do that after we've eaten.'

Iphigenia turned around, and put her arm around his neck and kissed him while stroking him between his legs. 'Right now I need to eat something else, Wolfie.' she breathed. 'My tally is low.'

He chuckled and stroked her back. 'Of course, I hadn't thought of that.' he said and kissed her again. 'I suppose I'll have to restrain myself to avoid embarrassing the others?'

She chuckled and ran her fingers through his neck fur while her hand filled with hot flesh. 'Unfortunately, so you'll have to make up for it later.'

He undid her dress and kissed her in her neck. 'Gladly and with interest.' he growled softly.

Conchim held her breath while her heart beat faster as she gazed down at the couple from the top of the rock. When she spotted Iphigenia taking Ulric with her suspicion and curiosity took hold of her, and she flew up to the other side of the tall rock and hid in a dark crack with a view of the pond. His earlier mention of lovers resurfaced in her memory but the meaning that hadn't sunk in back then became clear now.

She watched the two kiss passionately, Ulric's paws moving along the length of Iphigenia's back and cupping her tight behind while she pulled him close and caressed him slowly with her free hand, until she guided him to a stone at the edge of the water and sat him down with his lower legs into the pond. She sighed when she entered the cool water and submerged herself up to the top of her chest, then moved between his legs and closed her mouth around him.

Ulric twitched as Iphigenia teased his tip with her tongue and bit softly on it. 'Damn, First you get me to surrender by your sword, and now that we're lovers you can still get me to surrender with your mouth.' he growled and chuckled at the same time.

Iphigenia smiled and licked him slowly. 'Your own fault, Wolfie. If you weren't such a great guy and tried your best to save the one who threatened to kill you, you'd not have to put up with me.' she said and licked up and down his length, enjoying his warmth.

He growled low in pleasure. 'I just didn't have any other option. I'd be lost without you.'

She giggled and bit him softly again. 'I'm sure you'd have been fine and found a way to convince others like you did me.'

He chuckled. 'You got me. The only reason I did my best was to get into the pants of that interesting and sexy, although dangerous, woman.'

She giggled as she licked his tip all over and let his taste spread all over her mouth. 'Weren't you lucky that I discovered I have a thing for big, hairy men.'

Ulric growled lustful at her playful sucking. 'Definitely, very definitely.'

Conchim couldn't take her eyes away from the sight and sounds of Iphigenia hungrily humming and licking and sucking on Ulric's hard red flesh, and him growling low in pleasure while he stroked the back of her neck. She remembered the moment when he pinned her down after her attack and his remark and her face turned hot. Things would have been way more than awkward if that thing were pressed against her, but instead of feeling nothing or apprehension, her body responded with a slight itch between her legs at the thought.

"No! Why would I want to!?" she thought and clenched her legs, which actually made it worse. The sounds of Iphigenia splashing in the water and her enjoyment at the taste of Ulric in her mouth along with Ulric's growls and groans echoed softly against the rock and she couldn't shut them out. The curiosity of why that would feel so good filled her mind and more questions about what else they might do and how that would feel popped up. She suppressed a groan of frustration because that outsider was the first to make her think about mating so much when the men of her family never did before. She pressed one hand against her mound to suppress the growing itch but the sensation of her own warm flesh and her fingers against it had the opposite effect. She rubbed slow but hard while Ulric growled out in satisfaction as Iphigenia cupped his tight furry balls and eagerly swallowed his restoring seed.

Conchim's heart skipped a beat in surprise at the voice of Valdys. 'You don't have to clean him completely.' she giggled as she appeared from the entrance to the pond.

Iphigenia grinned and smacked her lips. 'Sorry, I finished it all. You'll have to start from the beginning.'

Valdys entered the pond next to her after letting her skirt drop on the grass, her top next to it, and leaving her black boots. 'I could use a boost myself.' she said and ran her fingers along Ulric's thigh as she stepped into the pond. 'If you don't mind.'

Ulric chuckled. 'The time I'd mind you'd have to kill me because I'd be an imposter. And a very, very stupid one.'

Valdys kissed him deep as she caressed his tip with one finger. 'We should make sure and test for that often.'

Iphigenia giggled and kissed Ulric again. 'I support that suggestion.'

Ulric smiled wide. 'I'm so glad I received the stamina to match the need for my essence ability.'

'As do we, Wolfie.' giggled Iphigenia and stroked Valdys's back. 'Enjoy the meal, for once I'm going to eat after I had my desert.'

Ulric took the top of her arm and let his paw slide down the length as she stepped away until their fingers held on for a moment, and smiled at her. She bit her lip. 'We'd better finish this trouble fast.' she said.

'We will.' he said and watched her dress quickly and wave at him and Valdys before disappearing from view. Valdys pressed herself against his front and wrapped her arms around his neck. 'Even back when all was good in the time I was alive, I never heard of any guy as popular as you are.' she giggled.

'Neither have I.' he chuckled and traced her sides and back. 'This is more than a fantasy world to me.'

She kissed him again and whispered in his mouth. 'I think I feel the same after we met.'

'I'm happy that I was able to do that for you, even though my essence wasn't able to return you to life.' he whispered as he kissed her neck.

She hummed in pleasure at the sensation of his hot lips and breath against her cool skin and the tingles running down her spine. 'But I feel more alive than ever. I'd only regret it if you preferred I was no longer undead.'

He cupped her cheek and smiled softly. 'You are perfect the way you are, whether fully alive or undead.'

She kissed him hard, then pulled back. 'I'm going to have my desert now before I lose myself and have the full course and cause trouble for the other girls.' she breathed and went down on him, sliding his whole and slick length into her mouth and down her tight throat until her lips reached his fur. 'Sorry, girls!' she sent over the link. 'I can't stop myself!'

'We anticipated you might do this again.' said Elzbieta and swallowed. 'Just pull back once in a while.'

Valdys hummed. 'I'll try.' she said and massaged Ulric's tip with her throat.

Conchim stared in surprise at Valdys taking in all of Ulric and couldn't stop thinking of how she did that and what that would feel like. The only way she could do it had to be because Valdys was an undead, but she had never heard of undead engaging in such intimate behaviour in the stories she knew. Was it Valdys or was it Ulric's doing that made her like this was the question she pondered. Without realising she stroked herself harder and slipped her fingers inside while her eyes were once again fixed on the lust displayed below.

Ulric's growling was more urgent this time while Valdys swallowed him deep, and breathed deep when she pulled back and gave his tip her full attention. Conchim held her breath during the time Valdys slid her mouth up to his hilt around him and panted each time she pulled back. Her body felt hot and she pressed her lower abdomen and thighs against her hand while her fingers dug deep inside her and rubbed against the increasing itch spreading through her hips.