Artemis's Capture Ch. 07

Remus was still reeling from the events of the night. He confined himself to his dimly lit room, lying on his back on his wide bed. The room was fairly empty, physical objects did not interest Remus much. Nothing lasted forever, unlike himself.

Coming down from the cursed flower was comfortable but exhausting. He melted into the black sheets and soft furs strewn across the bed. His body was tired, but his mind was wide awake. Lingering feelings of embarrassment and frustration dwelled upon his mind.

Artemis was his. No matter what he was not going to let her get away. He needed her. Things are born, they grow, and they die. A never-ending cycle of life and death. Seas would dry up and mountains would fall, but the only thing that stayed the same was Remus.

But Artemis could. As the world grows and dies around him, Artemis could be next to him forever. For the rest of eternity he would never again be alone.

The next day Artemis was shuffled out of the room and brought outside the castle to the grim remains of the garden. It was barely dawn, but once the sunlight hit her pale face, she became wide awake. Thaddeus and Cosmas dutifully led her to Remus, who was sitting down on a collapsed remains of a marble statue, sharpening a long, thin sword. When she was close enough to him, they pushed her forwards and retreated back to the castle, bickering amongst each other along the way.

Remus dropped what he was doing and looked face to face with her. Even though he was sitting, he was so tall their eyes met perfectly. Remus still looked frustrated. Without knowing himself, he blushed, his cheeks turning a faint red. He pointed his long finger at her and sternly said, "Don't you ever bring up last night, to me or to anyone else. It never happened." He snarled and tore his eyes from her. He was extremely embarrassed, feeling shame he'd never had in centuries. How could he have let that happen?

Remus stood up, shaking the dust from his pants and said, "We can make it by tomorrow evening if we don't stop. I really do not like horses, so suck it up and walk with me." Artemis was fine with that, she would rather walk anyhow, feel the soft earth below on her bare feet. She refused to wear those hideous boots given to her, it was insulting. He handed her a small dagger. If it had been anyone else it would have been a joke, but Artemis could fight with anything. She felt a little more confident, especially now that she had clothing as well, no longer shamefully exposed for the world to see.

They silently made their way through the forest, staying on the bright grassy paths, which were overgrown and unkept, giant roots weaving in and out of the ground. Birds sang their morning songs, wind danced through the leaves of the enormous trees. There was still dew settled on the plants, wetting their legs as they walked through the brush. The sun moved across the sky slowly as they continued their long march silently.

Their venture came to an end just before sunset. They reached a lake that stretched out so far you couldn't see any evidence of land beyond. Remus started to slow down, taking in their surroundings. For the most part it was an empty field, with only scattered boulders and small hills, stretching into the tree infested mountains in the distance. Really the only thing to be heard was the sounds of the water washing onto the shore and quickly retreating back into the lake. It was oddly quiet. No birds or evidence of wildlife. Just the water and the wind.

Remus looked around, squinting his eyes. "Hm. I think we're lost," he said calmly.

Artemis looked at him angrily. "What, how are we lost?" she asked.

"Well I'm not seeing anything, and those one-eyed assholes are big. Very big. We should be able to see them."

Artemis sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. "So what, do we wait or go back?" she asked. Remus huffed, still searching.

"I'm not sure. I guess we can follow the shore and see where it takes us."

Artemis tilted her back in frustration. As she stood up to follow him, they heard a loud noise break the silence. Remus perked up and looked for the origin of the sound. There was a cracking and snapping in the distance, progressively getting louder and closer. "I really hope that's what we're looking for," he said anxiously.

Lo and behold there was the cyclops. It was rather large for a cyclops, though it couldn't have been that old. Their lifespans were very long, but they never really got that smart, no matter how years they lived. It pushed down any trees in its way, crumbling them under its horrendous feet. Remus huffed and started to approach it. Artemis wasn't sure what to do but following him seemed like the best option. She followed Remus up until he told her to stop, a few dozen meters away.

The ugly, deformed creature bent down to talk to Remus, blinking its glistening eyeball protruding out of its ugly face. Unfortunately he had to scream at the top of his lungs for the cyclops to hear anything. Artemis watched this, hearing the loud grunting from the cyclops and the loud shouting from Remus. The strong wind did not help their situation. She couldn't understand what either was saying, so she just kept her eyes on them.

It didn't take very long until Remus was walking back. A few feet before he reached her, he said calmly, "So you should run." Artemis was slightly confused, but when his gradual walking became a full-on sprint she leapt and ran as fast as she could. As Remus caught up, he yanked on her arm and pulled her so she could keep up with him.

"What happened?" she yelled.

"He was talking in riddles!" he shouted back.

"I don't understand!"

"I don't either, I can't solve riddles!"

Loud footsteps boomed behind them as the cyclops lumbered over to them. Good for them that cyclops are typically very slow, the only real thing to fear was their size and their legendary dangerous grip.

Remus practically threw her behind a pile of huge boulders and trees next to the shore of the lake. They crouched in their temporary hiding place, both of them equally as panicked. "What are we going to do?" she asked through her quick breathing.

Remus pulled off his shirt as fast as he could. Artemis looked to him as he started to undress in a panic. "What are you doing?" she screamed.

"Trying to keep my fucking clothes! Go turn into a harpy or something, I don't care, just peck out his liver or his eye, just help!"

Artemis whipped her head around to spot the incoming giant. Below Remus had sprinted into the shallows of the lake. The cyclops turned to see him, and slowly hobbled towards the shore. Artemis was convinced he was completely insane. In fact she had to question his sanity quite often. Stark naked halfway in the water, it did not seem like a reasonable plan.

As she dragged her attention from the cyclops, turning it back on Remus, she saw what looked like his neck swelling. It got larger and larger until something poked out of his mouth. It forced itself out of Remus's throat, ripping his neck and scalp to pieces. Artemis covered her mouth not to scream.

Remus was quickly gone, the only remains was the blood in the water. In his place, growing with intense speed, was what looked like a giant worm. As it got larger it started to form into a sickening lizard-like lump. Its limbs grew bigger and bigger with each passing second. Its head and neck were exceptionally long, and soon more heads started to grow in a cluster on its broad shoulders.

Artemis watched as the cyclops met the water and collided with the newly birthed monster, still growing at an accelerated. The cyclops reached out his flabby arms, grasping one of the stretched necks. It pulled hard enough to rip the serpent's head off with a pop. But where one head used to be, two more appeared in its place.

The cyclops did it again, tearing a head off. And again, two more formed in its place. At first Artemis was sure this would be the end for the one-eyed menace. There were ten heads by now. But the cyclops caught on, and instead of decapitating them he clenched his fat fingers around their necks, crushing them until they fell limp.

The ever-growing creature whipped its long tail, splitting the boulders in front of Artemis. She leapt back, avoiding the tail as best she could. She saw the cyclops break one of the last remaining necks of the monster. Artemis stepped into action, quickly ripping the ties to her clothing and practically tearing them off. She turned herself into a great albatross, leaping out of her flesh pool and soaring into the sky.

The cyclops popped the second to last head, letting it crumble into the murky water. Before it could wrap its fat fingers around the last head Artemis dove to its nasty deformed forehead. She sunk her long beak in his enormous pupil, digging and pecking as hard as she could.

The cyclops let out a booming yell and turned his attention to her. It waved his hand around, trying to hit her, but she was fast. She latched her beak on its eye one more time and tore into it as violently as she could.

Artemis was able to fly away before the cyclops brought his hand to his face, screaming angrily. The serpent took this opportunity and wrapped its long tail around the cyclops's fat ankle, dragging it into the water. Artemis landed on a tree overlooking the lake to observe. The water splashed about aggressively, occasionally a hand would reach up but only to be pulled back down by the serpent.

Slowly the flailing and splashing started to stop until the lake became still again. Artemis glided down from the tree and back to the remains of their hiding place, now clearly visible from the lake. She hurriedly pulled her dress back on, running to the edge of the water while tying the laces.

When she reached the water she stopped, searching, waiting for something to come out. After a while she was convinced that maybe both had died. She plopped down in the grass, anxiously waiting for movement.

As she thought about walking away, the last head of the serpent lethargically rose out of the water. Artemis looked up as it blocked out the sun from her, leaving her swimming in his shadow. Her eyes grew wide as she began to rise up from the grass. With a loud earthshaking thud the neck fell limp to the ground next to her. It looked dead. Artemis crept towards it carefully. As she got close, she realized how truly massive the creature actually was.

Something started moving through the neck, as if there was something trapped inside, trying to escape. A hand popped out of the parted jaws of the creature, but it was still too tight to get through. She heard a muffled voice yelling from inside the mouth.

Artemis, now completely confident the creature was dead, rushed to help pull the jaws apart. With all of her strength she managed to pry it open just enough for Remus to squeeze out. She had never been so relieved.

Remus crawled out of the mouth, pulling himself up on the grass. He was covered in slime and other substances that Artemis didn't want to know of.

Remus gasped for air, trying to wipe the gunk from his face. "That was not fun," he said, pulling himself up. Remus waded back into the water, trying to clean himself of the monster's internal fluids. She realized she had never actually seen him completely naked, and the sight was better than she could have expected. He was sculpted perfectly, she could not see a single imperfection. He was decently handsome, she admitted to herself. Not that it really mattered.

"So did we solve the dragon's problem?" she asked. Remus stepped out of the lake and approached her, shaking the water from his hair.

"Well, either we solved the problem, or we've made it much worse. I guess we'll just have to see. I'll just blame it on you."

Artemis pushed him. "You can't do that," she said defiantly.

Remus took her arms in his sturdy hands, holding them still by her sides. He leaned in so close their foreheads almost bumped. "Oh I can do what I want," he replied wickedly.

Remus playfully picked her up and threw her in the grass off of the shore. She fell on her backside, taken by surprise. Before she could react he pounced on top of her, trapping her against the ground with his strong arms.

"You tried to save me," he said excitedly.

Artemis rolled her eyes and began to say, "Well, um, what-" but Remus cut her off, roughly pressing his lips against hers, biting her lip while wrapping his arms around her. Artemis was taken a back, feeling very awkward and confused. He'd never done that before.

Remus broke the kiss from her mouth and started to trail down to her neck, nipping and kissing down her body. He bit her roughly, but not enough to break the skin. She tried to ease into what was happening but was still a bit bewildered.

He brought his fingers to the front of her dress and started to untie the laces, pulling the front of the dress down her breasts. Artemis brought her hands to his chest, pushing him away nervously, but he held himself close, moving his biting and kissing to her nipples. Artemis winced, embarrassed by her sudden arousal.

He lifted his lips to say, "My little warrior." Artemis blushed. But that could never be the case for her, how could he not understand that by now.

Remus scooted down, parting her legs and beginning to kiss and nibble down her thigh. As he moved closer and closer to her dampening pussy, she started to panic.

"Wait, not there!" she said, pulling away slightly. But Remus sunk his nails into her thighs and pulled her closer to him. Seeing her naked was one thing but having his face so close to that intimate area was too much. Her legs instinctively tried to close, but Remus's grip was too strong. He easily spread them apart until his lips made its way between her legs.

Artemis winced as he licked her pussy, causing her to spasm. This was new territory she was too frightened to explore. He squeezed her thighs with his hands, keeping them open. He teased her with his tongue, making little circles and darting his tongue inside of her.

Artemis gasped and reached out, grabbing his hair with her hands. Remus pulled back, removing her hands away from his head. "Not the hair," he scolded. Artemis gasped again as he came down and continued teasing her, getting her progressively wetter with each lick.

Artemis twisted and squirmed, moaning and blushing while feeling the rush through her body. Remus didn't hold back, he toyed with her until he was convinced that she couldn't take anymore. When he was satisfied with her reactions, he gently slipped a finger inside of her, keeping his tongue playfully exploring between her legs.

"Stop, please," she groaned, rolling her head to the side. She felt like she was going to explode, his teasing only made her aching more painful, almost excruciating. But Remus didn't stop, every whimper just made him more excited. He started to pump his finger inside of her, causing that feeling to progressively get stronger and stronger.

It didn't take more than a few thrusts for her to completely lose herself. Her head fell and her back arched towards him. Her body tightened around his finger still thrusting inside her. She pulled at his hair with her hands, keeping his face close to her as she came, letting out a small scream.

Remus didn't stop licking her until she collapsed completely, limp on the ground. He yanked her hands away from his hair and grunted. "I said not the hair." Artemis sighed and dropped her head back to the grass.

Artemis and Remus laid down in the grass, facing the stars. There were so many they lit up the sky. They laid there silently, trying to recover from their eventful evening. Artemis sighed, her first night back under the sky. "What was that thing?" she asked Remus curiously.

"That's Georgie," he said, patting his stomach.

"So it's dead now?"

"No he's right here," he said patting his stomach again.

"I don't understand, what is that thing on the shore then?"

"Well, that was Georgie. But now he's back here."

Artemis scrunched her face in slight disgust. "He's...in your stomach?"

"I mean, well, he's somewhere in there. As long as I feed him everything is ok, but if I don't then he'll come out on his own and make a big mess of things. He can really be a good friend to have, especially in situations like this," he said while pointing to the fingers of the cyclops that were exposed from the water, the waves rushing around them.

Artemis stewed on that information. "So he is your curse? Is that why you eat people?" Remus lifted an eyebrow. She was becoming quite bold with her questions.

"Hm. Well, I more like invited him in. I was extremely young and didn't have much going for me. But yes, it is why I eat people. Quite frankly I have never truly been a fan of eating meat, and I can go very long without food, but Georgie gets what he wants. It's not always humans you know. And even if it was just humans, I'm a god so it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't be the only one by far."

"What abou-" Artemis started to say, but Remus cut her off.

"No. No more questions," he said, pointing at her. "And no more questions about Georgie. His old shell is over there, you have questions go figure them out yourself."

Artemis huffed and fell back to the grass. "Fine," she replied stubbornly.