Cherry Red

"Get your fucking hands off me!"

The dryads giggled. It was a bit hard to intimidate someone who'd gotten the drop on you, anyways.

Truth be told, Mio would not have normally been caught like this, but she had been concentrating quite hard and was taken completely by surprise. She was out of her element, this deep in the Ever Forest. Where the branches tangled overhead and the light shone dimly through the leaves, few could fly. She was meant to be soaring through the clouds. It was a mistake to accept this job, the mercenary thought to herself. Harpies were not meant to scramble through the underbrush.

She flinched. The dryads were doing a pretty good job of holding her down, and one of them was beginning to stroke a hand through her lustrous pink feathers.

"So." This looked like the leader of the group, a tall dryad with blossoms in her hair and lips so cherry-red. "What, exactly, is a harpy girl doing in our neck of the woods?"

One of the other dryads giggled at the joke. Mio just glared.

"You'd be of the carakarr variety – no, tsumi, unless I miss my mark." The dryad looked her up and down. "From the nesting sites on the north-eastern face of the mountains. I've seen your kind. Coming down to the cities, looking for a mate, or something less permanent. And now you've taken up such very interesting blades." Mio had dropped her twin swords in the struggle. The dryad bent down to pick one up.

"Excellent craftsmanship," the dryad mused. "Not the usual harpy fare. Well-suited for cutting."

A shadow seemed to pass over the wood spirit's face.

"There's no goblins in this stretch of the forest." She waved the sword expansively. "No elves, for that matter, nor humans. Hardly anyone lives around here. None but me and my sisters." The dryad stepped close. "So why, little bird, have you come into my home?"

Mio wanted to spit in her face. Nobody talked to her like that. Then again, there was no way that she could grab her blades and wreak bloody vengeance. Not with a second dryad's hand joining the first, ruffling through her feathers.

"I'm not here for you," she growled.

"Then who," the dryad asked, voice sweet like honeyed venom, "are you here for? Especially," she paused for effect, "with such terribly sharp blades as these."

Mio took a second to catch her breath. Having someone intimidate her with her own weapons was one thing, but those hands which roamed her body were now getting seriously distracting. "From the city," she managed, tossing her head towards the barely-visible trail. "Just before sunset. There's a messenger who's supposed to be coming this way. Don't know who they work for. Don't know where they're going. All I've been told," she gasped as a hand trailed from her feathered wings over her bare shoulder, "is that they're carrying a queen's ransom in newly-minted coins. That's why I'm here."

The dryad thought it over. "Plausible enough," she admitted. "And something we can test. Amarelle," she called to one of the other wood spirits, "go up the road a little in that direction. Keep an eye out. We could use a bit of gold."

Mio squirmed, trying to get a look at the wordlessly departing dryad. She caught a brief glimpse of a loping figure of towering height. That wasn't the only reason why she was wriggling around, though. One of the dryads that had been groping her was now running slender fingers along her neck and ears.

"Thank you for that, little bird." The dryad set Mio's weapons down and stepped close. "If you're telling the truth, we'll handle your task for you. We're very good at forest ambushes, after all."

After all, they'd managed to catch her. A slightly cloying scent was in the air, Mio thought, wafting from the blossoms that seemed to drape around the dryad's body. From her hair, from the acres of bare skin which Mio was very scrupulously avoiding with her eyes. The closer the dryad drew to her, the more difficult it became to look away.

"But that will take awhile." The dryad tilted her head, thinking. "Just before sunset, you said? Then we have several hours yet."

Mio swallowed. The shade of the ancient trees didn't prevent her from feeling a rush of warmth at those words.

"You see," the dryad said, "we don't get many visitors. Except an elf, now and then. We've had some good times with those, right girls?"

The fondness of dryads for wood elves was something of a legend, and the subject of at least one drinking song. Many a fair elf maiden had given herself over to them, and been disowned by her village for the transgression.

"They're so much fun," the dryad whispered, her breath drifting across Mio's cheek. "We take such good care of them. None of them ever complain about it." She giggled. "Quite the opposite, really."

Mio took a deep breath, trying not to think about the sweet dryad-scent that she was breathing in or all of the innocent elf girls who had done the same. "I'm n-not some elf slut!"

"No. You're better." Hands roaming across her torso, tugging at her robes, sliding them off her body. "Elves aren't nearly as cute as you are."

Before Mio could blush at that, the dryad paused. "Oh, and I suppose there's the matter of negotiations."

Her head was spinning. "Negotiations?"

"Of course. The gold that we're going to be taking from that messenger. You're going to be a bit busy to do it yourself, I think." One of the other dryads snickered. "Luckily, our friend Amarelle's off to do it for you. So, my dear bird, what do you think is a fair split of the proceeds?" She smiled, those cherry-red lips quirking with amusement.

"Seventy-thirty," Mio gasped. "In my favor." Her skin felt cool in the shade of the forest, dryad fingers teasing the harpy girl.

"I don't think so." The dryad reached down to brush a strand of hair away from Mio's face. It was a gentle touch, with unspoken power behind it. "We're taking a chance on you, remember. We'll be doing most of the work. And you did come into our forest without so much as introducing yourself. Sixty-forty, towards us."

She was lying in a grassy meadow, surrounded by some of the most beautiful creatures that she had ever met. It didn't matter so much that someone was holding her wings now. She didn't have to fly away just yet. There was time. Yes, Mio thought as she breathed in the flowery scent, I can spend a little while like this.

But pride didn't let her give in.

"Fifty-fifty." She was trying not to moan like a whore, but as a particularly bold dryad began to lick and nibble their way up her inner thighs, that was getting difficult. "Th-that's final."

The leading dryad smiled down at her.

"I suppose that's acceptable, little bird." She patted Mio on the cheek. "Thank you for being so cooperative."

And they descended upon her.

––-

It was a convenient thing, being the only dryad without much of a sex drive. It left her time to develop other skills, Amarelle thought. For example, it was her magic which had let them catch the harpy girl, and which had just allowed her to seize a truly staggering amount of gold with very little effort. The imperial courier who had come along the path was now fleeing back the way she came, chased by a variety of exceptionally amorous wildlife.

That was actually kinda funny.

Now that she'd gotten back to the others, though, she kinda wished her sisters wouldn't be so distracted by sensual temptation.

"Seriously, girls," Amarelle called, "can one of you come over here and help me sort this?"

The cute harpy that they'd caught was still very much the center of attention, her captors not tiring of her just yet. Splattered with stickiness, nectar-drunk and loving it, the harpy shuddered and quivered and begged incoherently under the relentless torment of the cherry dryads.

"Really, this is fun to watch, but there's work to be done."

She'd expected her sisters to be taking turns riding the girl's face. Maybe they'd tired of that, but were insistent on keeping her occupied out of sheer wickedness. Two dryads held Mio by the ankles, careful to avoid her sharp claws while they held her legs apart.

"Nghaaghh!" They certainly weren't giving her a rest. "Unghhgh!"

Amarelle sighed. "Stella," she said, "quit licking her and get your ass over here. We still need to divide today's haul."

Pouting, her most unruly sister finally disengaged and came over to her. "Fine, 'relle. You missed out on an excellent afternoon."

"Not really my thing, sis." She tossed her a small sack. "Fill this up to what our new friend deserves. Maybe a bit extra. Be generous."

It's not like they needed the gold, Amarelle thought. A little bit came in handy; they had cause to interact with the outside world now and then. It made her feel a bit less guilty, too, about seducing the local wood elves. Just a little gift, here and there, for the prettiest ones.

"Oh, she more than deserves it," Stella gushed, "she was incredible. Sometimes I kinda wish you were more like us, 'relle."

Amarelle patted her sister on the shoulder. "I have my own life, Stel. Don't worry about my ass." She waved to the panting harpy on the ground. "Best be getting her up, now. Let go of her, girls."

They helped the harpy girl, still weak-kneed, to her feet. Mio didn't say a word as she accepted her share of the coins and, in the nearest forest clearing, took to the air with powerful strokes of her wings. If her clothes and equipment were stained with the day's exertion, it was hardly visible from the ground.

"You think she'll think twice about coming this deep in the forest?" One of the other dryads snickered as they watched her fly off. She certainly came countless times at their hands.

Amarelle shook her head.

"Mark my words," she said, "you saw her? Feathers like that, she's pretty much got the cherry-blossom look down already. No, we've had other guests before, but that one," Amarelle predicted, "will be back. Just you wait and see."

She was right.