Evergreen Forest Ch. 07

Cicuta's eyes slowly opened, beholding the verdant clearing just off the Evergreen's center. The naked nymph of the Evergreen blinked. "Aw, shit."

She tried to get to her feet, but a dart in her neck had other ideas. She shuddered, becoming aware of a pounding headache. Venom of a daddy long-legs. The one way to really take a nymph down.

The venom was also extraordinarily hard to come by. Whoever had come by and freed her prisoner had to have been a ranger. "Oh, goddesses..." she muttered, "I hate rangers...hatehatehatehate—"

The prisoner. Eyes widening, Cicuta looked around. Her long green tresses swung right, then left.

Alrek—or "Snatch", as the thief liked to be called—had escaped.

Cicuta pouted. It had taken her two weeks to break him, and more toxins than she knew the names of. Literally. She giggled. I really better start writing those down. Not safe to use poisons like succubi's folly without knowing the antidote.

The green-haired temptress again tried to stand up, to no avail. That venom had really done a number on her.

"Lisura!" she called. "Esca!" Her nymph relatives might have been brainwashed sluts, but she was the one who'd brainwashed them. Trapped in the fey vines or not, surely an order from their mistress would be impossible to ignore.

She heard Esca giggle. "Cicuta?"

"Esca, darling!" Cicuta smirked. Esca was easy to control. Great tongue, bouncy breasts, bouncy brain. "Be a dear and get over here."

"Ooh! Oooh...uh, yeah, Cicky. In a, uh, moment."

Cicuta's eyes narrowed. "Did you just call me—" She stopped, forcing her tone back down. Esca and Lisura didn't know they were brainwashed. It was best not to remind them.

That went double in Esca's current state, too—in hypnotic trance, and being double-penetrated by vines, she needed to be addressed at her own level. Cicuta made her tone bubbly and sweet, even putting on a little rhotacistic lisp. "Esca, my wuv, I need your help weal bad. Some nasty spider's settled down and pwicked my poor wittle finger...and I can't fuckin' move."

There was a pause. "Wait, really? I thought we had a treaty with Llithy and Writhy."

Cicuta snorted, but kept the tone. "Those cuties know their place—it's not a literal spider, Esca. Look, I'm awfully stuck an' all."

"Uh...really?"

The slight increase in arousal in Esca's tone was not lost on Cicuta. Rolling her eyes, she let her voice turn silky. "Why, yes, dearest. I'm utterly helpless."

"Ooh..." Esca's voice was coming out as a gasp, as the two vines were no doubt surging back inside her. "...really?"

"Oh, yes."

"Hee! Okay, I'll just—ooh. Oh, Cicky, this is ama-a-a-azin'. It's...oh, goddess..."

"Esca." Cicuta scowled. "Forget those mean old plants and help your darling Cicky out. My tongue's ten times as good as any vine."

"No...not vines..." Esca's voice was taking on a dreamy quality. "...vines gone, cicky...vines alllll gone."

"You're not making sense, Esca." Cicuta was losing patience fast. She knew her cousin was a ditz, but that slutty body was hiding a pretty canny mind. Cicuta was clearly being toyed with. "Pull a vine out of your rear before you answer again. Ass or pussy, I don't care. Both at once are clearly too much for you to handle."

"oh, cicky...cicky, they all gone now..." Esca's voice turned high-pitched. "its all gone..."

Cicuta's heart stopped. "Oh. Oh no. Not them. No, no, fuck no..."

"ooh...so nice."

"Don't!" Cicuta shouted. "Esca, you brainless whore, resist it! We're nymphs, not mortal fucktoys!"

But it was no use. Cicuta had hypnotized her pet again and again, layering trigger upon trigger upon trigger, wearing away Esca's innate immunities, and Esca was no match for what she now faced.

And, she thought, blood chilling, neither was Cicuta. The programming had severely taxed her own willpower. She felt her pussy grow moist at just the thought of her helpless state.

"cicky, it's so, oh, yes so nice oh gods oh yes cicky i need it cickeeEEEEEE!" These would be Esca's final words before they completely devolved into squeaky moans.

Cicuta started to crawl. "No. No, please no. We have a deal." Voice raising, she repeated, "We have a deal, you gray bitches!"

She had to move faster. Faster! "You can't take me," she whispered. "I'm better! I'm better than that!" Hot tears were streaming down her cheeks now. "We had a deal!"

A giggle sounded in her ear, and the sound made Cicuta's eyes roll back into her head with pleasure. "Deal's gone now."

The Gray Wraiths were on the hunt.

~~~~

Deep within the Evergreen, three human travelers looked around as a soft feminine laugh echoed through the ancient woods.

"Well, they found the nymphs." Yil bit her lip. "All bets are off."

"Sure you can keep up?" Snatch asked. He eyed the ranger—Yil happened to be missing two extremities that were somewhat relevant to the current crisis.

Yil glared. The redheaded ranger swung one of her crutches. On the other end, an immense gnarled talon grasped the log she was moving over. "My crutches are longer than your oh-so-shapely legs, 'Snatch.' I'll manage. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on Anna instead."

Snatch glanced back, reluctantly remembering the third member of their party. Anna had been a slave to the nymphs quite a bit longer than he had, and while constant 'exercise' had kept her fit, she obviously hadn't run in while a while. Also, there was the fact that she was naked and traumatized.

Groaning, Snatch slowed down a tad so Anna could catch up. The attractive blond ran alongside him, dead silent.

This was unbelievably awkward. Under the effects of the fey vines' slime, Anna had hypnotized a drugged Snatch, raped him repeatedly, and, worst of all, utterly embarrassed him. Also, Snatch had repeatedly tried to doom her to serving eternally as the nymphs' living sex toy to save his own ass.

Despite himself, he felt his cock harden a little looking at her. He quickly looked away. "Running alright?"

Anna nodded.

"Not gonna fall down?"

Anna shook her head.

"Good. That's good."

They kept running.

Snatch grimaced—this was no good. He'd come to the Evergreen to escape from his old 'friends'. Since then, he'd made three very demanding 'friends' with funny senses of humor. After being subjected to their 'friendship' for who-knew-how-long, he'd had to be rescued. By more people who were probably going to try to 'befriend him' soon.

Or, worse yet, literally befriend him, without the sarcastic quotes.

Snatch hated friendship. The last true friend he'd had had fared quite poorly indeed.

~~~~

Anna swallowed.

She hugged her chest, but it was nearly impossible to hide her large breasts while running. They kept...bouncing...

Esca in particular had loved to suckle on her breasts, Anna recalled. She shuddered, remembering the feeling of Esca's luscious lips on her sensitive skin, her eager smile—

No! The nineteen-year old's spirit quailed from the lusty urges. That wasn't her. She was free.

Or was she? She'd eaten out the nymphs many, many times. Nymph juices never really left a person. Perhaps she would return to the city only to quickly seek employment at a common whorehouse.

Hot tears stung her eyes, making it hard to see where she was running. Instinctively, she moved a bit closer to Alrek. Strangely, the knowledge that he was almost as miserable about the whole experience as she was was a bit comforting.

Though it did rankle. He'd been a captive for fifteen nights. She'd been a captive for fifteen months. What right had he to act a martyr?

"Hold up!" Her head bolted up. She realized too late that Yilra had stopped running. The ranger glanced back, and her eyes widened. "Anna, I said hold u—"

Before she could come to a complete stop, Anna barreled into the legless ranger.

They went tumbling over the edge of a steep sandy slope. Anna cried out, screwing her eyes shut.

She heard Yilra swearing, and gasped as she felt herself smack into a small tree. Reflexively, she lunged out and wrapped her fingers around the small, pitch-covered trunk. Her descent came to a sudden, violent halt, and she yelped again.

The arm she'd used to grab hold felt like it had been ripped off her shoulder. Worse, for some reason her ankle was suddenly in a great deal of pain.

After a moment, Anna opened her eyes and looked around.

They had fallen into some strange sort of cone shaped pit. Aside from the tree she had grabbed, the pit was completely uniform. She ran her free hand through the sand vacantly. It was smooth—almost not wholly there. Lightning sand mixed with common silt. Solid, but not remotely possible to climb in.

"Oh, dragonshit." She looked up. Snatch was leaning over the edge about fifteen feet above, carefully gripping a nearby branch for support. "That's a spot. It's a spritelion."

"A sprite?" Anna looked down, realizing that one of Yilra's taloncrutches had wrapped itself painfully around her ankle. Yilra was hanging from the crutch, a few meters from the conical pit's center. The ranger looked pissed. "Sprites don't have the brains to work with lightning sand. Dumb as ducks, that lot."

Snatch grimaced. "Trust me, I know. But I didn't say sprite. I said spritelion. Laziest bitches in the Lands, but canny as anything. I'm surprised one had the brass to try and hold a trap here."

"A-and..." Anna realized she was trembling slightly. She forced herself to stop. "What do they do to th-those they trap?"

"Well..." Snatch stepped away from the edge, looking around. "Ever heard of an antlion? Sorta an ugly termite-looking thing. They dig pits and let ants and the sort fall in, then eat them whole."

"So...a spritelion..."

"They drug the sprites, fuck them, eat them."

"And humans?" Anna was amazed to hear Yil still speaking calmly, as if not the least bit worried.

Snatch screwed up his face. "Spritelions like to trade with other fey for most of their possessions. Like I said, lazy bitches."

"And we're high-quality merchandise."

"One of you is." Snatch tactlessly eyed Yilra's two stumps.

The ranger's glare intensified. "I'm sure Anna will fetch a fine price, being all pre-trained and pre-unwrapped, but this is gonna suck for both of us. Get us out."

Snatch raised an eyebrow. The weathered thief unstrapped his scythe from his back. "Well, lucky for you both, I still need a ranger to get me out of this forest. The lioness will take a while to wake, and she won't want to have to climb up. She'll use little tricks to bring you down—just keep track of your antidotes and you'll be fine, Yil."

He started to walk away. Anna's eyes widened. "Wait!" she cried. "Where are you doing?"

"Lost my rope a while back, Mistre—Anna." Snatch sounded flustered for a moment. Anna blushed, remembering. "We're...gonna need a way to get you two out risk-free. If you fall into the center, that's my swan plucked." He started walking again.

"How do you know so much about fey, anyways?" Yilra called after him.

Anna barely made out his next muttered words. "Let's just say I had a friend who kept me educated."

He vanished into the dark woods.

"Hm." Anna glanced down. Yil looked skeptical. "What do you suppose that means?"

"What?"

"A 'friend'. I think I've heard of this 'Snatch'." Yil seemed to consider it. "Last I heard, he was on a mission to investigate some ghoul problems. Surprised he's back so soon."

"Ghouls?"

"Aye. He and a druid was—" Yil froze. "Anna, hear that?"

Anna swallowed. She not only heard the rustling, she saw its source.

The spritelion had awoken.

Alrek, she thought, biting her lip, please hurry.

~~~~

Snatch rushed through the Evergreen. He had to hurry—the Gray Wraiths were still likely hunting for fresh prey. He needed to get the ranger out of the pit and run for the cabin.

Vine... He looked around, scowling. Vine...damn it, where's a vine?

"You need rope?"

He spun around, swearing under his breath.

Three beautiful young women had somehow sneaked up on him. They were most definitely not human, with long bright crimson hair, pale skin, almond-shaped black eyes, and tiny little horns on their heads. Like unicorns, except definitely not. They all wore long black skirts and revealing white blouses.

He turned back as three more emerged from where he'd been headed. He was surrounded.

"Fuck."

"You need fuck?" another woman piped up. They tittered amongst each other.

"We give fuck," another murmured, reaching over to stroke the breasts of the one next to her.

"We like fuck," the target of these affections murmured back, leaning in to fully appreciate them.

He searched his memories. These were so, so familiar.

"We fuck good," another said, giggling. "You enjoy, yes, yes, you will."

The horns! Of course! "You're lust sprites," he muttered. "Oh, fuck m..." He trailed off. The last thing these despicable creatures needed was permission.

Larya had run into these once, though he hadn't arrived until they were gone. She had been a wreck. Lust sprites were hiveminded fey born and mutated from demonic influence. As if sprites weren't horny enough already. They specialized in sex and pleasure, simple and sweet, and were constantly wandering in search of new prey—judging by their accents and appearance, it appeared these had come from the Wild East.

If these were what the spritelion was hunting, that didn't bode well for what the spritelion itself would be like. Lust sprites weren't prey. They tended to occupy the top of the "food" chain, fey-wise.

Snatch gritted his teeth. These creatures were technically harmless in small numbers—if you could resist the urge to stay with them forever. They were good at feeding and watering their captives, but the constant pleasure would inevitably wear away a host's sanity. Especially in great numbers. The more the sprites, the harder to fight, and the quicker the mind would erode.

Recalling a certain incident with a demented succubus, he swore in the vilest speech he could muster.

"Oh..." A sprite put a finger to her bee-stung lips in an expression of concern. "No be sad."

"We have rope," said another from right behind him. He turned, realizing they were closing in. She held up a coil of rope, giving the dirtiest look imaginable.

He was fine, technically. Lust sprites were bound by more laws than their more earthly kin. They would need permission to initiate anything.

He looked around. Killing them was known to be dreadfully bad luck, but they'd already offered the rope as an obvious trade. If he took it peacefully, that would be permission.

The sprite with the rope started slipping one end in and out of her vagina, as casual as if she was twiddling her thumbs.

He could steal it, perhaps. Knock her unconscious. But he'd have to trick her, because they would expect such a ploy. Strangulation, perhaps...no, they would see that as an embrace. Permission.

He could just flee. But how? That was how the lust sprites had caught Larya. If he tried to dive between the shrinking circle, they would catch him and treat that as permission.

And if they got permission, he was doomed. They would quiet him first, so he couldn't withdraw permission. They would start pounding him with lust waves, so he wouldn't want to. Strong will or not, against six of these things, it would just be too much.

"I'm screwed," he muttered.

As one, the lust sprites grinned.

Oops.

~~~~

[Goblin's Note:] That counts!

I know there's no actual sex in this chapter. I've cheated you! I've cheated all of you, and you didn't even know! :D

But 4srsbsns now, don't worry! I'm out of school, and Chapter Eight's right on the way. SO glad I finally got some girl protagonists in the main story, incidentally—All my wuvs to Alrek, but he just lacks a certain somethings that would make him easier for me to identify with, eh? EH? ;)

Oh, also, I not racist. Lust sprites are universally "dumb as ducks", eastern or no, and these ones just don't speak very well because they're new in the area. :)

Coming Next Chapter: Anna and Yil meet the spritelion, you all learn more interesting sciences about insect larvae, and Snatch/Alrek teaches the kids at home a valuable lesson about how gangbanging is wrong even when it's done girls-on-guy. Or he just runs away.