Evergreen Forest Ch. 19

But Yilra had always been told that hags were hideous old crones. And while the . . . creature below her was probably many things, the first that came to Yilra's mind was simply, "woman".

Young woman. Nubile. Perky-breasted. Slim stomach. The umbra hag smiled up at her. Her flesh was pitch black, barely reflecting the torchlight. It looked more like mist than skin up close. It definitely felt solid, though. Yilra uncomfortably moved one of her hands off the hag's breast and onto her shoulder, still trying to hold her down.

"Hello," the hag said, still smiling. Her large eyes were a solid greenish-blue. The ocean was in those eyes. Yilra sensed that if she looked too long at those eyes, she would fall in and drown. She looked at the hag's mouth, instead. Something strange was happening there. When the hag had spoken, shadows had trickled out between her pretty lips.

The umbra hag's mouth opened. More shadows poured out, rising up into the air. Yilra heard Nipper ask something, but all was drowned out as the shadows started to scream in Yilra's ears. Or . . . breathe. It was a horrible, grinding sound, whatever it was.

"We haven't been introduced. Call me Coucang." The shadows started to fly around them. They bore shapes Yilra vaguely recognized—loping, demonic shapes, climbing in the air, caging Yilra in. Yilra's heart began to beat quicker. Coucang's flesh felt soft all of a sudden. Porous. Insubstantial.

"You really," the hag said, her form dissolving into shadow around Yilra, "shouldn't interrupt an umbra hag when she's working.

The shadows tore at Yilra and knocked her on her back.

~~~~

"Anna!" Nipper cried, running towards the prone woman. Snatch hung back, wasting crucial seconds trying to remember. What had that damned druidess said? Umbra hags could form 'second shadows' to awaken the darkness within someone. But she hadn't finished. Yilra had interrupted her.

Hadn't Larya said that there was a danger in interrupting?

"What's wrong with her hand?" he heard Nipper cry.

Fuck. It's a tick! His scythe was already drawn as he ran towards where Yilra was holding down the hag. We rip out the body, but—

Yilra went flying backwards, further down the passageway—away from all of them, and out of the reach of Nipper's damned torch. Snatch saw strange shadowy things clinging to her body as she went.

Snarling, he swung the scythe down where the hag had been. It clanged ineffectually against the stone. The shadows slithered around him and re-coalesced into humanoid form. He whirled to face her. "Nipper! Need some help here!"

"Her hand, Snatch!" Nipper's voice broke on the word.

The umbra hag smiled at him. She made a show of adjusting the long waves of darkness that passed for hair. "You people really have no sense of timing, do you? Come on . . . " She made a show of pouting. " . . . Alkers."

His breath caught. That wasn't possible. It wasn't—"Fuck you!"

He sliced his scythe forward with a killer's experience. The hag's left hand curled and elongated, becoming hooked and sharp. She parried his attack, sending his scythe screeching to the side, and darted forward.

The gesture looked gentle. Elegant, even. But the sensations that went through Snatch as she cut through his leather armor like crackly dead leaves and sliced open his gut were anything but.

He staggered and fell backwards, swinging his scythe wildly to fend her off. She calmly knocked his weapon away again, making a show of yawning with her free hand. She raised the shadow scythe above her head as he lay there, mere feet away from Anna. "I really have no patience for you, my dear. Your story ended a lot time ago."

"Well, here's the sequel, asshole!" The hag looked over and gave a clipped shout, turning too late to deflect Nipper's diving attack. The catgirl dove forward and slashed along the hag's side with her sharp claws. She ducked under the scythe as the hag tried to retaliate, then, with a hiss, swung her torch upward.

Bits of shadowstuff peeled off from the claw, like she was running her fingers through a bar of soft soap. But the torch seared through the scythe like it wasn't even there. It severed the arm at the elbow.

The hag screamed in pain. Snatch rolled away, clutching his bleeding stomach with one hand, and dropped his scythe. The metallic clang echoed in the cavern, alongside her scream.

His thoughts were somehow both sluggish and tripping over one another. Scythe's too heavy. The knife. Gotta fight. Knife works. Can't use the scythe. He drew his dagger and ran up to flank the hag, breathing heavily. They had to end this. Fast. Everyone always said, if you had to fight a mage, you needed it over before it started. They were already behind schedule.

"Fools!" the fey hissed. "I'm not interested in you! Don't make me cut you to ribbons, because I will!"

"M-moral c-c-compunctions, 'Coucang'?" Yilra asked. Snatch glanced over. The legless ranger was leaning against the wall, a small crossbow in one hand. Her eyes were strangely dark, but at least she was alive and fighting.

Nictice looked over as well. She flashed a grin. There was nothing but shadow behind those dark lips. "Well, it's ever-so-messy, Yil. You don't look so good!"

"Neither do you," Nipper said, gesturing to the arm. The catgirl grinned.

"This?" Coucang glanced at the arm stub, blinking slowly. "Oh, Catnip, darling. A blade can only kill you."

The torch went out.

"I'll show you just what I can do."

~~~~

"Fuck!" Yilra squinted her eyes, but the level of darkness in here was incredible. It was like void.

She didn't dare fire. She heard Nipper cry out, and her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Steel ground against stone. A grunt of pain. Snatch was just swearing repeatedly.

It was only when he stopped swearing that she started to worry.

And then all was quiet.

Yilra waited.

Everything was dark. Everything was silent. She suddenly realized that everything was . . . nothing. She couldn't smell her own sweat. Couldn't feel the cold stone, or that strange heaviness behind her eyes that had come from those shadows.

She couldn't see. Couldn't hear. If she'd had any food, Yilra had no doubt she wouldn't be able to taste it.

Illusion magic, she thought, panicking. Illusions. Or . . . I'm dead. Maybe she just killed me. Am I dead?" "Hello?" she tried to say, but no sound came out. She didn't even feel her lips move.

I'm dead. Oh, fuck. I . . . I don't want to—

Yilra awoke.

The Toxin Ranger found herself lying against warm, white sand. Birds tweeted up above in a canopy of green. It was gloomy, but not pitch-black. She was in the Evergreen.

She heard giggling nearby. Familiar giggling. She swallowed, tasting something like milk in her mouth as she did so. She looked over.

A gorgeous human woman with platinum-blond hair, large, cushion-like breasts, and an impossibly sleek figure lay immersed up to her waist in the sand. She was nursing a naked woman with long, toned legs, shoulder-length red hair, and eyes filled with devotion. The blonde's eyes, on the other hand, were filled with every color of the rainbow.

Yilra stared at her enraptured self, enraptured. It didn't even occur to her to wonder why her other self had legs, or why she was here at all. She couldn't stop staring at that lusty look in her eyes. Suckling at a woman's breast. Everything the rangers had taught her was that this was wrong, sinful, even. But it looked so sexy. How could she resist that joyous sparkle in her eyes?

Her world shifted, just a little. She didn't notice. She was too busy sucking on the spritelion's wonderful teat. Part of her mind wondered at the change, but the feeling of the nipple in her mouth was too good to give up now that she had it. She moaned, lapping an suckling at the breast and tasting the rich, creamy milk of the fey woman.

"Good slut," the spritelion whispered, stroking her hair. "You're so good at this. Never stop doing this. You're my little lesbian whore, aren't you?"

Feeling the spritelion's fingers enter her pussy, feeling the spritelion's body trembling from her own ministrations, Yilra couldn't imagine disagreeing.

~~~~

Nipper instantly knew what was going on. Umbra hags were shadowmancers; illusionists. Some phantasms were on their way to try to break her or trap her in a loop. So she did what one was supposed to when confronted with an illusionist: She shut off her eyes, shut off her sense of touch, and sat down on the ground.

Directing full, convincing illusions took a lot of mental effort, Nipper knew, and the hag was using a lot of energy if she was hitting all of them at once. Well, she hadn't bargained on dealing with a catgirl. Nipper could redirect her senses at the blink of an eye. She grinned, blinking her blind eyes for emphasis. As long as the others were smart about this, the hag would be burnt out in seconds. Whatever was coming, Nipper could weather it.

"Oh, Catnip." She heard the sound of her hair being ruffled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Avng erfern." Nipper winced. It was hard to talk when she couldn't feel her mouth.

"Are you, really?" Coucang laughed. "Saving your friend? Oh, Catnip. Don't delude yourself. You think you're a hero? You're just as bad as I am."

Nipper didn't say anything.

"You think Anna will appreciate what you do here?" Coucang snapped. "It won't make up for what you did, Nipper. Nothing will. You left her to the nymphs for years. You masturbated to her, you filthy Low Fey, when you should have been helping her. You call yourself a hero?"

Nipper remembered to swallow. "No," she whispered.

"What was that? I didn't hear you, Nipper. Do you remember your first meeting? She doesn't."

The hag couldn't concentrate on whatever she was doing for much longer. Nipper shut off her hearing and put the excess into a heightened sense of smell. She couldn't take this. She licked her lips and tasted salt on her cheeks. She couldn't feel the tears, but she knew they were there.

As the seconds ticked by, a smell started to enter her nostrils. An extremely strong, enticing smell.

Nipper's eyes widened. No. She couldn't know. She couldn't.

It was the smell of an exotic perfume. The smell of Esca, and Cicuta, and Lisura. And as she registered this, she suddenly tasted something else on her lips. The sweet taste of Esca.

She barely kept herself from turning on her vision and hearing to confirm, but she knew full well where this was. Where Coucang put me, she reminded herself. It's an illusion.

But she knew what came next. She remembered it so clearly. She remembered playing with the nymphs. She'd been visiting with a few of her sisters. The nymphs had been there. They'd wanted to show off their new toy. So Esca had held her down and played with her while Cicuta went to fetch her. The nymphs always liked to be in charge, and they loved catgirl tongues.

Nipper had licked out Esca for what had felt like hours—wonderful, wonderful hours. She'd loved the sounds Esca made when she was cumming. That nymph had a sweet manner, but such a dirty mouth in the throws of pleasure.

Her sisters had already tackled Lisura, heedless of Lisura's preferences, and they'd been determined to make her come quickly and frequently. The smell of Lisura's arousal was almost as strong to Nipper as Esca's.

And then . . . Nipper breathed in deeply. That sweaty, intoxicating human musk. Anna had smelled so wonderful.

No. This was too much. She was breathing too heavily, smelling too much. She had to change senses. Had to. But where? Sight was out. Touch was definitely out.

As she breathed in again, and Anna's arousal filled her mind, she shut off almost all of her sense of smell and shunted the senses back into hearing.

" . . . show off the new tits on the block," Cicuta was saying. Gods, Cicuta had always been such a bitch. Nipper had loved being her bitch now and again. "Who to show her to first, though?"

Nipper's sisters were still squealing and giggling. The sounds of their lapping tongues, of Lisura's desperate moans, were all the answer Cicuta had needed. Nipper didn't feel, and didn't see, but she knew she was getting wet regardless, just from the sounds. The taste of Esca became a bit fainter as Cicuta shoved Esca off Nipper.

"Nipper, right?" she heard Cicuta ask.

Nipper's heart beat rapidly. Was this illusion interactive?

"Yes," she managed. She wasn't sure if she'd actually said it, or if she was just hearing the illusion-her say it. Illusions could be kind of confusing, by design.

"Given how your tongue was good enough to finally get Esca to shut up for a few seconds—"

"Hee hee! Don't be mean, Cicuta!"

"—I thought," Cicuta went on, ignoring Esca, "you might want to see how a pro does it. Meet Anna. Say hi, Anna!"

There was silence. Anna had stared into Nipper's eyes, at Nipper's attractive form. Nipper had stared back, her ears perking up. Anna's golden hair, her brilliant eyes . . . they'd captivated her instantly. Nipper was very glad she couldn't see.

Then a slapping sound. Cicuta had slapped Anna's ass, startling her into attention. "Hi," the captive said.

"Ask her how she feels," Cicuta said.

No. I can't do this. Nipper held her tongue. Or she thought she did, anyways. But she heard herself speaking anyways. "How do you feel, Anna?"

"H-horny."

She heard herself giggle. "Ooh. Humans know what they want."

"I help them learn," Cicuta said smugly. "Anna, what are you?"

The voice was quiet. "Your toy. Your . . . your horny, slutty little toy."

"And what do toys do?"

Even remembering the scene, Nipper was caught off-guard by how quickly the sucking sounds began. Anna had dropped between Cicuta's legs instantly. The sounds were unbearable. Nipper couldn't feel the sensations of her juices trickling down her legs, but she could feel the growing pleasure inside her. She remembered this too well. How does Coucang know? What kind of illusion is this?

And then, the dreaded offer. Esca, whispering in her ear.

"I don't think our cute little toy has been finished down there for three months. She's awfully lonely. Maybe my cute little pussy friend could do the honors? My pussy, make friends with her pussy?" Esca tittered.

Nipper heard herself laugh. Or was she laughing? She couldn't tell. She suddenly felt terrified. She couldn't tell. She couldn't feel the laugh. Couldn't feel herself walking forward. Was she doing this, or was the illusion?

"Anna," she said, "tell me what you want."

It had been so arousing seeing Anna at her feet, having control over a human. It was so arousing now, hearing Anna moan through Cicuta's cunt up at her, begging for some relief. She remembered kneeling. She knelt now.

Was she in control? Who could tell? Nipper needed to feel. Just a little. Just to know for sure.

As the taste of Anna started to fill her mouth, Nipper shut off her tongue's nerves and split its energy. Most of it went into sight—it wasn't as if she was seeing much with her face buried into Anna's cunt, after all.

A tiny bit went into touch.

The sensation flood was always hard to check, but this time, it was nearly overwhelming. The sight of being between Anna's legs, the feeling of those legs locking around her, pulling her deeper . . . the feel of Anna's moist lips under her tongue . . .

Nipper couldn't help it. She looked up.

Anna's face was pressed against Cicuta's crotch, her screams muffled by her efforts to lap up Cicuta's juices. Cicuta remained standing, though her legs were trembling, and little grunts were starting to escape her. She smiled down at Anna—and, Nipper realized, at her. She thinks she owns me, too, she realized. Thought, I mean. She thought she owned me.

She felt her body moving forward as she started to lick in earnest. Okay. So this wasn't her own free will. She was acting out a part. She could turn touch off again.

She kept licking. It felt so good, just to lick. Anna's back arched with a cry, but the human managed to hold herself up, to keep pleasuring her nymph mistress. Nipper gripped Anna's hips, her nails digging in sharply. She lapped at Anna's clit in earnest, a mixture of lust and guilt driving her to bring Anna more pleasure, more, more. She heard Anna's orgasm starting to hit. She was getting more and more aroused herself.

Here she was, giving it to Anna. Fuck, it felt so good to do this to the little human slut, after all the fucking frustration, all the nice-girl-behavior. To finally just give Anna what she deserved. It felt so good. It had always felt so good. She had never forgotten how good it had felt this day.

Nipper tried to shake herself free. She needed to focus. She was losing it. She needed to turn off touch, and fast. She reached backwards into her mind, grabbing at the stray nerves—

She heard Esca giggle. A nimble tongue thrust into her sopping slit from below and gave her clit three quick laps.

Nipper's mind went white with hot ecstasy. Her magic scrambled and thrust randomly, driven by pure id. Her sight went dark. Her hearing cut out. Everything in her poured into touch as Esca started eating her out. Her sensations hit a point beyond words.

Nipper's lips were tingling with sensation as she grabbed Anna away by the hips, yanking her out of Cicuta's grasp. That hadn't happened in her memory, but she didn't care. The hag was screwing with her, messing with her mind, changing what had happened to keep her engaged, but she didn't care. She slammed Anna against the mossy ground, smiling at Anna's trembling form. She wrapped her thighs around Esca's cute little face and kept licking. She felt Anna kicking, felt the screams vibrating through her body, but she kept licking. She would never stop licking.

Mine, her body sang. Mine.

Finally.

~~~~

Snatch squinted, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the darkness. "Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Goddamn dragonshitting . . ."

He heard a sound like wood hitting stone, and light flooded back into the hall. The light was spreading from a torch, though it somehow seemed brighter than a torch had any right to be. But that didn't matter. He stared blankly ahead at its bearer, his mouth hanging open.

The torch was held by a slim young woman with long dark hair and blue eyes like a summer sky. She wore a plain green skirt, a brown cape, and a pale blue shirt. She held in one hand the trademark stout staff of a druid.

She smiled at him. "Hey, Alrek."

Alrek stared back at her. He frowned. For a moment, the world might as well have been inside-out for all the sense it made.

"Larya?" he whispered.

Then the gear clicked into place, and the world was horrible again. He snarled and raised his scythe. "Oh, fuck you."

"Did you love her?" 'Larya' asked, looking her body over with a curious look on her horribly familiar face. "Or did you kill her?"

"Fuck. You." Every bone in Snatch's body was itching to run forward and cut the murderous fucking goddamn dragonshit-worth bitch into quarters. But only heroes and certain soothsayers listened to what their bones had to say. Snatch hung back.

"I'll admit, I was rushed with this spell." The Fake Larya frowned. "But I don't believe I got it wrong. Greatest shames. I have to admit, this is a bit . . . lackluster. This isn't even a scene. Just a . . ." She waved a hand, and a batch of shadows climbed out from under her shirt and made a disk shape in front of her. She examined it like it was a mirror. " . . . a fairly pretty druid girl. It wasn't much to work with. I have to be honest, Alkers—or 'Snatch', as you prefer—I expected more from you."