Keyholder Demoness Bk. 02 Ch. 06

It had been a hard slog to get to the top of the pass. Empusa explained that they were heading over to the windward side of the range and then down toward her oceanside estate. Unfortunately, the weather would likely be a little cooler and a little wetter. So far, though, the weather had been perfect.

Faith had taken her bow and was out hunting and Empusa had just finished feeding Charity and the ponygirls a snack. "Do you want to try one of these special treats that I give the ponygirls on special occasions, Charity? It is very much an acquired taste. I'll give you a tiny piece to see if you like it."

In the distance, Faith let out a "Woohoo!" She apparently shot some poor small animal. Empusa smiled and jogged off to see what Faith was up to.

Charity looked at the small brown nugget in her bowl. She picked up the bowl and held it under her nose, sniffing. Chocolate! No way! How could chocolate be an acquired taste? She looked at the ponygirls, who had gobbled their treats immediately and were now jockeying for position in the off chance that Charity turned her piece down.

"Maybe there is no sugar in the chocolate," Charity thought. She had once bitten a piece of baker's chocolate. It was very bitter. Still... It was chocolate and her mouth was already watering. She picked up the piece and popped it in her mouth.

Her plan was to suck on it, savoring its flavor for as long as possible. She let the chocolate settle on her tongue and gently pressed it against the top of her mouth. She felt it pop and suddenly vaporize into dust in her mouth, spreading the most vile taste imaginable throughout her mouth.

"Ugh!" She started spitting, but that was not helping at all. She looked around to figure out where Empusa's stash of fruit was. Unfortunately, she had used a padlock to secure her stores. Charity's eyes were watering and she was starting to retch. She recognized a small green plant growing nearby. A single stalk with zigzag-y leaves. It was the plant she had used before that refreshed her mouth.

The taste in Charity's mouth was so heinous that before she knew it, she was pulling off the leaves and stuffing them in her mouth. Just as before, as soon as she started chewing on the leaves, the vile taste evaporated and a cool tingling feeling settled on her tongue and down her throat. She sighed with relief.

"Charity!" Empusa said as she climbed up over a rise with Faith in tow. "You didn't eat that plant, did you?"

Charity nodded her head.

"Oh, fuck!" Empusa said.

Charity spit what was left out of her mouth. "Isn't this that plant that refreshes your mouth? Is it something else? Is it pois... poi... bad for you to eat?"

Empusa was shaking her head, but she started laughing. "Oh, Goddess! This is a variant of the plant that you are thinking of, but it doesn't grow as well due to the altitude. Since it is more sparse it has developed a particularly odd defense mechanism to keep animals from eating it."

"Should I force myself to vomit?" Charity asked.

"No! No! If you have swallowed, then it's too late and the damage is done," Empusa started laughing again and turned to Faith, who had a particularly concerned look on her face.

"Tell me what to do, Empusa," Charity screamed.

"Well, we will need to quickly find a good place to camp that is sheltered and easily defensible," Empusa said. "Don't worry, though the effects are generally temporary."

"Effects? What effects?" Charity said. "Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry. Everything will be fine," Empusa said. She walked over to Charity and stroked her hair. "You'll be fine. This variant of the species affects your nervous system, but it naturally resolves itself."

"What is it going to do?" Charity asked, nervously.

"Are you familiar with a condition that I think is referred to as Tourette syndrome in your universe?"

"Yes. I'm a psychia... a psych... Oh! Fuck no!" Charity cleared her throat. "I'm a psychiatrist! I am a highly educated woman. I've studied for years and years to obtain my position. I was number two in my graduating - AAIIP!" The ponygirls shuffled their feet nervously. Charity held her hand over her mouth.

"And, here we go," Empusa said quietly to Faith, who was still standing with a rat-like rodent skewered on an arrow.

After about twenty seconds, Charity relaxed a little. "I think that it was just a hiccup..."

Empusa grabbed the arrow from Faith's hand and tossed it off into the woods. She started pulling the ponygirls to hitch them back to the cart.

"AAIIP!" Charity screamed again.

"So, the leaves of the plant, when chewed," Empusa started to explain, "cause the animal to compulsively make..."

"AAIIP!"

"... to make a sound that attracts a certain predator that lives in the higher altitudes of the mountains around here."

"AAIIP!"

"The predator is a very social animal, like wolves in your universe," Empusa continued. "So, we'll want to move as quickly as possible to get to a lower elevation..."

"AAIIP!"

"...before nightfall. Hopefully we will be out of their territory. But if not..."

"AAIIP!"

<>--+-

Twenty minutes later, they were walking at a particularly fast pace along the road. Every thirty seconds or so, Charity convulsed with another loud shrieking scream.

"This is so embarrassing," Charity said to Faith who was walking alongside her.

"Don't worry, Baby," Faith said. "I think that Empusa will..."

"AAIIP!"

"...will take care of you." Faith yelled up towards Empusa who was leading the ponygirls. "Hey, maybe you could use one of your gags on her."

"AAIIP!" Charity couldn't believe that events had evolved to this point where Faith wanted to gag her.

"Right now," Empusa answered, "we need her to walk, maybe even run if the situation calls for it."

"AAIIP!"

"Those herbs we used before were muscle relaxants. I don't want to burden the ponygirls with having to carry Charity."

Eventually, Empusa found a good rock wall which provided some protection by limiting access to the camp. She built a fire while Faith scavenged for as much wood as she could collect. Charity's stomach muscles were sore from her involuntary contractions every thirty seconds.

"Don't stray too far from the camp, Faith. The sun is setting. Stay close," Empusa said, "but get as much fuel as you can."

Out in the distance, they suddenly heard a cry that sounded like a woman's voice.

"Oh, fuck!" Charity said. "Was that Faith? AAIIP!"

The ponygirls maneuvered around Charity so that she was trapped between them, with their connecting chain wrapped around her waist. They pulled her back towards the rock wall, pressing her against it with their bodies.

Faith came running into the camp with a load of limbs in her arms. "There's something out there!"

Charity convulsed again, "AAIIP!"

Somewhere close by a similar sound was made.

"That wasn't me!" Charity said.

The ponygirls pressed her against the rocks. She could feel their bodies shaking. She pressed her hand over her mouth, willing herself to stop making the... "AAIIP!"

Another scream was made on the opposite side of the camp. Empusa pulled a couple of burning logs from the fire which she and Faith held up like torches. Charity heard footsteps in the darkness just beyond the closest trees.

"AAIIP! Fuck!" Charity gritted her teeth.

Suddenly, there were the sounds of many screams coming from all directions. Even Faith and Empusa took a few steps back.

"As long as we keep the fire burning, we'll be OK," Empusa said.

Pebbles tumbled down from the top of the rock wall onto Charity and ponygirls. They could hear screams above them.

"They are surrounding us," Charity yelled to Empusa, punctuated with another yelp of her own.

"There's a bit of magic that I can do," Empusa yelled. "It's safe, but a little bit invasive."

"Yes! AAIIP! I'll do whatever it takes!" Charity screamed.

"Faith!" Empusa said. "Watch out over there! I need to get something from the cart."

Faith took Empusa's torch and held both flames aloft. "Come on, you mother fuckers. I will fuck you up!"

Empusa grabbed some supplies from the cart and turned to Charity. She was holding a small linked chain about ten inches long. "I specialize in a certain kind of magic where I can graft metal into flesh. That's how Hazel and Garnet are joined together."

"AAIIP!"

"To make this work, I'm going to need you to swallow the end of this chain," Empusa explained.

"Hurry, please! They are getting closer," Faith screamed over her shoulder.

"The chain will be grafted into your tongue and across your vocal cords. It will prevent you from making any kind of vocal sounds," Empusa explained.

"Ok," Charity said. She felt a rush of arousal surge behind the faceplate of her chastity belt. "Can you... AAIIP! Just do it!"

"Yes, I can reverse it," Empusa said, expecting Chastity's question. "Head back. Stick out your tongue!"

Charity did as she was told and Empusa fed the end of the chain into Charity's mouth. When the links touch the back of her throat, she began to gag.

"Hurry!" Faith yelled.

"Swallow!" Empusa commanded.

Charity forced herself to swallow and felt the chain lodge in her throat, choking her.

"Swallow!" Empusa screamed again.

Another scream convulsed from Charity's lungs, but at the same time she felt the links of chain slip a little further into her throat. She heard a clipping sound and felt a sudden sharp pain in the tip of her tongue. Empusa screamed some words in her own language and Charity felt a wave of intense arousal wash over her. It was so strong, it almost felt like an orgasm. But it was only a single seizing of her muscles and then it was gone. The ponygirls, however, were both writhing as though they were orgasming.

Charity couldn't feel the chain in her windpipe anymore. Empusa grabbed the end of Charity's tongue and twisted it from side to side, looking deep into her mouth. "It's good!" she said and then turned to help Faith.

The ponygirls, breathing heavily, continued to cower around her and she pulled them close so she could feel their bodies against her.

She wanted to comfort them, but when she tried to say, "It's ok" not a single sound came from her mouth.

<>--+-

It was a long, sleepless night. The pack of predators remained just beyond the limit of vision, but their numbers seemed to decline once Empusa resolved Charity's screaming problems. When the sun finally came up, they packed the cart and set out on the road again, struggling to stay awake.

Charity's tongue felt funny. When she pressed it against the roof of her mouth she felt a bunch of hard, knobby protrusions. Faith noticed that she was licking her forearm. "Are you ok, babe? What are you doing?"

Charity stuck out her tongue and pointed at it.

"Can you whisper?" Faith asked, before Charity could answer, Faith turned to Empusa. "Can she whisper?"

"I guess I should explain a little about magic," Empusa said as she joined the sisters. "If I had just taken her voice, Charity would still suffer the frequent physical action of screaming, just no sound would come out. What I did was to remove her ability to communicate vocally, which is subtly different, and a little more comprehensive. But, it means that she is unable to communicate with her mouth in any way."

It was true. When Chastity tried to move her mouth to speak, her mouth was mostly unresponsive. It was like she had forgotten how to form words.

"Some of the strongest magic works effectively with the use of metaphors," Empusa explained, "which is why magic can be very dangerous when wielded by an untrained sorceress. The magic I performed is based on a bondage metaphor. I placed her ability to verbally communicate in chains. With her ability to verbally communicate in chains, that skill is now totally unavailable to her."

"But, you will be able to undo this, right?" Faith said, eyeing Charity nervously.

"Of course," Empusa responded. "I used an actual chain as a prop, which I phased into her flesh. That is, her flesh and the chain now occupy the same space. Can you stick out your tongue please, Charity?"

Charity stuck her tongue out again, while Faith and Empusa looked inside her mouth.

"I'm just going to..." Empusa used her fingers to grab a ring of metal that stuck out the tip of Charity's tongue. She pulled Charity's tongue a little further out of her mouth. "Sorry... But, you can see, Faith, that the links of the chain breach the top of her tongue all the way back down her throat and into her vocal cords."

"Oh, yeah," Faith said, leaning in closer. "And the rest of those links are inside her tongue?"

"They share the same space," Empusa replied. "But, actually, I had to physically pierce the tip of her tongue with that first link of the chain. I had to do that as a kind of anchor for the rest of the chain. So, when I reverse the spell and pull the chain out of her mouth, this last link will still be pierced through her tongue. Uh... sorry about that."

Faith looked at Charity. "I think that she is just happy to not be screaming anymore."

Charity nodded her head enthusiastically, then used her hand to say thank you in American Sign Language.

"By the time we reach my estate," Empusa said, "the toxins should have left her system. I'll undo the spell then."

Faith patted Charity on the shoulder and joked, "Ahh! Finally! Peace and quiet."

Charity was still able to communicate perfectly well with her middle finger.

Faith and Empusa picked up their pace as they talked more about magic. Charity fell back a little, surreptitiously licking her forearm again. The metal knobs created a particularly interesting feeling as they dragged across her skin. She looked over at Hazel and Garnet who were dutifully pulling the cart along. Their muscular bodies were framed in their leather harnesses which seemed to accentuate their feminine figures. She watched their hips rock from side to side as they walked along. Hopefully, Empusa would allow them to stop for lunch and a rest break soon. Charity was dying to have a little time with the ponygirls. She was dying to drag her new metal knobs across the ponygirls' vaginas. She could only imagine how good that would feel.

<>--+-

A couple of days later during the lunch break. Faith sat down with Charity.

"How are you doing?" she asked as she placed her arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug.

Charity nodded her head to indicate that she was fine.

"Empusa says that we should be to her estate in less than a week," Faith said.

Charity nodded again and leaned her head on her sister's shoulder.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I'm going to go see if Empusa needs some help, ok babe? I love you."

Charity smiled and nodded her head.

Faith walked off to the other side of the cart and down the road towards Empusa. Charity stood up and walked over to the ponygirls. As soon as they saw her, they started smiling and stomping their feet excitedly. Charity was smiling too. She gave them both a hug, then dropped down onto her knees with her mouth lined up with Garnet's sex. She stuck out her tongue and started to slide it up Garnet's sex and over her clit as it started to peek out. Hazel was bending over kissing Charity on the top of her head. The ponygirl patiently awaited her turn.

<>--+-

"As odd as it might sound," Empusa was explaining, "some women learn that it is their calling to be bandits."

Charity was sitting on the blanket with a ponygirl on each side, their adjoining chain laying across her lap. Faith was holding Empusa's hand on the other side of the fire, looking up at her with no lack of admiration.

"A universe is a dynamic place. A vision of what makes a perfect civilization must always be changing in order to deal with change within the universe. Biological evolution is facilitated by the mutations in the blueprint of life. Many of those mutations lead to bad things, but we are the products of those changes that succeed and propagate. It is the same within a population of sentient beings. There needs to be some, quote, bad, unquote, to carry the civilization on to something more perfect. So, yes, my queendom does have its population of bandits and villains. It is the conflict between structure and anarchy that drives civilization forward."

Charity's eyes were getting heavy. She was very warm and comfortable sandwiched between Hazel and Garnet. She was wondering how they could walk all day in the beating sun and still smell so good.

"...but, since I am the queen, they choose not to steal from me," Empusa explained.

"No!" Faith said, laughing. "You need to say it more like this: I'm the queen, bitch! Don't fuck with me!"

"I'm the Queen Bitch?" Empusa asked with an evil smile.

"No! I'm the Queen, bitch! There's a comma," Faith corrected, laughing.