Medusa: Fate's Game Ch. 10

Otrera walked over to the giant, and sat down on his leg. She might as well have been a small child sitting on an adult's leg in comparison to him.

That earned some squints and grimaces from the other men, but a harsh glare from her shut them up too.

"Everyone's a happy family here," Gallea said. "But... just know that if someone betrays us to Andromeda, not only will we be of no use to your resistance, but at least two of the people in this room will be more than capable of destroying this whole city for the betrayal." She hadn't expected Gallea to make threats! But the small satyr smirked and looked to Patrius and his comrades. "Or we can all get along and be on our way when this is done."

More grumbles. But at least people seemed more comfortable, comfortable enough they turned their back to the group as they walked around.

"We need some sleep," the Amazon said. "Been a long night. Tomorrow night, Darian and I will sneak out and see if we can figure out where Andromeda is."

"Sacrifices are taken to the acropolis," Patrius said, "where the king and queen are. The people haven't seen them in a few years though. The acropolis is off limits. Guards with hidden faces come down with their manticore pets, and take a sacrifice to the acropolis every so often. Sometimes they go a long time without a sacrifice, sometimes they get a few sacrifices in a single week.

"And lately, they've been getting more. The residents are terrified, and that's why they're willing to help now. Some of them, at least. These men here know they're doomed if they don't do something. But... we don't have any way of assaulting the acropolis without getting slaughtered."

Otrera shrugged, and cracked her knuckles. "So we wait here for a sacrifice, and then we mount an assault when the sorceress is busy."

"We're... going to use someone as bait?" Medusa said. That was dangerous. People could die just because they waited. "Can we try and defeat her before then?"

She shared a glance with Darian. They didn't have to defeat Andromeda, only rescue Pegasus and take back what she stole. But, she wanted to do more, and bit her lip as she looked to her love. Did he care if any of these people died?

He returned her glance, and winced. "We can try Medusa. Otrera's plan makes sense, but if you want to try and save the sacrifice at the same time, we can try."

Relief hit her, and she released the squeezing of her chest with a long sigh. "We should try, at least. I know what it's like to be trapped and unable to essscape looming... death." Her words fell off as she looked at Patrius and his companions. They were all staring at her with wide eyes and raised brows. "What?"

"... the sun will be up soon." Patrius got up, and held out his hand. When Darian gave back his jar, the old soldier walked toward the door with his companions behind him. "Stay in here until I come for you tomorrow night. The rebels won't betray you, but anyone else might if they saw you. When it's dark, we can head out and scout the acropolis mountain."

"Sounds like a plan." Darian saluted him casually, and turned to Otrera and Medusa. "I think Medusa and Chimera should stay here tomorrow night. I—"

"The serpent and I should hunt down and kill more manticore."

The giant's voice, though quiet, had all the humans turn to face him with a bit of a jump in their step.

"I... that may be a good idea," Medusa said. "Less of those creatures means more freedom for movement and the rebellion. We've already killed five; the sorceress must already know someone's here. If Andromeda responds by sending her guards to investigate, we can take that opportunity for everyone to hide and sneak up to the acropolis. If she comes herself, we could surprise her?"

Gasps abound as the humans mouthed 'five' while glancing between each other.

Patrius looked between his companions and Darian. "That is a risky plan, Bellerophontes."

"Yes, but risk is needed to win when you're the underdog, Patrius. Or did I teach you nothing?"

Oh, not nice. Patrius even grit his teeth and squinted at Darian. But when Darian smiled his beautiful smile, Patrius broke into a chuckle.

"You're a real bastard, Bellerophon. Alright, tomorrow night, Darian, Otrera, and I will try and scout the acropolis mountain. Medusa and Chimera, feel free to kill manticore if you're willing to risk that. Just don't risk exposing our hideaway."

"We will not risk it," Chimera said.

Nodding, Patrius ushered his jittery companions forward, and they disappeared into the second room. A shuffle of sound later, they were gone.

Which left the five of them alone.

"You trust this Patrius an awful lot," Otrera said.

"Eh, doesn't seem like the lying type." Gallea hopped off the table and started to walk the contours of the large storage room. "I'll do my best to stay out of the way. If I could hide from those manticore I would, but I guess there's a reason the door to this room is covered in shit."

"Patrius says the fog covers their sense of smell a little, but he likes to wear bandages on his hands, feet and face to keep from leaving a scent trail."

Chimera shrugged. "The manticore are not hounds. They can smell well enough, but not as well as I. We will be fine." With a slow groan, the beast got up, and headed toward the door. "I shall sit and guard here. The four of you should get some sleep."

Chimera Chimera. The giant did not hesitate to be their guard, and as he walked by, Medusa caught his eye. The poor creature looked stern and stone, more so than before, and he looked down at the floor as he moved. Probably tearing himself apart with worry and guilt, like Darian would. Could the giant feel worry and guilt? He was so strange. The way he'd erupted with panic near her, and ran out into the forest, it wasn't like Darian. Her love's rage was straight forward, direct, and merciless. Something else was happening to Chimera.

But if he didn't wish to talk about it, she couldn't force him. Shouldn't force him. What had Darian said to the beast to stir him from his weird outburst, and into the calm and sane individual now? What had Chimera said to him?

In control, he was probably thinking to himself. He was in control. And as if a stone was tied around his neck, the giant sat against the wall by the door, and watched it.

She and Otrera, they had their demons, but it wasn't the same as being trapped by your own mind. Shivering, she slithered over to Darian, and settled herself down near him upon her coils.

"You ok?" she said.

"Yeah. Just worried about you, and Patrius. I can handle myself in these sort of situations. Daring escapes, scaling mountains and sneaking through the terrain. Kill the bad guy, save the girl, get out alive? I'm good to do all that... I'm not good at keeping friends alive. No practice."

She picked her lover up off the table, and put him into her coils. Small and warm, she wrapped herself around him in a gentle embrace, scales against his armor. Shifting snake skin over his limbs, she tightened herself just a touch, just enough to hug him with her snake body while her human half hugged his upper half.

She didn't have practice either. Images of Andromeda's sorcery getting Darian cut into her mind, and with each one, she hugged Darian tighter until her little lover was struggling to breathe.

"You all may be unfamiliar with teamwork. I'm not." The Amazon patted the giant on the knee, started to pace around. "That said, I don't think of any of us will work as a small army, shoulder to shoulder. We'll need to stick to our strengths instead. Chimera can handle things up front, rock against the tide. Darian and I can keep to the middle, side to side, deal with things that get past Chimera, adapt, while Medusa can pick off people from a distance, and deal with any remaining few who get past all of us. Then, when things go badly — as they assuredly will — Medusa will have the moment she needs to transform and be our surprise attack."

Warrior Queen indeed. Medusa nodded in return, and when Darian did as well, Medusa slipped her fingers underneath his chin to stroke his beard. So cute.

"I — we — I — Medusa." He tried to shake her off, but her grip was perfect. The poor man was trapped in her coils and hug, and she slipped her human half behind him to rest her chin on his shoulder as he tried to talk. "That sounds like a plan, when it comes to battle. If we end up in a head on confrontation, everyone follow Otrera's advice."

They nodded, cozied up into their separate corners, and closed their eyes.

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Sleep did not come easily. Instead of pulling her under with heavy weight, the silence of the basement combined with the breathing of her friends mixed into a wave sound that made her mind wander. Would her friends survive? Would she survive? If Darian died, she didn't know what she'd do. How could she go on without her man? Her lovely, delightful man.

The small warrior sat in the center of her coils, leaning back, hands on his chest. He'd taken off his armor to sleep, and sleep he did, like a trained soldier. She knew it was day time outside — maybe that was why she couldn't sleep? No, staring at Darian, with only a tiny flicker of candlelight to go by, she knew she couldn't sleep cause she kept imagining him not there.

She glanced around. Her and Darian were on one end of the room, while Chimera and Otrera were on the other. No Gallea. Well, it was day time, and the satyr had no cause to hide. Perseus had supposedly never wandered the streets, so no one would recognize the satyr, and unlike she or Chimera, a satyr could walk the streets. Patrius said strangers were allowed to come to the city, and leave as they wished, and the residents never once tried to ask for help or expose their brands, for fear of the sorceress's eyes.

She bit one of her knuckles, and looked up at the ceiling. Be careful Gallea.

Eyes closed again, she twisted and turned atop her coils, and sighed quietly. No good. She needed someone to talk to. Or at least, someone to touch.

She looked back over to Chimera and Otrera. The Amazon was asleep, leaning against Chimera's side, and the beast was sitting back against the wall with closed eyes. She knew he wasn't asleep, as he didn't need to, but it did mean his eyes were closed.

Licking her lips, she reached out with both her hands, and touched Darian's shoulders.

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~~Darian~~

Images of dying friends blended with a hazy streak of darkness, candlelight, and Medusa's gentle hisses. Not pleasant, nightmares, but being woken from one more than made up for it.

"Awake?" she said, quiet as a mouse.

"Yes."

"Good."

And then he was on his side. On his back. On his side. On his stomach. In the darkness of the basement with just a flicker of orange light to see by, his lover was turning him around and around, coiling him up, and tightly at that. With the second half of her snake half, she bound him along his ankles, pinning his legs together at the knee and thigh, up around his hips and waist, and trapping his arms to his sides.

The shocker was being turned upside down. She had enough length to entwine him, and just enough left of her near her human half to still brace herself against the ground while lifting him into the air upside down.

She reached out with her hands, and raised him a few feet off the floor before taking his face into her palms. Her claws stroked his beard, and as she lowered herself, her yellow snake eyes caught the candlelight like dancing orbs of yellow flame.

"Tomorrow will be dangeroussss," she said.

"... yeap." He wriggled, struggled a bit, but even when he tried to get out of her grip, really tried, it was no good. A fox trapped by the snake. Strong enough to wrap and break Chimera, let alone him.

"I... I'm ssscared."

"Me too." No point in dancing around the issue, or telling her everything would be fine, or other empty consolations. No use in lying about the danger, or that their chances were slim. No reason to explain the chaos ahead inevitable. She knew it all.

But he did know how to smile, a really great smile that brought his lover a smile of her own.

She set him down, but kept her snake length coiled around him.

"We should... make love... before tomorrow night comes."

Wow, bold. "You sure? Chimera and Otrera are right there."

The serpent raised her head up, looked down the room to the two, and then back down at him.

"I am sure."

With a smile to rival his own, the serpent opened her mouth wide, wide enough to expose the snake fangs that curled backward within. With her mouth open that wide, the fangs came out and down, like a snake preparing to bite down on prey. A bite like that would be two-inch-deep holes in whatever unsuspecting fool she was about to bite.

And it looked like she was about to bite him. He squirmed and wriggled some more, but he couldn't move an inch or adjust his weight, let alone break free or make her shift along the floor. No, he was helpless as the beautiful monster lowered her lips down to his neck, grabbed his head with one hand to keep his chin out of the way, and pressed her sharp snake fangs to the pulsing skin.

He caught his breath. Just for a second, just the tiniest of gasps, but it was enough to make Medusa giggle into his neck, and place a gentle kiss upon it. Her snake hair did the same, and nuzzled into his hair and face to flick little tongues against him.

Playful little she devil. "I thought you were ssssscared?" he said.

She squeezed him tighter, enough to make him wince with the sudden pressure.

"Don't tease me about my hissses." She set herself over him, him laying down on his back in her coils while she lay atop them. Face to face, she leaned in and plucked at his lip with hers. "I am ssscared, but... not as much as I usssed to be. We'll win, and if we don't... I'll find you in the Asphodel Meadows."

The Asphodel Meadows would not do.

"I'll find you in Elysium, Medusa."

Chuckling, she shook her head and nuzzled it into his neck. He was helpless to stop her, but it was always a pleasant feeling to know that, even bound and helpless as he was, the snake woman wanted to bury herself in him.

"That was terribly corny," she said.

"I think we're entitled." To be a bit corny, and for Elysium. And if Medusa wasn't there with him, he'd make it happen.

She kissed his ear, long serpent tongue snaking around his lobe. Lips drifted lower, and under his beard to kiss beneath his neck and down to his collar where his tunic began.

"I remember," he said, voice as quiet as he could manage, "when you could scarcely believe I was attracted to you."

"Yesss." Her hands slipped between two of her coils, and found his member in its loincloth, underneath his tunic. Fingers pressed against it, rubbed it through the fabric, slid underneath to tease along his testicles and nudge the underside of his length.

It only took seconds to get hard when she touched him like that. Maybe it was being completely pinned, unable to move even the slightest, that made it so arousing? His hands were pinned to his legs, feet were pinned together, and his growing erection pushed out between two of her coils against the fabrics of his clothes.

Something about being at her mercy, the once shy and timid creature, set his body on fire. Knowing that Chimera and Otrera were only a short distance away, and Medusa was still willing to attack him, touch him, was a dangerous spice that only fueled his arousal.

Medusa let go of his now hard cock, reached up, and undid the knot of her chest wrap. She held the two straps of fabric up though, so the wrap still held her breasts within, and the weight of them filled its folds. A tug or two on the fabric made her heavy breasts bounce and jiggle against the white cloth. She was teasing him. Gods he loved that.

At last she let go of the fabric, and it fell away from her body leaving her topless. Massive, weighty breasts molded to her chest, with hardened, pink nipples against pale skin, lit by candlelight. Her fingers went lower, and undid the knot of her waist wrap as well. Naked, without hesitation or concern for the other two in the room, judging from the need in her eyes.

She stood her human half up a little, and leaned back against the wall of their corner of the room. Her body was on full display for him, and she knew it too. Like a teasing devil, the beautiful creature smiled at him, flicked her long forked tongue at him, and traced the contours of her breasts with her fingertips. Her hard nipples rose higher, areola swelling, and her wicked smile opened with the quietest moan as she caressed her hardening pink skin.

And he could do nothing but watch.

The smooth lips of her pussy, flat against her pelvis above the snake scales, started to glisten once she slipped her fingers down to caress them with one hand. A set of fingers for her breasts, and set of fingers for her sex, the gorgon masturbated in front of him, and smiled at him as she did so.

He squirmed; no good. He tried to push his hips forward in hopes something would at least nudge his member; no good. Her coils were not near his cock to touch it when he tried to thrust his hips, not that he could with how tightly he was bound. Doomed to watch the busty seductress touch herself in front of him, with every inch of her skin on display, while he could not do a thing.

It only got worse when she scooped up one of her breasts into her hand, and lifted it. The mass of it spilled over her palm, and she had to shift her hand to realign the heavy thing so that, when she leaned her head down, she could wrap her lips around her nipple. A tiny squeak of pleasure, and a tiny tremble to follow it, Medusa released her nipple from her mouth, and ran her serpent tongue along it, over it, around it, and under her breast with its length. And then, as slow as the first, she did the same for her other breast.

"I uh... I could—"

"Shh," she said, and tightened her coils for a second to restrict his breathing. He really was utterly trapped and powerless, and she seemed to like that.

With him laying next to her, Medusa reached out for the tip of her tail near where it was coiled around his ankles. She unwrapped a few feet of the much smaller part of her snake half, brought it up onto her hips, and guided the pointed bit of scaled body toward her wet folds. This was new.

While one hand caressed and massaged the underside of her breasts, the other gripped her tail tip, and pushed it into her wet sex. His head was only a couple feet from her hip, so as her pink lips spread over her tail, he could see the trickles of her juices spill over onto her labia.

So close, he licked he lips.

"You sure you—"

She took the hand from her breast and placed it around his face from behind to block his lips. Her other hand started to work faster though, pushed more of her tail tip into her wet flesh, and pulled it out in rhythm. A delicious rhythm of in and out, masturbation with a purpose. She wanted to climax quickly.

Or so he thought. But with a slow and insidious movement, she withdrew the whole of her tail tip from inside her, and raised it up to press the dripping wet scales to her breasts. She circled her areola until he could see the candlelight flicker in the moisture on the pink, swollen skin. And, smiling at him, she slipped her tail inside her again, pumped her wet flesh a few times, and did the same to her other nipple.

With a low moan, she guided her tail tip back into herself, and let go. It pulsed and wriggled on its own, pushed into her in a rhythm that made his cock ache. He wanted to be that tail. But Medusa did not loosen her coils. She smiled at him, flicked her tongue a few times, and with both hands massaged and caressed her breasts, pressed them to her, let them spill over her palms, and cupped them with her fingers so the weight of them molded to her grip.