Shadowplay

Castle Lurroc. The ancient home of the Royal Family of Lurroc -- and currently unoccupied, though not through lack of bloodline. The gigantic behemoth of a structure sat on a cliff overlooking a grey-watered bay, its central tower jutting up as a tired grey-black pillar. Smaller towers surrounded the central tower, each topped with a sky-piercing spire. The walkways of the castle's thick walls were teethed with pointed stones. As the sun set behind it, ending the day, the rays cast the indomitable fortress into the shadow of age and endurance.

Rifyll Wyndcall did not look forward to taking census of Castle Lurroc. She, an elf of 113, stood in front of the near-black stony mass with her delicate hands holding a staff and a hefty rucksack slung across her back. She was pale-skinned, thin, and lanky, the features men desired in women left small or flat on her. Her face was classically elven; thin nose, thin face, thin eyebrows, delicate chin and cheekbones, with eight-inch-long pointy ears and blazingly green eyes. Her autumn-colored hair hung past her shoulders and ended in cute little curls, but it was straight for much of its flowing length. For this mission, she wore crème-colored pants, a dark-red shirt, and matching boots.

Rifyll's deepest wish was to be a wizard. Being a wizard had been part of her family for generations, and she was destined, she knew, to continue that legacy. Her grades at the Ycohon's College of Wizarding said otherwise. She, an elf, was the bottom of her class, and the only chance she had of remaining in the school was this 'errand'.

Due to Castle Lurroc's ugliness, the Royal Family hadn't used it in years. It was there if they ever needed it, but they seemed content with letting the hideous building rot and crumble while they ruled from their newer, more fashionable castle.

The Academy had cut a deal with the Royal Family. In exchange for more funding, the Academy would send someone along to check the castle and make sure that monsters hadn't decided to occupy the empty castle. Rifyll was that someone. She was expendable, and it stung.

Her fingers danced past a heavy ring of keys tied to her belt as she journeyed around the castle's walls to find the gardener's door. It took little effort to find it, but it stuck and Rifyll had to ram against it with her shoulder to get into the grounds surrounding the keep. From there, she had skirted overgrown gardens and rocky pathways to the front of the keep, a massive door emblazoned with the (now outdated) coat-of-arms for Lurroc. It was barred, but Rifyll selected another key and applied that one to a small door set inside the large door, and she slipped into the main hall.

The inside was nothing short of epic. It was so cavernous that it was dark inside. Pilasters stretched up into the night-like abyss of the roof, and doorways at the hall's edges led into darkened halls. Just how had they built this again? Rifyll knew that her people, the elves, vastly preferred to grow their large structures. It was both impractical and awe-inspiring that humans would go to such lengths to make a building like this.

However, if Rifyll wanted to avoid tripping on or encountering something in the dark, she'd need a light. Rifyll held the end of her staff in the palm of her hand and mumbled a few words. It sparked briefly, showering the area with harmless drops of light, but remained ordinary. She scowled and spoke the words again, enunciating carefully. This time, the knobbed end of the staff lit up like a lantern, casting light on the bare stone floor of the hall.

Rifyll smiled and held the staff-light up. The hall had been stripped when the family left, and it still remained bare. There were cobwebs in corners, of course, but not giant cobwebs. She couldn't see any kind of bones lying around, nor much in the way of detritus. That was a good sign. She could leave now, actually. She came, she saw, she hadn't died, everything was good!

No, that'd be boring. What else could lurk in the castle, left untouched when the Royal Family left? Gold? Unlikely. Tomes of knowledge? Slightly more likely. Rifyll wouldn't know unless she looked! That was the joy of exploring!

At the edge of the light, something moved. Rifyll hoisted her staff-light up higher to try and catch it, but it fell upon nothing. Probably a mouse.

She began to walk down the hall. The light cast the edges and recesses of the hall into deep shadow. They shifted, thinning and thickening as Rifyll passed by, her eyes tracking them. By chance, her gaze slid to the edge of the light. There, at the ring formed by her light, was a dark shape on the floor.

Rifyll stopped and watched the shape. It was very flat, like paper, and black, like the deepest shadows. In fact, Rifyll wasn't sure it wasn't a shadow! The problem, of course, was that it was leaned towards her light, something no shadow would do.

Curious, Rifyll moved her staff-light to the right, and then to the left. The shape didn't react. She took a step forward, and the shape slid back, remaining as far from her as it had been. Perhaps a slime of some sort? Rifyll could take care of it easily enough.

As she mentally walked herself through the steps to create a small fireball, Rifyll saw the shape change. From its former indiscriptness, it molded itself through curves. A humanoid head seemed to pinch itself out of the dark mass, then some shoulders established themselves, with their arms hidden within the shape. Finally, a thin waist led to the swell of feminine hips, and from there, the shape was consumed by the darkness.

A shower of arcane sparks erupted from Rifyll's hand, fizzling against her skin like embers. She yelped in surprise. She had forgotten about the fireball spell! Rifyll hissed and looked at the shape, now seemingly the shadow of a woman pointed into her light. A willowy arm seemed to have separated away from the body, and now the shape was beckoning for her to follow.

Well, why not? It could be a deadly trap, but the College clearly did not care about her at all. Besides, it'd be fun and interesting! Rifyll walked towards the shadowy being, even though it remained as far away from her as it had been.

Rifyll was more intent on following the being than she was on observing her surroundings. When it abruptly circled around to the left, she turned to follow it down a passage-way. It led her to shine the staff-light on stairs leading up, directed her to follow it up them, going up and up and up.

She stopped when she came to a door. The shadow-woman had vanished, but the door had an inch of gap between it and the floor. Rifyll tried the door, only to find that it was locked. Her hand brushed down to the countless keys, but perhaps she had a better solution.

Rifyll pointed at the door's lock and focus. Words that felt like the color blue formed in her mind, and she spoke their arcane syllables. The keyhole started showering out blue sparks with a loud, continuous crackle, dying down after a solid minute of hissing. The lock was untouched.

Of course, it would be untouched. Rifyll screamed in rage and slammed her staff against the door. Then, the lock clicked.

Rifyll paused, then her hand shot out for the door and shoved it open. She quickly hopped into the room and raised her staff to see it. It was the top of one of the towers! Broken windows let wind whistle through the room and the full moon shone through the glassless ports to reveal an empty chamber.

Nothing. Rifyll scowled and turned to the door, intent on leaving. On the door, the womanly shadow was plastered, with one hand placed over the door's lock. So, it had unlocked the door! Really, it didn't need to have. Rifyll could've used the practice.

Before Rifyll could sweep out the door, the shadow-woman circled around the light's edges and beckoned her to come to a section of wall. Rifyll took a step towards the door, and the shadow beckoned more vigorously.

Well, what'd be the harm? Rifyll turned to the shadow and followed it to the wall. As her light crawled up the blocky stones, the shadow retreated up the wall until it seemed to be growing from out of the ceiling. When she had reached the wall, the shadow pointed at a small stone in the wall.

Rifyll looked at the stone. It protruded maybe a half-inch from out of the wall. Her interest piqued, she set her staff down and began to pry at the stone. It took some effort, but she quickly had the rock in her hands. She tossed it aside, took up her staff, and aimed the light into the hole made by the loose stone.

Something glinted silvery in the hole. Rifyll placed her hand in the hole, and her fingers felt a small, loose chain. She tugged it out, and pulled a locket from out of hole! It was human-made, so not particularly elegant by her standards, but, if she had to guess, it was real silver. She clicked the locket open, and saw a small portrait of a woman. Quite beautiful for a human too, but she'd be long dead by now, Rifyll thought.

Rifyll shoved the locket into her rucksack and turned to face the shadow. "Okay, little Miss Shadow, you've earned yourself an audience," she said.

The shadow, of course, didn't speak, but it did seem to bow. It circled around the light again, aiming back towards the tower's stairs. It seemed to know where it was going, so there was no reason why Rifyll shouldn't get a tour!

The shadow-woman led her back down the stairs and through the passageways, leading her back to the main hall. Once there, it stopped and wavered, as if waiting for her. "Okay, where to next, Shadow?" Rifyll asked.

The shadow beckoned once, then shot off! It nearly disappeared from Rifyll's sight before she could begin running after it. It dived into a corridor, twisting through passageway after passageway, remaining just barely ahead of Rifyll's light as she chased it.

What was worse was that it was getting faster. She was slowly, but surely, losing the Shadow. Inch by inch, the being's speeding head disappeared from the radius of her staff's light even as her boots clopped over stone after stone.

And then, it was gone. Rifyll couldn't see it any more, at least. Perhaps it was beyond the edge of her light, or perhaps it had run beyond it to some chamber. She slowed, then stopped, then waited for it to come back. It didn't. "Dammit."

Rifyll's ear twitched as she heard water splash in the distance. She heard another splash of water, and slowly began to walk towards it. It was in the direction that the Shadow had been racing off to.

As she wandered the castle's labyrinthine passages, Rifyll nearly made a few wrong turns, but her ears did not lead her astray. She could see why this castle was tossed away; it'd be hell to navigate through for everyone. It wasn't practical unless you were running away from an invading army.

The sound of the water led Rifyll to another door. Unlike all the previous ones, this door had light dancing past the cracks in its frame. She experimentally pushed on it, and it swung open gently.

Inside was a giant red-and-gold bathroom. Candles multiple feet in length stood in long, elegant candelabras, their dancing flames shining against golden leaf details. Rifyll stepped onto tiles shaped like the leaves of autumn, her boots softly clicking on the porcelain. In one apse of the room was a flush toilet, a display of the Royal Family's power and opulence, and another apse held a gold-handled sink. The back of the room was dominated by a large bath raised out of the floor, where water sloshed gently against the edges. Towels hung on nearby railings, and a mirror backed the bath, so that Rifyll could see herself propping the door open. She took another step into the room, and let the door close behind her.

Where was the Shadow? Rifyll scanned the room for the flattened being. She couldn't spot the woman, and she resorted to calling out, "Shadow? Shadow, where are you?"

No answer, but the generosity already present was astounding. It'd be criminal if she didn't take advantage of it! Rifyll laid her staff and rucksack off to one side and began to strip. She pulled her boots off, and wiggled her toes in freedom, setting her boots next to her rucksack. Then she pulled her shirt up and over her head, revealing her flat belly. Small pink nipples on meager breasts popped free of the shirt's restriction. The shirt flew off to drift upon the pile Rifyll was creating, and her thumbs hooked onto the hem of her pants. She wiggled out of them, sliding them down to her ankles and revealing the body-hugging elven-lace panties she wore. The pants, too, were kicked to the pile.

Before she went any further, Rifyll sauntered over to the bath, sitting on the edge and dipping a finger in it. It was nice and warm, perfect for a night-time bath. She'd love to be able to sit by the moon-light window and hear elven serenades, but you couldn't have everything.

She returned to her pile to slide out of her undercloth. However, the Shadow had already beaten her, and the womanly form was projecting from the shadows formed by her rucksack. It had bent to an unnatural angle, and its fingers were running alongside her shirt sleeve. It caught her looking, and quickly twisted away innocently.

"Aw, you're such a sweetie, leading me to this. I'll have to repay you in some way," Rifyll said, kneeling down to pat the Shadow's shoulder. She could feel the floor's texture beneath the Shadow's intangible body.

"Until then" Rifyll added, "Privacy, please."

The Shadow seemed to look at her in her own odd, undefined way, and then bolted for the wall in a streak of raw darkness, vanishing into an invisible crack in the wall.

Rifyll smiled to herself. Today was going much, much better than it should've. Folks like her had a nickname, and that was Redshirt. It obviously derived from the blood-stained clothes that would likely occur if there were monsters in a scouted location. Rifyll was evidently much luckier that the standard redshirt. Who else got a nice shadow-creature to show them all the good spots?

She pulled the elven-lace panties off her smooth buttocks first, uncovering their small curve, then pulled them away from her snatch. The cloth was lifted away from a small patch of finely-kept hair and the smooth lips of a tight cunny. Many men would love to bed an elf. Few wondered what the elf in question would love to bed.

The panties were tossed onto her pants, and Rifyll sauntered to the bathing pool. She slipped into it, the warm water enveloping her long, graceful legs. She slid down in it, the water rising past her sex, past her naval, and up her chest, leaving her elfin breasts dry. A quick dip beneath the surface wet her body and hair, autumnal red and orange threads clinging to her fine, pale skin.

Rifyll sighed and drifted her fingers in a figure-8 pattern. She had to get real about herself; she was a terrible wizard. She didn't want to admit it, but those bad grades were no fluke. It took her two tries to light up her staff, and that was the best yet. She had let a fireball fizzle in her hand, and an unlocking spell had done utterly nothing. So far, that had been a good week. She could've massively hurt herself with that fireball if she had given it any more power, and normally, her unlocking spells turn the locks into rock.

What was she going to do once she ran back to the college? Study harder? She already did that. She wouldn't run away, not at cost to her mother's honor or the honor of her grandmother. Rifyll groaned as she covered her face with her hands. She was doomed, and it was because she was a failure.

She wallowed in misery and water for a few minutes longer, though the water was far more pleasant. It was a miracle just how good the water systems of the castle had held up, considering its age and when it had been abandoned. If she remembered her history right, Castle Lurroc had been abandoned for as long as she had been alive. Funny how she, a young elf, could compare ages to a musty old human castle.

The water sloshed around her legs as Rifyll stood up. There was still more castle to see, even if the bath was excellent. She grabbed the russet towels and rubbed them across her body, scrubbing her breasts and soft nipples, perking them slightly with the cozy, fluffy touch of the towel. When she got to her ears, she carefully dried them. They were quite sensitive, after all, and the fluffy towel made her feel warm in her core as it graced her ears.

The bathroom also had a dull red bathrobe. It was a bit big for her, but why not? She tied the sash around her thin waist, and then ran her fingers along the stretch of wall the Shadow had dived into. The Shadow had to have gone somewhere; there may be a secret room beyond this one, and who knew what the Shadow had planned next?

There was a raised tile on floor of a 6-pointed leaf that didn't match any plants Rifyll knew of. It was, in fact, completely unlike the rest of the leaf-tiles on the floor. She stepped on it, and the wall in front of her clicked. She pushed that in curiosity, and was rewarded by it swinging open like a doorway.

Beyond was a spectacular bedroom. In the center lay a magnificent four-poster bed covered in red and gold sheets, its pillars covered in gold-crusted details of swirling trees. Across from the hidden door, windows led onto a balcony where the moon shone through like silvery light. A spare few candles in large glass cups selectively lit up the room, firelight dancing off of glass and gold. On one of the final two walls, a door stood barred against intruders, yet the other wall was sadly bare.

"Hello?" Rifyll called out.

At once, movement of the shadows caught her attention. The shadow of the bed had the Shadow sitting on it, but she had taken a different position than before. Elegantly curved legs were propped up on pillows' shadows, revealing the Shadow's side profile. Her body was voluptuous, her waist inhumanly thin, yet her breasts firm and large and her buttocks curved sweetly. Her head was still somewhat mysterious, but Rifyll could see a gently curved nose and sweet lips meant for kissing.

The Shadow, obviously aware of Rifyll's presence, ran one hand up her body, touching and groping the curve of her breast. Rifyll could see the hard peg of the Shadow's nipple. If the Shadow was a body and not an image, oh the things she would do!

"Mmn, aren't you the teasing one," Rifyll taunted as she sauntered over to the bed. Her body wanted. She could feel the bare beginnings of wet desire in her sex, and acutely felt the softness of the bathing rob across her breasts.

"It's a pity we can't touch," Rifyll said as she sat on the bed. "I think that a night alone with you wouldn't be bad."

The Shadow sat up and looked at Rifyll, as much as it could without eyes. It hopped off the bed's shadow and slithered to the floor, where it darted, sliding feet-first, to touch Rifyll's shadow.

As soon as it touched her shadow, Rifyll felt something warm and smooth touch her feet. It was almost like skin, but her feet rested on the room's floorboards! She experimentally lifted one foot off the ground, and the touch vanished. She placed it back down, and the touch returned.

Rifyll's grin stretched from ear to ear. Well, perhaps this could work out after all. She had no idea if a shadow even had a cooch, but the Shadow seemed more than willing. "Well, come on, then. Show me what you've got!" Rifyll eagerly said.

The Shadow circled around her, now bound by her feet to Rifyll's shadow. She glided up the bed, her midnight-dark flatness flying over the orange covers. Rifyll squeaked in surprise as she felt skin touch her bare thighs as the Shadow slid under her as if she wasn't even there. Rifyll turned her neck to watch the Shadow, now behind her as if the woman-shape was her own shadow.

Then, the Shadow shrunk. Puzzled, Ryfill watched as the Shadow's head grew closer to her butt. Realization dawned on her as she saw shadowy arms slide up the bathrobe. The Shadow was climbing her! Oohoh, how interesting!