Shifty Characters Ch. 07

With her right hand, she swung a long, curved fey blade downwards.

"No!" Balabar cried.

But too late.

As the tatters of an enchanted net fell away, a silver-haired woman rose. Her hair was very straight and went all the way down to her hourglass hips. Her breasts were small, and as she turned to face him, solid silver eyes glimmered like pearls. Or like lightning clouds.

"That's a pretty neat fact about foxes, don't you think?"

Balabar stared at her blankly.

Before he could speak, before he could advance or fight or think or breathe, two very long-fingered hands were clasped around his throat. The silver eyes bored into his as the hands seemed to stretch and grow, wrapping once, twice around his neck, squeezing and squeezing and...

His vision was fading. The doppelganger looked at him with an expression of pure loathing, pure righteous hate, and he kicked his feet in the air and whimpered like an infant. Everything was going black.

Was that a hint of emotion in her eye? Balabar wracked his brains. He had always depended...on reading. Reading people's faces.

It wasn't guilt.

Wasn't anger.

It was pain. Not emotional pain. Physical pain. She was.

Hurting.

Hurt.

Air.

Air.

Air.

~~~~

Snatch was being cut down when he heard the doppelganger whimpering. She was still strangling the choking hypnotist, but there was something in the way her hands were shaking. Something he recognized.

Suisshu didn't hear, so he coughed. "Um...hey, fox-girl."

She heard it just as she was cutting through the last of the vines. Snatch yelled in surprise as he hit the ground. "Mier? Mier!"

Mier was shaking all over now. A groan escaped her lips. She seemed to be struggling to hold onto Balabar now.

"What's going on?" Larya squeaked, getting up. She was still a little winded by...what had happened, though Lapis's and her sisters' ministrations had broken her free.

"Contractions!" Snatch said. He leaped to his feet and ran over. "How long have you been having those?"

Suisshu grabbed the doppelganger away from Balabar, catching her as she collapsed. No one caught Balabar, but he was unconscious anyways. Or maybe dead.

"Uh..." Mier shuddered as Suisshu set her down gently against a growing bed of moss. Larya's doing. "A few months?"

"No, I mean—" Snatch buried his face in his hands. "Oh, gods. Okay, bend her knees. Keep her on her back unless things look ugly, then—well, we'll work out what to do then."

"Wait, what?" Larya stared at him, stunned. "She's—"

"Haven't you ever delivered a baby?" he snapped.

Larya blinked.

"Look, just keep an eye open." Snatch grimaced, walking over. "I've done this a couple times. I'll walk you through it. And if anyone asks me any stupid questions about why I know this stuff, you'll critically distract me and the baby will die right there. Got it?"

Larya's head tilted. She nodded.

Behind her, Sinthia let out a loud moan, still pleasuring herself.

"Oh my god. And someone please get rid of that nymph. Or at least—"

"Aaargh!" Mier cried.

He whirled. "Okay, I guess doppelgangers finish that stage quickly. Let's, uh, do this."

~~~~

Silence reigned in the Greatest, Darkest Forest.

Suisshu decided to break it.

"She—"

"It."

She looked at Mier questioningly. The weary doppelganger smiled and nodded. "Doppelgangers don't usually have real sexes or genders. Just...mild leanings. It."

"Well..." Suisshu sighed. "It is a beautiful baby, Mier."

The creature that lay in Mier's arms looked exactly like a human baby. Except for the 'transparent skin' thing. That was taking some getting used to. It certainly hadn't exactly helped the delivery along when Snatch had taken one look at 'it' and had to move away to vomit.

"I know," Mier said softly. "Not that it matters. Any form it takes will be as ugly or beautiful as it wants." She smiled at it, then looked up at Snatch. "You're sure about this?"

"Yeah. Whatever." Suisshu saw Snatch roll his eyes. "Antivenom. Elf crime family operating rural cults. Sounds like a piece of cake. Adventuring. How hard can it be?"

"I'm sorry." The doppelganger reached up and touched Snatch's hand. "I know you've already done a lot."

"A lot?" Snatch snorted. "I did shit. All I did was...well, not nothing."

"Baby steps, Snatch." Larya punched him on the shoulder. Suisshu watched as he stiffened, as if expecting an attack. "Don't worry, Mirror. We'll get you your cure." She tossed the staff in her hand. "I think I've got enough firepower to take down any elf crime lord that Snatch can't, uh, cut in half."

Suisshu noticed Mier didn't bother to correct the druidess on her name. "Neither of you have ever adventured before. You'll have to be careful."

"'Care' is literally in my middle name," Larya said. "And I think Snatch just attacked a garter snake. Snatch, don't do that. That's not—it's not poisonous. Calm down."

Snatch was already replacing his now-bloodied scythe at his back, glaring. "Could've been a...a poison snake. The kind with poison. You never know." He looked at Mier. "Anyways, I've been hunting bounties for years. How different can adventuring be?"

"Well, there is the partner thing," Larya said slowly.

Snatch looked at her. Cocked his head. "Y'know, you're a damn sight less obnoxious than Balabar. Less annoying, too. I don't think we'll have too much trouble."

"Well, that's good to—"

Snatch held up a finger. "But this is the one time we're working together, got it? After this, we go our separate ways. I don't want a damn long-term partner, not for anything."

"Got it."

"It's just this once," he repeated. Larya nodded.

The four were silent for a moment. They listened only to the sounds of life—the rustling of leaves, the crackling of branches, the gurgling of a newborn...

"Okay, seriously," Mier said, "am I the only one who just noticed that nymph's still at it?"

~~~~~~~~

Goblin's Note: And THAT'S a wrap! The story of the "rural elf crime family" will continue in the next series, which will start soon (brothels, nymph juices, and will o' the wisps/wills o' the wisp will all be involved!), but we'll be heading back to Sea Slimes for just a little while. Those mermaids have been neglected down there for far too long.

Thank you so much for reading. And as always, please leave your feedback/comments/votes in the appropriate venues! Later!