Stolen Ch. 03

Witch's Tit was a pretty good beer with a not too bitter aftertaste. I felt relieved that it didn't feature a flowery taste or aroma. After taking a bigger drink from the mug, I leaned back in the chair and sighed. I found myself looking at the condensation on the side of the cup, then sat up a little straighter. The beer was chilled and I hadn't seen any hint of electricity in the city.

"Pretty good, right?" asked Emmet.

"Yeah. Not bad at all," I replied as my eyes wandered the rooftop.

There was no hint of any modern technology present. Thinking about it, Nenny had hand written her report, there hadn't been any mechanical typewriters at the station either. But if they did things in a pre-industrial manner, how were they able to make as many clothes as in Gianna's shop? Or the iron stands?

"What's wrong?" asked Bale as she sat her mug on the table.

"How do they keep the beer cold?"

Emmet snorted and Bale smiled and said, "Magic."

I rolled my eyes. Magic, of course. I took another drink of the brew then looked over at Bale.

"So, no electricity?" I asked. "No radio, television, computers, or Internet? Can we at least buy books even if we're not allowed in the libraries?"

They exchanged puzzled glances before Bale shook her head at me. "I'm not familiar with those terms," she said. "What do they mean?"

"Never mind," I said and waved my hand dismissively after staring at them for a moment. How would I even begin to explain those concepts to them? Would they even believe me if I said we had harnessed the stuff of lightning to make our lives easier?

"Let's just say my people have ways to make many things at the same time, identical to each other and have many forms of mass entertainment."

Bale shook her head, her brown ponytail swayed and gave me an intrigued look before she said, "We have water powered wheels that can provide mechanical force to help fashion large quantities of cloth, milled grain and small items."

Emmet was nodding her head, "Yeah, most things are made by hand like always. If you need more you get more people to make it."

"So both your worlds are low tech?"

"What is low tech?" the brunette asked, she looked genuinely confused.

"I suppose I mean pre-industrial. No mass machine production of consumer or military goods."

They shook their heads at me mutely. I'm sure I sounded like a raving lunatic. So they came from pre-industrial worlds, probably at the same development level. But that didn't explain the presence of all the fashioned and shaped iron used for clothing stands.

"Are all the worlds you know of roughly the same?" I asked trying to clarify so they would understand. "I mean, do you all use swords and leather armor?"

"We have steel armor and weapons," answered Emmet in a surly tone, it sounded as if she was offended by my question.

"I don't mean to be insulting Emmet. Please don't take it that way," I apologized.

So, I was in a hell with no Internet. I suppose no Internet would be a hell on its own. I frowned and looked into my mug. The wait to go home would seem longer than it was. Then I wondered about how much could be done with magic. Was it used to mass produce items the lilim used for trade?

I was getting an uneasy feeling from our conversation. Memories of a story I had read by Mark Twain came to mind. The details of the tale were sketchy but I remembered enough to know that introducing some ideas and knowledge could be disastrous. I resolved to keep my mouth shut about technology going forward. They didn't need to know about the joys of biological weapons or thermonuclear warheads.

I rubbed at my eyes with my hands and sat up. "Never mind. Just forget what I said. So what are the forms of entertainment here?" I asked. "Plays? Theater and musicians?"

Emmet looked grumpy before she responded, "Yeah. Some of the succubi will play on the stage. Mummers and jugglers as well."

"Oh," I replied glumly looking into the mug before my head snapped back up. "Wait, what sort of plays do sex demons put on?"

They both laughed as they looked at me, whatever expression was on my face caused them to laugh harder.

"It's a perfectly reasonable question to ask," I replied defensively, I was feeling embarrassed at their reactions.

Bale recovered enough to say, "Some are normal, some are not." She chuckled and added, "They keep us away from the types of theaters and events that might result in sexual advances."

"Oh," I said. "For sexual predators, they don't seem to be as perverted as I would've thought."

Emmet looked thoroughly amused at me as I continued, "I mean. Before I got here if you had told me there was a place full of succubi I would've expected mass public orgies everywhere."

"Brah, they have those too," she said and watched me blush. "Mostly they keep that indoors. It's not like things are all ship shape here. They're always fighting the other city-states and the shedim."

Bale nodded, her hand rising to her face before falling to her lap. She still had a grin on her face as she said, "As you would expect, they indulge in many types of sexual acts but they also use it as a form of currying favor amongst themselves. They will share partners to form or reinforce alliances and deepen friendships."

"Whoring us out," I said bitterly while I slumped in the chair.

Emmet nodded in agreement and idly toyed with one of her blond braids. She took a drink from her cup as Bale continued to explain, "Yes and no. They say they never force a factotum into anything she isn't willing to do. We would be their most valuable assets so they take great pains to protect their factotum."

"Property Bale. We would be property," I corrected grumpily. "Kept in a cage, trotted out for special occasions then locked away. It sounds deathly boring on top of being dehumanizing."

Neither spoke for a moment. I sat up straight and rubbed at the soreness of my stomach with a sigh. After taking a large gulp of beer from my mug, I stared into it moodily. I hadn't really had a chance to sit and think since being Stolen. It was difficult to believe that it had only been a day. Maybe not even a full day actually.

Briselen had taken me on Friday night and that meant it would be another two days before anyone realized that I was gone. Being in Asphodel for a year or more would naturally mean I would lose my job and my place. I doubted any search would turn up signs that I had been pulled through a magic portal into a different world.

Letting my mind wander I considered the problem, trying not to linger on any of the swelling frustration and bitterness I was feeling. I needed a plan of action. I wanted to go home and get my body back.

That thought prompted me to look down at my chest. What if I couldn't be returned to my body? Nenny had mentioned that sometimes the change was irreversible. Granted she had said that sexual activity was the most common reason, but it wasn't the sole reason.

If I couldn't be restored to my old self I would face a new set of problems. One of the biggest would be the inability to prove my identity. That would mean no access to any cash in the bank without an ATM card. Who knew where that had ended up. Was it still in my wallet in my pants at the hotel room? Would the hotel keep it on hand after a year? Would they even hand it to some strange woman?

Additionally, that also left me in a foreign country with no way to verify what my citizenship was. That was a whole new can of worms. The vast majority of countries did not look kindly upon illegal immigrants, especially those who didn't have a good command of the native language. I would probably be imprisoned with no way to prove my nation of origin.

Even if I could find my wallet and passport, I wouldn't look the same. How would I explain the difference? Who would believe me? I would be a foreign woman in an overseas jail in a still developing part of the world. Not the best situation.

If I avoided prison and managed to make it to a country where I could fit in, I still had no way to identify myself. I still had all my skills, knowledge and my memories were intact. I could get a job doing the same work I had been doing.

Only, how would I legalize myself with no support network and no funds? I'd have to find other work. Another glance down at my chest sent shivers down my spine. Work that didn't rely on identification and dealt in cash left few legal options. The illegal dangerous options were still there, though.

I shook my head and took a long slow drink of the beer. I needed to refine my objectives. If I couldn't get my body back I would have to start over. I was better off here. In a hell. That thought caused me to snort in laughter.

The girls glanced at me curiously. They looked lost in their own thoughts. "Sorry, just thinking," I apologized.

"How long have you girls been here anyways?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Six months," answered Bale.

"I got Stolen a few weeks after Bale," replied Emmet before taking a drink.

"So you're at the halfway point huh," I commented. They both nodded but they didn't seem pleased.

"How many catalyst have been Stolen while you've been here?"

They exchanged a brief glance before Bale said, "You'd be the first."

I grunted and asked, "Have you ever heard of a catalyst going home after being Stolen?"

Bale shook her head, not meeting my eyes. Emmet slouched in her chair and stared at the table. Their body language answered that. None.

Nenny had said I would be a great prize. Catalyst were highly sought after and they could infuse other succubus with magic power in addition to the one they were bonded with. If they were embroiled in wars, they would need every catalyst they could get. I was screwed.

"They're not going to let me go home," I stated as I idly turned the clay mug on the table in between my hands.

Emmet and Bale didn't say anything. They both stared moodily at their own cups. Neither was a catalyst but I had been told that there weren't enough factotum to go around. As they moved up the queue to return home, I imagined more pressure would be placed on them to stay and bond.

Maybe Briselen had backing from a noble house to explore Earth. If they were desperate, the rumors of how strong the Crusaders had been might have driven some to contemplate stealing factotum from Earth. The thought caused me to snort again. I was probably borrowing trouble. Besides, if they thought Earth would be a playground for them they had another thing coming, leather armor was no protection against firearms.

That promised to be a grim line of thought and I shook my head to clear it. Leaning back and wincing at the bruise forming on my torso I looked at Bale. She was still staring moodily at the table. The moody expression reminded me of the bartender.

"Bale, what's with the succubus with the broken horns? You know, the one missing her wings?"

Her head jerked as I interrupted her musings. "Oh," she said and blinked rapidly. "Well, they do a lot of fighting so some end up crippled. It's like a veteran missing a limb. They do some of the service jobs around the city. The caretakers at the apartments are the same."

"I crumpled two succubi against stone walls that broke their bones and wings," I said with a slight frown. "They healed up pretty quickly."

She stared at me and said, "Uh, yeah. They are very resilient and heal rapidly."

Emmet looked impressed and sat up slightly. Bale continued to explain, "They don't grow back severed limbs. Sometimes a lilim will have her wings amputated if she's committed a severe enough crime. It marks them as a sort of pariah."

"That sounds pretty harsh."

She nodded in agreement and added, "The shedim will rip off a lilim's wings if they catch one. Sometimes they will break their horns. The succubi will do all they can to recover one of their own from the shedim before they're carried off. Sometimes they'll go as far as to sever the limbs the lilim is being dragged by to save her."

I felt my eyebrows rise in surprise. "That's grim," I remarked.

"Better than the alternative," said Emmet as she pulled her mug closer to her.

Nenny had said that the shedim would use any harpy and succubus they caught to breed more of their kind to grow their numbers. They would be kept perpetually pregnant, used as brood mares, to destroy their own people. That was pretty dark.

"How long does a lilim live for anyways? If we can live for four hundred years after bonding, how long do they go on for?" I asked.

"About twelve hundred years," Bale answered. "They're quite forthcoming about it. Many of our histories were penned by succubi who lived through the events."

"Wow," I softly exclaimed. That would be a long time to endure suffering at the hands of an enemy. Would they even be sane after a few years, more or less centuries? No wonder they would go to such extremes to save a sister.

I leaned back in the chair and took a long drink from my mug. The beer was really good. The talk had been a nice distraction but I need to decide on my objectives. I needed to form a plan of action. My mind ran back over my options.

Letting a catalyst go didn't seem plausible with their current wars. Sure, I could probably wait as long as Bale and Emmet but then they might try to seduce me and force a bond anyways. I was pretty sure if they were as hard up as they seemed, they would look the other way if it meant survival. It was always easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission after all.

So my options were to go home only with my body or stay and try to make a new life. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Worst case scenario would be having to remain in Asphodel and not being able to regain my body.

Shifting my weight around in the chair, I stared into the clay mug of beer. The lack of information was the biggest obstacle to any plan of action. Not having the Internet was hurting. A few minutes of searching would've turned up what I needed to make plans with, if it had been digitalized that is.

Sighing, I slowly turned the cup in my hands. If I was stuck, if being bonded was the worst case scenario, I needed to find out more about the bond. Negotiating the best possible deal I could get would be of paramount importance then. At the minimum, it meant finding out all I could to avoid that fate.

I momentarily let the frustration I was feeling sweep over me. It sucked and it wasn't fair. Wallowing in it wouldn't change a thing, though. I had to plan and concentrate on the objectives.

I blew out an aggrieved sigh into my cup. The girls looked at me with concern but didn't interrupt my thoughts. It felt like I was getting a better handle on my emotions. They were still surprisingly strong in intensity but I could now think through them. Somewhat.

I quickly shook my head and straightened my back. I'd needed to find out more about the bond. What limits could I set on it and more importantly, could I be compelled into doing things I didn't want to do. Maybe Gianna could tell me more.

Nenny was also a possible source of information unless I could find some books covering the change and bonds. She would most likely want me to stay, but knowing her preference could work out. She may be more forthcoming about information if I played up that angle.

I took another long drink from the cup, draining it of beer and set it down. So that was the plan. Talk to Gianna then evolve it on what she had to say. Possibly corroborate what she reveals with what I could get from Nenny. Not much of a plan, but it put my mind at ease. I admit, I'm not much of a mastermind either.

"You girls ready for another?" I asked. They sat slumped on the table lost in their own thoughts.

Emmet perked up and nodded. "Sure brah," she said. "I'm ready for another one."

Bale picked up her mug and nodded saying, "Just about ready."

"Be right back."

My eyes wandered as I wove my way through the seating up to the bar. Most of the girls on the roof looked slightly drunk. The succubi not working the bar kept their attention focused on the women. Their postures and body language reminded me of hunting cats, waiting for prey to leave the safety of the herd.

After ordering another round of beers, I half leaned against the bar while waiting. The blue dot of a day indicator drew my focus. There were a few of them placed at regular intervals around the outside of the bar. I couldn't see anything that looked like a clock, though. How did they tell time? I hadn't heard any bells, whistles, or audible indicators of time keeping. The same succubus with broken horns placed the mugs before me, interrupting my musings.

Frowning, I carefully made my way back to the table carrying the three new beers. Setting them on the table, the girls reached for fresh mugs and stacked the empties on a vacant table next to us. We clanked our clay cups together in a cheer and drank.

Emmet sighed in satisfaction and leaned back in her chair. She started to play with one of her blonde braids. With a start, I realized that I had forgotten about my own long hair.

I pulled my own braid forward and looked at the green bow tied around the tip of my red hair. The weight and feel of the braid had felt so natural I hadn't thought about it. Was I just distracted, overwhelmed by all the new information and events, or was the acceptance of my changes part of the magic that had been used to remake me?

"I told you the bow looked totally cute," Emmet said and smiled.

Bale also smiled at me as I snorted through my nose. With a wry grin, I nodded at Emmet and said, "Yeah. You did. I guess it does look cute. I'm just not used to being cute."

My braid was pretty long, it easily draped over a shoulder and over the swell of my breasts. My eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to me. Did girls really tug their braids at people in frustration? Experimentally, I tugged at my braid and winced at the pain. That did not feel good at all. Well, that answered that.

"Why did you do that?" asked Emmet with a smile.

"Just trying something I had read about," I answered then glanced at the girls. "How do they tell time here? I haven't seen any clocks."

They chuckled at me and Bale pulled a pocket watch from a small pocket in her skirt. She opened it and handed it to me. It looked like a well-made watch; its white face was covered in what looked like roman numerals. According to the watch, it was early afternoon.

"Thanks," I said as I returned it to her. "It's nice, so where did you get it?"

I really didn't want a watch, though it could come in handy. I was just at a loss on what to talk about.

"The Old Market," she said then perked up. "Do you want to go?"

"Sure. Tomorrow? I'm still tired from everything that has happened so far."

Bale nodded while Emmet took a drink. "Meet us here whenever you get up. It's not far from here and we can eat first."

I agreed and we sat there in companionable silence drinking our beers. My eyes drifted around the rooftop as we drank. The normalcy of being in a bar, watching women being approached by eager suitors only to be rejected was very reassuring. As much as I had been changed, things remained relatable.

We had a few more beers during which Emmet regaled us with tales of her harpooning things she called snarlteeth. It sounded like a cross between a blue whale and a shark, only she described them as being inky black with four eyes. She talked about past ships she had fished on and her home she called the Crescent Coast.

Bale spoke about her time in Crown City and her time spent as an apprentice archivist. She had studied the succubi and Asphodel but hadn't met any before being Stolen. The lilim only interacted and traded with the nobility of her country. Turns out, most of what she had learned was wildly misleading. She said the lilim were eager to share knowledge among the worlds they traded with. That reinforced my belief in keeping my mouth shut about Earth's technology.