TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 09

Elta couldn't see magic like Kal, but being a magic-user, she could feel it. "NO!" she wailed trying to jerk herself away from the dog girls.

"Don't hurt her!" Perra yelled to the women about to tear the acolyte to shreds.

"NO! NO! NO! I can't!" she screamed trying to get away from the magic emanating from the girl.

Perra laid a hand on the woman's head as Elta stared back up at her through her tears, whispering, "I can't... I can't..." over and over as she sobbed.

"You don't have a choice, Elta. You agree to everything I said, or I walk away, and this girl rips your throat out."

"I can't... Lady Perra... I can't..."

A look of deep sadness crossed the young woman's face. "So be it," she looked at the reddish-bronze colored dog girl who had Elta's throat between her teeth. "Let me get back into the house then do what you must. I will have to inform her family, I don't want to see it as well."

Perra walked solemnly up the stairs, gritting her teeth at what was about to happen.

Her foot stepped across the threshold.

"Yes! Yes! I accept! I swear! Just please don't kill me!" screamed the cleric.

Perra had maintained the magic for the oath and felt it snap into place. It felt quite different being on this side of the process. "Thank goodness," she whispered, worried that the woman would choose martyrdom.

Daxas frowned as the girls released the woman now that she was no threat to them, reverting back to their normal-faced and less-hairy selves. "I don't like this Perra, this feels too much like slavery and I know Kal told you where he found us."

"I don't like it either, but now comes the hard part."

The wolf raised an eyebrow as she looked down at the farmgirl.

"Getting her on our side so we can release her from the oath."

Perra looked down where Elta had fallen and curled up into a ball. Wailing even as the girl who had been about to take her life lifted the cleric's head into her lap and smoothed her hair back.

Daxas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This has certainly been exhausting. I remember Kal saying something about a bathhouse and a warm soak?"

Perra brightened. "That sounds wonderful right now. Did you see where Ikuno's cave was?" Daxas nodded. "Good, go back and take the trail up the mountain, I'll meet you up there. Bring her along as well," she said indicating Elta, "She may as well learn about the true origin of the monster girls."

"I was there for some of Kal and Kelthor's discussions," said the wolf. "I may have some interesting news about that." Giving the woman a questioning look, she asked, "How are you planning on getting there if you aren't coming with us?"

Smiling, Perra stepped off the porch and walked over to the side of the building. Facing north, she put her pinkies in either side of her mouth and whistled loud enough to make the canines wince. Seconds later, a blue and orange harpy with a long, forked tail rocketed up above the trees before streaking towards them.

She turned and grinned at the wolf, "I have my ways."

------

Kal didn't like this 'in-between' where he was close enough to know things were happening back home, yet too far away to do anything about it.

And things had certainly been happening today.

He felt some extremely strong emotions from Perra these last few hours. However, despite being insanely curious, he was trying to not to appear overbearing and she hadn't reached out to him yet. Then again, it wasn't like he could do much about whatever was going on from here.

Eventually, things died down back at his farm and Gerda could go back to teaching him how to work earth magic without needing the extra motions. She claimed that Sandy would be there soon, so Kal was trying extra hard. Soon enough, he would leave his instructor behind and continue his journey with the tan-colored golem. Unfortunately, the blasted pebble refused to move. Kal just couldn't seem to wrap his head around whatever Gerda meant by pushing and pulling at the same time.

About the time he decided to take another break, Sandy arrived. Gerda ran over and gave the other golem a welcoming hug followed by Kal. The sandstone girl melted into his arms, her greeting filled with lusty promises of what was to come over the next few days.

Gerda immediately began cluing her sister in on the limitations of traveling with a human passenger. Sandy soon stopped her.

"Why are you talking like that Lime? You were doing it the last time you visited but now you've gotten worse."

Gerda seemed taken aback by the question and took a long time to answer. "Ikuno always asked me to hurry when I told her a story. Since I can't talk faster I started taking out extra words, so she won't have to tell me to hurry when she comes back," she answered, looking sheepish.

Kal wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Be you, Gerda. That's the best way to make Ikuno happy. She would appreciate the effort on her behalf but be upset that you changed a part of what you are just to make her a tiny bit happier. That doesn't balance out."

"But I wanted to make her happy," she said sounding dejected.

"When Ikuno comes home she will be so happy to see you she won't give a damn how fast you talk. If it takes two weeks to tell her all the things you did since she went away, I'm sure she will be perfectly content to sit and listen. While I think what you are trying to do is extremely sweet, I can guarantee that Ikuno will appreciate not having to listen to 'orc speak'."

The golem glared at him, "You think I sound like an orc and you didn't tell me?"

"To be honest, I've never seen an orc, but I've heard plenty of people making fun of them and it was similar. In fairness, I thought the way you talked now was a part of your new image and it also never got to the point of being annoying," said Kal, shrugging. He figured that his lack of annoyance was mostly because of the added speed in communicating. It may have been for the wrong reasons, but the golem had certainly been successful in that respect.

Satisfied with his answer, she continued instructing Sandy of the frailties of her traveling companion. By the time Gerda finished, Kal was beginning to feel sorry for himself for being born as a fragile and weak human.

The mage shook off the feelings of self-pity as the golem came over to say goodbye. They shared a long kiss then stood there with their arms around each other. Once they finally separated, Gerda sank into the floor, waving and promising to look after the mushroom girl. Kal sighed as she finally dipped below the surface of the stone. Looking over at Sandy, he saw that she had devised her own form of traveling harness for him and was waiting for him to step into it. As he looked to where Gerda had disappeared he was thankful that the sandstone golem wasn't in the mood for a more intimate dalliance.

Kal stepped between the stone protrusions coming from Sandy's body. Growing stone rods that came over his shoulders then dove down to connect to the hoop encircling his waist, she completed the rest of the restraint. Once he was secured they dropped into the floor below and began moving north.

------

Kuto and Perra were already there and waiting when Elta arrived with the wolves. Perra had stripped down and was sitting on a ledge that ran along the edge of the pool for just that purpose. The harpy wasn't swimming, claiming that she had splashed about a bit to wash herself off when they first arrived. Her larger feathers got waterlogged easier than normal swallows and she still needed to take Perra home later. For the harpy, swimming was saved for the times when they were going to be there long enough to allow her wings to dry.

The two-our trek there had been mostly silent. The cleric was surprised once they were in the bathhouse and the wolf instructed her to get out her testing box and cast an evil detection spell.

Some wizard other than Kal had told the wolf girl of the small box carried by most magic-users. The crystals inside acted as gauges to let a magic-user know if their detection spells were working. The first held a tiny shard of a demon's horn as a source of evil. The one beside it was slightly milky and had a tiny piece of mana crystal no bigger than the head of a pin. The third and final crystal contained a small, flat piece of stone with an explosive rune on it. The rune would only detonate if someone spoke a long sequence of numbers forward and backward in one breath. Technically still a trap even if it was nearly impossible to set off. In the lid of the box was a small button with a tiny hole beside it. Pressing the button would cause a curved needle to pop out and poke the side of your finger. Slightly above the button was a small switch to disarm the mechanism. Like the third crystal, it was technically still a trap, even though it was harmless. The final piece of the box was engraved just above the button, a paradoxical phrase that read, "The second sentence is false. The first sentence is true." Between all these, they covered the detection of evil, magic, magical traps, mechanical traps, and lies.

"Look at us Elta," said Daxas holding out her arms, "Kelthor told Kal that monster girls were no more prone to evil than normal humans. Look at me, cleric, am I evil?"

Elta hesitantly summoned a glowing circle in front of her hand, unsure if her oath's restrictions would even allow it. Pressing the circle to her chest she stared at the box and saw a black haze form around the first crystal, then looked up at the wolf.

She waited a few seconds for the haze to form, knowing that it wouldn't. "We of the church have been versed in your tricks, wolf," she spat. "We know that you have devised some way to suppress your demonic aura."

"Elta, while you were studying with the church, how many of your peers were attempting to discover how to combat this 'suppression'?" asked Perra, her arms folded on the side of the pool with her chin resting on them as her body floated out behind her.

She looked over at the wizard's woman, "None, why?"

"Not a single person in the capital felt that this was important enough to find out? How even the most powerful clerics' evil detection spells are thwarted by monster girls? What about the church's headquarters? Was anyone researching it there?"

"No," she replied slowly. Now that Perra was bringing it to light it did seem strange that something that seemed so important was being largely overlooked. "I'm certain that the research was completed years ago. When no solution was found, it was abandoned." Elta felt a moment of elation as she saw the farmgirl frown.

"If you think about, it that makes those who studied this and failed to find the cause seem incompetent. What about other demons? Are any of the other ones able to do the same thing and hide their demonic nature?"

The cleric's elation quickly crumbled, "Um, no. None that I'm aware of."

"None? Even the strongest ones? Surely they at least would have an ability common to almost every monster girl."

The more the woman spoke the more it seemed improbable that monster girls were a type of demon. "No," Elta replied tersely, "again none that I'm aware of."

"I think you're beginning to see what I'm saying, which is a good thing. Strip down and join me, I have a story to tell you." Perra's eyes widened as the cleric's body straightened and she began stiffly undoing the clasps on her robes. Her hands shook as she fought the involuntary motions. "Stop!" she cried out, "I'm sorry, I'll be more careful. Please come join me in the pool, it feels wonderful and we have much to discuss."

The woman's body relaxed but she continued to give the wizard's whore a hate-filled glare, "Why bother? You could just use that damn jewel and make me believe whatever the hell you are about to tell me," she snarled.

Perra smiled, "It doesn't work that way. I'm guessing that you didn't really want to come to my home and I certainly didn't want you there. What acts as a gentle nudge for people to think the way I want them to, instead was more like a shove to get you the hell out of my house." She saw a flicker of a smile run across Elta's face. "Don't bother running to the council, they already know about it. I'm allowed to wear it at meetings and in return I do all the negotiating with the merchants who come through. So far the council is quite happy with some of the deals I have made for the town."

"What else does it do? Allow you to read minds?" she asked through gritted teeth as her next plan failed in its infancy.

"No, I can't read minds other than Kal's. Even with him, it's just his surface thoughts unless he allows me to go deeper. The pendant does help me think more clearly. I notice things others might miss and I'm often able to piece together what they are thinking by a person's expression and body language."

"That itself seems quite powerful," said Daxas.

The farmgirl smiled and turned around. "Refia," she called, "How am I feeling right now?"

The bloodhound was happily paddling about while some of the other girls had opted for human limbs play around in the large pool. She sniffed the air, "Upset, nervous, happy, and a little bit aroused but that seems older."

Looking back at the wolf Perra asked, "Why do you think that is?"

Daxas regarded the human for a moment. "Upset because of what you did to her," she nodded toward Elta. "Nervous because you still don't know if it was the right thing to do. Happy because you look very comfortable in the water. Aroused, but not recently..." Dax looked over at Kuto, "perhaps more than just transportation?"

Perra grinned, "She helped me the other day with Kal and Gerda's reunion, I was reminded of that when we were here alone waiting for you."

"You even have sex with them? Have you no shame?" sneered the cleric.

Dax put a hand on the woman's shoulder and turned her, leaning down so they were almost nose to nose. "You and the harpy are the only ones in this room not pregnant at the moment and all our children have the same father. Do you think that one of his nearest and dearest women would have an issue with monster girls considering how much he cares for us?"

"Sticking his penis into you is hardly evidence of caring."

"Actually, it is," said the black-haired dog girl as she swam up to the lean on the side of the pool next to Perra. "He could have left Dax as the only one carrying his child and made the rest of us spend the next week masturbating to deal with our heats. Personally, I can tell you that not getting any relief from a male is excruciatingly painful, Kal saved me from that after he rescued us."

"Rescued?"

"We were to be sold as slaves to the city's nobles," replied Dax's beta

"Any city would have more than enough humans to be servants, why would they need b... dogs."

Alina ignored the near slip-up. "Not as servants, as toys."

Elta's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "There is never a shortage of whorehouses in cities, there would be no need for monster girls as entertainment."

Alina shook her head, "Human whores aren't disposable. We were. Kogen stopped telling us the stories of what gruesome ways the girls previously sold had been killed off once their owners got bored with them. It would cause the next few girls being bought to panic. I don't doubt that he exaggerated the stories to scare us more but there was always a note of truth in his words."

The retriever's sincerity didn't leave much room for the cleric to doubt what she said. Again, Elta was having a hard time with what she was seeing and hearing from the monster girls. Part of her wanted to believe that the woman was lying and probably kept this Kogen as breeding stock. After all, monster girls were always the oppressors of humans. Stealing men and having sex with them until they died. Popping out child after child trying to destroy human civilization with sheer numbers. In light of the current conversation the depiction of monster girls touted by the church didn't seem to be holding up very well

Daxas spoke up, smiling at her beta and trying to change the tense mood brought on by the dog girls reliving unpleasant memories. "On the bright side, we won't have to worry about heats for a few years now."

Alina sighed happily, "Two years of only having sex when I want to instead of because my body is screaming at me to get pregnant. You'd best believe I'm looking forward to that." She frowned slightly, "Too bad Kal is going to be gone for most of that time."

"We were supposed to be coming out here to relax and tell Elta the true story of how monster girls came about, not lamenting Kal's absence. Besides," Perra bumped the girl next to her with her hip, "You had your last time with him a few days ago, it's been months for me."

Alina looked contrite, "Sorry."

"No worries," replied the farmgirl then looked up at Elta. "Would you please join us?"

"I have no desire to share water with a bunch of dogs," snarled the cleric.

"Girls! On me!" every one of the dog girls started at Dax's sudden command. Alina was at the edge of the pool and the first one out and standing next to the wolf. As quickly as possible the others all lined up on either side of Dax, a couple of them glaring at the cleric for interrupting their swim. "Perra doesn't want to command you any more than necessary. However, you've reeked of urine since we stopped you from attacking her earlier. I'm guessing you can clean and repair your clothes the same way Kal does, but you still need to get it off of your skin. You're taking a bath, whether you like it or not. Either you can get undressed or we can undress you. Choose."

Elta seemed to shrink under the wolf's glare. "I can't take my robes off," she mumbled shaking her head fearfully.

Dax and Perra exchanged a look, they had both expected defiance, not fear. Something wasn't right.

Perra made her way to the steps Gerda had put in the side of the pool for her and approached the cleric. The younger woman was almost the same height, naked, and very pregnant. By most people's reckoning, she was harmless, yet Elta stepped back as though the woman were pointing a sword at her.

"Please don't," whispered the cleric, her voice tinted with shame and fear as Perra backed her into the wall of the bathhouse.

"Then do it yourself and I won't have to."

It took a few seconds, but Elta came to the realization that there was no way out of this. Her hands shook once again as she reached up and began undoing the clasps on her robe, but for a vastly different reason. By the time she opened the front and let it fall, tears ran freely down her cheeks. Her eyes pleaded with the younger woman to not make her do this, but the farmgirl was resolute.

It tested Perra's willpower to not tell her to stop and wrap her arms around the woman, telling her everything would be alright. She blamed it on burgeoning motherly instincts. However, the mental anguish Elta was going through was unnatural. Something was wrong with the cleric and she intended to find out what it was. Besides, the woman really did need a bath.

As Elta lifted her shift up and over her head the other women in the room were expecting to see some kind of horrible disfigurement. Instead, she looked like a normal, healthy woman in her twenties.

Something seemed off to Perra. For someone who had been so distraught about getting naked, she wasn't even bothering to try to cover her breasts and sex with her hands.

"Not bad," said the farmgirl looking her up and down. "I can certainly tell you are related to Marda."

The cleric's weak smile at the compliment turned to horror as Perra raised a hand and indicated she turn around. Knowing that arguing with the farmgirl was futile, Elta closed her eyes and gritted her teeth before turning to face the wall.

There was a collective gasp from behind her and the woman laid her head on the bathhouse wall in front of her and sobbed in shame.