Monstrum: Broodmother - Part 1

By WintermuteX
wintermutex.stories@gmail.com
/~Wintermutex/

Previous stories: 
Monstrum: Bitch

Tags:
Mg, bd, best, magic, nc, ped, rape, reluc, viol 

Content:
Rape, Monster Rape, Young Girls, Magic/Fantasy, Gore, Death, 
Bondage, Pedophilia, Pregnancy 

                                  ~*~                                  
								  
10-year-old Kali looked up from her textbook. Driving wind pushed the 
rain in waves outside the grimy flap of the tent. It splattered on the 
canvas roof, pouring down in rivulets and forming muddy puddles through 
which the camp soldiers trudged. Three days of miserable rain had 
hampered their patrol, and it showed no signs of letting up. 

The other two beds in the tent were empty, her fellow mages called out 
to deal with a fallen tree on the mountain path. Kali rolled over onto 
her back in the cozy bunk, luxuriating in the soft pelts that kept the 
cold at bay. They had been out a month, dispatched to the western passes 
near Bridonia. She had barely returned from her last assignment - a 
disastrous skirmish with Hellhounds - when she was immediately 
reassigned and dispatched with another patrol heading in the opposite 
direction. More Org-reh, or maybe it was Centaurum this time, pillaging 
and destroying the outer villages of the kingdom. 

She sighed. It seemed like the monsters were everywhere these days. 
Once, Teleria had been a shining jewel of civilization, with a 
formidable standing army, a mighty queen, and a highly-trained school of 
mages, able to accomplish seemingly any task with the powerful magic at 
their command. Now, after twenty years of increasingly aggressive and 
numerous monster attacks, it was rotting from within. Skirmishes went 
poorly, the combined might of trained swordsmen and capable mages 
suffering under the assaults of the monsters. Ambushes, feints, and 
hit-and-run tactics were taking their toll, sometimes bringing a 
horrific end to entire squads. The monsters were getting increasingly 
clever, threatening outlying cities and taking over whole villages, and 
the forces of the kingdom didn't seem able to stop them. 

The queen hadn't been seen in months - supposedly cloistered in her 
tower and unwilling to speak to anyone. Her council turned deaf ears to 
the cries from the military and the mages, insisting on the traditional 
principles of engagement: disciplined soldiers combined with the potency 
of the mages - young girls between the ages of 8 and 14 in whom magical 
abilities were at their peak - was a devastating force that could not be 
beat. In the beginning of the war, it seemed they were right. The squads 
had won every battle, liberating the fortress of Axonbad from the Org, 
protecting outlying villages, driving the monsters back wherever they 
had appeared. But the years had worn on, and the monsters grew in 
cunning, until many of the engagements began to turn in their favor. 
Hushed whispers, at least among her friends, said that someone must be 
controlling them. After all, nobody knew where the monsters came from, 
or how they got to Teleria in the first place. Anna, out there somewhere 
in the rain, loudly insisted to anyone that would listen that the 
Org-reh mages, large cruel brutes with notable intelligence and a rough 
smattering of magical ability, must be responsible, but Kali wasn't so 
sure. Sometimes, the monsters were too clever. They would seem to know 
about a patrol before it had even arrived. It didn't add up. 

There was no use brooding. She returned her attention to her book, the 
Monstrum Factorum, a thick, black tome with an elaborate binding and 
gold-worked frame. Its thousands of heavy pages comprised a guidebook of 
virtually every known scientific fact about all monster species. No 
responsible mage was ever without her copy of the Factorum. They were 
nearing the pass where monsters had been sighted, and she had to be 
ready if she was going to be effective. 

"Centaurum are large, hybrid creatures that possess the lower body of a 
horse and the upper body of a human. They are notable for their great 
stamina, fighting skills, and cruelty to each other and to their prey. 
Hunting in packs typically numbering between five and twenty, a 
Centaurum war party will use their superior speed to their advantage, 
either chasing and surrounding their prey, or forcing their opponents to 
pursue and fight them on a battlefield of their own choosing. They 
prefer wide-open prairie land, as befits their equine nature, and are 
highly adept with bows and spears. 

"When capturing human prey, Centaurum will kill the males in cruel 
games, and take captive the desirable females, preferring young human 
women most. Centaurum posses a genital anatomy comparable to a horse, 
and will attempt to breed with their prizes almost ceaselessly when not 
fighting or hunting. While new prey is typically unable to accommodate 
the substantial girth of such an organ, this does not stop the Centaurum 
from trying. Exposure of the mucous membranes to Centaurum semen causes 
one of the most rapid Conversion effects known to Monstrum science, with 
the resulting morphological and pathological transformations beginning 
almost immediately. In under 24 hours, the genital region begins to 
undergo a dramatic widening and toughing, making it more suitable for 
deep penetration by the equine penis. Secondary transformations follow 
at a somewhat slower pace, and entail a subtle restructuring of internal 
organs in the victim, allowing for a lengthening of the vaginal canal 
and eventual accommodation of the entire length and girth of the 
Centaurum anatomy. The hips and pelvis undergo small structural changes, 
and the uterus, bladder, and lower gastric regions slowly migrate to new 
positions. Though progress is swift at the beginning, the anatomical 
transformations can take up to 6 months to reach their final stage. 
Victims this far into the Conversion process are highly prized, and 
Centaurum are known to trade these sexual slaves as a rudimentary form 
of currency with other tribes." 

Kali tried to repress her distaste at the diagram on the opposite page. 
Why was it necessary to include a full-page color diagram of a Centaurum 
in full penetration of a little girl? The anatomical cutaway that showed 
how the monstrous, veiny horsecock filled up the vagina and pushed the 
internal organs aside was luxuriously detailed and revoltingly 
informative. It was all in the name of science, Kali supposed. The cover 
page of the Monstrum Factorum espoused its philosophy: Percutere 
Inimicus, Intelligatis. You needed to understand an enemy to beat them. 
She skipped over the remainder of the sexual diagrams. 

"Guidelines for magical combat against Centaurum: first restrain with 
Air or Earth, countering their speed. Raise deflection spells against 
their arrows, which they fire with skilled precision. Eruptions are 
notably effective, as they can toss a galloping creature aside, causing 
it to break its legs. Ensure that proper alarms and sentries are set 
whenever travelling over open ground, as Centaurum are known to stalk 
and-" 

She turned to the next chapter with a sigh. She knew how to fight 
Centaurum. Blow them up and don't get turned into a pincushion of 
arrows. There wouldn't be any Centaurum out here near the mountain 
passes. It was terrifying what the creatures would do to the girls - and 
to the mages - that they captured. 

"Sewer Squelches prefer to dwell in dark, moist tunnels. They can be 
frequently found near underground rivers and in the labyrinthine sewer 
systems of moderately-sized cities. The body of a Sewer Squelch consists 
of between twelve and thirty long, pink appendages protruding from a 
roundish orb that is dominated by a gigantic eyeball. A Squelch floats 
on its own power, using an unknown magical mechanism to achieve its 
levitation. The tentacles of the creature are thin but versatile, able 
to achieve a variety of feats from digital and magical manipulation to 
rape and insemination. Squelches prefers to lurk in dark places until 
prey comes in range, at which point they will-" 

There wouldn't be any Squelches out here either. They liked to lurk in 
sewers and stormdrains, and snatch incautious little girls with their 
tentacles, dragging them back to their nests and then raping them 
repeatedly. They weren't a major threat unless they were ignored and 
allowed to breed, and could be dealt with fairly easily, presuming their 
nests could be found. She had helped a small team burn out a Squelch 
nest under a city a year ago when she was still in training. The girls, 
unfortunately, couldn't be saved. Conversion had a devastating effect. 
She turned to the next chapter. 

"Venoma Vines are one of the few truly symbiotic Monstrum known to 
exist. A Venoma body consists of two parts: the core is an ovoid central 
organ somewhat resembling an orchid root, housing the brain and 
digestive facilities. From this organ grow dozens of strong, dextrous 
tentacles of varying lengths and purposes, reaching up to eighty feet 
and resembling the hanging vines of leafy plants. Venoma Vines will 
embed their core deep in the earth where it can be protected, and extend 
their vines upward to the surface, often hiding them under bushes and 
draping them around plants. The upper extent of the vine appendages 
possesses a tough skin and can change its color slowly over time, to 
better camouflage in the local flora. For this reason, Venoma prefer to 
dwell in jungles and leafy forests, subsisting on local prey. 

"Venoma Vines will capture and eat almost any living creature that 
wanders into range of their tentacles, with the exception of larger 
mammals. Venoma will preserve such prey, wrapping it in tentacles and 
dragging it into the earth where it can be totally restrained. The 
unique feature of Venoma presents itself here: A Venoma will kill male 
mammals, but attempt to fuse with females. The shorter vine type of the 
Venoma secretes a substance from the tips that functions as both a light 
acid and a potent painkiller. The Venoma will slowly work these vines 
into the victim's skin in a painless process that takes many weeks. The 
vines penetrate both the dermis and fascia, finally seeking to embed 
themselves near the brainstem, spine, and genital region of the prey. 
Once the tips are sufficiently deep inside the victim's body, the 
nervous systems of both creatures begin to fuse. 

"Venoma seem to greatly prefer humanoid girls for this process, if 
available. Over the course of the fusing process, a female is raped 
incessantly by the vines, which indiscriminately penetrate the vagina, 
anus, and mouth, advancing the Conversion process. When the nervous 
systems are connected, the orgasms of the female transmit to the Venoma 
itself, and echo back to the victim, creating an intense, heterodyning 
feedback loop of ecstasy. The victims of a Venoma need no separate 
sustenance due to the connected nature of their bodies. 

"Once fused, the final phase of the breeding process can begin. 
Specialized tentacles will enter the vagina of the victim, secreting a 
potent-" 

She hurriedly turned to the next chapter, avoiding the 
excruciatingly-detailed diagram that showed how a Venoma would 
impregnate a human. She knew how to fight Venoma too. Burying them 
wasn't effective. Burning the vines didn't accomplish much, since they 
would just grow back. You had to uproot the core from the earth and 
destroy it completely. She had killed one, once, working in concert with 
a squad of soldiers and three other mages. The Vines had taken three 
girls from the local village. In the weeks it took her patrol to travel 
to the remote region, they had been totally converted. The monster had 
little more than three screaming organs at that point that it could 
masturbate itself with on a continuous basis. Killing a Venoma would 
kill any fused victims - they couldn't be saved. She tried to put the 
memory out of her head and keep studying. Venoma were rare in mountains, 
but not unheard of. She reminded herself to prepare a spell the next day 
that would detect their aura if they travelled near any. 

The next chapter of Monstrum was the one she hated most: Arachma. 
Disgusting, man-sized arachnids that built hives and snared their prey 
in ambushes. She skipped to a random page in the chapter. 

"The Arachma phallus is a strong, dextrous organ that emerges from a 
protrusion in the chitinous shell at the base of the abdomen. It is 
composed of over a dozen flexible strata of erectile tissue. Each layer 
is capable of erection and extension independently of the others, 
allowing substantial control over the girth and length of the organ 
during intercourse. This adaptability is most evident in the innermost 
layer of tissue: a flexible, tubular extension, vaguely similar to an 
ovipositor, that can probe its way through a narrow vaginal canal to 
reach the cervix. Arachma are capable of inseminating even very young 
human girls, preferring prey that-" 

Kali couldn't stand it. She closed the heavy book with a slam and tossed 
it aside. Lying on her back, she gazed up at the hypnotic swaying of the 
tent roof as it was blown by the cold wind outside. 

There was a sudden rustle as the flap of the tent was pushed wide, and 
Lisa stepped inside. She looked pathetic, shivering with cold, her 
half-naked body soaked from head to toe. 

Kali sat back on her elbows. "Hi Lisa. I was beginning to think you'd be 
out there all day. Did you take care of the tree?", she asked. 

Lisa stared at Kali for a moment before giving a silent nod. Water ran 
in rivulets from her soaking hair down her flat chest. She must have 
been freezing in the rain, in just her mage uniform. Condensed magical 
energy would decay normal clothing at an astonishing pace, so the 
official uniform of a mage consisted of just a thin frame of golden 
allocitic metal and a few thin scraps of the royal-blue dreamcloth. Lisa 
reached behind herself to undo her top, a sparse assembly of allocite 
wire and chain, with two small, hanging flaps of dreamcloth that covered 
her nipples and little else. She sighed as she pulled the wet metal 
framework off and dropped it on the floor. 

Her panties weren't much more than an allocite chain running over her 
hips and a couple flimsy scraps of dreamcloth to hang over the pussy and 
ass. Giving any other clothing to a mage was just a waste. The allocite 
and dreamcloth were so difficult and expensive to manufacture that a 
mage was supplied with the bare minimum that could be spared. Kali 
remembered how embarrassed she had been when she first had to wear her 
uniform during her training. The men liked to stare at her, running 
their eyeballs over her butt and hips, admiring her flat tummy, hoping 
that a sudden breeze would push the dreamcloth aside and show off the 
little girl's pink cunt or ass. She got used to it though - it was just 
part of being a mage, and overall she had made much larger sacrifices in 
the course of her duty. 

Lisa grabbed and twisted the dreamcloth scrap hanging over her pussy, 
expelling a gush of water, before flopping miserably onto her bunk. The 
brazier provided little heat to the tent so drying out would be hard. 
Fuel was already running low in camp and had to be rationed. 

Kali frowned when her friend turned away from her on her bunk. Since her 
last patrol, Lisa would scarcely talk at all. Kali was worried about her 
friend. Eleven years old and in the class one step above her, Lisa had 
more experience than Kali did. She used to be the cheeriest person Kali 
knew, dominating any conversation with sarcastic jokes that made 
everyone laugh. Kali didn't know what had happened the last time Lisa 
had gone out, but her friend staunchly refused to talk about it. 

Another chilly gust blew into the tent through the loose flap, stealing 
the warmth that had crept into the air. Many of her friends hadn't come 
back, Kali thought. She hadn't seen her mentor Sarah in years. Sarah had 
said goodbye to Kali before going on patrol the week before Beltane and 
hadn't come back. Kali had tried to ask her commanders what happened, 
but deployment information was classified, and they just yelled at her 
to stop asking about sensitive matters and get back to training. 

Now, their own patrol was supposed to find out what had happened to the 
last squad dispatched to this region. Kali only knew one mage that had 
been with the troops stationed here: her friend Niki. The last time she 
had seen Niki was at their graduation ceremony over a year ago. Kali and 
her classmate had been very close, sharing whispered secrets and dreams 
in their bunkroom long after the official lights-out time. When they 
discovered they would be assigned to separate commands after graduation, 
they barely had time for a teary goodbye before being hustled off to 
deployment. The girls had exchanged letters, sharing old jokes and 
commiserating over the burdens of military duty, but Niki's messages had 
abruptly stopped. "Things are crazy now, but I'm sure that somehow the 
chaos will end and we'll be together again," was how her friend ended 
her last letter. If Niki was still alive out here, Kali would do 
everything possible to find her. 

"Well well, isn't that just so purty". A guard had abruptly pulled aside 
the flap of their tent. He was leering hungrily at Kali, who had let the 
wind blow the dreamcloth scrap away from her pussy, leaving herself 
exposed as she lied on the bed. The filthy man leaned on his halberd, 
his crooked grin peppered with rotten teeth, as he watched Kali blush 
and cover herself. 

"You're supposed to announce yourself, you know". Kali was indignant. 

"Am I now? I'm supposed to announce meself in me own camp? Well little 
girl, consider this your announcement. Barth is here. All hail Barth, 
Lord of the Mud and King of Division Three. Now stand up and present 
yourself. Commander wants to see you." Normally a soldier would never 
demand a mage stand at attention, but the men of this camp grew more 
undisciplined and insolent every day. 

She hurriedly stood and stepped out of the tent into the rain. Barth 
gazed into the tent at Lisa, admiring the little girl's smooth ass and 
back as she lay on the cot facing away from him. "Mmm-hmm very pretty 
indeed, you mages. Maybe I'll come by later." He gave a rude gesture 
towards the tiny figure beside him. Well, get on then." 

Neka was waiting, wet fur and ears drooping in the damp weather. The 
catgirl gave a brief bow. "Good evening My Lady. Please accompany me to 
Commander Varus' tent. He has need of your expertise." 

Kali almost smiled, despite the gloomy weather. Neka was preposterously 
formal, but the commander's personal assistant could be friendly, in an 
odd cat-like way, once her guard was down. "Sheesh. Don't be so formal 
Neka. It's good to see you." 

The delicate cat ears twitched inquisitively, and Neka let herself smile 
briefly. "Hi Kali. Let's go. This rain is awful.". 

Kali considered the girl as they trudged through the mud. The poor 
assistant had only a short black cloak with no hood, and the rain was 
streaming down her head, soaking her ears and the soft fur of the back 
of her head. Felis loathed being in the rain, preferring to avoid it at 
all costs. Kali didn't know much about the strange catgirl species, 
recalling only that they kept to themselves in reclusive villages and 
rarely ventured into human society. When they did, it was often as 
slaves and servants. 

The surly guardsmen surveyed them both with distaste before reaching to 
open the flap of the oversized red tent that marked the commander's 
office. Once inside, Neka gave a formal bow. "Sir, I have brought Kali 
Eventon, Mage of the Fifth Order, as you requested." 

Varus dropped the chart he was examining back onto the table and 
scowled. "Well, fucking great Neka. You got Kali. Thanks so much. Only 
took you ten minutes too. Why don't you go get me some fucking stew or 
something? Or find out where that miserable cunt Goels went - the 
bastard needs to come give his report." 

Neka weathered the tirade with her usual unflappable grace, giving a 
short bow before heading back into the rain. The guard tied the flap 
closed behind her. 

At least the commander's tent was warm. Kali rubbed her arms as she 
tried to stop shivering. The grumpy commander looked her up and down 
before dropping into his camp chair. 

"So, the scouts tell me they've spotted a force in the rocks above the 
pass. Ettu probably. Tomorrow, or maybe the next day, we'll be able to 
reach them, and gut those fucking monsters." Varus seemed angry. He was 
always angry. He speared her with a piercing gaze. "So, are you mages 
going to be ready?" 

"Yes sir", Kali replied stiffly. "We're fully prepared to deal with any 
forces arrayed against us. You have three fully trained and experienced 
mages bolstering your men. I've already prepared a list of scries and 
wardings we can use to prepare as we near the p-" 

"Great!" he snarled. "Chants and charms and bullshit. Fantastic. What I 
really want to know is-", he leaped up from the chair, walking around 
the camp table to confront her. "Are you going to be fucking ready? 
Three little girls. Are you going to fucking fireball them? Slice them 
up with those little wind razor things? Shoot those pillars of rock up 
from the earth and right into their assholes?" 

She tried to stand up to his aggressive posture as he loomed over her. 
His black hair was tangled in a chaotic mess. He hadn't shaved in gods 
knew how long and he smelled like the cow dung that fueled the braziers. 

"We adjust our tactics to suit the situation, commander. Different 
monsters require different approaches, and-" 

"No," Varus interrupted. "They don't require different approaches. You 
fucking kill them. Murder them before they murder you. Or worse. That's 
the approach. Don't wait. Act." Kali didn't have much to say to that, so 
she kept quiet. 

"Do you have any idea how many fucking fights I've had to break up in 
the past week? I have three little girls in my camp. You stroll around 
like little fuck puppets. You show off your assholes every time you bend 
over. Do you have any idea what that does to the men?" 

Kali opened her mouth to reply but Varus cut her off with a slashing 
gesture. 

"No. Shut up. Listen. It's been three months since my men were last in 
town. They may start pricking each other at this rate. No entertainment 
out here at all, except three sexy little sluts whose cute little butts 
and pussies can be seen every time the wind blows wrong. Fucking 
useless, that's what you are." 

Kali was wilting under the angry diatribe. It wasn't fair. She had to 
give up everything she knew and train hard for years to become a mage. 
They deserved respect. A few years back, nobody would have dared shout 
at one like this. Mixed squads used to dispatch with both a military 
commander and a trained mage liaison, someone who understood mage 
tactics and mixed unit tactics and could help coordinate affairs between 
the regular soldiers and mages. Her own commander, Marcus, a 
sandy-haired veteran with a handsome face and a quick grin, had been 
reassigned to another squad and never replaced. There were too few of 
them now. Fewer mages, fewer soldiers, fewer skilled commanders. The 
monsters were taking a toll and everyone knew it. There weren't many 
still fighting who hadn't lost companions or loved ones to the monster 
attacks. 

"Well?" 

She swallowed. "I don't know what to say, commander." 

"She doesn't know what to say. Fine. Great. Can you swing a sword?" 

"Um, no sir," Kali replied. 

"What about an axe?" 

She shook her head. 

"Halberd? Spear? Hammer?" 

She looked down at his boots, face burning with embarrassment. 

"Just what CAN you use?" 

"Sir, I am proficient with staff, dagger, and shortbow. I've trained 
with short and long-range melee tactics, Kebdo wrestling, close-range 
magical defenses, and long-distance running." 

He stared at her. "Dagger. A fucking dagger. Well I suppose if you stab 
an Ettu in the toe, he might laugh himself to death. Great. Do you have 
your dagger with you?" 

She had not equipped herself before being summoned. "I do not sir." 

He sighed, before crossing his arms and leaning back against the table. 
"One more question. How many monsters have you killed?" 

"Two Hellhounds, five Sewer Squelches, eight Rapewolves, one Ghast, and 
over two score each of Org-reh and Ettu. I also participated in the 
battle against the Fiend at Vicca." 

He rubbed his stubbled chin thoughtfully. She opened her mouth to say 
something, thought better of it, and remained silent. She didn't like the 
way he was looking at her. 

"Fine," he mumbled. "Let's see what standards the mages hold themselves 
to now. Stand at attention!" 

She snapped her arms smartly to her side, locking herself into a rigid 
posture, staring straight ahead. 

He loosened the leather straps of his vambraces as he approached her. 
She kept her gaze fixed forward, holding perfectly still. The heat of 
the tent had driven the chill from her body, and her shivers along with 
it. Now she was sweating slightly in the yellow light of the lamps. 

He slowly circled her, penetrating gaze examining every detail of the 
girl, admiring the trim body and smooth skin marbled with beads of 
sweat. When he stopped behind her, he gently caressed the sweep of her 
long hair before placing his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them 
gently. She tried not to tense when his callused fingers ran down her 
sides and over her curving hips. He crouched down, seemingly amused by 
the flimsy allocitic material of her panties, then pulled the hanging 
dreamcloth aside to look at her asshole. 

She tried not to cry. This wasn't right. Mages used to be respected and 
revered. When her commander was around, nobody would have dared do 
something like this to her. But nobody was around, not even her friends. 
She was alone. 

Kali jumped slightly and tensed when he ran his finger along the crack 
of her ass. She thought he would punish her for breaking stance, but he 
ignored it, using his fingers to gently tickle her anus. For a brief, 
horrified moment she thought he was going to use his fingers to go 
deeper. Instead, he grabbed her asscheeks, gently kneading them. 

"Clean. Very nice. Turn around." 

She did as she was ordered, tears falling down her face. He continued 
his inspection at her front, pulling the scrap of cloth aside and 
running a finger along her pussy lips. He spread them apart, ignoring 
her shiver, feeling her reluctant wetness. A gasp caught in her throat 
when he gently flicked her clit, and her hands reflexively pushed down 
over her pussy. 

"Hmm. Well, you're clean, as a good soldier should be. That's 
something." He stood up, beginning to unbuckle his tunic. "Get down on 
your knees." 

The hope that he would let her go with just a humiliating inspection was 
crushed. Trembling, she did as he asked, kneeling down before him. He 
could cause a lot of problems for her if she didn't follow orders. She 
closed her eyes when he unzipped his trousers and pushed them down. 

"You know, I have a daughter, right about your age. She's a very pretty 
and obedient little girl." A thick stick of soft meat slapped her in the 
face. "Let's see how your skills compare to hers." 

He was big, much bigger than she had expected. The round, thick shaft 
was capped by an enormous glans that was already leaking precum. Kali 
stifled a sob as she took it in her hands and guided it to her mouth. 
She had sucked cocks before, but this was the the largest she had seen. 
He was much wider than both Marcus and her father. 

She licked the head, trying to coat it with her saliva, before moving on 
to the shaft. Her tongue ran along it in long, slow strokes, as she 
squeezed the base lightly with her hands. Varus was frayed, but not 
unpleasant to look at. He had thick calves and a heavily muscled 
stomach. She wondered how he had got that long, ragged scar that slashed 
its way from his thigh all way way up his chest. It looked like it hurt. 

Once he was wet enough, she took him into her mouth, gently massaging 
the head with a sucking motion before going deeper. Kali had to stretch 
her jaw wide to try to get more in. She licked and sucked, running his 
prick in and out of her mouth, tasting the salty precum spread over her 
tongue. 

Varus groaned in pleasure as she worked her mouth on his dick. "Fucking 
shit little girl, you do have skills. Did they teach you this in mage 
school?" 

She worked into a steady rhythm, wrapping her lips tightly around the 
shaft for suction and letting it glide in and out. Sometimes she would 
withdraw a bit, kissing the head and running her tongue over it for a 
bit, before fitting it back into her mouth and going to work again. She 
tried to take him deeper into her throat, but he was too big and after a 
few strokes she had to withdraw, coughing and spitting. She ran her 
hands up and down his length to make up for it as she caught her breath. 

She looked up at him to see if he was getting close. Varus was leaning 
back against the table, resting his palms on it, as he leered down at 
her, enjoying the sight of the little 10-year-old girl working on his 
cock. "Hmm, well you're almost as good as my daughter. Almost." 

She went back to work on his shaft, sucking and slurping. His breathing 
was heavier and she could feel the blood pounding through the soft flesh 
that stretched her mouth open. Abruptly, he grabbed her hair and forced 
her deeper, cramming the oversized girth into her, stretching her jaw 
painfully and plugging the back of her throat. She tried to breathe 
through her nose in quick gasps as he took over, thrusting his pelvis 
forward and ramming her mouth repeatedly. The quicker she could get him 
off, the quicker she could get out of here. She wrapped her tongue 
around his prick and moaned, sending a vibrating sensation into his 
prick. Her own pussy was on fire, and she couldn't resist using her free 
hand to rub her clit. 

Just when she thought her jaw would crack open from the pressure, he 
yanked her back by the hair, ripping his cock from her mouth. He jacked 
himself up and down madly before spasming with a feral groan. She had 
closed her eyes and opened her mouth - her Father had only had to teach 
her THAT lesson once - as hot jets of cum streaked across her cheeks, 
landing on her forehead, her eyelids, and in her mouth. He finished by 
rubbing his cock all over her face, smearing the cum everywhere and 
getting a glob stuck in her nose. 

"Well, I guess you're not totally useless," Varus sneered. "Go back to 
your tent." 

She tried to use the rain to wipe the cum off her face, to hide her 
tears, the fact that she was crying. Sticky mud squelched under her feet 
as she passed the soldiers in the camp. They were probably looking at 
her. She didn't care. 

Only one soldier was near the green striped tent that marked the mage 
quarters. He sat on a stump nearby, oiling his sword, and regarded her 
with a worried frown as she passed, sniffling, into the tent. Bear was a 
nice man, and she liked him, but she didn't want to talk to anybody. 

Anna was back too. She and Lisa sat up in their bunks, taking in the 
sight of their friend, filthy with rainwater and tears, globs of stray 
cum on her face and ears. They didn't say anything. There wasn't much to 
say. 

Kali buried herself in her bunk, trying to wrap herself up in the pelts 
for maximum warmth. She wanted to shut out the world, the endless rain 
and cold, the exhausting, thankless military duty of marching and 
magical practice that filled her days. Being a mage used to be a special 
privilege, but now each assignment was worse than the last. She was 
finally calming down, her breathing slowing down and tears drying up, 
when someone rapped sharply on the wooden panel outside. A man threw 
back the flap and entered. Bear. He had a tray with three steaming bowls 
on it and a platter of sliced apples and cheese. 

"Damnably wet outside isn't it?" he mumbled in his gravelly voice. "I 
thought you girls might not like to go out in the rain again. I brought 
you some soup." 

He offered a bowl to Kali, trying to gauge the damage done to the little 
girl. She felt sick inside, like she wanted to barf, but accepted it 
anyway. 

"Eat, girl. Soldier's first rule: always eat as much as you can, as 
often as you can, even if you don't want to." He smiled feebly. 
"Sometimes even the worst rain is lessened by a warm meal." 

The girls dug in hungrily. Bear was one of the few men in the camp who 
treated them kindly. He seemed to have a sixth sense about people, and 
he would know when the girls were feeling homesick, or afraid, or when 
they had had the bad dreams filled with monsters that sometimes plagued 
magic users. Once, after a particularly bad night, he had cheered them 
up with a ridiculous story about hunting in a far-off land, where he had 
lassoed and been dragged by some impossible long-necked animal called a 
"Geraff". He always had a tall-tale ready for every situation, and could 
eventually bring even the surliest soldiers around to reluctant 
laughter. He would never talk about his past though. Kali didn't know if 
he had a family or a home or what his real name was. He was just Bear, 
the old man with a ready smile and tales of adventure. 

Later, when the darkness fell and Kali was drifting off to sleep, she 
tried to remember if this was her twentieth assignment or her 
twenty-first. They all seemed to blend together now. If she killed every 
last monster tomorrow, it still seemed as if they would lose in the end. 
Even when they were victorious, there were somehow always more monsters 
to fight, more towns attacked, more bad news coming from the countryside 
and villages at Teleria's borders. She tried to remember the faces of 
her mother and her sisters, back in Anson, the little town where she 
grew up. She hadn't seen them in years, and their faces blurred together 
in her memory. She had to remember them, to remember why she needed to 
keep fighting. Father was gone, slain years ago by monsters. After that, 
Kali had decided to train as a mage, knowing that she was the last one 
remaining that could keep them safe. That was the only reason to be out 
here, with monsters both inside the camp and out. 

                                  ~*~                                  

A horn blast echoed down the pass. The company had been marching all 
day, following the Ettu tracks up into the mountains. The rocky trails 
had twisted and climbed, bringing them up to the bottom of a narrow 
crevasse that looked like an obvious place for an ambush. Scouts up in 
the hills had blown their horns when they saw the soldiers approaching, 
giving warning that enemies were nearby. 

The men had nocked their bows, keeping a wary eye on the cliffs around 
them, while Varus consulted with his lieutenants. Kali waited tensely, 
eyes scanning the hills, gripping her staff tightly as it thrummed with 
condensed magical energy. If any monster showed so much as as a 
nosehair, she would blast it into oblivion. 

The brief shouting argument up front was just as briefly ended. Varus 
seemed to have made a decision. He was going to forgo the canyon. He 
ordered the company to turn west, onto a gentle slope of green mountain 
grass that stretched upwards to the peaks. 

A hushed silence blanketed the hills. Giant boulders loomed menacingly, 
the men muttering as they passed them by, wary of ambush. According to 
their intelligence, the Ettu had been raiding the nearby villages. 
taking prisoners and then retreating into the hills. The scouts they 
sent ahead seemed to confirm their presence, finding sign of Ettu and 
Org everywhere. The probably had a camp somewhere near the peaks, 
somewhere defensible, where they could keep prisoners and supplies while 
they waited out the winter. They wouldn't be caught unawares though, and 
as the company continued on along the side of a gorge, a tense paranoia 
seemed to grip the men. 

Kali surveyed the gorge as they marched. Under better times, it would 
have been a beautiful spot for a picnic. The mountain had split as if by 
a knife's edge, leaving a sharp, narrow, chasm that reached down into 
the earth. A rushing river filled the bottom, and green lichen and 
mountain flowers peppered the dark, rocky walls. Kali was looking down 
from the cliffs on the shallow side, but on the far side of the 
precipice, the sheer rock face rose much higher, and raptors wheeled in 
circles high above before returning to their nests in the cliffside. 
Kali squinted, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked upwards at 
the top of the ridge. The magical wards were in place, which would warn 
her of any approaching Org-Reh or Ettu, but it was best to check with 
your eyes as well. 

The path spread out, becoming a flat shelf above the gorge. The scrubby 
mountain grass grew deep in the soil here, and on the slope ahead of 
them rose a heavily forested area that seemed to pass over the ridge. 

Varus called a halt again, eyeing the treeline with his typical angry 
scowl. He turned and beckoned Kali up to the front. 

"Any monsters?" he asked. 

"No Org-reh or Ettu, sir." 

He gave her a funny look, opening his mouth to say something and then 
closing it again. He probably remembered that mages couldn't run many 
wards at the same time. They would conflict with each other. 

Varus turned to the gruff man next to him. "Goels, what do you think?" 

"Eh don't fookin like it one bet ser. Bloody fookin trees prob have 
fookin monsters I sayuh." The dirty man punctuated his florid speech 
with a spit of tobacco. 

"The scouts haven't returned, Gedwyn?" Varus asked. 

The short, fat man shook his balding head. He was a talented horseman 
and master of scouts, but no man had ever looked less the part. "No sir. 
No report." 

"There is no scout sign and no horn like there was at the pass. We'll 
press on, but slowly." Varus rolled up the crude map of the area that 
the scouts had supplied. "Order the men to stay alert." 

The forest was a somber crowd of white ash trees, cut by the rumbling of 
the water in the gorge a short distance below. As the company moved in, 
the spreading canopy blocked out the sun, leaving the forest floor in 
shadow. There was little undergrowth, and the coarse soil had the same 
curious whiteness as the trees. Kali nudged it with her toes, a vague 
sense of unease growing in her stomach. She kept alert, straining her 
ears for any sound beyond the rumbling of the river. 

Lisa and Anna drew close to her, and the three girls walked on into the 
murky wood, surrounded by the company of soldiers. This place was old 
and wild, Kali thought. The forest had probably stood for hundreds of 
years, trees sinking deep roots to take their water from the mountain 
gorge. White trunks rose hundreds of feet overhead, but no wind moved 
their branches. Maybe the cliffs blocked the wind. Instead of the gentle 
rustling of swaying branches, Kali could only hear the river. 
Occasionally, small patches of dappled sunlight tumbled down to the 
forest floor, dispelling the cheerless gloom where they landed. 

"We must be nearly through", muttered Anna. "These woods should let out 
on the other side of the ridge." 

Lisa had stopped, looking upwards into the dense branches. She pointed, 
and Anna looked up too. 

"Are those ropes?" Anna asked. Lisa just shrugged. Kali looked upwards, 
trying to spot what they were seeing. High above, near the top of the 
canopy, there might have been some kind of network of bands running 
between the trees. She squinted, but it was too hard to see. "I think 
they're just thick branches," Kali said. "They look kind of weird 
though." 

They trudged on. Kali kept looking over her shoulder, the disquieting 
sensation refusing to leave her stomach. She listened for any sound that 
she couldn't identify. The brooding nature of their surroundings was 
putting everyone on edge. Finally she shook her head, trying to keep her 
imagination from running away with her. Just a little bit farther, and 
they would be out of the wood on the other side of the ridge. The men 
were all around her, keeping in a disciplined formation despite their 
obvious apprehension. 

She scuffed her feet on the forest floor as she walked, kicking the 
powdery white soil with her allocite sandals. The sound seemed to die 
away after a short distance, like the trees were soaking it up. She 
looked up again. Something clicked. 

It wasn't that she was hearing something wrong. It was that she wasn't 
hearing anything at all except the river and their own movements. Where 
were the birds? The bugs? Flies had pestered her for miles, buzzing 
around and biting her all over. Where had they gone? She hadn't heard 
any buzzing since they entered the woods. She couldn't see any nests in 
the branches. The small burrows and niches around the trees had no 
animal signs around them, no scratches. 

She turned to her friend. "Hey Anna, doesn't it seem awfully q-" 

The man in front of her pitched forward abruptly, then screamed. In a 
fraction of a second, the ground under his legs broke into pieces and he 
fell into the pit up to his waist. He grasped wildly for a handhold, 
shrieking, as his legs disappeared into the earth. An awful, wet 
squishing sound came from underneath, and blood and viscera squirted out 
of the hole. He stopped moving. 

Time seemed to slow down. More men fell into the traps, swinging their 
swords uselessly, legs pulled down and shredded by dark, shuffling 
forms. The silent forest filled with screams and bellows. Somewhere, one 
of the men began to blow a horn, but the sound was abruptly cut off. 

Swift, black bodies were now racing up out of the tunnels that had eaten 
the soldiers. The remaining men formed desperate circles, fighting back 
to back as they were swiftly surrounded. Kali gripped her staff in 
terror. It was the worst thing she could imagine: Arachma. The enormous, 
revolting spider creatures from her nightmares, the monsters she had 
fervently hoped she would never have to face, were tearing apart the men 
around her. 

Her paralysis was broken when a fireball whooshed past her face with a 
blast of hot air. It landed squarely onto a charging Arachma form, 
obliterating the creature in a blazing explosion which set the nearby 
trees on fire. The man it had been charging whirled around to face 
another, yelling and swinging his sword. It bounced uselessly off the 
heavy chitin of the huge creature he was facing. 

Blood pumped in her veins. She whirled her staff, releasing the pent-up 
energy. A dazzling purple lightning bolt flickered into the center of a 
group of three of the creatures, halting their advance on a group of 
soldiers. The Arachma would be easy prey for their swords while moving 
at a fraction of their normal speed. She spun around. A wave of force 
slammed another black form, launching it into the trunk of a tree with a 
loud crack. The spider fell to the ground, its carapace cracked open, 
oozing fluid, twitching legs already curling up under it. She didn't 
pause to savor the victory. Her staff flicked back and forth, each 
motion releasing a powerful blast of energy that decimated the charging 
forms. She speared one with a spike of earth, incinerated two more with 
a fireball, and instantly turned the ground behind some frantic soldiers 
into a quicksand trap, which swallowed the three Arachma that had been 
charging unseen at their backs. They skittered and clacked their 
mandibles as their overturned bodies sunk rapidly, chitinous legs 
clutching uselessly at the air. 

An invisible aura of potent energy vibrated around Kali. Her training 
had taken over, and she danced in lethal motion, unthinking. Her blue 
dreamcloth coverings whirled gracefully through the air as they followed 
the movement of her body, the light cloth floating as if charged with 
static. Shining sparkles coalesced around her, streaking into her staff, 
forming themselves into flashing rays of death that lanced towards her 
enemies. Far away, she could hear herself howling. 

A deft sculpting motion, like a potter guiding his clay, drew the 
torrent of Air and formed it into a spear, which she sent hurtling into 
the side of a beast that had knocked over a soldier and was about to 
eviscerate him. She took the cast-off energy of the magic before it 
could dissipate, funneling it back through the staff and drawing it 
again as Life, which she sent into the channels of the previous spell. A 
wildly fluctuating arc of green light stretched from her staff towards 
the prone soldier, closing the worst of his wounds and giving him energy 
to recover. Reshaping energy like that instead of drawing it again was a 
hard trick, but she had learned well. 

More forms swarmed up from the holes. They seemed endless. She tried to 
draw Earth, to close over the tunnels, collapse them, but a gigantic 
form suddenly loomed over her, and she instinctively sent the energy 
into it instead, blasting it away from her. She barely had time to duck 
and roll as another Arachma leaped at her, slamming its chitinous claws 
into the soil where she had just been standing. She drew more power and 
blew the creature apart. There were so many, dozens more climbing out of 
the pits every second. 

Where was everyone? A group of soldiers was down in the distance, 
Arachma looming over them, tearing them apart with spearlike claws and 
clicking mandibles. Another soldier nearby slashed with his sword at the 
chitinous shell of a charging Arachma, but it bounced off uselessly. He 
dodged aside and cast his sword away, drawing a shortspear and slamming 
it straight into the shell with vicious force. They both tumbled over 
and she lost sight of them. 

Anna was at her back, swinging her staff and flinging spells, but a line 
of dark forms were cutting them off from the soldiers. Where was Lisa? 
She looked around frantically. Her friend had been right beside her. A 
huge spider form jumped at her head, and she had to dodge again. She 
couldn't get a good look. The Arachma were everywhere. She conjured a 
wall of force to hold them off her backside. 

A bloodcurdling scream came from above her. Kali looked up. Lisa was 
hanging upside down, snared by a loop of webbing around her foot. 
Arachma in the trees reeled her in, then clutched her body with their 
long claws. Lisa didn't have her staff. She must have dropped it. The 
Arachma held the struggling girl against the trunk. 

"Please!" screamed Lisa, eyes bulging with terror. "Oh Gods, no! Don't 
let them take me!" An Arachma wrapped its claws around Lisa, pinning her 
in place, then squatted against her. "Please Kali! Anna! Help me! Do 
anything!" The little girl was rolled over rapidly, helplessly, arms 
flailing, the spinnerets of the creature tying her legs up with silk. 
"Kill me! Kali please! Don't let them take me again!" Lisa's shrieking 
was abruptly cut off as the Arachma finished its spinning, binding her 
tightly from head to toe with woven silk, making a neat package. 

Kali tried to process the naked horror of her friend pleading to be 
given death instead of being taken. Fireball, no, lightning? Wind 
spears, maybe pull the tree down - no can't do that - can't time slow 
they're too far. Her mind raced in frantic circles, trying to think of a 
spell that could save her friend. Nothing. She brought her staff around 
to loose a fireball into the tree, the only option left in the fraction 
of a second before the Arachma scuttled away with their prize. 

"OOOooofff!" the wind was knocked out of her and she pitched forward, 
slamming face-first into the ground. Bitter soil mixed with the taste of 
blood in her mouth. Clacking mandibles sounded next to her ears. She 
squirmed under the spider's bulk, struggling to crawl away, but it held 
her down, chittering excitedly. She could barely see through the tears 
in her eyes. Lisa was gone. She had failed. 

She was shoved to the side again as the creature above her was pitched 
off. Two soldiers were upon her, one fighting to keep two more Arachma 
off the soldier that had just rammed his spear into the monster pinning 
her down. She looked up, trying to see through the tears and the dirt on 
her face. 

"Bear!" she yelled. 

"Come on Kali! Get up!" he roared, and swung back around to dispatch 
another creature. It lunged at him with a preternatural quickness. He 
didn't even try to dodge, instead setting his feet in the dirt in an 
instant and ramming the spear right into the middle of the eight eyes of 
the beast. He screamed, pushing with his feet, driving the spear deeper 
into the quivering horror's head, forcing it back bodily until its 
mandibles stopped clicking and its legs curled up under it, then he 
whipped the spear out in a rush of gore. 

Dizzy and disoriented, Kali struggled to her feet. Where was her staff? 
There. She scrambled to pick it up and whirled around, trying to orient 
herself. 

The other soldier swung wide with his axe, and the Arachma reared up on 
its hind legs and jabbed its two forward claws straight into his chest, 
puncturing him clean through. Blood bubbled from the soldier's mouth in 
shock, and the monster pulled him bodily forward, then ripped his face 
off with its mandibles. Bear screamed with rage, but he had all he could 
handle as more creatures moved to surround him. He couldn't get any room 
to drive his spear, and the Arachma behind him eventually leaped onto 
his back. He pitched forward, stumbling, falling onto his hands on the 
ground. In an instant, the Arachma in front of him brought its front 
claws down hard, driving straight through the bone and flesh of Bear's 
palms and pinning him to the dirt. Bear screamed in pain and rage, 
struggling as he was lifted up off the ground by his impaled hands. 

"FUCK YOU!" he screamed straight into the monster's face, then spit into 
its red eyes, a last gesture of defiance. The Arachma reached forward 
with its mandibles and pierced Bear's trachea, then with a heave, tore 
his throat out. Blood spurted everywhere. It tossed the mangled body 
away. 

For Kali it all happened in an instant. She had hit her head too hard. 
Her ears were still ringing. Terror coaxed a flood of adrenaline into 
her veins, and she forgot her training. She didn't draw magic slowly 
into her staff, controlling its flow, subtly guiding it into the shape 
she wanted. Instead, she hysterically grabbed the power, ripping it 
violently from the weave around her and hurtling it unformed at the 
Arachma that had killed Bear. It wasn't a firebolt that came out of her 
staff, but a lancing arc of raw power that knocked her down with a 
thunderclap. The creature exploded - legs, eyes, chitin and goo hurtling 
in a thousand different directions. 

The world was a nightmare. She needed to wake up. Hazy, she could barely 
make out the tree branches above her. She stubbornly clung to 
consciousness, trying to remember why she needed to get up, to keep 
moving. Every muscle of her body screamed in pain. There was a salty 
taste on her tongue, and something on her face. 

It took a thousand years, but slowly she sat up. There was white goo on 
her face. She wiped it off. Not just goo. Some kind of organ. It was all 
over her. She could taste it in her mouth: disgusting viscera. She spat. 
Green and red fluid plastered her chest. When had that happened? There 
was some kind of stomach or intestine or something. It was half wrapped 
around her. A sloppy mix of putrefying fluids covered her legs, topped 
by a shattered piece of chitin like a macabre sundae. 

She couldn't think. Staff. She had her staff. No she didn't. It was over 
there. No, that was someone else's staff. Hers was in her hand. She 
could feel it. The world spun dizzily. Someone was screaming at her. Far 
away. No, right here. 

Her arm was grabbed roughly and wrenched upwards. She bent over, 
heaving, vomiting up every meal she had ever eaten, writhing on the 
ground. Something. She had done something. Channeled probably. It 
explained the headache. She heaved again, stomach and throat twisting 
themselves into painful knots. Pretty bad idea to channel. First thing 
they teach a mage is to never do that. 

With agonizing slowness, her senses returned. The men were fighting 
something. Arachma. They were all around. The thumping rush of her 
heartbeat pounded in her ears. She shook her head. 

"KALI GET THE FUCK UP NOW YOU LITTLE BITCH AND FUCKING DO SOMETHING!" 
screamed Varus' voice in her ear. She let herself be lifted to her feet, 
swooning against him. She had her staff. Never lose your staff. 

Ten men were fighting a losing action against the horde of swarming 
spiders. The creatures were on the ground, coming out of tunnels, in the 
trees, leaping down to attack the solders with razor-sharp claws and 
mandibles. She tried to raise her staff but couldn't. Reaching for the 
weave amplified that ringing sensation in her head into a screaming 
vibration until it seemed her skull would explode. 

Varus let her drop to the ground. An Arachma had leaped down from the 
trees. He moved backwards as he readied his two-handed sword, gaining 
distance on the creature, provoking it to jump at him. When it did, he 
darted to the side with astonishing swiftness and brought his great 
sword down into the Arachma's body, severing it in two right between the 
abdomen and the cephalothorax. The monster chittered wildly in its death 
throes, then curled its legs and went still. 

Varus grabbed her roughly, dragging her bodily along the forest floor. 
"To me! Rally to me! Get back to the river!" he screamed at the 
soldiers. They fought defensively, keeping the creatures at bay, trying 
to keep from being surrounded. 

They retreated, losing men one by one to the swift attacks of the 
Arachma. Kali struggled to keep her feet under her as she was dragged 
along. Varus dispatched two more creatures, severing one that jumped at 
them from the trees and running his sword into the head of another as it 
came up out of a tunnel. He dripped with blood from the wide gashes on 
his arms, and his studded armor was rent open in several places. 

When they reached the edge of the gorge, they had only two men left. 
Varus shook her arms angrily. "Do something!" Kali's head was still 
spinning as she tried to form the words. "Can't, I...it'll rebound. The 
magic." The two men went down in a spray of blood and fury, and Varus 
and Kali were alone, trapped on a rock shelf protruding over the gorge. 
The Arachma advanced, clacking their mandibles, feinting lunges at 
Varus. They didn't seem in much of a hurry. 

Her shoulders jolted painfully as he shoved her onto the rock shelf 
behind him, standing his last ground against the monsters, screaming in 
defiance. 

A thousand clanging bells rang in Kali's head. The world ripped itself 
in two. She reached for the magic anyway. It would rebound, but she had 
no choice. Every cell of her body burned with scorching fire as she 
reached into the blazing heat, hotter than the sun, seizing the magical 
energy that resisted her. Disastrous, for a mage that had channeled to 
try to condense magic again so soon. The energy tried to squirm out of 
her grip, but she held it, forced it, drawing it into the staff, and 
then letting it release. 

The double world snapped back into one as her vision cleared in an 
instant. She had a single moment to see the enormous shockwave 
travelling away from her, shattering the ground, vaporizing the 
monsters, ripping the trees out of their roots and sending them flying 
into the sky. The wild thunderclap of raw magic, rebounding against the 
weave, tore the world apart around her, smashing the rock shelf into 
thousands of pieces. They dropped. 

Maybe she was dead. She was so cold. Her body was rushing somewhere, 
immersed in a great roaring torrent. She couldn't breath or see. Far 
away, there was the pain of rocks smashing into her body as it was 
pushed along some unknown tunnel. Someone was slapping her. No, they 
were pounding on her back. She gasped, swallowed, vomited all at once. 
Water filled her mouth and burned her nose. She coughed and dragged air 
into her ragged lungs, then coughed again. More water came up. 

Heaving, she curled her fingers into the sharp gravel floor. She could 
finally breathe. Her throat was on fire. Her chest felt like it had 
exploded. Someone was holding her shoulders, comforting her as she 
retched. They picked her up and put her on something soft and she knew 
no more. 

                                  ~*~                                  

Consciousness returned slowly, angrily, bringing a thousand searing 
pains with it. She opened her eyes. 

Varus crouched over a tiny fire, clad in only his undertrousers. He 
looked at her. 

"Well, the good news is that you didn't break any bones. Neither did I, 
amazingly." 

She had trouble understanding. Her memory was a haze. The confusion must 
have shown on her face because he explained. 

"We fell into the river. I don't know what you did up there, but I've 
never seen anything like it. Pretty sure it flattened the whole forest. 
Took the whole cliffside down. This river runs underground. I washed up 
on the shore of this cave and you drifted along shortly after. 

He reached to the side to take a tiny vial from his leather satchel. 

"Lethen", he said, as he poured it into her mouth. "It'll dull the pain. 
Too bad we only have one." 

She tried to sit up, but decided against it when her muscles screamed in 
protest. 

"This phosphene fire will only last about 18 hours. Just a bit of powder 
and some coal, in a sealed, waterproof satchel. Always be prepared, I 
say. We have enough food for about a day." 

Kali looked around. They were in a tiny cave, with a small flat surface 
barely big enough for both of them. Water dripped into a small pool 
nearby, and the back of the cave was hidden by large rocks. The other 
edge ended in a shallow roof over the river. The water was barely moving 
here. 

He had taken all his clothes and his armor and layered them together to 
make a small bed. She blushed as she realized his pants were all that 
were covering her up. She was naked. 

"I have to ask of course...what happened to your clothes?" 

"I...I think I channeled," Kali said. "It's when a mage draws power 
wildly without forming it. Normal magical activity will degrade 
inorganic material around the caster. Channeling will destroy it 
outright. Even allocite." 

"Interesting. Didn't know that. And the uh...shockwave thing?" he asked. 

She gulped, trying to figure out how to simplify the explanation. "Well, 
if a mage who has channeled tries to use magic again without waiting to 
recover, bad things happen. Really bad things. Remember the explosion at 
the mage academy in Lindburgh?" 

He looked thoughtful. "Oh. So that's what it was." She nodded. 

She tried to scoot closer to the small fire, absorbing the heat. The 
pain felt more manageable now. They said nothing for a while, but his 
face had that angry look again. 

"Well, what the fuck happened?" he suddenly demanded. She stuttered 
trying to form a reply. 

"Arachma in the ground under us. Arachma in the trees above us. Fucking 
monsters everywhere. And no gods-damned warning from the mages?" 

"It, it doesn't work like that. We were warded for Org-reh and Ettu." 
she said. 

"Oh, of course you were," he snarled, rage twisting his face. "Warded 
for monsters that weren't anywhere near us. Very convenient. Why didn't 
you close those fucking tunnels?" 

"We tried to do that. The Arachma were right on top of us. We had to 
defend ourselves," Kali pleaded, wilting under the assault. 

"Yes. You had to defend yourselves," he mocked her in a whining voice. 
"Right. Meanwhile, all my men are cut down by those cursed fucking 
CREATURES pouring out of the gods-damned GROUND!" He was shouting, 
accusations ringing off of the stone walls. 

"I, I fireballed one! Several actually. We killed a lot, but they kept 
coming at us, jumping on us. We didn't have time to do more than cast to 
defend ourselves. I saw Lisa get dragged away..." 

He glared at her silently for a moment, and when he spoke again his 
voice was icy cold. 

"One hundred and twelve men were under my command. Now they are all 
dead, every single one. Every soldier, dead. Except the scouts, who will 
be dead very shortly. Did you ever stop to think that you could have 
closed the tunnels with your spells, even if it meant that you were 
overrun? If you had, you would be dead, but my men would probably still 
be alive." 

Kali tried to shrink into her makeshift bedding as he glared at her. She 
really hadn't thought of that. She wasn't tactical. She had done poorly 
in her tactics classes, skimming by with barely passing grades. It was 
never her strong suit. Mixed units had actual trained soldiers to handle 
their tactics, not little girls. 

He took her silence as a confession. They stared into the fire for a 
little longer, their only light source in the utter darkness of the 
cave. 

The air hung with a strained silence. Kali curled up into a ball, 
drowning in the grief or her lost friends and comrades, trying not to 
sob. Finally, Varus shook his head. "Come on. Get up. I saw what you 
were covered with when we found you. The river didn't clean it all off. 
We'll use that pool." 

Muscles aching, she managed to uncurl to get up and stumble over to the 
little pool with his help. It was just big enough for her to wash in. 
Her teeth chattered as she stepped in, lowering her naked body into the 
water. Varus removed another vial of powder from his satchel, spilling 
it onto his hands and rubbing it into a lather. Cheap, coarse soap. A 
soldier's soap. 

He rubbed his hands over her naked body with a surprising gentleness. 
Fingers flicked small pieces of gunk out of her long hair, washing and 
rinsing each bit one at a time until it was completely clean. After a 
brief dunk in the cold water, his fingers scoured her face, her neck, 
her back and arms, using the lather of the grainy soap to clean off 
every filthy piece that the river had missed. His questing fingers 
slowly rubbed up and down her flat chest, letting his grip linger, 
amused at the effect of the cold water on her nipples. Then he made her 
stand up, and moved lower, washing her hips and butt thoroughly, 
cleaning down her legs and paying special attention to the spaces 
between her toes. 

Kali was freezing in the cold water, but she felt a certain warmth as 
the half-naked man ran his hands all over her body, exploring every nook 
and cranny, gently kneading and rubbing away the filth and grime. He 
saved her pussy for last, thoroughly washing the lips and clit, making 
sure she was clean. He ran his big fingers up and down her pussy lips, 
exploring her privates. A tingling sensation started in her crotch. 
Varus may have had the charm of an ogre, but having a well-muscled man 
feeling her up in the dim light made her breath quicken on its own. She 
noticed the stiff erection poking at the fabric of his underpants and 
realized her body was having an effect on him too. 

"Ok, that's enough," he said abruptly. "Get out. Let's dry you off." 

A small rag was all he had to brush the water off with. Kali was 
grateful to be out of the cool water. She was already warming up again. 

"The fire won't last much longer and we have very little food. I saw an 
entrance to a tunnel back there behind the rocks. We're going to have to 
warm up, sleep to get our strength back, and try to make our way out. 
This river probably travels underground for miles," Varus said. 

Kali nodded silently. It seemed the only way out. If only she hadn't 
lost her staff, she could have helped them escape any number of ways, 
but they'd have to use their own two feet. 

"We only have a few coals, and once the phosphene is exhausted they'll 
go out. If we aren't able to warm up, we'll die. Cold saps your strength 
faster than anything." He was rearranging the bed of clothing in the 
small area. "The best way to stay warm when you can't make a fire is to 
use your own body heat. Come on. Lie down." 

She lay on her side and he spooned up behind her, their bodies packed 
together, making maximum use of the space in the little flat area. He 
covered them up with the remaining clothing, then wrapped his arms 
around her as they both faced the pitiful fire. He was right. This was 
decently warm, her naked body pressed up against his and the clothing 
over them both. He was a big man and practically enveloped her when he 
put his arms around her. She could feel his chest against her back, hard 
muscles rubbing up against her with each breath he took. Her legs had 
naturally wrapped around his. She flushed when she realized she could 
feel his erect prick poking into her bottom, a taut shaft of flesh 
pointed up at her pussy. 

Varus gently rubbed her stomach, seemingly unaware of his actions. She 
wiggled, trying to get comfortable. It was warming up under the 
makeshift blankets. She already felt much better, the deleterious 
effects of her channeling fading away. The aches were fading from her 
muscles, and her head had stopped its nauseating vibration. The cave was 
a freezing vault that arched away into darkness but it was almost cozy 
in their little cocoon. 

He was gently running his hands along her dried hair. "You remind me of 
her." 

She looked up at him. "Your daughter?" 

"Yes. Little Vana. She's your age. Same hair." He rubbed her ears and 
neck almost affectionately. 

"She's all I have left," he added awkwardly, the typical angry stiffness 
dropping from his voice. "I haven't even seen her in two years." 

Kali didn't know what to say to that. His cock was bulging against her 
bottom. Her wiggling had let it escape through the flap in his 
undertrousers and it was pressed up between her legs, lying against the 
lips of her pussy. She could feel its heat pressing up against her own 
under the makeshift blankets. The jutting intrusion was teasing its own 
response from her body, and she could feel a wetness spread over her 
tingling crotch. 

Questing fingers moved up her tummy, feeling her soft skin. He gently 
twisted and pinched her nipples, and she gasped in spite of herself. 
Heavy arms kept her pressed tightly against him, his hot breath on her 
neck. A moan escaped her lips as he trailed a finger with agonizing 
slowness down her belly, tickling her navel, before going lower. The 
juice from her cunt was leaking onto the hard prick pressed between her 
legs. Her muscles jerked involuntarily when he flicked her clit. As she 
wiggled, his cock moved back and forth along her pussy. She couldn't 
help herself, and she lifted her leg, inviting him in. Pulsing waves of 
warm pleasure flowed upward as Varus began a gentle thrusting, holding 
his cock against her pussy with his hand, and running it up and down in 
the furrow between her lips. The pressure of his flesh sent jolts all 
over her body. She began moaning as the lips of her pussy swelled with 
pleasure. She had grabbed the hand that was tweaking her nipples, and 
now her other hand went down, fingers feeling the silky hardness of his 
manhood as he rubbed it against her. 

The warmth and the rhythmic pressure were pushing her over the edge. The 
head of his prick rubbed against her clit with each forward thrust. She 
could feel the low thundering, building to a crescendo in her tummy. He 
was thrusting harder now, his own orgasm building. Sweat rolled down her 
back where their bodies met. His hot gasps covered her neck, her ear, 
her face, and she turned her head upwards. His lips crushed urgently 
against her own, pressing her head down into the soft fabric, her gasps 
cut off as their mouths explored each other. 

Her pussy blossomed like a firework, sending a warm explosion surging 
through every cell of her body. Her muscles clenched and her toes curled 
as a surging torrent of ecstasy roared in her brain, drowning out 
everything except the rigid pumping pressure of the iron flesh between 
her legs. Ragged breath filled her lungs as he let up off her mouth, a 
rumbling moan coming from deep inside his chest, vibrating against her 
back. Warm jets of slippery fluid spurted onto her stomach as he came, 
squeezing her against him in a vicelike grip, shuddering prick pressed 
tightly against her wet crotch. 

Her fingers lightly traced the cum on her stomach back and forth as they 
basked in the afterglow of their shared orgasm. She wondered if she 
should get up and wash again, but his muscled arms were still wrapped 
around her, rubbing her smooth skin in long, gentle strokes. 

They rested for a long time, both gazing into the glowing coals. Kali's 
cheeks were hot as she reveled in their sweaty, post-coital bliss. 
Varus' cock had wilted to a tepid half-erection, still pressed messily 
between her legs. His huge arms had clamped over hers, folding them 
against her chest. She looked down at the hairy bonds, wondering how he 
had got the lurid scar that wound its way from his wrist all the way up 
to the swell of his huge bicep. 

"Varus?" She asked. A low rumble was his only response. 

"Why do you hate mages so much?" 

The question hung in the stony silence. After a few minutes, she had 
figured that he wasn't going to answer. She closed her eyes and tried to 
sleep. 

"It was ... near Longborough," he said. 

She stirred out of her reverie. "Hmm?" 

"Longborough. That's where I lost him." He paused for an uncomfortable 
amount of time, staring straight ahead. "My son." 

He was tense. His arms were squeezing her uncomfortably against his 
chest, seemingly without realizing it. 

"What happened?" 

He was silent for some minutes, and Kali wondered if she was an idiot 
for prying where she wasn't wanted. 

"One of the first mixed units. They were going to liberate Longborough, 
a city that had fallen to Org-reh near the eastern border." For once, he 
wasn't speaking at an angry clip. "It doesn't exist on the maps anymore. 
It's completely destroyed. Gone. The military had been having a lot of 
trouble with the Org. They were too strong, too fast, too smart. And 
they had some of the early Org mages with them. The council said we 
should take mages of our own. There were only a few, then. 

"They engaged the enemy near the river. The conditions were perfect. Our 
units were outnumbered, but the mages were supposed to balance this. The 
Org had to come across the bridges, and we would be able to hold them 
there and return fire across the river." Gone was the gruff, angry snarl 
of command he always used. His voice had dropped to a low, aching tone, 
as if dragging out old scars gained long ago. 

"Well it worked, sort of. The mages were very effective from a distance. 
The regular soldiers were able to hold them at bay while the mages did 
their work. They wiped out over a thousand Org-reh with very few 
losses." He paused again. 

"A second force of Org came from behind. This should have been fine. Any 
normal military unit would simply turn their flank and engage the enemy 
on the new front. The new Org force was outnumbered. Dispatching them 
should have been easy. But the mages...they didn't turn. The Org got too 
close, they got scared. They choked. They couldn't put any firepower 
into the new flank. They turned and ran even though the lines were 
holding." 

He was squeezing her wrist without realizing it, the knuckles of his 
hand going white. It hurt, but she tried to stay still, hoping he 
wouldn't snap her like a stick. 

"The Org on the other side of the river pushed back, and the men were 
trapped between two forces with superior size and fighting ability. They 
were slaughtered. My son he...he was a lieutenant. He never made it 
back. The Org-reh took them all. Do you know what Org do to their men 
prisoners?" 

It was rhetorical. She knew. 

"They like to...eat them. Fresh meat. I don't know if my son died on the 
battlefield or inside an Org-reh cookpot." 

He didn't say anything more as he gazed into the fire. The iron grip was 
still squeezing her when a hot tear splashed down on her head. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered. 

He poured silent grief upon her head as they drifted off to sleep.