The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The party moved on as the first rays of dawn peeked through the thickening blanket of clouds. The wind found some force and bite as the front drew nearer to them. Neral knew there would be rain sooner rather than later and she shivered in anticipatory dread. Well, she conceded perhaps that it was a combination of things. There was always that tension when she knew they were heading into a fight instead of away from one. Not that she shied away from battle, but she was also not afraid of a retreat if it opened the possibility of a better opportunity later, or, if she was so hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned that their slaughter was assured if she stayed.

She couldn’t help but think the latter in this case. She and her handful of troops were going into the den of the beast and it would take ingenuity and probably all of the luck any of them had left in this life to come out of it breathing. She could be clever enough when it counted, but luck was the purview of the Goddess and Neral never did like trusting anything to her fickle nature. She’d seen too many instances of evil triumphing over good in her life to have much faith in anything so intangible.

She had faith in her family. She had faith in the ones at home and the ones behind her, whether they be the loves of her life or the soldiers she’d fought with, bled with, and had sworn to lead the best she knew how.

Kress read the body language from her right. “Something on your mind, General?”

She decided to keep some of her thoughts to herself. “Eyes sharp everyone. The terrain is going to start turning against us with the dense forest on one side and the rocky beach on the other.” She didn’t relish worming her way through dense forest and adding who knows how much time to their journey.

Kress looked out upon the massive trees and lush greenery that loomed closer, seemingly just in front of the jagged gray rocks. “Better the woods than the exposed beach that screams, ‘Here I am, come kill me.’”

Bryana cut in, cowl firmly in place before the first droplets could attack. “That’s not it. It’s the rain. She hates fighting in the rain. She hates traveling in the rain. She hates water in general.”

The group looked to one another, then to the general, curious to see where it would lead. For the recruits, it was another chance for them to know her outside of the field and she welcomed it. It built camaraderie and that led to honest loyalty. She demanded respect always, but not only did she feel they needed to see her as more like them than not, she wanted them to. She wasn’t a demigod and commanders that projected that eventually started to believe it. And when they started to believe it, streets ran red with blood.

“Dearest, if you had been a brash lieutenant during the Laprem Campaign, you too would hate rain. It rained for weeks straight.”

“Not straight,“Kress corrected. “There was an hour’s break here, another two hours there.”

“Everything was wet all the time and you knew you would never be dry again.”

“You never said a word about it,” Kress said with some pride. “Your face complained all the time, but you never said a word.” That elicited some laughter while the recruits still looked a bit nervous trying to figure out when and how much to laugh at their general.

“We wolfed food as fast as we got it so it didn’t soak through, too.”

“Not as fast as Deres, I’ll wager,” Maylin said from her place behind him. “His first few days in Adar, if he wasn’t trying to burst his cheeks with food, he slept.”

Deres defended his honor. “I was hungry and I had never seen so much food in my life. Add to that that most of it was new to me, it had to be tasted. As for sleeping, I could finally do that with my eyes closed, so, of course I did. There was that same lack of bitterness in his tone, what was simply was. Indeed, time let him look upon it with some bit of amusement.

Makleen, daring young soul that she was decided to wonder aloud, “What made you take him home?” The question added some rose red to her very round cheeks.

“He stole from me.”

Kestral shook her head. “I’ll steal from you; take me to paradise.”

Maylin appraised her and smirked. “Manage to steal from me and I’ll consider it. That was not my first venture out into the world. That an outlander boy could take something so prized from a Magister of Adar was a feat worthy of note. And there was something in his eyes that suggested he was capable of more. All of that and...I was lonely. “

She saw the look that Kestral gave her. “Surprised that we are more alike than not, outlander? Does it shock you that I feel? No mate or children of my own. I just never seemed to have the time and then it seemed too late.” She clutched his waist as if to hug. “We gave one another a family.”

Dion thought to ask, “Do many travel outside of Adar?”

“Not many. Most believe that we have all we need there and that outlanders have nothing to offer.”

“We do seem to be useful when it comes to cleaning up their shit,” Kestral said without humor even though she’d gotten some laughter all the same.

Neral could feel the tension escalate slightly and she didn’t want to have to mediate a dispute, break up a fight, or, worst case, gather Kestral’s ashes. “Maylin, are you up for a bit more in the way of reconnoiter?”

Deres stopped and helped her down. It amused him slightly to see her stumble a bit when she had otherwise always been so graceful. All her movements seemed to remind him of a dance. “I am.”

“We’ll hold here, and you see if you can see if there’s a path through the woods or if we have to risk the beach.”

“I can manage that.”

“Stay away from a fight, Mother,” he warned like a scolding parent.

“That’s not really up to me,” she said, the train of her dress seeming to catch the breeze before slipping behind a tree and simply not coming out from behind it.

Delles shook her head, eyes filled with wonder, “I’ll never get used to that.”

Anna countered, “Used to it? I wish I could do that. She looked to Deres and Bryana. Can either of you teach me?”

“If you have fifteen years to commit to it, sure.”

“Twenty at most,” Bryana added.

Neral looked back. “Good luck understanding it. I err and attempt to comprehend it on occasion and all I get is gibberish. ‘Blah, blah, blah...tapping into the energy currents that flow through everything.’ ‘Blah, blah, blah...synergy between mind, body, and that energy.’ ‘Blah, blah, blah...it’s like a symphony in that if you know how it is conducted and played you can change it while still keeping its soul intact.’” She let loose an exaggerated, exasperated sigh.

Deres tried to encourage her.“Don’t feel badly, Neral. You already understand more than most do. We each have our gifts, it just so happens that yours is stabbing things with sharp, pointy metal bits.”

The unified exclamation from her troops embarrassed her and she took a second to ride that out before responding. “It has served me well in my life, Husband.”

“It does tend to keep our disagreements short,” he agreed, twinkle in his eye.

Bryana felt the need to clarify things.“That and the fact that, as the man, he is wrong about everything by default.”

This time the exclamation made Neral laugh out loud.

He stiffened and turned away, wounded. “If you’re all going to be like that, I can just leave.”

Then, as quickly as she had disappeared behind the trees, she reappeared from the same one with that elegant glide, but the look of consternation on her features spread and any remaining levity evaporated. Neral stiffened, waiting for her to speak.

“The woods are crawling with the things,” she said, giving the report as she thought Neral would want to hear it. We don’t get through there without a fight.”

Kress looked at her, “Can’t we just do the invisibility thing again? That worked splendidly the first time.”

Maylin shook her head. “That forest looks, from here, probably two days-ride deep, maybe more. I can’t guarantee that even between the three of us that we could hold it without slipping.”

“If it slips in the middle of the woods, we’re caught in a fight, at the least,” Abren said, her tone harsh, though she looked as though she were prepared to accept that outcome if that’s what her commander ordered.

“Even if we could guarantee that we could maintain the veil, it’s not perfect,” Deres admitted. “It’s not absolute invisibility. There are flickers of...distortion now and again as light is bent. With so many eyes to potentially see it we run a similar risk as if one of us falters in the casting.”

“The beach it is then.” Neral didn’t relish it, but if they stayed near the rock wall there might be enough concealment to let them squeak through.”

“By everywhere, General, that’s what I mean,” Maylin told her grimly. “I’m not even sure we could make it to the narrow that would let us reach it without the horde trying to swarm us.”

“Sir,” Pel began, “what if some of us served as a distraction? “We make a loud run for the woods and take our chances. Loud enough and you might make it to the narrow.”

Neral looked put towards the thick treeline in distance. “And leave you to them at worst, and, at best, trying to work yourself out of that growth and back to us?” She shook her head.

“General, with respect, there is no other way that I can see. Pel has a decent plan. It has the virtue of being the best choice among no good ones.” Kress kept her tone formal but gentle. She knew what the likely outcome was and she knew her commander.

Pel straightened atop her horse. “I volunteer.”

In slow but certain succession, every other voice did the same.

“Someone has to have the best chance of getting where we need to be and that needs be you.”

Neral looked at Kress with those lines of stress and age beginning to leave deeper furrows at her temples, but those eyes still burning with a zeal for life and it weighed on her as it always did because with all volunteering it was now left to her to choose. If any of the choices could be said to be easy, one was. Kress was the most experienced aside from Neral herself and she would be needed. More than that, she wanted to go. It was just the determination in her eyes.

Neral tilted her head in Maylin’s direction without actually looking at her. “Maylin? Are you willing to go with them to scout?”

Before she could answer, Kress shook her head. “No need, General.”

“You’ll need all the help you can get, Kress.”

Her head shook again and she squared her shoulders. “You’re going after a mage. If she finds you first, you’re probably going to need every spell-caster you can get. We’re not going to find anything we can’t run through with a blade.”

“I like your confidence, Devine. And if you happen across any of those half-mages?”

She shrugged. “We’re nimble, we’ll just dodge until the bitches get tired, then run them through. I don’t expect it to be that difficult.”

“You wouldn’t.” Neral looked out upon her troops, measuring what might be needed, looking each in the eye as she spoke their name. “Hennis...Pell...Zynn...Misha...Makleen. You’ll accompany Major Kress, providing a distraction for the rest of to slip past and try to make our way to the beach.”

“Good luck, sir,” Pel said, swallowing back her fear for her commander and the friends she’d leave behind.

“Thank you, lieutenant. Major? Let’s get you geared. Take what you think you might need from what there is. And I trust my mages can conjure a few things that will be helpful?”

“We can manage that,” Deres told her, looking to his mother and Bryana, knowing they were probably thinking along the same lines. They were indeed as Maylin was already pulling blank spell slips from her pack.

They drew back, using the distance and some cover as the mages worked. There were enough other things for the troops to be doing to prepare that the three worked undisturbed. Even so, there were a few sidelong glances aimed at them as they found their own space to work slightly away from the group.

Half an hour later Deres came to Kress, collection of slips in hand. He deposited them as he spoke, amber ones first. “These are wards. Place these at eight points around camp and they’ll work similarly to what we do at night. These are simpler and more passive though. They won’t damage anything or anyone.”

She nodded. “Only for early warning then.”

He nodded back before handing her red ones that were warm to the touch. “These, on the other hand, will. You’ll get a nice explosion and fire and they have a good twenty yard radius. Don’t use them on anyone you’re not upset with.”

She was surprised at how much weight the little red slips of glass seemed to have, probably, she surmised for easier throwing. “What keeps one of those half-mages from setting them off by shoving her hand in my pocket and squeezing?”

He shook his head. “They’re warded. If you’re corrupt, you may as well keep them for jewelry for all the good they’ll be.”

She liked the thought. “Maybe I’ll let you make pendants out of them when we get back.”

“I surely will, be promised, the hope he’d be held to that in his eyes. “Good, luck, Major.”

“And to you, Deres. Keep the general from trouble, would you?”

He sighed. “Difficult when she runs toward it.”

Unable to counter that truth, she didn’t try, opting instead to give him a couple hearty slaps on the arm and headed off, silently wishing him more luck. She looked ahead even as she came back to her mount, looking for signs to judge how the creatures might respond if they had thought and how they might if they didn’t.

Neral looked to him, noting as they found their mounts again, “Those might have been useful before.”

“And if we’d had them before we would have had them before,” he said simply. “Taming energy that way is no simple thing. They aren’t all that easy to make. Coming up with the spell to keep the energy coherent enough to be tamed and not fade away wasn’t easy.”

She wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding. “I wasn’t being accusatory by the way.”

“I know.”

“She’s never fully appreciated what we do,” Bryana said, wounded.

“I thought I’d made it clear before that I barely understand what you do.”

Decisions made, Kress said her goodbyes to the others, reminding them for their strengths and offering advice where she could. As she mounted her horse she looked to her group to see them following her lead. They were a good group that she was proud to lead. As much as part of her wanted to stay by the general’s side, she was needed this way. She met Neral’s dark eyes and the general broke the silence. “See you on the other side of the woods. We’ll wait as long as we have to.”

“General, you’ll wait as long as you can. Besides, we’ll probably be the ones waiting for you. We’ll stick out less and will probably make better time.”

Neral let the sarcasm drip. “I have always been humbled by your confidence in me.”

“I’m just making sure you’re not resting on your laurels.” She extended her arm.

She clasped it just below the elbow and felt the same in return.“Never happen with the way you’ve ridden my ass for what seems like more of my life than is fair.”

“Only the ones with at least a glimmer of gift for this life, sir.”

“Only a glimmer?”

“Yes, sir,” she deadpanned.

The two held their mounts side by side as they waited for the rain.

Shortly after noon it came. First in a light drizzle where each drop seemed to have more weight than a drop of water should, smacking everything it touched with a popping sound and it felt to Neral like it did as a girl when her elder sister would flick her on the back of the head as they waited somewhere just to see how much the younger would tolerate. The reminder made Neral even more sour, as if the rain itself and the circumstances weren’t enough.

Then it started coming down in sheets, a near literal wall of rain that pressed on her mail and threatened to soak everything beneath. It ran from in little streams, drenching everything as it ran for the ground. Still they waited. If it was making them miserable, it was making the beasts in the distance the same way. Large and small their movements changed. One large beast with a greenish carapace that blended to the grass remind one of a rock from a distance settled in and hunkered down while others trotted, skittered, and lumbered towards the woods for whatever semblance of cover it would provide.

“Your run,” Neral said firmly. “You order, I’ll follow.”

That satisfied her. “As it once was.”

Kress hefted one of the red slips in her hand, noting to herself approvingly that she could probably get some good distance with it. She lobbed it toward the path that led to the beach, striking it against the trunk of one of what Neral had taken to thinking of as spire trees as they reminded her of how high Bryana imagined the buildings of Adar.

There was a snap of thunder, high-pitched, then deeper as the shock wave pushed the air outward. Even prepared for it, Neral gripped Stenna’s reins more tightly. A red mist seemed to billow outward in all directions before it ignited, setting the trees and grass around it aflame with that same crimson red. Neral looked with satisfaction as the explosion sent bits of smaller beasts about and the flames sent others running, burning in the madness of fire and the unyielding pain that came with it.

Some of the intelligent ones steered clear while others calculated low point of the flames and charged through looking for the source. The lesser ran towards the disturbance, determined to attack until the heat and flame drove them back. The rock creature extended its short limbs as if to move its bulk as it wailed, apparently more annoyed than angry.

“You’ll know when, General.” She kept her eyes ahead. “Soldiers, follow.”

Her troops responded in muted unison. She threw another at the same spot and didn’t wait for it to land before charging forward. Neral was pleased at the skill it took for the rock to land only slightly left of the original, catching several full on in the fire and thunder. The horses moved at full gallop making rumblings of their own and, as Kress howled and dared the animals to attack, so did those with her as they made for the treeline. With the sound of the explosion faded, leaving only the crackle of the crimson flames, the party started gathering attention. The remaining creatures saw something to blame for the disturbance and something they could kill. Even the rock thing turned and started to pick up speed.

When it seemed that everything that was truly dangerous ahead was either dead, on the way to dead, or chasing quarry Neral moved, urging Stenna to full speed. More claps of thunder could be heard in the growing distance. A few smaller creatures gave them chase but Deres and Bryana dispatched them silently, pitching them to the nearest of the slowly drowning walls of flame while Neral put her head down and focused on her black mane and the rhythm of her hooves and the squicking of the mud as she pounded it and Neral let herself be cold from the rain and from the knowledge that she was leaving her troops behind.

The journey over the winding pathway to the beach was treacherous in its own right with the narrow, uneven path. Add to it the mud and the incline they were relegated to a snail’s pace for too long for anyone’s liking. Eventually though they did reach the gray sand of the beach. Under other circumstances, it would have been lovely with the waves foaming in white plumes against the rocks even as they rode nearly single file against the sheer rock face opposite the waves to help conceal them.

They were soaking wet, chilled to the bone, and somber as they rode. No one spoke, telling themselves it was to stay aware of their surroundings, but in truth it would have seemed disrespectful somehow. After a time Deres broke the silence. “If there’s any group that can make it through.”

She looked down at the reins before glancing at him before focusing on the path ahead. “Trite, Husband.”

“I’m sorry.” There were many levels to those two words for him.

“It is not your fault. It had to be done. But do not give up on them.” She hardened, resolving to make any sacrifice that would be required of them mean something. “When we get there it will be because they got us there and we will get there together still. I believe it.”

She remembered their faces. She remembered them all through the years. She remembered the friends that had fallen next to her and the ones she had ordered to fall on her behalf. It disrespected them to forget. “We’ll find a place clear of the woods, set up camp and wait as long as we can afford to do so. If we have to leave without them we may meet them farther along the path, or, once the witch is dealt with we’ll scour the woods for them.

Dion pondered that strategy. “That’ll be fun with the place still crawling.”

“I don’t think that will be very true once she’s dead, Maylin said. “From what I observed before coming to find help, they are tied to her to varying degrees. She has bound their will to hers. They act as she wills whether fully aware of it or not and, from the beasts to the half-mages, I’ve seen nothing to dissuade me of that.”

“When she dies, they die?”

“That’s our belief and our hope,” Deres, said.

Bryana added. “It’s why the man dies hours after his wife passes to the next world. Give up the will to live and the body dies.”

Elan concluded, “So...they’re all sort of walking dead anyway.”

“That’s a reasonable way of seeing it,” Maylin agreed.

Neral rode on in silence. The witch would pay for much, but her heart ached with the knowledge that the final tally had most likely not been written yet. She kept her eyes ahead so she didn’t have to look at anyone and imagine them gone.

Kress and her soldiers rode hard. Deres’ little toys worked well. They had cleared the field well enough for Neral and the rest to break for it, Kress seeing them riding hard at the edge of her vision just before the trees became the world. Tossing a couple more for good measure gave them a deep wall of flame to cover their journey inward. Her lips pursed as they rode. Here was where she was needed. Here was where she would do the most good. But she wished she could be two places at once. Neral needed her too, otherwise there wouldn’t have been that knock on her door in the dead of night.

You’re doing what is needed. You’re doing what needs to be done to give them the best chance to complete the mission. Now, the new mission was simple: get through these woods with her party intact. And, in all honesty, she’d rather have the woods than that beach.

The way the rain hit them changed as well. The trees were high enough and with leaves the size of her open hand that they could all but block out the sun. The rain collected and dropped almost as if buckets of it were being poured directly on their heads. But they rode on.

Not long after the horses demanded they slow their pace the rain finally began to taper, leaving a mist in the air but allowing them a real look around. The grass was short with most of the water to be had feeding the trees. All took turns looking up. Hennis wrung out her braids as she examined the plants that hung on the thickest branches some twenty feet in the air. Larger versions of the hand-sized leaves layered tightly into one another creating what looked to her like a massive green pine cone, which made sense, she supposed, given the size of the trees and the almost constant dropping of pollen. Now that the rain had all but stopped they could see it fall like fine snow, spiraling downward on the wind, trying to cling to everything they touched. She and the others stopped after only a few half-hearted attempts to try to keep clean of them they accepted that it was going to be its own job and more or less gave up.

Pel didn’t mind. She breathed in the moist thick air. She didn’t know why, but the forest didn’t intimidate her. It was just a curious place and everything in it was just a natural part of that. She kept an eye out for more threats and predatory creatures in general, but she didn’t share the general unease her compatriots seemed to. Maybe Hennis was right. Maybe I’m just figuring out what’s normal for here. She looked around. “At least the big creatures are not chasing us through here.”

It’d have a hard time in anything this dense,” Zynn said, looking around, flipping her soaked hair out of her eyes, “though I bet that rock thing could smash a nice path for the rest.”

Kress nodded. “If he didn’t hate fire worse than the rest of them, maybe. I’m guessing there’s a really soft underbelly going on with him.”

Hennis wondered, “Do you think it’s natural for here or she made it?”

“Didn’t look all that natural to me,” Misha answered derisively. “It’s probably meant to keep people out of the woods. If she wants to grab everybody she can get her hands on these woods wouldn’t be all that good for her. There’s plenty of food and water by the looks of it. Keep moving and you could hide out forever.”

“Or drive them in, maybe,” Makleen threw out there to be considered. “We can’t be the first one with the idea and I don’t see anybody else around or signs of them.”

“I’d be as far in as I could get,” Pel said, contemplating having her heels nipped by those things.

Kress let the banter go. She almost always did so long as it was productive. It built bonds and gave her ideas, perspective, and a clue to their strengths and weaknesses, which helped her be a better leader for any particular group. “Well, we have to go deeper in in order to make our way out. If we run into anyone we’ll see how we can help them and how they can help us. In the meantime keep your eyes open and we’re going to keep pace until sundown, then make camp.”

“Do we get a fire, sir? I’m not complaining, but I so want a fire.” Despite her words, there was the slightest edge of whine to her voice.

Misha shook the water out of her hair like a dog. “I have to second that request, sir. I’m soaked through and not in the fun way.”

Kress coughed to keep a chuckle at bay, taking on a stern tone.”I’ve noted your opinions and given them all the weight their due in light of the fact that mine is the only one that counts. We’ll take stock of our situation then and I’ll decide, but, if things stay uneventful, I think a fire would probably be all right.” All made approving sighs and even Kress found herself hoping that she could give that order for herself as much as them.

Kress found a place with good cover, but still open enough to set up an effective perimeter. Pell kicked mud around.“Someone made it through here.”

Kress nodded at the telltales of an abandoned campsite. “Good enough for them and it looks good enough for us.” She knew the sun was setting soon and the bone chill and misery would only get worse. They all wanted to be warm, dry, and clean. That coupled with the fact that they hadn’t seen anything larger than a horse, and all seemed to avoid their numbers led her to give the order to find dry wood for a fire while she set out to see how idiot-proof these warding jewels actually were.

After that was done she looked forward to getting dried off as best she could herself. She lifted her chestplate and looked past the padding and the linen to see that the pollen did indeed get into every place it could. When she rubbed it away from her hands she noticed how it left the tiniest trace of dew, that combined with enough others, left her skin softer than before and it was a welcome bit of luxury after all the grief.

She found also that, with a clear purpose and a straightforward plan, a lot of the anxiety she came into the woods with was gone. There was still concern, of course, for herself, her people, Neral, and the goal but the edge was gone; it wasn’t making her quite so crazy. If our luck holds we’ll make it out, rejoin the general, and end this.

She rubbed the oil into her hands as she contemplated exactly where to place the wards.

By the time sunset gave way to darkness camp had been made. Finding wood that could burn was difficult, but they managed while Pel and Misha found game. They didn’t examine it too closely beyond its features to determine them probably natural and worth eating. That they were were rich in fat made them particularly tasty.

All the while, the pollen drifted about, the women officially giving up on avoiding it and indeed absent-mindedly crushed the oil into their skin.

Shields, swords, and armor stayed within reach as they huddled around the roaring fire, sitting on their bed rolls letting their linens dry on their bodies. With bellies full and bodies warming they let themselves talk.

“I’ll be dry in a couple of days,” Zynn said, her thick red hair that much darker from the wet of it, leaning forward to bring the back forward to be warmed.

Kress ran her hand across her nearly smooth head. “Try my way, mine’s dry.”

She flipped it back.“Bald is not for me, sir.”

The fire played interesting tricks on Hennis’s sharp nose and jaw, accentuating her attractive but hawkish look. “Do you you think they made it?”

Kress sighed and shook her head. “Are you asking me if General Neral Jaye made it?”

Hennis shrank back a bit. “No. Yes, sir. I mean...”

Kress looked to each of them, hoping to lift them with her words and her faith. “She didn’t waste the chance we gave. I could tell you some of the things that I have seen her accomplish with my own eyes, but you would not believe me. I am exaggerating when I say that tomorrow afternoon she will be ride through to collect us and we will all go home.”

She looked into the fire. “But it would not be a complete surprise to me if it happened.”

“I’m hoping,” Pel said, feeding a twig to the flame just for something to do. She laughed at her own joke. “Parades and cheers and gifts from the queen.”

They all laughed then. No one would ever know what they did here and they all knew it. The best that they would do is a yearly gathering someplace private and drink each other under the table with stories.

Pel sighed deeply. “I’ll settle for a warm bed with Ahren and a warm pussy full of him. That’ll be just fine.”

Eyes drifted to the dark for most of them, imagining their respective reunions. Makleen’s hand pulled the pollen down her neck.

“The rest of us pretty much know each other, but, what about you, Hennis, anyone special waiting?”

Her cheeks reddened and she shifted her weight. “There’s no one I like yet.”

Misha sensed more in the tone. “Ever?”

She was a little defiant. “No. not ever. The first time was over before it started and he was done with me after he was...done with me, so I choose to wait until it feels like it should happen.”

She shrugged.“Fair enough. Something to look forward to. You know, finding the right one.”

Hennis liked thinking of it. “Yes. But, also to be fair, I do think about it lot,” which sent laughter around the fire.

“Just men,” Zynn wanted to know, “or are you flexible?”

“Men for sure.”

They went around the fire and each spoke a bit of their lover and what they missed most about their play. Kress listened and debated putting a stop to it. She never minded a little veiled reference here or double entendre there. Man or woman it was all simply a way to vent anxiety. But they were getting exceedingly crass in a way that was technically a breach of regulations and certainly a breach of etiquette. She wrung her hands together, feeling the softness of the skin.

All the talk was creating lovely metal imagery however.

Misha’s green eyes matched the envy in her voice. “I’d feel way better if I had mine with me like Neral does.”

That snapped Kress to. “Watch your place, girl.”

She froze for a second. “Apologies, sir.” She took a deep breath, then another. It was an image she couldn’t shake.”Did you see how they sleep? No space between them.”

“And they’re comfortable like that.”

“The general is a genius,” Zynn said, smearing the pollen down her left cheek. “Whatever itch she wants scratched, she can get it done. She wants soft and sweet, there it is. She wants to get...power fucked by a bull from the southern quarter, she can have that, too.”

Pel giggled like a teenager with a secret and raised her hand. “Both at once. All the time.”

Misha had some time in, long enough to have truly been connected to the gossip-mongers in the military. “I had no idea that she even liked girls.”

“It’s new.” Kress flushed with embarrassment at blurting it out. It was none of their business. By the Goddess, it wasn’t hers either. She didn’t even know why she’d said it. She looked at them, judging their reaction to her own, under other circumstances, unpardonable breach, but they didn’t seem all that bothered. Indeed, they seemed tantalized by it and that embarrassed her because it excited her.

“I wonder what they do.”

“What the fuck do you mean you wonder what they do?” Misha rolled her eyes at Zynn. “You know how women fuck men, you know how women fuck women. There’s no mystery.

“But...mages,” Zynn countered. “I bet they have spells and things.” The tip of her finger brushed her lower lip. “I bet they can make all sorts of energy come out of their hands. That broad chest of his, those arms. By the Goddess, he’s finely sculpted. Have you noticed that?”

Misha and Hennis both softly admitted that they had. “You’d think a mage wouldn’t bother,” the former purred, hand caressing her neck.

“You have to wonder if she is, too.”

Kress took a deep breath, breaking another taboo within herself. “She is.”

“Oooo, how do you know?” Hennis’ eyes reflected the fire. That her nipples were pushing against her linens could be seen as well.”

“Day before yesterday I bathed wi...near her in the pond.” Her hands slowly made some of the shapes she saw in the air. Tattoos...symbols all over. Her back...legs...serpent thing that starts under belly button. Her body is... firm.”

Pel nudged her. “Desirable?”

“Yes.”

Pel’s head tilted in curiosity towards. “You never said if you had anybody waiting at home.”

Kress reached down to scratch her leg before her fingertips flattened against her skin, spreading that softness even as she spoke, resigned to the way of things. “Not anymore. She could no longer share me with my position.”

“You let her go for us?” She came closer, sitting on her knees next to Kress. “Have you ever...with a fellow soldier like us?”

She was taken aback, but her anger at the suggestion was muted, even to her. “With a subordinate? Never. Never...I...”

“But you’ve wanted to. How could you not? You are surrounded by fine examples of what you need all around you. And they understand that you are the soldier you are. They understand your duty and your needs. You have to have considered it.”

Kress felt goosebumps tease her flesh when Pel touched her. She gripped her hands more tightly with her laced fingers. “Yes.” It was a hoarse whisper.

“Fantasized?”

She nodded slowly.

“About someone here?”

Her head snapped towards Pel as though she’d been caught.

Pel’s tone was playful again, much like the the banter before. “Ooooooo” When she did, everyone perked their ears. “Someone here? Who?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kress told her, wanting to be away from the question, but unable to bring herself to order Pel to keep quiet. A part of her wanted it out, and that urge was taking up more and more of her mind.

“It’s ok.” Pel caressed her arm to comfort her. “None of us mind. It’s just fantasy, right? She looked to the girls who all urged Kress to speak it.

“See? We all want to know. Who drives your fantasies out here on this grand, secret mission? Who do you want?

“Hennis.” When it burst from her lips she felt shame for dishonoring her position, but it excited her, too in a way she’d never allowed but couldn’t deny.

There were giggles all around as they took it in. Hennis, for her part, blushed madly.

“Why her?”

She eyed Hennis. “I...like the contrast to me. I like the height difference. I like her strong, rounded body. I like everything about it. I want to see it.” She found that commanding core once again. “Show it to me, Hennis. I want to see it.”

Everyone froze and stared at Hennis, who seemed hopelessly confused. It was wrong and she knew it was, but the words slammed her like punches after having been trained to obey orders almost to the point of instinct. “Sir? I...”

Misha’s voice snapped like an order on its own.“Show her. I would if it were me she wanted to see.” Her hand caressed her breast over her linen. “You know she would fucking die for you. If she wants you, so what?”

There’s was a hint of the same wild in Zynn’s eyes, but she was still shocked at the outburst.

Misha was having none of it. “What difference does it make? We’re probably never getting home, so, so, what if she asks for a look or a chance to cum before whatever happens happens.” She took a deep breath, squeezed her left breast to the point of making herself wince and watched to see what would happen. “A little fucking sounds good right now.”

“Show me, Hennis. Now.”

Hennis, feeling like she was being pulled from her bedroll by the order, stood and, with trembling hands untied the knots at her neck and waist, letting the top of the still damp garment peel away while she wriggled herself from the leggings that hugged her just above the knee.

She stood nervously once it was shed, feeling like her first day at attention, feeling those eyes on her, the little hairs on her body feeling the near imperceptible pressure of the pollen now drifting all over her body as Kress drank her in.

For her part, Kress ogled the apple body, from wide hips, to full thighs, to small, perfectly rounded breasts and was pleased. Pel watched her. “Misha’s right. We can worry about orders and duty tomorrow. Look at her...terrified...excited. If you go over there you know she won’t resist. Give in. Why not?”

Kress walked to her as she might with a recruit that had something out of place on their uniform. She looked down at the woman as the palm of her hand slid down Hennis’ belly and over the fine hair between her legs and Kress relished the gasp she heard when her index finger started turning that tiny bud of flesh in firm circles under it. “That boy wasted the gift that was you.”

The younger woman’s eyes widened, lower lip quivering at the pleasure.

“You need a lover that knows what she has.” Index finger was replaced by thumb as two fingers pushed deeply between folds to be far warmer than the rest of her had been all day, though nearly as wet. “You need a lover that will please you until you are the one spent and rolling away simply because you are numbed from the pleasure and can’t take my touch even one more time.”

Her fingers plowed forcefully as Hennis pinched and pulled her nipples outward in an obscene display. “He was done already.”

“Then I should stop?”

“No, sir. More.”

Her feet spread and the group watched Hennis simply standing there to be taken. She heard them whisper, urging both on.

Pel moved to stand at the younger’s ear. “Imagine yourself her secret toy. Stolen moments where you can find them. She will order you to cross a river and you will.”

She clawed her breasts. “Yes.”

Kress had a sneer.“And I will order you to your knees in my tent and you will obey.”

“Yesssssss.” Her hips began to thrust forward of their own volition.

“And then I shall pleasure you until you stumble from my tent as if you were drunk.”

Oh, yes. Please, sir.” She didn’t notice Pel’s hands on her body beyond the fact that there was suddenly more pleasure.

“Hennis?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What was that boy’s name?”

Her mind struggled through the quicksand it was buried with until she stopped caring. “I don’t remember.” With that she began to shriek in an orgasm that threatened to break her as Kress slipped her tongue past those parted lips and swallowed the sounds of list the other made. Hennis clutched her lover’s shoulders, hands moving to the tie at her neck even as they continued to kiss.

Makleen bit her lip so that it seemed she was trying to draw blood, peeling her clothing away revealing pert breasts and dark, erect nipples. She let Pel push her to the ground and let those strong, yet delicate hands massage her, the scent of her arousal filling the air, her eyes drifting from the scene of Kress and Hennis naked on the ground, kissing sloppily with Hennis wrapping her legs around her like she would have any man to looking into Pel’s and whining.

“Oh, I know. It’s so stressful. This whole thing is so stressful and with all the fucking going on, too.” She continued her massage letting her finger slip between thighs and brush those dewy folds before going back up sensuously to cup her breasts, then back down in a slow rhythm that said that they had all the time in the world until all there was from the girl was whining.“Do you want to fuck, too, Makleen?”

She nodded rapidly. “I do.”

“Let’s go see Misha.”

Makleen crawled behind Pel like an eager puppy to find Misha with her her clothes around her ankles leaning back, propping on one hand while the other pawed at herself furiously. When she caught sight of the girl inches from her simply looking like she was ready to...service fired her belly. It was good to let go. It was good to stop thinking of everything ahead. “Get down there, I want you to do it.” To drive the point home, she grabbed her by the hair with her free hand.

Pel finally focused on the last holdout. Zynn was on her knees, hand braced against the nearest tree trying to stand up in a supreme display of will. “There’s something wrong...with everybody.”

“Everything is fine, Zynn,” she said, untying the redhead’s garment at the waist with finger and thumb as the other fingers lifted daintily in the air. Everyone just wants to relax. Don’t you want to relax?”

Her world was swimming around her, trying to find the strength to stand up but it was seemingly being pulled from her by the touch of her hand. She tried to pivot away, but all that did was take away her balance to leave her linen now untied at the neck, back against the tree, helpless as Pel pulled it down from the front and off of her body, exposing her pendulous breasts and nipples that grew even harder in the cool air.

Zynn watched her strip, her addled mind looking for anything to grasp onto to resist. “I don’t...like girls.”

“That’s all right. I’m just here to help you relax.” Pel leaned in and their chests pressed together. Her fingers found no resistance as they slipped inside Zynn, leaving the soldier to grunt at their passage. Pel’s lips found Zynn’s ear, each syllable making her squirm. “If talking about cocks will relax you, I can do that.” She grinned wickedly. “We can talk about very fit mages if you like.”

“Mmm...Goddess.”

“Mmm-hmm. We can talk about hard mage cocks and generals splayed like whores.” Well behind her amber light glowed brightly and not long after the horses began to whinny and stomp, keenly aware that predators were close.

“Yessss….’

“Close your eyes. Think of proper, elite women splayed and filled.”

Zynn reached behind her and turned her head away, wanting to scream, but if she did she’d miss the sweet words in her ear so she settled for panting and shivering like she’d been left out in a snowstorm. The woman stood behind Pel, waiting patiently until she placed Zynn’s hand between her legs so she could pleasure herself.

Pel looked at the unnatural beauty of the woman before her, nude as well, entire body shaded in green in ways that allowed her to blend into her environment, hairless, eyes a dull yellow with talon-like claws to match, she appraised the soldier approvingly. “She is pleased.”

Pel’s heart jumped in her chest.

Green women like her followed behind. “More are coming to seek refugee in the mountains. They are to be collected.”

The thought of them corrupted thrilled her. At the edge of her vision she could see the creatures pried the writhing women from one another and took them for themselves. She saw one lord over Kress as the soldier looked up at her in lust and an ember of the proud woman she once was. “Taste of me, surrender to Her, and become.”

Confusion crossed her visage for a moment before her tongue extended and touched the creatures cleft and soon her lips were pressed to it.

The woman in front of Pel dropped to her knees and looked up submissively. “Before I hurt you, I am to please you in Her name.”

Pel surrendered too.