The Druid's Secret - A Bob the Mage Tale (starring Talli!)

 

          The trail the two women followed was not exactly well maintained. In fact, mostly abandoned would have been a better description. The condition of the track probably had something to do with the reality that few dared venture into those particular woods. Trees, brush, and vine had encroached and what had once been a path wide enough for a cart now was barely traversable for an individual on foot. The bright afternoon sun was nothing but an occasional glimmer that filtered through the heavy canopy and a sort of mirk seemed to swirl beneath the huge tree trunks and snagglevine beneath. But the condition of the path was a symptom, rather than cause, though the local townspeople might not have delineated things quite like that. That stretch of forest had a reputation. There were stories told of roaring, growling monsters, nights filled with horrible, bloodcurdling screams, and even stories of a witch that kidnapped children… and ate them.

None of those tales were known to the second of the two women, who hadn’t grown up in the area. She was a petite thing, with curly, shoulder length brown hair, a cute nose, a pair of penetrating, intelligent, compassionate eyes, and a cutting smile that could melt a frost giant’s icy heart. And if the gloomy, eerie atmosphere of the forest around them was affecting her, she didn’t seem to be showing it. Indeed, she was almost blissfully unaware of her surroundings, without a care in the world, humming to herself. 

The other woman however, was quite aware of the stories. Her green druidic robes flowed around the leather boots that covered her feet. Gnarled knuckles curved around a knobby staff as she walked forward confidently. With each step the various vines, branches, and even the grass seemed to melt before her, as if the forest itself was bending over to welcome her presence. A leather pack was slung over her shoulder, the long tail of her iron gray hair making a line down her back.

“Are we almost there yet, Gwendolyn?” The younger girl asked brightly.

Gwendolyn frowned. “Almost Talli,” she replied to the younger woman behind her. Talli was just a quarter of the druid’s age, her youth creating a vitality that Gwendolyn admired. She wasn’t jealous. The old woman knew that growing old was just a part of the process and despite her advancing age, the druid was more than physically capable of handling the day’s objective. And in some ways, she was the more powerful of the two, despite Talli’s primary purpose on this particular outing. Gwendolyn glanced behind her and shook her head. So many things had changed when the Talli had joined their party as Bob’s vessel. 

Unlike the druid, whose tunic-like robes were pressed tight to her body, Talli wasn’t dressed for a hike through the woods. The first argument between the two had been about footwear. Talli had wanted to wear her usual shoes; a pair of high-heeled, open-toed sandals that admittedly looked fabulous on her tiny feet, but wasn’t meant for the rugged terrain Gwendolyn knew they would be traversing. The old woman had insisted on boots and Talli being Talli, had cycled through protest, pouting, pleading, and then after a thorough spanking from Bob, finally grumpy acceptance. 

But while Gwendolyn had won on the shoe front for their outing, there was nothing the older and wiser druid could do about Talli’s general attire. From a purely aesthetic perspective, no one in their right mind would object to the salacious ensemble of gauze that revealed the voluptuous slave girl’s body, or the glittering gold of the piercings that graced the tips of her impressive bust. The shirt, if you could call it that, covered her shoulders, leaving broad swaths of skin exposed, including the peculiar tattoos adorning her right upper arm and lower back. The first looked, from a distance, to be a flower, though a more discerning eye might notice the ring of human skulls etched in black from up close. Decidedly macabre. But more pleasing to look at was the complicated swirls, thorns, and slivers that made up the Múl Gwen mark that spread its wings just above the dimples of her still pink bottom. It was elven, specifically the dark elves, and Gwendolyn knew exactly what the various whorls, thorns, and whirls meant. It was a sign. A judgement even. About Talli’s peculiar nature. 

A chain of enchanted circlets was slung low across her hip, a thin wisp of material that did absolutely nothing to hide her constant arousal, conceal the Múl Gwen, or cover the sweet glistening pinkness of her sex. These were also enchanted, though not with the same kind of mind-altering hypersensuality like the rest of Talli’s jewelry. Bob had enspelled them to protect her, which was one of the reasons the girl could slide past a rose bush and come away without a scratch. A flash of metal at the apex of her slit matched the rings on her fingers and the earrings that dangled from her lobes, each one surging with magic that reinforced Talli’s perception that her entire purpose in life was to cum at the whim of master. Which made perfect sense, as Talli was a vessel, a sexual slave whose sole purpose was to orgasm on demand so that Bob could suck the energy out of her. Talli was the living embodiment of sexual desire, tantalizingly visible in the most prurient and erotic manner. 

Bob. Gwendolyn ground her teeth. Bob the Mage irritated the crap out of the druid and had long before Talli had entered into the equation. She had known the man for decades, first as a sort of low level but highly skilled enchanter with one major defect. He had no magical power. None. Zip. Zero. The man couldn’t even fire off a magic missile or create a mage light. But Bob had figured out a work around. All he needed was a beautiful human or elf girl, subjecting her to an incessant flow of mind-washing magic enchantments, and then tormenting her to the point of sexual epiphany, all so he could pull a metaphorical rabbit out of his metaphorical hat. Some mages, had they been inflicted with a similar plight, might have visited the slave markets and just purchased a girl. A down on his luck mage sometimes made some less scrupulous choices on where to get his vessels. Bob had started off as a business associate of Gwendolyn’s, showing remarkable ingenuity and even fewer morals while acquiring some of the more questionable materials Gwendolyn had needed for her research. 

At least until he’d picked Talli. That was where everything, at least in Gwendolyn’s view, had changed. Suddenly Bob was struggling with ethics, even moral dilemmas. It was as if Talli’s presence wrought some sort of alteration in the man. It was practically a whole alignment shift. Gone was the “ends justify the means” attitude that had helped Gwendolyn obtain research materials and subjects, and in its place was this bastion of annoying righteousness. It was vastly irritating. Worse, Talli had forced Gwendolyn to undergo a certain introspection herself. 

“So where are we going?” Talli asked, picking her way through the tall grass and pushing on a sapling that threatened to cut her gauze shirt to shreds. “Bob only said that you needed me to talk to some ghosts.”

Gwendolyn nodded. “Old farmstead. It was turned into a conservatory.”

“What’s a conservatory?” Talli asked, turning sideways and raising her arms to squeak past another bush. The tips of her breasts brushed against the leaves and Gwendolyn spotted the shiver of pleasure that shot through the girl. Even the tiniest touch excited her, a byproduct of the enchanted jewelry she was wearing. Well, that and the fact that even when unaffected by magic the girl was a cumslut.

“It’s like a laboratory. Now it’s haunted and I need you to find a way to move the specter out.”

“A laboratory?” Talli replied. “Cool. What kind? Alchemy?”

Gwendolyn ground her teeth and shook her head. “No,” she replied, almost sullenly. 

Talli grinned. “Enchanting?” 

The druid grimaced. “Hardly.” 

“Yeah, you would have brought Bob. Uh… clockwork?” 

Gwendolyn let out a huff. “Talli, I didn’t bring you for any other reason than to get rid of the ghosts. It’s not a tour.” 

Talli seemed to accept that without hesitation. “Sure,” she said, twirling beautifully through another set of branches. To the druid, she half looked like a wood nymph, trying to lure men to a tumultuous view minutes of pure, lustful pleasure, before becoming fertilizer.

A few minutes later they emerged into a clearing. The sky opened up, leaving the limestone and wood cottage glowing golden in the sunlight. Flowers dotted the grass in front. An overgrown garden seemed to be practically bursting with vegetables, while several deer looked up, slightly startled, then seemed to settle back down to grazing as if they recognized the druid. 

“Oh,” Talli said as she stepped up beside the old woman. “That’s cute.” Then the girl blinked. “What’s that behind the house?” 

Gwendolyn looked up beyond the shale roof of the cottage. “The old barn. Come on.” She started pushing through the thigh high grass, not toward the cottage, but around to the side. Talli followed, her eyebrow going up.

“We’re not going to the house?” She asked curiously. 

Gwendolyn shook her head. “Problem isn’t in the house. It’s in the barn.”

“Why would the ghost be in the barn?”

The old crone frowned. “Because that’s where it is.”

They approached the larger structure. It too was made of a mixture of limestone blocks and wooden logs, strangely interwoven. A heavy wooden door was set to one side and Gwendolyn made a beeline for it. The old woman didn’t seem to have any problem getting it open and Talli tensed slightly as the dark interior was suddenly revealed. 

“Um… do you know anything about this ghost?” She blurted out.

Gwen’s brow furrowed. “It moves things. Makes noise. Apparitions. Basically it makes a nuisance of itself. That’s why I brought a necromancer to talk to it.”

Talli frowned at the druid and rubbed at the flower-like tattoo on her right arm. “I’m not a necromancer,” she insisted, sounding a little put out by the description.

Gwendolyn shrugged. “Ectomancer?” She retorted. “Whatever. You can talk to ghosts and tell them to stop being a pain in the ass, right?” She pointed into the barn. “So go in there, find the ghost, and tell it to go away.”

Talli gulped, took a deep breath, and then went in.

The interior of the barn was dark, but the light spilling in from the open doorway illuminated the front half enough for Talli to get a good look at the unusual interior. She had been expecting stalls and wallows. She’d grown up in a place that looked quite similar to this farmstead. Except, someone had gutted the interior of the barn. The dirt floor had been replaced with cobblestone. Several scarred oaken work tables were positioned along the walls, covered in bottles, boxes, and strange apparatus that were beyond Talli’s experience to even identify, much less understand their purpose. Strange tools were scattered over the surface, their purpose unfathomable. Shelves contained all sorts of jars and bric-a-brac, none of which she recognized, though many of the various growlers, cloches, and terrariums were clearly full of… things. 

Some of them alive. 

A rush of goosebumps suddenly crawled across Talli’s skin and the tips of her breasts hardened. She gasped, mostly because the sensation wasn’t sexual. Slowly she turned and looked deeper into the conservatory. Adjacent to the work tables were a series of what Talli could only describe as the furniture set belonging in a dungeon. Wooden stocks, iron spreaders, mounting tables, a stretching rack, even a vicious looking wooden horse were arranged against the walls. It was as if the most sadistic slave master had set up a collection of their favorite means of torturing and securing their chosen slave girl in positions that made them most available. Talli felt her sex tighten and she licked her  lips with sudden interest.

“Don’t get excited,” Gwendolyn warned.

Talli grinned but shook her head. “For a moment I thought you’d brought me here for a little fun.”

Gwen snorted. “I’m getting too old for that sort of thing, Talli.”

The girl looked at the crone. “We’ve made love before, Gwen.” 

The old woman blushed slightly, then looked away. “Ghost, Talli. Then I can take you back to Bob for another spanking.”

Talli nodded and moved out of the direct light of the door. As her eyes adjusted she was able to see into the back of the structure. 

“Are those… cages?” She asked in confusion. 

Before Gwendolyn could respond, Talli sucked in a sudden breath, stiffening. Her eyes widened and she stared into the darkness. The druid glanced to where Talli was looking but saw nothing. 

“Talli? Do you see it? Is it there? Do you see the ghost?” Gwendolyn hissed.

Talli, her face white, gave a tiny little shake of her head. “No,” she whispered. “Not it. Them. All of them. There’s… hundreds!” 

.o0o.

The druid stiffened in alarm. “What do you mean, hundreds?”

Talli gulped. “I can’t! I can’t do this! If they come at me I can’t handle that many!” She started backpedaling toward the open door, hands coming up. 

“Talli! Stop!” Gwen snapped. “What do you see!” 

Talli stumbled but froze in place, shuddering as she hunched over as if she expected to be overwhelmed. “They’re all moving! They’re… overlapping! I can’t!” Her chest was heaving with panic, which would have been distracting as hell under other circumstances. Her head kept twitching left and right, trying to discern and understand the visions that only she could see. Then a look of confusion crossed her face and she stopped again. “Why aren’t they talking to me?” She asked weirdly.

“What do you mean?” Gwendolyn asked.

Talli started to calm down and glanced at the druid. “They’re not speaking to me. Normally ghosts practically throw themselves at me, Gwen. It’s like they sense I can see them. Hear them. They bombard me with images, sometimes sound, even speech with the stronger ones. These are… weak, and they aren’t talking to me. It’s like they don’t even see me.” She suddenly took a step forward. “Hello? Hello? You.” Talli pointed at the empty air. Gwendolyn couldn’t see anything. “You. Hello?”

Talli suddenly marched forward six steps and swung her hand through nothing that Gwendolyn could see.

“She’s not responding!” Talli declared in shock. 

Gwendolyn bit her lip. “Tell me what you’re seeing,” she pleaded.

Talli frowned. “There’s about a hundred and fifty ghosts in here. They’re all doing things, but they’re walking through each other. It’s almost impossible for me to see what’s going on. It’s a huge blur. Let me try to focus on just this girl.” A look of concentration filtered across Talli’s face. 

“Describe her,” demanded Gwen.

Talli bit her lip. “She’s a teenager. Maybe eighteen? She’s naked. I don’t know why. Her hands seem to be bound behind her back. A leather thong. She’s walking over to the stocks. She’s being lowered into them, secured. Bent over. I can barely see her face. Someone, I can’t see who, just kicked her feet apart.” Then Talli blushed. “Um… she’s being stimulated. It looks like… yeah, someone is on their knees behind her, licking. Oh. Um… wow. I think she was just forced to orgasm.”

Talli quivered slightly and Gwendolyn watched as Talli’s hand slipped the gauzy skirt aside to touch herself. Her slit was always wet thanks to the various enchanted piercings and rings on her hands, but Talli didn’t hesitate to push a finger into herself, a willing voyeur. “She’s… oh Gods! What is that?” Talli demanded in horror.

“What? What do you see?” Gwendolyn insisted, stepping into the conservatory.

“There’s a… a… thing! It’s not there, I mean, its ghost isn’t. But whatever it is, it's imprinted on her ghost! Oh Gods! It’s a bug! I mean, that’s what it looks like! It landed on her back! It’s biting her shoulder! I can see the back end is curling. I think… oh! Oh my! It’s fucking her!” Talli stood there, watching and masturbating at the same time. Gwendolyn could hear the squelching sound. “That’s… that’s disturbing. It’s fucking her ass.”

Gwendolyn suddenly let out a breath. “Ahh…” she said, nodding. “It’s a Thysania Atlas. It’s a predatory insect from the Herapin Climes. They breed by finding a host, usually one that’s asleep, and then biting them. Their venom causes temporary paralysis and memory loss. The creature then inserts its ovipositor into the host’s rectum, laying their eggs. The host only feels a little soreness around the anus. A week later, the eggs hatch and the larvae start eating the fecal matter of the host. They also secrete a fluid to alter the host’s dietary preferences to protein. Meat specifically. They have cravings that if not sated, will eventually affect their mental processes, making them irritable, aggressive, and eventually driving them insane. They will literally kill for their next meal, all while the larva grows and moves higher up through the large intestines over the next two to three months. Finally the larvae have nowhere to go and kill the host, eating them before forming a chrysalis and metamorphosing into the adult, which then finds a new host to lay their eggs.”

Talli blinked, barely aware that Gwendolyn had spoken. “She’s gone!” Talli pulled her finger out of her sex, the digit covered in clear girl goo. “Where’d she go?” Talli looked around curiously. “Oh. There she is. Wait. I don’t understand. She’s… she’s walking across the barn. Her hands are tied behind her back. Oh. Right to the stocks. She’s… repeating it. There’s the orgasm.” Talli looked over at Gwendolyn. “She’s doing it again!” 

The druid frowned. “And she won’t talk to you?”

Talli focused again. “Hello. Speak to me,” she said sternly. Nothing happened. Then Talli took a deep breath. Her eyes seemed to lose focus and suddenly there was a timbre in her voice that Gwendolyn rarely heard. “You must speak to me,” Talli commanded. Power seemed to hum in the air, but then Talli shook her head, a look of chagrin on her face. “She’s ignoring me.”

“That seems unusual for a necromancer,” Gwendolyn observed.

Talli nodded, unsure of herself. “Let me try one of the others.”

“Are there any males?” Gwen asked curiously.

Talli seemed to survey the barn. “None that I see. They’re all women, most of them human. I think I see a few elves, like Calien. And I see an orc woman.”

Gwendolyn looked down. “Preferences,” she muttered. “In the grand scheme of things, monsters prefer interbreeding with human females. Elves and orcs are too far outside the envelope.”

“Okay, I’m going to focus on this one,” Talli said, taking a few more steps. “It’s a human girl. Not sure of her age. She’s a little less solid than the first one. She’s wearing a smock of some sort. She’s stumbling backward, looking toward the door. She’s frightened. Terrified.” Talli stiffened. “She’s falling! Something has her shirt, bunching it up. Oh Gods! It’s being torn off her. She’s scrambling, trying to get away! It has her ankle! Pulling her. She’s on her back! It’s…” Talli’s description suddenly cut off, her eyes wide, face flushing with color, watching the unseen ghostly tableau.

“What?” Demanded Gwendolyn. “What do you see?” 

Talli backed off. “Something… um… rather explicit.”

Gwendolyn’s eyebrow went up. “She’s having sex?” 

The corner of Talli’s mouth curled up. “Um… sort of?”

“How can you sort of have sex?” 

Talli’s eyes looked a little wild. “I can’t see what’s fucking her, but whatever it is has a cock bigger than Floretino’s.” Florentino was a rock giant and Talli was quite familiar with the breadth and length of that particular penis. Gwendolyn watched as Talli flinched and the girl shook her head. “I’m not sure that even I would enjoy that,” Talli muttered. 

“Is it hairy?” Gwendolyn suddenly asked.

“The thing fucking her?” 

The druid nodded. 

Talli shrugged and made a face. “Maybe? I can’t see it. There’s just a negative impression where it should be. Whatever it is, it is being very, very rough. The girl is getting pounded, and not in a nice way.”

Gwendolyn flinched. “It’s an Almas,” she muttered. “Almas are ape-men creatures from the Palamir Mountains. There were rumours that they were interbreeding with the human population, but no proof.” 

Talli continued to watch for a minute, then nodded. “I’m not sure she’s still alive. This might have been her death.”

Gwen’s eyes closed and she nodded. “It was,” she whispered.

Talli didn’t hear the druid. “Okay, she’s repeating it. Same images. Let me try another one.” Her eyes flickered and the druid stood in the doorway, waiting.

“Okay, that girl is getting led to the binding table. Someone put her on it and tied her legs open. Oh. Wow. That actually looks like fun. Whoever it is has some sort of dildo and she’s trying to hold off. Oh. Her captor doesn’t like that. There’s a whip. Ouch. Across the breasts! That’s got to sting. And then… yes… right between the legs. Damn. That is so hot!” Then Talli licked her lips. “There’s a jar. There’s something crawling along her leg. It’s going into her pussy.” Talli’s eyes widened. “Oh. She likes that!” Once again Talli’s hand slipped down between her legs and she groaned as she rubbed her pierced clit. “Wow. Whatever that thing is, it is seriously doing a good job! She just had another orgasm. She’s writhing in uncontrolled lust.” 

Gwendolyn sighed again. “It’s a tentanicle fungus,” she said, closing her eyes. “If you get any near a girl’s pussy it penetrates and will literally cause non-stop orgasm.”

Talli let out a groan of pleasure, her eyes still watching the ghostgasms. “It’s… it’s amazing. She’s having another orgasm. Do you have any?”

Gwendolyn’s eyes snapped back open. “It’s amazing for thirty-six hours. Then the damn stuff finishes the transformation and the girl becomes a hyphaen dryad.” 

Talli seemed to snap out of it, though her hand continued to gyrate against her sex, two fingers thrust deep. “A dryad?” 

“Specifically, a hyphaen dryad. There’s a difference.”

“What’s that?” Talli.

Gwendolyn frowned. “Mushroom girl. They’re not as common as the tree nymphs or hamadryads.” 

“That… that doesn’t sound bad,” Talli panted. 

Gwen shook her head. “Short life span and all they do afterward is walk around spreading more tentanicle fungus spores. It’s a mess.” 

Talli tore her eyes away from the tableau of tentacle sex and moved onto the next display. The descriptions hardly varied.

“She’s on the stretching rack and someone covered her entire body with some sort of wax, or gel, or something. Except her nipples and pussy and ass. Now there’s this thing above her. I think it’s fucking her but I can’t really make out. It’s hovering over her body. Her back is arching. Her hips are bouncing against it. She looks… like she’s either screaming in pleasure or agony. I can’t tell.”

Gwendolyn nodded. “A living fog. It eats its prey by draining life force out of them. The gel was a special mixture of treacle and powdered toad’s foot, along with hensbane and lady’s mantle. Turned out it was poisonous, but it did block the living fog.”

Talli moved away from the stretching rack back toward the center of the room. “Um… elven girl. Blonde like Calien, but younger. I’m guessing maybe fifty or so?” Talli wiggled her hand. “She is being dragged to the center of the room.” Talli’s eyes flickered upward. “Her ankles are in a spreader bar and she’s being hoisted upside down. She’s fighting someone. I think her captor is licking her clit. I’m not sure. Her hands are bound but she’s still protesting. Okay. She just had an orgasm. Seems like that happens a lot here. Someone just pushed something into her. Ewww! Something just erupted from between her legs! It’s slithering down her body. She’s screaming and thrashing around!” Talli looked aghast. “I think… I think they’re eating her!”

Gwendolyn crossed her arms. “Giant sludge worms. They collect when moisture levels are too low, forming a dense, hard bulb and go dormant. When exposed to excessive moisture the worms suck up the fluid and then erupt outward. They’re carnivorous though, so they will burrow into flesh. It’s not a quick, or pleasant way to go,” the druid admitted.

Talli flinched, watching the horror for a moment longer, then looked away, looking a bit sick. She cleared her throat and glanced around. “The orc girl is fighting some creature. She’s winning. Oh… nope. Losing. Ooooh. Ouch. That hurt. Oh gods! She’s on her back. It’s got her. Oh… she doesn’t like that. Wow. It has two dicks! It’s in putting itself in both holes!” Talli blinked. “At once? I wonder what that feels like.”

Gwen sighed. “It’s a Paranthan Bugbear.” 

Talli shuddered, her hand frantically rubbing at her sex. Then she groaned, eyes closing as a look of relief flashed across her face. Fluids dripped from her slit, falling onto the dry cobblestone. Finally she pulled her hand away, stuck her finger in her mouth, and sucked the digit clean. Talli turned to Gwendolyn.

“Gwen, these ghosts. They’re all girls. Every one of them was tortured and raped or sodomized or eaten or something. This place is horrible!” 

Gwendolyn took a deep breath and nodded. “It was. It served a purpose though,” she said sadly. She looked around, stepping further into the conservatory as Talli looked back.

“It’s really hard to see into the middle of the ghosts,” Talli said softly. “Their motions are all overlapping and repeating, and none of them are responding to me. I think they’re just recordings, patterns of the originals. There’s nothing there. No intelligence. No spark. It’s just a loop.”

Gwendolyn frowned. “I’ve never heard of that. Have you?”

Talli shook her head. “No. Never. I mean, maybe all the horrible things that happened here were imprinted on something? You would have to ask Bob or Helenae. Or maybe Florentino. He mentioned something about limestone being reactive to necromantic power and he’s been researching necromancy for me.”

Gwendolyn nodded and looked around the barn’s interior. “The walls are limestone.” 

Talli shrugged. She eyed the back of the conservatory and the cages. “It’s all just a…” her voice trailed off and an inquisitive look crossed her face. 

“It’s all just a what?” Gwendolyn asked.

Talli’s eyes narrowed and she took a few steps forward, glaring into the gloom. “Wait,” she muttered.

“Wait? For what?” The druid demanded.

Suddenly, Talli darted forward, hand extended, a finger pointing. “Oi! You there! Yeah! You! STOP!” 

Gwendolyn’s eyebrows went up as Talli glared into the semi-darkness. 

“Oh no you don’t! I see you! You think you’re clever? I know you aren’t looping! You can hear me! I saw you! Come here!” She pointed to the ground. Then Talli’s face changed. It became sterner, stronger, and once again power seemed to thrum through the barn. Even Gwendolyn felt it.

“Come here now,” Talli ordered. It was almost as if a different Talli, an older, wiser, more powerful and confident woman stood there. Gwendolyn felt a cold shiver and wordlessly took a step backward.

“Who are you?” Talli asked, starting one of the more familiar one-sided conversations that the druid had heard before. Talli nodded. “Fine. Tell me about that.” Then Talli looked confused. “A witch? She captured you?” Talli shook her head. “Oh. Her henchman captured you?” Talli frowned. “A man and a monster. Okay. Yes. I see. They brought you here. How old are you? Oh. That’s sad. Then what happened. The witch tortured you? Oooh… Ow. Yes. Those marks look like they hurt alot. Why did she do it? You don’t know? Okay. What else did she do to you?” Talli went silent, then looked confused and shook her head. “I get that. I think she did that to all of the girls. Is that it? No. Show me. You’re speaking too fast and I’m having trouble understanding.” Talli’s head suddenly rocked back and she gasped. “Oh! Oh gods! I’m… that’s… ughhh…” Talli flinched. “Dear Gods!” She whispered, then reeled back as if she had been slapped. “Enough! Please! Don’t! No more!” She folded slightly, holding her tummy.

Gwendolyn, eyes wide, her face pale, looked at Talli. “What… what did she show you?”

Talli licked her lips, a sick look on her face. She shook her head. “I’m not sure I can even describe it,” she whispered. “Gwen, it was horrible. I think… I think she was subjected to experiments. The witch did things to her. She was strapped down on a table. There was a flurry of images she sent to me. The witch made her cum, but also hurt her. Badly. She was cut into. Being healed and then beaten. Over and over again. The witch put things into her, and I don’t mean like sex toys or enchanted dildos. The witch inserted things into her body. They changed her. She died here.” 

Gwendolyn closed her eyes and didn’t reply. Slowly she turned away. Talli looked back at the ghost. 

“Show me the witch,” she ordered.

The druid whirled. “Talli! Don’t!”

But it was too late. Talli stood there as the ghost sent the images.

“She’s young,” Talli said. “Human. Jet black hair. Green tunic. She’s very beautiful. She’s got a very sharp looking nose. Thin. She doesn’t just experiment on them. The girls. Her captives. She’s… oh! The witch uses them. Drugs them and…” Talli blushed. “That’s disturbing. She has sex with each of them!” Talli shook her head. “She seems familiar.” 

Gwendolyn closed her eyes again. Her throat was tight. “Can you help her? Help Lileth? She needs to move on.” Sorrow seemed to seep through the druid’s words.

Talli shook her head. “Lileth is stuck here. I’d have to banish her and it would destroy the shade.”

Gwendolyn let out a sigh and turned away. “We’re done here,” she said bitterly. “Come, Talli.” The druid headed toward the door. 

“Don’t go?” Talli said curiously. “I can’t stay here. I can’t help you.” The mostly naked slave girl’s eyes seemed to focus on something unseen and she smiled sadly. “Yes, I see her. The witch. I know. You thought she was pretty. That she would help you. And then she hurt you so much. I’m so sorry. I wish I could help. I wish I could stay…” Talli turned her back and took a step, only to suddenly falter, her body shoved sideways.

“Hey!” Talli spluttered. “Don’t push me!” Her eyes flickered toward the doorway where Gwendolyn stood, except she wasn’t looking at the druid. “Get out of the way. There’s nothing dangerous out there. The witch isn’t here. Okay? That was a long time ago. I’m here with my friend. She’s a druid. She protects me.”

Gwendolyn’s face went white, making her iron gray hair even more dark. 

“Stop it!” Talli demanded. “You’re making a mistake. The witch is gone. I’m not going to be tortured or anything,” Talli said, then smiled sheepishly. “Unless its sexual torture and she wants to make me cum over and over. I’m pretty much fine with all of that.” She shook her head. “Step aside. Now.”

Gwendolyn watched as the battle of wills played out and then the same necromantic thrum of power flowed through the barn. Talli’s eyes narrowed and she pointed off to the side. Then the girl bowed her head. “Thank you,” she said politely. Then Talli marched out of the barn. 

“That was weird,” she declared, looking at Gwendolyn. 

Gwendolyn frowned. “Come on. We need to get back to Bob and the rest of the party. It was a mistake coming in the first place.” She turned and started walking away from the conservatory.

Talli followed along. “I can’t believe she wasn’t going to let me leave. She kept saying my life was in danger. That the witch was right outside. Can you believe that?” Talli glanced around. You don’t think she’s still around, do you?” 

The druid didn’t look back. “It’s just us, Talli. And being with any of us places your life in danger.”

The girl snorted. “Well, yeah… I mean, squid creatures hauling me out of boats so they tentacle fuck me, handjobs with lich kings, dwarves mounting me in sex powered machines, dark elves subjecting me to all sorts of sexual torture?”

Gwendolyn shook her head. “I meant more literal danger, Talli. What we do, the campaigns Bob keeps taking us on… there’s an element of risk involved. Not everything is about sex.”

Talli considered that. “I suppose. But Bob protects me. And Florentino is a super strong rock giant who knows everything. Morlok is a great swordsman, even if he does have a passion for pussy flavored lollipops. Helenae is a dark elf sorceress and even Calien can fight. She’s been trying to teach me archery but my boobs keep getting in the way.” She gestured down at her chest. 

“I suppose,” Gwendolyn replied sullenly. 

Talli smiled softly. “And then there’s you,” she said softly. “You’ve been my friend for so long, Gwen. You’ve helped me so much. I really appreciate that.” Her mouth suddenly scrunched. “Except for that time you poisoned me,” she declared with a touch of sarcasm.

The druid sniffed. “I didn’t poison you. I made you poisonous.” 

Talli let out a huff. “You used me to poison Helenae!” She protested. “Besides, what's the difference?”

Gwendolyn let out a laugh. “Technically? Quite a bit,” she retorted. “But it was necessary.”

Talli nodded. “I know. You meant well.” 

Gwen sighed as the cottage and barn disappeared behind them. “I always did,” she said softly. “But one thing you’ve taught me is that the ends do not justify the means.” She looked back. “You are something special, Talli. Whether you are tied up and begging for an orgasm, or writhing in ecstasy, on the verge of cumming, you just love everyone. You care.” She pushed a branch away, holding it for Talli to squeeze by. “And you taught me that those things matter.”

Talli looked at the druid and smiled. “I love you, Gwendolyn.” Then she bent forward and kissed the old woman on the cheek. “I still want to make love to you again.”

And the druid smiled softly. “I love you too, Talli.” Her gnarled old hand reached out and gripped the younger woman’s fingers and squeezed. “Even if you are hopelessly in love with that fool of a mage.”

Talli grinned. “Bob is amazing.”

“Delusional,” Gwendolyn muttered. 

And the two women walked back through the woods, leaving the witch’s cottage, the ghost, and the conservatory behind. 

  

If you enjoyed this little tale of Talli and Gwendolyn and would like to know more about their adventures, please visit www.michaelalexanderstories.com and peruse the free story archive.

Or... check out The Goblin Lair and the Tankard of Gharbhaz: A Bob the Mage Story

With a gift for magical theory, Bob is a mage with a dangerous disability. Cursed with having absolutely nothing in the power department, not even enough for a simple mage light, Bob has figured out how to convert sexual energy, specifically orgasmic energy, into usable magic. All he needs is the right vessel by his side, kept constantly on the edge of sexual climax and ready to pop, just in case he needs to pull the metaphorical rabbit out of his hat. Except, there aren’t many women willing to volunteer to go naked, and sexually tormented, into Goblin Lairs.

Bob and his somewhat eclectic team of dungeon crawlers are on a mission - to recover the fabled Tankard of Gharbahz, a dwarven artifact said to be able to convert any liquid into absinthe. But first, Bob is short a vessel. His misfortune leads him to a small farmhouse on the edge of nowhere where he finds a most beautiful replacement. Tallulah isn’t exactly willing when Bob steals her away. Subjugated, enchanted, and kept on the edge of orgasm, she slowly whittles away at her abductor’s heartstrings with each fresh explosion, until even he begins to see the error of his ways.

The Goblin Lair: A Bob the Mage Story is a funny, RPG adventure with medium elements of BDSM interwoven into a classic, dungeons and dragons style tale. So sit back, roll the dice, and come along on an epic campaign that’s more than a little perverted, definitely naughty, and full of laughs, gasps, and more than a few happy endings!