Stolen Away (Closed for KaosDancer)

[KaosDancer]

We didn’t speak much during dinner, but it was pleasant enough, and the silence gave me time to think about what had happened. What in the world had I been trying to apologize for? Heck, we just met yesterday… Yesterday? Could it really have been such a short time ago? So much had happened… so much had changed, and in such a short time. I sighed and shook my head, wondering if I had really been living that other life, if my job, my boyfriends, any of it had actually happened. Had I ever been anywhere but here? Had I simply fallen asleep in my tent one day and dreamed the rest… I wasn’t sure.

When I saw how his little followers reacted to the strawberries, I turned to Glorymorn and said, “Well my little one, do you also wish to try a human treat?”

She looked over to where her companions were giggling and playing with D and his desert and then looked up at me. "Yes Mistress," the creature said with a shy smile, "Glorymorn would like that very much."

I glanced over at the messy frivolity across the table and said,"You don't seem like the eat with your hands type." I cocked my head to the side and looked at her and said with a grin. "Do you have utensils of your own, or should I feed you?" I asked with a grin.

"Glorymorn has no utensils." She said with a sad smile, "But it would not be seemly for you to…"

"Don't be silly I interrupted her. "Here," I said, picking up a morsel of sweetened berry and cream on the tip of my spoon, "open up."

Glorymorn blushed, but did as I ordered and opened her mouth wide. Being extremely careful not to injure the delicate little thing, I gently fed the tiny bite into her mouth. Her eyes widened in delight at the taste. "More?" I asked and she nodded vigorously and opened her mouth for me again. I laughed, and gave her another bite and then took one for myself. Despite Glory's obvious embarrassment, she allowed me to share the rest of my desert. Then, when she was done, I picked up my napkin, and said, "Hold still." Dipped the end of it in my water glass and began gently washing the whipped cream and berry juice off her face.

"Mistress!" she exclaimed in a shocked voice, "Glorymorn can take care of that herself!"

I laughed and said, "I know, now hold still," as I finished the job. She was blushing brightly by the time I was done, her eyes averted from mine and her body trembling. I frowned in worry at this, she seemed almost afraid of me. “What's the matter darling?” I asked, gently picking her up. Glorymorn gasped at the touch of my fingers to her flesh, and her trembling increased ten-fold. She curled herself into a ball in my hand, refusing to look at me as I looked over to Spiderwort and asked. "What's the matter with her?"

Spiderwort looked over at the trembling creature in my hand and then looked up at me with a smile. "Glorymorn is… shy Mistress." She said with an evil sparkle in her eyes.

"Shy?" I asked. Spiderwort laughed and nodded and poor little Glory blushed even brighter. "Oh!" I said softly, "I'm sorry my little Glory." Without thinking I took my other hand and started gently petting the little thing, "Do you want me to put you down?"

With a gasp of urgency she whipped around to me, her eyes opened wide in a wild glaze, her entire form locked tight as she screeched "NO!" before dropping her head in shame and curling in on herself once more adding "Mistress" almost as an afterthought. She clearly didn't want me to put her down, didn't want me to stop touching her, but couldn't bring her self to admit it or say what she really wanted.

"Oh!" I said softly. I looked over at Spiderwort who was trying to watch while still getting her share of the dessert D was feeding them and shook my head and stood up, cupping my hand slightly to keep my little follower safe. Picking up my desert bowl, I walked over to the fire and tossed it into the pot of wash water. Glorymourn, who's eyes had opened when I stood up, was peeking at me surreptitiously from under her cascading hair. I smiled at her and, with a quick glance to make sure D's still busy, I walked around the shade tree and out of the sight of the table.

"So, my darling," I said with a smile as I lifted her up where I could see her better. "You like to be petted, do you?" She ducked her head to hide her face again, but she could not hide the blush of her skin and the heat her body was generating. With a smile, I began playing with her again, but this time I kept her up at eye level, so I could gage her reactions. Working slowly, and using on one gently finger, I began tracing the delicate lines of her wings and then up onto her body. "Relax little one." I told her as I took three fingers and rolled her over onto her back.

She looked up at me, a strange mixture of excitement and terror in her eyes. "I won't hurt you." I told her, pushing gently on her arms and legs until I had her lying flat. "That's better." I whispered, "Now stay there." I added, bringing her even closer to my face and blowing lightly across her body. She jumped and squirmed, but did not move from the position I had put her in. Working slowly, I pushed the hair back from her tiny face and said, "Look at me." When she did so, I began gently, oh so gently stroking her exposed skin. I watched in fascination as her tiny nipples hardened and her hips gave an involuntary thrust as my finger passed across her belly and over her most tender of spots.

Watching closely, I gently, but firmly pushed her legs open. With a smile I noted just how wet this poor excited creature had become. Taking my pinky, I carefully caressed that sodden slit, causing the breath to catch in my fascinating little play toy's throat as she convulsed from the contact. "Do you want me to stop?" I whispered softly, watching her face closely so I would know the truth of whatever she told me.

"No… Mistress." She gasped, shuddering as my finger made another circuit up between her legs.

Wiggling my finger slightly, I opened her nether lips and placed just the tip of my finger against her miniscule opening and began rotating my finger in tiny circles, up until it hit her delicate nub, and then down to her opening again. Each time I reached her opening I pushed my finger slightly into her, being excruciatingly careful not to hurt or tear her. The little creature began almost convulsing as the sensation of my gently exploration. Curving my finger down near her face I whispered. "You can bite me if you need to."

"Glorymourn would never bite…" she started, but then she grabbed my finger and pulled it tight down against her mouth as her hips bucked, thrusting her delicate wet sex up onto my pinky to the first knuckle

"Well," I said with a smile, "If that's what you want, go ahead. I don't want to hurt you, so I'll just hold still now – and you can do what you need." Decorum forgotten, Glorymourn bent her knees up under her and began moving her hips up and down, causing my finger to thrust in and out of her tight sex, muffling her screams and moans against the finger she had firmly grasped in her tiny hands. Soon she started bucking and thrusting erratically as she lost control of her body in her ecstasy. With a smile, I pushed my pinky down, pinning her hips down against the palm of my hand as her sex tightened and rippled against it. This seemed to bring her even higher, and a tiny shriek managed to escape from around my muffling finger as she convulsed even harder.

Eventually her body slowed, and I began pulling my finger out of her in an agonizingly slow pace. She released my finger and lay gasping and looking at me. Noting that her body was still hot, and that I was having no trouble moving within her, I decided she wasn't quite ready to be let go yet. So, at the last second, when I had finally reached the very edge of her sex, I twitched and plunged it back in again.

Glorymorn, who had been relaxing back into my hand, half curled around my invading finger and gave me a look of shear shock. “Again.” I whispered to her as I used my other fingers to ease her back down again.

“But Mistress…”

“Again.” I said firmly, twitching my finger inside of her. I closed my hand upon her, holding her little legs open to my explorations. I pulled my sodden finger out of her and turned my attention to the tiniest of nubs at the top of her opening. Her back arched at this contact, and she opened her legs further, or at least as far as my enclosing fingers would let her. Within seconds she grabbed the finger closest to her face and bit down as she tried to muffle her screams. Again and again I brought her up and over the edge until I was finally satisfied that she could react no more.

I opened my hand and looked down at the sweat drenched little creature sprawled on my palm. “The next time you sic your friends on me.” I whispered softly, “You’ll remember what it feels like.”

Her eyes flew open wide “Glorymourn was not responsible... Did not mean too...”

“Hush.” I told her, “We’ll not speak of it again." I grinned and blew gently across her. “Unless you want to, of course.” I added in a soft whisper.

I laughed out loud when I felt her body temperature jump at the idea, “But, rest for now.” I told her, picking her up and gently tucking her under the collar of my silk shirt. “Make yourself comfortable.” I told her, holding still until she did as I ordered. I could feel her body trembling as she crawled out on my shoulder and settled down into the hollow of my collarbone. It tickled but I continued to hold still until I could hear her breathing change into the deep and even sounds that indicated sleep. I lifted my collar and looked at her. She lay, curled up with her hand tucked between her knees and a beatific smile on her face. Settling the shirt back onto her, I turned, walked back around to the table and began picking up the dirty dishes.

[Rufus the Mad]

I helped with the cleanup, I guess you could say I took the ‘husbandly’ spot of drying the pieces as they were washed, and then glanced over at Theresa. I was still a bit uncomfortable being around her, and now, with the meal out of the way, there was nothing left to do besides either interact… or sleep. ”Well…” I said quietly, not really knowing what else to say, and not certain she even wanted to interact right now ”I suppose I might as well go ahead and turn in… I’ll, uh.. I’ll see you in the morning, alright?” I retreated then, trying to get as much distance between myself and her as I could… not really trusting myself, not knowing if I could… Flipping the door closed, I ordered the girls to button it up, and then let them strip me down to only my soft leather pants, actually stopping them (twice!) from attempting to unlace them and slide them off. Instead, I flopped down on the surprisingly soft bed that the Satyrs had made for me, and snuggled down into the soft flannel sheets they had placed atop the limbs, keeping the entire thing bound together, and making certain that I stayed off the less friendly bits. With the girls curled up on my chest like a pair of kittens again, I soon lost all ability to worry about what had gone on, lost to the enveloping comfort of the bed that had been crafted for me, and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep…

[KaosMom]

oops - deleted

[KaosDancer]

With the two of us working, it didn’t take long to do up the dishes, but the easy comfort that we'd enjoyed while working together before this was gone. It was as if what ever had happened earlier had driven a wedge between us, and I was dreading the idea of a drawn out evening when, to my relief, he said he was heading to bed. Once his door was closed, I relaxed a bit and started to prepare the encampment for the night. I banked the fire and tucked a couple of potatoes in the coals for breakfast. Then I prepped the coffee pot and sat it on a flat rock near the fire. The whole time I was working on this, my little fairy companion continued to sleep soundly, nestled up against my skin, her still-warm flesh seeming to grow hotter and cooler in cycles as I moved.

Normally, when I'm up in the evening, I would relax and read a book, letting my mind wander through the material while my body relaxed… but all my reading material has disappeared, so, after a few aborted attempts to find something else to do, I sighed and headed off to bed. Working carefully, I made a small dent in one of my pillows, and tenderly nestled little Glorymorn into it before beginning the laborious task of getting out of my leather work clothes.

She opened her eyes when I let go of her, and begins to rise, saying "Glorymourn will help you get dresses…" in a sleepy voice while rubbing her eyes.

"No you won't Glory." I said with a smile, noting her lack of ability to even exercise proper word usage. "Sleep. If I can't get out of this thing myself, I'll call for the girls, but for now, you need the rest." Not being in any real hurry, I worked my way through the strange arrangement of lacings and buttons and managed, after some time and experimentation, to undress myself. With a strange sense of accomplishment I carefully put away the leather outfit I'd been wearing, and began rummaging through the selection of nightgowns. I finally decided on a full-length gown of bottle green silk. I carefully slid it over my head and wiggled my way into it. The fabric felt wonderful against my skin, and when I looked in the mirror, looked wonderful as well. "I'd better make sure and change before I leave this tent in the morning." I laughed to myself, remembering the look in his eyes when he saw the dress I was wearing yesterday, but the laughter died in my throat when I remembered his eyes this evening, and vowed to myself that I'd be very careful what I wore around him from now on.

I walked over and climbed into bed, being careful not to disturb my tiny sleeping companion, and slid beneath the thick comforter. The bed felt wonderful, with a feather mattress and silk sheets, but because of all the napping I had done that day, I just wasn't tired. I lay there, trying to let the sounds of the night lull me to sleep, but there no sounds, no crickets, no frogs, not even an annoying buzz from a stray mosquito. No sound, that is besides that soft breathing of my little companion. Finally, after laying there staring at the top of the tent for what seemed like an hour, I gave up and climbed out of bed. Glorymourn stirred at this, but I hushed her, saying "Sleep little one. I’m not going to need you right now, and you need your rest."

I grabbed a robe, and slipped my feet into a pair of elegant slippers, heading back outside. The night was still, and the stars and full moon shone brightly overhead. "I wonder if those are real." I said softly as I stared at the night sky. I sat down in my chair and kicked my feet up listening to the faint distant sound of running water and the wind in the trees, when suddenly the silence was broken by a very loud snore coming from my companion's tent. I sat there, waiting to see if he would stop, wishing he would just roll over, stop breathing, whatever, but the snores just went on and on, each of them reminding me of my own inability to sleep. Finally, not daring to enter his tent and try to get him to stop, I gave up trying to relax within the confines of the camp and decided to take a walk down to my little fairy grove instead. Maybe a long soak in the hot spring will help me relax... it certainly had earlier.

The path before me was clearly defined by the shining moon, which gave me plenty of light to see by, so I headed down toward the distant spring, confident that I could find the grove without the aid of a flashlight. I began feeling better already, simply by being away from camp, away from his unceasing snores. I wasn’t sleepy yet, not by far, but I was no longer as tense, no longer as anxious as I had been. The night was beautiful; the air was cool without being cold, and the silvery light of the moon made everything seem almost as bright as d… A single thick cloud, as if sensing my peace, scuttled suddenly across the face of the moon, and I gasped quietly as I was plunged into sudden darkness, shocked at how with nothing more than the intervention of a cloud, that path before me could be so completely obscured. "It really is dark out here." I say to myself out loud, "Maybe I should go back for a flashlight after all…" Even as I said it, however, the cloud moved on, revealing the glowing face of the moon once more, and an otherwise cloudless sky. "No." I told myself with a grin. "I should be fine."

I started down the path once more, but discovered before long that something had gone slightly amiss. The path seems longer somehow, than it had been before, longer than I remembered, at any rate. "Did I miss my turnoff?" I asked myself, confusion written across my features as I begin backtracking, watching the flowers to the side of the path. Another cloud passes overhead, and I looked up with a sudden frown. "What in the world?" I asked, remembering the perfectly clear sky of a moment ago. This time the cloud stay longer, seeming to cling to the bold face of the comforting moon, and I began to worry that I might be stuck out here, lost until dawn, only to have the clouds clear again. This time, however, I didn't trust them to not come back. Since I was already heading back toward camp, I struck out for the security of our tents, just wanting to make it back before something else happened. But at the turn in the path, where I had thought the open grasses would be, I instead found trees, lots of trees. I realized suddenly that I had gotten myself turned around, gotten to the wrong end of the path, and had ended up at the woods instead of back at camp! "Well." I said to myself firmly, "I'm not going in there.” I turned around then, intending to carefully track back the path until I can figure out where I went wrong, when I heard the sudden blast of a hunting horn being sounded from further up the path.

My blood ran cold as I realize that there is a hunt… and I knew also, instinctively so, that it was me that is being hunted, me that is being stalked... With my chosen retreat blocked by the hunting party, I had no choice but to follow the path into the woods… I turned, running to those dark shadows, and cry out, saying "Glorymorn, I need you!" I shiver at the lower temperature under the canopy of the trees, wishing I'd worn something more substantial than this thin nightgown, and wonder wildly after the safety of my tiny helper, and if she would be able to assist me now! "She'll find me a way around them." I say softly to myself, trying to bolster my courage as I step off the faded path and into the wildness of the trees, trying to find a place to hide. While the moonlight had done a good job of illuminating the path, it was dark beneath the trees and getting darker the further I went. "I trust you Glory," I whispered, "but please hurry..."

**************************************************

Glorymorn awoke with a start. "Mistress?" she called, looking around the room. "Where are you Mistress?" She could feel her Mistresses anxiety, but couldn't pinpoint her location yet, her still sleepy mind struggling to make sense of what was happening. She was outside somewhere, of that much the Sprite was certain, so, after a bit of difficulty with the zipper, the would be savior rocketed from the tent, and blinked quickly, clearing the last of the slumber from her head as she got her bearings. She paused for a moment, and heard, very faintly and from the direction of the woods, "I trust you Glory, but please hurry…" She was off in a flash, winging her way across the landscape to reach her, her body glowing like a blue Christmas light as she…

Glorymorn screamed as a course hand reached up and snatched her from the air. "Not so fast little bug." A gravely voice told her.

"Puck." Glorymorn said with a startled frown, twisting around in his hand until she could see his face. "She calls to me, and I must…"

"You had your chance." he growled, "So now it's our turn."

"But my mistress…" Glorymorn wailed.

"Is just starting to get scared." he laughed, "Don't worry. It'll get a lot worse before it gets…" He stopped and looked at the little creature in his hand and then brought her up to his face and took a deep sniff of her. "Well, well." He laughed, looking her in they eyes, "So little Glorymorn finally decided to give it up, did she?" he asked with an evil grin on his face.

"Puck!" she cried in indignation. "Stop that right now!"

"Oh yeah," he snorted, "like you've had experience sayin THAT recently!"

She blushed bright red and whispered, "But I couldn't say no to her."

Still grinning, the erstwhile second drew her close to his face, level with his large eyes and focused on her intently, saying, "Yeah, and you didn't want to either. I can smell the heat of you now, just thinkin about her... Relax now and we'll do our part ta get her back for ya."

"But she's so scared." Glory moaned.

Her captor arched a brow and said "And she'll be worse in a minute. Stay in tune with her Bug," he said while absentmindedly running his thumb up and down her torso, "and you might just learn somethin you'll enjoy yerself... My boys won't hurt her none, they know better'n that. But they can make her do what needs done."

"This isn't necessary, they almost came to an... understanding tonight, I'm not sure what interfered but... Damn it! It's only been one day."

And two fucking nights. Enough now, you did what you could do, and now we will. I know fer sure what "interfered" tonight, and it was the one thing she wanted, and that he needed. It was the reason I went over there in tha first place, and the main reason I stayed! The old ways are done kiddo, and the day ain't gonna break the same as before. You want her back, and she wants him. He's the one what needs snapped out of it, and she's the only one what can break through and get him off his ass...

Glorymourn turned her head away and sobbed. She knew he was right, but it broke her heart to know what lay in store for her Mistress.

"Now" he said, letting his grip relax a bit and looking at her with hard eyes "You know what's happenin, and you know the truth. You gonna help, or am I gonna keep hold of ya?"

"I can't." she whispered.

"Fine" he said "And I know better than ta try makin you stay out of it. So you'll stay with me, and you'll stay quiet, or so help me I'll make you big enough to calm the boys down again afterwards."

Glory shuddered and sobbed, but didn't try to escape from his grip because she knew he would follow through with his threat. “Alright…” she breathed, her eyes screwed shut tight “and Puck… It is good to have you back. I have… missed you.”

"I know Glory" he whispered, bringing her close once more "And I still love you too, darlin."

**************************************************

I try to slip through quietly, but the damn woods seem determined to slow my pace. Within minutes, branches have snagged my hair, and a thorn bush has grabbed my robe. Trying desperately to free myself, looking back to the path as I catch sight of movement there, I feel myself begin filling with fear as I make out the shape of the creature standing there, bathed in the moonlight I was so hoping would continue… It's a Satyr, lean and quick, faster than the others it seems, idly stroking his engorged manhood as he stands there, sniffing the air. My eyes widen as, with an evil grin he looks my way, catching sight of my trapped form, and gave a bleat of triumph as he plunged into the woods after me. I couldn't help myself, I whimpered and tugged at the entrapping plants feverishly as I watch him approach, my struggles becoming even more frantic. I soon managed to free my hair, but my robe was held fast, so I abandoned it and ran. No longer thinking or planning, with no hope of rescue, I simply plunged madly into the woods, trying to get some distance between myself and my pursuers.

The horn sounds again bold and strong, as the creature that had seen me raised it to his lips again and blew a report, letting his brothers where they might find their chosen prey. I hear them, they seem to be everywhere, crashing through the trees, crunching the deadfall and bushes beneath their cloven hooves. I don't know how I'm ever going to manage to…

I scream as I'm grabbed from around a tree. One of them has found me. He grabs my hands and slams me against the hard, unyielding wood, spreading my legs apart, and pinning my nightgown to the tree with his hairy legs. He forces my hands above my head and leans forward, pressing his stiffened rod against my belly. He leans down and sniffs deeply at my neck, his horns forcing me to turn my head, to give him space, or be gouged in the process. "Nice." He growls, taking both of my hands in one of his, his meaty fist encompassing mine easily as he held me fast, freeing the other to do as he pleased. He held his free hand up in front of my face for a moment, making sure I knew it was there, and then reached down slowly and took one of my breasts in his hand. The thin silk of my nightgown offered little protection to the calloused hand of my attacker as he began pinching and twisting my nipple, his rough voice whispering to me as he leaned in again, saying "I’ve Been lookin forward to this since I saw thee arrive, M’lady..." He laughed, as his hand moving to my other breast, giving it the same rough treatment. "And ‘twill be my pleasure to make this last a long, long time."

I struggle and scream, but the creature's grip on my hands is strong. I can feel the heat of his trapped member increase as he continues to explore my body and can tell by the fire in his eyes that I have only moments before he quits playing and takes what he wants. "Well?" he asked, reaching down and roughly grabbing my covered sex, "Art thou ready for me yet?" He growled low, reaching down and gripping the edge of my nightgown, pulling it up to expose that which he desired. He lifted the gown up until it tightened against his knees where he had it pinned to the tree, and with another growl, he pulled back to free the gown, giving me the opportunity I had been waiting for. Years of mountain climbing had made me strong and limber, and the second I felt the pressure of his wiry body ease I curled myself up, planted my feet on his muscular chest and shoved just as hard as I could.

The creature gave a startled bleat and fell backwards, releasing my wrists as he threw his hands back trying to break his fall. I used this moment of distraction to my advantage and took off across the inhospitable landscape once again, only then realizing that I had lost one of my slippers. With no time to go back for it, I ignored the pain from the rocks and thorns and ran, my legs pumping as fast as I could get them to go, and my arms flung out before me to protect my face as I rushed through the dark. "Glory!" I called in a hoarse whisper, "Damn it girl! Where are you?"

**************************************************

"She calls to me," Glorymourn wailed, trying to break the Satyr's iron grip, "I must go!"

"It's not going to happen, sweety." Puck told her softly, "Now behave or I’ll be forced to keep my promise." He brought her close again, taking another deep sniff before whispering “And the boys are getting awfully… anxious already."

**************************************************

I lay gasping at the bottom of the ravine, sprawled where I had landed in the damp earth, and trying to draw my strength, and wits, back together. It wasn’t deep, but it was still a long way to have fallen. Moving slowly, carefully I assessed myself for damage. There didn’t seem to be any broken bones, or even a bad sprain, but my hands and knees were pretty torn up. I'd lost my other slipper, and my nightgown was torn in a dozen different places. I wanted to curl up and cry, but I could hear the raucous laughter of my pursers and knew that I had to keep moving. My body screamed at me as I stood, protesting loudly as I demanded more of it, but I forced myself to scramble up the other side of the ravine and go on, hoping that they won't realize I'd crossed it, and that maybe I'd have a chance to get away, to find somewhere to hide until the light of day, until I stood a better chance of getting out of here.

My hope fades as I heard one of them call out to the others from where I fell. There were at least a dozen different voices down there soon enough, talking in their low guttural tones. Then, to my horror, they come up out of the ravine, as if I had left a clear trail for them to… I looked down at my torn and bloody feet and realize that I had, that these bestial creatures, these half men, could probably follow a trail of blood as easily as a bloodhound, and that they would be here any second. I turned and ran, knowing I couldn’t escape them, but desperate to try.

Within moments, they had caught me, laughing and singing as they groped and pinched me, shoved me from one to another, and laughed as I stumbled into them. I gasped in pain at the rocks against my feet and one of them laughed even louder, saying “Don’t worry yourself dear Lady... Soon enough ‘twill be your knees taking the pain for you, as you kneel for a time before each of us.” He stepped forward then, holding me close and rubbing himself against her as he added “Wouldn’t thou like that, then, eh?” with a cruel laugh. I felt dizzy, it was almost as if they were trying to keep me disoriented, as if they didn’t want me to think. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind, and at last figured out what it is they didn’t want me to remember. They call me Mistress and Lady, I should just be able to… "Leave me alone!" I screamed at them, putting all my strength, all my energies into it! They fell back then, looking at me with surprised and shocked expressions as I climbed unsteadily to my feet, saying "Now, one of you show me the way out of this damn place."

The largest of them, a thickly muscled and massively tall monster, walked over and looked down at me, a strange expression on his black-bearded face. "We could do that Mistress," he said softly, his thick lips splitting into an evil grin as he added "But thou hast no power over us." He reached forward then, his ham-sized paws grabbing the front of my nightgown before he ripped outward, shredding it between his thick fingers, and fully exposing my breasts to the cold night air. He reached out with one giant thumb then, his entire visage softening as he gently stroked the wide pad of it over one of my nipples before flicking his hard eyes to mine and whispering "Run…"

With a scream I turned and fled from them. Further into the forest and further away from those who cared about me.

**************************************************

Glory laid limply in Puck's hand sobbing and crying as she was filled with her mistress's fear and pain. "She's been hurt!" she sobbed. "You said they wouldn't hurt…"

"They didn't." he told her coldly, watching the play intently, and grinning to himself as he watched her run away screaming. "She did it to herself."

**************************************************

As I run I try desperately to think, to figure a way out of this. They won't listen to me, they call me Mistress, but they won’t l…wait a minute! They're D's! He has been speaking with the Satyrs, had been giving them orders! All I need to do is get his attention and… I stumble out into a brightly lit clearing, a place far removed from our campsite, and totally unknown to me. To my horror I can see a dozen or so Satyrs standing on the other side, and looking behind me, I see my pursuers, coming out of the trees behind me. I stumble to the center of the clearing, looking wildly around me as the creatures silently step out of the treeline and arrange themselves around the edge of the open space. "D!" I scream, "Help me."

"He’ll not answer to that name, sweet Lady." one of them said, walking up to me. My knees buckle under me, the fight to get here, the struggle to make it this far, had been so great… and now, to have my last hope shattered… I slumped forward, falling like a slack doll, only to have him catch me, pull me tight against him, the rough fur of his legs scratching me where my ruined nightgown hung in shredded tatters, and of course the ever-present throbbing penis was caught between us, held fast against my bare skin as he held me. He leaned down then, and whispered in my ear, saying "All that can save thee now, is the Master’s strength – but you must call him by his true name." With a deep wicked laugh he continued, "And until thou cans’t recall it, sweet ‘Mistress’, your succulent flesh is ours to savor as we will!"

With that, they swept forward, a hoard of Satyrs, creatures of legend and nightmare advanced in a rush and seized my body, pinching, prodding, and cruelly twisting as I was swept under a wave of demanding, hungry flesh.

**************************************************

Puck stood on the hill and watched as she was stripped, chuckling as the last shreds of her clothing and her dignity were cast aside. He felt a great deal of satisfaction at the sight of her scraped and bloodied body, her tear-stained face. He wished he could be down there, that he could ignore the rules and just pin that bitch to the ground, and make her pay. Glory cried out in sudden pain, and he realized that he was squeezing her too tightly. "Sorry darlin." he said with a sad smile, "I didn't mean to hurt… you."

"But you want to hurt her, don't you?" Glorymourn asked in a shocked whisper.

"Yer damned right I do!" he growled. "It's her fucking fault that I got put in charge, and that I had to go to trompin off to that damn place." He shuddered and looked back down at the unfolding scene below him.

"Was it really that bad my love?" she asked him softly.

He signed and looked down at the gentle creature in his hand, "You'd never survive it." he whispered. "I almost didn't."

**************************************************

Their hands were upon me, petting and pinching, fondling and groping, the remnants of my gown were pushed aside and their hands found new purchase upon my bare skin. I tried to think, tried to remember as I felt my body betray me and my flesh begin responding to their attentions. One of them grabbed me, lifted me up to face him. Another one, standing behind pushed my legs together and the one in front of me bent his strangely-shaped legs and wedged his swollen dick into the triangle between my pussy and legs. He laughed out loud at the wetness he felt though my spider-web thin panties and grabbed my hips. As he stood, with my pussy pushed up hard against him, two others grabbed my shoulders and leaned me back along his torso, pushing aside my nightgown to begin sucking and biting my nipples as the first one began pushing and pulling me back and forth along his cock.

My head was leaned back, and there stood another, his fleshy offering in his hand, and with a laugh he began rubbing it against my cheeks and across my lips. “No!” my mind screamed out as the rubbing sensation began to have the desired effect.

At the first twitch of my body, the one whose cock I slid along stopped for a moment and looked down into my eyes. “Dost thou see, my treasure? I told thee that thou were ours.” he said with a sneer, and reached one finger down and pressed directly onto my extended clit.

“No!” I screamed as my body was thrown into an earth-shattering orgasm. As I screamed and twitched, more and more of them crowded close. My hands were suddenly filled with cocks and the one who’d been teasing my mouth grabbed me and shoved himself in to the hilt and then pulled himself back out and began teasing my lips again.

“Dale, help me!” I screamed again as they lowered me to the ground and flipped me over on my stomach. The hands then began exploring my ass, playing with the way the silk of my underwear slid as they ran their fingers down between my cheeks.

“Wrong name!” one of them growled as a hand came down in a viscous slap upon my ass. I cried out, but to my shame I could hear the desire as well as the pain in that sound, and knew they could as well. They laughed and another series of blows rained down on my backside, but not before one of them had placed their hand under me, thumb up. With each strike I flinched away and drove myself forward onto the protruded thumb, pushing my underwear up between my inner lips. I tried to think, to ignore what was being done to my body and think. What are they wanting? His name is Dale. He told me that himself. But they call him Master. Who was the Master of the fairies? I ask myself as my body begins to twitch again. Thinking back to my English Lit classes, the one’s I never thought I’d use I suddenly remembered… Oberon. The Master of the Fairies is Oberon. “Oberon!” I scream out, my voice finding strength I wasn’t aware I possessed “Help me!” I gasped once more and then collapsed, no longer caring what they did. If that didn’t work, I was lost anyway.

**************************************************

“THAT FUCKING BARD!!” Puck screamed “I KNEW I should have FUCKING killed him when I had the CHANCE!

“What?” Glorymourn asked, excitement and confusion warring on her tear-streaked face, “She… remembered.”

“She didn’t remember HIM!” he growled, “She didn’t remember what she needed to, and everything we’ve fucking DONE here tonight was a WASTE OF FUCKING TIME!!! She didn’t remember her Lord, she didn’t remember her love, and she didn’t remember her promise… She remembered her fucking SHAKESPEAR ASSIGNMENT!!”

[Rufus the Mad]

My eyes snapped open in the dark, and I was on my feet before I really even knew I was moving, the moaning and twitching bodies of the Sprites that had been laying across me tumbling to gentle stops on the abandoned bedding as I blinked and lurched, staggering across the open space of my tent, roaring a name I found strangely familiar, but couldn’t for the life of me recall. I began heading to the front, intending to head out and check on Theresa, when I suddenly whirled, eyes grown wide, and rushed to the back instead, tearing open the flaps with enough force to pop the buttons loose as I tried frantically to get outside, to move as fast as I could. I threw open the flaps, ignoring the damage I had done to my tent, and plunged into the darkness, into the trees outside… Trees? I had no time to worry about the sudden appearance of a forest at the back of my tent, pressed as I was by a sense of urgency, a need to hurry that was greater than any I had ever known. I reached out and drew down the ornately carved hunting horn that swung from its lanyard on a peg set in the rear pole of my tent, and slung its silver and gold chased weight across my shoulder as I tore off into the darkness beneath the trees, the high, bright moon revealing little under the dark canopy of those spread limbs. With everything I could muster I ran, my bare feet finding purchase on even the smallest spot of bare earth, and somehow keeping clear of the tangled vines and crowding brush without me seeing where I was putting them. Likewise, I seemed to automatically slide through the dense crush of the trees, my bare chest and arms turning just enough to avoid being slashed at or snared by the branches and thorns I passed. I was a ghost through the dark trees, and I was moving fast. I had no idea where I was going, but instead felt pulled, drawn to go a certain way, while ignoring all others… It was as if I was listening to something, trailing along after an invisible sound or following the scent of my prey like an animal.

In truth, I did smell something, something coppery, something tinged with iron… I smelled blood. Something out here was bleeding, something was scared… and suddenly I knew what that something was. ”…no…” I breathed, a cold fear settling into my stomach. She was here… Theresa was out here… and this was her blood I was smelling! I brought the horn to my lips, not even questioning why, and blew loud and long as I ran, my speed picking up even more as I trailed the notes up and down. Leave her alone I seemed to say, my anger growing as I ran Leave her alone, or face ME! I ran harder then, the horn sliding again to its place on my back as my mind focused only on one thing… Theresa… Theresa needed me. She was in trouble, and she needed me. Within moments I had broken through to a clearing, and saw before me the huddled form I had been searching for, and gave a roar of rage and anguish at the sight. She lay in a shivering mass, her hair in disarray and her feet, knees, elbows, and hands torn, scratched, and bleeding. Her nightgown, what was left of it anyway, lay in a tattered shambles of rent cloth, and the remnants of her panties hung from her round hips like the shredded wisps of a dream in the daylight.

**************************************************

"They’re hurting her!”Glorymorn wailed, her heart breaking at the sight below her in the vale ”Puck, please! Stop them!”

”Shuddup dammit!” the Satyr growled to his captive, his eyes never leaving the scene below, and his other hand busy on his rising shaft ”They ain’t got long ‘til he shows up, and they just wanna make sure she re…” the hidden brute paused as the first peels of a hunting horn echo through the trees, and his jaw tightens as the notes go wildly up and down the scale ”…members it." he finished at last. ”Fuck.” he said in disgust, lifting the captured Sprite up so he could see her "D’jou hear that shit on the horn?" he asked with a frustrated look on his horned face ”She remembered the wrong damned thing, and it’s all fucked up. Ain’t no damned way the Master would have blown that crap… This ain’t gonna work, we screwed it up somehow. I say we just fuckin kill ‘em both and try again.”

”Oh Puck!” gasped Glorymorn appalled that he would even suggest such a thing! "Things may yet work out… they are so close! And you know as well as Glorymorn does that they do have feelings for each other!” She looked at him with her wide eyes, remembering the one she had so loved before... and seeing now that his time there had changed him… ”Look there, he comes! Even as your hunters rush away. It may be that seeing each other may do what is needed, or that some small thing will work… These minds are so easily broken… but they grow stronger with each acceptance, they gain a bit of themselves with each belief…” She began petting at his fingers, stroking along the length as she spoke, and looking up at him again, saying ”Wait your rage, my love… give them the time they need. Then you might be free, with no conditions… as free as we could wish…”

Puck gave no recognition of having heard her pleas, so focused he was on the expanding vista below, but he did rub his thum across her arms in a slow, soft caress, letting her know she had won… The victory was short-lived, however, as his grip began almost immediately to tighten, to double, to double again, and double yet again, causing the tiny captive to first whimper, then, sob, then cry out in bitter pain as his rage seemed to overwhelm both of them for the moment. The thoughts were there, the memories were there… and upon her calling him Oberon he had even begun to access them… but, probably because in her mind, Oberon can be played by a new guy every fucking time the curtain rises, he was unable to retain them… ”DAMMIT!!!” he roared, his fists coming up to shake at the sky, and the keening wail of the crushed Sprite heard only dimly before he glanced at her, and then hurled her toward the distant pair ”Got to ‘em then!” he bellowed waving her on wildly as he stomped back into the dense trees ”Like it’s gonna fuckin help”

**************************************************

The forest around us seemed alive, and I could hear movement and quickly retreating steps from almost every direction. Her attackers were fleeing, and I would have loved to have given chase, to have caught and beaten the monsters that had done this… but I had to tend to her first, had to get her back to camp and taken care of. I dropped down next to her unconscious form, my mind trying desperately to deny the urges my body was having by seeing her in such a state, and I rolled her gently onto her back, checking for a pulse, and then smoothing the hair back from her tear-streaked face. I examined the wounds to the bottoms of her feet, cleaning them as best I could of the bits of debris that I found stuck there, both in and out of the ragged tears, then moved on to examine the other damage as well. My nose, so strangely sensitive since I had woken up, drew me instinctively to the junction of her thighs, and I could see there the dewy evidence of her excitement, but I forced myself to look first to the bloodied wounds, not to that sweet nexus, and not to her jiggling breasts as they rose and fell while she breathed… No, first I would see her to camp, try to get her covered… and then, we might discuss anything else.

After tending to her bloodied body, I again moved beside her, and drew her close, cradling her body against mine as I let her rest for a bit, and noting as I did that she seemed to weigh almost nothing, that her body, so soft and warm, was as light to me as if I were shifting nothing more than a loosely packed bag of wadded paper. As I moved her, though, I guess I shifted her just enough, for she roused slightly, her eyes unfocused and blurry as she looked at me, but she lifted her hand slowly and rested it against my chest whispering ”Oberon… my Oberon…” before lapsing back into unconsciousness once more. Oberon? What was an Oberon?! Why did that sound so familiar? Why did that seem like… my… name?

I reeled then, my arms shaking and my heart pounding in my ears as I slid to the ground myself, barely managing to settle her safely before collapsing to the dank terra… Oberon… I am… but, my name is D? Isn’t it? Who am… I’m not … What the hell is going on?! I was breathing hard and fast now, my body struggling as It fought too stay focused, to stay conscious in my own right as I lay there next to her, my hands still draped across her naked frame and my mind spinning. My brain flooded with memories, and I cried out as it seemed like my head would split from the pressure… I convulsed and screamed, my body oozing a cold sweat as I was swarmed with vague flashes of memories. I saw sunny days filled with music and parties, nights filled with love and pageantry… I recalled people in strange clothing, like costumes, with proper Ladies and mere handmaidens alike laughing and purring around me… I saw old cars, horses even, wandering side by side down muddy lanes beneath a summer sun, while workmen in heavy gloves struggled to add more iron to the strange and mammoth artistic vision of the mad Gustave Eiffel's latest endeavor, and I remembered fighting in some mad wash of green and black… a jungle I think… I remembered all of it, I remembered everything!!! I remembered… nothing.

I woke not long after that, still lying on my back, still holding her, and with my hand settled squarely onto her breast… I couldn’t remember what had happened, couldn’t remember how I had ended up on the ground, but I recognized that swooping blue blur well enough… ”Glorymourn…” I breathed, barely able to move, and with a mouth as dry as cotton ”Glory, I know you can hear me… I need your help little darlin. I can…I can protect her… But I need water. Glory, can you fetch me some water please? Please?”

”Y… yes Master…” she stuttered, clearly unsure of working with me, but doing so anyway, and with one more long look across the glen, seeming to be looking at something or someone in particular, she was gone, spiraling across the sky toward camp. She returned not only with water, but with my two girls as well, the three of them carrying the waterskin between them, and gently lowering it to my hand. I moved only one, leaving the other to caress her soft breast and nipple lightly as I lay there and collected myself and sip at the water. The three Sprites however, were active as all get out, with Glorymourn speaking quickly to my two little helpers, and Spiderwort and Mapleflame, for their part, doing just as she said, for the moment. They all seemed shaken up, like they had seen something bad or heard terrible news, but I noticed that Glory seemed to be a bit unsteady in the air, as though she were hurt or affected more for some reason.

”Glory…” I said quietly, motioning her closer when she glanced over ”Come here sweety. You don’t look like you’re doin too good.” She came over, hesitantly, and I could see clearly now that she was covered in bruises, her bluish tone making them seem like ink smudges across her skin. She came close, but not close enough for me to touch, always staying just out of my long arms reach, and stood trembling in the crushed grass next to her Mistress instead, more than close enough for me to see the pattern of those bruises. ”I’m sorry little one…” I said softly, seeing where those fingers and thumb had been wrapped around her small body. She had tried to help… had tried to get to Theresa, and had been stopped in no uncertain terms. ”I really am sorry. I should have been…”

”You couldn’t have been, Master.” she whispered sharply, looking up at me from under her long lashes ”They made certain…”

I turned cold inside at those words, knowing what they had meant. There was something out here with an agenda… and we had no idea what it was. Those were not Sprite hand prints, nor were they the delicate-looking digits of a Nymph… I would have said Satyr, but they only listened to me… So what else was there? What was out here that could do this? I slid my hand from Tess’ body and tried to sit up, tried to regain some measure of respect, of control… and failed miserably. I tried again… and again… and yet again… and eventually managed to force my torso upright, holding it in place with my quaking arms. I looked down at Glorymourn and closed my eyes, sighing as I thought of how far I had to carry her Mistress back… ”Glorymourn… I know you don’t trust me… and I think I understand why… but that doesn’t matter right now. You know your way around here, you know who you can trust… and we are gonna need help getting back. I need you to find someone to help us…”

She looked at me carefully, trying to see if she could trust me this much, I suppose, and said ”There is one… but he slumbers. It would… it would take much to wake him. As things are… I cannot!” she wailed, hiding her eyes.

”GLORYMOURN!” I said sharply, my face locking into a scowl.

She flinched ”I…i… It would… take a blood o… offering…” she whispered, her voice barely audible… ”From both of you…”

”Done. Mapleflame… go back to camp and bring me the small knife that I used on the berries earlier. Spiderwort, I need two small containers, whatever you can carry. Go.” I looked at Glorymourn then, and said ”And I’m thinking that you and I need to talk…” As the other two took off, the little blue Sprite seemed to collapse in upon herself, her face a mask of worry as she hugged her knees and tried to fold her wings around herself. Something told me that this was going to be difficult. ”I’m not sure what happened here…” I said to her, trying to sound as gentle and friendly as possible ”But your Mistress is a damned mess… What happened to her? Who did this?”

”I warned her…” the tiny Sprite breathed, her eyes seeming distant as she rocked slightly back and forth… ”You were needed… so they went to her… she was to call for you, and you were to come… She was so scared! Poor, poor Mistress. The hunters drove her through the forest, and she hurt herself so… poor Mistress." She crawled then, slipping closer to Theresa’s face, and petting down her cheek with a gentle hand. I could see she was beginning to fray a bit at the edges, that she might not be able to answer much more… but I had to know one more thing.

”Glory…” I said, waiting patiently until she was done with her petting ”Can you tell me what’s going on here?”

The results to my simple question were both dramatic, and rather disturbing. Her small, animated form ground to a slow halt, and seemed to dim, eventually loosing all trace of illumination as she drug herself around to face me, lifting her face with enough resistance that I swore I could almost hear her neck hinges squealing from the strain, and looked at me with dead eyes as she opened her pale lips and said "Mustn’t ask, Master…. Mustn’t ask… Glorymourn cant say, Glorymourn cannot change the way… it must… be… done…” She had no sooner eeked out those words, no more forced herself to go that far, her voice growing frailer and quieter as she did so, than she fell forward, slumping to the ground beside her Mistress…

This was bad… we had a source, someone that might be able to help us fix everything… and she couldn’t tell me a thing. Wait! She couldn’t tell me! Maybe she could tell… I looked down hopefully, and found her now grey eyes trying to focus on me. He head wobbled, her body shook, and as I watched, her body seemed to loose color, to begin fading to an even grey… but she still struggled to speak, still forced her body onward… ”P p…please M master… a f…f.f..favor…? Do n… not tell the M..Mistress… p… please?”

”All right sweety… all right.” I said quickly, lunging forward to catch her, to stop her before she hurt herself ”I won’t tell her, I promise! Now rest. I can’t have you hurt… she needs you. Now who was this person that your were gonna have help us? I’ll have the girls go get them…”

”E… Elderoot…” she wheezed, clinging to my fingers, just as the girls returned with the required items. She seemed to sleep then, sliding down beside Tess and looking like she might be regaining a bit of color. Thank goodness. I turned to the other girls then, taking the small blade from Mapleflame, and setting the small cups that Spiderwort had brought on the ground near me. I was regaining some of my strength, I was feeling a bit better, but I knew I was still wiped from whatever had happened, and there was nothing to do but carry out Glory’s plan if I wanted to get back to camp… I carefully held the first cup against one of Theresa’s seeping foot wounds, filling the cup quickly, and setting it aside before cutting across my thumb and filling the other one.

”Alright girls,” I said, holding the cups up for them to take. ”I need you to go offer these to Elderoot. Do you know where he is? How to make the sacrifice?”

”There is… no… need… little Master…” came a slow, booming, rumbling voice from the forest ”The offering… has… been made… That… is… the important… thing. The… willingness… to do… so.” The trees seemed to part then, sliding aside to clear the way for what had to be the biggest creature I had ever fucking seen! It had immense feet, the first thing I noticed, that looked like they were made from the gnarled roots of an old tree, and legs like thick stumps. There was moss, and even a few vines clinging to the lower extremities, giving them the appearance of wearing pants, after a fashion. From there up, however, there was no denying what I was seeing… I tree, given life and intelligence, looking down at me with violently green eyes that seemed to be swimming in the craggy sea of wrinkled bark and weathered features that made up the face. Branches and limbs, growing right out of his body and head, were in the first blush of green from the springtime blooming, and his long, long arms and snarled stick-like fingers reached almost to the ground again from his towering forty foot height. ”I… am… Elderoot. I will… help… you… back to… your… camp... Master.”

Monstrous or no, I could have hugged the big bastard right then.

I can’t really remember too much about the trip back to camp, only clearly recalling making damned certain we didn’t forget the knife, the blood, or brave little Glory when we left… I was a bit gonzo, I suppose, fading in and out myself as we made our way back, but I came around as Elderoot lowered me back to the ground, surprised to find that I can stand a bit, and also that Glory seemed much better… I had the recovering Sprite call forth the Nymphs, actually having to have Elderoot promise to watch me, but eventually managed to get them to carry her in and place her on her bed, where I tended to her wounds with the medical kit she had tucked away there. One thing about being in construction, you get really good at binding cuts and scrapes! I cleaned the wounds well, making certain that I had ALL the debris out of them, and then wrapped both feet, moving next to her knees, and spending a few moments checking for fractures around her bruised and torn joints before wrapping them as well. I gritted my teeth, and spread her legs gently, checking more for damage than anything else, and was relieved when I found none, either vaginally or anally. Whatever had happened to her, whatever they had done, had not involved rape… I did, however, note that by the time I finished my check, which I did as quickly as possible, she was rather wet, and had begun thrusting slowly against my fingers…

I withdrew my hand… sucking the slick juices off them, but allowing myself nothing else, and waited until I could control myself before turning back to her nude form, examining, cleaning, and wrapping her slashed palms next, and then moving on to her elbows. I examined them in much the same manner as I had her knees, checking carefully beneath the contusions for any serious damage, and then cleaned and wrapped them as well. I then moved to the rest of her body, checking for damage, cleaning with a soft cloth and cool water, and bandaging as needed, until I had examined every inch of her, even checking her scalp for slashes and tears from branches or thorns, even going so far as to run the brush from a nearby table through it, carefully removing all traces of her mad dash through the darkness…

It was then, with my exhausted and dirt-stained body sitting beside her nude and bandaged form, that she managed to regain consciousness…

”It’s okay baby…” I murmured softly, sliding down so she could see my face ”It’s okay now… I’ve got you. Your safe. You’ll always be safe…”

[KaosDancer]

Puck stormed through the deep forest, his rage at such a near miss evident in every step, in every nuance of movement. They had been right fucking THERE!! So close, so very close… But in the end, he was still the one confirmed to power, and still the one everyone turned to… He wanted nothing more to do with it! He had only been halfway kidding earlier when he had suggested to the Sprite that they be killed so that they might try again… There was always the chance, slim, yes, but hope nonetheless that they would return as Faeries!

He heard, well, more felt the old treeherd yank up his roots and head back the way Puck had just come, probably summoned to the Masters side or some other nonsense like that, and just got a bit more pissed about everything. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t much that could happen right now that wasn’t gonna piss him off. He heard the booming words in the distance, heard the Treant offering to take them back to their camp, and thought about the fact that they wouldn’t have fucking needed his help if the Satyr could just so much as buy a friggin break! He listened to the crashing footsteps as the giant forest-dweller took them back, and pounded his fist into the dirt, leaving fairly deep impressions, and growling a bit. He just wished he could fuckin punish them!! That would make him feel a bit better…

That’s about the time he came across a little plan to get at least one of them… but he’d have to work fast, before she woke up…

He was racing through the trees, then, heading for a particular spot he knew of, and hoping that the flighty bitch that lived there was as neurotic as the rest of her breed, and hadn’t wandered too far from home… No… there she was, cowering within the skin of the tree, just like her sisters always did when he was around… but this one… this one had a secret. ”So do ya feel any different love, now that you ain’t a virgin no more?” he cooed to her, stroking the bark of the tree as he would a woman’s skin. The Dryad within shuddered, and turned away from the shame Puck held out for her… He had watched the whole thing, had seen her raped, had seen her beaten, had seen her episode with the Satyr wench… and had seen her revel in it at the end. The Master had proven himself for her, had caught and taken what she would have denied… and in the end, even now, she would gladly go to him had he called… Outside the tree, Puck caressed the bark, and laughed his cruel laugh. ”But what about your Mistress?” he whispered to her ”What about the promises you made to her? You and your sisters swore to remain untouched, and you were granted the ability to speak to her heart, to not lose the beauty you had coveted so… Have you lost that bond to look for the pleasure of the Master? Have you broken your vow, and cursed yourself to wither and die? Was the sex truly that incredible…”

Puck had been growing quieter and quieter, this last being only the barest of whispers… but it had the desired effect. Frantically, the Dryad sought to link her heart with that of her Mistress, to learn her fate, and to determine if she had been abandoned… and it coincided beautifully with the passing of a young Satyr femme. Without a sound, Puck lunged out from behind the tree, and caught the goat-legged wench in his vice-like grip, and he swung her hard into the Dryads tree, leaving her bloodied and dazed from the attack, and linking her fate to the Dryads desperate sending through the innate properties of her blood as it trickled down the bark… Without preamble then, he stepped behind her and rammed himself up her backside without so much as a hint of preparation, his intent clear as he felt the Nymphs connection to he Mistress burn with the sudden intrusion of the Satyr girls fear, confusion, and pain. “Bitch!” he growled, stabbing himself into the now torn and bloodied ass of the female before him, and reveling in the fact that that slut of an English Student, that fucking FAILURE as a proper Mistress, was feeling every bit of it. “I’ll make you pay…” He grunted and slammed into her, no longer even seeing the Satyr bitch, but instead seeing that long red hair, those lush, pale-skinned curves, and he relished the pain he was creating in her. He heard her crying, sobbing for him to stop, and just laughed… There was no fucking way he was stopping now, not till he… The wave of calm he felt didn’t come from her, it couldn’t have. He slowed his pace, blinking and looking down at the trapped Satyr wench he had before him, and felt again that wave of calm, of comfort… Damnit! He was with her… He was right fucking THERE! SHIT! “I’ll find you again,” he growled at her, knowing already that the connection was fading ”And next time… next time it won’t be someone else that takes your fucking pain!”
________________________________________

I crawled my way out of the darkness and into a world of pain. I felt hands upon me, and instinctively tried to fight, to get away, to keep them from… Through my growing panic, I hear his voice. It’s not them, by all that’s holy, it’s not them. I opened my eyes to look at him, my precious one. My lord. His blue eyes were clouded with worry as he began to reassure me. "It’s okay now… I’ve got you. You’re safe. You’ll always be safe…”

“Safe?” I think, “I’ll never be safe until…” the thought faded, and the world grayed around me. I felt myself slipping back into that darkness, back into the nightmare… I heard an evil voice calling. “Bitch!” It said, “I’ll make you pay…” I cried out, my body stiffening as I felt the searing pain of another and realized that it was meant for me. But D was there, with gentle hands and soft words he brought me back, back to this place this haven, back too… I fling my arms around his neck, holding him close, feeling him holding me. The voice fades off with, “I’ll find you again, and next time…”

As the pressure of that terrible voice is lifted, I begin to cry, softly at first, but building into deep shuddering sobs. I clung to him, like a shipwreck victim clings to a board in a storm. Terrified that if I let go, I’d be swept back into that nightmare of hungry eyes and hot bodies, and that this time I wouldn’t be able to escape. I felt the rise of hysterics as the fear seized me in its grip again. But worse than the fear, was the uncontrolled desire that burned through me, fueled by lingering scent of musk in my nostrils and the half-remembered feel of their hands. His soft loving murmurs and tender embrace calmed the fear and soon I was able to stop the panic, but as the fear faded the desire rose, blinding me to all but the burning need in my body. The strength of the arms around me, and the loving look in his eyes made me shudder as I surrendered myself to it and reached up and kissed him, pulling him against me, no longer caring about anything but the ache within my loins.

[Rufus the Mad]

She came out of her unconscious stupor swinging, just as I thought she might, and I had hells own time calming her down before she hurt either herself, or me… It seemed almost like she was trying to jump back into the nightmare, like she was trying to hold on to it for some reason… but eventually I see her eyes clear, and she slips over to this side of sanity. She launches herself at me, desperate for comfort, and I rock her back and forth like a frightened child, patting and petting while she cries herself out. I thought she was letting go, thought she would be wanting me out of there, and so I leaned back a bit in preparation of rising, only to have her shift her grip once our cheeks had cleared, and to have her lips pressed to mine as she groaned into my mouth, the shock making me freeze for just a moment. That moment, apparently, was all she needed, and she moaned louder as she ground her lips to mine, her tongue darting forth to beg entrance to my mouth as she tried to drag me down, to haul me across her.

I kissed her feverishly, my lust leaping to the fore, and I was halfway on top of her when I realized that I had no idea what was happening, that I was simply reacting… AGAIN! With a growl, I slammed my hand down on the soft forgiveness of her bed, and halted my advance forcibly, shoving myself up and off her, pulling my head back so I could see her through my hair. She writhed and reached for me again, trying to close the distance between us, but I sat my hand between her flushed breasts and pressing down firmly, struggling to remain focused as I realized how close those turgid nipples were to my fingers as I held her down, and said ”Theresa…. Theresa! Look at me sweety. I need you to open your eyes and look at me… see me here with you. Come on now Tess honey, who am I?”

For several minutes, I sparred with her like that, with her reaching for me blindly, her mind and body seeking nothing but release… and myself trying to get her to open her eyes and acknowledge me. When I finally did, when she at last whispered ”D… I need you… please D… Please?” I knew she was too far gone to really understand… and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I mean yeah, I wanted to have sex with her, and god knows she wanted me to do so right then… It would have been so fucking easy to just say ta hell with it, and take her like she kept begging me to… So what in the seven deadly sins was stopping me!? I knew the answer for that one even before I had finished asking it, and could still feel what it was like to look out from the prison behind my own eyes… No, I would not take her, would not have sex with her… Not until I was fer sure and certain that she knew it was me, and accepted that fact…

But that didn’t make things any easier on her… Her skin was getting so warm I felt like checking for Sprite wings, and she had been writhing as if in actual pain for the better part of twenty minutes now, nonstop. She was gonna die of sexual frustration if something didn’t give… and I knew just what it was gonna have to be… I turned around slowly, looking dead at the worried, hovering form of Glorymorn where she was watching from just inside the tent, and said ”You're gonna owe me one Sprite… a BIG one.”

Her eyes grew wide, and her bluish skin seemed to lose a bit of its color again as she stared at me, but Glorymorn, nodded slowly, and said "Agreed Master, and thank you..." as I eased myself up onto the bed the rest of the way… not on top of the oh-so-willing Theresa, more’s the pity, but beside her instead, where my hand could just... reach her.

I propped myself up on my left elbow, and gathered her hands in mine, holding them above her head with my left hand, while my right trailed down her body. I paused at her tight nipples, tugging and playing with the taunt tips before flattening my hand out and sliding it across the soft curve of her tummy and caressing the upper fringe of her soft fur, making her lurch and moan louder, throwing her legs open wide and lifting her hips up to try and tempt my dancing fingers lower. They did sweep lower too, but only after I rolled over her just enough to trap the leg closest to me under the knee of my left leg… and place my right foot on the side of the opposite knee, locking that one in place as well. Then I ran my fingers lower, devilishly low, and stroked the outer lips of her swollen and heated sex. With that one, simple contact, she sucked air in through her teeth and grunted loudly, her outer labia parting in a slow, oozing manner as her pussy soaked itself in anticipation.

I dipped my fingers into her gently, carefully, watching her face, and gauging whether something was liked or disliked by her facial expressions, the movements of her body, and the amount of slippery lubrication that flooded from her while I worked at my deliberate pace… I summoned Glorymorn after a while, asking her, politely, to remove the perspiration from my forehead, and had her attend her Mistress as she thought was required… to which the tiny prude blushed an almost iridescent purple… In the end, and after almost a half hour and several smaller orgasms that led to the big one, I drove her hard and fast to a truly monumental outpouring of her baser sensuality, causing her to scream, to gasp, to buck and arch her back, and to at last cling to me once more in gratitude and relief as I slowed to a restful stop, sinking down and snuggling against her while she caught her breath, casually lapping at the breast and nipple I found before me.

When her breathing had returned to some form of normalcy, and she had at last stopped shaking and moaning faintly, I swung my arm back off of her body, and made ready to get up, only to be stopped by her hand on my side, and the whispered words ”No… stay D, please. I… I don’t want to be alone right now, if that's okay…” I rolled back over then, draping my arm across her and letting her snuggle back to me, and then called for Wort and Maple, telling them that I would be in here tonight, and that they could come in here if they wished to do so. I was immediately beset by the two tiny mother hens, And underwent several moments of rather intensive grilling before I finally just told them to stop, and that it was time to sleep now. They situated themselves down the drape of my ribs and over the curve of my hip, dropping almost instantly into an exhausted slumber of their own and dragging me along…

Twice more during the night did she wake up writhing and out of control, and twice more did I wake up deal with the problems in my own inimitable way, the final time throwing caution to the wind and allowing myself the luxury of using my lips and tongue instead of my tired and cramping fingers. As I suspected, her taste was simply divine, like warm honeysliping in copious secretions down the back of my throat, and I ate her for all I was worth! I drilled my tongue into her hot sex, lapping and wriggling to touch and caress as much of the sensitive flesh as I could reach, and then I would lathe my broad, softened tongue across both the outer, and inner lips of this coral kingdom, until slowly zeroing in on the ruddy pearl that seems to control everything, eventually coming to focus my tongue into a funnel, and drawing the little bud between my lips and nursing on it gently, sending her into fits of screeching and twitching with each little movement of my tongue as she hit and rode the crushing and extended crest of an orgasm so intense that she actually began crying about half-way through it, and stopped comparing me to deities only when she ran out of breath to do so…

And so it passed, from nightmare to daybreak... My soft words and demanding touches giving her whatever she needed to rest, and my mind roiling with the consequences of the night... I slept as I could, my faithful little girls doing what they could to lull me to sleep, and Glory... poor Glory, sitting silently nearby, a bruised and rumpled sentinel against the swarming dark, her eyes shining with bright tears, and her trembling hands darting forth at the slightest stir to pet and caress her mistress...

[KaosDancer]

I wake slowly, feeling his arms around me, feeling warm, feeling safe, feeling… naked. Naked? I carefully slide out from under his arm and move to the other side of the bed. Spying Glorymorn sitting on the headboard, I ask in a harsh whisper. “How’d he…”

“You wouldn’t let him leave mistress.” She said softly.

“I…?” I glance over at him and notice that he’s backed almost off the bed. I shake my head and look at back at Glory. “So uh, I guess I was feeling rather…”

“Snuggly.” Glorymorn finished for me.

“I believe you," I sighed, I seem to remember a really bad dream, and can see where I may have wanted comforting. Not really wanting to think about it I just push it away and decide that whatever happened, it was time for me to up and about… And Dressed! “Get me something to put on Glory.” I say as I slide to the edge of the bed. My body feels a bit stiff and sore, but I think nothing of it as I swing my feet down and…

Glorymorn gasped and dived for me as the agony ripped through my body from the contact of my shredded feet with the ground. I screamed and dropped as they refused to hold me, collapsing to the right, spinning as I fell toward the…Suddenly, I feel an arm under me, supporting me. I glance over and see D. He has lunged across the bed, and managed to keep me from falling, but the strain on his arm has to be… “Hold on, I’ve got you. Pick your feet up.”

I do as he says and he levers me back up on the bed, grabbing my torso with his other arm for support when he gets me high enough. He pulls me back from the edge and over next to him, only then shifting his grip from my breast. “Are you alright?” he asked softly, his head snuggled down against my shoulder and his breath tickling my ear.

Alright? I think. What in the world… I look down at myself, only now seeing the bandages, and the bruises and scratches which covered most of the rest of my body. I begin to tremble at the realization of what had happened. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” I whispered softly, closing my eyes and curling in on myself.

**************************************************

Puck sat, happily playing his pipes as he listened and felt what was going on down in the camp below. He’d managed to contact her two more times during the night, and while he couldn’t seem to bring back the pain and fear, he’d made her beg for the master’s touch, like the slut she was. And now, pain, "Lovely," he whispered as her agony spread through him. "Oh, to have hold of her, to be the one..." He stopped and grinned. "Well," he said with an evil laugh, "I guess I was."

Even Glorymorn didn’t know it, but the creatures which had chased her mistress last night, were not true satyrs; instead they had been figments of his cruel imagination. Using the power they had forced upon him by their abandonment, he had created these monsters to use against them. It had been his will which had directed the creatures, and he had felt what they felt, and tasted what they tasted. He was almost hoping that this wouldn’t work, that he’d be able to tell the others that he’d killed them, and then keep her for a while. He’d teach her what real pain was... and how to enjoy it.

With a grin he hopped down from his perch and went looking for another playmate. Maybe he’d be able to coax that nymph out to him after all. He laughed as he remembered her response to the longing he’d sent through her to her mistress. How she had actually peeked out, while he was bringing the last of his toys to the height of pleasure. She’d ducked back inside, but not before he’d managed to gently rub one finger across her cheek. He whistled merrily as he heads for the tree, thinking about what he was going to do to try and coax her out, and what was he was going to do to her if he succeeded. Her agony would be epic.

[Rufus the Mad]

My eyes snapped open at the sound of the Sprite's tiny gasp, and I was moving before I even started to hear the scream that Tess let fly when her feet hit the floor. Dammit, I should have put up a friggin sign! ‘Caution: don’t move, it’s gonna HURT!’ I slid myself across the bed as fast and as far as I could, and ended up with my right arm, from about elbow down, hangin off the edge of her big feather mattress, with her left tit square on in my cupped hand, and the rest of her draping across my forearm at a slight upward angle, with my elbow closer to her hip than her shoulder. ”Hold on, I’ve got you.” I said quickly, letting her know she was okay, and couldn’t help but smile a bit as I noticed again how light she was. Just like last night, I realized that I could pretty much just pick her straight up if I wanted to.

She was still trying to get her feet under her, and crying out every time they made contact with anything more solid that a stiff breeze… this girl just don’ learn sometimes. ”Pick your feet up.” I said quietly, shaking my head at the stubborn pride it was taking to keep her trying like that. She finally stopped, and pulled her feet up slightly, allowing me to curl my arm inward and draw her right back onto the bed with no real difficulty. I slid my left hand up to steady her, wrapping it over the sumptuous swell of her hip, and eventually allowing myself the luxury of sliding it across the soft curve of her abdomen as I drew her in against me, finally figuring I’d best move my hand before I get smacked, I skimmed my hand down from the soft curve of that glorious breast, and curled my fingers along the line of her ribs instead, resting my chin on the curved grace of her neck as I asked ”Are you alright?” in my gentlest and most compassionate voice… I knew what was coming next, and knew she was going to have to deal with it… but that didn’t mean she had to do it alone.

“It wasn’t a dream, was it?” she whispered, her soft voice all but lost in the angry roar of a wayward breeze as she curled her body in as tight as she could, and began shaking with quiet sobs…

”No…” I breathed, kissing the back of her shoulder and pulling her in tighter ”It wasn’t a dream, but it is the past. Your safe now, I got you… They won’t come back, I won’t allow it.” I withdrew my left hand from around her waist, and stroked her hair, whispering words of comfort to her, and trying to help… She rolled over, and buried her face in my chest at one point, and all I did was straighten out my curved body, allowing her to entwine around me like a climbing rose, and to draw comfort from my closeness. I drew her chin up, trying to look into those pretty green eyes, only to have her turn her head away, unable to look me in the eye, and mortified beyond words… ”They never hurt you…” I said, my words carrying a slightly cryptic overtone as I leaned forward slightly. Her harrumph of disagreement was met with a shake of my head, saying ”This was all from running, and from the falls you took. They never hurt you…”

The meaning of my words was a bit clearer now, and she actually managed a weak smile before turning from me once more, her self loathing showing in every action. ”No… listen to me Theresa… listen. No matter what they did, no matter what they said, what they threatened… they never hurt you… Do you understand?” I watched the understanding dawn across her face like the rising sun, and she buried herself into my chest yet again and wept. I held her, stroking, cuddling, and rocking as I let her cry. Her grief and fear over the chase, her regret and shame over what she had thought they had done… All her emotions were sitting in her like a rotting ball of pain, and it was good that she get it all out… And holding her, making it better for her, protecting her… just felt so damned good!

When she was cried out, when she could again draw a breath without launching into those heart wrenching sobs, I let her ease back a bit, my hand still at her shoulders and began speaking to her, saying ”It’s gonna be alright love, no problem. You call your girls to help you get dressed, and I’ll go get some clothes on myself, maybe even knock this mud off me. When you’re ready to come out, you give a yell and I’ll come get you, and take you on out! …oh, by the way, there’s a big tree guy out there, name of Elderoot. He’s the one what brought us back last night, and he’s alright. I just didn’t want ya to go freakin out…”

”Oh,” she interjected ”You mean like in Tolkien!”

”Who?” I asked, not recognizing the reference…

”Tolkien…” she said again, as if that alone explained everything. ”You know… ‘Lord of the Rings’?

”Oh!” I exclaimed, still not getting the reference, but at least understanding what she was trying to tell me now ”I never read those… At any rate, he’s out there, and I just wanted you ta know about it before ye got to the ‘AH what’s that!’ stage of things.” I said with a lopsided smile. She, on the other hand, had craned her head down and had glanced at the state of my own feet, which were still covered in the splashed and splattered mud that remained of my desperate run last night, and had dried in place. It now lay in a thin crust over my feet and legs, leaving tiny flakes as it cracked and fell off with my movements.

”You tracked mud into the bed…” she observed idly, lowering her head to my arm and staring into my eyes.

”Well…” I said slowly, not sure how mad she was fixin to be here ”I was in a bit of a hurry last night… and wasn’t actually planning on climbing into this bed… But you didn’t seem like you were up fer much debate about it, so I did like you asked, and stayed with you. You had some pretty bad spots, too, so I’m figurin it’s a good thing I stayed… Not that I’d have minded much anyway…” I flushed just a bit at this admission, shrugging as my skin warmed and darkened from the blood coursed through me… but I never took my eyes from hers, never looked away… and in fact settled in a bit more comfortably. I lay there, my now heated and inviting gaze locked with hers for several seconds… saying nothing, simply being with her. It felt good, felt right… and somewhere deep in the core of me, I knew that this was a good thing… Still, I had no real claim here, and I wasn’t about to press her into anything. I caressed her shoulder once more, my large hand seeming to fit her curves and contours so well, and then patted her gently, saying ”But, yer right... I shouldn’t go trackin mud inta yer bed like this. I’m gonna go ahead on and get up, and you can have your girls come in and give ye a hand.”

I rose then, easing myself out of the bed, and draping the sheet across her. I then glanced over to the small, battered form of her helper and said ”And ya might wanna go easy with little Glory today, okay? She had almost as rough a night as we did… She tried her best to help… and she got stopped, hardcore.” I smiled faintly to the little blue Sprite, and then flicked my eyes back to her Mistress, adding ”I think she deserves a bit of a break today…” before wrinkling up my nose at the both of ‘em, and spinning on my heel to face the door. ”C’mon girls,” I said to my two colorful little followers, drawing them over from the mirror where they had been preening for the last few moments ”Lets get out of here and give the Lady some peace.”

”Might we get a mirror Master?” Spiderwort gushed, clearly enamored of the reflective pane.

”Yes, yes! Please Master?” piped in Mapleflame, her eyes still dazzled by the replica of her own image.

”We’ll see girls…” I rumbled to them as they took their places on my shoulders ”Maybe if you are good enough…” Hey I knew a good trap when I saw one, and if these little things were so effected by mirrors, then they might just serve as a nice reward for when they are ‘extra-good’, making certain that they would always have something to strive for. Like a kitten that will do anything to be petted… Yeah, now all I have to do is find a damned mirror.

I walked outside, and held the flap open as the swarm of Sprites swept past me, heading in to aid their Mistress. Then, shaking my head, I turn and head on into our little camp itself… where I come to a stop. Things have changed again. The big tree is still there, the shade of it still draped across our little space perfectly, and there was Elderoot, apparently asleep nearby. The furnishings, the kitchen, the strange stone coolers, even the fire pit, with it’s nearby wall of deadfall wood… all those were the same. No, what was different was that sound… sort of a hissing gurgle. What the hell was that? I eased around the edge of the kitchen area, and found my answer. There, just at the edge of our camp, was a new feature… a wide, calm pool, about eight feet across, lined with stone that seems like it had been there forever, and fed by a small spring as it cascading down what seemed like a natural tumble of stones in a pleasant waterfall. That was the source of the noise I heard, and now that it had lost it’s ominous qualities, I had to admit that it was a rather pleasing sound... Well, I thought to myself with a shrug I guess that will save on those trips to the ridge then, won’t it?

Shaking my head, I decide to start some coffee, and move over to the firepit to rake the coals back out from last night. Getting there, however, I get another surprise… As I approach, the banked coals seem to flare up, to give a good, solid blaze, in fact, and I was a bit concerned about it… until the flame stood up and bowed to me. ”Massster” I heard it say to me softly, the ‘t’ coming from a popping ember, and the rest seeming to form within my own head. ”Proud are we to sssssserve you Masster… Command usss…” As the first one had been speaking to me, its small form looking a lot like the Oscar award but made of fire instead of gold, another pair of them had sprouted up from the coals, and had actually begun dragging the firebed back out to it’s proper placement… and doing a better job of it than I could…

What the hell… I thought to myself Who’s gonna know the damned fire better than the critters that live there?! I walked around the pit and got a small armload of firewood, not knowing if the little guys could travel beyond the firepit, and kinda hoping they couldn’t. I handed the wood, one piece at a time, to the three of them, watching in fascination as they placed them on the coals, their hot little hands scorching the dry timber, but not actually burning it… ”Alright then,” I said to them, nodding at their industriousness ”Let me get some water here, and y’all can heat that up for me. I’ll also require your help a bit later for breakfast.”

The three of them, now with a bit of wood to work with, grew slightly, and slid together, forming one, stronger-looking flame being. "We sssserve the Massssster gladly… yessssssss….” the flame being said wistfully, making me even more hopeful that they… it… no, better stick with they… couldn’t get out of that pit. I smiled pleasantly at them, the empty kettle held protectively in front of me as I backed away, and made my way over to the pool, trying to gather myself together before I had to deal with them again. I wasn’t a wimp, but when the fire talks back, and can take things from you with actual hands… you tend to reassess you prerogatives… I was still working on it when the water reached out an snatched the kettle from me, forming a vaguely humanoid head and torso as it filled the pot and then handed it back to me, taking the time to stick out its tongue at me before sliding back into the pool without a so much as a dripping sound…

”Um… Tess?” I said loudly, backing to the center of camp and dropping onto the raised hummock of earth that hadn’t been there before ”The uh… the fire is alive today… and the waterfall has an attitude problem.”

[KaosDancer]

I almost called him back, almost begged him to stay, to not leave me alone, but as the rest of the sprites swept in I realized I wasn’t alone, and that things maybe were gonna be alright.

To my surprise, the first thing the flock of them did was to pick up a thin cloth and drape it over the mirror. “What’s the matter?” I asked them, “Don’t you guys like mirrors.”

“Yes we do Mistress…” one of them said with a laugh, “a little too much.” She flew over and looked at my scratched and bruised body and frowned. “Lay down Mistress.” She said, gesturing for me to lie back on the bed.

I did as she instructed, kinda wondering where Glory had gotten off to when the entire hoard descended upon me. I winced and squirmed as each and every scratch was cleaned and treated, but I had to admit that I felt a lot better when they where done. Once they were finished with the minor wounds, front and back, then they turned to the more major ones. Besides the hands, knees, elbows and feet I had one rather deep scratch down the outside of my right thigh. They did what they could, but when they removed the bandages from my feet, they just stopped in shock and horror.

“Mistress,” the one who had been overseeing my treatment said softly, “Thistlebite does not think we can do much for this.”

“I know girls.” I sighed, looking back over my shoulder to the cluster of fairies by my feet. “Maybe we can get a pan of water and soak them later. For now, just cover them back up.”

“We’ll need to put some unguent on them first Mistress.” My little medic told me, “And it will hurt.”

“Ok.” I said with a shudder, “Give me a minute.” I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths trying to prepare myself. The removal of the old bandages had been bad enough, but this… I took another couple of breaths, locked my knees to keep my feet still and growled, “Get on with it.” And then grabbed one of my pillows and bit down on it hard to keep from screaming.

They worked quickly, but I was covered with sweat and sobbing into the pillow by the time they were finished. “Thistlebite is sorry Mistress.” The little creature said as she flew up next to my head and brushed my hair back from my face, “But it had to be done.”

I lay there shuddering and crying for a while longer but then the palliative properties of the stuff they’d put on my feet began to work and I sighed in pleasure as my tight muscles seemed to melt, releasing the last of my tension, at the easing of my pain. They gave me a few moments longer, and then lightly bandaged my feet and slipped loose padded leather slippers up over them for protection.

“Now sit up Mistress,” my newest caretaker told me, “and hang your feet over the edge of the bed.” She flew up in front of me and shook a finger in my face and added, “But do not stand up!”

“You don’t have to worry about that!” I laughed, remembering what happened when I tried earlier. They fluttered around, looking over everything I had and coming back to look at me again and again, arguing quietly among themsleves. “What?” I finally asked.

“Trying to find something that will not hurt you Mistress.” One of them said with a look of concentration on her face.

“Just get me one of the nightgowns.” I laughed.

“That wouldn’t be proper Mistress!” another exclaimed.

“Look.” I said with a frown, “Either bring me a dress, or a nightgown. I’m tired of sitting here naked.”
“Yes mistress,” they responded quickly, and pulled the dress out of the cabinet seemingly at random and carried it over to me. It was a delicate, backless dress of soft white silk with a full sweep of a skirt. They dropped it over my head and carefully fastened it at the back of my neck.

Two others fluttered there, holding a thin pair of panties, but Thistlebite shook her head no and motioned for them to put them away. She looked at me for a moment and said, “We need you to roll over on your belly Mistress, and bend your knees, but do not scoot any higher on the bed.” I did as she requested, and a dozen or so fairies grabbed the hem of my dress and pulled it down to cover my bare backside. “Now up Mistress.” She told me and I rolled back up to a sitting position and they tugged the hem of my dress down in the front, covering me up.

I hear D calling from outside. [COLOR="Brown"]”Um… Tess?” he called out, ”The uh… the fire is alive today… and the waterfall has an attitude problem.”[/color]

“Waterfall?” I asked, looking around the room.

"Yes.” Glorymorn said softly, from the headboard, allowing herself to become visible as she answered my question “We moved a spring closer for your, and the Master’s… convenience.”

I gasped in shock when I saw her, her color was more grey than blue and this made her bruises stand out in frightening relief. “Oh my poor baby.” I sighed, Scooting myself up on the bed, reaching over and picking her up as gently as I could. “I should never have called to you.”

“Do not worry about Glorymorn Mistress, it is you…”

“Hush.” I told her softly, turning my hand around so I could try and see the extent of the damage. I couldn’t tell very well with her sitting down so I held my other hand up, and offered her a finger to grab and asked, “Can you stand?”

“Yes Mistress.” She said softly pulling herself stiffly to her feet. Once she was upright the blatant hand print was easy to see.

Tears sprang to my eyes at the sight of the damage to her delicate body. It should never have happened. This is all my fault. I should be able to do something about this. And then something snapped within me, as if another door had opened and I realized that there was something I could do, that there had always been. My mind reeled as I suddenly understood just how easy it would be.

I smiled down at the little one in my hands and her eyes opened wide as she whispered, “Mistress…?”

“Yes Glory," I laughed, “I’ve remembered something.” I placed her carefully on the bed and quickly removed the bandages from my hands. I was rather taken aback by the raw flesh and oozing wounds, but I was not going to let that deter me. Taking my suffering follower in both hands I gently laid her up on my shoulder, like you would hold a child to comfort it. I then began singing a half-remembered song, and gently rocking back and forth. Focusing on the sorrow I felt for her pain and on my wish to make it right, I used the words of the song to focus my intent. I could feel the power of my desire build within my hands, and at the climax of the song I allowed it to flow out of me, through her and then back into my shoulder. I bit my lip as the pain flowed from the tiny body of my follower and into me, but I did not allow that to deter me. Even when she cried out, “No Mistress,” and tried to push away from me, I went on, not allowing myself to stop until I felt her pain ease, both the physical and that of her soul.

That done, I released the squirming and crying little creature, and continued to sing. Allowing the gathered pain to flow from me, and dissipate. The song ended and I fell back to the bed gasping and trembling in reaction as the entire hoard of fairies stared at me in shock. “What’s the matter little ones?” I gasped, swallowing deeply, “I thought you wanted me to remember.”

“But we didn’t know you could do that Mistress,” Thistlebite said as she went to check on Glorymorn where the little creature sat trembling on my bed.

“Oh.” I said softly, closing my eyes and allowing the lethargy I felt after using that power to sweep me off into a peaceful rest where no nightmares waited. I awoke after a time, but felt incredible refreshed by the short nap. With a smile I noted that my hands had been re-bandaged and that my blood had been cleaned off of Glorymorn. She was standing on my pillow, with her hand on my chin patiently waiting for me to wake up. I was shocked and pleased at the change to my little follower. She glowed like Caribbean water in the noon-day sun and seemed more relaxed than I’d ever seen her.

“Glorymorn loves you Mistress.” She said softly, when she saw my eyes were open and then leaned down and kissed me on the corner of my lips. I looked at her in shock and then the rest of them descended. “Love you Mistress.” They cried, “Yes, love you Mistress.”

I gasped as I felt dozens of hands and lips against my skin. “Hey! Hey! Cut it out!” I squealed, as I felt my skirt being pushed up. “That tickles!” I laughed, trying to squirm out of their reach.

“Tickles Mistress?” Glorymorn asked, fluttering down and taking one of my protruding nipples in both her hands. “Really?” The heat coming off her body was easily perceptible even through the silk of my dress.

I gasped at the contact, but was well aware of D’s presence just on the other side of the unfastened door of my tent. “Cut it out! All of you!” I said firmly and scooted up on the bed smoothing my dress back down

My ardent little follower fluttered up in front of me, her hands on her hips and a slow smile on her face. “Glorymorn hears what you say Mistress.” She purred, “But she also hears what you feel.” She flew forward, gently running a hand over my cheek as she whispered “But Glorymorn will obey the words of her beloved Mistress...” She kissed me lightly on the cheek and added, “For now.” as I blushed brightly at the fire in her eyes. She laughed at me joyously and said, “Now hold still my Mistress; we have to finish your hair.” I sat as still as possible, amazed at how much faster things got done under the supervision of my head sprite, and within only a few minutes she announced that I was now presentable.

Still rather shaken by the hungry looks that my once faithful hoard of fairies were giving me, I called out to D, saying “I’m ready, if you want to come back in and assist me to the table.” Silently adding And save me from the horny Sprites before the eat me alive... and I learn to enjoy it! as I waited for my leather-clad hero to charge in and rescue me from a fate more pleasant than a long hot bath and a good book!

[Rufus the Mad]

Shaking my head, not even bothering to ask questions anymore, I took the now filled teakettle back to the fire pit, approaching carefully and wondering exactly what these strange little flame-creatures might do, and not really blaming Maple and Wort for removing themselves as I did so. The girls floated over to rest on the table, watching carefully as I walked away, and obviously not really trusting those things, and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t too sure about it myself. They had said that they would work with me, even called me “Master” like everything else here seemed determined to do, but I had eaten at one to many drunken Barbeques not to have a healthy appreciation of what fire can do to meat when it gets ahold of it. There was still just the one of them, but I could see it clearer somehow now, seeing it as a small, man-shaped figure, about a foot high, with skin that seemed covered in scales whose edges glowed like hot coals. The effect, as the diminutive form moved, was hypnotic, and I found myself more at ease without really even meaning to be. They, for I was still thinking in the plural form despite the singular appearance, reached up as I approached, smiling with the white-hot teeth I might have expected at the center of the little living inferno, and I sat the kettle on their out-stretched hands, and I squatted down to watch as they turned and carried it over to place it on the smooth stone we had been using to heat it since our Iron Grate vanished. Reaching down, digging into the coals at their feet, they tossed the lumpy shapes they found there back to me, and without even thinking I caught them as they sailed toward me.

Still smiling faintly, I looked down to see what I had caught, still not registering what had happened, and saw the two still sizzling baked potatoes resting comfortably there in my firm grip…

WHAT!?

I leapt back to my feet, staggering backward, and dropping the scalding tubers quickly, drawing in a deep breath to scream… and noticed then what I hadn’t noticed before, and figured out the reason I hadn’t noticed anything before… The skin of my palms should have been blistered, almost able to scream on its own… it should be angry and swelling as I watched… and the entirety of both of my hands should be throbbing and damaged. They should be… but they weren’t. The flesh and skin of my hands looked like I had caught nothing worse than a pair of dusty stones, and even the minor injuries that such an act as this could have caused simply… weren’t there. I looked down, my eyes going wide as I watched the smoke rise from the scorched grass where the potatoes had landed, proving how hot they were, and looked back at my upheld hands with open and undisguised astonishment, at a loss to explain why I wasn’t damaged… I reached forward, carefully, and tapped at the nearest of the dropped veggies, peering at my fingers after I did so, almost expecting the pain and damage to suddenly figure out where I had been hiding, and catch up with a vengeance, and caught sight of the fire creatures watching me curiously, the angle of their lit matchstick head more so than their only vaguely seen face speaking to their healthy dose of amusement as well as they watched my caution. ”Yeah, yeah. I know.” I said, pursing my lips and bobbing my head on my shoulders ”Veeerry funny, right? Well this all might be old-hat to you, little whatever-you-are, but I ain’t all that up on not screamin in agony when somethin chucks scalding hot potatoes into my bare hands!”

"Saleerandee… Massster…" the creatures hissed, earning a look from me in turn. I had never heard the word before, and didn’t know anything about the creatures themselves, so I wasn’t sure if they might not be apologizing for the looks, or maybe even calling me a dirty name. They saw my confusion, however, and bowed their head to me, explaining what they had said, and allaying my consternation at the same time. "We are called… the Saleerandee… Masster… yeeessss…"

”Sala Randi?” I said, sounding the strange word out ”...saleerandee…" There seemed to be a rhythm to the word, a natural metre… yes. ”Alright,” I said, looking back to the creature and then back to the potatoes ”The Saleerandee… got it. Now you wanna tell me how you did the trick with the potatoes? I outta be screamin my damned head of right about now.”

Again came that quirk of their single visible head, like the creatures couldn’t quite understand what I had asked. "We haaave…. done… nothhhing, Masssster… We only sssserve, and… our element… cannot hharm… you, nor caan… we leave you… in… darknesssss . No more… than… the Coblynausss… of the… Earth… can deny you… the ssssstrength in… your limbsssss, or… assk… the sssstoness to… ignore… your… commanddsssss."

I felt faint. I felt like everything was swinging toward the far end of freaky, and I had nowhere near the fare to get home. I stared down at those potatoes like they were symbols of the apocalypse, and finally had to force myself to pick them up, noticing when I did that they were cool, almost cold. I looked at the Saleerandee, and turned back toward the tent where Tess was getting dressed, drawing a deep breath and thinkin that I was about to do something very, very stupid. Of course, I thought to myself with wry humor this is coming from a man that had raced off last night through a forest of trees that hadn’t been there yesterday to rescue a woman I had met only a few days ago who was running for her life from mythical creatures, and for all intents and purposes, I had saved her with a friggin trumpet solo, so what else was new? I turned back to the fire pit, shifting closer so I could see down to the bottom of the coals. I thought for a moment more, before drawing a deep breath, and passing my hand, as slow as I dared, over those glowing embers. My muscles clenched, My eyes screwed shut, and I felt… … …nothing. I opened my eyes, and tried again, sweeping my hand slower, lower… still nothing! Holy FUCK! I’m FIREPROOF!!

Grinning like a kid at Christmas, I plunged my hand into the flames over the top of the head of the Saleerandee, making them look up sharply, and seem to ripple with laugher. And trust me, you’ve never seen anything ripple ‘til you’ve seen it dome by a creature of living flame! I picked up live coals, scooped up whole handfuls of glittering ash, actually shook hands with the fire spirits themselves, and topped it off by slipping my fingers under the bottom edge of the whistling teakettle and lifting it straight up into the air. I fell just this side of giggling madly, and managed to calm myself down a bit by thinking about what this might look like to Tess. After all, she was feeling a bit ragged right now, and watching me slip into the wilder side of the huggy-jacket set might not do anything to help her. I leaned down to sit the kettle back on the stone, and that’s about the time I saw the grooves my fingers had dug through the smooth stone… Stone... ”So you say these Colby.. Cobly-new… Coblynau things are Earth?” I asked, turning to the little fire wardens even as I worked out the strange pronunciation. "And that I can what… call stones, I think you said?"

"Coblynau, Master." came a voice from beneath me. It was deep, that voice, so deep that I didn’t so much hear it as feel it… and seemed to lack anything resembling warmth. It was the chill voice of a crypt come to life, and it was speaking to me directly. "We who know the songs of stone, and the rich delight that true darkness brings, aye… We are they. You are the strength of the living mountains to us Master, and the land itself offers you homage. Command… command, and behold…"

Feeling a bit silly, but figurin I didn’t have much to loose, I raised my hand over the rock, wondering if I needed to say anything to make it slide forward like I wanted, and was a bit startled when the thing almost jumped toward me! I guess I didn’t have to say anything then, huh… I looked at the stone again, my eyes tracing again along the gouges my fingers had left, wishing there was some way I… could… Alright, now that’s just freaky… I thought to myself, watching, wide eyed once more, as the stone seemed to gel, to melt, and smooth out before my very eyes… I turned to the Saleerandee again, and saw those while hot licks of teeth as they smiled at me once more, nodding as if encouraging a favored student, but keeping silent. I glanced toward the ground, seeing nothing there but grass and dirt, but knowing somehow that I was being watched from there as well, that I was being encouraged. I looked back to the stone, shrugging, and figured I might as well try something… Picturing what I wanted in my mind, I drew my fingers lightly over the hot stone, splitting it into five connected bands as though I had clawed through the matter of the rock with my curved fingers, and separated them a bit more by having them pull away from each other, squaring out along the outside edges, creating the clean lines of a wide rectangle, and smoothing the spokes themselves to a round curve. Soon enough, with a ‘not-too-shabby’ nod to my own handiwork, I had a stone grate, similar to the iron one that we had lost, and that fit rather well along one side of the pit!

I reached down, not even thinking about it anymore, and drew another stone from the earth itself, sliding my hand through the soil and grass as if through water, and pulling out a chunk that had to weight a hundred pounds… and I held it there with one hand, looking at it like it weighed no more than a ball of crumpled foil, and slid my finger along the surface of it, splitting the stone down the center, and allowing the halves to fall into my open hands. I held them flat in my palms, allowing then to settle into flat, round shapes, a foot and a half across, and each about a half inch thick with an additional half inch lip around the entirety of their smoothly curved edges. And though they were of common stone, the interior of each became as smooth as polished glass in my hands, while the exterior grew smooth, but not to that extent. Hey, if I was gonna be cookin while she was laid up, I was gonna have to have some decent omelet pans, that was all I knew how to make with any sort of skill! Well, that and barbequed whatever, but I hadn’t seen so much as a decent game hen since we got here.

Speaking of food, I’d best get a move on if I was wanting to get stuff prepped for breakfast! Sure, I might have done some strange thing here, had found out that fire couldn’t hurt me, and had flat out created some interesting things with my new stone abilities, but I had done everything to an end… and that end was the fact that I was hungry! I put the kettle on the far end of our not so shiny new grate, keeping the water hot, and rose to my feet, leaving the stone skillets on the grass nearby. Taking one last look at my hands, still not quite believing what I had done, and moved on back to the kitchen area, knowing for a fact that something was under the dirt, and that it was moving to follow me as I walked. In fact, I’d have to categorize it as several somethings… Doing my level best to ignore the sensation, I got the Coffee Press together, dumping in about that same amount of grounds that I had seen Tess use, and settling the plunger on top of the hopper as evenly as I could. Sliding that to the side, I opened her cooler, smiling now at the way the entire underground chamber seemed to be formed from a single stone, and closed it again with a shake of my head, setting the few vegetables and the small bit of meat we had on the smooth surface of the lid before reaching over to retrieve a small array of bowls, and a sharp knife.

As I worked, chopping the veggies and placing them in their respective bowls, I heard a strange sound behind me, coming from Theresa’s tent. It was a soothing song, like the clear, wordless voice of my Grandma while she baked her infamous cookies, or the barely remembered tunes my Mom would murmur as she would hold me and let me cry… It was nice, and the melody of it seemed to sink into my head, kinda hang in place as if it was something I should have remembered but couldn’t quite place. I nodded along, the slow, steady measure of it easy to follow along with, and blending easily with the refrain to make a pleasant backdrop to my chores. The song ended eventually, and I found it still ringing through my head, though no longer with the same impact it had borne while she sang. Now, though the tune was the same, I felt like there was something missing, and eventually just filled it away as a nice tune, maybe one I might use later if I had a chance, and moved on with what I needed to get done. I had everything chopped, and had even gone so far as to create a low stone table and a smaller cooler near the fire pit, making certain it was thicker walled to protect it from the closeness of the fire, and sinking a post of solid stone down from the center to keep it cooler before I heard Theresa’s voice again, sounding for all the world like she was fighting to keep from laughing, and hollering at someone to stop.

By the time she called to me, saying she was ready to come out, I was wondering if I shouldn’t call her instead, just to make sure she was alright, and turned around to ask the girls to bring the cut veggies over to the new table so I could prep the omelet’s when I got back… only to see them gone. I looked around, thinking they might have shifted to some better vantage while I had been working, but couldn’t see them, eventually heading in to fetch her out anyway, thinking I’d look for the two of them later, and find out what the hell had happened to them. I hadn’t taken but a couple of steps inside, when I paused, seeing the situation before me, and wondering what the hell was going on. There sat Theresa, in a pretty little soft white thing with a full skirt, and a rather strange mix of guilt and relief washing across her face. It wasn’t exactly her, however, that had gotten my attention. Surrounding her, on the bed, the vanity, the armoire, and pretty much anything else they could sit on, stand on, or hang from, were the Sprites that I had let in to help her, each of them seeming to glow, to shimmer as I looked at them, and all of them wearing the same hungry, near feral expressions that I had seen on the faces of Spiderwort and Mapleflame enough times to know exactly what it meant… I looked around at them, turning my entire body as I did so, and ended to Theresa’s left, having made a full circuit of the small chamber with my eyes, and ending by turning my head, sliding my eyes toward Tess, and arching a brow at her in an unmistakable ‘uuuuh Huh’ expression, a knowing smile slipping into place behind my gaze. She responded just as silently, with a momentary intense gaze, her eyes flaring larger for a split second, and then a pleading look, coupled with a furtive darting of the eyes to the left and right.

With an answering ‘oh, alright’ flick of my brows, I came closer to the bed, getting ready to reach down and lift her when I finally found my two missing assistants. There they were, both of them, sitting side by side on her headboard, with slightly more amused expressions than the hungrier ones of the other Sprites. Still, however, they seemed a bit dazed by something, and it actually took me clearing my throat to get their attention. ”Out…” I said quietly looking at the pair of them. Still blinking, they looked from me to Tess, seemingly confused, and not really wanting to leave, that much was clear. ”I said Out!” I snapped at them, my eyes hard, and my manner unforgiving. Slowly, dejectedly, they fluttered toward the door, turning once they got there, and meeting an almost angry expression on my face, and the cold phrase of ”To… my… tent… Now.” which sent them scrambling outside, and they vanished in the flurry of the tent-flaps. Spinning back around, I gave a half smile and a shake of my head to Theresa, and slid my right hand beneath her legs, encircling her with my other arm as I lifted her from the bed, standing easily as my new musculature allowed me to carry her easily. The fabric of her dress felt nice draped across my arms, and the steadying loop of her arm around my neck felt even better. I smiled at her, feeling very comfortable holding her like that, and made my way to the front of the tent, stopping just shy of the doorway and looking around waiting for the Sprites to open the door, and finally saying ”You know guys I can just duck and walk forward here, and we’ll get out fine, but it’s gonna play hell with her nice hairdo.”

It took less than a second for the door to be opened wide, and we were both giggling a bit at the shocked expressions of the Sprites faces, but before we could move, I had encountered a new difficulty. With the mass-movement of Sprites to get the doorway open, with each of them rushing to get there first, there was a bit of wind at the passage, and the thin hairs that had looked so good hanging loosely from Theresa’s hairstyle were suddenly tossed into my face. Without even thinking, I shifted the grip of my left arm lower, sliding my hand down to splay it out across her backside, providing her with a small seat as I rocked her backward, taking all her weight in the palm of my left hand, and spent a few moments clearing the hair from around my face and nose with my hastily moved right hand before I sneezed all over her. I was done and had my arm back soon enough, but there was no mistaking the incredulous look she gave me, to which I shrugged and smiled again, slipping my left arm back to its previous comfortable spot along her hip, and carrying her outside without a word to deposit her into her padded chair, lifting her feet carefully and drawing up a gently curved extension for her seat, turning it into a chaise lounger without much effort, and allowing her to relax across the sweeping surface. I placed the Coffee Press next to her on the table, bringing her the cups as well, and then retrieving the eggs from the depths of the cooler. ”Alright…” I said, smiling to her easily ”We have Vegetable Omelets, Bacon Fried Potatoes, leftover Strawberries and Cream, and hot Coffee. Will that do ya fer breakfast” I waited for her response, and nodded, adding ”And as we eat, I have a few things to show you…”

[KaosDancer]

The knowing smile D gave me after he looked around the room confirmed something I’d been wondering since this hoard had begun ‘acting up’. Obviously his two bad little girls had also… reacted like this for some reason – but I doubted he had told them to stop. When he looked back at me I confirmed his suspicions with a glance over at Glorymorn, who was fluttering to my right with a look in her eyes that scared and excited me at the same time.

I glanced up at D and for a few moments, when I saw the amused twinkle in his eyes, I thought he was going to leave me in there, just to watch what happened. I blushed brightly at the thought. Then, to my relief, he reached over to pick me up, but halted suddenly to stare at something on my headboard. I looked up to see his two little assistants sitting and watching me. He chased them off to his tent, but the rest of the hoard just sat and watched us as he picked me up and headed toward the door.

D looked up at the other Sprites as we approached the door, and while he was distracted, I felt Glorymorn swoop in and settle on my left shoulder, tucking herself in under my hair. Then a lot of things happened at once. The fairies flew forward, opening the door as ordered, but they in flew so close to me, that many of them managed to run at least one hand over my skin before they darted out the door. The wind of their passage blew my hair into D’s face and to my shock, he simply shifted all my weight into his left arm, cradling the curves of my buttocks in the broad palm of his hand, bearing my weight easily as he steadied my position as wiped my hair out of his face with the other.

I didn’t know what to make of my companions new-found strength, but before I could say anything, my ornery little blue friend chose this exact moment to stand and take hold of my ear. “Strong isn’t he Mistress?” she purred softly, caressing the sensitive flesh and snuggling up close to my neck. My arm involuntarily tightened around D’s neck, and all I could do was stare at him until he put me down and I could deal with the little creature.

He carried me effortlessly across the campsite and as he settled me into my chair, which seemed to have become a chaise when I wasn’t looking, I glanced over at the door of his tent where I could see his two little fairies peeking out the door and staring at the cloud of their companions which were setting all over the campsite. “You don’t need to be mad at your two little girls.” I told him with a shake of my head, “They were only watching.”

He arched he brow at the idea, saying nothing but clearly keeping himself from saying something before turning away at last to gather the things for breakfast, and I almost frantically used that moment to attempt removing my tiny tormenter from my ear. But even as he turned, before I could so much as begin to reach for her, she stroked her hand along the outside of my ear, making me blush and squirm in my seat as she whispered “He could watch too, Mistress. We wouldn’t mind.”

Trying to be gentle, but more with and air of determination than anything else, I at last managed a firm grip on the disturbingly warm, and noticeably nude body of my little follower and pulled her off me. Placing her decisively on the back of my tall chair, and shook my index finger at her once, feeling a bit like I was trying to scold a cat for purring, I gave her a quick whispered growl of “Stop it!” and turned back to watch what D was doing, trying desperately to plaster a serene expression on my face before he looked at me again. Hoping I’d accomplished it, I said, “Sounds good to me,” when he looked to me for acknowledgement of his breakfast menu, but I couldn't help but jump and blush when Glorymorn burst into a delighted giggle at the idea of him wanting to show me something.

[Rufus the Mad]

”They were only watching.”

[I]Yeah, right.[/i] I thought to myself as I moved away [colo=brown]You don’t know these critters like I do girly… If they’d started on ya, my two would have been in there like a shot... and they know tricks you ain't even dreamt of![/color]

I brought the now hot kettle back over, placing it so that she could reach it for her coffee, and then turned back to the fire, surprized to see that the Saleerandee had already moved the skillets on to the grate, and the three of them, for they had split once more, were positioned and ready to apply whatever heat was needed. I placed oil on each of the flat stones, allowing it to spread and flow over the slick surface, and then added the chopped vegetables to one, and the bacon pieces and sliced potatoes to the other. The sounds of sizzling soon filled the area, and I wielded the two spatulas with the skill and finess of one long used to cooking outdoors. I had a slight problem, however, when it came time to stir the eggs. I couldn’t ignore the peppers I had skipping around on the stone, but I had to whisk and flavor the egg mix before I went too much further… I glanced at the spatula I had been tending the peppers with, a solid cast piece of aluminum the seemed to be fairly resistant to fire… ”Alright you,” I whispered to the Saleerandee that was tending the heat beneath it ”I need you to stir this, not burn it, okay?”

"Yessss Masssster…” it breathed, smiling as it took the spatula in its tiny hands and began imitating what it had seen me do. At least that’s what I hoped it was doing. Handing the potato/bacon skillet over to another of the fiery little su-chefs, I began cracking the eggs into the brass bowl I had brought with me, and added the required spices and flavorings, just as my grandpa had shown me. I seperated the ingredients for the omelets, each in their own small bowl, and began calling them out to Tess to see what she did and didn’t want in hers. About halfway throught the list, however, I had to stop to instruct the Saleerandee that was heating the potato mixture, getting him to lower the heat he was generating. Carefully watching the heat levels… which for some reason I could actually see, I finished the list of ingredients and stopped… cheese. We didn’t have any, and we needed some… Wait!

”Spiderwort.” I called out, not even turning to look, but knowing that she had suddenly stuck her head out of my tent. ”Get in the cabinet in the back corner of my tent, and look for a wax-sealed wooden box, about as big square as you are tall. I want you and Maple to pull that out, and drop it to the ground.” I spoke then to the Coblynaus hidden beneath the earth. ”Once that box lands, I want you to bring it to me. Do not damage the box, its contents, or the ground tarp of my tent. Do you understand?”

"A game!! they moaned in unison, their words fairly vibrating through my bones as they spoke to each other "The Master brings us a game! With speed now, let none tarry. Let the game bring forth the box for the Master!" I could feel them as they left, these unseen assistants, and knew as well that Theresa, in her stone chaise, would feel it as well. I wondered what reaction she’d have when the entire lower half of her anatomy began vibrating…

”Glorymorn…” I called, turning to look at the glowing blue creature ”D’you think you can bring me the grater please, sweety? I need it for the cheese.” I was still facing her, still looking toward Theresa’s chair, and the tiny Sprite that sat perched atop it when the small box I had requested came sliding along the ground, skimming the grasses, and working its way toward me… and this time I could see Theresa’s reaction to the chorus of vibrations.

With a look to her Mistress, which got her a nod in response, Glory slipped from her high perch, and flittered her way toward the kitchen area, returning with the box grater, and delivering it to me, along with a distinctly petulant look. I took the impliment from her, smiling and sneaking in a brush along her thigh with my finger as I said thank you, and then sat back on the stone bench to reached down for the box, not even noticing that it rose about four inches in the grip of a callaused gray hand. I cracked open the seal on the box, revealing the precious cargo within. Two small wheels of hard chedder, each packed within a separate cloth, and perfectly preserved. Excellent! Working quickly, I grated about half the first wheel, scraping the shreds into the last empty bowl I had over there, I took the pepper spatula back from the fire sprite, and idly wondered how hot it would be if it could hurt me as I scraped them back into their bowl. Then came the fun… Omelet time!!

I had always enjoyed the artistry of making an omelet, and had worked rather hard to perfect my skill in their creation. I had what I considered to be the perfect recipe for a three-egg blend, and it was this attention, this focus, that I brought to the party. I had moved the potatoes to the far end, out of the fire, and in due time had two perfect omelets ready for consumption. Rising, I fetched two plates, winking at both Tess and Glory as I passed them, and then delivered the goods with all the aplomb I could muster. The eggy creations were centered on the plate, with the bacon / potato mixture heaped over the top. While I was up, I fetched out the bowls we would need later for the berries and cream, and then reached for the kettle and made myself some coffee as well.

I waited, watching as she took the first bite, and saw her eyes light up as the layered tastes hit her, only then turning to my own meal, and taking a deep breath as I chewed my first bite. There were many questions, most of which I had no idea of the answers for, but there was one thing that was buggin me at this particular time… ”Alright, I have to ask…” I said, looking from Tess, to Glory, and then to the cloud of Sprites that lounged, perched, or flittered around the camp ”What the fuck did you do, woman?”

[KaosDancer]

I wasn’t sure what was going on. He seemed more attuned, as if he’d finally managed to come to grips with something. I was wondering if his memories had started to come back when I noticed he was talking to – and being answered by – the fire. I raised one eyebrow, but somehow wasn’t all that surprised. I knew that the air and water answered to me, so it only made sense that the fire would answer to him. I was amused and amazed to see how they helped him, and couldn’t help thinking that maybe he should get to do more of the cooking from now on.

When he asked for Glorymorn’s help, I looked up to where the little creature sat; absentmindedly petting a stray lock of my hair she had pulled up in her lap. I nodded at her, and she sighed, dropped my hair and went to do as he asked. I gasped when I felt the ground shake, at first wondering how there could be earthquakes in a place like this, but then realizing that D was just showing me that he was also the master of the earth.

I just shook my head, and thought, We’re dividing this place up between us. No wonder they wanted us back. Wanted us...? But before I could follow that train of thought, my delicate little follower came fluttering back over. She swept in, ran her hand across my shoulder on the way by and settled down onto the edge of the table near me. I was going to send her back to the back of the chair, but then D brought over breakfast. I watched her face while I took a bite. It was delicious, just what my body wanted. Glory was busily studying the food, wrinkling her nose a bit when she saw the bacon, but giving the eggs and cheese a hungry look. Thinking that maybe food would take her mind off the other hungers she seemed to be feeling, I picked up a small bite on the end of my fork – being careful to avoid the bacon – and offered it to her. To my surprise, she simply leaned forward and took it from me, with no hint of last-night’s discomfort.

As I was feeding her, D looked over at me and asked, "What the fuck did you do woman?"

I looked down at Glory, and then up to where the rest of the hoard sat watching me and said, "I'm not sure." I shrugged and added, "I just healed her." Pointing to my little blue darling who stood up, spun once to show herself off, and then plopped back down and opened her mouth, waiting for another bite. "And then, when I woke up, they were acting like this."

[Rufus the Mad]

I chewed, and looked from one to the other. Glory seemed... almost risqué in comparison to how she has been before... and she most definitely seemed more comfortable.

"Okay, what about you, Glorymorn?" I said next, washing down a bite of omelet with a good swig of coffee "You and all the Sprites here are actin different. You got anything to say what might clear up some of the confusion?"

[KaosDancer]

Glorymorn giggled, looked over at D and smiled. She then stood up, took hold of my hand and looked me in the eyes. “Mistress tells it wrong Master.” She said softly, “Mistress did not just heal Glorymorn. Mistress took Glorymorn’s pain into herself.”

“Yes she did!” “Mistress did!” “She hurt to help Glorymorn” The sprites in the area whispered excitedly as if not wanting to interrupt the story, but just wanting to express the truth of it.

“Mistress never did that before,” she whispered softly. “Giving of herself…” She took a deep shuddering breath, which was repeated by all the other sprites, “We love the Mistress.” She purred. There was a general fluttering of wings in the area, and I worried for a moment that they were all going to swoop down and attack me again.

I looked over at D, noticing his worried look at the idea of me taking the Sprite’s pain into myself, and said, “Don’t worry; I was able to dissipate it afterwards.” I looked down at Glory and said, “So you owe me nothing. You were hurt trying to come to me and yes, I was hurt healing you, but it’s over now, we're even.”

[Rufus the Mad]

Oh damn... I thought to myself, just looking at her in a dawn of understanding She ain't got now damned idea what she did...

I took another drink of coffee, and sat back in my chair, tryin to figure a way to explain it to her, some way to ... clue this forgotten angel in as to how dangerous it could be to act like she had. "I think I get it..." I said quietly, looking from Glory to the others and back again "Your Mistress has given of herself, shared herself with your leader, to heal her... and all of you felt it."

I looked at Tess then, her confusion still clear in her eyes, and said "It's kinda like the king stoppin by to do your laundry..." I said bluntly "Except what you did was a bit more... You drug that pain into yourself, accepting her pain as yours, thereby their pain as yours, and in return, I think they mighta got a little bit of you in return. Let me try somethin here..."

I turned to a random Sprite then, a bright green cutie with blue hair and wings, and asked "What was the name of your teacher when you were in the third grade?"

"Mrs. Peterson!" came the immediate response.

To another I asked "What was the name of your first pet?"

And recieved the shouted reply of "Baby!" in return.

Then I turned to Glory, who knew the game by now, and was more that ready to answer, and asked "And why are you all so excited about being near your Mistress?"

And without missing a beat, the blue Sprite replied "To let her know how much we love her, and to show how much what she did means to us... We love you Mistress, truly."

"Yes" came the chorus reply "We love our Mistress!"

"Yes! Love the Mistress!" "Yes, we do!" came the muffled responses from my tent.

"These creatures, Tess... they are very emotional. Hell they're almost all emotion from what I can see, and what you did, well it showed them the beautiful soul shielded behind those quiet eyes. How could they help but fall in love? They are just more... demonstrative... than you might be used to."

[KaosDancer]

I just sat there and blushed, not really understanding what he was saying, but having to accept it nonetheless. I could feel the heat of Glory’s stare, and how it was echoed dozens of times by her cohorts who sat and watched us. Then I remembered how the water and air had acted that first day, and they dryad yesterday, and blushed even brighter. “Well,” I said softly, “I’ve found most things here to be a bit more demonstrative than I was expecting.”

I looked at Glorymorn and said, “I do love you little one, and would protect you with my life, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be the main course at a Sprite banquet of desire.” I gently patted her hand and said, “Please, it’s been a long few days. Give me a little while to… recover and remember. I’m not rejecting you,” I looked around the clearing and said, “any of you, but, for now, I’d appreciate it if you would… calm yourselves a bit and give me time to deal with all this.”

I looked over at D and took a bite of my omlet. Once I had swallowed it, I said, "So. What's with you and the fire and rocks anyway?"

[Rufus the Mad]

"So. What's with you and the fire and rocks anyway?"

I smiled broadly, knowing she was going to ask, but feeling a flush of pride nonetheless. I called on the Coblynau hoard, bidding them fetch me my Lute, and smiled again as they delivered it gently to my hands, a pylon of grass-topped stone cupping the bell of it softly as it was lifted to a comfortable height. ”They want to help me…” I said quietly, thanking them with a nod that I’m sure they saw, despite the fact that they were underground as the stone shaft sank slowly back beneath the grass. I tilted my head then, looking at Tess, and then to the Sprites. ”Sorta like your tiny handmaidens here… You got anybody else what helps ya?”

[KaosDancer]

"Well," I chuckled, "You could say that." I took another bite of my breakfast, not wanting it to get cold. When I'd finished with that bite I said, "I've got the other half."

[Rufus the Mad]

"The other half of what?" I asked, not certain what she meant, and having a feeling it was important...

[KaosDancer]

"Of everything." I said softly. When he continued to give me a puzzled look, I called to the Sylphs and the near-by Nereid, and then looked at him for a moment until one of the air-creatures appeared. "The air." I said gesturing toward my delicate follower who then swooped down, ruffled his hair, and then flew over to me. “And the water.” I added, pointing off to where the water-creature stood tall in it's pool.

I looked at him with a smile and said, "You have the power and sexuality of the satyrs, and I have the delicate nature and suborn virginity of the Dryads. I don’t know what you have that compares to the sprites," I said, picking up Glorymorn and setting her on my shoulder, "but I’m sure you have something.” I sighed and shook my head. "For some reason, that’s the way of this realm. Somehow, we represent the two halves of this whole of this world. I just don’t know how or why.”

[Rufus the Mad]

I chuckled quietly, my head turning to look behind me as I said "I don't think that Dryads are all you got darlin..." looking up at the slumbering giant that was Elderoot. "He definitely ain't on my team."

"And as for my answer to Sprites..." I stood and faced the forest, fighting to keep the grin off my face as I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. Suddenly the air seemed filled with an angry buzzing, and I casually sat back down, moving the sugarbowl out of the center of the table just in time.

Like a flight of jets they came, a hoard of them, clad in armor made from layered bark and acorn tops, covered in leaves as camouflage, and with mushroom cap helmets, each one armed with a sharpened spear and a tiny bow. They landed in perfect formation, filling the open space of the table top, and standing rank and file with a sharp precision. One, sporting Walnut shell epaulets on his shoulders, stood forward from the rest, and saluted me smartly. "Sir!" he said with a force to his voice "Three-thirty-second Recon Unit, reporting as ordered! Sir!"

"At ease Sergeant." I replied, watching as the entire unit shifted positions at once, one hand on their spears, the other behind them, and their feet about the same width apart as their narrow shoulders. "Theresa my dear, these are Pixies..." I said with a flourish, letting the Sergeant beam with pride. "And I haven't seen a female among 'em yet..."

[KaosDancer]

"Of course not Master!" Glory declared, looking at him in complete shock.

While she was busy looking at him, I was busy observing the interplay between the Pixies and my... excited Sprites and understood instantly her shocked exclamation. "D," I said softly, "Look." I added, gesturing to the interplay.

The poor Pixies were trying desperately to maintain their military formation, and my little vixens were doing their best to make them break it. “Quit teasing them girls.” I said sternly. "It's just not nice!"

[Rufus the Mad]

I looked from the exasperated Glorymorn to the more general interaction between the stoic Pixies and the teasing Sprites, and then heard Theresa's words to her 'girls'. Fighting to keep the smile off my face, I turned back to the Unit and began barking orders. Immediately they snapped to attention, and locked themselves, eyes forward, while I told them that I wanted them to search the far glen and the surrounding area for signs of a large group. I told them nothing specific, but told them to bring a report of anything unusual in the area. "And gentlemen..." I said at last, turning again to look dead at them, and fixing them with the same look my mother used to give me... "I expect this dealt with today. Have a report to me by dusk..." I added, looking around at the winking and waving Sprites, "And I will authorize a full days leave for the entire Unit... Fail, and you will be pulling triple patrol shifts to cover for those that I do grant leave to! Am I understood?"

The near ringing cry of "SIR, YES SIR!" brought a smile to my face, and giggles from at least a dozen of the Sprites, and I nodded to the Sergeant, giving him the authorization to carry out the mission as set. He spun on his heel, and snapped his spear down on the table, saying "Alright you lousy sluggards, you heard the Commander! You want the time off? You want the little fireflies to chase and dance with? Then I expect to see every bloody one of you shaggin ass today, and gettin things done! There will be no 'I'm Sorry Sally's' here today, and there will be no second chances! Now prepare to move out!!"

He settled his little mushroom helmet back on his head and turned to face me. He snapped a salute, which I returned... and then looked back over his right shoulder. At the cry of "Ready!" I watched as they snapped their wings out in unison, and then he yelled "THREE-THREE-TWO!" to which the Unit screamed "HOOWAA!" and they all launched into the air as a single mass. The circled the camp twice, in perfect military formation, and then tore off toward the distant glen where I had rescued my lady Tess last night.

"So..." I said quietly, setting back and sipping my coffee again. "Who else you got?"