The Curse Of Magic Mansion, Part 2: The Lair Of The Spider Queen free porn video

By BD Long

When Tina had seen her little sister incapacitated, ice had filled her veins. Cold fire had covered her hands and bled from her eyes, and she had felt the urge to destroy. But her brother had urged her back. He had been right: she had just discovered magic, but didn’t know if she could control it, let alone fight an untold number of zombies. So they had fled, not up thirty flights of stairs, but just one. When they reached the top, they looked down and saw that the atrium now led to the sitting room, just as it had the night before. If they wanted to reach Jane, they would have to find another way.

Now, Tina sat on the edge of her brother’s bed, fuming in regret, anger, and fear. “But you stopped to grab a bottle of wine?” she hissed at him as he slipped his pants back on.

“I wasn’t in my right mind,” he said. “I think I became invisible. But I felt different, too—out of control, primal. Maybe I lost all corporeal form and became a spirit.”

Dan’s even tone, his emotional detachment from the situation made Tina furious, and it took all her effort to keep the dangerous magic part of her at bay. “Don’t make excuses, coward! You’re just jealous!”

Dan had never seen his sister like this. Sure, he’d seen her angry—mostly at Jane—but not like this. He could see something in her eyes that scared him. “What’s gotten into you?” he said. “Ever since you started using magic, you’ve been … well, you’ve not been yourself. And what is this about jealousy? What are you talking about?”

“I—” Tina started, and then noticed how Dan was looking at her. He was afraid of her, but that was only a small part. Something behind his eyes seemed to be watching her. Whatever it was created a huge magical ripple that made the hairs on her arms stand up. “Nothing. Forget it,” she said, sincerely hoping he would. “You’re right. This magic, whatever it is, it picks up on emotions, feeds off them—and amplifies them, I guess.”

“Just be careful, ok?” Dan said. “You went to a really dark place, and I don’t want to lose you to it.” Tina nodded, but the now dissipating anger had held back the agony of defeat and the fear of losing her sister, which came rushing in. Tears came to her eyes, and Dan sat next to her, giving her a shoulder on which to rest her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said, fighting the urge to cry. “This is all a little too much, y’know.”

“I sure do,” he said. “The world’s completely changed around us. Or maybe it hasn’t. It’s scary, thinking it’s been like this the whole time and we just didn’t know.” He picked the wine bottle off the bed. It had no label, and the cork stuck a half inch out, enough for Dan to grip. He popped it out and sniffed. “One thing hasn’t changed, though: wine.”

Tina couldn’t help but smile. Dan always had a weird way of cheering her up. “So, what, we get drunk and go rescue Jane?”

“It’s the last thing they’d expect,” Dan said, winking. He took a swig of the wine and passed it to Tina, who drank and coughed. She’d had wine at dinner, but only a little. Never before had she been drunk, and the thought of being so scared her a little, particularly because the magic that made it hard to control her emotions would almost certainly flare out of control as her inhibitions loosened.

“So,” she said, taking another gulp and passing the bottle back. “I meant to ask: how did you change into a spirit or whatever?”

“No idea,” he said. “The servant was about to find me, and all I could of was getting small. Honestly, I didn’t even think it worked until I realized I was naked.”

“Can you try to change now?”

“Right this instant?”

“Sure,” she said. “If we’re going to try and rescue Jane, we might as well practice.”

Dan chuckled a bit. “Ok,” he said. “Sure.” He stood and went to the middle of the room. Tina sat, wine bottle in hand, grinning at him. “Stand back,” he said, and then took a deep breath. Suddenly, he was on the floor, curled in the fetal position. After a moment, he untucked his body and looked around.

“I don’t think it took,” Tina laughed. Dan smiled sheepishly and stood again.

“It would seem so,” he said. He took another deep breath, let it out, and then threw all his concentration in to thinking small. Small. Small! SMALL! And then he heard Tina giggling. “What’s so funny?”

Between gasps of laughter, she said, “Dan, you look like you’re trying to fart.”

“Oh, come on, Tina! That’s not helping,” he said, her laughter infecting him. “How do you guys do your things?” Tina suddenly became quiet. “What is it?”

“It’s just that my power…” she sighed and hid her face. How could she tell him? Could she? She took another swig from the bottle. “So you remember that itch, right? Last night?” He nodded. “Like the, uh, sex things we saw?”

“Oh,” he said. “Oh boy. Hey, is it suddenly really hot in here?”

“Yeah,” she said. “So, that’s kind of it for me. I mean, that’s how I get it started, but I kind of have a hard time shutting it off. The feeling, I mean. It lasts after the magic is gone.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “So you’re having those feelings?” he said, having a hard time looking at his sister. “Right now?” Tina blushed and nodded. Dan felt his stomach sink. “Look,” he said. “Maybe this isn’t the best idea.”

“Your visions were of us,” Tina said. “Me and Jane, I mean.” His silence was confirmation enough. “It’s ok,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he said. “It’s definitely not ok. I mean, you’re my sister. Jane is my sister.”

“Jane’s my sister, too,” Tina said, the wine having unlocked the doors behind which she had tried to hide that little secret. 

Dan looked as if he were going to pass out. “You mean…?”

“Sex?” Tina said, hiding her face in her hands.

“I…” Dan started, then looked at his hands as if there was a different answer written on them. “But … how … there was that blast … and then this morning … she was so nice this morning!” Tina nodded, coaxing his train of thought forward. “Mom and dad will lose their minds. You know that, right?”

“No shit, Dan. This is weird…”

“But?”

“But,” Tina said reluctantly, “I love her.”

“So do I,” he said.

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“I do,” he said irritably, and then reached out his hand for the bottle. “Gimme that.” After a long drink, some pacing, another long drink, and more pacing, he looked at Tina. “How was it?”

She laughed in disbelief. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” But he was silent. “She helped me feel sexy for the first time in, well, ever. How’s that?”

“I see,” he said, suddenly eyeing the skin on her belly, revealed by the missing button she’d used to detect the black fog. Tina saw his eyes fixate, and remembered how Jane had given her a similar look. She shifted herself so more skin and her bellybutton showed, and watched Dan try not to look. “I mean,” he said, “it’s not like you weren’t before.”

“Was I now,” she said, unbuttoning the next button, beginning to take a perverse pleasure in teasing her brother. 

“I … uh … yeah,” he said. “Sure.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re too sure about that,” she said, unbuttoning even further up.

Dan shifted uncomfortably, clearly trying to hide what was quickly becoming a rock-hard boner. “I mean yes,” he said. “Of course you were.”

Tina unbuttoned the rest of her shirt, letting it fall way from her breasts. “So why did you never say anything?”

“You’re my sister,” he said. “I mean, who says something like that to their sister?”

Tina let her shirt fall off, and unhooked her bra, setting her firm young breasts free. “I do,” she said. “It sounds like you just didn’t want to help me.”

Dan couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and moreover, couldn’t believe how horny he had become. Despite being normally even keel, he was just as horny as any other teenage guy, but he began to feel something primal stirring inside him. “I did—I do! It’s just…”

“I know,” she placated him. “I’m your sister.” She got off the bed and approached him, feeling more strongly that hungry, savage force just below his skin. But she couldn’t help herself. “If you want to help me,” she said, “the zipper on my skirt is stuck.” She turned her hip to him, and he just swallowed and nodded. The zipper was not stuck, and her skirt fell from her.

“Oh, god,” Dan said, seeing that his sister wasn’t wearing panties, and was now completely naked in front of him.

“Like what you see?” she said.

“No!”

“No!?”

“It’s happening!” he grunted and bent as if cramped. “I can’t control it!”

“Let it come,” Tina said, stroking his head.

“No! You don’t understand!” Dan groaned. “Run! Get away!” But Tina didn’t run, and watched her brother change before her eyes. When he was done, his clothes lay on the floor, and a werewolf stood on top of the tattered remains. This wasn’t some cuddly Teen Wolf version of her brother, but an actual werewolf crouched forward, resting on its knuckles.

“Dan?” she said, now feeling quite vulnerable. The Wolf only looked back at her with glowing yellow eyes. “Danny?” The manimal advanced, and Tina froze. Maybe if she stood still, it would just leave her alone, but instead of moving on, the Wolf circled her once and then stuck its nose a fraction of an inch from her smooth, moist crotch.

Tina shuddered as she felt hot breath on her sex. Instinctively, she started to step away, but a low rumbling from deep within the beast froze her solid again. Sharp white teeth revealed themselves, and Tina said, “Ok. Not going anywhere. Sniff all you want.” The Wolf sniffed more, and then circled behind her. Tina thought that was the end of it, but she felt hot breath on her again. Then, something soft and wet slid between her legs. No! she thought. No, no, no, no, no. She resisted not because there was an monster lapping at her pussy, but because it felt really, really good. She desperately wanted to get away from this beast, but fear and pleasure kept her feet planted. To her great surprise, she even widened her stance, allowing the Wolf greater access. The long tongue licked from her clit all the way to her tight anus, and she shivered. No one had touched her asshole in this way, not even herself, and the soft wetness there made her tremble with nervous energy—but only for a moment.

No, she thought again. This had gone far enough. “Dan,” she said, turning to the man-beast. “Enough.” But the yellow glowing eyes were not those of her brother. The Wolf didn’t understand, and growled again, its teeth bared. This time, though, Tina had positioned herself between the beast and the door, and decided to make a break for it. Sexual tension and fear brought magic bubbling to the surface, and in one clean movement, she ignited her hands and blasted the Wolf with cold fire. The beast staggered back, and Tina ran, but only made it halfway to the door, before the Wolf was on her.

Tina, hands and knees on the floor, felt teeth around her neck, and closed her eyes, waiting for the end, but it never came. Instead, when she was still, the Wolf released her. Tina dared not move, even when she felt hot breath on her butt. The tongue licked at her again, but she was too terrified to feel pleasure. “Oh, god,” she said, voice shaking. “What are you doing? Danny, help me!” But it was no use, the Wolf’s tongue continued to lap at her drooling snatch, its tongue slipping between her labia and brushing against her clit. “Damn it,” she groaned, feeling her body betray her mind. The wetter she became, the more intense the werewolf's lapping became, which, despite her fear, only made her wetter. She felt herself part her legs more, allowing the intruding tongue full access to her hot young sex, and felt guilt and shame descend. “Oh, god. What am I doing?” But those thoughts and words were quickly lost in the sounds of her own panting and moaning. The Wolf lapped at her without restriction, its long tongue sweeping over her throbbing clit, digging into her moist opening, and sliding across her soft, tight anus. Her arms began to shake, and she lowered herself to her elbows. This put her young pussy in prime position.

Tina felt as if she could come at any moment, but then the licking stopped. She had almost dared to turn around when the Wolf’s powerful hands gripped her waist. Claws dug into her soft flesh and she yelped. But that pain dropped into the background when she felt something hard, hot and wet stab a few times around her aching entrance. She craned her head around to confirm her suspicions. “Oh, wait! No no no—” but her terrified protest ended in what would have been a blood curdling scream, had it not lodged in her throat, as the werewolf found its mark, and its cock plunged into her slick pussy. There was no gentleness, no warmth to this bestial fucking, and Tina’s eyes shot open as wide as they would go. Mouth still agape in silent scream, Tina felt pain radiating out from her formerly virginal sex, as if someone were jackhammering a red-hot bowling pin into her. The man-beast's cock was huge, and, knowing she would never successfully escape, she did her best to maneuver herself to accommodate as much of it as she could.

Tina tried to say, “Please stop! I can’t take it anymore!” Unfortunately, what came out was, “Ugh! Uhn! Nnng!” Of course, the werewolf heeded none of this, anyway, driven as it was by primal instinct, and continued to hammer into her hot pussy until, in its energetic fucking, it threw itself off balance and fell off of her for a moment. “AAAH!” Tina cried out, feeling the cock slip from her. “Fuck!” In too much shock to collapse one way or the other, she could only droop her head, looking past her firm, dangling breasts and out from between her still spread legs. The werewolf paced back and forth behind her, frustrated, its hard red cock bobbing with the manimal’s movements. “Holy shit,” Tina groaned, panting. “Holy shit.” Okay, she thought, it wasn’t nearly as big as a bowling pin, but it was pretty damn big. She felt her pussy twitch and drool, and after several deep breaths, the pain receded. As if the Wolf could sense the girl’s terror ebbing, it approached her again. “Oh, come on!” she complained. “At least give me a minute.” The werewolf gripped her again, and she felt her body tense up, but as the stiff red cock jabbed at her again and again, trying to find its target, Tina resigned herself to what was coming next.

When the Wolf’s cock did finally find her slick love tunnel, ramming it home the only way it knew how, Tina gasped. The pain was almost a memory, and quickly replacing it was ecstasy. Lightning coursed through her body, and warmth filled her belly as the werewolf plowed into her repeatedly. Wet sloshing and slapping sounds filled the room, and Tina moaned a long “Nnnnnh!” followed by a silent, mouthed, “Fuck!” She clenched her eyes and saw stars as she came hard around the Wolf’s pounding cock. Her back arched and toes curled, and shivering warmth coursed through her veins. The Wolf did not stop, though, and Tina felt her strength evaporate under the relentless dicking. Her arms slid out in front of her, and the side of her face came to rest on the stone floor.

Every nerve in her body felt as if it were on fire, and whimpering, she bit her lower lip. She had never thought she would have lost her virginity this way, or that this was even a thing that happened. She had come across one or two erotic stories with monsters like orcs and giant spiders, but had skipped those parts because the idea seemed repulsive and degrading. She made a mental note to go back and read those parts when she got out of here. Her breathing quickened again as warmth flooded into her head again, and electricity tingled on her fingers. “Shit!” she moaned as she squirmed and came again.

This time, the Wolf growled and thrust deep into her, causing her to grunt. When it pulled back to ram her again, she found that it was stuck inside her. Tina felt swelling just inside her quivering pussy, and then the Wolf’s cock unleashed a hot torrent. She tried to move, but a sharp pain discouraged her. “What the hell?” she groaned, feeling fuller than she ever imagined was possible. But through the involuntary movements of the locked lovers, the werewolf’s knot ground against her g-spot and stretched her pussy so that her clit was plastered to the throbbing mass of monster meat. “Oh!” she yelped in surprise as waves of pleasure pulsed out from her sex and washed over her body and mind. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she came again, silently twitching, save a few guttural, throaty noises.

Suddenly, the door swung open. “What the fuck?!”

Tina shot onto her hands, and the werewolf growled. Jane stood in the doorway, clad in a wrap of some sort. There was someone else with her, but Tina couldn’t see who it was from her position. “I—” she shuddered with pleasure.

“Dude,” Jane said. “What. The. Fuck.”

“This is … is …” Tina tried. “Oh, god, Jane. This is exactly what it looks like.” She tried to move, but again stopped short when the werewolf’s knot stretched her to the limit. Pain, pleasure, pain, pleasure: Tina’s head swam in a stew of lust, relief, fear and embarrassment.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Jane said, and then noticed that Tina’s eyelids were at half mast. Her big sister was barely holding onto her wits. “Does it hurt?”

Tina panted, “Only … when I move around.”

“Can I see?”

Tina nodded. “Who’s that?” she asked.

The orc stepped into the doorway, following Jane, but skirting as far as it could away from the dangerous looking werewolf. “This is Grum. He’s the head chef. Grum, this is my sister, Tina.”

“Maybe Grum come back later,” the orc said. “Seem like not good time.”

“Nonsense,” Jane said.

As they entered, the Wolf panted and eyed the newcomers. It was bipedal like a man, but certain parts of its anatomy were clearly lupine. While Jane sat next to her sister, the orc scooted past, trying not to upset the delicate balance with his bulky frame. Normally, like any other person, Tina would have been mortified, but between the wine, the vigorous fucking, and now the knot that throbbed against her clit, she had no energy left to register anything but the sensations around her. Pulsing, electric ecstasy radiated from between her legs. There was werewolf's belly and legs against her butt and thighs back, impossibly strong, but soft, fuzzy and warm. There was the cool stone floor beneath her hands and knees. And then there was the delicate warmth of a hand caressing her cheek. It was only after her sister brought the hand away, glistening from tears, that Tina said defensively, “He took me by surprise.”

“No worries,” Jane said, lifting her sister’s chin and kissing her lips. “So, uh, how long are you going to be like this?”

“No idea,” Tina said, tension in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” Jane said, worried.

“Nothing,” Tina grunted, eyes clenched. “I’m coming … again.” She lowered herself back down to her elbows as another orgasm tore through her. When the waves receded, she sucked in air. “Fuck. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“Whoa,” Jane said in awe. “That’s intense.” She’d felt the tremor of orgasm in the older girl’s body, and felt tingling dampness between her own legs. She dropped her hand to Tina’s breast, and let it fill her palm. Ribbing her fingers over the brunette’s hard, tender nipple, she said, “How’d this happen, anyway?” Tina shivered from her sister’s touch, and tried to speak, but only managed a panted mumble. Jane snickered, and gently kneaded Tina’s breast. “It’s okay,” she said. “Fill me in later.”

“Grum not seen this kind of thing before,” the orc said.

“Neither have I, big guy,” Jane said, sliding her hand down her sister’s taut belly.

“Jane okay with it?”

“Honestly, man, I don’t know,” she said, her hand reaching the nexus of beast and human, her sister gasping as her fingers slid over slick, distended labia. “But she seems to be enjoying it, so yeah, I guess I am okay with it.” Jane ran her fingers, now slippery with her sister’s juices and excess wolf cum, over Tina’s clit, causing the older girl to squeal and shudder.

“Please,” she mumbled. “I can’t.”

“Sure you can,” Jane said devilishly, fingers picking up speed in their circular stroking.

“Uhn,” Tina said. “Fckkk … plzzz … nnnnno.”

“Just one more?” Jane pleaded with a sinister grin. “One more for me?” Tina felt time dilate, and once again slipped all the way to the floor, her back end sticking up, impaled by the panting werewolf. She swore and moaned, and orgasm thundered in her ears again. And when she came to, Jane lay on her side next to her, stroking the Wolf’s fur. “That’s a good boy!” the younger girl said. “You fucked her good.” For whatever reason, the werewolf seemed to accept the stroking.

“Oh, god,” Tina groaned in relief, feeling the wolf’s knot deflating. “Oh, fuck. He’s finally done.” Jane sat up to watch as, little by little, the werewolf’s knot began to ease from her sister’s well-fucked pussy. A squirt here and there as pressurized semen slipped past the knot, and then the Wolf’s thick member plopped from Tina’s sex, followed by a torrent of cum. “Aaah!” Tina yelled as one last blast of pain, pleasure, and relief crashed into her brain.

The werewolf squatted on the stones and howled a long “OOOOoooooooOOOO!” that seemed to pierce the fiber of reality. Violet flames engulfed it, and it stood, rising until it was about a head shorter than the orc. When the flames puffed out, Dan stood there, naked and dazed.

“Wow,” Jane said. “Now I’ve seen it all.”

Tina collapsed to the side, panting and half conscious. “Seen wha—” Dan said, stopping short. “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh, god. What did I do?!”

“What the fuck?!” Jane yelped.

“What the fuck?!” shrieked Dan.

“What fuck?!” Even the orc stumbled backward from the naked human male.

For a moment, the room filled with shouts of confusion, all building on each other until, soft as a feather, but as if spoken through a giant megaphone, Tina’s voice came though: “Please stop yelling.” And just like that, the room fell silent and all eyes went to the naked girl curled on the floor, werewolf cum still oozing from her pussy, and violet flames sinking back into her skin. “Thank you,” she said.

“Oh my god,” Dan said sitting heavily on the bed, burying his face in his hands. “I’m so, so sorry. I couldn’t … I tried to, but I couldn’t control it.” He shook with shame and embarrassment, adding, “All I could do was watch.”

Jane found herself more concerned by Dan’s reaction than by the events that had just unfolded in front of her. Her brother was normally unflappable, and seeing him lose his cool like this was beginning to chip away at her certainty that everything would turn out okay. “Hey, man,” she said. “You’re seriously starting to bum me out. Knock it off.”

“But I just … just …” Dan could barely form the words. “I just raped my sister!” he hissed. “And I wasn’t even human.”

“Dan,” came a weary voice from the floor. Tina was finally bringing herself up to a sitting position and extended a hand to him. A moment passed before he took it, and she lifted herself up onto the bed next to him. “It’s okay.”

“But,” he said. Tina put a finger over his lips.

“It’s okay, really,” she said. “It was scary, and it kind of hurt, and maybe it wasn’t what I would have chosen for my first time … uh, with a man, anyway. But you know what? I actually kinda liked it.”

Jane snorted. “I don’t think there’s any ‘kinda’ about it,” she said. “You were loving it.”

Tina blushed and loosened her grip on her brother’s hand, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, unable to suppress a slight grin. “Say, what the hell are those?”

All eyes went to the large stone blocks, and then followed the chains up to the shackles on Jane’s wrists. “That’s kind of a long story,” the younger sister said, looking up at Grum.

“Don’t look at Grum,” the orc said. “Grum not good storyteller. Terrible narrative cohesion.”

“Decent vocabulary, though,” Tina noted.

The orc looked away with pursed lips, “Not know what you talk about.”

“Alright, alright, you coy bastard,” Jane said, punching him lightly on the arm. For the next few minutes, Jane recounted in graphic detail her adventure in the cell. She noticed Dan’s cock twitch, and lingered on the details longer and longer until he was fully erect and shifted uncomfortably. “You look like you could go again,” she said with a devious grin.

“No!” he almost shouted, covering himself with the bed sheet. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What wrong with me?” Jane said. “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you enjoy this just a little?”

“No, I can’t,” he said. “Can’t you see how fucked up this is? It’s mind control, and you know it. Why let it control you?”

Tina’s voice came softly from her spot on the floor. “Did you resist?”

“Of course I did!”

“And you caved anyway,” she said and waited a moment for the words to sink in. “You caved like we caved, and the only difference is that you hate yourself for it. When we go up against d’X, well, he’s a wizard. Do you honestly think he’s not going to use that against you?”

Dan stood, pulled clothes from his bag, and started dressing. “I don’t care,” he said. “You guys have fun. Maybe you’ll end up working in the kitchen forever like that thing there.”

“Keep Grum out of family squabble,” the orc said.

“Then keep out of my sister,” Dan said.

“Sister warm and tight. Grum not want keep out.”

Dan made a disgusted noise, and then grabbed his knife and slipped it into the sheath on his belt. “I’m going to go find mom and dad, and then I’m going to end this. If you want to come home, find me when I’m done.” And then he left, slamming the door behind him.

Silence filled the room.

“You know, I still haven’t eaten,” Jane said. “Who’s hungry?”

—————————————————

An hour later, the sisters sat in the kitchen munching on delightful little cakes that Grum had made. When he went back to the walk-in freezer to put away a few items, the other orc stood in the doorway like a statue.

“I think you froze him, dude,” Jane said.

“It okay,” Grum assured them. “No go to waste.”

“Oh, that’s awful!” Tina said, covering her mouth.

“Just no eat chicken casserole for a while,” he said, and then dropped his voice to a whisper. “It not chicken.”

“Thanks, big guy,” Jane said, mouth half full of a cake that smelled like oranges, but tasted like strawberries.

“Not problem,” Grum said. “So, uh, brother ok? Seem mad.”

Tina licked jam from her fingers. “He’ll be fine,” she said. “He’s always been like that. Such a guy, you know? All stoic on the outside, but a hot mess on the inside.”

“Sound like orc female,” Grum said glumly.

“You don’t like the orc ladies?” Jane asked.

“Oh, Grum like,” he said, eye going glassy. “Grum like.” There was a weird silence, and then Grum shook off the trance. “Grum have wife.”

“You’re married?!” Jane said, nearly spitting out her food.

“You little home wrecker,” Tina needled playfully.

“Hey,” the orc said. “It okay. It okay. No worry. Human ladies no count. Wife have human man in basement. Grum no complain. Sometimes we have threesome.”

“Wow,” Tina said. “That’s—”

“It just okay,” Grum shrugged and then grinned. “Man use teeth sometime.”

Jane clapped her hands together, stood up, and said to no one in particular, “Well, I guess you learn something new every day, dontcha?”

Tina laughed, but then looked at her sister. With a curious tinge to her voice she said, “And Jane doesn’t?” 

The orc shook his head. “Surprise Grum, too. Such tiny mouth.” His eyes narrowed. “Hot and tight. Just think make Grum hard.”

Tina’s eyes dropped to the orc’s checkered pants, tented by what was obviously a massive rod of hard flesh. She licked her lower lip. “I see,” she said softly.

“Hey!” Jane complained. “I found him first!”

“Grum not object,” the orc said. “Grum own orc. Belong to no one.” But then, with a slight change of tone, he added, “Okay if pretty sister see?”

Jane sighed away a wave of jealousy. “Fine,” she said. With that, the orc slipped down his pants, freeing a massive erect cock. Tina’s eyes became tea saucers, and a slight shiver of lust went down her spine.

“That’s—but—how?—and you?—so big,” Tina said, as if staring into the sun. She shook it off, and said. “You took that whole thing?”

Grum laughed, and Jane blushed. “No, stupid,” the younger sister said. “But, I dunno. Grum?” The orc placed the blade of his hand on his cock. “I guess a little more than half,” she said. “Jeez. I did better than I thought.”

“Jane do great,” Grum said. “For human girl.”

“You’re getting that look again,” Jane said, noticing that the orc’s eyes were narrowing again.

“Grum smell human girl,” he said. “Not Grum fault.”

“What’s that mean?” Tina asked. Grum stepped forward, closing on them like a spiked wall in an adventure movie. “Oh,” she said. “Oh, I don’t know about this. I mean, I’m still sore from—” she stopped when the orc’s cock bumped into her nose. The smell of the orc’s sex took the breath from her.

“One lick won’t hurt,” Jane said, scooting close. “I mean, if I could do it, so can you.”

“I suppose,” Tina said, and then stuck out her tongue and licked the bulbous head. Like Jane, she was surprised by the softness of the skin. When the creature attached to the monster cock groaned in delight, she moved on, licking down the knobby shaft all the way to the biggest pair of balls she had ever seen. She felt Jane’s hand on her shoulder, and put a hand of her own on the orc’s member. It was hot, and she could feel it vibrate ever so slightly as blood coursed through its length and girth. “It’s really something,” she said.

Jane’s breath came hot on her ear, and she felt her insides tingle. “You don’t sound convinced,” the little firebrand said.

Tina ran her fingertips over the top of the shaft, and Grum growled happily. “I am,” she said. “It’s just that, well, after all that’s happened, I kind of feel like I’m not being faithful.”

“To who?” Jane said with a genuine curiosity.

“Whom,” Tina said. Jane punched her arm. “Uh, to you. And I feel a little jealous, honestly. You with this, uh, Grum.”

Jane stroked her hair and cooed, “Oh, that’s sweet! Isn’t that sweet, Grum?”

Grum grumbled, visibly irritated that the tonguing had stopped. “Orc not care for loyalty. Care for strength,” he said. “Red hair girl strong. Good sexy time. Sister tongue hot. Sister gentle. Grum no want gentle. Grum want rough. All Grum know right now.”

Jane took Tina’s face and kissed her deeply, feeling the older girl relax. “Don’t be jealous,” she said. “Just have fun.”

Tina nodded. “Aright,” she said, and turned to face the giant cock again. When she did, however, Grum gripped her head and jammed his meat against her lips. The head slipped in, and a few inches more, but then Tina braced herself against the orc with a stiff arm. She shrieked, but the orc’s cock muffled her.

“Grum!” Jane yelled. “What’re you doing?”

“Tease too much, suck too little,” the orc said. “Grum need sister mouth now.”

“No,” Jane snarled. “Go easy, man!”

“Cannot!” he roared, slapping Tina’s thin arm away. With his giant hand on the back of her head, he pushed his cock deep into Tina’s mouth, and the older girl gagged. Jane tried to push Grum away, but the orc only became angry and slapped her away like a gnat, sending her flying into a wooden spice cabinet, which splintered around her.

Dazed, Jane saw Grum’s cock disappear to the hilt inside her sister’s mouth, distending her throat. Far past gagging, Tina now fought for air, tearing ineffectually at the orc’s clothing. When Grum did finally pull out, his cock dripping with thick saliva, Tina whooped in air and coughed. Her face was a tear-streaked mess, and she had begun to double over, but Grum grabbed her head and forced himself into her again, his cock slowly disappearing until it was gone. This time, however, he began fucking the older girl’s mouth, growling with monstrous pleasure. Tina’s eyes went to her sister, and Jane picked herself up from the pieces of the shattered spice cabinet. The room filled with the sounds of gagging, wet suction and a low growling, and Tina’s face turned red, then purple, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

Consciousness threatened to leave the older sister, but it came back in a roaring shower of splinters. Grum’s cock popped from her mouth as he reeled away from her. She gagged and coughed, almost completely oblivious to her sister standing tall in front of the staggering orc, the frayed handle of a shattered pizza paddle in her hands.

“Grrraaah!” Grum roared. “Tiny human cock block!” He lunged at Jane, but Jane hit him with the paddle handle, splintering it further. The orc staggered, and Jane grabbed a cast iron pan, but she was too short and had trouble getting it off the hook. In the time it took her to free the pan, Grum was on her, and backhanded her across the room. Jane crumpled against the stone wall, and was only able to watch in horror as the orc approached. “Grum fuck tiny human ass,” he snarled. “Fuck tiny human until dead.”

“Grum,” Jane said, her head ringing. “No. This isn’t you. You’re a nice guy, I know it. Just calm down.”

Grum grinned an evil grin. “Grum nice,” he said. “Grum have mercy. Grum not break tiny human bones first.”

“Shit,” Jane cursed as the orc reached down to seal the deal. But just as he was about to grab her, a burst of flame sent him flying, smashing him into a wall and causing some of the masonry to pile on top of him.

Tina stood, hands aflame, eyes burning blue. “Get your hands off my sister!” she thundered, her voice shaking the walls.

Grum tried to rise, and got so far as clearing the masonry from his body, but Tina hit him with another burst. “Ow!” he mumbled.

Jane shook herself off and regained her feet. “Tina!”

“What?” Tina said, sounding a bit surprised.

“What d’you mean ‘what’?” Jane said. “That was awesome! Hold on. Hold that thought.” She scrambled off and rummaged through a pile of pots and pans until she found a copper soup cauldron. She brought it back, and held it up so Tina could see her reflection in the polished metal.

“Is—is that me?” Tina said.

“It totally is,” Jane said, discarding the heavy cauldron with a whimsical gesture. She leaned in and kissed the girl with the flaming blue eyes. “So hot.”

“Really?” Tina said, reverting to her usual mousy self.

“Yes! Really!” Jane said, pushing her away. The sides of her toga were scorched through. “Put out your hands next time!”

——————————————

The path Dan had chosen was a dangerous one, he knew. His sisters, bonkers as they were, had always kept him centered, and now that he had separated himself from them, he could feel the magic of the mansion creeping up on him. But they had gone too far and become too enamored of the fantastic elements, and it was up to him to inject a little sanity into the whole situation. Storming down the main hall, past servants and paintings of depravity, he found the master’s chambers. It was not hard to suss out which one it was; the wooden door was a massive bas relief, split down the middle and fitted with two thorny iron handles. Dan couldn’t explain how, but the carved scene appeared to change, not consciously, but in increments outside his area of focus. He saw a scene of them arriving and standing by the station wagon, and then, after he glanced away for a moment to the depiction of the previous night’s dinner, the magister had come out to greet the family. His eye also went to the carving of the girls making love that first night, and then shifted to the wolf balls deep in his older sister. Was that really him? Had he done that? The notion of shapeshifting seemed absurd, and he wanted desperately to try and laugh it off, but it terrified him. Still, the look of ecstasy and agony on Tina’s face made his chest tremble with lust, which he tried somewhat successfully to convert back into anger. But he had lingered too long, and the door opened before he could knock.

“Ah, Daniel,” the magister said in a way that drove snakes up Dan’s spine. “I trust all is well.”

“No,” he said. “All is not well, and you know it.”

“Whatever do you mean, young master?”

“I mean,” Dan said. “I mean the things we’ve done. The things you made us do. It’s sick, and I’m here to put an end to it.”

“I assure you,” d’X said. “I have been here in this room without interruption since last night. But, by all means, please tell me: even if I were somehow responsible for your family's transgressive behavior, how would you go about stopping me?"

Dan tapped the knife of his hip. "I'm sure even a wizard isn't immune to a blade," he said.

The magister chuckled. "My boy, I can assure you that I am no wizard."

"No?" Dan said.

"Certainly not," said d'X. "The word 'wizard' is far too weak. So, before you pull that blade of yours, you might question the wisdom of doing so."

Dan gripped the handle at his hip and said, "What, are you going to turn it into a snake?"

"How are you certain it wasn't always a snake?" d'X said.

With that, Dan felt his belt constrict around his waist. The handle of his knife wriggled in his grasp, and he looked down to find a snake coiled through his belt loops. It hissed at him, and he shrieked and tried to keep it away from him, but the reptile was strong. Dan grasped it near the head so it couldn't bite him, but the snake's tail wound down his legs and tripped him, and he took one hand off the snake to regain his balance. That was all the leeway the reptile needed. In a flash, it thrashed free of his grip and bit him on the thigh before retreating into a corner.

Dan felt a familiar sensation welling up inside him. "No!" he yelped. "Not this! Please!"

The magister approached as the boy collapsed into a panting, grunting heap. "The poison is quick," d'X said. "Soon you will be a beast again and free of your human constraints. You will also be mine to command. Remember this, boy: you could have had a life of pleasures beyond your wildest dreams, and all you had to do was indulge in those bestial, incestuous fantasies that you buried so deeply in here." He tapped Dan's forehead with a finger, and the boy flinched. "Now you will serve me, Wolf. Your sisters are escaping the mansion. You will find them and bring them back. When you do this, Wolf, I may allow you to revert to your human form."

Dan howled in agony as the poison forcefully transformed him into the Wolf. His hunger grew, and his senses sharpened. The world became awash with smells and sounds. In a final excruciating moment, Dan felt his conscious mind and free will stripped away. When the Wolf crouched on the stone floor obediently awaiting his master's command, the magister chuckled.

"Now go, Wolf," d'X said. "Hunt, ravish if you will, and return."

------------------------------------------


A long tunnel had led the sisters Tina and Jane through a dark dungeon. The doors, all windowless and thick wood reinforced with iron bands, were shut and locked, but the noises that came from within the cells were those of ecstasy. Every door was covered with the kind of rust that accumulates with lack of use. At one point, however, Jane stopped at a door that was clean.

"You hear that?" she said.

Tina put her ear up to the wood and listened. "Someone seems to be in distress, or... extreme pleasure?"

"Yeah, but there's something about that sound," Jane said. After a minute, the moaning subsided, and the girl shrugged her shoulders. "Guess it was nothing."

"Nothing is nothing here. Whatever magical realm we've entered into, we can't discount anything as irrelevant," Tina said, eliciting a crude, bucktoothed imitation of Jerry Lewis from the redhead, who went even so far as to push invisible spectacles up the bridge of her nose. The older girl, used to the antics, ignored the taunt and ignited her hand. Pressing her palm onto the wood, she was disappointed when the door did not turn to ash at her touch. "I guess I'm not strong enough yet," she said.

"Hey," Jane said, nodding toward the handprint scorched into the wood. "It's not a total loss. We know where to come back."

They moved on.

The dungeon corridor wound on for what seemed like miles until it finally dead-ended into a metal gate beyond which was a short stone staircase leading to a nondescript cellar door. Hung on pegs near the gate were several hooded cloaks. Jane tried one on, but ended up swimming in rough fabric. These were obviously tailored for orc dimensions.

Tina pinched the sleeves where Jane's wrists were, and then had her sister pull her arms close to her body. A flash of blue fire provided decent, if scorched, hem line. Tina did the same for the bottom, where the cloak dragged on the floor, and then hemmed her own cloak.

She was about to remove the door with fire, but Jane tapped her on the shoulder. "Wait," the redhead said. "I've got this." She lined herself up with the lock, and kicked. Iron squealed and gave way, and the gate swung open, banging against the stone wall on the other side. "I've always wanted to do that," she said with a satisfied little smile.

When they were through and the gate was shut, she bent the lock plate so it obstructed the swing of the door.

---------------------------------

Fortunately, no angry orcs had come looking for them. The Wolf stalked through the kitchen, claws clicking on the stone. The scent of girls had been strong here, where the semi-conscious orc mumbled apologies from under a pile of rubble. This creature, however, wasn't its quarry, so the Wolf moved on.

The scent led the Wolf deeper into the dungeon, where its sharp ears picked up sounds that made it salivate with animal lust. But the magister's command was overwhelming, and the beast never strayed from its mission except once, when the scent led it to a door. Its quarry had stopped here briefly. The noise on the other side of the door had a familiar ring to it, and there was something about the smell that oozed out from under the wood that reminded it of its prey, but the Wolf couldn't place either.

A handprint on the door smelled like the older girl. "What was her name?" a part of the boy that was locked away tried to remember. But it was no use. All the Wolf could remember was mating with the screaming young human. All it desired was to bury its knot in the girl again, and the younger one, too. And to bring them back to his master. That was most important. But if the Wolf was determined to mate with its quarry first.

This objective was frustrated when the Wolf came to a locked gate. It tried gripping the bars with its powerful hands, but it was jammed shut. With a deep growl, the beast turned and loped back toward the mansion and its main exit. There was little time to waste.

------------------------------------

Tina and Jane had emerged in the woods. The cellar door had opened up at the base of a giant oak tree, the leaves of which had long ago disappeared and would likely never return. How it still lived was a mystery. Tina would have liked to stay and solve it, but there were more pressing concerns, such as the spider webs high in the branches of the trees that surrounded them. They had remembered the looming danger of the giant spiders from their arrival, and knew they had to seek shelter as soon as possible.

To their great fortune, they spotted the lights of a village on a hill. It was a long and dangerous hike, but they had so far managed to avoid any arachnid encounters. Now, they could see the glow of lanterns just above them. It appeared that the villagers had cleared a swath of land around the village's walls. It was only a few hundred yards to the open field, and the girls sighed in relief.

But behind them came a clicking noise. Jane looked back, but could see little in the darkness.

Another clicking. "Who's there?" called Jane.

Another clicking. And another.

Tina set her hands ablaze, illuminating the forest, and immediately wished she had not. Above them, descending from the treetops were dozens of giant spiders, some as small as housecats, some as large as small horses. All were smooth with bulbous abdomens and long spindly legs.

"Run!" Jane cried.

Tina loosed a panicked volley of fire at the encroaching arachnids, but the attack only seemed to piss the creatures off. "Shit shit shit," she yelped as she sprinted toward the tree line, hot on Jane's heels.

The lanterns grew brighter as the girls neared the edge of the forest. Jane had a good lead on her sister due to her increased strength, but Tina, through desperation, had learned to use her magic to catapult her over the large roots and rocks that stood in her path.

"Yes!" Jane panted as she entered the last hundred yards to the field. "Yes!" And then. "Tina! Problems!"

From the trees in front of them, dropped two giant spiders, each with a body the size of a black bear. Tina launched a fireball at the closest one to her, but it splashed harmlessly against the now enraged creature. "Damn it!" she cursed, remembering that spiders were traditionally resistant to magic.

The spider closest to Jane crouched low, ready to pounce when its prey hesitated, but the girl didn't show it the fear to which it was accustomed. Instead, the redhead roared and charged. When she reached the spider, the creature began to rear up, but it was too late. Jane planted her foot on its head and used its upward motion to vault over the hissing arachnid. For a moment, cloak and toga fluttering as she soared through the cool night air, she felt like a superhero.

A tree branch put an end to that particular fantasy.

"Oof!" Jane felt the wind knocked out of her. The world span as she tumbled to the ground, hitting several other branches on her way down. She hit the dirt, bounced, and coughed, trying to suck in air. As she recovered, she could only watch as the spider drew closer.

Tina, for her part, saw her sister's failed flight and redirected her path toward the fallen girl. The spider nearest her gave chase. Jane's spider had reared up, fangs ready. Near to it was a tree with a thin trunk. Tina slashed at it with a blade of flame. The gamble paid off, and the tree fell into the shrieking arachnid.

Jane was staggering to her feet, and Tina grabbed her wrist on the run. Together they began the final fifty yards to the field, but they had lost too much distance on the main horde of spiders. Something brought Tina's left foot out from under her, and she hit the dirt. Jane tripped over her and sprawled.

Looking down at her foot, Tina saw it was snagged on a sticky ropey mass of silk attached to a spider that had anchored itself to a tree. A blast of flame freed her, but another ropey mass of silk caught her wrist. She burned that off, too. Ropes of spider silk came in ever increasing volleys from the darkness, and Tina burned them all off, watching the horde approach in the flash of each fire burst.

A small spider skittered toward Jane, and she kicked it, sending it flying back into the darkness. Another one, larger, jumped at her, and she punched it so hard it exploded into a shower of goo. Yet another leapt at her from behind, and she caught its legs, span around several times, and hammer-tossed it into the bear-sized spider that had been more cautious in its approach since the demise of its partner.

More silky ropes attached to Tina, eventually immobilizing her. Jane felt panic take hold, but then her sister came fully aflame, burning away the cloak and the clothes she'd changed into after her encounter with her brother. The ropes burned away, too, and the blaze appeared to give the encroaching spiders pause.

"Bring it, freaks!" Though Tina spoke without raising her voice, Jane trembled at the sound as if it would shake her in twain. The spiders were still unaffected. Some of the smaller ones stayed clear, but the larger ones kept closing the circle.

Jane punched as many as she could, but the larger they were, the thicker and harder their carapaces had grown. By the time the wolf-sized spiders made their way to the front lines, Jane was unable to cripple the beasts. The continued assault of a clawed appendages and fangs had reduced the younger sister's cloak and makeshift toga to ribbons. So far, she had also been able to tear away the silken ropes the spiders had attached to her, but eventually she found she was becoming bogged down. A little too much resistance on one arm made her miss a critical hit, and a spider, immune to Tina's fire, reared back and sunk its fangs into her shoulder.

Tina shrieked. There wasn't much blood, but the poison the spider carried had done all the work. Tina's flames sputtered, reignited, sputtered again, and then went out. The only light was that from the village walls, now seemingly lightyears away and obscured by the arachnid horde. Tina felt silk ropes bind her as she fell, woozy from the spider toxin.

Jane flailed about in the darkness, feeling several times the satisfying crunch of collapsing carapace, but the fight was not hers. A rotation to fend off one shadowy fiend opened her to the fangs of another, and she felt her strength leaving her. She lashed out at the next shadow to appear, but when she connected with it, she feared she had broken her fingers. Silken ropes bound her, too, and she hollered for help before an additional strand of webbing gagged her. As the poison took her consciousness, she felt her body being dragged away from the light of the village and back into the forest.

----------------------------------

The Wolf hadn't needed to do anything except approach the mansion's grand foyer. Silently, one of the magister's faceless servants appeared and opened the great wooden door, shutting and latching it behind the half-man-half-wolf as it lurched out onto the cobblestones.

The air was thick with odors of rot and swamp, but from somewhere in the trees, the werewolf heard a distant scuffle. On a hill, just inside the tree line, flashes of flame interrupted the dark. The Wolf sniffed the air. This was most definitely its quarry. At full tilt, it bolted into the forest, its gleaming eyes and heightened senses locked onto the battle.

By the time the Wolf arrived, there was only a scorched patch of earth and a handful of mangled spiders. Drag marks led deep into the forest, and, nose to the ground, the beast followed the scent embedded in them. The farther it prowled, the more it got the sense that eyes were watching. The smell of arachnids grew steadily, but nothing descended from the trees to challenge the Wolf, even when it approached the sealed entrance to the spiders' lair.

The Wolf sniffed around the great flat stone that sealed the spider cave, but eventually gave up trying to find a way in. Patience would work in its favor. Where there were spiders, there would inevitably be humans that knew how to hunt them. The Wolf turned back toward the village. There, it knew it could wait in the shadows, listening, watching, and waiting.

-------------------------------------

The village's name was, on the official register, Oxcart. It wasn't a particularly imaginative name—any Oxcartian would tell you that. Nor was the name particularly accurate. No one in living memory could remember the town having an ox. There were a few horses, cows, chickens, and hogs, but no oxen.

Still, the villagers stuck to the name out of sheer stubbornness. Theirs may have been the only town for fifty miles, but they were a proud people. Yes, orcs and spiders alike occasionally carried off the townsfolk, and yes, there was the creepy mansion on the other side of the forest, but if they were going to be subjected to the whims of fate, they would be remembered as Oxcartians. Unlike those in many of the other towns, they had gone so far as to give themselves names. Some of the other villages had been raided by orcs and pillaged by goblins so many times that, to soften the blow of losing friends, they had taken names such as Male Villager and Female Villager.

But Oxcart was different. Oxcart had a champion. Granted, the hero of their city was a rogue and a thief, but what was a few missing items here and there compared to safety and security? Plus, she was an elf. She was the only elf anyone knew of, and Oxcrtians had learned from experience never to look a gift horse in the mouth, as sometimes they were merely hollowed out wooden shells filled with rapacious gnomes. And the elf had driven the gnomes from the village, so she couldn't be too bad.

Nirella, champion of Oxcart, defeater of gnomes, finished her ale at her usual table in a shadowy corner of the Dented Flagon. Her green hair, cut into an alluring bob, complimented her skin, a dark reddish brown the color of strong tea, under which were lithe sinewy muscles. Her grass-green eyes watched the young barmaid approach.

"Another, milady?" the barmaid asked, reaching for the champion's empty flagon.

"Nirella," the elf said, touching the girl's hand. "Please."

The barmaid blushed. "Another? Lady Nirella."

Nirella ran her long, nimble fingers along the soft inside of the barmaid's wrist. "Just Nirella," she said. "What's your name sweetie?"

The barmaid turned even pinker, and said, "Candace."

"Well, Candace—"

"Hey!" roared the innkeeper. "You keep your mitts offa her! You can't be satisfied seducing one of my daughters? You gotta take both?"

"Charisma isn't a junk stat, old man!" Nirella shot back, rising from her bench. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short, either. Her elven thinness and lack of armor, save a pair of leather bracers and greaves and a leather harness that held her two razor sharp daggers, made her appear fragile, but everyone in the inn knew that was a trap worth avoiding.

"You're a junk stat!" the innkeeper roared back. The bard stopped playing his lute, and a shocked gasp went through the tavern.

"Father!" Candace said.

Just then, a junior guardsman burst in, the top of his helmet clipping the doorframe with a loud thunk. "Champion! Come quickly! Giant spiders! A battle in the woods to the south!"

All eyes went to Nirella.

The elf kissed the barmaid. "Wish me luck," she said.

"Good luck, milady," Candace said. With a satisfied smile and her nose in the air, she turned and walked through the tavern, past her father, and into her private chambers, the soles of her shoes resounding crisply on the wooden floor in the stunned silence.

When the chamber door shut, the guardsman said, "Champion, we don't have time for this! Anon!"

And with that, the roguish elf strode out into the night.

When the guardsman led the champion to the tall but modest stone wall that kept the horrors of the forest at bay, they were met by the guard captain. He wasn't really a captain, as there were only three guards for the village, but all the other towns had guard captains. Why shouldn't Oxcart have one? And besides, he had been the only one left after the orc raid a year ago. Someone had to keep order.

"You just missed it, milady," the captain said, pointing out to a spot along the tree line. "Giant spiders, at least fifty by all the commotion. And a wizard, maybe two. Novices."

Nirella sighed. She hated fighting giant spiders. Their guts had a way of staining clothes, and soda water was nearly impossible to find. "Fireballs?" she asked.

"Aye," the captain said nodding. "A shame, too. They almost made the field."

Nirella didn't know why she bothered, but asked anyway: "And you didn't think to mount a rescue?"

"Cap'n sent me," the junior guard said. "Said, 'Go get the champion,' so I got you."

"Aye," the captain said. "That you did. Good lad."

Nirella sighed again. "Alright," she said. "I'll go get my cloak."

The junior guardsman extended his right arm, thrusting her midnight cloak at her.

"And my potions."

The guardsman's left arm thrust her satchel of potions at her.

"I didn't see you carrying anything," she said irritably. "Where were you hiding those?"

The guard shrugged.

"Fine," she said. She threw her satchel across her shoulder and donned her cloak. "Lock the gates until I return."

"BAR THE GATES!" the captain bellowed to the guardsman manning the village's large wooden gate. Nirella jumped, startled. The captain turned to her and said, "Good hunting, milady."

"Uh huh," Nirella said, and then leapt from the wall, cloak fluttering in the night air.

-------------------------------------------

Above, on the wall, the Wolf heard the junior guardsman ask, "Do you think she'll come back?"

"How the hell should I know?" the captain said. "Let's go get an ale."

The Wolf grumbled in irritation. It had slipped into the village shortly before the gates had slammed shut, and now it was trapped. Slinking off into the inky darkness, it found a place to hide. At least, it knew, all it had to do now was wait for the quarry to return to the village. The Wolf, as well as Nirella, did not relish the thought of fighting spiders.

-------------------------------------------

Nirella dashed silently through the forest, her midnight cloak making her a shadow among shadows. The drag marks were easy to track, and were not out of place, but the wolf tracks concerned her. It appeared, when she arrived at the entrance to the spiders' lair, that the wolf had come and gone—back toward the village. At least the gates were barred, she thought.

The giant stone that sealed the cave was too heavy even for a team of spiders to move. Lairs like this always had a switch or secret lever that would open the main door. Urunga, Viceroy of the Gorilla People, had kept the key to his Super Secret Tree Castle (No Girls Allowed) under the doormat. Mobtar, Overlord of the Centaur Confederacy, had kept the key to his Stables of Debauchery in a fake rock. Nirella thought back on the stables and shuddered as memories triggered a warm, tingling feeling in her belly. She ran a hand up her sides, but stopped herself. Now was not the time for indulging in past adventures. Obviously, spiders had no opposable thumbs, so a key was unlikely. Nirella felt along the rocks bordering the giant entrance boulder.

Aha! She put her weight on a loose stone and felt it give. A rumbling shook the ground, and the boulder rolled back, exposing a dimly lit tunnel that led deep into the earth. A deep breath to calm the nerves was all she needed to get started.

Nirella moved through the winding spider tunnels like a ghost. Spiders were focused, voracious creatures, but they were easily fooled, and the roguish elf was able to slip past the guards with no trouble at all. As she moved past the obligatory frontline security, she became concerned about the lack of spiders in the spider cave until she heard a roaring chorus of clicks from farther down the tunnel. Urgency pushed her forward, and she continued until she came across multiple doors in a ring, all leading into some kind of central atrium. Spiders packed the area past the doorways, and she couldn't see beyond them. Traveling around the ring, she located a small access tunnel.

Climbing into it, she found that it led upward and into the earthen rafters of a large arena of some sort. It reminded her of a subterranean version of the ancient elven coliseum at Llewllingatiwn. Dangling from the ceiling were two bound figures.

Nirella's heart skipped a beat. Damsels in distress! Oh, happy day!

But the question remained: how does one rescue distressed damsels from a spider horde?

The elf's musing was interrupted when a figure in a long, form fitting, lacy black gown entered the arena