by Reed James
Foot raised. I darted away as it slammed down hard. The ground shook. I fought to keep my balance, stumbling into another stocks. I gripped it for a moment, then cursed, darting away from it. I couldn't stay near them. I couldn't let this thing kill the helpless people I was here to rescue.
I darted around the lodestone. My plan better work. I had no idea how else to kill one of these damned walking trees. I wasn't a lumberjack.
~ * ~
Zanyia
The arm slammed into the ground where I stood. I hissed as I flew through the air, my tail shifting to control my balance. I landed on one of the stocks, my foot smashing into the woman's face. She made not a sound. Then I leaped again at the treeman.
I landed on his rough chest. I scrambled at his bark for purchase. My fingers and toes dug into his knobbly exterior. My tail swished in pleasure as the treeman let out a creaking grunt. He drew back his hand, forming a battering fist, and slammed it at me.
I scrambled up, grabbing his mossy beard. I hauled up and onto his shoulder as he punched himself in the chest. Wood cracked. The treeman shuddered. I clutched onto my perch as his body shook hard. A wheezing cough rumbled from his throat.
I laughed in delight and darted down his back as he reached for me on his shoulder. My claws scraped across his wooden skin. Sawdust and splinters fell around my hands as I dug into his shoulder blades. I bit with sharp teeth, gnawing at him.
“Is this how your kind mates, cat-girl?” the treeman asked. “Back scratching? My cock is in front.”
I spat out a piece of wood? “Mate, with you? I already have one. And his cock is better than yours.”
“That little man? He run from brother. His cock not big like mine. I stretch you out.”
“No thanks. I like keeping my cunt nice and tight.”
“Will be tight on treeman dick!”
“And how are you going to get me to mate with you?” I asked as his hands struggled to reach around him. He wasn't that flexible, made of all that stiff wood. “You can't even grab me. I'll just burrow through your bark bit by bit.” I ripped off another piece and threw it to the ground. “I bet there's something beneath all this woody exterior that will be fun to sink my teeth into.”
He let out a snort of anger and I laughed in delight.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
“This is so dumb,” I groaned, pressing my back against the lodestone. “Las's putrid cum, but this is dumb.”
But I had no choice. The Gods damned treeman just refused to cooperate. He wouldn't throw his blows where I needed them to land. I glanced up at the sky. Aingeal swooped and dived as beam after beam launched from that damn faerie lord.
He was too high for my throwing daggers or hand crossbow. I couldn't do anything for her. So I had to do something else. Something that would help. If things were going bad for us, at least I would make Prince Meinard weep.
The Lodestone quivered. I felt it vibrating through my black leather jerkin and into my back. Energy filled it. Brimmed in it. Aingeal had weakened the spell. Now I just had to hope that this would work.
The treeman lumbered up before me, laughing: heezzz-heezzz-heezzz.
And I hoped I could dodge.
“Yes, yes, you scared of treeman, little man.” It drew back its gnarled arm. Wood creaked and groaned together as its joints moved. Its branch-like fingers balled into a thick fist looking as tough as a club wielded by a hulking ogre. “You should be.”
“Just get it over with,” I growled. “Your breath smells like a log rotting in a swamp. Turns my stomach.”
The treeman blinked acorn eyes. “Turn... stomach. How does stomach turn?”
I groaned. Great. I confused him. “Just punch, you Las-damned pile of walking kindling!”
“Kindling!” bellowed the treeman. “You think burn me?”
His fist hurtled at me.
I dove beneath it. I hit the grass with a hard roll. I heard the screaming roar of his punch sweeping over me. Wood cracked into stone as I gained my feet and dove between his legs. A great hum split the air. Then a violent flash of light—
Something punched me in the back. My body flew like a rag doll. The light bathed around me. Wood snapped and groaned. The treeman bellowed in agony. I struck the grass hard, rolling between stocks. I came to rest on my back, blinking against the bright light staining my vision. I couldn't see anything but a smearing after blur.
It faded.
Something toppled to the ground. The treeman wheezed. Large thuds rained around me, striking the ground, hitting stocks. More streaked through the air. I blinked against the blur, spotted glowing chunks of something streaking across the skies, a shower of stars that was far, far too close to me.
“It worked,” I groaned, my entire back aching. “It Gods damned work.”
The pieces of the Lodestone fell to the ground in blazing streaks. I laughed as the treeman wheezed. I sat up, more and more of my vision returning. My entire back felt peeled. Smoke rose off my leather jerkin. I shuddered at the sight of the treeman's arm blazing like a torch. He lay on his back, thrashing on top of a crushed stocks.
I winced. “Sorry,” I whispered to the dead human.
The fire ate down the treeman's arm. He burned so fast. He crackled and popped. His moss beard burst alight. Thick smoke rose in the air. I sucked in a breath, my heart laboring. The world spun about me. I looked up at the two faerie struggling to fly in the sky, dodging the last pieces of the Lodestone soaring through the air.
I groaned and forced myself to stand. My women were still in danger. It wasn't over.
~ * ~
Kora Falk
A great light flooded through the trees. A rumbling crack echoed through the air. The treeman pulled my pussy away from his licking tongue. He stared out at the fading illumination. Glowing bits streaked through the air and rained down across the meadow.
“They did it,” I breathed.
The treeman's grip tightened on my torso. I screamed out in pain. The branch-like fingers rasped across my skin. Everything grew so tight in my stomach. I felt my orgasm shifting as he squeezed me. My back arched. My innards wanted to burst out of my body.
“Our duty!” the treeman snarled. “Pussy distract me. You distract me.”
“Didn't... mean...” I shuddered. “Kill me... no... no... fucking... my... pussy...” Every word was a labor to speak. His grip tightened. I couldn't even suck in a breath. My head pounded as all the blood rushed to my skull.
It hurt so badly. I didn't want to die I didn't want to be squeezed so hard my head popped off.
“Bad pussy!” roared the tree.
My brother's face filled my mind. I held onto it. I hoped he would be happy with Ava. That she would help him grieve my death. I didn't want it to consume him. He'd already lost our parents and our sister.
Any more pain might destroy him.
Chapter Forty-Eight: The True Prize
Aingeal
My wings flapped frantically as I dodged a burning piece of the Lodestone. I swept around it, felt the heat of the blazing stone. I didn't know how Sven did it. But he found a way. I grinned as I straightened up my flight.
If he could find a way to destroy the Lodestone, then I could find a way to defeat Duke Gallchobhar. I just had to wound him and...
Iron.
Spirits made poor defense against iron and my husband was covered in throwing knives. He had his hand crossbow. He could inflict real damage on the bastard. I cast my gaze around and spotted him struggling to stand up near the smoking ruin of the Lodestone and a burning treeman.
I smiled and turned, diving for him.
A purple beam soared over my head. I shuddered. The duke had recovered from the explosion and hunted me. I flapped faster and faster, streaking for the ground and for Sven. I shouted his name, needing to get his attention and—
Energy surged behind me. I twisted my body, diving harder for the ground. The evocation spirits encased in the beam of purple magic slam
med into my wings. Pain burned. My wings dissolved in the attack of the spirits. I shoved them away as the world tumbled, fighting to keep them from finding my flesh.
From killing me.
“Sven!” I screamed in fear, the ground and sky whirling past me as I plummeted towards the ground.
Arms caught me. Sven grunted, stumbling to his knees as he cradled me in his arms. I whimpered in pain, my butterfly wings burned down to numbing wounds on my back. My head swirled as I stared up at his blue eyes.
Such loving blue eyes. He caught me. He saved my life. Kora was right to trick me into agreeing to be his husband. She knew this man. Behind his cavalier attitude and mocking grin, he had such a loving heart.
The pain swallowed my thoughts and plunged me into soothing darkness.
~ * ~
Zanyia
The treeman staggered as the light flooded around him. I clutched to his back as a great roaring surged through the air. I gripped on tight and laughed even louder as chunks of the Lodestone rained down from the sky.
“That's what a real man does with a real cock!” I yowled. “Not some wooden mockery, but real flesh and blood!”
The treeman roared in maddened rage. My tail swished. I ripped out another chunk of his bark and there it was. I could see the softer wood beneath, that pulpy flesh oozing a clear liquid. The scent of sweet sap filled my nostrils.
I had him.
I dug my claws into his flesh. His maddened roar became one of creaking pain. He twisted and swayed his back, trying to jerk me off with violence of his body. My claws gripped his wood, fighting against the force wanting to throw me off of him.
I wouldn't be thrown off so easily. When he tired, I tore out another chunk, my fingers grown sticky with sap. It ran thick down my fingers. I purred so loudly, my ears twitching. I would find his gnarled tree heart and rip it to pieces.
With a mighty bellow, the treeman threw himself backward.
The air rushed past me. The ground soared up at us. My eyes widened in realization. With a yowl, I leaped to the right moments before he made booming impact with the earth. I landed on nimble hands and feet, my tail swishing to keep my balance.
“That's not fair!” I hissed. “Cheater!”
He let out rumbling laughter as he pushed himself to his feet. Now how was I supposed to kill him?
~ * ~
Sven Falk
Aingeal went limp in my arms. Fear clutched at my heart, banishing the pain in my back. I struggled to breathe until I saw my faerie-wife's breasts rise and fall. She breathed. She lived. But she was in so much pain. I could feel the charred skin on his back.
Anger boiled through me. Wings flapped above. The faerie lord descended, that beautiful face gloating at the pain he inflicted on my Aingeal. My heart pumped anger through my veins as I stared at Duke Gallchobhar. He settled on the ground before me.
“Well, human, you have cost me greatly tonight,” he said, purple energy dancing around him.
With care, I set Aingeal on the grass beside me. She let out a soft whimper of pain. Her face contorted for a moment. Her eyes fluttered open, but they were unfocused, not seeing anything. They closed a moment later with a sigh, her head lolling to the right.
“This will be a mess,” the duke sighed, shaking his head. “Already, they are waking up.”
Around me I could see blinking faces trapped in the stocks. Men and women groaning, shuddering. Some coughed. Others cried. Shouts rose. Wood rattled. They fought to break free, their feet digging into the ground.
“I'm glad I could be a pain in your ass,” I said.
“How droll,” he said. “I see Aingeal still maintains the same quality of companionship as before.”
My hand drifted down to my short sword.
Energy hummed in his hand. A beam of purple energy shot forward, a sword of light. He drew it up before him, his feet shifting, his wings folding back behind him. My hand found the handle of my short sword, gripped it. My heart beat faster and faster.
His muscles tensed.
He sprang at me.
The light blade hissed through the air. I dodged to the right. It flashed past my face, leaving a streak of green light blazing across my vision. My sword rattled from my sheath, swung through the air. Smoke flared.
The duke screamed in pain.
His right butterfly wing spun through the air, fire burning at it. On his back was the seared stump of the wing oozing blood. He staggered to his feet. His head threw back as he plunged the light sword into the grass. Stalks sizzled.
His blood boiled on my blade.
“That's right. Faeries can't tolerate iron?” I drew a throwing knife in my off-hand. “And I have plenty of it.”
He whirled around, face twisted in maddened pain, no longer beautiful. Shadows made deep crags, his eyes almost glowing in the darkness cast by his eyebrows. He brandished his blade as I flicked my knife.
~ * ~
Zanyia
I scampered from the treeman. He bellowed in fury, his wood cock thrusting out hard before him. I darted past one of the pit traps then dashed between the next stocks. The inhabits yelled at me, struggling to break free.
“Just hold on!” I said, the treeman lumbering after me.
“Bad pussy!” it snarled.
“Yep, I'm a bad pussy,” I said.
The air whooshed. I jumped. His arm smashed the ground hard, splashing a naked woman struggling to break out of her stocks in mud and grass. I landed with a purring laugh, throwing a mocking grin at the treeman.
“You have to try harder than that to squash this naughty pussy!” I wiggled my ass at him, flashing my tight slit between my thighs. “You'll never get in this snatch. So you have to kill me. So pathetic! No wonder every woman prefers flesh and blood cock to limp, wooden dicks!”
He roared again and punched.
I dodged. The impact jarred open the nearby pit trap I avoided. I landed beside it, peering down into the depths. I shuddered at the sight of the spikes down there. At least a fifty-foot drop and then impalement.
It was such overkill. Nobles had too much time on their hands.
“Bad pussy!”
I darted away, the treeman following. Even made of plants, men were so easily offended by mocking their dicks.
~ * ~
Kora Falk
I was dead. I closed my eyes, ready to embrace my afterlife in the Adamant Palace. An eternity of practicing my art beneath the Goddess Rithi's tutelage. Finding new ways to create something beautiful. Something stirring. I would miss my brother. Ava and Zanyia and Aingeal and Nathalie would help him grieve me.
A silver moon flashed by my face and buried into the arm of the treeman. The monster bellowed in pain. Pale sap spurted around the crescent object. Wood creaked. Then the treeman's arms snapped with a loud crack. I plummeted to the ground.
And saw an armored woman wrench free not a moon, but the wickedly curved head of an ax. I gaped at her. She stood tall, her face delicate and inhuman, an exotic beauty with a small nose and dainty cheekbones at odds with the armor that molded to her curvy figure. The martial embodiment of beauty. Her eyes flashed like helidors, as pure yellow as the sun. Short, white hair swayed about her pure-black face, darker than even a Halanian, as she swung the war hammer gripped in her other hand.
And crashed it into the leg of the treeman.
Wood splintered. The knee joint shattered into jagged pieces. She felled the monster, her ax swinging a final time as she slammed it down into the monster's head, severing it. Pale sap splattered the silver breastplate of her armor, running down the curving swells that contained her large breasts.
“Aoi Si,” I gasped, recognizing the divinity standing before me. A demigoddess, one of Rithi's daughters from her tryst with the hermaphroditic Goddess of the Hunt. “You're an aoi si.”
“Radiant Kora,” the armored figure said, her voice throaty and formal. Her armor creaked as she bowed before me. “I have arrived in time.”
“In
time?” I blinked.
“You are in grave danger, Radiant. You have walked unknowingly into ancient evil. It wreathes you and you know it not, a lodestone that draws evil unto you.”
I blinked at her, clutching my hands to my chest, brushing the ruby pendant my brother gave me. “What? Did Rithi send you?”
“My mother is concerned for your soul, Radiant,” the aoi si said. “But first, your brother still lingers in peril. Let us attend to him. I shall make all clear once he is safe.”
I clutched the pendant hard in my hand. “Yes!”
~ * ~
Zanyia
I leaped between the stocks and landed on the ground. I whirled around to face the treeman and backed up as he lumbered around the stocks between us. He didn't trample them, but walked between them like he had on guard duty.
Perfect.
“Come on,” I said, standing up. I shoved my hand down my stomach to my tawny bush. “My bad pussy is right here. Come and smash it with that puny, little twig!”
“Is big twig!” the treeman bellowed, grabbing his massive cock, easily the size of Sven's arm. He wagged it at me as he marched forward, raising up his arm.
He stepped between the stocks. On the patch of ground that I had jumped over. It didn't support his weight.
The treeman dropped into the pit trap with a bellowed grunt of surprise. A moment later, came a loud crash and the cracking snap of dried wood. The monster croaked in pain. I scampered to the edge of the pit trap, grinned down at him.
He lay in a splintered mass, clear sap running from his many wounds. He looked like a rotten log hit by an ax and burst into pieces. “Oops, you can never trust bad pussy, can you?”
He let out a final, creaking groan then went still. Dead.
Now I just had to go and save Master.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
Pain wreathed me. The faerie lord didn't bother attacking me. Instead, he lifted me into the air with his magic. Lightning zapped from the aura of purple that engulfed me. My back bent in a rictus of pain. Time slowed as my body spasmed.
My eyes watched the tumbling knife.
It spun an almost lazy path, tumbling end over end. The blade flashed in the purple light. The duke swept his light sword at it. Energy sizzled. His weapon flickered out. The duke's eyes widened.
