One of them glanced her way, smiled, and winked. The blush immediately cooled on her cheeks, and she quickly looked away. Handsome the high elf might be and with an easy smile, but still, he was no Talon Starkweather. And not only wasn’t he anywhere close to being in the same league as Talon, but he reminded her greatly of Alistair Von Daggertoss and what she’d earlier done to his father.
The bite of scone she was attempting to swallow lodged in her throat, and she choked. Her eyes watered, she coughed, gagged, and sputtered. And to make matters worse, when she opened her eyes, the sight of her cousin, Pierced, came into sharp focus as he rushed across the room toward her with what looked to be a long beige and red balloon-like thing tucked up under his arm.
She closed her eyes again, not wanting to be noticed and certainly not wanting to be any part of whatever Pierced was up to today.
She wasn’t that lucky, however. Within the space of three heartbeats the little gnome was pounding her sharply between her shoulder blades with his pudgy fists. “Are ya all right there, coz? I know that hiney-lick maneuver if’n ya be in need. And though I prefer my hiney-holes ta have a set of balls and a cock attached ta the other side of them, I’d make an exception for ya. If’n it’d save ya life.”
Mia shook her head and finally swallowed down the lump of scone. “That won’t be necessary, Pierced. I’m fine, really, I am.”
Heat infused her cheeks once more as she looked up. Every eye in the lunch room, male and female was trained on her. So much for her short lived anonymity. And as if the fact people were openly gawking at her wasn’t bad enough, Pierced chose that moment to loudly explain exactly what he was up to.
He pushed her food out of the way and tossed a big, naked blow-up doll with bushy bright red hair and a round wide-open pink mouth right across her table and grinned.
Mia wasn’t sure which was more disturbing, the blow-up doll or the gnome. Pierced with his ridiculously long scarlet cape thrown over a bright yellow tunic that clashed with the black and white makeup he used to make himself look Goth, or the over-sized plastic man, with its springy red fiber hair sprouting not only from its head, but also from under both its arms and around its semi-erect plastic penis.
“Meet Bruno the barbarian,” Pierced grinned. “He’s my new boyfriend. Unlike Steve, he won’t be leaving me for some stupid fake sheep with a deep throat and a wooly butt hole. I own him. Got the receipt ta prove it. I can play the plastic fetish card as good as the next guy. Better than some. Ya watch and see if I can’t.”
She could feel a hundred pair of eyes on her. She wanted to crawl under the table. She wanted to cast a disappearing spell. She wanted to somehow turn back time and skip lunch entirely. She didn’t do any of those things, however. Instead, Mia ignored their audience and smiled at her strange little gnome cousin as she grasped the blow-up doll’s cool plastic hand. “Nice to meet you, Bruno. I’m sure you and Pierced will be very happy together.”
She could hear giggling behind her and the scuff of chairs as people moved away. One dark elf female sniggered while a halfling debutant chuckled, and a human girl sitting all by herself in the corner gasped.
It was on the tip of Mia’s tongue to make up an excuse and flee when an entirely new disturbance caught everyone’s attention. Ohfeelya Upz, in a lime green tunic barely containing her corpulent breasts and spruce leggings so tight they looked as if she’d been poured into them, came lumbering across the lunch room. Her mouth was hanging open and the wart on the side of her nose wiggled with every step she took.
She stopped right beside Mia’s table, and the dropping of a pin could be heard in the lunchroom it was suddenly so quiet.
“There ya are cousin Pierced.” She squealed. “I’ve been looking all over the school for ya.”
The little gnome sighed. “Ohfeelya, how many times do I have ta tell ya ta quit following me around? I have my own classes and my own friends. I can’t be seen hanging out with my…my cousin. Especially my girl cousin. It’s simply not done. I’m gay, and I’m Goth. It’s bad for my reputation.”
The oversized half gnome-half ogre female hung her head. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I saw ya talking with Mia, and she’s ya cousin, too, kind of. So I didn’t think ya’d mind.”
Pierced shook his head. “Mia’s not a cousin by blood. Anyway, she’s a princess and pretty and popular ta boot. Everybody who’s anybody wants ta be seen talking ta her.”
“Oh,” Ohfeelya gulped. “I didn’t realize. I understand. I’ll leave.”
Pierced nodded. “That’d probably be for the best.”
Mia glared at him. “No, Ohfeelya, please don’t go. I’d love to have your company. We didn’t get much of a chance to chat last night at dinner, and I’m in the need of girl talk.”
“Really?” Ohfeelya gasped. “Ya sure? Most people try their best ta avoid me.” She rung her hands. “I don’t blame them, though. And I won’t blame ya either if ya change ya mind. I know I’m different. Mamma says it’s because of my size. I’m considered generously proportioned for a gnome.”
Mia smiled and gestured toward an empty chair. “And I’m considered ridiculously small for a barbarian. That gives us something in common.”
Pierced rolled his eyes as he grabbed up his blow-up doll and walked away.
Mia heard whispers and the occasional twitter behind her. She didn’t care, though. Kit might as well be a million miles away, Talon was still nowhere in sight, and after lunch, she’d be facing High Mystic Purrell and his lab class for beginning mystics.
As far as she was concerned, simple girl talk with Miss Ohfeelya Upz was just what she needed to take her mind off of what was to come.
Chapter Eight
“Suck swish swirl swallow. Suck swish swirl swallow. Suck swish swirl swallow. Suck swish swirl swallow.”
It was worse than she could’ve ever imagined.
Mia watched in horror as over and over, High Mystic Purrell, flicked his wrist and rhythmically tapped four of her fellow female classmates on the top of their heads with his pointer while he chanted.
The girls, two high elves, a halfling, and a dwarf, were positioned on a revolving fur covered pedestal in the middle of the room. They were on their knees, situated between the spread legs of four naked from the waist down, grinning-like-fools male students. The girls had their hands braced on the guy’s knees, and their heads were bobbing up and down in unison as they sucked their corresponding partner’s engorged penises. Their eyes were wide open but unseeing, their breathing rapid but steady, and without a doubt, they were in some kind of a weird trance.
“Suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, such swish swirl swallow,” High Mystic Purrell droned on and on.
She wanted to look away, really she did. She didn’t wish to be a part of or give credence to the high mystic’s sick demonstration of mind control. She couldn’t, though.
It was like the time she’d been caught observing an illegal back alley tournament where a skinny, little human knight had been pitted against a much bigger, much stronger troll champion. She’d been grounded for a season for that one. Or the day she’d skipped classes, sneaked out, and against her parents dictates viewed the death and destruction left in the wake of an unexpected and unusually vicious ice storm.
The recollection of those very eye-opening, unpleasant instances were and would always be ingrained upon her memory. And now there was yet another to add to the growing pile of things she’d never forget but wished she could.
“Suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow.”
The mystic’s voice was ever so compelling, smooth, and lyrical. And though a part of her wanted to look away from the scene unfolding upon the pedestal, an even bigger part kept her glued to the disturbing show.
But that wasn’t the only reason she didn’t look away, and she knew it. For if she glanced away for even a second, she knew her eyes would be drawn t
oward her instructor, and that was something Mia definitely didn’t wish to do.
High Mystic Purrell was naked. And not just a little naked. The man was completely, unabashedly, totally naked as the day he was born. Not one stitch hid anything about him from view except for the blond hair that covered the majority of his head. It was even more disturbing than the four way blowjob going on right before her eyes.
“Suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow.”
Mia’s eyelids felt heavy, and the room suddenly became nap time warm. She shook her head to clear it and concentrated on not looking anywhere except at the performers.
Not that seeing a naked male body was a bad thing. She’d always enjoyed the sight of a well-made man. And if truth be told, High Mystic Purrell had nothing to be ashamed of, for his age anyway. His belly was flat, and his arms, chest, and thighs were muscled and bronzed. His golden curls were impeccable, his features were pleasant, and his smile easy. Even his male appendage was well formed and of adequate size.
But it was the sight of his…his testicles she had a hard time stomaching.
Mia shuddered.
There was no way around it. His balls were old, ancient even. And they were so pale, saggy, wrinkled, and spotted that they reminded her of the one and only time she’d ever walked in on her mother and father. It had been a late evening when her parents had neglected to lock their bed chamber door. She still wasn’t sure who came away more traumatized from that incident, her or her father. But one thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to stare at High Mystic Purrell’s older-than-dirt scrotum ever again if there was any way to prevent it.
“Suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow, suck swish swirl swallow.”
Mia almost began chanting it with him, but something hard suddenly poked her right in the middle of her back. She quickly turned to see who had the audacity to be so rude. That was a mistake. It wasn’t another student, playing a prank, as she’d thought it would be. It was High Mystic Purrell himself. And by turning, she’d brought not only her gaze right to the level of the mystic’s saggy nut sack, but her nose as well. He smelled of dust, liniment, and—and dirty socks. She gagged.
But for being old, the man certainly had moved quickly. She could’ve sworn only a moment before he’d been behind the pedestal, close to the blowjob freaks while he chanted his suck whatever thingy.
“I have an itch, Princess Hammerstrike. Scratch it for me please.” The mystic crooned in a soft hypnotic voice.
She felt her mind begin to blur, her hands tremble, and her fingers inch toward him, as if they had a mind of their own. A memory flooded her thoughts. A recollection of her mother and her aunts telling her all about High Mystic Purrell and his infamous pointer. “Don’t let him touch you with it,” they had said. “He’ll make you do disgusting things if you do.”
Mia took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ll have to scratch your own itches, sir. It’s not in my class curriculum.”
The mystic instructor’s eyes bulged, and his cheeks reddened as he poked her again with his pointer and then again for good measure. “I said I have an itch, young lady. You are cockless and, as such, do not have the capacity to refuse me. The cockless are a weak minded sex, easily led, easily influenced. Now, be a good girl and scratch.”
He made a production of grinning widely and gesturing toward the other male members of the classroom. “Let this be a lesson to you men. Females are and will always be the weaker sex, mentally and physically. It’s up to us who have cocks to control them, guide them. It’s our destiny, so to speak.” He glanced back down toward her. “Well, what are you waiting for? Scratch.”
Mia shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
High Mystic Purrell sputtered. “What do you mean you don’t think so?”
Mia shrugged her shoulders. “I mean, no. I won’t do it. You can poke me all day with that stupid pointer of yours, but I’m not scratching any part of you. Not now, not ever.”
He glared at her. “Do you by chance have a cock between your legs you’ve been hiding? Are you hermaphrodite?”
Mia shook her head again. “No.”
High Mystic Purrell slammed his pointer across her desk. “Then how are you resisting me? No female has ever been able to withstand my mystic powers.”
Mia shrugged again. “I don’t know. You’re the expert here. You tell me. I’m merely one of the cockless, remember?”
The four girls on the pedestal suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up with dazed expressions on their faces.
High Mystic Purrell startled. “Suck, um, swallow, no wait. Swish then swallow. No, suck then swirl, yes, swirl. No, that’s not right.”
The girls hurried back to their seats.
The mystic’s face turned bright red. “Now, see what you’ve done? You…you girl. You’ve upset the balance of the universe.”
Mia chuckled. “The balance of the entire universe, really? That’s a little melodramatic, don’t you think?”
High Mystic Purrell only had one more thing to say, and that, he bellowed. “Class dismissed.”
****
Talon cringed as Mia hit the mat for the third time in as many minutes. “You sure this is a good idea, Wally? Zander’s going to have my hide if his little sister breaks so much as a nail let alone her stubborn little neck.”
Walaford Titwilder laughed. “I paired her with Pierced on purpose. For God Draka’s sake, Talon, she couldn’t be safer even if yout were her partner. The worse that’ll happen is Mia might end up with a sore bum come morning. Well, that, and possibly a bruised ego.”
The half troll, half gnome hand-to-hand combat instructor laughed again. “Anyway, what do yout care? I thought the plan was to discourage her, make her realize the bleakness of the situation? I mean, if she can’t even best her sweet little gnome cousin on a sparing mat, who loves her dearly by the way, what chance does she stand against creatures who’ll be out for her blood? And what possible chance could she have of surviving even the first part of Queen Adrina’s Challenge if she can’t take a simple hit? Give her a few days of getting knocked on her arse, and she’ll come to that same realization all on her own.”
Wally was probably right, but that didn’t make what was going on right before Talon’s eyes any easier to watch. “I’m just saying perhaps Pierced can make the same point without actually knocking her down every couple of minutes.”
The little gnome tripped her, and Mia landed on the mat once more, this time with an “Ummf.”
Wally grinned. “Builds character.”
Talon clenched his hands tight behind his back so he wouldn’t be tempted to give his friend a lesson in character building. “I think I’ll go give her a few pointers. You know what I mean. I’ll show her how to side step and avoid landing so hard. That shouldn’t hurt anything.”
Wally shook his head. “Bad idea. What’s it to yout anyway? I thought this was just a job? A favor to Zander? If yout truly wish Mia to fail, then leave her to her own inadequacies. They’ll serve yout well.” The hand-to-hand combat instructor winked. “But if yout aren’t so sure, if yout are beginning to doubt yout want to see her fail in her quest to become Queen of the barbarians someday, then feel free to give her all the pointers yout wish. Just remember, though, in the end, yout are going to have to pick a side and stick with it, Mia’s or Zander’s. I doubt yout can have it both ways.”
Talon shook his head. “In my mind, I know she can’t win, and I know Zander’s right for wanting to keep his sister out of harm’s way. Queen Adrina’s Challenge is much too dangerous. But he also told me to be her friend, her bodyguard, and her self-defense instructor, so he must expect me to help her in some capacity, not just sabotage her efforts every chance I get.”
He threw up his hands. “I don’t know what to do anymore. On one hand, I have a promise to fulfill to Zander, but in my heart, I swear I
can see Mia sitting upon that throne, ruling Alaria and the entire barbarian nation so plain it makes my soul ache. There’s something special about her that makes me want to believe in her, that makes me want to help her any way I can, that makes me want to bow before her and swear my allegiance, to champion her cause.”
“Please tell me yout aren’t falling in love with our little Mia,” Wally asked? “That would be a monumental mistake. She’s a princess destined for great things, and well, yout are a…a…well yout know exactly what yout are.”
Heat crept up Talon’s neck. “Don’t be ridicules. Of course I’m not falling in love with her. I just hate to see the odds stacked against anyone the way they’re stack against her. Even if I wanted to care about Princess Amelia Hammerstrike in some kind of romantic way, I know better. I don’t allow myself to forget for even a moment who and what I am. I know my place in this world, Wally, and I know hers. You don’t have to remind me.”
Wally gestured toward the mats. “Well, I suppose since Zander gave you permission to teach her self-defense, we best get her lessons started. Yout show her how to avoid getting knocked down so often, and I’ll show her how to do her own share of the knocking down.”
Talon sighed. “You don’t have to get involved in this. I can do it on my own. I won’t ask you to do something that might put you on the outs with Zander when this is all over and done with. He’s too good of a friend to you, to both of us, and if in the end, if I fail him, he’s going to need you.”
Wally shrugged. “I doubt Zander realizes exactly what it is he’s asked of yout. On one hand, yout are to help his sister and, on the other, see to it she fails. It’s an impossible task. But even if he does know, yout must first follow yout own heart, and I must follow mine. I’ve known Mia all her life, and my heart says help the lass. If she fails, she fails, and if she doesn’t, then she doesn’t. As far as Zander, he’s going to have to accept the outcome right along with the rest of us whatever it may be.”
Tested by the Night Page 9
