by Randi Darren
“Get us closer.”
Petra bunched her legs and bolted. In seconds, they were around the front now and could see Seville’s face easily.
It was indeed him, and walking beside him was an elven maiden. She wore a dainty slave collar of northern make, and they looked like they were engaged in a quiet but heated conversation.
The Elf gestured with her hands in short chopping motions while Seville made gentle waves with his own, seemingly soothing her.
They turned down a side street and paused, pulling items from a satchel the Elf had been carrying.
“Masks,” Vince said softly as they pressed the items to their faces. It was the only thing it could be. “But why? Let’s follow them. Discreetly.”
Petra took them straight up the side of a building. Forcing himself not to close his eyes, Vince found they were following them from above.
“This one wonders why they wear a mask,” Petra whispered.
“If I could answer that one, we wouldn’t have to pretend to be the Hardy Boys,” Vince replied.
“Who?”
“Never mind. Kids books my parents gave me.”
Vince looked up towards the direction Seville was heading.
“Seems like they’re heading to that mansion’s rear gate, doesn’t it?” Vince said, pointing down at the two below them and the gate ahead.
Beyond the gate was a large four-story mansion that sat squarely in the middle of a large green.
The building was massive in scale and looked like the definition of opulent.
“This one agrees. What does Master wish?” Petra asked.
Vince thought about it, and as he thought about it, he let his senses expand. Seville’s mind was still locked up tight, but the Elf was wide open.
Apparently Seville didn’t think to tell her about me and my tricks. Which means what he knows about me is a secret to everyone else. So far. Who knows how long that’ll last.
The Elf was full of lust, fear, and excitement. Which made no sense. At all.
She was too far for him to pry into her actual thoughts, though.
“Let’s… follow for now. If they go inside, maybe we can slip into a room on that fourth floor. Think you can manage it without being seen?”
“This one is not used to subterfuge, but believes she can succeed, Master.”
“Right. Let’s do it, then.”
Vince and Petra watched their prey walk quietly to the gate.
Upon reaching it, a guard materialized at the entrance. Vince hadn’t even noticed the dark-outfitted man.
Something changed hands and Seville was allowed to enter with his companion. The gate was surprisingly noiseless on its opening and closing.
Seville walked casually up to the nearest door and entered as if he knew what to expect.
Petra slipped away from the side of the house facing the gate. Moving around to a different side, with a higher wall and a lack of guards, Petra scaled it with ease.
Skittering forward, she carried them across the manicured grounds at a lightning speed. Straight up the side of the mansion she went and into a fourth-floor window.
Inside the room, they found it to be lit by electricity, and was decorated in a similar fashion to the king’s “guest room” that they’d been in earlier.
A number of masks, gowns, and men’s suits were laid out in various states of inspection across the furniture.
Seeing no enemies, Petra carried them inside.
Sliding off his impromptu mount, Vince moved to the door and pressed his ear to it.
The sound of murmuring voices, laughter, and an occasional high-pitched squeal reached him.
“Sounds like a party,” Vince said.
“Master, this one believes we should leave. Whatever this is, it doesn’t concern us.”
“You’re right, of course,” Vince said, pulling his ear from the door. “And in the same breath… I need to know what’s going on here. Seville knows me in some way. It may be foolish, but if this is a party, he might let his guard down. Enough that I can—well, maybe enough that I can get some answers out of him,” Vince finished in a rush. He didn’t want to admit that he could ravage a person’s mind if he truly put the effort into it.
The one time he’d done it, though, he’d managed to stumble ten feet away and pass out under a bush only to wake up a day and a half later.
He’d killed the bandit he’d been dealing with, and nearly himself.
“As Master wishes. This one will defend you. How should we proceed?”
Vince sighed and looked at the clothes all around them. “I’d say we start by dressing accordingly. The only problem is that I’m pretty sure you’re the only soldier ant in the entire state that is collared. Any ideas on how to disguise your race?”
Petra looked down at herself for a moment. Taking up a large ball gown-type of dress, she roughly pulled it down over her clothes. That of course didn’t work, so she started to strip out of her clothes while arranging the dress.
While she was going about her business, Vince made short work of finding a suit that’d fit him and got into it.
Looking back to his soldier, he found her wrestling with the dress still.
She had begun to shove the fabric around with her hands. She managed to move it around and over her bundled armor, clothes, and helmet.
Letting go of the fabric, she had somehow managed to get the dress to settle around her in a reasonable fashion without making it obvious she had things hidden in the skirt.
Unfortunately, her ant parts managed to stick out behind her, which Petra noticed when she looked over her shoulder.
Shifting around in the large gown, Petra rose up in height until she was a few inches above six feet.
Her segmented rear end slid into the dress and was no longer visible.
“And what exactly did you do?” Vince asked.
“This one has raised her height to a point that she could pull her rear end in,” Petra explained, gathering a vast amount of material in her hands. Then she lifted the dress up in the front.
As she had said, her “rear end,” as it were, was now pointing downward towards the ground. Her legs were also closely pressed together, the tips of them creating a three-footed base.
Without meaning to, Petra was also giving him an eyeful.
Vince found himself staring into Petra’s slit. It was no longer hidden by the strap of fabric she’d taken to tying across her private parts. Probably lost in the mad pushing and pulling of the dress.
It was interesting that she had a human female’s genitals but no legs.
I wonder if it’s angled differently for entry? Or childbirth? Wait, do they lay eggs or give live birth? Or are eggs a queen-only thing?
His pants started to get tight as his body reacted to the view.
Petra sniffed as if she were getting a cold, then apparently noticed his silent stare and leaned forward to see what he was seeing.
After a second, she finally noticed her error and dropped the dress down immediately.
Vince only detected the faintest blush color her cheeks. Other than that, she didn’t show any outward signs of embarrassment.
Vince had to wonder at her self-control. If he’d been the one showcasing himself to someone, he doubted his response would have been that simple.
Is that true, though? How often do I end up having sex with Fes or Meliae right in front of her?
Becoming an amoral hedonistic savage there, Vince.
Petra smoothed the dress down with her hands. Vince could guess easily that she was trying to find her private parts band without looking like it.
“Can you keep that up? Is it uncomfortable? Can you move around like that? Best to try and test it all out here before we go in there,” Vince said, diverting not only himself but what just happened.
Petra blinked and then nodded her head. Slowly, hesitantly, she started moving around the room. Her movements were awkward and robotic.
They’d stand ou
t for sure.
She surprised him, though. Within half a minute since starting, she’d made remarkable progress. What started off as a newborn deer impression quickly became a tall elegant woman.
“Well done. What about backwards? Or bending down? Sitting?” Vince asked.
Petra nodded her head again and then pivoted in place and moved backwards. Oddly enough, it seemed that was easier than forward for her.
Moving over to a chair that had been placed against a wall, she lightly sat down.
“Sitting is not easy, but this one believes this looks as if she is sitting. Yes?” Petra asked, looking down at herself.
“It looks like you’re sitting, sure. You’re not?”
“No. This one will not show you, either.”
“Of course. Okay, what about kneeling or sitting on the ground?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. The dress is long, and without the distance to the ground, it’ll stretch considerably further. This one feels that she is ready to don a mask and will be unremarkable. She is excited to interact with humans on a human level. Though she believes that everyone here is accompanied by a slave, so she may need to play that role instead. What race should this one be if someone asks?”
“I… that’s a good question. Good work with the dress as well, by the way. You’re pretty tall right now and you’ve got an athletic build. We could try to pass you off as an Amazon? I’ve seen a few of them. They look fairly human but have increased strength and speed. Not to mention lifespan. Straight out of the fantasy books.”
Petra nodded her head, her hands moving through all the masks laid out on a desk nearby.
She pulled a mask free that looked almost like a helmet. It was a single piece decorated in geometric patterns that covered from the nose to the back of the head, leaving the mouth and jaw completely free.
Pulling it over her head, being very careful to tuck her antennae in with her hair, she adjusted the strap and then looked to him.
“Very Petra-like choice,” Vince said. Looking back to the masks, he picked up one that covered his eyes, nose, and forehead. It also had an attached wig of dark black curly hair that would help disguise him.
Pulling it down over his head, he looked to the tall soldier woman and smiled.
“Last but not least, you can call me Master, but you’ll need to drop the whole ‘this one’ thing for a time. It’s… a very noticeable speech pattern.”
Petra’s mouth turned into a frown before she nodded her head.
“I… will obey.”
“Grand. Shall we?” Vince said, holding out his arm.
“Yes,” Petra said, laying her hand on his forearm.
Opening the door, they stepped into a hallway and could already hear the distant sounds of merrymaking and the smell of food.
“Maybe we should use the window,” Vince murmured.
Petra shook her head and then led him down the hallway. “Th—I could not have gotten us down in these clothes. This area back here has the strongest scent and sound coming from it.”
As they turned the corner, they found a servant’s stairwell.
“Just how good is your sense of smell, anyways?” Vince asked, peering down the dark stairwell.
“Very good. This one can tell that there is a significant number of people down there. All of them eager to engage in sex. It reeks of wanton desire.”
Vince snorted at that and began walking down the stairs. “Stop saying, ‘This one,’ remember? And you’re telling me you can tell when someone is horny?”
“All creatures put off scents when they desire sex. Even humans. It’s just harder to detect with some species. Your scent is easier for me to track, as I know it well.”
Vince didn’t say anything to that. His thoughts were running around in an embarrassed flutter.
He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d caught on to the fact that he’d be more than happy to take eyefuls of her when she changed or bathed.
“This one, that is, I am always very flattered at your attention. I wasn’t sure if you could overlook my obvious non-humanoid body.”
Vince grunted as they turned around into the next flight of stairs, ignoring the door, and heading down again.
“Your flesh is warm and soft to the touch. It’s certainly firmer than human skin, but it’s skin. It’s… different, for sure, but at least you’re not a Centaur. Not sure I could ever go down that road,” Vince murmured, taking the steps slowly.
“I… do not understand.”
“Ergh. Well, you have a human woman’s genitalia.”
“Correct. My caste can never be a queen. We reproduce too slowly.”
“Yeah, well, a Centaur doesn’t have a woman’s anatomy. Horse.”
They turned again down another stairwell. Lights, smells, and sounds were quite vibrant now. Vince was pretty sure they’d be entering the party at the end of these stairs.
“I see. I can understand how that could be off-putting. Your qualifying factor is human genitalia?”
“Not exactly, but I don’t want to feel like I’m having sex with a horse, either.”
“You’re strange.”
“Yeah, I know. Right, then. Let’s do this.” Vince stepped into a huge ballroom filled with men, women, and Wastelanders in masks.
Chapter 15
The gathering had the look of an elegant masquerade party. Conversations were ongoing everywhere as people ate and drank.
Both food and drinks were being shuttled around the room on platters as well as at tables laid strategically throughout the room.
Decorations were heavy but simple. Streamers, banners, and all sorts of things dangled from everything and anything.
Hanging from the wall opposite the main entry was a banner that read, “Stockholders and Board Members Sixty-Seventh Annual Meeting.”
“Is this a company or…?” Vince let the question hang as his eyes swept down from the banners to the floor again.
Lining the walls were a strange and out of place collection of chairs, benches, pedestals, railings, and pillows.
A waiter passed by and offered them glasses of champagne, which they both accepted as to not seem further out of place.
“By the door,” Petra said after the man had left.
Vince looked to where Petra had indicated. Understanding dawned on him.
The bright blood-red armor of slave auction guards stood watch at the door, checking everyone for weapons.
Every guest was handed a “gift box” as well. They were rectangular and a foot long by a half a foot wide, with only about three inches in height.
“Right. That explains that, then.
“I wonder where—” Vince stopped talking when he felt, more than saw, Seville and his closed mind. Trying to look in that direction as inconspicuously as he could, he found Seville and his Elf lounging in a set of chairs in the corner.
Neither had partaken of food or drink, and both seemed like they were waiting for something. They made no effort to join the party or to mingle in any way or form.
Whatever they were here for, it was business and only business.
“Goodness me, where ever did you get such a specimen like her?” slurred a man at Vince. He’d somehow managed to stumble his way over when Vince wasn’t looking.
“Ah, no idea. I simply purchased her through an acquaintance. She hasn’t deigned to tell me where the rest of her people are.”
“And you br-uuuhhhggh-brought her here? You know the rrrrrrrules. You must have trained her hard.” The drunk emphasized the word hard. “You renting her?”
“‘Fraid not. Been training her diligently for myself alone.”
“Pity. Here, you don’t have a present. You can have mine, I’ll go get another,” mumbled the drunk, handing Vince his wrapped gift from the guards.
Turning around, the man trundled off towards a table filled with glassware. Trailing along behind him was a short woman in a toucan mask. She topped out at four feet tall.
“S
hort.” Petra’s comment was curt, her voice hard.
“Very short. Probably a gnome, dwarf, or something of that nature. Thinking maybe we should get out of here. This isn’t what I was expecting, and I don’t think we’ll get anything useful out of it.”
“Agreed. Let’s—”
“Everyone, may I have your attention!” boomed a voice.
“We’re leaving. Now,” Vince said, and turned around, only to find the stairwell now guarded by slave auction guards.
In fact, looking around, he saw nothing but guards at every window and door.
And the trap closes?
Vince forced a smile on his face as he led Petra forwards toward the voice.
“We’re surrounded, Master.”
“Yeah. No way out but pushing on. Now smile. We’re supposed to be here, remember?”
“It’s about time we get our first event underway,” called the same voice from earlier. Vince now saw a man dressed in bright red finery standing atop a table.
“Now, you all received the rules prior to this. We’ll be selecting contestants at random and proceeding from there. Once we’ve finished the events, we’ll be proceeding to our strategy meeting.”
A few people booed at that, which got a chuckle from the rest of the crowd.
“Now, now. I know we’re here for fun and games, but we do have to conduct business. We’ll be holding an auction after the meeting for those who remain. We’ve been collecting these specimens since the start of the year. I promise you, they’ll be the finest you’ve seen.”
At that, a general cheer went up around the room.
“Contestants will be randomly selected by the judges. Contestants who participate will receive a special voucher for a free purchase at any of the local or hub markets up to one thousand standards.”
Another round of cheers came from the audience.
“Winners from each contest will receive a voucher for ten thousand standards at any local, hub, or guild markets. This can be used on multiple purchases or just one. Contestants may participate more than once, and win more than once.”
A huge cheer went up at that.
“Back to the rules!” shouted the man energetically, holding up his arms. “As this is a demonstration of training, knowledge of your slave, and your slave’s knowledge of you, all slaves who were brought with you must be here voluntarily. This will be authenticated when our handlers remove their collars to participate in the games. If they’re not here of their own free will, we’ll find that out during the removal process. You’ll be fined five thousand standards, have your slave taken, and your membership revoked for three months.”
