Chapter 21
Kal carefully set his pack with its precious contents on Ikuno's bed.
"It feels good to be home," he said heading over to the small cubby so he could relieve himself after the trip back from Felli's cave.
"I think that's the first time you've ever called this 'home'" said Ikuno as she dug through Kal's pack and retrieved the pouch with his extra crystals in it. She went into the library and got her own pouch off the shelf, trading out the ones she and Kal had used to power their speed spells to get back quicker and grabbing an extra to replace the one Kal had given Felli and Rone so they could use their bathroom's features.
Ikuno had been mildly annoyed that Kal had given away one of her crystals, but she quickly dismissed it since he and Gerda had brought back quite a few large crystals from the mana golem's cave. With Gerda's help, the oni figured that they would be able to produce some fairly large flawless crystals, an endeavor that she would likely never attempt on her own because of the danger.
Seeing Gerda quickly and confidently shape the one that went into Perra's necklace had been a surprise, as was Kal shearing the tip off the mana golem's spear. Up until then, Ikuno had been under the impression that only a fully charged crystal could be shaped with magic, one that wasn't completely full would just absorb whatever spell you were using. Because of that, the process took a fully charged crystal and a fair amount of magic, make a mistake and the sudden release of all that energy would be the last mistake you needed to worry about. There were quite a few examples over the lands she had traveled of wizard towers or holds turning into small craters with cutting magic crystals being the most likely culprit.
When she had asked Gerda about it later, the golem had explained shearing the crystals along the lines created by their natural structure actually took very little force and as such very little magic, making the whole process far safer than what Ikuno had believed possible. As a magic-user, the oni couldn't help but feel a bit giddy from the prospect of trading her small collection of near flawless gems for some of even higher quality.
When Kal came out of the small restroom doing up his belt she passed the pouch and crystal for his vambrace off to him, "My turn," she said.
As Ikuno did her business, Kal restocked their rations from what she had on the shelves and traded out his heavier clothes for the trip to Felli's nest with something lighter and more suited for the last leg of their journey. He also took a few minutes to check in with the girls. Aradelle sent back that she was laying on one of her petals watching a small herd of deer grazing in her clearing, her appreciation that she didn't feel the need to take one for food came across very strongly. She blew him a kiss and let him know that she was looking forward to seeing him soon, hopefully with Perra.
Bea was relaxing in her nest with her chitin bodice unhooked and pulled off to the side running her hands over her flat stomach. Though Kal couldn't tell from the images he got from her, she let him know that she could just barely feel where her baby bump was starting. She also sent a warning to him that she had become extremely thirsty for something besides water or nectar. Since communicating through the bond worked more on images and feelings Kal found himself dealing with Bea's strong desire to taste his cum, leaving him making a strange face and trying to clean a flavor off his tongue that wasn't actually there. If he were to taste himself he much preferred it mixed with one of the girl's juices, as had occasionally happened in the past when he went down on them after filling them up earlier or a passionate kiss after he'd finished in their mouth. He was glad the women enjoyed it so much, but it didn't do anything for him.
Ikuno chuckled as she stepped back out into the living area, "That's our man, willing to make the big sacrifices for the sake of keeping his women happy."
Kal didn't realize the thought had been so strong he had broadcast it to the others. "You hardly have room to complain, you've been on the receiving end of that a few times," he grumped.
She bent down and kissed him, "I wasn't teasing you, dear. That was honest appreciation that you don't get bent out of shape about such things and put our pleasures in front of your own discomfort."
"Oops, sorry," he said looking slightly embarrassed.
"Nothing to be sorry for, I can see how what I said could come across as teasing. Are we about ready to go?"
"Just a moment," Kal reached out to Gerda but with as far away as she was all he could tell was that she was on her way back with Sandy. It seemed like such an odd name until Gerda clarified that those weren't their real names but actually their rock types, which would change as they got older. Sandy was the youngest of Gerda's sisters and the rocky parts of her body were made of sandstone, Bas's body was composed of Basalt, and Marble was self-explanatory. Gerda had felt that it should be their decision whether to give their true names or not.
Just to wrap things up Kal decided to check on Perra if he could. He quickly withdrew upon finding that she was working out in the field, pissed off because he wasn't there to help, sweating from the heat, cranky, cramping, and worst of all, horny. His and Ikuno's fun in the shower seemed to have bled through to the young woman yesterday, combined with the vivid impression he had sent her at Rone's farm she was almost obsessing about feeling Kal's cock in her ass.
Kal didn't quite back off quickly enough and a moment later he heard, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!" almost as plainly as if Perra had been standing next to him along with the image of her about to take off the pendant and put it in one of the pockets on the front of her work dress. A moment later his connection with the girl went dead. Kal and Ikuno stared wide-eyed at each other until a couple of seconds later when he felt her presence again along with the equivalent of a mumbled, "Sorry. Stay out," before the connection with Perra faded until Kal could barely tell it was there.
Ikuno chuckled at the poor girl's predicament and picked her pack up, "Ready to go?" she said looking back at Kal who was staring intently at her. A second later her eyes widened as his presence in her mind seemed to fade. "Kal! Stop that!" she nearly yelled, her face starting to get panicked.
"Sorry!" he said looking sincerely apologetic as the bond returned to normal and the oni relaxed. "I didn't know that would actually work!"
"What did you do?" she asked.
Kal searched for a good description for a few seconds before replying, "You heard Perra yell at me a minute ago," Ikuno nodded, "now it's like she's whispering but way over there," he said pointing towards the back of Ikuno's library. "I wanted to see if I could do the same thing."
Ikuno's annoyance was plain, "Congratulations, you can do it. Now don't ever do it again," she said with finality. "When our bond faded like that it felt like you were dying even though you were standing right there."
"I'm so sorry, Ikuno."
The oni sighed, "Don't be, I wasn't aware you could do that either or I would have let you know. Promise me no more shocks like that please?" Kal nodded, still feeling bad for what he had done even if it was by accident. "Are we ready to go now?"
Kal did a quick final check and shouldered his pack, "Lead the way."
As Ikuno came nearer to the eastern mountain pass and the road that ran through it, she let Kal down off her back so they could approach quietly. They didn't want to go barreling across the road and run into, in the very literal sense, a merchant caravan. They were also being extra cautious because this was a prime area for bandit raids on those tired from the trek through the pass. Ikuno's mood turned fouler the closer they got to the road.
"What's wrong Ikuno," Kal finally asked, seeing the scowl on her face as the road came into view through the trees.
"Bad memories, ones I thankfully have not had to repeat since I met you," she said. "To be honest, Kal, I don't want to tell you, but maybe talking to someone besides 'Dell will help. Some of us monster girls are slaves to our nature. Felli and I spoke about it before we came to wake you up that morning. She chose that cave so that her 'husbands' wouldn't be able to run away, at the same time she couldn't blame them for trying to escape. She would wait until she was almost mad with lust before taking a new man and from her descriptions the experiences weren't pleasant for them."
Ikuno sighed, "Before you, I was hardly any different. The men I took to bed were little more than victims and I was no better than my green-skinned kin, nearly fucking them to death before letting them go. For that reason, I stopped taking men from the villages as soon as I found another source. The villages in the area were young still and they needed their men" They stopped just inside the last row of trees and carefully looked up and down the road before quickly crossing. Once hidden in the forest again she continued her story. "Instead, I started hunting bandits and this area was my favorite hunting grounds. I'd find a party, determine that they were actually bandits and not some band of adventurers who happened to camp in the wrong area, and pick which one I was going to take with me. After that, I'd wade in with my club and take them all out but the bandit I wanted. Out of worry that it might bring the Order down on my head, I never used magic to kill them. I'd take him and one of his friend's corpses along with, stop by the pitcher plant girl and drop the corpse in telling the living one that if he didn't please me that would be his fate as well."
The trail opened up in front of them again as they got further from the road. Kal was thinking it was about time for him to climb up on Ikuno's back but kept silent. Unlike many other stories she had told on their journeys, the oni wasn't enjoying telling this one. In fairness, Kal wasn't enjoying hearing it either but he understood it was something important she needed to tell him.
"Of course, I was lying to them. I'd take them back to my cave and take what I needed from them over the next few days, getting a decent performance for the first couple out of fear alone. Once they were too bruised and battered to get it up I'd drag them back to the pitcher plant girl for a final round of ecstasy before they died. It's also how the pitcher plant developed a preference for 'softened' prey, which I'm sure Sir Michael didn't appreciate." A smile came to Ikuno's lips at the memory, the first one since she started speaking.
"How many did you save?" asked Kal.
The oni was taken off guard by the question, "None of them, I killed every bandit I saw."
"Not bandits. Merchants, adventurers, settlers, travelers, how many of them did you save trying to deal with your overwhelming lust over the century you've been here? Tens? Hundreds? Even thousands of people may have safely passed through this area just because you needed some dick." He held up his hands to stall any attempts to interrupt him, "I won't say that you weren't a vicious bitch going about getting that dick. However, as upset as this has made you, I believe you didn't take into account the unintentional good you have done."
She stopped and stared down at him, "You realize I have been beating myself up ever since we got together over this dark period of my life."
"I kind of assumed that from how you've been acting since we came to this area, so yes."
"You realize that I've been worrying myself sick that you would judge me a horrible person for the things I did here."
Kal nodded slowly, unsure where she was going with this.
"You realize that despite my personal anguish over this, your response was, 'Wow! You were a vicious bitch back then!' right after making me actually feel good about all of the horrible things I did."
Kal gave her an uncertain smile, "Yes?... Sorry?... I really don't know what to say here Ikuno. Did I do a good thing or a bad thing?"
The oni closed her eyes for a moment before answering, "You did a very good thing but in a way that makes me feel silly for spending months being worried about it."
"So, I did a good thing, but I did it in a way that makes you feel bad. So, I did a bad thing too."
"Yes… No… Wait…," said Ikuno, her face screwed up in confusion. Kal was having a hard time not laughing over how flustered she was. "Ah, fuck it! Nevermind!" she said throwing her hands in the air and striding down the trail. She only made it a few steps before realizing that Kal wasn't following.
Looking back, she saw Kal standing in the same place. With an exaggerated sigh she knelt down, "Come on, it's still a good way to Silma's cave,"
Kal walked over and climbed up on Ikuno's back, pointing forward he yelled, "Onward my good steed!" in a deep voice.
Ikuno turned her head to look at him, "You may want to wait until after you've been to one of the bigger cities before saying things like that."
The joking smile on Kal's face turned to confusion, "Why's that?"
"A lot of humans think monster girls are strange. Wait till you get to a big city, you'll find out that humans are far weirder. Haste rune please."
Kal activated the rune and pushed the magic into Ikuno, "what does that have to do with calling you my steeeEEED!" he said gripping the oni tight as she took off running.
Ikuno yelled out over the wind whipping past them, "You'll find out!"
"I must say I expected something more like your place when you mentioned her cave," said Kal as he slipped off Ikuno's back. He was looking over at a rock face that sloped away from them, on the surface was a fissure the shape of an eye turned on its side. It looked kind of like… Kal shook his head to clear the thought, he was starting to believe he had sex on the brain a bit too much.
"How far is it to her cavern once we get inside?" he asked.
"As far as actual distance, I couldn't tell you," replied Ikuno, taking her pack from Kal and shouldering it. "The path runs mostly east as it descends and will likely take us the rest of the day to get there. There's a fissure that extends all the way up to the surface that keeps good air circulating through the area where she makes her home. With luck, you won't need that very much," she said indicating the mask Kal was securing around his neck.
"I hope you are right, I prefer being able to talk to people," he said as he finished with the mask and began pulling on his steel plated gloves. "Why not go to the fissure and try to find a path from there? It sounds like it would be a lot closer."
"I considered that when planning this trip. First, I don't know where the fissure breaks the surface or how big it is, I only know of it from what Silma told me, so we could end up wasting time finding it only to discover we can't fit. Second, there are large razor-sharp pieces of obsidian all over the bottom so even if we found it on the surface, floating down would be extremely dangerous. Third, and probably most important, protecting ourselves from the heat of her cavern will put a big drain on our magic. As you know my immunity to hot and cold comes at a price," she said tapping one of her golden horns. "Each time I've gone to see her I've been nearly empty by the time I got back to the surface. It's likely that this will be a much longer visit than any of the others."
"Good point," said Kal, fighting down his nervousness. Ikuno had given him an idea of what to expect when they got to Silma's home and now that they were about to enter the caves to take them there, anxiety was rearing its ugly head.
Ikuno could feel his fear through the bond and wanted to comfort him, but it had been Kal's choice to do this. He had a very strong desire to get his first rune with ink powerful enough to actually go on his body and not the vambraces. Not all of the bandit victims she had told Kal about had gone to the pitcher plant, a few of them she had dragged down to Silma after meeting her, so the salamander could sate her needs as well. She knew what Kal was in for and couldn't help being a bit scared for him herself.
To distract him she pulled a small vial out of a pouch on her pack. Pushing some magic into it, the potion inside began to glow a light red color. "Here, drink this," she said, drawing his attention from his internal musings as she pushed it into his hand.
"What's this?" he asked. Kal pulling out the stopper and took a small whiff before holding it away from himself and making a face showing just what he thought of the concoction.
"I told you to drink it, not smell it," said Ikuno with an exasperated tone. "This will allow you to see in the dark as I do."
"You want me to drink the whole thing? The last time you gave me a potion it was only a few drops."
"That was to last you until you got back to your farm, this will give you night vision for the next two days."
"I see," he began unhooking his waterskin from his pack to wash the foul-smelling potion down with, but Ikuno stopped him. "You have got to be kidding me," he said glaring at her.
"Sorry, Kal. No water for the next hour or it will dilute the potion and not last as long."
Kal groaned then eyed up the vial before tipping his head back and dumping it into his mouth, swallowing quickly to try to keep it off his tongue. He wasn't entirely successful. Once he had swallowed the last couple of drops he tilted his head forward again. With his eyes still closed as he dealt with the horrible taste, he stoppered the vial and handed it back to Ikuno. "That was awful," he said when he could finally speak. Looking up at Ikuno he asked, "do I at least have neat looking red eyes like you now?"
"Kal, it's full daylight out and my eyes are still green, the red is only visible in darkness."
"I know, but I was hoping for something more immediate to make it worth the flavor."
Ikuno just chuckled and started walking towards the entrance to the caves. Kal followed behind swishing spit around in mouth still trying to clean his palate.
Ikuno stopped once the cave ahead was no longer lit by light from the outside. Turning back, she looked at Kal. "There you go, glowing red eyes, just like you were hoping," she said. A few seconds later the oni snorted with laughter. Kal was gazing intently at her, the floor, and the surrounding walls of the cave, almost as if expecting red beams of light to shoot out of his eyes.
He smiled at her when he was done staring at everything, "The way the runesmithing book explained it, I was thinking things were going to be all kind of strange colors. Near as I can tell you and I seem to be glowing a bit but everything else is the same."
Ikuno nodded and started walking down the tunnel again, "What you were expecting is called infravision by the wizard who originally made the spell, it makes things a bunch of odd colors and things that give off heat are brighter than things that are colder. Not terribly useful in caves that are a uniform temperature. The potion I gave you is for something called darkvision, things that give off heat still seem brighter, but you can see a lot more detail and make out colors too."
"Why use the other one then?" he asked.
"Infravision can let you see through things to an extent. If you were hunting and there was a bush in front of you, infravision would allow you to see the rabbit hiding on the other side. With darkvision you wouldn't see the rabbit until it came out from behind its cover. Also, imagine for a moment there's a tunnel off to the side up ahead and some warm-blooded monster was waiting to ambush us. We would be able to see the reflection of their heat on the other wall with infravision. Again, we would just have to be cautious approaching the tunnel if using only darkvision."
"They both sound like things I should eventually have on my bracers."
Ikuno shook her head, "I think it would be wiser to have them only as a backup, if at all. With as little power as they take and as long as the spells last, it would probably be more useful to learn the drawn or held versions if you can manage."
"Speaking of held spells, I've been practicing!" Kal held his hand out flat and Ikuno watched as the magic circle slowly formed above his palm. Gradually all of the sigils and glyphs filled in and with a final pulse of magic, the circle collapsed into a small flame that floated just above his palm.
"No broken fingers, I'm impressed," said the oni with a smile.
"It's only a cantrip level spell, but it's a start," he said tossing the flame from hand to hand before letting it fade. "No more flint and tinder needed for campfires!"
Ikuno rolled her eyes as they continued on their way.
"Well fuck," said the oni as she studied the cave in before of them.
"Look up Ikuno," said Kal pointing at the roof of the tunnel just before the collapsed section.
Turning her eyes to the ceiling, she saw the hand-sized gouges in the rock Kal was pointing at on the edge of the cave in. "It was intentional, which doesn't make me feel any better but I'm glad you saw that. Can you check and see if I might be able to punch our way through?" she said summoning her club.
Kal filled himself with magic and peered intently at the rubble with his glowing eyes as he put a hand on one of the rocks and sent out a pulse of magic. Even after he could no longer see the pulse he could still sense it move through the stone. He removed his hand and looked at Ikuno, "No luck, it's caved in as far away as I can follow." The oni was giving him a strange look, "What?" he asked.
She reached out and teased his hair for a moment, "Give you some white hair and some jet-black skin, you'd make a handsome dark elf with those lavender eyes."
Kal raised an eyebrow, "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Nothing," she smiled, "There's a side tunnel a little way back that we are probably supposed to take according to whatever caused the cave in."
Kal cinched his gloves down, "I don't like the idea that we are probably walking into a trap."
"You don't look like you are getting ready to run back to the surface."
"Neither do you," he said to the oni, "You know more about these tunnels and what we may encounter than I do. If you aren't scared than neither am I."
"Fair enough." Ikuno dismissed her club held out her hand to cast the finder spell, "Take me to Silma," she said, and the small purple flame went dancing off the way they had just come.
They retraced their steps and the little flame turned down the tunnel that Ikuno had expected. After walking for another hour the tunnel widened just before opening up into a large, roughly circular room.
Ikuno looked down, from the end of the tunnel to the floor of the room was a drop of about twice her height. It was easy to see that the room was not a natural structure both from its shape and from the unnaturally smooth floor. Leaning out of the tunnel and inspecting the walls, Ikuno saw hundreds of small marks left by the room's creators. The work was far too shoddy to have been dwarves or elves, even orc and goblin stonemasons did better than what she was looking at. Based on the stonework alone she would have guessed at some lower intelligence animal but the near-perfect symmetry of the room suggested something with more brain power. At a bit of a loss, she turned to Kal who was now standing beside her.
"Looks like we found the trap. Unfortunately, I can't tell what is trying to trap us," she told him.
"It looks almost like some kind of arena. Any idea what might need this much room?"
"Nothing I can think of," Ikuno replied deep in thought, "it doesn't match anything I've encountered so far. I think we need to assume that whatever it is built this because it needs a fair amount of space, so it must be pretty large and yet still has to be small enough to fit through there," she said pointing to a tunnel matching the one they were standing in on the other side of the room.
Kal nodded, "Shall we?" he asked, the strength rune on his bracer glowing.
"Normally I'd say no. However, we are on a timetable with this trip. Unless you can think of any reason not to…" Kal shook his head in response. "So be it," she said and jumped down.
Kal landed next to her a moment later, his eyes again glowing purple instead of blue because of the darkvision potion. They cautiously made their way across the large room watching and listening for any signs of movement. Kal was just starting to hope that whatever made the room had moved on when they heard a noise behind them.
A large rust-colored section was detaching itself from the wall behind them, they watched as four armored legs pulled free of holes in the wall followed by four more on the other side of the creature. Its legs made an oddly metallic clanking noise as turned towards them. Two beady black eyes on stalks regarded Kal and Ikuno for a moment before it turned sideways and stretched up to the tunnel they had just dropped down from. With a good deal of scrabbling on the rock, it finally climbed up into the tunnel and hunkered down, effectively blocking any escape as it began loudly snapping its larger right claw.
"Giant crabs?" Kal had seen smaller freshwater crabs by streams and rivers but nothing this size. When it had stopped to look at them its eyes had nearly been level with his own and it was now taking up the entire tunnel, which had widened a fair amount before reaching the room they were in.
"Not giant, those live in the ocean, just very large. I would be excited about a good meal being delivered to us, but something doesn't feel right," she said, warily eyeing up the creature preventing their escape.
As Ikuno spoke the crab's loud snapping was answered from the tunnel they had planned on exiting out of. Kal and Ikuno turned to face the new threat. Two more large, rust-colored crabs dropped to the floor in front of the runesmith and oni while a final large crustacean took up a guard position in the exit, much as the first one had.
As Kal backed away from the approaching crabs Ikuno summoned a magic circle and pressed it to the ground in front of her before quickly stepping back to where Kal was. A second later a swirling column of fire shot upwards to about the height of the tunnels and quickly spread off to either side creating a wall of flame. A staccato of snapping and clicking noises erupted from all four of the crabs, the one in the exit tunnel directed its attention to each of the other three while making the noises with its large and small pincers. Kal came to the sudden realization that they were communicating.
"They're intelligent," he said with a frown.
"I noticed," said Ikuno, wearing the same expression. "If they mean us harm, and things certainly look that way, we will still have to kill them to get out of here." A magic circle that Kal hadn't seen since Ikuno's fight with Sir Galen appeared in front of her hand. "The eye stalks and joints on the legs are a crab's weak spots, they also have a very difficult time righting themselves if flipped on their back. What the…?"
Kal was equally confused as the crabs walked through the wall of fire without giving the extreme heat the slightest consideration. He and Ikuno separated as the crustaceans finally cleared the flames, one of them slowly advanced on Kal as the other seemed to look between the human and the oni in confusion. Kal took the brief moment to remove his pack with its valuable cargo and toss it to Ikuno. Since her opponent had made no effort to engage her yet, she placed both their packs against the back wall before readying herself for battle.
Ikuno held her hand out and a crescent moon of energy shot out at the crab's face striking the base of the eyestalk but almost immediately dissipating and doing almost no damage other than leaving a silvery streak on its reddish-brown shell. The crab's eyestalks had withdrawn as the bolt struck, tucking away under the front lip of the shell. The oni scowled as they emerged unharmed. Two more of the moon-shaped cutters hit the front of the crab as the wall of fire behind it finally dissipated leaving a faintly glowing line in the floor from the heat. Ikuno had hoped that the first bolt's ineffectiveness had been a fluke but quickly learned that wasn't the case. The two most recent attacks again appeared to have no significant result other than leaving shimmering scars on its shell. Even stranger, after being attacked three times it still had yet to advance on her.
The crab in front of Kal seemed much more interested in him than the other was in Ikuno as it cautiously and purposefully bore down on him. Kal took advantage of its caution and tied his will to the floor directly in front of the crab. When it stepped over the trap, his strength rune shone brightly as he punched upwards. The stone column impacted the crustacean right behind its face and sent it flying end over end backwards. His relief at possibly flipping the crab onto its back was short lived as it tucked in its legs and made a roughly ball shape with its body as it flew through the air. When it landed with a metallic clang the momentum rolled it back into an upright position where it quickly spread out its legs and stood there a moment getting its bearings once again.
Kal pressed the attack by taking a small circular area of the column he had just made and pushing it towards the crab forming it into a spike at the end as he attempted to run forward, pushing the spike in front of him. The whole process was far too slow and the large crab just bent down and let the spike hit its shell, easily snapping off the thinner point. What really caught Kal's attention was the metallic ring the crab's shell made as the stone hit it. "Oh no," he whispered to himself as he looked over at the oni.
Since magic attacks weren't working, Ikuno figured it was time to crack some shells the old-fashioned way and summoned her iron club. Upon seeing her weapon her shelled opponent finally seemed to take an interest in her and began moving towards her. Ikuno heard the sound from Kal's attack on the other side of the room, but with the advancing crab drawing her attention, she failed to understand its implications. Taking the club in both hands she brought it up for an overhead swing that should turn the crustacean in front her into mush.
The crab's larger claw snapped closed on the iron club but with the oni's enhanced strength it made no difference as the weapon slammed down onto the right side of its shell. A sound like a gong rang out and the crab was driven to the floor from the force of the impact, its legs splayed out to either side. The strike also knocked loose the fine layer of rust covering the iron shell which slid off as it continued to ring for the next few seconds revealing the shiny metal beneath. The iron crab now had a deep indentation in its shell complete with divots from the spikes on the oni's club.
Ikuno fared no better in the exchange, the shockwave from the impact ran back up the iron club into her arms causing her to drop the weapon and scream in pain. As she stumbled back and fell to her knees Kal was right there healing her. He hadn't had time to warn her before the massive hit but ran over as quickly as possible to deal with the aftermath. Ikuno was panting from the pain in her arms when he reached her and Kal could understand why as his healing rune went to work. While none of her bones had broken, the shock from such a blow had badly damaged the softer tissues nearly up to her shoulders.
As the pain-deadening aspect of the healing rune kicked in she was finally able to speak, "side pouch on my pack, the blue vial is a healing potion. Hurry, the other one is starting to come this way." Kal nodded that he understood and Ikuno hissed in pain as he released the healing spell and jogged to the back wall where their packs were. Retrieving the potion, he quickly infused it with magic before he removed the stopper and poured it into her mouth. Kal then quickly returned to the other side of the room, leading the uninjured crab away from the mending oni.
Geomancy was proving to be too slow to deal with these creatures and Kal was running out of space as the crustacean drove him toward the back of the room. Kal's shield appeared for a moment and the strength rune shined as he slapped the crab's larger claw away. Using the momentary respite, he glanced back at the wall behind him. With his enhanced strength he jumped backwards, being careful to not jump too high and smash his head into the ceiling. Using the trick Gerda had taught him, he anchored his feet to the stone of the wall about three-quarters of the way up, his strength rune making it easy to stand straight out sideways. Kal's hope was that he was high enough that the crab would have to turn to reach him, making it unable to bring its dangerous larger claw to bear.
Movement off to his side caught Kal's attention. Two beady eyes from the crab blocking the entrance tunnel peered around the corner with an expression that Kal could only guess was surprise, it was a strangely comical moment that made Kal smile despite being in the middle of a battle. On the other side of the room, he saw a flash as Ikuno's club disappeared, a few seconds later magic circles formed in front of the oni's hands as Ikuno continued healing herself. He was surprised to see that the crab Ikuno had hit was still alive but plainly in no mood to fight. Despite the front two of its four legs on one side hanging limply and refusing to work, it was trying weakly to back away from the woman who had hurt it so badly.
Scraping of metal on rock below him drew his attention downward and Kal's eyes widened as the crustacean stood leaning against the wall on its rearmost legs, stretching up to reach for him. The crab was having a hard time balancing as it extended the larger claw and chose to keep it tucked in close to its body as it reached out with the smaller one.
Kal batted the pincer away with a gloved hand but underestimated how nimble the smaller claw was. It dipped out of the way only to flick back in and clamp down on his glove. Small ridges on the inner edge designed to keep prey from escaping caught on the sides of the metal plate attached to the back of his hand. Those same ridges now prevented the plate from turning and allowing the claw to remove Kal's fingers.
The crab began dragging Kal's hand towards its mouth. In a moment of panic, Kal produced a column of stone from the wall beneath him with his other hand and used it to punch the creature away from him. For a moment he thought the crab was going to take his arm along with as it flew backwards but three of the steel plate's four attachment points gave way and the smaller claw snapped closed on thin air as Kal yanked his arm back.
He held up his ruined glove and growled in frustration. Kal hadn't gotten lucky enough to knock the crab onto its back and it had already gathered itself and was starting to approach him again as he ripped the last rivet out of the leather and tossed the metal plate out onto the floor. The large crustacean suddenly seemed to forget the human existed and pounced on the piece of metal like a cat on a fleeing mouse. Kal watched in disbelief as it quickly picked up the piece of steel and ate it. It's eye stalks swiveling around looking for more before turning back toward Kal and starting to approach him once again.
"Ikuno, do you have any iron or steel on you? Buckles? Anything?" he called out.
"No, my buckles are all made of brass. Why?" She yelled back. The oni had seen the crab pounce on something and eat it but had been concentrating on finishing up healing her arms and didn't see what it was.
Kal's shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat, which didn't quite work out the way he expected since he was still standing sideways on the wall. He carefully stepped down onto the column he had just made and dropped off the end
"What are you doing Kal?" asked Ikuno when she saw him loosening his gloves.
"I have a hunch. They're looking for food, but they aren't interested in eating us," with the strength rune still glowing, Kal ripped the steel plate that went across his fingers from the damaged glove and walked up to the crab that had been attacking him moments earlier. It ducked backwards as he held the plate out, it's eye stalks tucking themselves under the lip of its shell.
As Kal stood there it cautiously came forward, its eyes peeking back out and its smaller claw gingerly reaching out to take the steel plate from the human. Instead of eating it, the iron crab skittered over and stretched up, passing the piece of metal to its friend blocking the exit, who quickly brought it to its mouth.
"Fuuuuuck… I liked these gloves too," Kal griped as he ripped the remaining plates off the other glove. When his former opponent dropped back to the floor and turned around, Kal held up the other finger plate so the crabs could see it before turning around and tossing it up to the blocker of the entrance. The crustacean deftly snapped the piece of steel out of the air and munched it down within seconds.
Ikuno joined him as he walked over to the injured crab. "Now I feel bad," she said, "it would probably have never approached me if I hadn't summoned my club. Could have saved us both a lot of pain."
The crab shied away from them, along with two of its legs the big claw was now dragging on the ground and one of its eyestalks tilted forward, looking at the floor in front of it. Kal was pretty sure it was no longer working as well.
"It looks like it's dying. Is there anything we can do?" Kal asked.
"Apart from sticking your hand in its mouth and trying to heal it from there? I don't think so," Ikuno replied, "everywhere else is covered in iron and will just try to absorb the magic. Just so you know, I will NOT let you stick your hand in its mouth."
"Not everywhere," said Kal, handing the steel plate to Ikuno and lifting up the limp eyestalk. "This is going to be gross," he said. Holding the stalk in one hand Kal held his other hand over the eye then paused for a moment. Looking to the side he saw the other large crab looking between him and his companion, the one camping in the exit tunnel doing the same, he could almost swear that they both looked worried for their friend. Kal shook his head at the strange thought.
Steeling himself, Kal placed his hand on the crab's eye, finding it to be glassy and smooth instead of wet and slimy as he had expected. The healing rune on his vambrace lit up and Kal directed the magic down the very center of the stalk and into the large crustacean's body. Is was very touch and go as he had to get the magic to the places that needed healing but avoid any parts of the body with high concentrations of iron. It took a full minute before he started pouring energy into the rune with confidence that he wasn't just wasting magic.
The eyestalk in his hand quickly stiffened but the crab didn't try to pull away, as if it understood that Kal was trying to help it. It took another full minute before the large claw started moving again, its two front legs reviving a few seconds later. Kal continued to heal the creature for a few more moments until the magic seemed to vanish all at once. Like normal, everything that needed healing was done and the healing magic began spreading out, up until it touched one of the crab's iron body parts.
He stepped back and sighed in relief as the large crab flexed its legs and claw to make sure everything was working. As Kal healed the injured crustacean its friend had stayed a small distance away. It now slowly approached while snapping and clicking its claws together. Ikuno's opponent partially turned and responded with its own series of snaps and clicks, seeming to show off its working claw and legs. The oni shook her head, she'd heard of crustaceans working together but this was on an entirely different level.
Kal looked over at Ikuno who was still holding the steel plate from his glove. "I'm going to fix the wall and floor," he said before walking over towards the stone columns he had created.
The dented crab watched Kal for a moment as he pushed the column back into the wall then turned towards Ikuno, eyeing up the metal in her hand.
Ikuno held out the piece of steel, "Truce?"
The iron crab carefully took the metal plate from her and quickly ate it. The way it looked at her then dipped its front for a brief moment, Ikuno could have sworn the creature just nodded.
With no more food available and their friend healed the iron crabs quickly lost interest in the travelers. Kal and Ikuno watched as the one blocking the entrance jumped down and carefully reinserted its legs into the holes in the wall they had come out of. It then settled itself into the depression for its body until it once again looked like a large rusty spot on the wall of the cavern. The other three made their way out the exit tunnel, the crab blocking it helping the dented one up by grabbing one of its legs and pulling as it stretched up sideways. As the first crab retreated down the tunnel the one with the dent turned and assisted the last one the same way.
Ikuno got a small running start and ran partway up the wall before grabbing the lip of the exit and pulling herself up, a moment later Kal landed lightly next to her, his strength rune fading as his feet touched the tunnel floor. The passageway on this side was much wider than that of the entrance and had the same stonework patterns as those in the room. It was now easy to see that the crabs had used the slight hooks on the ends of their large claws as chisels to form both room and tunnel.
They stopped and waited as two of the iron crabs inserted themselves into their own slots in the wall while the one with the dent continued on to disappear down a side tunnel. After what sounded like splashing just around the corner it reemerged dripping water from its shell. By the time it managed to insert itself into its own hollowed out portion of the wall the shiny surface where Ikuno had knocked the rust loose was already beginning to turn reddish-brown. The large indentation from Ikuno's club meant that it didn't look quite as natural as the other three.
Kal poked his head around the side tunnel and saw a small pool that had been carved into the floor. More interesting than that to Kal was the large pile of dirt and detritus off to the right of the small room. Various coins and items could be seen poking out of the pile, as he entered the room he even saw a bronze bladed sword sticking partway out.
"Very nice," came from behind him. "Let's see if there's anything of value in here," she said drawing a rune in the air. Her eyes widened as she stared at the pile, "I was thinking we need to stop on the way back, but I don't think this can wait," she said as she approached the pile and started digging through it.
Kal focused on the pile he could tell there were actually quite a few things that were significantly magical in the heap. Ikuno reached her target first and pulled it out, brushing the dirt off and cradling it almost reverently. A couple of seconds later Kal dug his hand into the pile and pulled out… a stick. His disappointment faded as he continued pulling and eventually ended up with a wooden staff.
"For my first real magical item I have to say this isn't quite as exciting as I had hoped," Kal said as he brushed the dirt off the staff. It was exquisitely made with a type of wood he didn't recognize each end had an endcap, one gold and the other… Kal tapped on the metal, it looked like silver but not quite and seemed to be harder as well.
"Platinum, Kal," said Ikuno.
His eyes widened, he'd heard of platinum but had never seen the expensive and rare metal before. Looking at what Ikuno was holding he asked, "What's that?"
Ikuno was holding a small leather bag in her hands like it was made of finely spun glass instead. "This, Kal, is a true treasure if I'm right. A powerful artifact from long before I came into being and thousands of years before Prentas was was even a thought in his mother's mind." Kal was caught up in her words and was leaning over the nondescript leather pouch staring at it, his eyes filled with wonder at what it might be. "These are coveted by the most powerful beings in the land, Kings have risen to power because of them and Wizards have been brought low for them. Toss it into a volcano or burn it with dragonfire, neither will have any effect on it. And it works like… this!" Ikuno tossed the leather pouch up so it smacked Kal in the face. He was so engrossed in her story that he cried out and backpedaled when it hit him, the staff he was still holding onto barely kept him from falling into the crab's little pool as he shoved it back behind himself to keep from falling over.
"Ikuno! Dammit!" he yelled, the oni was on her knees wheezing with laughter.
"I'm sorry," she said between guffaws, "I wasn't going to do that, but you were leaning over so close with stars in your eyes staring at it that I just couldn't resist."
Kal rolled his eyes and picked up the plain leather bag as he was about to speak he heard a metallic clicking coming from the main hallway. He and Ikuno looked over to see the crab with the dent staring at them, it looked between Kal Ikuno and the pile of refuse before wandering back towards his nook.
"What do you suppose that was about?" asked Kal.
"No clue, but I have a feeling that they are more intelligent than I was giving them credit for," she said wiping the tears of laughter away.
"Now that I've heard your fantastical tale about this," he said holding up the pouch. "Perhaps you could tell me what it is?"
"Actually, everything that I said about it is true, but those are stories for another time. It's a bag of holding," she said taking it from him. "It's true that some ancient magical civilization made them and that they are nearly indestructible. Whoever they were, they made thousands upon thousands of these, so they aren't nearly as rare as you might think."
"A bag of holding? What does it hold?"
"Anything. Everything. I don't know of any real limits other than you can't put living or sentient creatures in one. However, I'm not the best person to ask." Ikuno held the bag flat in her hand and called out, "Catalog," towards it like it was a name instead. A shimmering aqua colored opaque figure formed above the bag, Ikuno and Kal reeled back from its appearance. It took on the shape of a female sprite with tiny, useless wings with its hair spilling from its head in all directions hiding its face. What caught the human and oni off guard was the comically large breasts sprouting from her chest, the bottoms of them reached nearly to her knees.
The sprite lifted a hand and pushed the hair in front of her face off to one side. "How may I help you master?" she asked, demurely lifting her eyes to meet Ikuno's gaze. The sprite's eyes widened when she saw the oni's face, "Are you my new master?"
Ikuno shook her head and pointed over at Kal, "I'm not, but he will be."
The sprite-bag-thing spun around to look at Kal and was nearly thrown off her feet by the gigantic breasts. She took a moment to get her balance back before speaking. "New master, does this form suit you?" she said indicating her body.
"Umm… you can change it?" said Kal, hoping that he wasn't going to insult the little sprite-thing if he told her he didn't. As he spoke it sunk in that Ikuno was giving this bag of holding to him, his eyes flicked to her face with a questioning look but she was looking down at the magic item's avatar. "To be honest it isn't very appealing to me."
"Oh, thank the makers!" the little sprite cried out, its demure mannerism disappearing as its wings grew out to something Ikuno considered more normal for a sprite, Kal had only seen pictures of them in books so far. Her hair retracted to just longer than shoulder length and no longer covered her face while her breasts shrank to something more pleasant for her size. She stretched her arms up and tilted her head to either side, the tiny pops along her spine and neck made Kal realize that she was more than just a projection above the leather bag. Her wings started beating and she hovered a couple of fingers widths above the pouch before speaking again. "Do you invoke the right of victory?"
Kal was at a loss and looked up at Ikuno.
"He does, your last master was killed by the crabs in the last room he defeated those crabs."
The sprite turned back to Ikuno "First part checks as true, the second part is only partially true. Elaborate."
"He discovered that they were only looking for iron-based metal as food then healed one that I had damaged, a more accurate description would be that he befriended them."
"Statement checks as true. Right of victory invoked." She turned to look at Kal again, "I currently contain four items would you like to see them?"
"Yes?"
She landed and lifted up the opening of the pouch, four small balls of light flew out and dropped to the floor in a row turning into a large tallow candle, what looked like a healing potion, a small pouch containing magically infused chalk, and a tome on summoning.
"Nothing we need to look at right now," said Ikuno, flipping through a couple of pages in the summoning book before setting it back down. "would you put all of this back and grab whatever you can see in the pile over there, please?"
"My apologies, but you are not my master," said the hovering avatar.
"My commands take priority, but you can follow commands from her as well," said Kal.
The glowing sprite half turned back towards him, giving him a sly smile, "Nice, someone who gets how this part works at least." Waving her hand, the four items on the floor transformed back into little balls of light and flew back into the bag she once again held open. She turned to the partially searched pile and lifted her hand, stopping she looked back at Kal. "Were you going to come back and dig through this some more?" the sprite asked. Kal nodded. "Understood." With another wave, the entire pile of dirt and refuse from the crab's encounters changed into a ball of light that also floated into the bag. She turned back to Kal giving him a piercing glare, "You don't have a thing for sticking your dick into leather bags do you?"
Kal took a moment to get over his shock at the weird question while Ikuno covered her mouth trying not to laugh. "To be honest I've never thought about it before. So, no, I can't say as I do."
"Good, then you and I will get along just fine, unlike the last asshole who owned me. Call me if you need me!" she said before climbing into the bag herself. A moment later it laid flat against Ikuno's hand again as if empty.
Kal took the bag when Ikuno handed it to him, "Why would you give this to me? You found it."
Ikuno looked slightly embarrassed, "Because I already have one."
"Really? I've never seen it and you've never mentioned it."
"I keep it hidden, not from you, obviously. I just got into the habit of hiding it when I went out hunting and I don't keep much in it, only special items like my outfit I wore when I danced for you. I was going to mention it after that night but got a bit distracted and forgot about it."
Kal couldn't blame her as he smiled at the memory. After her dance, they had spent a good portion of the night making love, with her stopping partway through and disappearing behind the illusory black curtain again to remove the outfit. Instead of being upset that she had kept such a powerful item a secret, Kal took pride in making her forget about telling him. Then again, he didn't consider Ikuno's items as his own, even though she often did.
As Ikuno cast the finder spell again and they walked out of the little side room following it, Kal held up the leather pouch and called, "Catalog," the same way Ikuno had.
"Yes master?" said the ghostly sprite once she had appeared.
"First of all, my name is Kal."
"Understood, Master Kal."
"Second, what's your name? I'm not comfortable with calling you 'Catalog'."
"I don't have one, Master Kal. I am a magical construct whose purpose is to act as an interface and catalog for the items contained within me. I have no need of a name."
"I think we need to change that," said Kal.
"What were they doing in there?" asked one of the crabs as its friend came back, leaning its body away from the wall so its pincers were free.
"Playing in the trash," the dented one said rocking back and forth in an approximation of shaking its head.
"What are you guys talking about? It echoes in here!" came from the big room.
"Two legs are so strange, not only were they playing in our trash heap, but they were getting really excited about it too," the dented crab said as it began to insert itself into the wall again.
"Think they know something we don't?" said the other crab.
"Guys! You need to be louder I can't understand you!" came from the room below.
"Not likely, trash is trash. Goodnight," said the dented crab as it settled in.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"Guys?"
The heat was oppressive as they walked into the chamber where Ikuno said that they would be meeting Silma. It had been getting hotter and hotter as the tunnel descended into the earth, nearly a quarter of Ikuno's horns were black already and Kal was on his second crystal from fire resistance rune glowing on his vambrace. As Ikuno had mentioned at the beginning of the trip, there were a number of small side tunnels that seemed to be drawing in fresh air, so far, Kal hadn't had to use his mask. In the last hour or so the wind direction in the tunnel had changed as it got warmer, blowing up from somewhere hotter and deeper. They also hadn't seen any more side passages in that time.
The source of the heat was a slow-moving river of lava several paces wide that split the chamber, appearing and disappearing under the walls to either side. On the far side of the cavern was another tunnel that sloped downward and out of sight. Kal guessed that it was also where the breeze with the fresh air was coming from, the molten rock in the middle of the chamber turning it into the almost fiery wind that was currently blowing in their faces. While the lava entering the chamber was bright orange the cooler air formed large jet-black areas on the surface that cracked as the liquid beneath shifted, creating streaks of glowing orange before vanishing under the opposite wall.
Ikuno looked over at Kal, "Last chance, Kal, are you sure you want to do this?"
He took a few long calming breaths, beating down the rising anxiety, before answering, "Call her," he said with more confidence than he felt.
Ikuno nodded and produced a small stone from a pouch on her belt, she pushed a tiny amount of magic into it. A small sigil on the front of the rock began to glow orange-red, nearly matching the color of the river in front of them. Ikuno tossed the stone into the molten river. "Now we wait," she said looking at Kal.
Ikuno had given Kal no real clues of what to expect as far as what Silma looked like. He had seen non-magical salamanders by ponds and had been assured that she looked nothing akin to the small, green and black-striped, lizard-like creatures.
At first, Kal was worried that Ikuno had accidentally summoned some lava monster as the river of molten rock bulged and overflowed for a moment before a yellow-orange glowing head appeared. Hands soon followed and grasped the side of the channel pulling herself up onto the stone floor of the chamber. Silma's presence heated up the lava that had been pushed over the banks and it ran back to join the river's flow looking more like water than melted stone.
As she stood up a blast of heat washed over Kal and Ikuno making them both shy away and hold their hands up in front of their faces, at the same time ratcheting up their protections to deal with the extreme temperature. Kal lowered his hand to see a feminine form with a long tail sprouting from her lower back. Silma's body looked to be translucent at the moment with a bright yellow column running through the middle of her body that seemed to be made of pure fire. The column quickly faded, and her body began to darken, turning opaque as it started to develop a crust that looked much like that on the molten rock before it exited the room, complete with cracks that showed the glowing body beneath.
Silma stood there for a few moments as the orange glow between rocky plates on her body faded to darkness. The salamander began moving stretching her arms legs and body out as skin-thick sheets of rock fell from her body to shatter on the floor next to her feet. She reached up behind her head and cracked the covering that had formed over her head and face, peeling it apart as she leaned over until it fell on its own to the floor, the paper-thin rock coming apart in tiny pieces just like the others. Looking up, Silma regarded Kal and Ikuno with curiosity.
Kal was doing the same in return, it was the first time he had seen a woman without hair and while it was an intriguing, he couldn't say it was doing much for him. Far more interesting was her skin, it was smooth to the point of shining and black as pitch, making her features difficult to discern. On her front, the only thing that broke up the darkness of her skin was the way the light from the lava river played across the contours of her body and the irises of her eyes that glowed orange as if lit by an inner flame. It wasn't until she approached him and Ikuno that he got a good idea of what her face looked like and realized that she had a pair of fair-sized breasts. With the areola being as dark as the rest of her he hadn't been sure, even though he had been certain he'd seen them when she was still glowing. Silma's tail swished back and forth across the stone in agitation when she saw who had summoned her. Kal noticed random bright orange spots that seemed to run up her back that glowed much like her eyes did.
"You dress and look the same, but your skin is different," said the salamander, eyeing up Ikuno.
"It's still me Silma, my life has gotten much better since the last time we met, as such my skin has turned back to the blue it's supposed to be."
Silma nodded and looked over at Kal, giving a quick sniff in his direction she turned back to Ikuno, "This one doesn't smell like the bandit fodder you've brought before."
"He's not, in fact, he's the one to needs to speak with you. I'm sorry to say that I won't be bringing any more bandits down here, I have no need to hunt them with Kal taking care of me."
"That's too bad, I enjoyed not having to go to the surface any more than necessary." She turned back to Kal, "What is it you wish to ask of me, human?"
Kal wasn't sure if she had intended to be insulting or it was just her abrasive tone, but it was difficult to not get annoyed by how she'd said 'human.' Kal set his pack on the floor and pulled out the box with the Felli's egg in it. After opening the box and unwrapping the egg he held it up for her. "I need you to incinerate this, the ashes will be used for something very important to me."
Silma frowned at the egg, "I've no desire to kill children, now take that thing away before it cooks," she snarled.
"It's unfertilized and never will become a chick, the harpy that gave it to me assured us of that. I would not be here if there was even a slight chance I was killing a child."
Silma's eyes darted over to Ikuno who nodded, "He tells the truth, he helped the harpy out and the egg was freely given as thanks."
"I've known Ikuno for many years and trust her," said the salamander as she stepped closer, "Which is the only reason you aren't on your way to being a pile of ash right now. What do you have to offer me for doing this?"
"Me," said Kal.
"Offering yourself up as my servant? Pleasant as that might be," she looked him up and down in appraisal, "I can hardly believe that."
Kal shook his head, "Not as a servant and only for the next few hours, we need to leave this area before the magic protecting us runs out."
Silma only took a few seconds to think about it, "I accept, open your mouth."
"Silma," said Ikuno in a warning tone, "He's my lover, not some bandit I dragged down here from the woods. Also, Kal, you are going to want to strip down before getting any of her saliva in your mouth, it works like Aradelle's and Bea's dust."
"You're telling me this now?" asked Kal as he began to strip.
"If she just kissed you like normal then I wouldn't worry about it, you've both agreed to what's about to happen, the compatibility spell kicks in and clears all the other effects leaving you hard for as long as she wants. If she insists on doing like the bandits and spitting into their mouths so she doesn't have to kiss them, I don't know how the compatibility spell will react."
Kal turned to Silma, "You were going to spit in my mouth? Seems a bit degrading don't you think? Granted, I can understand it with the bandits."
"Don't question me, human," she growled as Kal finished undressing down to his bracers. He still got a little flash of excitement seeing the look of pleasant surprise on the women's faces as he dropped his trousers, even though it was usually much larger for Ikuno. With his clothes packed away, he stood naked in front of Silma with his mouth open cringing slightly.
The salamander hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and covering his mouth with her own. Kal's arms wrapped around her slender frame as their tongues dueled. As expected he became painfully hard in a matter of moments, but the lust craze never happened.
Silma grabbed him by his dick and pulled him over to next to the lava river. Looking down at the molten rock still terrified Kal even if he didn't feel the heat thanks to Silma's powers.
She put an arm around his neck then released his prick and put the other around his back, Kal responded by putting his own arms around her waist and pulling her close. "Hold on tight. If we lose contact, you won't live long enough to grab ahold of me again," she said as her body began to heat up, gradually glowing brighter orange until the spots on her back and tail disappeared. Moments later she took on the translucent look from when she first emerged from the lava. Before her eyes shone with an inner fire, now they were like looking into the heart of the sun, somewhere he thought Silma would feel perfectly at home.
Kal nodded and Silma tipped them into the river of lava, the heat from her body reducing the density of the molten rock to that of water and her powerful tail propelling them into the river's depths.
Ikuno tensed as she felt Kal's moment of panic when he and Silma fell into the river. It took a couple more seconds for him to convince his brain that he was actually safe, then a few more for him to begin focusing on the more amorous portion of what he was doing. The oni was honestly amazed by the man's adaptability.
She sent soothing thoughts to the other girls since they had also felt Kal's burst of fear, which was more difficult with the weaker connection between them compared to the one they all had with Kal. The oni then packed up the egg in its box and stuffed it into Kal's pack before hoisting it onto her other shoulder and heading back up the tunnel to cooler areas.
Knowing Silma, it would be a couple of hours before she brought Kal back to her. Heaven help the salamander if for some reason she didn't.
Kal tried opening his eyes and found it was easier just to keep them shut, all he could see was the yellow-orange glow of the opaque liquid they were in. After that he took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, trying desperately to ignore that he was somehow still breathing while diving in a river of magma. Just as he was finally convinced that he wasn't going to disappear in a flash of heat and smoke, Silma took a sharp turn away from the river and her swimming took on a more relaxed pace. The salamander's movement was also becoming a bit of an issue for Kal, when he pulled her close earlier it had trapped his cock in between them and her undulating, side-to-side swimming motion was rubbing him in some very pleasant ways.
Kal held on tight with one arm while bringing the other up and began running his hand up and down Silma's back while putting light kisses on her neck. Her swimming slowed even more as he moved up and began to nibble on her ear, an appreciative hum coming from her throat. Kal sucked on Silma's earlobe which must have been very sensitive for her as she jerked her head away with a playful squeal. Kal thought for a second that he was about to get a mouth full of magma when she pulled away but found that it seemed to stop right in front of his mouth without entering. He quickly realized that he was foolish for worrying, neither his nose nor ears felt like they were full of molten rock, this must be just another one of Silma's abilities. After pondering this for a moment he got an idea.
Now holding her with a hand on her back he brought the other one down to the base of her tail and applied pressure opposite of its movement, when she slowed he pressed his cheek next to hers and nodded vigorously. With a noise that sounded like a question, she came to a stop in the middle of the magma lake. Kal moved his hand from her tail to her thigh and pulled her leg around his waist, Silma doing the same a moment later with the other leg and wrapping her other arm around his neck. He rocked his hips forward and placed the tip of his cock at her entrance, a tiny bit at a time he pushed into her, giving her ample opportunity to pull away if she didn't want to do this. Finally, Silma gave a slight nod and Kal began to gradually slip into her sex. The salamander's pussy was dry but exceptionally smooth, offering little resistance as he sheathed himself inside her.
When he felt the tip of his cock brush against her cervix her hands came from his neck to his hips holding him in place. Once he was still she began propelling them through the magma once again, a tiny up and down motion added to the swishing of her tail through the melted stone.
The movement was doing a wonderful job of grinding Silma's clit into Kal's pubic bone and twice they stopped dead so Silma could hold Kal tightly with her arms and legs as her pussy convulsed around his cock. For Kal, the feelings were quite pleasant but not quite enough to get him off. After the second time they stopped she seemed to be giving herself a chance to recover from her last orgasm. Kal sought out her hand and held on with a death grip as he disengaged her legs and spun his body around, swimming through the magma as if it were water. He wrapped an arm around her waist and gently pried her legs back open, so he could lean forward and gently tease her clit with his lips.
As his cock brushed against her face she dove on it like a woman starved, taking him until he bumped the back of her throat and sucking powerfully as she pulled up. It wasn't long before he was bucking his hips up into her mouth on the verge of cumming when she suddenly stopped then pulled away. Kal groaned in frustration, the vibration from the noise nearly setting Silma off a third time. She took Kal's hand and spun him back around, this time facing away from her. Holding him tightly under his arms she sped off through the lava lake towards her destination as fast as her tail could manage.
Silma led Kal out onto what could be considered a beach where a gradual slope in the rock allowed them to put their feet down and walk out of the large magma pool they had just crossed.
Kal opened his eyes to find that even though he could see again, everything still seemed to be glowing.
"Don't let go yet," said Silma, the abrasive tone of her voice from before now gone. "My power protects you from getting damaged by the heat but doesn't prevent you from absorbing it. We need to move further away from the lake then we can molt and get rid of all of your excess heat."
Kal held out an arm and saw that it was his body that was glowing, even his vambraces were a bright yellow-orange. After swimming through magma for the last half-hour or more this was somehow scarier, somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that once they exited the lake he would be safe again. "Molt?" he asked.
"When I shed my skin earlier, it got rid of the extra heat so I could come and talk without setting you and Ikuno on fire. This time you will do it with me, after that you will be safe."
As they walked down the tunnel leading away from the magma pool it was strange to think that there was no magical light or darkvision, the tunnel was being lit up purely from the heat of their bodies. The salamander stopped where the tunnel widened slightly, Kal could feel cooler breezes coming through a couple of visible cracks in the wall and ceiling.
She turned and carefully put her arms around him making sure they were in contact the entire time. "Take off the things on your arms but don't lose hold of them or they will burst into flames," she said.
"Don't move until I do," said Silma once he was holding his bracers. Her body began to darken and Kal was only able to watch for a moment as the rocky crust formed on her body before his own sight was blocked by the molting process. It seemed to take a lot longer than when she had done it by herself but Kal just figured it was because it was happening to him and he had to stay still for so long. As they stood there quietly he could feel the heat being drawn from his body. A couple of minutes passed and Silma started moving, thin sheets of the rock like substance cracking and falling away from her. Kal started doing the same and after the last of the pieces fell to the floor from both him and his vambraces he looked down and saw that he was no longer glowing. As an added bonus he was also clean to the point of nearly shining… Kal looked again, something was wrong, he was too clean. With a gasp, he realized his arms, legs, chest, even his pubic hair, that he kept trimmed at Perra's request, were now all smooth as a baby's bottom, not a hair to be seen. With a sense of dread, he lifted a hand to his head but the cool air blowing across his scalp told him that was gone as well.
"I'd been growing mine out for two months before you and Ikuno stopped by. If I lose mine then you can lose yours," said Silma with a bemused expression.
"Fair enough," said Kal, "some warning would have been nice though."
"I didn't like you enough yet to warn you when we left Ikuno. By the time we got here, it didn't matter, it was this or wait nearly a full day for you to cool down."
Kal's eyes widened, "A day?"
"To go from my body temperature to yours without a pool to dunk you in? Yes." She said walking into the next chamber that appeared to be her living quarters. "Besides, it's a good look for you. Give you a nice long tail and some black skin with spots like me and you'd make a handsome male salamander."
"Umm… thank you?" Kal said wondering for a moment what it was with her and Ikuno wanting him to have jet-black skin all of a sudden. The room they were in was sparse but then he had sort of expected that. The chair and bed looked like they were made by an earth elemental with no signs of stonework but what really caught his eye was what they were covered with. "Mushrooms?"
Silma nodded, "Magmatic mushrooms, they grow out of the stone just above molten rock. Soft and extremely heat resistant."
Kal was still checking out the strange fibrous mushrooms when Silma quietly asked, "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Back in the lake, why did you do that?"
"Umm… I thought that because of your nature that would be something you would like. Was I wrong?"
The salamander smiled, "No, you weren't wrong. I've just wondered for the longest time what it might be like to be with a male salamander. I think have a good idea now." She stepped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "thank you for that, Kal."
Kal smiled, "I've been promoted from 'human'?"
"Yes, you have. For now, at least." She stepped over to her chair and knelt on the cushion of mushrooms, leaning on the back she relaxed a muscle that she had kept tense since Kal had first prodded her sex out in the lake. "I'm going to pretend you are a male salamander for a bit longer," she said pulling her tail off to the side in invitation.
As Kal slid into Silma's sex he noticed that now that they were both cooled off she was very wet, though it felt more oily than normal and the scent of her juices had a slight sulfur undertone. He had a feeling that going down on her later was going to be an interesting experience. He also noticed that even though he seemed slightly longer now than when they were back with Ikuno he still hadn't bumped into her cervix like before. Looking down and seeing that he was in the correct hole, though he planned on trying the other one later if she was interested, and seeing that she was enjoying herself he put it out of his mind. Kal picked up her tail and threw it over his shoulder as he grasped her by the hips and started to pick up speed, Silma's shrieks of pleasure bouncing off the walls of the small cavern.
Before he devoted all of his attention to the salamander girl, he sent an image to Ikuno of her moving up where it was much cooler and perhaps making camp for the night. She sent back that she was annoyed that she couldn't join them, though there was no real heat behind the sentiment, before telling him to have fun.
Kal decided to do just that and began slamming his hips forward, racing towards the release he was denied out in the lake. Burying himself in her pussy Kal emptied himself inside her, The feel of Kal's essence flowing into her body set Silma off for the third time that day and she screamed out her pleasure while her sex milked Kal for everything he could give.
With a little help from the strength rune, her tail was all muscle and heavier than it looked, he picked up the nearly unconscious salamander and flipped her over in her chair. "How about instead of a couple of hours we make a night of it?" he asked her as he slid back into her sex. Silma smiled and nodded, her eyes glowing brighter with a different kind of heat.
Ikuno wasn't really annoyed but she was horny now thinking about what Kal and Silma would be up to.
She set up wards to wake her if something dangerous came close. She wasn't terribly worried since Silma had explained long ago that she kept the tunnels around here clear of any animals, prey and predator alike. All things considered, everything short of a lava golem or a dragon was considered prey to the salamander.
Laying out her bedroll she thought about getting herself off before going to sleep and decided against it. Even though Silma kept the tunnels clear it was probably best not to tempt fate by filling them with her scent. Besides, if she needed it badly enough she knew Kal would make sure she was taken care of.
As she was about to nod off a thought came to her and she quickly dug out Kal's bag of holding.
After summoning the sprite, she told it of the purpose of their journey and asked if putting the egg in the bag would help preserve the magic inside it.
The sprite explained that everything that went into her came out in exactly the same condition, except sentient beings.
Once the egg was securely in the bag Ikuno laid her head down and went to sleep.
Gray clouds billowed around the oni as the scorched ground beneath her feet cracked and crumbled. It all felt so familiar, but she couldn't remember why, as though her memories were locked away somewhere.
Something was coming, she could feel it. It was searching for her. Fear flooded the oni and she crouched down, baring her claws and fangs while turning in every direction to face the oncoming threat which seemed to be coming from all sides.
Flickers of memories danced across her mind, standing stoic and unafraid in a variety of different poses for battle. She knew that those images were her and that she was supposed to be doing the things in those memories but could never grasp one long enough to glean anything from it.
A thunderous voice laughed at the oni, mocking her. "Look at how pathetic you've become."
The oni spun around and roared in defiance at the eyes lying just beyond the edge of the gray clouds, glowing with necromantic energy.
The voice laughed again at her display. "So puny, so sad, what are you going to do now that I've found you Ikuno?"
"Ikuno?... Ikuno!" the oni's memories came slamming back into her and she stood up straight with a snarl as the eyes looked on in confusion.
"What will I do?" she said holding out her hand, "this." The iron club appeared in her grip and Ikuno vanished at the same moment.
Lightning flashed in gray clouds and the cracked earth shook as the voice screamed in rage and frustration.
