* 56 * 1/12/13, 11/4/15

The way to the Mere was simple to find: all Lily had to do was follow in Bishop's footsteps and she was able to completely avoid harm or even detection from anything in the forest. The journey took them a few hours, so that by the time they arrived, the sky was navy blue going on black.

The two of them looked around and saw no sign of Elanee, but that didn't fool Bishop. He tried to summon Karnwyr once more and heard a deep bark originating from right in front of them. Their eyes were deceiving them.

"A barrier. I wonder if I can get through," Lily mused, casting a spell before Bishop even had the chance to call her stupid.

In the next second, Lily found herself on the other side. She gathered her senses and then spotted Karnwyr, a few meters off to her right. Looking behind her, she saw no sign of Bishop. She whirled back around and immediately came face-to-face with Elanee.

The druid's demeanor was hostile yet welcoming at the same time. Her expression was almost uninterested, but her brows were furrowed.

"Looks like the ranger isn't so out-of-touch with nature after all," she commented idly.

"Why did you take Karnwyr?" Lily demanded.

"Him?" Elanee brandished her arm to her left at the bright wolf. "Well, he got you here, didn't he?" Lily's eyes narrowed. Sensing her confusion, Elanee continued, "That barrier you went through is only able to be entered by one with enough will. However, it's not such a simple task getting out; you need fortitude for that," she explained with a chuckle.

"And you have both," Lily finished dryly, scowling at the druid. She was trapped.

"That is why balance is important. If too much of your power is vested in close-range combat, you won't be able to enter. However, since your interest is in spells...you won't be able to leave. Guess the ranger is out of luck trying to help you; this field can only be broken from the inside."

"What do you want?" Lily asked impatiently. She had never viewed Elanee as an adversary before, but with this intolerable bout of taunting, her mind was changing quickly. She tried not to hold it against her, however; she had to keep in mind that Elanee had been acting incredibly strange lately, and could very well require help herself.

"I want you to stay away from Bishop."

"I won't."

Elanee tsked. "You see, that's why I brought Karnwyr. The Mere has been possessed by unkind spirits recently. The wolf's mind is no match for the willpower of the Mere."

Lily gasped, the realization dawning upon her. "T…that's why you've changed! You're not even Elanee anymore!"

"It is only natural for druids with such a strong bond to the Mere to feel the effect," the shadow of Elanee explicated simply. "Now, are you quite sure you can't stay away from the ranger?"

"I can get close to whomever the hell I please," the wizard stated firmly, pleasantries ignored now that she knew this wasn't the Elanee she was familiar with. Just then, in reply to her insolence, a vine from the tree to Lily's left grabbed her by her ankle and pulled her upside down. Another wrapped itself around her right. Lily struggled, but groaned when she found it proved useless. She began casting Fireball, despite knowing some of it would hit her, too, but the vines surrounded her dagger and lifted it neatly out of her hands, enough of a distraction to interrupt her casting. Then they wrapped entirely around her lower thighs, twisting her right side up again as Elanee used a scroll of Blindness to prevent further irritation from the elf wizard.

"Karnwyr, sic." Dark Elanee's face contorted into a malevolent grin.

The wolf ambled toward Lily and started tearing her armor to shreds. Lily panted in fear as her skin was quickly exposed to the chilled night air, and she winced at the normally friendly Karnwyr's wild and hostile movements. The mad wolf focused on her slacks, and within seconds they were fully ripped through.

Without warning, Karnwyr's tongue then started sliding between Lily's legs, right up against the cloth material that covered her womanly slit.

"Agh!" Lily cried loudly, trying desperately to close them, but the vines held her legs wide open for the wolf. "Stop it!" she shouted frantically at the wolf, but Karnwyr only kept licking, torturing her in his perverted onslaught. Almost in reply, he grabbed hold of her panties with his teeth and ripped them off before settling his tongue back on her, this time with no barriers to her primed skin. She threw her head back and moaned loudly against her will, embarrassed beyond belief. She was already so wet from her heated encounter with Bishop, and Karnwyr was lapping it all up voraciously as her legs struggled weakly against her bondage.

Elanee's shadow laughed. "Unbearable, isn't it?"

Lily didn't want to admit it, but it was. Having any form of Elanee watch as her loins were being tasted made the elf close her eyes in humiliation. Despite this, she couldn't help but cry out when the wolf's tongue flitted repeatedly over her clit. She felt deep shame at the arousal that welled up inside of her because of it.

"The cold air adds a certain sensitivity to your skin, doesn't it?" the druid taunted, cooing as she walked over to Lily. She tore the other sleeve off of the sun elf's shirt. Lily made to hit Elanee, but the druid incarnate anticipated this and merely waved at the tree once more. A number of vines wrapped around Lily's wrists and cut slightly into her skin, holding her still, trapped. The doppelganger tore open a hole in Lily's shirt, almost revealing the sun elf's breasts to the druid. Lily cried out, beginning to pant hysterically.

Laughing, Elanee reached over to touch one of Lily's breasts through the cloth, playing with it attentively. "Soft and supple. They're lovely," she cooed with a smile. "I might want to see them for myself," she pondered aloud, moving to rip her shirt open.

When Lily almost kicked her, she only smirked and dodged easily. Spitefully, she grabbed the elf's shirt, gave her a sickeningly cocky smirk, and tore it wide, exposing Lily's bare breasts to the wood elf, just as the dark elf had wanted. Now she could see all she wanted to see. She lustfully eyed the naked elf's secret skin and drew her tongue victoriously across one of her orange nipples, flicking it leisurely and putting it inside and outside of her mouth. Lily cried out, utterly defeated. This continued over several minutes, minutes Lily endured her nipples and arousal being tasted by those who had formerly been her allies.

Then, the wood elf calmly walked in the opposite direction again, toward what looked to be an even larger tree than the one attacking Lily.

"Stop it," Lily ordered once more, her voice growing quieter. She found herself begging again, begging Karnwyr just like she had begged his owner, and just as she imagined he begged him himself. "Stop it, please..." All she could hear was the wet sound of Karnwyr's tongue sliding up against and inside her dripping folds, making her even wetter. She began panting, fumbling uselessly with her hands against the vines' solid grip as she felt herself quickly approaching orgasm. "I'm…hah…ahh…"

"Why...this...?" Lily managed to ask between breaths, desperately trying to keep her mind rational instead of being overcome by sensation. "Of all things..." Her hips began heaving upward and tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't think she was going to be able to stop it, even despite the malevolent druid looking on. She tried to speak again, but her voice failed her as her mind nearly succumbed.

"A form of torture...or is it?" Dark Elanee called from afar. "Bishop is not available, but you may have Karnwyr. See? He seems to like you a lot," she taunted as she watched the graphic scene between Lily's legs with eagerness, making the elf's face only grow redder as the wolf continued to slurp loudly. "Or at least, you may have this form of Karnwyr. He hasn't been feeling like himself today," the alter-ego proclaimed with a smirk.

Just then, a silhouette appeared behind Elanee. Clothed entirely in robes, the shrouded figure came behind the druid and held a large falchion to her throat.

Lily gasped, relief puncturing her overwhelming bodily sensations as her folds still withstood the wet torture. That's...Lorne's falchion! That could only mean...

Bishop's hood fell from his hair as he whipped his head around Dark Elanee's shoulder to look into her face. "Hmph. You're not the treehugger I'm used to."

The doppelganger shrieked. "How did you get in here?"

"Who cares?" Bishop spat. "Where's Li...ly?!" he finished, finally catching sight of the sun elf tangled in green and brown hues. Though it didn't register properly at first, he saw the wolf's head bobbing up and down freely between her legs, could hear the lapping of a tongue and ample fluids matched with Lily's tied, struggling hands and deeply blushing cheeks, and quickly realized what was happening to her. She had been completely captured, and not only that, but in one of most humiliating ways he had ever seen done to anyone.

Bishop's body trembled with tremendous anticipation at the scene, but he knew she badly needed his help, so he abruptly tried to stymy his intense arousal. With his free hand, Bishop waved toward himself and called, "Karnwyr!"

The wolf immediately stopped his tongue's onslaught against Lily's loins and obediently ran to Bishop's side. Lily gave a heavy, trembling sigh of incredible relief, instantaneously covering her chest and closing her bare, smooth, assaulted thighs as Karnwyr moved away. Her breathing began calming down bit by bit as she slowly downregulated from the intense sensations.

"What the hell were you doing to her? And to Karnwyr?" Bishop demanded, though he quite wanted to witness the scene again, if he were entirely honest. "I can tell this whole area is possessed; it smells of demons and dark druids," he added. And, something else, he thought with relish, eyeing Lily's tattered skirt and leggings.

Regaining but an ounce of her composure, Lily weakly suggested, "M-Maybe if we break out of here we can get the real Elanee back." She spoke as if she couldn't fully concentrate, drugged on sensation.

Bishop smirked, taking close note of her rare, wanton expression. "I thought you'd never ask. I'll take any excuse to get out of these stupid robes. Karnwyr!" The wolf's tail began moving back and forth. "Keep her detained," he ordered, gesturing at Elanee. "And not...like you did to the other elf," he added. Lily's face grew hot again. Bishop gave her an unapologetic grin.

Karnwyr tackled Elanee's doppelganger and kept his sharp teeth near her throat, prepared to bite if she tried to move. Bishop took the brief respite to change back into his leather chest armor, abandoning the robe along with its magic-enhancing properties. He approached Lily and cut the vines with his skinning knife, but as he did so, another came and strapped him across the back like a whip in the wound Casavir gave him.

Bishop swore, but Karnwyr had it under control: he had drawn blood from Dark Elanee's throat as soon as she had moved her arm, and the druid now lay still once more. Thankfully Bishop's injury had improved to the point that it wasn't tender to the touch anymore.

The newly-freed Lily got to her feet and made a beeline for the robe Bishop had just thrown off. Casavir would never let her go outside again if she came back wearing her current attire, her breasts only barely covered by the thin threads still keeping her top together. She thankfully had been able to hide herself from Bishop as soon as Karnwyr's assaulting tongue left her privates, but the damage to her clothes was too obvious to explain this one away to anyone.

"Hurry up. We still have to get back to the Keep, and no one's gonna leave you alone ever again if you're not there before nighty-night time," he mused sarcastically, echoing Lily's own thoughts.

As soon as the sun elf slipped the robe over her clothes, Bishop walked to her and picked her up under one arm. "Hey –!" she protested.

"You don't know how these barriers work, do you? You can't get out unless you've got enough strength." He eyed her for emphasis. "And it looks like you're gonna need to borrow some of mine." Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

The ranger approached Karnwyr, who backed up as his owner came close. Bishop picked up the druid incarnate in his other arm, then – in the blink of an eye – ran directly toward the barrier's walls. Upon contact, he broke through it, Karnwyr in tow.

The ranger then quickly but carefully lowered both elves to the grass; he wasn't built to carry that much weight in each arm for too long.

Lily stood. She looked curiously over at Elanee, who was lying face-first on the grass. She seemed to be passed out.

Bishop tapped her with his boot. "Get up."

The odd sensation snapped the druid back to her senses. "Ohhh..." she moaned, raising herself to her knees.

"Elanee? Is that you?" asked Lily, kneeling in front of Elanee. She was wary that the other elf might be faking.

"Lily!" she cried at her Leader's voice. She looked pained as she struggled to piece together where she was, how she'd gotten here. She had recalled barely a minute's worth of what had just transpired before she put her hand over her mouth in horror. "Lily, I... I don't even know what to say..."

"You remember...what just happened?" inquired Lily, feeling her face flush again.

"I'm so sorry. The Mere...it called for help today. It was being attacked – too many demons were trying to take hold of it. I felt its influence. I must have...turned."

Lily got to her feet again. "It's alright...I think," she said, wanting to quell Elanee's worries but unsure how she felt about it all herself. "Anyway, let's go back now." The sun elf desperately wanted to get back to the Keep now.

Elanee somehow managed to talk to Lily on the way back...but not even once did she cast a glance at Bishop.