Chapter 28: The Priestess’s Lie

Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Zanyia

The cloud of insects surged down at me, hungry. The world grew darker, an artificial night falling on me. My skin crawled. My stomach tightened. The swarm came at me from every direction. My tail swished. I had to go somewhere. I didn’t want to get devoured but—

Purple sprang around me.

A dome of mystical energy manifested a heartbeat before the insects engulfed my body. The bugs slammed into the shield. A great, angry buzz rumbled around me. It rattled my bones. I shuddered, goosebumps raising across my skin as I watched the insects crawling across the energy barrier. They pressed in on it. The dome rippled and bowed beneath the weight.

I grinned at them, big and toothy. “Take that, bugs! Aingeal just saved my cute ass!”

I couldn’t help it. I rolled over onto my hands and knees, I just had enough space to do so, and wiggled my rump at the bugs. I smacked my butt, my tail swishing from side to side. The angry buzz swelled, my ears twitching against the sound.

“Yeah, that’s right! Aingeal’s a sexy faerie, and she’s going to kick your ass!”

The insects burst away from the dome as Princess Ava’s feyhound body burst through the swarm of buzzing, angry bugs. They scattered around its wooden body. It landed on the other side, the insects boiling up into the air and forming into a new cloud, almost like a fist hovering in the air.

“Yeah, yeah!” I shouted. “Gods, you have great timing, Mistress Ava and Mistress Aingeal!”

“Aingeal says, ‘Your ass is too cute to cute to be eaten,’” Ava said, her voice sounding so weird coming out of the feyhound’s wicker mouth. It was so girlish, hardly distorted at all.

“But Mistress Aingeal, you love eating my ass,” I said, grinning.

“This is serious, Zanyia!” Princess Ava shouted.

Before I could answer, a purple ball of energy surged up into the cloud. The insects surged out of the way, scattering before the attack. Some fell broken from the sky, but a few dozen compared to the thousands didn’t mean much.

I shivered. They could really, really have killed me. My fingers flexed against the cobblestone. My tail went rigid. I almost died. If those bugs had gotten to me ... Who would take care of Master? He needed sex slaves to watch out for him, and he wouldn’t claim them on his own. I had to find more submissive girls to love him.

I couldn’t do that for my husband if I was eaten by a bunch of dumb bugs.

I curled up on my belly, grateful that I was alive. That Aingeal saved me. I watched the feyhound dart back and forth across the street, firing more balls of purple energy or waves of force, battering and scattering the horde. It split apart, coming at her from every direction. But what could they do to her body? It was made of woven wood. Their bites wouldn’t do anything.

I shifted, squirmed. My skin itched again, but not out of fear like before. I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to fight. I yowled and hissed. I needed to be free. I couldn’t be caged up. I could do something. I could ... could...

“Mistress Aingeal, let me out! Please! I can swat them out of the sky and ... and distract them so you can kill them.” Yeah, I could do that. Aingeal’s attacks were killing some. It was just ... slow process.

“Gods, are you crazy?” Princess Ava demanded before she leaped around. “You almost died. You can’t fight this.”

“But ... but...” I let out a frustrated yowl.

The purple dome suddenly contracted around me and spread beneath my body. I gasped as it lifted me up from the ground. I shifted around in a ball of purple energy, floating over the street. My head whipped around. What was Aingeal—

My stomach lurched to the right. I gasped as she hurtled the ball down the street, slamming through the insects. I smiled as they buzzed away, streaking in all directions to avoid getting swatted. A few splatted on the outside. A pleased purr rose in my throat. Aingeal had a sense of humor.

I loved it.

The ball of energy dropped me off before the Temple of Krab. It vanished, leaving me shaking my head, lying on my side. I sat up, snapping my head around to gain my bearings. Mistress Ava was right; I needed to find something else to fight.

Kora Falk

I formed another illusion of myself, clutching the amulet. My left hand tightened on the facets of the rubies as my right pointed at the formless, beige mound of ooze. Carsina charged in, wielding the diamond hammer. My fingers painted, controlling the illusion, my pussy juices evaporating off my fingers, consumed by the spell as paint.

“Here!” the illusion shouted, waving the gem. I made it glint, flow red. I had to protect Carsina. The ooze would kill her. She didn’t have Ealaín’s armor, and the aoi si warrior was having trouble not getting hurt. I couldn’t let the poor priestess die.

Not after failing to save poor Master Theophil.

The protrusions writhing to seize Carsina shifted around. The thing let out a loud burble of triumph. A tentacle surged out at my illusion. My hand squeezed down hard on the ruby, the facets biting into my palms. I maneuvered the lie I created. I couldn’t let the ooze touch my illusion. It would fall apart.