Chapter 7

Kal cautiously opened his eyes as he returned to the waking world, the heavy furs covering him instead of his normal wool comforter giving him pause. Smiling he remembered he was not at home and turned to the side to see Ikuno peacefully sleeping next to him. Though not as striking as the changes when he first returned to the cave, as he continued to visit her skin color had deepened to a rich cobalt blue and the triangular marks on her cheeks had become almost imperceptible.

Her backswept horns had almost completely returned to their normal golden color, with only the very tips still being dark. He had been concerned yesterday when he had woken up from his nap and the top halves were completely black, Ikuno had waved it off as nothing to worry about then proceeded to make sure he was too distracted to worry about it for the rest of the day and well into the night. At least he assumed it was into the night, Ikuno seemed to be able to tell what time of day it was just by smelling the air from outside, unfortunately, his nose wasn’t nearly that sensitive.

His bladder, on the other hand, was absolutely certain it was morning, as was his rock-hard penis. Quickly and quietly he slipped out from under the covers and padded barefoot over to the cubby in the back of the cavern that acted as a bathroom. It was little more than a hole in the ground with a quickly flowing stream just a few inches below that quickly swept away anything that fell in. Wincing a bit as he bent his morning wood downward at the hole he was about to start his morning routine when he noticed there was no water down below.

Deciding to not take a chance on making the cave smell like a chamber pot, Kal scampered out into the main area of the cavern. Grabbing the glowing rock out of his pants pocket he then dashed for the cave entrance, his bladder complaining uncomfortably at the delay.

A few minutes later a much relieved, and somewhat chilly, Kal came walking back into Ikuno’s home, looking over at the bed he noticed that Ikuno had shifted in her sleep. Now laying on her side, the twin cheeks of her blue bottom had become partially uncovered. Kal smiled and quietly walked over to pick up the jar of salve, carefully kneeling behind Ikuno’s rear he forced himself to stay his normal size as he coated his prick with lube. In a single motion, he spread her cheeks and slowly began sliding his dick into Ikuno’s backside.

Ikuno came awake with a start and a moan, accidentally shredding a portion of one of her blankets with her claws at the unexpected pleasure coming from her rear. “Dammit, Kal,” she panted, “A little warninnnNNGG!”

Kal allowed his enchanted prick to grow from normal to oni-sized inside her rear as she spoke. “Good Morning, Ikuno! Thought this would be a nice way to wake you up.”

The oni couldn’t help but think that his tone was far too bright and cheery for someone who had his cock buried in her ass.

Ikuno ground her rear against him, “It was a very nice way to wake up. Unfortunately...” she squeezed his cock so tight it was almost painful then slid forward making him slip out, and nearly dragging him with, “I have other plans for you today and I’m going to need you to have a nice big load built up for later.”

“Ikuno...” Kal’s eyes pleaded with her as his member bounced lightly in time with his heartbeat.

Ikuno sat up and kissed him, “If it hasn’t gone away in a half an hour I’ll take care of it. Right now though, let’s get washed up and get something to eat, we have some traveling to do.”

Much to Kal’s annoyance, his erection had gone away before they reached the mouth of the cave, and well before Ikuno’s deadline. Carrying only some soaps and linen towels they headed up the same mountain trail Ikuno had made her breakneck run the day before. Thankfully, the sun had warmed and taken the chill out of the air since Kal had been outside earlier. He still wasn’t nearly as comfortable being naked outside as Ikuno but watching her rear sway in front of him with occasional flashes of her glistening sex as they walked towards her waterfall kept his mind off his nudity.

As they neared the ledge where her shower was found Ikuno said over her shoulder, “There have been some changes since the last time you were up here.”

Kal looked across the ledge and his jaw dropped, there was a huge basin in the ledge that was slowly filling with water from the waterfall’s runoff. “When did you do this?” asked Kal.

“Yesterday while you were sleeping,” she replied, noting that her new pool had only filled about a quarter of the way since she had left it, “I wanted to make sure we could enjoy ourselves without worrying about me getting drunk on magic again. Look here,” she said drawing his attention to her horns, “they’re almost back to normal again.” Taking him by the hand she pulled him towards the waterfall, “Come on we have places to be, let’s get washed up.”

Ikuno luckily remembered to warm the water from the waterfall before they stepped under it. There was almost as much touching and teasing going on as washing and more than once Ikuno seriously considered letting Kal have his way with her since he was giving as good as he got in the teasing department. Somewhere amidst all of this Ikuno managed to explain that once the pool was filled and the rest of the stream down the mountain was flowing normally her lavatory should start working again.

Soon enough they were on their way back down, Kal in front this time much to his dismay. Back in the cave, Ikuno made them breakfast as he put together a small lunch and some snacks for their trip, Ikuno staunchly refusing to tell him where they were going, though she did tell him why. Kind of.

“In order for you to practice you’re going to need more of those strips of leather which means I need more ink to make them. Since I used the last of one of my components we need to go and get more.”

“This component we are getting requires me to have my balls full?”

Ikuno’s face fell in the realization that this particular condition was a dead giveaway to her surprise she had planned, “Yes,” she said.

“I think I pretty much figured out why. Ignoring the conversation from yesterday with Perra. Are you okay with this?”

She nodded, “I meant what I told her, yes I’m okay with this. Are you?”

Kal looked thoughtful, “To be honest I don’t know. I think so, but I guess we won’t find out for sure until we get there.”

Packs ready and appetites sated they struck out. Their goal was a few hours to the north, so they had to make their way over Ikuno’s mountain as well as one other before they came upon the flatter forested land that held their destination. On the far side of the second mountain Kal called for a rest, he was fit from working on the farm but trudging up and down a couple of mountains was making him sore in muscles he didn’t know he had.

Kal kicked off his shoes and inspected the soles, “time to go see the shoemaker again, these are nearly worn through.”

“Do my man’s feet hurt? Does he need to be carried the rest of the way?” Ikuno teased.

Kal glared at her, “Your butt flap ‘accidentally’ got flipped up and stuck in your belt so I’ve been getting teased by that sexy ass of yours for the last few hours. Do you really want to put me in a position where my mouth is that close to your ears and neck?”

Ikuno’s eyes widened, and her face flushed, “Okay, no piggy-back rides then.”

“Aside from that you are insistent that my balls be full when we get where we are going, and if I’m rubbing against your back for the next couple hours I don’t think that will happen”

Ikuno flushed deeper purple as the thought of Kal spraying across her...

“Definitely, no piggy-back rides,” she said breathing heavily, the boy was annoyingly good at teasing her back.

The path ahead was wide and looked to have been fairly well traveled at one time. Looking back Kal could see where it veered off to the east as it met the base of the mountain. It likely made it’s way to the main road east of here then on through the mountain pass and into Perra’s old village.

Since they were able to walk side by side Kal decided to ask Ikuno what she knew about the origins of monster girls.

“I have a couple books about them you could read back at home,” she offered.

“I will probably look through them,” said Kal, “however, by your estimation, I’m going to be having close relationships with some of them. I figure I should learn all I can, and you tend to know more than what the books can tell me.”

“You’re too perceptive sometimes Kal,” said Ikuno smiling, “Here’s the story you won’t find in the books: The original monster girls were created long ago by a powerful wizard named Prentas as a means of defense. Opposed to killing people, he created the monster girls to provide a more pleasant and non-lethal alternative to the normal spike traps and pitfalls, so he populated a large area of forest around his tower with them. It worked for a time. But eventually, more powerful people started putting together all-female adventurer groups. The monster girls had a driving need to have sex with men but would let a woman pass through the forest unscathed.

“What happened to the women?” asked Kal.

“If the stories were true, nothing bad. Most of them came back out with riches well beyond what their original employers intended to pay them. A few of them claimed to feel wonderfully well fucked, but not all of them, and none who leaned more towards other women than men. On the other hand, all of them did claim to have felt ‘very useful and appreciated’ but none could recollect exactly what had happened inside the tower.”

“He seems to have been a decent person.”

“By almost all accounts he was, just a bit of a recluse.”

“What happened then?”

“What do you think happened?” Ikuno asked.

“A forest full of monster girls more than willing to have sex with a man just for the fun of it, I imagine they showed up in droves.”

“And you would be correct, one of the edges of his forest bordered on a plain with a small river nearby, soon there was a town which turned into a small city, named Te’thalas after one of the wizard’s past lovers he was very fond of. Te’thalas quickly turned into a large city as supporting trades came in to keep up with demand. In less than a decade, it was the third largest city in the land, which was beginning to make the top two very nervous.”

“That doesn’t bode well.”

Ikuno shook her head, “No it didn’t, first they leaned on the King of the land where Te’thalas was located to do something, up till now he had been happily collecting the city’s taxes but when he marched his army to the city to ‘restore order’ he realized his mistake. Te’thalas was made up almost entirely of immigrants who had no loyalty to the kingdom but a great deal of loyalty towards the city that put food on the table, kept their people happy and the men’s dicks wet.

“The city had been growing too quickly to erect walls or battlements as its borders were pushed further outward each year, so the decision was made for every able-bodied man to step up and defend the city out on the field. Written accounts of that day say there were rows upon rows of men in armor, with at least two hundred magic users behind them and beyond that a sea of peasants and tradesmen. The men in armor alone outnumbered the king’s army three to one. According to those who were actually there most of those ‘men in armor’ had only barely managed to cobble something together that vaguely looked like armor and of the two hundred magic users less than a dozen had any real power, the rest barely having the skills to light a candle. Regardless, with such a show of solidarity, the king turned around and went back to his castle to mourn the loss of all those taxes since the city declared itself a sovereign state that day.

“Sadly, Te’thalas’s victory was short-lived, two weeks later the full military might of the largest city, Montar, marched into the area. With no time to build defenses, the response was the same, every able-bodied man and more than a few who weren’t so able-bodied, took the field. The result, however, was far different.”

“The army of Montar was an elite force that had many paladins and clerics wielding holy magics, they quickly took out the city’s few magic users and after that it just became a slaughter, the well-trained soldiers killed every defender to the man, ignoring those who surrendered, pleas of mercy, and running down all who tried to escape. Once the men were all dead they marched into Te’thalas and hunted down all of the ‘heathen’ women and children.”

“Holy hell...” Kal whispered, disgusted that another human could be so cruel as to kill defenseless women and children.

Ikuno hung her head as she remembered the tale as it had been told to her, “They didn’t stop there, from Te’thalas they marched straight into the forest ruthlessly slaughtering any and every monster girl they could find. When nearly all of the ones in the outer forest had been eradicated the began moving in on the tower, that’s when they tripped one of Prentas’s wards.”

“Those poor girls,” Kal looked up at Ikuno and asked, “Where was he during all of this?”

“In Montar. The Montaran king had sent a special envoy to get him away from the city so they could attack, on the pretense of welcoming and opening relations with the new kingdom. When he felt his wards tripped he used a very powerful form of magic he had developed called teleportation to instantly take him back to the castle. What he found broke his heart.”

“In a fit of grief and rage, Prentas killed every one of the attacking forces. Paladins, clerics, knights and even squires, anyone who had anything to do with the army died in less than a minute. Seeing his work there done he used his teleportation magic to go back to the Montar city.”

“Uh-oh...”

“Uh-oh is right, unfortunately, I can’t tell you what happened after that,” said Ikuno cryptically.

Kal was indignant, “What! Why not! That’s just cruel Ikuno!”

The oni smirked then laughed, “Sorry, Kal, but I can’t tell you because no one knows.”

“How can no one know?” he asked confused, “it was the largest city in the land!”

“You are correct it ‘was’ the largest city,” she said enjoying teasing the boy, “if you go there today all you will find is a lake that is an almost perfect circle known as Lake Montar.”

“Noooo ... he destroyed the entire city?” Kal asked in barely above a whisper.

“He did, though no one knows quite how since there were no survivors. When he returned to his tower he locked himself inside and didn’t come out for a full year. When he finally emerged, he was a broken and frail man unable to forgive himself for the death of his city or his creations but mostly he couldn’t forgive himself for all of the innocent lives in Montar taken by his own hand.”

He spent a week preparing for his final spell, on the day of casting he said goodbye to the remaining monster girls that had survived the attack as well as a sprite named Kithala who was his most trusted friend and companion for many years. He stepped into the magic circle and used all the magic stored in the tower as well as his own lifeforce to cast his spell, burning his body to ash in the process. From what they were able to tell the spell raced across the earth transforming animals, plants, rocks, and various other things into monster girls seemingly at random. A decade or so later my shrine had soaked up enough of this magic that I was able to come to life.”

“Wow, so you are kind of a ‘first generation’ monster girl,” said Kal.

“I guess I’ve never thought of it that way but yes, I suppose I am,” Ikuno said standing up a bit straighter before laughing at her own silliness.

“Whatever happened to the tower?” asked Kal.

“Time took it and it eventually crumbled, but the original monster girls still guard where it used to stand,” seeing Kal’s confused look she continued, “the original ones were meant as defenses for the tower and were made to be immortal, but sterile. Kithala wrote that after the attacks he spent the year in solitude trying to change them into mortals and allow them to have children as his last gift. However, they refused, wanting him to give their gift to the world instead of just fixing them.”

“You’re lying,” stated Kal.

Ikuno was so taken aback she stopped, “What? I am not!”

“I can tell in your voice Ikuno, you didn’t read what Kithala said, she told you in person didn’t she?”

Ikuno huffed, “You are far too damn perceptive for a farmer boy.”

Ikuno noticed something on the trail ahead and stopped Kal.

“We’re almost there so I suppose it’s time I tell you a bit more about what we are doing here. Off in the woods, there is an alarune. Her name is Aradelle and she’s a good friend of mine, we’ve been lovers more than once and she’s always been kind enough to take the edge off times when I hadn’t been with a human in a while.”