Chapter 12

“Stop!” the larger sandworm called out.

Kal froze, worried something went wrong and Kashka’s cloak wasn’t working as it should.

“What are those?” she shouted, pointing at his boots.

Suppressing a sigh of relief, the mage rolled his eyes, “They keep me from burning my feet on the hot sand! If you want to mate, it won’t happen if I’m walking on blisters!” he yelled back. A small rune on his leather mask amplified his voice enough to make the old woman in his arms wince. “Oops, sorry,” he muttered.

“None of the other tributes wore them!” the other sandworm yelled. She had no idea what a blister was.

“Yes, they did!” he shouted, exasperation and annoyance creeping into his voice. “they just wore sandals instead of boots!” he said. The old woman helped by letting one of her leather thongs dangle from her toes as an example.

“And what’s that thing on your face?” she asked, this time pointing at his mask.

“The same thing everyone else is wearing. It just looks different,” he snapped back. “Are we going to do this, or am I supposed to stand here holding this woman while you ask questions?” His acclimation spell kept him comfortable as far as the temperature, but he could feel the sun’s rays soaking into his shoulders already. His skin had gotten noticeably paler since he left the crop raising to Perra and the farmhands but the past weeks out on the desert gave him much of his tan back. Even so, he didn’t want to stand out in the sweltering heat all day.

The two worm-women exchanged a look before the larger one waved him forward.

After a few steps, the old woman laughed quietly. “You know, yours is the first manhood I’ve touched since my husband died,” she said.

Kal smiled and glanced down at her wrinkled, wizened face. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Though you did have a point. I should have asked first before touching you.”

“It didn’t hurt as much as I expected and was nice, in a way. Not many men are interested in a woman needing constant care.”

The mage’s face darkened, “I try to be a good man, but if a woman approached me with your injuries, I would have difficulty seeing beyond them.”

“It’s alright. I appreciate your honesty. Tell me, where did you get the collar you gave me? It looks like those used by slavers, but you don’t seem like the type.”

“No, I’m not a slaver, but I rescued some dog-girls from slavers last year. Those were their collars.”

“You’re friendly with the monster women?”

He smiled. At times Kal forgot the effectiveness of the magic in Kashka’s cloak. Despite walking less than a pace from the old woman’s head, the lady still hadn’t noticed the cat-girl. “I have several as lovers. They aren’t nearly as possessive as people claim when they know you care about them and will come back.”

“They chose well. You seem like a good man.”

“Says the woman I’m carrying to her death. I don’t feel like a particularly good man right now.”

“I say you are a good man because you don’t like it.” After a brief pause, she continued, “Thank you for giving my end a little extra meaning. Did you know the other people the worm killed?”

“Sorry, but no. Turam told me about two just before you arrived, and the other was the reason for all the screaming earlier.”

“See? It makes it easier when you don’t know their name.”

“I also never touched them, talked to them, carried them across the desert, or saw them naked.”

“That’s fair,” said the old woman as they approached the sandworm.

The worm’s lure looked on with disgust as Kal walked beneath her and set the old woman down in front of its maw. The lady hissed as her bottom and back touched the hot sand. Checking the worm-woman’s position to be sure she couldn’t see, Kal quickly drew out his acclimation spell on the lady’s body and activated it.

“Thank you, young man,” she said as the hot sand beneath her cooled dramatically. It was still warm but no longer burned.

“The meat bag can’t even walk on her own?” said the worm-woman as she descended toward them on her tether. “At least she can’t run away. It’s a good thing I ate earlier, or I’d send her back.” Her attention turned to Kal and she leaned forward, inspecting him with a malicious grin, “You, however, will give me a strong brood. Though I would have preferred the big man,” she said, glancing over his shoulder, “you will do nicely.” Kal guessed she was talking about Turam.

The sandworm’s lure drifted uncomfortably close as she looked him over, staring at him like a piece of meat, not in a sexy way but like an actual piece of food. The mage took the opportunity to get a closer look at her as well. Were she not attached to a gigantic worm, the woman would have been stunning. Her hair and eyes matched the color of the surrounding sands though her irises were a little more yellow. Kal had to rein in his curiosity about the texture of her pale and delicate-looking skin to keep from reaching out and touching her. He already got in trouble for that once today. The lure-woman’s breasts were as large as possible without looking strange for her build, and she had “good child-bearing hips” as the phrase went. No hair sprouted around her pussy, but Kal quickly shifted his eyes down. The thought of having sex with the gigantic beast, even if this part looked human, turned his stomach. Below the wide hips, its legs were lithe and lightly muscled. The mage considered the look odd as he doubted it did much walking and guessed the mild definition helped entice men. Besides the tongue-like attachment on her back, the only real oddities were the lack of a belly button and her limp posture.

“I thought I was going to be with that one,” asked Kal, confused.

“Once she collects your seed, she will give it to me, and I will give what I collected earlier to her,” said the worm-woman patting her lower belly.

“Really? How does that work?” he asked.

“First we—” the sandworm paused, then her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “Quit stalling. I’m eager to have my first brood.” With a sly glance at the smaller sandworm, she looked at his crotch and said, “but first...”

Dipping down, she tried to capture his cock between her lips, but the mage hopped away. He didn’t know if he’d be able to have sex again if one of these things touched his dick. The thought was just too disgusting. He did think it odd that neither of the sandworm lures seemed to use their arms or legs much. Most women would have reached out to grab him with her hand first, but when she tried to get him in her mouth, her arms hung limply from her shoulders and feet dragged in the sand.

Perhaps if Prentas’s spell had turned them into something more like a lamia, the idea might be palatable, but these strange creatures who treated humans as little more than meat were just too alien. He felt like a hypocrite since the same process that created his monster girl lovers left these creatures dependent on humans to reproduce. But they became strict predators instead of working with the humans, viewing them only as a source of food and offspring. Seeing the cruelty in the worm-woman’s eyes, he doubted that would change.

“You have your tribute. I’m for the other one,” snapped Kal before turning sharply on his heel and walking toward the smaller sandworm. Smaller was certainly a relative term. The other creature’s open mouth was the width and height of his farmhouse, though the tooth-ringed opening at the back of the smooth, conical mouth was roughly a pace across.

Glancing at the cloaked cat-girl walking silently beside him, he asked, “How are we doing, Kashka?”

“It would be better if they were closer together. This one won’t be a problem since I have a clear line to the lump you spoke of, but part of the first one’s mouth is hiding it from this angle.”

“Ria?”

“Kashka needs to stop now if I’m to make sure I can get the woman her collar before that mouth closes,” said the invisible sprite. “We need to hope they can’t snap it shut or we’re already too far away, but it didn’t when eating that man, so it seems unlikely. However, if she stops now, I won’t be able to react quickly if you need something.”

“Stop here then,” he muttered, deep in thought for a moment, “Once Bozun is in the thing’s mouth, I need to drive it underground. At that point, Ria, I’ll need the other improved decoy stick.”

Ria giggled, “It’s going to love how that feels when it goes off in its mouth.”

Kal didn’t have time to tell the avatar his plan as the other worm-woman was looking at the area around him suspiciously, “Who are you talking to?”

“I often talk to myself,” he lied. Glancing to the side, he saw Kashka back where she stopped, turned around and kneeling to make herself less visible. “You watched me walk out here with the old woman, and she’s back there. Who else could I be talking to?”

The worm-woman glared at him. “Get over here,” she demanded.

Kal walked a little closer but stopped just shy of the lure’s estimated range. Smiling, he held his arms out to either side, “Come and get me.”

The sandworm’s lure snarled as a flurry of lights streaked towards the human’s back to become the man’s clothing and a long stick. “What is this?!” she shouted.

Kal ignored her as a speck of light floated into view then dove for the sand to deposit its contents. Holding his staff like a club, his strength rune lit up as he swung above it. Bozun’s body appeared, and the staff went sailing over the assassin’s head. As he regained his balance from the wild swing, the mage realized he didn’t consider the corpse’s position when Ria stored it. For some foolish reason, Kal expected Bozun to appear standing up, ready to be knocked into the worm’s mouth. Instead, the assassin’s body arrived sitting on the desert sand, where it promptly fell over.

The mage kicked Bozun’s legs to the side in an attempt to align him toward the sandworm. Lifting the corpse on the end of his staff by the gut, he tried to fling the dead man into the worm’s mouth. Unfortunately, corpses aren’t incredibly good at balancing on the end of a stick, and the desert’s giving surface is a poor foundation for throwing something heavy. Despite Kal’s enhanced strength, the assassin’s body landed only a few paces in front of him.

Magic tendrils sprung out from Bozun’s stomach, and Kal activated his rune for curing poisons. As he ran over to the corpse, he realized they weren’t the expected toxin. From the worm-woman’s lack of reaction, he guessed he was the only one who could see them. Kal hesitated for a moment as one reached out for his chest, locking onto him then straightening out. Spinning his staff through the tendril disrupted the connection, but it reformed a fraction of a second later. Other than magically connecting him to somewhere in Bozun’s corpse, which was extremely worrying, it didn’t seem to actually do anything. Another affixed itself to the pouch containing his mana crystals while others latched onto his staff and each boot. More of the magic tendrils sprung from the body. Some reached out for Kashka and Ria, while others quickly spanned the distance to Turam and his men.

Kal jammed his staff into the sand and grabbed Bozun’s foot when he felt the drain on his magic. It was barely perceptible, but it was there.

The worm-woman sped past him, retracting into the sandworm’s mouth as he glanced down and saw energy flowing down the tendrils and into Bozun’s gut. The mage’s eyes widened when he noticed the familiar glow of a charging mana crystal buried within the assassin’s body. Beside the crystal were some runes he couldn’t make out. Kal filled himself with magic so quickly it made his eyes hurt, and the runes came into sharper focus. One sent out the tendrils to draw in the magic around it and push it into the crystal. The runes next to it were charged but waiting.

On the first, he made out the symbol for “Full” but stopped upon seeing the glyph for “Shatter.” He didn’t even look at the other two.

“Kashka! It’s not poison! He’s going to explode!” yelled Kal as he yanked the assassin up by the leg. Spinning around, he sent Bozun flying into the sandworm’s closing maw.

The worm froze for a moment as the lure shrieked in fear. Her mouth opened up again but only long enough to launch the assassin’s corpse out in a blast of foul-smelling air. Activating his speed and strength runes, Kal darted over and grabbed the man’s legs before he hit the ground, using the body’s momentum to toss it back in while yelling for Kashka.

As Bozun once again sailed into the sandworm’s mouth, just above the corpse flew a black dagger that found purchase at the base of the lure-woman’s tether.

The larger sandworm looked on with annoyance, wishing her smaller counterpart would just rip the mask off the man’s face and get to collecting his seed instead of letting him play around with the limp, and possibly dead, human that appeared out of nowhere. She didn’t take notice until the black dot appeared inside the other worm’s mouth, and the creature’s lure went limp.

“No!” the sandworm howled in rage as she watched her hopes of having a brood dangle lifelessly from its tether. Her fury was cut off by a tiny knife piercing her head right between her eyes, with another larger one sinking into where a human heart would be a fraction of a second later.

The blades in the lure were merely an inconvenience, but the two stings near the top of her tether were far more worrisome. It took her a moment to find the cat-girl holding up another of the smaller knives, ready to be thrown. Shooting upward to protect the small lump of flesh, the sandworm began closing its mouth. A pained cry from below informed her the old woman had crawled onto one of her mouth’s lower lobes and was being lifted inside. The old hag helped the human male ruin her chance to have a brood. She would enjoy slowly eating her later.

The sandworm pulled the knives free of her head and chest before letting them drop, paying no attention to the tiny speck of light that slipped between the closing lobes and dove toward the human. Marking where the cat-girl with the throwing knives stood as her mouth closed, she lifted her body up and tried to crush the odd-looking female. She didn’t feel the satisfying squish of the weird-looking human getting flattened but did get to enjoy the pained shrieks of the old lady bouncing around as she dove into the sand.

Kashka’s dagger kept the worm from spitting Bozun back out but left Kal with another problem. The crystal in the assassin’s corpse looked significantly larger than the one in the old lady’s collar. If it cracked while above ground, it would definitely kill him and Kashka, but could also kill or severely injure Turam and many in the caravan as well.

The sandworm sat there shivering as it dealt with the loss of its primary mind, and he had no idea when the dead man would explode.

Kal pulled his staff from the sand and yelled, “Ria! Stick!” as he activated his strength and speed runes. When next to the worm’s side, the mage used his boots’ ability to create a solid foothold before jumping onto its back. As he sailed upward, Kal saw Kashka dart to the side as the larger sandworm lifted up and tried to crush her. Kal figured the best way to get it to burrow into the sand was to attack it from above and jammed his staff in between the smaller one’s segments. After almost a full second of waiting, the mote of light with the decoy stick finally touched his outstretched hand. His strength rune flared, smoking slightly as he pulled up on his staff to pry the rock-like layers of the worm’s segments apart. Charging and activating the stick, he tossed it into the gap. Knowing he didn’t want to be this close when the improved decoy went off, he jerked on his staff to free it and make his escape, but the weapon didn’t move.

Pushing more power into his strength rune, he tugged on the staff again, but it remained stubbornly stuck. Looking where he tossed the decoy stick moments ago, he quietly said, “This is going to hurt,” before powering both strength and healing runes. At the last moment, he added the haste rune as well for its added protection. The glowing copy of the haste rune hovering over his vambrace was still spinning up when the stick’s activation delay ran out.

The pulse knocked him backwards, overcoming his magically strengthened grip on the staff to send him tumbling along the sandworm’s back. Above the stick, the worm’s stone-like shell shattered, revealing a patch of thick, leathery skin while the segments in front and behind cracked. Pain drove the worm out of its stupor as the shockwave damaged soft tissues before reflecting around inside the creature. Before Kal could get to his feet, the worm shook and dove into the sand.

“Ria! Store my staff!” The mage yelled as the fleeing sandworm dragged his weapon toward the desert surface. At least he thought he yelled. His haste rune didn’t spin up and activate until after the wave of sound sent him sprawling, leaving Kal with only the protection from the strength rune. The spell saved him from significant injury but did little to protect things like his ears. He could only hear a high-pitched ringing as he jumped from the burrowing sandworm to the desert below. Kal threw himself into a forward roll as his feet hit the sand and came up running toward Kashka. The cat-girl still had her feline arms and legs from dodging the other worm’s attempt to crush her. Seeing Kal’s face, she turned and bolted ahead of him on all fours.

Behind the mage and cat, the very end of the fleeing sandworm’s tail flipped up in the air from the steep angle of its dive. As it sank into the Sulerin sands, the crystal in Bozun’s gut collected enough magic to activate the trap. Though it meant nothing to the worm, maniacal laughter emanated from the assassin’s corpse for a second before the mana crystal shattered.

Those on the surface felt as much as heard a deafening crack from below just before the desert beneath their feet heaved upward. Mage and cat were tossed into the air along with the sand around them. Kashka windmilled her tail and twisted in the air, landing on all fours only to be bowled over by Kal as he hit the ground and skidded into her. While they untangled themselves from one another, the wet splats of sandworm guts raining onto the desert informed Kal his ears were working again. The settling dust revealed the back portion of the worm protruding from the sand and looking like a giant ax severed its tail. A moment later, the missing tail landed wetly on the sand further back. Only a line of yellow-tinted gore and viscera connected it to the rest of its body.

Every person or animal standing in the caravan’s front section, and even a few at the head of the merchant section, were knocked off their feet by the blast. The air filled with shouts from frightened customers whose litters toppled as the camel pulling it fell over, as well as grunts and bleats from the camels as they tried to stand. Adding to the cacophony were Turam and his guards’ calls as they tried to restore order and assess damage.

Beneath the desert surface, the eyes of the larger sandworm’s lure widened as she felt and heard the explosion. Sandworms made a significant amount of noise when traveling through the sands, and after the shockwave passed, her breeding companion went silent. The worm-woman’s face contorted in rage at the lost opportunity to have a brood. Even if the smaller worm’s lure were severed, it would regrow over time, and they could try the process again. But if the other worm was dead, her search for a breeding companion started anew. She would rest here for a little while and let them think they scared her off then surface in the middle of the humans and their beasts, eating any she could catch and crushing what she couldn’t.

The lure-woman looked down as she heard an unfamiliar sound coming from the bottom of her mouth.

During the sandworm’s dive, the downward angle kept the old woman away from the ring of teeth but also bounced her around with the cat-girl’s blades. One of the felines’ throwing knives sunk into her leg as they dove, but the cat’s dagger came to rest next to her hand once they stopped. Chuckling to herself, she held out the slave collar around her neck and sliced clean through it with the blade.

“He didn’t just want to take out his killer. He wanted to take out half the neighborhood when he died,” whispered Kashka, staring at the sandworm’s corpse through the haze of dust lingering in the air.

Getting to his feet, Kal brushed himself off, “Whoever killed him would expect some form of trap and run. If he died normally the night we fought, we would all be dead. Across the street would not have been far enough away.”

He looked down, “Keep an eye out. We still have one more.”

Another loud thump made everyone’s heads turn to see a much smaller patch of sand jump into the air just ahead of the caravan. A lone mote of light hopped out of Ria’s bag and turned into the old woman’s robe next to Kashka.

“Or not,” he said and closed his eyes for a moment in silent thanks to the old lady. “Ria, did you get my staff?”

“Sort of,” said the sprite, becoming visible again and storing the woman’s robe at a motion from Kal. “I changed it, but the mote is stuck in the sand over there,” she said, pointing at the base of the worm’s corpse. “You’ll need to dig it out so it can come back to me. Don’t take too long. Motes that can’t return to me or go back to their normal shape drain me quickly. If I’m forced back into my bag, your staff will vanish.”

Kal breathed a sigh of relief, “Understood. I’m just glad it’s not lost. Kashka, why don’t you see if you can help Turam while I dig my staff out. Ria, stay with her and give her whatever she needs to help any injured. I shouldn’t be long.”

As Kal jogged back to the worm’s remains, Kashka began walking toward Turam’s entourage while attempting to figure out what was happening with the guards.

Several guards were on their knees in the sand, the armor piece covering their crotch tossed to the side as they either slowly masturbated or squeezed their dicks while looking back toward the caravan. Turam only employed a few females in his troupe and they were also masturbating. Unlike their slow-stroking male counterparts, their hands were a blur between their legs. As The cat-girl watched, a male guard holding his cock stepped over and said a few words to one of the females. She shook her head in response, and the man returned to kneeling in the sand to wait for whatever was coming from the caravan. The same scene repeated with another male and female guard, but she nodded and bent over in front of him as she continued to play with herself. As soon as he got into position, Kashka heard the rhythmic clanking of their armor as they fucked.

“Get those on the slave cart out here to help my men!” Turam bellowed. “Any customers willing to give up their pleasure slaves to help will get a free one the next trip!” he yelled over the front section of the caravan. Kashka made out one of his personal slaves furiously sucking the large man’s cock as he gave orders and was genuinely confused about what was happening. Despite their self-control, she didn’t think it was wise to approach the Caravan Leader or his men at the moment. The cat-girl turned toward the sound of footfalls behind her and saw Laika running up.

“Does Kal want me to help?” Laika asked.

“What’s going on?” asked Kashka in return, indicating the masturbating guards.

“They were exposed to the worm’s scent. Like us, they’re trained to drop to their knees and masturbate if that happens. It’s harder to run into a worm’s mouth when you are on your knees. He only asks us to assist if the danger is gone. Would Kal want me to help?”

“You’ll have to ask him. He’s over—” Kashka pointed toward the worm’s corpse, expecting to see a large hole dug by the mage as he retrieved his staff. Instead, he lay motionless on the ground.

“Kal?” the cat-girl called out, trotting toward him. “Kal?!” she yelled again, alarm tinging her voice as she broke into a run. A flicker of movement from the sandworm’s tail jutting above the desert brought her to a skidding halt.

“Oh no,” whispered the sprite from above her head.

Bozun wasn’t done trying to kill people from beyond the grave. Green poison poured out of the sandworm’s body and rolled across the ground in a thick, toxic fog. Kashka saw places among the creature’s blown-out innards where green gas bubbled up through the worm’s yellow blood, spreading across the Sulerin sand before flowing down the desert’s gentle contour and away from the caravan. But the gradual slope didn’t protect Kal standing right next to the worm’s body.

His mask kept him from inhaling any of the toxin, but from how he collapsed, it looked like his back was to the cloud when it began cascading down the worm’s corpse. He probably didn’t know about it in time to activate his Cure Poison rune, if he realized the danger at all.

“I need to get that mask off him, Kashka. He can’t breathe unless it’s powered.”

Kashka walked forward while reaching into the pouch on her belt. She and Kal made antidotes for the actual poison as a precaution, but not the sleep agent. Instead of specific antidotes for the variety of methods for knocking people out, she carried a concoction that counteracted every non-magical sleeping poison. It also made sure she’d be wide awake until tomorrow, at the very least. Unfortunately, she only had one, and they couldn’t find the ingredients to make more anywhere in the camel train.

“Laika, go help Turam’s men,” the cat-girl called behind her, “and Ria, take his mask off.”

“I can’t,” said the sprite, “It belongs to Kal. Only he can order me to store it.”

Putting all but three of the finger-sized vials back, she popped the stopper on one filled with a bright yellow liquid and downed it before doing the same with one of the bluish-green vials. Casting a glance at the guards, many of whom were being attended to by pleasure slaves, Kashka broke into a run. Taking off Kal’s mask meant he would be in a similar state when he woke up, and for the first time, she didn’t look forward to having him inside her.

Rushing into the cloud of green vapor, Kashka dropped to her knees next to him and quickly stripped off the leather mask. She stifled a cry of relief as he took a few long gasping breaths. He may have nearly suffocated because of his mask, but without it, the toxin would have already killed him. The cat-girl dumped the contents of the final vial into his mouth, making him cough and sputter for a moment before finally swallowing.

Kashka could feel the yellow potion in her system fending off the effects of the cloud’s sleep agent and knew she had to get Kal away from there quickly. Grabbing one of his arms, the cat-girl tried to drag him out of the vapor, but he was easily twice her weight, if not more, and she seemed to be scraping gouges in the sand more than pulling him to safety. A stream of lights poured from Ria’s bag, and a moment later, Ria in her larger form added her slight weight to the effort.

By the time they reached a safe distance from the toxic cloud, Kashka was drenched in sweat from dragging the heavy human across the sand. Pulling another vial from her pouch containing tiny white crystals, she removed the stopper and waved it under Kal’s nose. For a moment, she thought the cloud’s sleeping agent still affected him, but after a couple of seconds, he started coughing and sputtering. Almost as quickly as he opened his eyes, the mage began clawing at his belt and trousers, trying to free his cock.

The cat-girl calmly replaced the stopper on the vial and dropped it back into the pouch before straddling Kal’s hips. Lowering herself, she pulled the crotch of her bottoms to the side and lined up his freed cock before firmly pressing down. She winced as the head slipped inside. She wasn’t nearly wet enough for this but could see the desperation in his eyes.

Once fully seated inside her, Kal sat up and hugged her close, “I’m sorry, I can’t...” he apologized in her ear as he tried to control his hips and not thrust harshly into her dry sex.

“It’s okay, Master,” she said, running her fingers through his hair. “Just cum quickly and it’ll get better.”

“If you were dry, you should have let me do that, Kashka. My body doesn’t need lube like yours,” said Ria.

“It’s a servant’s job to take care of her Master.”

“Wait...” Kal carefully lifted the cat-girl off his cock, although his hands shook with the effort of not slamming her back down on him. “Ria, Cyrena’s lube, or any lube, give it to her. Where the fuck is my mask?” he said, struggling to maintain his self-control.

Instead of going to Kashka, the mote flew to Ria’s hand. She popped the stopper off the flask of blue-tinted gel and poured it over Kal’s prick before setting it aside. Mage and cat-girl both sighed with relief as he slipped easily inside her pussy and began thrusting up into her. A few seconds later, he crushed her to his chest while emptying his balls in her sex.