Chapter 43: Late Morning

Anton hummed quietly to himself as he watched the little mountain of ice cubes begin to crumble apart from the bottom upwards. As the waterline in the large ice chest slowly rose higher and higher, more and more of the ice cubes began to tumble downwards and disappear beneath the surface of the water.

A sudden, frustrated groan drew his attention over to the picnic table and to the angry little shinoccubus who was currently trying to wiggle herself free from her bounds.

Chuckling around a soft grin, Anton shook his head before going back to watching the rising waterline.

The stream of water from the garden hose began to slow as he eased up his grip on the trigger-like plunger that was attached to the gun-like nozzle at the end of the hose. And once the last of the ice cubes had sunk down into the now heavily chilled water, he fully released the trigger and completely shut off the flow. After laying the hose across the top of the ice chest, he turned back to the table and gave his bound charges another quick look over.

The long picnic table had been taken out from under the small grove of trees and was now sitting in the middle of the yard so it could be set up in the full sun. Several yard stones had then been collected from around the flowerbed next to the house, and these had been placed under the legs of one end of the table. This raised that side high enough so that the whole table now had a slope of around fifteen degrees.

A somberly quiet dark elf had been strapped down to each of the picnic tables bench seats while the still struggling shinoccubus had been tied spread eagle across the table top itself. All three were laid out on their backs and with their heads down at the low end of the sloped table.

Folded washcloths had been shoved into each of their mouths to act as gags. And these were held in place by cloth bandannas that were wrapped tightly around their heads before being tied off at the base of their skulls. Dark blue-colored pillowcases had also been fitted over their heads before being loosely tied around their necks.

Sitting ominously just off from the side of the table were two large ice chests. Originally these had both been filled with ice cubes. But now the one closest to the table had been reduced to a near freezing icy water while the other was still overflowing with the solid cubes. On the opposite side from the ice chests, and set up in such a way that it had a clear view of the table and all three of its bound charges, was one of the cushioned patio chairs.

Anton sniffed and blinked in the bright sunlight as he took his phone from his pocket, tapped on the correct contact and then held the phone to his ear. As he waited for the line to click over and start ringing, he used a plastic pitcher to absently pour a stream of icy water over Mica’s prone body. He leaned back a bit as she immediately started to frantically thrash about and throw tiny water droplets into the air.

Screaming through her gag, Mica curled her fingers into claw-like shapes as the cascade of freezing water soaked into the scarf that was wrapped around her bust and sent a stinging chill straight through her breasts and deep into her chest.

As an Infernal, Mica’s fiendish biology allowed her to withstand temperatures of well over several hundred degrees, and as such she could live comfortably in most traditional hellscapes. The trade off for this however, was that her body had almost no natural tolerance for the cold, and she could barely even withstand temperatures as low as fifty degrees Fahrenheit before she would start to suffer numbing pains from being chilled. This, unfortunately for her, meant that although being dosed with the nearly freezing water was ultimately harmless, it was not only incredibly uncomfortable, but was in all actuality an excruciatingly painful experience that was attuned to being electrocuted.

Anton was of course fully aware that this would be the case. And in anticipation of her inevitable struggles, he had shown no mercy with the bindings he had used to strap the shinoccubus to the table. So now, save for her fingers, feet and head, Mica had been rendered all but immobilized.

Dozens and dozens of short leather belts had been gathered from the dark elves collection of bondage gear and brought up from the dungeon. As each belt was outfitted with roller buckles and had punched holes down their entire lengths, they could all be tightened down to a shockingly small size.

With numerous little belts now wrapped tightly up and down the lengths of each of her extremities, Mica’s arms and legs had been all but molded to the wooden slots that made up the picnic table’s top. In order to keep her torso in place, ratcheting straps with nylon belts were wrapped both above and below her large breasts as well as around her waist and hips.

Fiona and Kianna had both been similarly bound to the benches they were laying on. And although their bindings were no where near as stringent as Mica’s were, they were still far from comfortable. Especially now, as Mica’s furious screams began to echo in their ears.

“Well hello, Issac.” stated Anton as the phone was finally answered on the other end “Appreciate you actually answering, for once...”

Anton’s annoyance showed clearly across his face as he scooped another pitcher full of water out of the ice chest.

“Yes, the attitude is warranted. Since once again ... I’m forced to deal with you...” mumbled Anton as he slowly poured the water out in a line down the middle of Kianna’s body “Now don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate the call you gave me this morning. But I would have appreciated it even more if you had stayed there and actually helped me find my item! ... Yes. I was able to get my property back. That’s not the point though. I had no idea where to go, or who I needed to speak to. So a little guidance would have been nice. Instead I was left to stumble around and frantically ask random people, who knew even less than I did, about where I needed to go! ... What, what do you mean you saw!?”

“Meh!” gasped Kianna as her entire being went rigid and she pulled upwards against the straps that held her in place “Humph! Hm! Meh! Hm! Meh!”

Rocking herself from side to side in a futile effort to escape from the chilling rain, Kianna lifted her head and shook it back and forth as she pleaded for the flow of water to stop. As the stream of water reached her navel, she desperately tried to press her thighs together, but with her legs slightly spread apart and strapped down as they were, she could do nothing but whine in anguish and start to tremble as the cloth shorts that were covering her genitalia became soaked with the freezing cold water.

Listening to her sister’s turmoil, and knowing that her turn would soon be next, Fiona couldn’t help but to hunker herself down as she began to groan in despair.

“ ... So, hold on a second! You were still there then!?” asked Anton as he made his way back to the ice chest “I thought you left right after we spoke!?”

Standing still for a moment as he listened to what was being said on the other side of the line, Anton’s expression slowly shifted from annoyed to thoughtful.

“ ... And you’re sure they didn’t detect you?” he asked as he gathered another scoop of water and turned back to the table “I mean, invisibility is far from impervious ... Right, I suppose that is what you do ... So what were you able to find out?”

Stepping around to the other side of the table, Anton stared down at Fiona for a moment as he listened to what Issac had to say.

“ ... No, they wouldn’t tell me anything. They stated the seller was demanding to remain anonymous.” said Anton as his face again shifted back to annoyance “And since I didn’t have any real way to prove the item was mine to begin with, I couldn’t really file a claim...”

Hearing Anton speaking right next to her, Fiona held her breath in an effort to remain unnoticed as she slowly cringed away from him. Her apprehension kept growing to a fever pitch as he went quiet and merely stood there for several minutes.

“ ... Okay, Issac! That’s enough, please! I don’t need to hear about every single step you took! I know how much you enjoy these long winded spiels. But I would appreciate it if you would just get to the point already!” said Anton as he narrowed his eyes at his phone “ ... No, you are not “building for impact” with this! You’re just trying to annoy me ... Yes you are ... Yes you are! ... Stop laughing!”

Fiona screamed into her gag as in one swift motion Anton dumped the entire pitcher of water across her torso. Gasping from the shock, the ensnared dark elf struggled as best she could as she tried to shake the loose, nearly melted away ice cubes off of her exposed belly.

“Will you just get to the point, please...” mumbled Anton as he made his way back to the ice chest and grudgingly refilled his pitcher “Did you actually learn anything about the seller, or not?”

Although she couldn’t actually see anything beyond the tiny points of sunlight that were filtering in through the pillowcase that was wrapped around her head, Mica still paused her struggling out of reflex when a shadow passed over her and blocked out said dots of light. This was the only warning she was given before a stream of freezing water was poured directly onto her face.

In an effort to drown out the kiochi’s furious screeching, and actually hear what Issac finally had to say, Anton turned his head to the side and pressed his phone fully against his ear. While listening to Issac speak, he let the pitcher absently swing slowly back and forth so as to fully soak the thrashing kiochi’s head. Although he was making sure to give her a good drenching, Anton actually made it a point to avoid aiming the stream anywhere near her nose, as he did not want to legitimately endanger her by filling her sinuses with water, but merely torment her by soaking her face and hair.

“ ... It’s a lich? Are you sure?” questioned Anton as he turned back to the ice chest “ ... Hm ... That does make sense, actually ... A lich could potentially siphon enough mana ... What? Oh, no. Just talking to myself. So, is this someone you actually know then? ... What do you mean by maybe? ... Right ... So do you know them or not? ... You know them, but you don’t know them? And what does that even mean? ... Oh, for the love of! So you don’t know them at all! You just know their name!? ... I swear, Issac! If you start laughing again-! ... Argh!”

With anger marring his features, Anton quickly refilled his pitcher and turned back to the table. He stopped short and took a deep breath through his nose as he looked down at Kianna. The dark elf was sniveling quietly as she hunched her covered head down into her shoulders. Closing his eyes with a sigh, Anton shook his head. He wasn’t at all excited about what he was about to do, and he didn’t want his frustration with the phantom, who was still cackling on the other side of the line, to bleed over and influence either of the dark elves discipline. He was of course going to go through with their punishment, but he wasn’t going to let Issac’s idiocy cause him to makes things even worse for them. So, after taking his moment to recompose himself, he steeled his resolve and commenced with pouring his pitcher of water out over Kianna’s head.

The dark elf’s response to this was far more subdued than Mica’s as she merely began to whine loudly and lightly tremble as she hunched herself down even further. Anton couldn’t help but to grin at this as it allowed him to be more careful and selective in where he aimed the stream of water. Once he was finished with his task, he set the pitcher down on the table and reached down to softly rub Kianna on her soaked head. The dark elf immediately went still and silent the moment she felt his touch and only started to whine again as she tried to follow his hand when he lifted it away.

Making a mental promise to make it up to her later, Anton reluctantly grabbed the pitcher and turned away from the whimpering dark elf.

“ ... Are you done yet!?” growled Anton as the phantoms guffaws began to quiet down “I would really like to get this call over with at some point today ... Just give me the lich’s name, please. That’s all I need, and I can take it from here ... Wait, what do you mean? Why are you trying to find him? What would you even need to find him for? ... No! Just tell me his name and I’ll find him myself! ... Why!? What do you even plan to do when you find him!? ... Issac! So help me! If I hear even a single rumor that you’re trying to steal my items out from under me, I swear, I will hunt you down and feed you to my homunculus!”

Taking up another pitcher full of water, Anton tromped around the table and again took a short breather as he stared down at Fiona and waited for Issac to stop laughing.

Fiona screamed the loudest out of the group as she furiously thrashed her head back and forth. Anton actually had to stop a few times in his effort to empty the pitcher because she was making it so difficult for him avoid getting the water in her nose.

“ ... Excuse me?” said Anton as he stepped back from the bucking dark elf “ ... Oh. No. I’m currently in the middle of waterboarding some people. And what you’re hearing is them screaming ... Yes, last night, and then again this morning ... I had an assassin try to kill me. So now she’s being punished for that ... Mm hm, I also had a few dark elves that tried to kill me recently too. And this morning they decided to betray my trust in them and foolishly endanger themselves. So now as a incentive to not do that again, they’re being punished as well ... Yes, I’m serious ... I know, it is difficult to imagine that anyone would ever want to warm a sweetheart like me. But sadly, it has happened ... Yes well, bad things happen to good people all the time. It just is what it is.”

Having apparently heard Anton, Mica popped her head up and blindly faced towards him as she snarled through her gag.

“Anyways. Back to the matter at hand.” said Anton as he made his way to the second ice chest and dug his pitcher down into the mountain of ice cubes “Listen, I’m not interested in anything beyond my own property. So I’m willing to compromise with you. Find this thieving lich, and we can face it together. I’ll get my property, and my vengeance, and you can help yourself to any other trinkets that might be left behind ... Yes, you have my word. Anything that isn’t mine is fair game ... Well, in the off chance that there’s something there that I want, then I’m sure we can come to an agreement ... Yes, and if we need to we can cross that bridge when we come to it ... Good. So do we have a deal then?”

As Anton listened to Issac voice his concerns, he turned back to the table where he gave a still snarling Mica a short glance before dumping his pitcher of ice cubes across her navel.

Mica screamed out as if she were being burned as the pile of ice settled across her exposed belly. Unable to move in any way beyond squirming, she could do nothing but rage in fury as the coils of her tail were buried away by the cubes of ice. In a bid to bury the majority of her torso, Anton quickly gathered several more pitchers of ice and made piles that started at each of her armpits and ran down her rib-cage, before shifting his attention to her breasts.

“Yes, I’m fine with all of that ... Good. I’m glad we could come to an understanding.” said Anton as he stared down at Mica’s chest and watched as it rapidly rose and fell with each of her furious breaths “I’ll await your call then ... Sounds good. I’ll talk to you then ... Yes ... Yes, you too ... Okay ... Okay ... Okay! Goodbye! You annoying fool!”