Chapter 5

The sewers and tunnels beneath Shandil seemed to go on forever. Sari didn’t know which way she was going, or how Rana knew where to direct her. She just knew that Rana would hiss in her ear. Left. Forward. There’s a lip here. Up.

Through it all, the distant echoing sounds of shouts and cries. Clashing swords. Crackling spells. She had mental images of the entirety of Shandil coming down into the sewers, armed with swords and spears, to purge the monsters that they had discovered ... only to turn into ghouls and zombies and wraiths and vampires in the night and the stinking muck of the sewer. Then, suddenly, she emerged from the tunnel she was in and into a rough tunnel. The tunnel cut through the earth, low and thick with roots and dangling vegetation. Then she stumbled again as Rana cried out. “Look out!”

Sari fell forward.

And her head went into the water.

But when she burst from the water, the ghoul she had dragged all this way floating next to her, face down in the water, Sari found herself surrounded by glittering lights and the scent of rose petals. Her eyes widened as she looked around herself. To her left and right were stone pillars carved with sensually curved women, their arms artfully covering their breasts, while their hair seemed to merge with the ceiling to support it. Garlands of glowing crystals hung around the statues, and glowed with the same welcome warmth as candlelight. The walls were decorated with mosaics of blue and red chips of stone, which formed into images of lakes, houses, horses with flat profiles and people walking into water, their nudity more hinted at than drawn explicitly. The tunnel that she had come through was the only mar to the wall, a gaping mouth that went into the sewer system, with a collection of pickaxes and shovels as the only clue as to how the tunnel had appeared.

“Well, I’ll be saved,” Rana said, laughing as she looked around herself. “It’s a Chanti bathhouse. It must have been buried and unearthed by workers from the sewers. Since it’s night, no one is working here.”

Sari brushed her soaked hair back behind her head. The water of the basin filled from small circular holes cut in the sides of the rectangular pool – but it looked fresh and new, unblemished by any mud or dirt. Even the dirt and mud that she had tracked in was gone. The water itself bobbed and floated with flower petals which seemed to come from nowhere. Sari shook her head slowly.

“I’ll be ... I...” she blinked, then rummaged in her belt, under the water. She pulled the Chanti crystal from its pouch and held it up. As she did so, the lights in the room glowed brighter, reacting to the crystal. “I bet it was close enough to trigger the water before we arrived – or else ... I’d have landed head first in an inch of water, snapped my neck and-”

The ghoul surged to life.

Or.

Well.

Surged into motion at least. Her hands sculled at the water and she shot towards the edge of the pool with an animal speed that shocked Sari. Sari lashed out, grabbing onto the ghoul’s ankle with one hand, surging forward into the water. The ghoul responded by kicking her in the face. Sari jerked her head aside at the last second, but the heel of the cold creature still glanced off her jaw, leaving her head ringing. She let go of the wrist as the ghoul scrabbled at the smooth stone, her claws not quite biting into the stone, unable to find purchase for a few comical seconds. Sari tried again, throwing her arms around the ghoul’s belly, yanking her back into the water while shouting. “Hecate!”

Saying the ghoul’s human name had worked great last time. This time, Hecate slammed her head backwards against Sari’s head. Something went crunch and blood started to stream down her nose as Sari released Hecate, who surged, swam down, then launched herself from the pool by shoving off the floor with her legs. Water soaked the ground behind her as she landed, looking around wildly for an exit. Sari, shaking her head, made a vindictive, growling noise – and then pointed her finger at the pickax. Purple light flared around it and she twisted and jerked with her hand. The pickax bit into the soft earth of the wall, then ripped away and the entire tunnel crumbled, then crashed inwards, just before the ghoul reached it. Hecate hissed, jerked backwards then snapped her head around to glare a single baleful yellow eye at Sari.

Sari, panting, put her hand on her nose. It didn’t feel broken.

But in the momentary pause, she could ... get a look at Hecate.

The woman had been brawny, broad and tall before her death. Death had stolen all but the tall. Her muscles had become smaller, shrunken – but it was less as if she had become emaciated, and more like someone had put her on a rack and tightened everything with a winch. Her limbs were longer, her legs were longer, her neck was longer, her whole body had the inhuman outline of a scarecrow. But her face was the same – the same beautiful lines, the same carved jaw, the same fierce eye. It was just bright, bilious yellow now. And rather than an eye-patch being simply kept on by cloth, it was now kept on by nails and stitching, pressed right against her skin with stitches that matched the fine work that had reattached her head to her body. Her fingers were long and gray and tipped with metal tines that had been attached to her with the same surgical means.

The ghoul hissed at her as Sari shook her head. “What did they do to you Hecate?” she whispered, then started to slosh towards the edge of the pool. She pulled herself from it with a grunt, using her upper body strength to swing herself around with a single smooth motion – while Rana chuckled.

“We exchanged a butch for a beast. I have to admit, I rather like it,” she said. “Oooh now that’s interesting.”

Sari didn’t dare risk a glance at Rana – she had locked her gaze back on the ghoul, worried for any rush or attack ... but instead, she saw that Hecate was cocking her head to the side, regarding her. Sari blinked, then glanced down and saw that her clothing had become utterly soaked and now had glued itself to her body like a fine layer of paint. Transparent enough now to show hints of her ... she flushed and put her arm over her chest. The ghoul let out a hiss and Sari swore it was a laugh. Sari got her legs under her, then tensed as she saw the ghoul putting her palms on the floor, assuming the four limbed stance that she had used for running and fleeing across the city.

Sari frowned.

The ghoul narrowed her one eye, then slowly slid her tongue out. It was long. Very long. Very black. Very rubbery.

Drool dripped and pattered onto the tile.

Hecate let out a single word.

“Meat...”

“Right,” Sari said.

Hecate exploded into motion. Sari focused and shoved with her magic – and an explosion of frost swept across the floor. The ghoul’s claws bit in – but her feet swept and skittered, throwing out. Her arms twisted almost out of her sockets as she flipped around and her expression was so comical that Sari almost laughed. Instead, though, she sprang forward, planted her boots, and skidded on the ice right towards the stuck, flailing ghoul. Her knee slammed into Hecate’s gut and sent her ripping free and tumbling around, her limbs flopping.

Sari finished her slide, her arms flailing to keep herself from falling onto her ass.

Hecatae’s limbs snapped back into place with a series of sickening pops and cracks. Her head snapped around at that last as she snapped several of her own vertebra to get her head around to glare furiously at Sari. Black fire flared around her body as the void energy that sustained her worked to keep everything working as flesh and bone tore and shattered. Sari reached for her sword...

And blinked.

“Uh, it’s at the bottom of the pool, honey,” Rana said.

“You could have-OOF!”

Sari flew backwards as Hecate shot into her and slammed home, head first. The two women went flying backwards – the ghoul might have been rangy, but she hit like a battering ram. The smooth tile of the ancient bathhouse made it a shockingly gentle slide as they came to the rest next to a wall – which smoothly unfolded with the proximity of the Chanti crystal that Sari bore, revealing bottles of luxurious and beautiful soaps, shampoos and lubricants. Sari, fumbling, grabbed onto one and brought it shattering into the side of Hecatae’s head. The glass shattered and the ghoul let out a hissing croak as her head snapped aside. Sari shoved herself backwards and scrambled to her feet.

Hecate looked like a red ruin. Shampoo ran like blood, while glass shards jutted from her bedraggled, long hair. She reached up, wiped some shampoo away, and flicked it away from her good eye, and gave Sari an expression that was so close to ‘really now? Is this a bar fight or something?’ that Sari almost laughed.

The ghoul woman plucked the shards from her head with casual ease, tossing them aside as she stood back to her full height, then hissed at Sari.

“Now that you’re done trying to eat me,” Sari said, angrily. “Maybe we can-”

Hecate snapped her arm up. The crossbow built into her leather armor unfolded with a ratcheting CLACK and Sari froze – eyes wide. The bow twanged and thumped and ... nothing happened. Sari blinked. Then blinked again as the ghoul lifted her arm, looking almost mournfully at the crossbow. Sari shook her head.

“No bolts,” she said, slowly. “Doesn’t fire.”

“No bolts...” Hectare hissed. Then she cocked her wrist and a bolt clacked into place. She aimed and fired but this bolt, rather than striking and piercing into flesh, exploded outwards like a bola, two weights causing the rope it was made of to come spinning around. It wrapped around Sari’s legs and took them out from under her. She crashed down with a grunt and Hecate leaned down, looking into her face as it mashed against the floor. She grinned, toothily. “ ... doesn’t fire.”

“Oh ha ha!” Sari hissed.

The ghoul grabbed onto her, then threw her onto her back as Rana stepped over.

“Help!” Sari whispered.

“I’d love to, honey, but ... actually, no, I wouldn’t,” Rana said, chortling as the bright, glowing yellow eye of the ghoul swept along Sari’s body. Sari blinked, then got her hands under her – only for two incredibly strong, undead hands to grab her wrists and pin them above her head. Hecate leaned forward and her breath brushed against Sari’s nose as she hissed at her.

“Meat...”

Her breath, oddly, wasn’t as disgusting as Sari might have expected. She smelled of whatever savory oils the necromancers had used to preserve her flesh, and of the sickly sweetness of un-life. Her teeth were sharp, yes, but they weren’t yellowing and pitted.

All the better to eat you with, Sari thought as she tried to work her legs free. But then Hecate forced her hands together and pinned them with one of her palms – and that freed her hand to lift up. The glittering claws flashed and Sari had a moment to tense up, to imagine the tearing of her flesh as those sharp, silver blades bit into her ... and then Hecate ripped down. The tearing sound of cloth filled Sari’s ears, followed by the stinging chill of a breeze blowing across her bare breasts. Her nipples puffed up, hard and aching as she looked down and saw that her skin was unmarred, save for three parallel white lines that ran along her muscular belly, the closest that Hecate had gotten to actually kissing her skin with those talons. As Sari watched, those lines began to turn red with a slow, stinging seep of blood.

Hecate seemed to be marveling at the sight before her, her eye locked on Sari’s chest.

Meat, she had said.

Sari felt like meat, and ... she felt her girldick starting to harden as that devouring expression went to her face. She glared at Hecate.

“I thought they killed that part of you,” she whispered. The hand holding her down felt fractionally weaker. She squirmed – arching her back, to better ... present her breasts. High. Firm. Her nipples were rosy peaks that seemed to endlessly fascinate the ghoul, who slowly slid her tongue out. Glittering spittle dropped onto her, pattering down like a hot rain that tingled on her skin. Sari bit her lip to keep from moaning in confused arousal as she felt the hand holding her down weaken ... weaken just a bit more ... and then she wrenched her hands free and shoved back. The two of them went tumbling and Sari pinned the ghoul down, her arms to either side of her head. Hecate hissed at her and Sari hissed right back.

“How do you like that!?” she asked, then, without thinking, grabbed onto the leather chest piece of Hecate and wrenched at it. The whole ghoul lifted off the ground, then slumped back, the chest piece completely unmoved. The ghoul hissed, then laughed, then...

“Harder Daddy,” she purred, her long tongue flicking her lips with contempt.

“Oh you undead-” Sari snarled, then powered her magic up – purple fire crawled along the other woman, and she found every single seam, tie and knot on the armor that the ghoul wore, then undid each with a twist, jerk, tug, and unscrewing motion. When she yanked again, the entire chest piece came away, revealing that underneath the leather, Hecate’s body was covered in curving, twisting leather straps that were sewn directly into her flesh, creating a harness and hardpoint for bits of supplies and her attached armor.

Her breasts were huge.

Her nipples were dark gray.

And they were hard.

Sari blushed, hard. She looked down at the other woman, and heard that hissing laugh again. Her eyes snapped up.

“You think you’re such hot shit?” she growled.

“Yes,” Hecate purred.

“They killed you and-”

“Made me perfect,” Hecate crooned. Her voice was growing more confident – and Sari wondered if the single word responses were a trick. “Made me One Eye.” Her clawed hand slipped out from under Sari’s grasp and cupped Sari’s cheek. “Made me a goddess.”

She leaned up and kissed Sari. Sari’s eyes widened more – even in this dominant position, she felt like the ghoul had everything under control. Then the cool, slippery tongue of the ghoul slid into her mouth. Then down her throat. Then down. Then down. She struggled, slightly, groaning into the pressure, her eyes widening – then rolling back as the kiss continued more and more and more. Clawed hands cupped her ass, dragging her close. Her bulge bumped against Hecate’s belly, throbbing and oh so very eager. Hecate jerked back, and her tongue slurped free from Sari’s throat with a pop, leaving Sari gasping and mewing softly, spittle dripping down her chin.

“What?” Hecate asked. Her hand slid along Sari’s chest, squeezing her breasts for a moment, before she put a single claw-tipped finger against Sari’s bulge. “What?”

“I-I’m a Rebis girl,” Sari whispered, bucking her hips despite herself, grinding her bulge against the finger. The dangerous tip of the claw felt close to slicing into her clothes. Past her clothes. The danger of it flared through her, burning into her nerves like a drug. Sari hissed, softly. “Never been with a Rebis before?”

“No,” Hecate hissed.

“Well, Hecate-”

“One Eye!” The Ghoul snapped her teeth right before Sari’s nose. Sari didn’t jerk back. She didn’t dare.

“You were born Hecate Stone-Eye,” Sari whispered.

“Born as One Eye, Rebis.”

“Sari,” Sari growled.

“Reeeebisssssssss!” Hecate hissed back.

Sari grabbed her shoulders, then shoved her back. She crawled atop the tall, lanky girl, felt the cool strength of her thigh hooking around her back, cocking around to draw her in close like a clinging monkey. Their noses pressed together and Sari growled. “Sari.” She bit down on the other girl’s lip rather than kiss her. Then she kissed her. Her tongue thrust in and then the ghoul squirmed and got her long, long tongue into Sari’s throat again, thrusting it like she was trying to literally throat fuck her. Sari felt her head spin. She almost lost the plot ... but then her palms cupped the ghoul’s breasts, squeezing fiercely. She rolled her nipples, tugged, and Rana chuckled in her ear.

“Gonna try and top a ghoul? Daring?”

Sari ignored her as she drew her mouth back, coughing softly as the tongue popped from her mouth and Hecate let out another hissing laugh.

“Ah ... you think you’re hot shit, One Eye?” Sari growled.

“Chosen of the Corpse King. Her favorite,” Hecate crooned, while Sari leaned forward. She sucked on one nipple. Rough. Hard. Then the other. She used her teeth and drew out a whining mewl from the ghoul, who arched her spine to press herself more eagerly against Sari. Clawed hands slid along Sari’s hair, tingling against her scalp. “Her favorite.”

Sari broke contact with her breast, hissing. “The Corpse King is a ... man...”

“You think she can be just one?” Hecate chortled, then gasped as Sari reared backwards, then shoved her own leggings down. Her cock sprang free. Throbbing. Eager. Her balls tingled, and Sari felt an aching need inside of her that was stronger and fiercer than she had ever felt before.

She.

Had.

To.

Fuck.

Sari growled, softly. “Has he ... has she fucked you?”

Hecate chuckled, crooned. “Once. Before sent out. Better than anything living. Died of pleasure.”

Sari flushed. She had a sudden ... mental image of what a true Revnant might be if he could be a she. The picture that came to mind was some mighty, undead Rebis girl, cock throbbing and proud, her body wreathed in eldrich flames. She shook her head to cast it aside, then found herself growing angry. Angry at the Corpse King for what she had done to Hecate. Angry at the battle and the crystal and the prophecy and everything that had happened to her since she had left Master Phenrig’s tower. And more than all of that ... she found that anger was exactly one notch away from horny. Her lust surged to new, fierce heights and she pinned the ghoul down with her hands and her thighs, spreading her with her posture as she leaned forward.