Chapter 9: Luella

Once the feast had ended, and all three of the adventurers had eaten their fill — some far more than others, since somehow Danica managed to pack away more food than the monk whose enormous frame was at least twice the elf’s size — Anya led them to a side chamber where they could change in privacy into their freshly laundered and mended clothes and armor. Lexi and Samantha affixed their newly gifted waist chains, each bearing the magical Starsight Gem which would enable them to see in the lightless tunnels under the earth, under their clothes. Each girl topped this off with their ensemble a new rucksack, provided by the clerics and packed tight with all manner of provisions.

Refreshed and re-equipped, Anya and a pair of acolytes led the three heroines out of the temple’s torchlit halls and into a darkened alley behind the grand edifice. At first, Lexi was somewhat astonished that it was still only dusk. When she and her companions had left the poolside, the sun’s light had already been fading. And, she was sure that the feast itself had lasted several hours at a minimum. How then was it that night had not yet fallen? The answer, of course, was so obvious that Lexi almost smacked her own forehead when she realized.

Of course! I’m wearing the fucking Starsight Gem! It actually IS night, but it just looks like twilight because of the stone’s magic. This is actually really badass, like my own magical night vision system — except instead of some ugly-ass goggles, I’ve got jeweled underwear.

“What the fuck!?” Lexi hissed, her newly realized night vision catching sight of a bizarrely menacing movement from the nondescript city wall just ahead. Throwing one arm back to protect Anya, Lexi drew her broadsword with the other, dropping effortlessly into a combat stance, adrenaline surging through her athletic body gearing her up for a fight.

“Stay your blade,” Anya said softly as she placed a soothing hand atop Lexi’s now tensed shoulder. “This is no foe set against us, but rather the guide herself whom we seek.”

What Lexi’s magically enhanced vision saw that so alarmed her was a large figure materializing from the wall. Or, at least that’s how it looked at first. As the surge of adrenaline began to subside, the paladin realized that it had only appeared that this figure had melted out of the wall. The large grayish white cloak and broad brimmed hat worn by the mysterious woman was so similar in color to the stone that the camouflage had been practically perfect while she stood still against the wall, only revealing herself through movement away from the stone. Even as the figure took a few steps towards them, Lexi found herself struggling to clearly delineate where the guide’s figure ended and the wall began, as the cloak was still wrapped tightly about her body and the hat’s brim covered her face entirely.

“Sorry,” Lexi said sheepishly, still panting a bit from the sudden exertion as she re-sheathed her enormous broadsword. “My reflexes just kicked in there, y’know?”

“It’s alright Luella,” the high priestess said to the approaching figure. “These are the three adventurers I’ve asked that you escort.”

“Oh! OK,” came the voice from the figure, apparently Luella. There was something unusual about her voice, but it was hard for Lexi to immediately put her finger on it. The words were easily understandable, and the timber was almost human-like, but there was some quality to it which gave Lexi pause. “I guess I can relax a bit then,” Luella continued, relief apparent in the tone of her subtly inhuman voice.

The transformation that took place as Luella “relaxed” caused Lexi’s jaw to literally drop.

The “cloak” which had covered her body unfurled, revealing itself to be a pair of enormous wings sprouting directly out of the the figure’s back. While the backsides of the wings which had been shown while they were wrapped around Luella had been limited in color to the gray and white patterns, the undersides contained striking splashes of red — the crimson ovals almost looking like enormous eyes staring out from each broad wing as it stretched out to its full extension.

Similarly, Luella’s “hat” proved to be no such garment, but as it unwound itself proved to be a cleverly constructed configuration of the long furry antennae which sprouted from the mothgirl’s forehead. The antennae unrolled into long gracefully curved appendages, extending out to the sides of her head. Each antenna was a stark white tendril, with feathery looking long white hair hanging down from one side. With the antennae unfurled out to the sides, the long hair looked almost like feathered bangs.

The mothkin girl did, however, have actual bangs in addition to those approximated by her graceful antennae. Her heart shaped face was itself covered in fine white fur, and was framed with silvery gray hair styled into a bob cut, with a single braid on the right side. She had a cute little upturned nose and a rather coy smile. But, the most immediately arresting feature on the mothgirl’s face were her eyes. Completely inhuman, each was an enormous glowing red oval, as large as a hen’s egg and completely regular in terms of color — with no pupil or iris — just a pair of faintly glowing smooth red orbs.

The rest of the mothgirl’s body which was visible was, as far as Lexi could tell, covered in the same kind of soft looking white fur on her face, bringing to mind an exceptionally well groomed cat. Although, what the paladin at first took for a scarf was actually a ring of significantly longer and fluffier gray fur, forming a kind of “ruff” around her neck. As the futanari’s eyes traveled South, she noted cleavage poking out beneath the ruff, as a pair of extremely well-formed furry breasts were exposed by Luella’s low-cut white blouse, and pushed up into a very enticing display by her tightly laced red bodice.

The bodice terminated in a pair of loose fitting white trousers with a gray loin cloth covering the crotch. The pants were held up by a broad sash, over which was affixed a low-slung sword belt, with a long slender rapier on the left and a matching main-gauche dagger on the right. Something about the way the swords sat low on Luella’s broad hips combined with her easy posture gave Lexi the impression of a medieval version of a gunslinger from the Old West. The pants were tucked into a pair of extremely well-worn black boots, whose folded over tops came to a few inches above her knees.