Chapter 2

"Them are the caves," the young shepherd said. "There's only one way in there. I used to play there when I was a boy, and I'd have found any other way out."

"They haven't been there long enough to make any big changes, even with magic," Rebecca declared.

Donnal gave the young man a coin, and bade him to leave for his own safety.

Cheryl tapped a parchment in her hand. "So with Johan's map of the caves, we know what we're looking at inside. Let's see if we can figure out how they would set up in there."

We quickly determined that the leader of the band would likely take the largest chamber at the rear as his own, imprisoning Emelia in a smaller adjoining chamber accessible only through his. Two smaller open areas near the entrance would probably be where the other men made their home. Without a doubt, they would post sentries in the entrance cavern. Long narrow passages connected the chambers of the cave.

"You say you've observed some of the men leaving at regular intervals?" Cheryl asked Donnal.

"Yes. They venture out to attain supplies. We were told that if these men did not return within a certain amount of time each day they would be assumed dead or captured, and Emelia would be killed. Our guess from observing different groups leaving is that there are a dozen men within. They leave in groups of four."

"That leaves only eight inside — maybe nine if their leader hides in there all the time," I speculated.

"So we wait to go in until they're gone, to give us better odds," Rebecca added.

"Have any invisibility herbs?" I asked.

Rebecca smiled slyly and produced a small silk pouch. "Yes, I do."

Cheryl guessed, "Sneak in invisible and have Rebecca cast sleep on the sentry before he knows we're there?"

I smiled. "Yep. That makes our odds even better."

"It might work on the others deeper inside as well, if we can keep things quiet," Annette suggested.

"I can find little to argue with this plan," Donnal agreed.

"Let's go put our little friends to sleep then," I said with a wicked smile.

When the group of kidnappers left for supplies a short while later, we checked our armor and weapons, used the invisibility herbs, and hurried toward the entrance of the cave. Trying to move when you can't see your companions — or even your own body — is a bit tricky, but we managed it without mishap. When we neared the cavern entrance, I could just see two sentries lounging inside, throwing dice.

I heard Rebecca chanting, and smiled when the two men slumped over asleep. Our invisibility ran out as we rushed forward. Pausing in the entrance chamber, we heard no sounds of alarm.

"Tie them up," Cheryl whispered in my ear. She then turned to pass the word to Annette as well. She and Rebecca stood ready to defend us if anyone attacked while Annette and I were distracted. Once we bound and gagged the two foul-smelling men, Cheryl and I dragged them over behind an outcropping of stone and hid them there.

"So far so good," Rebecca whispered when we leaned in close to confer.

"We got two for one here, so that leaves only six or seven inside if our information is right," Cheryl agreed.

"If something isn't broke, don't fix it. Invisibility and the sleep spell again?" I asked.

Everyone nodded, and Rebecca distributed the herbs. I found it a little easier to maneuver this time, but it was still a bit disconcerting. The most difficult part was keeping my armor from scraping along the narrow tunnel walls. I didn't like it when I saw the tunnel open into a dimly lit cavern ahead, because the tunnel didn't widen at all. The entrance was just as narrow as the tunnel, and that meant that Rebecca would have to be up front by herself to cast her spell.

I couldn't see much in the room, but I heard Rebecca's soft chanting a moment later. When the chanting ended, I heard her hiss, "Got them."

I smiled when I walked through the entrance to see six men fast asleep. Three lay on beds, and three were slumped over a table. Beer dripped off the table from overturned mugs.

Cheryl's invisible hands tapped me on the shoulder, and I walked toward one of the men in bed with my rope. When I reached for him, I encountered something soft before I could reach him. I figured out it was Annette's breast when she whispered, "This is hardly the time for that, no matter how good it feels."

I stifled a chuckle and moved to one of the other beds. It was a lot easier to tie them up when I could see what I was doing a short while later. I noticed Rebecca watching the tunnel we had entered the room from, while Cheryl stood near a makeshift door along another wall of the room.

Once we finished tying up the three in the beds, I dragged the other three men over to the beds as well. We could have tied them to their chairs, but that would have made a lot of racket if they woke up and started struggling. This way, they'd only thump as they fell out of the bed, at worst.

After taking care of all six men, we met in the center of the room again. "Talk about your luck. We shouldn't have anything to worry about except the leader now," Cheryl chuckled quietly.

"Unless there are more of them than everyone thought," Rebecca warned.

"We'll just have to be careful and hope they're right. If they are, this could be the easiest money we've ever earned," Annette whispered.

"One more time," Rebecca said as she passed out the invisibility herbs.

The next chamber we passed proved to be empty, probably because the ceiling had collapsed at some point to fill the room with boulders and rubble. I could see light ahead, and knew we were getting close to the large chamber where we expected to find the leader of the kidnappers.

This tunnel widened near the opening of the chamber, giving us room to stand side by side. The scruffy leader of the kidnappers scowled as he wrote on a piece of parchment on a table before him.

Rebecca once again whispered her sleep spell. She didn't get a chance to finish it, however. The man looked up with wide eyes, and grabbed a staff at his side. He pointed it toward the doorway, and Rebecca ceased her chant to shout, "Down!"

We all dived into the room, ducking just in time to avoid the blast of fire from the man's staff. His eyes darted back and forth, searching for us. I knew our invisibility wasn't going to last long, and there was the added problem of Emelia sitting bound to a chair within the room.

I started forward, hearing other footsteps off to one side. I had to bite off a curse and dive to the side when my opponent aimed his staff in my direction again and discharged it. He tracked the sound of my fall, and I had to roll out of the way of a second blast.

Cheryl fared no better, having to duck almost as soon as my roll came to a halt. Worse still, our invisibility wore off. Now we all four stood revealed to him.

Cheryl and I started forward again, depending upon our magical armor to take the brunt of the magical fire. When he blasted me again, my hope proved founded, but it was only cover for his true attack.

I felt my head fill with fog and my eyelids getting heavy. Dimly I noticed Cheryl stumbling, and heard the sound of two bodies slumping to the floor behind me. Cheryl fell to her knees, and so did I. I fought the magical sleep, but I still ended up on the floor. I kept fighting and kept my eyes open, though I could do little more.

Cheryl managed to stand. "You'll have to do better than that. Come on, bad boy. Why don't you face me like a man? I'm only a girl, after all."

I felt the fog lifting from my head, and thought, Score one for insomnia. My arm and shield blocked the leader of the kidnappers from seeing my eyes, so I played possum while my head fully cleared.

Our adversary blasted Cheryl again, but she shrugged it off and brandished her weapon. "I told you, dickless, you're going to have to do better than that."

The wizard realized he was in trouble, and Cheryl's taunts didn't distract him from his easy way out. I saw the glance toward Emelia, and whispered the words of the Zap spell. Cheryl's continued stream of insults kept the wizard's attention, covering up the words of my spell.

"Is that a robe or a dress?" Cheryl sneered, stalking toward the wizard.

I finished my spell just as our adversary dived toward his captive. Lightning reached from my outstretched hand, halting the wizard in his tracks and spinning him around.

I stumbled to my feet as the wizard fell to his knees, twitching from the electrical assault. I glanced back to see Rebecca and Annette rousing. Cheryl leapt forward, kicking the twitching wizard out of the way and stood protectively in front of his frightened captive.

I saw the man reach for his staff, and summoned up my wits to move forward. He had ceased twitching and turned toward Cheryl. "The fire of my staff will burn her, if not you," he growled.

He noticed me just in time, as I brought my sword down toward him. Bringing his staff overhead, he blocked the strike. The blade rang as if it had hit a steel rod. I fought the shock running through my arms and brought my sword back to strike again. He discharged the staff toward Cheryl and Emelia, just missing them, and immediately swung the weapon at me.

I'd glanced toward the two women when the fire burst from his staff, and I just barely got my weapon in line. Despite defeating most of the force of his blow, it still rang against my codpiece with alarming strength.

That pissed me off.

I feigned a stroke from the right, causing him to bring his staff up to parry. When he did, I stepped forward into my false swing — and kicked him square in the balls.

His staff fell to the floor with a clatter from his nerveless fingers. His mouth opened wide, but nothing more than a croak emerged. A tear rolled down his cheek just as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his family jewels.

I put my sword against the back of his neck. "Don't move. Don't even twitch. You're fast, but are you fast enough?" I dropped my voice into a Clint Eastwood impression. "So the question is — do you feel lucky, punk?"

His only answer was a tight squeak of pain.

Cheryl put the edge of her sword to work on Emelia's bonds, while our two companions stood and moved toward us. A bleary-eyed Annette fumbled in her satchel for another length of rope.

Cheryl cut the last rope binding Emelia to her chair and told Annette, "I'll do that. You get Emelia out of here."

Annette nodded and helped the beautiful blonde girl to stand. When Emelia stumbled, Rebecca moved quickly to steady her. Already at work jerking the wizard's hands from his throbbing crotch around behind him, Cheryl said, "Help her, Becca. We've got this."

Cheryl quickly tied the man's hands, and I removed my sword tip from his neck once she finished. Cheryl rolled him over and he haltingly grunted, "This isn't the end of this."

"No?" Cheryl responded with a cheery smile — and kicked him in the sack again.

"Let's let the soldiers clean this place out."

"Good idea," Cheryl laughed. "They aren't going anywhere."

The man on the floor choked and sobbed pitifully, unable even to grasp his aching balls this time.

The returning group of four bandits met with a rude surprise, in the form of Donnal's heavily armed troupe of well-trained warriors. Needless to say, they surrendered rather quickly. With the entire group of kidnappers now in custody, we returned to the castle.

Lady Roma offered us four enormous rooms, all attached to a central common room, for as long as we wished to stay. We all agreed that we certainly wouldn't pass up the chance to live in luxury for a while, but for tonight, we planned to celebrate.

The ride to town in Lady Roma's carriage didn't take long, and we soon found a fine inn with even better booze. We took two adjoining rooms, and then selected a table in the common room to toast our victory.

Eat, drink, and be merry would be an understatement for the evening. I held back a little, deciding to make sure that the girls were always just a bit more lit up than I was. No sense letting them be sober enough to realize how goofy I acted when I was drunk. The sexual energy flowing through the glances and other subtle hints the girls shared ensured I spent most of the evening hard.

I drained the last of a mug of beer and nearly choked on it when I saw someone I recognized. So there you are, I thought, as I saw the knobby-kneed old man vanish out the door. I'd only caught a glimpse, but the sound of his ridiculous laugh drifted back to me across the common room.

"I'll be back in a bit. I just saw somebody I need to talk to," I said while standing up.

"If you don't see us here, we'll be up in the room," Annette said with a wave.

I tossed a few coins on the table as I turned toward the door. "Next round's on me."

The girls cheered, and I laughed as I headed for the door. My mirth vanished when I exited the door and didn't see the old man. I heard his laughter, and turned toward the sound to see him vanishing around a corner.

"Okay old man, this isn't funny," I growled under my breath and started after him.

Every time I turned a corner, I'd catch just a glimpse of him vanishing around another. I knew I was moving into a residential area when the crowds thinned out and most of the windows were dark. I stopped trying to avoid attracting attention then, and broke out into a full run.

The old man still managed to stay ahead of me. I saw him vanish between some bushes into what looked like a park, and kicked in every ounce of speed I could muster. I nearly collided with the geezer when I broke through the bushes.

Skidding to a stop so I wouldn't snap him in half like a twig, I just avoided falling on my ass — until he pushed me.

As I hit the ground with a curse and a rattling of armor, the old man launched into song. "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale — a tale of a fateful trip. It started out to be a ball — and then it turned to shit."

I tried to get back to my feet and mumbled, "Old man, you're really starting to piss me off."

Naturally, he ignored me — except to sweep my feet out from under me with speed that was absolutely impossible for any normal man, let alone one who looked ninety. He didn't even pause in his singing. "He got himself some fine twin tail — fulfilled his every wish. But he got caught up in the double cross — ain't that just a bitch. Man that's such a bitch."

Great, Gilligan's Island. Now I'm going to have this damn song stuck in my head all day. The old man had proved numerous times he was far more than he appeared. I decided to just sit it out and hear what he had to say, and then try to get him to tell me what I wanted to hear.

"The Princess was his next hot love — she caused his pulse to race. He learned his lesson and done her right — but it blew up in his face. It blew up in his face."

The old man threw his hands up and hopped into the air as he continued. "And now he's on another world with some hotties for a while. But will he learn — the lesson true? Heaven can — turn into hell. He'll be off again. Salabona the next to see. He'll heed my song if he's wise."

"Wonderful, can I get up now?" I asked as I put my feet under me. He just stood over me staring with a silly smile. I stood up, towering over the old man. "I guess this means I'm supposed to visit D.Q. Five's world next, huh?"

The codger just shrugged and chuckled.

I let out an exasperated sigh, "Listen, what are you trying to pull? Did you drag me in here? What the hell is this all about?"

The ridiculous, crazed look vanished from the old man's eyes, his expression turning completely serious. He pointed one bony finger at my chest and said in a clear, strong voice, "You."

I sucked in a breath to question him again, but I never got the chance to speak. The man's serious demeanor evaporated, and he exclaimed, "Scrappy Dappy Doo!" With that, he jumped up and impossibly managed to flip over my head.

I turned to chase him, but let out a sigh and made a dismissive gesture toward him as the old man vanished in the bushes. "Screw it; he'll never let me catch him."

I walked out of the park and tried to get my bearings. I realized then that I hadn't paid enough attention in my run through the town. "Frikkin' great," I mumbled, and set off to try to find the inn again.

My sense of direction proved to be about as reliable as your average television weatherman. By the time I navigated the long way back to the inn, pretty much the whole town had bedded down for the night. There were a few drunks still swaying unsteadily in their chairs, but that was all. A quick glance around let me know the girls had gone to our room.

I sat down at the bar and ordered a beer, deciding I needed something to take the edge off my irritation. I took a long pull and turned to lean against the bar. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see except a pair of drunks about to pass out.

I took another pull — and then it hit me.

Dammit, I'm humming the theme to Gilligan's island. I swear, old man or not, I'm going to deck that codger the next time I see him.

I tossed back the last of the beer, dropped a coin on the counter, and told the bartender to keep the change. I headed up the stairs, quietly whistling the pyramid music from the game to try to drive Gilligan out of my head. I dug into my pocket and found the key to the room when I hit the top of the stairs, dropping most of the sound out of my whistle and providing the tune mentally instead.

The rooms we'd rented were at the end of the hall, most of them actually an overhang that provided a roof for the porch of the inn. I walked as softly as possible in my armored boots to avoid waking up the people sleeping in the other rooms, though I doubted anyone could hear me over some of the snoring going on. I slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. What to my wandering eyes should appear, I thought as I drank in the scene in front of me while closing the door.

The double doors that adjoined our rooms were wide open, giving me a perfect view of the action in the girls' room. They'd pulled all the blankets, pillows, and even the mattresses into the floor in the center of the room. Rebecca lay on her back, one of Cheryl's nipples in her mouth. Hovering over her on all fours, Cheryl suckled one of Rebecca's nipples as well. The surprise, though, was Emelia lying beneath Annette, in the same position as the other two.

I chuckled a bit nervously and shifted my weight in an attempt to relieve the pressure of my cock pressing against the codpiece of my armor. "Sorry," I said with a smile, the tone of my voice almost making it a question.

Rebecca released Cheryl's nipple from her mouth and purred, "No you're not."

I laughed for a second before saying, "Well, okay. I'm taking mental notes actually. Do you want me to close those doors so you can have some privacy?"

Annette laughed and blushed. "We left them open for a reason, silly."

"Annette has told her breathless little tale — now I want to see reality," Rebecca added and twitched her eyebrows.

Annette crooked her finger and said, "No strings. No fireballs. Just traveling companions sharing in some relaxation from the road. We're not jealous of each other."

"I wouldn't say that," Rebecca laughed. "If it was as good as you say, I want a turn."

"And I wish to thank you properly for rescuing me," Emelia giggled.

"We're a little late to protect Emelia's virtue," Rebecca purred, stroking her finger over the blonde noblewoman's breast as she spoke.

Cheryl rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Oh, stop. You're curious, you say that all the time." Rebecca swatted Cheryl playfully on her taut bottom to punctuate the statement. "We just finally found a way around your maneuvering and put you in a position to confront it, for once."

"A little curious — maybe," Cheryl argued, leaning down to kiss Rebecca.

When their lips parted, Rebecca looked back over at me and said, "Are you still dressed?"

Annette stood up and walked toward me, "We can fix that soon enough."

Rebecca laughed and stood too. I started to work on the buckles of my armor, but found that I just got in the way of the two women's deft fingers. In no time, they had me stripped down to my shorts. Emelia stroked her hands over Cheryl's body the whole time.

Annette took Rebecca's hand and lay it over my erection, while Cheryl lay down to lean on one elbow, shaking her head and chuckling. Rebecca purred sensually, and squeezed my cock. She then pulled down my shorts and licked her lips when my manhood sprang free of the concealing material.

Moving out of the way, Rebecca cupped my balls in her hand and stroked her fingers over them gently. She smiled at Cheryl and said, "Isn't it gorgeous?"

Cheryl laughed. "It's ridiculous. It looks like a mushroom." She paused then and said, "It's not all hairy and dirty looking, though."

"He shaves," Annette said, and took my right hand.

Rebecca grabbed my left hand, and both women pulled me over to the little cushioned nest in the middle of the floor. Cheryl let out another derisive snort as she moved out of the way, but I noticed that her eyes never left my crotch.

The girls pulled me down to the cushions, and Rebecca said to Cheryl, "Why don't you just watch? Emelia can thank him and show you how good a cock can feel while Annette and I lick you so you won't feel left out while you watch."