Chapter 34
Elsewhere in the city, Illiana fought her own battle against the stars heating her loins. It helped that she hurried through the most unsexy environment possible. Her nose full of the stench of human excrement and she desperately wished for a pair of boots to cover her paws. The sewers were the ultimate sexual buzzkill. The demands of her body were drowned out by the constant beat of:
Ew. Ew. Ew. This is so gross!
Still, this would be the only way to get at the tower’s wards without showing up at their doorstep and announcing there was a Glitch Saber in the city. There were warding stones throughout the tower, but the largest and most powerful were at the base of the tower, beneath the street. Take one of those out, and the rest would be too weak to withstand the formation of a den. Illiana hoped.
Not that destroying a warding stone would be easy as casting shatter. Fortunately, a friend in the lower quarters had what she needed. A dark iron stake etched with runes would deliver a magic-annihilating burst that would work better than dwarven dynamite. Trouble was, it was just as unstable. Anything touching the tip would start the magic. Including murky water that sometimes flushed the passages that came up to her waist. She didn’t dare glitch with it, so she held it in her teeth like a dog holds a bone. Thankfully, she could spell herself dry and clean, otherwise, she’d be attempting to scale the tower to get at one of the upper warding stones instead.
It took several hours to navigate the tunnels. Sensing the magic of the tower was difficult with the raging magic imprisoned below the academy, but she managed a sense of hot or cold for the tower’s smaller reservoir. That led to some dead ends and a few encounters with sewer denizens. Most didn’t need much convincing that a giant cat woman wasn’t going to be meat. A few lightning bolts took care of the rest.
Her contact told her that she’d know it when she made it to the base of the tower. A tunnel that was completely dry was the first clue she was close. A huge brass door with the emblem of the Wizard’s Guild was the second.
It had no handle or visible mechanism. Probably meant only as an escape route. The door itself wasn’t magical. Defenses would be on the other side.
Illiana took the spike from her mouth and concentrated, her tentacle buds opened and waved through arcane patterns.
“Your door is rinky dink! I command you to shrink!” Illiana sang, flicking a bolt of energy at it.
The metal shivered and groaned as it shrunk away from the frame and toppled over backwards with a bang.
Illiana winced. If the defenses had ears, they definitely heard that. In and out, she told herself. Just find the ward stone and thrust the stake into it.
Ducking under the doorway, she stepped into a large chamber that hummed with magic. The curved wall of the tower itself sat opposite the door at least a couple hundred feet away. Overhead, an arch of stone curved from the wall, forming the ceiling of the space and grounding itself around the door. Glow crystals set into the ceiling illuminated a large glyph set into a four-foot-wide stone block at the base of the tower, a warding stone. Biggest one Illiana ever saw. There’d be four, one in each cardinal direction. Destroying one would do.
“In and out.” Illiana said, suddenly feeling flush with a warmth that crawled up into her ears. The sensual cinnamon scent of Cinder’s arousal slithered out of her memories and through Illiana’s mind.
An incoherent rumbling of distress rolled out of Illiana’s mouth as desperate want gripped her heart. Cinder. She needed Cinder. The time was on her.
Her lungs filled in preparation for a bellow. A strange song rippled up through her mind.
No! She turned her head to the side and coughed the breath away. Making noise down here was bad! Terrible idea. Wizard would definitely notice a Glitch Saber mating scream down here.
But if Cinder heard it, she’d come. She’d come and answer the need. A voice inside her whispered, not of Illiana’s ancient self, but a more primal part that they both answered to.
“Not yet.” Illiana pleaded out loud. “Need to do this.”
She took a step forward and felt the sting of a minor ward break on her skin. Before she could even chide herself for missing it, a growl sounded above her. Danger penetrated the heat, driving Illiana to look up in time to see a maw open in the stone above her and rush down towards her. Without thought, Illiana’s starself and fleshself dived in opposite directions and rolled up to their feet. Her swifter starself turned in time to see a blocky fin disappear into the floor with a ripple.
A stone shark.
Illiana’s flesh self leapt straight up, narrowly avoiding the massive set of crushing teeth that erupted beneath her. They closed with a snap that echoed through the room. Suppressing the urge to glitch, she landed awkwardly, stumbling around the club like fins of the thing’s tail as it dived back into the stone.
She had to deliver the spike to the stone before she could engage with this thing. The shark could see anything that touched the nearby rock. The last time they’d fought one, Barnaby had hammered it to death with the help of a fly potion. Something she definitely did not have. Tooth, claw and muscle wouldn’t do much against its granite skin.
Her starself spotted the dorsal fin of the shark cut through the stone behind her. Illiana’s fleshself dived to the side, grunting as her bulk smacked against the hard floor. The teeth snapped closed on air, but the shark didn’t dive, swimming forward and executing a tight turn. Illiana rolled length wise to get out of its path but instead of rising for a bite it slapped her with its tail. The blow sent her sprawling. Stunned, her consciousness shifted to her starself.
The shark dived.
Not good. She had to glitch now.
Fleshself tossed the spike up into the air. Starself surged forward. The ground beneath Illiana’s fleshself surged upward forming a toothy circle.
<fzzzst>
The sharks teeth closed on nothing but tiny stars. The dark iron stake tumbled as Illiana’s flesh staggered, off balance, but her tentacle struck out, snatching the stake from the air. A plan formed. Her starself flowed out around the shark’s teeth and streaked toward the ward stone as it tried to shake its prey. Then its small ruby eyes fixed on Illiana’s fleshself. It gave a grinding growl and charged.
Illiana’s tentacle snapped forward, flinging the stake through the air.
<fzzzst>
Two paws clapped on either side of the stake and Illiana’s fleshself drove it into the center of the warding glyph. The force of the blow drove the spike mid way into the stone. It emitted a high-pitched whine that grew intensity with each passing moment.
The shark roared in frustration as it once again got a mouth full of nothing. It swam straight toward Illiana’s fleshself. She raised her hand paws in preparation.
“Hey batter batter, time to shatter!” Illiana sang as the shark’s blunt head left the stone. Its blunt nose exploded, but its heavy body continued with its momentum intact.
<fzzzst>
The shark crashed down onto the dwarven spike, driving it the rest of the way into the stone.
Blue flame erupted in a geyser from the stone, Illiana felt a flash of pain as her starself’s body burst, sending stars shooting through the chamber trailing blue sparks. The shark screamed as the magic rushed over its face. It reared back and toppled, slamming into the stone floor instead of disappearing below its surface. The crater that Illiana’s shatter spell left had grown, consuming one of its eyes. Exposing gleaming, golden runes set deep within its skull.
Illiana knew this would be the time to run. The door to the sewers lay open behind her. It would be a matter of moments before it recovered enough to swim through the stone again. Escape to the street above… where her heat would slowly overwhelm her?
With those runes exposed, she had a better idea.
Her lower left hand reached between her legs, hooked her heat-swollen sex and pulled, doing exactly what she’d been fighting against for the last few hours. The pleasure immediately speared through her, the intensity driving her down to her knees.
“Aaaah!” Two thick fingers pressed against her diamond hard clit. Illiana threw her head back and welcomed the ecstasy. Fingers worked back and forth a mere moment before her body jolted with orgasm. Her stars, instead of exploding outward, rushed over her body toward her sex before shooting into the ground between her legs. In the pace of a second, it rippled, churned to soil, then greenery sprang from its surface. A wave of vibrant, twisting, crawling plants washed out over the room and beneath the monster.
The rock shark had just flipped itself over as the plants reached it. Its single eye blinked, and its head dipped as a seal might to slip from a rock into the water. Nothing happened. It did it again to no avail.
“Hurr?” It dug its front flippers into the ground, dragging itself forward but a mass of vines lifted it from the ground. Behind it, vines wound together to form a massive tendril thick as Illiana waist. It reached down towards the beast’s tail.
“You’ve bitten off more than you can chew.” Illiana said, licking her chops, one paw hand starting to knead her upper right breast.
“Huuurr!” The shark exclaimed as it was hoisted into the air. It wiggled and snapped like a fisherman’s catch.
“Nothing like the disappointment of a tool that’s failed its purpose. Not to worry, I have a new one for you.” Illiana said as she advanced through the thickening greenery. More vines wrapped around the immense stone construct, further muting its struggles. When Illiana reached it, she touched her dripping wet fingers to the exposed runes.
The shark stilled.
“Oh you're a nasty one.” Illiana whispered, “There’s an alarm ward if your destroyed but nothing against tampering. Probably thought you were too tough to crack. Thats good. I need a toy that will last me aaaaall night.”
The vines shifted, lowering the rock shark to the ground and lowering it down onto its back. It growled, but all it could do was wriggle in the grip of the thousands of vine ropes that held it. One spot was clear, a blank spot right at the base of its tail. Illiana straddled this spot, set her pussy against it and slowly began to rock back and forth.
The stone was smooth and cold, soothing against Illiana’s hot, aching nethers. Her tongue curled as she spread her starry juice over the gray surface. As she ground, she felt the texture start to shift.
“Hhhuuur?” The shark groaned.
“That’s right. That’s pleasure. Feels good doesn’t it. A good quaking.” Illiana sped up her grinding, grit her teeth and leaned forward. Pressing her clit directly against the stone. Better, felt good but each stroke felt like a maddening small step towards a second orgasm.
“Hur? Hurr? Hur!” The land shark started pushing back, lifting Illiana up several inches.
“Mewrl. Thats it. Good boy!” Illiana said, struggling to match its ill-timed rhythm. “Time it with me. Thrust, thrust, thrust.”
The construct obeyed, and Illiana felt her inch closer, but it still wasn’t enough. Not nearly as good as riding Cinder.
Cinder… Mate.
That cock wonderful cock.
At the thought of her mate, Illiana’s pussy gushed anew with fresh lubrication.
Cock, I need a cock. Cock please. Cinder! Illiana’s mind drifted from the present to the memory of last night. Reliving that moment. Those desires sunk into the stone she rode. It buckled first, forming a ridge that pressed up into Illiana. Then it split open.
Illiana screamed as she ground into the jagged crack. The pain almost spiking her over the wall she scaled, but not quite. Then a rod, a length of stone unfolded.
Yes! Illiana impaled herself as soon as the angle allowed, mouth yawning open as the rod parted her hungry flesh.
“Yuuus!” Her head lolled back as her loose tongue flopped out of the side of her empty mouth as her hips pulsed. The stone within her smoothed, shaping to her desires. The pleasure climbed toward the precipice. Closer and closer. Her tentacles, her arms, claws dug into the entangled shark as she used every muscle to drive herself harder and harder on her toy.
Her internal muscles clenched in anticipation. One organism, she promised herself. One good organism and she’d get going.
Just had to reach it… So close.