Chapter 28
Focusing only on her starself, Cinder slid silently back towards the road. A wagon drawn by four stout horses and flanked by four armed and armored people had just turned the bend. The head of a merchant caravan? The stomach of her flesh self grumbled. They’d left the village without breakfast or any renewal of their supplies. Maybe she could filch a few morsels from a supply wagon? The trees that lined the road weren’t that dense, with shafts of sunlight cutting through the foliage. She looked down at her glowing body, experimentally sticking her paw into the sunlight. In the bright light, the glow of her body disappeared entirely, with the only hint of her presence being the subtle twinkle of her stars. Illiana’s presence would be obvious, but Cinder’s sparse coat looked like little more than a few motes of shine. Theory confirmed, Cinder glided onward, using the light to shield her presence instead of shadow.
The wagons and carriages belonged to a wide variety of not only traders, but entertainers. Cinder counted five loudly painted wagons, enough for a backwater circus. The first two, the Singing Siren Sisters and StrongDor, the world’s swollest man, didn’t arouse her interest, but the third stopped Cinder in her ethereal tracks.
Trixie Tapper Cardium, Illusionist Extraordinar! The painted letters declared over the likeness of a blond woman wearing a black suit. The same blond woman sat in the driver’s seat in a much more comfortable blue linen dress. The wagon radiated magic. Not as strongly as Mother Lorn’s altar but far more than any presence she’d encountered since. It drew her like a sunny spot to a house cat. Her starself flowed as a subtly glowing snake and slithered beneath the wagon. After a moment of probing, she flowed up into the wagon through the floorboards. Her senses blanked out momentarily, and she reopened her eyes to find herself standing in the dark and cluttered interior of the wagon. Two bunks dominated one side, the other taken up by a workspace and a chest of drawers. That was where the magic was, inside there.
She moved towards it before clocking an important detail. Two bunks. You wouldn’t have two beds in a space like this unless…
Sure enough, despite the trundling movement of the wagon, a woman slumbered in the lower bunk. Blond like one driving the wagon and painted on the side. One arm was draped over her eyes, but Cinder could see the jawline.
Sisters. A quick sniff confirmed it. Either identical twins or similar enough to pass for one another. Fortunately, this Trixie Tapper seemed fast asleep.
Cinder knew she should leave, but the flavor of the magic called out to her somehow. She drifted over to the chest. Immediately reached toward the bottom where the majority of the magic radiated from but found her paw repelled. Straining, she managed to touch the latch with her claw but nothing else. Old instincts shifted her attention to lower hanging fruit, the smaller drawers also contained somethings of interest. Each was decorated with sliver and a small metal rings hung like tiny door knockers that danced with the movement of the wagon. Hooking one with a transparent claw, Cinder pulled the drawer open an inch before her claw passed through the ring. It made a soft clank on the wood of the drawer. Glancing nervously back at the slumbering woman, but she hadn’t stirred. It took several more attempts to open the drawer far enough to reveal three wands resting in velvet-lined alcoves. One of black wood, one intricately decorated with golden runes and the third, a plain white stick with cork at its base. The magic within it unfolded in Cinder’s mind. An imperial symphony lived within it, waiting for a user to set its tempo. While the core of the other two glowed to Cinder’s eyes, they refused to give their secrets.
Neat but not really helpful. Cinder teased open another drawer and found a set of five rings. The first one, a plain silver band, unpooled in her mind, projecting an illusionary force around the wearer, allowing them to disguise their true form.
Jackpot! That might let Barnaby into the city while she glitched through a wall or something. Impulsively, she snatched at it, but her claws passed through. It was firmly held in the velvet slot. Cinder didn’t have much confidence that she could carry the entire drawer as her starself. She scanned the other rings. Two weren’t magical, just pretty, the fourth didn’t reveal itself, while the fifth projected the user’s voice out nearly a mile.
It had been a long time since Cinder needed to steal anything, but walking her flesh self out here to make a deal would be asking to get pin cushioned. Illiana had carried her gear with her when she glitched. All it would take was two quick glitches. In and out. They wouldn’t be the wiser. She opened her awareness back to her flesh self. Smelled Barnaby’s pungent arousal and heard her continued muffled squeaking. Then, she seized hold of the second lever in her mind and pulled hard.
<fzzzzzzzzzzzzst>
Cinder shivered as her flesh slid through something not quite there. The wooden floor of the wagon creaked under her sudden weight. Freezing, Cinder held her breath and glanced at the sleeping blond. When she didn’t stir. Cinder counted to ten, feeling that strange emptiness in her pelt, then carefully hooked a claw throw the ring and pulled.
Tang! It wasn’t a sound, rather, a ripple of magic pulsed out the moment the ring left the slot.
“Thief!” The blond woke with a shout, only to slam her head into the underside of the upper bunk.
Cinder grabbed her mental lever and pulled with all her might. Pain shot through her being. Pain like the time she’d been clipped by one of Illiana’s lightning bolts. It knocked her down to her knees and sent the ring rolling across the floor.
“Merciful heavens! Monster!” The Blond screamed as her hands moved in what had to be a spell.
No time for anything but a smash and grab then. Cinder lunged forward, snapping her teeth around the fugitive ring before slamming into the door. Her bulk shattered the hinges as she exploded from the wagon. Paws slapped into the ground and clawed into it as she pivoted toward the forest, then booked it.
“You tread a traitorous path!” The blond shouted from behind as passed over the edge of the road. The trees in front of her moved in the blink of an eye, but she felt the magic of the spell and saw through the illusion. Running like an awkward combination of ape and deer, she wove between the real trees and ignored the false ones.
“Scorch that thieving tail!”
Cinder zigged and a beam of fire blasted past her, scoring across the bark of a tree. Bounding on, the shouts of frustration grew distant. Padding to a stop, she shifted her attention back to her starself and Barnaby.
“Aaaah!” The former knight cried out, flopping side ways into the dirt. Cinder rushed over to her.
“Get up. Get the horses and go. Quickly!” Cinder said, her glowing body so dim it was nearly invisible.
“Wha?” Barnaby looked up at Cinder with dazed eyes as the forest began to echo with the sound of people tromping on the dry leaf litter. Useless!
Cinder’s fleshself glanced around. She had to get back to Barnaby, but where was she? Her run into the forest had been blind instinct, and now she couldn’t be sure which direction to go without having him call out. She couldn’t leave Barnaby there, she was defenseless.
She needed to glitch there. But how? Think, she told herself and glanced at her dull fur. The fur, that held her magic and she didn’t have any left.
In her mouth, the ring of disguise tasted sweet, but not as sweet as… THE ARCHMAGUS’S EYE! Pawing at her pocket, she spat the ring into her left one and then pulled up the other side of her skirt to invert the right. The glowing orb tumbled out bounced off a root and rolled away. Cinder pounced on it with a feral growl, slapping it with a paw. It shot out from under the beans, ricocheted off a rock and popped high into the air. Cinder tracked it, stepped back, and caught it in her jaws.
SWEEEEET! Her tongue screamed on contact, and this time, she rolled it into the back of her jaws and bit down. There was a moment of strain, a soft pop and a sudden torrent of energy swept through her. Every strand of fur stood at attention, new sparkles shining within it. The wave then turned inward, crashing over Cinder’s balls and sex, reigniting the heat of last night. Cinder mewed as the weight of her balls surged. Her cock sprang to attention and her pussy flooded with warm wetness.
MATE! Her body cried out and Cinder’s paws slapped against her breasts.
“No no.” Cinder struggled to remain above the lust. Had to save Barnaby. Had to glitch.
Mentally she fumbled, but she found the lever, and this time it gave easily to her wish.
<fzzzst.>
Cinder fleshself appeared and stumbled, catching herself on Justice’s saddlebags. Blinked and saw that Barnaby confronted a group of four heavily armed guards. She was grinning.
“On your knees, thief!” The man in the lead advanced with the point of his sword leveled at Barnaby.
“I’m not a thief!” Barnaby protested. “I am a seeker of Justice!”
“Yeah, right, beastman. On your knees or I’ll cut them off.” The guard sneered.
“Certainly! How’s this?” Barnaby spun, her tail knocking the point of the sword aside. She did not kneel so much as touch her toes.
The man blanched, perhaps only now registering what the double stripes meant, before a spray of pink vapor enveloped him.
“Huuuuurgh!” Came his strangled scream, his fellows tried to back away but not far enough. Strangled curses came from the fog, weapons clattered to the forest floor as the guards struggled to pull off their armor.
“Thats the stink of Justice!” Barnaby bounced back up to her feet with a giggle. “Now who’s-”
“Barnaby!” Cinder called out, “Lets go.”
“But my justice!” She protested.
“Unless you’ve got enough stink for the entire caravan. We gotta go.” Cinder insisted, glitching up onto the horse named Justice. The gasping as the smooth leather pressed on her sex.
“Maybe with the proper wind?” Barnaby tapped her chin thoughtfully.
“I got you a gift! Now lets mooove.” Cinder said, unable to stop herself from grinding against the saddle. It felt good but her balls churned with envy.
“A gift? For ME?!” Barnaby’s voice hit the peak of joyous squeal before she clapped her hands over her mouth, apparently shocked at the sound. Cinder had no time for her self-discovery, she deftly wrapped Justice’s reins around one paw.
“Its in my pocket.” Cinder said, kicking the horse into motion.
“Uh! Sorry!” She told the guards, still clawing off their clothing within her stink. “You’ll have to give me you justice another day! Toodles!” Barnaby skipped over to her horse and sprang into the saddle.