Chapter 30
A floral jungle assaulted Cinder’s eyes with a riot of color. The trees that stood naked before were now draped in a cloak of writhing woven vines. From which brightly colored petals bloomed briefly before being choked out by another vine to present its own plea to bees. Swirls of yellow dust cascaded down from the branches. As the pair watched huge acorns fell to the earth and drilled down into the ground. Shoots of new trees extended from the dirt mere seconds after the seeds had fallen. Vainly attempting to find free soil as the roots of the trees that fathered them snaked through the surrounding ground.
The growing vegetation chorused in a song of creaking wood, snapping branches and rustling of leaves. When Cinder felt earth she lay on move, it occurred to her that the animated plant orgy might seek nontraditional sources of nutrients.
“Back to the road!” Cinder said, struggling back onto two hooves and clapping Justice’s reins between two paws. The horse had no objections to being led away from the writhing plants.
Barnaby had more difficulty. Sputtering between watching the writhing plant life, figuring out how to support her numerous breasts all while trying to remember which saddle bag contained the promised mirror.
“Come on.” Cinder turned back, spotted a root starting to curl around the ankle of the beskunked knight and lashed out with her tentacles. The jaws of one snapped on the reins of the mare and the other whipped around Barnaby’s chest.
“Eeee!” Barnaby squeaked as Cinder hoisted her free of the amorous root. The horse whinnied with relief as it followed Cinder’s tugging. Apparently being guided by a cat was preferable to staying among the vines. Barnaby stumbled as Cinder set her down and continued off balance.
Cinder thanked her lucky stars that the tentacles were immediately natural to use as she led everyone back across the road and into the grazing land beyond. The trees Barnaby had sprayed now towered above the others and spread their vine covered branches beyond their little stand. Behind it, a hazy pink cloud spread through a grain field, spurring the grain into its own wild growth. Cinder had seen the aftermath of magical accidents that had spawned similar monstrous growth and dodged the stingers of the giant insects that it attracted. Being the cause of such an explosion was a new experience. One she did not savor. She hoped the farmer of that field would be okay.
Still, they needed to move faster than the news of strange happenings. News of Glitch Sabers in or near Hearthold would stir up the mage guild, and they’d fall all over themselves trying to get Illiana’s pelt. Or hers for that matter. There were definitely more stars decorating her own fur now too.
They hadn’t seen any runners from that caravan, but if those illusionists knew the message spell they might not of needed to. What sort of time would they make if they stayed off the main road? Illiana had only an hour or so head start, but there was zero sign of her, not even the trace of her scent tickled her nose. And what the fuck was Cinder going to do if she did catch up? No, she’d need to go find Tinny first, he might have something to help Illiana get her senses back. If Cinder went to Illiana first then…
The image of a gravid Illiana, cradling her swollen belly with a proud smile, filled Cinder’s mind and body with want.
No! Think of the chaos that will cause! Cinder snapped her gaze on the new jungle spreading through farmland. That would happen in the city! Thousands of lives would be ruined in that maelstrom of magic.
“Cinder? Mistress? HELLO!” Barnaby’s shout broke through Cinder’s messy thoughts.
“What?” She snapped.
“Could you let go? Your teeth are hurting my hand.” Barnaby said.
Cinder blinked, the bud of one of her tentacles had engulfed one of Barnaby’s hands.
“Oh. Sorry.” Cinder’s tentacle opened, and the naked skunkess gasped as she shook out her hand which was much more pawlike now. Still had thumbs though. “I was thinking about what we need to do.”
Barnaby nodded as she massaged her paw, eyes expectant.
This was the moment when Barnaby usually proposed delivering justice to some poor innocent. He’d never had good ideas, but she found the total lack a little disturbing.
“We need to get to Hearthold.” Cinder said with a sigh. “I was planning on you using that ring to pretend to be your old self and me pretending to be a captured beast man while we’re on the road. Now,” She gestured at the jungle, “I’m worried that won’t be enough.”
“Ooooh! The ring is magic?” Barnaby looked at her little gold ring.
“Its a ring of Disguise. I was gonna tell you before I got… distracted.” Cinder said.
Despite her eyes possessing no stars, her eyes sparkled with excitement. “You mean I can try any look I want to? By JUSTICE! Thank you mistress.” She bowed, causing her to over boobalance, with arms pinwheeling she fell over with a soft, “Eeep!”
Cinder managed to contain her laugh to quiet snort, but the grin claimed her face.
“Mistress, ah.” Barnaby rolled up into a seated position, ear wilted and head hung in embarrassment. “Could you help me with some support? These top… ones are really heavy and they squish the ones under them.” She heaved up her top set of breasts, giving a huff of effort. “It's… distracting.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have experience with your… multitude. Yet at least.” Cinder touched a tender spot below her own breasts. The flesh beneath those nipples had begun to swell too. At least her original pair seem a little reduced from her devil-born blood flared up. “But I can show you what I do with bandages when my undergarments get soiled.”
Barnaby nodded enthusiastically and the pair spent the next twenty minutes constructing a sort of harness to contain the top three pairs. Then Cinder fished out her small hand mirror, holding it with a tentacle at a distance so Barnaby could see more of herself.
“Aww, I look like a battlefield experiment.” Barnaby pouted.
“You want silk and lace, you’ll have to talk to a tailor. Or maybe Tinny could draw something. I’m not exactly sporting the latest fashion over here.” Cinder snorted, gesturing to her dress. The once ankle length skirt was nearly up to her knees, and the bodice was stretched around her torso, threatening to burst a seam if she breathed wrong.
“Silk and lace?” Barnaby asked wistfully as she fiddled with her ring. Her outlines blurred, then focused. She wore a light blue gown decorated with lacey bows down the sides. Her breasts contained, barely, by the corseted top, a window under the high collar displaying the puff of white fur amid the black of her cleavage. She jolted with surprise.
“Oooh! Thats Countess’s Vania Highnose’s dress!” Barnaby clapped her hands, bounced on her toes and turned to look at herself in profile. “By Justice! We have the same figure, well I have way more bosom but wow. Do I look pretty, Cinder?”
“Yeah but…” Cinder blinked, overwhelmed by Barnaby’s sheer enthusiasm.
“What about a dress for a slenderer figure? Like duchess Mortana?” Barnaby’s outlined fuzzed and resolved into a black velvet sheath dress, with long lacey sleeves, her hair piled on her head in a grand bun that added a foot to her height. She spent a moment turning this way and that before shaking her head.
“Doesn’t really work. The duchess’s skin tone does a lot of work. Maybe…” Her clothes changed again, resolving into a sultry red dress with only one shoulder strap and red boots up to her thighs. One of her eyes was hidden by the swoop of fluffy bangs. “Oooh thats naughty!”
“Barnaby, that ring only’s got a certain amount of spells in it.” Cinder chided, “And we need to get moving.”
“Oh right! I’m so sorry Mistress! Lets see. I need something that's more my station, right?” She tapped a finger to her lips.
“Actually I need you to-” Cinder started.
“How bout?” Barnaby spun on one foot, the red dress’s skirt flared out and darkened, the shoulders puffed and her hair gathered into a long braid. After a full revolution, the skunkess stood in a black dress and a white apron of a chamber maid. “There! A proper servant for you mistress.” Barnaby lifted the sides of her skirt in a near-perfect curtsy.
Cinder found herself at a loss for words in the face of the sheer amount of delight Barnaby radiated as she posed herself in the small mirror. Comfort handled by the bandages wrapping her chest, the former brute showed zero hesitation in embracing this new persona. With a sigh, she let the mirror fall away.
“Thats not going to get us less attention on the road.” Cinder growled.
“Aww,” Barnaby shoulder’s slumped and she gave a sad pout, which hurt Cinder’s heart.
“The plan. Remember? I need to you to be the old you, and tie me up so we don’t get stopped on the road.” Cinder said.
“But I don’t wanna be my old self. Nobody liked old me. Even you and Illiana only tolerated me because you needed my hammer.” Barnaby whined, ending the sentence with a sniffle.
“I…” Cinder felt like she’d just been gut punched. “What? that's not true. We were companions. A party.”
“It is!” Barnaby insisted, tears starting to brim at the edges of her eyelids. “You would have ditched me. You always threatened to throw me back into the river!”
Cinder’s ears snapped back, and a thundering snarl rumbled through her bared teeth. “Only because your twisted sense of justice always threatened to undo any relationship we ever made!”
“Eeep!” Barnaby fell backwards, and tried to scramble away. Cinder’s tentacles snapped forward with instinctual quickness, wrapping around Barnaby’s tail and dragging her back toward the devilish feline. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” She cried.
Cinder flipped her over and planted a heavy hoof on her chest, rage boiling inside of her. Her claws flexing. Barnaby looked up at her, face filled with absolute terror.
“We weren’t going to ditch you, you stinky weasel! We worked together. A good team! You know how rare that is? You could have gone back to your order at anytime! But you didn’t, did you? Preferring the travel with two women who never gave two shits for the gods.” Cinder snarled. “Why’s that? Huh?”
“You, you, we always delivered justice well?” Barnaby hazarded.
“And?” Cinder growled. “There were other reasons, weren’t there, maybe ones you wouldn’t admit to yourself?
“Uh, uh.” Barnaby’s eyes rolled back in her head, “Uuuh, You and Illiana were much more… fun than my fellow knights… And well.. Wouldn’t actually toss me into a river in full armor?”
“Thats right.” Cinder hissed. “We’re your fucking friends, Barnaby. Since your skull is a bit less thick now, allow me to finally beat some sense into it. The old Barnaby wasn’t a happy man, but he was a reliable one in a pinch. I don’t know how much of him is in that bubbly head of yours, but try to retain a cupful of the grit he had. To have an ice cube’s chance in the 12 hells of calling Illiana back to her senses, I need you to be him for a day. Once we’re in the city, then you can explore the new you all you want. Understand?”
“… Yes mistress.” Barnaby said after swallowing hard.
“Good girl.” Cinder said and lifted her hoof from Barnaby’s chest. Turning, she felt the acrid of her anger and frustration. Why was she the only one trying to hang on in this entire situation? She looked at the paws, the tentacle tips, the stars in her fur. Not that she was doing a great job at it. Snapping like that wasn’t her. Well, she was usually less physical about it.
Behind her, Barnaby stood, pressing her hand against her chest and breathing hard. Her pulse thundered so hard that Cinder could hear it.
“H-h-how’s this, Mistress?” She asked.
Cinder looked to find not the old Barnaby but a large woman similar in build, with curves under the armor, with long, raven black hair with a single stripe of white through it.
A moment passed in silence.
“That will do.” Cinder said. “Now try not to get too excited trussing me up.”