Anonymoose: Monster Girl Saga. Part 1 (v.1.2)

My breath had turned to heaving gasps and my hurried feet began to falter on some alien forest floor and rare train of thought came to me; coming to terms with my life's imminent end. I tried to banish it, but as someone who enjoyed thinking and hardly doing I found that quite impossible. It was also a likely explanation for my current fatigue which to protect my pride decided to blame on my relentless pursuers. With reckless abandon I had ceased to run some time ago,  instead I began to throw myself forward. I scrapped past a ceaseless wall of twigs and branches each scratching and sheering away at me. I wasn't sure if my face was now caked with sweat or blood. An echo of leaves, twigs and soil crunching underfoot echoed off the endless wall of trees around me. It rang in sync with the sound of my own heart thumping and a pounding inside my head. Swaying and trying to pull me off balance was a large backpack, filled to the brim with scavenged remnants of what was once my humble abode. I thought of ditching it, but even if I escaped, with the food, water, blankets and gear inside, I surely wouldn't last long without it. I would only buy time, not my survival.

 

Despite how dire my situation was, despite a primal survival instinct taking control of my thoughts and actions, I needed to keep my mind on what was ahead. That of course meant not just the trees I were weaving through and the roots and stones I was leaping over. A thick canopy overhead almost all but blocked the light of the sun above, it also kept the air cool but not without leaving an ominous atmosphere. If it were not for the excitement of the chase and being scared shitless by the prospect of being captured, no doubt I would be left with an eerie paranoia.

 

A few more leaps and bounds carried me to a short overlook. The drop was only a few meters down and I hastily decided to slide down the steep wall of mud and soil. Going around to the sides was simply not an option. My pursuers were behind me and spread out in a fan they'd catch me before I found a safer way down. If I was too calm or slow, I'd lose my lead as well, so not breaking my momentum I vaulted the crest and tried to ride the slope down. Disaster struck when the eroded soil did not hold my weight at the bottom half of my decent. Part of the slope gives way and both my feet shoot forward from under me continuing into the air and taking the rest of my body with them. It was left to my back to break my fall instead as I crashed into a pile of leaves, bush and dirty soil. It took tremendous straining of my abdomen to stop my head from joining my back. Luckily the shock of my fall was was cushioned by a backpack.

 

By my waist a clatter of leather and steel, a sword and scabbard dislodged from my hip. I had almost all but forgotten its monotonous and constant swaying off my hip. Scared, fatigued and bruised I brought the hard leather to my chest and held onto it tight. I held onto it as though it were something fixed in place. Something that if I failed to hold onto I would fall through the forest floor to hell itself. It didn't matter that it was previously only a toy, no more than a hobby item. Although real and sharp it was laughable idea I'd even be able to use it at a time like this. It was a safety blanket nonetheless and I was willing to catch any break I could by this point. I hoped it would have stopped more fights from its mere presence than win them. It was a shame I was running from something I couldn't hope fight. If I felt I could, believe me that running is the last thing my pride would let me do. I was outnumbered and most likely outclassed. My pursuers were armed, and from what I saw of them when I was unfortunate to have met them, they do not treat prisoners with an ounce of civility.

 

Immersed in a bed of leaves and bushes I could see the sun through the trees towering above. I didn't even have the strength left in my arms to block it from shining directly into my eyes. It was far too late to try and get back onto my feet. All my muscles refused to listen and my lungs felt like they were on fire. A foreboding rustling approached, it came close enough I could hear at least four pairs of footsteps. Life can be so cruel, my first chance at a rest in twenty minutes and I can't even afford to savour the fresh air. I took in one long rush of air into my lungs to their bursting point and held it. The footsteps came to a stop, and that was all. I thought I'd be privilege to some secret conversation, the kind that would give me a hint as to how to get myself out of my current predicament. Once again life proves just how unfair it can be. I wondered if I should have started counting in my head at this point, but I thought that would just lead me to acknowledging my limits as lungs felt like they were liable to explode.

 

I could hear a patter of feet over the sound of my own heart beating while a shadow crossed over me. A small and feminine silhouette belonging to a female. Its sight sent me into a panic. Like a deer caught in headlights I froze completely, instinct dulled the pain and discomfort and I played dead. The woman had stopped to look around for a brief moment. My starving heart nearly came to a sudden halt when she stopped and stood still only a few short meters away. She inhaled, a few quick whiffs through her nose. A chilling thought came to me suddenly, as much as I wanted to banish it like so many of the others recently. Are my pursuers tracking me by smell? Are they even human? They looked human, but  then again they only resembled them. If that were true, hiding here as I am hidden from sight I was certainly doomed. There would be nothing I could do if that person standing there discovered I was hiding here. My body felt like an old unreliable car that refused to turn over no matter how many times I turned the key in the ignition. While coming to grips with the end of my life, the silhouette let out a short annoyed sigh and continued on its way. Life had decided to give me a break. Maybe she wasn't such a complete bitch after-all.

 

Slowly my paralysed body come back to its senses and I indulged in precious oxygen. The taste of iron slowly left my mouth as I rested for what felt like minutes. I wasn't confident I  had the luxury of a break, but I hadn't felt so good in a long time. When I finally gathered enough of my strength to prop myself up on my elbows and look over the bushes I had fallen into, a smell wafted into my sinus. Old and dry brush, leaves, and purple flowers.

 

        “Lavender,” I said quietly to myself and let out a laugh. “If they were tracking me by smell it makes sense why they lost me.”

 

An idea come to me suddenly. I plucked as many bulbs of lavender as I could and stuffed them into my pockets, under my shirt's collar, everywhere I could fit them. It might just mask my smell and throw them off long enough for me to make a getaway. I couldn't shake how lightheaded I was when I had finally risen to my feet again, and I was afraid for a moment that I'd soon collapse again. Holding my weight up by nearby tree trunks I dragged myself further until I felt strength returning to me. My precious and eagerly anticipated second wind had come at last. My stumbling steps soon returned to normal, and with my legs limbered up I broke out into a jog and confident with my feet after that, I broke out into a run. If I broke out of the treeline, or if I found a river I'm sure I'd be able to find my way to civilization. Those brutes back there were all armed, they had to be forged somehow. Their prisoners were clothed, those had to be made somewhere.

 

If I could just find someone, anyone who would listen, I could find a way to get back home. All I had to do was keep running till it was safe. How long have I been away for? Has anyone noticed I've been gone? I'm sure both my parents would be worried sick if I didn't answer the phone after so long. I'm kind of a shut-in, so I don't think my friends would probably notice if there wasn't a word from me for a few weeks. All these thoughts circled around inside my head as I ran. It showed just how far I'd come from the edge that I was able to worry about others again. Although that attitude only made it even worse when disaster returned.

 

Ten meters ahead, a woman walks out from behind a tree. Turning her head, she looks right at me as I come to a sudden skidding halt only a few meters out of arm's reach. My eyes saw the world through a monochrome lens. Time slowed as my eyes locked onto hers and hers onto mine. This woman, this human woman, reached up to my shoulder, so I looked down at her, and she up at me. She wore a lazy expression, droopy, almost goofy in its appearance. She was human, or so I had thought. Sticking out from her messy and shortly cropped mop of wavy vanilla brown hair were a pair of floppy pig's ears. It wasn't some costume play, she had no human ears. Her skin was a flush pink, her frame was curvacious, albeit a little on the chubby side. Resting on her shoulders behind her head was a massive wooden war mallet. That's not something a carpenter would use, maybe a railway worker would use it to drive spikes, but that thing was built to hurt others. She was hardly wearing anything as well. Straps of leather, bits of cloth, it was more like a makeshift two-piece leather swim suit. Leather gloves, vambraces, shin guards and open sandals. Was this some kind of joke?  It was impractical, it was borderline silly. What kind of warrior would be so inappropriately dressed for battle like this? Exposing so much skin needlessly. While I was stuck in a daze she continued to study me. Her droopy face turned into a peculiar smile. That smile struck my heart like a finger over an instrument's string. That kind of smile couldn't be mistaken for anything other than one simple thing.

 

Come on over here. Let's have some fun.

 

With a soft thud she dropped her hammer on the forest floor. The girl bent forward, her gaze still meeting mine. With her arms she draped across her chest she cradled her breasts in her forearms. It was then I noticed just how voluptuous she was. What kind of cup would those will? An 'E'? An 'F''? Why were they shaped like something you'd see only on some cover girl in a trashy magazine? She took a step forward shaking her hips seductively as she did. From her plump rear she was putting on display a curly pig's tail swayed back and forth with her steps. It was absurd. Jutting out from her tailbone. There were no strings attached, it wasn't inserted like some kinky sex toy, it swayed and twitched in a way that only a real one could. Letting her breasts drop, bounce and sway she reached out with both her hands open toward my face to cradle my cheeks with a gentle and droopy expression on her face. Time seemed like it was being held back by the gravity of the situation. My mind was racing, my body was frozen in place, except for one lower nether region which was stirring to life at the sight of this pig-woman. Her face complete with light green eyes and a cute button nose came ever closer.

 

There wasn't any time left for hesitation. Her hands were only breath's width away, her own breath was close enough to feel now. This wasn't a human though. She looked human, she was mostly human, but I couldn't shake the instinctual feeling that she just wasn't. My feelings of awe were burned away in an instant when my fear caught up and my fight or flight reaction took over. I hiccoughed and my body shook back to its senses. I swatted away her hands reaching up for me face pushing her aside violently. I sprang backward as my other hand gripped the hilt of my sheathed sword. My face contorted in anger as I prepared myself for a fight and I carefully watched her reaction.

 

My fierce expression and willingness to fight evaporated in an instant. Her hands lowered to her sides as though they'd gone completely limp and she looked at me with a distraught and hurt expression. That droopy look on her face had changed to a complicated expression defined by disappointment and sadness. Her eyes wet as though she were about to cry. We simply stared at each other again and she raised one of her hands toward me again. It was as if she were imploring me to take it. My face had softened, but I still held steadfast in my defensive stance. Her seductress’s expression was gone. It was now a forlorn expression of longing. Rather than pluck at my heart strings like before, it tugged and played them like an instrument. I had lost my will to fight, so I moved onto my other option; I turned on my heels and ran as fast as I could. I didn't hear any voice calling out to me from behind, I didn't even hear pursuing footsteps nor did I feel her presence following me.

 

I didn't make it far before a loud and low tone noise blared between the trees. It sounded like a conical horn. It caused me to come to a stop as it carried on for several seconds. When I stopped to listen, it was coming from behind me. I turned to find its source. Between the trees, barely in sight, the girl from before was holding up a viking horn toward the sky and blowing into it. The long sustained toot came to an end. She followed it with a much shorter note and then a third. There was a brief moment of silence before another horn blared in the distance where I had been running before. Then another to my left, then my right, three, four, five, the number of horns reverberating throughout the forest increased. They were close, far and in-between in all directions.

 

Gritting my teeth I cursed out loud, “Shit. So it was a trap.” That my intuition and instincts had seen through her deception gave me little comfort.

 

The entire forest had come to life with the sound of alarm. Birds took flight into the air, small rodents scurried away on the ground and in the trees in all directions. I wasn't sure what direction was where anymore. I spun around in a panic trying to gauge which horns were close and those that were not. I needed to get a hold of myself and continue running, but out from the bushes three women emerged. Their heights were similar, as were their faces to the girl from before. They must be related on some level. The gravity of the situation caught up with me again. I was lost in a strange forest surrounded and hounded by an entire clan of warrior pig-women. Their faces were not menacing, not in a violent way, they shared the same droopy expression plastered on their faces, lugging around makeshift weapons of absurd size and weight and wearing armour so skimpy and revealing no sane person would deem it appropriate to wear into battle. Their expressions were still playful, but it was obvious they were not interested in seducing me anymore. The way they carried their weapons, it was obvious they intended to use them to capture me by force. The three bounded their way toward me and my flight instinct took.

 

They were surprisingly slow, outrunning them seemed to be child's play. Were they being conservative or did they just not need to run? That last thought scared me quite a bit. If that was true, along with me being surrounded, running might just be a waste of time as they try to tire me out till I couldn't possibly run anymore. A horn sounded off alarmingly close to my left as I dashed through the forest and I took a sharp turn to my right to put distance between me and it. From in front of me another pig-woman appeared. She was breathing deeply with a hoarse rasp in her voice. Legs spread shoulder width apart and her arms out as far as they could reach to block my passage between two large trees. To avoid a collision I came to a halt. From my right a short and chipper yell as another pounced out from my flank. She wrapped her arms around arm and brought herself closer to me. Sandwiching my arm between her not so modestly sized breasts.

 

She let out a giggle that would in a situation that wasn't so frightening sound adorable. She tugged and pulled on me, trying to fall backwards to the ground and bring me along with her. Since I was in a state of panic I instead brought my right shoulder back and threw my arm across my chest as hard and as violently as I could. With a yelp of surprise the girl was shook off and went careening into the other surprised looking girl. Like bowling pins they landed in a heap making painful moans. Were they really so weak? The whole situation was baffling. Another horn sounded off in alarm as a group ten of them materialized through the foliage behind me closing in toward me. Taking off at a run again I hurdled over the heap in front of me and continued running.

 

Horn after horn blared loudly again and again. Like a rat caught in a maze I dashed in one direction and then another trying to slip through my pursuer's net that was encircling me. Just how many were there? By now I must have counted thirty and heard another forty on top of that. My predicament seemed to be getting worse and worse as the time between running into them was getting steadily shorter. Suddenly a small break in my misfortune was thrust into my arms. The sound of the horns had died off completely in front of me, and taking heart I put the last of my strength into a full sprint branches breaking off completely as I barrelled through them. Up a slight incline I stressed my leg muscles to ascend higher and higher until there was finally a break in the tree line. I came to a stumbling stop as I realized where the trees came to a stop soon too die the ground and there was a horizon of nothing by sky. I stumbled and fell to my hands and knees at the edge a sharp incline going down some fifty or sixty meters. Mud and dirt held together by the spotted scattering of meagre trees whose roots were holding this mound of rock and dirt together. A few rocks knocked over the edge tumbled down the hill. Picking up speed as they went, they slammed into and off the many trees and ricocheted in many directions. I pushed myself backwards and fell onto my bottom. The horns behind me were getting closer and climbing the hill behind me. I dragged my heavy body up off the ground and turned to face the tree line.

 

Soon they materialized out from the trees. They formed a semi-circle but kept their distance. I'm sure there were more behind those I could see. They all giggled and seemed to talk quietly amongst themselves whispering into each others ears as they studied and watched me. I stood as tall as I could, puffed my chest out and squared my shoulders. I guess I had lost all reason and regressed to some bestial state. I acted like a cornered animal trying to frighten off some predator by looking bigger than I really was. Ignoring how silly that was when I was taller than any of them to begin with, the group parted to let through one particular pig-woman. She was outlandishly dressed, a walking fashion disaster, bits of metal covered her instead of just leather alone, but she was still just as skimpily clothed as they others. A flowing cape, a scruffy looking oversized beret a patchwork multicoloured scarf; she was also taller than the rest, near my own height and at least by a head above the rest. Everything about her was an exaggerated version of the others. Her height, her muscle definition, her breast size. It was clear as day by now, the last and certainly not least of the pig women had finally arrived, without a doubt it was their leader.

 

The gap in the line broke even further as another group had been drug forward. A train of naked men, seven in total of various ages, build and appearance. Each was tied up and together by their necks and  wrists with rope. Their escorts corralled them forward, pushed them violently to the ground and held them there. It wasn't necessary to abuse men with empty soulless eyes, but they appeared to take personal pleasure in it. From their expressions I deduced it was sexual excitement. It certainly wasn't one of professional satisfaction, these men looked like if they had any fight in them at all, it was a long time ago. I had come face to face with the sight that had led me on this long chase once again. Not long before being dropped into this forest I had run into this group of human pig-women sexually abusing their prisoners.

 

To call them prisoners was probably incorrect, they were likely slaves. It had been an orgy, a sight I had never even seen before with my own eyes. Every one of these creatures seemed to be female. Not a male in sight. If that were  true, then their capturing human men would make sense. They were not only slaves, but sex slaves. While I watched and not a word was said these women were preparing an extra length of rope to add to the train. The others blocking the way still clamoured in excitement, looking at their new toy. Their leader, their chieftain, raised her hand and they all went silent. With only that motion they all quieted down. Their faces were rife with disappointment. They appeared like children who had been denied a new toy to play with.

 

She snapped her fingers and a trio of girls brought to her a pole with a huge stone tied to the end of it. Another duo came from behind and unclasped her cape and retrieved her hat. After that, the trio took off her pieces of armour and gaudy clothes one by one until their leader stood before me completely naked. It was plain as day what was intended to happen now. She spun that boulder on a stick around her with effortless ease in a little show of strength. To intimate me for sure and it worked. She intended to beat me and then rape me. She had removed her clothes because she wasn't concerned I'd be able to harm her at all. She didn't want anything to get in the way when she got her hands on me. There wasn't anywhere else for me to run. There is no way I could break through that many without being dragged down to the ground under their weight alone. Their leader took her first steps toward me, brimming with confidence, a droopy face like the others filled with a playful malice in it, licking her lips in anticipation.

 

I had only this brief moment in time to collect my thoughts. My mind raced with clarity for the first time since I had woken up in this strange place. I had been in my apartment in the city. I was off to the university the next morning, but I had stayed up too late wasting my time on the Internet instead. I had been tired, dead tired. With a raucous noise I has been tossed from my bed. It had felt like an earthquake, but I was tossed not side to side but up and down. I had bumped my head which sent me back into unconsciousness. When I awoke, the view from my balcony window had changed. A small clearing in the middle of a forest. I was dumbfounded then and I still am now. I thought I was in a dream, but I could feel pain and it all seemed very real. That was all there was. Just myself, my apartment room and a forest. The rest of the building was not there.

 

Parts of my room were collapsed under piles of heavy rubble. It was fortunate I had not been crushed under it. Most of my belongings were lost, buried or destroyed. Open pipes and torn wiring hung everywhere. The whole room looked like it could collapse at any moment, so I took what I could scavenge and left. Outside it was as something had cut a section of my building out and tossed it with wild abandon like Dorothy's house into Oz. I certainly wasn't home anymore. I was in an alien land with a group of nearly human women ready to enslave me. My situation was bleak. My options were limited. I had to come to terms that this couldn't be a dream. I didn't want to be a slave. I was afraid of being beaten, used and abused. I just wanted to go home. It didn't matter that I was alone. It didn't matter to me that I might otherwise starve, dehydrate or get sick and die in this forest trying. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to see a friendly face. I didn't want to run and hide. I wanted to be in control. I didn't want to be yanked and pulled around by my circumstances. I didn't want to be afraid anymore.

 

        I had only one thing I left to do, so with a mocking tone I broke the silence first, “A good effort, but you've still left me with two options.” I said such a provocative thing, but in reality my legs where shaking.

 

I shuffled my heels backwards where they met the crest of the steep cliff. The woman hesitated in disbelief once she caught on. I didn't want to be afraid. I wanted to take control and do something. I had  been pushed this far and I had pushed myself to this point. Here hesitation gave me the opening I needed. I didn't know if this would work. I didn't even know if I would survive. I turned one hundred and eighty degrees and jumped off.

 

I landed one foot turned sideways, the other the same behind as though I was trying to ride on some invisible board. Dirt flung itself into the air as my feet scrapped over the surface. My arms outstretched trying to keep my balance. I tried to steer myself between the trees, as they approached I pushed myself off and tried to keep my balance. Maintaining a steady and slow pace was proving impossible. Gravity seemed intent on speeding my decent to terminal velocity. I hadn't thought this through at all. This was a bad choice and it was becoming more and more apparent as my decent progressed and my speed increased. However, given the option between having to fight that woman, or her clan it seemed like there was a greater chance I may get out of this predicament alive. That hope was being dashed as quickly as I was being dashed against the trees. I finally reached one that was so weak and sickly from its poor grasp on the earth that instead of breaking my speed, it broke instead. Falling forward I tried to tuck into a ball and cradle my head in my arms.

 

A rock bashed into my hip, then my forearm guarding my head. My tight ball broke and like a log rolling down a hill my back hit another tree, bending me backwards a bit. My speed was too great to stop, that tree too was too weak to stop me and I broke through uprooting it as well. I tumbled over and over, head over heels over the rough dirt, stones, bushes and trees until finally I came to a sudden and violent rest at the bottom. Instead of a crunch there was a rustle. Once again I plummeted into thick thicket of brush and leaves, my back cushioned by my pack. This time though, I felt my head slam into the hard pack dirt. I could see stars, my vision was going black, and the sound of horns which blared again loudly got quieter as my eyes which felt too heavy closed despite me best efforts to keep them open.

 

Was I dying? Or was I could it be that I was actually dreaming? It still hurt like hell, so I wasn't sure if it was either. That was the last thought I had before losing consciousness completely.

 

 

What had been a blissful silence after my chaotic ordeal was interrupted by an incessant ringing in my right ear. I slowly stirred and gritted my teeth against it, yet it refused subside. It eventually forced my slumbering body to wake. I found myself laying on my back and looking toward an orange coloured sky. I shook my head and the memories of my decent returned to me. Just how stupid was I? How many times did I have to hear people say, “No matter what your life is what is most important”? Certainly not enough. I  had brashly decided freedom was more important. Maybe I wasn't dead, but perhaps I was on my way there. I wiggled my toes and felt the constrained walls of my shows.

 

        “At least I'm not paralysed,” I said out loud to comfort myself.

 

I bent my knees and they sounded off with audible cracks that sent shivers through my body. It hurt, but they moved. I was fortunate that it wasn't an unbearable excruciating pain that would indicate broken bones. I rotated my shoulders and flexed my elbows. They also began to crack and creak, but they moved with only a mild piercing pain. I tried to sit upright, but I hardly had the strength in my abdomen. Enduring a great amount of pain I struggled and finally sat up. I pushed with my legs and stood upright, forcing myself  to take a few weak steps and  fall sideways leaning against a tree. Looking back up the sharp incline where I had tumbled down from I saw from here that it was obscured. Since the sky had turned orange, it was at least dusk. I had probably been out for a number of hours, perhaps in and out of consciousness. If they hadn't followed and dragged away my hurting body with them by now, they may have given up on me. If I was lucky they may have left me for dead. I finally became aware of my injuries once I had woke from my drowsy state.

 

Numerous cuts and gashes all over body. I reached to my forehead and felt the caked blood of a serious gash that gave me a serious headache when I acknowledged its existence. Various bruises covered my body as well, the source of all my pain. I hadn't hit anything at an odd angle or directly to break anything, but I had taken a serious tumble down that hill. My shirt was torn in various places. Some areas caked with dry blood. My jeans were not any better for wear either, at least they could still serve as clothing. It felt and looked as though it were mid-spring, it may still get cold at night.

 

This wasn't the time to be waiting around though. I looked up again and saw that I was downwind of a gust that was currently blowing. My smell wasn't going to carry up the hill and give me away to those pig-women, but that wasn't going to last forever. The wind could change at any time. Numerous bulbs of crushed lavender were still lining my clothes and filled my pockets to the brim. I wasn't sure just how well it would work if they had caught on to how I was trying to hide my scent. I propped my back against the tree and slid down to the ground. Slipping my backpack off and opening the zipper to rummage through its contents. A crushed plastic water bottle that I drank in one sitting. A few mangled and twisted granola bars I devoured in haste and I was then out of food. I sat there satisfied, hurting, but satisfied for a few minutes. I pulled out a small first aid kit, with gauze and bandages I cleaned, covered and bound what wounds I could. After resting for what must have been thirty minutes my strength was finally returning I dragged my body up leaning against the tree behind me.

 

I tried to take a step but it still hurt like hell. I searched the forest floor for a stick, anything to use for support. A clatter at my waist reminded me of the scabbard. I untied it from my waist and with the sword safely still stowed inside I rested my weight on it and hobbled away. I was looking for a road, creek, river or lake. Smoke tumbling up into the sky would also be a welcome sight. I had enough water for maybe another three days. I would begin to starve starting tomorrow, but for now I had to press on. Forging on ahead, the sun, star, whatever its name was in this place, had disappeared behind the horizon some time ago. I then watched as two moons, one large one smaller rise and begin to move across the night sky together.

 

The night was bright. Brighter than a moonlit night in the woods back home. I hadn't become sleepy after a few hours of hiking, and the light from the moons allowed me to move on without worry of misplacing a step. At this rate I would put some serious distance between myself and the pig-women. It was a welcome though that they would soon be removed from my list of worries. My body had limbered up quite a bit as well, the stiffness had mostly gone away and I was left only with the tenderness of the various bruises over my body. Instead of a crutch, I was able to use my sword as a cane instead.

 

As my trek continued  I came across a strange phenomenon. A rolling mist that had appeared suddenly, billowing at my feet. I looked up toward the starry sky and saw hardly a cloud in sight. I couldn't shake how odd it was. Pushing further through the foliage the mist became thicker. Eventually I came to a clearing in the middle of the forest and there was a small pool of water. It was draped in steam. It had to be some sort of natural hot spring. I rushed to the water's edge, stripping my tattered and torn shirt off as I did. Kneeling at the edge I cupped my hands together and dashed water against my face and body, scrubbing them hard with my tattered shirt as a rag. I was still covered in caked blood, dirt and grime, and I was not going to pass up this opportunity to wash myself. As the water cascaded across my skin it stung. It stung really bad. It was hot. Not too hot, but unexpectedly so. It had to be between forty or fifty degree water. I clenched and sucked in air through my teeth in an attempt to bear the sudden pain, but I could certainly feel the layers of blood and grime wash off my face as a reward.

 

My eyes went bloodshot red from the hot water and I struggled to open them again. Before being able to see anything, I was able to hear something. A few faint splashes from the water. When I was finally able to open my eyes again, I spotted a series of ripples in the water moving towards the edge. I slowly looked up to follow them back to their source. The tree branches and leaves above rattled and shook as the wind suddenly picked up. Much of the hovering mist was taken away with it and standing there in the middle of the pond was a woman. She stood only three meters away. Kneeling, I looked up at her and as she was submerged to her thighs and still partly obscured by the mist.

 

Illuminated by the moon and starlight she stood there with her face looking up toward the sky, her hands behind her neck and back, her arms against the side of her head and her elbows pointing directly toward the sky. Long silky and wet strands of red auburn hair billowed down her shoulders, draped across her chest and down her back. Her chest was heaved upwards on display, a marvellous and beautiful sight to behold. Their size couldn't be less than a D and their shape, perfectly sculptured. Her skin was a golden bronze without a tan line to be seen. Two pink nipples crowned her twin mounds and they they blended seamlessly into her flawless skin.

 

My eyes continued their decent downwards to the svelte curvature of her waist before they curved back out over her wide hips to her lithesome legs. Her stomach was perfectly flat, punctuated by a thin oval shaped navel. Her abdomen looked toned and athletic, her whole body seemed to follow this trend: an hourglass figure every trace of unnecessary fat collected on her chest, leaving behind only taut muscle elsewhere. I couldn't stop my admiring and curious gaze from going further as it traced over her womanhood. Laid bare and unobstructed for me see. She had all the hallmarks of a young, very attractive, very athletic yet voluminous woman.

 

When I looked back up, my eyes met with hers. She had noticed me sitting here on my knees running my eyes over her body. My eyes slowly focused in, it took me what felt like minutes to take in the sight. I felt like I was looking upon Helen of Troy. My heart which had been beating quickly felt like it had been seized and squeezed by some spectral hand. A face I'd only expect to see on a television screen or on the folds of a magazine. There wasn't any professional lighting, droplets of water streamed down her face so that any makeup would have vanished long ago and my vision was certainly not being doctored by any photo editing program.

 

Her features were soft and very feminine. Thin eyebrows crowned her brow. A small and nose sandwiched between a unembellished pair of lips. My eyes were quickly drawn into her own, and it was there my beating heart stopped. Her irises were a bright luminescent amber, but her pupils were not rounded, but slits. They looked as though they seemed to be at a halfway point between two extremes, a human eye and that of a reptile. Her eyes were like that of a predator they belonged on a crocodile, not a human being.

 

Her pair of long eyelashes fluttered a few times as she blinked in rapid succession every so often as she stared at me. It got the impression that her disbelief was almost as strong as mine. Her expression had not changed though. I could feel my own eyes were wide open by now, I was trying to keep a stoic face but was failing. The two of us merely watched one another. A similar feeling of instinctual dread I had felt earlier today quickly dawned on me. That feeling would soon be explained as the woman before me cautiously lowered hers arms back down. Her forearms, from just beyond the elbow joint down were red reptilian scales. It appeared as though they were long gloves, rather, they looked like armoured gauntlets. I would have assumed they were, but they flexed and had natural movements of their own. They were certainly not something that was worn on top of human flesh and bone. They were scaled like a crocodile's foot, the outside lined with thick armoured scales and the underside, including her palms, soft like the underbelly of a snake.

 

Her arms ended in reptilian-like hands. Each with three thick fingers and a large opposable thumb each. Each digit ended with a long ivory white claw. Crowning the sides of her head, where human ears should be, were a pair of red lizard-like fins. From behind her a thick lizard's tail came to life swaying back and forth, the ridge of the tail was adorned by a very alarming sight. Along her tail a ridge of fire burned brightly from where it connected to her back to the very tip. It must have been about three quarters of a meter in length. The fire illuminated the entire clearing competing with the moonlight, and it was starting to burn a little brighter the longer we stared at each other. There was no way around it, she was a different type than the others before, but this girl standing naked in the spring before me was not quite human. Past experiences caused my blood to run cold.

 

Her eyes calmly moved away from mine at last and it felt as though a pressure was lifted off my body and I could breathe normally again. She looked to my side where they fixated on something. I followed her gaze and laying on the grass next to me was my sword in scabbard. I thought about it from her perspective. A shirtless man poised on his knees with a weapon laying beside him has gotten this close to a naked defenceless woman in the middle of nowhere without another soul around.

 

        I immediately tried to defuse the situation, “Look. I don't mean any-”

 

I didn't have any time to finish. Despite how high the water around her was, she crouched down and kicked off the bottom of the spring and flew backwards. The spring was small, and from her standing start she flew backwards about 3 meters landing on the opposite shore. A perfect 10 point landing. It was so remarkable I couldn't help but have my mouth agape. Standing there on the shore I caught another sight. From just below her knees much, like her forearms, they were covered by hard reptilian scales that looked like a pair of red scaled armoured greaves. Instead of human feet, she balanced on reptilian claws, three large and white clawed toes with claw tipped heel. She thrust her right claw into a nearby bush and with a rattle of leather pulled forth a sword, a massive two-handed falchion. With a flourish she twirled the sword around with ease and she locked eyes with me again bringing her sword at rest at her hips, the sharp point directed at toward me. Her expression was full of killing intent. The feeling of dread overflowed and become abject terror. If this continued she looked prepared to strike me down.

 

I pulled myself up off the ground and took a stance. The situation had escalated quickly and I wanted desperately to avoid a fight. I was sure I would lose it if it came to that. A part of me felt that the fight had already begun, so in my left hand I picked up my own scabbard and tattered shirt. My right hand I kept far off to the side, open and fingers spaced out to show I didn't intend to try anything. I tried to appear to be the least threatening I could. I bowed my head a bit and tried to back away. If I made it appear as though I was going to retreat she may decide to back down. This meeting was a mistake after all and I didn't intend to spy on her bathing, I didn't plan to attack her either. I definitely did not want to fight, I just wanted to carry on. The lizard-woman did not seem the least bit interested in any retreat, her own or my own.

 

Like a taut elastic band let loose she took off. Darted off to the right she began to circumnavigate the pool, dashing without a doubt toward me. The speed at which she moved alarmed me. My fight or flight kicked in immediately and time seemed to slow down. I saw how fast she moved, kicking up dirt with those large clawed feet as she moved. Her sword trailed behind her as she ran with that sword arm behind her. I swung my right hand over to the hilt of my longsword and drew it quickly. By the time I managed to draw it, the woman was nearly within range and poised to strike. She brought the falchion over her head ready to be brought down hard. I dropped my scabbard to the ground, wrapped my shirt around my left hand as I swung my longsword above my head.

 

Her strike came crashing down as my own sword came and met it. With my left hand wrapped I brought it up and held onto my own sword near the end, shifting my feet and preparing to brace myself. The hunk of iron she swung around connected with a sharp grating noise against he flat of my blade. The blow rang throughout the clearing. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. My knees bent, my right knee crashing into the dirt from the power of the blow. She struck down right at the mid point between my two hands. My elbows buckled and the flat of my own blade slammed against my face. With her other free claw she reached over and began pushing down on the end of her own sword as well. In return I started to push up with my legs to try and stand again.

 

She didn't appear as though she was trying, it was as though she was holding back to draw things out. That was the impression I was given at least. She was slowly increasing the strength of her push while I got weaker and more fatigued. The twisted mess of steel resting on my face was starting to bruise and my cheek bone creak. Her own face was getting closer and closer as well as she put more of her weight onto her sword. I could feel her hot breath and I'm sure my own heaving strained breaths were reaching hers. Unable to bear the strain anymore I acted quickly. I  removed my left hand suddenly and the edge of her sword ran down my sword when I pushed my right hand up. It slide down along the flat of the blade till it sunk into the ground.

 

I backed away, rising off my knees and trying to get some distance. Her sword didn't stay stuck for long. With one movement she pulled it free and stepped forward into a horizontal chop at my side, I was forced to put both hands on my own hilt and try to bat it away. At least I had to try and put my own steel between hers and my left kidney. The force of the blow pushed me off balance. I fell over sideways and landed on my shoulder. Rolling with the force of the blow I tumbled back up onto my feet to be met with a thrust. I swung my torso to the side so it flew past me. That was followed by another thrust forcing me to throw my torso in the opposite direction. Pulling her sword back and pivoting on her clawed feet she twirled around in a pirouette slashing the sword on a collision course with my head.

 

I was backing up recklessly, scared and panicked out of my mind. My reactions were instinctual, but I didn't have eyes in the back of my head and my heel meet with a root and I fell over, the sword passing over my face as I tumbled backwards onto the ground. I knew I was in trouble on the ground, I was defenceless, so I chose my right and rolled out of the way. I heard a loud thunk of iron on wood. I rolled back onto my feet holding my sword in front of me. The woman watched me back up a few steps, and I watched as she pulled her sword out with ease which had lodged itself deep in a root. Once more she lunged toward me, this time I ducked behind a tree. It clacked off the bark and she followed me. Like a game of cat and mouse I kept circling the trunk to keep it between me and her. For a moment I thought I had spotted her flash her teeth in an amused smile.

 

Her teeth were perfectly lined and square human teeth, I was pleasantly surprised, they were not carnivorous so perhaps her aggression wasn't because she intended to eat me. If she wasn't trying before, or if she simply got bored of that game she caught up with my antics and was in my face quicker than I could escape to the other side. Avoiding another horizontal chop I was forced to flee backwards as her sword dug into the trunk like an axe before she effortlessly pulled it free again.

 

I was breathing heavily, and she wasn't. That could only mean that while I had pride in my own reflexes, my stamina and strength were quickly fading away. She wasn't showing any fatigue herself. She had proven her point by now. She's won, she's better, she could end the fight at anytime if she wanted to. That much I could tell. I wasn't trained or skilled at all, I was just tying not to die by putting a piece of metal between hers before it reached me. Her moves looked as though they were choreographed and refined. She had real talent and skill. I could barely muster the breath to keep myself going let alone spare some to talk some sense into her. She was fit. While I was not fat or lugged around any flab I was not fit at all. This fight had to be decided sooner rather than later. I had no power to decide which way it would, and that terrified me, I was at her mercy. I thought of throwing my sword down and surrendering, but that look in her eyes, my heart screamed at my mind that would not work.

 

She had a look about her where she would strike me down. I couldn't explain it, I just felt that is how it would go. If I couldn't hold her off for much longer, if I couldn't surrender and if I couldn't run, the only option I had left was to fight. I had to try and settle it. I had to attack. Steeling myself I stopped backing up and dug my feet down. The naked beautiful woman before me stopped as well. An eager smile appeared on her face. She could read my body language like a book. She figured out immediately that I was now prepared to fight at last. The flames on her tail erupted. They blazed in such a way that it may actually reflect her mood. I took a step forward and she took a defensive stance.

 

She was inviting me into attacking. I took another step toward her, she didn't budge, nor did she flinch. The third step I threw myself at her and with both hands on the hilt I swung diagonally down. With ease she swatted my blow away. I took a step back and she didn't follow up. I took another step in swung back horizontally, a blow she swatted upwards. This time, I just knew she wouldn't give me a second chance. I stepped out of the way and as predicted she thrust forward. I was no longer standing there, I was off to the side with my sword held high. I brought it down, but it was foolish of me to think I was fast enough. She recovered and once again parried the swing and repelled my attack. She parried it hard enough to push me backwards, sending my feet into a scramble as the weight of my sword pushed high into the air almost had me fall backwards completely. I strained myself and regained my balance. She didn't move, instead she watched me flail backwards and regain my balance with those amber reptilian eyes of hers.

 

Very good.

 

That's what I thought those eyes of hers were saying to me while I regained my footing. That pissed me off a little. She was just toying with me at this point. Enjoying in a little sport while I was struggling with life and death. Like tearing wings off a fly, she was stepping all over my pride by playing with me like she was. I started to forget about surviving, I instead started to get angry. She stood there waiting so I indulged her. I lunged at her again, resting my sword on my right shoulder ready to swing down. She was was too fast and knowledgeable for me to connect a blow, she had already shifted her sword to block my attack. So as I approached I kept it where it was. She looked surprised for a moment and during that opening I raised my right leg and as hard as I could, kicked at her knee. My shoe connected, but her knee didn't buckle, it didn't even budge. I felt colour leave my face.

 

That's impossible, I thought.

 

She let me get that close, she fell for my feint and all that weight on her joint didn't even phase her. Once again she got serious and brought her sword down on me while I was distracted by my own despair. I only just managed to bring my own into its path and once again be pushed backwards. She rolled her shoulders and limbered up. She wiped her toothy grin off and looked as though she was back to being serious once again. Did she lose interest? I couldn't even harm her. I suppose that's what she was thinking. If this was all a game to her, and I was no longer interesting as a possible threat, then she was probably just going to end the game now. I was overtaken by anger earlier, but I was now fighting against fear. My hands started to shake so I gripped my hilt harder. My legs started to shake next, but I tried to hide it. The next attack, it looked like she intended to make it count.

 

There wasn't any time to react. Like a switch had been flipped she had gone from playful to a serious. She readied herself and she closed the distance with one kick off the ground into a lunge. She swung across hard. I tried to block it, but it was like a runaway freight train this time. It lifted me off my feet and threw me. Earlier she had just been knocking me off balance, but this time I was sent tumbling into the dirt, rolling over and over again. I came to a stop. I was unarmed, my sword beside me, laying in the mud. The lizard-woman took deliberate strides toward me. I stole a glance and she was poised to deliver a coup de grâce.

 

I scrambled to my feet, grabbing my sword on the way. I was holding it backwards, but it didn't matter, I wrapped my hands with my tattered shirt. She was already lunging forward ready to strike. However, a longsword can be used just as it is. My body moved like I was driving a stake into the ground. I swung my sword over my shoulder by the blade above in an act of desperation. Our blades crossed at the mid point and they clashed mightily with an audible ring of metal. I was surely to die, so I put my everything into my swing. Adrenaline surging through me, I didn't care about muscle or bone strain anymore, I just had to stand solid enough and put all my weight into the attack. It happened quickly and all at once. I was still standing, and so was she. Her expression wasn't cold, nor was it mocking. It was an expression of surprise.

 

One of my guards, like the head of a pickaxe, was hovering just on the opposite her face. Her neck was bent to the left, so that her face narrowly avoided it. I was pushing against her, and she was pushing against me. Her sword had caught on my guard, above my right hand, keeping it where it was from driving any further and into that very pretty face of hers Where our swords met, the tip of hers and the flat edge of mine near the guard, her own sword's edge had slightly rolled. Sometimes something has to give, and when it comes to a cast iron sword, rife with impurities like hers and one made of space-age steel, mine was at an advantage. It hit that edge like a hammer, and pounded it down. A grin returned to her face. The forest around us became even more illuminated, her tail once erupted and burned brighter than ever. Embers were flicked to a fro as her tail whipped back and worth.

 

Her expression looked as if she was pleasantly surprised. She was getting an incredible amount of enjoyment out of being proven wrong. I still had a little bit of fight left in me and another trick. We pushed against each other and we reached the point where we were nearly pressed up against one another. It was the first time we had been this close since our fight began. It was now I realized I was looking slightly down at her, her eyes at my chin level. As I was looking down at her, she was looking back up at me with smile on her face. We were pushing against each others bodies more by this point. Neither showed any intent on relenting. My passion, my will to win and my anger all mingled together as my heart beat faster and faster. In parallel her tail burned brighter and fiercer, embers creating little smoking patches of grass around us.

 

Again I could feel her putting more strength into her efforts, or maybe I was weakening. I was forced to take steps backwards. I could feel my own sword press against my chest and surely it would soon pierce the skin if I didn't try to back away. Our faces were right next to each other by now. Finally I was forced up against a tree and had nowhere left to go. I felt a sharp pain and felt a liquid on my chest other than sweat. I was overtaken by a sudden instinct, I threw my head back and brought it back forward hard, slamming my forehead into her own with a deafening crack. At last she reacted. I wasn't quite sure what I had done myself, but the lizard-woman responded by twisting her sword at an odd angle. She hooked my sword by the cross guard and tossed it away along with her own.

 

I felt the steel    cutting through the cloth so I hastily loosed my grip and let go to prevent my palms from being slit open. Both swords flew away and with a clang piled up in a heap some distance away. A hard fist slammed into my sternum and I doubled over, winded and trying to refill my lungs with air. She jumped back and looked at me bewildered. A stream of red then ran down her face and over her eye. Her lid closed in response  and she flinched. She ran her hand over her forehead. Her palm and three fingers were covered in a thin layer of her own blood. She looked up at me and reopened her other eye. She locked onto my own, those luminescent amber reptilian eyes. Her face showed only one thing.

 

Exhilaration

 

Like a bullet she rushed at me. I had regained my breath and tried to defend myself. I brought my arms up like a boxer to defend myself. One clawed hand wrapped around my left wrist and pulled it down to my side. I tried to swing my right fist, but her other hand seized my fist and and she clamped down on it hard. She held my hands down with her own and she pressed her body against mine. She pushed forward and I was forced back up against the tree, pinning me there. She was looking up at me. It was a complicated expression on her face. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were wet and they glistened. I didn't have another moment to understand what was going on. Her face rushed untoward my own and her lips pressed against mine.

 

It was warm. It was so very warm. My eyes shot open as far as they would go, they conveyed shock. I looked down at her and hers were closed. She pulled her head back and looked up at me. My arms were shaking, but she held them still My legs were quivering but she had slipped one of her thighs between my own and held me up. My lungs were trying desperately to get air, but her bare breasts pushed up against my chest and her weight and strength held me back. There wasn't a trace of any expression I had seen before on her. She wasn't playfully smiling or looking at me with murderous intent. Her cheeks were flushed red, her lips were curled into a warm smile and her eyes were soft.

 

She turned her head to the side and she pressed forward again. Her lips met with mine and her body collided against my own. I gasped as air escaped me again and this time something foreign forced its way inside. Something alive was inside my mouth and it probed and pushed against my tongue. I felt a tickle of air from her nose against my face, and my own sense of smell was flooded. All I could smell was the scent of a campfire, the sweet burning scent of pine. My mouth tasted something slimy, wet and warm, a cascade of flesh and wetness that wasn't my own. Her saliva poured from her mouth to my own and her kiss progressed deeper. Her tongue was wild, uncontrolled, like a savage beast. It pushed mine to the back of my mouth and I wasn't able to breathe. Even through my nose I could hardly take in any air and she did not relent. I found myself slowly starving of oxygen and my body started to feel woozy. The strength in my arms faded fast. My fists unclenched, her own hands let go and seized them. She intertwined her fingers between my own and held on tight.

 

 My legs lost their strength next and my back slid down the tree toward the ground. She rode on top of me, straddled over my hips as she kept her mouth locked with mine. When I had finally hit the ground, she pulled back her face, a thick stream of saliva connecting us still. I was breathing hard, trying to catch my breath. She let go of my hands and brought her claws up to wrap around the back of my neck. For the third time she brought her face in and inserted her tongue. I met it with my own, if only to try and stop her from choking me again. They slipped and rubbed past each other. Pushing and brushing each other aside, mingling and dancing. Her breath became even hotter and she moaned slightly this time. Her hips shook and she rubbed her body up and down, her breasts pressing against me, her nipples tracing circles on my chest. Resting on her her knees to each side of me she closed them tight to lock me in.

 

I wasn't starting to just feel her heat, I was starting to feel very hot myself. I was covered now in a new layer of sweat. It wasn't a cold sweat from life or death combat, but one that was warm. I was starting to feel turned on. This was the situation I was trying to avoid before. I was conflicted, I was having lust forced onto me, forced onto me because I had lost. I was being overpowered and made to go along. I had never even done such a thing before. Yes, mock me if you must, a guy in his mid twenties, dateless and kissless from birth virgin in this day and age. A drunken floozy at a party latching onto me had nothing on this passionate embrace. My first kiss had been stolen by some beautiful nonhuman woman I had never met in the middle of a forest on an alien world. I was scared, and the conflicting emotions made me feel ill deep down. At the same time, I couldn't deny that I was starting to feel hotter and it was feeling better all the time.

 

I felt blood pumping toward my lower body. My jeans and underwear started to feel very tight and my bulge started to push against the lizard-woman in a very embarrassing way. She didn't even seem to notice nor care, she continued to grind against me, pulling back to lick my neck and plant her lips in quick successive kisses everywhere she could reach. By the time I had raised my flag to full mast, pressed up against my clothing and her sitting on top of me, it began to hurt. It showed on my face and she finally pulled back and noticed the change. Surely she must have become aware of it pressing against her.

 

Her expression was perplexed. She was inquisitive and pulled back her claws, placing them on the buckle of my belt. She quickly undid it and tossed it aside, but when she reached the button and zipper she stopped. Of course she'd be stumped, this world didn't appear modern, a zipper would be a foreign concept. She wasn't deterred and she simply grabbed hold and tore my jeans apart with a quick  and hard yank. I felt her palm and fingers run over the cotton fabric of my underwear, by now drenched by precum. She grabbed the elastic band, pulled it down and my own little warrior was exposed, laying down across my pelvis fully engorged and hard as it has ever been.

 

I watched her expression as she studied it. She ran her fingers along it, poked at it with a claw then wrapped her hand around it. I threw my head back instinctively at the sensation and she noticed it. She tried squeezing it harder and letting go. Was she teasing me, or did she have any idea? Something finally dawned on her, and she gazed at me and I at her again. She held my penis between her thumb and finger and stood it up. Her other hand rested on my shoulder and she raised her hips up into the air. Her face was full of lust, flushed even brighter a red than before.

 

Damn. She's really going to do it isn't she? Was the thought that crossed me my.

 

She dropped suddenly. My member was squeezed, hard, like it was being wrung through an old washed clothes dryer. I clenched my teeth and tried to bear with the pain. I noticed she was doing the exact same. When I looked down at last I saw her hips resting on me, a few thin trails of blood streaming down my legs.

 

Crap. She broke it, didn't she? Was the thought which came immediately. I began to wonder if I could ever bend it back to the right shape again.

 

The girl on top of me stirred and shook her hips from side to side and wailed in pain ever so slightly, each time she did it felt like another crank on the handle of what was wringing my penis flat. Finally she stopped and calmed down, and so did I. I was breathing hard and so was she. She looked at me again with those crocodile eyes of hers. She wore a seductive and lust filled expression. A smile across her face that seemed genuine, ethereal and beautiful. For the first time in a while I noticed my heart skip a beat. I tried to say something, anything, but her hands returned to my cheeks and she pulled me in forcefully for another kiss. Once again I had to meet her head on or be choked out by how forceful she was. Whether she noticed or not, her hips were shaking back and forth. She lifted her body off the ground slightly with her knees and dropped back down.

 

The sensation over my dick was unreal. Completely surrounded by wet and soft walls, constricting and rubbing against my flesh and wringing it tight and roughly. Dancing before me and pressed against my chest her massive bust tantalizing me with their very existence. I still felt a sick pang of disgust in my stomach, some rouge part of my psyche informing me that I was being raped, but I felt a bestial side of me be released. It rose to match that of the woman sitting on top of me and my hands reached out and grabbed hold of her buttocks. I dug my fingers in and tried to shake her hips even more. I opened my eyes again and I saw her tail whip back and forth behind her.

 

I heard embers crackle off it like a campfire. She was like a forest fire. In a metaphorical sense, she was like a living flame. She gave off a smoke that choked you, it was bad for you, it was hot and it seared your lungs and burned you up, but like a pine forest on fire, that burning sap smelled ever so sweet. I expected that inferno burning on her to light up the entire area, but despite how hot it looked, not a thing erupted into flames. Only smouldering patches here and there lit by rogue embers. Her long hair, still slightly wet and dishevelled danced around her head and hung down from it. A strong womanly smell radiated from it as it brushed past my nose as she rose up and down on top of me.

 

There was something I couldn't ignore, not even as I was being consumed by lust. It was me trying to figure out what had come over me. I had felt so cold before, but now I was burning hot. A part of my brain, buried deep in the back was still thinking rationally. It couldn't come up with any other conclusion on what was happening. This heat that was taking over was coming from her. It was taking over my senses, it was evaporating my reason. Eventually I had started to feel as warm as she felt to touch at first. Instead of two separate bodies, it felt like we had joined together and not in a superfluous way. It was a corruption, a foreign influence that was invading. It was trying to take me in, to get hooked on it. It was like a drug, an incense. That part of my brain tried to scream reason. It tried to call a stop to what was going on, but it was getting weaker and weaker, the voice getting quieter and quieter. Soon I could ignore it all together, it didn't go away, not completely, but it became far too meagre. the sound of this girl's voice moaning so sweetly was all I could hear.

 

Her pace had picked up, and as broken and tired as my body was, it began to thrust upwards as well. Stroking me down below faster and harder. Her womanhood clenching tighter and more frequently. Her flawless and perfectly smooth and silky tanned skin rubbed up against me. She started riding me higher, her arms wrapped around my head bringing me in closer. Bouncing up and down in front of my face her breasts swayed. I lurched forward and caught a nipple in my teeth and teased it. Her spine bent backwards and her whole body twitched and she let out a long sweet an feminine sounding moan. Her hip gyrations picked up in pace. From that pleasure transferring back to me, my teeth clenched harder and she reacted again. It was a snowball effect, and it was building up to something larger and larger.  I let go, she dropped back down and our faces met. This time we both pressed forward and lock lips and greedily and hungrily went at each other with our tongues. Her breathes were becoming shorter, and her movements picked up in speed yet again.

 

I matched her movements. Her face pulled back and looked deep into my eyes. She then held me tight, tighter than she had before. Her head rested on my shoulder and in her teeth sunk down on my ear. I felt a familiar pressure building to a breaking point. It had been building up slowly the whole time, I had nearly forgotten all about it. She had clamped down so hard, it felt as though not even a drop was allowed to pass through. That wasn't going to hold on much longer though, the dam was going to break. One last drop of her hips, that was all that was needed. She held onto me tight,  pulling me in and I pulled her into myself.

 

At that moment I exploded. A river flowed from me into her. A throbbing in my nether regions, tucked behind my balls twitched and convulsed and shook my whole body. I felt myself tense up in her embrace, and I felt her tense up in in return. She let out one long and sexual cry from her mouth. Her back arched like a bow for a number of seconds before she fell back on me. I fell to the side, my back coming to rest against the forest floor. She fell with me, coming to a rest on top of me. I didn't even pull out, the way I could the way we were connected. We were both breaking heavily. I looked up at the night sky above.

 

I noticed more and more starlight returning, the clearing around the spring becoming dimmer and dimmer. The girl resting on my chest, her breaths slowed and steadied, and they became shallow and rhythmic. The flames on her burning tails were becoming calmer. I was almost alarmed when the tail came to a rest on my leg, but even with it resting on one of my skin, it didn't burn, it didn't even hurt, it felt warmer than her body, but it was a pleasant warmth. It was like holding your cold hands near an electric heater in winter. My whole body felt like it was still warm, and as if I was under a warm blanket on a cold winter's night, I felt my eyelids begin to close until I couldn't keep them open any longer.

 

I drifted peacefully off to sleep.

 

 

A serenade of song birds stirred me from my deep sleep and forced my eyes to open. I felt as though I did not even had a chance to dream, as quickly as I had fallen asleep last night my had eyes opened. I remember being sore all over, but that feeling seems to have all but vanished. I sat up with the greatest of ease and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I tried to stand up, but nearly fell over. My pants and underwear were wrapped around my legs. I thought that was a peculiar position to fall asleep in. I saw dew on the early morning grass, a slightly cloudy sky overhead, it looked like a cold mid-spring morning, so why wasn't I freezing? My eyes scanning the clearing eventually made their way to a soft rasping noise I heard beside me. Laying there, a naked woman, curled up, hugging a reptilian tail, her own tail, like a body pillow. A human woman, a young human woman, except for that tail, her forearms down, knees down and reptilian fins instead of human ears. All my memories of last night cascaded back to me at once upon seeing her. Overwhelmed I instinctively scurried backwards away from her. She groaned and stirred a little, but she didn't wake. My heart jump started at the sight but calmed back down. I was safe for now.

 

After putting a little distance between us, I suddenly felt a stabbing draft over my entire body. An early morning gust that was breezing in the canopy above slammed into my body like I had suddenly walked into a refrigerator. I pulled my underwear and pants up, my pants were torn at the front, the zipper having been forcefully torn apart and the button having flown off somewhere and sunk into the mud by now. I had to use one hand to hold it all up, the other I held over my body, rubbing myself to try and keep myself warm. My eyes quickly darted around, I saw where my belongings were, all kept in a backpack by the edge of a nearby spring. Beside it was a scabbard, and nearby, with a large sword on top of it, my own. That woman was still sleeping where she lay before, oblivious. I carefully retrieved my weapon from the pile and shook the morning dew off, least it water stain and rust. I then turned toward her.

 

Attacking me unprovoked. Threatening my life. Almost killing me. Yet she relented, only to rape me and try to drive me insane. I still remembered that feeling, it was like I was falling backwards into a void. You wouldn't see how fast the ground was approaching and how long you had till you hit it, but like with all falls, you have to hit the ground eventually, the faster you fall, the harder you'll hit, the more likely you are to be broken and die. An experience that violated me, sapped me of my reason and put a spell on me. I was used, abused, taken advantage of. Remembering now, with a clear head filled me with anger. I gripped my hilt tighter.

 

I looked down at the sleeping woman now, completely defenceless. I started breathing heavier, short, heavy and rapid breaths. She turned over in her sleep, rolling to where I was resting before. Her body came to a stop face up in the patch of grass and dirt packed down where I had laid down exactly before. Her sleeping body seemed to be reaching out for something that wasn't there, her face twitching before she continued sleeping again. I was looked down at her now, at her face, sleeping peacefully there. I tried to look away, but I continued to stare at her, my heart beating fast. I managed to tear my gaze away, took a few breaths and looked back, but again my heart beat fast again. My hands shook and started to sweat. I held one up to my face and tried to calm my breathing. I took a step backwards. Before I knew it I had sheathed my sword. I continued to step backwards. I just couldn't do it. A part of me that had wanted to just end it there, it was blown completely away.

What are you thinking? A voice inside my head spoke to me. It was judgemental, dripping with venom in each word.

 

I had been consumed in a near murderous rage just a moment before, but I had caught myself. Just what was I thinking? Killing a defenceless person like that. Was it because it was such a despicable act? Did my conscience get the better of my want for revenge? How could I have ever been brought near the point of murdering someone? Especially in their sleep. Were there other reasons? Did it mean anything she was the most beautiful person I had ever laid my eyes on with a body I thought impossible and belonged to the realm of fantasies? Was I such a weak willed person that I was pliable and easy to manipulate with just the wiles and looks of a woman?

 

I didn't have any courage left to stand and have any of those questions answered. The stresses on my body over the last twenty four hours seemed a far away memory from the stress that had finally taken its toll on my mind. I felt like I was nearing a breaking point. With all my belongings gathered, I simply turned and ran, not looking back. I ran, even when it started to burn again, I just continued on until I couldn't run anymore. I found a hidden spot, away in the bushes and sat there. I just looked up toward the sky above. Maybe if I sat there long enough, whatever sick and twisted powers that be that brought me here would get bored and send me home.

 

Eventually I came back to my senses, if only because my stomach had started to churn and rumble. The reality of my food situation returned to me. I was also feeling completely parched. I rummaged through my bag and produced another crushed water bottle. I gulped the whole litre down greedily, sifted through the blankets and other gear, but that was it, I had no more bottled water nor a crumb of food. All that remained was the water in the forest, no doubt ridden with pathogens. If I didn't find civilization, or a sign of it today, I would start dying slowly real soon.

 

Driven by a new fear I climbed the nearest embankment I could spot and reached the highest point, a tree to a near ground branch large enough to support my weight. Hanging my bag from a branch I fished around inside until I found a small hard container, inside, still unbroken through some miracle, a pair of binoculars. Now with seven times vision I surveyed the horizon around, desperately searching for a smokestack, anything that would stand out and show some sort of settlement. I spent minutes up in the tree hoping something would catch my eye, but it wasn't something that made my situation any better that I found. Crossing a clearing faraway, back where I had been trekking through only minutes before, was a very familiar form.

 

That lizard-woman, walking with her eyes glued to the ground, stopping to crouch and study at the ground every so often. She seemed more presentable now. Saying that, she was actually clothed is what I meant. If you could call it clothes. Like the pig-women from before, it was more like a two piece swimming suit to any suit of armour. A bra woven with what were red scales. Covering the fabric of the cups. Some armour covering her thighs, shoulders and arms likewise were made, probably self-made, from what looked like her own molted scales. There was nothing more than what looked like a string bikini covering her pelvic region. As much of a sight as she was to behold, I shook my head and returned to studying what she was going, not what she was wearing.

 

        I clicked my tongue, “Dammit. How did she- What is she doing?”

 

Holding a muddy finger up to her nose she sniffed it, she then sniffed the air a few times and looked straight in my direction. My heart seized up in a panic,

 

        I tried to calm it down, “There's no way she could have seen me just now. Calm down, just get down from the tree and-”

 

I lowered the binoculars and looked up at the sky. A break in the cloudy skies above, the sun shining in the sky above directly ahead. One thought, one word screamed inside my head, loud and clear.

 

Glare

 

I hastily shoved my binoculars back in their case, cramming them into the bag and dropping down to the ground with a thud. I didn't stick a solid landing, but after picking myself up I broke out into a run. Crossing the forest again, fleeing on foot, nothing had changed since yesterday. My body wouldn't hold out getting this kind of surprise work out every day. I came upon a shallow creek and jumped in. The rocks were slippery but I continued rushing down stream. Leave no foot prints, leave no scent. How was it that foxes tried to outsmart the hounds again? I turned on my heels and walked back up the creek against the current for a ways and then jumped as far out as I could. Breaking out into a run once again I climbed up wall of mud and reaching the top, hit the dirt and rolled into some bushes. I hastily removed my bag. My scabbard jutting and jabbing at me and getting caught in a bush I took it off and searched for me binoculars. Breathing heavily all the while and trying to catch my breath.

 

I knew she was fast, if I couldn't shake her off my trail, I'd be better off trying to fight again rather than run. She was unstable, insane. She had gone from trying to kill me, to playful, back to trying to kill me to raping me. There's no way I was going to stick anywhere near someone like that. It was unthinkable, so I decided to hide and wait. Surveying the creek down below I had run through. A few minutes passed by and sure enough she emerged walking beside the creek. I looked about and saw no sunlight shining down on me this time, I wasn't going to make that mistake again. Assured, I watched her with my heart beating quickly, almost out of my chest completely.

 

She crouched down and traced her hand over the soil like she was doing before. She followed a series of them until they reached the creek. Did she lose the trail there? I thought she might have, but she turned and shuffled slightly to the side. She traced her fingers over something else. I had to focus my binoculars in, but I finally made it out. A bare footprint. She moved again and I followed her, her face was full of concern. My mind began to put one and one together, but by the time a felt a shadow looming over me, it was too late. I felt a strong grip on my ankle.

 

Like a rag-doll I found myself being pulled faster than I thought my body could move along the forest floor backwards. I didn't even have a chance to scream or yelp is surprise. My hands spasmed and I dropped the binoculars and the ground grated against me bare chest. I flipped myself over only to have a massive pressure bear down on my chest. A foot connected to a muscular leg that hit me straight in the diaphragm and knocked wind out of me completely. I tried to look up, but could only make out two silhouettes. One belonging to some very fall and broad human form and the second some sort of club. A club in motion as it blurred from the speed it was travelling at, which did not come a stop when it hit me hard across the right temple and I was knocked out like a light.