R.B. Ashton
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Enter the Nidings: Chapter 14
🕑 Added 2021-10-25 09:01:01 +0000 UTC***Part 14 of 17. A daring escape from the clutches of the giant queen!***
Caracae uncurled a finger to pinch Eko’s sword with the other hand, as the monster hunter struggled in her fist. Eko snarled as the witch plucked the weapon free and slipped it into one of her pouches.
Grawn drew his sword and snarled, “You so much as think of –”
Caracae raised her free hand towards him, fingers spread, and the knight was thrown back as though kicked in the chest. He tumbled to a stop and struggled to get the energy to push himself back up.
“Stay down,” Caracae said. “And the rest of you stay back.”
“You wretched piece of shit,” Eko spat. “Try swallowing me and I’ll tear your insides out!”
“You’re so serious, Eko,” Caracae said. “Just relax.”
“Caracae,” Arabel quickly said, “if you hurt her our deal’s off. We’re a team, aren’t we? We share the same country, the same laws.”
“And we’re all hopelessly trapped, so what difference does it make? I got hit by a tree and fell from the sky. I need power to get away from here.”
“No, we just need to think –”
“Bla bla,” Caracae interrupted and shoved Eko into her mouth. The monster hunter gave a defiant shout as the witch’s lips sealed her in, and Caracae’s cheeks bulged as Eko fought against them. Arabel took a step towards her, had to do something, but the witch raised a hand to warm her back. Didn’t push the way she had with Grawn, but the threat was enough. The other prisoners looked to Arabel with shock.
But Caracae was savouring Eko in her mouth – shifting her jaw, moving the monster hunter about on her tongue. Eko’s shouts were just audible for a moment before she was pushed into a cheek by the witch’s tongue, smothered. Caracae’s eyes rolled as she sucked on her prey.
“Caracae, please,” Arabel said, sounding pathetic even to herself.
The witch rolled Eko in her mouth, playing with her. Sucking again, with enjoyment. Grawn shoved up onto his hands and knees and said, “I’m going to cut your heart out.”
Caracae merely smiled at him, dismissively. Finally, she tilted her head back, as though to swallow, and Arabel made a startled sound – but the witch put a hand to her mouth and pulled the monster hunter back out. Eko gasped for air, wet and dripping saliva as she swung upside down, held up by an ankle. She coughed and spat, then threw aimless punches, as Caracae dangled her to one side. Caracae looked away, reconsidering the chest they were trapped in, flexing the fingers of her other hand.
“Yes. That’ll do,” she said.
“What?” Arabel exclaimed. “What’s wrong with you – how can you –”
“It was your idea,” Caracae said, pointing Eko towards her. “Depending on how long our queen takes to get back, I might yet draw enough power to escape.”
“You drew some of her power?” Arabel asked weakly.
“By the Saints,” the long-haired captive, Fell, uttered. “This is madness.”
“You’ll pay for this,” Eko said, regaining some composure as she gave up struggling to hang limp from Caracae’s fingers.
The witch blew her a playful kiss, and Arabel asked, “Eko, are you okay?”
“Sick to my stomach,” Eko snapped. “Let me down you colossal shit.”
Caracae shook her head and said, “I’m going to need more than that to get us free. If you’re ready to work together.”
“Work together? You’re the one threatening to eat your companions!”
“Didn’t I just prove I’m trying to compromise? Caracae smirked, lifting the monster hunter back towards her mouth. “You’re alive and if you’ll allow me, we could have a chance.” The witch brought her other hand up and took Eko by the waist, turning her legs towards her.
Eko twisted to keep the witch in view. “What the hell are you doing now?”
“Working while we talk,” Caracae said, and lowered Eko back into her mouth.
“Caracae, for the love of Saints!” Arabel cried.
Eko was sucked in again, but Caracae’s teeth pinched her lightly below the chest, holding her in place. The monster hunter pushed against the witch’s lips, shouting, “Ah, this is disgusting!”
The tip of Caracae’s pink tongue slid out and gently pushed Eko to the corner of her mouth, held like a cigar, giving Caracae room to speak around her, muffled but understandable. “Rest there, I’ll keep recharging while we talk.”
“Rest!” Eko shouted. “While you’re – argh, stop that!”
Caracae’s left cheek bulged as Eko was pushed into it, mouth moving as she sucked again, tongue licking over the monster hunter’s lower half.
“You’re sick,” Grawn said, standing, more defiant than before having taken a blow. But he did not approach again, well aware there was nothing any of them could do. Arabel stared with the same shock her companions must have felt, watching Eko being probed in an unmistakably sensual way. Lier gagged, refusing to watch, as Fell and Vunce exchanged a grim look. Arabel felt the same uncomfortable shame as she got from being drawn to the sight of Caracae’s hypnotic cleavage: the witch was frighteningly alluring. It was made worse by Eko’s reaction – even as she struggled to get around the unavoidable tongue, it caught her in a way that made the monster hunter’s eyes widen. A little gasp escaped her.
Caracae put a finger in her mouth, pushing Eko slightly to the side, and said, a little unclearly, “I can’t hurt the queen. I don’t have the energy to shrink her, and couldn’t see enough of her to do it from here, anyway. I can lift everyone out of the chest when she opens it.” She took her finger back out and Eko slumped with heavy breaths over her lower lip.
“That’s not enough,” Grawn said, carefully trying to move on even as he couldn’t take his eyes off Eko. “We have to do more than simply get out.”
“Such as?”
Grawn grumbled wordlessly. Arabel could imagine his thoughts: if only the monster hunter was her full size, she, at least, would have a chance at fighting Serin. But Eko looked spent, hanging from Caracae’s mouth as the witch continued to suck her lower half.
Still, Arabel asked her, “Is there any way at all we can stop Serin?”
“You’re asking the –” Vunce threw a hand towards Eko. “What even is this? She’s a pixie. We had twenty men when they came upon us. Against one giant, smaller than the queen. We didn’t stand a chance.”
“I’ve seen them destroy whole towns,” the woman, Lier, said. She had her back to them, unwilling to set eyes on Caracae. “Knights, mages, the lot. Been here two or three months, maybe more – and she had me in that cage before the princess came along. I’ve seen nothing to say we’ve got any chance against these monsters.”
“Look at us,” Fell said. “She left us here with our weapons, a light; she enjoys our hope, even gives prisoners a chance to fight her sometimes. It’s a game to them!”
“All right, that’s rubbish,” Eko scoffed, shoving against Caracae’s lower lip to raise her chest. “I’d show you a thing or two if this” – she squeezed her eyes closed against a feeling in her lower body and shook her head – “if this idiot hadn’t shrunk me. All it takes is some deft handiwork and good timing. We’ve even got a witch for a springboard” – she thumped Caracae’s lip – “who could’ve thrown me right up in her face before she knew what hit her.”
“To do what?” Fell said. “Do you have any idea how thick their skin is?”
“About half as thick as the length of that blade,” Eko said, pointing at Grawn’s sword. “You stab it right in, here.” She pointed to her own throat. “Hardly different to a human, there’s a vein that’s hard to miss. No giant’s surviving that.”
“I can do it, then,” Grawn said. “You can lift me, witch, and I can bring down the queen.”
Eko laughed without humour. “With your reflexes? You’re an armoured knight, Grawn, you got no idea about speed and agility.” But as he looked chastised, she reconsidered. “Wait. I could tell you what to do, though. Ride with you, shout orders. If you can follow what I say, exactly, you might have a chance.”
Grawn’s eyes lit up again.
“What about the princess?” Fell said. “If by some miracle of the Saints you can slay Serin, you have to be sure she won’t crush Vivaria in the process.”
“Cut her free first,” Arabel said. Her confidence was growing as the makings of a plan fell into place. “Even if we can’t open the cage, we can break the chain, perhaps? Then Caracae can pull her clear. Can’t you?”
The witch nodded.
“Could you bend the metal, if the cage was close?”
“Yes,” Caracae said, around Eko. “With a little time.”
“Then that’s what we’ll –” Arabel began, ready to finalise this strategy, set them back on a path to completing this mission. But a boom came from below, then another, getting closer. The room’s door creaked open and footsteps came in, rattling the chest. Arabel quickly jumped into action, waving at the group to get ready. Fell and Vunce rushed to the sides, gathering up their discarded weapons – sheathed swords likely unworn since they were captured. As they buckled up, Caracae plucked Eko from her mouth and held her out to Grawn, who quickly put her on his armoured shoulder.
“You’d be better off out of the tin can!” Eko hissed at him, but it was too late for him to lose any of his armour.
The footsteps boomed closer and the group huddled together, with Caracae moving away. She readied her hands, framing everyone in them, as the chest lid was hauled open and the room’s light flooded back in. The awesome sight of Queen Serin took Arabel’s breath away again for a moment, stunned by how huge the voluptuous giantess was. She had her leather dress back on, the chain hanging into it so the princess was hidden inside, and she grinned down at them.
“Good news, Arabel of Sloane,” Serin announced, resting her massive fingers on the edge of the chest. “We don’t care for your offer and my appetite has returned. You get to be the appetiser, before I enjoy my royal snack tastes like.”
The group stared nervously up as the queen cocked her head to one side, considering their positioning. Her brow knitted. “Oh my, Sir Fell, are you about to try something silly? I’ll deal with you after Arabel.”
The giantess reached into the chest and Arabel instinctively darted away from the looming hand, flashing a desperate look to Caracae. The witch was fully focused, ready, and had apparently been waiting for the right moment. She thrust her outstretched hands sideways and then up, and Grawn was launched off the floor into battle.
