Tenderfoot Part Eighteen
Three United, Three Apart
Amber and Indigo crept through the the Fae Realm until they reached the border with the Giantus Realm.
There were several Dryads who protected those parts of the Fae Realm. The two pixies decided to have a friendly cup of tea with each of them taking the precaution of lacing their tea cups with pixie sleep juice.
Deep asleep in the branches of their favorite trees, no one would be the wiser to two pixies stealing Melca's Gem from right under her nose.
Queen Melca was so intent on the Tickle Scourge and her goal of tickling her until she was fully dominated that she failed to notice the two pixies who stole the gem.
The pair of pixies finally reached the edge of the forest and watched the tall mountains of the Giantus and the winding trails that led through them.
A dark figure in a large cape was waiting.
"It's about time," the figure muttered pulling back her hood. "I was thinking maybe you pixies were getting cold feet."
"Nothing of the sort," Amber said. "We will never be forgiven for our treachery, but we have no intention of ever returning to the Fae."
"Hand it over then," Loanna the Giantess said holding out a silk sash.
The pixies deposited the crystal gem into the silk sash and the giantess quickly wrapped the precious gem.
"Well, I am off," Loanna said. "The Elfling Realm is still many leagues off and I prefer to run than to take a wormhole."
Amber and Indigo exchanged a knowing glance and nodded in agreement.
"Will you take us with you?" Indigo asked.
"Jordanna did not say I could," Loanna said thoughtfully. "But she didn't say I couldn't either."
Indigo and Amber smiled.
"Hold on tight," Loanna said drawing her hood over her head. "A running giant runs through or jumps over obstacles. The ride can get rough."
The pixies held on to the cloak as Loanna took giant steps ahead leaping and sprinting as she made her way to the Elfling Realm.
* * * * *
Danea opened her eyes and discovered that she was suspended over a bed with her wrists and ankles trapped and spread eagle.
Her last memory was that of Orion casting a simple sleep spell that she should have been able to counter under normal conditions quite easily.
She looked around and saw the Tickle Scourge's face hovering over her body studying her intently.
"Keeper," the Scourge said in greeting.
"Scourge," Danea answered. "We were so worried about you. We were going to go after you together. Why am I bound like this? Free me."
"I will," Patrisa promised. "But I need to know where Orion is."
"Let me free and we'll go together," the demon mistress said pulling at her bonds. She was bound by the Scourge's fighting sticks Ash and Oak. Tendrils of magical branches wrapped tightly and firmly over her wrists and ankles.
"I think I'll go alone," Patrisa said evenly.
Danea frowned. "I see," she said. "Orion was right. You are a thrall of that Fae manipulator. There's not much that can be done for you now."
"You can tell me where Orion is and that will make me and my Queen very happy," Patrisa said.
"He was headed to the Elfling King to deliver Esmeralda into his clutches. Will you let that depraved monarch hold your protégé or will you run your Queen's errand?"
"Esmeralda is no longer a Tenderfoot," Patrisa said more to convince herself rather than her prisoner. "She can take care of herself."
"You can't hold me," Danea said touching her restraints and waiting for the telltale green glow of Entropy to return the fighting sticks to their original form.
Nothing happened.
"I put a little cold iron ring on your big toe," Patrisa said smiling lifting slightly her victim's torso so the demon could see the simple ring placed on her toe. "Anti-magic or Entropy is still a form of magic easily neutralized by a simple circle of iron."
Danea frowned deeper still but quickly sighed realizing her predicament.
"What are you going to do with me?" Danea asked resigned to whatever fate the Tickle Scourge had in mind.
"My Queen has no quarrel with you," Patrisa said. "If I could spare the time I would pay you back for al those times you tickled me back at the Academy, but my Queen's business must come first."
Danea was taken off guard when she felt Patrisa's sharp nails rake her soles. She exploded into a reluctant laughter and immediately tried to contain herself.
"I thought you had not time for payback," Danea said no longer laughing but with her feet thrashing left and right to escape the tickling.
"Not proper payback," Patrisa said as she rested Danea gently on the Slumber Bed below. "This is much gentler and swifter than tickling you into submission."
Danea's feet moved franticly under Patrisa's fingers as she felt her back touch the slumber bed. The Scourge's fingers danced wildly but Danea would not give her the satisfaction of any more laughter.
Then instantly the Keeper fell asleep and her feet became motionless despite the Scourge's best efforts to tickle.
Patrisa retrieved Ash and Oak and pulled a blanket over the Demon Mistress.
"Sweet dreams, Keeper," Patrisa said as she left the safe house and prepared her journey for the Elfing Realm.
"Thank Queen Melca that the Scourge was merciful today."
* * * * *
"I have kept my word and I deliver you the Tenderfoot Esmeralda."
Orion and Esmeralda were in the court of the Elfling King. Esmeralda was still asleep but now it was Orion who carried her instead of his shadow.
He placed her gently on the ground in front of the Elfling King.
"So you have," the Elfling King said. "You will be well rewarded as we agreed. Chief Interrogator Haydeen will tend to her now."
"Regarding that reward," Orion said cautiously. "If I denied myself the reward, how much more would the Elfling King require so that I might buy her freedom?"
"What is this?" the Elfling King asked viciously. "Is the cold and calculating mercenary suddenly growing soft?"
The white garbed king laughed hideously but with deep pleasure.
"She is worth even more to me now that I know you want her," the Elfling King laughed once more and Orion winced. "Nay, you cannot have her. Guards! Carry her away to the dungeons."
Elfling sentries came to lift the sleeping spell caster from the ground.
"Wait!" Orion cried. "I have something of great value," he said as he thrust his hand into his robes and pulled free a small iron box.
"It might be of interest to you," Orion added as his bit his lip unable to mask his anxiousness.
"How sweet," the Elfling King said snarling caustically. "You'd sacrifice that ring for your little Tenderfoot friend."
Orion resolutely reached to open the iron box when a sudden gust of air accompanied by a wave of white feathers swept into the hall and wrenched the iron box from Orion's grasp.
"Fae are a gossiping sort of creature," Madame Jordana said as she appeared from behind Orion with the iron box in her hand. Her black robes and the red scarf on her head were unmistakable. "We've known of this particular ring from months and we were most entertained by your cleverness. I am very proud of my most successful pupil."
Orion was disconcerted. He could handle one of the spell casters perhaps, but not both. Not of their caliber. He remained silent.
"We need you," Madame Jordanna continued. "You know that. That traitor demon Danea must have told you something along those lines."
Madame Jordanna studied her pupil intently.
"You want your Tenderfoot lover," Madame Jordanna said smiling.
Orion opened his mouth to speak but Jordanna interrupted.
"Don't bother to deny it," she said. "It is plain as the look on your face. You can escape, you can fight, but if you do, I warn you that I will bring upon your little lover such torment that you know only I am capable of producing."
"What is it to be, then?" Orion said trying to mask his frustration.
"Surrender to us," Madame Jordanna said. "When your usefulness to our cause is finished you and your Tenderfoot would be free."
"If we are alive by the time you're finished with us," Orion said between clenched teeth.
"You know the web quite well, Orion," Madame Jordanna said smiling. "The choice is yours. Run away and lose the Tenderfoot or stay and risk a chance to save her from my torment. Fight and you will lose."
The silence was thick in the room. Sentries eyed each other nervously expecting a fight. Haydeen loosened her dagger in her bandolier aware it would be of little use in an all out spell caster duel. Only the three spell caster masters remained calm.
Finally Orion broke the silence.
"Very well," Orion said holding out his arms for them to be shackled. "But be warned that if any harm befalls Esmeralda I will destroy you all one by one."
The threat was not meant to be idle.
Elfling sentries rushed to the spell caster with cold iron shackles and they bound him by wrists and ankles.
"Take them both to the dungeons and keep them in separate chambers, properly restrained and entertained," the Elfling King commanded. "I want no surprises, Chief Interrogator Haydeen."
Haydeen bowed and followed the sentries to the dungeons leaving the Elfling King and Jordanna alone in the throne room.
"That is two, Jordanna," the Elfling King said thoughtfully. "The prophecy and the spell require that they be three. The Tickle Warrior is missing as is Melca's Gem."
Jordanna pulled an object covered in sashes from beneath her robes and pulled the sashes away revealing a glowing clear crystal.
"Melca's Gem!" the Elfling King exclaimed. "You are good to your word, Jordanna. We are only missing the Scourge."
"Trust me," Jordanna said as she studied the simple plain iron box that contained the powerful ring. "She will be here. She won't be able to resist coming here."
* * * * *
Esmeralda awoke as Orion had promised deep in the Elfling King's Dungeon. They had taken extra precautions this time and her arms and legs were literally screwed into place using cold iron to make the restraints. Her feet were bare and her top was lifted to reveal her belly.
Haydeen was next to her preparing the tools of her trade laying the tools out one by one on a small tray.
"Hello, Esmeralda," Haydeen said smiling. "We meet again."
"What are you going to do?" Esmeralda asked frowning. "Torture me once again?"
Haydeen shook her head as she deposited two teaspoons of some substance into an incense burner.
"No, my job is just to keep you busy so you do not make any plans to escape," Haydeen explained. "Thinking is difficult if you are laughing. It will keep your mind off escaping at least. You and Orion are very resistant to tickling so I'm using magical incense made from a special mushroom that only grows here in the Mushroom Wood. It is called the Pink Rose for its characteristic color and it can increase your ticklishness tenfold."
"They captured Orion?" Esmeralda asked as the sweet smelling odor filled the chamber. "It serves him right. He is a lying and deceiving pig."
"Now you've made me mad," Haydeen said her eyebrows knitting together as she picked two stiff feathers from her collection. "I think I will be a little generous with the entertainment."
Before Esmeralda could speak Haydeen whispered her cantrips that sent the feathers up and down dusting Esmeralda's bare soles. The gentle tickling would normally only itch but with the sweet smelling incense, Esmeralda could not help but laugh out loud.
"Orion is here because he cares about you, silly Tenderfoot," Haydeen said as she placed some rounded prodding tools on Esmeralda's ribs and whispered a cantrip that would give gentle pokes at random intervals.
"You don't seem to realize that."
Esmeralda was unable to respond. The tickling was not violent but it was irresistible.
"Of course, now that I think about it, he is secretive and manipulative and somewhat of a lout sometimes," Haydeen pondered. “But despite this I can tell he really does care for you.”
Esmeralda laughed in response.
"A shame we are on opposite sides," Haydeen said as she collected her remaining tools. "I've come to admire you for your daring and your courage. I hope after all is done that we might one day be friends."
Haydeen left the chamber and closed the door gently behind her.
Esmeralda could not think of a way to escape as Haydeen promised, but despite her laughter, a single tear - unseen by friend or foe slid gently down her cheek.
Despair held her stronger than any pair of shackles could.
* * * * *
"Do you love her?" Haydeen asked Orion who had been stripped to the waist, left barefoot and restrained to a large table in a fashion similar to how Esmeralda was restrained. Esmeralda's soft and constant laughter could be heard coming from the next chamber.
"That is a trick question," Orion replied wryly. "You are an interrogator and a truthsayer and whatever I answer you will know if it is true or not without using any of your truthsaying techniques."
"You have not answered the question," Haydeen observed, "You either do or you don't."
Orion paused before answering.
"I do love her," he replied with a deep breath. Just saying the words seemed to be a relief.
"That, my friend, is the first true and transparent answer this interrogator has received in a very long time."
Orion watched Haydeen smile to herself as she prepared her tools.
"You're finally on friendly terms with me and you are still going to tickle me?" Orion asked raising an eyebrow.
"I have not forgotten the first time you left me to face Lord Xavis's fury nor the second time that you abandoned me to my luck with the Animus ruler," Haydeen said as she selected a pair of thick bristled brushes. "But I think that despite it all, everything worked out for the better and in a way I owe you for much of the good in my life."
"Being the Elfling King's lackey is hardly what I'd call good," Orion remarked.
Haydeen shrugged. "Perhaps, but I am no Spell Caster or Tickle Warrior. I need a liege to give me the kind of work I require. I think you'd be surprised if you knew really how complex my relationship is with my lieges."
Haydeen placed the pair of bristled brushes on Orion's soles and he resisted the cantrip driven motions rather well.
"I can't imagine this is all you have in store for me," Orion said unimpressed.
Haydeen placed a pair of feathers on Orion's side with the stiff point in places where she remembered Orion was ticklish. Orion resisted the movements however.
"I wanted to do this a little differently," Haydeen said as she placed pink incense into an incense burner and held it close to Orion so he and she both could smell the vapors.
Orion frowned. "Pink Rose?" he asked as the tendrils of smoke drew near.
Haydeen nodded as Orion began to laugh as the tickling sensations became more intense and he could no longer resist laughing.
"You're by far my favorite ticklee," Haydeen mentioned. "You're difficult to tickle and although this is clearly cheating with the Pink Rose it is pleasant to hear you laugh for me again."
Orion was unable to answer, but listening to his own laughter and that of Esmeralda in the next room, he felt comforted that for at least now she was safe.
The future however was still uncertain.
* * * * *
Patrisa heard laughter coming from the Elfling King's Dungeon.
She recognized Esmeralda’s laughter and she cautiously opened the door to the chamber where she was being held. Esmeralda was in the room alone being tickled by automaton tickling tools.
Esmeralda could not stop laughing. She was at first surprised to see Patrisa and she looked pleadingly at her mentor. Patrisa scanned the room one last time and carefully closed it again. As she did so she could see Esmeralda’s hurt expression.
Saving Esmeralda would be nice, but Queen Melca was counting on her to retrieve the ring and only Orion could help her with that. It was then that she heard laughter which sounded more like Orion coming from the next chamber.
Patrisa drew near and though a half open door saw Orion laid out restrained on a torture table with Haydeen speaking to him while he laughed.
She had to neutralize Haydeen quickly.
Patrisa tapped gently on the door and Haydeen turned.
"It's you," Haydeen said seemingly not so surprised to see the Tickle Scourge.
"I never got to thank you for your help in the Animus Arena," Patrisa said casually trying to get Haydeen to lower her guard.
As Haydeen began to answer, Patrisa pointed the end of one of her fighting sticks at Haydeen's face and at a command, from the end sprouted branches which reached out and covered Haydeen's face completely. Haydeen could only make muffled noises into the mass of branches. Another command and the other end of the fighting stick reached for Haydeen's ankles. Her arms flailed in all directions, but Patrisa quickly commanded the other stick to have each of its ends wrap around Haydeen's wrists and hold them tightly behind her back.
The Chief Interrogator was bound and practically motionless on the ground.
"I'll be gentle and swift," Patrisa promised patting her gently. "That is all the thanks I can offer you, I fear."
Patrisa pulled the moving tools a few inches away from Orion's tickled spots but she did so gently as to maintain their movement.
Patrisa sniffed a peculiar odor in the air.
"I know that smell," Patrisa said smiling. "Pink Rose. How convenient."
Orion was a bit breathless but he recovered quickly.
"You've come for the ring," he said. "For Melca."
"Exactly," Patrisa said as she bent over Haydeen. "With Pink Rose, this won't take more than a minute," she said digging her fingers into Haydeen's ribs and tickling swiftly. She pulled off Haydeen's silk slippers and tickled her feet as well.
Desperate and muffled screams could be heard as Haydeen's body shook. The Scourge was thorough and with the Pink Rose vapors Haydeen had inhaled she was extremely ticklish and vulnerable. True to her word, before the minute was through, the shaking had subsided.
Patrisa withdrew her fighting sticks leaving Haydeen's limp form on the ground.
"Pink Rose makes it so much easier," Patrisa said turning to Orion. "I've subdued your tormentor. On to business. Where is the ring?"
"I don't have it anymore," he replied.
"You're good at manipulating the truth but a poor liar," she said after some thought. "Where is it then?"
"Jordanna and the Elfling King have it," Orion said. "Free me. We'll go for Esmeralda and we'll recover the ring together.
"I don't think you'll talk your way out of this one," Patrisa replied as she gently returned the still moving tools back to their place.
"No!" Orion exclaimed. "There is something you do not know--"
His warning was cut off by his laughter as Haydeen's tickling tools resumed their subtle attack.
"If you do not remain prisoner the Elflings will suspect something is amiss. After all, they probably aren't expecting a visit from the Tickle Scourge."
Patrisa dragged Haydeen to a pair of stocks and left her there restrained and gagged.
"So long Orion," she said. "If I recover the ring, I will be back to see you. Queen Melca sends her regards."
* * * * *
Patrisa crept chamber to chamber in the Elfling King's Palace. There were guards all over the palace but she relied in her ability to move silently to get past them.
She finally discovered Madame Jordanna standing alone in a huge darkened hall which must have been the Elfling King's throne room.
"I've come for the ring," Patrisa said. "I know you have it."
Madame Jordanna's robes rustled gently as she turned to face the Tickle Scourge.
"You Elflings are up to something," Patrisa said. "It matters little to Queen Melca. She only wants the ring."
"Melca often refers to us Elflings as cowardly bullies," Madame Jordanna said. "There is perhaps some truth to that."
Patrisa pulled Ash and Oak free and assumed a combat stance.
"First of all, we never attack without numerical superiority," Jordanna said.
On cue, thirty Elfling sentries appeared from their hiding places. They had been expecting her.
Instead of spears and daggers however they wielded fighting sticks which glowed on the end an electric blue color.
"Stun rods," Patrisa said conceding that perhaps she had been swift to judge Madam Jordanna. "You mean to take me alive without tickling me."
"I have my reasons," Jordanna said gesturing to the Elflings to begin their attack.
"Let's do this then," Patrisa said twirling Ash and Oak skillfully in her hands.
A couple Elflings began by charging from opposite directions drawing their arms back to swing the glowing rods at Patrisa. She was much swifter and Ash and Oak made fast work striking the Elfling's on the sides of their skulls long before they could complete their swings. They fell limply to the ground unconscious.
More Elflings attacked her in unison and Patrisa defended herself with her sticks parrying, deflecting and counterattacking. After not even a minute twenty of the thirty sentries were left unconscious on the ground.
Patrisa had yet to break a sweat.
"There is an Elfling saying," Jordanna said after Patrisa's display of prowess. "If at first you don't succeed… cheat."
Jordanna spoke words of magic and she blew a handful of feather in Patrisa's direction.
Kleict teafer, bro reh for eh giths!
"My armor will protect me from that," Patrisa said smiling.
When the feathers went straight her head instead of her body, Patrisa understood that the purpose was not to tickle but rather to distract.
With their opponent blinded by the flurry of feathers, the Elfling sentries closed in with their stun rods raised high.
A dozen blows rained upon Patrisa and blue electricity flowed through her body. The first blows sent her to her knees while the last blows directed to her head sent her straight to oblivion.
The Captain of the sentries pried Ash and Oak from Patrisa's fingers with some difficulty while the other Elflings bound the Scourge's ankles and wrists together in cold iron shackles.
"I've seen rampaging Tickle Beasts fall with less blows," the Captain said as he handed the sticks over to Madame Jordanna.
"I did not expect anything less from the Tickle Scourge," Madame Jordanna said. "She was after all my pupil."
* * * * *
The next day a caravan of wagons was prepared.
One of the wagons was simply an iron cage on wheels. Inside, three manlings restrained in iron shackles sat each in a different corner. None spoke to each other.
Patrisa was angry at having been captured and even angrier and having failed to recover the ring as her Queen had commanded.
Esmeralda felt betrayed. Her intent had been to rescue Patrisa, but her mentor had escaped and did not bother to rescue her when she had the chance. Orion, her lover, had betrayed her and delivered her to her enemies.
Orion felt Esmeralda's accusing eyes upon him and felt a pang in his heart not unlike the pang that he felt when in the presence of Glamour.
"Can you men a heart, Manling?" the Maker had asked him.
Orion wondered if he could.
* * * * *
The caravan consisted of almost twenty wagons. A small army of three thousand Elfling armed and armored surrounded the caravan offering protection.
Haydeen rode by on a small horse and greeted the Manlings.
"Good morning, Manlings," she said cheerfully despite having been tickled out of her wits by the Tickle Scourge the night before.
The three looked back at her gloomily.
"It's hardly a good morning, Haydeen," Orion answered. "I don't like being trapped in a web I didn't spin myself. Where are we going? What do they plan to do with us?"
"I'm as much a fly as all you are," Haydeen said. "We are headed for the Centaur Realm; to the Kletic Ratheet. To what end and to what purpose you accompany us, I have no idea."
Haydeen said no more and rode ahead.
"Kletic Ratheet?" Esmeralda repeated unaware of what place the word referred to.
"Loosely translated it means 'the place of tickling'," Orion said pensively. "It's an ancient place of worship. It is very ancient; it is somewhat similar to Stone Hedge on our world. The Centaur keep an outpost there to protect that sacred place."
"That outpost will fall quickly against the Elfling King's might," Patrisa mentioned joining the conversation. "But even three thousand Elflings and the Elfling King himself will crumble once the Centaurs send in their Royal Calvary."
"They probably don't intend to hold the position long," Orion said thinking out loud. "We still don't know why they need us."
"Kletic Ratheet is a place of sacrifice," Patrisa said. "There are three main altars. There are three of us. It could be coincidence though."
"Maybe," Orion said shaking his head. "We'll know soon enough, I guess."
Silence descended once again upon the iron cage and all three stared blankly outside the cage.
Esmeralda finally gathered courage and swallowed her pride.
"You know, guys," Esmeralda said softly standing and taking steps to where Patrisa was. "We’ve had our differences. Serious differences I might add. But we’d be a much stronger force to reckon with if we were all on the same team."
She took Patrisa by her chained wrist and lifted her mentor to her feet. She then stepped over to where Orion was and offered her hand.
“I’m willing to overlook the past if we are all willing to work together,” she said.
Orion looked at her soft delicate hand in the ugly cold iron shackles and after a moment took it firmly pulling himself up until the three were standing.
"Three united have a better chance than three apart," Esmeralda said.
Orion and Patrisa nodded in agreement. The three breathed easier now and it seemed the shackles were not as heavy as they were only a few minutes ago.
"You are very wise, Esmeralda," Orion said softly as they took each other by the hands.
"For a Tenderfoot," he added seriously.
Esmeralda’s eyes went wide with surprise at the comment.
Patrisa abruptly laughed.
It was sudden, roaring and infectious.
Orion joined her with his own deep laughter. And finally, unable to resist, Esmeralda joined them both in laughter.
Their fate, however dire it was to be, did not seem so bad so long as they were together.
To be continued…
Next: The Horror that Creeps
Three United, Three Apart
Amber and Indigo crept through the the Fae Realm until they reached the border with the Giantus Realm.
There were several Dryads who protected those parts of the Fae Realm. The two pixies decided to have a friendly cup of tea with each of them taking the precaution of lacing their tea cups with pixie sleep juice.
Deep asleep in the branches of their favorite trees, no one would be the wiser to two pixies stealing Melca's Gem from right under her nose.
Queen Melca was so intent on the Tickle Scourge and her goal of tickling her until she was fully dominated that she failed to notice the two pixies who stole the gem.
The pair of pixies finally reached the edge of the forest and watched the tall mountains of the Giantus and the winding trails that led through them.
A dark figure in a large cape was waiting.
"It's about time," the figure muttered pulling back her hood. "I was thinking maybe you pixies were getting cold feet."
"Nothing of the sort," Amber said. "We will never be forgiven for our treachery, but we have no intention of ever returning to the Fae."
"Hand it over then," Loanna the Giantess said holding out a silk sash.
The pixies deposited the crystal gem into the silk sash and the giantess quickly wrapped the precious gem.
"Well, I am off," Loanna said. "The Elfling Realm is still many leagues off and I prefer to run than to take a wormhole."
Amber and Indigo exchanged a knowing glance and nodded in agreement.
"Will you take us with you?" Indigo asked.
"Jordanna did not say I could," Loanna said thoughtfully. "But she didn't say I couldn't either."
Indigo and Amber smiled.
"Hold on tight," Loanna said drawing her hood over her head. "A running giant runs through or jumps over obstacles. The ride can get rough."
The pixies held on to the cloak as Loanna took giant steps ahead leaping and sprinting as she made her way to the Elfling Realm.
* * * * *
Danea opened her eyes and discovered that she was suspended over a bed with her wrists and ankles trapped and spread eagle.
Her last memory was that of Orion casting a simple sleep spell that she should have been able to counter under normal conditions quite easily.
She looked around and saw the Tickle Scourge's face hovering over her body studying her intently.
"Keeper," the Scourge said in greeting.
"Scourge," Danea answered. "We were so worried about you. We were going to go after you together. Why am I bound like this? Free me."
"I will," Patrisa promised. "But I need to know where Orion is."
"Let me free and we'll go together," the demon mistress said pulling at her bonds. She was bound by the Scourge's fighting sticks Ash and Oak. Tendrils of magical branches wrapped tightly and firmly over her wrists and ankles.
"I think I'll go alone," Patrisa said evenly.
Danea frowned. "I see," she said. "Orion was right. You are a thrall of that Fae manipulator. There's not much that can be done for you now."
"You can tell me where Orion is and that will make me and my Queen very happy," Patrisa said.
"He was headed to the Elfling King to deliver Esmeralda into his clutches. Will you let that depraved monarch hold your protégé or will you run your Queen's errand?"
"Esmeralda is no longer a Tenderfoot," Patrisa said more to convince herself rather than her prisoner. "She can take care of herself."
"You can't hold me," Danea said touching her restraints and waiting for the telltale green glow of Entropy to return the fighting sticks to their original form.
Nothing happened.
"I put a little cold iron ring on your big toe," Patrisa said smiling lifting slightly her victim's torso so the demon could see the simple ring placed on her toe. "Anti-magic or Entropy is still a form of magic easily neutralized by a simple circle of iron."
Danea frowned deeper still but quickly sighed realizing her predicament.
"What are you going to do with me?" Danea asked resigned to whatever fate the Tickle Scourge had in mind.
"My Queen has no quarrel with you," Patrisa said. "If I could spare the time I would pay you back for al those times you tickled me back at the Academy, but my Queen's business must come first."
Danea was taken off guard when she felt Patrisa's sharp nails rake her soles. She exploded into a reluctant laughter and immediately tried to contain herself.
"I thought you had not time for payback," Danea said no longer laughing but with her feet thrashing left and right to escape the tickling.
"Not proper payback," Patrisa said as she rested Danea gently on the Slumber Bed below. "This is much gentler and swifter than tickling you into submission."
Danea's feet moved franticly under Patrisa's fingers as she felt her back touch the slumber bed. The Scourge's fingers danced wildly but Danea would not give her the satisfaction of any more laughter.
Then instantly the Keeper fell asleep and her feet became motionless despite the Scourge's best efforts to tickle.
Patrisa retrieved Ash and Oak and pulled a blanket over the Demon Mistress.
"Sweet dreams, Keeper," Patrisa said as she left the safe house and prepared her journey for the Elfing Realm.
"Thank Queen Melca that the Scourge was merciful today."
* * * * *
"I have kept my word and I deliver you the Tenderfoot Esmeralda."
Orion and Esmeralda were in the court of the Elfling King. Esmeralda was still asleep but now it was Orion who carried her instead of his shadow.
He placed her gently on the ground in front of the Elfling King.
"So you have," the Elfling King said. "You will be well rewarded as we agreed. Chief Interrogator Haydeen will tend to her now."
"Regarding that reward," Orion said cautiously. "If I denied myself the reward, how much more would the Elfling King require so that I might buy her freedom?"
"What is this?" the Elfling King asked viciously. "Is the cold and calculating mercenary suddenly growing soft?"
The white garbed king laughed hideously but with deep pleasure.
"She is worth even more to me now that I know you want her," the Elfling King laughed once more and Orion winced. "Nay, you cannot have her. Guards! Carry her away to the dungeons."
Elfling sentries came to lift the sleeping spell caster from the ground.
"Wait!" Orion cried. "I have something of great value," he said as he thrust his hand into his robes and pulled free a small iron box.
"It might be of interest to you," Orion added as his bit his lip unable to mask his anxiousness.
"How sweet," the Elfling King said snarling caustically. "You'd sacrifice that ring for your little Tenderfoot friend."
Orion resolutely reached to open the iron box when a sudden gust of air accompanied by a wave of white feathers swept into the hall and wrenched the iron box from Orion's grasp.
"Fae are a gossiping sort of creature," Madame Jordana said as she appeared from behind Orion with the iron box in her hand. Her black robes and the red scarf on her head were unmistakable. "We've known of this particular ring from months and we were most entertained by your cleverness. I am very proud of my most successful pupil."
Orion was disconcerted. He could handle one of the spell casters perhaps, but not both. Not of their caliber. He remained silent.
"We need you," Madame Jordanna continued. "You know that. That traitor demon Danea must have told you something along those lines."
Madame Jordanna studied her pupil intently.
"You want your Tenderfoot lover," Madame Jordanna said smiling.
Orion opened his mouth to speak but Jordanna interrupted.
"Don't bother to deny it," she said. "It is plain as the look on your face. You can escape, you can fight, but if you do, I warn you that I will bring upon your little lover such torment that you know only I am capable of producing."
"What is it to be, then?" Orion said trying to mask his frustration.
"Surrender to us," Madame Jordanna said. "When your usefulness to our cause is finished you and your Tenderfoot would be free."
"If we are alive by the time you're finished with us," Orion said between clenched teeth.
"You know the web quite well, Orion," Madame Jordanna said smiling. "The choice is yours. Run away and lose the Tenderfoot or stay and risk a chance to save her from my torment. Fight and you will lose."
The silence was thick in the room. Sentries eyed each other nervously expecting a fight. Haydeen loosened her dagger in her bandolier aware it would be of little use in an all out spell caster duel. Only the three spell caster masters remained calm.
Finally Orion broke the silence.
"Very well," Orion said holding out his arms for them to be shackled. "But be warned that if any harm befalls Esmeralda I will destroy you all one by one."
The threat was not meant to be idle.
Elfling sentries rushed to the spell caster with cold iron shackles and they bound him by wrists and ankles.
"Take them both to the dungeons and keep them in separate chambers, properly restrained and entertained," the Elfling King commanded. "I want no surprises, Chief Interrogator Haydeen."
Haydeen bowed and followed the sentries to the dungeons leaving the Elfling King and Jordanna alone in the throne room.
"That is two, Jordanna," the Elfling King said thoughtfully. "The prophecy and the spell require that they be three. The Tickle Warrior is missing as is Melca's Gem."
Jordanna pulled an object covered in sashes from beneath her robes and pulled the sashes away revealing a glowing clear crystal.
"Melca's Gem!" the Elfling King exclaimed. "You are good to your word, Jordanna. We are only missing the Scourge."
"Trust me," Jordanna said as she studied the simple plain iron box that contained the powerful ring. "She will be here. She won't be able to resist coming here."
* * * * *
Esmeralda awoke as Orion had promised deep in the Elfling King's Dungeon. They had taken extra precautions this time and her arms and legs were literally screwed into place using cold iron to make the restraints. Her feet were bare and her top was lifted to reveal her belly.
Haydeen was next to her preparing the tools of her trade laying the tools out one by one on a small tray.
"Hello, Esmeralda," Haydeen said smiling. "We meet again."
"What are you going to do?" Esmeralda asked frowning. "Torture me once again?"
Haydeen shook her head as she deposited two teaspoons of some substance into an incense burner.
"No, my job is just to keep you busy so you do not make any plans to escape," Haydeen explained. "Thinking is difficult if you are laughing. It will keep your mind off escaping at least. You and Orion are very resistant to tickling so I'm using magical incense made from a special mushroom that only grows here in the Mushroom Wood. It is called the Pink Rose for its characteristic color and it can increase your ticklishness tenfold."
"They captured Orion?" Esmeralda asked as the sweet smelling odor filled the chamber. "It serves him right. He is a lying and deceiving pig."
"Now you've made me mad," Haydeen said her eyebrows knitting together as she picked two stiff feathers from her collection. "I think I will be a little generous with the entertainment."
Before Esmeralda could speak Haydeen whispered her cantrips that sent the feathers up and down dusting Esmeralda's bare soles. The gentle tickling would normally only itch but with the sweet smelling incense, Esmeralda could not help but laugh out loud.
"Orion is here because he cares about you, silly Tenderfoot," Haydeen said as she placed some rounded prodding tools on Esmeralda's ribs and whispered a cantrip that would give gentle pokes at random intervals.
"You don't seem to realize that."
Esmeralda was unable to respond. The tickling was not violent but it was irresistible.
"Of course, now that I think about it, he is secretive and manipulative and somewhat of a lout sometimes," Haydeen pondered. “But despite this I can tell he really does care for you.”
Esmeralda laughed in response.
"A shame we are on opposite sides," Haydeen said as she collected her remaining tools. "I've come to admire you for your daring and your courage. I hope after all is done that we might one day be friends."
Haydeen left the chamber and closed the door gently behind her.
Esmeralda could not think of a way to escape as Haydeen promised, but despite her laughter, a single tear - unseen by friend or foe slid gently down her cheek.
Despair held her stronger than any pair of shackles could.
* * * * *
"Do you love her?" Haydeen asked Orion who had been stripped to the waist, left barefoot and restrained to a large table in a fashion similar to how Esmeralda was restrained. Esmeralda's soft and constant laughter could be heard coming from the next chamber.
"That is a trick question," Orion replied wryly. "You are an interrogator and a truthsayer and whatever I answer you will know if it is true or not without using any of your truthsaying techniques."
"You have not answered the question," Haydeen observed, "You either do or you don't."
Orion paused before answering.
"I do love her," he replied with a deep breath. Just saying the words seemed to be a relief.
"That, my friend, is the first true and transparent answer this interrogator has received in a very long time."
Orion watched Haydeen smile to herself as she prepared her tools.
"You're finally on friendly terms with me and you are still going to tickle me?" Orion asked raising an eyebrow.
"I have not forgotten the first time you left me to face Lord Xavis's fury nor the second time that you abandoned me to my luck with the Animus ruler," Haydeen said as she selected a pair of thick bristled brushes. "But I think that despite it all, everything worked out for the better and in a way I owe you for much of the good in my life."
"Being the Elfling King's lackey is hardly what I'd call good," Orion remarked.
Haydeen shrugged. "Perhaps, but I am no Spell Caster or Tickle Warrior. I need a liege to give me the kind of work I require. I think you'd be surprised if you knew really how complex my relationship is with my lieges."
Haydeen placed the pair of bristled brushes on Orion's soles and he resisted the cantrip driven motions rather well.
"I can't imagine this is all you have in store for me," Orion said unimpressed.
Haydeen placed a pair of feathers on Orion's side with the stiff point in places where she remembered Orion was ticklish. Orion resisted the movements however.
"I wanted to do this a little differently," Haydeen said as she placed pink incense into an incense burner and held it close to Orion so he and she both could smell the vapors.
Orion frowned. "Pink Rose?" he asked as the tendrils of smoke drew near.
Haydeen nodded as Orion began to laugh as the tickling sensations became more intense and he could no longer resist laughing.
"You're by far my favorite ticklee," Haydeen mentioned. "You're difficult to tickle and although this is clearly cheating with the Pink Rose it is pleasant to hear you laugh for me again."
Orion was unable to answer, but listening to his own laughter and that of Esmeralda in the next room, he felt comforted that for at least now she was safe.
The future however was still uncertain.
* * * * *
Patrisa heard laughter coming from the Elfling King's Dungeon.
She recognized Esmeralda’s laughter and she cautiously opened the door to the chamber where she was being held. Esmeralda was in the room alone being tickled by automaton tickling tools.
Esmeralda could not stop laughing. She was at first surprised to see Patrisa and she looked pleadingly at her mentor. Patrisa scanned the room one last time and carefully closed it again. As she did so she could see Esmeralda’s hurt expression.
Saving Esmeralda would be nice, but Queen Melca was counting on her to retrieve the ring and only Orion could help her with that. It was then that she heard laughter which sounded more like Orion coming from the next chamber.
Patrisa drew near and though a half open door saw Orion laid out restrained on a torture table with Haydeen speaking to him while he laughed.
She had to neutralize Haydeen quickly.
Patrisa tapped gently on the door and Haydeen turned.
"It's you," Haydeen said seemingly not so surprised to see the Tickle Scourge.
"I never got to thank you for your help in the Animus Arena," Patrisa said casually trying to get Haydeen to lower her guard.
As Haydeen began to answer, Patrisa pointed the end of one of her fighting sticks at Haydeen's face and at a command, from the end sprouted branches which reached out and covered Haydeen's face completely. Haydeen could only make muffled noises into the mass of branches. Another command and the other end of the fighting stick reached for Haydeen's ankles. Her arms flailed in all directions, but Patrisa quickly commanded the other stick to have each of its ends wrap around Haydeen's wrists and hold them tightly behind her back.
The Chief Interrogator was bound and practically motionless on the ground.
"I'll be gentle and swift," Patrisa promised patting her gently. "That is all the thanks I can offer you, I fear."
Patrisa pulled the moving tools a few inches away from Orion's tickled spots but she did so gently as to maintain their movement.
Patrisa sniffed a peculiar odor in the air.
"I know that smell," Patrisa said smiling. "Pink Rose. How convenient."
Orion was a bit breathless but he recovered quickly.
"You've come for the ring," he said. "For Melca."
"Exactly," Patrisa said as she bent over Haydeen. "With Pink Rose, this won't take more than a minute," she said digging her fingers into Haydeen's ribs and tickling swiftly. She pulled off Haydeen's silk slippers and tickled her feet as well.
Desperate and muffled screams could be heard as Haydeen's body shook. The Scourge was thorough and with the Pink Rose vapors Haydeen had inhaled she was extremely ticklish and vulnerable. True to her word, before the minute was through, the shaking had subsided.
Patrisa withdrew her fighting sticks leaving Haydeen's limp form on the ground.
"Pink Rose makes it so much easier," Patrisa said turning to Orion. "I've subdued your tormentor. On to business. Where is the ring?"
"I don't have it anymore," he replied.
"You're good at manipulating the truth but a poor liar," she said after some thought. "Where is it then?"
"Jordanna and the Elfling King have it," Orion said. "Free me. We'll go for Esmeralda and we'll recover the ring together.
"I don't think you'll talk your way out of this one," Patrisa replied as she gently returned the still moving tools back to their place.
"No!" Orion exclaimed. "There is something you do not know--"
His warning was cut off by his laughter as Haydeen's tickling tools resumed their subtle attack.
"If you do not remain prisoner the Elflings will suspect something is amiss. After all, they probably aren't expecting a visit from the Tickle Scourge."
Patrisa dragged Haydeen to a pair of stocks and left her there restrained and gagged.
"So long Orion," she said. "If I recover the ring, I will be back to see you. Queen Melca sends her regards."
* * * * *
Patrisa crept chamber to chamber in the Elfling King's Palace. There were guards all over the palace but she relied in her ability to move silently to get past them.
She finally discovered Madame Jordanna standing alone in a huge darkened hall which must have been the Elfling King's throne room.
"I've come for the ring," Patrisa said. "I know you have it."
Madame Jordanna's robes rustled gently as she turned to face the Tickle Scourge.
"You Elflings are up to something," Patrisa said. "It matters little to Queen Melca. She only wants the ring."
"Melca often refers to us Elflings as cowardly bullies," Madame Jordanna said. "There is perhaps some truth to that."
Patrisa pulled Ash and Oak free and assumed a combat stance.
"First of all, we never attack without numerical superiority," Jordanna said.
On cue, thirty Elfling sentries appeared from their hiding places. They had been expecting her.
Instead of spears and daggers however they wielded fighting sticks which glowed on the end an electric blue color.
"Stun rods," Patrisa said conceding that perhaps she had been swift to judge Madam Jordanna. "You mean to take me alive without tickling me."
"I have my reasons," Jordanna said gesturing to the Elflings to begin their attack.
"Let's do this then," Patrisa said twirling Ash and Oak skillfully in her hands.
A couple Elflings began by charging from opposite directions drawing their arms back to swing the glowing rods at Patrisa. She was much swifter and Ash and Oak made fast work striking the Elfling's on the sides of their skulls long before they could complete their swings. They fell limply to the ground unconscious.
More Elflings attacked her in unison and Patrisa defended herself with her sticks parrying, deflecting and counterattacking. After not even a minute twenty of the thirty sentries were left unconscious on the ground.
Patrisa had yet to break a sweat.
"There is an Elfling saying," Jordanna said after Patrisa's display of prowess. "If at first you don't succeed… cheat."
Jordanna spoke words of magic and she blew a handful of feather in Patrisa's direction.
Kleict teafer, bro reh for eh giths!
"My armor will protect me from that," Patrisa said smiling.
When the feathers went straight her head instead of her body, Patrisa understood that the purpose was not to tickle but rather to distract.
With their opponent blinded by the flurry of feathers, the Elfling sentries closed in with their stun rods raised high.
A dozen blows rained upon Patrisa and blue electricity flowed through her body. The first blows sent her to her knees while the last blows directed to her head sent her straight to oblivion.
The Captain of the sentries pried Ash and Oak from Patrisa's fingers with some difficulty while the other Elflings bound the Scourge's ankles and wrists together in cold iron shackles.
"I've seen rampaging Tickle Beasts fall with less blows," the Captain said as he handed the sticks over to Madame Jordanna.
"I did not expect anything less from the Tickle Scourge," Madame Jordanna said. "She was after all my pupil."
* * * * *
The next day a caravan of wagons was prepared.
One of the wagons was simply an iron cage on wheels. Inside, three manlings restrained in iron shackles sat each in a different corner. None spoke to each other.
Patrisa was angry at having been captured and even angrier and having failed to recover the ring as her Queen had commanded.
Esmeralda felt betrayed. Her intent had been to rescue Patrisa, but her mentor had escaped and did not bother to rescue her when she had the chance. Orion, her lover, had betrayed her and delivered her to her enemies.
Orion felt Esmeralda's accusing eyes upon him and felt a pang in his heart not unlike the pang that he felt when in the presence of Glamour.
"Can you men a heart, Manling?" the Maker had asked him.
Orion wondered if he could.
* * * * *
The caravan consisted of almost twenty wagons. A small army of three thousand Elfling armed and armored surrounded the caravan offering protection.
Haydeen rode by on a small horse and greeted the Manlings.
"Good morning, Manlings," she said cheerfully despite having been tickled out of her wits by the Tickle Scourge the night before.
The three looked back at her gloomily.
"It's hardly a good morning, Haydeen," Orion answered. "I don't like being trapped in a web I didn't spin myself. Where are we going? What do they plan to do with us?"
"I'm as much a fly as all you are," Haydeen said. "We are headed for the Centaur Realm; to the Kletic Ratheet. To what end and to what purpose you accompany us, I have no idea."
Haydeen said no more and rode ahead.
"Kletic Ratheet?" Esmeralda repeated unaware of what place the word referred to.
"Loosely translated it means 'the place of tickling'," Orion said pensively. "It's an ancient place of worship. It is very ancient; it is somewhat similar to Stone Hedge on our world. The Centaur keep an outpost there to protect that sacred place."
"That outpost will fall quickly against the Elfling King's might," Patrisa mentioned joining the conversation. "But even three thousand Elflings and the Elfling King himself will crumble once the Centaurs send in their Royal Calvary."
"They probably don't intend to hold the position long," Orion said thinking out loud. "We still don't know why they need us."
"Kletic Ratheet is a place of sacrifice," Patrisa said. "There are three main altars. There are three of us. It could be coincidence though."
"Maybe," Orion said shaking his head. "We'll know soon enough, I guess."
Silence descended once again upon the iron cage and all three stared blankly outside the cage.
Esmeralda finally gathered courage and swallowed her pride.
"You know, guys," Esmeralda said softly standing and taking steps to where Patrisa was. "We’ve had our differences. Serious differences I might add. But we’d be a much stronger force to reckon with if we were all on the same team."
She took Patrisa by her chained wrist and lifted her mentor to her feet. She then stepped over to where Orion was and offered her hand.
“I’m willing to overlook the past if we are all willing to work together,” she said.
Orion looked at her soft delicate hand in the ugly cold iron shackles and after a moment took it firmly pulling himself up until the three were standing.
"Three united have a better chance than three apart," Esmeralda said.
Orion and Patrisa nodded in agreement. The three breathed easier now and it seemed the shackles were not as heavy as they were only a few minutes ago.
"You are very wise, Esmeralda," Orion said softly as they took each other by the hands.
"For a Tenderfoot," he added seriously.
Esmeralda’s eyes went wide with surprise at the comment.
Patrisa abruptly laughed.
It was sudden, roaring and infectious.
Orion joined her with his own deep laughter. And finally, unable to resist, Esmeralda joined them both in laughter.
Their fate, however dire it was to be, did not seem so bad so long as they were together.
To be continued…
Next: The Horror that Creeps
