Terrible Company - Chapter 15 - Part 1

Chapter 15: M. Night Shyamalan's Wet Dream

Torture. Glorious torture. The limits of physical endurance. Katsa's body hummed with the agony of being taken, repeatedly, by two Vals. The one below her, firmly rooted in her stretched and aching pussy, was the real Val while a polymorphed Mathilda crouched over her and reamed her backside. Even deep in her dreams, it was disconcerting to hear Mathilda's sometimes-indecipherable accent coming from green, Orcish lips, but it was a price she would pay a hundred times out of a hundred to feel the way she felt right then.

It was the culmination of all her work. All the experiments she'd performed on herself to increase her elasticity, flexibility, healing factor, and tolerance for pain. Experiments she'd had no idea would have such amazing sexual ramifications when she'd originally undertaken them.

Part of her was aware that she was dreaming, and that awareness splintered into two thoughts. The first involved mental notes to immediately acquire materials and prepare a vial for Mathilda, adjusted for oral consumption to improve the effective period. Polymorph's typical effective period when inhaled, as she'd done to the Harpy and the Ayen, was a few minutes at best. Her most conservative calculation, when metabolised, suggested an effective period of hours.

The second thought was much trickier; she was going to need to figure out how to get Val to go along with it. Terrible Company's two most effective fighters had a ferocious rivalry going on under the surface. They barely functioned as a fighting unit, and kept the peace by staying out of each other's way. It had been one thing while Val and Mathilda were sharing Katsa, but now that the dwarf had seemingly paired off with Ayen there was a palpable risk of them fracturing into separate camps completely and irrevocably.

Long-term unit cohesion was not a concern for Katsa. If having that experience meant that Terrible Company completely melted down afterwards, so be it. She was going to find a way to make it happen. The excitement and anticipation of pushing her body like it had never been pushed before overwhelmed the dream-realm version of her greatest fantasy, and that made the shock of waking up before she reached that highest peak even more jarring.

Ivy hovered over her, one hand pressed against the arcanists mouth to muffle her while she held her index finger over her own lips. Katsa groaned loudly anyway.

"No!" Ivy hissed. "We have to be quiet. Something is wrong!"

Katsa's body writhed, unconsciously trying to finish what her fevered imagination had so tantalizingly started, and that frustration funneled into pinpoint rage as Ivy's descending breasts formed a line of pillowy cleavage nearly a foot in length from her chest to the neck of her oft-mended blouse. It was impossible for Katsa to focus on anything else.

"Mmm-Mm-Mmmmm!"

"I don't know," the bard whispered, looking around. "Does this look familiar to you?"

Katsa rolled, noting the stiff hay poking her along the length of her back, and blinked. "MmmHmmHmm-" Then she swatted Ivy's hand. "I know how to whisper," she said loudly.

Ivy narrowed her eyes, head bobbing and weaving as she continued to swivel. "I don't remember how we got here."

The arcanist rolled up onto her knees and wrinkled her nose. "What is that smell?"

"Horse dookie," Ivy quickly replied.

"Dookie?" Katsa snarked. "Really?"

The redhead took another sniff and nodded assuredly. "Definitely dookie."

"What are we, four-years old?" Katsa grumbled as she brushed the straw from her clothes and stood up.

Judging by the direction of the light coming through the slats in the walls, it was nearly mid-day. Slats, hay, and horseshit meant a barn, except that Katsa couldn't remember them arranging to stay in a barn. Or finding a barn. Or even being near any open, arable land. "Hey wait a minute."

"I know," Ivy said.

"How did we get here?"

"I know," Ivy said.

"This is a barn."

It was.

Katsa turned again, blinking. She could hear Mathilda's raucous snoring on the far side of the barn, and Val was still asleep right next to her.

"Where is Ayen?"

"I don't know, but the doors are locked."

The Arcanist quickly located two big sliding doors and frowned. "Locked?"

"Yeah," Ivy replied. "They wouldn't budge."

"Go wake Mathilda up, and then try to find Ayen."

Ivy nodded and scurried away while Katsa crawled over to her girlfriend. She hadn't said the word out loud yet but in her own head Val was her girlfriend, and it was as thrilling as it was terrifying. She'd always considered herself above entanglements like these, choosing her own scholarly pursuits and meeting her other needs with brief encounters, but in Val she'd found someone that both pushed her and pushed her buttons. She knew Val felt something for her too, which had had a much stronger impact on her than she'd expected.

She gently nudged the big orc. When Val remained unresponsive, she nudged her again a bit harder.

"Push me again," Val grumbled, her eyes still closed, "and see what that gets you."

"You gotta wake up. Something is wrong."

"If it's not gonna kill us in the next hour, then piss off." With that, the warrior rolled over.

"Vaaaal," Katsa whined, as she grabbed Val's shoulder.

There was a hand at her throat faster than she could comprehend, and it was all Katsa could do to keep expression under control.

Val rolled back over and drew the arcanist close. "I wish I could explain to you how good fear smells."

Katsa's mouth hung open, and she twitched violently.

"That's my girl," Val said softly, and released the blonde. And with that, the orc rolled onto her hip and looked around. "Wait. Are we in a barn?"

They were.

"How did we get here?"

"I don't know," Katsa said, "but the doors are locked and Ayen is missing."

It never failed to surprise Katsa how light Val was on her feet. The big orc crept across the floor to the wood-slat wall and searched it slowly for any knothole or gap big enough to peek through.

The Arcanist left her to it and explored the barn a little more. There were two horse stalls against the far wall, near where Ivy was still trying to rouse Mathilda. Katsa wanted no part of trying to wake up a sleeping dwarf and instead investigated a makeshift ladder, which was really no more than a series of wooden boards nailed to a support beam just behind where Val had been sleeping. Immediately, upon her head rising above the level of the second floor, she spotted boots.

"I found Ayen!" Katsa called. "He's up here."

"Shhhh," Ivy hissed.

"SZZZHHHH!" the arcanist mocked. She crawled up onto the loft and grabbed Ayen's ankle. The half-elf was unresponsive. "Ayen. Ayen." No response. She scrambled through the hay and put her fingers on his forearm. "I can't... I can't find a pulse."

"What?" Val called, more shocked than out of confusion.

Katsa frantically pressed her fingers against his arm in a different place. "I can't find a pulse!"

"What are you waiting for?"

"Don' rush meh," Mathilda grumbled. Katsa hadn't even realized the dwarf was awake. "Ah'm movin'."

"He still feels warm," the arcanist announced. She turned, eyes wide, as Mathilda clamored over the ladder with a bottle tucked under her arm. "What do I do?"

Mathilda stood up near Ayen's feet and frowned. And then took a swig from the bottle.

"What do I do?"

"Pu' yer ear up ta his," she said, gesturing with the bottle. "Tell me wha' ye hear."

Katsa quickly turned Ayen's head to the side, and pressed her ear against his. "Nothing," she gasped. "I don't hear anything!"

"No brain activi'y?"

"No!"

"Oh dear," Mathilda said. "Sounds serious."

"Is he dead?"

Mathilda reared back and kicked the sole of Ayen's boot, and the half-elf shot up like an angry weed.

Katsa screamed.

"What the hell?" he cried, as he scooted backwards across the wooden beams.

"Ah now pronounce ye 'ealed," the Dwarf chuckled, and punctuated her pronouncement by flicking the open mouth of the bottle over him and pelting him with droplets of hooch. "'s a miracle."

Katsa held a hand over her pounding heart, and tried to catch her breath.

"Wait a minute," Ayen said. "Are we in a barn?"

They were.

"There's someone outside." Val had worked halfway around the walls, and had one knee on the ground to peek through a slit. "I can't really see what they're doing, but..."

"How did we get in a barn?"

"D'ye remember anythin' abou' las' nigh'?"

Ayen shook his head.

"Good," the Dwarf said with a smile.

"Why?" Katsa pled. "Do you remember anything?"

Mathilda shook her head. "No, bu' nine times ou'a ten a blackout 's a good nigh'. Fer me, anyway."

"I see someone too," Ivy said, having found another spot to peer through the wallboards.

"Wha're they doing?"

"I don't know," Val said slowly, "but I think they have us surrounded. I can hear 'em."

"What are they saying," Katsa whispered hoarsely. The big orc just shook her head.

"Can't we get out?" Ayen asked.

"Doors are locked," Katsa croaked.

"Maybe ye ou'a see t' tha'," the Healer said with a nod of her head.

Ayen nodded in agreement and quickly descended the ladder.

" 'ow abou' you, lass? Yer lookin' pale."

"You scared the shit out of me!" Katsa screamed.

Mathilda laughed and handed her the bottle, from which the Arcanist then took an angry, lengthy swig.

"There's nothing on the inside of these," Ayen said, crouching in front of the doors. "There's no lock or anything. Nothing to pick."

"So how do we get out?" Katsa said, moving to the edge of the loft.

"Ok, Terrible Company." Ivy stepped out into the middle of the barn, fists on her hips, and looked around. "We need to start thinking outside of the box. How do we get outside the box?"

"We don't want to wait for them to come in after us," Val said, sliding along the wall and trying for a better look.

"Can we slow 'em down?" Mathilda said, sitting on the edge of the loft and taking her bottle back. "Barricade the doors?"

Ayen nodded, and immediately started grabbing bales of hay to pile up. Katsa climbed down to help. Neither of them was willing to put in a lot of effort though, and their barricade barely came up past their waists. They added another row of bales, also waist high, and then a third.

"Yeah," the dwarf laughed. " 'at'll do the trick."

"I don't hear any better suggestions from you," Katsa snapped.

Mathilda rolled her eyes, tossed her bottle into a hay pile, and descended the ladder. "We're doin' exac'ly wha' they'd expect."

The Arcanist folded her arms. "What who would expect?"

"Anyone!" the dwarf exclaimed. "We need ta innova'."

"How?"

Mathilda smiled as she walked down to the far end of the barn and smiled. " 'at's a lo' o' manure."

"And?"

"Ignite i'. We use i' ta blow a hole in the wall an' escape."

"I could just blow a hole in the wall right now," Katsa groaned, pointing to her glove.

"Aye, bu' wha'appens when we ge' ou' there an' find ourselves needin' tha' las' spell o' yers?" She smiled, and poked at a fist-sized nugget of horse dookie with the tip of her boot. "So. We improvise. Save yer spell."

Katsa turned to Ayen and blinked.

"Don't look at me," Ayen said, shrugging. "Will that work?"

Continued in Chapter 15 - Part 2

---