Chapter 9
The Monstrous Plant
I was going to the Namarkand forest from the city of Lastrene, hoping that among the Elves there might be a magician who could remove my curse and return me to my original form.
Along the path up into the hills and forests of Namarkand, I reached a fork in the road, and there I met a beautiful maiden.
She was voluptuously built, wearing a white and blue robe that seemed to hug her every curve, and she had plenty of curves to hug. Her large eyes were the color of the evening sky. Her neck-length, curly hair was the color of fine china, and worn in a simple style. A strange six-limbed creature with purple-spotted brown fur was perched on her shoulder. It stared at me with black eyes and cocked its head to the side.
“Paarp?” the creature said curiously.
“Hello,” I said with a wave.
“Hello,” the maiden replied, nervously petting her creature. “Are you going to the Namarkand forest?”
“Yes, I am,” I said. “Would you like to journey together?”
“Yes!” she said, delighted. “It is so good to have company upon the road!”
We walked on together for a while, talking of the weather and our travels. We decided to camp that evening in a small clearing beside the road, under the overhanging branches of wide spreading oak tree. We shared a meal, then wrapped up on our blankets and soon went to sleep.
Both of us were awoken at the same time by a strange sound. We sat up and looked worriedly about, spotting the cause of it at the same time. A large strange growth had appeared in the oak tree, clearly visible in the pale light of pre-dawn.
The maiden, whose name I had learned was Shauna, stood and cautiously approached it. The strange growth was six feet in height and had a stalk about two feet wide. At the tip of the stalk was a wide pod. The growth shook, as if it knew the woman was coming toward it, and the pod opened.
“Oh!” she cried with delight, as the pod opened to reveal a flower.
I gasped at the strange, alien beauty of it. The texture of the petals was soft and smooth like a rose, but the petals glinted with every shade of the spectrum. I approached, a little cautiously, behind her.
Shauna took a deep breath, taking in the aroma the flower. "Huh? What is this?" she said, looking down at her left leg.
I followed her glance and was shocked to see a thick vine wrapped around her leg. Shauna tried to shake it off and then kicked at it with her other free leg. But then another vine wrapped around her other leg. She turned to me worriedly and opened her mouth to say something, but then a dozen more vines rose up out from the ground and wrapped themselves about her arms, thighs and around her torso.
"I'm trapped!" Shauna screamed. “Help me!"
I took a step toward her, reaching for my sword. But I forgot that I had taken off my swordbelt to sleep and neglected to take it up again. Before I could turn back and grab my sword, more vines sprang forth from the ground and wrapped about my own arms and legs, binding me as helplessly as Shauna.
The vines crossed her arms so more could wrap around her, trapping the girl's arms to her chest. The vines continued to wrap themselves around her arms and chest like the bandages of a mummy.
“No!” she sobbed, while some other vines forced her legs together and wrapped about them. "No, can't, stand, ugh! No!" Shauna screamed as she was tripped over to fall onto her back, her feet pointing toward the plant. "Help, somebody, I'm about to be eaten!" She screamed in terror.
The vines dragged her across the ground to the huge flower bulb. Its petals opening wide to reveal the plant’s huge green lips.
I made no sound, but watched, horrified and struggling in the plant’s grip, as the vines dragged her bound body to the wide-open lips.
She pulled and wiggled, but her struggles were futile against the strong vines that held her trapped. Tears poured from Shauna’s eyes as the vines lifted her legs and the lips of the huge plant closed over them tight. It did not take long for the bulb of the plant to straighten upright, and sucked her legs down into the plant's stem. She visibly tried to kick her legs, but it was no use, she could not move them. The plant's lips were up to her belly.
"Please, oh please help!" Shauna cried, tears streaming down her face.
The vines wrapped tighter about me and I could only watch as the plant's lips moved up around her ribs. Then her arms slowly began to slip through the plant’s lips. The vines unwrapped themselves form her but she still could not move her arms; she was held by the powerful lips of the plant.
“I'm gonna die!" Shauna sobbed as the plant's lips closed around her shoulders, then she finally slipped in and disappeared.
She would not be long alone in there, for the plant immediately began to drag me toward it. The large plant head opened its gigantic mouth wide, and I stared upwards into the wide mouth, now revealing a large purple tongue and moist flesh within. Saliva rolled off its lips and dripped down onto my face, making me wince.
The big lips covered my head, and I could feel its hot, moist breath running over my bare skin. As it reached around my waist, the lips squeezed shut, enveloping my torso with the soft flesh. All that was left on the outside was my waist, legs, and twitching hands. I clenched my eyes shut as the thick wet tongue swept over my face and chest, coating my body in a layer of slime. Then all at once, my body was squeezed hard by the walls of flesh and the plant rose up, lifting me high into the air and turning me upside-down. My hands and waist got sucked past the lips, joining the rest of my body inside the mouth, yet my head got squeezed into the even tighter space of the plant’s body.
As my shoulders got sucked into the slimy gullet, my waist fell into the plant’s mouth, the saliva dripping and wet, and it gulped a few more times, bringing my waist and legs into it's mouth. My legs and feet twitched in the cold outside air, but inside, my body was pressed against the soft, warm walls. A muscular tug brought my legs into the tight embrace of the plant and suddenly, with one smooth motion, the plant gulped the rest of my body down, slurping my legs and feet into it.
I slid down a little before curling up with a soft squishing sound, in the belly of the plant.
Continued in Chapter 10
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