“Give it back!”

“Hee! Fuck off, magic man! Mine now!”

“I’m going to incinerate you as soon as I get that back!”

“Excuse me. If you two don’t break it up, I’m going to cut off your arms and stuff them into your flapping mouths.”

“Everybody shut up! I can’t even hear needles crunch with all this racket!”

Okino held his head in his hands, trying to tune out the noise. He bonked his head against the tree trunk behind him. I’ve made a terrible mistake.

* * *

“Are you sure, Okino?” Cap Rhoelt—for some reason, nobody ever called them ‘captain’, and this was how they seemed to like it—peered over the desk through large, foggy spectacles. Rhoelt’s totally hairless face and shapeless white robes made determining a gender next to impossible, and as far as Okino knew, that was also how they liked it.

“If we don’t get to the ruins, the whole city will be brought down, Cap.” Okino resisted the urge to rub his sweating brow. Rhoelt’s gaze had driven lesser men to tears, but Okino was not lesser men. He could show no weakness. Still, those purple eyes were...unnerving. “These fey creatures, these...meadbrewers. We can’t beat them like this, slashing at swarms like a panicked child.”

“You propose we take a swung at the hornets’ nest directly.” Rhoelt raised an eyebrow. “Did you ever try that as a child?”

“Yes.” Okino pursed his lips. He didn’t bother asking how Cap knew. Cap always knew.

“And how did it go?”

“Badly. But Cap, someone’s already swung at it a couple times. The hornets are already as angry as they can get. If we want to stop them, we’re just going to have to swing at it even harder.” Okino started to bang on the desk for emphasis, but a prickling sensation on the back of his neck slowed it to a light tap. Rhoelt did not look like the type to appreciate emphasis.

“With a bigger stick.”

“Yes, sir.” Okino resisted the urge to bite his lip. As a lieutenant, he had some authority, but all paled to that of the City Watch’s captain. If Rhoelt didn’t like the idea, that was that. Not even the governor-mayor would dare object.

Rhoelt sighed. “Well, obviously, you’re right.”

Okino blinked.

“That’s not what I was really asking about,” Cap Rhoelt went on. They tapped a sheet of paper on their desk, scowling. “I was merely expressing doubt as to your choices. Is this really the team you want?”

Okino felt almost giddy, but he had to keep his wits about him now more than ever. “The team needs to be small and competent.” He knew he was right about this. He just had to make Rhoelt see that. “These four are the best in their fields.”

“Yathi? She’s not our best scout. Surely that honor goes to Amnia. I’m given to understand that Yathi has a bad habit of fidgeting when she aught to be quiet. Some sort of hyperactivity, or the like.” The Cap waved a hand vaguely. “Yathi’s decent enough, but hardly the best.”

This time Okino did bite his lip. He’d been hoping Rhoelt wouldn’t notice that. Okino’s reasons for wanting Yathi along weren’t wholly on-the-level, he knew. But he’d come prepared. “Yathi has amazing senses and a brilliant knack for stealth. Plus, I’ve heard Amnia has a mead problem.”

Rhoelt’s brow furrowed.

It was a dirty trick, Okino knew, but those rumors did exist. Admittedly, Amnia had been sober for the last few months. Still, it was possible Rhoelt hadn’t heard that yet. Amnia was one of the few guards able to keep some secrets from the Cap.

“Well, perhaps,” Rhoelt murmured. “Yathi does have good senses. What of Trys? She’s been captured by the Thriae before. Her mind is vulnerable.”

“She’s the best fighter we have,” Okino said honestly. “Her savagery is a marvel to behold. And if we get captured, we’re all lost no matter what.”

“Then you have Brist and Ia. Brist is a klutz. Ia is insane.”

“Brist is a genius mage and Ia...well, whatever it is she does, she has a perfect performance record. And Ia was young enough to be inoculated against the Thriae’s mead. With the exception of Yathi, everyone on this team is at the very top of the rankings.”

“Ah. ‘Rankings’. You’re building a team piecemeal, boy.” Rhoelt wagged a finger. “Rookie mistake. This team has nothing in common, and everyone in it is completely incompatible. They’ll kill each other before they get anywhere near the ruins.”

“They just need a good leader,” Okino said confidently. “Don’t worry, Cap. I’ll have them working shipshape before you can say ‘honeypot’.”

* * *

“I said, give it back!”

Brist lunged and plucked the crystal out of Ia’s grip. He pulled back and clutched it to his chest with both hands, glaring bitterly at the would-be thief.

The would-be thief tsked. “Aw, man.” Ia slumped back against a redwood trunk. She reached up and brushed wild black hair from her wild black eyes, clearly trying to force it once again into something resembling a topknot. “Almost had it, too. I bet I’d’ve been a champion magician. Why you gotta kill all my dreams, Brist?”

“You wouldn’t even know what to do with it,” Brist snapped. He carefully placed the gray crystal in a pouch at his side. “This takes an insane level of concentration to channel through.”

“You mean like the kind I need to find a path that won’t kill us?” growled a voice from below. Brist and Ia both looked down at the speaker.

Yathi glanced up at them, yellow eyes flashing as she crouched on the forest floor. “You think we’re safe here? You’ve got not half a brain between the two of you, for all your high marks.” She waved her little crossbow wildly. This was the same crossbow nobody ever saw Yathi draw but that she always seemed to have in her hand whenever she had need of a strange, terrifying argument prop. She poked Brist’s leg with it, causing him to recoil. “The meadbrewers are everywhere these days, butterbutts. If you don’t wanna be stuck thrusting in treacle for the rest of your days, you’ll let me focus.”

“But she—”

“Guys, let her do her thing,” Trys snapped. Brist jumped—he’d thought she was asleep, and judging by the startled looks of his comrades, they’d assumed the same. The blonde warrior sat cross-legged against a nearby tree, her hands clasped and eyes shut in some silent prayer. “Don’t waste time. Sucks enough we gotta do this—do you want to be stuck sucking honeycombs on top of that?”

“But she was—” Trys’s eyes opened. Brist went silent.

Ia stuck her tongue out at him.

Brist crossed his arms and fumed in silence. Unbelievable. The woman was not a day over nineteen—close to two years beneath him!—and here she was, being treated like just as important a member of the team as the most accomplished student of the entire Onyx Academy.

It wasn’t fair. Just because crystal magic wasn’t inborn, everybody acted like it was “lesser” magic. Brist knew things would be different if he was some sort of fancy princeling ice mage or enchanter. Instead...

He grit his teeth. Instead he was stuck serving under Okino. The most arrogant, insufferable man in the entire Watch. He stole a look at the lieutenant, carefully concealing his annoyance.

Okino was his opposite in almost every way. Where Brist was short and scrawny, Okino was tall and muscular. Where Brist was humble and sensible, Okino was proud and impulsive. Even their hair and skin colors diverged—Okino’s hair was short and dark, his skin as pale as a white peach. Brist, meanwhile, had dark skin, and his long curly hair had been completely bleached in an unfortunate magical incident he didn’t want to think about right now that was not his fault.

Anyways, Okino really was—

“Got it!” Yathi chirped. She sprang to her feet, grinning. “Ooee. The forest is a deathtrap.”

Silence greeted her words. Trys’s eyes opened and stared up at Yathi, showing a rare emotion: Alarm. “Er...is it?”

“Yup.” Yathi smirked, rapping a rolled-up scroll against the top of Trys’s head. “Map’s obsolete. The beetle husks here,” she held up something dark and crumbly in her other hand, “tell me that we’ve got a bee problem. The forest is claimed.”

“But this is...” Brist swallows. “This is right next to the city.”

“Eeyup.” Yathi tossed her dark hair, not that there was much to toss. “Yeah, this city’ll be down in a matter of moons at most if we don’t hurry. We’ll have to take a detour. The Crags should do.”

Brist adjusted his collar beneath his robe. “Isn’t that that horrible misty desert of death and despair?”

“Technically, mist is water vapor. The Crags have Faerie Fog. That’s condensed poison vapor.”

Brist swallowed again.

“Yathi.” Okino cleared his throat, placing a hand on Yathi’s arm. “Sweetheart, not that I don’t trust your judgment, but are you sure that’s a good route to take?”

Yathi pulled away and gave Okino an annoyed look. “I can get us through it, sir. The Fog only settles around you if you piss them off. These are different fey from the Thriae. We’re talking oreads, quenchers, that kind of thing. Just don’t kick any piles of stones or wear shoes and you’ll be fine.”

“No shoes?” Ia bent over. “I’ve been training for this moment my whole life. Always hated these things.”

“No, you haven’t. Private, please do not throw your shoes away. You’ll need them after the desert.”

“I was gonna stuff them in the magic man’s little crystal pouch, but whatever. Hey, on a side note, does anybody have any idea what’s wrong with this toe? It’s all yellow and it stinks.”

Brist jerked away as Ia thrust the foot in his face. “That’s infected. When’s the last time you bought new shoes?”

Ia blinked. She cocked her head. “Is...is that one of those things rich people do? Like getting bidets installed, and eating more than three times a week?”

“Well...” Trys got to her feet, grimacing. “I’ll take a stone nymph over the meadbrewers any day. Let’s get moving before we’re caught in here. If the Thriae catch us...well, today’s too fair a day to spoil with that sort of ugliness, right?”

Not for the first time, Brist caught himself wondering if the rumors about Trys were true. It was said that nobody captured by the meadbrewers ever returned—or that when they did, it was always unwilling. Extended exposure to the mead was said to be capable of completely breaking the toughest spirit. He hadn’t gotten any “broken” vibes off of Trys so far, though.

“Sir,” he said to Okino as they started walking, “you’ve fought the Thriae before, haven’t you?”

“Scores of battles.” Okino nodded.

“Do you have any advice for when we run into them? My magic tends to burn everyone equally, but...”

“If we run into the meadbrewers, I have one piece of advice.” Okino patted Brist on the shoulder. “Give it everything you’ve got.”

“Are they tough, then?”

Okino looked troubled.

Ia spoke up. “No, they go down as quickly as anything else.” She sounded uncharacteristically uneasy. “But there’s a difference between ‘down’ and ‘out’.”

Brist rolled his eyes, getting impatient. “Meaning?” This had better not be a buildup to another one of her stupid jokes. ‘Go down’...oh, gods, she’s going to do a blowjob joke, isn’t she? Walked right into that one.

But Ia fixed him with a dark look. “I’ve, uh...I’ve seen a whole regiment go under the spell of one who had both arms and legs nailed to a tree trunk. Thoroughly. By me. I thought that would be enough.” She stared right into his eyes, but Brist felt like she was seeing something else altogether. Her next words were quiet. “They heard one word...and they were hers. Ready to die for her. Kill for her. They heard one word, and they were caught like flies in honey.”

Brist’s mouth was dry. He forced it to work. “And you?”

Ia took a moment to respond. Then she waved her sword in the air, her manic grin returning. “I ain’t a great listener.”

* * *

“Listen closely,” Ytheri cooed.

Kuolema lay on the bed, her back arched sharply. The white-haired beauty’s eyes were fluttering as she struggled to speak. “listen...closely...”

“Good girl!” Ytheri said delightedly. She allowed her finger to brush along the pale young woman’s clit, enjoying the pathetic little whines that followed. The sorceress leaned close, staring deep into those black, bottomless pools, inhaling the sagey smell of her slave’s arousal. She smirked. “You’re such a good girl, aren’t you, so happy and slutty for Mistress. I smell how good you feel. You feel so good thanks to me, don’t you?”

“oh...yes...”

“Now, listen,” Ytheri said firmly, pressing against the clit again. “Look. What do you see?”

“i see...no...” Kuolema whimpered. “i shouldn’t be...shouldn’t be...”

She gasped as Ytheri leaned closer. Ytheri extended her lower lip in a luscious green pout and allowed it to quiver. “What’s the matter? Don’t you love me? Don’t you want to be a good girl for me?”

“but...mm...please...”

Ytheri began trailing kisses on Kuolema’s flushed face, never releasing her from her relentless stare. “I know you want to make me happy. I know you want to be a good, hot slave. So listen, look, feel. Tell me what you see.”

With each kiss, she could feel the tension, the internal struggle, fading from her slave’s mind. She grinned wickedly, stroking Kuolema’s outer lips below to make the struggle just a little bit more futile, and listening hungrily to Kuolema’s increasingly desperate cries. She might as well have some fun. After all, she had to go through this rigmarole every time she asked Kuolema to do this for her.

Honestly, the mental protections on psychopomps were insane.

But at last, the battle was over. Kuolema had only lasted ninety seconds this time. She was getting more and more susceptible, Ytheri knew—more and more complacent as a slave. The birch-skinned woman took a deep breath, then shivered as Ytheri ran a cool finger down the small of her back. “i...i see...i hear...feel...”

Ytheri waited until Kuolema’s body had begun to glow, then carefully took one of her beautiful slave’s hands and lowered it into a wide basin beside them.

The moment the fingers touched the water, an image began to form.

Ytheri observed the image calmly, but she couldn’t stop a small grin from creeping across her face. Five delectable new treats were coming her way, and unless she was very much mistaken, at least one of them would soon be coming to her very doorstep.

“Ooh, Kuolema,” she breathed in the slave’s ear, “you’ve done very well.”

Kuolema was still shivering. “m-mistress...oh, mistress...”

“Come now,” Ytheri crooned, wrapping her arms around her pet’s slim, nubile body, “don’t shiver so. We must get you warm for new, exciting guests.” She smiled triumphantly as she felt Kuolema shaking from nothing more than her Mistress’s touch. She leaned close to kiss Kuolema, to silence those delicious cries of delight as Kuolema came. “You’ll soon have a playmate, my pet. We must show them how wonderful being mine can feel.” Then she thrust two fingers into Kuolema’s cunt and began to fuck her pet’s brains out.

* * *

Silence reigned supreme as the party of five made its way through the strange desert, and that was just how Trys liked it. As far as she knew.

Trys was told she’d once been quite talkative. Indeed, according to those who’d known her before the capture, she’d had a habit of clanging her scimitars together before entering a fray.

Then she’d been captured.

She watched appreciatively as Yathi slunk around the craggy boulders that filled the well-named Crags. The scout had chosen a dark brown-and-green catsuit for this particular mission, and practical as it was, it also had a very high aesthetic appeal.

Having to notice things like that was another thing that had changed since her capture. Trys watched openly—she had long ago given up the battle to feign prudishness, thanks to her exposure to the mead—and followed at a distance behind the rest of the team. Always put the best fighter at the rear when facing enemies that think they’re clever.

Yathi scrabbled up onto a rock, and Trys took a moment to admire the scout’s perfect ass before surveying the surroundings once again. Still nothing but gray sand, sharp rocks, and that blueish mist ten feet above. The mist hovered over them like the Tyrant King’s Sword, ready to plummet and ruin them all should some fey up above decide to snip the thread.

Still, to be captured by a nymph would be infinitely preferable to the Thriae. Trys rubbed her legs together slightly—beneath her suit of mail, nobody would be able to tell, nor would they be likely to smell. Infinitely preferable. Nymphs were said to be...generous.

She stopped rubbing herlegs. But she wasn’t ready to give in, not yet, not even to a benevolent force. The war still raged on. People were counting on her. They needed this mission to succeed.

Trys sighed. At least Yathi was as good as her word. The fey of the Crags had so far been entirely—

“Hey! What’s this?”

Trys froze, as did Brist just ahead of her, and they exchanged a look. Those were never words one wanted to hear come out of Ia’s mouth.

The beaming young knight crouched over a small pile of white stones, her spiky topknot bouncing and coming free from a perpetually inadequate knot. “Looks like one of those shrines you been telling us about, Yathi! Mind if I kick it? Just for luck, y’know?”

Yathi spun back, looked down, and immediately took the bait. “No!” She leaped off her rock, grabbing Ia by the hair and yanking her away.

Trys watched as Yathi was in seconds gripped in a double underhook by a suddenly very close Ia. The insane woman giggled as she solidified her hold, one arm tucked under each of Yathi’s arms, holding the scout completely helpless. “Bad move, Yaths. Unless you fancied a tangle today.”

“Ia.” Okino’s head was in his hands. “Let Yathi go. Yathi, I’m sorry about this.”

I bet you are, Trys thought observing Okino’s flushed appearance. Not that she could blame him. Ia wasn’t as good-looking as Yathi, mostly due to being a total mess in every sense of the word, but she certainly was not...unattractive.

Ia had to lean in even closer to extract herself, and she was laughing her ass off all the while. She flashed Trys a wink, and Trys gave a grudging nod back.

She didn’t know Ia too well. But Trys had been in the guard long enough to know what the inoculation really did to its subjects—and why it could only be applied while the subjects were in their teens. She and Ia had some points in common. Frankly, she respected Ia’s impressive self-control.

“I didn’t mean nothing by it, sir,” she said, flashing Okino a sharp salute. “Just a bit of friendly wrassling, know how it is?”

“It looked like a lot more than that,” Brist snapped.

“Oh, and I bet you looked closely.”

“We—we don’t have time for this nonsense!”

“Touch me again and I’ll literally kill you, Ia.”

Trys exhaled slowly through her teeth. She was considering saying something when something caught her attention. She frowned. “Does anyone else hear that?”

“D’aww, c’mon, Yathi, have a little fun!”

“Just because all your superiors puts up with your insanity because they want to bone you—”

“You uptight little—that’s incidental!”

“Guys?” Trys didn’t dare speak above a whisper. Unfortunately, a whisper wasn’t going to do the trick. She reached for Brist’s arm, not taking her eyes off the clouds above.

“Yathi, Ia, please, nobody wants to ‘bone’ anyone.”

“That’s a laugh, leader man! So what’s Yathi doing here? We all know you just brought her in because you needed a—”

“Ia!”

“What?” Ia had that tone Trys usually reserved for rabbits found in her garden patch. “Afraid someone hasn’t already noticed this one-way—hey! Brist, what gives?”

“Look.” Trys heard a tiny note of terror in Brist’s voice, and gave him a slight pat on the shoulder. She admired self-control, even if it was a bit futile at this point.

There were motions in the mists above. Little wisps of fog moving in ways they shouldn’t have been moving, like something up there was stirring them up.

And whatever was up there, it formed a near-perfect circle around the five.

“Yathi,” Trys said hoarsely, “the Thriae are fey, right?”

“...uh-huh.”

“And the mists don’t affect fey, I take it?”

“They...they make folk more fey-like. More vulnerable to...charms. Fey are already too far gone. Doesn’t affect fey. No.”

“Okay.” Trys reached back for her bow. “Okay.”

Dimly, she felt some curiosity. She wondered how long the meadbrewers had been following them. How long they’d been fully aware of the band’s presence.

Acutely, she felt a familiar wet feeling between her legs. Though her armor concealed it for now, she knew that her body would soon smell strongly of sweet, fragrant honey.

* * *

“To your arms!” Okino whisked out his longsword and sprang up onto a jagged rock, staring up into the mist. They were up there. The disturbances in the pinkish fog were evidence enough of that. How many, though? His group could handle four; maybe five with some luck. Otherwise... “We’re under attack!”

“We got that, sir,” Yathi said, raising her bow and shooting straight up. A second later, the arrow fell back and thunked into the ground at her feet. “Hey, wizard, by the way, this may be a crazy idea, totally spitballing here, but do something about this damn fog!”

Brist was raising his arms, perhaps to try and do just that, when the Thriae descended into view.

Immediately, Okino’s head was filled with buzzing. He clutched at his ears, struggling to keep his sword in hand. The hum filled his head, obscuring every thought, every shout, everything but what he could see right above him: Six so-called ‘meadbrewers’, each mounted upon a bee the size of a small horse. Such beasts would be too small to carry humans, of course, but the Thriae were not human. Oh, they were not.

One was drawing near him now as he stared up at them. She looked almost entirely human, with deeply tanned skin, flowing golden hair, and shining yellow eyes. But it was always the inhuman aspects that drew the attention, and somehow, those made her even more beautiful. Two delicate pairs of gossamer wings flapped gently from the small of her back. Her luscious lips and tongue were pale amber. And most strange of all was her impossible hourglass figure—the Thriae’s breasts and hips jutted out to frame a ridiculously narrow wasp waist. It was the image of pure, raw sexuality, and the scant ‘armor’ she wore—little more than metal undergarments, really—only served to accentuate it.

The Thriae fey stood casually upon her mount’s head and swung her hips, letting Okino see all of her. Okino was enraptured. His hands fell from his ears. He stared at her in wonder, and she sent a dizzy smile back at him.

“Okino!” The voice of Trys filtered through the hum. “Snap out of it!”

He started to attention, and before the Thriae could capture him again, the lieutenant raised his sword. He slashed at the bee, but it swerved out of the way.

His would-be seductress scowled. She raised a hooked blade of her own, dripping with shining honey, and leaped down straight towards him.

Okino backed away, but the airborne fey didn’t even slow. He parried two strokes, then lunged with his buckler, clapping her across the cheek. Her eyes burned. She lunged again. To evade, he jumped down to the ground.

Ia was right beside him, her back almost pressed against his. The young knight had loaded a stone into a sling. She was currently using it to beat her own attacker over the head repeatedly.

He looked around. Nearby, Brist and Trys had teamed up against two more. Brist was shooting fireballs out of his fingers, though in his panic most of them were missing the nimble fey, and Trys was wielding a large axe in his defense. She had already cut one of the creatures, but it took a lot more than that to bring one of these things down.

And Yathi...Where is Yathi?

He saw her. Lying against a boulder, eyes half-closed, two Thriae hunched over her. The Thriae were each drawing out little clay pitchers and giggling between each other. The captive scout was giggling back.

“Yathi!” he cried. He ducked under a swipe from the Thriae attacking him and slashed out, cutting into the fey’s narrow waist. She gasped and fell back, and he took the opportunity to rush away. He had to stop them. Had to...

But he’d forgotten about the bees.

Most fey had connection to certain types of wildlife. Dryads were close to specific plants. Nymphs were close to habitats, such as glades or pools. Catgirls were close to cats. Sprites were close to each other. The so-called meadbrewers Okino now fought were close to bees, and could breed bees as big as elephants if they wanted. And the bees were more than just mounts.

Okino was knocked to the ground as he felt something very strong ram into him from above. He rolled on his back, slashing with his sword, only for it to be grabbed in a pony-sized bee’s mandibles and yanked away from him.

The bee lowered for a moment, and he felt a tiny pinprick in his side. Then the bee rose up and flew haphazardly away. He felt his body growing...tingly.

And then the next thing he knew, he was staring up at the two most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his life.

The owner of the eyes giggled, leaning in and kissing him on the lips. He tasted something sweet. “Hee! She’s really loaded you up, hasn’t she?” The sounds of fighting had suddenly halted. Or they’d been gone for a while, and he’d just...just...

“Uuuuh...” He gave a big, stupid grin. A beautiful woman with yellow lips and golden hair had just kissed him. He reached up weakly, trying to grab onto her and pull her down for another.

“Whoopsy!” The girl pulled up out of his reach. And then he realized his arm was too tired, anyways, and it flopped back down. “Down, boy, down!”

“Well, not all of him.” He heard another giggle from his left. “Look at his ‘brain’, girls.”

He blinked. They weren’t looking at his brain. His...his...top body part thing. They were looking at something lower. Something like...like his...

Oh. He giggled, and they giggled back gleefully. He got it. Funny!

He reached down idly and fondled his hard cock through his trousers. He was feeling really horny right now. The giggling got even louder.

He had a good feeling about this.

* * *

“He’s worthless like this,” Kentri said. She watched the human’s feeble attempts to pleasure himself and stifled a laugh.

“Aw.” Her second-in-command, Tsimpi, gave a pout. “But he looks like so much fun!”

“We can’t carry him.” Kentri concealed her shared disappointment—the dark-haired human did look scrumptious, especially with the venom enhancing his cock. “Perhaps, if he had his strength, and we’d been able to subdue him...but no, not even for a lieutenant. Not when we’re missing one of our bees.”

“Stingy died nobly,” sighed one of the women nearby. She was currently sitting on top of a twitching young soldier. That one—a wild-haired warrior who’d badly clubbed Tsimpi with what appeared to be a rock in a strip of cloth—had been particularly difficult to restrain, but the honey had tranquilized her almost instantly.

“Ooh, yeah, he bought us time to get the hot one under.” Another one of them twirled an empty clay pitcher, grinning.

“Mm-hm.” Kentri licked her lips, eying the captive scout. ‘The hot one’, calling herself Yathi, had come dressed in skintight leather armor that concealed everything and yet disguised nothing. It was like she’d been trying to get their attention. And it was working. Kentri was looking forward to feeling that one’s tongue between her thighs later. “Well, anyhoo, we can’t lift this guy.” She drew out her barbed blade.

“Wait!” Tsimpi leaped in the way. “I just got the best idea ever, Kentri.”

Kentri paused. All of Tsimpi’s ideas were good ones. They were also all motivated by her being horny as fuck, but those weren’t mutually exclusive for a fey. “Oh, yeah?”

Tsimpi grinned evilly. “We’ll give him...to Ytheri.”

Kentri blinked. Her head cocked. “Really?”

“Ooh, yes.” One of the girls gave a long sigh, rubbing her captive wizards’ crotch through his robes. “I love visiting the sexy sorceress.”

“I don’t,” Kentri said.

“Liar. Liar!”

“Okay, I love it, yeah, duh.” Kentri rolled her eyes. “But she’s scary. And she’s a human! We shouldn’t risk visiting her unless we totally have to.”

“Then we’ll just drop him at her doorstep.” Tsimpi gave a slow shrug. She leaned in, draping an arm around Kentri’s shoulder. Kentri gave a low groan as she felt Tsimpi’s rough tongue running along her neck, taunting her, tantalizing her. “C’mon. I hate killing these hot horny humans, you know that. I’ll make it up to you later.”

Kentri knew she couldn’t resist. Tsimpi evidently knew it too, because she smiled, kissed Kentri’s neck, and sauntered backwards.

“...fine,” Kentri said lamely.

Tsimpi bounced into the air with joy. “Oh, thank you! You’re such a smart, sexy leader, totally commanding and in control of your crew and stuff.”

Kentri waited.

“...of couuurse,” Tsimpi said, “as long as we’re doing that...” She crouched, reached behind her, and grabbed the human’s belt.

Kentri rolled her eyes. Of course. “Just make it quick, Tsimpi. We’ve got better things to do than watch you fuck this barbarian.”

“Oh, sure you do.” Tsimpi winked as she turned to her captive lieutenant.

Kentri bit her lip.

No, I don’t, she thought, leaning back against a rock. Her hand reached down and crept beneath her panties as she watched Tsimpi remove her own.

* * *

Okino was still lying there, dimly trying to pleasure himself, when he felt something grab his belt. This didn’t stop him, but it did cause him to squint in an effort to see his assailant.

The gorgeous blonde reappeared in his field of vision. He felt her doing something by his waist and let out a small laugh. It tickled a little. The blonde beamed at him, raising something. His belt.

He watched, eyes widening, as she reached down again. He felt soft, delicate fingers grasping his right hand and pulling it away from his crotch and gave a mewl of protest.

“Oh, hush.” The blonde winked. “Can’t you think of more altruistic things to do with that?” The way she slowly enunciated that word made his cock throb, even though he couldn’t quite remember what it meant right now. The dazed lieutenant felt his trousers slowly sliding down his legs. “Tasty, wonderful things to sweet little Tsimpi?”

A hand grasped his cock through the thin fabric of his underwear. He wriggled beneath her firm grip, moaning.

Tsimpi leaned in. “Tasty little ‘lieutenant’. Look at you.” She lunged forward, licking along his neck. “You’re a hot mess. Mmm.”

He shook helplessly. He desperately wanted—needed—to touch himself, but her other hand still held his. And her beautiful amber eyes held him, too.

Tsimpi pulled up, staring straight into him and, it seemed, straight through to the dust and rock below. She smirked. “You humans think you’re soooo special. But really, we know who’s doing the thinking, right?”

He frowned, trying hard to think.

She gave his member a slight squeeze, causing him to cry out in pleasure. “Cocks and pussies!” she sang out. “Clitties and dicks and tits and balls. Hee! The difference between you and us is that we’re in charge of our horniness, ’cause we know it’s there. Remember that: Fey are smarter than humans. I’m gonna make you scream that before we’re done.”

She started pulling down his underwear, and his cock sprang free. God of brick and mortar, it was enormous. Okino stared across at it as it pointed straight up at the sky, right at Tsimpi’s tiny waist.

She giggled, reaching back and pulling off her ‘upper armor’. Two huge breasts sprang free, bouncing together like...like...Okino couldn’t think of similes right now. He just wanted to stare up at those big, gorgeous breasts all day. “Ooh! Do you like my boobies?” Tsimpi giggled again, taking the ‘boobies’ in both hands and jiggling them together. He stared at them, mesmerized. “Don’t you like the way they...bounce...bounce...bounce...”

“Bounce...” he whispered.

“Oh, yes, you adorable little human, they bounce, and you just can’t take your eyes off them, can you?”

Something within Okino was stirring, telling him he was in danger. The venom’s effects on his mind were fading, though he could still barely move, and he knew something was off here. Something was...was definipples off here; no bounce abounce it. He squinted, trying again to think through the haze.

“Oh, but you can’t close your eyes, silly boy. Open them. Wide.” The breasts jiggled rewardingly as he found himself obeying. “Good boy. You can’t close your eyes. Because you just have to keep watching, don’t you? Juuust have to keep waaatching the beautiful boobies. Can’t think of anything but the boobies. Nothing but boobies. Say it.”

“Nothing...” Okino slowed just a moment as he struggled to resist, struggled to think. “...nothing but boobies.”

“Heehee! Butt. Boobies. Ooh, are we having trouble making our little mind up, boy?” Okino heard giggling all around.

Okino frowned. “N...no...I said—”

“Aw, poor boy. Don’t think.”

He felt his mind clearing. He lunged at stray thoughts, but they were all slipping away like minnows in a stream. “Yessss. Just watch the boobies. Watch them bounce. Watch them jiggle.” Was it just him, or were those boobies moving closer? “Watch them. Don’t think. Smell them. Just give in. Taste them. You can’t resist. Worship them, you adorable, pathetic little...”

And then Okino’s lips were fastened firmly around a nipple and he was licking, he was sucking, and it felt so good. He felt the hands touching his cock again, running along the smooth shaft, lubricating it in something slick and gooey.

“Oh...oh, yes, you silly stupid tasty human. You can’t resist. You need this. Feels so good to obey. Y-you neeeeed it now, human.”

He did. He just wanted to suck and suck, to keep hearing her beautiful, giggly voice, but he had to resist this, had to fight the hypnosis.

“You...you can’t fight, you don’t w-want to fi—oh goddess, keep doing that...”

Through the haze, Okino knew her hold on him was failing. She’d been too hot. Too horny. The hypnosis wasn’t fully set in yet, and now she couldn’t muster the brainpower to maintain it. He just had to resist.

“Yes, you can’t...can’t even...oh, yes, yes, just keep sucking! Suck my boobies, oh goddessessss—”

Okino felt the fog lifting. The venom was clearing, his mind was coming back, and as good as this felt he could not possibly—

And then he tasted it.

It was even sweeter than he’d ever imagined. He’d known the ‘mead’ would be sweet, but this...and yet he couldn’t think of ever tasting anything else. It was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

“Oh....oh, yes—

He leaned closer, immersing himself in the soft, bouncy breasts. Fireworks and faerie songs were going off in his head, filling him with hunger and need beyond anything he’d ever imagined. More. More.

“Yes, that...oh...don’t stop, oh, don’t EVER fucking stop, just taste me. Taste me, lieutenant, taste me, taste it, drink it, taste, taaassshteoooooh...”

He clutched weakly at the breast and felt Tsimpi reach out to hold him up, to hold him against the breast as he sucked and sucked and drank and drank, filling his mouth and stomach with that wondrous amber nectar that was the Thriae’s honey. Her fingers ran along his cock, stroking him towards a building orgasm, stoking his lust higher and higher. It was like throwing dragon spittle on a bonfire. She pressed him close to her chest as he felt her heartbeat accelerating.

“Mm, gotta, gotta k-k-keep—keeeeee—OOOH. OOOH! OOH, GODDESS, TASTE ME! DRINK ME! DRINK ME, ‘SOLDIER’!”

He trembled and writhed against her, his cock spurting in her hand as he felt her own juices pouring onto his legs. Tsimpi’s screams started to devolve into a strange buzzing as the throws of ecstasy took her, and he felt his mind going totally blank. For what felt like hours, there was nothing but honey, and breasts, and lust, and sex, and the buzzing. Nothing but sweetness.

Then, abruptly, it stopped. He could still taste the Thriae’s secretions on his lips, but his mind was...almost clear. He could still feel the honey in his head, swamping his brain, squelching when he tried to think like he was trying to walk in waterlogged boots. He looked up, staring up into those gorgeous gold eyes.

His homeland had been at war with the Thriae for only a short time now, but they had been at-odds for much longer. Somewhat embarrassing, therefore, was how utterly the Thriae had become sex symbols in the city. Advertising used their iconic looks for everything, from restaurants to whorehouses to smithies to daycares. Their national insect was the honeybee. Standards of beauty had changed to fit them—hourglass figures, blonde hair, bubbly personalities, yellow-themed makeup, and, of course...the eyes. Meadbrewers were sex, as far as the city was concerned.

All of it had made their soldiers sadly unprepared to resist these creatures’ charms, Okino knew. And he knew it well now as he stared up into the eyes of a mistress and, like so many before, was lost to them.

“Good boy,” Tsimpi cooed. “We’re so happy and horny now, aren’t we?” She stared at him, waiting. When he hesitated, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. He tasted the honey on her tongue as it entered him and writhed in his mouth like a questing serpent. He reciprocated the kiss and tasted the honey in her own mouth, causing him to moan hungrily.

She had to be the one to break the kiss. She pulled off and looked at him expectantly.

“Yes,” he whispered. He couldn’t resist her—nor was there any point in lying.

She smiled. She patted him on the chest. “Just like a human should be. Thinking with your proper thinky-bits, right?”

He didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes,” he whimpered.

“Ooh, but don’t worry, I haven’t finished with my treat yet,” she whispered. “I think you deserve one more taste before we throw you to her.”

He blinked. His cock still pointed straight up, as big around as an ogre’s sword hilt.

She turned around, facing another one of the Thriae. This one looked to be their leader—his counterpart, not that Okino was feeling particularly equal to her right now. In fact, he was feeling rather more equal to a polished, phallic piece of wood. “Well, Kentri? Can I? Can I?”

‘Kentri’ was looking rather flushed. She gave a slight nod. A pool of Thriae honey had collected on the ground between her legs.

He heard Tsimpi gave a cackle. Then she was lifting up, still facing away from him. He was given one look at her wide hips and full, round ass cheeks before she lowered back down, and Okino felt his cock pressing between her cheeks, against a tight hole—

He let out a low moan as he penetrated her ass, but it was drowned out entirely by Tsimpi’s scream of bliss. She lowered slowly onto his shaft, going lower than he could believe, then lifted back up. She was so tight, almost unbearably so, and yet he could feel the honey-like lubrication on his cock doing the trick.

She slid on. She slid out.

Tsimpi paused, glanced over her shoulder back at him, and grinned like a demon.

She started to bounce.

He couldn’t take it. He started to buck. A cry escaped him.

“Oh, yes!” she sang. “Scream for me, human! Say fey are smarter! Ooh, say it!”

“You’re—” He gasped as he felt movement around him, felt multiple sets of arms lifting him up, kissing along his skin, “—you’re smarter!”

“All fey!”

He came face-to-face with a nameless Thriae soldier. She giggled and grabbed him in a passionate kiss, forcing the honey into him. He moaned, trying to taste as much as possible. Then he was wrenched away and shoved into a breast. He licked and sucked at it, listening to the moans as honey began to gush out. Then he was licking someone, licking between the legs and it tasted so good and Tsimpi was so tight—

“You humans—aaaah—oh, you just wanna fuck just like us, just as horny, stupid little toys and pets—”

He moaned into the cunt he was furiously licking out and heard Tsimpi laughing like a maniac. “Oh, you little happy whore! So much happier like this! You exist for us! This is—oooh, yes, yes, yessy-yessy-please-yes-YES-YES-YES—”

He screamed out his agreement as the nameless Thriae started to come against his mouth, filling him with honey, and he was coming, and Tsimpi was coming, and everything was so sickly sweet and he just couldn’t fight and he knew he never could. He bucked and writhed against Tsimpi endlessly, lying in a bed of beautiful women kissing and licking all over him, coating him in saccharine pleasure until he could see nothing but honey.

And then she turned, lost in lust, and sank her cunt down on him. Instantly, his cock was covered in the purest, most wonderful feeling, like liquid lust, and he was coming again, and again, and again...

He was surrounded by their triumphant laughter as, he dimly knew, another soldier fell to their charms, ‘proved them right’. And they were right. How could anybody ever want more than this?

The last thing he heard was, “Oho, Ytheri will have fun with this one.”

Then he passed out, sinking down into a sea of sweet, sticky bliss.

* * *

Trys saw it all. She lay on her belly, jammed inside a small crevice within a pile of boulders not ten feet away from the battlesite, and watched their ‘fearless leader’ give in to the fey in near-record time.

Well, she thought, examining her partially shattered axe, we’re...screwed.

Part of her just wanted to stand up. Just stand up. Let them see her. Let them take her. The smell was so strong, and the promise of pleasure so great. She squeezed her legs together, closing her eyes in a silent prayer. She knew the meadbrewers could smell arousal, particularly that of someone who’d been in their honey too long. But thanks to Okino, the whole place stank of honey now. That made it harder for her to be noticed, and ten times harder to her to resist.

She breathed a second incantation to the dead god of self-control and abstinence. She’d never been much for chastity since her capture and escape, but it helped to at least apologize to someone. She fought the urge off. She’d barely gotten to cover thanks to Ia’s last stand. She couldn’t let herself be captured now. The mission wasn’t over, and even if Okino was lost—and he definitely was, because while she sort of liked the guy, there was no way she was going to face down a sorceress with Ytheri’s reputation on his account—Ia and Brist, at the very least, could still be saved.

She clutched the hilt of her greataxe as she watched the six Thriae begin loading up their ‘cargo’. Twice now had luck alone spared her eternity as a slave to lust. Though all the gods of her world were gone, she knew it had to be for a reason. This was not over. Not by a long shot.