Maeve the Merc Part III

by ticktickboom

Maeve walked to the main chamber of the small cave complex that was her base for the moment. She had explored every part she could find, including several hidden rooms, but who knew what she couldn't discover? She had cast spells on objects in each room that would record any conversations nearby. She really dreaded the thought of having to listen to the one in the slave pen, but needs must when the Omnidemon drives.

The main chamber also doubled as an armory, stupid place for it, mostly equipment from the Demonguts taken as slaves, but some was obviously demonic in origin. Organizing and maintaining it was clearly not a priority for the slavers. Maeve picked through the mess, picking out the best gear.

As she worked, she began singing a cheery sounding tune that was popular in the early days of the war.

Axes flash, broadsword swing, shining armour's piercing ring

Centaurs run with polished shield, fight those bitches til they yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan, fight to keep this land your own
Sound the horn and call the cry, how many of them can we make die?

Follow orders as you're told, make their yellow blood run cold
Fight until you die or drop, a force like ours is hard to stop
Close your mind to stress and pain, fight til you're no longer sane
Let not one damn whore pass by, how many of them can we make die?

Guard your lovers and children well, send these bitches back to hell
We'll teach them the ways of war, they won't come here any more
Use your shield and use your head, fight til everyone is dead
Raise the flag up to the sky, how many of them can we make die?

Dawn has broke, the time has come, move your feet to the marching drum
We'll win the war and pay the toll, we'll fight as one in heart and soul
Midnight mare and blood red roan, fight to keep this land your own
Sound the horn and call the cry, how many of them can we make die?
How many of them can we make die?

The enchanted stuff she put in pile to the side. She'd examine it carefully; trying to use magic you didn't fully understand could backfire badly. The non-magical but high-quality items she paid more attention to. She went through it for things her size. She could alter the fit of just about any armor or clothing, but it wasn't worth the bother for things she'd probably only wear a few days. Maeve picked out a blue silk bra and panties, green cotton shirt, leather pants and calf high boots for mobility.

As armor, she settled on a Pinksteel cuirass and Blacksteel bracers. For offense, she hung a Bloodsteel katana from her left hip, her own opal dagger from the right. Maeve wasn't a true enchantress, but she had picked up some useful skills over the years. She cast a spell that changed the color and dulled the reflectiveness of her gear, giving it a green and brown pattern that should blend into temperate forests

“Damn, almost forgot,” she berated herself. She hunted down her camouflage outfit and emergency ball. Add a few health potions, and she was ready to put it back. That was always fun, although maybe she should've remembered before she got dressed. Someone walking in to find her with her pants around her ankles and her hands up her pussy could be embarrassing, and potentially fatal. She was getting careless, a good solo recon should help her get back in the right frame of mind.

Flushed and sweating, she pulled her pants back up and licked off her hands. Now, it was time to get the lay of the land. It was night, but there was more than enough light from stars and moons for her to see by. Her excellent night vision was another trait some had said was from demonic ancestry. Maeve had never cared one way or the other. It was useful, and that was all that mattered. She pulled out her compass and replaced Fort Spinebelly, far across the mountains, White River, and Great Plains, with the entrance of the outpost.

She was well into the foothills here. The rugged terrain was heavily forested Perfect for a hidden base. It'd be an ordeal getting any kind of large force through here. Anyone making their way of foot was in for a rough march. On the bright side, even if there were any owl-like harpies around, the dense woods would keep them high, preying on other fliers. Maeve carefully stalked into the woods, heading east. Plants tended to be less active at night, but that wouldn't mean much if she walked right into one. Spider webs could be almost invisible, and arachne traps were notoriously hard to spot.

It didn't take long to find a strand of silk heading up into the trees. This was perfect arachne territory. She stalked her way through a circle around the cave, and found more arachne traps, as well as kari tracks. There were some squiggly lines that could be either nagas or large snakes, although some were in large numbers heading in the same direction. Obviously naga, as mere snakes rarely traveled in packs, and then only if someone was controlling them. She spotted the occasional hoof print, at least a few from shod hooves, but they were fairly small and fairly few. Centaurs preferred grassy plains. These were probably satyrs or doe-girls. Does weren't much of threat, but satyrs could be tricky.

Maeve kept quiet as she explored, staying in shadows. Her Black Crescent bracelet hid her from magic, and the shadows hid her from most eyes. But walking right into a hungry plant or spider's web, while not really dangerous for her, would attract too much attention. Arachne traps were more dangerous, trigger one, and she'd find herself flying up into a web high overhead. She had to walk into a spider's web to become trapped; with arachnes, she only had to be within line of sight of the web. Thin strands hung down to provide tripwires. Touch one, and Maeve'd be trying to thrash her way out of a web before it's owner came to claim her.

Maeve saw a few snakes curled in branches, waiting to drop down on anything passing below. Pixies and faeries fluttered by. None of them noticed her. I've still got it, Maeve thought to herself. A snake slithered just a few feet from her without noticing her. She made her way back to the cave, undetected, stopping once to enjoy a show the local ecosystem was putting on. A pixie flew too close to a snake big enough to swallow a girl, let alone a fae that could fit in Maeve's palm.

The snake lunged out behind the pixie, engulfing her legs in it's mouth and pulling back to it's branch. The pixie squealed for help, but none of her friends were close enough to hear, or too cowardly to come to her aid. The snake seemed to know this, and took it's time gulping down the pixie, giving Maeve a good show. As her head slipped between the reptile's jaws, the pixie's expression went from terror to arousal, and her screams were replaced my moans.

Maeve felt aroused herself, but couldn't scratch that itch in the middle of hostile territory. Instead she remained almost motionless as she watched the snake's mouth close. The pixie made a barely noticeable bulge in the snake, detectable more by her wriggling than size. The pulsating spot moved down the snake, stopping at it's stomach. The pixie continued struggling for a bit, but soon was still. Even the slow digestion of a reptile makes 'short' work of a pixie, Maeve thought. By Meisha, that was a bad pun. I'd feed myself to that snake if anyone heard me say that.

Maeve continued to the cave. Once there, she again went over the wards at the entrance, co-opting them for her use. She also sealed the entrance, something the demons had failed to do, assuming the wards would give them plenty of warning if anyone came by. It hadn't helped them when Maeve came along, so she knew full well relying on one thing to provide security was foolish. She also activated a ward that made the entrance seem to disappear into the hillside.

Then she made some preparations in a small room she thought perfect for what she had in mind. Going through the tunnels, she noticed the pair of demons had done an excellent job cleaning up the place. She wondered if they had made the slaves do it, but she seriously doubted it. These were Demonguts, after all. They probably didn't know how to clean. Passing a chamber that she knew was meant for “training sessions”, she heard Tash and Eliza fucking each other's brains out. She was tempted to join in, but she had things to do. Business before pleasure, though she usually managed to get at least some pleasure from her business.

Now, she made her way to the slave pens. She was hungry, but not just for food. She needed information. She could hear the Demonguts arguing with each other even before she opened the door, blaming each other for being captured. When she walked in, all the attention turned to her, but one voice in particular got her attention.

“That's MY sword, you thievin' cunt! I'm going to shove it up your fuckin' ASS!” The speaker, or shouter, was a particularly nasty looking girl taller than most of the others, taller even than Maeve. No villager, her. This was a warrior. Maeve grabbed her leash and pulled her along, heading to one of the more private rooms in the complex.

“What the FUCK do you think you're doing?! Let me out of these chains, you stupid whore! I'll bash your fat face in and stomp your tits flat! I'll – urk!” Maeve yanked the chain, tempted to do eat her now just to shut her up. But, intel was too important, and a warrior almost certainly knew more than a civilian. She shoved the protesting girl into the impromptu interrogation room, slamming and locking the door behind her. The Demongut tried to rush her, but Maeve swatted her into a wall with contemptuous ease.

“I will ask questions. You will answer them.”

“Fuck you! I ain't telling you shit! When Kalina gets back, I'm gonna watch you die, bitch. It'll take days, weeks. And I'll be laughin' at you the whole fuckin' time.” Then she picked herself off the floor and launched herself back at Maeve. This time, Maeve grabbed her by the throat and lifted the taller woman off the floor. The idiot's already giving me her leader's name, and I haven't even started yet, Maeve thought.

Maeve slammed the woman into the wall, her iron grip strangling her, and she stood on the chain between her prisoner's ankles. The captive was now held rigidly straight. Maeve placed the palm of her hand on the Demongut's sternum, and sent a wave of cold into her, cold, but not cold enough to numb her. The warrior tried to scream past Maeve's grip, but only gurgles came out. Maeve slid her hand over to her captive's breast, and her victim tried to thrash, threatening to lift Maeve up by the chain she was standing on.

Maeve lowered her hand to her victim's pussy, sliding over her lips and clit, and the prisoner's body practically thrummed like a bowstring. When Maeve dove her hand in to the wrist, the prisoner spasmed and passed out. She had a slight smile as she slumped in Maeve's hands. After the first minute, some girls didn't seem to mind the treatment. It seemed this one was one of those. Maeve wasn't sure if it would make her job easier or harder, but it didn't matter. Everyone talked, eventually, if the interrogator was patient and competent, and Maeve was a master.

Letting the captive fall to the floor, she pulled a chain down from the ceiling. Dragging the unconscious girl into the center of the room, she pulled her ankle chain up to the wrist chain, and used a lock to attach both to the chain from the ceiling. Clicking it shut, she strode to the wall, and started turning a crank, lifting her captive to waist height.

Looking her over, she observed the girl's long green hair was in a half-unraveled braid. She almost tenderly combed it out, then yanked it back and tied her hair to the chain, forcing her head painfully back. The girl grunted, but didn't wake up. Good. Maeve placed a hand on the girls forehead, murmuring to herself. After a few minutes, sweat appeared on her own forehead, as the bound girl whimpered in her sleep.

When she was finished, she gasped and leaned against the wall. She gulped down a purplish concoction to help her recover. The spell was much easier if the target was utterly defenseless, as this one was, but it still took a lot out of her. Maeve was more worn out than when she'd made her way out the harpy's ass. She was made of stern stuff, though, and the potion she drank gave her all the strength she needed. Maeve slapped the girl's face to wake her up, but all she did was mutter in her sleep. A viciously twisted nipple did the job, though.

“Ow! What the fuck...” the girl yelped, dazed and confused.

“What's your name?” Maeve asked.

“Lydia.” The girl was much mellower than before.

“What is the name of your village?”

“Bloodfang. I'll kill you,” she said, but she didn't sound very enthusiastic. She sounded more like she said it from habit.

“Who's Kalina?”

“Our boss. She'll fuckin' kill you,” she said, again without any real heat.

“What's your job?”

“I'm in charge when Kalina and the rest are gone. You'll be sorry when they get back.”

“Where are they?”

“They're at the river, killing whoever was stupid enough to try to go up our river.”

“Who was that?”

“Prob'ly Black Crescent. I dunno. They got ships, I think. Who the fuck cares?”

“When do you expect them back?”

“Less'n a week, Kalina said.”

“How long ago did she say that?” The spell caused it's target to tell the truth, and left them in a haze, but getting good info could be tricky.

“A couple days ago.”

“How did you get captured?”

“Fuckin' demon bitches came out of nowhere in the middle of the night. We didn't have a fuckin' chance.”

“What about your sentries?”

“Dunno. The ones where the demon sluts attacked didn't warn us. They had bomb-thingies to wake everyone up, but I didn't hear shit til they were in the town. Barely had time to grab my sword.”

She scowled at the blade on Maeve's hip. “Demonette bitch scorched my ass, and chained me when I was down. Took my sword, I guess. How'd you get it?”

“I swallowed a demonette. Make of that what you will.” She doubted it would ever occurred to Lydia to think things through, even if she wasn't in a mental fog. “How many left with Kalina?”

“Bout two dozen of the toughest bitches you never want to meet. You and your pet demons are dead when they get here.”

“Where is your village?”

“Took us about two days to get here. We walked almost straight at the mountains, I think. Some of us tried to get away, but I doubt they got far. The monsters and beasts got them if the demons didn't. If anyone was left in the village, I doubt the karis left them alone for long, and if they tried to get to the river they got karis, arachnes, spiders, snakes, frimbos, and nagas in the way. Hell, the fuckin' faeries probably got some. How pitiful is that, eaten by a fuckin' faery?”

“I assure you, you won't be eaten by a faery.”

“Good.” Lydia didn't seem to think that through.

“Tell me more about Kalina” She sounded like the main threat, and would make the best choice to try out the new gear she was promised.

“She can bash your face in or burn you to a crisp. She likes burning things. She really likes burning girls, cos they heal and she can burn them over and over.” Lydia's voice trembled slightly.

“Are you afraid of her?”

“Fuck yes!”

“I beat the demons that beat you, ate your clanmates in front of you, tortured you, and am interrogating you, and you're more afraid of her than me?”

“Fuck yes! You called that torture? I've watched her tie a girl to a tree, burn the whole thing down, heal her, tie her to another tree, and do it again, over and over. The girls beg to be eaten, but Kalina won't let them die til they don't feel it anymore. Their eyes just go...empty, like there's no one home. They stop screaming. They stop resisting. They don't even move, not even to blink. She's the Omnidemon in human form.” Lydia shuddered.

This news surprised Maeve. She had seen every kind of depravity, in the war and before. But not even the Bone Fane treated prisoners like that. She knew more about Kamaruga than most humans. Lydia was wrong, not even the Omnidemon would do this, at least not without reason. Even demons ate someone, even a slave, when they were asked, and as vicious as they were, they didn't go so far as to destroy a person's mind.

“So she's sadistic. How strong is she?”

“Kalina could take out naga sorceresses, even as a newborn. She can turn a ship into a torch all by herself, and she can kill karis with one swing of her axe. You don't have a chance.”

“You obviously don't know me. What about the rest, are any of them as strong as her?”

“Nah, I'm as tough as any of them. But that don't matter. If Kalina was there, she'd have beaten the shit out of all the demon whores. I hear they're almost as hard to kill as girls. Kalina woulda put that to the fuckin' test, let me tell you. Demonettes like heat? Not when she's through with them.”

Now, Maeve could understand why the Flesh Fane waited until the warparty left before attacking. She didn't blame them. But this gave her the perfect opportunity to try out the enchanted gear. She didn't intend to waste it.

“Tell me about the monsters in the area.”

“Who gives a shit? We eat them all the time, and if they fuck with us, we kick their asses, even when Kalina ain't around.”

“Indulge me.”

“Fine. The woods and hills are full of karis and arachnes. There's snakes and faeries and some satyrs, but they're nothing. Harpies from the mountains come down sometimes, but not often.” They have better hunting on the other side, Maeve thought to herself. “Naga are the real problem, but there's more of them by the river that here.”

“What about the river?”

“The usual. Frimboes and naga and frogs and snakes. Some mermaids. Fuckin' nymphs, they can sneak up on you. Wood nymphs up here, water nymphs down there. The wood ones are always fuckin' with us.”

“Burning down trees tend to do that,” Maeve said, wincing at the memory of the time she had flushed out an horde of the Whitethroat's mercenaries by ordering the forest they were hiding in torched. All the nymphs in the forest merged into a giant and did more damage to her battalion than the enemy did. By the time she had destroyed it, half her force was in it's belly. Only half of those were still alive when Maeve finally split it open. They were lucky the giant amalgam hadn't dispersed, or none of them would have lived.

It's rage, directed at Maeve, was all that saved them. Somehow they knew she was the one that gave the order; one of the many nymphs that was part of it might have been close enough to hear. Powerful as it was, Maeve was able to take it singlehanded after she sent the rest of her force against the enemy. But it was still closer that she'd ever admit to her troops.

Maeve had learned her lesson: the next time she burned down a forest, she had powerful mages standing by to take out the inevitable giant nymph as soon as it appeared.

Hmm, assuming nymphs don't gossip across a continent, Maeve thought, that might come in handy. Of course, when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me. Be polite, be friendly, but be prepared to kill everyone you meet.

“How many Demonguts are in the area?”

“Most of the villages are on the Demongut River. Demongut City is just upriver from Fort Demongut.” How imaginative, Maeve thought. I'm surprised they don't name every single hamlet Demongut. “There's thousands of us, tens of thousands.” Maeve'd had enough trouble dealing with less than a hundred Demonguts, tens of thousands didn't bear thinking about. Maybe she'd stick around and reduce the population, depending on...

“What about the girl clans? Who, where, and how powerful?” Lydia snorted.

“Upriver are the Gurglemeisters. They're a fuckin' joke. They don't bother attackin' us. We head up and eat our fill whenever we feel like it. The dragon's up there are the only reason we don't take the place over.” Same as on the other side, Maeve thought. Gurglemeisters are the only ones crazy enough to live in dragon infested territory, and the only ones that breed fast enough to replace all the girls that get devoured.

“Downriver, you got your Velvet Flowers, buncha pussies, Mecki, even bigger pussies, and your Black Crescent, sneaky bitches who will fuck your shit up if you fuck them up first....”

Maeve spent the next hour pulling everything the girl knew out of her. Eventually, she had all the useful info she could get from the fool, and by then the spell was wearing off. Lydia was soon screaming curses at the top of her impressive lungs, giving Maeve a headache. Her belly rumbled, and Maeve decided it was time to conclude the interview. She about to lower Lydia down and release her from the hogtie, but...

“Kalina's gonna shove a fireball up your ass and her axe up your fuckin' twat, you dumb slut! You're gonna beg her to kill you, but she- hey, what're you doing?! Put me down! I'll fuckin' ki-mmph!” Her screams were silenced – or at least muffled - as Maeve simply grabbed the hog-tied girl and crammed her down her throat. She had eaten karis before, so the extra width wasn't really a hassle, especially compared to listening to her. Outside of combat, Maeve tried to take her time eating girls, giving them a orgasmic send off, but she was hungry and migraine couldn't stand listening to the Demongut for another second.

Maeve quickly gulped her victim down, bulging her cuirass out. She made her stomach start grinding away immediately, as her meal wasn't in any condition to struggle, but could still scream inside her. She started to turn to the door, but the chain extending from her mouth to the ceiling pulled her short. She was in such a hurry to shut the bitch up she forgot to unlock the chain. Reaching up, she froze a link and snapped it, then slurped the last of the chain down, grimacing at the taste.

Maeve felt her meal squirm futilely. After a few minutes, the chains binding her gave way and she could really start to struggle. Maeve soaked her panties, and almost soaked through her leather pants, but she pulled them down and started using her sheathed dagger as a dildo. She worked herself into a sweat, as her meal moaned in exquisite agony in her stomach. When she heard Lydia cry out and thrash in orgasm, she came as well, going into a continuous wave of pleasure until her meal's struggles ceased as she broke down into a mushy soup, quivering as her remains were sucked down into Maeve's intestines.

Once Lydia was completely in her intestines, Maeve calmed down and cleaned herself (and her dagger) up. Leaving the room, she set out to see what Tash and Eliza were up to.

To be continued....