Ishiar felt Mishara's arms grabbing her and pulling her back as she instinctively tried to run forward. Only a second later, the giantess' hands wrapped around Latella, yanking her from the gound.

"LATELLLLAAAAAA!!" Sudvana screamed as the young, white-haired sorceress was pulled up into the air. She started summoning a spell; Ishiar thought it would be quite useless, but it's not like it was really going to matter either way.

The Giantess stuffed a handful of girls into her mouth with one hand, closing her bulging cheeks around them and swallowing them all on one giant gulp. She then looked at her other hand, where Latella was hopelessly trapped. Casually, the monstrous woman tossed her in and she dissappeared.

"NO!" Sudvana screamed again as she sent a bolt of white energy directly at the giantesses' face. In spite of the storm of other spells that were bouncing harmlessly off of it's gigantic hide, that one shot seemed to get it's attention--even if it didn't hurt it. It looked down at the cave, and seemed to look Ishiar and Sudvana right in the eye.

"Shit. Go!" Ishiar said, grabbing Sudvana by the arm and pushing her deeper into the cave. Sudvana took off at a run, and Ishiar waited only a moment to see the Giantesses reaction (it still wasn't good) before trotting after her. It was a dark, dirty tube, seemingly bored through the ground by a rather disinterested earth mage. Ishiar wasn't sure if it was brand new or had been here for years, and she didn't care. She ran as best she could across the uneven ground as it descended deeper and deeper into the earth. Hearing a loud scraping sound behind her, she looked to see the giantesses' enormous hand and forearm shooting into the cave after her. She instinctively dove backwards, losing her footing and hitting the ground with a sudden skid. The giant, feminine hand was scarcely a foot from her feet, scraping and flailing around, trying to find it's prey. Ishiar got to her feet running, but just then the hand ground forward again. She saw fingers on one side of her and a giant thumb on the other side, ready to close around her and make her another delicious prize for the heartless monster. She decided to dive to the ground on purpose this time, in the hopes that when the hand closed it would not feel her.

It almost worked. She dove to the ground just as the hand started feeling around on the walls--there was scarcely a second before it felt Ishiar's leg on the floor and pinched it between a massive finger and thumb.

"BITCH!" Ishiar screamed as she sat up and started madly hacking away with her sword. The giantess began dragging her along her ass back towards the cave entrance, still tightly holding her shins between it's enormous fingers. Ishiar's attacks seemed completely ineffectual against the beast--she saw the small flashes of light with each hit that indicated she was doing damage to it, but it did not seem to care in the least. She saw a crack of the night sky becoming visible around the edge of the woman's towering forearm, and decided drastic action was necessary.

She leaned down, placed her elbow against a boulder the dirt, and stabbed herself in the arm. Not just in the arm, but clean through it and into the boulder beyond Though the giantess continued to pull, Ishiar was now firmly pinned to the ground, braced up against her forearm which--thankfully--was clad in a set of thick steel bracers, which were just enough to keep the blade from simply cutting through her.

Needless to say, this was not comfortable. She stood and blinked in shock at her own actions for a moment before the giantess started pulling again, only this time, it was harder. The sword did indeed start cutting through her bracers and through her arm, causing no shortage of squealing and wiggling on her part. Nobody was as surprised as she was that she wasn't screaming--not that there was anyone around to be surprised.

With her teeth clenched and her eyes wide, she took several quick breaths as the giantess stopped for a moment. Ishiar didn't have time to be curious as to why, because she saw something scrambling over the giantesses forearm at the entrance to the cave. As it came into view, Ishiar realized it was another girl; a redhead, wearing little but a loincloth, a tattered rag to cover her chest, and a belt full of strange bottles and tools. She crawled and scampered, monkey-like, through the narrow gap between the giant arm and the cave, finally dropping abruptly to her feet right next to Ishiar.

"Little help?" Ishiar asked weakly, clutching her near-mangled arm.

The girl smiled and held up a single finger, gesturing for Ishiar to wait just a moment. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out a bottle of orange liquid. It was stoppered with some sort of rubber or wax that covered the entire lid, and there was a short, thin rope coming out of it's center. Ishiar's eyes went wide as the girl, her tongue stuck out beneath a toothy, maniacal smile, pulled out a small fire lighter and ignited the end of the rope. Sparks erupted from it as it burned towards the concoction within, and the girl placed casually beneath the giantesses thumb. With that, she sprinted down the cave, laughing maniacally.

Not knowing what else to do, Ishiar sat dumbfounded and stared at the burning fuse until it reached the base of the bottle. The resulting explosion sent her shooting down the tunnel at a terrifying speed, riding a storm of flames. She realized, as she rapidly tumbled along the dirt, that if she lived through this, she was going to have to decide whether to thank that girl. It didn't take long to find her; when Ishiar finally skidded to a stop, smoke and tiny flames still whisping up from her hair, she saw the redhead, sitting in the tunnel across from her and giggling.

After a few moments lying in the dirt, Ishiar slowly and grudgingly pulled herself to her feet. Her skin was singed, her arm sore as hell and she was rather not in the mood for further shennanigans. Shennanigans had different plans, however, and a sudden, deep thumping began to resonate through the earth.

The redhead looked innocently at Ishiar and made an 'uh-oh' noise. As dirt began to trickle from the cieling of the tunnel, Ishiar suddenly got an image of an angry giantess stomping on the hill they were currently under in an attempt to collapse the cave. As more and more dirt began to fall, she realized that this was a perfectly valid hypothesis. After one particularly massive stomp, the tunnel began to give way--first the area near the entrance, but soon the collapse rapidly began shooting towards them.

"SHIT!" Ishiar screamed.

"YEEHAW!" the redhead screamed.

Despite this apparent difference of opinion, both began running at breakneck speed further into the tunnel. Each stomp brought more dirt down on their heads, but the stomping became fainter as they sprinted deeper. Before long, they realized it had stopped, as had the avalanche; it was only then that Ishiar realized they were trapped.

She was, needless to say, unhappy about this. Now they could only hope the tunnel led somewhere, or had another exit.

Deciding she had no alternative, she started walking (trudging is more like it). The redhead cheerfully continued to follow her. Ishiar really didn't care. A little further down the tunnel they met Sudvana, looking frightened but not any worse for the wear, aside from some torn clothing and some dirt in her hair. She also seemed to have sensed the avalanche, but hadn't stopped running from it quite as quickly.

"Are you alright?" Ishiar asked.

"I'm fine. Are--" Sudvana stopped herself, realizing that from the way Ishiar looked (equal parts dirty, mangled and on fire), it might be a stupid question-- "Are you?"

"Yeah." Ishiar answered. "Candlelight Mary here helped me out. At least, I think that's what she was trying to do." she said, subconsciously reaching up to touch her sizzled hair.

"What's your name?" Sudvana asked the newcomer.

The redhead pointed to a golden crest hanging on a necklace. In large, friendly letters, it said "BLAST."

"Your name is Blast?" Sudvana asked with a surprised look.

"Don't you ever talk?" Ishiar asked her.

The redhead just shrugged.

"Did you see Mishara?"

She shook her head, her short, firey hair to bouncing across the front of her face as she did.

"Looks like we're on our own, Sudie. You coming with us, Blast?" Ishiar asked.

Blast gave a thumbs up.

The three girls began walking, at least two of them concerned but, at very least, thankful for a sudden break from the chaos.

"So, uh, what do you do?" Sudvana asked Blast as they walked.

Blast just started laughing in a mildly evil fashion.

*****

The girls walked for what must have been at least twenty minutes. The tunnel was much deeper than they had expected; when Ishiar saw it, she just figured it was a convenient hole in the ground they could use to hide from the giantess. Ishiar was already beginning to wonder if this was any ordinary hole, and it didn't take long before they found rather clear evidence that it wasn't.

The tunnel ended abruptly. Rather than ending in a simple dead end of dirt, it ended in a floor made of smooth, black metal. There was a slate of wooden planks in the center, about five feet to a side, looking rather hastily constructed and, truth be told, rather out of place. Hefting it aside, they found there was a hole in the metal underneath it. From the looks of it, the metal plate was at least three feet thick, then dropped into a chamber of pitch darkness. Though most materials naturally generated at least some light on their own, others did not. The earth around them had generated sufficient light to see thus far, but beneath them there seemed to be virtually nothing.

"Hey Sudvana, do you know any light spells?" Ishiar asked.

Sudvana concentrated for a moment and a small, star-like object appeared next to her, floating idly in the air. With a motion of her hand she hovered it over the hole, illuminating a dark floor underneath, seemingly made of the same black metal. It was about thirty feet down from the mouth of the hole.

"Okay, we've got no other way to go, so let's try it." Ishiar made sure her weapons and belt were securely fastened and dropped down into the hole. Hitting the cold floor with a hard thump, she rolled to her feet and looked around. Aside from the dim shaft of light from the hole above, she could not see much of anything. She imagined she could make out the shapes of a few walls (or something like that) but she could not make out any details or figure out how far away they might be.

Sudvana called down to her. "Is it safe?"

"I don't see anything that wants to eat me, but then, I don't see anything at all." Ishiar announced. "Get down here."

Gingerly, Sudvana lowered herself along the lip of the hole and dropped, landing very awkwardly. Blast soon followed by diving down the hole headfirst.

Sudvana's light drifted down to her and began hovering idly around her body. Finally, the rest of the chamber came into view.

It seemed to be a large, hollowed-out room. There were strange carvings along the floor and images of gargoyles and succubi carved into the walls, giving the monochromatic chamber a sinister quality. There were bones and corroded weapons along some of the walls and in a few scattered heaps across the floor. There were no signs of any exits of any kind.

"Wait a minute, what's the point of this?" Ishiar asked. "Who would build an empty room at the bottom of a cave?"

Blast had wandered over to one of the walls and had begun walking alongside it, running her hand along the carvings and patterns inset therein. Every so often she would stop and seemingly sniff at something before moving on.

"I don't know, maybe it's some sort of a storage room?" Sudvana mused.

"There's nothing stored in here." Ishar retorted.

"Yes, but that might be why that hole is there." Sudvana said, motioning to the hole they had entered through. "Maybe somebody dug that tunnel to rob this place."

"There's no other way in, though."

"Well, maybe there's a teleporter that leads here."

"I guess..."

Blast began rapping her knuckles on one of the dusty metal walls. Seeming to find what she was looking for, she reached for her belt.

"Oh shit." Ishiar said, turning to Sudvana. "Get down."

"Why?"

"Trust me--" right then, Ishiar saw Blast running past her at a hurried pace, and motioned for Sudvana to do the same. The three girls had only a second to sprint to the other side of the room and take cover behind a statue before there was another tremendous blast and a sound of metal being sheared and torn.

Looking back, Ishiar saw a twisted crater in the wall, edged with bits of glowing-hot metal. Just beyond, however, was a hallway of some sort.

"You come in handy, Blast." she said as she got up and walked towards it. Within seconds, however, they heard footsteps coming from that same hallway.

"Yet, somehow," Ishiar said quietly, "it always seems to be a mixed blessing."

Almost immediately three large women stepped through the hole and into the chamber. Well, "Women" would be putting it generously. From their black lacquered armor, leathery wings and wicked-sharp horns, it was a good bet that they were actually demonesses of some sort. They had milky white skin, onyx hair and firey, ember-like eyes. Each of them held either a jagged blade or a barbed whip, and they looked none to welcoming upon these three strangers who had apparently fucked up their equivalent of a living room. They quickly spotted the three girls in their half-assed hiding place.

"Um...hi?" Ishiar said, waving idly to them.

The three women stomped forward and siezed the three girls, dragging them into the hallway and through a series of cooridors. The decor here was different from the initial chamber, but still held the same sinister quality; lavender and red velvet accented the decor and sleek black sculptures of numerous horrible things lined each wall. The floor was obsidian inset with small gold squares, and there was an odd, almost firey smell through the place. The demonesses skin was hot to the touch, and they were being quite rough with their new prisoners. They passed by more demonesses as they walked, giving them malevolent stares and even the occaisional smile as they went about their business. Some were etching firey runes onto weapons, some sparring with others of their kind. One particularly frightening specimen was splayed out across a crimson silk couch with enormous bulge in her belly; she smiled lasciviously at the three passing girls as Ishiar heard a muffled, gurgling scream come from her trembling belly.

Finally the group entered a large throne chamber. The three girls were forced to their knees as more demoness guards stepped forward and chained their necks and arms to manacles that were bolted into the floor. They faced a massive obsidian throne on a raised dais, flanked by a line of torches glowing with an eerie, golden light. There were many strange demonic creatures seemingly lounging around the room, and laid out almost luxuriously on the massive throne was a tall, raven-haired woman. She had light but vibrant-looking skin and savage but undeniably beautiful features. She was clad in smooth, flowing metal pieces inset with deep black gems that glittered with color like the night sky. Between these were woven a dress of black and white cloth that was not even remotely modest. Long, thin horns rose conspiciously from her head like polished black stone. She looked at them almost playfully as they gazed back at her.

"We found these creatures in the chamber of trial, my queen." one of the demonesses said. "They appear to have blasted their way through one of the walls."

"Really." The queen said, in a voice as silky and musical as it was sinister. "And why is that?" she asked, looking at Ishiar.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." Ishiar answered. "We were in a village that got attacked by a giantess. We ran into a cave and it led into that chamber, that's all."

The queen hummed idly. "You must think very little of me."

"I--th--that's not--I'm serious. That's really all there is to it." Ishiar stammered. "We seriously did show up here on accident."

"Yes, the three of you could survive a confrontation with an all-powerful giantess," the queen lilted sarcastically, "yet are foolish enough not to know what rabbit hole you have tumbled into. You must think very little of me indeed." She motioned to one of the succubi who was lounging nearby; a voluptuous specimen with grey skin and a grace that was simultaneously beautiful and sleazy. She walked up to Blast, looking down at her with sensual, burning eyes and wet, hungry lips.

"Tell me the truth, dear friends," the queen continued, "or your friend shall go to feed the hungers and pleasures of young Sadonis here." Blast's eyebrows abruptly crawled up her face. Sadonis smiled and ran her hands lovingly along Blast's face, her tongue playing it's way across her mouth. She was clearly a succubus, and a disturbingly compelling one at that. She was wearing nothing but a black leather wraparound and a small necklace; nothing to impede her from swallowing a helpless girl.

"No, it's true!" Sudvana said. "Please! We didn't know!"

Two large, cloven demonesses grabbed Blast by each arm and loosed her manacles. Sadonis smiled, made a kissing noise and began to open her mouth.

"No, wait!" Ishiar blurted, but it was too late. The demonesses held the helpless Blast aloft and pushed her face-first into Sadonis' eager jaws. Ishiar could see the succubus' tongue lapping lustfully across the poor girl's face as it dissappeared between her dark, ruby lips. The demonesses wrapped their burly arms around Blast's chest and legs as they began feeding her in earnest to the succubus.

Ishiar's mind raced. They wouldn't buy the truth; maybe they'd buy a lie?

"Wait, um, okay! We'll tell you the truth!"

The queen ignored her, apparently more interested in the demonstration before her. Sadonis was running one of her fingers up and down the front of her leather wraparound, right around where her nipple would be. There was a series of exaggerated glumping sounds as the succubus took the helpless Blast into her body bit by bit. Blast was kicking and squirming a bit, but Ishiar still thought it was a lot less than she would have been doing under the circumstances. Ishiar strained helplessly against her restraints, but they were clearly a lot stronger than she was.

Blast's honey-colored shoulders dissappeared through Sadonis' lips and into her throat. The succubus knelt down now, tilting her body so that her demoness servants could simply lower Blast's form straight into her. With another gulp Sadonis' lips were touching Blast's squirming elbows. Sadonis reached a hand up and began to slide it along Blast's body, first along her back, then her sides, then around to her posterior and finally to her rather sensitive girly parts. Ishiar was grateful she couldn't see the details, but whatever the succubus was doing, it was making Blast kick even harder than before. If she lived through this, she was going to need therapy.

With another *glump,* Blast slid into the succubus up to her waist. At a gesture from their master, the demonesses grabbed the legs and shoved, allowing Sadonis to swallow the rest of the poor girl in one tremendous gulp. Ishiar saw the last of her feet bulging their way down the succubus' throat only to come to rest as part of the giant lump that now protruded from her belly.

"My goddess," Sudvana gasped.

Sadonis smiled and idly ran her finger up and down between her breasts, stopping each time it touched the trembling bulge in her belly. Looking playfully at Sudvana, she let out a short, wet burp. Her belly lurched back and forth, and there were visible lumps and bulges where Blast was struggling inside. Loud gurgling sounds were emitting from within, testimony to the succubus' stomach beginning to break her down.

"Now, my friends," the queen said, a satisfied smile on her cruel features, "what's that you were saying about the truth?"

"We, uh..." Ishiar said, realizing she still hadn't thought of a good lie yet. "We were sent here as scouts." She couldn't help but look back at Sadonis; she was caressing her flailing belly with one hand and smiling contentedly. As Ishiar watched, she undid the button holding her wraparound together, causing her breasts to bounce free. She began caressing them rather brazenly as the gurgling continued to get louder.

"Really?" the queen asked. "By whom?"

"The...Ironbellies."

The queen raised an incredulous eyebrow and smiled. "Really."

"Yes. Sudie? Show them the pendant."

Sudvana looked at Ishiar. Regardless of what she thought of the suggestion, she was physically unable of doing much of anything through the manacles.

At a nod from the queen, another of the demonesses stepped forward and began to search Sudvana. "Probe" would be a better term; Ishiar was pretty sure their hands didn't need to go quite as far or, er, as *deep* into the already-squirming Sudvana as they did simply to search her pockets, but they did quickly find the ironbelly pendant.

The queen leaned forward at the sight of it, her face suddenly shifting to a look of unexpected concern. Before she could say anything, however, another woman--wearing heavy armor and unnoticed among the others until now--walked briskly forward and siezed the pendant.

"Where did you get this?" the newcomer demanded, bending down and looking Sudvana right in the eye. Ishiar could suddenly see a similar pendant hanging from this strange woman's neck--the exact same symbol, etched into a dark red metal.

"We...um..." Sudvana said, clearly dreading the truth. "We...found it in some dragon dookie."

The woman looked furious--her teeth were clenched and her gaze was steel. Nonetheless, when she asked her next question, her harsh voice was wavering ever so slightly. "What did the dragon look like?"

"It was...big and black, that's all I saw. It was flying over us when it..." she trailed off.

The woman clasped the pendant tightly in her hands and seemed to falter a bit. Her eyes clenched shut tightly.

She looked Sudvana in the eye again, then stepped backward.

"What is your name?"

Her voice had changed. It was no longer hard, but almost--pained?

"S-Sudvana."

"Do you know what this is, Sudvana?" she asked plainly, holding out the pendant.

"I...they told us it was an ironbelly pendant. That's all we really knew."

"This," the woman continued, "belonged to our queen. She stood against the dragon alone so that...so that the rest of us would escape. We retreated under her order, hoping that..." she paused, closing her eyes and looking to the floor, "...hoping that we would see her again."

Shit, Ishiar thought, but had better sense than to say.

"Where was it?" The woman asked again.

"It was just outside our village, about ten miles to the--"

There was suddenly a noise. A noise rather like a cherry bomb going off in a covered toilet, only moreso. Everyone in the room looked at Sadonis, who's face had reddened. "Sorry," she said smoothly. "I must have indigestion."

Immediately after, there was another, similar noise, and everyone saw Sudvana's belly violently expand for a second before returning to it's previous size. She grimaced in pain, then began pounding on her belly. "Ooh, you're a fiesty one!" the succubus said with a nervous laugh.

"Let her out," the ironbelly woman commanded.

Sadonis frowned and looked at the queen, who nodded her assent. Before there could be another strange and painful surprise, she braced herself and vomited hard. Through the noise of clenching gastric muscle and spraying bile came Blast, sliding across the floor on a carpet of glop. There were chunks of indescribable ooze still dripping down her body and her hair was soaked and clinging to her neck and face. Her clothes were even more tattered than before and her skin was showing noticeable red blotches. Despite all this, her attitude still seemed remarkably chipper. In her bile-soaked hands she was holding a small orange bottle, with a sparking fuse still lit and burning towards it's center. With a smile and an apologetic laugh, she put it out. Seeing everybody looking at her, she meekly crawled back to the spot she had been chained up in.

"What of this, Gairanda?" the queen asked.

The ironbelly woman turned back to her. "I think they're telling the truth."

"They're your problem, then." The queen said flatly. She motioned to the demonesses one final time, ordering them to release the prisoners.

"Come with me," Gairanda said to the three. "I'll..." she looked at Blast, "see if I can get you cleaned up."

Blast simply smiled, turned around, and blew a kiss to Sadonis before they left. Sadonis wasn't quite sure what to make of the gesture.