A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 16: Discovery

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future.

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Episode Sixteen: Discovery

He awoke soon after Carlotta did. It was a damp, cool morning, and their makeshift bed seemed too warm to abandon. He closed his eyes again. He could still feel Carlotta's upper body against his, but in comparison to the time he had woke up with his penis lodged between Ashyr's thighs, this was pretty chaste. "Good morning." He said. He did not want to move until Carlotta gave him the go-ahead: preferring not to accidentally ogle her in her current state of undress.

The woman mumbled a groggy "Good morning" back at him. She was of the same opinion that he was; it was too warm and she was yet too sleepy to emerge from the cocoon that they had made for themselves. Ashyr, wherever she was, likely did not have the same luxury. So it was with a heavy sigh that Carlotta moved away from Caledir's warmth and began quickly putting her clothes back on to keep the cold air from her skin as much as possible. Although he never would have admitted it: sleeping next to Carlotta had lit a fire inside him that he needed to quench as quickly as possible before it led to immorality.

Bard practically flew up from his position curled up against Carlotta's back. He was clearly desperate to resume the search even if it wasn't light enough yet for Lotta to traverse the forest without tripping over everything in her path. The young wolf put his nose to the ground to pick up the scent trail again.

"Calm down, puppy." The human told him softly. "We'll get going as soon as we can."

He whined that frustrated whine that was pretty much his sole vocabulary since Ashyr left.

Carlotta gave the wolf a sympathetic look before kicking out whatever lit coals might have been hidden under the fire. Burning down a forest in the process of finding one little drow would have been... excessive. This done, she turned to offer whatever help she could in getting Caleldir's armor back on. She understood the heavy stuff was sometimes difficult to put on by oneself. He managed most of it with the cool telekinesis trick she watched him use - it was no mere prestidigitation anymore. But he seemed thankful for her help as well, if a little embarrassed. Once the half-elf looked ready to go, Lotta turned to the canine and waved her arm in a motion that told him to go ahead. Bard understood, and took off as fast as he could go while still following the trail.

Almost another full day passed in frantic travel through the forest. It slowed them down a bit, but they had to rely on Caleldir to catch the odd rabbit (tasteless but edible when cooked with magic) and pick berries to sustain them. Both Carlotta and Caleldir began to worry that they would have to spend another night worrying about Ashyr. The sun was getting quite low to the horizon. Without warning, Bard stopped almost pressing his nose to the ground. He looked up and sprinted forward as fast as his feet could take him. With equal abruptness, the young wolf slid to a clumsy halt and dropped to a waiting stance on the ground. Bard looked extremely distressed, but made no sound nor movement.

Both of them got the idea: don't make any sound. Thankfully, they were fairly proficient in keeping quiet. They kept low to the ground and crept forward cautiously. After only a couple minutes they came across a small clearing. Both stopped at the edge of this, worrying about a trap. Upon close observation, there was no one in the clearing. No one except a scantily clad drow with a cloth sack over her head. The drow had fallen to her side and was wriggling frantically against the ropes that bound her hands and ankles. There looked to be blood where the bindings cut into her flesh. The rest of her dark body looked well-beaten, but otherwise she seemed fine. Her only clothing was a loose and torn shirt that barely covered her breasts and nothing else, and equally torn pants that were only as long as her mid-thigh.

"I'll stay here." Lotta whispered very softly to Cal.. "If this is a trap I can surprise them."

Looking at the clearing, Caleldir thought that Ashyr looked slightly different. He could not put his finger on how or why, but the difference was there. Hmm... No matter. He would still save her. This was a trap, obviously, but it was a trap that he would gladly spring. Getting himself killed might be the best way to deal with these guys, after all. He turned to Carlotta. "Good idea. Just..." he hesitated. "This is a terrible secret, but if I get myself killed, do not panic. I can recover from death. Do not ask how. But do put some distance between the clearing and yourself if that happens. I will find you afterwards."

The redhead blinked in confusion. She understood his words but... she mouthed the word 'what' to herself. He had already turned to go into the clearing.

Nothing tried to molest Caleldir. The drow heard him coming, and then froze. She remained silent as he cut her ropes. When he removed the bag from her head, however, she hissed. The sunlight hit her eye and dazzled her. And it was very clearly not Ashyr. Selene scrambled back from him while shielding her face with one arm. It helped block out the sun a little. Sort of. "Who-" But then his face began to come into focus. She recognized that face. His face was rather hard to forget. "You're Ashyr's mate." She grinned wickedly, though the expression morphed slightly into a sneer of pain. Her whole body hurt and she had no way to heal herself.

Caleldir went pale and fell back a bit. "Wha... Wha..." He stammered. He was really not expecting that. He forced his maelstrom of emotions down. "I was not Ashyr's mate when I last saw you, but I suppose that that now is an accurate description. Please hold still." He began casting his most powerful healing magic. Maybe not a full recovery, but something all the same.

"Hah. She has me to thank, then." Selene declared haughtily. "After you had me, there was no way you could keep your idiotic vows."

Since nothing had come to attack Cal, Carlotta figured it was safe to walk out of hiding. This person was not Ashyr, but she might know where her friend was. "Who are you?" Lotta demanded when she got close enough to speak in a normal tone.

The drow jumped again. It was too bright for her to see the second person. "Who the fuck are you?" Selene asked, though she accidentally said it in Undercommon.

"That is Carlotta, a 'friend' of Ashyr's." Caleldir replied in Archaic Undercommon. He continued in Common. "Carlotta, this is Selene, Ashyr's cousin, and somewhat of a troublesome woman. She did some rather untoward things to me when we first met." He glared at Selene. "You are very lucky I am not in the habit of keeping grudges." Caleldir stepped away from the drow, rubbing his hands on his clothing as if he was trying to clean them off. "Selene. Do you know where Ashyr is?" He asked grimly.

Selene hauled herself to her feet. Selene then squinted at Carlotta, who was squinting back at her with an increasingly hostile expression. "Finally gathering herself some toys, I see. Well, you two did end up being useful." She tested the skin around her wrists now that the wounds were mostly closed up. "Ashyr convinced our orc captors to take her out into the forest to take a piss. That was..." She twisted her lips in thought "... a quarter hour ago? Maybe more. The necromancer whore was watching me, but even she ran off a bit ago. I think something interesting might be happening." The drow spread her lips in a truly evil grin.

To punctuate Selene's words, a feminine scream ripped through the forest. It made the dark woman twisted her head with an expression that looked very much like crazed lust. "You should probably go help her. Though, by the sound of that, she's probably helping herself. That didn't sound like her scream. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to go hide somewhere..." And then she walked into the forest.

A sputtered retort began to form on Caleldir's lips, but he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Selene was as she was before. "I do not suppose that it is in your nature to be grateful." He groused to her. "But please do not run too far away. Ashyr and I have some things to discuss with you. Unless you prefer being a slave to your male relatives: in which case feel free to run away like a cowardly boy." For the first time in years, Caleldir's tone dripped with something very near to contempt. Selene was beautiful, that was certain, but her heart appeared rotten.

Bard yelped suddenly, and rushed past them in the opposite direction. Caleldir followed with loping strides, but Carlotta didn't even try to keep up. The wolf didn't stop until he came within sight of three forms lying on the ground in various states of injured pain. He stopped just short of them again. Ashyr was there, glaring at him, silently urging him to stop, watch, and be quiet. Her complexion was ashen from loss of blood, and her whole body shook with the shock of it. There were several places across her body - similarly dressed to her cousin complete with bound hands and feet - where it looked like recently and hastily closed wounds had popped open again. She was bleeding out. The other two bodies were huddled together. One breathed, a male orc who hadn't been at the gate and was a great deal smaller than that one had been. The other, feminine orc did not breathe, which the male seemed past distraught about. Her body still leaked blood from a recently stabbed jugular. The crimson ichor was all over the place. Drow and orc seemed to be completely ignoring each other, though the male orc could have easily crawled over to make sure Ashyr died.

Keeping a wary eye on the two orcs, Caleldir stepped up to Ashyr, putting his spell-filled hand on her shoulder.

The drow groaned. It was a sound not unlike something she would make while having sex. Which made sense, since the relief she felt was orgasmic. For a couple horrifying minutes, she thought she was going to die. It wouldn't have been so bad, except she couldn't free her hands to stop the bleeding again.

"Good to see you again, Ashyr. This should bring up to full health." He continued with a tone somewhat between worry and annoyance. "Next time tell me before you run off, and perhaps we can avoid this sort of thing."

The male orc jumped at the sound of Caleldir's voice. He stood partially, and bared his tusks and teeth at the newcomer.

"Zarag- no he's okay." Ashyr said hastily. Her voice was weak, and her expression pained.

The orc's angry expression faded gradually, but he practically collapsed back down and resumed cradling the limp body of the female orc. Zarag's black eyes were trained on the pale creature instead of on the body in his arms. He had as many slashes, cuts, and bruises as Ashyr did, but his larger body looked as if it could handle it.

"I am sorry for not keeping you in the loop, Cal." She apologized with complete sincerity. "Lolth, I'm so happy you found me." Indeed, it felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest when she first saw him running through the forest. She would have hugged him, but she was still tied up. "But look, I made some friends!" She let out a weak, coughing laugh and looked over to the male orc and the dead female.

Zarag grumbled under his breath in orcish - mostly just cursing the crazy-ass drow. The race in general, and the one in his immediate vicinity.

Not being able to keep his displeasure for more than a few seconds, Caleldir's expression melted. "I am just glad to find you." He looked down at her bonds. "Ah! Sorry I forgot to cut these..." He promptly severed her bonds, and helped her to stand. He found immediately that he had to help her continue to stand. She needed rest now, which could only be obtained by a good night's sleep. "If it is not too much trouble, now that you are free and no longer in danger of death, would you mind explaining to me what has just happened here?"

He looked towards the two orcs. By Ashyr's words, the situation was a little bit more complex than he had first thought. "So... this orc does not seem to be your enemy right now..." He warily approached Zarag, holding up his hands. "Good sir, if you do not mind, I can see to your wounds, and, if..." He swallowed. "... it is not too late, to those of your companion."

"She is dead. But I will not turn down healing." The male orc responded. He did not try to get up again, even when Caleldir approached to heal him just enough to close his wounds.

"You should have been here a couple minutes ago." Ashyr said as she rubbed at her wrists. The memory of pain still lingered there, but at least she was never as torn up as Selene had gotten herself. "It was a goddessdamn party. The big guy was here, Tsabdrin stopped by, some weird lizard things-"

"Shut up, drow." Zarag snapped. "A male drow came."

"Tsabdrin, Selene's older brother." Ashyr clarified, ignoring the orc's orders. Her face held some amusement, but it was mostly washed out by exhaustion and the remnants of fear she felt. "He came to 'rescue' me from the orcs my brothers sold me and Selene out to. I got him to talk. He revealed that the battle of Port Afron - a debacle on all sides - was lost by the mercenaries because of the males of Duskhaven."

"And not because of your mate and her cousin." The male orc growled to Caleldir.

"Oh yeah, my brothers dearest were behind the attack on Port Afron. I had no idea what was going on." But she had been somewhat responsible. That crow she'd sent what seemed like forever ago was what triggered the attack, she assumed. She knew it would lead to violence, too. Just not as soon as that very night. Cal didn't need to know that.

"We agreed to work together towards bringing justice. If we lived." Zarag said to wrap up the explanation.

Caleldir processed Ashyr's information. "So... basically, these orcs were working for your brothers, who employed them to both attack Port Afron and to kidnap you, only to find that said treacherous Drow very predictably betrayed them in the same way that they betrayed you. Now both groups are plotting to take revenge on the betrayers." He shook his head. "I am afraid that this is not a surprising story. I have heard too many renditions of it already. Still, it is interesting to note that pretty much everything wrong in our lives is coming from a single source. Well, I am along for the ride then."

"I wish you well, Zarag, and when we are ready to take the fight to the Underdark, we will let you know. In the meantime, we have difficult three day walk back to the Druid's village to get to." He figured that it took a little over a full day to get here running at full speed; getting back walking with several very exhausted individuals would probably take far longer.

Zarag grunted his farewell, then turned his attention back to the woman in his arms. He didn't look like he wanted to move any time soon.

Having bid farewell to Zarag, he turned his address once more to Ashyr. "Your cousin - the rapey one who is marginally less terrible than the males of her family - was here too. Should we go find her before heading back?"

"Yes, I know. I got the orcs out here so she could escape. They've had her for a little longer than they had me." Ashyr responded. She leaned heavily against Caleldir, though she didn't have to rely on him quite as much as she was. It had only been two full days, but she missed his touch. "I doubt she'll have gotten far. I think I've convinced her to stay with us. Or she might have been telling me what I wanted to hear so I would help her escape." Ashyr shrugged slightly. She was getting really damn tired of her own people. Sometimes she wondered about her decision to stay away for the last thirty years. This was not one of those times.

"Regardless," Caleldir said. "It is probably better not to trust her." Mostly he did not trust himself around her. He had a feeling that if he did not keep her at a distance, he would end up falling into bed with her. And that would be terrible. "But I do hope that she is going to help us; we really do need a mage who can use more than the barest minimum of simple spells if we are to do half the things we need to in order to stop the males of House Duskhaven from their reign of terror."

Bard jumped up from his hidden space in the leaves as Ashyr passed him. They walked together as if they'd never been separated - except that Bard may have been walking a bit closer. Carlotta joined them a moment later, having nearly reached them. The human's face lit up with unreserved happiness.

"Carlotta?" Ashyr said with surprise. "You came for me too?"

Caleldir smiled. "Yes. Carlotta has been helping me on this trip. She has kept up surprisingly well for someone with such short legs." It dawned on him that that could be taken as something of an insult. "Not in comparison to her frame, mind you, just short in absolute terms." Oh dear. That was not better. He sighed.

The human seemed to ignored Cal's blundering statements about her stature. She was used to it. Ashyr seemed to think it was funny. An amused grin flashed across the drow's face. Her arm nearest Carlotta lowered to pinch her backside. "She's a good size. Can't surround myself with people as tall as you. It's unseemly." Ashyr said in good humor. "But really, you didn't have to come for me."

"You're my friend, darling." Lotta said in explanation. She gently caressed the drow's arm. "What happened?"

Ashyr accepted that explanation with a baffled shrug, then went into the explanation. She told it in a less disjointed manner than before, and gave a few more details (such as Tsabdrin being last seen running away from the big guy from the town gate). By the time the drow was done talking, they were back in the clearing that had been intended for a campsite for the Orcs.

Selene emerged from the forest when they came into sight. "Glad to see you're not dead, cousin." Selene said. She did actually seem to be pleased. "What happened out there?"

Selene's appearance caused Caleldir a lot of inner conflict. On one hand: he had been telling the absolute truth when he had talked about how invaluable her talents would be. On the other hand: she would always be the woman who forcibly took away his chastity, and he was both resentful and grateful, and resentful that he was grateful. So he let Carlotta take a little bit more of Ashyr's weight and slipped a little behind the two of them. Not that he could exactly hide himself behind two women so much shorter than he.

Ashyr told her cousin the quick version of what happened. Selene had much better background knowledge and didn't need extra information.

"Tsabdrin, eh?" Selene mused with a small, knowing smile. "Always thought he liked you far more than was good for him. Your cousins seem to have a thing for you, dearest."

"And I for them. Formerly. Recently you people have had a knack for really pissing me off." Ashyr responded with clear annoyance. There was no mischief in her manner, no smirk on her face. The drow was legitimately angry.

Selene gave her a pouty frown and drew very close to her cousin. She raised a hand to caress Ashyr's face, which was immediately smacked aside. "Oh, come on Ashyr. You know you can't resist me. No one can resist me." She gave Caleldir a predatory sneer.