A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 34: Corruption

The threat caused Caleldir to shiver, despite himself. Drat. Selene really had given him a weird fetish. Being raped should not be a turn on. By definition it should not be. Yet, here he was, enjoying every moment of this despite his best efforts to hate it. Her body felt incredibly soft and pleasant against his own. If he had not been tied back, his instinct would have been to wrap his arms around her in an embrace, to more fully feel that sultry living wood that she seemed to be made of. Well, feel her just until he realized what he was doing, then he would stab himself and ghost away. So it was no wonder that she was keeping him restrained. "You are right. Those women did warp me away from my original self." He said with regret. The feeling of her mouth mixed with her tears falling down his back gave him feelings equally mixed. Would Ashyr really mind it so much if gave into this woman to indulge her passions for a little while? Well, not if she was here. But she was not. So he had to resist and try not to enjoy himself too much. Despite his resolve not to enjoy himself, his body had other ideas. Naliira's soft ministrations had their intended effect rather quickly. It took only a scant few seconds for his straining erection to become almost painful in its desire.

His agreement seemed to calm the dryad greatly. Clearly she'd interpreted his words in her favor. Her hair faded back to the lighter green and looked more or less healthy again. The shadows in the room faded gradually. Even still, the branches kept a firm hold on him. Her face pulled away from his neck to meet his blue eyes with her reddened liquid green. A quick hand rose to wipe at the tears that had mostly stopped falling on her cheeks. She pressed her forehead against his with a slight sniffle. The dryad managed to look elegant even after crying. Especially after that tragic smile bloomed across her face. "See? Already you're starting to realize how much they've corrupted you." She told him.

Despite the fact that the mottled demonic features did not really hurt her beauty, Caleldir still preferred her healthy-seeming self. It was interesting that her sudden (temporary) psychological stabilization was a result of his admittance that the two drow had been twisting him. Well, they had been twisting him to enjoy this exact situation, so... At any rate, it would probably be bad to explain himself. "Yeah, you are right. They have definitely corrupted me." He said dryly. He really should be resisting more. Not that it would do any good.

That was when the rest of her body moved forward to wrap her legs around his hips. She was only a couple inches shorter than him, which allowed her to keep her forehead pressed against his. A slender hand went back down to his manhood to guide him into her folds. He did try to put up a token resistance as she began to guide him into her, straining against his bonds as much as he could. But he was restrained and she was easily wet enough to accept him into her body with one fluid motion. "No!" He whispered, gazing into her lovely mad eyes, so close to his and staring unwavering. "You have the wrong man. Do not do this..." Even as he said the words, he knew they were useless. With one hand pressed lightly against his chest and the other bracing herself on branches that held him steady, she began to rise and fall onto him - having to pull her face away slightly to do so. Caleldir let out a long sigh. As much as he refused to enjoy himself, he could not help but feel intense pleasure. Biting his own lip in a mirror of her actions, his expression took on one of conflicted pleasure and defiance, mixed with a little pity for the madwoman sliding along his manhood. It really was Selene all over again. Fuck.

She rode him with surprising dexterity and endurance considering the suboptimal position she had and the lack of help she had from her partner. The branches of the tree lifted and stabilized her. Sweat like dewdrops began to bead on her brow as she felt the warmth of her body grow with each downward motion. Because he had a tendency towards mulish obstinacy, Caleldir gritted his teeth to keep back his orgasm as the dryad pumped herself along him. The pleasure was amazing, as always. It was in moments like these that he could understand why someone like Althaia could become addicted to sex. But be that as it may, he was still being forced into this, and was not feeling like cooperating.

She picked up the pace slightly - though she never went at the fever-pace the drow would sometimes take with him when nearing their peak. Soon, he did begin to wish for relief, wondering if maybe he should obey her and give her his seed. Wait. No. Her entire goal was to become pregnant, and he really was not ready to have a child. He would just have to hold on. But with Naliira keeping that constant, arousing eye-contact with him, his will began to leave him. She was so beautiful, and so sad, and those eyes... No! He was going to resist her!

"God, my love. Please cum for me." She begged in a gasping tone before her own body quaked against him in powerful orgasm. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she finally broke eye contact with him to rest her head against his. She clung to him and shuddered even after her climax concluded. It ended up not being as difficult to keep from orgasming as he had feared. Since that first time that Selene had rode him, he had had rather excessive amounts of sex. His sexual stamina was now far in excess of what it had been. As Naliira clung to him, he forced down his frustration. A victory, but a small one that honestly irked him quite a bit.

The darkness left the tree-cradled rooms completely then, and everything returned to being airy and light - except, of course, the half of the room that was perpetually covered in decay. That seemed to never change, to always be cast in darkness. Naliira clung to him as if he was life itself. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She told him in a voice thick with tears. It seemed as if climax had brought her a little clarity. She'd forced herself on him. That was not something one did to people they loved. "Please - please don't hate me." She begged. There was desperation in her voice.

The branches around him disappeared entirely, save for branches that lowered his arms to a more comfortable position behind his back. Then they completely encapsulated his hands and broke their connection to the floor and walls from which they had come from. Naliira - or, more accurately, her strangely half-decayed oak tree - let him go, but did not trust him enough to risk him stabbing himself again.

"I'll - I'll go. I'm so sorry. I promise - I'll wait until you're ready next time." And with that, she disengaged and began to flee from him back into the bedroom. She paused for a moment, then turned back to grab the pool of white on the floor next to him that was her dress. Naliira threw the garment back over her head before settling into a tight, tearful ball at the far corner of the bedroom.

Not one to hate pretty women who forced themselves on him, otherwise he would be with literally none of the people that he currently was with, Caleldir was not going to hate her before her desperate pleas, but after she clung to him, begging and crying like that, he really could not even dislike her. Mostly, he felt sorry for the poor woman. He hesitated before deciding on a course of action. Should he try to escape? His telekinesis was useless here (it was hard to use it on an unwilling, sapient subject, which apparently this entire tree qualified as), but perhaps if he conjured a flame... He shook his head. No, he did not want to hurt her. Hell, he felt sorry for her. So, after waiting in frustration for several minutes, hoping that his dick - still damp with her juices - would go down, he decided just to ignore his arousal and go over to her. Gently, he sat on the bed beside her. He would have put a hand on her shoulder, had his hands not been shackled behind him. "I do not hate you." He said softly. "It was... enjoyable. But you have me confused for someone else. I am sorry."

The temporary hope he had brought to her tear-stained eyes vanished. "I am not confused." She said, but the words sounded more as if she was trying to convince and comfort herself. "You have just been gone for so long. You left me alone for so long." Her arms curled around the top of her head as a look of half-remembered agony crossed her features. Before she could stop herself, her body began to rock back and forth in gentle, soothing motions. One steadying breath made her chest rise and fall shakily. Some of the pain and hurt left her features as she slowly emptied her lungs. The rocking stopped just moments after it started "But you will remember me. Or you will learn to love me again." She said aloud, though she seemed to be speaking to herself again. He was already showing promise. He admitted that he enjoyed her, and even still he couldn't seem to quell his body's ardor.

Caleldir cleared his throat. What if... she was not mad? What if she had known him way back when? He had a thousand year gap in his memory, after all. Then again, he spent all that time stuck in a monastery... "Well, I know someone who may be a relative of yours. Do you happen to recognize the name Fedwyn Arselia Birchborn? Short woman, good with magic? Cursed to ghostly form in a monastery for the last thousand years? She does look a lot like you..." He shook his head. "Maybe I have forgotten you. So remind me." He had forgotten her, he was sure of it. The memories of who she was gnawed irksomely at the corners of his consciousness.

She wiped tears from her eyes and gave him a tremulous smile. "I will explain in a moment. But first: you must be hungry. It's been a while since you've eaten. I will make something for you." Then she began to try to stand, but still seemed a bit weak. This was evident in the slight shaking of her limbs and the grip of her arm on his to keep her from falling. "I'll do what I can. I've been away from home for too long. Always made me feel weak for some reason." She breathed in explanation. Her lips turned upward in a tired half-smile.

Caleldir's stomach growled. "You are right. I would love something to eat. Also, clothes." Whatever the tree was going to keep him prisoner was interfering with his rune. Perhaps if he was wearing something, this annoying erection would subside. He was beginning to regret not cumming inside the dryad. Not enough to actually do so, though. Mostly though, if Naliira made food for him, he may be able to talk her into releasing his hands. Then he could stab himself and high-tail it out of here. The crazy dryad would recover.

"Your clothes are in that chest there." She said with only a slight sniffle. Her gaze fell upon a chest positioned at the end of the bed.

"Ah..." Caleldir said awkwardly. He realized that dressing would be impossible with his hands tied as they were.

"Oh, here." Naliira said, realizing his plight. She deftly helped him into a robe styled in the masculine version of her dress, made in the same diaphanous layers of material. The bindings at his arms slid conveniently out of the way before they settled back into place. While she did this, she answered his previous question, "You and I met some time ago in this grove where I used to live with my sisters. It was after..." She paused in the middle of what she was doing, seeming to forget what she was doing mid-sentence. A look of anguish crossed her face before it could be quelled. Abruptly, she walked out of the bedroom over to what looked like a kitchen. It was the place farthest away from the rot that took over a good portion of her rooms. Her lithe form bent down to open a cupboard that grew out of the ground. From it she pulled well-preserved fruits and vegetables. The space itself seemed to have a sort of preservation spell on it. She placed the food on the counter to begin chopping everything into bite-sized pieces and placing it on a plate which she retrieved from another shelf. "...After they did not live here anymore. I did not have anyone to share my life with. I thought I would grow mad with the loneliness. Then you came to me one moonlit night. We fell in love under the stars." A distant smile crossed her face that soon faded with her next words. "After we were married you were taken from me."

Caleldir listened quietly, having followed her into the kitchen. Clothed, he felt like a new man again. A married man, apparently. That thought was hard to process. He began to formulate a theory as to what was going on here. Rumors about the dryad of rot, the curse that was on his country, the location were he currently was... wait. He knew this woman. He really had seen her, more than a thousand years ago! She had to be the patron of Stone Oaks City! No wonder she looked so familiar: he had visited the city with her daughter, Fedwyn, back when he was studying magic under the diminutive archmage. Yes, that had to be her. Probably. Wow. Old Naliira had really lost it in the last thousand years. Then again, so had he. He did not know much about 'Goelon Duvainor' but what he did know, he did not particularly like. He sunk down onto one of the chairs around the dining table adjacent to the kitchen and shuddered. He had just had sex with Naliira of Stone Oaks, the mother of the woman his father had wanted him to marry. That was... messed up.

Unaware of his realization, she moved over to the dining table, placed the platter in between the chair he sat in and the one across from it, sat down in one of them, and kept talking. "Knowing that you were out there somewhere was better than the emptiness. It gave me purpose; I had to wait, to find you, my love! Now that you are here with me, life will be good again. We can have children and live out the rest of our lives." She smiled at him then, an almost dazzling expression. Naliira began feeding him the food she'd hastily prepared. The fruits and vegetables were clearly grown with all the care and skill any dryad might have at her disposal. None of it seemed at all diseased.

"I remember you a little." He said, looking towards her carefully. Dryads tended to look very similar, so perhaps it was not old Stone Oak herself, but one of her sisters that had survived. The town was largely one of dryads, after all. It could have been any one of them, or their country counterparts. But... why take on her name? Naliira? No, it had to be the goddess of the woods herself. "I think I remember you. It was so very long ago..." Caleldir began feeling nostalgic. He smiled. Perhaps it would not be so bad to spend a little time with her. And the food she fed him wasn't too bad either.

The smile on his face seemed to do more for her than his admitted remembrance. She returned the expression with a slightly relieved one of her own. The hand that had not been feeding him rose to cup his jaw and brush her thumb lightly over his lower lip. Despite her insanity, there was softness - and even love - in her expressive green eyes. Whatever the truth was, she seemed to wholly believe her story of love and marriage that she'd given him. She believed it and felt it. Perhaps it was what drove her to madness. But there was also the chance that it was the thing that let her stay as sane as she was.

It was a brief exchange. Naliira quickly went back to feeding both of them. "I would have cooked something for you, but I still can't abide fire, strangely." She said as if that little fact truly baffled her. Despite all the evidence, she seemed to be absolutely clueless about her true race.

Caleldir laughed a little. "Oh? That is probably because your... err, 'our' house is rather obviously made out of wood. A normal fire would probably burn this place down. So, perhaps I can teach you a little magic that can create a special fire that poses no threat to living wood. 100% dryad approved, and you know how dryads are about fire!"

She didn't seem sure what she knew about dryads and fire. Neither did she seem sure that any fire would be tolerable. "Perhaps... perhaps if you knew a spell that could just heat things without producing flame?" She asked hesitantly. Then she continued in a very small, very embarrassed voice. "I really don't like fire." The tree around them groaned as if in agreement. For a moment, it almost seemed like the room had gotten darker again. Or perhaps a cloud had simply covered the sun before blowing onwards in the wind.

The food was quite good, and even better because of how hungry he was. He also had to admit that being hand-fed by a lovely dryad enhanced the experience as well. Although, he would have preferred to have his hands free anyway. And, now that the topic of making something for her came up, she had a reason to free her. "You, know, Naliira, you can trust me not to try to suicide the way out of here, so you can free my hands now. I promise that I will not stab myself. But I do need my hands eventually, especially if you want me to make something like that." Caleldir intended to keep his word, of course. After seeing the happiness and love on Naliira's face, his desire to escape in any such terrifying way was lessening. But though he was not currently planning an escape, his mind was spinning as to how to get out of here without damaging the poor creature further. He would have to wait and see what he could do.

Her eyes flickered to his wood-covered hands. A look of confusion crossed those lovely features. Apparently it wasn't Naliira who had any say it whatever magic prevented his hands from moving. She didn't even seem to consciously realize his hands were like that. "Um. I - uh..." But then the restraints melted from his hands until it was if they had never been there. The oak tree creaked and swayed softly. This time it was hard to mistake the darkness that passed the branch-cradled home, along with a temporary aura of menace.

Naliira blinked and then promptly forgot the exchange ever happened.

Caleldir let out a satisfied sigh. But more important than his freedom, well, marginally, was the new information that he had gained about Naliira. "About heating things without a flame: yes, I do know magic like that. I do not have the proper materials here though. That seems like a project for another day." So, the dryad and her tree were separate. How odd. Generally, that would kill the dryad. Dryads and their trees were a single organism, that was fairly common knowledge. But here, the tree almost seemed to be a different being altogether, thinking and watching independently. It seemed more cognizant than the dryad herself, recognizing and neutralizing threats she did not know existed. It also seemed to want the same things as she did. Which, at the moment, was him.

"So... Naliira." Caleldir hesitated. He did not know what to say. What do you talk about with a mad dryad who thinks you are her husband? Well, for one, try to wean the truth out of her as to who her actual husband was. If her description was of someone else, she was imagining him to be someone he was not. If her description was of him, though, then she was just fixated on him, and wishing that he was hers. Which, given his prisoner status, he sort of was. "Forgive me, but my memory is still pretty clouded. What was I like when you first met me?"

Naliira's eyes grew distant. There was a soft smile of remembrance on her face. She rose briefly, only to settle sideways into Caleldir's lap with her head rested on his shoulder. It was a fond action more than it was sexual. When she settled in, she let out a contented sigh that seemed to continue onwards into the rustling leaves outside her little home. Then she pressed a soft, affectionate kiss against his neck, which caused him to sigh with pleasure despite himself. "You were how you are now, I imagine. Just - now your memory is not what it used to be. You were good at remembering then. Always knew a spell or some other quick solution for a problem." Her fingers danced idly across his chest as she spoke. "You were kind and gentle and honest and attentive. And always so handsome." Those fingers slid upwards to run along the line of his jaw. "I couldn't help but fall in love, and couldn't believe you loved me back."