Monstrous Ranch Ch. 17

Four Days Ago

Merisi pursed her lips, staring up at the big, silver-wrought gates. The fence stood proud and powerful, shimmering with anti-fey wards. The errand girl recognized them instantly from her bardic schooling, of course. She wasn't sure she much cared for them.

Well, guess this is the place, she thought. She crouched, then whistled a single note.

A powerful gust of wind rose up around her, sending her flying into the air. Merisi—who was not that tall to begin with—rose high above the gates, doing her best not to flail. Her ebon hair billowed behind her as she landed. Fortunately, she had dressed for such stunts, and her wrappings did not even slip a little.

It took her a moment to recover from the landing, however.

After that moment had passed, she straightened and put her hands on her hips.

What a curious locale!

Hazelnut trees—definitely not native to her Wild East homeland—lined a walkway leading up to a humble little farmhouse. She had to squint to make it out in the late twilight, but there it was. Nice house, but something about it put her off. It took Merisi a second to recognize what: After traveling through native settlements for the last few days, she couldn't help but notice how extremely... western the construction was. Lacratians never remembered to twist the chimneys.

She didn't like the looks of those hazelnut trees, either. Merisi had been a bit of a mindless adventurer for the first few years after coming of age, and she'd spent a week or two in the arms of some excessively agreeable hazelnut dryads. You could never trust a tree that looked quite so healthy.

No time for that tonight! Humming a spell to help herself concentrate, Merisi grabbed a few shadows and furtively scurried beneath them.

It was a good time to be stealing shadows, but even at the twilight, shadows were thin. They were already breaking apart by the time she made it to the other side of the treeline. Merisi glanced back, and for a moment, she thought she could see a pair of pretty brown eyes watching her disappointedly from the branches.

Merisi gave a merry grin and wave. Maybe next time, hon.

She turned, her expression turning serious again, as she approached the front door. After all the hassle this young man had caused the Bardic Orders' Postal Service, he'd better give a damn good tip. She had half a mind to lecture them about a Lacratian-owned ranch in unsettled forest, but Yuuma had advised caution here. This was probably an illegal enterprise. Best to leave the message and get out before anyone thought to question her.

She raised her worn elm staff and rapped several times on the door.

Softly. Best not to disturb whoever was making the erotic ruckus that could be heard even from downstairs, after all. Sounded like an awful lot of young women. Well, bards never judged.

After a moment, there was no response, and Merisi decided to disturb the erotic ruckus. She banged much harder on the door.

Still nothing. Merisi's eyes narrowed. "Bardic delivery!" she called up. Then, adding a singsong lilt, she added, "I need proof of receipt, so can someone please open this door?"

A pause. Merisi heard a faint jingling.

After a moment, the door squeaked open. A strange, unpleasant buzzing settled in the back of Merisi's head as it did so, and she jumped as two bright green eyes peered out. She couldn't see much of the owner's face, as the door was only opened to a crack. The eyes regarded her with a mixture of confusion and wariness. "You're a bard?"

"Aye." Merisi was nothing if not professional. She drew herself up tall. "I am a bardic messenger of the second class. I was sent to deliver some letters."

The door opened a bit wider, and Merisi's cheeks reddened as she realized the opener was a catgirl—and, it seemed, totally naked save for a belled collar.

The bell had a strange resonance. Merisi squinted, realizing that this was the source of her discomfort. There was musical magic on that bell.

Realizing she was staring a good distance below the dark-haired catgirl's eye level, Merisi managed to close her mouth and bow to the Fair One. She even managed to mutter a slightly garbled fey greeting she remembered from her grandmother's teachings.

The catgirl blinked. She returned the greeting, sluggishly, as if it hadn't been used for a while. Strange. Very strange. "I'll take those letters," she said slowly.

Merisi shook her head. "Sorry. I need to deliver these to one Senya Wetherdean. I have to make sure he gets them this time."

The catgirl shifted, scratching at her neck with both hands. Merisi noticed she was very careful not to disturb the bell. Her eyes darted back behind her. She squirmed a little. "I... can't..."

She seemed almost physically pained. Well, physically something, anyway. Her eyes weren't exactly shy about studying Merisi's tightly-wrapped form.

"Can you bring me Senya, then?" Merisi asked, trying to peer around the catgirl without appearing to ogle her. "That would be a wonderful service, Wise One."

The catgirl was breathing heavily, clinging to the door. "Can't," she squeaked.

"Why not?"

"Because..." The catgirl shuddered. "Master mustn't speak with strangers," she whispered, and slammed the door.

Merisi stared blankly at the wooden door for a moment.

Well.

This was all kinds of fucked up.

What was she supposed to do? Yuuma would have her hide if she got back and nothing was turned in. The Bardic Orders were never this badly delayed. But things clearly weren't normal here. Merisi readied a spell of mental protection, just in case.

That collar had been binding magic. Merisi wished she'd listened more to her grandmother's stories when she'd had the chance. Was this just a misunderstanding? Merisi couldn't imagine it was.

But it wasn't her business. Her job was to deliver these messages. As the creed went: One must never kill the messenger—but a messenger who gets distracted is not a messenger.

She had two choices: She could try to break inside, potentially fight her way past a catgirl—and Merisi was bad at keeping her magics up in melee, so if that bell was made to bind others, she was in trouble—and hope that Senya was in here. Or she could scout around and look for more information.

Merisi was a bard, and bards weren't heroes. They were snoops. So she turned and started sneaking off into the ranch.

~~~~

Bards tended to have either very good hearing or very bad hearing, depending on how reliant they were upon sonorous magic. The Postmaster was nearly deaf, as he wielded a type of magic largely revolving around very loud pots and pans.

Merisi had good hearing, however, and she trusted her ears. So when she heard noises coming from the curious bog, she danced a quick spell of foot protection (a surprisingly pivotal bardic spell, actually) and made her way into the slog.

Lush bushes grew all around. Merisi was pretty sure they were some kind of berry bush, but most of them were covered in mud and filth, and the berries were almost all gone. Perhaps the bog had flooded recently. Was the bog flood-prone?

Merisi bit her lip. She wasn't exactly an expert on flood patterns. Should've gone to the Standing Stones, like Dad wanted...

As she drew nearer, she developed a slightly clearer picture of what she was hearing. There was a large wooden platform up ahead, and atop it sat a humanoid figure—a woman, possibly, judging by those curves. The young woman was absently humming.

Merisi couldn't make the woman out very well. She was blurry from distance, and the whole area was, after all, very dark. The sun had set. Stars were rising overhead, but cloud cover made it difficult. All she could see was a voluptuous silheouette.

Merisi hesitated, examining the figure.

I should turn back.

The thought rose unbidden, but inescapable, and the second it emerged, she agreed. She didn't know who this was—or where this was, for that matter. Things here weren't right. She could wait by the door until morning, or better yet, look for a stealthier way inside. She could even wait outside the gates, since this whole place gave her the creeps. But running towards strange humming women in swamps was not the basis of any kind of healthy lifestyle. Her mindless adventuring days were well behind her.

The young bard took a step back. As she did so, the figure turned to face her.

And that was when Merisi realized that this woman was most definitely not human.

"Oh! Hello!" The green slime girl giggled, oozing to her feet. She walked towards Merisi with an almost cartoonish sway, due to the way her hips seemed to slosh back and forth as she moved, coming to the nearer side of the platform. A bright smile crossed her lips, and she extended a slippery hand. "Wanna hand, cutie?"

Merisi bit her lip, then waded forward, snapping her fingers in a spell of warding around her own hand as she reached up. If she was spotted, she might as well go for it. The element of surprise was clearly a thing of the past, regardless.

She felt a brief tingling as the slimy hand wrapped around her own a little bit too freely, slicking down to the wrist, but the spell held and expanded a little to accommodate. She allowed the most curious dryad to hoist her up onto dry land.

"Thank you," she mumbled, pulling her hand away. She executed a low bow and recited the greeting her grandmother had taught her.

"Aw!" The slime girl beamed at her, head tilting to the side as though she found Merisi adorable. "Nobody's given little old Sleek that greeting in such a long time!" She performed a jiggly curtsy—despite being painfully naked—and returned the greeting.

"Your name's Sleek?" Merisi edged around the slime dryad, trying to ensure that she wasn't between the fey and the muddy abyss below. "Mine is Merisi. Second-Class Bard of the Bardic Orders Postal Service."

"Ooh! Mine's Sleek!" Sleek gave a stupid grin, following Merisi as Merisi sat down on one of the steps. The platform's steps rose in a conical, pyramid-like shape, affording plenty of places to sit in relative dryness. "I'm a slime dryad!" She put a finger to her fulsome lips, as if thinking hard, then went on, "And I work for the, uh, Ambrosia Ranch! As a cranberry picker!"

Merisi blinked. "You work for the Ranch?"

"Yes, silly!" Sleek sat down next to Merisi. "We all do!"

Merisi bit her lip. Sleek's bouncing body was... distracting, but it was important to stay on-task here. "So I'm looking for a guy," she said slowly. "Senya Wetherdean."

Sleek bit her own lip and said nothing, looking puzzled.

"I need to deliver some letters to him," Merisi went on, trying in vain to gauge the simpleminded slime's reaction. "It's... important. I'm told he lives here."

"Hm. I dunno! Maybe that's the stockman?" Sleek pouted. "I don't remember knowing anyone called Senya. Um... Ooh! I know! We can wait here." She clasped Merisis's hand and beamed brightly. "Bobbin'll come by sometime in the morning! We can ask her then!"

"Will this Bobbin know?" Merisi asked, her eye lingering on the hand. The grip felt weak—and the protective magic shielded her from any toxins—but she couldn't help a bit of wariness. How strong could that grip become? Could she be flung into the bog?

She'd never heard of a slime dryad successfully mind controlling anybody whose body was free, but she had definitely heard some stories about physical restraints reinforcing mental controls until the victim broke down. Sometimes literally, in the case of the carnivorous varieties.

Merisi was pretty sure this one wasn't carnivorous, judging by the way the slime had felt when it had grazed her wrist. She could never be sure, though. So she kept the magics up, for now, even though it was a bit of a distraction for her tired mind.

"Ooh, yeah!" Sleek beamed. "Bobbin is such a smartypants! She'll know for sure!"

"Great. That's, um, great." Merisi frowned as Sleek's hand started to gently massage hers. Little shluk and shleek sounds came from the contact. It felt... nice. But she couldn't help but be wary. "Would you mind?" she asked, gesturing to her hand.

"Ooh! Not at all!" Sleek giggled. But rather than stop massaging her hand, she absorbed Merisi's hand all the way up to the wrist, continuing the gentle strokes and kneading. Merisi winced, and her eyelids fluttered slightly as the little squishing sounds got louder.

Merisi hesitated. It was dangerous to be rude to fey. And she didn't want to hurt Sleek's feelings. Sleek was very pretty, and very jiggly, and it was important to treat all fey with respect. On the other hand...

A slight sigh escaped her, silencing her worries. Oh, that feels so good.

She wondered what it would feel like to kiss one of those hands.

Sleek was clearly encouraged by this response, because she took Merisi's other hand and continued the effort there. Merisi swallowed, but didn't say anything for now—but she concentrated on the warding spell, just in case.

"Is it okay that I'm doing this?" Sleek asked sweetly, leaning in and kissing Merisi on the cheek.

Merisi was rendered momentarily speechless by the surge of tickly sucking sensations that passed over her cheek ever-so-briefly.

"Um..." She shook herself from her stupor. "Maybe... maybe not." She grimaced as Sleek's face fell. "Not that it doesn't feel good! You're really... really cute and kind and..." Oh, gods, she was babbling. She needed sleep. Badly. "But I don't need... I mean, my hands are f-fine."

Sleek blinked. Then she giggled. "I'm cute? Aw, sweetie!" She pulled her hands back, releasing Merisi. Merisi contained a slight whine of disappointment—it really had felt wonderful. "You're just the darlingest thing!" She batted her eyelashes. "Almost makes me feel kinda bad about this."

Merisi blinked. "Bad ab—"

And then, with the sounds and sensations of the hand massage no longer distracting her, she heard it: A soft glorping and sloshing from behind her.

Coming towards her.

Fast.

Merisi dropped to a roll and tumbled out of the way as another green slime dove towards her. The slime girl let out a startled, "Whoops!". Unable to stop in time, she went tumbling over the edge. There was a splash.

Merisi's heart was pounding. Trap. Trap.

She was getting to her feet when a pair of soft, gelatinous arms wrapped around her torso. Instinct took over, and she shoved her elbow backwards into the side of her assailant.

Too late, she remembered that human instinct was, as a rule, the number-one thing to ignore when facing fey.

Her arm sank up to the elbow.

The soft, sensual strokings resumed immediately, filling Merisi's nervous system with squishy, slimy pleasure. Shluck shlick squish shmack shleek... But even they weren't enough to fully cut through her alarm when Sleek sang, "And down we go!"

The slime girl spun into Merisi's vision, giggled, and seized Merisi in the wettest kiss Merisi had ever been lost to.

And Merisi's ward spell short-circuited.

The sensations of the kiss were extraordinary. Sweet and supple and tingly and firm, all at the same time. Merisi struggled frantically, but her struggles only got her whole front body immersed in the slime girl. And the more skin got immersed, the more unbearably wonderful the slick stroking felt.

Soon, Merisi's entire front torso was captured. The slime was sliding over her breasts, her nipples tingling in ecstasy. Merisi whimpered and moaned into the kiss.

As she continued to thrash in vain, Sleek pulled out of the kiss and beamed. "I just wanted to have you all to myself for a sec'," she said silkily, and Merisi felt slick hands caressing her ass, sliding between her legs, slowly pulling down Merisi's wrappings. Merisi found her struggles becoming weaker and weaker, felt the slime girl's tiny little insignificant mental controls sinking deeper and deeper. "You're such a good kisser."

Her slick fingers slid over Merisi's panties. Merisi couldn't help it—she cried out in a happy, wordless moan. That felt so good so good so good sogoodsogoodsogoooood...

And then, with a giggle, the slime girl took the two of them tumbling down into the mud.

~~~~

Heaven was made of slime, goo, and contorting bodies, as far as Merisi was concerned.

She moaned out loud, an idiotic smile on her heart-shaped face, as Sleek's slick, slippery hands continued to probe and slide around her pussy. It was like simultaneously having a hundred mouths sucking and a thousand tongues licking right on her clit. The slime girl she was kissing, a pink creature of surpassing energy, giggled and clutched her tighter, forcing more of their wonderful flavor into her happily receiving mouth.

Meanwhile, a third slime girl—the one that had tried to tackle her earlier—now simply hugged her bare breasts from behind, allowing the sucking, kissing sensation of the slime to work its magic, and hungrily licked her neck. "You're so tasty," the slime girl cooed in her ear, for what had to have been the tenth time.

Merisi came in response.

She had been cumming all night. She was beyond struggling, beyond begging for more, beyond begging for it to end out of sheer pleasure torture. She just lay there, squirming and moaning, lost in her own personal heaven. A happy little plaything.

Light was slowly returning to her. She lay in the mud, immersed in her slimy lovers—a good thing, as they kept her clean. The sun was rising.

"Ooh. Oh, my. Oh, my gosh. Like, wow." Merisi was only halfway conscious of the high-pitched voice. Her eyes opened a fraction, and through the green distortion of her kisser, she saw a gorgeous blonde with an impossible wasp waist, clad in a lacy white nightgown.

A Thriae, she thought, cumming with a squeal.

"Look who we found, Sylvia," moaned Sleek.

"I know!" Sylvia cooed, reaching down through one of the slime girls to caress Merisi's breast. Her touch was more deliberate than those of the groping slime girls. More possessive. Merisi came from those dominant fingers, and a mewling moan escaped her. "Gosh, like, we haven't had a human intruder so cute in, like, forever!"

Merisi had the strange vague sense that she should be listening to this. But she was too busy cumming to register what she was hearing. The words settled on her like film on the water. She beamed vacantly up at the hot blonde, babbling blissful nonsense through the kisses.

"She says she's a messenger," Sleek said. "Has a messenger for someone called Senya!" She sounded sad. "But I don't know a Senya! So I guess she just has to stay here with us until he turns up."

"Ooh." Sylvia's voice got quieter. "Well, gosh. That's... that's special."

"It is?" Sleek had to raise her voice to be heard over Merisi's screams as Merisi started to build to another climax. "Who's Senya?"

"Our Master, you bimbo!"

"Oh!"

They spoke a bit more, and then Merisi felt a firm hand—a solid hand—grasp her wrist. The slime girls finished off their kisses and strokes with a flurry of activity, as if trying to wrest as many additional orgasms out of her as possible within the time allotted them. Merisi's brain and body were putty in their talons.

But the slime girls did fall free, giggling and cooing their goodbyes. Merisi moaned unhappily, missing the warm, slick touches. But then she was staring into

the most beautiful golden eyes she'd ever seen. Her moan trained off into a curious sort of coo as she blinked heavy-lidded eyes at the spellbinding fey.

"Hello!" Sylvia cooed.

"H-hi," Merisi said, biting her lip. Her head was so fuzzy, so dizzy and horny and pleasure-drunk...

"I understand you have a little message for our Master?" Sylvia asked, reaching down and gently stroking Merisi's pussy. Merisi keened and wriggled in Sylvia's tight embrace.