How did I get caught in this mess? I'm a level thirty-five wizard, I should have noticed what kind of plant this was before I strolled right into its path. A Violent Mantrap, right out there in the open. But I had thought I saw a Green Cabriolet fluttering about – a rare butterfly that was an ingredient in a particular spell of power that would fetch an insanely high price on the open market – and I tried to catch it, and here I am. The Cabriolet flutters about my head, as if mocking me.
The Mantrap had picked me up with four thick tendrils, one for each of my limbs. I struggled, but with only a few skill points in any kind of physical combat (it seemed like a good idea at the time), I stood no chance of getting away so easily. With my hands held immobile, there was no way for me to cast a spell. As I pulled against the plant, the heavy vines gradually spread me until my arms and my legs were taut, allowing me only the slightest movement. I thrashed my head about in my efforts to make any kind of headway against the Mantrap, but stopped after a minute to save my energy.
Sensing that I was now still, the plant sent out its secondary tendrils: thin, with razor-sharp leaves. These moved with precision across my body, slicing and pulling at my clothing until my robes fluttered onto the ground in dozens of tiny pieces. In an academic setting, I would have been fascinated. The Mantrap was unable to digest the spun and processed fibers used in clothing, or the tanned leather of most light body armor, but its secondary tendrils were more than equipped to deal with that. Thinking of the plant's digestive habits made me squirm again, which had an alarming effect on my breasts, making them sway and jiggle in front of me. However, they also reminded me that I possessed a distinct natural advantage in my sex. While the Violent Mantrap is gender-neutral when it comes to trapping prey, its unique method of preparing the prey to be eaten causes it to release female captives at least half of the time, if not more.
Once it had divested me of my clothes, it kept me hanging in the air for a few more moments, which felt like hours as the cool breeze caressed my hips and thighs. Then, very slowly, the primary tendrils pulled my legs apart – still keeping them taut – until I could have straddled a horse or two. The breeze felt even stronger as it blew between my legs, an area I'd never before exposed to the open air. Unconsciously, I arched my back and stretched. It was fortunate that there wasn't anyone coming along the path to see me.
Slowly, the vines pulled me backwards through the air. I kept struggling, for all the good it did me, until my ass hit something solid and I froze. That had to be the Mantrap's bulb: a dozen scales covering up the soft and truly dangerous part of the plant, supported by a thick stalk. I could feel the scales unfolding against my skin, and couldn't resist looking down as the vines brought me right to the middle of the open bud. Although the outer scales were vividly green, the inside of the bud was a shocking pink. It was also smooth and soft, like flesh, with a nub standing up in the center. The vines were positioning me over the nub – then suddenly they were pulling me down until I was pressed against it. The scales began to close again, enveloping my hips and pelvis. Try as I might, I couldn't move at all. And thus we come to my present sorry state. The Mantrap has to rest before it starts the next step in its hunting process.
It moves again – internally. The vines and the scales of the bulb are are stiff and strong as before, but something inside the plant moves, pushing the nub against my sex. It seems to grow, pushing up and actually into me, making me gasp and unconsciously try to fight it again. This would be the first time anything not belonging to me was inside me: there were a lot of men in my classes at university, but I had been more interested in besting them academically than getting involved with them romantically or sexually. I don't want this to be my first experience, but there's nothing I can do about it! Does it count as rape if it's being done by something without a brain, that can't choose to ignore your consent? Oh, gods, I'm thinking such stupid things. I should be more worried about the possible death later on, but the insistent pressure on my sex is taking up all of my attention. My eyes tear up and I gasp some more, still trying to fight against the impossibly strong vegetable. This can't be happening. It can't!
Should I shout for someone to save me? It might just deplete my strength, and I doubt there's anyone around to hear me. I settle for suffering in silence.
The nub grows larger and more insistent. The flesh of the bulb itself has become warmer, pulsating in a steady rhythm against my thighs, my ass, and my sex. Suddenly, a warm rush of sap coats everything encased in the bulb – the Mantrap's venom. Its purpose, I remember, is to increase the prey's libido and make it more susceptible to the plant's efforts to tire it out, but it has the unfortunate side effect of dissolving all the hair on a body at the points of contact. My fighting slows despite myself. Instead, I begin to rock with the plant's pulses as much as I can, a burning need filling me as surely as the hard nub. I need to come. I need to come! Not only does the core of my body want to explode, but I know that the female orgasm can often, somehow, trigger the Mantrap to release its victim. I use the vines around my ankles as leverage and pull myself down, grinding against the plant. I'm closer – closer – and then I stop. Why have I stopped? The plant itself is frozen, not pulsating anymore. My brain is working again, analyzing and calculating. It must be Rozen's Timestop. There must be another wizard nearby.
"Hello?" I call out. "Please, I'm over here, help me!"
"Well, well," a voice drawls from behind me. He's already seen me. "Marradice Sturmbergen. What is a girl like you doing in a place like this?" He walks around me, but I already know who it is. Geoffrey Harper, my closest rival in university. My heart sinks. "And, if I'm not mistaken about the stage you're at right now, what's a plant like that doing in a girl like you? Giving you a good time?"
"Geoffrey, thank the gods, if you get me out of this I'll be in your debt forever – "
He makes a swift motion with one hand (Murray's Silencer) and I'm unable to say anything, so I try to beg with my eyes. "You have no idea how sweet this is. It couldn't be better if I'd planned it. But I really wouldn't thank me just yet, darling. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say." He reaches into a pocket and draws out a piece of thread, which he ties into a loop with an odd knot, then elongates and thickens it. Once the loop is big enough, he drapes it around my neck and then tightens it until it fits snugly. "You'll find yourself unable to be more than ten feet from me from now on, and unable to stop yourself from following my orders. Personally, I'd prefer leaving you with free will and controlling you via physical means, but it will be easier to get you home this way." From another pocket, he pulls out a glass vial and uncorks it, then pours it onto the plant's bulb. "This is a little elixir of my own invention."