Hi all, I'm back again with the latest entry in the HFHM universe!
New to the story? Start at Chapter 1 and work your way forward. There's a lot of sex and plot to be had for everybody to get to this point. Trust me, it'll be worth it.
Returning reader? Welcome back, monster lovers! As always, I am super happy to see you again and am super grateful that you're still here.
Remember to rate, comment, or drop me a line when you're done, I do read them all but don't always respond. Your kind comments, critical feedback and enthusiasm help this particular word machine keep writing, and I would have quit long ago without you. I do wish I could write faster for you all, but I only average a couple of hours a day to work on my craft. Still, I am proud of what I've accomplished so far and thankful to still be working on this tale. You keep reading it, I'll keep writing it.
Don't forget that you can check my bio (or follow me) to see when a new chapter is coming or see news about upcoming stories. I always update right after clicking submit on this site, that way you get to know when another chapter is coming.
Enough from me, let's get to it. Mike has reached the tower, and Yuki is about to deal with an unexpected guest.
Nine of Wands
Mike wasn't sure what he expected to see once inside the tower, but it certainly wasn't this.
What he had thought was the entrance to the tower was in fact an outer wall. A large courtyard full of flowers and creeper vines would have been impressive enough, but the sheer number of butterflies, bees, and even birds had him staring in awe. An entire ecosystem had been formed inside these walls, complete with a small waterfall that flowed out of the cliff itself and fed into an irrigation canal. The water eventually filled a fountain in the middle of the yard that was an exact replica of Naia's fountain back home.
At the back of the courtyard, rising ominously into the sky, was the actual entrance to the tower. The top of it was higher than the nearby peak that the tower seemed to grow from.
"This place is surprisingly peaceful." Zel approached one of the garden beds to inspect it. "Hey, most of these are vegetables!"
"I found some strawberries over here." Ratu plucked a few of them and tossed them in her mouth. "Mmm, they're good."
Salivating, Mike approached the bushes and the three of them picked the fruit. Daisy seemed content to watch the group, occasionally moving away from a bee or butterfly determined to interact with her. In the distance, they could hear the trumpeting of horns.
"Should we worry about that?" Mike asked.
"Nah. The only way the centaurs have ever gotten in was if the drawbridge was down." Zel said. "Well, at least that I know of."
"Is that true?" he asked Daisy. The fairy nodded and made some hand signs.
"I honestly don't understand you."
"But I might." Ratu licked the juices of a blackberry off of her finger and held her hand up with the same finger outstretched. "Come here."
Daisy seemed nervous, but with a glance at Mike, landed on the naga's finger.
"When you sign something, I want you to visualize the word. Try to keep it simple though." Ratu closed her eyes and made a Y with the thumb and pinky of her free hand. She moved Daisy close to her forehead, placing her thumb on her own forehead and her pinky on Daisy's.
Daisy made a couple of signs and Ratu's face scrunched up.
"Yuki... gone," Ratu said. "Tower... safe from... outsiders."
"Are you reading her mind?" Zel asked.
"Kind of. Now be quiet, unless you have a question for her. Keep them simple, I can only pick up bits of it, fairies think differently than mortals do."
"Is there a way to get home?" Mike asked.
"Only... portal. Guarded by... Jabberwock." Ratu winced between words, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"What the fuck is a... oh shit." The word came to him from out of a memory of a movie he had seen. "Are we in Wonderland?"
"Not... Wonderland. Yuki... lonely and... scared. Make Jabberwock... for protection."
"From who?"
"Emily... ah shit." Ratu moved the fairy away from her face and wiped blood away from her nose. "Yeah, I'm done doing that. It was a stupid idea anyway. Reading a fairy's mind is like trying to read a newspaper using a strobe light. Damn." She found a stone bench to sit on and lay down on her back. "Try not to bother me for a bit, my head is pounding."
"She was afraid of Emily." He held his finger out for Daisy and she landed on it. "Did she have a good reason to be afraid of her?"
Daisy nodded and pointed to the tower door.
"Is the tower dangerous?"
Daisy thought about the question for several seconds. She pointed toward the top of the tower and shook her head. She then pointed toward the door and pantomimed walking in with her feet and then nodded.
"So parts of the tower are dangerous. Can you keep me away from those parts?"
Daisy nodded and fluttered away toward the entry of the tower. She left a glittering trail in the air behind her.
"Is that wise?" Zel asked. "Going in by yourself?"
"You're welcome to come with me."
"Yeah, no thanks. I spent my childhood being terrified of the place."
"Ratu?"
"Ugh, don't talk to me." The naga had covered her eyes. "If you want to go now, you'll have to go without me. Just let me take a nap." She folded in on herself and turned into a snake. Coiling up on the bench, she closed her eyes.
He frowned. It was going to be dark soon and he didn't like the idea of sleeping outside, no matter how tame the courtyard garden seemed. The glittering trail hovered in the air, so he followed it, walking up to the rounded walls of the tower.
Staring up its walls, he felt a brief moment of vertigo. It was several stories high and had a few windows and ledges. To his right, he could hear the waterfall flowing out of the cliff. He turned to look at it. It was literally a hole carved into the stone. He wondered if there was a lake somewhere nearby, or if Yuki had put in an aqueduct system. Stepping inside the tower, he slowed his movements to a crawl, waiting for a trap to spring.
Torches on the wall lit up at his entry, and the glittering trail hooked a hard left just inside the entrance. Looking at the ground, he saw faint lines in the dirt around the block in front of him.
"It's a trap," he muttered, stepping around it and following the trail. When he waved his hand through it, the trail scattered like dust, so he walked just to the left to leave it intact. A flight of stairs ascended the circular wall, and Daisy was waiting for him at the bottom. She pointed at a lever, so he shrugged and gave it a pull.
A mechanism clicked somewhere, and Daisy flew over to the trapped stone and landed on it repeatedly.
"It's safe now?" he asked.
She nodded, then took off toward him and up the stairs, the glittering trail forming behind her once more. The tower was rather large, but mostly empty. Any furnishings had long ago been stripped away, and nearly every floor had a set of traps that he could easily disable with a lever or a touch of a button.
Nearing the top of the tower, they entered a room with a pair of black, double doors at the other end and another flight of stairs. Daisy pointed at the door several times and shook her head no.
"Is that the dangerous part?" he asked. Happy to be understood, she nodded and flew up the stairs. He followed her until the wall suddenly opened up to reveal a large balcony with a breathtaking view of the valley below. He stepped away from Daisy's trail and approached the railing. Up here, flower boxes had been filled with roses, violets, and plenty of other flowers he couldn't identify. He put his hands on the railing and looked down.
He could just barely see the edge of the centaur settlement. There appeared to be no activity from them down below, but he could see most of the trail that had lead them here. A small cluster of centaurs moved along it carrying weapons, but that was all that he could see. He guessed they were maybe an hour out from the tower, if that. Straight down was a sheer drop, and to the left, he could see part of the courtyard. Zel was wandering around, collecting food in a small pile. He had passed through a kitchen on the way up, and wondered if she could bake them something.
To the right was another courtyard, but this one was barren of life. Instead, dozens of statues had been shoved up against the walls, packed in like sardines. They reminded him of the terracotta warriors from china, except they seemed to be far more lifelike. Plus all of them were centaurs, which was kind of weird.
Daisy tugged at his shirt collar, so he went back to following her. They walked into a large bedroom with a four poster bed and a small library against the wall. A chaise lounge near another balcony had an old book on it.
"Is this Yuki's room?" He walked to the balcony and looked out. The view from here was even better, allowing him to see the full length of the valley below. Centaur trails were easy to spot between the trees, and he could watch the sun disappear behind the thin sliver of ocean in the distance. He could just barely make out the sparkle of sunlight on the water, then looked away, blinking spots out of his eye.
Looking around the room, he was grateful that the whole tower had magical torches in the wall that kept the place well lit. An old rug on the floor looked like it had been around to witness the death of Christ, it had been worn down in places to the threads beneath. To its credit, the room was certainly clean, not that there was much to get dirty.
Daisy got his attention and flew over to the bookshelf, pointing at something. He ignored her, instead picking up the book on the table.
It was an old, illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland. The pages were wilted, many of them dog eared. Notes had been written all along the margins in what looked to be japanese.
"Interesting." He set the book down and walked over to where Daisy was pointing. The shelf had a few books on it, but also a chalkboard. When he pulled this out, Daisy blew a handful of glitter onto it.
