Mimic Ch 09

Lunixri sulked. Trinseccet had lied about not being able to find the intruder. She was feeling more like a slave to her dragon form than part of it. LocNial was gone and she had no other friends. The harem was more of a job than enjoyable anymore. Rincitni, on the other hand, was fresh and new. She had a chance to make a new friend. Nye had really come out of her shell since bonding with Rincitni. She was happy for the half-Nixie.

Zerret had finally given them pet names, Passion and Sly. They suited the women well. Passion was showing just how strong a female can be without losing what it means to be a woman. Lunixri wanted a friend. Passion was going to need someone to talk to with her experience. Perhaps this would work out for the best. Passion knew the secret and only once had she slipped. Even with the great stress of the situation, she caught herself before saying too much.

"Alright," she said. "Time to have a word with Trin and see what's what."

She stood and crossed her private chamber. Stepping out into the harem chamber, she saw Vale helping a still quivering Norrinshrin. The drow maiden was flushed. Vale smiled as Norri rattled off quips about Passion and Sly. Lunixri nodded to Vale, who nodded in return. They would have to talk when she returned. Vale winked as a sign of "You got it." Lunixri turned and left to have a heart to heart with Trinseccet.

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Zerret sat in a large stuffed chair watching Passion and Sly trying to set up a raised cot. They had found all manner of things while he slept. The chamber was taking on a lived in feel. It felt comfortable. The room was still elegant, clean, and well organized. Dyneehlu had awakened long enough for Passion to get her to eat. Sly made mention that they were going to need use of the table, eventually. After taking Norri back to the harem, they returned with a litter of parts for a cot.

He couldn't help but smile at the antics these two were putting on. Still coming to terms with the loss of LocNial, he was finding more in his 120 year collection of human memory. It hurt to lose him, but in a way it had helped him grow in his understanding of the bipedal realm. Even his bonding with the Cloaker had brought new understanding and for that part of him there was a sense of peace and remorse. It had known no other way, like Dyneehlu. Kept from the knowledge that there were other ways of being treated, finding the necessities of life, or even knowing that they were cared about. In such a way "His kind", Mimic, were just as blind as the Cloaker had been.

"Keeper, we need your help. Our attempts at cot building are dangerous and shabby. Would you permit me to find someone to build it for us?" Passion asked. Sly kneeled at her side, sad eyed and pouty lipped.

"You think to bring someone else into this chamber. I am not enough?" He said playfully, pointing at Sly. "You think someone other than your Keeper should provide for the pets in his keeping!"

Their eyes opened wide in surprise. He stood and leveled a hand at the hazardously constructed cot. Weaving the spell in his mind, a flow of energy gathered into his body. He released the energy through his hand and the cot unraveled then reformed into a sturdier form.

"If either of you question or doubt me, I will not show you favor. As this is the first time, I will overlook how such things could insult my manhood," he said in mock dejection. "I think I may need consoling, however."

Their eyes glittered with mischief. Both donned sad faces and tried to keep from showing how much this was affecting them in other places. Passion's body betrayed her by glossing in a sheen of sweat, while Sly's ass just wouldn't stop wiggling.

"I am sorry great and powerful Keeper," purred Passion.

"Will you punish us? We have not made you feel manly. We should be taught a lesson by your manhood, most masculine master," cooed Sly.

"Your mouths are making noise, not consoling," he said pointing between his legs. He had morphed a pair of penises, one for each of their hot little mouths. "If you can think of no way to atone..." They were moving in on him before he could finish.

Each of them took one of his members into their lips as quickly as they could. Their thoughts of how good this was feeling for him had their pussies weeping nectar. He sighed and moaned as they showered his throbbing cocks in sensual affection. Reaching down, he grabbed the tops of their heads and pulled them from him. Locking eyes with their lust filled gazes, he retracted the phallic adornments.

"I am very satisfied. Now you must do so for each other. I want to be entertained," he said with a heavy sigh.

"Will you pleasure with us more, sweet Keeper?" Passion mewed.

"I may, but not just now," he replied.

Sly blindsided her with a shower of kisses, standing and all but carrying her towards the bed. Once to the bed, Sly was a little wildcat. She licked and groped any part of Passion could get . It was like watching a hungry animal trying to feast on its still live prey. Passion moaned in pleasured defeat as Sly tongue lashed her yearning blossom.

Zerret stepped to the table side. Dyneehlu watched the women in their play with mixed fears. Looking in on her thoughts yielded a different meaning to her expression. She wanted to join them. His show of dominance over them told her where her place was. And to give Passion pleasure would be her paradise. But she was in pain, real physical pain. What had been done to her flesh brought pain to her to quail any hope of arousal.

"Do you want to feel their pleasure? I can do that," he said.

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "No, it would be wrong."

Her thoughts were of them leaving the bed and coming to the table to rub their sweet bodies all over her tormented skin. She wanted it but would not. She felt unclean and hideous. Fear that her blades would mar the beauty of their bodies, and make them not want her. Best to not dream what you can not have.

{You misunderstand what I offer you,}

Zerret whispered in her thoughts.

"How? The Illithid is dead. What?" Dyneehlu mumbled. Her thoughts ran right where he wanted to see. The face of the being that ordered her to kill LocNial, but it was gone before he could grab it. She tumbled over her own thoughts. It was there. He just had to use a different approach.

{Quiet yourself. Do you want to disturb their sensual display?}

He purred huskily. Her eyes darted back to the bed

. {See, I can let you feel what one of them is feeling. You would feel every lick and caress. They would not mind. In fact, Passion invites me to feel from her often.}

He breath was shallow, panting. He could see she wanted it, and knew doing it would hurt

. {I will be here the whole time. I will take away the pain and let you feel the pleasure your previous Keeper has denied you. I can force you to feel it, but I am neither cruel or callous. The choice is yours.}

"I want to feel Passion," she said in a whispering exhale.

{And you shall,}

he sent as he opened the floodgates of Sly's sexual sensorium to Dyneehlu's mind. It bathed her intellect in a lust laden tapestry. He reached in and numbed all of her body's own nervous system. In an instant, Dyneehlu was teetering on the edge of euphoric vertigo.

Passion held Sly's labia open wide, and pressed firmly to get the Nixie's clitoral hood to release its captive pleasure maker. Leaning down, she bathed the eager bud with a sensual silken slap of the underside of her tongue. Dyneehlu and Sly both exploded in orgasm. Sly moaned and mewed as she wriggled under Passion's sinful oral conquest. Dyneehlu had passed out completely.

He searched her memory. He found faces without names, and half understood statements made around her. She was given about as much attention and courtesy as a chair. Two things were clear: First, the first moonless night after word of the mind eater's death reached them, an assault of the fortress was to take place. Second, was that Rincitni was a target. She and any she was kept with were to be slain, plain and simple.

Zerret let the woman slumber in the euphoria of orgasmic afterglow and slid out of her memories and mind. He was pissed. His body started morphing into blades and armor. Motion out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. A step leap across the room and he was on top of it. It was one of Loc's little green pets.

"Master save," it hissed waving a clutched piece of parchment at him. Before he could see the little Kobold's thoughts, it passed out. It was gaunt and haggard, it didn't seem likely this thing had eaten in days. Both Passion and Sly had been startled from their lovemaking by his aggressive passage through the room. He looked over at the pair apologetically.

"What is it?" asked Passion.

"One of Loc's snack-pets. It fell into the room from Trin's viewing port." He said pointing up at the ceiling. He reached out and took the parchment from the little creature's hand. As his fingers touched the parchment, Loc's voice rolled over his senses

{I am not all dead, Zerret. But if I am left here, I will most assuredly go insane. Follow this one back to me. LocNial.}

"Passion, get food and water. Now. Sly, clean off the dripping sex and go get my Uncle. I don't care which face, just get her here now. We have a real problem and not much time to get out of it. GO!" he ordered. "I will make up for this, if we all survive."

"Is it that bad?" Sly asked as she grabbed the wash rag to wipe down with.

"How much time?" Passion asked.

"I don't know, Loc is still partially alive. This little thing has been wandering for days trying to find my scent. It is the only one that knows where the living part of Loc is. And if that isn't enough, she overheard a conversation about an attack on the fortress," he said, pointing at Dyneehlu. "That will happen on the first moonless night after they hear of the Illithid's death. If memory serves, that would be tomorrow, right?"

"I will get Trinseccet," Sly said, her features pale at his statement.

"Passion, I don't have a healing spell. I have been around those that have cast it. You think you can guard me if I try it?" he asked.

"Guard? I will do whatever you need me to. Just explain what you mean," she said, pointing at her head.

He sent what he intended to do and how, as well as what she needed to do as guard. He gathered energy, as it had with his other uses of magic. He focused on the Kobold, picturing it healthy and awake. He sent waves of energy into the little unconscious being. It didn't take long. It's eyes opened and it blinked as if it were looking into the face of God. Passion set a plate of meats and fruits in front of the little creature. It rejoiced over its completed mission and grabbed meats ravenously.

"Master good. Be safe, monster of master," it chittered over a mouth full of roasted meat.

"When you have eaten, you will show monster where resting place of master is?" Zerret said, feeling his way through his words more than understanding how to ask this little creature.

"Monster take box. Box master put inside," it said, pointing at its forehead.

Zerret glanced at Passion a bit leerily.

"Master put box inside your head?" Passion asked.

"He make thinks in head I no can think," it said.

"Loc told me it was how you can keep secrets in plain sight in the Illithid communities. If everyone you talk to can see all of your thoughts, put private thoughts in a mind that they would not bother looking in," he said. "I have never done this."

{I don't want to kill it by accident,}

he added mentally.

"Just peek. Loc wouldn't have made it difficult," Passion suggested.

He calmed himself and opened the thoughts of the little Kobold. It was a simple creature, yet there were quite a few advanced patterns in the way it processed ideas. What seemed more out of the ordinary was a lack of long term memories. He found what the creature was talking about. A box in his head. A folded cube of memory that was not related to any other thought the thing had. He removed it and brought it into himself.

"Monster so much sneaky than master," it chimed in pleasant tones.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Passion asked.

"I don't barge into someone's head, I only share space and am usually unnoticed. I have had lots of practice at being gentle with you," he said.

He focused inwardly, turning the cube end over end. Its form started to unfold. A conversation with himself. A key in the panel of the chest of draws, a chest in the keep's treasury that the key fit, and a wand that would return the petrified Loc to flesh. The statue of him in the closet across the hall from his chamber door. It was the other half of him.

Trinseccet said any one that learned the curse suffered being split in two. Loc was no exception. But he was a creature of mind and the duality was killing them both. If one died so would the other, but if one was immortal the other could pass on and the other would survive. It was a gamble for the two of Loc, but facing death together versus one living and the other living on after the first had past. They took the chance and it had paid off.

He had a plan. Get the key to get the wand to unpetrify Loc. Where was Uncle? She needed to be told of the coming attack. With so little time, he was starting to morph from the stress.

"Zerret, calm down. You're starting to go all spiky," Passion said.

"Nephew, are you sure about this?" Trinseccet asked as she descended into the chamber. "This was told to you by Dyneehlu? Could she be lying?"

"She is not lying, Uncle. It is in her memory. A conversation between her Keeper and his brother. They paid more attention to the chairs they were sitting in than to her. Her keeper said, 'The first moonless night after we have confirmation of the mind-eater's death, we will attack.' She has overheard many of those conversations. They really want Lunixri as a way of controlling you. But even beyond that, they want Rincitni Nelselleen killed along with any she is kept with."

Passion froze at the sound of her own name spoken. Zerret had said they wanted her killed. Trinseccet looked closer at the woman on the table. Even she cringed at seeing the level of torment that had been wrought into the woman's flesh. This girl was also the host for a Cloaker. Zerret must have found some way around the Cloaker's memory stealing ability.

"Alright, Nephew. I will take your warning to heart and prepare," she said.

"Loc was cursed? Like you, Uncle? What happened to his other half?" Zerret asked.

"Loc told me he did away with her. That they would have both died if he hadn't."

"What if I told you that part of Loc was still alive?" Asked Zerret, gesturing at the little Kobold eating hungrily under a side table.

"Find her! She would be able to hold the wards and prevent an all-out attack against the fortress. We would hold an advantage by allowing smaller numbers access at a time."

"Have Lunixri meet me at the treasure doors in twenty minutes with the keys."

"Done," she said, rising from the room quickly.

"Keeper, what about her?" Passion asked.

"Watch her," he said

. {The Cloaker was how they controlled her. She was theirs for a long time. If she starts moving and is afraid, put her back to sleep or knock her out. I don't want you hurt.}

"Understood, Keeper," Passion replied.

{What do I tell Sly?}

{Nothing aloud, but I feel your distress. Hold her to you and ask her to pick up where she left off,}

he sent to her as he crossed the room. "When Sly returns, bolt this door. No one enters without me present. This will be a standing rule for the time being."

She nodded and watched him exit.

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Lunixri paced her room like a caged cat. Sly had just left and Trinseccet just before her. Hearing that Loc might still be alive somehow had her rattled. She had just come to terms with the loss. Now he might still be alive. Somehow, everything wasn't what she thought they were. The assassin she tried beating to death was less of a prisoner then she was.

"Ixri, you need to meet Zerret at the treasury. He needs to get in there for something. I need to gather the fortress' defenses. It is not a trick. Zerret saw it in Dyneehlu's memories. Even if it was a trick, I would listen to Zerret, anyway." Trinseccet said. "You were right. I will have to listen to your side more often."

"I know sometimes I forget I am supposed to be a dragon. But more often than not, you forget no one else here is, either. I will gather the keys and meet Zerret. We will talk about it later. And thank you," Lunixri said.

Meeting each other's gaze, understanding was shared. Lunixri walked from the room and Trinseccet turned her way down the corridor.

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Zerret ripped the closet door from its hinges. Stepping into the room, he could feel Loc. He reached out with his thoughts

. {Loc, are you in here? I can feel you, but see no sign of you.}

{I would say it is about time but, given what I feel from you, just in time would be more appropriate,}

Loc sent

. {As far as where I am... You are standing on me, silly boy.}

"What?" he said, half jumping. Studying the floor intently, seams in the stone flooring started to make sense. With a mental push of magic, a part of the floor slid back into a recess under the wall. It was an Illithidian style crypt. The magics that he triggered cleansed the room and the stone body. Zerret was taken aback; it was female, very female.

{Uncle Loc?}

he asked.

{Yes and no. I am LocNial,}

she sent

. {I am the primitive half. I am very female. The one you knew would share what it learned and thought with me, but to talk to him would harm us both. Where is the wand?}

"I haven't retrieved it yet," he said.

"What is that, Keeeper Zerret? How can I..." Norrinshrin asked, then had her voice drop with her jaw.

"Norri, get weapons and guard this hallway. I don't care if it is a guard, goat, or God. Let no one down here until I return. Will you do this for me, noble Norrinshrin?" he asked in earnest.

{I will thank you most personally for your protection, beautiful Norri,}

Loc added.

Norrinshrin blinked in disbelief. The Mindflayer was alive. She was afraid and extremely turned on that Zerret would ask this of her. The images of the Illithid thanking her personally sent chills into her. Stepping closer to Zerret, she looked more closely at Loc's frozen form.

"I will, Keeper. None shall enter save you." She turned and bolted from the hallway. "I will have weapons to ready in two minutes."

{You are a primitive. You are going to have to reign that in once you are out of here,}

he sent.

{I could not help it. Even my other half wanted to hold her down and suck her cross-eyed,}

Loc sent with a song of feminine laughter.

{Make her so fucking horny crazy that every time she saw an Illithid she'd cum.}

"This is going to get interesting fast. If we survive, that is."

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Staring at the treasury doors did nothing to slow the race of thoughts in Lunixri's mind. She wanted Rincitni to be her friend because Loc was gone, but now Loc was coming back. She didn't know what to do. It was nice being balanced with Trinseccet after weeks of butting heads. How was this going to work?

"Wow. I guess it is a female thing," Zerret said as he turned the corner into the hallway.

"What are you talking about?" Lunixri asked

"The internal arguments. Rincitni used to do it so much I could hardly think. Now that she has a place and friends, she knows who she is and argues much less often," he said with a grin.