"Wow." Larya leaned over, her legs wobbling slightly to keep their balance. "Nice trench."
The Slick Trench loomed—or did the opposite of looming—before the druidess and her friends. Far beneath the surface of the ocean, just beyond the continental shelf, the Trench descended well past the range of Larya's spell-enhanced ocean vision. She leaned over further, staring into the gloomy depths. Her head cocked.
She felt soft hands grasp her shoulder and tug back slightly, causing her to slowly drift up, then back down back onto the solid ocean floor.
She turned and met the soft turquoise gaze of Nerka. The mermaid winked at her, scarlet salmon-like tail flicking mischievously. "Careful, druidess. The spell you cast on us carries many
perks
, but you're still only human and it's a difficult swim."
"Oh, I'd be alright." Larya smiled brightly. "I'm quite a good swimmer, actually."
Mylio swam up behind Nerka. The merman's muscular arms gripped a trident, and his tail was long and flat, with wing-like fins reminiscent of a manta ray. Larya swallowed as he approached. "With those thin little legs?" He smirked. "Those are good for only one thing, I should think."
"Walking?" said a dour voice. Larya glanced at Snatch, standing a short ways away along the cliff edge. The dark-haired human thief peered over the edge of the abyss, then looked sideways at her. "Larya, the place is pocked with caverns."
"Isn't that good?"
Snatch grumbled indistinctly. Larya's smile widened. She knew that if there was any type of job her partner
could
stand, it was a dungeon crawl.
"Indeed," Mylio said curtly, and Larya realized he had drifted inches away from her. "We will have to search each of the holes. Thoroughly, I should think."
"Take fucking forever," Snatch muttered. He turned around. "Ain't you gonna come closer? You're our guides, right?"
Behind the whole group, their 'guides' tittered nervously.
The two mermaids looked virtually identical. Each possessed the same long red hair, long green-scaled fish tails, peachy skin and bright blue eyes. They looked, in fact, exactly like what one would expect upon hearing the word "mermaid". The only visible difference between them was the color of the live starfish fastened to—and, Larya had learned, sucking from—their bounteous breasts. "Orange" raised a hand. "We guide to the Slick Trench. We aren't going
in
, human."
"Ooh, that'd be
suicide
. Or worse!" Blue nodded. Each mermaid had an arm casually draped around the other's naked waist, and each was trying to sidle around to use the other as a barrier—as if even being this close to the Slick Trench was unbearable.
"Aren't you
from
the Trench?" Snatch asked.
Orange giggled again, looking even more nervous. "We got out while we still could, dear boy."
"There's no-one left down there."
"All gone." Orange's head lowered. "All taken by
them.
"
Larya frowned. Her heart went out to the pair of fey. Despite the fact that they had just an hour ago shamelessly seduced her, they didn't seem that bad-intentioned. At least they'd waited for consent—unlike Nerka and Mylio. And considering what they'd been through ... "Did you see what did it?"
Orange and Blue both looked at her. They shook their heads.
Mylio rolled his eyes. "Ignore them. They are, as I said, little more than landwhores without legs."
"You keep saying that like it's a word," Snatch said. "You know it's two words, right? You can't just make up words. That's ... that's ..." He tapped his spear irritably, "... stupid."
Mylio looked at Snatch with disdain bordering on total disgust. He didn't say a word.
"C'mon, Snatch," Larya said. She started to pat her partner on the shoulder, but stopped, remembering how much he hated being touched. "Orange, Blue, thanks
so much
for your help. You, uh, you said there's a path down, right?"
"Oh, yes, Larya!" Orange chirped, seeming to forget her poor mood. "Right to the left there. And if you decide to come back and not die, look us up!"
"Uh..."
Orange had started rubbing her arm, eyes half-closing in pleasure both present and remembered. "You really should give this up. Stay with us."
"I can't," Larya said, frowning at them. "I have a job."
"Mm." Orange looked sad. Then her fingers slid over her arm, and her eyes closed all the way. "Well, think about it. We'd ... mm ... do
anything
to have you."
"Again," Blue agreed.
"For
eeee
ver," they sang together. They giggled, then turned and swam off.
Larya felt her face going red. She knew Mylio was smirking at her and tried to avoid his gaze. "Right. Path. Let's go."
Something in the Slick Trench was killing merfolk. Mer
maids
, according to Mylio. Snatch and Larya had been hired to help find out what.
~~~~
"I still think you have no place here," Mylio said irritably.
The four of them were a fair ways down the narrow ledge by now. Up until now, Mylio had stayed mostly quiet. The reprieve from silence was not appreciated, and Larya grimaced. "Oh?"
"Whatever is down here has targeted no males so far," Mylio said. He hesitated, then continued, "Only the whores and wantons of the Slick Trench have been taken. Dragged down, moaning and writhing, begging to be touched all over. You will be no different. Yet you persist."
"I'm not just
any
wan—not just anyone," Larya snapped. "I'm a
druidess
. We're made of ... stronger stuff."
She scowled up at Snatch, who said nothing. He generally wasn't very eager to discuss her ... episodes, but she couldn't be too careful. The recent incident with the quicksand was still grating on him, she could tell, and she did not want Mylio hearing about that. Judging by his insufferably sexy smile, he didn't really believe her, anyways.
"Besides," she said, coughing (a little stream of bubbles flew from her mouth), "you're bringing Nerka, aren't you?"
"Oh, of course, darling." Nerka swam up right beside Larya. She reached out and ran a hand through Larya's dark hair, streaming behind her through the water. "I am sent by my father to ensure things go—aheh—swimmingly." She pulled her hand back to place upon her chest, striking a proud pose. "Specifically, I am here to keep my lovely, impetuous Mylio in his pla—
oh
!"
Her eyes widened as Mylio's hands suddenly lunged out and grasped her abdomen, starting to stroke over her hypersensitive skin. She shook, raising her arms in a half-hearted attempt at breaking the hold, but Mylio was too strong—and she was clearly too aroused by the sensations.
Mylio laughed in Nerka's ear. "She is here because her father does not like me, and he will not listen to
reason
." He brought up one hand, stroking Nerka's cheek. Larya heard little keening sounds escaping Nerka's lush red lips. "Luckily, my sweet little mate is easily ...
handled
."
He continued to stroke Nerka. She continued to moan. Larya couldn't look away. She looked at Mylio, smug, confident, possessive. She looked to Nerka, gasping, overwhelmed with pleasure, submissive. She knew that Mylio
would
take her, too, if he got the chance.
Snatch shoved past her, sighing. Mylio looked up. His eyes met Larya's.
His sly smile made her cunt clench slightly.
She gulped, straightened her robes, and kept walking. She tried to ignore Nerka's rising moans as an orgasm approached. She tried to resist the urge to look, to watch Nerka's eyes roll back into her skull, to watch Nerka shake and spasm in Mylio's grip as he stroked her breasts repeatedly, extending the pleasure, totally without mercy. She tried to resist the urge to imagine herself in Nerka's place.
Of course she couldn't.
~~~~
Snatch tried to contain his annoyance as he heard the mermaid orgasm. He wasn't used to containing that, but he was getting sick of Mylio out ... talking him. The fey was quicker than Snatch. Better at thinking of taunts and comebacks. Most people were, of course.
He grasped the edge of the cave, giving a sniff. Nothing.
"Of course," he muttered. "Spell lets me hear all that shit. Lets me hear the yammering, lets me see them fucking, but smell?
No, no, no.
Can't have Snatch
sniffing
things. That'd be too goddamn useful. What a good spell. What a great spell."
Despite his irritation, at least it was a cave. Snatch knew caves. Aside from cities, caves were the only place where he felt like he knew what was going on.
"What's it smell like?" Larya asked.
He glared at her. "Can't smell anything over the damn sweaty fishpeople back there."
Larya grinned. "Merfolk don't sweat when they're underwater, Snatch. They barely sweat above it. I mean, if you think about it, yhe last thing their skin needs is to be more slippery." She paused. "I mean, considering the sensory—"
"Yes! Yes!" Snatch threw up his arms. "You don't gotta explain everything, druid, about the goddamn merfolk life cycle!"
He was getting seriously sick of his adventuring companion's need to empathize with the merfolk. This would be the last job they worked together. No more procrastinating, no more delaying, no more putting it off, no more of anything else. He was sick of having a so-called partner—especially a partner that got seduced by every other fey, demon, elf or sorceress they came across. Larya could go off studying nymphs and mermaids and hobs, and he could go ... do something else. Anything else.
"Short human!" Mylio called. "Have you examined the entryway yet? We grow weary of your paranoia."
"You won't be weary when my paranoia saves me and
only me
from the insane spike trap and you are a funny pile of floating mermaid slush," Snatch muttered.
"What was that?"
