The engraved stones littering the forest were carved into perfect disks, completely smooth aside from the runes. They'd be great for skipping, if they weren't half Abby's size by weight.
The little adventurer grunted, burrowing her fingers as deep under the stone as they could go, locking her knees and tugging with all her might. Bits of moss and startled insects fell away as the stone slowly wrenched out of the earth.
She wasn't strong enough to flip it--by circumference, the darn thing was two feet wide, over half her height--so she just slid it a few inches out of its resting place, then dropped it with a grateful sigh.
She fell to her knees and squinted through the gap she'd created.
Dark earth, squirming worms, skittering pincerbugs and an especially startled newt stared back at her.
"Not this one, either," she mumbled to herself sourly. Abby's calves were killing her, and she badly wanted to just flop onto her back in the grass and stare up at the fiery maple canopy and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon.
But no, no, she still had plenty of stones left to turn. She cracked her back as best she could, then straightened and made her way toward the next rock, carefully picking her way around the plump pitcher-shaped flowers blanketing the forest. Each honeycup flower was filled to the brim with fermented nectar, but this late in the fall and this close to the Glacier, no insects were around to be lured in, and the honeycups remained pristine and untouched. There weren't even any bears in these parts to lap up the nectar and scare off browsing deer. It almost seemed a shame that all the flower's hard work would go to waste.
Fifteen flipped stones in, Abby was starting to sympathize.
She bent over, critically surveying her sixteenth stone, then started feeling around it a solid grip.
"Oh,
hello
, there~"
Abby jumped with a squeak as the voice rang out. She whirled around. The only creature in the area she could see was a distant ground squirrel scurrying for cover.
"Who said that?" she asked, reaching for her weapon.
The feminine voice possessed a trailing hiss. "Up here,
sssweetnesss.
"
"You're all 'up there'," Abby muttered, but the meaning set in a moment later as the direction of the voice fully registered.
She looked straight up.
The speaker smiled down at her. "There you go!"
The speaker was a lady--a lamia lady, Abby mentally corrected, noting long, thick serpentine coils. Her scales were a pretty pastel pink, with a dazzling sunlit glimmer of white that sort of reminded Abby of abalone. Abby had seen rubber boas before, but never one so... eye-catching.
Abby's gaze traveled up the length of the coils to wide, shapely hips and a comfy waist. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she quickly took her gaze past an enormous pair of tits--covered only by a tight crop top that did nothing to conceal the lamia's, well, underboob--and up to a plump, pretty heart-shaped face. Light freckles dappled the lamia's cheeks, and her turquoise eyes blossomed with sparkling stars. Black hair rolled down her shoulders in languid waves, with a single unbloomed honeycup tucked behind an elfin ear.
Abby stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "It's rude to sneak up on people, you know."
The lamia giggled. She hung by her lengthy coils to dangle directly over Abby's head, forcing Abby to back up a little just to avoid craning her neck too painfully. "Oh, I'm
sssoooo sssorry,
dear. I didn't mean to frighten you~!"
Abby swallowed. "You didn't frighten me. You
startled
me. There's a difference."
"Mm. I
underssstand
." The lamia dipped down a little, letting Abby relax her neck a bit. "It'sss okay, dear. A little one like you
mussst
be awfully on edge, all alone in the big
woodsss
."
"Why should I be?" Abby smirked, cocking her head to the side. "I'm an adventurer. This is just another day on the job for me."
The lamia blinked, then laughed. "Oh! Oh, you're adorable~!" She descended a bit lower, swaying slightly back and forth to keep balance. Her eyes were still about two feet above Abby. Her boobs were about close to eye-level, not that Abby was looking. "You may call me Kaari, by the way. What
isss
your name, little 'adventurer'?"
"Abby." Abby's eyes narrowed. "And I
am
an adventurer."
"Oh, really?" Kaari raised an eyebrow. Abby felt something brush her chin, then tip it up, and she realized it was the tip of Kaari's tail. "But how can you be? You're
sssooo
cute and
helplesss
!"
"I-I'm
quite
capable," Abby snapped, smacking the tail away. A part of her felt flustered, but she forced herself to stare this rude snake woman dead in the eye. "I've been adventuring for years."
"Mm-hm." Kaari's eyes sparkled. "And what
bringsss
a
ssseasoned adventuressss
like you to a place like thisss?"
"I'm... looking for the secret entrance to the Brokenwinter Vaults." Abby had been a little secretive in town about where she was going and why, but she supposed a lamia probably wouldn't care about treasure. Not like Abby did, either, but she didn't like people trying to beat her to the exciting parts. "It's supposed to be under one of these stones..." She gestured around herself at the dozens of stones surrounding them. "Only I don't know how to translate the inscriptions, so I just have to keep..."
"Oh, you're just
too preciousss
~!" Kaari cooed, cutting through Abby's words and totally disrupting the train of thought. She reached down and patted Abby on the head, fingers idly combing through her curly hair. "But the Brokenwinter Vault is
sssupposed
to be terribly perilousss, isssn't it?"
"I--yes." Abby's face heated up. She swatted Kaari's hand away, but Kaari's other hand just started petting her instead. She resolved to just ignore it. Everyone knew lamias were incorrigible flirts. Besides, Kaari's insufferable smile was occupying basically all of her attention right now. "Very dangerous. I-I mean, not for me, but--"
"Goodnesss, you're
sssooo
brave." Kaari's sibilant voice coiled silkily around Abby as the hand stroked her hair. Abby heard a slithering in the grass, a faint scraping against the stones, but she wasn't giving Kaari the satisfaction of ducking her head from those sly, sparkling eyes. "An adorable, fearlesss girl. But the Brokenwinter Vault really
sssoundsss
much too
dangerousss
for a darling little one like you~!"
Abby's cheeks were burning, and she finally brushed Kaari's hand away."I--again, I'm a
seasoned adventurer
."
"
Sssure
you are~" Kaari's smile widened as she leaned in a little closer.
Abby bit her lip. Kaari had awfully pretty eyes. It felt annoyingly hard to stay mad at her when those icy turquoise eyes shimmered so sweetly, sparkled like sugar crystals...
... swirled like snowstorms with so many pretty rippling circles...
"I am," she said stubbornly, but she felt so distracted, the words came out as a mumble to herself. She bit her lip. "I am an adventurer!" she said louder, fixing those pretty eyes with a defiant glare.
"Of
courssse
," oozed Kaari's condescending response. Kaari's eyes swirled. Slow, concentric circles. Abby felt herself getting a little dizzy. She kept blinking rapidly, but every time she managed to recover her balance, the swirls would draw her back in. She almost felt like she was... floating... "I already
sssaid
I believed you, didn't I?"
"I--" Abby shifted from foot to foot. "I
guess
, but you didn't..."
Swirl...
"Didn't what?" Kaari murmured.
"... didn't sound very, um..." Abby felt something brush her calf. Probably just... just... "... con--convinced..."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kaari's smile widened. She leaned a little closer, reaching down a hand to pat Abby's cheek. "Why wouldn't I have
perfect
confidence in a
little
one like you~?"
Abby squirmed. She wanted to flinch away from the hand touch, but it didn't feel... bad, exactly. Kaari's hand was nice and cool, and Abby's cheeks felt like they were on fire. "I... but, but you're..."
"Maybe you're projecting," Kaari said reasonably. Abby felt more sensations over her calves, but her attention was totally absorbed by Kaari right now. "Maybe you feel
insssecure
, poor thing~?"
"I--but--" Abby felt like her words were drifting aimlessly around her brain, like her thoughts were in Kaari's eyes, and every swirl of those circles separated more and more of them from each other until they were too scattered to piece together. "No, that's--I'm not--"
"After all," Kaari purred, "you are
sssooo very sssmall!
And the world is
sssoo
awfully big! Poor frightened little bunny~"
"N-No." Abby's fists clenched. "That's--I'm
not--
"
"Maybe I should take you in," the lamia said thoughtfully. Her eyes swirled. Deeper. Deeper. "For your own protection. Wouldn't you like that, little one?"
Abby was mustering a retort when she felt a faint tickle under her belt. She made herself blink, swaying slightly, then started to look down--
"Well?" The amusement in Kaari's voice snapped Abby back to attention. She looked back up and scowled at the lamia. Kaari was looking quite amused. "Are we having trouble
focusssing, sssweetie
?"
"No." Abby set her jaw resolutely. "I don't... I'm perfectly..."
Swirl. Swirl.
"... focused."
"Goooood."
Kaari bobbed from side to side in the air, and despite a strange sense of vertigo, Abby tried to track the motions. It seemed like the eyes' concentric circles followed her no matter where Kaari was, always swirling deeper and deeper, pulling her deeper and deeper in... "
Sssuch
a good little bunny! You want me to take care of you, don't you?"
"I-I don't!" Abby tried to stomp her foot, but it felt weirdly heavy for some reason. It wouldn't go up. Her pants felt kind of tight all of a sudden, too. "I'm--I'm p-perfectly capable..."
"P-Perfectly capable," Kaari echoed mockingly, making Abby's cheeks burn hotter. "Oh, Goddesses, you're just
sssoo preciousss
~!"
"N-No I'm... not..." Abby squirmed. She felt a faint chill over her stomach, then her breasts, but the chill was soon replaced with a feeling of... tightness... warm, smooth scales sliding over her bare breasts... "I-I've been doing this for years!"
"Oh, really?" In the background, Abby thought she saw the tip of Kaari's tail in motion, draping something colorful over a low-hanging tree branch. It was funny, because the thing it was hanging was the same color and pattern as her bra, but that had to be... to be... Kaari's eyes seemed to glow brighter, pulling Abby's focus back in. "Then you're clearly overdue for
sssomeone
to look after you."
"Nngh." Abby squirmed. The sensations against her pert nipples felt... kind of nice.... and Kaari's eyes were just so pretty... "I'm in perfect control, f-for your... information."