Release and Slavery

Before either woman could speak, there came a loud clicking sound and Elody fell forward. The chains had disconnected from the wall! She half staggered and half fell to the ground. Opposite of her, Coursa was doing the same. Then there was a gurgling noise. Water? But where was it coming from?

The centre of the room. The hole which Elody had noted earlier. The square of blackness leading to who knew where was now filling with water. It looked pure and clean, glistening with promise. Even Elody, who did not have to think, could see how tempting it was. Coursa moved to it with a look of relief, falling on her chest and scooping it up with her hands. She drank greedily and deeply, enjoying it more than any other drink in her life.

Elody used that time to gather her wits again. She pressed her back against the wall and rested, breathing deeply. Course continued to drink. After a while, she finally seemed to be done. Samantha's sister crawled towards Elody and settled herself against the wall beside her. She drew her knees up to her chest and was silent for a while. Like she was thinking.

"That solves that problem at least," Elody told her. "There is more than enough water here for the night. It seems we've solved the puzzle."

"That's right," Coursa said. "It's almost a pity..."

Elody looked at her for a moment but then shook her head.

"Anyway, we should get back to what we were talking about before. You wanted me to carry a message to your sister?"

"No."

"Pardon?" Elody looked at Course again, concern touching her. "Don't you wish me to carry your words? Your warning?"

"I think..." Coursa said slowly, as if putting something together. "I think I was wring. Overexcited. Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking. Obviously my master sold me on because I couldn't please him enough, and I don't have a sister. Slaves aren't allowed to acknowledge family unless instructed to do so by their master, so I can't have a sister."

"Coursa!" Elody was on her feet in an instant, turning towards the other woman. She gripped her and pulled her up. "What are you talking about? You were saying only a few moments ago how you did not want to be a ****! How you were tricked and abused?"

"I'm sorry! I was really overwhelmed! B-but I see it all so clearly now. I was in the wrong. I signed my contract willingly, I have to serve my time. After that I'll be free and have money. it's not so bad. And it's not Coursa. Coursa was the name I used to have. Now I am just a ****."

Elody felt bile in the back of her throat. She searched for some sign, any hint as to the woman who had been there before but it was gone. It had been washed away. Just like before, she could detect no magic on the woman and yet something had happened. Desperately she looked for even the smallest hint of the person who could have been her friend.

There was none.

Coursa was gone.

Elody's body trembled. Not from pleasure this time or anticipation. Rage filled her. Anger boiled inside of her. The sort of anger which brought an elder nature spirit to lay waste to a city of invaders. The sort of anger which was recorded in legend. She looked at Coursa and saw just a husk. Someone whose will had been stolen and which she could not give back. The crime and the helplessness both stung like a blade against her skin.

How had it happened? There was only one way to be sure. She moved towards the water. It did not seem magical but if there was anything this trip had proved so far, it was that her assumptions were not always correct. She reached out and cupped the water, drawing it towards her mouth. Beads fell against her chest and breasts, but she ignored the feeling. She drunk the water. It was wonderful, cool, refreshing and invigoration.

And her mind was filled with memories of sex and pleasure. The feeling of the stone dildo inside of her, how her climax had boiled through her body. Her limbs shook and Elody felt the enhanced memory and feelings batter against her mind. Pleasure. Sex. A desire to be used. It was all all coupled together. This was the life of a **** of Gelmina and since she was here, that was obvious what she was. All she had to do was surrender and accept that. In fact, it wasn't even a request! She could feel the water rushing through her mind, opening her to suggestion. And the suggestion came from her own subconscious. The chains which marked her and the sex game she had just played both made her well aware of her status as a ****.

That was the trap. The puzzle made her think it but could not make her believe it. The water made her believe it, but could not make her think it.

The feeling wrapped her up, filled her from head to toe. Her mind became fogged and every thought other than being a **** fell away. For an instant, Elody was gone.

Then she snapped out of it. A suggestion which was tailored to humans could not long hold her, and as soon as her subconscious mind sensed what was happening, her power flexed and the magic of the water was broken. She stumbled, but she was still herself.

"The water!" Elody snarled. "I am a fool! I should have been able to tell before! If they have been serving this in the palace, I have no excuse for not seeing it! But of course, I do not drink. Idiot. If my stupidity reflects on anyone else, then I will not forgive myself for this."

She eyed the water dangerously.

"And I will certainly not forgive the one behind it."

She looked back to Coursa, wondering if she could do something for her. But she knew that she could not. the power of the water was too great to overcome, and it was not a typical spell she could just break. Maybe in a few weeks or a few months, assuming she had drank no more. But for now, Coursa was well and truly under the spell of the water.

Anger broiled inside of her again. She knew that she should now return to Vrasha and report her finding. That would be the logical thing to do. The smart thing.

But she did not want to.

She wanted to follow the water, to find out where it was coming from.

To make them pay.

In a single instant, Elody threw off her human form. She discarded it more easily and more quickly than she ever had before. Coursa watched in shock and amazement as the other woman simply seemed to vanish into the air. Her chains clattered to the ground.

And Elody floated above it all. A formless being composed only of will, and strength and pure, burning rage. She dove for the water and immersed herself in it, following it back towards the pump system which had sent it to them. She did not perceive the world with human eyes now, but with the sense of a nature spirit. The water coiled against her but in her true from it had no power over her at all.

She darted deeper into the earth, following flows and cracks and fissures. Machinery soon became older, the pumps gleamed with metal. Deeper she went, until there was no natural light at all and the city of Gelmina was distant and above.

And this at last was how she came to the greatest secret of Gelmina. The Crystal Heart.