They become the Empress's pets

Mish'li fussed over her robes for the umpteenth time. She knew that she looked impeccable, but she couldn't help being nervous. Today was the day-- a tour of the Empress's chambers for the newest inner-circle priestesses. It had been several months since she had helped Teysa and Aliara infiltrate the Basilica, and since then she had heard nothing. If they had been caught, at least they had not betrayed her. Hopefully. This could be a trap, but if the Empress knew that Mish'li had conspired with surface-dwellers to break into the most sacred precinct of the City, she would not be wasting time with subtlety. Mish'li had not heard from the warren, either, and was **** to assume that the mission had been a failure. The poor brave fools. Their mission had been a difficult one, and though she had prayed to the Mother Below for their success, the odds had always been stacked against them.

"Mish'li, my dear, are you ready?" Riv'een's crackling voice broke her concentration. Swallowing hard, Mish'li nodded. "Yes, High Priestess. I'm coming."

The two of them descended the long spiral staircase and entered the chapel's nave. A half-dozen other senior priestesses were there, most of them as new to their roles as Mish'li, all wearing the ceremonial red and black robes. Their eyes were ringed with silver dust, their noses and ears pierced with gleaming silver rings. Mish'li unconsciously raised her hand to touch her own fresh piercings. They were still sore, but it was a good pain-- the physical manifestation of her devotion.

Riv'een clapped her withered fingers together. "Come, ladies! A special treat awaits us today. The Empress herself will show us her chambers. Who knows, you may even get to meet some of her pets!"

Mish'li didn't have time to wonder about that. Led by Riv'een, the group proceeded out of the Chapel of the Veil of Sorrows and across the great Basilica Square. Fangs in their baroque armor bowed and curtsied out of their way. At the grand double doors of the Basilica, a phalanx of temple guards fell in around them and saluted. They formed two files that marched alongside the priestesses. Like the others, Mish'li affected a casual nonchalance, as if the presence of a dozen of the temple's finest soldiers in full arms and armor was of no consequence to her. Inside, her heart was thudding as she thought again of Teysa and Aliara.

The guards led them to the Empress's great audience chamber. Overhead, a pair of wrought iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Each bore a forest of irregularly shaped crystals-- moonstones, cut from the deepest veins beneath the city. They gave off a lambent glow that haloed each priestess's face in pale light. The effect was eerie, as though they were swimming through a glittering pool. Up ahead the Imperial Throne towered over them. Its golden canopy nearly reached the ceiling, and its sides were hung with ancient tapestries that formed a sort of tent. Lounging on the throne itself, legs crossed, was the Empress.

She was so young! Even younger than Mish'li, it appeared. Her face was painted with liquid gold swirls that had dried in brittle, delicate patterns beneath her heavy-lidded eyes. When she grinned, her teeth shone like diamonds, and Mish'li realized that was because they were-- or, at least, they had been carefully smeared with diamond paste that had been allowed to set. She wore a black lace bustier dripping with opals and pearls. Below that, her navel was set with a gigantic cabochon ruby set in the abdomen of a golden spider. Its legs splayed across her belly. Two thin golden chains dangled from the spider and crossed her hips to fasten on to garters on her lustrous thighs. Between them, only a triangle of cloth covered her modesty. Her legs were bare, despite the garters, and she wore thin leather sandals set with tiny diamonds on her dainty feet. The outfit was ostentatious, lewd, and everything that Mish'li had expected based on the rumors she'd heard of the Empress. The fingers of her left hand bore so many rings and stones that she had to splay them out, though her right hand was clear but for a fingerless leather glove. She tapped the fingers of that hand against the throne's armrest in a clear gesture of boredom.

Riv'een bowed deeply. "My Empress," she began, "I have brought you the newest novitiates of the Third Circle, here to pay their fealty to you and the great Mother who-"

"Yes, yes," interrupted the Empress, waving her beringed hand dismissively. "Very good, Riv'een. Welcome, ladies." She sprang up from the throne in a motion so sudden that a few of the priestesses recoiled in shock. "How'd you like to meet some friends of mine, eh? Come along!"

Riv'een looked a bit put out, but she could not exactly gainsay her empress. Instead, she plastered a fake smile across her face and bowed again. "Of course, Your Excellency."

The Empress took the steps down from the throne lightly, almost skipping. Her gaze passed over the group of priestesses and settled on Mish'li. "You! You look delicious, sweet thing. What is your name?" She quickly crossed the space between them. This close, the Empress's gaze was truly unnerving. She was mad, all right. Mad and dangerous. Mish'li stammered. "M-mish'li, your excellency," she managed, curtsying deeply. The empress laughed, a brittle giggle that sounded like glass shattering. She reached out with her right hand and pinched Mish'li's nipple through the robes. Her fingernails were long and cruel, and Mish'li gasped as she felt them digging into her soft flesh. "How'd you like to join my harem, Mish'li? Do you admire my body?" The Empress cavorted, gyrating her hips and rubbing her ample behind against Mish'li. "Would you worship me with your tongue?" She laughed again, without humor. Mish'li froze. She had no idea how to react. "It, I, but, your--"

Riv'een came to the rescue. She swept across the room and laid a matronly hand on Mish'li's forehead. Her voice was warm, but her gaze was venomous as she glared at the Empress.

"Your Excellency, I fear that your joke has quite unnerved young Mish'li. She has dedicated her life to the Goddess, you see. But she would be honored to see your... companions."

The Empress laughed again and covered her mouth with her hand. "So protective! High Priestess, you should let your girls have more fun. Follow me, my friends." She did not wait for a response but led them out of the throne room through a pair of imposing double doors behind the throne. Her guards fell in stride beside her. A chamberlain ran ahead to open doors, bowing obsequiously every time his mistress passed by.

The procession headed deeper into the Basilica, and downward. Spiral staircases gave way to gently sloping ramps. This was deeper than Mish'li had ever traveled. The only other people she saw were guards, standing at each doorway, and occasional servants in drab grey robes that bustled past with their eyes staring downward. All drow, of course; the only lesser races allowed this deep in the Empress's apartments were her slaves.

At last, the Empress halted before a pair of mahogany doors. The material alone bespoke great wealth. Only the richest drow could afford to have furnishings made of real surface wood. The doors wear gorgeous, inlaid with gems and precious metals and carved into elaborate scenes depicting-- Mish'li blushed. She told herself not to be embarrassed. Scenes of carnal lust were depicted on many of the most artistic frescoes of the chapel-- though the debauchery depicted here was beyond anything she had seen before. Two guards pushed open the doors.

Inside was a large, well-lit room with a tile floor. One wall was divided into pens, each fenced with wrought iron. The open portion of the floor was dotted irregularly with strange machines: some looked like stocks, others like tables, all made of wood and metal with leather pads and straps dangling from them. Two tables held a variety of tools made of metal, leather and glass.

Several of the pens were occupied by young humanoids of both sexes. There were a pair of drow, a burly male dwarf, a female gnome, and a shapely wood elf. Each of them wore an iron collar and was nude otherwise, though several had piercings or other decorations on them. They were manacled, chained, or otherwise restrained, and when the group entered the room, they looked up piteously. Two more figures were not locked up, and at the sight of the Empress they crawled across the floor to her.

Mish'li could only stare. The woman on her knees, staring up at the Empress with a look of blind adulation, was unmistakably Teysa.

The drow priestess shook her head to clear it and looked again. Teysa's hair had been braided into a half dozen plaits that ringed her scalp. She bore a brand on one cheek-- a spider with a woman's torso. Her back was criss-crossed with freshly healed welts, and when the Empress patted her affectionately on one she winced, though she never lost her expression of idiot devotion. Some kind of metal bar was hooked into her nostrils and attached to a strap that ran up between her eyes and across the top of her head, yanking her nose back so that it looked like a pig's snout. When she spoke, she lisped heavily, and Mish'li could see a fat golden bauble pierced through her tongue. "Mithtrethth, we miththed you tho much! I won! I got eighteen, and thilly Ali only got fifteen!"

Both of her nipples bore heavy golden barbels, each of which was strung with a chain with a small iron weight at the end. They already looked noticeably more stretched and distended than the last time Mish'li had seen her. Her stomach was bloated as well, and Mish'li wondered if she was pregnant. What had been a flat tummy now bulged obscenely outward like an inflated balloon. Another drider brand decorated her just below the navel, somewhat stretched due to her condition, and her pussy lips were each pierced with three rings while her clit bore a golden stud. Her cunt gaped open, a yawning chasm where once she had been as tight as a drum. She grasped the Empress's leg and rubbed herself against it like a cat.

To Mish'li's horror, she saw the other figure crossing the floor could be none other than Aliara. She, too, had her nose pulled back by a strap that crossed her head, though she had been shaved bald at some point. A ring gag held her mouth open, and streams of drool coated her chin as she struggled to speak around it. "No air, ithtrith! E an't eep em in!" Her body was covered with a network of branding scars like tattoos. It looked like a massive spiderweb, with two spiders crouched on her nipples. The skin was raw and angry red. Circles of studs ringed her areolas. Her nether lips, too, were pierced, with fine golden chains hooked to the rings. These snaked across her hips and clipped to a jeweled metal ring set in her navel. The chains were slack, but pulled taut as she moved, forcing her to take tiny, mincing steps across the floor.

The Empress reached down and cradled one head in each hand. "There, there, my pets. It's ok. Teysa, I've very proud of you. Aliara, they look fine to me... oops, there it goes..."

As she praised Teysa, the human woman shivered in ecstasy. The motion caused her to splay her legs apart, and something round and green slid out from her cavernous pussy. It plopped onto the floor and rolled away, leaving a trail of sticky wetness behind it. It looked like an egg-- about fist-sized, made of marble. The Empress bent down and snatched it up. "What's this? Aliara was right, you naughty girl. You remember the rules. It's not how many you can get in there, it's how many you can keep."

Teysa whined piteously. "I'm thorry, mithtrethth! Pleathe! Let me have it back!"

The Empress reached down and grabbed the egg. With her hand enclosing it, her fist was the size of mace's head. She grabbed one of Teysa's legs with her other hand and yanked abruptly, pulling the human over onto her back with her legs in the air. With a vicious motion she punched her hand holding the egg downward, plunging it instantly up to the wrist in Teysa's gaping cunt. As she did, the human woman's eyes rolled back into her head and she let out a long, lewd moan. "Pleathe!" she gasped, "pleathe, thtick it deep in my fuckhole! Breed me! I want to be your thlut, mithtrethth, pleathe fill me with your theed!" The Empress let out an evil grin and pushed her arm deeper. Mish'li could see the bulge of the egg moving around under Teysa's skin. So that explains her belly, at least. Aliara whined like a beaten dog as Teysa twitched and spasmed on the floor. The Empress grinned down at her. "It's ok, my dearest. I haven't forgotten you." She turned to the priestesses. "Ladies? Who wishes to play with my pets? They're friendly, they don't bite."

The group's distaste for their mistress's whorehouse was evident, but nobody wanted to get on her bad side. Reluctantly they spread out in the room, a few picking up crops or paddles to wield without enthusiasm. Mish'li hurried over to the sulking Aliara, who was running her hands over her swollen belly.

"Aliara, it's me. It's Mish'li. Do you remember me?" Aliara looked at her with a searching expression, but her eyes remained blank. "Come on, Aliara!" Mish'li hissed. "You just saw me a few months ago. This isn't who you are. What happened to you? What happened to your mission?" She reached down and unhooked the ring gag.

Aliara looked up at her with a puzzled expression. "I... do I... know you?" she asked. Her voice sounded brittle. "It... hurts to think about... before..." she gripped her forehead and groaned.

Mish'li shook her by the shoulder. "You have to remember! Remember who you are! The warren, the driders! Remember!"

A shadow fell over her. Above her, the Empress stood looming, with her hands on her hips. "Hello, my dear. You like her? She's my newest pet. I just got her a few months ago, didn't I, dearest?"
Fear filled Aliara's eyes. She nodded quickly and stared at the ground. The Empress ran a hand across her bald head, and the half-elf shivered. "You took off her gag? Why? This silly little creature doesn't have anything intelligent to say." She stared down with her brow furrowed in suspicion. Mish'li's heart raced. "No, your excellency, but... she can't please me with her tongue locked away like that." She reached down and hiked up her robes, pulling down her silk smallclothes at the same time to expose her pussy. A small thatch of pure-white hair crested her sex. She took Aliara's head in both hands, steering it between her legs. The doubt and fear in the half-elf's eyes vanished as she bent forward, tongue extended.

"Excellent!" purred the Empress, as Aliara's tongue began exploring Mish'li's slit. The priestess shuddered. Aliara really was incredible. Fear and arousal in equal measure beaded sweat across the Mish'li's arms and forehead. She tried to remind herself that she was undercover, that the wrong move here could doom them all. But as Aliara looked up at her with eyes empty of anything but the desire to please, it was harder and harder to remember her as she'd been.

THE END