You awake to sounds echoing through the trees

You roll over, wondering why your bed is so lumpy. You try to blink the dust from your eyes and remember last night. The last thing you remember... Xall... oh HELL! With a gasp you launch yourself upright and wish you hadn't. Your lower back complains about its treatment and you have to grab the trunk of a sapling to stop yourself from tipping over. Perhaps this is what drunkenness feels like. On the wind you think you hear music playing.

"Ah, she's back," you hear from behind you. Anya comes over and gives you a smile. More usefully she also puts down a washcloth and a shallow bowl which she fills with water. She hands you the waterskin and you gulp down almost the whole of it. "Yeah, the same thing happened to us," she says. "Looks like that much sex, that much incubus cum can have an effect on you."

You note how she said 'incubus cum' rather dreamily rather than with a certain sense of dread. Granted, your opinion on the matter has been shifting, but Anya seems to have embraced her new position as broodmother for a succubus - incubus - well... her. You find it very difficult to call Xall a he, even though right now there can be no question.

Now that your throat isn't parched you ask, "How long was I out?"

"A lot longer than either Glenda or I. That's why I think the cum had something to do with it. You, um, had it inside longer than we did."

Oh yes. How could you forget? Your ass still feels stretched and sore. Much of that can be blamed on Xall, but Anya did not help.

"Yeah, kind of a lot longer. Sorry, I fell asleep."

"Wait, with your hand... How long?!?"

She looks apologetic and starts wetting the washcloth. "From the sun I'd have to say a few hours."

You look up and realize that the sun has dipped quite a bit lower. Yes, it was just into the early afternoon when you found the ford. Now there's perhaps an hour before dusk. Even if you fucked for almost an hour Xall's been loose in the village for at least four hours. Anya begins to clean your sweaty body with the cool washcloth and you look around to see Glenda approaching.

"Hello," she says when she gets close, not even having the courtesy to sound embarrassed about what happened. She puts down the other three waterskins and wipes her brow. "How are you feeling, Sabine? I don't know where Anya gets the energy - ever since she woke up she's been bouncing around." You shake your head. Back in the abbey Anya did have trouble sitting still, often squirming in her seat at dinner.

"Dare I ask what Xall's been up to?"

"No idea," replies Glenda, fishing out a piece of cheese and some hard bread for you. Your stomach gurgles and generates instant pangs of hunger, making it clear to you that you are going to stop long enough to eat.

"No idea?" you ask, biting angrily into the simple sandwich. "What in the name of the goddess are you thinking? He's doing goddess knows what with a whole village!"

"Yes," says Anya, looking down, "but we can't stop him. I've only been up for a few hours. Whatever damage he planned to do he would have done it quickly."

You clench your jaw. There's a lot of truth in that. Unhappy with the situation and very ticked off at Xall you mutter, "And I can't believe he just left us here - **** - on the side of the road!"

"That's not as bad as you think," says Glenda. "I had a hard time finding you two when I first went for water. There's some kind of illusion here, I nearly walked right past you. And when I fell asleep we didn't have a washbasin or these," she says, pulling a pair of small linen bags from behind a nearby tree stump. Inside are some fresh grapes and some carrots.

You can't see this illusion, but you are on the inside. And from experience you think Xall's better at that kind of magic. Or at least it's the first thing he goes for most of the time. Rubbing your temples you decide you need to have a long chat with him after you've chewed him out for this. It's no good just ignoring the fact that you've effectively got a sex-fueled mage traveling with you. Not knowing what he can do could get you killed.

As you suck on a few of the tart grapes you hear that music again - almost forgotten in all the questions and worries. Even when you stand you find yourself unable to make out what song they're playing. Glenda sees you straining your ears and says, "They started playing just after I woke up." You have a hard job figuring out what song is being played until Glenda hums in tune with the song, her elven ears able to pick out detail you cannot. Then you sigh. It's a sure sign Xall has had more than enough time to do what he wanted.

'The midnight forest blue' - The song is one of the most raucous ever written. It's ostensibly about a troupe of actors coming to town, but as the song goes on each one ends up finding a lover and disappearing into the forest - or in time just fucking in the street. Each verse works hard to outdo the last. The song is so lewd, so perverse, that whole provinces have banned it on pain of whippings. There are threesomes by the sixth or seventh verse, and by about the tenth verse those look tame. The last few verses are about fathers seducing their daughters and sisters of the church throwing themselves gleefully to gangs of horny men. Those are bad enough that they were declared blasphemous long ago.

Glenda keeps humming, then says "The tempo and the interweaving of string instruments and drums - I'm sure the song is based on an old elven tune."

You have to laugh. Glenda doesn't understand why, but the laughter is infectious and soon she and Anya have joined in. All of you sink back to the ground as the madness of your out of control lives washes over you. When the laughing fit is finally over you wipe away the tears and pull yourself up. It's silly, but you feel a lot better.

All of you get dressed and pack up your supplies. It's time for you to see what Xall has done with this poor village.