Better not

Teysa pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, El'keth, but this is personal business. I promise you can come with us at some point, but... better to stay at home, for now."

El'keth looked crestfallen, but nodded. "I understand, Teysa. I will not intrude." She bowed and withdrew. Teysa finished packing in silence, wondering if she had made the right choice.

Back in their apartment, Aliara made a great show of packing up the finest silk clothes she owned. She had not been shy about requesting favors from the driders, and this was one they were happy to fulfill. On the trail, Aliara had always favored tight, compact leather and cotton, hard-wearing clothes that did not interfere with her mobility. Teysa suspected that her friend had always had a peacock side. She now owned strapless gowns so sheer that they clung to her body like moonlight, flowing dresses with ruffles that tumbled and cascaded over one another like waterfalls, demure kimonos and daring low-cut blouses that showed more than Teysa would prefer. She had embroidered patterns in fine silver thread across many of her new clothes, sylvan designs that evoked the forests of her home. Teysa wondered sometimes if Aliara was homesick, but if so, she did not show it. She had taken to life underground with commendable speed. It probably had something to do with the adoration that they received; Aliara seemed to enjoy turning the tables on her former captors, and her eyes sparkled whenever they did her bidding.

She filled her pack, chattering happily all along. "It'll be nice to return to the City as conquerors, hm? Do you think they'll put us up in the Basilica? Or should we see Dom again, for old times' sake?" Teysa found herself annoyed at the presumption. "Li, we're not conquerors. We're... I don't know what we are, but we can't just go throwing our weight around."

Aliara sagged. "You're right, I know. I just..." she shuddered. "I really hate that place, Tey. Even now that we have friends there. I'm trying to make it fun, that's all." Teysa rubbed her partner's shoulder. "I understand. Don't worry, Li. I promise I won't let anything happen to you there." She planted a kiss on the top of Aliara's head and put one arm around her for a brief hug. "Come on, let's go."

They set off through the caverns. Soon they had passed beyond the limits of the warren into the Underneath. This was raw, rugged and wild. Occasionally they could hear stone scraping, or a distant roar or gibber. Teysa wore her half-plate and carried her mace at her waist, a concession to the dangers of the trip. With the amount of traffic on this route lately an attack was unlikely, but nowhere in the Underneath could be said to be truly "safe."

They had been walking for nearly three hours when Teysa called for a halt. Up ahead, an underground spring fed a round pool, surrounded by flat stones. It was as good a place as any to rest their feet and unwrap some of the traveler's bread Teysa had packed. All three ate with their hands, ripping chunks directly off the loaf and passing it around. The bread was hardy stuff, designed to keep adventurers going for miles at a time. They munched in pensive silence. There was something about this place, Teysa thought. Her mind was trying to get her attention. Something about the pool...

It was at that moment that the naga attacked.

They must have been waiting in the pool the whole time, their grey-green bodies nearly impossible to see against the stone. The surface of the water exploded as they boiled out of it, slithering over the sides like eels. One, an especially tall brute wearing a giant crab's shell as a breastplate, let out an ululating hiss and pumped his muscular arms in the air. He held a rusty iron trident and a shield that looked to be of dwarven manufacture, though battered and dented almost beyond recognition. The other naga had a variety of piercing and cutting weapons, all of them ancient and pitted but still fearsomely sharp. They spread out around the pair and began to close the ring. Teysa scrambled to her feet, drawing her mace, while Aliara's daggers seemed to leap into her hands.

The large naga with the trident made straight for Teysa, alongside a female companion with a pair of billhooks. She did not wait for them to encircle her but charged forward with her mace drawn. The trident-bearer stabbed at her, but it was a clumsy, telegraphed move and she easily knocked it aside. She could see the female trying to circle behind her. That was no good; even with her advantage in equipment and training, two versus one was not a fair fight. She jumped backward, nearly into the arms of the surprised female, then spun before she could bring her hooks up. Teysa's mace whistled through the air and impacted heavily against the naga's shoulder. She let out a hideous screech and dropped one of her hooks, which Teysa immediately kicked away. The other hook seemed suddenly like a tiny and useless weapon in the face of Teysa's heavy mace. Before the naga could slither away, Teysa stepped forward and reached out with her left hand. It closed on one of the bone spurs pushing out of the naga's forehead crest, and a half-second later the mace came down right on the middle of that crest. There was a sound like a cannonball being dropped onto a tree stump, and the naga's eyes crossed. Teysa let go of her and she collapsed into a boneless heap.

Her combat instincts screamed and Teysa threw herself to the floor just as the trident's vicious blades scythed through the air where she had been standing. The naga brute hissed in rage and stabbed downward, but Teysa rolled out of the way and grabbed the trident behind its head. Her foe wrenched it out of her hand, but she used the momentum to pull herself to her feet, and knocked away his next thrust with ease. Her return blow caught his shield, and though it was strong enough to send numbing vibrations up her arm, he did not give ground. The combatants circled, trading blows that rang off steel or whistled through thin air. He was faster than he should be, and fearsomely strong, and his trident gave her superior reach, but it was not quick to change positions, and he often had to over-commit behind a slash or stab. Teysa darted forward, inside his guard, and felt something wet and strong wrap around her ankle. As she fell, she caught sight of the naga's sinuous tail uncoiling from her leg. Then she landed hard and painfully on her side and her mace fell from her hands. She groped for it, but it was inches out of her reach. Sweating, straining, she tried to will her arm to extend just a little bit farther... and stars filled her vision at the same time as an explosion of pain went off in the back of her head. She flopped bonelessly to the floor and lay there twitching. Somewhere above her, she was dimly aware, was the naga brute, probably readying his trident. She could do nothing to stop it now. Agamor, I'll see you soon.

Teysa lay there on the floor, waiting for the fatal stroke, but felt nothing. The seconds stretched out, and no sharp tines speared through her neck. Instead, she felt pressure on her wrists and ankles. She tried to pull free, but sharp claws gripped her and hoisted her off the ground. There was a metallic rattle, and something hard and cold locked itself around her wrists. Her vision was blurry, but she could see blue-green shapes moving around in front of her. One of them jerked, and she felt herself being pulled forward so sharply that she almost lost her balance again. She stumbled forward just in time for another tug.

In this manner, the naga led her deep into the caves. Her vision gradually returned, and in the flickering light of the naga leader's torch she could see that her hands were bound with rusted iron manacles. Ahead of her, Aliara was similarly bound, and Teysa called out to her. "Li! It's me! Are you hurt?"

The naga closest to her lashed out with one scaly paw. The blow caught Teysa by surprise and snapped her head around. Her cheek stun, and she gritted her teeth against the pain. She'd felt worse. Aliara called back to her, "Yes! I'm sorry, Tey, I was too slow!" Another naga drove his spear butt into Aliara's back, sending her to her knees. Teysa winced at the sight. She wanted to reassure her partner, but perhaps that could wait until they got to their destination. The naga clearly wanted them alive for some purpose... though that was hardly reassuring.

The procession carried them onward for an eternity. Teysa's legs grew sore, but every time she slowed, she earned herself a blow to the head or back. Finally the passageway opened out into a vast cavern. The circle of torchlight extended just far enough for Teysa to see the edge of a vast underground lake. Ahead of her was a narrow, rocky spit of land, a broken beach of black sand. The rocky beach had a few low stone "buildings" that were little more than piles of rocks. Cairns of bones and broken weapons too corroded for even the naga to use dotted the strand, and an odor of fishy rot lingered in the air. Teysa and Aliara were herded into one of the primitive buildings and thrown to the floor. Aliara looked a bit bruised, but not too much the worse for wear. The two women embraced to the extent that their manacles allowed. They sat side by side trying to massage some feeling back into their wrists. They were not waiting long: a pair of naga entered the cell without speaking and hoisted Teysa up under the arms. Aliara cried out, but another naga pulled her to her feet as well. Crude spears jabbed them both in the back. The message was clear: walk.

Their guards led them along the beach, past a jeering crowd of serpentine faces. Many more naga had arrived, and as they watched, more pulled themselves out of the surf and onto the land. They hissed and shouted incomprehensible words. Their language was as jagged and brutal as they were, all harsh consonants and glottal growls. They prodded and pulled their captives out along a narrow peninsula. Dark waves lapped at both sides of the path, and the air grew cold and dank. Teysa shivered. The black, glassy surface of the water seemed to beckon her. She imagined the drowned kingdom of the naga, vast blocks of cyclopean stone jutting like loose teeth from the seabed. Down there, somewhere, they worshipped their nameless gods and undertook hideous rites to propitiate them. Was that to be her fate?

The peninsula humped up into a hillock at its end. The little knoll was topped with a ring of stone menhirs, mostly toppled. The naga led each of the women to a separate monolith and undid their manacles. Two of them held Teysa's arms while a third clasped a heavy iron ring around her waist. This, too, was lashed to the stone by a length of rusty chain. This done, he pulled out a long, narrow-bladed knife and began to cut away her armor. Unable to move, Teysa could only watch as he sliced the straps that bound her breastplate, spaulders and faulds. Beneath them were her tunic and quilted breeches, which parted easily beneath the blade. The naga even sliced off her smallclothes and tossed them aside, leaving her shivering and naked. The naga threw her to the ground, chortling, and slithered off. Teysa tested the fit of the ring around her waist, but it was cruelly tight, and as she moved it dug into her skin. The naga had moved away, so she risked calling out.

"Aliara? Are you there?"

"I'm here, Tey. They chained me to a rock, it looks like." Aliara sounded fearful. "Are we sacrifices? Is that it? Because that's what it looks like."

"I don't know, Li," said Teysa. "Can you move at all? Can you get out of the chains?"

There was a rattle of metal. "No, they're good and tight. I think this might be it, Tey. I'm sorry."

Behind them, the naga were chanting rhythmically. Teysa craned her neck to see. The nearest torch was halfway along the peninsula, and she was shrouded in gloom. She could make out a large crowd of naga swaying back and forth, and a figure in front gesturing wildly. It raised something to its lips and a loud, deep note echoed across the lake. OOOOOWWWWWWOOOOOOO! OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The water at the base of the hill began to bubble and churn. Teysa's eyes were drawn to it in horrified fascination. It was almost hypnotic. Slowly, ever so slowly, something vast and dark breached the surface. She found herself thankful for the darkness; she did not want to see what was emerging clearly. Across the hill, Aliara let out a low, sick moan. The bulk of the thing spread across the placid surface of the lake like an oil slick, a patch of deeper darkness that oozed and seeped. Water poured off of it as it rose. It keened, a terrible noise that split the air and scored across Teysa's soul. She shuddered in instinctive revulsion. Mounds of wet, flabby flesh heaped up out of the deep, a shapeless mass that seemed to repel the light. It stretched toward land and its three trapped victims.

Something was creeping across the ground towards her, a long, thin shape. With it came a noisome reek of rotten meat and corruption: the breath of an ancient carnivore. Teysa shrank away from it until she felt a pinch at her waist. She had gone to the end of the chain, which now stood taut against the stone. The dark shape wrapped itself around the chain and began to pull. Slowly and inexorably it reeled Teysa in. More tendrils of blackness were emerging from the darkness. They crawled towards her and brushed across her skin. Their touch was so loathsome that she gagged; they felt spongy and dead, like mushrooms growing from a corpse. One began to slither up her leg, while another caressed her stomach. A third wrapped around her neck and pulled her forward. She tried to fight them off, but the rubbery flesh bulged with muscles, and a tentacle snaked around each of her wrists and pulled her arms behind her back. She was being drawn forward and upward, and she felt the chain tighten until it was once again digging into her stomach. The creature seemed to notice the arrested progress of its prey, and a tendril snaked down into the clasp of the ancient iron ring. There was a metallic snap and the ring parted in two segments that fell back to earth. Teysa had no time to feel any relief; with her tether gone, the tentacles yanked her sharply upward.

From her elevated vantage she could see Aliara was similarly restrained. Li was flailing in the grip of a tentacle that wrapped around her chest, pinning her arms to her body. With its prey pinned, the sea monster began to constrict. Teysa's wrists were bound behind her, her ankles spread in front. Tentacles crept across her breasts, wrapping up and pinching her sensitive nipples, while others slid between her thighs to probe at her pussy. She could feel the tip of one, as thin and dexterous as a fingertip, slide between her velvety lips for just a moment. When it withdrew the other tentacles lifted her higher still and then stopped, holding her in place.

Something thicker was creeping along her thigh. It felt like a tentacle, but it was firm and bulbous where the others were thin and flexible. It left a trail of slime behind it, and the skin where it touched prickled uncomfortably. Teysa tried to close her legs, but the tentacles pinning them open had no give to them at all. She groaned as she felt the tip nudge against her mound. One last effort to will her body to defy the invader had no effect at all. With a wet pop, the tentacle slid inside her.

Immediately she felt stretched in a way that she hadn't since her first breeding. The tentacle's thickness filled her, pressing against all of her most intimate places. As it slid deeper, she felt its irregular, knobby texture against her inner walls. The pressure was intense. Waves of sensation rolled across her helpless body; pain from how her cunt was cruelly pried open, pressure from how the tentacle stretched her to the very limit, and a strange, alien pleasure as its rough surface scraped against her most sensitive parts. Inch after inch of it burrowed into her. The slime it trailed in its wake did not numb her skin, but imparted a strangely ticklish itch that would not fade. Teysa could feel herself growing moist as the meaty tentacle thrust deeper into her body. Her hips bucked once, involuntarily, and drove the intruder deeper. She was impaled on it; looking down, she could see a raised trail beneath her skin. It seemed that she could make out every detail of the organ drilling into her body. She could see its tip twitch and felt a jet of warm fluid spurt out inside her, spreading that strange itch.

Finally the tentacle reached her cervix. It did not stop, but plowed forward, corkscrewing into her womb and instantly filling it up. Another twitch, and another eruption of slime, inflated her uterus like a balloon. Her stomach puffed out slightly and she moaned, half in shocked violation, half in mindless pleasure. The itching was driving her mad now, demanding a release that she couldn't get. Her clit ached with need. It felt like a tiny, dense star, an immense center of gravity that tugged at her thoughts. Even her sense of humiliation and despair withered in the face of that overpowering desire.

The tube pulsed and spasmed, and Teysa could feel something coming. A round shape pressed against her quim. Her nether lips, already stretched to accommodate the meaty tentacle, bulged obscenely outward as the sphere passed into her. What was it? A seed? An egg? Whatever it was, it was taxing her already-stuffed channel to its limit. It moved in pulses, each accompanied by a surge of peristalsis. The tentacle would flex, and the sphere would slide another inch or two deeper. Then pause, and rest, and flex. As it moved, her stomach tented around it, and she could feel her organs rearranging as it plumbed her innermost depths. One final surge of motion shoved it past her defeated cervix and planted it deep inside her womb. She barely had time to relax; already, a second orb was forcing its way into her once-tight pussy. As it passed, this one rubbed against the hard bead of her clit-- just a tiny bit, but it was enough, as she teetered on the edge of release. A wave of pleasure crashed through her, overriding her fear and washing out conscious thought. It bloomed like a silent explosion behind her eyes. She let out a low, guttural moan as her climax rocked her, causing her limbs to jitter in their restraints. Her toes curled and uncurled, her fists clenched, and her eyelids fluttered as the pleasure reverberated through her body. It left her gasping, panting and sweaty, her tongue hanging loose, eyes rolled back into her head.

One after another, the monster pumped Teysa full of spheres. She felt her guts sloshing around as her swollen womb shoved them out of the way. Her stomach inflated as the creature filled her. Each new arrival brought with it a cresting wave of arousal, though none of her orgasms matched that first one for intensity. Finally, when it seemed like she would burst, the monster stopped. She hung in its grasp, her fuck-addled mind so blissed out that she barely noticed when the tentacle plugging up her womb withdrew. Her body seemed to grasp at it, and it caught for just a moment before pulling free with a wet schlurp. A stream of greenish fluid immediately drooled out of her gaping pussy, before tapering off to a few drops.

By degrees she returned to her senses. The darkness was still all around her, but she could see faint shapes moving. Near her was another humanoid figure that could only be Aliara. The half-elf faced downward with limbs dangling bonelessly; tentacles impaled her mouth and cunt and she hung between them like a spitted roast, drool gathering on her chin. Her stomach was nearly as bloated as Teysa's, and the only sign of life she gave was the occasional twitch of a limb.

Teysa felt herself descending. She could not tell if she was over land or water, and didn't care. Aftershocks ripped through her, and the errant caress of a tentacle was enough to send a shiver up her spine. She rested her hands protectively on the enormous orb of her stomach. Inside, she could feel something squirming. He will be terrible, she thought incoherently, just like his Father.