The Siluvara Files
The Many Journeys of Ian Scranton
Chapter 4: No Such Thing as Safe
 
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"Did you know that a Spriggan is a vorarephile's dream come true?" - Ian, Scranton, speaking snarkily
 
"So is a fairy, to me. I'm their last meal. Ever." - Amber Vallance, grinning evilly
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"The Ere-what?!" Hollani replied, trying to get around Isaya to see what she was so frantic about all of a sudden.
 
"It's a demonic plant," Isaya turned and explained, inadvertently planting her hands on Hollani's bosom. "It's infectious and it turns you into a monster! This tunnel must be completely infested with the stuff!"
 
Roshana's face flushed as beads of sweat began to trickle down her forehead. "There's no telling how far the Bloodvine has spread across this area! If there are spores in the air, we could all wind up possessed!"
 
"It will turn you evil, Hollani," Isaya continued to warn her. "I have no choice. I must bring my Master here and start devouring this thing."
 
Hollani gaped at her with confusion. "I... I don't get it... possessed? Demonic? What are you talking about?"
 
Roshana glanced around in the sky. "Someone came and tried to burn the Bloodvine out of existence!" she turned and explained to Isaya as she attempted to calm herself down and suppress her adrenaline rush. "Who knows if they were completely successful or not..."
 
Isaya glanced around. "I wonder who..."
 
"Nevermind that!" Roshana said emphatically, pointing at the hills. "Let's get over there. AWAY from here."
 
Isaya stiffened. "We must also find a suitable tree for my master's soul to inhabit nearby. I've got to start eating the bloodvine, before it grows back!"
 
Hollani threw her hands down. "What in the world are you two talking about?!" she demanded.
 
Roshana turned to her with exasperation, her words nearly flattening Hollani: "The Bloodvine would explain why that damned rabid Rikati tried to teleport me into her stomach!"
 
 
 
Ian had become familiar enough with Isaya's body to know how to move around while tightly wrapped up in the cool, silky wet folds of her belly until he was comfortable. Of course, it was quite strange to be enveloped in such pure darkness, trapped in slippery wet, churning flesh that was constantly massaging the dewey moisture within her into his skin until he was utterly soaked, but at least he could hear Isaya talking over all the slick sounds around him.
 
Free from the constant fear of death, he was able to lay back and contemplate what he could do to enjoy his time here. He grinned at the idea of coming to Isaya to be tasted and swallowed on occasion - especially if she made love to his body with her tongue like she'd just done. At least in Isaya's belly, he could get a good night's sleep on this otherwise deadly alien planet. No doubt she would also make love to him again and, maybe, he'd get to taste both Roshana's and Hollani's womanly nectar?
 
One could hope, right?
 
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft, faint thumping sound above him. It was imperceptible at first, but as her belly calmed down, the tempo was unmistakeable.
 
It was a heartbeat.
 
He chuckled; he knew she wasn't heartless, but if this was what he thought it was, it certainly this proved it beyond a doubt.
 
And just when he was just getting comfortable with his surroundings - and his feelings about it - he was rudely thrown forward, and sent back into the light...
 
 
 
"That's... that's horrible!" Hollani clutched her hands against her ample bosom as she studied the green shoots and brown brush-shaped trees rising amidst the charred landscape on the other side of the seemingly calm, shallow river.
 
"Sad, but true," Isaya sighed, gripping Hollani's shoulders affectionately from behind. "The Erebu Bloodvine inflames everyone's hunger for flesh... except us Dryads. We consume the vine, thereby neutralizing it... assuming we eat all of it... which is almost impossible for one Dryad to do."
 
"The Erebu Bloodvine runs deep under the surface," Roshana explained as she sat on her knees, peering intently across the river. "It's quite versatile, as it can infect you with the blood in its vines, or by spores in the pollen from trees that it infests." She pointed at the river and added, "The blood can actually leech into the river and affect you that way as well. It diffuses easily and is almost impossible to see in the water... but even then if you drink enough water with that stuff in it... you can be turned."
 
"Without this vine," Isaya continued, "fairies like you inevitably spring up every now and then... fairies who for some reason or another decide that a diet including flesh is not for them. With this vine around, however... none can resist the urge. You think you've seen one or two fairies turn cannibal?"
 
Hollani put her hand to her mouth, her eyes widened with disgust. "You mean there'd be more crazies like that Rikati you fought?"
 
Roshana nodded, pointing at herself. "Yes... including us."
 
Hollani's jaw fell open. "You can't be serious."
 
Isaya laughed nervously. "Oh, she is. I've been here for a very long time. I've seen this happen before. Many of my kind died the last time the bloodvine made an appearance. The Kadruata were almost totally wiped out. Only those who fled far to sea survived in large numbers."
 
Roshana shook her head. "Oh, great. This is the last thing we needed."
 
Hollani's shoulders sagged. "Wow. What a mess."
 
Roshana got up and brushed her knees off. "The worst mess ever," she said, shaking her head. "Plus, we have a bit of a mystery on our hands."
 
"Mystery?" the other two turned to her.
 
Roshana nodded. "Yeah... that tunnel entrance was constructed by someone. It's pure crystal. How much crystal do we have around here?" She then corrected herself, "Naturally grown crystal, I mean."
 
Isaya shrugged. "You're better off looking for a vegetarian Rikati warrior than a crystal formation rising above ground in this area." She looked across the river. "You think someone had some kind of homestead there?"
 
Roshana chewed on her lip. "At least. I'm worried it might be some kind of camp we haven't seen before. Built by someone we haven't seen before. With several other exits that we haven't even found yet."
 
Isaya nodded. "All the more reason for me to get to work. You will need to take care of Ian..." Looking to the west, she put her hands on her hips and added, "There are some really big, healthy trees near here. Finding a good candidate to take over won't be hard."
 
Hollani gawked at her. "You're abandoning the great tree you've been in for what... years? Decades?"
 
Isaya nodded. "Yes, I have no choice. This Bloodvine is a threat to me. It must be devoured. I can always return to re-take that tree later."
 
Hollani's face brightened. "Ahhhhh, I see!"
 
Isaya put her hand to her abdomen; her insides rippled as her stomach muscles heaved Ian forward, into her belly button, where he was quickly pushed through. Once he slid into her palm, she laid him on the ground, where Roshana resized him back to normal.
 
Roshana studied him laying there on his back, watching him blinking and getting used to the light of day, and then pulled him to his wobbly feet. "Sorry to pop you out so fast, Ian," she greeted him apologetically. "We've got problems. Big problems."
 
 
As Isaya wandered off toward a group of trees rising majestically over the hill in the distance, Ian staggered back and leaned forward, gawking at her while his eyes got used to the light. "Uh... so who's belly am I going into now?"
 
Roshana turned to survey the area, but then whipped around to scowl at Ian. Exasperated by his ill-timed wit, she shot back, "MINE! If you don't cut the jokes."
 
"Woah, easy there," Ian held his hands up defensively, backing off from her. "Jeez, y'all have no sense of humor..."
 
"Oh, I bet I can find someone's asshole to stuff you into next." Roshana narrowed her eyes at him. Seeing him cringe, her scowl turned to a sadistic grin.
 
"Bullshit," he challenged, his chin up and his hands on his hips. "You ain't eaten meat in ages and either you or Isaya said you last took a dump as babies. You're tighter than my father's pocketbook back there."
 
Roshana gawked at him, at a loss for a response.
 
"Aw come on," he gestured, "newb don't mean stupid. I didn't fail biology class, ya know."
 
Roshana scowled slightly. "Grrr... you certainly are observant." She shook her head. "Fine. My bluff's been called." She pointed in Isaya's direction. "But Isaya could easily develop intestines, you know."
 
Ian laughed. "Yeah, if she'd wanted to, she probably would have already..."
 
"Come on, Ian, now's not the time for this," Hollani cut in.
 
As Hollani started in on chastising Ian, Roshana noticed, out of the corner of her eye, the glowing green aura of a snake-like creature plowing through the ground just under the surface, racing up the hill from the rocky banks of the river.
 
It came completely without warning. She had seen the life aura of many plants in the area, none of which appeared threatening. But this one that was rapidly making its way to her position, obviously laid low, hiding among all the other, dimmer auras that unwitting helped camouflage it. She would have had to really study the flora and look for this one lurking underground, behind everything else, to have seen it.
 
Her feet only managed to lift an inch off the ground as she attempted to take off, before the plant's bulb-like head broke through to the surface and its trio of crimson petals yawned wide open like a hungry mouth. Unfortunately for the plant, Roshana was of Droathas blood, and upon that, a very well trained fighter. Years of tussling with the local Rikati had sharpened her reaction times in the face of ambushes like this. The voracious head clamped down around the spot where she once existed, only to find itself swallowing nothing more than air. The red-haired fairy was, by then, floating next to it, her heart racing and her senses on high alert.
 
Ian was still in mid-sentence, his mind still unaware of what had just transpired; even Hollani was still chiding him about his ill-timed jokes as Roshana hurled a ball of yellow and blue fire at the plant's head. It was when the plant exploded and the resulting thunderclap and shock wave blew Ian's unkempt hair behind him and left his ears ringing, that his conversation with Hollani ended abruptly and he jumped back, yelping, "Woah! What the hell!"
 
Hollani screamed and then jumped behind Ian, gripping his shoulders and only daring to lift her head to look in Roshana's direction as the powerful rumble echoed into the distance.
 
Roshana now floated with her arms folded above a long, wide strip of burning grass stretching up to the apex of the hill. It was as if a rocket had taken off horizontally from below her position. Flaming bits and pieces of the plant were still arcing high into the air and plunging back to the ground beyond. The Droathas frowned sternly as she overlooked the scene of destruction she had caused with indignant anger.
 
Then, against the ambient sea of faint green soul auras, she saw another anomalous swirl of colors moving underground from downhill - another plant. No, two. But Hollani was looking in the same direction, and quickly jumped on Ian, wrapping her legs around his waist and hoisted him into the air with the strength of her legs alone.
 
"Wooaaahhhh!" his voice echoed into the sky as both plants, and then a third from another direction, all broke through at same time.
 
This time, Ian's heart nearly jumped into his throat when he beheld the two reddish and one orange maw - all jagged, and lined with strong-looking, inward pointing finger-sized thorns, and leading into dark, ribbed, pulsating throats. He only had a few seconds to get a good view of what might have otherwise been his imminent death, before Hollani twisted around, reached behind her, and let off two uncomfortably hot fireballs. A third came from Roshana's direction, all of which plunged straight down into the plants' long stems. A loud gust of air blew by Ian, making his ears pop as the plants' maws disintegrated and a visible gust of wind carried ashes and debris into the newly made holes in the ground. A bulge made its way back downhill, the surface rolling as if the plants had swallowed their meals and were moving them down into their digestive systems. Ultimately, three big bubbles of water were blown into the air in the middle of the river. A huge pile of debris exploded into the air with a powerful boom, signaling the end of the three carnivorous plants.
 
Ian was utterly struck dumb, clinging to Hollani as she and Roshana called out to each other in their alien language, turning this way and that to scan the land around them. After a moment, Hollani landed and let Ian stand on his own wobbly legs, but kept hold of his hand just in case.
 
"What in God's name..." Ian shuddered, glancing around just as frantically. "What the... what just happened?! What were those things I just saw?!"
 
Roshana floated past the burning strip of land, a freak gust of wind blowing behind her. The fire died out with a crisp, crackling sound as blackened grass was covered by a thick, rapidly creeping layer of frost.
 
"Those..." she pointed to the holes in the ground and explained with a forceful tone, "were some of many threats around here that will come right up out of nowhere and devour you."
 
Ian gaped with awe at the smoking pits, and the burnt tract of grass. "Holy shit. You don't say..."
 
Roshana nodded, her nerves still quite jumpy. "It's hard even for us fairies to see those things coming."
 
"Ugh! Fosuyars! I hate those things!" Hollani turned and drew Ian into her embrace. "They move underground and then WHAM! They snap you up and drag you under."
 
Roshana's left foot touched the ground lightly, then the other, as her wings folded up into her back. "Usually you get crushed to death as they pull you through the hole they made when they broke through. Bigger ones, though, make large holes you can fit in..." She shook her head at Ian. "Now that's an unlucky way to die. It'll swallow you alive, sending you down its stem into a pouch where... of course..."
 
Ian cringed; even the comforting embrace of Hollani's arms wasn't enough to calm his jittery nerves. "You've got to be kidding me, right? What's up with this planet? Is digestion, like, the primary cause of death around here?!"
 
"Yes," Hollani said, matter-of-factly. "And these Fosuyars... they can even kill fairies by crushing them if they catch them unaware."
 
Roshana chuckled. "Pretty much. And this area is quite tame. Way down south of here, things actually get fairly ugly."
 
"Yeah," Hollani added. "Around here, you get four days of quiet, maddening boredom... and then you get one day like this." She pointed southwards, toward the river. "Just so you know, that river widens and leads to the untamed jungles to the south. You really don't want to swim out past that."
 
Ian's shoulders sagged. Then his eyes fell to his bare feet. "Uhm... so what are the odds that more plants like that will attack?"
 
Roshana raised an eyebrow as she looked around as well, scanning the ground for signs of more threats. "Well, I'd say the chances are pretty high." She made him cringe when she added, "Problem is, they tend to come in groups. Like you just saw."
 
"But thankfully, even the biggest, most monstrous ones won't ever go near Dryads," Hollani added. "Spriggan familiars sometimes take them over to hide from fairies, since most fairies won't even identify a Fosuyar hiding among other plants and tree roots, much less waste the effort to yank it out of the ground..." She then rubbed her chin. "It's kinda complex, but basically... Fosuyars avoid Dryads. Which is why one would never attack you around Isaya."
 
"Dryads also sometimes eat them," Roshana pointed out with an evil chuckle. "Fosuyars are often full up with partially digested animals. Doesn't do much for a dryad's magic reserves, but the mixed mess is usually delicious for Dryads." Ian made a disgusted face in response to her commentary. "And good for a little growth spurt."
 
Ian let out a deep breath, and then looked to Isaya. "So inside of one of you is about the only safe place 'round here for me, huh?"
 
Roshana shook her head. "There is no such thing as a truly safe place for a magic-challenged individual such as you, Ian." She took a deep breath, then gestured to Hollani with a slightly cracked grin, "However... if things get too rough, Hollani can provide you the best hope of all."
 
Ian turned to the blonde fairy. "Are you sure about that?"
 
Hollani shook her head. "Not in my belly. I won't send him there again. No way, sis."
 
Ian glanced at the five story tall tree in the distance, flanked by several smaller ones, all linked by lichenous ropes of wood. The strange shoots reached into the ground in frozen, cascading sheets and then spread like hordes of wooden snakes across the grass, constricting trunks and biting deep into the wood of the trees they appeared to be strangling. Except for the way the invading wooden vines seemed to melt into the host trees and connect so many into one large network, they reminded Ian strongly of banyan vines. Isaya was standing there, seemingly oblivious to the chaos that had erupted behind her, leaning with her hands pressed against the bark of the tallest tree's trunk as if clinging to a brawny, stalwart lover. "So... how about Isaya? I can hide by her roots. You said they won't go near Dryads, right?"
 
"Well, you've also got birds that'll pick you apart with tree-chipping beaks," Roshana added. "Then there are the bigger lizards." She gestured to him, "Let's face it, we're not into eating living things, so you, basically, are a burden."
 
Ian's eyes shifted nervously, his knees still a bit shaky. "Hey hold up now... I mean, I don't mind all this... *ahem* shelter... but really now... when do I get to walk around and see the world for more than a few minutes?"
 
"You're doing it right now," came Roshana's amused reply.
 
Ian let out an exasperated sigh. "So I only get let out every now and then, eh? Maybe to stretch my legs, perhaps? Come on. Really."
 
Hollani watched Ian roll his eyes when she replied, "You can still stretch your legs while you're in Isaya's belly."
 
Roshana gestured to Isaya in the distance, "Seriously, Ian, that's about your best hope until you adapt properly to this environment... namely, when you learn how to cast spells."
 
The human male stopped and rubbed his chin as Hollani passed outside his field of peripheral vision. "You mean, magic?"
 
Roshana nodded, smiling as she tracked a hand-sized bird singing briefly as it came in for a landing among the trees. "It's the only way to survive around here, young man."
 
Ian rolled his eyes. "Now that's crazy." He gestured with frustration at her. "And not meaning to change the subject and all, but I haven't even eaten in God knows how long."
 
Roshana paused to think over what he said, then threw up her hands. "Ah, yes! I totally forgot... you'll need to go back into-"
 
A tap on Roshana's shoulder caused her to turn abruptly. "Not now, I'm kind of... busy..."
 
She was surprised to see Isaya standing before her again with a look of concern on her face. "The trees on this side say that hands were laid upon them and dahla seeds were planted at their roots not too many seasons ago."
 
Roshana's brows furrowed. "Oh, really..."
 
"Yes. In fact, the fruits growing on their branches are the first generation," she smiled, adding, "They like it. Dahla vines reach deep inside the trees and make them feel good. Strong. Healthy... they even help resist these strangler vines growing all over the place."
 
"Well, that's one bit of good news around here," Roshana sighed, looking over her shoulder at Ian. "Anyway, Ian is right... he needs food and water. What else do we have available around here?"
 
Isaya shook her head. "I can take care of his hunger. It appears though, by what I've heard from the trees, that we have much bigger problems to deal with. Bigger than the digger plants that you just fended off."
 
Roshana studied Isaya's wide eyes and took a deep breath, daring to ask, "What kind of problems?"
 
"It's hard to relate..." Isaya said. "We must go into the grove and investigate... see for ourselves. Plus..." She was interrupted by two scarlet-crested birds with scarlet and azure wings as they chirped, flying overhead. "There's the issue of the sparse animal life here. Something came and devoured many animals in the area, who have only started to return recently."
 
Roshana looked back at Hollani, who shrugged. "Silurheans," she surmised. "Then that crystal tunnel entrance clearly was part of their lair."
 
"There are more of them hiding underground?" Hollani asked, surprised.
 
Roshana shook her head. "If they are, they're really hiding. Fairies can survive in the dark for a while, but not for all that long without food." She scratched her head. "Something is wrong here... very wrong."
 
Ian snorted. "Something came along and killed all the maneating fairies. Unforgiveable, I say. Totally unforgiveable."
 
"Maybe they abandoned this area, Ian," Roshana shot him an annoyed look. "Not all of us are evil."
 
"I'd bet my scrawny little ass these ones were..." Ian countered, gesturing around. "Anyone notice that whole 'one chirping bird every ten minutes' kinda silence around here?"
 
Roshana nodded. "Point taken, young man." She glanced around before adding, "There is evidence of past overconsumption here..." She then turned to Hollani. "Which means this area may still be... unsafe."
 
"You bet it is," Ian agreed.
 
"Indeed it is," Roshana was quick to capitalize. "Maybe Hollani should take you now?"
 
Hollani's eyes narrowed; even Ian cringed when he saw it. "I said, no, Roshy. Really," came her forceful response.
 
"Isaya has work to do." Roshana explained. "Her master won't have another Dryad here for quite a while. Meanwhile," she gestured to the human male, "Ian here is standing out in the open..."
 
Hollani rubbed her chin. "Oh, I get it..." Her stern gaze melted into a look of concern. "He's easy prey for the odd Fosuyar or big bird that might be migrating by in search of food."
 
Roshana studied Ian's wide-eyed look of alarm, then Hollani's distraught expression, before pointing out, "And I meant you should take him here..." she pointed matter-of-factly at her crotch. "Which I think both you and Ian might like."
 
Ian raised an eyebrow; Hollani's lips curved into a lewd grin. "Mmm-hmm..." she moaned, shooting Ian a knowing look.
 
Roshana shrugged. "But... for now, we'll just have to keep a close watch on Ian. Besides, he needs to eat and, no doubt, be flushed. The problem is, Isaya cannot take him inside her while-"
 
"Flushed?" came the human's confused, concerned response.
 
"Yes... flushed..." Roshana giggled; Hollani made a squishy-faced look of mock disgust.
 
Isaya chuckled. "I'll give you a reminder once I'm done possessing this tree," she winked, turning abruptly to walk back toward the grove. Sighing, she lamented, "It's not much of a tree, but it will have to do."
 
Ian stared briefly at Isaya's backside; now that her skin had seemed to permanently change from floral green to the same tanned color of Roshana's complexion, it didn't seem so bad that he got an erection from looking at her shapely body. All the vines and hard bark that he'd expected to see on a tree woman like this were gone, replaced by the smoothness of human flesh... or fairy flesh, although it all seemed to be the same. She was anatomically correct, right down to her well defined yet feminine muscles, shapely legs, wide, child bearing hips...
 
"My, you're a bit excited," Roshana interrupted his semi mesmerized gaze, now circling him and overtly studying his swelling manhood. As Ian turned and shot her an open-mouthed look of embarrassment, she giggled. "Isaya's quite lovely, don't you think?"
 
Ian was thinking of a witty response when all words died on his tongue as his peripheral vision caught sight of Isaya leaning against the largest tree, her skin rapidly turning a dark brown and hardening into rough bark.
 
Stunned, he turned fully toward her to see her body flattening and melting through the foreign wooden vines around the tree trunk.
 
The vines instantly slackened and relaxed their grip around the tree as the tree's bark rippled and its branches shuddered. Then the entire tree undulated for a few seconds, as if its body had turned to muscle and bone on the inside. Finally, it straightened up again, and at the same time, an amorphous greenish blob of leaves and vine-like fibers emerged from the same spot where Isaya had disappeared. The mass quickly took abstract human form and solidified, reassuming Isaya's human shape, complexion and distinct features.
 
"What... the fuck..." he muttered with slack-jawed amazement.
 
Less than a minute after Isaya began her merge into the tree, she was back, her hair having reverted back to its original jade green.
 
Isaya brushed her hair behind her head, smiling proudly. "I am here now. My pheromones are already saturating the soil. I can sense quite a few Fosuyars moving away from the grove as I speak."
 
Ian scratched his head. "Wow. That's fast."
 
"Fosuyars have a good survival instinct," Isaya giggled, putting her hands on her hips; her breasts bounced tantalizingly before Ian's eyes. "So... now that my master is here..." She placed her hand on her muscular abdomen, "it's time for you to go back into my tummy."
 
Ian flashed her a crooked grin. "You swallow me but I get to eat once I get there, right?"
 
She rolled her eyes as she approached him slowly, one slender foot planting into the grass in front of the other. "Of course, you goof! My belly holds many fruits that will feed you!"
 
His erection ached at the mere thought of it. It was hopeless hiding his arousal, what with him standing naked in front of all three women.
 
"Ooh, he likes that idea..." she spoke quietly, coming close enough to him that her breath blew over his ear as she gripped his shoulders gently. "You'll be just fine..."
 
It was not until she planted a firm kiss on his lips that Ian realized that Isaya had caught up with him.
 
"Damn... y'all are smooth," he said under his breath with admiration.
 
Roshana took care of the shrinking spell, reducing him to a size that easily fit in Isaya's mouth; the plant woman gave him a full body massage with her wet, velvety tongue, until he climaxed. Then she carefully lifted her head and gulped, moaning softly as he slid down her throat and into her empty stomach.
 
Caressing her belly, she said to her belly with great amusement, "I hope you still have an appetite, Ian, because you just satisfied mine!"
 
"Isaya!" Roshana protested, fighting off the urge to laugh. "Be nice!"
 
Isaya lifted her head and smiled proudly, wiggling her hips provocatively. "Oh, but I am!"
 
Hollani whistled with admiration. "Wow, you seduced him effortlessly," she breathed out deeply, fanning herself. "I feel like some sex."
 
Roshana nodded enthusiastically. "Phew," she wiped the sweat off her brow, "that made me hot, too. After we patrol the grove, we're gonna revisit this!" She gestured toward the trees. "Come on... wow... Um... we've got work to do."
 
The three women immediately turned to walk in the direction of the tall, wide trunked trees.
 
Isaya stretched, reaching high over her head and bending backwards a bit. "Wow, it's such a pity you two can't taste Ian and have him in your bellies. He goes down so well."
 
Roshana shook her head. "Too tempting, my dear." She put her arm around Hollani as they strode into the shade, leaving the daylight behind. "It would take precious little to lose control and-"
 
Hollani pressed up firmly against Roshana, her arm tightening around her Droathas lover's waist as the thought of such things made a lump of bile rise in her throat. "Roshy..."
 
"Yes, dear?"
 
"Let's talk about cute things... like bunny rabbits."
 
"Bunny rabbits?" they both turned toward her with confused looks on their faces.
 
"Yeah... bunny rabbits," Hollani insisted. "You know, those cute things from Ian's world."
 
Isaya snorted. "We hardly even know what they look like."
 
Hollani threw up her left arm as she wrapped her right arm around Roshana's waist. "That's the whole idea! We can make up a description until he's able to show us one day!"
 
Roshana groaned. "I think it's scaly. And about as big as my foot. It has big sharp teeth and jumps up to bite humans on the ass-"
 
"Roshy!" Hollani whined, bumping her with her hip. "That's not cute!"
 
Isaya's hair started to glow to compensate for the fading light from the sun as they passed by groups of trees and the thick wooden cords of parasite-like vines grew thicker overhead, almost to the point of forming a solid wooden roof in places. The quiet rustle of leaves blowing in the wind and the rare instance of a bird flying above the wooden canopies brought occasional, yet highly welcome breaks in the otherwise near deafening silence.
 
"Okay, okay," Roshana tried again, "how about something fluffy? Fluffy is always cute... in any world."
 
Hollani nodded, stepping over the wooden vines criscrossing the grass with increasing frequency. "Fluffy and golden yellow?"
 
Isaya countered, "What about forest green?"
 
"I for one like pink. Fluffy and pink," Roshana added. "Pink is everyone's favo..."
 
Suddenly her words faded, her sentence left incomplete as an unpleasant odor began its assault on her nose and stopped everyone in their tracks. Even as they stopped, the smell grew into a horrible stench... the smell of death.
 
"Ugh!" she put her hand over her nose, casting a spell to make the nauseating stink go away. "What in the world is that smell?!"
 
"It smells like something died!" Hollani staggered back while Isaya folded her arms, peering in the direction of the darkness ahead as the Spriggan explained, "Whatever it is, it may be coming from a clearing a long way away in that direction."
 
"How do you know?" Roshana frowned.
 
Isaya cocked her head with disbelief. "I'm a tree spirit, Roshy! The trees are always talking to me!"
 
Roshana raised an eyebrow. "What are they saying?"
 
"Something odd happened in the clearing ahead," she shrugged. "A few hundred paces away, beyond that thick group of trees there." She then added, "And judging by the smell, I have a really bad feeling about what's there. Hollani may be right."
 
Roshana pointed in the direction Isaya was pointing. "There's no question about that. It's the smell of dead fairies." Looking to Hollani, she opened her mouth to speak, but Hollani cut her off.
 
"I'm not staying here," she countered pre-emptively. "If there are dead fairies around, my best chance of not becoming one is to be with you."
 
Roshana nodded. "Let's go."
 
Just as Isaya had said, it wasn't long before they passed by the thickest part of the vines, pushing them out of the way as they went, and came upon a conspicuously well-lit clearing, to be greeted by an intense buzzing noise.
 
"Okay, here we..." Roshana gasped as she surveyed the area upon which the late afternoon sun cast its rays. What she saw ahead of her nearly made her heart stop. "Are?"
 
Everyone else came to a sudden halt as they looked ahead and saw the thick branches planted into the ground, with rotting, mottled corpses impaled upon them, and swarms of tiny bugs buzzing, flying and crawling around the dead bodies.
 
Their wings were mostly in tatters from being eaten by insects, and their bodies were already fairly decayed, but that they had once been of ashy gray complexion was unmistakable.
 
Seven dead Rikati lay under the sun, on display as a testament to the brutality of whatever hostile force had wiped them out.
 
In addition, there were several holes in the ground, large enough for fairies to crawl down into if they desired.
 
Roshana's knees nearly gave out from beneath her as she put her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear Gaia... the Nivalavi!"
 
Isaya staggered back, her eyes wide with fear; Hollani saw her and cringed. "The who?"
 
Roshana turned to face them both. "The Nivalavi did this. They are a race of dark skinned fairies not native to this world..."
 
"Dark skinned fairies?" Hollani repeated. "What do you mean?"
 
"I mean," Roshana explained, "their skin color is dark, like the Rikati, except not ashy, but rather brown... like... like nothing you've seen before..." She paused to think, and then added, "Legend says that none of them can eat meat..."
 
Hollani stared at Roshana. "None? Really?"
 
"They're born as children of Gaia." Roshana rubbed her chin. "And according to what I've heard, the Bloodvine has no effect on them."
 
"This would explan all those discarded dahla skins we saw in the other direction from my Master," Isaya pointed out, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "The Nivalavi would eat the fruits and totally ignore the dingas. And you're right... I've never met one that ate living things."
 
As Roshana nodded in agreement at Isaya, Hollani looked at the bodies, saying incredulously, "And yet they... they did all of this?"
 
Roshana replied. "They're thought to be horrifically violent toward carnivorous fairies like us," She pointed at the impaled corpses. "Plus they hate the Rikati more than anyone, and will do things like this..." She gestured to the scene of carnage laid out before them, "To send a message to other Rikati tribes."
 
Hollani put her hand to her mouth. "Such... evil..."
 
Roshana looked at the dead bodies and started to back off. "And these are all Rikati corpses. I think this was some kind of warrior army and the Nivalavi must have ambushed them... or worse... overwhelmed them..."
 
"Someone massacred a Rikati war legion?" Hollani said incredulously. "What in the world could do that?"
 
"The Nivalavi and the Rikati are equals in combat," Isaya warned. "The Nivalavi must have come in great numbers. The trees report over a dozen spots like this." She looked up at the hole in the canopy above; the branches were snapped or ripped out, as if a giant hand had reached through the treetops and scooped everything out of its path.
 
Roshana's blood ran cold with dread. "We've got to get out of here. The Nivalavi are known to return to the scene of a massacre in hopes of ambushing reinforcements..." She turned to Hollani and Isaya and added, "They're known for teleporting from maximum visual range. They could be looking at us right now from beyond the mountains."
 
"Why would they attack us?" Hollani gestured. "We're not Rikati."
 
Roshana's voice trembled. "We're Silurheans, Hollani. They go into a bloody rage when they see our red soul auras. Trust me, I've heard too many reports of them in action. Their elders routinely lose control of their younger warriors when they spot our kind. They're unbelievably violent." She pointed back at the Silurheans impaled on the makeshift poles. "They wouldn't even afford these poor souls the honor of a burial to nourish the soil."
 
Isaya gestured, "My clones will come and deal with that task. The Nivalavi despise devouring Spriggans, much less Dryads, and if we're nice, they will leave us alone." She looked down at her belly, then added, "Then again, they might get the wrong message with Ian in my tummy... but if they see him in your vagina, they will see you as... reformers." Emphatically, she added, "That WILL give you time to explain what you're doing with him, which could save both your lives."
 
Roshana nodded. "He's better off inside Hollani. At all times." She glanced up at the irregular hole in the canopy of leaves and branches above. "We should do this right now."
 
"Agreed." With that, Isaya's belly button dilated as wide as her fist, and Ian slid out.
 
"I made sure you heard all of that," Isaya explained, looking down at her diminutive companion.
 
Ian snorted as he lay naked in her palm; but he dared not speak his true opinion. Instead, he smiled and said, "Did someone say these... Niva-whatever... did you say they can't eat meat?"
 
Ian may have been diminutive at the moment, but to a fairy's ears, he was speaking loud and clear, "None that I've ever seen," Roshana was quick to reiterate. "That isn't to say-"
 
The loud crunch of snapping bones rudely interrupted her, causing all of the women to turn their heads.
 
In the clearing, another Fosuyar had torn a new hole in the ground, seizing one of the dead fairies impaled on a pike. The emaciated corpse's spine snapped, its body brutally folded in half in the grip of the terrible thorny maw. Roshana's knees almost gave out as her mind tried to comprehend the ruined beauty of a dead Rikati fairy, its wasted legs and almost boney feet flopping in the air alongside a skull with empty eye-sockets, before the carnivorous plant's throat muscles cracked the corpse's nearly fully exposed pelvic bone in half while forcing it into its stem. Then the plant's mouth clamped shut and it retreated back into the ground, gone as suddenly as it had appeared. What was once no doubt a stunningly, fiercely gorgeous fairy warrior, was now a meal being crushed and sent down into its depths to be liquefied into nutrients.
 
Isaya, unaffected by the sad scene that played out before then, hastily handed Ian over to an awestruck Hollani, then stepped forward into the clearing. "Damned Fosuyars," she hissed, outstretching her arms. "I will seed this area to ward them off. Another Spriggan will be awaiting you by my master's side."
 
Roshana nodded, barely able to take her eyes off the new hole that had been created.. "G... Good... um, deal..."
 
"Did you see that?" Hollani gasped, speaking to Ian who was now laying in her hand. "We really do not have time to waste."
 
Ian, who only caught a glimpse of what happened, nonetheless understood everything just on what he had heard. "Then for God's sake, let's not!"
 
The next thing Ian knew, he was looking up at the sparse, vibrant sunflowery tuft of pubic hair framing a thick pair of nether lips, which Hollani's slender fingers - tree trunks from his perspective - spread wide open. Her vagina yawned open like a drooling, hungry maw eager to make a meal of him. He could even see her muscles clenching and relaxing inside, gulping at thin air.
 
He was about to be swallowed whole again - but this time by a sexy fairy's vagina. As fun as it was going down Isaya's throat, being fully awake while being swallowed by Hollani's vagina was enough to make his spent penis want to stir again - this time, without any guilt.
 
Ian, naturally, gave no resistance as Hollani pushed him head-first into her womanhood and her muscles gently pulled inward, taking him fully inside with a wet slurp.
 
Hollani's knees became jelly as her insides easily sucked him into her depths, his body stroking her inner walls like one of those thick penises from her hottest, wettest dreams.
 
Roshana was able to tear her eyes away from the lingering, repeatedly replaying images of that dead Rikati being swallowed, to turn and catch Hollani before she fell to her knees. "Hey! Easy there, dear," she advised a little too late, "you went a little too quick with him."
 
Hollani groaned as waves of pleasure proved almost debilitating, making it hard for her to stand. "Sorry... I don't want to get killed in a surprise attack or something!"
 
"Isaya has this under control now..." Roshana helped her to her feet.
 
"I wasn't talking just about the plants..." Hollani said, backing away from the clearing. "Those Nivalavi could be nearby!"
 
Roshana nodded. "Fortunately, they announce their presence. Then they kill. That could give us time to explain our way out."
 
Hollani laughed. "And as you know, we Arari would rather not have to explain our way out of death. We just make ourselves scarce... that is, if we can't find a Rikati to hide behind."
 
Roshana followed her away from the clearing. Shaking her head admiringly, she said, "Point taken. Although you do less... 'hiding behind' than any Arari that I know..."
 
"Hey you two," Isaya raised her index finger. "If I were you, I'd get back to the Silurhean tribes and warn them of the possibility of a Nivalavi invasion. The Nivalavi will fan out across a continent to search for other infestations... as they call them."
 
Roshana shook her head. "Those discarded dahla skins we found... those were in an area of the forest BETWEEN your master and the Silurhean cities."
 
Isaya's eyebrows lifted. Hollani's mouth fell open. "You mean..." the blonde fairy started to say.
 
Roshana nodded. "Yup. I have a bad feeling they've already begun to fan out and scout the entire continent... and if they have, an all-out war is inevitable."