Annie2002

"Home Again" -- Adventures in an Ancient Land of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

Map of the Known World

Chloe had tried to snatch Kiki by the leg as the wind whooshed her away into the darkness but missed. She cried out in anguish at the thought of what would happen to the little Pixie.

Then she saw Poe in his current
Raptor form shoot overhead, heading in the same direction in which Kiki had vanished. Chloe stared into the night, heart pounding, brain fearing the worst while hoping for the best.

Several anxious minutes passed before Chloe finally caught sight of movement, the powerful flapping of Poe’s wings as he neared the boat … with the little Pixie in his carefully clutching talons.

“He got her! ” Chloe called to the others who'd also been staring into the dark rainy sky for signs of either of their traveling partners. She pointed into the sky, saying with excited relief, “There! There!”

The Raptor maneuvered around the wildly swinging mast and sail, then dropped suddenly, hovering within Chloe's reach. The Human caught the Pixie as Poe released her; Kiki was smiling wide with happy relief.

“I'm okay. I'm not hurt,” she said, knowing what Chloe had been about to ask her. “Poe caught me. I didn't hit the water.”

Chloe wrapped the Pixie in a wool blanket, being careful of her wings, then looked to Poe as he began his Changing back to his Human shape. Chloe knew that the shape shifter was self conscious about transforming in front of others, and she knew that she should look away and give him his privacy.

She didn't, even though she tried to be inconspicuous about her watching him. Chloe's fascination with the Changing was two fold. First, the transformation itself was simply incredible. To see a Human change shape into a giant bird and then back again was simply unbelievable.

But in addition to that was the fact that in his Human form, Poe was a beautiful Being. Tall, muscular, chiseled, dark, hairy, powerful. These were all sexual triggers for Chloe.

And that cock! Gods Almighty, Chloe thought to herself as it formed within her view. Is that thing real, or does he…

She let the thought go as Poe glanced her direction, then pulled his clothes to his groin to cover up better. Chloe diverted her eyes, looking to Killian to call out, “Are we going to survive this?”

"Home Again" -- Adventures in an Ancient Land of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

This is not done, but I had to leave.

Map of the Known World

Name
The Raptor snatched Kiki out of the air, careful not to sink its talons into her tender flesh. The bird was huge compared to the Pixie's height of less than 3 feet; each of its wings alone were more than 5 feet from body to feather tip.

It peeked down at the little thing as it fought the powerful wind. Her initial fear, from both the storm and the sudden capture, faded quickly, though, as she realized just what -- or who -- had hold of her.

The Raptor had only barely heard the cries of terror over the storm. It had never heard the cries from this particular source. But considering the situation and location -- a gale off the southern coast of the Known World -- whatever or whoever the source of the panic and fear must have come from the boat below.

The Raptor had been circling over the vessel looking for dangers: reefs, shoals, or massive and dangerous swells. It had been fighting the wind to remain in position. Now, though, it lifted its head and left wing at the sound, catching that wind and instantly changing direction and shooting off into the darkness.

Now, the Raptor and Kiki held onto the other as the former once again fought the wind to get the latter back to safety. It took several minutes to reach the boat again. The big bird released the little Pixie into the hands of her fellow travelers before settling down in the bottom of the boat.

The others cleared some space because they knew what was about to happen. Over the next dozen seconds or so, the Raptor transformed into...

Poe the Changeling
"Shapeshifter"
Unknown age.
His normal form: Humanoid

• 6'4", solidly built.
• A wild mass of hair on his head and beard. His chest is bare, but he has a triangular-shaped patch of hair that begins between his shoulder blades and ends just above his butt cheeks; it narrows to a point at its lowest rech. He has no pubic hair.
• Reddish-brown eyes.
• He has a Human looking cock in this form that is very impressive in length and girth. I don't think it's necessary to give it numbers; if he wishes, he can transform it to a smaller or larger size to suit his lover. (Wouldn't that be nice, Guys?)

The Changing, as he called it, was one of great pain. Poe held back his desire to scream out at the agony. He didn't want to frighten the others, most of whom were already dealing with the fear of drowning so close to home.

Poe was still assuming his normal Humanoid form as one of the others was gathering his clothes from where they'd been stuffed away from the wind. Poe normally stripped before The Changing. Not doing so often led to his clothes being damaged in one way or another. Of course, that didn't always happen; when he became the Serpent, for example, he simply slithered out of his wardrobe.

The process wasn't simply about changing shape, though. Poe's senses were hazy another dozen seconds or so after he'd completed The Changing. He simply laid there in the several inches of splashing sea water as his consciousness returned.

Poe would have been vulnerable under other circumstances. During this moment, he had no way of protecting himself against dangers surrounding him. But he was among friends here. Hazy mind or not, he knew he could trust these people.

That didn't prevent him from feeling a bit self-conscious, though. For the time of The Changing, he was naked. In the company of females. No, they weren't of his kind, of course. But they were humanoid-shaped, like him. Believe it or not, the big man was shy.

Poe's mind finally returned to him fully. He found his private area covered by his trousers. Shyly, he turned to hide his manhood as best he could while saying over the wind, "Thank you."

Then, his brain remembered what had just happened. He whipped his head from one side to the other, looking for the Pixie. Finding Kiki, he asked with obvious concern, "Are you okay? Did I harm you?"

Another effect of The Changing was that Poe didn't fully retain the thinking processes that he had in human form. As the Raptor, his thinking moved toward that of an eagle; as the Serpent, it did the same toward that of a snake.

Changing into a form that wasn't relatively equivalent in mass had even more significant effects on Poe's ability to think like a Human. He's once found it necessary to change into a small dog to escape an equally small space. He'd nearly lost his ability to think beyond the mentality of a dog.

In fact, he'd remained a dog for almost two months, becoming feral, scrounging for food scraps, humping every bitch he'd found in heat. Miraculously, Dog-Poe had come across a friend whose presence had affected him. He transformed after just a few minutes of loving play.

"Home Again" -- Adventures in an Ancient Land of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

Map of the Known World

Kiki of the Golden Isles

• Pixie, with limited magical powers.
• Unknown; they age in a way that hasn't been discussed yet. She is considered "adult", though.
• 2'8", 27#; slim, with a beautiful figure.
• Short, greenish blonde hair.
• Bright green eyes.
• Long, pointed ears, plus vestigial ears above the working ones.

Kiki was doing nothing to help save the boat, crew, or other occupants. She didn't know what she could do. She was small and comparably weak and, of course, she was absolutely frightened to death of what was happening.

When they'd first set sail from the Other Land, Kiki had been very excited and eager. She'd repeated lifted into the air to survey the seas before them, helping to guide Killian. It was such great fun to participate. Then the storm hit, and the little Pixie had remained in the boat, hiding under one of the seats. She was scared to death of being washed overboard into the salt water, something that would damage her wings, possibly permanently.

Kiki made eye contact with Rayna as the latter clutched the mast. The Elf had befriended her even before Killian set sail, and -- despite the differences in their Races -- Kiki was sure she'd found a friend for life. Now, though, she couldn't help but wonder whether that life was going to be shortened to hours or maybe minutes.

A powerful wave suddenly smashed against the boat's hull, dislodging Kiki from her hiding place. She grabbed for anything to keep herself in the boat but missed; her next option was to again take flight. The fierce wind threw her about in the sky; the rain pelted her as if pebbles. Her first concern was to ensure she stayed above the waves, with her second being to not lose sight of the boat. She was losing it in the mix of darkness, rain, and spray from the seas, despite flying as hard as she could in its direction.

Suddenly, something unseen just snatched her out of air in its talons. She screamed out of fear at the unknown, certain that some vicious sea bird was about to kill and then eat her. But the talons wrapped around her without penetrating her, and as powerful wings flapped above her, Kiki smiled at the realization of what was happening.

"Home Again" -- Adventures in an Ancient Land of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

Map of the Known World

Rayna of Fenwater

• Swamp Elf with magical powers.
• 16 years old.
• 4'11", 102#; slim, with modest, firm breasts and a shapely ass.
• Straight, fine, brunette hair; when not up in a bun or in braids, it reaches her waist.
• Hazel-green eyes.
• Pointed ears.

Rayna clutched the small sailing vessel's mast, fearing for her life as the storm raged all about them. Her race, the Ichiri i nir -- the Children of the Gods, as they'd called each other since time immemorial -- were not and ocean-going people. They'd made their homes in the marshes and swamps of The Fenwater and near the City of Lux, where the concept of a current was barely recognized, let alone waves.

That location of their origin was what had led to them being called Lhun edhellen -- Swamp Elves -- by the many other Races of the Known World. In the beginning, her People had despised the derogatory description. But they'd come to embrace it as their own over time.

Rayna looked to Killian as he heroically worked to keep the boat from being swamped by the growing waves. She'd only come to know the Human less than a Moon ago, when he began organizing this adventure which by the Gods' hands was suddenly fraught with danger.

She looked about herself to the others in the boat. Rayna was the only Swamp Elf aboard, but she certainly wasn't the only Creature aboard. Creature. That was the word the Humans in the Other Land -- from where they'd just come -- called every Being that wasn't a Human Being.

Getting away from that land was a Godsend, of course. Rayna's future in the Other Land would have been a dismal. At best, as an Elf in a land dominated by Human Beings, she might have been lucky enough to be purchased by a wealthy man to become his Sindarin, his personal Elven consort -- his sex toy. More likely, however, she would have been sold to one of the brothels to become a sexual oddity for as many as two dozen Human patrons a day until she was simply too worn out to attract men or -- more likely -- finally took her own life.

Either way, she likely would have spent her entire life with her wrists and ankles shackled, loosely but still bound. An ancient spell casted upon the Ichiri i nir -- ironically in the Known World, not the Other Land -- prevented them from partaking of their magical ability when bound in iron shackles. Rayna had been wearing her own bracelets since she'd first exhibited her abilities at age 12. She'd begun wearing anklets, too, just a year after that when she'd attempted to run away from her Master of the time.

Killian had rescued Rayna from all that. He was her savior in more ways that she could count. She was going to make it up to him someday soon, too, in ways that any man would appreciate. He didn't know that yet, of course; it wasn't something you shared with a prospective partner until it was time to actually partake of one another.

Rayna had eagerly accepted the invitation to board this boat and set sail. Now, though, as yet another wave came over the bow and threatened to wash her, Killian, or any of the others overboard, Rayna began to wonder whether or not it might have been better to simply remain back there as a slave.

"The Girl in the Box" -- An Adventure in an Ancient World of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

(Map)

In contrast to what Killian was thinking about them, the Elven Race was still very much alive and well in their ancient homeland of The Fenwater. Well, alive they most certainly were, but well was a matter of debate. For a thousand years, the Elves had been hunted by the other Races of the Known World, resulting in them hiding deep inside the swamps of the Fenwater.

The Humans had seen the Elves as competitors for the natural resources upon which their species' rapidly growing population survived and thrived. But the Humans weren't the only race to want to see an end to the Elves. The Dwarves feared Magic, a power to which they were acutely vulnerable. And with the exception of the Witches and Warlocks, no one was more magically powerful than the Elves of the Fenwater.

When Annie spoke of the Gorthins and the potential reason for their wanting her, Killian laughed and said, "Because they are powerful and wealthy and ruthless..."

Annie noticed how Killian's eyes went to her body as he spoke of laying hands. She wasn't a stranger to the hungry gazes of men, whether they be Human or Elf. She didn't mind being ogled either, as it meant that her ogler's attention was often not where it should have been at the time.

When she asked if he'd help her out of her shackles, Killian most excitedly said, "No, no, no, no, no, no. Uh-uh, no I can't."

Annie pouted out her lower lip simultaneously with arching her back forward to emphasize her bosom a bit more. She knew that her tits were of interest to him, so she figured she might as well take advantage of that fact. He stressed that she belonged to the Gorthins, saying, "They'd skin me alive if I let you go. No, sorry, but ... I have to take you to them. If I don't..."

"I don't belong to them," Annie argued. "I am not a horse or swamp raft. I'm a living, breathing Being ... a free Being."

"Listen, I'm sorry," he said.

"No!" she cut in. "I don't think you are."

"I understand that this is not right," he told her. "You know, you being chained and a prisoner and being sold. I mean, no one should have that done to them."

"Then help me," she suggested, now rising to her knees and again using her posture to emphasize the curves that Killian continued to glance at between words.

"But ... well ... I'm not a brave man!" he continued. "I mean, I am! I was in the Guard, and I did fight in battle. But that was just war."

Annie had noted the way Killian was dressed and armed, of course. She didn't recognize the style of armor and garb as being from any one particular Nation or Army, but she knew that it was the wardrobe of a soldier or, at the least, former one. He didn't carry a war sword, but the bow wasn't the typical style of a mere deer hunter; it was a powerful weapon meant for accuracy at long distances, and the way he wore his quiver on his hip meant he used it for rapid firing at multiple targets.

"There were rules and there was chivalry," he continued about the conflicts in which he'd participated as a warrior. "The Gorthins! They know nothing of these things."

"And what do you think they will do with me once I am in their hands?" she challenged with a bit of begging in her tone. When she saw that she wasn't getting anywhere, Annie smirked devilishly and said with a suggestive tone, "I could make it worth your while, good sir. Return me to my people ... and I will see you become rich beyond your wildest dreams."

She paused a moment, studying his reaction, but unsure of whether she was getting to him or not, Annie caressed her shackled hands up her belly and over her bosom until her fingertips found the bared skin of her chest. She whispered seductively, "And ... in the meantime ... while we travel..."

She pulled downward on the dress's neckline until nearly simultaneously each of her firm, grapefruit shaped tits popped out into view. She finished, "...we could get to know each other ... intimately.." She smiled wider yet, asking, "Have you ever fucked an Elvish woman, my good man?"

"The Girl in the Box" -- An Adventure in an Ancient World of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

The Human introduced himself as Killian, then – when Annie accidentally exposed the pointy ear hidden beneath her mass of hair – stumbled back and hit the ground. Annie looked around in her own bit of panic; she didn't realize that she'd revealed her true nature, so her first thought was that some other danger, such as the Gorthin, had suddenly appeared.

But explanation came when he asked and then stated, “What the fuck! You’re an Elf! An Elf! What the hell? Who are you…?”

Annie caught Killian staring not into her eyes but a bit to one side. Suddenly, realizing what had happened, she reached up and pulled at her overgrown hair to again hide the pointed ear beneath.

Then, just as an embarrassed Human might, Annie blushed a deep red; she only now consciously realized that she'd spoken to Killian in Elvish. An iestannen, she chastised in silence, calling herself stupid.

She'd made her mistake out of exhaustion and confusion, but there was nothing to be done about that now, so she moved on.

“My name is Annabelle f’Allordan f’Gree f’Aw f’Pewn,” she explained, her Elvish accent becoming especially obvious during the introduction. Then, after giving Killian a moment to consider all of that, she emphasized “Princess Annabelle f’Allordan f’Gree f’Aw f’Pewn … of the House of Fenwater.”

Again she gave Killian a moment, then continued, “I have been kidnapped and held in chains for three, maybe four moons … the purpose being to be sold to the Gorthin Family for reasons unknown to me.”

That wasn't entirely true, of course. Annie knew the reason for which the Gorthins wanted her: Magic. She could use it, of course, due to being an Elf, and they wished to exploit it due to being power hungry criminals.

Annie held her shackled hands up before her, asking, “Can you get me free of these, please?”

"The Girl in the Box" -- An Adventure in an Ancient World of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

Annabelle lay there in the sand, gasping for air as her heart pounded, certain that she was caught yet again. Over the past three months, four maybe -- she'd lost track of time -- she'd escaped her captors six times, only to be caught within hours or, twice, days afterward. She'd been kept in elegant confinement in a guarded tower, tossed into a dungeon cell, shackled to a number of stone wall or sturdy trees, and finally locked up inside that dreaded box.

That last bit of confinement had been the worse as Annie, as her friends and family had called her, had never liked the sea. Not once in the dozen or so times that she'd been out on the ocean had she not gotten sick over the railing or into a bucket near her stateroom's bed. She hated the water, unlike the man who was now approaching her over the dry sand.

She opened her eyes again to look up at him and realized that she didn't recognize him. She'd assumed that he'd been one of the crew of the doomed ship, tossed overboard with her and the others when the boat slammed into a rocky shoal well hidden under the coastal swells.

But one look at him told Annie that he was neither sailor nor soldier. He did carry a bow and a dagger, but neither of them were similar to those weapons she'd regularly seen on the ship or even in the previous locations in which she'd been held.

He asked her bluntly, "What the fuck?"

She sat up and looked up and down the beach for the same thing he had: survivors. She was also looking for his cohort, presuming that he played some part in the men to whom Annie was being sold. She looked up to him and asked in her native tongue, "Mae henui? Mae henui a 'ú? A 'ú Gorthin?"

The man just stared at her for a moment, during which Annie translated her question into the Common Tongue that she assumed -- correctly -- that he spoke: "Who are you? Who are you with? Are you Gorthin?"

Annie grimaced suddenly as a sharp pain shot through her head. Reaching a hand upward and pressing the ball of her palm to her temple, her fingers brushed her hair upward from her ear ... from her pointy, Elvish ear.

"The Girl in the Box" -- An Adventure in an Ancient World of Magic, Monsters, and Mysteries

(OOC: For the image below, imagine her in the "box", not on a ship's deck.)

“So, who's inside here?” a male voice asked from outside the crate as it was jostled about in the surf. He asked, “And will I be eating you tonight or milking you so that Stella can make cheese?”

Just as he unfastened the last hook, the door smacked hard against him, sending him backwards into the surf. As a wave washed over him, Annabelle rushed out of the box, losing her footing and falling into the same waves as had he. She struggled back to her feet and ran for shore. She hadn't been able to see much from behind the breathing holes, but she'd seen enough to know that there was a thick forest just thirty or forty yards up the beach.

She made it to the wet sand, then the dry, but she was exhausted from weeks of ill-treatment and very quickly ran out of oomph. She fell to her knees, struggled back to her feet, made it a few yards more, then fell once again. This time, though, she couldn't get up. Instead, Annabelle rolled to her side, closed her eyes, and waited for the worst. The man certainly couldn't milk her but killing her with or without eating her was still quite a possibility.

"Aftermath" (closed, but feel free to read along)

When Annie finally roused, she realized that it was nighttime, that she was on land, that a fire was blazing very near to her keeping her warm ... and that she was lying in the arms of King, who was nearly naked and trembling from the cold. As she rolled to face him, he awoke, too, looking into her eyes as she asked, "What the hell?"

It didn't take a genius to understand generally what had happened: her head told her that she'd been injured after entering the water; her presence here in King's arms said that he'd saved her from drowning; and ever the gentleman, he'd traded his dried clothes for her and risked freezing to death if she hadn't awoken in time to tend to him.

Annie checked her own clothes as they hung over the fire, finding them dry enough to don again. She stripped out of King's clothes until she was standing before him naked, silhouetted by the dancing flames of the fire. She slipped into her clothes, then helped King back into his own, chastising, "You could have died, you silly goose."

She tossed some more of the flammable items stacked nearby onto the fire, then returned to King's embrace. This time, of course, she was able to wrap her own arms around him to help pull them close together. She asked, "Did you see my father...? Did they continue onward around Black Rock...? Is our boat sunk?"

She couldn't know about her father, but she was pretty sure that the boat had been lost. As she listened to King's responses, Annie smiled, delighted to be in the man's arms, even if it did take nearly dying to lead here.

"Aftermath" (closed, but feel free to read along)

"... what was that word?" King asked. He meant her first, of course.

"min første," she answered. He explained that he wanted her again and again, not just her first time. Annie blushed again. "Me you, too."

A sudden and frightening scraping sound was followed by a spray of water across the boat's interior; the boat had struck an unseen rock just under the surface, ripping a foot long tear in the hull. Annie could see immediately that the damage was too great to be plugged, particularly with them in deep, cold water.

"Flag my father!" she said as she quickly went to work altering the boat's course directly toward shore. "Get his attention!"

As soon as the tack was completed and the sails were again right and filled with wind, Annie looked to her father. She flashed hand signals at him, telling him they'd suffered damage and were heading for shore.

Bran and Paul immediately set about changing their course to follow, but just a couple of minutes later they suddenly veered away and lost their wind. Bran signaled that they'd almost hit rocks, and as she watched, Annie saw the waves break on the shoal.

"Keep watching for rocks," Annie told King as she continued signaling her father. She explained to him, "They're going to go to Black Rock. We'll beach and walk there, if we beach I mean. You bail water, and I'll get us to shore."

Annie joined in the bailing of water as much as she could while also guiding the boat. But they couldn't keep up with the influx of water. One inch of water turned into several which turned into a foot.

They got caught in a swell that sent the boat onto its side and Annie overboard. She was an excellent swimmer and came right back up to the surface, but as she did, another swell brought the boat's hull against her skull, knocking her unconscious.