Vaid Empire: Mother of Tentacles
Chapter 11
11th of Thriduin, 767 BVE.
Deep Jungle.
Always running. Always fleeing. Aifa scowled as she sprinted through the dark jungle. “Enough.”
At her side, Darmi moved with panicked strides. “If they catch us, mistress…”
An hour had passed since they had abandoned their shelter. Coming to a stop, Aifa silenced her companion with a raised hand. Antennae twitching, she sensed the scent of their pursuers upon the wind a moment later. “They’re closer than before.”
“How is that possible?” Darmi hurried to follow as her mistress continued to flee. No matter how many times she asked the question, no answer was granted.
They had made sharp turns through the jungle. They had crossed streams to conceal their tracks. Each time they paused, however, their hunters remained at their heels.
“Enough,” Aifa thought to herself once more. Turning towards the sounds of a waterfall thundering through the trees, her claws tore through the vegetation ahead as she gritted her teeth.
Emerging from the trees, Darmi yelped as they stumbled upon the edge of a towering cliffside. Daring to glance down, she saw a raging river below, fed by a waterfall that tumbled over the edge of the cliffside nearby. It appeared to glow in the moonlight, a flow of shimmering darkness. “We have to go back! Hurry!”
A tight grip on the girl’s slender arm pulled her to a stop as Aifa scowled. “No. Enough.”
Baffled, Darmi yanked free as their tentacled beasts gathered behind. Vibrant trees tilted over the edge of the cliff, as if a single push would send them toppling over. Vines of purple and orange dangled like creeping webs, while roots lifted from the dirt in tangled clumps. “Mistress?”
“No more running.” Aifa pointed. “Vaecath, conceal yourself behind the waterfall with Jynae-bal and await my command. Hurry!”
Darmi tugged at her companion. “We need to-”
“NO. I’m done fleeing.” The words pained her, defying every screaming instinct to run. “They’ll find us wherever we go. We must learn how, or they’ll remain at our heels until our end.”
“You know what they’ll do if they catch-”
A stern glare cut her off, for Aifa required no reminder. “Stand with me, Darmi. Trust me. So long as they can track us, my children can never have a home.”
The girl peered into the darkness of the surrounding trees, beginning to tremble. She watched as the tentacled beasts obeyed without complaint, climbing down the cliff behind. A decision was required. Her life could end tonight. She took Aifa’s hand with an unsteady voice. “I trust you.”
Waiting, standing together, Aifa gritted her teeth as she heard the girl whimper. Once, she would have run without a second thought, abandoning all to ensure her own survival. Now, Aifa knew there was little choice. She would remove a threat to the homeland she had promised for her children, now, tonight, or curse herself as a fool when she fell. No other way remained.
“Say nothing, Darmi,” she commanded quietly. Closing her eyes, she focused upon her intentions, feeling whispers of understanding caressing her mind.
Every minute was a torture of anticipation. Every chirp and squawk in the night brought Darmi terror.
When spears emerged slowly from the trees ahead, their doom stepped forth.
A dozen shadows surrounded them, weapons ready. A single man came forth, his black spear tapping the ground with every careful step. “The Holy Mother.”
Aifa spat at his feet. “Audir. I’ll taste your blood.”
“I’m pleased your shaming hasn’t dampened the fire in your eyes.” A calm face studied his prey. His hand brushed his hanging manhood, glowing blue in the night. “Perhaps I’ll have a second taste of you before your end.”
Hatred boiled her blood. Fury urged her claws to strike, yet she held back. Their spears prepared to fly at a single sign of danger.
“Call the offspring.”
His tone held a threat, and Aifa prepared. “Never.”
A step brought him closer, hand tightening around his spear. “The Knowledge Holder’s command for mercy remains, yet I won’t underestimate you again. I only require one to call the beast.”
Aifa swallowed. “Look me in the eye as you cut my throat, then.”
Calm lips pulled into a frown. “A disappointment. I would have sent you to the great one’s side with honor. Instead, you’ve become a nuisance.”
She watched his careful steps, almost within reach. “Honor won’t comfort my bones when you leave me to rot. Go on. Be done with this.”
Hand sliding up the shaft of his spear, he pressed the point to her neck. A trickle of glowing blue blood leaked down her crimson skin. Peering at Darmi, he watched her shake at Aifa’s side. “I shall offer a single chance. Call it. Summon the beast to its end, or The Knowledge Holder’s mercy shall be her quick death.”
Closing her eyes, Aifa felt Vaecath’s whispers, nearby, ready. With a final breath, her mind called out. “NOW.”
A single command echoed, a mental scream. For an instant, every male winced in pain. For an instant, they were distracted.
Hand striking as fast as she could manage, Aifa’s claws raked across Audir’s face, tearing deep gashes that made him roar. She grabbed the sash of vines across his chest, pulling with all her strength as her other arm held Darmi to her side, yanking both over the cliffside.
The girl screamed as they plummeted into the river below. The force of the impact stole her breath as water erupted around them, crashing into its swift depths. Swept away, Aifa clung to the pair with whatever strength remained to her, twirling, tumbling, spinning, battered by thrashing limbs that fought the rushing water.
Breathless, lungs burning, darkness in every direction, she couldn’t call out in pain as the spear’s tip cut across her shin. A passing rock slammed into her arm. The spear’s blunt end struck blindly at her thigh.
Only the whispers caressing her mind calmed her panic, feeling watery death strangling her lungs.
“Forgive me, Darmi…”
Something in the darkness curled around her leg, then her waist, constricting, squeezing, pressing Audir and the girl tighter against her body. She felt the spear’s shaft trapped between their forms. The flow of the river pulled at her limbs, yet her body was dragged forcefully to the side.
The moment her head broke from the water, she erupted into a fit of coughs, desperate for air. She watched Vaecath’s tentacles rise from the water as they were hauled onto the beach. Rolling off Audir when they were released, her claws dug into the soft mud as she gasped, wheezing.
Vaecath hurried to Darmi’s limp body as Aifa struggled to her knees. Tentacles pushed on the girl’s chest, oozing water from her lungs. When she took a gurgling breath, Aifa dragged herself to where the black spear had been discarded near Audir’s groaning form.
A single moment had been required, a mere touch of a dozen minds. The beast hadn’t driven their pursuers to madness, yet the moment left the trio in a dazed exhaustion. Aifa’s head felt as if it was spinning as she gripped the weapon, trusting the tip to Audir’s throat as he struggled to rise.
“Move an inch, and I’ll fulfill my promise,” Aifa commanded. Maneuvering to stand on unsteady legs, she forced her prey onto his back, spear pressing firming against his throat. “I’ll taste your blood.”
Splaying his hands in surrender, he offered one of the few amused smiles she had seen upon his lips. Behind, Darmi began to weep as she clung to Vaecath’s mass.
“How did you find us? How have you tracked us?” Aifa felt her own blood dripping into the mud. “The Creator himself would’ve lost our scent.”
The gashes across Audir’s face glowed in the night as he glanced at the girl. His eyes widened as they found Jynae-bal.
She drew more of his blood as the tip pressed harder. “You’ll answer. NOW.”
“I’m a dead man either way.”
Scowling at his ease, she pulled the spear back and drove it hard through his hand, pining it to the mud. A howl of agony tore from his lips as she ripped the spear free, returning the sharp point to his neck. “There are many ways to die.”
Biting back his pain, his calm surrender had been devoured by a silent fury in an instant. Moving cautiously, his unmutilated hand reached beneath the vine sash across his chest. Removing a bulbous slug, he offered the creature, much of its body glowing a faint blue. Its tip was illuminated by a bright red coloring as it pointed towards her.
Snatching the creature, Aifa dangled it between two fingers. Slowly, the red of the tip shifted until half of its body glowed a deep crimson. “Explain, or I’ll begin to take fingers.”
Glowing eyes burned with new hatred as he squeezed his hand to slow the bleeding. “It knows the scent of my men. Blue is us. Red is…anyone else.”
“Do you have others?” Aifa asked as Darmi regained control of her sobbing.
Audir gave a firm shake of his head, his face drenched and glowing. “Only Seekers carry one. Takes…” He winced in pain. “Takes time to train.”
“Mistress! Up-” Darmi’s words were cut off by the hiss of a thrown spear. Her head jerked back, eyes wide. Reaching up, she screamed, finding little more than a stump where her right antenna had been.
Watching the girl collapse in agony, Aifa whirled back as a second spear hurled through the air to graze her shoulder. From the cliffside on the opposite shoreline, she watched as the men they had left behind stepped from the trees, and she felt Vaecath’s pain erupt inside her mind as a spear slammed into his mass.
Audir seized her distraction, grabbing her spear. Fueled by panic, she fought his grip before driving the sharp point forward. His scream echoed as a hideous shriek, and as her heart hammered inside her chest, she watched blood pour around the spear tip lodged inside his eye socket.
Yanking her weapon free, she was nearly struck by another spear as she turned to run, leaving Audir to clutch at his missing eye before she grabbed Darmi. Practically pulling her companion through the mud, she winced at Vaecath’s mental echoes as he was struck a second and third time.
Dragging Darmi into the water, Aifa let the waves sweep them away once more as black and golden tentacles wrapped protectively around their bodies. Spears splashed into the water around them, narrowly missing as dark water claimed their fate.
Tumbling through darkness once more, Aifa huddled into a ball, protecting her own head. A fourth spear dove through the water to plunge into Vaecath as the rest sank to the bottom.
Waiting, enduring, they were pulled downstream, leaving their pursuers behind.
***
Aifa felt as though she could cough up gallons of water when she finally dragged herself onto a new beach. Adrenaline fading, she rolled onto her back, biting back her pain as exhaustion threatened to consume her. The moon hung high above her head, bathing her battered body in shimmering light.
Only the sound of Darmi’s whimpers summoned her remaining strength to rise. Crawling to where Vaecath sat slumped in the mud, she discarded the slug and black spear before reaching up to grab one of the shafts buried inside his mass. With sore muscles burning, she forced the first spear from the black beast, tossing it aside.
Each seemed harder to remove than the last. With every pained pull, she fought to free Vaecath from his agony. When the last spear had been removed, the creature curled into a ball, clutching at his wounds.
Wanting nothing more than to collapse, she struggled to Darmi’s side. Wrapped in Jynae-bal’s comforting tentacles, the girl held the stump of her missing antenna with heavy sobs.
“We need to…stop the bleeding,” Aifa winced. Taking a handful of mud, she allowed it to dry slightly in her grasp before packing it against the wound.
Darmi released a high-pitched cry before her eyes rolled back, collapsing upon the beach.
Aifa retrieved the black spear before she held Darmi’s unconscious body with Jynae-bal, scanning the nearby tree line, watching like a huntress protecting her kin.
Finding no danger, she kept her spear ready, fighting lingering exhaustion as she remained prepared to strike any predator that dared to challenge her only true family.
15th of Thriduin, 767 BVE.
Deep Jungle.
“Hold still!”
The quiet serenity of the morning was brought down by Darmi’s cries. “Stop! Mistress!”
Gripping the girl’s short white hair, Aifa tried to carefully remove the mud from her tiny stump despite her protests. Even days later, she screamed as blood gushed anew. “Must you fight every time we do this?”
Gritting her teeth, Darmi yelped as the mud was replaced, nearly losing consciousness as a long leaf was tightly wrapped around the outside. One of the most sensitive parts of her head had been removed, leaving fresh tears of pain to trickle down her cheeks when she was finally released.
Leaving the girl to clutch her head, Aifa eased onto her back as she tended to her own wounds. Resting within their latest temporary shelter, she could only hope her companion’s soft cries wouldn’t bring attention from the surrounding jungle as she wrapped her shin.
Vaecath would warn them, of course, concealed in the vegetation outside. Remaining slumped upon the ground, the beast hardly moved as his body recovered, for flowers concealed the scent of his wounds.
Aifa glanced at the slug placed at her side. Its body glowed a bright red, offering no sign of blue. She inhaled a silent breath of relief, beginning to sharpen her new spear.
Whimpering, Darmi touched the subtle swell of her pregnancy as her stomach rumbled. Daring to reach over, she claimed one of the few fruits Jynae-bal had managed to retrieve from their surroundings.
“We can’t continue like this.” Aifa rubbed her eyes before pulling the golden beast closer.
“Do you think they’ll find us again?” Darmi managed to ask before wincing.
Her grip tightened around the black shaft in her hand. “No. We’ve concealed our tracks well. We’ve escaped for the moment, yet to what end? To starve as we scurry from hole to hovel?”
Darmi bit into the glowing orange fruit, the last of their supply. “What other choice is there?”
“A permanent home.” Aifa caressed the golden tentacles wrapping around her waist. “I promised my children a land of their own. If we don’t find it soon…” She grimaced at the sight of their pitiful state. “I won’t fail them.”
Eating quietly, Darmi looked away. “A home would be nice.”
The walls of woven branches and mud around them had become all too familiar. Each shelter was unique, entirely new, yet they all felt the same now. Every night was a gamble. Every day was a treacherous journey. The memory of their camp atop the stone hand felt like an eternity in the past, another reminder of their fragility.
“Mistress?” The voice came quietly, a meek whisper. When Aifa offered demanding eyes, Darmi blushed. “Am I…disfigured?”
Fear flavored the girl’s tone, breaking Aifa’s rushing thoughts. She shook her head. “I’ve encountered many with injuries far outmatching a missing antenna,” she said. When the statement offered little comfort, she moved to caress Darmi’s chin. “I care little if you’re missing an eye, an ear, or a hand. Your beauty remains.”
For the first time in days, Darmi smiled.
“Rest now. We can do little but heal, and the path ahead remains as harsh as before.” Aifa guided her companion onto her back. “I’ll send Jynae-bal to retrieve further supplies.”
Though the girl obeyed, enduring her pain in silence, Aifa found no rest for herself. Face hardening, she continued to ponder.
***
Darmi’s soft breaths were her only comfort. Hours later, long after the sun had set, Aifa stared at the short ceiling of their shelter.
She needed to save them. She needed to find a way forward. They had remained one step ahead of destruction, yet their brush with death had been FAR too close.
Every tribe she had ventured to temporarily join had failed in the past. Her only safety had been herself, yet now she possessed something too valuable to abandon. She needed to keep them alive, else there was little point in surviving alone once more.
A thought of Audir turned her stomach. A thought of enduring the jungle another day made her grimace. Many months would surely pass before Vaecath’s spawn would be born, and even after they had sought her out, they’d require time to grow. How could she keep them all alive and well in the wild?
For a moment, she wanted to vomit as her worries swirled inside her head. The world was her foe, and she was losing.
A branch snapped at her side, and as she turned, she watched a black tentacle push through the muddy walls of their shelter. It nudged her bruised thigh, curling around her limb.
“The Red Vessel serves. The Red Vessel worries.”
“Not now, Vaecath.” She brushed the tip away as it tried to slid between her legs.
“The Red Vessel has earned her rest. The Red Vessel’s path is unforgiving.”
Another tentacle emerged from outside, joined by a third. She batted them aside before one found her breast, granting her nipple a lick.
“The Red Vessel gives much.”
Grimacing, she couldn’t deny the tentacles a sigh of pleasure as one slithered down her midriff, teasing between her thighs. “I was foolish to believe we were safe. The world reminded me otherwise.”
“There is no mercy. The path is harsh. The end is harsher.”
Despite his bleak whispers, the caresses upon her mind felt increasingly calming. “I was prepared to give myself to Audir’s blade.” The truth felt sour upon her lips, horrified when a dampness claimed her eyes a moment later. “I’ll never fail my children.”
As if in gratitude, a tentacle pushed into her soft folds, sliding inside. Crimson thighs parted, offering a moan as she savored the slimy sensation.
“Rest.”
Aifa felt slime tingling across her skin as tentacles caressed her body. Peace brought danger, yet she allowed her feminine form to ease, if only for a moment. A hand glided through trails of slime, bringing wet fingers to her sex.
A circular motion of her fingers coated her clit in the tingling liquid, rubbing herself. She felt the supple movements of her vagina as the tentacle slid in and out, leaving her aching with every thrust.
“The mother suffers. The mother serves. Her care is not forgotten.”
Her free hand covered her mouth as Aifa held back a deep groan. The tentacle inside her was a gift, the purpose of her life. The pain of her cuts and bruises melted away, her wounds the gift she offered back.
“A home…Vaecath. I…ahh…shall grant you a home.” Her fingers increased their pace, seeking more.
Something wet brushed against the underside of her thigh. Sliding down, it ventured to lick at her puckered hole. Instinctually, she moved to stop the exploring appendage, only to hold back in curiosity. She knew the bliss that awaited her, no longer able to resist such a sensation.
“The world remade. Such is the path.”
“I’d give you the world, but I ca-” A gasp cut off her words as the second tentacle slid inside, pushing deeper and deeper into her rump. She covered her mouth once more to hold back a strained cry. Head falling back, her eyes fluttered in absolute bliss.
Two tentacles conquered two holes. They began to thrust in an alternating rhythm. The first pushed into her sex while the other pulled from her rump, then the first pulled out while the other dove deep. In and out, tentacles buried themselves as far as they could reach with every wet plunge.
Aifa’s legs quivered as she was serviced. Vaecath knew every inch of her body well, inside and out, rubbing exactly where she required. Her moans stirred the girl nearby, yet Darmi merely shook in her sleep, enduring her suffering.
“The Red Vessel’s aims were on course.”
She saw a vision of Cavari females growing pregnant with the seed they had left behind. Several victims carried his offspring.
“The line spreads.”
Aifa felt a tentacle curl atop her belly, as if savoring her subtle swell. “I thought…ahh…we could endure the wilds together. I…ahh…was wrong. We need a home…”
Slime oozed from between her legs. Both holes filled, the pleasure of every thrust mixed in a bizarre sensation that forced her toes to curl in bliss.
“The Red Vessel is close. The Red Vessel cannot doubt.”
Visions of potential targets flowed through her head. She shook them aside. “Every nearby tribe is guarded…ahh…by more males than we can handle.” She remembered the exhaustion they had felt after Vaecath’s whispers drove a single man to madness, as if she and Darmi had been sucked dry. If more had accompanied the man to seek their missing member…
Every thrust muted her worries. So long as his tentacles remained buried inside her, she surrendered to his calming whispers. Her body burned with lust as her fingers circled her clit, raising her hips with a moan that demanded more.
Visions continued to flow, yet she closed her eyes to simply enjoy her ecstasy. Her body begged for satisfaction, pleasure bursting between her parted legs.
The slime pouring from both holes felt strange yet exhilarating, knowing nothing but her flesh separated the two tentacles exploring her tight body. Her freehand joined the appendage caressing her midriff, holding her subtle swell. Vaecath’s child grew inside. Her womb served its purpose to create his offspring. Her blood mixed within a new being, almost able to feel the creature’s young mind reaching out.
She was The Mother, The Vessel, The Mistress, upholder of the line, and the mate of tentacles. As she cried out, raising her hips higher as an explosive orgasm seized her body, she knew she’d give her life to preserve her children.
***
Lying in a shallow puddle of slime, her skin dripping, she lightly caressed her satisfied lower lips deep into the night.
Mind calculating, staring once more at the ceiling, she held his tentacles to her chest. They lightly licked at her breasts, as if nurtured from her pleasure.
The visions continued, searching, sensing all surrounding Cavaries for miles in every direction. She discarded each one, almost quivering at the thought of facing danger once more.
Without warning, she squeezed the nearest tentacle with wide eyes. “Vaecath…hold.”
Whispers tingling inside her head, she tried to focus, as if demanding the creature’s mind to obey. The flowing visions solidified, growing closer until she could feel their purpose. There had been a single flicker of a feeling, a sensation she didn’t understand, yet the sensation had called to her from miles away.
“There…” she muttered. Far in the distance, miles beyond her natural senses, Vaecath’s whispers allowed her to feel the presence of six Cavaries behind stone. She could almost smell them, nearly able to see the domed ceiling of the colossal cave around them when she shut her eyes. Fate called to her, urging her forth.
“Five wombs. One seedmaker. They await their purpose, safe from the world.”
“How far?” she asked, yet the answer came as a feeling, as if walking every mile. She didn’t dare to smile. She didn’t dare to hope. Six Cavaries could cut them down. A single male, however, posed little threat if his women were lured by Vaecath’s whispers.
An empty cave would’ve been preferable, yet he could not feel what contained no life. Instead, five wombs called out to Vaecath, yearning, fertile.
“Have we found our home?”
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