Thief Witches

by Phineas

Chapter 1: Lust in the Darkness

The two dancers swirled and shimmied in the dimness of the smoky tavern, firelight from the cressets and sconces highlighting the sweat sheen of their perfect, nearly naked bodies. The patrons of that disreputable establishment shouted lustily, and pounded with their tankards on the oaken tables and benches.

The two girls were alike, and yet differing. Each had the voluptuous body of a passionate goddess, full-breasted and slender-waisted. Each wore only veils and bangles, and each had a similar demeanor of sensual abandon.

One proudly wore a thick golden mane that fell, unbound, to her slender bare waist. Here at this time and this place she preferred to be called Taarga. Zona, her close friend, was of a similarly exquisitely-shaped body, with chestnut hair that brushed to the top of her well-shaped buttocks. They were accomplished dancers, sometime coin-girls and, it was rumored, excellent thieves. Perhaps each had deeper interests as well, but most knew only their great eagerness, passion, and sensuality.

They finished their sensual dance, and swayed out bare-flanked (and mostly bare elsewhere) to "thigh dance" with the disreputable patrons of the place, favoring any who proffered for a few coins.

A particularly rugged rogue waved a single gold coin at Taarga, and her blue eyes followed it as she softly danced closer. Smiling, he held it before her face as the golden one, her eyes alternately on his stubbled, handsome face and on the glittering coin, swayed before him and bent to touch the metal with her pink tongue, again and again. Then on delicate bare toes, she whirled slowly before him, both hands lifting and spreading her tousled yellow mane. Slowly, dancing down to her shapely haunches, she then arched herself towards him, displaying and offering her furred cleft to him... still with her eyes on his and all others in the tavern watching the sensual spell that was being woven.

The rogue licked his lips in anticipation, and gently pushed the golden coin to first brush against her furred mound, then slid it into her soft slit as she cried out in ecstasy. Dancing to a standing pose, she held it within herself, smiling at him as all the others in the tavern shouted out their hoarse approval. Triumphant at her spell, the golden-maned girl stretched proudly to the tips of her bare toes, lifting her full breasts to display her voluptuous form for the appreciation of the crowd. Then she threw herself into his arms, smothering him with her kisses and spreading her luxurious yellow heir over both of their heads.

Beautiful women do not like to be upstaged, and though Taarga was her friend, the comely Zona glowered at her. Then on graceful bare feet she stepped out onto the dancing floor between the tables, stroking her naked breasts and running her hands down her shapely thighs to better display them. The crowd cried out its approval anew, and soon she too was having coins of gold offered for the soft grasp of her moist cleft.

Each of the two was soon was penetrated by a casual lover, and each was becoming more and more mazed with passion.

Yet the blood was up for all of the patrons in the tavern, and most of the rest also lusted for the two lovely, unclad women. Words turned angry and the blow of a heavy fist sent a bearded reprobate into a nearby table. The brawl started between two shouting patrons, and spread rapidly.

Their passionate embraces were broken, and other random rogues began trying to seize the two women who by now were breathing heavily, their heaving, bare breasts glistening with sweat. The two shared a brief glance of silent agreement, and fled to the back of tavern, eluding the lustful grasping of those who desired their naked bodies.

"The brawl is worsening," commented the yellow-haired girl, as the two stepped lightly behind an arras, to crouch and peer out through the rotted tatters of the hanging.

"Aye," replied her chestnut-maned friend as she surveyed the wild chaos from their place of concealment. "I see that the tavern-keeper has sent his son out to find the guardsmen of the watch. They'll be here soon enough, and probably knock a few heads. I think we'd best be off ... like as not, they'd want to take us along. For 'questioning', of course."

"I don't mind being taken again on this night," smiled Taarga, fingering her wet, furred mound. "Some of those guardsmen are quite handsome. But our takings for this evening's frolic would likely disappear as well. Shall we get dressed and leave before things get even worse?"

On silent bare toes, the girls eased down the shadowy hallway towards the tiny chamber that served them as a room for dressing. They could not have known that they were about to be waylaid.

Taarga followed a few steps behind the other, doubtfully looking back at the curtained doorway behind them. It was possible at any moment that some of the brawlers in the room beyond would inadvertently tumble through the arras that concealed the passageway from the now-chaotic common hall, and make their situation more complicated. She looked forward as the other maiden swayed into the dimly-lit small chamber beyond.

The golden-tressed girl was about to speak when a large masculine form stepped behind her friend, and a massive hand clamped onto her bare shoulder. He pushed her bare body against the wall, assessing the beauty that was now his to use.

Zona thought quickly. To rivet his lusting attention, she tossed her head back in challenge, long chestnut hair tumbling over her bare shoulders and full naked breasts. Intensely and in a low voice the girl told her attacker that she must agree to his entering into her soft womanhood, else she would scream and probably bring the quarreling patrons stumbling into the back room. Her ravisher would not fare well at the fists of the other brawlers.

He roughly pushed her back to fall heavily onto the couch behind her, bare arms and legs flailing. The rogue reached to his belt, removed something, and tossed a bag of coin onto her moist quim. "How's this, wench?"

The girl made no answer, but looked at him with a widening smile. She fluffed out her luxurious waves of dark hair with her hands and, eyes on the intruder stretched to thrust her breasts out at him, offering herself. He quickly began stripping off his clothes and sat down next to her. She melted against him, smiling and then moaning as he rolled over, lifted her shapely thighs, and pushed his hard manhood deep inside her.

Taarga eased back in the dimness of the corridor, arms crossed so that her full naked breasts were cradled on her forearms, tapping a bare toe impatiently. She muttered softly, "Of all times for that little trollop to strike another bargain! We should be out of here while we can!"

Taarga leaned forward to watch better as her friend began moaning in pleasure. The rough hands of her assailant kneaded her buttocks and slid along her perfect legs, while his lips found her erect nipples. Becoming aroused in spite of herself, the golden-tressed girl began kneading her own breasts with her slender fingers, desiring to join the other, yet concerned at their need to flee. She knew of their other plans for this night, and was concerned that they must be away... and soon.

She leaned her golden body through the portal, knowing that the rogue who was possessing Zona was totally wrapped within his passion. Taarga whispered low and urgently to her friend to hurry, yet now stoking her own furred cleft in arousal.

Unseen by the yellow-haired one, one of the patrons from the brawl in the common-room had by happenstance found the hallway concealed behind the tattered arras. His vague thought of exploring further with possible chance of finding valuables was forgotten when he saw the beauteous, naked silhouette of the girl at the end of the hall.

He eased up silently behind her unheard; the girl was bent over and looking at something in the room beyond. Her perfect, rounded cheeks were thrust back and quivering as she stroked herself and gasped softly.

Suddenly the lurker seized her from behind, one hand roughly over her mouth, while the other pinned her slender arms to her full body. Already in the throes of passion, she struggled only briefly against his strength, then readily submitted to her attacker ... without even demanding money from him.

In a moment, still bent over, she was being entered from behind, again and again, as his hands roughly kneaded her soft breasts and tweaked her erect nipples. In brief moments both girls were moaning and crying out in passion, along with their unknown bravos.

Eventually the two disheveled girls pulled themselves away from the two satiated men, both wenches naked and feeling very used. They staggered barefoot out into the alleyway, dragging their rumpled costumes and carrying the small bags of the coin that they had earned on this evening.

Moving cautiously from shadow to deep shadow, down narrow streets and narrower alleyways, they found their way quickly to their chamber in the maul. Then inside the portal, to bolt the door and collapse with naked breasts heaving resting for a brief while from an evening which had already given them much in pleasure, action, and coin.

Stroking her still-throbbing quim, Taarga directed her friend to conceal their monies in the usual hiding place and to get what supplies would be needed. "Get everything ready, Zona. We still have very high-paying work to do on this night," she said, momentarily luxuriating in the feeling of at last being safe, and relaxing her naked body among the tumbled silken cushions.

They washed and perfumed their comely bodies, then fastened chains and leathern straps about their naked forms. Daggers, ropes, and thieves' tools were fastened to their body harnesses.

Zona stepped with soft bare feet into the next room and brought back a leashed dog. Taarga squatted and hugged the animal (who sniffed at her breasts, then at her muff) between her full breasts. She looked up at her friend, standing proudly with her rose-tipped breasts thrust out, caressing her stiff nipples. "Is the bitch in heat?' she asked. "Yes," murmured Zona. "If it's the dog that you mean. I would say that all three of the bitches in this room are more than eager to be taken!"

The two girls put the dog on a chain and threw concealing cloaks over their leather-strapped bodies. Together they walked barefoot through the rain-washed narrow streets (stepping aside for an occasional chariot or tradesman's waggon) and made their way into the temple district. Walls were dark, high stone on all sides, with tendrils of vines. (Some whispered that certain vines in the Temple Quarter sought the blood of the unwary. The girls knew this to be a fact ... but they also knew which of the creeping plants to avoid.).

Chants and plainsong came from some of the high-walled compounds and temples, and strange sounds come from others. Sounds which made the girls, from time to time, involuntarily clutch each other in sudden fear. But with determination in their eyes they proceeded onwards into the darkness.

Finally, they arrived at a high-black stone wall in the most remote section of the Temple Hills. Inside could be heard the growling of large, fierce mastiffs. Taarga quietly told Zona to wait until she had gone to the other side of the huge compound to draw off the watchdogs, then to proceed with their plan. On soft, silent feet she vanished into the misty darkness.

Zona crouched in a shadowed nook, clutching the female dog against her bare body beneath the cloak, only the tips of her bare toes visible in the dimness. Speaking softly and comfortingly to the animal, she muzzled the bitch, who had already scented the males beyond the wall, and was whining with eagerness for their attentions. Zona put her red lips against the soft furred ear of the dog and whispered to quiet the animal's soft keening.

"I know little one. You want your males to take you, again and again: it's the desire of your life, right now." She rubbed her naked breasts against the fur of the animal, closing her eyes as she savored the sensation. "I know what you're feeling, little one. I know it well."

Then Zona quickly fastened the canine into a leathern harness attached to a rope. In a short while she heard the dogs barking at something in the distance, then quickly shed her cloak to lithely climb a nearby tree, naked and graceful. She gently hoisted the softly whining, muzzled dog up and over the stone wall, to an old, low stone structure just within the compound. Securing the rope to the tree overhead (with a line over the side for her friend to ascend), she dropped on silent feet to the top of the stone structure.

Glancing about cautiously, she untied the anxious dog, who then leaped off onto the ground and rushed eagerly towards the mastiffs, who had now caught her scent, and had come running.

Zona, soft leather harness about her naked body, kneeled atop the cool stone roof to watch the pack of eager males mating with the in-heat female, quarreling in low growls over her, mounting her again and again, pulling each other off, and eagerly entering the dog-bitch once more.

Zona stroked her own moist cleft and massaged her arrow-hard nipple-tips as she found the desire rising within her once again.
Meanwhile Taarga, having thrown her cloak over the wall as a decoy for the mastiffs, was now clad only in thin leather straps as she splashed naked and sleek through the rain-washed shadows back to where she had left her friend. With a last cautious look about, she used the dangling rope to climb up into the concealment of the tree.

She flattened her full body against an overhanging limb as she saw her friend below about to be ravished.

Unseen by Zona, a mastiff somewhat smaller than the others and not able to compete for the dog-bitch, had scented Zona's own heat. It stalked the girl, preoccupied and aroused as she was with the animals' orgy below.

On her hands and knees, her bare rump high, she heard a low growl behind her, and was frozen with sudden fear. Zona looked around in sudden apprehension, only to see the dog leap up just behind her.

The naked girl knew full well that if she moved or made more than a low moan the dog might well rend her soft body, and call the others who would most likely tear out her throat. Uncertain of what to do, she stayed still, trembling. The dog was immediately atop the girl, its front legs wrapped around her and its long thick member driving up inside her wet crotch to swell and lock there, throbbing again and again.

Her fear quickly gave way to a trembling, abandoned desire ... and shame at what was happening to her. Yet she knew that she had no choice, on her very life, but to remain silent.

In the tree overhead Taarga wrapped her naked legs around the tree limb, furred softness against the coarse bark, and massaged her full breasts, her golden hair falling down over her shoulders and bare nipples. Her red lips curled as she considered her comrade's plight. "Friend though she may be, that pretty little bitch should have been more on her guard. Serves her right, to be raped by a mastiff. Now if only she remains silent... the worst thing would be for me to interrupt and get the attention of the other dogs by killing that one. I'll just watch." She ran her fingers lightly over the fullness of a breast once more. "Yes I'll just watch,"

Out on the grounds the mastiffs took the girls' eager she-dog time and again, and the pack gradually drifted out beyond the trees and bushes into another area. Atop the stone structure Zona was lost in ecstasy, climaxing time and time again with the dog strongly clasping her naked body, no longer even aware that her passion was tabooed. And overhead in the tree Taarga watched her friend's continued ravishing, becoming increasingly aroused and rubbing the wetness of her own furred mound in her rising desire.

Finally the dog had enough of the girl. Still it was locked into her, and still she moaned in continuing climaxes. The dog became impatient, then finally pulled itself out of her as she cried out softly and collapsed. Seeking its pack-mates, the mastiff leaped off the building and disappeared into the shrubbery, leaving the whimpering girl lying where she had fallen.

As soon as all was clear, Taarga dropped down with silent bare feet onto the marble flat rooftop. Naked and golden, clad only in her few straps, she stood over her softly moaning friend. Fingering a hard nipple, she smiled down at the dazed and disheveled girl.

"Well, I see that another bitch was in heat. Enjoying yourself, my little slut?" She nudged Zona with her naked foot. The girl whimpered, still mazed with passion. She rolled over onto her belly and looked up at her blonde friend. Zona swept back the tumbled long hair from her finely-chiseled face.

"Why didn't you rescue me, Taarga? You just let that creature have me, again and again," she gasped, and tried to sit up.

Taarga pushed her toes into the other's crotch, feeling the warm wetness. And conscious that she too was wet. Unlike her friend, the golden one was still unsatisfied. Without thinking, she fondled her own wet quim and lifted her breasts proudly. Zona sat up and pulled her friend's bare foot more tightly against her own dripping clitoris, then grasped the golden one's leather-strapped leg to rub her breasts against Taarga's firm limb.

Taarga closed her eyes and put her hands into the other's thick, tumbled dark hair, grasped it cruelly in her fists, and dragged Zona's face against her own muff. The other licked and fondled eagerly, and Taarga moaned in rising ecstasy.

"I ... I had to, Zona." She gasped and moaned again. "If I ... (oh) ... had interrupted, the beast would likely have ... (ah) ... have killed you. (Ohhhh ...)" She threw her head back in ecstasy, breasts thrust out, as the first climax shook her voluptuous form.

Zona, her lips and flickering tongue in the other's furred mound, looked up at her friend's belly, full naked breasts, and the tumbled golden curls that framed her face. Eyes closed, Taarga was trying not to scream in her cascading passion.

Zona arched her neck back, and ran her hands up the other's sides to cup and fondle the other's breasts. "You're wet, Taarga, you pretty bitch. Very wet. Admit it, my proud friend... you were as aroused as was I!"

Taarga could say nothing, for she was lost, mazed and moaning in cascading ecstasy.

It was a while yet before the two girls were able to get their senses again, and shake off the passion that had wrung both of them out so fully. Zona nibbled and kissed the other's bare toes. "What do we now, Taarga? Our plan didn't work the way it was supposed to. Shall we leave now, and make tracks from this place?"

The golden girl shook back her tumbled mass of hair and rose lithely to her naked feet. She smiled and reached down, pinching each of her friend's nipples with the thumbs and forefingers. Lifting Zona by her nipples, she forced the other to rise to her own slender feet. Taarga brushed away a heavy lock of hair from her face. Her friend knew well the look of determination there.

"No," she said firmly. "We've lost a lot of time here, but we'll never have this chance again, girl." She looked over into the distance, unconsciously stroking her naked breast once more. "The dogs are still busy with out little friend. Let's go, Zona."

"But I'm tired..." complained the dark-haired girl, gesturing down at her dripping muff and her imprisoned breasts. The other lightly kissed her lips, halting her protest.

"We go, wench," she said softly. "Now." Taarga gently swatted the other's bare rump.

Chapter 2: The Creature in the Jewel-Tower

One and then the other, they slid over the edge of the roof and dropped into the dew-wet grass on silent bare feet. Drawing their blades, they silently made their way towards the highest tower, watching and alert.

Alert, like two graceful she-panthers, they tiptoed warily deeper into the wooded compound. The dogs were nowhere to be seen. At one time they spied a procession of six hooded acolytes who walked, with preoccupied slowness, down a walkway near to them. The lissome thieves crouched behind thick bushes, hands over their naked breasts, as if to still the sound of their beating hearts, and digging their bare toes into the soft earth as if to try and burrow as much of their forms as possible out of sight. But the acolytes continued onward without noticing them, and the two continued silently. After a short time the girls found their way to the high, featureless tower that was at the center of the temple compound.

They looked up, their hair tumbling behind them, to brush gently on their well-shaped bare rumps.

"It looks very smooth and sheer," said Zona doubtfully, her hands on her well-shaped naked hips. Her friend was unrolling a coil of thin, strong rope that she had carried slung from her waist.

"But I examined it very closely with that strange device the sorcerer had in his tower, not far away," she said, indicating for Zona to do the same with her coil of rope. "Using our fingers and toes we can work our way upwards along the face of the tower. There are ledges ten spans and twenty spans up, where we will have just space enough to rest ourselves and mayhap secure our lines in case of a slip. Thirty spans up is a narrow window that opens onto a stairway ... I saw the scarlet monks going up as I watched."

Zona grinned crookedly at the other. "So you weren't just dancing naked and working all sorts of perversions on that old man, eh?"

Taarga grinned back and put her hands under her breasts to stroke them in remembrance, and to make a point by shaking them briefly at Zona. "Oh, you'd be surprised. For an old man, he was amazingly virile and well-endowed! But he did have some ... shall we say ... interesting tastes and some unusual ways of doing things!"

Zona fumbled in one of her leathern pouches to bring forth bits and patches of chamois, threaded and linked with rawhide strips. Some she kept for herself, and the other she offered to her companion.

"What's this?" asked Taarga quizzically.

"I know you pride yourself on being sturdy as well as very female, Taarga, but if we're going to be sliding our soft bosoms over that rough stone wall all the way up the tower, then it would be advisable to put some sort of a covering over our best parts. It would get to be very uncomfortable having our nipples all scraped and bloody. And a bit of leather over our furry quims might be a good idea too!"

Taarga nodded in assent, and the two fastened chamois to barely cover their full breasts, and to hang short leathern patches just below their bellies, as if in a half-hearted attempt at modesty ... for their roundness in back was bare, and the soft breeze was cool underneath, on each girl's furred womanhood. A silent exchange of nods and a last look around at the still-silent temple grounds, and they began climbing.

Silently, slender fingers and bare toes seeking every crevice and jutting stone, the two maidens worked their way up the sheer side of the tower, pressing their near-naked bodies flat against the hard, unyielding stone. Where it was necessary they fitted iron pitons into cracks within the stone facing, to gain an additional handhold here or another spot to grasp with a naked foot. They barely stopped to rest at the first ledge, and only briefly paused to rest at the second ledge. Their firm dancers' bodies were easily capable of such a climb as this.

Then once again silently upwards, their bodies glistening slightly with sweat in the darkness. At last they reached the stone window, and Taarga secured a metal hook through the window, tying to the girls' leather body harnesses so that they could rest easily while examining it.

Zona examined the window doubtfully, running her hands over the stone frame. "It looks awfully small. Can we make it into there?"

Taarga leaned her shapely body out against the ropes, and removed a wineskin from her waist strap. She smiled at her friend. "I thought there might be some doubt, Zona, so I brought this. Take off anything that might catch on that stone window frame, and hang it on my line while I rub that pretty body of yours down with oil. Then you can do the same with me. We should be able to slip right inside!"

Even in the dimness Taarga could see the sparkle in her friend's eyes. Zona quickly stripped off all but her soft leather body-harness and hung it in a bundle from the rope that anchored to the window. She turned as best she could where she was braced, pulled off the thongs and bits of leather that covered the tips of her breasts, and eagerly thrust her bosom out towards the other girl. "Rub me down, Taarga ... and start at my nipples!"

Perhaps each took more time with the other than was needed, but both enjoyed the sensation of having their entire bodies being rubbed with the oil, and tingling from the herbs infused within. Taarga, planning in advance, had obtained an oil that would warm and stimulate their naked forms, in the event that (as had already happened on this evening) other events had interposed to tire the girls.

Yet she had not planned for the effect on their well-caressed breasts and the well-used furred clefts of their wet, soft womanhood ... for both of them had been penetrated many times thus far on this night. Thus the oil warmed their naked bodies, but the heat on their breasts and especially within the tender lips of their clitori burned to build desire once again.

Taarga pressed her oiled body through the narrow stone window. Her full bare breasts caught, and she pressed herself as flat as she could, biting her lip with the discomfort. "Zona," she whispered low, " I don't really need to be pushed in from the back. You don't really need to push ... between ... between ... my ... my buttocks and my ... (ah) ... quim. (Oh)."

Zona pushed and caressed her friend's round bottom, and licked her lips as she slid her fingers through and over the other's soft creases, delighting in Taarga's gasping and moans as she pulled herself through the opening, to drop somewhat ungracefully down onto the dim stone steps within. Zona pushed first her pack and then that of her friend into the window, and looked about. The dark temple gardens were still empty below.

Then Zona smoothed the oil one last bit over her sleek flanks and eased herself into the slit of the window. Taarga, smiling, wrapped her arms about the other's bare body, hands playfully fondling Zona's full breasts, ("Turnabout's fair play, wench!") and helped pull the naked, wiggling girl through. In a tangle of bare limbs and with sensual, soft laughter, the two tumbled into the cool stone wall opposite the window, and caught their balance on the steeply curving stairs. A short embrace and a slow, silent kiss to each congratulate the other on coming this far, and the two girls struggled to their bare feet.

Taarga handed Zona her sword belt, and strapped her own onto her shapely, naked hip. She tossed her golden mane of hair back and pointed up the shadowed dimness of the old stairway that curved out of sight into the blackness above and beyond where they stood. "The treasure-room is above," she said softly. "We should have no trouble getting up there ... by climbing up the wall and coming in through that window we've gone past the armed guardian monks that watch in the lower chambers."

Zona drew her weapon and looked about cautiously. "Everything looked quiet outside, Taarga. And I don't hear anything back down those stairs."

The other nodded. "Excellent. This should be easy. Follow me."

Together the two girls, again watchful and with every sense alert, moved silently on soft bare feet up the stone stairs. When the light became too dim for even their own keen eyes, Taarga drew a flint, a bit of cotton, and a tiny hooded lamp from her pack. As Zona averted her eyes from the bright sparks that the other struck from the pommel of her dagger, Taarga struck a flame and the way before them was lit, albeit dimly, once again.

Zona smiled at her comrade to break the tension. "Do you have everything in that bag of yours, my friend? There seems to be a trick for every occasion!"

"I've tried to plan for everything. It's something I learned from ..."

"That handsome lad from the Thieves' Guild, right?"

Taarga stroked a rigid nipple reflectively and smiled back. "He was good in bed, as well as knowing his trade quite well," she answered obliquely.

The two stepped cautiously on up the spiral stairs, the dim light from the small hooded lamp limning their well-shaped, unclad bodies.

At length they came to the massive, ironbound door, emblazoned with the archaic blood-eye sigil of the Order upon whose tower the two maidens trespassed. Zona took the lamp and examined the lock closely, then withdrew from the pouch fastened to her own body-harness a set of curious devices which she then applied to the lock. In a few moments the lock clicked loudly and she pushed the heavy door open, so that it creaked on its hinges. She grinned at Taarga as she replaced the lockpicks into the pouch.

"You're not the only one who has ... shall we say ... "special skills", pretty one." She peered into the dark chamber. " But I think we ought to go in very carefully. There might be traps hidden within."

As soon as the light from the lamp shone into the chamber, the place was illumined by the rainbow reflections from thousands of heaped jewels. Diamond-studded tapestries hung from the walls, and chalices carved from single rubies and sapphires glowed as if illumined from within. Riotous heaps of gold and shimmering jewels were everywhere.

The girls cried out softly in delight. Zona bounded to the nearest pile of jewels, knelt, and ran her hands and slender arms through the carelessly-heaped richness. Taarga opened the hood on the lamp, to light the large, jewel-laden chamber almost as brightly as daylight, and herself danced into the piles of glittering richness. Careless of the peril of their situation, both laughed, scooped jewels into the silken bags they carried and, in delight, adorned their naked bodies with jeweled, crystalline richness. For a while, both were oblivious to anything else.

A noise, soft and sinister, nudged Taarga back into wariness.

Squatting on her bare haunches, her toes buried among gold coins and spilled rubies, she paused in the motion of fastening a thick, wide, diamond-studded collar about her slender neck, and listened.

"Zona, did you hear something?"

The other had fitted glittering bracelets and anklets and more to her sensuous body, and was preoccupied with draping strands of pearls and sapphires over and around her naked breasts. She was judging how well they matched with the diamond clips she had attached to her nipples.

"What? Oh ... sorry, I haven't really been paying attention to anything, Taarga. Do you think this gold filigree goes well with my aureoles?"

Like a wary pantheress, Taarga rose to her feet and looked about. The high ceiling of lapis lazuli inlaid with jewels caught the glints a thousand times over of her small lamp which illumined the chamber so well. Nothing seemed to be there. The door through which they had come? They had carelessly left it open, the thief-maiden realized. Softly she walked to the dark doorway and warily stood beside it, listening.

This time she heard it clearly ... a snuffling and grunting, like some large animal!

Sudden fear rose within Taarga. She quickly stepped around and pushed on the heavy door, closing it. As the hinges creaked she heard the thing on the other side of the door suddenly hasten, coming closer ... aware that the door was closing.

She pushed the heavy door into place. Solidly.

It did not latch.

The lock had to be turned. Panic seized the girl. Leaning her full, pale body against the door, she turned her head back towards the other thief-maiden ... who was as yet still unaware of what was happening, for she was still adorning herself in jewels. Taarga's fear-filled voice was low and urgent.

"Zona ..."

As though a dark thunderbolt hurled into the other side of the door, it was thrown back against the golden-tressed one, pinning her against the wall, the senses knocked from her.

The sudden crash brought Zona immediately alert. She spun around and leaped to her bare feet, hands over her naked breasts in surprise ... then was suddenly transfixed with fear at the horror that crouched there, its glowing scarlet eyes on her.

Perhaps it had been human once. Perhaps it had been one of the great grey apes that, travellers said, dwelled in the jungles a thousand leagues to the south.

But it was neither.

Her mind reeled with horror at the sight of it, for the creature was a hideous caricature of both man and ape. Had she time to have considered, the unfortunate girl might have wondered at what blasphemous manipulations of the dark mages could possibly have spawned this massive, bestial creature. But the chestnut-tressed maiden had no time.

Its sharp, feral eyes looked around, observing that no one else was in the treasure chamber, then returned to her bejeweled, unclad and voluptuous body. Its nose twitched as it caught her woman-scent. Bloodlust was replaced by carnal lust as the ape-creature eyed her full, naked breasts, slender limbs, and flowing hair.

Its clawed hands out grasping towards her, the thing took a step towards the girl, and then another. She realized its intent, and screamed as she turned to vainly attempt an escape.

Zona slipped on the profusion of gold coins and jewels that were beneath her soft feet, and stumbled to her knees with a cry. Panicky, she crouched and darted again as the ape-creature, grinning evilly, closed on her inexorably. She ran to one side and another, sobbing in terror, as it herded the naked girl, like some graceful, frightened animal, into the far corner of the treasure-chamber.

Then she could go no further, and the girl pressed her voluptuous, jewelled body against the cold stone and gazed back with horror as the creature, its piglike eyes scarlet with lust, closed finally on her.

With one final scream of terror she tried to rush past it, but the ape-being easily seized Zona about her bare middle with one paw and wrapped the other clawlike hand in her long hair to drag her brutally down. It grasped her between the legs and dropped her heavily onto her back.

Vanquished, Zona lay amidst a pile of gold and jewels before him, her full body exposed and her expression piteous, the girl's hands over her naked breasts, as if to vainly try and protect their rounded softness. The ape-thing ran its hand gently over her soft cheek, then over her neck, pulled away her hands, and squeezed her soft breasts as she whimpered. Then she saw the size of his erect member as he crouched atop her, and screamed again. The hairy body was down on her nakedness, and she cried out in pain - and somewhat shamefully also in pleasure - as the being pushed himself deep into her. Zona's cries became sharper, then diminished into groans and sobs as she writhed less and less beneath the hairy thing that rose and fell above her, driving it's massive member into her pained, almost bursting, femaleness again and again for a seeming agonized - yet, perversely, sexually ecstatic - eternity. In spite of the pain and the mauling of her breasts and body by its mouth and paws, she began climaxing again and again.

Taarga sobbed softly as she dragged herself back to consciousness in a red haze of pain. She had been battered senseless by the massive door when it had been slammed open to pin her soft body against the wall. The girl felt the coolness of the stone floor on her bare body, and for a long moment simply lay there, trying to remember why she had been so frightened just a little while ago. Screams. There had been screams, and now there were sobs and cries from somewhere near.

Zona! Her screams!! Taarga sat up abruptly, then cringed and held her golden head for a moment as the pain flooded back. Too fast a move. She bowed her head for a moment, and clutched at her throbbing temples.

Then she looked up, brushing her long hair away from her face, at the scene across the treasure chamber. The ape creature had thrown Zona thrown back on a pile of gold coin, and was raping her. Piteous cries came from her friend, while the hideous being was humped over her, thrusting its rigid member deep into her again and again. Her bare legs flailed helplessly, the jewels that still richly adorned her limbs flashing in the dim light of the lamp.

Panic flooded Taarga, and (regardless of the ache in her head) she sprang to a crouch, on her toes and ready to leap into a run. The ape-creature would have its pleasure with Zona, then doubtless kill her. Then it would come for Taarga ... naked and unarmed, she would have no chance against it. Or even sooner it might sense the presence of the golden dancer, and come for her. Fear. Panic. She clutched at her naked breasts with her slender hands. Better to run while it was still finishing with poor Zona. Gain some time, and escape. Yes!

Taarga sprang for the door on silent bare feet, her golden mane flowing behind her. A last look at her doomed companion and she brushed a bare flank against the cold metal door as she vanished into the darkness beyond.

It was dark, very dark. Fear gnawing at her like some living thing, she slowed enough to guide herself down the narrow, curving stair. Hands out to either side and feeling each step down with her sensitive toes, the girl made her way down through the darkness, resisting the urge to break into sobs of pain and fear.

The dim slot of a window appeared in the blackness ahead, and she made for it with a reckless haste. Then she was there, arms on the cool stone, hands wringing together out the window. She bowed her head and sobbed silently. There was a cool night wind blowing in gently, flowing over her fevered brow and hot breasts like cool, fresh water. Then she leaned forward, and for a moment reveled in the sensual, refreshing sensation of resting her full breasts on the cool stone ledge of the stone sill. The fresh, cool air and the feel of cool, smooth stone on her nakedness brought back her senses and much of her self-control.

The ropes were as they had left them ... how long ago? An eternity? All she had to do was squeeze out through the narrow and swing down the wall. Then drop into the wet grass and make for the wall. She would have the jewels that she wore on her slender naked body ... a fortune, she knew ... and be safe.

And Zona would die, terribly, while Taarga used her best friend's final agony to escape.

Again she buried her tousled head in her hands, silent tears flowing as her smooth shoulders shook. Either to abandon her good friend - who might already be dead - or the horror of going back up into the darkness to face the hulking ape-thing.

The girl raised her head in sudden determination, and tossed her golden hair back. No. It might cost her life, but she could not abandon her only friend. Taarga bit her lip and wiped her eyes. It was a cowardly thing to have abandoned Zona. If she hurried back it might not be too late.

She stood, balancing on her toes in the darkness, and felt at her body harness to assess what she still possessed. Sword ... gone. She realized that she must have left it on the floor while playing in the jewels. Dagger ... yes, still strapped to her slender thigh. And the thief's pouch. She opened it and rummaged within. Ouch! climbing claws, and a sealed glass vial that she realized was a powerful sleep potion ... a poison, really. She had intended to use it on the dogs, had the little trick with their bitch not worked. Nothing else remained in her pouch, but the girl realized that it was enough.

Using what little light came through the slit of the window she opened the vial and carefully spread some of its contents on the dagger blade and on a climbing claw. A few moments later, dagger in one hand and a poisoned claw slipped onto her other hand, she was on her way back up into the darkness. Courage was needed, and much of it, but Taarga's resolve was more than she had known that she possessed. Ahead came, faint at first, the sound of Zona's cries. They were weaker now, but at least she was still alive!. A dim light from the open door above, as Taarga felt her way up the stairs with sensitive fingers and soft bare toes. Then she was in the portal, naked breasts pressed against the cold door, and for a moment paused to see that the untiring ape-beast was still mounting Zona and continuing its taking of her. Taarga raised her dagger.

Silently, on soft nimble toes, the girl charged, her lovely face contorted with sudden blood-lust.

The jewels about her naked body made a slight sound. At the last moment the ape-creature looked up from the supine, swooning Zona beneath him to catch a glimpse of the other's attack. More quickly than the eye could follow, it leaped up and spun around, to catch her dagger arm, jolting the weapon from her grip so that it spun away across the polished paves of the floor.

She screamed as his hair-covered body jolted hard against her, stopping the girl's attack abruptly. For a moment her full body ... breasts, belly, and pelf ... was pressed full against the creatures odiferous, fur-pelted form and wet erect member. Then it seized her about the neck with one massive hand and lifted Taarga from the floor, so that the tips of her toes barely brushed the polished floor.

The being's small eyes glinted with passion as it held the writhing, choking girl out at the length of its powerful arm, examining her full, flowing golden mane, pointed erect breasts, and the fine naked body that was now entirely within his own non-tender mercies. It hurled her down onto the floor to sprawl gracelessly there, golden hair tumbled and legs spread careless that she displayed her furred and moist womanhood totally. Naked, rose-tipped breasts heaved as she tried to catch her breath and let the pain of her aching windpipe subside. Taarga had only a moment to reflect that the high collar of jewels which she had donned earlier had probably saved her from having her throat crushed.

Then the thing seized one slender ankle and dragged the pleading girl towards him. The shambling being pulled her legs apart, and drove his massive maleness deep into her as she screamed long and loud once more.

Terrified, Taarga felt as though she were being torn apart by the monster's great phallus, and the feeling of helplessness and despair flooded back as she realized just how easily she had been disarmed. And reduced to being merely a naked victim and sex plaything for this bestial creature.

Panic-stricken and without thinking, she clawed desperately at the man-ape with her fingernails, and was knocked almost senseless by a great paw as she drew blood on its face. The fanged jaw loomed over her own face, and she knew with agony in her loins and with horror in her heart that in a moment the top of her soft throat would be torn out.

Then the fierce eyes glazed over, closed, and the ape-being became still atop her and within her.

With a last surge of fear-strength she pushed the heavy, pelted form from off her own battered body ... to roll heavy and still upon the floor next to her. Taarga pulled herself up onto her elbows and for a long moment she looked down at the motionless creature with the bloody stripes down its bestial face. Then she looked at the poisoned climbing-claw that she still wore on her left hand. With infinite relief, she rubbed the nearly torn, furred lips of her womanhood and pressed at her slender, jewel-draped middle, thankful that her womb had not been torn asunder. Then the girl rolled over onto her stomach, with total relief feeling the cool floor on the front of her legs, feet, flat belly, and the breasts that were pushed against the smooth paves. Her golden tresses tumbled about her head as she broke into heaving sobs.

For a long while she lay there, crying with relief. A while later came the sound of Zona's gentle sobbing and then a soft touch to her bare shoulder. Taarga wiped her eyes and looked up at her friend's own tearful face.

"Thank you, Taarga darling. I knew you'd come." She kissed the other softly. Taarga broke into wordless tears, knowing within herself that she had almost abandoned her friend ... and too ashamed of herself to admit it to her comrade, the grateful dark-haired maiden. They rose to sit on the floor next to each other, held each other. For a while both wept on each others' shoulders, bare breasts together and their bejeweled, naked bodies intertwined.

CHAPTER 3: ESCAPE INTO THE DARK TUNNELS

After a while, almost together, the two pulled away and wiped their tears.

"We have to go ... and soon," said Taarga, regaining her composure. "We're in danger until we get out of here."

Zona nodded, looked around, and the two painfully staggered to their feet, helping each other and crying out with the pain. Zona smiled ruefully, "Pretty one, I feel as though the Duke's full army had ravished me ... complete with armor and horses! After yon beast's gentle ministrations, I don't know if I'll ever be the same!"

"You know, I'm surprised that we're both alive," said Taarga. She looked over at the unconscious beast. "His member is so huge that I was afraid he'd burst me inside." She rubbed between her legs, wincing. "Zona, sweet thing, I don't see how you managed to survive at all!"

"Well, neither of us is bleeding much, though I don't know that we'll ever walk properly again," smiled Zona, wanly. "Thank Ishtar that we're both experienced coin girls ... and we were relaxed and wet from this evening's earlier cavorting. But I'm fully, totally bone-tired! And totally sore." Her dark eyes twinkled, and she ran her hand through her mass of dark tresses. "After we get out of this, I may take vows of chastity, Taarga!"

The other grinned and swatted her friend on the comely girl's bare rump, to be rewarded with a yelp. "You? Vows of chastity? More likely the sun will rise in the west, wench!" Taarga laughed.

Smiling, Zona stiffly made her way around the room to gather their weapons. The two refilled their bags with the tumbled gold and jewels and slung the sacks from the body harness straps that they wore, keeping wary eyes on the ape beast, who was now beginning to very slowly come out of his deep sleep.

They paused by the heavy door as Zona picked up the small hooded lamp which still, surprisingly, cast its tiny light. She shined it back on the ape-creature, who was now trying thickly to rouse himself, and not quite succeeding as yet. Taarga shook her curls unbelievingly.

"The way that I slashed him with these poisoned claws, that beast should be dead now. Yet it will be rising from a short nap in only a short time. It's good that we're going ... I'll wager he won't be very happy when he wakes!"

They together pulled the heavy door shut, and Zona again used her slender, needle-like tool to secure the lock once more. She ran her slender hand over the embossed metal sheathing of the door.

"This should give us time to get well away from here," she commented, then smiled. "And if the acolytes come up here and unlock the door to see what's been happening, they're going to get quite a surprise!"

Holding hands for mutual comfort, the two thief-girls softly made their way down the stone stairs, the dim light of the lamp illuming the curving stairway for them. Zona indicated a small, high panel whose bottom was a bit above eye level, and touched her friend's breast.

"Taarga, I didn't notice that before. Is there more to this tower than we've seen?" The fairhaired girl grasped the other's hand to hold it firm against her naked breast for a moment, reveling briefly in the feeling of Zona's touch.

"That probably leads up to the high battlements of the tower. And yes, there's more than we've seen. I learned a good bit about this ancient place from my lover in the Thief's Guild ... and from a defrocked acolyte who used to visit me to sample my favors." She smiled. "He was bitter about being cast out, though thankful that they'd let him live! What he told me about this place first got me interested in finding out more."

Their soft, silent footsteps had brought them to the slit window, and Zona covered the light entirely. Then the two girls silently readied their ropes and prepared to squeeze out the window once again.
Taarga glanced out at the dark, wooded compound below, then stepped back quickly, with a sharp intake of breath. She put a hand on Zona's arm, speaking low and intensely.

"Zona! They're down there ... and looking up at this tower! The acolytes know we're here!!"

The other girl swept her long dark hair about her face for concealment, and leaned out the window to look about, her soft breasts against the cool stone. Then she stepped back to put her arms around Taarga's bare shoulders. Her voice was soft, yet tense.

"There are a lot of them out amidst the brush, and they're well armed. They must have heard our screams when the ape-creature was mauling us! And they're just waiting out there! Watching."
In the dimness, Taarga's voice was grim. "The acolytes are just waiting to make sure that their pet has finished with whoever was up in the tower. Then they plan to simply get it back to its lair, come up the tower, and clean up the mess. This has probably happened before... probably fairly often."

"What now? Is there another way out?"

"Yes, but it's likely to be dangerous. Quickly, Zona ... let's coil up our ropes and get back up to that high panel we saw a way back up the stairs! Hasten!! They could come up the stairs any time!"

All sense of soreness and fatigue were forgotten as the two girls, breasts bouncing and long hair flying, bounded on swift bare feet up the curving narrow stone steps - even laden as they were with ropes and loot. Zona was thankful that she had not extinguished the small hooded lamp, for in a few moments its light showed the panel above, which was now their only hope. Ahead, from the direction of the treasure room, came a roaring and a pounding.

Taarga looked off up into the darkness, breasts rising and falling with her hard breathing. "It looks as though that creature has awakened. Knowing the way I gouged it's face with my claw, the ape-thing is not at all happy. And the way it's battering at that door, we may have company ere long!"

The dark-tressed girl shined the lamp on the panel overhead, examining it carefully. "It's going to be a little hard to reach. Squat on those pretty bare legs of yours and let me get my feet on your shoulders."

Zona softly climbed atop the other and tried the panel in various ways while Taarga urged her to hasten. In what seemed to be an endless interval there was the sound of stone grating on stone, and the panel slid aside. The light from the lamp vanished as the other girl put it within the hidden passageway above. Taarga felt the other's naked feet lift from her shoulders as Zona hoisted herself up into the open portal, then handed the ropes and her treasure to the other, to be secured out of sight above. From below came the sound of a door creaking open, of voices and the rattle of metal weapons, while from the dimness up the stairs came the sound of the heavy door finally being battered down. Taarga whimpered in anxiety.
"Give me your hand, love!" Zona's voice was urgent.

A hard pull from the other and she dragged her naked body up over the ledge and into the door, careless of the discomfort to her full breasts. Together they slid the stone panel shut solidly. Zona locked it securely, and for a moment the two lissome thieves leaned against the stone walls of the narrow passage, their arms about one another's body in relief. Muffled behind the stone wall came the sound of the furious beast-creature howling insanely as it charged down the stairs, to meet with the shouting, armed acolytes who suddenly found the rending, maddened monster among them, wreaking bloody havoc while they tried to save themselves by using swords and spears in the limited confines of the stairway. Zona squeezed the other's hand.

"We've gained a lot of time. By the way things sound back there it may be daylight before they sort things out. Let's go. I think I know how to make our escape!"

The stone passage was low and narrow, and obviously not intended for frequent use; the dust swirled thickly in the dim light of their small lamp, coating their bare feet, their hair, and their naked bodies as the two thief maidens' ropes and bags of loot stirred the grey thickness.

In time they made their way to where the upwardly inclining corridor ended in narrow, steeply-pitched steps of old, worn stone leading up to a narrow, low overhead door. When the two pressed their shoulders against it, the heavy stone grated and opened onto the very top of the tower. The two girls stepped softly out onto the stone paves, breathing deeply of the clean, cool night air.

Zona looked at her friend, noting how the sweat had run down in rivulets over her bare breasts to drip off Taarga's pointed nipples, and down between the rising mounds of her breasts to wash about her navel and finally to vanish in the other's pale, furred brush. She walked over to the other girl, pressing her thigh and naked breast against the Taarga, who responded with a smile, caressing Zona's sweat-streaked behind.

"We're a lovely pair of wenches, aren't we?" commented the first, ruffling her friend's hair affectionately. "Coated in thick dust and streaked with sweat." The first naked maiden rubbed her furred mons, and caressed the furred lips of the other, who gasped in momentary pleasure, closing her eyes and thrusting her breasts upwards. She put her hand on the other's, to hold the slender fingers closely on her nether lips, reveling in the touch of the other. Then she smiled sensually at the dark-haired one.

"I don't know about you, but I feel like the mother of all whores ... I've been used and taken and banged by man and creature until my womanhood is sore everywhere inside, and outside I'm enseamed with sweat and dust. And I'm tired." She softly kissed her friend.

"Make that 'two very wealthy whores'." She pushed a bare foot against a bag of booty, which clinked satisfyingly. Then she rubbed a naked nipple against the bare breast of the other. "But let's say, 'coin girls' ... it sounds so much more genteel!" They both laughed, breaking the tension that had enwrapped them for so long.

There was a pause. Zona closed her eyes again, and breathed in deeply, reveling in the feel of the cool night air on her naked breasts. Taarga tossed her golden mane back over her bare shoulders and scanned the dark horizon.

"The first touch of dawn is in the east", she said. "We'd best be escaping to safety ... and soon!"

On soft, dust-stained feet she worked her way cautiously about the edge of the crenellated wall that edged the top of the tower, peering out between the embrasures ... warily, so as to avoid being seen by any of the acolytes who still ran to and fro in the gardens below. Zona stretched her sore, heated body at full length upon the hard stone flags, finding the coolness of the stone to be pleasing against her buttocks, her legs, and her back, and cushioning her head on her thick, tumbled hair. Briefly she closed her tired eyes, listening to the continuing sounds of the pitched battle that was still going on between the acolytes and the crazed beast-man that had first raped the two naked girls, but then had become their most devastating weapon against the acolytes. Taarga's voice came quietly through the dimness.

"Zona, someone's coming! Up that main stair over there not the same passage that we took!"

The serenity of the moment before was forgotten as she leaped to her feet and joined her friend, blade drawn and every sense alert.
"It sounds like only one probably one of the monks."

The dark-haired girl reflectively passed her blade slowly along her bare flank, feeling the keen edge. "There are two of us. It would be easy enough for one of us to decoy him and the other to put a dirk in his back."

Her golden-tressed friend stroked a naked nipple as she thought. "Your idea has a certain old-fashioned charm, but he'll probably be missed if he doesn't report back shortly."

A brief moment of silence, and Zona spoke again, intensely.
"Taarga, do you think that you could do a fascination spell on him? A short bit of fith-fath that would maze his mind so that he would think that no one is up here? I've seen you do it enough times to get a few more coins out of an admirer."

The other grinned. "I'm not the only one who's done that, girl. You're fair passing good at it yourself. But there will be danger. If he sees me before I've finished the spell he may bolt and run back. Then we'd be trapped."

Zona listened to the approaching steps from below, now getting much closer. "Then you get over to the far side of this roof and begin your spell. I'll get behind him with a blade, just to be safe. Or maybe something to clout him hard over the skull, to make certain there can be no outcry." She began stripping the jewels off her naked body.
"These are beautiful", she whispered, "But I can't afford to let any jingle or clink of jewels give me away!"

Taarga swiftly and softly stepped to the far side of the tower roof, whispering an incantation and setting her mind into that depth from which magic comes. She reclined, apparently at ease, as a glow came stronger and yet stronger from the handful of jewels that she concentrated upon.

Zona eased out behind the entryway, prying off a decorative stone rod to use as a club. She swung out over the side, out of sight from atop the roof of the tower, holding on with fingers and toes with her lissome naked body far over the dark grounds below.

There was a grating of stone, and a panel slid aside. A robed and hooded figure bearing a blade cautiously rose from the darkness and looked about, then walked out onto the stone paves of the roof, looking. A soft sound caught his attention, and he cautiously made his way toward it, not seeing the naked dark-tressed maiden who came out of the shadows behind him, full breasts thrust out and club upraised.

The monk was certain that he heard it the soft, melodious chanting of a female voice. Only one, he was certain, as his shortsword wavered uncertainly. With a crunch of gravel beneath his sandals he walked over towards the sound.

Then he saw the girl, reclining on the stone, facing away from him and looking down at something that glowed before her.

Beautiful, he realized. Completely beautiful. He gulped, not realizing that he had dropped his blade. Exquisitely lovely, with flowing golden hair and a perfect, tempting naked body adorned with many jewels that sparkled as she moved. The back of his mind realized that the jewels must have come from the treasure-room below but the thought was buried in the waves of desire that burned stronger and stronger through the young monk's mind and fired his loins with sudden, overwhelming passion.

Then she rolled over, showing full naked breasts and piercing blue glowing eyes that bored into his. Lost in desire, he stripped off his robe and rushed for her.

Zona lowered the stone club and watched with incredulous amusement as the monk fell into Taarga's open arms and spread himself atop her pale form, driving his suddenly erect member into her again and again. His hands fondled her bare breasts and his lips found hers as she arched her beauteous body beneath his again and again.

Zona was amused, as well as feeling the sensual urge herself. Her friend lovemaking? At a time like this? She shrugged her smooth shoulders and leaned back against the stone, stroking her own nipples and smiling as she watched.

It did not take long. Taarga threw her head back in ecstasy as the monk cried out in a paroxym of passion, thrust into her one final time, and collapsed onto Taarga's naked body.

After a moment she put her lips close to his ear and whispered a spell to him. Then, like a smiling sleepwalker, he slowly rose to his feet and reeled back towards the stairwell. At a word from her he paused, picked up his sword from where it had fallen, put his robe on again, and departed.

A grating of stone and the door was closed.

Zona looked after him for a long moment, then shook her head and turned back to her friend, grinning.

"After all that's happened tonight, you still want to tup with a man once again!"

Taarga swung up and crossed slender legs beneath her, absently rearranging her long hair and still smiling from the brief encounter.

"These monks take vows of chastity", she said, "So he was weakest there." She stroked her naked breasts in memory of the brief and passionate encounter. "Besides, he was handsome."

Zona softly stepped over to the other girl and helped her up, then kissed the other's lips briefly as she tweaked a bare nipple.

"And I'll wager that you instructed that tranced young man to forget everything, and to tell the abbot and his brother monks that he found nothing up here. Right?"

"Right." Taarga grinned wickedly. "Although he's probably going to have some very interesting dreams and almost-memories over the next few weeks." She looked around, now intent again. "Now back to our search for a way out of here."

Each looked for only a few moments, before Taarga's soft voice came through the dimness.

"Over here, Zona. I've found it!"

In a moment the fair-haired dancer was indicating to her lissome comrade, leaning with her breasts on the stone ledge before her, and pointing over the edge to a square hole that was wide enough for a man to enter.

"This will have to be our way out. I centuries past it was used for flame and vapor magics that the Order used to impress the city's populace, and to make their magicians appear and disappear magically. There are all sorts of old stories about the spectacular illusions they created using this vent. Eventually there was some sort of a scandal... sacrifices or monsters appearing or something like that. At any rate, the Order hasn't used it in decades."

Zona peered doubtfully down into the gloom, her dark hair tumbling over bare shoulders to cascade down before her. She rubbed a finger reflectively around one pointed nipple. "Where does it go, and if we can escape down there ... why didn't we come up this way in the first place?"

Taarga cupped her chin in her hands. Even in the darkness Zona could see the lines of concern that creased her friend's perfect face.

The fairhaired dancer's voice was troubled as she replied.
"There's ... there's a certain danger, Zona. I don't know for certain just what that peril is supposed to be, but it's going to be risky for us. The Thieves' Guild has lost a number of their people in trying to find the bottom, where this chimney supposedly comes out in the storm sewers beneath the city." She turned and looked at her friend, placing a soft hand on the other's shoulder.

"Zona, I didn't want to try and get out through this passage, but we have no choice. There's simply no other way to escape!"

Zona put her hand over the other's, and leaned her cheek softly against Taarga's hand. "I had thought as much, dear one. Well ... let's go!" She located their remaining bit of oil, and squeezed it into their small lamp.

Cautiously Taarga eased her shapely legs over the battlement and dropped down on silent bare toes to straddle the pit, legs spread wide. She opened the lamp slightly to examine the interior lip. Then she looked up at Zona, smiling in the pre-dawn gloom.

"Good news! There are footholds, so we can climb down easily! Get our ropes and loot together ... let's be away!

Very shortly the lovely Zona brushed a dark lock of hair back from her face and gazed longingly at the dawn that was beginning to illumine the far horizon beyond the distant city walls. Then, bags and ropes slung over her bare shoulders and laced to the soft straps that she wore about her naked body, she cautiously began descending. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, as she lowered herself into the pit, sliding her full breasts over the outer edge, and feeling her nipple tips touch the old stone of the interior walls.

Absently the girl wondered why her going naked into unknown perils always made her bosoms tingle and her quim moist and hot. Then she was into the darkness, feeling with delicate bare toes for one ledge and then the next lower cusp in the wall, and the next lower ledge yet, descending cautiously and for a seeming eternity.

From time to time Taarga's light came on below her, as the other scanned around and downwards in the darkness. Uneasily, the lissome thief-dancer wondered why her friend did not use the light constantly; was she trying to avoid their being noticed by someone .... or something?

They continued on down through the darkness.

The light shone upwards for a moment, casting Zona's distorted shadow on the walls that stretched above the thief-girl. Taarga's wicked chuckle came from below.

"Well, my pretty companion ... the view from beneath you is inspiring. All your best features are on display for me ... bare foot-soles, smooth legs ... that broad, brushy-lipped woman-slit of yours, a tight anus ... round buttocks, and the bottom of those luscious bare breasts. And a forest of dark tumbled hair above all that. Quite a sight! But you should consider losing some weight."

Zona grinned. "Remember, fair one, you're below me, and you're going to be in trouble if I decide to ... shall we say ... pass a bit of water. Or something."

There was a giggling "Eeep!" from below, and the other subsided into silence as they continued to descend.

Was that a slight chittering noise, wafting up faintly from below on the gentle cool air that moved up past them? Might it be merely the sound of bats or merely the air rushing past cracks in the walls below them? Both of the lissome maidens heard the faint, brief sound but, uneasily, neither mentioned it to the other.

Next: Chapter 4 - The Horror in the Depths