Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

929 - Worst Impressions

“Is there any lingering pain? I have a few more spells I can try.”

Solvei forced herself to smile as she shook her head. “I’m really alright. Thank you, Agapay.”

The angel’s expression was warm and caring as she nodded. “Just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

It was all Solvei could do not to grimace, keeping the strained grin on her face as the chasmalim – apparently that was the kind of angel Agapay was – went back to check on Mei Li. It was only when the angel’s back was turned that she let expression drop, fighting down the urge to groan, knowing that Agapay would hear it and come rushing back.

It wasn’t as though the tiny keep they were all huddled inside of – herself, Nenet, Mei Li, and the five beauties that Lex had brought back with him, as well as Agapay, who was apparently another sexpot that her master had picked up while he was gone – had any privacy. And while Solvei had, as Akna, grown up in a home that had no real walls or separate rooms, she couldn’t help but feel terribly constrained right now.

Part of that was from what had just happened. Seeing Mei Li suddenly collapse screaming out of nowhere, with no warning whatsoever and no apparent cause, had been unnerving. She’d stopped an instant later, only for the same thing to suddenly happen to Nenet. And then it had been her turn.

The agony had been shocking, all the more so for the fact that she’d immediately known that someone was attacking her bond with Lex. It hadn’t been like when Paska had used a spell to simply close their link off; this had felt more like the one and only time – shortly after they’d first been bonded – when Lex had tried to sever their connection. Except this had been much, much worse.

Even more disturbing had been that Lex himself hadn’t been the one to do it; she’d been able to sense his sudden anxiety and outrage right before she’d collapsed, signaling that someone else had been responsible for what was happening.

Fortunately, it had stopped almost immediately, but by the time Solvei had stopped shaking, Lex’s cabal of wet dream girls had been ushering the three of them inside of what looked like some sort of miniature fortress, which had somehow sprung up on the edge of her village. It had even come complete with an armor-clad warrior on top, who was apparently named Branwen, keeping watch over the place.

But while the pain had gone – something Agapay had made sure of, the angel seeing to their health with motherly dedication – Solvei’s discomfort had only increased since being shut up in the too-small keep, for one simple reason.

“I’d like to put a protection spell on you, just in case.” Agapay’s proposition might have been directed at Nenet, but Solvei couldn’t help but glance at the angel...and immediately winced.

In such a confined area, there was nowhere to look that didn’t result in her getting an eyeful of the girls that Lex had brought back with him.

“Just hold still for a moment,” murmured the angel, her voice exuding protectiveness and caring as she bent over the sphinx, her back to Solvei. It was just then that the strands of her hair-woven outfit – already skimpy and skintight – seemed to shift slightly...

Solvei immediately averted her gaze, but not before having gotten confirmation of where the chasmalim didn’t have any hair.

Gritting her teeth, she turned in the other direction, instead directing her eyes toward-

“Something on your mind, princess?”

Leaning back against the door, as if to make sure that no one got in or out without her say-so, the huge tiger-woman crossed her arms beneath her chest – which, like the rest of her, was completely uncovered – one brow going up as she stared at Solvei.

“Er, nothing,” muttered Solvei, trying hard not to notice how the tigress’s piercings, not just on her bosom but also in her ears, navel, and...further south, all seemed to catch the soft light emanating from above, the bejeweled studs glistening. “Sorry.”

Orange and black-striped shoulders shrugged, causing other parts of her to bounce. “Why? It’s no skin off my nose if you wanna check me out.”

“Honestly, Yamini, could you be any more of a clod? She obviously wants you to cover up!”

Solvei winced inwardly as the blue-skinned woman with the long hair sauntered over. She moved like a dancer, not stepping so much as strutting, each foot coming down directly in front of the other, causing her hips to sway. By itself that wouldn’t have been so bad, but while she at least wore clothes, her outfit consisted of nothing but seashells and strings of pearls. While not naked the way “Yamini” was, her every motion seemed calculated to entice, each movement lithe and sensual in a way that reminded Solvei of Nenet’s descriptions of Adagio.

“Why should I, Dima?” snorted Yamini, straightening up as she put her hands on her hips and thrust her chest out, a proud smirk crossing her lips. “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, unlike certain scrawny little shrimps I could name.”

Dima flushed at that, her cheeks turning purplish as she scowled. “Nothing to be ashamed of? You mean besides your complete lack of style, grace, or elegance?”

Raising one arm above her head, she lifted one leg and extended it out straight – giving Solvei a demonstration of just how little her pearl-string thong really covered – before sweeping it back, making a three-quarter turn as she rolled her shoulder, looking back at the tigress with a smirk. “Then again, I suppose an animal wouldn’t know anything about womanly charms.”

Yamini growled, arms rising as she clenched her fists-

“If you two don’t shut up right now, I swear I’ll carve your ‘womanly charms’ out of both your hides!”

To Solvei, the speaker looked almost like a cross between Nenet’s human form and Nisha, the shadowy wolf that Lex had so briefly summoned, being a furless humanoid woman with ebony skin, though her red eyes and white hair were dissimilar to either. Like Yamini, she eschewed clothing entirely, showcasing a trim figure that was nevertheless bountifully curved. But unlike the tigress, her refusal to cover up didn’t leave her body on display. At least, not completely, since there were odd bands of scales – the same deep black as her skin – protecting her modesty.

Though it was rather hard to think of her as modest given the stretches she was doing. While on their own the calisthenics didn’t necessarily seem to be salacious, it was impossible to ignore what the toe touches, star jumps, and squats did for her.

The effect might have been diminished if she’d still had the claws, wings, and tail that Solvei could have sworn she’d seen before, just prior to her bond with Lex being attacked. But sometime between then and now, the dark beauty had made them disappear.

That discrepancy didn’t seem to bother Dima or Yamini, however, the two of them sneering at the dark-skinned woman almost in unison.

“You and what army, Sirrush?” spat Yamini.

“Just like a drow,” huffed Dima, clucking her tongue. “No tact whatsoever.”

“I’ve got my army right here,” hissed Sirrush, raising one arm as she rose up from where she’d been doing lunges. Instantly, scales spread over it from the elbow on down, her fingers lengthening into claws, answering the question of where her draconic features from before had gone. “And I’m only going to say this once: I’m a drey, not a drow!”

“Aw, there’s no need to fight!” The new voice came from the girl in her early teens doing a handstand in the corner, apparently unaware of how it made the hem of her dress slip past her hips, exposing underwear that was black, sheer, and far too sexy for someone who looked as young as she did. “Why don’t we all play a game instead? I vote for truth or dare!”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this about a demon, but Spice is right. Partially.” The redhead in the back of the room sighed, one hand coming up to adjust her glasses. “We’re no help to Prince Legis arguing amongst ourselves like this.”

For all that her outfit was just as erotically-charged as the rest of her group’s – having a skirt so short and tight it was barely there, and a top that even with several buttons undone seemed to be straining to hold her cleavage, making Solve recall her humiliating attempts to dress herself back in Darkest Night – there was an odd formality to the way she carried herself, her stern expression and tied-back hair giving her a serious look that contrasted oddly with the slutty way she was dressed.

“We need to coordinate some sort of plan to aid Prince Legis,” continued the redhead, uncrossing her legs and recrossing them in the other direction, her movements brisk and businesslike...though not so much so that Solvei didn’t get a glimpse of the fact that, unlike that “Spice” demon, the redhead didn’t seem to believe in wearing underwear at all. “First, we should use a divinatory spell to monitor how his battle is progressing-”

“Carnelia,” broke in Agapay gently, “if Lex sent everyone here, then he probably wants you all to help make sure his loved ones are safe so he can fight without any distractions.”

“Yeah!” snapped Yamini. “And it’s not like he put you in charge anyway!”

“You’re one to talk,” spat Sirrush. “Blocking the door like you think you get to decide who stays and who goes.”

“Hm, I like coming rather than going,” noted Spice, an innocent tone in her voice as she kicked her legs back and forth, still upside down. “So I’m gonna stay right here, since this is where Lex will be coming for his girlfriends, and then maybe after he does he’ll let me come with him!”

Nenet blushed. “W-wait, are you-”

“We are not his girlfriends,” announced Mei Li, standing up from where she’d been recovering in the far corner of the room. Although she’d had the most time to recover, the attack on her connection to Lex had lasted the longest, and even now she still seemed a little pale, accepting Agapay’s hand as the angel helped her rise. “We are his wives. And while concubines such as yourselves do not represent our husband’s household, your quarreling and your appearances are both unacceptable.”

Naturally, her admonishment didn’t go over very well.

“Who asked you, tails?”

“Funny, I don’t remember him mentioning any wives while he was railing us.”

“Hey, maybe Lex sent us here so we can give them some tips on how to satisfy him!”

“It’s not implausible. From what I can tell, none of them seem very experienced.”

“Great, bad enough I have to be stuck in here with the rest of you. Now we have to teach a bunch of virgins how to get it on?”

Nenet bristled, switching back to her hybrid form as she stood up, spiked tail thrashing behind her. Mei Li seemed equally incensed, her expression turning cold as she gently but firmly pushed Agapay’s hand away, standing by Nenet and fanning her tails out.

Solvei instantly moved to stand alongside the other two, already gathering her ice magic.

Being trapped with a bunch of naked and near-naked girls was not her idea of a good time. Doubly so when they were the sex toys of the guy she’d fallen for, and triply so when he’d apparently run straight to them right after they’d had their first time together! Not to mention that she’d been brutalized by some overgrown stallion who’d wanted to force himself on her just now, had been completely overwhelmed against those elven invaders, and had something attack the bond that connected her to Lex, who was – once again – fighting alone against an enemy too powerful for her to help him with.

The catty insults were the last straw.

Jaw clenched, Solvei took a step forward-

“GWYNHARWYF! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!”

From up above, Branwen’s voice bellowed out.

A moment later, the entire keep collapsed.

Author's Note:

Finding themselves thrown together, friction arises between the ladies in Lex's life, only for an imminent fight to be sidelined as Branwen challenges Gwynharwyf!

Will the eladrin's attack bring the girls together? Or will they remain divided and fall?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Either Branwen opted to dispel the keep for more power to fight, or Gwynharwyf decided to start the duel with a bang. Neither option is good since those inside said keep are in danger though the latter would be worse since it means something might have happened to Branwen.

On a lighter note, it seems that the concubines are aiming to replace the wives though its not a surprise since Lex already learned of their intentions though I'd thought that they'd be more subtle about it...well, some of them at least. Still, the situation calls for cooperation but I suspect that the 'concubines' will do their own thing, just like Branwen did when she challenged Gwynharwyf.

[Booster Spice]

Given this crew is a whole bunch who dont like to follow any orders unless they are absolutely explicit, and even then, try and twist things to their prefernces, no wonder theres enough arguments to ground a whole herd of Windigoes with obesity. Really hope Librarian had her Aegis Shield ready to go due to the argumentsro catch the building. Then again, when deities are Dispel, Null, and just passively removing defense buffs, just how many levels of defense would even slow down the higher levels, if the engine says similar to shield breaks, next shield also rolls for damage reduction etc etc?

As for the scrags not taking those ordered to protect words at face value? They cant be all that worried about being return to their superiors in small packages by Lex when they cheese him off?

[Alzrius]

11860570 Honestly, neither option is ideal, since the former means that Branwen is likely in a bad position and needs her defense back, while the latter means that Gwynharwyf is immediately retaliating with a lot of firepower. Neither means that the battle is going well, though given that Gwynharwyf is someone that even Lex found to be overwhelmingly powerful, that's not surprising.

As for the concubines vs. wives showdown that was shaping up, well...at least Agapay didn't seem to be antagonistic, despite Mei Li dressing her down before. Still, having ones wives and their mistresses so close together like that is bound to cause friction, and that's even before taking into account that the concubines are a rather...rowdy (shall we say) bunch. As for what any of them will do now that they're under attack...I suppose we'll find out.

[Alzrius]

11860715 To be fair, there are a lot of different alignments in that one room, not to mention several innate rivalries (e.g. demon vs. devil, fire vs. water, etc.), which makes it amazing that they were able to get along as well as they did before things reached a tipping point. Of course, now that they have something else to focus on, it's an open question of whether they'll be able to work together or not (or if that even occurs to them). Or it might not even matter, since Gwynharwyf is quite clearly out of their league anyway, since she's stronger than Lex and Lex is stronger than all of them.

Even so, the concubines all have to answer to Lex, as well as their own bosses (whom he also subdued, and enjoyed, quite easily), so that kind of puts them between a rock and a hard place...and not in a way I suspect any of them would enjoy.