Autumn could feel the single fingernail gliding over the bottom of her foot slowly, plucking the at the lines and creases of her sole like it was a harp. She squeezed her mouth tightly, desperate not to give Gwendolyn even the smallest giggle.
“Tell me again why did you sell that statue for so little money?” Gwendolyn asked, sitting comfortably in her favorite chair, stroking the baby soft skin of Autumn's foot nestled in her lap.
“I...I didn't...mean harm!!” Autumn forced the words through trembling lips. It was so hard to talk without bursting into laughter, but she knew better than to refuse to answer Gwendolyn. As awful as the slow tickling was, there were other methods that were far worse, and Gwendolyn wouldn't hesitate to use them.
“You knew the price on that particular item was over 1000 gold pieces. Yet you sold it for only 200.” It was a statement of fact, spoken calmly, slowly, just as her finger continued its unhurried journey up and down Autumn's foot. Gwendolyn was in no hurry. She was truly enjoying this.
“You bouGGHHHTTT it for...only.....aaAAHHH bought it for...for only 200. No....no loss,” Autumn said through clenched teeth. On her hands and knees, scrubbing the backroom floor, she squeezed the brush tighter, hoping the feel of hard wood biting into her palms would somehow distract her from the horrible tickling.
“The first rule of this shop is that we always make money. Selling the statue for the same price I bought it is hardly making money. I have bills to pay, and breaking even won't do it.” Her finger nestled in Autumn's high arch, still running ever so lightly from toes to heel. Practice had taught her just the right touch to use to make the redhead want to jump of her skin.
Gwendolyn had lost track of how many times she had done this to Autumn in the past few weeks. At first, it had been an exciting novelty, like a toy right after Christmas. It was quite a new experience to make someone laugh and scream, to beg for mercy, from the other side of the shop or even across town. As the days had past, however, instead of getting bored with the foot, Gwen had found herself becoming more and more addicted to using it. The feel of the warm, pinkish, silky skin, the sound of Autumn's hysterical laughter created a desire deep within her that only more tickling could satisfy.
Gwendolyn knew that, even if this business with the statue hadn't come up, she would more than likely have found a different excuse to play with Autumn's foot.
“They could...could.....COULDN'T AFFORD he ehe ehehhe ehheh afford any more than that,” Autumn forced out. She could feel her heart racing from the strain of resisting, her arms and legs turning into rubber. It was taking more and more strength just to keep her face out of the pool of hot, soapy water covering the wooden floor. Autumn couldn't help but think how humiliating it would be to end up with her dress soaking wet and her long, red hair covered with suds.
“Since when do I care what people can afford?” Gwendolyn questioned, her damnable finger beginning to swipe at the balls of Autumn's warm foot. She had thoroughly explored Autumn's delicious sole, and new that spot to be one of the redhead's worst.
Autumn shrieked, letting loose a string of giggles before she choked them back. The sensation was intense, robbing her of her ability to think, to respond logically to Gwendolyn's taunts. Her plan of staying silent defeated, Autumn was sure that had been loud enough to be heard through the walls and in the front of the shop. Sadly, that wouldn't be a new humiliation for Autumn. Every one of the shop's employees and most of the regular customers had heard her high-pitched squeeling already.
That wouldn't make facing everybody with their smirking faces and sarcastic comments afterward any easier.
Damn it, she hated feeling so helpless! She should be able to fight! To kick Gwendolyn, towrench her foot free from her tormentor, to tickle her back! Of course Autumn couldn't do that. Gwen wasn't even in the same room, her voice coming through the magic mirror on the wall as the blond shopkeeper sat snug and cozy in her office. Unfortunately Autumn's foot was with Gwendolyn.
Autumn had run afoul of a scrupulous wizard, one who had committed Autumn to perform a task he knew to be impossible. The price of failure had been her left foot. Somehow, magically, the wizard had removed her foot physically, but left it attached spiritually. That meant that Autumn could feel everything that touched her foot just like it was still on the end of her ankle.
And that bastard wizard had sold her foot, quite legally, to Gwendolyn. Who used it to keep Autumn enslaved.
“tHEEEYYYYY they they they they nEEEEEEEDddeeddddd it. It it it wwwAAAASSS SOOSOSOSOSO Import...importANNT to the ehehEHEH ehe THHEEMMMMM!!!! ” Autumn sputtered, voice raising and lowering in pitch and volume almost at random, like the wind during a bad storm.
“So?” Gwendolyn asked, somehow packing an ocean of mockery into that single syllable. She swirled her wandering finger over the pad underneath Autumn's big toe, drawing circles on the soft skin, making her howl and spill the pail the rest of the water was in, drenching herself.
“AH AH AHAHAHHAH NAAWWOOO HA AH THHEEIIIRRR HA AHA AHHAH GODDDESSSSSS HA AHAH AHAH AHH THEEIIIRRR HA AHAHH AHAH GOOODDDDEEESSSS HA AHAHAH TTHHEEYYY AHAHAH AHAH HAAADDDD TO HAHAH HAHA HAAVVVEEE IITTTTTT HAHAHAHA!!!”
“My only goddess is money. I had to have my other 800 gold coins.” Gwendolyn smiled evily, still scratching away at Autumn's toe. She barely had to move her finger an inch up and down to send the redhead into hysterics. The feeling of pure power was almost orgasmic!
“TH HA AH AHAHH AHA THHEEEIIRRRR HA AHAHHA AHH HOLLLLLYY H AHAHAH HOLLY DAY AHAH AHAHH AHAH ISSSS COMMIIINNGG HA AHAHAH!!! THEHEEHEHEYYYYY HAHAHAHAHH CAAAAANNNN'TTT AH AHAHAHH CELLLE C CEELLLE BRATTTEE HAHAHAH WITHOUT OU OUUUUTTT HAHAHAH STATTUEEE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!”
Autumn's limbs finally gave out. She collapsed to the ground and began rolling through a puddle more than an inch deep. She howled with laughter as her precious toe was assaulted, so loud she was sure everyone in the store could hear.
“Again, why do you think I would care about that in the slightest? Their afterlife is not my concern.” Gwendolyn's finger slid in between Autumn's smaller toes now, wiggling like a worm poking in and out of the dirt. That made Autumn flail her arms and legs like a toddler having a temper tantrum. Water splashed everywhere, drenching her even more.
“HA AHA AHA AHAHA TABBBIITGTTHHHAAA AH AHAH AHAH TAABBBITTHHAAAAA AHAHHAHH SAAIIID HA AHAHH IT IT IT AHAHAHAH WAAAASSS HA AHAHAHH OOOKKKKK HAHAHAHAHAH GOOOOODDD HAHAHAH KAARRMMAA AHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!”
“What?!” Gwen asked, all playful teasing gone from her voice.
“HA AHAH AHAHHH NAWWWWOO AHA AHAH NAWOWOOO TOOOEEE AH AH EHEH NAWWOO TOOEEOEOEEE, PLEAAASSSEEE AH EHE EHE AHA AHAHAH !!!!” Autumn rolled over in the water, again and again, totally consumed by the slight scratching. She didn't even hear the question.
“Did Tabitha give you permission to sell the statue?” Gwendolyn asked again, slowing her tickling digit down.
“HE EHEHH EHE YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS HE EHEH EHEHEHHHEHE GRREH EHHEHEH GRRRRRREEEEEEEEHEEEENNN EHE EHEHEHH GREEEENNN EHE EHEH LIGHHHTHTTTT HE EHEHH EHEH SHEHE EHEHEH SAAIIDD HE EHEH EHEH GREHEH EHEHEH GREEEEEENNNN LIGGHHHTTTT HEHEHHEHE!!!!!!!”
The tickling stopped. That changed everything. Gwendolyn knew Autumn was telling the truth. She was to much of a goody two shoes to lie, especially if it got an innocent in trouble. That was just one of her weaknesses as far as Gwen was concerned.
“Be sure to dry the floor after you finish scrubbing,” Gwendolyn said as if she had not been tickle torturing Autumn just a minute before, “I don't want the wooden boards to warp. After you've cleaned up your mess, change out of that wet rag into a dry frock. There are some in the box in the corner.
Gwendolyn gave the command word to silence the magic mirror. She could still see Autumn picking herself of the soaking floor and begin scrubbing again after a minutes rest, but her redheaded slave couldn't see or hear her. Then Gwen let forth a stream of obscenities that would have embarrassed a sailor. Damn Tabitha! Damn the elf woman to the seven hells!
It had been Tabitha who had told Gwendolyn about Autumn nearly giving the valuable goddess statue away, acting like the loyal employee, tattling on Autumn for the good of the store. Now it seemed that Tabitha had strongly encouraged Autumn to do the deed in the first place, knowing the redhead would be severely punished. A nasty betrayal to say the least!
From anyone else, Gwendolyn would have considered it a petty act of spite or revenge for some imagined slight. But not when it came from Tabitha. She took no joy in the suffering of others. In fact, she took as little interest as she possibly could in humans, viewing them the same way others did worms or spiders, as pathetic creatures best ignored. So why go out of her way to hurt Autumn?
If Gwendolyn had one great gift other than her acute business sense, it was her understanding of people. She could usually figure out what they desired, what they feared and how to use those to manipulate them. Tabitha was a major exception to that rule. Always so calm, nearly emotionless, the elf woman was a book Gwendolyn could not read. She had no idea what the elf woman wanted.
But Gwen was sure Tabitha was plotting something, something nefarious. Her instincts told her that. Now those same instincts told Gwen that the elf woman's betrayal of Autumn was part of her plotting. Gwendolyn knew this wouldn't end well, not for her, for Autumn or her beloved store.
Well, Gwendolyn wasn't going simply wait for Tabitha to spring her trap. Not a passive person,Gwen's nature was to find a person's weakness and attack it. And if she couldn't find a weakness in the elf woman, she would make one.
Luckily, she had just bought a new toy that would let her do just that.
* * * * *
Autumn stripped off her gray frock, now soaking wet, and tossed it into the corner with disgust. She hated the mundane dresses Gwendolyn made her wear. She sighed when she remembered her own beautiful clothing, sewn together by hand from pieces of many different colors and materials. That dress had made her stand out and express her own individuality. It had been very special to her. The gray frock marked her as an interchangeable cog in a capitalistic machine.
The redhead sighed deeply. She almost wished she dared leave the back of the store naked, displaying the body god had given her. In all modesty, Autumn knew she had a great body. All the men she had known since puberty and no few women had desired it,slender and tight, with milky white skin dotted by freckles in all the right places, good sized breasts and firm legs.
Not that her healthy body was much of a surprise. Nobody got fat living on a commune, toiling from sunset to sunrise, living with nature, helping your neighbors in the daily struggle for survival. Sloth was just not part of that lifestyle. Neither was greed. Autumn had truly loved it there.
But there was no use wishing for her old life back. As long as Gwendolyn had her foot, Autumn knew she was stuck in this damnable shop. She had been ordered to put on another frock, and she wasn't going to piss Gwen off by disobeying. She hobbled back to the box Gwendolyn had indicated, opened it up and looked inside.
Empty. No new dress. Autumn quickly searched the ones on either side. No clothes.
What game was Gwendolyn playing now? Did she really want Autumn to have to walk into the show room, undoubtedly filled with customers naked? Maybe. Not only could she watch Autumn humiliate herself yet again, she would have the excuse to torture her yet again.
Well, Autumn wasn't going to play her game. The back room was filled with various goods. Some had been pawned to the store and waited for their owners to reclaim them. Others were waiting for their turn in the display cases up front. Surely there had to be something she could wear or at least drape over her naked body! Autumn began rummaging through the stacks, looking through a pile of knick knacks for a simple piece of cloth.
“I thought pets were allowed to at least wear a collar and a leash,” An arrogant voice rang out behind Autumn, “Or are you trying to show off for the other kitties in the neighborhood?”
Autumn flushed. It was Tabitha. Cold and totally indifferent to any human's needs or wants, the elf woman was the absolute antithesis of everything Autumn tried to be. She actually made Gwendolyn appear to be a kind, caring soul, and Gwen would have sold her own Grandmother for a quick profit.
“My...my dress got soaked when...when I was scrubbing the floor,” Autumn stammered. She instinctively wrapped her arms around her breasts, trying to shield her flesh from Tabitha's piercing gaze.
Autumn normally felt inferior to the elven woman. Now, naked and exposed with her red hair a wild, tangled mess due to her tickling induced fit, that feeling only intensified. Tabitha was clad in a fancy dress of green silk, with her midnight black hair arranged in perfect braids. That, along with the elf woman's natural arrogance, and she might as well have been a princess addressing a lowly serf.
“Yes, I'm sure mopping is a hazardous job for someone like you. If you continue to regress, little Autumn, my duties will soon include taking you for walks.” Tabitha smiled wryly, her expression managing to emphasize her cruel words instead of taking the bite out of them.
“I just...just need to find something to cover up with so I can get to my room. I don't want the customers to see me like this...” Autumn blushed even deeper, every word out of Tabitha's mouth filing her with more shame.
“After everything you've been through, I'm surprised your still capable of being embarrassed. Goodness knows its happened often enough since you've been here.” Tabitha sniffed, “I suppose you walking naked on the sales floor would only lower the store's reputation more than you already have. Not that the vagrants or other lowlife's in the alley would complain. Go ahead and find something to drape over your skinny body.”
Autumn wanted to launch some sarcastic reply, but knew she'd lose any battle of wits she engaged in with the elf woman. She tried to ignore her, to focus on her search for something to cover her naked body, desperate to get out of the backroom and away from Tabitha as fast as possible.
“And please, stay out of my way why you do it,” Tabitha continued, “For some reason, Gwen has decided I need to do inventory tonight. I guess I'm the only employee she has who can count.”
Soon, both women were so absorbed in their tasks, Tabitha counting a collection of old dwarven coins, while Autumn searched through an old chest. Neither one noticed the mirror on the wall start to glow a pale blue. Slowly the image in the glass changed, no longer simply reflecting what sat across from it. It came to rest on a large candle high up on one of the shelves.
The candle was large, close to a foot long and more than an inch in diameter. The stand it rested in was extremely ornate, covered with jewels and marked with queer symbols and runes. Tabitha would have recognized some of them as elven in origin and quite ancient, but she had never seen it before. All part of Gwendolyn's plan.
The pale glow of the mirror intensified for just a second, and the wick of the candle suddenly lit, a red tongue of fire pointing to the ceiling. A soft, subtle odor started filling the room, one reminiscent of spring and new flowers, but a aroma that had never been smelled outside of the deep forest. The trees who created it were found nowhere else.
Neither woman was aware of what was happening, the aroma from the candle being slight enough that it did not intrude upon their conscious thoughts. But it did effect them both.
For Autumn, the pleasant smell relaxed her, easing her tight stomach muscles, knotted with stress and causing a few wrinkles around her eyes to smooth. Without knowing why, she began to breath deeper, and let her natural panic drain from her body. It helped her think.
For Tabitha, the effect was much more pronounced and not nearly as beneficial. Beads of sweat starting forming on her forehead. Her hands began shaking slightly. She seemed to lose the ability to focus. After a few minutes, the basic calculations she had to perform to complete her task started becoming harder and harder. She started making silly mistakes, crossing out more numbers than she was writing. Her frustration grew.
It only got worse. The longer the elf woman was exposed to that smell, the less she was able to think. Soon Tabitha found herself unable to concentrate on her task. Her mind wandered, every object she should have been counting distracting her, taking her mind on one flight of fancy after another. Soon her quill and notepad had been discarded, all thoughts of inventory gone.
But that wasn't all. A need was building deep inside the elf woman, intensifying with every breath. A...hunger for something she had to have. Her eyes soon fell on Autumn.
Autumn had found an old chest filled with silver plates. Her brain now functioning without fear for the first time in weeks, the redhead had remembered that old blankets were often put in the bottom of chests like these to help cushion the valuable cargo from being broken during the undoubtedly bumpy ride to the shop. She was bending down, lifting the heavy plates out one at a time, hoping she was right and would finally find something to cover her naked body with.
That left her behind sticking straight up in the air. If the rest of Autumn's skin was milky white, her perfectly round ass, one part of her body that never saw the sun, was so white it was translucent. And as it hovered in midair, bobbing back and forth as she worked, Tabitha couldn't take her eyes off it.
So round, so soft, so smooth. It was like the elf woman was hypnotized by that ass. Tabitha felt her heart beat faster as she watched it, her fingers literally itching to touch Autumn's firm bottom. Everything else was totally forgotten. She wanted that ass. She needed that ass!
Part of Tabitha did try and resit. She knew the idea of desiring any human was wrong, and desiring this particular human more so then the rest, but she couldn't remember why! The more she tried to remember, the less she cared. It was as if that smell had put part of Tabitha, her self-control, her rationality, asleep, living her primal urges in the drivers seat.
Almost against her wishes, Tabitha's feet started moving. Step by step she advanced closer to Autumn's nude form. Every step, every breath of that aroma, made the next step less reluctant, more eager. Soon, she was almost running across the back room floor.
Her natural elven quietness allowed her to sneak up on Autumn, the redhead completely unaware of the elf woman's proximity. Reaching out, Tabitha ran her fingernails over Autumn's behind, grazing over the curvature where the redhead's legs met her torso.
“OOOHHH!!” Autumn jumped a mile high, totally taking by surprise, barely holding onto the plate she had been removing. She spun around quickly, trying to see who had goosed her, totally expecting to see Gwendolyn's smirking face framed by her long blond hair. It wasn't.
Autumn couldn't conceal her shock at what was happening. Tabitha's eyes looked so wild, so out of control. She felt Tabitha's arms wrap around her, so tight and strong, felt her breasts pushed up against the elf woman's body, her hard nipples rubbing against Tabitha's silken dress.
And before Autumn could speak, Tabitha kissed her, deeply passionately, Her elven tongue filled Autumn's mouth while Tabitha's skilled fingers stroked Autumn's bare back. It was so tender, Autumn had to remind herself how much she disliked the elf to resit melting in Tabitha's sweet grasp.
“Oh boy,” she said when the kiss ended. Autumn knew a new threat to her sanity had appeared.
To be continued
“Tell me again why did you sell that statue for so little money?” Gwendolyn asked, sitting comfortably in her favorite chair, stroking the baby soft skin of Autumn's foot nestled in her lap.
“I...I didn't...mean harm!!” Autumn forced the words through trembling lips. It was so hard to talk without bursting into laughter, but she knew better than to refuse to answer Gwendolyn. As awful as the slow tickling was, there were other methods that were far worse, and Gwendolyn wouldn't hesitate to use them.
“You knew the price on that particular item was over 1000 gold pieces. Yet you sold it for only 200.” It was a statement of fact, spoken calmly, slowly, just as her finger continued its unhurried journey up and down Autumn's foot. Gwendolyn was in no hurry. She was truly enjoying this.
“You bouGGHHHTTT it for...only.....aaAAHHH bought it for...for only 200. No....no loss,” Autumn said through clenched teeth. On her hands and knees, scrubbing the backroom floor, she squeezed the brush tighter, hoping the feel of hard wood biting into her palms would somehow distract her from the horrible tickling.
“The first rule of this shop is that we always make money. Selling the statue for the same price I bought it is hardly making money. I have bills to pay, and breaking even won't do it.” Her finger nestled in Autumn's high arch, still running ever so lightly from toes to heel. Practice had taught her just the right touch to use to make the redhead want to jump of her skin.
Gwendolyn had lost track of how many times she had done this to Autumn in the past few weeks. At first, it had been an exciting novelty, like a toy right after Christmas. It was quite a new experience to make someone laugh and scream, to beg for mercy, from the other side of the shop or even across town. As the days had past, however, instead of getting bored with the foot, Gwen had found herself becoming more and more addicted to using it. The feel of the warm, pinkish, silky skin, the sound of Autumn's hysterical laughter created a desire deep within her that only more tickling could satisfy.
Gwendolyn knew that, even if this business with the statue hadn't come up, she would more than likely have found a different excuse to play with Autumn's foot.
“They could...could.....COULDN'T AFFORD he ehe ehehhe ehheh afford any more than that,” Autumn forced out. She could feel her heart racing from the strain of resisting, her arms and legs turning into rubber. It was taking more and more strength just to keep her face out of the pool of hot, soapy water covering the wooden floor. Autumn couldn't help but think how humiliating it would be to end up with her dress soaking wet and her long, red hair covered with suds.
“Since when do I care what people can afford?” Gwendolyn questioned, her damnable finger beginning to swipe at the balls of Autumn's warm foot. She had thoroughly explored Autumn's delicious sole, and new that spot to be one of the redhead's worst.
Autumn shrieked, letting loose a string of giggles before she choked them back. The sensation was intense, robbing her of her ability to think, to respond logically to Gwendolyn's taunts. Her plan of staying silent defeated, Autumn was sure that had been loud enough to be heard through the walls and in the front of the shop. Sadly, that wouldn't be a new humiliation for Autumn. Every one of the shop's employees and most of the regular customers had heard her high-pitched squeeling already.
That wouldn't make facing everybody with their smirking faces and sarcastic comments afterward any easier.
Damn it, she hated feeling so helpless! She should be able to fight! To kick Gwendolyn, towrench her foot free from her tormentor, to tickle her back! Of course Autumn couldn't do that. Gwen wasn't even in the same room, her voice coming through the magic mirror on the wall as the blond shopkeeper sat snug and cozy in her office. Unfortunately Autumn's foot was with Gwendolyn.
Autumn had run afoul of a scrupulous wizard, one who had committed Autumn to perform a task he knew to be impossible. The price of failure had been her left foot. Somehow, magically, the wizard had removed her foot physically, but left it attached spiritually. That meant that Autumn could feel everything that touched her foot just like it was still on the end of her ankle.
And that bastard wizard had sold her foot, quite legally, to Gwendolyn. Who used it to keep Autumn enslaved.
“tHEEEYYYYY they they they they nEEEEEEEDddeeddddd it. It it it wwwAAAASSS SOOSOSOSOSO Import...importANNT to the ehehEHEH ehe THHEEMMMMM!!!! ” Autumn sputtered, voice raising and lowering in pitch and volume almost at random, like the wind during a bad storm.
“So?” Gwendolyn asked, somehow packing an ocean of mockery into that single syllable. She swirled her wandering finger over the pad underneath Autumn's big toe, drawing circles on the soft skin, making her howl and spill the pail the rest of the water was in, drenching herself.
“AH AH AHAHAHHAH NAAWWOOO HA AH THHEEIIIRRR HA AHA AHHAH GODDDESSSSSS HA AHAH AHAH AHH THEEIIIRRR HA AHAHH AHAH GOOODDDDEEESSSS HA AHAHAH TTHHEEYYY AHAHAH AHAH HAAADDDD TO HAHAH HAHA HAAVVVEEE IITTTTTT HAHAHAHA!!!”
“My only goddess is money. I had to have my other 800 gold coins.” Gwendolyn smiled evily, still scratching away at Autumn's toe. She barely had to move her finger an inch up and down to send the redhead into hysterics. The feeling of pure power was almost orgasmic!
“TH HA AH AHAHH AHA THHEEEIIRRRR HA AHAHHA AHH HOLLLLLYY H AHAHAH HOLLY DAY AHAH AHAHH AHAH ISSSS COMMIIINNGG HA AHAHAH!!! THEHEEHEHEYYYYY HAHAHAHAHH CAAAAANNNN'TTT AH AHAHAHH CELLLE C CEELLLE BRATTTEE HAHAHAH WITHOUT OU OUUUUTTT HAHAHAH STATTUEEE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!”
Autumn's limbs finally gave out. She collapsed to the ground and began rolling through a puddle more than an inch deep. She howled with laughter as her precious toe was assaulted, so loud she was sure everyone in the store could hear.
“Again, why do you think I would care about that in the slightest? Their afterlife is not my concern.” Gwendolyn's finger slid in between Autumn's smaller toes now, wiggling like a worm poking in and out of the dirt. That made Autumn flail her arms and legs like a toddler having a temper tantrum. Water splashed everywhere, drenching her even more.
“HA AHA AHA AHAHA TABBBIITGTTHHHAAA AH AHAH AHAH TAABBBITTHHAAAAA AHAHHAHH SAAIIID HA AHAHH IT IT IT AHAHAHAH WAAAASSS HA AHAHAHH OOOKKKKK HAHAHAHAHAH GOOOOODDD HAHAHAH KAARRMMAA AHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!”
“What?!” Gwen asked, all playful teasing gone from her voice.
“HA AHAH AHAHHH NAWWWWOO AHA AHAH NAWOWOOO TOOOEEE AH AH EHEH NAWWOO TOOEEOEOEEE, PLEAAASSSEEE AH EHE EHE AHA AHAHAH !!!!” Autumn rolled over in the water, again and again, totally consumed by the slight scratching. She didn't even hear the question.
“Did Tabitha give you permission to sell the statue?” Gwendolyn asked again, slowing her tickling digit down.
“HE EHEHH EHE YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS HE EHEH EHEHEHHHEHE GRREH EHHEHEH GRRRRRREEEEEEEEHEEEENNN EHE EHEHEHH GREEEENNN EHE EHEH LIGHHHTHTTTT HE EHEHH EHEH SHEHE EHEHEH SAAIIDD HE EHEH EHEH GREHEH EHEHEH GREEEEEENNNN LIGGHHHTTTT HEHEHHEHE!!!!!!!”
The tickling stopped. That changed everything. Gwendolyn knew Autumn was telling the truth. She was to much of a goody two shoes to lie, especially if it got an innocent in trouble. That was just one of her weaknesses as far as Gwen was concerned.
“Be sure to dry the floor after you finish scrubbing,” Gwendolyn said as if she had not been tickle torturing Autumn just a minute before, “I don't want the wooden boards to warp. After you've cleaned up your mess, change out of that wet rag into a dry frock. There are some in the box in the corner.
Gwendolyn gave the command word to silence the magic mirror. She could still see Autumn picking herself of the soaking floor and begin scrubbing again after a minutes rest, but her redheaded slave couldn't see or hear her. Then Gwen let forth a stream of obscenities that would have embarrassed a sailor. Damn Tabitha! Damn the elf woman to the seven hells!
It had been Tabitha who had told Gwendolyn about Autumn nearly giving the valuable goddess statue away, acting like the loyal employee, tattling on Autumn for the good of the store. Now it seemed that Tabitha had strongly encouraged Autumn to do the deed in the first place, knowing the redhead would be severely punished. A nasty betrayal to say the least!
From anyone else, Gwendolyn would have considered it a petty act of spite or revenge for some imagined slight. But not when it came from Tabitha. She took no joy in the suffering of others. In fact, she took as little interest as she possibly could in humans, viewing them the same way others did worms or spiders, as pathetic creatures best ignored. So why go out of her way to hurt Autumn?
If Gwendolyn had one great gift other than her acute business sense, it was her understanding of people. She could usually figure out what they desired, what they feared and how to use those to manipulate them. Tabitha was a major exception to that rule. Always so calm, nearly emotionless, the elf woman was a book Gwendolyn could not read. She had no idea what the elf woman wanted.
But Gwen was sure Tabitha was plotting something, something nefarious. Her instincts told her that. Now those same instincts told Gwen that the elf woman's betrayal of Autumn was part of her plotting. Gwendolyn knew this wouldn't end well, not for her, for Autumn or her beloved store.
Well, Gwendolyn wasn't going simply wait for Tabitha to spring her trap. Not a passive person,Gwen's nature was to find a person's weakness and attack it. And if she couldn't find a weakness in the elf woman, she would make one.
Luckily, she had just bought a new toy that would let her do just that.
* * * * *
Autumn stripped off her gray frock, now soaking wet, and tossed it into the corner with disgust. She hated the mundane dresses Gwendolyn made her wear. She sighed when she remembered her own beautiful clothing, sewn together by hand from pieces of many different colors and materials. That dress had made her stand out and express her own individuality. It had been very special to her. The gray frock marked her as an interchangeable cog in a capitalistic machine.
The redhead sighed deeply. She almost wished she dared leave the back of the store naked, displaying the body god had given her. In all modesty, Autumn knew she had a great body. All the men she had known since puberty and no few women had desired it,slender and tight, with milky white skin dotted by freckles in all the right places, good sized breasts and firm legs.
Not that her healthy body was much of a surprise. Nobody got fat living on a commune, toiling from sunset to sunrise, living with nature, helping your neighbors in the daily struggle for survival. Sloth was just not part of that lifestyle. Neither was greed. Autumn had truly loved it there.
But there was no use wishing for her old life back. As long as Gwendolyn had her foot, Autumn knew she was stuck in this damnable shop. She had been ordered to put on another frock, and she wasn't going to piss Gwen off by disobeying. She hobbled back to the box Gwendolyn had indicated, opened it up and looked inside.
Empty. No new dress. Autumn quickly searched the ones on either side. No clothes.
What game was Gwendolyn playing now? Did she really want Autumn to have to walk into the show room, undoubtedly filled with customers naked? Maybe. Not only could she watch Autumn humiliate herself yet again, she would have the excuse to torture her yet again.
Well, Autumn wasn't going to play her game. The back room was filled with various goods. Some had been pawned to the store and waited for their owners to reclaim them. Others were waiting for their turn in the display cases up front. Surely there had to be something she could wear or at least drape over her naked body! Autumn began rummaging through the stacks, looking through a pile of knick knacks for a simple piece of cloth.
“I thought pets were allowed to at least wear a collar and a leash,” An arrogant voice rang out behind Autumn, “Or are you trying to show off for the other kitties in the neighborhood?”
Autumn flushed. It was Tabitha. Cold and totally indifferent to any human's needs or wants, the elf woman was the absolute antithesis of everything Autumn tried to be. She actually made Gwendolyn appear to be a kind, caring soul, and Gwen would have sold her own Grandmother for a quick profit.
“My...my dress got soaked when...when I was scrubbing the floor,” Autumn stammered. She instinctively wrapped her arms around her breasts, trying to shield her flesh from Tabitha's piercing gaze.
Autumn normally felt inferior to the elven woman. Now, naked and exposed with her red hair a wild, tangled mess due to her tickling induced fit, that feeling only intensified. Tabitha was clad in a fancy dress of green silk, with her midnight black hair arranged in perfect braids. That, along with the elf woman's natural arrogance, and she might as well have been a princess addressing a lowly serf.
“Yes, I'm sure mopping is a hazardous job for someone like you. If you continue to regress, little Autumn, my duties will soon include taking you for walks.” Tabitha smiled wryly, her expression managing to emphasize her cruel words instead of taking the bite out of them.
“I just...just need to find something to cover up with so I can get to my room. I don't want the customers to see me like this...” Autumn blushed even deeper, every word out of Tabitha's mouth filing her with more shame.
“After everything you've been through, I'm surprised your still capable of being embarrassed. Goodness knows its happened often enough since you've been here.” Tabitha sniffed, “I suppose you walking naked on the sales floor would only lower the store's reputation more than you already have. Not that the vagrants or other lowlife's in the alley would complain. Go ahead and find something to drape over your skinny body.”
Autumn wanted to launch some sarcastic reply, but knew she'd lose any battle of wits she engaged in with the elf woman. She tried to ignore her, to focus on her search for something to cover her naked body, desperate to get out of the backroom and away from Tabitha as fast as possible.
“And please, stay out of my way why you do it,” Tabitha continued, “For some reason, Gwen has decided I need to do inventory tonight. I guess I'm the only employee she has who can count.”
Soon, both women were so absorbed in their tasks, Tabitha counting a collection of old dwarven coins, while Autumn searched through an old chest. Neither one noticed the mirror on the wall start to glow a pale blue. Slowly the image in the glass changed, no longer simply reflecting what sat across from it. It came to rest on a large candle high up on one of the shelves.
The candle was large, close to a foot long and more than an inch in diameter. The stand it rested in was extremely ornate, covered with jewels and marked with queer symbols and runes. Tabitha would have recognized some of them as elven in origin and quite ancient, but she had never seen it before. All part of Gwendolyn's plan.
The pale glow of the mirror intensified for just a second, and the wick of the candle suddenly lit, a red tongue of fire pointing to the ceiling. A soft, subtle odor started filling the room, one reminiscent of spring and new flowers, but a aroma that had never been smelled outside of the deep forest. The trees who created it were found nowhere else.
Neither woman was aware of what was happening, the aroma from the candle being slight enough that it did not intrude upon their conscious thoughts. But it did effect them both.
For Autumn, the pleasant smell relaxed her, easing her tight stomach muscles, knotted with stress and causing a few wrinkles around her eyes to smooth. Without knowing why, she began to breath deeper, and let her natural panic drain from her body. It helped her think.
For Tabitha, the effect was much more pronounced and not nearly as beneficial. Beads of sweat starting forming on her forehead. Her hands began shaking slightly. She seemed to lose the ability to focus. After a few minutes, the basic calculations she had to perform to complete her task started becoming harder and harder. She started making silly mistakes, crossing out more numbers than she was writing. Her frustration grew.
It only got worse. The longer the elf woman was exposed to that smell, the less she was able to think. Soon Tabitha found herself unable to concentrate on her task. Her mind wandered, every object she should have been counting distracting her, taking her mind on one flight of fancy after another. Soon her quill and notepad had been discarded, all thoughts of inventory gone.
But that wasn't all. A need was building deep inside the elf woman, intensifying with every breath. A...hunger for something she had to have. Her eyes soon fell on Autumn.
Autumn had found an old chest filled with silver plates. Her brain now functioning without fear for the first time in weeks, the redhead had remembered that old blankets were often put in the bottom of chests like these to help cushion the valuable cargo from being broken during the undoubtedly bumpy ride to the shop. She was bending down, lifting the heavy plates out one at a time, hoping she was right and would finally find something to cover her naked body with.
That left her behind sticking straight up in the air. If the rest of Autumn's skin was milky white, her perfectly round ass, one part of her body that never saw the sun, was so white it was translucent. And as it hovered in midair, bobbing back and forth as she worked, Tabitha couldn't take her eyes off it.
So round, so soft, so smooth. It was like the elf woman was hypnotized by that ass. Tabitha felt her heart beat faster as she watched it, her fingers literally itching to touch Autumn's firm bottom. Everything else was totally forgotten. She wanted that ass. She needed that ass!
Part of Tabitha did try and resit. She knew the idea of desiring any human was wrong, and desiring this particular human more so then the rest, but she couldn't remember why! The more she tried to remember, the less she cared. It was as if that smell had put part of Tabitha, her self-control, her rationality, asleep, living her primal urges in the drivers seat.
Almost against her wishes, Tabitha's feet started moving. Step by step she advanced closer to Autumn's nude form. Every step, every breath of that aroma, made the next step less reluctant, more eager. Soon, she was almost running across the back room floor.
Her natural elven quietness allowed her to sneak up on Autumn, the redhead completely unaware of the elf woman's proximity. Reaching out, Tabitha ran her fingernails over Autumn's behind, grazing over the curvature where the redhead's legs met her torso.
“OOOHHH!!” Autumn jumped a mile high, totally taking by surprise, barely holding onto the plate she had been removing. She spun around quickly, trying to see who had goosed her, totally expecting to see Gwendolyn's smirking face framed by her long blond hair. It wasn't.
Autumn couldn't conceal her shock at what was happening. Tabitha's eyes looked so wild, so out of control. She felt Tabitha's arms wrap around her, so tight and strong, felt her breasts pushed up against the elf woman's body, her hard nipples rubbing against Tabitha's silken dress.
And before Autumn could speak, Tabitha kissed her, deeply passionately, Her elven tongue filled Autumn's mouth while Tabitha's skilled fingers stroked Autumn's bare back. It was so tender, Autumn had to remind herself how much she disliked the elf to resit melting in Tabitha's sweet grasp.
“Oh boy,” she said when the kiss ended. Autumn knew a new threat to her sanity had appeared.
To be continued
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Eager to see part three.
