Tales of a Tenderfoot: "The Vixen and the Hound" Part 7 (Adult Fantasy TK Story)
The Return of the Hound
Many months passed.
The forest reclaimed the fortress even faster than Nate believed possible. It was secluded and hidden before, but now no one came to the home of the Lady of the Morning Dew, not even by accident.
Alone and afraid, Nate had only the forest around to console him. He knew every bird and every squirrel in the area and he had followed them through their simple lives with great interest. He counted the stars at night and during the day watched figures form from the clouds. Anything that could keep his mind busy and not allow him to sink deeper into despair. There was no escape, there was no relief. Not even death could free him now.
Without Vivian, he wondered how long his sanity would last.
And so it was until Nate one day heard people approaching.
“Is it really worth the trouble, Patrisa?” asked an Elfling voice. “Isn’t this the thing of legends?”
“I was here and this is part of the Elfling Kingdom. Your kingdom,” a familiar voice answered. “I was hoping we might find the Lady of the Morning Dew but this place seems abandoned.”
Nate instantly recognized the voice of the Tickle Scourge and his heavy heart lightened at the sight of her as she burst through the brush.
She seemed different. She was dressed in white armor with golden accents and she carried a long beautiful sword she used to cut away at the vegetation. She wasn’t only differently dressed. She was also different in other ways. She seemed more mature and more wise.
The Elfling who came behind her was dressed in a perfect white cloak and boots. She carried a bandolier across her chest also in white. She had blond hair and a bluish tinge to her eyes not unlike the Lady of the Morning Dew. At first sight he would guess her to be an Interrogator judging from the tools in her bandolier but the clothing was much more regal.
“The Legends are true,” the Elfling said marveling the statues littering the courtyard. “Could not Danea have found this place easier from the air?”
“Spells would keep it hidden,” the Scourge answered. “This was the way to find it.”
Patrisa found Nate and looked up at him studying him. “I wondered what happened to you, big guy,” she said for him to hear.
“They are alive, do you realize that, Patrisa?” the Elfling said. “There are hundreds of them.”
“Maybe more,” Patrisa said drawing her fingers over Nate’s blowgun.
“Can we help them?” the Elfling asked.
“We certainly must try, Haydeen” Patrisa said looking at Nate intently.
She traced the marble of the blow gun with her fingers feeling the notches under her fingers. She looked at the letters T.S. scratched into the blowgun and smiled gently. Her mind went back to that day she had first seen the notches and the initials.
Something all of a sudden clicked.
Her eyes went wide with realization and she frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Haydeen asked noticing Patrisa’s surprise and shock.
Patrisa was silent for a moment and then suddenly burst into a hearty guffaw that startled Haydeen who shook visibly at the explosion of laughter.
“He actually did it!” she cried as she was overwhelmed by a fit of uncontrollable laughter. She leaned on Nate’s chest as she tried to control her laughter. “The nerve!”
“What is wrong? A tickle bug? A tickle spell?” Haydeen asked looking around desperately at the source of Patrisa’s predicament.
“Nothing of the sort,” Patrisa said clearing the tears from her eyes that came with her mirthfulness. “I’m okay. I just remembered something... entertaining.”
Haydeen looked at her as if she were mad.
“I’ll send a team of Elflings to recover this fortress and salvage the statues,” Haydeen said still not sure if Patrisa was all right. “I don’t have spell casters powerful enough for undoing this kind of magic.”
“Send them to the Academy,” Patrisa suggested. “Our ranks have swelled over the last few months. Someone there will certainly know how to undo the spells.”
Patrisa looked at Nate intently and smiled.
“Start with this one. Make sure he is the first to arrive at the Academy.
“His name is Nate.”
* * * * *
“Can this magic be undone, Lucil?” Patrisa asked the Animus Spell Caster weeks later at the Academy.
Nate had spent that time in a room with a lioness headed Animus Spell Caster who did every test one could imagine and tried maybe hundreds of enchantments to try and undo the curse. The spell caster wore beige robes and covered herself past her neck. She seemed a very serious and very dedicated person and she did not seem to leave any stone unturned as she studied Nate.
“I don’t know,” the Animus said. “I’m not an expert in this sort of spell. It is more an effect than a real spell. There are layer after layer of enchantments and it is not as if undoing one will undo the rest.”
“I could have practically told you that weeks ago,” Patrisa said not bothering to mask her impatience. “Come on, give me something better than that.”
Lucil paused and thought for a moment.
“Well, the subject can hear and see you,” the Lucil concluded. “I suspect he can feel and even smell. His senses and consciousness are anchored here. The rest is anchored somewhere else and his body is preserved in a solid stone state.”
Patrisa looked at Nate eye to eye and he sensed mischief that the Animus missed completely.
“I don’t think there is a way we can undo this with a spell,” Lucil said shaking her head. “You’d need a magical artifact. One designed just to undo this magic. There are not many artisans of that caliber.”
“I know one,” Patrisa said. “Leave me here alone with my friend for a while, Lucil. You can go back to training the new recruits. I’ll take over this task.”
“As you wish, Mistress Patrisa,” Lucil said bowing.
“Knock that off,” Patrisa said annoyed at the title. “I’m just Patrisa or the Tickle Scourge if you must. Next time you call me that, I’ll send you down to serve as a test subject for the recruits. They’ll like nothing more than to sink their eager fingers into your ticklish flesh.”
Lucil smiled but said nothing as she left.
“Now,” Patrisa said turning her attention to Nate, “there is the affair of certain tickling that went down years ago.”
She drew near and started examining him the way she always examined her victims.
“T.S. indeed! I must have still been a bit groggy and for sure a bit of dust of forgetfulness added to the confusion, but I’ve been thinking quite a bit about it lately and it’s all coming back to me. I’m going to find a way to get you out of this, but you’re going to have my full undivided attention for the next hour.”
Nate would have laughed by now if he could at just the mere thought. Those initials alone meant more than every notch on that blowgun.
“A pair of bare arms and a hint of an armpit,” Patrisa said taking inventory as she examined Nate’s stony figure. “Ears and a bit of neck exposed,” she said observing the small area above his scarf. “Not much to work with, but I have worked wonders with less.”
She stretched and flexed her fingers before undertaking her task. She began tickling him and his stony flesh which had not been tickled in years and had been touched only recently seemed to shimmer in anticipation.
She danced her fingers around his neck and ears and he beamed at the feeling. He could not move and could not laugh, but it was the biggest reminder that he was still alive and he cherished it. She was mostly playful but somewhat torturous at times. Especially when she clamped her fingers into his underarms.
There was no reaction at all but it did not deter Patrisa who showed no disappointment at all regarding the lack of response. She continued as promised for a full hour.
Nate felt alive and he was thankful.
“I think I did a work of art,” Patrisa said smugly. “You’ll have to let me know if I still have got it or if all this ‘Mistress Patrisa’ nonsense has gone to my head.”
She turned to leave the room and just as she closed the door she turned back to address Nate.
“I’ll get you out of this, Nate. I promise.”
She closed the door and Nate was alone again.
You’ve got it, Patrisa, he thought himself gratefully.
You’ve still got it.
* * * * *
Patrisa traveled to the Giantus Realm. The mountainous region was populated by Giants who towered over the rest of the Realmswalkers. Notoriously ticklish, however infamous ticklers themselves, they usually kept to their secluded mountain lairs tickling among themselves with no concern for the affairs of other Realms and eager to tickle any trespassers to their homeland.
The tallest of the already towering mountain ranges of the Giantus, was know collectively as the Titans. Mostly uninhabited, there was one Giant who lived alone at the summit of the tallest mountain of the Titans.
That Giant was known as the Maker.
He was the master artisan of the Realms and if anyone could create an artifact capable of reversing the effect of the gaze of the Lady of the Morning Dew, it was him.
Patrisa had planned to travel alone, but Loanna, the Giantess of the Academy, insisted on escorting her when she revealed she would meet the Maker.
“The Maker and I are good friends,” Loanna said winking.
Even though Patrisa was not overly convinced, Loanna did know the way. Plus, Patrisa made it a policy to avoid arguing with Giants.
Disappointed with Patrisa’s meager progress in climbing the Titans, Loanna threw Patrisa unceremoniously over her shoulder and began leaping her way up the Titans like a mountain goat. It was not difficult to reach the top and now Patrisa saw the benefit of having allowed Loanna to accompany her.
The Harpies that guarded the mountain gave them free passage. Patisa recalled that the Harpies were guardians of the Maker’s abode. But they made no move to try to stop them.
Finally they arrived at the top of the mountain. It was snow covered despite being summer and Patrisa was glad she was donning her white armor and boots made by the Maker instead of her open sandals. Her boots crunched softly on the snow while Loanna’s huge boot made a loud crunch.
Patrisa frowned at the noise and Loanna shrugged.
“I can shrink to Pixie size if it serves our purpose,” Loanna mentioned. “But we didn’t come to sneak around and a full sized Giant is probably worth quite a bit more than a half sized one.”
Patrisa nodded in agreement as she approach the mouth of a cave. Noise and steam issued from the lair. The telltale evidence of the Maker at work.
“Maker!” Patrisa shouted drawing near the entrance to the cave.
A machine came out. It was built like a human in copper and tin, just huge as a Giant and full of mechanical tentacles which suddenly shot forth from the side of the golem as it approached them.
“A new toy,” Loanna said looking at the lumbering machine as a challenge. “I’ll take care of this while you go ahead.”
“Make sure it doesn’t take care of you,” Patrisa said as the Giantess lunged at the mechanical creature. The tentacles dug deep into her ticklish spots and she cried with laughter, but she hugged the mechanical juggernaut and tackled it to the ground leaving the way free.
“Go!” she said between laughter. “Don’t know how long I can keep him back.”
Patrisa frowned. Loanna was not going to hold the lifeless creature back very long, but it would probably not do to break one of the Maker’s toys before asking for a favor.
Patrisa entered the Maker’s workshop. Small mechanical automatons rushed back and forth doing the bidding of their master.
A Giant suddenly appeared with huge golden hammer in hand and eyes ablaze. The Giant was head and shoulders over Loanna and that was saying something considering Loanna was tall herself for a Giant. He was bald and bore a dark soot colored beard. His apron was black with dust and grease over his bare barrel chest and his dark leather trousers.
“Will it ever end?” he growled angrily. “Always people interrupting my work. Can’t you people see, that I am busy?!”
“I thousand pardons, Maker,” Patrisa said bowing.
“I see you you wear one of my precious suits of armor,” the Giant said. “Now you come to ask for something else. Does it ever end?”
“I mean no disrespect, Maker,” Patrisa bowed. “We of the Realms are all grateful for your aid in defeating the Doom that Creeps.”
“Yet you need more favors of the Maker,” the Giant said tightening the grip on his hammer and clenching his teeth. “Free favors. The Maker does not work for free.”
“Ho!” Loanna called dragging a piece of the broken Juggernaut behind her. “I think it sort of broke...”
The Maker’s eyes went wide and his face flushed red. Steam rose from his furious face as he fought to contain his anger.
“Is nothing sacred?!” the Maker cried out struggling to contain his anger. “When will meddling Realmswalkers leave me to my work? The Harpies no longer guard my lair. They are still cross at me for stealing their magic for those suits of armor.”
He grumbled angrily his dark coal eyes smoldering.
“What do you want?” the Maker barked.
“An artifact to undo the magical curse of the Lady of the Morning Dew cast on thousands of her victims,” Patrisa stated simply.
“The Lady of the Morning Dew,” he said his face softening at the mention of the Elfing’s name. “I kept correspondence with her over the years. She has failed to write back for the past few years. Is she well?”
“I don’t know,” Patrisa answered. “Her fortress is abandoned. Maybe some of her victims can tell us where she is or what her fate was. But only if they can be restored to living flesh once more.”
“What you want is very special,” the Maker said thoughtfully. “I told her that I could not make it but that was a lie. She was paying a price for her beauty and she became even more beautiful after some humility. To take the curse away would send her back to her vain and trivial ways. I liked the Lady as she was.”
“I want to free the hundreds confined to stone,” Patrisa said.
“That’s a nice thought,” the Maker said his thoughtful expression returning to one of contempt. “But if I gave you that what would stop every idiot Realmswalker from climbing this mountain to ask the Maker for a favor? The benign maker... the generous Maker... I’d never hear the end of it.”
“I have a proposal,” Patrisa said. “Something more valuable than any mountain of magic in exchange for your aid.”
“What is that?” the Maker asked unimpressed.
“Peace of mind. Tranquility during your labor,” Patrisa stated.
The Maker scratched his beard nodding with approval.
“Well, go on now. Tell me the details,” he demanded impatiently.
“A guard,” Patrisa explained. “I’ll set up a special guard with the finest students of the Academy. They would guard your mountain and intercept any intruder. They’d then tickle the living daylights out of anyone foolish enough to climb the mountain and interrupt the Master Maker. A few days under my pupils' expert care, they get released to the world telling tales of the most terrible torture in existence. Peace and quiet guaranteed.”
“You’ll be sure to mention that this is the 'Maker’s Guard'?” the Maker asked taking deep interest.
“Of course, and you’ll be sure to mention that the Guard is trained and formed by the Academy?”
“I would have it no other way,” the Maker said smiling.
They shook hands warmly with Patrisa’s small hand in the Maker’s gargantuan grip. His handshake was firm but not too strong.
“How much time do you need to make this artifact?” Patrisa asked.
“It’s already made,” he said. “I made it hundreds of year ago. A hammer. A simple tap and the curse is reversed. The flesh becomes warm again and the soul returns.”
He left in search of the item and a cacophony of crashes, curses and broken items came from a cavern.
“I’ve found it!” he shouted returning with a small item between his fingers.
It was a miniature hammer. It was small enough to fit in the palm of Patrisa’s hand. In the Maker’s hand it seemed like a toothpick. It was golden with small diamonds lining the side.
“I’ll expect those guardsmen in a fortnight,” the Maker passed the hammer on to Patrisa. “I’ll set up a whole set of traps as a test of their mettle. They had better be good.”
“They will, Patrisa promised. “I assure you they will.”
* * * * *
Patrisa tapped Nate’s statue with the hammer.
Nothing happened.
“You went all that way and through all that trouble just for that?” Lucil said skeptically with her arms crossed against her chest.
“You don’t have to watch,” Patrisa said with some irritation. “He’s not your project anymore.”
“I know,” Lucil said. “But I’ve grown a bit attached after working on him so long. I want to see how it all works out.”
The statue began to crack and it suddenly broke. Pieces of stone broke away and warm flesh and lush colors appeared from underneath.
Nate tried to speak and move but his lips and legs would not obey.
“Take it easy there, champ,” Patrisa said holding him up. “You haven’t spoken a word or taken a step in years.”
“T-t-t-hank y-y-you,” Nate said with difficulty.
“Your welcome,” Patrisa said looping an arm over her shoulder while Lucil took the other arm. “Now get some rest and we’ll debrief each other later after you’ve had some rest.”
Nate was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
* * * * *
“Let me get this straight,” Nate said wearily the next day after sleep and nourishment. “The monster who crushed Vivian and the Lady of the Morning Dew is no more. The Shade has left this world for his own. The Elfling King is Dead. Lord Xavis no longer rules the Animus.”
“That is quite correct,” Patrisa said. “A lot has changed since you were turned to stone.”
“What about Vivian?” Nate asked. “Can we get her back? Rebuild the statue. Use the same artifact that brought me back?”
“I went to check myself,” Lucil said. “There are no pieces of statue that can be put together again. There is only random and amorphous stones. And if what you say is accurate, I would say there is no Vivian or the Lady of the Morning to recover from those pieces.”
“Where is Vivian then?” Nate asked venting his frustration.
“She is not here,” Patrisa concluded. “She might be dead. She might be stuck is some limbo somewhere. What is certain is that which was her body no longer exists. I’m sorry, Nate. By crushing the statue, their link to this world was broken. They are gone forever.”
“That can’t be,” Nate said numbly. “There must be a way. I promised I’d follow her to the end of the world and beyond.”
“We make a lot of promises we can’t keep, Nate.” Patrisa said softly. “Such is life. Stay here as long as a you want as a guest at the Academy. You can join the new Maker’s Guard. You can train the new arrivals; you are certainly qualified. We get new students every day. You need to find your life again.”
“And if I can’t?” Nate said grimly.
“Then let me know,” Patrisa said. “You can go home too, Nate. But don’t go because of grief. Go because you want to.”
“I think I need some time alone,” Nate said.
Patrisa nodded. “It hurts losing someone, Nate. I know. And the hurt never really goes away. But it does get better, Nate. Remember that.”
* * * * *
“He’s not getting any better,” Lucil said shaking her head as she watched Nate from afar.
The Manling was mostly skulking around the Academy. He avoided people in general. He seemed to be overwhelmed following a downward spiral of grief and depression.
“No. And it has been a couple months already,” Patrisa said in agreement. “He doesn’t want to stay here, doesn’t want to go back to his world. He’s sort of fading away like a ghost.”
Patrisa shook her head in disappointment and frustration.
“Here I thought I was doing him a favor by freeing him of that stone prison,” Patrisa said sadly. “Now it seems he’s a prisoner of his own mind.”
They were quiet a few moments and then Lucil broke the silence.
“I think I have what he needs to get past this,” she said enigmatically.
“And that is?” Patrisa asked surprised at the Animus’s strange suggestion.
“You have your techniques, I have mine,” the lioness headed Animus replied mysteriously.
* * * * *
Nate was heartbroken.
There was no relief to the grief he felt. He couldn’t track Vivian like he promised. The life of adventure he knew before simply could not be without Vivian at his side.
He lay in his bed restless at night. Unable to sleep and when he could his slumber was plagued by nightmares of the Doom that Creeps crushing his lover and the Lady of the Morning Dew.
It was the dead of night and Nate could not sleep. He had had a special sleep bed that most of the other quarters had but he traded it in for a normal bed. A good night’s sleep was essential for students of the Academy. But he was not a student and he was not interested in dreamless sleep.
So he tossed and turned at night his dreams taunting and tormenting him. It was his fault, he was sure. If he had done something different, said something different, somewhere along the way Vivian would have been spared and his life would have continued to have meaning. In dreaming he dreamed a thousand different ways it could have come out correctly and the very thought tormented him even more.
The door to his room opened and closed quietly yet abruptly.
He instantly jumped in his bed searching for his blow gun.
A figure in cream colored robes entered his room and he relaxed. He watched the figure draw back its hood and recognized Lucil.
“Lucil,” he said. “You scared me. If I was just a fraction of my former self I would have turned you into a pin cushion with my darts.”
“That’s what I am here for,” she said. “We’re going to get your former self back.”
She pulled off her heavy robes and they fell to the ground.
She wore gossamer silk below that left very little to the imagination. Through the diaphanous fabric Nate could see her navel, her nipples and her sex.
He had not seen her in this light. The robes had hid her sensual curves. Her nature had seemed so puritan and so business like.
“I’m not going to replace what you’ve lost and I’m not going to be your future,” she said frankly. “I just know you could really use a friend right now.”
She spoke some magic and some links of light formed around her wrists and ankles. They pulled apart lifting her off the ground.
“I’m yours to do with as you please,” she said simply. “The light shackles are binding me. They will last an hour even without me concentrating on them.”
“And if I choose to do nothing?” Nate asked.
“I don’t think you will,” Lucil said her eyes flashing provocatively. “I’m extremely ticklish. Just thinking about it makes me feel butterflies in my stomach.”
Nate drew near. He felt his pulse race. He had not tickled anyone in years. Lucil’s ticklish body hung suspended in front of him. Her faint perfume he had never noticed before entrapped him. Curiosity gripped him. How was her laugh? How would she react?
He gingerly traced his fingers against her sides and he felt her jump as she screamed out in laughter. She really was extremely ticklish. He felt his blood and his adrenaline race through his body. He tickled her savagely digging into her ribs and then reaching down to her pretty bare feet that seemed to call out for him to tickle her.
Her screaming and desperate laughter was like listening to a favorite song after many years. The song was familiar and he knew just how to play the instrument. He tickled her relentlessly until the thin fabric of her clothes stuck to her body which glistened in sweet perspiration. He did not push her over the edge. He simply kept her laughing continuously with steady technique.
The light of the shackles faded and she pulled away from his fingers.
“Nice,” he said smiling widely. “That was very nice.”
“Yes it was. But now it’s my turn,” Lucil said.
“You didn’t say...” Nate said.
“You didn’t ask,” she said with authority. “Now, hold your hands out.”
Nate was lightheaded anyway and he obeyed without protest. He felt light shackles get placed on his wrists and ankles. They stretched him out, his arms above his head. Lucil laid him out flat in front of her so she could have easy access to his entire body.
She was savage and she had him laughing instantly as she attacked his armpits. Her serious nature was replaced with a wild one as she growled and purred as she attacked him. His ribs, his hard belly, his feet. She attacked him relentlessly.
She reached in between his legs and up his thighs and tickled him through his light sleeping garments. He was fully aroused but she did not seemed encouraged or discouraged by that fact.
She did not push him over the edge either. She tickled him playfully. Not like a torturer or a seductress, but like a friend eager to hear one laugh no matter what it takes to get that laughter out.
She continued for the better part of the hour careful to explore his entire body and laughing with glee as she covered all his spots.
He was thoroughly exhausted by the end.
It had been too long since he had been tickled properly.
“Thank you,” Nate said laying on his back on the bed tired but feeling better than he had in many years. “I really needed that.”
She said nothing for a moment. Then, having made up her mind, she pulled her silken garment over her head leaving her beautiful body naked. Her intense gaze suggested she was not finished.
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
“I’m the one in charge here,” she said again taking the reins undressing him while he remained in a dazed state of lust and confusion. “I’ll decide what you need. I’m a very good friend who’s going to bring you back from where ever it is you are hiding.”
She was beautiful and she was real. Her naked and ticklish body climbed over his but made no contact yet.
“I won’t force you, Nate,” she said looking down on him. “You just have to nod once. No need for words.”
He nodded once and she smiled.
She straddled him and pulled his member up. She looked him in the eyes as she slipped down on him.
“Come back, Nate,” she said as she began to move up and down on him.
Nate closed his eyes and felt more alive than he had in years.
* * * * *
The next morning, Nate was a in a better mood. Lucil had left during the night. When he could not say. He cursed himself for being such a deep sleeper.
He enjoyed his evening with Lucil. It had sort of jump started his life again. He had made a promise to Vivian and wherever she was, he was going to track her even if it took the rest of his life. Of that he was certain and he felt his priorities were back in order.
He stepped out of his quarters and sat down for breakfast. Lucil sat down opposite him.
He didn’t want to be misleading with Lucil. She had worked hard to help free him. And then she had been bold and daring, but successful in shaking him free of his lethargy. It was only fair to be honest with her.
“I still love Vivian,” Nate said to Lucil. “She might be dead, but I have to be sure. I---”
Lucil put a finger on his lips silencing him.
“I know, silly,” she scolded. “You’ve been so low lately, you needed someone to remind you that there is still hope out there no matter how bad things look. I’m glad I could be that someone. Plain and simple. No strings attached.”
Nate nodded gratefully.
“I want to track down Vivian,” he said. “Can you help me?”
“I can’t tell you where she is,” Lucil said. “But I can tell you who would know.”
“Who?”
“Queen Ammé of the Fae,” Lucil replied. “She is under obligation to send all Manlings back to their world. She possesses sight that sees through all worlds. If anyone can find her, it is her and her alone.”
“I’ll study up more on the Fae,” Nate said. “And I’ll get ready.”
“Any information you need, I’ll provide,” Lucil said.
“And what would you need in return?” Nate asked.
Lucil winked. “I’ll let you know tonight.”
* * * * *
Lucil was true to her promise.
She brought books and notes concerning the Fae and Nate spent his days devouring them. His nights he spent with Lucil and her visits were most welcome. They would always tickle each other but they never made love again. It was not necessary. They spent their time telling stories and enjoying each other’s company.
Weeks and months went by and finally Nate felt ready to go before the Queen of the Fae.
“We’re going to miss you,” Patrisa said as she gave Nate a big hug. “That notch was well earned on your blow gun. Not many can say that.”
Nate smiled. He handed over his blow gun and darts.
“Finish the notches on this blowgun, please,” he asked Patrisa.
She smiled and received the weapon.
“It will be an honor,” Patrisa said.
“Lucil,” Nate said turning to the Lioness Animus. “I can’t repay you for having helped me.”
“Your friendship was payment enough,” Lucil said. “Your Vivian is a lucky woman. I wish you success in your quest and should you fail, that you have the courage to live on no matter what.”
“I’m not going to fail,” he said giving Lucil a big hug.
“Queen Ammé will not be so cooperative,” Patrisa mentioned. “Even with an order from the Council. Your preparations are meager at best. You are going to deal with one of the most powerful and manipulative of the Realms Lords.”
“I’ve prepared as much as I can,” Nate said. “I’m going to have to trust my instinct and my intuition.”
“Then I am sure you’ll be okay,” Patrisa said smiling.
A small blue light approached.
“Your escort has arrived,” Patrisa said as a small diminutive pixie approached.
“Indigo!” Patrisa called. “It really has been too long.”
“It’s not Indigo anymore,” the Pixie answered. He bore helmet and spear and a badge of authority. “It’s Cerulean. I’ve been named leader of the Blue Squadron of the new Rainbow Company.”
“The name and the post both do you justice,” Patrisa said smiling. “You’ll be taking my good friend Nate to Queen Ammé. Make sure she treats him well.”
“I can guarantee his safety until the court of the Queen of the Fae,” Indigo said, “but I cannot respond for how the Queen will behave. She becomes more like old Queen Melca every day.”
“Just get me there,” Nate said. “I think I can handle Queen Ammé.”
The three looked back at Nate with smiles on their faces, but Nate could tell their confidence was not matched by the smiles on their faces.
Maybe he was about to once again bite off more than he could chew.
* * * * *
Indigo was an excellent travel companion. He was quick to joke and tell an entertaining story, but he kept a steady pace taking many short cuts Nate would not have imagined.
“So what are you going to ask of Queen Ammé?” the blue Pixie asked as they entered the Garden of Delights.
“I want to ask her to find my lost lover Vivian,” Nate explained. “And that she send me there. That’s not a tall order, is it?”
“Nothing that Queen Ammé couldn’t do, I’m sure,” Indigo said a small frown betraying his otherwise cheerful demeanor.
“But you don’t think she’ll do it, do you?” Nate asked.
“It’s not my place to say what she will or will not do,” Indigo said. “However my Queen is fickle at best.”
“And at worst?” Nate asked.
“Let’s just hope you don’t have opportunity to find out,” Indigo said grimly.
* * * * *
Queen Ammé sat in her court on a wide bench.
She was surrounded by Realmswalkers who wore loins cloths and thin gossamer garments. They seemed to be servants, but if they were their only service was to love their mistress. There were Animus, Elfings and even a couple Manlings which made Nate wonder if he really was wise what he planned.
“Queen Ammé,” Indigo said. “I present you a ward of Lady Patrisa of the Academy. A Manling by the name of Nate, also know as Nathan, also known as the Hound.”
Queen Ammé was Queen of the Fae. She was a Nymph. He body was beautiful and covered with gossamer robes that left little to the imagination. She had beautiful brown hair and penetrating light blue eyes. On her forehead was a large all seeing eye.
Her beauty was different than that of the Lady of the Morning Dew. The Lady’s beauty was terrible perfect beauty while this was more sensual and alluring. They were great contrasts but equally dangerous, Nate was certain. To fail, would be to at her feet serving her and loving her.
Would that be so bad? he thought to himself. To love and have no other worry in the world?
He realized that was the Glamour speaking. It was the powerful magic that naturally emanated from the Queen of the Fae. He was ill prepared for this he knew, but she was his only chance.
“Lady Patrisa requests you send the Hound to where he wishes,” Indigo said. “She asks this as a personal favor.”
“If it is personal, why does she not come and ask for the favor herself?” Queen Ammé asked.
“Last time you tried to undo the magic of her armor and charm her,” Indigo explained awkwardly. “She kind of took that a bit personally.”
“Is she still sore about that?” the Queen said waving away the issue with a graceful hand. “It was simply a challenge, I meant nothing by it. Did she believe I would have her, the Tickle Scourge and Mistress of the Academy, at my toes worshiping me and complying to my every whim?”
“I do believe so, my Queen,” Indigo said lowering his head as if expecting a blow.
The Queen shrugged and moved on.
“Where does she want me to send you, Tenderfoot?” Queen Ammé asked Nate.
“If what I hear is true, you are always watching with your third eye,” Nate explained. “If so, then you know what I want.”
“I can see present past and future, aye,” Queen Ammé said. “I cannot see everything, but your presence here makes it easy.”
“And so?” Nate asked.
“You wish me to find your lost lover and the send you there,” Queen Ammé said plainly.
“Will you do so?” Nate asked hopefully.
“Certainly not,” she said frowning. Even with a pout on her face she was beautiful. “I’m not a crystal ball or oracle to be consulted by every sorry Realmswalker who loses something.That is not the agreement with the Council or with the Scourge. I am to send Manlings brought to this world back to their own world.”
“You can send me to the world where Vivian is,” Nate stated.
“And why would I?” she asked her three eyes narrowing. “I am not a ‘Travel Agent’ as you Manlings would call it.”
“I think you enjoy a challenge,” Nate said. “I think we are much alike. I search for things too. And finding them is quite a feeling. The harder the challenge the better.”
“I have not agreed,” Ammé stated after some thought. She closed her eyes and her third eye, at the center of her forehead glowed intensely.
“I’ve seen your precious Vivian,” Ammé said smiling opening her eyes.
“Where is she? I won’t go until you send me to where Vivian is,” Nate demanded.
“I am obliged to send you back through the portal to your world. I will do nothing more,” she said.
“I insist,” Nate said.
He felt Ammé’s anger flare for only a fraction of a second. Then she instantly back to her normal self which terrorized Nate.
He felt her Glamour flare angrily at him tempting him and tauting him.
“I’ll send you back to your world as accorded with the Council, but I’ll play with you a while,” she said.
Nate could feel the urge to race to her feet and worship her. He could see her perfect toes beckoning him on. But he resisted.
“What is this?” Ammé said her three eyes narrowing on Nate. “You’ve set up a series of enchantments to resist my magic!”
She was more surprised than angry.
It took all of Nate’s will to resist Ammé’s call. If it were not for the enchantments he and Lucil put in place, he would not be able resist.
“They won’t stop me,” Ammé said. “You feel your defenses crumbling even as we speak. It must have taken you months to prepare those enchantments. I will undo them in moments. It is not even a challenge. Come, kiss my toes and seal your fate.”
She held out her bare toes for him to see and he felt a wave of lust crash over him. The enchantments faded and Nate was alone his willpower against Ammé’s Glamour.
He fell to his knees and approached Ammé who conveniently dangled her foot in his line of sight.
“One kiss on my toes,” Ammé said. “That is all it takes. Then you will forget that woman forever.”
At that thought Nate paused. The foot was but mere inches from his face and his body and mind screamed for him to kiss and worship such a perfect and beautiful foot.
“No,” he muttered, “feeling his body go tense. I want to go to where Vivian is.”
Ammé burned with anger.
“Do not doubt me, Tenderfoot,” Ammé said furiously. “I could have you groveling at my feet in a moment. You would be a slave in my court if I have to defy the Council myself. But that would not be cruel enough. Cruelty is my specialty.”
She stood up and she cast a spell opening a portal.
Nate could see through the portal his own sleeping form in his own world.
“Go to your world, Tenderfoot,” she commanded.
“No,” Nate said. “You must send me to Vivian’s world.”
“I said I was cruel,” Ammé said. “Return to your world and know this, there is no way for you to return and there is no way to rescue your precious Vivian.”
Nate began to protest but two Dyrads appeared from behind and they dragged him to the portal. Their slim and delicate arms had a grip or iron and he was powerless to stop them.
“I’ll stay, I’ll serve,” he shouted. “I’ll do anything! But you must send me to Vivian!”
The Dryads pushed him through like old refuge and the portal sealed behind him.
“Was that necessary?” Indigo asked shocked.
“He really loves that woman,” Ammé said. “To keep him here, I’d never really have him. Not body and soul as it should be. To send him to another world would give him hope to somehow find his lover. No, sending him home is the greatest cruelty all for he will lose hope. And that is the best sort of cruelty.”
“You are truly cruel, Queen Ammé,” Indigo said bowing deeply and feeling despair.
“Even cruelty bears justice sometimes, Cerulean,” Queen Ammé said.
“What do you mean?” the Pixie asked.
“Tell the Scourge that the fool Tenderfoot got all that he wanted,” she said.
“But that is not true,” Indigo said.
“Truth and Lie, they are like night and day,” she said. “Tis twilight and it is neither one nor the other. Deliver my message as such and let us leave it at that.”
Indigo bowed and obeyed.
* * * * *
Life started again in the real world for Nate.
He went back to classes, back to football.
He was a little melancholic from time to time but he tried to embrace his life again as Lucil had been insistent he do no matter what.
Some things would never be the same though.
He was no longer ticklish prey anymore, for one thing.
The cheerleader squad had a rude awakening. Their tickling attacks on Nate were always thwarted now. He’d always see them creeping behind them, he’d always know how to dodge tickling fingers. And at every opportunity he got back at them with vengeance. Cheerleaders who swore they were not ticklish would suddenly be laughing helplessly underneath his tickling fingers. He just seemed to know how to do it right.
This he enjoyed.
From time to time, he’d let someone tickle him. It wasn’t so bad anymore. He took it with good humor and when he let someone tickle him he was sure to dish out more than they gave.
He didn’t date much. Didn’t go much to parties either. He felt bad that he had failed to find Vivian. Guilty that he had failed her. That guilt did not fade away with time as he had hoped.
A friend dragged him one day to a night club trying to cheer him up.
Nate sat around listening to the music and not too interested in anything. He passed that time at the bar with a drink hoping he’d get through the night quickly and get back to his bead early.
Then he saw her.
She was beautiful. She had the same face he remembered.
It could be no one else.
He immediately left his place at the bar and walked up to the table where the woman was. She was surrounded by men who all seemed entranced by her.
“Hello, do I know you?” he asked her boldly.
“That’s a lousy pick up line, buddy,” one of the men said stepping in between blocking his view.
“Do you know this guy?” one of the other men asked the woman.
“Never seen him before,” she said smiling with her eyes.
The men pushed him away and he eventually returned to his place at the bar.
“Who is that?” his friend asked sitting next to him on the bar. “She’s hot.”
“No one,” Nate said curtly. “Looked like someone I used to know.”
“Well I’m going to try my luck with the two ladies at the end of the bar,” his friend said. “Care to join me?”
Nate waved him away. He could not take his eyes off of the the woman. She was the spitting image of the Lady of the Morning Dew. Her face and her hair was the same. She did not have the Elfling ears or the dark pupil-less eyes. He had seen her face twice. Once when he had her on the rings and a second time when she turned him to stone. There could be no doubt. That was the Lady of the Morning Dew.
He watched her go to the restroom with and he watched the men at her table. They were all entranced with her. She would leave with whoever she chose and leave the rest heart broken.
Nate had no idea of what to do. But he could not let her get away. He would follow her. He would some how find the way to speak to her.
The Lady left the restroom and headed back to her table without so much as a glance at Nate.
A young blond woman sat next to him at the bar.
“Your friend asked me to give you this,” she said handing him a note.
He opened it hastily and read it in the poor light.
MEET ME TOMORROW 10AM AT CAFE 6TH AND LINCOLN AVE. DON’T BE LATE!
She nodded ever so slightly and looked at him meaningfully as she collected her purse and walked out with a young and rich looking man who escorted her out.
“Some girls have all the luck,” the blond woman said watching the woman leave with the handsome young man. “Better luck next time, huh?”
Nate smiled as he stood up and left the bar. His luck was about to change.
* * * * *
Nate could not sleep a wink all night. If that was the Lady of the Morning Dew, was it possible Vivian was here as well?
He was early at the café and there she was sitting at the table.
“You’re early, Nate,” she said sipping a cup of coffee as she scanned a magazine.
“Better than late,” Nate said.
The woman shrugged.
“Desiree is my name. It was my name in the Realms and it conveniently is my name here. You can call me D.”
“You know my name,” Nate said. “Why didn’t you speak with me last night?”
“Didn’t know if you would go crazy on me,” she said. “You know well that this world and the Realms are two very different places. ‘Tracking’ is called stalking here. ‘Tickling against a person’s will’ is called sexual harassment or dare I even say sexual assault.”
“Ok. Fair enough. How did you get here?” Nate asked.
Desiree shrugged.
“I don’t know. I woke up as a person with memories of this world. Real tangible memories. Things like having a family. Going to school. Having friends. But what was different was that I remembered my life in the Realms. I remembered everything. It was a little difficult adjusting to this world at first. I was a bit of Tenderfoot for a while, I must admit. My passion for tickling still runs strong, but I’ve found ways to adapt. Life is good here. I am the center of any circle. The men worship me and the women despise me. I enjoy it much more than my world. In the end you did me a big favor that worked out for the best. Who would have figured?”
“Where is Vivian? She must have gone through with you,” Nate asked.
“I do not know. I have not seen anyone like her here,” she said. “You are the first Realmswalker I’ve seen here, although I doubt you are the only one.”
“Vivian must be around somewhere,” Nate said furrowing his brow in concentration.
“Maybe. You are the Stalker, I mean Tracker,” she teased.
“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” Nate said. “My tracking abilities are still good for finding a lost paper or someone’s keys. Not as powerful as in the Realms where I could follow a scent for miles.”
“Not as powerful, but still there,” she said. “Be warned, Hound. She might not want to see you anymore. She might be totally adapted to this world or maybe her host here is stronger than her Realms personality. I don’t know.”
“First things first,” he said. “I have to find her.”
“Well, that is your business and I wish you luck,” she said opening a purse and leaving a bill for her coffee and tip. “I don’t want to see you anymore. The less I have to do with my old life, the better.”
“I understand,” Nate said.
“I have a gift for you though. A parting gift,” she said rummaging through her purse. “It is a stone. A simple stone. I found it one day on the beach. It reminds me of the tracking sphere. The one I had when I sent you to be tracked by the mercenary Shade.”
She handed it over to Nate.
“It has no magical properties. I doesn’t glow. It might just be a piece of tainted glass. But then again. I could be wrong. If I wanted it to track the brand on Vivian’s foot I would hold it in my hand and concentrate on the name of person I wanted to track.”
She gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead.
“Farewell, Hound. It was a pleasure meeting you here. Have a good life. I know I will,” she said as she left him to his thoughts.
* * * * *
Nate repeated Vivian’s name over and over again making it a mantra as he took the stone with him virtually everywhere.
There was something special about the stone, but so far he could not tell what it was.
The only thing we was certain about was that it did not work.
Despair starting to settle in again but then he stopped himself.
Vivian was a around somewhere. There was hope.
That would have to be enough.
For now.
* * * * *
Some weeks later Nate had attended a lake side barbecue with some friends.
He sat on a pier and gently massaged the stone D had given him thinking of Vivian.
He found it comforting. Even more when he mentioned Vivian’s name under his breath.
More people were coming to the barbecue but he wasn’t so interested in being in the crowd. He thought maybe he take a swim, get something to eat and then head home.
A couple friends sat next to him and saw him pensive with the stone.
“What’s this, Nate?” one of them said plucking the stone out of his grasp.
Nate immediately jumped on his friend while he deftly tossed the stone to his other buddy.
“Nice stone,” his friend said examining it. “Good for skipping.” He threw it on the lake with a flick of his wrist and Nate counted seven bounces before the stone sank.
“What did you do that for?” Nathan said irritated but not overly angry. He was still a good enough tracker to be certain he could get it back.
“Does it matter?” his buddy said. “We all know you’re going to dive in a somehow you’re going to find it. I’ll bet a couple of frosty ones you can’t do it in ten minutes.”
“You’re on,” Nate said standing up and pulling off his t-shirt. “You hold on to this,” he said shoving it into the arms of the friend who called the bet. “You take the time,” he asked the other friend who had a watch.
Nate had his own watch, but he wanted them to watch their own time as he went down after the stone.
“Ten minutes, on the pier,” the first friend called.
“Got it,” Nate said clicking his watch to set up the countdown. “Ready, set, time!”
Nate dived into the cold water. It was a shock to his system, but Nate welcomed the contrast of temperatures.
This was a challenge he welcomed. The rules were simple, the battlefield drawn and laid out, and the prize was never in doubt.
How so unlike his quest to find Vivian.
The water was dark and murky. It was going be tough to find it and get back to the pier in time, but he figured he could feel his way to the stone.
He came up three times with nothing.
He could hear the shouts and the jeers from the pier but he did not look back.
He just had to trust his intuition.
Suddenly he saw a flash. The stone was there and it was glowing. He almost let go of the air in his lungs as he saw it happen. It could not be so. It simply was not possible.
But nonetheless it was glowing. He grasped the stone in his hand and headed back to the surface.
He gasped for air and he surfaced and he wiped his eyes quickly to examine the stone. It was not glowing. Was it possible, or had he imagined it?
“Thirty seconds!” he heard his friends call from the pier.
He turned and swam in the direction on the pier, he approached and he suddenly felt the stone grow warm in his hand.
“I’m here!” he said grasping the ladder to climb onto the pier.
There, he saw a pair of legs dangling over the edge of the pier with the feet near his face. Those feet he recognized. He looked up at who they belonged to and he was speechless.
“Five, four, three, two, one... you’re out!” his friends chanted. They went on their way cavorting and otherwise enjoying themselves at Nate’s expense. “Gonna get something eat. See you later, buddy,” they said as they walked away.
“Never seen a pair of bare feet before?” the woman asked. She had short reddish brown hair and wore sun glasses. Her voice was the same. No doubt. “Or do you have a thing for feet?” she asked raising an eyebrow and flexing her beautiful toes in his direction.
“No, I mean yes,” Nate stammered feeling his face flush and feeling the stone warm in his hand. “Well, sort of. I mean, I like feet, but that’s not why I was staring.”
“I’m rather proud of my feet,” she said stretching them out and examining them as she smiled at him.
Nate melted away. He missed that smile.
“At least you’re honest,” she said. “Then why were you staring? You could have won that bet hands down. I’m impressed. I don’t think I could have found that stone myself. And certainly not in 10 minutes.”
Nate pulled himself out of the water and sat down next to her.
“How’s the water?” she asked.
“Cold,” Nate answered but he himself felt no cold at all.
“I have towel if you’re interested,” she said offering it to him.
Nate took the towel and dried himself off.
“Can I see it?” she asked. “The stone?”
Nate nodded and opened his palm. It glowed but because of the sun. It felt warm because his palms were warm and he had held it tight inside his fist.
She took the stone and held it in her hand.
“It seems familiar,” she said examining the stone. ”What’s your name?” she asked.
“Nate,” he said. “And your name?”
“Viviana,” she said.
Nate nodded and smiled. There was no doubt.
“Nate,” she said tasting the name on her lips. “I kind of recall having known a Nate.”
“I kind of recall having known a Viviana without the ‘a’,” Nate said.
“Well now I know a Nate for sure,” she said holding out her hand for him to shake.
Nate took her hand and he felt electricity surge through her into his body.
“Nate,” she said suddenly as a flood of memories came back to her. “The Hound?”
Nate nodded feeling relief flood his being.
“And you are the Vixen,” he said. “I promised you I’d follow you until the end of the world and beyond.”
“It is all coming back to me now,” she said as recognition hit her like a tidal wave. “You came for me...”
“The way back was rocky, baby,” he said standing and bringing her to her feet. He pulled away her glasses and looked into those big brown eyes he had lost himself in so many times before. “And I nearly gave up many a time, but I finally found you.”
They embraced and Nate felt peace finally settle into his heart.
“You know things are different here,” she said brushing away some tears as they walked out on the pier to watch the sun slowly set. “Tickling does not govern everyday activities. There are no Realmswalkers and Realmslords. The days of tickling your adversaries senseless are done, I’m afraid.”
“I know,” he said. “Don’t worry about it though. I am pretty much adapted to this world. I have lived here all my life. In any case, I should preach to you.... Tenderfoot.”
Viviana laughed. Her rich and perfect laugh.
Hearing that laughter again cast away any doubts they would not adapt to this world as he had to hers.
Nate was now certain.
Everything was going to be all right.
The End
The Return of the Hound
Many months passed.
The forest reclaimed the fortress even faster than Nate believed possible. It was secluded and hidden before, but now no one came to the home of the Lady of the Morning Dew, not even by accident.
Alone and afraid, Nate had only the forest around to console him. He knew every bird and every squirrel in the area and he had followed them through their simple lives with great interest. He counted the stars at night and during the day watched figures form from the clouds. Anything that could keep his mind busy and not allow him to sink deeper into despair. There was no escape, there was no relief. Not even death could free him now.
Without Vivian, he wondered how long his sanity would last.
And so it was until Nate one day heard people approaching.
“Is it really worth the trouble, Patrisa?” asked an Elfling voice. “Isn’t this the thing of legends?”
“I was here and this is part of the Elfling Kingdom. Your kingdom,” a familiar voice answered. “I was hoping we might find the Lady of the Morning Dew but this place seems abandoned.”
Nate instantly recognized the voice of the Tickle Scourge and his heavy heart lightened at the sight of her as she burst through the brush.
She seemed different. She was dressed in white armor with golden accents and she carried a long beautiful sword she used to cut away at the vegetation. She wasn’t only differently dressed. She was also different in other ways. She seemed more mature and more wise.
The Elfling who came behind her was dressed in a perfect white cloak and boots. She carried a bandolier across her chest also in white. She had blond hair and a bluish tinge to her eyes not unlike the Lady of the Morning Dew. At first sight he would guess her to be an Interrogator judging from the tools in her bandolier but the clothing was much more regal.
“The Legends are true,” the Elfling said marveling the statues littering the courtyard. “Could not Danea have found this place easier from the air?”
“Spells would keep it hidden,” the Scourge answered. “This was the way to find it.”
Patrisa found Nate and looked up at him studying him. “I wondered what happened to you, big guy,” she said for him to hear.
“They are alive, do you realize that, Patrisa?” the Elfling said. “There are hundreds of them.”
“Maybe more,” Patrisa said drawing her fingers over Nate’s blowgun.
“Can we help them?” the Elfling asked.
“We certainly must try, Haydeen” Patrisa said looking at Nate intently.
She traced the marble of the blow gun with her fingers feeling the notches under her fingers. She looked at the letters T.S. scratched into the blowgun and smiled gently. Her mind went back to that day she had first seen the notches and the initials.
Something all of a sudden clicked.
Her eyes went wide with realization and she frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Haydeen asked noticing Patrisa’s surprise and shock.
Patrisa was silent for a moment and then suddenly burst into a hearty guffaw that startled Haydeen who shook visibly at the explosion of laughter.
“He actually did it!” she cried as she was overwhelmed by a fit of uncontrollable laughter. She leaned on Nate’s chest as she tried to control her laughter. “The nerve!”
“What is wrong? A tickle bug? A tickle spell?” Haydeen asked looking around desperately at the source of Patrisa’s predicament.
“Nothing of the sort,” Patrisa said clearing the tears from her eyes that came with her mirthfulness. “I’m okay. I just remembered something... entertaining.”
Haydeen looked at her as if she were mad.
“I’ll send a team of Elflings to recover this fortress and salvage the statues,” Haydeen said still not sure if Patrisa was all right. “I don’t have spell casters powerful enough for undoing this kind of magic.”
“Send them to the Academy,” Patrisa suggested. “Our ranks have swelled over the last few months. Someone there will certainly know how to undo the spells.”
Patrisa looked at Nate intently and smiled.
“Start with this one. Make sure he is the first to arrive at the Academy.
“His name is Nate.”
* * * * *
“Can this magic be undone, Lucil?” Patrisa asked the Animus Spell Caster weeks later at the Academy.
Nate had spent that time in a room with a lioness headed Animus Spell Caster who did every test one could imagine and tried maybe hundreds of enchantments to try and undo the curse. The spell caster wore beige robes and covered herself past her neck. She seemed a very serious and very dedicated person and she did not seem to leave any stone unturned as she studied Nate.
“I don’t know,” the Animus said. “I’m not an expert in this sort of spell. It is more an effect than a real spell. There are layer after layer of enchantments and it is not as if undoing one will undo the rest.”
“I could have practically told you that weeks ago,” Patrisa said not bothering to mask her impatience. “Come on, give me something better than that.”
Lucil paused and thought for a moment.
“Well, the subject can hear and see you,” the Lucil concluded. “I suspect he can feel and even smell. His senses and consciousness are anchored here. The rest is anchored somewhere else and his body is preserved in a solid stone state.”
Patrisa looked at Nate eye to eye and he sensed mischief that the Animus missed completely.
“I don’t think there is a way we can undo this with a spell,” Lucil said shaking her head. “You’d need a magical artifact. One designed just to undo this magic. There are not many artisans of that caliber.”
“I know one,” Patrisa said. “Leave me here alone with my friend for a while, Lucil. You can go back to training the new recruits. I’ll take over this task.”
“As you wish, Mistress Patrisa,” Lucil said bowing.
“Knock that off,” Patrisa said annoyed at the title. “I’m just Patrisa or the Tickle Scourge if you must. Next time you call me that, I’ll send you down to serve as a test subject for the recruits. They’ll like nothing more than to sink their eager fingers into your ticklish flesh.”
Lucil smiled but said nothing as she left.
“Now,” Patrisa said turning her attention to Nate, “there is the affair of certain tickling that went down years ago.”
She drew near and started examining him the way she always examined her victims.
“T.S. indeed! I must have still been a bit groggy and for sure a bit of dust of forgetfulness added to the confusion, but I’ve been thinking quite a bit about it lately and it’s all coming back to me. I’m going to find a way to get you out of this, but you’re going to have my full undivided attention for the next hour.”
Nate would have laughed by now if he could at just the mere thought. Those initials alone meant more than every notch on that blowgun.
“A pair of bare arms and a hint of an armpit,” Patrisa said taking inventory as she examined Nate’s stony figure. “Ears and a bit of neck exposed,” she said observing the small area above his scarf. “Not much to work with, but I have worked wonders with less.”
She stretched and flexed her fingers before undertaking her task. She began tickling him and his stony flesh which had not been tickled in years and had been touched only recently seemed to shimmer in anticipation.
She danced her fingers around his neck and ears and he beamed at the feeling. He could not move and could not laugh, but it was the biggest reminder that he was still alive and he cherished it. She was mostly playful but somewhat torturous at times. Especially when she clamped her fingers into his underarms.
There was no reaction at all but it did not deter Patrisa who showed no disappointment at all regarding the lack of response. She continued as promised for a full hour.
Nate felt alive and he was thankful.
“I think I did a work of art,” Patrisa said smugly. “You’ll have to let me know if I still have got it or if all this ‘Mistress Patrisa’ nonsense has gone to my head.”
She turned to leave the room and just as she closed the door she turned back to address Nate.
“I’ll get you out of this, Nate. I promise.”
She closed the door and Nate was alone again.
You’ve got it, Patrisa, he thought himself gratefully.
You’ve still got it.
* * * * *
Patrisa traveled to the Giantus Realm. The mountainous region was populated by Giants who towered over the rest of the Realmswalkers. Notoriously ticklish, however infamous ticklers themselves, they usually kept to their secluded mountain lairs tickling among themselves with no concern for the affairs of other Realms and eager to tickle any trespassers to their homeland.
The tallest of the already towering mountain ranges of the Giantus, was know collectively as the Titans. Mostly uninhabited, there was one Giant who lived alone at the summit of the tallest mountain of the Titans.
That Giant was known as the Maker.
He was the master artisan of the Realms and if anyone could create an artifact capable of reversing the effect of the gaze of the Lady of the Morning Dew, it was him.
Patrisa had planned to travel alone, but Loanna, the Giantess of the Academy, insisted on escorting her when she revealed she would meet the Maker.
“The Maker and I are good friends,” Loanna said winking.
Even though Patrisa was not overly convinced, Loanna did know the way. Plus, Patrisa made it a policy to avoid arguing with Giants.
Disappointed with Patrisa’s meager progress in climbing the Titans, Loanna threw Patrisa unceremoniously over her shoulder and began leaping her way up the Titans like a mountain goat. It was not difficult to reach the top and now Patrisa saw the benefit of having allowed Loanna to accompany her.
The Harpies that guarded the mountain gave them free passage. Patisa recalled that the Harpies were guardians of the Maker’s abode. But they made no move to try to stop them.
Finally they arrived at the top of the mountain. It was snow covered despite being summer and Patrisa was glad she was donning her white armor and boots made by the Maker instead of her open sandals. Her boots crunched softly on the snow while Loanna’s huge boot made a loud crunch.
Patrisa frowned at the noise and Loanna shrugged.
“I can shrink to Pixie size if it serves our purpose,” Loanna mentioned. “But we didn’t come to sneak around and a full sized Giant is probably worth quite a bit more than a half sized one.”
Patrisa nodded in agreement as she approach the mouth of a cave. Noise and steam issued from the lair. The telltale evidence of the Maker at work.
“Maker!” Patrisa shouted drawing near the entrance to the cave.
A machine came out. It was built like a human in copper and tin, just huge as a Giant and full of mechanical tentacles which suddenly shot forth from the side of the golem as it approached them.
“A new toy,” Loanna said looking at the lumbering machine as a challenge. “I’ll take care of this while you go ahead.”
“Make sure it doesn’t take care of you,” Patrisa said as the Giantess lunged at the mechanical creature. The tentacles dug deep into her ticklish spots and she cried with laughter, but she hugged the mechanical juggernaut and tackled it to the ground leaving the way free.
“Go!” she said between laughter. “Don’t know how long I can keep him back.”
Patrisa frowned. Loanna was not going to hold the lifeless creature back very long, but it would probably not do to break one of the Maker’s toys before asking for a favor.
Patrisa entered the Maker’s workshop. Small mechanical automatons rushed back and forth doing the bidding of their master.
A Giant suddenly appeared with huge golden hammer in hand and eyes ablaze. The Giant was head and shoulders over Loanna and that was saying something considering Loanna was tall herself for a Giant. He was bald and bore a dark soot colored beard. His apron was black with dust and grease over his bare barrel chest and his dark leather trousers.
“Will it ever end?” he growled angrily. “Always people interrupting my work. Can’t you people see, that I am busy?!”
“I thousand pardons, Maker,” Patrisa said bowing.
“I see you you wear one of my precious suits of armor,” the Giant said. “Now you come to ask for something else. Does it ever end?”
“I mean no disrespect, Maker,” Patrisa bowed. “We of the Realms are all grateful for your aid in defeating the Doom that Creeps.”
“Yet you need more favors of the Maker,” the Giant said tightening the grip on his hammer and clenching his teeth. “Free favors. The Maker does not work for free.”
“Ho!” Loanna called dragging a piece of the broken Juggernaut behind her. “I think it sort of broke...”
The Maker’s eyes went wide and his face flushed red. Steam rose from his furious face as he fought to contain his anger.
“Is nothing sacred?!” the Maker cried out struggling to contain his anger. “When will meddling Realmswalkers leave me to my work? The Harpies no longer guard my lair. They are still cross at me for stealing their magic for those suits of armor.”
He grumbled angrily his dark coal eyes smoldering.
“What do you want?” the Maker barked.
“An artifact to undo the magical curse of the Lady of the Morning Dew cast on thousands of her victims,” Patrisa stated simply.
“The Lady of the Morning Dew,” he said his face softening at the mention of the Elfing’s name. “I kept correspondence with her over the years. She has failed to write back for the past few years. Is she well?”
“I don’t know,” Patrisa answered. “Her fortress is abandoned. Maybe some of her victims can tell us where she is or what her fate was. But only if they can be restored to living flesh once more.”
“What you want is very special,” the Maker said thoughtfully. “I told her that I could not make it but that was a lie. She was paying a price for her beauty and she became even more beautiful after some humility. To take the curse away would send her back to her vain and trivial ways. I liked the Lady as she was.”
“I want to free the hundreds confined to stone,” Patrisa said.
“That’s a nice thought,” the Maker said his thoughtful expression returning to one of contempt. “But if I gave you that what would stop every idiot Realmswalker from climbing this mountain to ask the Maker for a favor? The benign maker... the generous Maker... I’d never hear the end of it.”
“I have a proposal,” Patrisa said. “Something more valuable than any mountain of magic in exchange for your aid.”
“What is that?” the Maker asked unimpressed.
“Peace of mind. Tranquility during your labor,” Patrisa stated.
The Maker scratched his beard nodding with approval.
“Well, go on now. Tell me the details,” he demanded impatiently.
“A guard,” Patrisa explained. “I’ll set up a special guard with the finest students of the Academy. They would guard your mountain and intercept any intruder. They’d then tickle the living daylights out of anyone foolish enough to climb the mountain and interrupt the Master Maker. A few days under my pupils' expert care, they get released to the world telling tales of the most terrible torture in existence. Peace and quiet guaranteed.”
“You’ll be sure to mention that this is the 'Maker’s Guard'?” the Maker asked taking deep interest.
“Of course, and you’ll be sure to mention that the Guard is trained and formed by the Academy?”
“I would have it no other way,” the Maker said smiling.
They shook hands warmly with Patrisa’s small hand in the Maker’s gargantuan grip. His handshake was firm but not too strong.
“How much time do you need to make this artifact?” Patrisa asked.
“It’s already made,” he said. “I made it hundreds of year ago. A hammer. A simple tap and the curse is reversed. The flesh becomes warm again and the soul returns.”
He left in search of the item and a cacophony of crashes, curses and broken items came from a cavern.
“I’ve found it!” he shouted returning with a small item between his fingers.
It was a miniature hammer. It was small enough to fit in the palm of Patrisa’s hand. In the Maker’s hand it seemed like a toothpick. It was golden with small diamonds lining the side.
“I’ll expect those guardsmen in a fortnight,” the Maker passed the hammer on to Patrisa. “I’ll set up a whole set of traps as a test of their mettle. They had better be good.”
“They will, Patrisa promised. “I assure you they will.”
* * * * *
Patrisa tapped Nate’s statue with the hammer.
Nothing happened.
“You went all that way and through all that trouble just for that?” Lucil said skeptically with her arms crossed against her chest.
“You don’t have to watch,” Patrisa said with some irritation. “He’s not your project anymore.”
“I know,” Lucil said. “But I’ve grown a bit attached after working on him so long. I want to see how it all works out.”
The statue began to crack and it suddenly broke. Pieces of stone broke away and warm flesh and lush colors appeared from underneath.
Nate tried to speak and move but his lips and legs would not obey.
“Take it easy there, champ,” Patrisa said holding him up. “You haven’t spoken a word or taken a step in years.”
“T-t-t-hank y-y-you,” Nate said with difficulty.
“Your welcome,” Patrisa said looping an arm over her shoulder while Lucil took the other arm. “Now get some rest and we’ll debrief each other later after you’ve had some rest.”
Nate was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
* * * * *
“Let me get this straight,” Nate said wearily the next day after sleep and nourishment. “The monster who crushed Vivian and the Lady of the Morning Dew is no more. The Shade has left this world for his own. The Elfling King is Dead. Lord Xavis no longer rules the Animus.”
“That is quite correct,” Patrisa said. “A lot has changed since you were turned to stone.”
“What about Vivian?” Nate asked. “Can we get her back? Rebuild the statue. Use the same artifact that brought me back?”
“I went to check myself,” Lucil said. “There are no pieces of statue that can be put together again. There is only random and amorphous stones. And if what you say is accurate, I would say there is no Vivian or the Lady of the Morning to recover from those pieces.”
“Where is Vivian then?” Nate asked venting his frustration.
“She is not here,” Patrisa concluded. “She might be dead. She might be stuck is some limbo somewhere. What is certain is that which was her body no longer exists. I’m sorry, Nate. By crushing the statue, their link to this world was broken. They are gone forever.”
“That can’t be,” Nate said numbly. “There must be a way. I promised I’d follow her to the end of the world and beyond.”
“We make a lot of promises we can’t keep, Nate.” Patrisa said softly. “Such is life. Stay here as long as a you want as a guest at the Academy. You can join the new Maker’s Guard. You can train the new arrivals; you are certainly qualified. We get new students every day. You need to find your life again.”
“And if I can’t?” Nate said grimly.
“Then let me know,” Patrisa said. “You can go home too, Nate. But don’t go because of grief. Go because you want to.”
“I think I need some time alone,” Nate said.
Patrisa nodded. “It hurts losing someone, Nate. I know. And the hurt never really goes away. But it does get better, Nate. Remember that.”
* * * * *
“He’s not getting any better,” Lucil said shaking her head as she watched Nate from afar.
The Manling was mostly skulking around the Academy. He avoided people in general. He seemed to be overwhelmed following a downward spiral of grief and depression.
“No. And it has been a couple months already,” Patrisa said in agreement. “He doesn’t want to stay here, doesn’t want to go back to his world. He’s sort of fading away like a ghost.”
Patrisa shook her head in disappointment and frustration.
“Here I thought I was doing him a favor by freeing him of that stone prison,” Patrisa said sadly. “Now it seems he’s a prisoner of his own mind.”
They were quiet a few moments and then Lucil broke the silence.
“I think I have what he needs to get past this,” she said enigmatically.
“And that is?” Patrisa asked surprised at the Animus’s strange suggestion.
“You have your techniques, I have mine,” the lioness headed Animus replied mysteriously.
* * * * *
Nate was heartbroken.
There was no relief to the grief he felt. He couldn’t track Vivian like he promised. The life of adventure he knew before simply could not be without Vivian at his side.
He lay in his bed restless at night. Unable to sleep and when he could his slumber was plagued by nightmares of the Doom that Creeps crushing his lover and the Lady of the Morning Dew.
It was the dead of night and Nate could not sleep. He had had a special sleep bed that most of the other quarters had but he traded it in for a normal bed. A good night’s sleep was essential for students of the Academy. But he was not a student and he was not interested in dreamless sleep.
So he tossed and turned at night his dreams taunting and tormenting him. It was his fault, he was sure. If he had done something different, said something different, somewhere along the way Vivian would have been spared and his life would have continued to have meaning. In dreaming he dreamed a thousand different ways it could have come out correctly and the very thought tormented him even more.
The door to his room opened and closed quietly yet abruptly.
He instantly jumped in his bed searching for his blow gun.
A figure in cream colored robes entered his room and he relaxed. He watched the figure draw back its hood and recognized Lucil.
“Lucil,” he said. “You scared me. If I was just a fraction of my former self I would have turned you into a pin cushion with my darts.”
“That’s what I am here for,” she said. “We’re going to get your former self back.”
She pulled off her heavy robes and they fell to the ground.
She wore gossamer silk below that left very little to the imagination. Through the diaphanous fabric Nate could see her navel, her nipples and her sex.
He had not seen her in this light. The robes had hid her sensual curves. Her nature had seemed so puritan and so business like.
“I’m not going to replace what you’ve lost and I’m not going to be your future,” she said frankly. “I just know you could really use a friend right now.”
She spoke some magic and some links of light formed around her wrists and ankles. They pulled apart lifting her off the ground.
“I’m yours to do with as you please,” she said simply. “The light shackles are binding me. They will last an hour even without me concentrating on them.”
“And if I choose to do nothing?” Nate asked.
“I don’t think you will,” Lucil said her eyes flashing provocatively. “I’m extremely ticklish. Just thinking about it makes me feel butterflies in my stomach.”
Nate drew near. He felt his pulse race. He had not tickled anyone in years. Lucil’s ticklish body hung suspended in front of him. Her faint perfume he had never noticed before entrapped him. Curiosity gripped him. How was her laugh? How would she react?
He gingerly traced his fingers against her sides and he felt her jump as she screamed out in laughter. She really was extremely ticklish. He felt his blood and his adrenaline race through his body. He tickled her savagely digging into her ribs and then reaching down to her pretty bare feet that seemed to call out for him to tickle her.
Her screaming and desperate laughter was like listening to a favorite song after many years. The song was familiar and he knew just how to play the instrument. He tickled her relentlessly until the thin fabric of her clothes stuck to her body which glistened in sweet perspiration. He did not push her over the edge. He simply kept her laughing continuously with steady technique.
The light of the shackles faded and she pulled away from his fingers.
“Nice,” he said smiling widely. “That was very nice.”
“Yes it was. But now it’s my turn,” Lucil said.
“You didn’t say...” Nate said.
“You didn’t ask,” she said with authority. “Now, hold your hands out.”
Nate was lightheaded anyway and he obeyed without protest. He felt light shackles get placed on his wrists and ankles. They stretched him out, his arms above his head. Lucil laid him out flat in front of her so she could have easy access to his entire body.
She was savage and she had him laughing instantly as she attacked his armpits. Her serious nature was replaced with a wild one as she growled and purred as she attacked him. His ribs, his hard belly, his feet. She attacked him relentlessly.
She reached in between his legs and up his thighs and tickled him through his light sleeping garments. He was fully aroused but she did not seemed encouraged or discouraged by that fact.
She did not push him over the edge either. She tickled him playfully. Not like a torturer or a seductress, but like a friend eager to hear one laugh no matter what it takes to get that laughter out.
She continued for the better part of the hour careful to explore his entire body and laughing with glee as she covered all his spots.
He was thoroughly exhausted by the end.
It had been too long since he had been tickled properly.
“Thank you,” Nate said laying on his back on the bed tired but feeling better than he had in many years. “I really needed that.”
She said nothing for a moment. Then, having made up her mind, she pulled her silken garment over her head leaving her beautiful body naked. Her intense gaze suggested she was not finished.
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
“I’m the one in charge here,” she said again taking the reins undressing him while he remained in a dazed state of lust and confusion. “I’ll decide what you need. I’m a very good friend who’s going to bring you back from where ever it is you are hiding.”
She was beautiful and she was real. Her naked and ticklish body climbed over his but made no contact yet.
“I won’t force you, Nate,” she said looking down on him. “You just have to nod once. No need for words.”
He nodded once and she smiled.
She straddled him and pulled his member up. She looked him in the eyes as she slipped down on him.
“Come back, Nate,” she said as she began to move up and down on him.
Nate closed his eyes and felt more alive than he had in years.
* * * * *
The next morning, Nate was a in a better mood. Lucil had left during the night. When he could not say. He cursed himself for being such a deep sleeper.
He enjoyed his evening with Lucil. It had sort of jump started his life again. He had made a promise to Vivian and wherever she was, he was going to track her even if it took the rest of his life. Of that he was certain and he felt his priorities were back in order.
He stepped out of his quarters and sat down for breakfast. Lucil sat down opposite him.
He didn’t want to be misleading with Lucil. She had worked hard to help free him. And then she had been bold and daring, but successful in shaking him free of his lethargy. It was only fair to be honest with her.
“I still love Vivian,” Nate said to Lucil. “She might be dead, but I have to be sure. I---”
Lucil put a finger on his lips silencing him.
“I know, silly,” she scolded. “You’ve been so low lately, you needed someone to remind you that there is still hope out there no matter how bad things look. I’m glad I could be that someone. Plain and simple. No strings attached.”
Nate nodded gratefully.
“I want to track down Vivian,” he said. “Can you help me?”
“I can’t tell you where she is,” Lucil said. “But I can tell you who would know.”
“Who?”
“Queen Ammé of the Fae,” Lucil replied. “She is under obligation to send all Manlings back to their world. She possesses sight that sees through all worlds. If anyone can find her, it is her and her alone.”
“I’ll study up more on the Fae,” Nate said. “And I’ll get ready.”
“Any information you need, I’ll provide,” Lucil said.
“And what would you need in return?” Nate asked.
Lucil winked. “I’ll let you know tonight.”
* * * * *
Lucil was true to her promise.
She brought books and notes concerning the Fae and Nate spent his days devouring them. His nights he spent with Lucil and her visits were most welcome. They would always tickle each other but they never made love again. It was not necessary. They spent their time telling stories and enjoying each other’s company.
Weeks and months went by and finally Nate felt ready to go before the Queen of the Fae.
“We’re going to miss you,” Patrisa said as she gave Nate a big hug. “That notch was well earned on your blow gun. Not many can say that.”
Nate smiled. He handed over his blow gun and darts.
“Finish the notches on this blowgun, please,” he asked Patrisa.
She smiled and received the weapon.
“It will be an honor,” Patrisa said.
“Lucil,” Nate said turning to the Lioness Animus. “I can’t repay you for having helped me.”
“Your friendship was payment enough,” Lucil said. “Your Vivian is a lucky woman. I wish you success in your quest and should you fail, that you have the courage to live on no matter what.”
“I’m not going to fail,” he said giving Lucil a big hug.
“Queen Ammé will not be so cooperative,” Patrisa mentioned. “Even with an order from the Council. Your preparations are meager at best. You are going to deal with one of the most powerful and manipulative of the Realms Lords.”
“I’ve prepared as much as I can,” Nate said. “I’m going to have to trust my instinct and my intuition.”
“Then I am sure you’ll be okay,” Patrisa said smiling.
A small blue light approached.
“Your escort has arrived,” Patrisa said as a small diminutive pixie approached.
“Indigo!” Patrisa called. “It really has been too long.”
“It’s not Indigo anymore,” the Pixie answered. He bore helmet and spear and a badge of authority. “It’s Cerulean. I’ve been named leader of the Blue Squadron of the new Rainbow Company.”
“The name and the post both do you justice,” Patrisa said smiling. “You’ll be taking my good friend Nate to Queen Ammé. Make sure she treats him well.”
“I can guarantee his safety until the court of the Queen of the Fae,” Indigo said, “but I cannot respond for how the Queen will behave. She becomes more like old Queen Melca every day.”
“Just get me there,” Nate said. “I think I can handle Queen Ammé.”
The three looked back at Nate with smiles on their faces, but Nate could tell their confidence was not matched by the smiles on their faces.
Maybe he was about to once again bite off more than he could chew.
* * * * *
Indigo was an excellent travel companion. He was quick to joke and tell an entertaining story, but he kept a steady pace taking many short cuts Nate would not have imagined.
“So what are you going to ask of Queen Ammé?” the blue Pixie asked as they entered the Garden of Delights.
“I want to ask her to find my lost lover Vivian,” Nate explained. “And that she send me there. That’s not a tall order, is it?”
“Nothing that Queen Ammé couldn’t do, I’m sure,” Indigo said a small frown betraying his otherwise cheerful demeanor.
“But you don’t think she’ll do it, do you?” Nate asked.
“It’s not my place to say what she will or will not do,” Indigo said. “However my Queen is fickle at best.”
“And at worst?” Nate asked.
“Let’s just hope you don’t have opportunity to find out,” Indigo said grimly.
* * * * *
Queen Ammé sat in her court on a wide bench.
She was surrounded by Realmswalkers who wore loins cloths and thin gossamer garments. They seemed to be servants, but if they were their only service was to love their mistress. There were Animus, Elfings and even a couple Manlings which made Nate wonder if he really was wise what he planned.
“Queen Ammé,” Indigo said. “I present you a ward of Lady Patrisa of the Academy. A Manling by the name of Nate, also know as Nathan, also known as the Hound.”
Queen Ammé was Queen of the Fae. She was a Nymph. He body was beautiful and covered with gossamer robes that left little to the imagination. She had beautiful brown hair and penetrating light blue eyes. On her forehead was a large all seeing eye.
Her beauty was different than that of the Lady of the Morning Dew. The Lady’s beauty was terrible perfect beauty while this was more sensual and alluring. They were great contrasts but equally dangerous, Nate was certain. To fail, would be to at her feet serving her and loving her.
Would that be so bad? he thought to himself. To love and have no other worry in the world?
He realized that was the Glamour speaking. It was the powerful magic that naturally emanated from the Queen of the Fae. He was ill prepared for this he knew, but she was his only chance.
“Lady Patrisa requests you send the Hound to where he wishes,” Indigo said. “She asks this as a personal favor.”
“If it is personal, why does she not come and ask for the favor herself?” Queen Ammé asked.
“Last time you tried to undo the magic of her armor and charm her,” Indigo explained awkwardly. “She kind of took that a bit personally.”
“Is she still sore about that?” the Queen said waving away the issue with a graceful hand. “It was simply a challenge, I meant nothing by it. Did she believe I would have her, the Tickle Scourge and Mistress of the Academy, at my toes worshiping me and complying to my every whim?”
“I do believe so, my Queen,” Indigo said lowering his head as if expecting a blow.
The Queen shrugged and moved on.
“Where does she want me to send you, Tenderfoot?” Queen Ammé asked Nate.
“If what I hear is true, you are always watching with your third eye,” Nate explained. “If so, then you know what I want.”
“I can see present past and future, aye,” Queen Ammé said. “I cannot see everything, but your presence here makes it easy.”
“And so?” Nate asked.
“You wish me to find your lost lover and the send you there,” Queen Ammé said plainly.
“Will you do so?” Nate asked hopefully.
“Certainly not,” she said frowning. Even with a pout on her face she was beautiful. “I’m not a crystal ball or oracle to be consulted by every sorry Realmswalker who loses something.That is not the agreement with the Council or with the Scourge. I am to send Manlings brought to this world back to their own world.”
“You can send me to the world where Vivian is,” Nate stated.
“And why would I?” she asked her three eyes narrowing. “I am not a ‘Travel Agent’ as you Manlings would call it.”
“I think you enjoy a challenge,” Nate said. “I think we are much alike. I search for things too. And finding them is quite a feeling. The harder the challenge the better.”
“I have not agreed,” Ammé stated after some thought. She closed her eyes and her third eye, at the center of her forehead glowed intensely.
“I’ve seen your precious Vivian,” Ammé said smiling opening her eyes.
“Where is she? I won’t go until you send me to where Vivian is,” Nate demanded.
“I am obliged to send you back through the portal to your world. I will do nothing more,” she said.
“I insist,” Nate said.
He felt Ammé’s anger flare for only a fraction of a second. Then she instantly back to her normal self which terrorized Nate.
He felt her Glamour flare angrily at him tempting him and tauting him.
“I’ll send you back to your world as accorded with the Council, but I’ll play with you a while,” she said.
Nate could feel the urge to race to her feet and worship her. He could see her perfect toes beckoning him on. But he resisted.
“What is this?” Ammé said her three eyes narrowing on Nate. “You’ve set up a series of enchantments to resist my magic!”
She was more surprised than angry.
It took all of Nate’s will to resist Ammé’s call. If it were not for the enchantments he and Lucil put in place, he would not be able resist.
“They won’t stop me,” Ammé said. “You feel your defenses crumbling even as we speak. It must have taken you months to prepare those enchantments. I will undo them in moments. It is not even a challenge. Come, kiss my toes and seal your fate.”
She held out her bare toes for him to see and he felt a wave of lust crash over him. The enchantments faded and Nate was alone his willpower against Ammé’s Glamour.
He fell to his knees and approached Ammé who conveniently dangled her foot in his line of sight.
“One kiss on my toes,” Ammé said. “That is all it takes. Then you will forget that woman forever.”
At that thought Nate paused. The foot was but mere inches from his face and his body and mind screamed for him to kiss and worship such a perfect and beautiful foot.
“No,” he muttered, “feeling his body go tense. I want to go to where Vivian is.”
Ammé burned with anger.
“Do not doubt me, Tenderfoot,” Ammé said furiously. “I could have you groveling at my feet in a moment. You would be a slave in my court if I have to defy the Council myself. But that would not be cruel enough. Cruelty is my specialty.”
She stood up and she cast a spell opening a portal.
Nate could see through the portal his own sleeping form in his own world.
“Go to your world, Tenderfoot,” she commanded.
“No,” Nate said. “You must send me to Vivian’s world.”
“I said I was cruel,” Ammé said. “Return to your world and know this, there is no way for you to return and there is no way to rescue your precious Vivian.”
Nate began to protest but two Dyrads appeared from behind and they dragged him to the portal. Their slim and delicate arms had a grip or iron and he was powerless to stop them.
“I’ll stay, I’ll serve,” he shouted. “I’ll do anything! But you must send me to Vivian!”
The Dryads pushed him through like old refuge and the portal sealed behind him.
“Was that necessary?” Indigo asked shocked.
“He really loves that woman,” Ammé said. “To keep him here, I’d never really have him. Not body and soul as it should be. To send him to another world would give him hope to somehow find his lover. No, sending him home is the greatest cruelty all for he will lose hope. And that is the best sort of cruelty.”
“You are truly cruel, Queen Ammé,” Indigo said bowing deeply and feeling despair.
“Even cruelty bears justice sometimes, Cerulean,” Queen Ammé said.
“What do you mean?” the Pixie asked.
“Tell the Scourge that the fool Tenderfoot got all that he wanted,” she said.
“But that is not true,” Indigo said.
“Truth and Lie, they are like night and day,” she said. “Tis twilight and it is neither one nor the other. Deliver my message as such and let us leave it at that.”
Indigo bowed and obeyed.
* * * * *
Life started again in the real world for Nate.
He went back to classes, back to football.
He was a little melancholic from time to time but he tried to embrace his life again as Lucil had been insistent he do no matter what.
Some things would never be the same though.
He was no longer ticklish prey anymore, for one thing.
The cheerleader squad had a rude awakening. Their tickling attacks on Nate were always thwarted now. He’d always see them creeping behind them, he’d always know how to dodge tickling fingers. And at every opportunity he got back at them with vengeance. Cheerleaders who swore they were not ticklish would suddenly be laughing helplessly underneath his tickling fingers. He just seemed to know how to do it right.
This he enjoyed.
From time to time, he’d let someone tickle him. It wasn’t so bad anymore. He took it with good humor and when he let someone tickle him he was sure to dish out more than they gave.
He didn’t date much. Didn’t go much to parties either. He felt bad that he had failed to find Vivian. Guilty that he had failed her. That guilt did not fade away with time as he had hoped.
A friend dragged him one day to a night club trying to cheer him up.
Nate sat around listening to the music and not too interested in anything. He passed that time at the bar with a drink hoping he’d get through the night quickly and get back to his bead early.
Then he saw her.
She was beautiful. She had the same face he remembered.
It could be no one else.
He immediately left his place at the bar and walked up to the table where the woman was. She was surrounded by men who all seemed entranced by her.
“Hello, do I know you?” he asked her boldly.
“That’s a lousy pick up line, buddy,” one of the men said stepping in between blocking his view.
“Do you know this guy?” one of the other men asked the woman.
“Never seen him before,” she said smiling with her eyes.
The men pushed him away and he eventually returned to his place at the bar.
“Who is that?” his friend asked sitting next to him on the bar. “She’s hot.”
“No one,” Nate said curtly. “Looked like someone I used to know.”
“Well I’m going to try my luck with the two ladies at the end of the bar,” his friend said. “Care to join me?”
Nate waved him away. He could not take his eyes off of the the woman. She was the spitting image of the Lady of the Morning Dew. Her face and her hair was the same. She did not have the Elfling ears or the dark pupil-less eyes. He had seen her face twice. Once when he had her on the rings and a second time when she turned him to stone. There could be no doubt. That was the Lady of the Morning Dew.
He watched her go to the restroom with and he watched the men at her table. They were all entranced with her. She would leave with whoever she chose and leave the rest heart broken.
Nate had no idea of what to do. But he could not let her get away. He would follow her. He would some how find the way to speak to her.
The Lady left the restroom and headed back to her table without so much as a glance at Nate.
A young blond woman sat next to him at the bar.
“Your friend asked me to give you this,” she said handing him a note.
He opened it hastily and read it in the poor light.
MEET ME TOMORROW 10AM AT CAFE 6TH AND LINCOLN AVE. DON’T BE LATE!
She nodded ever so slightly and looked at him meaningfully as she collected her purse and walked out with a young and rich looking man who escorted her out.
“Some girls have all the luck,” the blond woman said watching the woman leave with the handsome young man. “Better luck next time, huh?”
Nate smiled as he stood up and left the bar. His luck was about to change.
* * * * *
Nate could not sleep a wink all night. If that was the Lady of the Morning Dew, was it possible Vivian was here as well?
He was early at the café and there she was sitting at the table.
“You’re early, Nate,” she said sipping a cup of coffee as she scanned a magazine.
“Better than late,” Nate said.
The woman shrugged.
“Desiree is my name. It was my name in the Realms and it conveniently is my name here. You can call me D.”
“You know my name,” Nate said. “Why didn’t you speak with me last night?”
“Didn’t know if you would go crazy on me,” she said. “You know well that this world and the Realms are two very different places. ‘Tracking’ is called stalking here. ‘Tickling against a person’s will’ is called sexual harassment or dare I even say sexual assault.”
“Ok. Fair enough. How did you get here?” Nate asked.
Desiree shrugged.
“I don’t know. I woke up as a person with memories of this world. Real tangible memories. Things like having a family. Going to school. Having friends. But what was different was that I remembered my life in the Realms. I remembered everything. It was a little difficult adjusting to this world at first. I was a bit of Tenderfoot for a while, I must admit. My passion for tickling still runs strong, but I’ve found ways to adapt. Life is good here. I am the center of any circle. The men worship me and the women despise me. I enjoy it much more than my world. In the end you did me a big favor that worked out for the best. Who would have figured?”
“Where is Vivian? She must have gone through with you,” Nate asked.
“I do not know. I have not seen anyone like her here,” she said. “You are the first Realmswalker I’ve seen here, although I doubt you are the only one.”
“Vivian must be around somewhere,” Nate said furrowing his brow in concentration.
“Maybe. You are the Stalker, I mean Tracker,” she teased.
“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” Nate said. “My tracking abilities are still good for finding a lost paper or someone’s keys. Not as powerful as in the Realms where I could follow a scent for miles.”
“Not as powerful, but still there,” she said. “Be warned, Hound. She might not want to see you anymore. She might be totally adapted to this world or maybe her host here is stronger than her Realms personality. I don’t know.”
“First things first,” he said. “I have to find her.”
“Well, that is your business and I wish you luck,” she said opening a purse and leaving a bill for her coffee and tip. “I don’t want to see you anymore. The less I have to do with my old life, the better.”
“I understand,” Nate said.
“I have a gift for you though. A parting gift,” she said rummaging through her purse. “It is a stone. A simple stone. I found it one day on the beach. It reminds me of the tracking sphere. The one I had when I sent you to be tracked by the mercenary Shade.”
She handed it over to Nate.
“It has no magical properties. I doesn’t glow. It might just be a piece of tainted glass. But then again. I could be wrong. If I wanted it to track the brand on Vivian’s foot I would hold it in my hand and concentrate on the name of person I wanted to track.”
She gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead.
“Farewell, Hound. It was a pleasure meeting you here. Have a good life. I know I will,” she said as she left him to his thoughts.
* * * * *
Nate repeated Vivian’s name over and over again making it a mantra as he took the stone with him virtually everywhere.
There was something special about the stone, but so far he could not tell what it was.
The only thing we was certain about was that it did not work.
Despair starting to settle in again but then he stopped himself.
Vivian was a around somewhere. There was hope.
That would have to be enough.
For now.
* * * * *
Some weeks later Nate had attended a lake side barbecue with some friends.
He sat on a pier and gently massaged the stone D had given him thinking of Vivian.
He found it comforting. Even more when he mentioned Vivian’s name under his breath.
More people were coming to the barbecue but he wasn’t so interested in being in the crowd. He thought maybe he take a swim, get something to eat and then head home.
A couple friends sat next to him and saw him pensive with the stone.
“What’s this, Nate?” one of them said plucking the stone out of his grasp.
Nate immediately jumped on his friend while he deftly tossed the stone to his other buddy.
“Nice stone,” his friend said examining it. “Good for skipping.” He threw it on the lake with a flick of his wrist and Nate counted seven bounces before the stone sank.
“What did you do that for?” Nathan said irritated but not overly angry. He was still a good enough tracker to be certain he could get it back.
“Does it matter?” his buddy said. “We all know you’re going to dive in a somehow you’re going to find it. I’ll bet a couple of frosty ones you can’t do it in ten minutes.”
“You’re on,” Nate said standing up and pulling off his t-shirt. “You hold on to this,” he said shoving it into the arms of the friend who called the bet. “You take the time,” he asked the other friend who had a watch.
Nate had his own watch, but he wanted them to watch their own time as he went down after the stone.
“Ten minutes, on the pier,” the first friend called.
“Got it,” Nate said clicking his watch to set up the countdown. “Ready, set, time!”
Nate dived into the cold water. It was a shock to his system, but Nate welcomed the contrast of temperatures.
This was a challenge he welcomed. The rules were simple, the battlefield drawn and laid out, and the prize was never in doubt.
How so unlike his quest to find Vivian.
The water was dark and murky. It was going be tough to find it and get back to the pier in time, but he figured he could feel his way to the stone.
He came up three times with nothing.
He could hear the shouts and the jeers from the pier but he did not look back.
He just had to trust his intuition.
Suddenly he saw a flash. The stone was there and it was glowing. He almost let go of the air in his lungs as he saw it happen. It could not be so. It simply was not possible.
But nonetheless it was glowing. He grasped the stone in his hand and headed back to the surface.
He gasped for air and he surfaced and he wiped his eyes quickly to examine the stone. It was not glowing. Was it possible, or had he imagined it?
“Thirty seconds!” he heard his friends call from the pier.
He turned and swam in the direction on the pier, he approached and he suddenly felt the stone grow warm in his hand.
“I’m here!” he said grasping the ladder to climb onto the pier.
There, he saw a pair of legs dangling over the edge of the pier with the feet near his face. Those feet he recognized. He looked up at who they belonged to and he was speechless.
“Five, four, three, two, one... you’re out!” his friends chanted. They went on their way cavorting and otherwise enjoying themselves at Nate’s expense. “Gonna get something eat. See you later, buddy,” they said as they walked away.
“Never seen a pair of bare feet before?” the woman asked. She had short reddish brown hair and wore sun glasses. Her voice was the same. No doubt. “Or do you have a thing for feet?” she asked raising an eyebrow and flexing her beautiful toes in his direction.
“No, I mean yes,” Nate stammered feeling his face flush and feeling the stone warm in his hand. “Well, sort of. I mean, I like feet, but that’s not why I was staring.”
“I’m rather proud of my feet,” she said stretching them out and examining them as she smiled at him.
Nate melted away. He missed that smile.
“At least you’re honest,” she said. “Then why were you staring? You could have won that bet hands down. I’m impressed. I don’t think I could have found that stone myself. And certainly not in 10 minutes.”
Nate pulled himself out of the water and sat down next to her.
“How’s the water?” she asked.
“Cold,” Nate answered but he himself felt no cold at all.
“I have towel if you’re interested,” she said offering it to him.
Nate took the towel and dried himself off.
“Can I see it?” she asked. “The stone?”
Nate nodded and opened his palm. It glowed but because of the sun. It felt warm because his palms were warm and he had held it tight inside his fist.
She took the stone and held it in her hand.
“It seems familiar,” she said examining the stone. ”What’s your name?” she asked.
“Nate,” he said. “And your name?”
“Viviana,” she said.
Nate nodded and smiled. There was no doubt.
“Nate,” she said tasting the name on her lips. “I kind of recall having known a Nate.”
“I kind of recall having known a Viviana without the ‘a’,” Nate said.
“Well now I know a Nate for sure,” she said holding out her hand for him to shake.
Nate took her hand and he felt electricity surge through her into his body.
“Nate,” she said suddenly as a flood of memories came back to her. “The Hound?”
Nate nodded feeling relief flood his being.
“And you are the Vixen,” he said. “I promised you I’d follow you until the end of the world and beyond.”
“It is all coming back to me now,” she said as recognition hit her like a tidal wave. “You came for me...”
“The way back was rocky, baby,” he said standing and bringing her to her feet. He pulled away her glasses and looked into those big brown eyes he had lost himself in so many times before. “And I nearly gave up many a time, but I finally found you.”
They embraced and Nate felt peace finally settle into his heart.
“You know things are different here,” she said brushing away some tears as they walked out on the pier to watch the sun slowly set. “Tickling does not govern everyday activities. There are no Realmswalkers and Realmslords. The days of tickling your adversaries senseless are done, I’m afraid.”
“I know,” he said. “Don’t worry about it though. I am pretty much adapted to this world. I have lived here all my life. In any case, I should preach to you.... Tenderfoot.”
Viviana laughed. Her rich and perfect laugh.
Hearing that laughter again cast away any doubts they would not adapt to this world as he had to hers.
Nate was now certain.
Everything was going to be all right.
The End
