Rescue

(Talisman part VI, as well as a continuation of “Gifts of the Magi”)

by D. Monster

“I…uh…”

This was all that Clea could manage as Prita moved quickly around the room, gathering clothing, amulets, and other items and dropping them into a steadily growing pile in the center of the room.

“Where is the…” Prita began to ask, then stopped when she spotted what she was looking for. She leaned over, picked up the magical dildo that Clea had just been using and added it to the pile. Then she turned to Clea. “Time to go!”

Clea, still a bit disoriented by her recent experiences, could only stare at her stupidly.

“Where?” she asked.

“Dear, the less you know, the better this will work.” Prita was fiddling with the large red cloth.

Clea thought about Kate and Lloyd, still nestled inside her. After his orgasm, Lloyd must have gone flaccid, as Clea could no longer feel a bulge in her abdomen. “What about….”

“Lloyd and Katie?” Prita asked. “Oh, they’re coming too. Best they stay right where they are for the moment, though – we have to travel light.” With that, she whipped the red cloth aside, revealing the Shrinker box, once again in its 3’-square metastable state. She fiddled with the dial a little and popped open the top of the box.

“Do you trust me?” she asked the still-befuddled Clea.

She truly did, so there was no hesitation in her reply. “Yes.”

“Into the box then.”

Clea, still completely naked, stepped into the jittery box. She smiled wanly – usually the boxes she was asked to climb into were considerably smaller than this one. Prita gathered up the pile of knick-knacks she had assembled and handed them to her. Clea ducked down and Prita closed the door.

Clea lay huddled in the dark, a large bundle in her arms and two abbreviated friends nestled within her. After a moment, she felt what seemed like an abrupt change in air pressure. Then, vertigo as the box was lifted high into the air.

***

Prita examined the box, now less than half an inch long on each side. Satisfied that all was well, she waved her hand. The box disappeared, moved by sleight-of-hand to a safe place deep within the voluminous silks she wore. Then she turned on her heel and quickly exited the room.

***

“I’m bored!”

Winnie rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. If Crystal started whining again, she thought, she was going to have to smack her. If she could have, she would have locked that busty blonde bimbo in one the illusion cabinets for the afternoon. But she couldn’t do that because the equipment wasn’t here. Joe’s accident had seen to that. Now granted, she was overjoyed that he wasn’t more seriously injured, but that did nothing to content her with her own position at the moment.

“I’m bored!” Crystal repeated.

“Cope!” Winnie snarled.

“Don’t be bitch, Winnie.” said Nancy. She and Janice were chatting quietly in the corner, worried expressions on their faces.

“Why shouldn’t I? We’re stuck here. Given a choice, I’d be out on the town right now, shopping. Hey I might even go buy Joe, the Mighty-Mandragorum-Can’t-Drive-For-Shit, a Get Well Soon card. But no, helpful little Nina and Mr. Dickbrain the theatre manager say we have to stay here. Why the fuck should we? We’re a goddamn magic show with no fucking magician!”

“Language!” chided Janice.

“Oh, you shut up. How can someone who makes a living in fetish gear be such a goddamn prude?”

Janice turned bright red and went quiet.

Crystal, no longer bored, chimed in happily. “It’s in our contract!”

“Would you shut the bloody fu….”

There was the sound of the door opening behind her and she whirled around, ready to spill her wrath onto Nina or the theatre manager, only to come face to face with a petite Indian woman in gauzy, flowing robes.

“Hello,” she said, her voice like a tuned wind chime.

“Who the fuck are you?”

The woman smiled mildly. “I’m Prita, one of the new assistants.”

“New assistants?” Winnie was yelling again. “We weren’t told about any goddamn new assistants!”

Prita put her finger to her lips. “Shhhhhh.”

Winnie fell suddenly silent.

“Wow!” cried Crystal. “How did you do that? She never listens to….” She couldn’t finish however, as Prita had waved her hand and all three of the remaining women had joined Winnie in silence.

“Thank you ladies,” said Prita, smiling. “I’ll have some instructions for you later, but for now, I’d like you to sleep.”

All four nodded and, after finding chairs or other soft surfaces on which to deposit themselves, were fast asleep.

“Thank you.”

After assessing the Klub Xtreme rehearsal room for a moment, Prita went to work.

***

Clea found herself as she had been before, standing bewildered and naked in the middle of a large room. Only the room had changed. That and there were four beautiful women snoring in the middle of it.

Prita had just finished reshrinking the magic box to its one-inch size and turned to Clea. “Let’s get Lloyd and Katie.”

It took a couple of seconds for Clea to register what this meant for her. Then she nodded comprehension and sat down. Unselfconsciously spreading her legs, Clea began to probe her vagina. Thinking about Lloyd’s phallic body still lodged deep within her caused her to moisten, allowing her to insert her entire hand inside. Lloyd and Kate’s continued presence inside had maintained the magic that had allowed them to be inserted so deep. With a little searching, Clea eventually found Lloyd. Gripping him carefully, she pulled.

Lloyd’s penis flopped onto the floor with a quiet thump. He was flaccid now, lying in puddle of Clea’s juices, but Kate’s translucent form was still wrapped tightly around him. Prita reached down and picked them up. She pinched Kate’s tip and carefully slid her off of her husband. Gingerly holding the living condom so as not to spill the contents upon herself, she handed the disembodied penis to Clea.

“I’ll take care of Katie…you restore Lloyd.”

Clea stared bemusedly at the warm tube of flesh she held in her hand. “How?” she asked.

“Simple,” replied Prita with a wry grin. “It’s like making a wish on your birthday candles…just close your eyes and blow.”

And so Clea did. She got down on her knees and slid Lloyd into her mouth. Then she began to blow. With each puff, she felt the flesh in her hand grow heavier. And stiffer, as it turned out. But she continued to blow, keeping her eyes closed tight. Then, suddenly, there was a grunt from above her and the organ in her mouth spasmed, releasing its load again.

Then it was pulled quickly from her mouth as a surprised voice above her exclaimed, “Oh no!”

Clea opened her eyes and looked up, seeing a red-faced, horrified Lloyd staring down at her. He began to stammer incoherently. Then another voice spoke.

“It’s okay, dear. It’s what I wanted.”

They both looked over. Prita had just opened the lid on the newly re-expanded trunk and Kate, naked and slick-skinned, was climbing out with a smile on her face. She accepted a towel from Prita and walked over to Lloyd and put her arms around him.

“But…” Lloyd began.

“Don’t worry. It was my idea. Though I’m a little confused as to why, if you went through with it, you’re so upset now...”

“Well…” began Lloyd, though he was quickly interrupted by Prita, who began to speak briskly.

“I’m sure that all of you will be able to work this out later. Right now we have more pressing needs. Put these on.” She tossed a pile of clothing on the floor and continued to speak while they dressed. “Here’s the story. While all of you were enjoying yourself, I felt a cry for help. Or rather, the echo of one. Something bad is going to happen here this evening and while we may not do anything to prevent it we can certainly do something to prevent it from becoming a disaster. Lloyd.”

He finished buttoning his trousers and looked up.

“Lloyd, you have the hardest job. Do you think you’re ready to take down Grimnar?”

Lloyd’s eyes widened. “Grimnar? Wow. Is he finally going to collect something too valuable for us to let him keep? Sure I’m ready. Been looking to even the score with that one for a while. Did you bring my…”

An amulet was dangling from Prita’s outstretched hand. “Already thought of that,” she said, reaching into her robe, pulling out another device, and offering it to him. “And this.”

Lloyd took them both and scrutinized the second object. “So I’m following him to his place, I see.”

“And coming back.”

Lloyd smiled. “Yes.”

“I put a charm on the front door of the theatre as I came in. Anyone who walks through it in the next six hours is not going to remember a thing about what happens tonight except that they’ve had the best time they’ve ever had in their lives. I’d like you to make sure that the theatre manager goes through that door, too…and that you don’t. Take care of that and then lay low until Grimnar makes his move.”

Lloyd nodded, stole a quick kiss from his wife, and slipped out the door.

Kate turned to the four women asleep in the middle of the room. “So who’re these snoring snapdragons?”

“These are Winnie, Crystal, Nancy, and Janice, assistants to the absent Great Mandragorum. We are about to join them as more interesting entertainment for the evening is arranged.”

“Ah. And they will remember…”

“…as much as the guests will. Or rather, as little. Now if you’ll excuse me, there will be introductions soon.”

Prita snapped her fingers and the four sleeping women awoke. There was no time for anyone to say anything, however, for at that moment, the door to the room swung open.

A strikingly beautiful woman strode into the room. She wore a black corset and miniskirt that showed a great deal of her smooth, pale skin. Her black hair was short.

“Hi,” she said, setting down the large suitcase that she carried. “I’m Anna. And it’s time to do some real magic.”

***

Lloyd watched quietly, trying to stay hidden as the dark-haired woman in black left the office toting a suitcase. He was impressed, considering that two entirely different women had walked in just a few minutes before. Making sure that the manager was once again alone, he walked over to the backstage door and knocked loudly, then stole away. The manager, grumbling and scratching himself, walked out of the office and went out the door. The door clicked closed behind him.

Lloyd returned to the door and placed his amulet to the lock. There was a bright glow and a burning smell. Moments later, the manager was attempting to reopen the door and meeting with little success. Lloyd could hear him swear loudly then stump away to re-enter the building through the front entrance.

Lloyd went to find himself a new hiding spot.

***

Kate could not help but be impressed as Anna and her sister strode out of the room in search of props.

After a quick introduction, the raven-haired woman had opened the suitcase to reveal a dismembered body, which she quickly began reassembling. Soon they were introduced to Callie, who in addition to being stark naked, was as strikingly beautiful as her sister. Then Anna had withdrawn a tiny object from her cleavage and tossed it into the suitcase. She had closed the lid then opened it again.

The other assistants gasped. “Nina!” one of them exclaimed, running over to embrace the lovely and slightly dazed dark-skinned woman who emerged from the suitcase.

Then the sisters had made their excuses and left, promising to return again shortly. While the assistants began looking for their costumes, Kate went to talk to Prita.

“They….” she began, but was interrupted by Prita.

“She.”

“Huh?”

“She. That’s only one woman. She occupies two bodies and has two minds but they share essence – each is only half of what they could be…or should be.”

“Well, she’s quite beautiful. Both of her.”

“And very powerful. I’m having difficulty determining her power’s source, though. I’ll need to make a closer examination to be sure.”

“Well,” remarked Kate as Crystal handed them both some very skimpy outfits, “you’ll get a chance very soon. Where are you going?”

Prita turned back to her. “I have to tend to something.” She walked over to Nina, who was raving wide-eyed to Nancy about her recent experiences. She was nearly shaking with excitement.

“What’s up?” Clea asked.

“Prita’s taking care of a potential problem,” Kate said, continuing to watch as Prita took Nina aside, waved her hand in front of her face, and spoke quietly in her ear. “Looks like Nina’s gotten a little more of a kick out of her magical experiences than most folks do. Prita will do her best to fog her current memories – make them seem like a pleasant dream - and then give her the same treatment that the rest of them got. That should keep us from making her into a full-blown magic addict. Here,” she said, handing Clea one of the skimpiest costumes, “put this on.”

***

“You first,” said Anna, pointing at Prita. Prita stepped forward, meeting Anna’s gaze intently. Anna raised an eyebrow – the tiny Indian woman had eschewed all the available costumes, preferring to be nude. She looked over at her sister and could see that she also appreciated Prita’s boldness. Even Kate and Clea exchanged significant glances – in all the time that both of them had known her, neither had ever seen Prita without her clothing. Her body was much more muscular and her breasts larger than they had expected.

Prita approached Callie, who was also completely nude, and embraced her. Anna threw a large sheet over the two of them. A moment’s pause and the bulk under the sheet seem to diminish a little. Then Anna whipped the sheet away.

Prita had vanished.

But not really. Kate saw it first and started in surprise.

Prita was curled up under Callie’s breasts, embracing one with her arms and gently brushing the other with her legs. She was now a tattoo…a tattoo barely ten inches long.

“Holy mother of….” whispered Winnie.

Callie ran her fingers lightly over her new adornment and gave a little shiver. Then both she and Anna smiled and asked, in perfect unison, “Who’s next?”

Seven arms shot into the air.

***

Kate looked up as best she could. Being upside down was making her a little giddy, and the spasms of pleasure coursing through her body weren’t helping her concentration any. Clea looked down at her - about half of Clea’s body was now inside her. She could feel it.

Clea winked at her. The wink seemed to say:

Well, I suppose that turnabout is fair play.

***

Hey!

Clea couldn’t speak. Her light, feathery body, draped over Anna’s shoulders, did not have that ability. And she had just seen seven women, her friends Kate and Prita among them, reduced to varicolored ash onstage.

And, needless to say, she was feeling left out.

“Whoops!” exclaimed Anna, as though she had just read Clea’s thoughts. “Someone’s been left out.” Then she pulled Clea off her body and held her out.

Ahhh…was all that went through Clea’s mind as her body disintegrated.

***

When the curtain fell, Lloyd was out of his hiding place and following a dark figure as it drifted backstage. Audience and stagehands turned away from the figure as it passed and Lloyd hurried along in its wake, clutching a small magical device in his hand and fingering the amulet that hung around his neck. He hung back as the figure – Grimnar, one of the less pleasant magical practitioners Lloyd had ever encountered – confronted the dark-haired magician. He winced as she was reduced to tears and bridled as she was compressed into a playing card and swept up by Grimnar – but he kept his word to Prita and waited. Then the dark figure, having gathered itself, slipped between portions of the world and vanished. Lloyd, gripping the magical device - which was now humming – followed.

***

Prita, reduced as she was to her own disembodied genitalia, felt the forced reintegration of Callie and Anna as though it was her own. The psychic howl, whose temporal echo several hours before had drawn Prita to this place, gnawed at her. Had she had hands, she might have tried to claw out her own eyes.

She hoped that Lloyd had been able to follow the vile creature responsible.

For now though, she had to focus on her current state – she still had work to do…and would be unable to finish it until she managed to unravel this enchantment.

***

The Grimnar was very proud of its new acquisitions. It swirled them about within itself, tasting the power of the twin talismans and the fear and pain of their former wielder. This would be quite delicious, it decided. It could keep him entertained for rather a long time…that is, until the tiny mind died of terror, of course. And then it would concentrate on harnessing the new power it had….

“Ahem.”

The Grimnar, not used to being surprised…especially within its own lair, whirled around, its temper flaring.

HOW DARE YOU. INTERLOPER, YOUR DEATH WILL BE…

Lloyd rolled his eyes and raised his amulet. It flared blindingly.

“Oh just shut up, you lousy shitbag.”

The Grimnar made a little hiccoughing noise and was silent.

Lloyd opened his eyes. Where the Grimnar had stood, there was a tiny pile of ash. Scattered in that pile were several small objects. Lloyd leaned over and picked them up. Most he couldn’t identify, but the queen of diamonds he recognized. He set it on the nearby table and pocketed the other items. Then he set about a search, talking as he went.

“Hey, lady, sorry about all this, but I do have to ask what you expected to happen when you hauled that much magical power out in public like that.” He pushed a pile of artefacts out the way then continued his search. “One of the first rules of this kind of gig is that you have to keep a low profile. Otherwise you’re gonna attract creeps like…” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small, glowing orb.

“…Grimnar.”

He dropped the orb on the floor.

“Now one of the problems with folks like ol’ Grimmy here is that they take precautions. You kill ‘em and they don’t stay dead. So you have to follow them home and…”

He stomped on the fragile sphere and with a quiet pop, it shattered.

“…destroy their power centre.”

He heard a noise behind him. He turned around.

On the table behind him, where the playing card had been, lay a woman. She was naked, curled into a foetal position, sobbing raggedly.

Lloyd walked over to her and looked down at her.

“Hey lady…you okay?”

More sobs.

“Okay, obviously not. Unfortunately, we have to go. Dunno how long this place’ll stay together now that Creepazoid is kaput. So you’ll have to forgive me for this, but….”

Her reached down and, gathering her into his arms, lifted her up. Then, activating the small device he held in his hand, he stepped back into the real world, taking Callie with him.

***

Gregory Travers stood on the stage, not sure what to do. The magician had left, the curtain was closed, and he was holding his girlfriend’s – or least he thought it was his girlfriend’s – disembodied pussy in his hands. It was warm and soft and while he could probably have spent quite a long time playing with it…or was it her…he got the feeling that walking away now might mean that he’d never see the rest of his beautiful Eva again. Besides, someone had to keep an eye on them.

Them was eight other disembodied sets of labia arranged on the table, all that remained of the magician’s assistants.

Gregory wandered over toward the offstage area. Where did that magician go?

He heard a cough behind him. He turned slowly.

There, sitting on the table, was one of the assistants, whole again. She was Indian, very short, and gloriously naked. She hopped down off the table and began to speak to him, but gagged. Pausing, she coughed again then carefully spit a tiny green gem into her palm. She studied it briefly and turned back to him.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’ve done a wonderful job. We need your lovely young lady (yes, you did in fact pick the right one) for a little longer, so if you’ll take your seat, we’ll be sure that she joins you again before you leave.”

He nodded a little disconnectedly then handed Eva to the nice lady. He wandered toward the curtain and vanished into its folds. There was a smattering of confused applause as he emerged from the other side.

Prita smiled and wandered offstage, returning wrapping a sari – one that she’d deposited there on her way in - around herself. She also carried a bag. Into the bag, she began placing what clothing she could find scattered about the stage, followed by the reduced assistants who had been wearing those clothes just a few minutes before, greeting Kate and Clea by name as she dropped them in. She hoped that they were enjoying their experience.

“Hi,” said Lloyd, wandering onto stage. Prita handed him the bag. He looked into it and his eyebrows went up.

“The Grimnar?” she asked.

“Formerly known as,” he replied. She smiled.

“Good. How is Callie?”

“She’s sleeping in the practice room. I had to give her a pill. All she does is cry. Prita, she’s a basket case.”

“I know, and I regret it, but I had no choice in the matter.”

“One of these days you’re going to have to explain the why of this to me.”

“I will. Now take this.” She handed him the gem. “I trust you found something like it among the Grimnar’s effects?”

“Yeah, a couple pieces. One’s a ring.”

“Well, I suspect that that ring is the key to restoring the women in that sack. Be very careful with it, though – it has considerable power.”

Lloyd looked into the bag again. “No fucking kidding. I’ll see what I can do. So what are you going to do now?”

“Well,” said Prita with a grin. “On with the show, as they say. We rescued the girl and vanquished the villain, so now,” she said, pulling a deck of cards out of her sari, “it’s time for some card tricks.”

To be continued....