A short story which concluded the Magic Island story contest over at Fans of Grand Illusion.

A slow, menacing beating on skin drums broke the silence as an eerie red light lifted the dark clearing in the jungle to an ominous gloom.

A flash of white light and a crack of thunder revealed two men dressed only loincloths entering the clearing. Their heavily muscled arms rippled as they dragged Allie into the light. She was resisting, dragging her feet through the mud and leaves of the jungle floor and twisting and pulling. Her pale skin shimmered, her black bikini and strawberry blonde hair seemed soaked through.

As her captors neared the centre of the clearing Allie’s pleading  could be heard between the beating of the drums. She looked terrified.  Finally they reached their destination. A roughly carved wooden idol about the size of a person. It looked a little like a russian doll toy and was painted in gaudy reds and golds.

Allie looked at the device wide eyed. Her heart was pounding. She opened her mouth to plead but was too overwhelmed to even form a sentence. As one of her captors opened the strange object Allie’s cries became louder. The back part of the idol was hollowed out in the shape of a human figure. Rough ropes hang down, presumably waiting to secure the person unlucky enough to be destined to be placed inside. But what Allie could not tear her eyes away from was the other part of the box. As the front swung open the dim light revealed it was lined with dozens of sharp wooden spikes!

Allie guessed she had always knows that playing with so much magic, so much pleasure, would have a price to pay at some point. But never in her wildest dreams did she imagine something so final, so elemental.

Allie didn't have time to contemplate either the spikes or her fate for long. Strong hands grabbed her under the arms and she was part lifted and part dragged towards the wooden tomb. Her captors wasted no time in shoving her back into the clutches of their fiendish contraption. One length of the coarse rope secured her ankles together and  a second her thighs holding her tightly in place. Rough hands posed her arms across her belly just below her small breasts and more rope held each wrist in place.

As the final rope was tightened around her neck Allie was totally helpless, not that there had been any hope of escape anyway. Her fate was sealed and the gods would be sated. She fell silent at last, wide eyes drawn inexorably to the array of wooden spikes. She imagined perhaps that she would be asked if she had any last words. Or there would be some mystical chanting, an invocation of the powers that were about to claim her. She even dared hope for just a second that she would be given a draft of some sort of mystical potion to send her on her way in an ecstatic stupor. Instead her captors simply bent their bulging biceps to the door and the box began to close,

Allie squirmed and tugged but she knew the rope was too tight, too strong before she even tried. The spikes drew ever closer. Her heat was trying to leap from her chest now, her breathing ragged. Each point a demon looking right at her, into her soul

 She felt the first tip meet her soft helpless flesh as it reached the pillowy bulge of her right breast. She whimpered, all thought of resistance now over and the wooden stake sank effortlessly into her.

More stakes inevitably found their target as the door swung relentlessly closed. Breasts, hips, face, then she lost all track as her tomb closed in on her. An overwhelming flood of sensation over taking every inch of her body The door swung shut and the final beam of light was extinguished.

It took a final heave from glistening muscles to totally close the door, which settled in place with a damped click. But their work was not yet done. The beat of the drums changed and more of the near naked acolytes appeared and helped pull the sarcophagus to the back of the clearing. Mounted on a frame of rough cut tree trucks a massive crucible emitted an eerie red glow, accompanied by ominous hissing.

On an unseen signal the crucible began to tip, slowly, until an insistent stream of glowing molten metal poured down onto the top of Allie’s resting place. As the metal reached it there was a shower of sparks and flame, but the metal continued to pour down until the whole site was wreathed in smoke and ash.

Later that day the first worshippers filed solemnly into the stone temple through. There were gasps of awe as they entered. There framed in a shaft of light from a hole in the roof high above was a gleaming golden statue of the most beautiful women they had ever seen. Tall, slender and wearing a blissful expression.

                                       – — —- —- —- —-





“Allie … Allie ? “

Allie woke with a start. She found she couldn’t move much then remembered where she was and took a deep breath.

“I know you said you were comfortable being sawn in two but I can’t beleive you managed a nap! “

Allie smiled and wriggled her hands nonchalantly. The photographer’s assistant was kinda hot and Allie was rather liking the idea of giving er the chance to try out the box later.

“Anyway the photographer has got the lighting sorted so is it ok if I wheel you back over there now?”

Allie smiled and nodded “Of course” though in the back of her mind she felt she had had the strangest dream….