All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
The stairs circled down and down. Lady Norbana ran as fast as her overripe body would permit. It had been a long time since she'd been pregnant. She tried to remember how best to move. Her hand traced the stone wall to her right, catching herself as she stumbled more than once.
Even after the sounds of fighting and death were long behind her, she moved as quickly as she could, huffing and puffing from the effort. Sweat soaked through her undergarments. Eventually, she stopped and pulled off her armor. She dropped it to the stairs, and then continued down at a slightly faster pace.
The height of the tower was frightening. She'd been fleeing for what felt like an eternity, but when she stopped to catch her breath and look out a window, she was still just above the clouds. As she panted, cursing the magic that had brought her there, she heard a knock on the door behind her. She turned and carefully crept up to it. The thumping grew louder. Norbana put her ear to the door and heard a woman's voice calling for help.
"Shit." She looked around the deserted entryway to the floor. Was it a trap? But why have a trap there? If the person was in need of help, would it matter if she simply moved on? It wasn't like she was even supposed to be there in the first place. She took a deep breath and stepped away from the door. No one would ever know that she hadn't helped this person. It would be like it had never happened. A faint azure glow surprised Norbana, and she looked down at her shimmering hands and belly. "Shit, okay." She knew she needed to help the woman.
The glow faded as Norbana put her hands on the heavy iron bar that sealed the door from the outside. She was worried for her baby as she strained with both hands at it, but the bar gave way and her body did not. She turned the handle and opened the door. Inside, was a woman even more pregnant than she.
"Oh, thank, thank you, milady. I am Merope." Merope curtsied as best she could, given her immensely swollen belly. "Have you come to rescue me?"
"Um ... no." Norbana was happy that this woman recognized a lady when she saw one. But she wasn't thrilled at having rescued a commoner. She had hoped, truth be told, that it would have been Princess Minicia. "Is there anyone else here with you?"
"No, just me." Merope stepped around Norbana and onto the stairway. "And we shouldn't linger, Cesphea could be back any moment."
"You should use the queen regent's title, Merope," Norbana said stiffly.
"Not after the things she's done to me." Merope looked Norbana up and down and decided that the lady would be no more help. "Is the only way out to descend?" Merope held her belly through her tattered and stained stola, frowning at the curving stair.
"I think so." Norbana hadn't considered another way out. They were in a tower, after all.
"And do you know where they're holding the other prisoners?"
"You mean the Princess?" Norbana shrugged. "I'm not sure."
"No, I mean my husband." Merope took one last look at the lady. "Thank you for your help. I've got it from here." She turned and descended as fast as she could.
"Hey, wait for me." Norbana followed close on her heels.
~~
The wind whipped at Circe's copper hair as she plummeted beside the tower. She squinted her eyes. Her dragon scale armor clattered. The world was a new, wonderous place to her. But that did not mean she was naïve. Of course, she understood that if she hit the ground below, she would meet Pluto much sooner than expected. "Almost ... there." Her whole body pointed down, like a stiff arrow. One of her hands went to her belt where the coiled rope and grappling hook tugged.
Fortunately, her grandmother fell horizontal to the Earth with her arms and legs splayed. That would slow her down enough. Cassia's form disappeared into a cloud and Circe lost her. She plunged after her grandmother, pierced the clouds, and came out damp on the other side. The ground, now visible, approached at an alarming rate. Circe closed the gap to Cassia until only a few feet separated them. She made sure not to draft behind her but drop to her side. She would have warned her grandmother to ready herself, but the wind was too loud.
With one fluid motion, Circe released the end of the grappling hook and let the rope unwind toward the tower. With her other arm, she grasped Cassia around the waist. Circe glanced at the windows, judging the distance between each. She engaged the belay device and the two women arced quickly toward the tower. Satisfied with their approach, Circe turned her back to the window to protect Cassia.
Circe's neck surged with pain. Glass broke around them, and they hurled into the tower. She folded herself as best as she could around Cassia, and rolled up against an oak table. Satisfied that they had no more momentum, Circe released Cassia and rolled to her side, groaning.
"Am I dead?" Cassia blinked wind-induced tears from her eyes. She looked around the strange room. A fortune in books lined the walls. It was some sort of library. Did they have libraries in the underworld?
"We ... are ... both alive." Circe sat up. She reached to the base of her neck, lifted her hair, and carefully pulled a small shard of glass from her bluish flesh. It was only a half inch, but it was the first thing to pierce her. Circe contemplated her mortality for only a moment and tossed the shard away. She pressed her hand down on the wound and stood on shaky legs. "And somewhere far below the others."
"We're ... inside the tower?" Cassia tried to join her granddaughter on her feet, but a flash of pain in her shoulder stopped her. She looked over to see the bolt sticking out of her. "Oh, Gods." She reached for the wooden shaft.
"No, leave it be." Circe took her hand off her own wound and felt blood trickle under her armor, slithering down her back. She reached for Cassia's shoulder. A faint blue iridescence moved about her fingers. She touched Cassia and her grandmother shuddered with relief. "That should help with the pain, but I cannot heal you here. Would you like to leave now? You have the power."
Cassia took an offered hand and rose to her feet. The pain had subsided to a dull thudding. She thought of her son and daughter, somewhere above her. "No, I'll stay." She looked up into Circe's deep eyes. "How did you save me? Can you fly?"
"I cannot fly, no." Circe put her hand back to the wound on her neck. "My mother had the foresight to provision me with a rope."
"A rope?"
"If you are to stay, we should find the stairs and climb. We have a long way to go." Circe tried to get her bearings, decided on a direction, and strode across the floor.
"It would be easier if you could fly." Cassia, with her much shorter legs, hurried to catch up.
"This is true." Circe nodded. "You should bring it up with my mother."
~~
The room shook around Valeria. She stumbled and put her weight on her scepter. The earthquake lasted no more than a few moments, jarring dust from the rafters above. "Something evil has happened." She reached to her breast, her royal consort holding her arm to steady her. "Did you feel that? It is as if something has been torn away."
"I felt the trembling." Tiberius glanced at the massive, undead brute out of the corner of his eye. His skin crawled whenever the queens brought out their pet.
"Cesphea was right. They have come to the tower." Valeria straightened and steadied her nerves. She felt naked despite her resplendent gown. She turned toward her consort. "Bring me my armor."
