Chapter 2: Castle Intrigue Once the group was inside Nerlim's castle, the music was louder, smells of incense were thick in the air, and the sounds of numerous people vigorously having sex could be heard from all directions. As they passed various rooms, they saw acts of debauchery that surprised even the Vectran women. "Looks they haven't missed a beat since they staked you out earlier, Herk," said Sonja. "I told ya that Nerlim and his pals liked ta party, didn't I?" "And I thought things got out of hand on Cinnebar sometimes ... " said Vantha. "About the only thing that's missing here is somebody doing it with a horse or donkey," said Rhiannon. "Give it time," replied Herk. "We haven't even looked in half the rooms in this place." They were partially through a corridor when they were suddenly confronted by new arrivals. Three small fairies flew around a corner, came to an abrupt stop and hovered in the air in front of them. They weren't even two feet tall, but they were perfectly proportioned versions of human females. Each had blonde or light brown hair tied in a bun on their head, and they wore brightly colored outfits with sequins that glistened in the light. Their wings were almost transparent, and they flapped slowly as they hovered in the air. "Let me handle this. I speak a little bit of 'fairy talk'," said Sonja. Behind them, Herk was trying to hide his enormous bulk in an alcove. A few lines of conversation were exchanged between Sonja and the lead fairy, and from the tone it appeared that they knew each other. The other two fairies suddenly came to attention and pointed beyond the three women at Herk. "Herk, it seems that these three 'ladies' would like to have a word with you," said Sonja. Herk came out of the alcove with a sheepish grin on his face. "Hi ya, girls. Long time, no see ... " The three fairies had their fists on their hips and fixed wicked stares onto Herk. It was fascinating to Rhiannon and Vantha how something so charming and pretty could transfom and change emotions so drastically in just seconds. The lead fairy let out a stream of invectives at Herk in their own tongue that plainly were not friendly. Herk turned his head away with an em-barassed look, having no choice but to take the tongue-lashing. "Too bad the translater can't tell us what she's saying," whispered Rhiannon with a grin. "You don't need one of those to tell she's cussing him out big time," chuckled Vantha. "I take it that you know these ladies, Herk?" asked Sonja. "Yeah ... we were together last night during the big orgy ... " "How could someone as big you do with it something as tiny as them?" asked Rhiannon. "Nerlim and the others whipped up a spell that made 'em all as big as Sonja. And I guess I got a little carried away last night ... " The three fairies had stopped glaring at Herk, and were now huddled together as they floated in the air. A small squeal of laughter could be heard as they nodded their heads and turned to face Herk and the women. "Sounds to me like they've reached a decision about you, Herk," said Sonja. "Uh oh ... " muttered Herk, scowling and looking away from the three fairies. The lead fairy suddenly produced a magic wand, and aimed it at Herk. Anticipating the worst, he turned his head downwards and grimaced. She spoke some enchantment and a beam of bright light struck Herk squarely in the chest. Herk had expected to be burnt, or maybe thrusted back with extreme force. Instead he appeared to be unharmed. Then in bright pink letters, a large glowing inscription like a tattoo could be seen on his chest: HERK IS A JERK! "Very funny, ladies ... " muttered Herk. "Now that everyone's had a good laugh at my expense ... " He rubbed one hand across his chest, brushing off the letters, only to see them appear again, as bright as ever. "What the hell..?" One of the fairies spoke rapidly to Sonja. "They say that you'll get to wear that 'logo' for a week, for what you did to them, Herk." "Why you sawed off little runts ... I oughta ... " The three fairies spoke another enchantment, waved their wands and a second beam struck Herk in the chest. "Congratulations, Herk," said Sonja. "You just earned two weeks wearing time." One of the fairies flew closer and whispered something to Sonja. "What's that? You think you know a way to make it permanent..?" Herk's eyes popped open in surprise as he suddenly realized that this was clearly a battle that he wasn't going to win. "All right, already! I can take a freakin' hint! Tell Nerlim and his buddies I'll see 'em in a few weeks ... I needed a vacation from this damned place anyway." He turned and stormed off for the exit. One of the fairies couldn't resist sending one last blast from her wand at Herk's butt as he exited. An embarassed yelp was heard, and Herk's fist sticking out from around a corner with the middle finger extended was the last they saw of him. Sonja turned back to the fairies. "Now that you've had a measure of revenge on Herk, could you please take us to wherever Nerlim is?" The fairies smiled at the three women, turned away and gestured for the trio to follow them. They soon came to a large room where several beds had been shoved together to make one massive mattress. Male and female bodies were sprawled everywhere, many of them still coupled together. What had obviously been a major orgy was finally winding down. "You're sure Nerlim is in here somewhere?" muttered Rhiannon. "They can recognize his aura in this room," said Sonja. "But it's up to us to actually find him in this mound of flesh." She turned and smiled at the fairies. "Thanks so much for your help, girls." The lead fairy blew a kiss to her, waved her wand and they vanished in a glitter of sparks. "You've met those three before?" asked Vantha, raising her eyebrows. "Welcome to my world, ladies. And as you can tell from what happened to Herk, you never want to piss off anyone with magical abilities ... and it never hurts to be friends with them or have them owe you favors." "Let's find Nerlim and do what we came here to do," said Rhiannon. Sonja surveyed the mass of bodies and then walked to one side of it. "This pile looks promising ... Nerlim had this shade of brown hair the last time that I saw him ... " Removing the covers revealed a young girl from the nearby town sound asleep with a delicious look of sexual satisfaction on her face. "Oops ... pardon me, my dear ... don't mind us." Several bodies later, they finally located Nerlim and extricated him from underneath some of his partners. Although he was still breathing, gentle slaps to his face and some shaking of his body did nothing to revive him. "Whew ... whatever they did here, he's gonna be out cold for a while," said Vantha. "Let me look through his potions for a minute," said Sonja, pointing to a rack of small bottles and vials. "There's bound to be something here that will wake him up." "I'll save you the trouble," replied Rhiannon. "I still have a 'potion' of my own, some Vectran hangover cure." She produced a small vial of liquid from her totesack. "Hold his head still and pry his mouth open, Vantha. I'll pour a little bit of it into him." Within moments, Nerlim regained consciousness, and because of their close proximity, the first thing he saw was Rhiannon's cleavage pressed close to his face. "Hello, sweet thing ... who are your two friends?" as he rose to a semi-standing position, with the Vectran women still holding him steady. "I'm Rhiannon and this is Sonja and ... " "I know who she is," he retorted. "I'm talking about you ... I haven't seen such a set of 'golden globes' like you've got in ages." "Now listen here, nimrod ... " "It's 'Nerlim'," he interrupted. "Whatever ... " She frowned and let go of Nerlim, letting him fall a short distance to the cushions on his rump. "I'm Rhiannon, this is my friend Vantha, and you obviously already know Sonja here." "It's too bad all my wakeup calls can't be as nice as this one." He rose and stretched and put on a robe. Then he saw Vantha and Rhiannon in their full height. "Whoa ... they certainly grow 'em big wherever you two come from ... " "Rhiannon and Vantha are from a land called 'Vectra'," said Sonja. "As much fun as they are to be around, it's obvious that they aren't from around here, and need to find their way back home. You still owe me a favor for getting rid of those mercenaries last month ... so if there's anything you can do to help get them back home, we'll call it even between us." "Anything for you Sonja, my dear. But let's move to the room across the hall, so we don't wake up any of my friends." Once they were in the new room, Nerlim adjusted his robe. "Now, I'll need some more information to be able to help you. Rhiannon, I'll need to touch you and do a brief mind probe." "Okay. But if you put those hands anywhere they're not supposed to be, they'll be calling you 'lefty' from now on buster ... " "Ah! I like a woman with spirit. I'll be on my best behaviour ... for now." They reached out and joined hands like two wrestlers starting a match. Rhiannon used just enough of her alien strength to show him she wan't kidding about no hanky-panky taking place. Nerlim's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously, my dear ... I was only kidding ... I'm trying to help you." Rhiannon could sense a measure of sincerity from Nerlim, and she relaxed her grip on his hands. She felt a strange sensation like her whole body being dipped in warm liquid and then removed from it. She could feel Nerlim's consciousness probing her thoughts and recent memories, and at the same time she was given a mental view of Nerlim. It was llke watching a film or video showing many small segments in rapid speed. After a few moments, Nerlim broke the connection between the two of them. "Well, Rhiannon ... you and Vantha are certainly more than you appear at first glance. That little scene with Herk outside the castle was different to say the least." "All right, so you know some of our secrets ... " grumbled Rhiannon. "You're no angel either, judging by what I saw inside your head. If you are, your halo's taped on." "I and some of my friends came to this land so we can indulge ourselves without any out-side interference. And like you, we're not from this time period either. Since our advanced tech-nology makes us appear to be wizards or magical beings ... and as long as we don't get too out of control, the locals leave us pretty much alone. Isn't that right, Sonja?" "All of this wizard talk only gives me a headache." "Okay, let's get down to business, then. Rhiannon, you and Vantha want to get back to your own time, to some friends you met on 'the Island', and then back to your starship the Delphi 4, right?" "You're batting a thousand so far, Nerlim." "Now since I and some of the others have a degree of 'second sight', we all saw the mystic beacon or message which told you that you'll be zapped back to your own time in a week or so. I can tweak things so you can go back immediately, but I'll need you to go on a small quest and bring something back for me, so that I have enough magical energy and can cast the necessary spells." Sonja shook her head and gave them a look that strongly advised against this. "What's so bad about sticking around here for a week or so?" asked Vantha. "If you hang around Nerlim's castle, you'll have to engage in more orgies, or else you'll be transported out at a moment's notice if you aren't willing to join in, or if they get tired of you," said Sonja. "Believe me, I know this from experience, before we came to an understanding ... " She paused for a moment. "Speaking of which, how is Jonas doing?" Nerlim gave a sheepish grin and shrugged. "He's feeling better and says he's sorry for being too rude to you, when you first met him last month. His arm should be out of the sling in a week or so ... " "I knew you were a woman who could take care of yourself when we first met, Sonja," said Rhiannon. Sonja just gave a polite smile. "Getting back to the job at hand," interrupted Nerlim, "having fun is what we do here when I set up shop in this castle. We're always looking to try new things and new experiences. And I can tell that it would take at least a week before we got tired of either of you two ladies ... espec-ially with your 'extra talents'." Rhiannon rolled her eyes, and Vantha tried to suppress a shiver. It was obvious that they each liked sex and using their ability to transform themselves. But neither of them was ready to start having orgies on an assembly line process with complete strangers. "And if we stick around town," aded Sonja, "there's a good chance we'll have a run-in with Herk again. He's the type who holds a grudge, and he'll be spoiling for a fight, especially after what the fairies did to him." Rhiannon took a deep breath. "All right, it's no secret that Vantha and I like to play around from time to time ... and we're probably a lot different from other women, as you saw from our little frolic with Herk earlier. But we're not gonna stick around just to be constant 'sex toys' for you and your pals either." There was a moment of awkward silence. "So what's this 'quest' you've got in mind for me and Vantha?" "To send you back ahead of time requires items loaded with magical power," explained Nerlim. "If you can bring back any items from ... oh, let's say, the Frost Giant's daughter for example ... they'll be more than powerful enough to get the job done." Sonja's eyes popped open in surprise as she realized what Nerlim was setting them up for. "I know that you're new to this land," she whispered to Rhiannon. "But he's giving you an impossible task. Not only will you probably be fighting for your lives ... but where he's planning on sending you is colder than you can possibly imagine." Rhiannon and Vantha backed several steps away to confer in private. "What do you think about his offer, Vantha?" "Sonja's fun to be with, that's for sure. But we kind of stick out like sore thumbs here. And I'm ready to take a break from sex until we're at least back where we belong and with our friends again." "Okay, Nerlim. You've got two volunteers for your 'quest'. Fill us in on any details we need to know ... " Sonja shrugged and shook her head. "Don't say that I didn't try to warn you two ... " Nerlim took Rhiannon and Vantha to another room, and showed them piles of armor and leather that were worn by warriors of the day. "Pick something out of these and then select some swords from that pile over there." Rhiannon and Vantha gave him quizzical stares. "Did you think the Frost Giant's daughter is just going to give you what you want if you ask nicely? What you're wearing now looks nice, but it isn't practical for a battlefield." The Vectran women weren't crazy about wearing the strange clothing and armor, but they had to admit that Nerlim knew what he was talking about, if they were going to have to take things by force. "I'll leave you two here alone for a few minutes, until you've changed clothes." Shortly afterwards, they walked back into the room where Nerlim and Sonja waited. "The two of you look as ready as you're ever going to be," said Sonja, as she cast an icy look at Nerlim from the corner of her eye. "Just relax and stay where you are girls," said Nerlim. "I'll cast the necessary spells, and you'll be on your way to the land of the Frost Giants."