Beware the Whispers

by Piper

mc; Mg; g+g; Mdom; mast; oral

In El-Harim, there lived a man, a man with yellow eyes.
To me, he said, “Beware the whispers, for they whisper lies.”

You get bonus points if you know where that quote came from, but it is not relevant to the story.
The sound of dripping water was unnaturally loud in Caylin's ears. Actually, now that she thought about it, everything in the cave was loud. The rasp of her leather shoes echoed around the stone walls. The wind following her from outside flowed over the rocks like a murmur of quiet voices. Even Caylin's own breathing seemed amplified in the tunnel. If Mirana was playing a joke, Caylin vowed that their friendship would end today.




Caylin was a farmer's daughter and she lived on her father's land an hour's walk from El-Harim, the closest town. This morning she had been press-ganged into service by her mother, forced to go El-Harim to help sell apples while her father and brothers tended to the crops and animals at home. It had not been all bad: Caylin's father had hooked a cart up to an old nag, so Caylin was able to ride with the apples while her mother held the horse's reins. At noon, Mirana, the mayor's daughter, had stopped by the market and saw Caylin. After some tag-team nettling, the girls convinced Caylin's mother to let her play. Much to Caylin's surprise, her mother even gave her a copper penny from their earnings. Caylin promptly bought a sticky bun from the baker and shared it with Mirana.

Mirana had been Caylin's playmate since they had begun attending school together. They were the only girls in El-Harim at each other's age, now eleven years old. The older girls in town already had their own circle of friends and the younger girls were too immature, so Caylin and Mirana spent a lot of time with only each other. Today, after ruining their lunches with the pastry, the girls had decided to explore the foothills to the west. Caylin's farm was in the opposite direction and her mother did not want to fetch Caylin when the apples were sold out. So Caylin promised to return to the farm on her own when dusk approached. There were no dangerous animals in the lightly wooded area of the hills; they had long since been chased away by civilization.

Caylin and Mirana raced to one of the small lakes shrouded in the hills. It was a place that they had found on their last adventure and that was where they planned to resume their exploration. The girls fell over, panting with exertion, breathlessly arguing about who had reached the waterline first. When their heartbeats had slowed, they stood up and stripped out of their dresses and underclothes. They played for a short while in the calm waters of the lake, cooling off despite the occasional splashing fights that arose. Caylin enjoyed the playtime more than usual. Her parents had decided that she was too old to play naked in the river with her brothers anymore, so these times with Mirana were the only ones when she was able to enjoy the complete freedom of nudity. Caylin did not appreciate the restriction. As far as she was concerned, getting her first moon blood and a little swelling of her chest did not mean that she should stop having fun.

Caylin ended the lake fun first, so that she could beat Mirana back to shore. As the mayor's daughter, Mirana wore the prettiest and most expensive dresses in the town. Today's purple dress even had a bit of lace on it; it was much more appealing than Caylin's plain peasant attire. Panting, dripping, Mirana made a face when she reached the shore. Caylin had already pulled on Mirana's shift and was sliding on the purple dress without waiting until she was dry. The mayor's daughter made Caylin promise to return the dress before she went home. It would not be the first time that Caylin had tried to pilfer her friend's clothes. When Mirana was clothed in Caylin's dress, the two girls set off around the lake.

A large hill bordered the north side of the lake, pimpled with caves. Many of the surrounding hills had caves but this particular hill had many, and some of the largest ones that the girls had seen. They went to the mouth of the absolute largest cave and looked inside. Daylight extended a stone's throw into the hill, but darkness swallowed everything beyond that. Wind passing over the lip of the cave spoke in an unintelligible whisper as the girls dared each other to go inside. Then Mirana said she saw a flash of light farther in the cave. Caylin looked but did not see anything. She suspected that her friend was trying to trick her into going inside but Mirana insisted that she had seen a yellow spark. Eventually, fed up with Caylin, Mirana marched into the mouth of the cave and disappeared.

Caylin waited. And waited. She called Mirana's name. And waited. She sat down at the edge of the cave, refusing to fall for the prank. Feeling more annoyed than worried, Caylin finally decided to go into the cave. In the twilight between the entrance and the depths, Caylin paused for her eyes to adjust to the dark. It seemed to work and soon Caylin could faintly see the rocks that littered the cave floor. There was no telling how far the cave stretched. The ground always slanted downward, leading deeper into the bowels of the earth. Soon it grew colder and Caylin shivered despite the thick material of her friend's dress.

Somehow, in what should have been total darkness, Caylin could still – barely – see the shapes around her. Wherever it came from, the soft light gave the stone walls a yellow tinge. The tunnel turned, slowly, and Caylin realized that she was probably in a cavern underneath the lake itself. The thought of being below so much water was somehow more frightening than being in a hill beneath tons of rock. The tunnel was widening, amplifying the subtle sounds around Caylin. She flinched as her shoe scuffed against the ground and made a sound like a snake sliding over stone. And the wind was the worst of it. The sound of the wind was reaching here, somehow, a constant noise that seemed to be getting louder the farther she went. All of a sudden, Caylin heard a word in the white noise.

Run.

Caylin froze. She could not believe that she had heard a voice. Unless it was Mirana. On the verge of bolting, Caylin called, “Mirana?”

“Rana? Ana? Aa?” her echo answered. Then came another voice, barely audible over the dying echo.

You are in danger.

Caylin whipped her head around but there was no one, nothing. Caylin did not run. If she ran, it would have to be because something was chasing her. If something was chasing her, that meant there was something in the cavern with her now. She refused to believe that. It was only her, and somewhere ahead, Mirana. Caylin wanted to cry. She continued walking. There were no voices. It was only the wind. Only the wind. In this giant cavern, but still only the wind. A large mass of stone rose up a hundred paces in front of her, stretching to the ceiling of the cavern.

He will get you.

Caylin's bravery broke and she tried to turn, but she was rooted in place. Ahead of her, two tiny stars now gleamed in the darkness. Their yellow light held Caylin in place as easily as she might hold a beetle between her fingers.

“Come here.”

Do not go.

You have to fight.

Caylin walked forward. Around her, the whispers were becoming even more distinct, telling her to resist and flee. Caylin heard the voices, even understood the words, but they made no sense to her. Of course she could not leave now. She had to go to where the voice told her. The stars in front of Caylin began to dim and she saw that they were actually two eyes. As she approached, the whispers became more urgent but Caylin did not stop walking. Slowly, the features around the eyes grew clearer.

The eyes belonged to a man of indeterminate age, perhaps around her father's years since white peppered his dark hair. He was silhouetted against the large pillar that Caylin had noticed first, which was some kind of pale white stone different from the darker rock of the rest of the huge underground space. At first Caylin thought that the man was standing in front of the large pillar with his arms outstretched to either side. As she walked closer, though, the girl saw that he was somehow partially submerged in the stone. It looked as if the white stone had flowed around him like water and then frozen in an instant, trapping most of his body in solid rock.

Caylin stumbled as she approached the prisoner, tripping over the remains of a large towel or rag. It threw up a fine cloud of dust as she kicked it away. She walked more carefully, noticing that the ground around the man was littered with similar cloth that was decaying from age. Caylin stopped only a few feet from the man, feeling happy to have done as she was told. Her elation died quickly, however, as she lost the compulsion and returned her attention to the soft warnings. The whispers were loud now, a chorus of overlapping advice and threats about her fate if she stayed. Then the man's eyes glowed again.

“Do not be afraid,” the man said, the light of his eyes eclipsing the dim twilight of the cavern. “The whispers you hear, they are lying to you. You are safe.”

Caylin stared up at the man, her mouth slack. Mirana's dress swished lazily as Caylin swayed, her knees threatening to buckle from the force of the man's gaze. His eyes burned with yellow flames that consumed all of her own thoughts. While that light blazed, the only ideas that existed in the preteen's mind – the only ideas that could exist – were the ones that the man put there. Of course the whispers were lying. Of course she was safe. There was no reason to be afraid, not with the man here.

Caylin! Caylin! It's Mirana! Can't you see me? Caylin! Run away! He'll get you!

Caylin ignored the newest whisper as she might a fly flitting around her arms. It was a lie like all the others. The light pouring from the man's eyes blotted out Caylin's entire field of vision. It was as if she was standing in the middle of the sun. The little girl's entire body felt warm. That heat was the sensation she was most aware of; she was now only distantly conscious of the dress on her body and the shoes on her feet.

“Come here,” the man said, a disembodied voice filled with the resonance of a god. Suddenly the light all around Caylin, filling her, was also pulling her. Like a leaf in a river, Caylin submitted to the suction and felt herself shift. Caylin did not move from where she stood on the cavern floor. Despite that, she was acutely sure that she was standing in a different place. Somehow, the preteen's dress and shift fell through her, passing directly through her body as though she was made of air. The naked girl could still only see the yellow light, until its brilliance began to fade.

As the man's eyes stopped shining, Caylin saw that she was not in exactly the same place as before. The giant cavern around her had the same shape but its walls were white and glowed palely, eliminating any shadows. In contrast, the column that held the man was now dark but also insubstantial. The man was still suspended in the pillar but he appeared to be trapped in overlapping shadows. Caylin could see his entire body, although the parts that had seemed to be encased in stone before were covered in darker shadows. The man was naked in the eerie column, lean and wiry. With the power gone from the man's eyes, Caylin was free to turn her head. She did, and saw that she was not alone with him.

Over two dozen naked girls were standing in a group behind Caylin. They varied in age from a year or two younger than Caylin to several years older. They were all regarding her with expressions that ranged from pity to hopelessness. As the little girl squinted, she saw that some of the others appeared less substantial. One girl with large breasts was nearly invisible while the two next to her looked as solid as any living person. Unsure if she was seeing ghosts, Caylin turned and came face to face with Mirana. The friends hesitated for a moment and then threw their arms around each other, heedless of their nudity. As Caylin clung to Mirana, some of the other girls patted her on the back and spoke, no longer sounding like whispers.

“Don't worry.”

“There was nothing you could do.”

“We tried to help.”

“He got all of us.”

“We're here for you.”

Caylin pulled away from Mirana, looking at the other naked children in turn. In a trembling voice, she asked, “What is happening?”

“I chose you, little one,” a rumbling voice said. Around Caylin, all of the children except Mirana tensed like deer before a coyote. Surrounded in the crowd of girls, Caylin had nearly forgotten the man, but when she turned back and looked up at his wolfish face, she wondered how she could have. The man continued, addressing both Caylin and Mirana. “You are my playthings. Until I free myself. Or until my captors return and end me, I suppose.”

Caylin and Mirana leaned on each other for mutual support. Suspended above them, the man seemed even taller than he actually was. Caylin had always considered herself the braver of the two friends, but it was Mirana who found the courage to ask, “What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

The man eyed them for several uncomfortable seconds before deigning to answer. “I mean that you belong to me. You are a tiny amusement to ease my boredom. My jailers have not visited for several centuries, so you should hope that I escape before you fade.”

“But what...” Mirana trailed off as a soft glow touched the man's eyes. Behind them, one of the girls gave a small sob. Caylin, who had not been affected by the man this time, turned from him to look at Mirana, because Mirana was pulling away. The mayor's daughter was gaping at the man, no longer showing fear or any other expression. Mirana started walking forward. The naked girl ignored her friend, even though Caylin held onto her hand.

A smaller brunette girl, keeping her head down, pulled Caylin's hand off of Mirana's, gently but insistently. To Caylin, the young girl explained, “She won't stop. He'll make you do things too if you try to get in the way.”

Caylin looked down at the shorter girl. Though halfway transparent, her small hand felt solid enough to Caylin. Whether from shock or fear, Caylin complied, and along with the other girls, watched Mirana walk up to the edge of the pillar of shadows. Mirana reached out and her hands actually passed through the column, but slowly, as though it were made of mud. Mirana then stepped into the pillar entirely, making her petite form appear darker and blurry.

The mayor's daughter flapped her arms slowly a couple of times, which looked odd until Caylin realized the girl was swimming in the shadows. Mirana's motions, accompanied by kicks, let her swim upwards in the shadowy pillar. The preteen swam up a few feet until she was level with the man's midsection. Caylin's mouth fell open in horror as she watched her friend wrap her arms around the man's chest, her legs around his waist, and use that leverage to slowly impale herself on his erection.

As Mirana began jerkily humping her small waist against the man, he looked from her to his other captives. His eyes leaking light, he told them, “You are aroused by this.”

“Yes...” two dozen childish voices chorused more or less together, Caylin among them. The man's spell had ensnared all of them this time, forcing unwilling arousal as Mirana raped herself on the man. Except, the arousal did not feel unwilling. As Caylin looked up vacantly at her friend's first time, she believed that it was turning her on. Like the girls around her, Caylin reached between her legs and began rubbing her fingers over her pearl and her virgin petals. Minutes later, the sweet scent of girls' honey hung heavy in the air, and Mirana tensed and held herself tightly against the man. Mirana twitched for several seconds, although the man did not move except to twist his face in pleasure.

Mirana disentangled herself from the man, and remained limp as she sank slowly down in the pillar, like a stone falling to the bottom of a lake. At the base of the pillar, Mirana stood and stepped out, moving shakily once she was free of the weightlessness of the column's shadows. Thick semen oozed from between her legs to inch down her left thigh. With Mirana's violation over, arousal left the other girls, and Caylin rushed forward to help her friend retreat from the man's presence. Mirana was sniffling quietly, either not understanding what she had done, or understanding all too well. Once the pair was a safe distance from the man, the other girls crowded around them, rubbing Mirana's back for comfort or saying encouraging things. Then yellow light spilled over them and every child turned her face to the man.

“Your new sister has something delicious for you,” the man's voice filtered down through the light of his eyes. The dozens of naked girls swung their heads back to look at Mirana, consolation gone from their faces. Like every other girl, Caylin looked at the mayor's daughter hungrily. The girls all pressed in tighter, a warm naked mass with Mirana protesting in vain in the center. Caylin pushed her friend down onto the floor to gain a split second advantage over the other girls. Caylin dove to the ground herself, banging her knees sharply on the cavern floor. She bent forward, pressing her lips against Mirana's deflowered folds and lapping at the warm syrup. Within seconds, Caylin was pushed away by the press of bodies and another girl replaced her between Mirana's legs. Other children, driven by the man's influence but unable to reach his seed, were licking Mirana's chest, arms, and every other bit of exposed skin. Mirana was mewling wordlessly under the onslaught, but with so many other girls, she had no way to escape.

Caylin was about to try to push through the tangle of naked limbs for another taste of her friend's treat, when a flash of yellow caught her eye. No one else noticed. Alone, Caylin was charmed by the man's gaze once more. She extracted herself from the edge of the bodies, looking up at the man, slack-jawed. The man's eyes were not so bright that Caylin could not see his smile as he looked down at the knot of children squirming over each other for the briefest taste of his semen.

“It is your turn, little one,” the man said. Caylin nodded blankly and began walking forward. Her turn. She reached the bottom of the dark pillar and stepped inside. The shadows were cool but not cold against her bare skin and pressed against her with the weight of water. Caylin angled her head upward, seeing the vague shape of the erection on which she would lose her virginity. She began swimming towards it.

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