Unicorn Point

But Deerie did not. The man positioned himself and began his thrust. The pain began—and Deerie passed out. There was screaming.

The screen went dark. The input from the actress had ended with her consciousness. Agape found herself gasping, her throat raw; she was the one screaming. She was also melting; her lower section was puddling on the floor. Truly, she had been violated.

She had lost the fall and the match, in the worst possible way. Citizen Tan had had his vengeance, on her personally and on Citizen Blue for opposing the Contrary Citizens Agape let go, dissolving the rest of the way. In a moment she too was unconscious.

15 - Sirelmoba

The days on the undersea isle would have been completely delightful, had it not been for their awareness that a great decision was in the making, and that it was going against the Adept Stile and the animals who supported him. Sirelmoba romped with Barelmosi in wolf and human forms, hunting and gathering and eating and sleeping and attempting to mate.  They had been unable to complete the last, because she was too young for her first heat, but the urge for it came in cycles and she knew that in due course those cycles would intensify until completion became feasible. Of course once they suc ceeded, that would be the last of that, because she would enter on her adult stage and would seek a mate elsewhere; her Commitment to Barel, and his to her, would be done. So she was not sorry that they couldn’t do it yet, because the trying and failing was a delightful process rife with mystery and hope. Success would end the mystery and promise, and end that aspect of their relationship, and that would have its sadness. So perhaps they were not trying too hard, after all.  Actually they were able to go through the motions in human form, but that had no significance; only wolf form counted.  Bitches often did it with human men just for sport; sometimes they were even able to fool the men into believing that they were human women. It was a good test of their ability to emulate the conventions as well as the body of that species.  They always had a good laugh when the men finally caught on. Sometimes the men laughed too.

The sieges were set up, and the Translucent Adept made a spell that enabled them to see the action as a magic image over the isle. They watched the harpies beat the bats, thanks to the valiant final action of Phoebe. They knew she didn’t really want to win, but had to try her best as a matter of honor, and she had done that and brought the victory she deplored. They had seen the ‘corns beat the ogres thanks to the stratagem of Barel’s dam Fleta, and that was highly grat ifying. Barel had been so proud of her!  But meanwhile came the news of the similar contests in Proton-frame. Nepe kept Barel informed, and some of it was very bad. Nepe’s rovot granddam—grandbitch?—no, grand mother— sometimes she got the various terms confused!—had dueled against the Adept—no, the Citizen Purple, riding dragons, and in the end gone down. It really hadn’t been fair, because they were Purple’s dragons; naturally they had seen to his victory. Then Nepe’s rovot friend Troubot had climbed the glass mountain, throwing water bombs at the lovely bitch Tsetse—oh what fun!—and won the siege. After that Barel had used the bit of magic he was allowed to fashion water balls, and they had re-enacted it, throwing balls at each other in trees. Sirel wondered whether her human form would ever approach the lushness of Tsetse’s. Unicorns could assume other forms, and make of them what they wished, so they were always powerful or esthetic or whatever else the ‘corn wanted, but werewolves were more limited because both their forms were natural. It was similar with the vampire bats. So she would just have to make do with what she had, and hope for the best.

Then had come the contest between Nepe’s mother Agape and the awful Tan Adept—Tan Citizen—wherein they had to make efforts to mate in much the fashion Sirel and Barel had.  But there were differences. For one thing. Agape was per manently mated to Nepe’s father Bane, so didn’t want to do it with Tan. For another, it was a contest, with one wishing to mate and the other opposed, and so they had to negotiate.  Barel and Sirel both found this process fascinating. But be cause there was no heat—it seemed that human beings had some other and less certain mechanism for breeding—nothing had come of it at first. But then at the end Agape must have come into heat after all—perhaps because she was really an alien creature—and Tan had come at her like any male who winded an available female in heat, and done it. In truth, it hadn’t looked like very much fun for Agape, perhaps because in acceding to it she lost the siege.