Page 10

Story: Hard As Cake

The Goblin boss let out a scream as Rorik burned off his ear with a blast of fire.

“I can confirm that there is no Uthred here,” Rian said.

I just stared at him, and he smiled back at me with that warm, friendly expression.

The Goblin boss screamed again, this time the tone was filled with existential terror.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter. I need to get Fiadh out of here. Fiadh, you need to go have fun,” Uthred said. “That's apparently what my journey is about right now, so why don’t you do that?”

“This isn’t fun for me,” I crossed my arms. “What you guys plan to do will hurt me. It is severe torture to do what you’re planning on doing.”

Rape was torture. It wasn’t love, it wasn’t sexual aggression, it wasn’t a lack of control or any bullshit like that. It was pain and humiliation inflicted on another person for the sake of the torturer’s amusement and personal gratification. It was hate.

I heard Bram laugh, and there was a huge thud.

I turned and saw the Goblin boss lying on its back.

“We’re out of time,” Uthred said. “If you could go anywhere in the dungeon and be safe, where would you go? What does fun look like to you?”

I didn’t understand his questions. I didn’t understand any of this. There wasn’t anywhere to go. This school was a prison, this Dungeon was a trap, and these men were monsters.

“Fun?” I sneered at him. “I’d rather fuck a naga than have fun with you.”

“Well, alright, Dungeon, don’t hurt her even if she says dumb shit but give her what she wants otherwise,” Uthred said. “Fiadh, make sure you express your desires out loud, the Dungeon doesn’t know what you want if you don’t tell it.”

“I don’t understand anything you’re saying,” I said.

“Let’s go, Uthred!” Thorn called out. “It’s time to celebrate in the safe room.”

“Have fun!” Uthred said with a smile. “Know that they are already dead.”

Then he reached out with one hand and pushed me.

I stumbled backwards, but the floor wasn’t there to steady me. My feet flailed as I tipped backwards into nothing. The last sight I saw was Uthred’s maniacal smile as he stared down at me from the opening of a hole, an opening that grew farther and farther away as I fell into darkness.

ChapterThree

FIADH

Iwoke up to a shifting, sliding pressure between my legs.

I let out a soft groan, feeling dampness against my mouth. I licked my lips, tasting my own spit and something else. I breathed in the scent through my mouth, tasting it as much as smelling it, the scent and flavor of wild honeycomb spilled over fresh-baked bread. I opened my eyes, seeing at first only darkness. Then the sight of moss on the walls, glowing with a soft turquoise light, not enough to make much out, but vague curving shapes that I had trouble making sense of. It looked like there were curving tree trunks sloping around me, catching the edges of the light over smooth curved surfaces. Had I fallen into a pile of debris?

I lay there, taking in the sensations of my body.

Nothing hurt from what I could tell initially.

The surface under my face was soft and pliable, warm to the touch. My whole body lay plastered on some sort of cylindrical length, my knees hanging down on either side of it. My skirt had ridden up around my hips, my bare thighs in full contact with the warm log I lay on top of. My feet brushing against another level down below that wasn’t the hard surface of the floor. My entire belly and chest, where I lay on the log, were warm. The air against my back was cold.

I wiggled my toes, and my shoes moved against the pliable surface down below.

The surface beneath my dangling feet twitched.

A stab of adrenaline rushed through me, and my entire body tensed. I added the clues together - the warmth, the smell, the fact that the surface my head lay upon was lifting up and then down, ever so slightly, in a rhythmic,breathingpattern.

I wasn’t lying in a pile of debris.

I was on top of something living.