The Princesses' Trap

[HotTexasCowboy]

In the dead of a moonless night, Prince Bloodworthy peered from the edge of the forest to the dark silhouette of the royal castle. The first of his targets was housed in there, and the castle far too strong to be taken by battle and siege. But Bloodworthy had always been a patient and devious man, experimenting with dark arts and unholy creatures. Here at the base of the castle's foundations was the vulnerability he needed, and he had just the right way to take advantage of it. He turned and summoned the strange hulk that had followed him here. It was a creature that few knew of its existence, and fewer still realized its true nature. But Bloodworthy had found the secrets of communing with the inhuman. He and this creature had fashioned a bargain.

Their communication was not spoken, but they could create a mutually satisfying stratagem just the same. The creature moved toward the rocky mound of the castle's foundations. On four almost hidden legs, it lumbered in the moonless dark, looking something like a large cow wearing a blanket. The blanket was actually an armoured shell, and the closest analogy might be a giant armadillo. But the leading fourth of its body was a flat maw that opened to a crowded cacophony of tendrils, with which it could dig most efficiently. Extending from its head were two stalks with eyes that could swivel to see in all directions, plus two more that "saw" heat, and two more that could sense the character of dirt and stone that surrounded it. The sides of its head were both large ear cones. This creature could sense its way through stone the way humans could through air.

It was a creature with its own hungers, for the tiny critters that dwelt under the earth, but Bloodworthy had awakened in it other hungers. So it tunneled into the earth with a mission and a plan. Within minutes, it had made its opening and then covered it behind it as if the earth had never been disturbed. In the weeks to come, it would make its own network of tunnels and rooms, while mapping within its memory the layout of the castle itself. The walls, within and without, were thick, intended as defense against attack. But to this creature, such walls were fodder and the means to infiltrate without a trace.

The Prince retired and returned to his neighboring kingdom. It was a small realm, considered by many as insignificant, but he had plans. For now, he could be patient, until his desires were handed to him by his special allies.

 

[RpLover213]

Elizabeth was the Daughter of Carpathia. She was a beautiful and desirable young princess. There were many that sought her and wished to bed her; however, known had succeeded. Her body was quite inviting even tonight in just a white dress that hugged her feminine curves with the dress' skirt-hemline being rather short; indeed ending half way down her smooth thighs. Her legs were covered by white thigh-high, leg stockings and she wore soft white silky panties under the dress. She had no idea that one had his eye on her or the castle and remained oblivious to this.

Bloodworthy was right in his thoughts on not attacking the castle. Elizabeth herself was a warrior princess. The girl was strong willed, assertive and relentless in battle; seemingly never to grow tired. Her confidence assured by the power of her sword. It was the only reason that Princess Elizabeth had not yet ever been captured or defeated in any battle that she had fought in. She was the daughter of the kingdom’s greatest swordsman, King Artemus, who had had passed down this trait to his daughter. It was rumored that Elizabeth had once killed over one thousand soldiers in a single battle. The sword she used was not just any normal blade. It had been given to her by the god of vengeance. The blade was sharper than any sword of its kind. She sighed as she combed her hair while gazing into the mirror above her dresser.

 

[HotTexasCowboy]

From the moment it entered the bowels of the castle foundation, the strange beast set about making itself at home. It was perfectly designed to carry out its mission. This creature could move through packed soil and rock as easily as a man wading through a waist-deep bog. Its mouth in front was nearly as wide as its entire body, and for good purpose. Its tentacles tunneled and vibrated into the solid mass before it, breaking it up and scooping it into its innards. There, what would be considered unhealthy dirt by men would be processed for all its nutrients, be they small blind animals like lizards and rats, insects, even to the size of bacteria. With this haul of sustenance, the creature survived and thrived. The dirt flowed through its body, processed for food, and the remainder passed through in one of two forms, as desired by the creature. It could fill in behind it as dirt, as if the creature's passage had never occurred. Or, it could be transformed into a gooey slurry that coated the cave walls and floor, quickly drying to support a surviving tunnel that would become the creature's network for quick movement. Deep under the lowest level of the castle, it had transformed a large room into its home base, and from there, a growing network of tunnels was permeating the castle walls, with the inhabitants suspecting nothing.

The creature did not operate by instinct. It had intelligence, one that had bonded with Prince Bloodworthy for mutual desires. It called itself Tellilicus, and once it was ready, it would make its attack. Its myriad tentacles were capable of doing so much more than scooping dirt and rock into its maw. Bloodworthy had infected Tellilicus with the desire to revenge itself on the humans who looked down on his kind, with a specific target in mind.

With a map of the castle rooms memorized to the centimeter, it had made a tunnel up into the castle proper and twisting along within its thick walls. Those walls that helped make the Castle impregnable to a human army gave Tellilicus the space to set his own trap. He could listen to vibrations through the stone, tell where humans were walking, where they positioned their heavy furniture, and could even hear some conversations. He knew the sound of the princess's voice, and the location of her bedroom, and the bed within it.

He dug a tunnel to edge of the wall located just above the head of her bed. When the time was right, when she was asleep and helpless, and far from her infamous sword, that last four inches of wall would be swallowed up in an instant, and them he could seize her. Carrying her with him, he would fill in the tunnel behind him, so no trace of his tunneling, no clue as to how Princess Elizabeth had disappeared, would be left behind.

Tonight was the night. Tomorrow was the celebration of Saint Dimitri, the patron saint who had led Carpathia to independence three hundred years ago. Food and drink would flow among the citizens, even among the guards of the castle, for Carpathia stood strong and independent still, unthreatened by any neighbor. Once the Princess went to sleep, there would almost no one capable of hearing her cries of alarm. Certainly not in time to witness her abduction. Tellilicus positioned himself behind the bedroom wall, half a dozen tentacles pressed against the rock and soil, to 'hear' the vibrations of the Princess and any others that might be present.