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Description

The Folly of Fauns.

By FOXCARROTS

Part Three

“The Melting Cavern.”

    The sun hung high over the mountain path that overlooked the forest. The light played with the features of the rocks and cast long shadows on the ground that fell down the mountain as clouds danced in front of the sun. Through the hills lay a rough path, too uneven for human feet but no challenge for the mighty hooves of fauns. Upon this path two such fauns travelled side by side.

    The first was a bold faun named Lammie. She was an athletic faun with bright orange hair with magenta dyed braids framing her face. She was pale and had small, tinted glasses perching on her bud nose. She was dressed in a red leather top with many belts. She looked around with her orange gold eyes and surveyed the landscape.

    Next to her was Tulip a thin faun with blonde hair that transitioned to pink the further from her head it got. She was dressed in a simple corset over a sleeveless undershirt. She was examining some flowers she had picked along the way and didn’t focus on the path ahead, trusting that Lammie would not lead her astray.

    The pair were so close they were sometimes mistaken for sisters. They both looked somewhat alike in features and dress and no one, including the fauns themselves knew if this was intentional or not. The pair enjoyed each other’s company even if they didn’t say a word for hours or days. They were on their way to meet up with some other fauns and were enjoying the walk as much as the idea of what they would get up to in the meeting. The landscape was beautiful and the winds coming from the south were soft and inviting. There had been nothing to think of or worry about for hours.

    However, this paradise of a day could not last forever and soon Lammie stopped on the path, her strong hooves clunking in the dirt as she stopped.

    “What’s wrong Lammie?” Tulip asked, crooking her head in curiosity. “Do you sense people nearby?”

    “I wish.” Lammie recalled. “There are goat farmers in these hills, and I have always wanted to ask them how they navigate here without hooves.”

    “You love humans too much.” Tulip laughed. “But if it is not them what has caught your attention?”

    “There is an ominous smell on the wind.” Lammie said as she looked around. “I think it will rain.”

    As if summoned by Lammie herself the clouds began to turn dark, and water fell in earnest down the valley but seemed to be much lighter where they were up high. The smell of a storm that Lammie had sensed soon became noticeable by Tulip and she looked up as the sky began to turn a vibrant turquoise green. “Seems like quite the storm is coming!”

    “We need to find shelter!” Lammie replied, her gaze growing more intense. “And fast!”

    “Why?” Tulip asked as she held out her hand, a few drops of water falling onto it. “It’s not raining that bad and the wind has died down some.”

    “It’s not that!” Lammie insisted but before she could say anything else a bolt of lightning struck a small tree nearby, setting it ablaze as it fell apart. “Lightning!”

    Tulip didn’t have to say anything else or ask any questions, acting as one with Lammie as the pair of fauns took off running away from the place last struck. Lightning hit again and again striking anything a few feet off the ground, threatening to get the wayward fauns at any moment. Lammie lead Tulip as fast as she could. She scanned around the area, desperately looking for some protection from the violent lighting that seemed to be pursuing them. Suddenly she spotted it, a small cave in the rocky mountain side ahead of them. The hole wasn’t much larger than they were, and they had no idea what was inside. However, since neither faun wanted to be hit by lightning, they had no choice but to go for it and make a mad dash for the opening.

    As the fauns crossed the threshold lightning struck a stone by the entrance. Both Lammie and Tulip could not help but think themselves lucky and that the scorched rock could have just as easily been either of them. The wind picked up again and the rain grew heavy. Hail and debris began to pelt the inside of the cave as the wind turned violent and assaulted the entrance.

    “Tornado!” Lammie shouted as she and Tulip began to back further into the cave. It opened up to be wider, but the ceiling was right above their heads. They could feel the biting winds trying to get to them and they moved back until they could not feel it anymore.

    “Well, we seem to be safe.” Lammie said as she looked around, finding the cave was not too much further back and seemingly empty.”

    “No bears.” Tulip nodded. “And thankfully no bats.”

    “You fear bats more than bears?” Lammie asked.

    “Bears are less likely to poop on you.” Tulip stated in all seriousness. “Bats seem to be aiming for you.”

    “Your priorities!” Lammie laughed.

    “I call it how I see it.” Tulip replied with a laugh. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

    Lammie looked around and let herself become aware of it, sure enough there was a lot of heat seemingly coming from below and once they were away from the wind it grew warmer and warmer. “I think there’s probably some geothermal vents or something below us. nothing to worry about though. I don’t see any big holes or anything down there to worry about. We should be fine to wait out the storm here.”

    “Makes sense to me!” Tulip replied. “Kind of like a sweat lodge in the mountains to the north. People pay good gold for places like this.”

    “Then we should count ourselves lucky.” Lammie agreed. “We should enjoy it while we can, who knows how long the storm will last.”

    Lammie and Tulip rested and collected their bearings in the cave as the storm whipped violently outside. The heat was at first pleasant but as they stayed inside, they started getting warmer and warmer. Lammie touched her biceps and felt a thin layer of sweat forming. They kept moving as close as they could to the door where the cool wind was but every once and awhile a piece of debris or hail would fly inside the cave. One such hunk of ice hit Tulip in the arm and both fauns moved away from the cold wind back into the oppressive heat of the cave.

    The pair just waited and watched the storm, sweating and standing together. Nothing changed, nothing altered until Tulip saw something out of the corner of her eye deeper into the cave. It was a strange green tendril dripping from above.

    “What’s this?” Tulip asked as she looked at the dripping substance. It was a pale green and thick and non-translucent but had a certain shine to it. “Is this sap?”

    “I don’t think so.” Lammie said as she adjusted her glasses and moved closer to it. “Looks like some sort of slime. I have never seen anything like it. Whatever you do don’t touch it.”

    Tulips fingers and thumb came into contact with the slime, a fraction of a second too late to react to the warning. She looked back to Lammie with an apologetic look on her face. “Oh…sorry.”

    “Well let’s hope the stuff isn’t acidic or toxic.” Lammie said as she put her hands on her hips. “Do you feel any burning or anything?”

    “Nothing.” Tulip replied as she moved her fingers away from the slime, sticky tendrils tightly trailing behind them. She rotated her thumb but it was likewise anchored into the stickiness of the dripping tendril. Tulip giggled to herself. “But it’s super sticky!”

    “Sticky is better than acid I suppose.” Lammie said as she took a cloth out from her hip satchel. “Give me your hand I’ll help you get it cleaned off.”

    Tulip nodded and pulled her hand further from the dripping tendril; however, the sticky strands stretched and prevented her from getting more than a few inches away. She tilted her head and tugged again, the elastic sticky strands fighting her hand before smacking it back to the thick goo tendril leaving all four of her fingers and her palm stuck tight to it. “I can’t unstick!”

    “Here let me help you…” Lammie said as she reached out a hand to help just then, another thick tendril dropped from above right in the path of Lammie’s bare hand. She tried to react but before the thought was even formed in her mind the palm of her hand smacked onto the sticky tendril. She instinctively tried to pull it away, but sticky strands tugged on her skin and yanked her hand back to the tendril, locking her fingers and thumb to it tightly. “Ungh…what the hell is this stuff?

    Tulip continued trying to open her hand and pull it free, but the slime had completely coated it and was getting less and less elastic with every movement. Before long, her hand only flexed against the slime, barely causing it to stretch at all. “Lammie I’m stuck!”

    “Yeah, I seem to be stuck too!” Lammie said as the green goop held tight to her hand. She looked at Tulip as a second tendril began to come from the ceiling impossibly aiming for her other hand. “Tulip look out!”

    Tulip looked to her side but it was too late, the tendril, moving as if it had a mind of it’s own smacked onto the back of Tulips free hand, rendering it anything but. She gave a few experimental tugs but the tendril was locked to it and would not let go. “My other hand is slimed!”

    “Let me see if-“ Lammie began as she went to reach out to Tulip with her own free hand. However, it stopped suddenly as the all too familiar feel of sticky slime arrested it. She looked to her side to see that a fourth tendril of slime had dripped down and stuck to the side of her wrist. “When did this get me? I didn’t even see it!”

    Tulip and Lammie looked up at the ceiling to see it was completely coated with the green slime and there were countless tendrils moving and writhing around like it was melting. Tulip looked at Lammie, the fear plain on her face. “We gotta get out of here!”

    “Go for the entrance!” Lammie commanded. “Hail is better than whatever this crap is!”

    Both fauns went to dash for the door, hoping that some force might break them free, however the four tendrils that held them just stretched a little and stopped them. They pushed against it, straining their muscles but the elastic tendrils just gave a little then snapped back. The move was so sudden it caught both fauns by surprise as it yanked them not just back to where they started but beyond. It pulled their hands up toward the ceiling where more slime was waiting and enveloped both hands of both fauns to the forearms just past their wrists. Lammie and Tulip struggled to get their hands back, but the slime had their hands locked tight and their arms trapped above their heads.

    “What the absolute fuck?” Lammie called out as she struggled to lower her arms, but the slime would not return what it had ensnared.

    “Now were even more stuck!” Tulip exclaimed in shock as she tugged on her arms, trying to lower them. She lifted one hoof off the floor then the other but not even her weight could give her the leverage she needed to free either of her hands from the slime that bound her hands above her.

    “We are fauns!” Lammie stated proudly as she braced her hooves. “Nothing can stop us when we get out hooves moving!” Lammie threw her body forward, trying to gain some momentum to break free. She took half a step, her hoof digging into the ground ahead of her. Her muscles flexed as she tugged, the slime stretching with her arms as she went. She fought and tugged, every inch she gained with the slime was a hard fought battle. It stretched far as she got slowly closer and closer to the entrance. However, despite her powerful hooves, despite her strong biceps the slime stopped giving her any more slack. She was locked as if by chains and could not fight for another inch. Soon her muscles faltered, and her momentum was lost and she was yanked back to where she started. She tried to launch forward again and again but every time the slime just locked her progress before savagely pulling her back in place. She stopped to catch her breath; her arms stuck above her head by the slime that enveloped her past the wrists. “I’m stuck!”

    Tulip strained and twisted, trying to find some kind of weakness in the slime. The slime flexed slightly where her hands were, but she could not move them. It was like her hands were gone and there was only slime. She fought and kicked, hanging from the slime like it was a flying trapeze but she could not get free. “This slime is not natural! It captured our hands and now it’s not letting go. It’s not dripping anymore and is just keeping us like this.”

    “I feel like I’m shackled!” Lammie said as she strained, her shoulder muscles and biceps flexing against the restraints that bound her. Sweat dripped down her arms and sides as the exertion and the heat took their toll. No matter how hard she pulled, no matter how she strained she could not get free. “This stuff is unbreakable!”

    Both fauns fought with all their strength, but the slime just stretched a little before pulling them back into position. They were stuck, trapped, their hands above their heads linked to the sticky ceiling of the cave. They could not get away; they could not move. The heat was still oppressive and there was no relief from it at all. Tulip slumped against her restrictive slime, sweat beading off of her forehead and from her underarms. She panted like a dog, trying to cool off in any way she could. Lammie was in the same predicament, all of her strength and power was useless and only managed to make it worse. Beads of sweat dripped from her underarms and her breasts shined in the filtered light of the cave. They were helpless and roasting in the slime cave.

    Hours later the storm passed, revealing a beautiful and serine scene beyond the entrance of the cave. It was cool and inviting with a gentle breeze and the sound of crickets chirping. However, this beautiful landscape might as well be a million miles away as neither faun could reach it. The heat in the cave was still sweltering and the slime that encased their hands showed no signs of releasing them any time soon if it ever released them at all. Three days went by, and the fauns were stuck in the heat, stuck with their arms raised and both were feeling thirst unlike they had ever felt before. They were magical creatures and could last much longer than a mortal, but they needed water or else things would become dire indeed.

    Lammie looked down at the waterskin tied to her belt. It was filled nearly to the top but she just could not reach it. She screamed in panic filled frustration as her salvation was so close, but she simply could not reach it. Tulip looked at her own waterskin and wished desperately she could drink from it, but it was impossible. Both fauns had fought for hours against the slime to reach the water on each others hips. At the maximum stretch the slime allowed both girls to get close but they just could not get to it. The slime seemed to almost be taunting them, allowing them to get frustratingly close before it denied them. If they tried a hundred times to get to their waterskins they failed a hundred times.

    Before long both fauns just hung by the slime that bound them. Their hooves were flat to the ground, but they barely had the strength to do anything else. Were they not stuck upright they would be on the floor. They feared that it was the end, that there was no hope for freedom. That was when a solitary figure entered the cave. They hoped beyond hope that it was Amber, the protector of their clan but it was not. It was a thin older woman. She had a kind look on her face as she walked confidently into the cave.

    “Careful…” Lammie struggled. “…stuck.”

    “Oh, I won’t get stuck my dear.” The woman assured. “I am here to help.” She pulled out a large waterskin from her robes and held it to Lammie’s mouth. Lammie enthusiastically drank, the cool water like heaven in liquid form. She drank and drank but it seemed that the waterskin did not get any smaller. With each gulp she felt her strength come back and before long she stopped, having her fill.

    “My sister!” Lammie exclaimed urgently. “Give her some too I beg of you.”

    The old women nodded and went to Tulip, putting the waterskin to her mouth and allowing her to drink her fill. “Drink all you like my dears.”

    “Can you get us out of this stuff?” Lammie asked, tugging at her arms which did not budge the slime at all. “We can’t get out!”

    “That slime is serious stuff.” The old woman commented. “There is no known way to undo it once its stuck to someone.”

    “Were doomed?” Lammie said as she looked up at the slime that creeped past her wrists to her forearms. “Were stuck in this stuff for good?”

    “I can undo it.” The old woman replied. “But you must do something for me and give me your names.”

    “What must we do?” Tulip asked as she looked up from the waterskin. “Will we be set free?”

    “Heavens no you will not be free.” The old woman replied with a grin. “You will of course belong to me until such a time I am sick of you…if at all. But you must decide if you want that or to stay in the clutches of the slime. Who knows how long it will be before anyone else stumbles across this cave?”

    “Let my sister go!” Lammie demanded in a bold tone. “You can keep me forever and do to me whatever you want just let her walk away free and unstuck.”

    “I already can do whatever I want to you my dear.” The witch said as she traced a finger along Lammie’s bicep. “You are permanently stuck unless I set you free and though my water has rejuvenated you there is no strength within you that can defend you against me. “Give me your names and you will be freed of this cave and this oppressive heat. Otherwise you stay here for the rest of your lives…however long that might be.”

    Lammie growled at the old woman and flexed her muscles and shook with white hot rage. However, the stronger she tried to be the stronger she realized the slime was. It was inescapable and if the witch left, the pair would not last the week. Lammie hung her head and sighed. “My name is Lammie.”

    “What a gorgeous name.” The witch said as she turned to Tulip. “And you my dear.”

    “Tulip.” Tulip responded; her conviction no less diminished than her sisters’ but the idea of not going with her was more scary than any slime. “Please just keep us together.”

    “Oh you wont leave her side.” The witch said with a grin as she wove magic around the pair. “I have spots picked for you right next to each other.

    The world was pulled out from under the pair of fauns for a moment before it reformed around them again. They were on a path in the mountains not far from where they were going. Lammie realized her arms were down, no longer locked above her head. She looked to her side to see her sister standing next to her. She went to reach out to her but felt a familiar feeling of adhesion locking her movement. She looked down to see her hands gripping a bow in front of her that was connected to a long beam. “Dammit…still stuck!”

    Tulip shook off her own confusion and yanked on her arms, her hands stuck to the bow adjacent to her sister. “I can’t get free!”

    “None of us have been able to figure out how to get this stuff off.” A familiar voice replied from behind the sisters. It was one of their friends.

    “Tanis?” Lammie asked in surprise as she saw her faun friends “Meggie? Starlight? Yara?”

    “Sorry.” Yara replied. “We are here too and we totally cannot help you.”

    “This glue is terrifyingly strong.” Starlight added. “We have been trying for some time to get free but it’s no good.”

    “We are helpless.” Meggie admitted. “Once the witch gets our hands glued to this thing there is seemingly no way out.”

    “I wont let this happen to us!” Lammie said as she strained against the glue but was shocked to find it even less forgiving than the slime, she spent so much time bound with. She fought and strained for several moments before an intense pain filled her body. It was emanating from the bow and made her body go ridged. She looked to her sister and the pain on Tulips face was far worse than the pain in her own body. When the pain finally subsided, she was left without any strength to fight.

    “Good so you know the pain that I can inflict on you.” The witch said as she walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat of the caravan all six fauns were stuck to. The caravan seemed to shift and get larger and more elaborate. She smiled. “The others have told you how helpless you are and that saves me some trouble. Six fauns is a pretty decent start. I think at least four would be necessary.”

    “You will not get away with this!” Lammie shouted. “Our protector will defeat you and set us loose from this accursed wagon.”

    “Such conviction about your protector.” The crone grinned. “I would be worried if she wasn’t already trapped and hasn’t been trapped for some time. I just need you to take me to her and her companion and she will be on this wagon with you.”

    “She’s already stuck?” Tulip asked in shock. “Stuck like we were and helpless?”

    “Oh yes!” The crone replied. “They have been in their predicament for some time and any delay you attempt means they stay in it longer. The probably are already dying to trade their names for a little bit of freedom.”

-

Description

The Folly of Fauns.

By FOXCARROTS

Part Three

“The Melting Cavern.”

    The sun hung high over the mountain path that overlooked the forest. The light played with the features of the rocks and cast long shadows on the ground that fell down the mountain as clouds danced in front of the sun. Through the hills lay a rough path, too uneven for human feet but no challenge for the mighty hooves of fauns. Upon this path two such fauns travelled side by side.

    The first was a bold faun named Lammie. She was an athletic faun with bright orange hair with magenta dyed braids framing her face. She was pale and had small, tinted glasses perching on her bud nose. She was dressed in a red leather top with many belts. She looked around with her orange gold eyes and surveyed the landscape.

    Next to her was Tulip a thin faun with blonde hair that transitioned to pink the further from her head it got. She was dressed in a simple corset over a sleeveless undershirt. She was examining some flowers she had picked along the way and didn’t focus on the path ahead, trusting that Lammie would not lead her astray.

    The pair were so close they were sometimes mistaken for sisters. They both looked somewhat alike in features and dress and no one, including the fauns themselves knew if this was intentional or not. The pair enjoyed each other’s company even if they didn’t say a word for hours or days. They were on their way to meet up with some other fauns and were enjoying the walk as much as the idea of what they would get up to in the meeting. The landscape was beautiful and the winds coming from the south were soft and inviting. There had been nothing to think of or worry about for hours.

    However, this paradise of a day could not last forever and soon Lammie stopped on the path, her strong hooves clunking in the dirt as she stopped.

    “What’s wrong Lammie?” Tulip asked, crooking her head in curiosity. “Do you sense people nearby?”

    “I wish.” Lammie recalled. “There are goat farmers in these hills, and I have always wanted to ask them how they navigate here without hooves.”

    “You love humans too much.” Tulip laughed. “But if it is not them what has caught your attention?”

    “There is an ominous smell on the wind.” Lammie said as she looked around. “I think it will rain.”

    As if summoned by Lammie herself the clouds began to turn dark, and water fell in earnest down the valley but seemed to be much lighter where they were up high. The smell of a storm that Lammie had sensed soon became noticeable by Tulip and she looked up as the sky began to turn a vibrant turquoise green. “Seems like quite the storm is coming!”

    “We need to find shelter!” Lammie replied, her gaze growing more intense. “And fast!”

    “Why?” Tulip asked as she held out her hand, a few drops of water falling onto it. “It’s not raining that bad and the wind has died down some.”

    “It’s not that!” Lammie insisted but before she could say anything else a bolt of lightning struck a small tree nearby, setting it ablaze as it fell apart. “Lightning!”

    Tulip didn’t have to say anything else or ask any questions, acting as one with Lammie as the pair of fauns took off running away from the place last struck. Lightning hit again and again striking anything a few feet off the ground, threatening to get the wayward fauns at any moment. Lammie lead Tulip as fast as she could. She scanned around the area, desperately looking for some protection from the violent lighting that seemed to be pursuing them. Suddenly she spotted it, a small cave in the rocky mountain side ahead of them. The hole wasn’t much larger than they were, and they had no idea what was inside. However, since neither faun wanted to be hit by lightning, they had no choice but to go for it and make a mad dash for the opening.

    As the fauns crossed the threshold lightning struck a stone by the entrance. Both Lammie and Tulip could not help but think themselves lucky and that the scorched rock could have just as easily been either of them. The wind picked up again and the rain grew heavy. Hail and debris began to pelt the inside of the cave as the wind turned violent and assaulted the entrance.

    “Tornado!” Lammie shouted as she and Tulip began to back further into the cave. It opened up to be wider, but the ceiling was right above their heads. They could feel the biting winds trying to get to them and they moved back until they could not feel it anymore.

    “Well, we seem to be safe.” Lammie said as she looked around, finding the cave was not too much further back and seemingly empty.”

    “No bears.” Tulip nodded. “And thankfully no bats.”

    “You fear bats more than bears?” Lammie asked.

    “Bears are less likely to poop on you.” Tulip stated in all seriousness. “Bats seem to be aiming for you.”

    “Your priorities!” Lammie laughed.

    “I call it how I see it.” Tulip replied with a laugh. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

    Lammie looked around and let herself become aware of it, sure enough there was a lot of heat seemingly coming from below and once they were away from the wind it grew warmer and warmer. “I think there’s probably some geothermal vents or something below us. nothing to worry about though. I don’t see any big holes or anything down there to worry about. We should be fine to wait out the storm here.”

    “Makes sense to me!” Tulip replied. “Kind of like a sweat lodge in the mountains to the north. People pay good gold for places like this.”

    “Then we should count ourselves lucky.” Lammie agreed. “We should enjoy it while we can, who knows how long the storm will last.”

    Lammie and Tulip rested and collected their bearings in the cave as the storm whipped violently outside. The heat was at first pleasant but as they stayed inside, they started getting warmer and warmer. Lammie touched her biceps and felt a thin layer of sweat forming. They kept moving as close as they could to the door where the cool wind was but every once and awhile a piece of debris or hail would fly inside the cave. One such hunk of ice hit Tulip in the arm and both fauns moved away from the cold wind back into the oppressive heat of the cave.

    The pair just waited and watched the storm, sweating and standing together. Nothing changed, nothing altered until Tulip saw something out of the corner of her eye deeper into the cave. It was a strange green tendril dripping from above.

    “What’s this?” Tulip asked as she looked at the dripping substance. It was a pale green and thick and non-translucent but had a certain shine to it. “Is this sap?”

    “I don’t think so.” Lammie said as she adjusted her glasses and moved closer to it. “Looks like some sort of slime. I have never seen anything like it. Whatever you do don’t touch it.”

    Tulips fingers and thumb came into contact with the slime, a fraction of a second too late to react to the warning. She looked back to Lammie with an apologetic look on her face. “Oh…sorry.”

    “Well let’s hope the stuff isn’t acidic or toxic.” Lammie said as she put her hands on her hips. “Do you feel any burning or anything?”

    “Nothing.” Tulip replied as she moved her fingers away from the slime, sticky tendrils tightly trailing behind them. She rotated her thumb but it was likewise anchored into the stickiness of the dripping tendril. Tulip giggled to herself. “But it’s super sticky!”

    “Sticky is better than acid I suppose.” Lammie said as she took a cloth out from her hip satchel. “Give me your hand I’ll help you get it cleaned off.”

    Tulip nodded and pulled her hand further from the dripping tendril; however, the sticky strands stretched and prevented her from getting more than a few inches away. She tilted her head and tugged again, the elastic sticky strands fighting her hand before smacking it back to the thick goo tendril leaving all four of her fingers and her palm stuck tight to it. “I can’t unstick!”

    “Here let me help you…” Lammie said as she reached out a hand to help just then, another thick tendril dropped from above right in the path of Lammie’s bare hand. She tried to react but before the thought was even formed in her mind the palm of her hand smacked onto the sticky tendril. She instinctively tried to pull it away, but sticky strands tugged on her skin and yanked her hand back to the tendril, locking her fingers and thumb to it tightly. “Ungh…what the hell is this stuff?

    Tulip continued trying to open her hand and pull it free, but the slime had completely coated it and was getting less and less elastic with every movement. Before long, her hand only flexed against the slime, barely causing it to stretch at all. “Lammie I’m stuck!”

    “Yeah, I seem to be stuck too!” Lammie said as the green goop held tight to her hand. She looked at Tulip as a second tendril began to come from the ceiling impossibly aiming for her other hand. “Tulip look out!”

    Tulip looked to her side but it was too late, the tendril, moving as if it had a mind of it’s own smacked onto the back of Tulips free hand, rendering it anything but. She gave a few experimental tugs but the tendril was locked to it and would not let go. “My other hand is slimed!”

    “Let me see if-“ Lammie began as she went to reach out to Tulip with her own free hand. However, it stopped suddenly as the all too familiar feel of sticky slime arrested it. She looked to her side to see that a fourth tendril of slime had dripped down and stuck to the side of her wrist. “When did this get me? I didn’t even see it!”

    Tulip and Lammie looked up at the ceiling to see it was completely coated with the green slime and there were countless tendrils moving and writhing around like it was melting. Tulip looked at Lammie, the fear plain on her face. “We gotta get out of here!”

    “Go for the entrance!” Lammie commanded. “Hail is better than whatever this crap is!”

    Both fauns went to dash for the door, hoping that some force might break them free, however the four tendrils that held them just stretched a little and stopped them. They pushed against it, straining their muscles but the elastic tendrils just gave a little then snapped back. The move was so sudden it caught both fauns by surprise as it yanked them not just back to where they started but beyond. It pulled their hands up toward the ceiling where more slime was waiting and enveloped both hands of both fauns to the forearms just past their wrists. Lammie and Tulip struggled to get their hands back, but the slime had their hands locked tight and their arms trapped above their heads.

    “What the absolute fuck?” Lammie called out as she struggled to lower her arms, but the slime would not return what it had ensnared.

    “Now were even more stuck!” Tulip exclaimed in shock as she tugged on her arms, trying to lower them. She lifted one hoof off the floor then the other but not even her weight could give her the leverage she needed to free either of her hands from the slime that bound her hands above her.

    “We are fauns!” Lammie stated proudly as she braced her hooves. “Nothing can stop us when we get out hooves moving!” Lammie threw her body forward, trying to gain some momentum to break free. She took half a step, her hoof digging into the ground ahead of her. Her muscles flexed as she tugged, the slime stretching with her arms as she went. She fought and tugged, every inch she gained with the slime was a hard fought battle. It stretched far as she got slowly closer and closer to the entrance. However, despite her powerful hooves, despite her strong biceps the slime stopped giving her any more slack. She was locked as if by chains and could not fight for another inch. Soon her muscles faltered, and her momentum was lost and she was yanked back to where she started. She tried to launch forward again and again but every time the slime just locked her progress before savagely pulling her back in place. She stopped to catch her breath; her arms stuck above her head by the slime that enveloped her past the wrists. “I’m stuck!”

    Tulip strained and twisted, trying to find some kind of weakness in the slime. The slime flexed slightly where her hands were, but she could not move them. It was like her hands were gone and there was only slime. She fought and kicked, hanging from the slime like it was a flying trapeze but she could not get free. “This slime is not natural! It captured our hands and now it’s not letting go. It’s not dripping anymore and is just keeping us like this.”

    “I feel like I’m shackled!” Lammie said as she strained, her shoulder muscles and biceps flexing against the restraints that bound her. Sweat dripped down her arms and sides as the exertion and the heat took their toll. No matter how hard she pulled, no matter how she strained she could not get free. “This stuff is unbreakable!”

    Both fauns fought with all their strength, but the slime just stretched a little before pulling them back into position. They were stuck, trapped, their hands above their heads linked to the sticky ceiling of the cave. They could not get away; they could not move. The heat was still oppressive and there was no relief from it at all. Tulip slumped against her restrictive slime, sweat beading off of her forehead and from her underarms. She panted like a dog, trying to cool off in any way she could. Lammie was in the same predicament, all of her strength and power was useless and only managed to make it worse. Beads of sweat dripped from her underarms and her breasts shined in the filtered light of the cave. They were helpless and roasting in the slime cave.

    Hours later the storm passed, revealing a beautiful and serine scene beyond the entrance of the cave. It was cool and inviting with a gentle breeze and the sound of crickets chirping. However, this beautiful landscape might as well be a million miles away as neither faun could reach it. The heat in the cave was still sweltering and the slime that encased their hands showed no signs of releasing them any time soon if it ever released them at all. Three days went by, and the fauns were stuck in the heat, stuck with their arms raised and both were feeling thirst unlike they had ever felt before. They were magical creatures and could last much longer than a mortal, but they needed water or else things would become dire indeed.

    Lammie looked down at the waterskin tied to her belt. It was filled nearly to the top but she just could not reach it. She screamed in panic filled frustration as her salvation was so close, but she simply could not reach it. Tulip looked at her own waterskin and wished desperately she could drink from it, but it was impossible. Both fauns had fought for hours against the slime to reach the water on each others hips. At the maximum stretch the slime allowed both girls to get close but they just could not get to it. The slime seemed to almost be taunting them, allowing them to get frustratingly close before it denied them. If they tried a hundred times to get to their waterskins they failed a hundred times.

    Before long both fauns just hung by the slime that bound them. Their hooves were flat to the ground, but they barely had the strength to do anything else. Were they not stuck upright they would be on the floor. They feared that it was the end, that there was no hope for freedom. That was when a solitary figure entered the cave. They hoped beyond hope that it was Amber, the protector of their clan but it was not. It was a thin older woman. She had a kind look on her face as she walked confidently into the cave.

    “Careful…” Lammie struggled. “…stuck.”

    “Oh, I won’t get stuck my dear.” The woman assured. “I am here to help.” She pulled out a large waterskin from her robes and held it to Lammie’s mouth. Lammie enthusiastically drank, the cool water like heaven in liquid form. She drank and drank but it seemed that the waterskin did not get any smaller. With each gulp she felt her strength come back and before long she stopped, having her fill.

    “My sister!” Lammie exclaimed urgently. “Give her some too I beg of you.”

    The old women nodded and went to Tulip, putting the waterskin to her mouth and allowing her to drink her fill. “Drink all you like my dears.”

    “Can you get us out of this stuff?” Lammie asked, tugging at her arms which did not budge the slime at all. “We can’t get out!”

    “That slime is serious stuff.” The old woman commented. “There is no known way to undo it once its stuck to someone.”

    “Were doomed?” Lammie said as she looked up at the slime that creeped past her wrists to her forearms. “Were stuck in this stuff for good?”

    “I can undo it.” The old woman replied. “But you must do something for me and give me your names.”

    “What must we do?” Tulip asked as she looked up from the waterskin. “Will we be set free?”

    “Heavens no you will not be free.” The old woman replied with a grin. “You will of course belong to me until such a time I am sick of you…if at all. But you must decide if you want that or to stay in the clutches of the slime. Who knows how long it will be before anyone else stumbles across this cave?”

    “Let my sister go!” Lammie demanded in a bold tone. “You can keep me forever and do to me whatever you want just let her walk away free and unstuck.”

    “I already can do whatever I want to you my dear.” The witch said as she traced a finger along Lammie’s bicep. “You are permanently stuck unless I set you free and though my water has rejuvenated you there is no strength within you that can defend you against me. “Give me your names and you will be freed of this cave and this oppressive heat. Otherwise you stay here for the rest of your lives…however long that might be.”

    Lammie growled at the old woman and flexed her muscles and shook with white hot rage. However, the stronger she tried to be the stronger she realized the slime was. It was inescapable and if the witch left, the pair would not last the week. Lammie hung her head and sighed. “My name is Lammie.”

    “What a gorgeous name.” The witch said as she turned to Tulip. “And you my dear.”

    “Tulip.” Tulip responded; her conviction no less diminished than her sisters’ but the idea of not going with her was more scary than any slime. “Please just keep us together.”

    “Oh you wont leave her side.” The witch said with a grin as she wove magic around the pair. “I have spots picked for you right next to each other.

    The world was pulled out from under the pair of fauns for a moment before it reformed around them again. They were on a path in the mountains not far from where they were going. Lammie realized her arms were down, no longer locked above her head. She looked to her side to see her sister standing next to her. She went to reach out to her but felt a familiar feeling of adhesion locking her movement. She looked down to see her hands gripping a bow in front of her that was connected to a long beam. “Dammit…still stuck!”

    Tulip shook off her own confusion and yanked on her arms, her hands stuck to the bow adjacent to her sister. “I can’t get free!”

    “None of us have been able to figure out how to get this stuff off.” A familiar voice replied from behind the sisters. It was one of their friends.

    “Tanis?” Lammie asked in surprise as she saw her faun friends “Meggie? Starlight? Yara?”

    “Sorry.” Yara replied. “We are here too and we totally cannot help you.”

    “This glue is terrifyingly strong.” Starlight added. “We have been trying for some time to get free but it’s no good.”

    “We are helpless.” Meggie admitted. “Once the witch gets our hands glued to this thing there is seemingly no way out.”

    “I wont let this happen to us!” Lammie said as she strained against the glue but was shocked to find it even less forgiving than the slime, she spent so much time bound with. She fought and strained for several moments before an intense pain filled her body. It was emanating from the bow and made her body go ridged. She looked to her sister and the pain on Tulips face was far worse than the pain in her own body. When the pain finally subsided, she was left without any strength to fight.

    “Good so you know the pain that I can inflict on you.” The witch said as she walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat of the caravan all six fauns were stuck to. The caravan seemed to shift and get larger and more elaborate. She smiled. “The others have told you how helpless you are and that saves me some trouble. Six fauns is a pretty decent start. I think at least four would be necessary.”

    “You will not get away with this!” Lammie shouted. “Our protector will defeat you and set us loose from this accursed wagon.”

    “Such conviction about your protector.” The crone grinned. “I would be worried if she wasn’t already trapped and hasn’t been trapped for some time. I just need you to take me to her and her companion and she will be on this wagon with you.”

    “She’s already stuck?” Tulip asked in shock. “Stuck like we were and helpless?”

    “Oh yes!” The crone replied. “They have been in their predicament for some time and any delay you attempt means they stay in it longer. The probably are already dying to trade their names for a little bit of freedom.”

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