Chapter 8: Harpies
That night we all began our short trek to the estimated location of the harpies' aery. I set a leisurely pace, both to not tire out the villagers before a big fight, and to get deeper into the night when presumably the harpies would be sleeping more soundly. Our arrival was announced by a young girl who had appointed herself scout because she was quick, small, and stealthy. She reported that she had found the aery. I halted the group right there and told them to wait for my signal. If they heard nothing from me for 30 minutes they were to return to their homes.
Just as I was about to head towards the aery, Alice stopped me. "Hey Luka," she said. "Make sure you come back. Don't lose in a place like this."
I was touched. Was she starting to care? I nodded to her and stealthily crept into the village. I was hoping that everyone would be sound asleep and thus me creeping through their aery would go unnoticed. As I moved through it, I was dismayed at the sheer number of small huts in the trees. The harpies must easily outnumber the villagers three to one, and with harpies' already natural advantage over humans, the odds were impossible if I didn't do my job. It might not even be possible if I did.
Now if you'll remember, stealth is not one of my strong suits. Nor is situational awareness. I heard a voice right above my head. "Hello, I'm Happy. What's your name?"
I looked up to see a harpy much like the one I'd fought in the village flapping above me. She looked a little older, and yet a bit less mature. Was her name Happy, or was she telling me she was happy? Happy the Harpy? "My name is Luka." I whispered.
"Do you live here?" she said in normal voice, making me cringe. Someone's going to hear!
I gave up the whispering. "I was hoping for an audience with your queen." Now that I thought about it, that didn't have to be a lie. Maybe I could just resolve this with diplomacy?
"Okay!" she said and flapped off ahead of me, towards what looked like the biggest house in the tallest tree. There in the distance I could see a figure in the door, talking to… Happy? She spoke too quietly for me to hear, but I could hear Happy clearly.
"That man over there says he wants to see you!" "I don't know!" I could see the harpy in the doorway put her face in her hand. She then gestured to Happy and I saw Happy fly off. The other harpy alighted from the tall tree and flew towards where I was standing. I immediately identified her as the queen. Even from a distance, her flight was so much more graceful. Where the other two harpies I'd seen had flapped wildly, she practically glided, flying towards me with a minimum of exertion.
She landed in front of me with even more grace and regality if that was possible. She had light blue hair and was dressed all in white. She wore a tiara on her head and a few pieces of jewelry adorned her body. "Is there something that you need from me?" she asked.
"Are you the leader of the harpies?" I asked, just to make sure.
"Indeed," she replied. "I am the Queen Harpy. Why are you here? I have a pretty good guess."
Talking hadn't gotten me out of a fight yet, but she was a queen and she hadn't come specifically to attack me, so maybe this time…. "I want you to stop kidnapping the villagers and return the men. If you keep this up, humans will never be able to live peacefully with monsters."
"You have that in reverse, human boy," she said. "We are forced to do this because humans cannot live peacefully with us."
I knew that as a small village they were probably faithful Ilias worshippers, but I found it hard to believe they were attacking the harpy village. "What do you mean? Was Happiness Village attacking your village?"
"Aery", she corrected. "And I don't have to explain myself to you. This is something of critical importance to us, as well."
"I'm giving you a chance to settle this peacefully," I said, indignant at being dismissed in such a way, queen or no queen. I drew my sword, which I probably should have considered at the time was contradictory to my claim that I was giving her a chance to settle this without a fight.
"So it comes down to force, does it?" she said. "Then allow me to show you the power of a Harpy Queen!"
She took on a fighting stance. "Pointing a sword at a queen is a rather big crime," she said. "No matter the reason, rape is the punishment. I shall personally see to carrying out your sentence!"
She attacked first with one of her talons. She was ridiculously fast, but I was starting to get more accustomed to faster opponents. I dodged the talon strike and drew first "blood" with a sword slash across her midsection. "You are pretty good with that sword. But you're still just human."
Even faster than before, she took me down and gained a full mount position. "Rejoice! Someone like you shall get to mate with the Queen! Give all of your semen to my womb!"
To my surprise, just like the first harpy she was too focused on cutting open my pants(another pair gone!) to hold down my sword arm. I made her pay for that mistake the same way, with a stab to the abdomen. She didn't scream, to her credit, but she did get off of me. "So you waited for an opening. You're pretty good. Feel my feathers!"
Again almost faster than I could follow, her feathers brushed me as she zipped past. The sensation was far more astounding than what the first harpy had made me feel, weakening my resolve. To be the mate of the queen! How amazing would she feel and how much of an honor would it be? Perhaps this was my reason for being here! Don't make fun of me! I'd like to see you last a minute with a harpy's feathers massaging you!
I swung my sword again in response but she was too quick for me. After circling me a couple of times, passing her feathers around my body, with special attention to my now exposed groin area, she backed off a couple of feet and stood still with her wings open and her body exposed. "Take your best shot. You are too pathetic to hurt me!"
She'd already taken two solid hits from Angel Halo, which was one more than anyone else had taken. The opening seemed tempting but was clearly a trap. Maybe if I tried Demon Decapitation it would seal her? Having no idea how strong she really was, I chose caution and stood still with my guard up, ready for anything. "Fufu.. Are you going to ignore my invitation?"
For what seemed an eternity we just stared at each other. I feared I might not have any choice but to try to attack. It sure looked like she was buying time for help to arrive. But was help arriving? I heard no sound of flapping wings, no sounds of alarm. As far as I could tell it was just the Queen and I in the clearing. Like Granberia, was this a matter of honor for her?
Finally, she lowered her wings. "My invitation was the easy way for you to lose. I'm afraid now it will have to be the hard way."
She sprang at me, talons outstretched. I got my sword up and parried one of the talons, but at least two others, one hand(or wing?) talon and one foot talon scoring. The wound caused by her foot was painful but didn't seem to be bleeding much but the wing talon caught me right where Granberia had wounded me and had likely been her primary target. I felt blood flow down my arm and back. Even through the pain of her attack I had felt her divine feathers. What powerful magic do high ranking monsters have, that they can distract you with pleasure even while cutting you?
She attacked a second time, knocking my sword out of my hand and putting me on the ground once again. The good news is that she wasn't in a full mount this time, the bad news is that she was trying to restrain all my limbs. This led to rolling around on the ground again with a high ranking monster, with all the problems for my resolve that it led to with Granberia. I focused on keeping her talons from cutting me. Happy that I was distracted by those, she switched her strategy to pleasure attacks again. With my penis already exposed, she made a point to constantly rub her body and feathers against it. I was near my limit. I couldn't let her go because I had no chance against her speed. If I was going to win, it was going to be on the ground, where her speed was neutralized. But I was also keenly aware that it was where she had wanted me in the first place, and she was using all the advantages she had to defeat me.
I realized I was still holding back. Since this wasn't a contest like the one between Granberia and I where we agreed to only grapple, I had many opportunities to punch her, use elbows, and forearms. But I just couldn't bear the idea of bruising her face that way, even though she was just as strong, perhaps stronger, than me, and using talons. The only concession I made to that was when her head seemed to go for my penis, I grabbed her head with both hands and pushed it away. At that point in the fight, that would have brought me to critical ecstasy for certain. Later, I found out she too had been holding back, that she wasn't truly convinced of the righteousness of her actions. Her heart had not been in the fight. So my chivalry may have been for my own benefit rather than hers. Had I bloodied her face she might have cut loose on me.
Finally, I caught her in a rear naked choke. Choking a woman didn't feel much better to me than striking a woman. I was really starting to hate all this fighting, but at least now I had the chance to end it. And end it did. At first she struggled wildly, but then ceased and gasped that she would resist no longer once she realized there was no escape. Even if I hadn't been stronger than the average human, she wouldn't have been able to break the hold merely through struggle. I silently thanked whoever had taught me how to grapple and use leverage. That was two battles against powerful monsters that had been won thanks to that useful skill. The only problem had been her feathery butt rubbing against my groin during her struggles. But I had endured.
I released her and went to retrieve my sword. She was on her knees on the ground, gasping and coughing. I hated this fighting so much. Even though I wasn't killing, it still felt terrible. Hurting people just wasn't in my nature, and yet, there was the harpy queen, choked out by me, the great hero. Some hero I was.
"How could I… how could I…lose?" she gasped.
As planned, I tossed a magic cylinder into the air. It functioned much as a flare would, to signal the villagers that I had done my part in all this. Far from triumphant, I felt horrible. And naked. Crap, gotta get pants out of my pack again!
"Charge!" I heard from outside the village. The women rushed into the aery, quickly reaching me and the fallen queen, still on her knees. I stood between the queen and the villagers with my palm out. They slowed to a stop in front of me. I was not going to let any further harm come to her. I had done more than enough on my own.
"I see," the queen said, having regained her voice. She stood up as regally as she could to face the women. "They have come to rescue the men."
By now the commotion had woken and attracted numerous harpies. They had arrived so quickly after the womens' battle cries that I was now certain that they had not been alerted by Happy. The Queen had apparently instructed Happy to just leave, that she would handle the interloper herself. Whether through a sense of honor or overconfidence I did not know.
"Queen! What's going on?! The humans are attacking?!" yelled one of the harpies. Fortunately, there was no fighting yet. The harpies were confused and had no orders from their queen. The villagers, either through prudence or fear, did not try to attack anyone. Most brandished their farm implements and kitchen knives threateningly, but made no move to attack.
I faced the queen. "You've lost. Return all the men."
"I won't." she said firmly. What now? Was it to be war anyway? I had no choice but to seal her before she could give orders to her subjects and there was bloodshed. I raised my sword.
Suddenly, fate bailed me out again. "Hey! Wait!" That was a male voice. "Stop that!" Another male voice! "Don't cut the queen!" Yet another! Men poured out of the houses, arriving much later than the harpies due to their much slower means of locomotion but seemingly no less determined to protect the aery. Many of them placed themselves between me and the Queen.
The womens' reaction was immediate. 'Father?" one said. "Mark! You're safe!" yelled another. The women surged forward towards the men, the queen and the other harpies seemingly forgotten. The men looked to be in good shape. They were normally dressed, not in chains as I might have expected. They looked healthy and well cared for. It didn't seem like they were being held against their will at all.
The woman who had rushed towards the man called Mark said to him, "Mark? What happened to you?"
"Mother…" Mark said. "Let me introduce you to my wife, Piana." He pointed to a harpy who had landed and stood next to him protectively. And then pointing to a much smaller harpy who had landed behind him, "This is our daughter, Pipi."
"Grandma?" Pipi said with wide eyes, walking up to Mark's mother and flapping her wings. And this wasn't the only such scene. Reunions were occurring all around the clearing.
"Father, what do you mean?" "Ah, well, What I'm saying is… Reina is your new stepmother." The "stepmother" looked to be the same age as the man's daughter.
A man walked up to me and shook my hand. "A traveler finally pulled it off! I was the last one Happiness Village sent to defeat the harpies, but you actually did it! I'm sorry it was so unnecessary. Let me treat those cuts." He pulled out what looked like a first aid kit and started attending to me. "I have seven children. Already! So seeing how it really is here, can we end this fight? These are our wives and children. We don't want them to be hurt."
That's what I had wanted in the first place. Why did the queen have to be so stubborn, rather than just explaining it to me. Was it a royalty thing? Did she not feel the need to explain herself to commoners, even to avoid a fight?
As I looked around, I heard more joyful and less than joyful reunions. One of the less happy ones was the village chief and his wife. He was saying something to her, and she reached for his neck.
The queen gestured, and all voices went silent. Now that's a leader! I thought. I could never command attention like that. She began to speak. "Since we can be nothing but female, we would be unable to breed if we did not borrow human males. However, with humans coming to hate monsters, what choice did we have?"
I sympathized, but also spotted the rationalization easily. "You took every single one of them, though," I said.
"We don't want to die out," she countered. "You can't just take them all away from us."
The other harpies started protesting as well. "We never hurt any of the men, we made sure they were happy," one said. Another chimed in with agreement. "That's right. The men are too important to injure or force them against their will."
Could that really be true? This sounded like possibly more rationalization. Surely one man had to be loyal to his family or his Goddess and should have returned. I started looking at many of the men's faces. As my eyes met the former village chief's, he said, "Of course! They made me feel young again. Every night…" His wife's hands went around his neck again. "Honey! I can explain!"
Some of the reunions were extremely awkward. Apparently the harpies practiced polygamy because some of the men were introducing their human wives to multiple harpy wives. One young woman had two stepmothers and six stepsisters! It looked like fighting might break out again, not between the harpies and humans as a whole, but between family members!
I noticed Alice standing next to me, arms folded. "I'm at a total loss as to what to do now." I said.
"Don't look at me," she said. "This was your show."
After awhile some of the men started to speak aloud about combining the two villages into one big family. I marveled at the very suggestion. If that ended up working, how great would that be? It would be messy, and complicated, but maybe, just maybe, it could work. The mothers with new granddaughters and daughters in law seemed to accept the idea to varying degrees. The married women whose husbands had shacked up with new wives without so much as letting their wives know what had happened to them were less accepting. Who could blame them? Although it hadn't been specifically said that the men could leave to visit their former families, I couldn't believe anymore that the harpies just flatly wouldn't allow it.
Alice spoke. "This is a problem that they'll need to solve themselves. It would be bad for you to get involved."
I had to concede she was right. The villagers had looked to me to get them their husbands back, but now that they had them back it didn't seem like anyone was interested in my opinion anyway. Not that I had anything useful to say.
Nevertheless, I didn't leave just yet. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't erupt in fighting and potential bloodshed before continuing on. The arguments had continued all through the night. Finally, the Queen signaled for silence again and got it. "We've reached agreement. We won't forcibly kidnap men from the Happiness Village anymore."
The acting elder nodded. "We will send men from our village to marry harpies. In return, the harpies must also help with the farming and beekeeping in our village."
After that, they began to prepare a festival to celebrate the peace agreement. This seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity to see something unique, so I elected to remain for awhile longer to experience it. Alice offered no complaints, since festivals usually meant food. It also meant alcohol. Harpies and humans were dancing drunkenly in the clearing. I'd never been too fond of alcohol, so I just enjoyed a cup of fruit juice. I'd asked Alice if she wanted to dance, and she turned me down flat. But she encouraged me to enjoy some dancing with the others if I so desired. She said I had earned it. Quite a few human women and harpies alike offered a dance, and I joined in. To my surprise, towards the end of the night, the queen herself offered me her hand. "To peace?" she said. I smiled and we danced joyously. Those feathers though… I don't think I could have handled a slow dance. Even the first harpy I'd met who tried to attack me in the village wanted a dance, although she couldn't help but grope me and make lewd offers.
Many of the women thanked me profusely. It turned out every single male was accounted for. Many asked what they could do to show their gratitude. Alice, despite not having done any of the combat, piped up, "If you want to show your appreciation, I love sweet things." Eh. She came up with the strategy. The general is entitled to the fruits of victory as well I guess. She deserved almost all the credit for the fact there had been no loss of life.
As expected, she got a jar of Happiness Honey. Alice had hoped for more, but it was all they had. I cheered her up by noting that soon production would ramp up again, and that she could come back to Iliasburg any time to get more Ama Ama Dangos.
I wondered aloud why this couldn't have been done from the start. Alice called me an idiot. She blamed the Ilias faith for everything, but from what I could tell it wasn't the defining feature of this conflict. Not one man had refused a harpy once taken. Of course, I still wasn't clear on if the men had mated willingly the first time. That first harpy had tried to rape me right in the middle of the village! It seemed the harpies had very much rationalized their actions. I just had to accept that in the monster's worldview, rape was just not that serious a crime. In their view, they were probably just showing the men what they were missing. After all, not one had left afterwards even though they seemed to be permitted to do so.
Alice had spoken privately with the queen and relayed to me that the queen had felt conflicted about taking such measures. She was not comfortable at all with kidnapping, but felt she had no choice to preserve her people. Alice also revealed to me that the queen had been holding back due to her lack of commitment. Alice insisted she would have easily defeated me otherwise.
Since we hadn't slept in nearly 24 hours, we decided to stay and get some rest. Everyone slept in until noon the next day. There wasn't enough room in the houses, so many families, plus myself and Alice, camped in the clearing. Alice stayed up a little later by the fire, happily eating happiness honey, licking it off her fingers. I caught myself staring, not so much because I'm naturally perverted that way, but because anytime you see a woman with a tongue that appears to be several inches long you start to wonder what she could do to you with it. I think she caught me staring, because she started exaggerating her movements like she had when she was licking my seed off her fingers at the inn. I looked away in embarrassment. Would she? I would never be brave enough to ask. Oh well. If I was her traveling meal and that one time at Sutherland Inn hadn't been a fluke, maybe she'd get to that. In the meantime it would haunt my dreams. Thankfully Ilias didn't intrude on them that night.
Morning came, and we gathered our stuff together to move out. The acting village elder strode up to me, "We are indebted to you, traveler. Please come to our village again, we would be glad to have you."
The Queen Harpy also joined us. "Even though we had our reasons, we were still wrong. Because of you, we were able to correct it. I wish you a safe journey."
Despite the complicated nature of the solution compared to what had gone down in Iliasburg, I don't think I ever felt so good in my life. You can talk all you want about harpy feathers, lamia tongues, soft hands, warm mucus, or slime, tentacles, even fluffy tails, but nothing, and I mean nothing, feels better than having helped people. I really must be getting addicted to this, I thought. The queen looked none the worse for wear, and she had forgiven me, even thanked me!
Before we left, the queen reached for Alice's arm. "May I ask you one last question? Are you by any chance…."
"I'm just a traveling monster," Alice replied. It was the same answer she had given me when she was in my house.
Contrary to my confused response, the queen seemed to understand something immediately. "Oh, Is that right? I don't need to inquire any further, do I?"
Thus ended our adventure in the aery. We headed off to Iliasport, spirits high. Me, because of what had been accomplished, and Alice because she had a jar of happiness honey, with more goodies likely in Iliasport. I hoped that my wounds would heal and my bandages could come off before I got into another fight.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone