“Now then, Missy Eee-yannie, get ready for the ride of your life!” Stor’kuum proclaimed, settling himself on a padded seat on the left side of the carriage while Iyanna took one beside him on the right.
“Why do you say that?” she asked as she settled herself gingerly in the seat, which appeared to be made of the same finely woven vines and flowers as the furniture back in her suite.
“Why, because we’ll be going up and down the Great Hill, so we shall! Climbing high as the top of the ship and then rushing down, right through the Sacred Grove!” He made a downward motion with one hand as though to illustrate the steep drop. “Makes your stummik light out for your throat, so it does! ‘Tis my fav-o-rite part o’ the ride and always has been, since I was a lad.”
Normally his enthusiasm would have made Iyanna smile. But at the moment all she could think was that she could not take another big roller coaster hill right now! The friction it would cause between her thighs might make her spontaneously combust at this point—she simply could not do it—not today, anyway.
Then she saw something that she knew would get her out of it.
“Oh, look!” she exclaimed, pointing to the old satyr’s right hoof. “That crack in your hoof—it’s gotten so much bigger. That’s not good, is it?”
Stor’kuum leaned over with surprising agility and peered down at his hoof.
“Eh, now—I’m afraid you’re right!” he said, frowning. “And no, it’s not good—not a‘tall.”
“You’d better go get that fixed,” Iyanna said, half rising from her seat. “We can finish the tour later—your hoof has to come first, after all.”
“Nay!” The old satyr rose and pressed down on her shoulder with surprising strength, pushing her back into her seat. “Stay put, Missy Eee-yannie. Won’t take but a moment to get me a bit of hoof glue—that’ll hold me while we tour the Dark Side, so it will.”
Disappointed, Iyanna sank back down.
“But…do you have time before the carpet wole starts again?” she asked doubtfully.
“Certain and sure I do!” Stor’kuum declared loudly. He was already climbing down the steps back to the platform of the Transport Hub. “You just stay put and I’ll be back in two shakes of a tilly-tole’s tail.”
Iyanna didn’t know what a “tilly-tole” was but she doubted the old Satyr’s ability to get his hoof fixed before their ride got underway. He was still lively despite his age, but he definitely moved slower because of it. What if the wole started again before he got back? What if she was left on the Dark Side by herself, which Commander Rarev had specifically warned against? What if—?
And then her fears came true as the carpet wole lurched and started moving slowly forward, as though whoever was driving it was slowly raising the bait ball out of reach.
“Oh!” she gasped, jumping to her feet. “Oh wait—I need to get off!”
From the platform, Stor’kuum saw her predicament.
“Nay, Missy!” he exclaimed, gesturing wildly with both hands for her to sit back down. “Nay, ‘tis not safe to try and exit a moving wole! Just sit tight and wait for me—I’ll take the next one and meet you on the Dark Side, soon as I get this hoof glued!”
“But…but I’m not supposed to go to the Dark Side by myself!” Iyanna called to him. The carpet wole was pulling away from the station at this point, the wole’s many chitinous legs clacking against the track, sounding for all the world like an old-fashioned steam engine train picking up speed.
“Just stay on the lighted path and you’ll be fine!” Stor’kuum bawled at her, his gray beard wagging. “No fear, Missy Eee-yannie! I’ll be meeting you soon! I’ll—”
But his last words were whipped away in a rush as the wole began running down the track in earnest and the old satyr was left behind.
TEN
“Now what?” Iyanna muttered to herself as she departed the carpet wole at the Dark Side station. “Should I just wait here for him or what?”
The ride had been both amazing and terrifying with the wole climbing to heights as tall as a skyscraper and then rushing down again, through the leafy, blue-green jungle of the Monstrum’s Sacred Grove.
It had also tested Iyanna to her limits, teasing her and putting her right on the edge of orgasm…without quite letting her tip over into the relief she so desperately needed. At this point she almost felt like she would die if she didn’t come—but of course she couldn’t show that as she disembarked from the wole.
She waited for a few minutes on the platform, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and wishing she could find someplace private to try again to take care of herself. If she could just come, she was sure she’d feel better. Was there possibly a public restroom or “fresher” as the Kindred called it anywhere around here? If so, maybe she could attempt to “rub one out” as her best friend Lacy said, before Stor’kuum got back to her.