Considering what they had to sail through to get here, their island destination was surprisingly lush and beautiful, Morgana decided. The shore was covered in untouched white sand, beyond which the terrain rapidly turned into a thick jungle. Toward the north end of the island was a dormant volcano that had clearly seen no eruptions in quite some time. Morgana nodded to the helmsman, who brought what was left of her ship as close to shore as possible while the rest of the crew prepared the smaller boats.
A good amount of the crew stayed behind to assess damage caused by the sea beast's attack. Morgana led the rest of her men and woman—which included Richard, much to Liliana's delight—to the sun-warmed beach.
“I have no idea what could be waiting for us here,” Morgana said as she stepped onto the sand and readied her sword, “so keep alert for anything and everything.”
Liliana shrugged. “It looks peaceful and pretty to me.”
“Which is exactly why it's possible and likely probable that there's something dangerous here. The biggest threats never announce themselves, baby sister.”
***
Shona sat cross-legged in the dirt, her dark eyes closed serenely, taking in the fumes of the fluorescent liquid that sat in the bowl before her. She inhaled the scents deeply, her ribs expanding and her abdominal muscles contracting inward.
A vision hit her suddenly, mentally knocking her down like a punch to the gut. Her eyes shot open, though she was stunned for only a moment. A smile slowly drew across her face. “Someone new comes for the jewel,” she whispered to herself in a thick Caribbean accent . “It's been a long time since I've had visitors. I'd best send them a welcoming party.”
Shona took her staff and used it to get to her feet. She closed her eyes again, concentrating hard, and brought her slender index finger to her small yet prominent outie navel. Slowly, she lightly massaged the small knob of flesh. She allowed herself to enjoy some of the dark ecstasy that came with the act, though was careful not to lose herself in it. A cold shiver spread through her body from her navel and she felt her powers working. In her head, she gave her minions a mental order that she knew they had heard.
Rise from your sleep. We have guests.
***
Morgana hacked her way through yet another set of vines. The foliage on this island was considerably thicker than she had anticipated, and the forging of a path was rapidly starting to wear her and her crew out. She had decided their best bet was to head for the volcano, simply because experience had taught her that the most valuable things were often kept in the most dangerous places. If it was not there, they'd turn south and head for the center of the island.
The jungle's canopy effectively blotted out most of the sun's light. Morgana knew she had to be careful, lest the next vine turn out to be a large snake, or her next step sink her into quicksand.
“This island didn't look this large from the ship,” Richard said behind her. Much as she disapproved of complaining, Morgana could not deny what he said. It was strange and a bit unnerving.
“Wait,” Liliana suddenly said, holding out her hand to Morgana's stomach to stop her. “Did you hear something?”
The crew froze. Morgana strained to hear whatever Liliana heard among the sounds of the jungle. There were the calls of tropical birds, the chattering of monkeys... and a strange shifting sound. “I think it's coming from up ahead, looks like there's a clearing,” Morgana whispered.
Before they could go on ahead, however, one of the tiny monkeys jumped down from a tree onto Liliana's sword arm. She jumped slightly, but the movement didn't seem to bother the little animal. It regarded her with wide, curious eyes, which stopped moving once they reached her bare midsection.
The monkey carefully crawled up her arm and jumped to land on to her hip, its long tail wrapping around her thigh to keep from falling. It pulled lightly at her belly chain, momentarily stunned by how shiny it was, then moved on to something much more interesting. Slowly and curiously, it placed a tiny finger in her belly button.
Liliana giggled and instinctively pulled her stomach in. The monkey chittered excitedly and prodded her navel again, causing her belly to become even more concave.
“Looks like you've got an admirer, Lil,” Morgana chuckled. Richard looked at the animal with a slightly crestfallen and annoyed expression.
The shifting soil sound came again, and the crew tensed once more. Liliana's monkey made a fearful sound and crawled around to the back of her hip. Morgana gestured for the crew to follow her lead and made for the clearing. Even with the more open space, the tree tops cast long shadows across the ground, so that it was still fairly dark. The sound echoed through the trees, but Morgana couldn't place what it was.
A cry of pain from behind her made her whirl around. A man that was clearly long dead stood up and grabbed hold of one of the crew members, sinking its teeth into his neck. From all around, more dead men and women erupted from the earth.
“Zombies,” Morgana muttered harshly. “Defend yourselves!”
Richard slashed at the first corpse that shambled over to him, slicing the dead woman's stomach open. She staggered back, but no blood or innards fell from the open wound; instead, it simply angered the reanimated body. She lunged at him, and a quick swing of his sword sent her head flying from her shoulders. She fell to the ground and moved no more.
“The heads!” he shouted, already engaging another walking dead. “Go for the heads!”
Morgana sacrificed her full attention on the zombie before her to listen to Richard's words, and it cost her. In that split second, her foe descended on her and knocked her to the ground. It then grabbed her wrists and pinned her down with surprising strength, considering it hadn't used its arms in ages. Its lipless mouth lowered toward her stomach, teeth gnashing, as a glob of drool hovered above her navel. She pulled her belly in as far as she could to get away from it and the teeth. She shuddered as the drool pooled in her deep innie.
Liliana was in a similar situation, her own zombie holding her by the throat against a tree, her sword fallen to the ground. The undead pointed its own rusty sword at her belly button, which was also at the center of her concave tummy. Just as she felt the ancient blade touch the inside of her navel, her new found friend leaped from her shoulder and clawed at the zombie's one remaining eye. It let out a moan of anger, reaching up to bat the monkey away, allowing Liliana to escape its grip. She fumbled in the foliage for her weapon, but by the time she retrieved it, she found Richard standing over the once again dead man.
“I admit, the monkey has its uses,” he grumbled as the animal ran back up Liliana's leg to her hip. She laughed and hugged Richard tight. Over his shoulder, she saw her older sister still struggling with the zombie attempted to bite into her concave stomach.
Morgana's energy was waning, and the zombie's yellowed teeth were barely an inch away from her navel. Just as it seemed she would be a goner, her little sister's sword pierced through its skull. With a kick from her boot, Liliana wedged her blade free and rolled the zombie away. Sighing in relief, Morgana accepted Liliana's help getting to her feet and hugged her, pulling her hips back to avoid coating her sister's belly in zombie drool as well.
“Looks like your loyal crew has retreated back to the ship, Captain,” Richard said nervously, sheathing his sword.
Morgana pulled away from Liliana and looked around. Sure enough, she, Richard and Liliana stood alone among the slain undead. “Bunch of cowards,” she spat venomously.
“Should we continue on? Or do you think—” Richard's words were cut off as he gasped in pain. Both women watched as he pulled a tiny green needle from his neck and held it up. “What... what is...” His speech became groggy, and he suddenly dropped to the ground.
Before either of them could react, they, too, gasped in pain. Morgana reached down to pull an identical needle from inside her belly button while Liliana did the same. Her thoughts dulled as she watched Liliana's belly start heaving in and out and was only vaguely aware of her own mimicking the movement, then she blacked out.
***
Morgana's eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry. At first, all she could make out were green shapes and a bright light. blinking painfully, she waiting for her eyes to adjust, taking in her surroundings when they did. She was at the base of the volcano in another small clearing. A wooden table covered with several strange instruments stood near the tree line, and in the center of the clearing was a large fire.
She made to move and found that she couldn't. Looking up and down, she saw that she was bound to a large wooden pole; a thick rope held her ankles in place, while another around her wrists held her arms high above her head. To either side of her, Richard and Liliana were in the same position, though neither was conscious yet. She also noticed that her hat and coat were gone.
As Morgana pulled at her ropes, a movement caught her eye. A barefoot woman emerged from the jungle and watched Morgana carefully. No doubt their captor, Morgana hated to admit that she was very attractive. Somewhat tall, her figure was beautifully accentuated by a long, hip-hugging skirt of bright red that fell to her ankles. Her dark mocha skin seemed to have a permanent glistening sheen from the jungle humidity, though her long dreadlocks appeared relatively clean, bound by gold rings. A red bandeau wrapped around her breasts, leaving her shoulders and her stomach completely bare. She wore a necklace of what Morgana hoped were animal bones. A long wooden staff was clutched in her left hand, topped with a horned human skull. Her exposed midriff was muscular but still feminine, a prominent yet naturally attractive outie belly button in the center.
“I'll give you thirty seconds to let us go, or else—”
“Or else what?” The priestess's voice was surprising seductive, even with her mocking tone. “Your crew's run off, your weapons are gone. Instead of worrying about what you'd like to do to me, perhaps your concern should be what I'm going to do to you, and your two friends.”
Morgana pulled more at her ropes, thought she knew it was in vain; the act of resisting just made her feel better. She wished like hell this woman put her in a different position, the fact that her arms were raised above her head made her stomach stretch and concave slightly, making her feel even more vulnerable. She noticed her sister's stomach was almost identical, though her ribs were a bit more prominent, since her stomach was smaller.
“What is it you want from us? Who are you?”
The priestess laughed quietly. “You're here for the jewel. It's the only reason people ever come here. I'm here to... dissuade them from continuing their search. But I can see that fire in your eyes, you won't give up so easily just because I told you to. So I've got to give you some incentive.”
She clapped her hands twice, and suddenly Liliana and Richard awoke with a start. “What's going on?” Liliana asked frantically, struggling against her bonds.
“We're being told to go home,” Morgana answered bitterly. “I dunno who you think you are, lady, but I've got some news for you: Captain Morgana Ravenblack does not just give up and goes home, no matter what 'incentive' you think you can give. If Morgana wants it, Morgana gets it.”
The priestess nodded, mockingly mulling over her words. “If you say so, Captain Morgana Ravenblack. I'm Shona, since you were kind enough to share your name. What do you say we get this started?”
Shona moved to the three voodoo dolls sitting on the table, each one looking like one of her prisoners. “Let's start with the youngest.” She picked up Liliana's doll, who whimpered slightly.
“Relax, Lil, this is hardly the worst thing to happen to us.”
With her right hand, Shona lightly started to rub her outie. Morgana's eyes narrowed at the act. After a moment, a small, curved dagger materialized in her hand. Slowly, deliberately, Shona made a shallow cut into the lower belly of the doll. Liliana screamed in pain, and Morgana looked at her to see a red slash below her navel. Richard's attempts to free himself grew more frantic.
Shona placed the doll and the dagger aside, picking up Morgana's doll instead. In her other hand, she snapped a small twig from a nearby tree and placed the end in the fire. She let it burn for a moment before blowing the flame out, leaving the end glowing an angry red. She held the heated tip above the doll's stomach, right where Morgana's innie would be. Morgana found herself pulling her own belly in, and she swore she could feel the heat on the skin.
To her dismay, it was not her imagination. As Shona slowly brought the fiery twig closer to the doll's tummy, the soft skin in and around Morgana's navel grew red and sweaty, and she began to pull her stomach in and gyrate her hips in fearful agitation.
Shona jabbed the burning twig into the voodoo doll's midsection, and Morgana howled in pain as she felt the flames sear the inside of her belly button.
Shona held the stick there for a moment, then tossed the doll aside and dropped the twig into the fire. She approached Morgana then, slipping a long finger into her navel at the center of her heaving, sweating belly. Morgana winced at her stinging navel being touched. “You ready to go home yet?”
In spite of her pain, Morgana looked down at the priestess defiantly. “Not even close,” she said, and she was annoyed her voice couldn't sound stronger.
Shona shrugged, taking hold of her staff and heading toward Liliana. “Evidently you're unaffected by your own pain. That's fairly admirable, I admit. But tell me, can you handle watching someone else you care about endure it?” She lightly brushed one of the pointed horns on her staff's skull across Liliana's flat, stretched tummy.
For a split second, Morgana's defiance faded, replaced with concern, but she quickly fought to bring it back. “I will end you for this,” she growled.
Shona simply laughed, then picked up Morgana's sword from the ground. “Your little sister, tortured by your own weapon. Poetically ironic, isn't it?” She pointed the tip of the curved blade directly at Liliana's shallow innie.
“
Please, no, not there, not there!” Liliana begged, her voice becoming higher as she sucked her stomach in as far as she could. “Not the belly button, please, not the belly button!”
“Be strong, Lil,” Morgana whispered, somewhat weakly, even as the point of the sword lightly pressed against the inside of her sister's navel.
Just before her belly was pierced, an awful shriek pierced the air, and Liliana's new primate friend flew from a nearby tree, landing in Shona's hair. She shrieked, unsure what had happened, and she recklessly swung the sword and her staff around, causing both Liliana and Morgana to quickly pull their bellies in to avoid the blade and the horned staff. However, in her panicked state, the sword managed to slice through the rope holding Morgana's ankles. Her legs free, she used her feet to push herself up almost to the top of the wooden pole. After some effort, she managed to use her teeth to pull the ropes around her wrists loose enough to free herself.
Morgana jumped to the ground, rubbing her wrists, and plowed her fist deep into Shona's lower belly. She doubled over, dropping both sword and staff, and the monkey hurried over and began chewing through Liliana's ropes.
Retrieving her weapon, Morgana pushed Shona back into the dirt, where she crawled backward until she hit a tree. Morgana pointed the sword directly at her outie, causing Shona to pull her stomach in instead.
“Tell me something,” she said, “I saw you rub that little belly button of yours when you were working your magic. I'd bet you did the same thing when you sent those zombies after us, and when you attacked us with those poisonous plant needles. Seems to me that your soft, helpless little belly button is the source of your witchcraft. What you happen if I were to split it open?”
“We can work this out,” Shona said desperately as Morgana brought the tip of the blade closer to her navel, making her suck her belly in even more. “You want the jewel? There's a map, on the table, under the voodoo dolls! Take it! No one else has to get hurt here, I'm sorry!”
Morgana's eyes narrowed at her victim, and she looked down at the dark-skinned concave belly. Shona's belly button itself seemed to quiver under the point of the sword. Just to spite her, Morgana lightly rested the to of her weapon on the knob of flesh. Shona gasped sharply at the touch.
Liliana, keeping pressure on the minor wound beneath her navel, pulled a large sheet of parchment from the table and showed it to her sister, who did not remove her weapon from the priestess’s belly button. “Yep, she was telling the truth. Looks like we have another voyage ahead of us, the jewel isn't on this island.”
Morgana nodded, then looked back down at Shona. “Thank you for your assistance.” She put a bit more pressure on the sword, not enough to break Shona's skin, but enough to send waves of fear from her belly button, then led Richard, Liliana and the monkey back through the jungle to their ship.
A good amount of the crew stayed behind to assess damage caused by the sea beast's attack. Morgana led the rest of her men and woman—which included Richard, much to Liliana's delight—to the sun-warmed beach.
“I have no idea what could be waiting for us here,” Morgana said as she stepped onto the sand and readied her sword, “so keep alert for anything and everything.”
Liliana shrugged. “It looks peaceful and pretty to me.”
“Which is exactly why it's possible and likely probable that there's something dangerous here. The biggest threats never announce themselves, baby sister.”
***
Shona sat cross-legged in the dirt, her dark eyes closed serenely, taking in the fumes of the fluorescent liquid that sat in the bowl before her. She inhaled the scents deeply, her ribs expanding and her abdominal muscles contracting inward.
A vision hit her suddenly, mentally knocking her down like a punch to the gut. Her eyes shot open, though she was stunned for only a moment. A smile slowly drew across her face. “Someone new comes for the jewel,” she whispered to herself in a thick Caribbean accent . “It's been a long time since I've had visitors. I'd best send them a welcoming party.”
Shona took her staff and used it to get to her feet. She closed her eyes again, concentrating hard, and brought her slender index finger to her small yet prominent outie navel. Slowly, she lightly massaged the small knob of flesh. She allowed herself to enjoy some of the dark ecstasy that came with the act, though was careful not to lose herself in it. A cold shiver spread through her body from her navel and she felt her powers working. In her head, she gave her minions a mental order that she knew they had heard.
Rise from your sleep. We have guests.
***
Morgana hacked her way through yet another set of vines. The foliage on this island was considerably thicker than she had anticipated, and the forging of a path was rapidly starting to wear her and her crew out. She had decided their best bet was to head for the volcano, simply because experience had taught her that the most valuable things were often kept in the most dangerous places. If it was not there, they'd turn south and head for the center of the island.
The jungle's canopy effectively blotted out most of the sun's light. Morgana knew she had to be careful, lest the next vine turn out to be a large snake, or her next step sink her into quicksand.
“This island didn't look this large from the ship,” Richard said behind her. Much as she disapproved of complaining, Morgana could not deny what he said. It was strange and a bit unnerving.
“Wait,” Liliana suddenly said, holding out her hand to Morgana's stomach to stop her. “Did you hear something?”
The crew froze. Morgana strained to hear whatever Liliana heard among the sounds of the jungle. There were the calls of tropical birds, the chattering of monkeys... and a strange shifting sound. “I think it's coming from up ahead, looks like there's a clearing,” Morgana whispered.
Before they could go on ahead, however, one of the tiny monkeys jumped down from a tree onto Liliana's sword arm. She jumped slightly, but the movement didn't seem to bother the little animal. It regarded her with wide, curious eyes, which stopped moving once they reached her bare midsection.
The monkey carefully crawled up her arm and jumped to land on to her hip, its long tail wrapping around her thigh to keep from falling. It pulled lightly at her belly chain, momentarily stunned by how shiny it was, then moved on to something much more interesting. Slowly and curiously, it placed a tiny finger in her belly button.
Liliana giggled and instinctively pulled her stomach in. The monkey chittered excitedly and prodded her navel again, causing her belly to become even more concave.
“Looks like you've got an admirer, Lil,” Morgana chuckled. Richard looked at the animal with a slightly crestfallen and annoyed ex
The shifting soil sound came again, and the crew tensed once more. Liliana's monkey made a fearful sound and crawled around to the back of her hip. Morgana gestured for the crew to follow her lead and made for the clearing. Even with the more open space, the tree tops cast long shadows across the ground, so that it was still fairly dark. The sound echoed through the trees, but Morgana couldn't place what it was.
A cry of pain from behind her made her whirl around. A man that was clearly long dead stood up and grabbed hold of one of the crew members, sinking its teeth into his neck. From all around, more dead men and women erupted from the earth.
“Zombies,” Morgana muttered harshly. “Defend yourselves!”
Richard slashed at the first corpse that shambled over to him, slicing the dead woman's stomach open. She staggered back, but no blood or innards fell from the open wound; instead, it simply angered the reanimated body. She lunged at him, and a quick swing of his sword sent her head flying from her shoulders. She fell to the ground and moved no more.
“The heads!” he shouted, already engaging another walking dead. “Go for the heads!”
Morgana sacrificed her full attention on the zombie before her to listen to Richard's words, and it cost her. In that split second, her foe descended on her and knocked her to the ground. It then grabbed her wrists and pinned her down with surprising strength, considering it hadn't used its arms in ages. Its lipless mouth lowered toward her stomach, teeth gnashing, as a glob of drool hovered above her navel. She pulled her belly in as far as she could to get away from it and the teeth. She shuddered as the drool pooled in her deep innie.
Liliana was in a similar situation, her own zombie holding her by the throat against a tree, her sword fallen to the ground. The undead pointed its own rusty sword at her belly button, which was also at the center of her concave tummy. Just as she felt the ancient blade touch the inside of her navel, her new found friend leaped from her shoulder and clawed at the zombie's one remaining eye. It let out a moan of anger, reaching up to bat the monkey away, allowing Liliana to escape its grip. She fumbled in the foliage for her weapon, but by the time she retrieved it, she found Richard standing over the once again dead man.
“I admit, the monkey has its uses,” he grumbled as the animal ran back up Liliana's leg to her hip. She laughed and hugged Richard tight. Over his shoulder, she saw her older sister still struggling with the zombie attempted to bite into her concave stomach.
Morgana's energy was waning, and the zombie's yellowed teeth were barely an inch away from her navel. Just as it seemed she would be a goner, her little sister's sword pierced through its skull. With a kick from her boot, Liliana wedged her blade free and rolled the zombie away. Sighing in relief, Morgana accepted Liliana's help getting to her feet and hugged her, pulling her hips back to avoid coating her sister's belly in zombie drool as well.
“Looks like your loyal crew has retreated back to the ship, Captain,” Richard said nervously, sheathing his sword.
Morgana pulled away from Liliana and looked around. Sure enough, she, Richard and Liliana stood alone among the slain undead. “Bunch of cowards,” she spat venomously.
“Should we continue on? Or do you think—” Richard's words were cut off as he gasped in pain. Both women watched as he pulled a tiny green needle from his neck and held it up. “What... what is...” His speech became groggy, and he suddenly dropped to the ground.
Before either of them could react, they, too, gasped in pain. Morgana reached down to pull an identical needle from inside her belly button while Liliana did the same. Her thoughts dulled as she watched Liliana's belly start heaving in and out and was only vaguely aware of her own mimicking the movement, then she blacked out.
***
Morgana's eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry. At first, all she could make out were green shapes and a bright light. bl
She made to move and found that she couldn't. Looking up and down, she saw that she was bound to a large wooden pole; a thick rope held her ankles in place, while another around her wrists held her arms high above her head. To either side of her, Richard and Liliana were in the same position, though neither was conscious yet. She also noticed that her hat and coat were gone.
As Morgana pulled at her ropes, a movement caught her eye. A barefoot woman emerged from the jungle and watched Morgana carefully. No doubt their captor, Morgana hated to admit that she was very attractive. Somewhat tall, her figure was beautifully accentuated by a long, hip-hugging skirt of bright red that fell to her ankles. Her dark mocha skin seemed to have a permanent glistening sheen from the jungle humidity, though her long dreadlocks appeared relatively clean, bound by gold rings. A red bandeau wrapped around her breasts, leaving her shoulders and her stomach completely bare. She wore a necklace of what Morgana hoped were animal bones. A long wooden staff was clutched in her left hand, topped with a horned human skull. Her exposed midriff was muscular but still feminine, a prominent yet naturally attractive outie belly button in the center.
“I'll give you thirty seconds to let us go, or else—”
“Or else what?” The priestess's voice was surprising seductive, even with her mocking tone. “Your crew's run off, your weapons are gone. Instead of worrying about what you'd like to do to me, perhaps your concern should be what I'm going to do to you, and your two friends.”
Morgana pulled more at her ropes, thought she knew it was in vain; the act of resisting just made her feel better. She wished like hell this woman put her in a different position, the fact that her arms were raised above her head made her stomach stretch and concave slightly, making her feel even more vulnerable. She noticed her sister's stomach was almost identical, though her ribs were a bit more prominent, since her stomach was smaller.
“What is it you want from us? Who are you?”
The priestess laughed quietly. “You're here for the jewel. It's the only reason people ever come here. I'm here to... dissuade them from continuing their search. But I can see that fire in your eyes, you won't give up so easily just because I told you to. So I've got to give you some incentive.”
She clapped her hands twice, and suddenly Liliana and Richard awoke with a start. “What's going on?” Liliana asked frantically, struggling against her bonds.
“We're being told to go home,” Morgana answered bitterly. “I dunno who you think you are, lady, but I've got some news for you: Captain Morgana Ravenblack does not just give up and goes home, no matter what 'incentive' you think you can give. If Morgana wants it, Morgana gets it.”
The priestess nodded, mockingly mulling over her words. “If you say so, Captain Morgana Ravenblack. I'm Shona, since you were kind enough to share your name. What do you say we get this started?”
Shona moved to the three voodoo dolls sitting on the table, each one looking like one of her prisoners. “Let's start with the youngest.” She picked up Liliana's doll, who whimpered slightly.
“Relax, Lil, this is hardly the worst thing to happen to us.”
With her right hand, Shona lightly started to rub her outie. Morgana's eyes narrowed at the act. After a moment, a small, curved dagger materialized in her hand. Slowly, deliberately, Shona made a shallow cut into the lower belly of the doll. Liliana screamed in pain, and Morgana looked at her to see a red slash below her navel. Richard's attempts to free himself grew more frantic.
Shona placed the doll and the dagger aside, picking up Morgana's doll instead. In her other hand, she snapped a small twig from a nearby tree and placed the end in the fire. She let it burn for a moment before blowing the flame out, leaving the end glowing an angry red. She held the heated tip above the doll's stomach, right where Morgana's innie would be. Morgana found herself pulling her own belly in, and she swore she could feel the heat on the skin.
To her dismay, it was not her imagination. As Shona slowly brought the fiery twig closer to the doll's tummy, the soft skin in and around Morgana's navel grew red and sweaty, and she began to pull her stomach in and gyrate her hips in fearful agitation.
Shona jabbed the burning twig into the voodoo doll's midsection, and Morgana howled in pain as she felt the flames sear the inside of her belly button.
Shona held the stick there for a moment, then tossed the doll aside and dropped the twig into the fire. She approached Morgana then, slipping a long finger into her navel at the center of her heaving, sweating belly. Morgana winced at her stinging navel being touched. “You ready to go home yet?”
In spite of her pain, Morgana looked down at the priestess defiantly. “Not even close,” she said, and she was annoyed her voice couldn't sound stronger.
Shona shrugged, taking hold of her staff and heading toward Liliana. “Evidently you're unaffected by your own pain. That's fairly admirable, I admit. But tell me, can you handle watching someone else you care about endure it?” She lightly brushed one of the pointed horns on her staff's skull across Liliana's flat, stretched tummy.
For a split second, Morgana's defiance faded, replaced with concern, but she quickly fought to bring it back. “I will end you for this,” she growled.
Shona simply laughed, then picked up Morgana's sword from the ground. “Your little sister, tortured by your own weapon. Poetically ironic, isn't it?” She pointed the tip of the curved blade directly at Liliana's shallow innie.
“
Please, no, not there, not there!” Liliana begged, her voice becoming higher as she sucked her stomach in as far as she could. “Not the belly button, please, not the belly button!”
“Be strong, Lil,” Morgana whispered, somewhat weakly, even as the point of the sword lightly pressed against the inside of her sister's navel.
Just before her belly was pierced, an awful shriek pierced the air, and Liliana's new primate friend flew from a nearby tree, landing in Shona's hair. She shrieked, unsure what had happened, and she recklessly swung the sword and her staff around, causing both Liliana and Morgana to quickly pull their bellies in to avoid the blade and the horned staff. However, in her panicked state, the sword managed to slice through the rope holding Morgana's ankles. Her legs free, she used her feet to push herself up almost to the top of the wooden pole. After some effort, she managed to use her teeth to pull the ropes around her wrists loose enough to free herself.
Morgana jumped to the ground, rubbing her wrists, and plowed her fist deep into Shona's lower belly. She doubled over, dropping both sword and staff, and the monkey hurried over and began chewing through Liliana's ropes.
Retrieving her weapon, Morgana pushed Shona back into the dirt, where she crawled backward until she hit a tree. Morgana pointed the sword directly at her outie, causing Shona to pull her stomach in instead.
“Tell me something,” she said, “I saw you rub that little belly button of yours when you were working your magic. I'd bet you did the same thing when you sent those zombies after us, and when you attacked us with those poisonous plant needles. Seems to me that your soft, helpless little belly button is the source of your witchcraft. What you happen if I were to split it open?”
“We can work this out,” Shona said desperately as Morgana brought the tip of the blade closer to her navel, making her suck her belly in even more. “You want the jewel? There's a map, on the table, under the voodoo dolls! Take it! No one else has to get hurt here, I'm sorry!”
Morgana's eyes narrowed at her victim, and she looked down at the dark-skinned concave belly. Shona's belly button itself seemed to quiver under the point of the sword. Just to spite her, Morgana lightly rested the to of her weapon on the knob of flesh. Shona gasped sharply at the touch.
Liliana, keeping pressure on the minor wound beneath her navel, pulled a large sheet of parchment from the table and showed it to her sister, who did not remove her weapon from the priestess’s belly button. “Yep, she was telling the truth. Looks like we have another voyage ahead of us, the jewel isn't on this island.”
Morgana nodded, then looked back down at Shona. “Thank you for your assistance.” She put a bit more pressure on the sword, not enough to break Shona's skin, but enough to send waves of fear from her belly button, then led Richard, Liliana and the monkey back through the jungle to their ship.
Comments