In Britannia, the kings gathered again, concerned over reports of a storm over the desert.
They had summoned Sophie,the Mage Association librarian, and were hounding her and Lilith with questions about what it could mean.
For as long as they could remember, none of them had ever seen any kind of rain over the desert.
In their minds, a storm could mean nothing good.
The room they normally met in had no windows, so this time they met in one of the bell towers so they could monitor the storm's progress.
Sophie was blessed with an extensive photographic memory. She had read through hundreds of archives and almanacs, but could provide them with no more information than they already had.
Lilith was pouring through spell book after spellbook, looking for a spell that could conjure a storm of this magnitude. She could find nothing.
When the lightning pillar dropped, every jaw in attendance fell with it.
It was unmistakable.
It was a spell that all of them had seen only one other time.
Lilith clasped her hands, her voice full of fear and reverence.
Only one word escaped her lips, like a whispered prayer.
"Raymond."
The rain stopped, but the clouds remained as Raymond sat on the ground cradling Samantha like a small child.
The others gathered around, no one dared to breathe as they stared at her limp body.
Raymond conjured a small ball of water out of the air and dropped it lightly on her face.
Samantha sputtered and coughed and tried to sit up. Then she froze, turning green in her face.
She rolled off Raymond's lap and vomited violently.
Alecia rushed over and pulled back her hair, while Nikki pulled a blanket out of her magic bag and draped it over her naked body.
Samantha gave them a grateful glance before her face twisted and she vomited again.
The smell was horrible.
Una decided to give her new earth magic a try, and opened up a small hole in the sand to swallow the growing puddle of puke.
Samantha tried to give her an appreciative nod, but again was interrupted by a flood of vomit.
"Is this some kind of toxin from the worm?" Raymond asked Una, who just shook her head and shrugged.
Nikki scoffed. "It's probably from that dirty thing it stuck in her mouth."
Sammie looked at her with a disgusted look on her face, then vomited again.
Ray patted Sammie firmly on her back as she sat there on all fours, gasping, trying desperately to draw breath.
Suddenly, her whole body lurched and eyes went wide as her cheek puffed out. She bucked two more times before an unbelievably large piece of tentacle forced its way out her mouth.
All the ladies recoiled as it plopped into the bowl of vomit in the ground and began to flop around like fish out of water.
Raymond stepped forward and pointed a finger, burning it and the vomit from existence.
Sammie flopped back on her butt looking terrified and exhausted at the same time. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air.
Ray quietly sat behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her.
She immediately turned into his body, buried her face in his neck and began to sob.
It was several minutes before she could control herself enough to speak.
In the meantime the other ladies busied themself by comparing the extra clothes they brought, hoping to find something she could cover herself with.
The problem they ran into was Sammie was shorter and more endowed than any of them.
Alecia gave one of her backless tops that tied at the neck and back. They agreed it would work because it could adjust for her larger bust size.
Una gave one of her longer loin cloths. She didn't wear much in the way of clothes because of her smaller chest and the fact that her fur kept her modest enough.
Nikki gave a silk shawl and a pair of sandals. She was taller and slimmer than Sammie, and nearly flat chested, so nothing else she had would fit.
When Sammie finally composed herself they presented her with the outfit.
Her face grew bright red as she thanked them. She hadn't realized until that moment that she was completely naked.
She put the outfit on and gave a bright smile. She tied the shawl around her waist to cover her butt. The loin cloth simply did not have enough fabric for the job.
Tears welled in her eyes as she thanked them all, giving each one a big hug.
In the end she turned to Ray and bowed deeply.
"You saved my life. I can't thank you enough." Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke.
"Stop all that." Ray lifted her head with a hand on her chin. "I told you, you're my day one, my number one. There is no way I'm letting some slimy worm take you from me."
"Yeah girl you should have seen him!" Nikki said excitedly. "When he saw what the thing was doing to you, he. Lost. It."
Alecia chimed in, giggling. "Is it bad that I was terrified and turned on at the same time?"
Everyone laughed hard at that, feeling the tension of the last few hours lift from their shoulders.
Everyone except Una. She smiled and laughed with everyone, but inside all she felt was jealous and alone.
She had never felt the kind of love, passion, and tenderness Raymond had shown that day.
Her heart physically ached in her chest for just a portion of that kind of care.
Such as they were, she missed her family dearly, and seeing these three together reminded her of something she never truly had.
Despite their kindness toward her so far she still felt like an outsider. She looked at them longingly, wishing she didn't have to be.
She silently made a decision in her heart at that moment. Maybe she wouldn't have to be alone forever.
Una was snapped out of her thoughts when Raymond suddenly clapped his large hands together.
"Ok! It's getting late. Do we call it a day, have some dinner and bed down for the night? Or, do we press on and try to cover some more ground before nightfall?"
Sammie shook her head. "I need food, water, health and mana potions before I'll be any good to anyone. I vote we call it a night."
Nikki and Alecia both nodded their agreement. "I'm with her." They said in unison.
Una faked a smile. "I'm good with that. I'll keep watch tonight. I won't be able to sleep anyway.
Everyone nodded approvingly as they broke off to set up camp for the night.