Demon of the Deep Wood

by Argonaut44

06: Pray For Mercy

Author's Note:

Heads up - there's gonna be different versions of how the story plays out!

This chapter goes along with Version B, in which Gorgo kills all of the worms and recaptures everyone.

The canon version, Version A, is that Gorgo only successfully recaptures Raquelle and Val, while the others are all still eaten by the worms.

There was no light in the belly of the worm.

All Cat could hear was the sound of sloshing runny flesh and slimy juices gushing over her and past her ears. It made no difference whether she shut her eyes, as she could see nothing anyways. The worm’s mouth was sealed tight, though would occasionally open for easier access to air, allowing occasional thin slivers of light each time to reveal the pink horror of the worm’s innards.

Cat focused on her breathing, taking deep breaths and trying to remain calm. Val will cut herself free. Or Cassandra will. They’ll rescue me just like they did before.

She almost thought she could hear the sound of those other girls in the cocoons crying for help from somewhere nearby, though she wasn’t sure. She could feel the ground beneath the worm as it slithered across the floor of Gorgo’s cave; she felt every rock and every pebble, and every drag of grass or moss or mud.

She tried her best to get comfortable, as she felt the sweat run down her forehead.

Then her world spun abruptly 90 degrees. She shut her eyes tighter, disoriented and unable to steady herself.

In one quick flash, the world came back to light. The bright white silk of the cave almost blinded her, as Cat gasped for air and looked around in confusion.

Above her was Gorgo, holding her by her raised forelegs above the ground.

Getting a hold of her surroundings, she saw Cassandra, the priestess, tied down on the wall by strings of silk around her ankles.

“Cat!” Cassandra cried, relieved to see her companion alive.

Cat glanced up at the beast that had a hold of her. She trembled at his immense strength, dangling from his grip. He was monstrous in size, twice as large as she was, with spider’s pincers by his mouth and a coat of coarse black hair. Cat was paralyzed with fear, hanging by her forelegs helplessly.

“You’re not quite like the others,” Gorgo acknowledged, “But you’ll do just as nicely.”

Cat winced and continued flailing about against his grasp. She saw the other cocooned girls hanging on the wall nearby Cassandra, except now there were five instead of four. Merigold, Clair de Lune, Raquelle and Zo’Lara were all squirming against one another, exhausted and defeated. And the fifth could only be…

“Valkyrie?” Cat gawked, horrified. If the mighty Val had been defeated, then she stood less than a chance.

The floor was covered in fleshy red gore and green blood, the remnants of the many worms that made the mistake of invading Gorgo’s residence.

Gorgo, filled with adrenaline at having recaptured all four of the girls and capturing three new ones, ripped off Cat’s purple tunic dress with one claw, tossing the remains to the ground near the skins of the worms he had just killed.

“Let me go!” Cat pleaded, bursting into tears. Gorgo ripped off her boots next, but left her undergarments, which were hanging on by just a thread. He then launched a stream of silk from his chest spinneret, which landed right over Cat’s hind thighs, before spinning up to wrap around her chest and waist.

“Please! Please don’t!”

Gorgo spun her around in quick succession, wrapping her up until every inch of the redhead was covered in silk. Her forelegs were still held up above her head when he was finished, and Cat gave one last groan of defeat before the last band of silk sealed her lips shut.

Gorgo, satisfied with another successful capture, stuck her with the others and approached his final victim.

---

Cassandra’s legs were shaking with fear. She had trusted in Celestia before, and Celestia had helped her escape, but now? Perhaps it was too much to ask for divine intervention twice in one day. But this situation had gotten out of hoof. Cassandra may have believed in an afterlife, but she feared death, and would give anything for her and her allies to avoid dying in agony in the stomach of this hideous monster, who so callously thrived off of his own cruelty.

She could not provide much assistance to Cat, as much as she had wanted to, with her legs all tied to the wall of webbing by thick strands of silk. She prayed to Celestia one last time, begging her to spare at least one of them. She cursed herself for having failed to protect her friends.

Please Goddess, please save the Princess. If anypony might be saved, please let it be her. And Captain Valkyrie, who will one day open her heart to you as I've always wanted. If it is your will that I die, so be it, but please save these others, Goddess, I beg you. Please save them.

She snapped out of her prayer when Gorgo finished up Cat’s cocoon. He was heading right for her.

To her own surprise, she mustered up some courage, enough to speak up.

“You will burn in hell for what you’ve done today, devil,” Cassandra said, “Curse you! You’ll pay for this!”
Gorgo laughed at her as he forcefully grabbed her by the arms before planting a hoof on her ass.

“I’ve already paid,” Gorgo spat, “My hell is this cursed form you and your sorceresses trapped me in. Now it’s your turn to pay for your own sins, priestess.”

Cassandra wondered if any of what he said was true. Could her own colleagues really have been responsible for transforming this creature into a vile monster? It was a dreadful thought. Cassandra was surprised to find she had irritated him somehow, when Gorgo roared out in fury and tore off her robes. He anchored his stream of silk right over her face, pinning her mane down as he made his way down past her chest, as she flailed about and screamed.

Cassandra screamed and cried as her forelegs were crossed downwards over her stomach. Gorgo layered the silk past her hips, before sealing them together. Upon finishing, Cassandra buckled in her cocoon a few times in protest, before quickly growing tired and lying still.

Gorgo smiled and stuck her right beside the others, looking at his work, he felt great pride. A catch like this came once in a lifetime. Still, this was only seven of the nine. His work was not quite finished.