Witch Blood 14
Rhea opened her eyes and found
herself back in her bedroom. Everything was sore ... and she was sweltering.
Though her body complained terribly, she stumbled herself upright, wobbled
across the room, and threw open the shutters. Sunlight stabbed into her eyes
and a mostly fresh breeze licked her tanned hide. The whip's lessons had left
the flesh glowing with pleasures that lingered. A delicious ache spread along
her abdominal muscles from where she had strained through her orgasm and she
breathed deeply in satisfaction.
I
must have fainted after my orgasm and been brought back here. I hope Kenna
wasn't too freaked out by that. An impish grin spread over her face and she
stared out into the city below. The third floor was where most of the girls had
their rooms and she had a pretty good view of wood and stone buildings covered
in hard tiles.
My
first orgasm in weeks and it was with a woman ... a woman! Rhea shivered as
thoughts of Kenna slid through her brain. The strength in her arms ... the way
her leather corset hugged curves into her lean frame ... these details and more
brought heat to her cheeks. But why did
it work with her? I've tried rowing my boat a few times now and this bloody
brand always flares up like a bad rash! What made this different? What made ...
her different?
Leaning against the window's frame
did not bring answers. Focusing on the mystery brought the ache back to her
nethers and she began to tremble at the thought of doing something about it. Will it work if I focus on a woman or will I
just get burned again? A thought touched her mind and she decided to play
with fire. Shrugging out of her smallclothes, she flopped back onto her bed and
tried to picture Kenna's dungeon in her mind.
Scent of leather and metal. Leather
straps taut across wrists and ankles. A riding crop slowly dragging across
sensitive flesh. The image brought waves of lust beyond what Rhea had expected.
Trembling fingers slid into place between puffy lips and her body responded.
Diligent digits traced familiar patterns, spreading slick moisture to where it
was needed. Everything seemed sensitive and she began to moan with a pleasure
that had been denied for too long. The image of Kenna's teasing brought her
back to the place where she knew her orgasm lay.
The scream that broke through her
lips was not ecstasy. Rhea smothered herself with her pillow and continued to
howl. The heat she had been stirring flared into sudden agony and flooded from
her chest toward her fingers and toes. Flailing would not stamp out that fire so
she curled into a ball and strained every muscle she could manage.
The agony subsided with a hiss of
breath and a release of tension. Rhea gasped fresh breath as tears trickled
down the sides of her face to soak into her bedding. All thoughts of Mistress
Kenna's dungeon of pleasure had fled and she laid panting and sweating from her
ordeal.
Okay
... so I still can't bring myself to completion whether I'm focused on men or
women. But why could Kenna succeed where I failed? Can another person do it to
me? Is Kenna secretly a sex witch or would a man be able to get me there too? Staring
at the ceiling seemed to help her focus but Rhea knew she would need to
experiment in order to find answers. Experimenting would lead to more pain but
she needed to figure out the limitations of her power and the brand that bound
her. I need to talk this out with Anna.
She'll know something about this. Maybe she can tell me where my ritual gear
went, while she's at it.
Rhea dragged herself painfully from
her bed and stared out the window at the day. Shadows stretched a little past
their noon position and a little math told her she probably had two or three
hours before anyone in the brothel stirred.
The ache of strained muscles caused
her limbs to throb in time with her heartbeat. Rhea focused on her mission,
making a mental checklist as she sneaked carefully through dark hallways. All I need to do is find Anna. She can help
me figure things out.
When she slid open the bolts to a
side door and stepped out into the day light. A blinding wash of heat rolled
over her senses and she was forced to wait out in the open. How long has it been since I've been
outside? Two months? A few other stray thoughts roamed around in her mind
as her eyes adjusted, but she shoved her worries aside and moved away from the
main building.
The manor house was completely
surrounded by a defendable stone wall and there were two gates standing
opposite each other on the north and south sides. The east and west sides were
for storage and animals and Rhea knew nothing of what lay beyond. Choosing at
random, Rhea went to the west stable first.
The double doors were closed but
the windows had all been propped open. Rhea could smell horses and fresh hay
but a lot of work had been put into the place. The grooms had done their work
well and the horses were in good order as they happily munched on their feed.
Rhea opened the door and walked along the stalls but there was no other person in
the building. Weird, she thought, where are the grooms? She shrugged,
closed the doors, and then moved to the east building.
The stable door was not completely
closed and the scent of horses was mixed with something else. The odd tangy
musk was unfamiliar but something about it made her think of a tavern after
harvest or men sweating in the field as they worked. If it was a creature, it
would be big and dangerous. If it was a mold or a fungus, though, then someone
would need to act quickly to take care of it.
Common sense told Rhea not to go in
to see if there really was a giant witch-eating monster hiding in the barn, but
she had already kicked most of her common sense out the door when she left her
room. She was not supposed to be outside without an escort ... and never during
the day. If she ran for help now, she would be in trouble for violating her
curfew. If Anna's out here ... she might be
in trouble. She might be hurt. She might need my help.
The space between the doors was
easy to widen and the hinges hardly squeaked as they yielded. The light inside
revealed the typical detritus that floated through barns but there were deep shadows
between each stall. A party of bandits could hide inside and none would notice
until it was too late. Stop being silly, Rhea.
This place is inside the walls and there are guards at the gates. The only way
someone's getting in here is if we invite them in.
Two steps later she was crouched
against a wooden structure. The straw had been put across the ground recently
and there did not appear to be any horses in any of these stalls. A sizable
shadow deepened for a moment on the far side of the barn. A low frequency
thrumming seemed to emanate from that corner and she forced herself to focus on
it.
That's
not a natural sound, Rhea thought as she debated between fleeing back to
her room and pressing on. A quick look around the room yielded a sturdy spade
with a reinforced handle, which the young witch took up and held like a
halberd. The weapon was reassuring and it granted her enough courage to steady
her trembling arms.
Rhea crept to the next stall. It
was clean, layered with straw, and ready for an occupant. Every stall appeared
to be in similar condition but something still felt wrong. I know we get more horses than this, Rhea realized as she thought
about all of the men she had seen who reeked of money and power. The other stable was pretty full. Some of
them should have been put in here to prevent crowding.
Movement began once more. The
shadow was flickering in a steady pattern but the owner of it was still silent
and out of sight. A suspicion raised the hairs on Rhea's neck and she leaned
back out of instinct. On a hunch, she curled in on herself and closed her eyes.
Several deep breaths cleared her mind. The edges of the brand still throbbed
sharply on her chest and she moved her power slowly through the screen. Slow ... slow ... slow ... easy ... draw in the
light. Ragged tendrils of energy gathered into a little ball until she took
a breath and gave it form. "Go."
A whisper of magic-laced breath slithered
forward on a current of dandelion fluff. When it drifted within a hand-span of
the final stall it crackled and puffed out along the border of a half-dome.
Rhea moved to the edge of that dome and studied it. Now that she knew what to
look for rest of it seemed obvious. The barely noticeable shimmer of a barrier
hummed in a dome, but when she reached out with the spade, it passed right
through with no affect. Rhea moved her hand through the space and nothing
changed.
It's
not meant to keep out anything physical, which is also why I can smell
whatever's in there. It could be a
spiritual deterrent ... or maybe it obfuscates by causing people to look past it.
Or maybe it's a sound dampener ... which would mean ...
Rhea took a breath and moved one
ear past the barrier. A blast of sound nearly knocked her over and all of her
instincts began screaming. A woman was shrieking! A beast was roaring! It was
an attack! Rhea stumbled back, and the sound vanished behind the barrier.
"A-Anna!" she gasped. Fear stabbed
at her heart but a terrible anger boiled in her blood. Such passion caused her
brand to throb at a painful level but she grit her teeth. Knuckles popped as
they went white with tension around the wood of the spade and she took several
breaths to draw in strength. Once braced she let out a growl and lunged through
the barrier.
"OH YES! OH GODS! YEESSS!"
Rhea rounded the corner and her
shoulder struck the wall. She bounced, held the spade up over her head, and
then froze at what she saw.
Annabelle was pressed against the
wall by a mountain of masculine girth. Bulging arms held her several feet off
of the ground and her legs were wrapped around a thick torso. Her nails had
carved trails down a leathery red hide but the creature continued its assault
with a fever. The intensity of it made it difficult for Rhea to focus but once
she did there was no doubt in what she was hearing ... and seeing.
The young woman bounced like a
rider in a saddle. Rhythmic and intense, she squeezed hard with her legs and
moved with the motion of her massive lover. It's
a troll! Gods and devils ... a troll! The troll pressed his girth into his
mate several times before pausing to run his thick lips along pale skin. A
trail of viscus drool slavered along Anna's neck as a black tongue caressed the
side of her face. Wrapping her hands around his neck the young woman pulled
herself up and gathered his lolling tongue into her mouth. She suckled him until
he pressed himself towards her in a mockery of a kiss. Then, his hips started
moving again.
Anna moaned like a beast of the
field. She nipped at his lips and then bit his chest. Rugged nails scored additional
trails along already red flesh and she encouraged him with language Rhea would
never have expected from one so kind. The troll ran one massive hand along
Anna's back and then gripped her hair in a fist. She cried out but then he was bearing
down on her. The slap of skin on skin filled the room as he continued his
assault, battering his lady like an army at the gates. Heat radiated off of the
couple like a bellows stoked forge and sweat lathered their skin as they
grunted and strained.
Anna's cries rose with each thrust
and she shouted at him to continue his assault. Her volume grew louder and
louder until she gripped her monster's long gray hair and flexed all of her
muscles at once. A roar of satisfied conquest bellowed from the massive male
and he filled the vessel until they overflowed into a pool of foul fluids.
The invading creature dropped to
his knees, cradling his lady's bottom and twitching as he pulsed. When their
spasms finally ended, he tumbled to his back with a satisfied crash. Anna crumpled
forward, sprawling luxuriously on his chest and panting in exhausted gasps. For
several long moments they lay there, breathing like well-run horses until the
troll began to chuckle. His rumble sounded pleased and his nostrils were
flaring. When his red-tinted eyes rolled up to gaze at her, there was no
surprise in his amusement.
"Ooohhh ... hello there."
Anna gasped and her wobbling arms
pushed her unsteadily upright. Her long chestnut hair was a tumble around her
face but her bright blue eyes still managed to appear wide with fear. The
troll's girth stretched her obscenely at the point of their connection but it
did not appear to displease her.
Rhea took a breath and the smell of
sex and sweat hit her with renewed potency. Everyone seemed frozen in place and
it took Rhea several swallows before finding enough saliva to lick her lips and
form words.
"Uhm ... hi, Beorgas."
"Good evening," he rumbled in a
surprisingly civilized tone. "Which witch are you?"
"What?" Rhea blinked, and she
looked down to make certain her blouse was not hanging open.
"I can smell you," Beorgas told her
with another chuckle. "Witches smell better than most women." He emphasized his
opinion by running a hard knuckled hand gently across Anna's skin. "Aren't you
going to introduce us, love?"
"Uhm ... yeah," Annabelle managed to
say through her post sex haze. "Uh ... I ... uh ... Beorgas, this is Rhea."
"Pleased to meet you, Rhea,"
Beorgas said politely.
Rhea nodded and then looked at
Anna, who was managing to look embarrassed. The pair of them had yet to
separate and Rhea estimated a cast mess when they did. "So," Rhea said as she
grasped for a way to make things less awkward, "your big man ... is a troll?"
"Ogre," Beorgas grunted at her. "We're
like trolls ... only bigger." His sharp teeth played out fiercely as he grinned
at his own joke. "Are you also a beauty looking for a beast?"
"What? No!" Rhea gasped as she took
an involuntary shuffle back.
The grin widened until it exploded
into a booming laugh that thundered through the room. Anna gasped as the force
of his laughter resonated through their connection but that only made the ogre
laugh harder. Eventually he reigned in his amusement with a few snorts and
lifted her up an off of him. The remains of his offering gushed out of her body
and his marvelous member flopped onto his abdomen.
"No need to fear," Beorgas told her
as he took a deep breath to let the last of the laughter chuckle out of him. "I
would never force pleasure or pain upon you. The offer stands, though. If you
would like a beast of your own, some day, I know several whom you could choose
from.
"Not ... really my thing," Rhea told
him as her voice wavered a little. "Really ... really not my thing."
"Oh?" the ogre asked as he furrowed
one brow. "Do you prefer fare folk? Males of the Sidhe are all pretty as maids
... or mayhap you prefer maids to males? I would understand your desire, if that
was the case."
"No!" Rhea balked before she got
herself settled and under control. "No thank you, Beorgas, I do prefer men to
women ... but I'm just not in the mood right now."
"Really?" he asked with an audible
sniff. "That's not what your body believes." His grin intensified but Annabelle
gave him a swat on the arm.
"Beorgas, stop teasing her," she
chided. "I'm sorry, Rhea. I really didn't mean for you to catch us like this."
"I kind of figured," Rhea said with
a chuckle of her own. "Nice sound bubble, by the way. How did you make it?"
"I made it," Beorgas told her. "I
don't know how to mate quietly and your folk tend to run in terror or attack
like berserkers when they see my kind."
"Ah," Rhea said with a nod. "Well ...
it's sure interesting to meet you."
"Rhea," Anna cut in. "Why are you
out and about?"
"Oh yeah!" Rhea laughed as she
suddenly remembered. "I need your help ... with something personal!"
"Oh?" Beorgas asked as his leer
shifted in an interested manner. "Today was
a fine day to visit."
"Hush, Beorgas," Anna said as her
expression became serious. "What do you need?"
"It's ... not a quick thing," Rhea
warned. "It might work better if we talk while we're in the bath."
"Ooohhh ... I see," Beorgas said as
he nodded wisely. "Sacred women's wisdom is no business of mine." He turned
towards Anna and cupped her face in his huge hands. "Will you forgive me if I
take my leave?"
"Not until I'm satisfied," she told
him disappointedly, "but I believe you must go."
They exchanged a deep kiss that caused
Rhea to shiver a little as it went on for a small eternity. When they stepped
away from each other, the ogre took up a pile of possessions and pulled on clothes
that were far too large for a mortal man. A talisman settled around his neck
and he muttered a few quiet words to it. The charm glowed softly and the ogre
faded away. In his place was a large human man who was not quite so tall but was
still built like a blacksmith.
"It was a pleasure to meet you,
Rhea," Beorgas told her with a bow. "Next time we may need to warn you before
we set out." He then gave her a wink and left the stable by the front door.
Annabelle watched him go with an expression of terrible longing that caused
Rhea's insides to twist.
"I'm so ... so sorry, Anna," she
finally managed to say meekly. "I didn't know ... I-"
"I know," Annabelle snapped as she
gathered her hair back and wrapped a tie around it. "I'll just need to wait.
I'm sure I'll be plenty pent up by the time he comes back!"
So
she can't get off without help either, Rhea thought as her friend growled
in hungry frustration.
"Just ... tell me what's going on,"
Anna ordered in almost her normal voice. Rhea decided to talk about her dream
first. Lyle and their connection became a little technical but Anna only nodded
as they walked. Tossing a cloak around her body, Anna remained completely nude
beneath as the pair of them made their way to the bath. Rhea talked about Lyle's
essence and described the items that she might need. When she finished, Anna
appeared to sulk in silence for a little too long.
"Might work," she finally agreed.
"I might need some time to get things, though." They scrubbed their bodies with
the vigor of people trying to avoid an uncomfortable topic, but that could not
last. When they settled into the tub together, Anna forced eye contact and
spoke. "Rhea, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," she complained. "You
mucked the stables, moved all of the horses into the west side, and then spread
fresh straw all over the ground! There was a silence spell, the talisman he
uses to disguise himself, and ... and ..."
"Rhea," Annabelle said sternly, "it
wasn't your fault. Beorgas and I have been meeting in secret for months. We
were going to get caught eventually."
"Well, yeah," Rhea hedged as she
shrugged uncomfortably, "but you can't get off either without help."
"Do you want to make it up to me?"
Annabelle asked.
"Yes!" Rhea nearly shouted as her
bounce sent little waves along the surface of the tub. A spike of panic surged
through her as her friend smirked with amusement. "I mean ... not with the ... but
I can't ... I mean, I do want to help
you out but-"
Anna's laughter was rich and it
caused Rhea to sink into the tub and wish she might drown. The older of the two
eventually signaled the other to surface and she wiped tears from her eyes. "I
need help escaping this place," Anna said.
"What?" Rhea blinked. "But ... you're
not trapped here."
"Not completely," Annabelle
admitted, "but Beorgas has invited me to his castle. He's a warlord and he
would make me his concubine."
"Not his wife?" Rhea asked
incredulously.
"Ogre Lords don't really marry for
love," Anna told her with a shrug. "They marry for political reasons. They take
concubines for love."
"Is that what he told you?" Rhea
asked suspiciously.
"That's what he told me," Anna
admitted. "I've done my research ... and I trust him. I wouldn't go if I didn't."
"How long have you known him?" Rhea
asked. Anna leaned back and took a deep breath. It did interesting things to
her figure and Rhea was open with her notice.
"Almost two years," Anna said after
she looked up and soaked in the attention. "We've been having secret meetings
for a little over a year ... and he asked me to run away with him last month."
"Wow," Rhea commented, "he must be
really interested in you if he's kept coming back for that long. Any idea what
living as his concubine would be like?"
"I'll live in a castle," she said
with a shrug. "He can strip away the rest of the brand when we're in his domain.
I'm not going to lie ... that's one of the reasons I want to go. He says I can
stay for as long as I want. One of the perks of being a concubine is I can run
off if I decide it's not for me."
"Sounds too good to be true," Rhea
commented, and Anna's face turned sour.
"Do you want my help or don't you."
Her voice was hard, with little of her usual gentle kindness. Rhea met her gaze
and saw the anger, but it was just a cover for the fear.
"Yes, I'll help you even if you
can't help me," Rhea told her seriously. The statement seemed to mollify some
of Anna's anger so she continued. "You've already helped me more than I
deserve. I owe you, Anna, and I want to see you happy."
"Thank you," Anna said, looking a
little embarrassed.
"Thank you," Rhea told her. "There's only one other person in the world I
trust as much as you ... and she's my Baba."
"Yeah," Anna said with a smile and then
she gave the kind of smile that took men's breath away. Rhea felt her own
breath coming a little short so she shifted the topic.
"So Beorgas is pretty good, eh?"
she teased.
"Gods, yes," Anna said with a
little laugh. "I don't think I've cum that hard with anyone else."
"But ... you still can't ford the
river without help?" Rhea asked.
"Nope," Anna admitted.
"I don't get it," Rhea complained as she slumped. "Why does
that happen?"
"It's about will," Anna began to say and then she stopped.
"You're not talking about me ... are you?"
"No she," Rhea blurted and then she hesitated, "I mean ... I'm
not really that into girls ... but-"
She reddened further, feeling Annabelle's eyes and the amusement she knew had
to be there. Finally she steadied herself and pressed on. "Kenna pushed me over
the edge, last night. I haven't had an orgasm since they put this thing on my flesh and now a woman gets me off? What's going on,
Anna? Is this the church's idea of a joke? I thought they were against a woman
being with another woman!"
"Oh, Rhea," Annabelle said as she shook her head like an
adoring mother whose daughter has just dome something both foolish and cute. "It's
not that at all. Ask any priest and they will tell you that in the beginning,
it was the sin of woman that corrupted man. They'll tell you that a woman who is
allowed to take charge and make decisions will destroy what men have made. They
think we're evil or just too childish to think like adults."
"Men ... think ... we're childish?"
Rhea choked. She tried to laugh but it was just so appalling. "Men are the adults? Men are ridiculous!
How can they think that?"
"It's convenient for them," Anna told her calmly. "The story
of the first woman's sin puts them in charge and allows them to ignore us. If
we can't achieve too much power then they don't have to worry about our mysterious ways. Think about it. We're
witches. We have a power they can never have and we wouldn't teach it to them
even if they could learn. So, they brand us, call us heretics, and worse.
Listen, Rhea, this is the important part."
The pause caused the sound to bleed out of the room and Rhea
found herself holding her breath and leaning forward with interest. "You cannot
use your power if your will is behind it. You cannot have an orgasm if your will is behind it. Only in
surrender, can you work around the brand."
"So," Rhea said as she followed the logic to its conclusion,
"if we set up a spell, get it moving, and then surrender ourselves to it ... the
spell should work." Anna nodded. "But ... how do we get the spell moving? How do
we fill the spell with enough power to do anything? Even if we manage to get a
big and powerful spell going, how do we control the energy without our will
holding it in place?"
"Props," Anna said with a shrug. "We'll need to do a full
ritual."
"Props aren't there for the magic," Rhea said in a lecturing
tone, "they're only there for us."
"Ritual items are there so that your conscious mind does not
need to focus on all of the elements of the spell," Anna said as if quoting her
own doctrine. "Candles and symbols all mean something to us and by using them
the concentration for the spell is handled by the subconscious, freeing up the
conscious mind to do other things."
"Will that work?" Rhea asked almost to herself. "Is not
thinking about a spell the same as not using my will on it?"
"Yes and no," Anna told her as that frustrating maternal
grin returned to her face. "Crystals can hold a charge and redirect the flow.
Think of it like a spinning wheel. The wheel is doing most of the work. All we
need to do is start it turning and then feed it a thin trickle of rough fabric.
The machine's motion and physics do the rest. That's what we need to do here. A
ritual full of the right components should bend the metaphysics of our magic
into the right shape without us focusing too hard."
"This is nuts," Rhea commented but she could feel the grin
on her face.
"Can you think of an appropriate item to represent Lyle?" Anna
mirrored that grin and they nodded to each other.
"I think I do," Rhea said with mischief in her smile. "I'll try
it on my own tonight. If I need help, I'll let you know."
"Aren't you supposed to have another lesson with Kenna
tonight?" Annabelle asked as her maternal tone gathered a disapproving edge.
"Oh, I'm not sure I'm up to a lesson after what she put me
through," Rhea teased. "If my head isn't in it she'll banish me for sure."
"Huh," Anna grunted and her tone became dryly unamused.
"Imagine that."