Lesbia Chronicles: Over Witch's Knee

by Ther Renard

  Clapping her hands to her ears, Atrocious spun about in mental anguish. It was too much. Trapped, hunted, accused, beaten, fucked and mocked. Her outrage at her treatment became almost physical, a rising force in her body that coiled around her spine, wrapped about her innards and finally exploded in a shout.

  “STOP!”

  The word exploded from her lips - not a mere shout, a bursting bolt of energy that splayed out in all directions. With it came a shock-wave powerful enough to send the soldiers, General Nelson and even Kira tumbling to the ground.

  As the last echoes of the shout died away, Atrocious was left standing in the middle of prone soldiers all clanking about like inept turtles as they tried to raise themselves. Kira was up first, an expression of distrust and wonder on her face.

  "What was that?"

  Atrocious shrugged, her eyes glazed and her expression dazed. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?"

  ~~~

  Ayla and Rogette lay in tall grass several hundred yards out from the fortress. There were lookouts and archers posted in towers about the perimeter so they dared draw no closer lest they invite a volley of arrows upon their person.

  "Is this all we're going to do?" Rogette hissed impatiently as she fished a bramble out of her buttocks. They had been in position for what felt like hours and were getting absolutely nowhere.

  Ayla did not reply. She was concentrating, her elven eyes focused intently on the fortress.

  "This is not at all useful," Rogette complained. "Not useful at all. They could be hanging her in there for all we know. And we're just sitting here. Let me go look."

  "Hush," Ayla murmured in a distant, faraway voice. "Stay still."

  Ignoring Ayla's warning, Rogette got to her feet. She took all of a step forward before there was a loud booming noise and she was hurled onto her ass. Landing heavily in a thicket of bushes, she struggled out with a furious glare directed at the witch.

  "What did you do that for?"

  "I didn't do anything.”

  aiaiaiaiaia

  A queer distant noise started up. Both Ayla and Rogette looked around, but the sound didn't seem to be coming from any one direction. It seemed to be coming from every direction.

  aiaiaAIAIAIAIAIAIAI

  It grew louder, but still neither of the women could determine from whence it came. They stood up, going back to back and circling as they prepared to defend themselves with their lives.

  AIAIAIAIAIAIA

  The sound swelled, the chattering of hundreds of tiny voices screeching in a war chant and yet there was nothing to be seen, nothing at all.

  AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAI ... POP!

  A small head burst into existence, a round orange of a head in which fierce, oversized eyes blazed. Long, bushy wild hair stuck out at all angles as the creature leaped out of the ether, its mouth open in an ear splitting cry. A body followed, something like an afterthought. It was small, slight and clad in what appeared to be sackcloth. When it had finished appearing, the creature stood no more than two feet high. It seemed to be female, though there was no real way of telling what gender it was. It moved too quickly, darting hither and thither as it scampered between bushes and around tree trunks.

  Ayla and Rogette had no time to marvel at that first individual, for the popping increased as tens of dozens of similar little creatures were spat out of thin air. Most appeared near bushes or tufts of grass, but one or two were birthed in the branches of trees and tumbled to the ground.

  The shrill chattering did not die down for a second, in fact it swelled and increased as the little creatures put their hands together and sparking bursts of energy leaped between them, arcs of energy zapping and buzzing, lighting up the shadows of the forest.

  Ayla and Rogette made to defend themselves, but far from attacking, the little creatures did not so much as acknowledge their existence. They had plans of their own it seemed, and they did not involve stray witches and robbers. They were gathering, swirling about in a great mass that collected stragglers and drew them into the whole, like a school of fish circling through ocean waters.

  "What are they?" Rogette whispered.

  "Shhh." Ayla held her fingers to her lips. For once Rogette listened and was silent.

  Having gathered all their number, the little creatures stopped and were quiet for a moment. The silence was all the deeper for being absent of the high pitched chatter. Then...

  "AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAI!" A scrawny arm held a twig aloft like a battle standard. The others took up the cry and as one they rushed together, running with a curiously adorable high kneed gait towards the fortress, their bony little hands still crackling with mysterious power.

  ~~~

  Inside the fortress, soldiers were struggling to their feet. Every one of them was staring at Atrocious with a mixture of fear and loathing. It was an interesting experience for a young woman who had never been able to inspire either emotion in the least of people, let alone dozens of soldiers. When Atrocious looked to the warrior for support, she saw that Kira was perhaps more fearful and concerned than any of the others. She was maintaining a good distance and there was a definite wariness, perhaps even mistrust in her eyes.

  Atrocious had bigger things to worry about than Kira's feelings. As the initial shock wore off, decisions were being made. Stupid, stupid decisions.

  "She's a witch!" General Nelson boomed. "Make fast her arms, bind her mouth and build a pyre!"

  "No!" Atrocious cried out. Her shout had the guards recoiling again. "I'm not a witch."

  "You cast a spell on us all," General Nelson said, edging toward her with the toe of his boot. It was a funny sight, the large man inching closer as if Atrocious were a barrel of explosives on the verge of going off. "You no doubt killed Jacey, just like you killed those nuns!"

  "Burn her!" Someone in the back cried out. "Burn the witch!"

  The reason for Ayla's reluctance to make herself known to the Imperials was suddenly entirely clear to Atrocious. She had been vaguely aware that magic and those who performed it were falling increasingly out of favor, but burning people seemed a bit extreme.

  "You can't burn me, I'll die!"

  "If you're not a witch, the flames won't touch you."

  Atrocious was about to address the logic of that statement, but before she could another queer sound was heard, this time not emanating from her, but approaching in the distance.

  AIAIAIAIAIAIAI!

  It was then that the second highly improbable event of the day occurred. A horde of tiny elemental mages smashed through the fortress walls. Not smashed. Passed through. Passed through the solid stone rocks as if they were not there at all.

  Talk of burning and witches ceased immediately to be replaced with a loud clattering as the soldiers dropped their weapons and shields and made for the far gate as fast as their legs would take them.

  Atrocious did not run, she simply stood and gaped as the little creatures rushed past, chasing the soldiers out of their own encampment. It was an impressive thing to see. Out of all the trained fighters, only Kira took a stand and drew her blade.

  "Kira! No!" Atrocious shouted the warning, not knowing why it was important that Kira not unsheathe her weapon, but feeling it deep in her bones. Unfortunately she was too late, Kira had the blade out. She swung it towards several of the little creatures.

  Atrocious watched in horror, thinking that she was about to see her tiny avengers scythed down like stalks of grass, but before the blade could touch a single wiry hair on their heads, one of the mages turned towards Kira and shot its crackling loads into her face. The warrior fell over backwards as if she'd been punched dead in the nose. Blood immediately began flowing from her nostrils as she laid in the dirt, all her muscle and bone nothing against the rage of a little wraith from another world.

  "Kira!" Atrocious rushed to the warrior's side, followed by dozens of the little mages, some of whom leaped atop Kira and danced on her midsection with a cheerful whooping. "Are you alright?"

&n
bsp; "Get them off me," the warrior growled, trying to sit up but failing as small feet bounced over her arms and shoulders. A few of the little creatures had begun unraveling her hair from its braid, chattering as they worked against hair pins and ties.

  "Erm," Atrocious turned to the largest of the bouncing creatures that had taken up residence on Kira's chest and was busy poking a bony finger into the blood pooling by her chin. "Maybe you could get off?"

  Her request lead to more dancing and fist waving from the bushy haired imps. "AIEIEIEI

  WORLORLORLORLORLORLORO!"

  "Hm." Atrocious turned back to Kira. "I don't think they want to."

  "You summoned them, you get rid of them!"

  "I didn't summon them," Atrocious said, sitting back on her heels as the imps disassembled various parts of Kira's ensemble and fashioned them into new items of clothing. One of the little mages had emptied Kira's powder pouch and was wearing it as a hat - another was gnawing at the leather lacing on her boots with sharp little teeth.

  "You summoned them with that shout," Kira explained with a deep sigh of barely contained rage. "You can make them leave."

  "Oh." Atrocious stood up and took a deep breath. "LEAVE!"

  The mage-imps looked up at her from their various tasks for all of a moment, then returned to what they were doing, salvaging bits and pieces from all around the camp. Three of the creatures stumbled by under the weight of an Imperial helmet whilst another stuffed itself determinedly into a discarded boot and peered out at the world with a disgruntled expression.

  Atrocious cast about helplessly, trying to remove the mages from Kira's person. They were stubborn though, and even when she got the nerve to physically pluck their squirming yowling bodies off of Kira the place of one was quickly taken by another.

  "I will have your hide for this," Kira growled. The warrior was not patient at the best of times and being stampeded over by little electrical imps was not improving her disposition in the slightest. Whatever force had put her down was keeping her down. Strain as she might, her muscles were helpless against the invisible bonds.

  "This isn't my fault," Atrocious whined, putting her hands to her head in frustration. "I didn't do this on purpose."

  "Those two statements are not mutually inclusive," Kira rumbled, wincing as a mage tugged at her braid.

  "I don't even know what that means... shoo! Shoo!" Atrocious waved her hands at a small band of mages who were trying to steal Kira's boots.

  She was at the very end of her wits when a tall blonde figure appeared at the corner of her vision, moving gracefully through the chaos. Atrocious uttered a cry of relief. "Ayla!"

  The witch came forward with a sweeping gait, the expression on her beautiful face simultaneously impressed and amused. The little mages left her alone, running around her skirts, not seeming to quite see her.

  "Ayla, help me!" Atrocious rushed towards her, arms extended. Ayla caught her in a hug and wrapped her arms about her trembling frame. "I don't know how to get them to go away, they're tearing everything apart and..."

  "Hush," Ayla said, rubbing her back. "You need to calm down."

  "I can't calm down," Atrocious gasped. "The Imperials were going to burn me. They were going to kill me! And then there were these things and they chased the soldiers away and..."

  "Atrocious, you have to calm down." Ayla clasped Atrocious' hands in her own and leaned down to look the frazzled young woman in the eye with a cool gaze. "You have to take a deep breath and relax."

  "Look at this!" Atrocious twisted in Ayla's grasp and looked at the ever increasing chaos as the little imp mages raced through the camp, downing tents, donning cookware and destroying all semblance of order.

  "They are a part of you," Ayla explained briefly. "They won't leave until you relax."

  "They are not part of me!" Atrocious denied the charge hotly. "You just want to blame me like everybody else does. Everybody wants to blame me!"

  AIAAIAAIIAIAIAIAWORLORLORLORLORLOROMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPEEEEPEEEEPEEEPEEEPEEPEEEEEP!

  A new shrieking frequency was added to the cacophony of cries as Atrocious whined her denials.

  "You have to calm down now," Ayla insisted. "Or I will have to make you."

  "Make me? What does that even mean?" Atrocious cringed as a wooden storehouse collapsed into shards of wood under the combined attentions of the small hoard.

  Ayla's voice was warm but stern as she reached out and caught Atrocious by the chin, forcing her to meet her gaze. "I will smack your bottom until you settle down, that's what I will do, young lady."

  Atrocious squirmed where she stood. As she did some of the noise dulled a little. "You wouldn't..."

  "I very much would and you know I would," Ayla replied, her green gaze firmly fixed on the unfortunate summoner. "Now you take a deep breath, young lady, and calm yourself."

  Atrocious drew as much air into her lungs as was possible, then let it out in a long slow breath. "Okay, I am trying."

  "Good girl," Ayla said, still holding Atrocious' gaze as she stroked her hair gently. There was something hypnotic in the half-elf's stare and Atrocious found herself lost in it, not really even noticing as the din slowly died down then receded into the distance.

  As Atrocious stared into Ayla's eyes the imps faded away completely, going soft then transparent like wisps in the wind. For a short time their chatter could be heard on the breeze, as if they had not actually departed but been transported out of reach of the normal world.

  Kira peeled herself slowly up from the ground, putting a hand to her bloodied nose which by that time had clotted dark and thick over her upper lip. She spat a mouthful of blood and dust onto the ground and made her way over to Ayla and Atrocious with the intention of giving Atrocious a piece of her mind. Before she could launch into a tirade, Ayla held up a hand and shook her head, meeting Kira's gaze only briefly but with enough intensity to convince the warrior to hold her tongue for the moment.

  "Shhh, there you go," Ayla murmured softly, caressing Atrocious' hair gently. "Good girl, there you go." Atrocious was wavering on her feet, swaying not unlike a charmed snake.

  "I feel sleepy," Atrocious said weakly. The words barely left her lips before she slumped against Ayla and was caught by the witch.

  "She's out?" Kira asked the question from a safe distance.

  "She's going to be out for some time," Ayla said, lifting Atrocious up into her arms. "It took a lot of energy to do what she just did."

  "And what was it she just did? Aside from make herself legitimately wanted by the Imperials?" Kira eyed the unconscious lump in Ayla's arms with unbridled suspicion.

  "She forgave you for slicing a man to pieces before her eyes, you'll have to forgive her a bit of shouting and a few hundred spontaneous elementals," Ayla said dryly. "Come on, we have to go. They're coming back."

  Kira did not ask how the witch knew what she knew. When Ayla gave warning you didn't waste time asking questions, you listened. "If you say so," she said, straightening her armor and swearing at the damage done to it as it hung off her body in pieces, offering about as much protection as a sieve. "Let's get out of here."

  Chapter Eleven

  Atrocious had only the barest of impressions of what happened after Ayla rescued her. She remembered the imps leaping everywhere and then the witch was there and then she felt sleepy... so sleepy and so tired.

  When she woke, she felt as if she must be very far away from where she had been. She was in a round walled stone hut which housed a fire in the center of its belly. She was laid on a bed of skins near the glowing embers whilst winds howled and lashed through rock and snow outside the little hut.

  "Good, you're awake." Ayla was by her side, sitting next to her bed. "Drink this."

  'This' was a bowl of chicken soup. Atrocious drank it greedily. She was hungry, so very hungry. And thirsty too. The soup quenched her thirst and sated her belly and she was filled with not just food, but gratitude as she put the bowl down.

  "Thank you for
saving me," she said earnestly.

  "You're welcome." Ayla reached out with a long finger and brushed a few strands of stray hair out of Atrocious' face. "Just keep resting. You need to get your strength back."

  "Those things..." Atrocious said, half thinking that she might have dreamed up the batty little destroyers of everything. "What did you mean when you said they were a part of me?"

  "Those little devils are sprites of a kind. They do not usually have the power or desire to exist in the material world. But once in a great while, someone with the power to reach beyond can summon them and other creatures into existence."

  "But they're not part of me," Atrocious frowned. "I mean, I'm not them and they're not me."

  "You pulled them out and fed them. You gave them life and sustenance. They were part of your energy field, no different than your hair or your hand."

  "But my hair and hand are a part of me... they're not."

  "Where do you begin? Where do you end? Are you just a bag of skin and bone?" Ayla raised a brow at Atrocious, giving her a slightly dour look as if she had expected Atrocious to understand everything she was saying.

  "That question makes my head hurt."

  "Good. It never ceases to amaze me how many people go their entire lives without even questioning the most basic things about themselves. What are you made of? Where do your thoughts come from?"

  "Thoughts come from my head."

  Ayla cocked her head to the side and smiled slightly. "Do they? How do you know that?"

  Atrocious began to feel a little bit sea-sick as her perception of reality warped and wriggled in her mind.

  "I hear them in my head." She poked her finger towards her skull.

  "And yet if we opened your head, we wouldn't see your thoughts in there, would we? Thoughts are not tangible things, but does that make them any less real? Any less a part of you?"