by Ther Renard
~~~
Celebrating the escape, Atrocious danced about in the snow with frenetic glee. She was joined by Rogette and the two of them held hands and skipped about in a circle, hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs.
"They are high as kites," Kira noted.
"It would appear so," Ayla agreed as Rogette and Atrocious collapsed into the snow, apparently immune to the cold. "Our shelter is gone," she said, frowning with concern. "That leaves but one place..." She looked over at Kira.
"No." Kira said the word flatly. "Definitely not."
"It is safe there, no Imperials will find us," Ayla said as Rogette crawled atop Atrocious and began biting her lightly.
"Safe?" Kira snorted. "Safe? I assume she still lives there?"
"One can only imagine so," Ayla said, drawing her robes about her as a gust of ice cold air blasted across the wintery incline.
A sudden moan of pleasure heralded a new level of pleasure being attained between Atrocious and Rogette as they ground their naked hips together, Rogette's round and tan rear rising and falling in an unmistakable humping motion.
"Kira, it won't be as it was the last time we were there." Ayla tried to sound reassuring, but she just sounded cold, her teeth chattering between words.
"You're damned right it won't be," Kira scowled.
"We have few other options," Ayla continued. "Atrocious' powers are unpredictable and dangerous."
Kira glanced down at Atrocious, who was by that time arching her hips as Rogette crouched back on her heels and petted Atrocious' pussy lips with a reverent, half-confused touch.
"Good kitty," Rogette cooed, "pretty kitty."
"Very well," Kira said crossly as the wind began to rise once more and gusts of smoldering black thatch smoke blew towards them, making both witch and warrior cough. "Do it then, and best do it quickly - those two will be in the grips of hypothermia in another minute."
Ayla bowed her head and pressed her palms together in the shape of prayer. Whilst Atrocious and Rogette giggled and wriggled and squirmed in the snow she began to hum a melody. It began high and sank low, twisting in the ice breeze as it grew in intensity. It was so beautiful that Atrocious and Rogette looked up from their heavy petting, eyes wide with wonder as the song wrapped around them and transported them to another place.
It did not seem as if anything had changed, and yet everything had changed. Instead of the icy slope they now stood in a warm, grassy meadow. The song died away, leaving a low growl in its place. Ayla turned, puzzled, but the source of the sound soon became evident. Kira had her hand on the pommel of her sword, her teeth were gritted and the growl seemed to be emanating almost of its own accord. If she'd been a dog, her hackles would have been as far up as they could go. Every single one of her muscles stood out, so tightly wound was the warrior, her dark eyes darting here and there as if she expected at any moment to be attacked by a horde of fearsome bandits.
"Kira," Ayla reached out and placed a gentle hand on the warrior's shoulder. "You are safe here."
Kira's cursed reply was lost as Rogette and Atrocious bounded past, holding hands. Pale cream and tea colored, their curves jiggled as they leaped about, making sounds of glee. Two innocent nymphs, they danced and kissed and tumbled in the grasses, free of any cares at all.
"Kira," Ayla said, speaking softly. "You do not need to stay. I can send you elsewhere. Rogette and Atrocious will be safe."
"Safe?" Kira barked harsh, dry laughter. "I know who lives here. I know what she is capable of. I do not share your confidence in their safety. She might very well decide to hurl us all off that cliff."
"You have survived one trip down it, why not another?" Ayla winked, her energy light and relaxed in that enchanted place.
Her levity was ill appreciated by the warrior, whose expression had grown stern and angry. "Rogette! Atrocious! Come here!" She shouted across the meadow. The two younger women were putting quite a great deal of distance between themselves and those who watched over them. Neither Rogette or Atrocious paid her any mind, in fact they seemed to put on a turn of speed as they rushed towards the picturesque little village nestled in the mountainous cleft.
"They are being drawn, they can't hear you."
Kira's scowl grew deeper. "What do you mean they are being drawn?"
"Ariadne is summoning us," Ayla explained patiently. "Can't you feel it?"
"No," Kira growled. But she could feel it. It was the sensation that had put her on edge from the moment of their arrival, the woman with the dark markings was reaching out, touching her in a way she couldn't understand or articulate - but nevertheless hated with all her being.
"Come along," Ayla said, sliding her hand down Kira's arm and taking the warrior's hand in her own. "Let us face our destiny."
Kira frowned down at her large, scarred hand nestled in Ayla's soft white grasp. How was it that the roughened palm that had wielded so many weapons suddenly seemed so small and weak? The answer floated into her mind with a cackling laugh that was not hers.
“Because physical power means nothing, warrior, now come here, we have much to discuss, you and I.”
Kira allowed herself to be lead through the village at the end of Lesbia and into the depths of Ariadne's home - a place that looked strangely domestic. Kira did not know what she had expected to see, but colorful rugs with geometric interlocking patterns carefully woven into them, potted plants and general sort of household debris like pots and pans and gleaming wooden bowls was not it. The only thing that said 'high witch' were the carvings that had been cut into the posts that supported the roof. Out of the wood all manner of creatures and women looked out, some with benevolent expressions, others with twisted and contorted faces, half human, half animal.
Ariadne was seated in a high backed chair, waiting for her visitors to arrive. Kira remembered the high witch as being taller, broader, but she was a relatively slim framed woman and might perhaps have been entirely unremarkable but for her unique markings and the way reality seemed to bend around her. As Kira drew nearer she felt those golden eyes settle on her. The black pigments that swirled beneath Ariadne's skin settled in thick bands across her eyes and down the center of her chin like the war paint of the primitives.
"You have returned." She spoke with a voice that sounded like granite fault lines creaking and shifting against one another.
"My lady," Ayla went forward and down on bended knee. "We beg for sanctuary."
Golden orbs swept across the foursome. "Sanctuary is for the innocent. You are not the innocent. None a one of you is pure."
Kira frowned and glanced across at Rogette and Atrocious. "They are pure," she said, gesturing to the two naked young women.
Ariadne's eyes met hers and Kira felt her courage shrivel. "Either you are lying or you are a fool. Neither possibility pleases me, warrior."
"What fault have they?" Kira persisted.
"You bring me thieves and whores," Ariadne snapped.
"Please," Ayla said softly, lifting her great green eyes in appeal. "There are some elements you are not aware of as yet."
"There is nothing I'm not aware of," Ariadne barked with irritation.
Whilst Ayla tried very hard not to annoy the high witch, Rogette and Atrocious were whispering to one another. In the silence following Ariadne's comment, Atrocious piped up."Please ma'am, if it pleases you, which of us is the thief and which is the whore?"
She asked the question with a sweet innocence which was belied by the little spark of anger dancing in the very depths of her gaze.
Ariadne did not deign to reply. A creature such as she did not speak to naked peasants. "If you wish your servants to survive, curb their tongues," she said to Ayla.
"I just want to know..." Atrocious said, stepping toward Ariadne. "Am I the whore? Or do you think my friend to be the whore?"
Still not deigning to speak, Ariadne waved a hand in Atrocious' direction. A gust of wind bellowed from her palm, sending Atrocious' braids flailing back in the
gale but otherwise leaving her unaffected.
"I ask you again," Atrocious said when the howl of the wind had abated. "Who is the whore you speak of?"
Ariadne gave Atrocious a vicious glare as the lines on her face shifted, rearranging themselves into jagged little bands that crossed her nose and mouth and laid in diamond formation over her eyes.
"Begone, little slut," she said, waving her hand once more, this time with a powerful bolt of energy that knocked over several potted plants and artifacts. It left Atrocious entirely unscathed however, passing around her without so much as putting an eyelash out of place. "What are you?," Ariadne demanded. "Some kind of nymph? A dryad perhaps?"
"I'm Atrocious," Atrocious replied. "And I don't like your tone."
Ariadne cocked her head to the side, but she was not looking at Atrocious, she was looking at Ayla. "You have done well," she said. "In a few short years you bring me a warrior of legend and this naked creature, whatever she may be."
"Thank you," Ayla bowed her head and smiled.
Kira's eyes narrowed into two dark slits. "What do you mean, she brought us to you?"
The question went unanswered, for Rogette chose that moment to snap out of her Banisteria induced trance long enough to stare Ariadne in the face with slightly addled eyes. A series of emotions passed over her features, confusion, fear, then anger.
"TIGER!" She cried, reaching for the nearest thing to come to hand, which happened to be a large wooden spoon that had been in a pot full of utensils prior to being knocked over by Ariadne's power. Grasping the spoon like a dagger, the robber ran a few steps, bounced in the air and came down on top of Ariadne, driving the spoon towards the high witch's heart.
It was not precisely a successful assassination attempt. Ariadne was stunned, but only for a moment, then she grasped Rogette by the waist and tipped her sideways over her lap. In an instant the wooden spoon was wrested from Rogette's grasp and applied to her ample round rear. Fighting, Rogette squirmed and buckled and kicked until Ariadne was left holding the squirming robber in place, not with the traditional arm wrapped about waist, but with one hand firmly gripping Rogette's raised ankle. The position left Rogette at a down-turned disadvantage. She flipped about on Ariadne's lap and ended up caught face down between the high witch's legs, her bottom see-sawing over Ariadne's thigh as her parted legs flailed about. There was no dignity in that position, every little crevice was on display as the hard spoon crashed down against her tender flesh with a cracking sound that echoed throughout the room.
Atrocious and Kira exchanged scowls, then Kira drew her short blade. "This is not a spoon," she declared. "Now unhand her this instant, or I will run you through."
Ariadne paused for a moment, Rogette's thighs spread across her lap as the high witch let the rounded edge of the spoon trail between her cheeks and make contact with the robber's womanhood. The moan that emanated from Rogette was enough to make the wall carvings blush.
"I am not harming her, warrior," Ariadne said, gently moving the spoon back and forth, massaging Rogette's lower lips. "As usual, your rage is misplaced."
"You are taking advantage of her, which is worse. Now unhand her before I lodge my blade in your throat."
"You have much to learn warrior, beginning with humility," Ariadne replied, slapping the spoon lightly across Rogette's aroused vulva. The robber squirmed and moaned again, placing her hands on the floor so as to lift her hips that Ariadne might pleasure her more. Ariadne looked down, a little smile on her dark lips. "Tiger hunter, would you like me to let you go?"
"No," Rogette moaned, arching her hips up all the more.
"It seems your friend does not want to be unhanded." Ariadne put the spoon aside and let her fingertips graze across the flowering lips. "Do you fail to satisfy all your lovers this much, that they melt into the arms of the first person to caress them?"
"She is not my lover," Kira growled at the jibe. "She is my... friend."
Ariadne locked eyes with Kira as she very gently parted Rogette's lower lips and let a fingertip penetrate the robber. The black markings were moving again. Shifting and curling, they slipped down Ariadne's forearm. Atrocious shouted a warning, but it was too late, the thick dark tendrils had slid down Ariadne's finger and into Rogette's sweet interior. Rogette arched as the dark slipped inside her and let out a sound of pure ecstasy that made all previous noises sound inferior in comparison.
Dark bands begin to move across Rogette's skin, snaking their way across her body in long curling tendrils that flowered across her bottom, ran along her spine and circled about the tips of her nipples. Rogette's eyes were closed, her mouth hanging open as she gasped with every slow thrust. In very short order, she began to orgasm, her entire body shaking and shivering. The dark tendrils flailed with the force of her climax, making her delicious curves seem liquid as she begged for more... more.
Ariadne gave her more, much more. Kira and Atrocious gave one another glances of discomfort as the high witch went to the ground with Rogette and began feasting between the robber's legs. Only Ayla seemed unmoved by the public intimacy, looking on with a yearning gaze as Ariadne and Rogette moved like one striped beast.
"What is she doing?" Atrocious hissed at Ayla.
"Claiming her tribute," Ayla said mildly.
A puzzled frown creased Atrocious' brow. "What do you mean, her tribute?"
"She means she is allowing that witch to take Rogette as payment for our safety, that's what she means," Kira growled fiercely.
Conversation was difficult, for Rogette's cries were growing louder and more insistent as another orgasm began to flow through her body.
"She does not seem to mind very much," Ayla said with a little wry smile.
"She is high on the weed you left in your bag. The weed you let her find..." Atrocious clenched her fists by her sides. "You knew this would happen."
Ayla's green emerald gaze slid over to her. "How could I possibly have known this would happen? It was you who burned down our shelter, not I. It is you who stands here naked, waiting for your turn."
"I am not naked!" Atrocious argued hotly.
“You very much are.”
Atrocious looked down at herself, squeaked at the discovery that she really was naked, then darted behind Kira. "Where are my clothes?"
"In ashes no doubt," Kira said. "We will have to find you something else to wear."
"Now? Please?"
Ayla shook her head. "Actions have consequences. The consequences of your actions are to be naked."
"But I didn't even smoke it, it was all second-hand! Rogette was the one who put it in the pipe..."
"And it is Rogette who is reaping the rewards of that decision. Look at the pleasure she is gaining," Ayla pointed out as Rogette panted breathlessly, her face pink and her chest flushed with arousal as Ariadne teased her toward another peak. "She is no longer any more high than you are, but she follows her passion..."
"Is that what we call spreading your legs for any old witch?" Atrocious bit back sarcastically.
"You are jealous," Ayla said. "You wish you were the one pinned to the ground, being pleasured by supernatural forces that amplify pleasure to the very limits of what the human body can experience. Perhaps, if you are polite, Ariadne will consent to take you next."
Atrocious' growl was joined by Kira's. "Nobody is taking anyone," Kira declared. "And if you manipulate us again, witch, it will be the last thing you do." The warrior's eyes had gone cold and hard, reflecting the deep void in her soul as she reached for a part of herself she had not needed for quite some time.
"Quiet," Ayla replied, her green gaze growing equally solemn. "In this place you are as weak as a kitten. Do not test me Kira. I will not be as kind as Ariadne."
"Why are you doing this?" Atrocious whimpered from behind Kira's tall frame. "Why are you being so mean?"
"We are being hunted," Ayla said. "Our lives are all at stake. Until we are safe, I will do what is necessary to preserve life, whether you like it or
not. You will both do as you are told, or you will suffer the consequences. Do you understand me?"
Atrocious had never seen Ayla look so severe. The witch had drawn herself up to her full height and there was no trace of humor glimmering about her lips or playing in her eyes. She was deeply serious - and in that moment Atrocious remembered how it had been when they had first met, how possessive and strict the witch had been with her punishments and discipline. A little quivering shiver of excitement shot through her belly as she nodded in acquiescence.
Kira did not nod.
Chapter Sixteen
Dappled light fell across Atrocious' scowling face. She sat with her back against a tree trunk wearing a very strange outfit. It had started out normally enough, a knee-length white peasant shift dress, plain and cut in a simple A line. If she had been content to wear that alone she would have been indistinguishable from many of the other women traipsing about the village looking rosy cheeked and healthy. But Atrocious had not approved of the attire she was provided with, so atop the dress she wore Kira's thick leather vest complete with metal chain links. It was quite large on her frame, but she wore it determinedly with no regard for fit or shape or cut. Lying next to her, Kira had her hands resting behind her head and was chewing a long stalk of grass. Having given half her armor to Atrocious, she was stripped down to a light blue woolen vest. She still wore her leather pants, but she had discarded the thick mail guards that protected groin and thighs. At first glance she looked relaxed, but on closer inspection her eyes were open and held an expression of deep concern.
"I hate witches," Atrocious muttered, breaking the unnatural summer silence.
"But you're a witch."
"I am not," Atrocious growled. "Witches lie and trick and cheat." She frowned deeply, her forehead creasing into a dozen little wrinkles. "Ayla brought us here on purpose. Everything she's ever done has been on purpose. I'm starting to think I stole that horse because she wanted me to - and I didn't even know her then."