“I see that we’re all ready,” Silvanth said with zir confidence restored, “although sister you will need to remove your shoes as well.” Nightshadow glanced around with a start realizing only now that the others had kicked off their shoes as they removed their clothes. She, on the other hand, had taken great pains to avoid this.
“Oh, darn, did we miss Nightshadow stripping down?” Moonbane asked.
“Not much to miss,” Panathea said with a wink, “though not bad, girl.”
“Thanks guys,” Nightshadow said as she gripped one arm with the other to hide how hard her nipples had grown, “but do I have to take my shoes off? I mean its really dirty and…”
“We’re here to commune with the ancients,” Silvanth said gently, “and they are part of Mother Gaia. We too must be willing to connect with her if we hope to receive the wisdom of the past.”
“Ya, come on, Nightshadow we’re all standing here naked. Compared to that, a bit of dirt on your feet shouldn’t be a big deal,” Panathea prodded.
“It shouldn’t be but…” Nightshadow was desperate to find some plausible explanation for her reluctance, but nothing came to mind.
“You can’t give us that germaphobe excuse,” Moonbane confirmed, “I mean you’re naked in the woods, and you fell like a dozen times coming here. We know you aren’t really afraid of dirt.”
“We haven’t wanted to prod,” Silvanth said sympathetically, “but it would seem that it is time for you to reveal your secret to us.”
“My secret?” Nightshadow tried playing dumb, but she could already see that no one was buying it.
“I’ve always sensed the power in you,” Silvanth explained.
“And it’s not like we’ve missed how you go quiet and get distracted by nothing,” Moonbane pointed out.
“It’s alright,” Panathea assured her, “whatever it is. No judgement in the circle, remember?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” Nightshadow began. For all their advice a short while ago the whispers were quiet now and that made her nervous, “it’s just that I don’t really know how to say it without sounding crazy.”
“Sister,” Moonbane jumped in with her no-nonsense tone, “we’re naked witches in the middle of a rune circle in the woods at 2 something in the freaking morning on All Hallows’ Eve preparing to commune with ancient magical spirits. What could you possibly say to make the three of us,” she waved her arms to indicate Panathea and Silvanth, “think you are crazy?”
“I hear voices.” Nightshadow blurted the words before she had time to think it over. To their credit, no one had a knee-jerk reaction to that one. They all held their tongues and waited for Nightshadow to continue, “I-I’ve heard them all my life. The whispers. They mostly come from the trees. I don’t hear them all the time, I’m not hearing them right now, but I was earlier. When we did the airing.”
“These whispers,” Silvanth spoke slowly to let zir thoughts form, “they gave you the insight into Moonbane and Panathea’s grievance?”
“That wasn’t normal,” suddenly she felt almost defensive under Silvanth’s intense scrutiny. This wasn’t why she wanted zir looking at her. “Usually I can’t quite make out what they’re saying, but I let that branch,” Nightshadow turned but didn’t see the branch she had been working to avoid, “er, well a branch touched my leg. When I touch plants or dirt the whispers grow clearer. With that branch, it was especially strong, way more than usual, and I felt the words coming out of me…and when they made sense, I just sort of…” Nightshadow trailed off as she struggled to make sense of the experience.
“They spoke through you,” Silvanth supplied with an almost knowing air.
“That’s why you sounded off?” Panathea seemed to shiver. “That’s creepy.”
“Again,” Moonbane said bluntly, “we’re witches. How are you that easily freaked out?”
“Don’t you see, sister?” Silvanth asked Moonbane, “we’re in a warded circle and yet these whispers Nightshadow describes not only reached her but offered her insight.”
“The wards don’t stop voices inside your own head,” Moonbane argued. “No offense Nightshadow. I had an uncle with…”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Panathea still sounded shaken. “I know Nightshadow pretty well, and she’s never struck me as having mental problems. At least not that sort,” Nightshadow gritted her teeth at the suggestion that there might be something else wrong with her. She knew exactly what that something else was too, and it was pretty obvious as she compared her naked form to that of the other women. “Besides I…I felt something,” Panathea continued, “when she was speaking. I felt the truth of what she said in that…voice. It was like it was being pulled out of my very soul.”
“How poetic,” Moonbane unfailingly fell back on sarcasm when she felt nervous, “So, what are we saying?” She couldn’t hide the need to make sense of all this, “that something got through the wards?”
“Not just some thing,” Silvanth clarified. “The wards are too strong for that. I think…it would have had to be,” zi seemed both nervous and excited as zi resolved to speak the words, “the ancients themselves. I think Nightshadow is a conduit for those that dwell in the pure magic of nature.”
“The pure magic of what?” Moonbane’s bravado was failing to mask how nervous she was getting. “Sometimes I swear you’re just pulling this stuff out of your ass Silvanth.”
“There’s only one way to know for sure,” Silvanth replied calmly. “Make contact Nightshadow. It is, after all, why we’re here. Make contact, and we well ground you with our power. The wards will keep anything unsavory out, so you should have nothing to fear. The ancients are peaceful. They are beings of wisdom. Let them speak through you again, and we will ensure that they don’t overwhelm you.” Nightshadow couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Were her friends that willing to accept her, or could they be right? Could the whispers really be the voices of the ancients?
“I’m afraid,” she confessed at last, “I don’t want to be controlled by something I don’t understand.”
“We won’t let it control you,” Silvanth promised. “Come forward, and we’ll hold you.” Nightshadow’s legs wouldn’t budge. The whispers were there again, but they were indistinct; something she was vaguely aware of at the fringes of her consciousness. It felt like they and her coven were all waiting to see what she would do.
The decision was not easy. On the one hand, she may be able to put her fears of mental illness to rest. On the other, she could be opening herself to a power beyond anything she could comprehend. Her friends all seemed to be holding their breath. Moonbane and Panathea were terrified, but Silvanth was practically vibrating on the spot. She could see how badly zi needed this. Zir eyes were wide with hope as though she had transformed into the key zi had sought zir entire life. Her heart went out to her friend, but it wasn’t enough to make her legs move.
“No pressure,” Panathea promised.
“Oh, yeah right,” Moonbane replied, “we might as well drag her kicking and screaming.” Nightshadow looked at them, at the change that had occurred in so short a time. They were still making cracks, but now they were doing it with sweet smiles. There was no hurt behind the jabs any longer. Whatever rift had been there had been mended by the airing, and it had only succeeded because of the wisdom granted by the voices. Granted the two were afraid at the moment, of course they were, but Nightshadow could see that that weight they’d been carrying had been lifted. If the whispers had done that, she reasoned, then they couldn’t be all bad. There had to be more to them, and this was the best chance she may ever have to find out exactly how much more there was. With that in mind, she found her resolve and managed to step forward.
Chapter 5
Nightshadow moved instinctively to the center of the circle, near the fire that still burned, and the others took position around her. Moonbane and Panathea stood at her sides, and each placed a hand on her shoul
der.
Silvanth stood before her. As zi looked into her eyes she was all the more aware of her nudity as well as Silvanth’s. She’d always found zir attractive but zi was often like this. Intense and intimidating. She preferred it when she could maintain control and do things at her own pace. Maybe that’s why she’d never made a move on Silvanth? Because she certainly didn’t feel as though she were in control right now.
Zi placed a hand over Panathea’s and Moonbane’s respectively, and Nightshadow felt her coven sisters link their free hands behind her. She was trapped there, surrounded by her naked friends, with Silvanth’s intense gaze on her. Zi was excited, and that thought sent a tingle through her that she couldn’t quite name. Not fear and not arousal, but some bastard child of those sensations.
When zi spoke, it was with an excitement that humanized the coven’s leader and whittled Nightshadow’s trust just a little bit more.
“You are with us, you are safe,” Silvanth said as though the words somehow effected the world around them. The others took up the chant on the second repetition, “you are with us, you are safe.” Nightshadow felt a weight over her as they chanted, and against her better judgement, she slowly sank to her knees. At first, she just felt awkward. Her bare legs were on the dirt which should have amplified the whispers, but she heard nothing besides the chanting. She saw a lot, however, particularly Silvanth’s incredibly large member which bobbed half erect at eye level.
A mixture of desires warred in her while she looked at it. Curiosity at the thought of watching it harden was first, followed by embarrassment at objectifying her friend, then longing, and finally the fear of that longing being discovered. She dare not look away, however, as she had nothing but the equally uncomfortable sight of a friend’s pussy in either direction. Women weren’t quite as appealing to her as they were to Moonbane, and, she suspected, Panathea but they held a certain fascination nonetheless. One she did not want getting discovered in a situation like this. The embarrassment of the predicament filled her mind, and she grasped out for anything to distract from the thoughts warming her cheeks. What she found was the chant. “You are with us, you are safe.”
It seemed so absurd. Who was she with? Three amateur witches who got most of their information online? Three wannabes that didn’t even know how to put up a warding without harming the ancient ones? Three fools who actually thought that their little chant could protect her from the awesome powers of nature? The more she thought about it, the more a rage began to fill her. They had transgressed time and again, they’d called upon the ancients and then spurned the gift they were given. How dare they think that their paltry presence could keep her safe? She was not the one in danger, they were. A moment of clarity flashed through her as the ranting thoughts became clear, and she seized on it.
“Run,” Nightshadow’s voice was weak at first, barely a whisper, but she forced it louder even as whatever was doing the thinking tried to drag her back from her mouth, “Run!” She cried out in a panic as she fought for the last vestiges of control. These were not her thoughts. The whispers hadn’t come to her as they usually did. They hadn’t needed to. Not when Nightshadow had so willingly opened herself to them in this place of power.
The chanting didn’t cease even as Nightshadow began to thrash in her coven’s hold. “Please run! Get away from here before it’s…before it’s…” she could hear her own voice changing and feel her control of it slipping away. The next words that passed her lips were not her own. “It’s already too late.” The power the coven had drawn pulsed so intensely that for a brief moment, it became visible to human eyes.
The force of its expansion sent the three chanters flying towards their so-called places of power only to see them strike the energy of the wards as if it were a solid wall. None was seriously hurt but only because the power had other plans for them. Nightshadow could only watch from behind her eyes as her body rose to its full height. Now, the whispers said, again, what they’d tried to tell her before, only this time, they had a human voice to make themselves heard. Nightshadow could only listen as her body played mouthpiece. It spoke now with a terrifying power as if a thousand beings were speaking in unison through her tiny human mouth and none of them were happy.
“Foolish children, greedy and blind, you were granted that which you sought, and yet you could not be grateful. You demand more and more with no appreciation for what you have, and now you will pay for your covetousness.” Panathea and Moonbane hadn’t had time to scream as they were tossed, but now they were making noises. Grunts at first, then confused inquiries. Finally, they rushed to each other in a panic as Silvanth collected zirself as well.
“What…are you?” Silvanth asked as zi rolled awkwardly onto zir stomach.
“That which you sought, of course,” the many voices replied.
“What did I hit?” Moonbane groaned as she stumbled forward into Panathea’s arms. Panathea’s mind was racing, but before anything else she had to ensure that Moonbane was alright. Once she had, she was able to turn her thoughts to how incredibly screwed they all were.
“The warding,” Panathea gasped in horror, “it somehow became…real.”
“Tangible,” Silvanth corrected instinctively, “but I don’t understand how.”
“Power is how,” the voices chided, “the same power that you have been so brazenly courting all night.”
“Nightshadow?” Silvanth shook off the daze from zir fall and regarded her body.
“Uh, guys, did I hit my head or…” Panathea seemed incapable of comprehending what she saw before her.
“How is…Nightshadow…you’re floating!” Moonbane didn’t seem to believe her own words but Nightshadow could feel that it was true. Her body was being held aloft by the power welling up from the Earth. She was little more than a puppet now as her body shot forward to pin Moonbane with its gaze. The horror in her friend’s eyes was unbearable, but Nightshadow couldn’t look away. She wasn’t in control.
“Ah, yes, the brazen one. You need a lesson in respect.” Her body moved sideways like it was spinning around the face of a clock, and before Nightshadow could even comprehend what had happened she found herself looking into Panathea’s eyes.
“I-I don’t understand,” her friend’s bright blue eyes were filled with tears and in them Nightshadow could see that her own had turned black.
“Of course not,” the many voices spat, “you never wanted to. Even when we whispered. Your head is too filled with trivial things.”
“You spoke to her as well?” Silvanth did not seem afraid as Nighshadow’s body flew around to put zir in the hot seat. If anything, zi was outraged.
“And not to you boy,” Nightshadow was screaming behind her eyes for the voices to stop but they would not, “we had no reason to.” Her body flew back to the center of the circle where the fire blew out beneath her. In its place, roots rose up. Growing impossibly fast, they formed into a thrown of gnarled wood onto which Nightshadow was lowered. Silvanth, seeing this, rushed forward to kneel before her body, and the girls hesitantly followed suit.
“Is Nightshadow still in there?” Panathea asked nervously.
“She is,” the voices sounded almost sympathetic this time, “but she cannot help you.”
“Are you the devil?” Moonbane whimpered.
“The devil?” The voices seemed genuinely amused by the query. “No, child. We are none of us demons. We are the trees that have watched humanity grow. We are the soil that nourished you. We are the sunlight and the gentle breeze, the ocean and the rock. We are what you have claimed to worship, and we are all those who truly did obey the ancient laws.”
“The ancients,” Silvanth cried out in triumph, “you have come to us.”
“No, fool,” the voices seemed least pleased with Silvanth, “we were always with you. Who nurtured you if not us? Who brought you together?”
“The airing,” Panathea mumbled as she tried to put the pieces together, “it was you sp
eaking through Nightshadow. You helped Moonbane and I reconcile.”
“Wisdom you sought, and wisdom you received, but it was not enough for you. You wanted more than wisdom; you wanted power. Power to reshape the world according to your arrogant whim. Now you shall tremble before the power you so vainly sought, and you shall be punished for your impudence.”
“Punished?” Moonbane still somehow managed to sound defiant even before the overwhelming force she faced, “for not understanding? For asking a simple que…” She was pulled forward before she could finish. Her form somersaulted through the air so fast that her single shriek of fright warped into an ululation. Silvanth and Panathea dared raise their eyes to watch as Moonbane found herself across Nightshadow’s lap like a naughty child. The larger woman’s legs kicked in defiance, but this only cause the one arm of the root thrown to extend and bind them. Her arms too were quickly captured as Nightshadow laughed in a thousand voices at once.
“Punished indeed in a manner befitting the cause of your transgressions,” there was delight in the voices. Arousal even. Nightshadow could understand the thrill. The power, the dominance, they were all things she liked to fantasize about when she was alone in the night, but these were ancient powers. Surely, they didn’t share some skinny model’s masturbatory fantasies. Or did they? Could they be feeling what her body felt as it performed these acts? Could they be reacting to it?
Angry spirits were bad enough but what would become of her friends if her flesh were somehow corrupting them? She screamed out for the whispers, now voices, to stop and think, but they would not listen. Why would they? Hers was the weakest among thousands now, and she could not so much as get a word in as they went about their business.
Whispers of the Past Page 4